the settled lees of their long continued abhominations and thou shalt end many labours in one thou shalt doe a cure vpon the heart of the principall cittie the benefite whereof shall spread it selfe into the partes of the whole countrie But if Niniveh bee so greate in vvealth and so deepely rooted in pride that shee vvill not bee reformed tell hâ—r shee hath climbde so high to have the lower downe-fall though her children should die in their sinnes yet their bloud for example given shall especially bee required at her handes Many goodly citties were there in Asia Babylon so big that Aristotle called it a country not a citty and Niniveh greater then Babylon and Troy lesse then them both but in her flourishing daies the piller of that part of the world of vvhich and many their companions wee may now truely say O iam periere ruinae the very ruines of them are gone to ruine The king of the Gothes when he saw Constantinople pronounced that the Emperour there was an earthly God They write of Quinsay at this day that it is an hundreth miles about and furnished with 12000. bridges of marble Let not Ierusalem leese her honour amongst the rest Though her honour and happinesse were laide in the dust long since They that were alive when IerusaleÌ„ lived to have numbred her tovvers considered her walles and marked her bulwarckes and to have tolde their posterity of it might have made a reporte skarsely to have beene beleeved I am sure vvhen the Kinges of the earth were gathered togither and sawe it they marvailed they were astonied and suddainely driven backe Let mee adde the renowned citties of Italy by some never sufficiently magnified Rich Venice Greate Millaine Auncient Ravenna Fruitfull Bononia Noble Naples with all their glorious sisters and confederates and her that hath stolen the birth-right from the rest and saith she is ancientest and the mother to theÌ„ all which only is a citty in the iudgment of Quintilian and others are but townes were they all cities great and walled vp to heaven as those of the Anakins were they regions as hee spake of Babilon and every one a world in it selfe yet time shall weare them away sin shall dissolue and vndoe their composition and hee that is greate over all the kingdomes of the earth can cover them with brambles sowe them with salt and turne them vpside downe as if they had never beene When the Emperour Constantius came in triumph to Rome and behelde the companies that entertained him he repeated a saying of Cyneas the Epirote that he had seene so many Kings as Citizens But viewing the buildinges of the cittie the stately arches of the gates the turrets tombes temples theatres bathes and some of the workes like Babell so high that the eye of man coulde skarcely reach vnto them he was amazed and said that nature had emptied all her strength vpon that one cittie Hee spake to Hormiâ—da maister of his workes to erect him a brasen horse in Constantinople like vnto that of Traian the Emperour which hee there sawe Hormisda aunswered him that if hee desired the like horse hee must also provide him the like stable All this much more in the honour of Rome At length hee asked Horsmida what hee thought of the cittie Who tolde him that hee tooke not pleasure in any thing but in learning one lesson which was that men also died in Rome This was the end of those kinglie men which Constantius so tearmed and the end of that lady citty the mirrour and mistresse of the worlde vvill bee the same that hath befallen her predecessours And as nature emptied her selfe vpon it so shee must empty her selfe into nature againe if shee be so happy to fulfill the number of her daies and come to a perfit age but such may bee the iudgement of God vpon her notorious and vncureable witchcraftes that as an vntimely fruite shee may perish reape the meede of the bloud-sucker in the Psalme not to liue out halfe her daies Preach vnto it the preaching which I bid thee Or proclaime against it the proclamation which I enioyne thee So that first the matter must be receaved from the Lord secondly the manner must bee by proclamation and out-crying which requireth not onelye the lowdenesse of voice but the vehemency and fervency of courage to excecute his makers will In Esay they are both ioyned togither For first the Prophet is willed to cry And secondly because he was loth to trust the invention of his owne spirit hee taketh his texte from the mouth of the Lord What shall I cry that all fleshe is grasse c. Iohn Baptist in the gospell is but a voice himselfe not the authour nor speaker but onely the voice of one that cried in the wildernesse prepare the waies of the Lorde And whether hee spake as lowde as the will of that Crier was I report mee to the Scribes and Pharisees Publicans souldiers Herode and Herodias vvhose eares hee claue in two with denouncing his maisters iudgementes The preaching which I bid thee Howe daungerous it is for any messenger of the Lord to exceede the boundes of his commission by addinge his owne devises thereunto and taking words into his mouth which were never ministred vnto him or to come shorte of it by keeping backe the couÌ„sailes of his master which he hath disclosed to be made knowne let that fearefull protestation in the ende of the booke summing and sealing vp all the curses and woes that went before testifie to the worlde I protest vnto euerie man that beareth the wordes of the prophecie of this booke and of all those other bookes that the finger of God hath written If any man shall adde vnto these things God shall adde vnto him the plagues that are written in this booke And if any man shall diminishe of the wordes of the booke of this Prophecie God shall take away his parte out of the booke of life and out of the holy cittie and from those thinges which are written in this booke The protestation hath vveight enough vvithout helpe to make it sinke into the dullest eares of those who dare adventure at such a price to set their sacrilegious handes to those nice and religious pointes Let them bevvare that preach themselues and in their ovvne names and saye the Lord hath said vvhen he never said that abuse the worlde vvith olde wiues tales olde mens dreames traditions of Elders constitutions of Popes precepts of men vnwriten truthes vntrue writings or that sell the worde of the Lorde for gaine and marchandize that pearle which the vvise marchant vvill buy vvith all the treasure hee hath that holde the truth of God in vnreghteousnesse and dare not free their soules for feare of men and deale in the worke of the Lorde as adulterers in their filthines for as these esteeme not issue but lust so the others not the glory of God nor
LECTVRES VPON IONAS DELIVERED AT YORKE In the yeare of our Lorde 1594. By JOHN KINGE Newlie corrected and amended Printed at Oxford by IOSEPH BARNES and are to be solde in Paules Church-yarde at the signe of the Bible 1599. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE SIR THOMAS EGERTON KNIGHT LORD KEEPER OF THE GREAT SEALE MY very singular good Lord such honor and happines in this world as may vndoubtedly be accompanied with the happinesse and honour of Saintes in the world to come RIGHT Honourable in this prodigall and intemperate age of the vvorlde wherein every man writeth more than neede is and chooseth such patronage to his writinges as his heart fancieth If I haue taken the like libertie to my selfe both of setting my labours openly in the eies of men and your Honours eies especially over my labours I hope because it is not my private fault your Lordshippe will either forget to espie or not narrowly examine it The number of bookes written in these daies without number I say not more then the worlde can holde for it even emptieth it selfe of reason and moderation to giue place to this bookish folly and serveth vnder the vanitie thereof but more than well vse the titles whereof but to haue red or seene were the sufficient labour of our vnsufficient liues did earnestlie treate with mee to giue some rest to the Reader and not to devide him into more choice of bookes the plentie whereof hath alreadie rather hurte then furthered him and kept him barer of knowledge For much reading is but a wearinesse to the flesh and there is no ende of making or perusing many bookes For mine owne part I coulde haue beene wel content not to haue added more fulnesse to the sea nor to haue trained the credulous Reader along with the hope of a new seeming booke which in name and edition and fashion because the file hath a little otherwise beene drawne over it may so bee but touching the substance that of the Preacher was long since true and togither with the growth of the worlde receiveth dailie more strength That that is hath beene and there is no new thing vnder the sunne But as we all write learned and vnlearned crow-poets and py-poetesses though but our owne follies and ignoraunces and to purchase the credite of writers some as madde as the sea some out their owne shame and vncurable reproch whose vnhonest treatises fitter for the fire then the bookes of Protagoras presses are daily oppressed with the worlde burthened and the patience of modest and religious eares implacably offended so the ambitious curiositie of readers for their partes calling forth bookes as the hardnes of the Iewish heartes occasioned the libell of divorce and a kinde of Athenian humor both in learned and vnlearned of harkening after the Mart asking of the Stationers what new thinges thereby threatning as it were continually to giue over reading if there want variety to feede and draw them on made me the more willing to goe with the streame of the time and to set them some later taske wherein if their pleasure be their idler howres may be occupied My end and purpose therein if charitie interpret for mee will be found nothing lesse than vaine ostentation Because I haue spoken at times and may hereafter againe if God giue leaue and grace the meditations of my hearte to as manie and as chosen eares almost as these bookes can distract them vnto and these which I nowe publish were publicke enough before if the best day of the seven frequent concourse of people and the most intelligent auditory of the place vvherein I then lived may gaine them that credite So as this further promulgation of them is not much more then as the Gentiles besought Paule in the Actes the preaching of the same wordes an other sabbath day and some testimonie of my desire if the will of God so bee to doe a double good with my single and simple labours in that it grieveth mee not to write and repeate the same thinges And to adioine one reason more I shall never bee vnwilling to professe that I even owed the everlasting fruite of these vnworthie travailes to my former auditours who when I first sowed this seede amongst them did the office of good and thankefull grounde and received it with much gladnesse To whom since I vvent aside for a time farre from the natiue place both of my birth and breede as Jonas went to Niniveh to preach the preachinges of the Lorde or into the bellie of the fish out of his proper and naturall element to make his song so I to deliver these ordinarie and weekelie exercises amongest them the providence of God not suffering mee to fasten the cordes of mine often remooved tabernacle in those North-warde partes but sending mee home againe let it receiue favourable interpretation with all sortes of men that I send them backe but that labour which they paied for and therein the presence of my spirite pledge of mine hearte and an Epistle of that deserved loue and affection vvhich I iustlye beare them I trust no man shall take hurte heereby either nearer or father of excepte my selfe vvho haue chaunged my tongue into a penne and whereas I spake before with the gesture and countenance of a livinge man haue nowe buried my selfe in a dead letter of lesse effectuall perswasion But of my selfe nothing on either part I haue taken the counsaile of the wise neither to praise nor dispraise mine owne doinges The one hee saith is vanitie the other folly Thousandes will bee readie enough to ease mee of that paines the vncerteinty of whose iudgement I haue now put my poore estimation vpon either to stande or fall before them Howbeit I will not spare to acknoweledge that I haue done little heerein without good guides And as Iustus Lipsius spake of his Politicke centons in one sense all may bee mine in an other not much more then nothing For if ever I liked the waters of other mens vvelles I dranke of them deepely and what I added of mine owne either of reaching or exhortation I commende it to the good acceptance of the worlde with none other condition then the Emperour commended his sonnes sipromerebuntur if it shall deserue it Nowe the reasons which mooved mee to offer these my first fruites vnto your good Lordshippe may soone bee presumed though I name them not For when the eie that seeth you blesseth you and all tongues giue witnesse to your righteous dealing shoulde mine bee silent yea blessed bee the God of heaven that hath placed you vpon the seate of iustice to displace falshood and wrong The vine of our English Church spreadeth her branches with more chearefulnesse through the care which your honour hath over her You giue her milke without silver and breade without mony vvhich not many other patrons doe In this vnprofitable generation of ours wherein learning is praised and goeth naked men wondering at schollers
there anie vessell more or lesse in honour then the rest are Moses is no better then Samuel Samuel thē David David a king then Amos an heardman Iohn Baptist more then a prophet not more then a prophet in this auctority Peter or Andrewe the first that was chosen not better then Paul that was borne out of due time The foure beastes in the Revelation haue eies alike before and behinde and the Apostles names are euenly placed in the writings of the holy foundation Salomon the vvisest king that euer vvas in Ierusalem perceiued righte vvell that wheresoeuer the vncreated vvisedome of GOD spake it spake of excellent thinges even thinges seemelie for Princes David his princelie father before him had so high a conceite of these ordinances of the most high that vvhere he defineth any thing he esteemeth them for value aboue great spoiles and thousandes of gold and silver yea all maner of riches and for sweetnesse aboue the hony and the honycombe where he leaueth to define he breaketh of with admiration wonderfull are thy testimonies I haue seene an ende of all perfection but thy commandement is exceeding broade meaning thereby not lesse then infinite The Iewes acknowledge the old testament abhorre the new the Turkes disclaime Iulian atheists and skorners deride Grecians haue stumbled at both olde and newe Papistes enlarge the olde vvith Apocryphall vvritings some of the ancient heretickes renoūced some prophets others added to the number of Evangelists but as the disciples of Christ had but one Maister or teacher in heauen and they were all brethren so one was the authour of these holy vvrittes in heaven and they are all sisters and companions and vvith an vnpartiall respect haue the children of Christes familie from time to time receiued reverenced and embraced the whole and entire volume of them They knowe that one Lorde vvas the originall fountaine of them all vvho being supremely good vvrought and spake perfect goodnesse One vvorde and vvisedome of God revealed these wordes to the sonnes of men himselfe the subiect and scope of them one holie Ghost endited them one bloude of the lambe sealed and confirmed the contentes of them one measure of inspiration vvas given to the pen-men and actuaries that set them downe one spowse and beloved of Christ as gages of his eternall loue hath received them all in keeping And surely shee hath kept them as the apple of her eie and rather then any maime or rent shoulde bee made in their sacred bodye shee hath sent her children into heaven maimed in their owne bodies and spoiled of their dearest bloud they had thinking it a crowne of ioie vnto them to lay downe their liues in the cause of trueth And therefore as branches of the same vine that bare our predecessours to vvhome by devolution these sacred statutes are come vvee esteeme them all for Gods most royall and celestiall testament the oracles of his heavenly sanctuary the onelie keye vnto vs of his revealed counselles milke from his sacred breastes the earnest and pledge of his favour to his Church the light of our feete ioy of our heartes breath of our nostrels pillar of our faith anchor of our hope ground of our loue evidences and deedes of our future blessednes pronouncing of the vvhole booke with every schedule and skrole therein conteyned as hee did of a booke that Sextius vvrote but vpon farre better groundes vivit viget liber est supra hominem est It is a booke of life a booke of liuelyhood a booke in deede savouring of more then the wit of man Notwithstanding as the parcelles of this booke were published and delivered by divers notaries the instruments of Gods owne lippes in divers ages divers places vpon divers occasions and neither the argument nor the stile nor the end and purpose the same in them all some recounting thinges forepassed some foreseeing thinges to come some singing of mercy some of iudgement some shallowe for the lambe to wade in some deepe enough to beare and drowne the Elephant some meate that must bee broken and chevved vvith painefull exposition some drinke that at the first sighte may bee supt and swallowed dovvne somevvhat in some or other parte that may please all humours as the Ievves imagine of their Manna that it rellishte not to all alike but to everie man seemed to taste accordinglie as his hart lusted so though they vvere all vvritten for our learning and comforte yet some may accorde at times and lende application vnto vs for their matter and vse more then others Of all the fovvles of the ayre I meane the Prophetes of the LORDE flying from heaven vvith the winges of divine inspiration I haue chosen the Doue for so the name of Ionah importeth and Ierome so rendereth it to Paulinus to bee the subiecte of my labour and travell vndertaken amongest you vvho vnder the type of his shipwracke and escape figuringe the passion and resurrection of the sonne of GOD and comming from the sea of Tharsis as that Doue of Noahs Arke came from the vvaters of the floude vvith an oliue branch in his lippes in signe of peace preacheth to Niniveh to the Gentiles to the vvhole vvorlde the vndeserved goodnesse of GOD towardes repentant sinners For if you vvill knowe in briefe vvhat the argument of this Prophet is it is abridged in that sentence of the Psalme The LORDE is mercifull and gracious of longe suffering and of grette goodnesse Hee is mercifull in the first parte of the prophecy to the Mariners gracious in the seconde to Ionas long suffering in the thirde to the Ninivites and of great goodnesse in the fourth in pleading the rightfulnesse of his mercie and yeelding a reason of his facte to him vvhich had no reason to demaunde it So from the foure chapters of Ionas as from the foure windes is sent a comfortable breath and gale of most aboundant mercies And as the foure streames in paradise flowing from one heade vvere the same water in foure divisions so the foure chapters or sections of this treatise are but quadruple mercie or mercie in foure parts And so much the rather to bee harkened vnto as an action of mercie is more gratefull vnto vs then the contemplation the vse then the knowledge the example then the promise and it is sweeter to our taste beeing experienced by proofe then vvhen it is but taught and discoursed You heare the principall matter of the prophecie But if you woulde knowe besides what riches it offereth vnto you it is a spirituall library as Cassiodore noted of the Psalmes of most kindes of doctrine fit for meditation or as Isidore spake of the Lordes prayer and the Creede the vvhole breadth of scripture may hither bee reduced Here you haue Genesis in the sodaine and miraculous creation of a gourd Moses and the lawe in denuntiation of iudgement Chronicle in the relation of an history Prophecy in prefiguring the resurrection of
longe as there shall bee a Chronicler in the vvorlde to vvrite the legende of the French Iacobin I shall ever haue in ielousie the comminge of these emissaries and spies from their vnholie fraternities into Princes courtes They persecute the infante in his mothers belly and the childe yet vnborne vvhome they seeke to dispossesse of their Fathers and Grand-fathers auncient inheritaunces hovve gladlye vvoulde they see an vniversall alteration of thinges Israell cast out and the Iebusite brought in crying in our houses complayning in our streetes leading into captivity throughout all quarters themselues as it were the handes and members to this body and yet playing the first vnnaturall part and studying to cut the throate of it Now what comparison is there betvvixt quenching a sparcle of vvild-fire here and there flying vp and downe to burne our country and quenching the light of Israell betwixt the incision of a veine now and then to let out rancke bloud and choaking the breath of Israell betwixt destroying one and one at times and destroying that vnitie wherein the whole consisteth for such is our persecution and such are theirs The person to whome the coÌ„mission was directed is Ionas the son of Amittai wherein you haue 1. his name Ionas 2. his parentage the son of Amittai 3. you may adde his country from the 9. ver An Hebrew 4. his dwelling place from the 2. Kings Gath Hepher for there was another Gath of the Philistines 5. the time of his life prophecy from the same booke Vnder the reigne of Ieroboam the second or not far of 6. the tribe whereof he was namely a Zabulonite for that Gath appertaineth to the tribe of Zabulon you haue as much of the person as is neeedefull to be knowen The opinion of the Hebrewes is and some of our Christian expositours following theâ—r steps affirme that Ionas was sonne to the widdow of Sarepta and that he is called the sonne of Amittai not from a proper person his father that begat hâ—m but from an event that happened For after Elias had restored him to life the mother brake forth into this speech Nowe I perceiue that thou art the man of God and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is true Therehence they say he was named the son of Amittai that is the sonne of truth by reason of that miracle truely accomplished Surely the word of the Lorde that gaue a commission to Ionas to goe to Niniveh giveth no commission to vs to goe to such forreine and vnproper interpretations So long as we heare it but in our owne country as the Queene of the South spake of those that are flesh and bloud like our selues and interpreters perhaps not so much of the counsels of God as their owne coniectures we are at liberty to refuse them where wee heare it from the mouth of Salomon or Ionas or one that is more then them both wee are ready to giue credit Our boundes are set which wee must not passe wee may not turne to the right hande nor to the lefte and neither adde nor diminish nor alter any thing of Gods testimonies It is a zealous contention that God maketh in Ieremy They shall know whose word shall stande mine or theirs Who hath instructed the spirit of the Lorde or was his counseller or hath taught him Shall we correct or rather corrupt falsifie depraue the wisedome of God in speaking vvho is farre vviser then men who made the mouth and the tongue openeth the lips instilleth grace and knowledge into them Let it suffice vs that the spirit of truth and the very finger of God in setting downe his minde hath eased vs of these fruitles and godlesse troubles and expressed this Prophet to bee an Hebrew not a Gentile his dwelling place to be Gath Hepher in the possessions of Zabulon not Sarepta a Citie of Sidon And as it is the manner of the scrâ—pture vvhere the Prophets are named there to reckon withall the names of their fathers as Esay the sonne of Amos Ieremy of Hilkiah Ezekiell of Buzi c so there is no likelihood to the contrary but the father of Ionas is meant vvhen he is called the sonne of Amittai But it is the maner of some to languish about wordes and in seeking deepely after nothing to loose not onely their time travell and thankes but their wits also Such hath beene the sickenesse of all the Allegoristes for the most part both of the former and later times I excepte not Origen their prince and originall patrone who not contenting themselues vvith the literall and genuine sense of the scripture but making some mysterie of the plainest history that ever was delivered and darkening the evident purpose of the holy Ghost vvith the busie fansies of their owne heades as if one should cast cloudes and smoke vpon the sun-beames haue left the scripture in many places no more like it selfe then Michals image in the bed vpon a pillowe of goates haire was like David How forwarde haue our schoole-men beene in this rancknesse of wit how haue they doted and even died vpon superfluous questions hovv haue they defaced the precious word of God finer theÌ„ the gold of Ophir with the drosse of their owne inventions setting a pearle aboue value in lead burying the richest treasure that the world knoweth in their affected obscurities For not to speake of their changing the stile of the holy Ghost into such barbarous desert terms as that if the Apostles now lived as Erasmus noteth they must speake with another spirit and in another language to encounter them how many knots haue they made in divinity subtilties vvithout the circle and compasse of the worlde and such as Chrysippus never thought vpon to as little purpose as if they had throwne dust into the aire or hunted their shadowes they had done more service to the Church of God if they had laid their handes a great number of them vpon their mouthes and kept silence Rupertus Gallus likeneth them to one that carrieth manchet at his backe and feedeth vpon flint stones For these reiecting the bread of life the simple word of God and the power thereof macerate and starue themselues with frivolous sophistications One of their questions for a taste or rather as Melchior Cane tearmeth them their monsters and chimers is vvhether an asse may drinke Baptisme It is not vnlike another in that kinde whether a mouse may eate the body of the Lord More tolerable a greate dâ—ale were the questions which Albutius the mooter proposed in a controversie why if a cup fell downe it brake if a sponge it brake not Cestius as scornfully censured him To morrow he wil declame why thrushes flie and gourdes flie not These are the mistes of Gods iudgement vpon the heartes of such men who having Manna from heaven preferre a cornes before it and leaue the breade in their fathers house to eate the huskes of beanes
preachers And let him make those preachers and hearers hearers and doers doers and perseverers good teachers good learners good liuers everlasting companions within our borders So shall our land be blessed with all both heauenly and earthly encrease and God even our owne God shall never repent that hee bestowed such blessing vpon vs Amen THE SECOND LECTVRE Cap. 1. vers 2. Arise and goe to Niniveh that great citie crie against it for their wickednesse is come vp before mee NOT to trouble you with longer repetition wee enquired in the former exercise of these three pointes 1. The place which Ionas was sent vnto 2. his busines there 3. the cause Touching the place we proposed foure reasons why God sent him to Niniveh 1. To keepe his manner and vse of foretelling the plague before hee inflicteth it 2. to set vp a standard of hope to the rest of the Gentiles that they also should pertake the goodnes of God 3. to prevent his people with mercy and to take vp favour in Assyria for them before hand against the time of their banishmente 4. to shame and confound the house of Israell with the singular repentance of a strange people Niniveh is further beautified in my text by two epithets or additions the one describing the nature or kind of the place A citie the other the quantity or amplenes thereof A great citie The inference from both these must needes be this that because it was a city and a great city it was therefore stately for wealthines glorious for buildings well peopled tedious to be gone through perillous to bee threatned where the prophet was likely to finde in all states of men Princes Counsellors Courtiers Marchants Communers mightie contradiction The greatnesse of Niniveh is more plentifullie set downe in the thirde of this prophecie vvhere it is tearmed a greate and an excellent citie of three dayes iourney It had an auncient testimony long before in the booke of Genesis for thus Moses vvriteth that Asshur came from the lande of Shinar and builte Niniveh and Rehoboth and Calah and Resin betweene Niniveh and Calah at length he singleth out Niniveh from the rest and setteth a speciall marke of preheminence vpon it This is a greate citie VVhich honour by the iudgement of the most learned though standing in the last place belongeth to the first of the foure cities namelie to Niniveh Others imagined but their coniecture is without grounde that the vvhole foure cities vvere closed vp vvithin the same vvalles and made but one of an vnusuall bignesse Some ascribe the building of Niniveh to Ninus the sonne of Belus of vvhome it tooke the name to bee called either Ninus as we reade in Plinie or after the manner of the Hebrewes Niniveh They conceiue it thus that when Nimrod had builte Babylon Ninus disdaining his governement went into the fieldes of Ashur and there erected a citie after his owne name betweene the rivers Lycus and Tybris Others suppose that the affinitye betwixt these names Ninus and Niniveh deceaved prophane writers touching the authour thereof and that it tooke to name Niniveh because it was beautifull or pleasant Others holde opinion that Ashur and Ninus are but one and the same person And lastly to conclude the iudgement of some learned is that neither Ashur nor Ninus but Nimrod himselfe was the founder of it But by the confession of all both sacred and Gentile historyes the citâ—e vvas verie spacious having foure hundred and eighty furlonges in circuite vvhen Babylon had fewer almost by an hundred and as afterwardes it grew in wealth and magnificence so they write is was much more enlarged Raphaël Volateranus affirmeth that it was eight yeares in building and not by fewer at once then ten thousand workemen There was no citie since by the estimation of Diodorus Siculus that had like compasse of grounde or statelines of walles the height whereof was not lesse theÌ„ an 100 feete the breadth sufficiently capable to haue received 3. cartes on a row they were furnished and adorned besides with a 1500 turrets The holy Ghost no doubt had a double purpose in giving this glorious title of distinction vnto Niniveh the one in respect of Ionas the other of Niniveh it selfe 1 In respect of Ionas it was the meaning of God to trie and arme his prophet before hand with commemoration of the greatest difficulties that by naming the worst at the first vnto him hee might prooue his obedience whether hee felt himselfe disposed to holde out and so settle his thoughts in some sort in declaring the costes of the building before hee vndertooke it least afterwardes when hee came and founde the danger of the place beyond his expectation hee might complaine of God as we read that Ieremy did I am deceived O Lord and thou hast deceived mee Thus hee dealt with Abraham his servant in the 22. of Genesis about the offering of his son whose faith and obedience hee sounded before by aggravating in his eares everye circumstance of the action that Abraham might forecast with himselfe whether the infirmity of his nature were able to brook it for it is written there that God did prooue Abraham The proofe was thus Abraham take 1 thy sonne 2 thine onely sonne 3 Isaac thy son 4 whome thou lovest take him 5 thy selfe take him 6 nowe presently 7 get thee into the lande of Moriah 8 there offer him offer him 9 for a burnt offeringe vpon one of the mountaines which I shall shew thee The weight of every worde is enough to bruise him in pieces and make him since downe vnder the burthen of that charge 1. Take thy sonne not thy bondman nor beast nor any common thing that belongeth vnto thee 2. thine onelie sonne the onely begotten of the free woman 3. not Ismaell but Isaac thy sonne to vvhome thy promises are established 4. Isaac whome thou lovest as tender and deare vnto thee as the bowelles of thine owne breast 5. take him in thine owne person even thou the father of the childe turne not over the execution to any other man 6. take him without delay I giue thee no time to deliberate nor day nor houre to conferre vvith thy selfe and to comfort thy broken harte about the losse of thy beloved 7. Get thee into the land of Moriah which will aske the travell of three daies so long vvill I holde and suspend thy soule in bitternes 8. leaue not thy sonne in Moriah as an Orphan without his father to soiourne in a straunge country offer him in sacrifice commit slaughter vpon his flesh 9. lastly vvhen thou hast slaine him thou shalt burne him in the fire and consume him to ashes thou shalt not spare thy sonne for my sake neyther quicke nor deade So likewise vvhen he sent Ezechiel to the rebels of Israell hee gaue him this provision Sonne of man I sende thee to the children of Israell What are they I will not
for the kings shippes went to Tharsis with the servants of Hiram every three yeares once came the shippes of Tharsis and brought golde and silver yvorye apes and peacockes or vvhether it signifie Carthage which Dido sometime built and is now called Tunes which is the opinion of Theodoret and others or vvhether Tartessus a towne in Spaine or vvhether that city in Cilicia nearer to Syria vvhence Paul reporteth himselfe to haue beene in the 21. of the Actes I am a citizen in Tharsis a famous city in Cilicia or vvhether the whole countrey of Cilicia because in auncient times if Iosephus deceiue vs not all Cilicia vvas called Tharsis by the name of the chiefe city or whether it name vnto vs any other place not yet agreed vpon partly by curious partly by industrious authors it skilleth not greatly to discourse I leaue you for your satisfactiō therin to more ample cōmentaries But certeine I am vvhether his minde beare him to lande or to sea to Asia or Africk cuntry or city nearer or farther of at Niniveh he commeth not which was the place of Gods apointment Many dispute many things vvhy Ionas forsooke Niniveh and fled to Tharsis 1. The infirmity of the flesh some say was the cause pusillanimity of minde vvant of courage beeing terrified vvith the greatnesse of the citye 2. Or there was no hope say others of the dry when the greene was so barren The children of Israell had so hardened his heart with the hardnesse of theirs that he coulde not imagine the children of Ashur would ever haue fallen to repentāce 3. Or the strangenesse of the charge dismaide him for vvhen all other Prophets were sent to Israell he reasoneth vvith himselfe vvhy should I bee sent to Niniveh it was as vncoth vnto him as when Peter was willed to arise kill and eate vncleane beastes and hee answered in plaine termes not so Lorde 4. Or it might bee zeale to his countrey because the conversion of the Gentiles hee sawe woulde bee the eversion of the Iewes And surely this is a greate tentation to the minde of man the disadvantage and hinderance of brethren For this cause Moses interposed himselfe in the quarrell betvveene the Hebrew and the AEgyptian and slew the AEgyptian and in the behalfe of all Israell he afterwardes prayed vnto the Lord against his owne soule If thou wilt pardon their sinne thy mercie shall appeare but if thou wilt not I pray thee raze mee out of the booke of life which thou hast written 5. Or it might bee hee was afraide to be accounted a false prophet if the sequele of his prophecy fell not out which reason is afterward expressed by him in the fourth chapter I pray thee Lorde was not this my saying when I was in mine owne countrey c. As I saide of the place before so of the reasons that mooved him for this present till fitter occasions bee offered vvhatsoever it vvere that drewe him awaie vvhether weakenesse of spirite or despayre of successe or insolency of charge or ielousie over the Israelites or feare of discredite sure I am that hee commeth not to Niniveh but resolveth in his heart to reiect a manifest commandement I make no quaestion but in every circumstance forehandled he vncovereth his owne nakednes and laieth himselfe open to the censure and crimination of all men As who would say will you know the person without dissembling his name It was Ionas his readines without deliberation he ariseth his hast without intermission he flyeth the place farre distant from the which God had appointed Tharsis And if all these will not serue to prooue the disobedience of Ionas a a fault by his owne confession then harken vnto the next word if other were but candels to discover it this is a blazing lampe to lay it forth to all mens sight 5 From the presence of the Lord. He flyeth into Tharsis from the presence of the Lorde how can that bee if it bee true which David wisheth in the 27. Psalme Blessed bee his glorious name for ever and let all the earth bee filled with his glorie But in the hundreth thirty and eighth Psalme wonderfull are the testimonies that the prophet there bringeth to amplifie Gods illimited presence O Lord thou hast tried mee and knowne mee thou knowest my sitting and my rising thou vnderstandest my thoughtes a farre of c. For not to stay your eares with commemoration of all those argumentes this I gather in summe that there is neither heaven nor hell nor the outtermost part of the sea neither day nor night light nor darkenesse that can hide vs from his face Our sitting rising lying downe the thoughtes of our heartes wordes of our tongues waies of our feete nay our raines our bones our mothers wombes wherein wee laye in our first informitye and imperfection are so well knowne vnto him If this vvere his purpose to thinke that the presence of God might bee avoided who sitteth vpon the circle of heaven and beholdeth the inhabitantes of the earth as grasse-hoppers whose throne is the heaven of heavens and the earth his footestoole and his waies are in the greate deepe I must then needes say vvith Ieremie doubtlesse every man is a beast by his owne knowledge Prophet or no prophet If the spirit of God instruct him not hee is a beast worse then Melitides that naturall foole of vvhome Histories speake that hee coulde not define whether his father or his mother brought him forth But I cannot suppose such palpable and grosse ignorance in a prophet who knowing that God was well knowen in Iurie and his name greate in Israell coulde not be ignorant that God was the same God and the presence of his Godhead no lesse in Tharsis and all other countries What then is the meaning of this phrase He fled from the presence of the Lord 1. Some expounde it thus He left the whole border and grounde of Israell where the presence of the Lord though it were not more then in other places yet it was more evident by the manifestations of his favours graces towards them There was the Arke of the covenant and the sanctuary and the Lord gaue them answere by dreames oracles and other more speciall arguments of his abode there Moses spake truth in the 4. of Deut. of this priviledge of Israel what nation is so great vnto whom their Gods come so neare vnto them as the Lord is neare vnto vs in all that wee call vpon him for Davids acclamation Psalm 147. goeth hande in hand with it He hath not dealt so with other nations neither haue the heathen knowledge of his iudgments But I rather conceiue it thus which maketh much for the confirmation of my matter now in hand He fled from the presēce of the Lord when hee turned his backe vpon him shooke of his yoke and willfully renounced his commaundement It is a signe of obedience that servantes beare vnto their Lords and maisters when
of iudgemente But order is taken against such offenders that because they feare not death they should feare somethinge after death So saide the Poet who saw no further into these things than the glasse of nature gaue him light They that haue wrought themselues a causeles death And hating light aboue throwne out their breath How would they ioy to be aliue againe Though put to penury and bitter'st paine And mee thinketh the reason of that law to debarre them from honest buriall can never be disproved Qui sibijpsi non parcit quomodo parcet alijs Hee that spareth not his owne person hâ—vve will hee spare other men There is but one example in the whole booke of God wherein there is any colour of patronage for this prodigious and treacherour sinne against their owne bodies The example of Sampson burying himselfe and the Philistines vvith the fall of an house vvhich is not otherwise excused by â—â—â—ustine but that a secret spirit vvilled him so to doe For it appeareth in the booke of Iudges where the history is written that his strength vvas renewed and hee called vpon the Lorde at the instante of his death And in the eleventh to the Hebrewes hee is well reported of in that cloude of righteous men by the spirite of God I haue helde you longe in disputing this question vvhich manye a one hath disputed to himselfe vvithout replie vvhen the malignaunt spirite hath once but vvhispered it into his cares easilie drawne to make a conclusion againste bodye and soule vvithout longer deliberation Such haue beene the direfull tragoedies which ofte haue beene presented vpon the face of the â—arth carrying alwaies a note of a most distrustfull minde either suspecting it selfe that it is vnable to beare the burthens of calamitye imminent or hating and abhorring it selfe for some iniquity committed Now what shall wee thinke the affection of Ionas was in this case giving and not lesse then thrusting vpon them full power of his person Take mee and cast mee into the sea Iudas we knowe vpon the stinge of his guilty conscience hunge himselfe vpon an alder-tree and burst in the middest Achitophell did the like because his counselles were defeated Saul fell vpon his sworde that hee might not come into the handes of the Philistines Domitius Nero fearing the approch of Galba and hearing that a sentence of the Senate was passed against him to stande in the pillorie and to be beaten with roddes to death for his outragious both tyrannies and impurities of life finding no man to strike him and exclaming against them all vvhat haue I neither friende nor foe I haue lived dishonourably let mee dye shamefullye strake himselfe through with his owne sworde his trembling hand directed thereunto by a beastlye Eunuch Others through other impatience angry with heauen and earth GOD and man haue desperately departed with Aiax in the tragoedie It doeth mee good to haue vanquished heaven the GODS the lightening the sea all oppositions Thus in effecte did Cato triumph Nihil egistâ— fortuna fortune thou haste not sped Thus mighte Ionas cast with himselfe Is there a God in heaven windes in the aire and waues in the sea that crosse my intent I wil haue my will though I die for it Sic sic iuvat ire sub vmbras So even so it easeth my stomacke to take my leaue of this life But never shall it enter into my heart thus to conceiue of a righteous and repentaunt prophet who ratâ—â—â—â—umbleth his soule vnder the handes of GOD framinge these of the like perswasions to himselfe I see the purpose of the most High cannot bee chaunged I kicke against the prickes heauen hath proclaimed mee a traitour the windes and the seas haue hearde it and whiles there is breath in the one and water in the other I shall not goe vnpunished the worde of the Lorde is good that hee hath spoken the wisedome of the Lorde is vviser than the foolishnesse of men and the strength of the Lord stronger than the weakenesse of man the Lorde doe that that is good in his sight Cast mee therefore into the sea throw mee into the mouth of iustice let the hunger and thirst of it bee satisfied for I haue deserved no lesse Surelye there is not a vvoorde in this vvhole speech but full of vertuous charitable and mysticall obedience Wee are nowe come to the ende of his resolution VVherein wee haue two thinges to beare away first his charity to his companions vvherewith hee tendered the safegarde of their liues secondly the figure hee bare For hee vvas a type of that vndefiled Lambe by whome the nations of the worlde shoulde be redeemed His charity appeareth in plaine tearmes that the sea may bee calme vnto you It is no pleasure vnto him to haue the liues of others brought in question for his sake hee is not of the nature of some men neither profitable in their life time and at their deathes of most vngratious desolatory hatefull affections who make it their ease and comforte in some sorte to haue their miseries accompanied and so they bee not alone in destruction they are lesse grieved The Poets expresse the vncompassionate style of these Catilinarie dispositions When I am deade saieth one of them let the earth bee mixed with fire Medaea cryeth in the tragoedy It were the onely felicitie to see all thinges ruinated when I goe my selfe Domitius Nero of whome I spake before caused Rome to bee fired in twelue places togitheir that hee mighte see a patterne howe Troye burnte himselfe the meane while singing verses out of Homer VVhat were their prizes and combates in the theatre of Rome but the slaughteringes of men to mooue pleasure and delight When the people desired Theodosius the Emperour to graunt them those sportes hee aunswered them A milde prince must temper himselfe both from cruell governemente and from cruell spectacles The same matter falling into debate at Athens Demonax gaue iudgemente that if they vvill publickely receaue so greate atrociâ—ye and cruelty amongest them they should first overthrowe the altar of mercy His meaning was that mercy hath no place vvhere there is admission of such heathenish cruelties Cyprian in his seconde booke of Epistles making mention of this custome sheweth their manner thereof that their bodyes were fedde before hande and dieted with stronge meates to fill them with iuice and bloude that beeing fatted to punishment they mighte dye vvith more coste it may bee glorie but with lesse contentation Hee much inveigheth against it that man shoulde bee killed to delighte man and that an arte science or skill thereof shoulde bee practised not onelye vvickednesse vvroughte but taughte by precept They had a custome besides to enter combate vvith wilde beastes men of a sound age lustie able vvell-favoured persons vvell apparelled wente to a voluntary death and fought with the beastes not for any offence committed but in a mad moode And as the actours
coaction It is vvritten in the booke that I shoulde doe thy vvill I am content to doe it O my God it is as deepelye vvritten in mine own wil and thy lavve is in the middest not in a corner of my hearte You see his willingnesse being called he aunswered beeing sent wente with as cheerefull a spirite as every any servaunt the Centurion kepte his eare vvas opened vvith attention as it were vvith the avvle of the lavve his desires accommodated no other way and not an angle but the hearte of his hearte and the inmost concavity vvhich they say is made to containe vitall breath was filled vp vvith subiection to his fathers pleasure Incredulous souldiours if yee beleeue not this open his side with a speare and pearce his hearte to the center of it and tell mee if he vvrote not vvith streames of bloude as sometimes hee vvrote in the dust perfitte obedience towarde his father vncredible loving kindnesse towards our vngratefull generation Looke into the Arke yee curious Bethshemites examine the secrets of it and tell me what yee finde Bring hither your fingers and thrust your nailes into the printes of his woundes and sounde the bottome if you canne of his vvilling and hearty disposition VVas hee not dumbe before the shearer or did hee ever abuse nay open his mouth before the slaughterer though they tooke both fleece and flesh from him his cloake and his coate to did hee ever repine vvas his voice hearde in the streetes though the verye stones in the streetes coulde haue founde in their heartes to haue spoken and cryed in his cause Augustine applyeth to his passion the vvordes of the Psalme I vvill lay mee dovvne in peace and take my rest Ego cum pondere pronunciandum est wee must pronounce I vvith vveighte to shevve that hee suffered death vvith his free assent And Bernarde noteth vpon the seconde of the Canticles Beholde hec commeth leaping by the mountaines and skipping over the hilles that being nimble of spirite fervent in loue zealous in pietie he overcame all others in the alacrity of his ministration as hee vvhome GOD had annointed vvith the oile of gladnesse aboue all his fellovves hee outleapte Gabriell the Archangell sayeth hee and came to the Virgine before him by the testimony of the Angell himselfe Haile Marie full of grace Dominus tecum The Lorde is vvith thee Beholde thou leftest him in heaven and findest him in the vvombe Hovve can this be volavit praevolavit super pennas ventorum Hee flevve and overflevve thee vpon the vvinges of the vvinde and hee that sent thee before is come before thee If you vvill knovve his other leapes Gregory setteth them downe that as he leapte from heaven into the vvombe so from the wombe into the manger from the manger to the crosse from the crosse to the graue from the graue into heauen againe and thence wee looke for his seconde comming I knovve that for my sake this greate tempest is vpon you Ionas knew the cause of their daunger partly by propheticall revelation which manner of knowledge was private to Ionas with but few other men partely by touch of conscience vvhich he liueth not vpon the earth that can escape Tempestes you haue had in your dayes vvithout number but first grandis tempest as haec This greate and vnvvoonted tempest which is not onely come vpon mee but secondly super vos vpon you also thirdly I knovve and am without doubte that it is raised fourthly for my sake Though it mingle the nocent and innocent vnrighteous and righteous togither as the nettes in the gospell mingle the good and badde fish yet am I the springe of it and thereof I am as certaine as that I knovve my righte hande I knovve that for my sake Ionas vvas very forvvarde before in Confession hee tolde them the vvhole progresse of his disobedience but never proceeded thus farre For yet hee mighte haue pleaded I graunt I am a sinner it may be you as deepely as my selfe but vvhen he seeth the siege of the anger of God lie so hote close to the wals of his conscience that it will not be remooved then Novi quia propter me I know that it is for my sake Many are straungers to themselues for a space and vvill seeme to bee ignoraunte of their owne doinges charge them vvith sinne they vvill say and sweare and binde it with cursing I knowe it not in the same tearmes that Peter denied his master Non novi hominem I knowe not the man But when Christ looketh backe I meane when they finde themselues narrowly eied and remembred then I knowe that for my sake it is that hee looketh backe VVhen our saviour toulde his people as hee sate at supper with them One of you shall betray mee doe you thinke the traitour would bewray himselfe no though they vvere all sorrowfull and asked one after one Is it I yet is hee as forwarde as the rest to aske that question also Is it I master albeit he knewe it as perfitly as his owne name Being but one amongst twelue and eleven more in company to beare a part of the burthen hee thoughte he was safe enough Seneca by his owne confession and preface to his tale reporteth a strange but a true thing of Harpastes a foole and and vvith age a blinde beldame Shee knoweth not that shee is blinde and often entreateth her guide to goe foorth of dores because the house is darke Neither is there any saieth hee amongst vs that knoweth his faultes Every man flattereth himselfe Non ego ambitiosus sum I am not ambitious nor covetous nor luxurious nor given to this or that vice David knewe not the man that Nathan spake of hee pronounced of a person vnknowne vnto him The man that hath done this is the childe of death This is but mufling of the conscience for a time as Thamar mufled her face to take a short pleasure but Thamar shall bee discovered and all heartes shall bee opened the cockatrice that hath lien in her hole will come to warme her selfe against the heate of the sunne Adam will be brought from his bushes and Sarah from behinde the doore and a man shall say to his consciâ—nce as Ahab said to Elias Haste thou founde mee O mine enemie The Delphians made no scruple to murther Aesope amongst them but when they were plagued with death and mortality therevpon they walked vp and downe in all the publicke assemblies of Greece and caused it to bee proclaimed by noise of criers that whosoever would should bee avenged vpon them for the death of Aesope they knewe that for their sakes the plagues came The accusers of the adulteresse in the Gospell hovve skilfull and busie were they in detecting and following her fact 1. they had taken her 2. in the acte 3. they set her in the midst 4. they vrged the law Moses commaunded that shee shoulde bee stoned
Christ the precepts and ordinaunces of his law his mysteries of faith haue beene often preached often heard yet never wearied never satisfied those that hungered and thirsted after his saving health I goe backe to my purpose Ionas you heare praied This is the life of the soule which before I spake of when being perplexed with such griefe of heart as neither wine according to the advise of Salomon nor stronge drinke could bring ease vnto her toÌ„gue cleaving to the roofe of her mouth and her spirite melting like waxe in the middest of her bowels when it is day calling for the night againe and when it is night saying to her selfe when shall it be morning finding no comforte at allâ— either in light or darkenesse kinsfolkes or friendes pleasures or riches and wishing as often as shee openeth her lippes and draweth in her breath vnto her if God were so hasty to heare those wishes Oh that thou wouldest hide me in the graue and keepe me secret vntill thy wrath were past yet then shee taketh vnto her the wings of a doue the motion and agility I meane of the spirite of God shee flieth by the strength of her praiers into the bosome of Gods mercies and there is at rest Is any afflicted amongest you Let him pray Afflicted or not afflicted vnder correction of apostolique iudgement let him pray For what shall he else doe Shall he follow the vvaies of the wicked which the prophet describeth the wicked is so prowde that hee seeketh not after God hee saith evermore in his heart there is no God hee boasteth of his owne heartes desires he blesseth himselfe and contemneth the Lorde the iudgementes of God are high aboue his sight therefore hee snuffeth at his enimies and saith to himselfe I shall never be mooved nor come in daunger I can name you a man that in his prosperity said even as they did I shall never be moved thou Lorde of thy goodnesse hast made my hill so strong But see the change Thou diddest but hide thy face and I was troubled Then cried I vnto Lorde and prayed vnto my God saying what profite is there in my bloud c. Or shall hee vvith those vnrighteous priests in Malachie vse bigge wordes against the LORDE It is in vaine that I haue served him and what profite is it that I haue kepte his commaundementes and vvalked in humility before him O the counsell of the vvicked bee farre from mee saith Iob their candell shall often bee put out and the sorrowe of the fathers shal bee laide vp for their children and they shall even drinke the wrath of the Almighty And all such as feare the Lord speake otherwise every one to his neighbour and the Lorde harkeneth and heareth it and a booke of remembrance is written for them that feare him and thinke vpon his name Or shall he on the other side when his sorrowes are multiplied vpon him saie as it is in the Psalme vvho will shew mee any good thing Let him aunswere the distrust of his minde in the nexte woordes Lorde lifte thou vp the lighte of thy countenaunce vpon mee Thou shalt put more ioy thereby into mine hearte than the plentifullest enâ—rease of corne wine and oile can bring to others Or lastly what shall hee doe shall hee adde griefe vnto griefe and welcome his woes vnto him shal he drinke downe pensiuenesse as Behemoth drinketh downe Iordan into his mouth shall hee bury himselfe aliue and drowne his soule in a gulfe of desperation shall hee liue the life of Cain or die the death of Iudas shall hee spend his wretched time in bannings and execrations cursing the night that kept counsaile to his conception cursing the day that brought tidings of his bringing forth cursing the earth that beareth him the aire that inspireth him the light that shineth vpon him shall hee curse God and die or perhappes curse God and not die or shall he keepe his anguish to himselfe let his heart burst like newe bottelles that are full of wine for want of venting or shall hee howle and yell into the aire like the wolues in the wildernesse and as the maner of the heathen is not knowing where or how to make their mone feeling a wounde but not knowing how to cure it or what shall hee doe when he findeth himselfe in misery his waies hedged vp with thornes that heÌ„ cannot stirre to deliver himselfe there-hence what shoulde he doe but pray Bernard vnder a fiction proposeth a table well worthy our beholding therein the Kinges of Babylon and Ierusalem signifying the state of the world and the church alwaies warring togither In which encounter at length it fell out that one of the souldiours of Ierusalem was fled to the castell of Iustice. Siege laide to the castell and a multitude of enimies intrencht round about it Feare gaue over all hope but prudence ministred her comfort Dost thou not knowe saith shee that our king is the king of glorie the Lorde stronge and mighty even the Lord mightie in battell let vs therefore dispatch a messenger that may informe him of our necessities Feare replyeth but who is able to breake thorough Darknes is vpon the face of the earth and our wals are begirte with a watchfull troupe of armed men we vtterlie vnexperte of the waie into so farre a country where vpon Iustice is consulted Be of good cheare saith Iustice I haue a messenger of especiall trust well knowne to the king and his courte Praier by name who knoweth to addresse her selfe by waies vnknowne in the stillest silence of the night till shee commeth to the secrets and chamber of the king him selfe Forthwith she goeth and finding the gates shut knocketh amaine Open yee gates of righteousnes and be ye opened ye everlasting dores that I may come in and tell the kinge of Ierusalem how our case standeth Doubtlesse the trustiest and efectuallest messenger we haue to send is Praier If we send vp merits the stars in heaven wil disdeine it that we which dwell at the footestoole of God dare to presume so far when the purest creatures in heaven are impure in his sight If we send vp feare and distrustfulnes the length of the waie will tire them out They are as heavy and lumpish as gaddes of iron they will sinke to the ground before they come halfe way to the throne of salvation If wee send vp blasphemies and curses all the creatures betwixt heaven and earth will band themselues against vs. The sun and the moone will raine downe bloud the fire hote burning coales the aire thunderboltes vpon our heades Praier I say againe is the surest embassadour which neither the tediousnesse of the way nor difficulties of the passage can hinder from her Purpose quicke of speede faithfull for trustinesse happie for successe able to mounte aboue the eagles of the skie into the heaven of heavens and as a chariote of fire bearing vs aloft into the
soule vvhen he is well-nigh spent and it is a question whether his faith be quicke or dead there commeth an other veruntamen like a showre of the later raine in the drought of summer to water his fainting spirite yet hast thou brought vp my life from the pitte O LORDE my GOD. The readings are diverse The Hebrewes sâ—y thou hast brought vp my life or caused it to ascende The septuâ—ginte my life hath ascended Ierome Thou shalt lifte vp Some say from the pitte some the graue some from death some from corruption There is no oddes For whither of the two times bee put the matter is not great Thou hast or thou shalt For the nature of hope is this futura facta dicit Thinges that are to come it pronounceth of as alâ—eadie accomplished In the eigth to the Romanes we are saved by hope though we are not yet saved And whome God hath iustified those hee hath also glorified though not yet glorified Ephesians the second wee are raised from the dead though our resurrection heereafter to be fulfilled But I stay not vpon this It is a rule in Seneca that by the benefite of nature it is not possible for any man to bee grieved much and long togither For in her loue shee beareth vnto vs shee hath so ordered our paines as that shee hath made them either sufferable or shorte that which Seneca imputed to nature I to hope grounded in the promises of God immutable things the safe and sure anchor of the soule of man The sorrow of Ionas was wonderfully vehement but soone alaied Whence had he that speedy mittigation from nature nothing lesse Here what the voice of nature is When the people of Israell crieth vpon Moses for flesh what is his crie to God I am not able to beare this people If I have founde favour in thine eies kill mee that I behold not this misery When Iezabell threatneth to make Elias like one of the dead prophets he hasteth into the wildernes and breaketh out into impatience and irkesomnes of life O Lord it is sufficient either he had lived or he had bene plagued long enough take away my soule from me The woman in the 2. of Esdras having lost her sonne be it a figure or otherwise it is true in both ariseth in the night season goeth into the field decreeth with her selfe neither to eate nor drinke but there to remaine fasting and weeping till shee were dead Esdras councelleth her foolish woman doe not so returne into the city goe to thine husband c. shee answereth I will not I will not goe into the citye but here will I die You heare how nature speaketh Was Ionas thus relieved no. The sense of his owne strength or rather his weakenesse woulde have sent him hedlong as the devils the heard of swine into the lake of desperation It is the Lord his God whose name is tempered according to the riddle of Sampson both of strong and sweete who is forâ—â—ter suavis suaviter fortis strong in sweetenes and sweete in strength fortis pro me suavis mihi strong for me and sweete to me that hath done this deede Behold my brethren there is hoâ—ie in the lion there is mercy in the fearefull God of heaven He is not only a Lord over Ionas to note his maiesty feare but the Lord his God to shew the kindnes of a father It is the Lord his God to whom he repaireth by particular applicatioÌ„ with the disciple of Christ leaneth as it were in his maisters bosome that delivered his life from the pit his soule from fainting Before he lay in the depthes was desceÌ„ded to the ends of the mouÌ„taines c. All that is aunswered in one worde eduxisti thou hast brought me vp from the pit wherein I was buried Before the waters were come even vnto his soule ready to drinke it in and to turne him to corruption but now God hath delivered that soule from the corruption it was falling into What shall we then say the sea hath no mercy the weedes no mercy the earth with her promontaries and bars no mercy the whale no mercy the Lord alone hath mercy It fared with Ionas as with a fore-ruÌ„ner of his when his spirit was coÌ„fused folden vp within him when hee looked vpon his right hand and behold there was none that would know him much lesse at his left wheÌ„ all refuge failed and none cared for his soule then cried he vnto the Lorde his God and saide Thou art my hope and my portion in the land of the living O harken vnto my cry for I am brought very low even as low as the earth is founded and bring my soule out of prison this pit wherin I lie that I may praise thy name O let not life nor death I name noe more for death is the last and worst enemy that shal be subdued bee able to take your hope from you When your heart in thinking or tongue in speaking hath gone too far correct your selues with this wholesome and timely veruntamen yet notwithstanding I will go to the Lorde my God and trust in his name The nailes that were driven into the handes and feete of our Saviour were neither so grievous nor so contumelious vnto him as that reproch that was offered in speech he trusted in the Lorde let him deliver him This was the roote that preserved Iob and Iob preserved it when his friends became foes and added affliction vnto him he willed them to hold their tongues that he might speake not caring what came of it Wherfor do I take my flesh in my teeth saith he and put my soule in my hand that is why should I fret and consume my self with impatience If he shoulde kill me would I not trust in him so far is it of that I despaire of the mercies of God that my life shall sooner leaue me than my assurance of his graces This was the deepe and inwarde matter he ment in the 19. of his booke from the abundance wherof he made that propheticall and heavenly protestation O that my words were written written in a booke and graven with an iron pen in lead or stone for ever I knowe that my redeemer liveth Wormes rottenes shall consume me to nothing but my redeemer is aliue behold he liveth for evermore hath the keies of hell and of death The graue shal be my house and I shall make my bed in darkenes but I shall rise againe to behold the brightnes of his countenance These eies of nature shal sinke into the holes of my head but I shall receiue them againe to behold that glorious obiect And though many ages of the worlde shall run on betwixt the day of my falling his long expected uisitation yet he shalâ— stand the last day vpon the earth himselfe α and ω the first and the last of all the creatures of God to recapitulate former
vvisedome of the king of Babylon to take the young children of Israell whom they might teach the learning and tongue of Chaldaea rather then their olde men so it is the wisedome of the Devill to season these greene vesselles vvith the liâ—our of his corruption that they maie keepe the taste thereof while life remaineth But their bones are filled with the sinne of their youth and it lyeth downe with them in the dust and when their bodies shall arise then shall also their sinne to receiue iudgement So sayeth the wise preacher giving them the raines in some sort but knowing that the end of their race vvill be bitternesse Reioice O young man and let thy hearte cheare thee in the daies of thy youth walke in the waies of thine hearte and in the sight of thine eies but knowe that for all these thinges God will bring thee to iudgement Let the examples of Elie his sonnes whome hee tenderly brought vp to bring downe his house and whole stocke to the ground and the boies that mockt Elizaeus be a warning to this vnguided age that the LORDE will not pardon iniquitie neither in young nor old and that not only the bulles and kine of Basan but the wanton and vntamed heighfers and the calues that play in the grasse shall beare their transgressions It is the song of the young men Wisedome the seconde Let not the flowre of our life passe from vs c. and it is the cry of the young men in the fifth of the same booke vvhat hath pride profited vs For whilst they take their pleasures vpon earth the Lord writeth bitter thinges against them in heaven Iob. 13. and shall make them possesse the iniquities of their youth And hee cryed His manner of preaching was by proclamation lowde and audible that it mighte reach to the eares of the people hee hid not the iudgementes of God in his heart as Mary the words of her Saviour to make them his proper and private meditations but as ever the manner of God was that his prophets should denounce his minde least they might say wee never hearde of it so did Ionas accordingly fulfill it Thus Esaye was willed to cry and to lifte vp his voice like a trumpet Ieremye to crye in the eares of Ierusalem to declare amongst the nations and even to set vp a standarde and proclaime the fall of Babylon And Ezechiell had a like commaundement Clama vlula fili hominis Crie and hovvle sonne of man for this shall come vnto my people and it shall lighte vpon all the princes of Israell Our Saviour likewise bad the Apostles vvhat they heard in the eare that to preach vpon the house toppes They did so For being rebuked for their message and forbidden to speake anie more in the name of Iesus they aunswered boldly in the face of that vvicked consistory vvhether it bee fitte to obey God or man iudge yee Wisdome her selfe Proverbs the first crieth not in her closet and the secret chambers of her house but vvithout in the streetes neither in the vvildernesse and infrequent places but in the heighth of the streetes and among the prease and in the entrings of the gates that the sounde of her voice may be blovvne into all partes If Iohn Baptist vvere the voice of a crier in the vvildernesse then vvas Christ the crier and Iohn Baptist but the voice Surely it wanted not much that the very stones in the streetes shoulde haue cried the honour and povver of God for even stones vvoulde haue founde their tongues if men had helde theirs The commaundement then and practise of God himselfe is to crie to leaue the vvorlde vvithout excuse the nature of the vvord biddeth vs crie for it is a fire and if it flame not forth it vvil burne his bovvels harts that smothereth it I thought I woulde haue kept my mouth bridled saith the prophet Whilst the wicked was in my sight I was dumbe and spake nothing I kept silence even from good but my sorrowe vvas the more encreased My heart vvas hot within mee and while I was musing the fire kindled and I spake with my tongue lastly the nature of the people vvith vvhome vvee haue to deale requireth crying Deafe adders vvill not bee charmed with whispering nor deafe and dumbe spirits which neither hear nor answere God cast forth without much praier and fasting nor sleepie and carelesse sinners possessed with a spirite of slumber and cast into a heavy sleepe as Adam vvas vvhen he lost his ribbe so these not feeling the maines that are made in their soules by Sathan awaked without crying Sleepers and sinners must be cried vnto againe and againe for sinne is a sleepe What can you not watch one houre And dead men and sinners must be cried vnto for sinne is a death and asketh as manie groanings and out-cries as ever Christ bestowed vpon Lazarus Exiforas Lazare Lazarus come forth and leaue thy rotten and stinking sinnes vvherein thou hast lien too manye daies Happy were this age of ours if all the cryings in the daie time could awake vs. For I am sure that the cry at midnight shall fetch vs vp but if the meane time vvee shall refuse to hearken and pull awaie the shoulder and stoppe our eares that they shoulde not heare and make our heartes as an adamant stone that the vvordes of the Lorde cannot sinke into them it shall come to passe that as hee hath cried vnto vs and vvee vvoulde not heare so wee shall crie vnto him againe and hee vvill not answere And saide yet fortie daies and Niniveh shall bee overthrowne The matter of the prophets sermon is altogither of iudgement For the execution whereof 1. the time prefined is but forty daies 2. the measure or quantity of the iudgement an overthrow 3. the subiect of the overthrow Niniveh togither with an implication of the longe sufferance of almighty God specified in a particle of remainder and longer adiourment in the fourth place yet forty daies asmuch as to say I have spared you long enough before but I will spare you thus much longer The onely matter of question herein is how it may stande vvith the constancie and truth of the aeternall God to pronounce a iudgement against a place which taketh not effect within an hundred yeares For either he was ignorant of his owne time which we cannot imagine of an omniscient God or his minde vvas altered vvhich is vnprobable to suspect For is the strength of Israell as man that hee shoulde lie or as the sonne of man that hee shoulde repent is hee not yesterday and to day and the same for ever that vvas that is and that is to come I meane not onelye in substance but in vvill and intention doeth hee vse lightnes are the wordes that hee speaketh yea and nay Doth hee both affirme and deny to are not all his promises are not all his threatnings
people vvhy sittest thou thy selfe alone the thinge vvhich thou doest is not vvell thou both vveariest thy selfe greatly and thy people that is vvith thee and he caused him to apoint rulers cover thousands rulers over hundreds rulers over fifties and rulers ouer tennes to iudge the people at all seasons in their smaller causes Moses confessed asmuch Deuteronomy the first as Iethro complained of I am not able to beare you my selfe alone It vvas a saying of Seleucus one of the kings of Syria that if men did considerately know how troublesome it were onely to reade and write so many letters of so waighty affaires if the crowne were throwen at their foote they woulde not take it vp Anacharsis one of the Sages of Greece thought it the onely felicity of a king to bee onely vvise and not to neede the helpe of other men but vvho vvas ever so wise to attaine to that happines I vvill not deny but he that can counsaile himselfe in all thinges is very absolutely vvise but it is a second degree of vvisedome not to reiect such counsailes and directions as are given vnto him And therefore worthely was it spoken by Antonius the Emperour with much more reason it standeth that I shoulde bee ruled by the advise of so many and such my friendes then that such and so many shoulde yeelde to my will alone We read that Assuerus the king of the Persians Esther the first did nothing in the remooue of Vashtie the Queene without the advise of the seven Princes vvhich sawe the kings face and sate first in the kingdome Salomon 1. Kings 10. had his auncient counsaile it vvas senatus indeede because it consisted of graue and olde men according to the proverbe speares are fit to be handled by yong men counsailes by the aged But Roboam his yong son provideth counsailers like himselfe yong in yeares and yong in descretion which howsoever they were friends to Roaboam they were not friendes to the king though happily they loved his person well they were enimies to his kingdome As it is meete that the king shoulde haue peeres to consult with so it is a blessed combination and knot vvhen all their consultations and actes are referred 1. to the glory of God for that is the first and great commandement then to the peace safety of the weale publique For as the lawe of God saith Cyprian is the sterne that must guide all counsailes and bee of counsaile vnto them so if it bee not also the haven where all their counsailes arriue and both the beginning and ending of their decrees their successe will be according The qualities of those whom the superiour magistrate should associate to himselfe in administring his government are numbred in the 18. of Exodus and 1. of Deut. to bee these seven 1. they must be men of courage 2. fearing God 3. men of truth 4· hating filthy lucre 5. the chiefe of the tribes 6. wise Lastly knowen men such as had experience of the people and the people of them Without these conditions and respectes they were very vnfit helpers For what were a magistrate without courage but a lion without his heart or courage without the feare of God but armed iniustice or what fear of the true God where his truth is neglected or how can truth consist with aucupation of filthy gaine or if their persons parentage be in contempt how shall the people regard theÌ„ or if they haue not wisdome to rule what are they els but an eie without seeing or as if the day the night should be governed without sun moone Lastly as artes are made by experiments so they must be tried and approoved before hand by the sight of their vertues Otherwise to meete at any time to lay their heads togither for the dishonoring of God defacing of his religion and so to intend policie that his worship is not cared for and his feare lieth at the threshold of their counsaile-house not admitted amongst them is to make themselues such counsailers as Alecto called in Claudian Concilium deforme vocat glomerantui in vnum Inumerae pestes Erebi Vntoward and vnfashioned counsailers so far from being the pillars props of the common wealth that they are rather mischiefes and plagues which hel hath cast vp Now as it is meete that the king his nobles should come togither to decree wholesome constitutions so it is as meete to publish them abroade that the subiects may know what their duety is The statutes of a kingdome must not be lockt vp in cofers as the bokes of the Sybils in Rome nor as the sentences of Pythagoras which no man might write bee kept from the knowledge of the vulgar sort In the 1. of Sam. 14. Saul had charged his people by othe not to taste any thing till night vpon an eager intention he had to pursue the Philistines Ionathan his sonne heard not of it and as he went through a wood beeing faint with hunger raught forth the ende of his rod and dâ—pt it in an hony combe and put it to his mouth you know what danger it brought him vnto I tasted a little hony with the end of my rod and lo I must die Therefore it is not amisse to publish such decrees if for no other cause yet to safegard the people from that daunger which by their ignorance they might incurre Besides the glory of God is proclaimed by such proclamations as Nabuchodonosor Dan. 3. made a decree that every people nation and language that spake any blasphemie against the God of Syrach Misach and Abeduego should be drawen in pieces and that it might be knowne abroade he caused it to be publisht Nabuchodonosor king vnto all people nations and languages that dwell in all the world c. The like did Darius in the sixth of that booke first hee made an acte that all shoulde tremble before the GOD of Daniell in the dominions of his kingdomes and aftervvardes for the promulgation of it vvrote to all people nations and languages in the vvordle vvhat the acte was Let neither man nor beast c. The matter enacted and proclaimed is in one word repentance wherein they were blest from heaveÌ„ with as great a measure of wisedome as the sons of men were capable of when they were to bethinke theÌ„selues to beat their braines wherwith to wrestle with the iudgmeÌ„t of god that they made their choise of repentance Repentance an act of all actes if they had spent their daies in consulting this one in steede of infinite thousandes to saue their liues An enimie did aproach vnto them a spirituall enimye from the higher places iustice I meane from the throne of GOD vvhose forces were invisible and could not be repelled with sworde and target What gate or fortresse should they then vse to shut out iustice but onely repentance their citie had beene laid in the dust their candell put out their monarchie translated their carkasses
had rotted in dung their soules beene drowned in perdition without repentance The ground and provocation of this their repentance is in the ninth verse Who knoweth if God will turne and repent c Faith in the mercies of God this is the star that goeth before the face of repentance the pillar of fire that guideth it in the night of her sorrowes and giveth her light and telleth her how to walke that shee stumble not For who would ever repent indeede if he had not hope that his sinnes might bee pardoned and therefore Ambrose noteth alluding vnto Peters denâ—alâ—es that men doe never truely repent but when Christ looketh backe vpon them For Peter denied the first time and vvept not because Christ lookt not backe denied a seconde time and vvept not because Christ lookt not backt but denied a thirde time and vvept bitterly because his master lookt backe vpon him And he lookt not backe so much with his outwarde and bodily eie as with the eie of his clemency The substantiall partes of repentance are in the latter parte of the eigth verse turning from their evill waies and from the wickednesse that was in their hands their diet and preparation to repentance fasting the habite and livery weerein they come sackcloath the libel or petition which they offer praier and strong cry You see the members of their decree first the ground of repentance faith secondly the substance of repentance newnes of life thirdly the body or couÌ„tenâ—nce of repentance spare thin fourthly the garments of repentance penetentiall and base fiftly the voice of repentance supplâ—â—nt lamentable More generally it hath two parts the one by negation denying something to the people of Niniveh in this 7. verse the other by affirmation prescribing enioining what they should doe in the eigth The negatiue and former part containeth only a fast let neither man nor beast bullocke nor sheepe taste any thing the antiquitie whereof maketh it venerable and the perpetuity vnto this day and to the ende of the vvorlde highly graceth it it is no new invention some haue derived it from paradise and made it as ancient as the first man for the forbidding of the tree of knovveledge they say was a lawe of abstinence The exercise of nature the lawe the gospell of Christ the practise of gentility it selfe if I name but Niniveh alone it vvere sufficient to prooue it but the storyes of gentility make it nore plaine Ceres had her fast Iupiter his and Priamus in Homer bewaileth the death of Hector with fasting in dust Patriarckes vsed it prophets forsooke it not Christ his disciples departed not from it the true childreÌ„ of the bride-chamber continue it at this day they mourne because the bridegroome is taken from them til his returne in the clouds of the aire they shall ever mourne But there are fasts of diverse kindes 1. there is a spiritual fast from sinne vnproper an translated but that which especially pleaseth God It is mentioned Esay 58. and Zach. 7. This is the great generall fast and a Lent of abstinence which we must all keepe consisting in the holines of our liues Niniveh fasted this fast but it fasted also otherwise There is a corporal fast from eating and drinking and such other refections as nature taketh pleasure in and this is either naturall prescribed by phisicke for healthes sake or aboue nature and miraculous such as the fast of Moses and Elias and the sonne of God for forty daies or civill and politique as the prohibition of Saule mentioned befor vvhich Ionathan vvas angrye vvith because the people vwaxed faint and Saule had no religious respect therein but an earnest purpose of heart of sparing no time from chasing the Philistines It is sometimes a fast of necessitie which we cannot avoid as in the time of dearth Aquinas calleth it â—eiuniuÌ„ ieâ—unii a fast of a fast because the earth forbeareth her fruits we forbear our food and vvoulde eate if vve had it and in this sense Basill calleth fasting the companion to poore men the other is â—eiunium ieiunantis the fast of him that fasteth that is a voluntary and free fast Lastly there is a christian and religious fast either common and ordinary vsing frugality in meates and drinkes at all times according to the warning of our Saviour See that your heartes bee not overcome at any time vvith surfetting and drunkennesse Or speciall and extraordinary aboue the custome but not beyond the nature of man for then the lavv of fastes is broken let the flesh bee tamed saith Ierome and not killed For he offereth an offering of robbery and bereaveth both GOD and man of his due vvho afflicteth his bodie overmuch with immoderate subtraction either of foode or rest Now the latter of these two is either private to one or few as to David and the friendes of Iob or publique as this of the people of Niniveh for it is said first to haue bin proclaimed secondly through out Niniveh In this fast of the Ninivites there are many thinges to be considered first it was timely secondly orderly thirdly vniversall fourthly exact fiftly not hypocriticall 1 The time which they tooke for fasting I meane not time in the common acception and sence thereof consisting of space and motion as when they beganne to fast and how long they endured vvhat daies of the moneth or weeke they made choise of this my text expresseth not I meane the season of the time the fitnes and oppertunity for such an action was in a suddaine terrouâ— of vtâ—er destruction Austin in an Epistle to Hesychius distinguisheth these two times and seasons so doth the Apostle in the first to the Thesâ—alonians and fift which the Latines have rendred tempora momenta times and momentes of times wherein there is waight and worth not to be omitted The former signifieth but space or leasure alone which passeth to fooles and wisemen alike the latter convenience or inconvenience for the doing of any thing So long as there shall be a sunne in the firmament which hath his course there shall bee a time for the handling of our actions but perhappes not a season As a man that gathereth his grapes at the first knotting thereof gathereth them in time but if he tarry the vintage then he gathereth them in season Now the fittest and convenientest time for a fast if you consider the fact of the Ninivites and peruse all the examples that are written in the booke of God is ever some extremity when the anger of God is thoroughly kindled and threatneth a wound to the whole body Me thinketh it should be in these publique fasts as the schoole-men write of their solemne penaunce which is seldome granted by Origen and by the Canonistes but once The reason is given by the maister of the sentences Ne medicina vilesceret least the medicine should grow in contempt by the common
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
which Israel detested but vessels and ornameÌ„ts of silver gold store of raiment which Israel not by their owne authority but by Gods coÌ„mandement borrowed Egypt ignoraÌ„tly lent not knowing how to vse theÌ„ as they ought So al the learning of the Gentiles besides their superstitious abominable figments hath also liberal artes serviceable to the truth profitable precepts of civility somwhat vnreproueable of the worship of the true God which is as it were their silver gold not which theÌ„selues fouÌ„d out but tooke it froÌ„ the mines of Gods heavenly providence vniversally infused into the minds of al meÌ„ living Likewise the institutioÌ„s of meÌ„ as it were apparel fit for humane society which the life of man caÌ„not want He also numbreth the Israelites that went out of Egypt laden with those spoiles Cyprian LactaÌ„tius Victorinus Optatus Hilary besides those who were then living an innumerable sight of Graecians before al these the most faithful servant of the Lord Moses of whoÌ„ it is written that he was learned in all the wisedome of the Egyptians Finally he there concludeth not preiudicing any other either his equall or superiour that would otherwise vnderstand it that the policy of the children of Israell in robbing the Egyptians did vndoubtedly prefigurate this our spoiling of the Gentiles I wil not conceale withal his retraction touching this point in that he had much ascribed to liberall sciences which many holy men are much ignorant of and some that know them are not holy Therefore in his first booke of order he bringeth himselfe into an order measure therein that the learning of these liberall sciences must be modesta atque succincta modest short Otherwise it is vinum inebrians as Bernard calleth it wine that maketh a man drunke implens noÌ„ nutriens infâ—ans non aedificans rather glutting than nourishing and puffing him vp than edifiying him Therefore Seneca though he knew not the soveraigne knowledge which we doe and that which is life everlasting vnto vs coÌ„cerning the father of lightes and him whom he hath sent Christ Iesus yet in comparison of other more profitable studies and meditations he ascribeth vtility no farther vnto these than that they prepare the witte rather than fasten seize vpon it Non enim discere debemus ista sed didicisse For wee must not ever bee learning these but haue learned them Ierome or whither it were Valerius in an epistle to Ruffinus writeth thus Doest thou mervaile or art thou displeased that I send thee to the imitation of Gentiles a Christian of Idolatours a lambe of whelpes the good of the evill I would haue thee like the witty discoursing Bee which from a nettle gathereth hony So do thou sucke hony from the rocke and oile from the hardest stone I know the superstition of the Gentiles but every creature of God hath some president of goodnes in it Many things they do perversly but some things which haue died with themselues haue caused fruit to abound in vs. And in his 102. epistle to Marcella he taxeth some who held grosse palpable rusticity ignorance lacke of learning for only sanctity and bragged that they were disciples of fisher-men as if they were therefore holy because they knew nothing And else-where he wrote to Romanus that he shoulde admonish Calphurnius if hee vvanted teeth himselfe not to bee envious against others vvho were able to eate nor to contemne the eies of goates himselfe beeing a want and starke blinde To this purpose hee alleageth and applieth the lawe of the beawtifull captiue vvoman taken in vvarre wherevnto if a man had a minde he must cause her heade to bee shaven her nailes pared and the garmentes wherin shee vvas taken put of and then he might marry her VVhat mervaile is it then saith he if I take the wisedome of the vvorlde for the grace of speech and comelinesse of partes that I finde therin and of a captiue make it an Israelitish woman and whatsoever it hath dead idolatrous voluptuous erroneous or the like either I cut it away or shaue it and bring forth lawful children to the Lord of hostes Thus O see tooke him a wife of fornications Gomer the daughter of Diblaim who bare him a sonne and he called him Izreel that is the seede of God And towards the end of that epistle as if he had been exercised with the obiections of our times hee would not haue him mistake as if it were not lawfull so to do saue only in disputations against the Gentiles for almost there is no booke written by any man excepting Epicurus and his followers but is very full of learning Basilius the Great in a large treatise to his nephewes of this very argumeÌ„t counsaileth theÌ„ not to cast the ankers of their shipping nor to fasten their opinions affections vpon such men but only to picke out those things that were profitable To life everlasting he doubteth not but they may be sufficiently furnished out of the sacred volumes Those other writings which were not altogither discrepant froÌ„ the bookes of God might serue as shadowes glimpses before hande to prepare the sight and for triall of witte as those that practise a while in the sense-schoole before they professe their better skil and as fullers lay some ground coulour before they die purple He addeth that as to trees laden with fruit the leaues giue some ornament grace so when the excellentest truth is apparelled and compassed with this outward wisedome of the world it becommeth therby the more delightfull pleasant Notwithstanding he wisheth them not to take their choice at raÌ„dom to esteeme al alike But as in plucking roses they are carefull to avoide the prickles so they giue heed to that only which is good and eschew the noisome pestilent And although he leaveth obscene and wanton Poets to the stage yet he encourageth them to the better sort vpon the iudegment of a graue man well skilled in the Poets of whom he had heard that Homers whole poetry was but a praise of vertue David Chytraeus a little to breake the ranke of the fathers speaketh as highly in the commendation of philosophers orators that al their writings of maners are as it were a certaine commentary vpon the 5. former commaundements of the later table The knowledge of the former he confesseth was overobscure vnto them and of the last of all touching concupiscence almost extinguished And he honoreth histories no lesse the common and vniversall argument of all which he affirmeth to bee that which an Heathen spake Discite iustitiam moniti noÌ„ temnere divos Ye Princes people of the world take your warning to do iustice to fear God For this cause to returne backe to the fathers S. Agustine in one place cleareth philosophy and philosophers and telleth his mother that the divine scriptures which she embraced so earnestly did not
worke vnder heaven proceede without it But I leaue those repetitions The sun the wind we see rise togither set thēselues against Ionas as the two smoaking fire-brāds Rezin Pekah against Ierusalē cōbining binding thēselues not to giue over til they haue both done their part in the vexing of the prophet The wind here mentioned is described by 2. attributes the one of the quarter or coast from whence it blew an East-wind the other of the quality which it had a fervēt East-wind The cardinall principal windes as appeareth both in many places of the scripture and in forreine authours are but 4. breathing from the 4. quarters or divisions of heaven as in the 37. of Ezechi come from the 4. vvindes O breath And Math. 24. God shall gather his elect from the foure windes Afterwardes they added 4. more which they cal collateral or side-windes subordinate to the principal thence proceeded to the nūber of 12. In these daies we distinguish 32. Betweene every two cardinal winds seven inferiour We may read Act. 27. that Paul was very skilful of the sea-card vsed in those daies for describing his voiadge to Rome he maketh mention not only of East West South but of South-west by West of North-west by West as the Westerne winde blew either nearer or further of But not to trouble you with these things the winde that is here spokē of some take to be Eurus or Vulturnus which is the Southeast by East followeth the sun in his winter rising others to be the principal high East-winde following the sun when he riseth in the Equinoctial Now the nature of an East-wind in any point therof is to be hote dry for the most part a clearer of the aire but this of al the rest being so serviceable to the sun going forth so righte with it walking in the same path which the sunne walketh in must needs be an hoter wind thā if it had crossed or sided the sun any way 2. Touching the quality or the effect which it wrought it is called a fervent East-wind some turne it vehement not for the sound and noyse that it maketh but for the excessiue heat For no doubt it is distinguished frō Caecias North-east by East which is a more soūding blustering wind not so fit for the purpose of God in this place Of that ye haue mention Exod. 14. where it is said that the Lorde made the sea run backe with a strong East◠winde all the night made it dry land Some translate it silent quiet to put a differēce betwixt this the former East-wind albeit others giue the reason because it maketh mē silent deafe with the soūd that it hath others because it maketh the rest of the winds silent quiet when it selfe bloweth Howsoever they vary otherwise they al agree in the heate for it is a gētle soft wind which whē the aire is enflamed by the sun is so far frō correcting the extremitie therof that it rather helpeth it forwarde becōmeth as a waggon to carry the beames of the sun forth-right It is manifest by many places of scripture that it is an easterne wind which burneth with his heate not only the fruites but the people of the earth The 7. thin eares of corne Gen. 41. were burnt with an East-winde so are the fruites withered Ezek. 19. so is the fountaine dried vp Ose 13. The vulgar edition doth evermore translate it vrentē ventum by the name of a burning winde and whersoever it is mentioned in the booke of God the property of it is to exiccate and dry vp Columella writeth that at some time of the yeare especially in the dog-daies mē are so parched with the East winde that vnles they shade thēselues vnder vines it burneth them like the reaking of flames of fire I haue now shewed you both the nature and the quarter of this winde that albeit it were a winde yet you may know it was not prepared to refrigerate but to afflicte the head of Ionas When the sunne and the winde are vp what do they the sunne not vvithout the helpe of the vvinde vvhich vvas in manner of a sling or other instrumente to cast the beames of the sun more violently vpon them although created for another end to governe the daie and to separate it from the night and to giue light in the earth yet here receiveth a new commaundement and is sent to beate all other inferiour partes omitted even the head of Ionas wherein is the government of the vvhole creature the seate of the minde the top of Gods workmanshippe from vvhence the senses and nerves take their beginning In this assault of the principall part the danger was no lesse to the body of Ionas than if an enimy had besiedged the Capitoll of Rome or the Mount Sion and Anthonies towre in Ierusalem But we shall the better conceaue the vexation of Ionas if we ioyne the effectes which these two enimies draue him vnto 1. It is saide hee fainted I marvell not for the force of heate is vntolerable vvhen the pleasure of God is to vse that rod. So hee telleth them Amos 4. Percussi vos vredine I haue smitten you with blasting or burning and you returned not On the other side it is numbered amongst the blessings of God which Christ shall bring vnto his people Esay 49. they shall not bee hungrie neither shall they thirst neither shall the heate smite them nor the sunne which is spoken I graunt by translation but that from whence it is transferred in the naturall sense must needes be very commodious because it is applyed to the highest mercies So likewise in the 3. of Act. the state of everlasting life is called the times of refreshing or respiration 2. Hee wishte in his hearte to die my text saith not so in tearmes though in effect but he desired his soule or he made petition and suite to his soule to die that is to relinquish and giue over his bodie or hee desired death to his soule as a man forlorne and forsaken having no friend to make his moane vnto he vttereth his griefe to his private spirit speaking therevnto that if it vvere possible some remedy might be had 3. Though the eare of ielousie which heareth all thinges heard the wishes and desires of his hearte yet hee is not contente with secret rebellion vnlesse his tongue also proclaime it for he saith it is better for mee to die than to liue I shewed the madnes of Ionas before in this very wish It was not better for Ionas to die than to liue nor for any other in his case a milstone about their necks to haue drowned them in the bottome of the sea had beene lesse vnhappinesse When they die let them pray to the Lord of life to close vp their eies and
Hilkiah what should be done 2. the booke of the law is presented vnto him he commauÌ„deth both the priests princes to enquire of Huldah the prophetesse about it he weepeth reÌ„deth his cloathes as the principall person whoÌ„ that daÌ„ger care doth principally coÌ„cerne 3. he assembleth all the people both in Iudah IerusaleÌ„ the Chronicles adde Ierusalem Beniamin al the couÌ„tries that pertained to the childreÌ„ of Israel throughout his whole dominion both small great elders priests prophets levites both laity Clergy 4. he readeth the law in the house of the Lord 5. he maketh a covenaÌ„t himselfe 6. taketh a covenaÌ„t of the people to keep it 7. he causeth al to staÌ„d vnto it 2. Ch. 34. coÌ„pelleth al in Israel to serue the Lord 8. he ordaineth holdeth a passeover the like wherof was never seene since the daie of the Iudges nor in al the daies of the Kings of Israel the kings of Iudah he apointeth the priests to their chardges 2. Chr. 35. chaÌ„dgeth the office of the levites that they should not beare the arke any more so the priests stood in their places also the levites in their orders iuxta regis imperium according to the coÌ„mauÌ„demnt of the king 9. in the purdging of Idolatry removing those swarmes of idolatrous priests with al their abominable service he coÌ„maundeth Hilkith the high priest the priests of the secoÌ„d order to do thus or thus Meane while the levite the priest the prophet are not wronged by the king in their callings The king doth the office of a king in commaunding and they their offices in administring Hee readeth the booke of the covenant doubtlesse in person and in the house of the Lorde but he standeth not on a pulpit of wood made for preaching to giue the sense of the law and to cause the people to vnderstand it for that beloÌ„geth to Ezra the Priest to the Levites Neh. 8. Again he causeth a passeover to be helde but he neither killeth the passeover nor prepareth the people nor sprinckleth the bloud nor fleaeth the breast nor offereth burnt offerings for all this he leaveth to the sonnes of Aaron yet is nothing done but iuxta praeceptum regis Iosiae according to the commauÌ„dement of king Iosias Moreover the booke of the Lorde was his counsailour and instructour in all this reformation For so is the wil of God Deuteronomie the seventeenth that a booke of the law shoulde be written to lie by the king to reade therein all the daies of his life that he might learne to feare the Lord his God and to keepe all his lawes And in a matter of scruple he sendeth to Huldah the prophetesse to be resolved by her and she doth the part of a prophetesse though to her king liege Lord tell the man that sent you vnto me thus saith the Lord beholde I will bring evill vpon this place 2. King 22. By this it is easie to define if the spirit of peace be not quite gone from vs a question vnnecessary to be moved dangerous and costlie to Christendome the triall whereof hath not lien in the endes of mens tongues but in the pointes of swordes and happy were these Westerne partes of the world if so much bloud already effused so many Emperours Kings Princes defeated deprived their liues by poison by treason and other vndutifull meanes vnder-mined their state deturbed overthrowen might yet haue purchased an ende thereof but the question still standeth and threatneth more tragedies to the earth Whither the king may vse his authority in ecclesiastical causes persons Who doubteth it that hath an eare to heare the doings of Iosias He is the first in all this busines his art facultie professioÌ„ authority immediate next vnto God held froÌ„ him in capite not derived froÌ„ beneath is architectonicall supreme Queene coÌ„mauÌ„der of al other functions vocations not reaching so far as to decree against the decrees of God to make lawes coÌ„trary to his law to erect sacraments or service fighting with his orders nor to â—surpe priestly propheticall offices nor to stop the mouthes of prophets and to say vnto them prophecy not right thinges but having the booke of the law to direct him himselfe to direct others by that rule and as the Priestes instruct the prophets admonish him in his place so himselfe to apoint and commaund them in their doings VVhat should I trouble you Iosias as their Lord maister and king 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 assembleth commaundeth causeth compelleth buildeth pulleth downe planteth rooteth vp killeth burneth destroyeth VVhat doth Hilkiah in all this but obey though higher than al the priests because he was the high priest yet lower than Iâ—sias Or vvhat doeth Huldah the prophetesse but pronounce the worde of the Lorde her person possessions family liberty life all that shee had being otherwise at the kings commaundement So let Samuel tell Saul of his faultes Nathan tell David of his Ahia Ieroboam Elias Micheas Ahab Elizeus Iehoram Ieremie Zedekias Iohn Baptist Herod Ambrose Theodosius and al Christian Bishops and priests their princes offendours The state of the questioÌ„ me seemeth is very significantly laid down in that speach of Constantine the Emperour to his Bishoppes you are Bishoppes within the church and I a Bishoppe without the church They in the proper and internall offices of the worde sacramentes ecclesiastical censures he for outward authority and presidence they as over seers of the flocke of Christ he an over-seer of over-seers they as pastours and fathers he as a maister and Lord to commaund their service they rulers and superiours in their kinde but it is rather in the Lord than that they are Lordes over Gods inheritance and their rule is limited to the soule not to the body and consisteth in preaching the vvorde not in bearing the sword but he the most excellent having more to doe than any man Lastly to them is due obedience and submission rather offered by their chardges than enforced to the other a subiection compelling ordering the people whither they will or no. I will drawe the substance of mine intended speach to these tvvo heads 1. That the greatest honour and happinesse to kings is to vphold religion 2. That the greatest dishonour and harme to religion is to pull downe kings The former I need not stand to prooue they are happy realmes in the middest whereof standeth not the capitol but the temple of the Lord. If this lie wast vnfurnished vnregarded and men be willing to cry the time is not yet come that the house of the Lorde shoulde bee builte or beautified the plagues that ensue are without nuÌ„ber heaven shal giue no dew earth no fruite drought shal be vpon mountaines valleyes much shall be sowne little brought in and that little shall bee blowne vpon and brought to nothinge But vvhere the prophecie is fulfilled kings shall bee thy nursing
surelye recompence and to take holde of no vvorde from his mouth but Niniveh shall bee destroied this were enough to make them desperate to cause them to stone his Prophet to set their cittye on fire as Zimri did the pallace and to die cursinge and blaspheming the name of the Lorde of hostes· But there is no question but eyther by the preachinge of Ionas who might mingle a little sweete with their sower or by the goodnesse of God by delivering Ionas vvhich manye of the Rabbins thinke they had hearde of or by the light of nature some particles and sparkles vvhereof might yet remaine in them because they came from Assur Assur from Sem and Sem had the knowledge of God or by some other meanes the spirite of God especially havinge a worke to vvorke and ready to helpe their infirmities they conceived some hope of the bountye and graciousnesse of the LORDE and therevpon humbled themselues in fastinge and prayer vpon trust to receaue it They beleeved GOD not Ionas although in meaning it is all one they beleeved GOD as the author Ionas as the minister God in Ionas or Ionas from GOD and for Gods sake therefore Rabbi Esdras saith they beleeved GOD that is the vvoorde of GOD which GOD sent Ionas pronounced As it is said of the Israelits Exodus the fourteenth ioyning both togither that they beleeved God and his servant Moses And 2. Cor. 5. there is a like savinge Nowe therefore are wee embassadours for Christ As if GOD did beseech you through vs c. Wee for Christ and GOD through vs. Therefore to shewe that the contempt of the servant redoundeth to the Lord God telleth Samuel 1. Sam. 8. They haue not cast thee away but they haue cast me away and Christ his disciples Luc. 10. hee that heareth you heareth mee and hee that despiseth you despiseth mee and him that sent mee and hee that receaveth a prophet in the name of a prophet and a disciple in the name of a disciple not in the name of an Israelite or Samaritan brother or straunger But vnder that relation shall not loose his revvarde An admirable and gracious dispensation from God to speake vnto man not in his owne person and by the voice of his thunders and lightnings or with the sounde of a trumpet exceeding lowde as hee did vpon the mount for then wee shoulde runne away and cry vnto Moses or anye other servant of God talke thou with vs and vvee will heare thee but let not God talke with vs least vvee die but by prophets and disciples of our owne nature flesh of our flesh and bones of our bones and as the Scripture witnesseth of Elias men subiect to the same passions whereto wee are accordinge to the worde of Moses Deuter. 18. A prophet will the Lorde thy God raise vp vnto thee like vnto mee from amongst you even of thy brethren bringing neither shape nor languadge other then I haue done And that prophet shall raise vp others of the like condition for the perfiting of his Saints â—â—ll the vvorldes ende In which borrowing and vsing of the tongues of men hee doth not begge but commaunde nor wanteth himselfe but benefiteth vs nor seeketh strength to his owne worde but congruence and proportion to our infirmities for we were not able to beare the glorye of that maiesty if it did not hide in some sort and temper it selfe vnder these earthly instrumentes But now wee may say renouncing their idolatry as they did in Lystra of Paul and Barnabas when wee take the counsailes of God from the lippes of our brethren God is come downe amongst vs in the likenesse of men It is hee that speaketh from aboue and blesseth and curseth bindeth and looseth exhorteth and dehorteth by the mouth of man And surely for this respect and relations sake betvveene God and his ministers whome it hath pleased of his mercy to dignifie in some sort with the representation of his ovvne person vpon earth the vvorlde hath ever held them in very reverent estimation Insomuch that Paul tolde the Galathians although he preached the Gospell vnto them through infirmity of the flesh without the honour ostentation and pompe of the worlde rather as one that studied to bring his person into contempte yet so far was it off that they despised or abhored his infirmities that they rather received him as an Angell of God yea as Christ Iesus And hee bare them record that if it had beene possible nature and the law of God not forbidding they woulde haue pluckt out their eies to haue bestowed vpon him Chrysostome vpon the second to Timothy thinketh no recompence equall to their daungers and that it is not more then deserved if they shoulde lay downe their liues for their pastours sake because they doe it dailie for them although not in this life for lacke of persecution to try it yet by exposing their soules to the perrill of eternall death I beare you record to vse the Apostles vvords that in former times when you had ligneos sacerdotes woodden priestes priestes of Babylon to bee your leaders and guides and not onely Balaam the Prophet of Moab Balaams asses who never opened their mouthes but it was a miracle to heare them you gaue theÌ„ the honour of angels of Christ Iesus himselfe You theÌ„ bestowed your earings and frontlets as Israell did vpon a golden calfe vpon those leaden calues I meane your landes and revenewes to maintaine the covents of Monkes cages of ignorant and vnlearned buzzardes Then you committed idolatrye with stockes and stones to every Frier that drew you aside were ready to submit your selues pater meus es tu you are my father Then religion ate vp pollicy the Church devoured the common wealth cloysters were fuller of treasures then Kinges courtes all the wealth and fatnesse of the lande was swallowed downe into the bellies of Frieries and NoÌ„neries And as the king of Persia continued his feast to his princes and servantes an hundreth and fourescore daies so if these had continued their eating and drinking the substance of the world to this day their appetite woulde haue lasted Then had you priestes without learning Zeale without knowledge devotion without discretion and liberalitie without moderation But there is a time to win and a time to loose a time to gather and a time to skatter a time to eate and a time to cast vp For now pollicy hath eaten vp religion the common wealth the Church and men spoile their Gods as God expostulateth Malac. 3. against all equity and conscience His tithes and offeringes are translated to strangers they eate the materiall bread of the Prophets who never giue them spirituall foode and they that serue not at the altar liue by it when they that serue indeede cannot liue Antigonus asked Cleanthes a learned Philosopher and painefull student at his booke Cleanthes doest thou yet grind I grind saith hee and that for
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