immortality of their soules others disputing doubting knowing nothing to purpose til their knowledge commeth to late others obiecting themselues to death rather in a vaineglorious ostentation then vpon sound reason I say compare with them one the other side christian consciences neither loving their liues more than a good cause and yet without good cause not leaving them and aske them what they thinke of this temporall life they will answere both by speech and action that they regard not how long or how short it is but how well conditioned I borrow his words of whome I may say concerning his precepts and iudgements for morall life that he was a Gentile-christian or as Paul to Agrippa almost a christian as in the acting of a comedy it skilleth not what length it had but how well it was plaide Consider their magnanimous but withall wise resolutions such I meane as should turne them to greater advantage Esther knew that her service in hand was honourable before God and man and her hope not vaine therefore maketh her rekoning of the cost before the worke begun If I perish I perish her meaning assuredly was If I perish I perish not though I loose my life yet I shall saue it If there were not hope after death Iob would never haue said lo though he kill me yet will I trust in him And what availeth it him to know that his redeemer lived but that hee consequently knewe the meanes wherby his life should be redeemed If the presence of God did not illighten darknes and his life quicken death it selfe David woulde never haue taken such hart vnto him Though I shoulde walke through the valley of the shadowe of death I woulde feare no evill for thou art with mee and thy rodde and thy staffe comforte mee If his shepheardes staffe had fayled him against the Lyon and the Beare which hee slevve at the sheepe-foulde or his sling against Golias that he had fallen into their handes yet this staffe and strength of the Lord could haue restored his losses The sentence that all these bare in their mouthes and harts and kept as their watch-worde was this Death is mine advantage The Apostle taketh their persons vpon him and speaketh for them all Therefore we faint not because we know that if our outward man perish yet the inward man is renued daily God buildeth as fast as nature and violence can destroy Wee know againe that if our earthly house of this tabernacle bee destroyed wee haue a building given of God that is an house not made with handes but eternall in the heavens Vpon the assurance of this house not made of lime and sande nor yet of flesh and bloude but of glorie and immortalitie hee desireth to bee dissolved and to bee with Christ and by his reioycing that hee hath bee dyeth dayly though not in the passion of his body yet in the forwardnesse and propension of his minde and and he received the sentence of death in himselfe as a man that cast the worst before the iudge pronounced it I may say for conclusion in some sort as Socrates did Non vivit cui nihil est in mente nisi vt vivat He liveth not who mindeth nothing but this life or as the Romane orator well interpreteth it cui nihil est in vitâ iucundius vitâ who holdeth nothing in his life dearer then life it selfe For is this a life where the house is but clay the breath a vapour or smoake the body a body of death our garment corruption the moth and the worme our portion that as the wombe of the earth bred vs so the wombe of the earth must againe receiue vs and as the Lorde of our spirites said vnto vs receiue the breath of life for a time so he will say hereafter returne yee sonnes of Adam and go to destruction By this time you may make the connexion of my text The master of the shippe and his company 1. worshippe and pray vnto false Gods that is builde the house of the spider for their refuge 2. Because they are false they haue them in ielousie and suspicion call vpon thy God 3. because in suspicion they make question of their assistaunce if so bee 4. because question of better thinges to come they are content to holde that which already they haue in possession and therefore say that wee perish not With vs it fareth othervvise Because our faith is stedfast and cannot deceiue vs in the corruption of our bodies vexation of our spirites orbity of our vviues and children casualty of goods wracke of ships and liues wee are not removed from our patience we leaue it to the wisedome of God to amend all our mishappes we conclude with Ioab to Abishai The Lorde doe that which is good in his eies honour and dishonour good reporte and evill reporte in one sense are alike vnto vs and though wee bee vnknowne yet wee are knowne though sorrowing yet wee reioyce though having nothing yet wee possesse all thinges though wee bee chastened yet are we not killed nay though we die yet we liue and are not dead we gather by scattering we win by losing we liue by dying we perish not by that which men call perishing In this heauenly meditation let me leaue you for this time of that blessed inheritance in your fathers house the peny nay the poundes the invaluable weight and masse of golde nay of glory after your labours ended in the vineyard meate drinke at the table of the Lord sight of his excellēt goodnes face to face pleasures at his right hand and fulnes of ioy in his presence for euermore Let vs then say with the Psalmist my soule is a thirst for the living God oh whē shall I come to appeare in the presence of our God For what is a prison to a pallace tents boothes to an abiding citty the region of death to the land of the living the life of men to the life of angels a bodie of humility to a body of glory the valley of teares to that holy and heauenly mounte Sion whereon the lambe standeth gathering his saints about him to the participation of those ioies which himselfe enioieth and by his holy intescession purchaseth for his members THE NINTH LECTVRE Cap. 1. ver 7. And they saide euery one to his fellowe Come and let vs cast lottes c. AS the māner of sick men is in an hote ague or the like disease to pant within themselues and by groning to testifie their pangs to others to throw of their clothes and to tosse from side to side in the bed for mitigation of their paines which whether they doe or do not their sicknes still remaineth till the nature thereof bee more neerely examined and albeit they chaunge their place they change not their weaknes so do these Marriners sicke of the anger of God as the other of a feuer disquieted in al their affectiōs
vt pueri Iunonis avem and schollers wondering more at men that they doe so little for them learning never departeth ashamed and discontented from your face I adde with most zealous and thankefull commemoration in behalfe of my mother and all the children at her knees your loue to our Vniversitie Of whose age and nativity which others haue beene carefull to set downe I dispute not But whither shee bee the elder sister it seemeth by that neglect wherein shee now standeth that shee hath lost the honour and inheritance of her birth-right or vvhither the younger your Lordship hath not many companions to ioine with you in compassion and say in these daies soror est nobis parva we haue a little sister and shee hath no breastes or rather hath not succor to fill out her breastes what shall vvee doe for her How many commō respectes to let private alone a vvhile haue naturally borne me to the centre and pointe of your Honours onely patronage I deny not when at my comming from the North it first came into my head to divulgate these readings my purpose was to haue made the chiefe founders and procurers thereof my two deceased Lords the chiefe patrones also that as the rivers runne to the place from whence they come so these tokens of my gratefull minde might returne to the principall authours Wherein the worlde might iustly haue censured me with the words of the Prophet what from the living to the dead contrary to the vse and fashion of all other men But so I meane both to avoide the suspicion of a fault which the world laboureth of flattering of great personages who was and am content that all mine expectations in any respecte from them or theirs bee laid in the same dust vvherein their bones lye and to shew that loue is stronger then death and that the vnexorable barres of the graue cannot forbid a man to continue that affection to the memory of the dead vvhich he carried to the living For which cause as others provided spices and balmes and monuments of stone or brasse to preserue their bodies so I intended a monument of paper and such other preservatiues as I coulde to keepe their names in life which the violence of time cannot so quicklye iniurye as the fatall vngratefulnesse of these latter daies But your Lordshippes most vndeserved and vnlooked for bounty towards mee hath altered that meaninge In whose countenance speech evermore from the first houre that I came into your honorable presence there dwelt such plentifull comfortes and encouragements to make me hope for better times that I never went a way but with more fatnesse to my bones And now the world can witnesse vvith mee how largely you haue opened your hand and sealed vp that care in freely bestowing vpon mee not Leah but Rahel even the daughter of your strength the best that your Honour had to bestow I say not for my service of twice 7. yeares but being yet to begin my first houres attendance Which more then credible benignity my right hande were vvorthye to forgette her cunninge if shee tooke not the first occasion to write and report with the best skill shee hath Notwithstanding I haue bene bold thus farre after the trees shaken and the vintage gathered to your Honours vse to leaue as it were a berrye or two in the vtmost boughes to my former Lordes and by making some little mention of their happy memories both to testify mine auncient duety towards them and to deliver them what I might from the night of forgetfulnesse who were the shining lampes of the North in their life time Such a Moses and such an Aaron such a Josuah to lead the people and such a Priest to beare the Arke such a Zorobabel and such a Jehozadak such a Centurion in Capernaum to rule the country and such a Jairus to governe the Synagogue when the Lorde shall send togither againe I will then saie hee hath restored his blessing amongst them To this purpose I haue added two sermons more to these Lectures vppon Ionas the one preached at the funeralles of my former Lord the late Archbishop of Yorke the other no way pertinent to the latter the right noble Earle of Huntingdon except because hee commanded it and it was not many weekes before his death and the subiect was so agreeable to his most faithfull and vnsteined heart For if the sound of the tongue and applause of the handes may perswade for him he never behelde the light of heaven within this land that more honoured the light of England Long may it sparkle and flame amongst vs according to his harty wishes Let neither distempered humours within quench it nor all the waters of the sea betwixt Spaine and vs bring rage and hostility enough to put it out but let the light of Gods owne most blessed countenance for ever ever shine vpon it It nowe remaineth that in the humblest manner I can I wholy resigne my selfe and the course of my life to your honourable both protection and disposition askinge pardon for my boldnesse and defense for these my simple endeavours beseeching the God of heaven earth to multiply his richest blessings vpon your Honour your Lady and your Children whither within or without the land Your Lordshippes most bounden and dutifull Chaplaine JOHN KINGE THE FIRST LECTVRE Cap. 1. verse 1.2 The word of the Lord came also vnto Ionah the sonne of Amittai saying Arise and go to Niniveh c. COmparisons betwixt scripture and scripture are both odious and dangerous In other sortes of thinges whatsoeuer is commendable may either be matched or preferred according to the worth of them I will not make my selfe so skilful in the orders of heaven as to advance angel aboue angel but I am sure one star differeth from another in glorie And God hath giuen the rule of the day to the sunne of the night to the moone because they differ in beauty The captaines of the sonnes of Gad without offence might beare an vnaequall report One of the least could resist an hundred and the greatest a thousand because their prowesse and actes were not aequall There was no wrong done in the Antheme which the women song from all the citties of Israell Saul hath slaine his thousande and David his tenne thousande The vnlike desertes of these two princes mighte iustly admit an vnlike cōmēdation One Cato may be of more price then hundreth thousandes of vulgar men and Plato may stande for all Our Saviour in the gospell preferreth old wine before new Aristotle liketh better of the wine of Lesbos thē the wine of Rhodes he affirmeth both to be good but the Lesbian the more pleasant alluding vnder that parable to the successour of his schoole and noting his choise rather of Theophrastus borne at Lesbos then Menedemus at Rhodes But the whole scripture is giuen by inspiration of God neither in his greate house of vvritten counsels is
yet be more vile and low in our owne eies and rather than these names shall die and be out of vse we will weare them vpon our garments and if you were sparing to yeeld them vnto vs we would desire you for Christes sake and as you tender our credite not to tearme vs otherwise The Iewes who thought they mocked Christ vvhen they bowed their knees and cried Haile king of the Iewes they knew not vvhat they did they did him an honour and favour against their willes for he was king of the Iewes and of the Gentiles also whatsoever their meaning is who thinke to nicke-name vs by obiecting these names which we will leaue to the censuring of the righteous Iudge in heaven vve embrace them honour them and heartily thanke God for them and desire that they may be read and published in the eares of the world as the most glorious titles of our commission The Angelles of God are ministring spirites and sent forth to minister for the elects sake Christ Iesus himselfe came to minister not to bee ministred vnto We will therefore say as the Apostle said 2. Cor. 11. Ministri sunt plus ego Are Christ and his Angels and all the Apostles of Christ ministers we speake like fooles in the deeming of the world we also will be ministers of the gospell and if it were possible we would bee more than ministers O honourable ministerie what government rule and dominion is it not superiour vnto I conclude with the same Apostle though I shoulde boast somevvhat more of our authoritie vvhich is given vnto vs for edification and not for destruction I shoulde haue no shame By this discourse it may appeare vnto you if this were a motiue in the minde of Ionas as some both Iewes and Christians conceiue how grievous it seemed vnto him to be held in iealousie for deceipt in his calling that any in the world should be able iustly to taxe him for a false prophet and one that prophecied lies in the name of GOD. Notwithstanding the matter is quickely aunswered For whatsoever the event had beene the voice of the Lorde was in reason to haue beene obeyed 1. It was no new thing to be so accompted of it was the portion of Moses and Samuell and Elias before him and thence-forth as many as ever spake vnto the daies of Iohn Baptist which came with the spirit of Elias they haue drunke of the same cuppe and not onely the servauntes but the sonne and heire hath beene dealt with in like manner A Prophet is not without honour saue in his owne countrey Ionas might haue said to himselfe as Elias in another case I am no better than my fathers Thus were we borne and ordained to approoue our selues in all kinde of patience by honour and dishonour by good reporte and evill reporte as deceavers and yet beholde vvee are true and deceiue not The world was never more fortunate for prophets than thus to reward them flatterers may breake the heades of men with their smooth oiles but the woundes that prophets giue haue never escaped the hardest iudgements 2. Why should Ionas feare the opinion of men his duty being done the very conscience of his fact simply and truely performed would haue beene a towre of defence and a castle vnto him It is a verie small thinge for me to be iudged of you or of mans iudgemente for I knowe nothinge by my selfe c. Hee doth not say It is nothing vnto mee but it is a very small thing I esteeme my name somevvhat but I stande more vpon my conscience This is our reioycing the testimony of our conscience that in simplicitie and puritie vvee haue beene conversant in the vvorlde VVhen the princes had given sentence vpon Ieremy this man is vvorthie to die hee aunswered them the Lorde hath sent mee to prophecy against this house therefore amende your vvaies that the Lorde may repente him of the plague vvhich hee hath pronounced against you as for mee beholde I am in your handes doe vvith mee as you please but knovve yee for certainty that if you put mee to death you shall bring innocent bloude vpon your selues for of a trueth the Lorde hath sent mee vnto you to speake all these wordes in your eares This is the brasen wall the soundnes of the cause and the assurance of the conscience which all the malignant tongues cannot pearse through Let the worlde be offended with vs in these latest and sinnefullest times because the tenour of our message is either to sharpe or to sweete to hote or to colde for it can hardelie bee such as may please this way-warde wotld let Satan accuse vs before God and man daie and night yet if wee can say for our selues as the Apostle did Rom. 9. Wee speake the trueth in Christ wee lie not our consciences bearing vs witnes in the holy Ghost who is not onlye the witnesse but the guide and inspirer of our consciences it is a greater recompence than if al the kingdomes of the earth were given vnto vs. 3. He coulde not bee ignoraunt that the truth of God mighte stande though the event followed not because many of the iudgementes of God as I haue else-where said are denoūced with condition In the place of Ieremy before mentioned when the priestes and people so greedily thirsted after his death some of the elders stoode vp and spake to the assembly in this sort Micah the Morashite prophecied in the daies of Hezekiah king of Iuda saying thus saith the Lord of hostes Sion shal bee ploughed like a fielde c. Did Hezekiah put him to death did hee not rather feare the Lorde and prayed before the Lorde and the Lorde repented him of the plague thus vvee mighte procure greate evill against our selues You know the collection those elders make that the iudgement vvas conditional and vpon their vnfeigned repentaunce mighte bee otherwise interpreted Thus much Ionas vvas not to learne for why did he knovv that God vvas a mercifull God but to shew the effects of mercy and the Ninivites themselues had an happye presumption thereof as appeareth by their former speech 4. He was not to stay longe in Assyria if hee had suspected their suspicions Lastly there was no such thinge to bee feared for by that publique acte of conversion which all the orders and states of the citty agreed vpon it is manifest that they received the preaching of Ionas as the oracle of almightie God they beleeved God and his Prophet as the children of Israell 1. Sam. 12. feared the Lorde and Samuell exceedinglie For what greater argument touching their good and reverente opinion of Ionas coulde they giue than their speedy and hearty repentance whereby they assured him that they esteemed not his vvorde as a fable or as a iestinge songe but as a man sent from God and fallen downe from heaven bringing a two edged sworde in his lippes either to kill or to saue so they received him And
sufficient to amend children past grace a prophet like Mitio doth but bolster a sinner in his froward waies Hee chargeth his messenger otherwise in the prohecie of Esay Cry aloude spare not lifte vp thy voice like a trumpet shew my people their transgressions and to the house of Iacob their sinnes Much lesse can hee abide flattery and guilefullnes in his busines for cursed be he that doth the worke of the Lorde negligently or rather as the word importeth with deceit Woe vnto them that sowe pillowes vnder mens arme-holes when it is more time to pricke them vp with goades that sell the cause of the Lorde for handfulles of barley and peeces of bread for favour for feare for lucre or any the like worldly respects and vvhen the people committed vnto them shall say vnto their seers see not and to their prophets prophecie not right things loquimini placentia speake pleasinges and leasinges vnto vs prophecie errours are easilie drawen to betray the will of their Lord and to satisfie their humours God hath disclosed his mind in this trechery Behold I wil come against the prophets that steale my word from their neighbours beholde I will come against the prophets that haue sweete tongues that cause my people to erre by their lies and flatteries For then is the word of the Lord stollen and purloined from our brethren when we iustifie the wicked and giue life to the soules that shoulde not liue when we heale the hurtes of Israell with sweete wordes when wee annoint the heads of sinners with precious baulmes vvhose harts we should rather breake with sharpe corrosiues when wee put hony into the sacrifice in steede of salte when vve should frame our song of iudgment and we turne it into a song of mercy when we should mourne to make men lament and vve pipe to make them daunce putting the evill day farre from them and hunting for their praise and acceptation of vs vvith pleasing discourses affected eloquence histrionicall iests rather then graue and divine sentences Hierome gaue an other exhortation to Nepotian Let the teares of thy auditours bee thy prayses And Augustine had a stranger opinion of these applauses and acclamations of men These praises of yours saith he to his hearers do rather offend and endaunger me we suffer them indeed but we tremble when we heare them We cannot promise you such deceitfull handling and battering of the word of God for whether you heare or heare not the prophecie that is brought vnto you yet you shall know that there haue beene prophets amongst you we will not suffer your sinnes to sleepe quietly in your bosomes as Ionas slept in the sides of the shippe but we will rouse them vp if we see your pride your vsury your adulteries your oppressions we wil not only cry them but cry against them lest they cry against vs we will set vp a banner in the name of the Lorde of Hostes and proclaime them in your hearing and if our cry will not helpe we wil leaue you to that cry at midnight vvhen your bodies that sleepe in the dust of the earth and your sinnes that sleepe with your bodies both shall be awaked and receiue their meede at Gods hands we will charme your deafenes vvith the greatest cunning we haue if our charming cannot mooue you wee will sende you to the iudgement seate of God with this writing vpoÌ„ your foreheads Noluerunt incantari They would not be charmed The reason of his crying against Niniveh is this For their wickednes is come vp before me They that are skilfull in the originall obserue that the name of vvickednesse heere vsed importeth the greatest extremity that can be and is not restrained to this or that sinne one of a thousande but is a most absolute and all-sufficient tearme for three transgressions and for fowre as it is in Amos thaâ— is for seuen that is for infinite corruption Whatsoeuer exceedeth modesty and is most contrary to the will of God beyonde all right or reason setled into dregges frozen like yâ—e given over solde to the will of Satan is heere meant vvhere every person in the common wealth is degenerated There is none good no not one and every part in the body soule of man doth his part to lift vp the head of sinne the throate an open sepulchre the tongue vsed to deceit the poison of Aspes vnder the lips the mouth full of cursing and bitternes the feete swift to shed bloud destructioÌ„ calamity in all their waies no knowledge of the way of peace no feare of God before their eies And whether the word hath that power yea or no it skilleth not much to dispute for the words adioined in the text make it plaine without further amplification First it is wickedmesse Secondly it ascendeth Thirdly into the presence of God himselfe Whereby you may perceiue that the wickednesse of Niniveh was not base and shamefast fearefull to advance it selfe but an high kinde of vvickednesse swelling like Iordan aboue his banckes It lay not close in the bottome of the sea nor in the holes of rockes nor in the covert and secrecie of private chambers it had an whorish forhead and could not bee ashamed they declared their sinnes as Sodom they hid them not and as a fountaine casteth out waters so they their malice 1 The phrase heere vsed noteth a greate aggravation of the thing intended So in the sixt of Genesis it is saide that the earth was corrupt before the Lorde and in the tenth of that booke Nimrod was a mightie hunter before the Lord that is the corruptions of the world and the violence of Nimrod vvere so grosse that the Lord coulde not choose but take knowledge of them So it is here said Their vvickednesse is come vp before me It knoweth no end it climbeth like the sun in the morning and passeth the boundes of all moderation it is not enough that the bruite and fame thereof is blowen into the eares of men but it hath filled the earth possesseth the aire lifteth it selfe aboue the stars amongst the angelles of God offereth her filthines and impurity before the throne of his maiesty and if there vvere farther to go such is her boldnesse and shamelesnesse shee would forbeare no place What are there seasons and times when the Lord beholdeth sinne and wickednesse and when hee beholdeth it not hee that made the eie doth hee not see doth Hee slumber or sleepe that keepeth Israell or hath he not torches and cresset light at all times to descrie the deedes of Babylon or is he subiect to that scoffe which Elias gaue Baal It maie bee he sleepeth and must bee awaked or what els is the meaning of that phrase Their vvickednesse is come vp before mee As if there vvere some vvickednesse vvhich came not to his notice Surely besides the increase and propagation of their wickednesse for there is difference betwixt creeping and climbing
but woulde haue it doone by the ministerie of the marriners But the oddes is not greate in effecte if you obserue vvhat is mentioned For Ionas setteth on the marriners and not onely counselleth but in a sorte compelleth them to caste him foorth Saul was not deade by the woundes which hee gaue himselfe till an An alekite came and dispatched him yet was Saul an homicide against his owne person and the other that made an ende of him filius mortis the childe of death Surelye GOD hath given a commaundement in expresse tearmes against this horrible practise Non occîdes Thou shalt not kill praesertim quia non addidit Proximum tuum especiallye because he added not Thy neighbour thou maiest the rarher vnderstand thy selfe as in the other commaundement vvhen hee forbâ—d false witnesse hee saide Thou shalt not beare false witnesse against thy neighbour Althoughe if the lawe had spoken more fullye Thou shalt not kill thy neighbour thou haddest not beene freed thereby quomam regulam diligendi proximum à semetipso delector accipit because hee that loveth taketh the rule of loving his neighbour first from himselfe And the conclusion holdeth good Non occîdes non alterum ergo nec te Nec enim qui se occîdit altum quà m hominem occîdit Thou shalt not kill no other man therefore not thy selfe for he that killeth himselfe killeth no other but a man I will require your bloud saith the Lord at the handes of beastes at the handes of man himselfe at the handes of every brother will I require it Will hee require bloud at the handes of beastes in whome there is no vnderstanding and at the handes of every brother which coniunction of brotherhood is the effectuall cause why we should spare one the others life and will hee be slacke to require it at thine owne handes vvho art nearer to thy selfe than thy brother is Tho. Aquinas giveth three reasons to condemne the vnlawfulnes of these bloudy designments 1. They are evill in nature because repugnant to that charity wherewith a man should loue himselfe And death wee all know is an enemy in natuâ—e and life is a blessing of God in the fifth commaundement 2. Each man is a part of the communion and fellowship of mankinde and therfore he doth iniury to the common wealth that taketh away a subiect and member thereof 3. Life is the gift of God and to his onely power subdued who hath saide I kill and I giue life Therefore Ierome writing to Marcell of Blesillaes death in the person of God abandoneth such soules Non recipio tales animas quae me nolente exierunt è corpore I receiue not such soules which against my will haue gone out of their bodies And he calleth the Philosophers that so dyed Martyres stultae philosophiae Martyrs of foolish philosophy There were two vile kindes of deathes wherewith of olde it seemeth they were wont to finish their vnhappy daies Laqueus praecipitium either they hung themselues or brake their neckes from some steepe place Petilian an enemy to the catholicke church had thus reproachfully spoken against the sound belevers The traitour Iudas died by an halter and the halter he bequeathed to such as himselfe was meaning the orthodoxe Christians No saith Augustine this belongeth not to vs for we doe not honour those by the name of Martyres who halter their ovvne neckes Howe much more doe we say against you that the Devill the maister of that traitour woulde haue perswaded Christ to haue fallen dovvne from the pinnacle of the temple and tooke repulse then what are they to be tearmed whome hee hath both counsailed so to doe and prevailed with truely what else but the enemies of Christ the friendes of the Devill the disciples of the seducer fellowe disciples with the traitour for both from one maister haue learned voluntary deathes the one by strangling himselfe the other by falling downe headlong The same father bringeth these murtherers into streightes and holdeth them in so closely on both sides that there is no escapinge from them When thou killest thy selfe either thou killest an innocente whereby thou becommest guiltye of innocente bloud or an offendour which is as vnlawefull to doe because thou art neither thine owne Iudge and thou cuttest of space of repentance Iudas vvhen hee slewe himselfe hee slewe a vvicked man notvvithstanding hee is culpable both for the bloude of Christ and for his owne bloude because though for his wickednesse yet was hee slaine by an other wickednesse Some haue offered themselues vnto these voluntarie deathes to leaue a testimony of courage and vndaunted resolution behinde them of whome Saint Augustine speaketh Perhappes they are to bee admired for stoutnesse of minde but not to bee commended for soundnesse of wisedome Albeit if reason may be iudge wee cannot rightly call it magnanimity for it is a far greater minde which can rather endure than eschew a miserable life I am sure the Patriarchs the Prophets the Apostles never did thus and though they were pâ—nched in their reines and their soules heavy vnto the death as Christes was insomuch that they cried out take my life from mee my soule chooseth to be strangled oh that my spirit were stifled within my bones and wretch that I am who shall deliver me yet they never paide their debte of nature till their creditour called vpon them which time they would never haue staied if in a moment of an houre the service of their owne handes might iustly haue released them Cleombrotus Ambraciote having red Plato his bookes of the immortality of the soule threw himselfe headlong from a wall and brake his necke that he might the sooner attaine to immortality He had another reason than the former It was rather a great then a good act Plato woulde haue done so himselfe or at least haue advised it but that in that learning wherwith hee sawe the immortality of the soule hee also sawe such meanes to attaine it vtterly vnlawfull Some to avoide a mischiefe to come haue fallen into the greatest mischiefe As virgins and honest matrones in a time of warre to avoide the rapes and constuprations of enemies In two wordes doe they consent to that filthines or doe they not consent if they consent not let them liue because they are innocent Non inquinatur corpus nisi de consensu mentis The body is not defiled but when the minde agreeth If they consent yet let them liue too that they may repent it Whether is better adultery to come yet not certaine or a certaine murther presently wrought Is it not better to commit an offence which may be healed by repentaunce than such a sin wherein no place is lefte for contrition O rather let them liue who sinne that they may recover themselues before they goâ— hence and bee no more seene It is a reason sufficient to raze the history of the Machabees out of the canon of the scriptures that the
of Christ though they fill all the corners of heaven from the rising of the sun to the going downe thereof yet they are driven from the face of God as far as the East West are sundred lastly though they are libelled and entred into his court by the accusation of the devill and by his most righteous iustice registred yet the bookes are defaced and all those writinges against vs naâ—eâ— to the crosse of Christ by whome we are redeemed THE XVIII LECTVRE Chap. 1. ver 14. Lay not vnto our charge innocent bloud for thou Lorde hast done as it pleased thee THe praier of the Marriners vvithout longer repetition vvas common fervent discreet vocall humble importunate pertinent to the time occasion wel grounded â—n the 7th of these wherein I obserued hovve rightly they applyed theÌ„selues to the deprecation of their present daungers I examined besides their general inteÌ„t in asking pardoÌ„ for bloudshed 2. particulars arising naturally froÌ„ the words 1. the proceeding of God in case of murther life for life 2. in vvhat respect the bloud of Ionas might be tearmed innocent not that the life of Ionas could no way be toucht with sinne but that it was freed in his present and particular behaviour towards this coÌ„pany with whome he sailed I would further haue demauÌ„ded but that the time intercepted me how Ionas could be held innocent towards the Marriners whom hee had actually wronged in the losse of their temporall commodities for he onely was the cause of that generall detriment and the hazard was as great that hee might haue eased them of their better treasure I meane their lives if God had not staied it these though having sense of the one feare of the other yet call his bloud innoceÌ„t bloud The answere briefly is They wrote that in the waters which others vvrite in marble Iniuries Though their voiage vvere lost by this meanes their busines disapointed the season of their marte diverted their marchandize wrackt their provision wasted it may be to some their wiues and children vndone their estate sunke by it yet they forgiue and forget the damages and with a mantel of charity cover al his wrongs The perswasioÌ„ holdeth by coÌ„parison that if nature so newly reformed having tasted but the milke of the knowledge of God haue so quicke a digestioÌ„ of forepassed wrongs much more is required of vs who have bene dieted with the strongest meat to whom the precepts of charity have in most ample manner beene revealed The commendatioÌ„ shall ever live which Ambrose giveth to Theodosius the Emperor being dead Theodosius of happy memory thought he received a benefite as often as hee was intreated to forgive that was wished in him which in others was feared that hee would bee angry Tully reporteth the like of a far vnlike Emperour that Caesar forgat nothing but iniuries There is a learned skilfull vertuous kinde of forgetfulnes It is good to forget some things All Manasses went not over â—ordeÌ„ part staied behind Now Manasses had his name of forgetfulnes and Bernard illuding thereunto saith It is good to forget Babylon to remember Ierusalem to forget the flesh-pots and 〈◊〉 of Aegypt to remember the milke and honie of Canaan to forget our owne 〈◊〉 and our fathers house and to remember heaven heavenly thinges So Paul forgat that which was behinde his former defects delinquishments and it shall be happy for vs all to doe the like not in the mercies either of God or man but in the crosses and grievances which wee have sustained Peter asked his maister in the gospel how of the should forgive his brother offending against him whether to 7. times It is added Luke 17. how often in a day our Saviour telleth him vnto 70. times 7. times that is as Ierome accounteth it 490. times so often in a day as is not possible for thy brother oftner to trespasse against thee Augustine in effect hath the same note Why doth our Saviour saye seventie times seven times and not an hundreth times eight times hee aunsvvereth from Adam to Christ vvere seuenty generations therefore as Christe forgaue all the transgressions of vvhole mankinde parted and diffused into so manye generations so also vvee shoulde reâ—itte as manye offences as in the tearme and compasse of our life are committed against vs. Examine shall I say one day nay all the dayes of our life if all might goe for one haue wee forgiuen haue wee forborne that were one degree lesse haue we not persecuted Turkes Infidelles vessels of dishonour nay our owne brethren 7. yea and 70. times 7. times vvithout number or measure the sunne rising and the sunne going downe vpon our wrath our waies being the waies of destruction our beddes the beddes of mischiefe as the Psalme calleth them daies nights openly privately meditating talking practising howe to avenge our selues of the least discontentmentes It were as â—are a matter in our age as to see the sun go backe to heare of any amongst vs patient of iniuries as that patriarke sometimes of Ierusalem was of whome the proverbe of those times vvente Nihil vtilius quà m Alexandro malefacere Nothinge can more profite a man than to hurte Alexander Yet hee kepte but that rule which they that kepte not are no parte of the Israell of God Not to resist euill To giue cheeke after cheeke cloake after coate to take all that was offered whether vpon or without the body as that precept implyeth nay rather to returne good for euill Rom. 12 loue for enmity blessing for cursing good deedes for hatred praiers for persecutions Math. 5. VVe rather imbrace the instigations of gentilitye and such as the nature of man easilye propendeth vnto beare one iniurye and beare more hee that wrongeth one threatneth all and such like proâ—ocations I will end with the exhortation of our Lorde Luke 6. so giue aâ—d you shalbeâ— forgiuen Or rather with that which Mat. 6. is more peremptory If you forgiue him not you shall not bee forgiuen He indenteth for that by mercye vvhich hee mighte exacte of duetye and equâ—tie and hee that shall bee our iudge almost against the nature and righte of his office sheweth vs the vvay to escape his iudgementes The conditions betwixte God and man in this exchange are very vnequall 1. thine enemy was created by God as thy selfe wert God hath an enemy of thee whom he hath created 2. thou pardonest thy fellow servant God merely his servant 3 thou pardonest standest in neede of pardon againe God hath no neede to be pardoned 4. thou forgiuest a definite summe God an infinit debt requiring the proscription of thy selfe wife and children and al that thou hast body soule if thou shouldest defray it Incredibili me sericordia nos ad certam veniam vocat By vncredible compassion he draweth vs to a limited bounded pitty the extention wherof maketh vs the children of our father which is in heauen but the streightning of our
Ed. Campion our charitable countriman laid at the dores of our Church yea brought into the streetes of our Vniversities as if we were the fathers and patrons of it We never said it I say once againe to redeeme a thousand deathes if more were due to our sinnes we would not affirme it This we say whatsoever hath substance being perfection in the action of sin God is the author of it because it is good Ipsum quantumcunque esse bonum est the least essence in the world is good but not of the fault and defection therein I must once more repeate sin hath a positive privative part a subiect and the quality of the subiect nature corruption Prorsus ab illo est quicquid pertinet ad naturam prorsus ab illo non est quicquid est contrae naturam Whatsoever belongeth to nature is wholy from him whtsoeveâ— is against nature is in no respect from him Now death and whatsoever belongeth to the traine of death sin and the like are against nature In him we live and moove and have our being there is the piller of our truth a Poet of the Gentiles delivered it but an Apostle sanctified and ratified it and every creature in heaven in earth in the deepe crieth Amen to it And as that gentility and heathnishnesse of that vnbeleeving Poet coulde not marre Gods truth so the corruption depravation in the quality either of maÌ„ or action cannot hurt the substance Life is his whether we live to him as we ought to doe or to the lusts of our owne flesh or after the pleasure of the God of this world the prince of darknes MotioÌ„ is his whether we lift vp our handes to praier or whether to murther Essence is his the nature being substance of men of serpents of reprobate Angels are from him his good creatures He made not death he gave charge to the waters and earth to bring forth creatures that had the soule of life in them and when he made man hee breathed in his face the breath of life made him a living soule he made not darknesse he created the light neither was the authour of sterilitie and barrennesse hee made the bud of the earth which should seede seede the fruitfull tree And to speake a truth in proper tearmes these privations corruptions and defectes in nature as death darkenesse sterility blindnes silence and the like haue rather deficient than efficient causes For by the remooving of the things themselues vvhich these destroy they of their own accord succeede take their places Abandon the light of the sunne whereby our aire is brightened and illuminated you neede not carefully enquire or painefully labour how to come by darknesse the deficiencie and fayling of the light is a cause sufficient to bring in darknesse If the instrument of sighte bee decayed the stringes and spirites which serue for the eie inwardely wasted corrupted there is no more to be done to purchase blindnes to the eie the very orbity and want of seeing putteth blindnesse forth-with in possession If there were no speech or noise in this church what would there bee but silence and stilnesse wil you aske me the cause hereof It hath rightly none I can render the cause of speech there are instrumentes in man to forme it and there is an aire to receiue it from his mouth beare it to their eares that should partake it vpon the ceasing vvhereof silence hath a course to supplie without the service and aide of any creature in the worlde to produce it And these things we know and are acquainted with not by the vse of them for who can vse that which is nothing We know what light is by the vse thereof because we beholde it but who ever saw darkenesse if the apples of his eie were as broade as the circle of the sunne and the moone waking and wide open how could hee see darkenesse VVee know what speech is by the vse thereof because wee receiue it by the eare but who ever hearde silence Onelie vvee knovve them not by fruition of themselues but by want of their opposites which erst wee enioyâ—ed and now are deprived of I speake the more that I might speake plainely Wee were to enquire the efficient cause of sinne it hath none properly it hath a deficient cause Adam and Eue forsooke as it were the guide of their youth the word of God and his grace forsooke them Nature is now corrupted the soundnesse integrity of all the faculties therein diseased the image of God wholy defaced Vpon the decay and departure whereof sinne like a strong man entreth the house the bodie and soule are taken vp with a masse of iniustice the vnderstanding is filled with darkenesse the will with frowardnesse the senses with vanities and every part both of outwarde and inwarde man becommeth a servaunt to vnrighteousnesse Basill in a sermon vpon this argument now in hande vvilleth those that enquire of the author of sinne likewise to answere whence sicknesse and orbities in the bodie come for they are not saith hee the worke of God Living creatures were at the first well created having a proportion convenient to them but they fell into diseases and distemperatures vvhen they fell from healthinesse either by evill diet or by some other cause notwithstanding GOD made the bodie hee made not sicknesse and hee likewise made the soule but not the sinfulnesse thereof Ierome vppon the seconde of Abacuk giveth the like iudgemente Et si anima vitio suo efficitur hospitium Châ—ldaeorum naturâ tamen suà est tabernaculum Dei though the soule by her owne faulte is made an habitation or lodge for the Chaldaeans straungers to dwell in yet by hernature shee is the tabernacle of God Therefore hee should shew himselfe too ignorante that coulde not discerne betweene the corruption of nature and the author of nature And because we further were charged that we made the conversion of Paul the adulterie of David and the treason of Iudas the one the vprising of a sinner the other the falling downe of a saint the last finall revolt of a reprobate the workes and the proper workes of God all alike I prooved the contrary The first I acknowledged his proper and entire worke hee opened the vnderstanding changed the will did all therein In the other two hee tooke the wrll as hee founde it and without alteration thereof applied it to some endes which hee had secretly purposed and though neither the adultery of Dauid nor the improbity of Iudas were his proper workes yet God had his proper workes in them both for as he is a most holy creator of good natures so he is a most rightuous disposer of evill willes that whereas those evill willes doe ill vse good natures hee on the other side may well vse the evill willes themselves To conclude hee is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a
it never to depart from the living God whome they had begune to serue The conditions of a lawefull vowe are principallye these tvvo First that the matter thereof bee consonant to the word and vvill of God otherwise as Ierome noteth vpon the 11. of â—udges it is follye to plight and impietie to perfourme it secondly the end must be to witnes our thankefulnesse to our maker and protectour For albeit wee are bought with a price and both our bodies and spirites are the Lordes not our owne to dispose of and wee ought to doe that vnvowed which our vow hath tied vs vnto because wee have no better gifte than our selues as hee sometimes saide to Socrates his master to giue even our selues to our bounteous God and as it were by bargaine and sale to mancipate our willes to his obedience yet the making of a vowe and entering into bondes vvith God to pay him some speciall debte is a more open marke and professed badge of a thankeful soule Besides it confirmeth the minde of a man in vertue and setteth a tutour and overseer over his will to keepe it within the boundes of promised dutifulnesse Whervpon Saint Augustine writeth in his epistle to Armentarius and Paulina It is an happie necessitie that compelleth a man to doe better than hee vvoulde doe And surelye if we vvell regarde it the mother cause of a vowe is an engraffed opinion in the mindes of most men of returning kindnes for kindnesse vvhich is the readiest vvay both to conciliate and preserve friendshippe according to that olde proverbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 frendshippe and the life of man and nature it selfe consisteth in taking and giuing And although God hath no neede of our giftes for can our goodnesse extend to him who hath the riches of all goodnes or can he encrease by lesse than a drop of raine who is more than the maine sea of all abundance yet it giveth him to vnderstande that at least his glory is sought though not his vtilitye and of that a man hath not of that he hath not there is a purpose and desire to doe him worshippe The summe is this the honour is Gods the profitte ours Hee is our liberall creditour saith Augustine in the same epistle and hath not want of our paiusent Neither groweth hee greater by repaying but the pay-maisters by him And vvhatsoever is restored or recompensed in lieu of any his benefits is added to him that returned it Thence it commeth that David and the princes give thankes vnto the LORDE in the first of Chronicles when they had offered vnto him silver golde brasse iron precious stones after this manner Now therefore our God wee thanke thee and praise thy glorious name But who am I and what is my people that wee shoulde bee able to offer vvillinglye in this sort for all thinges come of thee and of thine ovvne hande wee have given thee It is saide before that the people reioyced when they offered vvillingly and David the kinge also reioyced with greate ioy To returne to the heade of my speech the vowes of these marriners in anye of the fovver kindes before aimed at are iustificable by both the properties of a vowe For of their ende I make no doubte the snares of destruction beinge so nevvelye broken before their eies and they escaped and vvhat fault can vvee finde in the matter whither their purpose were to leave their ovvne countries and to goe to the citty of God for better instructions in his lawe as the Queene of the South came from her native dominion to heare the wisedome of Salomon such pilgrimage is not amisse or to adorne the temple of Ierusalem vvhere the honour of God dwelt vvith voluntary giftes and presentes as David and his nobles before and as the wisemen of the East carried the gold frankincense and mirrhe to the son of God or to distribute their goods to the needy as Zacheus did and to cast their bread vpon the waters for the Lords sake where they looke to receive againe neither thanks nor recompence or lastly to devote themselves to the redeemer of their lives and with an indissoluble covenant to become his faithful servants the last of which is indeede the substance and center of all vowes There are two things saith Lactantius that must bee offered vnto God donum sacrificium a gift and a sacrifice the one perpetuall the other temporall The one as silver and gold and purple and silke the other a beast slaine or whatsoever is burnt vpon the altar But God hath vse of neither of these because himselfe is incorrupt and they subiect to corruption Therefore wee must offer both in a spirituall and vnbodilie manner that God may haue vse of them Our gift must be the vprightnes of minde our sacrifice praise thankesgiving Some vow one thing and some an other saith the author of those sermons of the time some oile some abstinence froÌ„ wine some fasting This is not the best nor the perfitest kind of vowing I shew you a more excellent waie God careth not for thine oile nor thy fastes but that that the Lord hath redeemed that offer I meane thy soule And if thou demaundest how my soule I aunswere by holie manners chaste cogitations fruitfull workes I will not strictly examine vpon this occasion the vowes prescribed and practised in the church of Rome somewhat to the imitation of these that are presumed of the marriners These vowed perhappes a voiage to Ierusalem they to Compostella or Walsingham these to beautifie the temple of the Lorde they the monuments and shrines of Saintes these to bestowe their goods vpon the poore they to professe wilfull beggerye these to bee proselytes and to cleave to the service of God they to renounce the world to abandon the society of men to abâ—ure the company of women and to burie themselves in monasteries and cloysters for their better opportunity thereunto Shall I say in a word the matter of all their vowes vnneedefull in some vnlawfull in some vnpossible in others idolatrous impious diabolicall and the end for the most part not to be thankefull to God but to arrogate a kind of perfection and to build merit therevpon But tell mee yee sonnes of Balaam you that exalt your synagogue so much by reason of your vovves if in any part of the world there be more slouthfull and sinfull desidiousnesse than in the resty cloysters and dormitories of that church wherein such wearisome peregrinations and tyring of the legges is enioyned If in any part of the world such roiall Pontificall Persian magnificence as in your prestes and Nazarites the votaries of that churhe where povertye is pretended If in any parte of the world such adulterous incestuous Sodomiticall defiling of women men children not onely by steaâ—th but in the sight of the sunne in brothell-houses and stewes erected maintained rented iustified as in the streetes of that mother-citie where chastitie
going to Ierusalem Luke the ninth hee biddeth them marke his wordes diligently and put them into their eares for he woulde not they shoulde bee committed to the wast aire which laye so deepe in his owne heart The sonne of man shall bee delivered into the handes of men In the 18. he reckoneth vp all the particulars the delivering of him to Gentiles mocking reviling spitting scourging putting him to death That elect vesâ—ell of his 2. Cor. 11. as if hee gloried in his infirmities and made them his triumphes recapitulateth with a breath as many dangers as ever he had endured either at home or abroad his labours his stripes his stonings his deaths his scourgings his shipwracks by land by sea by theeves by false brethren by his cuntrymen by straÌ„gers his huÌ„ger thirst fasting cold nakednes besides outward things It was truly spoken by a lerned man Sapiens miser pluâ— miser est quam rusticus miser Scit enim exaggerare causas dolendi quas rusticus miser ignorat A wise man in misery is more miserable than one that is simple because he knoweth how to amplifie the causes of his sorrow which the other doth not I take it to have beene no small token of wisedome in Ionas Ieremy David Paul in wisedome himselfe not only that they felt the bitternesse of the cup when they dranke it but were able to discerne what ingredients it had and particularly to recounte whereof it was tempered The Stoicke philosophers of whom we reade Acts 17. that they disputed with Paul and called him a sower of wordes and a setter out of strange Gods and it shall not be impertinent a vvhile to dispute with them and to confute their strange learning they held many opinions incredible to the world amongst the rest that griefe was a matter of nothing Tully reciteth some of their paradoxes that their wiseman whome they rather supposed than ever coulde finde in nature as Xenophon imagined a king Tully an oratour Aristotle felicity more perfit than ever that worlde was so happy to attaine vnto though he were most deformed was most and only beautifull rich though beggerly a king though the servant of servantes like cursed Canaan that all sinne vvere alike and hee offended as much that killed a cocke vvhen there was no neede as if he had cut the throate of his father that their wise man was never mooved with pitty never entreated never went by gesse or opinion never was deceived never repented any thing never changed his minde Thence it vvas that Chrysippus vvho vvas saide to proppe vp the gallerye of the Stoickes offered that stricte and tetricall division to the vvorlde Aut mentem aut restim comparandam either to get them mindes constant and vnmoueable or to hang themselues Nowe all other men that vvere not in the compasse of this their phantasticall and Platonicall notion of vvisedome they condemned for fooles frantickes exiles fugitiues and the like Amongst the rest of their admirable positions one was that their wise man coulde not bee inforced and that sorrovve painefulnesse and griefe were neither good nor evill but indifferent at least And surely I must needes say they were very prodigall of theiâ— liues and little woulde they seeme to regarde extremity of tortures One told Theodorus that he would hang him Threaten that saith hee to your carpet-knightes It is all one to mee whether I rotte in the aire or in the ground when you haue al doÌ„e Cantherides a little kind of woâ—mes can doe as much as you When they were vpoÌ„ the racke they would cry O quám suave O what pleasure is there in racking Aulus Cellius writeth of a fenser at the games of Cesar that when his woundes were lâ—nced by the Surgions he vsed to laugh at it The Donatistes and Circumcellions were not much behinde them in this madnesse But the reason of their insensibility is that saith Barnard that the Psalme giveth Their hart is as fat as grease And that which piety vvorketh in others hardnes of hart worketh in them Some marvailed he saith that heretickes did not only suffer death but they vnder-went it with ioy But they little considered what power the devill hath not onely vpon the bodies but vpon the hearts also which he possesseth Is it not more for a man to lay violent handes vpon himselfe than to indure it at the handes of another yet that the devill hath thus farre prevailed with many wee knowe by frequent experience He addeth It is true that the true Martyrs are very well content to suffer death Which proceedeth not from studipity but from loue neither is there an amission or leesing but a submission of sense in them not that paine is away but for the loue of Christ they vanquish and contemne it The Apostle doth rightly expresse the cause of their wonderful pacience In all these he doth not say we are more than men but we are more than conquerours I returne to the Stoickes It fell out that one of that sect was sicke at Lebadia His disease was a fever wherewith hee was so afflicted that he groned deepely and inwardly to himselfe yet would skarcely seeme to doe it Taurus willing to excuse him a philosopher of a diverse profession you haue seene a sight saith hee not pleasaunt yet profitable to bee knowne a philosopher and paine wrestling and combating togither The force and nature of the sicknesse did her office in causing a distraction and vexation of the bodily partes On the other side reason and the nature of the minde did that to them apperteined in repressing the violence of griefe and suffering no howlings or vnseemely outcries to bee heard One that was present replied Why groneth he against his will if paine have no compulsion in it Taurus aunswered that the Stoicke was best able to defend himselfe but withall that it was one of the principles in nature to reioyce in that which is good and to shunne the contrary and that some of the Stoickes themselves did never alovve their indolencye or lacke of passion and lastlye that fortitude vvas not a monster to strive against nature and to delight in stupiditie and immanitie but a knowledge and skill to discerne what was meete to bee suffered what not And therefore because this opinion of the Stoickes is not onelye against nature but the practise of the sonne and all the sonnes of GOD I thought it labour vvell bestowed to overthrowe these sowers of wordes as they called Paul by their ovvne practise and by the iudgemente of other naturall Philosophers Of whome vvee may truelye saye as Plutarckes servant sometimes said of his maister Non est ita ut Plutarchus dicit It is not as my maister saith His opinion is that it is a shame for a Philosopher to bee angry and hee hath often reasoned of the mischiefes that come thereby and hee hath written a booke Of not beinge angrye Et ìpse mihi irascitur and yet is
put not of their cloathes saue onely for the washing you vvill easily confesse that their meaning vvas when they first saide let us rise and builde to doe their worke at once and to busie themselues aboute nothinge els not to giue rest to their bodies more then nature did necessarily and importunately call for nor vacation to their mindes till their worke were at an ende Thus Ionas arose for I am as willing in these our lasie and loytring daies to builde vpon the worde as those vpon the fragmentes and ruins of Ierusalem that is he strengthened and armed and inflamed himselfe to runne vvith his errande to Niniveh his legges are as pillers of marble and his feete as the feete of an Vnicorne to vndertake the travaile Hee knevve that as vineger is to the teeth and as smoake to the eies of a man so is a slowthfull messenger to him that sendeth them but much more a slowthfull prophet woulde grievously offende so high a LORDE as hee was nowe to deale with So Ionas arose The example riseth with full strength against idlnesse a sinne as idly and carelessely neglected in this place as carelessely committed I will speake with your good leaue Your collections for the poore by hear-say are not over-spating The Lord encrease not onely your oile and meale in your vessels but your mercy within your bowels The lower you draw forth these wels of charity the clearer will your waters flow vnto you But where are corrections for the slowthful the meane time an almes as necessary as the former and a worke of mercy not to bee slipte in a well-ordered common-wealth The faithlesse stewarde in the gospell being warned to make his accounte and giue over the stewarde-shippe amidst his perplexed thoughtes what he shoulde doe for times to come saide within himselfe I cannot digge and to begge I am ashamed These more faithlesse in their callinges then that vnrighteous stewarde are not ashamed to begge though they are able enough to digge and sustaine the burthen of other labours but vvill not as vnprofitable to the earth as Margites in the Poet of whome it vvas saide that hee neither ploughed nor delved nor did any thing his life throughout that might tend to good Will you knowe the cause that Aegysthus became an adulterer we neede not call for Oedipus or any cunning interpreter to render a reason of his lewde living Slowthfulnesse vvas the bane that poysoned him And if you will knowe the cause of so many robberies in the fieldes riottes in your streetes disorders in common life wee may shortlie and in a worde deriue them from idlnesse it is so ranke a sinke sayeth Bernarde of all lustfull and lavvelesse temptations It is not lesse then a wonder in nature that Plinie in his naturall history reporteth of the bees their industry and painefulnesse to bee such and so hardly to bee matched in the vvorlde that almost of the shaddowe saith he rather then substaunce of a verie small living creature nature hath made an incomparable thing They never loose a day from labour if the aire will giue them leaue to worke And when the weather is lowring and troublesome they cleanse their hiues and carry out the filth of those that laboured within dores The manner of their working is this In the day time they keepe watch and warde at the gates as they doe in campes In the night they take their rest and when the day is sprong they haue an officer to call them vp with humming twice or thrice as with the sound of a trumpet The younger go abroad to fetch in worke the elder stay at home some bring burthens other vnloade them Some build other polish some supply them with stuffe for the worke other take care for their victuals for they take not their diet apart that they may be equall in all things Moreover they are very observant and strict in exacting the labours of every one and such as are idle they note and chasten with death Finally the drones which are the servantes of the right bees they are content to giue house-roome vnto in fruitfull years but they rule them as their slaues and put them formost to the labours and if they be slacke punish them without pitty and when the hony is ripe they driue them from their dwellings and many falling vpon one spoile them of their liues Go to the bees O sluggard consider their waies and be wise they are but small amongest foules yet doth their fruit exceede in sweetnes saith the sonne of Sirach their labour in greatnesse And goe to the bees ye magistrates of the earth and learne from that little kingdome of theirs to vse the vigour and sharpenesse of discipline against our vnserviceable drones who like paralyticke members in the body of man loose and vnbound in the iointes of obedience say to the head commaund vs not for vvee will not stirre at thine apointment I will adde to the former example vvhat the same history speaketh of the pismires a people not strong yet prepare they their meate in sommer They labour likewise as the bees But these make the other horde vp meate Their bodies and the burthens they beare haue no comparison But such as are over-great for their strength they set their shoulders vnto and with their hinder legges drawe them backe-warde And because they fetch their provision from sundry places the one not knowing which vvaye the other goeth therefore they ordaine certaine daies of marte wherein they meete and conferre and take a generall account each of others labour We see saith he that the very flintes are vvorne and pathes trodden out vvith their iournying least any might doubt in every creature of the worlde how availeable it is to vse never so little diligence I say againe Goe to the pismires O sluggarde consider their vvaies and bee vvise For they having no guide governour nor ruler provide their meate in sommer and gather their foode in harvest We having our rulers and guides of many sortes soule to governe our bodies reason our soules God our reason nature to shew vs the way as it did these creatures law to hold vs therein and grace to further vs and not labouring for the foode of this transitorie life alone but for that meate that perisheth not and for the rest from our labours yet are content as it vvere to languish aliue and to linger out our little time in a continual wearinesse of well-doing as if the lavve had never beene given to the sonnes of Adam to labour nor to the daughters of Eue to passe through affliction and vvhen I saye not pismires and bees and the little wormes of the grounde but the angels of heaven are evermore attending vpon their businesses for thousande thousandes stande before him and tenne thousande thousandes minister vnto him yet wee will sit downe and holde our selues bound to no ministration nay when the Lorde himselfe sanctified not
3. according to the worde of the Lorde which erst he had disobeyed Thus farre we vnderstood whither he went nowe we are to learne what hee did in Niniveh namely 1. for the time Hee beginneth his message presently at the gates 2. for the place hee had entred but a thirde parte of the citie so much as might be measured by the travaile of one day 3. for the manner of his preaching hee cried 4. for the matter or contentes Yet fortye daies and Niniveh shall bee destroyed I haue tasted nothinge of this present verse but vvhat mighte make a connexion with the former For the greatnesse of Niniveh repeated in the latter ende thereof served to this purpose partly to commend the faith of the Ninivites who at the first sounde of the trumpet chaÌ„ged their liues partly to giue testimony ito the diligence constaÌ„cy of the Prophet who was not dismaide by so mighty a chardge And Ionas beganne to enter into the city All the wordes are spoken by diminution Ionas beganne had not made an ende to enter the citty had not gone through A daies iourney which was but the third parte of his way Not that Ionas began to enter the citty a daies iourney and then gaue over his walke for hee spent a day and daies amongest them in redressing of their crooked waies But Niniveh did not tarry the time nor deferre their conversion till his embassage vvas accomplished amongest them which is so much the more marveilous for that he came vnto them a messenger of evill and vnwelcome tydinges it is rather a wonder vnto mee that they skorned him not that they threw not dust into the aire ran vpon him with violence stopped his mouth threw stones at him with cursing and with bitter speaking as Shemei did at David as Ahab burdened Elias with troubling Israell so that they had not challenged Ionas for troubling Niniveh because he brought such tidinges as might sette an vprore and tumulte amongst all the inhabitantes That vvicked king of Israell whome I named before hated Micheas vnto the death for no other cause but that hee never prophecied good vnto him A man that ever did evill and no good coulde not endure to heare of evill And for the same cause did Amaziah the priest of Bethell banish Amos from the lande for preaching the death of Ieroboam and the captivitie of Israell therefore the Lorde was not able to beare his words and hee had his pasporte sealed O thou the seer goe flee thou avvaie into the lande of Iudah and there eate thy breade and prophecie there but prophecie no more at Bethel for this is the kinges chappell and this is the kinges courte so I woulde rather haue thought that they shoulde haue entertained Ionas in the like manner because hee came with fire and sworde in his mouth against them the cittye is not able to beare thy wordes vvee cannot endure to heare of the death of our king and the vniversall overthrow of our people and buildings O thou the seer get thee into the lande of Iudah and returne to thy cittye of Ierusalem and there eate thy breade and prophecye there but prophecie no more at Niniveh for this is the kings chappell nay this is the court of the mighty Monarch of Assyria But Niniveh hath a milder spirite and a softer speech and behaviour in receiving the Lordes prophet Now on the other side if you set togither the greatnesse of Niniveh and the present on-set vvhich the prophet gaue vpon it that immediately vpon his chardge without drawing breath hee betooke him to his hard province it maketh no lesse to the commendation of his faithfulnesse then their obedience For when hee came to Niniveh did hee deliberate what to doe examine the nature of the people vvhether they were tractable or no enquire out the convenientest place wherein to doe his message and where it might best stande with the safegarde of his person did he stay till hee came to the market place or burse or the kings palace where there was greatest frequency and audience No but where the buildings of the citty beganne there hee began to builde his prophecie And even at the entrance of the gates hee opened his lippes and smote them with a terrour of most vngratefull newes Againe he entered their citty not to gaze vpon their walles not to number their turrets nor to feede his eies with their high aspiring buildings much lesse to take vp his Inne and there to ease himselfe but to travaile vp and downe to wearie out his stronge men not for an houre or two but from morning til night even as long as the lighte of the daie vvill giue him leaue to worke I departe not from my texte for as you heare 1. Ionas began protracted not 2. to enter not staying till he had proceeded 3. to travaile not to be idle 4. the whole day not giving any rest or recreation to his bodie If wee will further extende and stretch the meaning of this sentence we may apply it thus It is good for a man to begin betimes and to beare the yoke of the Lord from his childe-hoode as Goliath is reported to haue beene a warriour from his youth to enter in the vineyard the first houre of the daie and to holde out till the twelfth to begin at the gates of his life to serue God and even from the wombe of his mother to giue his bodie and soule as Anna gaue her Samuell Nazarites vnto the Lord that his age and wisedome and grace may growe vp togither as Christes did And that as Iohn Baptist was sanctified in his mothers wombe Salomon was a witty childe Daniell and his yong companions were vvell nurtured in the feare of the Lorde and David wiser then his auncientes so all the parts degrees of his life from the first fashioning of his tender limmes may savour of some mercy of God which it hath received That whether hee bee soone deade they may say of him hee fulfilled much time or whither he carry his graye haires vvith him downe into the graue he may say in his conscience as David did Thy statutes haue ever beene my songes in the house of my pilgrimage As for the devils dispensation youth must bee borne with and as that vnwise tutour sometimes spake It is not trust mee a faulte in a younge man to followe harlots to drinke wine in bowls to daunce to the tabret to weare fleeces of vanity aboute his eares and to leaue some token of his pleasure in every place so giving him lycense to builde the frame of his life vpon a lascivious and riotous foundation of long practised wantonnesse it vvas never written in the booke of God prophets and Apostles never drempt of it the law-giver never delivered it heâ—l onelye invented it of pollicy to the overthrow of that age which God hath most enabled to doe him best service And as it was the
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
strife betweene theÌ„ shall vanish without profite sheweth more mildnesse than Ionas had deserved His kindnes appeareth in 3. things 1. In reprooving repressing his rage for which cause David blessed Abigaill blessed bee the Lord God of Israell which sent thee this day to meete me and blessed be thy counsaile blessed be thou which haste kept me this day from comming to shed bloud 2. In reprooving him twise for owne thing who with one angry word of his lips could so haue abated his passion at the first that there should haue beene no place for a second as Abisai spake to David of smiting Saul let me smite him once to the earth with a speare and I will not smite him againe 3. In reprooving him so friendly I am sure servants with their fellow servantes haue dealt otherwise Iohn Baptist with the Pharises Peter with Ananias and Saphira and with Simon Magus Paul with Elimas and Ananias the High Priest Steven with the rulers of the Iewes O yee of harde neckes and vncircumcised hearts yet God the Creatour of all thinges with his sinnefull creature or more properly as David tearmed himselfe before Saul vvith a dead flie demeaneth himselfe vvith favourable speeches Doest thou vvell to bee angrie for a gourd The interrogation ariseth by degrees and accuseth Ionas in many over-sightes 1. Art thou angrie Ionas thou shouldest rather humble thy selfe acknovvledge thine ignoraunce and weakenesse presume the iudgementes of thy iudge to be righteous thou shouldest rather blesse and pray and giue thankes for this is the manner of Prophetes and art thou angry vvhat is anger but a desire of revendge for contempt or wronge done and whome desirest thou to be revendged of the worme or the sunne or God that hath sent them 2. Art thou not onely angry but art thou very angry For if well doe note the measure of his anger the exprobration is the greater because passions offende not commonly but in excesses and extremities or if the quality Doest thou vvell and iustly to be angry wilt thou defende and patronage thy wrath it is then a greater fault than the former 3. And art thou angry for a gourde so small a matter farre bee such corruption from the servant of Christ that his patience prepared for greater thinges shoulde fall awaie in trifles Thou hast lost but a poore gourde a little plante of the earth what if thou hadst lost a vineyarde full of trees as Naboth did of farre greater value than a gourd or thy life more deare than a vineyard what if thine one and onelye sheepe as Vrias did the wife of thy bosome or thy life more precious than thy wife Art thou angrie for a gourd Ionas answered I doe well to be angry vnto the death Thou hadst done better if thou hadst held thy peace if as before thou hadst passed the demaund of God without answere Was Balaam fit to speake vnto an Angell of the Lord being so blinded and overcast with the clovvds of wrath that he saw not so much as the dumbe asse vnder him is Ionas fit to speake vnto the Lord himselfe rather as Plato said to his servant I would haue killed thee but that I am angry so he shoulde haue said vnto the Lorde I woulde haue aunswered thee but that my passions haue set mee besides my selfe Hee that knoweth not his fault will never bee amended There is litle hope that the speech of God can doe good vpon Ionas who rather becommeth a patrone of his sin than a suiter for pardon The aunswere iustly followeth the steppes of the interrogation and indeede over-runneth it Art thou angry I am angry I dissemble not I blush not to confesse it though I concealed it before at thy first asking yet now bee it knowne vnto thee I am angrye Art thou very angry yea I put not a counterfeit person vpon me I am on fire with my vvrath I burne like reâ—in or pitch that cannot bee quenched Dost thou well to bee angry I do well to be angry It doth not repent mee and more than before thou ever hast demaunded I doe vvell to be angry vnto death Thus an evil cause is made much worse by evill handling and the defence of the fault vvaxeth more vnpardonable than the fault it selfe Giue admonition to the wise and hee vvill bee the vviser teach a righteous man and hee vvill encrease in learning but he that reprooveth a skorner purchaseth vnto himselfe shame and hee that rebuketh an angry man heapeth more coles of anger vpon him To admonish the frovvarde is to set goades to one that is mad enough alreadie and to powre oile into the chimney Nothing vndertaken vvith impatience can bee done vvithout violence and whatsoever is violently done either miscarrieth or falleth or flieth headlong away Hitherto I haue deferred to handle a question which this whole contention betweene God and Ionas leadeth mee vnto whither it be lawfull to be angry For aunswere whereof wee must knowe that anger is in the number of those affections vvhich God hath engraffed in nature and given them their seates in man and fitted them with their instruments and both ministred their matter from whence they proceede and provided them hâ—mours wherewith they are nourished They were ordained to be spurres vnto vs for the prosecution of vertue and as the body hath his nerves so hath the soule hers whereby shee is moved either with a slower or speedier cariadge The Stoicke Philosophers holde a vacuity of affections and condemne them all as vicious why Because they driue vs to disorder and exceede their compasse I graunte it But this is not the nature of the affections themselues but the affection of our corrupt natures Christ himselfe was not without affections hee was angry vvhen hee cast the merchantes out of the temple pitifull when hee sawe the people scattered like sheepe vvithout a sheepehearde sorrowfull when he shed teares over Ierusalem and wee knovve that anger repentance mercie hatred and the like are attributed to GOD in the Scriptures vvhich if they vvere simply and by nature evill shoulde never haue beene ascribed vnto him Touching anger in particular the Philosopher saide truely that anger is the whet-stone vnto fortitude and Basill called it a nerve or tendon of the soule giving it courage and constancie and that vvhich is remisse and tender otherwise hardening it as it vvere vvith iron and steele to make it goe thorough vvith her businesse To bee angrie saith Ierome is the part of a man And if anger were not by the suffrage of Chrysostome neither would teaching availe nor iudgements stande neither coulde sinnes bee repressed Wherefore the counsaile of David in the 4. Psalme and of the Apostle to the Ephesians is bee angry but sinne not Wherevpon the glosse noted Be angrie as touching the first motions which they accounted not sinnes because they were rather propassions and entrances into passion than passions rather infirmities than
Saviour praysed the living Iohn Baptist the Centurion Nathanael Though wisedome it selfe could not erre in iudgement yet it is safer for vs to praise the dead than the living the complement and periode of whose daies we haue seene expired quando nec laudantem adulatio movet nec lavdatum tentat elatio vvhen neither hee that praiseth is mooved with flattery nor he that is praised can be â—empted or swell with vaine glory Praise a sea-man when he is come to the haven and praise a warriour when he is brought to his triumph not before Such are the dead whome we should favour generally if there were none other cause tantùm quia praecesserunt onely because they haue ledde the way vnto vs but those who haue bene honourable in their life time we must follow with our amplest testimonies not of friendship and affection but of truth and fulfill the blessing of God vpoÌ„ them what in vs lyeth that the righteous may be had in everlasting remembrance For mine owne part I come not at this time to giue titles to any man either living or dead contrary to desert nor to pronounce a sentence with my lippes vvhich mine heart gaine-saith I know that the nature of praise is not benigna hominum verba sed iudicia the curteous speech of men but their sound iudgements and the seate of subiect therof is not the praiser for then the credit of the iust must stand to the mercy of flatterers but hee that is praised as Pindarus aunswered one who told him that he deserved thankes for coÌ„mending him Efficio vt vera dicas the cause is in mee not in thy selfe that thou speakest truth According therfore to these rules I haue thought it my duty to breake a boxe of spikenard amongst you to fill the house with some part of that sweete perfume which his good name memory hath left behind him In few wordes this honourable shadow presented vpon this stage of mortalitye and now concluding his laste acte vpon the face of the earth as hee was not great by parentage so it was his greater commendation that hee became great by vertues Stemmata quid faciunt Auncient and noble pedigrees are of little vvorth where the line of well-doing continueth not And it is much more glorye to a man to begin the honour of his howse than either to ende or not to encrease it VVhat did it profit Cham that hee vvas the sonne of Noah or hurt Abraham that Thara his father worshipped Gods of clay or disparage Timothee that hee was borne in Gentilitye Ingenuitas non recepit contumeliam honesty and vertuousnesse how base soever the birth bee is free from disgrace It vvas no preiudice to Socrates that his father wrought in Marble and that his mother was a mid-wife to Demosthenes that his father was a cutler or Euripides that his mother solde garden hearbs Tullus Hostilius spent his infancy in a cottage his youth in keeping sheepe his mans estate in governing the kingdome of Rome but his olde age vvas so beautified vvith most excellent giftes that it reached to the toppe of highest maiestye Moses though hee vvere hid in a basket of flagges and cast a side amongst bulrushes yet became a terrour to Princes Ioseph the sonne of Iacob vvho kept sheepe for wiues vvas exalted to bee the second ruler of Egypt Saul sought asses and David followed the ewes great with yonge yet the Lord hath lifted them both out of the dust and set them amongst the Kings of the earth It leaueth an encouradgement to those that are left behinde Summos posse viros magna exempla daturos c. that most rare men and able to bequeath to the world great examples both of vertue and learning may be borne of meane parents For the rest of his life as Cesar in three words abridged that service of his veni vidi vici I came I viewed I vanquished so three other words shall summe and comprehend the whole course of it Academta Aula Ecclesia the Vniversity the Court and the Church of God The Vniversity tried his learning The Court his manners the Church his wisedome Touching the first as Petrus Chrysologus said that if in this present life there be any where a paradise it is either in a Cloister or in the schoole so if there be any where a probation of learning it is amongst scholers For popular iudgemeÌ„t is very sufficient satis pauci satis vnus satis nullus A few are enough one enough none enough to heare and determine of such matters Therin how well he proved let the transplanting of him from colledge to colledge not by chaÌ„ce or suite of friends but advised choice and not onely his sittieg at the feete of Gamalael to heare but his sitting in a chaire to teach be arguments vnto vs. The manner of a court is rather to take than to make goodmen Therefore Bernard admonished Eugenius the Pope to choose men vnto him already approoved not to bee approoved after they were come I will not censure the court of England The Lord prosper both the roote and branches of it and cause the light of his countenance to shine vpon the sun and starres of that firmament But I am sure in that Court whilest he lived therin non fuit vnus é multis hee was not a common man for his deserts and yet for his paines fuit vnus é multis he made himselfe a common man in keeping as orderly and ordinary a course of preaching as whosoever was most bound to doe that service And as hee had an office therein besides to waite vppon so he dischardged it with fidelity not bearing the bag like a theefe but vvith such vprightnesse of conscience that in the sight of GOD and men hee might iustlye purdge himselfe vvitnesse against mee if you canne VVhome have I ever defrauded Lastly the Church had a long experience of his government He was thrice a Deane and because he was faithfull â—n a little he vvas made a ruler over much for he was thrice also Bishop In the menaging of which weighty chardges malice it selfe spared him Even that malice which blotted and blemished the names of most of the lights of this land never accused him But I call this the least credite of a thousand One told Menedemus that Alexâ—us praised him an evill man Mendemus aunswered but I will never be brought to praise Alexius Concerning his last service in these his ecclesiasticall prefectures As Paul told the elders of Ephesus Act. 20. You all know from the first houre that I came into Asia c. so from the first houre that he came into this province you know his behaviour amongst you at al seasons how he kept nothing backe that was profitable but taught you openly and throughout every Church witnessing both to Iewes and Grecians Protestants and Papists repentance towards God faith towards Iesus Christ. Shall I yet