are all gone out of the way c. When this canker of impiety hath so overspred and eaten into the manners of people then is fulfilled that which Esay puâ—teth dovvne for a sounde position Let mercie bee shewed to the wicked yet hee vvill not learne rigtheousnesse in the lande of vprightenesse will hee doe wickedly and will not beholde the maiesty of the Lorde If neither the mercy nor the maiesty of God nor the company of the righteous can reforme him then is his bettering despaired and past hope I neede no farther examine this part The cause why Ionas cryed against Niniveh vvas the cry of their sinnes their regions vvere vvhite to harvest their iniquities ripe and looked for a sickle from heauen to cutte them dovvne The sufficiencie of vvhich cause to deriue the iudgementes of GOD vpon vs Ieremy layeth downe in his prophecy Manye nations shall passe by the citye meaning of Ierusalem and shall saye everye man to his neighbour vvherefore hath the LORDE done this to this greate citie then shall they answere Because they haue forsaken the covenant of the Lorde their GOD c. For the iudgement of the Lorde pronounced by David shall stande longer then the stars in the firmament Him that loveth iniquitye doth his soule hate Vpon the wicked hee shall raine snares fire and brimstone and stormie tempestes this is the portion of their cuppe And in the first Psalme it is a singular opposition that is made betvveene the iust and the wicked Non sic impij non sic the wicked are not so that thou mayest vnmoueably beleeue how vnmoueably God is bent to deny the wicked his grace hee strengtheneth the negatiue by doubling it Therefore the wicked shall not stand in iudgement for they are fallen before their iudgment commeth What shall they not rise againe Surely yes but not in iudgement saith Ierome for they are already iudged The wickednesse of our land what it is and in what elevation of height vvhether modest or impudent private or publique vvhether it speaketh or cryeth standeth or goeth lyeth like an aspe in her hole or flyeth lyke a fiery serpent into the presence of God your selues bee iudges vvrite my vvordes in tables that they may bee monumentes for latter daies for when your childrens children shall heare them hereafter they will skarselye beeleeue them The moneths of the year haue not yet gone about wherin the Lorde hath bowed the heavens and come downe amongst vs with more tokens and earnests of his wrath intended then the agedst man of our lande is able to recount of so small a time For say if ever the windes since they blew one against the other haue beene more common and more tempestuous as if the foure ends of heaven had conspired to turne the foundations of the earth vpside downe thunders and lightnings neither seasonable for the time and withall most terrible with such effectes brought forth that the childe vnborne shall speake of it The anger of the clouds hath beene powred downe vpon our heades both with abundance and saving to those that felt it vvith incredible violence the aire threatned our miseries with a blazing starre the pillers of the earth tottered in many vvhole countries and tractes of our Ilande the arrowes of a woefull pestilence haue beene caste abroade at large in all the quarters of our realme even to the emptying and dispeopling of some partes thereof treasons against our Queene and countrey wee haue knovvne many and mighty monstrous to bee imagined from a number of Lyons whelpes lurking in their dennes and vvatching their houre to vndoe vs our expectation and comfort so fayled vs in Fraunce as if our right armes had beene pulled from our shoulders VVee haue not altered the colour of the hayre of our heades nor added one inch to our stature since all these thinges haue beene accomplished amongst vs. Consider then vvell and thinke it the highest time to forsake your highest wickednes I call it highest wickednes for if wee knew how to adde any thing in our severall veines and dispositions to those idols of sinne which we serue some to our covetousnesse some to our pride some to our vnchastnes some to our malice and such like wee would breake our sleepe nay we would compasse sea and lande to encrease it Yet howsoever it fareth with the multitude let there bee a seede and remnaunt among vs left to entreate for peace Ten righteous persons would haue saved Sodom it may so stand with the goodnes of God that a few innocent fooles shall preserue the island as Iob speaketh Let vs thankfully embrace the long sufferance of our God forepast leading vs as by a hande of friendship to repentance and let vs redeeme with newnesse of life our dayes and yeares formerly mispent least by impenitent transgressing against the law of our maker we fall vpon his sentence of wrath irrevocably past and resolved by him I haue thought it and will not repent neither will I turne backe from it THE THIRD LECTVRE Chap. 1. ver 3. But Ionas arose vp to flie vnto Tharsish from the presence of the Lord and he went downe to Iapho c. THe commission given to Ionas we haue already weighed it followeth that wee handle his recusancy disobedience therein coÌ„mitted This verse now in haÌ„d delivereth the whole body therof with every member belonging vnto it 1. his preparatioÌ„ is set downe in that he arose 2. his speede to fly 3. the end and period of his iourney to Tharsis 4. his end and purpose why to Tharsis to escape the preseÌ„ce of the Lord. 5. the opportunities helpes and furtherances to his travel are exactly put downe 1. he went downe to Iapho an haven-towne 2. hee found a ship going to Tharsis 3. he paid the fare thereof 4. he went downe into it 5. lastly his reason of flying to Tharsis is againe specified with a regression in the end of the verse that he might goe from the presence of the Lord. A notable patterne of mans disposition 1. the Lord biddeth him arise he ariseth who if he had sitten still till his flesh had cloveÌ„ to the pauement or if he had streched himselfe vpon his bed and folded his armes to sleepe he had done a service more acceptable to God 2. he is bidden to go but not coÌ„tent with going he doth more theÌ„ so hee flieth hee hath the feete of an hinde and the wings of a doue to do that hee should not who had reapt more thankes if he had crept but like a snaile in his right course 3. He is bidden to go to Niniveh he goeth to Iapho and Tharsis he is not idle but he doth ill he doth that which he was not charged with like one of those Lords in Ieremy who told God to his face we are Lords we wil no more come at thee so doth he flatly crosse overthwart that directioÌ„ which God had set
for the kings shippes went to Tharsis with the servants of Hiram every three yeares once came the shippes of Tharsis and brought golde and silver yvorye apes and peacockes or vvhether it signifie Carthage which Dido sometime built and is now called Tunes which is the opinion of Theodoret and others or vvhether Tartessus a towne in Spaine or vvhether that city in Cilicia nearer to Syria vvhence Paul reporteth himselfe to haue beene in the 21. of the Actes I am a citizen in Tharsis a famous city in Cilicia or vvhether the whole countrey of Cilicia because in auncient times if Iosephus deceiue vs not all Cilicia vvas called Tharsis by the name of the chiefe city or whether it name vnto vs any other place not yet agreed vpon partly by curious partly by industrious authors it skilleth not greatly to discourse I leaue you for your satisfactiō therin to more ample cōmentaries But certeine I am vvhether his minde beare him to lande or to sea to Asia or Africk cuntry or city nearer or farther of at Niniveh he commeth not which was the place of Gods apointment Many dispute many things vvhy Ionas forsooke Niniveh and fled to Tharsis 1. The infirmity of the flesh some say was the cause pusillanimity of minde vvant of courage beeing terrified vvith the greatnesse of the citye 2. Or there was no hope say others of the dry when the greene was so barren The children of Israell had so hardened his heart with the hardnesse of theirs that he coulde not imagine the children of Ashur would ever haue fallen to repentāce 3. Or the strangenesse of the charge dismaide him for vvhen all other Prophets were sent to Israell he reasoneth vvith himselfe vvhy should I bee sent to Niniveh it was as vncoth vnto him as when Peter was willed to arise kill and eate vncleane beastes and hee answered in plaine termes not so Lorde 4. Or it might bee zeale to his countrey because the conversion of the Gentiles hee sawe woulde bee the eversion of the Iewes And surely this is a greate tentation to the minde of man the disadvantage and hinderance of brethren For this cause Moses interposed himselfe in the quarrell betvveene the Hebrew and the AEgyptian and slew the AEgyptian and in the behalfe of all Israell he afterwardes prayed vnto the Lord against his owne soule If thou wilt pardon their sinne thy mercie shall appeare but if thou wilt not I pray thee raze mee out of the booke of life which thou hast written 5. Or it might bee hee was afraide to be accounted a false prophet if the sequele of his prophecy fell not out which reason is afterward expressed by him in the fourth chapter I pray thee Lorde was not this my saying when I was in mine owne countrey c. As I saide of the place before so of the reasons that mooved him for this present till fitter occasions bee offered vvhatsoever it vvere that drewe him awaie vvhether weakenesse of spirite or despayre of successe or insolency of charge or ielousie over the Israelites or feare of discredite sure I am that hee commeth not to Niniveh but resolveth in his heart to reiect a manifest commandement I make no quaestion but in every circumstance forehandled he vncovereth his owne nakednes and laieth himselfe open to the censure and crimination of all men As who would say will you know the person without dissembling his name It was Ionas his readines without deliberation he ariseth his hast without intermission he flyeth the place farre distant from the which God had appointed Tharsis And if all these will not serue to prooue the disobedience of Ionas a a fault by his owne confession then harken vnto the next word if other were but candels to discover it this is a blazing lampe to lay it forth to all mens sight 5 From the presence of the Lord. He flyeth into Tharsis from the presence of the Lorde how can that bee if it bee true which David wisheth in the 27. Psalme Blessed bee his glorious name for ever and let all the earth bee filled with his glorie But in the hundreth thirty and eighth Psalme wonderfull are the testimonies that the prophet there bringeth to amplifie Gods illimited presence O Lord thou hast tried mee and knowne mee thou knowest my sitting and my rising thou vnderstandest my thoughtes a farre of c. For not to stay your eares with commemoration of all those argumentes this I gather in summe that there is neither heaven nor hell nor the outtermost part of the sea neither day nor night light nor darkenesse that can hide vs from his face Our sitting rising lying downe the thoughtes of our heartes wordes of our tongues waies of our feete nay our raines our bones our mothers wombes wherein wee laye in our first informitye and imperfection are so well knowne vnto him If this vvere his purpose to thinke that the presence of God might bee avoided who sitteth vpon the circle of heaven and beholdeth the inhabitantes of the earth as grasse-hoppers whose throne is the heaven of heavens and the earth his footestoole and his waies are in the greate deepe I must then needes say vvith Ieremie doubtlesse every man is a beast by his owne knowledge Prophet or no prophet If the spirit of God instruct him not hee is a beast worse then Melitides that naturall foole of vvhome Histories speake that hee coulde not define whether his father or his mother brought him forth But I cannot suppose such palpable and grosse ignorance in a prophet who knowing that God was well knowen in Iurie and his name greate in Israell coulde not be ignorant that God was the same God and the presence of his Godhead no lesse in Tharsis and all other countries What then is the meaning of this phrase He fled from the presence of the Lord 1. Some expounde it thus He left the whole border and grounde of Israell where the presence of the Lord though it were not more then in other places yet it was more evident by the manifestations of his favours graces towards them There was the Arke of the covenant and the sanctuary and the Lord gaue them answere by dreames oracles and other more speciall arguments of his abode there Moses spake truth in the 4. of Deut. of this priviledge of Israel what nation is so great vnto whom their Gods come so neare vnto them as the Lord is neare vnto vs in all that wee call vpon him for Davids acclamation Psalm 147. goeth hande in hand with it He hath not dealt so with other nations neither haue the heathen knowledge of his iudgments But I rather conceiue it thus which maketh much for the confirmation of my matter now in hand He fled from the presēce of the Lord when hee turned his backe vpon him shooke of his yoke and willfully renounced his commaundement It is a signe of obedience that servantes beare vnto their Lords and maisters when
togither Say that being young thou wert riotous gluttonous libidinous given to drinking surfetting giving thy streÌ„gth to harlots shal not thine olde age rue it art thou not one the saÌ„e person both in thy yonger older years in the waxing in the waning of thy daies shall the difference and change of times exempt thee froÌ„ the gout dropsie the like distemperature Thy grandfather 2. or 3. degrees beyond thy father and thy selfe Et natinatorum qui nascentur ab illis thy childrens children nephews to come you are all but one house Aeacidae froÌ„ Aeacus springing froÌ„ one roote the head of the family in his sight account who esteemeth a 1000. generations but as one day Plutarch himselfe was wise enough to answere the argument There is not the like comparison betwixt father son as betwixte a workeman his worke neither can they alike be separated for that which is borne or begotten is not only from the father but of him as a part belonging vnto him The Castilions bloud in France spilt at the massacre may rightfully be required of the Guisian race in the 4. or 5. generation to come This is the cause that David curseth the wicked on both sides both in their descent let their children bee vagabondes begge their breade and in their ascent let the iniquity of his father be had in remembrance let not the sinne of his mother be done away The like is daily practised in the community and felowship of diverse partes within the same body as in a matter of felonie the hand only hath taken and borne away but the feete are clapt in iron the belly pinched with penury the bones lie hard the best iointe is endangered for it Sundry partes though distinguished both in place and office feele the punishment which they may fondly say the hand only deserved Yea the eie may bee sore and a veine prickt in the arme to cure it the hoofe tender and weake and the top of the hoâ—ne annointed for remedie thereof eveÌ„ so in the body of a city the body of an army the body of a church the bodie of a ship though happily few offend yet their iniquity is brought vpon the head of a whole multitude The kinges are mad the Greekes are plagued 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the vvhole citie oftentimes reapeth the fruite of one vvicked man amongst them What iniury is done therein is it more then one citie is not that citizen a member of their body Is not Socrates one and the same man at the head at the foote is not Englande one and the same land at Barwicke and at the Mount is not London one and the same city at Ludgate at Aldgate These may be the reasons why the whole number of passengers is plagued both in the losse of their wares in the hazard of their liues for the principall transgression of Ionas 1. they were wicked themselues because they were idolatrous what other corruptions they had the Lord knoweth 2. they were all but one body vnder the same discipline and government tied togither by orders lawes for sea as by iointes by reason they had entertained and consorted themselues with disobedient Ionas Other causes there may be secret vnto God which I dare not search out Why should I climbe into paradise or pâ—ie into the arke to behold his counsels wheÌ„ he hath set darknes clouds about his pavilioÌ„ why should I labor to remoue theÌ„ We know not the reasons of many a thing beloÌ„ging to our coÌ„moÌ„ life how it coÌ„meth that our clothes are warme about our backs when the earth is quiet through the south-winde shal we reach after hiddeÌ„ knowledge A plague begaÌ„ in Aethiopia filled AtheÌ„s killed Pericles vexed Thucy dides or to match the example a plague beginneth in FraÌ„ce taketh shipping at NewhaveÌ„ laÌ„deth in EnglaÌ„d with Englishmen harboureth it selfe in LondoÌ„ never departeth therehence againe Wil you know the reason hereof It may be that the works of God may be made manifest as Christ spake of the blind maÌ„ Ioh. 9. or to shew his power that he hath over his clay to exercise his iustice to practise proue our patience whether we wil curse him to his face as it may be the divel hath informed against vs or to apply the coÌ„tinual physick of afflictioÌ„ chastisemeÌ„t vnto vs that we ruÌ„ not into desperate maladies For there are 4. kinds of meÌ„ which by 4. kinds of means come to heaveÌ„ 1. some buy it at a price which bestow al their teÌ„poral goods for the better coÌ„passing therof 2. soÌ„e catch it by violeÌ„ce they forsake fathers mothers land living life al that they haue for that kingdomes sake 3. some steale it they do their good deeds secretly they are opeÌ„ly rewarded 4. others are enforced to take it by coÌ„tinual afflictioÌ„s made to fal into the liking therof Or whatsoever els be the cause which the sanctuary of heaven hath reserved to it selfe buried in light that may not be approached vnto this I am sure of that the challeÌ„ge of the Apostle shal stand like a wal of brasse against al the obiectioÌ„s in the world NuÌ„quid iniquitas apud DeuÌ„ Is there any vnrighteousnes with God And so farre was it of that these marriners receiued losse by their losse that it vvas their occasion to bring them to the knowledge and feare of the true God as hereafter shall appeare vnto you in the tendering of their vowes and other the like religious dueties Then saide they vnto him tell vs for whose cause this evill is vpon vs c. Having presumed that the lots could not lie being governed and guided by the wisdoÌ„e of God they gather theÌ„selues togither like bees al make a coÌ„mon incursion vpon Ionas For by likelihood of their demands because they are many in nuÌ„ber many to the same effect as some supposed it is not vnprobable that their whole troupe assaulted him each one had a pul after his fashioÌ„ as they had sundry heads mouthes so they had sundry speeches to expresse one the same thing therfore one asked vnde venis wheÌ„ce coÌ„mest thou another quae terra tua what is thy couÌ„try a third ex quo populo of what people art thou when his people couÌ„try dwelling place differ not in substaÌ„ce And certainely I cannot blame them if in such peril of their liues when the first borne of death the next immediatest death to sight was vpoÌ„ theÌ„ they al make an head open their mouthes without order or course against the worker of their woes When Achan was brought to the valley of Achor to be executed he his sons daughters asses sheepe the silver garment wedge of golde his tent all that hee had there produced it is said that all Israell threw stones at him and burnt them with fire and stoned
vse of it I have heard of a nation of men I will not say that their neighbour-hoode hath a little infected England who when their king hath intended a feast for the honour of his country and entertainement of forraine Embassadours they on the other side have proclaimed a fast as if God had sent them an Embassage of the last iudgement I cannot deny them time but surely they tooke not a season for so doing I will proove the matter in hand in the next circumstance and ioine them both togither wherein I observed Secondly that it was an orderly fast because the king and his counsaile had first decreed it I toucht it a litle by occasioÌ„ of the former senteÌ„ce the words directly leading 〈◊〉 therevnto If any remaine as yet vnsatisfied first for mine owne purgation know ye that I speake not as the Lord of your faith but as one that had obtained mercy to be faithfull in my calling I shewed you mine opinion and iudgement 2. for the thing it selfe search the scriptures for they beare witnesse of the trueth whither these publique religious extraordinary fasts had not alwaies their authority emanation from publike persons In the 20. of the booke of Iudges the chosen souldiers of Israell which vvere taken by lot out of all their tribes to fight against Beniamin in the quarrell of the levite whose wife was shamefully abused and murdered they held a publique fast from morning vntill evening the cause was a slaughter which they had receved of forty thousand men and a conscience they made of fighting against Beniamin their brethren The authors of the fast are the rulers of the people who in the Original are called the corners and heades of the people In the 1. of Sam. 7. they fast publiquely they drew water saith the text even rivers of teares powred them out before the Lorde the appointment is from Samuell who iudged Israel in Mispah and the cause their idolatry committed to strange Gods the absence of the arke from them full twenty yeares In the 2. Chronic. 20. there is a fast proclaimed throughout all Iudah Iehosophat the king proclaimed it the cause was the sodaine comming of a great multitude from Ammon and Moab aad Aram to invade his kingdome Esdr. 8. there is likewise a publique fast summoned in their returne towards Ierusalem Esdras the high priest ordaineth it the reason is that God woulde directe them in their way and preserue themselues their children and goodes in safety Another Esther 4. which Esther gaue Mordecay in charge for now Mordecay was the man on whome the heartes of all the Iewes in Shusan depended at that time The cause that God would assist Esther who with the hazard of her head when her people vvere neare their vtter extirpation adventured her selfe to speake to the king in his inner court being not called before him Another Ieremy 36. In the daies of wicked Iehoikim who cut the booke of the Lord with a penknife and caused it to be burnt It was certainely proclaimed by order from some that might commaund For who else could assemble together all the people in Ierusalem and all the rest that came from the citties of Iudah without speciall authority yea Iezâ—bell her selfe though the daughter of Belial was not ignorant what the manner of those times was Shee proclaimed a fast in Iezrael where Nâ—both dwelt to rob him of his vineyard and to betraie his life but first shee sent letters in the kinges name and secondlye sealed them with the kinges seale and lastly directed them to the elders and nobles of Iezraell that they might put them in execution But the Phrases vsed in Ioel doe sufficiently determine the nature of this action Blow a trumpet in Sion sanctifie a fast call a solemne assemblie gather the people sanctifie the congregation gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the lande assemble the children and those that sucke the breastes let the bridegroome and the bride goe forth of their chamber Now what is a sanctified fast but that which is publikely called and established either by God himselfe Levit. 23. or by the magistrate Bishop or prophet or who hath authority to draw the people from their worke to gather the aged and sucklings and al the inhabitants of the country togither to apoint an holy day vnto the Lord to be spent in praiers sacrifices but only these governours As in a receipt of Physicke the ingredients may al be good yet is it not so warrantable vnto vs neither are we willing to meddle therwith vnlesse a professour of Physicke by his art and authority prescribe it so in a publike fast privately convented I said before that all the exercises were christian religious their praier preaching singing and distributing to the poore but as our saviour told the rich yong man in the gospell there is one thing wanting vnto thee if thou wilâ— bee perfect sell all that thou hast c. So there is one thing wanting vnto these and to give them their full perfection we must suffer the rulers of the common wealth to apoint them Chrisostome calleth fastinge a kinde of Physicke but Physicke may be profitable a thousand times yet be hurtfull at a time for want of skill to vse it therefore he would never have it done but congrua cum lâ—ge with all the lawes that agree vnto it and every circumstance of time quantity state of the body with the like precisely observed He applieth the Apostles similitude No man striving for a maistery is crowned vnlesse he strive lawfully so it may fall out that amiddest the paines and afflictions of fasting vvee may leese the crowne of it Zonaras hath a rule to the same purpose treating likewise of fastes Good is never good except it bee done in good sort And Cyprian in like manner It prooveth not well which is done of headinesse and without order The Thirde thinge in the fast of Niniveh is the vniversalitye of it for it vvas not onelye publique and open but included almost vvhatsoever breathed amongst them It concerned first men which is heere indefinitelye put signifying the whole kinde from the man of grayest haires to the tenderest infant and as you hearde before from the greatest to the smalest secondly Beastes yea all sortes of beastes great and small oxen horses sheepe goates and whatsoever cattell they had of any service Fourthly it was very strict for they are forbidden to feede I say not to glut themselues but they might not so much as tast perhappes not delicate meates no nor anye thinge it had beene enough to haue kept them from eating but neither might they drinke I say not wines and curious electuaries but not so much as water which their rivers and welles afforded them Fiftelye it was serious and vnfained not false and sophisticall as the manner of hypocrites is It appeareth by that that followeth in returning from
of a fierce countenance and vnknowne language all the commoâ—ions and perturbations of kingdomes invasions of kings one vpon the others dominions rebellions of subiectes and so much of Christendome at this day buried in the very bowels of Turcisme and infidelity yea the extirpation of the Iews and planting of the Gentiles vpon their stocke and hereafter the casting out of the Gentiles and filling of the Iewes againe they are al rightly and orderly derived from the former cause For the sins of the people the princes the people themselues the government the policy the religion the peace the plenty of the land shal often be chandged We haue long and faithfully preached against your sinnes the dissolvers you see of kingdomes common weales that if it were possible we might bring them also to their periode and set some number and end of them VVill you not be made cleane when shall it once be But if our preachings cannot mooue you he that in times past at sundry times and in sundry manners spake vnto our fathers hath also sundry voices and sundry kindes of preachers to speake vnto you You heare that the chandge of a Prince is one of his Preachers It shall preach more sorrow vnto you more wringing of your hands rending of your harts than ever erst you were acquainted with Remember the vision that Michaeas saw all Israell scattered like sheepe because their king was taken from them and thinke how wofull a day it will bee when this faithfull shepheard of ours which hath fed her Iacob with a true heart Formosi pecoris Custos formâ—sior ipsa an happy Queene of an happy people the Lord yet saving both her vs with the healthfull power of his right hand shall be pulled from vs. Wee haue hitherto lived in peace equall to that in the daies of Augustus such as our fathers never sawe the like and vvhen wee shall tell our childrens children to come thereof they will not beleeue it VVe haue sitten at ease vnder the shaddowe of our vines nay vnder the shaddow of this vine wee haue shaded solaced our selues and lived by her sweetnes But it may fall out that as when the Emperour Pertinax was dead they cried with redoubled showtes into the aire till they were able to cry no longer while Pertinax lived and governed wee lived in safety and feared no man so wee may send our late and helpelesse complaintes into heaven O well were wee in the daies of Queene Elizabeth when perfite peace was the walles of our country and the malice of the enemy prevailed not against vs. The sword of a forrein foe bandes and captivitye is an other of his preachers Will you not feele the warnings of Gods wrath till the yron haue entred into your soules and drawne bloud after it you knovv vvho it is that hangeth over your heades of vvhome and other princes I may say as they said in Athens of Demades and Demosthenes their oratours Demosthenes is meete for Athens iustly assised and fitted to the city Demades over-great so vvhen other kinges holde themselues contended vvith their kingdomes he is too greate for Spaine and many other kingdomes and Dukedomes cannot suffice him but he yet devoureth in hope all the dominions of Christendome and drinketh downe with vnsatiable thirst the conceipt of a Monarch and for this cause there is a busye spirite gone forth in the mouthes of all his Prophets Vnus Deus vnus Papa vnus rex Christianismi Magnus rex Catholicus vniversalis There is but one God one Poâ—e one King of Christendome the greate and Catholicke and vniversall Kinge Hee hath once already buckled his harnesse vnto him with ioye and assured presumption of victory But they that pulled it of by out-stretched arme of one more mighty than himselfe more reioyced God graunt that they bee not found in England vvho haue saide vpon that happye and miraculous event in discomfiting his forces vvee vvill trust in our bovves and our svvordes and speares shall heereafter deliver vs. There touching of late in Cornevvale the vtmost skirt of our lande no doubt vvas some little vvarning from God But it vvas no more vnto vs than if the skirt of our cloake had beene cutte avvay as it vvas to Saule vvee say our skinne is not yet rased The commotion in Irelande thoughe a quicker and more sensible admonition is but a dagger held to our side and till the pointe thereof sticke in our heart till there bee firing of our tovvnes ransackinge of our houses dashinge of our infants against the stones in the streetes vvee vvill not regarde O cease to incense the iealous God of heaven Turne not his grace and mercie into wantonnes Let not his strength bee an occasion vnto you to make you vainely confident nor his peace licenciouslye secure nor the abundance of his goodnesse abundant and intolerable in transgressing his lawes And if there were no other reason to make you tremble before his face yet do it for your owne politicke good because you are threatned by a deadly enimy vvho accompteth himselfe the cedar and vs but the thistle in Libanon and whose povver is not contemptible though God hath often cast him downe Neveuiant Romani auferant regnum à nobis at least that the Romanes and Spaniardes for they are brethren in this case come not vpon vs by the righteous sufferaunce of our God and take away our kingdome Surely our sinnes call for a skourdge and they shall receaue one For they even whip and torment the patience of God The arrowes of death are prepared against vs and they shall shine with our gall if with humble repentance we prevent them not Our pride calleth for humiliation shee is ascended on high and asketh who shall fetch me downe yet I haue red of those whose wimples and calles and perewigges haue beene turned into nakednes and baldnes and they haue run too and fro smiting their breastes and tearing the haire of their heades suffering it to be blowne about their eares with the wind and not regarding to bind it vp so much as with an haire-lace Our clocks are not vvell kept nor our chimneyes good which I haue heard to be two signes of a well ordered common wealth that is our hours are mispent our callings not followed and the breathing of the chimneies is choked vp hospitalitie and reliefe to the poore almost banished The poorer haue had their plagues already skarsitie of bread within these few yeares often renewed Their teeth haue beene cleanâ— and white through want of food when yours haue beene furred with excesse of meats and drinkes But rich men gentlemen looke also for your draught in the cup of the Lord either some mortal sickenes to your bodies to eate vp your flesh as you haue eaten others and then whose shall these thinges bee which with so much sweat of your browes carefulnes of heart wracke of conscience breach of charitie wrong to humane
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
of the whole sentence doth amply disclose it 1. But Ionas Ionas was the author writer of this history yet Ionas reporteth the fault in himselfe as if some stranger person without his skin had committed it He forgetteth as it were his owne people and his fathers house and setting affection aside to his owne credite maketh a simple and plaine declaration namely singularly of the transgression of Ionas A wise man by the rule of Salomon in the beginning of his speech will accuse himselfe so doth Ionas not shrowding his head nor running into a bush as Adam did but vvriting his fault in his brow and pointing with his finger at the very transgressor vnder his proper and individual name hee bringeth the accusation Then Ionas arose the party not long since mentioned even the son of Amittai he that immediatly before received the word of the Lord to go to Niniveh let his name be registred and his fault be published to the whole world Ionas arose 2. Arose Will you now see his readines in an evill cause no sooner called but he arose forthwith Hee might haue excused himselfe as Moses did in the 3. and 4. chapters of Exodus when he was called to his burthensome office who am I that I should go to Pharaoh bring the children of Israell out of Aegypt againe O Lord send by the hands of him whome thou shouldest send It hath bene the vse of Gods seruants vvhen they haue found their ability vnmeete to vndergo the duties of their provinces allotted them in modesty humility to withdraw themselues So did Gedeon in the 6. of Iudges For when the Lorde had encouraged him Goe in thy might thou shalt saue Israell out of the handes of the Midianites he aunswered againe Ah my my Lord whereby shall I saue Israell Behold my father is poore in Manasses and I the least in my fathers house Likewise when Samuel asked Saul On whome is all the desire of Israell set Is it not vpon thee and all thy fathers house he returned this answere vnto him Am not I the son of Iemini of the smallest tribe of Israell c. wherefore then speakest thou so to me But Ionas hath no such excuse nor that he is the son of Amittai nor of the least tribe nor of the poorest family nor himselfe the vnfittest of all the rest to be sent to Niniveh but at the first call and summons of the Lord he ariseth vp 3. To flie When he is vp he flieth his driving is as the driving of Iehu the sonne of Nimshi saith the watch-man in the seconde booke of the Kings and the ninth chap. for he driveth as if hee were madde So driveth Ionas as if he had received that postinge commission which the Apostles received Salute no man by the way or rather as if he had vowed a fast with himselfe neither to eate nor drinke till he had frustrated Gods commandement Cyprian wrote to Cornelius of fiue Schismatickes that had taken shipping and sailed to Rome with their mart of lies as if the Lord of heaven who rideth vpon the Cherubins could not overtake them 4. To Tharsis If he had fled to the right place the hast he made had added much to the commendation of his painefulnes God loveth cheerefulnes alacrity in his worke excuses dislike him much The delay that Elizeus made let mee goe kisse my father and those shiftes in the gospel let mee go bury my father or take my leaue of my friends are not admitted in his businesse Paul witnesseth of himselfe in the 1. to the Galathians that when hee was called by the grace of God to preach his sonne amongst the Gentiles immediatly hee communed not with flesh and bloud neither came he againe to Ierusalem but went into Arabia and so forwardes for the execution of that message That vvhich hee did hee did presently and his hast is praise worthy because hee followed the will of the Lorde rather then the motions of fleshe and bloud In this sense it is true that the kingdome of heaven suffereth violence and the violente catch it away A man can never runne too fast that runneth in these waies I will run the waies of thy commaÌ„dementes saith David when thou hast set my hart at liberty Otherwise to run the way of our owne devises is cursus celerrimus praeter viam a swift race besides the way So run saith the Apostle that ye may obtaine run wisely run aright run by the levell and rule of Gods statutes Philosophers hold that if the inferiour spheres were not governed and stayed by the highest the swiftnesse of their motion would quickly fire the world And if the affections of men were not moderated by the guidance of Gods holy spirit it could not be chosen but this litle image of the world would soone be overthrovvne Hast in Ionas was not amisse but there was more hast then good speede in his travell because hee went to the wrong place This is to go I graunt but not with a right foote as the Apostle speaketh in the second to the Galathians The wicked haue their waies but they are crooked and circular endlesse waies as it is noted of them in the 12. Psalme Impij in circuitu ambulant they walke by compasse they walke not towards the marke the price that is set before them and therefore loose both their paines and their recompence they followe their father the Divell in these walkes who testifieth of himselfe in the first of Iob that he had compassed the whole earth These crooked waies are ever applied by the iudgment of Cassiodore to evill manners They shall never come to the rest of the eight day that thus goe wheeling about to no purpoâ—e like the turning of Sampsons mill which when it hath laboured the whole day long is founde at night in the selfe same place where it first began Thus the wicked haue their compassing waies the devil hath his outwaies and by-waies but happy is that man that ordereth his feete in the pathes of Gods commandements Now whether the place here mentioned signifie the sea as the Chaldaik paraphrast and Ierome and others according to the Hebrew name so importing expounde it whose reason is not much amisse that being amazed and at his wits ende more confused in his minde then the windes and waues that draue him he cared not whether hee went so hee walked not with God as Henoch did taking his marke at large and putting him selfe vnto the sea to fall by adventure vpon any country or whether Tharsis were that famous haven-towne of Africke of which wee reade Ezech. 27. They of Tharsis were thy marchantes for the multitude of all riches for silver iron tinne and lead which they brought to the faires the riches wherof may bee esteemed by that report which is made in the 2. of the Chronicles that silver was nothing accounted of in the dayes of Salomon
giftes a man of GOD having received a mandate from his Lorde is blinde deafe senslesse to performe it or rather hee goeth hastneth flieth saileth with the winges of the wind from the execution thereof Paul vpbraideth the Iewe Rom. 2. on this wise Thou art called a Iewe and restest in the lawe and gloryest in God and knowest his will and allowest the thinges that are excellent in that thou art instructed in the lawe and persuadest thy selfe that thou art a guide to the blinde a light to them which are in darkenesse an instructor of them which lacke discretion c. Thou therefore which teachest another teachest thou not thy selfe thou that preachest a man shoulde not steale dooest thou steale thou that sayest a man shoulde not commit adulterie dooest thou commit adulterie thou that abhorrest idolles committest thou sacrilege thou that gloriest in the lawe through breaking the lawe dishonourest thou God The coales of this scripture may bee heaped vpon Ionas his heade Thou art a Prophet a familiar friend with God thou hast seene visions and dreamed dreames and alwaies standest in the presence of the Lord to know his counsells thou art a seer to the blinde a teacher of the ignorant a watchman over those that are a sleepe thou therefore that teachest Israell teachest thou not thy selfe thou that preachest obedience to Ieroboam art thou disobedient thou that beginnest thy message Heare the worde of the Lorde doest thou reiect it What shall wee say then but that which Daniel yeeldeth vnto in the 9. of his Prophecy O Lorde righteousnesse belongeth vnto thee but vnto vs appertayneth open shame to our Kinges to our Princes to our Fathers wee may further say to our Prophets to our Priests because wee haue all sinned against thee There is no difference saith the Apostle he meaneth neither of Iew nor Gentile for all haue sinned and are deprived of the glory of God and are iustified freely by his grace thorough the redemption that is in Christ Iesus And the scripture hath concluded all vnder sinne that the promise by faith in Christ Iesus shoulde bee given to those that beleeue I shew you your sinne and the propitiation your sicknes and the remedy to cure it thinke not of the other remedies If you deeme that either Tharsis or any other region beyond seas that a cabbin in a ship or a couch in a chamber that the cloudes of the day or darkenes of the night the top of the mountaines or the bottome of the sea a secret friend or more secret conscience heaven or hel or any the like evasion can hide it from the eies of God you are deceived His seaven eies goe through the whole world You may interpret them 7. thousand thousand of eies for hee is totus oculus altogither eie Therefore let vs not flatter our selues with those that plucke out the eies of knowledge it selfe in the tenth Psalme Tush who seeth vs God hath forgotten hee hideth away his face and vvill never see but rather let vs acknowledge with Iacob all places to be filled with the maiesty of God The Lord was in this place and I vvas not aware of it how fearefull is this place This is the house of God and the gate of heaven this and that and the other within the compasse of the round worlde all are alike Let vs reclaime our selues in time from sinning which Ionas could not doe and in a serious cogitation before wee goe too farre aske one the other what haue vvee done If wee forget it in Israell let vs remember it in Iapho Let either house or field land or sea youth or full strength put vs in minde of our duety neglected Let vs not followe our sensuality too far nor buy voluptuousnes with a price but rather say wirh the Athenian Oratour when we heare how chargeable pleasure is Non ema◠tanti poenitere I will not buy my repentance at so high a rare Or if wee haue paide the fare of pleasure let vs withdrawe our feete before wee descend into the bottome and sinke of it let not the sides and entrals of the ship bury vs nor a carelesse profounde sleepe bereaue vs of all sense Let not the waters goe over our heades nor a floude of iniquitie overwhelme vs least that which is the wages of sinne and presently overtooke Ionas in his transgression wee endanger both body and soule to the iustice of God THE FOVRTH LECTVRE Chap. 1. ver 4. But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea c. THe recusancie of Ionas was the abridgment of the whole third verse whereof 1. he accuseth himselfe by name 2. he noteth his readines in arising 3. his speede in flying 4. his perversnes because to Tharsis 5. open rebelliō in going from the face of the Lord to renounce his service 6. his confirmation therein that having such stops remembrances laide in his way as namely 1. to reach the haven not neare at hand 2. to finde a shippe not without enquiry and to stay the leasure thereof 3. to be at charge 4. therein to be more liberall or more hasty then cause was 5. to commit himselfe to so manifest a danger as the travell by the sea bringeth with it yet he swalloweth and digesteth all these hookes and is not revoked by any meanes to performe his obedience For all this he did to what end That he might goe to Tharsis from the presence of the Lorde Once againe hee repeateth the cause and by a retire to his former speech maketh the publication of his crime both α and ω the first and the last of the sentence thus he beginneth and thus he endeth That hee might flee c. With them To this you may adde as the conclusion of all the rest the company he made choice of that he might goe with them Who were they by accord of all opinions men of sundry nations languages conditions and as is evident in the fift verse idolatours Thus he mingleth himselfe in the exstasie of his wilfulnes as fire and water Hyena with dogges an Israelite with gentiles the circumcised with the vncircumcised a prophet with prophaners of sound religion and one that feareth the God of the Hebrewes with those that worship stran he Gods The parable in Matthew maketh mention of a man that had 2. sonnes the one he biddeth go to his vineyarde and he answered I will not yet afterwardes repented himselfe and went the other saide I will go yet went not The one is the image of the penitent the other of the hypocrire the one a deede without shew the other a shew without deede Ionas may stand in a third branche who neither saith that he will not and doth nor that he will and doth not neither in trueth nor in colour obedient but having cleared and dissolved all obiections of travell charge perill company is shipped as you see and vnder saile to goe to Tharsis But the Lord sent out a
the martyrings of Iob for the other for though the circuit of Sathan be very large even to the coÌ„passing of the whole earth to fro yet he hath his daies assigned him to staÌ„d before the presence of the Lord for the renewing of his commission And besides Oviculam vnam auferre non potuit c. he could not take one poore sheepe from Iob till the Lorde had given him leaue put forth thine hande nor enter into the heard of swine Mat. 8. without Christs permission And so to conclude whether men or devilles be ministerial workers in these actions all coÌ„meth from him as from the higher supreme cause whose iudgments executed thereby no man can either fully comprehend or reprehend iustly God professeth no lesse of himselfe Esay 45. I forme the light and create darkenesse I make peace and create evill I the Lord do all these thinges And in the 54. of the same prophecie Beholde I haue created the smith that â—loweth the coales in the fire and him that bringeth foâ—th an instrument for his worke I haue created the destroyer to destroy destruction commeth from the instrument the instrument from the smith the smith and all from God In the 10 of the same booke Asshur is called the rod of his wrath and the staffe in his hands was the Lords indignation And the prophet praieth in the 17. Psalme to the same effect vp Lord disapoint him cast him downe deliver my soule from the wicked which is a sword of thine We neede not farther instructioÌ„s in this point but whatsoever it is that outwardly troubleth vs let vs larne to feare him therin froÌ„ whose secret disposition it procedeth who hath a voice to alay the winds the seas a finger to confound sorcerers coÌ„iurers an hooke for the nostrels of Senacharib a chain for the divell himselfe the prince of darkenes In the 2. person which were the marriners we are directed by the hand of the scripture to consider three effects which the horrour of the tempest wrought vpon them For 1. they were afraid 2. they cried vp on their Gods 3. they cast out their wares the 1. an affection of nature the 2. an action of religion the 3. a worke of necessity Some of the Rabbines held that the marriners in this ship had more cause to be astonished and perplexed then all that travailed in these seas besides for when other ships were safe and had a prosperous voiage theirs only as the marke wherat the vengance of God aimed was endaungered But because it appeareth not in the booke I let this passe with many other vnwritteÌ„ collections as namely that they were nere the shore laboured with all their force to tough their ships to land but could not do it which happily may be true and as likely otherwise therfore I leaue it indiffereÌ„t am conteÌ„t to see no more theÌ„ the eie of my text hath descried for me But this I am sure of Affliction beginneth to schoole theÌ„ driue theÌ„ to a better haven then they erst found It evet worketh good for the most part and although the better sort of men are corrected by loue yet the greater are directed by feare As the wind the seas so the feare of the wrath of God in this imminent danger of shipwrack appearing shaketh perturbeth their heartes though they had hardened them by vse against all casualties by sea like the hardest adamantes All the works of the Lord to a coÌ„siderate mind are very wonderful his mercy reacheth to the heavens and his faithfulnes is aboue the cloudes his wisdome goeth from end to end his righteousnes is as the highest mountaines his iudgmentes like a great deepe whatsoever proceedeth from him because that artificer excelleth is must needes be excellent But it is as true a position perseverantia consuetudinis amisit admirationeÌ„ the assiduity continuance of things bringeth theÌ„ into coÌ„tempt QuaÌ„ multa vsitata calcaÌ„ tur quae coÌ„siderata stupeÌ„tur how many things doth custome make vile which consideratioÌ„ would make admirable because the nature of maÌ„ is such to be carried away rather with new theÌ„ with great things The creatioÌ„ of man who maketh accompt of because it is coÌ„mon But would we ponder in our harts as David did that we are wonderfully fearfully made that our bones were not hid from the Lord though they were shaped in a secret place and fashioned beneath in the earth that he possessed our raines in our generation covered vs in our mothers wombes that his eies did see vs when we were yet vnperfect all things were written in his booke when before they were not it would enforce vs to giue acclamation to the workemanship of our maker as the sweet singer of Israell there did marveilous are thy workes o Lord that my soule knoweth right well A tempest to marriners is nothing because they haue seene and felt and overlived so many tempestes As David because he had killed a lion and a beare at his folde perswaded himselfe that he also could kill Golias So these having past already so many dreadefull occurrents begin to entertaine a credulous perswasion of security no evill shall approach vs. They make their harts as fat as brawne to withstand mishaps It fareth with theÌ„ as with souldiers beaten to the field they haue seene hundreds fall at their right hand and thousands at their left and therefore are not moved and though they beare their liues in their hands they feare not death wherevpon grew that iudgmeÌ„t of the world vpon them Armatis divum nullus pudor souldiers the greater part feare not God himselfe Vndoubtedly our sea-men drinke downe digest their dangers with as much facility felicity to as some their wine in bowles yet notwithstaÌ„ding the marriners here spokeÌ„ of even the maister of the ship with the vulgar sort having such iron sinews in their brests giaÌ„ts by sea and if I may tearme them so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men that fight with God being in their proper element the region and grounde where their arte lieth having fought with the waues and windes a thousand times before they are all striken with feare and their heartes fall asunder within them like drops of water David Psal. 107. setteth downe foure kindes of men vvhich are most indebted to God for deliveraunce from perilles the first of those that haue escaped a dearth the second prisoners enlarged the third such as are freed from a mortall sicknes the last sea-faring men of whome hee writeth thus They that go downe into the sea in shippes and occupie their marchandize by greate waters they see the worke of the Lorde and his wonders in the deepe For hee commaundeth and raiseth vp the stormie winde and it lifteth vp the waues thereof they mount vp to the heaven and descende againe to the deepe so that their soule melteth for trouble They are tossed too and
enquire because they applie it not to the true and living GOD. But let this be observed as a matter saith the Psalme of deepe vnderstanding and one of the secrets within the sanctuarie of the Lorde that sea-beaten Marriners barbarians by countrey and men as barberous for the most parte for their conditions fearing neither God nor man of sundry nations some and most of sundry religions it may be Epicures but as my text bewraieth them idolatours they all know that there is a God whome they knowe not they feare a supreme maiesty which they cannot comprehend they reverence invocate and cry vpon a nature aboue the nature of man and all inferiour things potent benevolent apt to helpe whereof they never attained vnto any speciall revelation This man adoreth the God of his countrey that man some other God and Ionas is raised vp to call vpon his God but all haue some one God or other to whome they make supplication and bemone their daunger If Ionas had preached the living and immortall God vnto them the God of the Hebrewes the God of Abraham Isaac Iacob the holy one of Israel I would haue imputed their devotion to the preaching of Ionas Or had there bene any other soule in the ship belonging to the covenaÌ„t born within the house as the prophet speaketh that might haue informed theÌ„ in this behalfe Ther was not one who theÌ„ instructeth theÌ„ Nature Nautae intellexèruÌ„t aliquid esse veneranduÌ„ sub errore religionis the marriners vnderstood even in the falshod of that religioÌ„ which they held that somthing was to be worshiped It is not denied by any sort of divines auncient or recent but that by nature it selfe a man may conceiue there is a God There is no nation so wild and barbarous which is not seasoned with some opinion touching God The Athenians set vp an alter Ignoto Deo to an vnknowne God Act. 17. The Gentiles not having the lawe doe by nature the things conteined in the lawe and are a lawe vnto themselues and shewe the effect of the lawe written in their heartes their conscience bearing witnesse and their thoughtes accusing one another or excusing the second to the Romanes For the invisible things of him that is his eternall power and Godhead are seene by the creation of the world being considered in his workes to the intent that they should be without excuse Rom. 1. These are common impressions and notions sealed vp in the mind of every man a remnant of integrity after the fall of Adam a substance or blessing in the dead Elme sparkles of fire raked vp vnder the ashes which cannot die whilest the soule liveth Nature within man and nature without man which Ierome calleth Naturam facturam nature and the creature our invisible consentes and Gods visible workes an inward motion in the one and an outward motion of the other if there were no further helps shew that there is a God leaue vs without excuse Protagoras Abderites because he began his booke with doubt de dijs neque vt sint neque vt non sint habeo dicere I haue nothing to say of the Gods either that they be or that they be not by the commandement of the Athenians was banished their city countrey his bookes publiquely solemnly burnt to ashes I may call it a light that shineth in darknes though the purity and beames therof be mightely defaced which some corrupt abuse so become superstitious vanish away in their vaine cogitations others extinguish so become meere Atheists For so it is as if we tooke the lights in the house and put them out to haue the more liberty in the works of darknes Thus do the Atheists of our time the light of the scripture principally the light of the creature and the light of nature they exinguish within the chaÌ„bers of their harts with resolute dissolute perswasioÌ„s threape vpon their soules against reason coÌ„science that there is no God least by the sight of his iustice their race of impiety should bee stopped I trust I may safely speake it There are no Atheists amongst you though many happily such as Agâ—ippa was but almost christiaÌ„s I would to God you were not only almost but altogither such as you seeme to professe But there are in our land that trouble vs with virulent pestâ—lent miscreant positioÌ„s I would they were cut of the childreÌ„ of hel by as proper right as the divel himselfe the savour of whose madnes stinketh from the center of the earth to the highest heavens Let theÌ„ be confuted with arguments drawne from out the skabberds of Magistrates argumeÌ„ts without reply that may boâ—h stop the mouth choke the breath of this execrable impiety as the angel cursed Meroz 5. Iudg. so cursed be the man let the curse cleaue to his children that cometh not forth to helpe the Lord in this cause It is fit to dispute by reasoÌ„ whether there be a God or no which heaveÌ„ earth angels men divels al ages of the world all languages in the atheist himselfe who bindeth a napkin to the eies of his knowledge shame feare and 1000. witnesses like gnawing wormes within his breast did ever heretofore to the end of the world shal acknowledge Let vs leaue such questioÌ„s 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 incredible inglorious infamous questions to the tribunal trial of the highest iudge if there be no throne vpon the earth that wil determine them for our own safety the freeing of our souls let vs hate the very aire that the Atheist draweth as Iohn eschewed the bath wherin Cerinthus was let their damned spitits having received damnation in themselues ripen and bee rotten to perdition let them sleepe their everlasting sleepe in filthines not to be revoked when death hath gnawne vpon them like sheepe for a taste before hand let them rise againe from the sides of the pit maugre their stout gaine saying at the iudgement of the great day to receiue a deeper portion As for our selues my brethren which knowe and professe that one and only God for ever to be blessed let vs be zealous of good workes according to the measure of our knowledge which we haue received Let vs feare him without feare as his adopted sonnes and serue him without the spirit of bondage in righteousnesse all the daies of our liues that at the comming of the sonne of God to iudge the endes of the eatth we may be found faithfull fervants and as we haue dealt truely in a little we may be made rulers over much through the riches of his grace who hath freely and formerly beloved vs not for our owne sakes but because himselfe is loue and taketh delight in his owne goodnes THE FIFT LECTVRE Cap. 1. ver 5. And cried every man vpon his God and cast the wares in the shippe into the sea to lighten it of
whethersoeuer thou sendest vs vvee vvill goe as wee obeyed Moses in all thinges so will vvee obey thee And those that rebell against thy commaundement let them die the death The volume of the vvhole booke I am sure both the precepts and practises of all the seruauntes of God harpeth vpon this stringe Yea the Maister of the house by his owne example taughte those of his housholde hovve to behaue themselues in this case For as hee obeyed his father euen vnto the death of the crosse his parents in the flesh in following their instructions the lawe in following all righteousnesse so the Emperour of Rome to though hee a straunger and himselfe free-borne in paying tribute vnto him Though vvee are defamed and slaundered concerning the Emperours maiestie yet Christians could neuer be found to be either Albinians or Nigrians or Cassians that is rebelles to their liege Lordes and maisters as Tertullian in the name and cause of all christianitie wrote to Scapula The Christian is no mans enemie much lesse the Emperours But the matter is safe enough There is no power but of God he that resisteth the powers that bee resisteth Gods ordinaunces And the Lorde is king bee the earth neuer so impatient Promotion commeth neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south but frō the Lord of hostes By him are kingdomes disposed princes inaugurated crownes of gold set vpon their heads scepters states established people mollified and subdued by him were Corah his confederates swallowed quicke into the earth Zimry burnt in his pallace Absalon hāged by his hairy scalpe Achitophell in a halter for denying their feaulty to Gods lieutenants As the maister of the ship came to Ionas and called him vp what meanest thou sleeper c. So let maisters and governours within this place who sit at the sternes of an other kinde of shipping and haue rudders of citie and countrey in their handes let them awake themselues that they may awake and rowze vp other sleepers all carelesse dissolute indisposed persons who loue the thresholdes of their private doores vpon the sabbathes of the Lord and their benches in ale-boothes better then the courtes of the Lordes house and neither in calmes nor stormes when the shippe groneth the vvhole land mourneth all the creatures sighe and lamente will either fast or pray or sorrowe or do any thing with the rest of their brethren Awake these drowsie christians awake them vvith eager reprehension what meane you If reprehension vvill not serue pricke them with the sworde and raise them vp with severe punishment How long shall the drunkard sleepe within your gates in the puddle and sinke of his bowzing and lose both honesty and vvit without controlment the adulterer in chambering and wantonnes vpon his lascivious bed of pleasure deckt vvith the laces and carpets of Egypt the idolatour and superstitious vpon the knees and in the bosome of the whore of Babylon prophaners of our sanctified sabbathes in the sabbath and rest and Iubilee of their lewde pastimes the vsurer and oppressour of others whose iawes are as kniues and his teeth of iron in his bed of mischiefe as the Psalme calleth it and in the contemplation and solace of his ill gottē goods the swearer in the habite and custome of abhominable othes for these be the faultes of your citty as common as the stones in your streetes how long shall they sleepe and snort herein vvithout reprehension it is your part to reforme it vvho are the ministers of God not onely for wealth but for wrath also vnlesse you beare the sword in vaine you are the vocall lawes of the land and iustice in life to punish with rigour where it is convenient Wee also of the ministery haue a place of preferment in the shippe and owe a duty to God though in an other kind We haue a sword in our mouthes too as you in your handes whose edge is of more then steele and cutteth deeper then into flesh and bloud yet such are the earthly spirits of men fallen a sleepe amongst vs that the sword of the spirit without the sword of the magistrate cannot stirre them vp Hovv long haue we called and lifted vp our voices on high to those that sleepe in drunkennesse and lie in their vomit worse then dogges Awake drunkards weepe and howle your wine shall be pulled from your mouths and they awoke not but to follow drunkennes againe and to ioyne the morning and the eveninge togither till the wine haue enflamed them How long to those that sleepe in fornication Awake adulterers and vncleane persons els God shall throw you into a bedde of shame and vncover your nakednes and make you a reproch and scorne so farre as your name is spread yet they open not their eyes but to awaite for the twilight and to lie at their neighbours doore for wife or daughter to those that are at rest and nestled in idolatry in the service of strange Gods Awake idolatours you that say to the wood and stone awake helpe vs awake and rise vp your selues els God is a ielous God and will visite your sinnes vvith roddes and your offences with scourges to all other sleepers in sinne sabbath breakers swearers lyers extortioners vsurers what meane you sleepers It is now time that you shoulde arise from sleepe yea the time is almost past Now is salvation nearer then when you first beleeved and now is damnation nearer then when you were first threatned The night is past of blindnesse and ignorance forepassed the bright morning starre hath risen and hid himselfe againe within the cloudes of heaven The glorious sunne of righteousnesse hath illuminated the whole sphere of the vvorlde from the east to the west and though his body be aboue the light of his beames is still amongst vs and wee may truely say the day is come yea the day is well nigh spent The naturall sunne of the firmament runneth his race with speede like a Giant refresht with wine to make an end of his course and to finish all times You are novv brought to the eleventh houre of the day there is but a twelfth a fewe minutes of time betweene you and iudgment what meane you sleepers VVill you go away in a sleepe and shall your life passe from you like a dreame Came you naked of goodnes from your mothers wombe and will you backe naked brought you nothing into the world with you of the best and blessedst riches and vvill you cary nothing out Or do you tarry to be started with the shrillest trumpet that ever blew the fearefullest voice to sleepers that ever sounded arise yee dead what meane you sleepers The night is comming wherein no man can worke yea the day is comming wherein none shal worke Acceptable to God profitable to man behoofefull to himselfe hee neither can nor shall worke any thing That working that is shall be the everlasting throbbings and throwes of his
chambers to be clensed and the vesselles of the house of God to be brought thither againe 3. because the portions of the Levites and singers had not beene giuen to them and everie one was fled to his lande hee reprooued the rulers Why is the house of God forsaken 4. he caused the tithes to be restored brought the Levites togither to their place againe and apointed faithfull officers and treasurers to distribute vnto them The petition that hee maketh vnto the righteous Lord who will not forget our labours at the foote of every of those services is framed to this effect Remember me O my God in goodnesse and wipe not out my kindnesse concerning this and pardon me according to thy great mercies Thus Nehemias you see was not vnmindefull of the Lord that the Lorde might be mindefull of him againe Neither in the building nor in the warding of the wals of Ierusalem nor in releeving the burthens of his brethren nor in sanctifying the sabbath nor in purging the people from commixtion with strangers nor in replenishing the chambers of Gods house vvith maintenaunce for his ministers All which he zealously vndertooke and constantly followed to the end fastening his reproofes like nailes that are driuen in a sure place and shewing himselfe a carefull Magistrate both in warre and peace in civill religious affaires towardes the children of the lande and towardes strangers that traffiqued within the borders thereof Vndoubtedly your charge is greate whome the Lorde hath marked out to places of gouernment and if euer you hope as Nehemias wished that God shall remember you concerning this or that kindenesse shewed in his businesse remember you whose image you carry whose person you present whose cause you vndertake whose iudgmentes you execute vpon earth And though yee are not troubled vvith building and warding the wals of your countrey because peace is the walles and the strength of God our bulwarkes and fortresses and mine eies would faile with expectation of that day vvhen the chambers of the Lordes house vvhich Tobiah the Horonite hath seized into his handes should be restored to their auncient institution for the maintenaunce of Levites and singers yet in the oppressions of your brethren vvhose vineyardes fieldes houses libertie living are wrung from them and their sonnes and daughters vndoone if you doe not in all respects as Nehemias did lend them money corne hee and his servauntes of their owne and bestowe the fees of your places tovvardes their reliefe for hee ate not the breade of the governour in twelue yeares and an hundred and fiftie hee mainetained dailie at his boarde with sufficient allowance yet such as oppresse too much exhort ' reprooue cause them to respight cause them to remit tie them by promise to do it binde them by oath and if that will not serue vnlesse you be loath to throw a stone against an adulterer or to shake your lap against an oppressour because you are guilty in your heartes of the like trespasses shake the lappes of your garments against them and with an vnfeigned spirit beseech the iust iudge that such as will not restore may so be shaken out and emptied from all his mercies Likewise for the sabbath of the Lord the sanctified day of his reste helpe to bringe it to reste it is shamefully troubled and disquieted the common daies in the weeke are happier in their seasons then the Lords sabbaths Then are the manuary craftes exercised every man in his shop applying his honest and lawfull businesse the sabbath is reserved as the vnprofitablest day of the seven for idlenesse sleeping vvalking rioting tipling bowling daunsing and what not I speake what I know vpon a principall sabbath for if the resurrection of Christ deserue to alter the sabboth from day to day I see no cause but the cōming downe of the holy ghost should adde honour and ornament vnto it I say vpon a principall sabbath not onelye those of Ierusalem and Iudah solde their wares but those of Tyre also vvhich came from abroade brought in their commodities and neither your gates shut nor forreiners kept out nor citizens reprooved nor any thing donne wherby Gods name and day might be honoured Go now and aske if you can for blushing as Nehemias did O Lord remember vs concerning this kindnesse It is not enough for you to beare the place of preeminence in the shippe but you must reprooue as the maister here did nor enough barelie to reprooue but you must goe forwardes in hunting securitie from her couche by vrging how hard it is to appease the anger of God if it bee throughly enflamed how dangerous against the life and soule if it be not prevented It is the fervency of the spirite even of a double spirit as Elizeus sometime wished the spirite of magistrates which are more then single persons perfit hatred to sin crushing both the egge the cockatrice courage in the cause of the Lord zeale to his house both kindling and consuming your heartes a good beginning and a good ending which the Lorde requireth Will you saue-gard the ship in the Ocean sea and breake her vvithin a league of the haven will you put your hande to the plough of the best husbandry and thriving in the world and then looke backe vvill you lay the foundation of the house rere vp the vvalles and not seeke to couer it you know the parable This man beganne to builde It had beene better not to haue knowne the way of trueth then not to persist in it nor to haue set your shoulders to the worke of the Lorde vnlesse yee hold out The leafe of a righteous man neuer fadeth vvherevpon the glosse noteth that the fall of the leaues is the dying and decaying of the trees When it repenteth a man to haue begunne well it is a sinnefull repentaunce and much to bee repented of The fire vpon the altar of the Lord must alwaies burne never go out and the sedulitie of Gods lieutenantes vpon the earth must euer bee working neuer wearied All vertues runne in the race one onely receiveth the garland the image of most happy eternitie happy continuance I tolde you before that nature directed the Marriners to the acknowledgement of a God it is heere further ratified with manie other principles of nature if they vvere needefull to bee examined as 1. that God only is to be invocated and called vpon Call vpon thy God 2. the vnity of the godhead is avowed For the shipmaster forgetting the multitude of Gods nameth one singlie without other associates If so be God 3. That the felicity of mankinde dependeth vpon the serenity gracious favorable aspect of God as I gather by the phrase here vsed if God will shine vpon vs. 4. It is implied that our life death are in Gods hands That we perish not But let those passe a while The matter we are now to examine is the liberty and freedome vvhich the shipmaister gaue vnto Ionas
Vndoubtedly it was the purpose of Ionas to weigh his words to powder the whole speech delivered vvith as much honour towards the Lord as his heart could devise I feare 1. Iehovah a God in essence being yours in supposition 2. the God of heaven yours not the Gods of the poorest hālets in the earth 3. which hath made the sea the dry land as a litle monument of his surpassing art and strength yours not the garments of their owne backs The prophet keepeth the order of nature placing 1. the heavē then the sea afterwards the dry land as the principal parts whereof the whole consisteth for heaven is in nature positiō aboue the sea the sea aboue the dry land heaven as the roofe of that beautiful house wherein mā was placed the sea the dry land as the two floores or foundations vnto it But did not God make the heavens aswell as the sea the dry land doubtles yes It is plainly expressed Gen. 2. In the beginning God made heaven earth The beginning of the world is frō the beginning of al things whereto the name of the authour is first set as the seale God and vnder the names of the two extremities borders heaven earth all the rest is comprised quicquid mediū cum ipsis finibus exortum est whatsoeuer lieth midle betwixte the endes with the endes themselues Neither did the Lord only cause ordeine these creatures to bee formed but as the potter shapeth his vesselles so he fashioned and wrought them with his owne hands Totum coelum totamque tellurem ipsam inquam essentiam materiā simul cū forma non enim figurarū inventor est Deus sed ipsius naturae creator the whole heaven the whole earth I say the matter vvith the forme for God is not the deviser of shapes and features alone but the maker of nature it selfe And that God that hath made the heaven can fold it vp like a booke again role it togither like a skin of parchment he that hath made the sea at this time set the waues thereof in a rage caused it to boile like a pot of ointment can say to the flouds be yee dried vp hee that made the dry lande can cover it with waters as with a brest-plate or rocke it to fro vpō her foūdations as a drunkē man reeleth from place to place He can clothe the sun the moone in sackcloth and commaund the starres to fall downe to the earth and the mountaines of the land to remoue into the sea and it shal be fulfilled They all shall perish but the Lord their maker shall endure they all shall waxe olde as doth a garment as a vesture shall hee change them and they shal be changed but he is the same God for ever and ever and his yeares shall not faile The scope of the whole confession is briefly this the more to dilate his fall by how much the lesse he was able to plead ignorance as having the helpe of religion the knowledge of the true subsistent God able to giue a reckoning of every parcell of his creation Al excuse is taken away where the commandement is not vnknowne Peter lent the buckler of ignorance to the Iewes therewith in part to defende themselues against the weapons of Gods wrath even in the bloudiest fact that ever the sunne saw attempted I know that through ignoraunce you did it that is killed the Lord of life as did also your governours But least they should leane vpon the staffe of ignorance too much he biddeth them repent and reverte that their sinnes might bee done away This vvas the cloake that Paul cast over his blasphemies his tyrannies his vnmercifull persequutions of the Church I vvas received to mercy because I did it ignorantly through vnbeliefe So as ignorance in that place you see hath neede of mercie to forgiue it And if ignorance haue a tongue to pleade her owne innocencie why did the bloud of Christ cry to the father vpon the crosse father forgiue them they know not what they doe Is ignorance of the will of God sure to be beaten vvith rods shall not contempt of his will a carelesse vnprofitable knowledge of his hestes ordinances be scourged with scorpions Shal Tyre and Syd on burne like stubble in hell fire and the smoke of their tormente ascend for evermore wherein there was never vertue done that might haue reclaimed them shall Corazin Bethsaida go quit and not drinke down the dregs of destructiō it selfe whose streets haue beene sowen with the miracles of Christ and fatted vvith his doctrine Barbary shal wring her hands that she hath known so litle Christēdome rend her heart that she hath knowne so much to no better purpose It is no marvaile to see the wildernes lie wast deserte but if a ground wel husbāded manured yeeld not profit it deserveth cursing Lactantius saith that al the learning of philosophers vvas vvithout an heade because they knew not God therefore when they see they are blind when they heare they are deafe whē they speak they are speechles the sensens are in the head the eies eares tōgue We want not an heade for senses because when we see we perceaue when we heare we vnderstand and when we speake we can giue a reason wee want a heart onely for obedience And as our Saviour spake of the Scribes and Pharisees dicunt non faciunt they saie and doe not so it is true in vs wee see and heare and say and knowe but doe not as idle and idol Christians as those idol Gods in the Psalme to our greater both shame and condemnation So the Apostle enforceth it against the Galathians Nowe seeing you know God or rather are knowne of God howe turne you againe to impotente and beggerlie rudimentes To the like effect hee schooleth the Ephesians yee haue not so learned Christ. The nurture and discipline of this schoole is not like the institution of Gentility vvith whome it is vsuall to vvalke in the vanity of their mindes and in darke cogitations to bee strangers from the life of God through the ignoraunce that is in them and being past feeling to giue over themselues vnto vvantonnesse to worke all vncleanenesse even with greedinesse But if yee haue hearde Christ and if yee haue beene taught by him as the trueth is in Iesus not corrupting the text with cursed glosses nor perverting the scriptures to your owne overthrow then with your new learning you must leaue your olde conversation as the eagle casteth her bill and know that the kingdome of God commeth not by observation but by practise nor that practise is availeable vvith ease but vvith violence and that the hottest and most laborious spirite is fittest to catch it away It had beene better for vs never to haue knowne the vvay of righteousnesse then after wee
iudged they goe to deliberate nay against the order and course of all iustice hee that is iudged must iudge and the transgressour determine vvhat shall bee done vnto him Put it to a murtherer a theefe or any the like malefactour when the fact is notorious convicted and confessed to make choise for himselfe what shall wee doe vnto thee what were hee likely to answere but to this effect let me liue I haue a further coniecture of their meaning at this time For Ionas presented vnto them a double person a sinner a fugitiue servaunt a rebell against the Lorde but vvithall a prophet one that is seene and skilled in the counsailes of the Almightie They knowe themselues ignoraunt and barbarous men for howsoever they might bee otherwise learned in the wisedome of Egypt and other Gentile knowledge yet they wanted that knowledge vvhereof the prophet speaketh they shall all be taught of God and they plainely perceaved by that vnaccustomed narration that Ionas delivered of a most soveraigne and dreadfull Lorde that there was some more excellent way vvhich they were not acquainted vvith Vpon the perswasion heereof they referre themselues to the vvisedome and integritie of Ionas Much like as the captaines of the host dealte vvith Ieremie The Lorde bee a vvitnesse of trueth and faithfulnesse betwixte vs if wee doe not accordinglie to all thinges for which the Lord thy GOD shall sende thee vnto vs whether it bee good or evill we will obey thy voice What shall wee doe vnto thee Exposuisti causam morbi indica sanitatis thou hast shewed the cause of thy maladie shew the meanes to cure it what shall vve doe vnto thee shall we kill thee thou fearest God shall wee saue thee thou flyest from God shall wee set thee to land againe shall wee make supplications shall wee offer sacrifice wee apoint thee our leader and guide in the whole disposition of this businesse And surely it is an admirable moderation of minde in a people so immoderate whom neither their country could soften because they were barbarous the seas could not choose but harden because they were marriners and the imminent daunger had reason to indurate congeale more than both these yet notwithstanding in an actioÌ„ so perplexe howsoever it fall out likely to proue perilous they like to doe nothinge with tumulte vvith popular confusion vvith raging and heady affections swelling in choller and boiling in rancour against the authour of their miseries but they will know from the mouth of the prophet vvhat the minde and pleasure of the Lorde is In auncient times God gaue his aunswere for decision of doubtes and difficulties after diverse manners Hee answered Moses face to face others by aungelles some by lottes some by VRIM and THVMMIM others by visions and dreames the event of their matters hath beene happy prosperous where the mouth of the Lorde was harkened vnto What vvas the reason that they erred so much in receaving the Gibeonites to mercie pretending a farre countrey olde bottles olde breaâ—e olde garments old shoes but because they accepted their tale concerning their vittailes and counselled not with the mouth of the Lorde In the prophecie of Esaie God pronounceth a peremptorie vvoe against his rebellious stubborne children that take counsell but not at him and seeke the protection and defence but not of his spirite and make hast to goe into Egypt to strengthen themselues with the strength of Pharaoh but haue not asked at his mouth It is noted of the religion of the Turkes that it is a false but a vvell ordered religion A professour of their law proclaimeth before they attempt any thing that nothing bee done against religion All the law-givers of the nations famous in their liues and generations bare their people in hand that they received their instructions from some Godhead Numa in Rome alleadged conference vvith AEgeria Solon in Athens with Minerva Lycurgus in Lacedaemon with Apollo Minos in Crete with Iupiter Charondas in Carthage with Saturne Osiris in AEgypt with Mercury Zamolxis in Scythia with Vesta their vvisedome and pollicie therein vvas this that they knew their people woulde sooner yeelde to the voice of God than man Moses in trueth and verity received tables of ordinaunces vpon the Mount written with the finger of God and he presumed therevpon that all the people about them woulde thinke surely this is a great nation c. Wee are taught here-hence that in our weightiest affaires either of warre or peace religion or pollicie vvhether wee take to mercie as Iosua did or enter league with forreiners as the Iewes with the AEgyptians either of life or death as is specified in that question touching Ionas wee decree nothing without the mouth of the Lord or at the least without the mouthes that speake from that mouth such as Moses had I vvill bee with thy mouth and the disciples of Christ It is not you that speake but the spirite of my father within you these must enforme vs by the lanterne and light of his holy worde what way is best to be followed It is a testimony without any exception to bee made vnto it and a confident assurance to our soules vvhen we are able to saie Adlegem testimonium ivimus Wee vvent to the lavve and testimonie of Almightye GOD and these vvee chose to conduct vs. There is yet a further matter to bee considered vvhich both the order of thinges precedent and the circumstaunces of the text now in hand mooue me to obserue For there are distinct persons heere named First the person of Ionas what shall wee doe veto thee secondly of the marriners that the sea may bee calme vnto vs thirdly of the sea for the sea vvent and was troublous 1. Ionas is guilty 2. the marriners are in ieopardy 3. the sea is angry And both the anger of the sea and their owne instant daungers are mightie and impulsiue argumentes to incense them against Ionas A proverbe they haue in friendship that the thigh is nearer to a man than his knee no man dearer to any man than himselfe or at the most 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 friendshippe is no more than an equalitie and if a friende be alter idem a seconde selfe it is as much as in reason hee can looke for Wee are not bound either by the lawe of nature written in the hearte or by the lawe of God written in tables to loue an other more than our selues Bernarde maketh a note vpon the order of our Saviours wordes to the women of IerusaleÌ„ weepe not for mee but for your selues and your children 1. for your selues 2. for your children And though in friendship they set a lawe of community 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 al things must be parted amoÌ„gst friends yet to depart from the life is no common thing A man will skarcely die for the righteous but for a good man and one that is profitable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See how warilie
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
driue him to desperation the Sabaeans to store vp treasures of vvickednesse and to shew that stolne bread is sweet vnto them The envy and malignity of Sathan whence is it of God No. God borroweth and vseth his service I graunte but Sathan first profered it so the malice is his owne who was a murtherer from the beginning hee onely addâ—ng gouernement and moderation therevnto The furious and bloudy rapines of the other whence are they from God no. They lay in the cisternes of their owne heartes Sathan drew them forth by insâ—igation themselues let loose the streame and when it was once on flote the Lorde directed and disposed the course by his wisedome For this present I ende God is of pure eies and can beholde no vvickednesse hee hath 〈◊〉 righteousnesse to the rule and vveighed his iustice in a ballance his soule hateth and abhorreth sin I haue served with your iniquities It is a labour service thraldome vnto him more than Israell endured vnder their grievous task-masters his law to this day curseth and condemneth sin his hands haue smitten scrouged sin he hath throwne downe angels plagued men overturned cities ruinated nations and not spared his owne bowels whilst hee appeared in the similitude of sinfull flesh hee hath drowned the world vvith a floud of waters shall burne the world with a floud of fire because of sin The sentence shall stand vnmooueable as long as heaven and earth endureth tribulation anguish vpon every soule that doth evil Ievv or Gentile All adulterers murtherers idolaters sacrilegious blasphemous covetous wretches liers swearers forswearers whom the Apostle calleth dogges barking at the iustice of God making a causelesse complaint against him as if he were cause of their sins shall one day see the folly and feele the price of their vnrighteous inâ—ectation Let God therefore be true and let all men be liers let God be iust and all men sinners let God be iustified in al his iudgements and let all his accusers vanish and consume in the madnes of their heartes as the fome vpon the waters THE XIX LECTVRE Chap. 1. ver 14. For thou Lord hast done as it pleased thee THe Mariners in this reason of their petition acknowledge 2. things directly 1. the worke of God in the casting foorth of Ionas Thou Lord hast done it 2. the ground of his workes his owne will as it pleased thee A third thing is acknowledged by implication the equity iustice of that will as the warrant for their deed for thou Lord c. their meaning is not therein either to charge him with a tyraÌ„nous will quod libet licet as the manner of grievous princes is to thinke that lawfull whatsoever pleaseth them either to insimulate and accuse him of iniustice to make him actor or patrone of any their sins who dealeth in the actions of meÌ„ sometimes with open sometimes with secret but alwaies with a righteous iudgement Therefore I noted their corruption who thinke themselues excused in their most enormous and execrable sins because they fulfill the will of God in one sense not that open and revealed will which he hath given in tables published by sound of a trumpet specified by blessings cursings promises threatnings exhortations dehortations and such like wherevnto they stand strictly bound but a secret and hidden will written in another booke wrapt vp in the counsâ—iles of his owne breast which neither they intended when they did their misdeedes neither were they ever charged therewith from Gods lips Secreta Domino revelata nobis filijs nostris Secret thinges belong to the Lord revealed to vs our children 1. Quantum ad ipsos fecerunt quod Deus noluit touching their owne purpose and intendment they have done that which God would not they have transgressed his lawe with contentation of heart perhappes with gladnes it may be with greedinesse taking a solace and pleasure therein and not wishing to have done otherwise they have pursued it to the third and fourth generation from the first assault or motion of sin to consent from consent to delight from delight to custome and yet not giving over till they come to a spirit of slumber or rather a death in sin 2. Quantum ad omnipotentiam Dei nullo modo id efficere valuerunt touching the omnipotencie of God they were never abâ—e to doe it he sitteth in heaven that laugheth them to scorne he besiegeth them round about and his hand is vpon them They are not able to depart from his will more than if a ship were going from Ioppe to Tharsis as this ship was from West to East and one by walking vpon the hatches a contrary course as if he would goe from East to West from Tharsis towardes Ioppe againe might stay the motion or flight of the shippe he doth his endevour to hinder it by bending both his face and his pace backewarde but the ship is too well winged and of too huge a burthen to be resisted so those others shewe their will to frustrate and faile the will of God by committing sinne prohibited but yet they shall doe a will of his or rather his will shal be done vpon them maugre their malicious and sworne contradictions De hijs qui faciunt quae non vult facit ipse quae vult Of those that doe what he would not he doth what he would and as he commanded light to shine out of darknes so he can commaund good out of euill treasure from out the midst of drosse and commodity from the very heart of deepest wickednesse at least he will execute his iustice vpon offenders as he professeth Exod. 14. I will get me honour vpon Pharaoh and all his host for this cause he set him vp to shew his power in him and that his name might be declared to the whole earth Exod. 9. To reduce a diffused but a dangerous intricate question wherin as I then protested the warinesse of my proceeding so now I againe protest the subiection of my spirite to the spirites of prophets God forbid that I should not bee readier to learne than to teach I say to reduce it to heads I proposed vnto you the errors of some in 2. 〈◊〉 of extremities some going too far in that they make God the 〈◊〉 of sin others comming aâ— short that God doth only permit 〈◊〉 The former an error 〈◊〉 for devils than men the latter an error of humanity offending of simplicity rather then malice speaking truth of God when they acknowledge his permission of sinne but 〈…〉 who le truth because they thinke God only permitteth it both deny the godhead in effect the one destroying the goodnes and 〈◊〉 the other impairing the omnipotency providence government thereof in that they restraine it from some thinges The former of these two opinions that God is the author of sin most prodigious to coÌ„ceive though engendred in the braine I know not whether of men or devils yet is taken by
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
worker in the workes of all sortes of men Communiter author fateor sed non nisi boni fautor Commonly and indifferently I graunte an author in a common and large signification but a favourer onely of good Doest thou addresse thy selfe to vertue it is done both by the privitie and assistaunce of GOD. To vice vvith his privitie and permission not vvith his helpe some thinke saith Lipsius vvith his vvill too It is most true that GOD doeth suffer sinne there is nothing visiblie and sensiblie donne which is not either commanded or tolerated from that invisible intelligible court of the highest Emperour August 58. senten for it could not bee done if God did not suffer it In his Enchirid to Laurent 100. it followeth and truely he doth not suffer it against but with his will and being good as hee is he would never suffer any thing to be ill done but that being also almighty he can doe well of that which is evill Vndoubtedly he doeth not suffer against his will for that woulde bee with griefe and must needes argue a power greater than himselfe then if he willingly suffer Permissio est quoddam genus voluntatis his sufferance is a certaine kinde of will In his booke of predestination and grace he compareth Nabuchodonosor and Pharaoh togither both which had the same plaister of chastisement laid vnto them though converted in the one to his soules health in the other to his destruction Touching nature they were both men for honour both kings concerning the cause of correction both helde the people of GOD in captivity and lastly for their punishment both were admonished by the scourges of GOD. Yet the endes of their punishment were diuerse for the one fought against God the other by repentance obtained mercy Now what obiections soever a man may frame-here hence against the equity of God Intelligat ista tamē vel adiuvante Domino perfici vel deserente permitt◠vt noverit tamen nolente Domino nihil prorsus admitti Let him vnderstande that all these thinges are either brought to passe God aiding them or suffered God forsaking them so that hee knowe withall that nothing in the worlde can be done if God be vnwilling If then I sinne by the will of God how can I helpe it and why doeth hee yet complaine as Paule obiecteth Romanes the ninth I will remoue this stone of offence and then returne to my purpose My will I say is borne by a streame of the will of GOD or it is my destiny to sinne the starres haue fore-signed my going awry Mars committed the murther Venus the adulterie thus vvas I borne and marked the fault is not mine I sinne by compulsion I put them all togither because it is the fashion of some to set vp a iudgement seat in their erroneous phantasies and thereat to arraigne God of iniustice sive per transennam sive per cannam longam sive per proximum either by the casemēt or through a long cane obliquely or farther of and some hard at hand and directly some by destiny some by starres ohers reaching immediately at God himselfe Deus hoc voluit si nollet Deus non facerem God would haue it thus if God would not I coulde not haue done it One in a monastery being reprooved that hee did some things not to be done omitted others which he should haue done answered those that rebuked him what kinde of man soever now I am I shal be such as God hath fore-seene I should be Who therin saith Augustine both spake a trueth and yet was no whit bettered to amendment of life by that trueth O damned absurdity rooting her wickednes in heaven as if the prescience and will of God were the cause of our sinning whereas his prescience is but the antecedent to our sins going before them for because we sin therfore they are foreknowne not because they are foreknowne therefore we sin and his will is but the consequent following vpon them I say againe God hath a will and purpose in the sins of vnrighteous men not that he liketh the sins but he ordereth governeth thē in wise manner turneth them to some end that well pleaseth him And though he willeth not the evill it selfe yet the doing of the evill doth in some respectes content him And that will in God is consequent to our will For albeit it were before ours in time because his will is as ancient as himselfe even from everlasting yet in order and course of thinges it commeth behinde it and he that fulfilleth the will of God in this māner or rather the will of God is fulfilled vpon him shall hang in hell for his service so little thankes is he likely to reape at Gods handes For there is no question but God doeth fulfill good purposes of his owne by the ill purposes of ill men Iudas was not yet formed nor any member of his body set togither or fashioned when they were all written in the booke of God He saw his treason in the glasse of his foreknowledge and vnderstoode his thoughtes a far off There was not a word in his tongue but God was long since acquainted with it He knew that his will was bent to mischiefe from before the world was established Now God hath a will vpon and after the will of Iudas and thus he bethinketh himselfe Iudas hath a will to betray his maister I will not stop his will but cōvert it to some good vse I will draw a preservative against poison frō the very poison of a serpent I wil declare my power skill therby The world shal know that of the vnnaturallest treason that ever the sun beheld I cā worke a good effect I will shew my iudgements amongst all nations vpon Iudas and his complices by the fruites of that bitter roote the vilest treachery that ever hell cast vp I will save mankinde Iudas himselfe never intended therein either to magnifie the power of God or to manifest his iustice or to deliver any of his brethren vvho I dare say never conceived therein how his owne singular soule might be saved So then Iudas committed a treason and God foresawe a treason whose knowledge is as great as himselfe and the workes of a thousand generations to come as present vnto him as that vvhich is done at the present time What of that praescivit non praedestinavit vel fecit hee onely foreknewe it hee neither predestinated it nor committed it For this is the rule Mala tantùm praescit non praedestinat bona verò praescit praedestinat Evill thinges hee onely foreknoweth good hee both foreknoweth and praedestinateth that is apointeth and taketh order for them before hand Hee also foretolde the infidelity malice mischievousnesse of the Iewes in complottinge the same villany against the sonne of God VVhat of that praedixit non fecit hee onelye foretolde and not wrought it Ipsorum praescivit peccata non sua Hee
doth not onely permitt the false spirit Thou shalt seduce Ahab but giveth encouragement also thou shalt prevaile and addeth a commaundement goe forth and alloweth of the forme of dealing in the matter doe so Now that you may knowe how innocent the Lord is in an action of such preiudice observe the circumstances of the place well 1. The thing intended is that Ahab might fall at Ramoth Gilead Which purpose of God once set is so vnchangeable that if heaven and earth were confederate they can not save the life of Ahab God shall send forth a spirit the spirit deceave prophets prophets entice Ahab Ahab change his apparrell and though Iehoshaphat be the fairer marke yet Iehoshaphat shall escape and one shall draw an arrowe by chance and smite Ahab betwixte his brigandine and hee shall dye at evening hee did so Therefore touching the ende of this businesse it is no iniustice in God to execute iudgement and wrath vpon a famous adversary 2. Concerning the meanes enquiry was made who should entice Ahab because in the nature of God himselfe it was not to entice him 3. That which he doth he doth by a spirit not by himselfe 4. by an evil spirit of his bād retinew who stood before God 1. Iob. 5. The spirit commeth furnished of his owne for vvhen one saide thus another otherwise he profered his service to to entice him 6. When God demaunded of the meanes hee invented the practise by being a false spirit in the mouth of his prophets 7. What were those prophets of Ahab men that were faithlesse of themselues whose guise it was either for rewardes or for favour of the king to say they had dreamed when they had not and the Lorde hath saide when hee never saide it So there is both malice in the spirit and falshood in the prophets before God setteth either hand or hearte to the businesse Therefore what doth the Lord therin he fitteth vpō the throne as the iudge moderator of the whole action hee commādeth the attendance of al the army of heaven on the right hande and on the lefte cleane and vncleane spirites are in subiection to him hee giveth leave to them who without his leave are vnable to doe any thinge thou shalt entice hee giveth the successe which all the kingdome of darkenes coulde not effect if hee woulde hinder it thou shalt prevaile he biddeth goe and they goe runne and they runne to shew that all the creatures of the worlde serue him hee disposeth the course Do so that is doe so and no more than so as much as to say Since thou hast malice to bestowe extende it vpon Ahab rather than Iehoshaphat and falshood to infuse powre it forth vpon the 400. prophets of Ahab rather than vpon Michaeas or any prophet of mine and let the fall of Ahab be at Ramoth Gilead rather than in another place and in this battaile with the king of Aram rather than at another time Thus when the matter is their owne God giveth the fashioning and ordering thereof in some sorte touching the persons time place and other the like particulars But why is it further saide that God put a lying spirit into the mouth of these prophets of Ahab 1. hee did it by way of a punishment to bee avenged of that custome of lying which they were inured vnto aforetime 2. hee did it by his instrument having both life and will to doe hurte not by himselfe 3. he did it in this sense that he staied not the wicked purpose by interposing the aide of his good spirit By this time I thinke it appeareth that in the actions and passions of vnrighteous men there is more to bee deemed of God than his bare permission For doubtlesse hee hath his will therein neither in alluring neither in counselling and much lesse in compellinge thereunto but in ordering and governing them in applying them to better endes than the oftendours are aware of and in ordeining his iust iudgements consequently thereupon Therefore when I say he hath his will therein mistake me not He hath not a will in such sort as if he approved sin chose or desired sin as if he bare appetite liking thereto It is rather voluntas than volitio if I may so speake a wil than a willingnes it is his will by obliquity a side-will vnproper vndirect and in respect not to the sinne it selfe but some other good adioyned vnto it as when a man is put to have his arme or legge cut off for a further benefite hee beareth and beareth it with his will not that he liketh of the dismembring of his body or loosing of a ioynte but that he desireth some other good vvhich hee foreseeth may ensue thereby Thus hee permitted and more hee decreed the treason of Iudas and iniquity of the Ievves against his annointed sonne as you have it confessed by the Apostles Actes the fourth that Herode and Pilate with the Gentiles and people of Israell gathered themselves togither against the holy sonne of GOD Iesus to doe whatsoever his hande and his counsell had determined before to be done God had determined it before not in the favour of their sinne but of our redemption Take away the wickednesse of the prodition of Iudas thou shalt also take away the crosse and passion of Christ if the death of Christ had not beene then neither his resurrection nor anie first begotten from the deade nor anie hope of our resurrection Take avvay the malice of the brethren of Ioseph thou shalt togither kill the dispensation of GOD a fault never to be excused the more vnnaturall because it came from brethren the more vnreasonable because of envie without iust cause the more vnsufferable because they added lying and bound two sinnes togither and it was in likelihoode the hastning of their fathers death Yet Ioseph tolde his brethren when they came into Egypt Grieve not your selves that yee solde mee hither for God sent mee hither for your preservation this they never foresaw neither was it the end of their dispightfull dealing you sent mee not hither but God who hath made mee a father to Pharao and Lorde of his house and ruler throughout all Egypt when you repined that I vvas a brother amongst you and left mee no footing in mine owne fathers house Afterwards when his brethren fell downe at his feet confessed their sin hee answered them feare not am I in steede of God set to execute iudgment When you thought evill against me God disposed it to good that hee might vvorke as it is come to passe this day and save much people alive All the wits in the world cannot better set downe the state of the questiō They thought evill God disposed it to good they to vngorge themselves of that venimous malice which the prosperity of Ioseph conceived from his dreames instilled into their heartes God to preserve them in a famine to come and to save much people
limites but of a continuall tract and course of seas 4. Not where the waters were placide and still but vvhere the floudes were ever fighting togither 5. Those floudes lie as a circle about him and keepe him in like armed men 6. Not onely the flouds annoy him the tides of the sea and the decourse of lande rivers but hee is also troubled with vvaues 7. They are not simply waues but surges vvaues of the vehementest collision and insultation 8. And not simply surges but such as are strengthned by the arme and animation of God his waues 9. As if there were no more in the world but they had all forsaken their proper places as they came to the siege of Tâ—oy to turmoile this one sea hee tearmeth them in genelity all thy waues Lastly they were not aboute him as before but laie like a pressure vpon his body to keepe it downe There is yet a stinge in the taile of the Scorpion a danger behinde worse then the former which as it is reserved to the last place so hath it more venime in it then all the rest Then I saide I am cast out of thy sighte which containeth the weaknesse and distrust of his fearefull conscience See what a daungerous conclusion hee maketh against his soule not rashly apprehended but with leasure and deliberation conceived I saide that because the Lord had cast him into the bottome of the sea from the sight of men and the floudes and surges were over and about him therefore hee should thinke hee is cast from the sight of God that is that the lighte of his face brightnes of his countenance aspect of his mercy compassion had everlastingly forsaken him Ionas thou art deceived Thou speakest more to thy selfe theÌ„ ever the Lord said Hee that cast thee into the sea or caused the mariners to doe it never said that he cast thee out of his sight if thou hadst askt the seas and the flouds wherein thou wert overwhelmed they would never haue said it They know that the Lorde can say vnto the earth giue and to the sea restore keepe not those my sonnes daughters back whom I call for It is the voice of the serpent that speaketh this damnable senteÌ„ce vvithin thee Beware of his sophistry admit it not his reasoning is not good that because thou art persecuted driven to the bottome of the sea therefore thou art wholy cast out It is the pestilentest bait that ever Sathan laide to infect soules with Who being himselfe the sonne of perdition compasseth sea and lande to make others his proselytes the childreÌ„ of hel as deeply as himselfe is the cords wherwith he draweth theÌ„ into his own inheritance of destruction are to make the grievousnes of their sins the sense of their preseÌ„t but momeÌ„tany afflictions markes of their finall dereliction and that the favour of God is vtterlie departed from them This vvas the snare that he set for the soule of Iob in the mouthes of his three friendes pronouncinge him a reprobate and hypocrite because hee was afflicted by God The like for the soule of David in the lippes of his insolent enimies vvhen they vpbraided him where is now thy God he trusted in God let God deliver him if hee will haue him Behold I shew you a sea indeede of a bottomelesse depth the ground whereof can no more be founded than the lowest hel He that is throwne into this sea is alwaies falling and descending and never findeth an end It hath no midst in it as the sea hath because it is vnmeasurable and infinite I meane a desperate conscience distrusting the mercies of God relinquished of it selfe the floudes and surges whereof restlesse turbulent vnplacable cogitations can never be quieted and the fightings therein as betwixt waters and waters in the sea betweene affirmations negations it is and it is not cannot be reconciled Let all the rivers and streames of fresh vvater which glad the citty of God and comforte the soules of the faithfull runne into it they are resisted and driven back There is no entrance I meane for any perswasion of the graciousnes kindnes of the Lord though it be preached a thousand times The salt vnsavory bitter quality in the soule wherewith it is baned before hath no communion with so sweete a nature Which sin of desperation as the nature of man hath iust cause to detest because it breaketh that league of kindnes which we owe to our owne flesh many a bloudy instrument hath it put into the hands of man to destroy himselfe which execution beeing done against the laws of nature a worse ever ensueth from the iudgmeÌ„t fear of God so for that iniury indignity which it ostreth to the Lord of heaven sooner shal he forgiue the apostasie of his reprobate angels than this daÌ„ned sin Ierome observeth vpon the Psalmes that Iudas offended more in despairing of pardon and hanging himselfe than in betraying his innocent maister to death Isiodore giveth a kinde of reason for it Because to commit an offence is the death of the soule but to cast of hope of forgiuenesse is to descende into hell What can ever be done more derogatorie and iniurious to that righteous nature of his than to change his trueth into a lye and the lyes of Sathan into trueth and to iustifie Sathan more than God that when as the Lord shall speake on the one side binde by promise confirme by oth and seale with the bloud of his onely begotten son touching his goodnes towardes al true penitent sinners that although he haue made a wound he wil heale it though broken hee will binde vp though killed he will giue life yet he is not beleeved But when the Devill contrariwise shal suggest for his parte that the iustice of GOD will never bee satisfied the heynousnesse of our sinnes never pardoned as if he had left his name of beeing the father of lyes any longer hee is harkened vnto VVhat else is this but to turne falshoode into trueth darcknesse into light and GOD for ever to be magnified into the Devill himselfe Ionas went not so farre as I nowe speake of For though it were a daungerous pang which hee was fallen into and there vvanted but age and strength to make it vp yet he persisted not therein his feete had vvell nigh slipte but he recovered them and he spake vnadvisedlye vvith his lippes but he recalled it againe Yet vvill I looke tovvardes thine holie temple I vvill not so much explicate the wordes at large as vrge their consequence This was the difference betweene Iudas and Ionas Iudas vvente out and never looked backe more The LORDE cast him foorth and the devil bare him awaye to a tree vvhence hee returned not till hee had hunge himselfe Ionas is cast out vvith an hope and minde to returne Hee forgetteth not the temple of the LORDE and the place vvhere his honour dwelt though hee vvere farre remooved
vnexperienced I will also giue you some helpes When your soule beginneth to fainte as this prophets did remember what the Lord is by name Iehovah a God not in shew but in substaunce and performance For they that know thy name will trust in thee Remember what by nature rich in mercie as others are rich in treasure His iustice wisedome and power and vvhatsoever hee hath or rather is besides are also infinite riches God hath scarsitie of nothing But as his mercy is aboue all his workes so the riches of his grace a-aboue all his other riches Remember what hee is by promise The Lorde is faithfull I know whome I haue beleeved and I am sure hee is able to keepe that which I haue committed vnto you His trueth shal bee thy shielde and thy buckler O Lorde bee mindefull of thy worde wherein thou hast caused thy servant to put his trust If God be God follow him beleeue him builde vpon his worde his fidelitie is a thousand times alleaged that it may be past doubt Remember what hee is by covenaunte made vnto Abraham and his whole seede not in the bloud of bulles and goates but in the bloude of the seede of Abraham O my people saieth God by his prophet Micheas remember vvhat Balak King of Moab had devised and what Balaam the sonne of Beor aunswered him that yee may knowe the righteousnesse of the Lorde He cryeth vnto vs all at this day O my people remember what the prince of darkenesse had devised against you and howe Iesus Christ the sonne of the living God hath aunswered him and stopte his mouth vvith a voice of bloude and nayled his accusations to a crosle that yee may know the righteousnesse of the Lorde howe assured it is to those that beleeue it This this is the sure foundation which hee that buildeth vpon shall never fall This is the stone that vvas laide in Sion as for the bow of steele the wedge of golde the strength of an horse the promise of a man lighter vpon the ballance than vanity it selfe the righteousnesse of the lawe merites of Saintes they are the stones of Babylon This hath beene tried to the proofe precious aboue al the marchandize of Tyre and standeth in the heade of the corner He that beleeveth in this stone let him not haste saieth the Prophet Let him not yeelde too soone to the frailty of his flesh nor be over-credulous to the suggestions of Sathan nor suffer his hope to bee quelled at the first or second assaulte let him stay the leasure of the Lord for he will certainely visite him I haue shewed you some helpes and directions for memory I knowe no better hiding place from the winde no surer refuge from the tempest as Esay speaketh no safer harbours and receptacles wherein to repose your wearied soules than those I haue spoken of What better secret or shadow hath the most High what closer winges ' warmer feathers to keepe you from the snare of the hunter I meane not Nimrod or Esau mighty hairy and wilde making but temporall prayes either of men or beastes but the hunter of your soules than when you are distressed and compassed with troubles rounde about and sinnes which are the sorest troubles of all other haue taken such holde vpon you that you dare not looke vp when the soule fainteth as this prophetes did wisedome hath hid it selfe and vnderstanding is gone aside into a secret chamber that you know not what to advise nor where to fetch a thought that may minister comforte then to remember the Lord of hostes his name howe stronge a towre of defence it is his nature how sweete and amiable his promises how faithfull his covenant how precious in his eies that the Lord may remember you againe in his holy kingdome THE XXIX LECTVRE Chap. 2. ver 8 9. They that waite vpon lying vanities for sake their owne mercie But I will sacrifice vnto thee c THe narration is ended We are now to annexe the conclusion of the song wherin the prophet betaketh himselfe to a thankfull acknowledgement and as his tenuity will give him leave a remuneration requital of the goodnes of the Lord which his hart had presumed before The partes are three 1. A confutation and reproofe of all kindes of idolatours who as they call vpon false Gods so they are likely to be sped but with false deliveraunces They that wait vpon lying vanities forsake their owne mercy 2. An affirmative or positive determination and as it were bond that hee taketh of himselfe to render kindnesse to his merciful and faithfull Lorde But I vvill sacrifice c. and vvill pay that that I have vowed 3. A sentence of acclamation the aphorisme and iuice of the whole songe the conclusion of the conclusion the comprehension of sacrifices vowes praiers thanksgivings all thinges Salvation is the Lordes or the Lord. They that waite vpon lying vanities forsake their owne mercie What communion is there betweene darkenesse and light falshode and truth the table of devils and the table of the Lord idolatry and the right â—ervice of the righteous God This is the cause that Ionas beginneth with confutation Before he will plant the vineyard he will remoove stones and briers and all other obstacles that may hurte the growth of the vines Before hee buildeth his house hee vvill first pull downe a ruinous and rotten foundation So is the duety of a prophet in the first of Ieremie This day have I sette thee over nations and kingedomes first to plucke vp to roote out destroy throw downe secondly to plant and build and set vp againe And so is the duty of an Evangelist also who hath received the administration of the gospell of Christ first to prepare the way as it vvere and to make straight pathes before the face of Christ that is first to reproove and then to teach concerning doctrine first to correct and afterwardes to informe touching conversation Iohn Baptist you know a middle man betweene the lawe and the gospell a prophet and more than a prophet because he both foresaw and visibly saw the Lorde of life both prophecied and pointed with his finger turning his face like their Ianus in Rome both waies he first made ready the houses and heartes of the people before the king of Sion came cast downe hilles lifted vp vallies c. that the gospell of the kingdome might have the freer admission He beganne his preachings with reprehension of their vicious lives O yee generation of vipers and convulsion of their false groundes Saie not within your selves wee have Abraham to our father c. No man setteth a new piece to an olde garment hee maketh the rent but worse No man putteth newe wine into olde bottles for hee then marreth both It is to little purpose to offer truth and the tidings of peace the newes of the newe testament to the olde man whose ancient corruptions hange vpon him and
feare him nay the worlde may bee measured and spanned but of his goodnesse there is no end They leave that mercy that is better than their life For what is life without mercy Mercie gave it vnto them at the first mercie preserveth it mercie shall exchange it hereafter mercie restore it at the last day without this life of mercie to their mortall lives they live or rather die in everlasting misery Peter tolde his maister in the gospell to shew how willing they were to make Christ their onely advantage Beholde wee have left all He might as truely have saide beholde wee have founde all They left their fathers mothers kinsfolkes houses nettes vanities They found the mercy of God which made a full amendes These other were the thinges that were made to bee lefte Linquenda tellus domus placens Vxor. Wee must leave landes and houses wives and children with their temporall commodities But the change of the apostles of Christ was no vnprofitable change to have left all for him that is above all But woe vnto them who after their tearme of vanity expired and vanities left have not miserere in store a grone and sobbe in their soules to call for mercye and a favourable propension in the eares of their Lorde to haâ—ken to their crie Lastly it is their owne mercy which they forsake that embrace vanity I meane not active mercye in themselves inhabiting their owne heartes but the mercy of almighty God tendered and exhibited to each man in particular vvhither hee bee bond or free Iew or Gentile For his mercy is not onelye from generation to generation but from man to man And in this sense it is true which God spake by Ezechiell Every soule is mine the soule of the father is mine and the soule of the sonne is mine also Therefore it is not saide in my text that they leave the mercie of God but their owne mercy the patrimony of their father in heaven a portion wherof was allotted to every childe For the inheritance of the Lorde is not diminished by the multitude of possessours it is as large to every heire a part as to the whole number put togither This poore man cried saith the Psalme naming a singular person but leaving an vniversall president to the whole church and the Lord heard him And that poore man crieth and the Lord will also heare him Iste pauper ille pauper you may make vp a perfect induction and enumeration For if all the poore and destitute in the worlde crie vnto him hee will heare them all The refutation is now ended and giveth place to the assertion or affirmation what himselfe will doe not as before hee did walking after the lustâ—s of his owne eie and heart nor as the manner of the heatheÌ„ is embracing lying vanities but acknowledging his life and liberty to come alone from the Lorde of mercy But I will sacrifice vnto thee c. To him onelye will hee pay the tribute that is due vnto him not deriving his safety from any other imaginary helpes Hee will offer sacrifice which the law required and he will first make and afterwardes pay the vowes which the law required not the one an offering in manner of necessity the other of a free heart Hee will not offer with cakes or wafers and oile and yet perhappes not without these but with thankesgiving an inward and spirituall sacrifice and that thankesgiving shall haue a voice to publish it to the whole worlde that others may witnesse it Sacrifices and vowes I handled once before Let it now suffice by way of short repetition to let you vnderstande that hee offereth the best sacrifice who offereth himselfe body and soule all the members of the one affections of the other to serue the Lord. It shall please him much better and cast a sweeter smell into his nostrelles than a bullocke that hath hornes and hoofes And hee maketh the best vowe who voweth himselfe I say not in the worlde a virgin but a virgin to Christ that whither hee marry or marry not he hath not defiled himselfe with women for he that shall say hath not coupled or matched himselfe with women in an holy covenant misseth the vvhole scope of that scripture that voweth himselfe I say not in the vvorlde a pilgrime to gad from place to place but a pilgrime to Christ that though hee lie beneath in a barren and thirsty grounde where no water is yet hee walketh into heaven with his desires and in affection of spirit liveth aboue where his maister and head is that vovveth himselfe I say not not in the world a begger but a begger to Christ that though hee possesse riches yet hee is not by riches possessed and albe it hee leaveth not his riches yet hee leaveth his will and desire to bee rich For it was well observed by a learned father The bagge is more easily contemned than the will And if you will you may relinquish all though you keepe all This I say is the richest sacrifice and rightest vowe to giue thy selfe and vowe thy service and adherence to almighty God as wee reade that Peter did but to performe it with more fidelity though all forsake thee I will not And what I beseech you are these sacrifices and vowes but pensions of our duety argumentes and seales of thankefull mindes which is as marrowe and fatnesse to the bones of a righteous man to praise the Lorde with ioyfull lippes to remember him on his bed and to thinke on him in the night watches that is both early and late season and not season to bee telling of all his mercifull workes and recounting to himselfe his manifold loving kindnesses The last thing I proposed is the sentence or Epiphoneme concluding the conclusion or it may be the reason of his former promises I will offer sacrifices c. Why because Salvation is the Lordes I am sure it is the summe of the whole discourse one word for all the very morall of the history Shall I say more it is the argument of the whole prophesie and might have concluded every chapter therein The marriners might have written vpon their ship in steede of Castor Pollux or the like devise Salvation is the Lordes The Ninivites in the next chapter might have written vpon their gates Salvation is the Lordes And whole mankinde whose cause is pittied and pleaded by God against the hardnes of Ionas his hearte in the last might have written in the palmes of their handes Salvation is the Lordes It is the argument of both the testamentes the staffe and supportation of heaven and earth They would both sinke and all their iointes bee severed if the salvation of the Lord were not The birdes in the aire sing no other note the beastes in the fielde give no other voice than Salus Iehovae salvation is the Lordes The walles and fortresses to our cuntry gates
as never were more rare in the rarest Queene and in the sex of woman-hode carry admiration Why doe I saye woman-hode Vertue is tied neither to revenew nor kinde Iulita a vvoman one that witnessed a good confession for the name of Christ as shee was going to the stake to be burnt exhorted womeÌ„ that they should not complaine of the weakenes of nature because first they were made of the same matter whereof man was finished Secondly to the image of the same God Thirdly as fit and as capable to receive any goodnes Fourthly invested into the like honour Why not saith shee Seeing vvee are kinned vnto men in all respectes For not their flesh alone was taken for the creation of women but wee are bones of their bones for which cause vvee are endebted to God for courage patience virility aswell as men And Basile addeth his owne advise that setting excuse of their sexe aside they shoulde set vpon piety and see vvhither nature hath debarred them of any thing that was common to men I note it the rather because I know it greeveth Abimelech at the heart that a vvoman shoulde cast downe a milstone vpon his head to kill him and therefore hee calleth his page to thrust him thorough that men might not say A woman slew him It greeveth Abimelech of Rome and his whole faction that the church of England and the whole estate of our land vnder the government of a woman shoulde bee better able to defend it selfe against his tyranny than any country in Christendome Their heartes breake with envy hereat their tongues and pennes dissemble not their grudge at the foeminine primacie that a woman should bee the head vnder Christ of the church of Englande But as Chrisostome sometimes spake of Herodias and Iohn Baptist so by a contrary application of their manners may I of two as vnlike as ever fire and water the one to Herodias the other to Iohn Baptist Mulier totius mundi caâ—ut truncavit A woman hath beheaded within her realmes and dominions the falsely vsurpinge and surmised heade of the whole worlde Her father and brother of most famous memory had broken his leggs before as they brake the leggs of the theeues vpon the crosse the one his right legge of rentes and revenewes the milke and hony of our lande the other his left legge of idolatrous worshippes the doctrine of men false and erronious opinions wherewith the children of this realme had beene poisoned a longe time Queene Elizabeth hath bruised his heade for though his legges were broken hee began to gather strengh againe Hee now commaundeth not liveth not within our land saving in a few disordered and luxate members which as the parts of an adder cutte a sunder retaine some life for a time but never I trust shall growe into a body againe neither ever is hee likely to revive amongst vs vnlesse the Lord shall raise him vp for a plague to our vnthankefulnesse And therefore as they saide of Tarquinius Priscus in Rome a Corinthian borne and a straunger to their city hee hath vvell deserved by his vertues that our city shall never repent it of chusing a straunger to the king so by her gracious and religious government amongst vs hath her most excellent Maiesty worthily purchased that England shall never be sory that a woman was the Queene thereof When shee came to her crowne shee found the country as Augustus the city of Rome of bricke shee turned it into marble Shee founde it in the sandes she set it vpon a rocke the foundation of prophets and apostles shee founde it a lande of images ignorances corruptions vanities lies shee hath hitherto preserved it and I hope shall leave it to posterity a lande possest of the truth and seasoned with the gospell of Christ crucified This this is the savingest salvation that the Lorde hath this the blessing and happinesse that we enioy vnder her gracious government besides our peace such as our fathers never presumed to hope for plenty prosperity corporall benefites in that we lend and borrowe not not onely our milke but our bloud mony and men too to those that want and when wee ringe our belles for ioy and give eare to the noise of timbrelles and tabrets others are frighted with other kindes of soundes the neying of horses roaring of great ordinance howling of women and children to see their orbities and miseries before their eies I say this is the blessing vvee reape that the gospell is free by her procurement our consciences not enthralled to the ordinances of men our zeale rectified by knowledge and our religion reformed by the statutes of the highest God Now as we have great reason to singe merily vnto the Lorde and vvith a good courage Salvation is the Lordes for these graces so vvhat was the cause of her owne so many miraculous deliverances both before and since shee sate vpon the seate of her fathers but the same Salvation that by saving her saved vs I am sure shee was in daunger either of vvolves or of butchers when her rightuous soule cried Tanquam ovis and as a sheepe was shee led to the slaughter or not far from it When her innocency coulde not be her shield but though shee were free from crime and God and man might iustly have cleared her yet shee was not free from suspicion When she feared that the scaffolde of the Lady Iane stood for an other tragedie wherein her selfe should haue plaide the wofullest part Since which almost despaired escapes but that her time as David spake and her soule was in the handes of that Lord who deposeth and setteth vp Princes how it hath fared vvith her both at home and abroade we al know partly from trayterous and false-hearted Achitophels which haue served her with an hearte and an hearte partely from the bloudy bishops of Rome and their pernicious seminaries as full of mischiefe to Christendome as ever the Troian horse to the inhabitants of Troy partly from the king of Spaine whose study long hath beene to bee the Monarke of Europe of whom it is true that they spake of another Philippe of Macedon that hee bought the more part of Greece before hee conquered it so he buyeth countries before he winneth them and would doe that by his Indian gold which will be little ease for him to doe by men They haue long maliced her and I trust long shall and malice shall doe the nature of malice that is drinke out the marrowe and moysture of those that foster it and bring their devises vpon their owne heades as Nadab and Abihu were consumed with the fire of their owne censors So long as Salus Iehovae endureth which is as long as Iehovâ—h himselfe our hope shall not perish He hath even sworne by his holinesse as he did to David his servaunt not to faile Queene Elizabeth He that prevented her with liberall blessings before shee tooke the scepter into
her handes and set a crowne of pure golde vpon her heade will maintaine his owne doings perfit his good worke begunne and continued a long time glorifie his blessed name by advauncing her to glorie encrease his kingdome by hers subdue her people vnto her confounde her enemies and when the kingdome of Englande is no longer capable of her as Philip spake to Alexander his sonne hee will establish her in a kingdome of a far more happy condition Amen THE XXX LECTVRE Chap. 2. ver 10. And the Lorde spake vnto the fish and it cast out Ionas vpon the dry lande IONAS hath ended his song of Sion in a strange lande which was the seconde parte of the chapter nowe insisted vpon He hath brooked the seas with patience and digested his perilles with hope and is nowe arrived at the haven of happy deliveraunce The inhabitauntes of the earth vvoulde never haue beleeved that the enemie coulde haue entred within the gates of Ierusalem nor that the prophet of the Lorde coulde haue had egresse from the gates and barres of this monstrous fish But so was it done by the Lorde and it is marvailous in our eies And as the chaines fell from the handes of Peter the very night before Herode intended to bring him forth to his triall and hee passed through the first and second watches without interruption and the yron gate opened by it owne accorde vnto him though hee were delivered to foure quaternions of souldiours to bee kâ—pte and that nighte slepte betweene two bounde with two chaines and the keepers before the dores of the gaole so after seventie two howres which is the iudiciall howre of many daungerous diseases happily the timeliest time wherein Ionas if ever was to looke for libertie againe and the Whale might beginne to plead to himselfe everlasting possession of his pray so longe retained though his heade were wrapte aboute vvith weedes as Peters handes bounde with chaines and he were delivered both to floudes and depthes promontories and rockes as hee to fowre quaternions and at this instante of his deliverye laie betweene the barres of earth and sea as Peter slept betweene two souldiours besides the throate and iawes of the fish his loathsome prison which sate as keepers before the dores yet all these encumbraunces and lettes fell from the bodie of Ionas and hee past through the first and seconde watches I meane the entralles of the VVhale and that iron gate of his strong armed teeth and was cast vp vpon drye grounde as Peter vvas restored to his friendes house In miracles and mysteries must I spend my discourse at this time The miracles are not newes vnto you thorough out the vvhole decourse of these histories VVherein the Lorde hath the principall parte qui facit mirabilia solus vvho onely worketh vvonders and onelye vvonders vvhat haue you seene else Ionas was svvallowed by a miracle by a miracle vvas preserued lived and sang and by a miracle is cast vp VVho was the authour of the miracle The Lorde What were his meanes His vvorde or commandement Who the minister the fish The manner what by vomiting or disgorging himselfe Lastly the terminus ad quem or place that received him The dry land In these particulars doth the sentence of my text empty it selfe 1 The Lorde spake One and the same hande both vvounded and recured him VVho else vvas of mighte to haue encountred this fearefull beast For canst thou drawe out Leviathan with an hooke or pierce his iavves vvith an angle VVill hee make manie praiers vnto thee or speake thee faire Lay but thine hande vpon him and thou shalt haue cause to remember the battell and to doe no more so Beholde thine hope is in vaine if thou thinkest to match him for shall not one perish even at the sighte of him Muchlesse canst thou draw him to the shore and cast a line into his bowels to draw out a prophet or any spoile there-hence They said of David in the Psalme novve hee is dovvne hee shall rise no more If thou hadst askt both lande and sea when Ionas vvas fallen into the depthes of them they vvoulde haue aunswered thee nowe hee is downe hee shall rise no more Even his owne most familiar friende vvhome hee best trusted vvith whome hee had taken his sweetest counsaile the hearte within his brest tolde him many a time Thou shalt rise no more thou art cast out of the sighte of the Lorde and company of men for ever But hee knewe whome hee trusted and who vvas best able to restore the pawne committed vnto him though hee walked in the bellie of the fish as in the valley of death Yet the LORDE was on his side vvhat then coulde hurte him The Lorde liveth the LORD hath spoken the Lorde is his name and such like preambles to manie sentences of scripture are most effectuall motiues of perswasion and giue vs vnquestionable assuraunce of vvhatsoever therein set downe The Angell appeared vnto Gedeon Iudges the sixte and saide vnto him The Lorde is with thee thou valiant man VVhat cause had Gedeon when hee hearde but that preface Dominus tecum the LORDE is with thee to speake of their miseries and to call for wonted miracles and to thinke that God had forsakâ—n them The weakest and feeblest soule in the worlde assistâ—â—â— with the valiancie of the most valiant Lorde cannot be endangered And therefore hee bade Gedeon Goe in this thy mighte and thou shalt saue Israell out of the handes of Madian Not in the mighte of thine owne arme for who hath enabled thee but in this thy might this that I speake of the presence of my maiesty mine by right thine by vse and receipte mine by possession thine by communication mine originally thine instrumentally for haue not I sent thee and I will bee with thee and thou shalt smite Madian as one man The like was the greeting of the angell to the mother of the Lord Dominus tecum The Lord is with thee I haue said enough I neede not giue reasons of my message Aske no questions make no doubt of thine overnaturall and vnkindely conception when thou shalt but heare that the Lorde is with thee and the power of the most high shall overshadowe thee The Lorde spake to the fish The instrumente that the LORD vsed in the delivery of his Prophet is that Delphian swoorde or vniversall instrumente vvhich hee vsed in forming the worlde and all the creatures thereof Hee saide let there bee lighte let there bee a firmament let the waters bee gathered into one place let the dry lande appeare c. and it was fulfilled And at this howre the everliving vvorde of GOD beareth vp and supporteth all thinges by his vvorde VVhat is his word then but his meere and effectuall commaundement and the giving of effecte to that which his hearte hath intended VVho as hee goeth without feete seeth vvithout eies and reacheth without hands so there
the thirde was vnto GOD as rawe and vndigested meate which his hearte coulde not brooke His lukenesse and neutralitye of dealing in his service did so much offende him that although he had beene received into some inwarde favour as sustenaunce is taken into the stomacke yet hee is threatned to bee spued vp againe The phrase is some-what infrequent and rare in the scripture yet is it no where vsed but it deserveth wisely and waightily to bee considered In this place to conclude the meaning is that Ionas was not descended into the bellie of the fish to become a pray vnto him but to dwell in a desert and solitarie house for a time as Ieremie wisht him a cotage in the wildernesse and as it were to goe aside and hide himselfe from the anger of the Lord till the storme might be overpast The vvoordes of Micheas doe rightelye expresse my minde heerein I vvill beare the vvrath of the LORDE because I haue sinned against him vntill hee pleade my cause and execute iudgemente for mee Then vvill hee bringe mee foorth to the lighte and I shall see his righteousnesse VVhen thou that arte mine enemie shalt looke vpon it and shame shall cover thee vvhich sayest vnto mee vvhere is the LORD thy God Lastlye the place vvhich received Ionas was the drye lande VVhich noteth a qualitye of the earth commodious and fitte for habitation Hee felte the grounde before vvhen hee went downe to the bottome of the mounetaines and the earth vvas aboute him vvith her barres but he felte not the drie grounde He vvalked not then vpon the face of the earth vvhich is the manner of living soules but vvas vnder the rootes of the mounetaines vvhere hee had not libertye nor power to breath but by speciall providence In the beginning of the creation the vvaters were aboue the earth til the LORDE saide Let the vvaters vnder the heaven bee gathered into one place and let the drie lande appeare and it vvas so According to the vvordes of the Psalmes Hee hath founded it vpon the seas and established it vpon the flovvdes And againe Hee hath stretched out the earth vpon the vvaters for his mercie endureth for ever A straunge kinde of building when others lay the foundations vpon rockes the LORDE vpon the vvaters And yet hee hath so set the earth vpon those pillers that it shall never mooue VVhen thou callest to minde that thou treadest vpon the earth hanging like a ball in the aire and floting in the waters is it not evidente enough vnto thee even by this one argument that there is a God By the confession of all the naturall place of the waters is aboue the earth This at the first they enioyed and after repeated and recovered againe in the over-whelming of the worlde when the LORD for a time delivered them as it were from their bandes and gaue them their voluntarie and naturall passage And at this day there is no doubte but the sea which is the collection of waters lyeth higher than the lande as sea-faring men gather by sensible experimentes and therefore the Psalme saith Thou coveredst it with the deepe as with a garment For as a vesture in the proper vse of it is aboue the bodie that is clothed therewith so is the sea aboue the lande and such a garmente woulde it haue beene vnto the earth but for the providence of GOD towardes vs as the shirte that was made for the muthering of Agamemnon where the heade had no issue out Therefore the Psalme addeth immediately The vvaters woulde stande aboue the mounetaines but at thy rebuke they flee at the voyce of thy thunder they haste away And the mounetaines ascende and the vallies descende to the place which thou haste established for them But thou haste set them a bounde which they shall not passe neither shall they returne to cover the earth The like in the booke of Iob vvhere the phrases are that the LORDE hath established his commaundement vpon the sea though a wilde and vntamed creature and sette barres and doâ—es aboute it and saide Hitherto shalt thou come and no further heere vvill I staie thy prowde waues VVhat from the chambers that are aboue and from the fountaines and sluces that lie beneath howe easie a matter vvere it for the former of all thinges to set open his vvindowes and dammes and every howre of our life to over-runne vs with a newe deluge Nay he hath vvater enough to drowne vs vvithin our owne bodies Hee caâ—â—e there commaunde a full sea of distempered and redundant humors to take our breath from vs. VVee little bethinke our selues howe daylie and continually vvee stande beholding to the goodnesse of GOD for sparinge our liues VVho though hee with holde the forces of those outwarde elementes vvater and fire and the rest that they doe vs no harme yet vvee haue elementes vvithin whereof wee are framed and composed wee haue heate and colde moysture and drought which hee can vse at his pleasure to our owne destruction Let these brethren of one house but withall the fathers and founders as it vvere of our nature fall at variance within vs and they vvill rende our liues a sunder like vvilde boares Howe manye haue beene buryed aliue in the graues of their earthlye and melancholicke imaginations Howe many burned in the flames of pestilent and hote diseases Their bowelles set on fire like an oven their bloude dryed vp their inwardes withered and wasted vvith the violence thereof The vapours and fumes of their owne vicious stomacke as a contagious aire howe manye haue they poysoned and choked vp Finallye howe manye haue beene glutted and overcharged with waters betweene their owne skinne and bones And therefore we must conclude and crye with the Prophet It is the mercie of the LORDE that wee are not consumed both from without and from within because his compassions faile not Hitherto of the myracles the former parte of my promise and the seconde experimente of the ever-flowing mercye of GOD continued towardes Ionas his servaunt O livinge and large fountaine of grace alvvayes drawne yet never dryed vp because it runneth from the breast and is fed with the good pleasure of an infinite and immortall GOD. For what better reason canne bee given of his lovinge affection tovvardes vs than that which Micheas hath in the ende of his prophecie Because mercy pleaseth him VVhat other cause hath induced him not to remooue in haste from the sweete songue of that Prophete to take awaie iniquitie and passe by the transgressions of his heritage not to retaine his anger for ever though for ever deserved but to returne and haue compassion vpon vs to subdue our vnrighteousnesse and cast all our sinnes into the bottome of a sea deeper and farther from his sighte than were these seas of Ionas to perfourme his trueth to Iacob and kindnesse to Abraham accordinge to his othe in auncient time but because
gracious long suffering and of great goodnesse He crieth vnto the fooles and such vvee are all Proveâ—bes 1. O yee foolish howe long will yee loâ—â— foolishnesse hee dealeth vvith sinners as David dealte vvith Saul vvho tooke avvay his speare and his vvaterpot and sometimes a peece of his cloake as it were snatches and remembraunces to let vs vnderstande that vvee are in his handes and if wee take not vvarning hee will further punish vs. He dresseth his vineyarde Esay the fifth vvith the best and kindliest husbandrie that his heart coulde invente aftervvardes hee looked required not the first howre but tarrying the full time hee looked that it shoulde bring foorth grapes in the autumne and vintage season Hee vvaiteth for the fruite of his figge tree three yeares Luke the thirteenth and is content to bee entreated that digging and dounging and expectation a fourth yeare may be bestowed vpon it They saie that moralize the parable that hee stayed for the synagogue of the Iewes the first yeare of the patriarches the seconde of the Iudges the thirde of the kinges and that the fourth of the prophets it was cut dovvne Likewise that hee hath waited for the church of Christianity three yeares that is three revolutions and periodes of ages thrice five hundreth yeares from the passion of Christ or if we furtheâ— repeate it that hee hath tarried the leasure of the whole world one yeare vnder nature an other vnder the lawe a thirde vnder grace The fourth is nowe in passing vverein it is not vnlikely that both these fiâ—ge-trees shall bee cut dovvne VVhatsoever iudgementes are pronounced Amos the first and second against Damascus and Iudah and the rest are for three transgressions for foure so long he endured their iniquities Hee was able to chardge them in the fourteenth of Numbers that they had seene his glorye and yet provoked him ten times Ierusalems prouocation in the gospell and such care in her loving Saviour to have gathered her children vnder his winges of salvation as the henne her chickens seemeth to bee without number as appeareth by this interrogation O Ierusalem Ierusalem howe often Notwithstanding these presidents and presumptions of his mercy the safest way shall bee to rise at his first call and not to differre our obedience till the second for feare of prevention least the Lorde haue iust cause given by vs to excuse himselfe I called and you haue not aunswered And albeit at some times and to some sinners the Lorde bee pleased to iterate his sufferance yet farre be it of that we take incitement thereat to iterate our misdeedes He punished his angels in heaven for one breach Achan for one sacriledge Miriam for one slaunder Moses for one vnbeliefe Ananias and Saphira for one lie he maie be as speedy and quicke in avendging himselfe vpon our offences But if we neglect the first and second time also then let vs know that daunger is not farre of Iude had some reason meaning in noting the corrupt trees that were twice dead For if they twice die it is likely enough that custome vvill prevaile against them and that they vvill die the thirde time and not giue over death till they bee finally rooted vp There are tvvo reasons that maie iustly deterre vs from this carelesnesse and security in offending vvhich I labour to disvvade 1. the strength that sinne gathereth by growing and going forwardes It creepeth like a canker or some other contagious disease in the body of man and because it is not timely espied and medicined threatneth no small hazarde vnto it It fareth therevvith as vvith a tempest vpon the seas in vvhich there are first Leves vndae little waues afterwardes maiora volumiâ—a greater volumes of waters then perhapps ignei globi balles of fire fluctus ad coelum and surges mounting vp as high as heaven Esay describeth in some such manner the breedes of serpents first an egge next a cockatrice then a serpent afterwards a fierie flying serpent Custome they hold is an other nature and a nature fashioned and wrought by art And as men that are well invred are ashamed to giue over so others of an ill habite are as loth to depart from it The curse that the men of Creete vsed against their enemies vvas not a svvorde at their heartes nor fire vpon their houses but that vvhich vvoulde bring on these in time and much worse that they might take pleasure in an evill custome Hugo the Cardinall noteth the proceeding of sinne vpon the vvordes of the seventh Psalme If I haue done this thing if there bee any wickednesse in my handes c. then let mine enemie persecute my soule by suggestion and take it by consent let him tread my life vpon the earth by action and lay mine honour in the duste by custome and pleasure therein For custome in sinning is not onely a grave to bury the soule in but a great stone rolled to the mouth of it to keepe it downe And as there is one kinde of drunkennesse in excesse of wine an other of forgetfulnesse so there is a thirde that commeth by lust and desire of sinning 2. Nowe if the custome of sinne bee seconded vvith the iudgement of God adding an other vveight vnto it blinding our eies and hardening our heartes that vvee may neither see nor vnderstande least vvee should bee saved and because wee doe not those good thinges which wee knowe therefore wee shall not knowe those evill thinges which wee doe but as men bereft of heart runne on a senselesse and endlesse race of iniquity till the daies of gracious visitation bee out of date it vvill not be hard to determine vvhat the end vvill bee Peter saieth vvorse than the first beginning Matthew shevveth by hovve many degrees vvorse For vvhereas at the first vvee vvere possessed but by one devill novve hee commeth associated vvith seven others all vvorse than himselfe and there they intende for ever to inhabite Therefore it shall not be amisse for vs to breake of vvickednesse betimes and to followe the counsaile that Chrysostome giveth alluding to the pollicy of the vvise men in returning to their countrie an other waie Hast thou come saith hee by the waie of adultery goe backe by the waie of chastity Camest thou by the way of covetousnesse Goe backe by the waie of mercy But if thou returne the same vvaie thou camest thou art still vnder the kingdome of Herode For as the sickenesses of the body so of the soule there are criticall daies secret to our selves but well knowne to God whereby hee doth ghesse whether wee be in likelihode to recover health and to harken to the holesome counsailes of his law or not If then hee take his time to give vs over to our selves and the malignity of our diseases wee may say too late as sometime Christ of Ierusalem O that wee had knowne the thinges that belong to our peace but nowe they are
hid from our eies 2 Arise goe vnto Niniveh Arise is but a word of preface or preparation and noteth as I saide before that forwardnesse that ought to bee in the prophetes of the Lorde Lying downe for the most part is a signe that both the body and minde are at rest Sitting betokeneth the body at ease but the minde may be occupied Rising most commonly is an argument that both are disposed to vndertake some worke Now as it is both shame and sin for any sorts of men to trifle in their calling for wee shall all rise in our order but those vnordinate walkers saith Bernard in what order shall they rise who keepe not that order and ranke vvhich GOD hath assigned them vnto so especially for those that are sent about the message Christ tolde his disciples in the ninteenth of Mathew that when the sonne of man sate they should also sit But I beseech you saith Bernard when sate hee in this world where rested hee or what place had hee to lay his heade vpon rather hee reioyced as a Gyant refresht with wine to runne his race and he vvent about doing good as it is vvitnessed in the Actes of the Apostles birdes had their nestes and foxes their holes but Christ had no resting place till his worke being finished he had dearly earned and deserved to haue his leaue warranted vnto him when the Lord saide to our Lord sit at my right hande Thomas Becket an evill man and in an evill cause but vvith wordes not impertinent to his place if he had well applied them aunswered one who advised him to deale more moderately towardes the king Sit I at the sterne and would you wish me to sleepe Our Saviour to the like effect vvhen he founde his disciples a sleepe why sleepe you and to Peter by name Sleepest thou Peter is Iudas vvaking are the high-priests consulting the souldiours banding the sonne of man neare his betraying the envious man sowing his tares marring the field hindring the good seed and the gospell of the kingdome and will not you awake Rise let vs walke and consider the regions farre and wide that they are not only white to the haruest but drie to the fire if they be neglected They must be labourers that are sent into that harvest and to shew what a blessing it is that such be sent the Lord of the harvest must be earnestly praied vnto Such a labourer was he who though he were borne out of due time yet he omitted no due time of working and though the least of all the apostles in some honours of that calling yet in the burthens and taskes that belonged vnto it he attributed it to the speciall grace of God that hee labouâ—ed more abundantly than all they Seneca was so farre at oddes with idlenes that he professed he had rather bee sicke than out of businesse I sleepe verie little saith he It is enough for me that I haue but left watching Sometimes I knowe I haue slept sometimes I doe but suspecte it The examples of heathen men so studiously addicted to their woorke that they forgot to take their ordinary foode and tied the haire of their heades to the beames of their chambers least sleepe should beguile them in their intended labors are almost incredible but to the open disgrace of vs who having a marke set before our eies and running to the price which they knew not are so slacke in our dueties But as before so againe I demaund why to Niniveh we haue alreaâ—y coniectured fowre reasons Let vs adde a fifth The force of example wee all know and very greate to induce likenesse of manners and to verifie the the proverbe in the prophet Like people like priest like servant like maister like maide like mistresse like buyer like seller like lender like borrower like giver like taker to vsury And the greater the example is the greater authority it hath to draw to similitude Facile transitur ad plures we are easily moved to go after a multitude I may adde facile transitur ad maiores It is no hard labour to make vs imitate great authorities be our patterns good or bad Evill behaviour in Princes prophets and higher degrees whatsoever corrupteth as it were the aire round about and maketh the people with whome they liue as like vnto them in naughtinesse as they say bees to bees God telleth IerusaleÌ„ in the 16. of Ezec. that al that vsed proverbes should vse this amongst the rest against her As is the mother so is the daughter Thou art the daughter of thy mother that hath cast of her husband and her children and thou art the sister of thy sisters which forsooke their husbandes and their children You see how evenly they tread in the steppes of the same sinnes Your mother is an Hittâ—te and your father an Ammorite Did the daughter degenerate from her kind Her elder sister at her left hande was Samaria and her daughters And the yonger at her right Sodome and her daughters Father and mother daughter and sisters the whole broode was alike infected Ieroboam the sonne of Nebat is never mentioned in the writinges of Israell but hee draweth a taile after him like a blasing starre Who sinned and made Israell to sinne A sicke head disordered all the other partes and a darke eie made a darke body A fearefull instruction to those that feare God to make them beware of binding two sinnes togither that is of sinning themselues and sinning before others to put a stumbling blocke before their feete of falling into the like offence especially when the credit and countenance and priority of their places maketh others the bolder to sin because they sin with such authors Such bitter rootes shall aunswere for themselues their corrupted braÌ„ches Such poisoned fouÌ„taines shal not escape vvith single iudgment because they haue polluted the vvhole course of vvaters Such leprous and contagious soules as they heape sin vpon sin so by numbers and heapes they shall receaue their plagues and accompt to the iustice of God not onelye for the pollutioÌ„ of their owne persons but of many thousands more whome by the warrant of their precedency they haue pulled vnto vvickednes And for this cause I take it amongst others Niniveh is crowned in the next words with the honorable title of her greatnesse to let her know that the more eminent in dignity the nearer shee lay to daunger and as shee gave to the inferiour citties of the lande an example of sinning so shee shoulde also bee an example of desolation vnto them Goe to Niniveh that great citie that is preach repentance to the mother and the daughters will drawe their instructions from her breastes Winne the Lady and princesse and her handmaides wil soone be brought to obedience Speake to the hauty monarch of the world knocke at the gates of his prowde pallace beat the eares of those insolent and wealthy marchants shake them from
are not all his mercies are not all his iudgmentes are not all his vvordes are not all the titles and iotes of his vvordes yea and amen so firmely ratified that they cannot bee broken doubtlesse it shall stande immutable when the heaven and earth shall be chandged and vvaxe olde like a garment Ego Deus non mutor I am a GOD that am not chandged The schoole-menne in this respect haue a wise distinction it is one thing to change the vvill another to vvill a change or to bee vvilling that a change shoulde be God vvill haue the lawe and the ceremonies at one time Gospell vvithout ceremonies at another this was his will from everlasting constant and vnmooueable that in their severall courses both shoulde bee Though there bee a change in the matter and subiect there is not a change in him that disposeth it Our will is in winter to vse the fire in sommer a colde and an open aire the thing is changed according to the season but our will vvhereby wee haue decreed and determined in our selues so to do remaineth the same 2 Sometimes the decrees and purposes of God consist of tvvo partes the one vvhereof God revealeth at the first and the other he concealeth a while and keepeth in his owne knowledge as in the action enioined to Abram the purpose of God was two-fold 1. to try his obedience 2. to saue the child A man may impute it to incōstancy to bid and vnbid but that the will of the Lorde was not plenarily vnderstoode in the first part This is it vvhich Gregory expresseth in apt tearmes God changeth his sentence pronounced sometimes but never his counsaile intended Sometimes thinges are decreed spoken of according to the inferiour cause which by the highest and over-ruling cause are otherwise disposed of One might haue saide and saide truely both vvaies Lazarus shall rise againe and Lazarus shall not rise if we esteeme it by the power and finger of God it shal be but if we leaue it to nature to the arme of flesh it shall never be The prophet Esay told Ezechias the king put thy house in order for thou shalt die considering the weaknes of his body and the extremity of his disease hee had reason to warrant the same but if he had tolde him contrariwise according to that which came to passe thou shalt not die looking to the might mercie of God who received the praiers of the king he had said as truely But the best definitiō is that in most of these threatnings there is a condicion annexed vnto thē either exprest or vnderstood Which is as the hinges to the dore turneth forwards or backwards the whole matter In Ieremy it is exprest I will speake sodainely against a nation or against a kingdome to plucke it vp to roote it out and to destroy it but if this nation against whom I haue pronounced turne from their wickednes I will repent of the plague which I thought to bring vpon them So likewise for his mercy I will speake sodainly concerning a nation and concerning a kingdome to builde it and to plant it but if it doe evil in my sight and heare not my voice I will repent of the good I thought to doe for them Gen. 20. it is supprest where God telleth Abimelech withholding Abrahams wife thou art a dead man because of the woman which thou hast taken the event fell out otherwise and Abimelech purged himselfe with God with an vpright minde innocent hands haue I done this There is no question but God inclosed a condition within his speech thou art but a dead man if thou restore not the woman without touching het body and dishonouring her husband Thus we may answere the scruple by all these waies 1. Yet forty daies and Niniveh shall bee overthrovven and yet forty and forty years and Niniveh shal not be overthrowen Why because Niniveh is changed and the vnchangeable vvill of God ever was that if Niniveh shewed a change it shoulde bee spared 2. There were two partes of Gods purpose the one disclosed touching the subversion of Niniveh the other of her conversion kept within the heart of God Wherevpon he changed the sentence pronounced but not the counsaile vvhereto the sentence was referred 3. If you consider Niniveh in the inferiour cause that is in the deservings of Niniveh it shall fall to the ground but if you take it in the superiour cause in the goodnes and clemency of almighty God Niniveh shall escape Lastly the iudgment was pronounced with a condicion reserved in the minde of the iudge Niniveh shall bee overthrowen if it repent not Now he that speaketh vvith condicion may change his minde without suspicion of lightnes As Paul promised the Corinthians to come by them in his way tovvardes Macedonia and did it not for he evermore added in his soule that condicion vvhich no man must exclude if it stande with the pleasure of God and he hinder mee not Philip threatned the Lacedemonians that if he invaded their countrey he would vtterly extinguish them they wrote him none other answere but this If meaning that it vvas a condition well put in because he was never likely to come amōgst them The old verse is Si nesi non esset prefectum quià libet esset If it were not for conditions and exceptions every thing vvould be perfect But nothing more vnperfect then Niniveh if this secret condicion of the goodnes of God at the second hand had not been Arias Montanus hath an expositiō by himselfe yet forty daies Niniveh shall be turned not overturned that is Niniveh shall bee changed either to the better or to the worse Niniveh shall either amend her waies or see an end of her happines Niniveh in such extremitie cannot stande at a stay no more then the sicknesses of the body whē they are come to the highest degree But to leaue his singular opinion we haue specially to marke in this feareful sentence doome of Niniveh that the thoughts of God were rather for peace recōciliatiō then to overthrow it Here are Esaues hands but Iacobs voice hard speech rough coūtenance a strong tēpest of words but an hiddē spirit of tēdernes loving kindnes who knew rightwel that vnlesse they were toucht to the quicke til their bloud were drawen out they woulde not be mooved Else vvhat did he meane if he meant not mercy to sende a prophet vnto them vvho mighte haue sent his angell from heaven as against the host of Senacherib presently to haue destroyed them Or vvhy prefixt hee a time and gaue them a respite of fortie daies vvho in the motion of an eye coulde haue laide them in the dust and slaine them with the least breath of his angry lippes But come we to the particulars The time that was lent them before their overthrow is forty daies neither too long least they might presume and put of from day
sustenance sake Wherein they noted a great indignity that those hands should be vsed at the mill wherewith hee wrote of the sunne and starres It grieveth mee to speake vvhat shiftes they are driven vnto who are able to labour in the word to doe the worke of righte good evangelistes idque vitae sustentandae causa not to grow rich thereby but to put meate into their mouthes and the mouthes of their families I conclude with the exhortation of the Apostle 1. Thes. 5. Now wee beseech you brethren that you know them which labour amongst you and are over you in the Lorde and admonish you that yee haue them in singular or abundant or more then abundant loue for their workes sake From an abundant spirit hee craveth abūdant abūdance of loue empting his soule of words that if it vvere possible hee might stirre their heartes In this sparingly sparing generation of ours what wordes might serue to warme their frozen devotion vvhome neither painefulnesse in labouring nor preeminence in overseeing nor vigilancy in admonishing can cause to knowe and discerne no nor keepe from contemning or so exceedingly to loue no nor vvithdraw from exceedingly hating these labourers rulers vvatchmen of theirs but even for their workes sake because they are ministers most debase and despight them They knew Christ among the Iewes to bee the carpenters sonne and such to bee his brethren and sisters So these they are content to know not in the worthinesse of their calling givinge countenance to their place and maintenaace to their service but in the basenesse of their birth and kindred poorenesse of their liuinges pensions and whatsoever may make to adde vnto them further disgrace And proclaimed a fast and put on sackloth Fasting and sackeclothe saith Ierome are the armour of repentaunce Shee commeth not to God with a full belly and meate betweene the teeth nor in gorgeous attire of silver and golde or of needle worke but with the thinnest face and coursest apparrell that shee can provide Shee is so much the apter to apply her suite and to entreat GOD. Not that the emptinesse of the stomake or roughnesse of the garment doe so much content him which are but outwarde signes of an inwarde cause from whence they proceede For when the soule is touched indeede and feeleth the smarte of her sinnes because it hungreth and thirsteth after the righteousnesse of God therefore it cannot thinke on feeding the outward man but commaundeth it abstinence for a time even from necssary eating and because it longeth to bee clothed with the salvation of God therefore it chargeth her flesh and bloud not to take care for wonted attiring but to change their accustomed ornamentes into sackcloth and ashes Meanetime the pleasure that God hath is in the sorrow of the heart and in the humility of the minde which the humiliation of the body giveth him assurance of The practise of David Psalm 35 is mee thinketh a very good paterne both to shewe the order of repentance to assigne the place that fasting sackcloth haue therein When they were sicke I clothed my self with sackcloth humbled my soule vvith fasting and my praier vvas turned vpon my bosome I behaved my selfe as to my friend or brother and made lamentation as one that bewaileth his mother 1. There must be some misery as the sickenes of friends maladies of our own soules or the publicke sores of the whole land 2. Vpon that misery ensueth an inward harty compassion as in a case that dearely affecteth vs. 3. vpon that cōpassion griefe which mercy is never sundred frō 4. vpon that griefe a neglect of bodily duties neither leasure to fill it with meates drinkes nor care to trim it with ornamēts 5. vpon the neglect of the body doe the exercises of the soule praier the like offer thēselues 6. praier with her other cōpanions at length come laden home with the sheaues of comfort blisse frō the plentifullest fields So that sackecloath and sasting as they are the witnesses of sorrow or some like passion so are they helps also occasions to more acceptable workes then they are themselues neither lye they next to the favor of God but they thrust praier faith between them and home to begge remission I meane not to prevent my text by shewing the nature originall kindes and vse of fasting amongest both heathens Christians which some later verses of this chapter doe challendge to themselues Only I obserue for this present that both those sinnes wherwith the people of Asia did most especially abound and these in Niniveh perhaps more especially then the rest they laboured forthwith to reforme that is the delicacy of meates drinkes intemperancy in cloathing The rich man in the gospell is noted for both these as handmaides that waited vpon his riches And Niniveh the richest lady vnder heaven was not cleare from them To rid themselues of these baites allurements 1. they fast from meate drinke sleepe ointments delightes recreations of all sorts For that is truly to fast not only to forsake forget ordinary food but to emprison shut vp the body from all the pleasures of life to pul downe the strength and pride thereof for neighbour-hoods sake to afflict the soule with it in effect to giue it straight commandement touch not taste not handle not any thing wherein thy wonted ioies consisted 2. They proclame a fast they leaue it not indifferent and arbitrary to the will of every private cittizen to doe what hee best fansied They binde them by a law and decree to do as the rest did least there might have bin some in the city carrying their Epicurisme and loosenesse of life to their graue Let vs eate and drinke for within forty daies vvee shall die 3. They put on sacke-cloath Perhappes not sacke-cloth in kinde which all the shoppes in Niniveh coulde not supply them with but the vilest and simplest vveedes that they might devise Their purple and prince-like furniture wherein they esteemed not warmth but the colour and die and ware them for their price more then necessity their wanton disdainefull superfluous sailes of pride and vaine-glory they lay aside and but for open vncivilitie they would strippe themselues to the bare skinne and repente naked 4. from the greatest to the least They spare no calling Prince nor peere noble nor vulgar person They spare no age old nor yong The aged that went with his staffe and the suckling that drew the breast are all chardged alike even those who for bodily infirmities were vnable enough to beare it The two daughters of the horse-leach which sucke the bloude of our land wasting the substance and commodity thereof in vaine in some the effects of their wealth in others the efficientes of their beggery are the vices of these Assyrians which directly and purposedly they crosse in this worke of repentaunce For what hath
the heathen hee rente his cloathes and plâ—ckte of the haire of his heade and bearde and sate astonied vntill the evening sacrifice at vvhat time hee arose againe and fell vpon his knees and spread out his handes vnto the Lord his God and saide O my God I am confounded and ashamed to lifte mine eies vnto thee my God for our iniquities are encreased over our heade and our trespasse is growen vp into the heaven As the manner of auncienter times was when heavinesse and trouble was vpon them to call for women and others that were most skilfull in mourning so they that will learne to repente and are not cunning in the art thereof let them repaâ—re to Esdras and such like who were most skilful in repenting O how available saith Ambrose are three syllables peccavâ— is but three syllables but the flame of an harty sacrifice ascendeth therein into heaven and fetcheth downe three thousand blessings Christ came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentaunce Sinners then all even the greatest Princes and rulers of the Iewes for they the greatest sinners No. but sinners in sense and conscience sinners in action and plea against themselues sinners in iudgement from their owne mouthes and against their owne heades these are they to whom Christ hath designed the medicine and restoratiue of his saving health According to his curteous invitation Mat. 11. Come vnto me all yee that travaile and labour not you that loiter with your sinnes and trifle with my iudgements you that beare your iniquities like strawes or corke seeke you other pardoners come you that are weary and are loaden with the burthen thereof I will refresh you The poore Publicane Luk 18. was one of those patients that tasted of such mercies he stood a far of not daring to approach vnto God that God might approach vnto him nor to lift vp his eies vnto heaven which hee had mooved to anger against him but smiting vpon his sinnefull brest as the arke of all iniquity and punishing himselfe with stripes that the Lorde might forbeare to punish him with a fearfull heart and trembling tongue called vpon his Saviour O Lorde bee mercifull vnto mee a sinner I saie not thy creature or servant or childe but onely a sinner my whole composition is sinne whatsoever I am in body or soule so far as my manhoode and humanity goeth a sinner and not onelie by mine office calling because I am a Publicane but even by nature and kinde it selfe a sinner So did Mary Magdelen in the seventh of the same Evangelist of whom there is no more reported but that she was a sinner as if the spirite of God had forgotten her other names wheÌ„ she heard that Iesus was come into a Pharisees house 1. She stood at his feete 2. behinde him 3. weeping 4 she began to wash as if she durst not go on but did often retract and pull backe her handes 5. the lowest part of his body his feete 6. with her teares though the water of the brooke had beene humanity enough 7. did wipe them not with the lappe of her coate but with the haires of her head 8. kissed them and lastly anointed them with a boxe of ointment O how precious an ointment flowed from her heart eies how odorâ—ferous wel-pleasing vnto Christ who made her apologie not only against the Pharisee in preferring her kindnesse before the entertainement of his house but against Satan and the power of hell in forgiving her many sinnes The like submissiue behaviour we read of the woman which had the issue of bloud for she also came behinde Christ as Mary Magdelen did avoiding the sharpnes and pearsing of his eagles eie and touched the hemme of his garment for shee saide in her selfe I dare not be so rude and vnmannerly to presse him as the multitudes did if I may but touch not embrace him nay his garment the very hemme of his garment no vpper or honorable part thereof I shall be whole In all these humble and skilfull repentances as of those who knew their sinnes by heart were able to set downe their ful catalogue what successe doe we finde That vertue went out from Christ to this woman and many sinnes were remitted to the other the Publicane went home to his house iustified the children of the captivity were delivered the last daies of Iob vvere blest more than the first David at one time had his sinne translated at another the punishment mitigated the Lorde himselfe crying vnto his Angell It now sufficeth hold thy hande yea Balaam and Pharoah themselues fared the better for the false fire and but blazing of repentance Happy therefore is that conscience to conclude with the saying of Bernard vvherein trueth and mercy meete togither The trueth of him that confesseth his sinnes and the mercy of God that pardoneth them For mercy can never bee wanting vnto that soule which truely knoweth it selfe Others in a far greater number with far better reason expresse it by an interrogation who knoweth and make it a sentence absolute and compleate in it selfe without referring it to the former wordes Then they make this construction of it it may be the Lorde will turne or peradventure haue mercy vpon vs. They put it with ambiguity that while men doubt of salvation they may be the more earnest in repentance and seeke the better meanes to provoke God to mercie And surelie as doubting is the mother they say of enquiring for a man that doubteth not will never aske so some kinde of doubtfulnesse is the mother or at leastwis the nurse of repentance Ierome whose note the former was writing vpon the second of Ioel who knoweth of the Lord will returne and leaue a blessing behinde him expoundeth the prophet least happily the greatnesse of the clemencie of God shoulde make vs negligent therfore the prophet subioineth who knoweth So that it seemeth those tearmes of vncertainty are not in any sort to admit or allowe of doubting of salvation but rather to keepe vs from presumption We al know the mischiefe of that heady sinne Many are hindered saith Augustine froÌ„ their strength by presuming on their strength The collection that Pomeran maketh vpon these words is rather to iustifie than to condemne the Ninivites So far was it of that they had any confidence in their works that they rather doubted of the mercy of God and they were saved by faith who if they had rested vpon their owne merites must needs have despaired And he removeth all diffidence from the king and his nobles as if they included not themselves in the speech who knoweth if the Lord will returne but only spake it vnto the people in this sense In these dreadfull frightes and perplexities being encountered with 3. sore mischiefes at once atrocity of your sins shortnes of time greatnes of destruction none of you knoweth of the mercy of God as we doe and therefore vvee
preach it vnto you that you may take knowledge And for this cause doe the septuaginte adde in the end of the former verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is saying as if it were the voice of the people that is now in question and not of the king his princes But how can it any way stand with the nature of repentance either in prince or people to doubt seeing that faith is the principal proppe wherwith repentance is borne vp we cannot acknowledge this to be a true faith which hangeth and wavereth betweene such vncertainties Rather it savoreth of infidelity and desperation to cast forth such demaundes It might be answered that albeit they doubted of the event of this senteÌ„ce yet not of the favour of God towards theÌ„ for what if their city had bin overthrowen as the towre of Siloe their bodies had perished had that bin an argument that his mercies had forsaken them No more than it was to Moses who died for angring the Lord before he went into the land of promise or than it was to Paul who said that the Lorde had delivered him out of the mouth of the Lion and would also deliver him from every evill worke and preserve him vnto his heavenly kingdome though afterwarde hee was slaine by Nero who was the Lion hee there ment But I rather aunswere that infidelitie woulde have spoken by a flatte negation God vvill not returne and desperation woulde not have cried vpon God at all nor have pretended so much earnest This speech of the Ninivites at the most hath but doubting and doubting containeth in it a kinde of affirmation As Mardochey spake to Esther in the fourth of that booke if thou holdest thy peace at this time breathing and deliverance shall arise to the Iews out of an other place but thou and thy fathers house shall perish and who knoweth whither thou art come to the kingdome for such a time That is I little doubte but the providence of GOD hath advaunced thee thus highe to doe this service I finde noted vpon the same phrase Ioel the seconde that is the fittest speach the penitent may vse for it includeth both these a sense of sinne hope of deliverance The leper commeth to Christ Mar. 1. and telleth him Lorde if thou wilt thou canst make me cleane I cannot say that either thou wilt or thou wilt not I leaue it to thine owne wisedome For mine owne part I haue deserved no grace at thy handes I see nothing in my selfe either in body or soule but leprosie and vncleanes but in thee there is power and mercy if it shall please thee to extend theÌ„ towardes mee In the ninth of the same Evangelist our Saviour answered the father of the childe that had a dumbe spirit requesting him if he could doe any thing to helpe them to haue compassion vpon them this if thou canst beleeue all thinges are possible to him that beleeveth The father cried vvith teares Lorde I beleeue helpe mine vnbeliefe That is I beleeue and skarse beleeue I would faine but I feele a fainting in my selfe and therefore hee that craved but lately a cure for his sonnes infirmity novv craveth helpe for his owne vnbeliefe So then I make no doubt but these are the wordes of faith vvho knoweth if the Lorde vvill returne albeit an infirme and vnsetled faith For as betweene knovvledge and meere or negatiue ignorance opinion lieth so betweene a perfect and ripe faith and plaine infidelity or distrustfulnes a weake and midling faith For there are degrees in faith it hath a beginning encrease and consummation The disciples are rebuked Mar. 9. by the name of a faithlesses generation O faithlesse generation howe longe shall I nowe bee vvith you c. Peter Mat. 14. for a little and doubting faith Paule 2. Cor. 10. speaketh of an encreasing faith but Colossians the first and second of a faith wherein they are rooted built and established Yea the strongest faith that ever was is it not mixte with doubtfulnes overcast with clouds shakeÌ„ with stormes beaten vvith windes and raines winowed by sathan that if it were possible it might bee turned into chaffe and branne What else ment that wary advertisement given to Peter by his maister Luke 22. and his vigilant care over him Simon Simon listen to my speech Behold looke well to thy foote-steppes haue an eie to thy soule Satan hath desired you it is the care of his heart it is the marke that he shooteth at he watcheth walketh roareth transformeth him into all shapes yea into an angell of light to haue his purpose to sifte you ex amine you as vvheate graine after graine person after person that if it be possible you may bee reprooved And surely we need the praiers of our owne spirites and of the spirite of GOD that groaneth with groanings which cannot he expressed and of the sonne of God himselfe who siâ—teth at his fathers right hande and maketh request for vs that our faith faile not For what thinke we of our selues are we pillers of brasse or as the deafe rockes of the sea or as mount Sion on that can never be remooved Our shield and breast-plate of faith for so it is called is it not beaten and driven at vvith dartes fierie dartes yea all the fierie dartes I say not of the vvicked that are in our flesh Athiestes Arrians Iewes Paynims deriders blasphemers of our faith but of him that is pricinpally vvicked and Leader of the daunce Satan himselfe This made him trivmph so much when hee saw the fielde ended and his tabernacle at hand to be pulled vp that he had fought a good fight though his enemies were encreased against him as the haires of his head that hee had runne his race though hee had many stumbling blockes and snares laide in his vvay openly to detaine secretly to vndermine him and finally vvhich vvas the chiefe glory of a christian souldiour that hee had kept the faith and not lost his target though hee had borne in his body the markes of Christ Iesus and felte in his soule many a buffet and wound given by Satan and his confederates The issue is this the faith of a christian is sometimes in fight and conflicte in agonie passion sweating bleeding as Christ vvas in the garden resisting vnto bloud shall I say nay even vnto hell it selfe They knewe it by experience who saide thou bringest downe to hell It is as the last and least sparkle of fire almost extinguished as a little graine of seede which the birdes nay the devils of the aire seeke to picke from vs and as the last gaspe and pant of the soule readie to flie out at length it getteth the victory againe according to that Ioh. 1.5 this is the victorie that overcommeth the world even your faith Such as I speak of was the faith of these Ninivites doubting I confesse but not despairing And as Aquinas to acquite
satisfy his disconteÌ„ted mind by any either lawfull or vnlawfull meanes Now therfore I pray thee take my life froÌ„ me c. Neither did he onely conceaue anger in his minde but he followeth feedeth maintaineth it that we haue iust cause to strike him againe with another sentence of the same wise man Be not thou of an hasty spirit to be angry for anger resteth in the bosome of fooles Damascen maketh three degrees of anger bilem iracundâ—aÌ„ infensioneÌ„ Choler wrath heavy displeasure The one he sayeth hath beginning motion but presently ceaseth the other taketh deeper hold in the memory the third desisteth not without revenge Gregory Nyssen keeping the same number calleth the 1. anger the â— lightnes of the braine the 3. starke staring madnes Clichtoveus compareth the first to fire in stubble which is soone kindled soone put out the secoÌ„d to fire in iron which hardly taketh longer abideth the third to fire that is hid never bewraieth it selfe but with the ruine wast of that matter wherin it hath caught Some are sharp saith Aristotle others are bitter a 3. kind is implacable The anger of Ionas may seeme to haue beene in the third place it cannot bee mitigated Hee desireth nothing so much as that Niniveh may bee overthrowen Hee complaineth persisteth replieth and by no perswasions can bee brought from shewing his displeasure both against God and against his ovvne life To come to my purpose the particulars to bee examined for the better searching out of his fault are 1. that hee prayed vnto the Lord 2. what hee prayed and therein both the substance of his petiton in the 3. verse therefore I beeseech thee take my life from mee and the causes that mooved him so to pray for that the mercy of God had disapointed him I knew that thou art a gratious God c. togither with an exprobration that hee suspected so much when hee was at home And hee prayed vnto the Lorde That Ionas prayed or that he prayed vnto the Lorde I dislike not Happy is that man who either in the midst of anger or of any other offence can pray Hee ever obtaineth either that which hee prayeth for or that which is better or that which is sufficient If Ionas had restinguished and choked the fervour of his wrath with the fervency of the spirit hee had done beyond exception but it is well that he remembreth himselfe any way to bee a prophet and doth not quite forget God and his whole duty towardes him For anger hath a company of most pestilent daughters swelling of the minde so high and so full that there is no roume for any good motion to dwell by it contumely towardes men blasphemy towardes God indignation of heart impatience and clamour of speech violence of handes with other savage and monstrous demeanour as far forth as strength will giue it leaue Anger is cruell saith the Proverbe and wrath is raging but who can stande before Envy I know that the effectes of anger haue beene such as I named before They were such in Simeon and Levi whome Iacob their father vppon his death-bed when all displeasure shoulde haue died with him detested in his verye soule and insteede of blessing cursed them They were such in Saul against Ionathan his owne flesh for excvsing the absence of David and making no more than a iust defence of his innocency wherefore shall hee die What hath hee done When hee tooke vp a iaveling in his hande and woulde haue nailed him to the wall if his marke had not shunned him· It appeareth by that which followeth that if it had beene possible for Ionas to haue commanded fire from heaven as the disciples woulde haue done Luke 9. against a towne of Samaria hee would not haue spared it But anger exerciseth the armes of the stronge ths tongue of the weake Therefore sithence hee hath not power over the thunders and lightnings of God he occupieth but his tongue but whatsoever may be done by the intemperatnes therof he dissembleth it not It is no great commendation to Ionas that hee prayed because hee prayed in choler with a spirit troubled and disordered measuring all thinges not by the wil of God but by the fansies thereof because with such distraction of minde the founteine of his hearte powring forth sweete and sowre togither the words of his lippes directed vnto God but his inward cogitations altogither bestowed in purging himselfe wishing revenge accusing God and other such like forreigne and improper intentions It might haue bene saide to Ionas bending himselfe to prayer in this sort as the prophet spake to Ierusalem wash thy heart from malice how long shall thy wicked thoughts remaine within thee Or as it was said to the Scribes in the gospell why thinke yee evill in your heartes Our saviour counsailed his disciples Mat. 6. when they prayed not to bee as the hypocrites standing at the heades of the streetes but to enter into their chambers and shut the dores vnto them and to pray to their father in secrett that hee might openly reward them Now to what purpose is it to remooue the body from the eies of men to close it vp in a private chamber within walles and dores if the soule haue a troublesome and vnquiet company within anger impacience envie to disturbe her meditations with noise for these must also be put forth as Christ put forth the minstrelles and mourners all the affections of the heart must be repressed the whole strength and might of the soule kept nearely togither without wandering abroade that by their forces vnited in one the goodnesse of the Lorde may the sooner be obtained The oracle gaue aunswere to a man desirous to knowe what art he shoulde vse in praying thou must giue the halfe moone the whole sunne and the anger of a dogge that is cor thy whole heart with every affection belonging vnto it In that introduction of prayer which our Saviour setteth downe in the gospell though there bee sundry branches of requests to God as the sanctifieing of his name the enlardginge of his kingdome or whatsoever else is meete either for the body or the soule of man yet all the rest are passed over with their onely first reciting and the onely exposition which hee leaveth vnto vs is vpon the fift petition wherein wee desire pardon of our owne debts as wee pardon others For there our Saviour addeth culling this one from amidst all the rest and setting his speciall marke vpon it if you forgiue men their trespasses your heavenly father will also forgiue you if not looke accordinglye to bee dealt with His meaning no doubt was that when we bring our gift to the altar the oblation of our lippes and heartes and come not in charity whatsoever we make request for is returned backe againe and our whole offeringirefused as an vnsavory thing which the Lorde hath no
pleasure in Though I speake with the tongues of men angelles and haue not charity I am as sounding brasse or a tinckling cymball though I had the gift of prophecy and knew all secrets and knowledge yea if I had all faith so that I coulde remooue mountaines and had not charity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before I was little I was but a sound now I am nothinge What can we lesse pronounce of the prayer of Ionas though one that spake with the tongue of a man in coÌ„parison of other men the tongue of an angell a tongue of the learned a tongue refined like silver though one that had the gift of prophecy and knewe as many misteries of knowledge as was expedient for flesh and bloud to be acquainted with one that had faith enough to saue him in the bottome of the seas the bottome of the mountaines the bottome belly of a monstrous fish but that the want of loue was sufficient to haue lost the blessing grace of all his hearts desires And said I pray thee O Lorde was not this my saying c. Consider now I beseech you what he prayed and therein howe long it is before hee commeth to the matter intended a foolish and vnnecessary discourse interposed of his owne praise but his subiection to the wil of God not thought vpon For what is the substaÌ„ce of his prayer that which is inferred after a loÌ„g preface therfore I pray thee take away my life from mee hee strengthneth it by reason for it is better for me to die than to liue Why better the cause of this commodiousnes and convenience are contained in the prolocution in those frivolous vaine speeches that are first laide downe I beseech thee was not this my saying c. Asmuch as to say I was thrust forth into a charge which from the first houre I had never liking vnto wherin I thought said and resolved to my selfe from the very beginning that I should be deceived Admit all this Say thou foresawest it and that the end would bee other than thou lookedest for oughtest thou therfore to haue refused thy message a necessity was laid vpon thee and thou mightest well assure thy selfe that woes would haue lighted vpon thee as many as the haires of thy head if thou didst it not Leaue the event to God let him vse his floore at his pleasure whither hee gather into the barne or skatter as the dust of the earth do thou the office of a prophet Againe thou sentest me to denounce a iudgment thou meantest nothing but wel vnto theÌ„ I preached righteousnes and severity thou art a gracious God and full of pitty I made their accounts perfect and straight that destruction should fal vpon them at the end of forty daies thou takest a pen of thy mercy and dashest thy former writing writest theÌ„ a longer day yeares and generations to come I know not how many Vpon this he concludeth therefore now O Lord take away my life c. But we will weigh the conclusion when we come to it Mean-time we must rip vp his former speaches which were of preparatioÌ„ making the way to his suit before haÌ„d Peruse theÌ„ who will he shal finde them fuller of affections than words and such a bundell of errors wrapt togither as one would hardly haue imagined in a prophet Wherein by a blind selfe-liking loue to his owne wit iudgement he is carried from reason truth obedience from that reverent estimation which he should haue had of God For howe often in so short a space doth he challendge wisedome to himselfe I beseech thee O Lord I appeale to thine own coÌ„scieÌ„ce speake but truth be not partiall in thine owne cause was not this my saying I am able to alleadge particulars I can remember the time and the place when I was yet in my countrey therefore I prevented it If I had had mine own will I had stopt this inconvenience for I was not to learne that thou vvast a gracious God there was no pointe of fore-sight wherein I mistooke Thus his saying his providence his prevention his knowledge these are the thinges that hee standeth to much and to long vpon Thy saying Ionas or my saying or the saying of any mortall man what are the wordes of our lippes or the imaginations of our harts but naughtie foolish peruerse from our youth vp if God direct them not or vvhat thy prevention and forecast or of all thy companions prophets or prophets children in the world to knowe what to morrow will bring vpon you or the closing vp of the present day vnlesse some wisdome from heaven cast beames into your mindes to â—llighten them As Elizeus directed the hand of Ioash the king of Israell to shoote and the arrow of Gods deliverance followed vpon it and so often as he smote the ground by the apointment of the prophet so often and no longer he had likelihoode of good successe so the Lord must direct our tongues hearts in all that proceedeth froÌ„ them and where his holy Spirit ceaseth to guide vs there it vvill bee verified that the prophet hath Surelie everie man is a beast by his owne knowledge Therefore the advise of Salomon is good Trust in the Lorde vvith all thine hearte and leane not vnto thy vvisedome in all thy waies acknovvledge him and he shall direct thy pathes Be not wise in thine owne eies and feare the Lorde and departe from evill so shall health bee to thy navell and marrow to thy bones You haue heard the counsaile of the wise nowe ioine vnto it for conclusion the iudgment of the most righteous Wâ—e vnto them that are wise in their owne eies and prudent in their owne sight Wisedome presumed you see and drawne from the cisterne of our owne braine is in the reputation of God as the sinnes of covetousnesse oppression drunkennes and such like and standeth in the crew of those damned and wretched iniquities which God accurseth I pray thee I like the note that Ierome giveth vpon this place he tempereth his complaint because in some sort he accuseth God of iniustice For this cause he sweetneth the accusatioÌ„ with faire flattering speach For to haue challendged God in grosse blunt tearms had bin to apparant therfore he commeth with a plausible glosing insinuation vnto him I pray thee O Lord for remembring that fearful name of his Iehova wherein he saw nothing but maiesty dreadfulnes could he do lesse than entreate him if he had spoken but to the king of Niniveh in whose dominions he was or to Ieroboam the second who raigned in his own natiue couÌ„try the very regard of their persons and place would haue enforced him so much It was the couÌ„saile that AEsop gaue to Solon enquiring what speach he should vse before Croesus either verye little or very sweete For a prince is pacified with curtesie and
a softe answere turneth away wrath a gentle tongue breaketh a man of bones that is of the hardest and toughest disposition that can be If such then be our vsage before the princes of the earth who are but smoake and vanity much more doth the presence of the most high God require it I pray thee The forme of speach I haue else-where noted befitteth suiters The poore speaketh with praiers but the rich speaketh roughlie for those that are rich are full and sufficient as they thinke in themselues and therefore they say vnto God in the vaine trust of their owne abundance who is the Almightie that wee shoulde serue him and what profite shall we haue if we pray vnto him The Iewes Esas 58. were so filled blowne vp with the opinion of their own merits that they thought perhappes God was little able to stand them in steede and therfore they come not vnto him we beseech thee but vpbraiding challendging provoking vvherefore haue we fasted and punished our selues and thou regardest it not As if God were bounde vnto them to heare them for their service sake Such vvere the Scribes and the Pharisees in the Gospell why eateth your master vvith Publicanes and sinners and this man is a friend to Publicanes and sinners and if this man vvere a prophet he would haue knowne who had touched him for she is a sinner Themselues what were they in this eying and pointing at sinners so much Angels or men Saintes or sinners One of that schoole though hee went into the temple to pray yet he praied not as if he founde want but rather gaue thankes for that which he had received and gloried in himselfe before all other men especially with scorneful demōstration before that Publican Let them swell with their ful conceiptes till they breake and let their eies stand out with fatnes let them beare the collopes of presumption and disdaine in their flankes but the voice of the gospell of Christ which is the rod of our comfort The poore receiue the gospell and Blessed are the poore in spirit is smally to the comfort of these stately and stout guestes I came not to call the righteous but the sinners to repentance This is the sparre of the gate if ever thy thinke to enter into the supper of the Lambe their righteousnes fasly supposed keepeth them out They haue purchased a farme of righteousnesse they thinke their dwellings safe enough without the house of God and therefore they desire to be excused they plough with the oxen of their owne imagined righteousnes and haue married themselues vnto it as vnto a wife and therefore they cannot come To him that is full hony is vnpleasant but emptines and sinfulnes lieth at his gates who is rich in mercy as Lazarus at the gates of the Rich man with al her vlcers and sores laid open all her infirmities detected craving begging beseeching to be refreshed with the crums that fall from his boarde even with the smallest pittance of mercy that God is authour of Therefore he saith I pray thee Lord. In the praier of the Mariners before I commended their humility vpon occasion of the like tearme in that they vsed the right forme of supplication it shall not be amisse to commend humility vnto you you vnto it once againe there is so hard getting harder keeping of it We haue all hawty Pharisaicall eie-browes whether we talke with God or man as all vices are against humility either openly or privately so especially pride of heart is a sworne profest enemy vnto it in the open field Yea all vertues are against humility for wee are prowd of giving almes tithing fasting praying learning wisedome knowledge and loue to be seene of men To say further humility hath an hand against humility against her owne person by an vnnaturall prodigious birth bringeth forth pride For the humble sometimes is as prowde of his lowlines as Digones of his ragges Even for that difficulty sake we are to desire the teacher actor of humility who both delivered it by precept Math. 11. and declared it by the example of his whole life when we send our praiers into heaven not only to bow the knees of our bodies but the knees of our hartes yea even to humble and bow the very phrase of our words that wee may vtter thē as if the smallest grashopper of the earth were to speak with feare reverence before that dreadfull Maiesty I beseech thee Lord without vpbraiding challēdging covenāting for any our highest service that hath bin or shal be done If we wel examine our selues we shall finde somwhat without vs to teach vs humility not only the better vertues of other men who haue more deserved and received lesse at Gods handes but even their falles in the midst of those vertues somewhat beneath vs the obedience of beasts and birdes who in their kindes glorifie their maker God hath enabled them with strength comelines of nature more thā our selues somewhat within vs the conscience of our own vnworthines deformity of sinne wherewith we are spotted somwhat aboue vs the maiesty iustice vengance of an angry God finally somewhat against vs enemies of al sorts outward inward carnal spiritual many mighty deadly both in heavenly and in earthly places Boughes of trees the more they are laden with fruit the nearer they hang to the earth the best golde goeth downe in the ballance the lighter staieth aboue good corne lieth in the bottome of the heape the chaffe keepeth on high so the more fruitfull precious vertuous the soule is the more it abaseth vilifieth it selfe that he who hath chosen the weake to confounde the mighty may the more exalt it Was not this my saying Ionas began well if he had continued it but he stumbleth at the thresholde and in the first entry of his speach starteth backe I should haue thought by the hope which he gaue in the greeting and salutation of GOD in his formost vvordes I pray thee LORD that he would haue proceeded to an humble recapitulation and recitall of his rash both speaches and actions before past pardon O Lord mine vnadvised vvoordes which I vsed in mine owne countrey forgiue my purpose of preventing thy vvill bury my flying to Tharsis and all my transgressions in the bottome of the sea vvhere thou buriedst me thus hee shoulde haue done but he in a different moode as if he had gotten a victory against God beginneth gloriously to triumph litle esteeming to set his foote vpon the necke of iustice it selfe so the credite of his doinges and sayings may be iustified Loe Lorde this this vvas the cause vvhy I plaide the fugitiue vvas not this my word had I not reason to do as I did to run vnto Tharsis did I not say thus much before was I not wise to presage the event that would fall out if my counsaile had beene
yea or no we will double sinne and binde two togither by hiding excusing translating sinne if there bee any meanes in the world and bush in paradise to flie vnto wee will shrovvde our selues If wee can put it to the vvoman or rather by rebound to God the woman not of mine owne choosing but which thou gavest me whereas â—ndeed it was a woman of his owne choosing even the concupiscence of his hart or if we can lay it vpon the serpent if we can cover it with lying as Gehazi did thy servant went no whither or colour it with pretence as Saul did I kept the best for the sacrifice if there be good intention I meant well or happy event it succeeded well or any other thing to bee alleadged we will not omit it Brethren forsake these waies of dissembling diminishing selfe-liking and set your desires wholy vpon that which our Saviour prayed for Ioh. 12. father glorifie thy name His owne name he would not say that had a name aboue al names shal we seeke to glorifie set forth ours Whither we seeke the glory of his name or not the voice that came from heaven at that time shall be fulfilled I haue both glorified it and will glorifie it againe God is true the vnfaithfulnesse of man shall never bee able to diminish his truth his iustice shal be iustified in heaven and earth and his name shal be sanctified even when we study most to blaspheme it Therefore let vs conclude with that generall dischardge and manumission that the blesse Prophet giveth to the whole honour of mankinde Not vnto vs O Lord but vnto thy name giue the glorie not we to our owne earthly corrupt rotten names And let it not repent vs once to haue given it away from our selues but againe and for evermore Not vnto vs not vnto vs. And rather than thou shalt loose any part of thy glory losse of credite and reputation be to all our doinges and sayings losse to our goods and good names landes and liues and whatsoever in this world is more deare vnto vs. This is the way to be iustified to iustifie God in his words and workes to condemne our selues to cast away our righteousnes as stained clowtes to renounce our wisedome as foolishnesse our strength as weakenes our knoweledge as ignorance and to ascâ—ibe all vnto him who is all in all righteousnes wisedome sanctification glory and peace vnto vs. THE XLII LECTVRE Chap. 4. vers 2. Therefore I prevented it to flee vnto Tharsis For I knewe that thou art a gracious God IN distributing the matter in hand I haue alreadie acquainted you both that Ionas praied and what hee praied In the latter of these two 1. the substance of his petition togither with the reason subioyned 2. the causes impulsiue that mooved him to make it In those impulsiues we weighed every moment 1. his smooth insinuation I pray thee O Lord wherein I doubte noâ— was hid some secret murmuring and repyning but all the rest bewray a manifest imperfection 2. his speaking by demand which is the manner of vpbraiders 3. the advancing of his owne worde thought 4. his fighting against God with circumstaunces of time and place 5. his malapert concluding as if hee had overthrowen God by plaine argumeÌ„t 6. his endevour to prevent as if he had beene able to do it lastly not by going but by flying to Tharsis as if by the swiftnes of his feete he could haue out-run him who rideth vpon the wings of the Cherubins That which angred discoÌ„tented Ionas so much was the mercy of God which Ionas knewe and vpon that knowledge concluded with himselfe that hee was to decline the coÌ„mandement howsoever it fared the meane-time either with his owne safety or with the honour will of him that sent him But admit that the Lord was a merciful God and woulde deale vvith the Ninivites otherwise than Ionas had preached what then was this a iust cause to refuse the errand surely it seemeth so for thervpon Ionas inferreth Therefore I prevented c. There are two reasons broughte why Ionas assaied to prevent this busines 1. Because he was loth to be accoÌ„pted a false prophet to haue his credit impaired to haue his name called into question as if he had run not being sent and to be mistrusted in whatsoever hee should afterwards speake The cause I confesse is vehement weighty For the least suspition of heresie and falshood if any thing in the world maketh a man impatient he that dissembleth or putteth vp one note of heresie without clearing himselfe is not a Christian. It is required of a dispenser that he be found faithfull 2. Cor. 4. and the maister of the house Luk. 12. asketh for a faithfull servaunt vvhom he may set over his housholde The law of God is strict against false prophets Deut. 13. 18. his father and mother that begate him shal say vnto him thou shalt not liue for thou speakest lies in the name of the Lorde yea his father and mother that begate him shall thrust him through when hee thus prophecieth One shall saie vnto him what are these wounds in thine handes then he shall answere thus was I vvounded in the house of my friendes The admonitions of Christ in the gospell and his disciples are frequent against false prophets false Apostles false Christes wolues in sheepes clothing lying spirites Antichristes mockers seducers How carefull was Samuell towardes the ende of his life to approue his innocency both to God and man through the whole course of his forepassed administration first in the integrity of his life whome haue I ever wronged afterwardes in the syncerity of his office God forbid that I should sin vnto the Lorde and cease praying for you but I will shew you the good and the right way When Ieremy saw that the word of the Lorde was in reproch derision that every man mocked him his familiar friendes watching for his halting saying It maie be he is deceived so shall we prevaile against him you know what perplexities it draue him vnto First he would not make mention of the Lorde nor speake any more in his name afterward he curseth the day of his birth the messenger that carryed worde of it It is a memorable apologie which Paul maketh in the Actes for himselfe and his Apostleship vnto the clergie of Asia appealing to their owne knowledge that hee had taught both Iewes and Graecians openlie and throughout every house and that hee had kept nothing backe vvhich vvas profitable but shewed them all the counsailes of GOD he careth not for bondes afflictions death it selfe so hee may fulfill his course vvith ioy and the ministration which hee had received of the Lorde Iesus Consonant heerevnto was that which hee did in other Churches VVee are not as manie vvho make marchandize of the vvorde of God but as of syncerity but as of God in
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
precious than either bushes or fire or water therefore he hath spoken vnto him by flesh it was he that spake in Esaias in Elias and in all the prophetes and at length though he were equall to the Father in maiesty yet he was founde in the shape of a servaunt and spake vvith his owne lippes This gracious instrument of almighty God to shew the chandges of his notes both pittieth and chasteneth entreateth and threatneth and by threatning best admonisheth and by speaking roughly soonest converteth He that called Adam out of the thicker which was the first elementes of this learning whereof I speake he hath produced the same through all the ages of the world hee sent Angels to Sodome Noah to the old world Nathan to David Samuell to Saul Elias to Ahab prophets to Iudah and Ierusalem Iohn Baptist to the Scribes and Pharisees he reprooved the elders and Princes with many taunting parables corrected Peter with looking backe retracted Paule with a vision from heaven advertised the seaven Churches with epistles sent vnto them Leprosie vnto Miryam was a vvriting and skrolle vpon her flesh engraven in her skinne to teach her obedience dumbnesse vnto Zachary was not a dumbe instructour it taughte him faith against another time blindnesse sent vpon Paule tooke away his blindnesse and opened the eies of his minde making him to see more in the vvaies of life than all his learning gathered at the feete of Gamaliell could haue revealed vnto him Such are the admonitions that God sometimes vseth to mollifie our hard heartes least we shoulde freeze too long in the dregges of our sinnes and because wee proceede with impunity and freedome claime them for inheritance Beholde therefore as Eliphaz comforted Iob Blessed is the man vvhome the Lorde correcteth therefore refuse not the chastising of the Almightie for hee maketh the vvounde and bindeth it vp hee smiteth and his hande maketh it vvhole hee shall deliver thee in sixe troubles and in the seventh the evill shall not touch thee Nay he findeth a wound and bindeth it vp he espieth a blow and his hands heale it he letteth thee alone in sixe iniquities but in the seventh he will pull thee by the garment thou shalt no more offend On the other side wretched is the man whom the Lord correcteth not whos 's first messenger and monitioner is the first borne of death that is his life is taken from him before hee seeth his sins This were as Augustine calleth it lenâ—ty full of horrour and sparinge cruelty such precious balmes breake the head nay wound the conscience when bitter and biting corrosiues were more holesome for vs. This is also one parte of our duety who are to gather the sheepe into the sheepe fold of Christ we must not only teach but reprooue for otherwise as Origen noteth vpon Exodus we offerred but not scarlet the colour and die of our preaching goeth not deepe enough our fire giveth light and shining but kindleth not we lead men the righte vvay vnto knowledge but wee bring them not to the practicke and better part of divinity to feele a pricking in their consciences and to be driven to say men and brethren what shall we doe In the reprehension which God heere vseth 2. thinges come to be handled The manner thereof which is milde curteous and peaceable and the matter which altogither concerneth his anger The manner is as kinde and familiar and with asmuch indulgence as if Eli or the kindest father in the world were to deale with his childe whom hee most favoured no anger or gall vttered in the reprooving of his anger no vnpleasant expostulation and neither bitternesse nor length of speâ—ch but as fewe and as friendlye wordes as lenitye it selfe mighte devise Doest thou vvill to be angry I should haue looked for burning from his lippes and coales of fire from his nostrels that one who dwelt at his foote-stoole should dare to assault heaven with his indignation and crosse the doings of his dreadfull iudge but that the thoughtes of the LORDE are peace and of an other disposition than the thoughtes of man Doubtlesse if one of his brethren the prophetes of Israell out of his owne tribe and family had taken the cause in hande I cannot conceiue how he should haue vsed him with so favourable and sparing an increpation Doest thou wel to be angry If there bee any amongst you that taketh advauntage heere-at to say in your harts what meane our prophets and preachers to make such bitter invectiues declamations out-cries against the sinnes of our age their salte is too quicke and we are over-much seasoned with it our eares are not able to beare their vvordes we cannot offende in the wearinge of a garment in the vse of our money in eating our bread and drinking our drinke but the pulpits must presently ring our ears tingle and the world wonder at it God never taught them such roughnesse of speach it had beene an happier thing for vs to haue lived and sinned in former times and then to haue beene an adulterer then a drunkard or extortioner when God spake himselfe who knew how to temper his wordes and to shape his reprehensions in milder sort He would haue said but thus Dost thou wel to be angry well to be prowd well to be covetous well to giue thy mony vpoÌ„ vsury he would not haue threatned stormed as the maÌ„ner of our preachers is Surely my brethren God is the maister of his owne both speaches actions his wisdome is as the great deepe I cannot finde it out it may be he saw amendmeÌ„t in the hart reines of Ionas which we cannot do or he was able by his power to create his spirit a new to chaÌ„dge his hart that it should be rectified in an instante as well by one worde as if he had tyred and torne his eares with tenne thousand and hee dealt with a prophet an anointed servaunt of his one that was deare in his eies or he kept him for another time when his anger should be past and his heart more capable of discipline and correction or hee qualified his speach to schoole and scourdge him the more with actions Behold then and rest satisfied with vs our tongues should be still enough if we had wormes to coÌ„maund to eate vp your plantes and fruites or if we could chardge the sun in the sky or the east winde in the aire to beate vpon your heades and to grieue your soules as God grieved Ionas he spareth him in words but he paieth him in fact and though he vexe not his eares as wee doe hee vexeth his heade by taking away his shelter the onelye temporall comforte which he then enioyed I would we might see those daies wherein our speach might never exceede this compasse Doe you well to doe thus It is no pleasure to vs to sharpen our tongues like razors against you to speake by the pounde or talent mightye and fearefull vvordes if
softer mighte suffice But if vvee be briars in your coates and flesh it is because wee dwell with briars if vvee be perverse it is because wee dwell in the midst of a perverse generation An hard knot in the timber cannot be driven out vvithout heavy blowes sundry diseases require sundry kinds of cures as the dispositions of men are varied so must wee vary our teachings one must be washt with gentle bathes another must haue his woundes cut with lancers and as the damsell Matth. 9. was raised vp in her fathers house the widowes sonne of Naim without his mothers gates Lazarus before a greate multitude of all sorts so some must be handled privately others openly a thirde kinde publiquely some must be held for weake others accounted Publicanes vnto vs some their infirmities supported others delivered vnto Satan some chastised with a rod others warned in the spirit of meeknes some pulled out of the fire others left to be burnt some saved by feare others by loue some must be vsed as our owne bowels others as rotten members vvhose cure is despaired cut of from the body that they do no more hurt In all which reprehensions except where all hope is past that singular precept of Gregory taketh place In the controlling of faultes there must be some anger rather to attend vpon reprehension than to commaund it so that in the execution of this charitable and mercifull iustice it beare not a sway by going before but rather make a shew by comming after And Leo hath the like counsaile that it must bee vsed non saevientis animo sed medentis not with the minde of a tirant or persecutor but of an helper Considering thy selfe saith the Apostle least thou also be tempted For a man may once and often in his life time say to him that reprooveth another as Eliphaz did to Iob. Behold thou haste taught many and strengthened the weary hands thy words haue confirmed him that was falling and thou haste vphelde the weake knees but now it is come vpon thee and thou art grieved it toucheth thee and thou art troubled The matter reproved by God is anger Dost thou well to be angry or as some render it doth anger helpe thee or art thou angry iustly and vpon reasonable cause or as some of the Hebrewes expounde it art thou very angry is not thy wrath vehement interpreting bene by valdè as Moses did Deut. 9. when he told the children of Israell that he tooke the sinne the calfe which they had made ground it verie well that is sufficiently till he had brought it to the smallest dust So some interpret well in this place by the quality goodnes of anger whether it may be iustified others by the quantity and greatnes noting the excesse and immoderation thereof They come both to one for whether God aske of the qualitie he seemeth to imply a secret subiection it is not well done of thee thou hast no iust cause to be angrie or whether of the quantity he thinketh that there is as little reason that the sparing of penitent sinners shoulde mooue such stomacke in Ionas The question is disputed throughout the whole chapter betweene God the prophet God the opposer Ionas the defender whether he do well to be angry God confuteth him both by word deed Ionas contendeth for it to the death I will not trouble you with the aunswering of the question till we come to the ninth verse where the Lord doth demaund againe in the same words and Ionas though he be silent in this place yet there dissembleth not his minde for he aunswereth I do well to be angry and addeth measure sufficient even vnto death Meane-while because this is the time wherin a generall forgetting of wrongs and laying malice a sleepe is professed so far as the world is christened partly the Canōs of the church partly devotion it selfe leading vs al to a thankfull commemoration of the death and resurrection of Christ and to the communion of his body bloud which is a badge of our Christian loue fellowship the time inviting me therevnto which S. Austen calleth the solēnity of solemnities the vncurteousnes of these our times requiring no lesse giue mee leaue in few wordes to convert my speech vnto that which the celebration of the feast it selfe doth easily exhort you vnto The blessed Apostle thought not that any more effectuall persuasion to charity could be gathered than from the example of the son of God himselfe whose dying rising againe is now solēnized For so he frameth his exhortation to the Colossians Now therefore as the elect of God holy beloved as you haue any part in these graces electiō sanctification the loue of God if you haue any argument seale to your own consciences that you are a part of his inheritāce for they are not marked for his chosen which are without these markes put on the bowels of mercy kindnes humblenes of minde meekenes long suffering forbearing one another forgiving one another let these bee your robes and coverings weare thē as you weare your garments let them bee as tender inward vnto you as your own principal most vitall parts even as Christ freely bountifully forgaue you even so do ye How that was I neede not recite The Apostle Rom. 5. collecteth sundry arguments to shew how far forth that substātiall saving grace of God hath gratified vs. 1. We were weake 2. godlesse 3. sinners 4. enemies we had neither strength to endevour neither piety to procure nor righteousnes to satisfie nor acquaintaunce and friendshippe to deserue in the fight of God yet notwithstanding all these impediments and deficiencies Christ died for vs. So the other Apostle speaketh Christ suffered for sinnes the iust for the vniust that hee might bringe vs to God The cause most odious the persons most vnequall the end most absolute How thē cā I better exhort you to an imitatiō of the loue of Christ than as S. Paul exhorteth the Philippians If there bee any consolation in Christ so we may rēder it or if there be any advocation in Christ as all the consolation and advocation that we looke for must 〈◊〉 drawne from that fountaine If any comfort of loue as who feeleth not the vse of loue that hath not beene nursed vp with the tygers of the wildernes If any communion of the spirit by whom we are al knit togither in the body of Christ lastly if any bowelles of mercy surely he meaneth that there is or should be much of al this much consolation in Christ much cōfort of loue c. But if there bee any remnant and seede left if all bee not spent exhausted to satisfie your rancorous malice fulfill my ioie and your owne ioy and the ioy of the angels in heaven and the ioy of the bride and bridegroome to whom it is a good and pleasant thinge
because corruption hath put on incorruption and neither feele the horrour of darknesse nor misse the comforte of the sunne because the presence of eternall and substantiall lighte illighteneth all places My purpose was not vpon so easie an occasion to prooue the resurrection either of Christ which I haue else-where assayed to doe or of his members that belonge vnto him For as it reioyced Paule that hee was to speake before kinge Agrippa vvho had knovvledge of all the customes and questions amongest the Ievves so it is the happier for mee that I speake to those vvho are not vnskilled in the questions of Christianity and neither are Sadducees nor Atheistes nor Epicures to denye the faith of these liuelye mysteries Onelye my meaning vvas vpon the LORDES day whereon hee rose to life and chandged the longe continued sabboth of the Iewes and sanctified a newe day of rest vnto vs to leaue some little comforte amongst you aunswerable to the feast which wee nowe celebrate Surelie the angelicall spirites aboue keepe these paschall solemnities this Easter with greate ioye They wonder at the glorye of that most victorious Lion who hath triumphed over death and hell It doeth them good that the shape of a servaunt is againe returned into the shape of GOD. They never thought to haue seene that starre in the East vvith so fresh and beautifull a hewe which was so lowe declined to the VVest and past hope of gettinge vp VVee also reioyce in the memorye and are most blessed for the benefite and fruite of this daye the sabboth of the newe vvorlde our Passe-over from everlastinge death to life our true Iubilee the first daye of our weeke and chiefe in our kalender to be accounted of whereon our Phoenix rose from his ashes our eagle renevved his bill the first fruites of sleepers avvoke the first begotten of the dead was borne from the wombe of the earth and made a blessed world in that it was able to say The man-childe is brought forth the seede of Abraham which seemed to haue perished vnder the clods fructified not by proportioÌ„s of thirty or sixty or an hundreth but with infinite measure of glory both to himselfe to all those that liue in his root Him we looke for shortly in the cloudes of heaven to raise our bodies of humility out of the dust to fashion them like to his owne to performe his promise to finish faith vpon the earth to perfite our glory and to draw vs vp to himselfe where he raigneth in the heaven of heavens our blessed redeemer and advocate THE XLV LECTVRE Chap. 4 vers 5. And there made him a booth and sate vnder it in the shadowe BEfore the Lorde hath begunne to reprehend Ionas in wordes nowe hee addresseth himselfe to reprooue him also by a sensible signe and because his eares vvere vncapable speaketh vnto his eies and shevveth him a life glasse wherein hee may see himselfe and his blemishes Words are oftentimes received as riddles and precepte vpon precept hath not prevailed when a familiar and actuall demonstration hath done good So Ahâ—iah the Prophet rent the new garment of Ieroboam the king in twelue peeces and bade him reserve ten to himselfe in signe that the kingdome was rent out of the handes of Salomon and ten tribes given to Ieroboam So Esay by going bare-foote teacheth Egypte and AEthiopia that they shall also go into captivity in the like sort Ieremy by wearing yokes about his necke and sending yokes and giues to the kings of Edom Moab Ammon Tyre Sydon Iudah giveth them a visible sacrament and representation of their captivity in Babylon Thus Ezechiell portrayed the siedge of Ierusalem vpon a bricke thus Agabus taketh the girdle of Paule and bindeth himselfe handes and feete and saith so shall the man bee bound that oweth this girdle And thus doth the Lorde admonish Ionas by a reall Apophthegme a liuelie subiection to his eies vvhat it is that hee hath iust cause to dislike in him But before wee come to the very pointe and winding of the matter wherein vvee may see the minde of God there are many Antecedents and preparatiues before hande to be viewed 1. That Ionas goeth out of the citty 2. buildeth him a booth 3. that God provideth him a gourd 4. sendeth a worme to consume it 5. that the sunne and the winde bet vpon the heade of Ionas till hee fainted All this is but the Protasis an onely proposition so farre wee perceiue not whitherto the purpose of God tendeth then followeth the narration the anger of Ionas once againe and once againe Gods increpation first touching the type or image which was the gourd for the gourd standing and flourishing was an image of Niniveh in her prime and prosperity the gourd withered of Niniveh overthowen then touching the truth represented by that figure which was the city it selfe For the meaning of God was to laye open the iniquity of Ionas before his face in that he was angry for the withering of an hearbe and had no pitty in his hearte vpon a mighty and populous citty The order of the words from this present verse to the end of the prophecy is this in this fifth Ionas buildeth for himselfe in the 6. GOD planteth for him in the 7. he destroyeth his planting in the 8. Ionas is vexed and angry to the death in the 9. God reprooveth him in the figure in the 10. and 11. in the trueth by that figure exemplified Of the Antecedentes I haue already tasted two members 1. his goinge out of the cittie to shunne their company who did not so wel like him 2. his sitting on the East-side of the citty either to bee farther from the iudgement of God which was likely to come Westward because Ierusalem stoode that way or to bee out of the trade and thorough-fare of the people which was likeliest to bee at their kaie for the river laye also vpon the West-side or to bee freer from the heate and parching of the sunne vvhich in the morning and towardes the East is lesse fervent or lastly I tolde you to take the comfort and benefite of the sunne rising Now the 3. in the number of those Antecedentes is that hee maketh himselfe a booth Wherein I mighte obserue vnto you that a Prophet is enforced to labour with his handes for the provision of necessaries And surely if it were not worthy the notinge the Apostle woulde never haue said Act. 20. You know that these handes haue ministred vnto my necessities and to those that were with mee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these verye handes that breake the breade of the Lord these handes that baptize and that are laide vpon the heades of Gods servauntes these haue ministred vnto my necessities Likeweise the first to the Corinthians and fourth VVee labour vvorking vvith our owne bandes And in his Epistles to the Thessalonians twise hee maketh mention of his labour and travaile day and night But I rather
societies you haue laid togither â—or some barbarous and vnmercifull souldior to lay open your hedges reape your fields rifle your coffers levell your houses with the ground and empty you and yours out of all your possessions as you haue emptied your poore neighbours Your mercilesse mony exactions you the infamous vsurers of the North of England you the Iewes Iudases of our land that would sell Christ for mony if hee were amongst you you the engrossers of graine in this time of death and withall the engrossers of your owne woes on whom the curse of the poore lighteth ratified in heaven for not bringing forth your corne you that adde affliction to affliction and strengthen the hand of penury amongst vs vse the talents of the Lord not your owne pounds to the honourable advauntage of your maister and the durable gaine of your soules least ye become the vsurers of his vengance and receiue the wages of your vnfaithfulnesse an hundreth-fold The land mourneth because of other and they shall mourne that cause her heavinesse ConteÌ„pt of God will take away our Gods of the earth atheisme anarchy confusion of all estates mingling of heade and foote will goe togither O pray for the peace of Ierusalem Pray for the peace of England Let praiers and supplications be made for all people especially for Christian kings most especiallie for our soveraigne Lady and Mistresse Let vs feare God and all the enemies of the world even the kingdome of darknes shall feare vs. Let not our sinnes reigne and our Queene shall long reigne over vs. Buy the length of her life with your silver and gold you that are rich in this world rich in this lande distribute to the poore scatter for Gods sake God that seeth from aboue will be mindfull of your good deedes and prolong her Maiesties daies Humble your selues in time you high-minded and high-lookt that her horne may be exalted and her roote flourish amongst vs yet manie yeares Traitours forbeare at length to plot your treasons which haue long bred never brought forth The Lord is king and his hand-maide is Queene bee the earth never so impatient Time-serving hypocrites lay downe your dissimulations How long will you halt betweene Rome and England Rebels forsake and resigne your vnlawfull armes Say not as those seditious did vvhat parte haue we in the sonne of David the sonne of David shall prevaile the daughter of King Henry prosper in all her waies vvhen your heades shall lie low enough and your swordes shall haue drunke their fill of your owne flesh Let it suffice you the vntamed broode of our lande to haue blotted your memories with none other censure than that which is written in the booke of God that a band of souldiours follovved Saul whose harts the Lorde had touched but they were wicked that cried howe shall he save vs And you my beloved brethren and the true children of England knit your soules and tongues togither as if you were one man say with a strong vnited cry a perfite heart that God may regard it from aboue O Lord preserue Queene Elizabeth And let AMEN even the faithfull witnes of heaven the worde truth of his father say Amen vnto it Even so Lord Iesu AmeÌ„ Amen harken to the praiers of they servants that goe not our from fained lippes let her ever be as neam vnto thee as the signet vpon thy finger as deare as the apple of thine eie as tender as thine owne bowels water her with theÌ„ deaw of heaven as the goodliest plant that ever our country bare hide her like a chosen shafte in the quiver of thy carefullest providence and giue her a long life ever for ever and ever Amen Vix totâ vitâ indices Senec. Oâ—erat discentem turba non instruit Jd. Eccles. Vlâ— Eccles. 1. Scribimus indocti doctique Pers. Poscimus indocti doctique Act. 17. Chap. 13. Soles acceptior esse sermo vivus quà m scriptus Bernard A mortuâ pelle ad hominem vivum recurre Gregor Laudare se vani vitu perare stulti Aristot. apud Valer. Max. Lib. 7. Ca. 2. Nihil egi sine Theseis Nihil nostrum omnia Iuvenal Cantic vlt. Quid sinâ— dicant qui possunt duÌ„modo quod dicunt probare valeaÌ„t August enchirid cap. 38. 1. Chro. 12. 1. Sam. 18. Vnus Cato mihi pro ceÌ„tum millibus Plato instar omnium Luke 5. Aul. Gell. noct Attic. 13.5 Revel 4. Revel 21. Proverb 8. Psal. 119. Math. 23. Verba innumerabilia vnum tantùm verbum omnia Hugo de arca Noe. Seneca Gregor 〈…〉 Gregor in moral Hieron The argumeÌ„t of the prophecie Psal. 145. Onmis latitudo scripturaâ—um Non tantùm auri massas tollunt veâ—ùm bracteolas parâ—as Chrys. hom 1. ad pop Antio Chap. 1. Praeco mittitur missus contemnit contemnens fugio fugiâ—â— dormis c. Jsidor lib. de patrib veâ— testamen The text And The word Psal. 119. Of the Lorde Luke 1. Came. Zach. 1. Nee verbum ab intentione quia veritas nec factum à verbo quia virtus est Bern. homil 4. super Missus est 2 Pet. 1. Rom. 11. 1 The commission 1. King 1â— Revel 2. Zach. 13. Revel 2. Rom. 10. Heb. 5. Esai 6. Actes 19. 1. King 22. 2 King â— Ier. 2â— Ier. 23. Ezech. 1â— Iud. 3. Actes 19. Zeph. 1. Zach. 13. 2. Sam. 20. Deut. 18. 2. Sam. 12. Revel 12. 2. The persoÌ„ charged 2 King 14. 1 King 17. Ier. 44. Esai 4â— Luke 4. 1. Sam. 19. Jn Moriae encomio Subtilitates plusquam Chrysippea et ultra-muÌ„danae Id. Loc. Theol. 12.5 Iob 5. 3 The matter of the commissioÌ„ Ier. 1. Ezech. 2. Genes 4. Nah. 3. Arise and goe Iob. 7. Gen. 47. Wisd. 15. Mat. 20. Vulgo dictuÌ„ precio ac pecuniis datis brachiae effracta sunt Zach. 1. 1 Thes. 5. Ezech. 38. Eccle. 33. Gen. 3. 2. Thes. 3. Ioh. 4. Gen. 2. Gen. 3â— Prou. 26. 1. Sam. 3. Prov. 24. To Niniveh Gualter in Ion. 2. King 19. Ar. Mont. 1. Reason Deut. 20. 2. Sam. 20. Luke 10 Homil 15. Nisi gehenna intentata esset omnes in gehennaÌ„ laberemur Non ergo minus quod semper dico dei provideÌ„tiam gehenna commendat quà m promissio regni Homil. 5. ad pop Antioch 2. Reason Zach. 8. Math. 1. Zach. 14. 3. Reason Esai 16. 4 Reason Math. 12. Math. 21. ConclusioÌ„ Luke 10. Act. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luc. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 20. Psal. 68. That great city Chap. 1â— Anius vpoÌ„ Berosus Raph. Volâ—â—â—ter 6. Natur. hist 13. Ar. Mont. Iun. Trii Diodor. Siâ— Strabo Paulus de Palatio vpoÌ„ Ionas Two reasoÌ„s why Niniveh is so commenâ—ded Chap. 20. Affectum inquirit non factum exigit Ambros. de patriarch Chap. 2. Math. 12. Act. 12. Act. 21. 1. Pet. 4. 2. Pet. 1. Num. 1â— Esai 40. Chap. 3. Ibid. August 8. dâ— civi dei 23. Chap. 18. Vrbâ— aeterna Lament 2. Ibid. 4. Ierem.