looking well upon him he knew Then falling down upon his feet he asked him whether he was not Elias Nâ—w when Elias had said that he was and charged him to go and tell his Master that he was there he demanded of him what great sin he had committed for which he meant to deliver his servant to be certainly put to death by Ahab seeing there was no Country or Nation nor Kingdom whither he had not sent some to seeke him and when all had made answer that he was not there he took an Oath of them all Neverthelesse he sent him to tell Ahab that he was there whom the Spirit of God would conveigh away where he should not be found and so he should be put to death was it not told of Eliah how that when Jezabel would have slaine the Prophets of the Lord he hid an hundred of them by fifties in a Cave and fed them with bread and water Yet when Elias for all that commanded him that he should tell the King he was there he obeyed but Ahab went with not good mind to meet Elias when he understood by Abdias that he was there For at the first meeting he asked him whether he was not that Elias that troubled the STATE Which when he did not only deny but on the contrary maintained that Ahab was he who neglecting Gods Commands did worship Baalim with his whole Family as his Ancesters had done he bad him that he should call together all the Israelites and the Prophets of the god Baal to Mount Carmel where when they were met all those things fell out which are well known and set forth by us at large in the Life of Elias Therefore that we may returne to the point Hierom according to the judgement of the Hebrews thinkes this man both to be that same Abdias and the Captaine of fifty also of whom we speake and we may also suppose him to be one and the same man for the saith in the beginning of his Commentaries upon the Prophecy of this Abdias that because he had fed an hundred Prophets Obadiah both received the gift of Prophesie and of a Leader of an Army was made a Guide of the Church This Prophet if we follow the Letter foretelleth the overthrow of Idumaea and the restitution of Indaea if we consider the meaning the overthrow of the Gentiles and the building of Christ's Church by the Apostles He is short indeed for number of words but long for the weight of the Sentences He dyed and was buried in his own Land although St Hierome writeth that his Sepulchre together with the monument of Elissaeus the Prophet and Iohn the Baptist was had in honour and reverence in the City Schasto which was sometimes called Samaria The life of the Prophet Hosea or Osee CHAP. XVI SAint Hierome thinketh that Osee was the first of all the Prophets He was the sonne of Beeri and discharged his Office of Prophesie when Hieroboam the sonne of Joas was King of Israel and Vzzia Joatham Ahaz and Hezekiah were Kings of Judah whereby it may be conceived that he lived long For wheras Hieroboam raigned two and twenty years Ozias fifty and two Joatham sixteen Ahaz sixteen and Hezekias twenty nine although I can deliver nothing for certaine in what year of Hieroboam he began or in what year of Hezekias he left off to Prophesie yet I thing this may be conjectured that he prophesied fourscore and foure yeares and above unto which if we adde the years of his age when he began to prophesie and those years he lived in the raigne of Hezekias and till heo died which we are ignorant of we must confesse that he lived very long This Hosee at Gods command married Gomer an Harlot by whom he had three children to which he gave names also at his command to the eldest sonne he gave the name of Jezreel to his daughter Lo-Ruamah to the third a sonne Lo-ammi Hos 1.1 Sâ— Hierom who thinks this was really done saith this is not to be imputed as a fault to Hosea but rather a commendation because of a bad woman he made her a good one and did not marry her for lust but by the command of God Now that which is done at Gods command cannot be reputed a fault nor indeed would God have this done without a cause but that he might typifie or by fact also signifie what he commanded by words to forerell namely such a destruction of the Kingdome of Israel that is of the ten tribes which had worshipped strange gods by the meanes of Hieroboam and his posterity that God should neither be moved with mercy towards them nor esteeme or call them his people And these very things which indeed came to passe signifie the rejection or detestation of the Jewes as the other woman whom the same Prophet at Gods commandement loved does the calling of the Gentiles And in these two almost is the whole Prophesie of Hosea spent The life of the Prophet Jonah or Jonas CHAP. XVII Ionas the Prophet was the sonne of Amittai a Sydonian of Sarepta For Epiphanius and St Hierome and so also the Hebrews as he saith will have him to be the sonne of the Widow of Sarepta whom Elias raised from the dead which how it hapned although we related it elsewhere yet will it not be far amisse to declare it in this as the proper place When Elias had foretold the famine which lasted three years and a halfe to Ahaz King of Israel as God had bid him he fled from the face of Ahab and first dwelt neer Jordan by the brook Cherith till the brook was dried up and afterwards he went to Sarepta a City of Sidon when he was come to the City gate he found a widow as God had foretold him gathering sticks when she at Elia's bidding had brought a cruse wherein was a little oyle and a barrell wherein was a little meal though she told him shee had provided both these for her selfe and her sonne that when they had eaten they might die yet that oyle did so increase at his prayers that afterwards it never failed by this strange and unheard of worke the widdow was so affected that when her sonne who shortly after fell sick and died she came and complained to him of the death of her sonne as though his comming had been the cause of it Elias that was both grieved for the death of the child and the mothers mourning and teares when he had carried him into a chamber stretching himselfe three times upon him he raised him from the dead by his prayers and restored him alive to his mother Now when this child that was raised up was grown to mans estate God commanded him to goe to Nineve a very great City of the Assyrians to declare and preach the truth and he not obeying Gods command as soon as he came to Joppe a Haven towne of Judaea he there found a Ship setting out for Tharsis and having paied the
and extold him exceedingly with true praise and having left the childe to minister before the Lord she returned home with her Husband There Samuels Ministry became so acceptable to God that he called him to the office of divining and foretelling things to come which we call Prophesie even from the beginning of his childhood after this manner Sect. 3. Haeli the Priest because he was old had made his two sons Ophni and Phinees Priests which office then had the chiefe power and soveraignty amongst the Jews by Gods appointment 1 Sam. 2. They in that office took to themselves the things that were offered contrary to Gods Command and besides they used to lye with the women which when Haeli their Father came to know of he chid them but did not correct them for it ver 24 25. Therefore God so disliked and detested his indulgency toward his children that he let him know by a Prophet whose name is not written that it should come to passe that his two sonnes Ophni and Phinees should dye in one day ver 34. because he had honoured them more then him and that he would raise up unto himselfe a faithfull Priest that should be obedient unto him in every thing he did Samuels ordination shortly after ensued upon this praediction of the Prophet for when he being but a child lay asleep in the Temple somewhat nigh unto Haeli the Priest God called him thrice and when being awakened he thought Haeli had come to call him he made answer three times that he was there at hand Haeli who understood not the matter sent him three times back againe to sleepe but when he perceived the third time that God had called him he bad him say to God that he was ready to heare and that he should therefore speake When Samuell had said so God rehearsed all those things touching Haeli which he had foretold him as I have said already by a Prophet God gave him no command that he should tell Haeli all those things but being as I may say adjured by him in certaine words which had in them the power of an oath he told him Sect. 4. Hereupon a report went farre and wide that Samuell was Gods faithfull Prophet and when Haeli dyed a little while after he became moreover Priest and Judge which was the supreame magistracy amongst the Hebrewes This he discharged with exceeding great integrity by the confession and testimony of all the people For when having made a King as they desired he had given them leave to speak freely that if any one would witnesse he had taken away any mans Oxe or Asle or had defrauded or oppressed any one or had received a bribe from any man he would make restitution they all said no and produced God as a witnesse of that matter which speech indeed as it is befitting all that performe any publike charge or businesse so I would to God they could truly use it with the Peoples testimony and confession joyned thereunto The same did he shew himselfe in managing and discharging the Priests Office for whereas it belongs to the Priest to offer sacrifice and to pray unto God for the people The people ever thought his prayers so acceptable to God and profitable for themselves that at the last when he had told them how grievously they had offended God desiring a King should be given to them then the people carnestly besought him that he would pray to God for them that they might not dye and he having cheared them up with many words spake thus most becomming a Priest God forbid that I should sin so fore against him as that I should cease to pray for you or to teach you the good and right way But of these things we must say something severally Sect. 5. God indeed as oft as he perceived his people Israel having contemned him to be turned to the worship and service of false Gods to recall and withdraw them therefrom was ever wont to provide them enemies that might oppresse them that being constrained as it were by the smart and neglecting and despising the service of false gods they might crave his succour a thing which I have often evidenced in the Book which I have writ of the lives of the Patriarkes And even for this reason while Haeli was Priest God raised the Philistines against them because they worshipped and retained strange gods and especially that that it is called Aslaroth And they by Gods permission for such a fault slew thirtie thousand foot and the two sons of Haeli Ophni and Phinees the arke of God also being taken which that it might protect them they had taken order to have fetched from Silo into the place where they were to fight But in the twentieth yeare after the Arke was taken the Philistins brought it back by reason of the destruction that came upon them when they conveyed it into any place of theirs whatsoever Samuell who understood the cause of the calamitie which they received in the warr told all the people that if they would all truly and entirely return unto God they should now take away their strange gods and Aslaroth from amongst them and prepare their hearts for God and worship him alone For so it should come to passe that he would deliver them from the malice and power of the Phlistines Sam. 7. They all yielded to Samuell and when they had thrown downe and put away their strange gods in the number of which was Baalim and Aslaroth they worshipped God onely After this he commanded them all to meet together in Mizpeh that he might pray to God for them when they were come thither they drew water and powred it down before God and having fasted that day they confessed openly to God that they had sinned as soon as the Phyilistians had heard that the Jews were there assembled their Lords came against them with a cruell Army and such a trembling thereupon fell among the Jews that they presently intreated Samuell that he would never cease praying for them till they were saved from the Philistines He first offered a whole sucking Lamb for a burnt offering unto God and then he prayed unto him for Israel and God heard him openly For when the Philistines whilest he sacrificed fell violently upon the Jewes God delivered them being discomfited with a thunder-clap into the power of the Jewes to be slain they were so subdued and scattered with this overthrow that they durst never after break into the Coasts of Israell whilst Samuell lived After this being enforced by miserie that they might make peace with the Jewes they restored the Cities which they had taken Sect. 6. These offices he himselfe executed as long as he could for age Now when being aged he could not execute the office of a Judge he made his sons Joel and Abiah Judges whereas they did not doe as their father had done but took mony and gifts for judging the lilders of the Jewes came to Samuell and
fare and got into the Ship he failed with others towards Tharsis but presently by Gods permission there arose a mightie winde and so great a tempest that the Ship was in great danger hereupon the rest being greatly afraid prayed every one to his God and threw their goods into the Sea that the burden of the Ship might be lighter but hee was asleep in the side of the Ship Therefore the master of the Ship who thought him extreame negligent and retchlesse that when others were afraid and all at prayers for all that was asleep in so manifest a danger roused him up and bad him get up and pray unto his God as others did In the mean time they all agreed to try by lots what might be the cause why that disaster happened and the lot sell upon Jonas Whereupon they intreat him that he would tell them for what cause and fault such a mischiefe had lighted on them all and they askt him whence he came whither he went what country man he was and what trade he used Hee told them that he was a Hebrew and that he feared and worshipped the God of Heaven who made the earth and the sea and that he fled from his presence Then they being mightily afraid begun to aske him why he had done this evill and what they should doe to him that they might be freed from that danger when he had told them that that evill had happened because of him and through his default and that therefore if they would throw him into the Sea they should have a prosperous winde and a calm sea they cast him into the Sâ—a beseeching God that he would not lay this sin to their charge And so which was strange a wonderfull stilnesse of the Sea followed upon his casting in which when they had observed having offered Sacrifices to God whom they greatly feared for this that was done they made vowes to him But God neglected not nor forsook Jonah his servant but provided a great fish who took him and swallowed him up but yet did not consume or digest him but kept him whole in his bellie till the third day on which he vomited him out of his belly safe and sound upon the Land Now perceiving out of the fishes belly such a great favour of God towards him he gave thanks to him having recounted the dangers from the which he had delivered him When he was delivered from that danger God commanded him againe that he should goe to Nineve the great City in which he should tell the Citizens what God had prescribed him There when he had dispatched one dayes journey he told this openly to all that the City should be destroyed within fortie daies The Ninevites did not neglect or contemne the speech of Jonah that is of one that was a stranger and of low degree and one whom they had seen before but believing it they publikely proclaimed a Fast and repented them of the wickednesse of their former life being clad in sacking and hairecloth Nor indeed was this chang of life onely in private men but of all the Magistrates and Princes For when as it uses to be by talke and report that praediction concerning the overthrow of the City was brought to the King he did not fal to delights and pleasures after the manner as others doe usually having prescribed a forme of repentance to others hold themselves excused but having abandoned his Throne prostrated himselfe and cast off his Royall apparell he was first cloathed in sackcloth and sate in ashes and afterwards gave charge by proclamation that not onely men and women but the children also and not the children onely but also the beasts which by their nature are void of reason should abstaine from food or fodder or drinke but that all being clad in sackcloth and haire cloath should intreat the Lord and all should change the course of their wicked lives for that none knew whether God being pacified would pardon their sins In this place I could commend and set out the great wisdome of the Ninevites seen in the alteration of their lives but that I write the life of Jonas that is I set downe the bare narration of the thing how it was done Now the King was not mistaken in that apprehension he had touching God for when he saw them all turned at the Kings commandement from their vile and wicked way of living he took pitty on them neither did he overthrow the City as he had determined which mercy of Gods caused a deale of griefe to Jonas either lest he should seeme to have told a lye to the Ninevites because he absolutely said that Nineve should be destroyed within forty daies or because he understood that the people of Israel should be destroyed and therefore he besought God that he would take away his life because he had rather dye than that should come to passe although he knew that he was exceeding mercifull being asked by God whether he thought he did well to grieve he went out of the City and having got him a shady place which looked towards the East from whence he might safely see what befell the City God had raised up an Ivy or a Gourd which overshadowed him in the beholding whereof he was extraordinarily delighted But when God had also the next day by breake of day raised up a worme which stealing and creeping did so devoure the Gourd and Jonas feeling the heat of the Sun wished for death and God asked him whether he did well to be angry for the Gourd that was eaten And he had answered that he was grieved to the death Then God spake those words unto him which most plainly discovered his exceeding great mercy to mankind For he demanded of him whether it was fit that he should be troubled at the fading of a Gourd which he had not set nor made to grow and that he should not himselfe pardon that City in which there were above six score thousand persons who could not discerne good from evill What answer Jonas made to these words or what he did afterwards is nor recorded Although Epiphanius writeth that he afterwards returned into his Country wherein now he thought there was no dwelling for him lest his own fellow Citizens should object unto him that his Prophesie concerning Nineve was false and that therefore he went with his mother to Sura and dwelt in Saar and there died and was buried in the Cave of Ceneseus the Judge Jehaziel the Prophet CHAP. XVII I find that Jehaziel did once only do the Office of Prophesie 2 Chron. 20.14 and that was unto Jehosaphat the King of Judah after this manner The Ammonites and Moabites having gathered a great Army resolved to fight with Jehosaphat the King of Judah when this was told him and that the enemies were now already entred his Kingdome he not trusting himselfe and his own strength betook himself wholly unto God and besought him that he who had driven out all the Nations in