chardge you at this time with these particulars 1. what Ionas made a booth 2. for what vse to sit vnder the shadowe of it 3. how long to continue till hee mighte see vvhat vvas done in the cittie The 1. and the 2. shew vnto vs the one the nature the other the vse of all buildinges By nature they are but boothes and tabernacles and such as the Prophet reporteth of Sion that shee shoulde remaine as a cottage in a vineyarde and like a lodge in a garden of cucumbers Or as Iob speaketh in the 27. of his booke like a lodge that the watchman maketh no longer to abide than till that service is ended I would be loth to tearme them the houses of spiders and moathes as Iob doth but compared with eternity such they are The patriarches and people of auncienter times dwelt but in tentes easily pight and as easily remooved and as many other things in antiquity so this amongst the rest was a figure to all the ages of the world to come that so long as they dwell vpon the earth they haue but a temporall and transitory habitation The earth which we dwel vpon is but our place of soiourning and wherein vvee are strangers as God tolde Abraham Gen. 17. In the 47 of the same booke Pharaoh asked Iacob howe many were the daies of the yeares of his life Iacob to expresse our condition of travailing and flitting vpon the earth to and fro aunswered the king the whole time not of my life but of my pilgrimage or rather pilgrimages by reason of often remooues is an hundreth and thirty yeares Few and evill haue the daies of my life beene and I haue not attained vnto the yeares of the life of my fathers in the daies of their pilgrimages David 1. Chron. 29. giveth thankes vnto the Lord in behalfe of himselfe and his people that they were able to offer so willingly towards the building of the temple because all thinges came of him and from his owne hande or liberalitie they had given vnto him For saith he we are strangers before thee and soiourners like all our fathers our daies are as the shadowe vpon the earth and there is none abiding Thus Iacob and his fathers David and his Princes and his people and their fathers al were pilgrimes Let vs see nowe what vse the Apostle maketh hereof Hee saith of Abell Enoch Noah Abraham Sarah and the rest that all these died in faith and received not the promises but sawe them a farre of and beleeved them and receaved them thankefullie and confessed that they vvere strangers pilgrimes on the earth For they that say such things declare plainly that they seeke a country It may bee their owne from whence they were exiled the Apostle aunswereth no. For if they had beene mindefull of that countrey froÌ„ whence they came out they had leasure to haue returned But now they desire a better that is an heavenly Wherefore God is not ashamed of them to be called their God for he hath prepared for theÌ„ a citty Likewise he exhorteth vs Heb. 13. As Iesus to sanctifie the people vvith his owne bloud suffered without the gate so that we should goe forth of the campe bearing his reproach for here we haue no continuing citty but wee seeke one to come And our Saviour told his disciples Ioh. 4. that in his fathers house there were many mansions or settled dwellings for here wee haue but tabernacles Houses I confesse we haue as foxes haue thtir holes birdes their nestes and bees their hiues to be chased and driven from them but till the promise be fulfille which is mentioned Revel 21. that the tabernacle of God shal be with men that is men shal be with the tabernacle of God and God dwell with vs and we with him in heavenly Ierusalem we must trust to that other prophecie Mich. 2. surgite ite arise and depart for this is not your rest The vse of buildings is that we may sit vnder the shadowe thereof The posterity of Noah Gen. 11. having fouÌ„d out a place in the plaÌ„ie of Sinar said go to let vs build vs a citty towre to get vs a name Was that the end of buildings Nabuchodonosor Dan. 4. built them a palace for the house of his kingdome and for the honour of his maiesty to vaunt of the mightines of his power and to forget the God of heaven Was that the end of building It seemeth by the wordes of Salomon Eccles. 2. that hee made him great worke and built him houses to prooue his hearte vvith ioie and to take pleasure in pleasant thinges Or was that the end of building Some build wonders of the world as the walles of Babylon set vp by Semiramis the house of Cyrus the tombe of Mâ—usolus All which buildings whither they be summer-parlours as Eglons Iud. 3. or winter-caÌ„hbers houses in the citty or TusculaÌ„ farmes in the couÌ„try were they as stately for heigth as the spires of Egypt or as the teÌ„ple of the great Diana of the Ephesians which as they were woÌ„dred at for their buildings so for their ruine dissipation or were they as sumptuous for cost as that pallace of king Alcinous the wals wherof were of brasse the gates of gold the entries of silver they are all but vanity and vvhen vvee haue all done there is none other vse of building than to sit and shadovve our selues and to defend our bodies from the violence of the weather and other forreigne iniuries It is a sickenesse that some men haue to spend their time in building as the Epigramme noted Gellius Gellius aedificat semper Gellius is alvvaies building or repayring or chaunging or doing somewhat to keepe his hand in If a friend come to borrowe money of him Gellius hath no other word in his mouth but I am in building Alas to what purpose are these lardge and spacious houses without inhabitants chimneyes without smoake windowes not for prospect but for martins to breed and owles to sing in Such are the tenants insteed of families heretofore kept hospitality maintained nowe hedge-hogs lying vnder the walles wesels dwelling in the parlours Ieremy doth notably taxe the vanity of a great builder Hee saith I wil build me a wide house and lardge chambers so he wil make himselfe greate windowes and seele theÌ„ with Cedar paint them with Vemiâ—ton But shalt thou raigne saith the prophet because thou closest thy selfe in Cedar did not thy father thy grandfather eate and drinke and prosper when they executed iudgement and iustice kept houses relieved the poore but thine eies thy heart are but only for covetuousnes oppression for vainglory to coÌ„maund and over-looke the country round about and to leaue a name behind thee even to do this and according to the endes thou proposest herein so shall the Lord visite thee Till he might see what should be done in the citty But the
more matter is ministred for pitty to worke vpon Ierusalem vvas more laboured and applied by Christ in the daies of his flesh than either Bethania a country towne or any other cittye of Iudah or Samaria lesse than Ierusalem Agesilaus a renowned Lacedaemonian was grieved in his heart when he had slaine tenne thousand of his enemies and when many of the rest that were left aliue had withdrawne themselues within the citty of Corinth his friends advising him to lay siedge vnto it he answered that it was not fit for him so to do for he was a man which would compell offendours to do their duety but not pull downe citties The ruinating and overthrowing of citties are miserable either spectacles or histories to those that vvith any humanity shall consider them Nero may sing and triumph when Rome is on fire a bloudy horse-leach feedinge vpoÌ„ the spoiles of men and townes but Abraham will pray for Sodome though the sinke of the earth and not onely Ieremy will lament write lamentations but Christ will mourne for the downe-fall of Ierusalem And Titus whilste he lieth in siedge when hee shall see such slaughter of the Iewes will throw vp his hands to heaven and lay the massacre vpon God to cleare himselfe That Sodome wherof I â—pake consider but the raine that fell vpon it brimstone and fire from the Lord in heaven it selfe overthrowne with her sisters and all the plaine and all the inhabitants of the cittie and all that grevv vpon the earth turned into ashes and whatsoever came vp afterwards from that ground vnholsome and vnprofitable fruite pestelent vines bitter clusters the whole lande mingled with cloudes of pitch and heapes of ashes the people suffering the vengeance of eternall fire and notwithstanding all this it selfe made a by-word to all ages that came after it as we read in Esay 1. and Rom. 9. vnlesse the Lorde had left vs a seede wee shoulde haue bene as Sodome I say consider but these thinges and pitty her ruine and desolation though she be Sodome because she was a citty Though Iericho were Iericho a citty of the vncircumcised idolatrous in the worshippe of God and hostile towards his people can it sincke into your eares without pittying and bemoaning the gate therof to heare that her walles fell flat and all that was therein was vtterly destroyed both man and woman young and olde oxe and sheepe and asse with the edge of the sworde and the citty burnt with fire all that was in the citty except some silver and gold that was reserved Though Iericho be suncke so low that it shall never rise againe to stand long for it is sealed with a curse to his person that should adventure to reedifie Iericho with the bloud of his eldest and yongest sonnne yet say to your selues when you reade that lamentable narration alas for Iericho because it was a citty sometimes girded with walles fortified with bulwarkes stored with treasure and wealth peopled with men and furnished with other such habilities as the very name of a citty presently implieth But that Ierusalem wherof I also spake Ierusalem the sanctified citty and the cittye of the everlasting God Ierusalem builte in vnitye Ierusalem the Queene and Empresse of the provinces so defaced and levelled with the ground that not a stone was left standing vpon a stone neither in their houses walles bulwarkes turrets no nor in the altars sanctuary temple of Ierusalem the old and young matrones virgins mothers infants princes priests prophets Nazarites all slaine famished fettered skattered abroade vtterlye consumed If it come into the minde of any man either by reading or hearing vvithout commiseration I say that his heart is more barbarous and rude than the very fragments and rubbell wherein Ierusalem is lodged Who can expresse those havockes by speech or finde teares enough to equall their miseries For this cause I vveepe faith the Prophet mine eye even mine eye casteth out water which it draweth vp from the fountaine of my over-flowing heart and he calleth to the daughter of Sion to let teares run downe like a river daie night to take no rest neither to suffer the apple of her eie to cease to arise cry in the night in the beginning of the watches to power out her heart like water before the Lord. Aeneas Silvius in his oration of the spoile of CoÌ„staÌ„tinople against the Turke with great compassion relateth the murdering of their children before the faces of their parents the noble meÌ„ slaughtered like beasts the Priests torne in pieces the religious flead the holy virgins incestuously defiled the mothers their daughters despightfully vsed at leÌ„gth he crieth out O miseraÌ„ vrbis faciem O the miserable face of that citty O vnhappy people O wicked Mahomet Who is able to report such things without tears there was nothing to be seene but ful of mourning murder bloud-shed dead carkasses At last converting himselfe to Greece his mind eveÌ„ quaking starting backe with sorrow he thus bewaileth it O famous renowmed Greece behold now thy end now thou art dead alas how many mighty wealthy citties haue heretofore bin extinguished what is become of Thebes of Athens of Micene of Larissa of Lacedemon of Corinth of other memorable townes whose wals if thou seekest for thou canst not find so much as their ruines no maÌ„ caÌ„ shew the grouÌ„d werein they are are laid along our meÌ„ do oftentimes look for Greece in Greece it selfe only CoÌ„staÌ„tinople is no remaining of the carkasses of so many citties Such so lamentabl hath ever been the devastation of citties to meÌ„ of any affection such it seemed to God in this place shall not I spare Niniveh that great city Ionas could haue found in his hearte to haue seene it in the dust corne fieldes ploughed vp where the walles buildinge stood or rather an heape of nettles and salt-pits in the place thereof the smoake of the fire waving in the aire hiding away the light of the sun the flames spiring vp into heaveÌ„ the king his senatours marchants people those that walked with staues for age those that were nourished at the breasts for weaknes their flocks of sheepe heards of cattle all wasted and consumed in the saÌ„e pile if God would haue yelded to the madnes of his cruel appetite But he aunswereth with more clemency shall not I spare Niniveh that great citty Hitherto were but titles names the proofe followeth Wherein are sixe thousand persons that cannot discerne c. It may easily be ghessed quantus sit numerus alteriuâ— aetatis cúm tantus sit parvulâ—ruÌ„ how great the number of other ages when there were so many infants The prophecie was here fulfilled vvhich vvas given to Israel Iudah Ier. 31. Behold the daies come that I vvill sowe the house of Israell the house of Iudah with the seede of man and the seede of
Put and Lubim were her helpers yet was shee carried awaie and vvent into captivitie her young children were broken in pieces at the heade of all the streetes and they cast lots for her noble men and all her mightie men were bounde in chaines The reason holdeth by equality the strength and puissance of No was abased and thy mighte shal be cast downe It was afterward accomplished vpon Niniveh because shee was full of bloud full of lies and robbery a maistres of witchcraftes her multitude vvas slaine and the deade bodies were manie there was no ende of her carkases and they euen stumbled as they went vpon her corpses Mercurius Trismegistus sometime spake to Asclepius of Aegypt after this sort Art thou ignorant O Asclepius that Aegypt is the image of heaven c. And if vvee shall speake more truely our land is the temple of the whole vvorlde and yet the time shall come when Aegypt shall be forsaken and that land which was the seate of the Godhead shal be deprived of religion and left destitute of the presence of the Gods It is written of Tyrus in the three and twentith of Esay that shee was rich with the seede of Nilus that brought her abundance the harvest of the river were her revenewes and shee was a mart of the nations c. Yet the Lord triumpheth and maketh disport at her overthrowe Is this that glorious citie of yours vvhose antiquitie is of auncient daies c who hath decreede this against Tyrus shee that crowned men whose marchants are princes and her chapmen the nobles of the worlde the Lord of hostes hath decreede it to staine the pride of all glory and to bring to contempte all the honorable in the earth It is fallen it is fallen saith the Angell in the Revelation Babilon the great citie having the same title of greatnes that Niniveh hath in this place and is become the habitation of divelles and the hole of all fowle spirites and a cage of every vncleane and hatefull birde though shee had saide in her heart I sit as a Queene I am no widovv and shall see no mourning That everlasting citie of Rome as Ammianus Marcellinus called her shall see the day vvhen the eternity of her name and the immortalitie of her soule vvherewith shee is quickned I meane the supremacie of her prelates aboue Emperours and princes shal be taken from her and as Babilon before mencioned hath left her the inheritaunce of her name so it shall leaue her the inheritaunce of her destruction also and she shal become as other presumptuous cities a dwelling for hedghogs an habitation for owles and vultures thornes shall growe in her palaces and nettles in her strong holdes The lamentations of Ieremie touching the ruine of Ierusalem sometimes the perfection of beauty and the ioy of the whole earth as neare vnto God as the signet vpon his right hand yet afterwardes destroyed as a lodge in a garden that is made but for one night if they can passe by the eares of any man and leaue not lamentation and passion behinde them I will say that his harte is harder then the nether milstone How were her gates sunck to the ground her barres broken the stones of her sanctuary scattered in the corners of every streete her mountaine of Syon so desolate that the very foxes runne vpon it whose strength was such before that the Kinges of the earth and all the inhabitants of the worlde woulde never haue beleeved that the enemy shoulde haue entered into the gates of Ierusalem I now conclude Greatenesse of sinnes will shake the foundations of the greatest cities vpon the earth if their heades stoode amongst the stars iniquitie woulde bring them downe into dust and rubble Multitude of offences vvill minish and consume multitudes of men that although the streets were sowen with the seede of man yet they shal be so scarse that a child may tel them yea the desolation shal be so great that none shall remaine to say to his friend leaue thy fatherlesse children behind thee and I will preserue them aliue and let thy widdowes trust in me The daies can speake and the multitude of yeares can teach vvisdome aske your fathers and they can reporte vnto you that grasse hath growen in the streetes of your cities for want of passengers and a man hath beene as precious as the gold of Ophir as rare almost to bee found as if the grounde of your city had beene the moores and wasts where no man dwelleth One would haue wished a friend more then the treasures of the East to haue kept him company releeved his necessity to haue taken some paines with his vviddowe and Orphanes to haue closed his eies at the time of his death to haue seene him laide forth for buriall and his bones but brought to the graue in peace The arme of the Lorde is not shortned hee that smote you once can smite you the second time hee can visit the sonnes as well as the fathers he is a God both in the mountaines and in the vallies in the former later ages he is able againe to measure the grouÌ„d of your citie with a line of vanity pull downe your houses into the dust of the earth and turne the glory of your dwellings into ploughed feilds onely the feare of his name is your safest refuge righteousnes shal be a stroÌ„ger bulwarke vnto you then if you were walled with bras mercy and iudgment and truth and sobriety and sanctimony of life shall stand with your enemies in the gate repell the vengaÌ„ce of God in the highest streÌ„gth therof And so I come to the 2 generall part wherein we are to consider what Ionas was to doe at Niniveh it is manifested in the wordes following Crâ—e against it Laye not thine hande vpon thy mouth neither drawe in thy breath to thy selfe vvhen the cause of thy maister must bee dealt in Silence can never breake the dead sleepe of Niniveh Softnesse of voice cannot pearce her heavy eares Ordinary speaking hath no proportion with extraordinary transgression Speake and speake to bee heard that when shee heareth of her fall shee may bee wounded with it It was not nowe convenient that Ionas should goe to Niniveh as God came to Elias in a still and softe voyce but rather as a mightie strong winde rending the mountaines and breaking the rockes abasing the highest lookes in Niniveh and tearing the hardest hearte in peeces as an earthquake and fire consuming all her drosse and making her quake with the feare of the iudgementes of God as the trees of the forrest Iericho must bee overthrowne with trumpets and a shout and Niniveh will not yeeld but to a vehement outcry A prophet must arme himselfe I say not with the speare but with the zeale of Phinees when sinne is impudent and cannot blush God cannot endure dallying and trifling in weighty matters The gentle spirit of Eli is not
hart for his endlesse miseriâ—s the eies labouring for teares which shall ever run downe and the teeth grinding one the other without ceasing THE SEVENTH LECTVRE Chap. 1 vers 6. Arise call vpon thy God c. BEfore I haue shewed and coÌ„mended the diligence of the ship-master and prooved that there must be some power and superiority to restraine inferiours by feare to reprooue sleepers and all kindes of offenders The praise of this governour farther appeareth that he doth not only reprehend Ionas what meanest thou sleeper but vrgeth and prosecuteth him Arise and instructeth him what he ought to do Call vpon thy God and openeth the vncertainty and hazard wherinto they were falleÌ„ If so be that God will thinke of vs that the imminent daÌ„ger toucheth not their goods alone but their liues also as appeareth by the end of his speech That we perish not Thus he is not coÌ„tent to pul him as it were by the eare with checking him but he shaketh him by the arme to to set him on his feete hee entreth into his coÌ„scieÌ„ce with wise and godly advise pricketh the inwardest veine of his heart with commemoration of their danger if God stay it not He hath laid his hand vpon a plough his eie goeth not from it he sticketh not in the beginnings of his calling but groweth onward by degrees till hee commeth to the full stature of a good magistrate Giue mee a shepheard thus zealous of his flocke and I will say he is better then seven other shepheards a man of principallity so careful of this duty more then eight principall men that neglect theirs It vvas not enough for Eli you knowe to chide his sonnes why doe you such thinges for of all this people I heare evill reports of you Do no more so It is not a good report that I heare of you because he did no more but so and proceeded not in the chastisement and reformation of them God chargeth him in plaine tearmes that hee honored his children aboue him and threatneth to cut of his arme and the arme of his fathers house Afterwardes hee telleth Samuell that hee will doe a thing in Israell that whosoever hearde of his two eares should tingle Hee would iudge the house of Eli for ever because his sonnes ranne into slander and hee stayed them not And the wickednesse of his house should not bee purged with sacrifice and with offering whiles the world stoode And if you harken for the sequel of all this his two sonnes Hophni and Phinees died both in one day and himselfe receiving a tydinges worse then death brake his necke All this vvee heare of fathers and maisters and magistrates and ministers and yet our eares tingle not we suffer our sonnes our servantes our people our â—â—ocks to runne into slander themselues to redouble that slaunder vpon our ovvne heades to multiplie it against God his gospell his church and we stay them not The rest of our tongues within their walles and wardes and the rust of the sword within the skabbard the admonition of the one winking with both the eies and the correction of the other fast a sleepe shew how vnworthy we are to be trusted in our places and how vnlike the maister of the shippe heere spoken of Beholde I haue sought one by one to match this example of gentility and I haue found one man of a thousand that may contend with him The government of Nehemias throughout the whole booke is a singular president to all rulers 1 In the building of the wals of Ierusalem he would not bee checked by Sanballat and his mates when they dispightfully asked him what doe you will you rebell against the king He then answered The God of heaven will prosper vs and we will rise vp and build but as for you ye haue no portion nor right nor memoriall in Hierusalem 2 When they determined by conspiracy to fight against Hierusalem and slaie the builders of the walles he placed them with speares and bowes and gaue them this encouragement Be not afraid of theÌ„ but remember the great Lord and fearefull and fight for your brethren your sons your daughters your wiues your houses So they did the worke of the Lorde with one hand and held the sword with the other wroughte by daie and watched by night yea they were so carefull in their watch hee and his servantes and his brethren and the men of the warde which followed him that no man put of his cloathes saue that they put them of for washing 3 When the people were oppressed by their brethren their landes houses vineyards gaged for corne their sons and daughters brought to subiection he rebuked the princes and rulers Yee lay burthens every one vpon his brethren wee haue redeemed them from the heathen and yee will sell them againe that which yee doo is not good restore them their lands oliues vineyards houses remit the hundreth part of the silver corne wine oile that yee exact of them Yea hee called the Priestes and caused them to sweare to doe it Moreover he shooke his lap and said Thus let the Lord shake out every man that performeth not his promise even thus let him be shaken out and emptied 4 When the sabbath was prophaned amongst them for some in Iudaea trode wine-presses and brought in sheaues and laded asses with wine grapes and figges and other of Tyre brought fish and all wares and sold them on the sabbathes in Ierusalem he not only rebuked their rulers what evell is this that yee doe and shewed them the daunger This did our fathers and God plagued the cittie but hee caused the gates of the cittie to bee shutt before the sabbath and set servants of his at the gates and the chapmen remained without the walles at night and he protested vnto them that if they tarried againe about the wall he would lay handes vpon them 5 When some of the Iewes married their wiues from Asdod Ammon and Moab and their children spake halfe in the speech of Asdod and coulde not speake in the Iewes language first hee reproved them secondly cursed them thirdly smote certaine of them fourthly pulled of their haire for a further reproch vnto them and lastly tooke an othe of them by God yee shall not giue your daughters unto their sonnes neither shall yee take of their daughters for yours sonnes nor for your selues 6 Eliashib the Priest kinsman to Tobiah in the absence of Nehemie from Ierusalem having the oversight of the chamber of the house of the Lorde where the offering and incense vesselles and tithes for the provision of Levites singers and porters and the offerings of Priests were wont to be laide hee made a chamber thereof for his kinsman Tobias the Horonite The order that Nehemias tooke for the amendment of this abuse is throughly persued 1. it grieved him sore 2. he cast out the vesselles of Tobiah out of the chamber and then caused the
immortality of their soules others disputing doubting knowing nothing to purpose til their knowledge commeth to late others obiecting themselues to death rather in a vaineglorious ostentation then vpon sound reason I say compare with them one the other side christian consciences neither loving their liues more than a good cause and yet without good cause not leaving them and aske them what they thinke of this temporall life they will answere both by speech and action that they regard not how long or how short it is but how well conditioned I borrow his words of whome I may say concerning his precepts and iudgements for morall life that he was a Gentile-christian or as Paul to Agrippa almost a christian as in the acting of a comedy it skilleth not what length it had but how well it was plaide Consider their magnanimous but withall wise resolutions such I meane as should turne them to greater advantage Esther knew that her service in hand was honourable before God and man and her hope not vaine therefore maketh her rekoning of the cost before the worke begun If I perish I perish her meaning assuredly was If I perish I perish not though I loose my life yet I shall saue it If there were not hope after death Iob would never haue said lo though he kill me yet will I trust in him And what availeth it him to know that his redeemer lived but that hee consequently knewe the meanes wherby his life should be redeemed If the presence of God did not illighten darknes and his life quicken death it selfe David woulde never haue taken such hart vnto him Though I shoulde walke through the valley of the shadowe of death I woulde feare no evill for thou art with mee and thy rodde and thy staffe comforte mee If his shepheardes staffe had fayled him against the Lyon and the Beare which hee slevve at the sheepe-foulde or his sling against Golias that he had fallen into their handes yet this staffe and strength of the Lord could haue restored his losses The sentence that all these bare in their mouthes and harts and kept as their watch-worde was this Death is mine advantage The Apostle taketh their persons vpon him and speaketh for them all Therefore we faint not because we know that if our outward man perish yet the inward man is renued daily God buildeth as fast as nature and violence can destroy Wee know againe that if our earthly house of this tabernacle bee destroyed wee haue a building given of God that is an house not made with handes but eternall in the heavens Vpon the assurance of this house not made of lime and sande nor yet of flesh and bloude but of glorie and immortalitie hee desireth to bee dissolved and to bee with Christ and by his reioycing that hee hath bee dyeth dayly though not in the passion of his body yet in the forwardnesse and propension of his minde and and he received the sentence of death in himselfe as a man that cast the worst before the iudge pronounced it I may say for conclusion in some sort as Socrates did Non vivit cui nihil est in mente nisi vt vivat He liveth not who mindeth nothing but this life or as the Romane orator well interpreteth it cui nihil est in vitâ iucundius vitâ who holdeth nothing in his life dearer then life it selfe For is this a life where the house is but clay the breath a vapour or smoake the body a body of death our garment corruption the moth and the worme our portion that as the wombe of the earth bred vs so the wombe of the earth must againe receiue vs and as the Lorde of our spirites said vnto vs receiue the breath of life for a time so he will say hereafter returne yee sonnes of Adam and go to destruction By this time you may make the connexion of my text The master of the shippe and his company 1. worshippe and pray vnto false Gods that is builde the house of the spider for their refuge 2. Because they are false they haue them in ielousie and suspicion call vpon thy God 3. because in suspicion they make question of their assistaunce if so bee 4. because question of better thinges to come they are content to holde that which already they haue in possession and therefore say that wee perish not With vs it fareth othervvise Because our faith is stedfast and cannot deceiue vs in the corruption of our bodies vexation of our spirites orbity of our vviues and children casualty of goods wracke of ships and liues wee are not removed from our patience we leaue it to the wisedome of God to amend all our mishappes we conclude with Ioab to Abishai The Lorde doe that which is good in his eies honour and dishonour good reporte and evill reporte in one sense are alike vnto vs and though wee bee vnknowne yet wee are knowne though sorrowing yet wee reioyce though having nothing yet wee possesse all thinges though wee bee chastened yet are we not killed nay though we die yet we liue and are not dead we gather by scattering we win by losing we liue by dying we perish not by that which men call perishing In this heauenly meditation let me leaue you for this time of that blessed inheritance in your fathers house the peny nay the poundes the invaluable weight and masse of golde nay of glory after your labours ended in the vineyard meate drinke at the table of the Lord sight of his excellēt goodnes face to face pleasures at his right hand and fulnes of ioy in his presence for euermore Let vs then say with the Psalmist my soule is a thirst for the living God oh whē shall I come to appeare in the presence of our God For what is a prison to a pallace tents boothes to an abiding citty the region of death to the land of the living the life of men to the life of angels a bodie of humility to a body of glory the valley of teares to that holy and heauenly mounte Sion whereon the lambe standeth gathering his saints about him to the participation of those ioies which himselfe enioieth and by his holy intescession purchaseth for his members THE NINTH LECTVRE Cap. 1. ver 7. And they saide euery one to his fellowe Come and let vs cast lottes c. AS the māner of sick men is in an hote ague or the like disease to pant within themselues and by groning to testifie their pangs to others to throw of their clothes and to tosse from side to side in the bed for mitigation of their paines which whether they doe or do not their sicknes still remaineth till the nature thereof bee more neerely examined and albeit they chaunge their place they change not their weaknes so do these Marriners sicke of the anger of God as the other of a feuer disquieted in al their affectiōs
thy walles wee finde but rubbell nay wee finde not the grounde wherein thy walles haue stoode wee looke for Greece in Greece wee search for her cities and finde nothing saue their carkasses and ruinated fragmentes It is a paradoxe in common reason hardly to bee prooved but that experience findeth it true Brethren kinsmen or friendes when they fall to enmity their hatred is greater than betwixte mortall foes according to the prophecie of Christ Inimici viri domestici eius a mans enimies indeede and to purpose to worke him most harme shall bee they of his owne house Of all the vialles of the wrath of God powred dovvne vpon sinners it is one of the sorest vvhen a man is fed with his ovvne flesh and drunken with his owne bloude as with sweete wine that is taketh pleasure in nothing more than in the overthrow and extirpation of his owne seede Non nisi quaesitum cognatâ caede cruorem Illicitumque bibit careth not for any bloude but that which is drawne from the sides of his brethren and kinsmen Tacitus noteth no lesse than I speake of betweene Segestes and Ariminius the one the father the other the sonne in law both hatefully and hostilely bent That which bounde them togither in loue vvhilst they vvere at concorde put them further at variance being once enimies VVhat more eager and bitter contention hath euer beene betweene Christian and Saracen than betweene Christian and Christian we are brethren I confesse one to the other fratres vterini brethren from the wombe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having one father in heavē and one mother vpon earth but it is fallen out vpon vs vvhich Iacob pronounced vpon Simeon and Levi vvee are brethren in evill they in their wrath slewe a man and in their selfe-will digged downe a wall and therefore their rage was accursed Can we escape a curse that haue slaine a man and a man digged downe a wall and a wal betraied a kingdome a kingdome laid opē the vineyard for the wild boar givē the soule of the turtle to the beast resigned vp many sanctified dominions wherein the scepter of Christ was acknowledged to capital and deadly enimies by our mutual intestine seditions I can better shewe you the malignity of the disease than prescribe the remedy But vvhere brethren kinsmen confederates contende togither what parte gayneth the vanquished and the victorers maie both beshrewe themselues They may fighte and embrue their handes in bloude and get the honour of the daie but they vvill haue little list to triumph at night Iocasta tolde her two sons rather her firebrands as Hecuba foresaw of Paris agreeing togither like fire water that whosoeuer conquered the other he would neither make shew nor beare signe of the conquest O pray for the peace of Ierusalē they shall prosper and speede right happilie that wish her prosperity Pray not for the peace of Edom whilst it is Edom pray not for the peace of Babylon whilst it continueth Babylon so long as they cry against Sion dovvne vvith it downe with it euen to the grounde the Lord returne it seven-folde into their bosome But pray to the prince of peace whose blessing and gift peace is that if ever we fight by moving either hand or pen vvee may fight against Edom Babylon Ammon Aram as Ioab and Abisai did those that are without but evermore desire procure ensue the peace of Ierusalem Thus far of the kindnes shewed by the marriners vnto Ionas who though they were but men strange vnknown vnto him yet vpon that knowledge of God which he had instilled into their mindes by his preaching they endevoured what they could to saue his life How sped their labours But they could not for the sea wrought c. I remit you for instructiō her-hence to the 11. ver where you haue most of these very words It shall stand more durable than the firmament of heauen which the king of Babylon testified of God Daniel 4. According to his will hee vvorketh in the army of heauen in the inhabitantes of the earth no man can staye his hand or say vnto him what doest thou he pronoūceth as much of himselfe Esay 46. My counsell shall stand I will do whatsoeuer I will The earnestnes improbity of mans labor nothing availeth if God be against it It is but the labour of Sisyphus labouring in the fire ploughing vpon the rockes as the mouth of God speaketh according to his word in Malachy They shall build but I will pull downe The vigour of the wordes once againe giueth this counsel vnto vs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to contēd or wrastle with the power of God which is as if a flie should oppose her force against a bulwarke They preach doctrine of sufferance patience at the will of God Quod ferendū est feras that which thou must beare of necessity beare with good contentment of minde Hee is an vnmeete souldiour that followeth his generall with groning Thou canst not striue vvith thy maker thou canst not adde to the stature of thy body nor chaunge one haire of thy head from the colour which God gaue it It is not thy rising early that can make thee rich nor barring the gates of thy citty that can make thee safe much lesse canst thou ransome thy life nor the life of thy brother from the hand of God thou must perforce let that alone for ever A league with all the elementes of the world with the beastes of the field stones in the streete with death hell themselues is vnable to secure thee Therefore whatsoever befall thee in thy body goods children or beasts enter into thy chamber bee secret still let the right hand of the Lord of hostes haue the preheminence This was the reason I conceiue that after those last words cast me into the sea though the men stroue with their ores cried to the Lord in the next verse yet there is no mention made either of deed or word added by Ionas For what shoulde he doe when the countenance of the Lord was against him but run the race set before his eies with patience fal to another meditatiō than before he had that although he were throwen into the sea yet God was the Lord both of the lād the waters whether he sunke or swam lived or died he was that Lords Impatientiae natales in ipso diabolo deprehendo I finde that impatience was borne of the devil saith Tertullian to him let vs leaue this plant which the hand of the Lord never planted to his mal-contented impes with whōe there is nothing so rife as banning blaspheming bitter and swelling speech against the highest power of heauen if ever they bee crost or wrung with the least tribulation They never learned how the linkes of that heauēly chaine are fastened one to the other that tribulation bringeth patience patience
hee angrye with mee So these affirme in speech that sorrowe is nothing vseth no violence against a wiseman yet when it commeth vpon them they are no more able to endure the gripings of it than other fooles As Taurus spake of the Stoickes ague so may I of the misery of Ionas The force and nature of his miserye did her parte reason and the nature of saith on the other side vvere not idle in their offiâ—es Ionas behaved not himselfe as the deafe roâ—kes of the sea which the waves beating and breaking vpon yet they feele nothing dolere inter dolores nesciens not knowinge how to bee grieved amiddest his griefes but according to the measure and quality of his sorrowes so was his sense and so was the purpose of God by whome they were inflicted To descend now to partâ—culars The matter of his feare or the daunger intended against him arose from two mightye adversaries the sea and the lande His daunger from the sea is tripled in the fifth verse according to the number of the clauses therein First the vvaters compassed him about vnto the soule To have beene in the vvaters had not beene so much nor much to bee compassed and intrenched as those that are helde in siege But that they come vnto his soule the meaning is that his spirite whereof the quickeninge and life of his bodye consisted vvas at hande to departe from him and to yeelde it selfe prisoner to the waters that assaulted it there was the daunger Secondly The depth closed him rounde about The depthe or rather no depthe Some measure of water where the bottome might have beene reached woulde also have kept his feare within a measure But to bee closed about with a bottomelesse water maketh a bottomelesse griefe whereof there is no end 3. the weedes were wrapt about his heade the sedge the flagges the bul-rushes and other the like trashe the very skorne and contempt of the sea daungerous impedimentes to those that by swimming put themselves vpon the mercy of the mercilesse waters they were not now fluent and loose but tied and entangled not about the armes or the legges alone but about the head of Ionas the principall spire of his body the highest tower and as it were capitolle to the city the leader and captaine to all his other partes Now whether his head were bound about with weedes when he was first swallowed vp and so they remained about it still or whither the head of the whale be here the head of Ionas because he is now incorporate into the whale and liveth within him as a part of the whale I examine not but this was the mind of Ionas to omit no word not so much as of the excrementes and superfluities of the sea whereby his inextricable perill might be described His danger by land is likewise expressed in two members of the 6. verse First he was descended to the bottomes or endes or rootes or cuttinges of of the mountaines for where a thing is cut of there it endeth Man by nature and stature was made to ascende God gave him his head vpwardes But Ionas was descended which is the state of the dead according to the phrase of the scripture Descendam lugens c. I shall goe downe sorrowing to my grave Neither vvas hee descended into the sides or some shallowe cave and vawte of the mountaines but as if hee were numbred with those forlorne soules who call vpon whole mountaines fall on vs and vpon whole hils cover vs so vvas he descended ad radices praecisa montium to the rootes and cragges of them lodged in so lowe a cabbin that all those heapes and svvellinges of the earth lay vpon him 2. The earth with her barres was about him for ever What is the strength of a citye or house but the barres of it as we reade in the Psalme Praise the Lord O Ierusalem praise thy God O Sion for he hath made the barres of thy gates stronge and blessed thy children within thee So then the barres of the earth that is the strongest muniments and fenses it hath are the promontories and rockes which God hath placed in the frontiers to withstand the force of the waters These are the barres and gates in Iob which God hath apointed to the sea saying vnto it Hitherto shalt thou passe heere will I stay thy prowde waues and if you wil these also are the pillers of the earth which god hath fixed in such sort that it cannot bee mooved The meaning of the prophet was that hee was lockt and warded within the strengh of the earth never looking to bee set at liberty againe I tolde you before that the nature of the sea wherein Ionas travailed besides the over-naturall working of God did adde much more trouble vnto him than if he had past through the Ocean where he had gained more sea roume and the continent being farther of would haue yelded a liberall current and lesse haue endaungered him Now he hath land round about him by reason whereof the sea is more narrow rockie and hilly apter to stormes skanter of rodes for safety and subiect to a number of other incommodities The course of the seas through which hee past was this First hee tooke shipping at Iapho and was carried thorough the Syriack sea theÌ„ce through Archipelago or the Aegean thence thorough Hellespont betwixt Sestus and Abydus where Asia and Europe are divided not by more than seven furlonges others say but fiue afterwardes thorough Propontis where the sea is patent againe hath his forth from thence through Bosphorus Thracius betwixt Constantinople and Natolia where the passage is so narrow that an oxe may swimme over and lastlie to the Euxine sea where they hold hee was set to land Thus was hee often encumbred with straightes and never had cause to complaine of overmuch liberty where he was most favoured till he came to the dry grounde Thus far of the daungers both by sea and land The first extended his rage not to the chin or lippes of the prophet but to his soule and threatned him with a depthe bottomelesse and vnmeasurable and came not against his life with limpide and pure waters alone but with other impedimentes the vnprofitable pelfe and corruption of the waters The later gaue him not rest vpon a plaine floore of the earth but clasped him vnder the cragges of roâ—kes and held him close prisoner vnder the strongest barres and bounders it had But as in the former staffe of the song so also in this there is a touch of a distrustfull conscience but there it was openly expressed and here it is closely conveyed in The earth with her barres was about mee for ever For what meaneth in seculum for ever but that he was cast away from the saving health helpe of the Lord without all hope of redemption Did hee not know that although his life were taken from him for a time it shoulde bee restored
the settled lees of their long continued abhominations and thou shalt end many labours in one thou shalt doe a cure vpon the heart of the principall cittie the benefite whereof shall spread it selfe into the partes of the whole countrie But if Niniveh bee so greate in vvealth and so deepely rooted in pride that shee vvill not bee reformed tell hâ—r shee hath climbde so high to have the lower downe-fall though her children should die in their sinnes yet their bloud for example given shall especially bee required at her handes Many goodly citties were there in Asia Babylon so big that Aristotle called it a country not a citty and Niniveh greater then Babylon and Troy lesse then them both but in her flourishing daies the piller of that part of the world of vvhich and many their companions wee may now truely say O iam periere ruinae the very ruines of them are gone to ruine The king of the Gothes when he saw Constantinople pronounced that the Emperour there was an earthly God They write of Quinsay at this day that it is an hundreth miles about and furnished with 12000. bridges of marble Let not Ierusalem leese her honour amongst the rest Though her honour and happinesse were laide in the dust long since They that were alive when IerusaleÌ„ lived to have numbred her tovvers considered her walles and marked her bulwarckes and to have tolde their posterity of it might have made a reporte skarsely to have beene beleeved I am sure vvhen the Kinges of the earth were gathered togither and sawe it they marvailed they were astonied and suddainely driven backe Let mee adde the renowned citties of Italy by some never sufficiently magnified Rich Venice Greate Millaine Auncient Ravenna Fruitfull Bononia Noble Naples with all their glorious sisters and confederates and her that hath stolen the birth-right from the rest and saith she is ancientest and the mother to theÌ„ all which only is a citty in the iudgment of Quintilian and others are but townes were they all cities great and walled vp to heaven as those of the Anakins were they regions as hee spake of Babilon and every one a world in it selfe yet time shall weare them away sin shall dissolue and vndoe their composition and hee that is greate over all the kingdomes of the earth can cover them with brambles sowe them with salt and turne them vpside downe as if they had never beene When the Emperour Constantius came in triumph to Rome and behelde the companies that entertained him he repeated a saying of Cyneas the Epirote that he had seene so many Kings as Citizens But viewing the buildinges of the cittie the stately arches of the gates the turrets tombes temples theatres bathes and some of the workes like Babell so high that the eye of man coulde skarcely reach vnto them he was amazed and said that nature had emptied all her strength vpon that one cittie Hee spake to Hormiâ—da maister of his workes to erect him a brasen horse in Constantinople like vnto that of Traian the Emperour which hee there sawe Hormisda aunswered him that if hee desired the like horse hee must also provide him the like stable All this much more in the honour of Rome At length hee asked Horsmida what hee thought of the cittie Who tolde him that hee tooke not pleasure in any thing but in learning one lesson which was that men also died in Rome This was the end of those kinglie men which Constantius so tearmed and the end of that lady citty the mirrour and mistresse of the worlde vvill bee the same that hath befallen her predecessours And as nature emptied her selfe vpon it so shee must empty her selfe into nature againe if shee be so happy to fulfill the number of her daies and come to a perfit age but such may bee the iudgement of God vpon her notorious and vncureable witchcraftes that as an vntimely fruite shee may perish reape the meede of the bloud-sucker in the Psalme not to liue out halfe her daies Preach vnto it the preaching which I bid thee Or proclaime against it the proclamation which I enioyne thee So that first the matter must be receaved from the Lord secondly the manner must bee by proclamation and out-crying which requireth not onelye the lowdenesse of voice but the vehemency and fervency of courage to excecute his makers will In Esay they are both ioyned togither For first the Prophet is willed to cry And secondly because he was loth to trust the invention of his owne spirit hee taketh his texte from the mouth of the Lord What shall I cry that all fleshe is grasse c. Iohn Baptist in the gospell is but a voice himselfe not the authour nor speaker but onely the voice of one that cried in the wildernesse prepare the waies of the Lorde And whether hee spake as lowde as the will of that Crier was I report mee to the Scribes and Pharisees Publicans souldiers Herode and Herodias vvhose eares hee claue in two with denouncing his maisters iudgementes The preaching which I bid thee Howe daungerous it is for any messenger of the Lord to exceede the boundes of his commission by addinge his owne devises thereunto and taking words into his mouth which were never ministred vnto him or to come shorte of it by keeping backe the couÌ„sailes of his master which he hath disclosed to be made knowne let that fearefull protestation in the ende of the booke summing and sealing vp all the curses and woes that went before testifie to the worlde I protest vnto euerie man that beareth the wordes of the prophecie of this booke and of all those other bookes that the finger of God hath written If any man shall adde vnto these things God shall adde vnto him the plagues that are written in this booke And if any man shall diminishe of the wordes of the booke of this Prophecie God shall take away his parte out of the booke of life and out of the holy cittie and from those thinges which are written in this booke The protestation hath vveight enough vvithout helpe to make it sinke into the dullest eares of those who dare adventure at such a price to set their sacrilegious handes to those nice and religious pointes Let them bevvare that preach themselues and in their ovvne names and saye the Lord hath said vvhen he never said that abuse the worlde vvith olde wiues tales olde mens dreames traditions of Elders constitutions of Popes precepts of men vnwriten truthes vntrue writings or that sell the worde of the Lorde for gaine and marchandize that pearle which the vvise marchant vvill buy vvith all the treasure hee hath that holde the truth of God in vnreghteousnesse and dare not free their soules for feare of men and deale in the worke of the Lorde as adulterers in their filthines for as these esteeme not issue but lust so the others not the glory of God nor
3. according to the worde of the Lorde which erst he had disobeyed Thus farre we vnderstood whither he went nowe we are to learne what hee did in Niniveh namely 1. for the time Hee beginneth his message presently at the gates 2. for the place hee had entred but a thirde parte of the citie so much as might be measured by the travaile of one day 3. for the manner of his preaching hee cried 4. for the matter or contentes Yet fortye daies and Niniveh shall bee destroyed I haue tasted nothinge of this present verse but vvhat mighte make a connexion with the former For the greatnesse of Niniveh repeated in the latter ende thereof served to this purpose partly to commend the faith of the Ninivites who at the first sounde of the trumpet chaÌ„ged their liues partly to giue testimony ito the diligence constaÌ„cy of the Prophet who was not dismaide by so mighty a chardge And Ionas beganne to enter into the city All the wordes are spoken by diminution Ionas beganne had not made an ende to enter the citty had not gone through A daies iourney which was but the third parte of his way Not that Ionas began to enter the citty a daies iourney and then gaue over his walke for hee spent a day and daies amongest them in redressing of their crooked waies But Niniveh did not tarry the time nor deferre their conversion till his embassage vvas accomplished amongest them which is so much the more marveilous for that he came vnto them a messenger of evill and vnwelcome tydinges it is rather a wonder vnto mee that they skorned him not that they threw not dust into the aire ran vpon him with violence stopped his mouth threw stones at him with cursing and with bitter speaking as Shemei did at David as Ahab burdened Elias with troubling Israell so that they had not challenged Ionas for troubling Niniveh because he brought such tidinges as might sette an vprore and tumulte amongst all the inhabitantes That vvicked king of Israell whome I named before hated Micheas vnto the death for no other cause but that hee never prophecied good vnto him A man that ever did evill and no good coulde not endure to heare of evill And for the same cause did Amaziah the priest of Bethell banish Amos from the lande for preaching the death of Ieroboam and the captivitie of Israell therefore the Lorde was not able to beare his words and hee had his pasporte sealed O thou the seer goe flee thou avvaie into the lande of Iudah and there eate thy breade and prophecie there but prophecie no more at Bethel for this is the kinges chappell and this is the kinges courte so I woulde rather haue thought that they shoulde haue entertained Ionas in the like manner because hee came with fire and sworde in his mouth against them the cittye is not able to beare thy wordes vvee cannot endure to heare of the death of our king and the vniversall overthrow of our people and buildings O thou the seer get thee into the lande of Iudah and returne to thy cittye of Ierusalem and there eate thy breade and prophecye there but prophecie no more at Niniveh for this is the kings chappell nay this is the court of the mighty Monarch of Assyria But Niniveh hath a milder spirite and a softer speech and behaviour in receiving the Lordes prophet Now on the other side if you set togither the greatnesse of Niniveh and the present on-set vvhich the prophet gaue vpon it that immediately vpon his chardge without drawing breath hee betooke him to his hard province it maketh no lesse to the commendation of his faithfulnesse then their obedience For when hee came to Niniveh did hee deliberate what to doe examine the nature of the people vvhether they were tractable or no enquire out the convenientest place wherein to doe his message and where it might best stande with the safegarde of his person did he stay till hee came to the market place or burse or the kings palace where there was greatest frequency and audience No but where the buildings of the citty beganne there hee began to builde his prophecie And even at the entrance of the gates hee opened his lippes and smote them with a terrour of most vngratefull newes Againe he entered their citty not to gaze vpon their walles not to number their turrets nor to feede his eies with their high aspiring buildings much lesse to take vp his Inne and there to ease himselfe but to travaile vp and downe to wearie out his stronge men not for an houre or two but from morning til night even as long as the lighte of the daie vvill giue him leaue to worke I departe not from my texte for as you heare 1. Ionas began protracted not 2. to enter not staying till he had proceeded 3. to travaile not to be idle 4. the whole day not giving any rest or recreation to his bodie If wee will further extende and stretch the meaning of this sentence we may apply it thus It is good for a man to begin betimes and to beare the yoke of the Lord from his childe-hoode as Goliath is reported to haue beene a warriour from his youth to enter in the vineyard the first houre of the daie and to holde out till the twelfth to begin at the gates of his life to serue God and even from the wombe of his mother to giue his bodie and soule as Anna gaue her Samuell Nazarites vnto the Lord that his age and wisedome and grace may growe vp togither as Christes did And that as Iohn Baptist was sanctified in his mothers wombe Salomon was a witty childe Daniell and his yong companions were vvell nurtured in the feare of the Lorde and David wiser then his auncientes so all the parts degrees of his life from the first fashioning of his tender limmes may savour of some mercy of God which it hath received That whether hee bee soone deade they may say of him hee fulfilled much time or whither he carry his graye haires vvith him downe into the graue he may say in his conscience as David did Thy statutes haue ever beene my songes in the house of my pilgrimage As for the devils dispensation youth must bee borne with and as that vnwise tutour sometimes spake It is not trust mee a faulte in a younge man to followe harlots to drinke wine in bowls to daunce to the tabret to weare fleeces of vanity aboute his eares and to leaue some token of his pleasure in every place so giving him lycense to builde the frame of his life vpon a lascivious and riotous foundation of long practised wantonnesse it vvas never written in the booke of God prophets and Apostles never drempt of it the law-giver never delivered it heâ—l onelye invented it of pollicy to the overthrow of that age which God hath most enabled to doe him best service And as it was the
people vvhy sittest thou thy selfe alone the thinge vvhich thou doest is not vvell thou both vveariest thy selfe greatly and thy people that is vvith thee and he caused him to apoint rulers cover thousands rulers over hundreds rulers over fifties and rulers ouer tennes to iudge the people at all seasons in their smaller causes Moses confessed asmuch Deuteronomy the first as Iethro complained of I am not able to beare you my selfe alone It vvas a saying of Seleucus one of the kings of Syria that if men did considerately know how troublesome it were onely to reade and write so many letters of so waighty affaires if the crowne were throwen at their foote they woulde not take it vp Anacharsis one of the Sages of Greece thought it the onely felicity of a king to bee onely vvise and not to neede the helpe of other men but vvho vvas ever so wise to attaine to that happines I vvill not deny but he that can counsaile himselfe in all thinges is very absolutely vvise but it is a second degree of vvisedome not to reiect such counsailes and directions as are given vnto him And therefore worthely was it spoken by Antonius the Emperour with much more reason it standeth that I shoulde bee ruled by the advise of so many and such my friendes then that such and so many shoulde yeelde to my will alone We read that Assuerus the king of the Persians Esther the first did nothing in the remooue of Vashtie the Queene without the advise of the seven Princes vvhich sawe the kings face and sate first in the kingdome Salomon 1. Kings 10. had his auncient counsaile it vvas senatus indeede because it consisted of graue and olde men according to the proverbe speares are fit to be handled by yong men counsailes by the aged But Roboam his yong son provideth counsailers like himselfe yong in yeares and yong in descretion which howsoever they were friends to Roaboam they were not friendes to the king though happily they loved his person well they were enimies to his kingdome As it is meete that the king shoulde haue peeres to consult with so it is a blessed combination and knot vvhen all their consultations and actes are referred 1. to the glory of God for that is the first and great commandement then to the peace safety of the weale publique For as the lawe of God saith Cyprian is the sterne that must guide all counsailes and bee of counsaile vnto them so if it bee not also the haven where all their counsailes arriue and both the beginning and ending of their decrees their successe will be according The qualities of those whom the superiour magistrate should associate to himselfe in administring his government are numbred in the 18. of Exodus and 1. of Deut. to bee these seven 1. they must be men of courage 2. fearing God 3. men of truth 4· hating filthy lucre 5. the chiefe of the tribes 6. wise Lastly knowen men such as had experience of the people and the people of them Without these conditions and respectes they were very vnfit helpers For what were a magistrate without courage but a lion without his heart or courage without the feare of God but armed iniustice or what fear of the true God where his truth is neglected or how can truth consist with aucupation of filthy gaine or if their persons parentage be in contempt how shall the people regard theÌ„ or if they haue not wisdome to rule what are they els but an eie without seeing or as if the day the night should be governed without sun moone Lastly as artes are made by experiments so they must be tried and approoved before hand by the sight of their vertues Otherwise to meete at any time to lay their heads togither for the dishonoring of God defacing of his religion and so to intend policie that his worship is not cared for and his feare lieth at the threshold of their counsaile-house not admitted amongst them is to make themselues such counsailers as Alecto called in Claudian Concilium deforme vocat glomerantui in vnum Inumerae pestes Erebi Vntoward and vnfashioned counsailers so far from being the pillars props of the common wealth that they are rather mischiefes and plagues which hel hath cast vp Now as it is meete that the king his nobles should come togither to decree wholesome constitutions so it is as meete to publish them abroade that the subiects may know what their duety is The statutes of a kingdome must not be lockt vp in cofers as the bokes of the Sybils in Rome nor as the sentences of Pythagoras which no man might write bee kept from the knowledge of the vulgar sort In the 1. of Sam. 14. Saul had charged his people by othe not to taste any thing till night vpon an eager intention he had to pursue the Philistines Ionathan his sonne heard not of it and as he went through a wood beeing faint with hunger raught forth the ende of his rod and dâ—pt it in an hony combe and put it to his mouth you know what danger it brought him vnto I tasted a little hony with the end of my rod and lo I must die Therefore it is not amisse to publish such decrees if for no other cause yet to safegard the people from that daunger which by their ignorance they might incurre Besides the glory of God is proclaimed by such proclamations as Nabuchodonosor Dan. 3. made a decree that every people nation and language that spake any blasphemie against the God of Syrach Misach and Abeduego should be drawen in pieces and that it might be knowne abroade he caused it to be publisht Nabuchodonosor king vnto all people nations and languages that dwell in all the world c. The like did Darius in the sixth of that booke first hee made an acte that all shoulde tremble before the GOD of Daniell in the dominions of his kingdomes and aftervvardes for the promulgation of it vvrote to all people nations and languages in the vvordle vvhat the acte was Let neither man nor beast c. The matter enacted and proclaimed is in one word repentance wherein they were blest from heaveÌ„ with as great a measure of wisedome as the sons of men were capable of when they were to bethinke theÌ„selues to beat their braines wherwith to wrestle with the iudgmeÌ„t of god that they made their choise of repentance Repentance an act of all actes if they had spent their daies in consulting this one in steede of infinite thousandes to saue their liues An enimie did aproach vnto them a spirituall enimye from the higher places iustice I meane from the throne of GOD vvhose forces were invisible and could not be repelled with sworde and target What gate or fortresse should they then vse to shut out iustice but onely repentance their citie had beene laid in the dust their candell put out their monarchie translated their carkasses
vnto them for righteousnesse as it was to Abraham and to testifie that faith to man to make it perfect before God to seale it vp to their owne conscience they are abundant also in good workes which is that other iustification vvhereof Iames disputeth For as in the temple of Ierusalem there were 3. distinctions of roumes the entry or porch where the beasts were killed the altar where they were sacrificed the holiest place of al whither the high priest entred once every yeare so in this repentance of Niniveh there are 3. sortes of righteousnes the first of ceremony in wearing sacke-cloath and fasting the second of morality in restitution the third the iustice of faith and as it were the dore of hope wherby they first enter into the kingdome of heaven We haue heard what the Ninivites did for their partes let vs nowe consider what God for his It is said that he saw their workes and repentâ—d him of the plague intended and brought it not Nay it is saide that God saw their workes God repented him of the plague vvith repetitioÌ„ of that blessed name to let the world vnderstande that the mischiefe was not turned away for the value and vertue of their workes but for the acceptance of his own good pleasure nor for the repentance of the city but for the repentaÌ„ce of his own heart a gracious inclination propension that he tooke to deliver them No marvaile it was if when God saw their workes he bethought him of their deliverance For when the person is once approved received to grace which their faith procured them his blemishes are not then looked vpon his infirmities covered his vnperfect obedience taken in good part nay coÌ„meÌ„ded honored rewarded daily provoked with promises invitatioÌ„s of greater blessednes to come So a father allureth his son the servaÌ„t doth ten times more yet is the recoÌ„peÌ„ce of the son ten times greater for the father respecteth not so much the workes of his child but because he is a father teÌ„dreth followeth him with fatherly affection wheras the hired servant on the other side is but a stranger vnto him Why then were the works of Niniveh acceptable vnto God not of theÌ„selues but for their sakes that wrought them they for their faith for this is the root that beareth theÌ„ al. In that great cloud of witnesses Heb. 11. what was the reason that they pleased God besides the honour of the world that they vvere vvell reported of and obtained the promises which was the garlande they ranne for besides their suffering of adversities subduing of kingdomes vvorking of righteousnesse with many other famous exploites there ascribed vnto them what was the reason I say but their faith which is the whole burdeÌ„ of the song in that memorable bead-role By faith did Abell thus Enoch thus and others otherwise But why not their workes of themselues For is not charity more than faith these three remaine faith hope and loue but the greater of these three is loue 1. Cor. 13. And the first and the greate commaundemente is this Thou shalt loue the Lorde thy GOD c. Math. the two and twentith And the end of the commaundement is loue 1. Tim. 1. And loue is the fulfilling of the lawe Romanes the thirteenth I graunt all this if thou be able to performe it Loue the Lorde thy God with all thy heart c. and thy neighbour as thy selfe and there is nothing wanting vnto thee thou hast kept the commandement thou hast fulfilled the law thou needest not the passion of thy redeemer thou maiest catch the crowne of life by rightfull desert But this thou art not able to performe were thou as righteous as Noe as obedient as Abraham as holy as Iob as faithfull as David as cleare as the sunne and moone as pure as the starres in heaven yet thou must sing and sigh with a better soule than thine owne who saw and sighed for the impurity of all living flesh Enter not into iudgement vvith thy servant O Lorde for no flesh living can bee iustified in thy sight God hath concluded thee and thy fathers before thee and the fruit of thy body to the last generation of the world vnder sinne and because vnder sinne therefore vnder wrath and malediction and death if thou flie not into the sanctuarie to hide and safegarde thy selfe But blessed be the name of Christ the daies are come wherein this song is sunge in the lande of Iudah and through all the Israell of God farre and neare vvee haue a stronge cittie salvation hath God set for wals and bul-workes about it Open ye the gates that the righteous nation which keepeth faith may enter in Which is that righteous nation that shall enter into the citty of God thus walled and fortressed but that which keepeth faith or rather faithes as the Hebrew hath that is all faith not ceasing to beleeue till their liues end They that beleeue thus adding faith vnto faith the Lord vvill returne them as great a measure of his blessing even peace vpon peace in the next wordes because they trust in him We neede no better expositour The righteous man is he that beleeveth and the beleeving man is he that vvorketh righteousnes for these two shall never be sundred and the onlie key that openeth vnto vs the gates of the citty is our faith So then when we see good workes we must know that they are but fruites and seeke out the root of them and when we haue the root we must also haue regarde to the moisture and iuice whereby it is nourished For as the fruits of the earth grow from their root that root liveth not by it selfe but is fedde and preserved by the fatnes of the soile warmth of the sun benefite of the aire vnder which it standeth so good workes grow from faith and that faith liveth in the obiect the merites and obedience of Iesus Christ feeding and strengthning it selfe by the sweet influence and sappe of these heavenly conceites that he came into the worlde to saue sinners and that he died for her sinne and rose to life for her iustification For as we esteeme the worth of a ring of gold not so much in it selfe as in the gemme that it carrieth so are we iustified magnified also in the sight of God by faith in Christ not for this quality of beleeving which is as vnperfite as our works but for the obiect of this quality Christ our mediatour which is the diamonde and iewell borne therein The hand of a leper though never so bloudy and vncleane yet it may doe the office of an hand in taking and holding fast the almes that is given The giver may bee liberall enough and the gift sufficient to releeue though the hand that received it full of impurity So it is not the weakenesse of our faith in apprehending and applying the passion of Christ that
and kennings in some sort but not sufficient measures to skanne it by It is well observed by Cassiodore vpon the 51. Psalme that the beginning thereof Have mercy vpon me O Lord is the onely voice quae nunquam discutitur sed tranquille semper auditur which is never examined suspended delaied deliberated vpon but evermore heard with peace and tranquillity from God And in the Psalme 136. you shall finde his mercye both the mother that bread and the nurse that to this day feedeth and to the end of the world shal cherish and maintaine al the workes of God It standeth there like a piller or bounder at the end of every verse an endlesse and durable mercy not onely to beautifie the Psalme but to note that the whole frame of the world and every content thereof in particular touching both creation and government oweth not onely their being but their preservation and sustenance to Gods goodnes 4. To leave the persons and to examine the thinges themselves what was a gourd a matter of nothing and in nature but a vulgar ordinary plant for there is a difference in trees as Deut. 20. there is a law made that in besieging a citty they shall not destroy the trees thereof by smiting an axe into them the reason is for thou mayest eate of them therefore thou shalt not cut them downe For the tree of the fielde is mans life Onelye those trees vvhich thou knowest are not for meate those thou shalt destroy and make fortes against the citty Nowe of this tree there vvas none other vse either for meate or for ought besides that he knew save onely for shadow From this difference of things our Saviour argueth Luke 14. when hee healed the man sicke of the dropsy vpon the sabboth day vvhich of you shall have an asse or an oxe fallen into a pit and will not straight way pull him our on the sabboth day For if they tendered the welfare of their beastes much more might he regard the life of man which was far more precious And it is there said that they were not able to aunswere him againe in those things they were so plainely evicted 5. Touching the accidents of this gourd if Ionas had planted nursed it vp which he did not he should have regarded it none otherwise than as a gourd he should not have doted vpon it as Xerxes is reported to have loved a plane-tree in Lydia and he could hardly be drawne away from it and Passienus Crispus twise Consul of Rome a mulberry tree they seeme to have beene some notable bovvers which they fel so in love with The nature of man is to love the works of his owne handes The Poet describeth it in the fable of Pigmalion arte suâ miratur hee is surprised with the liking of his owne arte Who planteth a vineyard saith the Apostle and eateth not of the fruite thereof For this is the ende why he planted it It is confessed Eccles. 2. to be the hand of God that wee eate and drinke and delight our soules with the profit of our labours Nabuchadonozor Dan. 4. boasteth of his greate pallace not which his fathers and progenitours had left vnto him but himselfe had built for the honour of his kingdome The Apostle telleth the Corinthians that hee had laid the foundation amongst them and that others did but builde vpon his beginninges and that although they had tenne thousand maisters in Christ yet had they not many fathers for in Christ Iesus hee had begotten them through the gospell Wherfore he requireth them in equity to be followers of him because they were his building and children and he had a right in their consciences which other men coulde not challendge Novv this vvas a tree wherein Ionas bestowed no labour nec arans nec serens nec rigans neither in preparing the ground nor in setting nor in dressing it was not his worke whereas the Ninivites were Gods creatures neither belonged that to his tuition or chardge to see it preserved whereas that people had evermore lived vnder Gods providence 6. If the continuance and diuturnity of time had bred any liking in Ionas towards the gourd because we coÌ„monly loue those things wherwith we are acquainted his passion might the better haue bene tolerated Nathan doth the rather amplifie the fault of David in taking away the poore mans sheepe because he had had bought it and nourished it vp and it grew vp with him and vvith his children Length of time commendeth many things It commendeth vvine vvee say the olde is better It commendeth wisedome Counsaile must be handled by the aged speres by the young It commendeth truth Id verius quod prius The first is truest It commendeth custome thou shalt not remoue the auncâ—ent boundes which thy fathers haue set It commendeth friendshippe thine owne friend and thy fathers friend forsake thou not forsake not an olde friend for a new will not bee like vnto him It commendeth service in the fielde dost thou despise the souldiours of thy father Philippe saith Clytus to Alexander and hast thou forgotten that vnlesse this olde Atharias had called backe the young men when they refused to fight wee had yet stucke at Halicarnassus Lastly it commendeth our dwellinge places possessions Barzillai telleth David vvho vvoulde faigne haue drawne him alonge vvith him I am foure-skore yearee olde let mee returne to mine ovvne citâ—ye and be buryed in the graue of my father and mother And Naboâ—h telleth Ahab the Lorde keepe me from giving the inheritance of my father vnto thee It would somwhat more haue commended the gourd if Ionas had long enioyed the vse thereof which he did not it was but the child of a night both in rising and falling sodainely sprung vp and sodainely dead againe So there is neither price in it because it is but a gourd nor propriety because he had not laboured for it nor prescription of long acquaintance because it was soone dead Now that which is set against the gourd on the other side is by name Niniveh by forme a citty by quantity a great citty and shall not I spare Niniveh that great citty Niniveh at this time the heade of Assiria the fame and bruite wherof filleth the world and holdeth the people in awe by reason of her soveraigne government Niniveh no villadge or hamlet of the East but a citty that had walles gates for so is the nature of a citty described we haue a strong citty salvation shall God set for our walles and bulwarks Esay 26. and the people wherof are inclosed within orders and lawes as the buildinges within fences Niniveh no small citty in Assiria as Bethlehem was in Iudah or as the litle city of Zoar which Lot fled into but a lardge and spacious citty in circuite of ground but for the number of inhabitants most populous and abundant Now the greater the place is the
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
to our cities and townes barres to our houses a surer cover to our heads than an helmet of steele a better receite to our bodies than the confection of Apothecaries a better receite to our soules than the pardons of Rome is Salus Iehovae the salvation of the Lord. The salvation of the Lord blesseth preserveth vpholdeth all that we have our basket and our store the oile in our cruises our presses the sheepe in our folds our stalles the children in the wombe at our tables the corne in our fieldes our stores our garners it is not the vertue of the stars nor nature of the things themselves that giveth being continuance to any of these blessings And what shall I more say as the apostle asked Hebr. 11. when he had spoken much and there was much more behind but that time failed him Rather what should I not say for the world is my theatre at this time and I neither thinke nor can feigne to my selfe any thinge that hath not dependaunce vpon this acclamation Salvation is the Lordes Plutarcke writeth that the Amphictyones in Greece a famous counsell assembled of twelve sundrie people wrote vpon the temple of Apollo Pythius in steede of the Iliades of Homer or songes of Pindarus large and tyring discourses shorte sentences and memoratives as Know thy selfe Vse moderation Beware of suretishippe and the like And doubtlesse though every creature in the world whereof we haue vse be a treatise and narration vnto vs of the goodnesse of God and wee might weary our flesh and spend our daies in writing bookes of that vnexplicable subiect yet this short apopthegme of Ionas compreheÌ„deth all the rest and standeth at the ende of the songue as the altars and stones that the Patriarkes set vp at the partinge of the waies to giue knowledge to the after-worlde by what meanes hee was delivered I would it were dayly preached in our temples sunge in our streetes written vpon our dore-postes painted vppon our walles or rather cut with an admant claw vpon the tables of our hearts that wee might never forget Salvation to bee the Lordes wee haue neede of such remembrances to keepe vs in practise of revolvinge the mercies of God For nothinge decayeth sooner than loue And of all the powers of the soule memorye is most delicate tender and brittle and first waxeth olde and of all the apprehensions of memory first a benefite To seeke no further for the proofe and manifestation of this sentence within our coastes I may say as our Saviour in the nineteenth of Luke to Zacheus This day is salvation come vnto this house Even this day my brethren came the salvation of the LORDE to this house of David to the house of this Kingdome to the houses of Israell and Aaron people and priestehode church and common wealth I helde it an especiall parte of my duety amongst the rest the day invitinge and your expectation callinge mee thereunto and no text of mercy and salvation impertinent to that purpose to correcte and stirre vp my selfe with those fowre lepers that came to the spoile of the Syrian tentes I doe not well this day is a day of good tidinges and shoulde I holde my peace let the leprosie of those men cleaâ—e vnto my skinne if it bee not as ioyfull a thinge vnto mee to speake of the honour of this day as ever it vvas to them to carrye the happye nevves of the flight of Aram. It is the birth-day of our countrey It vvas deade before and the verye soule of it quite departed Sound religion which is the life of a kingdome was abandoned faith exiled the gospell of Christ driven into corners and hunted beyond the seas All these fell with the fall of an honorable and renowned plante which as the first flowre of the figtree in the prime and bloominge of his age was translated into heaven they rose againe with the rising and advancement of our gracious Lady and Soveraigne Were I as able as vvillinge to procure solemnitye to the day I would take the course that David did I would begin at heaven and call the Angelles and armieâ— thereof the sunne moone and starres I woulde descend by the aire and call the fire haile and snow vapours and stormy windes I would enter into the sea and call for dragons and all deepes I woulde ende in the earth and call for the mountaines and hilles fruitfull trees and cedars beastes and all cattell creeping thinges and feathered fowles Kinges of the earth and all people Princes Iudges yonge men and maidens olde men and children to lend their harmony and accord vnto vs to praise the name of the Lorde to accompany and adorne the triumph of our land and to showte into heaven with no other cry than this salus Iehovae salvation is only from the Lord by whome the horne of this people hath so mightily bene exalted O happy English if wee knew our good if that roiall vessell of gold wherein the salvation of the Lorde hath bene sent vnto vs were as precious and deare in our accounte as it rightly deserveth Her particular commendations common to her sacred person not with many princes I examine not Let it bee one amongst a thousand which Bernard gaue to a widowe Queene of Ierusalem and serveth more iustly to the maiden Queene of England that it was no lesse glory vnto her to liue a widowe havinge the worlde at will and beinge to sway a kingdome which required the helpe of an husband than a Queene The one saith he Came to thee by succession the other by vertue the one by descent of bloude thâ— other by the gift of God the one it was thy happinesse to bee borne the other thy manlinesse to haue atteined vnto a double honour the one towardes the worlde the other towardes God both from God Her wisedome as the wisedome of an Angell of the Lorde so spake the widowe sometimes to David fitter for an Angell than my selfe to speake of her knowledge in the tongues and liberall learninge in all the liberall sciences that in a famous Vniversitie amongst the learnedest men shee hath bene able not onely to heare and vnderstand which were somethinge but to speake perswade decide like a graduate oratour professour and in the highest court of parliameÌ„t hath not onely sitten amongst the peeres of her realme and delivered her minde maiestate manus by some bodily gesture in signe of assent but given her counsaile and iudgemente not inferiour to any and her selfe by her selfe hath aunswered the embassadours of severall nations in their severall languages with other excellent graces beseeming the state of a prince though they best know on whose hande shee leaâ—eth and that are nearest in attendaÌ„ce and observance about her maiesty yet if any man bee ignorant of let him aske of strangers abroade into whose eares fame hath bruited and blowne her vertues and done no more but right in giving such giftes vnto her
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