from the 8. verse their turning from their evill waies and from the wickednesse of their handes which some expound of restitution wee shall see that they went from fasting and sackcloth to that which was more then both The persons are as rightly placed For they humble themselues from the greatest of them to the least of them which declareth not onely an vniversall consent that there was but one heart one soule one faith one fâ—st one attire amongst them all but that the king began the people were led by him and that olde menne gaue example to the younge parents to their children Lastly according to the wordes of the Psalme I beleeved therefore haue I spoken no sooner had they holde of faith in their heartes but their tongues are presently exercised nay their pens set one worke not onely to speake but to speake publiquely to speake vpon the house toppes by open proclamation that all might vnderstande and it is probable enough from the 7. verse that ill the proclamation was heard for order and obedience sake they did nothing More particularly 1. the radicall and fundamentall action wherewith they begin is faith 2. the obiect of that faith God 3. the effectes and fruites of their faith abstinence from tvvo vices the slaunder and reproch whereof Asia was famously subiect vnto 4. their generality in that abstinence 5. their warrant and commission for so doing by the edicte of the King I reserve to an other place So the people of Niniveh beleeved God When Ahiiah the prophet told Ieroboam that God shoulde raise vp a king in Israell to destroy his house not to leaue him in hope that the time was far off remooved hee correcteth himselfe with sudden and quicke demaunde and maketh the aunswere vnto it What yea euen now Did I saye hee shoulde nay it is already done So soone as the worde was gone from the mouth of Ionas yet 40. daies and Niniveh shall bee destroied vvithout pawsing and resting vpon the matter they beleeved God What yea even now It vvas so speedily done that almost it was lesse then imagination It is very straunge that a Gentile nation vvhich vvere ever alâ—ants from the common wealth of Israell and straungers from the covenants of promise should so soone be caught within these nettes For when prophets preach the mercies or iudgments of God so fatte are the eares and vncapable the hearts of the incredulous vvorlde much more when God is a straunger amongst them that they may preach amongst the rest as Esay did who hath beleeved our report or to whome is the arme of the Lord revealed either the gospell which is his power to salvation to them that beleeue or the lawe which is his rod of iron to crush them in pieces that transgresse it Rather as it is in Habbaccuk they will behold amongst the heathen and regarde and wonder and mervaile they vvill lend their eies to gaze their tongues to talke but with all they will despise and lightly esteeme all that is saide vnto them Beholde yee despisers and wonder at your vnbeliefe you that wonder so much yet despise For I will worke a worke in your daies saith the Lord yee will not beleeue it though it be told you The Lord vvill worke it prophets declare it and yet the people beleeue not Nay their manner of deriding and insulting at the iudgments of God is let him make speede let him hasten his worke that wee may see it and let the counsaile of the holy one draw neare and come that wee may know it And sometimes they plainely deny the Lorde and all his iudgements saying It is not hee neither shall the plague come vpon vs neither shall wee see sworde or famine And as for his prophets they are but wind and the word is not in them Moses and Aaron preached vnto Pharo not onely in the name of the Lord and with kinde exhortations let my people goe nor onely by threates and sentences of iudgement but by apparant plagues the effectuallest preachers that might bee by the tongues of frogges lice flies grashoppers of morraine botches darkenesse haile-stones bloud and death it selfe could not all these mooue him No but the first time hee returned into his house and hardened his heart and the second When he saw he had rest he hardned his heart againe and the thirde time his heart remained obstinate and likewise the fourth though Moses gaue him warning let not Pharaoh from hence-forth deceiue mee any more and so hee continued to his dying day building vp hardnesse of heart as high as ever Babell vvas intended even vp into heaven by denying and defying the God thereof till hee quite overthrew him in the red sea What shall vvee say to this but as the apostle doth All men haue not faith God sent his patriaâ—kes in the ancienter ages of the vvorlde and founde not faith sent his prophetes in a later generation and founde not faith Last of all sent his sonne a man approoved to the vvorlde and approoving his doctrine with great vvorkes and vvonders and signes and founde not faith and vvhen the sonne of man commeth againe shall hee finde faith on the earth So contrary it is to the nature of man to beleeue any thing that custome and experience hath not invred him with or may be coÌ„prehended by discourse of reason Yet this people of Niniveh having received you heare but one prophet and from that one prophet one sentence and but in one part of the citty skattered and sowen amongst them presently beleeved as if the Lord from heaven had thrust his fingers into their eares and hartes and by a miracle set them open It rather seemeth to haue beene faith of credulity which is heere mentioned yeelding assent to the truth of the prophecie then faith of affiance coÌ„fidence taking hold of mercy That is they first apprehend God in the faithfulnes of his word they knowe him to be a God that cannot lie they suspect not the prophet distrust not the message assuring themselues as certainly as that they liue that the iudgment shall fall vpon them without the iudges dâ—spensation Notvvithstanding there to haue staied without tasting some sweetenes of the mercy of God had ben little to their harts ease The devils beleeue and tremble They are reserved to the iudgment of the great daie and they keepe a kalender that they are reserved For they neither see nor heare of Iesus of Nazareth the iudge of the quicke and dead Angels and men death and hell but they are inwardly afflicted and aske why hee is come to vexe them before the time And surely to beleeue the truth of God in his iustice without aspect and application of mercy to teÌ„per it to consider nothing in that infinit supreme maiestie but that he is fortis vltor dominus the Lorde a strong revenger reddens retribuet hee that recompenceth will
I to doe with thee get thee to the Prophets of thy father and to the prophets of thy mother c. see his further protestation Had he nothing to doe with the king when the king had so much to doe with him did hee not feare the wrath of the Lyon who could haue said to the basest minister that ate the salte of his courte take his head from his shoulders and hee would haue taken it But his commission was his brazen wall to secure him and that Iehoshaphat the King of Iuda witnessed saying The word of the Lord is with him This is the fortres and rocke that Ieremy standeth vpon before the priests prophets and people of Iuda If ye put me to death ye shall bring innocent bloud vpon your selues for of a truth the Lord hath sent me vnto you to speake all these words in your eares Yea the princes and people vpon that ground made his apologie This man is not worthy to die for he hath spoken vnto vs in the name of the Lord our God To spare my paines in examples fearefull are the woes and not milder then wormewoode and the water of gall for vnder these tearmes I finde them shadowed but shadowed by the prophets which he denounceth in the course of that prophecie against false prophets that spake the visions of their owne harts and said The Lord said thus and thus that were not sent yet ran were not spoken vnto yet prophecied that cryed I haue dreamed I haue dreamed when they were but dreames indeede They are given to vnderstand that their sweete tongues will bring them a sowre recōpense and that the Lord will come against them for their lies flatteries chaffe stealth of his worde as they are tearmed and other such impieties Their cuppe is tempered by Ezechiel with no lesse bitternesse for follovving their ovvne spirites playing the foxes seeing of vanity divining of lies building and daubing vp vvalles with vntempered morter The heade and foote of their curse are both full of vnhappinesse Their first entertainement is a vvoe Vae prophetis and their farevvell an Anathema a cursed excommunication They shall not be accompted in the assembly of my people neither shall they be written in the writings of the house of Isarell To ende this pointe let their commission bee vvell scanned that come from the Seminaries of Rome and Rhemes to sovve seedes in this fielde of ours vvhether as Ionas had a vvoorde for Niniveh so these for Englande and other nations yea or no whether from the Lord for that they pretend as Ehud did to Eglon or from Balaak of Rome who hath hired them to curse the people of God whether to cry openly against sinne or to lay their mouthes in the dust and to murmure rebellion whether of zeale to the God of the Hebrewes or to the greate idoll of the Romanes as they to the greate Diana of the Ephesians to continue their crafte as Demetrius there did and lest their state shoulde bee subverted whether to come like prophets vvith their open faces or in disguised attire strange apparrell in regarde of their profession a rough garment to deceaue with as the false prophet in Zachary whether their sweete tongues haue not the venime of Aspes vnder them and in their colourable and plausible notes of peace peace there bee any peace either to the vveale publike amidst their nefarious and bloudie conspiracies or to the private conscience of any man in his reconciliation to their vnreconciled church formall and counterfeite absolution of sinnes hearing or rather seeing histrionicall masses visitinge the shrines and reliques of the deade numbering of Pater nosters invocation of saintes adoration of images and a thousand such forgeries whether they builde vp the walles of GODS house with the well tempered morter of his vvritten ordinances or daube vp the vvalles of their Antichristian synagogue vvith the vntempered morter of vnvvritten traditions vvhether they come Embassadours from GOD and in steede of Christ seeke a reconciliation beetweene GOD and vs and not rather to set the marke of the beaste in our foreheades to make vs their Proselytes and the children of errour as deepelye as themselues If this bee the vvoorde they bringe a dispensation from a forreigne povver to resiste the povvers that GOD hath ordeined and in steede of planting faith and allegiance to sovve sedition and not to convert our countrey to the trueth but to subvert the pollycie and state heereof to poyson our soules and to digge graues for our bodies against their expected day to invade the Dominions alienate the crovvnes assaulte the liues of lavvefull and naturall princes to blovve the trumpet of Sheba in our lande yee haue no parte in David nor inheritance in the sonne of Ishai no parte in Elizabeth nor inheritance in the daughter of Kinge Henrye everye man to your tentes O Englande let them reape the vvages of false Prophets even to the death as the lavve hath designed and let that eye vvant sight that pittieth them and that hart bee destitute of comfortes that crieth at their downefall Alas for those men Their bloudy and peremptory practises call for greater torture then they vsually endure and deserue that their flesh should be grated and their bones rent asunder vvith sawes and harrowes of yron as Rabbah was dealt with for their traiterous and vnnaturall stratagemes I know they iustifie their cause and calling as if innocency it selfe came to the barre to pleade her vprightnesse and they are vvilling to make the vvorlde beleeue that they come amongst their ovvne people and nation not onelie lambes amongst vvolues but lambes of the meekest spirite amongst vvolues of the fiercest disposition vvhose delighte is in bloudsheade making vs odious for more then Scythian cruelty as farre as our names are hearde of and stretching the ioyntes of our English persecutions vppon the racke of excessiue speech more then ever they felte in the ioyntes of their ovvne bodyes They remember not the meane-vvhile hovve much more iustlye they fill the mouthes of men vvith argumentes against themselues for raysing a farre sorer persecution then they haue cause to complaine of They persecute the libertie of the Gospell amongst vs and labour to bringe it into bondes againe they persecute our peace and tranquillitye vvhich by a prescription of manye yeares vvee beginne to challenge for our ovvne they persecute the VVOMAN with the crowne vppon her head whome they haue wished and watched to destroy and longe agoe had they vndonne her life but that a cunning hande aboue hath bounde it vp in the boundell of life and enclosed it in a maze of his mercyes past their finding out vvhome because they coulde not reach vvith their hande of mischiefe they haue soughte to overtake vvith floudes of vvaters floudes of excommunications floudes of intestine rebellions forreigne invasions practised conspiracies imprinted defamatory libels that one waye or other they might doe her harme So
yet be more vile and low in our owne eies and rather than these names shall die and be out of vse we will weare them vpon our garments and if you were sparing to yeeld them vnto vs we would desire you for Christes sake and as you tender our credite not to tearme vs otherwise The Iewes who thought they mocked Christ vvhen they bowed their knees and cried Haile king of the Iewes they knew not vvhat they did they did him an honour and favour against their willes for he was king of the Iewes and of the Gentiles also whatsoever their meaning is who thinke to nicke-name vs by obiecting these names which we will leaue to the censuring of the righteous Iudge in heaven vve embrace them honour them and heartily thanke God for them and desire that they may be read and published in the eares of the world as the most glorious titles of our commission The Angelles of God are ministring spirites and sent forth to minister for the elects sake Christ Iesus himselfe came to minister not to bee ministred vnto We will therefore say as the Apostle said 2. Cor. 11. Ministri sunt plus ego Are Christ and his Angels and all the Apostles of Christ ministers we speake like fooles in the deeming of the world we also will be ministers of the gospell and if it were possible we would bee more than ministers O honourable ministerie what government rule and dominion is it not superiour vnto I conclude with the same Apostle though I shoulde boast somevvhat more of our authoritie vvhich is given vnto vs for edification and not for destruction I shoulde haue no shame By this discourse it may appeare vnto you if this were a motiue in the minde of Ionas as some both Iewes and Christians conceiue how grievous it seemed vnto him to be held in iealousie for deceipt in his calling that any in the world should be able iustly to taxe him for a false prophet and one that prophecied lies in the name of GOD. Notwithstanding the matter is quickely aunswered For whatsoever the event had beene the voice of the Lorde was in reason to haue beene obeyed 1. It was no new thing to be so accompted of it was the portion of Moses and Samuell and Elias before him and thence-forth as many as ever spake vnto the daies of Iohn Baptist which came with the spirit of Elias they haue drunke of the same cuppe and not onely the servauntes but the sonne and heire hath beene dealt with in like manner A Prophet is not without honour saue in his owne countrey Ionas might haue said to himselfe as Elias in another case I am no better than my fathers Thus were we borne and ordained to approoue our selues in all kinde of patience by honour and dishonour by good reporte and evill reporte as deceavers and yet beholde vvee are true and deceiue not The world was never more fortunate for prophets than thus to reward them flatterers may breake the heades of men with their smooth oiles but the woundes that prophets giue haue never escaped the hardest iudgements 2. Why should Ionas feare the opinion of men his duty being done the very conscience of his fact simply and truely performed would haue beene a towre of defence and a castle vnto him It is a verie small thinge for me to be iudged of you or of mans iudgemente for I knowe nothinge by my selfe c. Hee doth not say It is nothing vnto mee but it is a very small thing I esteeme my name somevvhat but I stande more vpon my conscience This is our reioycing the testimony of our conscience that in simplicitie and puritie vvee haue beene conversant in the vvorlde VVhen the princes had given sentence vpon Ieremy this man is vvorthie to die hee aunswered them the Lorde hath sent mee to prophecy against this house therefore amende your vvaies that the Lorde may repente him of the plague vvhich hee hath pronounced against you as for mee beholde I am in your handes doe vvith mee as you please but knovve yee for certainty that if you put mee to death you shall bring innocent bloude vpon your selues for of a trueth the Lorde hath sent mee vnto you to speake all these wordes in your eares This is the brasen wall the soundnes of the cause and the assurance of the conscience which all the malignant tongues cannot pearse through Let the worlde be offended with vs in these latest and sinnefullest times because the tenour of our message is either to sharpe or to sweete to hote or to colde for it can hardelie bee such as may please this way-warde wotld let Satan accuse vs before God and man daie and night yet if wee can say for our selues as the Apostle did Rom. 9. Wee speake the trueth in Christ wee lie not our consciences bearing vs witnes in the holy Ghost who is not onlye the witnesse but the guide and inspirer of our consciences it is a greater recompence than if al the kingdomes of the earth were given vnto vs. 3. He coulde not bee ignoraunt that the truth of God mighte stande though the event followed not because many of the iudgementes of God as I haue else-where said are denoūced with condition In the place of Ieremy before mentioned when the priestes and people so greedily thirsted after his death some of the elders stoode vp and spake to the assembly in this sort Micah the Morashite prophecied in the daies of Hezekiah king of Iuda saying thus saith the Lord of hostes Sion shal bee ploughed like a fielde c. Did Hezekiah put him to death did hee not rather feare the Lorde and prayed before the Lorde and the Lorde repented him of the plague thus vvee mighte procure greate evill against our selues You know the collection those elders make that the iudgement vvas conditional and vpon their vnfeigned repentaunce mighte bee otherwise interpreted Thus much Ionas vvas not to learne for why did he knovv that God vvas a mercifull God but to shew the effects of mercy and the Ninivites themselues had an happye presumption thereof as appeareth by their former speech 4. He was not to stay longe in Assyria if hee had suspected their suspicions Lastly there was no such thinge to bee feared for by that publique acte of conversion which all the orders and states of the citty agreed vpon it is manifest that they received the preaching of Ionas as the oracle of almightie God they beleeved God and his Prophet as the children of Israell 1. Sam. 12. feared the Lorde and Samuell exceedinglie For what greater argument touching their good and reverente opinion of Ionas coulde they giue than their speedy and hearty repentance whereby they assured him that they esteemed not his vvorde as a fable or as a iestinge songe but as a man sent from God and fallen downe from heaven bringing a two edged sworde in his lippes either to kill or to saue so they received him And
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
him 4. He heareth of a great city of a wearisome peraÌ„bulation asking the travell of 3. whole daies but he saveth the labor of his feete goeth into a litle vessel travelleth by sea a far easier iourney 5. He is bidden to cry but he is so far from making any noise that al the clamour and noise of the marriners could not awake him stir him vp 6. He heareth that the wickednesse of Niniveh is come vp before the presence of the Lorde notwithstanding hee feareth not to mocke and abuse the presence of the same Lord neither despaireth he to avoide it There is nothing in all these but stubbornes and rebellion which is as kindly to man as the flesh and bones that he beareth about him Amongst the other plants in the garden of EdeÌ„ not far froÌ„ the goodliest trees of life knowledge grew the bitter roote of disobedience which our forfathers no sooner had tasted but it infected their bloud and the corrupt nutriment thereof converted it selfe into the whole body of their succeding linage The breasts of Eue gaue no other milke then perversnesse to her children and Adam left it for a patrimony and inheritance vnto all his posterity Though God had precisely said Of the tree of knowledge of good and evill thou shalt not eate for in the daye that tâ—ou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death though there were no comparison betweene their maker and a murtherer froÌ„ the beginning the father of truth and the father of lies a God and a divell and the one had forbidden but one tree and fenced it as it were with a double hedge of a two-fold death yet when the serpeÌ„t came to the woman with a meere contradiction to the voice of God yee shall not die the death how credulous and forwarde was shee to entertaine his suggestion Moses proved to the children of Israel in the 9. of Deuteronomy by a perfect induction that there was nothing but rebellion in them Remember and forget not saith he how thou provokedst the Lord thy God to anger in the wildernesse also in Horeb afterwardes in Taberah and in Massah and at the graues of lust likewise when the Lord sent you from Cadesh Barnea c. At length hee concludeth yee yaue beene rebellious vnto the Lorde since the day that I knevve you And God pronounceth of the same people in the fourth of Num. that though they had seene his glory and the miracles which he did in Aegypt and in the wildernesse yet they had tempted him ten times and had not obeyed his voice In the 17. of the same booke the Lord gaue commaÌ„demeÌ„t vnto Moses that Aarons rod which budded for the house of Levi when the other rods budded not should be kept in the arke for a monumeÌ„t of their murmurings rebellions forepassed To forbeare infinite other testimonies the whole world may bee the arke to keepe the monumentes of their and our disobedience it is so common to vs both when we are willed to aske for the old way which is the good way to answere wee will not walke therein when the watchmen cry vnto vs take heede to the sounde of the trumpet to answere wee will not take heede when wisedome crieth abroade and vttereth her voice in the streetes O yee foolish how long will yee learne foolishnesse c. to despise her counsell and to make a Skorne of her correction What worke of our handes bewrayeth not this malice vvhat word of our mouthes speaketh not perverse thinges almost what thought of our heartes kicketh not against the prickes of Gods sacred commaundementes and desperatelye adventureth her selfe vpon the point of his sharpe curse O that our waies were made so direct that wee might keepe his statutes then shoulde wee never bee confounded whilst wee had respect vnto all his commaundementes It is a question made by some though I make no question of it vvhether this detraction and refusall of Ionas vvere a faulte yea or no Dionysius Carthusianus vpon this place doeth partly excuse it I thinke it farre from excuse fot doubtlesse the voice of GOD is the first ruâ—e and rudimentes of all Christian instruction the first stone to bee laide in the whole building that cloud by day that piller of fire by night vvhereby all our actions are to bee guided Paule in his marveilous conversion desired no other lighte and load-starre to bee governed by but the vvill and vvorde of his Saviour Lorde what wilt thou haue mee doe The verie Prophet of Moab vvoulde not departe from this standarde for vvhen Balaac by his messengers sent him worde that hee woulde promote him and God did but keepe him backe from honour hee made this answere vnto him If Balaac woulde giue mee this house full of silver and golde I cannot passe the commaundement of the LORD to doe either good or badde of mine owne minde what the Lorde shall commaunde that same will I speake Hee had saide before to the king in person Loe i am come vnto thee and can I nowe saye anye thinge at all the worde that GOD putteth in my mouth that shall I speake The vvordes of Samuel to Saule determine the doubt and make it as plaine as the light at noone day that the fact of Ionas here committed was an vnexcusable offence Beholde saith hee to obey is better then sacrifice and to harken is better then the fat of rammes For rebellion is as the sinne of witchcraft and transgression is wickednes and idolatrie It followeth in the next wordes Because thou hast cast away the worde of the Lord therefore he hath cast away thee from being King You heare the nature of these two contraries Obedience and Disobedience kindly disciphered the one to be better then sacrifice for he that offereth a sacrifice offereth the flesh of a beast but he that obeyeth offereth his owne will as a quicke and a reasonable sacrifice which is all in all the other to be as witchcraft and idolatrie for what is disobedience but when the Lord hath imposed some duety vpon vs wee conferre with our owne hearts as Saul consulted with the woman of Endor or Ahaziah Kinge of Samaria with the God of Eckron Belzebub whether the word of the Lord shal be harkened to yea or no Thus we set vp an idol within our own breasts against the God of heaveÌ„ forsaking his testimonies we follow the voice and perswasion of our owne devises Bernard alluding to this place before recited writeth thus The children of disobedience make their will their Idoll Hee addeth for further explication that it is one thing not to obey an other thing to purpose and prepense disobedience Neither is it the simple transgression of Gods commandement but the proud wilfull contempt of his will which is reputed the sin of idolatry And surely I see no reason they haue to conceale the infirmity of Ionas herein when Ionas himselfe if I mistake not the meaning
will not say what a shame it is to Ionas that he which was apointed a watch-man vnto others should himselfe be awaked nor how much the greater reproch to be condemned by an heathen who himselfe was condemned by the sentence of the Hebrewes for an vncircumcised common and vncleane person But me thinketh I see an image in the ship-master of a good governour who is not content alone himselfe to take paines which was the complainte of Nehemias that the greate men of the Tekoites put not their necke to the vvorke but so ordereth the rest of his company as the head and hart copartners in the kingdome or one the king the other the vice-roy the members of the body that there is not a man amongst them suffered to sit at rest and do nothing The care of a governour over his charge is no way better expressed then by the phrases which the scripture hath vsed For therefore is he said to go in and out before the people to note not onely the priority of his place but the prudency of vertue every way to lead them as a shepheard his sheepe on whome their dependance standeth both for the safegard of their liues and estate and their provision otherwise To forbeare other proofes herein Moses nameth both at once in that serious request of his which after the knowledge of his death given hee made to the Lorde for substitution of some other in his roume Let the Lorde God of the spirites of all fleshe apointe a man over the congregation who maie goe in and out before them and both leade them forth and bring them home againe and that the congregation of the Lorde bee not as sheepe without a shephearde It appeareth by a former speech by him vttered that hee vvas not onelye charged vvith them as a leader with his follovvers or a shephearde vvith his sheepe but as a father mother or nurse vvith his children and sucking babes Else vvhy did hee aske his maker in tearmes of most naturall reference haue I conceaved all this people or haue I begotten them that thou shouldest say vnto mee carrie them in thy bosome as a nurse beareth her sucking childe Let masters and magistrates learne by this speech that when they are put in authoritye they receiue as it vvere a role from the Lorde like the role of Ezechiell vvherein their duties are abridged and summed vp in this shorte sentence carrie them in thy bosome For as a writing received immediately from the mouth of God so doth Moses set it downe or as if there had past some interlocution betwixte God and him as much as to say let them bee tender and deare vnto thine affection let them bee vnder thine eye and neare thine hearte that they perish not pittie their miseries redresse their wrongs releiue their wants reforme their errors prevent their mishaps procure their welfare and peace by all good meanes It is an art of artes and science of sciences to rule man and they are magistrates indeed which haue the knowledge and skill that belongeth to magistrates which haue oculum cum sceptro by which Embleme the AEgyptians figured their governments a scepter for iurisdiction and power an eie for watchfulnes and discretion For if they interpret their callings aright they haue not the bondage service of the people so much as the tutage of them Neither is the common wealth theirs to vse as they list but they the common wealths What meant Clem. Alexandrinus in his fiction that he citeth out of Plato that the former of all things hath mingled gold with the complexion and temperature of princes of their subordinate helpers and assessors silver but in the constitutions of husbandmen and artificers brasse and yron but that the excellentest roumes should be furnished with the excellentest giftes and as for meaner callings they were sufficiently sped if they had common and ordinary qualities Sedes prima vita ima saith Bernard the highest place and basest life agree not and the ancient proverbe agreeth here vnto Rex fatuus in solio simia in tecto a foolish king in a throne is an ape vpon the house top highly pearched but absurdly conditioned The example of good governors we know is of great force to draw the harts of the people after them their proclamations and edicts are not so availeable to perswade as their maÌ„ners Confessor papa Confessor populus saith CypriaÌ„ to Cornelius Bishop of Rome where the prelate or pastour is confessour of the name of Christ his people will confesse it also When Shemaiah councelled Nehemias to flie into the temple and shut the doores because his enemies would that night come to slay him he drew an argument of courage and magnanimity from the preheminence of his office and withstood his perswasion Should such a man as I slee who is he that being as I am woulde goe into the temple to liue I will not goe in Where an harte leadeth the armye though it consist wholy of lyons hee maketh them all hâ—artes but vvhere a lyon is captaine over hartes hee turneth them all into lyons The feare of Nehemias beeing their prince and commaunder had beene enough to haue weakened the handes and heartes of all his flocke for thus they vvoulde haue reasoned against themselues Our leader is discomforted vnder vvhose shaddow vvee saide wee shall be safe VVhat a mischiefe it is to a common vvealth to bee encumbred with a foolish vntemperate ruler the wisest preacher of the earth next the sonne of God hath soundly defined in these wordes Woe to thee O land where thy king is a childe and thy princes eate in the morning vvhen they haue not wisedome to governe and rather follow those pleasures which accompanye the honour and royalty of Princes then the paines which their magistracy requireth Whereas on the other side the governement of an honourable and temperate magistrate bringeth singular blessinges with it Blessed art thou O land when thy king is the sonne of Nobles and thy princes eate in time for strength and not for drunkennes What are the stayes and strengthes of Ierusalem and Iudah cities and nations all publique and politique bodies Are not the strong man and the man of warre the Iudge and the prophet the prudent and the aged the captaine over fiftie the honourable and the counsellour and so forth And are not their ioyntes loosed and their sinewes taken away when that iudgement of God is fulfilled vpon them I will apointe children to bee their princes and babes shall rule over them Amongst those dreadfull curses which the prophet calleth from heaven against his malicious vnthankefull adversaries leaving no part vnexamined but running like oyle into every ioynte and bone of them smitinge themselues vviues children posteritie goods good names and memories that they leaue behinde them the first that leadeth them all the race as Iudas led that cursed band of souldiours is this set thou
flesh and bloude but against principalities and powers and vvorldly governours the princes of the darkenesse of this worlde against spirituall vvickednesses which are in high places Our enimies you see are furnished as enimies should be with strength in their handes and malice in their heartes besides all other gainefull advantages as that they are spirit against flesh privie and secret against that that is open high against that that is lowe and farre beneath them Now in this combate of our soules our faith is not onely our prize exercise and masteries which vvee are to prooue as it is called the good fighte of faith but a part of our armour which vvee are to weare our target to defend the place where the heart lieth Ephe. 6. our brest-plate 1. Thes. 5. and more then so For it is our victorie and conquest against the worlde of enimies So faith is all in all vnto vs. Blessed bee the Lorde for hee hath shewed his marveilous kindnes towards vs in a strong citty He hath set vs in a fortresse and bulwarke of faith so impregnable for strength that neither heighth nor depth life nor death thinges present nor things to come nor al the gates devils of hel nor the whole kingdome of darknesse can prevaile against it I grant there are many times whē this bulwarke is assaulted driven at with the fiery darts of the devill vvhen the conscience of our own infirmity is greater then the view of Gods mercy when the eie of faith is dim the eie of flesh and bloud too much open when the Lord seemeth to stand far of to hide himselfe in the needful time of trouble To be deafe and not to answere a word To hold his hād in his bosome not to pul it out whē this may be the bitter mone that we make vnto him My God my God why hast thou forsaken me and this our dolefull song which we sing to our souls in the night season will the Lord absent himselfe for ever wil he shew no more favor is his mercy cleane gone for euer doth his promise faile for euermore hath God forgottē to be gracious doth hee shut vp his mercies in displeasure Lord how long wilt thou hide thy selfe for ever and shall thy wrath burne like fire These be the dāgerous conflicts which the captaines of the Lordes armies and the most chosen children of his right hand sometimes endure The lyons themselues sometimes roare with such passions how shall the lambes but tremble if the soules of the perfite which haue beene fedde with the marrowe of fatnesse and drunke of the fulnesse of the cuppe haue sometimes fainted in themselues for want of such reliefe much more vnperfite and weake consciences which haue tasted but in part how gracious the Lord is I aunswere in a word The faithfull feare for a time but they gather their spirites againe and recover warmth at the sunne-shine of Gods mercies their feete are almost gone and their steppes well neere slipt but not altogither they finde in the sanctuary of the Lorde a proppe to keepe them vp at length they confesse against themselues This is my infirmity they curbe and reproue themselues for their diffidence and vvhatsoeuer they say in their haste that all men are lyars and perhappes God himselfe not true yet by leasure they repent it The Apostle doth pithily expresse my meaning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 staggering but not vvholy sticking Againe they feare the particular they distrust not the generall it may bee victorie on their sides it may be overthrowe it may be shipwracke it may be escape it may be life it may be death whether of these two they know not for both they are somewhat indifferent As when Shemei cursed David the speech that the king vsed for his comfort was this It may be the Lord will looke vpon my teares and doe mee good for his cursing this day As who would say if otherwise the care is taken I referre it to his wisedome Amos hath the like speech It may bee the Lorde God of Israell will bee mercifull to the remnante of Ioseph he meaneth in preventing their captivity But whether captivity or deliveraunce they are at peace as perswading themselues that if the mercy of God faile them in one thing it maie embrace them otherwise for they know that all thinges worke togither for the best to them that loue God as the Apostle writeth Though such be the hope of sonnes and daughters yet the case of straungers is otherwise For they are secure neither in particular nor in generall they measure all things by their sense and as the manner of brute beasts is consider but that which is before their feete and having not faith they want the evidence and demonstration of thinges that are not And therefore the master of the ship as I conceiue it knowing that life alone which belongeth to the earthly man perhaps not kenning the immortality of the soule or if hee thought it immortall by the light of reason in some sorte as the blinde man recovered savve men like trees vvith a shadowed and mistie light yet not knowing the state of the blessed setteth all the adventure vpon this one successe and maketh it the scope of all their praiers and paines Ne percamus That we perish not For such is the condition of heathen men they knowe not what death the righteous die as Balaam plainly distinguished it they are not translated like other men nor dissolved nor taken away nor gathered to their fathers and people nor fallen a sleepe which are the milde phrases of scripture whereby the rigour of death is tempered their life is not hid for a time to be founde out againe but vvhen they are deade in body they are deade in bodie and soule too their death is a perishing indeede they are lost and miscarried they come to nothinge their life their thoughtes their hope all is gone and vvhen others departe this life in peace as Simeon did and go as ripely and readily from this vale of miserye as apples fall from the tree with good contentation of heart and no way disquieted these as if they vvere giuen not lent to their liues must bee dravven and pulled away from them as beastes from their dennes vvith violence Hierome reporteth of Nepotians quiet and peaceable departure from his life Thou wouldest thinke that hee did not die but walke forth And Tertullian hath the like sentence It is but the taking of a iourney which thou deemest to be death Whereas the Emperour of Rome for want of better learning ignorant of the life to come sang a lamentable farewell to his best beloved nor long before they were sundred My fleeting fonde poore darling Bodies ghest and equall Where now must be thy lodging Pale and starke and stript of all And put from wonted sporting Compare with these wretched creatures some plainely denying 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
haue knowne it to turne from the holie commaundement given vnto vs. For where as the ende is the perfection of every thing the ende of the relapsed Christians is vvorse then their beginning There is scientia contristans a sorrowfull and wofull knowledge as Bernarde gathered out of the first of Ecclesiastes Hee that encreaseth knowledge encreaseth sorrow It is truest in this sense when wee are able and willing to say vvith the Pharisee are vvee also blinde and yet with our eies open vve runne into destruction The time shall come vvhen many shall say that you may knowe it is the case of a multitude to bee svvallovved into this gulfe Lorde vvee haue hearde thee in our streetes c. and yet their knowledge of Christ shall not gaine his knowledge of them but as straungers and reprobates they shal bee sent from him Our knowledge shall then bee vveighed to the smallest graine but if our holinesse of life put in the other plate of the ballance bee founde to lighte and vnanswerable vnto it our sorrowes shall make it vp Therefore vnlesse vve be still sicke of Adames disease that vvee had rather eate of the tree of knowledge then of the tree of life let vs be carefull of knowledge not only to sobriety but with profitte also that the fruit of a good life bringing eternity of daies to come may waite vpon it Blessed are those soules wherein the tree of syncere knowledge is rooted and the worme of security or contempt hath not eaten vp the fruit the Lord shall water them with the dew of heaven in this life and translate them hereafter as glorious renowned plantes into his heavenly garden THE XII LECTVRE Chap. 1. ver 10. Then were the men exceedinglie afraide and said vnto him why hast thou done this For the men knew that hee had fled from the presence of the Lord because he had told them BEcause the confession in the ninth verse is not so absolute as to aunswere all the questions which were propounded therefore the supply and perfection thereof must bee brought from this tenth wherein we vnderstande that the whole order summe of his disobedience was related albeit not described at large that being a prophet and sent vvith a message to Niniveh hee fled from the presence of the Lord that is cast his commaundementes behinde his backe The connexion then betwixt these two verses is this I am an Hebrew of the happiest people and country vnder heaven I am not ignorant of true religion For I feare the Lorde c. All which is by way of preface for amplifications sake the more to extende the fault mentioned in the words following yet am I fled from the presence of the Lorde I haue taken a froward and vnadvised course to frustrate his businesse With this addition you may shape an answere directly to every question 1. What is thine office shunning the face of God running from his presence contēpt of his voice 2. What is thine occupation not manuary and illiberall not fraudulent deceitfull but a calling immediate from God I stand in his sight as the Angels of heaven doe to heare my charge and when he giveth mee an errande my office is to performe it 3. Whence commest thou from the presence of the Lord from whose lips I received my late commission 4. What is thy country I am an Hebrew 5. Of what people the most scient skilfull in the service of God Thus haue you his whole confession Now he beginneth to be wise and with a prudent simplicity more worth then a thousande tergiversations to returne vnto him by confessing his fault from whome hee was fled by disobedience to recover his lost iustice by accusing himselfe to cast forth the impostumated matter of a dissembling conscience vvhich being concealed had beene presente death to honour the righteous Lorde whom hee had grossely dishonoured and by opening his lippes into an humble confession to shut the mouth of hell which began to open vpon him My sonne saith Iosuah to Achan I beseech thee giue glory to the Lorde God of Israell and make confession vnto him and shewe mee nowe what thou hast done hide it not from mee It is a part of the glory of God to shame our selues I meane to confesse our sinnes which in modesty and shamefastnes we striue to keepe close not onely vnto God against whom onely vvee haue sinned and to whom onlie it appertaineth to saie I haue pardoned I will not destroy but vnto men also either to the magistrate vvho hath authority to examine either to the minister who hath power to binde and loose either to our brethren generallie that the common rule of charity one in supporting the others infirmities may be kept in practise And it is on the other side an iniurie to God not to iustifie his iudgementes nor to acknowledge the conquest of his trueth when it hath prevailed but in a fullen and melancholy passion to strangle it vvithin our bones and never to yeelde the victorie therevnto till as the sunne from out the cloudes so trueth hath made her a way by maine force from out our dissimulations The first degree of felicitie is not to offend the seconde to knowe and acknowledge offences And as men dreame in their sleepe but tell their dreames waking so howsoever wee may sin by carelesnes yet it is an argument of health and recovery to confesse our sinnes For vvhat shal we gaine by dissembling them Wounds the closer they are kept the greater torture they bring sinnes not confessed will bring condemnation vpon vs without confession What followeth When Ionas had confessed his fault 1. They knewe it for his owne mouth hath condemned him They had a presumptuous knowledge before by the eviction of the lottes but now they are out of doubte by his owne declaration So the texte speaketh The men knew that hee had fled from the presence of the Lord because hee had tolde them 2. Their knowledge wrought a feare in them Then were the men exceedingly afraide 3. Their feare brake forth either into an increpation or a wonder at the least They saide why hast thou done this Their knowledge was consequent of force to his confession they could not but be privie therevnto because hee powred not his speech into the aire but into their eares that they might apprehend it But this knowledge of theirs was not a curious and idle knowledge such as those men haue who know onely to know but a pragmaticall knowledge full of labour and businesse it went from their eares to their heartes and made as greate a tempest in their consciences as the winde in the seas it mingled and confounded all their cogitations it kindled a feare within them that sundered their soules and spirites And though their feare before was vehement enough in the fifth verse when neither their tongues were at rest for crying nor their wares had peace from being cast out yet
iudged they goe to deliberate nay against the order and course of all iustice hee that is iudged must iudge and the transgressour determine vvhat shall bee done vnto him Put it to a murtherer a theefe or any the like malefactour when the fact is notorious convicted and confessed to make choise for himselfe what shall wee doe vnto thee what were hee likely to answere but to this effect let me liue I haue a further coniecture of their meaning at this time For Ionas presented vnto them a double person a sinner a fugitiue servaunt a rebell against the Lorde but vvithall a prophet one that is seene and skilled in the counsailes of the Almightie They knowe themselues ignoraunt and barbarous men for howsoever they might bee otherwise learned in the wisedome of Egypt and other Gentile knowledge yet they wanted that knowledge vvhereof the prophet speaketh they shall all be taught of God and they plainely perceaved by that vnaccustomed narration that Ionas delivered of a most soveraigne and dreadfull Lorde that there was some more excellent way vvhich they were not acquainted vvith Vpon the perswasion heereof they referre themselues to the vvisedome and integritie of Ionas Much like as the captaines of the host dealte vvith Ieremie The Lorde bee a vvitnesse of trueth and faithfulnesse betwixte vs if wee doe not accordinglie to all thinges for which the Lord thy GOD shall sende thee vnto vs whether it bee good or evill we will obey thy voice What shall wee doe vnto thee Exposuisti causam morbi indica sanitatis thou hast shewed the cause of thy maladie shew the meanes to cure it what shall vve doe vnto thee shall we kill thee thou fearest God shall wee saue thee thou flyest from God shall wee set thee to land againe shall wee make supplications shall wee offer sacrifice wee apoint thee our leader and guide in the whole disposition of this businesse And surely it is an admirable moderation of minde in a people so immoderate whom neither their country could soften because they were barbarous the seas could not choose but harden because they were marriners and the imminent daunger had reason to indurate congeale more than both these yet notwithstanding in an actioÌ„ so perplexe howsoever it fall out likely to proue perilous they like to doe nothinge with tumulte vvith popular confusion vvith raging and heady affections swelling in choller and boiling in rancour against the authour of their miseries but they will know from the mouth of the prophet vvhat the minde and pleasure of the Lorde is In auncient times God gaue his aunswere for decision of doubtes and difficulties after diverse manners Hee answered Moses face to face others by aungelles some by lottes some by VRIM and THVMMIM others by visions and dreames the event of their matters hath beene happy prosperous where the mouth of the Lorde was harkened vnto What vvas the reason that they erred so much in receaving the Gibeonites to mercie pretending a farre countrey olde bottles olde breaâ—e olde garments old shoes but because they accepted their tale concerning their vittailes and counselled not with the mouth of the Lorde In the prophecie of Esaie God pronounceth a peremptorie vvoe against his rebellious stubborne children that take counsell but not at him and seeke the protection and defence but not of his spirite and make hast to goe into Egypt to strengthen themselues with the strength of Pharaoh but haue not asked at his mouth It is noted of the religion of the Turkes that it is a false but a vvell ordered religion A professour of their law proclaimeth before they attempt any thing that nothing bee done against religion All the law-givers of the nations famous in their liues and generations bare their people in hand that they received their instructions from some Godhead Numa in Rome alleadged conference vvith AEgeria Solon in Athens with Minerva Lycurgus in Lacedaemon with Apollo Minos in Crete with Iupiter Charondas in Carthage with Saturne Osiris in AEgypt with Mercury Zamolxis in Scythia with Vesta their vvisedome and pollicie therein vvas this that they knew their people woulde sooner yeelde to the voice of God than man Moses in trueth and verity received tables of ordinaunces vpon the Mount written with the finger of God and he presumed therevpon that all the people about them woulde thinke surely this is a great nation c. Wee are taught here-hence that in our weightiest affaires either of warre or peace religion or pollicie vvhether wee take to mercie as Iosua did or enter league with forreiners as the Iewes with the AEgyptians either of life or death as is specified in that question touching Ionas wee decree nothing without the mouth of the Lord or at the least without the mouthes that speake from that mouth such as Moses had I vvill bee with thy mouth and the disciples of Christ It is not you that speake but the spirite of my father within you these must enforme vs by the lanterne and light of his holy worde what way is best to be followed It is a testimony without any exception to bee made vnto it and a confident assurance to our soules vvhen we are able to saie Adlegem testimonium ivimus Wee vvent to the lavve and testimonie of Almightye GOD and these vvee chose to conduct vs. There is yet a further matter to bee considered vvhich both the order of thinges precedent and the circumstaunces of the text now in hand mooue me to obserue For there are distinct persons heere named First the person of Ionas what shall wee doe veto thee secondly of the marriners that the sea may bee calme vnto vs thirdly of the sea for the sea vvent and was troublous 1. Ionas is guilty 2. the marriners are in ieopardy 3. the sea is angry And both the anger of the sea and their owne instant daungers are mightie and impulsiue argumentes to incense them against Ionas A proverbe they haue in friendship that the thigh is nearer to a man than his knee no man dearer to any man than himselfe or at the most 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 friendshippe is no more than an equalitie and if a friende be alter idem a seconde selfe it is as much as in reason hee can looke for Wee are not bound either by the lawe of nature written in the hearte or by the lawe of God written in tables to loue an other more than our selues Bernarde maketh a note vpon the order of our Saviours wordes to the women of IerusaleÌ„ weepe not for mee but for your selues and your children 1. for your selues 2. for your children And though in friendship they set a lawe of community 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 al things must be parted amoÌ„gst friends yet to depart from the life is no common thing A man will skarcely die for the righteous but for a good man and one that is profitable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See how warilie
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
they had no answere they cried lowde nay they cut themselues with kniues and launcers till the bloude flowed out so they prayed not only in teares but in bloud that they might be heard I would the children of the lighte vvere as zealous in their generations But rather let them receiue their lighte and directions for the framing of this holie exercise from the sunne of righteousnesse of vvhome the Apostle vvitnesseth that in the daies of his flesh hee offered vp praiers and supplications with strong crying and teares vnto him that vvas able to helpe him And the gospel further declareth not only that he kneeled at the naming of whose name all knees haue bowed both in heauen and earth and vnder the earth but that hee fell vpon the grounde the foote-stoole of his owne maiesty and laie vpon his face which never Angell behelde without reverence and when he had praied before he praied more earnestly as the scripture recordeth hee once praied and departed and a second time departed and yet a third time and departed evermore vsing the same petition his praier ascended by degrees like incense and perfume and not only his lips went but his agony and contention within was so vehement that an angell was sent from heaven to comfort him and whereas the Priestes of Baal vsed art to make them bleede cutting their flesh with launcers and kniues to that purpose he with the trouble of his soule swet a naturall or rather vnnaturall sweat like dâ—oppes of bloude trickling downe to the earth Wee when wee goe to praier as if our soules and tongues were straungers the one not weeting what the other doth the lippes babbling without and the hearte not pricked with any inwarde compunction honouring GOD with our mouthes and our spirites farre from him deserue to bee answered as hee answered the Iewes Esay 1. When you stretch foorth your handes I will hide mine eies from you and though you make many praiers I will not heare you The reason is there your hâ—ndes are full of bloud the reason to vs may be your heartes bleede not you call me Lord Lord but meane it not the alter is without fire praier without heate wordes without intention gesture of the body without the consent of the inwarde man They cried vnto the Lord. It is not lesse then a miracle that men so newely endued with the knowledge of God can so presently renounce their ancient idolles which they had ever served and within but few minutes of time most religiously adored they call vpon Iehovah that hidden and fearefull name which earst they had not knowne and neither the accustomed maner of their countries nor colour of antiquity nor want of experience in another Lorde nor the simple narration of one singular prophet nor any the like motions can holde them in awe of their former imaginary GODS and keepe them from invocation of the Lorde of hostes No reason can bee yeelded but this The winde bloweth where it lifteth and the spirite breatheth where it will and the mercy of God softneth vvhere his pleasure is It is a gifte from him alone who giveth the new hart and putteth the new spirit within a man who taketh the stony hart from him and giveth him an hearte of flesh in steede thereof who of the stones by the bankes of Iordan saith Iohn Baptist is able to raise vp children to Abraham daily doth raise vp children to himselfe to do him worship and service of those that were hardned in idolatry before like flintes in the streetes Turne vs O Lord and we shall be turned wash vs with cleane water and we shall be cleansed renue vs as the eagle her daies and we shall be renued gather thy chosen flocke from the mountaines and desertes wheâ—n they stray to fulfill thy fold and we shall be gathered say thou wilt sweepe thy house and finde thy groat and we shall be found Nature cannot make a newe birth entring into our mothers wombe againe is vnable to worke it the gold of Sheba and Seba cannot purchase it No man commeth to the sonne vnlesse the father drawe him and if the father haue once given him into his handes all the devils in hell cannot pull him out againe I make it the wisedome of him that praieth to levell his heart and affections at the very right center and marke of praier which is God alone hee is the sanctuary to whome we must flie the periode and scope in whome our requestes must end Praier and faith if the Apostle deceiue vs not must kisse each other howe shall they call on him in whome they haue not beleeved faith is the ground of praier First we beleeue and then speake so was the order of David Doe wee my brethren beleeue in Angels for that is the Apostles phrase howe shall they call on him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in whome or vpon whome they haue not beleeved We beleeue that there are Angels which the Sadduces denied And if an Angell should come from heaven vnto vs with a message from God as he came to Mary and others we would beleeue Angels that is giue credence vnto them as they did But if we beleeue in Angels we forget their place of ministration which they are apointed vnto and make them our Gods Much lesse beleeue we in the sonnes of men which are lesse than Angels Therefore the gleaning of these Marriners is more worth than the whole vintage of Rome who in a moment of time haue gathered more knowledge howe to informe their praiers aright than they in the decourse of many continued generations These pray to Iehovah the true subsisting God they not only to God but to Angels and men and stockes and stones and metalles and papers and I knowe not what It may be a challenge sufficient vnto them all to say no more that in so many praiers of both auncient and righteous patriarkes prophets Iudges kings registred in the booke of GOD and in an hundreth and fiftie Psalmes an hundreth whereof at least are praiers and supplications and in all the devout requestes that the Apostles of Christ and other his disciples sent into heaven if they take the pen of a writer and note from the beginning of Genesis to the end of the Revelation they cannot finde one directed to Cherub or Seraphin Gabriel or Raphael Abraham or Moses or Iohn Baptist after his death or any other creature in heaven or earth saue only to the Lord and his annointed Haue these all erred Even so will we and more sweete shall our errour be vnto vs with these of whome we make no question but that they are bounde vp in the bundell of life with the congregation of first-borne than a newe and recent devise of praier obtruded vnto vs by those who falsly suppose themselues to bee the pillers and staies of Gods militant church The 86. Psal. to giue you a little portion of foode to ruminate vpon as some
into the secretes of God But it is as true which the Apostle demandeth on the behalfe of the Lord Is there any iniquity with God far bee it Therefore they sinne a sinne which the darkest darkenesse in hell is too easie to requite who when they haue spilte the bloud of the innocent like water vpon the grounde defiled their neighbours bed troubled the earth and provoked heauen vvith many pernitious infamous mischiefes rapes robberies proditions burninges spoylings depopulations c. spewe out a blasphemy against righteousnesse it selfe countenauncing their sinnes by authoritie of him who hateth sinne and pleading that they haue done but the will of God in doing such outrages I knovv that the vvill of God though they had staves of yron in their handes and heartes to resist shall be done Vngracious vnwillinge and vnbeleevinge instrumentes shall doe that service to God which they dreame not of When God saith kill not and they contradict wee will kill even then though they violate the law of God yet is his will accomplished He hath hookes for the nostrelles and bridles for the chawes of the vvicked which they suppose not I will adde more Iudge yee vvhat I saie and the Lord giue you vnderstanding in all thinges He hath spurres for their flankes and sides which they neuer imagined Senacharib founde a bridle to stay him and an hooke to turne him backe Pharaoh had a spurre to driue him forwarde I vvill harden the heart of Pharaoh Exod. 4. and in many other places Let him alone let him take his pleasure and pastime but when he hath hardened his ovvne heart by malice then will I also harden it by iustice Thus the will of God is one way renounced and as sure as hee liveth and raigneth in heauen shall at the same time and in the same action some other way be perfourmed And yet are the men wicked though they do that which God would God most holy iust though he would that which the wicked do They beguile theÌ„selues heerein by a fallacy they are taken in their owne nets which they lay for an other purpose For thus they presume Hee that doth the will of God sinneth not true keepe the commandements honour God obey the Prince loue thy neighbour as thy selfe this is voluntas signi his will recorded in holy writ published abroade signified to all flesh and as it were proclaimed at a standard by precept threatnings promises terrour reward earnestly and openly required Novv the murtherer assumeth vpon the former grounde I doe the will of God For had it not stood with his vvill my power had fayled my hart had not beene able to conceiue a thought within me and my hande had vvithered and shrunke togither before I had giuen the stroke true likewise But this iâ— an other will a secret will of God his will at the second hand if I may so call is and by an accident a vvill against a wil that because hee did not that which God had publiquely enioyned hee should doe another thing which he had privately deterâ—ined Augustine deliuereth it in wise and pithy tearmes De hijs qui faciunt quae non vult facit ipse quae vult Of those vvhich doe vvhat God would not hee doeth what hee would and by a marveilous vneffable meanes it commeth to passe that it is not done without or besides his vvill which is euen done against his wil. Euclide to one that neuer rested to enquire of the Gods aunswered deseruedly Other thinges I knovve not this I know that they hate curious and busie inquisitours Adam was driuen out of paradise for affecting too much knowledge Israell had died the death Exod. 19. if they had past their bounds to climbe vp vnto the mounte and to gaze vpon the Lorde The men of Bethshemesh vvere slaine to the number of fiftie thousande for prying into the Arke 1. Sam. 6. The question is as high as the highest heauens dwelleth in light as vnsearchable as God himselfe couered vvith a curtaine of sacred secresie vvhich shall neuer bee dravvne aside till that day come vvherein wee shall knovve as wee are knovvne and then but in measure and proportion VVho is able to decide that dwelleth vvith mortall flesh how farre the counsell of the Lord goeth in ordering and disposing sinfull actions This I am bolde to say because I am loath to leade you farther into a bottomeles sea than where the lambe may wade without danger of miscarying and if there be ought behinde which is not opened vnto you let this bee your comforte Deus revelabit GOD will one daie reveale it but in this present question there is an errour I suppose in two extremities either to thinke that God is the authour of sinne which sensuall and phantasticke Libertines rubbing their filthinesse vpon his puritie haue imputed vnto him or that GOD doeth only but suffer and permitte sinne sitting in heaven to beholde the stratagemes of the vvicked vvithout intermedling as if his Godhead were bounde like Sampsons armes halfe of his power and liberty restrained a greater parte of the world and the manners thereof running vpon wheeles and the cursed children of Beliall hasting like dromedaries to fullfill the lustes of their owne godlesse heartes vvithout the gouernment and moderation of the highest Lorde Either of these opinions mee thinkes denyeth the Godhead For howsoever in wordes both may admitte it they deny it in opinion They receaue it at the gates and exclude it at the posterne The one destroyeth the iustice goodnesse of the deity in that they charge GOD to bee the authour of sinne the other his omnipotency and providence in that they bereave him of a greate part of his businesse The latter of these two positions that God doeth permit sinne is sounde and catholike enough if more bee added vnto it for God doeth more than permit the former is filled to the brimme with most monstrous impiety If the devilles in hell may bee hearde to speake for themselues and against God what coulde they say to deprave him more than this Indeede wee haue sinned and forsaken our faith but God caused vs It is a most damnable and reprobate thought that any vessell of clay shoulde so conceaue of his former who in the creation of all thinges made al things good and past not a vvorke from his fingers without the approbation of his most prudent iudgment Beholde it was good very good God saw it Aske but the maisters of humane wisedome they will enforme you in this behalfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God by no meanes is vniust but as righteous as possible maybe Seneca asketh the cause why the Gods doe good hee aunswereth their nature is the cause They can neither take nor doe wronge they neither giue nor haue mischiefe in them You haue the same doctrine Iames 1. Let no man when he is tempted say that he is tempted by God for God is not tempted with evill and
LECTVRE Chap. 1. ver 15. So they tooke vp Ionas and cast him into the sea and the sea ceased form her raging ver 16. Then the men feared the Lord c. IN the former verse was the dedication of the sacrifice wherein they sanctified themselves by praier cōmended their action to Gods good favor in this is the offering of the sacrifice before the attēpting whereof being their finall doome animadversiō vpō the life of Ionas a iudgement without redemptiō they observe the charitablest wariest principle in exercising discipline that may be helde that is not to trie an extremity till they haue tried all meanes and then if the wounde bee vncurable and past hope to apply the fire or the sword to it They dealte with Ionas in this course as a skilfull surgian with his patient a parte of whose body being putrified and eating on by degrees threatneth the losse of the whole if it be not staied as the transgression of Ionas being but a member in the ship went forwarde like a canker and was at hande to haue invaded the whole company The professour wil first enquire the cause of the maladie how commeth it what hath thy diet thine exercise beene as these aske Ionas vvhat haste thou done what is thine occupation c. and when hee is answered by his patient I haue eaten and dranke intemperately exceeded the strength of my bodie incontinentlie lived as Ionas reported how farre hee had disobeyed perhappes hee may chide him as these chide Ionas Why haste thou done this a man of thy yeares education discretion as these implie to Ionas a man of thy knowledge calling and commission yet he wil do more than expostulate for that were to afflict the afflicted and to heape griefe vpon griefe hee will advise with the patient himselfe as these with Ionas vvho best knoweth the state of his body as Ionas the counselles of God What shall wee doe vnto thee And though he bee aunswered there is no helpe but one mine arme must be cut or my legge sawed of and then the rest of my body may be saved as Ionas answered Cast me into the sea and the sea shall bee calme vnto you yet hee will prooue his skill otherwise as they their endevours by rowing to saue the ioint if possibly it may be done But when there is no other helpe the sore retayning his anger as the sea her impatience both fretting on still and crying for a desperate remedie then will the one vse his corrosiues and sharpest instrumentes commending the successe of the cure vnto God as these after praier tooke vp Ionas and cast him foorth In the two next verses ensuing vvee may obserue 1. their proceeding as it were by steppes to the action They tooke vp Ionas 2. the accomplishment thereof They cast him into sea 3. the event The sea ceased from her raging 4. the demeanour of the mariners after their release both in their inwarde affection Then they feared the Lord exceedingly in the open testification thereof 1. by sacrifices witnesses of their present thankfulnes and 2. vowes pledges and earnests of their duty to come Eleazar an ancient interpreter of the Bible thinketh that the sentence is heere perfited They tooke vp Ionas and by a period or full pointe severed from that vvhich followeth They cast him into the sea Therevpon he collecteth that the Mariners assaied fiue experimēts to acquit themselues from danger 1. The private invocation of everie man vpon his owne God 2. the throwing forth of their wares 3. their casting of lottes 4. their common supplication 5. their letting downe of Ionas into the sea vp to the necke and pulling him backe againe that it might appeare vnto them that Ionas was the Man whome the sea desired because whilst his body was in the waters the sea stood when taken backe it boiled againe There is no warrant in my text for this opinion therefore I charge you not with it For as there is no reason to loose one worde of the writings of God not the least fragment of the broken meate so on the other side to adde vnto them is an iniurie and a plague will follow it Onely this I obserue as the complement of all their former humanity specified in many particulars before that though they coulde not cast him foorth but they must first take him vp amongst them yet seeing the history might haue concluded both in one the latter implying the former and rather doth it by noting the order and distinction of two sundry actions and by making a space betweene thē First they tooke him vp c. then they cast him forth it argueth a treatable deliberate gentle proceeding in thē that that which they did they did by leasure and without violent or turbulent invasiō Hierome with others cōment vpō the wordes Tulerunt non arripuerunt nō invaserūt They tooke him they haled him not they caught him not vp in a rage they set not hastily vpon him but bare him in their armes as it were with honour due estimatiō Because it was the funerals and exequies of a prophet of the Lorde their last service vnto him they did it with reverence And in trueth there needed no invasion or force to be vsed against him Hee was brought to his end tanquā ovis which was the Embleme of the sonne of God as a lambe that is dumbe before the shearer so opened hee not his mouth Tulerunt non repugnantem They tooke him without resistance For what should resistance haue done Ducunt volentem fata nolentem traehunt I will not say The destinies as the Poet doth but the will and power of God for these are the right destinies and he that so vnderstandeth them with Saint Augustine Teneat sententiam corriga◠linguam Let him keepe the opinion onely amending his tongue But the will and power of God leade him that is willing to goe and pull him that is vnwilling I never red that Moses opposed himselfe by the least thought of his heart to the ordinance of God when hee saide vnto him Beholde the daies are come that thou must die though Moses might haue lived many yeares For in the last of Deuteronomy his eies were not dimme nor his naturall force abated Rather he spake vnto the people with cheerefulnesse alacrity of hart embracing the tydings of his death I am an hundred and twenty yeares olde this day I can no more goe out and in also the Lord hath said vnto me Thou shalt not goe over this Iordan Young men amongst vs thinke they are priviledged because they are in their full strength old men though they haue a foote in the graue thinke they may be long old There is none so striken in yeares but thinketh hee may liue a year more Be we young or old if ever the message of God be sent vnto vs as to Ezechias Put thy house in order dispatch thy worldly affaires
for thou must die and not liue though we turne our faces to the wal pray weepe mourne like a doue beg for life as he did yet if the purpose of God be fixed let vs patiently entertaine it Cur quod necesse est non voluntas occupat Prudentius a Christian prudent Poet spake it That that must be shal be blessed be the name of God let vs not refuse it Let a beast be pulled from his den by force but let a Christian be taken froÌ„ his life with patience For it is not inheritance but debt and he that is the Lord of the spirites of all flesh will as gloriously restore as he will certainely require it Ionas is now at length executed if this had beene done before the sea had beene quiet but the Lord loveth to hold suspend an actioÌ„ for he hath many works in one this amongst the rest that maÌ„ may know that howsoever he be favoured by the intercession respite of time and by other helpes he cannot striue with a mightier nor go to law with his maker but his reckonings and accounts must be made when all is done Adam may runne into thickets and spend the time a while and cover himselfe with leaves and thinke to beguile Gods eie but Adam shall be called forth of his bushes stript of his garments as thinne as spiders webbes and cast out of paradise and haue a sentence of death pronounced and performed to vpon him and his whole linage Doth Sisera thinke by running away to runne from the iudgements of the Lord though there be peace betweene Iabin his master and the house of Heber the Kenite yet that peace shal bee turned into warre hee shall come into the tent of Iahell the wife of Heber and finde the hande of the Lorde as ready to encounter him there as if he had fallen vpon the host of Barake a draught of milke which he beggeth for his comfort shal be his last deadliest draught and insteed of rest to the temples of his head a naile shall be driven into his temples to dispatch his life The Iews may say in the Prophet they vvill ride vpon horses they will flie avvaie vpon the swiftest but their persecutours shall bee swifter than they Others may goe to the mountaines and rockes and say they will lie in the closest but mountaines shal be made as valleyes rocks shall yeeld at the pleasure of God as wax before the sun to open and disclose his enimies Ionas shall haue his leaue to run away on foote with Sisera to ride vpon the swiftest with the Iews to ship himselfe in a vessel lie as close in the shrouds therof as the ribbes wil giue him leaue he shal one while sleepe another draw lots a third discourse now be chid theÌ„ examined afterwards consulted with fairelie entreated hee shal see the losse of all their wares thinke his life may be saved by that losse behold millians of waues broken against the side of the ship and hope that millians more shall passe not touch him he shall haue what friendship helpe the whole company of mariners may afford him either by their praiers or by their advise or by the haÌ„dling of their ores yet the end shal be Ionas must be cast forth This is the wages of sin this is the way of all sinfull flesh When we haue stood long and foughte with the dangers of the world both by land sea when thousandes haue falleÌ„ at our right haÌ„d teÌ„ thousands at our left we haue not fallen wheÌ„ we are coÌ„passed with friends so far forth that we may saie with the woman of ShuneÌ„ I neede not speaking for me either to the king or to the captaine of the host I dwell amongst mine owne people where I may coÌ„mand when we haue walked in the light of the sun our prosperity I meane waxen so great that we haue wanted nothing wheÌ„ we thinke that we are in league with death in covenant with the graue and promise our selues that we shal multiplie our dayes as the sandes by the sea side even when we haue sailes and ores at pleasure that vvee may saie with Antiochus I will not saile in the sea with Ionas but I will saile vpon the mountaines and walke vpon the seas as vpon dry lande yet there must bee a time when all these helpes shal bee frustrated and Ionas shal be cast forth Though wee escape the pit vve shal be taken in the snare Ierom. 48. wee shall flie from a Lyon and a beare shall meete vs or leane our hand vpon a wall and a serpent shall bite vs Amos 5. we maie bee delivered in sixe troubles and the seventh shall dispatch vs him that escapeth from the sworde of Hazâ—ell shall Iehuslaie and him that escapeth from the sword of Iehu shall Elisa slaie 1. Kings 19. As one that shooteth at a marke sometimes is gone and sometimes is shorte sometimes lighteth on the right hand sometimes on the left at leÌ„gth hitteth the marke so death shooteth at noble meÌ„ beyoÌ„d vs at meane men short of vs on the right hand at our friends at our enimies on the left at length hitteth our selues the longer her hande is practised the more certaine it is She was aiming at Adam 900. 30. yeares at last smote him at Methusaleh 969. yeares in the end overthrew him now shee striketh within the compasse of threescore yeares or threescore ten or fourescore at the most sometimes at the first stroke euen in the day of our birth Câ—st them out of my sight saith God to his prophets and let them depart some to captivitie some to the sword some to pestilence some to the water as Pharaoh and the Princes of Egypt soÌ„e to the fire as the king of Edom whose bones were burnt to lime soÌ„e to the bowelles â—awes of the earth as the coÌ„gregation of Abirà Haman to the gallous Iesabel to the dogs Herode to wormes the disobedient Prophet to a lion the sons daughters of Iob to the fall of an house the mothers infantes of Ierusalem to a famine some to a plague some to the edge of the sworde some to a sicknes by the hand of God one crieth my head my head as the Sunamites son another my bowels my bowels as Antiochus another my feete my feete as Asa one complaineth of a palsey another of a burning fever a third of an issue of bloud but whatsoever the meanes be the ordinance of God in the end is this Ionas must be cast forth the ship eased the worlde emptied by degrees new generatioÌ„s successiuely take place If this were remeÌ„bred by vs that as Ionas slept in the sids of the ship we in security so we must both sleep in the dust of the earth as the lot fel vpon Ionas in his time so the lot must fal vpon vs in ours
two singular and almost despaired deliverances first of their bodies from a raging and roaring sea a benefite not to be contemned for even the Apostles of Christâ— cried in the like kind of distresse vpon the waters helpe Lorde wee perish secondlye of their soules from that idolatrous blindnes wherein they were drowned and stifled a destruction equall to the former and indeed far exceeding The horrour of this destruction was never more faithfully laid out in colours than in the eighth of Amos. Where after repetition of sorrowes enough if they were not burnt with hote irons past sense as that the songes of the teÌ„ple shoulde be turned into howlinges feastes into mourning laughter into lamentation that there should be many dead bodies in every place even the nuÌ„ber so great that they should cast them forth in silence without obsequies the sunne going downe at noone and the earth darkened in the cleare day that is their greatest woe in the greatest prosperity yet he threatneth a scourge beyoÌ„d al these Behold saith the Lord I have not yet made your eies dazell nor your eares tingle with my iudgements though your eies have beheld sufficient misery to make them faile yet behold more The daies come I give you warning of vnhappier times the plagues you have endured already are but the beginnings of sorrow the daies come that I will send a famine in the land if the mouth of the Lord had here stayed famem immittam I will send a famine had it not sufficed Can a greater crosse thinke you be imagined than wheÌ„ a wofull mother of her wofull children shall be driven to say As the Lorde liveth I have but a little meale left in a barrell and a little oile in a cruise and beholde I am gathering two stickes to go in and dresse it for me and my sonne that wee may eate and die and much rather if it come to that extremity that an other mother felt when shee cried vnto the king Helpe my Lord O King This woman saide vnto mee give thy sonne that wee may eate him to day and wee will eate my sonne to morrowe so we sodde my sonne and did eate him c. yet hee addeth to the former by a correction not a famine of bread nor a thirst of water but of hearing the word of God and they shall wonder not as the sonnes of Iacob who went but out of Israell into Egypt but from sea to sea and from the North to the East shall they runne to and fro to seeke the worde of the Lorde and shall not finde it This was the case of these men before a prophet spake vnto them and the wonders of the lawe were shewed amoÌ„gst them And this was the case of our countrey when either it fared with vs as with the church of Ierusalem signa non videmus non est ampliùs propheta wee see no tokens there is no prophet lefte or if we had prophets they were such as Ezechiell nameth they saw vanities and divined lies and the booke of the law of the Lorde though it were not hid in a corner as in the raigne of Iosias nor cut with a penknife and cast into the fire as in the daies of Iehoiakim yet the comfortable vse of it was interdicted the people of God vvhen either they could not reade because it was sealed vp in an vnknowne tongue or vnder the paine of a curse they might not and such as hungred and thirsted after the righteousnes of Iesus Christ were driven into Germany and other countries of Europe to enquire after it But blessed be the Lord God of Israell for hee hath long since visited and redeemed vs his people If our many deliverances besides either by sea from the invasion of the grande pirate of Christendome or from other rebellions and conspiracies by land had beene in nuÌ„mber as the dust of our grounde this one deliverance of our soules froÌ„ the kingdome and power of darkenesse the very shadowe and borders of death wherein we sate before the sending of prophets amongst vs to prophecie right things to preach the acceptable yeare of the Lord and the tidings of salvation had far surpassed them Let vs therfore with these mariners sing a song of thanksgiving not onely with our spirites My soule blesse thou the Lorde and all that is within mee praise his holy name but with sacrifices and vowes also as audible sermons and proclamations to the world let vs make it knowne that great is the mercy of Iehovah to our little nation THE XXII LECTVRE The last verse of the 1. Chap. Or after some the first of the second Now the Lorde had prepared a great fish to swallow vp Ionas and Ionas was in the bellye of the fishe three daies and three nightes WEE are now come to the second section of the prophesie wherin the mercy of God towardes Ionas is illustrated It beginneth at my text and parteth it selfe into three members 1. The absorption or buriall 2. the song 3. the delivery of the Prophet Isiodore in three wordes summeth the contentes of it Cetus obiectum voratum orantem revomuit The whale cast vp Ionas first cast forth then devoured afterwards making his moue to God Ionas is swallowed in this present sentence The iustice and mercy of God runne togither in this history as those that runne for the maisterie in a race And it is harde a long time for Ionas to discerne whither his iustice will overcome his mercie or his mercy triumph over iustice They labour in contention as the twinnes in Rebecca's wombe And although Esau bee first borne red and hairy all over like a rough garment yet Iacob holdeth him by the heele and is not farre behinde him I meane though the iudgment of God against Ionas bearing a rigorous and bloudy countenance and satiate with nothing in likelyhode but his death that most straÌ„ge vnaccustomed seemeth to have the first place yet mercy speedeth her selfe to the rescue and in the end is fulfilled that which God prophecied of the other paire The elder shall serue the yonger For when iustice had her course and borne the preeminence a greate space mercy at lengh putteth in and getteth the vpper hande To vs that haue seene and perused the historie who haue as it were the table of it before our eies and know both the first and the last of it it is apparant that I say that although he were tossed in the ship cast forth into the sea deuoured yet God had a purpose prevised herein to worke the glorie of his name the others miraculous preservation But Ionas himselfe who all the while was the patient and set as a marke for the arrowes of heavenlye displeasure to be spent at and knew no more what the end would be than a child his right hand from the left what could he thâ—â—ke but that heaven and earth land and sea life and death all 〈◊〉
in the world had sworne and conspired his immortall misery First he was driven to forgoe his natiue countrey the land of his fathers sepulchers and take the sea When he had shipt himselfe the vessell that bare him stackered like a drunken man to and fro never was at rest till she had cast forth her burthen Being cast forth the sea that did a kinde of favour to Pharaoh and his host in giving them a speedy death is but in manner of a iaylour to Ionas to deliver him vp to a further torture Thus from his mothers house and lap wherin he dwelt in safety to a shippe to seeke a forreine countrey from the ship into the sea and from the sea into a monsters belly incomposiâ—um navigium an incomposed mishapen ship therein shall I say to his death that had bene his happines he would haue wisht for death as others wisht for treasure There are the prisoners at rest and heare not the voice of the oppressour there are the small and the great and the servaunt is free from his maister So then there is a comfort in death to a comfortlesse soule if hee could atchieve it But Ionas cannot die the sea that swalloweth downe volumes of slime and sandes is not grave enough to bury him hee may rather perswade himselfe that he is reserved for a thousand deathes whome the waters of the Ocean refuse to drowne giving over their pray to an other creature My thoughtes are not your thoughtes saith the LORDE by his prophet Esaye neither are your waies my waies For as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my waies higher than your waies and my thoughtes above your thoughtes It is most true When wee thinke one thing GOD thinketh an other hee safety and deliverance vvhen in the reason of man there is inevitable destruction We must not therefore iudge the actions of the Lorde till wee see the last acte of them We must not say in our hast all men are liers the pen of the scribes is vaine the bookes false the promises vncertaine Moses and Samuell prophets and apostles are like rivers dried vp have deceived vs. We must tarry the end and know that the vision is for an apointed time but at the last it shall speake according to the wishes of our owne harts and shal not lie Though our soules faint for his salvation yet must we wait for his worde Though our eies faile for his promise saying O when wilt thou comfort vs and we are as bottels in the smoke the sap of our hope dryed vp yet we must not forget his statutes When we see the fortunate succeeding of things we shall sing with the righteous prophet Wee know O Lord that thy iudgements are right though deepe secret and that thou of very faithfulnes hast caused vâ— to be tried that howsoever our troubles seemed to be without either number or end yet thy faithfulnesse higher than the highest heavens failed vs not To set come order in the sentence propounded I commende these circumstances vnto you First the disposer and ruler of the action the Lorde Secondly the manner of doing it hee provided or prepared Thirdly the instrument a fish togither with the praise and exornation of the instrument a great fish Fourthly the end to swallow vp Ionas Lastly the state of Ionas and how it fared with him after he was swallowed vp And first that you may see the difference betwixte inspired spirites and the conceiptes of prophane men vvho as if the nature of thinges bare them to their ende without further disposition as when the clowde is full they saie it giveth her raine and going no higher than to seconde and subordinate causes never consider that high hande that wrought them it may please you to obserue that thorough the whole body of this prophecie vvhatsoever befell Ionas rare and infrequent is lifted aboue the spheares of inferiour thinges and ascribed to the Lord himselfe A great winde vvas sent into the sea to raise a tempest It is not disputed there what the winde is by nature a drie exhalation drawne vp from the earth and carryed betweene it and the middle region of the aire aslant fit to engender a tempest but the LORDE sent it Ionas vvas afterwardes cast into the sea It is not then considered so much vvho tooke him in their armes and vvere the ministers of that execution but thou LORDE hast done as it pleased thee Ionas is heere devoured by a fish It is not related that the greedinesse and appetite of the fish brought him to his praie but the LORDE prepared him Ionas againe is delivered from the belly of the fish It mighte bee alleadged in reason perhappes that the fish was not able to concoct him but it is saide the Lorde spake to the fish and it cast him vp Towardes the ende of the prophecie Ionas maketh him a booth abroade and sitteth vnder the shaddow of a gourde the Lorde provided it A worme came and consumed the gourde that it perished the Lorde provided it The sunne arose and a fervent east-winde bet vpon the heade of Ionas the Lorde also provided it Who is he then that saith and it commeth to passe if the Lorde commaunde it not Out of the mouth of the most high commeth there not evill and good Thus whensoever we finde in any of the creatures of God either man or beast from the greatest whale to the smallest worme or in the vnsensible things the sun the windes the waters the plantes of the earth either pleasure or hurt to vs the Lord is the worker and disposer of both these conditions The Lorde prepared That yee may know it came not by chaunce brought thither by the tide of the sea but by especiall providence For it is not saide that God created but that he ordeined and provided the fish for such a purpose There is nothing in the workes of God but admirable art and skilfulnesse O Lord saith David how manifolde are thy workes in wisedome hast thou made them all Salomon giveth a rule well beseeming the rashnes and vnadvisednesse of man who without deliberate forecast entereth vpon actions first to prepare the worke without and to make all things ready in the field and after to builde the house God keepeth the order himselfe having his spirite of counsaile and provision alwaies at hande to prepare as it were the vvaie before his face to make his pathes straight and to remooue all impedimentes to levell mountaines to exalt vallies to turne vvaters into drie grounde and drie grounde into water-pooles and to change the whole nature of things rather than any worke of his shal be interrupted He had a purpose in his heart not to destroy Ionas yet Ionas was thrown into the mouth of destructioÌ„ A maÌ„ would haue thought that the couÌ„saile of God if ever should now haue been frustrated that salvation it selfe could not
aliue through ranges and armies of teeth on both sides without the collision or crushing of any limme in his body and entereth the streights of his throate where he had greater reason to cry thaÌ„ the childreÌ„ in the prophet the place is to narrow for me and liveth in the entralles of the fish a prison or caue of extreame darkenesse where he found nothing but horror and stinch and loathsome excrementes What shall we say herevnto but as Ierome did vpon the place where there was nothing looked for but death there was a custodie in a double sense first to imprison and yet withall to preserue Ionas Thus farre you have hearde first that a fish and for his exornation great fish secondly vvas prepared thirdly by the Lorde fourthly to swallow vp his prophet Now lastly if you will learne what tidings of Ionas after his entring in the monsters mawe it is published in the nexte wordes And Ionas was in the belly of the fish three daies and three nightes Therein I distinguish these particularities First the person Ionas not the bodye of Ionas forsaken of the soule as the bodye of Christ lay in the graue but the whole and entire person of Ionas compounded of bodye and soule livinge mooving feeling meditating not ground with the teeth not digested in the stomake not converted into the substaunce of the fish and neither vitall nor integrall part diminished in Ionas Secondly the place vvhere he was in the remotest and lowest partes the bovvelles of the fish as Ieremy was in the bottome of the dungeon where there vvas no water where what nutriment he had amiddest those purgamentes superfluities the Lorde knoweth but man liveth not by breade alone or what respiration and breathing being out of his elemente amongst those stiflinge evaporations vvhich the bellye of the whale reaked forth but wee may as truely saye man liveth not by breath alone Thirdly the time hovve long hee continued there three daies three nightes when if the course of nature were examined it is not possible to bee conceived that a man coulde liue so one moment of time and his spirit not be strangled within him Physitians giue advise that such as are troubled with apoplexies falling sicknesses or the like diseases should not be buried till the expiration of 72. howres that is three daies and three nightes In which space of time they say the humours begin to stop giue over their motion by reason the moone hath gone through a signe the more in the Zodiake For this cause it was that our Saviour vndertooke not the raisinge of Lazarus from the dead till hee had lien 4. daies in the graue least the Iewes might haue slaundered the miracle if hee had done it in hast and saide that Lazarus had but swooned The like he experienced in himselfe besides the opening of his heart that if falshoode woulde open her mouth into slaunder it might bee her greater sin because he was fully dead Who would ever haue supposed that Ionas fulfilling this time in so deadly and pestilent a graue shoulde have revived againe But the foundation of the Lord standeth sure and this sentence hee hath vvritten for the generations to come My strength is perâ—ited in infirmity vvhen the daunger is most felt then is my helping arme most welcome We on the one side vvhen our case seemeth distresseful are very importunate with God crying vpoÌ„ him for help It is time that the Lord haue mercy vpon Sion yea the time is come if in the instant he answer not our cry we are ready to reply against him The time is past and our hope cleane withered But he sitteth aboue in his provident watch-towre who is far wiser than men thinketh with himselfe you are deceived the time is not yet come They meete the ruler of the synagogue in the 5. of Marke tell him thy daughter is deade why diseasest thou thy maister any further Assoone as Iesus hearde that vvorde a word that he lingred and waited for he said vnto the ruler of the Synagogue be not afraid onely beleeue And as Alexander the great solaced and cheered himselfe with the greatnes of his perill in India when he was to fight both with men and beasts their huge Elephantes at length I see a daunger aunswerable to my minde so fareth it with our absolute true monarch of the world who hath a bridle for the lippes of every disease and an hooke for the nostrels of death to turne them backe the same vvay they came it is the ioy of his hart to protract the time a while till he seeth the heigth maturity of the daunger that so he may get him the more honour Martha telleth him in the 11. of Iohn when her brother had beene long dead lien in the graue till he stanke past hope of recovery Lorde if thou hadst beene here my brother had not beene dead And what if absent was he not the same God Yet he told his disciples not long before Lazarus is deade and I am gladde for your sakes that I vvas not there that you mighte beleeue You see the difference Martha is sory and Christ is glad that he was not rhere Martha thinketh the cure commeth to late and Christ thinketh the sore was never ripe till nowe In the booke of Exodus when Israel had pitched their tents by the red sea Pharaoh and host marching apace and ready to surprise them they vvere sore afraide and cryed vnto the Lord and murmured against Moses hast thou brought vs to die in the wildernesse because there were no graues in Egypt wherefore hast thou served vs thus to carrie vs out of Egypt c. Moses the meekest man vpon the earth quieted them thus Feare yee not stande still and beholde the salvation of the Lorde which he will shew to you this day For the Egyptians whome yee haue seene this day yee shall never see them againe The Lorde shall fight for you therefore hold you your peace Neither did Moses feed them with winde prophecy the surmises of his owne braine for the Lorde made it good as followeth in the next verse vvherefore cryest thou vnto mee speake vnto the children of Israell that they goe forwarde Thus when the wounde was most desperate they might haue pledged even their soules vpoÌ„ it we cannot escape when their legges trembled vnder them that they could not stand still their hearts fainted that they could not hope the waters roring before their face the wheels of the enimy ratling behinde their backs they are willed to stand still not on their legges alone but in their disturbed passions to settle their shivering spirites to pacifie their vnquiet tongues and to go forwardes though every step they trode seemed to beare them into the mouth of death The state of the daunger you see Ionas is in the belly of the fish three daies and three nightes Long enough to haue
with God on high mourning and lamenting his wretchednes not in a caue of Horeb as Elias did not in a caue of Adullam as David but in the ougliest vncomfortablest vaulte setting hell aparte that ever vvas entred O Lord where shall thy spirite forsake thy chosen ones if wee climbe into heaven there it is as apparant to the worlde as the sunne in his brightnesse If we bee driven into the wildernesse there it will attend on vs. If we lie downe in the bottome of the sea if in the bowels of a whale within that bottome of the sea there will it also embrace vs. To conclude all in one for this time there was never contemplation or study in the world so holy and heavenly in the sight of God so faithfull and sociable to him that vseth it as praier is It travaileth by day it awaketh by night with vs it forsaketh vs not by lande by water in weale in woe living nor dying It is our last friend an◠indissolublest companion therefore wee must praie There was never name so worthy to bee called vpon in heaven or earth so mighty for deliverance so sure for protection so gainefull for successe so compendious to cut of vnnecessarie labours as the name of Iehovah our mercifull father and the image of his countenaunce Iesus Christ. Therefore to the Lord. There was never citty of refuge so free for transgressours never holes in the rockes so open for doues never lappe of the mother so open to her babes as the bowels of Gods compassions are open to beleevers Therefore we must pray in that stile of propriety which Thomas vsed when he looked vpon Christ my Lord and my God Lastly there was never affliction so great but the hande of the Lorde hath beene able to maister it therefore if we walke in the shadow of death as where was the shadow of death if these bowels of the whale were not we must not take discomforte at it The Lord sitteth aboue the water flouds the Lord commandeth the sea and all that therein is He that hath hidden Ionas in the belly of a fish as a chosen shafte in the quiver of his mercifull providence and made destruction it selfe a tabernacle and hiding place to preserue him from destruction blessed be his holy name and let the mighte of his maiestie receiue honour for evermore he will never forsake his sonnes and daughters neither in health nor sicknesse light nor darknesse in the lande of the living nor in the lande of forgetfulnesse And therefore as David cursed the mountaines of Gilboah that neither dew nor raine might fall vpon them because the shielde of the mighty was there cast downe so cursed be all faithlesse and faint harted passions that throwe away the shielde of faith and open the way for the fierie dartes of the devill to worke their purpose But blessed be the mountaines of Armenia for there the 〈◊〉 found rest Blessed be the power and mercy of our God for these are the mountaines vvherevpon the arke resteth these are the holy hils whereon the Sion and church of the Lord hath her everlasting foundations The Lorde liveth and blessed be our strength even the God of our salvation for ever and ever be exalted Amen THE XXIIII LECTVRE Chap. 2. ver 2. And said I eryed in mine affliction to the Lord and he hearde me out of the belly of hell cried I and thou heardst my voice IN the wordes of the history before we come to Ionas speaking frō his own person I noted 1. his action during the time of his imprisonmēt praier 2. the obiect of his praier the Lorde 3. the applicatiō his God 4. his house of praier the belly of the fish 5. the specification of it he said which particle only remaineth to bee adioyned to the former before wee proceede to to praier it selfe It beareth one sense thus I will not onely acquaint you that Ionas prayed but I will also expresse vnto you what that prayer was this was the summe and substaunce of it the matter hee framed and compiled to his God was to this effect Hee praied and saide that is these were the very wordes this was the tenour and text of his songe indited But if the worde bee better lookt into it may yeeld a further construction For in the three principall tongues Hebrew Greeke Latine there hath ever bene held a difference betweene speaking saying the former being more generall vnperfite belonging to as many as vse the instruments of speech Thersites spake though hee spake like a Iay they speake of whome the proverbe is verified little wisedome much prating Eupolis noted them in the greeke verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are excellent to talke but very vnable to say The later is more speciall noteth a wise deliberated speech graue sententious weighed in the ballance as it is in the words of Syrach vttered to good purpose Tully in his rhetorickes giveth the difference in that he ascribeth saying to oratours alone speaking to the cōmon people that the one cōmeth from nature the other from art Such was the handling of that argument in the 45. Psalme whereof the authour witnesseth before hand My heart is inditing a good matter his tongue was but the pen of a ready writer It was sermo natus in pectore a matter bred in the breast not at the tongues end And such was the song of Ionas in this place It was drawne as deepe as the water from the well of Iacob the sentences wherof were advisedly penned the words themselues set vpon feete and placed in equall proportions A skilfull and artificiall song as if it should haue fitted an instrument cōposed in number measure to the honour of his name who giveth the argument of a song in the night season who in the heaviest and solitariest times when nature calleth for rest quickeneth vp the spirit of a man and giveth him wisdōe grace to meditate within himselfe his vnspeakable mercies I doe not thinke that the praier of Ionas was thus metrically digested within the belly of the fish as now it standeth But such were the thoughts and cogitations wherein his soule was occupied vvhich after his landing againe perhappes he repolished brought into order fashion as a memoriall monument of the goodnes of God that had enlarged him It ministreth this instruction vnto vs al that when vvee sing or say any thing vnto the Lord we keepe the rule of the Psalme Sing yee praises vvith vnderstanding that as Iohn Baptist went before Christ to prepare his vvaies so our heartes may ever goe before our tongues to prepare their speeches that first vvee speake within our selues as the woman with the bloudy issue did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for shee saide within her selfe if I may but touch the hemme of his garment afterwardes to others first in our harts with David in
the friende knocked in the parable of Luke at midnight the deadest houre of the nighte who was nearest the gate first awoke if yet hee slept at all and first aunswered O quam dare vult c. O howe willing is hee to graunte that is so wiling to bee disquieted Howe glad to heare thy knocke that hath placed his bed so neare the gate O quam non adâ—anuam tantum sed ipsa ianua dominus fuit c. And how truly maie wee saie that hee was not onelie neare the gate but the Lorde himselfe the very gate who when his children were a sleepe the eares of Angelles and saintes shutte vp first and at the first call nay onelie amongst the rest made aunswere vnto it The Lord is alwaies nearer to vs than wee to him hee heareth the desires of the poore in the tenth Psalme hee first prepareth the hearte and setteth it on worke to pray and when he hath so done bendeth his eare vnto them If now they can otherwise demonstrate that as Pallas the Emperours libertine would never speake to any servant about him forgetting his owne late servile estate but either by pointing and signifying with the fingers as the wiseman calleth it or becking or if the busines vere long by writing because forsooth he was loth to bestow the honour of speaking vpon them and as the rulers of the earth in a kinde of maiesty not vnfitting to their place aunswere by mediation of others so the Lorde above heareth not suiters but by the preferment and procurement of Angels and other glorified spirits then it cannot be hindered but other advocates and spokes-men must be allowed of But this is likewise cleared in the 102. Psal. where it is saide that hee hath looked downe from the height of his sanctuary out of the heaven did the LORDE beholde the earth to what other ende but that hee might heare the mourning of the prisoner and deliver the children apointed vnto death And this moreover I am sure of that the LORDE hath often and expressely enioyned vs Call vpon mee and if the booke were searched throughout with cresset-light never would it bee prooved that hee gave any charge to call vpon others Neither was ever the shadowe of any thing so faithfull to the bodye to followe and waite vpon it as the successe of good speede hath beene consequent to a prayer faithfullye made For as if their soules were knit togither like the soules of Dauid and Ionathan you shall ever see them ioyned So in the fourth Psalme I called vpon the LORDE and hee hearde mee at large and an hundreth the like might bee alleadged for confirmation And therefore if vvee erre in this point of doctrine vvee may say truelye with Ieremy Thou hast deceived vs LORDE vvhen vvee vvere deceaved that is when wee were vvilled to call vpon thee alone thine vvas the blame if wee doe amisse and wee may comfort our selves that wee erre by warrant and authority from him that must pardon errours Therefore I conclude from the two and twentieth Psalme Praise the Lorde yee that feare him magnifie him all the seede of Iacob and feare him all yee the seede of Israell For hee hath not despised the lowe estate of the poore nor hidde himselfe from him but when he called hee harkened vnto him Let the house of Esau vse the liberty of the wide worlde and the feede of Babylon call vpon other helps as they have done and those that feare not the Lorde vse their discretion Our example leadeth vs otherwise Ionas was this poore man and his lowe estate the belly of the fish hee called vpon his God and hee harkened vnto him The varying of the person in that before hee spake of God now to God giveth vs variety of instruction and helpeth to confirme the doctrine before delivered For since wee have immediate accesse to the Lorde to speake to his maiesty as it were face to face and mouth to mouth it were to shamefast and senselesse a parte in vs to make other meanes And it is besides a singular testification of his thankefull minde who receaveth not the favour of God as the nine lepers in the gospell receaved their clensing not returning againe to give thankes to him that cured them but first reporteth to himselfe and as many as shall reade or heare this songe what God hath done for him I called vpon the Lorde and hee hearde mee which is somewhat further of and then with a nearer approche ioyning his soule as closely to the eares of God as Philip ioyned himselfe to the chariot of the Eunuch relateth the blessing of his prayer to the authour himselfe of all blessings And thou Lorde hardest my voice thus rendring vnto him grace for grace a kinde and dutifull rememoration for the mercies bestowed vpoÌ„ him Some take the comforts of God as the beastes in the field take their meate not looking vp to heaven from whence they come Nay the Oxe will knowe his owner and cast an eye to his hande and the asse his maisters cribbe but my people knowe not mee saith the Lorde Some acknowledge the Authour and forget him presently even whilst the meate is betweene their teeth as Israell did Some remember sufficiently but accept them as due debt as if they had God in bandes to performe them They serve not God for naught which was the obiection of Sathan Some are ready to kisse their owne handes for every blessing that commeth vpon them and to ascribe them to their strength or wit whereof Bernard spake Vti datis tanquam innatis maxima sâ—perbia It is the greatest pride to vse Gods giftes as if they were bred in vs. Others there are that give thanks ex usu magis quà m sensu rather of custome then devotion as cymballes sounde from their emptinesse for even Saul will bee a prophet amongst prophets and an hypocrite take good words into his mouth amongst harty professours Ionas I nothing doubt from the ground of his heart telleth forth the deliverance of the Lord which in the spirit of a prophet hee foreseeth and presumeth before it commeth not onely to himselfe and vs but as the rivers of the Lande sende back their waters to the sea in a thankfull remembrance and remuneration that they tooke them thence so Ionas returneth this mercy to the Lorde himselfe that was the giver of the mercy And thou Lorde heardest my voice as if hee had concluded and agreed to himselfe that neither God nor man nor his owne conscience shoulde ever bee able to accuse him of vnthankefulnesse I will both preach it to my selfe privately and publikely to the world that the Lord hath heard mee And thou Lord shalt also vnderstand from mine owne lips that I make acknowledgement and profession to haue receaved my safety from thine onely goodnesse Thou Lord hast heard my voice I will so meditate vpon thy benignities within mine owne heart and leaue a chronicle of them to
the angels of GOD. I woulde spend it wholy in the commendation of this graue and serious sentence VVherefore shoulde I feare in the evill dayes when iniquirie shall compasse mee aboute as at mine heeles vvhen it shall presse and vrge me so closely with the iudgementes of God that I am alwaies in daunger to be supplanted nowe vvhat are the pillers of this heavenly security can riches or wisedome or houses and landes after our names or honour sustaine vs these are but rotten foundations to builde eternity vpon But GOD shall deliver my soule from the power of the grave for hee will receive mee I drawe to an ende GOD is faithfull that hath promised heaven and earth shall passe avvay but not a iote of his blessed worde As the hilles vvere about Ierusalem and as these floudes vvere aboute Ionas so is the LORDE aboute all those that feare him Hee hath made a decree in heaven it belongeth to the nevve testamente confirmed by the death of the testatour witnessed by three in heaven and as many in earth and never shall it be altered That at what time soever a sinner whatsoever shall repent him of his wickednes whatsoever from the bottome of his hearte the Lorde will forgive and forget it O heaven before heaven And the contrarye perswasions hell before hell damnation before the time I say againe if hee repent of his wickednesse it is not the misery of this wretched life nor terrour of conscience nor malice of foes let them bee men or devilles let them bee seven in one a legion in another all the principalities and powers of darkenesse in the thirde that shall hinder forgivenesse Beholde the lambe of GOD you that are lions in your house as the proverbe speaketh worst towardes your selves you that are ready to teare and devoure your owne soules with griefe and feare of hearte beholde the Lambe of GOD that taketh avvy the sinnes of the worlde Hath his death put sense into rockes and stones and can it not perswade you shall that bloud of the lambe cleanse you from your guiltinesse and will you in a madde and impatient moode throwe your bloud into the aire with Iulian or spill it vpon the grounde with Saul or sacrifice it vpon an alder with Iudas and not vse the medicine that shoulde ease their maladies shall hee open heaven and will you shutte it hee naile the writings to his crosse and you renue them hee pull you from the fire and you runne into it againe Is this his thankes this the recompence of his labours this the wages yee give him for bearing the heate and burthen of the day in your persons this the harvest for the seede hee sowed in teares this the wine hee shall drinke for treading the wine-presse in steede of a cuppe of salvation which you ought to take in your handes and call vpon the name of the LORD that is as he hath drunke vnto you in a bitter cuppe of passion so you shoulde pledge him in a plesant draught of thanksgiving will you take a cup of death and desperation blaspheme his name evacuate his crosse treade the bloude of his testament vnder you â—eete and die past hope God forbid and the earnest praiers and sobbes of your owne soules hartely forbidde it Ianuas aeternae foelicitatis desparatio claudit spes aperit Desperation shutteth vp hope openeth the dores of eternall felicitie And therefore hee that hath least and nothing at all to hope yet let him despaire of nothing it was the advise of an heathen let it bee the practise of a Christian. Let him hope against hope though the basenesse of his condition horrour of sinne weight of tribulation envy of Sathan rigour of the lawe iustice of the vpright iudge seeme to overthwarte him THE XXVII LECTVRE Chap. 2. ver 5.6 The waters compassed mee about vnto the soule c. Yet hast thou brought vp my life from the pit O Lord my God IN the third and fourth verses before I haÌ„dled first the daunger or feare of Ionas illustrated 1. from the person that cast him into it 2. from the place with the accessaries thereunto the depth the heart the multitude of seas 3. from the passions of the sea which vvere either floudes compassing him about or waves overwhelming him those waves in nature surges touching the author Gods surges touching the number all his surges 4. from the infirmity of his owne conscience wherein 1. advisedly he pronounceth and saith 2. that as an vnprofitable thing he is cast out 3. from the sight that is the favour and grace of his mercifull Lorde Secondlye I added thereunto his hope and confidence as a peece of sweete woode cast into the waters of Marah to take away their bitternesse so this to rellish and sweeten his soule againe and to make some amendes for all his former discouragementes In these two contrary affections feare and hope I tolde you the vvhole songe vvas consumed to the ende of the seventh verse First you shall heare his daunger displaied in sundry and forcible members for his wordes swamme not in his lippes but were drawne from the deepe well of a troubled conscience and then at the end some sentence of comfort added as a counter-verse to alay the rigour of the other partes and to vpholde his fainting soule This was the order that David tooke with his soule in the 42. and 43. Psalmes Why art thou cast downe O my soule Hope in the Lorde for I will yet giue him thankes for the helpe of his presence Likewise in the 80. Psalme Turne vs againe O God of hostes cause thy face to shine and wee shall bee safe They come 〈◊〉 seemeth as so many breathings to a man wearied with a tedious race or rather as so many lines and recollections of spirites after swoonings Now vnlesse I will leaue my texte as Ionas left the way to Niniveh which God had apointed him to walke in I must againe entertaine your eares with the same discourse which before I helde I hope without offence to any man For the hearing of these admirable wordes and workes of God is not or should not be as the drinking of wine wherin they say the first draught is of necessity the second for pleasure the third for sleepe so ever more worse but here it is true which the son of Syrach wrot of wisedome for this is the pure and holy wisedome They that eate her shal haue the more hunger and they that drinke her shall thirst the more The eie is not satisfied with seeing nor the eare with hearing such things And albeit it bee a faulte in musicke evermore to strike vppon the same string yet Ionas I doubt not shall easily bee excused and finde favour in your eares in handling this song of his though he bring nothing for a time but the repetition of the same matters For first hee gaue you the ground and plain-song which I called the proposition in the second
soule vvhen he is well-nigh spent and it is a question whether his faith be quicke or dead there commeth an other veruntamen like a showre of the later raine in the drought of summer to water his fainting spirite yet hast thou brought vp my life from the pitte O LORDE my GOD. The readings are diverse The Hebrewes sâ—y thou hast brought vp my life or caused it to ascende The septuâ—ginte my life hath ascended Ierome Thou shalt lifte vp Some say from the pitte some the graue some from death some from corruption There is no oddes For whither of the two times bee put the matter is not great Thou hast or thou shalt For the nature of hope is this futura facta dicit Thinges that are to come it pronounceth of as alâ—eadie accomplished In the eigth to the Romanes we are saved by hope though we are not yet saved And whome God hath iustified those hee hath also glorified though not yet glorified Ephesians the second wee are raised from the dead though our resurrection heereafter to be fulfilled But I stay not vpon this It is a rule in Seneca that by the benefite of nature it is not possible for any man to bee grieved much and long togither For in her loue shee beareth vnto vs shee hath so ordered our paines as that shee hath made them either sufferable or shorte that which Seneca imputed to nature I to hope grounded in the promises of God immutable things the safe and sure anchor of the soule of man The sorrow of Ionas was wonderfully vehement but soone alaied Whence had he that speedy mittigation from nature nothing lesse Here what the voice of nature is When the people of Israell crieth vpon Moses for flesh what is his crie to God I am not able to beare this people If I have founde favour in thine eies kill mee that I behold not this misery When Iezabell threatneth to make Elias like one of the dead prophets he hasteth into the wildernes and breaketh out into impatience and irkesomnes of life O Lord it is sufficient either he had lived or he had bene plagued long enough take away my soule from me The woman in the 2. of Esdras having lost her sonne be it a figure or otherwise it is true in both ariseth in the night season goeth into the field decreeth with her selfe neither to eate nor drinke but there to remaine fasting and weeping till shee were dead Esdras councelleth her foolish woman doe not so returne into the city goe to thine husband c. shee answereth I will not I will not goe into the citye but here will I die You heare how nature speaketh Was Ionas thus relieved no. The sense of his owne strength or rather his weakenesse woulde have sent him hedlong as the devils the heard of swine into the lake of desperation It is the Lord his God whose name is tempered according to the riddle of Sampson both of strong and sweete who is forâ—â—ter suavis suaviter fortis strong in sweetenes and sweete in strength fortis pro me suavis mihi strong for me and sweete to me that hath done this deede Behold my brethren there is hoâ—ie in the lion there is mercy in the fearefull God of heaven He is not only a Lord over Ionas to note his maiesty feare but the Lord his God to shew the kindnes of a father It is the Lord his God to whom he repaireth by particular applicatioÌ„ with the disciple of Christ leaneth as it were in his maisters bosome that delivered his life from the pit his soule from fainting Before he lay in the depthes was desceÌ„ded to the ends of the mouÌ„taines c. All that is aunswered in one worde eduxisti thou hast brought me vp from the pit wherein I was buried Before the waters were come even vnto his soule ready to drinke it in and to turne him to corruption but now God hath delivered that soule from the corruption it was falling into What shall we then say the sea hath no mercy the weedes no mercy the earth with her promontaries and bars no mercy the whale no mercy the Lord alone hath mercy It fared with Ionas as with a fore-ruÌ„ner of his when his spirit was coÌ„fused folden vp within him when hee looked vpon his right hand and behold there was none that would know him much lesse at his left wheÌ„ all refuge failed and none cared for his soule then cried he vnto the Lorde his God and saide Thou art my hope and my portion in the land of the living O harken vnto my cry for I am brought very low even as low as the earth is founded and bring my soule out of prison this pit wherin I lie that I may praise thy name O let not life nor death I name noe more for death is the last and worst enemy that shal be subdued bee able to take your hope from you When your heart in thinking or tongue in speaking hath gone too far correct your selues with this wholesome and timely veruntamen yet notwithstanding I will go to the Lorde my God and trust in his name The nailes that were driven into the handes and feete of our Saviour were neither so grievous nor so contumelious vnto him as that reproch that was offered in speech he trusted in the Lorde let him deliver him This was the roote that preserved Iob and Iob preserved it when his friends became foes and added affliction vnto him he willed them to hold their tongues that he might speake not caring what came of it Wherfor do I take my flesh in my teeth saith he and put my soule in my hand that is why should I fret and consume my self with impatience If he shoulde kill me would I not trust in him so far is it of that I despaire of the mercies of God that my life shall sooner leaue me than my assurance of his graces This was the deepe and inwarde matter he ment in the 19. of his booke from the abundance wherof he made that propheticall and heavenly protestation O that my words were written written in a booke and graven with an iron pen in lead or stone for ever I knowe that my redeemer liveth Wormes rottenes shall consume me to nothing but my redeemer is aliue behold he liveth for evermore hath the keies of hell and of death The graue shal be my house and I shall make my bed in darkenes but I shall rise againe to behold the brightnes of his countenance These eies of nature shal sinke into the holes of my head but I shall receiue them againe to behold that glorious obiect And though many ages of the worlde shall run on betwixt the day of my falling his long expected uisitation yet he shalâ— stand the last day vpon the earth himselfe α and ω the first and the last of all the creatures of God to recapitulate former
or more passions if they vvill goe into captivity againe let them goe but they shall not returne if they sell themselues to the will of their enemy let them never hope for a second ransome VVhen my soule fainted In the second circumstance of the first branch wherein is noted the affection of his soule I will rather marke the efficacie of the worde heere brought than make discourse vpon it The very noting of the worde is discourse enough The wordes that the holy ghost vseth are not vaine vvordes such as are vsed by men to deceiue with the examination search wherof yeeldeth no profit but he that wil weigh them aright must not only view the outwarde face of the whole sentence at large but sucke out the iuice and bloude of every severall vvorde therein contained The extremitye of the soule of Ionas seemeth to bee very greate because there is no little trouble and care how to expresse it The Septuagints render it an eclipse or if you will a dereliction and death of the soule Calvin a convolution or folding vp togither Tremelius an overvvhelming Ierome a streightning or compacting into a close roume Pomeran a despairing VVhatsoever it is Rabbi Kimhi affirmeth that the vvorde is never vsed but of greate miserie happily such as shall accompanie the last times when men shall bee at their wittes endes for feare and their heartes shall faile them because of troubles Nowe whither you saie that his soule forsooke him as if it were and there was deliquium animae a disparition of it for a time as if it vvere not like the state of Eutychus in the Actes who was taken vp for deade though his life remayned in him or vvhither it were wrapt and vvounde vvithin it selfe that her owne house was a prison vnto her and shee had no power to goe foorth no list to thinke of heaven no minde to aske the counsaile of GOD or man as vvhen a birde is snared the more it laboureth the harder it tieth it selfe and though it vse the legges or the vvinges it vseth them to a further hinderaunce so all the thoughtes that the soule of Ionas thought were not to ease the hearte but more to perplexe it and all fell backe againe vpon himselfe or whither the soule were overwhelmed vvithin him with her owne weighte as one that shoulde gather stones for his owne graue or that it was pinched and pressed within a narrowe place that all those former impedimentes promontories and barres of the earth did not imprison him so close as his owne feare or whatsoever it were besides what was it else but either the messenger and fore-runner or a neare companion to that vnnaturall and vngratious sinne which wee haue often alreadye smitten at with the sworde of Gods spirite accursed desperation Howe is the golde become drosse howe is the soule of man turned into a carkeise The chaunge is marvailous That that was given to quicken the bodie and to put life into it is most dull and liuelesse it selfe That that was given to giue liberty explication motion agilitie and arte to every parte of the bodye is nowe the greatest burthen that the body hath If I shall giue the reason heereof it is that which Bernarde alleageth in a Sermon The reasonable soule of man hath two places an inferiour vvhich it governeth the bodie a superiour vvherein it resteth GOD vvhich is the same in substance that Augustine had before delivered in his nineteenth treatise vpon Saint Iohn it quickneth and it selfe is quickened VVherefore if that better life vvhich is from aboue relinquish the soule vvith the comfortes and aides of GODS blessed spirite hovve is it possible but that the soule should also relinquish her body with the offices of her life This is the reason then that the soule faineteth shee first dyeth vpwardes then dovvne-wardes and invvardely to her selfe Shee forgetteth her maker and preserver and hee likevvise striketh her vvith amazement and confusion in all her powers that shee lyeth as it vvere in a traunce and knovveth not howe to apply them to their severall and proper functions Nowe therefore if the floudes and waues of the sea wherewith hee was embraced on every side had beene as kinde vnto him as ever were his mothers armes and those ragged endes of the mountaines like pillowes of downe vnder his bones if the promontories and barres of the earth had vnbarred themselues vnto him of their owne accorde like those dores of the prison in the Actes to let him out yet if the soule within him did remaine thus fettered and gived with the chaines of her owne confusion and all the devises and counsailes of her heart were rather hinderances than helpes vnto her and her greatest enmitie or at least her least friendship came from her owne house that either shee thought nothing or all that shee thought was but the imagination of a vaine thing I would not wish her greater harme Hee wanteth no other miserie that is plagued with a fainting soule Aske not the malice of the sea the malice of the lande the malice of hell against him vvhom the vntovvardenesse and distruste of his ovvne soule hath beaten downe The thirde circumstaunce maketh mention of the subiect or place vvherein his soule fainted that you may knovve there is no power in man to vndoe such implicite cordes and to loose the bandes of sorrowe and death vnlesse some vertue from vvithout set too an helping hande The sense is verie plaine that in himselfe his soule fainted that is there vvas no domesticall earthly naturall helpe that coulde release him but vvhen his father mother friendes lande sea his soule all had forsaken him the Lorde tooke him vp and gaue him better hope For vvho should restore to libertie a soule confounded as this was and re-deliver it to her former abilities teach her to vnderstande arighte prudentlie to deliberate assuredly to hope who reconcile a man fallen out with himselfe and make peace within his borders or rather reviue and recover a man fallen from himselfe but hee who is said to order a good mans goinge and to bee a GOD of order not of confusion VVhen the earth was vvithout forme and voide and darkenesse vpon the deepe and neither heaven nor earth lande nor water day nor night distinguished who fashioned the partes of that vnshapen Chaos separated light from darkenesse and brought the creature into a comely proportion but even the same LORDE who finding this wastnesse and informity in the soule of Ionas made it perfit againe It is evident in the nexte wordes For marke the connexion VVhen my soule fainted within me I remembred the Lorde How is it possible for did his soule faint and was it in maner no soule vnto him as it fareth with some who seeme for a space to bee deade and their spirites to haue forsaken them was all the strength thereof consumed stifled choked given over within him and had hee a memorie
her handes and set a crowne of pure golde vpon her heade will maintaine his owne doings perfit his good worke begunne and continued a long time glorifie his blessed name by advauncing her to glorie encrease his kingdome by hers subdue her people vnto her confounde her enemies and when the kingdome of Englande is no longer capable of her as Philip spake to Alexander his sonne hee will establish her in a kingdome of a far more happy condition Amen THE XXX LECTVRE Chap. 2. ver 10. And the Lorde spake vnto the fish and it cast out Ionas vpon the dry lande IONAS hath ended his song of Sion in a strange lande which was the seconde parte of the chapter nowe insisted vpon He hath brooked the seas with patience and digested his perilles with hope and is nowe arrived at the haven of happy deliveraunce The inhabitauntes of the earth vvoulde never haue beleeved that the enemie coulde haue entred within the gates of Ierusalem nor that the prophet of the Lorde coulde haue had egresse from the gates and barres of this monstrous fish But so was it done by the Lorde and it is marvailous in our eies And as the chaines fell from the handes of Peter the very night before Herode intended to bring him forth to his triall and hee passed through the first and second watches without interruption and the yron gate opened by it owne accorde vnto him though hee were delivered to foure quaternions of souldiours to bee kâ—pte and that nighte slepte betweene two bounde with two chaines and the keepers before the dores of the gaole so after seventie two howres which is the iudiciall howre of many daungerous diseases happily the timeliest time wherein Ionas if ever was to looke for libertie againe and the Whale might beginne to plead to himselfe everlasting possession of his pray so longe retained though his heade were wrapte aboute vvith weedes as Peters handes bounde with chaines and he were delivered both to floudes and depthes promontories and rockes as hee to fowre quaternions and at this instante of his deliverye laie betweene the barres of earth and sea as Peter slept betweene two souldiours besides the throate and iawes of the fish his loathsome prison which sate as keepers before the dores yet all these encumbraunces and lettes fell from the bodie of Ionas and hee past through the first and seconde watches I meane the entralles of the VVhale and that iron gate of his strong armed teeth and was cast vp vpon drye grounde as Peter vvas restored to his friendes house In miracles and mysteries must I spend my discourse at this time The miracles are not newes vnto you thorough out the vvhole decourse of these histories VVherein the Lorde hath the principall parte qui facit mirabilia solus vvho onely worketh vvonders and onelye vvonders vvhat haue you seene else Ionas was svvallowed by a miracle by a miracle vvas preserued lived and sang and by a miracle is cast vp VVho was the authour of the miracle The Lorde What were his meanes His vvorde or commandement Who the minister the fish The manner what by vomiting or disgorging himselfe Lastly the terminus ad quem or place that received him The dry land In these particulars doth the sentence of my text empty it selfe 1 The Lorde spake One and the same hande both vvounded and recured him VVho else vvas of mighte to haue encountred this fearefull beast For canst thou drawe out Leviathan with an hooke or pierce his iavves vvith an angle VVill hee make manie praiers vnto thee or speake thee faire Lay but thine hande vpon him and thou shalt haue cause to remember the battell and to doe no more so Beholde thine hope is in vaine if thou thinkest to match him for shall not one perish even at the sighte of him Muchlesse canst thou draw him to the shore and cast a line into his bowels to draw out a prophet or any spoile there-hence They said of David in the Psalme novve hee is dovvne hee shall rise no more If thou hadst askt both lande and sea when Ionas vvas fallen into the depthes of them they vvoulde haue aunswered thee nowe hee is downe hee shall rise no more Even his owne most familiar friende vvhome hee best trusted vvith whome hee had taken his sweetest counsaile the hearte within his brest tolde him many a time Thou shalt rise no more thou art cast out of the sighte of the Lorde and company of men for ever But hee knewe whome hee trusted and who vvas best able to restore the pawne committed vnto him though hee walked in the bellie of the fish as in the valley of death Yet the LORDE was on his side vvhat then coulde hurte him The Lorde liveth the LORD hath spoken the Lorde is his name and such like preambles to manie sentences of scripture are most effectuall motiues of perswasion and giue vs vnquestionable assuraunce of vvhatsoever therein set downe The Angell appeared vnto Gedeon Iudges the sixte and saide vnto him The Lorde is with thee thou valiant man VVhat cause had Gedeon when hee hearde but that preface Dominus tecum the LORDE is with thee to speake of their miseries and to call for wonted miracles and to thinke that God had forsakâ—n them The weakest and feeblest soule in the worlde assistâ—â—â— with the valiancie of the most valiant Lorde cannot be endangered And therefore hee bade Gedeon Goe in this thy mighte and thou shalt saue Israell out of the handes of Madian Not in the mighte of thine owne arme for who hath enabled thee but in this thy might this that I speake of the presence of my maiesty mine by right thine by vse and receipte mine by possession thine by communication mine originally thine instrumentally for haue not I sent thee and I will bee with thee and thou shalt smite Madian as one man The like was the greeting of the angell to the mother of the Lord Dominus tecum The Lord is with thee I haue said enough I neede not giue reasons of my message Aske no questions make no doubt of thine overnaturall and vnkindely conception when thou shalt but heare that the Lorde is with thee and the power of the most high shall overshadowe thee The Lorde spake to the fish The instrumente that the LORD vsed in the delivery of his Prophet is that Delphian swoorde or vniversall instrumente vvhich hee vsed in forming the worlde and all the creatures thereof Hee saide let there bee lighte let there bee a firmament let the waters bee gathered into one place let the dry lande appeare c. and it was fulfilled And at this howre the everliving vvorde of GOD beareth vp and supporteth all thinges by his vvorde VVhat is his word then but his meere and effectuall commaundement and the giving of effecte to that which his hearte hath intended VVho as hee goeth without feete seeth vvithout eies and reacheth without hands so there
mercie pleaseth him For who hath first loved or first given or anye way deserved and it shal bee restored vnto him a thousande folde Blessinges and thankesgivinges for evermore bee heaped vpon his holy name in whom the treasures of mercy and loving kindenesse dwell bodylie who of his owne benevolente disposition hath both pleased himselfe and pleasured his poore people with so gracious a qualitye Even so LORD for that good pleasure and purpose sake deale with the rest of thy people as thou hast dealt with Ionas and the marriners take awaie those iniquities of ours that take away thy favour and blessing from vs and as a stranger that knoweth them not passe by our transgressions retaine not thine anger for ever though we retaine our sinnes the cause of thine anger but returne to vs by grace who returne not to thee by repentance and haue compassion vpon vs who haue not compassion vpon our owne soules subdue our raigning and raging vnrighteousnesse and drowne our offences in the bottome of the sea which els will drowne vs in the bottome of perdition The mysteries buried vnder this type of the casting vp of Ionas the seconde principall consideration vvherein I bounded my selfe are collected by some 1. The preaching of the gospell to the Gentiles not before the passion and resurrection of Christ because Ionas went not to Niniveh till after his sinking and rising againe 2. A lanterne of comforte to all that sit in the darkenesse of affliction and in the shadowe of death held out in the enlargement of Ionas who though hee vvere swallowed downe into the bowels of an vnmercifull beast yet by the hand of the Lord he was againe cast our These are somewhat enforced But the only counterpane indeed to match this original is the resurrection of the blessed sonne of God from death to life figured in the restitution of the prophet to his former estate of liuelyhode and by him applyed in the gospel to this body of truth who is very and substantiall trueth For so hee telleth the Scribes and Pharisees twise in one Evangelist An evill and adulterous generation degenerated from the faith and workes of their father Abraham wherein standeth the right descent of his children asketh a signe but no signe shall bee given vnto it saue the signe of the Prophet Ionas For as Ionas vvas three daies and three nightes in the whales belly so shall the sonne of man bee three daies and three nightes in the â—earte of the earth His meaning was that if this so vnlikely and in nature so vncredible a signe coulde not mooue them all the tokens in heaven and earth would not take effect That Christ is risen againe there is no question The bookes are open and hee that runneth may reade enough to perswade him Hee that tolde them of the signe before mentioned signified the same worke vnder the name and shadow of the temple of Ierusalem a little to obscure his meaning and that hee tearmed a signe also Destroie this temple and I will builde it againe in three daies He meante not the temple of Salomon as they mistooke but the temple of his bodie more costly and glorious than ever that admired temple of theirs the buildinge whereof in the counsaile of his father was more than forty and sixe yeares even from the first age of the worlde and everie stone therein angular precious and tryed cut out of a mountaine without handes ordeined from the highest heauens without humane furtheraunce and such whereof hee affirmed longe before in the mouth of his Prophet who could iustifie his saying Thou shalt not suffer thine holy one to see corruption though of the other temple hee prophecied and it was perfourmed there shall not a stone bee lefte standing vpon a stone that shall not bee cast dovvne Praedixit revixit He gaue warning before that it shoulde so bee and hee fulfilled it The earth-quake at the very time of his resurrection Math. 28. the testimonie and rebuke of Angelles vvhy seeke yee the living amongest the deade hee is risen he is not here his manifestation to one to two to twelue to moe than fiue hundreth at once once and againe his breaking of breade amongst them the printes of his handes and side their very fingers and nayles for evidence sake thrust into them togither with so many predictions that thus it must bee and so many sermons and exhortations that so it was are able to resolue any spirite that setteth not it selfe of purpose to resist the holie Ghost Or if there be any of so audacious impiety as to deny the scriptures the warrante whereof is so stronge that Paul in the Actes of the Apostles not tarrying the answere of king Agrippa by his owne mouth speaketh in his name by a reasonable and vndoubted concession I know thou beleevest them and hee thought it afterwardes firme enough to prooue any article of the faith without other force according to the scriptures let them listen a while to that learned disputation that GREAT ATHANASIVS helde concerning this point Hee proveth that the sonne of God coulde not chuse but die having taken vnto him a body of death and that hee coulde not but liue againe because that bodye of his was vitae sacrarium The vestrie or chappell wherein life vvas conserved And hee holdeth it a senselesse thing that a dead man shoulde haue the power so to extimulate and pricke the mindes of the livinge that the Grecian and Pagan was brought to forsake his auncient nationall idolatries and worship the Saviour of the world that a man forsaken of life and able to doe nothing should so hinder the actions of actiue and liues-men that by the preaching of Iesus of Nazareth an adulterer leaveth his adulteries a murtherer his bloud sheades and at the naming of his dreadfull name the very devilles departe from their oracles and oratories He vrgeth yet further Howe can the carkas of a dead man prevaile so much with the living that vpon the confidence of life therein contained they haue endured the losse of libertie countrie wife children goods good name and life it selfe with such Christian magnanimity that the Arrians espying it beganne to receiue it as a ruled and resolved case not to be doubted of there is no Christian living that feareth death As for the slaunder of his sworne enemies the Iewes whose malice cannot ende but in the ende of the woorlde vvho contrary to common humanity belyed him in his graue and gaue not leaue to his bones to rest in peace saying and hyring men to saye and vvith a greate summe purchasing that vntrueth as the chiefe captaine did his burgesshippe Actes the two and twentith His disciples came by nighte and stole him awaie while we slept let it sleepe in the dust with them till the time come When everie eie shall see him even those that pierced him vpon the crosse and those that watched
committed vnto it but all kindes of deathes shal be swallowed vp into a general victory and in his name that hath wonne the field for vs we shall ioifully sing thankes be vnto God that hath given vs victory through our Lord Iesus Christ. And as Ionas was cast vp vpon the drie ground the land of the living where he might walke and breath and repose himselfe without danger of miscarying and Christ restored to life and immortality and exalted to a glorious estate at his fathers right hand so the Lord shall also shew vs the pathes of life fill vs with the ioy of his countenaunce for evermore Our corruptible shall put on incorruption our mortall immortality we shal liue with the lambe that was slaine in eternal glory Other shal rise to shame perpetual coÌ„tempt Dan. 12. And to the resurrectioÌ„ of coÌ„demnatioÌ„ Ioh. 5. Sadduâ—es Saturnians Basilidians Epicures Atheists which haue trodden this precious pearle of doctrine vnder their swinish feet haue not beleeved that they might be saved but we to the leÌ„gth of daies in the hands of God to the sight of his holy face which is most blessed blessednes Other particulars of stature age the like we cease to enquire of because God hath forborn to deliver them We will not loose that by our curiosity which Christ hath bought with his bloud and is gone to possesse in the body of his flesh that we may also possesse it I am sure there shal be al wel for else it shoulde not bee There shall bee a drie grounde for this valley of teares and sea of miseries A lande of the living for this desert of the dead A commodious and setled habitation for this tossing to and fro There shall be no monsters of land or sea to make vs afraid any more no sorrow to disquiet no sicknesse to distemper no death to dissolve vs no sin to obiect vs to the wrath of God and to bring vs in danger of loosing his grace THE XXXI LECTVRE Chap. 3. ver 2. And the worde of the Lorde came vnto Ionas the seconde time saying Arise goe vnto Niniveh that great citie c. THe summe of the whole prophecie and of every part therein I have often told you is in variety of examples the mercy of God towards his poore creatures The boundes whereof if any desire to learne how large they are let him coÌ„sider that in this present history it is exhibited both to Iewes GeÌ„tiles an example of the former was Ionas of the later the Mariners the Ninivites both to prophets and others of meaner and mechanicall callings both to Prince and people aged and infantes men and beastes that no man may thinke either himselfe or his seed or any the silliest worme that moveth vpon the earth excluded therehence Paul in his first to Timothy glorieth in the mercie of Iesus Christ which he had shewed vpon him to the ensample of such as shoulde beleeve in time to come But heere are fowre examples at once and as it were fowre gospels preaching to every countrey and language age and condition and sexe the hope of better thinges Blessed be the Lord God which hath written a whole booke of remembrances and filled it with argumentes to so good a purpose This third chapter which by the wil of God we are entred vpon treateth in generall of the mercy of God towards Niniveh and sheadeth it selfe orderly into foure parts 1. The calling or commission of Ionas renued 2. The perfourmance of his message 3. The repentance of Niniveh 4. Their delivery Ionas is called and put in charge againe in the two former verses Wherein besides the authour and other particulars heretofore extracted from the same words we will rest our selues especially vpon these three points 1. The repitition of his warraÌ„t The word of the Lord came the second time 2. Whither he is vvilled to goe To Niniveh 3. What he is to doe there 1. touching the matter he must preach the preaching that God shall bid them 2. touching the manner he must doe it by proclamation And the word of the Lord came vnto Ionas the second time saying Arise go vnto Niniveh that great cittie Ionas being become a new man after his baptisme regeneration in the water of the sea receiveth a new commission his former being forfeited by disobedience First it is not lawfull we know for any man to take that honour vnto him without calling nor to set himselfe vpon a candlesticke who hath no power to burne vnlesse God kindle him I haue not thrust in my selfe for a pastour after thee neither haue I desired the day of miserie Then because Ionas had disanulled his first commission it stood as voide vnto him and of none effect till it was repeated the second time Peter denying his maister three times and not lesse then loosing thereby his legatine Apostolicke authority repaireth his broken credit by three confessions and is newly invested into his former office If I fall now and then into the same points which I haue already handled in the first chapter you may easily pardoÌ„ me For first the words are the same or not much altered happily as the first commission of Ionas took shipwracke in the Syriacke sea so the first notes I gaue are perished in your memories and therefore there may be neede or repetition of such doctrines no lesse than of his charge There is no materiall difference betvveene the tvvo verses vvherein the mandate is given vnto him but in the addition of one particle The second time Which carrieth a double force first of propension in the nature of a man to fall away from God vnlesse it be daily and continually renued The Apostle was faine to travaile in birth and to doe it againe with his little children the Galathians till Christ were formed in them for as the ripening and perfiting of a childe in his mothers wombe asketh the time of nine moneths at least so the breeding of Christ in the consciences of men and begetting or preserving of children to God cannot be done without often and carefull endevour bestowed therein Secondly of the mercifull clememcie of God towardes Ionas in restoring him to his former dignity For he not onely gaue him his life vvhich vvas despaired but the honour and place of a prophet He might haue lived still and seene long life and many daies a straunger to his owne home an alien to his mothers sonnes an exile from the Israelites a by-worde of reproach for leesing his wonted preheminence and as they wondered when they heard that Saul prophecied What is Saul become one of the prophets so it might have given as iust a cause of admiration that Ionas was become none of the prophetes But Ionas abideth a prophet still and is as highly credited as if hee had not broken his former faith I knovve the patience of GOD is verie abundante Hee is mercifull and
place to this auditory and would singe vpon earth as the Angels sange from heaven glorye bee to God and peace to men then no men better pleasing But you will not suffer vs to thinke the thoughts of peace When we say wee will meditate of mercy we are presētly interrupted called to a songue of iudgment These latter and last daies full of the ripest and last sins which no posterity shal be able to adde vnto so drunken and drowned in viciousnes that as in a plague we marvaile not so much at those that die as at those that escape so in this generall infection of sinne not at the vilenes of the most but that any almost is innocent giue vs no rest from bitter speakings And to giue you one reason for many we are fearfully afraide if we take not that wise advertisement that the Apostle gaue in the Epistle to the Coloss. Say to Archippus take heed to the ministery that thou hast receaved in the Lord that thou fulfill it Paul wrote it to the Collossians and the Collossians must doe it by word of mouth to Archippus and they all to vs all as many as are in the office of Archippus write speake proclaime and least it might be forgotten set it in the end of many precepts and advise it by way of post-script Take heede looke vnto it giue good and carefull regard haue your eies in your heades and your hearts in your eie liddes it is a worke not a play a burthen nor an honour a service not a vacancy and you haue receaved it in him that will require it talent vse principall and interest giue you the fulnes of wrath if you doe it to halfes and not perfitely fulfill it THE XXXII LECTVRE Chap. 3. vers 3. So Ionas arose and went to Niniveh accordinge to the word of the Lord. Now Niniveh was a great and excellent cittie of three daies iourney THE first part of the Chapter wherein the commission of Ionas is renewed vnto him wee haue already absolved and are now to proceede to the execution thereof which was the 2. generall branche Wherin hee so warily behaveth himselfe havinge bought his experience with cost that hee departeth not an haires breadth from his directions perfined Beeing bidden to arise hee ariseth to goe hee goeth not now to Tharsis as before but to Niniveh to proclaime hee proclaimeth not the fansies or supposalles of his owne heade but the preachinge no doubt which the Lorde bade him because it is saide according to the worde of the Lorde As for that which is added or rather interposed and by a parenthesis conveyed into the rest of the greatnesse of Niniveh it maketh the rather for the commendation of his duetie that failed not in so large a province and the faith of that people who were so presently reformed I will followe the card that Ionas doth As hee went to Niniveh and preached according to the worde of the Lorde so because the same word of the Lorde againe repeated in my text tieth mee to a rememoration of the same particulars which erst I haue delivered let it not offend your eares that I passe not by them without some further explication The present occurrents are 1. his readines and speede to obey the calling of the Lord So Ionas arose 2. his running to the marke proposed not out of the waie and went to Niniveh 3. his walking by line and levell according to the worde of the Lorde 4. a caution or watchworde cast forth by the holy ghost concerning the greatenesse of of the cittie as if it were plainely saide Bee carefull not to forget the compasse of Niniveh If you thinke on that in the course of this story you will easily graunte that the service of my prophet was the more laudable in persisting and the conversion of the inhabitantes in taking so short a time They spake of the Lacedaemonians in former times a people in defence of their right most prodigall of their liues and quicke to encounter any daunger That it was a shame for any man to fly from the battaile but for a Lacedaemonian even to pawse and deliberate vpon it Ionas beinge willed to Arise and goe to Niniveh is now so far from flyinge the face of the Lorde that as if his eare were pulled and his soule goaded with that worde hee taketh the first handsell of time to begin his worke So truely was it said by Esaie in the 40. of his prophecie They that waite vpon the Lorde shall renue their strength they shall lifte vp their winges as the Eagles they shall runne and not bee wearie and they shall walke and not fainte Ionas was quicke enough before when hee highed himselfe to Tharsis with more hast then good speede as the wicked and disobedient haue wings vpon their heeles to beare them to destruction their feete are swifte to shedde bloude and they runne with more alacritie to death then others to life but hee wanted that encouragement which Esay speaketh of he waited not vpon the will of the Lord neither had hee the testimony of a good conscience and therefore was soone weary of that vnhappy race Now he ariseth with a better will and feeleth agilitie put into his bones which before he was not acquainted with The word implieth many times such hast as admitteth no dalliance The Iewes in the 2. of Nehemias havinge hearde of the goodnesse of their God vpon them and the wordes of the king for the repairing of Ierusalem presently made aunswere to the speech of Nehemias let vs rise and build Let vs not loose so good an opportunity nor giue advātage to our enemies by protraction of time And it followeth immediately vpon that accorde of theirs So they strengthned their hand to good The latter expoundeth the former Let vs rise and builde that is let vs strengthen our handes and hartily addresse our seues to dispatch this busines Afterwardes when their adversaries reproched thē and charged them with rebellinge against the king Nehemias aunswered the God of heaven vvill prosper vs and vnder the warrant of his protections we his servantes will rise and builde that is we will not be removed from our worke vvith all your threatnings and discountenancings Then arose Eliashib the high priest with his brethren the priests they built the sheep-gate c. And surely if you consider the order and manner of their building how they flanked one the other in the worke some setting thēselues to the sheepgate some to the fishport some to the gate of the olde fishpoole others to the valley gate these next vnto those and all in their apointed wardes and stations and I doubt not but every man except the greate ones of the Tekoites who put not their neckes to the worke as earnest as Baruch was of vvhome it is saide that he killed and fired himselfe in the doing of his taske for they watched in the nighte time and
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
them redounde to their maisters and doe they not loose themselues by vveakening the bodies of their cattell through lacke of foode vvhereby not onelye their labour but also their fruite and encrease is hindered Lastly some tooke a pride in some kinde of beastes namely their horses vvhich I mentioned before and not onely fedde them with the best to keepe them fat and shining but cloathed them with the richest We read of Nero the Emperour of Rome that he shodde his mules with silver and of Poppaea Sabina that shee her horses with gold Bernard telleth Eugenius the Pope that Peter rode not vpon a white warre-like horse clad in trappings of golde And it is not vnlikelie but the kings of Niniveh did offende in the sumptuousnesse of their horses asmuch as the Emperours or Popes of Rome In these it was not amisse that their glorie and pompe should be abated howsoever it fared with the rest and that their bellies should be pinched with hunger which were pampered before and their backes cloathed with sack-cloath which were wont to be magnified with such costlie furniture These and such other reasons of their act as might be alleadged I let passe and come to the handling of the wordes themselues But let man and beast put on sacke-cloath The first member commaundeth the habite that their repentance must be cloathed with It was the manner of those times especially in the East partes if either they lost a friend or childe by death as Iacob his son Gen. 37. but rather for the losse of the favor of God and commonly when they repented their sinnes and sometimes when they praied not only to refuse their best garments as the children of Israell Exod. 33. When the Lorde tolde them that he would not goe himselfe but send an angell with them they sorrowed exceedingly and no man put on his best raiment sometimes to cut their cloathes as Iosu. 7. sometimes to rend them from their backs as Ioel. 2. but insteed thereof to take vnto themselues the vncomfortablest weedes and fashions that might be devised For besides their wearing of sacke-cloath they would sit vpon the ground and in ashes as the friendes of Iob and not only sit but wallow in dust and ashes as the daughter of Ierusalem is willed to doe Ierem. 6. and claspe the handes vpon the heade and sprinkle ashes vpon it as Tamar did 2. Sam. 12. and their haire as their mannes is described Amos 8. and finally take vppe an howling and make an exquisite lamentation as one that shoulde mourne for her onelie sonne In all which and such like outwarde observaunces I like the iudgemente of a learned Divine that they are neither commaunded by God nor by GOD forbidden and are not so properly workes as passions not sought or affected or studied for but such as in sorrowe or feare or the like perturbations offerre themselues and are consequent of their owne accordes as helpes to expresse vnto the world our inwarde dispositions So when we pray vnto God wee bowe the knees of our bodies lie vpon our faces cast vp our eies to heaven smite vpon our breasts with the like ceremonies In all which praier is the substance and worke intended and these though we thinke not of them come as a kinde of furniture and formality if I may so speake to set it foorth The â—â—â—nesse of the spirite draweth the whole body into participation of the griefe making it carelesse of the foode and negligent in the attire that belongeth vnto it And if ever they be alone these shaddowes and dumbe shewes I meane of sacke-cloath and mourning without their body of toward contrition as they fasted in Esay from meate and were prowde of their fast Why haue wee fasted and thou regardest it not but not from strife and oppression and the prophetes in Zachary ware a rough garment but it was to deceiue with then is our thankes with God the same that he gaue to Israel in the place before mentioned Is this the fast that I haue chosen that a man should afflict his soule for a daie and â—owe downe his heade like a bull-rush and lie in sack-cloath and ashes wilt thou call this a fasting or an acceptable daie vnto the Lorde or is not this rather the fasting that I haue chosen insteede of forsaking thy meate to deale thy breade to the hungrie and for sacke-cloath about thy loines to cover thy naked brethren and not to hide thine eies from thine owne flesh And as of sacke-cloath and fasting so wee may like wise say of crying which was the voice of repentaunce For was it the neying of horses lowing of oxen and bullockes lamentation of men eiulation of women and children mingling heaven and earth togither with a confusion of out-cries that could enforce the LORDE aboue to giue them aâ—dience doubtlesse no. For the praier of this people a shielde against the iudgement of GOD which nature it selfe thrust into the handes of the marriners before and heere of the Ninivites yea that obstinate king of Egypt which sette his face against heaven and confronted the GOD thereof vvas glad to flie vnto it Pray vnto the LORD for me and my people that this plague maie departe and Simon the sorcerer who deceived the worlde with his enchauntmentes thought it the onelie charme vvhereby the mercy of God mighte be procured though it bee reported of by as speciall notes as praier may bee honoured with 1. for the manner of it that it was vehemente and forcible They cryed 2. for the grounde invvarde and intentionall They cryed mightilie and from the bottome of their heartes 3. for the obiect right and substantiall They cryed vpon GOD yet if their words and works purpose and performance had not kissed each other if with their lips alone they had honoured God without their heartes or with their heartes alone without their handes as we haue to consider in the nexte wordes they had soone beene aunswered as a people better favoured than themselues were Esay the first Though you stretch out your handes I vvill hide mine eies from you and though you make many praiers I vvill not heare you The Gentiles Matthew the sixte vsed longe speech and much babling and thought to bee hearde for that cause but they lived as Gentiles The Scribes and the Pharisees in the same place praied also not as the Gentiles to vnknowne GODS but to the God of the Hebrews they cryed Lorde Lorde with often inclamation yea they stood and praied not onely in their houses but in the synagogues and corners of the streetes to appeare to men and no doubt to be hearde of men and they vsed likewise longe praiers Luke the twentieth as the Gentiles did yet they were but hypocrites and the portion of hypocrites was reserved for them And this is your meede looke for it hypocrites as you looke for summer vvhen you see the blooming of the figge-tree when you pray as if
himselfe though at the first he denied his crime yea I haue obeyed the voice of the Lorde yet afterwardes he confessed I haue sinned in transgressing his commaundemente and he desired Samuell to take away his sinne and to returne with him that hee might worshippe the Lorde which when Samuell refused hee then altered his speech yet turne with mee I praie thee and honour me before the elders of my people and before Israell So that his principall care was not the service of GOD but honour and estimation in the sight of men Such the repentance of Ahab 1. King 21. who having heard the wordes of Elias thundering the iudgements of God against him and his house hee rent his clothes and put sacke-cloath vpon him and fasted and lay in sacke-cloath and went softlie but how temporary and feigned his repentance was may appeare in the next Chapter by his despitefull dealing with Micheas Such is the repentance of those who are not rightly perswaded of the pardon of their sinnes fitter for Philistines and reprobates than Christians and to be vsed in Ashdod or Ascalon than at Ierusalem The coniunction of faith and repentance is so close that some haue thought it to be a part of repentance I rather take it to bee the beginner and leader thereof As the body and soule though they are ioyned togither in the same man yet is not the body a parte of the soule nor the soule of the bodie but both distinct so faith hope and charitie if they bee true they are narrowly lincked one to the other yet naturally and essentially severed For finall resolution whereof you may best satisfie your selues by proofe from this place For although this sentence which I haue in hand be the last of the mandate in order and disposition of wordes yet is it first in proposall For if they had asked in Niniveh a reason of the king and his counsaile vvhy they shoulde bid them fast and weare sacke-cloath about their flesh sparing neither beast nor sucklinges vvhy they shoulde adde affliction and miserie to miserie as if it vvere not sufficient to be plagued by the handes of God at the time prefixed but they must plague themselues and their cattle fourty daies before hand having but a handfull of daies in comparison to enioie their liues and to take their pleasure in earthlye commodities or why they shoulde cry vnto the Lorde and not bee hearde and forsake their wickednesse and not bee pardoned the reason of all this is alleadged in this Epilogue vvho can tell if the Lord vvill turne and repent It cannot lightly bee worse it may bee better with vs the doinge of these dueties to God will not put vs nearer to our iudgemente it may sende vs farther of vvee are sure to bee overthrowen if we repent not wee may repente and happily escape it it is but the leaving of our meate and drinke for a time who must leaue both belly and meate too the missing of our better garmentes who must misse our skinnes and our flesh from our backes if wee vse our tongues in crying wee loose nothing by it and if we wash our handes and cleanse our consciences from iniquity we shall goe the lighter to our iudgement Who can tell it is the nature and property of God to shew pitty vnto the whole world and although Niniveh bee the sincke of the earth why not to Niniveh Some chandge the reading and insteede of quis novit who knovveth they put qui novit hee that knovveth connecting the sense vvith that which went before in this manner let everie man turne from his evill vvay and from the vvickednesse that is in their handes qui novit who knovveth so to doe and is not ignoraunte what belongeth to such a chandge or thus he that is privie in his hearte of any wickednes committed against God or 〈◊〉 an publique or private let him amende it The instruction from so translating it is good though the translation it selfe bee mistaken that knowledge must ever goe before the face of repentaunce Knowledge I meane not onely in kinde to distinguish sinne from sinne and to call them all by their proper names but by number and weight howe many howe grievous they are howe farre they extende to the annoyance of the earth provocation of heaven breach of christian charitie and strikinge at the maiestie of God himselfe Thus hee acknowledged his sinne in the gospell who spake in his hearte before hee did it and therefore was not ignoraunt what hee went aboute I vvill goe to my father and saie I haue sinned yea but not a simple sinne I haue sinned a mightye and manifolde transgression I haue sinned against heauen I haue also sinned against thee against the father of my spirite against the father of my flesh against him that gaue me his law against thee that gavest mee my nature both the tables haue I broken by my misdeedes and whatsoever dueties I had to perfourme those haue I violated by mine vnnaturall disobedience If you obserue the order of all the repentances in the booke of GOD vvhither in Moabite Edomite Egyptian or in the people of God they ever began with the knowledge of their sins that as the first argument of life which the widowes son of Naim gaue was this he began to speake so in this spirituall resuscitation from the death of the soule the first token of their recovery was the acknowledgement and confession of their misdoing The voice of Pharaoh Exod. 10. was I haue sinned against the Lord your God The voice of Balaam Num. 22. when he saw the Angell in his way I haue sinned The voice of Saul to Samuel 1. Sam. 15. I haue sinned and 1. Sam. 26. when hee saw the kindnesse of David towardes him I haue sinned The voice of David to Nathan 2. Sam. 12. I haue sinned 2. Sam. 24. to God after the numbering of the people I haue sinned Nay valde peccavi I haue exceedingly sinned in that I haue done And it is further added that his hearte smote him vvhen he had done it And when afterwardes he felt the smiting of the Lorde with plainer demonstration and with clearing the whole lande besides Ego sum qui peccavi ego sum qui iniquè egi It is I and only I which haue done wickedlie The voice of Iob in the seventh of his booke I haue sinned The voice of Daniell in behalfe of himselfe their kinges princes fathers of every man of Iudah and the inhabitantes of Ierusalem and of all Israell both neare and farre of was vvee haue sinned and committed iniquitie and done vvickedlie and rebelled and departed from thy preceptes and not obeyed thy servauntes the prophetes and nothinge saue open shame appertaineth vnto vs. We heare no ende of accusation iniquitie vpon sinne wickednes vpon iniquity rebellion vpon wickednes and still a further proceeding in the testification of their vnrighteousnesse VVhen Ezra hearde that the people of the captivitie were mingled with
yea or no we will double sinne and binde two togither by hiding excusing translating sinne if there bee any meanes in the world and bush in paradise to flie vnto wee will shrovvde our selues If wee can put it to the vvoman or rather by rebound to God the woman not of mine owne choosing but which thou gavest me whereas â—ndeed it was a woman of his owne choosing even the concupiscence of his hart or if we can lay it vpon the serpent if we can cover it with lying as Gehazi did thy servant went no whither or colour it with pretence as Saul did I kept the best for the sacrifice if there be good intention I meant well or happy event it succeeded well or any other thing to bee alleadged we will not omit it Brethren forsake these waies of dissembling diminishing selfe-liking and set your desires wholy vpon that which our Saviour prayed for Ioh. 12. father glorifie thy name His owne name he would not say that had a name aboue al names shal we seeke to glorifie set forth ours Whither we seeke the glory of his name or not the voice that came from heaven at that time shall be fulfilled I haue both glorified it and will glorifie it againe God is true the vnfaithfulnesse of man shall never bee able to diminish his truth his iustice shal be iustified in heaven and earth and his name shal be sanctified even when we study most to blaspheme it Therefore let vs conclude with that generall dischardge and manumission that the blesse Prophet giveth to the whole honour of mankinde Not vnto vs O Lord but vnto thy name giue the glorie not we to our owne earthly corrupt rotten names And let it not repent vs once to haue given it away from our selues but againe and for evermore Not vnto vs not vnto vs. And rather than thou shalt loose any part of thy glory losse of credite and reputation be to all our doinges and sayings losse to our goods and good names landes and liues and whatsoever in this world is more deare vnto vs. This is the way to be iustified to iustifie God in his words and workes to condemne our selues to cast away our righteousnes as stained clowtes to renounce our wisedome as foolishnesse our strength as weakenes our knoweledge as ignorance and to ascâ—ibe all vnto him who is all in all righteousnes wisedome sanctification glory and peace vnto vs. THE XLII LECTVRE Chap. 4. vers 2. Therefore I prevented it to flee vnto Tharsis For I knewe that thou art a gracious God IN distributing the matter in hand I haue alreadie acquainted you both that Ionas praied and what hee praied In the latter of these two 1. the substance of his petition togither with the reason subioyned 2. the causes impulsiue that mooved him to make it In those impulsiues we weighed every moment 1. his smooth insinuation I pray thee O Lord wherein I doubte noâ— was hid some secret murmuring and repyning but all the rest bewray a manifest imperfection 2. his speaking by demand which is the manner of vpbraiders 3. the advancing of his owne worde thought 4. his fighting against God with circumstaunces of time and place 5. his malapert concluding as if hee had overthrowen God by plaine argumeÌ„t 6. his endevour to prevent as if he had beene able to do it lastly not by going but by flying to Tharsis as if by the swiftnes of his feete he could haue out-run him who rideth vpon the wings of the Cherubins That which angred discoÌ„tented Ionas so much was the mercy of God which Ionas knewe and vpon that knowledge concluded with himselfe that hee was to decline the coÌ„mandement howsoever it fared the meane-time either with his owne safety or with the honour will of him that sent him But admit that the Lord was a merciful God and woulde deale vvith the Ninivites otherwise than Ionas had preached what then was this a iust cause to refuse the errand surely it seemeth so for thervpon Ionas inferreth Therefore I prevented c. There are two reasons broughte why Ionas assaied to prevent this busines 1. Because he was loth to be accoÌ„pted a false prophet to haue his credit impaired to haue his name called into question as if he had run not being sent and to be mistrusted in whatsoever hee should afterwards speake The cause I confesse is vehement weighty For the least suspition of heresie and falshood if any thing in the world maketh a man impatient he that dissembleth or putteth vp one note of heresie without clearing himselfe is not a Christian. It is required of a dispenser that he be found faithfull 2. Cor. 4. and the maister of the house Luk. 12. asketh for a faithfull servaunt vvhom he may set over his housholde The law of God is strict against false prophets Deut. 13. 18. his father and mother that begate him shal say vnto him thou shalt not liue for thou speakest lies in the name of the Lorde yea his father and mother that begate him shall thrust him through when hee thus prophecieth One shall saie vnto him what are these wounds in thine handes then he shall answere thus was I vvounded in the house of my friendes The admonitions of Christ in the gospell and his disciples are frequent against false prophets false Apostles false Christes wolues in sheepes clothing lying spirites Antichristes mockers seducers How carefull was Samuell towardes the ende of his life to approue his innocency both to God and man through the whole course of his forepassed administration first in the integrity of his life whome haue I ever wronged afterwardes in the syncerity of his office God forbid that I should sin vnto the Lorde and cease praying for you but I will shew you the good and the right way When Ieremy saw that the word of the Lorde was in reproch derision that every man mocked him his familiar friendes watching for his halting saying It maie be he is deceived so shall we prevaile against him you know what perplexities it draue him vnto First he would not make mention of the Lorde nor speake any more in his name afterward he curseth the day of his birth the messenger that carryed worde of it It is a memorable apologie which Paul maketh in the Actes for himselfe and his Apostleship vnto the clergie of Asia appealing to their owne knowledge that hee had taught both Iewes and Graecians openlie and throughout every house and that hee had kept nothing backe vvhich vvas profitable but shewed them all the counsailes of GOD he careth not for bondes afflictions death it selfe so hee may fulfill his course vvith ioy and the ministration which hee had received of the Lorde Iesus Consonant heerevnto was that which hee did in other Churches VVee are not as manie vvho make marchandize of the vvorde of God but as of syncerity but as of God in
the Lawe had beene given Moses in the name of GOD protesteth vnto them by heaven and earth that hee had set before them life and death and wisheth them to choose life that they might liue they and their seede Death is called an enimy in open tearmes 1. Cor. 15 The last enimie that shall bee subdued is death But who loveth an enimy simply and for his owne sake And amongst orher blessings betrothed to the elect of God one is that Death shal be no more Revelation 21. And to reason with Augustine Si nulla esset mortis amaritudo non esset magna matyrum fortitudo If there vvere no bitternesse and discontentment in death the constancy of martyrs were not great Therefore when Elias heard the worde of Iezabell The Gods doe so and much more vnto mee if to morrowe by this time I make not thy life as the life of one of those vvhome thou hast slaine it is saide that he arose and went for his life to Beer-sheba Howe did David pleade for his life Psalm 30. What profit is there in my bloude when I goe downe into the pit shall the dust giue thankes vnto thee or shall it declare thy truth as if hee vvoulde mooue the Lorde for his owne good and glorye sake not to cut him of but aftervvardes vvith respecte to himselfe Staye thine anger a vvhile that I may recover my strength before I goe hence and am no more seene And being assured elswhere of that request graunted him hee sange ioyfullye to his soule vvithin Returne vnto thy rest O my soule the LORDE hath beene mercifull or beneficiall vnto thee Because thou hast delivered my soule from death mine eies from teares and my feete from falling and I shall walke before the Lord in the land of the living I speake not of the moane that Ezechias made howe hee turned his face to the vvaâ— after the Prophet gaue him vvarninge of his death and prayed vnto the Lorde and wept sore and like a crane or a svvallovv so did hee chatter and mourne like a doue and lifting his eyes vp on high said O Lorde it hath oppressed mee comfort mee and after his life was freed from the pit of corruption as it were leapt for ioy the living the living hee shall confesse thee as I doe this day when the beloved and blessed sonne of God hee that had power to lay downe his life and to take it vp againe against that time began to bee verye sad and grievously vexed and in the presence of Peter and the two sonnes of Zebedee let not to disclose his passion My soule is vvonderfullye heavy vnto death And but that the will of his father was in the midst of his bowelles and his obedience stronger than death hee vvould haue begged three times more that the cup might haue passed from his lippes Likewise Ioh. 12. vvhen Andrew and Philip tolde him of certaine Greekes that were desirous to see him hee seeing an image of his death before his eies witnessed vnto them saying Now is my soule troubled And what shall I say father saue mee from this howre and but that an other respect called him backe therefore I came and father glorifie thy name hee would still haue continued in that praier· Quis enim vult mori prorsus nemo ita memo c. For who is willing simply to die surely no man And so vndoubtedly no man that it vvas said to blessed Peter An other shall guide thee and leade thee to the place whither thou wouldest not goe Peter would not vnlesse he were carried But what then was the reason that the Apostle desired to bee dissolved and to be with Christ which hee said was best of all Philip 1. that the Saintes which were racked Heb. 11. cared not to be delivered that they might obtaine a beetter resurrection that Peter and Andrew welcommed their crosses as they were wont their dearest friendes embraced theÌ„ in their armes saluted them with kisses of peace that Ignatius called for fire sworde and the teeth of wilde beasts and other martyrs of Christ went to their deathes with cheerefullnes reioycing and singing and not lesse than ran to the stake as if they had run for a garland Wee may easily answere partly from the former authorities that they might bee with christ and that they might obtaine a better resurrection But the Apostle in excellent tearms decideth the question in the 2. to the Corinthians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 VVee will not be vnclothed and stripte of our liues we take no pleasure or ioy therein but wee woulde bee clothed vppon wee haue no other meanes to get that better clothing than by putting of this or that vpon this that mortality may bee svvâ—llowed vp of life and corruption of incorruption So that their thoughts subsist not in death but haue a further reach because they know it to bee the high way which must bring them to felicitie And it is no small perswasion vnto them when they thinke that by the ending of their liues they make an end of sinning For whilest they are in the flesh they see a law in their members striving against the lawe of their minde and subiecting them to the lawe of sinne Therefore they cry as hee did VVretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death In which postulations not witstandinge they evermore submit themselues to the straigtest and equallest rule of the will of God desiring no otherwise to haue their wishes acomplished than with that safe and wary condition Si dominus volet If the Lorde bee pleased with them And as they regarde their owne good therein so because the bloud of Martyrs is the seede of the Church and that which is fire to their flesh bones is water to the gospell to make it florish a good â—onfession witnessed before the vvicked tyrants of the world doth good service to the truth in this respect also they are not sparing of themselues that Christ may be magnified in their bodies whither it bee by their life or death Now Ionas hath more of all these fore-named endes to alleage for himselfe why hee desireth to die neither the glory of God nor the good of his brethren nor profit of his owne soule but in a peevish and froward moode because his minde is not satisfied and to avoide some little shame or to rid himselfe from the grievances of life which are not reasons sufficient hee will needes die and followe the streame of his foolish appetite with some such like affection as Dido at her departure expresseth Sic sic iuvat ire sub vmbras Thus I am disposed to dye not otherwise But to leaue generalities let vs looke a while into the partes of his wishe 1. It is his greate fault as Ioab offered his trechery to Abner vnder the pretence of a friendly and peaceable parle and Iudas his treason
to Christ vnder the colour of a kisse so to tender his impatient fittes vnto the Lord the searcher of his heart reines vnder the nature and forme of prayer His anger at an other time and in another action when hee had sequestred his soule from the king of heaven and heavenly things had beene more sufferable But then to pray vvhen hee vvas thus angry or then to bee angry vvhen hee came to pray and not to slake the heate thereof but still to heape on outragious wordes as hote as Iuniper coles can no way bee excused Yet thus hee doth The fire is kindled in his heart and the sparkles fly forth of the chimney as Salamon spake vndutifull speaches towards the maiesty of God and most vnaturall against his owne life Surely the wrath of man doth not accomplish the righteousnes of God it is very far form it 2 Consider his haste how headlong hee goeth in his rash and vnadvised request For as if the case required some such speede as the prophet had in chardge for the annointing of Iehu powre the boxe vpoÌ„ his head and say thus saith the Lord and then open the dore and flee without tarrying no sooner hath he opened his lippes or conceived his suit in his minde but the Lord must presently and without delay effect it It appeareth in that he vrdgeth the matter so closely at Gods hands Now therefore since I haue prooved it and I am not able to beare the burthen of my griefe nor longer endure the tediousnes of my life doe it without protraction of time It was a goodly and sober oration that Iudith made to her people of Bethulia touching their oath to deliver the cittie to the enemie vvithin fiue daies vnlesse the LORDE sent helpe And novve vvho are you that haue tempted God this daie and set your selues in the place of GOD amonge the children of men Nay my brethren provoke not the Lorde our God to anger For if hee vvill not helpe vs vvithin these fiue daies hee hath povver to defend vs vvhen hee vvill even every day or to destroy vs before our enemies Doe not you therefore binde the counsailes of the LORDE for God is not as man that hee may bee threatned neither as the sonne of man that hee may bee called to iudgement Therefore let vs waite for salvation of him and call vppon him to helpe vs and hee vvill heare our voice if it please him Thus we should teach and exhorte our selues in all our praiers not to set him a time as the disciples did about the kingdome of Israell vvhen LORDE or as Ionas doeth in this place novve Lorde or then Lorde but vvhen it pleaseth him And as the Psalme adviseth vs O tarrie the LORDES leasure hope in the Lorde and bee stronge and hee shall comforte thine hearte when hee thinketh good There are many reasons why God differreth to graunt our petitions 1. to prooue our faith vvhither we will seeke vnlawfull meanes by gadding to the woman of Endor or the idoll of Ekron or such like heathenish devises 2. to make vs thoroughly privie to our own infirmities and disabilities that wee may the more heartily embrace his strengh 3. to strengthen and confirme our devotion towardes him for delay extendeth our desires 4. to make his giftes the more welcome and acceptable to vs or 5. it is not expedient for vs to haue them granted too soone Or lastly there is some other cause which God hath reserved to his owne knowledge Now this petition which Ionas is so forward hasty in is contrary to all reason For are not the daies of man determined Iob. 14. is not the number of his monethes with the Lord and hath not the Lord set him boundes which he cannot passe Doth not an other say My times are in thine handes O Lord why then doth Ionas so greedily desire to shorten his race to abridge that number of time which his Creator hath set him 3. We commonly pray that it wil please the Lord to give not to take away to bestow something vpon vs not to bereave vs of any blessing of his SalomoÌ„ 1. Kin. 3. beseecheth him for wisedome Giue vnto thy servant an vnderstanding heart da mihi intellectum giue me vnderstanding was the vsuall request of his father David We say in our daily praier giue vs this day our daily bread forgiue vs our trespasses that is give vs remission of all our sins That that is said to descend from above from the father of lights is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 giving and gift not taking away For God hath a bountifull nature and as liberall an hand he openeth it at lardge and filleth every living thing with his blessing Hee asketh of every creature in the world what hast thou that thou hast not receaved and of vs that have receaved the first fruites of his spirite and to whome he hath given his sonne what is there in the world that you may not receaue But Ionas is earnest with God against the accustomed manner of prayer and the course of Gods mercies to take something from him 4. But what Aufer-opprobrium take from mee shame and rebuke vvhereof I am afraide as David besought Vanitatem verba mendacia longè fac à me vanitye and lyinge vvordes put farre from mee Aufer iniquitatem servi tui take avvay the sinne of thy servant when hee had numbred the people Or as Iob prayed Aufer at à me virgam suam let him take avvay his rodde from mee Or as Pharaoh requested Moses and Aaron to pray to the Lord for him to take avvay the frogges and afterwardes vvhen the grassehoppers vvere sent to take avvay frow him that one death onelye No his life His dearling that lived and laye within his bosome VVhich because it is the blessing of God good in nature and fitâ— for the exercise of goodnesse the strongest man living is loth to depart from The other which I spake of were plagues to the land banes to the conscience hinderances â—o salvation and therefore it was no marvaile if God were humbly entreated to remove them But Pharaoh in his right wittes nor skarsely Orestes beinge madde vvoulde ever have desired that his life shoulde bee taken from him Who ever became a suter to GOD to take avvaye the life of his oxe or asse because they were given him for labour Much lesse of his wife which was made an helper vnto him or his childe a comforter Or who ever hath entreated him to give him evill for good a scorpion for a fish a serpent for an egge stones for bread Ionas is found thus senselesse skant worthy of that soule which he setteth so light by He should have desired God to have taken away the stony heart out of the middest of him and not scelus de terra Ezech. 23. or spiritum immundum de
than life Deus mitte mihi mortem accelera dies meos O LORDE send death vnto mee shorten my daies And sometimes sicknesse commeth indeede but then there is coursinge to and fro Phisitians are brought mony and giftes are promised and death it selfe perhappes speaketh vnto them Ecce adsum beholde here am I Thou calledst for mee thou desiredest the LORDE not longe since to sende mee VVherefore doest thou flye mee now I haue founde thee a deceaver and a lover of this vvretched life notvvithstandinge thy shew to the contrary It is the vse of vs all with the like forme of petitioÌ„ rather oâ— banning and imprecation to wish for death yea strange and accursed kindes of death wherein God sheweth a iudgement Let mee sinke as I stande let the earth open vnto mee let mee never speake worde more And every crosse and vexation of life make it irkesome and vnsavoury vnto vs vvoulde God I vvere dead If God shoulde then answere vs Ex â—re tuo out of your owne mouthes I graunte your requestes Be it vnto you according to your wordes howe miserable and desperate were our case But as olde Chremes in the Comedy tolde Clitipho his sonne a younge man and without discretion vvho because hee coulde not wringe from his father tenne poundes to bestowe vpon Bacchis his lover had none other speach in his mouth but Emâ—ricupio I desire to die First knovve I praie thee vvhat it is to liue vvhen thou haste learned that then if thy life displease thee vse these vvordes so first knowe my brethren you that are so hastye to pronounce the sentence of death against your selues vvhat belongeth to the life of a Christian vvhy it vvas given you by the LORDE of life to vvhat endes hee hath made you living soules what duties and offices hee requireth at your handes these thinges rightlye weighed if you thinke good call for death for by that time I thinke you vvill learne more vvisedome than to doe it It is good for you to see to the vvhole course and transaction of your liues they shoulde bee prelusions and preparations for a better life to come Beginne not then to liue vvhen you must giue over vvhich is the follie of most men or rather take heede that you giue not over life before you haue begunne it As one haire shall not fall from your heades vvithout GODS providence so nor the least haire and minute of time from your yeares vvithout his account taken But especially remember your end looke to the fallinge of the tree consider hovv the sunne goeth dovvne vppon you Novve if ever before cast your accountes you builde for heaven now if ever before bring forth your armies you fight for a kingdome Lay not more burthen of sinne vppon your soules at their going forth Let the last of your vvay be rest and the closing vppe of the day a sweete and quiet sleepe vnto you My meaninge is vvish not for death before you bee very ready for it Nay rather desire GOD to spare you a time that you may recover I say not your strength and bodilye abilitie but his favour and grace before hee plucke you away and you bee no more seene It is not comforte enough vnto you to saie Vixi quem dederat cursum natura peregi I haue lived indeede and finished some time vpon the earth vnlesse you can also adde your consciences bearing you vvitnesse and ministring ioy to the end of your daies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the seconde to Timothy and 4. chapter I haue finished my race I haue not onelye broughte it to an end but to a perfection though I haue died soone yet I haue fulfilled much time my life hath beene profitable to my countrye and to the Church of God and nowe I depart in his peace THE XLIIII LECTVRE Chap. 4. ver 4. Then saide the Lord Doest thou well to be angry The first of those 3. parts wherinto this chapter was devided touching the impatience discontentment of Ionas we haue in part discovered out of the former verses reserving a remnant thereof to be handled afterwardes The reprehension of God which was the 2. beginneth at these wordes and is repeated againe in the 9. verse vpon the like occasioÌ„ given by Ionas The mercy of God towardes his prophet manifesteth it selfe in this fatherly obiurgation many waies 1. That the Potter vouchsafeth huÌ„bleth himselfe to dispute with his Clay 2. that he is ready to giue a reason of all his actions as a righteous Lord who doth not enforce any thing by his absolute and meere authority but dealeth reasonably and iustly much more that the Lord speaketh vnto him who spake fretted against the Lorde giveth an accouÌ„t vnto him why he spared Niniveh of whoÌ„ no maÌ„ wisely durst to haue demaÌ„ded what dost thou that hee that dwelleth in light vnapproachable his counsailes are so high in the cloudes as who caÌ„ finde theÌ„ out placeth theÌ„ notwithstanding in the eies of the world to be examined sifted by the reason of man But most of all that he ministreth a word in season vnto Ionas wheÌ„ the streame of his anger was so violent that it bare him into an hearty desire longing after death then that the Lord intercepteth him aunswereth in his course as Elihu answered Iob Beholde I haue waited vpon thy wordes and harkened vnto thy speach whilst thou soughtest out reasons I will now speake in my turne shew thee mine opinion Doest thou well to be angry It is the singular wisedome of God without which pollicy it were hard for any flesh living to be saved that when we are running on in our sinnes wearying our selues in the waies of wickednes amongst other his retentiues stops he hath the hooke of reprehension to thrust into our noses pull vs backe againe Our iniquities would wander with out measure become rottennes in our bones our wounds woulde dwell for ever in our bowels and fester to the day of iudgement with out this medicine So wisedome began her lore Pro. 1. O yee foolish how long will ye loue foolishnes the scorner take pleasure in scorning the fooles hate knowledge She giveth vs our right names according to our corrupt natures for wisdome is able to iudge of fooles knoweth that without her instructioÌ„ we are wedded to our follies therefore she addeth turne ye at my correction loe I will powre out my minde vnto you make you vnderstand my words ClemeÌ„s Alexandrinus compareth our Saviour to an expert Musitian such as Terpander or Capito never were for hee singeth new songs hath sundry kindes of moodes and varieties to worke the salvation of man Sometimes he hath spoken by a burning bush vnto him sometimes by a cloude of water sometimes by a piller of fire that is he hath beene light to those that were obedient fire to those that rebelled and because flesh is more
softer mighte suffice But if vvee be briars in your coates and flesh it is because wee dwell with briars if vvee be perverse it is because wee dwell in the midst of a perverse generation An hard knot in the timber cannot be driven out vvithout heavy blowes sundry diseases require sundry kinds of cures as the dispositions of men are varied so must wee vary our teachings one must be washt with gentle bathes another must haue his woundes cut with lancers and as the damsell Matth. 9. was raised vp in her fathers house the widowes sonne of Naim without his mothers gates Lazarus before a greate multitude of all sorts so some must be handled privately others openly a thirde kinde publiquely some must be held for weake others accounted Publicanes vnto vs some their infirmities supported others delivered vnto Satan some chastised with a rod others warned in the spirit of meeknes some pulled out of the fire others left to be burnt some saved by feare others by loue some must be vsed as our owne bowels others as rotten members vvhose cure is despaired cut of from the body that they do no more hurt In all which reprehensions except where all hope is past that singular precept of Gregory taketh place In the controlling of faultes there must be some anger rather to attend vpon reprehension than to commaund it so that in the execution of this charitable and mercifull iustice it beare not a sway by going before but rather make a shew by comming after And Leo hath the like counsaile that it must bee vsed non saevientis animo sed medentis not with the minde of a tirant or persecutor but of an helper Considering thy selfe saith the Apostle least thou also be tempted For a man may once and often in his life time say to him that reprooveth another as Eliphaz did to Iob. Behold thou haste taught many and strengthened the weary hands thy words haue confirmed him that was falling and thou haste vphelde the weake knees but now it is come vpon thee and thou art grieved it toucheth thee and thou art troubled The matter reproved by God is anger Dost thou well to be angry or as some render it doth anger helpe thee or art thou angry iustly and vpon reasonable cause or as some of the Hebrewes expounde it art thou very angry is not thy wrath vehement interpreting bene by valdè as Moses did Deut. 9. when he told the children of Israell that he tooke the sinne the calfe which they had made ground it verie well that is sufficiently till he had brought it to the smallest dust So some interpret well in this place by the quality goodnes of anger whether it may be iustified others by the quantity and greatnes noting the excesse and immoderation thereof They come both to one for whether God aske of the qualitie he seemeth to imply a secret subiection it is not well done of thee thou hast no iust cause to be angrie or whether of the quantity he thinketh that there is as little reason that the sparing of penitent sinners shoulde mooue such stomacke in Ionas The question is disputed throughout the whole chapter betweene God the prophet God the opposer Ionas the defender whether he do well to be angry God confuteth him both by word deed Ionas contendeth for it to the death I will not trouble you with the aunswering of the question till we come to the ninth verse where the Lord doth demaund againe in the same words and Ionas though he be silent in this place yet there dissembleth not his minde for he aunswereth I do well to be angry and addeth measure sufficient even vnto death Meane-while because this is the time wherin a generall forgetting of wrongs and laying malice a sleepe is professed so far as the world is christened partly the Canōs of the church partly devotion it selfe leading vs al to a thankfull commemoration of the death and resurrection of Christ and to the communion of his body bloud which is a badge of our Christian loue fellowship the time inviting me therevnto which S. Austen calleth the solēnity of solemnities the vncurteousnes of these our times requiring no lesse giue mee leaue in few wordes to convert my speech vnto that which the celebration of the feast it selfe doth easily exhort you vnto The blessed Apostle thought not that any more effectuall persuasion to charity could be gathered than from the example of the son of God himselfe whose dying rising againe is now solēnized For so he frameth his exhortation to the Colossians Now therefore as the elect of God holy beloved as you haue any part in these graces electiō sanctification the loue of God if you haue any argument seale to your own consciences that you are a part of his inheritāce for they are not marked for his chosen which are without these markes put on the bowels of mercy kindnes humblenes of minde meekenes long suffering forbearing one another forgiving one another let these bee your robes and coverings weare thē as you weare your garments let them bee as tender inward vnto you as your own principal most vitall parts even as Christ freely bountifully forgaue you even so do ye How that was I neede not recite The Apostle Rom. 5. collecteth sundry arguments to shew how far forth that substātiall saving grace of God hath gratified vs. 1. We were weake 2. godlesse 3. sinners 4. enemies we had neither strength to endevour neither piety to procure nor righteousnes to satisfie nor acquaintaunce and friendshippe to deserue in the fight of God yet notwithstanding all these impediments and deficiencies Christ died for vs. So the other Apostle speaketh Christ suffered for sinnes the iust for the vniust that hee might bringe vs to God The cause most odious the persons most vnequall the end most absolute How thē cā I better exhort you to an imitatiō of the loue of Christ than as S. Paul exhorteth the Philippians If there bee any consolation in Christ so we may rēder it or if there be any advocation in Christ as all the consolation and advocation that we looke for must 〈◊〉 drawne from that fountaine If any comfort of loue as who feeleth not the vse of loue that hath not beene nursed vp with the tygers of the wildernes If any communion of the spirit by whom we are al knit togither in the body of Christ lastly if any bowelles of mercy surely he meaneth that there is or should be much of al this much consolation in Christ much cōfort of loue c. But if there bee any remnant and seede left if all bee not spent exhausted to satisfie your rancorous malice fulfill my ioie and your owne ioy and the ioy of the angels in heaven and the ioy of the bride and bridegroome to whom it is a good and pleasant thinge
place of the other Our Saviour vvho was evermore prophecied to bee the light of the Gentiles is by none other name figured Malach. 4 than of the sunne rising Vnto you that feare my name shall the sunne of righteousnesse arise and in the song of Zachary Luke 1. he is called the day spring from an high Many religious actions wee rather doe towardes the East than any other pointe of heaven We bury our dead commonly as the Athenians did their faces laide and as it vvere lookinge Eastwarde And for the most part especially in our temples wee pray Eastward So did the idolatours Ezech. 8. turning their backes to the temple of the Lorde and their faces to the East Will you haue the reason heereof Why was Aaron willed Levitic 16. to take the bloud of the bullocke and to sprinckle it with his finger vpon the mercie-seate Eastwarde It was the pleasure of God so to haue it And vnlesse nature direct vs to these observations whereof I haue spoken I know not how we are moved The rising of our sunne whose resurrection wee now celebrate the true and onely begotten sonne of God was in the Morninge Mathew saith in the dawning of the day Marke very early when the sun was risen not that hee had yet appeared in their hemisphere but his light hee sent before him Iohn saith when there was yet darknesse that is the body of the sunne was not yet come foorth And Thomas Aquinas thinketh it probable enough that our resurrection shal bee very early in the morning the sunne being in the East and the moone in the West because saith hee in these opposite pointes they were first created You may happily mervaile what the event of my speech will be I haue seldome times carried you away from the simplicity of the prophecy which I entreate of by allegories and enforced collections Yet I am not ignorant that many mens interpretations in that kinde are of many men gladly and plausibly receaved I hope it shall bee no greate offence in mee to fit and honour this feast of the resurrection of the Lorde of life with one allegory We are now walking into the West as the sunne in his course doth Beholde we are entring into the way of the whole worlde And as the sun goeth downe is taken from our sight by the interpositiō of the earth so into the body of the earth shall wee likewise descend and be taken from the company of the living Christ our Saviour who was both the living and life it selfe and had the keies of hell of death whose manner of protestation is Vivo in saecula I liue for ever and ever yet touching his humane nature when hee soiourned vpon the face of the earth had his setting and going downe In this sense we might aske the Spouse in the Canticles O thou fairest amongest vvomen what is thy wellbeloved more than other men And though shee aunswere my vvelbeloved is white and ruddy the chiefest of ten thousand yet in this condition of mortall and naturall descent he is equall vnto his brethren This Passe-over we must all keepe and therefore let vs trusse vp our loynes and take our staues in our hands that wee may vvalke forwardes towardes the West in steede of other precious ointments let vs anointe our bodies to their buriall and for costly garmentes let vs lay foorth shrowdes for our flesh and napkins to binde about our heades that is let vs remember our ende and the evening of our liues wee shall offende the lesse The death of the Son of God if ever any mans vvas ratified and assured as farre forth as either the iustice of his Father or the malice of men might devise If his body had beene quickend with seven soules and they had all ministred life vnto it in their courses yet such vvas the anger of GOD against sinne and the cruelty of man against that iust one that they would all haue failed him And his buriall and descension into the lower partes of the ground was as certainly confirmed For you knovve vvhat caution the providence of GOD tooke therein to prevent all suspicion of the contrary For his body being taken downe from the crosse vvas not only embalmed and vvrapt in a linen cloath but laide in a nevve sepulcher vvhere never corpse had lien before least they might haue saide that the body of some other man was risen and in a sepulcher of stone because the dust and softer matter of the earth might easily haue been digged into and in a sepulcher of rocke or one entire stone least if there had beene seames and fissures therein they might that way haue vsed some cavil against his resurrection Besides a stone at the mouth of that stone and a seale and a watch and as sufficient provision besides as the vvisedome of vvordlye and ill-minded men coulde thinke vpon Notwithstanding as the brute of his death was vniversallie spread and beleeved for the very aire range with this sounde Magnus Pan mortuus est The greate and principall shephearde is deade and the sunne in the skye set or did more at his setting and the graues opened and sent foorth their deade to receiue him so the newes of his resurrection vvas as plentifullye and clearely vvitnessed by Angelles men women disciples adversaries and by such sensible conversation vpon earth as that not onely their eies but their fingers and nayles were satisfied Beholde then once againe the sunne of righteousnesse is risen vnto vs and the daie-springe from an high or rather from belowe hath visited vs for then vvhen Zachary prophecied hee vvas to descende from the highest heavens but novve hee ascended from the hearte of the earth Once againe vvee haue seene our brighte morninge starre vvhich was obscured and darkened by death shining in the east with so glorious a countenaunce of maiesty and power as shall neuer more bee defaced Even so the daies shall come when after our vanishing and disparition for a time vnder the globe of the earth wee shall arise againe and the LORDE shall bringe vs out of darkenesse into the lighte of his countenance Our nighte wherein vvee sleepe a while shal bee chandged into a morninge and after obscuritie in the pitte of forgetfulnesse we shall appeare and shine as the starres of GOD in their happiest season VVee shal goe out of Niniveh as Ionas did a Gentile and straunge citty a place vvhere wee are not knowne a lande where all thinges are forgotten for vvhither wee bee in the flesh vvee are strangers from GOD or whither in our graues we are not with our best acquaintaunce both these are a Niniveh to right Israelites and vvee shall fit in the East that is wee shall meete our Saviour in the clouds and bee received vp with him into glory and dwell in everlasting daie vvhere wee shall never knowe the West more because all parts are beautifull alike nor feare the decay of our bodies
to take them to his mercy in peace let them agree with their adversarie in the vvaie much more bee at one vvith God that neither their heartes nor tongues murmure at his iudgementes Death I confesse is an advantage to some men but such as with an obstinate heart and sinewes in their forehead striue against the Lorde their maker and goe to lavve vvith one mightier than themselues not caring to make an ende in time of the controversies betweene them their death is a death indeede and litle profit or ease to bee founde in it The purpose of this verse in hand vvas none other than to set forth vnto vs the afflictions of Ionas and vndoubtedlye they are very great For as Nahomi aunsvvered her people in the first of Ruth vvhen they asked is not this Nahomi call me not Nahomi that is beawtifull or pleasaunt but call mee Marah for the Almightie hath given mee much bitternesse I went out full and the Lord hath caused me to returne empty why then cal ye me Nahomi seeing the Lord hath humbled mee and the Almightie hath brought mee to adversitie So Ionas might have aunswered to those that had asked is not this Ionas call me not Ionas a doue but call mee a Pellican or owle in the desarte I vvas full of pleasure and amaenity and my heart replenished vvith exceeding ioy but the Lorde hath emptied me Many things there are in our liues for which vve may change our names as Nahomi did from beawty or pleasure to bitternesse But if we remember withall that it is the worke of the Lord to humble vs and the hand of the Almighty that bringeth vs to adversitie that one cogitation will suffice to teach vs patience For to whome doe we rather owe the quietnes and subiection of our spirites than vnto him who as Theodorite somevvhere excellently spake both giveth his benefites vnto vs to teach vs how easily hee can bestow them and taketh them away that we may know how litle we deserue theÌ„ Thus haue the childreÌ„ of God evermore begunne their consultations in their daies of tempation and as it were beckoned to themselues for silence Dominus est it is the Lorde take heede of repining at his iudgementes it is not mine enimie for then I vvoulde haue hid my selfe it is not the sonne of man for then I vvoulde haue resisted him it is not any creature of God I vvoulde then haue devised some meanes to redresse my griefe it is the Lorde himselfe vvho hath more right to my soule than that he may be contraried for both he hath beene beneficial vnto me here-tofore may againe hereafter Patience was the shielde vvherewith that notable atchiever of the victories of God repelled all those venemous dartes which either in the death of his children or in the losse of his substance or in the runnings sores of his bodie or in the cursed perswasions of his wife miserable comfortes of his friends malicious importunate accusations of Satan were throwen against him O what a glorious banner set he vp against the enemy both of God and man when for every calamity that was cast vpon him there came nothing from his mouth but thankes bee vnto God Sathan expected that he should haue accursed God and his vvife another Satan in his bosome so perswaded him but the witnes is true which is there given non peccavit labijs suis he offended not with his lippes I conclude therefore with Tertullian totum licet seculum pereat dum patientiam lucrifaciam I care not though all the world perish vnto me so I maie gaine patience And God said to Ionas doest thou well to be angrie for the gourd c. The gourd prepared by God had a double vse the one natural and open to cast a shadow over the head of Ionas the other typicall and secret to demonstrate the iniquity of his iudgement which vse we are nowe comming vnto In this actual reprehension which God is framing against him there were many antecedents I told you which made the way thervnto al which we haue already examined Now we are descended to that end wherevnto God disposed them The words here spoken by God Doest thou well to be angry are the same which were vsed in the former insimulation and the same provocation of the words to weete the anger of Ionas Who would not haue thought but one repreheÌ„sioÌ„ might haue served one kind of sin but so is sin to the soule of man in some part of comparison as Iacob was vnto Esau Gen. 27. of whom Esau complained was he not rightlie called Iacob For he hath deceived me these two times first he tooke my birth-right from me and loe now hath he taken my blessing And surely sinne will supplant vs twise and tenne times togither vnlesse God preserue vs. Ionas offendeth once more in the same perturbation and the Lorde reproveth him once more in the same forme of reprehension What else shall I say heereof but as Ioseph said to Pharaoh touching his two dreames the one of the kine the other of the eares of corne both Pharaohs dreames are one therefore the dreame is doubled to Pharaoh the second time because the thing is established by God and God hasteth to perfourme it So both Gods reprehensions are one and therefore is the reprehension doubled vnto Ionas the second time that Ionas mighte beware to offende in the like transgression Nehemias tolde the merchants that abode about the walles of the citty vvhy do you stay here all night si iterâ—m feceritis inijciam in vos manus if you shall doe it againe I I will lay hands vpon you It is marvaile that God laid not hands vpon Ionas nor at leastwise corrected him with some sharper castigation whoÌ„ he had taken and warned before for the same offence To that which heretofore I haue said of repreheÌ„sion I wil adde no more than the rule practise of Bernard as I finde it meÌ„tioned in his life His rule or observation is this Where there resouÌ„deth on both sides betweene the reprover him that is reproved modesty mildnes of speech it is a sweet coÌ„fereÌ„ce where it is held on the one side only it is profitable where both partes lay it aside it is pernicious but where there is hardnes bitternes froÌ„ theÌ„ both iurgiuÌ„ est non correctio nec disciplina sedrixa it is not correction instruction but chiding brawling to adioine the wordes of Anselme tunc noÌ„ veritas quaeritur sed animositas fatigatur theÌ„ is not the truth sought for but men exercise weary their stouts harts Therfore the maner of S. Bernard because he would be sure to retaine this modesty on the one side was to be very vrgent vpon him that yeelded as yeelding another time to him that resisted Albeit Ionas behaue himselfe very vnmodestly vndutifully towardes God yet God is otherwise affected towardes Ionas rather than the
strife betweene theÌ„ shall vanish without profite sheweth more mildnesse than Ionas had deserved His kindnes appeareth in 3. things 1. In reprooving repressing his rage for which cause David blessed Abigaill blessed bee the Lord God of Israell which sent thee this day to meete me and blessed be thy counsaile blessed be thou which haste kept me this day from comming to shed bloud 2. In reprooving him twise for owne thing who with one angry word of his lips could so haue abated his passion at the first that there should haue beene no place for a second as Abisai spake to David of smiting Saul let me smite him once to the earth with a speare and I will not smite him againe 3. In reprooving him so friendly I am sure servants with their fellow servantes haue dealt otherwise Iohn Baptist with the Pharises Peter with Ananias and Saphira and with Simon Magus Paul with Elimas and Ananias the High Priest Steven with the rulers of the Iewes O yee of harde neckes and vncircumcised hearts yet God the Creatour of all thinges with his sinnefull creature or more properly as David tearmed himselfe before Saul vvith a dead flie demeaneth himselfe vvith favourable speeches Doest thou vvell to bee angrie for a gourd The interrogation ariseth by degrees and accuseth Ionas in many over-sightes 1. Art thou angrie Ionas thou shouldest rather humble thy selfe acknovvledge thine ignoraunce and weakenesse presume the iudgementes of thy iudge to be righteous thou shouldest rather blesse and pray and giue thankes for this is the manner of Prophetes and art thou angry vvhat is anger but a desire of revendge for contempt or wronge done and whome desirest thou to be revendged of the worme or the sunne or God that hath sent them 2. Art thou not onely angry but art thou very angry For if well doe note the measure of his anger the exprobration is the greater because passions offende not commonly but in excesses and extremities or if the quality Doest thou vvell and iustly to be angry wilt thou defende and patronage thy wrath it is then a greater fault than the former 3. And art thou angry for a gourde so small a matter farre bee such corruption from the servant of Christ that his patience prepared for greater thinges shoulde fall awaie in trifles Thou hast lost but a poore gourde a little plante of the earth what if thou hadst lost a vineyarde full of trees as Naboth did of farre greater value than a gourd or thy life more deare than a vineyard what if thine one and onelye sheepe as Vrias did the wife of thy bosome or thy life more precious than thy wife Art thou angrie for a gourd Ionas answered I doe well to be angry vnto the death Thou hadst done better if thou hadst held thy peace if as before thou hadst passed the demaund of God without answere Was Balaam fit to speake vnto an Angell of the Lord being so blinded and overcast with the clovvds of wrath that he saw not so much as the dumbe asse vnder him is Ionas fit to speake vnto the Lord himselfe rather as Plato said to his servant I would haue killed thee but that I am angry so he shoulde haue said vnto the Lorde I woulde haue aunswered thee but that my passions haue set mee besides my selfe Hee that knoweth not his fault will never bee amended There is litle hope that the speech of God can doe good vpon Ionas who rather becommeth a patrone of his sin than a suiter for pardon The aunswere iustly followeth the steppes of the interrogation and indeede over-runneth it Art thou angry I am angry I dissemble not I blush not to confesse it though I concealed it before at thy first asking yet now bee it knowne vnto thee I am angrye Art thou very angry yea I put not a counterfeit person vpon me I am on fire with my vvrath I burne like reâ—in or pitch that cannot bee quenched Dost thou well to bee angry I do well to be angry It doth not repent mee and more than before thou ever hast demaunded I doe vvell to be angry vnto death Thus an evil cause is made much worse by evill handling and the defence of the fault vvaxeth more vnpardonable than the fault it selfe Giue admonition to the wise and hee vvill bee the vviser teach a righteous man and hee vvill encrease in learning but he that reprooveth a skorner purchaseth vnto himselfe shame and hee that rebuketh an angry man heapeth more coles of anger vpon him To admonish the frovvarde is to set goades to one that is mad enough alreadie and to powre oile into the chimney Nothing vndertaken vvith impatience can bee done vvithout violence and whatsoever is violently done either miscarrieth or falleth or flieth headlong away Hitherto I haue deferred to handle a question which this whole contention betweene God and Ionas leadeth mee vnto whither it be lawfull to be angry For aunswere whereof wee must knowe that anger is in the number of those affections vvhich God hath engraffed in nature and given them their seates in man and fitted them with their instruments and both ministred their matter from whence they proceede and provided them hâ—mours wherewith they are nourished They were ordained to be spurres vnto vs for the prosecution of vertue and as the body hath his nerves so hath the soule hers whereby shee is moved either with a slower or speedier cariadge The Stoicke Philosophers holde a vacuity of affections and condemne them all as vicious why Because they driue vs to disorder and exceede their compasse I graunte it But this is not the nature of the affections themselues but the affection of our corrupt natures Christ himselfe was not without affections hee was angry vvhen hee cast the merchantes out of the temple pitifull when hee sawe the people scattered like sheepe vvithout a sheepehearde sorrowfull when he shed teares over Ierusalem and wee knovve that anger repentance mercie hatred and the like are attributed to GOD in the Scriptures vvhich if they vvere simply and by nature evill shoulde never haue beene ascribed vnto him Touching anger in particular the Philosopher saide truely that anger is the whet-stone vnto fortitude and Basill called it a nerve or tendon of the soule giving it courage and constancie and that vvhich is remisse and tender otherwise hardening it as it vvere vvith iron and steele to make it goe thorough vvith her businesse To bee angrie saith Ierome is the part of a man And if anger were not by the suffrage of Chrysostome neither would teaching availe nor iudgements stande neither coulde sinnes bee repressed Wherefore the counsaile of David in the 4. Psalme and of the Apostle to the Ephesians is bee angry but sinne not Wherevpon the glosse noted Be angrie as touching the first motions which they accounted not sinnes because they were rather propassions and entrances into passion than passions rather infirmities than
sonnes of men there is no helpe in them that is not so for Eue was made an helper to the man but there is no salvation in them or salvation there may bee such as it is for a moment of time not finall as Iosuah was a Saviour vnto Israell and salvation of the body but not of the soule whereas the salvation of the Lorde is never but salvation for he is the same God and his yeares faile not and it reacheth to all partes for his arme is not shortened Plinie observeth in his naturall historie that nature hath given armour and covering to all other living thinges shelles crustes hides prickles haires feathers fleeces skales Chrysostome addeth talents tuskes hornes onely man vpon his birth day shee doth cast forth naked and vpon the naked grounde to weeping and howling Chrysostome giveth the reason God hath so disposed of man that himselfe might bee his onelie protection He confessed in the person of all mankinde who sawe it experienced in his owne naked I came from my mothers wombe and naked I shall returne thither againe VVe heare their beginning and their ending But say that in the course of his life man shall haue girded himselfe with strength and decked him with maiesty vvhat is hee then more than a vaine man For what did it helpe the children of Canaan that the sonnes of Anak Gyants of the earth dwelt amongst them of whome the children of Israell saide vvee haue seene the sonnes of Anak there They were all destroyed by Iosuah they and their citties and not one Anakim left in the mountaines of Israell and Iudah VVee reade of Og the King of Basan the onely remnaunt of those Gyants that his bed was a bed of yron the length of it 9. cubits the breadth 4. after the cubite of a man yet how often doth the Psalmist sing hee hath slaine mightie kings Sehon king of the Amorites and Og the king of Basan VVhat did it profit the Philistines that the monster Golias was amongst thē or the monster himselfe that his stature was so huge his helmet his greues his corslet his shield all of brasse the staffe of his speare like a weavers beame hee vvas smitten by a childe in comparison who came with a sheepheards staffe and sling in his hand a few smooth stones in his skrippe but that which was the safest munition of all others in the name of the Lorde of hostes the God of Israell whom he had rayled vpon These and the like experimentes made him so bolde afterwardes that hee defied all men I will not feare what man can doe vnto mee I will not feare for tenne thousandes of people that shall beset mee round about though an host were pitched against mee my heart shoulde not bee afraide all nations compassed mee about but in the name of the Lorde will I destroy them They haue compassed mee about I say they haue compassed mee about but in the name of the Lorde shall I destroy them They came aebout mee like Bees and are extinct even as a fire of thornes for in the name of the Lorde shall I destroy them The reason is for thou Lorde hast holpen mee thou art my strength and my song thou haste beene my deliverance The Lord is a man of warre his name is Iehovah the eternall God is thy refuge and vnder his armes thou art for ever hee shall cast out the enemie before thee and vvill say destroy them The one was the songe of Moses after the drowning of Pharaoh and his host the other a part of his blessing given to the tribes of Israell not long before his death It was not the sword of Gedeon that overthrew the Madianites Iudg. 7. but the sword of the Lorde and Gedeon and therefore hee chose rather to giue that overthrow by few than by many least Israell might make their vaunt against him and saie my hande hath saved mee Afterwardes when they saide to Gedeon raigne thou over vs both thou and thy sonne and thy sonnes sonne for thou haste delivered vs out the hande of Madian he answered them I will not raigne over you neither shall my childe raigne over you but the Lorde shall raigne over you You heare what our strength is And for other helpes seeke them farre and neare they are so weake that they are not able to chandge the colour of one haire to our bodies nor adde one cubite to our stature nor one minute of time to those daies which God hath assigned vs. Why then doe we flatter our selues that wee shall multiplie our daies as the sand or vvhat triacle is there at Gilead vvhat Physitian there that can cure the gowte in Asa his legges or lay a right plaister to the boyle of Ezechias or ease the king of the head which the Shunamites child complained of or heale a fever a dropsie an issue of bloud or anie one of a thousande diseases more wherewith the body of man is oppugned if the Lorde instruct and assist him not I reade that Socrates never needed physitian in his life time that Pompey a poet and a noble man borne was so sound that he never belched Anthonia the wife of Drusus never spit vt perhibent qui de magnis maior a loquuntur as they say who of greate matters vse greater wordes their times belike were more temperate and therefore lesse rheumatike than ours We desire to haue strong bodies able to doe vs service in our olde age sed prohibent grandes patinae but wee eate and drinke so much that it cannot be Asclepiades a Physitian indented with fortune that if ever hee should happen to fall sicke hee would no longer bee a Physitian E◠quid opus Cratero magnos promittere montes vvhat neede Asclepiades vvho with a sodaine fall of a ladder prevented sickenesse and ended his dayes or Craterus or any other Physitian promise such mountaines to himselfe or others A Physitian is to be honoured with that honour that is due vnto him but of the most High commeth healing his knowledge lifteth vp the head hee receaveth giftes of the king and in the sight of great men hee shall bee had in admiration but the Lord hath created the medicines of the earth the Apothecarie maketh a confection and yet hee cannot finish his owne worke Let the Physitian do his part with an vpright and faithfull minde in the sighte of God who hath created him let him not lie to his patient and thrall nor draw him into errour as Abraham did Abemelech in saying that Sara was but his sister when shee was his wife hee had well-nigh caused him to sinne by that false suggestion so these may deceaue their patientes and make them the more carelesse by telling them that their disease is further of in degree when it is incorporate into them and lyeth so neare to their body even like a wife that it may not bee severed when the sicke man and his sickenesse
favour and partiality to the religion established no place lefte to dissemble with God or man Tanti meriti tanti pectoris tāti oris tantae virtutis episcopu as Augustine spake of Cypriā so worthy so wise so well spoken so vertuous so learned a Byshope gaue such counsaile vnto them 3. To all the members of the Church of England vnity of soule and heart to embrace the doctrine authorized And lastly to himselfe peace and rest in the assured mercies of God This peace he hath plentifull fruition of vvith the God of peace For though he seemeth in the eies of the foolish to be dead yet is he in peace And like a true Hebrew he hath eaten his last passeover amongst vs and it is past from death to life where with vnspeakable ioy of heart he recompteth betweene himselfe and his soule Sicut audivimus sic et vidimus As I haue heard so now haue I seeene and felt in the citty of our God and with the blessed Angells of heaven and all the congregation of first borne singeth the songue of Moses a songue of victory and thanksgiving rendring all blessing honour glory power to him that sitteth vpon the throne and the Lambe that was killed and that vndefiled Spirit which proceedeth from them both by whome hee was sealed vp at his death to his everlasting redemption A SERMON PREACHED IN YORKE THE SEVENTEENTH DAY OF NOVEMBER IN THE YEARE OF our Lorde 1595. being the Queenes day Printed at Oxford by Ioseph Barnes 1599. 2. King 23 25. Like vnto him was there no king before him that turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soule c. THE remembrance of Iosias is like the perfume that is made by the arte of the Apothecarie it is svveete as hony in all mouthes and as musicke at a banquet of vvine he behaued himselfe vprightly in the reformation of the people and tooke away all abominations of iniquitie hee directed his hearte vnto the Lorde and in the time of the vngodlie hee established religion vvhich to haue done in a better season the zeale of the people and favour of the time advauntaging him had beene lesse praise The lande vvas sowen with none other seede saue idolatrie and iniquitie vvhen he came vnto it For by that vvhich is written of him we may know what he reformed All idolatrous both Priestes and monuments whether Chemarims or blacke friars Priestes of Baal of the sun moone or planets though founded and authorized by both ancient and late kings before him namely in these recordes by Salomon Ahaz Manasses Ieroboam togither with their high places or valleyes their groues altars vesselles vvheresoever hee found them either in Ierusalem or Iudah in Samaria or Bethel in the temple or in the courtes of the temple vpon the gates or in the kings chambers not sparing the bones of the Priestes either living or deade but raking them out of their graues besides the impure Sodomites and their houses sooth-sayers and men of familiar spirites he destroyed defiled cut downe burnt to ashes bet to powder threwe into the brooke and left no signe of them Hee followed both a good rule and a good example His rule is here specified according to all the law of Moses his example in the chapter before hee did vprightly in the sight of the Lord an◠walked in all the waies of David his father and bowed neither to the right hande nor to the lefte Hee was prophecied of three hundred yeares vpward before his birth a rare singular honour that both his name should be memorable after his death as heere we finde it and written in the booke of GOD before ever his partes were fashioned His actes are exactelye set downe in this and the former Chapters and in the second of Chronicles and foure and thirteeth vpon the recital wherof is this speach brought in by waie of an Epiphoneme or acclamation advancing Iosias aboue all other kings and setting his head amongst the stars of God The testimonie is very ample which is here given vnto him that for the space almost of fiue hundred yeares from the first erection of the kingdome to the captivity of Babylon vnder the government of 40. kings of Iudah and Israell there was not one found who either gaue or tooke the like example of perfection In the catalogue of which kings though there were some not many vertuous and religious David Salomon Asa Iehosaphat Iehu Ioash Amasia Iothan Hezekias yet they haue all their staines their names are not mentioned without some touch The wisdome honor riches happines of Salomon every way were so great that the Queene of Saba worthily pronounced of him Blessed be the Lord thy God which loved thee c. Will you know his blemish but Salomon loved many out-landish women and they broughte him to the loue of many out-landish Gods so he is noted both for his corporall spiritual whordomes Asa the son of Abiam did right in the eies of the Lord as did David his father 1. King 15. his heart was vpright with the Lord all his daies he put downe Maachah his mother for idolatrie The bitter hearbe that marreth al this is but he put not downe the high places Iehosaphat did well hee walked in all the waies of Asa his father declined not ther-from but did that which was right in the eies of the Lord 1. Kin. 22. neverthelesse the high places were not taken away Iehu did well God gaue him this testimony 2. King 10. because thou haste diligently executed that which was right in mine eies therefore shall thy sonnes vnto the fourth generation sit on the seate of Israell but Iehu regarded not to vvalke in the vvaies of the Lorde God of Israell vvith all his heart Amafiah did well he did vprightlie in the sight of the Lord 2. King 14. yet not like David his father David himselfe so much renowned as the principall patterne of that royall line to be imitated by them yet hath a scarre vpon his memory hee did that which was right in the sight of the Lord and turned from nothinge that hee commaunded him all the daies of his life 1. King 15. thus farre good saue onelie in the matter of Vriah the Hittire Onelie Iosias is without spotte or vvrinckle like vnto him was there no king And as in the number of bad kinges Rehoboam did ill Ieroboam worse for hee sinned and made Israell to sinne but Omri vvorse than all that went before him 1. King 16. yet Ahab worse than all before him in the same place so in the number of the good though Salomon did wel Iehosaphat perhaps better David best of al yet Iosias is beyonde the vvhole companie vvhich either went before or came after him Like vnto him was there no king It had beene a great praise to Iosias to haue had none better than himselfe to haue matched the vertues and godlines of his progenitours
fathers and Queenes thy nurses in the nine fortieth of Esay there as the Queene of Saba blessed both the people of Salomon and the king himselfe so happy is the church for drawing her milke and sustenance from such heroicall breasts and happye are those breasts that foster and nurse vp the Church of Christ. They giue milke and receiue milke they maintaine the Church and the Church maintaineth them they bestow favour honour patronage protection they are favoured honoured patronaged and protected againe I will not stay to alleage the fortunate and happy governments of well disposed kings The decrees of the king of Persia and Babylon for repairing the temple worshipping the God of the three children or the God of Daniel brought more honour vnto them than all their other lawes The pietie of Antonius Prus is very commendable for his gracious decree that none shoulde accuse a christian because hee was a christian Constantius the father of Constatifie the great made more reckoning hee said of those that professed christianitie then full treasures Iovianus after Iulian refused to be Emperour albeit elected and sought to the Empire vnlesse he might governe christians Great Coustantine and Charles the great had their names of greatnes not so much for authoritie as for godlines But on the other side the bookes are full of the miserable falles ofirreligious princes their seede posteritie whole race and Image for their sakes overturned and wiped from the earth at one woulde wipe a dish and turne it vpside-downe The name of Antiochus the tyrant stinketh vpon the earth as his bovveles sometimes stuncke and as then the vvormes devoured his lothsome carkasse so his other vvorme yet liveth and ceaseth not crying to all the persecutors vnder heaven take heede Hee thought to haue made the holy city a burying place but vvhen hee savve his misery then he vvoulde set it at liberty The Iewes vvhome hee thought not worthy to bee buried he vvoulde make like the citizens of Athens and the temple vvhich he spoiled before he would garnish with great giftes Likewise Galerius lying sicke of a wretched disease crieth to haue the Christians spared and that temples and oratories should be allovved them that they might pray for the life of the Emperour The vnripe vnseasonabl vnnaturall deathes of men more vnnaturall in their liues the monsters and curses of the earth they trode vpon the bane of the ayre they drewe the rulers of the Ievves and Romanes high Priestes Princes Emperours and their deputies that murthered the Lord of the vineyard the sonne and the servantes in the time of Christ and his Apostles and by the space of three hundred yeares the workers of the tenne persecutions no meanes plagues to the Christian faith than those tenne plagues were to Egypt or rather tenne times tenne persecutions for they were multiplied like Hydraes heades proclaimed to the Princes of succeeding ages not to heave at Ierusalem it is to heavie a stone lapis comminuens a stone that vvhere it falleth will bruise to peeces nor to warre against the Sainctes to bande themselves against the Lordes anointed and against his anointed the Church vnlesse they take pleasure to buy it with the same price vvherevvith others have done before them to have their flesh stincke vpon their backes and rotte from their bodies to be eaten vp with lice and vvormes to bee slaine strangled or burnt some by their owne handes some of their servantes children and wives as is most easie to proove in the race of 40. Emperours the Lord getting honour vpon them as hee did vpon Pharaoh by some vnwonted and infamous destruction Heliogabalus thought by the pollicy of his head to have prevented the extraordinary hand of God providing him ropes of silke swordes of gold poison in Iacinthes a turtet plated with gold and bordered with precious stones thinking by one of these to have ended his life Notwithstanding hee died that death which the Lord had apointed The 2. thing which I limited my selfe vnto that it is the greatest dishonour to religion to pull downe princes is as easy to be declared A thing which neither Moses in the old nor Christ in the new testament neither Priest high nor low nor Levite Prophet EvaÌ„gelist Apostle christian Bishop ever hath taught counsailed much lesse practised I say not against lawfull magistrates but not against heathenish infidell idolatrous tyrannous rulers though by the manifest and expresse sentence of God reprobated cast of Samuell offered it not to Saul a cast-away he lived and died a king after the senteÌ„ce pronounced against him of an higher excommunication than ever came from Rome Samuel both honoured mourned for him The captive Iewes in BabiloÌ„ wrote to their brethren at IerusaleÌ„ to pray for the life of Nabuchodonozor answerable to that advise which Ieremy giveth the captives in the 29. of his prophecy though in words somewhat different seeke the prosperity of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives pray vnto the Lord for it for in the peace thereof shall you have peace Daniel never spake to the king of Babylon but his speech savoured of most perfect obedience my Lord the dreame bee to them that hate thee and the interpretation thereof to thine enemies his wordes had none other season to Darius though having cast him into the Lyons denne O King live for ever I never coulde suspect that in the commission of Christ given to his disciples there is one word of encouragement to these lawlesse attemptes go into the worlde preach baptize loose retaine remit feede take the keyes receaue the holy Ghost what one syllable soundeth that way vnlesse to go into the worlde be to go and overrunne the world to shake the pillers and foundations thereof with mutinies and seditions to replenish it with more than Catilanary conspiracies to make one Diocesse or rather one dominion monarchie subiect to the Bishop of Rome vnlesse preaching may be interpreted proclaiming of war and hostilitie sending out bulles thundering and lightning against Caesar and other states vnlesse to baptize bee to wash the people of the world in their owne bloud vnlesse binding and loosing be meant of fetters and shackles retaining and remitting of prisons and wardes vnlesse the feeding of lambes and sheepe bee fleecing fleaing murthering the king and the subiect old and young taking the keyes be taking of crownes and scepters and receiving the holy Ghost bee receiving that fiery and trubulent spirit which our Saviovr liked not Yea let them answere that saying these priestes and successours of Romulus Giants of the earth incendâ—aries of the Christian world you shall bee brought before governours and kings and skouraged in their Councelles if ever our Saviour had meaÌ„ing governours kings shal be brought before you Emperours shall kisse your feete waite at your gates in frost and colde resigne their crownes into your handes and take their crownes I saye not at your
societies you haue laid togither â—or some barbarous and vnmercifull souldior to lay open your hedges reape your fields rifle your coffers levell your houses with the ground and empty you and yours out of all your possessions as you haue emptied your poore neighbours Your mercilesse mony exactions you the infamous vsurers of the North of England you the Iewes Iudases of our land that would sell Christ for mony if hee were amongst you you the engrossers of graine in this time of death and withall the engrossers of your owne woes on whom the curse of the poore lighteth ratified in heaven for not bringing forth your corne you that adde affliction to affliction and strengthen the hand of penury amongst vs vse the talents of the Lord not your owne pounds to the honourable advauntage of your maister and the durable gaine of your soules least ye become the vsurers of his vengance and receiue the wages of your vnfaithfulnesse an hundreth-fold The land mourneth because of other and they shall mourne that cause her heavinesse ConteÌ„pt of God will take away our Gods of the earth atheisme anarchy confusion of all estates mingling of heade and foote will goe togither O pray for the peace of Ierusalem Pray for the peace of England Let praiers and supplications be made for all people especially for Christian kings most especiallie for our soveraigne Lady and Mistresse Let vs feare God and all the enemies of the world even the kingdome of darknes shall feare vs. Let not our sinnes reigne and our Queene shall long reigne over vs. Buy the length of her life with your silver and gold you that are rich in this world rich in this lande distribute to the poore scatter for Gods sake God that seeth from aboue will be mindfull of your good deedes and prolong her Maiesties daies Humble your selues in time you high-minded and high-lookt that her horne may be exalted and her roote flourish amongst vs yet manie yeares Traitours forbeare at length to plot your treasons which haue long bred never brought forth The Lord is king and his hand-maide is Queene bee the earth never so impatient Time-serving hypocrites lay downe your dissimulations How long will you halt betweene Rome and England Rebels forsake and resigne your vnlawfull armes Say not as those seditious did vvhat parte haue we in the sonne of David the sonne of David shall prevaile the daughter of King Henry prosper in all her waies vvhen your heades shall lie low enough and your swordes shall haue drunke their fill of your owne flesh Let it suffice you the vntamed broode of our lande to haue blotted your memories with none other censure than that which is written in the booke of God that a band of souldiours follovved Saul whose harts the Lorde had touched but they were wicked that cried howe shall he save vs And you my beloved brethren and the true children of England knit your soules and tongues togither as if you were one man say with a strong vnited cry a perfite heart that God may regard it from aboue O Lord preserue Queene Elizabeth And let AMEN even the faithfull witnes of heaven the worde truth of his father say Amen vnto it Even so Lord Iesu AmeÌ„ Amen harken to the praiers of they servants that goe not our from fained lippes let her ever be as neam vnto thee as the signet vpon thy finger as deare as the apple of thine eie as tender as thine owne bowels water her with theÌ„ deaw of heaven as the goodliest plant that ever our country bare hide her like a chosen shafte in the quiver of thy carefullest providence and giue her a long life ever for ever and ever Amen Vix totâ vitâ indices Senec. Oâ—erat discentem turba non instruit Jd. Eccles. Vlâ— Eccles. 1. Scribimus indocti doctique Pers. Poscimus indocti doctique Act. 17. Chap. 13. Soles acceptior esse sermo vivus quà m scriptus Bernard A mortuâ pelle ad hominem vivum recurre Gregor Laudare se vani vitu perare stulti Aristot. apud Valer. Max. Lib. 7. Ca. 2. Nihil egi sine Theseis Nihil nostrum omnia Iuvenal Cantic vlt. Quid sinâ— dicant qui possunt duÌ„modo quod dicunt probare valeaÌ„t August enchirid cap. 38. 1. Chro. 12. 1. Sam. 18. Vnus Cato mihi pro ceÌ„tum millibus Plato instar omnium Luke 5. Aul. Gell. noct Attic. 13.5 Revel 4. Revel 21. Proverb 8. Psal. 119. Math. 23. Verba innumerabilia vnum tantùm verbum omnia Hugo de arca Noe. Seneca Gregor 〈…〉 Gregor in moral Hieron The argumeÌ„t of the prophecie Psal. 145. Onmis latitudo scripturaâ—um Non tantùm auri massas tollunt veâ—ùm bracteolas parâ—as Chrys. hom 1. ad pop Antio Chap. 1. Praeco mittitur missus contemnit contemnens fugio fugiâ—â— dormis c. Jsidor lib. de patrib veâ— testamen The text And The word Psal. 119. Of the Lorde Luke 1. Came. Zach. 1. Nee verbum ab intentione quia veritas nec factum à verbo quia virtus est Bern. homil 4. super Missus est 2 Pet. 1. Rom. 11. 1 The commission 1. King 1â— Revel 2. Zach. 13. Revel 2. Rom. 10. Heb. 5. Esai 6. Actes 19. 1. King 22. 2 King â— Ier. 2â— Ier. 23. Ezech. 1â— Iud. 3. Actes 19. Zeph. 1. Zach. 13. 2. Sam. 20. Deut. 18. 2. Sam. 12. Revel 12. 2. The persoÌ„ charged 2 King 14. 1 King 17. Ier. 44. Esai 4â— Luke 4. 1. Sam. 19. Jn Moriae encomio Subtilitates plusquam Chrysippea et ultra-muÌ„danae Id. Loc. Theol. 12.5 Iob 5. 3 The matter of the commissioÌ„ Ier. 1. Ezech. 2. Genes 4. Nah. 3. Arise and goe Iob. 7. Gen. 47. Wisd. 15. Mat. 20. Vulgo dictuÌ„ precio ac pecuniis datis brachiae effracta sunt Zach. 1. 1 Thes. 5. Ezech. 38. Eccle. 33. Gen. 3. 2. Thes. 3. Ioh. 4. Gen. 2. Gen. 3â— Prou. 26. 1. Sam. 3. Prov. 24. To Niniveh Gualter in Ion. 2. King 19. Ar. Mont. 1. Reason Deut. 20. 2. Sam. 20. Luke 10 Homil 15. Nisi gehenna intentata esset omnes in gehennaÌ„ laberemur Non ergo minus quod semper dico dei provideÌ„tiam gehenna commendat quà m promissio regni Homil. 5. ad pop Antioch 2. Reason Zach. 8. Math. 1. Zach. 14. 3. Reason Esai 16. 4 Reason Math. 12. Math. 21. ConclusioÌ„ Luke 10. Act. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luc. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 20. Psal. 68. That great city Chap. 1â— Anius vpoÌ„ Berosus Raph. Volâ—â—â—ter 6. Natur. hist 13. Ar. Mont. Iun. Trii Diodor. Siâ— Strabo Paulus de Palatio vpoÌ„ Ionas Two reasoÌ„s why Niniveh is so commenâ—ded Chap. 20. Affectum inquirit non factum exigit Ambros. de patriarch Chap. 2. Math. 12. Act. 12. Act. 21. 1. Pet. 4. 2. Pet. 1. Num. 1â— Esai 40. Chap. 3. Ibid. August 8. dâ— civi dei 23. Chap. 18. Vrbâ— aeterna Lament 2. Ibid. 4. Ierem.
altered his nature to haue boyled him into nourishmente and to haue incorporated his flesh into an other substaunce Yet Ionas liveth But if the LORDE had not beene on my side might Ionas nowe say if the LORDE had not beene on my side vvhen the beast rose vp against mee hee had swallowed mee vp quicke vvhen his vvrath vvas so sore enflamed But praysed bee the LORDE vvhich hath not given mee over a pray to his teeth My saule is escaped even as a birde out of the snare of the fowler The snare is broken and I am delivered Let all those whome the LORDE hath redeemed from the hande of the oppressour from fire or water or from the perill of death take that songue of thankesgiving into their lippes and singe it to his blessed name in remembraunce of his holinesse O thou the hope of all the endes of the earth sayeth that other Psalme and of them that are farre of in the sea shevve vs but the lighte of thy countenaunce and vvee shall bee safe giue vs but the comforte of thy mercies and wee will not feare though the earth bee mooved and the mountaines fall dovvne into the middes of the sea and the sea and the vvaters thereof rage fearefully though Leviathan open his mouth wee will not quake at it yea though the Leviathan of the bottomelesse pit open the throate of hell never so vvide to devoure vs wee vvill not bee disquieted VVee knowe that there is mercy vvith the LORDE and that vvith him there is plentifull redemption I meane redemption a thousande waies by nature and against nature by hope and against hope by thinges that are and thinges that are not Hee that hath saved his people by gathering the vvaters in heapes like vvalles and making a path in the redde sea hee that hath kept his children in the middest of a fiery oven when if arte coulde adde any thinge to the nature of fire they shoulde have beene burnt seven times for one because it was seven times hote and delivered his prophet in a denne of lyons though dieted and prepared for their pray before hand yet shuttinge their mouthes so close and restrayninge their appetite that they forbeare their appointed foode and committed this servaunt of his to the belly of a fishe as if he had committed him to his mothers vvombe to be kept from harme he is the same GOD both in mighte and mercye to preserue vs no time vnseasonable no place vnmeete no daunger vncouth and vnaccustomed to his stronge designementes Our onely helpe therefore standeth in the name of the LORDE that hath made heaven and earth blessed and thrice blessed bee that name of the Lorde from this time forth for evermore Amen THE XXIII LECTVRE Chap. 2. vers 1. Then Ionas praied vnto the Lord his God out of the fishes belly and saide THIS second section or division of the prophecie wherein the mercy of God towardes Ionas is expressed I parted before into three branches 1. That he was devoured 2. praied 3. was delivered The tearmes that Lyra giveth are these the place the manner the successe of his prayer The marvailes that I haue already noted vnto you were 1. that so huge a creature was suddeinely provided by the providence of God 2. that a whole man passed thorough his throate 3. that he lived in his bowels three daies three nightes Now whither he fulfilled that time exactly yea or no three naturall dayes complete consisting of twenty foure howres neither can I affirme neither is it materiall over-busily to examine Our Saviour you know in the gospell applyeth this figure of Ionas to his buriall As Ionas was in the belly of the whale three daies and three nights so shall the sonne of man bee in the heart of the narth But if you conferre the shadowe and the body togither you shall finde in all the evangelistes that the Lorde of life was crucified the 6. howre of the preparation of the sabbath and the ninth gaue vp the ghost that late in the eveninge his bodie vvas taken downe from the crosse and buried that hee rested in the graue the night that belongeth to the sabbath togither vvith the daie and night nexte ensuinge after it and that in the morning of the first day of the weeke he rose againe So as indeede the body of Christ was not in the heart of the earth more than 36. hovvers to weete two nightes and a daie vvhich is but the halfe space of 72. howers Some to supply this defect of time accompte the lighte before the passion of Christ and the darkenesse till the 9. howre one day and a night because they say there vvas both lighte and darknes And then the light that followed from the 9. howre and the succeeding night a secōd day night likewise the third til the time he rose againe Others expoūd it by a mistery thus 36. hours they say to 72. which is the absolute measure of 3. daies 3. nights is but simplum ad duplū one to two or the halfe of the whole Now ours was a double death both in soule by sin in body by paine Christes was but single only in the body because concerning his soule he was free frō sin therfore they infer that the moity of time might suffice him Hugo Cardin. hath an other conceite that from the creation of the worlde till the resurrection of Christ the day was evermore numbred before the night both in the literall and in the mysticall vnderstanding first there was light then darknes but from the resurrection of Christ forwardes the night is first reckoned for which cause he thought the vigiles were apointed for sabbathes other festivall daies that vvee might be prepared with more devotiō to solemnize them herehēce he cōcludeth that the night which followed the sabbath of the Iews was the angular night must twice be repeated as the corner of a square serveth indifferently for either side which it lyeth betwixte for both it belonged saith he to the sabbath praeceding must be ascribed againe vnto the Christian sabbath or Lords day whereon the son of God rose from death And he thinketh there is great reason of his invention because Christ by one night of his tooke away two of ours So they are not content to be sober interpretours of the minde of God but they wil ghesse and divine at that which he never meant They thinke their cunning abased if they go not beyond the moone to fetch an exposition What needeth such curious learning to apoint every egge to the right hen that laid it as some did in Delos so these to think their labor vnprofitable in the church of God vnlesse they can make the devises of their own heads reach home to the letter of the booke in al respects Our soundest divines agree that the triduan rest of Christ in the graue must be vnderstood by the figure synecdoche
terrâ Zach. 13. wickednesse out of the land or an vncleane spirit from the earth but a wicked and vncleane spirit from out his owne breast whereby hee was driven to so franticke a passion 5. Hee will also proove which is the reason annexed to the petition that it is better for him to die than to live and he prooveth it by comparing two opposites death and life the horrour of one of which he shoulde rather have commended the svveetenesse and comfort of the other Thales on a time giving forth incredibly and strangely enough that there was no difference betweene life and death one presently closed vpon him Cur ergo non moreris why then diâ—st thou not because saith hee there is no difference Albeit it appeareth sufficiently that hee shâ—wed a difference by refusing it But the paradoxe which Ionas heare alleadgeth addeth much to that of Thales For hee affirmeth in peremptory tearmes havinge them laide before his eies to compare togither and to make his choice Death is better than life Howbeit hee saith not simply it is better to die than to live but better for mee One as wise as ever Ionas was who had beene taken vp into the third heavens seene revelations in this very question betweene life and death gave no other answere or solution vnto it but per hoc verbum Nescio by this word I knowe not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what to choose I knowe not And hee confessed that hee vvas streightened or pinched betweene these two whither it were better for him to abide in the flesh or to be with Christ. No doubt simply to bee with Christ. For that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but onely better but much and very much better but to abide in the flesh was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more needefull and profitable for the Church For wee were not borne to our selves but for the good of our parents countrey kinred and friendes saide Plato and much more for the flocke of Christ which he hath purchased with his bloud whither they bee Iewes or Gentiles weake or stronge Israelites or Ninivites to further their faith and to helpe them to salvation for thus we are debters to all men The speeches of Caesar were wont to be that hee had lived long enough whither hee respected nature or honour Tully aunswered him It may bee for honour and nature longe enough but that vvhich is chiefest of all not for the common wealth Againe I haue heard thee say that thou hast lived longe enough to thy selfe I beleeue it But then I would also heare If thou livedst to thy selfe alone or to thy selfe alone wert borne Wee are all placed and pitched in our stations and haue our watches and services apointed vs. Let vs not offer to depart thence till it bee the pleasure of our God to dismisse vs. Vnlesse wee haue learned that vndutifull lesson which the messenger vsed at the dores of Elizeus 2. of Kinges and the 6. Beholde this evill commeth of the Lorde should I attend on the Lord any longer It is better for mee to die than to liue Say not so for how knowest thou If thou wilt harken to counsaile leaue it to the wisedome of God to iudge what is best for thee for he will not giue that which is most pleasant but most convenient Charior est illis homo quam sibi A man is dearer to God than to himselfe Socrates in Alcibiades woulde not haue any man aske ought at Gods handes in particular but in generality to giue him good thinges Because he knew what was most behoofe-full for each one whereas our selues craue many thinges which not to haue obteined had bene greater ease At length hee concludeth For hee that is vvont to giue good thinges so easily is also able to choose the fittest The promises in the gospell I graunt are verye lardge Whatsoever you shall aske in my name that will I doe Ioh. 14 And Aske and it shall bee given you Math. 7. For every one that asketh receaveth Howe commeth it to passe then that the sonnes of Zebedee aske and receave not Wee woulde that thou shouldest doe for vs that that we desire Marke 10. The reason is given there by our Saviour Nescitis quid petatis You knowe not what you aske This is also the cause that Ionas receaveth not his asking he knoweth not what hee asketh You haue not because you aske not Iam. 4. that is one cause Yea but you aske and haue not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Because you aske amisse both concerning the end to consume it on your lusts and touching the maÌ„ner because without faith and for the matter it it selfe because it is hurtfull vnto you And if you obserue it you shall espie a condition conveyed into the promise of Christ If you being evill giue good thinges to your children how much more shall your father in beaven giue good things to them that aske him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 good thinges not such as may doe you hurt Another evangelist faith for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the holy or good Spirite Which is all in all able ready to rectifie your mindes order your affections set you to craue more holesome and profitable giftes For if vvee aske the contrary except when the Lorde is pleased to lay a curse vpon our praiers though wee call never so loude and impatientlye in his eares Vsque quó domine clamabo non exauâ—ies O Lorde hovve longe shall I cry vnto thee and thou wilt not heare me he answereth at least by his silence and deniall even as long as a man in a burning ague shall say to his Phisitian vsque quó how longe shall I cry for colde water I burne I am vexed I am tormented I am almost out of breath and hee answereth againe Non misereor modo I cannot yet pittye thee Such mercy were cruelty and thine owne will and wishe is daungerously bent against thee This is the cause to conclude that Ionas his suite speedeth not Ionas thinketh it better to die It is onely better in seeming as a distasted palate is soonest pleased with the worst meate God thinketh the contrary Naye Ionas thinketh God knoweth that hee dieth indeede if he die out of charity and that if hee shoulde giue his bodie to the fire or againe to the water or a thousand deathes more without loue it could not profite him Therefore hee is not suffered to dye when he would but by another mercy of God not inferiour to that in his former deliverye is reserved to an other repentance and to more peaceable dayes Saint Augustine vpon the wordes of the Evangelist If thou wilt enter into life keepe the commaundementes where hee proveth that there is no true life but that which is blessed nor blessed but that which is eternall noteth the manner of men to be in their miseries to call for death rather