Gods permission haue sometimes a finger in them 10. How the sinne of one bringeth punishment vpon manie 13. Bad companie is to be auoided 14. The description of the tempest 16. Life is dearer then goods 18. Affliction driueth to deuotion IONAH 1.4.5 But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea and there vvas a mighty tempest in the sea so that the ship was like to be broken Then the mariners were afrayd and cried euery man vnto his God and cast the wares that were in the ship into the sea to lighten it of them OVr Prophet as a man who would verie gladly be rid of his maister hath gotten him to the sea the land cannot hold him but his maister not so willing to part with his seruant sendeth such a message after him as will bring him back againe or make him do farre worse He would not haue his messenger run so to his owne ruine and lie obdurate in his sinne he wold not haue his purpose of preaching at Niniue be vtterly relinquished but rather because it hath so long bin deferred he by whom the stay hath bin made shall heare of it with a witnesse Here followeth such a tempest to bid him welcome to the sea that if such should be common it needed not be noted to be the speech of a wise man that he wondred that anie one wold come twise at the sea hauing seene the perill of it wold come at it againe for euerie wise man wold so say The wind doth now so blow the waues do so beate the sea doth so worke the ship is so endangered the sea-men are so afraid Ionas so by a lot is singled out to death that drowning was the least that could befall vnto him We neede make no doubt but all this was done for Ionas his sake For the question is here true which a Prophet elsewhere asketh Was the Lord angry against the riuers or was thine anger against the flouds or was thy vvrath against the sea No it was against the sinne of Ionas that all this came as vengeance and that God so sent his messengers of wrath and of displeasure 2 He desireth that his Prophet should be warned for all the dayes that he was to liue in the world to play no more such parts for what end should the next haue if he sped so ill with this And he would haue other men to take example by him that they run not no not with his owne seruants to grosse notorious crimes least they smart for it with his seruants For if the greene wood so burne what shall become of the drie if a leader do such penance what shall a common man if a Prophet do so pay for it how shall a meane bodie escape By this example the presumptuous heart of such is broken as when they haue sinned wilfully in steed of asking pardon by confession and repentance can sooth themselues in their follies saying that the best men haue offended and whie should it be strange for them to go astray since Gods Saints haue done worse Not onely Ionas here forsaketh his vocation but Noe offendeth in drunkennesse and Lot in worse euen in incest and Dauid in adulterie and Salomon that wise king in marying manie infidels The grosse falles of all which men are not proposed vnto vs in the holy booke of God to incourage vs to transgression for that were a Spiders propertie to sucke such poison from them but rather as S. Austen teacheth vs to put vs in minde of that warning of the Apostle that he who standeth should take heed least he fall to humble vs to obedience not to puffe vs vp to pride But withall if they could remember that although the Lord did couer the infirmities of his children with the skirts of his Sonnes mercie least they should finally perish yet to shew how he hateth sinne euen in the best of his people he sendeth them in this world whipping with temporall rods enough they may verie well find that there is small reason why they should be in loue with the bargaine For was there not a Cham to deride his father so farre to moue the patience of that righteous preacher Noe as in bitternesse to curse him Was there not an Absolon readie so with all kind of contumelie to scourge offending Dauid as to abuse his fathers concubines and to seeke his fathers life Here was a Hadad and there a Rezon and a Ieroboam in the third place to vexe wife-doting Salomon that he could not rest in his old age and afterward his sonne Roboam did lose ten tribes of twelue 3 And as for the Prophet here he bestoweth on himselfe a whole Chapter to shew the fruite of his fall that other might forbeare to offend by the example of that grieuous punishmēt which he sustained If he had bene as nimble to haue excused his fault as these be in our dayes he might haue made some Apologie for himselfe or at least haue concealed his penance which befel him that when no man had bene frighted by his case other might haue walked in his steps and the commonnesse of the fault might haue excused the crime For when multitudes do as we do we thinke that they do ease our burthen as the Emperour Valentinian imagined if Socrates report truth of him when hauing one wife of his owne called Seuera whom he was vnwilling to leaue he was in loue also with another virgin called Iustina and he maried her too And least this fault should seeme most grosse if he alone were noted for so scandalous behauiour by a law of purpose made he giueth leaue to all that would to marrie two wiues a peece thinking that when manie transgressed he should be more free from blame Our Ionas is so charitable as to take another course not to induce men to the like by himselfe but to terrifie them much rather by recording how he sped To fall because the Patriarkes and Prophets haue oft fallen is as much as willingly to tast of poyson because Socrates once drunke poyson which were but a foolish triall His poyson was his death And so had sinne bene death to the holiest if God had not giuen repentaunce to expell the force of iniquitie But what man is he who can promise to himselfe repentaunce or rising when he is fallen Manie hope for it but few haue it manie speake of it but few vse it which maketh that worthie saying of S. Austen to be true Manie will fall vvith Dauid but they will not arise with Dauid No example of falling is in him proposed to thee but of rising if thou haue fallen Take heed thou go not downe Let not the slip of the greater be the delight of the lesser but let the fall of the greater be the trembling of the lesser Thus that holie father speaketh If the greatest fall thou mayest fall therefore do not presume but if the greatest be
and hide vs from the presence of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the Lambe They cannot escape his sight they cannot auoyd his iudgement When Pericles once was sad about yeelding an account of much money to the Atheniens which he possibly could not discharge his nephew Alcibiades did helpe him with this good counsel that he should not beat his braines how he might giue a reckening but he rather should deuise how he might giue no reckening He tooke this course indeed and by plunging the Atheniens into a grieuous warre he did auoyd the account Before the Lord of heauen this will not serue the turne he knoweth all things and seeth all things Ionas could not be so grosse as to run so from his presence 18 But if that thought were in him or if any man wil so take it he went the worst way to worke for himselfe that euer man did For he that would be so blockish as to thinke he might flie from God and would go to sea to do it were worthie to be registred for a man most vnaduised This is as much as if to auoid some heate that commeth by an ague the patient should run into the fire as it is said that Hercules did being troubled with a frenzie or if another to auoide a showre of raine should leape into the riuer for if Gods hand any where do euidently appeare or if any where it be fearefull it is in being at sea where as the Poet speaketh a man is stil within foure or at most seuen inches of his death where stormes that be impetuous do cause them to pray who scant euer prayed before where rockes and sands and gulfes are readie still to deuoure The remembrance of this made Dauid speake so sufficiently They that go dovvne to the sea in ships and occupy by the great vvaters they see the vvorkes of the Lord and his vvonders in the deepe Paule found this by experience when he endured such a storme and wrecke too in the Mediterrane sea He who would see more of this let him reade in Virgil what a tempest is described to haue befallen Aeneas in the Sicilian sea So then if God be present any where to punish or preserue it is in the huge Ocean That if a man would haue wished to be followed as with a furie he should do as Ionas did When Plinie the elder was choked in going to see Vesuuius a hill which burned in Campania as Aetna oftentimes doth in Sicilia the sight thereof was so terrible that the beholders were all amazed at it But there were saith the younger Plinie among them some who were so afrayd of death that they vvished themselues to be dead They so feared that which they feared that they wished for that which they feared If our Prophet did desire to escape away from the Lord he did iust as these other for to flie away from Gods presence he runneth into Gods presence 19 Therefore we will not imagine that Ionas was so ignorant to thinke thus to get from the Lord but his going from Gods presence doth signifie in this place a departing from his dutie and from the execution of his office For they are said in the Scripture to be in the Lords presence or to stand before the Lord who do execute their ministery or functiō as they should So the Lord separated the tribe of Leui to beare the Arke of the couenant of the Lord and to stand before the Lord which is expounded there to minister vnto him and to blesse in his name to this day So as the Lord God of Israel liueth saith Elias before whom I do stand that is whom faithfully I do serue there shall be neither deaw nor raine these yeares but according to my word The verie selfe same phrase doth Elizeus vse in another place to Naaman the Syrian The contrarie of which speech is vttered by that wicked Cain who did neuer serue God From thy face I shall be hid And afterward Cain went out from the presence of the Lord. He was not in his grace he would not be in his seruice Such was our Prophets flight from the presence of the Lord. When he should haue performed his calling vpon occasions continually haue taken direction from the voyce of God speaking to him he did forsake his charge and could haue bene wel contented if God would neuer more haue spoken to him But his maister will not leaue him so This is an excellent comfort to the Ministers of the Gospell that as long as they do their duties they stand before the Lord who doth protect and preserue them from the rage of bloudie tyrants from the tempests of the world from the mischiefe of cruell enemies Neither can the rage of Sathan lay anie thing more vpon them then God giueth them grace to beare And againe in as much as in this life they are spectacles to men in preaching and in liuing they are spectacles to Angels they are spectacles to God they are warned that they discharge their function with sinceritie remembring this good lesson that they be not as many who make marchandise of the word of God but as of sinceritie but as of God in the sight of God speaking in Christ. 20 In these most perillous times wherein Satan fretteth and rageth wherein Papisme is litle weakned but Atheisme waxeth strong and the sinnes of men do crie but on the other side pitie waxeth thin and charitie groweth cold This should be a liuely motion to stirre vp the Spirit of God in vs that with alacritie we may go forward to the building vp of Gods house and not to be wearied in well doing or withdraw our selues frō the work In the fifteenth of the Actes although Barnabas were more mild and did not take the matter so hainously yet Paule did so dislike it in Iohn Marke at Pamphylia that he would not go with them about the Lords seruice that he refused his companie afterward Surely God looketh for much of them whom he hath singled out to be the messengers of his glorie If with Ionas we should leaue him and turne away from his presence when he hath vse for vs in the field let vs feare least a greater iudgement befall vs then did vnto Ionas Which what it was in the next by Gods grace I shall shew In the meane time Iesus send vs due consideration of our calling that not following wordly reasons which often draw men to Tharsus when they should go to Niniue but attending Gods commaundement we may with ioy run our course and so possesse that inestimable crowne of iustice which the righteous Lord hath layed vp for all those that loue his comming To this God be praise for euer THE III. LECTVRE The chiefe points 2. The punishment of the Prophet may well fright other from sinne 4. All tempests depend of God 6. Yet Satan and his instruments by
delicacy and luxurious attire the ioy of their hearts formerly and pleasure of their eyes should lye grouelling on the ground in sobbing bitternesse as vilefied creatures and as deiected wormes So mightily did Gods word and the horrour of their sinne preuaile among them But this was a happy fall to shrinke once and stand long for it to sinke a while and rise againe Here because the things are diuerse which my text saith they did in signe of repentance to the end that you may particularly vnderstand so much of them as I thinke fit at this time to deliuer I suppose it best for plainnesse sake to braunch all into these two heads First the force of the word whereby they were brought to beleeue the Lord So that is vpon his preaching they beleeued God And secondly the effect which followed of their beleeuing they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth For auoiding of confusion I do not now name such subdiuided circumstances as do arise from these but they shall be touâ—hed as they lye The people beleeued God 3 I stand not to dispute whether Belohim in this place with the prepositiue letter B being put to Elohim be better translated by they beleeued Deo or in Deo or in Deum they beleeued God or they beleeued in God or they beleeued on God as diuerse diuersly haue it for howsoeuer otherwise these may haue their difference yet in this place as I take it they come all to one end they beleeued that the Prophet had reported from God whatsoeuer he reported But I rather obserue the excellent vertue of the word of truth and such a force in it as cannot be vttered that in so short a time as the preaching of one day for so the text best beareth it by a man so vnacquainted with that place in a Citie so auerse from sanctitie and deuotion it should worke so strong an effect that flesh and bloud may maruell and the naturall man may stand amazed at it But is not this it which Esay hath compared to the snow and raine who come downe from aboue but returne not thither againe but water the earth and procure a fruite out of it Is not this it which the Apostle doth affirme to be liuely and mightie in operation and sharper then any two edged sword and entreth through euen to the diuiding a sunder of the soule and the spirit and of the ioynts and the marrovv and is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart Is not this it which by Christ is called a net which doth take the greatest fishes euen against their will Which as it made Iosias a religious Prince to melt at the heart vpon the reading of it so it forced Felix also an irreligious Deputie to tremble at the hearing of Saint Paule when he disputed of iustice and temperance and the iudgement to come Then surely this also might do good among the Niniuites 4 The Law of the Lord as Dauid hath taught vs giueth vvisedome to the simple I may adde that it maketh the rough wayes plaine and crooked things straight it remooueth away that which is scandalous it doth rectifie the vntoward Giue me a man sayth Lactantius vvho is angry an euill speaker and vnbridled and by a fevv vvords of God I vvill make him as milde as a lambe Giue me a man that is greedie couetous and hard and I vvill returne him to thee liberall and such a one as vvith his owne and full hands vvill bestovv his money Giue me one that is afrayd of smart and death and foorthwith he shall contemne the gallowes and fire and the very bull of Phalaris Let sinne sayth Saint Chrysostome be like an Oke which hath taken deepe roote in thee yet Gods word is like an axe which will hew downe that Oke and if it do it not at one stroke yet it will be brought about with doubled and multiplied blowes Saint Austen or whosoeuer he is who is the authour of that Treatise De sanctis alluding to the parable of Christ sayth that the word is like to mustard seede which being first ground and then tasted by the biting thereof maketh the countenance sowre the forehead contracted or drawne into a narrow roome the teares to breake foorth but it is wholesome and purgeth the head So the word of the Lord being receiued maketh the minde heauie the bodie disquieted the teares to drop downe but yet all this in such sort as that saluation is gayned with this weeping and bitternesse Then if it be so powerfull and the basenesse of the messenger detract nothing from it but rather adde honour to it for by weake things and foolish things God will confound the wise and his power is made perfect by vveakenesse and the vvords of fishermen are read but the neckes of Oratours are subdued by them as the afore named Saint Austen hath then no maruell if so many were pricked in their hearts at the speech of this poore Prophet and as being wounded to the bone could not bee at any quiet till the sore were both searched and healed No maruell if this Sermon did worke as much with them as once a letter of Paules did with the people of Corinth whereof himselfe doth witnesse thus What great care it hath vvrought in you yea vvhat clearing of your selues yea indignation yea feare yea great desire yea zeale yea punishment So this here procured that all the faculties of their minde were frighted and mooued and busied to the full to turne away that wrath which now did hang ouer them 5 And although they had many things yea all the things that might be to deteyne them from these good motions prosperitie securitie satietie of bread a wall of sinne about them a sea of sinne within them superstition and ignorance and contemning pride which so loueth it selfe that it loueth not to bee controlled yet the breath of one mortall man although inspired indeede from an immortall God doth ouertumble all For first albeit the words of his Sermon be most briefly set downe here yet without question he inueighed against their sinnes the enormitie of their liues the crookednesse of their wayes their outragious impiety their insolent intemperancie And vppon this they were stricken with a biting remorse and feare that some diuine essence or supreme Iusticer would take vengeance vppon them For the minde of all euill men agreeth with Adam in this that after that a sinne is done there is a horrour for the same and blushing and concealing and there is an impression by the very light of nature that transgression is punishable and the integritie of iustice is louely and acceptable The Atheniens and Greekes who neuer knew God did admire vertue as may be euident by the deedes of Socrates and Aristides and the writings of Plato and Xenophon and they seuerely chastised some iniquitie yet they knew not the Scripture But where the
sorowes and afflictions which fall on vs or because by one or other we are thwarted in our designements then in wishing for death we prooue plainely to be offenders for want of submitting our will vnto the Lords will for lacke of waiting with patience and attending the leysure of the Almightie If Elias that powerfull Prophet be ouertaken thus to cry novv it is enough O Lord take away my soule for I am no better then my fathers because Iezabel pursued him to destroy him if she could take him he may not be excused 12 But for our man it is euident that he was in this bracke it was no earnest motion to be with God which did stirre him for now he was angrie with him neither was it because he loathed sinne for he heaped that as fast on him as possibly he could but because in a testie peeuishnesse and vnbeseeming curstnesse he could not see that effected which he so hotely desired that was to see all Niniue brought to vtter desolation And in this fury the man would be nothing else but dead He had neuer bin dead before and therefore did not know what it was to come vnprouided and vnfurnished yea indeed clothed with frowardnesse before so high a Iudge If it then had bene remooued when it was in that fury with what comfort could his soule approch before the tribunall Whereby it appeareth how mercifully the Eternall dealeth with vs who oftentimes in his loue denieth to vs those things for which we wish which if we should euermore enioy we were better be without them Theseus as Tully saith by obtaining the thing which he desired gained this that his only sonne Hippolytus was lost and torne in peeces The same which that fable reporteth of those wishes which Neptune graunted to him that they did hurt and not helpe Theseus is true of Gods part toward vs if he should euermore graunt that which we wish on our selues or other it would ouerturne our bodies and make our soules to perish Do we not many times vnaduisedly wish our selues in our graue as Ionas did in this place when I wis we little thinke it And if then there should come any who would take vs at our word should we not make twentie pauses yea a hundred exceptions before we would be readie It is but Aesopsfable but the morall thereof is true that a poore and desolate old man turning home from the wood with a burthen of stickes vpon him threw them downe and in remembrance of the miserie which he sustained called oftentimes for death to come to him as if he would liue no longer But when Death came to him in earnest and asked what he should do the old man presently chaunged his mind and sayd that his request vnto him was that he would helpe him vp with his wood This most commonly is our case we would find some other businesse to set Death about if he should come to vs when vainly we haue wished for him And it is not much vnlikely that our Prophet in this place would haue played such a pranke when he prayed to God with such vehemency to take away his soule But be that as it will be let this stand good betweene vs that with anger and with chasing at that which the Lord decreed and with wishing death in his rage the Prophet highly offended Which being so largely discoursed now come we in the second place to see how the Lord taketh this which I shall passe as briefly ouer as I haue bene long in the former And the Lord sayd Doest thou vvell to be angry 13 That which Ionas had witnessed in the second verse of this Chapter that the Lord is very mercifull and slow to anger is in this place experimented for when the pot-sheard so grossely had ouerseene it selfe to grudge against the potter the creature against his maker the hote spirite of man would easily haue imagined that he to whom the wrong was done to the end that he might preserue his greatnesse entire would haue let him knowne his owne and receiued all roughnesse from him How would a land-lord here haue ruffled vp his tenaunt but the Prince would haue rung such a lesson to his subiect that he should well haue remembred with whom he had to deale Nay may we not iustly thinke that the mighty Iehoua who is couered with the thunder and clothed with the lightening who speaketh and the earth doth tremble who mooueth and the heauen doth quake who blasted Nadab and Abihu dead in the instant who stroke Vzzah in a moment that he neuer spake againe who made the body of Gehazi and the face of King Vzziah to be couered with a leaprosie who so disgraced Herode that in the ruffe of his maiestie he was eaten vp with wormes would haue shaken vp Ionas so with tauntings and reproches that he should neuer haue forgotten it But the Lord to giue a token of his infinite moderation and vnconceiuable softnesse maketh no answer but this Doest thou vvell to be angry Wherein as he doth shew that Ionas was to blame and therein ouerturneth the excuse of Saint Hierome who most willingly would couer all as if there were no fault and therefore goeth not right since the text is to the contrarie so he beareth with the infirmity of the distracted Prophet and doth rather warne him kindly then intreate him very roughly Doest thou vvell to be angry as if he should haue sayd Thou frettest when thou shouldest not wilt thou be the Iudge Ionas to decide what is most for my glorie thou takest on thee to preiudice my wisedome or my will that either my discretion is not such as it should be or when I know the best yet I will follow the contrary This is not aright Ionas for if any haue occasiō to be angrie it is I who must be ruled now and not rule be directed and not gouerne This mild increpation would haue mooued any man but him who was steeped in anger as Ionas was I do not here any farther pursue Gods patience in his owne person because I haue oftentimes touched it 14 My lesson which I gather here is rather for our selues that when we haue to do with passionate persons that is to say brethren which are weake but not desperately euill and see them ouertaken with affections of anger of sorrow or displeasure we by our mild behauiour seeke to win them from that fault When rage is repelled with rage it increaseth farther fury and so oyle is put to flame and contention to strife A soft answer appeaseth vvrath but grieuous vvords stirre vp anger Although to equals this may fitly be applied and to superiours yet the saying is generall and hath place toward inferiours also The bending yeelding spirit is most likely to preuaile with the most robustious persons but a good man will haue an eye that he yeeld not in things vnlawfull The Apostle dealeth thus with the Corinthians I
be angrie to the death How do we fall without measure if Gods grace preuenting and following vs be not ouer vs and leade vs all the way when such a choise man as Ionas who was singled out for a Prophet shall be thus ouertaken We had need pray for assistance and diligently take heed that in all our deeds we yeeld not Sathan the least footing for if once we let him land and giue a consent vnto him to abide with vs although it be but in a corner he will certainly haue more When Dauid by the doore or window of his eye had let it into his heart that Bethsabe must be fancied it worketh him on to adulterie then to cousening of Vrias after that to make him drunke and lasâ— of all to slay him Ionas is first content to desire the death of the Niniuites then he is angrie to thinke that it should be otherwise afterward he who had no loue to a citie of that quantitie yet is in loue with a tree and more setteth his heart vpon it then a maÌ„ should on any creature then he grieueth because he had lost it and being rebuked for it he chideth hand-smooth with God So one sinne breedeth another whereas obedience at the first had marred all that rancke Let vs all take heede of too much delighting in any earthly thing in husband or wife or children oâ— any matter of like nature because sinne which groweth froâ— the losse of these will spreade it selfe farre as first to grieue 〈◊〉 Gentiles and heathens who haue no hope then impatiently 〈◊〉 murmure against the diuine dispensation and that is suted with like effects Perhaps chaunging of religion as if when the God of the mountaines being coldly serued would not helpe and saue from such perplexities they would to the God of the valleis peraduenture refusing to come to church as if they had bin holy too long yea perhaps fasting or soliâ—aâ—inesse till that the vnderstanding and memorie being â—razed almost past recouery giue such an entrance to Sathan that there is little power of nature or faith or grace left to resist fearefull temptations or to take comfort or counsell The enemie of our soules so windeth in by degrees that he is hardly expelled if at first wee yeeld vnto him to giue him place but a little I do well to be angrie vnto the death 13 What would he haue done to men who dealeth thus with God or how brauely wold he haue spoken if he had done some good deed who in so foule a matter his iudgement is so depraued by selfe-loue and selfe-opinion both excuseth and commendeth that which was in truth so outragious Dauid was very far gone but being once touched by NathaÌ„ he staÌ„deth not on his owne iustification but out he cryeth Peccaui I haue sinned against the Lord. Yea Cain when he was conuicted of murthering his brother tooke knowledge that he deserued much ill And concerning Iudas himselfe indeede I find that the Cainites who were a kind of heretikes as Epiphanius writeth did commend him that since he saw that Sathans force was to be diminished by the death of Christ he made all the meanes which he could to hasten him to his death but I do not find that Iudas for his owne part did so thinke of it but confessed that he had sinned in betraying innocent bloud But our man for want of good neighbours standeth in his owne commendations for it is more then an Apologie I do well to be angrie yea if I should do more it were so much the better euen to be angrie to the death How farre is he out of temper he who should haue bene a light to other is in darknesse and desperatnesse he who should haue bene mild to men is now cocking with God he who should be renoumed for patience is impatient in the highest degree he whom much should not mooue is vp-side downe with a little the Preacher worse then the people the Prophet more to seeke then any priuate man Paule writing to the Ephesians saith that they were built vpon the foundation of the Prophets and the Apostles Iesus Christ being the chiefe corner stone If our Prophet had bene taken now he had bene full vnfit to haue bene in this foundation yea in any part of Gods building for those who are therein must be wrought and squared stones But God knoweth he was not neare that for as Gregorie doth remember vs Whosoeuer in prosperitie is not puffed vp too high whosoeuer in aduersitie is not cast downe too low whosoeuer by perswasion is not drawne to euill whosoeuer by dispraise is not kept backe from good he is a squared stone Then was Ionas out of square who being proud of his gourd a matter farre from prosperitie and vexed with the losing of it and the heate beating vpon his head loued what he had too dearely and lost what he left too grudgingly 14 But we doubt not but he recouered this and grew to grace againe for the Spirit of the Lord was not extâ—nguished in him although now the fire thereof seemed to be raked vp vnder the ashes now the sappe of his election seemed to lye hid within the roote and not to flourish aboue the ground but although his heart did seeme frozen yet afterward it thaweth againe For as Saint Austen speaketh as when the water congealeth with too much cold and when the Sunne commeth on it it resolueth againe and the same Sunne againe departing it beginneth againe to be hard so with the frost of sinne the loue of many doth waxe cold he might haue said so of their obedience and they are hardened like the ice but when the heate of the Lords mercie commeth againe on them they are resolued and relent So doubtlesse it was with Ionas else he had neuer bene reckened among the Lords holy Prophets from the which as we see his grieuous fall did not seclude him But in the meane while here is a maruell neuer sufficiently wondered at that God who hath the choise of all things in the world will vse such brittle meanes to the ministerie of his word and building of his kingdome shall I say heardmen with Amos or fishermen with Andrew or shepheards as was Dauid or customers as was Mathew some vnlearned all of base calling nay men nore-able for their weaknesse and reprochable for their folly not onely Paule before his calling but Moses and Aaron who in their calling were oftentimes much to blame Ieremie who raged bitterly and Ionas who was made of fretting and impatiencie This sheweth how great God himselfe is omnipotent and Almightie who by weake confoundeth the strong by foolish confuteth the wise by base conuinceth the noble by men vnder exception doth things beyond exception and all because his name therein may be the more glorified 15 It was his greater praise that by grashoppers and flies he could make Pharao crouch by hornets driue