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
but woulde haue it doone by the ministerie of the marriners But the oddes is not greate in effecte if you obserue vvhat is mentioned For Ionas setteth on the marriners and not onely counselleth but in a sorte compelleth them to caste him foorth Saul was not deade by the woundes which hee gaue himselfe till an An alekite came and dispatched him yet was Saul an homicide against his owne person and the other that made an ende of him filius mortis the childe of death Surelye GOD hath given a commaundement in expresse tearmes against this horrible practise Non occîdes Thou shalt not kill praesertim quia non addidit Proximum tuum especiallye because he added not Thy neighbour thou maiest the rarher vnderstand thy selfe as in the other commaundement vvhen hee forbâ—d false witnesse hee saide Thou shalt not beare false witnesse against thy neighbour Althoughe if the lawe had spoken more fullye Thou shalt not kill thy neighbour thou haddest not beene freed thereby quomam regulam diligendi proximum à semetipso delector accipit because hee that loveth taketh the rule of loving his neighbour first from himselfe And the conclusion holdeth good Non occîdes non alterum ergo nec te Nec enim qui se occîdit altum quà m hominem occîdit Thou shalt not kill no other man therefore not thy selfe for he that killeth himselfe killeth no other but a man I will require your bloud saith the Lord at the handes of beastes at the handes of man himselfe at the handes of every brother will I require it Will hee require bloud at the handes of beastes in whome there is no vnderstanding and at the handes of every brother which coniunction of brotherhood is the effectuall cause why we should spare one the others life and will hee be slacke to require it at thine owne handes vvho art nearer to thy selfe than thy brother is Tho. Aquinas giveth three reasons to condemne the vnlawfulnes of these bloudy designments 1. They are evill in nature because repugnant to that charity wherewith a man should loue himselfe And death wee all know is an enemy in natuâ—e and life is a blessing of God in the fifth commaundement 2. Each man is a part of the communion and fellowship of mankinde and therfore he doth iniury to the common wealth that taketh away a subiect and member thereof 3. Life is the gift of God and to his onely power subdued who hath saide I kill and I giue life Therefore Ierome writing to Marcell of Blesillaes death in the person of God abandoneth such soules Non recipio tales animas quae me nolente exierunt è corpore I receiue not such soules which against my will haue gone out of their bodies And he calleth the Philosophers that so dyed Martyres stultae philosophiae Martyrs of foolish philosophy There were two vile kindes of deathes wherewith of olde it seemeth they were wont to finish their vnhappy daies Laqueus praecipitium either they hung themselues or brake their neckes from some steepe place Petilian an enemy to the catholicke church had thus reproachfully spoken against the sound belevers The traitour Iudas died by an halter and the halter he bequeathed to such as himselfe was meaning the orthodoxe Christians No saith Augustine this belongeth not to vs for we doe not honour those by the name of Martyres who halter their ovvne neckes Howe much more doe we say against you that the Devill the maister of that traitour woulde haue perswaded Christ to haue fallen dovvne from the pinnacle of the temple and tooke repulse then what are they to be tearmed whome hee hath both counsailed so to doe and prevailed with truely what else but the enemies of Christ the friendes of the Devill the disciples of the seducer fellowe disciples with the traitour for both from one maister haue learned voluntary deathes the one by strangling himselfe the other by falling downe headlong The same father bringeth these murtherers into streightes and holdeth them in so closely on both sides that there is no escapinge from them When thou killest thy selfe either thou killest an innocente whereby thou becommest guiltye of innocente bloud or an offendour which is as vnlawefull to doe because thou art neither thine owne Iudge and thou cuttest of space of repentance Iudas vvhen hee slewe himselfe hee slewe a vvicked man notvvithstanding hee is culpable both for the bloude of Christ and for his owne bloude because though for his wickednesse yet was hee slaine by an other wickednesse Some haue offered themselues vnto these voluntarie deathes to leaue a testimony of courage and vndaunted resolution behinde them of whome Saint Augustine speaketh Perhappes they are to bee admired for stoutnesse of minde but not to bee commended for soundnesse of wisedome Albeit if reason may be iudge wee cannot rightly call it magnanimity for it is a far greater minde which can rather endure than eschew a miserable life I am sure the Patriarchs the Prophets the Apostles never did thus and though they were pâ—nched in their reines and their soules heavy vnto the death as Christes was insomuch that they cried out take my life from mee my soule chooseth to be strangled oh that my spirit were stifled within my bones and wretch that I am who shall deliver me yet they never paide their debte of nature till their creditour called vpon them which time they would never haue staied if in a moment of an houre the service of their owne handes might iustly haue released them Cleombrotus Ambraciote having red Plato his bookes of the immortality of the soule threw himselfe headlong from a wall and brake his necke that he might the sooner attaine to immortality He had another reason than the former It was rather a great then a good act Plato woulde haue done so himselfe or at least haue advised it but that in that learning wherwith hee sawe the immortality of the soule hee also sawe such meanes to attaine it vtterly vnlawfull Some to avoide a mischiefe to come haue fallen into the greatest mischiefe As virgins and honest matrones in a time of warre to avoide the rapes and constuprations of enemies In two wordes doe they consent to that filthines or doe they not consent if they consent not let them liue because they are innocent Non inquinatur corpus nisi de consensu mentis The body is not defiled but when the minde agreeth If they consent yet let them liue too that they may repent it Whether is better adultery to come yet not certaine or a certaine murther presently wrought Is it not better to commit an offence which may be healed by repentaunce than such a sin wherein no place is lefte for contrition O rather let them liue who sinne that they may recover themselues before they goâ— hence and bee no more seene It is a reason sufficient to raze the history of the Machabees out of the canon of the scriptures that the
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
death is I cannot bee daunted by the malignitye of anye disease VVherefore as Christ admonished the church of Thyatira so I in the name of Christ exhort you that vvhich you haue alreadye holde fast till hee come Let not your hope and consolations in the mercies of GOD bee taken from you let others for their pleasure and for want of better groundes because they leane vpon a staffe of reede masses merites indulgences the like make shipwracke of this sweete article and bee carued away as the windes and seaes of their owne opinions shall driue them till they finde some other haven to rest in But shall ever raigne and beare the scepter in our consciences as an article of that price without the which our liues are not deare vnto vs· The sunne may bee vnder a cloude at times but feare not it vvill shine againe the may fire be buried vnder ashes but it vvill breake forth the arke may bee taken by the Philistines but it shall bee restored to Israell and these heavenlye perswasions may sometimes bee assaulted and battered but they shall eftsoones returne vnto vs. I dare affirme that there was never elect soule vpon the earth redeemed by the bloud and sanctified by the spirit of God but hath drunke largelye of these comfortes wherof I speake and then their largest draught when they haue most thirsted after it that howsoever their life hath beene tempered of good bad daies and good againe as those that are helde with agues of honour and dishonour health and sicknesse warre and peace ioy and heavinesse yet the betrer of these two conditions hath ever had the later and the vpper hand and to haue ended their liues I say not in their beddes but vnder a showre of stones as Steven did or by the sworde of a tyrant or amongst the teeth of wilde beastes hath beene no more vnto them than if a ripe figge had beene pluckte from the tree which it grewe vpon For they haue gone avvaye with a sentence of peace in their lippes as the doue came backe to the arke with an oliue branch Christ is my life death mine advantage Thus much of the Phrase who knoweth if God will returne The matter which they hope for in a worde and to conclude is the mercy of God In the explication whereof they vse an order of wordes 1. that God must returne as if hee were nowe absente and had withdrawen himselfe from them 2. that God must repent not by changing his minde but by callinge in the decree vvhich vvas gone forth 3. that the furie of his wrath must be pacified Lastly to this ende that destruction may bee averted from them as much as to say if God vouchsafe not his presence vnto vs or if hee holde his former intendment or if the heate of his fierce wrath be not quenched wee are sure to perish And so it fareth vvith vs all that except the Lorde doe illighten vs with his favourable and gracious countenance except hee apply himselfe with his whole heart and with all his soule as it is in Ieremy to doe vs good and vnlesse the fire of his anger bee drowned in the bowelles of compassion and his rage burning downe to hell bee swallowed vp into pitty aboue the cloudes what else can follow but the wracke of our bodyes and soules the eversion of our houses and families and vtter desolation to townes citties and entire countries Therefore let vs beseech God that hee ever vouchsafe to dwell with vs as he sometimes dwelt in the bush to change his cursing into blessings to quench his deserved wrath kindled like a whole river of brimstone with his streames of grace that it may bee well with vs and our children our whole land and our last end may be that which is the end and conclusion of the kings edict that wee perish not THE XXXIX LECTVRE Chap. 3. vers 10. And God saw their workes that they turned from their evill waies THE grounde which the people of Niniveh tooke for repentance was faith which although it appeareth by their manner of speech having scruple vncerteinty in it to have beene an vnperfect faith not throughly strengthned and fighting as yet against the horrour of their owne sinnes and terrour of Gods iudgements yet an vnperfect faith is faith more or lesse and the best that ever were have not escaped such distractions and disquietinges of their soules and when they have wrastled a time against the adversarye powers they have returned with the victory and have set vp their banners of triumph in the name and vertue of the Lord of hostes their foundations are in the holy hilles not in the vallies of their owne infirmities for then they must despaire but in the might and mercye of almightye God which stande for ever The matter of their faith consisting of foure members three of them appertaining to God his returne repentance and leaving of his fierce wrath the fourth and last to themselves I went over in hast and will briefly repeate vnto you 1. They beleeved that God might returne and vouchsafe them his presence and company againe taken from the manner of men who in their anger and displeasure forsake the verye place where their eye-sore lyeth and being reconciled vse it for an argument of their revived frendshippe to returne to those houses which they had forsaken So saith God Ose◠5. I vvill goe and returne to my place till they acknowledge their faultes and seeke mee In their affliction they will seeke mee diligently and say come let vs returne vnto the Lorde So they depart from God and God from them They withdraw their obedience hee his blessinges and although he bee in the middest of them nearer than their flesh to their spirites yet by any demonstration of love they cannot perceave his presence God was ever in Niniveh no doubt by his essence his power his overlooking providence for in him they lived mooved and alvvaies had their being but hee vvas not in Niniveh by grace by the guiding and goverment of his holy spirit neither by speciall favour assistance hee had fotsaken their citty and consciences as thorny vnprofitable ground fitter for idols and abominations than for himselfe to dwell in 2. They beleeved that God might repent which is also borrowed from the affections of men whose māner is to be sory in their harts for their former displeasure conceived and to wish it had never bin and asmuch as possible they may to revoke vvhatsoever in the heat thereof they had determined The 3. is consequent to the former for if he returne and repent his anger must needes bee remooved Al these motions either of the body in going from place to place or of the soule in altering her passions are attributed vnto vs truly but vnto God in no other māner than may stand with the nature and honour of his vnmooueable maiesty Now lastly where God is departed and
deliveraunce of Niniveh whither revealed and by a propheticall spirite discovered before the tearme of 40. daies or to the expiration of them differred I cannot say 2. The reprehension rebuke which God vseth against him for that affection both by speech doest thou well to bee angry and by fact in confuting him by a reall similitude of a gourde soone sprunge vp as easily withered And as Ionas repeateth his impatience so God walketh with an even pace by him repeateth his reproofes 3. The conclusion or scope which God referred himselfe vnto Not the forbearing of the city which was already past but the iustification of his goodnes therein For first he did it of fact as they say and then defended the right of it The affection of Ionas is generally recited in the first verse and more particularly displaied in the rest touching his speech gesture carriage of himselfe in all pointes So it displeased Ionas exceedingly What displeased him Turne backe your eies to the epilogue of the former Chapter God repented him of the evill he did it not This is it that so much disquieteth Ionas that seemeth so evill very evill as the Hebrew hath in his vnmercifull eies rather this was evill very evill in the heart of Ionas For why is Ionas so exceedingly displeased that God hath spared Niniveh It had beene fault enough in Ionas not to haue blessed and embraced the mercy of God towards Niniveh to haue given testimony vnto it But to go so far from renowming it that he condeÌ„neth it in his iudgement so far in condeÌ„ning it that he is grieved at the heart and so far in grieving that he holdeth no measure stint therein but doeth exceedingly vexe himselfe this was a sore offence Had Ionas receaved mercy himselfe and doth Ionas envy mercy to others Did hee know by experience in his owne person what it was to be driven froÌ„ the land of the living to bee cast into the mouth of destruction to loose the favour of God and hath he no sparkle of charity lefte no graine of compassion to weigh with himselfe the destruction of this great citty Avexation saith Basâ—l without all reason Vnhappy man why art thou troubled so having felt no harme I would rather haue thought if neede had beene that Ionas would haue stood for Niniveh being a prophet and so lately plucked from the fire himselfe as Abraham did for Sodome If there shal be ten righteous men found in Niniveh destroy it not For what els is the ioy crowne of a Prophet Apostle any messenger of Christ in this service emploide but the winning saving of soules converting men vnto righteousnes translatinge them from darkenes into light a blessing froÌ„ God vpon his labours an encrease vpon the seede he hath sowen which others would speÌ„d their daies consume their bodies ieopard their liues to obtaine when Ionas obtained it with ease in the compasse of a short time The parable of the Lord the labourers which wrought in the vineyard thus far accordeth to Ionas Take that which thine is I doe thee no wrong is it not lawfull for me to doe with mine owne as it pleaseth me Is thine eie evill because I am good I will giue to this last as much as to the first to this least as much as to the greatest to a Gentile as much as to an Israelite to Niniveh as much as to thy selfe You see the nature of envy the honour prosperity wealth and whatsoever is good in an other sometimes life it selfe it repineth at fruitfull encrease full vdders in the fields and beastes of any man it pineth with 't filleth men to the eies and in the eies it sitteth and by those windowes looketh forth and whersoever it seeth a blessing it is sicknes and death vnto it if God curse it not And it is true that Basile noteth of envie A Scythian seldome maliceth an Aegyptian They spend their despight for the most part within the same countrey same kinred same professioÌ„ same benefite as Ionas envieth Niniveh for communicatinge vvith him in the mercy of the Lord. According to that vvisedome vvhich God gaue to man to call thinges by their right names so is the name of envy either because it will not see at all that which in the blessinges of God is to be seene or because it prieth too deepe into them It was the first vemine which the devill powred forth against mankinde Hince perijt primus per didit By this he first perished himselfe destroied others What els was the cause that Caine lifted vp his hande against his brother Abell robbed himselfe almost of his onely comforte in that new-borne vvorld But that the gifte of his brother was accepted to God his owne reiected vpon this he was very wroth his countenaÌ„ce fell downe as not able to endure the sight of his brother his anger was not satisfied with bloud Did the brethreÌ„ of Ioseph go home to their old father Iacob and bring him into an errour that a vvicked beast had devoured the childe and that Ioseph was surely torne in pieces A wicked beast had devoured him indeede and Ioseph was torne in pieces by the envie of his brethren Israell looved Ioseph more than all his other sonnes therefore they hated him and could not speake peaceably vnto him And Ioseph dreamed a dreame and tolde it to his brethren therefore they hated him so much the more This vvas the wicked beast that cast him into the pit where their meaning was to haue sterved him to death and to haue kept his bloud secret as appeareth by the speech of Iudah and but that Reuben perswaded the contrary with their owne handes they had taken his life from him Because the women sange in the streetes Saul hath slaine his thousande David his ten thousande therefore was Saule exceedinglie vvroth and it is saide that Saule had an eie to David from that day forwarde It was a venemous mischievous eie such as the burning eies of witches or the Basiliske or Gorgon that he cast towardes him The elder brother Luke 15. when he heard melodie and dauncing in his fathers house and knevve what it ment and that his father had killed the fat calfe to welcome home his lost sonne he was angry at the matter and woulde not goe in but that his father went out and entreated him He omitted no argument of exprobration his service for many yeares without breach of any commaundement and not the gifte of a kid by vvay of recompence he saith not wastfully to spend but to make merry amongest his friendes when the other that had devoured his goodes with harlots must be entertained with the fat calfe Examine the reason why innocency it selfe was hunted and followed to death with crucifie him crucifie him he is not worthy to liue and Barrabas set at liberty and let Pilate be the
and the like so vvhen the soule is taken from the body either of man or beast there remaineth but a carkas Therefore the Apostle calleth death the dissolution or pulling downe of our earthly house Peter the deposition or laying along of a tabernacle And our saviour bade the Iewes speaking of his bodilie death Destroie this temple and in three daies I vvill reare it vp againe There are many phrases throughout the scripture abroad wherby the terrour of death is lenified and tempered vnto vs and the very nature thereof wholy changed For whereas the nature of death is to kil and to spoile the being of living things by these we may gather that touching the elect death it selfe is slaine and deprived of it owne being God telleth Abraham Gen. 15. that his seed should be a stranger in a land that was not theirs but himselfe shoulde goe to his fathers in peace What is that shall hee travaile againe as hee did to Chanaan or Egypt no but hee shall bee buried in a good age not prevented by vmtimely death nor carried into captivity but laide in the graue amongst his auncient friendes and acquaintance A thing vvhich a man vvoulde desire with much suite if hee were held from it To Moses his servant hee altereth the phrase For Numb 27. hee shall bee gathered to his people as one that were scattered and straied from the rest of the flocke and Deut. 31. he must sleepe vvith his fathers and take a comfortable rest wiâ—h others that haue laboured in their times David beginning as it vvere vvhere Moses leaveth calleth it the rest of the flesh in hope Psalme the sixteenth Esay addeth the place and noteth where that rest shall bee They shall enter into their chambers and shutte the dores vnto them and hide themselues for a time But in the fifty and seventh of his prophecie more perfitely speaking of the deliverance of the righteous they rest in their beddes So first they go to their fathers as men left behinde to the company of strangers after their going they are gathered vnto them that as there vvas but one folde of the living so there may bee but one folde and condition of the deade after their gathering vnto them they sleepe and take their rest the visions of their heades not making them afraide nor breaking their quiet as in their life time not vpon a stone as Iacob did nor in the tent of an enemy as Sisera but in their chambers and vpon their beddes the dores beeing close about them and their bones delivered from former disturbances But all these concerne the bodie alone The sweetest and ioyfullest of them all I meane to the Lordes inheritance is the surrendring of the soule into the LORDES custodie and protection and the resigning vp of the spirit to him that is the LORDE of the spirite of all flesh Numbers the sixteenth So was the praier or rather bequest of David Psalme 31. leaving his crowne to Salomon his body to wormes and rottennesse or to their lodging in darkenesse as Iob called it Lorde into thy handes I lay downe or pavvne my spirite And CHRIST of the seede of David commended his spirite to none other keeper nor in other tearmes And that you may know how vniforme like it selfe the Spirit of God is the blessed Apostle keepeth the same stile 2. Tim. 1. These things I suffer but I am not ashamed for I know whom I haue trusted I am perswaded that he is able to keepe my pledge that I haue coÌ„mitted vnto him against that day To those that must die more surely than they liue for Iosuah calleth it the way custoÌ„e of the whole earth can there be a greater coÌ„fort than this that when the dust shall returne to the earth as it was yet in fulnesse of time to be formed into a new Adam as that first originall dust the spirit returneth to God that gaue it that we may as boldly go to our maker as ever Paul weÌ„t to Carpus at Troas to leaue his cloke bookes parchments in his handes so we to commend the richest iewels we haue vnto his fidelity to say with his holy martyr Lord Iesu receaue our spirtes But to cease from farther discussion of the phrase wee may a little enquire whither it were lawfulll for Ionas to wishe for death Many I graunt oppressed with misery and not able or willing to beare their crosse doe little lesâ—e than call to mountaines and rockes to fall vpon them and to end their wretched daies I am sure they complaine that light shoulde bee giuen vnto those men whome God hath hedged in and they reioyce for gladnes when they can finde the graue For then they say wee shoulde haue lien and beene in quiet vvee shoulde haue slept then and beene at rest As if they had beene borne with any other coÌ„dition theÌ„ to walke a pilgrimage of few evill daies or as if the evill day which the Apostle warneth vs of were not the whole course of our life partely through him who is principally evill breathing out his malice against vs partly through evill men infesting and disturbing our peace but rather through the evill of sinne procuring wrath and the evill of adversity ensuing thervpon In consideration of which troubles of life it was that Simonides being asked as Iacob was by Pharaoh how long he had lived made answere but a little though many yeares For if wee remember how much of our better and vitall life goeth away in agues and feeblenesse and other the like annoiances we may seeme perhappes olde men and are indeede but children It was a worthy aunswere that Artabanus gaue to Xerexes the mighty Emperour of Persia when viewing his huge army of at least a thousand thousand men drinking whole rivers dry as they vvent and commaundinge both hilles and seas to giue vvay vnto them hee vvepte because it came to his minde that vvithin the space of an hundreth yeares not one of that goodlye companye shoulde bee founde aliue I vvoulde that vvere the vvorst saith hee For vvee endure much more sorrowe by retayning life Neither is there any one of these nor of all men living besides so happye vpon the earth that hee doth not once and often cast in his minde how much more pleasure there were in dyinge than in living As our life is replenished with all kinde of misery so death by nature is an enemy to life which both man and beast flye from All thinges desire being And God never created death amongst his good workes It came partlye through the envye of the devill vvho lied vnto man saying yee shall not die partely through the transgression of Adam and partlye through the anger of God rendring the right stipend due to sinne VVherefore hee threatned it as a punishment Genesis the second The day vvherein thou shalt eate of the forbiedden fruite thou shalt dye the death Afterwardes vvhen
of iudgemente But order is taken against such offenders that because they feare not death they should feare somethinge after death So saide the Poet who saw no further into these things than the glasse of nature gaue him light They that haue wrought themselues a causeles death And hating light aboue throwne out their breath How would they ioy to be aliue againe Though put to penury and bitter'st paine And mee thinketh the reason of that law to debarre them from honest buriall can never be disproved Qui sibijpsi non parcit quomodo parcet alijs Hee that spareth not his owne person hâ—vve will hee spare other men There is but one example in the whole booke of God wherein there is any colour of patronage for this prodigious and treacherour sinne against their owne bodies The example of Sampson burying himselfe and the Philistines vvith the fall of an house vvhich is not otherwise excused by â—â—â—ustine but that a secret spirit vvilled him so to doe For it appeareth in the booke of Iudges where the history is written that his strength vvas renewed and hee called vpon the Lorde at the instante of his death And in the eleventh to the Hebrewes hee is well reported of in that cloude of righteous men by the spirite of God I haue helde you longe in disputing this question vvhich manye a one hath disputed to himselfe vvithout replie vvhen the malignaunt spirite hath once but vvhispered it into his cares easilie drawne to make a conclusion againste bodye and soule vvithout longer deliberation Such haue beene the direfull tragoedies which ofte haue beene presented vpon the face of the â—arth carrying alwaies a note of a most distrustfull minde either suspecting it selfe that it is vnable to beare the burthens of calamitye imminent or hating and abhorring it selfe for some iniquity committed Now what shall wee thinke the affection of Ionas was in this case giving and not lesse then thrusting vpon them full power of his person Take mee and cast mee into the sea Iudas we knowe vpon the stinge of his guilty conscience hunge himselfe vpon an alder-tree and burst in the middest Achitophell did the like because his counselles were defeated Saul fell vpon his sworde that hee might not come into the handes of the Philistines Domitius Nero fearing the approch of Galba and hearing that a sentence of the Senate was passed against him to stande in the pillorie and to be beaten with roddes to death for his outragious both tyrannies and impurities of life finding no man to strike him and exclaming against them all vvhat haue I neither friende nor foe I haue lived dishonourably let mee dye shamefullye strake himselfe through with his owne sworde his trembling hand directed thereunto by a beastlye Eunuch Others through other impatience angry with heauen and earth GOD and man haue desperately departed with Aiax in the tragoedie It doeth mee good to haue vanquished heaven the GODS the lightening the sea all oppositions Thus in effecte did Cato triumph Nihil egistâ— fortuna fortune thou haste not sped Thus mighte Ionas cast with himselfe Is there a God in heaven windes in the aire and waues in the sea that crosse my intent I wil haue my will though I die for it Sic sic iuvat ire sub vmbras So even so it easeth my stomacke to take my leaue of this life But never shall it enter into my heart thus to conceiue of a righteous and repentaunt prophet who ratâ—â—â—â—umbleth his soule vnder the handes of GOD framinge these of the like perswasions to himselfe I see the purpose of the most High cannot bee chaunged I kicke against the prickes heauen hath proclaimed mee a traitour the windes and the seas haue hearde it and whiles there is breath in the one and water in the other I shall not goe vnpunished the worde of the Lorde is good that hee hath spoken the wisedome of the Lorde is vviser than the foolishnesse of men and the strength of the Lord stronger than the weakenesse of man the Lorde doe that that is good in his sight Cast mee therefore into the sea throw mee into the mouth of iustice let the hunger and thirst of it bee satisfied for I haue deserved no lesse Surelye there is not a vvoorde in this vvhole speech but full of vertuous charitable and mysticall obedience Wee are nowe come to the ende of his resolution VVherein wee haue two thinges to beare away first his charity to his companions vvherewith hee tendered the safegarde of their liues secondly the figure hee bare For hee vvas a type of that vndefiled Lambe by whome the nations of the worlde shoulde be redeemed His charity appeareth in plaine tearmes that the sea may bee calme vnto you It is no pleasure vnto him to haue the liues of others brought in question for his sake hee is not of the nature of some men neither profitable in their life time and at their deathes of most vngratious desolatory hatefull affections who make it their ease and comforte in some sorte to haue their miseries accompanied and so they bee not alone in destruction they are lesse grieved The Poets expresse the vncompassionate style of these Catilinarie dispositions When I am deade saieth one of them let the earth bee mixed with fire Medaea cryeth in the tragoedy It were the onely felicitie to see all thinges ruinated when I goe my selfe Domitius Nero of whome I spake before caused Rome to bee fired in twelue places togitheir that hee mighte see a patterne howe Troye burnte himselfe the meane while singing verses out of Homer VVhat were their prizes and combates in the theatre of Rome but the slaughteringes of men to mooue pleasure and delight When the people desired Theodosius the Emperour to graunt them those sportes hee aunswered them A milde prince must temper himselfe both from cruell governemente and from cruell spectacles The same matter falling into debate at Athens Demonax gaue iudgemente that if they vvill publickely receaue so greate atrociâ—ye and cruelty amongest them they should first overthrowe the altar of mercy His meaning was that mercy hath no place vvhere there is admission of such heathenish cruelties Cyprian in his seconde booke of Epistles making mention of this custome sheweth their manner thereof that their bodyes were fedde before hande and dieted with stronge meates to fill them with iuice and bloude that beeing fatted to punishment they mighte dye vvith more coste it may bee glorie but with lesse contentation Hee much inveigheth against it that man shoulde bee killed to delighte man and that an arte science or skill thereof shoulde bee practised not onelye vvickednesse vvroughte but taughte by precept They had a custome besides to enter combate vvith wilde beastes men of a sound age lustie able vvell-favoured persons vvell apparelled wente to a voluntary death and fought with the beastes not for any offence committed but in a mad moode And as the actours
reioine to the sonne of GOD when hee instructed him in the greatest and the next commandements Well maister thou hast said the trueth that there is one God and there is none but he and to love him with all the heart c. and his neighbour as himselfe is more then all burnt offerings and sacrifices And so farre is it of that the slaying of vnreasonable beastes were they in number equall to those millions of bullocks and sheep which Salomon offered at the dedication of the temple and adding a millian of rivers of oile to glad the altars of GOD shall bee acceptable vnto him that the giving of our first-borne for our transgression and the fruit of our bodies for the sinne of our soules shal bee an vnfruitfull present without serious hearty obedience to his counselles Hee that shewed thee O man what is good and what he requireth of thee Surely to doe iustlie and to loue mercy to humble thy selfe and to walke with thy God The ends of the Iewish sacrifices if I mistake not were these First to acknowledge therein that death is the stipende of sinne which though it were due to him those that sacrificed yet was it translated laid vpon the beast that offended not Secondly to figure before hand the killing of the lambe of God which all the faithfull expected Thirdly to testifie the submissioÌ„ of the hart which in these visible samplers shone as a light before the whole world So spoiling the sacrifice of the last of these endes they make it in manner a lying signe leaue it as voide of life breath as the beastes which they immolate The Poet complaineth in his satyre of the costlines vsed in their churches asketh the priests what gold did there willing theÌ„ rather to bring that which Messalas vngratious son froÌ„ all his superfluities could not bring to wit iustice piety holy cogitations an honest hart Grant me but these saith he I will sacrifice with salt and meale only It agreeth with the answer which Iupiter HaÌ„mon gaue to the Athenians enquiring the cause of their often vnprosperous successes in battaile against the Lacedemonians seeing they offered the choicest thinges they could get which their enimies did not The Gods are better pleased with their inwarde supplication lacking ambition than with all your pompe Lactantius handling the true worship of God against the Gentiles giveth them their lesson in few sententious wordes that God desireth not the sacrifice either of a dumbe beast or of death bloudshead but the sacrifice of man and life wherein there is no neede either of garlandes of vervin or of fillets of beastes or of soddes of the earth but such thinges alone as proceede from the inwarde man The alter for such offeringes hee maketh the hearte whereon righteousnesse patience faith innocency chastity abstinence must bee laide and tendered to the Lorde For then is GOD truely worshiped by man when hee taketh the pledges of his hearte and putteth them vpon the altar of God The sacrifices evangelicall which the giver of the newe lawe requireth of vs are a broken spirite obedience to his vvorde love towardes God and man iudgement iustice mercy prayer and praise which are the calves of the lippes almes deedes to the poore for with such sacrifices is the Lord pleased our bodies and soules not to be slaine vpon the altar for it must be a quicke sacrifice not to be macerated and brought vnder even to death for it must be our reasonable service and finally our lives if neede be for the testimony of the trueth All which sacrifices of Christianity without a faithfull heart which is their Iosuah and captaine to goe in and out before them to speake but lightly with Origen in the like case are nutus tantùm opus mutum a bare ceremony and a dumbe shew but I may cal them sorceries of Simon Magus whose heart was not right in the sight of God and not sacrifices but sacrileges with Lactantâ—us robbing God of the better part and as Ieremie named those idle repetitions of the Iewes the temple of the Lord the temple of the Lord this is the temple of the Lord verba mendacij lying wordes so these opera mendacij lying workes so fraudulently handled that if it were possible God himselfe should bee deceived O how hath Sathan filled their harts that they shoulde lie vnto the holy Ghost in making a shewe that they bring the whole price of their possession and lay it downe at the feete of God when they withhelde the dearer part from him They have not â—ied vnto men though that were fault enough but vnto God who will truely require the least vntruthes betweene man and man but falshoods and fallacies committed betweene the porch and the altar within the courtes of his owne house and in the professions of his proper service by casting vp the eies or handes bowing the knee knocking vpon the brest or thigh making sadde the countenaunce mooving the lippes vncovering or hanging dovvne the heade like a bul-rush groveling vpon the earth sighing sobbing praying fasting communicating distributing crying LORDE LORDE seeking to abuse the fleshly eies of men and the fiery eyes of omniscience it selfe hee will right sorely revenge as a dishonour immediately and directly done to his owne sacred person Galienus the Emperour gave this iudgement of one who solde his wife glasse for pearles imposturam fecit passus est hee couzened and was couzened But this for the good of the couzener For vvhen he vvas brought vpon the stage and a Lion expected by the people to have torne him peece-meale a capon was sent vp to assault him The same sentence standeth firme in heaven against the deceitfull marchandizers of true religion vvho offer to the highest emperour clothed vvith essentiall maistye as the other vvith purple and to his spouse the church glasse for pearles copper for golde coales for treasure shewes for substances seeming for being fansie for conscience Imposturam faciunt patientur They mocke and they shal be mocked but in an other kind than the former was for whereas they looke for the thanks and recompence of their forepassed labours loe they are like the dreamer in the Prophet vvho eateth by imagination in the night time and vvhen hee awaketh from sleepe his soule hath nothinge And made vowes The matter of their vowes is as vnceraine as of their sacrifices What it was they promised to the Lorde and by obligation bound themselues to perfourme neither ancient nor recent Iewish nor Christian expositour is able to determine By coniectural presumption they leaue vs to the choice of these foure specialties That either they vowed a voyage to Ierusalem where the latelie receaved Iehovah was best knowne or to beautifie the temple of the Lorde with some rich donaries or to giue almes to the poore or thenceforth to become proselites in the religion of the Iewes and as Ierome explaneth
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
circle to the centre of it is the absolutest patterne of misery that ever sanke into humane invention For as nothing is more direfull and vnsufferable then hell so nothing more fit in the nature of things wherevnto the hugest tribulation may be compared The word in the Hebrew carryeth it selfe indifferently either for hell or the graue for they are both alvvaies craving Bring in and thence they haue their name the graue is never satisfied with the corpses of the dead nor hell with the soules of the damned that descende into it I rather take it to signifie hell in this place one saith because of the horrour an other for the darkenesse some for the depth some for the hugenesse of the belly of the fish· Venter inferni alvus caeti tanti magnitudiniâ— vt instar obtineat inferni The belly of hell is the belly of the fish so large and capable that it may goe insteeede of hell The belly of the fish saith an other alter mihi infernus erat vvas an other hell vnto mee David vseth the same phrase with Ionas the paines of hel compassed mee aboute and the snares of death over-tooke mee But in an other Psalme more distinctly Thou hast delivered my soule from the â—â—thermost hell What did Ionas or David ever descende into that fâ—ery lake to know the torments thereof Or as Pythagoras ghest at the stature and pitch of Hercules by the length of his foote which was but one part of his body so by a taste of bitternesse incident to this present life haue these conceived what sorrow and vexation is reserved to the wicked for times to come Vndoubtedly the griefe of heart hath beene infinite and as much as mortality coulde ever admitte The mournings of Hannah Iob David Ieremy Ierusalem such as his hart must needes bee harder then the stithy which the smith beateth vpon that readeth the catalogues of their woes and is not moved at them But if all those foresaide agonies and as many besides as ever wrunge and wrested the spirite of man since the breath of life was breathed into him were put togither to parte the tormentes of hell among them parte after parte as if they woulde empty the store-houses and breake the streame of it yet hath the hand of hell an vnmeasurable portion behinde to distribute to her children an endelesse patrimony of howling wringing and gnashing which all the forepassed mischiefes and maimes in this life haue skarse beene shadowes and counterfeites of The belly of hell you heare but in a type or figure where the worde is mistaken and abused and broughte from his proper sense though it be fearefull enough and the extremity of paine hath so beguiled and besotted some I speake it with sobriety in the iudgementes of their mindes that they haue thought it very hell indeede yet woe bee to them ten thousande times more and more then can be imagined by any heart as deepe as a floude whome the belly of very hell hath swallowed and closed vp It is not possible to be spoken it is more vnpossible to be endured yet it must bee endured what the terrours and tortures of hell are Take him saith the gospell binde him hande and foote is it no more but so I â—ictor liga manus goe seargeant binde his hands yes cast him into vtter darkenesse outwarde to those inwarde wherein they delighted before blindnesse of minde and vnderstanding outward because the whole man body and soule shal be folded and comprehended therein outward because in extremitie without the limites and borders of any favour of God to bee extended Where neither the lighte of the sunne moone and starres and much lesse the sight of Gods glorious face shal ever shine There shall bee vveeping and gnashing of teeth there is there shal bee no time set It standeth for all aeternity no myriade of yeares shall ever determine it There the eies shall destill like fountaines and the teeth clatter like armed men and all the partes of the body relinquish their natural vses and spend their cursed time in wretchednesse and confusion These are the straightes indeede not like to those vvhich before I mentioned when handes and feete are so bounde body and soule so hampered and snared not with cordes and withes as Sampsons were but vvith the vnexplicable bandes of longe nighte that not a part of either of the two shal haue any power or activity left to gratifie their owner with neither the minde to contemplate more then endlesse infelicity nor the memory to recounte more then auncient and thrice most hatefull sinnes nor the phantasie to present more then fearefull visions nor the eies to behold more then legions of vncleane spirites nor the eares to heare more then the roarings of findes nor the nostrelles to smell more then the smoake of brimstone nor the handes to catch hold of more then flames of fire nor the feete to walke further then their giues and chaines wil giue them leaue Tormentes invented and inflicted by tyrants haue been most hideous the teeth of vvilde beastes hote glowing ovens and fornaces caldrons of boyling oyle fiery brason bulles powning to death in motters rowling in barrels of nailes rosting vpon spittes boaring with angers parting the nailes and fingers-endes with needles nipping the flesh with pinsers racking and rending a sunder the iointes with wilde horses no pittye no remorse taken whilest there was either flesh or bloud or sinew or bone or I say not member but wound in the body to worke vpon But the torments of hell are in greater variety Had I an hundred tongues and mouthes to hold them A voice of iron yet could I not vnfould them and in an other kinde or rather indeede without kind Ibi ordo nullus horror sempiternus where there is no order but everlasting horrour For who can define either by speech or vnderstanding a thing so infinite so monstrously compact of natures most disparate and repugnant an ende not ending a death not dying vnquenchable fire yet a darkenesse withall to accompanie it more palpable then the fogges of AEgypt and blacker then blacknesse it selfe everlastingly burning yet not consuming So much more vnsufferable then any torments of tortours vpon earth as the inventions of devilles can better devise then man and the malice of devilles better put in execution This this is the cup of the deadliest wine that ever was tasted of these these are those deepe graves in the Psalme from whence there is no rising againe This is the fire that goeth not out the worme that never leaveth gnawing in the last of Esaie These are those waters of gall in Ieremy those fearefull thinges wherewith the Lorde shall pleade against the vnrighteous of the earth as he pleaded sometimes against Gog and Magog in Ezechiell pestilence and bloud and sore raine and huge hailestones and fire and brimstone not such as fell vpon the sisters Sodome and Gomorrhe the witnesses wherof for many succeeding
thereof For what vse had he either of his hands to helpe himselfe withall more than Ieroboam had when his hande was withered or of his eies to beholde the light of heaven more than if the eagles of the valley had pickt them out or of his eares to heare any sentence of comforte more than if they had never beene planted The grinders within his head what did they for him vnlesse they ground and whetted themselues His tongue what tasted it excepte his owne spittle He might truly say with the prophet Esay that from the crowne of the heade to the sole of his foote there was no parte that did the duties of it But all those former defectes and impotencies are nothinge to that he nowe speaketh of VVhen my soule fainted within mee For as the soule is of more worth and excellencie than the body so the languishmentes of the soule more grievous and the death of the soule more remedilesse than those of the bodie and therefore as the hazarde exceedeth so the health of the soule is more dearely to bee tendered In the greatest distemperatures and disorders of the body vvhen the bones are smitten asunder and the loynes filled vvith a sore disease when the woundes are putrified and stinke the marrow and moysture quite dryed vp yea though it bee brought and dissolved into the dust of death yet the soule may bee safe and sounde notwithstanding and in farre better case than vvhen shee lived in her house of claie But if the soule bee sicke can the body have any comforte Maie vvee not then inferre vvith him in the comedie My hearte is sicke my raines sicke my splene sicke my liver sicke and all my other partes are out of frame Out of this comparison betweene the body and soule let mee make my perswasion vnto you The men of the world were wâ—nt to say saith Bernarde that hee that keepeth his bodie keepeth a good castell A castell how long to continue this is the errour of worldly men to call their tabernacle which was made to be removed and pulled downe vpon every light occasion a castell VVee say not so but hee that keepeth his bodie keepeth a base dunghill He that had seene the body of righteous Iob vlcerated botched and blained sitting vpon the dunghill woulde he not haue thought that a dunghill had sitten vpon a dunghill But hee that keepeth his soule hee keepeth a good castell indeede borne to eternity hee keepeth a heaven in comparison the sunne and moone and starres whereof are vnderstanding faith and hope with other Christian graces and the Lord of hostes himselfe hath his dwelling therein There is no man so simple no man so vile but taketh this to bee a castell of honor and strength because they beleeue it to be immortall Our saviour manifested this difference both by the ende of his comming in the flesh which was principally for our soules after for our bodies first to take away the sinnes of the worlde which are spirituall diseases then to remooue corporall infirmities and by the behaviour of his owne person amongst vs who though he suffered his body to bee tried with all kindes of ignominious and accursed vexations with spittings whippings buffetings and the bitterest death of the crosse yet was it ever his care to preserue his soule free from staines and corruptions It is not thus with the sonnes of men nowe a daies They neglect the care and culture of their soules but the lustes of the flesh they make provision for with all possible diligence They haue learned from the schoole of Hippocrates the physitian and Epicurus the swine to physicke and diet their bodies but the sicknesse and death of the soule which are their sinnes they never account of till they see they must bee punished O yee sonnes of men foolish and slowe of hearte to conceiue the rightest thinges howe long will yee loue such vanities and seeke after leasing These times are allotted to the soule not to the bodie Nowe is the time of salvation not of pleasure and pastime Let the flesh alone a while more then nature and necessity require let it not bee favoured either in food or rayment or any the like transitorye and fading benefite And vvhen it is vveary of walking vpon the face of the earth let it goe downe in peace and rest in hope till hee that came for your soules before shall also come to raise and reforme it In the fainting of our soules there is a grosse difference betwixte Ionas and vs. His soule fainted vvithin him through paine ours through pleasure and that pleasure the mother and nurse of a worser paine Our fleshe is too insolent against the spirite and keepeth it vnder with a stronge hande Hagar despiseth Sara the servaunt setteth her foote in the necke of her mistresse The flesh is cloathed like the raine-bowe with colours of all sortes wee goe into the bowels of the earth wee goe into the bowelles of the sea as farre and as lowe as ever Ionas went to seeke pearles and the riches of the sea to adorne it VVe forget our selues shamefully in such vnnecessary travaile It is the Queene that shoulde bee cloathed in a vesture of needle vvorke wroughte with diverse colours but the Queene is stripte of her iewels the soule robbed of her ornamentes and rich attire and the body is the theefe that deceiveth it The flesh is daintily fedde with the finest flowre of the wheate and the reddest bloud of the grape wee care not what it costeth the vnworthiest member we haue is deâ—fied and made our God a sinne beyonde the sinne of the Pagans shamefull and beastly idolatry they made them Gods of silver and golde and marble wee of our bellies what is done with the soule the meane time behold shee is pined and famished the breade of life is not bought nor sought for to strengthen her withall shee is kept from the gospell of peace and from the body and bloud that inconsumptible meate of her holy redeemer Shee that was borne from aboue to eate the hidden Manna the foode of Angels and to be nourished with the tree of life whose beginnings call her home againe is lesse regarded than a lumpe of earth O consider that hee vvho looseth the life of a bodie maie finde it againe The time shall come vvhen they that are in the graues shall heare the voice of the sonne of GOD. But the losse of a soule is vnrecoverable If it die in sinne it shall also die in perdition Rather it shall not die for it is not as the soule of the beast that endeth with the bodie O living and ever-living death Let them take heede that haue eares to heare with Their price hath beene once paide vvhich if the riches of Salomon treasures of Ezechias all the silver and golde within the globe of the earth coulde haue satisfied God would willingly haue spared his owne bloude Let them not looke for more Christs
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
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
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
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
Rhodes in the armes of his three sonnes returning victorers from the games of Olympus The highest degree of ioy is that vvhich they call Iubilee described by Gregory thus vvhen an vnspeakeable gladnesse is conâ—eaved in the mind which neither can bee hidde nor speech vttered and although it be not expressed by any proprieties yet it is signified by some kindes of gesture Or when the abundance of the heart is not answered by sufficiency of wordes but he which reioyceth is neither able to rule his ioye nor to fulfill it I thinke the ioy of Ionas was a Iubilee he is so ravished and overcome with the pleasure of the gourd that hee knoweth not hovve to containe himselfe Alas a gourd was not worth thus much if the rule be true that the measure of our ioy should be according to the newes that is brought the cherefulnesse of the minde no more than is the thing which wee reioyce for If Ionas had receaved tydinges of deliverance from the belly of the fish or of redemption from eternall death if a Prophet had sung vnto him as hee did vnto Sion reioyce and bee glad Ionas beholde thy King commeth or Angelles had brought him worde as they did the shephardes beholde we bring thee news of great ioy that shal bee to all people what coulde Ionas more haue done For these and such like are the thinges wherein our greatest ioy should bee placed and there can bee no intemperancy of reioycing where these are affected So witnessed one Apostle God forbid that I should reioyce in any thing but in the crosse of Christ and the other agreeth vnto him in whome though you see him not yet doe you beleeue and reioyce with ioy vnspeakable and glorious For that is the true and principall ioy which is conceaved not from the creature but from the Creator which when thou hast receaved no man can take from thee wherewith compare what pleasure soever it is griefe all sweete is sowre vnto it and there is nothing that may delight but seemeth troublesome and offensiue There are many that say who will shew vs any good they are auÌ„swered by the prophet in one word Lorde lift thou vp the light of thy countenance vpon vs open but our eies that they may beholde thy merices For thou hast given mee more ioy of heart by the light of thy face than wordlinges haue felt when their wheate and their wine hath most abounded And therefore blessed is the man whose strength is in thee whose heart is in thy waies who going through the vale of this worlde make welles therin that is vse such commodities as this valley of teares affordeth them to relieue their present wantes but stay themselues vppon the hope and expectation of better thinges to come The Scripture doth everye where call vs to higher pleasures so doth wisedome Prov. 8. vvith mee are dureable riches the riches of this worlde are uariable So doth Esay in the 55. of his prophecie vvhy lay you out your money and not for bread but bestow it vpon akorns and branne that cannot feede So doth the sonne of God Mat. 6. Lay vp treasures for your selues in heaven And Ioh. â— labour not for the meate vvhich perisheth but for the meate which endureth vnto everlasting life So likewise hee adviseth the Church of Laodicaea Revel 3. I counsaile thee to buy golde of mee that thou maiest bee made rich and white rayment that thou mayest bee clothed and that thy filthinesse appeare not As for the mutable and transitorye either pleasures or profittes of this life which are ever comming going it shal bee good for a man so to loue them as that he may find in his heart to leaue them vvhen neede requireth And as Fabricius told Pyrrhus who one day tempted him with golde another day terrified him with an Elephant which hee had never seene before yesterday I was not mooved with thy money nor to day with thy beast so whether wee were tempted with the gaine or terrifiâ—d with the losse of these wordly commodities wee doe not trouble ouâ— selues either way because they vvere given vs but for vse and not everlastingly to enioy No man knoweth either loue or hatred by all that is before him for all thinges come alike to all the same condition I meane in these outward things is both to the iust and the wicked And therefore happy are wee if therein we can compose our selues to that indifferent resolution that David had when hee fled from Absalon his sonne touching his comming or not comming backe againe to Ierusalem to take his former comforts behold here am I let him do to me as it seemeth good in his eies But God prepared a worme when the morning rose the next day and it smoâ—e the gourd that it withered The pleasure of Ionas is quite dasht hee litâ—le thought of so speedie an alteration who seemed to say in his heart not longe before I shall never bee grieved but the Lorde hath given and the Lorde hath taken away and he that hath power over the blessings hath power also over the plagues Rev. 6 And as every good gift commeth downe from aboue so there is not an evil in the cittie nor in the world that the Lord doth not And his provideÌ„ce is as mightie in vsing rhe service of a worme as of Leviathan I neede not trouble you either with the author whome I haue often mentioned before or with his manner of working for hee doth not onely create al thinges but hee ordereth and fitteth them in such sorte that they are readie at all times to worke his will There is nothing sodaine or new or vnprovided vnto him but all his creatures both greate and small as if they watched their turnes stand forth to giue their attendance The instrument that God vseth to afflict Ionas with is very vile coÌ„teÌ„ptible he that could haue sent a wind to haue turned thâ— gourd vpside down or lightning to haue blasted it or an whole army of wormes caterpillers to haue devoured it or withered it with his word as Christ did the figtree never beare leaues henceforth prepareth a worme but one worme to execute that busines The scripture no where speaketh of wormes but with a kinde of coÌ„teÌ„pt as of a base and silly creature as Psa. 22. but I am a worme no maÌ„ the reproach of meÌ„ the scorne of people where the later expouÌ„deth the former Esay 41. feare not worme Iacob though thou art the least amoÌ„gst the nations al the people of the earth set themselues against thee The Hebrewes haue an opinion that enchaÌ„ters cannot shew their skill in litle things if they be lesse they say thaÌ„ a barly corne therefore the sorcerers of Egypt failed in producing lyce But our God is as cunning and artificial in the smallest creature of the world as in the greatest the organical