Linguistic DNA - Concept Modelling Demonstrator

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	body_n	punishment_n	soul_n	5,532	5	5.2858	4	false

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A16485	An exposition vpon the prophet Ionah Contained in certaine sermons, preached in S. Maries church in Oxford. By George Abbot professor of diuinitie, and maister of Vniuersitie Colledge.	Abbot, George, 1562-1633.	1600 (1600)	STC 34; ESTC S100521	556,062	652

wherein they shall heare that sentence and that is in the resurrection There were in former times many figures of that matter euen before the light of the Gospell as when Enoch and Elias were assumed vp into heauen and translated to immortalitie to shew that other after them should haue the same vncorruptnesse although by another change and to make proofe of a life which is elsewhere for our bodies but shall not be reuealed vntill that generall rising In like sort when there were shewed vnto the Prophet Ezechiel great heapes of scattered bones which the Lord yet put together and laid sinewes vpon them and made flesh grow thereon and then couered both with skinne and afterward breathed life into them In Iob is an euident testimonie I am sure that my Redeemer liueth and he shall stand the last on the earth And although after my skinne the wormes destroy this bodie yet shall I see God in my flesh So in the end of Daniel Many of them that sleepe in the dust of the earth shall avvake some to euerlasting life and some to shame and perpetuall contempt But how euident is this in the new Testament When the Sonne of man commeth in his glorie and all the holy Angels with him then shall he sit vpon the throne of his glorie And before him shall be gathered all nations and he shall separate them one from another as a shepheard separateth the sheepe from the goates And in the second to the Corinthians that vve must all appeare before the iudgement seate of Christ that euerie man may receiue the things done in his bodie according as he hath done vvhether it be good or euill But most manifest of all other is that of Iohn in his Reuelation I saw a great white throne and one that sate on it from whose face fled away both the earth and heauen and their place vvas no more found And I saw the dead both great and small stand before God and the bookes vvere opened Then foorthwith And the sea gaue vp her dead which vvere in her and death and hell deliuered vp the dead which vvere in them So oftentimes and so plainely doth God foretell vnto vs this generall resurrection In so much that it is as certaine as that the Lord sitteth in heauen that this shall one day bee 16 As there is in all the faithful an assenting to this doctrine the like might be in very Ethnicks sauing that their eies are closed therfore they caÌ„not see as a sound to a deaf eare is nothing which yet is discerned by another man so the miscreants of all ages belly-gods and beast-like men can in no sort endure it Indeede they haue little reason for that the portion is very small which shall then be allowed vnto them Such were those swinish Epicures falsely termed Philosophers who luxuriating in voluptuousnesse and thinking that to be felicitie to bath themselues in delight did enioy the present with the Asse but vtterly denied the immortalitie of the soule and by a consequent that the bodie shall euer be repaired Like to them was Sardanapalus who had this Epitaph on his graue Drinke and play our life is mortall and our time is short vpon earth but our death is euerlasting if a man once be come to it Pliny the elder was a man most worthy praise for his labours which were inestimable yet that speech of his was impious and vnbeseeming those good partes which were otherwise in Plinie To all men from their last day is the same state as was before their first day neither is there after death any more feeling in the bodie or the soule then was before the birthday Certainely the Saduces were in this beleefe of whom the Euangelist witnesseth that they denied the resurrection And you may put them in this number who in Saint Paules time did vse this by-word Let vs eate and drinke for to morrow we shall dye as intending that in death should be a finall end and we should be no more heard of The persecuting Gentiles were plainely of this opinion of some of whom in Fraunce Eusebius witnesseth that they in scorne of the resurrection which the Christians do beleeue did burne many of the Martyrs and afterward threw their ashes into the riuer Rhodanus with this foolish exprobration Let vs see now if their God be able to reuiue them In a word most of the Pagans in all ages of the world and all Atheists among Christians a thing in our time too well knowne do oppugne this truth beyond measure At whose liues I do not maruell if they be like their profession that is such some few ciuill respects excepted as are fit for those men who feare neither God nor Diuell I could wish that since it must needes be that Gods wrath is oftentimes by these plucked downe vpon our land the sword of the ciuill magistrate would with seueritie prouide some remedie for them that there might not be in Israel a man who should once dare to blaspheme the name of the Lord. I remember it is recorded of the Atheniens that in the respect which they caried to their false and fained Gods they so detested Diagoras for talking against their heathenish religion that he standing in feare of his life was glad to flye the countrie But herewith the other not contented did put foorth a proclamation that whosoeuer it were that would kill that Diagoras should haue an honourable reward that was a talent of siluer for his labour 17 But to leaue these lawes vnto the Christian magistrate and to proceed as a Minister the arguments of all these and a thousand more of that sute are but vanitie of all vanities when they come once to be weighed in the ballaÌ„ce of the Sanctuary and are counterpoised onely with the high Gods omnipotencie For why should we tye his power vnto our foolish wit Suppose that there be dying vpon dying and deuouring vpon deuouring that a man be slaine and his members consumed some by birdes some by beastes some by fishes and imagine that those creatures be taken and eaten againe by men and those men be then burnt and their ashes throwne into the water and if we can go farther let there be as many mutations more what is all this to plunge his abilitie who can do euerie thing whatsoeuer himselfe shall please He can do euery thing and therefore raise this man If nature cannot conceiue it learne to looke a little higher to grace and faith beyond nature Plato an heathen man did much reprooue Anaxagoras because tying himselfe too farre to naturall causes and reasons he omitted to thinke on the efficient cause of all things which is surely God the first moouer This is a monstrous errour of vs also But will we allow that to God the like wherof we do allow vnto men If an image should be made of lead to the proportion of a man and the workman

separated from the bodie and that it commeth to an account and if it haue so deserued suffereth punishment and great torment yea he mentioneth such a iudgement as wherein the good are set on the right hand and the euill on the left as if he had perused the bookes of the sacred Bible The French Prophets those Druides as Pomponius Mela noteth did both beleeue and teach the immortalitie of the soule which was a good inducement to inferre the resurrection For when they held this vndoubtedly that the better part doth not die and by a consequent that the soules of them which had done well for their good life in this place should come vnto felicitie they might haue easily bene perswaded that by a good congruitie the instrument and copartner and sister of the soule I meane this flesh of ours being ioyned in all actions should in vprightnesse of iustice be ioyned in the reward whether it be good or euill 20 How much to blame are the Atheists and Epicures of our time who come not so farre as this but as they depriue our bodies of all future reuiuing so they teach that our soules in nothing are different from the beasts but that in the dissolution the spirit shall be dissolued as well as the exteriour man in which thoughts they shew theÌ„selues to be worse then many Ethnicks They little conceiue the dignity and simplicity of that spirit the single in compoundnesse of that self-moouing soule for so I may well call it in comparison of the flesh For as Chrysostome maketh his argument If the soule can giue such life and beautie vnto the bodie with what a life and fairenesse doth it liue in it selfe And if it can hold together the bodie which is so stinking and so deformed a carcasse as appeareth euidently after death how much more shall it conserue and preserue it selfe in his owne being So pregnant is this reason that an infidell may conceiue it and very well apprehend it but we which are Christian men may remember a farther lesson That our Sauiour hath dyed for vs and payed a price very great his owne most precious bloud For whom or what was this for our body which liueth and dieth and rotteth and neuer returneth againe for our soule which is here this day and too morrow spilt and corrupted How vnworthy were this of him to endure so much for so little Shall we thinke him so vnwise or repute him so vnaduised No he knew that this soule of ours must stand before his throne and this rottennesse must come foorth by a fearefull resurrection And if this should not be so if there should be no accompt no recompence for ill deedes no retribution for the good to what end should men serue the Lord or what difference should there be betweene the iust and the vniust the holy and the profane nay betweene man the best creature that mooueth vpon the ground and the basest and vilest beast which hath little sence and no reason Because it were impiety to think this of our iust Lord that so slenderly he disposeth things let vs with an assured faith conceiue our immortality and the hope of a resurrection 21 As this hath bene deduced from the example of our Prophet by this or the like sort Ionas was in the fishes belly so was Christ in the graue Ionas came forth from thence so did Christ rise againe his rising doth bring our rising his resurrection ours because he was the first fruits of all those that do sleep So to coÌ„clude this doctrine by making vse of it very briefly if this be determined ouer vs the houre shal one day come that all that is in the graue shall arise heare Gods voice neither the mountains nor the rocks can couer vs froÌ„ the presence of the Lambe what ones then how perfect shold we study to be how shold we prepare our selues against that day of reckning that our iudg may acknowledge vs to be his friends his brethren vnspotted vndefiled that so we might not treÌ„ble to see him heare his iudgement But alas how far are we from it indeed froÌ„ thinking of it For as Chrysostome speaketh some do say that they beleeue that there shal be a resurrectioÌ„ a recoÌ„peÌ„ce to come But I listen not to thy words but rather to that which is done euery day For if thou expect the resurrectioÌ„ a recoÌ„pence why art thou so giueÌ„ to the glory of this present life why doest thou daily vexe thy self gathering more mony then the sand I may go a little farther applying it to our time why do we bath our selues in folly as in the water why do we drinke in iniquitie bitternesse in such measure why hunt we after gifts and thirst after rewards why seeke we more to please men then labour to please the Lord Briefly why doth security in inward sort so possesse vs as if with Hyminaeus Philetus we did think the resurrection past Why do we as that man of whome Saint Bernard speaketh that is eate and drinke and sleepe carelesse as if we had now escaped the day of death and iudgement and the very torments of hell So play and laugh and delight as if we had passed the pikes and vvere now in Gods kingdome Who seeth not this to be so although he could wish it to be farre otherwise 22 The remembrance of this accompt should be as a snaffle to vs or as a bridle to keepe vs backward from profanenesse enormitie And in these euils let them take their portioÌ„ who are incredulous and vnbeleeuers of whome it is no maruell that they do hotely embrace them and egerly follow after them For take away an opinion of rising vnto iudgement and all obseruance of pietie falleth presently to the ground and men will striue to be filthie in impietie and in sinne But because we professe Christ Iesus and the hope of immortalitie let vs liue as men that expect it And since that it is appointed that all men shall die once and after it commeth the iudgement and since the day of death is as vncertaine to vs as it euer was to Isaac let vs furnish our selues before hand that with the oyle of faith and of good life in our lampes we may go to meete the bridegroome If Christ as our head be risen from the dead let vs arise from the vanities and follies of this earth which are not worth the comparing with eternitie in the heauens If he as the chiefe of his Church be ascended and gone before let vs who wish to be members wrestle to follow after him Let it be enough that hitherto with Ionas we haue fled from our dutie which we owe to our maker and that we haue lyen not dayes but yeares oft three times and three ouer not in the fishes belly but in the belly of sin And let vs beseech the Lord that since

giuen ouer to heare any thing of my prayers Among the old Romane historians which haue written who was wiser then Cornelius Tacitus men do now study him for policy Yet in the first of his history recounting those great grieuances which befell Rome by the ciuill warres vnder Galba and Vitellius he vseth this desperate speech Neuer by greater slaughters on the Romane people or by more iust iudgements vvas it approoued vnto vs that the Gods do not at all respect our safety and security but to take vengeance on vs they are ready inough Here policy hath forgotten the very first grounds of piety which are patience and humility Liuie a graue writer although otherwise superstitious inough as appeareth by his Prodigia and yearely monsters yet tasteth of these dregs when in his fourth booke he writeth thus Here followeth a yeare which for slaughters and ciuill vprores and famine was very famous Onely forreine warre was vvanting wherewithall if our state had bene laded things could hardly haue bene stayed by the helpe of all the Gods but that they had run to ruine 9. Thus the wisedome of this world is nothing else but foolishnesse nothing but doting folly when it commeth indeed to the crosse or to the fiery triall The knowledge of God is wanting or at least the laying hold aright by faith is wanting And where faith is not to be found there is neither hope nor patience which are two infallible notes of a iust and Christian man There is nothing sayth Saint Cyprian which putteth more difference betweene the iust and the vniust then this that the euill man in his aduersity doth complaine and impatiently blaspheme but the good doth suffer quietly The iust hath trust in his Sauior but the other hath no part in him What maruell then is it if the wicked do fret and rage without comfort since he hath no share in him who is the God of comfort What maruell is it if he perish Plutarch telleth that this is the quality of Tigres that if drums or tabours sound about them they will grow madde and then they teare their owne flesh and rent themselues in peeces If the vnbeleeuing reprobate do heare the noyse of affliction he is ready to rent himselfe but by cursing and by swearing he will teare the body of Christ from top to toe in peeces As Ionas did remember God so the reprobate will not forget him but it is not to pray vnto him not to beleeue vpon him for he harh not so much grace but to ban him and blaspheme him I could wish that such prophanenesse as this might neuer be heard off in earnest or in play in the life or death of any man We should thinke of him with a reuerence we should mind him with a feare in prosperity with a trembling in aduersity with a hope There should be no fretting against his prouidence no grudging against his punishment When my soule did faint within me I remembred the Lord sayth Ionas I remembred him to beseech him I remembred him to intreate him I remembred him to embrace him to trust in him as a deliuerer to beleeue in him as a father I called to him and doubted not and he afterward heard my voyce 10 Saint Hierome doth giue this note vpon this place taking it out of the Septuagint That because he thought vpon the Lord when his soule did faint and he was ready to dye we by his example should aboue all things mind our maker when we are in the fits and pangs of death A very needefull doctrine if any thing may be needefull that when we must dislodge and be remooued hence when our glasse is so farre runne that immediatly a change must follow and that not to a trifle or toye which is to bee contemned but either to heauen or hell either to perpetuall ioy or to euerlasting torment we haue him in our meditations who is to see our iudge who is to scanne our actions and to peruse our conscience and giue the last sentence on vs that then with our best remembrance we thinke vpon his mercy and contemplate on his great loue in the redemption of his sonne and desire him for his blouds sake to take vs into his fauour That this lesson might the better be taught vnto vs Iesus the sonne of God and fore-runner of our faith when he was ready to yeeld vp his spirit did commend his vnspotted soule to his most righteous father Father into thy hands I commend my spirit Good Steuen the eldest martyr did tread these steps right after him when at the time of his death he cried Lord Iesus receiue my spirit And euery Christian man should struggle and striue to do so to shake off as much as may be the heauinesse of his sicknesse and as hauing that one prize that last great prize to play should stirre vp his spirit in him and should then pray to God to comfort him to conduct him vnto heauen to leade him along to glorie It is a good thing to liue well but because death is the vp-shot which maketh or marreth the rest it is the best thing to dye well He who hath begun aright hath halfe that whereat he aimeth but to begin is our hurt it shall bee a witnesse against our conscience vnlesse we do perseuere The man who shall bee blessed must continue to the ende 11 Then may the dangerous state of such be iustly deplored who in their life time haue so fondly doated vpon the world that when death which is Gods baylife doth summon them to appeare before the iudgement seate they do least of all other things know wherewith he should be furnished who commeth there but as before in the time of their health so in their despaired sicknesse do thinke only vpon their Mammon admiring it and embracing it and kissing it in their thought as if they were wedded to it But neither of themselues nor by the instigation of the Minister who is a remembrancer for the Lord can they be any way vrged to speake of celestiall things to call on God for mercy or to professe their faith and confidence in their Sauiour And this wordly imagination first ministreth hope of life they not dreaming that death will take them till on the sudden both body and soule do eternally dye together Next if they do conceiue that it must be so and there is no way with them but the graue then is their heart oppressed with sorrow and a huge waight of griefe that there must be a separation from their beloued treasure And lastly if their memory do serue there must be an vnsetled and vnresolued disposing with disquietnesse and much vexing of that which hath bene ill gotten to this child or to that friend and much stirre there must be about the pompe of a funerall by which meanes all good motions are so stifled and choaked that there is scant one word of him who made all

the wicked vseth to do when some villanie is coÌ„mitted as Iudas was pricked in his heart after his treason practised on our Sauiour wheÌ„ he went out male-coÌ„tented and hanged himselfe in despaire No I hold the reason of it to be another matter as anon I shall shew vnto you This had bene a sinne more fearefull then any that went before For murthering of himselfe whereof he had bene guiltie if for that intent he had spoken it though other mens hands had done it is a sin so grieuous that scaÌ„t any is more hainous vnto the Lord. This sheweth a graund solemne possession which Satan hath in a man a distrust of all Gods loue when a man groweth to the summitie of such malice against himselfe as that naturall affection and the account to be giueÌ„ of all our deedes vpon the earth is quite exiled out of memory A doctrine which I take to be nothing besides the purpose if largely it be discoursed of in the iniquitie of these times wherin wretchednesse hath so fearefully preuailed in some persons and almost daily doth preuaile that they dare to plunge themselues into this pit of terrible destruction 18 Our God in his ten commandements hath set this down for one thou shalt commit no murther He is so precise vpon bloud that he not onely hath sayd at the hand of a man euen at the hand of a mans brother will I require the life of man And who so sheddeth mans bloud by man shall his bloud be shed And yee shall take no recompence for the life of the murtherer which is worthy to dye but he shall be put to death But the verie Oxe that goreth a man or woman that he dye this oxe shall be stoned to death and his flesh shall not be eaten He that slue a man vnwillingly at the wood with an axe flying out of his hand should loose his life for his labour if the pursuer did so follow him as that he ouertooke him before he came to the city of refuge This was to make men the more vigilant that they did no such mischaunces as we commonly do terme them But if it were wilfull murther the offender was to be taken from the very hornes of the altar and slaine as Ioab was serued a man of so noble birth a man of such seruice before These are the lawes which were made concerning the murthering of other men And doth not the law of God and the explication of it by Iesus Christ his sonne originally require of vs that all fit things which we owe to other men should be done by our selues to our selues Thou oughtest to loue thy neighbour but as thou louest thy selfe The example of thy charitie is drawne from thy selfe at home Thy soule thy preseruation the good wished to thy selfe should be the true direction of thy deedes vnto thy neighbour But thou must not lay any bloudy and murthering hands vpon another therefore much lesse on thy selfe 19 God hath placed thee in this world as in a watch or a standing from whence thou must not stirre thy foote till he bid thee to remooue He hath imprinted a most passionate loue betweene thy soule and thy body that they grieue to leaue one another The mind will haue many inuentions the body will beare many stripes before that either from other of them do willingly depart and be dissolued Wise men haue no greater reason of perswasion to induce that the parting with any friend or the loosing of the nearest and dearest must be borne with patience then that a dearer couple the nearest that this world hath that is our soules and our bodies must depart and flye a sunder The affection is so entire the coniunction is so inward which the one of these hath to the other God would haue our natiuitie to be bitter to our mothers that they might loue vs the dearer but he would haue our death to be soure vnto our selues that we might the more feare to hasten it And therfore although the spirite may be willing in any man yet surely the flesh is weake in the laying downe of the life for a good conscience and the Gospell What one is he whome Gods spirite hath not in great measure mortified that feeleth not in himselfe oftentimes an horrour and a quaking to thinke of this dissolution that he who in some sort may yet be called the image of God should become dust and clay that the goodliest of those creatures whome the Almightie hath framed vnder the heauen should prooue a rotten carcasse that he who hath seene the starres and beheld the heauen in his beauty yea hath meditated on the highest and contemplated on the Trinitie should be put into a graue and tumbled into the earth to be amongst worms and vermin in darkenesse and corruption all which a naturall man doth loath he could wish that it might not be Now when our owne hand shall hasten that which nature doth so far hate which our heart doth so dislike which God doth so detest how wicked is our wickednesse 20 Egesippus in his third booke of the destruction of Hierusalem rehearseth a worthy Oration although in some other words then I find it in Iosephus himselfe which Iosephus that great and learned Iewe made to his souldiers in a caue where they lay hid after the losse of the citie Iotapata which Vespasian the Romane Generall tooke There his owne men would take no naye but that they must murther downe one another whereupon he vseth a speech which in my iudgement is most patheticall The Almighty God hath giuen vnto vs our life as a most precious treasure he hath shut it and sealed it vp in this earthen vessell and giuen it vs to be kept till that himself do aske for it againe And were it not a fault now as on the one side to deny it when he shall require it againe so on the other side to spill and cast this treasure forth which was thus committed to vs before he do demaund it And after a few other words he goeth thus forward If we should kill our selues who is he that should admit vs into the company of good soules Shall it not be sayd to vs as once it was sayd to Adam Where art thou so where are yee who contrary to my precept are come where you should not be because I haue not yet loosed you from the bonds of your bodies This is a Christian speech out of the mouth of a Iewe which caryeth such matter with it as is worthy to be reuolued It was not well with Adam when he who should haue bene in the plaine was crept into the bushes his misery then began And without Gods exceeding mercie whereof no man can presume nay great and mightie preiudice is to the contrary it wil be most ill with them who do aduenture vpon such deedes they do rush themselues into torments 21 Let heathen men be famous for

such factes if they will Let Calanus and his wise Indians hate to dye a naturall death but end their dayes by burning themselues in the fire Let the scholers of that Philosopher Egesias Cyrenaicus so far beleeue their maister disputing of the immortality of the soule that to the end that they might be depriued of life and enioy that spoken of immortality they go home and kill themselues Let Vibius Virius in Capua professe that he hath poyson for himselfe and all his friends which is able to free theÌ„ from the Romanes from punishment and from shame and let him drinke and dye Yea let the younger Cato a man held to be admirably wise be a butcher to himselfe rather then endure to see Caesar who was then become a Conquerer Yea let Seneca himselfe try the maner of Cato his death although in another sort after that himself a Philosopher a mirrour of heathen wisedome had so often and so highly commended that deed of Cato that it was not bloud but honour which gushed out of his side Yea let ten thousand more with Dido and Lucretia be recorded in Gentile stories yet all these are no warraÌ„ts for Christians we haue a better maister who hath taught vs a better lesson That aduersity and bitter afflictioÌ„ must be born with patience that we must expect Gods end in misery calamity and not hasten the issue in our selues that true fortitude is in bearing the sorrowes which are assigned allotted out for our portion that to fly from theÌ„ fearefully is cowardise Where is valure but in sustaining the greatest crosses with constancie and where is timiditie but in this to kill thy selfe that thou mayest be freed from that which doth not like thee What daunting force saith S. Austen had those euils which coÌ„strained Cato a wise man as they accounted of him to take that away from himselfe that he was a man whereas men say that truly that it is after a sort the first and greatest speech of nature that a man should be reconciled to himselfe and therefore naturally flye death so be a friend to himselfe as that earnestly he should desire to be a liuing creature and to continue in this coniunction of the body and soule He did not resist and stand strong against his euils but indeede fainted as a coward he sunke vnder his burthen I may conclude of him and of all that do treade his steps with that learned man who wrote the treatise De duplici Martyrio which is commoÌ„ly called Cyprians If we reade that any haue killed themselues valiantly it was either weaknesse which by death did seeke an end of sorrowes or ambition or madnesse So farre in truth are they off from any iust commendation in Christianitie and Diuinitie 22 Nay what if it were held a thing vnlawfull among the very Gentiles See the Poet Virgils iudgement of it When Aeneas came downe to hell as the Poet there doth deuise he seeth in a seuerall and disiunct place such as had made away themselues He maketh their estate to bee so wofull as that gladly they would do any thing to be aliue againe quÃ m vellent aethere in alto Nunc pauperiem duros perferre labores How gladly now would they be content to endure pouertie and take hard paines in the world See the iudgement of Tully concerning this in his Somnium Scipionis When Scipio vpon the tale of his father being growne into admiration of the glorie of men which are dead asked What do I then vpon earth why hasten I not to dye his father maketh him answere with a very diuine speech although he were but a heathen man No son thou mayest not haue any passage hither but when that God whose temple all that thou seest is shall free thee out of this body For men are borne to that purpose and haue soules giuen them to that end to rest themselues on this earth which soules they must keepe safely within the ward of their bodies And they are not to flit from this life without his commaundement least they should seeme to flye that dutye of a man which is assigned them by God I might adde to these the iudgement of Aristotle in his Ethicks where he saith that to kill a mans selfe for the auoyding of infamie or pouertie is not the part of a valiant man but of a coward But I leue these forraine testimonies 23 Some among the Christians haue thought that maydens for sauing and preseruing their virginitie inuiolate might kill themselues An opinion voyde of any shadow of warrant out of Gods word For ought we to do euill that good may come therby Shall we aduenture the greater sinne for the auoyding of a lesse euill Nay is it a fault in a virgin at all that she is defloured by force Was Tamar to be condemned because Amnon did defile her It is consent that maketh iniquitie Tarquinius and Lucretia were two bodies saith Saint Austen but there vvas but one adulterer I adde no more of that matter The Donatistes and furious Circumcellions in old time because they were restrained by the ciuill sword of the Magistrate from the exercise of their heresies and keeping of their Conuenticles would cast themselues from the rockes and breake their neckes by the fall they would drowne and kill themselues Thereupon Theodoret hath a very pretie narration concerning them Many of them on a time met a young man on the way and giuing him a sword commaunded him to wound them and threatned him that if he would not they would kill him for refusing The young man being put vnto his shifts told them that he durst not do it because he had iust cause to feare that wheÌ„ some of theÌ„ should see their fellowes slaine the rest would turne on him for doing it and murther him But if they would first suffer him to bind theÌ„ all fast and sure he would tell theÌ„ another tale They liked well of this motion in their sencelesse stupiditie yeelding to be bound the yong man got good store of rods shrewdly swinged them all so went his wayes and left them They imagined that God did well accept of their murtherings in this or the like kind caried an opinion that now they were become martyrs of Iesus Christ. Gaudentius their Bishop writeth in defence of the deedes of these Donatistes in behalf therof vrgeth the exaÌ„ple of Razias in the Machabees who when he should be slaine in maintenance of the religioÌ„ of the Iewes to saue himself froÌ„ the infidels first ran vpoÌ„ his sword And wheÌ„ that would not serue the turne he threw himselfe from a wall and when all this could not kill him he ranne to the top of a rocke and there plucked out his bowels and threw them among the people That holy man Saint Austen the most iudicious of all the fathers comming to

by that knowledge which he yet retained notwithstanding his fall that this punishment was assigned to him by the Lord. This must be the satisfaction for his great disobedience Now againe his faith reuiueth by which he had some foresight of all Gods purpose ouer him This was peculiar to our Ionas by his Propheticall knowledge and may not be followed by vs. It is not any protection for vs to bid any other throw our selues into the sea 27 Besides this I do not doubt but as Samson was a figure of the Sauiour of the world so Ionas also was although not in euerie matter as once before I haue noted yet in this his drowning here Christ himselfe did expound the lying of the Prophet for three dayes in the whales bellye to be a signe of his owne buriall and lying in the earth The death of the Sauiour was to him a meanes of his buriall so here the casting out of Ionas into the sea by the mariners was the meanes whereby he lay three dayes and three nightes in the bellye of the whale Ionas is willingly drowned here Christ also there dyeth willingly he yeelded vp his Ghost no man could take it from him Ionas alone must suffer to saue the rest of the ship Christ alone did treade the wine-presse and Christ doth dye alone to stay his fathers wrath to saue all his elect You see that he is an excellent type of Iesus Christ the righteous But as it is impossible that comparisons should hold in all things and there is none who in euery matter may be likened vnto Christ because he had no fellowes he cannot be tryed by his peeres so there is this one difference that Ionas when he suffered was alone in all the fault and Iesus in his suffering was onely without all fault because he was that immaculate lambe in whose mouth was found no guile When I first looked into this text which I haue now opened vnto you I did thinke to haue said something farther in or concerning the person of Christ whom our Prophet doth represent I meant to haue mentioned his readinesse to dye that he might redeeme vs sinners and so briefly out of the new Testament to haue giuen some comfort amidst all these threates of Ionas But in handling this last question matter hath growne vpon me and I loue not to be tedious I will therefore deferre that till I come to the fifteenth verse where the like occasion is againe fitly offered vnto me In the meane time let vs meditate on the excellent loue of Christ who would dye so willingly for vs the iust for the vniust to bring vs vnto his kingdome To the attaining whereof he alwayes further vs to whom in the perfection of the Trinitie be glorie and prayse for euermore THE VII LECTVRE The chiefe points 1 The vnwillingnesse of the mariners to put Ionas to death 4 Great slownesse should be vsed in taking away life 6. Against killing of men to offer to Idols 7. and other cruell massacrings 9. As that of the Anabaptistes 14. The force of the sea 16. It is some sinne that maketh many not to prosper 20. God reuengeth innocent bloud 22. Enforcement doth not excuse euill 23. We must yeeld to Gods will Ionah 1.13.14 Neuerthelesse the meÌ„ rowed to bring it to the land but they could not for the sea wrought and was troublous against theÌ„ Wherefore they cried vnto the Lord said We beseech thee Ã´ Lord vve beseech thee let vs not perish for this mans life and lay not vpon vs innocent bloud for thou Ã´ Lord hast done as it pleased thee IOnas being of a Prophet become a sinner of a sinner a prisoner as oft times you haue heard is examined by his companie but condeÌ„ned by himselfe as a grieuous malefactour worthy to be drowned in the sea So much did his sinne crie for vengeance so vehemently did his God make after him But the miserie of his miserie is that since he must needes suffer for otherwise the fault which his owne mouth hath acknowledged cannot be satisfied for he wanteth some man that may do the deed The place is ready and the person who thinketh euerie thought of time to be verie long before the matter be dispatched but there wanteth an executioner He might not do as Saule did fall on his owne sword point himselfe when his harnesse-bearer would not depriue him of his life This had argued too great dispaire But he might wish with Nero that in the course of iustice he might haue some friend or enemie to helpe him vnto his end But among these blustering mariners he could not finde that fauour Although himselfe accuse himselfe and lay his fault plaine before them although windes and waues did confirme it although the lot throwne did assure it although in wordes he did desire to be cast into the water yet those who should haue done it do so ill like of the matter that if sayles or oares can serue they will backe againe to the land rather leaue their intended iourney then vse any violence toward him They rowed to bring the ship backe vnto the land 2 The word which is vsed here comming of Chathar in the Hebrew doth signifie they did digge either because men do thrust into the water with oares as in digging they do with other instruments on the land like as in Latin Poetry the bottome of the ship is sayd to plow the water sulcare to make things like furrows in it or because as men in digging do turn this way and that way stir moue the ground so they stirred vp their wits did beate their brayns and thoughts to free him from the danger For his sake they vsed all such helpes as they had at sea We know that they be not many either sayling by the wind or rowing by the oare tall ships do know the one the galleys goe with the other But as it may be iudged out of the monuments of antiquitie and partly may be seene in some at this day euerie ship in old time had both the one the other When the wind wanted for their sayling their armes did vse to fall a rowing In this place I doubt not but that the storme had so ouerlayd them that their tackling in generall did serue them to little purpose The shift which then remained was to see if by cleane strength against both wind and water they might winne the land by their rowing backward Forward they could not get therfore they wil retire rather then drown the Prophet Their businesse is forgotten their hast shall stay a while rather then destroy his life 3 When aduisedly I consider how many things here should vrge those mariners to hasten him vnto death their disturbance in their iourney the casting foorth of their wares which goeth against the soule of a wordly minded creature the indangering of their liues the discouery by a lot the confession of himself

in the parable of the gourd I do deferre it thither But the mercie of these men here is enforced to turne to iustice They are compelled to leaue him whome they willingly would keepe Ionas goeth ouer shipboord where behold appeareth a miracle the sea ceasseth from her furie That which roared so before was so disquieted with winds which wrought and was so troublous which so becalmed them with a storm that forward they might not get backward they could not go that ceasseth vpon the sudden The disturbance was not naturall nor the quieting is not naturall because it commeth in a moment It was not by degrees not one step after another as in tempests which are ordinarie but in that very instant when he was throwne into the water So miraculous is Gods power to haue the mightiest creatures to mooue and rest at his becke If he commaund the world to be drowned with water the Ocean shall breake foorth the fresh springs shall gush out the very floud-gates of heauen shall be opened with a word and so all the earth shall perish If he bid his seruant Moses but stretchfoorth his hand the red sea shall part in two and stand vp as a wall on the right side and as a wall on the left This is a great comfort to the faithfull that they serue such a maister who so commaundeth all the frame of heauenly and earthly bodies that he turneth them and windeth them as with a hooke in their nostrels and leadeth them so vp and downe that nothing shall assault them without Gods speciall pleasure It is he that made the sea here to cease from her raging and boyling with such violence 9 But the reason why it then stayed was because it had effected the thing which it desired The fugitiue being taken the pursuer is now quiet It is punishment inflicted on the sinner which in temporall causes allayeth the Lords anger When Achan had his hire the Israelites did proceede in their conquest as before Saules crueltie to the Gibeonites did procure three yeares of dearth to be sent vpon the land in the time of Dauid but when once the posteritie of the offending sinner was hanged vp by the wronged parties Gods indignation toward the land was appeased Princes and Iudges haue here a pathway laid out readie to them wherein they ought to walke If God do awaken a land with a rod of his displeasure be it famine or be it pestilence or be it the sword of the enemie after a view taken of the actions and ouersights of their people let theÌ„ purge their land from iniquitie by cutting off malefactors and breaking the backe of sinne and wilfull transgression There is no sacrifice more pleasing in the eyes of the Lord of hostes then that those who dishonour him should be suppressed by iustice He did whippe vs not long since with a rod of pestilent sickenesse this yeare he threateneth otherwise with some feare of a pinching famine Very likely it is that if grosse faultes were remooued from amongst our nation his wrath would cease with the cleansing as the sea did with receiuing our Ionas If the vserie of the citie the oppression of the Landlord the symonie of the Cleargie the extortion of the Patrone the idlenesse in the Minister the want of loue in the Communaltie and securitie in all sortes did but so much decay or so fast diminish as it hath increased lately Gods wrath would turne to fauour and we shold more feele his blessings 10 But here in the ceassing of the tempest by the drowning of the Prophet we are notably put in mind of him of whome our Ionas is a figure in this case It hath bene mentioned before out of the twelfth of Mathew that his lying in the whales belly was a signe of the death of Christ by the witnesse of Christ himselfe as his casting vp againe was a signe of his resurrection The dying of Ionas alone for all doth signifie the same thing as was taught out of the twelfth verse of this present chapter which I now handle But nothing in plainer sorte doth expresse vnto vs the force of the suffering of our Sauiour then rhe ceassing of the storme at the drowning of the Prophet euen as Gods wrath was appeased by the death of the vnspotted lambe By the fall of our first parents wee all were fallen from grace Wee had chaunged not a Niniue for a Tharsus but a Paradise for a torment and a heauen for a hell The coldnesse of our disobedience was followed with heate of iustice not windes and waues did make after vs to take vengeance on our bodies but a waight of angry furie of purpose to destroy our soules Not one shippe but a world was endaungered in this hazard The Gentile and the Iewe the ciuill man and Barbarian were euerie moment readie to be drowned in desperation In this state of extremitie God pitieth forlorne man and sendeth a better ghest then Ionas was among those who are passengers thorough this vale of miserie And although this ghest was clothed with humanity like an ordinarie passenger yet in this he differed from Ionas that our Prophet alone had sinned when all his fellowes were free but Christ alone was innocent when all his fellowes pleaded guiltie 11 We can neuer sufficiently admire the effectuall force of him who quieted this great rage Iustice called for a death take my death quoth the Sauiour let one dye for the peopâ—e the head for all his members An Oracle had once answered that either the king of the Atheniens or else their army must perish Codrus who was then king neuer stoode or staggered at it but gaue his life for his citizens to saue them from destruction The king of men and Angels had this choise put vnto him that either himselfe or his the mysticall head or bodie should vndergo a death He tooke the turne on himselfe so wrought a reconcilement from his Father toward his Church So by his stripes we are healed The chastisement of our peace was vpon him So he being the Lambe of God hath taken away the sinnes of the world He hath freed vs and deliuered vs from the wrath to come His bloud speaketh better things then that crying bloud of Abell that cryed vengeance from the earth this from the crosse cryeth redemption reconcilement and atonement So he hath by his bloud bought a spouse vnto himselfe whome else he had not had By the dying of Christ the Church is made as Eue was made by Adams sleeping which is Saint Austens comparison The Adamant is so hard a stone that it can be softened with nothing but the bloud of a goate Mans heart was grown so hard mans case was growne so hard that it could be lenified by nothing but by the bloud of him whome the skape-goate in Leuiticus so liuely did represent 12 But to procure our peace he plucked warres on himselfe

which did make it remaining still aliue should retaine the mould or remember the fashion of it with his best obseruation although this image were now broken into peeces and some of the lead thereof did perchance in a wall ioyne some stones vnto other or iron to stones in windows or if some were framed into bullets or put to other vses be they neuer so different yet afterward the artificer hauing these fragments brought together can refound them and renew the image in that resemblance wherein they were before That which man can do in his trade can mans maker do much more in new framing man himselfe 18 I haue borowed this reason from the maister of the Sentences whereunto if anie reply that the comparison is much different because here the substance remaineth in the selfe same nature as before whereas it is oftentimes altered in the corruption of the flesh and bones in man I might answere that it is recompenced by the greatnesse and the power and the skilfulnesse of this framer which so farre doth exceede the abilitie of all workers But I rather will strengthen it with that argumeÌ„t of Tertullian who speaketh to this purpose We were alreadie once made of nothing when our matter went not before and is it not as easie that we should be againe made when we haue bene before If after our corruption our substance should be little yea very nothing at all yet can we thinke it lesse then it was before our breeding The authour of the first can as well do the latter This reason seemed strong vnto Gregory the great where he speaketh in this sort If a man who hath bene dead shold be raised vp all men breake foorth into admiration and yet daily is man borne who neuer was before and no man wondreth at that whereas without doubt it may appeare vnto all men that it is a greater worke when that is made which neuer was then when that shall be but repaired and new made which was before To follow this a little farther which of vs doth remember what we were before that we were borne where was our forme or our matter Yet we are growne to this quantitie and come vp to this fashion If we will speake as Philosophers the sonne is said to be in potentia of the father so of the grandfather and great grandfather although much more remooued If we will speake as the Spirite of God doth speake Leui the sonne of Iacob who was the sonne of Isaac who was the heire of Abraham is said to be in the loines of Abraham his great grandfather The line by this proportioÌ„ may be reached a great deale higher Now how many alterations corruptions dissolutions in nutriment and in food within men and without of necessitie must there be within ten generations before that he be produced who is the tenth successor Where shall we say was the seed or what shall we thinke was the matter from whence he was deriued Yet God hath so disposed that by order of propagation it should be so and no otherwise and a thousand alterations cannot hinder the course thereof and a million of corruptions shall not crosse his purpose afterward but that from earth and sea and stones and rockes and ashes chaunged ouer and ouer againe he can rowze vs and reuiue vs. The perpetuated order of his actions here among vs doth shew that he can doe things which are as farre vnlikely To adde somewhat more of man of how small a thing doth he make him euen that which hath no proportion how doth he bring out the limmes and members of the infant where were his bones and his sinewes his arteryes and his veynes where was his head and his feete his countenance and his visage how were these things distinguished in his first generation We may haue the same consideration of the kernell of any fruite which being small in quantitie and in resemblance very different from that whereunto it spreadeth is put into the ground From this there groweth a roote with many things sprowting from it from thence a stemme ariseth a barke percase without a pith perhaps within here a branch and there a bough here a blossome and there a fruit A graine of wheat is put by the husbandman into the ground and then it is but a small thing and in respect as nothing Yet from thence commeth roote and blade and stalke and eare and corne yea when the originall of all was dead and euen dissolued From these things God each day doth raise such sensible matters and maketh the earth and raine whereof much commeth from the sea to depart with their owne nature and to be turned into them Why then should it be impossible or why should it be straunge that he should bring this to passe in man the best of his creatures that is to fetch him out of the dust or from the middest of the water Why not one daye that in generall when this in speciall euery daye why not all which to each Reuolue these things aduisedly and ioyne faith with thy sence and thy externall feeling and we shall haue a resurrection 19 Remember how that euerie winter the glorie of the trees and all woods is decayed their leaues lye in the dust their cheerefull greene is but blacknesse the sap and life is hid in the roote within the ground all the tree doth seeme as dead But when the Sunne commeth forward with his warming aspect they resume their former beautie So it is with the medowes so it is with the floures and most delightfull gardens Their winter is as our death their spring like our resurrection The putting of our clothes off should remember vs of mortalitie that we must put our flesh off and yeeld it to corruption When we put them on in the morning and go forth as before we represent to our selues the receiuing of our flesh againe in the day of iudgement What is our bed but a graue what is our sleepe but a death wherein we are to our selues as if we had neuer bene without sence and in darknesse what is our hastie awaking at the sound of bell or other noise but as our starting vp at the sound of the last trumpet to appeare before Christs throne Herein indeed is the difference that the graue doth hold vs longer the bed a lesser while Thus hath the Lord euery way put remembrancers in our actions daily obseruations that certainly we shall dy certainly rise againe certainly be then iudged The veritie of which matter euen by the light of nature hath appeared vnto some who neuer did know the Lord. The heathen man Zoroastres did fore-prophecie of a time wherein there should be a rising of all that euer had liued They were not farre from this who beleeued an immortalitie of our souls after death So did Plato aboue all other of the auncient Philosophers who both saith that the soule liueth

Sathan is more desirous to swallow vs into hell then the whale was to deuour the Prophet that he will free vs from that enemie and bring vs into his kingdome there to raigne with his owne Sonne to both whome and the holy Spirite be laud and praise immortall Amen THE X. LECTVRE The chiefe poynts 2. The anguish of Ionas in the whale 3. The vse and force of prayer 6. Our negligence herein 8. Inuocation is to be vsed to God onely 10. Some things in the Fathers fauouring inuocation of Saints 11. Those places discussed 14. Some of the ancient are against praying to Saints 15. AfflictioÌ„ stirreth vs vp to piety 19. The great miserie of the Prophet 21. We are to repute God the authour of our afflictions 22. God heareth our prayers 23. There are circumstances to be obserued in prayer Ionah 2.1.2.3 Then Ionah prayed vnto the Lord his God out of the fishes belly And said I cried in my affliction to the Lord and he heard me out of the belly of hell cried I and thou heardest my voice For thou hadst cast me into the bottome in the midst of the sea and the flouds compassed me about all thy surges and all thy waues passed ouer me WHen Ionas was in the sea being cast out by the mariners and was now of all likelyhood ready to be drowned God had a fish prepared as before you haue heard to swallow vp the Prophet And in the belly thereof he lay three daies and three nights after such a manner as was neuer heard of before but no doubt much tormented between hope and distrust almost quite in dispaire yet by faith againe comforted This faith of his when at length it had preuailed he breaketh forth euen there in prison into good meditations and after his deliuerie when he wrote this prophecie he digested them into a prayer which is here set downe in a kind of Hebrew verse not much vnlike to the Lyrikes of the Greek or Latin Poets Those words which I haue read vnto you are some part of this prayer and that which followeth after is another part in both which if something sound as from him being in danger and some thing againe as from him being escaped impute the one vnto the time wherein he did write it and the other to those conflicts which he sustained while he lay in the belly of the whale where his bitter meditations and troubled thoughts did answere vnto that which is here proposed vnto vs. 2 For the space of those three dayes he did not lye asleepe as a man in a traunce or one vnsensible amated for right happie he had bene if that might haue be fallen him but boiling in the extremitie of anguish and great sorrow as he that had on him a burthen so vnsupportable by his shoulders that he knew not how to turne him or to manage himselfe He felt the wrath of God perpetuated on him without intermission which wrath was not contented to haue him ouer ship-boord and so once to drowne him but dying he must liue and liuing he must dy in a torturous execution so terribly and vncomfortably that the like had bene neuer heard of The horror of death still present yet proloÌ„ged stil in the middle of the sea in the belly of a whale a prison and monstrous dungeon did vrge him oft to tremble but the feeling of Gods displeasure vpon his soule for sinne and the very great expectatioÌ„ of eternall pains in hell what thoughts did these now raise in him Now the soure of his disobedience is fully tasted by him he may tumble it and reuolue it and chew it againe againe Now if Niniue had bene distant as farre as the Easterne Indies or the South part of Aethiopia there he had bene sure to be murthered and massacred by the tyrannie of the gouernour or ruler of that countrie he could haue bene wel coÌ„tented to haue gone thither euen bare-footed thanked God on his knees who had brought him to such a bargaine For it is better to trace ouer all the world then once to go to hell better to suffer many sorrowes in body then in soule to die eternally With which thoughts being so perplexed as neuer was man before him not knowing what else to do with a faith tried in out ouer ouer again he falleth at length to prayer the effect wherof is in this second chapter by it selfe laid downe vnto vs. But because this prayer is so loÌ„g as that at many seueral times it must be handled for distinction and orders sake I thinke good first to deuide it into a Preface and a Prayer The Preface is in the first verse the Prayer in that which followeth And there what subdiuisions are afterward to be made it shall in his place appeare The Preface noteth these two things what he did that is pray and to whome vnto the Lord his God Then Ionah prayed 3 Many are the temptations and spirituall inuasions which in this life do befall vs while the enemie of mankind doth often assaile vs by himselfe and by the world and by our owne flesh that domesticall foe and many are the afflictions which the great God in his wisedome and our good Father in his loue doth lay sharply vpon vs to punish vs for our sinnes to make triall of our patience to strengthen vs in the faith to make vs loath the world to teach vs true humilitie to inure vs to a suffering of greater things for his sake for so many are the ends wherfore he sendeth his crosse to those whom he best fauoreth In respect whereof our life is by Iob well called a warfare wherin we are to fight wrastle against great matters to the which Saint Paule alluding saith that he had fought a good fight being exercised all his time against powers and principalities against anguishes and great grieuances much within more without The onely stay of all which perplexities in the very best of Gods children is earnest and heartie prayer to him who sitteth aboue who plucketh downe and setteth vp who ouerturneth and raiseth who striketh and then maketh whole who correcteth and then comforteth who bringeth to the pit of euill and then doth not cast in who tempteth not aboue our strength but in the midst of temptation doth giue an issue that we may be able to beare it The sacrificing of our souls vnto this blessed Father the beÌ„ding of our knees the bedeawing of our cheeks the lifting vp of our hands the beating of our brest but withall and aboue all the compunction of our hearts and the earnestnesse of our spirites are the altar that we must flye to are the anchor that wee must trust to This is that chaine whereof one end is tyed to the eare of God and the other end to our toung if we plucke he will listen if we call he will hearken 4 Then it is for our good that so often in the

that he referreth all his punishment to the hand of the Lord. He speaketh not of the mariners by whose meanes it was done much lesse doth he reuile them as in our time wicked offending persons oft do to the magistrates or Iudges or other officers who do but see that to be done which iust law layeth vpon theÌ„ and they wilfully haue deserued But Ionas passing by the instrument and meanes whereby God wrought seeketh vnto the fountaine and originall of the deede He acknowledgeth that his maker was he who was offended that his hand had corrected him that his wrath must be satisfied but by all other he passeth That euill Ioram did not so when his citie of Samaria was oppressed with a famine so grieuous that the mother did eate her owne child which extremity it is likely that the Prophet Elizaeus did foretell should fall vpon them for the greatnesse of their sin But then he in stead of looking vpward to God whom he should haue sought vnto by fasting and by prayer turneth his anger on the Prophet the minister of the Almightie and voweth himselfe to much euill if innocent Elizaeus were not put to death that day Blind man who could not looke higher and see whose messenger the Prophet was How much better was Iobs behauiour for when newes was brought vnto him that the Sabees and Chaldeans by violence and strong hand had taken away his Oxen and robbed him of his Camels he did not straight way curse those sinners and wish much euill on them but not so much as naming them did fasten his thoughts on God and imputed all vnto him saying most patiently The Lord hath giuen and the Lord hath taken it blessed be the name of the Lord. I would that men in our time could carry his resolution When ought amisse doth befall them to haue recourse to the Highest and to suppose that either he doth trie them or doth punish theÌ„ for their sinnes or hath some other good purpose But we rather run to any thing then that which most doth vrge vs oft surmising that which is not and suspecting those that be innocents And if we can find the meanes whereby all is brought about we double our force on that this witch hath killed my beasts this wicked man hath vndone me this mightie man hath crossed me I would he were in his graue or some mischiefe else were on him Indeed I do not deny but that the euill are oftentimes the rods of God to chasten good men withall but yet thinke thou euermore that his hand is it which effecteth all that his stroke is in the action Fasten thy eyes on him and with sighing and true repentance seeke to appease his wrath and theÌ„ the meanes shall not touch thee no wicked thing shall haue power ouer thee But let this be thy song to vtter foorth with the Prophet thou hadst cast me into the water thou hast layed this crosse vpon me 22 The third circumstance now remaining is that God did heare his prayer I cryed in mine affliction and thou heardest me and againe O Lord thou heardst my voice You see that his woe was exceeding and after the common course of sorrow it droue him vnto his maker it enforced him to pray Where behold the comfort is that he did not loose his labour the Lord did heare his voice This euermore is his propertie to attend to those who sollicite him to respect those who call on him I called on the Lord in trouble saith Dauid and the Lord heard me at large So by Ieremie his seruant God promiseth to the Iewes and in them to all his Saints you shall cry to me and shall go and pray to me and I will heare you And you shall seeke and find me So respectiue is the Lord to those who fly to him which sheweth his great prerogatiue aboue all heathen idols who may be derided with Baal that either they are busie in following of their enemies or asleepe and must be awaked but surely they cannot heare But especially to vs it is comfort in extremity that if sicknesse or pinching pouertie or malice of any man nay if pangs of death do hurt vs or if in the soule which is our better part temptation ouercharge vs and Satans darts hardly driue at vs if we call vnto that Lord who can bind and loose and hath the keyes of hell and of death he can rid vs and deliuer vs. Yea he so yeeldeth to our prayers that they shall not returne in vaine but comfort at the least and patience in our miseries shall be bestowed vpon vs. It is a good speech in Cyprian if that tract be his De caena Domini In the presence of Christ our teares which are neuer superfluous do beg a pardon for vs neither euer doth the sacrifice of a contrite heart take repulse As often as in Gods sight I see thee to be sighing I doubt not but the holy Ghost doth breath vpoÌ„ thee when I see thee weeping then I perceiue him pardoning This should be a great instigation that when any thing doth oppresse vs be it inward or be it outward we should runne vnto the Lord. So may also be that of Austen The prayer of the righteous is the key of heauen Prayer ascendeth vp and Gods mercie descendeth down Although the earth be low and the heauen high the Lord doth heare the tong of man if he haue a cleane conscience It speaketh with feeling if it be but onely our sigh A showre of the eyes is sufficient for his eares he doth sooner here our weeping then our speaking 23 I doubt not but all the faithfull do find this easily in theÌ„selues that when they do lay open their soules before the Lord as Ezechias did the letters of Sennacherib when they do earnestly pray a deaw of consolation of most blessed consolation is distilled downe vpon them whereby they are assured that they haue to deale with a father who seeth their fraile infirmities and hath compassion on them Yea as a father doth pitie his children so hath the Lord compassion on all that do feare him for he knoweth wherof we be made he remembreth that we are but dust He knoweth vs to be most ignorant most foolish and vnfit for all goodnesse very impotent and vnable to keepe off wrong from our selues He knoweth this considereth it as euermore he supporteth vs keepeth vs to himself as the apple of his eye giuing when we demand not more then we thinke on so if we lift vp our voyces powre out our complaints before him he will neuer faile vs seeking him Onely this he claimeth of vs that we aske that which is fit not vanities or impieties or to bestow vpon our lustes for he denyeth these things to vs and our faith hath no warrant to aske such requests of the Lord. And againe that in those things which are lawfull we

Elias troubled when he cryed It is enough Lord take away my soule How did Peter striue in himselfe whether he shold deny Christ or no and imagine what he thought of it when he had done it and wept bitterly What disquietnesse did the pricke in the flesh bring to Saint Paule when it made him pray thrise that is very many times that he might be deliuered from it But how hote is his conflict betweene the flesh and the spirit when he termeth himselfe a wretched man and knoweth not how to be freed from the bondage of sinne that bodie of death Yet at the last to his inward consolation he remembreth himselfe that it should be done by Christ Iesus Now who were dearer to God then these who higher in his fauour then Iob a mirrour of patience and Dauid a man after his owne heart and Ieremie who specially was preserued in the desolation of Ierusalem and Elias who was taken vp into heauen with a whirle-wind and Peter a great Apostle Paule the Doctor of the Gentiles Ioyne Ionas here to the number of these a Prophet once and appointed to euerlasting life yet in one place he would needes be dead and in this place he thinketh that he should be damned And as it was with these so it is in our dayes The Ministers of the Gospell who are employed in their calling and know any thing in the world haue manifold experience of such cases of conscience although they speake it not to euery man 15 Some for one thing and some for another are troubled euery day for fancies and temptations do arise a thousand waies especially in those who are weake in mind or body by reading or by hearing by being too much alone by children and by friends by prosperitie or aduersitie by a word spoken at aduenture by any thing which the mind of the troubled partie doth apprehend Where faith is not extinguished or plucked vp by the root but weakned for a time as the Sunne vnder a cloud is shadowed for a moment or as fire vnder the ashes is raked vp and not seene And when it hath bene amated and discouraged for a time then it breaketh foorth againe and peraduenture it is then a second while dismayed as the ship vpon the sea sometimes is caried vp to the heauen and then downe againe to the deepe or as the winter water which freezeth in the night and melteth in the day and hath his intermissions and therein many alterations In this appeareth Gods prouidence and his endlesse loue in protecting that he so ballanceth discomfort with an equall weight of comfort that euill and distrust doth not preuaile but if the scale do tippe downe it raiseth vp againe vpon the sudden If the challenger be on the left hand readie to defie vs the defendant is on the right hand as readie to maintaine vs. If the inuader be behind vs the protectour is before vs yea if a strong armed man haue set-footing in our house a stronger then himselfe commeth and driueth him from the possession But he will keepe vs thus exercised and he doth it in great wisedome 16 If we had not this to quicken vs we should yeeld our selues to securitie be ouergrowne with the weedes mosse of carelesse negligence For as flesh saith Origen if it be not sprinkled with salt doth putrifie corrupt although there be great store of it and that of the best so the soule will presently grow loose and licentious if it be not as it were salted with continuall temptations The best would grow to be high minded proud in his own conceit but by this we are much humbled So we are made the fitter to receiue the crowne in heauen which is for the lowly minded is neuer giuen to any but to those who do get a victorie And how can there be a conquest vnlesse there be a fight how a fight without an enemie Then this life is our striuing the other is the reward which we receiue for our striuing Here we wrastle saith Saint Ambrose but we are crowned elsewhere here is the striuing there the reward here the warfare there the wages Therfore while I am in this world I do yet wrastle I do yet striue I am yet driuen at that I may fall But the coÌ„fort is that which followeth which Ambrose addeth in that place But the Lord is mightie who supporteth me when I am thrust at who setteth me vp when I am slipping who raiseth me tilting aside This is phisike for thy sicknesse remedie for thy euill whosoeuer thou art that gronest in thy soule thou hast much readie to hurt thee but thou hast more to helpe thee thou hast a strong one against thee but thou hast a stronger for thee one who loueth thee respecteth thee pitieth thee at thy need And if he do stand for thee what matter who is against thee He bringeth thee vnto this battell his hand is vpon thine enemie to limit how far he shall vrge thee farther he cannot go no tempting aboue thy strength He looketh on thee relieueth thee doth as much saith S. Austen as cry to thee out of heauen I looke vpon you do you wrastle I will helpe you do you conquer I will crowne you Nay he maketh vs conquer he breatheth into vs a strength which shall neuer be ouerborne Well thou maiest haue blowes and bruses and shrewd brushes in the heat of thy fight but the victorie shall be thine floating thou shalt not sinke encountring thou shalt not perish 17 If he were ignorant of that case wherin thou art then thou mightest iustly feare and suspect his ignorance but he conceiueth of thy infirmitie therefore as a father he taketh coÌ„passion on thee He knoweth wherof thou art made he remeÌ„breth that thou art but dust Yea to the end that he might the better vnderstand what thy miseries be amidst such strong throbbes of temptation he let his owne sonne take flesh vpon him who became a man clothed with mortalitie that therein by humane practise and not onely by diuine contemplation he might be tempted and feele assaults and so as the authour of the Epistle to the Hebrewes speaketh he might the better be able to succour those that are tempted Now what needest thou at all to shake or quiuer when his shield and his safegard do perpetually attend thee The experience of things past should encourage thee for hereafter Remember how he hath kept thee and cherished thee in his bosome in former times when thou wast in daunger That did abode good vnto thee He who loued thee then will loue thee still When Dauid had to do against Goliah no impression wrought so forcibly with him as recounting what he had done before When I was a boy and kept my fathers sheepe a Beare came and tooke a sheepe out of my flocke and I killed that Beare

belong vnto any man it is vnto him haue compassion of some in putting difference and other saue with feare pulling them out of the fire This is to imitate Christ who will not breake a brused reede nor quench the smoking flaxe This is to seeke out the lost and to bind vp that which is broken Vnto these this may be added that it shall not a little helpe to haue conference with such who in former times haue bene exercised with the like temptations that out of their experience being plentifully powred out the distressed mind may be relieued None can speake more sufficiently and vnto better purpose then he that hath felt the same fire wherein this grieued soule is now burned And they who are in this cafe are not a little reuiued to know that any other hath bene troubled like themselues which they will hardly beleeue thinking that none did euer beare such a burthen as is vpon their shoulders Lastly as they ought rather to remember their former deliuerances then the griefe which presently is vpon them so they are rather to beleeue the speeches of other men I meane Gods children who come to yeeld comfort to theÌ„ then their own troubled thoughts which being perplexed and disquieted with frightfull imaginations can giue no setled iudgement This matter were worthie a longer speech but I am forced here to end Lord comfort those which are comfortlesse and strengthen thy weake children that they may not be so cast downe and plunged into perdition but that in their greatest temptation they may retaine thee still for their Sauiour that liuing in thy feare and dying in thy faith they may come to eternall glorie To the which Ã´ Father bring vs for thine owne sonne Christ his sake to whom with thee and thy holy Spirit be glorie for euermore THE XII LECTVRE The chiefe poynts 2 The circumstances aggrauating his daunger 6. which do the more shew Gods mercie toward him and other sinners 8. Why God suffereth his to be in miserie 9. Particular consideration doth most stirre vp our affection 14. By fearing small crossings in doing our duties we incurre other very great daungers 16. All helpe is to be ascribed to God 17. How a godly man may desire that his life may be prolonged 20. The faithfull ought particularly to apply Gods loue to themselues 22. which the Church of Rome doth not Ionah 2.5.6 The waters compassed me about vnto the soule the depth closed me round about and the weedes were wrapped about mine head I went downe to the bottome of the mountaines the earth with her barres was about me for euer yet hast thou brought vp my life from the pit Ã´ Lord my God THe fearefull conflict which the Prophet sustained in the verse next before going hath bene made plaine vnto you A passion of little lesse then distrustfull despaire did vexe him and disquiet him for the time From the terrour and danger wherof being recouered by the effectuall apprehension of grace by a liuely faith he returneth to contemplate the perill of his body which as it was great in the middle of the sea in the belly of the whale which was irrecouerable in mans iudgement so he seeketh to expresse it by multitude of words repeating it and reuoluing it with varietie of phrase but all tending to one end yet with such copiousnesse especially being in so short a prayer that a man would wonder at first how the Spirit of God which vseth to speake pressely and briefly so that no one word may fitly be spared should so runne vpon one thing with difference of speech but in substance all agreeing Yet the vse of it is such as of words fully replenished with sanctitie and holinesse as shall appeare in his due place In the meane time that which he saith is this 2 First the waters did compasse me about vnto the soule to the death saith the Chaldee Paraphrase as intending that he was now likely to be drowned his life to depart from him his soule to be seuered from her carnall habitation Dauid also doth vse such vehemencie of words Saue me Ã´ God for the waters are entred euen to my soule Neither is there any speech which more liuely discouereth the earnestnesse of that which is presently in hand be it prayer or perill or desire or detestation then the name of soule doth As the Hart brayeth for the riuers of water so panteth my soule after thee Ã´ God My soule thirsteth for God This noteth an entire affection and earnest desire wherewith Dauid was mooued As the Lord liueth and as thy soule liueth I will not leaue thee saith Elizaeus to Elias A very passionate affirmation Iacob in Genesis giueth this censure of Simeon and Leui. The instruments of crueltie are in their habitations Into their secret let not my soule come This argueth a perfect detestation So the depth of danger is purported here when he speaketh thus the waters compassed me vnto the soule the enemie of my life the water which hath no mercie was aboue me and below me and round about me without me and within me that my being was death my hope was but destruction nothing possible vnto me but drowning as farre as mans wit might imagine Secondly the depth did close me round about I was not in the shallow as a man in a lake who lying downe may be stifled but standing may be safe but I was in the maine Ocean which is called for the hugenesse of it the gathering of waters and elsewhere Tehom a gulfe or bottomelesse pit I was in that vastnesse which sometimes cannot be sounded by very long lines I was in waters by multitudes and there not diuing or floating vp and downe but as closed and shut vp as included in a sepulcher or made fast in a prison this deepe pit this darke pit this vncoÌ„fortable dungeon had closed her mouth vpon me 3 Thirdly the weedes were wrapped about mine head The sea doth beare weedes as well as shallow water yea somewhere very straungely strangely I say that in such places as where the depth seemeth to be of incredible greatnesse weedes should be seene in abundance in the vpper superficies the very toppe of the water and that so plentifully that in nauigation the course of ships is stayed sometimes by them Experience hath confirmed this in the huge Atlantike sea as men saile to America whereout doth grow a very strange Dilemma or Diuision because either they be there without any rootes at all and that is very maruellous or because the rootes do go downe exceeding deepe in the water which is not otherwise affoorded by nature in thinne spindie bodies But that weedes do grow in the sea those of some price Solinus letteth vs know saying that shrubs and weedes in the Ligustike sea are those from whence our Corall commeth Such then being in the bottome are about the head of our Prophet he is wreathed and tangled in them

me I remembred the Lord and my prayer came vnto thee in thy holy Temple They that waite vpon lying vanity forsake their owne mercy IT is euident vnto vs by the whole processe of the Chapter before going that the transgression of Ionas did seeme vnto the Lord a grieuous transgression And his fall may seeme to vs a very strange fault that a Prophet exercised before in Gods seruice among the Israelites acquainted with secrets and reuelations from aboue should so vary from the tenure of piety and obedience But great sinnes require great punishments straunge faults require straunge chastisements Our Ionas as I thinke may make his profession that it hath bene so with him A tempest did follow him which would not giue him ouer a lot did discouer him to be a malefactor and when he could aunswer to the euidence no one word but guilty which imported his confession the mariners will they nill they must cast him ouer ship-boord where after sinking downe to the bottome of the water after wrapping and intangling of his head within the weedes he is caught vp by a fish in whose belly he is lodged for three dayes and three nights Here how perplexed his state was who cannot imagine Without foode without light without company and comfort a man drowned and not drowned deuoured but not digested aliue but yet as dead in perpetuall expectation of the fearefull dissolution of his soule from his body Nay the torment was greater which he sustained in his heart that horrour in his conscience that conflict in his soule as if God had forsaken him and giuen sentence vpon him as on a reprobate cast-away a firebrand of hell an inheritor of damnation Woful sinner who for his fancies sake and vpon the suggestion of flesh and bloud would draw such a iudgement to himselfe as which a man well aduised would not haue sustained but the space of one day for any treasure on earth For it is a fearefull thing to grapple with the Highest or to wrastle with our maker 2 As this anguish hath bene largely before touched so to make it vp complete he addeth as the conclusion of his misery although not of his prayer that his soule fainted in him it doubled it selfe together as some men do translate it as the knees of a man dying do double it was as ouerwhelmed fainting as in a swound his life was at last cast euen ready now to go out as a consumed lampe the gaspes and grones and pangs of very death were vpon him Yea throbs of desperation did oppugne him with such violence that the hope of eternall life seemed for some moments to be exiled from him his forlorne soule was sinking in diffidence and distrust So the best are deiected when God doth eclypse his presence and comfortable aspect But that absence and forbearing maketh a more tender feeling of succour when it returneth a more aboundant thankfulnesse for it deserueth gratefulnesse in great measure to be brought from the depth of sorrow to the height of ioy to be saued from extremity Ionas yet striketh this string amplifying Gods mercy ouer him from the circumstance of the time when my ghost was giuing vp when all hope was past and gone Which argument because I fully handled in my last Lecture I would now leaue it and teach some other doctrine These two verses note two persons the former of them the Prophet the latter some other men who waite on lying vanities The actions of the one of them and the other are here specified and the fruite which both of them do reape Then these two persons yeeld two parts to be handled by Gods assistance In the former which concerneth the Prophet these circumstances are what he did and how he sped what he did in that he saith he remembred the Lord how he sped in that he addeth that his prayer came vnto God in his holy Temple I remembred the Lord 3 The purpose of Gods election in fore-appointing some vnto life eternall is a matter so immutable and vnchangeable in it selfe that nothing can impeach it The flesh with her frailty the world with his suttlety the multitudes and millions of infernall spirits cannot alter that decree There may be some shadowes and seemings to the contrary but the substance is kept inuiolable The very gates of hell preuaile not against him whose the determination is neither preuaile they against his No creature can crosse the intent of the Creator He can bring vs he can force vs from sin vnto sorrow and heauinesse for sinne from filthinesse vnto innocency from transgression to repentance from forsaking of goodnesse to embracing of grace He it is who can regenerate vs renew vs and reforme vs remould vs and reframe vs that naturall corruptions and actuall deprauations euen idolatry with Naaman or extortion with Zacheus or persecution with Paule or denying Christ with Peter or entertaining of seuen diuels with sinfull Mary Magdalene shall be to vs no preiudice no detayning of his fauour Where he appointeth saluation there euery thing in his time shall worke vnto saluation but it must be in his time He draweth the vnwilling to him the broken he bindeth vp the lost he seeketh out he toucheth that with remorse which was before as the AdamaÌ„t the hardest hart he doth mollifie He that ordaineth glory to any will giue him grace to attaine it He who is the life is the way leading to that life he who giueth the one graunteth the other Where he determineth the end there also he offereth the meanes to apprehend that end As before more at large 4 But there is no meane more direct to bring any to God then to teach him to know God who neuer knew him before and such a man as did know him and now is as if he were fallen away to bring him to remember him that he may once againe assume that confidence and resolution to himselfe that he who loued him before will returne his affection toward his soule if it do seeke vnto him Which fauour looke to whom God in his mercy graunteth it is an assured argument that he is not such a lost child as who finally shall perish For with his sweete remembrance for so I may well terme it when it commeth after bitter temptation and a grieuous fall doth go a faith of that nature that if it be once admitted to presence it will neuer out againe no iustice can dismay it no iudgement can affright it but although it creepe on his knees it will to the mercy seate from which albeit rigour should offer to repell it remooue it yet it clingeth clutcheth so fast that it will not out any more Then the best men who haue falleÌ„ by the infirmity of their flesh thinke their case very happy if that may be graunted to them to haue God in their mind and to haue recourse to him and they make much of that motion retaining it and pursuing it as the best

kindly esteeming it aboue all other presents and returned him loue accordingly The gracious disposition of our eternall father taketh in farre better part then any man can take it the laying downe of our soules and prostrating of our selues to the fulfilling of his will He accounteth that the best sacrifice because it is spirituall Externall things do well but inward gifts do better I haue noted this vnto you from out of the word of sacrificing where the Prophet doth not stay but particularizeth specially what it is that he will offer I will sacrifice vnto thee with the voyce of thankesgiuing 8 This voyce doth imply an open and manifest declaration of the mercies of the Lord that he meant not to conceale his wilfull disobedience nor his punishment for the same but euery man should know how he had bene in the sea fast closed vp in the whale in pangs of death and extremity and yet the Lord had brought his soule out of the pit He thought it not inough to ruminate in his owne mind and chew vpon this mercy but others shall be aduertised of it that so by his example they may learne to know their Creator they may learne to dread their maker This was a custome of Dauid who vppon great things obtained doth vse to make solemne professioÌ„ that he will praise his God in the great congregation It is but a small thing to thinke it but he will speake of Gods glory And thus euery one should do yeelding vnto the world a testimony of his faith and honour vnto him whom he chiefly doth honor that such as yet are not called by that meanes may be prouoked to harken to true religion pricked forward by that comfort which they see in Gods children The speech of Miltiades which was in the mouth of euery man and his victorious acts set Themistocles on fire to attempt to do the like The fame that was of Alexander gaue heart to Iulius Caesar to become the more noble warriour And shall not our speaking of God the reporting of his acts his iustice in correcting his mercy in defending his prouidence in disposing his willingnesse in redeeming his readinesse in forgiuing vttered by Christian meÌ„ incite others to be ChristiaÌ„s God did know that to be a great meanes of bringing meÌ„ vnto him wheÌ„ he gaue charge that the Israelites should recount vnto their children his glorious facts and the workes which he had shewed in Egypt It is a fault in our dayes that parents are not carefull to instill into their children the remembrance of such things as they haue read or knowne to come obseruably from the Almighty It is a fault in others that if they come in place where religion is not respected as among Papists or Atheists they thinke best to conceale the profession of true piety lest they should be scorned or derided or pointed at with the finger and so by a pollicy stopping the course of their zeale in time they quench their zeale and make themselues as key-cold as those with whom they do liue They should discharge a good conscience by acknowledging of their hope peraduenture they might by the blessing of the Lord draw on other which were backward before for the hart of him who heareth is not in the power of himselfe but God doth rule guide it the meanes whereby he worketh is the hearing of good things Let the voyce then go to serue the Lord and let him blesse and prosper it as seemeth good to himselfe But thou hast discharged thy duty he hath giuen thee a tongue to praise him and with it thou doest honour him 9 The voyce of Ionas goeth and it is in giuing thankes vnto which the name of sacrifice is oft giuen in the Psalmes as namely in the fiftieth Offer to God praise or thankesgiuing where the word offer doth plainly import a sacrifice And in the hundred and seuenth Psalme Let them offer sacrifices of praise and declare his workes with reioycing This gratefulnesse is maruellously acceptable to the Lord when he bestoweth not his benefits as vpon the oxe or asse who haue them and forget them but on those which are mindfull who is the authour of them And that is the sole reward and onely retribution which we can render to him and if he haue not that then he reapeth nothing for all his blessings but if he may haue that many good things of necessity will be ioyned therewithall Therefore he straightly requireth it of all that belong vnto him In the eighth Chapter of Deuteronomy he speaketh thus to the Israelites When being come into the land of Canaan thou hast eaten and filled thy selfe thou shalt blesse the Lord thy God for the good land which he hath giuen vnto thee In the thirtieth of Ieremy he sayth in this manner Thus sayth the Lord Behold I vvill bring againe the captiuity of Iacobs tents and haue compassion on his dwelling places and the city shall be builded vpon her owne heape and the pallace shall remaine after the maner thereof But immediatly he addeth And out of them shall proceede thankesgiuing and the voyce of them that are ioyous The precepts are diuerse which be in the New Testament to this purpose Let there be in you no filthinesse neither foolish talking nor iesting but rather giuing of thankes And againe What soeuer you shall do in vvord or deed do all in the name of the Lord Iesus giuing thanks to God euen the father by him The Patriarkes and the Prophets and the faithfull of all times had euer this in their memory How did Moses and the people with timbrels and with daunces sing and reioyce to God when Pharao and his chariots were drowned in the red sea How did Barack and Deborah sing vpon the fall of Sisara There is no end of examples what hath bene done in this case but the rule may generally be giuen so many as haue bene faithfull so many haue bene thankfull 10 It causeth a continuance of the loue of God vnto men and an adding of further graces when he seeth them to be mindfull of that which is bestowed But on the other side vnthankfulnesse is the meane to stay his hand from bounty for as Bernard hath well obserued he is vnworthy of things to be receiued vvho shall be vnthankefull for such as he hath receiued Here euery one of vs may examine his owne heart whether he do rightly discharge his duty We do all long for perpetuating and augmenting the fauours of God vpon vs but see whether we requite those which are already come vnto vs. As Ionas was in daunger to be drowned by the sea and deuoured quite by the whale so was mankind in generall by reason of Adams transgression euen as in the pit of hell and very iawes of Satan apparant heires of damnation fewell for eternall fire forlorne men and past hope Yet by the death of our Sauiour we

pleasure to be so detained there but when he began to stirre it felt it selfe ouercharged and could last out no longer And in my iudgement the Metaphore which is vsed here in the type doth expresse this in Christ Iesus for the Originall hath it Vajake eth-Ionah which Vajake comming of Ko with Aleph in the end signifying Vomere is as much as if it were said the fish did vomite vp Ionas the qualitie of which word Vomite doth imply that which I haue spoken For when the stomake of any liuing thing hath receiued that which either for the weaknesse of it selfe or by reason of the strength of the meat it hath no power to digest it doth cast it vp and vomite The hardnesse for digestion of that which is the ingredient or the weaknesse of the part receiuing more then it ought doth cause that euacuation The case was so with death and the graue when they receiued Christ. 8 It was no common meat which it had taken into it but that which it was impossible should be concocted by it not an ordinarie man but one who had no fellowes His body was but a bait to entise the graue to swallow him but vnderneath was the hooke of eternitie and that Godhead which caught both graue and death and made them glad to put vp such a one out of their bowels Faine they were to be rid of him because he did ouerbeare them The Godhead raised him vp loosed the sorrowes of death because it was impossible that he should be holden by them When Samson was disposed he brake the cordes and ropes wherewith he was tyed they fittered and dissolued euen as the flaxe which is burnt with the fire he rent off the gates of Azzah and postes and barres and all and putting them on his shoulders he caried them whither he pleased So when Christ was disposed be shooke off the graue-clothes from him and bore vp all before him the rocke which was about him and the stone which was vpon him resigned their strength vnto him and he commeth foorth victorious as a Champion who had slept or a Giaunt refreshed with wine As a tamed Lyon he had suffered death and Satan and the infernall spirits for a time to play with him and disgrace him and haue some hand vpon him but when it seemed good vnto him he rowzed vp his bodie and roaring in his might this he renteth and that he teareth he knappeth their chaines in sunder and maketh them glad to fly happie he who could get farthest The whale was not so glad to part here with our Ionas as the earth was with our Iesus Here the drowned man is restored there the dead man is reuiued being the first fruite of the resurrection 9 As he dyed so we shall dy and as he rose againe so we also need not doubt but we shall rise againe Onely he did it by his owne power but we not by our owne force but by the power of him The head is gone before the members shall follow after Many of them that sleepe in the dust of the earth shall awake some to euerlasting life and some to shame and perpetuall contempt Gods children shall be translated into a better state recouering the same puritie which was giuen to Adam in Paradise where he was after the image of God in innocencie and integritie But first by death they must be beate in sunder and knocked in peeces that so they may be remoulded and new cast by the workeman not onely to their old figure but to a better forme in the day of the resurrection But as their captaine was so must they first by death be dissolued and separated that their bodies may be refined and made a great deale better When we plucke downe a house this is Saint Chrysostomes comparison meaning to build it new or repaire the ruines of it we withdraw such from the house as inhabited it before lest they should be soyled with the dust or offended with the noise and bid them for a time to rest in some other place but when we haue new trimmed and dressed it wee bring them backe againe to a better habitation So God when he ouer-turneth the rotten roome of our flesh calleth out the soule for a little and lodgeth it with himselfe in some corner of his kingdome but repaireth the brackes of our bodie against the resurrection and then hauing made it decent yea glorions and incorruptible hee doth put the soule backe againe into her acquainted mansion He hath determined this concerning vs that dust shall recouer breath and rottennesse shall haue life against all Atheists and Epicures there shall be a resurrection But I pursue this no farther because in the end of the first Chapter I handled it at large 10 If in another sence we will turne the present example to the benefite of our selues this giueth great consolation to the deiected conscience which groneth vnder the waight of her sinnes Such things as are written are written for our learning This wretched suffering man had displeased the Lord most grieuously For the haynousnesse of his fault wrath was gone out against him The Lord would not be satisfied but with drowning and deuouring in the belly of such a monster where the feare of death and almost the paines of hell were vpon him The passions of his heart had bene desperate and distrustfull if faith had not come to the rescue Yet we see that he did not perish but when his woe was passed ouer him he came to good againe God did but giue signification as small a thing as might be as if a man should nodde or winke vpon another and his sorrowes are shaked off from him he is set aliue on the land If griefe do assault our minds that we thinke our hearts will breake if temptation haue so rent vs that we suppose wee are all to shiuers if pangs of desperation with remembraunce of sinnes past haue beate faith so out of countenance that wee see no way but our soules must be a pray to Sathan yet there is hope with God and mercie with the Highest He bringeth men to the doore of death but he doth not turne them in Or he putteth them into the pit that they are halfe way downe to the bottome but his hand goeth along with them and suddenly in a trice he draweth them backe againe If we be within the iawes of Sathan he putteth a gagge in his mouth that it shall not close vpon vs. It is neuer too late for him to helpe while life and soule hang together He who bid the dust become Adam and Adam was made of dust he who spake to the graue and bad Lazarus come foorth from it and Lazarus came out of the graue he who commaunded the fish to loose Ionas and Ionas was loosed in a moment This Lord if he speake to hell or diuell or all the feends of darknesse they shall not dare once to

of that learned man I hold it to be very lawfull to obserue those seuen and twelue for the one and for the other So he saith that the veile in the Tabernacle of blew silke and purple and scarlet and fine linnen did intend the foure elements and he giueth good reason for that And the same is also the opinion of Saint Hierome Here to compare foure and foure hath a naturall vse in discoursing of the elements the good creatures of God Nay it will not do amisse if by a farther allusion we shall make application thus that as we reade in Exodus that the veyle made of those foure things did hang betweene the holy place whither the Priests did come to offer and the Sanctum Sanctorum the Holy of Holyes where the presence of God was so that they who stoode in the one could not behold the other vntill the veyle which was betweene them were rent or remooued So the holyest man that is euen the very Priest at the altar cannot see God as he should in the high abode of his holinesse vntill that his flesh and bodie which are made of those foure elements be torne off and remooued away by death and by the graue This or the like about numbers may be thought to be naturall and not strayned so that I dare not determine against it as also against nothing else which apparantly hath true and proper vse of doctrine or due application But I leaue to your consideration whether the authour of the booke De Spiritu sancto who sometimes but not rightly is supposed to be Saint Cyprian or other like to him do keepe close within these bounds when he especially magnifieth the number of seuen aboue other because it consisteth of three and foure where saith he three shew the three persons of the Trinitie and foure noteth the foure elements which intendeth that God who is signified in the mysterie of the Trinitie is caried with a loue ouer his creatures who are figured in the compasse of the foure elements A man may go too farre And this I haue obserued by reason of Saint Hieromes note vpon this place concerning fortie which I hold to be not vnfit for this auditorie because it is few times touched But now for the benefite of the vnlearned I come to doctrine which is more morall 8 When God giueth the Niniuites fortie dayes to bethinke themselues it implyeth his exceeding mercie who as he was very louing to them when he sent them warning of their destruction so is his loue more abundant when he giueth them space of repentance that they might turne away his wrath which was to breake out against them The prayer of the Leuites is true Thou art a God of mercies gracious and full of compassion of long suffering and of great mercie And so is that of Dauid The Lord is full of compassion and mercie slow to anger and of great kindnesse We can neuer sufficiently admire his bearing patience That citie which for the manifold euill of it had deserued to haue perished in one day shall haue a day and a day and fortie dayes of grace to purge it selfe if it will The tree which bore no fruit shall haue this yeare of probation and the next yeare of expectation and shall be pruned and dounged before it be cut downe So that Lord who is iealous in his anger is yet a mild God in his suffering It is obserued in men that they are long in making any thing but very quicke in marring of it A house built in a yeare may be plucked downe in a moneth A castle which hath bene long in setting vp by mining and powder may be blowne vp in a moment A citie whom many ages haue but brought to her beautie is consumed in a little time by fire put to it of the enemie Onely God is quicke in making but pawseth vpon destroying he commeth not but by steppe after steppe and when he should strike he stayeth and turneth and looketh away and will not roote vp till iustice can no longer endure He made the heauen in a day and might haue done in a moment but Niniue that one citie shall haue fortie dayes to breath in before her ruine come The Sunne and Moone and starres had but one day for their creation but man had warning for a hundred and twentie yeares before the comming of the floud in the time of Noe and Hierusalem shall haue admonishment by the Scriptures before the appearaunce of Christ by Iohn the Baptist afterward by our Sauiour personally and when they haue killed that iust one yet fortie yeares shall passe ouer before that it be quite destroyed Sixe dayes made the whole world but almost sixe thousand yeares haue beene affoorded to it before that the end ouertake it Thus iustice in many cases is if not swallowed and deuouted vp yet much shadowed by mercie which sometimes ouer-weigheth it and other times ouer-layeth it when it is readie to rise preuenting it and holding it downe And there be few of vs who may not feele this proposition true in our selues 9 If we looke vpon our own land how may we breake out and say that pitie and compassion haue abounded on vs from him See whether he hath not lent vs as many yeares to repent as he did dayes to Niniue when the infinit prouocations wherwith we haue prouoked him in hypocrisie in luke-warmnesse in gluttony and in wantonnesse in securitie and vnthankfulnes haue called on him for a shorter time Seueritie might haue said Fortie yeares I haue bene grieued or contended with this generation yet clemeÌ„cie stayeth that speech He lent not so much time to our fathers next before vs his mercie did straine it selfe to affoord sixe yeares to them of free passage of his word vâ—der his gracious instrument King Edward whose memorie liâ—e for euer and yet that was encombred with seditions of the subiect and tumults of the Commons as also with much hurrying and banding of the Nobilitie But concerning our time the question may be whether is more to be admired the greatnesse or the goodnesse the length which is very memorable or the varietie of those blessings which we do little conceiue because we most enioy them euen as no man noteth the benefit of the ayre whereon we breath because we haue store of it and yet nothing is more precious then it or nearer to life it selfe So in a common generalitie God doth beare with vs all But farther if each man will take the paines to looke on himselfe in priuate he may say that he hath had his fortie dayes oft-times told together with Niniue our citie here Saint Bernard in one of his Sermons shall speake that which I do meane The mercie and expectation of the Lord is great toward thee for when the Angell had offended he stayed not at all for him but threw him downe to hell and when Adam transgressed

dead mens bones Thy speaking of good things or condemning that which is euill is but to condemne thy selfe who in word doest renounce it and yet in deede doest embrace it Tacitus reporteth that in the ciuill warre betweene Vitellius and Vespasian a souldier had killed his owne father who was of and in his enemies army This was bruted about the host and euery man complained and execrated that warre which caused such vnnaturalnesse And yet sayth Tacitus they neuer the lesse nor slower spoyled their neighbours and kinsmen and brethren who were slayne by them they cryed that naught vvas done and yet themselues still did it This is thy case who speakest against sinne and yet euerie day committest it Thy fasting and thy abstaining is so farre from being acceptable in the eyes of the most High that it is exceeding odious For as here the King of Niniue did ioyne vertue with his abstinence and a turning away from wickednesse with his fast so God doth still expect that it should be done in all fasts The mind must forbeare malice and iniurie and oppression as well as the belly doth meate See how plainely God speaketh to this purpose You fast to strife and debate and to strike vvith the fist of vvickednesse Is this the fast vvhich I haue chosen that a man should afflict his soule for a day and bovv downe his head like a bulrush and lye in sackcloth and ashes vvilt thou call this a fasting and an acceptable day to the Lord Is not this the fasting vvhich I haue chosen to loose the bands of vvickednesse to take off the heauie burthens and to let the oppressed go free and that yee breake euery yoke Is it not to deale thy bread to the hungrie and that thou bring the poore that vvander vnto thy house vvhen thou seest the naked that thou couer him Then it is the leauing of sinne which the Lord doth more respect then the emptinesse of the belly And of this the holy Saints of God haue alwayes thought As Ambrose This is the vvill of the Lord that vve should fast together from meats and from sinnes Let vs impose an abstinence on our bodies that vve may the more estrange our soules from vices For the body vvhen it is sucked dry is a bridle to the luxuriant soule And Origene Fast from all sinne do thou take no meate of malice neither any delights of pleasure And Gregory To sanctifie a fast is vvhen other good things are adioyned to shevv an abstinence of the flesh vvorthy of God Let anger cease let chidings be layd asleepe for the flesh is in vaine tired out if the mind be not refrained from his naughtie pleasures 14 I wish that such of our people as yet haue familiarity with that filthy harlot of Babylon wold thinke vpon this matter that it is not only ceremonie or bare performing of outward things which doth appease the Lord when he is offended no not if it be to macerate and pine the body to death vnlesse a sincere faith do purifie all within and an honest conuersation do make all cleare without It must be a liuely conuersion which God taketh for payment of vs. And we who professe religion may hold this for an assured ground that our faith is but a dead faith vnlesse it shine by loue that all our speaking and seeming is fraudulent and deceiptfull if our life be not ioyned to it Our repayting to the Church and professing of strict holinesse will be reiected as too light if we either oppresse our neighbour or grind the face of the poore or scratch we care not what be it neuer so vnlawfull or leade liues polluted with whoredome and adulterie If we make our selues rich with vsurie or briberie if we circumuent men in bargaining if we profane the Sabaoth or despise the ministerie we frustrate that which we do pretend And the verie King of Niniue who could learne with little teaching that amendment of life was the truest deuotion and that as a most necessarie clause must be ioyned with all ceremonies shall in the iudgement condemne vs who after the hearing of manie yeares vse to bring but halfe-repentance and would willingly be the Lords but we would be this worlds also And so wishing that this doctrine of amendment may euermore be remembred by vs I leaue you to Christ Iesus who multiplie all good graces in vs to the end and bring vs to his father to whom with himselfe and his Spirite the Vnitie in Trinitie and Trinitie in Vnitie be glorie for euermore THE XXIII LECTVRE The chiefe poynts 1. It is not defined whether the faith of the Niniuites were onely temporall 3. 6. Sinne is not to be thought of lightly 5. The force of conscience in the guilt of sinne 7. Faith hopeth when there is little likelihood 8. We are to trust on Gods mercie 9. God respecteth repentance 10. Workes must follow faith 12. How the Lord is sayd to repent 14. His threatnings are conditionall 15. How Niniue may be sayd to be destroyed 16. Comfort to vs. Ionah 3.9.10 Who can tell if God vvill turne and repent and turne away from his fierce vvrath that we perish not And God savv their vvorkes that they turned from their euill vvayes and God repented of the euill that he had sayd that he vvould do vnto them and he did it not THe broken melting heart and contrite spirit of the king of Niniue hath bene signified vnto you in the words before going how as a good Prince he giueth his people a religious example and first by his deed comming off from his throne and putting sackcloth on him and afterward by his word and commanding Proclamation he stirreth his people vp to a rare humiliation Here it might be discussed of what sort their faith was by which they apprehended the feare of the Lord and how farre their repentance went either to be a permanent and iustifying faith a faith sauing eternally which could not be in them but by hearing of Christ Iesus the redeeming Messias for among men there is no name giuen vnder heauen whereby we must be saued but that name of Christ or whether their beleeuing was a temporarie assent to that which they heard and vnto nothing else of the destruction of their city which might strike a mighty horror into their minde for a time as the preaching of Elias did to that wicked King Ahab when he humbled himselfe and fasted yet they might relent afterward and returne to their vomit allured by the world or inueigled by such lusts as were vsuall in former time Howsoeuer it was if you allow it to the least but a short and particular faith it teacheth vs thus much that if they in â—heir ignorance arose to so high a measure then we in so much knowledge should arise to much more and so their example is not to vs in vaine But for the maine point since the Spirite of God is silent therein and doth not

the great point which naturally ariseth from my text I haue therein sayd lesse because I debated this question at large vpon the twelfth verse of the first Chapter of this Prophecy and in the opening of this booke I haue euer aymed at that not to repeate the same things oft in manner or in matter Yet one word more before I leaue this and that is that in the Primitiue Church it was somewhat a strange kind of opinion that men confessing Christ might make away themselues to withdraw their bodies from torments which their persecutours would offer to them and they knew not certainely whether their strength were able to sustaine Eusebius in his historie telleth that in the bloudie time of cruell Diocletian there were diuerse who for the reason named did procure death to theÌ„selues by throwing their bodies from floores and lofts high places And he addeth farther there that a certaine Chistian mother her two daughters being taken and fearing lest she or they should be defloured which of all things she detested stepped aside from their keepers threw themselues into the riuer and so perished in the water Afterward the same Eusebius speaketh of another matrone who going into her chamber as it were to attire her selfe while the officers of the Emperor expected her returne thrust her selfe through with a sword And these matters Eusebius doth not onely historically relate but by an insinuation doth little lesse then commend them but of certainty he euidently approoueth them Now true diuinitie doth maintaine that this praise is not good but such deeds are very vnlawfull God who simply forbiddeth all murther on our selues doth also forbid this because he giueth no exception in this point or case either directly or indirectly The Prophets and the Apostles and our Sauiour Christ himselfe did with humilitie expect that the will of God should be wrought vpon them by others they did not make themselues guiltie by laying violent hands on their owne flesh That were not patience but impatiencie and breaking away from the crosse imposed on them By occasion of the example of Razias mentioned in the second booke of the Machabees and there sayd to destroy himselfe Saint Austen very excellentlie disputeth this against the Donatistes whose treatise who so listeth to reade shall see that he plainely and substantially prooueth that this is not to be liked in any Christian. Hierome vpoÌ„ the first of Ionas desirous as it seemeth to make excuse for such facts giueth thus his iudgement on this matter It is not our part to hasten death to our selues but vvillingly to receiue it being layd vpon vs by other Whereupon euen in persecutions it is not lawfull for vs to perish with our owne hands vnlesse it be vvhere chastity is indangered but to submit our selues vnto the striker In generall he condemneth it and that particular exception where our chastity is indangered may verie well be left out for violence which is offered to the bodie of man or woman and cannot be resisted doth not make the partie sinfull It is consent which staineth vs with transgression and not that force which we cannot auoide and which we approoue in no sort He who liued in a deeper time of darknesse and superstition that is Sarisburiensis in the fifth of his Policraticus could see definitely and positiuely to determine all this doubt His words are plaine and direct and therefore I thinke good to cite them None of them who haue layd hands on themselues are sufficiently excused by me although the Ecclesiasticall storie vvith great commendation doth extoll some who hastened their owne death because they had leyfer that their temporall life should be indangered then their chastitie His iudgement therein is sound although the faults of those who were surprized and deceiued with such an opinion should be couered with silence and left to Gods secret iudgement Now to come to my third circumstance 11 Ionas being full of errours yet knoweth that it is the Lords part to giue life and take it away and he is not ignorant that to vse violence on himselfe were a very grieuous sinne but yet he goeth so farre as to wish himselfe dead he prayeth God to end his life and concludeth it to be better for him to dye then to liue Here is a double fault in the Prophet one that the cause which did mooue him to such vehemency of thoughts was a matter much vnbeseeming for all his anger was that the Lord would spare the Niniuites which he thought was against his credit and the esteeme of a Prophet and Ionas by a consequent is in this case growne bloudy But of this before in this Chapter The second fault is that in this his mad and raging anger he doth wish himselfe dead For this in him proceeded from a vexed vnquiet heart possessed with impatiency and not from a sanctified resolution We deny not but in some cases a man who is here on earth warfaring and in a combat with his spirituall enemies may wish himselfe out of life As when there is a meere and feruent desire to be ioyned with his head to be with the blessed Trinitie and the Angels about the throne as accouÌ„ting that glory to be the garland for which we must sigh and grone And this doth Saint Paule teach vs by his euident example where he professeth of himselfe that he longed to be dissolued and to be with Christ. And this loue hath filled the minds of many of the martyrs who thought all to be dung in comparison of that heauenly celestiall beatitude which is aloft with God And therefore they feared not to presse on to that marke by fire and sword and racking And is these dayes of the Gospell that is one of the consolations wherein we do abound that we see many of our Christian brethren and sisters when in the extremitie of their sicknesse they lye vpon their death-beds to embrace our Sauiour Christ and thirst for their dissolution to thinke each houre a yeare before they be in heauen Againe when there is truly in vs a setled hate against sinne which ariseth from a seruent loue to the Lord whom we grieue to displease not for feare but for kindnesse toward so gracious a father then it it is a good desire soberly and with ripe iudgement to wish our selues out of this body where dayly we prouoke him whom we loue so entirely And in this also we haue the steps of holy Paule to treade and to walke in who considering the great burthen of sinne which was vpon him and how it did euermore disturbe him doth cry out passionatly O wretched man that I am who shall deliuer me from this body of death Where certainely he intendeth so much as that in this consideration he could wish himselfe from this earth But on the other side if they be but froward thoughts and werying perturbations which distemper vs too much or if it be for some

sorowes and afflictions which fall on vs or because by one or other we are thwarted in our designements then in wishing for death we prooue plainely to be offenders for want of submitting our will vnto the Lords will for lacke of waiting with patience and attending the leysure of the Almightie If Elias that powerfull Prophet be ouertaken thus to cry novv it is enough O Lord take away my soule for I am no better then my fathers because Iezabel pursued him to destroy him if she could take him he may not be excused 12 But for our man it is euident that he was in this bracke it was no earnest motion to be with God which did stirre him for now he was angrie with him neither was it because he loathed sinne for he heaped that as fast on him as possibly he could but because in a testie peeuishnesse and vnbeseeming curstnesse he could not see that effected which he so hotely desired that was to see all Niniue brought to vtter desolation And in this fury the man would be nothing else but dead He had neuer bin dead before and therefore did not know what it was to come vnprouided and vnfurnished yea indeed clothed with frowardnesse before so high a Iudge If it then had bene remooued when it was in that fury with what comfort could his soule approch before the tribunall Whereby it appeareth how mercifully the Eternall dealeth with vs who oftentimes in his loue denieth to vs those things for which we wish which if we should euermore enioy we were better be without them Theseus as Tully saith by obtaining the thing which he desired gained this that his only sonne Hippolytus was lost and torne in peeces The same which that fable reporteth of those wishes which Neptune graunted to him that they did hurt and not helpe Theseus is true of Gods part toward vs if he should euermore graunt that which we wish on our selues or other it would ouerturne our bodies and make our soules to perish Do we not many times vnaduisedly wish our selues in our graue as Ionas did in this place when I wis we little thinke it And if then there should come any who would take vs at our word should we not make twentie pauses yea a hundred exceptions before we would be readie It is but Aesopsfable but the morall thereof is true that a poore and desolate old man turning home from the wood with a burthen of stickes vpon him threw them downe and in remembrance of the miserie which he sustained called oftentimes for death to come to him as if he would liue no longer But when Death came to him in earnest and asked what he should do the old man presently chaunged his mind and sayd that his request vnto him was that he would helpe him vp with his wood This most commonly is our case we would find some other businesse to set Death about if he should come to vs when vainly we haue wished for him And it is not much vnlikely that our Prophet in this place would haue played such a pranke when he prayed to God with such vehemency to take away his soule But be that as it will be let this stand good betweene vs that with anger and with chasing at that which the Lord decreed and with wishing death in his rage the Prophet highly offended Which being so largely discoursed now come we in the second place to see how the Lord taketh this which I shall passe as briefly ouer as I haue bene long in the former And the Lord sayd Doest thou vvell to be angry 13 That which Ionas had witnessed in the second verse of this Chapter that the Lord is very mercifull and slow to anger is in this place experimented for when the pot-sheard so grossely had ouerseene it selfe to grudge against the potter the creature against his maker the hote spirite of man would easily haue imagined that he to whom the wrong was done to the end that he might preserue his greatnesse entire would haue let him knowne his owne and receiued all roughnesse from him How would a land-lord here haue ruffled vp his tenaunt but the Prince would haue rung such a lesson to his subiect that he should well haue remembred with whom he had to deale Nay may we not iustly thinke that the mighty Iehoua who is couered with the thunder and clothed with the lightening who speaketh and the earth doth tremble who mooueth and the heauen doth quake who blasted Nadab and Abihu dead in the instant who stroke Vzzah in a moment that he neuer spake againe who made the body of Gehazi and the face of King Vzziah to be couered with a leaprosie who so disgraced Herode that in the ruffe of his maiestie he was eaten vp with wormes would haue shaken vp Ionas so with tauntings and reproches that he should neuer haue forgotten it But the Lord to giue a token of his infinite moderation and vnconceiuable softnesse maketh no answer but this Doest thou vvell to be angry Wherein as he doth shew that Ionas was to blame and therein ouerturneth the excuse of Saint Hierome who most willingly would couer all as if there were no fault and therefore goeth not right since the text is to the contrarie so he beareth with the infirmity of the distracted Prophet and doth rather warne him kindly then intreate him very roughly Doest thou vvell to be angry as if he should haue sayd Thou frettest when thou shouldest not wilt thou be the Iudge Ionas to decide what is most for my glorie thou takest on thee to preiudice my wisedome or my will that either my discretion is not such as it should be or when I know the best yet I will follow the contrary This is not aright Ionas for if any haue occasioÌ„ to be angrie it is I who must be ruled now and not rule be directed and not gouerne This mild increpation would haue mooued any man but him who was steeped in anger as Ionas was I do not here any farther pursue Gods patience in his owne person because I haue oftentimes touched it 14 My lesson which I gather here is rather for our selues that when we haue to do with passionate persons that is to say brethren which are weake but not desperately euill and see them ouertaken with affections of anger of sorrow or displeasure we by our mild behauiour seeke to win them from that fault When rage is repelled with rage it increaseth farther fury and so oyle is put to flame and contention to strife A soft answer appeaseth vvrath but grieuous vvords stirre vp anger Although to equals this may fitly be applied and to superiours yet the saying is generall and hath place toward inferiours also The bending yeelding spirit is most likely to preuaile with the most robustious persons but a good man will haue an eye that he yeeld not in things vnlawfull The Apostle dealeth thus with the Corinthians I

But I haue handled that question twise before in this Prophecie and therefore I leaue this whole matter and come to the second verse Doest thou well to be angrie for the gourd 10 Here the maner of Gods reproofe might yeeld good matter to vs to note in what mild sort he doth it that whereas it had bene fitter that Ionas should haue bene meeke and the Lord should haue bene mooued Ionas is the stirring partie and God himselfe doth speake calmely But I haue touched this before in this present Chapter and what we should learne from it Againe it might be noted that he speaketh not here simply thou doest ill to be angrie but by an interrogation which as in Rhetorike we are taught doth vrge and pierce the deeper And therefore euen in the Scripture for more vehemeÌ„cie sake things are propounded by questions But to leaue all this concerning the manner the matter is it which I do point at wherein God doth as much as demaund thus Sonne of man art thou wise or art thou obedient to rage thus for the gourd See what thy wisedome is thou ragest at the death of this greene thing and why doest thou aske for thine owne death Thou canst not endure the spilling of that which is as nothing and yet thou wilt preasse earnestly to the killing of thy selfe a creature farre more excellent And is there not great reason why thou shouldst be thus offended to chafe and brawle with thy maker It is on the one side for a gourd and on the other for a sweate procured by the wind and Sunne Are not these great spurrings and prouocations to anger a blast of wind and a shadow because thou hast too much of the one and too little of the other I did looke that thou shouldest suffer farre greater things for my sake not the shadow onely of thy head to be taken from thee but thy head it selfe by the sword not the heate of the Sunne alone but of the fire to burne thee as a martyr if I would I see that thou wouldest shrinke at great things as at torture or cruell torment when thou sinkest so at a little But where is thy obedience that as yet thou hast not learned to subscribe to all my pleasure Thus might God iustly reprooue him by his words illustrate the malignitie of his humour if we onely will vnderstand it that now he meant the gourd But if we will conceiue it that he blameth him for all his anger and not alone for the gourd but because Niniue should be spared then Ionas lyeth more open to him for that he who had bene fauoured should not grieue that other men should find the selfe same mercie He sinning had bene deliuered from drowning and the whale therefore he did ill to vexe that others also sinning should liue When one seruant hath found fauour peraduenture for a hundred talents he should not grudge if another his fellow seruant do find the selfe same measure But I will not extend this doctrine so farre as to this point because the text euidently deliuereth it that the reproofe of him was for his anger about the gourd 11 We may make this vse thereof that if it were such a fault fit to be blamed by Gods owne mouth to be so much disquieted for a matter of so small consequence I will not say farre from Gods kingdome but from the life and being of a man see whether we may not iustly be taxed by the selfe same Lord for fretting and such distemper in things of like importance If an office or small preferment which is a thing of more burthen then recompence any way be desired or intended by vs and we faile in our hope how do we grow male-contented with our Colleges and studies with our calling and vocation who would liue to be thus disgraced This ariseth from some root of preposterous emulation or auarice or ambition or such a plant as by right should not haue place in the heart But because we haue not more shall we loath that which we haue How worthily may the Lord take from vs that which we do enioy when we will so prescribe vnto him But because we haue too much learned to embrace these worldy things although they be but shrubs and shadowes therefore we so take the losse of them and vse worse meanes to gaine them euen dissembling and deceiuing and lying and forswearing such parts as become not Christians May not God now say to vs as here he saith to Ionas Do you well thus to be mooued for the gaining or the loosing of matters of so small moment May it not be much suspected that in the day of great triall when temptations shall grow strong you will slippe your necke from the yoke or sinke vnder your burthens when such petty points ouerthrow you Would you with the Apostles leaue all or be offered vp with Saint Paule How would you breake faith or honestie if it were for a kingdome since you do thus for a moale-hill how would hundreds or thousands leade you when thus you do transgresse for a few peeces of siluer I wish that this were laid to the heart of all of vs in this place that with consciences content and resting vpon Gods prouidence we might chearefully go forward with that which is assigned to vs for our share or lot to the honour of the Lord the Church and Vniuersitie In a wife religious man nature is content with a little and if we could defalke and pluck that away from our mind which otherwise may not be had there be few but haue enough vntill God do send more And by reason of the want of this mind in vs it falleth out oftentimes that they haue least contentment who seeme to enioy the most But beware of comming to that passe of murmuring and of fretting when we haue not what we would If we needs will follow the Prophet let vs follow him otherwise then in that for the which so iustly he is in this place rebuked 12 But himselfe still like himselfe meaneth not thus to giue ouer but he commeth on with an answere Doest thou well to be angrie Yea that I do saith he to be angrie to the death Was there euer man vnder heauen so testie and so peeuish to chop thus with his maker And still the further he goeth the more to be out of square Yet his moderation was farre greater in the fourth verse where being asked the same question he tooke it for a checke and answered all with silence not replying a word againe But here as if he had meant to vie who should speake last he will breake if he hold his toung and therefore answere he must though with such extreme peruersenesse as neuer man did the like If we may gesse by his words all the gesture of his bodie was sutable thereunto his teeth set his eyes glowing his countenance very red but his words are plaine that he did well to

be angrie to the death How do we fall without measure if Gods grace preuenting and following vs be not ouer vs and leade vs all the way when such a choise man as Ionas who was singled out for a Prophet shall be thus ouertaken We had need pray for assistance and diligently take heed that in all our deeds we yeeld not Sathan the least footing for if once we let him land and giue a consent vnto him to abide with vs although it be but in a corner he will certainly haue more When Dauid by the doore or window of his eye had let it into his heart that Bethsabe must be fancied it worketh him on to adulterie then to cousening of Vrias after that to make him drunke and lasâ— of all to slay him Ionas is first content to desire the death of the Niniuites then he is angrie to thinke that it should be otherwise afterward he who had no loue to a citie of that quantitie yet is in loue with a tree and more setteth his heart vpon it then a maÌ„ should on any creature then he grieueth because he had lost it and being rebuked for it he chideth hand-smooth with God So one sinne breedeth another whereas obedience at the first had marred all that rancke Let vs all take heede of too much delighting in any earthly thing in husband or wife or children oâ— any matter of like nature because sinne which groweth froâ— the losse of these will spreade it selfe farre as first to grieue ã€ˆâ—Šã€‰ Gentiles and heathens who haue no hope then impatiently ã€ˆâ—Šã€‰ murmure against the diuine dispensation and that is suted with like effects Perhaps chaunging of religion as if when the God of the mountaines being coldly serued would not helpe and saue from such perplexities they would to the God of the valleis peraduenture refusing to come to church as if they had bin holy too long yea perhaps fasting or soliâ—aâ—inesse till that the vnderstanding and memorie being â—razed almost past recouery giue such an entrance to Sathan that there is little power of nature or faith or grace left to resist fearefull temptations or to take comfort or counsell The enemie of our soules so windeth in by degrees that he is hardly expelled if at first wee yeeld vnto him to giue him place but a little I do well to be angrie vnto the death 13 What would he haue done to men who dealeth thus with God or how brauely wold he haue spoken if he had done some good deed who in so foule a matter his iudgement is so depraued by selfe-loue and selfe-opinion both excuseth and commendeth that which was in truth so outragious Dauid was very far gone but being once touched by NathaÌ„ he staÌ„deth not on his owne iustification but out he cryeth Peccaui I haue sinned against the Lord. Yea Cain when he was conuicted of murthering his brother tooke knowledge that he deserued much ill And concerning Iudas himselfe indeede I find that the Cainites who were a kind of heretikes as Epiphanius writeth did commend him that since he saw that Sathans force was to be diminished by the death of Christ he made all the meanes which he could to hasten him to his death but I do not find that Iudas for his owne part did so thinke of it but confessed that he had sinned in betraying innocent bloud But our man for want of good neighbours standeth in his owne commendations for it is more then an Apologie I do well to be angrie yea if I should do more it were so much the better euen to be angrie to the death How farre is he out of temper he who should haue bene a light to other is in darknesse and desperatnesse he who should haue bene mild to men is now cocking with God he who should be renoumed for patience is impatient in the highest degree he whom much should not mooue is vp-side downe with a little the Preacher worse then the people the Prophet more to seeke then any priuate man Paule writing to the Ephesians saith that they were built vpon the foundation of the Prophets and the Apostles Iesus Christ being the chiefe corner stone If our Prophet had bene taken now he had bene full vnfit to haue bene in this foundation yea in any part of Gods building for those who are therein must be wrought and squared stones But God knoweth he was not neare that for as Gregorie doth remember vs Whosoeuer in prosperitie is not puffed vp too high whosoeuer in aduersitie is not cast downe too low whosoeuer by perswasion is not drawne to euill whosoeuer by dispraise is not kept backe from good he is a squared stone Then was Ionas out of square who being proud of his gourd a matter farre from prosperitie and vexed with the losing of it and the heate beating vpon his head loued what he had too dearely and lost what he left too grudgingly 14 But we doubt not but he recouered this and grew to grace againe for the Spirit of the Lord was not extâ—nguished in him although now the fire thereof seemed to be raked vp vnder the ashes now the sappe of his election seemed to lye hid within the roote and not to flourish aboue the ground but although his heart did seeme frozen yet afterward it thaweth againe For as Saint Austen speaketh as when the water congealeth with too much cold and when the Sunne commeth on it it resolueth againe and the same Sunne againe departing it beginneth againe to be hard so with the frost of sinne the loue of many doth waxe cold he might haue said so of their obedience and they are hardened like the ice but when the heate of the Lords mercie commeth againe on them they are resolued and relent So doubtlesse it was with Ionas else he had neuer bene reckened among the Lords holy Prophets from the which as we see his grieuous fall did not seclude him But in the meane while here is a maruell neuer sufficiently wondered at that God who hath the choise of all things in the world will vse such brittle meanes to the ministerie of his word and building of his kingdome shall I say heardmen with Amos or fishermen with Andrew or shepheards as was Dauid or customers as was Mathew some vnlearned all of base calling nay men nore-able for their weaknesse and reprochable for their folly not onely Paule before his calling but Moses and Aaron who in their calling were oftentimes much to blame Ieremie who raged bitterly and Ionas who was made of fretting and impatiencie This sheweth how great God himselfe is omnipotent and Almightie who by weake confoundeth the strong by foolish confuteth the wise by base conuinceth the noble by men vnder exception doth things beyond exception and all because his name therein may be the more glorified 15 It was his greater praise that by grashoppers and flies he could make Pharao crouch by hornets driue

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