Rhodes in the armes of his three sonnes returning victorers from the games of Olympus The highest degree of ioy is that vvhich they call Iubilee described by Gregory thus vvhen an vnspeakeable gladnesse is conâ—eaved in the mind which neither can bee hidde nor speech vttered and although it be not expressed by any proprieties yet it is signified by some kindes of gesture Or when the abundance of the heart is not answered by sufficiency of wordes but he which reioyceth is neither able to rule his ioye nor to fulfill it I thinke the ioy of Ionas was a Iubilee he is so ravished and overcome with the pleasure of the gourd that hee knoweth not hovve to containe himselfe Alas a gourd was not worth thus much if the rule be true that the measure of our ioy should be according to the newes that is brought the cherefulnesse of the minde no more than is the thing which wee reioyce for If Ionas had receaved tydinges of deliverance from the belly of the fish or of redemption from eternall death if a Prophet had sung vnto him as hee did vnto Sion reioyce and bee glad Ionas beholde thy King commeth or Angelles had brought him worde as they did the shephardes beholde we bring thee news of great ioy that shal bee to all people what coulde Ionas more haue done For these and such like are the thinges wherein our greatest ioy should bee placed and there can bee no intemperancy of reioycing where these are affected So witnessed one Apostle God forbid that I should reioyce in any thing but in the crosse of Christ and the other agreeth vnto him in whome though you see him not yet doe you beleeue and reioyce with ioy vnspeakable and glorious For that is the true and principall ioy which is conceaved not from the creature but from the Creator which when thou hast receaved no man can take from thee wherewith compare what pleasure soever it is griefe all sweete is sowre vnto it and there is nothing that may delight but seemeth troublesome and offensiue There are many that say who will shew vs any good they are auÌ„swered by the prophet in one word Lorde lift thou vp the light of thy countenance vpon vs open but our eies that they may beholde thy merices For thou hast given mee more ioy of heart by the light of thy face than wordlinges haue felt when their wheate and their wine hath most abounded And therefore blessed is the man whose strength is in thee whose heart is in thy waies who going through the vale of this worlde make welles therin that is vse such commodities as this valley of teares affordeth them to relieue their present wantes but stay themselues vppon the hope and expectation of better thinges to come The Scripture doth everye where call vs to higher pleasures so doth wisedome Prov. 8. vvith mee are dureable riches the riches of this worlde are uariable So doth Esay in the 55. of his prophecie vvhy lay you out your money and not for bread but bestow it vpon akorns and branne that cannot feede So doth the sonne of God Mat. 6. Lay vp treasures for your selues in heaven And Ioh. â— labour not for the meate vvhich perisheth but for the meate which endureth vnto everlasting life So likewise hee adviseth the Church of Laodicaea Revel 3. I counsaile thee to buy golde of mee that thou maiest bee made rich and white rayment that thou mayest bee clothed and that thy filthinesse appeare not As for the mutable and transitorye either pleasures or profittes of this life which are ever comming going it shal bee good for a man so to loue them as that he may find in his heart to leaue them vvhen neede requireth And as Fabricius told Pyrrhus who one day tempted him with golde another day terrified him with an Elephant which hee had never seene before yesterday I was not mooved with thy money nor to day with thy beast so whether wee were tempted with the gaine or terrifiâ—d with the losse of these wordly commodities wee doe not trouble ouâ— selues either way because they vvere given vs but for vse and not everlastingly to enioy No man knoweth either loue or hatred by all that is before him for all thinges come alike to all the same condition I meane in these outward things is both to the iust and the wicked And therefore happy are wee if therein we can compose our selues to that indifferent resolution that David had when hee fled from Absalon his sonne touching his comming or not comming backe againe to Ierusalem to take his former comforts behold here am I let him do to me as it seemeth good in his eies But God prepared a worme when the morning rose the next day and it smoâ—e the gourd that it withered The pleasure of Ionas is quite dasht hee litâ—le thought of so speedie an alteration who seemed to say in his heart not longe before I shall never bee grieved but the Lorde hath given and the Lorde hath taken away and he that hath power over the blessings hath power also over the plagues Rev. 6 And as every good gift commeth downe from aboue so there is not an evil in the cittie nor in the world that the Lord doth not And his provideÌ„ce is as mightie in vsing rhe service of a worme as of Leviathan I neede not trouble you either with the author whome I haue often mentioned before or with his manner of working for hee doth not onely create al thinges but hee ordereth and fitteth them in such sorte that they are readie at all times to worke his will There is nothing sodaine or new or vnprovided vnto him but all his creatures both greate and small as if they watched their turnes stand forth to giue their attendance The instrument that God vseth to afflict Ionas with is very vile coÌ„teÌ„ptible he that could haue sent a wind to haue turned thâ— gourd vpside down or lightning to haue blasted it or an whole army of wormes caterpillers to haue devoured it or withered it with his word as Christ did the figtree never beare leaues henceforth prepareth a worme but one worme to execute that busines The scripture no where speaketh of wormes but with a kinde of coÌ„teÌ„pt as of a base and silly creature as Psa. 22. but I am a worme no maÌ„ the reproach of meÌ„ the scorne of people where the later expouÌ„deth the former Esay 41. feare not worme Iacob though thou art the least amoÌ„gst the nations al the people of the earth set themselues against thee The Hebrewes haue an opinion that enchaÌ„ters cannot shew their skill in litle things if they be lesse they say thaÌ„ a barly corne therefore the sorcerers of Egypt failed in producing lyce But our God is as cunning and artificial in the smallest creature of the world as in the greatest the organical
immortality of their soules others disputing doubting knowing nothing to purpose til their knowledge commeth to late others obiecting themselues to death rather in a vaineglorious ostentation then vpon sound reason I say compare with them one the other side christian consciences neither loving their liues more than a good cause and yet without good cause not leaving them and aske them what they thinke of this temporall life they will answere both by speech and action that they regard not how long or how short it is but how well conditioned I borrow his words of whome I may say concerning his precepts and iudgements for morall life that he was a Gentile-christian or as Paul to Agrippa almost a christian as in the acting of a comedy it skilleth not what length it had but how well it was plaide Consider their magnanimous but withall wise resolutions such I meane as should turne them to greater advantage Esther knew that her service in hand was honourable before God and man and her hope not vaine therefore maketh her rekoning of the cost before the worke begun If I perish I perish her meaning assuredly was If I perish I perish not though I loose my life yet I shall saue it If there were not hope after death Iob would never haue said lo though he kill me yet will I trust in him And what availeth it him to know that his redeemer lived but that hee consequently knewe the meanes wherby his life should be redeemed If the presence of God did not illighten darknes and his life quicken death it selfe David woulde never haue taken such hart vnto him Though I shoulde walke through the valley of the shadowe of death I woulde feare no evill for thou art with mee and thy rodde and thy staffe comforte mee If his shepheardes staffe had fayled him against the Lyon and the Beare which hee slevve at the sheepe-foulde or his sling against Golias that he had fallen into their handes yet this staffe and strength of the Lord could haue restored his losses The sentence that all these bare in their mouthes and harts and kept as their watch-worde was this Death is mine advantage The Apostle taketh their persons vpon him and speaketh for them all Therefore we faint not because we know that if our outward man perish yet the inward man is renued daily God buildeth as fast as nature and violence can destroy Wee know againe that if our earthly house of this tabernacle bee destroyed wee haue a building given of God that is an house not made with handes but eternall in the heavens Vpon the assurance of this house not made of lime and sande nor yet of flesh and bloude but of glorie and immortalitie hee desireth to bee dissolved and to bee with Christ and by his reioycing that hee hath bee dyeth dayly though not in the passion of his body yet in the forwardnesse and propension of his minde and and he received the sentence of death in himselfe as a man that cast the worst before the iudge pronounced it I may say for conclusion in some sort as Socrates did Non vivit cui nihil est in mente nisi vt vivat He liveth not who mindeth nothing but this life or as the Romane orator well interpreteth it cui nihil est in vitâ iucundius vitâ who holdeth nothing in his life dearer then life it selfe For is this a life where the house is but clay the breath a vapour or smoake the body a body of death our garment corruption the moth and the worme our portion that as the wombe of the earth bred vs so the wombe of the earth must againe receiue vs and as the Lorde of our spirites said vnto vs receiue the breath of life for a time so he will say hereafter returne yee sonnes of Adam and go to destruction By this time you may make the connexion of my text The master of the shippe and his company 1. worshippe and pray vnto false Gods that is builde the house of the spider for their refuge 2. Because they are false they haue them in ielousie and suspicion call vpon thy God 3. because in suspicion they make question of their assistaunce if so bee 4. because question of better thinges to come they are content to holde that which already they haue in possession and therefore say that wee perish not With vs it fareth othervvise Because our faith is stedfast and cannot deceiue vs in the corruption of our bodies vexation of our spirites orbity of our vviues and children casualty of goods wracke of ships and liues wee are not removed from our patience we leaue it to the wisedome of God to amend all our mishappes we conclude with Ioab to Abishai The Lorde doe that which is good in his eies honour and dishonour good reporte and evill reporte in one sense are alike vnto vs and though wee bee vnknowne yet wee are knowne though sorrowing yet wee reioyce though having nothing yet wee possesse all thinges though wee bee chastened yet are we not killed nay though we die yet we liue and are not dead we gather by scattering we win by losing we liue by dying we perish not by that which men call perishing In this heauenly meditation let me leaue you for this time of that blessed inheritance in your fathers house the peny nay the poundes the invaluable weight and masse of golde nay of glory after your labours ended in the vineyard meate drinke at the table of the Lord sight of his excellēt goodnes face to face pleasures at his right hand and fulnes of ioy in his presence for euermore Let vs then say with the Psalmist my soule is a thirst for the living God oh whē shall I come to appeare in the presence of our God For what is a prison to a pallace tents boothes to an abiding citty the region of death to the land of the living the life of men to the life of angels a bodie of humility to a body of glory the valley of teares to that holy and heauenly mounte Sion whereon the lambe standeth gathering his saints about him to the participation of those ioies which himselfe enioieth and by his holy intescession purchaseth for his members THE NINTH LECTVRE Cap. 1. ver 7. And they saide euery one to his fellowe Come and let vs cast lottes c. AS the māner of sick men is in an hote ague or the like disease to pant within themselues and by groning to testifie their pangs to others to throw of their clothes and to tosse from side to side in the bed for mitigation of their paines which whether they doe or do not their sicknes still remaineth till the nature thereof bee more neerely examined and albeit they chaunge their place they change not their weaknes so do these Marriners sicke of the anger of God as the other of a feuer disquieted in al their affectiōs
but riotously wasted and consumed their whole ability In vvhich profusion of substance when the matter engaged ieopardeth the stocke and state of a man his passions must needes be stirred and a troupe of wretched sinnes commonly ensueth swearinge forswearinge banninge defying hart-burning fighting spilling of bloud vnsupportable sorrovves of hart cursed desperation weedes able to disgrace the lawfullest recreation wheresoever they are found as the Harpyes defiled the cleanest meates The third sort of lottes serving to diuination the law of God in a thousand expresse prohibitions comminatioÌ„s the lawes of men both civill canon mainly impugne as by their edicts penances anathemas hath bene puplished to the world They had many sorts of predictions presensions foreseeings none of theÌ„ all but either with the manifest invocatioÌ„ of devils or with their secret insinuation at the least In coÌ„iuring witchery it is too open but in their necromaÌ„cy such like prophecyings by signes characters in the fire are vvater ground entrales of beasts flying crying feeding of birds lineaments of the hand proper names numbers verses lead waxe ashes sage-leaues and the rest it is somewhat more secret but no lesse certaine The artificers and maisters of which faculty are most to be excused that vsed least earnest at whome a wise man marveiled that they laughed not one vpon the other when they met as being privie to themselues of enriching the eares of the worlde with fables to enrich their owne houses with treasure But how scrupulous and fearefull others were how deepely enthralled to the collusions of Sathan is most ridiculous to consider as that Pub. Claudius should be condeÌ„ned by full parliament because in the first Carthaginian warre being in sight by sea and asking how the birdes fared to take his good speede there hence vpon knowledge given him that they would not come out of their coope to feede hee answered so irreligiouslye as it was taken Beholde they will noâ— eate let them drinke and go with a mischiefe and so cast them all into the sea VVho woulde ever haue thought that C. Marius being condemned by the Senate of Rome seeing an asse to forsake his provendour and go to the water to drinke should take occasion thereby to forgoe the land and betake himselfe to sea for safety of his life Yet was the accident imputed both to the providence of his Gods that directed him and to the skill that himselfe had in interpreting religion Augustin writeth that one came to Cato and told him in great sooth that a ratte had gnawen his hose Cato answered him it was no marveâ—le but much more if his hose had gnawen the rat Fabius Maximus refused his dictatorship because he heard a ratte but squeake If a man should forsake but his meate or bed for the squeaking of many rattes or a scholler his bookes because a ratte had eaten the leaues thereof in our times who would not laugh at their folly This was their misery and seruility who went from the living to the dead from the mouth of the Lorde to the mouthes of enchanters birdes beasts devilles from the lawe and the testimony to those lawles curious idolatrous pernicious magicall devises The manner of our charmers is not much behinde these in impurity prophanenes Wherein what reason can be given of applying holy writte to vnholy actions of vttering vnsignificant words which carry no sense of drawing vnproportionate figures of tying to folish and vnnecessary conditions but a very secret operation wherby the devill doth infuse himselfe into such workings For curinge the tooth-ach or the like disease a writinge must bee red or kept but greate regard to be had vvhether it be written in paper or parchment in sheepe or in goate skin with the right or the lefte hande vvhether by a Virgin or common person Sometimes Christ himselfe is abused and his sacred word with apocryphall imaginarye false allegations as that Iesus spake to his wife when he was never married and such like blasphemies You vvill say they vse good prayers in their chambers I aunswere with Augustine they are either magicall or lawfull If magicall God vvil none of such praiers if lawfull yet not by such oratours I denye not but a good event hath sometimes ensued thy losse recovered thy teeth cured what then doest thou not know the power of Sathan that he transformeth himselfe into an Angell of lighte worketh by strong delusions lyinge wonders that if it were possible the very elect should be seduced Augustin wrote to Faustus the Manichee you worke no miracles vvhich if you did yet in you wee would beware your very miracles It is the deserved iudgement of God vpon those that haue recourse to these vnlawfull helpes vvherein though they vnderstand not themselues sometimes what they write or speake the Devill vnderstandeth well enough to leaue them to the God of this worlde the prince of darkenesse who ruleth in the children of disobedience because they flie from the revealed will of God to prestigiatorie and fraudulent impieties The Lord demaundeth in the 1. of Kinges who shall entice that is perswade deceaue Ahab that hee maie goe and fal at Ramoth in Gilead one saide thus an other thus Then there came forth a spirit and said I will entice him wherewith I will go be a false spirite in the mouth of all his Prophets Then the L. said thou shalt entice him shalt prevaile go forth and doe so Such is the counsell that the Lorde holdeth in heaven to bring to confusion al those whome the load-star of his written word cannot leade but they will take to themselues croked and perverse vvaies vvhich go downe to the chambers of death I now conclude all these with that memorable saying of Augustin He that desireth neither to liue happily hereafter nor godly in this present vvorld let him purchase eternall death by such rites Thus much of the course resolued vpon Come let vs cast lottes The reason why they resolved vpon lottery was that they mighte know for whose sake the evill was vpoÌ„ theÌ„ Who are they that enquire this vir ad amicuÌ„ suuÌ„ every one in the ship no doubte Ionas amongst the rest as quicke to dissemble his faulte as hee that was most innocent Looke froÌ„ the crowne of the head to the soule of the foote from the maister of the ship to the ship-boy they had all deserved this tempest full of idolatry impurity of life fitter for their vvickednesse whome the iawes of hell then the waues of the sea should swallowe vp Yet as if they were free from staine they will try by lottes for whose cause the evill is vpon them So is the nature of man wedded to it selfe leauing her eies at home in a boxe in discerning her own infirmities but in the faultes of others as quicke sighted as eagles Then every eie hath a double ball to see with and they stand without the
Hebrew idolaters one that feared God those that worshipped the host of heaveÌ„ creatures both in the sea in the laÌ„d a maÌ„ that ascribed the creation of all these to the true substantial God infidels a child of AbrahaÌ„ bondmen strangers one that was borne in the free womans house But this is a part of the iudgments of God the meane time to cloath vs with our shame as with a garment wheÌ„ we commit such follies as the barbarous themselues are ashamed of For what greater confusion before men than that an infidell shoulde say to an Israelite a Turke or a Moore to a Christian a babe to an aged man an idiot to a prophet the ignorant to him that shoulde instructe him Why hast thou done this That vvhich our Saviour spake of the Centurion in the Gospell is much to the praise of the captaine and no lesse to the shame of Israell I haue not found so great faith no not in Israell And what ment he in the tenth of Luke by the parable of the man wounded betwixte Hiericho and Ierusalem but vnder the person of a Samaritane to condemne a priest and a Levite men of more knowledge then the other had yet though they served and lived at the altar they had not an offering of mercy to bestowe vpon the poore man when there was nothing but mercy founde in the Samaritane Why are the dogges mentioned at the gates of the rich man but that for licking the sores of Lazarus and giving an almes in their kinde they are made to condemne the vnmercifull bowelles of their maister vvho extended no compassion Our Saviour wondereth in the sevententh of the same Evangelist that when ten lepers vvere clensed one onely returned to giue him thankes and hee was a stranger So he had but the tithe and that from a person of whom he least expected it Balaam was reprooved by his asse as the rich man before by his dogges and as he proceeded in frowardnesse so the asse proceeded in reprehensions 1. shee went aside 2. dashed his foote 3. laie downe with him 4. opened her mouth and asked him why he 〈◊〉 smitten her Israell in the first of Esay a reasonable and royal people is more ignoraunt of their Lord than the Oxe of his owner the Asse of his maisters cribbe The complaint is afterwardes renued againe though the tearmes somewhat varied Even the storke in the aire knoweth her apointed time and the turtle and the crane and the swallowe obserue the season of their comming but my people knowe not the iudgement of the Lorde The confession of Saint Augustine vnlesse wee bee shamelesse and senselesse cannot bee denied of our vnproficient daies The vnlearned arise and catch heaven and wee with our learning behold we wallowe in flesh and bloud We are made to â—udge the Angels but Angels and men infidels barbarians publicanes harlots nay beastes and stones shall bee our iudges because when wee aske in our daily praiers that the will of God may be done in earth as it is in heaven we are so farre off from matching that proportion that there is not the poorest creature in the aire in the earth in the deepe but in their kindes and generations goe beyond vs. Of beastes and vnreasonable creatures Bernard giveth a sage admonition Let the reasonable soule know that though it hath the beastes her companions in enioying the fruites of the earth they shall not accompany her in suffering the torments of hell therefore her ende shall be worse then her first beginning because wherein shee matched them before shee now commeth behinde them To this purpose vvith some little inversion of the wordes he bringeth the sentence which Christ pronounced of Iudas Id had beene good for that mâ—n if hee had never beene borne Not if he had not beene borne at al but if hee had not beene borne a man but either a beast or some meaner creature which because they haue not iudgement come not to iudgement and therefore not to punishment But amongst reasonable soules there must be a difference kept As the grounde is moâ—e or lesse manured so it must yeelde in fruite accordingly some an hundred some thirtie some sixtie folde Fiue talentes must gaine other fiue two must returne two and one shall satisfie vvith a lesse proportion A childe may thinke and doe and speake as befitteth a childe a man must thinke and doe and speake as becommeth a man an Hebrew must liue as an Hebrew not as an Aegyptian a prophet as a prophet not as an husbandman a beleever as a beleever not as an infidell a professor of the gospell of Christ as a professour not as an atheist Epicure Libertine Anabaptist Papist or any the like either hell-hounde or hereticke least we fall and be bruised to pieces at that fearefull sentence The first shall be last that whom we went before in knowledge and other graces those we are brought behinde in the hope of our recompense It shall little availe vs at the retribution of iust men to pleade with our Iudge as it is exemplified vnto vs in the seventh of Matthew Lorde Lorde haue wee not prophecied by thy name vnlesse wee haue prophecied to our selues and lived like Prophets or that by the name wee haue cast out devils out of others if we haue kept and retained Devils within our owne breastes or that we haue eaten and drunken in thy presence thou hast taught in our streetes when neither the example of his life nor the doctrine of his lippes hath any way amended vs. THE XIII LECTVRE Chap. 1. ver 11. Then saide they vnto him what shall wee doe vnto thee that the sea may be calme vnto vs For the sea wroughte and was troublous YOu haue before hearde first the conviction of Ionas by lotte vvhich vvas in effect by the oracle and aunswere of God himselfe therewith they are not content but they vvill secondly know his fault vvhat hast thou done his trade vvhat is thine occupation c. Wherin I observed their iustice and vprightnes in iudiciall proceeding against him They haue thirdly conâ—itentem reum the confession of his owne lippes against himselfe so as there needed no more to do as David spake to the young men that brought newes of the death of Saul Os tuum contra te loquutum est thine owne mouth hath spoken against thee and the rulers of the sonne of God What neede we any more witnesses for vvee haue hearde it of his owne moutb They are not yet satisfied but fourthly insteede of resolution they are exceedingly afraide they punish and afflict themselues more than they punish Ionas and in steede of execution they beginne to expostulate vvith him vvhy hast thou done this and though they haue not time to breath almost yet they finde a time to heare a longe narration and tale of all his diobedience Is there yet an ende No but fiftlie in a matter alreadie
of iudgemente But order is taken against such offenders that because they feare not death they should feare somethinge after death So saide the Poet who saw no further into these things than the glasse of nature gaue him light They that haue wrought themselues a causeles death And hating light aboue throwne out their breath How would they ioy to be aliue againe Though put to penury and bitter'st paine And mee thinketh the reason of that law to debarre them from honest buriall can never be disproved Qui sibijpsi non parcit quomodo parcet alijs Hee that spareth not his owne person hâ—vve will hee spare other men There is but one example in the whole booke of God wherein there is any colour of patronage for this prodigious and treacherour sinne against their owne bodies The example of Sampson burying himselfe and the Philistines vvith the fall of an house vvhich is not otherwise excused by â—â—â—ustine but that a secret spirit vvilled him so to doe For it appeareth in the booke of Iudges where the history is written that his strength vvas renewed and hee called vpon the Lorde at the instante of his death And in the eleventh to the Hebrewes hee is well reported of in that cloude of righteous men by the spirite of God I haue helde you longe in disputing this question vvhich manye a one hath disputed to himselfe vvithout replie vvhen the malignaunt spirite hath once but vvhispered it into his cares easilie drawne to make a conclusion againste bodye and soule vvithout longer deliberation Such haue beene the direfull tragoedies which ofte haue beene presented vpon the face of the â—arth carrying alwaies a note of a most distrustfull minde either suspecting it selfe that it is vnable to beare the burthens of calamitye imminent or hating and abhorring it selfe for some iniquity committed Now what shall wee thinke the affection of Ionas was in this case giving and not lesse then thrusting vpon them full power of his person Take mee and cast mee into the sea Iudas we knowe vpon the stinge of his guilty conscience hunge himselfe vpon an alder-tree and burst in the middest Achitophell did the like because his counselles were defeated Saul fell vpon his sworde that hee might not come into the handes of the Philistines Domitius Nero fearing the approch of Galba and hearing that a sentence of the Senate was passed against him to stande in the pillorie and to be beaten with roddes to death for his outragious both tyrannies and impurities of life finding no man to strike him and exclaming against them all vvhat haue I neither friende nor foe I haue lived dishonourably let mee dye shamefullye strake himselfe through with his owne sworde his trembling hand directed thereunto by a beastlye Eunuch Others through other impatience angry with heauen and earth GOD and man haue desperately departed with Aiax in the tragoedie It doeth mee good to haue vanquished heaven the GODS the lightening the sea all oppositions Thus in effecte did Cato triumph Nihil egistâ— fortuna fortune thou haste not sped Thus mighte Ionas cast with himselfe Is there a God in heaven windes in the aire and waues in the sea that crosse my intent I wil haue my will though I die for it Sic sic iuvat ire sub vmbras So even so it easeth my stomacke to take my leaue of this life But never shall it enter into my heart thus to conceiue of a righteous and repentaunt prophet who ratâ—â—â—â—umbleth his soule vnder the handes of GOD framinge these of the like perswasions to himselfe I see the purpose of the most High cannot bee chaunged I kicke against the prickes heauen hath proclaimed mee a traitour the windes and the seas haue hearde it and whiles there is breath in the one and water in the other I shall not goe vnpunished the worde of the Lorde is good that hee hath spoken the wisedome of the Lorde is vviser than the foolishnesse of men and the strength of the Lord stronger than the weakenesse of man the Lorde doe that that is good in his sight Cast mee therefore into the sea throw mee into the mouth of iustice let the hunger and thirst of it bee satisfied for I haue deserved no lesse Surelye there is not a vvoorde in this vvhole speech but full of vertuous charitable and mysticall obedience Wee are nowe come to the ende of his resolution VVherein wee haue two thinges to beare away first his charity to his companions vvherewith hee tendered the safegarde of their liues secondly the figure hee bare For hee vvas a type of that vndefiled Lambe by whome the nations of the worlde shoulde be redeemed His charity appeareth in plaine tearmes that the sea may bee calme vnto you It is no pleasure vnto him to haue the liues of others brought in question for his sake hee is not of the nature of some men neither profitable in their life time and at their deathes of most vngratious desolatory hatefull affections who make it their ease and comforte in some sorte to haue their miseries accompanied and so they bee not alone in destruction they are lesse grieved The Poets expresse the vncompassionate style of these Catilinarie dispositions When I am deade saieth one of them let the earth bee mixed with fire Medaea cryeth in the tragoedy It were the onely felicitie to see all thinges ruinated when I goe my selfe Domitius Nero of whome I spake before caused Rome to bee fired in twelue places togitheir that hee mighte see a patterne howe Troye burnte himselfe the meane while singing verses out of Homer VVhat were their prizes and combates in the theatre of Rome but the slaughteringes of men to mooue pleasure and delight When the people desired Theodosius the Emperour to graunt them those sportes hee aunswered them A milde prince must temper himselfe both from cruell governemente and from cruell spectacles The same matter falling into debate at Athens Demonax gaue iudgemente that if they vvill publickely receaue so greate atrociâ—ye and cruelty amongest them they should first overthrowe the altar of mercy His meaning was that mercy hath no place vvhere there is admission of such heathenish cruelties Cyprian in his seconde booke of Epistles making mention of this custome sheweth their manner thereof that their bodyes were fedde before hande and dieted with stronge meates to fill them with iuice and bloude that beeing fatted to punishment they mighte dye vvith more coste it may bee glorie but with lesse contentation Hee much inveigheth against it that man shoulde bee killed to delighte man and that an arte science or skill thereof shoulde bee practised not onelye vvickednesse vvroughte but taughte by precept They had a custome besides to enter combate vvith wilde beastes men of a sound age lustie able vvell-favoured persons vvell apparelled wente to a voluntary death and fought with the beastes not for any offence committed but in a mad moode And as the actours
coaction It is vvritten in the booke that I shoulde doe thy vvill I am content to doe it O my God it is as deepelye vvritten in mine own wil and thy lavve is in the middest not in a corner of my hearte You see his willingnesse being called he aunswered beeing sent wente with as cheerefull a spirite as every any servaunt the Centurion kepte his eare vvas opened vvith attention as it were vvith the avvle of the lavve his desires accommodated no other way and not an angle but the hearte of his hearte and the inmost concavity vvhich they say is made to containe vitall breath was filled vp vvith subiection to his fathers pleasure Incredulous souldiours if yee beleeue not this open his side with a speare and pearce his hearte to the center of it and tell mee if he vvrote not vvith streames of bloude as sometimes hee vvrote in the dust perfitte obedience towarde his father vncredible loving kindnesse towards our vngratefull generation Looke into the Arke yee curious Bethshemites examine the secrets of it and tell me what yee finde Bring hither your fingers and thrust your nailes into the printes of his woundes and sounde the bottome if you canne of his vvilling and hearty disposition VVas hee not dumbe before the shearer or did hee ever abuse nay open his mouth before the slaughterer though they tooke both fleece and flesh from him his cloake and his coate to did hee ever repine vvas his voice hearde in the streetes though the verye stones in the streetes coulde haue founde in their heartes to haue spoken and cryed in his cause Augustine applyeth to his passion the vvordes of the Psalme I vvill lay mee dovvne in peace and take my rest Ego cum pondere pronunciandum est wee must pronounce I vvith vveighte to shevve that hee suffered death vvith his free assent And Bernarde noteth vpon the seconde of the Canticles Beholde hec commeth leaping by the mountaines and skipping over the hilles that being nimble of spirite fervent in loue zealous in pietie he overcame all others in the alacrity of his ministration as hee vvhome GOD had annointed vvith the oile of gladnesse aboue all his fellovves hee outleapte Gabriell the Archangell sayeth hee and came to the Virgine before him by the testimony of the Angell himselfe Haile Marie full of grace Dominus tecum The Lorde is vvith thee Beholde thou leftest him in heaven and findest him in the vvombe Hovve can this be volavit praevolavit super pennas ventorum Hee flevve and overflevve thee vpon the vvinges of the vvinde and hee that sent thee before is come before thee If you vvill knovve his other leapes Gregory setteth them downe that as he leapte from heaven into the vvombe so from the wombe into the manger from the manger to the crosse from the crosse to the graue from the graue into heauen againe and thence wee looke for his seconde comming I knovve that for my sake this greate tempest is vpon you Ionas knew the cause of their daunger partly by propheticall revelation which manner of knowledge was private to Ionas with but few other men partely by touch of conscience vvhich he liueth not vpon the earth that can escape Tempestes you haue had in your dayes vvithout number but first grandis tempest as haec This greate and vnvvoonted tempest which is not onely come vpon mee but secondly super vos vpon you also thirdly I knovve and am without doubte that it is raised fourthly for my sake Though it mingle the nocent and innocent vnrighteous and righteous togither as the nettes in the gospell mingle the good and badde fish yet am I the springe of it and thereof I am as certaine as that I knovve my righte hande I knovve that for my sake Ionas vvas very forvvarde before in Confession hee tolde them the vvhole progresse of his disobedience but never proceeded thus farre For yet hee mighte haue pleaded I graunt I am a sinner it may be you as deepely as my selfe but vvhen he seeth the siege of the anger of God lie so hote close to the wals of his conscience that it will not be remooved then Novi quia propter me I know that it is for my sake Many are straungers to themselues for a space and vvill seeme to bee ignoraunte of their owne doinges charge them vvith sinne they vvill say and sweare and binde it with cursing I knowe it not in the same tearmes that Peter denied his master Non novi hominem I knowe not the man But when Christ looketh backe I meane when they finde themselues narrowly eied and remembred then I knowe that for my sake it is that hee looketh backe VVhen our saviour toulde his people as hee sate at supper with them One of you shall betray mee doe you thinke the traitour would bewray himselfe no though they vvere all sorrowfull and asked one after one Is it I yet is hee as forwarde as the rest to aske that question also Is it I master albeit he knewe it as perfitly as his owne name Being but one amongst twelue and eleven more in company to beare a part of the burthen hee thoughte he was safe enough Seneca by his owne confession and preface to his tale reporteth a strange but a true thing of Harpastes a foole and and vvith age a blinde beldame Shee knoweth not that shee is blinde and often entreateth her guide to goe foorth of dores because the house is darke Neither is there any saieth hee amongst vs that knoweth his faultes Every man flattereth himselfe Non ego ambitiosus sum I am not ambitious nor covetous nor luxurious nor given to this or that vice David knewe not the man that Nathan spake of hee pronounced of a person vnknowne vnto him The man that hath done this is the childe of death This is but mufling of the conscience for a time as Thamar mufled her face to take a short pleasure but Thamar shall bee discovered and all heartes shall bee opened the cockatrice that hath lien in her hole will come to warme her selfe against the heate of the sunne Adam will be brought from his bushes and Sarah from behinde the doore and a man shall say to his consciâ—nce as Ahab said to Elias Haste thou founde mee O mine enemie The Delphians made no scruple to murther Aesope amongst them but when they were plagued with death and mortality therevpon they walked vp and downe in all the publicke assemblies of Greece and caused it to bee proclaimed by noise of criers that whosoever would should bee avenged vpon them for the death of Aesope they knewe that for their sakes the plagues came The accusers of the adulteresse in the Gospell hovve skilfull and busie were they in detecting and following her fact 1. they had taken her 2. in the acte 3. they set her in the midst 4. they vrged the law Moses commaunded that shee shoulde bee stoned
Ed. Campion our charitable countriman laid at the dores of our Church yea brought into the streetes of our Vniversities as if we were the fathers and patrons of it We never said it I say once againe to redeeme a thousand deathes if more were due to our sinnes we would not affirme it This we say whatsoever hath substance being perfection in the action of sin God is the author of it because it is good Ipsum quantumcunque esse bonum est the least essence in the world is good but not of the fault and defection therein I must once more repeate sin hath a positive privative part a subiect and the quality of the subiect nature corruption Prorsus ab illo est quicquid pertinet ad naturam prorsus ab illo non est quicquid est contrae naturam Whatsoever belongeth to nature is wholy from him whtsoeveâ— is against nature is in no respect from him Now death and whatsoever belongeth to the traine of death sin and the like are against nature In him we live and moove and have our being there is the piller of our truth a Poet of the Gentiles delivered it but an Apostle sanctified and ratified it and every creature in heaven in earth in the deepe crieth Amen to it And as that gentility and heathnishnesse of that vnbeleeving Poet coulde not marre Gods truth so the corruption depravation in the quality either of maÌ„ or action cannot hurt the substance Life is his whether we live to him as we ought to doe or to the lusts of our owne flesh or after the pleasure of the God of this world the prince of darknes MotioÌ„ is his whether we lift vp our handes to praier or whether to murther Essence is his the nature being substance of men of serpents of reprobate Angels are from him his good creatures He made not death he gave charge to the waters and earth to bring forth creatures that had the soule of life in them and when he made man hee breathed in his face the breath of life made him a living soule he made not darknesse he created the light neither was the authour of sterilitie and barrennesse hee made the bud of the earth which should seede seede the fruitfull tree And to speake a truth in proper tearmes these privations corruptions and defectes in nature as death darkenesse sterility blindnes silence and the like haue rather deficient than efficient causes For by the remooving of the things themselues vvhich these destroy they of their own accord succeede take their places Abandon the light of the sunne whereby our aire is brightened and illuminated you neede not carefully enquire or painefully labour how to come by darknesse the deficiencie and fayling of the light is a cause sufficient to bring in darknesse If the instrument of sighte bee decayed the stringes and spirites which serue for the eie inwardely wasted corrupted there is no more to be done to purchase blindnes to the eie the very orbity and want of seeing putteth blindnesse forth-with in possession If there were no speech or noise in this church what would there bee but silence and stilnesse wil you aske me the cause hereof It hath rightly none I can render the cause of speech there are instrumentes in man to forme it and there is an aire to receiue it from his mouth beare it to their eares that should partake it vpon the ceasing vvhereof silence hath a course to supplie without the service and aide of any creature in the worlde to produce it And these things we know and are acquainted with not by the vse of them for who can vse that which is nothing We know what light is by the vse thereof because we beholde it but who ever saw darkenesse if the apples of his eie were as broade as the circle of the sunne and the moone waking and wide open how could hee see darkenesse VVee know what speech is by the vse thereof because wee receiue it by the eare but who ever hearde silence Onelie vvee knovve them not by fruition of themselues but by want of their opposites which erst wee enioyâ—ed and now are deprived of I speake the more that I might speake plainely Wee were to enquire the efficient cause of sinne it hath none properly it hath a deficient cause Adam and Eue forsooke as it were the guide of their youth the word of God and his grace forsooke them Nature is now corrupted the soundnesse integrity of all the faculties therein diseased the image of God wholy defaced Vpon the decay and departure whereof sinne like a strong man entreth the house the bodie and soule are taken vp with a masse of iniustice the vnderstanding is filled with darkenesse the will with frowardnesse the senses with vanities and every part both of outwarde and inwarde man becommeth a servaunt to vnrighteousnesse Basill in a sermon vpon this argument now in hande vvilleth those that enquire of the author of sinne likewise to answere whence sicknesse and orbities in the bodie come for they are not saith hee the worke of God Living creatures were at the first well created having a proportion convenient to them but they fell into diseases and distemperatures vvhen they fell from healthinesse either by evill diet or by some other cause notwithstanding GOD made the bodie hee made not sicknesse and hee likewise made the soule but not the sinfulnesse thereof Ierome vppon the seconde of Abacuk giveth the like iudgemente Et si anima vitio suo efficitur hospitium Châ—ldaeorum naturâ tamen suà est tabernaculum Dei though the soule by her owne faulte is made an habitation or lodge for the Chaldaeans straungers to dwell in yet by hernature shee is the tabernacle of God Therefore hee should shew himselfe too ignorante that coulde not discerne betweene the corruption of nature and the author of nature And because we further were charged that we made the conversion of Paul the adulterie of David and the treason of Iudas the one the vprising of a sinner the other the falling downe of a saint the last finall revolt of a reprobate the workes and the proper workes of God all alike I prooved the contrary The first I acknowledged his proper and entire worke hee opened the vnderstanding changed the will did all therein In the other two hee tooke the wrll as hee founde it and without alteration thereof applied it to some endes which hee had secretly purposed and though neither the adultery of Dauid nor the improbity of Iudas were his proper workes yet God had his proper workes in them both for as he is a most holy creator of good natures so he is a most rightuous disposer of evill willes that whereas those evill willes doe ill vse good natures hee on the other side may well vse the evill willes themselves To conclude hee is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a
alive they sent him away to remoove their eie-sore God to be a stewarde both for AEgypt and Israell Nay God sent him thither and they sent him not the incomprehensible reaches of God were so far above theirs and his wisdome in the good handling of a bad cause doeth so much obscure and discountenance their malice that it seemeth not to be at all and the ministers in the action as it were cast aside the highest dispenser and moderatour thereof onely is remembred you sent mee not hither but God the purposes of your heartes were nothing in comparison of that everlasting decree which the immortall and onely wise God made to himselfe See what a race and pedegree of blessings Origen bringeth downe from the rotten stocke of that vngratious practise If Ioseph he not sold Pharaos dreames are not expounded none maketh provision of corne Egypt and the country about Egypt and Israell sterveth in the time of dearth the seede of Israell goeth not into Egypt to seeke bread neither returneth out of Egypt with miracles no wonders are wrought by Moses and Aaron no passing through the red sea no Manna from heaven no water from the rocke no lawe from Sinai no going into the land of Canaan c. These are the blessings and commodities which the envy of the Patriarkes bringeth forth by Gods most mighty and wise dispensation So that we may truly say Particular mischiefes are common commodities The life of the Lyon is maintained by the death of the Lambe the cruelty of tyrants giveth Martyres their glory and crowne And the bloud of Martyrs becommeth the seede and propagation of the church If any demaunde whether this good might not better have beene procured by good meanes I answere with Augustine Melius iudicavit Deus de malis benefacere quà m mala nulla esse permittere It seemed better to the wisedome of God to worke good out of evill than to suffer no evill at all I now conclude the point As in the statutes lawes of our common wealth there are many things contained more than the lawes either commit or allow as treasons felonies heresies and the like which notwithstanding the lawes order dispose of so in the will of God within the compasse and pale of his arbitrement much more is contained than either by action or autorizement from him could ever be defended and yet is that will of his iudge and disposer of al those particulars And whether Ioseph be sold into Egypt or Ionas throwne into the sea or the son of God himselfe nailed vpō a crosse we may safely vniversally say with the Mariners in this prophesie Thou Lord haste done as it pleased thee Surelie there is not an evill in th◠cittie nor vpon the face of the earth but God hath some vse of it Those sins within our land that take al from men as coveteousnesse extortion oppression vsury they take not that from God vvhich his wisdome maketh of them I meane the profit vse of most vnnaturall vices Happily they take the substance of their brethren and by taking such snares away saue their soules or if they take their liues they ease vnlade them of a great burthen of their sinnes to come The drunkard drinketh himselfe a sleepe not God and bringeth his owne senses and wits into a trance but provoketh quickneth the righteous Lorde to do a worke of iustice The adulterer wrappeth himselfe within the armes of his harlot and thinketh he is safe and not perceived but never shal be able to vnwrappe himselfe from the armes of Gods goverment The murtherer that spoileth the life of his mortall brethren if every wish of his hearte were a two edged sworde shall never kill the life of Gods immortall providence He shall saie to the hardest hearte at which the preaching of prophets and denunciation of iudgementes hath often recoiled open thy dores that I may enter into thee to declare my iustice and to the reprobatest minde that ever hath beene dulled and benummed with sinne though thou feelest not my grace thou shalt feele my vengeance Envie cānot hinder his benignity nor the hotest malice vnder heauen drie vp this spring of his goodnes What shall we say then Because God maketh vse of thy sinnes art thou excused Is not thine evill evill because he picketh good out of it deceiue not thy selfe therein When thou hast done such service to thy maister and maker though seven and seven yeares as Iacob did to Laban thou shalt loose thy wages and thy thankes to O well were thou if thou didst but loose for thou shalt also gaine a sorowful advātage It is vnprofitable nay miserable service which thou hast thus bestowed Babylon shall bee the hammer of the Lorde a long time to bruse the nations himselfe afterwardes bruised Assur his rod to scourge his people but Assur shall bee more scourged These hammers rods axes sawes other instruments when they have done their offices which they never ment shal be throwne themselves into the fire and burnt to ashes Sathan did service to God it cannot bee denied in the afflicting of Iob winnowing of Peter buffeting of Paul executing of Iudas and God did a worke in all these either to proove patience or to confirme faith or to trie strength or to commend iustice yet is Sathan reserved in chaines vnder darkenes to the retribution of the great day Iudas did service to God in getting honour to his blessed name for the redemption of mankinde whilst the world endureth Yet was his wages an alder-tree to hang himselfe vpon and which is worse he hangeth in hell for eternall generations He had his wages and lost his wages That which the priest gave him he lost and lost his Apostleshippe but gained the recompence of everlasting vnhappinesse and lieth in the lowest lake for the worme and death to gnaw vpon without ceasing Will you heare the end of all Feare God and keepe his commandements For this is the whole duety of man This is the will of God wherewith we are highly charged and he will strictly require it The booke that is clasped vp let vs leave to the Lambe and to the blessed Trinity Those of Moses the Prophets the Psalmes of Christ and his blessed Apostles wherein we may run and read the ordinances of the most High belong to vs and our seede after vs. These let vs carefully search and meditate in them day and night let them wake and sleepe walke rest live and die with vs and whatsoever he hath secretly decreed whether by our weakenesse or strength sicknesse or health falling or standing which in his hidden counselles is locked vp and cannot be opened but by the key of David let vs beseech him for Christes sake to turne it to our good that his name may be glorified his arme made knowne his wisdome iustice and mercy more and more magnified and our sinfull soules by the abundant riches of his grace finally saved Amen THE XX.
reioine to the sonne of GOD when hee instructed him in the greatest and the next commandements Well maister thou hast said the trueth that there is one God and there is none but he and to love him with all the heart c. and his neighbour as himselfe is more then all burnt offerings and sacrifices And so farre is it of that the slaying of vnreasonable beastes were they in number equall to those millions of bullocks and sheep which Salomon offered at the dedication of the temple and adding a millian of rivers of oile to glad the altars of GOD shall bee acceptable vnto him that the giving of our first-borne for our transgression and the fruit of our bodies for the sinne of our soules shal bee an vnfruitfull present without serious hearty obedience to his counselles Hee that shewed thee O man what is good and what he requireth of thee Surely to doe iustlie and to loue mercy to humble thy selfe and to walke with thy God The ends of the Iewish sacrifices if I mistake not were these First to acknowledge therein that death is the stipende of sinne which though it were due to him those that sacrificed yet was it translated laid vpon the beast that offended not Secondly to figure before hand the killing of the lambe of God which all the faithfull expected Thirdly to testifie the submissioÌ„ of the hart which in these visible samplers shone as a light before the whole world So spoiling the sacrifice of the last of these endes they make it in manner a lying signe leaue it as voide of life breath as the beastes which they immolate The Poet complaineth in his satyre of the costlines vsed in their churches asketh the priests what gold did there willing theÌ„ rather to bring that which Messalas vngratious son froÌ„ all his superfluities could not bring to wit iustice piety holy cogitations an honest hart Grant me but these saith he I will sacrifice with salt and meale only It agreeth with the answer which Iupiter HaÌ„mon gaue to the Athenians enquiring the cause of their often vnprosperous successes in battaile against the Lacedemonians seeing they offered the choicest thinges they could get which their enimies did not The Gods are better pleased with their inwarde supplication lacking ambition than with all your pompe Lactantius handling the true worship of God against the Gentiles giveth them their lesson in few sententious wordes that God desireth not the sacrifice either of a dumbe beast or of death bloudshead but the sacrifice of man and life wherein there is no neede either of garlandes of vervin or of fillets of beastes or of soddes of the earth but such thinges alone as proceede from the inwarde man The alter for such offeringes hee maketh the hearte whereon righteousnesse patience faith innocency chastity abstinence must bee laide and tendered to the Lorde For then is GOD truely worshiped by man when hee taketh the pledges of his hearte and putteth them vpon the altar of God The sacrifices evangelicall which the giver of the newe lawe requireth of vs are a broken spirite obedience to his vvorde love towardes God and man iudgement iustice mercy prayer and praise which are the calves of the lippes almes deedes to the poore for with such sacrifices is the Lord pleased our bodies and soules not to be slaine vpon the altar for it must be a quicke sacrifice not to be macerated and brought vnder even to death for it must be our reasonable service and finally our lives if neede be for the testimony of the trueth All which sacrifices of Christianity without a faithfull heart which is their Iosuah and captaine to goe in and out before them to speake but lightly with Origen in the like case are nutus tantùm opus mutum a bare ceremony and a dumbe shew but I may cal them sorceries of Simon Magus whose heart was not right in the sight of God and not sacrifices but sacrileges with Lactantâ—us robbing God of the better part and as Ieremie named those idle repetitions of the Iewes the temple of the Lord the temple of the Lord this is the temple of the Lord verba mendacij lying wordes so these opera mendacij lying workes so fraudulently handled that if it were possible God himselfe should bee deceived O how hath Sathan filled their harts that they shoulde lie vnto the holy Ghost in making a shewe that they bring the whole price of their possession and lay it downe at the feete of God when they withhelde the dearer part from him They have not â—ied vnto men though that were fault enough but vnto God who will truely require the least vntruthes betweene man and man but falshoods and fallacies committed betweene the porch and the altar within the courtes of his owne house and in the professions of his proper service by casting vp the eies or handes bowing the knee knocking vpon the brest or thigh making sadde the countenaunce mooving the lippes vncovering or hanging dovvne the heade like a bul-rush groveling vpon the earth sighing sobbing praying fasting communicating distributing crying LORDE LORDE seeking to abuse the fleshly eies of men and the fiery eyes of omniscience it selfe hee will right sorely revenge as a dishonour immediately and directly done to his owne sacred person Galienus the Emperour gave this iudgement of one who solde his wife glasse for pearles imposturam fecit passus est hee couzened and was couzened But this for the good of the couzener For vvhen he vvas brought vpon the stage and a Lion expected by the people to have torne him peece-meale a capon was sent vp to assault him The same sentence standeth firme in heaven against the deceitfull marchandizers of true religion vvho offer to the highest emperour clothed vvith essentiall maistye as the other vvith purple and to his spouse the church glasse for pearles copper for golde coales for treasure shewes for substances seeming for being fansie for conscience Imposturam faciunt patientur They mocke and they shal be mocked but in an other kind than the former was for whereas they looke for the thanks and recompence of their forepassed labours loe they are like the dreamer in the Prophet vvho eateth by imagination in the night time and vvhen hee awaketh from sleepe his soule hath nothinge And made vowes The matter of their vowes is as vnceraine as of their sacrifices What it was they promised to the Lorde and by obligation bound themselues to perfourme neither ancient nor recent Iewish nor Christian expositour is able to determine By coniectural presumption they leaue vs to the choice of these foure specialties That either they vowed a voyage to Ierusalem where the latelie receaved Iehovah was best knowne or to beautifie the temple of the Lorde with some rich donaries or to giue almes to the poore or thenceforth to become proselites in the religion of the Iewes and as Ierome explaneth
soule vvhen he is well-nigh spent and it is a question whether his faith be quicke or dead there commeth an other veruntamen like a showre of the later raine in the drought of summer to water his fainting spirite yet hast thou brought vp my life from the pitte O LORDE my GOD. The readings are diverse The Hebrewes sâ—y thou hast brought vp my life or caused it to ascende The septuâ—ginte my life hath ascended Ierome Thou shalt lifte vp Some say from the pitte some the graue some from death some from corruption There is no oddes For whither of the two times bee put the matter is not great Thou hast or thou shalt For the nature of hope is this futura facta dicit Thinges that are to come it pronounceth of as alâ—eadie accomplished In the eigth to the Romanes we are saved by hope though we are not yet saved And whome God hath iustified those hee hath also glorified though not yet glorified Ephesians the second wee are raised from the dead though our resurrection heereafter to be fulfilled But I stay not vpon this It is a rule in Seneca that by the benefite of nature it is not possible for any man to bee grieved much and long togither For in her loue shee beareth vnto vs shee hath so ordered our paines as that shee hath made them either sufferable or shorte that which Seneca imputed to nature I to hope grounded in the promises of God immutable things the safe and sure anchor of the soule of man The sorrow of Ionas was wonderfully vehement but soone alaied Whence had he that speedy mittigation from nature nothing lesse Here what the voice of nature is When the people of Israell crieth vpon Moses for flesh what is his crie to God I am not able to beare this people If I have founde favour in thine eies kill mee that I behold not this misery When Iezabell threatneth to make Elias like one of the dead prophets he hasteth into the wildernes and breaketh out into impatience and irkesomnes of life O Lord it is sufficient either he had lived or he had bene plagued long enough take away my soule from me The woman in the 2. of Esdras having lost her sonne be it a figure or otherwise it is true in both ariseth in the night season goeth into the field decreeth with her selfe neither to eate nor drinke but there to remaine fasting and weeping till shee were dead Esdras councelleth her foolish woman doe not so returne into the city goe to thine husband c. shee answereth I will not I will not goe into the citye but here will I die You heare how nature speaketh Was Ionas thus relieved no. The sense of his owne strength or rather his weakenesse woulde have sent him hedlong as the devils the heard of swine into the lake of desperation It is the Lord his God whose name is tempered according to the riddle of Sampson both of strong and sweete who is forâ—â—ter suavis suaviter fortis strong in sweetenes and sweete in strength fortis pro me suavis mihi strong for me and sweete to me that hath done this deede Behold my brethren there is hoâ—ie in the lion there is mercy in the fearefull God of heaven He is not only a Lord over Ionas to note his maiesty feare but the Lord his God to shew the kindnes of a father It is the Lord his God to whom he repaireth by particular applicatioÌ„ with the disciple of Christ leaneth as it were in his maisters bosome that delivered his life from the pit his soule from fainting Before he lay in the depthes was desceÌ„ded to the ends of the mouÌ„taines c. All that is aunswered in one worde eduxisti thou hast brought me vp from the pit wherein I was buried Before the waters were come even vnto his soule ready to drinke it in and to turne him to corruption but now God hath delivered that soule from the corruption it was falling into What shall we then say the sea hath no mercy the weedes no mercy the earth with her promontaries and bars no mercy the whale no mercy the Lord alone hath mercy It fared with Ionas as with a fore-ruÌ„ner of his when his spirit was coÌ„fused folden vp within him when hee looked vpon his right hand and behold there was none that would know him much lesse at his left wheÌ„ all refuge failed and none cared for his soule then cried he vnto the Lorde his God and saide Thou art my hope and my portion in the land of the living O harken vnto my cry for I am brought very low even as low as the earth is founded and bring my soule out of prison this pit wherin I lie that I may praise thy name O let not life nor death I name noe more for death is the last and worst enemy that shal be subdued bee able to take your hope from you When your heart in thinking or tongue in speaking hath gone too far correct your selues with this wholesome and timely veruntamen yet notwithstanding I will go to the Lorde my God and trust in his name The nailes that were driven into the handes and feete of our Saviour were neither so grievous nor so contumelious vnto him as that reproch that was offered in speech he trusted in the Lorde let him deliver him This was the roote that preserved Iob and Iob preserved it when his friends became foes and added affliction vnto him he willed them to hold their tongues that he might speake not caring what came of it Wherfor do I take my flesh in my teeth saith he and put my soule in my hand that is why should I fret and consume my self with impatience If he shoulde kill me would I not trust in him so far is it of that I despaire of the mercies of God that my life shall sooner leaue me than my assurance of his graces This was the deepe and inwarde matter he ment in the 19. of his booke from the abundance wherof he made that propheticall and heavenly protestation O that my words were written written in a booke and graven with an iron pen in lead or stone for ever I knowe that my redeemer liveth Wormes rottenes shall consume me to nothing but my redeemer is aliue behold he liveth for evermore hath the keies of hell and of death The graue shal be my house and I shall make my bed in darkenes but I shall rise againe to behold the brightnes of his countenance These eies of nature shal sinke into the holes of my head but I shall receiue them againe to behold that glorious obiect And though many ages of the worlde shall run on betwixt the day of my falling his long expected uisitation yet he shalâ— stand the last day vpon the earth himselfe α and ω the first and the last of all the creatures of God to recapitulate former
thereof For what vse had he either of his hands to helpe himselfe withall more than Ieroboam had when his hande was withered or of his eies to beholde the light of heaven more than if the eagles of the valley had pickt them out or of his eares to heare any sentence of comforte more than if they had never beene planted The grinders within his head what did they for him vnlesse they ground and whetted themselues His tongue what tasted it excepte his owne spittle He might truly say with the prophet Esay that from the crowne of the heade to the sole of his foote there was no parte that did the duties of it But all those former defectes and impotencies are nothinge to that he nowe speaketh of VVhen my soule fainted within mee For as the soule is of more worth and excellencie than the body so the languishmentes of the soule more grievous and the death of the soule more remedilesse than those of the bodie and therefore as the hazarde exceedeth so the health of the soule is more dearely to bee tendered In the greatest distemperatures and disorders of the body vvhen the bones are smitten asunder and the loynes filled vvith a sore disease when the woundes are putrified and stinke the marrow and moysture quite dryed vp yea though it bee brought and dissolved into the dust of death yet the soule may bee safe and sounde notwithstanding and in farre better case than vvhen shee lived in her house of claie But if the soule bee sicke can the body have any comforte Maie vvee not then inferre vvith him in the comedie My hearte is sicke my raines sicke my splene sicke my liver sicke and all my other partes are out of frame Out of this comparison betweene the body and soule let mee make my perswasion vnto you The men of the world were wâ—nt to say saith Bernarde that hee that keepeth his bodie keepeth a good castell A castell how long to continue this is the errour of worldly men to call their tabernacle which was made to be removed and pulled downe vpon every light occasion a castell VVee say not so but hee that keepeth his bodie keepeth a base dunghill He that had seene the body of righteous Iob vlcerated botched and blained sitting vpon the dunghill woulde he not haue thought that a dunghill had sitten vpon a dunghill But hee that keepeth his soule hee keepeth a good castell indeede borne to eternity hee keepeth a heaven in comparison the sunne and moone and starres whereof are vnderstanding faith and hope with other Christian graces and the Lord of hostes himselfe hath his dwelling therein There is no man so simple no man so vile but taketh this to bee a castell of honor and strength because they beleeue it to be immortall Our saviour manifested this difference both by the ende of his comming in the flesh which was principally for our soules after for our bodies first to take away the sinnes of the worlde which are spirituall diseases then to remooue corporall infirmities and by the behaviour of his owne person amongst vs who though he suffered his body to bee tried with all kindes of ignominious and accursed vexations with spittings whippings buffetings and the bitterest death of the crosse yet was it ever his care to preserue his soule free from staines and corruptions It is not thus with the sonnes of men nowe a daies They neglect the care and culture of their soules but the lustes of the flesh they make provision for with all possible diligence They haue learned from the schoole of Hippocrates the physitian and Epicurus the swine to physicke and diet their bodies but the sicknesse and death of the soule which are their sinnes they never account of till they see they must bee punished O yee sonnes of men foolish and slowe of hearte to conceiue the rightest thinges howe long will yee loue such vanities and seeke after leasing These times are allotted to the soule not to the bodie Nowe is the time of salvation not of pleasure and pastime Let the flesh alone a while more then nature and necessity require let it not bee favoured either in food or rayment or any the like transitorye and fading benefite And vvhen it is vveary of walking vpon the face of the earth let it goe downe in peace and rest in hope till hee that came for your soules before shall also come to raise and reforme it In the fainting of our soules there is a grosse difference betwixte Ionas and vs. His soule fainted vvithin him through paine ours through pleasure and that pleasure the mother and nurse of a worser paine Our fleshe is too insolent against the spirite and keepeth it vnder with a stronge hande Hagar despiseth Sara the servaunt setteth her foote in the necke of her mistresse The flesh is cloathed like the raine-bowe with colours of all sortes wee goe into the bowels of the earth wee goe into the bowelles of the sea as farre and as lowe as ever Ionas went to seeke pearles and the riches of the sea to adorne it VVe forget our selues shamefully in such vnnecessary travaile It is the Queene that shoulde bee cloathed in a vesture of needle vvorke wroughte with diverse colours but the Queene is stripte of her iewels the soule robbed of her ornamentes and rich attire and the body is the theefe that deceiveth it The flesh is daintily fedde with the finest flowre of the wheate and the reddest bloud of the grape wee care not what it costeth the vnworthiest member we haue is deâ—fied and made our God a sinne beyonde the sinne of the Pagans shamefull and beastly idolatry they made them Gods of silver and golde and marble wee of our bellies what is done with the soule the meane time behold shee is pined and famished the breade of life is not bought nor sought for to strengthen her withall shee is kept from the gospell of peace and from the body and bloud that inconsumptible meate of her holy redeemer Shee that was borne from aboue to eate the hidden Manna the foode of Angels and to be nourished with the tree of life whose beginnings call her home againe is lesse regarded than a lumpe of earth O consider that hee vvho looseth the life of a bodie maie finde it againe The time shall come vvhen they that are in the graues shall heare the voice of the sonne of GOD. But the losse of a soule is vnrecoverable If it die in sinne it shall also die in perdition Rather it shall not die for it is not as the soule of the beast that endeth with the bodie O living and ever-living death Let them take heede that haue eares to heare with Their price hath beene once paide vvhich if the riches of Salomon treasures of Ezechias all the silver and golde within the globe of the earth coulde haue satisfied God would willingly haue spared his owne bloude Let them not looke for more Christs
3. according to the worde of the Lorde which erst he had disobeyed Thus farre we vnderstood whither he went nowe we are to learne what hee did in Niniveh namely 1. for the time Hee beginneth his message presently at the gates 2. for the place hee had entred but a thirde parte of the citie so much as might be measured by the travaile of one day 3. for the manner of his preaching hee cried 4. for the matter or contentes Yet fortye daies and Niniveh shall bee destroyed I haue tasted nothinge of this present verse but vvhat mighte make a connexion with the former For the greatnesse of Niniveh repeated in the latter ende thereof served to this purpose partly to commend the faith of the Ninivites who at the first sounde of the trumpet chaÌ„ged their liues partly to giue testimony ito the diligence constaÌ„cy of the Prophet who was not dismaide by so mighty a chardge And Ionas beganne to enter into the city All the wordes are spoken by diminution Ionas beganne had not made an ende to enter the citty had not gone through A daies iourney which was but the third parte of his way Not that Ionas began to enter the citty a daies iourney and then gaue over his walke for hee spent a day and daies amongest them in redressing of their crooked waies But Niniveh did not tarry the time nor deferre their conversion till his embassage vvas accomplished amongest them which is so much the more marveilous for that he came vnto them a messenger of evill and vnwelcome tydinges it is rather a wonder vnto mee that they skorned him not that they threw not dust into the aire ran vpon him with violence stopped his mouth threw stones at him with cursing and with bitter speaking as Shemei did at David as Ahab burdened Elias with troubling Israell so that they had not challenged Ionas for troubling Niniveh because he brought such tidinges as might sette an vprore and tumulte amongst all the inhabitantes That vvicked king of Israell whome I named before hated Micheas vnto the death for no other cause but that hee never prophecied good vnto him A man that ever did evill and no good coulde not endure to heare of evill And for the same cause did Amaziah the priest of Bethell banish Amos from the lande for preaching the death of Ieroboam and the captivitie of Israell therefore the Lorde was not able to beare his words and hee had his pasporte sealed O thou the seer goe flee thou avvaie into the lande of Iudah and there eate thy breade and prophecie there but prophecie no more at Bethel for this is the kinges chappell and this is the kinges courte so I woulde rather haue thought that they shoulde haue entertained Ionas in the like manner because hee came with fire and sworde in his mouth against them the cittye is not able to beare thy wordes vvee cannot endure to heare of the death of our king and the vniversall overthrow of our people and buildings O thou the seer get thee into the lande of Iudah and returne to thy cittye of Ierusalem and there eate thy breade and prophecye there but prophecie no more at Niniveh for this is the kings chappell nay this is the court of the mighty Monarch of Assyria But Niniveh hath a milder spirite and a softer speech and behaviour in receiving the Lordes prophet Now on the other side if you set togither the greatnesse of Niniveh and the present on-set vvhich the prophet gaue vpon it that immediately vpon his chardge without drawing breath hee betooke him to his hard province it maketh no lesse to the commendation of his faithfulnesse then their obedience For when hee came to Niniveh did hee deliberate what to doe examine the nature of the people vvhether they were tractable or no enquire out the convenientest place wherein to doe his message and where it might best stande with the safegarde of his person did he stay till hee came to the market place or burse or the kings palace where there was greatest frequency and audience No but where the buildings of the citty beganne there hee began to builde his prophecie And even at the entrance of the gates hee opened his lippes and smote them with a terrour of most vngratefull newes Againe he entered their citty not to gaze vpon their walles not to number their turrets nor to feede his eies with their high aspiring buildings much lesse to take vp his Inne and there to ease himselfe but to travaile vp and downe to wearie out his stronge men not for an houre or two but from morning til night even as long as the lighte of the daie vvill giue him leaue to worke I departe not from my texte for as you heare 1. Ionas began protracted not 2. to enter not staying till he had proceeded 3. to travaile not to be idle 4. the whole day not giving any rest or recreation to his bodie If wee will further extende and stretch the meaning of this sentence we may apply it thus It is good for a man to begin betimes and to beare the yoke of the Lord from his childe-hoode as Goliath is reported to haue beene a warriour from his youth to enter in the vineyard the first houre of the daie and to holde out till the twelfth to begin at the gates of his life to serue God and even from the wombe of his mother to giue his bodie and soule as Anna gaue her Samuell Nazarites vnto the Lord that his age and wisedome and grace may growe vp togither as Christes did And that as Iohn Baptist was sanctified in his mothers wombe Salomon was a witty childe Daniell and his yong companions were vvell nurtured in the feare of the Lorde and David wiser then his auncientes so all the parts degrees of his life from the first fashioning of his tender limmes may savour of some mercy of God which it hath received That whether hee bee soone deade they may say of him hee fulfilled much time or whither he carry his graye haires vvith him downe into the graue he may say in his conscience as David did Thy statutes haue ever beene my songes in the house of my pilgrimage As for the devils dispensation youth must bee borne with and as that vnwise tutour sometimes spake It is not trust mee a faulte in a younge man to followe harlots to drinke wine in bowls to daunce to the tabret to weare fleeces of vanity aboute his eares and to leaue some token of his pleasure in every place so giving him lycense to builde the frame of his life vpon a lascivious and riotous foundation of long practised wantonnesse it vvas never written in the booke of God prophets and Apostles never drempt of it the law-giver never delivered it heâ—l onelye invented it of pollicy to the overthrow of that age which God hath most enabled to doe him best service And as it was the
art but the painting of a graue or whiting of a rotten wall the cover and case to a lumpe of mortal flesh vaine and vnprofitable ornament I am weary of thy service thou haste made mee honourable in the sight of men thou canst worke me no reverence or estimation before the Lorde of hostes 6. It had beene enough to haue proceeded thus farre to haue stripte him into his weekely and ordinarie attire to haue gone like a common man as Ahab in the first of Kings chandged his apparrell that his enemies might not know him first the king of Niniveh doeth not so but hee that had silver and golde as the dust in the streete and precious stones as the gravell in the river Tigris to haue wrapt his body in and to haue glistred against the rayes of the sunne as Herode in his shininge gowne forgetteth the wardrobe of the Empire and goeth to the beggers presse humbleth himselfe like a bond-man one that had grounde at the mill coulde not haue taken a garment of baser condition hee putteth on sacke-cloath nay hee covereth himselfe vvith sacke-cloath sacke-cloath is all the apparrell hee weareth sacke-cloath is the diademe to his heade sacke-cloath the mantell to his backe from the crowne of the head to the plant of his foote there is nothing but sacke-cloath The king hath wounde his body in sack-cloath as a corps made ready for the buriall and fitter to lie in the ground then to liue and breath vpon the face of the earth Lastly when hee hath all done he lieth not on an heape of violets roses as the Sibarites were wont to do nor vpon a couch beautified deckt with the tapestry of Egypt neither goeth he into the temple of Niniveh to cleaue to the dust of the pauement nor shutteth himselfe into his closet to grovell vpon the flore therof but he sitteth dwelleth abideth in an heape of ashes sacke-cloath was the ground ashes is the garnish lace and welt to all his garments A wonderfull alteration from a king of the earth to a worme of the earth from a robe to sacke-cloath from a throne to a dunghill from sitting in estate to lying in ashes from the pompe of a monarch to the image of a caitife he whom all the reverence of the world attended vpon to whom the knee was bowed the head vncovered the bodye prostrated who had as manie salutations as the firmament starres God saue the kinge longe liue the Emperour throweth away his crowne his scepter his maiestie with all the signes and solemnities thereto belonging and in effect rebuketh himselfe Why art thou prowde O earth and ashes Humble thy spirite see thy mortalitie tremble before the presence of that God who sendeth terrour into the heartes and confusion into the faces of all earthlye potentates To make an ende for I haue ever for the most part against my meaning and purpose offended you with prolixitye of speech I haue briefly two instructions to commende vnto you the one to the magistrates in particular that they serue God as beseemeth magistrates It is not the sworde scepter and robe nor the highest roume and other preheminence that maketh a magistrate but as he doeth make lawes so hee must take lawes contrary to the minde of lavvlesse Caracalla and be a rule both to others and himselfe as the king of Niniveh in this present example is first and formost in the service of God The other in general to all sortes of men The king of Niniveh you heare for whome the silver and golde and riches of the earth are provided for who should enioy these rather then princes goeth from his throne and putteth on sacke-cloath about him as one that must giue account to the highest God like those of the meanest condition I haue saide yee are GODS but yee shall die like vulgar men and sitteth in ashes as one not forgetting his first foundation that as he was bred of the ashes so to ashes he must returne My brethren let not the pompe of the worlde deceaue you whither it stand in authority or opulency or voluptuousnesse of life I say let it not deceiue you As the fresh rivers runne into the salt sea so shall all the honours of the world ende in basenesse all the pleasures of the vvorlde ende in bitternesse all the treasures of the worlde in emptinesse all the garmentes of the world in nakednesse and finally al the viands and delicates of the world in lothsomnesse and rottennesse Throw away your robes and costly caparisons you Kinges and Queenes of the earth you that are such not by the ordinaunce of God but by your owne vsurpation that take such honour vpon you not beeing called thereto but beare the bravery of princes the royalty of Salomon vpon your backes throw away your robes least he giue you a rent that gaue you a garment and cloth you with worse then leprosie that hath hitherto cloathed you with honour and beautie But why doe I spende my time in so impertinent and vnprofitable exhortation fashion brought them in these disguisementes I meane and fashion must beare them out or nothing will doe it Fashion is the best preacher and oratour of our age I woulde to God our preaching were in fashion to for then I am sure it would winne both men and women we vse all the fashions therein that our commission can extende vnto we preach season and not season wee bring forth olde and newe wee giue milke and strong meate we come in a spirite of gentlenesse and with a rod we entreate we threaten wee preach mercie we preach iudgement all these fashions we vse and yet without successe But the fashion of the world preacheth and perswadeth with more effect Fashion brought in silkes and velvelts at one time and fashion brought in russets and graâ—es at another fashion brought in deepe ruffes and shallow ruffes thicke ruffes and thinne ruffes double ruffes and no ruffes fashion brought in the verdingale and carried out the verdingale and hath againe revived the verdingale from death and placed it behinde like a rudder or sterne to the body in some so bigge that the vessell is scarse able to beare it Thus whilst wee fashion our selues after this worlde and every garish devise therein or rather after the devill himselfe for these are Satanae ingenia the inventions of sathan not of man It is to be feared that when God shall come to iudge the quicke and the dead hee will not knowe those who haue so defaced and multiplyed that simple fashion which hee created Opus hoc meum non est nec haec imago mea this is not my workemanshippe nor this the similitude I first made The Lorde is king let all the kings of the earth ascribe glory vnto him he rideth vpon the cherubins let all their chariots and chaires of estate stoope before him he hath put on glorious apparell let all their glistering and counterfaite ornamentes
mee recompence but to the poore and if ever I defrauded much more if ever I defeated by mighte any man straunger or home-borne I say not of his maine estate but of anie his smallest portion nor by open detected wronge but by secret concealed cavillation I restore it principall and damage for I restore it foure-folde VVhat follovved but that hee emptyed his house of the transitorie treasures of this vvoorlde and insteede thereof let in salvation vnto it This day is salvation come to this house not onely to the private soule but to the house of Zacheus thorough his meanes I scarsely thinke that these ravenous and greedy times can yeelde a man so innocent as to say vvith Samuell vvhose oxe or asse haue I taken or vvhome haue I vvronged At the least let him say vvith Zacheus I say not in the former parte of his speech halfe of my goodes I giue to the poore for that vvere heresie to bee helde and false doctrine to bee preached in this illiberall age but in the latter clause if I haue iniuried anâ—e man though I restore not foure-folde yet I restore him his owne Otherwise our houses and consciences vvill bee so full of houses fieldes vineyardes oliues silver golde vnrighteous pledges that there wil bee no roume for the peace and consolation of GOD to dwell vvith them Therefore washe your handes and heartes from this leprosie my brethren that you may bee receaved into the hoste of the Lorde and dwel with his first-borne and either forsake your violence or convert it an other way Let the kingdomes commodities of the earth alone and learne that the kingdome of heaven suffereth violence and must bee wonne by force See if you can extorte this spoyle from him that keepeth it Spare no invention of witte intention of will contention of sinewes strength of handes to get this kingdome Begge it buy it steale it assault it vse any meanes This this is the onely oppression and violence that we can allow you and in this onely thing Bee not modest and curteous towardes any man in this heavenly price Hither if you bring not tooth and naile and resisting vnto bloud and hating your liues vnto the death you are not worthy of it It suffereth violence it selfe it is so proposed conditioned and they are men of violence that by violence must attaine vnto it Therefore wrastle for this blessing though you lame your bodies and striue for this kingdome though you loose your liues THE XXXVIII LECTVRE Chap. 3. vers 9. Who can tell if God vvill turne and repent c. THE last thinge in the repentaunce of the Ninivites by the order of the wordes though in purpose and intention first and that which presently giveth place to the repentaunce of God their expected deliverance in the nexte sentence is the foundation wherevpon they grounde a knowledge and apprehension such as it is of the goodnesse of God and some likely hope to escape his vengance intended There may be some part of repentance without faith contrition anguish vexation for sinne till not onely the heart aketh but the conscience also is quite swallowed drowned in the gulfe of it As there is no question after that horrible fact of Iudas but his spirite was as full of griefe as before of trechery and covetousnes Let the world witnesse with him how deepely he rued his malice vvhen hee pledged body and soule for it and gaue over the one to the tree the other to hell fire For it there had beene a penaltie to haue taken of himselfe worse than death and damnation hee woulde not I thinke haue shunned it Caine was also as sory for his bloudy fact as ever greedy before to commit it He felt even a talent of lead vpon his soule never to be remooved and therefore vttered a blasphemy against the grace of GOD never to be pardoned My sinne is greater than can bee forgiven This is the reason that he had a marke set vpon him that no man shoulde kill Caine who with a thousand daily woundes killed himselfe and that â—ee ranne from place to place not so much in his bodie as in his minde tossed like a waue of the sea and finding no place for rest because the mercy of God shone not vnto him Beholde thou haste cast mee this daie from the face of the earth is that all And I shall bee hidde from thy face driven from thy presence banished from the light and favour of thy gracious countenance This is the dart that woundeth him to death For this received into the minde that we are hidde from the face of GOD that wee are so farre in contempte and hatred with his maiestie that hee vvill not vouchsafe to giue vs the looking on if all the clowdes in the aire rained loue and compassion we could not bee perswaded that any of the least droppes thereof should fall vpon our grounde VVherefore there must be a beleefe to conceiue and an hope to expect our reconciliation and and attonement with God and GODS with vs or it will bee an vnprofitable and vnpossible attempte to endevour a true repentance For either it will followe that wee become desperate and giue over care of our selues it is in vaine to serue GOD and vvhat profit shall we reape to humble our selves before him seeing his mercy is cleane gone from vs for ever and hee hath bent his soule to doe vs mischiefe And as it is written of Iulius the Pope that having received an overthrow by the French at Ravenna which he looked not for he set his face and mouth against the God of heaven and thus spake vnto him So hence-forth become French in the name of all the divels of hell holy Switzer pray for vs so wee betake vs to new Saintes or rather to newe divelles flying to hardnesse of heart carelesnesse of salvation contempt of God or else vve repent but after the manner of hypocrites wee make some proffer and likelyhoode of returning to God but cannot do it Such I thinke was the repentance of the Philistines the first of Samuell the fift and sixt when they had taken the arke of the Lorde and placed it first in Ashdod and there were punished with Emerodes and with death afterwardes in Gath and Eckron and there they could not endure it It is said of them not only that they were troubled and conferred of carrying home the arke againe but that they cried and their crie vvente vp to heaven and they sent it backe with a present vnto the Lorde and with sinne offerings nay their priestes and sooth-sayers saide vnto them wherefore shoulde you harden your harts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened theirs Such the repentance of Saul 1. Sam. 15. who having received a message by the prophet that as he had cast of the word of the Lorde so the Lord had cast him of from being a king and that his kingdome was given to his neighbour better than
yet be more vile and low in our owne eies and rather than these names shall die and be out of vse we will weare them vpon our garments and if you were sparing to yeeld them vnto vs we would desire you for Christes sake and as you tender our credite not to tearme vs otherwise The Iewes who thought they mocked Christ vvhen they bowed their knees and cried Haile king of the Iewes they knew not vvhat they did they did him an honour and favour against their willes for he was king of the Iewes and of the Gentiles also whatsoever their meaning is who thinke to nicke-name vs by obiecting these names which we will leaue to the censuring of the righteous Iudge in heaven vve embrace them honour them and heartily thanke God for them and desire that they may be read and published in the eares of the world as the most glorious titles of our commission The Angelles of God are ministring spirites and sent forth to minister for the elects sake Christ Iesus himselfe came to minister not to bee ministred vnto We will therefore say as the Apostle said 2. Cor. 11. Ministri sunt plus ego Are Christ and his Angels and all the Apostles of Christ ministers we speake like fooles in the deeming of the world we also will be ministers of the gospell and if it were possible we would bee more than ministers O honourable ministerie what government rule and dominion is it not superiour vnto I conclude with the same Apostle though I shoulde boast somevvhat more of our authoritie vvhich is given vnto vs for edification and not for destruction I shoulde haue no shame By this discourse it may appeare vnto you if this were a motiue in the minde of Ionas as some both Iewes and Christians conceiue how grievous it seemed vnto him to be held in iealousie for deceipt in his calling that any in the world should be able iustly to taxe him for a false prophet and one that prophecied lies in the name of GOD. Notwithstanding the matter is quickely aunswered For whatsoever the event had beene the voice of the Lorde was in reason to haue beene obeyed 1. It was no new thing to be so accompted of it was the portion of Moses and Samuell and Elias before him and thence-forth as many as ever spake vnto the daies of Iohn Baptist which came with the spirit of Elias they haue drunke of the same cuppe and not onely the servauntes but the sonne and heire hath beene dealt with in like manner A Prophet is not without honour saue in his owne countrey Ionas might haue said to himselfe as Elias in another case I am no better than my fathers Thus were we borne and ordained to approoue our selues in all kinde of patience by honour and dishonour by good reporte and evill reporte as deceavers and yet beholde vvee are true and deceiue not The world was never more fortunate for prophets than thus to reward them flatterers may breake the heades of men with their smooth oiles but the woundes that prophets giue haue never escaped the hardest iudgements 2. Why should Ionas feare the opinion of men his duty being done the very conscience of his fact simply and truely performed would haue beene a towre of defence and a castle vnto him It is a verie small thinge for me to be iudged of you or of mans iudgemente for I knowe nothinge by my selfe c. Hee doth not say It is nothing vnto mee but it is a very small thing I esteeme my name somevvhat but I stande more vpon my conscience This is our reioycing the testimony of our conscience that in simplicitie and puritie vvee haue beene conversant in the vvorlde VVhen the princes had given sentence vpon Ieremy this man is vvorthie to die hee aunswered them the Lorde hath sent mee to prophecy against this house therefore amende your vvaies that the Lorde may repente him of the plague vvhich hee hath pronounced against you as for mee beholde I am in your handes doe vvith mee as you please but knovve yee for certainty that if you put mee to death you shall bring innocent bloude vpon your selues for of a trueth the Lorde hath sent mee vnto you to speake all these wordes in your eares This is the brasen wall the soundnes of the cause and the assurance of the conscience which all the malignant tongues cannot pearse through Let the worlde be offended with vs in these latest and sinnefullest times because the tenour of our message is either to sharpe or to sweete to hote or to colde for it can hardelie bee such as may please this way-warde wotld let Satan accuse vs before God and man daie and night yet if wee can say for our selues as the Apostle did Rom. 9. Wee speake the trueth in Christ wee lie not our consciences bearing vs witnes in the holy Ghost who is not onlye the witnesse but the guide and inspirer of our consciences it is a greater recompence than if al the kingdomes of the earth were given vnto vs. 3. He coulde not bee ignoraunt that the truth of God mighte stande though the event followed not because many of the iudgementes of God as I haue else-where said are denoūced with condition In the place of Ieremy before mentioned when the priestes and people so greedily thirsted after his death some of the elders stoode vp and spake to the assembly in this sort Micah the Morashite prophecied in the daies of Hezekiah king of Iuda saying thus saith the Lord of hostes Sion shal bee ploughed like a fielde c. Did Hezekiah put him to death did hee not rather feare the Lorde and prayed before the Lorde and the Lorde repented him of the plague thus vvee mighte procure greate evill against our selues You know the collection those elders make that the iudgement vvas conditional and vpon their vnfeigned repentaunce mighte bee otherwise interpreted Thus much Ionas vvas not to learne for why did he knovv that God vvas a mercifull God but to shew the effects of mercy and the Ninivites themselues had an happye presumption thereof as appeareth by their former speech 4. He was not to stay longe in Assyria if hee had suspected their suspicions Lastly there was no such thinge to bee feared for by that publique acte of conversion which all the orders and states of the citty agreed vpon it is manifest that they received the preaching of Ionas as the oracle of almightie God they beleeved God and his Prophet as the children of Israell 1. Sam. 12. feared the Lorde and Samuell exceedinglie For what greater argument touching their good and reverente opinion of Ionas coulde they giue than their speedy and hearty repentance whereby they assured him that they esteemed not his vvorde as a fable or as a iestinge songe but as a man sent from God and fallen downe from heaven bringing a two edged sworde in his lippes either to kill or to saue so they received him And
than life Deus mitte mihi mortem accelera dies meos O LORDE send death vnto mee shorten my daies And sometimes sicknesse commeth indeede but then there is coursinge to and fro Phisitians are brought mony and giftes are promised and death it selfe perhappes speaketh vnto them Ecce adsum beholde here am I Thou calledst for mee thou desiredest the LORDE not longe since to sende mee VVherefore doest thou flye mee now I haue founde thee a deceaver and a lover of this vvretched life notvvithstandinge thy shew to the contrary It is the vse of vs all with the like forme of petitioÌ„ rather oâ— banning and imprecation to wish for death yea strange and accursed kindes of death wherein God sheweth a iudgement Let mee sinke as I stande let the earth open vnto mee let mee never speake worde more And every crosse and vexation of life make it irkesome and vnsavoury vnto vs vvoulde God I vvere dead If God shoulde then answere vs Ex â—re tuo out of your owne mouthes I graunte your requestes Be it vnto you according to your wordes howe miserable and desperate were our case But as olde Chremes in the Comedy tolde Clitipho his sonne a younge man and without discretion vvho because hee coulde not wringe from his father tenne poundes to bestowe vpon Bacchis his lover had none other speach in his mouth but Emâ—ricupio I desire to die First knovve I praie thee vvhat it is to liue vvhen thou haste learned that then if thy life displease thee vse these vvordes so first knowe my brethren you that are so hastye to pronounce the sentence of death against your selues vvhat belongeth to the life of a Christian vvhy it vvas given you by the LORDE of life to vvhat endes hee hath made you living soules what duties and offices hee requireth at your handes these thinges rightlye weighed if you thinke good call for death for by that time I thinke you vvill learne more vvisedome than to doe it It is good for you to see to the vvhole course and transaction of your liues they shoulde bee prelusions and preparations for a better life to come Beginne not then to liue vvhen you must giue over vvhich is the follie of most men or rather take heede that you giue not over life before you haue begunne it As one haire shall not fall from your heades vvithout GODS providence so nor the least haire and minute of time from your yeares vvithout his account taken But especially remember your end looke to the fallinge of the tree consider hovv the sunne goeth dovvne vppon you Novve if ever before cast your accountes you builde for heaven now if ever before bring forth your armies you fight for a kingdome Lay not more burthen of sinne vppon your soules at their going forth Let the last of your vvay be rest and the closing vppe of the day a sweete and quiet sleepe vnto you My meaninge is vvish not for death before you bee very ready for it Nay rather desire GOD to spare you a time that you may recover I say not your strength and bodilye abilitie but his favour and grace before hee plucke you away and you bee no more seene It is not comforte enough vnto you to saie Vixi quem dederat cursum natura peregi I haue lived indeede and finished some time vpon the earth vnlesse you can also adde your consciences bearing you vvitnesse and ministring ioy to the end of your daies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the seconde to Timothy and 4. chapter I haue finished my race I haue not onelye broughte it to an end but to a perfection though I haue died soone yet I haue fulfilled much time my life hath beene profitable to my countrye and to the Church of God and nowe I depart in his peace THE XLIIII LECTVRE Chap. 4. ver 4. Then saide the Lord Doest thou well to be angry The first of those 3. parts wherinto this chapter was devided touching the impatience discontentment of Ionas we haue in part discovered out of the former verses reserving a remnant thereof to be handled afterwardes The reprehension of God which was the 2. beginneth at these wordes and is repeated againe in the 9. verse vpon the like occasioÌ„ given by Ionas The mercy of God towardes his prophet manifesteth it selfe in this fatherly obiurgation many waies 1. That the Potter vouchsafeth huÌ„bleth himselfe to dispute with his Clay 2. that he is ready to giue a reason of all his actions as a righteous Lord who doth not enforce any thing by his absolute and meere authority but dealeth reasonably and iustly much more that the Lord speaketh vnto him who spake fretted against the Lorde giveth an accouÌ„t vnto him why he spared Niniveh of whoÌ„ no maÌ„ wisely durst to haue demaÌ„ded what dost thou that hee that dwelleth in light vnapproachable his counsailes are so high in the cloudes as who caÌ„ finde theÌ„ out placeth theÌ„ notwithstanding in the eies of the world to be examined sifted by the reason of man But most of all that he ministreth a word in season vnto Ionas wheÌ„ the streame of his anger was so violent that it bare him into an hearty desire longing after death then that the Lord intercepteth him aunswereth in his course as Elihu answered Iob Beholde I haue waited vpon thy wordes and harkened vnto thy speach whilst thou soughtest out reasons I will now speake in my turne shew thee mine opinion Doest thou well to be angry It is the singular wisedome of God without which pollicy it were hard for any flesh living to be saved that when we are running on in our sinnes wearying our selues in the waies of wickednes amongst other his retentiues stops he hath the hooke of reprehension to thrust into our noses pull vs backe againe Our iniquities would wander with out measure become rottennes in our bones our wounds woulde dwell for ever in our bowels and fester to the day of iudgement with out this medicine So wisedome began her lore Pro. 1. O yee foolish how long will ye loue foolishnes the scorner take pleasure in scorning the fooles hate knowledge She giveth vs our right names according to our corrupt natures for wisdome is able to iudge of fooles knoweth that without her instructioÌ„ we are wedded to our follies therefore she addeth turne ye at my correction loe I will powre out my minde vnto you make you vnderstand my words ClemeÌ„s Alexandrinus compareth our Saviour to an expert Musitian such as Terpander or Capito never were for hee singeth new songs hath sundry kindes of moodes and varieties to worke the salvation of man Sometimes he hath spoken by a burning bush vnto him sometimes by a cloude of water sometimes by a piller of fire that is he hath beene light to those that were obedient fire to those that rebelled and because flesh is more
and the beautifull flowre of the roote of Iesse though withered and defaced for a while in his passion hath so reflourished by raysing him selfe that in him is the blooming and springing of all that loue his name This is that which Paul in his aunswere before Agrippa called the hope of the fathers and this I may as properly tearme The faith and patience of the Saintes For as in every action the vertue that mooveth the agent to vndertake it is the hope of good to come for hee that soweth soweth to reape and hee that fighteth fighteth to get the victory so take away the hope of resurrection and all the conscience or care of godlinesse will fall to the grounde Gregorie vpon these wordes of the last of Sainâ— Matthew But some doubted VVherevpon hee else-where â—oteth that it was the especiall providence of God that Thomas shoulde bee away and afterwardes come and heare heare and doubte doubte and handle handle and beleeue that so hee might become a witnesse of the true resurrection and that it was not so much a touch of infirmitye in them as a confiâ—mation to vs who by that meanes haue the resurrection prooved by so many the more argumentes there are many saith hee who considering the departure of the spirit from the flesh the goinge of that flesh into rottennesse that rottennesse into dust that dust into the elementes thereof so small that the eie of man cannot perceiue them denie and despaire of the resurrection and thinke it vnpossible that ever the withered bones shoulde be cloathed with flesh and waxe greene againe Tertullian frameth their obiections more at large Can that body ever bee sounde againe that hath beene corrupted whole that hath beene maymed full that hath beene emptied or haue any being at all that hath beene altogither turned into nothing Or shall the fire and water the bowels of wilde beastes gordges of birdes entralles of fishes yea the very throate that belongeth to the times themselues ever bee able to restore and redeliver it to the former services thereof Heerevpon they inferred vvho had no longinge after life nor desire to see good dayes let vs eate and drinke for to morrowe vvee shall die that is they will not die before to morrowe but in drunkennes and excesse they will bury themselues to day And liue whilest thou mayest liue And it is better to be a living dogge then a deade lion And there is nothing after death no not death 〈◊〉 selfe Who if they helde not saith Gregorie the faith of the resurrection by submitting themselues to the worde of God surelie they shoulde haue helde it vpon the verdite of reason For what doth the worlde daylie in the elementes and creatures thereof but imitate our resurrection VVe see by degrees of time the withering and falling of the leaues from the trees the intermission of their fruites c. And beholde vpon the suddaine as it vvere from a drye and deade tree by a kinde of resurrection the leaues breake foorth againe the fruites waxe bigge and ripe and the whole tree is apparrailed with a fresh beauty Consider wee the little seede whereout the tree ariseth and let vs comprehend if wee can in that small-nesse of seede howe so mighty a tree and where it was couched Where was the wood the barke the glorie of the leaues the plenty of the fruit when we first sowed it when wee threw it into the grounde was any of these apparant what marvaile is it then if of the thinnest dust resolved into the first elementes and remooved from the apprehension of our eies God at his pleasure reforme a man when from the smallest seedes he is able to produce so huge trees The Apostle vseth this similitude of the seed and the body that springeth from it Thou foole that which thou sowest is not quickened except it die And that which thou sowest thou sowest not that body that shall bee but the naked and simple seede whereof the blade and the eare with the rest of the burthen and encrease ariseth And Tertullian much wondreth that the earth is so kinde vnto vs to returne our corne with such aboundance of a deceaver shee becommeth a preserver And before shee preserveth shee first destroieth First by iniurie then by vsurie First by losse then by gaine This is the manner of her dealing He addeth to giue more light even from the starre of nature the revolutions of winters sommers autumnes springes as it vvere so many deathes and so many resurrections the dying of the day dayly into night and vprising to the worlde againe as freshly be-decked with honour and bravery as if it had never died So true it is vvhich Arnobius wrote against the Gentiles Beholde howe the whole creature doth write a commentary to giue vs comfort in this pointe If wee shall shewe this booke to the Atheistes and Epicures of these daies and bid them reade therein the resurrection of the flesh liuely discoursed and they answere vs againe either that they cannot reade it because the booke is sealed and not plaine vnto them or will not because their heartes are seared I say no more but this at Paul of the hiding of the Gospell to the like nighte-birdes I am sure they are seared and sealed to them that perish So let them rest their bodies rotting in the grounde as the seede vnder the clods which God blesseth not the graue shutting her mouth and destruction closing her iawes vpon them and when others awake to singe themselues awaking to howling and everlasting lamentation For our owne partes wee rest assured in the authour and finisher of our faith that if the spirit of him who raised vp Ionas and Iesus from the dead dwell in vs hee that raised vp them shall also quicken our mortall bodies And as hee spake to the fish and it cast vp Ionas spake to the earth and it cast vp Iesus for vpon the trueth of his fathers word did his flesh rest in hope so the time shall come when all â—hat are in the graues shall heare the voice of the sonne of God vvhen hee shall speake to the earth giue and to the sea restore my sonnes and daughters to all the creatures in the vvorlde keepe not backe mine inheritance and finally to the prisoners of hope lodging a while in the chambers of the grounde Stande foorth and shew your selues And as Ionas was cast vp against the wil of the fish his bowels not able to hold him longer then the pleasure of God was and Christ returned to life with a songe of triumph in his mouth O graue where is thy conquest because it was vnpossible that he should be hoâ—den of it so when that howre commeth the earth shall disclose her bloud and shall no longer hide her slaine And the sea shall finde no rest till the drowned be brought forth nor any creature of the world be able to steale one bone that hath bin
committed vnto it but all kindes of deathes shal be swallowed vp into a general victory and in his name that hath wonne the field for vs we shall ioifully sing thankes be vnto God that hath given vs victory through our Lord Iesus Christ. And as Ionas was cast vp vpon the drie ground the land of the living where he might walke and breath and repose himselfe without danger of miscarying and Christ restored to life and immortality and exalted to a glorious estate at his fathers right hand so the Lord shall also shew vs the pathes of life fill vs with the ioy of his countenaunce for evermore Our corruptible shall put on incorruption our mortall immortality we shal liue with the lambe that was slaine in eternal glory Other shal rise to shame perpetual coÌ„tempt Dan. 12. And to the resurrectioÌ„ of coÌ„demnatioÌ„ Ioh. 5. Sadduâ—es Saturnians Basilidians Epicures Atheists which haue trodden this precious pearle of doctrine vnder their swinish feet haue not beleeved that they might be saved but we to the leÌ„gth of daies in the hands of God to the sight of his holy face which is most blessed blessednes Other particulars of stature age the like we cease to enquire of because God hath forborn to deliver them We will not loose that by our curiosity which Christ hath bought with his bloud and is gone to possesse in the body of his flesh that we may also possesse it I am sure there shal be al wel for else it shoulde not bee There shall bee a drie grounde for this valley of teares and sea of miseries A lande of the living for this desert of the dead A commodious and setled habitation for this tossing to and fro There shall be no monsters of land or sea to make vs afraid any more no sorrow to disquiet no sicknesse to distemper no death to dissolve vs no sin to obiect vs to the wrath of God and to bring vs in danger of loosing his grace THE XXXI LECTVRE Chap. 3. ver 2. And the worde of the Lorde came vnto Ionas the seconde time saying Arise goe vnto Niniveh that great citie c. THe summe of the whole prophecie and of every part therein I have often told you is in variety of examples the mercy of God towards his poore creatures The boundes whereof if any desire to learne how large they are let him coÌ„sider that in this present history it is exhibited both to Iewes GeÌ„tiles an example of the former was Ionas of the later the Mariners the Ninivites both to prophets and others of meaner and mechanicall callings both to Prince and people aged and infantes men and beastes that no man may thinke either himselfe or his seed or any the silliest worme that moveth vpon the earth excluded therehence Paul in his first to Timothy glorieth in the mercie of Iesus Christ which he had shewed vpon him to the ensample of such as shoulde beleeve in time to come But heere are fowre examples at once and as it were fowre gospels preaching to every countrey and language age and condition and sexe the hope of better thinges Blessed be the Lord God which hath written a whole booke of remembrances and filled it with argumentes to so good a purpose This third chapter which by the wil of God we are entred vpon treateth in generall of the mercy of God towards Niniveh and sheadeth it selfe orderly into foure parts 1. The calling or commission of Ionas renued 2. The perfourmance of his message 3. The repentance of Niniveh 4. Their delivery Ionas is called and put in charge againe in the two former verses Wherein besides the authour and other particulars heretofore extracted from the same words we will rest our selues especially vpon these three points 1. The repitition of his warraÌ„t The word of the Lord came the second time 2. Whither he is vvilled to goe To Niniveh 3. What he is to doe there 1. touching the matter he must preach the preaching that God shall bid them 2. touching the manner he must doe it by proclamation And the word of the Lord came vnto Ionas the second time saying Arise go vnto Niniveh that great cittie Ionas being become a new man after his baptisme regeneration in the water of the sea receiveth a new commission his former being forfeited by disobedience First it is not lawfull we know for any man to take that honour vnto him without calling nor to set himselfe vpon a candlesticke who hath no power to burne vnlesse God kindle him I haue not thrust in my selfe for a pastour after thee neither haue I desired the day of miserie Then because Ionas had disanulled his first commission it stood as voide vnto him and of none effect till it was repeated the second time Peter denying his maister three times and not lesse then loosing thereby his legatine Apostolicke authority repaireth his broken credit by three confessions and is newly invested into his former office If I fall now and then into the same points which I haue already handled in the first chapter you may easily pardoÌ„ me For first the words are the same or not much altered happily as the first commission of Ionas took shipwracke in the Syriacke sea so the first notes I gaue are perished in your memories and therefore there may be neede or repetition of such doctrines no lesse than of his charge There is no materiall difference betvveene the tvvo verses vvherein the mandate is given vnto him but in the addition of one particle The second time Which carrieth a double force first of propension in the nature of a man to fall away from God vnlesse it be daily and continually renued The Apostle was faine to travaile in birth and to doe it againe with his little children the Galathians till Christ were formed in them for as the ripening and perfiting of a childe in his mothers wombe asketh the time of nine moneths at least so the breeding of Christ in the consciences of men and begetting or preserving of children to God cannot be done without often and carefull endevour bestowed therein Secondly of the mercifull clememcie of God towardes Ionas in restoring him to his former dignity For he not onely gaue him his life vvhich vvas despaired but the honour and place of a prophet He might haue lived still and seene long life and many daies a straunger to his owne home an alien to his mothers sonnes an exile from the Israelites a by-worde of reproach for leesing his wonted preheminence and as they wondered when they heard that Saul prophecied What is Saul become one of the prophets so it might have given as iust a cause of admiration that Ionas was become none of the prophetes But Ionas abideth a prophet still and is as highly credited as if hee had not broken his former faith I knovve the patience of GOD is verie abundante Hee is mercifull and