the best wine is that which is farthest brought for the more it is shaken in carriage the more it is fined and made fit for vse so there is both pleasure profit to heare any point of learning sifted moved to fro by the diverse iudgmeÌ„ts of learned men If I were as skilfull in simpling as some are I woulde giue you my simple opinioÌ„ But now I must speake froÌ„ mine authors R. Esdras saith that the wise of Spain called it Cucurbita or Cucumer which is in English a gourd or cucuÌ„ber but withal he addeth ratio iniri non potest vt sciatur quid sit we caÌ„not finde out the meanes to knovv what it was The Latin vular traÌ„slatioÌ„ calleth it Hedera which in our English signifieth Ivy Ierome disprooveth that eveÌ„ against himselfe saith that the Latines haue no name for it for Ivy and gourds and cucumers he saith creepe vpon the grouÌ„d haue need of tendrels props to beare theÌ„ vp but this tree sustained her selfe with her owne truncke had broad leaues like a vine the shadow which it cast was very thicke Some called it Bryonia bryony or wild nep the white vine which groweth in the hedges with red berries blistereth his skin that haÌ„dleth it SoÌ„e rapuÌ„ siluestre the wilde rape roote The Hebrews the Chaldees name it KikaioÌ„ the GreciaÌ„s 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Arabians Elkerva whereof ye haue the oile of kerva in the Apothecaries shops Sometimes they cal it Cataputia maior great spourdge Pendactylum for the similitude which it hath with the 5. fingers of the haÌ„d Whervpon the French by reason of the ioints knots which are in the leaues therof name it Palme de Christ that is to say Christes hande The Hetrurians call it Phaseolum faselles or long pease a kinde of pulse rising so high that it served them for arbours Lastly the Germanes for the admirable heigth of it call it wonder boome that is the woÌ„derful tree Thus every nation as it could get any tree which in their imagination came nearest vnto it so they lent it a name But we may coÌ„clude vvith Oecolampadius according to that of Esdras before Incertum qualis frutex vel arbor It is not knowne what bush or tree it was At length the Latines the latest and in my iudgment the skilfullest amongst them haue all agreed to call it riciâ—us which in propriety of speach signifieth a tike a creature noisome to dogs for the likenes of the seed or grain that it beareth is applied to this tree Dioscorides calleth it arborosum fruticeÌ„ a bush yet a tree like vnto a figge-tree but lesse with leaues like to a plane but greater soft blackish and bearing seed like vnto tikes We may read of it in Pliny and of the oyle that coÌ„meth therhence togither with the variety of names that are giveÌ„ vnto it But al with one coÌ„sent agree that it sodainly springeth to the heigth of an Oliue diffuseth it selfe like Ivy that it hath scattering boughes broad leaues like the plane tree wher-vnder they were wont to feast most coÌ„modious to giue a shadow For which cause R. Kimhi noteth they vsed to place it before tavern dores Whither wee haue lighted vpon the name or not it sufficeth for the history to vnderstand that God provided a tree wonderfully tall plentifully stored with boughes leaues such as was most convenient to give comfort vnto Ionas O how admirable are the works of God the least wherof may challenge so many coÌ„mentaries expositions to be spent vpoÌ„ it what shall we then thinke of all nature if the whole table book therof were set before our eies to be viewed coÌ„sidered when one plant of the ground findeth not learning enough amongst Iews Barbarians nor Christians to vnfolde it When we behold the heaveÌ„s the works of his fingers the moone and the stars which he hath ordained I say not then as the Psalmist doth Lord what is man or the son of man that thou shouldest so visite him but what is man or the son of man that he should iudge or giue sentence of the and we may both begin end that Psalme as the prophet doth O Lord our Lord how excellent is thy name in all the world in the great buildinges treasures therof when one small creature parcell of thy workes breedeth such confusion in the wits of man Much more deepely might the Lord oppose vs as he did his servant Iob with the greater wonders of nature wheÌ„ we straine at gnats cannot coÌ„ceiue of little things hast thou entred into the bottomes of the sea or walked to seeke out the depth haue the gates of death ben opened vnto thee or hast thou seene the gates of the shadow of death hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth tell if thou knowest al this where is the way that light dwelleth where is the place of darknes Anaxagoras being askt why maÌ„ was made auÌ„swered to behold the heaveÌ„s to magnifie God in his creatures Surely as our Saviour coÌ„meÌ„ded the smal mites which the widow cast into the treasury so there is not the least worke that God doth but deserveth the greatest admiratioÌ„ that our hearts can coÌ„prehend And therefore the enchauÌ„ters of Pharoah wheÌ„ they were come to try their cunning in lice the basest conteÌ„ptiblest creatures they were enforced to cry out this is the finger of God To conclude as Christ made the coÌ„parison betweene the lillies his servants if God so cloath the grasse of the field which to day is standing to morrow is cast into the oveÌ„ how much more shal he do vnto you O ye of little faith so may we say if God be so glorious in a meaÌ„e plaÌ„t of the field which in a night caÌ„e vp in a night perished again much more are his mightier works highly to be marvailed at But in this 6. verse to bring it into order there are two parts 1. the creation of the gourd by the hands of God 2. the acceptation of Ionas The former hath 4. ioints divisions in it 1. the gourd was prepared by the Lord God for who els was able to create some haue gone about to imitate the workes of creation as to make thunders and lightnings and to fly in the aire but they haue paid the price of saying in their foolish harts I wil be like the most high 2. It was made to ascend 3. to be a shadow over the head of Ionas 4. to deliver him froÌ„ his griefe The preparing of the gourd had little pleasured Ionas vnlesse it had ascended to some height nor the ascending on high vnlesse it had beene flexible and bowed it selfe over his heade nor the hanging over his head without such quantity of boughes and leaues as were sufficient to shadow it all these grow and ascend
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
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
the friende knocked in the parable of Luke at midnight the deadest houre of the nighte who was nearest the gate first awoke if yet hee slept at all and first aunswered O quam dare vult c. O howe willing is hee to graunte that is so wiling to bee disquieted Howe glad to heare thy knocke that hath placed his bed so neare the gate O quam non adâ—anuam tantum sed ipsa ianua dominus fuit c. And how truly maie wee saie that hee was not onelie neare the gate but the Lorde himselfe the very gate who when his children were a sleepe the eares of Angelles and saintes shutte vp first and at the first call nay onelie amongst the rest made aunswere vnto it The Lord is alwaies nearer to vs than wee to him hee heareth the desires of the poore in the tenth Psalme hee first prepareth the hearte and setteth it on worke to pray and when he hath so done bendeth his eare vnto them If now they can otherwise demonstrate that as Pallas the Emperours libertine would never speake to any servant about him forgetting his owne late servile estate but either by pointing and signifying with the fingers as the wiseman calleth it or becking or if the busines vere long by writing because forsooth he was loth to bestow the honour of speaking vpon them and as the rulers of the earth in a kinde of maiesty not vnfitting to their place aunswere by mediation of others so the Lorde above heareth not suiters but by the preferment and procurement of Angels and other glorified spirits then it cannot be hindered but other advocates and spokes-men must be allowed of But this is likewise cleared in the 102. Psal. where it is saide that hee hath looked downe from the height of his sanctuary out of the heaven did the LORDE beholde the earth to what other ende but that hee might heare the mourning of the prisoner and deliver the children apointed vnto death And this moreover I am sure of that the LORDE hath often and expressely enioyned vs Call vpon mee and if the booke were searched throughout with cresset-cresset-light never would it bee prooved that hee gave any charge to call vpon others Neither was ever the shadowe of any thing so faithfull to the bodye to followe and waite vpon it as the successe of good speede hath beene consequent to a prayer faithfullye made For as if their soules were knit togither like the soules of Dauid and Ionathan you shall ever see them ioyned So in the fourth Psalme I called vpon the LORDE and hee hearde mee at large and an hundreth the like might bee alleadged for confirmation And therefore if vvee erre in this point of doctrine vvee may say truelye with Ieremy Thou hast deceived vs LORDE vvhen vvee vvere deceaved that is when wee were vvilled to call vpon thee alone thine vvas the blame if wee doe amisse and wee may comfort our selves that wee erre by warrant and authority from him that must pardon errours Therefore I conclude from the two and twentieth Psalme Praise the Lorde yee that feare him magnifie him all the seede of Iacob and feare him all yee the seede of Israell For hee hath not despised the lowe estate of the poore nor hidde himselfe from him but when he called hee harkened vnto him Let the house of Esau vse the liberty of the wide worlde and the feede of Babylon call vpon other helps as they have done and those that feare not the Lorde vse their discretion Our example leadeth vs otherwise Ionas was this poore man and his lowe estate the belly of the fish hee called vpon his God and hee harkened vnto him The varying of the person in that before hee spake of God now to God giveth vs variety of instruction and helpeth to confirme the doctrine before delivered For since wee have immediate accesse to the Lorde to speake to his maiesty as it were face to face and mouth to mouth it were to shamefast and senselesse a parte in vs to make other meanes And it is besides a singular testification of his thankefull minde who receaveth not the favour of God as the nine lepers in the gospell receaved their clensing not returning againe to give thankes to him that cured them but first reporteth to himselfe and as many as shall reade or heare this songe what God hath done for him I called vpon the Lorde and hee hearde mee which is somewhat further of and then with a nearer approche ioyning his soule as closely to the eares of God as Philip ioyned himselfe to the chariot of the Eunuch relateth the blessing of his prayer to the authour himselfe of all blessings And thou Lorde hardest my voice thus rendring vnto him grace for grace a kinde and dutifull rememoration for the mercies bestowed vpoÌ„ him Some take the comforts of God as the beastes in the field take their meate not looking vp to heaven from whence they come Nay the Oxe will knowe his owner and cast an eye to his hande and the asse his maisters cribbe but my people knowe not mee saith the Lorde Some acknowledge the Authour and forget him presently even whilst the meate is betweene their teeth as Israell did Some remember sufficiently but accept them as due debt as if they had God in bandes to performe them They serve not God for naught which was the obiection of Sathan Some are ready to kisse their owne handes for every blessing that commeth vpon them and to ascribe them to their strength or wit whereof Bernard spake Vti datis tanquam innatis maxima sâ—perbia It is the greatest pride to vse Gods giftes as if they were bred in vs. Others there are that give thanks ex usu magis quà m sensu rather of custome then devotion as cymballes sounde from their emptinesse for even Saul will bee a prophet amongst prophets and an hypocrite take good words into his mouth amongst harty professours Ionas I nothing doubt from the ground of his heart telleth forth the deliverance of the Lord which in the spirit of a prophet hee foreseeth and presumeth before it commeth not onely to himselfe and vs but as the rivers of the Lande sende back their waters to the sea in a thankfull remembrance and remuneration that they tooke them thence so Ionas returneth this mercy to the Lorde himselfe that was the giver of the mercy And thou Lorde heardest my voice as if hee had concluded and agreed to himselfe that neither God nor man nor his owne conscience shoulde ever bee able to accuse him of vnthankefulnesse I will both preach it to my selfe privately and publikely to the world that the Lord hath heard mee And thou Lord shalt also vnderstand from mine owne lips that I make acknowledgement and profession to haue receaved my safety from thine onely goodnesse Thou Lord hast heard my voice I will so meditate vpon thy benignities within mine owne heart and leaue a chronicle of them to
kill and eate And the first time he denyed it plainely Not so Lorde Afterwardes hee was better advised and harkened to the voice of the Lorde VVhen the angell of Sathan was sent to buffet Paule least his visions shoulde lifte him vp too high hee besought the Lorde thrise that it mighte departe and then the Lord aunswered him My grace is sufficient for thee It may bee according to the signe vvhich God gaue Ezechias that the first yeare hee shoulde eate of such thinges as came vp of themselues the seconde such as sprange againe vvithout sowing the thirde they shoulde sowe and reape and plante vine-yardes c. So for the first and seconde time that we heare the doctrine of salvation wee heare vvithout profit we breed no cogitations within vs but such as growe of themselues naturall worldlye corrupte and such as accompanie flesh and bloud fitter to cast vs downe than to helpe vs vp but at the thirde time when the wordes of God with often falling shall haue pearsed our heartes as raine the marble-stones vvee then apply our mindes to a more industrious and profitable meditation of such heavenly comfortes Let it not grieue you then if I speake vnto you againe the same thinges and as Paule disputed at Thessalonica three sabbath dayes of the passion and resurrection of Christ so I three sabbath dayes amongst you of our hope in Christ. Let it bee true of vanities and pleasures that the lesse they are vsed the more commendable but in the most accepted and blessed thinges that belong to our happiest peace bee it faire otherwise Our dayly breade though it bee daily received wee are as ready to craue still neither can the perpetuall vse of it ever offende vs. The light of the sun woulde displease no body but some lover of darknesse if it never wente downe in our coastes The nature of such thinges for their necessary vse must needes bee welcome vnto vs though they never shoulde forsake vs. And can the doctrine of saith and affiaunce in the mercies of God the light of our dimme eies the staffe of our infirmities our soules restoratiue when it lyeth sicke to death and as Chrysostome well compared it a chaine let downe from heaven which hee that taketh holde on is presentely pulled vppe from the hande of destruction and set in a large place to enioy the peace of conscience can it ever displease vs wee were content to heare it once and I doe not doubte but it will bee as welcome being repeated tenne times I make no question but as vvhen Paule had preached at Antioche in the synagogue of the Iewes one day the gentiles besought him that hee woulde preach the same vvordes to them againe the nexte sabbath so though it were the last worke that I did amongst you to cut the throate of desperation which hath cut the throate of many a wretched man and woman to set the piller of hope vnder all fainting and declining consciences yet because it is our last refuge in adversitie and standeth vnmooueable like the Northerne pole when our soules are most distracted with doubtes and fullest of scruples to giue vs aime and direction whither to bend our course if I shall once againe repeate vnto you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the selfe-same wordes that before in substance and sense though not in syllables I trust I shall finde your acceptaunce as good as when I first began it The wordes propounded are the last of the whole narration and drawe into a narrower compasse of speech all that hath beene saide before For whatsoever you haue hearde of the boâ—tome of the sea floudes and surges vvith all those other disturbances already reckoned vp they are now concluded in a little roume My soule fainted The partes the same vvhich I haue observed before for I neede not to acquainte you againe that hee hangeth and devideth the whole song betweene feare and hope And as the feete to that image in Daniell were parte of yron parte of clay which the prophet expoundeth partely stronge partely broken so are the feete if I may so call them which Ionas through all this travaile goeth vpon the one of clay weake impotent alwaies shivering and sinking downewarde I meane his feare and distrust the other of yron strong stable and firme keeping him vpright his hope and confidence in the mercies of God His feare is in the former member of the senteÌ„ce When my soule fainted within mee his hope in the nexte I remembred the Lord c. Wherein to shew that it was not in vaine for him to remember the Lorde and withall how hee remembred him he telleth vs that his praier came vnto him into his holie temple Concerning his feare wee haue to consider first what person or part he notifieth to haue beene assaulted his soule Secondly the plight or perturbation of his soule it fainted Thirdly the application of the place within himselfe The daunger is much augmented from that which before it was Then the vvaters but came to his soule heere they had fought against him so long that his soule plainely fainted Then the perill but imminent and hard at hand heere it had taken handfast Then was he but threatned or beaten by the waters heere he seemeâ—h to bee vanquished Al that vvente before might concerne the body alone and the losse of his temporall life whereof hee was yet in possession As when he pronounced against himselfe I am cast away out of thy sighte it mighte bee no more in effecte than vvhat Ezechiell spake I saide I shall not see the LORDE even the LORDE in the lande of the living I shall see man no more amongest the inhabitauntes of the vvorlde mine habitation is departed and remooved from mee like a shepheardes tente and as a vveaver cutteth of his threade so is my life ended But heere hee confesseth in open tearmes that his very soule that invvarde immortall heavenly substaunce vvhich when the bodye fainteth is sometimes most in health and liveth vvhen the bodye dyeth that this parte fayleth him and leaveth no hope of better thinges Saint Augustine very vvell defineth the soule to be the vvhole invvard man wherewith this masse of clay is quickened governed and helde togither changing her names according to the sundry offices vvhich shee beareth in the bodye For when shee quickneth the bodie shee is called the soule when shee hath appetite or desire to any thing the vvill for knowledge the minde for recordation memory for iudging and discerning reason for giving breath spirite lastly for apprehending or perceiving outwardly sense so as the fainting of the soule is the decay of all these faculties Nowe if the lighte that is in vs bee darke howe great is the darkenesse if the life bee death howe greate is the death if the soule fainte howe greate the defections The infirmities and disablementes of his bodye I knowe vvere very great in the whole service and ministery
head vvhich is the worst kinde of eie neerer to other men then to themselues Ionas I graunt was the man vvhom the anger of God as an arrowe from a bowe levelled at yet did not the others know so much and therefore had litle reason to thinke that there was not matter enough eche man in himselfe to deserue the punishment This translation of faults from our selues to others was a lesson learned in paradise when the first rudimentes and catechisme of all rebellions was delivered to the children of men For Adam being charged with the crime of disobedience hee put it to the vvoman the woman to the serpent as if both the former had not beene touched When Saul caused lottes to be cast betweene him and Ionathan on the one side and all Israell on the other to finde out the man who contrarie to their vowe had eaten any thinge before night he saith not vnto God declare the offender which he shoulde haue done but by an arrogant speech in favour of his owne integritie Cedo integrum shew me the innocent person Ionathan I confesse was guiltie in this one offence if it vvere an offence yet was the innocencie of Saul discredited in many others Shemei a dead dogge as Abishai tearmed him forgetteth his owne people I meane the sinnes of his owne bosome and raileth at David with a tongue as virulent as aspes Come forth Come forth thou man of bloud thou man of Beliall thou art taken in thy wickednesse because thou art a murtherer How did the frendes of Iob breake a bruised reede and adde affliction to the afflicted making their whole conference with him an invectiue against his wickednesse and conveying in vvithall a secret apologie purgation of their owne iustice It appeareth by our Saviours aunswere in the gospell of Luke that there vvere some amongst the people vvhich supposed those Galilaeans whose bloud Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices greater sinners then the rest and those eighteene vpon vvhome the tower of Siloam fell and slevv them sinners aboue all men that dvvelt in Ierusalem Our Saviour answereth them by occupation I tell you Nay but except you amende your liues you shall likewise perish When the Barbarians of Malta sawe the viper hanging vpon Pauls hande they inferred presently men more viperous and pestilent themselues this man surely is a murtherer vvhome though hee hath escaped the sea yet vengeance doth not suffer to liue It was the vsuall maner of the Scribes and Pharisees to sow pillowes of selfe-liking vnder their owne arme-holes and to take no knowledge of beames in their owne eies but evermore to except against their brethren as men not vvorthy the earth they trode vpon Why eateth your master with Publicanes and sinners This man is a friende to sinners Againe if this man vvere a Prophet hee woulde surelie haue knowne who and what vvoman this is that toucheth him for shee is a sinner when the woman with a boxe of spike-nard annointed his feete Such doctrine preached the Pharisee that went into the temple to iustifie himselfe a lying prophet against his owne soule I thanke God I am not as other men nor as this Publicane Hee spake like Caiaphas truer then hee was avvare of hee vvas not as the Publicane in confession of his misdeedes nor the Publicane as hee in arrogation of iustice Thus Diogenes treadeth downe the pride of Plato but vvith greater pride and the Pharisee reproveth the sinne of a Publicane but vvith greater sinne Mala mens malus animus An evill minde in it selfe is an evill minde towardes all others You see the disease of mankinde vvorthy to bee searched and seared vvith severe reprehension how strange wee are to our owne how domesticall and inwarde to other mens offences how blinde in our selues how censorius and lynce-eied against our brethren how willing to smooth our owne pates with the balme of assentation selfe-pleasing how loth to acknowledge that which we brought from the wombe I am a sinfull man but to go further with Paule Ego primus I am chiefe to be greatest in the kingdome of heaven we will scarsly do it Wel it is a sentence of eternity hanging as in a table over the iudgement seate of God and his eies are never removed frō it He that commendeth himselfe is not allowed but he whom the Lord commendeth and this other is not vnlike vnto it He that condemneth another man is not his iudge but God hath apointed a iudge both for small and great Who art thou saith Iames that iudgest another If he be alter vnto thee an other from thy selfe and vvithout thy skinne iudge him not He that iudgeth his brother iudgeth the law whose office it is to iudge and offereth iniury to the law-giuer himselfe For there is one law-giuer which is able to saue and to destroy Who art thou that iudgest another mans servant he standeth or falleth vnto his owne master not vnto thee yea contrary to thy thought will hee shal be established for God is able to make him stande But why dost thou iudge thy brother he is not thy servant but thy brother your condition is alike Wee shall all appeare before the iudgement seate of Christ Iudge nothing therefore before the time vntill the Lorde come vvho vvill lighten things that are hid in darknes make the counsels of the hart manifest then shal every man haue praise of God First then because he is another 2. because he serveth his own Lord 3. because he is thy brother 4. because the law-giver hath power of life death in his handes his law must iudge 5. because the time of iudgement is not yet come for al these reasons and perswasions Iudge not another man Iudge him by law if thou be a magistrate iudge him by charitie and discretion if a private christian and be not only an eie to obserue and a tongue to condemne but an hande to support him yet rather if I may counsell thee iudge thy selfe that thou bee not iudged with the worlde Say with Bernarde vpon the Canticles I will present my selfe before the countenaunce of Gods wrath already iudged not to be iudged For if we woulde iudge our selues the Apostle telleth vs we might escape iudgment Call thy soule to daily account of thine own misdeeds Thus did Sextius when the day was ended and the night come wherein he should take his rest he woulde aske his minde vvhat evill hast thou healed this day what vice hast thou stood against in what part art thou bettered Say not as Peter did of Iohn Hic autem quid what shall hee doe as one carefull of other mens estates but Domine quis ego sum Lord who am I that thou shouldest regarde mee with such favour Domine miserere mei peccatoris O Lord be mercifull vnto me a sinner Thus knocke at the brest of thine owne conscience breake vp those iron and heavy gates
he himselfe tempteth no man Therefore I blame not Edmunde Campian if hee holde it in his eighth reason of his pamphlet cast foorth a paradoxe that is an insolent vnwonted vncredible position to make God the author of sinne But to charge our reformed churches with the conception and birth of so vile a monster is as vnrighteous a calumniation against vs as God vvhose iustice vvee mainetaine is most righteous If I should answere slaunder by slaunder we should proue two slanderers as Augustine sometimes aunswered Petilian These are Convicta convicia auncient reproches deade and rotten long since We never saide it Our church hath beene iustified by her children a thousand times in this point This wee haue saide that in a sinnefull action there are two thinges the acte and the defecte essence and privation the materiall and the formall parte the substaunce and the quality The latter vvhereof is that deformity or irregularity as they call it vnlawfulnesse transgression pravity that in every such action is contained Aquinas obserueth it in the definition of sinne which Augustine gaue against Faustus the Manichee Sinne is any thinge spoken coveted or done against the everlasting lawe One thing saith hee in this definâ—oion belongeth to the substance of the acte the other to the nature of the evill that is therein God is the authour of the act because all motion commeth from him but not of the acte as it hath defect in it Hee bringeth the example of a lame legge wherein are two qualities abilitie to goe but vnabilitie to goe vprighte The going and stirring it hath is from the vertue that mooueth it as vvhen a rider driueth his horse the lamenesse and debility belongeth to an other cause distortion or crookednesse or some other impotency in the legge it selfe The like is in the striking of a iarring and vntuned harpe the fingeringe is thine the iarringe and discorde is in the instrument The earth giveth fatnesse and iuice to all kinde of plants some of those plantes yeelde pestilent and noysome fruites vvhere is the faulte in the nourishment of the grounde or in the nature of the hearbes vvhich by their natiue corruption decoct the goodnesse of the grounde into venime and poyson The goodnesse and moysture is from the earth the venime from the hearbe the soundinge from the hande the iarring from the instrumente the motion from the rider the lamenesse from the legge so the action or motion is from God the evill in the action from the impure fountaine of thine owne heart Howe coulde the minde of Caine ever haue thought of the death of Abell his eies haue seene any offensiue thing in his accepted sacrifice his hearte haue prosecuted vvith desire and his hand executed with power so vnnaturall a fact more than a stone in the wall which if it be not stirred forsaketh not his place if God had not giuen him strength and activity to haue vsed the service of al these faculties To thinke to see to desire to mooue the partes of the body were the good creatures of God therein consisteth the action but to turne these giftes of God to so vile a purpose was the sinne of Cain the fault of the action proper and singular to his owne person It is skarse credible to reporte howe Campian goeth forwarde against vs that as the calling of Paul so the adultery of David and the treason of Iudas by our doctrine were the proper vvorkes of God all alike as if we mingled yron and clay togither and the spirit of God had giuen vs no wisedome to discerne thinges in nature and quality most repugnant I againe borrowe Saint Augustines wordes Petilianus dicit ego nego eligite cui credatis Petilian affirmeth it I deny it chuse vvhether you vvill beleeue The conversion of Paul was the regeneration and newe birth of one that was a straunger to the covenauntes of God the adultery of Dauid the fall and escape of a Saint the treason of Iudas the damned apostasie of a reprobate The conversion of Paul was the proper worke of God whom Sathan had held in darkenesse and in the shadowe of death whilst the world had stoode if God had not cast him into a trance blindinge the eies and killinge the senses of his body for a time but illuminatinge his minde changing his heart creating a new spirit within him and speaking both to his eares and conscience vvith an effectuall calling Finally hee founde no vvill in him fitte for his mercies but wrought both the vvill and the worke to In the adultery of Dauid and the treason of Iudas hee founde the vvill eagerly prepared to iniquity God doth but vse that will they runne of themselues God staieth not behinde but runneth with them though to an other end they to the satisfaction of their naughty lustes God to the declaration of his righteous and vvise iudgementes And although he loueth not their sinnes yet hee loueth and is delighted vvith the execution of his admirable iustice hanging therevpon And albeit neither the adultery of David nor the treason of Iudas be his proper workes yet God hath his proper working in both their workes For as from vnhonest actions may come good creatures as vvhen a childe is borne in adulterie the commixtion of adulterers is wicked the creature good so from the lewdest and corruptest willes God can produce good effectes Not vnlike the wisedome of Physitians in vsing the poyson of serpentes for how harmefull a nature soeuer the poison hath the Physition tempereth it by degree and healeth his patient therby the poyson it selfe notwithstanding hurtful the skil of the Physition commendable the effect profitable Thus wee haue ever distinguished not onely the workes vvhich vvee know are indifferent but in one and the same action the diversitie of agentes and dealers both in this manner of working and in their endes In the afflicting of Iob for example sake Sathan hath leaue to lay his hand vpon Iob his servauntes are slaine his oxen asses and camelles taken and driuen away by Sabaeans and Chaldaeans Slaughter and spoile without mercy For if a grape-gatherer shoulde come to a vine woulde hee not leaue some grapes heere neither camell nor beast is lefte nor any seruaunt saue one alone to bringe newes Yet Iob confesseth after all this The Lorde hath giuen and the Lorde hath taken Here are three sundry agents A man mighte imagine that either Sathan and the Sabaeans shal be excused for having society in this action with God or God brought into question for having society with them Neither of both The difference of their intentions setteth them as farre asunder as heauen is from the earth at her lowest center God hath a purpose to try the patience constancy of Iob to reforme the opinion of his owne innocencie to make him knowe that hee was but man and to finde an occasion of powring greater blessings vpon him Sathan to shew his envy and malice to mankinde to
two singular and almost despaired deliverances first of their bodies from a raging and roaring sea a benefite not to be contemned for even the Apostles of Christâ— cried in the like kind of distresse vpon the waters helpe Lorde wee perish secondlye of their soules from that idolatrous blindnes wherein they were drowned and stifled a destruction equall to the former and indeed far exceeding The horrour of this destruction was never more faithfully laid out in colours than in the eighth of Amos. Where after repetition of sorrowes enough if they were not burnt with hote irons past sense as that the songes of the teÌ„ple shoulde be turned into howlinges feastes into mourning laughter into lamentation that there should be many dead bodies in every place even the nuÌ„ber so great that they should cast them forth in silence without obsequies the sunne going downe at noone and the earth darkened in the cleare day that is their greatest woe in the greatest prosperity yet he threatneth a scourge beyoÌ„d al these Behold saith the Lord I have not yet made your eies dazell nor your eares tingle with my iudgements though your eies have beheld sufficient misery to make them faile yet behold more The daies come I give you warning of vnhappier times the plagues you have endured already are but the beginnings of sorrow the daies come that I will send a famine in the land if the mouth of the Lord had here stayed famem immittam I will send a famine had it not sufficed Can a greater crosse thinke you be imagined than wheÌ„ a wofull mother of her wofull children shall be driven to say As the Lorde liveth I have but a little meale left in a barrell and a little oile in a cruise and beholde I am gathering two stickes to go in and dresse it for me and my sonne that wee may eate and die and much rather if it come to that extremity that an other mother felt when shee cried vnto the king Helpe my Lord O King This woman saide vnto mee give thy sonne that wee may eate him to day and wee will eate my sonne to morrowe so we sodde my sonne and did eate him c. yet hee addeth to the former by a correction not a famine of bread nor a thirst of water but of hearing the word of God and they shall wonder not as the sonnes of Iacob who went but out of Israell into Egypt but from sea to sea and from the North to the East shall they runne to and fro to seeke the worde of the Lorde and shall not finde it This was the case of these men before a prophet spake vnto them and the wonders of the lawe were shewed amoÌ„gst them And this was the case of our countrey when either it fared with vs as with the church of Ierusalem signa non videmus non est ampliùs propheta wee see no tokens there is no prophet lefte or if we had prophets they were such as Ezechiell nameth they saw vanities and divined lies and the booke of the law of the Lorde though it were not hid in a corner as in the raigne of Iosias nor cut with a penknife and cast into the fire as in the daies of Iehoiakim yet the comfortable vse of it was interdicted the people of God vvhen either they could not reade because it was sealed vp in an vnknowne tongue or vnder the paine of a curse they might not and such as hungred and thirsted after the righteousnes of Iesus Christ were driven into Germany and other countries of Europe to enquire after it But blessed be the Lord God of Israell for hee hath long since visited and redeemed vs his people If our many deliverances besides either by sea from the invasion of the grande pirate of Christendome or from other rebellions and conspiracies by land had beene in nuÌ„mber as the dust of our grounde this one deliverance of our soules froÌ„ the kingdome and power of darkenesse the very shadowe and borders of death wherein we sate before the sending of prophets amongst vs to prophecie right things to preach the acceptable yeare of the Lord and the tidings of salvation had far surpassed them Let vs therfore with these mariners sing a song of thanksgiving not onely with our spirites My soule blesse thou the Lorde and all that is within mee praise his holy name but with sacrifices and vowes also as audible sermons and proclamations to the world let vs make it knowne that great is the mercy of Iehovah to our little nation THE XXII LECTVRE The last verse of the 1. Chap. Or after some the first of the second Now the Lorde had prepared a great fish to swallow vp Ionas and Ionas was in the bellye of the fishe three daies and three nightes WEE are now come to the second section of the prophesie wherin the mercy of God towardes Ionas is illustrated It beginneth at my text and parteth it selfe into three members 1. The absorption or buriall 2. the song 3. the delivery of the Prophet Isiodore in three wordes summeth the contentes of it Cetus obiectum voratum orantem revomuit The whale cast vp Ionas first cast forth then devoured afterwards making his moue to God Ionas is swallowed in this present sentence The iustice and mercy of God runne togither in this history as those that runne for the maisterie in a race And it is harde a long time for Ionas to discerne whither his iustice will overcome his mercie or his mercy triumph over iustice They labour in contention as the twinnes in Rebecca's wombe And although Esau bee first borne red and hairy all over like a rough garment yet Iacob holdeth him by the heele and is not farre behinde him I meane though the iudgment of God against Ionas bearing a rigorous and bloudy countenance and satiate with nothing in likelyhode but his death that most straÌ„ge vnaccustomed seemeth to have the first place yet mercy speedeth her selfe to the rescue and in the end is fulfilled that which God prophecied of the other paire The elder shall serue the yonger For when iustice had her course and borne the preeminence a greate space mercy at lengh putteth in and getteth the vpper hande To vs that haue seene and perused the historie who haue as it were the table of it before our eies and know both the first and the last of it it is apparant that I say that although he were tossed in the ship cast forth into the sea deuoured yet God had a purpose prevised herein to worke the glorie of his name the others miraculous preservation But Ionas himselfe who all the while was the patient and set as a marke for the arrowes of heavenlye displeasure to be spent at and knew no more what the end would be than a child his right hand from the left what could he thâ—â—ke but that heaven and earth land and sea life and death all 〈◊〉
aliue through ranges and armies of teeth on both sides without the collision or crushing of any limme in his body and entereth the streights of his throate where he had greater reason to cry thaÌ„ the childreÌ„ in the prophet the place is to narrow for me and liveth in the entralles of the fish a prison or caue of extreame darkenesse where he found nothing but horror and stinch and loathsome excrementes What shall we say herevnto but as Ierome did vpon the place where there was nothing looked for but death there was a custodie in a double sense first to imprison and yet withall to preserue Ionas Thus farre you have hearde first that a fish and for his exornation great fish secondly vvas prepared thirdly by the Lorde fourthly to swallow vp his prophet Now lastly if you will learne what tidings of Ionas after his entring in the monsters mawe it is published in the nexte wordes And Ionas was in the belly of the fish three daies and three nightes Therein I distinguish these particularities First the person Ionas not the bodye of Ionas forsaken of the soule as the bodye of Christ lay in the graue but the whole and entire person of Ionas compounded of bodye and soule livinge mooving feeling meditating not ground with the teeth not digested in the stomake not converted into the substaunce of the fish and neither vitall nor integrall part diminished in Ionas Secondly the place vvhere he was in the remotest and lowest partes the bovvelles of the fish as Ieremy was in the bottome of the dungeon where there vvas no water where what nutriment he had amiddest those purgamentes superfluities the Lorde knoweth but man liveth not by breade alone or what respiration and breathing being out of his elemente amongst those stiflinge evaporations vvhich the bellye of the whale reaked forth but wee may as truely saye man liveth not by breath alone Thirdly the time hovve long hee continued there three daies three nightes when if the course of nature were examined it is not possible to bee conceived that a man coulde liue so one moment of time and his spirit not be strangled within him Physitians giue advise that such as are troubled with apoplexies falling sicknesses or the like diseases should not be buried till the expiration of 72. howres that is three daies and three nightes In which space of time they say the humours begin to stop giue over their motion by reason the moone hath gone through a signe the more in the Zodiake For this cause it was that our Saviour vndertooke not the raisinge of Lazarus from the dead till hee had lien 4. daies in the graue least the Iewes might haue slaundered the miracle if hee had done it in hast and saide that Lazarus had but swooned The like he experienced in himselfe besides the opening of his heart that if falshoode woulde open her mouth into slaunder it might bee her greater sin because he was fully dead Who would ever haue supposed that Ionas fulfilling this time in so deadly and pestilent a graue shoulde have revived againe But the foundation of the Lord standeth sure and this sentence hee hath vvritten for the generations to come My strength is perâ—ited in infirmity vvhen the daunger is most felt then is my helping arme most welcome We on the one side vvhen our case seemeth distresseful are very importunate with God crying vpoÌ„ him for help It is time that the Lord haue mercy vpon Sion yea the time is come if in the instant he answer not our cry we are ready to reply against him The time is past and our hope cleane withered But he sitteth aboue in his provident watch-towre who is far wiser than men thinketh with himselfe you are deceived the time is not yet come They meete the ruler of the synagogue in the 5. of Marke tell him thy daughter is deade why diseasest thou thy maister any further Assoone as Iesus hearde that vvorde a word that he lingred and waited for he said vnto the ruler of the Synagogue be not afraid onely beleeue And as Alexander the great solaced and cheered himselfe with the greatnes of his perill in India when he was to fight both with men and beasts their huge Elephantes at length I see a daunger aunswerable to my minde so fareth it with our absolute true monarch of the world who hath a bridle for the lippes of every disease and an hooke for the nostrels of death to turne them backe the same vvay they came it is the ioy of his hart to protract the time a while till he seeth the heigth maturity of the daunger that so he may get him the more honour Martha telleth him in the 11. of Iohn when her brother had beene long dead lien in the graue till he stanke past hope of recovery Lorde if thou hadst beene here my brother had not beene dead And what if absent was he not the same God Yet he told his disciples not long before Lazarus is deade and I am gladde for your sakes that I vvas not there that you mighte beleeue You see the difference Martha is sory and Christ is glad that he was not rhere Martha thinketh the cure commeth to late and Christ thinketh the sore was never ripe till nowe In the booke of Exodus when Israel had pitched their tents by the red sea Pharaoh and host marching apace and ready to surprise them they vvere sore afraide and cryed vnto the Lord and murmured against Moses hast thou brought vs to die in the wildernesse because there were no graues in Egypt wherefore hast thou served vs thus to carrie vs out of Egypt c. Moses the meekest man vpon the earth quieted them thus Feare yee not stande still and beholde the salvation of the Lorde which he will shew to you this day For the Egyptians whome yee haue seene this day yee shall never see them againe The Lorde shall fight for you therefore hold you your peace Neither did Moses feed them with winde prophecy the surmises of his owne braine for the Lorde made it good as followeth in the next verse vvherefore cryest thou vnto mee speake vnto the children of Israell that they goe forwarde Thus when the wounde was most desperate they might haue pledged even their soules vpoÌ„ it we cannot escape when their legges trembled vnder them that they could not stand still their hearts fainted that they could not hope the waters roring before their face the wheels of the enimy ratling behinde their backs they are willed to stand still not on their legges alone but in their disturbed passions to settle their shivering spirites to pacifie their vnquiet tongues and to go forwardes though every step they trode seemed to beare them into the mouth of death The state of the daunger you see Ionas is in the belly of the fish three daies and three nightes Long enough to haue
with God on high mourning and lamenting his wretchednes not in a caue of Horeb as Elias did not in a caue of Adullam as David but in the ougliest vncomfortablest vaulte setting hell aparte that ever vvas entred O Lord where shall thy spirite forsake thy chosen ones if wee climbe into heaven there it is as apparant to the worlde as the sunne in his brightnesse If we bee driven into the wildernesse there it will attend on vs. If we lie downe in the bottome of the sea if in the bowels of a whale within that bottome of the sea there will it also embrace vs. To conclude all in one for this time there was never contemplation or study in the world so holy and heavenly in the sight of God so faithfull and sociable to him that vseth it as praier is It travaileth by day it awaketh by night with vs it forsaketh vs not by lande by water in weale in woe living nor dying It is our last friend an◠indissolublest companion therefore wee must praie There was never name so worthy to bee called vpon in heaven or earth so mighty for deliverance so sure for protection so gainefull for successe so compendious to cut of vnnecessarie labours as the name of Iehovah our mercifull father and the image of his countenaunce Iesus Christ. Therefore to the Lord. There was never citty of refuge so free for transgressours never holes in the rockes so open for doues never lappe of the mother so open to her babes as the bowels of Gods compassions are open to beleevers Therefore we must pray in that stile of propriety which Thomas vsed when he looked vpon Christ my Lord and my God Lastly there was never affliction so great but the hande of the Lorde hath beene able to maister it therefore if we walke in the shadow of death as where was the shadow of death if these bowels of the whale were not we must not take discomforte at it The Lord sitteth aboue the water flouds the Lord commandeth the sea and all that therein is He that hath hidden Ionas in the belly of a fish as a chosen shafte in the quiver of his mercifull providence and made destruction it selfe a tabernacle and hiding place to preserue him from destruction blessed be his holy name and let the mighte of his maiestie receiue honour for evermore he will never forsake his sonnes and daughters neither in health nor sicknesse light nor darknesse in the lande of the living nor in the lande of forgetfulnesse And therefore as David cursed the mountaines of Gilboah that neither dew nor raine might fall vpon them because the shielde of the mighty was there cast downe so cursed be all faithlesse and faint harted passions that throwe away the shielde of faith and open the way for the fierie dartes of the devill to worke their purpose But blessed be the mountaines of Armenia for there the 〈◊〉 found rest Blessed be the power and mercy of our God for these are the mountaines vvherevpon the arke resteth these are the holy hils whereon the Sion and church of the Lord hath her everlasting foundations The Lorde liveth and blessed be our strength even the God of our salvation for ever and ever be exalted Amen THE XXIIII LECTVRE Chap. 2. ver 2. And said I eryed in mine affliction to the Lord and he hearde me out of the belly of hell cried I and thou heardst my voice IN the wordes of the history before we come to Ionas speaking frō his own person I noted 1. his action during the time of his imprisonmēt praier 2. the obiect of his praier the Lorde 3. the applicatiō his God 4. his house of praier the belly of the fish 5. the specification of it he said which particle only remaineth to bee adioyned to the former before wee proceede to to praier it selfe It beareth one sense thus I will not onely acquaint you that Ionas prayed but I will also expresse vnto you what that prayer was this was the summe and substaunce of it the matter hee framed and compiled to his God was to this effect Hee praied and saide that is these were the very wordes this was the tenour and text of his songe indited But if the worde bee better lookt into it may yeeld a further construction For in the three principall tongues Hebrew Greeke Latine there hath ever bene held a difference betweene speaking saying the former being more generall vnperfite belonging to as many as vse the instruments of speech Thersites spake though hee spake like a Iay they speake of whome the proverbe is verified little wisedome much prating Eupolis noted them in the greeke verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are excellent to talke but very vnable to say The later is more speciall noteth a wise deliberated speech graue sententious weighed in the ballance as it is in the words of Syrach vttered to good purpose Tully in his rhetorickes giveth the difference in that he ascribeth saying to oratours alone speaking to the cōmon people that the one cōmeth from nature the other from art Such was the handling of that argument in the 45. Psalme whereof the authour witnesseth before hand My heart is inditing a good matter his tongue was but the pen of a ready writer It was sermo natus in pectore a matter bred in the breast not at the tongues end And such was the song of Ionas in this place It was drawne as deepe as the water from the well of Iacob the sentences wherof were advisedly penned the words themselues set vpon feete and placed in equall proportions A skilfull and artificiall song as if it should haue fitted an instrument cōposed in number measure to the honour of his name who giveth the argument of a song in the night season who in the heaviest and solitariest times when nature calleth for rest quickeneth vp the spirit of a man and giveth him wisdōe grace to meditate within himselfe his vnspeakable mercies I doe not thinke that the praier of Ionas was thus metrically digested within the belly of the fish as now it standeth But such were the thoughts and cogitations wherein his soule was occupied vvhich after his landing againe perhappes he repolished brought into order fashion as a memoriall monument of the goodnes of God that had enlarged him It ministreth this instruction vnto vs al that when vvee sing or say any thing vnto the Lord we keepe the rule of the Psalme Sing yee praises vvith vnderstanding that as Iohn Baptist went before Christ to prepare his vvaies so our heartes may ever goe before our tongues to prepare their speeches that first vvee speake within our selues as the woman with the bloudy issue did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for shee saide within her selfe if I may but touch the hemme of his garment afterwardes to others first in our harts with David in
mercie pleaseth him For who hath first loved or first given or anye way deserved and it shal bee restored vnto him a thousande folde Blessinges and thankesgivinges for evermore bee heaped vpon his holy name in whom the treasures of mercy and loving kindenesse dwell bodylie who of his owne benevolente disposition hath both pleased himselfe and pleasured his poore people with so gracious a qualitye Even so LORD for that good pleasure and purpose sake deale with the rest of thy people as thou hast dealt with Ionas and the marriners take awaie those iniquities of ours that take away thy favour and blessing from vs and as a stranger that knoweth them not passe by our transgressions retaine not thine anger for ever though we retaine our sinnes the cause of thine anger but returne to vs by grace who returne not to thee by repentance and haue compassion vpon vs who haue not compassion vpon our owne soules subdue our raigning and raging vnrighteousnesse and drowne our offences in the bottome of the sea which els will drowne vs in the bottome of perdition The mysteries buried vnder this type of the casting vp of Ionas the seconde principall consideration vvherein I bounded my selfe are collected by some 1. The preaching of the gospell to the Gentiles not before the passion and resurrection of Christ because Ionas went not to Niniveh till after his sinking and rising againe 2. A lanterne of comforte to all that sit in the darkenesse of affliction and in the shadowe of death held out in the enlargement of Ionas who though hee vvere swallowed downe into the bowels of an vnmercifull beast yet by the hand of the Lord he was againe cast our These are somewhat enforced But the only counterpane indeed to match this original is the resurrection of the blessed sonne of God from death to life figured in the restitution of the prophet to his former estate of liuelyhode and by him applyed in the gospel to this body of truth who is very and substantiall trueth For so hee telleth the Scribes and Pharisees twise in one Evangelist An evill and adulterous generation degenerated from the faith and workes of their father Abraham wherein standeth the right descent of his children asketh a signe but no signe shall bee given vnto it saue the signe of the Prophet Ionas For as Ionas vvas three daies and three nightes in the whales belly so shall the sonne of man bee three daies and three nightes in the â—earte of the earth His meaning was that if this so vnlikely and in nature so vncredible a signe coulde not mooue them all the tokens in heaven and earth would not take effect That Christ is risen againe there is no question The bookes are open and hee that runneth may reade enough to perswade him Hee that tolde them of the signe before mentioned signified the same worke vnder the name and shadow of the temple of Ierusalem a little to obscure his meaning and that hee tearmed a signe also Destroie this temple and I will builde it againe in three daies He meante not the temple of Salomon as they mistooke but the temple of his bodie more costly and glorious than ever that admired temple of theirs the buildinge whereof in the counsaile of his father was more than forty and sixe yeares even from the first age of the worlde and everie stone therein angular precious and tryed cut out of a mountaine without handes ordeined from the highest heauens without humane furtheraunce and such whereof hee affirmed longe before in the mouth of his Prophet who could iustifie his saying Thou shalt not suffer thine holy one to see corruption though of the other temple hee prophecied and it was perfourmed there shall not a stone bee lefte standing vpon a stone that shall not bee cast dovvne Praedixit revixit He gaue warning before that it shoulde so bee and hee fulfilled it The earth-quake at the very time of his resurrection Math. 28. the testimonie and rebuke of Angelles vvhy seeke yee the living amongest the deade hee is risen he is not here his manifestation to one to two to twelue to moe than fiue hundreth at once once and againe his breaking of breade amongst them the printes of his handes and side their very fingers and nayles for evidence sake thrust into them togither with so many predictions that thus it must bee and so many sermons and exhortations that so it was are able to resolue any spirite that setteth not it selfe of purpose to resist the holie Ghost Or if there be any of so audacious impiety as to deny the scriptures the warrante whereof is so stronge that Paul in the Actes of the Apostles not tarrying the answere of king Agrippa by his owne mouth speaketh in his name by a reasonable and vndoubted concession I know thou beleevest them and hee thought it afterwardes firme enough to prooue any article of the faith without other force according to the scriptures let them listen a while to that learned disputation that GREAT ATHANASIVS helde concerning this point Hee proveth that the sonne of God coulde not chuse but die having taken vnto him a body of death and that hee coulde not but liue againe because that bodye of his was vitae sacrarium The vestrie or chappell wherein life vvas conserved And hee holdeth it a senselesse thing that a dead man shoulde haue the power so to extimulate and pricke the mindes of the livinge that the Grecian and Pagan was brought to forsake his auncient nationall idolatries and worship the Saviour of the world that a man forsaken of life and able to doe nothing should so hinder the actions of actiue and liues-men that by the preaching of Iesus of Nazareth an adulterer leaveth his adulteries a murtherer his bloud sheades and at the naming of his dreadfull name the very devilles departe from their oracles and oratories He vrgeth yet further Howe can the carkas of a dead man prevaile so much with the living that vpon the confidence of life therein contained they haue endured the losse of libertie countrie wife children goods good name and life it selfe with such Christian magnanimity that the Arrians espying it beganne to receiue it as a ruled and resolved case not to be doubted of there is no Christian living that feareth death As for the slaunder of his sworne enemies the Iewes whose malice cannot ende but in the ende of the woorlde vvho contrary to common humanity belyed him in his graue and gaue not leaue to his bones to rest in peace saying and hyring men to saye and vvith a greate summe purchasing that vntrueth as the chiefe captaine did his burgesshippe Actes the two and twentith His disciples came by nighte and stole him awaie while we slept let it sleepe in the dust with them till the time come When everie eie shall see him even those that pierced him vpon the crosse and those that watched
from the 8. verse their turning from their evill waies and from the wickednesse of their handes which some expound of restitution wee shall see that they went from fasting and sackcloth to that which was more then both The persons are as rightly placed For they humble themselues from the greatest of them to the least of them which declareth not onely an vniversall consent that there was but one heart one soule one faith one fâ—st one attire amongst them all but that the king began the people were led by him and that olde menne gaue example to the younge parents to their children Lastly according to the wordes of the Psalme I beleeved therefore haue I spoken no sooner had they holde of faith in their heartes but their tongues are presently exercised nay their pens set one worke not onely to speake but to speake publiquely to speake vpon the house toppes by open proclamation that all might vnderstande and it is probable enough from the 7. verse that ill the proclamation was heard for order and obedience sake they did nothing More particularly 1. the radicall and fundamentall action wherewith they begin is faith 2. the obiect of that faith God 3. the effectes and fruites of their faith abstinence from tvvo vices the slaunder and reproch whereof Asia was famously subiect vnto 4. their generality in that abstinence 5. their warrant and commission for so doing by the edicte of the King I reserve to an other place So the people of Niniveh beleeved God When Ahiiah the prophet told Ieroboam that God shoulde raise vp a king in Israell to destroy his house not to leaue him in hope that the time was far off remooved hee correcteth himselfe with sudden and quicke demaunde and maketh the aunswere vnto it What yea euen now Did I saye hee shoulde nay it is already done So soone as the worde was gone from the mouth of Ionas yet 40. daies and Niniveh shall bee destroied vvithout pawsing and resting vpon the matter they beleeved God What yea even now It vvas so speedily done that almost it was lesse then imagination It is very straunge that a Gentile nation vvhich vvere ever alâ—ants from the common wealth of Israell and straungers from the covenants of promise should so soone be caught within these nettes For when prophets preach the mercies or iudgments of God so fatte are the eares and vncapable the hearts of the incredulous vvorlde much more when God is a straunger amongst them that they may preach amongst the rest as Esay did who hath beleeved our report or to whome is the arme of the Lord revealed either the gospell which is his power to salvation to them that beleeue or the lawe which is his rod of iron to crush them in pieces that transgresse it Rather as it is in Habbaccuk they will behold amongst the heathen and regarde and wonder and mervaile they vvill lend their eies to gaze their tongues to talke but with all they will despise and lightly esteeme all that is saide vnto them Beholde yee despisers and wonder at your vnbeliefe you that wonder so much yet despise For I will worke a worke in your daies saith the Lord yee will not beleeue it though it be told you The Lord vvill worke it prophets declare it and yet the people beleeue not Nay their manner of deriding and insulting at the iudgments of God is let him make speede let him hasten his worke that wee may see it and let the counsaile of the holy one draw neare and come that wee may know it And sometimes they plainely deny the Lorde and all his iudgements saying It is not hee neither shall the plague come vpon vs neither shall wee see sworde or famine And as for his prophets they are but wind and the word is not in them Moses and Aaron preached vnto Pharo not onely in the name of the Lord and with kinde exhortations let my people goe nor onely by threates and sentences of iudgement but by apparant plagues the effectuallest preachers that might bee by the tongues of frogges lice flies grashoppers of morraine botches darkenesse haile-stones bloud and death it selfe could not all these mooue him No but the first time hee returned into his house and hardened his heart and the second When he saw he had rest he hardned his heart againe and the thirde time his heart remained obstinate and likewise the fourth though Moses gaue him warning let not Pharaoh from hence-forth deceiue mee any more and so hee continued to his dying day building vp hardnesse of heart as high as ever Babell vvas intended even vp into heaven by denying and defying the God thereof till hee quite overthrew him in the red sea What shall vvee say to this but as the apostle doth All men haue not faith God sent his patriaâ—kes in the ancienter ages of the vvorlde and founde not faith sent his prophetes in a later generation and founde not faith Last of all sent his sonne a man approoved to the vvorlde and approoving his doctrine with great vvorkes and vvonders and signes and founde not faith and vvhen the sonne of man commeth againe shall hee finde faith on the earth So contrary it is to the nature of man to beleeue any thing that custome and experience hath not invred him with or may be coÌ„prehended by discourse of reason Yet this people of Niniveh having received you heare but one prophet and from that one prophet one sentence and but in one part of the citty skattered and sowen amongst them presently beleeved as if the Lord from heaven had thrust his fingers into their eares and hartes and by a miracle set them open It rather seemeth to haue beene faith of credulity which is heere mentioned yeelding assent to the truth of the prophecie then faith of affiance coÌ„fidence taking hold of mercy That is they first apprehend God in the faithfulnes of his word they knowe him to be a God that cannot lie they suspect not the prophet distrust not the message assuring themselues as certainly as that they liue that the iudgment shall fall vpon them without the iudges dâ—spensation Notvvithstanding there to haue staied without tasting some sweetenes of the mercy of God had ben little to their harts ease The devils beleeue and tremble They are reserved to the iudgment of the great daie and they keepe a kalender that they are reserved For they neither see nor heare of Iesus of Nazareth the iudge of the quicke and dead Angels and men death and hell but they are inwardly afflicted and aske why hee is come to vexe them before the time And surely to beleeue the truth of God in his iustice without aspect and application of mercy to teÌ„per it to consider nothing in that infinit supreme maiestie but that he is fortis vltor dominus the Lorde a strong revenger reddens retribuet hee that recompenceth will
sinceâ—noted you you that are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lovers of pleasure more than of God or if you loue it no more than that it maketh you to forget God in whose presence is the fulnesse of ioie and at his right hande pleasure for evermore Psa. 16. and vvho giveth vs drinke out of a vvhole river of pleasures Psalme 36. contemne these transitory gourdes and reserue your selues for a better building in heaven vvhere is neither sunne nor winde to beate vpon your heades nor vvorme to alter your happinesse VVhere your ioye shall ever be present yet can you not be filled rather you shall be filled but cannot be satisfied Or if I say that you cannot be satisfied then there is hunger or that you may then there is loathing I know not what to say Deus habet quod exhibeat God hath somewhat both to reveale and to bestow vpon you which I know not but 〈◊〉 beata vita in â—onte there is blessednesse at the heade of the spring not in cisternes or brookes that I am sure of Were you able to drinke vp the pleasures of the worlde in as plentifull manner as Cleopatra dranke the riches the value of fiftye thousand pounde at a draught yet remember that it is but a draught and quickely downe the throate The length of the throate saith Bernard is but two or three inches at the most or if it were as long as a cranes necke which Philoxenus the Epicure wished that the sweetnes of his meats and drinkes might the longer abide with him the matter were not much But when they are drunke and digested then what becommeth of them more than of your meates and drinkes to bee cast out into the draught so these to perish with their vse not without shame and sorrow of heart to bee throwne away as vnhappy superfluities whereas the pleasures of aeternity before the face of God deserue that commendation which Booz gaue to Ruth and with his words wee may blesse it blessed art thou my daughter for thou haste shewed me more goodnesse in the latter eâ—de than at the beginning To conclude the blessedst tree is in the midst of the paradise of God neither on the East nor on the West side of Niniveh nor any other city of the world And the leaues of the tree are not only for shadow as these of the gourd but to heale the nations with and it hath both leaues and fruites to satisfie our hunger and twelue manner of fruites every month brought forth to satisfie our pleasure And it groweth by a river side cleare as christall proceeding out of the throne of God that it cannot possibly wither For it let vs keepe our better appetites and let vs beseech him who hath planted it with his owne right hand that we may liue to taste how holesome and pleasant that tree is THE XLVII LECTVRE Chap. 4. ver 1. And when the sun did arise God also prepared a fervent East-winde and the sunne beat vpon the head of Ionas c. THe temporary ioy which Ionas entertained for the gouâ—d is as quite forgotten as if it had never beene and buried vnder an heape of succeeding griefes as the fruitfull years Gen. 41. were buried vnder the yeares of famine for so said Ioseph the famine shall bee so greate that the yeares of plentie shall not be thought vpon It followeth in the line of those afflictions which God stretched out vpon the heade of Ionas that when the sunne did arise God prepared also a fervent East-winde c. For it did not suffice him to haue sent a worme which smote the gourd but he adioineth new corrosiues and calamities to afflict the soule of Ionas For as his blessings when he watcheth to do vs good as the prophet speaketh the foote of the one shall ever bee treading vpon the heele of the other so also in his castisements and corrections he doth not desist to inflict theÌ„ till he haue left an inwarde sense in those who are his patients Thus he dealt in the scourdging of Iob though a servant dearly beloved as appeareth by his complaints how long will it be ere thou depart from me thou wilt not let me alone while I maie swallow my spittle Againe thou renuest thy witnesses that is thy plagues witnesses of thy displeasure against me changes armies of sorrow are against me Surely God is wiser in handling our sins thaÌ„ any Physitian in dealing with sicknesses therfore he best knoweth both what medicine is fittest how long to be applied 1 The sun ariseth as a gyant refreshed with wine to run his race or rather as an enemy prepared to the battaile the only enemy vvhich Ionas had cause to feare his fortresse castle of boughes being takeÌ„ froÌ„ him 2 After the sun a winde and that fighting vnder the banner of the sun confaederate with him an East-winde for the quality of it a fervent East-winde 3. The sunne is not sent to shine to cast forth his beames but to beate 4. Not any inferiour part but that which was highest next to heaven the head of Ionas 5. The effectes that follow al these are 1. his fainting in his body 2. in his soule wishing to die 3. professing it with his tongue it is better for me to die than to liue And when the sunne did arise The arising of the sun noteth no more than the opportunity of time which God taketh to punish Ionas He beginneth with the beginning of the day the shadowes of the night are gone the fresh dews of the morning sone dispersed and the sunne at his first discovery hath a chardge from God to assault the heade of Ionas no part of the day as it seemeth not the coolenesse teÌ„perature of the morning are friendly vnto him He rather wished in his heart as Iob did let the day be darkenes still and let not God regarde it from aboue nor the light shine vpon it but let darkenes clowdes the shadowe of death staine it that is let there be an everlasting night rather than the beams of the sun should come forth to do me this violence as the sun did once go backe in the daies of Hezekias vpon the diall of Ahaz so it would haue reioiced him if it had gone backe againe to the North or stoode vnmoueable in a place that the earth might haue beene as a piller betweene him and the heate thereof God prepared also a feruent East-wind I should but roule the same stone once again too ofteÌ„ to speak of the author of this whole busines his speedy expedition therin which I haue told you before is noted in the word of preparatioÌ„ whose mighty over spreading providence is as the soule of the world as inward familiar to al the actions therin great small as the spirit to our reines better may a body liue without breath than any counsaile or