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
a part put for the whole And thus they make their account the first day of his passion enterrement which was the preparation of the Iewish sabbath must haue the former night set to it The second was fully exactly run out The third had the night complete and only a piece of the first day of the weeke which by the figure before named is to be holpen supplied Now I go forwardes to explicate the behavior of Ionas in the belly of the fish Therein we are to consider 1. what the history speaketh of Ionas 2. what he speaketh himselfe The words of the history testifying his demeanour are those in the head of the chapter which you haue already heard Then Ionas prayed vnto the LORDE his GOD out of the bellie of the fish and saide VVherein besides the person of Ionas needelesse to bee recited any more wee are stored vvith a cluster of many singular meditations 1. The connexion or consequution after his former misery or if you will you may note it vnder the circumstance of time Then 2. What he did how hee exercised and bestowed himselfe Hee prayed 3. To whome hee prayed and tendered his mone To the Lorde 4. Vpon what right interest or acquaintance with that Lorde because he was his God 5. From whence he directed his supplications Out of the belly of the fish 6. The tenour or manner of the songe and request hee offered vnto him And saide Thus far the history vseth her owne tongue the wordes that followe Ionas himselfe endited Many thinges haue beene mentioned before vvhereof we may vse the speech of Moses Enquire of the auncient daies which are before thee since the day that God created man vpon the earth and from one ende of heaven to the other if ever there were the like thing done as that a man should breath and liue so long a time not onely in the bowels of the waters for there Ionas also was but in the bowels of a fish vvithin those waters a prison with a double ward deeper than the prison of Ieremie wherein by his owne pitifull relation hee stacke fast in mire and was ready to perish thorough hunger and when hee was pluckte from thence it was the labour of thirtie men to drawe him vp with ropes putting ragges vnder his armes betweene the ropes and his flesh for feare of hurtinge him closer then the prison of Peter who was committed to fowre quaternions of souldiours to bee kept and the night before his death intended slept betwixte two souldiours bounde with two chaines and the keepers before the doore yea stricter then the prison of Daniell the mouth whereof was closed with a stone and sealed with the signet of the king and the signet of his princes and the keepers of the ward by nature harder to be entreated than ten times 4. quaternions of souldiours Name me a prison vnder heaven except that lake of fire brimstone which is the second death comparable vnto this wherein Ionas was concluded Yet Ionas there liveth not for a moment of time but for that cōtinuance of daies which the greate shepheard of Israell afterwards tooke thought a tearme sufficient wherby the certain vndoubted evictiō of his death might be published to the whole world But this is the wonder of wonders that not onely the body of Ionas is preserved in life liuelyhood where if he receaved any foode it was more lothsome to nature than the gall of aspes or if he drew any aire for breath it was more vnpleasaunt than the vapours of sulphur but his soule also and inwarde man was not destroyed and stifled vnder the pressure of so vnspeakable a tribulation For so it is he lieth in the belly of the fish as if he had entered into his bed-chamber cast himselfe vpon his couch recounting his former sinnes present miseries praying beleeving hoping preaching vnto himselfe the deliveraunces of God with as free a spirite as ever he preached to the children of Israell vpon dry lande He is awake in the whale that snorted in the shippe VVhat a strange thing was this O the exceeding riches of the goodnesse of God the heigth and depth whereof can never be measured that in the distresses of this kinde to vse the apostles phrases aboue measure and beyond the strength of man wherein we doubte whether wee liue or no and receaue the sentence of death within our selues that if you should aske our owne opinion we cannot say but that in nature and reason we are dead men yet God leaveth not onely a soule to the body whereby it mooveth but a soule to the soule whereby it pondereth and meditateth within it selfe Gods everlasting compassions Doubtlesse there are some afflictions that are a very death else the Apostle in the place aforesaide woulde never have spoken as he did Wee trust in God who raiseth vp the deade and hath delivered vs from so great a death and doth deliver vs and in him wee hope that yet hee vvill deliver vs. Harken to this yee faint spirites and lende a patient eare to a thrice most happy deliveraunce be strengthened yee weake handes and feeble knees receaue comforte hee hath he doth and yet he will deliver vs not onelie from the death of our bodies when wormes and rottennesse haue made their long and last pray vpon them but from the death of our mindes too when the spirit is buried vnder sorrowes and there is no creature found in heaven or earth to giue it comforte The next thing we are to enquire is what Ionas did Hee praied All thinges passe sayeth Seneca to returne againe I see no nevve thing I doe no newe A wise man of our owne to the same effect That that hath beene is and that that shal bee hath beene I haue before handled the nature and vse of prayer with as many requisite conditions to commende it as there were chosen soules in the arke of Noah You will now aske me quousque eadem how often shal we heare the same matter I would there were no neede of repetition But it is true which Elihu speaketh in Iob God speaketh once and twice and man seeth it not There is much seede sowen that miscarieth some by the high-way side some amongst thornes some otherwise many exhortations spent as vpon men that are a sleepe and when the tale is tolde they aske vvhat is the matter Therefore I aunswere your demaund as Augustine sometimes the Donatistes when hee was enforced to some iteration Let those that know it already pardon mee least I offende those that are ignorant For it is better to giue him that hath than to turne him away that hath not And if it were trueth of Homer or may be truth of any man that is formed of clay Vnus Homerus satietatem omnium effugit One Homer never cloyed any mā that red him much more it is truth that one and onely Iesus
I to doe with thee get thee to the Prophets of thy father and to the prophets of thy mother c. see his further protestation Had he nothing to doe with the king when the king had so much to doe with him did hee not feare the wrath of the Lyon who could haue said to the basest minister that ate the salte of his courte take his head from his shoulders and hee would haue taken it But his commission was his brazen wall to secure him and that Iehoshaphat the King of Iuda witnessed saying The word of the Lord is with him This is the fortres and rocke that Ieremy standeth vpon before the priests prophets and people of Iuda If ye put me to death ye shall bring innocent bloud vpon your selues for of a truth the Lord hath sent me vnto you to speake all these words in your eares Yea the princes and people vpon that ground made his apologie This man is not worthy to die for he hath spoken vnto vs in the name of the Lord our God To spare my paines in examples fearefull are the woes and not milder then wormewoode and the water of gall for vnder these tearmes I finde them shadowed but shadowed by the prophets which he denounceth in the course of that prophecie against false prophets that spake the visions of their owne harts and said The Lord said thus and thus that were not sent yet ran were not spoken vnto yet prophecied that cryed I haue dreamed I haue dreamed when they were but dreames indeede They are given to vnderstand that their sweete tongues will bring them a sowre recōpense and that the Lord will come against them for their lies flatteries chaffe stealth of his worde as they are tearmed and other such impieties Their cuppe is tempered by Ezechiel with no lesse bitternesse for follovving their ovvne spirites playing the foxes seeing of vanity divining of lies building and daubing vp vvalles with vntempered morter The heade and foote of their curse are both full of vnhappinesse Their first entertainement is a vvoe Vae prophetis and their farevvell an Anathema a cursed excommunication They shall not be accompted in the assembly of my people neither shall they be written in the writings of the house of Isarell To ende this pointe let their commission bee vvell scanned that come from the Seminaries of Rome and Rhemes to sovve seedes in this fielde of ours vvhether as Ionas had a vvoorde for Niniveh so these for Englande and other nations yea or no whether from the Lord for that they pretend as Ehud did to Eglon or from Balaak of Rome who hath hired them to curse the people of God whether to cry openly against sinne or to lay their mouthes in the dust and to murmure rebellion whether of zeale to the God of the Hebrewes or to the greate idoll of the Romanes as they to the greate Diana of the Ephesians to continue their crafte as Demetrius there did and lest their state shoulde bee subverted whether to come like prophets vvith their open faces or in disguised attire strange apparrell in regarde of their profession a rough garment to deceaue with as the false prophet in Zachary whether their sweete tongues haue not the venime of Aspes vnder them and in their colourable and plausible notes of peace peace there bee any peace either to the vveale publike amidst their nefarious and bloudie conspiracies or to the private conscience of any man in his reconciliation to their vnreconciled church formall and counterfeite absolution of sinnes hearing or rather seeing histrionicall masses visitinge the shrines and reliques of the deade numbering of Pater nosters invocation of saintes adoration of images and a thousand such forgeries whether they builde vp the walles of GODS house with the well tempered morter of his vvritten ordinances or daube vp the vvalles of their Antichristian synagogue vvith the vntempered morter of vnvvritten traditions vvhether they come Embassadours from GOD and in steede of Christ seeke a reconciliation beetweene GOD and vs and not rather to set the marke of the beaste in our foreheades to make vs their Proselytes and the children of errour as deepelye as themselues If this bee the vvoorde they bringe a dispensation from a forreigne povver to resiste the povvers that GOD hath ordeined and in steede of planting faith and allegiance to sovve sedition and not to convert our countrey to the trueth but to subvert the pollycie and state heereof to poyson our soules and to digge graues for our bodies against their expected day to invade the Dominions alienate the crovvnes assaulte the liues of lavvefull and naturall princes to blovve the trumpet of Sheba in our lande yee haue no parte in David nor inheritance in the sonne of Ishai no parte in Elizabeth nor inheritance in the daughter of Kinge Henrye everye man to your tentes O Englande let them reape the vvages of false Prophets even to the death as the lavve hath designed and let that eye vvant sight that pittieth them and that hart bee destitute of comfortes that crieth at their downefall Alas for those men Their bloudy and peremptory practises call for greater torture then they vsually endure and deserue that their flesh should be grated and their bones rent asunder vvith sawes and harrowes of yron as Rabbah was dealt with for their traiterous and vnnaturall stratagemes I know they iustifie their cause and calling as if innocency it selfe came to the barre to pleade her vprightnesse and they are vvilling to make the vvorlde beleeue that they come amongst their ovvne people and nation not onelie lambes amongst vvolues but lambes of the meekest spirite amongst vvolues of the fiercest disposition vvhose delighte is in bloudsheade making vs odious for more then Scythian cruelty as farre as our names are hearde of and stretching the ioyntes of our English persecutions vppon the racke of excessiue speech more then ever they felte in the ioyntes of their ovvne bodyes They remember not the meane-vvhile hovve much more iustlye they fill the mouthes of men vvith argumentes against themselues for raysing a farre sorer persecution then they haue cause to complaine of They persecute the libertie of the Gospell amongst vs and labour to bringe it into bondes againe they persecute our peace and tranquillitye vvhich by a prescription of manye yeares vvee beginne to challenge for our ovvne they persecute the VVOMAN with the crowne vppon her head whome they haue wished and watched to destroy and longe agoe had they vndonne her life but that a cunning hande aboue hath bounde it vp in the boundell of life and enclosed it in a maze of his mercyes past their finding out vvhome because they coulde not reach vvith their hande of mischiefe they haue soughte to overtake vvith floudes of vvaters floudes of excommunications floudes of intestine rebellions forreigne invasions practised conspiracies imprinted defamatory libels that one waye or other they might doe her harme So
the martyrings of Iob for the other for though the circuit of Sathan be very large even to the coÌ„passing of the whole earth to fro yet he hath his daies assigned him to staÌ„d before the presence of the Lord for the renewing of his commission And besides Oviculam vnam auferre non potuit c. he could not take one poore sheepe from Iob till the Lorde had given him leaue put forth thine hande nor enter into the heard of swine Mat. 8. without Christs permission And so to conclude whether men or devilles be ministerial workers in these actions all coÌ„meth from him as from the higher supreme cause whose iudgments executed thereby no man can either fully comprehend or reprehend iustly God professeth no lesse of himselfe Esay 45. I forme the light and create darkenesse I make peace and create evill I the Lord do all these thinges And in the 54. of the same prophecie Beholde I haue created the smith that â—loweth the coales in the fire and him that bringeth foâ—th an instrument for his worke I haue created the destroyer to destroy destruction commeth from the instrument the instrument from the smith the smith and all from God In the 10 of the same booke Asshur is called the rod of his wrath and the staffe in his hands was the Lords indignation And the prophet praieth in the 17. Psalme to the same effect vp Lord disapoint him cast him downe deliver my soule from the wicked which is a sword of thine We neede not farther instructioÌ„s in this point but whatsoever it is that outwardly troubleth vs let vs larne to feare him therin froÌ„ whose secret disposition it procedeth who hath a voice to alay the winds the seas a finger to confound sorcerers coÌ„iurers an hooke for the nostrels of Senacharib a chain for the divell himselfe the prince of darkenes In the 2. person which were the marriners we are directed by the hand of the scripture to consider three effects which the horrour of the tempest wrought vpon them For 1. they were afraid 2. they cried vp on their Gods 3. they cast out their wares the 1. an affection of nature the 2. an action of religion the 3. a worke of necessity Some of the Rabbines held that the marriners in this ship had more cause to be astonished and perplexed then all that travailed in these seas besides for when other ships were safe and had a prosperous voiage theirs only as the marke wherat the vengance of God aimed was endaungered But because it appeareth not in the booke I let this passe with many other vnwritteÌ„ collections as namely that they were nere the shore laboured with all their force to tough their ships to land but could not do it which happily may be true and as likely otherwise therfore I leaue it indiffereÌ„t am conteÌ„t to see no more theÌ„ the eie of my text hath descried for me But this I am sure of Affliction beginneth to schoole theÌ„ driue theÌ„ to a better haven then they erst found It evet worketh good for the most part and although the better sort of men are corrected by loue yet the greater are directed by feare As the wind the seas so the feare of the wrath of God in this imminent danger of shipwrack appearing shaketh perturbeth their heartes though they had hardened them by vse against all casualties by sea like the hardest adamantes All the works of the Lord to a coÌ„siderate mind are very wonderful his mercy reacheth to the heavens and his faithfulnes is aboue the cloudes his wisdome goeth from end to end his righteousnes is as the highest mountaines his iudgmentes like a great deepe whatsoever proceedeth from him because that artificer excelleth is must needes be excellent But it is as true a position perseverantia consuetudinis amisit admirationeÌ„ the assiduity continuance of things bringeth theÌ„ into coÌ„tempt QuaÌ„ multa vsitata calcaÌ„ tur quae coÌ„siderata stupeÌ„tur how many things doth custome make vile which consideratioÌ„ would make admirable because the nature of maÌ„ is such to be carried away rather with new theÌ„ with great things The creatioÌ„ of man who maketh accompt of because it is coÌ„mon But would we ponder in our harts as David did that we are wonderfully fearfully made that our bones were not hid from the Lord though they were shaped in a secret place and fashioned beneath in the earth that he possessed our raines in our generation covered vs in our mothers wombes that his eies did see vs when we were yet vnperfect all things were written in his booke when before they were not it would enforce vs to giue acclamation to the workemanship of our maker as the sweet singer of Israell there did marveilous are thy workes o Lord that my soule knoweth right well A tempest to marriners is nothing because they haue seene and felt and overlived so many tempestes As David because he had killed a lion and a beare at his folde perswaded himselfe that he also could kill Golias So these having past already so many dreadefull occurrents begin to entertaine a credulous perswasion of security no evill shall approach vs. They make their harts as fat as brawne to withstand mishaps It fareth with theÌ„ as with souldiers beaten to the field they haue seene hundreds fall at their right hand and thousands at their left and therefore are not moved and though they beare their liues in their hands they feare not death wherevpon grew that iudgmeÌ„t of the world vpon them Armatis divum nullus pudor souldiers the greater part feare not God himselfe Vndoubtedly our sea-men drinke downe digest their dangers with as much facility felicity to as some their wine in bowles yet notwithstaÌ„ding the marriners here spokeÌ„ of even the maister of the ship with the vulgar sort having such iron sinews in their brests giaÌ„ts by sea and if I may tearme them so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men that fight with God being in their proper element the region and grounde where their arte lieth having fought with the waues and windes a thousand times before they are all striken with feare and their heartes fall asunder within them like drops of water David Psal. 107. setteth downe foure kindes of men vvhich are most indebted to God for deliveraunce from perilles the first of those that haue escaped a dearth the second prisoners enlarged the third such as are freed from a mortall sicknes the last sea-faring men of whome hee writeth thus They that go downe into the sea in shippes and occupie their marchandize by greate waters they see the worke of the Lorde and his wonders in the deepe For hee commaundeth and raiseth vp the stormie winde and it lifteth vp the waues thereof they mount vp to the heaven and descende againe to the deepe so that their soule melteth for trouble They are tossed too and
enquire because they applie it not to the true and living GOD. But let this be observed as a matter saith the Psalme of deepe vnderstanding and one of the secrets within the sanctuarie of the Lorde that sea-beaten Marriners barbarians by countrey and men as barberous for the most parte for their conditions fearing neither God nor man of sundry nations some and most of sundry religions it may be Epicures but as my text bewraieth them idolatours they all know that there is a God whome they knowe not they feare a supreme maiesty which they cannot comprehend they reverence invocate and cry vpon a nature aboue the nature of man and all inferiour things potent benevolent apt to helpe whereof they never attained vnto any speciall revelation This man adoreth the God of his countrey that man some other God and Ionas is raised vp to call vpon his God but all haue some one God or other to whome they make supplication and bemone their daunger If Ionas had preached the living and immortall God vnto them the God of the Hebrewes the God of Abraham Isaac Iacob the holy one of Israel I would haue imputed their devotion to the preaching of Ionas Or had there bene any other soule in the ship belonging to the covenaÌ„t born within the house as the prophet speaketh that might haue informed theÌ„ in this behalfe Ther was not one who theÌ„ instructeth theÌ„ Nature Nautae intellexèruÌ„t aliquid esse veneranduÌ„ sub errore religionis the marriners vnderstood even in the falshod of that religioÌ„ which they held that somthing was to be worshiped It is not denied by any sort of divines auncient or recent but that by nature it selfe a man may conceiue there is a God There is no nation so wild and barbarous which is not seasoned with some opinion touching God The Athenians set vp an alter Ignoto Deo to an vnknowne God Act. 17. The Gentiles not having the lawe doe by nature the things conteined in the lawe and are a lawe vnto themselues and shewe the effect of the lawe written in their heartes their conscience bearing witnesse and their thoughtes accusing one another or excusing the second to the Romanes For the invisible things of him that is his eternall power and Godhead are seene by the creation of the world being considered in his workes to the intent that they should be without excuse Rom. 1. These are common impressions and notions sealed vp in the mind of every man a remnant of integrity after the fall of Adam a substance or blessing in the dead Elme sparkles of fire raked vp vnder the ashes which cannot die whilest the soule liveth Nature within man and nature without man which Ierome calleth Naturam facturam nature and the creature our invisible consentes and Gods visible workes an inward motion in the one and an outward motion of the other if there were no further helps shew that there is a God leaue vs without excuse Protagoras Abderites because he began his booke with doubt de dijs neque vt sint neque vt non sint habeo dicere I haue nothing to say of the Gods either that they be or that they be not by the commandement of the Athenians was banished their city countrey his bookes publiquely solemnly burnt to ashes I may call it a light that shineth in darknes though the purity and beames therof be mightely defaced which some corrupt abuse so become superstitious vanish away in their vaine cogitations others extinguish so become meere Atheists For so it is as if we tooke the lights in the house and put them out to haue the more liberty in the works of darknes Thus do the Atheists of our time the light of the scripture principally the light of the creature and the light of nature they exinguish within the chaÌ„bers of their harts with resolute dissolute perswasioÌ„s threape vpon their soules against reason coÌ„science that there is no God least by the sight of his iustice their race of impiety should bee stopped I trust I may safely speake it There are no Atheists amongst you though many happily such as Agâ—ippa was but almost christiaÌ„s I would to God you were not only almost but altogither such as you seeme to professe But there are in our land that trouble vs with virulent pestâ—lent miscreant positioÌ„s I would they were cut of the childreÌ„ of hel by as proper right as the divel himselfe the savour of whose madnes stinketh from the center of the earth to the highest heavens Let theÌ„ be confuted with arguments drawne from out the skabberds of Magistrates argumeÌ„ts without reply that may boâ—h stop the mouth choke the breath of this execrable impiety as the angel cursed Meroz 5. Iudg. so cursed be the man let the curse cleaue to his children that cometh not forth to helpe the Lord in this cause It is fit to dispute by reasoÌ„ whether there be a God or no which heaveÌ„ earth angels men divels al ages of the world all languages in the atheist himselfe who bindeth a napkin to the eies of his knowledge shame feare and 1000. witnesses like gnawing wormes within his breast did ever heretofore to the end of the world shal acknowledge Let vs leaue such questioÌ„s 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 incredible inglorious infamous questions to the tribunal trial of the highest iudge if there be no throne vpon the earth that wil determine them for our own safety the freeing of our souls let vs hate the very aire that the Atheist draweth as Iohn eschewed the bath wherin Cerinthus was let their damned spitits having received damnation in themselues ripen and bee rotten to perdition let them sleepe their everlasting sleepe in filthines not to be revoked when death hath gnawne vpon them like sheepe for a taste before hand let them rise againe from the sides of the pit maugre their stout gaine saying at the iudgement of the great day to receiue a deeper portion As for our selues my brethren which knowe and professe that one and only God for ever to be blessed let vs be zealous of good workes according to the measure of our knowledge which we haue received Let vs feare him without feare as his adopted sonnes and serue him without the spirit of bondage in righteousnesse all the daies of our liues that at the comming of the sonne of God to iudge the endes of the eatth we may be found faithfull fervants and as we haue dealt truely in a little we may be made rulers over much through the riches of his grace who hath freely and formerly beloved vs not for our owne sakes but because himselfe is loue and taketh delight in his owne goodnes THE FIFT LECTVRE Cap. 1. ver 5. And cried every man vpon his God and cast the wares in the shippe into the sea to lighten it of
flesh and bloude but against principalities and powers and vvorldly governours the princes of the darkenesse of this worlde against spirituall vvickednesses which are in high places Our enimies you see are furnished as enimies should be with strength in their handes and malice in their heartes besides all other gainefull advantages as that they are spirit against flesh privie and secret against that that is open high against that that is lowe and farre beneath them Now in this combate of our soules our faith is not onely our prize exercise and masteries which vvee are to prooue as it is called the good fighte of faith but a part of our armour which vvee are to weare our target to defend the place where the heart lieth Ephe. 6. our brest-plate 1. Thes. 5. and more then so For it is our victorie and conquest against the worlde of enimies So faith is all in all vnto vs. Blessed bee the Lorde for hee hath shewed his marveilous kindnes towards vs in a strong citty He hath set vs in a fortresse and bulwarke of faith so impregnable for strength that neither heighth nor depth life nor death thinges present nor things to come nor al the gates devils of hel nor the whole kingdome of darknesse can prevaile against it I grant there are many times whē this bulwarke is assaulted driven at with the fiery darts of the devill vvhen the conscience of our own infirmity is greater then the view of Gods mercy when the eie of faith is dim the eie of flesh and bloud too much open when the Lord seemeth to stand far of to hide himselfe in the needful time of trouble To be deafe and not to answere a word To hold his hād in his bosome not to pul it out whē this may be the bitter mone that we make vnto him My God my God why hast thou forsaken me and this our dolefull song which we sing to our souls in the night season will the Lord absent himselfe for ever wil he shew no more favor is his mercy cleane gone for euer doth his promise faile for euermore hath God forgottē to be gracious doth hee shut vp his mercies in displeasure Lord how long wilt thou hide thy selfe for ever and shall thy wrath burne like fire These be the dāgerous conflicts which the captaines of the Lordes armies and the most chosen children of his right hand sometimes endure The lyons themselues sometimes roare with such passions how shall the lambes but tremble if the soules of the perfite which haue beene fedde with the marrowe of fatnesse and drunke of the fulnesse of the cuppe haue sometimes fainted in themselues for want of such reliefe much more vnperfite and weake consciences which haue tasted but in part how gracious the Lord is I aunswere in a word The faithfull feare for a time but they gather their spirites againe and recover warmth at the sunne-shine of Gods mercies their feete are almost gone and their steppes well neere slipt but not altogither they finde in the sanctuary of the Lorde a proppe to keepe them vp at length they confesse against themselues This is my infirmity they curbe and reproue themselues for their diffidence and vvhatsoeuer they say in their haste that all men are lyars and perhappes God himselfe not true yet by leasure they repent it The Apostle doth pithily expresse my meaning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 staggering but not vvholy sticking Againe they feare the particular they distrust not the generall it may bee victorie on their sides it may be overthrowe it may be shipwracke it may be escape it may be life it may be death whether of these two they know not for both they are somewhat indifferent As when Shemei cursed David the speech that the king vsed for his comfort was this It may be the Lord will looke vpon my teares and doe mee good for his cursing this day As who would say if otherwise the care is taken I referre it to his wisedome Amos hath the like speech It may bee the Lorde God of Israell will bee mercifull to the remnante of Ioseph he meaneth in preventing their captivity But whether captivity or deliveraunce they are at peace as perswading themselues that if the mercy of God faile them in one thing it maie embrace them otherwise for they know that all thinges worke togither for the best to them that loue God as the Apostle writeth Though such be the hope of sonnes and daughters yet the case of straungers is otherwise For they are secure neither in particular nor in generall they measure all things by their sense and as the manner of brute beasts is consider but that which is before their feete and having not faith they want the evidence and demonstration of thinges that are not And therefore the master of the ship as I conceiue it knowing that life alone which belongeth to the earthly man perhaps not kenning the immortality of the soule or if hee thought it immortall by the light of reason in some sorte as the blinde man recovered savve men like trees vvith a shadowed and mistie light yet not knowing the state of the blessed setteth all the adventure vpon this one successe and maketh it the scope of all their praiers and paines Ne percamus That we perish not For such is the condition of heathen men they knowe not what death the righteous die as Balaam plainly distinguished it they are not translated like other men nor dissolved nor taken away nor gathered to their fathers and people nor fallen a sleepe which are the milde phrases of scripture whereby the rigour of death is tempered their life is not hid for a time to be founde out againe but vvhen they are deade in body they are deade in bodie and soule too their death is a perishing indeede they are lost and miscarried they come to nothinge their life their thoughtes their hope all is gone and vvhen others departe this life in peace as Simeon did and go as ripely and readily from this vale of miserye as apples fall from the tree with good contentation of heart and no way disquieted these as if they vvere giuen not lent to their liues must bee dravven and pulled away from them as beastes from their dennes vvith violence Hierome reporteth of Nepotians quiet and peaceable departure from his life Thou wouldest thinke that hee did not die but walke forth And Tertullian hath the like sentence It is but the taking of a iourney which thou deemest to be death Whereas the Emperour of Rome for want of better learning ignorant of the life to come sang a lamentable farewell to his best beloved nor long before they were sundred My fleeting fonde poore darling Bodies ghest and equall Where now must be thy lodging Pale and starke and stript of all And put from wonted sporting Compare with these wretched creatures some plainely denying the
but woulde haue it doone by the ministerie of the marriners But the oddes is not greate in effecte if you obserue vvhat is mentioned For Ionas setteth on the marriners and not onely counselleth but in a sorte compelleth them to caste him foorth Saul was not deade by the woundes which hee gaue himselfe till an An alekite came and dispatched him yet was Saul an homicide against his owne person and the other that made an ende of him filius mortis the childe of death Surelye GOD hath given a commaundement in expresse tearmes against this horrible practise Non occîdes Thou shalt not kill praesertim quia non addidit Proximum tuum especiallye because he added not Thy neighbour thou maiest the rarher vnderstand thy selfe as in the other commaundement vvhen hee forbâ—d false witnesse hee saide Thou shalt not beare false witnesse against thy neighbour Althoughe if the lawe had spoken more fullye Thou shalt not kill thy neighbour thou haddest not beene freed thereby quomam regulam diligendi proximum à semetipso delector accipit because hee that loveth taketh the rule of loving his neighbour first from himselfe And the conclusion holdeth good Non occîdes non alterum ergo nec te Nec enim qui se occîdit altum quà m hominem occîdit Thou shalt not kill no other man therefore not thy selfe for he that killeth himselfe killeth no other but a man I will require your bloud saith the Lord at the handes of beastes at the handes of man himselfe at the handes of every brother will I require it Will hee require bloud at the handes of beastes in whome there is no vnderstanding and at the handes of every brother which coniunction of brotherhood is the effectuall cause why we should spare one the others life and will hee be slacke to require it at thine owne handes vvho art nearer to thy selfe than thy brother is Tho. Aquinas giveth three reasons to condemne the vnlawfulnes of these bloudy designments 1. They are evill in nature because repugnant to that charity wherewith a man should loue himselfe And death wee all know is an enemy in natuâ—e and life is a blessing of God in the fifth commaundement 2. Each man is a part of the communion and fellowship of mankinde and therfore he doth iniury to the common wealth that taketh away a subiect and member thereof 3. Life is the gift of God and to his onely power subdued who hath saide I kill and I giue life Therefore Ierome writing to Marcell of Blesillaes death in the person of God abandoneth such soules Non recipio tales animas quae me nolente exierunt è corpore I receiue not such soules which against my will haue gone out of their bodies And he calleth the Philosophers that so dyed Martyres stultae philosophiae Martyrs of foolish philosophy There were two vile kindes of deathes wherewith of olde it seemeth they were wont to finish their vnhappy daies Laqueus praecipitium either they hung themselues or brake their neckes from some steepe place Petilian an enemy to the catholicke church had thus reproachfully spoken against the sound belevers The traitour Iudas died by an halter and the halter he bequeathed to such as himselfe was meaning the orthodoxe Christians No saith Augustine this belongeth not to vs for we doe not honour those by the name of Martyres who halter their ovvne neckes Howe much more doe we say against you that the Devill the maister of that traitour woulde haue perswaded Christ to haue fallen dovvne from the pinnacle of the temple and tooke repulse then what are they to be tearmed whome hee hath both counsailed so to doe and prevailed with truely what else but the enemies of Christ the friendes of the Devill the disciples of the seducer fellowe disciples with the traitour for both from one maister haue learned voluntary deathes the one by strangling himselfe the other by falling downe headlong The same father bringeth these murtherers into streightes and holdeth them in so closely on both sides that there is no escapinge from them When thou killest thy selfe either thou killest an innocente whereby thou becommest guiltye of innocente bloud or an offendour which is as vnlawefull to doe because thou art neither thine owne Iudge and thou cuttest of space of repentance Iudas vvhen hee slewe himselfe hee slewe a vvicked man notvvithstanding hee is culpable both for the bloude of Christ and for his owne bloude because though for his wickednesse yet was hee slaine by an other wickednesse Some haue offered themselues vnto these voluntarie deathes to leaue a testimony of courage and vndaunted resolution behinde them of whome Saint Augustine speaketh Perhappes they are to bee admired for stoutnesse of minde but not to bee commended for soundnesse of wisedome Albeit if reason may be iudge wee cannot rightly call it magnanimity for it is a far greater minde which can rather endure than eschew a miserable life I am sure the Patriarchs the Prophets the Apostles never did thus and though they were pâ—nched in their reines and their soules heavy vnto the death as Christes was insomuch that they cried out take my life from mee my soule chooseth to be strangled oh that my spirit were stifled within my bones and wretch that I am who shall deliver me yet they never paide their debte of nature till their creditour called vpon them which time they would never haue staied if in a moment of an houre the service of their owne handes might iustly haue released them Cleombrotus Ambraciote having red Plato his bookes of the immortality of the soule threw himselfe headlong from a wall and brake his necke that he might the sooner attaine to immortality He had another reason than the former It was rather a great then a good act Plato woulde haue done so himselfe or at least haue advised it but that in that learning wherwith hee sawe the immortality of the soule hee also sawe such meanes to attaine it vtterly vnlawfull Some to avoide a mischiefe to come haue fallen into the greatest mischiefe As virgins and honest matrones in a time of warre to avoide the rapes and constuprations of enemies In two wordes doe they consent to that filthines or doe they not consent if they consent not let them liue because they are innocent Non inquinatur corpus nisi de consensu mentis The body is not defiled but when the minde agreeth If they consent yet let them liue too that they may repent it Whether is better adultery to come yet not certaine or a certaine murther presently wrought Is it not better to commit an offence which may be healed by repentaunce than such a sin wherein no place is lefte for contrition O rather let them liue who sinne that they may recover themselues before they goâ— hence and bee no more seene It is a reason sufficient to raze the history of the Machabees out of the canon of the scriptures that the
author therof commendeth the fact of Razis who being beset by Nicanor â—ounde aboute and having no meanes to escape fell on his owne sword and missing his stroke ranne to a wall to breake his necke and yet his life being whole within him ranne through the people and gate to the top of a rocke and when his bloud was spent gushing out from him like a founteine hee tooke out his bowels with both his handes and threw them vpon the people calling vpon the Lord of life and spirit that hee woulde restore them againe vnto him and so he died This the story commendeth for a manfull and valiant act Aquinas thinketh otherwise There are some saith he that haue killed themselues to avoide troubles and vexations of which number was Razis thinking they doe manfully which notwithstanding is not true fortitude but rather a certaine effoâ—minatenesse of minde not able to endure their crosses I will pronounce nothing rashlye The mercy of God may come inter pontem fontem as the proverbe is betweene the bridge and the brooke inter gladium iugulum betweene the sworde and a mans throate and the laste wordes of Razis testifie his petion to the father of life and spirit that his bowelles might be restored him But excepting that conclusion what difference I pray you betweene him and Cato of whome Seneca writeth at large that the last night hee lived hee red Plato his bookes as Cleombrotus did and taking his sworde in his hand said fortune thou hast done nothing in withstanding all my endevours I haue not hitherto fought for mine owne liberty but for the liberty of my countrey neither haue I dealt so vnmoueably to liue free my selfe but that I might liue amongst free men now because the affaires of man-kinde are irrecoverable let Cato bee horne to rest so he stabbed his body and when his wound was bounde vp by the physitians having lesse bloud lesse strength than before yet the same courage and novve not angry againste Caesar alone but against his owne person hee tumbleth his handes in his wound and sendeth not forth by leasure so properly as by violence eiecteth his generous spirit skorning and disdeigning that any higher power should commaunde him Both these you heare betake themselues to a desperate refuge the pointe of the sworde Razis to avoide Nicanor Cato Caesar both alleadge the good of their countrey not their private estates both are impatient of the misery to come the reproach and disgrace that captivity might bring vpon them both misse their fatall strokes both are implacably bent to proceede in their voluntary homicides both tosse and embrue their handes in their owne bowelles and as the one reposeth himselfe vpon Gods goodnesse so the other was not without hope of rest when hee cried Cato deducatur in tutum let Cato goe to a quiet place both are commended for their valiant death But it is certaine that Cato died through impatience of minde Occîdit enim se ne diceretur Caesar me servavit For hee killed himselfe that it might not bee said Caesar hath saved me and Seneca affirmeth as much that it might not bee happy to any other man either to kill or to preserue Cato Valerius Maximus reporteth the wordes of Caesar when hee found him dead Cato I envie thy glory for thou enviedst mine It was a candle before the deade and as messes of meate set vpon a graue but a trueth which an other told him thou shouldest haue red and vnderstoode Plato otherwise If thou haddest well considered what Plato vvrote thou mightest haue founde reasons sufficient to haue staied so vnnaturall a fact 1. that God is angry with such as a Lorde with his bondmen that slay themselues 2. that the relinquisher of his owne life is more to be punished then a reneger of his service in warre And therefore there is no doubt but the fact of Razis also must haue very favourable interpretation if it bee any way excused Albeit Seneca in the place before alleadged commended the dying of Cato in some sorte yet it is not amisse to consider with what golden sentences hee endeth that Epistle It is a ridiculous thing through wearisomenesse of life to runne to death when by the kinde of life thou hast so handled the matter that thou art driven to runne vnto it Againe so greate is the folly or rather the madnesse of men that some for the feare of death are enforced to death Hee addeth singular preceptes A wise and a valiant man must not flie but goe from life and aboue all thinges that affection must bee shunned vvhich hath taken holde vpon many a longing and lustfulnesse of dying Hee vvoulde haue vs prepared both waies neither to loue nor to hate this life too much and some times to finish it when reason calleth vs foorth but not with a fease and impotent forwardnesse His counsell certainelye agreeth vvith divinitie For our Saviour exhorted his disciples If they persecute you in one citie flie into another Notvvithstanding hee had vvarned them vvhosoever will finde his life and not forsake it vvhen the time and cause require him to laye it dovvne that man should lose it Which lawe and precept of Christ by the iudgement of Gregory Nazianzene compelleth no man to offer himselfe vvilfullye to death or to yeelde his throate to him that seeketh it least through a desire vvee haue to please GOD in povvring foorth our bloude vvee either compell our neighbour to breake that commaundement Thou shalt not kill or seeke to purchase and procure our owne deathes but vvhen the time calleth vs to the combate then vvee must cheerefully stande foorth So saieth Ierome vpon these woordes of Ionas Non est nostrûm mortem arripere sed illatam ab alijs libenter excipere It is not for vs to catch after death but when it is offered by others then willingly to receiue it Seneca in his eighth booke of controversies setteth downe a lawe against fellones of themselues and debateth it both waies The lawe is vvhosoever murthereth himselfe let him bee cast forth without buriall The declaration on the one side in defence of the felon is made to say somthing for fashion sake Be angry with the murtherer but pittie him that is murthered I aske not that it may be honour for him thus to die but that no daunger They are as cruell that hinder those that are willing to die as others that kill them when they are willing to liue But on the other parte vvhat vehemency and eagernesse doth hee vse It is a shamefull parte that any handes shoulde bee founde to burie him whome his owne handes haue slaine Hee vvoulde haue attempted any thinge that coulde finde in his hearte to kill himselfe No doubte hee had greate crimes in his conscience that draue him so speedilie to his ende and this amongest the rest is one that vvee cannot proceede against him as against other malefactours by course
themselues gloried in their miseries so their parentes were well pleased to beholde their sonnes the brother vvas vvithin the railes or barres the sister neare at hand the mother present at her sorrowes and though beholding such vngodly sportes they never thought that at the least for looking on they vvere paricides You see the humours and affections that some men haue how lightly they are conceipted of the life of their brethren vvhereas brother-hoode indeede requireth at their handes that they should rather wish vvith Marcus Antonius to raise vp many from the dead than to destroy more or with Moses in the sacred volume rather himselfe to bee razed from the booke of life than that his people should perish This former reason is expressed in my texte the latter is implyed and conceaved that hee made this poffer vnto them as being the figure and type of the most loving sonne of God The explication whereof though it stande chiefly in the article of his resurrection vvhereof himselfe speaketh in the gospell they seeke a signe but there shall no signe be given them but the signe of the prophet Ionas yet there are many comparisons besides vvherein they are resembled Ionas was a prophet and Christ that person of vvhome Moses spake Prophetam excitabit Deus God shall raise vp a prophet vnto you Ionas vvas sent vpon a message vnto Niniveh and Christ vvas Angelus magni consilij The angell of the greate counsell of God Legatus foederis The embassadour of the covenaunt Much enquiry was made of Ionas whence art thou vvhat is thy calling countrey people why hast thou done thus Much questioning vvith and about Christ Art thou the king of the Iewes Arte thou the sonne of the living God Who is this that the winds and the seas obey him Is not this the Carpenters sonne Whence hath hee this vvisedome Ionas vvas taunted and checked by the master of the shippe What meanest thou sleeper Christ by the maisters of Israell the rulers of the people and synagogues as a Samaritane as one that had a Devill and by the finger of Beelzebub cast out Devilles a glutton a vvine-bibber a blasphemer of the lavv of Moses Both came vnder the triall of lottes the one for his life the other for his vesture Both had a favourable deliberation passed vpon them Ionas that hee might be saved Christ that hee might bee delivered and Barrabas executed Both had a care of their brethren more than of themselues Ionas cryeth the sea shall bee quiet vnto you Christ answereth him If yee seeke mee let these departe and of those that thou gavest vnto mee haue I not lost one The one saith Tollite me Take mee and cast mee into the sea The other saith vvhen the sonne of man is lifte vppe hee shall drawe all thinges to himselfe Finally both are sacrificed the one in the water the other in the aire both are buryed the one in the bowelles of the whale the other of the earth both alay a tempest the one of the anger of GOD present and particular the other of that vvrath vvhich from the beginning to the ende of the worlde all flesh had incurred The difference betvvixte them is this that Ionas dyed for his owne offence Christ for the sinnes of others Ionas mighte haue saide vnto them Though I see the goodnesse of your natures yet who amongst you is able to acquite mee from my sinne Christ made a challenge to malice it selfe hee mighte haue iustified it at the tribunall of highest iustice vvho is able to reprooue mee of anie sinne Ionas made no doubte but for that his latest misdeede of flying from the presence of the Lord hee vvas cast out Christ had done many good vvorkes amongest them and none but good and therefore asked vpon confidence of his innocencie For vvhich of these vvorkes doe yee stone mee Our innocent Abell persecuted by cruell Cain I am deceived for as his bloude speaketh better thinges than the bloude of Abell so it is bloude of better and purer substaunce our innocente Iacob hunted by vnmerciful Laban although hee might truely say Genesis the one and twentith What haue I trespassed hovve haue I offended that thou hast pursued after mee I mighte adde our innocente Ioseph solde and betrayed by his despightfull brethren and litle lesse than murthered though hee vvente from his father and vvandered the fieldes gladly to seeke and see howe they did our innocente David chased by vnrighteous Saul though by Ionathans iust apologie vvherefore shoulde hee die vvhat had hee done or vvho so faithfull amongest all the servauntes of Saule as David was or if from the state of innocencye to this presente houre I shoulde reckon all the innocentes of the earth and put in Angelles of heaven yet all not innocente and holye enough to bee weighed with him and therefore to call him by his owne names our sunne of righteousnesse braunch of righteousnesse the LORDE our righteousnesse hee that was borne of a Virgin that holy thinge Luke 1. the vndefiled lambe our holy harmelesse blamelesse high-priest separate from sinners our Iesus the iust hee that had the shape of a serpent in the vvildernesse but not the poison the similitude of sinnefull flesh in the worlde but not the corruption hee that knewe no sinne and much lesse was borne sinne yet was made sinne for vs that wee might bee made the righteousnesse of God in him he had the wages of sinne though he never deserved it and made his graue with the vvicked though hee had done no vvickednesse neither was their any deceite in his mouth hee vvas vvounded for our transgressions and broken for our iniquities and the chastisemente of our peace vvas vpon his shoulders all vvee like sheepe had gone astray and the LORDE his father hath laide vpon him the iniquities of vs all But vvas hee compelled thereunto that vvere to goe from the figure and to shewe lesse humanity to mankinde than Ionas to his companions For vvhat hand could cut this stone from those heauenly mountaines The Apostle telleth vs otherwise Philippians the second 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee emptied himselfe and tooke the forme of a seruaunte 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee humbled himselfe and becâ—me obedient vnto death euen the death of the crosse Hebrewes the ninth hee offered himselfe to purge our consciences from deade workes Galatians the seconde Hee gaue himselfe The Prophet telleth vs otherwise Oblatus est quia ipse voluit Hee vvas offered because hee vvoulde himselfe and hee hath povvred out his soule vnto death which noteth a liberall and voluntary dispensation VVhen sacrifice and oblation God would not haue and some-what must bee had what sayeth the scripture of him Then saide I Dixi facto quod annunciaveram per prophetas I saide it indeede for I had past my vvorde before in the prophetes Beholde I come venio voluntariè non coactus adducor I come of mine owne accorde I am not broughte by
Hovve ignoraunt were they and forgetfull of themselues till Christ advertised them Then they went out saith the gospell one by one from the eldest to the last being accused by their owne conscience then there was none left to giue evidence against her but our Sauiour asked woman where bee thy accusers or rather their owne accusers they knew that for their sakes Christ spake and they found that writing which he drewe in the dust engrauen so deepe in their owne heartes with a penne of iron that it could not be dissembled This is the case of al those that couer their sinnes Quorum si mentes recludantur possint adspici laniatus ictus Whose mindes if they coulde bee opened wee should see their rentes and stripes within Sinnes may bee without daunger for a time but neuer without feare Happy are they that know as they should know for this Novi vvhereof I speake belongeth to vs all vvhose knowledge is not contristans scientia a sadde vnpeaceable sorrowing knowledge the knowledge of devils who know there is an hell for them and albeit they know much yet they know not the way to salvation but fruitful comfortable ioyful knowledge who knowe to amendment of life who know to runne to the remedy of their sinnes to lay a plaster of the bloude and woundes of Christ to the woundes and hurtes of their soule who knovve that their Redeemer liueth as Iob did knowe Christ crucified not only for the worlde but for themselues also and account all thinges but losse and dunge in comparison of that excellent knowledge This is to bee rich in knowledge as the Apostle speaketh and without this if wee knewe all sortes and all knowledge besides wee might be poore beggerly miserable ignoraunte reprobate as bad as devilles THE XV. LECTVRE Chap. 1. ver 13. Neverthelesse the men rovved to bringe it to lande but coulde not c. IN the former verse there are pregnant causes laide downe why the Marriners should haue eased themselues of Ionas 1. the liberty and leaue he gaue them to cast him foorth 2. the good that shoulde ensue by the pacification of the sea 3. their warraÌ„t 1. the teÌ„pest was vpon them 2. a tempest for his sake 3. himselfe vpon knowledge avowed it Neverthelesse though they see the danger the causes of the danger the remedy thereof plainely assuredlie demonstrated they row to bring it to land It seemeth very straunge vnto me that they take not the first occasion offer to vnwinde theÌ„selues from the perill they were in that neither the master of the ship in his wisedome nor the multitude of the marriners in their tumultuous heady violence nor any one person amongst them forward for the common cause taketh the benefite of al these opportunities to saue themselues It giueth vs a memorable instruction that in singular and extraordinary facts which either the law of God or the law of nature repugneth is plainely against we be not too eager quicke in expedition thereof vntill it be out of doubt by some speciall warrant froÌ„ heaven that they may be atteÌ„pted Touching this present enterprise there is no question but though they had not learned the letter of the law of God Thou shalt not kill yet the law of nature tied them by secret bondes to deale with Ionas as they wished to be dealt with theÌ„selues Then why should they drowne him because the lots had convinced him the lottes might erre at a time or if they spake a truth must these men be his iudges or if iudges of his life and death there mighte some lesser punishment be devised Againe what though he offered himselfe to bee throwen into the sea for their safety must they take him at his first worde Can not their hurtes be cured but by so desperate a medicine as nature cannot brooke When Constantine the Emperour if the history bee true hearde that there was no meanes to cure his leprosie but by bathing his body in the bloud of infantes his hearte abhorred it Malo semper aegrotare quà m tali remedio convalesceâ—e I had rather bee sicke whilst I haue my being than recover by such a medicine Againe the warrant he gaue them I know that for my sake mighte perhappes be without warrant A man might speake in the bitternes of his soule what else he would not wearie of his life not able to beare his crosses and therefore as the manner of many distressed is seeking for death more than for treasures Whatsoever they did or might conceiue this I am sure of they had great reason to bee very circumspect and scrupulous to beare their hearte in their handes to walke with advise and charinesse before they did any thinge in an action so vnusuall and that which nature it selfe forbad them Augustine in the first booke of the cittie of God handling Abrahams paricide intended vpon his owne sonne a fact both against nature for no man ever hated his owne flesh and against the written precepte I vvill require the bloude of man speaketh thus It doeth not excuse another from impietie that shall purpose to offer his sonne because Abraham did so even with commendation For a souldiour also vvhen for obedience sake to that power vnder vvhich hee is lawfully ordained hee shall kill a man hee is not chargeable with murther by any law of the citty nay hee shall be guiltie of contempte to his governour if hee doe it not which had hee committed by his owne accorde and authority hee had fallen into question of spilling mans bloude therefore by what reason hee is punished if hee shall doe it without commaundemente by the same hee is punished if beeing commaunded hee doe it not Quod si ita est iubente imperatore quanto magis iubente creatore If it bee thus for the bidding of the Emperour much rather for the bidding of the creatour He adioyneth the example of certaine virgins Pelagia with her mother and sisters vvho threw themselues into a riuer rather than they woulde bee defiled by a villainous souldiour In excuse of vvhom hee demaundeth vvhat if they did it not deceiued by humane perswasion but commaunded by GOD not of errour but through obedience as in Sampsons departure from his life it is not lawfull for vs to thinke otherwise Onely let him beware that killeth himselfe or his childe and fullie bee satisfied that the commandement of God hath no vncertainetie in it It is the iudgmeÌ„t of sounde diuinitie that some factes vvhich the scripture recordeth are singular and dyed with the persons that did them enforcing no imitation at our handes vvithout the like speciall direction and dispensation from almightie GOD that hee gaue to them as namely Abrahams obedience in offering his sonne Phinees his zeale in killing the adulterers Sampsons magnanimity in destroying himselfe and the Philistines with the fall of the house the Israelites pollicy in spoyling the Aegyptians of
as neither counsell nor strength could deliver Ionas so neither counsel nor strēgth can deliver vs as it was the wil of God to drown Ionas so it is the will of God some way or other to dissolue vs whether the time is limited within 10. or 100. or 1000. yeares there is no defence against the hād of the grave the very remēbrance hereof would be as cōfortable and as fortunate a staffe vnto vs to walke the pilgrimage of our few evil daies as the staffe that Iacob had to go over Iordā with O looke vnto your end as the wise men looked vnto the star which stood over Bethlehē it shal happily guide you to heaven as that guided thē to Bethlehē where the king of the Iews now sitteth reigneth at his fathers right hād it shal lead you frō the East to the West as that led them frō the rising of the sun I meane the state and time where your life begā to the going down of the same But it is a death vnto vs to remēber death I will say with the son of Sirach whilst wee are able but to receive meat whilst ther is any strēgth livelihood in vs but appetite to our food it is a death to remēber death though we dwel in ruinous rottē houses built vpōn sand ashes which the wind raine of infinite daily casualties shake about our eares yet we walke in this brittle earthēhouse as Nabuchodonosor in his galleries and aske Is not this greate Babell Is not this my house a strong house is not my body in good plight haue I not bloud in my veines fatnesse in my bones health in my iointes am I not likelye to liue these many yeares and see the succession of my sonnes and nephewes what will bee the ende of all this Ducunt in bonis dies sues in puncto descendunt in infernum They passe their daies with pleasure and in an instant of time goe downe into hell Therefore they are deceived which thinke it an easie matter speedily to returne vnto God when they haue long beene straying from him that are gone with the prodigall childe in longin quam regionem into a farre countrey farre from the thought of death and consequently farre from the feare of God yet promise themselues a quicke returne againe Doe they not know that it will aske as long a time if not a longer to finde God as to loose God Ioseph and Mary left their sonne at Ierusalem and went but one daies iourney from him but they sought vp and down three whole daies before they coulde finde him these goinge from the wayes of the Lorde a iourney of fortie or fifty yeares hope in a moment of time to recover his mercies I woulde never wish so desperate an adventure to bee made by any man that the sinnes of his soule and the ende of his life shoulde come so neare togither as the trespasse of Ionas and his casting forth For thinke with your selues how feareful his thoughts were being at the best to be rockte tost to and fro in a dangerfull shippe the bones whereof aked with the violence of every surge that assayled it the anchors cables and rudders either throwne away or torne in pieces having more friendship profered him than he had happe to make vse of at length to bee cast into the sea a mercilesse and vnplacable sea roaring for the life and carkase of Ionas more than ever the lion roared for his pray the bottome whereof seemed as low vnto him as the bottomlesse destruction and no hope lefte to escape either by shippe boate or by a broken peece of boord or to bee cast to lande and besides all these the anger of GOD burning against his sinnes like a whole river of brimstone This is the case of vs all in any extreme and peremptorie sickenesse or to speake more largely in the whole course of our liues for our liues are nothinge but vncertainety as Ezechias sange in his songe From day to night thou wilt make an ende of mee We are tumbled and tossed in a vessell as fraile as the ship was which every streame of calamity is readie to breake in shivers where neither anchor nor rudder is lefte neither heade nor hande nor stomacke is in case to giue vs comforte where though wee haue the kindenesse of wife and friendes the duety of children the advise and paines of the Physitians to wish vs well vvee cannot vse their service where we haue a graue before our eies greedie inexorable reaching to the gates of hell opening her mouth to receiue vs and shutting her mouth when shee hath received vs never to returne vs backe againe till the wormes and creepers of the earth haue devoured vs. There is terrour enough in these thinges to the strongest man Aristippus feareth death as well as the common people But if the anger of God for our former iniquities accompanie them thrise woe vnto vs our heavy and melancholicke cogitations will exclude al thought of mercie and our soules shall sleepe in death clogged with a burthen of sinnes which were never repented of Therefore if we desire to die the death of the righteous as Balaam wished let vs first liue the life of the righteous and as wee girde our harnesse aboute vs before the battell is ioyned so let vs thinke of repentaunce before death commeth and the ordinance of God be fully accomplished that we must be cast forth And the sea ceased from her raging As the rising of the sea vvas miraculous so it is not a lesse miracle that her impatience was so suddainely pacified Heate but a pot with thornes and withdraw the fire from it can you appease the boyling thereof at your pleasure Here the huge bodie and heape of waters raised by a mightie winde in the aire or rather the winde and breath of Gods anger what shal I saie remitteth it the force of her rage by degrees falleth it by number and measure giveth it but tokens and hope of deliverance vnto them nay at the first sinking of Ionas it standeth as vnmooueable as a stone as dead as the dead sea having fretted it selfe before with the greatest indignation and wrath that might bee conceaved as if hee that bounded the sea at the first creation Hitherto shalt thou come and no further had spoken vnto it at this time Thus long shalt thou rage no longer Let me obserue vnto you thus much from the phrase If the commotion of the sea even in the greatest and vehementest pangues thereof as greater than these coulde not be by a translation of speech for likenesse of natures be tearmed her indignation and rage then by as good a reason on the contrary side the anger of man throughlie kindled may bee matched with the commotion of the most vnquiet sea And how vnseemely a thing it is that the heart of man should reake with anie passion as that vast
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 〈◊〉
in the world had sworne and conspired his immortall misery First he was driven to forgoe his natiue countrey the land of his fathers sepulchers and take the sea When he had shipt himselfe the vessell that bare him stackered like a drunken man to and fro never was at rest till she had cast forth her burthen Being cast forth the sea that did a kinde of favour to Pharaoh and his host in giving them a speedy death is but in manner of a iaylour to Ionas to deliver him vp to a further torture Thus from his mothers house and lap wherin he dwelt in safety to a shippe to seeke a forreine countrey from the ship into the sea and from the sea into a monsters belly incomposiâ—um navigium an incomposed mishapen ship therein shall I say to his death that had bene his happines he would haue wisht for death as others wisht for treasure There are the prisoners at rest and heare not the voice of the oppressour there are the small and the great and the servaunt is free from his maister So then there is a comfort in death to a comfortlesse soule if hee could atchieve it But Ionas cannot die the sea that swalloweth downe volumes of slime and sandes is not grave enough to bury him hee may rather perswade himselfe that he is reserved for a thousand deathes whome the waters of the Ocean refuse to drowne giving over their pray to an other creature My thoughtes are not your thoughtes saith the LORDE by his prophet Esaye neither are your waies my waies For as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my waies higher than your waies and my thoughtes above your thoughtes It is most true When wee thinke one thing GOD thinketh an other hee safety and deliverance vvhen in the reason of man there is inevitable destruction We must not therefore iudge the actions of the Lorde till wee see the last acte of them We must not say in our hast all men are liers the pen of the scribes is vaine the bookes false the promises vncertaine Moses and Samuell prophets and apostles are like rivers dried vp have deceived vs. We must tarry the end and know that the vision is for an apointed time but at the last it shall speake according to the wishes of our owne harts and shal not lie Though our soules faint for his salvation yet must we wait for his worde Though our eies faile for his promise saying O when wilt thou comfort vs and we are as bottels in the smoke the sap of our hope dryed vp yet we must not forget his statutes When we see the fortunate succeeding of things we shall sing with the righteous prophet Wee know O Lord that thy iudgements are right though deepe secret and that thou of very faithfulnes hast caused vâ— to be tried that howsoever our troubles seemed to be without either number or end yet thy faithfulnesse higher than the highest heavens failed vs not To set come order in the sentence propounded I commende these circumstances vnto you First the disposer and ruler of the action the Lorde Secondly the manner of doing it hee provided or prepared Thirdly the instrument a fish togither with the praise and exornation of the instrument a great fish Fourthly the end to swallow vp Ionas Lastly the state of Ionas and how it fared with him after he was swallowed vp And first that you may see the difference betwixte inspired spirites and the conceiptes of prophane men vvho as if the nature of thinges bare them to their ende without further disposition as when the clowde is full they saie it giveth her raine and going no higher than to seconde and subordinate causes never consider that high hande that wrought them it may please you to obserue that thorough the whole body of this prophecie vvhatsoever befell Ionas rare and infrequent is lifted aboue the spheares of inferiour thinges and ascribed to the Lord himselfe A great winde vvas sent into the sea to raise a tempest It is not disputed there what the winde is by nature a drie exhalation drawne vp from the earth and carryed betweene it and the middle region of the aire aslant fit to engender a tempest but the LORDE sent it Ionas vvas afterwardes cast into the sea It is not then considered so much vvho tooke him in their armes and vvere the ministers of that execution but thou LORDE hast done as it pleased thee Ionas is heere devoured by a fish It is not related that the greedinesse and appetite of the fish brought him to his praie but the LORDE prepared him Ionas againe is delivered from the belly of the fish It mighte bee alleadged in reason perhappes that the fish was not able to concoct him but it is saide the Lorde spake to the fish and it cast him vp Towardes the ende of the prophecie Ionas maketh him a booth abroade and sitteth vnder the shaddow of a gourde the Lorde provided it A worme came and consumed the gourde that it perished the Lorde provided it The sunne arose and a fervent east-winde bet vpon the heade of Ionas the Lorde also provided it Who is he then that saith and it commeth to passe if the Lorde commaunde it not Out of the mouth of the most high commeth there not evill and good Thus whensoever we finde in any of the creatures of God either man or beast from the greatest whale to the smallest worme or in the vnsensible things the sun the windes the waters the plantes of the earth either pleasure or hurt to vs the Lord is the worker and disposer of both these conditions The Lorde prepared That yee may know it came not by chaunce brought thither by the tide of the sea but by especiall providence For it is not saide that God created but that he ordeined and provided the fish for such a purpose There is nothing in the workes of God but admirable art and skilfulnesse O Lord saith David how manifolde are thy workes in wisedome hast thou made them all Salomon giveth a rule well beseeming the rashnes and vnadvisednesse of man who without deliberate forecast entereth vpon actions first to prepare the worke without and to make all things ready in the field and after to builde the house God keepeth the order himselfe having his spirite of counsaile and provision alwaies at hande to prepare as it were the vvaie before his face to make his pathes straight and to remooue all impedimentes to levell mountaines to exalt vallies to turne vvaters into drie grounde and drie grounde into water-pooles and to change the whole nature of things rather than any worke of his shal be interrupted He had a purpose in his heart not to destroy Ionas yet Ionas was thrown into the mouth of destructioÌ„ A maÌ„ would haue thought that the couÌ„saile of God if ever should now haue been frustrated that salvation it selfe could not
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
altered his nature to haue boyled him into nourishmente and to haue incorporated his flesh into an other substaunce Yet Ionas liveth But if the LORDE had not beene on my side might Ionas nowe say if the LORDE had not beene on my side vvhen the beast rose vp against mee hee had swallowed mee vp quicke vvhen his vvrath vvas so sore enflamed But praysed bee the LORDE vvhich hath not given mee over a pray to his teeth My saule is escaped even as a birde out of the snare of the fowler The snare is broken and I am delivered Let all those whome the LORDE hath redeemed from the hande of the oppressour from fire or water or from the perill of death take that songue of thankesgiving into their lippes and singe it to his blessed name in remembraunce of his holinesse O thou the hope of all the endes of the earth sayeth that other Psalme and of them that are farre of in the sea shevve vs but the lighte of thy countenaunce and vvee shall bee safe giue vs but the comforte of thy mercies and wee will not feare though the earth bee mooved and the mountaines fall dovvne into the middes of the sea and the sea and the vvaters thereof rage fearefully though Leviathan open his mouth wee will not quake at it yea though the Leviathan of the bottomelesse pit open the throate of hell never so vvide to devoure vs wee vvill not bee disquieted VVee knowe that there is mercy vvith the LORDE and that vvith him there is plentifull redemption I meane redemption a thousande waies by nature and against nature by hope and against hope by thinges that are and thinges that are not Hee that hath saved his people by gathering the vvaters in heapes like vvalles and making a path in the redde sea hee that hath kept his children in the middest of a fiery oven when if arte coulde adde any thinge to the nature of fire they shoulde have beene burnt seven times for one because it was seven times hote and delivered his prophet in a denne of lyons though dieted and prepared for their pray before hand yet shuttinge their mouthes so close and restrayninge their appetite that they forbeare their appointed foode and committed this servaunt of his to the belly of a fishe as if he had committed him to his mothers vvombe to be kept from harme he is the same GOD both in mighte and mercye to preserue vs no time vnseasonable no place vnmeete no daunger vncouth and vnaccustomed to his stronge designementes Our onely helpe therefore standeth in the name of the LORDE that hath made heaven and earth blessed and thrice blessed bee that name of the Lorde from this time forth for evermore Amen THE XXIII LECTVRE Chap. 2. vers 1. Then Ionas praied vnto the Lord his God out of the fishes belly and saide THIS second section or division of the prophecie wherein the mercy of God towardes Ionas is expressed I parted before into three branches 1. That he was devoured 2. praied 3. was delivered The tearmes that Lyra giveth are these the place the manner the successe of his prayer The marvailes that I haue already noted vnto you were 1. that so huge a creature was suddeinely provided by the providence of God 2. that a whole man passed thorough his throate 3. that he lived in his bowels three daies three nightes Now whither he fulfilled that time exactly yea or no three naturall dayes complete consisting of twenty foure howres neither can I affirme neither is it materiall over-busily to examine Our Saviour you know in the gospell applyeth this figure of Ionas to his buriall As Ionas was in the belly of the whale three daies and three nights so shall the sonne of man bee in the heart of the narth But if you conferre the shadowe and the body togither you shall finde in all the evangelistes that the Lorde of life was crucified the 6. howre of the preparation of the sabbath and the ninth gaue vp the ghost that late in the eveninge his bodie vvas taken downe from the crosse and buried that hee rested in the graue the night that belongeth to the sabbath togither vvith the daie and night nexte ensuinge after it and that in the morning of the first day of the weeke he rose againe So as indeede the body of Christ was not in the heart of the earth more than 36. hovvers to weete two nightes and a daie vvhich is but the halfe space of 72. howers Some to supply this defect of time accompte the lighte before the passion of Christ and the darkenesse till the 9. howre one day and a night because they say there vvas both lighte and darknes And then the light that followed from the 9. howre and the succeeding night a secōd day night likewise the third til the time he rose againe Others expoūd it by a mistery thus 36. hours they say to 72. which is the absolute measure of 3. daies 3. nights is but simplum ad duplū one to two or the halfe of the whole Now ours was a double death both in soule by sin in body by paine Christes was but single only in the body because concerning his soule he was free frō sin therfore they infer that the moity of time might suffice him Hugo Cardin. hath an other conceite that from the creation of the worlde till the resurrection of Christ the day was evermore numbred before the night both in the literall and in the mysticall vnderstanding first there was light then darknes but from the resurrection of Christ forwardes the night is first reckoned for which cause he thought the vigiles were apointed for sabbathes other festivall daies that vvee might be prepared with more devotiō to solemnize them herehēce he cōcludeth that the night which followed the sabbath of the Iews was the angular night must twice be repeated as the corner of a square serveth indifferently for either side which it lyeth betwixte for both it belonged saith he to the sabbath praeceding must be ascribed againe vnto the Christian sabbath or Lords day whereon the son of God rose from death And he thinketh there is great reason of his invention because Christ by one night of his tooke away two of ours So they are not content to be sober interpretours of the minde of God but they wil ghesse and divine at that which he never meant They thinke their cunning abased if they go not beyond the moone to fetch an exposition What needeth such curious learning to apoint every egge to the right hen that laid it as some did in Delos so these to think their labor vnprofitable in the church of God vnlesse they can make the devises of their own heads reach home to the letter of the booke in al respects Our soundest divines agree that the triduan rest of Christ in the graue must be vnderstood by the figure synecdoche
ages were heapes of ashes and cloudes of pitch but fire and brimstone from a bottomlesse mine which burneth in the lake of death and shall never cease from burning Lastly this is that greate wine-presse of the wrath of God where the smoke of torment ascendeth for evermore and there is no rest day nor night those endlesse and vnmercifull plagues which the angels powre out of their vialles when men have given them bloude to drinke and boile in heate and gnaw their tongues for sorrowe And yet are these but shadowes and semblances which the scripture hath vsed therein to exemplifie in some sorte the calamities to come fearefull enough if there were no more to make the heart of the strongest melte and fall asunder within him as the yce against the summers sunne but that as the ioyes of heaven are vnmeasurable for their parte so concerning the paines of hell the eye hath never seene the eare not hearde the tongue not vttered the heart not conceived them sufficiently in their nature and perfection That accursed glutton in the gospell who coulde speak by experience of his vnestimable discruciatioÌ„s as Aeneas did of the troubles of Troy Et quorum pars vna fut what I haue felt and borne a parte of he giveth a warning to al his brethren in the flesh not to accounte so lightly as they doe of the tormentes of that place The flames fervour wherof were so importunate to exact their due of him that hee craved with more streams of teares thaÌ„ ever Esau sought his blessing but one drop of water to coole his tongue with could not obtaine it And what if all the rivers in the South if all the waters in the Ocean sea had bene graÌ„ted him his tongue notwithstanding would haue smarted and withered with heat stil he would haue cried in the laÌ„guage of hel It is not enough Or what if his toÌ„gue had bene eased his hart his liver his lunges his bowels his armes his legs would haue fried stil. O bitter day when not the least finger I say not of God whose hand is wholy medicinal but not of the poorest saint in heaven nor the skantest drop I say not from the waters of life but not of the waters of the brooke shal be spared to a soule to giue it comfort Which if the latest day of al the running generations of men if the great yeare which Plato dreamed of might ever end the ease were somewhat for hopes sake But it is apointed for a time times no time even when time shall be no more then shal it continue The gates are kept from egresse as the gates of paradise were warded from entrance not by the Cherubines with the blade of a sworde but by the angels of Sathan with all the instrumentes of death and the seale of Gods eternal decree set thereunto as the seale of the high priestes and rulers were set vpon the tombe-stone of Christ. The covenant of day and night shall one day bee changed The starres shall finish their race the elements melt with heat heaven and earth be renued sommer and winter have an end but the plagues of the prisoners in hell shall never be released If you aske the cause why I enter so large and vngratefull a discourse of hel vpon so smal an offer in my text as some may conceive I will not dissemble it Some may be deceived by the translation impropriety and abuse of words For because they heare the name of hell alleadged and applied to the present tribulations of this life they are induced thereby to thinke that there is no other hell nor sorer vexations elswhere to be sustained as some on the other side hearing the rest of God to be called by name of Ierusalem that is aboue the wals foundations wherof are saphires carbuncles c. take it to be no more thaÌ„ IerusaleÌ„ in Palestina or Venice in Italy or any the like glorious and sumptuous cittie vpon the face of the earth and therefore dispose themselues with so much the colder affection to the attainment of it Some haue taught and commaunded their tongues to speake a lye to say that there is no hel for I caÌ„not thinke that ever they shal commaÌ„d their harts to deny it as Tully spake of Metrodorus an atheist of his time I never sawe any man that more feared those â—hings which he said were not to be feared I meane death the gods so I wil never perswade my selfe but the atheists of our times hartilie feare that which they are content to say they feare not Now lest these sleepy adders should passe their time in a dreame or rather in a lethargy no man awaking theÌ„ vp from their carelesse supine opinions wherwith they enchant their soules infect others Let not the watchman hold his peace least they die in their sins for waÌ„t of warning let the truÌ„pet of iudgmeÌ„t ofteÌ„ be blowne vnto theÌ„ let it be published in their eares 7· times as the rams-horns 7 times souÌ„ded about the wals of Iericho that their ruine downfal is at hand that hel gapeth for theÌ„ that God hath ordained long since their impious blasphemous spirites to immortal malediction Of others that is true which God complaineth in Esay Let mercy be shewed to the wicked yet he wil not learne righteousnes Preach honor glory peace a garlaÌ„d of rightousnes an vncorruptible crowne fruit of the tree of life sight of the face of God following the laÌ„be fellowship with angels saintes the congregatioÌ„ of first-borne new names and white garments pleasures at the right hand of God and fulnes of ioy in his presence for evermore they are as obstinately bent vnmovably setled against these blessings of God as Daniel against the hire of Balthazar keepe thy rewardes to thy selfe and giue thy giftes to an other They are not wonne nor enarmoured with the expectation of good thinges and the revelation of the sons of God which the whole creature longeth groneth for savoureth no more vnto them than a boxe of putrified ointment What is there no way to quicken put life into them yes If the blessings of sixe Levites vpon mount Garizzim will not mooue them let them heare the cursing of sixe others vpon mount Ebal if they take no pleasure in the beautie of Sion let the thundering lightning of Sinai fire to the midst of heaven mistes cloudes smoke ascending like the smoke of a fornace the exceeding lowde sounde of a trumpet put them in feare make them beleeue that there is a God of iudgment if the spirit of gentlenes take no place shake the rod over them as the Apostle speaketh Giue theÌ„ mourning for ioy ashes for beauty the spirit of heavines for the oile of gladnes a rent insteed of a girdle teare I say not their garments but their hearts a sunder pull their bodies
He roared then for Lazarus whom he loved and for Martha's sake and for other of the Iewes that were there abouts But afterwardes in his owne cause when not onely his soule was vexed vnto death and vexation helde it in on every side but when he cried with a great voice My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee and crying againe with a great voice gaue vp the ghost Therefore the Apostle speaking of the daies of his flesh and that fruite of his lippes and spirite which wee are now in hande with thought it not sufficient to make mention of his praiers and supplications nor of his teares which watered his blessed plantes nor of a crie alone weakely sent forth but of a stronge cry which if heaven were brasse were able to breake through it So it is saide of the â—pirite of God who helpeth our infirmities that because wee know not our selues what to aske as wee ought to doe hee maketh request in our names with grones not to bee expressed Ipse inducitur gemens qui gementes facit hee that putteth groninge into vs is brought in groninge himselfe The voice of the 〈◊〉 is hearde in our lande the groninge of this turtle doue is heard within our bosome Vox quidâ—m gementinon caâ—enti similis a voice in truth as of one that mourneth and that siâ—geth not Thus the example of the glorious Lorde of life who mourned vnspeakably not for the sinnes of his owne person but of the sonnes and daughters of Ierusalem who led the way before vs in water and bloud not in water alone but in water and bloude both who with his bleeding teares shewed vs the right forme of faithfull supplications this very example biddeth vs crie in our prayers The helpe and assistance of the blessed spirit of God groning as vnmeasurably on the other side not for his owne necessities but for ours his wretched creatures and clientes not of infirmitye in himselfe but of compassion towards vs whome wee continually greeue and no way so much as for want of our greefe and repentance biddeth vs cry The dreadfuâ—l maiestye of the sacred LORDE of hostes whome wee stande before the roialty of his nature sublimity of his place dominion over men and angelles who with the spirit of his mouth is able to consume ouâ— both bodies and spirites biddeth vs cry The view of our wretched mortalitye as Adam and Eue when they sawe their nakednesse fled Miriam when her leprousy sheee was ashamed after mortality exceedingly mortall the view of our sinne exceedingly sinfull that wee are not worthy to cast vp our eies towards the seate of God and after our sinne our misery exceedinglye miserable that the prophet was amased in himselfe to see either man or the sonne of man so kindelye visited biddeth vs crye Lastlye the hope and expectation of successe vnlesse wee will sowe and not reape plant vines and not drinke the wine thereof powre out many prayers and not bee hearde the delicacie and tendeâ—nesse of the eares of God which must bee wisely entreated and the precious favour of his countenance which must be carefully sought bid vs cry Let vs not thinke that the sounde and noise of our lippes as the ringing of basons or vocall modulation without cordiall and inward meditation can procvre vs audience Valentiores voces apud secretissimas dei aures â—on faciunt verba seddesiâ—â—ria The most effectuall speech in the secret eares of God commeth not from wordes but from desires He that heaâ—eth without eares can interpret our praiers without our tongues He that saw and fansied Nathaniel vnder the figtree before he was called saw and sanctified Iohn Baptist in his mothers wombe before he came forth he seeth and blesseth our praiers fervently conceaved in the bosome of our conscience before they be vttered but if they want devotion they shall be answered by God as the praiers of those idolators in Ezech. though they cry in mine eares with a lowde voice yet will I not heare them And he hearde me The Hebrew saith he answered me which doth better expresse the mercy of God towards Ionas than if it had bene barely pronounced that he heard Ionas For a man may heare when he doth not answere as Christ heard the false witnesses when the priests asked him answerest thou nothing tâ—cuit he held his peace And likewise he heard Pilate wheÌ„ vpon the accusatioÌ„ of the priests he askt him answerest thou nothing yet he answered not so as Pilate mervailed at his silence David in the 18. Psal. confesseth of his enemies that they cried but there was none to save them even vnto the Lorde but he answered them not Now this answere of God wherof he speaketh is not a verbal answere sharpt of words but a reall substantiall satisfaction and graunt directly fitly applied as answeres should be to questions so this to fulfill the minde desire of Ionas For as be heard the heavens Osee 2. not that the heaveÌ„s spake or he listened the heavens the earth the earth the corne oile wine the corne oile wine Israel not by speech but by actuall performaÌ„ce of some thing which they wanted he the heaveÌ„s by giving vertuous dispositioÌ„ vnto theÌ„ they the earth by their happy influeÌ„ce the earth her fruits by yelding theÌ„ iuice these Israel by ministring their abuÌ„daÌ„ce so doth he answer Ionas here by grauÌ„ting his petition For as to answer a questioÌ„ is not to render speech for speâ—h aloÌ„e but if ther be scruple or vncerteinty in the matter proposed to resolve it so to answere a suite is to ease the hart satisfy the expectatioÌ„ of him that teÌ„dred it In this case Pub. Piso a rhetoriciaÌ„ in Rome was abused by his servaÌ„t who to avoide molestatioÌ„ had given his servants a charge to aunswere his demandes briefly directlye without any further additions It fell out that he provided a supper for Clodius the generall whome he long lookt often sent for at the howre â—et Clodius came not At leÌ„gth he asked his man didst thou bid Clodius I bad him Why commeth he not he refused How chanceth thou toldst me not so much because you demaÌ„ded it not Plutarke in the same booke where hee reporteth that tale maketh three sortes of aunswerers For some giue an aunswer of necessity some of humanity others of superfluity The first if you aske whether Socrates bee within telleth you faintly and vnwillingly he is not within perhappes hee aunswereth by a Laconisme 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not The second with more curtesie and to the sufficient measure of the demaund willing to instruct the ignorant hee is not within but in such a place at the exchange The third running over with loquaâ— city knoweth no ende of speaking hee is not within but at the exchange waiting for straungers out of Ionia in vvhose behalfe Alcibiades hath written from Miletum c. The aunsweres
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
times to make full restitution of my ancient losses What needed writings in a booke graving in lead or stone but that he was carefull of posterity that the scripture sculpture of his owne conscience ' might be a monument in time to come for other afflicted soules The counsaile which David giveth his troubled soule again again repeated because his sorrowes were againe and often multiplied shal be my last for this time O my soule why art thou cast downe and why art thou disquieted within me I wil not forget to note vnto you that one of the greatest temptations hee then felt and that which fed him with his teares day and night in steede of meate was the daily vpbraiding of his persecutours where is now thy God If they could have battered the fortresse of his hope they had vtterly spoiled him Yet he encourageth that persecuted and downe-trodden soule with harty incitations Why art thou cast downe c. trust in the Lord for I will yet and yet give him thankes for the helpe of his presence Hope is never put to silence never abasheth nor shameth the man that ioyneth her vnto him the sweetest and plesantest companion that ever travailed with the soiourners vpon earth She carrieth them along through all the difficulties and crosses of the way that lie to interrupt them Though they have passed through fire and water shee saith be not discomforted we shall yet give him thankes for the helpe of his presence Though through a life so replenished with misery that they blesse the dead more than the living and count them happier then both that have never bene she saith be of good cheere we shall yet give him thanks and there is time and matter enough wherin to shew his goodnes Yea though they walke into the chambers of death and shut the dores after them and see not the light of heaven still shee biddeth them be bold for they that sleepe in the dust shall arise and sing the dew of their dry bones shal be as fresh as the dew of the hearbes and we shall yet give him thanks for the helpe of his presence I remember that valiant and thrice renowned Athenian when I speake of the tenure and pertinacy of hope who when other-meanes failed grasped the ships of the enimy with his handes to hold them to fight and when his handes were striken of staied them with his teeth till he lost his life Hope can never be put from her hold-fast her voice is according to her nature adhuc confitebor I will yet give thanks in the winter and deadest time of calamities she springeth and cannot die nay shee crieth within her selfe whether I live or die I will not loose my patience for I shall see the day when the Lord shall know mee by my name againe righten my wronges finish my sorrowes wipe the teares from my cheekes treade downe my enimies fulfill mee with the oile of ioy and I shall yet and for ever give thankes for the helpe of his presence THE XXVIII LECTVRE Chap. 2. vers 7. When my soule fainted within mee I remembred the Lorde and my praier came vnto thee into thine holy temple THE two last verses if you remember were but a varied repetition of that which two others had handled before The generall partes of all vvhich were the feare and the hope daunger and comfort of the prophet vvhich two affections or conditions you haue often hearde the whole songe spendeth it selfe vpon His feare and daunger in the last place was that neither water nor earth spared him The waters touching their pride and exaltation came vnto his soule touching their measure promised him no bottome touching their traine and confederates bounde their vveedes about his heade The earth neither lodged him in a smooth and easie floore but vnder the rootes and ragges of mountaines nor in an haven or any the like accessible place but vvithin her barres Notwithstanding the head of the serpent vvith all his subtile devises against the life of the prophet is bruised at the heele of the speech where one little particle of hope wipeth out all the former discomfortes Yet haste thou brought vp c. Once againe as heeretofore I dissembled not with you I must enter into the selfe-same matter of discourse and explication The soule of Ionas may fainte vvithin him as my texte telleth vs the sunne and moone may faile in their motions day night may faile in their courses the earth may faile and totter vpon her proppes the sea and rivers may faile and be emptied of their waters but the worde of the Lorde shall never faile neither in trueth nor in the riches and plentye thereof to minister an everlasting argument to him that dispenseth it Time and speech and audience shall faile but matter can never vvant vvhen that aboundant treasure commeth to bee opened It was well saide by Chrysostome that in a thousande talentes of worldely wordes a man shall hardly finde an hundreth pence of spirituall and heavenly wisedome scarsely tenne halfepence But infinite are the talentes of wisedome that are hidde in the vvoordes of God even when they seeme in the iudgement of man to bee most exhausted The Apostles exhortation to the Colossians is that the worde of the Lorde shoulde dvvell plentifullie amonge them Surely the woorde of GOD in one of the deepest and vvaightiest pointes of knowledgeâ— touching our hope howe to bee vsed and where to bee founded hath once and a seconde time alreadie offered it selfe vnto you VVhither as yet it hath gotten house-roume and dwelling among you I cannot tell Perhappes it did but soiourne in your heartes and was in nature of a passenger to tarry for a night or an howre Or happily as the Levite that came to Gâ—beah in the nineteenth of Iudges it hath sitten in the streetes and no man hath received it into house Or if it hath gotten entraunce and admission it was perforce as those that let downe the sicke man by the tyles of the house the dores being pestered and thronged with multitude that they coulde not haue entrance otherwise it may bee the gates of your heartes beeing stopped vvith multitudes of popular and worldely affaires it tooke some little fastening against your willes But that it may dvvell in your consciences never to departe from them and not in a narrovve corner thereof sparingly and vvith discontentment but in such plentifull manner as the Apostle spake of to enioye her full libertye all other in-mates and associates put aparte all distrustfull cogitations either from the wiles of Sathan or vveakenesse of our flesh remooved the providence of GOD hath so ordered it that after twise navigation as the proverbe is there shoulde bee a thirde iteration of the same doctrine that your heartes for ever might be established VVhen the vision of the sheete vvas sent vnto Peter in the tenth of the Actes the voice was vttered vnto him three times Arise Peter
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
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
or more passions if they vvill goe into captivity againe let them goe but they shall not returne if they sell themselues to the will of their enemy let them never hope for a second ransome VVhen my soule fainted In the second circumstance of the first branch wherein is noted the affection of his soule I will rather marke the efficacie of the worde heere brought than make discourse vpon it The very noting of the worde is discourse enough The wordes that the holy ghost vseth are not vaine vvordes such as are vsed by men to deceiue with the examination search wherof yeeldeth no profit but he that wil weigh them aright must not only view the outwarde face of the whole sentence at large but sucke out the iuice and bloude of every severall vvorde therein contained The extremitye of the soule of Ionas seemeth to bee very greate because there is no little trouble and care how to expresse it The Septuagints render it an eclipse or if you will a dereliction and death of the soule Calvin a convolution or folding vp togither Tremelius an overvvhelming Ierome a streightning or compacting into a close roume Pomeran a despairing VVhatsoever it is Rabbi Kimhi affirmeth that the vvorde is never vsed but of greate miserie happily such as shall accompanie the last times when men shall bee at their wittes endes for feare and their heartes shall faile them because of troubles Nowe whither you saie that his soule forsooke him as if it were and there was deliquium animae a disparition of it for a time as if it vvere not like the state of Eutychus in the Actes who was taken vp for deade though his life remayned in him or vvhither it were wrapt and vvounde vvithin it selfe that her owne house was a prison vnto her and shee had no power to goe foorth no list to thinke of heaven no minde to aske the counsaile of GOD or man as vvhen a birde is snared the more it laboureth the harder it tieth it selfe and though it vse the legges or the vvinges it vseth them to a further hinderaunce so all the thoughtes that the soule of Ionas thought were not to ease the hearte but more to perplexe it and all fell backe againe vpon himselfe or whither the soule were overwhelmed vvithin him with her owne weighte as one that shoulde gather stones for his owne graue or that it was pinched and pressed within a narrowe place that all those former impedimentes promontories and barres of the earth did not imprison him so close as his owne feare or whatsoever it were besides what was it else but either the messenger and fore-runner or a neare companion to that vnnaturall and vngratious sinne which wee haue often alreadye smitten at with the sworde of Gods spirite accursed desperation Howe is the golde become drosse howe is the soule of man turned into a carkeise The chaunge is marvailous That that was given to quicken the bodie and to put life into it is most dull and liuelesse it selfe That that was given to giue liberty explication motion agilitie and arte to every parte of the bodye is nowe the greatest burthen that the body hath If I shall giue the reason heereof it is that which Bernarde alleageth in a Sermon The reasonable soule of man hath two places an inferiour vvhich it governeth the bodie a superiour vvherein it resteth GOD vvhich is the same in substance that Augustine had before delivered in his nineteenth treatise vpon Saint Iohn it quickneth and it selfe is quickened VVherefore if that better life vvhich is from aboue relinquish the soule vvith the comfortes and aides of GODS blessed spirite hovve is it possible but that the soule should also relinquish her body with the offices of her life This is the reason then that the soule faineteth shee first dyeth vpwardes then dovvne-wardes and invvardely to her selfe Shee forgetteth her maker and preserver and hee likevvise striketh her vvith amazement and confusion in all her powers that shee lyeth as it vvere in a traunce and knovveth not howe to apply them to their severall and proper functions Nowe therefore if the floudes and waues of the sea wherewith hee was embraced on every side had beene as kinde vnto him as ever were his mothers armes and those ragged endes of the mountaines like pillowes of downe vnder his bones if the promontories and barres of the earth had vnbarred themselues vnto him of their owne accorde like those dores of the prison in the Actes to let him out yet if the soule within him did remaine thus fettered and gived with the chaines of her owne confusion and all the devises and counsailes of her heart were rather hinderances than helpes vnto her and her greatest enmitie or at least her least friendship came from her owne house that either shee thought nothing or all that shee thought was but the imagination of a vaine thing I would not wish her greater harme Hee wanteth no other miserie that is plagued with a fainting soule Aske not the malice of the sea the malice of the lande the malice of hell against him vvhom the vntovvardenesse and distruste of his ovvne soule hath beaten downe The thirde circumstaunce maketh mention of the subiect or place vvherein his soule fainted that you may knovve there is no power in man to vndoe such implicite cordes and to loose the bandes of sorrowe and death vnlesse some vertue from vvithout set too an helping hande The sense is verie plaine that in himselfe his soule fainted that is there vvas no domesticall earthly naturall helpe that coulde release him but vvhen his father mother friendes lande sea his soule all had forsaken him the Lorde tooke him vp and gaue him better hope For vvho should restore to libertie a soule confounded as this was and re-deliver it to her former abilities teach her to vnderstande arighte prudentlie to deliberate assuredly to hope who reconcile a man fallen out with himselfe and make peace within his borders or rather reviue and recover a man fallen from himselfe but hee who is said to order a good mans goinge and to bee a GOD of order not of confusion VVhen the earth was vvithout forme and voide and darkenesse vpon the deepe and neither heaven nor earth lande nor water day nor night distinguished who fashioned the partes of that vnshapen Chaos separated light from darkenesse and brought the creature into a comely proportion but even the same LORDE who finding this wastnesse and informity in the soule of Ionas made it perfit againe It is evident in the nexte wordes For marke the connexion VVhen my soule fainted within me I remembred the Lorde How is it possible for did his soule faint and was it in maner no soule vnto him as it fareth with some who seeme for a space to bee deade and their spirites to haue forsaken them was all the strength thereof consumed stifled choked given over within him and had hee a memorie
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
him in his graue also and then they shall say too late wee and our money are both perished VVhy haue we taken or given the accursed wages of vnrighteousnesse to speake falshode But how could it bee the meane time that you may knowe they shewed themselues starkest fooles vvhere they professed greatest vvisedome VVas there not caution and provision enough before hande Sir wee remember this deceiver saide thus was not a greate stone rolled to the mouth of the graue and their seale set vpon the stone and a watch apointed to attende the sepulchre Standeth it vvith reason that a fewe disciples their eies yet streaming and their heartes aking with their late losse bruised reedes the staffe of their comfortes being taken from them the children of the bride-chamber mourning for the absence of the bridge-grome lambes amongst ravenous and bloud sucking woules shoulde dare to attempte an acte so dangerous to be vndertaken and so vnpossible to bee compassed But they did attempte it by stealth when there was neede of engines to remooue the stone and it coulde not bee done without most tumultuous heaving and shouldering And the souldiours slept they saie as if sleepers coulde truely reporte that which they knewe not But why doe I fighte against a disarmed and vnworthie falshode If angels men weomen disciples strangers friendes foes a clowde of sufficient vvitnesses if the emptying of the sepulchre and leaving of the linnen clothes which those that had eies to see with mighte beholde if the amasemente of the watch newes of the souldiours subornation of high-priestes and elders the letter of Pilate to the Emperour to signifie no lesse if his owne walking talking eating drinking conversing visible ascending if preaching beleeving and both livinge and dying in that beleefe bee enough to mooue credite Christ is risen from the deade and novve hee dyeth not againe neither hath death any more dominion ouer him Rather hee hath dominion over death For hee is aliue but vvas deade And beholde hee is aliue for evermore Amen And hee hath the keyes of hell and of death For who was worthy nay who was able of all the host in heaven and earth to open this last seale of death and destruction but the Lambe that vvas killed or rather the Lyon that was raised by the power of his owne might And therefore it is righte vvell observed by Bernarde that all those resurrections which we reade of in former times of the Shunamites sonne and others vvere istius praeambulae not onely fore-runners and leaders to this but surelye they were wrought in the finger and vertue thereof And these were the differences betwixte those and this later that then they came foorth of their graues or vvere recovered to life mortui sed iterum morituri deade I confesse but vvithall they were to die againe Christ dyeth no more That Elizaeus restored a childe sed alterum non seipsum an other not himselfe Christ himselfe And they vvere rather raysed than did rise themselues for they were but patientes whilst the act was done vpon them Christ arose by his owne strength But to returne to the heade of the race vvhere wee first began vvee haue founde the signe and the thing signified thus farre fitted together that as Ionas the thirde day vvas cast vp out of the bellye of the fish so our holy redeemer arose from the heart of the earth Shall wee heere rest Or shal it suffice vs to know what the body to that shaddowe is and not to sucke there-hence the sweetenesse and iuyce which that body yeeldeth vs The Iewes asked a signe and this signe was given them And vvhen they saw it fulfilled either they spake against or they did but wonder at it To vs it shall bee more than a signe even dearer to our soules than our soules are to vs. It shall haue wonder and wonder enough but withal we will not lose our fruit and our part therein for a worldes ransome Our hope would vanish like smoke and our heartes within vs wither away as grasse vpon the house tops death would sting vs to death indeede the graue shut the mouth vpon vs hell make her full triumph but for this graine of faith that Christ is risen from the dead and is become the first fruites of those that sleepe And hee is the heade of the body of the church not an head to himselfe without respect to his member the beginning and first begotten of the deade not without brethren and sisters in the same kinde of generation that he in all thinges might haue the preheminence What other restoratiue had the fainting and dying soule of Iob to comfort it selfe with vvhat other blessing and sap in the vine in that deadest winter of affliction vvhat other couche to lodge his distressed and diseased bones vpon what helper when his wife molested him what friend when his friendes forsooke him but this onelye meditation vvhich was in steede of friendes wife bed borde all thinges vnto him I knowe my redeemer liveth that is The life of my life can never be destroyed and for the enrollement of this happy argument hee called for bookes of the longest continuance and pennes of the hardest pointes that the latest liver of all after worldes might learne by it Hence came it that the blessed vessell of election made that free challendge to all the actours and pleaders that condemnation had fearing neither the districte iustice of God nor the malice of his owne heart nor the vncessant accusation of Sathan day and night Who shall condemne It is Christ which is deade yea or rather which is risen againe Who is also at the righte hande of God and maketh request likewise for vs. So that the sinewes strength of his confidence is not so much in the death as in the resurrection of the sonne of God not to a weake and contemptible life as before time but to a full possession of glorie nor for himselfe alone but for his orphane members vpon the earth for whome hee maketh continuall intercession And vpon this stocke hee seemeth to plant the whole body of Christianitye in his former Epistle to the Corinthians For if Christ bee not risen then is preaching vaine and faith vaine and the living are yet in their sinnes and those that are fallen a sleepe are perished and vvee were of all men most wretched As much as to say pull downe temples and synagogues burne the writings of Prophets and Apostles stoppe your â—ares at the voice of charmers praise the dead more than the living and rather than them both those that haue never beene commende the wisedome of the Epicure who taketh his portion in this life and suffereth not the flowre of his youth to passe without pleasure If Christ bee not risen againe But I bring you other tydings Our Phoenix is revived the seede that was mortified in the grounde is come vp againe with abundance of fruite
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
gracious long suffering and of great goodnesse He crieth vnto the fooles and such vvee are all Proveâ—bes 1. O yee foolish howe long will yee loâ—â— foolishnesse hee dealeth vvith sinners as David dealte vvith Saul vvho tooke avvay his speare and his vvaterpot and sometimes a peece of his cloake as it were snatches and remembraunces to let vs vnderstande that vvee are in his handes and if wee take not vvarning hee will further punish vs. He dresseth his vineyarde Esay the fifth vvith the best and kindliest husbandrie that his heart coulde invente aftervvardes hee looked required not the first howre but tarrying the full time hee looked that it shoulde bring foorth grapes in the autumne and vintage season Hee vvaiteth for the fruite of his figge tree three yeares Luke the thirteenth and is content to bee entreated that digging and dounging and expectation a fourth yeare may be bestowed vpon it They saie that moralize the parable that hee stayed for the synagogue of the Iewes the first yeare of the patriarches the seconde of the Iudges the thirde of the kinges and that the fourth of the prophets it was cut dovvne Likewise that hee hath waited for the church of Christianity three yeares that is three revolutions and periodes of ages thrice five hundreth yeares from the passion of Christ or if we furtheâ— repeate it that hee hath tarried the leasure of the whole world one yeare vnder nature an other vnder the lawe a thirde vnder grace The fourth is nowe in passing vverein it is not vnlikely that both these fiâ—ge-trees shall bee cut dovvne VVhatsoever iudgementes are pronounced Amos the first and second against Damascus and Iudah and the rest are for three transgressions for foure so long he endured their iniquities Hee was able to chardge them in the fourteenth of Numbers that they had seene his glorye and yet provoked him ten times Ierusalems prouocation in the gospell and such care in her loving Saviour to have gathered her children vnder his winges of salvation as the henne her chickens seemeth to bee without number as appeareth by this interrogation O Ierusalem Ierusalem howe often Notwithstanding these presidents and presumptions of his mercy the safest way shall bee to rise at his first call and not to differre our obedience till the second for feare of prevention least the Lorde haue iust cause given by vs to excuse himselfe I called and you haue not aunswered And albeit at some times and to some sinners the Lorde bee pleased to iterate his sufferance yet farre be it of that we take incitement thereat to iterate our misdeedes He punished his angels in heaven for one breach Achan for one sacriledge Miriam for one slaunder Moses for one vnbeliefe Ananias and Saphira for one lie he maie be as speedy and quicke in avendging himselfe vpon our offences But if we neglect the first and second time also then let vs know that daunger is not farre of Iude had some reason meaning in noting the corrupt trees that were twice dead For if they twice die it is likely enough that custome vvill prevaile against them and that they vvill die the thirde time and not giue over death till they bee finally rooted vp There are tvvo reasons that maie iustly deterre vs from this carelesnesse and security in offending vvhich I labour to disvvade 1. the strength that sinne gathereth by growing and going forwardes It creepeth like a canker or some other contagious disease in the body of man and because it is not timely espied and medicined threatneth no small hazarde vnto it It fareth therevvith as vvith a tempest vpon the seas in vvhich there are first Leves vndae little waues afterwardes maiora volumiâ—a greater volumes of waters then perhapps ignei globi balles of fire fluctus ad coelum and surges mounting vp as high as heaven Esay describeth in some such manner the breedes of serpents first an egge next a cockatrice then a serpent afterwards a fierie flying serpent Custome they hold is an other nature and a nature fashioned and wrought by art And as men that are well invred are ashamed to giue over so others of an ill habite are as loth to depart from it The curse that the men of Creete vsed against their enemies vvas not a svvorde at their heartes nor fire vpon their houses but that vvhich vvoulde bring on these in time and much worse that they might take pleasure in an evill custome Hugo the Cardinall noteth the proceeding of sinne vpon the vvordes of the seventh Psalme If I haue done this thing if there bee any wickednesse in my handes c. then let mine enemie persecute my soule by suggestion and take it by consent let him tread my life vpon the earth by action and lay mine honour in the duste by custome and pleasure therein For custome in sinning is not onely a grave to bury the soule in but a great stone rolled to the mouth of it to keepe it downe And as there is one kinde of drunkennesse in excesse of wine an other of forgetfulnesse so there is a thirde that commeth by lust and desire of sinning 2. Nowe if the custome of sinne bee seconded vvith the iudgement of God adding an other vveight vnto it blinding our eies and hardening our heartes that vvee may neither see nor vnderstande least vvee should bee saved and because wee doe not those good thinges which wee knowe therefore wee shall not knowe those evill thinges which wee doe but as men bereft of heart runne on a senselesse and endlesse race of iniquity till the daies of gracious visitation bee out of date it vvill not be hard to determine vvhat the end vvill bee Peter saieth vvorse than the first beginning Matthew shevveth by hovve many degrees vvorse For vvhereas at the first vvee vvere possessed but by one devill novve hee commeth associated vvith seven others all vvorse than himselfe and there they intende for ever to inhabite Therefore it shall not be amisse for vs to breake of vvickednesse betimes and to followe the counsaile that Chrysostome giveth alluding to the pollicy of the vvise men in returning to their countrie an other waie Hast thou come saith hee by the waie of adultery goe backe by the waie of chastity Camest thou by the way of covetousnesse Goe backe by the waie of mercy But if thou returne the same vvaie thou camest thou art still vnder the kingdome of Herode For as the sickenesses of the body so of the soule there are criticall daies secret to our selves but well knowne to God whereby hee doth ghesse whether wee be in likelihode to recover health and to harken to the holesome counsailes of his law or not If then hee take his time to give vs over to our selves and the malignity of our diseases wee may say too late as sometime Christ of Ierusalem O that wee had knowne the thinges that belong to our peace but nowe they are
vvisedome of the king of Babylon to take the young children of Israell whom they might teach the learning and tongue of Chaldaea rather then their olde men so it is the wisedome of the Devill to season these greene vesselles vvith the liâ—our of his corruption that they maie keepe the taste thereof while life remaineth But their bones are filled with the sinne of their youth and it lyeth downe with them in the dust and when their bodies shall arise then shall also their sinne to receiue iudgement So sayeth the wise preacher giving them the raines in some sort but knowing that the end of their race vvill be bitternesse Reioice O young man and let thy hearte cheare thee in the daies of thy youth walke in the waies of thine hearte and in the sight of thine eies but knowe that for all these thinges God will bring thee to iudgement Let the examples of Elie his sonnes whome hee tenderly brought vp to bring downe his house and whole stocke to the ground and the boies that mockt Elizaeus be a warning to this vnguided age that the LORDE will not pardon iniquitie neither in young nor old and that not only the bulles and kine of Basan but the wanton and vntamed heighfers and the calues that play in the grasse shall beare their transgressions It is the song of the young men Wisedome the seconde Let not the flowre of our life passe from vs c. and it is the cry of the young men in the fifth of the same booke vvhat hath pride profited vs For whilst they take their pleasures vpon earth the Lord writeth bitter thinges against them in heaven Iob. 13. and shall make them possesse the iniquities of their youth And hee cryed His manner of preaching was by proclamation lowde and audible that it mighte reach to the eares of the people hee hid not the iudgementes of God in his heart as Mary the words of her Saviour to make them his proper and private meditations but as ever the manner of God was that his prophets should denounce his minde least they might say wee never hearde of it so did Ionas accordingly fulfill it Thus Esaye was willed to cry and to lifte vp his voice like a trumpet Ieremye to crye in the eares of Ierusalem to declare amongst the nations and even to set vp a standarde and proclaime the fall of Babylon And Ezechiell had a like commaundement Clama vlula fili hominis Crie and hovvle sonne of man for this shall come vnto my people and it shall lighte vpon all the princes of Israell Our Saviour likewise bad the Apostles vvhat they heard in the eare that to preach vpon the house toppes They did so For being rebuked for their message and forbidden to speake anie more in the name of Iesus they aunswered boldly in the face of that vvicked consistory vvhether it bee fitte to obey God or man iudge yee Wisdome her selfe Proverbs the first crieth not in her closet and the secret chambers of her house but vvithout in the streetes neither in the vvildernesse and infrequent places but in the heighth of the streetes and among the prease and in the entrings of the gates that the sounde of her voice may be blovvne into all partes If Iohn Baptist vvere the voice of a crier in the vvildernesse then vvas Christ the crier and Iohn Baptist but the voice Surely it wanted not much that the very stones in the streetes shoulde haue cried the honour and povver of God for even stones vvoulde haue founde their tongues if men had helde theirs The commaundement then and practise of God himselfe is to crie to leaue the vvorlde vvithout excuse the nature of the vvord biddeth vs crie for it is a fire and if it flame not forth it vvil burne his bovvels harts that smothereth it I thought I woulde haue kept my mouth bridled saith the prophet Whilst the wicked was in my sight I was dumbe and spake nothing I kept silence even from good but my sorrowe vvas the more encreased My heart vvas hot within mee and while I was musing the fire kindled and I spake with my tongue lastly the nature of the people vvith vvhome vvee haue to deale requireth crying Deafe adders vvill not bee charmed with whispering nor deafe and dumbe spirits which neither hear nor answere God cast forth without much praier and fasting nor sleepie and carelesse sinners possessed with a spirite of slumber and cast into a heavy sleepe as Adam vvas vvhen he lost his ribbe so these not feeling the maines that are made in their soules by Sathan awaked without crying Sleepers and sinners must be cried vnto againe and againe for sinne is a sleepe What can you not watch one houre And dead men and sinners must be cried vnto for sinne is a death and asketh as manie groanings and out-cries as ever Christ bestowed vpon Lazarus Exiforas Lazare Lazarus come forth and leaue thy rotten and stinking sinnes vvherein thou hast lien too manye daies Happy were this age of ours if all the cryings in the daie time could awake vs. For I am sure that the cry at midnight shall fetch vs vp but if the meane time vvee shall refuse to hearken and pull awaie the shoulder and stoppe our eares that they shoulde not heare and make our heartes as an adamant stone that the vvordes of the Lorde cannot sinke into them it shall come to passe that as hee hath cried vnto vs and vvee vvoulde not heare so wee shall crie vnto him againe and hee vvill not answere And saide yet fortie daies and Niniveh shall bee overthrowne The matter of the prophets sermon is altogither of iudgement For the execution whereof 1. the time prefined is but forty daies 2. the measure or quantity of the iudgement an overthrow 3. the subiect of the overthrow Niniveh togither with an implication of the longe sufferance of almighty God specified in a particle of remainder and longer adiourment in the fourth place yet forty daies asmuch as to say I have spared you long enough before but I will spare you thus much longer The onely matter of question herein is how it may stande vvith the constancie and truth of the aeternall God to pronounce a iudgement against a place which taketh not effect within an hundred yeares For either he was ignorant of his owne time which we cannot imagine of an omniscient God or his minde vvas altered vvhich is vnprobable to suspect For is the strength of Israell as man that hee shoulde lie or as the sonne of man that hee shoulde repent is hee not yesterday and to day and the same for ever that vvas that is and that is to come I meane not onelye in substance but in vvill and intention doeth hee vse lightnes are the wordes that hee speaketh yea and nay Doth hee both affirme and deny to are not all his promises are not all his threatnings
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
There is not any knowledge of learning to bee despised seeing that all science whatsoever is in the nature and kinde of good thinges Rather those that despite it vvee must repute rude and vnprofitable altogither who would bee glad that all men vvere ignoraunt that their owne ignorance lying in the common heape mighte not be espied If Philosophie shoulde therefore not be set by because some haue erred through Philosophie no more shoulde the sunne and the moone because some haue made them their Gods and committed idolatrie vvith them It seemeth by the preface of M. Luther vpon the Epistle to the Galathians that the Anabaptistes condemned the graces and workes of God for the indignity of the persons and subiectes in vvhome they were founde Luther retorted vpon them Then belike matrimony authority liberty c. are not the workes of God because the men who vse them are some of them wicked Wicked men haue the vse of the sun the moone the earth the aire the water and other creatures of God Therefore is not the sunne the sunne and do the others loose their goodnesse because they are so vsed The Anabaptistes themselues when as yet they were not rebaptised had notwithstanding bodies and soules now because they were not rebaptized were not their bodies true bodies and their soules right soules Say that their parents also had a time when they were not rebaptized Were they not therfore truly married If not it will follow therevpon that the parentes were adulterers their children bastardes and not meete to inherite their fathers landes Likewise truth is truth wheresoever I finde it Whither vvee search in Philosophy or in the histories of the Gentiles or in Canonicall scriptures there is but one truth If Peter if the Sibylles if the devilles shall say that Christ is the sonne of the living GOD it is not in one a truth a lie in the other but though the persons motiues and endes bee different the substance of the confession is in all the same It was true which Menander the Poet spake before the Apostle ever wrote it to the Church of Corinth Evill wordes corrupt good manners And because it was a truth in Menander therefore the Apostle alleadged it which else hee woulde not The difference betweene them is that as in Lacedaemon sometimes when in a waighty consultation an eloquent but an evill man had set downe a good decree which they coulde not amende they caused it to bee pronounced by one of honest name and conversation and in such simplicity of wordes as hee was able presently to light vpon by that meanes neither crediting the bad authour so much as to take a iudgement from his mouth nor reiecting the good sentence so that which was a truth in the lips of Menander is not more true vttered by an Apostles tongue but it hath gotten a more approoved and sanctified author And surely as in the tilling of the ground the culter and share are the instrumentes that breake the cloddes and carry the burthen of the worke yet the other partes of the plough are not vnnecessary to further it so for the first breaking vp of the fallow ground of mens heartes and killing the weedes and brambles that are therein of Adams auncient corruption or for preaching the greate mysterie of pietie and comfortable speâ—king to Sion touching the pointes of salvation the onely worde of God sharper then culter or share or two edged sword is onely and absolutely sufficient But a man must dayly builde vpon the former foundation and not onely teach but explicate by discoursing illustrate by examples exemplifie by parables and similitudes by arguments confirme shame the gaine-saiers convince the adversaries fashion the life to the doctrine plant iudgement and iustice insteede of vnrighteousnes stirre vp the affections and shewe himselfe every way a vvorkeman not to bee ashamed and rightly dividing the worde of trueth from whom if you take his knife that is his arte and cunning he shall rather teare it with his teeth and pull it asunder with his nailes than rightly divide it But you appeale to the consciences of beleevers and desire to knowe vvhither their first conversion to the faith vvere by reading or hearing of Gentile stories No. For who ever required that service of prophane learning which whatsoever the instrument or meanes be is principally and almost wholy the worke of the holy Ghost and wherein is fulfilled vpon every convert that commeth to the knowledge of the trueth that which Samuell comforted Saule with The spirite of the Lorde shall come vpon thee and thou shalt bee turned into an other man VVho else taketh the stonie hearte out of their bodies and giveth them an hearte of flesh And we know besides that the conversions of men to the faith haue not beene all after one sorte in some by the preaching of Christ crucified as in those that vvere added to the Church by the sermon of Peter in some by a word from the mouth of Christ Follovve mee in some by visions and voyces from heaven as Paule Act. 9. was throwne from his horse and smitten with blindnesse and a voice came downe from the clowdes saying Saul Saul why persecutest thou mee and Saint Augustine reporteth Confess 8.12 that by a voice from heaven saying Take vp and reade take vp and reade hee was directed to that sentence Rom. 13. Not in chambeâ—ing and wantonnesse c. Iustine Martyr witnesseth of himselfe in his Apology to Antoninus that when he saw the innocent Christians after their slaunderous and false traducementes carried to their deathes patient and ioyfull that they were thought worthy to suffer for the name of Christ it occasioned his chandge of religion Socrates and Sozomene write that many of Alexandria when the great temple of Serapis was repurdged and made serviceable for the vse of the Christians finding some mysticall letters or cyphers therein vvhereby the forme of a crosse was figured and signification long before given that the temple shoulde haue an ende thought it warning enough to forsake their heathenish superstitions and to embrace the gospell of Christ Iesus Many other Aegyptians beeing terrified by the strange inundation of Nilus higher than the wonted manner thereof was immediatlie condemned their ancient idolatry and applyed themselues to the worship of the living God Clodoveus the French King after manie perswasions of Crotildis his lady a religious Burgundian vainelie spent vpon him having at length receaved a great discomfiture and slaughter in a battaile against the Almannes and finding himselfe forsaken of all earthly aide cast vp his eies into heaven and vowed to become a Christian vpon condition that God would giue him the victory over his enimies which he faithfully performed Now it holdeth not in reason that because men are converted to the faith by miracles martyrdoms visioÌ„s inundatioÌ„s hieroglyphicks such meanes therefore they should alwaies be confirmed by the same or that those
yet be more vile and low in our owne eies and rather than these names shall die and be out of vse we will weare them vpon our garments and if you were sparing to yeeld them vnto vs we would desire you for Christes sake and as you tender our credite not to tearme vs otherwise The Iewes who thought they mocked Christ vvhen they bowed their knees and cried Haile king of the Iewes they knew not vvhat they did they did him an honour and favour against their willes for he was king of the Iewes and of the Gentiles also whatsoever their meaning is who thinke to nicke-name vs by obiecting these names which we will leaue to the censuring of the righteous Iudge in heaven vve embrace them honour them and heartily thanke God for them and desire that they may be read and published in the eares of the world as the most glorious titles of our commission The Angelles of God are ministring spirites and sent forth to minister for the elects sake Christ Iesus himselfe came to minister not to bee ministred vnto We will therefore say as the Apostle said 2. Cor. 11. Ministri sunt plus ego Are Christ and his Angels and all the Apostles of Christ ministers we speake like fooles in the deeming of the world we also will be ministers of the gospell and if it were possible we would bee more than ministers O honourable ministerie what government rule and dominion is it not superiour vnto I conclude with the same Apostle though I shoulde boast somevvhat more of our authoritie vvhich is given vnto vs for edification and not for destruction I shoulde haue no shame By this discourse it may appeare vnto you if this were a motiue in the minde of Ionas as some both Iewes and Christians conceiue how grievous it seemed vnto him to be held in iealousie for deceipt in his calling that any in the world should be able iustly to taxe him for a false prophet and one that prophecied lies in the name of GOD. Notwithstanding the matter is quickely aunswered For whatsoever the event had beene the voice of the Lorde was in reason to haue beene obeyed 1. It was no new thing to be so accompted of it was the portion of Moses and Samuell and Elias before him and thence-forth as many as ever spake vnto the daies of Iohn Baptist which came with the spirit of Elias they haue drunke of the same cuppe and not onely the servauntes but the sonne and heire hath beene dealt with in like manner A Prophet is not without honour saue in his owne countrey Ionas might haue said to himselfe as Elias in another case I am no better than my fathers Thus were we borne and ordained to approoue our selues in all kinde of patience by honour and dishonour by good reporte and evill reporte as deceavers and yet beholde vvee are true and deceiue not The world was never more fortunate for prophets than thus to reward them flatterers may breake the heades of men with their smooth oiles but the woundes that prophets giue haue never escaped the hardest iudgements 2. Why should Ionas feare the opinion of men his duty being done the very conscience of his fact simply and truely performed would haue beene a towre of defence and a castle vnto him It is a verie small thinge for me to be iudged of you or of mans iudgemente for I knowe nothinge by my selfe c. Hee doth not say It is nothing vnto mee but it is a very small thing I esteeme my name somevvhat but I stande more vpon my conscience This is our reioycing the testimony of our conscience that in simplicitie and puritie vvee haue beene conversant in the vvorlde VVhen the princes had given sentence vpon Ieremy this man is vvorthie to die hee aunswered them the Lorde hath sent mee to prophecy against this house therefore amende your vvaies that the Lorde may repente him of the plague vvhich hee hath pronounced against you as for mee beholde I am in your handes doe vvith mee as you please but knovve yee for certainty that if you put mee to death you shall bring innocent bloude vpon your selues for of a trueth the Lorde hath sent mee vnto you to speake all these wordes in your eares This is the brasen wall the soundnes of the cause and the assurance of the conscience which all the malignant tongues cannot pearse through Let the worlde be offended with vs in these latest and sinnefullest times because the tenour of our message is either to sharpe or to sweete to hote or to colde for it can hardelie bee such as may please this way-warde wotld let Satan accuse vs before God and man daie and night yet if wee can say for our selues as the Apostle did Rom. 9. Wee speake the trueth in Christ wee lie not our consciences bearing vs witnes in the holy Ghost who is not onlye the witnesse but the guide and inspirer of our consciences it is a greater recompence than if al the kingdomes of the earth were given vnto vs. 3. He coulde not bee ignoraunt that the truth of God mighte stande though the event followed not because many of the iudgementes of God as I haue else-where said are denoūced with condition In the place of Ieremy before mentioned when the priestes and people so greedily thirsted after his death some of the elders stoode vp and spake to the assembly in this sort Micah the Morashite prophecied in the daies of Hezekiah king of Iuda saying thus saith the Lord of hostes Sion shal bee ploughed like a fielde c. Did Hezekiah put him to death did hee not rather feare the Lorde and prayed before the Lorde and the Lorde repented him of the plague thus vvee mighte procure greate evill against our selues You know the collection those elders make that the iudgement vvas conditional and vpon their vnfeigned repentaunce mighte bee otherwise interpreted Thus much Ionas vvas not to learne for why did he knovv that God vvas a mercifull God but to shew the effects of mercy and the Ninivites themselues had an happye presumption thereof as appeareth by their former speech 4. He was not to stay longe in Assyria if hee had suspected their suspicions Lastly there was no such thinge to bee feared for by that publique acte of conversion which all the orders and states of the citty agreed vpon it is manifest that they received the preaching of Ionas as the oracle of almightie God they beleeved God and his Prophet as the children of Israell 1. Sam. 12. feared the Lorde and Samuell exceedinglie For what greater argument touching their good and reverente opinion of Ionas coulde they giue than their speedy and hearty repentance whereby they assured him that they esteemed not his vvorde as a fable or as a iestinge songe but as a man sent from God and fallen downe from heaven bringing a two edged sworde in his lippes either to kill or to saue so they received him And
the Lawe had beene given Moses in the name of GOD protesteth vnto them by heaven and earth that hee had set before them life and death and wisheth them to choose life that they might liue they and their seede Death is called an enimy in open tearmes 1. Cor. 15 The last enimie that shall bee subdued is death But who loveth an enimy simply and for his owne sake And amongst orher blessings betrothed to the elect of God one is that Death shal be no more Revelation 21. And to reason with Augustine Si nulla esset mortis amaritudo non esset magna matyrum fortitudo If there vvere no bitternesse and discontentment in death the constancy of martyrs were not great Therefore when Elias heard the worde of Iezabell The Gods doe so and much more vnto mee if to morrowe by this time I make not thy life as the life of one of those vvhome thou hast slaine it is saide that he arose and went for his life to Beer-sheba Howe did David pleade for his life Psalm 30. What profit is there in my bloude when I goe downe into the pit shall the dust giue thankes vnto thee or shall it declare thy truth as if hee vvoulde mooue the Lorde for his owne good and glorye sake not to cut him of but aftervvardes vvith respecte to himselfe Staye thine anger a vvhile that I may recover my strength before I goe hence and am no more seene And being assured elswhere of that request graunted him hee sange ioyfullye to his soule vvithin Returne vnto thy rest O my soule the LORDE hath beene mercifull or beneficiall vnto thee Because thou hast delivered my soule from death mine eies from teares and my feete from falling and I shall walke before the Lord in the land of the living I speake not of the moane that Ezechias made howe hee turned his face to the vvaâ— after the Prophet gaue him vvarninge of his death and prayed vnto the Lorde and wept sore and like a crane or a svvallovv so did hee chatter and mourne like a doue and lifting his eyes vp on high said O Lorde it hath oppressed mee comfort mee and after his life was freed from the pit of corruption as it were leapt for ioy the living the living hee shall confesse thee as I doe this day when the beloved and blessed sonne of God hee that had power to lay downe his life and to take it vp againe against that time began to bee verye sad and grievously vexed and in the presence of Peter and the two sonnes of Zebedee let not to disclose his passion My soule is vvonderfullye heavy vnto death And but that the will of his father was in the midst of his bowelles and his obedience stronger than death hee vvould haue begged three times more that the cup might haue passed from his lippes Likewise Ioh. 12. vvhen Andrew and Philip tolde him of certaine Greekes that were desirous to see him hee seeing an image of his death before his eies witnessed vnto them saying Now is my soule troubled And what shall I say father saue mee from this howre and but that an other respect called him backe therefore I came and father glorifie thy name hee would still haue continued in that praier· Quis enim vult mori prorsus nemo ita memo c. For who is willing simply to die surely no man And so vndoubtedly no man that it vvas said to blessed Peter An other shall guide thee and leade thee to the place whither thou wouldest not goe Peter would not vnlesse he were carried But what then was the reason that the Apostle desired to bee dissolved and to be with Christ which hee said was best of all Philip 1. that the Saintes which were racked Heb. 11. cared not to be delivered that they might obtaine a beetter resurrection that Peter and Andrew welcommed their crosses as they were wont their dearest friendes embraced theÌ„ in their armes saluted them with kisses of peace that Ignatius called for fire sworde and the teeth of wilde beasts and other martyrs of Christ went to their deathes with cheerefullnes reioycing and singing and not lesse than ran to the stake as if they had run for a garland Wee may easily answere partly from the former authorities that they might bee with christ and that they might obtaine a better resurrection But the Apostle in excellent tearms decideth the question in the 2. to the Corinthians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 VVee will not be vnclothed and stripte of our liues we take no pleasure or ioy therein but wee woulde bee clothed vppon wee haue no other meanes to get that better clothing than by putting of this or that vpon this that mortality may bee svvâ—llowed vp of life and corruption of incorruption So that their thoughts subsist not in death but haue a further reach because they know it to bee the high way which must bring them to felicitie And it is no small perswasion vnto them when they thinke that by the ending of their liues they make an end of sinning For whilest they are in the flesh they see a law in their members striving against the lawe of their minde and subiecting them to the lawe of sinne Therefore they cry as hee did VVretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death In which postulations not witstandinge they evermore submit themselues to the straigtest and equallest rule of the will of God desiring no otherwise to haue their wishes acomplished than with that safe and wary condition Si dominus volet If the Lorde bee pleased with them And as they regarde their owne good therein so because the bloud of Martyrs is the seede of the Church and that which is fire to their flesh bones is water to the gospell to make it florish a good â—onfession witnessed before the vvicked tyrants of the world doth good service to the truth in this respect also they are not sparing of themselues that Christ may be magnified in their bodies whither it bee by their life or death Now Ionas hath more of all these fore-named endes to alleage for himselfe why hee desireth to die neither the glory of God nor the good of his brethren nor profit of his owne soule but in a peevish and froward moode because his minde is not satisfied and to avoide some little shame or to rid himselfe from the grievances of life which are not reasons sufficient hee will needes die and followe the streame of his foolish appetite with some such like affection as Dido at her departure expresseth Sic sic iuvat ire sub vmbras Thus I am disposed to dye not otherwise But to leaue generalities let vs looke a while into the partes of his wishe 1. It is his greate fault as Ioab offered his trechery to Abner vnder the pretence of a friendly and peaceable parle and Iudas his treason
place of the other Our Saviour vvho was evermore prophecied to bee the light of the Gentiles is by none other name figured Malach. 4 than of the sunne rising Vnto you that feare my name shall the sunne of righteousnesse arise and in the song of Zachary Luke 1. he is called the day spring from an high Many religious actions wee rather doe towardes the East than any other pointe of heaven We bury our dead commonly as the Athenians did their faces laide and as it vvere lookinge Eastwarde And for the most part especially in our temples wee pray Eastward So did the idolatours Ezech. 8. turning their backes to the temple of the Lorde and their faces to the East Will you haue the reason heereof Why was Aaron willed Levitic 16. to take the bloud of the bullocke and to sprinckle it with his finger vpon the mercie-seate Eastwarde It was the pleasure of God so to haue it And vnlesse nature direct vs to these observations whereof I haue spoken I know not how we are moved The rising of our sunne whose resurrection wee now celebrate the true and onely begotten sonne of God was in the Morninge Mathew saith in the dawning of the day Marke very early when the sun was risen not that hee had yet appeared in their hemisphere but his light hee sent before him Iohn saith when there was yet darknesse that is the body of the sunne was not yet come foorth And Thomas Aquinas thinketh it probable enough that our resurrection shal bee very early in the morning the sunne being in the East and the moone in the West because saith hee in these opposite pointes they were first created You may happily mervaile what the event of my speech will be I haue seldome times carried you away from the simplicity of the prophecy which I entreate of by allegories and enforced collections Yet I am not ignorant that many mens interpretations in that kinde are of many men gladly and plausibly receaved I hope it shall bee no greate offence in mee to fit and honour this feast of the resurrection of the Lorde of life with one allegory We are now walking into the West as the sunne in his course doth Beholde we are entring into the way of the whole worlde And as the sun goeth downe is taken from our sight by the interpositiō of the earth so into the body of the earth shall wee likewise descend and be taken from the company of the living Christ our Saviour who was both the living and life it selfe and had the keies of hell of death whose manner of protestation is Vivo in saecula I liue for ever and ever yet touching his humane nature when hee soiourned vpon the face of the earth had his setting and going downe In this sense we might aske the Spouse in the Canticles O thou fairest amongest vvomen what is thy wellbeloved more than other men And though shee aunswere my vvelbeloved is white and ruddy the chiefest of ten thousand yet in this condition of mortall and naturall descent he is equall vnto his brethren This Passe-over we must all keepe and therefore let vs trusse vp our loynes and take our staues in our hands that wee may vvalke forwardes towardes the West in steede of other precious ointments let vs anointe our bodies to their buriall and for costly garmentes let vs lay foorth shrowdes for our flesh and napkins to binde about our heades that is let vs remember our ende and the evening of our liues wee shall offende the lesse The death of the Son of God if ever any mans vvas ratified and assured as farre forth as either the iustice of his Father or the malice of men might devise If his body had beene quickend with seven soules and they had all ministred life vnto it in their courses yet such vvas the anger of GOD against sinne and the cruelty of man against that iust one that they would all haue failed him And his buriall and descension into the lower partes of the ground was as certainly confirmed For you knovve vvhat caution the providence of GOD tooke therein to prevent all suspicion of the contrary For his body being taken downe from the crosse vvas not only embalmed and vvrapt in a linen cloath but laide in a nevve sepulcher vvhere never corpse had lien before least they might haue saide that the body of some other man was risen and in a sepulcher of stone because the dust and softer matter of the earth might easily haue been digged into and in a sepulcher of rocke or one entire stone least if there had beene seames and fissures therein they might that way haue vsed some cavil against his resurrection Besides a stone at the mouth of that stone and a seale and a watch and as sufficient provision besides as the vvisedome of vvordlye and ill-minded men coulde thinke vpon Notwithstanding as the brute of his death was vniversallie spread and beleeved for the very aire range with this sounde Magnus Pan mortuus est The greate and principall shephearde is deade and the sunne in the skye set or did more at his setting and the graues opened and sent foorth their deade to receiue him so the newes of his resurrection vvas as plentifullye and clearely vvitnessed by Angelles men women disciples adversaries and by such sensible conversation vpon earth as that not onely their eies but their fingers and nayles were satisfied Beholde then once againe the sunne of righteousnesse is risen vnto vs and the daie-springe from an high or rather from belowe hath visited vs for then vvhen Zachary prophecied hee vvas to descende from the highest heavens but novve hee ascended from the hearte of the earth Once againe vvee haue seene our brighte morninge starre vvhich was obscured and darkened by death shining in the east with so glorious a countenaunce of maiesty and power as shall neuer more bee defaced Even so the daies shall come when after our vanishing and disparition for a time vnder the globe of the earth wee shall arise againe and the LORDE shall bringe vs out of darkenesse into the lighte of his countenance Our nighte wherein vvee sleepe a while shal bee chandged into a morninge and after obscuritie in the pitte of forgetfulnesse we shall appeare and shine as the starres of GOD in their happiest season VVee shal goe out of Niniveh as Ionas did a Gentile and straunge citty a place vvhere wee are not knowne a lande where all thinges are forgotten for vvhither wee bee in the flesh vvee are strangers from GOD or whither in our graues we are not with our best acquaintaunce both these are a Niniveh to right Israelites and vvee shall fit in the East that is wee shall meete our Saviour in the clouds and bee received vp with him into glory and dwell in everlasting daie vvhere wee shall never knowe the West more because all parts are beautifull alike nor feare the decay of our bodies
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
to take them to his mercy in peace let them agree with their adversarie in the vvaie much more bee at one vvith God that neither their heartes nor tongues murmure at his iudgementes Death I confesse is an advantage to some men but such as with an obstinate heart and sinewes in their forehead striue against the Lorde their maker and goe to lavve vvith one mightier than themselues not caring to make an ende in time of the controversies betweene them their death is a death indeede and litle profit or ease to bee founde in it The purpose of this verse in hand vvas none other than to set forth vnto vs the afflictions of Ionas and vndoubtedlye they are very great For as Nahomi aunsvvered her people in the first of Ruth vvhen they asked is not this Nahomi call me not Nahomi that is beawtifull or pleasaunt but call mee Marah for the Almightie hath given mee much bitternesse I went out full and the Lord hath caused me to returne empty why then cal ye me Nahomi seeing the Lord hath humbled mee and the Almightie hath brought mee to adversitie So Ionas might have aunswered to those that had asked is not this Ionas call me not Ionas a doue but call mee a Pellican or owle in the desarte I vvas full of pleasure and amaenity and my heart replenished vvith exceeding ioy but the Lorde hath emptied me Many things there are in our liues for which vve may change our names as Nahomi did from beawty or pleasure to bitternesse But if we remember withall that it is the worke of the Lord to humble vs and the hand of the Almighty that bringeth vs to adversitie that one cogitation will suffice to teach vs patience For to whome doe we rather owe the quietnes and subiection of our spirites than vnto him who as Theodorite somevvhere excellently spake both giveth his benefites vnto vs to teach vs how easily hee can bestow them and taketh them away that we may know how litle we deserue theÌ„ Thus haue the childreÌ„ of God evermore begunne their consultations in their daies of tempation and as it were beckoned to themselues for silence Dominus est it is the Lorde take heede of repining at his iudgementes it is not mine enimie for then I vvoulde haue hid my selfe it is not the sonne of man for then I vvoulde haue resisted him it is not any creature of God I vvoulde then haue devised some meanes to redresse my griefe it is the Lorde himselfe vvho hath more right to my soule than that he may be contraried for both he hath beene beneficial vnto me here-tofore may againe hereafter Patience was the shielde vvherewith that notable atchiever of the victories of God repelled all those venemous dartes which either in the death of his children or in the losse of his substance or in the runnings sores of his bodie or in the cursed perswasions of his wife miserable comfortes of his friends malicious importunate accusations of Satan were throwen against him O what a glorious banner set he vp against the enemy both of God and man when for every calamity that was cast vpon him there came nothing from his mouth but thankes bee vnto God Sathan expected that he should haue accursed God and his vvife another Satan in his bosome so perswaded him but the witnes is true which is there given non peccavit labijs suis he offended not with his lippes I conclude therefore with Tertullian totum licet seculum pereat dum patientiam lucrifaciam I care not though all the world perish vnto me so I maie gaine patience And God said to Ionas doest thou well to be angrie for the gourd c. The gourd prepared by God had a double vse the one natural and open to cast a shadow over the head of Ionas the other typicall and secret to demonstrate the iniquity of his iudgement which vse we are nowe comming vnto In this actual reprehension which God is framing against him there were many antecedents I told you which made the way thervnto al which we haue already examined Now we are descended to that end wherevnto God disposed them The words here spoken by God Doest thou well to be angry are the same which were vsed in the former insimulation and the same provocation of the words to weete the anger of Ionas Who would not haue thought but one repreheÌ„sioÌ„ might haue served one kind of sin but so is sin to the soule of man in some part of comparison as Iacob was vnto Esau Gen. 27. of whom Esau complained was he not rightlie called Iacob For he hath deceived me these two times first he tooke my birth-right from me and loe now hath he taken my blessing And surely sinne will supplant vs twise and tenne times togither vnlesse God preserue vs. Ionas offendeth once more in the same perturbation and the Lorde reproveth him once more in the same forme of reprehension What else shall I say heereof but as Ioseph said to Pharaoh touching his two dreames the one of the kine the other of the eares of corne both Pharaohs dreames are one therefore the dreame is doubled to Pharaoh the second time because the thing is established by God and God hasteth to perfourme it So both Gods reprehensions are one and therefore is the reprehension doubled vnto Ionas the second time that Ionas mighte beware to offende in the like transgression Nehemias tolde the merchants that abode about the walles of the citty vvhy do you stay here all night si iterâ—m feceritis inijciam in vos manus if you shall doe it againe I I will lay hands vpon you It is marvaile that God laid not hands vpon Ionas nor at leastwise corrected him with some sharper castigation whoÌ„ he had taken and warned before for the same offence To that which heretofore I haue said of repreheÌ„sion I wil adde no more than the rule practise of Bernard as I finde it meÌ„tioned in his life His rule or observation is this Where there resouÌ„deth on both sides betweene the reprover him that is reproved modesty mildnes of speech it is a sweet coÌ„fereÌ„ce where it is held on the one side only it is profitable where both partes lay it aside it is pernicious but where there is hardnes bitternes froÌ„ theÌ„ both iurgiuÌ„ est non correctio nec disciplina sedrixa it is not correction instruction but chiding brawling to adioine the wordes of Anselme tunc noÌ„ veritas quaeritur sed animositas fatigatur theÌ„ is not the truth sought for but men exercise weary their stouts harts Therfore the maner of S. Bernard because he would be sure to retaine this modesty on the one side was to be very vrgent vpon him that yeelded as yeelding another time to him that resisted Albeit Ionas behaue himselfe very vnmodestly vndutifully towardes God yet God is otherwise affected towardes Ionas rather than the
favour and partiality to the religion established no place lefte to dissemble with God or man Tanti meriti tanti pectoris tāti oris tantae virtutis episcopu as Augustine spake of Cypriā so worthy so wise so well spoken so vertuous so learned a Byshope gaue such counsaile vnto them 3. To all the members of the Church of England vnity of soule and heart to embrace the doctrine authorized And lastly to himselfe peace and rest in the assured mercies of God This peace he hath plentifull fruition of vvith the God of peace For though he seemeth in the eies of the foolish to be dead yet is he in peace And like a true Hebrew he hath eaten his last passeover amongst vs and it is past from death to life where with vnspeakable ioy of heart he recompteth betweene himselfe and his soule Sicut audivimus sic et vidimus As I haue heard so now haue I seeene and felt in the citty of our God and with the blessed Angells of heaven and all the congregation of first borne singeth the songue of Moses a songue of victory and thanksgiving rendring all blessing honour glory power to him that sitteth vpon the throne and the Lambe that was killed and that vndefiled Spirit which proceedeth from them both by whome hee was sealed vp at his death to his everlasting redemption A SERMON PREACHED IN YORKE THE SEVENTEENTH DAY OF NOVEMBER IN THE YEARE OF our Lorde 1595. being the Queenes day Printed at Oxford by Ioseph Barnes 1599. 2. King 23 25. Like vnto him was there no king before him that turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soule c. THE remembrance of Iosias is like the perfume that is made by the arte of the Apothecarie it is svveete as hony in all mouthes and as musicke at a banquet of vvine he behaued himselfe vprightly in the reformation of the people and tooke away all abominations of iniquitie hee directed his hearte vnto the Lorde and in the time of the vngodlie hee established religion vvhich to haue done in a better season the zeale of the people and favour of the time advauntaging him had beene lesse praise The lande vvas sowen with none other seede saue idolatrie and iniquitie vvhen he came vnto it For by that vvhich is written of him we may know what he reformed All idolatrous both Priestes and monuments whether Chemarims or blacke friars Priestes of Baal of the sun moone or planets though founded and authorized by both ancient and late kings before him namely in these recordes by Salomon Ahaz Manasses Ieroboam togither with their high places or valleyes their groues altars vesselles vvheresoever hee found them either in Ierusalem or Iudah in Samaria or Bethel in the temple or in the courtes of the temple vpon the gates or in the kings chambers not sparing the bones of the Priestes either living or deade but raking them out of their graues besides the impure Sodomites and their houses sooth-sayers and men of familiar spirites he destroyed defiled cut downe burnt to ashes bet to powder threwe into the brooke and left no signe of them Hee followed both a good rule and a good example His rule is here specified according to all the law of Moses his example in the chapter before hee did vprightly in the sight of the Lord an◠walked in all the waies of David his father and bowed neither to the right hande nor to the lefte Hee was prophecied of three hundred yeares vpward before his birth a rare singular honour that both his name should be memorable after his death as heere we finde it and written in the booke of GOD before ever his partes were fashioned His actes are exactelye set downe in this and the former Chapters and in the second of Chronicles and foure and thirteeth vpon the recital wherof is this speach brought in by waie of an Epiphoneme or acclamation advancing Iosias aboue all other kings and setting his head amongst the stars of God The testimonie is very ample which is here given vnto him that for the space almost of fiue hundred yeares from the first erection of the kingdome to the captivity of Babylon vnder the government of 40. kings of Iudah and Israell there was not one found who either gaue or tooke the like example of perfection In the catalogue of which kings though there were some not many vertuous and religious David Salomon Asa Iehosaphat Iehu Ioash Amasia Iothan Hezekias yet they haue all their staines their names are not mentioned without some touch The wisdome honor riches happines of Salomon every way were so great that the Queene of Saba worthily pronounced of him Blessed be the Lord thy God which loved thee c. Will you know his blemish but Salomon loved many out-landish women and they broughte him to the loue of many out-landish Gods so he is noted both for his corporall spiritual whordomes Asa the son of Abiam did right in the eies of the Lord as did David his father 1. King 15. his heart was vpright with the Lord all his daies he put downe Maachah his mother for idolatrie The bitter hearbe that marreth al this is but he put not downe the high places Iehosaphat did well hee walked in all the waies of Asa his father declined not ther-from but did that which was right in the eies of the Lord 1. Kin. 22. neverthelesse the high places were not taken away Iehu did well God gaue him this testimony 2. King 10. because thou haste diligently executed that which was right in mine eies therefore shall thy sonnes vnto the fourth generation sit on the seate of Israell but Iehu regarded not to vvalke in the vvaies of the Lorde God of Israell vvith all his heart Amafiah did well he did vprightlie in the sight of the Lord 2. King 14. yet not like David his father David himselfe so much renowned as the principall patterne of that royall line to be imitated by them yet hath a scarre vpon his memory hee did that which was right in the sight of the Lord and turned from nothinge that hee commaunded him all the daies of his life 1. King 15. thus farre good saue onelie in the matter of Vriah the Hittire Onelie Iosias is without spotte or vvrinckle like vnto him was there no king And as in the number of bad kinges Rehoboam did ill Ieroboam worse for hee sinned and made Israell to sinne but Omri vvorse than all that went before him 1. King 16. yet Ahab worse than all before him in the same place so in the number of the good though Salomon did wel Iehosaphat perhaps better David best of al yet Iosias is beyonde the vvhole companie vvhich either went before or came after him Like vnto him was there no king It had beene a great praise to Iosias to haue had none better than himselfe to haue matched the vertues and godlines of his progenitours
fathers and Queenes thy nurses in the nine fortieth of Esay there as the Queene of Saba blessed both the people of Salomon and the king himselfe so happy is the church for drawing her milke and sustenance from such heroicall breasts and happye are those breasts that foster and nurse vp the Church of Christ. They giue milke and receiue milke they maintaine the Church and the Church maintaineth them they bestow favour honour patronage protection they are favoured honoured patronaged and protected againe I will not stay to alleage the fortunate and happy governments of well disposed kings The decrees of the king of Persia and Babylon for repairing the temple worshipping the God of the three children or the God of Daniel brought more honour vnto them than all their other lawes The pietie of Antonius Prus is very commendable for his gracious decree that none shoulde accuse a christian because hee was a christian Constantius the father of Constatifie the great made more reckoning hee said of those that professed christianitie then full treasures Iovianus after Iulian refused to be Emperour albeit elected and sought to the Empire vnlesse he might governe christians Great Coustantine and Charles the great had their names of greatnes not so much for authoritie as for godlines But on the other side the bookes are full of the miserable falles ofirreligious princes their seede posteritie whole race and Image for their sakes overturned and wiped from the earth at one woulde wipe a dish and turne it vpside-downe The name of Antiochus the tyrant stinketh vpon the earth as his bovveles sometimes stuncke and as then the vvormes devoured his lothsome carkasse so his other vvorme yet liveth and ceaseth not crying to all the persecutors vnder heaven take heede Hee thought to haue made the holy city a burying place but vvhen hee savve his misery then he vvoulde set it at liberty The Iewes vvhome hee thought not worthy to bee buried he vvoulde make like the citizens of Athens and the temple vvhich he spoiled before he would garnish with great giftes Likewise Galerius lying sicke of a wretched disease crieth to haue the Christians spared and that temples and oratories should be allovved them that they might pray for the life of the Emperour The vnripe vnseasonabl vnnaturall deathes of men more vnnaturall in their liues the monsters and curses of the earth they trode vpon the bane of the ayre they drewe the rulers of the Ievves and Romanes high Priestes Princes Emperours and their deputies that murthered the Lord of the vineyard the sonne and the servantes in the time of Christ and his Apostles and by the space of three hundred yeares the workers of the tenne persecutions no meanes plagues to the Christian faith than those tenne plagues were to Egypt or rather tenne times tenne persecutions for they were multiplied like Hydraes heades proclaimed to the Princes of succeeding ages not to heave at Ierusalem it is to heavie a stone lapis comminuens a stone that vvhere it falleth will bruise to peeces nor to warre against the Sainctes to bande themselves against the Lordes anointed and against his anointed the Church vnlesse they take pleasure to buy it with the same price vvherevvith others have done before them to have their flesh stincke vpon their backes and rotte from their bodies to be eaten vp with lice and vvormes to bee slaine strangled or burnt some by their owne handes some of their servantes children and wives as is most easie to proove in the race of 40. Emperours the Lord getting honour vpon them as hee did vpon Pharaoh by some vnwonted and infamous destruction Heliogabalus thought by the pollicy of his head to have prevented the extraordinary hand of God providing him ropes of silke swordes of gold poison in Iacinthes a turtet plated with gold and bordered with precious stones thinking by one of these to have ended his life Notwithstanding hee died that death which the Lord had apointed The 2. thing which I limited my selfe vnto that it is the greatest dishonour to religion to pull downe princes is as easy to be declared A thing which neither Moses in the old nor Christ in the new testament neither Priest high nor low nor Levite Prophet EvaÌ„gelist Apostle christian Bishop ever hath taught counsailed much lesse practised I say not against lawfull magistrates but not against heathenish infidell idolatrous tyrannous rulers though by the manifest and expresse sentence of God reprobated cast of Samuell offered it not to Saul a cast-away he lived and died a king after the senteÌ„ce pronounced against him of an higher excommunication than ever came from Rome Samuel both honoured mourned for him The captive Iewes in BabiloÌ„ wrote to their brethren at IerusaleÌ„ to pray for the life of Nabuchodonozor answerable to that advise which Ieremy giveth the captives in the 29. of his prophecy though in words somewhat different seeke the prosperity of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives pray vnto the Lord for it for in the peace thereof shall you have peace Daniel never spake to the king of Babylon but his speech savoured of most perfect obedience my Lord the dreame bee to them that hate thee and the interpretation thereof to thine enemies his wordes had none other season to Darius though having cast him into the Lyons denne O King live for ever I never coulde suspect that in the commission of Christ given to his disciples there is one word of encouragement to these lawlesse attemptes go into the worlde preach baptize loose retaine remit feede take the keyes receaue the holy Ghost what one syllable soundeth that way vnlesse to go into the worlde be to go and overrunne the world to shake the pillers and foundations thereof with mutinies and seditions to replenish it with more than Catilanary conspiracies to make one Diocesse or rather one dominion monarchie subiect to the Bishop of Rome vnlesse preaching may be interpreted proclaiming of war and hostilitie sending out bulles thundering and lightning against Caesar and other states vnlesse to baptize bee to wash the people of the world in their owne bloud vnlesse binding and loosing be meant of fetters and shackles retaining and remitting of prisons and wardes vnlesse the feeding of lambes and sheepe bee fleecing fleaing murthering the king and the subiect old and young taking the keyes be taking of crownes and scepters and receiving the holy Ghost bee receiving that fiery and trubulent spirit which our Saviovr liked not Yea let them answere that saying these priestes and successours of Romulus Giants of the earth incendâ—aries of the Christian world you shall bee brought before governours and kings and skouraged in their Councelles if ever our Saviour had meaÌ„ing governours kings shal be brought before you Emperours shall kisse your feete waite at your gates in frost and colde resigne their crownes into your handes and take their crownes I saye not at your