from his maister All the Prophets were so tyed this onely commeth from them Thus or thus saith the Lord. Yea Balaam that false Prophet had catched this by the end If Balac vvould giue me his house full of siluer and gold I cannot go beyond the vvord of the Lord my God to do lesse or more Saint Paule had learned this lesson as the first in all his booke He sheweth it in nothing more plainly then in the case of the Sacrament I receiued from the Lord that vvhich I also haue deliuered vnto you So in the first to the Galathians If an Angell from heauen preach vnto you otherwise then that vvhich vve haue preached vnto you he had called himselfe before an Apostle from Iesus Christ let him be accursed It is a rule inuariable that in cases of saluation we looke to God the oracle of wisedome and truth not to our owne inuentions or to confirme our doctrine from this or that of our owne brayne but if we haue our warrant from the old or the new Testament then we may safely speake it Origene proposeth Saint Paule for an example in this case Paule saith he as his custome is vvill affirme that vvhich he teacheth out of the holie Scriptures and he doth giue an example to the Doctours of the Church that they should produce those things vvhich they speake to the people not grounded vpon their owne opinions but strengthened with the testimonies of God For if he so great and such an Apostle did not thinke that the authoritie of his words might suffice vnlesse he did know that those things were written in the law and the Prophets which he said how much more should we little ones obserue this that when we teach we vtter not our owne but the meanings of the holy Ghost 19 If the teachers and preachers of the Antichristian faith had kept this for a lawe there had neuer so absurd and filthie points of doctrine bene taught to their people visions and reuelations and messages from the dead dreames customes and such follies as are besides the word Purgatorie and limbus Patrum pilgrimages vnto Reliques and Transubstantiation of the bread into Christs bodie being contrarie to the Scriptures and many other things of this qualitie the later euer adding to the inuention of the former such a Canon or such a ceremonie These men are bold beyond the authoritie which was committed to them for theirs was but as this of Ionas thou must preach to them that preaching which I shall shew vnto thee Their charge was but as Timothies was and Paules words to Timothie were O Timothie keepe thy charge Keepe and hold fast that which by the Scriptures is committed to thee from the Lord and from me by his direction And there is not the greatest Minister not the most learned or acute but must obserue this rule Not Iames not Iohn not Peter not all the troupe of the Apostles may once varie from this He who shall bring other doctrine let him be accursed by vs. He who speaketh of himselfe let him be refused by vs. Howsoeuer godly or holy he do pretend himselfe yet if he decline that word which should be his direction let him be declined by vs. Whosoeuer shall say otherwise then that which is appointed saith Ignatius he meaneth otherwise then God hath appointed although he be a man of credit although he fast and keepe virginitie although he do miracles although he prophecie let him be thought by thee to be a wolfe who vnder a sheepes skinne doth intend the marring of the sheepe Thus shold the hearers be carefull that they receiue no doctrine but that which is approoued and the Preachers be aduised that they neuer teach any thing but what God hath commaunded Our Barhoisticall separations and absentments from the Sacraments had not crept so farre in the land if this had bene well practised 20 I need not giue farther exhortation in this place to retaine this as a ground in as much as all of vs do lay it downe as a principle that the written word of God is the onely guide to saluation and that fancies and traditions are to be exiled from vs. I therefore will here end desiring the Almightie that such doctrine as is oftentimes taught vnto vs from this place may bring foorth such plenteous fruit that in this congregation the name of God may be honoured and glorified in great measure and our soules may be so strengthened that they may soundly perseuere to euerlasting life To the which God the Father bring vs for his owne Sonne Christs sake to both whom and the holy Spirit be glorie euermore THE XVII LECTVRE The chiefe poynts 2. Carnall reasons why Ionas might yet haue refused to go 3. But affliction hath schooled him 4. and that not onely while it was on him 5. Affliction worketh otherwise in the good 6. and in the bad 7. A reproofe of the present time 9. Obedience requireth euen circumstances to be regarded 10. God must be obeyed without debating 11. The greatnesse of Niniue 12. Ionas feareth not that he is alone 14. A great auditorie giueth more courage to a wise Preacher 15. Ionas speaketh not fearefully 16. The difference of opinions for the daies of repentance allowed to Niniue 17. Iudgement concerning Luther in the matter of the Sacrament 18. The Hebrew toung is not to be neglected by a Diuine Ionah 3.3.4 So Ionah arose and went vnto Niniue according to the word of the Lord Now Niniue was a great and excellent citie of three dayes iourney And Ionah began to enter into the citie a dayes iourney and he cried and sayd Yet fortie dayes and Niniue shall be ouerthrowne THe Prophet Ionas who should haue gone in the businesse of his maister but vpon some supposals had no mind vnto it and therefore starting aside like a broken bow was well beaten for his labour hath now a second time his commission drawne and his instructions giuen him to go as an Ambassadour from the Almightie king of heauen to a great Prince vpon earth The message which he bringeth is of more fearefull qualitie then if all the Princes adioyning had sent him their defiance by their Heralds that they would immediatly inuade him with fire and sword and irreconcilable hatred For he might haue made some shift against all their powers and standing vpon his gard in the defensiue part he might haue repelled them with such multitude of people as were vnder his gouernement and a citie so fortified as his was at that time Or if he and his people must needes end their dayes by the outrage of their enemie who would be much encouraged by prosperitie and desired successe yet that might be his comfort which is the last comfort in death to men in his case that hee went not awaye vnreuenged but hee had ridde some of those who came to ridde him and slayne some of the murtherers before that his last
grosse and filthie that if it were not that custome from old time had so preuailed and diuerse of our countrimen did yet so hold it in their blindnesse and it is our dutie to seeke to win them I should thinke my self very idle and should partly be ashamed to speake of it in this place The fasts in Scripture are pure abstinence men eate nothing and drinke no water but here they may eate and drinke and be full and yet fast too This is one of the grossest Paradoxes which the blind beast of Rome that deceitfull whore of Babylon doth broach vnto her followers 13 And yet poore soules they see it not nor the fondnesse of that doctrine that such and such dayes should be fasted not for lawes sake and pollicie but for religion and deuotion I do maruell what sound warrant they can haue for that conclusion for no such thing can be deriued from any place of Scripture Heare S. Austens iudgement vpon that matter If you aske my opinion in this point I reuoluing it in my mind do find that in the writings of the Euangelists and the Apostles and in all that instrument which is called the new Testament fasting is commanded But what dayes we should not fast and what dayes we should I see it not defined by the precept of the Lord or the Apostles And in the auncient Church they had another custome then is kept at this day Origene vpon Leuiticus saith that they had the fourth sixth day of the weeke wherein they solemnely fasted Now to tye this or the alteration from it to be a case of religion is a seruitude of all seruitudes and a Babylonian bondage The time of Lent I confesse is a very auncient custome but so farre from being found a point of faith and saluation that the most approoued auncient histories tell how diuersely it was kept one day or two dayes or seuen dayes and by some for twenty dayes and by some other for fortie by some coniunctim by some diuisim some abstaining from this foode some from that but that the Apostles left it for so Socrates doth speake to the liberty of the Church nay to euery mans mind and will I would that our people vndestood this euery where that they might take things aâ—ight ciuill orders to ciuill orders and customes which were indifferent for nothing else but indifferent and not to put heauen and hell vpon superstitious obseruances True fasting is not of custome but vpon an especiall purpose by the good motion of the mind 14 Yet these are not the onely errours in the fasts of the Church of Rome but this may be added to them that commonly they respect the externall worke alone But the Apostle telleth vs that if there be nothing else bodily exercise profiteth little There must be a directing faith and an vnderstanding knowledge which must make all acceptable The end why it is done doth much make or marre the matter if it be to humble the body to worke in it more obedience so to practise spirituall things if it be to testifie true deuotion if to seeke to abate the Lords fury this sheweth that all is right but these other being for the most part ignorant do thinke the thing barely done to be a deseruing worke a meritorious action And this thought being once receiued multiplieth euill on it selfe so far that many in their superstition do not feare to spill their body that they may merite the more and so macerate the flesh that they make themselues vnfit to performe such Christian duties as otherwise they might do They procure diseases to themselues and impotency by reason of sicknesse whereby they make their body which is the house of their minde to sinke downe on their soule and to lade it ouer heauily Then that mind which with alacrity might many wayes haue serued God with impatiency peraduenture but assuredly with much griefe doth grone vnder the body And so in steed of increasing they diminish true deuotion Hierome as it is easie to be gathered alludeth to this when he sayth that a little meate and a belly vvhich is euer hungry is preferred before fasting three dayes And againe Do thou impose on thy selfe such a measure of fasting as thou art able to beare Let thy fasts be pure and chast and single and moderate and not superstitious And he addeth fully to that point which I mentioned a little before What doth it profit not to eate oyle and to seeke out such troubles and difficulties of meates carrets pepper nuts and dates fine cakes and honey and baked things So Fulgentius giueth an item for fasting moderatly A temperature is in such sort to be added to our fasts that neither saturity do stirre vp and prouoke our body nor immoderate abstinence vveaken it But some other of the auncient haue not only dehorted it but haue perstringed it with right seuere censures and written against it As namely Athanasius If thy enemy the Diuell do suggest into thy mind great exercises of deuotion that thou mayest make thy body vnprofitable and vveake do thou on the other side see that thy fasting haue a measure He reputeth it for no better then a temptation of the Diuell if it be excessiue Saint Basile speaketh to this matter most soundly and with much reason I do not so beate downe my body that I vveare it out vvith immoderate vvounds and make it vnprofitable for seruice but that is my onely cause of chastising my body that I may subdue it to seruice and make it rightly obedient to his maister But he vvho bringeth his seruant so vnder by hunger that not onely he is vnprofitable for the ministery of his maister but is not sufficient for himselfe vvhat else doth he then make himselfe a seruant to his seruant For it must needs be that the body being vnable to serue and by infirmitie vvaxing faint his maister must novv serue him vvhile he must stand amased about the curing of the infirmity of the other So farre Basile who esteemeth the mind as the maister and the body as the seruant Vnto these I will onely adde the iudgement of Saint Bernard who vttereth a most godly and sober doctrine Watchings fastings and such like do not hinder but helpe if they be done vvith reason and discretion Which things if by fault of indiscretion they be so done that either by the spirit fayling or the body faynting spirituall things be hindered he vvho so doth hath taken away from his body the effect of a good vvorke from the spirite a good affection from his neighbour a good example from God his honour he is a sacrilegious person and guilty of all these things toward God Not that according to the meaning of the Apostle this seemeth vnfit for a man and be not decent and iust that the head should sometimes ake in the seruice of God vvhich hath aked oft before in the
eloquence If in my cause I were sure to haue the Iudges wise and wise men to my auditours that enuie might beare no sway nor fauour nor fore-conceit nor false witnesses might hurt then the vse of eloquence were small and it should serue onely for delight but if the minds of the hearers be so moueable and inconstant and truth be subiect to iniuries we are to contend by art to vse any thing which may profite For one who is out of the way cannot be brought in againe but by another turning This is as true of the Preacher as it euer was of the Oratour If we had none to heare vs but Lidia or Cornelius persons right deuout and affected with religious attention we needed not be very carefull but because among such as come to vs some are weake and must be comforted some rude and must be informed some drousie and must be awaked some hard and must be suppled some peruerse and with full streame of power must be ouerwhelmed to please the tastes of so many and to helpe on those which hang backward all good meanes are to be vsed that God himselfe may be glorified and our brethren may be bettered See whether Paule writing to the Corinthians do not thus when handling the resurrection he prooueth and illustrateth it by naturall similitudes of seede sowne in the ground of difference of flesh of the starres in heauen and the like Such libertie for comparisons for Parables for Examples is left to vs in time and place to be vsed in Gods businesse Prouided euermore that it be not for oftentation of the vanitie of mans wit but onely for edification and to the benefite of the hearers that we turne not all into Allegories to make plaine things obscure and to destroy the letter as Origene sometimes did that we alwaies keepe the maiestie of the sacred word of God and not giue other men occasion to thinke vnfitly and vnreuerently of so high a mysterie by bringing that which pleaseth vs but no bodie besides euen ridiculous and base stuffe As we must euer speake those things which sauour of sound doctrine so we must euermore handle them as the pure and chast word of God 6 As this may most generally be said of Parables that they haue an vse in diuine things so to speake a little more specially we find some of these in the Scripture which in particular cases go exceedingly to the quicke of that which is in question and being personally applied do very much confound the guiltie Such a one was that which Iotham vttered to the Sichemites where the trees would choose a king and the Bramble must be he by the which he doth reproch vnto them their vnthankfulnesse toward him and his fathers house Such a one was that of Nathan to Dauid of him who had many sheepe yet tooke one from his poore neighbour whom when Dauid had condemned the Prophet so turned all vpon him that as Dauid sometimes killed Goliah with his owne sword so Nathan tooke him in his owne word That is the wisedome of God that he can deprehend another man as in the Gospell he caught the bad seruant in his owne talke and replied From thine owne mouth I shall iudge thee That which was said in the person of a stranger if another will apply to his owne person he will then amend his iudgement This was the case of Ionas to whom the Lord vsed a Parable but rather reall then verball He had a gourd and enioyed it then he loosing it raged at it but knew not what all this meant The Lord then to bring him forward and make him see his hard heart toward that great citie Niniue asked if he did well to be angrie Ionas balketh him not at all but forth with replieth that he did well to be angrie yea if it had bene to the death Here indeede the Lord doth come on him Thou hast pittie vpon this trifle and shall not I vpon Niniue Thus with his owne rod he beat him and with his owne net he caught him After the battell of Cannae when Mago being sent from his brother Hannibal had in the Carthaginian Senate much boasted of the victorie how many armies and Generals of the Romanes they had ouerthrowne and withall for the finishing of that conquest desired a new supply of souldiers and monie It is written that one Himilco a friend to Hannibal tooke occasion to insult ouer Hanno another noble man who was of the aduerse factiō and who euermore had disswaded their making warre with the Romaines That he was a proper counseller who had sought to hinder that which had brought them such aduantage such a victorie and such honour But it was the wisedome and art of Hanno being thus prouoked to retort the matter vpon him ex tempore as he did You speake of a glorious victorie but what gaine we thereby for if you had lost the field what could you haue asked more then now ye do that is fresh men and monie Haue the Romanes yeelded vnto you or haue they sued for peace If they haue not then their stomacke is as great as it was before and if their force be diminished so is yours as well as theirs so that peize the one with the other you are as farre from your purpose as you were at the beginning It was there the praise of Hanno that he turned their owne tale vpon them In this place God being so much wiser as infinite and vnlimited may be beyond dust and ashes turneth both matter and words vpon the head of our Ionas and doth teach him such a lesson that what the Prophet thought made most for him he shewed made most against him By his anger for the gourd he condemned his former anger If he would grieue that the greene thing should be marred because he liked it how vniustly did he fret that Niniue should be spared when the Lord had a liking to it So step by step and by degrees God is faine to teach him to know himselfe and that wherein he thought himselfe very cunning Yet at length by a demonstration plainely gathered from the precedents he euicteth what he desireth Now let vs see what that was 7 The second thing which I note is the forme or expression of the Parable by entring a comparison betweene the Lord and Ionas There is a great Antithesis betweene the persons cōpared and the things whereabout they stroue and the end of their intention Of the persons one was a man whose breath was in his nostrels who had neither wisedome to iudge what was fittest to be done nor power to bring about what he fondly had imagined whose pleasure if it were amisse must be censured by a iudge if right then it must depend vpon the becke of another The one was he who was fancifull and mutable and humorous and inconstant in all his waies who would doate on a greene bough and be spitefull to a