whethersoeuer thou sendest vs vvee vvill goe as wee obeyed Moses in all thinges so will vvee obey thee And those that rebell against thy commaundement let them die the death The volume of the vvhole booke I am sure both the precepts and practises of all the seruauntes of God harpeth vpon this stringe Yea the Maister of the house by his owne example taughte those of his housholde hovve to behaue themselues in this case For as hee obeyed his father euen vnto the death of the crosse his parents in the flesh in following their instructions the lawe in following all righteousnesse so the Emperour of Rome to though hee a straunger and himselfe free-borne in paying tribute vnto him Though vvee are defamed and slaundered concerning the Emperours maiestie yet Christians could neuer be found to be either Albinians or Nigrians or Cassians that is rebelles to their liege Lordes and maisters as Tertullian in the name and cause of all christianitie wrote to Scapula The Christian is no mans enemie much lesse the Emperours But the matter is safe enough There is no power but of God he that resisteth the powers that bee resisteth Gods ordinaunces And the Lorde is king bee the earth neuer so impatient Promotion commeth neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south but frō the Lord of hostes By him are kingdomes disposed princes inaugurated crownes of gold set vpon their heads scepters states established people mollified and subdued by him were Corah his confederates swallowed quicke into the earth Zimry burnt in his pallace Absalon hāged by his hairy scalpe Achitophell in a halter for denying their feaulty to Gods lieutenants As the maister of the ship came to Ionas and called him vp what meanest thou sleeper c. So let maisters and governours within this place who sit at the sternes of an other kinde of shipping and haue rudders of citie and countrey in their handes let them awake themselues that they may awake and rowze vp other sleepers all carelesse dissolute indisposed persons who loue the thresholdes of their private doores vpon the sabbathes of the Lord and their benches in ale-boothes better then the courtes of the Lordes house and neither in calmes nor stormes when the shippe groneth the vvhole land mourneth all the creatures sighe and lamente will either fast or pray or sorrowe or do any thing with the rest of their brethren Awake these drowsie christians awake them vvith eager reprehension what meane you If reprehension vvill not serue pricke them with the sworde and raise them vp with severe punishment How long shall the drunkard sleepe within your gates in the puddle and sinke of his bowzing and lose both honesty and vvit without controlment the adulterer in chambering and wantonnes vpon his lascivious bed of pleasure deckt vvith the laces and carpets of Egypt the idolatour and superstitious vpon the knees and in the bosome of the whore of Babylon prophaners of our sanctified sabbathes in the sabbath and rest and Iubilee of their lewde pastimes the vsurer and oppressour of others whose iawes are as kniues and his teeth of iron in his bed of mischiefe as the Psalme calleth it and in the contemplation and solace of his ill gottē goods the swearer in the habite and custome of abhominable othes for these be the faultes of your citty as common as the stones in your streetes how long shall they sleepe and snort herein vvithout reprehension it is your part to reforme it vvho are the ministers of God not onely for wealth but for wrath also vnlesse you beare the sword in vaine you are the vocall lawes of the land and iustice in life to punish with rigour where it is convenient Wee also of the ministery haue a place of preferment in the shippe and owe a duty to God though in an other kind We haue a sword in our mouthes too as you in your handes whose edge is of more then steele and cutteth deeper then into flesh and bloud yet such are the earthly spirits of men fallen a sleepe amongst vs that the sword of the spirit without the sword of the magistrate cannot stirre them vp Hovv long haue we called and lifted vp our voices on high to those that sleepe in drunkennesse and lie in their vomit worse then dogges Awake drunkards weepe and howle your wine shall be pulled from your mouths and they awoke not but to follow drunkennes againe and to ioyne the morning and the eveninge togither till the wine haue enflamed them How long to those that sleepe in fornication Awake adulterers and vncleane persons els God shall throw you into a bedde of shame and vncover your nakednes and make you a reproch and scorne so farre as your name is spread yet they open not their eyes but to awaite for the twilight and to lie at their neighbours doore for wife or daughter to those that are at rest and nestled in idolatry in the service of strange Gods Awake idolatours you that say to the wood and stone awake helpe vs awake and rise vp your selues els God is a ielous God and will visite your sinnes vvith roddes and your offences with scourges to all other sleepers in sinne sabbath breakers swearers lyers extortioners vsurers what meane you sleepers It is now time that you shoulde arise from sleepe yea the time is almost past Now is salvation nearer then when you first beleeved and now is damnation nearer then when you were first threatned The night is past of blindnesse and ignorance forepassed the bright morning starre hath risen and hid himselfe againe within the cloudes of heaven The glorious sunne of righteousnesse hath illuminated the whole sphere of the vvorlde from the east to the west and though his body be aboue the light of his beames is still amongst vs and wee may truely say the day is come yea the day is well nigh spent The naturall sunne of the firmament runneth his race with speede like a Giant refresht with wine to make an end of his course and to finish all times You are novv brought to the eleventh houre of the day there is but a twelfth a fewe minutes of time betweene you and iudgment what meane you sleepers VVill you go away in a sleepe and shall your life passe from you like a dreame Came you naked of goodnes from your mothers wombe and will you backe naked brought you nothing into the world with you of the best and blessedst riches and vvill you cary nothing out Or do you tarry to be started with the shrillest trumpet that ever blew the fearefullest voice to sleepers that ever sounded arise yee dead what meane you sleepers The night is comming wherein no man can worke yea the day is comming wherein none shal worke Acceptable to God profitable to man behoofefull to himselfe hee neither can nor shall worke any thing That working that is shall be the everlasting throbbings and throwes of his
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
how wanton and luxurious wee are in destroying the life one of an other not content alone to wishe the death of an enimy as they cried in the Psalme When shall he die and his name perish but wee will be actours with our owne handes and approovers with our owne eies and heartes deserving therby a more bloud-red commendation than he in the history bis parricida consilio priùs iterum spectaculo twice a murtherer first in counselling afterwardes in beholding the fact for wee are thrice murtherers 1. for invention and devise afterwardes for act lastly for taking pleasure either to view or to recorde the same Murther with the favorablest tearmes vnlesse it be plentifully washt away with a floude of teares from a bleeding and broken heart and died into an other colour by the bloud of Christ is likely to haue ruth inough There is not a drop of bloud spilt vpon the earth from the daies of righteous Abell to this present houre but swelling as bigge as the Ocean sea in the eies of God and neither heate of the sunne nor drought of the grounde shall ever drinke it vp till it be revenged But murther with pride delight triumph with affectation of glory thereby as if it were manhoode and credite to haue beene in the fielde and slaine a man to make it an occupation as some doe when they haue once committed it to be so farre from remorse that they are the readier to commit it againe till bloud toucheth bloud Woe worth it it is the vnnaturalest nature vnder the heavens I would tearme it by a name if there were any to expresse it Caligula the Romane Emperour whome for his filthy and sanguinary conditions I may tearme as they tearmed his predecessour dirt soken with bloude vvished that the people of Rome had all but one neck that at one blow he might cut them of Who would ever imagine that a man of one hearte shoulde so much multiply his cruelties by conceipt against a multitude Seneca writeth that Messala Proconsull of Asia beeheaded three hundred in one day and when he had made an end of his tyranny as if hee had done some noble exploite walked with his armes behinde him cried O royall act Lucius Sylla at one pâ—oscription having slaine 4700. men caused it bee entered of recorde ne memoria tam praeclarae rei dilueretur least the memory of so honorable a thing should be worne away Valerius setting downe the rest of his truculent murthers confesseth against himselfe I am scarsely perswaded that I vvrite probably hee killed a gentleman of Rome without stirring of his foote for not induring the sight of one murthered before his face Novus punitor misericordiae never was it seene before that pitty it selfe should be punished and that it should be helde as capitall an offence to beholde a murther with griefe as if himselfe had done it Notvvithstanding saith hee the envie of Marius did mitigate the cruelties of Sylla whose name shall bee striked with the blackest cole of infamie in all the ages of the vvorlde vvhen they shall but heare that an innocent citizeÌ„ dranke a draught of burning coales to escape his tyrannous tortures Sabellicus thinketh that the factious citties of Italie in his and his forefathers daies vvere stored vvith more pregnant examples of crueltie than all these When the princes of the factions falling into the handes of their enemies some were burnte aliue their children killed in their cradâ—lles the mothers vvith childe their bellies ript vp themselues and their fruite both destroyed some throwne downe headlong some had their garbish pulled out their heartes to their further disgrace hung vp and beaten vvith stripes You may easilie ghesse sayeth hee vvhat butcherie there vvas vvhen hanging and beheading vvere accounted clemency Endlesse are the histories vvhich reporte the cruelties that haue beene committed by man vpon man But of all that ever I red or hearde the most vncredible to mine eares are those that vvere practised by the Spanish nation vpon the West Indians of whome it fs thought they haue slaine at times more millions of men than all the countreis of the East are able to furnish againe You may iudge of the Lyon by his clawes In one of their Islandes called Hispaniola of tvventye hundreth thousandes when the people stoode vntoucht the authour did not thinke at the penning of his historie that there vvere an hundred and fiftie soules lefte Hee had reason to exclame as hee did O quot Nerones quot Domitiani quot Commodâ— quot Bassiani quot immites Dyonisij eas terras pâ—ragravêre O howe many Neroes how many Domitians with other the like egregious infamous tyrauntes haue harrowed those countries Iustus Lipsius iustifieth the complainte that no age in the worlde coulde match some examples by him alleaged but onely our owne howbeit in an other world A few Spanish saith he about fourescore yeares since sayling into these west and new founde landes good God what murthers and slaughters committed they I reason not of the causes or righte of their vvarre but onely of the eventes I see that huge space of grounde vvhich to haue seene I say not to haue vanquished had beene a greate matter overrunne by twenty or thirtie souldiours and those naked flockes every vvhere laide alonge as corne by a sickle What is become of thee O Cuba the greatest of Islandes of thee Hayti of you the Iukatans which sometimes stored and environed with fiue or sixe hundreth thousandes of men haue scarcely retayned fifteene in some places to raise vp issue againe Stande forth thou region of Peru a little shew thy selfe and thou of Mexico O vvonderfull and lamentable face of things That vnmeasurable tracte and in trueth another vvorlde is wasted and vvorne avvay as if it had perished by fire from heaven One of their kinges in the province of Iukatan spake to Montegius the Lieuetenaunt governour after this manner I remember when I vvas younge wee had a plague or mortalitie amongst vs so sore and vnaccustomed that infinite numbers of vvormes issued out of our bodies Moreover vvee had tvvo battailes vvith the inhabitauntes of Mexico vvherein were slaine an hundreth and fiftye thousande men But these thinges are trifles in comparison of those intolerable examples of crueltye and oppression which thou and thy company haue vsed amongst vs. They had named themselues for credite and authoritie the sonnes of God but when the people sawe their vile behaviour they gaue this iudgement vpon them Qualis malum Deus iste est quâ— tam impuros ex se filios sceleratos genuit si pater filiorum similis minimè profectò bonum esse oportet VVhat kinde of GOD with a mischiefe is this that hath begotten such impure and vvicked sonnes if the fathers bee like the children there can be no goodnesse in him Extremities of tyrannie practised in such measure that nothinge coulde bee added thereunto by the witte of man vvrunge out greate
experience experience hope and hope will neuer suffer them to be ashamed or dismaide They breake the chaine at the first linke troubled they are against their wils but that which is voluntarie as patience experience hope they wil not adde that both in body soule they may be confoūded We on the other side hang vpon the chaine trust to climbe to heauen by it through the merits of Christs death and passion whereof the last linke consisteth and wee suffer none of those comfortable perswasions to fall to the ground without vse that if we suffer with him we shall also raigne with him and through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdome of heauen wee regarde not so much what part we haue in the whip but what place in the testament wee knowe who hath sequestred for vs to vse the word of Tertullian Idoneus patientiae sequester Deus God will truely account for all our sufferings If wee commit our wrongs vnto him he will reuenge them our losses hee will restore them our liues he will raise them vp againe THE XV. LECTVRE Chap. 1. ver 14. Then they cried vnto the Lorde and saide we beseech thee O Lord we beseech thee THE sea is angrie you haue hearde for the Lorde of hostes sake and will haue a sacrifice They gaue it space and respite enough to see if time coulde make it forgette the iniurie that vvas offered they entered consultation vvith Ionas himselfe of some milder handlinge him they spared not their painfullest contention of armes and ores to reduce him to land againe But when delay wrought no better successe and neither the prophet himselfe coulde by advise prescribe nor they effect by labour and strength the release of GODS vengeance what shoulde they doe but make ready the sacrifice and binde it to the hornes of the altar bestovvinge a fevve vvordes of blessing and dedication if I speake rightly before the offering thereof Ionas is sacrificed in the nexte verse So they tooke vp Ionas But the consecration and hallowing of the sacrifice goeth before in these wordes vvherefore they cryed c. It is the catastrophe of the vvhole acte novve it draweth to an issue and accomplishment their feare praier proiection of their vvares sortilege examination of Ionas consultation and other machinations and assaies whatsoever were but prefaces and introductions to this that followeth The sea hath made a vowe and will surely performe it I will not giue my waters any rest nor lye downe vpon my couch till Ionas be cast forth Wherefore or then It implyeth an illation from the former speeches When neither head nor handes counsaile nor force coulde provide a remedie they make it their last refuge to commende both themselues and Ionas to God by supplication t Ionas by a touch and in secret in that they call his bloud innocent bloude as who woulde saie hee never did vs hurte themselues of purpose and by profession that having to deale in a matter so ambiguous the mercy and pardon of God might be their surest fortresse The substance and soule of the vvhole sentence is prayer a late but a safe experiment and if the worst shoulde fall out that there vvere imperfection or blame in their action nowe intended praier the soveraignest restoratiue vnder heauen to make it sound againe For thus in effecte they thinke It may be wee shall be guilty of the life of a Prophet wee addresse our selues to the effusion of harme lesse bloude we must adventure the fact and whether we be right or wrong we knowe not but whatsoever betide we begge remission at thine hands be gracious and merciful vnto our ignorances require not soule for soule bloud for bloud neither lay our iniquities vnto our charge Praier hath asked pardon praier I doubt not hath obteined pardon for some of that bloudy generation which slew the very son heire of the kingdome which offered an vnrighteous sacrifice of a more righteous soule than ever Ionas was Else why did he open his mouth at his death powre forth his gronings for those that opened his side and powred forth his blood father forgiue them Before they had handled the ores of their trade and occupation but prevailed not for bodily exercise profiteth nothing novve they betake them to the ores of the spirite invocations intercessions to the ever-liuing God that if the bankes of the land vvhich they hoped to recover should faile them they might be receiued to an harbour and rode of the mercies of God These are the ores my brethren which shall rowe the shippe through all the stormes and insurrections of the waues of the seas I meane the Arke of Gods Church vniuersal and these vessels of ours our bodies soules in particular through all the dangers of the world and land them in the hauen of eternal redemption This worlde is a sea as I finde it compared swelling with pride vaineglory the winde to heaue it vp blew livide with envy boiling with wrath deepe with covetousnes foming with luxuriousnesse swallowing drinking in all by oppression dangerfull for the rockes of presumption and desperation rising with the waues of passions perturbations ebbing flowing with inconstancy brinish and salte with iniquity and finally Mare amarum a bitter and vnsavory sea with all kinde of misery What shoulde wee doe then in such a sea of tēptations where the arme of flesh is too weake to beare vs out if our strength were brasse it coulde not helpe vs where we haue reason to carry a suspition of all our waies and he that is most righteous in the cluster of mankinde falleth in his happiest day seven times and though we were privie to nothinge in our selues yet were wee not iustified thereby but had need to craue Clense vs O Lord frō our secret faults where we are taught to say father forgiue our debts and if the summe of our sins at our liues end be ten thousand talents then whether we speake or thinke wake or sleepe or whatsoever we do we adde a debt when all offend in many thinges many in all and he that offendeth in one iote of the law breaketh the vvhole vvhat should we doe I say but as the Apostles exhortation is pray continually and thinke neither place nor time nor businesse vnmeete to so holy and necessary an exercise that whether we beginne the day we may say with Abrahams servaunt O Lorde sende mee good speede this day or vvhither wee be covered with the shaddowes of the night we may begge with that sweete singer of Israell Lighten mine eies that I sleepe not in death or whatsoeuer vvee attempt in either of these two seasons vve may prevent it vvith the blessing of that other Psalme Prosper the vvorke of our handes vpon vs oh prosper thou our handy vvorkes Egredientes de hospitio armet oratio regredientibus de plataea occurrat oratio vvhen thou goest out of thine house let prayer
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
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
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
For they thinke not how bitter the potion is in tast but what health commeth after it Nor are they ignorant that these crosses and disturbances are as it were the first-fruites of the spirite the earnest penny of our fathers inheritance a prelibation of glory to come that if we bestow all that we haue as the poore widow did our 2. mites body and soule as one compareth them vpon the service and at the pleasure of our God we leaue but simpla pro centuplis one for an hundreth fold which shall afterwardes be restored But you shall finde that the Gentiles themselues who were without the covenant of God consequently the hope of better things were loth to surâ—et of pleasure and tooke it as an introduction to worse to come if ever they received too much even of good fortune When tydings was brought to Philip of Macedon that Parmenio got the victory over his enimies Alexander his sonne was borne and his chariots wonne the prize at Olympus all in one day hee called vpon fortune reputed a goddesse in those dayes to doe him some little hurte and to spice as it were his ioyes with bitternesse that they made him not forget him selfe It was the reason that the king of Egypte blest himselfe from having any thing to doe with Polycrates king of Samos because he was over-fortunate For having throwne a massie and rich ring into the sea to try an experiment in despight of fortune he found it againe at his table in the belly of a fish vvhich was brought for a present vnto him They many times wished good lucke and pleasurable daies to the veriest enimies they had In the bookes of Iob and the Psalmes the thriving of the wicked vvanteth not a learned orator to set it foorth at large Their bullocke gendereth and fayleth not their cowe calveth and casteth not her calfe They sende foorth their children like sheepe and their sonnes daunce They take the tabret and harpe and reioyce in the sounde of the organs Thus farre it vvere good you vvoulde thinke to bee no good man For they come into no misfortune like other men VVhat no misfortune Even the greatest in this that they haue so large an indulgence Surely it vvere good for vs not to be acquainted vvith such engrossers of prosperity and much lesse to haue to doe vvith their vnhappy happinesse For as in the burning of a candle when it hath long given light extremum occupat fumus caligo the ende is in smoake and caliginousnesse so fareth it when the candle of the vvicked is put out for so Iob compareth their felicitye Their ende is vvorse then their beginning as the beginning of Saintes vvorse then their end In puncto descendunt in infernum in the stirring of an eye they goe dovvne into hell VVhere if there bee not fumus caligo and much vvorse there is no hel He that saw the wicked flourishing like a greene bay tree which winter defaceth not it never withereth til it be pluckt from the earth looked at an other time for their place I say not the trees but their place and they were no more found O howe suddainely are they destroyed perish and come to a fearefull ende as a dreame when one awaketh Lord when thou raisest vs vp thou shalt make their image despised Suddenly and fearefullie and contemptibly measure enough themselues vanishing perishing consumed wheÌ„ others arise whom they thought not of He that at one time said of himselfe I haue cleansed my hart in vaine because he coulde not iudge aright of the prosperity of the wicked at an other time saide to the foolish Be not so foolish and to the wicked lifte not vp the horne lift not vp your horne on high neither speake vvith a stiffe necke For in the â—ande of the Lorde is a cuppe and the vvine is of the colour of bloude it is fully tempered and hee povvreth out the same and all the vvicked of the earth shall surelie vvringe out and drinke the dregges thereof What pleasure is there now in the cuppes of Balthazar and his concubines the cuppes of the vvhore of Babylon golden and sugred cuppes and wine in â—oules as the prophet speaketh vvhen at the ende of the banquet to close vp the stomake they must take this cup from the hand of the Lord and drinke their fatall draught Thus of the one side you shall ever finde the happines of the wicked in primis it commeth at the first and falleth like a dry thistle flower Sonne thou hadst thy pleasure it is now past But if you will learne what becommeth of the righteous in novissimis intelligetis you shall vnderstand it in the last daies Marke the vpright man and beholde the iust for the ende of that man is peace Seneca writeth that as the same chaine coupleth the keeper and prisoner togither so hope and feare are ever conioined and feare followeth hope For where our wishes and desires are bent we cannot choose but doubt of our good speede These two are coupled togither in the song of Ionas but their order inverted For feare goeth before like the keeper and iaylour of Ionas and hope commeth ever behinde to giue him comfort of enlargement Feare seemeth to haue the greater scope and to triumph over hope as may appeare in that so many words even fowre whole members of the two nexte verses are spent in the amplification of it when as but a short clause snatching looke of the eie is added in the end to expresse his hope But how little leaven of hope seasoneth the whole lumpe of the daunger before mentioned The partes are according to the number of the verses two First his daunger secondly the hope of recovery The daunger enlarged first by the authour Thou hadst cast mee vvhich noteth not only a violence but a neglect as if the Lorde had throwne him aside never to bee remembred more secondly by the place into the bottome in the midst of the sea thirdly by the accessaries to the place the flowdes compassed mee all thy surges and all thy waves passed over mee fourthly by the infirmity and distrust of his owne hearte the effect of the rest and his conclusion vpon the precedent proofes Then I saide I am cast awaie out of thy sighte But in the seconde place one cast and motion of his eie towardes the temple of the LORD maketh satisfaction and amendes for all those former discomfortes 1 Thou hadst cast me The authour is not his equall a briar contending vvith a thorne an earthen vessell vvith an earthen vessell wherein there is some proportionate comparison The children of Israel sonnes of Anak David and Golias vvere not equally matched yet man to man Wherin if either part be the weaker it may be redressed in time either by theÌ„selues or by their a bettours Or if never redressed the body alone beareth the smart the
to our cities and townes barres to our houses a surer cover to our heads than an helmet of steele a better receite to our bodies than the confection of Apothecaries a better receite to our soules than the pardons of Rome is Salus Iehovae the salvation of the Lord. The salvation of the Lord blesseth preserveth vpholdeth all that we have our basket and our store the oile in our cruises our presses the sheepe in our folds our stalles the children in the wombe at our tables the corne in our fieldes our stores our garners it is not the vertue of the stars nor nature of the things themselves that giveth being continuance to any of these blessings And what shall I more say as the apostle asked Hebr. 11. when he had spoken much and there was much more behind but that time failed him Rather what should I not say for the world is my theatre at this time and I neither thinke nor can feigne to my selfe any thinge that hath not dependaunce vpon this acclamation Salvation is the Lordes Plutarcke writeth that the Amphictyones in Greece a famous counsell assembled of twelve sundrie people wrote vpon the temple of Apollo Pythius in steede of the Iliades of Homer or songes of Pindarus large and tyring discourses shorte sentences and memoratives as Know thy selfe Vse moderation Beware of suretishippe and the like And doubtlesse though every creature in the world whereof we haue vse be a treatise and narration vnto vs of the goodnesse of God and wee might weary our flesh and spend our daies in writing bookes of that vnexplicable subiect yet this short apopthegme of Ionas compreheÌ„deth all the rest and standeth at the ende of the songue as the altars and stones that the Patriarkes set vp at the partinge of the waies to giue knowledge to the after-worlde by what meanes hee was delivered I would it were dayly preached in our temples sunge in our streetes written vpon our dore-postes painted vppon our walles or rather cut with an admant claw vpon the tables of our hearts that wee might never forget Salvation to bee the Lordes wee haue neede of such remembrances to keepe vs in practise of revolvinge the mercies of God For nothinge decayeth sooner than loue And of all the powers of the soule memorye is most delicate tender and brittle and first waxeth olde and of all the apprehensions of memory first a benefite To seeke no further for the proofe and manifestation of this sentence within our coastes I may say as our Saviour in the nineteenth of Luke to Zacheus This day is salvation come vnto this house Even this day my brethren came the salvation of the LORDE to this house of David to the house of this Kingdome to the houses of Israell and Aaron people and priestehode church and common wealth I helde it an especiall parte of my duety amongst the rest the day invitinge and your expectation callinge mee thereunto and no text of mercy and salvation impertinent to that purpose to correcte and stirre vp my selfe with those fowre lepers that came to the spoile of the Syrian tentes I doe not well this day is a day of good tidinges and shoulde I holde my peace let the leprosie of those men cleaâ—e vnto my skinne if it bee not as ioyfull a thinge vnto mee to speake of the honour of this day as ever it vvas to them to carrye the happye nevves of the flight of Aram. It is the birth-day of our countrey It vvas deade before and the verye soule of it quite departed Sound religion which is the life of a kingdome was abandoned faith exiled the gospell of Christ driven into corners and hunted beyond the seas All these fell with the fall of an honorable and renowned plante which as the first flowre of the figtree in the prime and bloominge of his age was translated into heaven they rose againe with the rising and advancement of our gracious Lady and Soveraigne Were I as able as vvillinge to procure solemnitye to the day I would take the course that David did I would begin at heaven and call the Angelles and armieâ— thereof the sunne moone and starres I woulde descend by the aire and call the fire haile and snow vapours and stormy windes I would enter into the sea and call for dragons and all deepes I woulde ende in the earth and call for the mountaines and hilles fruitfull trees and cedars beastes and all cattell creeping thinges and feathered fowles Kinges of the earth and all people Princes Iudges yonge men and maidens olde men and children to lend their harmony and accord vnto vs to praise the name of the Lorde to accompany and adorne the triumph of our land and to showte into heaven with no other cry than this salus Iehovae salvation is only from the Lord by whome the horne of this people hath so mightily bene exalted O happy English if wee knew our good if that roiall vessell of gold wherein the salvation of the Lorde hath bene sent vnto vs were as precious and deare in our accounte as it rightly deserveth Her particular commendations common to her sacred person not with many princes I examine not Let it bee one amongst a thousand which Bernard gaue to a widowe Queene of Ierusalem and serveth more iustly to the maiden Queene of England that it was no lesse glory vnto her to liue a widowe havinge the worlde at will and beinge to sway a kingdome which required the helpe of an husband than a Queene The one saith he Came to thee by succession the other by vertue the one by descent of bloude thâ— other by the gift of God the one it was thy happinesse to bee borne the other thy manlinesse to haue atteined vnto a double honour the one towardes the worlde the other towardes God both from God Her wisedome as the wisedome of an Angell of the Lorde so spake the widowe sometimes to David fitter for an Angell than my selfe to speake of her knowledge in the tongues and liberall learninge in all the liberall sciences that in a famous Vniversitie amongst the learnedest men shee hath bene able not onely to heare and vnderstand which were somethinge but to speake perswade decide like a graduate oratour professour and in the highest court of parliameÌ„t hath not onely sitten amongst the peeres of her realme and delivered her minde maiestate manus by some bodily gesture in signe of assent but given her counsaile and iudgemente not inferiour to any and her selfe by her selfe hath aunswered the embassadours of severall nations in their severall languages with other excellent graces beseeming the state of a prince though they best know on whose hande shee leaâ—eth and that are nearest in attendaÌ„ce and observance about her maiesty yet if any man bee ignorant of let him aske of strangers abroade into whose eares fame hath bruited and blowne her vertues and done no more but right in giving such giftes vnto her
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
is whatsoever in nature or arte is most perfite and exquisite and hath as it were a kinde of divinity in it that to ascribe to GOD for these foote-printes and that imitation sake which it hath of his perfection Ordinarie mounetaines cedars or cittyes haue their fellowes and equalles vpon earth wherewith to bee sorted But such as excell in greatnesse and refuse the copartnershippe of all in that kinde because it vvere an iniurye and disparagement vnto them to match them with their inferiours they are claymed by GOD himselfe as his especiall rightes· Not to exempte the smaller from his care and providence who is as greate a GOD in the least as in the greatest and hath given more vvisedome to the little antes and bees then to asses and camels but to teach the vnwise worlde to esteeme his maiestie as it is not to serue him vvith lame or leane base and vnperfite offeringes and to thinke there is nothing in the whole godhead but is most rarely and incomparablie excellent Of three dayes iourney Some say if you walke the streetes a softe and leasurely pace with all the lanes and allies that are therein Some if you ioyne the villages rounde aboute the dition liberties and marches that appertained to Niniveh Others if you take it with the suburbes alone For though the name of the citty bee limited within the walles yet the name of Rome or Niniveh includeth also the continent buildinges Lastly others expounde it of the very ambite of their walles and turrettes And by the iudgemente of the civill lawe which defineth a daies iourney by twenty miles Niniveh mighte iustlye spende the labour of three daies I applye these testimonies of her largenesse to that which followeth Niniveh was a greate cittye vvhither you take the people or their dwellinges Ionas not more then an ordinarye man Niniveh was very greate Ionas very little and in comparison but as a locust amonge them Niniveh a cittie of three daies iourney Ionas had newly begunne to enter his voyage of the first day and yet this great and spacious cittye is presently reformed by the preaching of an ordinarye common and contemptible Prophet I will not reape the harvest of the nexte wordes but onely viewe them in haste to make my connexion They are all if you marke them stinted and diminished by the holy Ghost Ionas beganne had not finished to enter into the cittye had not gone over it the iourney of one daye the seconde and thirde were behinde yet Niniveh in these beginninges did not onely beginne but almost ende and consummate her repentaunce And as Ionas cried yet forty daies and Niniveh shall be destroied so Niniveh cried vnto him againe yet not forty howres and thou shalt see Niniveh wholy changed Our Saviour in the eight of Matthew telleth his disciples that the people had endured him nowe three dayes havinge nothinge to eate for hee helde their stomackes and appetites that they might not hunger as hee helde the disciples eies that were walking towardes Emaus that they mighte not see and when hee had fedde them sufficiently with the breade of life then hee restored them to nature againe and gaue them leaue to hunger and thirst after corporall reliefe The people of Niniveh as commendable in an other kinde never wearie of the preaching of Ionas and willing to endure him more then three daies without eating or drinking they wearie not him so much as to put him to the toile of the seconde and thirde day neither suffer they the nexte morninges sunne to arise vpon their former daies iniquity But as if every soule in the citty had beene summoned as Lot vvas Escape for thy life make haste and saue thy selfe so these addresse themselues with all possible speede to escape the wrath of GOD and the morning and the evening were the first day of their repentance At the beginninges of the preaching of Iohn Baptist they wente out by flockes vnto him Ierusalem and all Iudea and all the regions about Iordan as if the citties and townes had emptied themselues to fill the wildernesse and to leade new Colonies into desert and vnhabitable places and they were baptised of him in Iordan confessing their sinnes and manie of the Pharisees and Sadduces also vvente to his baptisme At one sermon of Peter Actes the seconde the principall and finall application whereof was Saue your selues from this frowarde generation there were added vnto the church aboute three thousande soules which was as great a nuber as a man may imagine at one time to haue beene capable of the speakers voice The LORDE hath not dealt so sparingly with our nation The vision hath spoken a long time and we nor waited for it but it for vs and he that hath begunne a good worke in vs hath endevoured to make it perfitie Our king hath followed the parable Matthew the two and twentith Hee hath sente foorth his servauntes to call vs away not to the house of mourning as he did Niniveh But to the marriage feast of his onely sonne which what honour it is to sit and eate at the kings table let Haman reporte to his wife and friendes Againe hee hath sent foorth other servauntes to tell vs what provision he hath made and to invite vs with the hope of most bountifull entertainement But we as these vnworthy ghestes rather esteeming the dinners of this world then the supper of the Lambe which is the last meale of the day and whereof who so tasteth shall never hunger againe And thinking the garlicke and onions of Egypt to haue a better relish then the milke and hony in the lande of promise make light of his often biddings and not much lesse then enforce him to pronounce against our vnthankefulnesse and to commune with his servauntes of furnishing his house vvith worthier ghestes All the day long hath he stretched out his handes vnto vs and made as long a day as ever he did to Iosuah and as long houres of the day as ever were shadowed vpon the diall of Ahaz to provoke our repentaunce for the twelue houres of the day he hath given vs thrice twelue yeares vnder the happy and peaceable goverment of our godly Iosias Yet as Paule asked them of Ephesus Whither they had received the holie ghost and they aunswered him We haue not so much as hearde whither there bee an holy Ghost so such strangers are wee to the worke and fruites of repentaunce that scarselie wee vnderstande what repentaunce meaneth And so farre is it off that wee are become true Israelites with Nathaniell or but almost Christians with Agrippa that we are rather proved fully Atheistes And that which Tully reporteth amongst his wonders in nature that in one country Drought causeth dirte and raine stirreth vp dust may bee truely applyed vnto vs that abundance of grace hath brought forth in vs abundance of sinne and as sinne tooke occasion by the lavve to waxe more sinnefull
3. according to the worde of the Lorde which erst he had disobeyed Thus farre we vnderstood whither he went nowe we are to learne what hee did in Niniveh namely 1. for the time Hee beginneth his message presently at the gates 2. for the place hee had entred but a thirde parte of the citie so much as might be measured by the travaile of one day 3. for the manner of his preaching hee cried 4. for the matter or contentes Yet fortye daies and Niniveh shall bee destroyed I haue tasted nothinge of this present verse but vvhat mighte make a connexion with the former For the greatnesse of Niniveh repeated in the latter ende thereof served to this purpose partly to commend the faith of the Ninivites who at the first sounde of the trumpet chaÌ„ged their liues partly to giue testimony ito the diligence constaÌ„cy of the Prophet who was not dismaide by so mighty a chardge And Ionas beganne to enter into the city All the wordes are spoken by diminution Ionas beganne had not made an ende to enter the citty had not gone through A daies iourney which was but the third parte of his way Not that Ionas began to enter the citty a daies iourney and then gaue over his walke for hee spent a day and daies amongest them in redressing of their crooked waies But Niniveh did not tarry the time nor deferre their conversion till his embassage vvas accomplished amongest them which is so much the more marveilous for that he came vnto them a messenger of evill and vnwelcome tydinges it is rather a wonder vnto mee that they skorned him not that they threw not dust into the aire ran vpon him with violence stopped his mouth threw stones at him with cursing and with bitter speaking as Shemei did at David as Ahab burdened Elias with troubling Israell so that they had not challenged Ionas for troubling Niniveh because he brought such tidinges as might sette an vprore and tumulte amongst all the inhabitantes That vvicked king of Israell whome I named before hated Micheas vnto the death for no other cause but that hee never prophecied good vnto him A man that ever did evill and no good coulde not endure to heare of evill And for the same cause did Amaziah the priest of Bethell banish Amos from the lande for preaching the death of Ieroboam and the captivitie of Israell therefore the Lorde was not able to beare his words and hee had his pasporte sealed O thou the seer goe flee thou avvaie into the lande of Iudah and there eate thy breade and prophecie there but prophecie no more at Bethel for this is the kinges chappell and this is the kinges courte so I woulde rather haue thought that they shoulde haue entertained Ionas in the like manner because hee came with fire and sworde in his mouth against them the cittye is not able to beare thy wordes vvee cannot endure to heare of the death of our king and the vniversall overthrow of our people and buildings O thou the seer get thee into the lande of Iudah and returne to thy cittye of Ierusalem and there eate thy breade and prophecye there but prophecie no more at Niniveh for this is the kings chappell nay this is the court of the mighty Monarch of Assyria But Niniveh hath a milder spirite and a softer speech and behaviour in receiving the Lordes prophet Now on the other side if you set togither the greatnesse of Niniveh and the present on-set vvhich the prophet gaue vpon it that immediately vpon his chardge without drawing breath hee betooke him to his hard province it maketh no lesse to the commendation of his faithfulnesse then their obedience For when hee came to Niniveh did hee deliberate what to doe examine the nature of the people vvhether they were tractable or no enquire out the convenientest place wherein to doe his message and where it might best stande with the safegarde of his person did he stay till hee came to the market place or burse or the kings palace where there was greatest frequency and audience No but where the buildings of the citty beganne there hee began to builde his prophecie And even at the entrance of the gates hee opened his lippes and smote them with a terrour of most vngratefull newes Againe he entered their citty not to gaze vpon their walles not to number their turrets nor to feede his eies with their high aspiring buildings much lesse to take vp his Inne and there to ease himselfe but to travaile vp and downe to wearie out his stronge men not for an houre or two but from morning til night even as long as the lighte of the daie vvill giue him leaue to worke I departe not from my texte for as you heare 1. Ionas began protracted not 2. to enter not staying till he had proceeded 3. to travaile not to be idle 4. the whole day not giving any rest or recreation to his bodie If wee will further extende and stretch the meaning of this sentence we may apply it thus It is good for a man to begin betimes and to beare the yoke of the Lord from his childe-hoode as Goliath is reported to haue beene a warriour from his youth to enter in the vineyard the first houre of the daie and to holde out till the twelfth to begin at the gates of his life to serue God and even from the wombe of his mother to giue his bodie and soule as Anna gaue her Samuell Nazarites vnto the Lord that his age and wisedome and grace may growe vp togither as Christes did And that as Iohn Baptist was sanctified in his mothers wombe Salomon was a witty childe Daniell and his yong companions were vvell nurtured in the feare of the Lorde and David wiser then his auncientes so all the parts degrees of his life from the first fashioning of his tender limmes may savour of some mercy of God which it hath received That whether hee bee soone deade they may say of him hee fulfilled much time or whither he carry his graye haires vvith him downe into the graue he may say in his conscience as David did Thy statutes haue ever beene my songes in the house of my pilgrimage As for the devils dispensation youth must bee borne with and as that vnwise tutour sometimes spake It is not trust mee a faulte in a younge man to followe harlots to drinke wine in bowls to daunce to the tabret to weare fleeces of vanity aboute his eares and to leaue some token of his pleasure in every place so giving him lycense to builde the frame of his life vpon a lascivious and riotous foundation of long practised wantonnesse it vvas never written in the booke of God prophets and Apostles never drempt of it the law-giver never delivered it heâ—l onelye invented it of pollicy to the overthrow of that age which God hath most enabled to doe him best service And as it was the
are not all his mercies are not all his iudgmentes are not all his vvordes are not all the titles and iotes of his vvordes yea and amen so firmely ratified that they cannot bee broken doubtlesse it shall stande immutable when the heaven and earth shall be chandged and vvaxe olde like a garment Ego Deus non mutor I am a GOD that am not chandged The schoole-menne in this respect haue a wise distinction it is one thing to change the vvill another to vvill a change or to bee vvilling that a change shoulde be God vvill haue the lawe and the ceremonies at one time Gospell vvithout ceremonies at another this was his will from everlasting constant and vnmooueable that in their severall courses both shoulde bee Though there bee a change in the matter and subiect there is not a change in him that disposeth it Our will is in winter to vse the fire in sommer a colde and an open aire the thing is changed according to the season but our will vvhereby wee haue decreed and determined in our selues so to do remaineth the same 2 Sometimes the decrees and purposes of God consist of tvvo partes the one vvhereof God revealeth at the first and the other he concealeth a while and keepeth in his owne knowledge as in the action enioined to Abram the purpose of God was two-fold 1. to try his obedience 2. to saue the child A man may impute it to incōstancy to bid and vnbid but that the will of the Lorde was not plenarily vnderstoode in the first part This is it vvhich Gregory expresseth in apt tearmes God changeth his sentence pronounced sometimes but never his counsaile intended Sometimes thinges are decreed spoken of according to the inferiour cause which by the highest and over-ruling cause are otherwise disposed of One might haue saide and saide truely both vvaies Lazarus shall rise againe and Lazarus shall not rise if we esteeme it by the power and finger of God it shal be but if we leaue it to nature to the arme of flesh it shall never be The prophet Esay told Ezechias the king put thy house in order for thou shalt die considering the weaknes of his body and the extremity of his disease hee had reason to warrant the same but if he had tolde him contrariwise according to that which came to passe thou shalt not die looking to the might mercie of God who received the praiers of the king he had said as truely But the best definitiō is that in most of these threatnings there is a condicion annexed vnto thē either exprest or vnderstood Which is as the hinges to the dore turneth forwards or backwards the whole matter In Ieremy it is exprest I will speake sodainely against a nation or against a kingdome to plucke it vp to roote it out and to destroy it but if this nation against whom I haue pronounced turne from their wickednes I will repent of the plague which I thought to bring vpon them So likewise for his mercy I will speake sodainly concerning a nation and concerning a kingdome to builde it and to plant it but if it doe evil in my sight and heare not my voice I will repent of the good I thought to doe for them Gen. 20. it is supprest where God telleth Abimelech withholding Abrahams wife thou art a dead man because of the woman which thou hast taken the event fell out otherwise and Abimelech purged himselfe with God with an vpright minde innocent hands haue I done this There is no question but God inclosed a condition within his speech thou art but a dead man if thou restore not the woman without touching het body and dishonouring her husband Thus we may answere the scruple by all these waies 1. Yet forty daies and Niniveh shall bee overthrovven and yet forty and forty years and Niniveh shal not be overthrowen Why because Niniveh is changed and the vnchangeable vvill of God ever was that if Niniveh shewed a change it shoulde bee spared 2. There were two partes of Gods purpose the one disclosed touching the subversion of Niniveh the other of her conversion kept within the heart of God Wherevpon he changed the sentence pronounced but not the counsaile vvhereto the sentence was referred 3. If you consider Niniveh in the inferiour cause that is in the deservings of Niniveh it shall fall to the ground but if you take it in the superiour cause in the goodnes and clemency of almighty God Niniveh shall escape Lastly the iudgment was pronounced with a condicion reserved in the minde of the iudge Niniveh shall bee overthrowen if it repent not Now he that speaketh vvith condicion may change his minde without suspicion of lightnes As Paul promised the Corinthians to come by them in his way tovvardes Macedonia and did it not for he evermore added in his soule that condicion vvhich no man must exclude if it stande with the pleasure of God and he hinder mee not Philip threatned the Lacedemonians that if he invaded their countrey he would vtterly extinguish them they wrote him none other answere but this If meaning that it vvas a condition well put in because he was never likely to come amōgst them The old verse is Si nesi non esset prefectum quià libet esset If it were not for conditions and exceptions every thing vvould be perfect But nothing more vnperfect then Niniveh if this secret condicion of the goodnes of God at the second hand had not been Arias Montanus hath an expositiō by himselfe yet forty daies Niniveh shall be turned not overturned that is Niniveh shall bee changed either to the better or to the worse Niniveh shall either amend her waies or see an end of her happines Niniveh in such extremitie cannot stande at a stay no more then the sicknesses of the body whē they are come to the highest degree But to leaue his singular opinion we haue specially to marke in this feareful sentence doome of Niniveh that the thoughts of God were rather for peace recōciliatiō then to overthrow it Here are Esaues hands but Iacobs voice hard speech rough coūtenance a strong tēpest of words but an hiddē spirit of tēdernes loving kindnes who knew rightwel that vnlesse they were toucht to the quicke til their bloud were drawen out they woulde not be mooved Else vvhat did he meane if he meant not mercy to sende a prophet vnto them vvho mighte haue sent his angell from heaven as against the host of Senacherib presently to haue destroyed them Or vvhy prefixt hee a time and gaue them a respite of fortie daies vvho in the motion of an eye coulde haue laide them in the dust and slaine them with the least breath of his angry lippes But come we to the particulars The time that was lent them before their overthrow is forty daies neither too long least they might presume and put of from day
Israell in the desert to some not houres to others not minutes but their spirit departeth from them as Iacob vvent from Laban and the Israelites from the land of Egypt without leaue taking carrying away their iewels and treasures and vvhatsoever in this life is most deare vnto them O happie are they to vvhome this favour is lente vvhich vvas shewed to Niniveh yet forty daies for thy repentance But thrise most vvretched on the other side vvhome the Angell of God hath aunswered time shall be no more vnto thee the night is come wherein thou canst not worke the vision is ended the prophecy fulfilled the doores shut vp thy gracious visitation past who in the closing of an eie are pulled from the lande of the living their place is no more knowne Let me tell you for conclusion that which was spoken to Niniveh in this place vnder condition was afterwards simply pronounced by Nahum Niniveh was destroied indeede Tobias before his death hearde of the fall of Niniveh the monarchie that said within it selfe here will I dwell was translated into Babylon He that endured Ierusalem so longe was afterward so obstinate against it that if Moses and Samuell had stoode before him to aske her pardon hee woulde not haue beene entreated hee that forbare that froward and stubborne generation forty yeares long afterwards sware in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest And as he hath spared and spared and spared so hee will overturne and overturne and overturne Ezech 31. and as he hath added yet more houres and yet more yeares and yet forty daies so hee will add yet more plagues and yet more punishments and yet more vengeance According to his fearfull commination Levit. 26. I will yet plague you seven times more yet seven times more still with further repetition as there is no end of our sinnes so there is no end of his anger This were the preaching fitt for these times blessings must sleepe a while mercy go aside peace returne to the God of peace not be spoken of That reverend religious honest estimation which was of God in former times there is mercy with thee o Lord and therfore shalt thou be feared is now abandoned and put to flight This rather must be our doctrine there is iudgement with thee o Lord with thee o Lord there is ruine and subversion vvith thee are plagues o Lord with thee there is battaile and famine and snares and captivity storme tempest there is fire brimstone with thee O Lord therefore thou shalt be feared Happy are we if either loue or feare will draw vs to repentance if our marble and flinti heartes wil be softned with any raine that falleth if our stiffe and yron-sinued neckes will bow with any yoke either the sweete yoke of the gospell of Christ or the heavye vnsupportable yoke of the lawe and iudgement But if Niniveh continue as it hath begun Niniveh shall bee overthrowen I am not a prophet nor the sonne of a prophet to set the time either of forty or fifty daies or yeares more or lesse hee sitteth aboue to whome it is best knowne and is comming in the cloudes to determin that question But mercye and iustice I knowe are two sisters and as the one hath had her day so the other shall not misse hers and the Lord hath two armes two cuppes two recompences and doubtlesse there is a rewarde for the righteous and doubtlesse there is also a plague for obstinate and impoenitent sinners THE XXXIIII LECTVRE Chap. 3. vers 5. So the people of Niniveh beleeved God and proclaimed a fast c. THE third part of the fowre whereinto the Chapter divideth it selfe containeth the repentance of Niniveh continued vvithout interruption from the beginning of the fifth verse to the end of the ninth where it is ioifully embraced by the mercy and pardon of God towards her which was the last parte The first of these five which we are presently to deale with is the generall table contents of that which the other fowre diduce into speciall branches as Ezechiel first portraied the siege of Ierusalem vpon a bricke to give the people of the Iewes an image of that misery vvhich afterwardes they should finde distinctly and at large accomplished For whatsoever wee heare in the lineall succession of all the rest touching their faith fastes sackloth proclamations vvithout respect of person or age wee have broched vnto vs in this prooemiall sentence Their ordering and disposing of this weighty businesse of repentance with every office and service belonging vnto it is so comely convenient and with such arte as if David were to apoint the Levites and priestes of the temple their courses againe and to settle the singers and porters in their severall ministrations hee could not have shewed more wisedome and skilfulnes For such are the duties tendered to God by this people of Niniveh as were these officers of the temple Some principall others accessary some morall others ceremoniall some for substance others rather for shew and to set out the worke some to the soule belonginge others to the body and outward man And in all these the first have the first places the second and inferiour such as are fitte for them Faith goeth before works in worke fasting goeth before sackloth in the persons the greatest goeth before the lesse in the doinge of all this the proclamation of the king and counsaile goeth before the excecution of the people The army that Salomon spake of was never better set nor almost the starres of heaven better ordered then this conversion of Niniveh First they beleeved God For the Apostles rule admitteth no exception Without faith it is vnpossible to please God For he that commeth to God must beleeue that God is and not onely his being but in his nature and property that he is also a rewarder of them that seeke him This is the first stone of their building the first round of the ladder of Iacob whereby they climbe to the presence of God From faith which is an action of the minde they goe to the workes of the body Fasting and sackloth For faith cried within them as Rachel cried to Iacob giue mee children or I die Faith is hardely received and credited to be faith vnlesse it be testified For that is the touchstone that the Apostle trieth vs by Shew mee thy faith by thy workes So first they quicken the soule for faith is the life of it and then they kill the body by taking away the foode thereof wherein the life of the body consisted and buryinge it in a shrowde of sackloth In their workes they begin with fasting as it were the greater thinges of the lawe and end with sackecloth as the lesse For as Ierome noteth fasting is rather to be chosen without sackcloth then sackcloth without fastinge therfore is fasting put before sackecloth But if wee shall adioyne
had rotted in dung their soules beene drowned in perdition without repentance The ground and provocation of this their repentance is in the ninth verse Who knoweth if God will turne and repent c Faith in the mercies of God this is the star that goeth before the face of repentance the pillar of fire that guideth it in the night of her sorrowes and giveth her light and telleth her how to walke that shee stumble not For who would ever repent indeede if he had not hope that his sinnes might bee pardoned and therefore Ambrose noteth alluding vnto Peters denâ—alâ—es that men doe never truely repent but when Christ looketh backe vpon them For Peter denied the first time and vvept not because Christ lookt not backe denied a seconde time and vvept not because Christ lookt not backt but denied a thirde time and vvept bitterly because his master lookt backe vpon him And he lookt not backe so much with his outwarde and bodily eie as with the eie of his clemency The substantiall partes of repentance are in the latter parte of the eigth verse turning from their evill waies and from the wickednesse that was in their hands their diet and preparation to repentance fasting the habite and livery weerein they come sackcloath the libel or petition which they offer praier and strong cry You see the members of their decree first the ground of repentance faith secondly the substance of repentance newnes of life thirdly the body or couÌ„tenâ—nce of repentance spare thin fourthly the garments of repentance penetentiall and base fiftly the voice of repentance supplâ—â—nt lamentable More generally it hath two parts the one by negation denying something to the people of Niniveh in this 7. verse the other by affirmation prescribing enioining what they should doe in the eigth The negatiue and former part containeth only a fast let neither man nor beast bullocke nor sheepe taste any thing the antiquitie whereof maketh it venerable and the perpetuity vnto this day and to the ende of the vvorlde highly graceth it it is no new invention some haue derived it from paradise and made it as ancient as the first man for the forbidding of the tree of knovveledge they say was a lawe of abstinence The exercise of nature the lawe the gospell of Christ the practise of gentility it selfe if I name but Niniveh alone it vvere sufficient to prooue it but the storyes of gentility make it nore plaine Ceres had her fast Iupiter his and Priamus in Homer bewaileth the death of Hector with fasting in dust Patriarckes vsed it prophets forsooke it not Christ his disciples departed not from it the true childreÌ„ of the bride-chamber continue it at this day they mourne because the bridegroome is taken from them til his returne in the clouds of the aire they shall ever mourne But there are fasts of diverse kindes 1. there is a spiritual fast from sinne vnproper an translated but that which especially pleaseth God It is mentioned Esay 58. and Zach. 7. This is the great generall fast and a Lent of abstinence which we must all keepe consisting in the holines of our liues Niniveh fasted this fast but it fasted also otherwise There is a corporal fast from eating and drinking and such other refections as nature taketh pleasure in and this is either naturall prescribed by phisicke for healthes sake or aboue nature and miraculous such as the fast of Moses and Elias and the sonne of God for forty daies or civill and politique as the prohibition of Saule mentioned befor vvhich Ionathan vvas angrye vvith because the people vwaxed faint and Saule had no religious respect therein but an earnest purpose of heart of sparing no time from chasing the Philistines It is sometimes a fast of necessitie which we cannot avoid as in the time of dearth Aquinas calleth it â—eiuniuÌ„ ieâ—unii a fast of a fast because the earth forbeareth her fruits we forbear our food and vvoulde eate if vve had it and in this sense Basill calleth fasting the companion to poore men the other is â—eiunium ieiunantis the fast of him that fasteth that is a voluntary and free fast Lastly there is a christian and religious fast either common and ordinary vsing frugality in meates and drinkes at all times according to the warning of our Saviour See that your heartes bee not overcome at any time vvith surfetting and drunkennesse Or speciall and extraordinary aboue the custome but not beyond the nature of man for then the lavv of fastes is broken let the flesh bee tamed saith Ierome and not killed For he offereth an offering of robbery and bereaveth both GOD and man of his due vvho afflicteth his bodie overmuch with immoderate subtraction either of foode or rest Now the latter of these two is either private to one or few as to David and the friendes of Iob or publique as this of the people of Niniveh for it is said first to haue bin proclaimed secondly through out Niniveh In this fast of the Ninivites there are many thinges to be considered first it was timely secondly orderly thirdly vniversall fourthly exact fiftly not hypocriticall 1 The time which they tooke for fasting I meane not time in the common acception and sence thereof consisting of space and motion as when they beganne to fast and how long they endured vvhat daies of the moneth or weeke they made choise of this my text expresseth not I meane the season of the time the fitnes and oppertunity for such an action was in a suddaine terrouâ— of vtâ—er destruction Austin in an Epistle to Hesychius distinguisheth these two times and seasons so doth the Apostle in the first to the Thesâ—alonians and fift which the Latines have rendred tempora momenta times and momentes of times wherein there is waight and worth not to be omitted The former signifieth but space or leasure alone which passeth to fooles and wisemen alike the latter convenience or inconvenience for the doing of any thing So long as there shall be a sunne in the firmament which hath his course there shall bee a time for the handling of our actions but perhappes not a season As a man that gathereth his grapes at the first knotting thereof gathereth them in time but if he tarry the vintage then he gathereth them in season Now the fittest and convenientest time for a fast if you consider the fact of the Ninivites and peruse all the examples that are written in the booke of God is ever some extremity when the anger of God is thoroughly kindled and threatneth a wound to the whole body Me thinketh it should be in these publique fasts as the schoole-men write of their solemne penaunce which is seldome granted by Origen and by the Canonistes but once The reason is given by the maister of the sentences Ne medicina vilesceret least the medicine should grow in contempt by the common
than life Deus mitte mihi mortem accelera dies meos O LORDE send death vnto mee shorten my daies And sometimes sicknesse commeth indeede but then there is coursinge to and fro Phisitians are brought mony and giftes are promised and death it selfe perhappes speaketh vnto them Ecce adsum beholde here am I Thou calledst for mee thou desiredest the LORDE not longe since to sende mee VVherefore doest thou flye mee now I haue founde thee a deceaver and a lover of this vvretched life notvvithstandinge thy shew to the contrary It is the vse of vs all with the like forme of petitioÌ„ rather oâ— banning and imprecation to wish for death yea strange and accursed kindes of death wherein God sheweth a iudgement Let mee sinke as I stande let the earth open vnto mee let mee never speake worde more And every crosse and vexation of life make it irkesome and vnsavoury vnto vs vvoulde God I vvere dead If God shoulde then answere vs Ex â—re tuo out of your owne mouthes I graunte your requestes Be it vnto you according to your wordes howe miserable and desperate were our case But as olde Chremes in the Comedy tolde Clitipho his sonne a younge man and without discretion vvho because hee coulde not wringe from his father tenne poundes to bestowe vpon Bacchis his lover had none other speach in his mouth but Emâ—ricupio I desire to die First knovve I praie thee vvhat it is to liue vvhen thou haste learned that then if thy life displease thee vse these vvordes so first knowe my brethren you that are so hastye to pronounce the sentence of death against your selues vvhat belongeth to the life of a Christian vvhy it vvas given you by the LORDE of life to vvhat endes hee hath made you living soules what duties and offices hee requireth at your handes these thinges rightlye weighed if you thinke good call for death for by that time I thinke you vvill learne more vvisedome than to doe it It is good for you to see to the vvhole course and transaction of your liues they shoulde bee prelusions and preparations for a better life to come Beginne not then to liue vvhen you must giue over vvhich is the follie of most men or rather take heede that you giue not over life before you haue begunne it As one haire shall not fall from your heades vvithout GODS providence so nor the least haire and minute of time from your yeares vvithout his account taken But especially remember your end looke to the fallinge of the tree consider hovv the sunne goeth dovvne vppon you Novve if ever before cast your accountes you builde for heaven now if ever before bring forth your armies you fight for a kingdome Lay not more burthen of sinne vppon your soules at their going forth Let the last of your vvay be rest and the closing vppe of the day a sweete and quiet sleepe vnto you My meaninge is vvish not for death before you bee very ready for it Nay rather desire GOD to spare you a time that you may recover I say not your strength and bodilye abilitie but his favour and grace before hee plucke you away and you bee no more seene It is not comforte enough vnto you to saie Vixi quem dederat cursum natura peregi I haue lived indeede and finished some time vpon the earth vnlesse you can also adde your consciences bearing you vvitnesse and ministring ioy to the end of your daies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the seconde to Timothy and 4. chapter I haue finished my race I haue not onelye broughte it to an end but to a perfection though I haue died soone yet I haue fulfilled much time my life hath beene profitable to my countrye and to the Church of God and nowe I depart in his peace THE XLIIII LECTVRE Chap. 4. ver 4. Then saide the Lord Doest thou well to be angry The first of those 3. parts wherinto this chapter was devided touching the impatience discontentment of Ionas we haue in part discovered out of the former verses reserving a remnant thereof to be handled afterwardes The reprehension of God which was the 2. beginneth at these wordes and is repeated againe in the 9. verse vpon the like occasioÌ„ given by Ionas The mercy of God towardes his prophet manifesteth it selfe in this fatherly obiurgation many waies 1. That the Potter vouchsafeth huÌ„bleth himselfe to dispute with his Clay 2. that he is ready to giue a reason of all his actions as a righteous Lord who doth not enforce any thing by his absolute and meere authority but dealeth reasonably and iustly much more that the Lord speaketh vnto him who spake fretted against the Lorde giveth an accouÌ„t vnto him why he spared Niniveh of whoÌ„ no maÌ„ wisely durst to haue demaÌ„ded what dost thou that hee that dwelleth in light vnapproachable his counsailes are so high in the cloudes as who caÌ„ finde theÌ„ out placeth theÌ„ notwithstanding in the eies of the world to be examined sifted by the reason of man But most of all that he ministreth a word in season vnto Ionas wheÌ„ the streame of his anger was so violent that it bare him into an hearty desire longing after death then that the Lord intercepteth him aunswereth in his course as Elihu answered Iob Beholde I haue waited vpon thy wordes and harkened vnto thy speach whilst thou soughtest out reasons I will now speake in my turne shew thee mine opinion Doest thou well to be angry It is the singular wisedome of God without which pollicy it were hard for any flesh living to be saved that when we are running on in our sinnes wearying our selues in the waies of wickednes amongst other his retentiues stops he hath the hooke of reprehension to thrust into our noses pull vs backe againe Our iniquities would wander with out measure become rottennes in our bones our wounds woulde dwell for ever in our bowels and fester to the day of iudgement with out this medicine So wisedome began her lore Pro. 1. O yee foolish how long will ye loue foolishnes the scorner take pleasure in scorning the fooles hate knowledge She giveth vs our right names according to our corrupt natures for wisdome is able to iudge of fooles knoweth that without her instructioÌ„ we are wedded to our follies therefore she addeth turne ye at my correction loe I will powre out my minde vnto you make you vnderstand my words ClemeÌ„s Alexandrinus compareth our Saviour to an expert Musitian such as Terpander or Capito never were for hee singeth new songs hath sundry kindes of moodes and varieties to worke the salvation of man Sometimes he hath spoken by a burning bush vnto him sometimes by a cloude of water sometimes by a piller of fire that is he hath beene light to those that were obedient fire to those that rebelled and because flesh is more
house built by the hands of God should longer have continued thā that artificial tabernacle which himselfe had erected of such slender stuffe 3. It is thought that the colour of his arbour being greene and fresh pleased well his eies 4. That the sent of the leaves was not vnwelcome to his nostrelles Paulus de Palatio addeth other reasons of his ioy 1. He thinketh that Ionas was sicke through griefe of heart and that it much revived his soule to see the care which God had over him 2. He imagineth that Ionas perswaded himselfe even for this miracles sake that the people of Niniveh would not esteeme him as a false prophet Lastly hee accordeth to Saint Ierome and supposeth this tree to have beene common in Iudaea and therefore it much delighted Ionas to behold a tree of his owne countrey They adde moreover the sodainnesse of the miracle and that the gourd was so much the more gratefull vnto Ionas because it came vnlooked for But the most of these before alleadged are but sensible pleasures and there is no question but that which most affecteth him was the presence and favour of God so miraculously and extraordinarily shewed For that argument which Gedeon asked of God if God be with vs where are his miracles Iudg. 6. to seale vp his mercies towardes him the same doth the Lord bring in this place for the confirmation of Ionas That Ionas reioyced for the gourd I cannot dislike it argueth that he weighed and esteemed the blessings of God as they deserved Many though they fall vpon their heades as the dew of heaven vpon their ground yet are more senselesse in them and as they meete the motes in the sunne-beames so they entertaine the giftes of God as if they came by chance skarsely lending a thought to consider them Others are ioyfull enough of that which they are possessed of sometimes insolent and prowde their lookes and their gate have maiesty and disdaine in them against those who are not so plentifully visited but they litle regard the authour of those benefites who hath sent this ticket or remembrance to every man vpon the face of the earth what hast thou that thou hast not receaved Let Naball be the person and parable in whome I report onely chandging the name the history of all worldly men who having the riches of the earth take them as inheritance or due debt and spend them like Lords to fulfill their lustes meane-while not minding either sacrifice to God or reliefe to the poore or any way applying themselves to those endes for which they were enriched Naball 1. Sam. 25. had riches enough and mirth enough hee made a feast after his shearing like a king and his heart was merry within him the reason was for hee was very drunken there is the vse of his riches Besides the opinion of his mightines and wealth made him as drunke otherwise For the vsage of himselfe in the dispensation of his riches was so base every way that neither servant nor wife nor stranger gaue good report of him The servant vttereth his complaint he is so wicked that a man cannot speake vnto him the wife concealeth not hirs let not my Lorde regarde this wicked man for as his name is so is hee Naball is his name and folly is with him David oftentimes fretteth at his churlishnesse he hath requited mee evill for good who would not bestow a little portion of his substance to refresh the servants of David that walked at the feete of their Lord though they were a wall vnto him by day and by night and safegarded all that he had in the wildernes But his end was aūswerable to his deserving for it is said in the text the Lord smote him within ten daies that hee died and before that death of his body his heart died within him and hee was like a stone The best instruction is as we reioyce in these temporall blessings of God so to vse them that they may be our ioy for to some they are snares and destructions to receiue them with thanksgiving embrace them in measure and dispense them with wisedome to the honour of our bountifull God reliefe of afflicted Ioseph and a furtherance vnto vs to dischardge those Christian dueties wherevnto wee are bound Besides the acknowledging of the author the pleasure which Ionas tooke in the gourd was a signe that hee felt the sweetnsse and vse of the benefite which if you obserue is a blessing vpon a blessing for as the wise Preacher noted to every man to whome God hath given riches and treasure and giveth him power to eate thereof and to take his parte and to enioy his labour this is the gift of God the other are his giftes but this is a double gift Surely hee will not much remember the daies of his life because God aunswereth to the ioy of his heart Without which ioy and comfort of heart he will remember not onely the daies but the houres and minutes of his life and everye one is more bitter than other vnto him all the meate that hee eateth seemeth to be mingled with gall and his drinke spiced vvith worm-wood his clothes sit to straight vpon his body his body is a prison to his soule and his soule a burden clogg to it selfe Therfore the Preacher addeth ther is an evill which I haue seene vnder the sunne and it is much amongst men a man to whome God hath given riches and treasure and honour and hee wanteth nothing for his soule of all that it desireth but God giveth him not power to eate thereof but a stranger shall eate it vp this is a vanity and this is an evill sickenesse Ionas was not sicke of this disease for hee both enioyed the gourd perceived those comfortes and pleasures for which it was provided But what meaneth the immoderate and excessiue ioy that Ionas tooke therin for I come now to the measure of his affection It is true oftentimes which the Poet hath So foolish are we that while wee avoide one fault wee fall into the contrary Ionas is quickely angry and quickely pleased and very angry and very well pleased Whatsoever he is or doth he putteth full strength vnto it It is a great maistery saith Seneca to play a man kindly Of one whome thou sawest but yesterday thou maist aske the next who is this he is so much changed VVould a man know Ionas to be Ionas that had seene him before in his exceeding wrath and now should finde him so exceedingly well pleased This vvere enough for a childe whose limber and inconstant passions are every howre altered Yet Ionas bewraieth his weakenesse in the like mutability of māners sometimes boyling like a sea or like the river in Esay mightie and greate with abundance of choler sometimes as strongly over-borne vvith a contrary affection constant in nothing but in his inconstancie and never moderating himselfe with a milde and sober cariage as those vvaters of Shiloah
time is verie shorte it is but manè and vesperè which is the measure of one day Yet a very little vvhile and he that commeth commeth suddaine destruction shall come vpon the wicked as feare vpon a vvoman that travaileth with childe Howe suddainelie are they destroyed perish and come to a fearefull ende The service that God put the worme vnto was to smite the gourde as a messenger sent from heaven like his Angell to Nabuchodonosors tree with this commission Hew downe the tree The little worme with his teeth or rather no teeth but such feeble grinders as nature had armed it with smiteth the gourde and giveth it a mortall stroake as if a workeman had come of purpose to lay an axe to the roote of it Consider I beseech you the miraculous working of God as in the plaÌ„ting of this creature so in the overthrow of it It dieth not with age or continuance of time as annosa quercus the loÌ„g lasting oke or for lacke of soile and mould to the roote or because the spowtes of the aire restrained their dew from it but a little and base messenger with weapons of no power but that it was strengthened by the wil and might of God giveth it a blow and taketh the vegetation and life from it For the effect of all is that it withered So the authour of all is God the readinesse of his working preparation as of one never vnstored the minister a vvorme the time the morning the speede the next daie the worke smiting the gourd the effect vvithering Thus is the life of man tempered as the condition of Ionas was without the vvalles of Niniveh like a garment pieced togither of olde and newe cloath so this of sower and svveete and there are many and sore rentes in it Sometimes pleasure asswageth paine but most commonly paine killeth pleasure If our dayes were distinguished the good with white the evill with blackestones at the ende of our liues wee shoulde finde more blacke than vvhite Take a patterne from Ionas and see howe the blessings and scourges of God kisse one the other in this his banishment and rather the scourdges exceede Hee buildeth a tabernacle but it falleth is provided of a gourde but it withereth And insteed of that little momentanie ioye vvhich hee tooke therein commeth a vvorme and the sunne and a fervent vvinde and faintinge in his body and in his minde most intolerable languishment Beholde this image of alteration in the state of Ionas especiallye this of the gourde and tell mee if all the pleasures of our life are not fitly exemplified by it The pleasure in the dayes of Noah their eating drinking marrying and giving in marriage what was it but a gourde and came there not a worme from God that smote it a flowde that tooke them all away The mirth of the Philistines Iudges the sixteenth when Sampson was their laughing stocke and must bee called in to make them pastime was it more than a gourde vvherewith their hearts were merry for a while and they exceedingly reioiced And how quickely came a worme that smoate it vvhen the pillers of the house were shaken and fell vpon the Princes and all the people that vvere therein The peaceable daies of the wicked Iob the one and twentith their freedome from the rod of God their dauncing to the tabret and harpe all is but a gourd in an instant of time they goe downe to hell there is the vvorme that smiteth it But in the foure and twentith of Iob they shal be brokèn like a tree they come nearer to the smiting of the gourde heere spoken of And in the fifteenth before their branches shall not be greene but they shall bee cut of before their daie God shall destroie them as the vine her sower grape and shall cast them of as the Oliue doth her flower there are the right gourdes and their vvormes expressed The young-man hath his gourde to reioyce in Eccles. 11. The daies of his youth the cheerefulnesse of his hearte the lustes of his ovvne eies but let him remember the vvorme of iudgemente that shall smite that gourde The rich man hath his gourde Luke 16. purple and fine linnen and delicious fare every day and hee reioyceth vnmeasurably in this gourde for hee knovveth not vvhat the griefe of Lazarus meaneth but hee hath a vvorme that smiteth his gourde his pleasure vvithereth vvith himselfe hee dyeth and lyeth in the graue and crieth in hel for one droppe of raine to cherish his decayed gourd but hee is aunswered by Abraham 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou hadst thy gourde in thy life time novve it is deade and can never bee revived The goodly tabernacle of King Assuerus Esther 1. in the garden of his pallace vnder an hanginge of vvhite greene and blewe cloathes fastened vvith cordes of silke and purple in silver ringes and pillers of marble the beddes of golde and silver vpon a pauemente of porphyre and marble and alabastâ—r and blevve colour vvas but a tabernacle like the tabernable of Ionas His hundreth and seven and twenty provinces and his princes and capitaines thereof his throne in the pallace of Sushan his feasting according to the power of a king and to shew the glory of his kingdome his abundance of royall wine and chandges of vessels of gold the beawty of Vashtâ— his Queene all these were but a gourd and had their worme to consume them The treasures of Ezechias his silver and golde and spices and precious ointment and armory and all the store of his house which hee and his fathers had laid vp the souldiours of David a millian and halfe of fighting men Balthazar his thousand Princes wiues and concubines Assuerus his hundreth and seven and twenty provinces c. O what glorious shadowes do they cast over the heades of men with their hundreths and thousands and millians of branches to giue comfort vnto them how willingly do they say within themselues vnder the covert of these gourdes we wil sit and be at rest But they forget the worme some messenger from the Lord either sicknes or bands or death to smite these gourdes Medio de fonte leporum Surgit amari aliquid From the fullest fountaine of vvorldlye ioies floweth some bitternesse Adam vvanted not a serpent in the garden of God nor Ionas a worme on the East side of the citty where hee rathest delighted Harken vnto it yee that are bonde-slaues to the sundrie pleasures of this worlde you that suffer the good seede of admonition and instruction to bee choaked vvith these thornes the pleasures of this life Luke 8. for this is one of the thornes there spoken against you who esteeme to bee called the sonnes of Pharaohs daughter to be the dearlings of the pleasure of Egypt and bee set vpon the knees of the Delilah of this worlde and to enioy the reioycing of sinne for a season or rather as the Apostle in the spirit of prophecie long
and kennings in some sort but not sufficient measures to skanne it by It is well observed by Cassiodore vpon the 51. Psalme that the beginning thereof Have mercy vpon me O Lord is the onely voice quae nunquam discutitur sed tranquille semper auditur which is never examined suspended delaied deliberated vpon but evermore heard with peace and tranquillity from God And in the Psalme 136. you shall finde his mercye both the mother that bread and the nurse that to this day feedeth and to the end of the world shal cherish and maintaine al the workes of God It standeth there like a piller or bounder at the end of every verse an endlesse and durable mercy not onely to beautifie the Psalme but to note that the whole frame of the world and every content thereof in particular touching both creation and government oweth not onely their being but their preservation and sustenance to Gods goodnes 4. To leave the persons and to examine the thinges themselves what was a gourd a matter of nothing and in nature but a vulgar ordinary plant for there is a difference in trees as Deut. 20. there is a law made that in besieging a citty they shall not destroy the trees thereof by smiting an axe into them the reason is for thou mayest eate of them therefore thou shalt not cut them downe For the tree of the fielde is mans life Onelye those trees vvhich thou knowest are not for meate those thou shalt destroy and make fortes against the citty Nowe of this tree there vvas none other vse either for meate or for ought besides that he knew save onely for shadow From this difference of things our Saviour argueth Luke 14. when hee healed the man sicke of the dropsy vpon the sabboth day vvhich of you shall have an asse or an oxe fallen into a pit and will not straight way pull him our on the sabboth day For if they tendered the welfare of their beastes much more might he regard the life of man which was far more precious And it is there said that they were not able to aunswere him againe in those things they were so plainely evicted 5. Touching the accidents of this gourd if Ionas had planted nursed it vp which he did not he should have regarded it none otherwise than as a gourd he should not have doted vpon it as Xerxes is reported to have loved a plane-tree in Lydia and he could hardly be drawne away from it and Passienus Crispus twise Consul of Rome a mulberry tree they seeme to have beene some notable bovvers which they fel so in love with The nature of man is to love the works of his owne handes The Poet describeth it in the fable of Pigmalion arte suâ miratur hee is surprised with the liking of his owne arte Who planteth a vineyard saith the Apostle and eateth not of the fruite thereof For this is the ende why he planted it It is confessed Eccles. 2. to be the hand of God that wee eate and drinke and delight our soules with the profit of our labours Nabuchadonozor Dan. 4. boasteth of his greate pallace not which his fathers and progenitours had left vnto him but himselfe had built for the honour of his kingdome The Apostle telleth the Corinthians that hee had laid the foundation amongst them and that others did but builde vpon his beginninges and that although they had tenne thousand maisters in Christ yet had they not many fathers for in Christ Iesus hee had begotten them through the gospell Wherfore he requireth them in equity to be followers of him because they were his building and children and he had a right in their consciences which other men coulde not challendge Novv this vvas a tree wherein Ionas bestowed no labour nec arans nec serens nec rigans neither in preparing the ground nor in setting nor in dressing it was not his worke whereas the Ninivites were Gods creatures neither belonged that to his tuition or chardge to see it preserved whereas that people had evermore lived vnder Gods providence 6. If the continuance and diuturnity of time had bred any liking in Ionas towards the gourd because we coÌ„monly loue those things wherwith we are acquainted his passion might the better haue bene tolerated Nathan doth the rather amplifie the fault of David in taking away the poore mans sheepe because he had had bought it and nourished it vp and it grew vp with him and vvith his children Length of time commendeth many things It commendeth vvine vvee say the olde is better It commendeth wisedome Counsaile must be handled by the aged speres by the young It commendeth truth Id verius quod prius The first is truest It commendeth custome thou shalt not remoue the auncâ—ent boundes which thy fathers haue set It commendeth friendshippe thine owne friend and thy fathers friend forsake thou not forsake not an olde friend for a new will not bee like vnto him It commendeth service in the fielde dost thou despise the souldiours of thy father Philippe saith Clytus to Alexander and hast thou forgotten that vnlesse this olde Atharias had called backe the young men when they refused to fight wee had yet stucke at Halicarnassus Lastly it commendeth our dwellinge places possessions Barzillai telleth David vvho vvoulde faigne haue drawne him alonge vvith him I am foure-skore yearee olde let mee returne to mine ovvne citâ—ye and be buryed in the graue of my father and mother And Naboâ—h telleth Ahab the Lorde keepe me from giving the inheritance of my father vnto thee It would somwhat more haue commended the gourd if Ionas had long enioyed the vse thereof which he did not it was but the child of a night both in rising and falling sodainely sprung vp and sodainely dead againe So there is neither price in it because it is but a gourd nor propriety because he had not laboured for it nor prescription of long acquaintance because it was soone dead Now that which is set against the gourd on the other side is by name Niniveh by forme a citty by quantity a great citty and shall not I spare Niniveh that great citty Niniveh at this time the heade of Assiria the fame and bruite wherof filleth the world and holdeth the people in awe by reason of her soveraigne government Niniveh no villadge or hamlet of the East but a citty that had walles gates for so is the nature of a citty described we haue a strong citty salvation shall God set for our walles and bulwarks Esay 26. and the people wherof are inclosed within orders and lawes as the buildinges within fences Niniveh no small citty in Assiria as Bethlehem was in Iudah or as the litle city of Zoar which Lot fled into but a lardge and spacious citty in circuite of ground but for the number of inhabitants most populous and abundant Now the greater the place is the