mightie proud of his trees and fruits and shadowes very likely that doating on them he would not so soone haue parted with thē as Adam did Yes possibly much sooner if possibly that might be when he shewed himselfe so fantasticall any toy would soone haue turned him who was vp and downe with such trifles 10 Hereafter do not maruell that the Lord forbiddeth men to glorie in greater matters Let not the wise man glorie in his wisedome nor the strong man glorie in his strength neither the rich man glorie in his riches but let him that glorieth glorie in this that he vnderstandeth and knoweth me when a Prophet shall be pleased in such silly shadowes as if it were in some celestiall ioy For the emphasis of the word doth intend that he was very highly pleased And yet it is a thing much vaine to set too great affection on strength or wit or wealth or any terrestriall matter For do we not a wrong to God and much spoile him of his honour that when we are to loue him with all our heart and all our soule to thinke of him to rest in him to make him our meditation and to vse all other creatures but as his gifts and blessings by a million of degrees subordinate to himselfe and only to be employed to the setting forward of his seruice we will dreame of them and thinke of them sleeping and waking in company and alone Do not parents thus oftentimes set their hearts vpon their children and make almost Gods of them at euery word my sonne or my boy or little girle and when they grow somewhat bigger there are no children like their children the wind may scant blow on them the very ground is the better that they do go vpon the sleepe is neuer too much broken nor the belly too much pinched to heape vp trash for these children Yea from whom will they not pull euen the widow and the fatherlesse to enrich this their delight Do they not grieue to part with a peny to the vse of the most holy businesses because it may diminish their portions This made Saint Austen say For whom do they keepe their riches for their children he aunswereth and they againe for their children and the third descent for theirs But what is here for Christ what is here for thy soule Is euery whit for thy children Among their sonnes on earth let them thinke vpon one brother aboue in heauen on whome they should bestow all or at the least deuide with him But Christ and God shall stand backe when it commeth to these daintie children Now to speake plainly was this the end wherefore thou beggedst children at the hand of thy maker to delight thy soule with them Was this the cause wherefore God gaue them that they might thrust him out from the habitation of thy heart Thou doest vse his blessings fairely to ioy more of the gift then thou doest of the giuer not to thinke who sent the tree but to ioy onely in the shadow It is oddes of many to one but that thy wantons afterward will worke thee as much ioy as Elies children did to their doting father that is bring a curse on thee or them or as Dauids sonnes did to him when Amnon rauished Thamar and Absolon slue Amnon 11 Looke what is here said of children is as true also of beautie God doth giue to some the countenance of a Ioseph or a Hester of purpose to remember them that as their bodies exceed so their soules should go beyond their fellowes in deuotion in sanctitie and all vertue else the out-side will be faire and the in-side will be foule it will be but a painted sheath it will be but a whited sepulcher But it falleth out oftentimes that in steed of thankfulnesse and humilitie there groweth such an ouer-liking of this fraile and brittle shew that God is displeased therewith Heathen men haue thought vpon the fading of this flowe◠Forma bonum fragile est Beautie is but a brittle good thing O formose puer nimium ne crede colori O faire boy do not trust too much to thy colour Both Salomon and his mother although she were a woman and certainly very faire yet haue recorded this for euer that fauour is deceitfull and beautie is but vanity Yet do we not know that some take more pleasure in this then Ionas did in his shadow For he did this onely for a day but they do it all the prime of their youth and that with such affectation such earnestnesse and such labour as indeede pride is painfull that in the morning and euening their cogitations are set on their clothing and kemming yea perhaps on Iezabels art and it may be that in their sleepe they dreame of it too If that Pambo of whome Socrates doth write were now aliue he might haue worke many times For he once beholding a woman most curiously trimmed and exquisitly tifted vp broke foorth into bitter teares and being asked the reason he assigned two causes of it one was that she should take such paines to helpe forward the destruction of her owne soule and the other was that she was more carefull of her face to entise men vnto lust then she was of pleasing God I thinke now he might much sooner find examples of such things then Diogenes could find a man But for the male sexe are there not which take more care of their slicking and of their platting then of the kingdome of heauen Did Ionas more set his heart on the shadow of his head then they do on their haire He chode with God for the one they will stand to the vttermost with Gods officers his vice-gerents vpon earth for the other yea be thrust from a societie or be clapped vp in prison rather then part with that fleece There were such in the dayes of Seneca whose words if they be too bitter lay the fault vpon him and imagine that I do but cite them How are they angry saith he if ought be cut off from this mane if ought be out of order if euery thing fall not into those round rings or hoopes Which of these had not much leifer that all the state should be troubled then his haire be displotted who is not much more carefull of the grace of his head then of his health who maketh not more account to be compt then to be honest Will you thinke that these men are idle who haue so much worke as they haue betweene the combe and the glasse If this speech do seeme somewhat hard the fault must lye vpō Seneca but surely he saw some as proud and glad of their tricknesse as Ionas was of his shadow Saint Austen was not so Stoicall but a more sociable man let vs rather therefore heare him Thou art not well powled saith a graue man vnto a wanton youth it doth not become thee to go with such feakes and lockes But he
fellowes do with open mouth most bitterly inueigh yet they neuer can be able by sound truth to condemne them Their choyse was hard that either their vow must be broken by them or else they must beare about a dayly sinne in their bodies They aduentured on the lesser fault I doubt not but asking pardon for the rash and vnaduised oath which they had taken And God doth forgiue vs such things when we call to him by repentance as may very well be gathered from the fifth Chapter of Leuiticus where was appointed an offering as a kind of satisfaction for him who had vowed any thing which he afterward doth find out not to be in his powor to accomplish Charitie doth bid me thinke that those fathers in the Gospell and excellent men in the faith did enter into wedlocke with all labour to satisfie a good conscience towards God And therein their owne hearts might be the best witnesse and direction to themselues Yet the person who hath so vowed and in so doing hath not done well let him feare to breake that vow causelesse by a licentious libertie and if God do giue the gift of chastitie let him liue in continency if he can as otherwise for the honour giuen to virginitie in the Scripture so for his vowes sake also And so much I thought good to teach concerning vowes by occasion of the words of the Prophet Ionas wherein if I haue bene ouer-long let this excuse the matter that this doctrine is few times handled and now the text did minister opportunitie That second part which now followeth I will ouerrunne most briefly Saluation is of the Lord. 19 Many of the old interpreters and Hierome among other not obseruing such a distinction or point which ought to be in the sentence haue ioyned these words with the former and so caused the sence of all to be troubled The Hebrew hath it thus Saluation is to the Lord which the most carefull expositours do plainely expresse by Saluation is from the Lord. Tremelius doth interprete it All manner of saluation or sauetie is to Iehouah So that here the Prophet gathering by a constant faith that after his great feares in the sea and in the whale he should be freed from all perill and enioy his life once againe ascribeth all to God and with this Epiphonema maketh conclusion of his prayer acknowledging that whatsoeuer came vnto him well was from the Almightie For to whom should he impute it but onely vnto him whose inconceiuable power he had felt before to the full who to punish and chastise him had the ayre and water at his commaundement and had for three dayes kept him aliue in the fishes bellie Now if he should bring him to libertie out of bondage and desolation and should pardon his sinne and transgression he had great reason to magnifie his mercie and goodnesse ouer him Mine ayde commeth not from me I cannot helpe my selfe it cometh not from fortune or blind chaunce there is no such thing in nature not from any lying vanitie of idoll or heathen God but from the all-sufficient Lord who can helpe when he pleaseth and raise vp when he lifteth he putteth downe and setteth vp he doth what himselfe will If I haue hope of any thing it is deriued from him 20 Yea vnder this generall speech he remembreth vnto all that euery of their escapes from daunger are onely from the Lord. If the Israelites be deliuered from the bondage of the Egyptians if Dauid get from Saul if Elias be freed from Iezabel this good doth come from that father who sitteth aboue in heauen Or if any one of vs being layd for by the malice of cruell and wicked men be not made a pray to their power or deceiuing pollicy it is not of our wit neither is any flesh our arme but this safety is of the Lord. And if we will looke higher the deliuery of our soules from the chaynes and bands of Satan the sauing of vs from the violence of all our ghostlie enemies the redeeming of vs from sinne the incorporating of vs into his owne Sonnes body the bringing of vs to that glorious liberty of the sonnes of God is the worke of the Almighty Not vnto vs ô Lord not vnto vs but vnto thy name giue the glorie We may say as the Elders say in the Reuelation of Iohn to Christ the Lambe of God Thou art vvorthy to take the booke and to open the seales thereof because thou vvast killed and hast redeemed vs to God by thy bloud out of euery kinred and tongue and poeple and nation and hast made vs vnto our God kings and priests and vve shall raigne on the earth nay we shall raigne in the heauen But the whole worke of our ransome onely belongeth to the Trinitie As Ionas concludeth that prayer of his which hath bene so full of passion so do I end at this time saluation is to the Lord. Let vs pray to him to blesse vs still that by grace giuen vnto vs we may be sonnes of adoption and at last be brought to saluation which himselfe graunt vnto vs for his blessed Christs sake to both whom with the holy Spirite be maiesty power and glory both now and euermore Amen THE XV. LECTVRE The chiefe poynts 1. Gods fatherly affection toward sinners 4. He commandeth his creatures at his pleasure 6. Ionas is cast on land 7. A figure of Christs resurrection 9. We also shall rise againe 10. Comfort to the heauy heart 11. A comparison betweene Ionas and Arion 13. The whole narration of Arion is a fable 15. Some wonders are wrought by the Diuell 16. who doth much imitate God 17. and seeketh to discredit Gods word by his fables 19. How the Scriptures might be obscurely knowne by the old Poets and Philosophers 20. But they corrupt the diuine stories 21. Humane learning is fit for a Minister Ionah 2.10 And the Lord spake vnto the fish and it cast vp Ionas vnto the drye land IT is not without cause that so oftentimes in the Scriptures God is compared to a father and called by that name as Our father vvhich art in heauen and Ye shall therefore be perfect as your father vvhich is in heauen is perfect And as a father hath compassion on his children so hath the Lord compassion on them that feare him for he beareth a verie father-like and naturall affection to all those who are chosen to be his If they be led by weakenesse into diuerse temptations or by infirmity of their flesh be stained with great transgressions he looketh angrily for a time and with a terrible countenance seuerely frowneth on them but yet in the middle of his iustice he remembreth mercy and doth not vtterly reiect them nor cast them away It may be that he doth chastise them with parent-like correction according to the measure and qualitie of their crime yea he layeth smart blowes on them not sparing to strike them till he
man and the loftinesse which he conceiueth should not be the ruine of manie What is the cause saith Saint Bernard of such fury many times Nothing else saith he but this that the diuision of the Angels doth not please mortall men For they say Glorie to God on high and peace to men but vvhile men do seeke the glorie they do disturbe the peace The Prophet in this place is sicke of this disease Let Niniue and ten Niniues sincke burne or do what it will he had leifer haue his minde satisfied then all the world besides Whereof because he feareth that he shall faile he will take such a course as in the end proueth little to his owne ease He ariseth as God bad him and away he goeth with haste but better that he had halted so it had bene in the right way then to run with speed in a wrong way And thus now hauing heard the reasons which are by anie supposed to put him besides his dutie let vs see the course which he taketh He went downe to Iapho c. 12 The Septuagint translate it he went vp to Iapho but Hierome doth dislike it being moued thereto both by the Hebrew word and by his owne experience For liuing long as he did in the holy land as we commonly call it he saw that Iapho did stand low and therefore to be more fit for descending then ascending It is a hauen towne in Palestina standing vpon the Mediterrane sea and it is the same which is called Ioppa in the tenth of the Actes whither Cornelius sent for Peter This is one of those townes which the Christians sometimes in their voyage to the holy land did recouer from Saladine the great king of Egypt and it had afterward bene regained by him but that Richard the first then king of this land being returning on his iourney for England did bring backe his armie and succour it at need as Neubringensis writeth From this Iapho our Prophet would go vnto Tarshish which some haue thought to be the old citie Carthage and Hierome himselfe though not in this place yet in the seuen and twentieth of Ezechiel doth reade Carthaginiens where as we reade men of Tarshish Yet because we are not sure that Carthage was then built for this Prophecie is auncient and Salomons time more auncient when Tarshish was right famous which I thinke Carthage was not I therefore followe them who take it for Tarsus a towne of Cilicia in Asia the lesser which was nearer to the Iewes and well knowne among them as may be gathered by Pauls speech saying that he was borne there and calling it a famous citie in Cilicia I am the more induced hereunto because Iosephus reciting this storie saith expresly that Ionas meant to flie to Tarsus in Cilicia And I suppose this to be the place whither Salomon did send for things of pleasure and of profit when it is said that he sent vnto Tarshish for gold and siluer and iuorie and Apes and peacockes 13 This Citie then being a place of great traffike whither marchants did frequent to buy and sell wares doth yeeld probable coniecture although no necessarie inference that Ionas not liking his message to Niniue wold now for worldly respects leaue his calling and become a marchant It would wel haue becommed him to renounce his vocation and fallen to merchandising His sanctified gifts would haue well serued to that purpose That calling in it self is certainly not vnlawfull but yet not lawfull to euerie man There are in it as by men it is commonly vsed great occasions of abuses and those so great that Syracides saith of it A marchant cannot lightly keepe him from vvrong And As a naile in the wall sticketh fast betweene the ioynts of the stones so doth sinne sticke betweene the selling and buying Cyrus the king of Persia did note great fraud and deceipt to be in the Greeks when he could say of them that he feared not such men as had a place emptie in the midst of their citie to the which they gathering euery day beguiled one another with othes and swearing These wordes saith Herodotus did Cyrus cast foorth against all the Greekes because they had large market places wherin they vsed their traffiking as among vs might be a Bource or Exchange Let this rather be a fault of the persons then of the things since God hath ordained that trade to his glorie to the vse of nauigation to the discouerie of countreys to the communicating of cōmodities in one nation to another to the bringing in of such things as are comfortable to man yea seruiceable in religion as wine to vs Northerne people to be vsed in the Sacrament as the best representation of the bloud of Christ Iesus But howsoeuer for a Prophet to leaue his preaching in the name of the Lord and fall to marchandising if we will take it so was a fault in the highest degree to run from God to men from heauen vnto earth 14 I find in the new Testament that from towl-gatherers and fishers men came to be Apostles and I know that after their sanctifying for a need they did vse their occupations as the Apostles went a fishing and Saint Paule did make tents but these things were but as hand-maidens to the studie of Diuinitie and to the Mistresse the word but that preaching was left for anie of these I thinke a man may turne the whole Bible ouer and ouer againe and find no such example Onely this it was small praise to Demas as here it is to Ionas that he left S. Paule and embraced this present world In our time let mē take heed whō God hath blessed with verie good gifts that it be not layd vnto their charge that they with Ionas haue chosen to do something else as to be farmors or graziers or husbandmē in the country rather then to preach the word whereunto in former time they were in shew selected I speake not in bitternesse but rather do grieue at it The Church hath had a wound by it If when they did teach before they preached and were not called that were a grieuous fault to run not be sent If they formerly were called then who hath now recalled thē Those things about which they faint and fall are not of that moment as is the preaching of the word I do not yet find any thing either expresly or by consequent directly to be drawne throughout the whole booke of God for the leauing or refusing of this or of that garment so of other circumstances which somtimes were in question but I am sure that I find this plainely wo is vnto me if I preach not the Gospel I do iudge no mans consciēce but leaue that to the Lord. Yet to speake mine opinion I do feare that it cā be but smal cōfort to the heart of a true Christian in so glorious a time of the Gospel as we haue
by that knowledge which he yet retained notwithstanding his fall that this punishment was assigned to him by the Lord. This must be the satisfaction for his great disobedience Now againe his faith reuiueth by which he had some foresight of all Gods purpose ouer him This was peculiar to our Ionas by his Propheticall knowledge and may not be followed by vs. It is not any protection for vs to bid any other throw our selues into the sea 27 Besides this I do not doubt but as Samson was a figure of the Sauiour of the world so Ionas also was although not in euerie matter as once before I haue noted yet in this his drowning here Christ himselfe did expound the lying of the Prophet for three dayes in the whales bellye to be a signe of his owne buriall and lying in the earth The death of the Sauiour was to him a meanes of his buriall so here the casting out of Ionas into the sea by the mariners was the meanes whereby he lay three dayes and three nightes in the bellye of the whale Ionas is willingly drowned here Christ also there dyeth willingly he yeelded vp his Ghost no man could take it from him Ionas alone must suffer to saue the rest of the ship Christ alone did treade the wine-presse and Christ doth dye alone to stay his fathers wrath to saue all his elect You see that he is an excellent type of Iesus Christ the righteous But as it is impossible that comparisons should hold in all things and there is none who in euery matter may be likened vnto Christ because he had no fellowes he cannot be tryed by his peeres so there is this one difference that Ionas when he suffered was alone in all the fault and Iesus in his suffering was onely without all fault because he was that immaculate lambe in whose mouth was found no guile When I first looked into this text which I haue now opened vnto you I did thinke to haue said something farther in or concerning the person of Christ whom our Prophet doth represent I meant to haue mentioned his readinesse to dye that he might redeeme vs sinners and so briefly out of the new Testament to haue giuen some comfort amidst all these threates of Ionas But in handling this last question matter hath growne vpon me and I loue not to be tedious I will therefore deferre that till I come to the fifteenth verse where the like occasion is againe fitly offered vnto me In the meane time let vs meditate on the excellent loue of Christ who would dye so willingly for vs the iust for the vniust to bring vs vnto his kingdome To the attaining whereof he alwayes further vs to whom in the perfection of the Trinitie be glorie and prayse for euermore THE VII LECTVRE The chiefe points 1 The vnwillingnesse of the mariners to put Ionas to death 4 Great slownesse should be vsed in taking away life 6. Against killing of men to offer to Idols 7. and other cruell massacrings 9. As that of the Anabaptistes 14. The force of the sea 16. It is some sinne that maketh many not to prosper 20. God reuengeth innocent bloud 22. Enforcement doth not excuse euill 23. We must yeeld to Gods will Ionah 1.13.14 Neuerthelesse the mē rowed to bring it to the land but they could not for the sea wrought and was troublous against thē Wherefore they cried vnto the Lord said We beseech thee ô Lord vve beseech thee let vs not perish for this mans life and lay not vpon vs innocent bloud for thou ô Lord hast done as it pleased thee IOnas being of a Prophet become a sinner of a sinner a prisoner as oft times you haue heard is examined by his companie but condēned by himselfe as a grieuous malefactour worthy to be drowned in the sea So much did his sinne crie for vengeance so vehemently did his God make after him But the miserie of his miserie is that since he must needes suffer for otherwise the fault which his owne mouth hath acknowledged cannot be satisfied for he wanteth some man that may do the deed The place is ready and the person who thinketh euerie thought of time to be verie long before the matter be dispatched but there wanteth an executioner He might not do as Saule did fall on his owne sword point himselfe when his harnesse-bearer would not depriue him of his life This had argued too great dispaire But he might wish with Nero that in the course of iustice he might haue some friend or enemie to helpe him vnto his end But among these blustering mariners he could not finde that fauour Although himselfe accuse himselfe and lay his fault plaine before them although windes and waues did confirme it although the lot throwne did assure it although in wordes he did desire to be cast into the water yet those who should haue done it do so ill like of the matter that if sayles or oares can serue they will backe againe to the land rather leaue their intended iourney then vse any violence toward him They rowed to bring the ship backe vnto the land 2 The word which is vsed here comming of Chathar in the Hebrew doth signifie they did digge either because men do thrust into the water with oares as in digging they do with other instruments on the land like as in Latin Poetry the bottome of the ship is sayd to plow the water sulcare to make things like furrows in it or because as men in digging do turn this way and that way stir moue the ground so they stirred vp their wits did beate their brayns and thoughts to free him from the danger For his sake they vsed all such helpes as they had at sea We know that they be not many either sayling by the wind or rowing by the oare tall ships do know the one the galleys goe with the other But as it may be iudged out of the monuments of antiquitie and partly may be seene in some at this day euerie ship in old time had both the one the other When the wind wanted for their sayling their armes did vse to fall a rowing In this place I doubt not but that the storme had so ouerlayd them that their tackling in generall did serue them to little purpose The shift which then remained was to see if by cleane strength against both wind and water they might winne the land by their rowing backward Forward they could not get therfore they wil retire rather then drown the Prophet Their businesse is forgotten their hast shall stay a while rather then destroy his life 3 When aduisedly I consider how many things here should vrge those mariners to hasten him vnto death their disturbance in their iourney the casting foorth of their wares which goeth against the soule of a wordly minded creature the indangering of their liues the discouery by a lot the confession of himself
ordaineth to the kingdome he doth teach the way to that kingdome Christ Iesus who is the life is also the way he that giueth the one graunteth the other Where he intendeth to bestow the end there he doth first bestow the meanes which shall leade to that end We are chosen not being holy but that we should be holy God then contemplating in himselfe his counsell which is immutable retaineth still his secret purpose and whom he hath once choâ—en that man he chooseth euer Whome he loueth he loueth to the end neither doth he for euermore cast one of his little ones out of his sight 5 Then it is a wrong opinion either of the Papist teaching or the Prophet here mistrusting that any of Gods faithfull ones can be finally cast away Saule may haue a spirite of Prophecie and Iudas another spirit of doing miracles and both of these may come to naught but where the spirite of adoption that spirite of sanctification hath once made his residence it doth euer inhabite there The child of God shall be brought to repentance and acknowledgement of his fault to confession and contrition and faith and hope and glorie through many seas of temptation and downefals of despaire through Vrias his death with Dauid through denying of Christ with Peter Either youth or age life or death in him that is elected shall apprehend the promises Be it the ninth houre or the eleuenth houre yet there shall be a time The Eternals beneplacitum shall haue his effect vndoubtedly And although that holy man Moses can desire to be razed out of Gods booke rather then his people should perish and Saint Paule wisheth that he might be accursed to saue those which were his countreymen in the flesh yet this shall but shew their great zeale and loue vnto their brethren as also their earnestnesse for Gods glorie which they thought might more appeare by sauing of a multitude then by their priuate safetie but this tainteth not Gods decree who will certainely make vp his worke wheresoeuer he beginneth it And if the Spirit of the Almightie doe in some places of the Scripture speake of blotting out of that booke which is the booke of life this is not by and by to be taken literally but that God therein doth frame himselfe to our capacitie as sometimes in like sort he attributeth a foote or hand or eare or eye to his owne diuine Maiestie In all which other places of the same qualitie the speech of Origene is most true that as the most ciuill man if he were to goe among Barbarians as suppose the Moores or Tartarians had neede to learne the language of that people if he meane to speake vnto them or do any good among them so when the Lord would teach vs in the Scriptures he contempereth his phrases to our capacitie and speaketh to vs in our owne toung And this he doth in the case in question resoluing by the speech of wiping out of Gods booke an assurednesse that they shall neuer haue anie portion in the fellowship of eternitie But if it seemed vnto anie that they were likely to be of the number of the elect yet that seeming should be frustrate Notwithstanding the purpose of his good pleasure in truth is neuer varied 6 Then whosoeuer is once growne vnto that measure of faith that vpon a setled knowledge he can meditate in himselfe of Gods true loue toward him and can satisfie his owne soule not with a foolish lightening or hastie fond perswasion which may befall an hypocrite or temporarie beleeuer but with a resolued confidence that his God is his father also and dareth to cry Abba father that he is sealed vp by his maker against the day of redemption that he is one of that number whome Christ hath bought with his bloud that whether he liue or dye yet euermore he is the Lords that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come no that neither hell nor diuell shall be able to separate him from the loue of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord this man neede not stand in feare of casting out of Gods sight or perishing from his fauour And if that his sinne or Satan sometimes suggest the contrarie or his owne heart do discourage him this is but a temptation which notwithstanding must be strongly resisted with heartie and earnest prayer For the infallible word of God hath taught vs to say with Saint Paule if God be on our side what matter vvho be against vs And God iustifieth vvho shall condemne And with Saint Iohn in his first Epistle I vvrite those things that ye may knovv that ye haue eternall life And vve know that he heareth vs And vve know that vve are of God We doe not rest vpon our selues this full certaine perswasion this assurednesse of hope for that were to build on the sand that were to leane on a reede which breaketh and the splints thereof do run into the hand but we stay it vpon the power of God and on the loue of our Christ from the hands of whom none are able to plucke that away which they haue chosen In confidence of this a man may be bold to say although I be sicke yet God is mighty although I be weake yet Christ is strong looke what is too light in my flesh that his Spirit doth make vp His grace is sufficient for me I dare to say with Saint Bernard and it is an excellent saying Three things I consider vvherein my hope doth consist the loue of his adoption the truth of his promise the power of his performance Novv let my foolish cogitation murmure as long as it vvill saying Who art thou or knowest thou hovv great that glorie is or by vvhat merites thou hopest to obtaine it And I vvill aunswer boldly I knovv vvhom I haue trusted and I am assured that in very great loue he adopted me and that he is true in his promises and able in his performance for he can do vvhat he vvill This is that strong foundation whereon we may build safely this is the stay of a Christian vnto the measure whereof if any shall find that yet he hath not attained let him pray to God to enlarge his knowledge and vnderstanding But let vs most firmely hold this that whom he hath once chosen to a true feeling of his grace he doth neuer vtterly cast them away from his sight and good fauour This then was the fault of our Ionas and argued in him great infirmity when he broke foorth into this passion which sauoured so of desperation And so much of this matter Yet vvill I looke againe toward thy holy Temple 7 You haue now seene him at the worst for worse he could not well be a prisoner in a straunge dungeon without light without company without comfort in a whales belly so disquieted in his
knoweth saith Austen that his haire doth please I know not whom He hateth thee reprehending him with true iudgement and keepeth in himselfe what he liketh with peruerse counsell But to follow this point no farther let nothing which God giueth be delighted in too much let vs take such things as he offereth vs for helpes and vse them accordingly but let vs not esteeme of moale-hils as if they were mightie mountaines not of shadowes as of graces not of transitorie trifles as of heauenly and spirituall ioyes not of creatures as of God Our great ioy must be in the Lord other things must be but appendices and additaments and circumstances As we need not be vnsensible whē such things are bestowed vpon vs so we must take heed of exceeding gladnesse and ouermuch ioying in them lest besides the offence to God that end come on them quickly which did light here vpon the couer of Ionas which now commeth in the third place to be deliuered to you The Lord prepared a worme 12 When Ionas thought with himselfe that he had such a pleasing knacke as no man had the like it is all dashed on the sudden The Lord prepared a worme Perhaps it was a caterpillar perhaps of some other kind and this the very next morning after that the Prophet was in his glorie came and gnawed the stalke of his shrowde and made it forthwith wither so that the shadow and greennesse of that which the man before esteemed as his chiefe delight did perish in a moment Now might this vexed soule easily learne that his loue before was vaine whē a little worme was able to ouerturne his felicitie Looke what course God vsed here in this his extraordinarie worke the same he oftentimes doth vse in matters which are more common When things come to vs in hast as this tree did here in one night they as hastily part againe When riches come too quickly they quickly take their flight Sudden glories decay suddenly When we behold greene things to shew themselues as with a kind of violence we may feare a quicke dissolution The fruite which is soonest ripe is found to be soonest rotten When children in tender yeares do abound with incredible wits as being ouer forward they hold out few times long God doth recompence that in towardlinesse which he denieth in time when he hath made them fit he taketh them to himselfe When the greennesse and the freshnesse and shade is more then it should be then feare some worme which may gnaw some sicknesse which may dissolue this rath-ripe soone-rotten fruite 13 But this doctrine is yet more generall for if there be any thing come it soone or come it late whereon the heart is too much set God hath meanes to destroy it and the more our ioy is on it the rather he doth remooue it For there is nothing here of longer lasting then seemeth good to himselfe and to speake generally here is nothing of continuance Rockes themselues do consume great towers come tumbling downe the timber hath his rottennesse the iron hath his rust the garments haue their mothes The fauour of mightie Princes hath a sudden worme of mutation Ioab the greatest about Dauid is by the mouth of Dauid designed to execution Parmenio and Philotas as they felt the sweet of Alexander so they felt the bitter also Honest Seneca had hard measure at the hands of his scholer Nero. So riches haue their wings to fly away when we most need them Iob the mightiest in all the East is poore euen to a Prouerbe Haman who was so glorious that he thought to haue deuoured a whole nation for one pray is suddenly stripped of all yea and put from his life too So it is for health and so for wit Tullus Hostilius the king of Rome who before was healthfull and an able stirring man lyeth afterward drowping with sicknesse The Emperour Iustinus who thought that he had wit at will lost it all and became a mad man Then what is there here wherewith a wise man would be in loue especially to ioy in it so as to count it his high contentment when there is not the least moment but in it all may be dissolued and a departure made of this felicitie but i◠none of so many good things as the world reputeth them be diminished yet there commeth some small matter besides which spilleth all the glorie of them Heare what Austen saith of this It is a true and worthie saying Although mad ioyes be no ioyes indeede yet be they as they be and delight they what they can the gloriousnesse of riches the swelling pompe of honour the deuouring of daintie fare the warres which are seene on stages the vncleannesse of harlotrie the wantonnesse of bathes yet if there come but a little ague it taketh away all these and depriueth men while they liue of this false beatitude There remaineth an emptie and wounded conscience which must feele the Lord for a iudge whome it would not haue for a keeper and find him a rough maister whome it did despise to seeke vnto and loue as a sweet father Such is the knowne vncertaintie and vanitie of those things which this world yeeldeth to vs and therefore we are well helped vp to set our hearts vpon them 14 To weane vs from such thoughts and make vs see our folly when we let our eyes be dazeled with the brightnesse of such a glasse God doth take away that wherein our pleasure did most consist that when we haue admired some things of this world as excellent and thought them to be great yet lose them in a trice we may see how vaine they be and so direct our thoughts our hopes and meditations vnto that which is more lasting And this he doth to vs in his fatherly discretion for as the burned child dreadeth the fire so when by sound experimēt it shall be beaten into vs that we haue leaned but on that which is like a broken reede which faileth and peraduenture hurteth too we may afterward passe by such things as not esteeming them at all or but thinke of them in their place And this is a certaine argument of Gods friendly mind vnto vs that in the end he meaneth to bring vs home to himselfe because he cutteth off such snares and intanglements and impediments as would plucke vs from heauenly studies he maketh the wildernesse tedious and bitter and smartfull to vs that we may the more long for Canaan But he suffereth the worldlings and Epicures to enioy their fill their pleasures do stand with them and follow one another that they may haue their heauen here their glorie vpon earth for elsewhere they shall not see it that being full fed with earthly and temporarie delights they may be in loue with those follies and choking vanities And that is the cause why wicked and vnmortified men being readie to dye do account it a hell vnto them to leaue all and