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
Put and Lubim were her helpers yet was shee carried awaie and vvent into captivitie her young children were broken in pieces at the heade of all the streetes and they cast lots for her noble men and all her mightie men were bounde in chaines The reason holdeth by equality the strength and puissance of No was abased and thy mighte shal be cast downe It was afterward accomplished vpon Niniveh because shee was full of bloud full of lies and robbery a maistres of witchcraftes her multitude vvas slaine and the deade bodies were manie there was no ende of her carkases and they euen stumbled as they went vpon her corpses Mercurius Trismegistus sometime spake to Asclepius of Aegypt after this sort Art thou ignorant O Asclepius that Aegypt is the image of heaven c. And if vvee shall speake more truely our land is the temple of the whole vvorlde and yet the time shall come when Aegypt shall be forsaken and that land which was the seate of the Godhead shal be deprived of religion and left destitute of the presence of the Gods It is written of Tyrus in the three and twentith of Esay that shee was rich with the seede of Nilus that brought her abundance the harvest of the river were her revenewes and shee was a mart of the nations c. Yet the Lord triumpheth and maketh disport at her overthrowe Is this that glorious citie of yours vvhose antiquitie is of auncient daies c who hath decreede this against Tyrus shee that crowned men whose marchants are princes and her chapmen the nobles of the worlde the Lord of hostes hath decreede it to staine the pride of all glory and to bring to contempte all the honorable in the earth It is fallen it is fallen saith the Angell in the Revelation Babilon the great citie having the same title of greatnes that Niniveh hath in this place and is become the habitation of divelles and the hole of all fowle spirites and a cage of every vncleane and hatefull birde though shee had saide in her heart I sit as a Queene I am no widovv and shall see no mourning That everlasting citie of Rome as Ammianus Marcellinus called her shall see the day vvhen the eternity of her name and the immortalitie of her soule vvherewith shee is quickned I meane the supremacie of her prelates aboue Emperours and princes shal be taken from her and as Babilon before mencioned hath left her the inheritaunce of her name so it shall leaue her the inheritaunce of her destruction also and she shal become as other presumptuous cities a dwelling for hedghogs an habitation for owles and vultures thornes shall growe in her palaces and nettles in her strong holdes The lamentations of Ieremie touching the ruine of Ierusalem sometimes the perfection of beauty and the ioy of the whole earth as neare vnto God as the signet vpon his right hand yet afterwardes destroyed as a lodge in a garden that is made but for one night if they can passe by the eares of any man and leaue not lamentation and passion behinde them I will say that his harte is harder then the nether milstone How were her gates sunck to the ground her barres broken the stones of her sanctuary scattered in the corners of every streete her mountaine of Syon so desolate that the very foxes runne vpon it whose strength was such before that the Kinges of the earth and all the inhabitants of the worlde woulde never haue beleeved that the enemy shoulde haue entered into the gates of Ierusalem I now conclude Greatenesse of sinnes will shake the foundations of the greatest cities vpon the earth if their heades stoode amongst the stars iniquitie woulde bring them downe into dust and rubble Multitude of offences vvill minish and consume multitudes of men that although the streets were sowen with the seede of man yet they shal be so scarse that a child may tel them yea the desolation shal be so great that none shall remaine to say to his friend leaue thy fatherlesse children behind thee and I will preserue them aliue and let thy widdowes trust in me The daies can speake and the multitude of yeares can teach vvisdome aske your fathers and they can reporte vnto you that grasse hath growen in the streetes of your cities for want of passengers and a man hath beene as precious as the gold of Ophir as rare almost to bee found as if the grounde of your city had beene the moores and wasts where no man dwelleth One would haue wished a friend more then the treasures of the East to haue kept him company releeved his necessity to haue taken some paines with his vviddowe and Orphanes to haue closed his eies at the time of his death to haue seene him laide forth for buriall and his bones but brought to the graue in peace The arme of the Lorde is not shortned hee that smote you once can smite you the second time hee can visit the sonnes as well as the fathers he is a God both in the mountaines and in the vallies in the former later ages he is able againe to measure the grouÌ„d of your citie with a line of vanity pull downe your houses into the dust of the earth and turne the glory of your dwellings into ploughed feilds onely the feare of his name is your safest refuge righteousnes shal be a stroÌ„ger bulwarke vnto you then if you were walled with bras mercy and iudgment and truth and sobriety and sanctimony of life shall stand with your enemies in the gate repell the vengaÌ„ce of God in the highest streÌ„gth therof And so I come to the 2 generall part wherein we are to consider what Ionas was to doe at Niniveh it is manifested in the wordes following Crâ—e against it Laye not thine hande vpon thy mouth neither drawe in thy breath to thy selfe vvhen the cause of thy maister must bee dealt in Silence can never breake the dead sleepe of Niniveh Softnesse of voice cannot pearce her heavy eares Ordinary speaking hath no proportion with extraordinary transgression Speake and speake to bee heard that when shee heareth of her fall shee may bee wounded with it It was not nowe convenient that Ionas should goe to Niniveh as God came to Elias in a still and softe voyce but rather as a mightie strong winde rending the mountaines and breaking the rockes abasing the highest lookes in Niniveh and tearing the hardest hearte in peeces as an earthquake and fire consuming all her drosse and making her quake with the feare of the iudgementes of God as the trees of the forrest Iericho must bee overthrowne with trumpets and a shout and Niniveh will not yeeld but to a vehement outcry A prophet must arme himselfe I say not with the speare but with the zeale of Phinees when sinne is impudent and cannot blush God cannot endure dallying and trifling in weighty matters The gentle spirit of Eli is not
alive they sent him away to remoove their eie-sore God to be a stewarde both for AEgypt and Israell Nay God sent him thither and they sent him not the incomprehensible reaches of God were so far above theirs and his wisdome in the good handling of a bad cause doeth so much obscure and discountenance their malice that it seemeth not to be at all and the ministers in the action as it were cast aside the highest dispenser and moderatour thereof onely is remembred you sent mee not hither but God the purposes of your heartes were nothing in comparison of that everlasting decree which the immortall and onely wise God made to himselfe See what a race and pedegree of blessings Origen bringeth downe from the rotten stocke of that vngratious practise If Ioseph he not sold Pharaos dreames are not expounded none maketh provision of corne Egypt and the country about Egypt and Israell sterveth in the time of dearth the seede of Israell goeth not into Egypt to seeke bread neither returneth out of Egypt with miracles no wonders are wrought by Moses and Aaron no passing through the red sea no Manna from heaven no water from the rocke no lawe from Sinai no going into the land of Canaan c. These are the blessings and commodities which the envy of the Patriarkes bringeth forth by Gods most mighty and wise dispensation So that we may truly say Particular mischiefes are common commodities The life of the Lyon is maintained by the death of the Lambe the cruelty of tyrants giveth Martyres their glory and crowne And the bloud of Martyrs becommeth the seede and propagation of the church If any demaunde whether this good might not better have beene procured by good meanes I answere with Augustine Melius iudicavit Deus de malis benefacere quà m mala nulla esse permittere It seemed better to the wisedome of God to worke good out of evill than to suffer no evill at all I now conclude the point As in the statutes lawes of our common wealth there are many things contained more than the lawes either commit or allow as treasons felonies heresies and the like which notwithstanding the lawes order dispose of so in the will of God within the compasse and pale of his arbitrement much more is contained than either by action or autorizement from him could ever be defended and yet is that will of his iudge and disposer of al those particulars And whether Ioseph be sold into Egypt or Ionas throwne into the sea or the son of God himselfe nailed vpō a crosse we may safely vniversally say with the Mariners in this prophesie Thou Lord haste done as it pleased thee Surelie there is not an evill in th◠cittie nor vpon the face of the earth but God hath some vse of it Those sins within our land that take al from men as coveteousnesse extortion oppression vsury they take not that from God vvhich his wisdome maketh of them I meane the profit vse of most vnnaturall vices Happily they take the substance of their brethren and by taking such snares away saue their soules or if they take their liues they ease vnlade them of a great burthen of their sinnes to come The drunkard drinketh himselfe a sleepe not God and bringeth his owne senses and wits into a trance but provoketh quickneth the righteous Lorde to do a worke of iustice The adulterer wrappeth himselfe within the armes of his harlot and thinketh he is safe and not perceived but never shal be able to vnwrappe himselfe from the armes of Gods goverment The murtherer that spoileth the life of his mortall brethren if every wish of his hearte were a two edged sworde shall never kill the life of Gods immortall providence He shall saie to the hardest hearte at which the preaching of prophets and denunciation of iudgementes hath often recoiled open thy dores that I may enter into thee to declare my iustice and to the reprobatest minde that ever hath beene dulled and benummed with sinne though thou feelest not my grace thou shalt feele my vengeance Envie cānot hinder his benignity nor the hotest malice vnder heauen drie vp this spring of his goodnes What shall we say then Because God maketh vse of thy sinnes art thou excused Is not thine evill evill because he picketh good out of it deceiue not thy selfe therein When thou hast done such service to thy maister and maker though seven and seven yeares as Iacob did to Laban thou shalt loose thy wages and thy thankes to O well were thou if thou didst but loose for thou shalt also gaine a sorowful advātage It is vnprofitable nay miserable service which thou hast thus bestowed Babylon shall bee the hammer of the Lorde a long time to bruse the nations himselfe afterwardes bruised Assur his rod to scourge his people but Assur shall bee more scourged These hammers rods axes sawes other instruments when they have done their offices which they never ment shal be throwne themselves into the fire and burnt to ashes Sathan did service to God it cannot bee denied in the afflicting of Iob winnowing of Peter buffeting of Paul executing of Iudas and God did a worke in all these either to proove patience or to confirme faith or to trie strength or to commend iustice yet is Sathan reserved in chaines vnder darkenes to the retribution of the great day Iudas did service to God in getting honour to his blessed name for the redemption of mankinde whilst the world endureth Yet was his wages an alder-tree to hang himselfe vpon and which is worse he hangeth in hell for eternall generations He had his wages and lost his wages That which the priest gave him he lost and lost his Apostleshippe but gained the recompence of everlasting vnhappinesse and lieth in the lowest lake for the worme and death to gnaw vpon without ceasing Will you heare the end of all Feare God and keepe his commandements For this is the whole duety of man This is the will of God wherewith we are highly charged and he will strictly require it The booke that is clasped vp let vs leave to the Lambe and to the blessed Trinity Those of Moses the Prophets the Psalmes of Christ and his blessed Apostles wherein we may run and read the ordinances of the most High belong to vs and our seede after vs. These let vs carefully search and meditate in them day and night let them wake and sleepe walke rest live and die with vs and whatsoever he hath secretly decreed whether by our weakenesse or strength sicknesse or health falling or standing which in his hidden counselles is locked vp and cannot be opened but by the key of David let vs beseech him for Christes sake to turne it to our good that his name may be glorified his arme made knowne his wisdome iustice and mercy more and more magnified and our sinfull soules by the abundant riches of his grace finally saved Amen THE XX.
the thirde was vnto GOD as rawe and vndigested meate which his hearte coulde not brooke His lukenesse and neutralitye of dealing in his service did so much offende him that although he had beene received into some inwarde favour as sustenaunce is taken into the stomacke yet hee is threatned to bee spued vp againe The phrase is some-what infrequent and rare in the scripture yet is it no where vsed but it deserveth wisely and waightily to bee considered In this place to conclude the meaning is that Ionas was not descended into the bellie of the fish to become a pray vnto him but to dwell in a desert and solitarie house for a time as Ieremie wisht him a cotage in the wildernesse and as it were to goe aside and hide himselfe from the anger of the Lord till the storme might be overpast The vvoordes of Micheas doe rightelye expresse my minde heerein I vvill beare the vvrath of the LORDE because I haue sinned against him vntill hee pleade my cause and execute iudgemente for mee Then vvill hee bringe mee foorth to the lighte and I shall see his righteousnesse VVhen thou that arte mine enemie shalt looke vpon it and shame shall cover thee vvhich sayest vnto mee vvhere is the LORD thy God Lastlye the place vvhich received Ionas was the drye lande VVhich noteth a qualitye of the earth commodious and fitte for habitation Hee felte the grounde before vvhen hee went downe to the bottome of the mounetaines and the earth vvas aboute him vvith her barres but he felte not the drie grounde He vvalked not then vpon the face of the earth vvhich is the manner of living soules but vvas vnder the rootes of the mounetaines vvhere hee had not libertye nor power to breath but by speciall providence In the beginning of the creation the vvaters were aboue the earth til the LORDE saide Let the vvaters vnder the heaven bee gathered into one place and let the drie lande appeare and it vvas so According to the vvordes of the Psalmes Hee hath founded it vpon the seas and established it vpon the flovvdes And againe Hee hath stretched out the earth vpon the vvaters for his mercie endureth for ever A straunge kinde of building when others lay the foundations vpon rockes the LORDE vpon the vvaters And yet hee hath so set the earth vpon those pillers that it shall never mooue VVhen thou callest to minde that thou treadest vpon the earth hanging like a ball in the aire and floting in the waters is it not evidente enough vnto thee even by this one argument that there is a God By the confession of all the naturall place of the waters is aboue the earth This at the first they enioyed and after repeated and recovered againe in the over-whelming of the worlde when the LORD for a time delivered them as it were from their bandes and gaue them their voluntarie and naturall passage And at this day there is no doubte but the sea which is the collection of waters lyeth higher than the lande as sea-faring men gather by sensible experimentes and therefore the Psalme saith Thou coveredst it with the deepe as with a garment For as a vesture in the proper vse of it is aboue the bodie that is clothed therewith so is the sea aboue the lande and such a garmente woulde it haue beene vnto the earth but for the providence of GOD towardes vs as the shirte that was made for the muthering of Agamemnon where the heade had no issue out Therefore the Psalme addeth immediately The vvaters woulde stande aboue the mounetaines but at thy rebuke they flee at the voyce of thy thunder they haste away And the mounetaines ascende and the vallies descende to the place which thou haste established for them But thou haste set them a bounde which they shall not passe neither shall they returne to cover the earth The like in the booke of Iob vvhere the phrases are that the LORDE hath established his commaundement vpon the sea though a wilde and vntamed creature and sette barres and doâ—es aboute it and saide Hitherto shalt thou come and no further heere vvill I staie thy prowde waues VVhat from the chambers that are aboue and from the fountaines and sluces that lie beneath howe easie a matter vvere it for the former of all thinges to set open his vvindowes and dammes and every howre of our life to over-runne vs with a newe deluge Nay he hath vvater enough to drowne vs vvithin our owne bodies Hee caâ—â—e there commaunde a full sea of distempered and redundant humors to take our breath from vs. VVee little bethinke our selues howe daylie and continually vvee stande beholding to the goodnesse of GOD for sparinge our liues VVho though hee with holde the forces of those outwarde elementes vvater and fire and the rest that they doe vs no harme yet vvee haue elementes vvithin whereof wee are framed and composed wee haue heate and colde moysture and drought which hee can vse at his pleasure to our owne destruction Let these brethren of one house but withall the fathers and founders as it vvere of our nature fall at variance within vs and they vvill rende our liues a sunder like vvilde boares Howe manye haue beene buryed aliue in the graues of their earthlye and melancholicke imaginations Howe many burned in the flames of pestilent and hote diseases Their bowelles set on fire like an oven their bloude dryed vp their inwardes withered and wasted vvith the violence thereof The vapours and fumes of their owne vicious stomacke as a contagious aire howe manye haue they poysoned and choked vp Finallye howe manye haue beene glutted and overcharged with waters betweene their owne skinne and bones And therefore we must conclude and crye with the Prophet It is the mercie of the LORDE that wee are not consumed both from without and from within because his compassions faile not Hitherto of the myracles the former parte of my promise and the seconde experimente of the ever-flowing mercye of GOD continued towardes Ionas his servaunt O livinge and large fountaine of grace alvvayes drawne yet never dryed vp because it runneth from the breast and is fed with the good pleasure of an infinite and immortall GOD. For what better reason canne bee given of his lovinge affection tovvardes vs than that which Micheas hath in the ende of his prophecie Because mercy pleaseth him VVhat other cause hath induced him not to remooue in haste from the sweete songue of that Prophete to take awaie iniquitie and passe by the transgressions of his heritage not to retaine his anger for ever though for ever deserved but to returne and haue compassion vpon vs to subdue our vnrighteousnesse and cast all our sinnes into the bottome of a sea deeper and farther from his sighte than were these seas of Ionas to perfourme his trueth to Iacob and kindnesse to Abraham accordinge to his othe in auncient time but because