Niniuites all points succeeded well although they sowed in teares yet they reaped in ioy so shall it be with thee But let word of causes important be still brought to thy selfe 6 The next matter which in generall I note in this great person is that God would haue him to be touched aboue other that his humiliation might be accepted beyond others For the Lord is much affected toward them in the persons of whom he hath imprinted a maiestie and by speciall ordinance hath made them his Vicegerents As he hath seated them in a propriety of dignitie aboue all their fellowes so the account which he hath of them is of speciall property Looke through the Heathen men as well as vpon such as knew him and feared him Where do we find a man furnished with such parts as Alexander was of celerity of resolute magnanimity of felicity in all his attempts Where see we a man comparable with that worthy Iulius Caesar How admirable were the workes of Herode the Great and how maiesticall yea terrible was the presence of his person when enemies of his came into the place where he was washing and yet feared to make toward him although he were naked and they armed Name him who may be like to Constantine that blessed Emperour And if it be suggested that the faculties and abilities which they had to do great things because they were mighty Princes might make them to do such matters as which others in their places might as well haue effected yet this serueth not the turne since a spirite of rarer quality then other men haue enioyed might apparantly be seene in them Now where the Lord soweth most he looketh to reape most largely Where he powreth foorth most benefits he expecteth most gratefulnesse And if his seruice be neglected but especially contemned by these royall Potentates he taketh it more vnkindly of them then of a common man When Saul being brought to a kingdome from following his fathers asses had faulted in that case of Amelek what furies did follow him euer after with irreconcilable desolation It was not a little punishment which followed after the murther and adultery of Dauid The childs death the reuiling of Shimei the rebellion of Absolon the deflouring of his concubines were euident corrections When Salomon who was fraught with wisedome fell foolishly to idolatrie at once ten tribes were rent off from from the kingdome of Iuda The like may be sayd of many the persecuting Emperours when they being aduanced by Christ turned their swords and scepters against Christ and his Gospell he did not long endure their tyrannie but with violence cast them downe 7 But on the other side God so embraceth the true piety of those in highest authority that themselues are not onely blessed for their entire deuotion but their people for their sake The blessings powred on the heads of them runne downe vnto the skirts and lower parts of their garments When such as by Gods hand are lifted vp aboue others do come nearer then their people to the heauen not so much in place as in spirit and the inward man the Lord doth accept them with greater fauour and acquaintance The Israelites knew this when they thus make request for their king The Lord heare thee in the day of trouble the name of the God of Iacob defend thee Send thee helpe from the Sanctuarie and strengthen thee out of Sion Let him remember all thine offerings and turne thy burnt offerings into ashes Graunt thee according to thy heart and fulfill all thy purpose That we may reioyce in thy saluation and set vp our banner in the name of our God the Lord shall performe all thy petitions And so they go forward Now know I that the Lord will helpe his annointed and will heare him from his sanctuary They knew that from him being blessed good things would flow to them and God would blesse his deuotion How louely and how precious in the eyes of the Almighty was the melting heart of Iosias when he heard the threates of the Law read vnto him What priuate man alone euer turned backe so much wrath Yea God doth attribute so much to this his ordinance that if it be but Ahab yet if he put on sackcloth and will fast and go barefoote the Lord will deâ—erre that vengeance which was to come on him and his land Those countries then are right happy where such sit in the throne of honor and most eminent place of glory who do loue and feare the Lord in integrity and sincerity full of faith For mercy and louing kindnesse is by such conduit-pipes diffused through all the coasts and quarters of a land If the pestilence shall deuoure yet the prayer of such Dauids will stay the destroying Angell If Sennacherib shall reuile yet if such Hezekiahs shall enter into the Temple and with weeping shall lay open the letters before the Lord a hooke shall be put in his nostrels and he shall be turned another way If a victory shall be gotten and such Deborahs shall acknowledge it by a publike gratulation this victory shall be doubled When our Deborah and Hester as it is voyced and receiued with bended knees did begge of the Omnipotent maker and guide of all our worlds masse that he would prosper the worke and vvith best forewinds guide the iourney speede the victory and make the returne the aduancement of his glory the triumph of the fame of those which were sent and the surety of our Realme with least losse of English bloud we all know what effect this holy prayer had to foile the proudest enemy in a strange land we all know it and it were great pity but succeeding ages should remember it And that may serue for an example of the point whereof I now intreate which is that the actions of great Monarkes haue a straighter kind of reference vnto God then those of common men Their voluntary debasing doth lift them high with the Lord their repentance is very gracious their sorrow is much acceptable Then it was well with the Niniuites that such a king did raigne ouer them as had an humble mind God dealt with them most bountifully to send them such a ruler as whose heart he himselfe did soften and put some graces into it and then did crowne those graces to the comfort of all his subiects For I ascribe all this to God The words of the Prophet were something but the heart was touched from the Lord. Paule may plant and Apollos water but God must giue the encrease And as Saint Austen speaketh Teachings without and admonitions are helpes to set things forward but he hath a chaire in heauen who teacheth the hearts of men I speake sayth he of the Lord. God then did them much fauour when he sent such a king among them as whose heart he made to be flexible that so the Lord might embrace him and with him
saith he haue kept it and did keepe it so long as Christes sheepe were in quiet but now that tempestes do come on and stormes bring them in danger euery stone is to be turned euery means is to be sought to free them from this perill He goeth on If I were daughter to any man whatsoeuer and according to my sexe as decency would require were kept vp in a closet or in some secret chamber and inner part of the house yet if my fathers dwelling were on fire should I not be verie carelesse if I wold not then come forth to helpe to quench the fire or giue direction for it So if now I should not helpe to teach true faith in Christ by coming out of my Monastery I should do much amisse Let vs remember the like in these most perillous times so we shall discharge our consciences we shall disburden our soules and God himselfe will reward it by one meanes or another although men do not requite it for do not looke for that if you do they will deceiue you And thus hauing shewed the reason why Ionas went from Israel I come to the second verse Arise 12 It should seeme that our Prophet hauing long preached to his country-men and litle preuailed had now discouraged himselfe and euen set him downe which case doth oft befall the Minister through that weaknesse and frailtie which is in humane nature For the preuenting whereof in his seruant Ezechiel God himselfe doth foretell him that he sendeth him to such as are a rebellious house and will not heare his voyce Notwithstanding the Prophet is enforced to do his dutie and leaue the successe to God That is it whereunto the Minister should looke performe all which the Lord requireth and leaue the euent to him For we are not in Gods place to alter change and mollifie mens hearts Paule planteth and Apollos watereth but God giueth the increase In the meane time the labour of the faithfull Minister whether it speed or misse is accepted of the Lord. For as he sayth Saint Austen who perswadeth to euill as to heresie or treason is punished accordingly although he do not preuaile yet because he intended it because he did labour it so he that doth his best to winne men to heauen although he effecteth not what he desired findeth his reward with God And he addeth in the same booke that when Christ did lament ouer his owne Citie Hierusalem and said that he would haue gathered the Iewes together as the hen gathereth or clucketh her yong ones vnder her wings and they would not that perhaps he did encourage vs by his own example that if we should not obtaine when we haue spent our labour yet we should not dismay our selues because no more befalleth vs then did betide Christ. And the disciple as we know is not greater then his maister If such a drowsinesse or sleepinesse were now vpon Ionas after his small successe in preaching to Israel God biddeth it be shaken off when he willeth him to Arise that is pluck vp his spirits and rouze vp himself and make speed in his message And go to Niniueh that great Citie 13 Although God in ordinarie did tye himselfe to his people of Israel yet at this time for so was his good pleasure he sheweth that himselfe is Lord ouer all the earth and taketh care of all and punisheth all who do sinne against him in as much as he did send his Prophet to Niniue which was a Citie in Assyria and the Metropolis of that countrey and iustly in this place sayd to be a great Citie By that which is written of it it may be iudged that Niniue was then the greatest Citie that was vpon the earth When Moses doth mention it he giueth that testimonie of it This is that great Citie In the third chapter of this present Prophesie it is sayd to be a great and excellent Citie of three dayes iourney That in those dayes this was no strange thing in the Easterne countreys to haue som places verie huge we may somewhat iudge by Babylon which Aristotle setteth downe to haue bin so big as that when some part of it had bene taken by the enemy some other quarters of it did not heare of any such newes till within three dayes after But for Niniue thus much more In the last chapter of this Prophecie it is put for the conclusion of the booke that there were in it sixe score thousand persons that could not discerne betweene their right hand and their left hand which importeth that they were children of small age and vnderstanding 14 This City by profane writers is called Ninus as by Herodotus in his Clio by Strabo in the sixteenth of his Geography by Plinie in the sixth of his Naturall historie by Tacitus in the twelfth of his Annales And by some of them it was supposed to be builded by Ninus the great Monarch of Assyria and husbà nd to Semiramis which is also the opinion of Saint Austen in his bookes De ciuitate Dei Some argument why we should beleeue it to be so may be gathered from the name being termed of Ninus the king Ninus Niniueh in the Scripture But see whether that in this case a man may not say as Austen sayd to Hierome about that great controuersie betweene Paule and Peter whether Peter sinned or sinned not and dissembled with the Iewes in deed or but in shew that although Hierome had more witnesses in nūber to proue his assertion thē Austen could bring yet that S. Paule who had Gods Spirit and thereby did write was in steed of all the rest nay in truth aboue all So although both Heathen and Christians and among them S. Austen do say that this Citie was built by Ninus yet see whether Moses who had the immediate Spirit of God be not in steed of all or rather beyond all And he doth tell vs that this Citie was built by Assur Neither doth the Hebrew name import ought to the contrary if it be as some suppose not Niniueh of Ninus but Niniueh of Nauah the Hebrew word so signifying beautiful or goodly or faire or fit to be inhabited But this controuersie may be ended if that opinion be true which Munster doth deliuer vnto vs that some thinke that both Assur and Ninus are one man called by diuerse names in diuerse languages He doth not specifie in that place who they be that so reconcile this doubt neither yet haue I found any that be of that minde 15 But to let that go this Citie is described by Diodorus Siculus in the second of his Antiquities as Stephanus will haue it as some other in the third to stand vpon Euphrates I thinke he meaneth Tigris for so all consent hath it and Babylon on Euphrates to be built with foure sides but not equall or square for the two longer sides had each of them one hundred and
seruice of the coÌ„mon wealth in humane societie be euermore to be respected what comfort can such persons who indeede are but a burthen to a land or the Citie where they dwell take to go on forward to their graues in in that which to speake of it most moderately is but doubtfull I can hardly be perswaded that the consciences of such men do alwayes conteÌ„t and satisfie themseluâ—â— I am sure that according to the proportion of their calling with his they are not able to say as the Apostle Paule sayd a little before his death I haue fought a good fight or as Beza readeth it I haue fought that excellent fight I haue finished my course and so take ioy in their calling Such men who make a life of playing vpon a stage may bethinke themselues in this reckening If you will put vnto these our common dauncing-maisters and others of like sort Mistake me not in these wordes as if I did condemne all honest recreation I dare not to do so I know the priuilege and prerogatiue is great which men aboue all the creatures of God haue if we do not abuse our libertie but it is one thing for one man after his honest labour in that trade wherein the Lord hath placed him to vse fit and moderate recreation and other thing for another to haue no other kinde of life but to make of such exercises an occupation Many kindes of businesse are warranted both by the lawes of God and men apparantly but these at least may come vnder question 10 The next demaunde here made to our Prophet is from what place he did come presuming that a maÌ„ may draw froÌ„ some places such a staine as caÌ„not be washed off but with veÌ„geance He that toucheth pitch shall be defiled vvith it Holy Ioseph being among the Aegyptians had learned new deuised oathes he could sweare by the life of Pharao Lots wife did so well like the companie which she had in Sodome that she longed to be there againe although for her labour it cost her the turning into a pillar of salt Some places are hatefull to God his people must out of Babylon The companions of the wicked are supposed to be wicked It may well be feared that the young man was a sinner of whom Salomon telleth that he went to the house of the harlot entring in thither at the twilight and comming out perhaps at the midnight It could be no great credit for Demosthenes to be seene to come from the house of Lais. It is a case well knowne that there be at Rome whole streetes of Curtisans Onely Surius to extenuate the filthinesse of the matter saith they be but the baser streets and lanes of lesse account where these honest folkes do inhabite And he holdeth it for a great praise to Pope Pius the fifth that hee brought it to that passe This multitude must haue money to maintaine theÌ„ in their abuses whereby it may be collected that many and that frequently resort vnto them Now if Christ should aske of those who returne from those places whence come you where haue you beene they might right well quake with Ionas feare his heauie iudgemeÌ„t But if it be but his holinesse the Vicar or vicegerent of Christ vpon earth the successour of Saint Peter as he merily termeth himselfe there needeth no great dread for the matter From a knowne place of your Citie from that which yeeldeth you money which you permit for tribute Rome how rightly wast thou termed by the name of the vvhore of Babylon which sufferest such abuses in open professed sort and therby giuest incouragement to some to embrace that sinne For whereas in the dayes of our old forefathers the ignorant did account it a crime to keepe a concubine now when they see that euen at Rome in the verie eye of his holinesse in the chiefe Citie of residence for Christes Vicar such matters be maintained they may thinke that now to keepe two or three is a worke meritorious the more the more meritorious But to leaue them to their filthinesse if it do so much touch our Prophet to be asked from whence he came those of the yonger sort who come to this place for learning for vertue and good instruction may reuolue this ouer and ouer If any day in the euening when they should be at home in their beddes or else quiet in their studies or if vpon the Sabaoth in seruice time or while other are at the sermon a tauerne should be their rest which doth not well agree with a long gowne how farre should they be forgetfull or blush to heare that question whence come you where haue you bin or as God spake to our forefather in the bushes where art thou Adam If there should be any such as God be praised that custome is well left how will they hereafter lament that those good houres which should and might by the Lordes good blessing be well imployed are ill and fruitlessely spent that idlenesse and vnthriftinesse yea peraduenture drunkennesse also should be that whereunto they bend their studie when in the meane while knowledge and precious learning might adorne them Time foolishly wasted can neuer be recalled and it is hard to call backe our selues when we are once growne to a custome of any euill 11 The ship-maister and his fellowes yet haue not inough of Ionas some more questions for their money They aske him of his countrey and from what people he did come God sometimes is angry with a whole laÌ„d for the wickednesse of the inhabitants The goodly fields of Sodome do find that vnto this day This also is witnessed vnto vs by the barrennesse of Palestina which was sometimes the holie land somtimes the happie land flowing with milke and hony which now answereth in no measure to the fertilitie of auncient time When sinne hath ouergrown a countrey each inhabitant feeleth a wo euen the good in temporall punishments do smart as well as the wicked For the iniquitie of their nation both Daniel and the three children together with the rest of their countrimen were led into captiuitie Some kind of people euen almost in generall are displeasing to the Lord. The Ammonites and the Moabites were litle accepted of him But Amelechs name was so cursed that the Lord would haue the remembrance of them to be rooted out from vnder the heauen Aboue all the people who liue vpon the earth the Iewes do demonstrate this doctrine to vs whose children and childrens children haue for many ages bene blinded with the grosse and grieuous sinne of their fathers who put Christ cruelly to death Other nations had their faults and so might be hatefull to men who bordered neare vpon them and they might also prouoke wrath from God S. Paule did obserue out of the Poet Epimenides that the Cretians were great lyers Now least some such generall sinne of parentage or countrey should hang
cryed out Behold I haue sinned yea I haue done wickedly but these sheepe what haue they done let thine hand I pray thee be against me and against my fathers house Dauid tooke all to himselfe because all the fault was his We are not free from all and therefore if we suffer any thing let vs beare it with patience If nothing let vs acknowledge that it is the mercy of God and not the merite of man that we all are not consumed 7 And by the smart of other let vs feare to offend the Lord. Euery action which was in Christ should be to vs an instruction euery passion which is in other should bring to vs information The Iewes once were the spouse and beloâ—ed of the Lord the people whom he embraced the nation whom he singled out from all the men on earth Sion was his delight and Hierusalem was vnto him as the apple of his eye When they began to be wanton and as the vntamed heyfer to refuse the yoake of all piety and seruice toward God his loue was turned to hatred and as before he had magnified them beyond all other nations so afterward he made them vile and abiect below all other Their Temple was ruinated and not one stone left vpon another their City was ransacked their old men died with famine their young were slaine with the sword the remnant as accursed do wander on all the face of the earth without a king without Priest without Prophet Thus the naturall Oliue branches were broken and cropped off and we wild ones were graffed in When we reade this and feele the sweetnesse of it are we to presume and puffe vp our selues by and by Saint Paule hath taught vs otherwise Be not high minded but feare And in another place Let him that thinketh he standeth take heede least he fall As these mariners were fearefull at our Ionas his example so ought we in these Iewes to be afraide and dread Gods iustice Those seauen Churches to which Iohn wrote his Epistles mentioned in the beginning of the Reuelation and those Cities to which Paule preached being sometimes great lights and lampes of the East are now the residence of the Turke and a sincke of filthy Maumetry Let vs stand in awe least our sinnes plucke on vs such a iudgement 8 We aske of newes in France and enquire of the alterations which the Low countreyes yeeld Curiosity for the most part is the cause why we demand such questions Perhaps we thinke vpon them and their troubles sometimes with a little pity But there is a farther vse if our dimme and darke eyes could see it When for two and thirty yeares Fraunce hath bene the very cock-pit for all Christendome to fight in when with so many ciuill furies the inhabitants sheath their swordes one in the bowels of another when for twenty yeares since and more for so long it is since the States and the Prince of Orenge with them did put foorth their supplication vnto the king of Spaine Philip the second which is a declaration to other Christian Princes of the reasons wherefore they tooke vp armes an army hath bene continued by the Spaniard against those Prouinces which now tearme themselues Vnited so that there is little safety but what standeth in the sword or in their walled townes we might remember our selues and that with much feare and trembling that our sinnes haue cried for vengeance as loud as theirs did euer that our fields are fit for the sickle not so white vnto the haruest as ready dry to the fire as Bernard speaketh to Eugenius that it is but a little labor for God to reach his hand ouer our narrow seas and to giue vs a tast of that here in this small Iland which the Continent hath long felt and sowerly hath smarted for it And if he haue held his hand it is his exceeding mercy whereof we are able to make no recompence onely our thankfulnesse from the bottome of our hearts is the best Such a sober meditation vpon the afflictions of our neighbours or those with whom we liue would put vs from that iolity wherein we too much take delight from the flaunting of this world and our vnbridled appetites The losses of others should be our terrour what is theirs may be ours if other smart let vs quake when Ionas is to be punished the ship-men are afraid And they sayd vnto him wherefore hast thou done this 9 This is the second circumstance to be thought vpon here in the fellow-trauellers of our Prophet which as some do vnderstand it sheweth a kind of wondring that a man who was an Hebrew brought vp in Gods seruice so familiar with the mysteries secrets of such a maister put in trust with such a charge as to go and preach at Niniue should transgresse in so high a degree If the fault had bene of ignorance it had bene so much the lighter and he deserued fewer stripes But to whom much is coÌ„mitted of him much is required he might the more be wondred at God reprocheth it to Eli that whereas himselfe had appeared vnto his fathers house and chose both them and him to stand before his Altar offer vp incense vnto him he had kicked against his sacrifice and honoured his children more then he did that God who made him If any men then the Ministers Prophets of the Lord shold respect their solemne dutie A City set on an hil is in the sight of al. The Priest is the eye of the body to guide the steps of other If darknesse be on the hill what darknesse is in the vale if dimnesse be in the eye how darke is all the body In the Minister each knowne fault is reputed for a crime because he is so conspicuous and visible to all euen as a small wound in the face is eminent and therefore noted In the countenance of a men if one eyebrow should be shauen how little is taken away from the body but how much from the beauty They are the words of Saint Austen Then we should be very carefull to passe the dayes of our pilgrimage in sincerity and integrity that we may not be wondered at by mariners and meane men why we should do this or that when we do grossely offend 10 Among the vnlearned Pastors blind guides of the Papacy transgressioÌ„ or iniquity needeth no such woÌ„dring at Their ignorance answereth for them for how shold they do any thing but ill who neuer learned to do otherwise If they decline from their duty and be scandalous vnto other and any man should come vpon theÌ„ as these his companions did vpon Ionas Wherfore haue you done this Can you whose life is spent in reading of the Scriptures in expounding them to other in informing the peoples consciences forget your selues in such manner as to be notorious sinners They may put this wondring froÌ„ theÌ„ and answer it in a word you
speaketh not Some thinke not at Hierusalem the place then onely appointed for sacrifice to the true God but wheresoeuer they first landed Arias Montanus thinketh that they offered it at Hierusalem which thing was sometimes done by the Gentiles as by the Chamberlaine to Candace the Queene of Aethiopia The Chaldee Paraphrase hath that they said they would offer sacrifice Hierome thinketh that what they did was at sea and not at land They made such spirituall sacrifice as the inner man could affoord thankes giuing and supplication and repentance and such like The Prophet Osee doth call these the calues of our lippes And Dauid he speaketh of them saying the sacrifice of God is a troubled spirite Howsoeuer it is not much to the historie whether it were the one or the other The holy Ghost doth let vs know that the motiue which they saw in this action was so mightie that it wrong from them a remorse and so possessed them for the time that compunction and deuotion was within them and without them as men throughly mortified they refused to do nothing which was any way religious They either fell to their praiers which is a spirituall sacrifice or offered something else when they came to the land or at least they professed that they would do it But it is a case without controuersie that they made vowes to the Lord. A thing common among mariners and passengers at the sea when they feare any shipwracke If they can ouer-stand that iourney and escape well from that daunger they will fast or giue almes or dedicate some great thing to the Lord. They spare not to speake in the fit although they neuer meane it Yea and it may be that in the extremitie they resolue to perfourme their vow but the daunger being once past and gone if they should be vrged to accomplish it they would thinke themselues as il vsed as those two were by Caligula of whome Dion reporteth that when the said Caligula was sicke they thinking to get much mony as a reward for their great loue to the Emperour vowed that on condition he might liue they themselues would dye to excuse him When indeede he was recouered afterward he tooke them at their word and put them to death least they should breake their vowe and prooue periured persons Of likelyhood these thought themselues to be vsed but vnkindly and so would these vowing shipmen if they should be forced to performance But he that will see more of this let him reade Erasmus his Dialogue which he calleth by the title of Naufragium What the Scripture thinketh of vowes and what our Church maintaineth which is a better argument to be handled against our Popish Votaries I may touch hereafter when I come to the ninth verse of the second Chapter For at this time my meaning is to discourse another matter 17 It is a great controuersie whether this exceeding feare do intend a true conuersion from Gentilisme to the Lord from idolatrie to true pietie and in this also the best Expositors do very much dissent Some thinke them to be become earnest Proselites and men turned to the Iewish faith that their feare was sincere from the heart and perseuerant in them vnto the end and that their sacrifices were accepted and all this so much the rather because the text doth say that they feared the Lord Iehouah not an idole but the true God Some other put a condition that if the heart were iustified with a purifying faith then their vowes and sacrifices were acceptable and pleasing to the Lord. If otherwise then it was but a vizard put on for a little time and so throwne off afterward A third sort are of opinion that their repentance was onely temporary like the seed which is mentioned in the parable of Christ to be sowen on the stony ground which tooke roote for a little time and afterward did wither away I do approue this last sentence thinking that although they feared and tooke vpon them some religion yet this was not sufficient to apprehend true grace for they had not heard by the Prophet of the Messias Christ in whom is all remission and washing away of sinne Onely the wrath of God in punishing is made knowne vnto them which is inough to put the vnbeleeuer into a trembling feare as we know that Felix did quake to heare Saint Paule speake of righteousnesse of temperance and of the iudgement to come and yet Felix was an hypocrite Neither is this opinion crossed by that where it is said that they feared Iehouah for the reprobates do quake at the true God with a kind of seruility as the diuels of hell do likewise The awe wherein Pharao stood when he let the people go was to the God of Moses Ahab hearing the threatning of Elias did humble himselfe to the Lord but it was not with due continuance The feare of the God of Sidrach of Misach and Abednego was fallen on Nabuchodonosor when beholding the deliuerance of those three children out of the fiery fornace he gaue forth a proclamation for the seruice of their Lord. And yet it is not to be doubted but these men were reprobates 18 These sea-people in like sort might well thinke of the Lord and yet not leaue their idolatry The people placed in Samaria were by the Lions which destroied them enforced to serue the Lord yea the text doth say that they did feare him but they worshipped their idols also and so it had bene as good not at all as to be neuer the neerer to him The Romanes would haue had Christ to be in the number of their Gods placed in their Pantheon but they cannot away to leaue their old Gods whom they had before Such halfe-seruice could not profit these mariners in this place This was an insufficient comprehension of the Lord without sound application in particular by a true faith which teacheth that God alone is to be adored by his creatures and that with a single heart and an vnderstanding knowledge and perseuerance vnto the ende Which because the wicked do want howsoeuer vpon occasions of afflictions and strange wonders they seeme humbled for the time yet afterward with the dogge they returne to their vomit and with the sow which was washed to their wallowing in the mire And this recidiuation is more dangerous then the sicknesse this relapse then the first fall For those to whom this happeneth are they whom Iude calleth trees twise dead and rotten and good for nothing else but to be plucked vp by the rootes The knowledge which such men haue doth make against themselues their thoughts against themselues the motions of their owne mind when they haue thought vpon goodnesse shall witnesse hardly against them 19 We do here-out learne two lessons First that hypocrites and dissemblers besides their internall motions which they haue oft times to goodnesse in outward and
the citie and the Temple were brought to desolation by the Romanes vnder Titus the Priests and people so precisely obseruing that when other sinnes and dishonours to God did abound that in the time of warre and close siege when they might not issue foorth to haue cattell for their offerings they would bargaine with the enemies at high price and great rates to serue the turne for their mony as we may reade in Iosephus In such manner was the succession of sacrificing for so many yeares together God both approouing it and commaunding it 5 Now these externall sacrifices as when they were rightly brought with true faith and obedience and vnderstanding knowledge they had their vse very good as to thanke God for his blessings to acknowledge that all benefits were deriued frō his goodnesse to testifie their obedience in perfourming his commaundements but aboue all to figure Iesus Christ the true Lambe who was one day to be offered on the altar of the crosse to redeeme the sinnes of the faithfull whereof in the meane time their offerings were a signe and seale vnto them so if they were brought by any as perfunctorie things formally and for a fashion as hypocrites and worldlings did come with them the Lord was so farre off from accepting them as his seruice that he hated them and detested them In the first chapter of Esay God speaketh to them by his Prophet What haue I to do with the multitude of your sacrifices sayth the Lord I am full of the burnt offerings of Rammes and of the fat of fed beastes and I desire not the bloud of bullockes nor of lambes nor of goates Bring no more oblations in vain incense is an abominatiō vnto me I cannot suffer your new moones Which agreed with that of Salomon The sacrifice of the vvicked is abomination to the Lord. God then required in them that besides the materiall gift there should be a true mind to serue him humilitie and liuely faith which should expresse and shew it selfe with charitie and good life and a killing of the euill affections which were in them To which purpose the Prophet Micah most excellently doth speake Wherewithall should I come before the Lord or bow my selfe before the high God shall I come before him with burnt-offerings and vvith calues of a yeare old Will the Lord be pleased vvith thousands of Rammes or vvith ten thousand riuers of oyle Shall I giue my first borne for my transgression euen the fruite of my bodie for the sinne of my soule No hee hath shevved thee ô man vvhat is good and vvhat the Lord requireth of thee surely to doe iustly and to loue mercie and to humble thy selfe to vvalke with thy God 6 Then it was the spirituall sacrifice at which God chiefly did aime the laying downe of their soules on the altar of his will the killing of euill thoughts the mortifying of the members the consecrating of themselues wholly vnto his honour which doctrine Paule vnto the Romanes doth plainely teach where he beseecheth them by the mercies of God to offer vp their bodies a liuing sacrifice holy and acceptable to God that is their reasonable seruice of God And this not onely vnder the Gospell was seene by the faithfull but was foreseene also vnder the Law Dauid can say in his fourth Psalme Offer the sacrifices of righteousnesse and in the one and fiftieth Psalme The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit So Osee in his sixt Chapter I desired mercie and not sacrifice and the knovvledge of God rather then any burnt-offerings It seemeth also by my text that our Prophet vnderstood this when he promiseth to sacrifice but with the voyce of thankesgiuing as knowing that to be it which God indeed preferred before all things And reason might well teach him that it was that which the Lord meant by the externall signe for what delight could he take in the bloud of brutish creatures a spirit in their bodies the impassible in such sauours as did arise from their altars What neede had he of an Oxe or ten Rammes of a man who is the owner and chiefe Lord of all the beastes of the field of all the birdes of the ayre If hee but speake they be if he but call they come he made them and he knoweth them and hath no want at all of them Then he respecteth the mind and the life and not the offering The veritie of which doctrine is of so assured a truth that Gentiles by the light of nature beleeued it and acknowledged it as aboue other Menander the Poet in one of his Comedies as Clemens Alexandrinus noteth in the fifth of his Stromata where he citeth his wordes to this purpose If any man offering sacrifice a multitude of goates or bulles or any thing wrought by art although of yuorie gold or pearle do thinke that God vvill therfore be mercifull vnto him he is deceiued exceedingly for the man vvhom God regardeth must be good and honest no deflowrer of vvomen no adulterer thiefe or murtherer And afrerward againe The iust man doth euery day offer sacrifice to his God but it is not with cleane clothes but vvith a shining heart 7 These are good lessons for vs who professe a seruice to the highest God that first we make no spare of externall things to honour the Lord withall when cause shall be offered Our cattell and our clothes our houses and our money yea our best and dearest friends should be employed in good seruices to the countenancing of the Minister to the spredding of the Gospell to the establishing of religion to the succouring of the innocent to the releeuing of the poore These things should be to vs as their substance was to the Iewes to bring it in sacrifice to the Highest but especially we should consecrate our bodies to his name our feete to approch his Courts our eares to heare his word our toung to sound out his praises our hands to fight his battels if Antichrist should oppugne And secondly together with our bodies and those things which we haue our spirit within should ioyne a true and entire affection a sound and grounded loue to him who is most louely the husband of our soules that hypocrisie and fayned dissimulation be not in vs but truth although in much infirmitie and weaknesse of the flesh And when our soule shall be deuoted to him in that sort he receiueth it embraceth it most kindly as his own more respecting the mind then any apparant thing The two mites of the poore widow came welcom into Gods treasurie because her heart was rich though her purse were very empty It is recorded of Aeschines that when he saw his fellow scholers giue great gifts to his maister Socrates he being poore and hauing nothing else to bestow did giue himselfe to Socrates as professing to be his in heart and good will and wholly at his deuotion And the Philosopher tooke this most
remaineth to this present age in the whole kingdome of the Abyssines although with some noted blemishes For Eusebius doth acknowledge that he was the first who wanne them to be Christians besides the likelyhood of the matter in the Actes of the Apostles that when he came home he would not be silent and the testification of late writers in that behalfe These be demonstratiue proofes that there is more in this word then mans wit can imagine that not by sword or compulsion but onely by speaking and hearing perhaps this day it creepeth to morrow it flyeth aloft and sheweth his head with the mightiest That the Sunne in the heauen cannot do more with the creatures then this with the receiuers For as the Sunne being one doth giue light to many and doth harden the claye and yet soften the waxe and maketh the flowers to smell better and dead carions to sauour worse and cheareth the springing plants and cherisheth other growing things with an influence which cannot be described so the word of God vttered by one man doth serue multitudes and great numbers and fitteth euery one according to his need as to beat downe him that is proud and raise vp him that is humble to threaten where threates are needfull and to comfort where comfort is expedient and with a force which cannot be expressed to frame euery one to that whereunto he is ordained the elect to his saluation the reprobate to damnation 17 Then it was no ouersight but amply to Gods glorie that the Lord did send onely one man to a citie of that quantitie He had armed him before and metalled him for the nonce He came with matter in his mouth to satisfie all the sort He who sent him was that Lord who made all and could breake the hearts of all then what is it to be respected how many they were By calling he is a Prophet and therefore neede not feare a world full of gaine-sayers He is as a wall of brasse and a bulwarke of iron against all the troupes of them It is Gods word which he bringeth which is operatiue and quicke and very apt for diffusion and spreading abroad As the voyce in the ayre so this in the hearts of men doth quickly extend it selfe He hath a sound commission from him who will beare him out to go to Niniue that great citie I send thee not to a hand-full but to a spacious charge and I do furnish thee for them all I tell thee that they are many expect and recken of it but thou shalt do well with them And this was a happie helpe that he was told before hand that the citie was so great that he might foresee the difficultie and so be amazed the lesse For if suddenly without former meditation he had bene pushed among so huge and vast a multitude he might right well haue trembled at it as a few souldiours would when they expecting no such matter nor thinke of their enemies were fallen into an ambush or gotten into the midst of an armie Such daungers as come vnlooked for do not onely bereaue men of counsell and of sound vnderstanding but of sence too many times To preuent which our Prophet is aduertised before-hand that the monster of the multitude that beast with many heades is to be dealt with by him I could wish that such of my brethren as liue here in this Seminarie and store-house of the ministerie would before the time that the Lord imposed any charge elsewhere vpon them consider and ponder deepely what a difficult part of seruice they are to be vsed in and that there is no kinde of conflict wherein they may not be exercised This is the very same counsell which Christ giueth to his disciples Which of you minding to build a towre sitteth not downe before and counteth the cost vvhether he haue sufficient to performe it Or vvhat king going to make vvarre against another king sitteth not downe first and taketh counsaile vvhether he be able vvith ten thousand to meete him that cometh against him vvith twentie thousand There is lesse oddes by much betweene twentie and ten then betweene the flocke and the Pastour They are manie vnto one the varietie and diuersitie of wits and dispositions requireth a carefull minde and also a man resolued Peruersenesse and ouerthrwartnesse must be looked for before hand Whereupon if with foresight men did meditate and contemplate we should not here such complaints as are rise in the countrey Oh what a blessed life do you leade in the Vniuersitie we liue here as in a hell such crossing and such vexations we tast as you do neuer dreame of And these seeming to many of them to be no lesse then insuperable cause them to sinke and faint in their hearts and to be as dead and discouraged in going through with their calling They should haue imagined before that for their strength and abilitie euerie place might be to them as Niniue was to Ionas a huge and mightie charge that the contumelie of Atheistes and bitter hatrest of Papistes the inuasions of vpstart heretickes the wranglings of new-found schismatikes should exercise their patience That the ciuill sort with their nicenesse and ouermuch curiositie the ignorant with their rudenesse and indisciplinable barbarisme the old with their superstitions the young with their sports and follies would minister matter to them That some with troubled spirites would seeke to them for comfort whom they cannot chuse but pitie that others of troublesome natures would draw them into quarrels and partaking of factions so that all their wits and knowledge should scant keepe them from brawles That the greater their talent is the more shall be their burthen the greater their graces be the greater shall be their crosses In which matters and many other the worst being cast before-hand noting shall come straunge vnto them no not if the heauen should fall on them as the Poet Horace speaketh I do not recite these troubles to fright men from accepting of any pastorall charge I do rather make my prayer to the Lord of the haruest to thrust out labourers into his haruest but to remember my selfe and others to prepare them selues by precedent speculation to burthens of this waight and to call to God to enrich them with graces fit for this calling But ceasing in this matter I come to the last note which my text doth offer to me Preach thou that preaching which I commaund thee 18 Or do thou proclaime against it that proclamation which I speake vnto thee He is sent as an Ambassadour but such are his aduertisements and instructions from his Lord that he may not varie from them His commission is not generall to take counsaile è re nata or â—rbitrarily as when the Romane Consuls had power without limitation vt videant ne Respublica quid detrimenti capiat He must be but as a chanell or conduit pipe to conuey that along to Niniue which he receiued
as the building of Churches Eastward among the Christians and the manner of buriall obserued likewise from the East to the West But because I find none who haue intimated so much and I loue not to discourse that whereof there is no ground I passe it ouer and rather come to more probable reasons of the which one is giuen that he sate on the East side because the holy city Hierusalem in the which most apparantly of all the earth the Lord resided was Westward toward which he did looke as well as toward Niniue For that thing being true which Dauid hath recorded In Iewry is God knowne his name is great in Israel At Salem is his Tabernacle and his dwelling in Sion and whatsoeuer was to come being to come from thence-ward he might rather looke that way then to any other coast or quarter of the heauen And since we do find in that prayer of Salomon at the dedicating of the Temple that the Israelites being in straunge lands were to looke toward that place when they begged any thing of God our Prophet in blind zeale might turne himselfe thither to aske the consummation and performance indeed of that which he had spoken Againe if the Lord had promised to send from that place comfort to his being in distresse whensoeuer he was pleased to shew mercy it might well be coniectured that now intending anger and iudgement in high measure he might from thence send it vpon the city Niniue Which way if it should come then Ionas was so wise to be as farre of-ward as possibly he might and be within the sight of Niniue also If a pestilence should be he would not haue that pestilence come ouer his body if fire and brimstone came he would not haue that fire come ouer his head but so farre as it might be he would be out of danger But concerning the withdrawing him from the perill I spake but euen now in his going out of the city and that the Iewes looked to Hierusalem I formerly touched when I opened the second Chapter and therefore of that no farther 7 A second cause there is more commonly assigned why he sate on the East side and that is because there as it may be supposed was a hill from which he might looke downeward and see this mighty place which now was in such hazard You must thinke that all his heart and soule was now on Niniue as imagining that therein was his making and his marring his credit or disgrace and therefore he was much eased that he had such a hill where his eye might be vpon it And certainely if he were fit to fret as it is most plaine that he was such a hill might make him fret the more when each houre he should see those houses stand which he wished might fall those men aliue whom he wished dead that multitude in safety after whose ruine he thirsted Nothing grieueth enuy more then that which it beholdeth The Scripture maketh mention of a wicked euill eye as being a grudging sence Chrysostome writing vpon Genesis supposeth that to be one of the greatest temptations wherewith Sathan oppugned Adam when he was in the blisse of Paradise He bringeth him in speaking thus What profit is it to you to be here in this Garden and not to enioy those things which this delicate place doth yeeld Nay therefore is your griefe the more bitter and smartfull that see these things you may but vse them you may not What he vrged there as an argument to a wanton lustfull eye no doubt he plieth much to an enuious spitefull eye What a griefe is it to see the thing which thou doest hate and not to see thy will on it How carefull should we be to pray to God to remooue vs from the causes of such temptations that he do not set before vs things whereon we may set our mind with an euill passion or sinister affection that he do not place vs on hils or in roomes fit to behold them lest our sinne be thence increased but especially that he suffer not our heart to be defiled with lusting or malice or our eye to be infected but both of them to be single The greatest fault in Ionas was that enuy and bloudy crueltie had filled his heart before but it now did helpe his sinne more forward that he had a hill to behold that which was a spurre to his enuy 8 If he had bene a man of any mercy or but of common pity it had wrought with him otherwise For if of himselfe he would not be content in piety that an increase of his maisters retinue should be made by the comming in of so many by repentance and sorrow If in charitie he would not ioy that so many men who were dead should reuiue and liue againe and so many which were lost should be found yet in ordinarie humanitie and manly commiseration when he had bene vp in the mount and seene so many houses so goodly and glorious workemanship as must needes be in that city such temples and such pallaces so sumptuous and delightfull when he saw that in such a masse of houses as there was there must needs be thousands of people some of them morally honest some infants who neuer actually deserued to perish this rigour of his fury and crueltie of his stomacke must at the last haue relented If magnitude and multitude and both before his eyes could not worke nothing could worke with him Yet the heart of Gods sonne was farre more tender then this of his seruant For when Christ who doubtlesse was to bring a sharpe sentence against the Iewes came within the sight of Hierusalem and beholding looked vpon it how great it was and stately he could not forbeare to weepe and vtter words of compassion Oh if thou hadst knowne at the least in this thy day those things vvhich are for thy peace but now they are hidden from thee Yea heathen men by that light which nature yeelded to them when it came to that passe that they saw great things must perish they haue wept that it should be so and could haue wished the contrarie An example of this in some sort may be that gentle and soft and kind Titus who deserued to be called Deliciae human generis the delicacy of mankind for he being to see that executed which Christ foretold should happen to Hierusalem stretched foorth his hands and called heauen and earth to witnesse in great bitternesse that he was not to blame that the Iewes perished in such sort but they themselues and would not by any meanes that fire should be set on the Temple But that sturdy and rough Marcellus who neither winning nor losing conquering nor conquered could let Hannibal be in quiet shall not lose his praises here For Liuye recounteth of him that when after three yeares spent in the siege he was entring Siracufa whereof he had taken one part and was like to win the
whole citie But the other was that grand one who raigneth aboue in heauen full of power and full of wisedome who directeth all his creatures in number waight and measure whose word goeth for an Oracle whose will is for a law who can do what he listeth none must stand against him So the things whereof the question was were in like sort different the one spake for a tree or greene herbe of the ground which grew vp on the sudden and as suddenly was gone which was but of one daies standing and which so long as he had it was not at all by his labour he neither planted nor watered it but his great maister did send it and againe for that space wherein he had it none else was the better for it but he alone made vse of it and his pleasure was no more but either to â—it vnder it as a shadow or a bower or to gaze and looke vpon it But the other thing was Niniue the huge citie of the world the gouernesse of the East the mansion of the king the glorie of the Empire where were so many thousands as were leaues vpoÌ„ the gourd where children were in great number little infants and little innocents and where was much store of cattell the life of the worst whereof was better then a gourd A citie and a great citie and populous and repentant should sway more then a shadow Then their ends were as different the one wold shew his fancie the other would shew his mercie the one thought of his present pleasure the other would record to all posteritie an example of clemencie pittie the one had respect to himselfe the other to his creatures Now if the seruant so loued the gourd because he liked it how might the maister loue a citie because he had a mind vnto it 8 For the better opening of this comparison the text obserueth vnto vs that Niniue was a great citie which I haue touched twise before as first in the first chapter where that title a great citie is giuen vnto it and then in the third chapter where it is named an excellent citie and of three daies iourney In which two places both from the Scriptures and other approued authours I shewed the greatnesse of it for the compasse for the wals and made plaine the reasons of it Now here something is added for the hugenesse of the place which agreeth with all the rest that there were so many infants within the coÌ„passe of it as one hundred and twentie thousand so many as if we take a million for ten thousand do make no lesse then twelue millions which arise to sixe score thousands And lest any man should imagine that children of riper age were comprehended there the text describeth these children to be all of them so little that they could not discerne betweene their right hand and their left hand which seemeth to be some Prouerbe among the Hebrewes like that I will cut off from Ahab euery one that maketh water against a wall that is all that are males here are meant none but very young ones I know that some haue thought the number set downe here to be a certaine number staÌ„ding for an vncertain so they do interpret it that there were many thousand babes and no more to be implyed But I wil not do that iniurie to the Spirit of God as to doubt but this number must definitely be taken for so many thousands full out that there were at least of these little ones sixe score completed thousands The compasse of the citie as in former times I haue shewed was three-score Italian miles wherin that many thousands yea a hundred thousand houses might stand may well appeare from proportion of other cities Athens was neuer takâ— in the number of very great ones yet as Xenophon doth report in that time when he liued there were ten thousand houses in it Philo Iudaeus sheweth that in his time there were many of the Iewes inhabiting in Egypt Africa He nameth Alexandria which as we know was no huge citie as a place distinct against all the other of that countrie as if there were their speciall residence and in other townes and cities and shires were but a scattering of them But saith he in Alexandria and the other named places there were of Iewes ten hundred thousand Then with the nuÌ„ber of that people who were naturals of that countrie and with all other straungers and trafiquers in that place how many were the persons which lodged within those walles Rome was famous but neuer great When it was at the largest it was neuer the sixth part so spacious as Niniue was not ten miles about in compasse and yet we find in that Epitome which Lucius Florus left gathered out of those bookes of Liuy which are lost that the Censors taking view of the citizens of that Rome found of soules of heades full out foure hundred thousand That for all the inhabitants was more then thrise the nuÌ„ber of infants who were found in the mightie citie Niniue According to which proportion if we will compare place to place we shall see that there needeth no scruple to remaine in this whole matter Ordinarily there are more of children in al places then of any age by proportion All who are elder haue first bin infants but all infants grow not elder death cutteth off many of them Allow then that these children of three yeares old and vnder or foure yeares if ye will were the seuenth part of the citie yet the whole number of inhabitants shall but little exceed the double of the Romanes If you will suppose the children for the tenth or the twelfth part and not so low as the seuenth yet Niniue will still beare it Then this must be accepted as a iustifiable truth not onely ratified by faith and the word of God but probable and most likely in the naturall course of things Which being so then it is no maruell if the Lord who oftentimes pittieth his creatures sole and single did take such open commiseration vpon so populous a place 9 Now what like thing had Ionas which he might ballance against this Such a small thing such a light thing such a vaine thing in comparison as is scant worth the naming When they should be weighed together how iustly might he stand backward and hide his face for shame It is a gourd-like Kikajon a thing of one daies antiquitie whose wood was not for building whose fruite was not for feeding but the vse was only a shadow and yet so too that a little worme might destroy it all in a moment When at that time Niniue had stood and flourished a thousand yeares How is the iudgement of man besotted when we are left to our selues to sticke vpon things so contemptible and passe by that which is of moment Socrates the Historien doth tell of some who accounted of whoredom but as of a thing