vvisedome of the king of Babylon to take the young children of Israell whom they might teach the learning and tongue of Chaldaea rather then their olde men so it is the wisedome of the Devill to season these greene vesselles vvith the liâ—our of his corruption that they maie keepe the taste thereof while life remaineth But their bones are filled with the sinne of their youth and it lyeth downe with them in the dust and when their bodies shall arise then shall also their sinne to receiue iudgement So sayeth the wise preacher giving them the raines in some sort but knowing that the end of their race vvill be bitternesse Reioice O young man and let thy hearte cheare thee in the daies of thy youth walke in the waies of thine hearte and in the sight of thine eies but knowe that for all these thinges God will bring thee to iudgement Let the examples of Elie his sonnes whome hee tenderly brought vp to bring downe his house and whole stocke to the ground and the boies that mockt Elizaeus be a warning to this vnguided age that the LORDE will not pardon iniquitie neither in young nor old and that not only the bulles and kine of Basan but the wanton and vntamed heighfers and the calues that play in the grasse shall beare their transgressions It is the song of the young men Wisedome the seconde Let not the flowre of our life passe from vs c. and it is the cry of the young men in the fifth of the same booke vvhat hath pride profited vs For whilst they take their pleasures vpon earth the Lord writeth bitter thinges against them in heaven Iob. 13. and shall make them possesse the iniquities of their youth And hee cryed His manner of preaching was by proclamation lowde and audible that it mighte reach to the eares of the people hee hid not the iudgementes of God in his heart as Mary the words of her Saviour to make them his proper and private meditations but as ever the manner of God was that his prophets should denounce his minde least they might say wee never hearde of it so did Ionas accordingly fulfill it Thus Esaye was willed to cry and to lifte vp his voice like a trumpet Ieremye to crye in the eares of Ierusalem to declare amongst the nations and even to set vp a standarde and proclaime the fall of Babylon And Ezechiell had a like commaundement Clama vlula fili hominis Crie and hovvle sonne of man for this shall come vnto my people and it shall lighte vpon all the princes of Israell Our Saviour likewise bad the Apostles vvhat they heard in the eare that to preach vpon the house toppes They did so For being rebuked for their message and forbidden to speake anie more in the name of Iesus they aunswered boldly in the face of that vvicked consistory vvhether it bee fitte to obey God or man iudge yee Wisdome her selfe Proverbs the first crieth not in her closet and the secret chambers of her house but vvithout in the streetes neither in the vvildernesse and infrequent places but in the heighth of the streetes and among the prease and in the entrings of the gates that the sounde of her voice may be blovvne into all partes If Iohn Baptist vvere the voice of a crier in the vvildernesse then vvas Christ the crier and Iohn Baptist but the voice Surely it wanted not much that the very stones in the streetes shoulde haue cried the honour and povver of God for even stones vvoulde haue founde their tongues if men had helde theirs The commaundement then and practise of God himselfe is to crie to leaue the vvorlde vvithout excuse the nature of the vvord biddeth vs crie for it is a fire and if it flame not forth it vvil burne his bovvels harts that smothereth it I thought I woulde haue kept my mouth bridled saith the prophet Whilst the wicked was in my sight I was dumbe and spake nothing I kept silence even from good but my sorrowe vvas the more encreased My heart vvas hot within mee and while I was musing the fire kindled and I spake with my tongue lastly the nature of the people vvith vvhome vvee haue to deale requireth crying Deafe adders vvill not bee charmed with whispering nor deafe and dumbe spirits which neither hear nor answere God cast forth without much praier and fasting nor sleepie and carelesse sinners possessed with a spirite of slumber and cast into a heavy sleepe as Adam vvas vvhen he lost his ribbe so these not feeling the maines that are made in their soules by Sathan awaked without crying Sleepers and sinners must be cried vnto againe and againe for sinne is a sleepe What can you not watch one houre And dead men and sinners must be cried vnto for sinne is a death and asketh as manie groanings and out-cries as ever Christ bestowed vpon Lazarus Exiforas Lazare Lazarus come forth and leaue thy rotten and stinking sinnes vvherein thou hast lien too manye daies Happy were this age of ours if all the cryings in the daie time could awake vs. For I am sure that the cry at midnight shall fetch vs vp but if the meane time vvee shall refuse to hearken and pull awaie the shoulder and stoppe our eares that they shoulde not heare and make our heartes as an adamant stone that the vvordes of the Lorde cannot sinke into them it shall come to passe that as hee hath cried vnto vs and vvee vvoulde not heare so wee shall crie vnto him againe and hee vvill not answere And saide yet fortie daies and Niniveh shall bee overthrowne The matter of the prophets sermon is altogither of iudgement For the execution whereof 1. the time prefined is but forty daies 2. the measure or quantity of the iudgement an overthrow 3. the subiect of the overthrow Niniveh togither with an implication of the longe sufferance of almighty God specified in a particle of remainder and longer adiourment in the fourth place yet forty daies asmuch as to say I have spared you long enough before but I will spare you thus much longer The onely matter of question herein is how it may stande vvith the constancie and truth of the aeternall God to pronounce a iudgement against a place which taketh not effect within an hundred yeares For either he was ignorant of his owne time which we cannot imagine of an omniscient God or his minde vvas altered vvhich is vnprobable to suspect For is the strength of Israell as man that hee shoulde lie or as the sonne of man that hee shoulde repent is hee not yesterday and to day and the same for ever that vvas that is and that is to come I meane not onelye in substance but in vvill and intention doeth hee vse lightnes are the wordes that hee speaketh yea and nay Doth hee both affirme and deny to are not all his promises are not all his threatnings
to our cities and townes barres to our houses a surer cover to our heads than an helmet of steele a better receite to our bodies than the confection of Apothecaries a better receite to our soules than the pardons of Rome is Salus Iehovae the salvation of the Lord. The salvation of the Lord blesseth preserveth vpholdeth all that we have our basket and our store the oile in our cruises our presses the sheepe in our folds our stalles the children in the wombe at our tables the corne in our fieldes our stores our garners it is not the vertue of the stars nor nature of the things themselves that giveth being continuance to any of these blessings And what shall I more say as the apostle asked Hebr. 11. when he had spoken much and there was much more behind but that time failed him Rather what should I not say for the world is my theatre at this time and I neither thinke nor can feigne to my selfe any thinge that hath not dependaunce vpon this acclamation Salvation is the Lordes Plutarcke writeth that the Amphictyones in Greece a famous counsell assembled of twelve sundrie people wrote vpon the temple of Apollo Pythius in steede of the Iliades of Homer or songes of Pindarus large and tyring discourses shorte sentences and memoratives as Know thy selfe Vse moderation Beware of suretishippe and the like And doubtlesse though every creature in the world whereof we haue vse be a treatise and narration vnto vs of the goodnesse of God and wee might weary our flesh and spend our daies in writing bookes of that vnexplicable subiect yet this short apopthegme of Ionas compreheÌ„deth all the rest and standeth at the ende of the songue as the altars and stones that the Patriarkes set vp at the partinge of the waies to giue knowledge to the after-worlde by what meanes hee was delivered I would it were dayly preached in our temples sunge in our streetes written vpon our dore-postes painted vppon our walles or rather cut with an admant claw vpon the tables of our hearts that wee might never forget Salvation to bee the Lordes wee haue neede of such remembrances to keepe vs in practise of revolvinge the mercies of God For nothinge decayeth sooner than loue And of all the powers of the soule memorye is most delicate tender and brittle and first waxeth olde and of all the apprehensions of memory first a benefite To seeke no further for the proofe and manifestation of this sentence within our coastes I may say as our Saviour in the nineteenth of Luke to Zacheus This day is salvation come vnto this house Even this day my brethren came the salvation of the LORDE to this house of David to the house of this Kingdome to the houses of Israell and Aaron people and priestehode church and common wealth I helde it an especiall parte of my duety amongst the rest the day invitinge and your expectation callinge mee thereunto and no text of mercy and salvation impertinent to that purpose to correcte and stirre vp my selfe with those fowre lepers that came to the spoile of the Syrian tentes I doe not well this day is a day of good tidinges and shoulde I holde my peace let the leprosie of those men cleaâ—e vnto my skinne if it bee not as ioyfull a thinge vnto mee to speake of the honour of this day as ever it vvas to them to carrye the happye nevves of the flight of Aram. It is the birth-day of our countrey It vvas deade before and the verye soule of it quite departed Sound religion which is the life of a kingdome was abandoned faith exiled the gospell of Christ driven into corners and hunted beyond the seas All these fell with the fall of an honorable and renowned plante which as the first flowre of the figtree in the prime and bloominge of his age was translated into heaven they rose againe with the rising and advancement of our gracious Lady and Soveraigne Were I as able as vvillinge to procure solemnitye to the day I would take the course that David did I would begin at heaven and call the Angelles and armieâ— thereof the sunne moone and starres I woulde descend by the aire and call the fire haile and snow vapours and stormy windes I would enter into the sea and call for dragons and all deepes I woulde ende in the earth and call for the mountaines and hilles fruitfull trees and cedars beastes and all cattell creeping thinges and feathered fowles Kinges of the earth and all people Princes Iudges yonge men and maidens olde men and children to lend their harmony and accord vnto vs to praise the name of the Lorde to accompany and adorne the triumph of our land and to showte into heaven with no other cry than this salus Iehovae salvation is only from the Lord by whome the horne of this people hath so mightily bene exalted O happy English if wee knew our good if that roiall vessell of gold wherein the salvation of the Lorde hath bene sent vnto vs were as precious and deare in our accounte as it rightly deserveth Her particular commendations common to her sacred person not with many princes I examine not Let it bee one amongst a thousand which Bernard gaue to a widowe Queene of Ierusalem and serveth more iustly to the maiden Queene of England that it was no lesse glory vnto her to liue a widowe havinge the worlde at will and beinge to sway a kingdome which required the helpe of an husband than a Queene The one saith he Came to thee by succession the other by vertue the one by descent of bloude thâ— other by the gift of God the one it was thy happinesse to bee borne the other thy manlinesse to haue atteined vnto a double honour the one towardes the worlde the other towardes God both from God Her wisedome as the wisedome of an Angell of the Lorde so spake the widowe sometimes to David fitter for an Angell than my selfe to speake of her knowledge in the tongues and liberall learninge in all the liberall sciences that in a famous Vniversitie amongst the learnedest men shee hath bene able not onely to heare and vnderstand which were somethinge but to speake perswade decide like a graduate oratour professour and in the highest court of parliameÌ„t hath not onely sitten amongst the peeres of her realme and delivered her minde maiestate manus by some bodily gesture in signe of assent but given her counsaile and iudgemente not inferiour to any and her selfe by her selfe hath aunswered the embassadours of severall nations in their severall languages with other excellent graces beseeming the state of a prince though they best know on whose hande shee leaâ—eth and that are nearest in attendaÌ„ce and observance about her maiesty yet if any man bee ignorant of let him aske of strangers abroade into whose eares fame hath bruited and blowne her vertues and done no more but right in giving such giftes vnto her
vt pueri Iunonis avem and schollers wondering more at men that they doe so little for them learning never departeth ashamed and discontented from your face I adde with most zealous and thankefull commemoration in behalfe of my mother and all the children at her knees your loue to our Vniversitie Of whose age and nativity which others haue beene carefull to set downe I dispute not But whither shee bee the elder sister it seemeth by that neglect wherein shee now standeth that shee hath lost the honour and inheritance of her birth-right or vvhither the younger your Lordship hath not many companions to ioine with you in compassion and say in these daies soror est nobis parva we haue a little sister and shee hath no breastes or rather hath not succor to fill out her breastes what shall vvee doe for her How many commō respectes to let private alone a vvhile haue naturally borne me to the centre and pointe of your Honours onely patronage I deny not when at my comming from the North it first came into my head to divulgate these readings my purpose was to haue made the chiefe founders and procurers thereof my two deceased Lords the chiefe patrones also that as the rivers runne to the place from whence they come so these tokens of my gratefull minde might returne to the principall authours Wherein the worlde might iustly haue censured me with the words of the Prophet what from the living to the dead contrary to the vse and fashion of all other men But so I meane both to avoide the suspicion of a fault which the world laboureth of flattering of great personages who was and am content that all mine expectations in any respecte from them or theirs bee laid in the same dust vvherein their bones lye and to shew that loue is stronger then death and that the vnexorable barres of the graue cannot forbid a man to continue that affection to the memory of the dead vvhich he carried to the living For which cause as others provided spices and balmes and monuments of stone or brasse to preserue their bodies so I intended a monument of paper and such other preservatiues as I coulde to keepe their names in life which the violence of time cannot so quicklye iniurye as the fatall vngratefulnesse of these latter daies But your Lordshippes most vndeserved and vnlooked for bounty towards mee hath altered that meaninge In whose countenance speech evermore from the first houre that I came into your honorable presence there dwelt such plentifull comfortes and encouragements to make me hope for better times that I never went a way but with more fatnesse to my bones And now the world can witnesse vvith mee how largely you haue opened your hand and sealed vp that care in freely bestowing vpon mee not Leah but Rahel even the daughter of your strength the best that your Honour had to bestow I say not for my service of twice 7. yeares but being yet to begin my first houres attendance Which more then credible benignity my right hande were vvorthye to forgette her cunninge if shee tooke not the first occasion to write and report with the best skill shee hath Notwithstanding I haue bene bold thus farre after the trees shaken and the vintage gathered to your Honours vse to leaue as it were a berrye or two in the vtmost boughes to my former Lordes and by making some little mention of their happy memories both to testify mine auncient duety towards them and to deliver them what I might from the night of forgetfulnesse who were the shining lampes of the North in their life time Such a Moses and such an Aaron such a Josuah to lead the people and such a Priest to beare the Arke such a Zorobabel and such a Jehozadak such a Centurion in Capernaum to rule the country and such a Jairus to governe the Synagogue when the Lorde shall send togither againe I will then saie hee hath restored his blessing amongst them To this purpose I haue added two sermons more to these Lectures vppon Ionas the one preached at the funeralles of my former Lord the late Archbishop of Yorke the other no way pertinent to the latter the right noble Earle of Huntingdon except because hee commanded it and it was not many weekes before his death and the subiect was so agreeable to his most faithfull and vnsteined heart For if the sound of the tongue and applause of the handes may perswade for him he never behelde the light of heaven within this land that more honoured the light of England Long may it sparkle and flame amongst vs according to his harty wishes Let neither distempered humours within quench it nor all the waters of the sea betwixt Spaine and vs bring rage and hostility enough to put it out but let the light of Gods owne most blessed countenance for ever ever shine vpon it It nowe remaineth that in the humblest manner I can I wholy resigne my selfe and the course of my life to your honourable both protection and disposition askinge pardon for my boldnesse and defense for these my simple endeavours beseeching the God of heaven earth to multiply his richest blessings vpon your Honour your Lady and your Children whither within or without the land Your Lordshippes most bounden and dutifull Chaplaine JOHN KINGE THE FIRST LECTVRE Cap. 1. verse 1.2 The word of the Lord came also vnto Ionah the sonne of Amittai saying Arise and go to Niniveh c. COmparisons betwixt scripture and scripture are both odious and dangerous In other sortes of thinges whatsoeuer is commendable may either be matched or preferred according to the worth of them I will not make my selfe so skilful in the orders of heaven as to advance angel aboue angel but I am sure one star differeth from another in glorie And God hath giuen the rule of the day to the sunne of the night to the moone because they differ in beauty The captaines of the sonnes of Gad without offence might beare an vnaequall report One of the least could resist an hundred and the greatest a thousand because their prowesse and actes were not aequall There was no wrong done in the Antheme which the women song from all the citties of Israell Saul hath slaine his thousande and David his tenne thousande The vnlike desertes of these two princes mighte iustly admit an vnlike cōmēdation One Cato may be of more price then hundreth thousandes of vulgar men and Plato may stande for all Our Saviour in the gospell preferreth old wine before new Aristotle liketh better of the wine of Lesbos thē the wine of Rhodes he affirmeth both to be good but the Lesbian the more pleasant alluding vnder that parable to the successour of his schoole and noting his choise rather of Theophrastus borne at Lesbos then Menedemus at Rhodes But the whole scripture is giuen by inspiration of God neither in his greate house of vvritten counsels is
debt vvherewith he was oppressed slept quietly and tooke his ease desired to buy the pallet that hee lodged vpon his servants marveâ—ling thereat he gaue them this answere that it seemed vnto him some wonderfull bed and worth the buying whereon a man could sleepe that was so deepely indebted Surely if we consider with our selues the duety and debt vve owe to God and man to our country to our family to homeborne to strangers that is both to Israell and to Niniveh and most especially to those of the houshold of faith that as it was the lawe of God before the law that we shoulde eate our bread in the sweat of our face so it is the law of the gospell also that hee that laboureth not should not eate that the blessed sonne of God ate his bread not onely in the sweate but in the bloud of his browes rather he ate not but it was his meate to doe his fathers will and to finish his worke that even in the state of innocency Adam was put into the garden to dresse it that albeit all labourers are not chosen yet none are chosen but labourers that the figge tree was blasted by the breath of Gods owne lippes with an everlasting curse because it bare but leaues and the axe of heavy displeasure is laide vnto the roote of every tree that is barren of good fruites and if it be once dead in naturall vegetation it shall bee twise deade in spirituall malediction and pluckt vp by the roote It would make vs vow vvith our selues I will not suffer mine eie-liddes to slumber nor the temples of my head to take any rest vntill I haue finished that charge vvhereunto I am appointed Iacobs apologie to Laban may be a mirrour to vs all not to neglect our accountes to a higher maister then ever Laban vvas These twentie yeares haue I beene in thy house I was in the daie consumed with heate and with frost in the night and the sleepe departed from mine eies So industrious vvas Iacob to discharge the dueties of his place and carefull to make his reckoning straight vvith his maister vpon the earth But I speake of an heavier reckoning to an heavier Lord that will aske an account of everie idle worde much more of an idle habite and therefore let them foresee that heate and that frost to come those restlesse eies the hire of their forepassed drowsinesse for daies for nightes for everlasting generations that are ever framing an excuse It is either hotte or cold that I cannot worke there is a Lyon in the streete or a Beare in the way that I dare not goe forth that being called to an office and having their taskes laide forth vnto them say not vvith Samuell at the call of the Lorde Speake Lord thy servant heareth but in a stubborne and perverse veine speake and command Lord and appoint my order wherein I shall vvalke but I neither heare thy voice neither shall my heart goe after thy commaundements I passed by the field of the sloathfull saith Salomon and by the vineyard of the man destitute of vnderstanding and loe it was all growen over with thornes and nettles had covered the face thereof Peruse the rest of that scripture The wise king behelde and considered it well and received instruction by it that a litle sleepe brought a greate deale of poverty and a little slumber a greate deale of necessity And surely as the field of the slouthfull is covered with nettles and thornes so shall his body be overgrowen vvith infirmities his minde vvith vices his conscience shall want a good testimony to it selfe and his soule shal be empty of that hope hereafter which might haue reioiced it I ende this point Ionas his arise and go to Niniveh giueth a warning to vs all for wee haue all a Niniveh to go vnto Magistrates arise and go to the gate to execute Gods iudgementes Ministers arise and go to the gospel to do the workes of Evangelists people arise and go to your trades to eate the labours of your handes eye to thy seeing foote to thy walking Peter to thy nettes Paul to thy tents Marchant to thy shipping Smith to thy anvile Potter to thy wheele vvomen to your whernes and spindles let not your candle go out that your workes may praise you in the gates Your vocations of life are Gods sanctions he ordeined them to mankinde he blesseth them presently at his audite hee will crowne them if when he calleth for an account of your forepassed stewardships you be able to say in the vprightnes of your soule I haue runne my race and as the maister of the house assigned me so by his grace and assistance I haue fulfilled my office But why to Niniveh Niniveh of the Gentiles vncircumcised Niniveh Niniveh of the Assyrians imperious insolent intolerable Niniveh Niniveh swollen with pride and her eies standing out of her heade with fatnesse Niniveh setled vpon her lees not lesse then a thousand three hundred yeares Niniveh infamous for idolatrie with Nisroch her abhomination Niniveh with idlenes so vnnaturallie effeminated and her iointes dissolued vnder Sardanapalus as some conceiue their 38. Monarch who sate and spanne amongst women that as it was the wonder and by-word of the earth so the heavens aboue could not but abhorre it Foure reasons are alleadged why Ionas was sent to Niniveh First God will not smite a citye or towne without warning according to the rule of his owne lawe that no city bee destroyed before peace hath beene offered vnto it The woman of Abell in her wisedome obiected this law vnto Ioab when he had cast vp a mounte against Abel where shee dwelt They spake in olde time and said They should aske of Abell and thus haue they continued that is first they should call a parle and open their griefes before they vsed hostility against it The sword of the Lord assuredly is ever drawne and burnished his bow bent his arrowes prepared his instrumentes of death made ready his cuppe mingled yet hee seldome powreth dovvne his plagues but there is a showre of mercie before them to make his people take heede Pax domui huic peace be vnto this house was sounded to everie doore vvhere the Apostles entered but if that house vvere not vvorthy of peace and benediction it returned backe vnto them Vertues were vvroughte in Chorazin and Bethsaida before the vvoe tooke holde vpon them Noah vvas sent to the olde world Lot to Sodom Moses and Aaron to the Aegyptians Prophets from time to time to the children of Israell Iohn Baptist and Christ and the Apostles togither vvith signes in the host of heauen tokens in the elementes to Ierusalem before it was destroied Chrysostome vpon the first to Timothie giueth the reason hereof that God by threatning plagues sheweth vs howe to avoide plagues and feareth vs with hell before hande that we may learne to eschew it And it was his
vsuall speech as hee there confesseth that the commination of hell fire doeth no lesse commende the providence of God towardes man then the promise of his kingdome the terrour of the one and sweetenesse of the other working togither like oile and wine to make man vvise to his salvation Niniveh had not stood a longer time if Ionas had not said before Niniveh shal be overthrowne The message of their overthrow overthrew the message the prophecie fell and the citie fell not because her fall was prophecied O new and admirable thing saith he in a homily to the people of Antioch The denunciation of death hath brought forth life the sentence of destruction hath made a nullitie in the sentence c. It was a snare it became their fortresse it was their gulfe it became their tower of defence they heard that their houses should fall and they forsooke not their houses but themselues and their ancient wicked waies Secondly he sendeth him to Niniveh to make the cōversiō therof as it were of his first fruits a figure type of the cōversion of other the Gentiles and to shew to the people a far off far from the seat of Iudea farther frō the covenant that the daies drew on wherein they should be called by the names of sons daughters though they vvere now strangers And as ten men in Niniveh tooke holde of the skirt of one Ionas an Hebrew and said wee will goe with thee for we nowe heare that God is with you so tenne and tenne millions of men out of all languages should ioine themselues to the Iewes in the worshippe of that Lord whom they adored A glimpse of this overspreading light had now and then opened it selfe in some singular persons aliens from the common wealth of Israel as in Melchizedech king of Salē Naaman the Syrian Iob in the land of Vz in Thamar Rahab and Ruth inserted into the pedegree of Christ to shew amongst other reasons that as he came of the Gentiles so for the Gentiles to and that the waters of life as Zachary tearmeth them shoulde flowe from Ierusalem farther then to the river of Tigris vvhereon Niniveh stoode halfe of them towardes the East sea and halfe of them towards the vttermost sea that both endes of the earth might bee watered therewith Thirdly he sendeth him to Niniveh as he sent Ioseph into Egypt to provide a remedy against a mischiefe not farre of Ioseph to prepare bread for his fathers house in the famine Ionas to prepare a place for the Lords exiles in the captivity This carefulnes of their weldoing herein appeareth vnto vs in a charge giuen to Moab in the prophesie of Esay Hide them that are chased out bewray not him that is fled let my banished dwell with thee Moab be thou their covert from the face of the destroier The time vvas to come when the sonnes of Iacob should go captiues into Assyria righteous and vnrighteous cleane and vncleane those vvhom hee tendered as the apple of his owne eie vvith their vngratefull and vngracious brethren yet such was his provident fore-sight tovvardes his little remnante grovving as thinne among the rest as oliue berries vpon the tree after the vintage a berrie heere and there in the outmost boughes that though they bare their parte of thraldome in a straunge lande yet they shoulde meete with some of milde and tractable spirits whose hearts had beene mollified before by the preaching of Ionas Lastlie hee sendeth him to Niniveh vvhich I rather fasten vpon to provoke his people of the Ievves with those that were not a people to vpbraide their contempte defie their frovvardnesse and to shevve that his soule loatheth abhorreth abhominateth their incorrigible rebellions Whom he had girt to himselfe as a girdle to ones raines and married in everlasting kindnesse to vvhome hee had risen earlie and stretched out his hande all the daie long and cryed vpon them all Harken O Israell and I vvill protest vnto thee Thou shalt bee my people and I will bee thy God whome hee had chidden and not chidden vvith so fatherlie a spirite and such obtesting protestations that they seeme to bee angrie without anger As I liue I woulde not your deathes VVhy will yee die O house of Israell wilt thou not bee made cleane VVhen shall it once bee lastlie to whome hee had appealed though men of vnaequall iudgementes yet not so farre from aequalitie as to condemne his vvaies wherein haue I grieved thee testifie against mee these hee giveth to vnderstande that at the preaching of one prophet when they had precept vpon precept a stranger amongst strangers a man of an vnknovvne tongue the whole people of Niniveh though heathenish and idolatrous shoulde bee wonne to repentaunce Arise Ionas goe to Niniveh Sanctifie a people vnto mee vvhere I had no people fetch mee sonnes and daughters from farre let the barren beare children and let the married bee barren I haue beene served vvith the sinnes of Israell a longe time I am wearie of their back-sliding let them henceforth lie and rotte in their iniquity Goe thou to Niniveh Manie the like angrie and opprobrious comparisons hath the mouth of the LORD vttered with much indignitie in other places in the eighteenth of Ieremy Aske nowe amongst the heathen who hath hearde such thinges The Virgin of Israell hath done verie filthilie Strumpets and brothels had done but their kinde but in the virgin of Israell vvho woulde haue thought it In the first of Hosea Goe take thee a vvife of fornication the meaning of the type is this I vvill finde more faithfulnesse in a lande inured to whoredomes then one vvhich I tenderly loved as mine owne vvife Christ in the gospell iustifieth this collection against the evill and adulterous generation of that time The men of Niniveh shall rise in iudgement with this generation and condemne it For they repented at the preaching of Ionas and beholde a greater then Ionas is heere And in the same Evangelist hee rateth them in parables for despising the doctrine of Iohn Publicanes and harlottes shall goe before you into the kingdome of GOD For they beleeved him and yee thoughe yee sawe it vvere not mooved to repentance The argumente brieflie thus standeth The people of Niniveh shall condemne the people of Israell For they vvill repente at the preaching of one Ionas the others repent not at the preaching of manie hundreds of Prophets It is a curse of all curses the verie bottome of the viall and dregges of the vengeaunce of God vvhen prophetes are vvilled to relinquish their accustomed flockes and their message is translated to forrainers and straungers the dust of vvhose feete but shaken against a citie or towne or the lappe of their garment emptied the least remembrance I meane and vvatchvvorde in the vvorlde betvveene GOD and his servauntes that heere or there they haue beene delivered their errande in his name and vvere not accepted shall vvitnesse
sufficient to amend children past grace a prophet like Mitio doth but bolster a sinner in his froward waies Hee chargeth his messenger otherwise in the prohecie of Esay Cry aloude spare not lifte vp thy voice like a trumpet shew my people their transgressions and to the house of Iacob their sinnes Much lesse can hee abide flattery and guilefullnes in his busines for cursed be he that doth the worke of the Lorde negligently or rather as the word importeth with deceit Woe vnto them that sowe pillowes vnder mens arme-holes when it is more time to pricke them vp with goades that sell the cause of the Lorde for handfulles of barley and peeces of bread for favour for feare for lucre or any the like worldly respects and vvhen the people committed vnto them shall say vnto their seers see not and to their prophets prophecie not right things loquimini placentia speake pleasinges and leasinges vnto vs prophecie errours are easilie drawen to betray the will of their Lord and to satisfie their humours God hath disclosed his mind in this trechery Behold I wil come against the prophets that steale my word from their neighbours beholde I will come against the prophets that haue sweete tongues that cause my people to erre by their lies and flatteries For then is the word of the Lord stollen and purloined from our brethren when we iustifie the wicked and giue life to the soules that shoulde not liue when we heale the hurtes of Israell with sweete wordes when wee annoint the heads of sinners with precious baulmes vvhose harts we should rather breake with sharpe corrosiues when wee put hony into the sacrifice in steede of salte when vve should frame our song of iudgment and we turne it into a song of mercy when we should mourne to make men lament and vve pipe to make them daunce putting the evill day farre from them and hunting for their praise and acceptation of vs vvith pleasing discourses affected eloquence histrionicall iests rather then graue and divine sentences Hierome gaue an other exhortation to Nepotian Let the teares of thy auditours bee thy prayses And Augustine had a stranger opinion of these applauses and acclamations of men These praises of yours saith he to his hearers do rather offend and endaunger me we suffer them indeed but we tremble when we heare them We cannot promise you such deceitfull handling and battering of the word of God for whether you heare or heare not the prophecie that is brought vnto you yet you shall know that there haue beene prophets amongst you we will not suffer your sinnes to sleepe quietly in your bosomes as Ionas slept in the sides of the shippe but we will rouse them vp if we see your pride your vsury your adulteries your oppressions we wil not only cry them but cry against them lest they cry against vs we will set vp a banner in the name of the Lorde of Hostes and proclaime them in your hearing and if our cry will not helpe we wil leaue you to that cry at midnight vvhen your bodies that sleepe in the dust of the earth and your sinnes that sleepe with your bodies both shall be awaked and receiue their meede at Gods hands we will charme your deafenes vvith the greatest cunning we haue if our charming cannot mooue you wee will sende you to the iudgement seate of God with this writing vpoÌ„ your foreheads Noluerunt incantari They would not be charmed The reason of his crying against Niniveh is this For their wickednes is come vp before me They that are skilfull in the originall obserue that the name of vvickednesse heere vsed importeth the greatest extremity that can be and is not restrained to this or that sinne one of a thousande but is a most absolute and all-sufficient tearme for three transgressions and for fowre as it is in Amos thaâ— is for seuen that is for infinite corruption Whatsoeuer exceedeth modesty and is most contrary to the will of God beyonde all right or reason setled into dregges frozen like yâ—e given over solde to the will of Satan is heere meant vvhere every person in the common wealth is degenerated There is none good no not one and every part in the body soule of man doth his part to lift vp the head of sinne the throate an open sepulchre the tongue vsed to deceit the poison of Aspes vnder the lips the mouth full of cursing and bitternes the feete swift to shed bloud destructioÌ„ calamity in all their waies no knowledge of the way of peace no feare of God before their eies And whether the word hath that power yea or no it skilleth not much to dispute for the words adioined in the text make it plaine without further amplification First it is wickedmesse Secondly it ascendeth Thirdly into the presence of God himselfe Whereby you may perceiue that the wickednesse of Niniveh was not base and shamefast fearefull to advance it selfe but an high kinde of vvickednesse swelling like Iordan aboue his banckes It lay not close in the bottome of the sea nor in the holes of rockes nor in the covert and secrecie of private chambers it had an whorish forhead and could not bee ashamed they declared their sinnes as Sodom they hid them not and as a fountaine casteth out waters so they their malice 1 The phrase heere vsed noteth a greate aggravation of the thing intended So in the sixt of Genesis it is saide that the earth was corrupt before the Lorde and in the tenth of that booke Nimrod was a mightie hunter before the Lord that is the corruptions of the world and the violence of Nimrod vvere so grosse that the Lord coulde not choose but take knowledge of them So it is here said Their vvickednesse is come vp before me It knoweth no end it climbeth like the sun in the morning and passeth the boundes of all moderation it is not enough that the bruite and fame thereof is blowen into the eares of men but it hath filled the earth possesseth the aire lifteth it selfe aboue the stars amongst the angelles of God offereth her filthines and impurity before the throne of his maiesty and if there vvere farther to go such is her boldnesse and shamelesnesse shee would forbeare no place What are there seasons and times when the Lord beholdeth sinne and wickednesse and when hee beholdeth it not hee that made the eie doth hee not see doth Hee slumber or sleepe that keepeth Israell or hath he not torches and cresset light at all times to descrie the deedes of Babylon or is he subiect to that scoffe which Elias gaue Baal It maie bee he sleepeth and must bee awaked or what els is the meaning of that phrase Their vvickednesse is come vp before mee As if there vvere some vvickednesse vvhich came not to his notice Surely besides the increase and propagation of their wickednesse for there is difference betwixt creeping and climbing
it noteth some order in the actions of God He sawe their sinnes in the booke of eternitie before their hearts did ever conceiue them he saw them in their breasts before their hands committed them he saw their infancy and their full strength their thirst and drunkennes their beginning and proceeding But then hee sawe them indeed and to purpose when hee sawe them perfected and fulfilled and havinge vvincked as it were before and in patience forborne them nowe behelde them with fiery eyes and his hearte vnremoueably bent to take vengeance The wilde asse vsed to the wildernesse snuffeth vp winde at her pleasure who can turne her backe they that seeke after her will not wearie themselues but will finde her in her moneth GOD seeth and observeth at all times the vntamed madnesse of the vvicked wearying themselues like the wilde asse or the dromedarye in a race of abhominations but hee will take them in their moneth and turne them backe when their sinnes are ripe and his wrath throughly incensed 2 Their wickednesse is come vp before mee The phrase doth minister a further instruction vnto vs. Sinne in the eyes of some man seemeth not sin Lactantius writeth of those who were not ashamed of their faultes but rather sought out patronage and defence for them that at the least they might seeme to sinne honestly Ieremy speaketh of the Iewes in the same manner were they ashamed when they had committed abhomination nay they were not ashamed neither coulde they haue shame He smiteth them afterward in the 11. of his Prophecy with a sharper reproofe that when they did evill they reioyced at it And it is the fashion of vs all to bolster and beare out the vices of our friendes changing sower into sweet and evill into good even for their friendships sake Alceus tooke a mole in the body for a grace yet was it a blemmish One mule rubbeth another an hypocrite liketh an hypocrite because hee is like vnto him a drunkarde a drunkarde an vsurer him that is practised in the same trade he that transformed himselfe into an Angell of light being a fiende of darkenes hath taught an harlot to cloath her selfe like an honest matrone and vices to disguise themselues vnder the habite of vertues But howsoever the the eyes of men are blinded with partiality yet the eye-liddes of the Lorde shall trie the children of men his righteous and flaming countenaunce shall soundelie examine their actions vncover the faces of their iniquities and call them rightly and truely by their proper names 3 But whatsoever we find else in the riches store of these words this wee may gather from the nature of them that there are some sinnes winged of an high elevation ascending aboue the toppe of Carmel aspiring pressing before the maiesty of Gods owne thrōe The speech is but altered in other scriptures the substance and signification all one where it is said that some sinnes cry in the eares of God that which is the winges or chariot vnto them in this place to make them mount so high is their cry in those others I meane their outrage and enormity Cains sin cried vnto the Lord. Gen. 4. And in the 18. of Gen. Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great which is expoūded in the next words because their sin is exceeding grievous I will now goe downe saith the Lord and see whether they haue done altogither according to that crie which is come vp vnto mee Beholde the hire of the labourers which haue reaped the fieldes which is of you kept backe by fraude cryeth and the cries of them which haue reaped are entered into the eares of the Lorde of hostes in the Epistle of Iames. Aunswerable to that part of Iob his Apology which he presenteth vnto his iudge in the 31. of his booke If my lande cry against mee or if the furrowes of my fielde complaine c. Let thistles growe in steede of wheate and cockle in steede of barley Oppression is threatned by the like tearmes in the seconde of Abacuck The stone shall crye out of the wall and the beame out of the timber shall answere it woe vnto him that buildeth a towne with bloude and erecteth a citie with iniquitie All which sentences of scripture expressing the loudnesse and vocality of sinne are of the same force as before I saide with those that declare the sublimity and reach of it God speaketh to Senacharib in an other manner of speech but the matter and purpose is not different from this Because thou ragest against mee and thy tumult is come vp to mine eares I will put my hooke in thy nostrels c. Likewise the prophet telleth the children of Israell in the seconde of Chronicles that because the Lorde God was wroth with Iudah he had delivered thē into the Israelits hands and they had slaine them in a rage that reached vp to heaven By these and the like conferences a man may determine the nature and set downe a catalogue in some sorte of crying sinnes Bloudeshedde is a crying sinne I say not all kinde of bloudshedde for the speech of God to Cain hath bloudes not bloud which noteth an vnsatiable appetite wherewith hee was so dry that if his brother had possessed a 1000. times as much bloud he would haue spilt it all and though he tooke away his life yet he tooke not leaue of his own malitious thirst of bloud Blasphemy and rage against God is a crying sin oppression extortion fraud against poore labourers against right owners is a crying sin and sin with outragiousnesse and impudencie any vvay publicke infamovs enormous sin contemning the iudgement of GOD and censures of men committed with greedinesse drawn with cart-ropes gloried in where men even sel themselues to vvorke vvickednesse is a crying sinne VVhich immoderate and proud humour of viciousnesse is notably expressed in the sixt of Genesis where it is alleadged that when the Lord saw the wickednesse of man was greate vpon the earth and all the imaginations of the thoughts of his hart were onely evill continually then it repented the Lord that he had made man and hee was sorrie in his heart 1. It vvas vvickednesse 2. greate 3. evident for the Lorde sawe it 4. their hearts were evill 5. every thought of their heart 6. every imagination of thought 7. onely evill 8. continually or day by day there was no hope of amendmente Equall herevnto is that generall and vnbridled corruption vvhich David setteth downe in the 14. Psalme vvhere they beginne vvith a most damnable principle of Atheisme the gate and highway into all iniquity The foole saith in his hearte there is no God Then is the sincke or channell opened to all dissolution of life They are corrupted and doe abhominably there is none that doth good The Lorde looked downe from heaven vpon the children of men to see if there were anye that woulde vnderstand seeke after God but they
for the kings shippes went to Tharsis with the servants of Hiram every three yeares once came the shippes of Tharsis and brought golde and silver yvorye apes and peacockes or vvhether it signifie Carthage which Dido sometime built and is now called Tunes which is the opinion of Theodoret and others or vvhether Tartessus a towne in Spaine or vvhether that city in Cilicia nearer to Syria vvhence Paul reporteth himselfe to haue beene in the 21. of the Actes I am a citizen in Tharsis a famous city in Cilicia or vvhether the whole countrey of Cilicia because in auncient times if Iosephus deceiue vs not all Cilicia vvas called Tharsis by the name of the chiefe city or whether it name vnto vs any other place not yet agreed vpon partly by curious partly by industrious authors it skilleth not greatly to discourse I leaue you for your satisfactiō therin to more ample cōmentaries But certeine I am vvhether his minde beare him to lande or to sea to Asia or Africk cuntry or city nearer or farther of at Niniveh he commeth not which was the place of Gods apointment Many dispute many things vvhy Ionas forsooke Niniveh and fled to Tharsis 1. The infirmity of the flesh some say was the cause pusillanimity of minde vvant of courage beeing terrified vvith the greatnesse of the citye 2. Or there was no hope say others of the dry when the greene was so barren The children of Israell had so hardened his heart with the hardnesse of theirs that he coulde not imagine the children of Ashur would ever haue fallen to repentāce 3. Or the strangenesse of the charge dismaide him for vvhen all other Prophets were sent to Israell he reasoneth vvith himselfe vvhy should I bee sent to Niniveh it was as vncoth vnto him as when Peter was willed to arise kill and eate vncleane beastes and hee answered in plaine termes not so Lorde 4. Or it might bee zeale to his countrey because the conversion of the Gentiles hee sawe woulde bee the eversion of the Iewes And surely this is a greate tentation to the minde of man the disadvantage and hinderance of brethren For this cause Moses interposed himselfe in the quarrell betvveene the Hebrew and the AEgyptian and slew the AEgyptian and in the behalfe of all Israell he afterwardes prayed vnto the Lord against his owne soule If thou wilt pardon their sinne thy mercie shall appeare but if thou wilt not I pray thee raze mee out of the booke of life which thou hast written 5. Or it might bee hee was afraide to be accounted a false prophet if the sequele of his prophecy fell not out which reason is afterward expressed by him in the fourth chapter I pray thee Lorde was not this my saying when I was in mine owne countrey c. As I saide of the place before so of the reasons that mooved him for this present till fitter occasions bee offered vvhatsoever it vvere that drewe him awaie vvhether weakenesse of spirite or despayre of successe or insolency of charge or ielousie over the Israelites or feare of discredite sure I am that hee commeth not to Niniveh but resolveth in his heart to reiect a manifest commandement I make no quaestion but in every circumstance forehandled he vncovereth his owne nakednes and laieth himselfe open to the censure and crimination of all men As who would say will you know the person without dissembling his name It was Ionas his readines without deliberation he ariseth his hast without intermission he flyeth the place farre distant from the which God had appointed Tharsis And if all these will not serue to prooue the disobedience of Ionas a a fault by his owne confession then harken vnto the next word if other were but candels to discover it this is a blazing lampe to lay it forth to all mens sight 5 From the presence of the Lord. He flyeth into Tharsis from the presence of the Lorde how can that bee if it bee true which David wisheth in the 27. Psalme Blessed bee his glorious name for ever and let all the earth bee filled with his glorie But in the hundreth thirty and eighth Psalme wonderfull are the testimonies that the prophet there bringeth to amplifie Gods illimited presence O Lord thou hast tried mee and knowne mee thou knowest my sitting and my rising thou vnderstandest my thoughtes a farre of c. For not to stay your eares with commemoration of all those argumentes this I gather in summe that there is neither heaven nor hell nor the outtermost part of the sea neither day nor night light nor darkenesse that can hide vs from his face Our sitting rising lying downe the thoughtes of our heartes wordes of our tongues waies of our feete nay our raines our bones our mothers wombes wherein wee laye in our first informitye and imperfection are so well knowne vnto him If this vvere his purpose to thinke that the presence of God might bee avoided who sitteth vpon the circle of heaven and beholdeth the inhabitantes of the earth as grasse-hoppers whose throne is the heaven of heavens and the earth his footestoole and his waies are in the greate deepe I must then needes say vvith Ieremie doubtlesse every man is a beast by his owne knowledge Prophet or no prophet If the spirit of God instruct him not hee is a beast worse then Melitides that naturall foole of vvhome Histories speake that hee coulde not define whether his father or his mother brought him forth But I cannot suppose such palpable and grosse ignorance in a prophet who knowing that God was well knowen in Iurie and his name greate in Israell coulde not be ignorant that God was the same God and the presence of his Godhead no lesse in Tharsis and all other countries What then is the meaning of this phrase He fled from the presence of the Lord 1. Some expounde it thus He left the whole border and grounde of Israell where the presence of the Lord though it were not more then in other places yet it was more evident by the manifestations of his favours graces towards them There was the Arke of the covenant and the sanctuary and the Lord gaue them answere by dreames oracles and other more speciall arguments of his abode there Moses spake truth in the 4. of Deut. of this priviledge of Israel what nation is so great vnto whom their Gods come so neare vnto them as the Lord is neare vnto vs in all that wee call vpon him for Davids acclamation Psalm 147. goeth hande in hand with it He hath not dealt so with other nations neither haue the heathen knowledge of his iudgments But I rather conceiue it thus which maketh much for the confirmation of my matter now in hand He fled from the presēce of the Lord when hee turned his backe vpon him shooke of his yoke and willfully renounced his commaundement It is a signe of obedience that servantes beare vnto their Lords and maisters when
at his discretion Horace commended Virgil his friend going towards Athens to the mighty goddesse of Cyprus the two brethreÌ„ of Helen the father of the winds that is to Venus the two twins Castor Pollux Aeolus wishing for his better speed that all the windes might be bounde vp besides Iapyx a quiet westerne winde with many the like fables not vnknowne to grammer schooles The blowing of the windes more or lesse wee impute not to Aeolus nor any the like devised God of the gentiles we honour the Lord of hosts alone in the power of this creature who sitteth vpon the circle of heaven and causeth both the sunne to shine and the raines to fall and the winds to blow in their seasons and at this time appointed this winde to a singular service It is he that flieth vpon the winges of the wind The channels of the waters haue beene seene and the foundations of the earth discovered at his rebuking and at the blasting of the breath of his nostrels You see it is called the breath of the Lord as also in the booke of Iob not that substantiall breath of his wherof we read in the 1. of Gen. the spirit of God moved vpon the waters but a created breath extracted and engendred out of other creatures The winde that came from the wildernes and overthrew the corners of the house wherin the children of Iob were feasting that saint acknowledgeth to haue come from heavenly disposition The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away Wind fire bands of robbers he assigneth not to any idol of the heatheÌ„ nor to the malice of men nor to the hazard of fortune which others made a goddes but to the almightines soverainty of him who ruleth al things And as his dominion is vndoubted in the aire so doth the sea submit it selfe likewise to his governance who sitteth vpon the water-flouds and is a king for evermore as the Psalme speaketh For who but he hath shut vp the sea with doores when it issued and came forth as out of the wombe who established his commandement vpon it when he set bars gates said hitherto shalt thou coÌ„e and no further here will I stay the proud waues Who els devided the red sea into two parts that the children of Israell passed through on dry foote But as for Pharaoh and his host the horse and the rider they were overthrown therin Who els turned the streame of Iordan the contrary way whereof the Prophet demandeth with admiratioÌ„ what aileth thee O IordaÌ„ that thou wentest backe who els turned the waters into bloud and drieth vp the rivers that the fishes rotte for wante of moisture Tell mee his name to vse the words of Iob if thou knowest it and what is his sonnes name It is he and his son who in the gospell of Marke rebuked the windes and saide vnto the sea peace and bee still and the winde ceased and there was a great calme and they could not be satisfied about it but asked who it was that both the winds the sea should thus obey him All kindes of vveather by lande or sea thunders and lightning even the coales of fire that were never blowne haile-stones stormy tempestes they come by his assignement who cleaveth the rockes asunder with his voice and shooteth forth his thunderbolts as arrowes at a marke who biddeth his lightnings walke and they say loe here we are and devideth the spouts in the aire to yeeld their moysture to the ground more or lesse at the will of their maker And we vtterly renounce herein not onely the palpable idolatrie of the Gentiles vvho gaue the glory of the most highe to â—heir base and inglorious abominations but the foolish ignorance of others nearer home vvho in the vvorking of these creatures never looke vp to the seate of maiesty that ordereth all thinges but whatsoever befalleth them by fall of fire blast of wind inundation of waters or the like they tearme it chance Alas chance is nothing for nothing is done in the whole world without an order from aboue and it vvas wisely noted by a learned man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nature bringeth forth that which we wroÌ„gfully cal chaÌ„ce because it commeth vnexpected I read of a certaine people in Africke who being troubled with the North-wind driving heapes of sandes vpon their fieldes dwelling places they gathered an army of men to fight against it but with so evill successe that themselues were also buried vnder hilles of sandes Xerxes the Persian Monarke having received a losse by the rage of Hellespontus himselfe more mad then the sea caused fetters and manacles to be cast into the waters thereof as if he would make it his prisoner binde it with linkes of iron at his pleasure Darius did the like vpon the river Gynde who because it had drowned him a white horse threatned the river to devide it into so many streames so to weaken the strength of it that a woman great with child should goe over it dry-shod It is not vnlike the madnes of our daies who must not be crossed either with wet or dry winds or raines faire or fowle but we fall to repining murmuring banning blaspheming al kind of cursed either speaking or wishing at least But as God asketh Senacherib whome hast thou railed vpon or whome hast thou blasphemed so I aske these meÌ„ whome are you angry with who hath displeased you are you angry with the saw or with him that lifteth it do the winds and seas mooue your impatience they are but servantes vnto that Lord who saith vnto them smite and they do it favor they are obedient Rabsakeh speaketh to the nobles of Ierusalem Esay 36. Am I come hither without the Lord The Lord said vnto me Go vp against this land to destroy it So it is in the force of these creatures wheÌ„ either they drowne or blast or parch to much it is not done without the Lorde the Lord saith vnto them doe thus or otherwise Besides the impieties aboue named it is an error of our times heathenish enough to giue the honor of God in these and the like accidents to witches coÌ„iurers For if ever tempest arise more theÌ„ coÌ„mon experience hath inured vs vnto especially with the havock and losse either of life or limme in our selus or of our cattel or howsings forthwith the iudgmeÌ„t is given as if the God of heaveÌ„ earth were fallen a sleepe minded nothing there is some coniuring Be it so What is coniuring a pestilent commistion conveÌ„tioÌ„ stipulation betwixt men divels MeÌ„ divels what are they looke vpoÌ„ the sorcerers of Aegypt for the one Magorum potestas saith Augustine defecit in muscis they cried in the smallest plague that was sent and past their cunning to remoue this is the figure of the Lord their power is limited therfore Looke vpon
the martyrings of Iob for the other for though the circuit of Sathan be very large even to the coÌ„passing of the whole earth to fro yet he hath his daies assigned him to staÌ„d before the presence of the Lord for the renewing of his commission And besides Oviculam vnam auferre non potuit c. he could not take one poore sheepe from Iob till the Lorde had given him leaue put forth thine hande nor enter into the heard of swine Mat. 8. without Christs permission And so to conclude whether men or devilles be ministerial workers in these actions all coÌ„meth from him as from the higher supreme cause whose iudgments executed thereby no man can either fully comprehend or reprehend iustly God professeth no lesse of himselfe Esay 45. I forme the light and create darkenesse I make peace and create evill I the Lord do all these thinges And in the 54. of the same prophecie Beholde I haue created the smith that â—loweth the coales in the fire and him that bringeth foâ—th an instrument for his worke I haue created the destroyer to destroy destruction commeth from the instrument the instrument from the smith the smith and all from God In the 10 of the same booke Asshur is called the rod of his wrath and the staffe in his hands was the Lords indignation And the prophet praieth in the 17. Psalme to the same effect vp Lord disapoint him cast him downe deliver my soule from the wicked which is a sword of thine We neede not farther instructioÌ„s in this point but whatsoever it is that outwardly troubleth vs let vs larne to feare him therin froÌ„ whose secret disposition it procedeth who hath a voice to alay the winds the seas a finger to confound sorcerers coÌ„iurers an hooke for the nostrels of Senacharib a chain for the divell himselfe the prince of darkenes In the 2. person which were the marriners we are directed by the hand of the scripture to consider three effects which the horrour of the tempest wrought vpon them For 1. they were afraid 2. they cried vp on their Gods 3. they cast out their wares the 1. an affection of nature the 2. an action of religion the 3. a worke of necessity Some of the Rabbines held that the marriners in this ship had more cause to be astonished and perplexed then all that travailed in these seas besides for when other ships were safe and had a prosperous voiage theirs only as the marke wherat the vengance of God aimed was endaungered But because it appeareth not in the booke I let this passe with many other vnwritteÌ„ collections as namely that they were nere the shore laboured with all their force to tough their ships to land but could not do it which happily may be true and as likely otherwise therfore I leaue it indiffereÌ„t am conteÌ„t to see no more theÌ„ the eie of my text hath descried for me But this I am sure of Affliction beginneth to schoole theÌ„ driue theÌ„ to a better haven then they erst found It evet worketh good for the most part and although the better sort of men are corrected by loue yet the greater are directed by feare As the wind the seas so the feare of the wrath of God in this imminent danger of shipwrack appearing shaketh perturbeth their heartes though they had hardened them by vse against all casualties by sea like the hardest adamantes All the works of the Lord to a coÌ„siderate mind are very wonderful his mercy reacheth to the heavens and his faithfulnes is aboue the cloudes his wisdome goeth from end to end his righteousnes is as the highest mountaines his iudgmentes like a great deepe whatsoever proceedeth from him because that artificer excelleth is must needes be excellent But it is as true a position perseverantia consuetudinis amisit admirationeÌ„ the assiduity continuance of things bringeth theÌ„ into coÌ„tempt QuaÌ„ multa vsitata calcaÌ„ tur quae coÌ„siderata stupeÌ„tur how many things doth custome make vile which consideratioÌ„ would make admirable because the nature of maÌ„ is such to be carried away rather with new theÌ„ with great things The creatioÌ„ of man who maketh accompt of because it is coÌ„mon But would we ponder in our harts as David did that we are wonderfully fearfully made that our bones were not hid from the Lord though they were shaped in a secret place and fashioned beneath in the earth that he possessed our raines in our generation covered vs in our mothers wombes that his eies did see vs when we were yet vnperfect all things were written in his booke when before they were not it would enforce vs to giue acclamation to the workemanship of our maker as the sweet singer of Israell there did marveilous are thy workes o Lord that my soule knoweth right well A tempest to marriners is nothing because they haue seene and felt and overlived so many tempestes As David because he had killed a lion and a beare at his folde perswaded himselfe that he also could kill Golias So these having past already so many dreadefull occurrents begin to entertaine a credulous perswasion of security no evill shall approach vs. They make their harts as fat as brawne to withstand mishaps It fareth with theÌ„ as with souldiers beaten to the field they haue seene hundreds fall at their right hand and thousands at their left and therefore are not moved and though they beare their liues in their hands they feare not death wherevpon grew that iudgmeÌ„t of the world vpon them Armatis divum nullus pudor souldiers the greater part feare not God himselfe Vndoubtedly our sea-men drinke downe digest their dangers with as much facility felicity to as some their wine in bowles yet notwithstaÌ„ding the marriners here spokeÌ„ of even the maister of the ship with the vulgar sort having such iron sinews in their brests giaÌ„ts by sea and if I may tearme them so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men that fight with God being in their proper element the region and grounde where their arte lieth having fought with the waues and windes a thousand times before they are all striken with feare and their heartes fall asunder within them like drops of water David Psal. 107. setteth downe foure kindes of men vvhich are most indebted to God for deliveraunce from perilles the first of those that haue escaped a dearth the second prisoners enlarged the third such as are freed from a mortall sicknes the last sea-faring men of whome hee writeth thus They that go downe into the sea in shippes and occupie their marchandize by greate waters they see the worke of the Lorde and his wonders in the deepe For hee commaundeth and raiseth vp the stormie winde and it lifteth vp the waues thereof they mount vp to the heaven and descende againe to the deepe so that their soule melteth for trouble They are tossed too and
many mindes in one body because the members thereof haue divers ministeries every sense to haue a peculiar minde set over it which who so saith proveth himselfe destitute of that which is but one in every man But amongst the rest there is some one principall supereminent as Antisthenes sometime said that there were many popular Gods having tuition of the divâ—rs nations and people of the world perhappes hee meant vulgar and triviall Gods and but one naturall by vvhome the vvhole creature was formed then are the rest not Gods Lactantius inferreth but servantes and attendantes He addeth to his former confâ—tations the testimony of the Sibelles that there is but one only God and the reason which Mercurius Trismegistus bringeth why God is without name is because hee is but one and one hath no neede of any name for there is no vse of a proper name for distinction from the rest but where there are more of the same kind to enforce it Clemens Alexandrinus frameth the like discourse that which is one is not subiect to division vvherefore it is infinite and wanteth both difference and name For though we call him vnproperly sometimes either one or good or that that is or father or God or maker or Lorde wee do not this to declare his name but to shew the amplenesse of an vnexplicable substance To conclude God termeth himselfe Iamâ— opposing his being and existence to thinges that are not as Iustine Martyr collecteth in his oration to the Greekes and as it appeareth by the same father there vvas no difference in describing the nature of the godhead betwixt Moses if I may so speake a Plato amongst the Hebrewes and Plato a Moses amongst the Athenians but a little varying the article for where the one writeth hee that is the other writeth that that is both tending to the same scope that the everlasting being of one only God might be averred Hee furthermore witnesseth that Plato tooke delight and spent much contemplation in the brevity of that speech consisting but of one participle we may say particle as one perceiving therein that when God had a purpose to reveale his eternitye to Moses hee chose to do it by a word which being but one syllable amongst the Greekes doth notwithstanding signifie and containe 3. times that which is past that which is present that which is to come all which are indistincte in God because hee is not changed but is yesterday today and the same for evermore I haue shewed you the errour of the Gentiles together with the vnprobabilitye and absurdity thereof in forging to themselues and consequently fearing adoring honouring many Gods In regard of our selues I grant an impertinent speech for though there be that are called Gods whether in heaven or in in earth as there be Gods manie and Lords many yet to vs there is but one God and we know that an idoll is nothing in the world but because everye man hath not knowledge as the Apostle continueth his speech and some men haue not conscience the infidell through ignorance on the one side mistakinge and the Atheist through malitiousnesse on the other side denying and defying and the papist in a thirde crewe through heresie in manner deviding that one onely God by giving his glory as greate as himselfe to angelles and Saintes the vvorkes of his fingers it is not amisse to bee stored vvith all kinde of proofes on this behalfe that some may bee instructed others convinced silenced vtterly confounded The third action specified in these marriners is the casting forth of their wares to lighten their shippe which some ascribe in parte to religion as if their intent were to make some satisfaction and to pacifie their Gods if by piracye or other vnlawfull meanes they had taken ought before Others impute it to necessitie alone and mee thinketh the text speaketh for them To lighten it For it is no vnusuall practise in perill of shipwracke to disburthen the shippe So did Paule and his companye in the 17. of the Actes by reason of that ieopardye vvherein they stoode one daye they cast out vvares the next daye vvith their ovvne handes they cast awaie their tacklings for in such extremities they must conclude as the Philosopher once did I had perished if I had not perished wee loose our liues vnlesse wee loose our goods The order and proceeding they hold is very good and which the children of the light neede not scorne to imitate First they try their Gods by supplication then they consult of their meanes and likelyhoods for the preservation of themselues Which order others pervert vsing God but for a shifte and at second hand if happily by other devise wee are not able to withstand a mischiefe Neâ— Deus oratur nisi dignus vindice nodus Inciderit wee never vse the aide of God but when the knotte is so hard that our selues cannot vndooe it Wee are all reasonable creatures and God will vse vs for the most parte in matters apperteyning to our good as living and reasonable instruments What else was the reason that Naaman the Syrian Lorde was willed to goe and wash himselfe seaven times in Iordan when there was a God in Israell that could haue restored his flesh as hee first formed it with a word of his mouth as the Centurion spake in the gospell Say but the word Lord and that they were bidden to take a lumpe of drie figges and laie vpon the boile of Ezekias and hee shoulde recover his sickenesse when the Lorde had before tolde him I haue heard thy prayer and seene thy teares beholde I will adde vnto thy daies 15. yeares and that the blinde man in the gospell was sent to wash his eies in Siloam and hee went and returned seeing when our saviour had made a playster of spittle and clay and applied to the parte affected what els is the meaning hereof but that wee must not eschewe such ordinary and honest helpes as God hath designed The sluggard lusteth as it is in the Proverbs but his soule hath nothing Doubtlesse because he doth but lust and will not follow it For hee hideth his hande in his bosome and it grieveth him to put it to his mouth Hee that will feede such slowe bellies and slacke handes deserveth to vvante himselfe The desires of the slothfull slaie him for his handes refuse to worke you heare the right properties of a sluggarde hee is vvholye made of desires lustes appetites wishings longings but it is death vnto him to thrust forth a finger for the atchieuement of anye thinge They had an evasion to the like effect to colour their idlenesse withall in auncient times which the Philosophers called the idle reason For thus they disputed If it bee thy destinye to recover of such a sicknesse vvhether thou shalt vse a Physition or not vse him thou shalt recover c. I would haue such patrons of idlenes vsed as Zeno vsed
his servant who being taken with thefte and alleadging for himselfe that it was his destiny to steale his maister aunswered And thy destiny to be beaten and accordingly rewarded him If these marriners had so disputed or sitten vpon the hatches of their ship their armes folden togither and their heartes onely desiring to escape their sorrows had there presently bene ended but neither their hearts nor hands were vnoccupied And therfore as in the curing of bodilie diseases though of the most highe commeth healing yet the phisition must be honoured with that honour that belongeth vnto him and the apothecary maketh the confection as in the warres of Israell against Mâ—dia the sworde of the Lorde and of Gedeon went together and the cry of the people was not left out and as in preventing this ship-wracke spirites and bodies praier and labour heaven and earth If I may so say vvere conioyned so in all the affaires and appertenaunces of our liues we must beware of tempting God We must not lie in a ditch sullen and negligent of our selues and looke to be drawne out by others nor thinke to bee fed as the young ravens without sowing neyther to bee clothed as lillies of the fielde without spinning and labouring health commeth not from the cloudes without seeking nor wealth from the cloddes without digging Wee must cast our care vpon God that yet wee bee not carelesse and dissolute in our owne salvation O di homines ignavâ operâ philosophâ sententiâ I hate men that happily haue good and provident thoughtes but they will take no paines That which Metellus sometime spake by number I holde a trueth in him that is without number Our one and one-most God ijsdem deos propitios esse aequum est qui sibi adversarij non sunt It is meete that God favour them who are not enimies and hinderers to themselues But to leaue this point there is a time I perceiue when the riches of this world are not worth the keeping especially compared with the life of man Their wares adventures and commodities and not onely the ballast of the ship but the necessary implements furniture for the original word though signifying a vessell in particular is a generall name for all such requisite provision their victuall munitions and whatsoever was of burthen besides are they conveied landed by boat or any way thought vpon to be saved nay they are throwne into the sea to lighten their ship vvithout ever hope of recovery It â—s a proverbe iustified by trueth though the father of lies spake it Skin for skin and all that a man hath will hee giue for his life And it is a rule in nature allowed No man ever hated his owne flesh nay rather hee will nourish and cherish his life as the Lorde his Church Is not the life more worth then meate and thy body then rayment will not a man giue his riches for the ransome of his life The poorest worme in the earth which hath a life saith Austin as vvell as the Angell in heaven will not forgoe that life without resisting If either hornes or hoofes or tuskes or talentes or beakes or stinges of beasts birds flies vnreasonable creatures may withstand they will not spare to vse their armour and weapons of nature to defende themselues withall Is the life of the bodye my beloved brethren so deare and is not the life of the soule more precious is the life present so tender and the life to come so much inferiour will you vnlode a shippe to saue it vvill you burthen and surcharge a soule to destroy it shall the necessary instrumentes of the one be throwne out and shall not the accessary ornamentes superfluous sumptuous riotous delightes of the other bee departed with or are not soules better then bodies and incorruptible liues hereafter better then these present subiecte to corruption or are not riches a burthen to your soules Ho hee that encreaseth that which is not his owne and hee that ladeth himselfe with thicke clay how long Are not riches a loade or what doubt you of I know your aunswere wee encrease but our owne Your owne who intiteled you thereto Is not the earth the Lords and the fulnesse thereof are you Coloni or Domini Lordes of the earth or tillers manurers dressers dispensers Ierome vvriteth of Abraham and other rich patriarches of former age that they vvere rather to bee tearmed the bayliues of the Lorde then riche men But vvere it your owne hath the sea barres or doores to keepe it in and is your appetite without all moderation How long is there no ende of encreasing The widdow in the 2. of the Kings that had her liberty given to borrow as many vessels for oile to pay her debts as her neighbours could spare her had as large a scope I am sure and with better authority then ever was proposed to you yet there was a time when she said to her son giue me yet a vessel hee answered there are no more vessels and the oile ceased and I doubt not but with the oile her desire ceased to It may be you haue filled your vesselles with oile your owne and your neighbours your garners your coffers your bagges your warehouses your fieldes your farms your children are ful I aske againe with the prophet How long do you ever thinke to fill your hearts The barren wombe vnmercifull graue vnsatiable death will sooner bee satisfied It is a bottomlesse purse the more it hath the more it coveteth See an image hereof Alcmaeon being willed by Croesus to go into his treasure-house take as much gold as he could carry away with him provided for that busines a long hanging garment downe to his ankles and great bootes and filled them both nay he stuffed his mouth and tyed wedges of gold to the locks of his head I thinke but for hurting his braine hee woulde haue ferst the skull of his head and the bowels within his breast if hee coulde haue spared theÌ„ Here is an hart set vpon riches riches set vpon an hart heapes of wealth like the hils that wants cast vp Cumuli tumuli every hill is a graue every heape a tombe to bury himselfe in Is this to dispence Is this to exercise bayliwickes Is this to shewe fidelity in your maisters house In fewe wordes I exhorte you if the ship bee too full vnlade it cast your goods into the sea least they cast your selues cast your bread vpon the waters distribute your mercies to the needy where you looke for no recompence It is not certaine it is not likely and so it may fall out that it is not possible for those that are rich to enter into the kingdome of heaven You can dissolue that riddle I know our saviour you say meant of such as trust in riches do not you trust in them Do you not say to the wedge of golde in the applause that your selues
whethersoeuer thou sendest vs vvee vvill goe as wee obeyed Moses in all thinges so will vvee obey thee And those that rebell against thy commaundement let them die the death The volume of the vvhole booke I am sure both the precepts and practises of all the seruauntes of God harpeth vpon this stringe Yea the Maister of the house by his owne example taughte those of his housholde hovve to behaue themselues in this case For as hee obeyed his father euen vnto the death of the crosse his parents in the flesh in following their instructions the lawe in following all righteousnesse so the Emperour of Rome to though hee a straunger and himselfe free-borne in paying tribute vnto him Though vvee are defamed and slaundered concerning the Emperours maiestie yet Christians could neuer be found to be either Albinians or Nigrians or Cassians that is rebelles to their liege Lordes and maisters as Tertullian in the name and cause of all christianitie wrote to Scapula The Christian is no mans enemie much lesse the Emperours But the matter is safe enough There is no power but of God he that resisteth the powers that bee resisteth Gods ordinaunces And the Lorde is king bee the earth neuer so impatient Promotion commeth neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south but frō the Lord of hostes By him are kingdomes disposed princes inaugurated crownes of gold set vpon their heads scepters states established people mollified and subdued by him were Corah his confederates swallowed quicke into the earth Zimry burnt in his pallace Absalon hāged by his hairy scalpe Achitophell in a halter for denying their feaulty to Gods lieutenants As the maister of the ship came to Ionas and called him vp what meanest thou sleeper c. So let maisters and governours within this place who sit at the sternes of an other kinde of shipping and haue rudders of citie and countrey in their handes let them awake themselues that they may awake and rowze vp other sleepers all carelesse dissolute indisposed persons who loue the thresholdes of their private doores vpon the sabbathes of the Lord and their benches in ale-boothes better then the courtes of the Lordes house and neither in calmes nor stormes when the shippe groneth the vvhole land mourneth all the creatures sighe and lamente will either fast or pray or sorrowe or do any thing with the rest of their brethren Awake these drowsie christians awake them vvith eager reprehension what meane you If reprehension vvill not serue pricke them with the sworde and raise them vp with severe punishment How long shall the drunkard sleepe within your gates in the puddle and sinke of his bowzing and lose both honesty and vvit without controlment the adulterer in chambering and wantonnes vpon his lascivious bed of pleasure deckt vvith the laces and carpets of Egypt the idolatour and superstitious vpon the knees and in the bosome of the whore of Babylon prophaners of our sanctified sabbathes in the sabbath and rest and Iubilee of their lewde pastimes the vsurer and oppressour of others whose iawes are as kniues and his teeth of iron in his bed of mischiefe as the Psalme calleth it and in the contemplation and solace of his ill gottē goods the swearer in the habite and custome of abhominable othes for these be the faultes of your citty as common as the stones in your streetes how long shall they sleepe and snort herein vvithout reprehension it is your part to reforme it vvho are the ministers of God not onely for wealth but for wrath also vnlesse you beare the sword in vaine you are the vocall lawes of the land and iustice in life to punish with rigour where it is convenient Wee also of the ministery haue a place of preferment in the shippe and owe a duty to God though in an other kind We haue a sword in our mouthes too as you in your handes whose edge is of more then steele and cutteth deeper then into flesh and bloud yet such are the earthly spirits of men fallen a sleepe amongst vs that the sword of the spirit without the sword of the magistrate cannot stirre them vp Hovv long haue we called and lifted vp our voices on high to those that sleepe in drunkennesse and lie in their vomit worse then dogges Awake drunkards weepe and howle your wine shall be pulled from your mouths and they awoke not but to follow drunkennes againe and to ioyne the morning and the eveninge togither till the wine haue enflamed them How long to those that sleepe in fornication Awake adulterers and vncleane persons els God shall throw you into a bedde of shame and vncover your nakednes and make you a reproch and scorne so farre as your name is spread yet they open not their eyes but to awaite for the twilight and to lie at their neighbours doore for wife or daughter to those that are at rest and nestled in idolatry in the service of strange Gods Awake idolatours you that say to the wood and stone awake helpe vs awake and rise vp your selues els God is a ielous God and will visite your sinnes vvith roddes and your offences with scourges to all other sleepers in sinne sabbath breakers swearers lyers extortioners vsurers what meane you sleepers It is now time that you shoulde arise from sleepe yea the time is almost past Now is salvation nearer then when you first beleeved and now is damnation nearer then when you were first threatned The night is past of blindnesse and ignorance forepassed the bright morning starre hath risen and hid himselfe againe within the cloudes of heaven The glorious sunne of righteousnesse hath illuminated the whole sphere of the vvorlde from the east to the west and though his body be aboue the light of his beames is still amongst vs and wee may truely say the day is come yea the day is well nigh spent The naturall sunne of the firmament runneth his race with speede like a Giant refresht with wine to make an end of his course and to finish all times You are novv brought to the eleventh houre of the day there is but a twelfth a fewe minutes of time betweene you and iudgment what meane you sleepers VVill you go away in a sleepe and shall your life passe from you like a dreame Came you naked of goodnes from your mothers wombe and will you backe naked brought you nothing into the world with you of the best and blessedst riches and vvill you cary nothing out Or do you tarry to be started with the shrillest trumpet that ever blew the fearefullest voice to sleepers that ever sounded arise yee dead what meane you sleepers The night is comming wherein no man can worke yea the day is comming wherein none shal worke Acceptable to God profitable to man behoofefull to himselfe hee neither can nor shall worke any thing That working that is shall be the everlasting throbbings and throwes of his
chambers to be clensed and the vesselles of the house of God to be brought thither againe 3. because the portions of the Levites and singers had not beene giuen to them and everie one was fled to his lande hee reprooued the rulers Why is the house of God forsaken 4. he caused the tithes to be restored brought the Levites togither to their place againe and apointed faithfull officers and treasurers to distribute vnto them The petition that hee maketh vnto the righteous Lord who will not forget our labours at the foote of every of those services is framed to this effect Remember me O my God in goodnesse and wipe not out my kindnesse concerning this and pardon me according to thy great mercies Thus Nehemias you see was not vnmindefull of the Lord that the Lorde might be mindefull of him againe Neither in the building nor in the warding of the wals of Ierusalem nor in releeving the burthens of his brethren nor in sanctifying the sabbath nor in purging the people from commixtion with strangers nor in replenishing the chambers of Gods house vvith maintenaunce for his ministers All which he zealously vndertooke and constantly followed to the end fastening his reproofes like nailes that are driuen in a sure place and shewing himselfe a carefull Magistrate both in warre and peace in civill religious affaires towardes the children of the lande and towardes strangers that traffiqued within the borders thereof Vndoubtedly your charge is greate whome the Lorde hath marked out to places of gouernment and if euer you hope as Nehemias wished that God shall remember you concerning this or that kindenesse shewed in his businesse remember you whose image you carry whose person you present whose cause you vndertake whose iudgmentes you execute vpon earth And though yee are not troubled vvith building and warding the wals of your countrey because peace is the walles and the strength of God our bulwarkes and fortresses and mine eies would faile with expectation of that day vvhen the chambers of the Lordes house vvhich Tobiah the Horonite hath seized into his handes should be restored to their auncient institution for the maintenaunce of Levites and singers yet in the oppressions of your brethren vvhose vineyardes fieldes houses libertie living are wrung from them and their sonnes and daughters vndoone if you doe not in all respects as Nehemias did lend them money corne hee and his servauntes of their owne and bestowe the fees of your places tovvardes their reliefe for hee ate not the breade of the governour in twelue yeares and an hundred and fiftie hee mainetained dailie at his boarde with sufficient allowance yet such as oppresse too much exhort ' reprooue cause them to respight cause them to remit tie them by promise to do it binde them by oath and if that will not serue vnlesse you be loath to throw a stone against an adulterer or to shake your lap against an oppressour because you are guilty in your heartes of the like trespasses shake the lappes of your garments against them and with an vnfeigned spirit beseech the iust iudge that such as will not restore may so be shaken out and emptied from all his mercies Likewise for the sabbath of the Lord the sanctified day of his reste helpe to bringe it to reste it is shamefully troubled and disquieted the common daies in the weeke are happier in their seasons then the Lords sabbaths Then are the manuary craftes exercised every man in his shop applying his honest and lawfull businesse the sabbath is reserved as the vnprofitablest day of the seven for idlenesse sleeping vvalking rioting tipling bowling daunsing and what not I speake what I know vpon a principall sabbath for if the resurrection of Christ deserue to alter the sabboth from day to day I see no cause but the cōming downe of the holy ghost should adde honour and ornament vnto it I say vpon a principall sabbath not onelye those of Ierusalem and Iudah solde their wares but those of Tyre also vvhich came from abroade brought in their commodities and neither your gates shut nor forreiners kept out nor citizens reprooved nor any thing donne wherby Gods name and day might be honoured Go now and aske if you can for blushing as Nehemias did O Lord remember vs concerning this kindnesse It is not enough for you to beare the place of preeminence in the shippe but you must reprooue as the maister here did nor enough barelie to reprooue but you must goe forwardes in hunting securitie from her couche by vrging how hard it is to appease the anger of God if it bee throughly enflamed how dangerous against the life and soule if it be not prevented It is the fervency of the spirite even of a double spirit as Elizeus sometime wished the spirite of magistrates which are more then single persons perfit hatred to sin crushing both the egge the cockatrice courage in the cause of the Lord zeale to his house both kindling and consuming your heartes a good beginning and a good ending which the Lorde requireth Will you saue-gard the ship in the Ocean sea and breake her vvithin a league of the haven will you put your hande to the plough of the best husbandry and thriving in the world and then looke backe vvill you lay the foundation of the house rere vp the vvalles and not seeke to couer it you know the parable This man beganne to builde It had beene better not to haue knowne the way of trueth then not to persist in it nor to haue set your shoulders to the worke of the Lorde vnlesse yee hold out The leafe of a righteous man neuer fadeth vvherevpon the glosse noteth that the fall of the leaues is the dying and decaying of the trees When it repenteth a man to haue begunne well it is a sinnefull repentaunce and much to bee repented of The fire vpon the altar of the Lord must alwaies burne never go out and the sedulitie of Gods lieutenantes vpon the earth must euer bee working neuer wearied All vertues runne in the race one onely receiveth the garland the image of most happy eternitie happy continuance I tolde you before that nature directed the Marriners to the acknowledgement of a God it is heere further ratified with manie other principles of nature if they vvere needefull to bee examined as 1. that God only is to be invocated and called vpon Call vpon thy God 2. the vnity of the godhead is avowed For the shipmaster forgetting the multitude of Gods nameth one singlie without other associates If so be God 3. That the felicity of mankinde dependeth vpon the serenity gracious favorable aspect of God as I gather by the phrase here vsed if God will shine vpon vs. 4. It is implied that our life death are in Gods hands That we perish not But let those passe a while The matter we are now to examine is the liberty and freedome vvhich the shipmaister gaue vnto Ionas
one would reason with his neighbour in the behalfe of Sodom with six sundry replies from fifty to ten righteous persons vvhich number if it had beene founde Sodom had escaped How deare was the soule of Lot in that fearefull destruction on vvhome the Lorde bestowed his life and the life of his wife and children the safety of Zoar a litle city not far of because he had entreated for it the Angell pluckt him into the house from the fury of the Sodomites and not lesse theÌ„ pluckt him out of the city who made but slowe hast bidding him flee to Zoar to saue his life for hee coulde doe nothing till hee was come thither Noah and his little familye the remnant of the earth as the sonne of Syrach tearmeth them the onelye buddes of the worlde that were to seede seede for a new generation of men at the time of the floud were more precious vnto the Lorde then all the people vnder heaven besides vvhich had the breath of lâ—fe vvithin them Howe often did hee gratifie Moses the beloved of God and men with the liues of the children of Israell vvhen his anger vvas so hote that he entreated his servant to let him alone that hee might consume them yet contented in the ende to be entreated by him and to pleasure him with their pardon I haue forgiven it accordinge to thy requeste O vvhat a let is a righteous man to the iustice of GOD and even as manacles vpon his handes that hee cannot smite vvhen hee is driven to crye vnto one Let mee alone and to another till thou art gone I can doe nothing And did he not grace the person of Iob more then his three friendes vvhen hee bad Eliphaz with the other two to goe and offer a burnt offering for themselues and his servant Iob shoulde praie for them and hee woulde accept him And is it not an argument past gaine-saying that Moses and Samuell were according to his owne hart when he reviveth their names as from their ashes and blesseth their memorye to Ieremy his prophet with so favourable accounte Though Moses and Samuell stoode before mee yet coulde not my affection bee toward this people The like whereof we finde in Ezechiel Though these three men Noah Daniell and Iob were amongst them they should saue neither sons nor daughters but deliver their owne soules by their righteousnesse Eden was chosen to be the garden of the Lord when all the ground of the earth besides was paled out Noahs arke floted vpon the vvaters when all other shippes and boates of the sea were overwhelmed Aarons rod budded and brought forth almondes when all the rods for the other tribes remained dry and withered One sheafe hath stoode vpright and one starre hath sparkled when eleuen others haue lien vpon the ground and beene obscured The apple of the eye is dearer vnto a man then the vvhole frame and circle of the eye about it the signet vpon the right hand in more regard either for the matter or for the forme or for the vse wherto it serveth then all his other ornaments a writing in the palmes of his handes more carefully preserved then all his other papers and records Doubtlesse there are some amongst the rest of their brethen whome God doth tender as the apple of his eye weare as a signet vpon his finger engraue as a vvriting in the palmes of his handes and with whome is the secret of the Lorde and his hidden treasures though his open and ordinary blessinges bee vpon all fleshe Moses hath asked meate in a famine and water in a drought for the children of Israell when their bowelles might haue piped vvithin them like shalmes and their tongues cloven to the roofe of their mouthes if hee had not spoken Elias hath called for raine vvhen the earth might haue gasped for thirst and discovered her lovvest foundations if he had beene silent Phinees hath stayed a plague which would not haue ceased till it had devoured man and beaste if such a man had not stoode vp Paul in the 27. of the Actes obteined by the mercy of God the liues of all his companions that sailed vvith him tovvardes Rome in that desperate voyage As a morning starre in the midst of the cloude and as the moone vvhen it is full as the flower of the roses in the spring of the yeare and as lillies by the springes of waters and as the branches of the franckincense in the time of sommer as a vessell of massie gold set vvith all manner of precious stones and as the fatte that is taken from the peace offerings so is one Henoch that walketh with God vvhen others walke from him one Rahab in Iericho one Elias that boweth not his knees to Baal one David in Mesek one Hester in Shushan one Iudith in Bethulia one Ioseph in the councell of the Iews one Gamaliell in the councell of the Pharisies one innocent and righteous man in the midst of a frowarde and crooked generation The praier of the righteous availeth much if it bee fervent the prayer of faith shall saue the sicke for the Lorde shall raise him vp and if hee hath committed sin it shal be forgiuen him It may minister occasion to the vvicked to reuerence and embrace the righteous euen for policies sake For the innocent shall deliver the islande and it shall be preserued by the purenes of his handes Many a time there may bee vvhen as stoute a king and as obstinate a sinner as ever Pharaoh was shall call for Moses and Aaron and beseech them pray to the Lorde for me In pestilences dearthes and droughtes warres sicknesses and ship-wrackes or any other calamities it lieth in the holines of some few the friends and favourites of God to stande in the gappe betwixt him and their brethren to entreate his maiesty for the rest and to turne a curse into a blessing as Ioseph brought a blessing to al that Putiphar had Genesis 39. This then may be a reason of the speech here vsed Call vpon thy God a likelihoode presumed by the gouernour that they mighte speede the better for Ionas his sake Another reason I take it was that hee distrusted his owne God and the Gods of his whole society and might be induced to hope better of that God which Ionas serued For what taste is there in the white of an egge or what pleasure to a man that commeth to a river of water to quench his thirst and findeth the channell dried vp What stay is there in a staffe of reede or in a broken staffe the splinters vvhereof to recompence his hope runne into the handes of a man and wounde him What trust in broken cesternes vvhich can holde no water This comparison God himselfe maketh vvith greate indignity in the second of Ieremie My people hath committed two evilles they haue forsaken me the fountaine of liuing waters and haue digged them pittes even broken pittes
blessed for ever For to returne where I first began besides the folly of the thinge the mischiefe is behinde Go cry vnto your Gods which you haue chosen and let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation What a wofull discharge and dismission were this to be lefte vnto such Gods whose heads the hands of a carver hath polished and if their eies be full of dust and their clothes eaten vpon their backes with mothes they cannot helpe it the beastes are in better case then they for they can geâ— them vnder a covert or shadow to do themselues good Then they may cry as the Apostles did vpon the motion of the like departure Lorde whether shall I goe for as Christ there had the words so hath the blessed Trinitie alone the power and donation of eternall life When Senacherib and Rabsakeh bragged that both the kings and the Gods of the nations vvere destroied by them Ezâ—chias aunswered the obiection Trueth it is Lorde that the kings of Assur haue destoyed their nations and their lands and haue set fire on their Gods for they were no Gods but the worke of mens handes even wood and stone therefore they destroyed them now therefore O Lorde our God saue thou vs out of his hand that all the kingdomes of the earth may know that thou O Lord art onely God This argument Moses tried vpon the golden calfe whereof Israell had said Behold thy Gods O Israell to shew that it was no God hee burnt it in the fire grounde it to powder strawed it vpon the water and then caused the people to drinke it To conclude the pointe It is most true which the Prophet resteth vpon Psalme 86. Amongst the Gods there is none like vnto thee O Lord and there is none that can doe like thy workes And as there is but one trueth encountered with as many falshods as there were gobbets and shreddes of dismembred Pentheus so is there but one true God opposed by as many false as happily there are falshoods It may be the maister of the ship finding a defect miscariage of their former labours that there was no succour to bee had vvhere they sought comfort that though they had all prayed they are not released standeth in a wavering touching the Gods which they called vpon and thinketh there may be a God of more might vvhome they knowe not so as in effect vvhen hee thus spake vnto Ionas he set vp an altar and tendered honour vnto an vnknowne God As if he had said I am ignorant whom thou seruest but such a one he may be as is pronest to do vs good and best able to saue our shippe For as an idoll is nothing in the worlde and there is no time in the worlde wherein that nothing can do good so there are many times vvhen idolaters that most dote vpon them as Ieremy speaketh are brought to perceiue it Esay in the second of his prophecie speaketh of a day vvhen men shall not onely relinquish but cast away their idols of siluer and golde vvhich they haue made to themselues to worship vnto the mowles and battes children of darkenesse fitter for those that are either bleare eied or that haue no eies to see withall then for men of vnderstanding go into the holes of the earth and toppes of cragged rocks from the feare of the Lorde and glorie of his maiestie when he shal arise to iudge the earth You see the fruit of idolaters that as they haue loved darkenesse more then the light so they leaue their Gods to the darkenesse and themselues enter into darkenesse a taste and assay before hand of that everlasting and vtter darknes that is provided for them If so bee God will thinke vpon vs. Now that this was the minde of the maister of the shippe to distrust his Gods I gather by this vvhich followeth vvherein the vncertaintie of his faith is bewraied and his hope hangeth as the crowe on the arke betwixt heauen and earth finding no rest without resolution of any comforte Si forte if so be is not a phrase fitte to proceede from the mouth of faith it is meeter to come from Babylon whereof the Prophet writeth Bring baulme for her sore si fortè sanetur if happilie shee maie bee healed her wounds were so desperate and vnlikely to be cured It is meeter to be applied to the sores of Simon Magus whome Peter counselled to repent him of his wickednesse and pray vnto God Si forte remittatur if so bee the thoughte of his hearte mighte bee forgiuen him The nature and language of faith is much different it nesteth it selfe in the woundes of Christ as Doues in the cleftes of rockes that cannot bee assaulted it standeth as firme and stedfast as mount Sion that cannot be removed it casteth an anchor in the knowledge of the true God and because he is a true God it doubteth not of mighte and mercy or rather mercie and might as the heathens call their Iupiter Optimus maximus first by the name of his goodnesse and then of his greatnesse His mercies it doubteth not of because they are passed by promise indenture covenaunt othe before vnmoueable vvitnesses the best in heaven and the best in earth His promises are no lesse assertained because they are signed with the singer of the holy Ghost and sealed with the bloud of his anointed and beloved By faith yee stande saith the Apostle to the Corinthians it is the roote that beareth vs the legges and supporters and stronge men that holde vs vp If we listen to the prophet Abacuk we may yet say more For by faith wee liue it is the soule and spirite of the new man wee haue a name that we liue but indeede are dead to Godwarde if wee beleeue not For if any withdrawe himselfe therehence the soule of God will take no pleasure in him Woe vnto him that hath a double hearte and to the vvicked lippes and faint handes and to the sinner that goeth two manner of waies woe vnto him that is faint hearted for he beleeueth not therefore shall hee not bee defended It is not the manner of faith to be shaken and waver like a reede to and fro nor of a faithfull man to bee tost of every winde as a waue of the sea that is ever rowling And therefore we are willed to come to the throne of grace with boldnesse and to drawe neare with a true hearte in assurance of faith and not to cast awaie that confidence vvhich hath greate recompence of rewarde and when we aske to aske in faith without reasoning or doubting and to trust perfectlie in that grace which is brought vnto vs by the revelation of Iesus Christ. Our life is a warfare vpon earth a tried and expert warriour one that bare in his body the skars of his faithful service keeping the tearmes of his owne art so named it and wee are not to wrastle against
immortality of their soules others disputing doubting knowing nothing to purpose til their knowledge commeth to late others obiecting themselues to death rather in a vaineglorious ostentation then vpon sound reason I say compare with them one the other side christian consciences neither loving their liues more than a good cause and yet without good cause not leaving them and aske them what they thinke of this temporall life they will answere both by speech and action that they regard not how long or how short it is but how well conditioned I borrow his words of whome I may say concerning his precepts and iudgements for morall life that he was a Gentile-christian or as Paul to Agrippa almost a christian as in the acting of a comedy it skilleth not what length it had but how well it was plaide Consider their magnanimous but withall wise resolutions such I meane as should turne them to greater advantage Esther knew that her service in hand was honourable before God and man and her hope not vaine therefore maketh her rekoning of the cost before the worke begun If I perish I perish her meaning assuredly was If I perish I perish not though I loose my life yet I shall saue it If there were not hope after death Iob would never haue said lo though he kill me yet will I trust in him And what availeth it him to know that his redeemer lived but that hee consequently knewe the meanes wherby his life should be redeemed If the presence of God did not illighten darknes and his life quicken death it selfe David woulde never haue taken such hart vnto him Though I shoulde walke through the valley of the shadowe of death I woulde feare no evill for thou art with mee and thy rodde and thy staffe comforte mee If his shepheardes staffe had fayled him against the Lyon and the Beare which hee slevve at the sheepe-foulde or his sling against Golias that he had fallen into their handes yet this staffe and strength of the Lord could haue restored his losses The sentence that all these bare in their mouthes and harts and kept as their watch-worde was this Death is mine advantage The Apostle taketh their persons vpon him and speaketh for them all Therefore we faint not because we know that if our outward man perish yet the inward man is renued daily God buildeth as fast as nature and violence can destroy Wee know againe that if our earthly house of this tabernacle bee destroyed wee haue a building given of God that is an house not made with handes but eternall in the heavens Vpon the assurance of this house not made of lime and sande nor yet of flesh and bloude but of glorie and immortalitie hee desireth to bee dissolved and to bee with Christ and by his reioycing that hee hath bee dyeth dayly though not in the passion of his body yet in the forwardnesse and propension of his minde and and he received the sentence of death in himselfe as a man that cast the worst before the iudge pronounced it I may say for conclusion in some sort as Socrates did Non vivit cui nihil est in mente nisi vt vivat He liveth not who mindeth nothing but this life or as the Romane orator well interpreteth it cui nihil est in vitâ iucundius vitâ who holdeth nothing in his life dearer then life it selfe For is this a life where the house is but clay the breath a vapour or smoake the body a body of death our garment corruption the moth and the worme our portion that as the wombe of the earth bred vs so the wombe of the earth must againe receiue vs and as the Lorde of our spirites said vnto vs receiue the breath of life for a time so he will say hereafter returne yee sonnes of Adam and go to destruction By this time you may make the connexion of my text The master of the shippe and his company 1. worshippe and pray vnto false Gods that is builde the house of the spider for their refuge 2. Because they are false they haue them in ielousie and suspicion call vpon thy God 3. because in suspicion they make question of their assistaunce if so bee 4. because question of better thinges to come they are content to holde that which already they haue in possession and therefore say that wee perish not With vs it fareth othervvise Because our faith is stedfast and cannot deceiue vs in the corruption of our bodies vexation of our spirites orbity of our vviues and children casualty of goods wracke of ships and liues wee are not removed from our patience we leaue it to the wisedome of God to amend all our mishappes we conclude with Ioab to Abishai The Lorde doe that which is good in his eies honour and dishonour good reporte and evill reporte in one sense are alike vnto vs and though wee bee vnknowne yet wee are knowne though sorrowing yet wee reioyce though having nothing yet wee possesse all thinges though wee bee chastened yet are we not killed nay though we die yet we liue and are not dead we gather by scattering we win by losing we liue by dying we perish not by that which men call perishing In this heauenly meditation let me leaue you for this time of that blessed inheritance in your fathers house the peny nay the poundes the invaluable weight and masse of golde nay of glory after your labours ended in the vineyard meate drinke at the table of the Lord sight of his excellēt goodnes face to face pleasures at his right hand and fulnes of ioy in his presence for euermore Let vs then say with the Psalmist my soule is a thirst for the living God oh whē shall I come to appeare in the presence of our God For what is a prison to a pallace tents boothes to an abiding citty the region of death to the land of the living the life of men to the life of angels a bodie of humility to a body of glory the valley of teares to that holy and heauenly mounte Sion whereon the lambe standeth gathering his saints about him to the participation of those ioies which himselfe enioieth and by his holy intescession purchaseth for his members THE NINTH LECTVRE Cap. 1. ver 7. And they saide euery one to his fellowe Come and let vs cast lottes c. AS the māner of sick men is in an hote ague or the like disease to pant within themselues and by groning to testifie their pangs to others to throw of their clothes and to tosse from side to side in the bed for mitigation of their paines which whether they doe or do not their sicknes still remaineth till the nature thereof bee more neerely examined and albeit they chaunge their place they change not their weaknes so do these Marriners sicke of the anger of God as the other of a feuer disquieted in al their affectiōs
fleshy harts the law promises covenant service of God temple of Salomon chaire of Moses thrones of David Patriarks Prophets Messias yet one of this people in the midst of such prerogatiues as a cedar-tree amidst her branches hath liued so long amongst them that a barbarous tongue is set to accuse him These two questiōs following that I may ioine thē both togither seeme to enquire the one more generally the other more in particular the one of the place the other of the people inhabitantes There may be a good country an evill people or cōtrariwise an evil countrey a good people Touching the place I will not dispute whether they thought that the anger of their Gods as they reputed them did principally persecute and infest some certaine countries that albeit he committed no harme for his owne part yet he should suffer for the cuntries sake and beare the smart of that inveterate hatred wherwith the place it selfe was maligned This I knowe that both in the dwelling place where a man reposeth himselfe in regarde of the influence of heaven and in the inhabitants for the disposition of their mindes there is as great diversitie ' as betwixte North and South for change of weathers Erasmus in the preface to S. Augustines epistles giveth this iudgement of that learned father that if it had beene his lot to haue beene borne or but to haue lived in Italy or France that wit woulde haue yeelded more aboundant fruites vnto vs. But Africke was rude greedy of pleasure an enemy to study desirous of curious devises Plato reioiced that he was borne at Athens rather than in another place Themistocles was vpbraided by one of Seriphus that the commendation and fame he gate was for his countries sake because he was borne an Athenian though Themistocles aunswered that neither had himselfe beene worse if hee had beene borne in Seriphus nor the other better if hee at Athens Who marveileth to see swellings in the throate in colde places where the snow continually lieth It is the nature and site of the place that bringeth them They made small reckoning heretofore to lie in Crete to forsweare in Carthage to gormandize and surfet in Capua or Semiplacentia to lust vnnaturally in Sodome and to be prowd at this day in Spaine to poison in Italy to over-drinke in Germany it is they say the custome fashiō of those coūtries thē is easily verified that which Seneca wrote we thrust one another into vices and how then can they be reclaimed to good whom no man staieth and the whole people driveth forwarde In such places it is a faulte to be innocent and honest amongst offenders Seneca giueth the reasō Necesse est aut imiteris aut oderis one of the 2 must needes be done either thou must imitate or hate both which are to be avoided least either thou become like the evill because they are many or an enemy to many because they are vnlike thee Canst thou walke vpon coles or take fire in thy bosome not burne canst thou be a brother to dragons and a companion to ostriges without savouring of their wildnes liue with the froward not learne frowardnesse dwell amongst theeues not run with thē converse with idolatours not eat of such things as please thē The daughters of mē marred the sons of God the daughters of Heth brought much woe to Rebecca no doubt for the lewdnesse of their behavior Whē the disciple in the gospell asked leaue of his master to go bury his father it was denied him some giue the reason least his vnbeleeving kinred which were likely enough to bee at the funeral as eagles flocke to the carkas should contaminate him againe therfore he was answered let the dead bury the dead do thou follow me because I am life tarry liue with me let the dead alone least happilie thou die with thē Though there were many wicked kings in Israell yet there was none like Ahab who did sell himselfe to worke wickednes in the sight of the Lord. Why the reason is there givē Iezebel his wife provoked him For it was a light thing for him to walke in the sins of Ieroboam except he tooke Iezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of Zidon to wife by whome he was brought to idolatry No marvel if Iehoram king of Iudah did afterwards evill in the sight of the Lord for the daughter of Ahab was his wife Ahaziah after him no better for he was the sonne in law of the house of Ahab All these were in an error they looked to gather grapes of thornes and figges of thistles whereas on the other side Amicitiae pares aut faciunt aut quaerunt Friendship either maketh or seeketh like in conditions And so is the nature of things that whē a good mā is ioined with a bad the evill is not bettered by the good but the good corrupted by the evill Thus farre of the demaundes the answere is annexed in the ninth verse I am an Hebrew and I feare the Lord God of heaven which hath made the sea the drie land What is this to the matter was it a fault to be an Hebrew to feare the Lord God of heaven Not so but it appeareth in the next verse by a clause thereof that hee confessed the whole crime because he had tolde them He might yet haue concealed his fault covered his iniquity with some defence as Adā his nakednes with fig-leaues amongst bushes by pleading the vnlawfulnes of his accusers the vncertainty of lots as governed rather by chance then by divine providence he doth it not but maketh an immediate confessiō of his sin so inexcusably against himselfe that if malice it selfe had spoken against him it could not haue added much to the accusation For it was the least part of his ingenuity simply to relate the rebellion which is but named in the verse following as it were at the second hand and brought in by a parenthesis but his art to be observed indeed are those ornaments and garnishes of speech which hee bringeth against himselfe to discipher his disobedience I am an Hebrew if a Cilician or of any country in the earth besides my fault were the lesse 2. And I do not only know acknowledge which is wanting in others but I feare reverence stand in awe of 3. not an idoll nor a devill nor the worke of mans hands but the Lorde of hostes 4. who though he sitteth in heavē as in his pallace of greatest state where he is best glorified by his creatures and his best creatures shall bee glorified by him yet is he not housed within the circles of heaven For the sea and the land also are his by creation the sea wherein I am tossed and the drie land from whence I flitted 1 My country is not heathnish rude barbarous I am an Hebrew 2. My religion not loose and
Vndoubtedly it was the purpose of Ionas to weigh his words to powder the whole speech delivered vvith as much honour towards the Lord as his heart could devise I feare 1. Iehovah a God in essence being yours in supposition 2. the God of heaven yours not the Gods of the poorest hālets in the earth 3. which hath made the sea the dry land as a litle monument of his surpassing art and strength yours not the garments of their owne backs The prophet keepeth the order of nature placing 1. the heavē then the sea afterwards the dry land as the principal parts whereof the whole consisteth for heaven is in nature positiō aboue the sea the sea aboue the dry land heaven as the roofe of that beautiful house wherein mā was placed the sea the dry land as the two floores or foundations vnto it But did not God make the heavens aswell as the sea the dry land doubtles yes It is plainly expressed Gen. 2. In the beginning God made heaven earth The beginning of the world is frō the beginning of al things whereto the name of the authour is first set as the seale God and vnder the names of the two extremities borders heaven earth all the rest is comprised quicquid mediū cum ipsis finibus exortum est whatsoeuer lieth midle betwixte the endes with the endes themselues Neither did the Lord only cause ordeine these creatures to bee formed but as the potter shapeth his vesselles so he fashioned and wrought them with his owne hands Totum coelum totamque tellurem ipsam inquam essentiam materiā simul cū forma non enim figurarū inventor est Deus sed ipsius naturae creator the whole heaven the whole earth I say the matter vvith the forme for God is not the deviser of shapes and features alone but the maker of nature it selfe And that God that hath made the heaven can fold it vp like a booke again role it togither like a skin of parchment he that hath made the sea at this time set the waues thereof in a rage caused it to boile like a pot of ointment can say to the flouds be yee dried vp hee that made the dry lande can cover it with waters as with a brest-plate or rocke it to fro vpō her foūdations as a drunkē man reeleth from place to place He can clothe the sun the moone in sackcloth and commaund the starres to fall downe to the earth and the mountaines of the land to remoue into the sea and it shal be fulfilled They all shall perish but the Lord their maker shall endure they all shall waxe olde as doth a garment as a vesture shall hee change them and they shal be changed but he is the same God for ever and ever and his yeares shall not faile The scope of the whole confession is briefly this the more to dilate his fall by how much the lesse he was able to plead ignorance as having the helpe of religion the knowledge of the true subsistent God able to giue a reckoning of every parcell of his creation Al excuse is taken away where the commandement is not vnknowne Peter lent the buckler of ignorance to the Iewes therewith in part to defende themselues against the weapons of Gods wrath even in the bloudiest fact that ever the sunne saw attempted I know that through ignoraunce you did it that is killed the Lord of life as did also your governours But least they should leane vpon the staffe of ignorance too much he biddeth them repent and reverte that their sinnes might bee done away This vvas the cloake that Paul cast over his blasphemies his tyrannies his vnmercifull persequutions of the Church I vvas received to mercy because I did it ignorantly through vnbeliefe So as ignorance in that place you see hath neede of mercie to forgiue it And if ignorance haue a tongue to pleade her owne innocencie why did the bloud of Christ cry to the father vpon the crosse father forgiue them they know not what they doe Is ignorance of the will of God sure to be beaten vvith rods shall not contempt of his will a carelesse vnprofitable knowledge of his hestes ordinances be scourged with scorpions Shal Tyre and Syd on burne like stubble in hell fire and the smoke of their tormente ascend for evermore wherein there was never vertue done that might haue reclaimed them shall Corazin Bethsaida go quit and not drinke down the dregs of destructiō it selfe whose streets haue beene sowen with the miracles of Christ and fatted vvith his doctrine Barbary shal wring her hands that she hath known so litle Christēdome rend her heart that she hath knowne so much to no better purpose It is no marvaile to see the wildernes lie wast deserte but if a ground wel husbāded manured yeeld not profit it deserveth cursing Lactantius saith that al the learning of philosophers vvas vvithout an heade because they knew not God therefore when they see they are blind when they heare they are deafe whē they speak they are speechles the sensens are in the head the eies eares tōgue We want not an heade for senses because when we see we perceaue when we heare we vnderstand and when we speake we can giue a reason wee want a heart onely for obedience And as our Saviour spake of the Scribes and Pharisees dicunt non faciunt they saie and doe not so it is true in vs wee see and heare and say and knowe but doe not as idle and idol Christians as those idol Gods in the Psalme to our greater both shame and condemnation So the Apostle enforceth it against the Galathians Nowe seeing you know God or rather are knowne of God howe turne you againe to impotente and beggerlie rudimentes To the like effect hee schooleth the Ephesians yee haue not so learned Christ. The nurture and discipline of this schoole is not like the institution of Gentility vvith whome it is vsuall to vvalke in the vanity of their mindes and in darke cogitations to bee strangers from the life of God through the ignoraunce that is in them and being past feeling to giue over themselues vnto vvantonnesse to worke all vncleanenesse even with greedinesse But if yee haue hearde Christ and if yee haue beene taught by him as the trueth is in Iesus not corrupting the text with cursed glosses nor perverting the scriptures to your owne overthrow then with your new learning you must leaue your olde conversation as the eagle casteth her bill and know that the kingdome of God commeth not by observation but by practise nor that practise is availeable vvith ease but vvith violence and that the hottest and most laborious spirite is fittest to catch it away It had beene better for vs never to haue knowne the vvay of righteousnesse then after wee
this was a feare beyond that as may appeare by the epithet Timnerunt timore magno They were exceedingly afraide Nowe why they feared I cannot so vvell explicate It may be in regarde they bare to the person of Ionas knowing what hee was not knowing how to release him They vnderstande him to be an holy man and of an holie nation therefore vvere they brought into streightes they haue not hearte to deliver him they haue not meanes to conceale him hee is greate that flyeth he is greater that seeketh after him That is Hieromes coniecture vpon their feare It may bee in regarde of their sinnes For if a prophet of God and a righteous soule to theirs were so persecuted they could not for their owne partes but feare a much sorer punishment For if iudgement beganne at the house of God what shal be the ende of them which obey not the gospell of God And if the righteous shall skarse bee saved where shall the vngodlie and sinner appeare The Apostle maketh the comparison but it is as sensible and easie to the eie of nature to see so much as the high way is ready to the passenger God speaketh to the heathen nations with a zealous and disdainfull contention betwixte them and his people Lo I beginne to plague the citie vvherein my name was called vpon and shall you goe free It maie bee the maiestie of Gods name did astonish them and bruise them as a maule of iron having beene vsed but to puppets and skar-crowes before in comparison They were not acquainted with Gods of that nature and power till this time they never had dreamed that there was a Lorde whose name was Iehovah whose throne was the heaven of heavens and the sea his floore to walke in and the earth his foote-stoole to treade vpon who hath a chaire in the conscience and sitteth in the heart of man possessing his secret reines dividing betwixt his skinne and his flesh and shaking his inmost powers as the thunder shaketh the wildernes of Cades It is a testimony to that which I say that when the Arke was brought into the campe of Israell and the people gaue a shoute the Philistines were afraide at it and saide God is come into the hoste therefore they cried wo wo vnto vs for it hath not bene so heretofore wo be vnto vs who shall deliver vs out of the handes of these mighty Gods These are the Gods which smote the Aegyptians with all the plagues in the wildernes Wherein it is a wōderful thing to consider that the sight of the tēpest drinking vp their substance before their eies and opening as it were a throate to swallow their liues vp did not so much astonishe them as to heare but the Maiesty of God delivered by relation Alas what did they heare to that which he is indeede It was the least parte of his waies to heare of his creation of heaven and the sea and the dry land he is infinite and incomprehensible besides all that thou seest and all that thou seest not that in some sort God is And it is not a thing to bee omitted that the speech of the prophet made a deeper penetration and entrance into them than if a number besides not having the tongue of the learned had spent their wordes For consider the case The windes were murmuring about their eares the waters roaring the soule of their ship sobbing their commodities floating the hope of their liues hanging vpon a small twine yet though their feare were greate it was not so greate as when a prophet preached declared vnto them the almightinesse of the sacred godhead They haue not onely wordes but swordes even two edged swordes in their mouthes whome God hath armed to his service they are able to cut an hearte as hard as adamant they rest not in the iointes of the bodie nor in the marrow of the bones but pearce the very soule and the spirite and part the very thoughtes and intentions of the heart that are most secret The weapons of their warfare wherewith they fight are not carnall but mighty through God to cast downe holdes and munitions and destroying imaginations disceptations reasonings and every sublimity that is exalted against the knowledge of God and captivating every thought to the obedience of Christ. So there is neither munition for strength nor disputation for subtility nor heighth for superiority nor thought in the minde for secrecy that can holde their estate against the armour of Gods prophets Haue they not chaines in their tongues for the kinges of the earth and fetters of yron for their nobles did not Pharaoh often entreate Moses and Aaron to pray to the Lord for him did not the charme of Elias so sinke into the eares of Ahab that hee rent his clothes and put sacke-cloth vpon his flesh fasted and lay in sacke-cloath and went softlie Did not Iohn Baptist so hew the eares of the Iewes vvith the axe of Gods iudgements that they asked him as the physitian of their diseased soules by severall companies and in their severall callings the people though as brutish for the most part as the beastes of the fielde What shall wee doe then the publicanes though the hatred of the world and publique notorious sinners And vvhat shall wee doe the souldiours though they had the law in their swordes pointes And what shall wee doe Hath not Peter preached at Ierusalem to an audience of every nation vnder heauen of what number you may gesse in part when those that were gained to the Church of Christ were not fewer then three thousande soules and was not the pointe of his sworde so deepely impressed into them that they were pricked in their harts and asked as Iohn Baptists auditours before Viri fratres quid faciemus men and brethren what shall wee doe It is not a word alone the vehemency and sounde whereof commeth from the loines and sides that is able to do this but a puissant and powerfull worde strengthened with the arme of God a vvord vvith authoritie as they witnessed of Christ a vvorde vvith evidence and demonstration of the Spirit smiting vpon the conscience more then the hammers of the smith vpon his stithie a word that draue a feare into Herodes heart for he feared Iohn Baptist both aliue deade that bet the breath of Ananias and Saphira from out their bodies stroke Elymas ' the sorcerer into a blindnes and sent an extraordinary terrour into the hartes of these marriners So then the reason of their feare as I suppose was a narration of the maiesty of God so much the more encreased because it was handled by the tongue of a prophet vvho hath a speciall grace to quicken and enliue his speech whose soule was as a well of vnderstāding and every sentence that sprang from thence as a quicke streame to beate them downe And that this was the reason of their feare I rather perswade my selfe
because it is saide for the further confirmation of this iudgement that the men feared and the men knewe that he fled from the presence of the Lorde who in the whole course of the scripture vnto this place were not tearmed by the name of men but Marriners For when is a better time for man to be laide forth in the colours of his infirmity and frailtie theÌ„ when God hath beene declared in the brightnesse of his glorie whether it be viri or homines the sexe or the generation men as they are distinguished from vvomen or men as they are distinguished from other creatures wee neede not curiouslie enquire The original word lieth to both The former of these two names wherby the male kinde is notified Lactantius thus deduceth Vir itaque nominatus est quòd maior in eo vis est quà m in foemina hinc virtus nomen accepit The man is called Vir in the Latine because there is greater strength in him than in the woman and herehence vertue or virilitie tooke the name Whereas the woman on the other side by Varroes interpretation is called Mulier quasi mollier of nicenesse and tendernesse one letter being changed another taken away But what is the stoutest courage of man mascula virtus the manliest prowesse vpon the earth when it hath girded vp her loynes with streÌ„gth and deckt it selfe with greatest glory where the fortitude of God is set against it How is it possible that pitchers should not breake and fall asunder being fashioned of clay if ever they come to encounter the brasse of his vnspeakeable maiesty The lyon hath roared saith the Prophet shall not the beastes of the forrest be afraide The Lorde hath thundred in the heighth the fame of his vvonderfull workes hath sounded abroade shall not man hide himselfe if the latter name be ment by the worde the whole kinde and generation including male and female both then is the glory of man much more stained and his aspiring affections brought downe to the dust of the earth For as the same Lactantius deriveth it Homo nuncupatus est quod sit factus ex humo he is therefore called man with the Latines because the grounde vnder his feete was his foundation According to the sentence of the Psalme He knoweth whereof we be made he remembreth that we are but dust The scriptures acquainted with the pride and hautines of mandinde hange even talents of lead at the heeles thereof to holde it downe least it should climbe into the sides of the North and set a throne by the most high God In the eighth Psalme which is a circular Psalme ending as it did beginne O Lord our Lord how excellent is thy name in all the worlde that whithersoever we turne our eies vpwardes or downewardes we may see our selues beset with his glory rounde about how doth the prophet abase and discountenance the nature and whole race of man As may appeare by his disdeignefull and derogatory interrogation what is man that thou art mindefull of him and the sonne of man that thou regardest him In the ninth Psalme Rise Lord let not man haue the vpper hand let the nations be iudged in thy sight put them in feare O Lord that the heathen may knowe themselues to be but men Further in the tenth Psalme Thou iudgest the fatherlesse and the poore that the man of the earth doe no more violence The Psalmes as they go in order so me thinkes they grow in streÌ„gth each hath a weightier force to throw downe our presumption 1. we are men the sons of men to shew our descent propagation 2. men in our owne knowledge to shew that conscience experience of infirmity doth convict vs 3. men of the earth to shew our original matter wherof we are framed in the 22. Psal. he addeth more disgrace for either in his owne name regarding the misery and contempt wherin he was held or in the person of Christ whose figure he was as if it were a robbery for him to take vpon him the nature of man he falleth he falleth to a lower stile At â—go sum vermis non vir But I am a worme and no man For as corruption is the father of all flesh so are the wormes his brethren and sisters according to the olde verse First man next wormes then stinch and lothsomnes Thus man to no man alter's by chandges Abraham the father of the faithfull Gen. 18. sifteth himselfe into the coursest branne that can bee and resolveth his nature into the elementes whereof it first rose Beholde I haue begunne to speake to my Lord being dust and ashes And if any of the children of Abraham vvho succeede him in the faith or any of the children of Adam who succeede him in the flesh thinketh otherwise let him know that there is a three-folde corde twisted by the finger of God that shall tie him to his first originall though he contend till his heart breake O earth earth earth heare the vvorde of the Lord that is earth by creation earth by continuance earth by resolution Thou camest earth thou remaynest earth and to earth thou must returne Thus they are rightly matched I meane not for equality but for opposition the eternity of God and the mutabilitie of man the terrour of God and the fearefulnesse of man the name of God and the name of man having at no other time so iust an occasion to remember himselfe to be but man as when the honour of the most high is laide before him The warning serveth for vs all to consider vvhat vve are both by name and nature vnable to resist God For who wil set the briers and the thornes in contention against him Who ever hardened himselfe against the Lord and hath prospered Bernard in his bookes of consideration to Eugenius adviseth him to consider no lesse Avvay vvith thy mantles and coverings pull of thy apron of fig-leaues wipe out the parget of thy flitting honours and take a naked view of thy naked selfe howe naked thou camest from thy mothers wombe Which was in effect that vvhich Simonides sang to Pausanias and a page every morning to Philip of Macedon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 remember that thou art a man For in remembring this thou remembrest all wretchednes And they saide vnto him why hast thou done this Ierome thinketh it no increpation but a simple interrogation of men desirous to knowe why a servant woulde attempt to runne from his Lorde a man from God What is the mysterie of this dealing vvhat sense hadst thou to forsake thine owne country and seeke forraine nations Others take it to bee rather an admiration than an interrogation that such a man as Ionas knowing that God is omnipotent all eie to beholde him all foote to follow him all hand to smite him in all places should offer notwithstanding to flie from his presence
Others are out of doubte that it is a reproofe and reprehension Why hast thou transgressed and not obeyed the voice of the Lorde whome thou acknowledgest A recompense worthy of his disobedience that as hee ploughed contumacie and sowed rebellion so hee might reape shame As if God had set the marke of Cain vpon him the marke of a fugitiue and vagabond and written his fault in his browes that the basest persons of the earth might controle him why hast thou done this Thus iustice proclaimeth from aboue Art thou not subiect to God thou shalt be subiect to men Dost thou contemne the Lord servantes shal contemne thee their eies shal obserue thy waies and their tongues shall vvalke through thy actions children in the streete shall crie after thee There there passengers shal wag their heads and say Fie vpon thee fie vpon thee Et declamatio fies and thou shalt be made the by-word of as many as meete thee Reprehension of men for their offences committed is of 2. sortes The former hath no other end but to reprehende to fasten a tooth vpon every occasion that is offered borne of the cursed seed of ChaÌ„ delighting in nothinge so much as to vncover the nakednesse of fathers brethren all sorts or rather borne of the Devill himselfe whose name is Diabolus an accuser because hee accuseth the brethren daie and night Hee that reprooveth in this sorte and he that approveth and fostereth such reproofes the one hath the Devill in his tongue the other in his eares Augustine and Bernarde fit them with their proper names that such are not correctors but traitors willing to lay open the offences of other men not reprovers but gnawers because they had rather bite than amend ought amisse There is no mercie nor compassion in this kinde of reprehenders If the flaxe smoake they vvill quench it if the reede be bruised they will break it quite if a soule be falling they will thrust at it if it be fallen they will treade vpon it The mercie and kindnesse of their lippes is as if aspes should vomite That which perisheth let it perish Istic thesaurus stultis est in lingua situs this is all the treasure and goodnes that they beare in their tongues contumelies slanders defamations opprobrious detractions vncourteous vpbraidings supercilious inâ—olent vncharitable accusations rather to verit their malice which would burst their harts within them then to reforme the defectes of their brethren Such an one was Philocles who had to name choller brine and Diogenes called the dogge and the trumpet of reproches Carpilius Pictor who put forth a libell tearmed the scourge of Virgils workes Herennius who collected togither his faultes Faustinus his theftes The epigramme doth well beseeme them which Cornelius Agrippa wrote of himselfe I thinke not seriously purposing to vndertake it Momus amongest the Gods carpeth all thinges amongst the worthies Hercules plagueth all monsters amongst the devils of hell Pluto is angrie with all the ghostes amongst Philosophers Democritus laugheth at all Heraclitus contrariwise vveepeth for all Pirrhias is ignorant of all Aristotle thinketh he knoweth all and Diogenes contemneth all Agrippa in this booke spareth not any be contemneth knoweth knoweth not bewaileth laugheth at is offended vvith pursueth carpeth al things himselfe a Philosopher a devil a worthy a God al things The best is we may answer al such vncharitable repreheÌ„ders as S. August answered Petiliâ—n who had accused him to bee a Manichee speaking from the conscience and information of other men I saie saith Augustine I am no Manichee speaking of mine owne knovvledge eligite cuâ— credatis choose whether of the two ye wil beleeue He addeth afterwards I am a maÌ„ appertaining to the floore of Christ if evill then am I chaffe â—f good good corne Petilians tongue is not the fanne of this floore the more he accuseth my fault doe it vvith vvhat minde he wil the more I commend my physition that hath healed it There is an other kinde of reprehension that handleth the sores of other men as if they were their owne with christian and â—postolicke compassion such as we read of who is weake and I burne not bringing pittie in their eies harts when they chance to beholde their infirmities It is a duty that we owe in coÌ„munity one to haue feeling care of an others offences Rabanus noteth vpon the 18. of Matt. that it is as great an offence not to reproue our brother falling into trespasse as not to forgiue him wheÌ„ he asketh forgiuenesse for hee that saide vnto thee if thy brother trespasse against thee forgiue him said before if he trespasse against thee reproue him We know saith Bernard that the same punishment abideth both the coÌ„mitters of sin coÌ„senters vnto it therefore let no maÌ„ smooth sins let no maÌ„ disseÌ„ble offences let no man say of his brother what am I his keeper The wordes of the vvise are called goads nailes Greg. in his homilies vpon the gospels giveth this reason For that they neglect not the faultes of transgressours but pricke theÌ„ All which agreeth with that wise wary distinctioÌ„ which Bernard maketh in the handling of offences There must be the oile of admonition the wine of coÌ„punction the oile of meekenes the wine of zeale earnestnes And with the Apostles rule BrethreÌ„ if a man be preoccupate with a fault that is first taken snared when your selues are not you that are spirituall instruct him in the spirit of gentlenes considering thy selfe least thou also be teÌ„pted 1. the very insinuation he doth vse were enough to perswade them because we are all brethren 2. there is no difference betweene theÌ„ vs but in time they may prevent vs offending but we shal follow theÌ„ 3. because flesh bloud is hauty insolent therfore the Apostle distinctly maketh choise of the persons exhorted you that are spirituall that haue beene softned with the vnctioÌ„ of the spirite of God 4. the medicine is set downe which we must apply Instruct him shew him the nature measure of his fault how to amend it 5. the ingredients of the reeeite are prescribed instruct him with the spirite of meekenes 6. we are bouÌ„d therevnto by equality of condition coÌ„sidering thy selfe 7. it is worth the noting that where he spake before to a multitude 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now by a kinde of solecisme he maketh it the case of each man a part considering thy selfe lest thou also be tempted Such a construction made a holy father of the fall of his brother For he wept bitterly vsing these words Ille hodie ego cras He hath fallen this day and I not vnlikely to fall to morrow Thus much of the kindes of reprehension occasioned by the person of the marriners their speech to Ionas Now touching the person of Ionas himselfe what a discredit was it vnto him that babarous men should reproue an
themselues gloried in their miseries so their parentes were well pleased to beholde their sonnes the brother vvas vvithin the railes or barres the sister neare at hand the mother present at her sorrowes and though beholding such vngodly sportes they never thought that at the least for looking on they vvere paricides You see the humours and affections that some men haue how lightly they are conceipted of the life of their brethren vvhereas brother-hoode indeede requireth at their handes that they should rather wish vvith Marcus Antonius to raise vp many from the dead than to destroy more or with Moses in the sacred volume rather himselfe to bee razed from the booke of life than that his people should perish This former reason is expressed in my texte the latter is implyed and conceaved that hee made this poffer vnto them as being the figure and type of the most loving sonne of God The explication whereof though it stande chiefly in the article of his resurrection vvhereof himselfe speaketh in the gospell they seeke a signe but there shall no signe be given them but the signe of the prophet Ionas yet there are many comparisons besides vvherein they are resembled Ionas was a prophet and Christ that person of vvhome Moses spake Prophetam excitabit Deus God shall raise vp a prophet vnto you Ionas vvas sent vpon a message vnto Niniveh and Christ vvas Angelus magni consilij The angell of the greate counsell of God Legatus foederis The embassadour of the covenaunt Much enquiry was made of Ionas whence art thou vvhat is thy calling countrey people why hast thou done thus Much questioning vvith and about Christ Art thou the king of the Iewes Arte thou the sonne of the living God Who is this that the winds and the seas obey him Is not this the Carpenters sonne Whence hath hee this vvisedome Ionas vvas taunted and checked by the master of the shippe What meanest thou sleeper Christ by the maisters of Israell the rulers of the people and synagogues as a Samaritane as one that had a Devill and by the finger of Beelzebub cast out Devilles a glutton a vvine-bibber a blasphemer of the lavv of Moses Both came vnder the triall of lottes the one for his life the other for his vesture Both had a favourable deliberation passed vpon them Ionas that hee might be saved Christ that hee might bee delivered and Barrabas executed Both had a care of their brethren more than of themselues Ionas cryeth the sea shall bee quiet vnto you Christ answereth him If yee seeke mee let these departe and of those that thou gavest vnto mee haue I not lost one The one saith Tollite me Take mee and cast mee into the sea The other saith vvhen the sonne of man is lifte vppe hee shall drawe all thinges to himselfe Finally both are sacrificed the one in the water the other in the aire both are buryed the one in the bowelles of the whale the other of the earth both alay a tempest the one of the anger of GOD present and particular the other of that vvrath vvhich from the beginning to the ende of the worlde all flesh had incurred The difference betvvixte them is this that Ionas dyed for his owne offence Christ for the sinnes of others Ionas mighte haue saide vnto them Though I see the goodnesse of your natures yet who amongst you is able to acquite mee from my sinne Christ made a challenge to malice it selfe hee mighte haue iustified it at the tribunall of highest iustice vvho is able to reprooue mee of anie sinne Ionas made no doubte but for that his latest misdeede of flying from the presence of the Lord hee vvas cast out Christ had done many good vvorkes amongest them and none but good and therefore asked vpon confidence of his innocencie For vvhich of these vvorkes doe yee stone mee Our innocent Abell persecuted by cruell Cain I am deceived for as his bloude speaketh better thinges than the bloude of Abell so it is bloude of better and purer substaunce our innocente Iacob hunted by vnmerciful Laban although hee might truely say Genesis the one and twentith What haue I trespassed hovve haue I offended that thou hast pursued after mee I mighte adde our innocente Ioseph solde and betrayed by his despightfull brethren and litle lesse than murthered though hee vvente from his father and vvandered the fieldes gladly to seeke and see howe they did our innocente David chased by vnrighteous Saul though by Ionathans iust apologie vvherefore shoulde hee die vvhat had hee done or vvho so faithfull amongest all the servauntes of Saule as David was or if from the state of innocencye to this presente houre I shoulde reckon all the innocentes of the earth and put in Angelles of heaven yet all not innocente and holye enough to bee weighed with him and therefore to call him by his owne names our sunne of righteousnesse braunch of righteousnesse the LORDE our righteousnesse hee that was borne of a Virgin that holy thinge Luke 1. the vndefiled lambe our holy harmelesse blamelesse high-priest separate from sinners our Iesus the iust hee that had the shape of a serpent in the vvildernesse but not the poison the similitude of sinnefull flesh in the worlde but not the corruption hee that knewe no sinne and much lesse was borne sinne yet was made sinne for vs that wee might bee made the righteousnesse of God in him he had the wages of sinne though he never deserved it and made his graue with the vvicked though hee had done no vvickednesse neither was their any deceite in his mouth hee vvas vvounded for our transgressions and broken for our iniquities and the chastisemente of our peace vvas vpon his shoulders all vvee like sheepe had gone astray and the LORDE his father hath laide vpon him the iniquities of vs all But vvas hee compelled thereunto that vvere to goe from the figure and to shewe lesse humanity to mankinde than Ionas to his companions For vvhat hand could cut this stone from those heauenly mountaines The Apostle telleth vs otherwise Philippians the second 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee emptied himselfe and tooke the forme of a seruaunte 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee humbled himselfe and becâ—me obedient vnto death euen the death of the crosse Hebrewes the ninth hee offered himselfe to purge our consciences from deade workes Galatians the seconde Hee gaue himselfe The Prophet telleth vs otherwise Oblatus est quia ipse voluit Hee vvas offered because hee vvoulde himselfe and hee hath povvred out his soule vnto death which noteth a liberall and voluntary dispensation VVhen sacrifice and oblation God would not haue and some-what must bee had what sayeth the scripture of him Then saide I Dixi facto quod annunciaveram per prophetas I saide it indeede for I had past my vvorde before in the prophetes Beholde I come venio voluntariè non coactus adducor I come of mine owne accorde I am not broughte by
vvhich are not vvilling to redeeme the liues of their brethren shall I say vvith the hazarde of their owne liues no nor with the losse of their shoe-latchets with the hazarde I meane of transitory and fading commodities vvhich never are touched with the afflictions of Ioseph and though a number be greeued and pinched as if they belonged to a forreine bodie neuer vouchsafe to partake the smart with them vvith whome it is a common speech that that dieth let it die that they may knovve at length they were not borne to singe or say laugh or ioy to themselues not to eate and drinke thriue or liue to their priuate families but that others which stand in neede by very prerogatiue of mankinde haue also an interest in their succour and seruice I noted the humanity of the marriners by occasion of some circuÌ„stances before past and I woulde now haue spared you in the repetition of the same argument but that my texte spareth you not I vvere vvorthy of much blame if when my guide shewed mee the way I would purposedly forsake it neither caÌ„ I iustly make mine excuse if when the scripture taketh me by the hand biddeth me commend humanity once againe I then neglect it You may perceiue hovve vvell they affected Ionas both by the continuance and by the excesse of their paines I make it a further proofe that it is saide in the text The men rovved as if hee had saide they vvere meere straungers vnto mee I cannot say they are Grecians or Cilicians I knowe not their countries or dwelling places I knowe not their private generations and kindreds much lesse their proper names and conditions I know them no more then to be men after the name commonly belonging to all mankinde It is an vsuall manner amongst vs when we know not men by their other differences and proprieties to tearme them by that generall appellation which apperteineth equally to vs all When Paul was disposed to conceale his person as touching the visions and revelations which were sent vnto him I knovve saith he a man in Christ whether in the bodie or out of the body c. I say not that he was an Hebrewe I name no Apostle I name not Paul I knovve a man of such a man I vvill reioice of my selfe I vvill not excepte it bee of mine infirmities They asked the young man vvhose sight vvas restored Iohn 6. Hovve his eies were opened who because hee knew not Christ in the propriety either of his nature or office to be the sonne of God or the Messias that shoulde come he answered thus for himselfe The man that is called Iesus made clay and anointed mine eies Concerning whom he afterwardes bevvraieth his ignoraunce whether a sinner or no I cannot tel but one thing I know that I was blinde and now I see Is it not thinke you a vvonderfull blemish and maime to Christianity that those vvho were but men even straungers vnto Ionas aliens in countrey aliens in religion but that they beganne a litle to bee seasoned with the knowledge of the true God shoulde thus bee minded vnto him vvee that are ioyned and builte togither not onely in the frame of our common kinde but in a new building that came from heauen vvee that are men and more than men men of an other birth than vvee tooke from Adam men of a better family than our fathers house regenerate sanctified sealed by the spirite of God against the day of redemption men that are concorporate vnder one heade Iesus Christ knitte and vnited by nature grace by fleshe faith humanity Christianitie shoulde be estranged in affection Christians towards Christians protestantes towards protestants more than ever were Iewes and Samaritanes of whom we read in the gospel that they might not converse Doubtlesse there are many thinges that haue an attractiue vertue to winne and gaine the opinions of men vnto them The vnestimable vvisedome of Salomon drevve a vvoman a Queene from a farre countrey that shee might but heare and question with him The admirable learning of Origen caused vngracious and wicked Porphyrie to go froÌ„ his natiue land â—o the citty of Alexandria to see him and Mammaea the Empresse to send for him into her presence It never wanteth honor that is excellent The voice of friendship where it is firmely plight is this as Ambrose observeth in his offices Tuus sum totus I am wholy thine What difference was there betwixte Alexander Hephestion Marriage by the ordinaÌ„ce of God knoweth no other methode but composition of two it maketh one as God of one before made two by resolution The first day of marriage soleÌ„nized amongst the heathens the bride challenged of the bridegrome Vbi tu Caius ego Caia where you are master I will be mistresse But the onely load-stone attractiue vpon the earth to draw heauen and earth men angels East West Iewes Barbarians sea and lande landes and Islandes togither and to make one of two of thousands of all is religion by which they are coupled and compacted vnder the government of one Lord tied and conglutinate by the sinewes of one faith washed from their sinnes by the same laâ—er of new birth nourished by the milke of the same word feasted at the supper of the same Lambe and assumed by the same spirit of adoption to the vndoubted inheritance of one and the same kingdome And I cannot mislike their iudgement who thinke that the little knowledge of God but elementary learning which Ionas preached when he made his graue confession of the true God laide the foundation of all this kindnes which proceeded from these marriners How hath religion bin a band vnto Christendome the discordes dissensions whereof like a fire in the midst of the house consuming both timber stones haue laide more countries to the dition of the Turke than ever his bow shield could haue purchased Wee maie truely say as they in Athens sometimes we of Athens our selues haue amplified strengthned Philip our enimy It was prudeÌ„tly espied by Cortugal one of the Turkish princes in his oration perswasiue to his Lord to besiege Rhodes Christianus occasus discordijs intestinis corroboratur the fal of Christendome is set forward by civil disagreemeÌ„t In the daies of Mahomet the second they had gleaned out of Christendome I mean those polluted Saracens like scattered eares of corne neglected by the owners 200. cities 12. kingdomes 2. empires What an harvest they haue reaped since that time or rather wee reaped for them who knoweth not yet the canker runneth on fretting and eating into Christendome because the whole neglecteth the partes seeketh not to preserue them VVho is not mooved with that lamentable description which AEneas Silvius maketh of Greece in his oration against the Turkes for the composing and attoneing of Christened kingdomes O noble Greece beholde nowe thine ende thou art deade and buried If vvee seeke for
they had no answere they cried lowde nay they cut themselues with kniues and launcers till the bloude flowed out so they prayed not only in teares but in bloud that they might be heard I would the children of the lighte vvere as zealous in their generations But rather let them receiue their lighte and directions for the framing of this holie exercise from the sunne of righteousnesse of vvhome the Apostle vvitnesseth that in the daies of his flesh hee offered vp praiers and supplications with strong crying and teares vnto him that vvas able to helpe him And the gospel further declareth not only that he kneeled at the naming of whose name all knees haue bowed both in heauen and earth and vnder the earth but that hee fell vpon the grounde the foote-stoole of his owne maiesty and laie vpon his face which never Angell behelde without reverence and when he had praied before he praied more earnestly as the scripture recordeth hee once praied and departed and a second time departed and yet a third time and departed evermore vsing the same petition his praier ascended by degrees like incense and perfume and not only his lips went but his agony and contention within was so vehement that an angell was sent from heaven to comfort him and whereas the Priestes of Baal vsed art to make them bleede cutting their flesh with launcers and kniues to that purpose he with the trouble of his soule swet a naturall or rather vnnaturall sweat like dâ—oppes of bloude trickling downe to the earth Wee when wee goe to praier as if our soules and tongues were straungers the one not weeting what the other doth the lippes babbling without and the hearte not pricked with any inwarde compunction honouring GOD with our mouthes and our spirites farre from him deserue to bee answered as hee answered the Iewes Esay 1. When you stretch foorth your handes I will hide mine eies from you and though you make many praiers I will not heare you The reason is there your hâ—ndes are full of bloud the reason to vs may be your heartes bleede not you call me Lord Lord but meane it not the alter is without fire praier without heate wordes without intention gesture of the body without the consent of the inwarde man They cried vnto the Lord. It is not lesse then a miracle that men so newely endued with the knowledge of God can so presently renounce their ancient idolles which they had ever served and within but few minutes of time most religiously adored they call vpon Iehovah that hidden and fearefull name which earst they had not knowne and neither the accustomed maner of their countries nor colour of antiquity nor want of experience in another Lorde nor the simple narration of one singular prophet nor any the like motions can holde them in awe of their former imaginary GODS and keepe them from invocation of the Lorde of hostes No reason can bee yeelded but this The winde bloweth where it lifteth and the spirite breatheth where it will and the mercy of God softneth vvhere his pleasure is It is a gifte from him alone who giveth the new hart and putteth the new spirit within a man who taketh the stony hart from him and giveth him an hearte of flesh in steede thereof who of the stones by the bankes of Iordan saith Iohn Baptist is able to raise vp children to Abraham daily doth raise vp children to himselfe to do him worship and service of those that were hardned in idolatry before like flintes in the streetes Turne vs O Lord and we shall be turned wash vs with cleane water and we shall be cleansed renue vs as the eagle her daies and we shall be renued gather thy chosen flocke from the mountaines and desertes wheâ—n they stray to fulfill thy fold and we shall be gathered say thou wilt sweepe thy house and finde thy groat and we shall be found Nature cannot make a newe birth entring into our mothers wombe againe is vnable to worke it the gold of Sheba and Seba cannot purchase it No man commeth to the sonne vnlesse the father drawe him and if the father haue once given him into his handes all the devils in hell cannot pull him out againe I make it the wisedome of him that praieth to levell his heart and affections at the very right center and marke of praier which is God alone hee is the sanctuary to whome we must flie the periode and scope in whome our requestes must end Praier and faith if the Apostle deceiue vs not must kisse each other howe shall they call on him in whome they haue not beleeved faith is the ground of praier First we beleeue and then speake so was the order of David Doe wee my brethren beleeue in Angels for that is the Apostles phrase howe shall they call on him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in whome or vpon whome they haue not beleeved We beleeue that there are Angels which the Sadduces denied And if an Angell should come from heaven vnto vs with a message from God as he came to Mary and others we would beleeue Angels that is giue credence vnto them as they did But if we beleeue in Angels we forget their place of ministration which they are apointed vnto and make them our Gods Much lesse beleeue we in the sonnes of men which are lesse than Angels Therefore the gleaning of these Marriners is more worth than the whole vintage of Rome who in a moment of time haue gathered more knowledge howe to informe their praiers aright than they in the decourse of many continued generations These pray to Iehovah the true subsisting God they not only to God but to Angels and men and stockes and stones and metalles and papers and I knowe not what It may be a challenge sufficient vnto them all to say no more that in so many praiers of both auncient and righteous patriarkes prophets Iudges kings registred in the booke of GOD and in an hundreth and fiftie Psalmes an hundreth whereof at least are praiers and supplications and in all the devout requestes that the Apostles of Christ and other his disciples sent into heaven if they take the pen of a writer and note from the beginning of Genesis to the end of the Revelation they cannot finde one directed to Cherub or Seraphin Gabriel or Raphael Abraham or Moses or Iohn Baptist after his death or any other creature in heaven or earth saue only to the Lord and his annointed Haue these all erred Even so will we and more sweete shall our errour be vnto vs with these of whome we make no question but that they are bounde vp in the bundell of life with the congregation of first-borne than a newe and recent devise of praier obtruded vnto vs by those who falsly suppose themselues to bee the pillers and staies of Gods militant church The 86. Psal. to giue you a little portion of foode to ruminate vpon as some
but they continued knocking till in the ende he arose and granted them their hartes requests The nexte condition of their praier was that it was properly and pertinentlie applyed to their present feare Let vs not perish for this mans life c. It was written in their heartes which others might haue red in the Psalmes of David Touch not mine anointed and doe my prophets no harme They thought that Prophets were iewelles and pearles vnto God and that the marring of one such woulde severely bee required Hence come their teares this is the thorne that pricketh them feare to offende in hurting an harmelesse man togither with that stinge and venime which sinne leaueth behinde it they knowe it will call for vengeaunce and though it passe the hande and the eye speeding it selfe in the seeming of him that doeth it into the lande of forgetfulnesse as it shoulde neuer bee thought vpon yet the Lorde will fetch it backe againe and set it before the face of the sinner and lay it as freshly to his charge as if hee vvere then in the act and perpetration thereof These bee the sores wherevvith they smarte daunger of their owne liues if they assaulte the life of Ionas and watchfulnesse of the iustice of GOD in taking account of forepassed sinnes To these they applie the medicines VVe know the order of thy Courte and iudgement seate to exacte life for life therefore let not vs perish for this mans life wee knowe that no sinne can escape thy dreadfull hande therefore if we happe to offende in spilling innocente bloude laie not our iniquitie vpon vs blotte it out of thy booke let it passe as a morning dewe before the sunne and not be imputed In disposing our praiers to God vve must as the Scribe in the gospell bringe forth of our treasures thinges olde and nevve For the blessings of God in generall there may bee generall thankes-givings for sinnes in generall generall confessions auncient and vsuall formes of prayer for auncient and vsuall occurrences Wee may take vnto vs wordes as the Prophet speaketh and say vnto the Lorde at all times Take away all iniquitie and receaue vs graciously so vvill wee render the calues of our lippes But as the matter of Gods iudgments and our dangers is varied so must we accordingly vary our praiers In the time of a plague wee must make of our praiers a particular Mâ—thridate against the plague acknowledging the hand of God that inflicted it knowing that the cause and originall thereof is not so much infection in the aire as rottenesse and corruption within our owne bones beseeching his maiestie as Phinees did that the plague may cease and that hee vvill visite no longer with that kinde of iudgement If the lande bee smitten with leanenesse and skarcity so that the children thereof cry for breade and sowne as they goe in the streetes for vvant of foode wee must pray in another stile that the LORD vvill vouchsafe to heare the heauens againe the heavens may heare the earth the earth the corne the vine and the oyle and these Israell or other his distressed people and that hee vvill visite no longer vvith this kinde of iudgement If the enemy shall saie against vs Come vvee will devour vvee will devoure the name of Sion shall bee no more had in remembraunce wee must turne vnto the Lord with another forme of supplication Spare thy people O Lorde and giue not thine heritage into reproache that the heathen shoulde rule over them vvherefore shoulde they say amongest the people vvhere is novve their God O cease to visite thy servants with this kinde of iudgemente If the heavens be brasse aboue vs and droppe no moisture vpon our fruites or if the spoutes which God hath devided in the aire powre downe too much vpon our heads sometime hee roareth so fearefully with his voice of thunders as who may abide it his lightnings giue shine to the earth and our eies are daseled thereat hee raineth dovvne tempestes and stormes vpon vs haile-stones and coles of fire this is our portion sometimes to drinke still as his plagues are newe so let vs come before him vvith newe songes new intercessions meekely kneeling before the Lorde our maker and falling lowe at his foote-stoole that his hand may be turned backe in these kindes of iudgements Thus did Salomon dedicate and blesse the temple beseeching the Lorde that vvhen the people shoulde pray vnto him accordinge to their sundry needes whether they were troubled vvith the assault of their enimy or vvith wante of raine with famine or mildewe or vvith captivity he would then heare them in heauen and be mercifull vnto them The sickenesse which these marriners suspecte is an issue of bloude which being once opened vvill euer runne and keepe a course if it be not stanched vvith the mercy of God and therefore they call vpon him as that present occasion enforceth them O let vs not perish for this mans life and bring not vpon vs innocent bloud Besides which purpose of theirs in laying their finger vpon the sore that is in suiting of their prayer with the present daunger for the fuller explication of the wordes themselues it may please you to take knowledge of two thinges 1. The proceeding of God in the case of bloudshead life for life deliuered in the former clause Let vs not perish for the soule of this man 2. How the bloud of Ionas in the latter may be called innocent bloud The lawe is generall touching the former Exod. 21. life for life eye for eye tooth for tooth hande for hande foote for foote burning for burning wounde for wounde stripe for stripe It is added Leviticus 24. Breath for breath blemish for blemish Gen. 9. I will require your bould wherein your liues are that is one reason in the nexte wordes vvho so sheadeth mans bloude by man shall his bloude bee shed for in the image of God hath hee made man That is an other reason Our Saviour reciteth the lavve in the gospell Math. 26. vvho so taketh the svvorde shall perish vvith the sworde And that wee may knowe this lavve was neuer repealed wee finde it in the last booke Reuelation 13. If anie leade into captivitie hee shall goe into captivitie if any man kill with a sworde hee must be killed with a a sworde Heere is the patience and the faith of Saintes that is this they beleeue and this they verilie expect to bee perfourmed vpon their enimies So the ordinary rule without question is this He that taketh away the life of man himselfe shall likewise perish Notvvithstanding the maker of the law may and doeth sometimes dispense with his owne lawe Many a one I confesse hath killed his neighbour himselfe not ending his daies in the like manner Be it so yet first he is slaine with a sword of his owne as Golias was he dieth daiely with the stabbing and launcing of his owne hearte and as in that first plague
bowels of compassion as it taketh from vs the name and priviledge of sons so it marketh vs for servantes of the worst condition naughty vngracious seruants for whom is iustly reserued the vvages of Balaam I meane the repayment stipende of everlasting destruction The last commendation in the praier of the marriners is their grouÌ„ding therof vpon the pleasure of God for thou Lord hast done as it pleased thee which soundeth thus We aske thy favour in this respect that we haue not departed froÌ„ the rule of thy wil but followed as neare as wee could the verdit answere of thy heaueÌ„ly oracle The lot hath enformed vs the mouth of the prophet himselfe confirmed vnto vs the coÌ„stant indignation of the sea maketh it past question that thou in thy counsell hast decreed that Ionas shal be cast forth It was a sanctified iudgment in theÌ„ both to acknowledge the finger of God in so casuall an accident thou Lord hast done it withal to assent in secret that the wil pleasure of God is the exactest rule of equity that can be imagined as it pleased thee They gather thus in effect we doe but the will of the Lord therefore more iustly to be pardoned The wisdome of God it selfe in whoÌ„ the deity dwelt bodily was content to forsake his wisdome to be ordered rectified by this squire of his fathers wil father not my wil but thine be fulfilled I know the measure of thy wil is straight shal I be croked perverse in my waies I wil not Bernard demaÌ„deth vpoÌ„ that submission of Christ. O Lord the wil whereof thou speakest Not my wil be done if it were not a good wil how was it thine if good why relinquished forsakeÌ„ he answereth Non oportebat propria praeâ—â—dâ—care communibus Priuate affaires must not hinder publique 't was both the will of Christ it was a good wil wherby he said If it be possible let this cuppe passe but that whereby hee spake otherwise thy will â—e doâ—e was better because it was common not only to the father which gaue his sonne but to the sonne himselfe who was offered because hee would and to vs who hartily desired it The will of a righteous man may misse oâ— the wil of God sometimes and yet be iustified approued before God A child may wish the life of his father whom God hath visited with sicknesseâ— and mindeth not to spare Here haue you the wil of a man against the will of God in some sort Doth he offend herein nay rather should he not offend if nature and duty forgotten he wisht otherwise for whatsoever the secret wil of God hath decreed yet by his open and revealed will parentes must bee honoured and their life and vvell-doinge by prayer commended to the goodnesse of God It is the vvill of GOD permanent and vnchaungeable that Ionas bee cast forth It is the vvill of the marriners to saue Ionas if it may bee Doe they displease God heereby rather they shoulde displease if layinge aparte humanity they bare not compassion to the life of Ionas For howsoeuer his secret will hath determined yet by his open and revealed will the life of man must bee tendered VVho hath ascended into heauen to knowe the counselles of the Lord Therefore it is ever safe to cast the ankers of all our purposes and to staie our vvilles vpon the vvill of God before wee see the event of things to say as our Saviour willed vs Thy will bee done and when it is clearely decided what his pleasure was to ioine with these marriners thou Lorde haste done as it pleased thee vvee acknowledge thy supreme authoritie thou sittest vpon the circles of heauen thou holdest the scepter and ball of the worlde in thy right hande thou art the king and commander of the earâ—h bee it neuer so vnquiet the heartes of kings and subiectes are in thine hand Thou vvoundest healest killest quickenest where thou thinkest good and vvhatsoeuer man purposeth thou disposest as thy pleasure is Others confesse no lesse of the will of GOD than these marriners doe Thou Lorde haste done as it hath pleased thee but vvith another construction For as they confesse the efficacie and power thereof so they deny the equity as if hee helde a tyrannye and governed the worlde not by law but by lust drawing it to obedience not by reason and iustice but by the violent chaine of his vnchangeable purpose so making his will in the moderating of the worlde as immoderate as the vvilles of inordinate princes who having the raines of dominion giuen into their handes if they proclaime not out-right with Nero My authoritye giveth me license to doe all things Hee is a foole that knovveth not vvhat hee may doe yet they say to themselues I am a king vvho dareth call mee to accounte and aske me vvhat doest thou yea vvhat is that God that can deliver out of my handes This kinde of impetuous and maisterlesse vvill the servantes of the servauntes of God mistearmed haue challenged to their chaire at Rome For howsoever they behaved themselues no man might say vnto them Cur ita facis vvhy doest thou so vvhatsoever they enacted Sic volo sic iubeo their will and commaundement was warrant enough Franciscus Zabarella complaineth of those that drewe them into such arrogant errour They haue perswaded the Popes that they can doe all thinges even vvhatsoever pleased them thinges vnlawfull too and that they are more than God Silvester the first in the first councell of Rome prooved it by scripture The highest bishoppe is not iudged of any because it vvritten the disciple is not aboue his maister And shall the sawe boast it selfe against him that mooveth it Esay the tenth Therefore let no man iudge the Poâ—e So was the speech of the Donatistes as Augustine remembreth it vvhen they had nothing to answere sic volumus VVhy For vvho are thou that iudgest another mans seruaunt The Pope giveth another reâ—son Thou art a servaunt a disciple who art thou that iudgest thy Lord Saint Augustines answere shal fit them both both the Donatistes of Africke and the greate Donatist of Rome what else doe all flagitious and lewde men riotous drunkards adulterers shamelesse and dishonest persons theeues extortioners murtherers robbers sorcerers idolaters vvhat else doe they answere the word of truth and rigâ—teousnesse vvhen it reprooveth them but this hoc volo hoc me delectat thus I will doe this delighteth me Now it is most true that the will of God is an absolute praedominant soveraigne vvill vvhere hee vvill hee taketh mercie and vvhere he vvill he hardeneth The ground of their complainte is good though they miss-applie it vvho hath resisted his will and if we go to farre to enquire and examine wee are mette in the way and willed as it were to stande backe O homo tu quis es qui disputas O man vvho art thou that disputest and preassest so boldlie
briers and thornes or if there be anie hearbes they are buried choaked with weedes that no man can see them There are a number within these walles to whome if a man woulde say I will walke in the spirit of falsehood and flatterie another while I will lie vnto you I wil leaue this sowre and vnplausible veine of reprehension cal you to the tabret and harpe and put you in minde of Sabothes and new moones and festival daies I will prophesie vnto you of wine and strong drinke oh this were a prophet fit for this people they are the wordes of Micheas But I rather say for my part as Samuell to the people of Israell God forbid that I should sinne against the Lord and cease praying for you but I will shew you the good and the right way That is He that heareth let him heare and he that leaveth of let him leave of Ezech. 3. Hee that is vnrighteous let him be more vnrighteous and he that is filthy let him be more filthy but he that is righteous let him be righteous still and he that is holy let him be holy still Revel 22. For that was the purpose of my note that as God hath continued a chaine of his graces 1. by predestinating 2. by calling 3. by iustifying 4. by glorifying vs so wee should continue a chaine of our graces towardes him that there may be grace for grace by giving all diligence to ioine vertue with faith and with vertue knowledge and with knowledge temperance not to leave ioyning the other linkes of the chaine there added till our owne bodies and soules come to be disioyned THE XXI LECTVRE Chap. 1. ver 16. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly and offered asacrifice to the Lorde and made vowes VPon the event of their fact in casting Ionas forth I meane the stilnes of the sea I noted before the behaviour of the mariners first in their inward affection the nature wherof was fear the measure great feare the matter or obiect the Lord of hostes then in the outward declaration of their mindes partly by sacrifices in agnition of their present service partly by vowes as an obligation of duety for time to come The beginning to the rest is feare For as Lactantius wisely reasoneth without it there can be no religion That that is not feared is contemned if contemned it cannot be worshipped For which cause it commeth to passe that religion maiestie and honour must needes consist by feare For even the kingdomes of the earth would be dissolved vnlesse this proppe held them vp Therefore the zealous Lord calleth for his tribute and due belonging to his excellencie If I bee amaister where is my feare But of this heretofore The first Mercurie or messenger to publish a broade their feare is their offering of a sacrifice Which whither they presently did at the sea of the remainder of such thinges as were left vnto them or whither vpon their landing or whither their purpose and promise to offer a sacrifice were taken for a performance according to the mind of the Caldaieke paraphrast and others who interpret the wordes thus They offered a sacrifice that is they had an intent and gaue their worde to doe it or whither be meant an inward and spirituall sacrifice of praise and thankesgiving and a contrite heart as Ierome coniectureth it is vnnecessary to dispute seeing the text defineth it not Againe what were the profit of my labour to go about Sion and to tell her turrers to enter the large fielde of sacrifices and to number all the kindes of them Which either the booke of God or other authors haue put downe it were to compell the scripture when it offereth her company a mile to go twaine with me and to stretch it beyonde the line which the holye ghost hath laide forth If any desire to know the causes of sacrifices and to call them by their names let him resort to Carolus Sigonius in his Hebrewe common wealth who from the authority of Philo the Iew handleth this matter at large The materiall pointes indeed to be considered in this worship of theirs are two 1. the antiquity 2. the life soule of a sacrifice It cannot be denied but from the auncientest age of the world in al the nations wherewith it hath been replenished before there was any precept of God expresly to require such forme of devotion there hath ben offering of sacrifices as voluntary religious actes a kinde of sensible homage to testifie the power of some nature superior able to auenge it selfe of dishonour and contempt done and not vnable on the other side to regratifie them with kindenes that sought vnto it Cleo the flattering Sicilian in behalfe of Alexander the greate whome he laboured with vehment perswasions to make a God craved no more of his fellowes but exiguam thuris impensā the bestowing of a litle frankincense as an essential marke to notifie his Godhead The angell bad Manoah in the booke of Iudges when he requested him to stay the dressing of a kidde if hee purposed therewith to make a burnt offering to offer it to the Lorde where it is added immediately that Manoah knewe not that it was an angell of the Lorde a person was meant of meaner condition than to whome a sacrifice belonged Aquinas resolveth vs thus that howsoever the determinatiō of the kinds of sacrifices togither with the circumstances of persons time and place be by the positiue law yet the common receaved acknowledgement that sacrifice must be offered is by the law of nature For what reason can be given of so vniforme a consent of sacrificing in so many sundry languages and manners of men but that everye one groweth after the seede which nature hath sowed in him And therefore in effect they say with the headstrong kings in the Psalme Let vs breake the cordes of nature a sunder and cast her yoke from vs vvho as if the service of GOD vvere inventum humanum the devise of man when they coulde not availe by reason to maister them by religion thinke it as cheape an offence to contemne the maiesty of God as humane authority to deny the rightes of the godhead which they vainely imagin is but imagined as their fealty allegiance to earthly princes Tell such of the iudgments of God and the tormentes of hell you tell them a tale of Cocytus Phlegeton other fabulous inventions of licentious poets Vrdge thē with the verdicte of the scriptures you may better vrdge the history of Herodotus or Lucians true narrations A degenerate generation of men monstrously mishapen in the powers of the soule and transformed from the vse of reason whose iudgment is already past because they beleeve not or rather because they roote vp those maximes and principles of reason which the hand of nature it selfe had planted in thē I take but a little peece of
reioine to the sonne of GOD when hee instructed him in the greatest and the next commandements Well maister thou hast said the trueth that there is one God and there is none but he and to love him with all the heart c. and his neighbour as himselfe is more then all burnt offerings and sacrifices And so farre is it of that the slaying of vnreasonable beastes were they in number equall to those millions of bullocks and sheep which Salomon offered at the dedication of the temple and adding a millian of rivers of oile to glad the altars of GOD shall bee acceptable vnto him that the giving of our first-borne for our transgression and the fruit of our bodies for the sinne of our soules shal bee an vnfruitfull present without serious hearty obedience to his counselles Hee that shewed thee O man what is good and what he requireth of thee Surely to doe iustlie and to loue mercy to humble thy selfe and to walke with thy God The ends of the Iewish sacrifices if I mistake not were these First to acknowledge therein that death is the stipende of sinne which though it were due to him those that sacrificed yet was it translated laid vpon the beast that offended not Secondly to figure before hand the killing of the lambe of God which all the faithfull expected Thirdly to testifie the submissioÌ„ of the hart which in these visible samplers shone as a light before the whole world So spoiling the sacrifice of the last of these endes they make it in manner a lying signe leaue it as voide of life breath as the beastes which they immolate The Poet complaineth in his satyre of the costlines vsed in their churches asketh the priests what gold did there willing theÌ„ rather to bring that which Messalas vngratious son froÌ„ all his superfluities could not bring to wit iustice piety holy cogitations an honest hart Grant me but these saith he I will sacrifice with salt and meale only It agreeth with the answer which Iupiter HaÌ„mon gaue to the Athenians enquiring the cause of their often vnprosperous successes in battaile against the Lacedemonians seeing they offered the choicest thinges they could get which their enimies did not The Gods are better pleased with their inwarde supplication lacking ambition than with all your pompe Lactantius handling the true worship of God against the Gentiles giveth them their lesson in few sententious wordes that God desireth not the sacrifice either of a dumbe beast or of death bloudshead but the sacrifice of man and life wherein there is no neede either of garlandes of vervin or of fillets of beastes or of soddes of the earth but such thinges alone as proceede from the inwarde man The alter for such offeringes hee maketh the hearte whereon righteousnesse patience faith innocency chastity abstinence must bee laide and tendered to the Lorde For then is GOD truely worshiped by man when hee taketh the pledges of his hearte and putteth them vpon the altar of God The sacrifices evangelicall which the giver of the newe lawe requireth of vs are a broken spirite obedience to his vvorde love towardes God and man iudgement iustice mercy prayer and praise which are the calves of the lippes almes deedes to the poore for with such sacrifices is the Lord pleased our bodies and soules not to be slaine vpon the altar for it must be a quicke sacrifice not to be macerated and brought vnder even to death for it must be our reasonable service and finally our lives if neede be for the testimony of the trueth All which sacrifices of Christianity without a faithfull heart which is their Iosuah and captaine to goe in and out before them to speake but lightly with Origen in the like case are nutus tantùm opus mutum a bare ceremony and a dumbe shew but I may cal them sorceries of Simon Magus whose heart was not right in the sight of God and not sacrifices but sacrileges with Lactantâ—us robbing God of the better part and as Ieremie named those idle repetitions of the Iewes the temple of the Lord the temple of the Lord this is the temple of the Lord verba mendacij lying wordes so these opera mendacij lying workes so fraudulently handled that if it were possible God himselfe should bee deceived O how hath Sathan filled their harts that they shoulde lie vnto the holy Ghost in making a shewe that they bring the whole price of their possession and lay it downe at the feete of God when they withhelde the dearer part from him They have not â—ied vnto men though that were fault enough but vnto God who will truely require the least vntruthes betweene man and man but falshoods and fallacies committed betweene the porch and the altar within the courtes of his owne house and in the professions of his proper service by casting vp the eies or handes bowing the knee knocking vpon the brest or thigh making sadde the countenaunce mooving the lippes vncovering or hanging dovvne the heade like a bul-rush groveling vpon the earth sighing sobbing praying fasting communicating distributing crying LORDE LORDE seeking to abuse the fleshly eies of men and the fiery eyes of omniscience it selfe hee will right sorely revenge as a dishonour immediately and directly done to his owne sacred person Galienus the Emperour gave this iudgement of one who solde his wife glasse for pearles imposturam fecit passus est hee couzened and was couzened But this for the good of the couzener For vvhen he vvas brought vpon the stage and a Lion expected by the people to have torne him peece-meale a capon was sent vp to assault him The same sentence standeth firme in heaven against the deceitfull marchandizers of true religion vvho offer to the highest emperour clothed vvith essentiall maistye as the other vvith purple and to his spouse the church glasse for pearles copper for golde coales for treasure shewes for substances seeming for being fansie for conscience Imposturam faciunt patientur They mocke and they shal be mocked but in an other kind than the former was for whereas they looke for the thanks and recompence of their forepassed labours loe they are like the dreamer in the Prophet vvho eateth by imagination in the night time and vvhen hee awaketh from sleepe his soule hath nothinge And made vowes The matter of their vowes is as vnceraine as of their sacrifices What it was they promised to the Lorde and by obligation bound themselues to perfourme neither ancient nor recent Iewish nor Christian expositour is able to determine By coniectural presumption they leaue vs to the choice of these foure specialties That either they vowed a voyage to Ierusalem where the latelie receaved Iehovah was best knowne or to beautifie the temple of the Lorde with some rich donaries or to giue almes to the poore or thenceforth to become proselites in the religion of the Iewes and as Ierome explaneth
two singular and almost despaired deliverances first of their bodies from a raging and roaring sea a benefite not to be contemned for even the Apostles of Christâ— cried in the like kind of distresse vpon the waters helpe Lorde wee perish secondlye of their soules from that idolatrous blindnes wherein they were drowned and stifled a destruction equall to the former and indeed far exceeding The horrour of this destruction was never more faithfully laid out in colours than in the eighth of Amos. Where after repetition of sorrowes enough if they were not burnt with hote irons past sense as that the songes of the teÌ„ple shoulde be turned into howlinges feastes into mourning laughter into lamentation that there should be many dead bodies in every place even the nuÌ„ber so great that they should cast them forth in silence without obsequies the sunne going downe at noone and the earth darkened in the cleare day that is their greatest woe in the greatest prosperity yet he threatneth a scourge beyoÌ„d al these Behold saith the Lord I have not yet made your eies dazell nor your eares tingle with my iudgements though your eies have beheld sufficient misery to make them faile yet behold more The daies come I give you warning of vnhappier times the plagues you have endured already are but the beginnings of sorrow the daies come that I will send a famine in the land if the mouth of the Lord had here stayed famem immittam I will send a famine had it not sufficed Can a greater crosse thinke you be imagined than wheÌ„ a wofull mother of her wofull children shall be driven to say As the Lorde liveth I have but a little meale left in a barrell and a little oile in a cruise and beholde I am gathering two stickes to go in and dresse it for me and my sonne that wee may eate and die and much rather if it come to that extremity that an other mother felt when shee cried vnto the king Helpe my Lord O King This woman saide vnto mee give thy sonne that wee may eate him to day and wee will eate my sonne to morrowe so we sodde my sonne and did eate him c. yet hee addeth to the former by a correction not a famine of bread nor a thirst of water but of hearing the word of God and they shall wonder not as the sonnes of Iacob who went but out of Israell into Egypt but from sea to sea and from the North to the East shall they runne to and fro to seeke the worde of the Lorde and shall not finde it This was the case of these men before a prophet spake vnto them and the wonders of the lawe were shewed amoÌ„gst them And this was the case of our countrey when either it fared with vs as with the church of Ierusalem signa non videmus non est ampliùs propheta wee see no tokens there is no prophet lefte or if we had prophets they were such as Ezechiell nameth they saw vanities and divined lies and the booke of the law of the Lorde though it were not hid in a corner as in the raigne of Iosias nor cut with a penknife and cast into the fire as in the daies of Iehoiakim yet the comfortable vse of it was interdicted the people of God vvhen either they could not reade because it was sealed vp in an vnknowne tongue or vnder the paine of a curse they might not and such as hungred and thirsted after the righteousnes of Iesus Christ were driven into Germany and other countries of Europe to enquire after it But blessed be the Lord God of Israell for hee hath long since visited and redeemed vs his people If our many deliverances besides either by sea from the invasion of the grande pirate of Christendome or from other rebellions and conspiracies by land had beene in nuÌ„mber as the dust of our grounde this one deliverance of our soules froÌ„ the kingdome and power of darkenesse the very shadowe and borders of death wherein we sate before the sending of prophets amongst vs to prophecie right things to preach the acceptable yeare of the Lord and the tidings of salvation had far surpassed them Let vs therfore with these mariners sing a song of thanksgiving not onely with our spirites My soule blesse thou the Lorde and all that is within mee praise his holy name but with sacrifices and vowes also as audible sermons and proclamations to the world let vs make it knowne that great is the mercy of Iehovah to our little nation THE XXII LECTVRE The last verse of the 1. Chap. Or after some the first of the second Now the Lorde had prepared a great fish to swallow vp Ionas and Ionas was in the bellye of the fishe three daies and three nightes WEE are now come to the second section of the prophesie wherin the mercy of God towardes Ionas is illustrated It beginneth at my text and parteth it selfe into three members 1. The absorption or buriall 2. the song 3. the delivery of the Prophet Isiodore in three wordes summeth the contentes of it Cetus obiectum voratum orantem revomuit The whale cast vp Ionas first cast forth then devoured afterwards making his moue to God Ionas is swallowed in this present sentence The iustice and mercy of God runne togither in this history as those that runne for the maisterie in a race And it is harde a long time for Ionas to discerne whither his iustice will overcome his mercie or his mercy triumph over iustice They labour in contention as the twinnes in Rebecca's wombe And although Esau bee first borne red and hairy all over like a rough garment yet Iacob holdeth him by the heele and is not farre behinde him I meane though the iudgment of God against Ionas bearing a rigorous and bloudy countenance and satiate with nothing in likelyhode but his death that most straÌ„ge vnaccustomed seemeth to have the first place yet mercy speedeth her selfe to the rescue and in the end is fulfilled that which God prophecied of the other paire The elder shall serue the yonger For when iustice had her course and borne the preeminence a greate space mercy at lengh putteth in and getteth the vpper hande To vs that haue seene and perused the historie who haue as it were the table of it before our eies and know both the first and the last of it it is apparant that I say that although he were tossed in the ship cast forth into the sea deuoured yet God had a purpose prevised herein to worke the glorie of his name the others miraculous preservation But Ionas himselfe who all the while was the patient and set as a marke for the arrowes of heavenlye displeasure to be spent at and knew no more what the end would be than a child his right hand from the left what could he thâ—â—ke but that heaven and earth land and sea life and death all 〈◊〉
in the world had sworne and conspired his immortall misery First he was driven to forgoe his natiue countrey the land of his fathers sepulchers and take the sea When he had shipt himselfe the vessell that bare him stackered like a drunken man to and fro never was at rest till she had cast forth her burthen Being cast forth the sea that did a kinde of favour to Pharaoh and his host in giving them a speedy death is but in manner of a iaylour to Ionas to deliver him vp to a further torture Thus from his mothers house and lap wherin he dwelt in safety to a shippe to seeke a forreine countrey from the ship into the sea and from the sea into a monsters belly incomposiâ—um navigium an incomposed mishapen ship therein shall I say to his death that had bene his happines he would haue wisht for death as others wisht for treasure There are the prisoners at rest and heare not the voice of the oppressour there are the small and the great and the servaunt is free from his maister So then there is a comfort in death to a comfortlesse soule if hee could atchieve it But Ionas cannot die the sea that swalloweth downe volumes of slime and sandes is not grave enough to bury him hee may rather perswade himselfe that he is reserved for a thousand deathes whome the waters of the Ocean refuse to drowne giving over their pray to an other creature My thoughtes are not your thoughtes saith the LORDE by his prophet Esaye neither are your waies my waies For as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my waies higher than your waies and my thoughtes above your thoughtes It is most true When wee thinke one thing GOD thinketh an other hee safety and deliverance vvhen in the reason of man there is inevitable destruction We must not therefore iudge the actions of the Lorde till wee see the last acte of them We must not say in our hast all men are liers the pen of the scribes is vaine the bookes false the promises vncertaine Moses and Samuell prophets and apostles are like rivers dried vp have deceived vs. We must tarry the end and know that the vision is for an apointed time but at the last it shall speake according to the wishes of our owne harts and shal not lie Though our soules faint for his salvation yet must we wait for his worde Though our eies faile for his promise saying O when wilt thou comfort vs and we are as bottels in the smoke the sap of our hope dryed vp yet we must not forget his statutes When we see the fortunate succeeding of things we shall sing with the righteous prophet Wee know O Lord that thy iudgements are right though deepe secret and that thou of very faithfulnes hast caused vâ— to be tried that howsoever our troubles seemed to be without either number or end yet thy faithfulnesse higher than the highest heavens failed vs not To set come order in the sentence propounded I commende these circumstances vnto you First the disposer and ruler of the action the Lorde Secondly the manner of doing it hee provided or prepared Thirdly the instrument a fish togither with the praise and exornation of the instrument a great fish Fourthly the end to swallow vp Ionas Lastly the state of Ionas and how it fared with him after he was swallowed vp And first that you may see the difference betwixte inspired spirites and the conceiptes of prophane men vvho as if the nature of thinges bare them to their ende without further disposition as when the clowde is full they saie it giveth her raine and going no higher than to seconde and subordinate causes never consider that high hande that wrought them it may please you to obserue that thorough the whole body of this prophecie vvhatsoever befell Ionas rare and infrequent is lifted aboue the spheares of inferiour thinges and ascribed to the Lord himselfe A great winde vvas sent into the sea to raise a tempest It is not disputed there what the winde is by nature a drie exhalation drawne vp from the earth and carryed betweene it and the middle region of the aire aslant fit to engender a tempest but the LORDE sent it Ionas vvas afterwardes cast into the sea It is not then considered so much vvho tooke him in their armes and vvere the ministers of that execution but thou LORDE hast done as it pleased thee Ionas is heere devoured by a fish It is not related that the greedinesse and appetite of the fish brought him to his praie but the LORDE prepared him Ionas againe is delivered from the belly of the fish It mighte bee alleadged in reason perhappes that the fish was not able to concoct him but it is saide the Lorde spake to the fish and it cast him vp Towardes the ende of the prophecie Ionas maketh him a booth abroade and sitteth vnder the shaddow of a gourde the Lorde provided it A worme came and consumed the gourde that it perished the Lorde provided it The sunne arose and a fervent east-winde bet vpon the heade of Ionas the Lorde also provided it Who is he then that saith and it commeth to passe if the Lorde commaunde it not Out of the mouth of the most high commeth there not evill and good Thus whensoever we finde in any of the creatures of God either man or beast from the greatest whale to the smallest worme or in the vnsensible things the sun the windes the waters the plantes of the earth either pleasure or hurt to vs the Lord is the worker and disposer of both these conditions The Lorde prepared That yee may know it came not by chaunce brought thither by the tide of the sea but by especiall providence For it is not saide that God created but that he ordeined and provided the fish for such a purpose There is nothing in the workes of God but admirable art and skilfulnesse O Lord saith David how manifolde are thy workes in wisedome hast thou made them all Salomon giveth a rule well beseeming the rashnes and vnadvisednesse of man who without deliberate forecast entereth vpon actions first to prepare the worke without and to make all things ready in the field and after to builde the house God keepeth the order himselfe having his spirite of counsaile and provision alwaies at hande to prepare as it were the vvaie before his face to make his pathes straight and to remooue all impedimentes to levell mountaines to exalt vallies to turne vvaters into drie grounde and drie grounde into water-pooles and to change the whole nature of things rather than any worke of his shal be interrupted He had a purpose in his heart not to destroy Ionas yet Ionas was thrown into the mouth of destructioÌ„ A maÌ„ would haue thought that the couÌ„saile of God if ever should now haue been frustrated that salvation it selfe could not
aliue through ranges and armies of teeth on both sides without the collision or crushing of any limme in his body and entereth the streights of his throate where he had greater reason to cry thaÌ„ the childreÌ„ in the prophet the place is to narrow for me and liveth in the entralles of the fish a prison or caue of extreame darkenesse where he found nothing but horror and stinch and loathsome excrementes What shall we say herevnto but as Ierome did vpon the place where there was nothing looked for but death there was a custodie in a double sense first to imprison and yet withall to preserue Ionas Thus farre you have hearde first that a fish and for his exornation great fish secondly vvas prepared thirdly by the Lorde fourthly to swallow vp his prophet Now lastly if you will learne what tidings of Ionas after his entring in the monsters mawe it is published in the nexte wordes And Ionas was in the belly of the fish three daies and three nightes Therein I distinguish these particularities First the person Ionas not the bodye of Ionas forsaken of the soule as the bodye of Christ lay in the graue but the whole and entire person of Ionas compounded of bodye and soule livinge mooving feeling meditating not ground with the teeth not digested in the stomake not converted into the substaunce of the fish and neither vitall nor integrall part diminished in Ionas Secondly the place vvhere he was in the remotest and lowest partes the bovvelles of the fish as Ieremy was in the bottome of the dungeon where there vvas no water where what nutriment he had amiddest those purgamentes superfluities the Lorde knoweth but man liveth not by breade alone or what respiration and breathing being out of his elemente amongst those stiflinge evaporations vvhich the bellye of the whale reaked forth but wee may as truely saye man liveth not by breath alone Thirdly the time hovve long hee continued there three daies three nightes when if the course of nature were examined it is not possible to bee conceived that a man coulde liue so one moment of time and his spirit not be strangled within him Physitians giue advise that such as are troubled with apoplexies falling sicknesses or the like diseases should not be buried till the expiration of 72. howres that is three daies and three nightes In which space of time they say the humours begin to stop giue over their motion by reason the moone hath gone through a signe the more in the Zodiake For this cause it was that our Saviour vndertooke not the raisinge of Lazarus from the dead till hee had lien 4. daies in the graue least the Iewes might haue slaundered the miracle if hee had done it in hast and saide that Lazarus had but swooned The like he experienced in himselfe besides the opening of his heart that if falshoode woulde open her mouth into slaunder it might bee her greater sin because he was fully dead Who would ever haue supposed that Ionas fulfilling this time in so deadly and pestilent a graue shoulde have revived againe But the foundation of the Lord standeth sure and this sentence hee hath vvritten for the generations to come My strength is perâ—ited in infirmity vvhen the daunger is most felt then is my helping arme most welcome We on the one side vvhen our case seemeth distresseful are very importunate with God crying vpoÌ„ him for help It is time that the Lord haue mercy vpon Sion yea the time is come if in the instant he answer not our cry we are ready to reply against him The time is past and our hope cleane withered But he sitteth aboue in his provident watch-towre who is far wiser than men thinketh with himselfe you are deceived the time is not yet come They meete the ruler of the synagogue in the 5. of Marke tell him thy daughter is deade why diseasest thou thy maister any further Assoone as Iesus hearde that vvorde a word that he lingred and waited for he said vnto the ruler of the Synagogue be not afraid onely beleeue And as Alexander the great solaced and cheered himselfe with the greatnes of his perill in India when he was to fight both with men and beasts their huge Elephantes at length I see a daunger aunswerable to my minde so fareth it with our absolute true monarch of the world who hath a bridle for the lippes of every disease and an hooke for the nostrels of death to turne them backe the same vvay they came it is the ioy of his hart to protract the time a while till he seeth the heigth maturity of the daunger that so he may get him the more honour Martha telleth him in the 11. of Iohn when her brother had beene long dead lien in the graue till he stanke past hope of recovery Lorde if thou hadst beene here my brother had not beene dead And what if absent was he not the same God Yet he told his disciples not long before Lazarus is deade and I am gladde for your sakes that I vvas not there that you mighte beleeue You see the difference Martha is sory and Christ is glad that he was not rhere Martha thinketh the cure commeth to late and Christ thinketh the sore was never ripe till nowe In the booke of Exodus when Israel had pitched their tents by the red sea Pharaoh and host marching apace and ready to surprise them they vvere sore afraide and cryed vnto the Lord and murmured against Moses hast thou brought vs to die in the wildernesse because there were no graues in Egypt wherefore hast thou served vs thus to carrie vs out of Egypt c. Moses the meekest man vpon the earth quieted them thus Feare yee not stande still and beholde the salvation of the Lorde which he will shew to you this day For the Egyptians whome yee haue seene this day yee shall never see them againe The Lorde shall fight for you therefore hold you your peace Neither did Moses feed them with winde prophecy the surmises of his owne braine for the Lorde made it good as followeth in the next verse vvherefore cryest thou vnto mee speake vnto the children of Israell that they goe forwarde Thus when the wounde was most desperate they might haue pledged even their soules vpoÌ„ it we cannot escape when their legges trembled vnder them that they could not stand still their hearts fainted that they could not hope the waters roring before their face the wheels of the enimy ratling behinde their backs they are willed to stand still not on their legges alone but in their disturbed passions to settle their shivering spirites to pacifie their vnquiet tongues and to go forwardes though every step they trode seemed to beare them into the mouth of death The state of the daunger you see Ionas is in the belly of the fish three daies and three nightes Long enough to haue
altered his nature to haue boyled him into nourishmente and to haue incorporated his flesh into an other substaunce Yet Ionas liveth But if the LORDE had not beene on my side might Ionas nowe say if the LORDE had not beene on my side vvhen the beast rose vp against mee hee had swallowed mee vp quicke vvhen his vvrath vvas so sore enflamed But praysed bee the LORDE vvhich hath not given mee over a pray to his teeth My saule is escaped even as a birde out of the snare of the fowler The snare is broken and I am delivered Let all those whome the LORDE hath redeemed from the hande of the oppressour from fire or water or from the perill of death take that songue of thankesgiving into their lippes and singe it to his blessed name in remembraunce of his holinesse O thou the hope of all the endes of the earth sayeth that other Psalme and of them that are farre of in the sea shevve vs but the lighte of thy countenaunce and vvee shall bee safe giue vs but the comforte of thy mercies and wee will not feare though the earth bee mooved and the mountaines fall dovvne into the middes of the sea and the sea and the vvaters thereof rage fearefully though Leviathan open his mouth wee will not quake at it yea though the Leviathan of the bottomelesse pit open the throate of hell never so vvide to devoure vs wee vvill not bee disquieted VVee knowe that there is mercy vvith the LORDE and that vvith him there is plentifull redemption I meane redemption a thousande waies by nature and against nature by hope and against hope by thinges that are and thinges that are not Hee that hath saved his people by gathering the vvaters in heapes like vvalles and making a path in the redde sea hee that hath kept his children in the middest of a fiery oven when if arte coulde adde any thinge to the nature of fire they shoulde have beene burnt seven times for one because it was seven times hote and delivered his prophet in a denne of lyons though dieted and prepared for their pray before hand yet shuttinge their mouthes so close and restrayninge their appetite that they forbeare their appointed foode and committed this servaunt of his to the belly of a fishe as if he had committed him to his mothers vvombe to be kept from harme he is the same GOD both in mighte and mercye to preserue vs no time vnseasonable no place vnmeete no daunger vncouth and vnaccustomed to his stronge designementes Our onely helpe therefore standeth in the name of the LORDE that hath made heaven and earth blessed and thrice blessed bee that name of the Lorde from this time forth for evermore Amen THE XXIII LECTVRE Chap. 2. vers 1. Then Ionas praied vnto the Lord his God out of the fishes belly and saide THIS second section or division of the prophecie wherein the mercy of God towardes Ionas is expressed I parted before into three branches 1. That he was devoured 2. praied 3. was delivered The tearmes that Lyra giveth are these the place the manner the successe of his prayer The marvailes that I haue already noted vnto you were 1. that so huge a creature was suddeinely provided by the providence of God 2. that a whole man passed thorough his throate 3. that he lived in his bowels three daies three nightes Now whither he fulfilled that time exactly yea or no three naturall dayes complete consisting of twenty foure howres neither can I affirme neither is it materiall over-busily to examine Our Saviour you know in the gospell applyeth this figure of Ionas to his buriall As Ionas was in the belly of the whale three daies and three nights so shall the sonne of man bee in the heart of the narth But if you conferre the shadowe and the body togither you shall finde in all the evangelistes that the Lorde of life was crucified the 6. howre of the preparation of the sabbath and the ninth gaue vp the ghost that late in the eveninge his bodie vvas taken downe from the crosse and buried that hee rested in the graue the night that belongeth to the sabbath togither vvith the daie and night nexte ensuinge after it and that in the morning of the first day of the weeke he rose againe So as indeede the body of Christ was not in the heart of the earth more than 36. hovvers to weete two nightes and a daie vvhich is but the halfe space of 72. howers Some to supply this defect of time accompte the lighte before the passion of Christ and the darkenesse till the 9. howre one day and a night because they say there vvas both lighte and darknes And then the light that followed from the 9. howre and the succeeding night a secōd day night likewise the third til the time he rose againe Others expoūd it by a mistery thus 36. hours they say to 72. which is the absolute measure of 3. daies 3. nights is but simplum ad duplū one to two or the halfe of the whole Now ours was a double death both in soule by sin in body by paine Christes was but single only in the body because concerning his soule he was free frō sin therfore they infer that the moity of time might suffice him Hugo Cardin. hath an other conceite that from the creation of the worlde till the resurrection of Christ the day was evermore numbred before the night both in the literall and in the mysticall vnderstanding first there was light then darknes but from the resurrection of Christ forwardes the night is first reckoned for which cause he thought the vigiles were apointed for sabbathes other festivall daies that vvee might be prepared with more devotiō to solemnize them herehēce he cōcludeth that the night which followed the sabbath of the Iews was the angular night must twice be repeated as the corner of a square serveth indifferently for either side which it lyeth betwixte for both it belonged saith he to the sabbath praeceding must be ascribed againe vnto the Christian sabbath or Lords day whereon the son of God rose from death And he thinketh there is great reason of his invention because Christ by one night of his tooke away two of ours So they are not content to be sober interpretours of the minde of God but they wil ghesse and divine at that which he never meant They thinke their cunning abased if they go not beyond the moone to fetch an exposition What needeth such curious learning to apoint every egge to the right hen that laid it as some did in Delos so these to think their labor vnprofitable in the church of God vnlesse they can make the devises of their own heads reach home to the letter of the booke in al respects Our soundest divines agree that the triduan rest of Christ in the graue must be vnderstood by the figure synecdoche
presence of God to seeke his assistance And Ionas praied vnto the Lord. I handled also this point before more largely then at this present I intende I noted therein their wisdome and choice who take their marke aright and direct their petions to their true and proper periode I will briefly saie Non minus est Deum fingere quam negare It is as greate an offence to make a newe as to denye the true GOD. in the Lorde put I my trust bovve then say yee vnto my soule yee seducers of soules that shee shoulde flie vnto the mountaines as a birde to seeke vnnecessary and forraine helpes as if the LORDE alone were not sufficient The LORDE is my rocke and my fortresse and he that delivereth mee my GOD and my strengh in him will I trust my shielde the horne also of my salvation and my refuge I vvill call vpon the Lorde vvhich is vvorthie to bee praised so shall I bee safe from mine enemies vvhome have I in heaven but thee amongst those thousands of angels and Saintes vvhat Michaell or Gabriell what Moses or Samuell what Peter what Paule and there is none in earth that I desire in comparison of thee Put not your trust in Princes which are the ablest vpon the earth nor in the sonne of man for there is no helpe in him His breath departeth and hee returneth to his earth and then all his thoughts perish But blessed is the man that hath the GOD of Iacob for his helpe vvhose hope is in the LORDE his GOD. In that lamentable siege and famine of Samaria a woman cryâ—d to the king as he passed by helpe my Lorde O king The king aunswered seeing the Lorde doeth not succour thee howe shoulde I helpe thee vvith the barne or the wine-presse The king concluded soundly that if the LORDE withdraw his helping hande it lyeth not in any prince of the earth to afforde it GOD hath spoken once and I have hearde it twise that povver belongeth vnto GOD and thine O LORDE is salvation even thine alone As much as to say God is very constant in the asseveration of this doctrine To driue it into our conceiptes he hath spoken it once and twise that is not once but many times he hath spoken it eternally vnmoueably effectually vvithout retractation Once in the lawe and a seconde time in the gospell Both the breastes of the church giue this milke Moses and Christ prophets and Evangelistes runne vpon this point Surely they forsake their first better husbande and goe after lovers whose company they will dearely repente for they will see an alteration and bee driven to confesse It was better with mee at that time then nowe which thinke that their breade and water woole and flaxe and oile and drinke are not the blessiâ—gs of God much more the giftes and vertues of the soule inward and spirituall graces that cry for deliveraunce where there is none that lay out their silver and not for breade bestow their labour and are not satisfied spende and consume their praiers and are not heard Or as Irenee maketh the comparison they are not vnlike Aesopes dogge who having meate in his mouth caught at the shaddowe vvhich hee saw in the waters and lost the substaunce Is not the gleaning of Ephraim of more worth then all the vintage of Abiathar Is not the staffe of the Lord of more strength whereof David spake thy staffe and thy rodde comforted mee then all the staues of Assur and Egypt staues of reedes staues of flesh and bloud is not the least finger of his right hand of more puissance then the whole arme either of flesh or any spirite besides yea then the whole loynes whole bodies whole substances of angels men silver golde silke purple al other creatures Olympias the mother of Alexander the great wrote to her sonne when he called himselfe the sonne of Iupiter not to do it for seare of procuring vnto her the envie and displeasure of Iuno The angels and Saintes in heaven are much displeased I dare affirme to haue such daungerous honour thrust vpon them that bringeth them into emulation with their fearful Lorde whose presence they tremble at and if it were possible for them to heare such vnlawfull praiers of men they woulde I doubte not with a contrary sound of words labor to purge themselues before the Lord of hoasts Not vnto vs Lord not vnto vs it belongeth not to thy servants to receiue such sacrifice They that refused a far smaller offer vpon the earth the only bowing of the knee vnto them See thou doe it not when the knees of the heart shal stoupe and praiers be powred vnto them they will much more be discontented I conclude out of Saint Bernard Sperent in alijs alij Let others put their trust in other things Some in the knowledge of letters some in the wilines of this world Some in nobility some in preferment or in any the like vanity and let him that listeth trust in vncertaine riches But it is good for me to holde mee fast by the Lord and to put my hope in God Who ever hoped in the Lorde and was confounded The Lions lacke and suffer hurger but they that feare the Lorde shall wante no manner of thing that good is The specialtie wherevpon he tooke encouragement to pray vnto the Lord he had a particuler feeling of the loue of God towards him and knew him to be his God He had not onely heard and seene in others but tasted in himselfe hovve sweete the LORDE was some litle experience of deliveraunce he had already made because the waters chokte him not and albeit he were swallowed into the belly of the fish yet his life remained in him and there is no other likelyhoode but he lived in hope of a farre greater salvation The former circumstaunce is as the alablaster boxe of spikenarde that contayned precious ointmente in it but kept it close and vncommunicated this latter breaketh the boxe and povvreth out the ointmente that the savour of the perfume may fil the whole house and comforte both the body and soule of him that vvill vse it The former at large delivereth the arguments of the might and mercie of God telleth vs there is a Lord aboue whom al the ends of the worlde haue a portion in whose name is Iehovah and his aide most requisite to be sought vnto This latter bringeth him home as it were vnder the roofe of our private houses and giveth him entertainemente in our particular consciences The former giveth counsaile and sheweth the vvaie the latter putteth in execution the one teacheth knowledge the other application the one what to beleeue the other what to hope the one to pray vnto the Lorde the other to pray vnto the Lorde our God Dicit fides parata sunt bona c. faith saith there are good thinges which cannot bee tolde prepared for beleevers hope saith they are kept
with God on high mourning and lamenting his wretchednes not in a caue of Horeb as Elias did not in a caue of Adullam as David but in the ougliest vncomfortablest vaulte setting hell aparte that ever vvas entred O Lord where shall thy spirite forsake thy chosen ones if wee climbe into heaven there it is as apparant to the worlde as the sunne in his brightnesse If we bee driven into the wildernesse there it will attend on vs. If we lie downe in the bottome of the sea if in the bowels of a whale within that bottome of the sea there will it also embrace vs. To conclude all in one for this time there was never contemplation or study in the world so holy and heavenly in the sight of God so faithfull and sociable to him that vseth it as praier is It travaileth by day it awaketh by night with vs it forsaketh vs not by lande by water in weale in woe living nor dying It is our last friend an◠indissolublest companion therefore wee must praie There was never name so worthy to bee called vpon in heaven or earth so mighty for deliverance so sure for protection so gainefull for successe so compendious to cut of vnnecessarie labours as the name of Iehovah our mercifull father and the image of his countenaunce Iesus Christ. Therefore to the Lord. There was never citty of refuge so free for transgressours never holes in the rockes so open for doues never lappe of the mother so open to her babes as the bowels of Gods compassions are open to beleevers Therefore we must pray in that stile of propriety which Thomas vsed when he looked vpon Christ my Lord and my God Lastly there was never affliction so great but the hande of the Lorde hath beene able to maister it therefore if we walke in the shadow of death as where was the shadow of death if these bowels of the whale were not we must not take discomforte at it The Lord sitteth aboue the water flouds the Lord commandeth the sea and all that therein is He that hath hidden Ionas in the belly of a fish as a chosen shafte in the quiver of his mercifull providence and made destruction it selfe a tabernacle and hiding place to preserue him from destruction blessed be his holy name and let the mighte of his maiestie receiue honour for evermore he will never forsake his sonnes and daughters neither in health nor sicknesse light nor darknesse in the lande of the living nor in the lande of forgetfulnesse And therefore as David cursed the mountaines of Gilboah that neither dew nor raine might fall vpon them because the shielde of the mighty was there cast downe so cursed be all faithlesse and faint harted passions that throwe away the shielde of faith and open the way for the fierie dartes of the devill to worke their purpose But blessed be the mountaines of Armenia for there the 〈◊〉 found rest Blessed be the power and mercy of our God for these are the mountaines vvherevpon the arke resteth these are the holy hils whereon the Sion and church of the Lord hath her everlasting foundations The Lorde liveth and blessed be our strength even the God of our salvation for ever and ever be exalted Amen THE XXIIII LECTVRE Chap. 2. ver 2. And said I eryed in mine affliction to the Lord and he hearde me out of the belly of hell cried I and thou heardst my voice IN the wordes of the history before we come to Ionas speaking frō his own person I noted 1. his action during the time of his imprisonmēt praier 2. the obiect of his praier the Lorde 3. the applicatiō his God 4. his house of praier the belly of the fish 5. the specification of it he said which particle only remaineth to bee adioyned to the former before wee proceede to to praier it selfe It beareth one sense thus I will not onely acquaint you that Ionas prayed but I will also expresse vnto you what that prayer was this was the summe and substaunce of it the matter hee framed and compiled to his God was to this effect Hee praied and saide that is these were the very wordes this was the tenour and text of his songe indited But if the worde bee better lookt into it may yeeld a further construction For in the three principall tongues Hebrew Greeke Latine there hath ever bene held a difference betweene speaking saying the former being more generall vnperfite belonging to as many as vse the instruments of speech Thersites spake though hee spake like a Iay they speake of whome the proverbe is verified little wisedome much prating Eupolis noted them in the greeke verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are excellent to talke but very vnable to say The later is more speciall noteth a wise deliberated speech graue sententious weighed in the ballance as it is in the words of Syrach vttered to good purpose Tully in his rhetorickes giveth the difference in that he ascribeth saying to oratours alone speaking to the cōmon people that the one cōmeth from nature the other from art Such was the handling of that argument in the 45. Psalme whereof the authour witnesseth before hand My heart is inditing a good matter his tongue was but the pen of a ready writer It was sermo natus in pectore a matter bred in the breast not at the tongues end And such was the song of Ionas in this place It was drawne as deepe as the water from the well of Iacob the sentences wherof were advisedly penned the words themselues set vpon feete and placed in equall proportions A skilfull and artificiall song as if it should haue fitted an instrument cōposed in number measure to the honour of his name who giveth the argument of a song in the night season who in the heaviest and solitariest times when nature calleth for rest quickeneth vp the spirit of a man and giveth him wisdōe grace to meditate within himselfe his vnspeakable mercies I doe not thinke that the praier of Ionas was thus metrically digested within the belly of the fish as now it standeth But such were the thoughts and cogitations wherein his soule was occupied vvhich after his landing againe perhappes he repolished brought into order fashion as a memoriall monument of the goodnes of God that had enlarged him It ministreth this instruction vnto vs al that when vvee sing or say any thing vnto the Lord we keepe the rule of the Psalme Sing yee praises vvith vnderstanding that as Iohn Baptist went before Christ to prepare his vvaies so our heartes may ever goe before our tongues to prepare their speeches that first vvee speake within our selues as the woman with the bloudy issue did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for shee saide within her selfe if I may but touch the hemme of his garment afterwardes to others first in our harts with David in
the friende knocked in the parable of Luke at midnight the deadest houre of the nighte who was nearest the gate first awoke if yet hee slept at all and first aunswered O quam dare vult c. O howe willing is hee to graunte that is so wiling to bee disquieted Howe glad to heare thy knocke that hath placed his bed so neare the gate O quam non adâ—anuam tantum sed ipsa ianua dominus fuit c. And how truly maie wee saie that hee was not onelie neare the gate but the Lorde himselfe the very gate who when his children were a sleepe the eares of Angelles and saintes shutte vp first and at the first call nay onelie amongst the rest made aunswere vnto it The Lord is alwaies nearer to vs than wee to him hee heareth the desires of the poore in the tenth Psalme hee first prepareth the hearte and setteth it on worke to pray and when he hath so done bendeth his eare vnto them If now they can otherwise demonstrate that as Pallas the Emperours libertine would never speake to any servant about him forgetting his owne late servile estate but either by pointing and signifying with the fingers as the wiseman calleth it or becking or if the busines vere long by writing because forsooth he was loth to bestow the honour of speaking vpon them and as the rulers of the earth in a kinde of maiesty not vnfitting to their place aunswere by mediation of others so the Lorde above heareth not suiters but by the preferment and procurement of Angels and other glorified spirits then it cannot be hindered but other advocates and spokes-men must be allowed of But this is likewise cleared in the 102. Psal. where it is saide that hee hath looked downe from the height of his sanctuary out of the heaven did the LORDE beholde the earth to what other ende but that hee might heare the mourning of the prisoner and deliver the children apointed vnto death And this moreover I am sure of that the LORDE hath often and expressely enioyned vs Call vpon mee and if the booke were searched throughout with cresset-light never would it bee prooved that hee gave any charge to call vpon others Neither was ever the shadowe of any thing so faithfull to the bodye to followe and waite vpon it as the successe of good speede hath beene consequent to a prayer faithfullye made For as if their soules were knit togither like the soules of Dauid and Ionathan you shall ever see them ioyned So in the fourth Psalme I called vpon the LORDE and hee hearde mee at large and an hundreth the like might bee alleadged for confirmation And therefore if vvee erre in this point of doctrine vvee may say truelye with Ieremy Thou hast deceived vs LORDE vvhen vvee vvere deceaved that is when wee were vvilled to call vpon thee alone thine vvas the blame if wee doe amisse and wee may comfort our selves that wee erre by warrant and authority from him that must pardon errours Therefore I conclude from the two and twentieth Psalme Praise the Lorde yee that feare him magnifie him all the seede of Iacob and feare him all yee the seede of Israell For hee hath not despised the lowe estate of the poore nor hidde himselfe from him but when he called hee harkened vnto him Let the house of Esau vse the liberty of the wide worlde and the feede of Babylon call vpon other helps as they have done and those that feare not the Lorde vse their discretion Our example leadeth vs otherwise Ionas was this poore man and his lowe estate the belly of the fish hee called vpon his God and hee harkened vnto him The varying of the person in that before hee spake of God now to God giveth vs variety of instruction and helpeth to confirme the doctrine before delivered For since wee have immediate accesse to the Lorde to speake to his maiesty as it were face to face and mouth to mouth it were to shamefast and senselesse a parte in vs to make other meanes And it is besides a singular testification of his thankefull minde who receaveth not the favour of God as the nine lepers in the gospell receaved their clensing not returning againe to give thankes to him that cured them but first reporteth to himselfe and as many as shall reade or heare this songe what God hath done for him I called vpon the Lorde and hee hearde mee which is somewhat further of and then with a nearer approche ioyning his soule as closely to the eares of God as Philip ioyned himselfe to the chariot of the Eunuch relateth the blessing of his prayer to the authour himselfe of all blessings And thou Lorde hardest my voice thus rendring vnto him grace for grace a kinde and dutifull rememoration for the mercies bestowed vpoÌ„ him Some take the comforts of God as the beastes in the field take their meate not looking vp to heaven from whence they come Nay the Oxe will knowe his owner and cast an eye to his hande and the asse his maisters cribbe but my people knowe not mee saith the Lorde Some acknowledge the Authour and forget him presently even whilst the meate is betweene their teeth as Israell did Some remember sufficiently but accept them as due debt as if they had God in bandes to performe them They serve not God for naught which was the obiection of Sathan Some are ready to kisse their owne handes for every blessing that commeth vpon them and to ascribe them to their strength or wit whereof Bernard spake Vti datis tanquam innatis maxima sâ—perbia It is the greatest pride to vse Gods giftes as if they were bred in vs. Others there are that give thanks ex usu magis quà m sensu rather of custome then devotion as cymballes sounde from their emptinesse for even Saul will bee a prophet amongst prophets and an hypocrite take good words into his mouth amongst harty professours Ionas I nothing doubt from the ground of his heart telleth forth the deliverance of the Lord which in the spirit of a prophet hee foreseeth and presumeth before it commeth not onely to himselfe and vs but as the rivers of the Lande sende back their waters to the sea in a thankfull remembrance and remuneration that they tooke them thence so Ionas returneth this mercy to the Lorde himselfe that was the giver of the mercy And thou Lorde heardest my voice as if hee had concluded and agreed to himselfe that neither God nor man nor his owne conscience shoulde ever bee able to accuse him of vnthankefulnesse I will both preach it to my selfe privately and publikely to the world that the Lord hath heard mee And thou Lord shalt also vnderstand from mine owne lips that I make acknowledgement and profession to haue receaved my safety from thine onely goodnesse Thou Lord hast heard my voice I will so meditate vpon thy benignities within mine owne heart and leaue a chronicle of them to
adulterie and other faultes having either nature or custome on their side are lesse odious to men though not lesse haynous in their kindes But name an vngratefull person and vvithout naming any more vvee all detest him as a prodigious vnnaturall noveltie violating the communion and nature of mankinde I conclude It is a good thing to praise the Lord to sing vnto the name of the most high to declare his loving kindnesse in the morning and his trueth in the nighte season It is good touching the actioÌ„ it selfe For it is better to blesse theÌ„ to curse and to giue thankes then to giue out a voice of grudgings It is good in respect of the matter and obiect that so glorious renowned a God vouchsafeth to be magnified by our polluted lippes the honor returneth vpon our selues It is good because of the retribution For Cessaâ— decursus gratiarum vbi non fuerit recursus the course and descent of the graces of God ceaseth and the spring is dried vp where there is not a recourse and tide of our thankefulnesse Wherefore let not so good an exercise bee a burthen and griefe to good soules Let the vnrighteous vanish away in their gracelesse ingratitude and become as the dunge of the earth Let them forget the God of heaven that the God of heaven may also forget them But let the righteous alwaies reioyce in the Lord for it becommeth well the iust to be thankefull Earely and late let vs blesse his holy name though not with Lutes and Harpes and instrumentes of ten stringes yet with the best members and instrumentes we haue bodies and spirits which the fingers of God haue harmonically composed and ioined togither and the ioy of the holy ghost hath melodiously tuned for this purpose Let vs never turne our backes to the temple of the Lord nor our faces from the mercy-seate Let vs not take without giving as vnprofitable ground drinketh devoureth seed without restoring Let vs neither eate nor drinke nay I will more say let vs neither hunger nor thirst without this condiment to it The Lorde be praised Let the frontlets betweene our eies the bracelets vpon our armes the gards vpon our garments be thankes Whatsoever we receiue to vse or enioy let vs write that posie and epiphoneme of Zachary vpon it Grace grace vnto it for all is grace Let vs learne the song of the blessed before hand that hereafter we may be able to sing it with more perfection Praise honor and glory be vnto him that sitteth vpon the throne and to the Lambe Paul is ours Apollos is ours Cephas is ours the worlde ours children friendes fieldes vineyardes health wealth all things ours but we are Christes and Christ Gods there is the fountaine thence they come all thither they all returne He is α and ω first and last authour and finisher giver and receiver his holie name be blessed for ever and ever Amen THE XXVI LECTVRE Chap. 2. verse 3. and 4. For thou hadst cast mee into the bottome in the middest of the sea and the flowdes compassed mee about all thy surges and all thy waues passed over me Then I said I am cast away out of thy sight c. IMAGINE the songe of Ionas to consist of three partes a proposition narration and a conclusion and the proposition alreadye to bee past in the seconde verse summarilye abridging the beginning proceeding and ending of the matter in hande that is the perill praier and deliveraunce of Ionas The narration nowe followeth to the eighth and ninth wherein hee concludeth so that all that lyeth betweene the seconde and those maketh but for exornation for both his daunger is more amplie described and his praiers often mentioned and a frequent hope of his deliveraunce ingested And it is well worthy your considering that as musicke consisteth of acutum and grave high and lovve sharpe and flatte so this song of Sion which Ionas singeth in a strange lande vvith a far heavier hearte then ever Israell sange by the rivers of Babylon is mixte and compounded of two kindes of soundes For on the one side are daungers terrours desperations and deiections of minde often hearde but on the other the sweetest comfortes and ioyes of the holy Ghost that coulde be conceived First in the third verse Thou hadst cast mee into the bottome of the sea with many exaggerations to declare his feare But in the fourth Yet vvill I looke againe to thy holy temple Againe in the fifth The waters compassed mee aboute vnto the soule c. But in the sixte Yet haste thou broughte vp my life from the pitte O LORDE my God Lastly in the seventh My soule fainted vvithin mee yet I remembred the LORDE and my praier came vnto thee into thine holie temple Invicem cedunt dolor voluptas sovver and sweete mourninge and ioy trouble and peace come by courses and successions There is no weeding vp of these tares no remooving of these griefes and annoyaunces from the life of man This is the state and condition of our present pilgrimage as of a fielde vvherein there is vvheate and darnell they must of necessitye grovve togither till the harvest when it shall be saide priora transierunt the former thinges are past sorrovve and sickenesse dreade and death haue nowe their ende The eveninge and the morning are but one day Barnardes allusion to that place of Genesis is the interpretation of the Psalme heavinesse maye bee in the evening but ioye commeth in the morninge VVee beare foorth our seede vvith teares vvee shall bringe home the sheaves in our bosome vvith ioye The Sonne of GOD hath beene entertayned in this life at one time vvith Benedictus blessed is hee that commeth in the name of the LORDE at an other vvith crucifige crucifie him Iohn Baptist at one time is reverenced and hearde gladlie at an other beheaded Not to speake of the heade or members aparte the vvhole bodye cryeth in the Canticles I am blacke O yee daughters of Ierusalem but comelye Nigra vestro formosa divino Angelicó que iudicio blacke in the iudgemente of menne faire in the sighte of GOD and Angelles nigra foris sed intùs formosa blacke without by reason of the miseries and deformities of this life but invvardelye beautifull vvith a godlye presumption and hope of my blisse to come One generation passeth and an other succeedeth saieth Ecclesiastes the sunne govveth downe and the sunne dravveth to the place of his rising againe the vvinde goeth to the South and compasseth tovvardes the North and returneth by the same circuite and though all times differ yet they differ not in this that they are all subiecte to varâ—atitions And as a discorde in musicke giveth a grace and commendation to the song so these discordes and iarres in our life keeping their alternatioÌ„ make our pleasures more welcome when they come That Christians should well digest them there is some better cause by reason of their faith
For they thinke not how bitter the potion is in tast but what health commeth after it Nor are they ignorant that these crosses and disturbances are as it were the first-fruites of the spirite the earnest penny of our fathers inheritance a prelibation of glory to come that if we bestow all that we haue as the poore widow did our 2. mites body and soule as one compareth them vpon the service and at the pleasure of our God we leaue but simpla pro centuplis one for an hundreth fold which shall afterwardes be restored But you shall finde that the Gentiles themselues who were without the covenant of God consequently the hope of better things were loth to surâ—et of pleasure and tooke it as an introduction to worse to come if ever they received too much even of good fortune When tydings was brought to Philip of Macedon that Parmenio got the victory over his enimies Alexander his sonne was borne and his chariots wonne the prize at Olympus all in one day hee called vpon fortune reputed a goddesse in those dayes to doe him some little hurte and to spice as it were his ioyes with bitternesse that they made him not forget him selfe It was the reason that the king of Egypte blest himselfe from having any thing to doe with Polycrates king of Samos because he was over-fortunate For having throwne a massie and rich ring into the sea to try an experiment in despight of fortune he found it againe at his table in the belly of a fish vvhich was brought for a present vnto him They many times wished good lucke and pleasurable daies to the veriest enimies they had In the bookes of Iob and the Psalmes the thriving of the wicked vvanteth not a learned orator to set it foorth at large Their bullocke gendereth and fayleth not their cowe calveth and casteth not her calfe They sende foorth their children like sheepe and their sonnes daunce They take the tabret and harpe and reioyce in the sounde of the organs Thus farre it vvere good you vvoulde thinke to bee no good man For they come into no misfortune like other men VVhat no misfortune Even the greatest in this that they haue so large an indulgence Surely it vvere good for vs not to be acquainted vvith such engrossers of prosperity and much lesse to haue to doe vvith their vnhappy happinesse For as in the burning of a candle when it hath long given light extremum occupat fumus caligo the ende is in smoake and caliginousnesse so fareth it when the candle of the vvicked is put out for so Iob compareth their felicitye Their ende is vvorse then their beginning as the beginning of Saintes vvorse then their end In puncto descendunt in infernum in the stirring of an eye they goe dovvne into hell VVhere if there bee not fumus caligo and much vvorse there is no hel He that saw the wicked flourishing like a greene bay tree which winter defaceth not it never withereth til it be pluckt from the earth looked at an other time for their place I say not the trees but their place and they were no more found O howe suddainely are they destroyed perish and come to a fearefull ende as a dreame when one awaketh Lord when thou raisest vs vp thou shalt make their image despised Suddenly and fearefullie and contemptibly measure enough themselues vanishing perishing consumed wheÌ„ others arise whom they thought not of He that at one time said of himselfe I haue cleansed my hart in vaine because he coulde not iudge aright of the prosperity of the wicked at an other time saide to the foolish Be not so foolish and to the wicked lifte not vp the horne lift not vp your horne on high neither speake vvith a stiffe necke For in the â—ande of the Lorde is a cuppe and the vvine is of the colour of bloude it is fully tempered and hee povvreth out the same and all the vvicked of the earth shall surelie vvringe out and drinke the dregges thereof What pleasure is there now in the cuppes of Balthazar and his concubines the cuppes of the vvhore of Babylon golden and sugred cuppes and wine in â—oules as the prophet speaketh vvhen at the ende of the banquet to close vp the stomake they must take this cup from the hand of the Lord and drinke their fatall draught Thus of the one side you shall ever finde the happines of the wicked in primis it commeth at the first and falleth like a dry thistle flower Sonne thou hadst thy pleasure it is now past But if you will learne what becommeth of the righteous in novissimis intelligetis you shall vnderstand it in the last daies Marke the vpright man and beholde the iust for the ende of that man is peace Seneca writeth that as the same chaine coupleth the keeper and prisoner togither so hope and feare are ever conioined and feare followeth hope For where our wishes and desires are bent we cannot choose but doubt of our good speede These two are coupled togither in the song of Ionas but their order inverted For feare goeth before like the keeper and iaylour of Ionas and hope commeth ever behinde to giue him comfort of enlargement Feare seemeth to haue the greater scope and to triumph over hope as may appeare in that so many words even fowre whole members of the two nexte verses are spent in the amplification of it when as but a short clause snatching looke of the eie is added in the end to expresse his hope But how little leaven of hope seasoneth the whole lumpe of the daunger before mentioned The partes are according to the number of the verses two First his daunger secondly the hope of recovery The daunger enlarged first by the authour Thou hadst cast mee vvhich noteth not only a violence but a neglect as if the Lorde had throwne him aside never to bee remembred more secondly by the place into the bottome in the midst of the sea thirdly by the accessaries to the place the flowdes compassed mee all thy surges and all thy waves passed over mee fourthly by the infirmity and distrust of his owne hearte the effect of the rest and his conclusion vpon the precedent proofes Then I saide I am cast awaie out of thy sighte But in the seconde place one cast and motion of his eie towardes the temple of the LORD maketh satisfaction and amendes for all those former discomfortes 1 Thou hadst cast me The authour is not his equall a briar contending vvith a thorne an earthen vessell vvith an earthen vessell wherein there is some proportionate comparison The children of Israel sonnes of Anak David and Golias vvere not equally matched yet man to man Wherin if either part be the weaker it may be redressed in time either by theÌ„selues or by their a bettours Or if never redressed the body alone beareth the smart the
the angels of GOD. I woulde spend it wholy in the commendation of this graue and serious sentence VVherefore shoulde I feare in the evill dayes when iniquirie shall compasse mee aboute as at mine heeles vvhen it shall presse and vrge me so closely with the iudgementes of God that I am alwaies in daunger to be supplanted nowe vvhat are the pillers of this heavenly security can riches or wisedome or houses and landes after our names or honour sustaine vs these are but rotten foundations to builde eternity vpon But GOD shall deliver my soule from the power of the grave for hee will receive mee I drawe to an ende GOD is faithfull that hath promised heaven and earth shall passe avvay but not a iote of his blessed worde As the hilles vvere about Ierusalem and as these floudes vvere aboute Ionas so is the LORDE aboute all those that feare him Hee hath made a decree in heaven it belongeth to the nevve testamente confirmed by the death of the testatour witnessed by three in heaven and as many in earth and never shall it be altered That at what time soever a sinner whatsoever shall repent him of his wickednes whatsoever from the bottome of his hearte the Lorde will forgive and forget it O heaven before heaven And the contrarye perswasions hell before hell damnation before the time I say againe if hee repent of his wickednesse it is not the misery of this wretched life nor terrour of conscience nor malice of foes let them bee men or devilles let them bee seven in one a legion in another all the principalities and powers of darkenesse in the thirde that shall hinder forgivenesse Beholde the lambe of GOD you that are lions in your house as the proverbe speaketh worst towardes your selves you that are ready to teare and devoure your owne soules with griefe and feare of hearte beholde the Lambe of GOD that taketh avvy the sinnes of the worlde Hath his death put sense into rockes and stones and can it not perswade you shall that bloud of the lambe cleanse you from your guiltinesse and will you in a madde and impatient moode throwe your bloud into the aire with Iulian or spill it vpon the grounde with Saul or sacrifice it vpon an alder with Iudas and not vse the medicine that shoulde ease their maladies shall hee open heaven and will you shutte it hee naile the writings to his crosse and you renue them hee pull you from the fire and you runne into it againe Is this his thankes this the recompence of his labours this the wages yee give him for bearing the heate and burthen of the day in your persons this the harvest for the seede hee sowed in teares this the wine hee shall drinke for treading the wine-presse in steede of a cuppe of salvation which you ought to take in your handes and call vpon the name of the LORD that is as he hath drunke vnto you in a bitter cuppe of passion so you shoulde pledge him in a plesant draught of thanksgiving will you take a cup of death and desperation blaspheme his name evacuate his crosse treade the bloude of his testament vnder you â—eete and die past hope God forbid and the earnest praiers and sobbes of your owne soules hartely forbidde it Ianuas aeternae foelicitatis desparatio claudit spes aperit Desperation shutteth vp hope openeth the dores of eternall felicitie And therefore hee that hath least and nothing at all to hope yet let him despaire of nothing it was the advise of an heathen let it bee the practise of a Christian. Let him hope against hope though the basenesse of his condition horrour of sinne weight of tribulation envy of Sathan rigour of the lawe iustice of the vpright iudge seeme to overthwarte him THE XXVII LECTVRE Chap. 2. ver 5.6 The waters compassed mee about vnto the soule c. Yet hast thou brought vp my life from the pit O Lord my God IN the third and fourth verses before I haÌ„dled first the daunger or feare of Ionas illustrated 1. from the person that cast him into it 2. from the place with the accessaries thereunto the depth the heart the multitude of seas 3. from the passions of the sea which vvere either floudes compassing him about or waves overwhelming him those waves in nature surges touching the author Gods surges touching the number all his surges 4. from the infirmity of his owne conscience wherein 1. advisedly he pronounceth and saith 2. that as an vnprofitable thing he is cast out 3. from the sight that is the favour and grace of his mercifull Lorde Secondlye I added thereunto his hope and confidence as a peece of sweete woode cast into the waters of Marah to take away their bitternesse so this to rellish and sweeten his soule againe and to make some amendes for all his former discouragementes In these two contrary affections feare and hope I tolde you the vvhole songe vvas consumed to the ende of the seventh verse First you shall heare his daunger displaied in sundry and forcible members for his wordes swamme not in his lippes but were drawne from the deepe well of a troubled conscience and then at the end some sentence of comfort added as a counter-verse to alay the rigour of the other partes and to vpholde his fainting soule This was the order that David tooke with his soule in the 42. and 43. Psalmes Why art thou cast downe O my soule Hope in the Lorde for I will yet giue him thankes for the helpe of his presence Likewise in the 80. Psalme Turne vs againe O God of hostes cause thy face to shine and wee shall bee safe They come 〈◊〉 seemeth as so many breathings to a man wearied with a tedious race or rather as so many lines and recollections of spirites after swoonings Now vnlesse I will leaue my texte as Ionas left the way to Niniveh which God had apointed him to walke in I must againe entertaine your eares with the same discourse which before I helde I hope without offence to any man For the hearing of these admirable wordes and workes of God is not or should not be as the drinking of wine wherin they say the first draught is of necessity the second for pleasure the third for sleepe so ever more worse but here it is true which the son of Syrach wrot of wisedome for this is the pure and holy wisedome They that eate her shal haue the more hunger and they that drinke her shall thirst the more The eie is not satisfied with seeing nor the eare with hearing such things And albeit it bee a faulte in musicke evermore to strike vppon the same string yet Ionas I doubt not shall easily bee excused and finde favour in your eares in handling this song of his though he bring nothing for a time but the repetition of the same matters For first hee gaue you the ground and plain-song which I called the proposition in the second
hee angrye with mee So these affirme in speech that sorrowe is nothing vseth no violence against a wiseman yet when it commeth vpon them they are no more able to endure the gripings of it than other fooles As Taurus spake of the Stoickes ague so may I of the misery of Ionas The force and nature of his miserye did her parte reason and the nature of saith on the other side vvere not idle in their offiâ—es Ionas behaved not himselfe as the deafe roâ—kes of the sea which the waves beating and breaking vpon yet they feele nothing dolere inter dolores nesciens not knowinge how to bee grieved amiddest his griefes but according to the measure and quality of his sorrowes so was his sense and so was the purpose of God by whome they were inflicted To descend now to partâ—culars The matter of his feare or the daunger intended against him arose from two mightye adversaries the sea and the lande His daunger from the sea is tripled in the fifth verse according to the number of the clauses therein First the vvaters compassed him about vnto the soule To have beene in the vvaters had not beene so much nor much to bee compassed and intrenched as those that are helde in siege But that they come vnto his soule the meaning is that his spirite whereof the quickeninge and life of his bodye consisted vvas at hande to departe from him and to yeelde it selfe prisoner to the waters that assaulted it there was the daunger Secondly The depth closed him rounde about The depthe or rather no depthe Some measure of water where the bottome might have beene reached woulde also have kept his feare within a measure But to bee closed about with a bottomelesse water maketh a bottomelesse griefe whereof there is no end 3. the weedes were wrapt about his heade the sedge the flagges the bul-rushes and other the like trashe the very skorne and contempt of the sea daungerous impedimentes to those that by swimming put themselves vpon the mercy of the mercilesse waters they were not now fluent and loose but tied and entangled not about the armes or the legges alone but about the head of Ionas the principall spire of his body the highest tower and as it were capitolle to the city the leader and captaine to all his other partes Now whether his head were bound about with weedes when he was first swallowed vp and so they remained about it still or whither the head of the whale be here the head of Ionas because he is now incorporate into the whale and liveth within him as a part of the whale I examine not but this was the mind of Ionas to omit no word not so much as of the excrementes and superfluities of the sea whereby his inextricable perill might be described His danger by land is likewise expressed in two members of the 6. verse First he was descended to the bottomes or endes or rootes or cuttinges of of the mountaines for where a thing is cut of there it endeth Man by nature and stature was made to ascende God gave him his head vpwardes But Ionas was descended which is the state of the dead according to the phrase of the scripture Descendam lugens c. I shall goe downe sorrowing to my grave Neither vvas hee descended into the sides or some shallowe cave and vawte of the mountaines but as if hee were numbred with those forlorne soules who call vpon whole mountaines fall on vs and vpon whole hils cover vs so vvas he descended ad radices praecisa montium to the rootes and cragges of them lodged in so lowe a cabbin that all those heapes and svvellinges of the earth lay vpon him 2. The earth with her barres was about him for ever What is the strength of a citye or house but the barres of it as we reade in the Psalme Praise the Lord O Ierusalem praise thy God O Sion for he hath made the barres of thy gates stronge and blessed thy children within thee So then the barres of the earth that is the strongest muniments and fenses it hath are the promontories and rockes which God hath placed in the frontiers to withstand the force of the waters These are the barres and gates in Iob which God hath apointed to the sea saying vnto it Hitherto shalt thou passe heere will I stay thy prowde waues and if you wil these also are the pillers of the earth which god hath fixed in such sort that it cannot bee mooved The meaning of the prophet was that hee was lockt and warded within the strengh of the earth never looking to bee set at liberty againe I tolde you before that the nature of the sea wherein Ionas travailed besides the over-naturall working of God did adde much more trouble vnto him than if he had past through the Ocean where he had gained more sea roume and the continent being farther of would haue yelded a liberall current and lesse haue endaungered him Now he hath land round about him by reason whereof the sea is more narrow rockie and hilly apter to stormes skanter of rodes for safety and subiect to a number of other incommodities The course of the seas through which hee past was this First hee tooke shipping at Iapho and was carried thorough the Syriack sea theÌ„ce through Archipelago or the Aegean thence thorough Hellespont betwixt Sestus and Abydus where Asia and Europe are divided not by more than seven furlonges others say but fiue afterwardes thorough Propontis where the sea is patent againe hath his forth from thence through Bosphorus Thracius betwixt Constantinople and Natolia where the passage is so narrow that an oxe may swimme over and lastlie to the Euxine sea where they hold hee was set to land Thus was hee often encumbred with straightes and never had cause to complaine of overmuch liberty where he was most favoured till he came to the dry grounde Thus far of the daungers both by sea and land The first extended his rage not to the chin or lippes of the prophet but to his soule and threatned him with a depthe bottomelesse and vnmeasurable and came not against his life with limpide and pure waters alone but with other impedimentes the vnprofitable pelfe and corruption of the waters The later gaue him not rest vpon a plaine floore of the earth but clasped him vnder the cragges of roâ—kes and held him close prisoner vnder the strongest barres and bounders it had But as in the former staffe of the song so also in this there is a touch of a distrustfull conscience but there it was openly expressed and here it is closely conveyed in The earth with her barres was about mee for ever For what meaneth in seculum for ever but that he was cast away from the saving health helpe of the Lord without all hope of redemption Did hee not know that although his life were taken from him for a time it shoulde bee restored
soule vvhen he is well-nigh spent and it is a question whether his faith be quicke or dead there commeth an other veruntamen like a showre of the later raine in the drought of summer to water his fainting spirite yet hast thou brought vp my life from the pitte O LORDE my GOD. The readings are diverse The Hebrewes sâ—y thou hast brought vp my life or caused it to ascende The septuâ—ginte my life hath ascended Ierome Thou shalt lifte vp Some say from the pitte some the graue some from death some from corruption There is no oddes For whither of the two times bee put the matter is not great Thou hast or thou shalt For the nature of hope is this futura facta dicit Thinges that are to come it pronounceth of as alâ—eadie accomplished In the eigth to the Romanes we are saved by hope though we are not yet saved And whome God hath iustified those hee hath also glorified though not yet glorified Ephesians the second wee are raised from the dead though our resurrection heereafter to be fulfilled But I stay not vpon this It is a rule in Seneca that by the benefite of nature it is not possible for any man to bee grieved much and long togither For in her loue shee beareth vnto vs shee hath so ordered our paines as that shee hath made them either sufferable or shorte that which Seneca imputed to nature I to hope grounded in the promises of God immutable things the safe and sure anchor of the soule of man The sorrow of Ionas was wonderfully vehement but soone alaied Whence had he that speedy mittigation from nature nothing lesse Here what the voice of nature is When the people of Israell crieth vpon Moses for flesh what is his crie to God I am not able to beare this people If I have founde favour in thine eies kill mee that I behold not this misery When Iezabell threatneth to make Elias like one of the dead prophets he hasteth into the wildernes and breaketh out into impatience and irkesomnes of life O Lord it is sufficient either he had lived or he had bene plagued long enough take away my soule from me The woman in the 2. of Esdras having lost her sonne be it a figure or otherwise it is true in both ariseth in the night season goeth into the field decreeth with her selfe neither to eate nor drinke but there to remaine fasting and weeping till shee were dead Esdras councelleth her foolish woman doe not so returne into the city goe to thine husband c. shee answereth I will not I will not goe into the citye but here will I die You heare how nature speaketh Was Ionas thus relieved no. The sense of his owne strength or rather his weakenesse woulde have sent him hedlong as the devils the heard of swine into the lake of desperation It is the Lord his God whose name is tempered according to the riddle of Sampson both of strong and sweete who is forâ—â—ter suavis suaviter fortis strong in sweetenes and sweete in strength fortis pro me suavis mihi strong for me and sweete to me that hath done this deede Behold my brethren there is hoâ—ie in the lion there is mercy in the fearefull God of heaven He is not only a Lord over Ionas to note his maiesty feare but the Lord his God to shew the kindnes of a father It is the Lord his God to whom he repaireth by particular applicatioÌ„ with the disciple of Christ leaneth as it were in his maisters bosome that delivered his life from the pit his soule from fainting Before he lay in the depthes was desceÌ„ded to the ends of the mouÌ„taines c. All that is aunswered in one worde eduxisti thou hast brought me vp from the pit wherein I was buried Before the waters were come even vnto his soule ready to drinke it in and to turne him to corruption but now God hath delivered that soule from the corruption it was falling into What shall we then say the sea hath no mercy the weedes no mercy the earth with her promontaries and bars no mercy the whale no mercy the Lord alone hath mercy It fared with Ionas as with a fore-ruÌ„ner of his when his spirit was coÌ„fused folden vp within him when hee looked vpon his right hand and behold there was none that would know him much lesse at his left wheÌ„ all refuge failed and none cared for his soule then cried he vnto the Lorde his God and saide Thou art my hope and my portion in the land of the living O harken vnto my cry for I am brought very low even as low as the earth is founded and bring my soule out of prison this pit wherin I lie that I may praise thy name O let not life nor death I name noe more for death is the last and worst enemy that shal be subdued bee able to take your hope from you When your heart in thinking or tongue in speaking hath gone too far correct your selues with this wholesome and timely veruntamen yet notwithstanding I will go to the Lorde my God and trust in his name The nailes that were driven into the handes and feete of our Saviour were neither so grievous nor so contumelious vnto him as that reproch that was offered in speech he trusted in the Lorde let him deliver him This was the roote that preserved Iob and Iob preserved it when his friends became foes and added affliction vnto him he willed them to hold their tongues that he might speake not caring what came of it Wherfor do I take my flesh in my teeth saith he and put my soule in my hand that is why should I fret and consume my self with impatience If he shoulde kill me would I not trust in him so far is it of that I despaire of the mercies of God that my life shall sooner leaue me than my assurance of his graces This was the deepe and inwarde matter he ment in the 19. of his booke from the abundance wherof he made that propheticall and heavenly protestation O that my words were written written in a booke and graven with an iron pen in lead or stone for ever I knowe that my redeemer liveth Wormes rottenes shall consume me to nothing but my redeemer is aliue behold he liveth for evermore hath the keies of hell and of death The graue shal be my house and I shall make my bed in darkenes but I shall rise againe to behold the brightnes of his countenance These eies of nature shal sinke into the holes of my head but I shall receiue them againe to behold that glorious obiect And though many ages of the worlde shall run on betwixt the day of my falling his long expected uisitation yet he shalâ— stand the last day vpon the earth himselfe α and ω the first and the last of all the creatures of God to recapitulate former
times to make full restitution of my ancient losses What needed writings in a booke graving in lead or stone but that he was carefull of posterity that the scripture sculpture of his owne conscience ' might be a monument in time to come for other afflicted soules The counsaile which David giveth his troubled soule again again repeated because his sorrowes were againe and often multiplied shal be my last for this time O my soule why art thou cast downe and why art thou disquieted within me I wil not forget to note vnto you that one of the greatest temptations hee then felt and that which fed him with his teares day and night in steede of meate was the daily vpbraiding of his persecutours where is now thy God If they could have battered the fortresse of his hope they had vtterly spoiled him Yet he encourageth that persecuted and downe-trodden soule with harty incitations Why art thou cast downe c. trust in the Lord for I will yet and yet give him thankes for the helpe of his presence Hope is never put to silence never abasheth nor shameth the man that ioyneth her vnto him the sweetest and plesantest companion that ever travailed with the soiourners vpon earth She carrieth them along through all the difficulties and crosses of the way that lie to interrupt them Though they have passed through fire and water shee saith be not discomforted we shall yet give him thankes for the helpe of his presence Though through a life so replenished with misery that they blesse the dead more than the living and count them happier then both that have never bene she saith be of good cheere we shall yet give him thanks and there is time and matter enough wherin to shew his goodnes Yea though they walke into the chambers of death and shut the dores after them and see not the light of heaven still shee biddeth them be bold for they that sleepe in the dust shall arise and sing the dew of their dry bones shal be as fresh as the dew of the hearbes and we shall yet give him thanks for the helpe of his presence I remember that valiant and thrice renowned Athenian when I speake of the tenure and pertinacy of hope who when other-meanes failed grasped the ships of the enimy with his handes to hold them to fight and when his handes were striken of staied them with his teeth till he lost his life Hope can never be put from her hold-fast her voice is according to her nature adhuc confitebor I will yet give thanks in the winter and deadest time of calamities she springeth and cannot die nay shee crieth within her selfe whether I live or die I will not loose my patience for I shall see the day when the Lord shall know mee by my name againe righten my wronges finish my sorrowes wipe the teares from my cheekes treade downe my enimies fulfill mee with the oile of ioy and I shall yet and for ever give thankes for the helpe of his presence THE XXVIII LECTVRE Chap. 2. vers 7. When my soule fainted within mee I remembred the Lorde and my praier came vnto thee into thine holy temple THE two last verses if you remember were but a varied repetition of that which two others had handled before The generall partes of all vvhich were the feare and the hope daunger and comfort of the prophet vvhich two affections or conditions you haue often hearde the whole songe spendeth it selfe vpon His feare and daunger in the last place was that neither water nor earth spared him The waters touching their pride and exaltation came vnto his soule touching their measure promised him no bottome touching their traine and confederates bounde their vveedes about his heade The earth neither lodged him in a smooth and easie floore but vnder the rootes and ragges of mountaines nor in an haven or any the like accessible place but vvithin her barres Notwithstanding the head of the serpent vvith all his subtile devises against the life of the prophet is bruised at the heele of the speech where one little particle of hope wipeth out all the former discomfortes Yet haste thou brought vp c. Once againe as heeretofore I dissembled not with you I must enter into the selfe-same matter of discourse and explication The soule of Ionas may fainte vvithin him as my texte telleth vs the sunne and moone may faile in their motions day night may faile in their courses the earth may faile and totter vpon her proppes the sea and rivers may faile and be emptied of their waters but the worde of the Lorde shall never faile neither in trueth nor in the riches and plentye thereof to minister an everlasting argument to him that dispenseth it Time and speech and audience shall faile but matter can never vvant vvhen that aboundant treasure commeth to bee opened It was well saide by Chrysostome that in a thousande talentes of worldely wordes a man shall hardly finde an hundreth pence of spirituall and heavenly wisedome scarsely tenne halfepence But infinite are the talentes of wisedome that are hidde in the vvoordes of God even when they seeme in the iudgement of man to bee most exhausted The Apostles exhortation to the Colossians is that the worde of the Lorde shoulde dvvell plentifullie amonge them Surely the woorde of GOD in one of the deepest and vvaightiest pointes of knowledgeâ— touching our hope howe to bee vsed and where to bee founded hath once and a seconde time alreadie offered it selfe vnto you VVhither as yet it hath gotten house-roume and dwelling among you I cannot tell Perhappes it did but soiourne in your heartes and was in nature of a passenger to tarry for a night or an howre Or happily as the Levite that came to Gâ—beah in the nineteenth of Iudges it hath sitten in the streetes and no man hath received it into house Or if it hath gotten entraunce and admission it was perforce as those that let downe the sicke man by the tyles of the house the dores being pestered and thronged with multitude that they coulde not haue entrance otherwise it may bee the gates of your heartes beeing stopped vvith multitudes of popular and worldely affaires it tooke some little fastening against your willes But that it may dvvell in your consciences never to departe from them and not in a narrovve corner thereof sparingly and vvith discontentment but in such plentifull manner as the Apostle spake of to enioye her full libertye all other in-mates and associates put aparte all distrustfull cogitations either from the wiles of Sathan or vveakenesse of our flesh remooved the providence of GOD hath so ordered it that after twise navigation as the proverbe is there shoulde bee a thirde iteration of the same doctrine that your heartes for ever might be established VVhen the vision of the sheete vvas sent vnto Peter in the tenth of the Actes the voice was vttered vnto him three times Arise Peter
or more passions if they vvill goe into captivity againe let them goe but they shall not returne if they sell themselues to the will of their enemy let them never hope for a second ransome VVhen my soule fainted In the second circumstance of the first branch wherein is noted the affection of his soule I will rather marke the efficacie of the worde heere brought than make discourse vpon it The very noting of the worde is discourse enough The wordes that the holy ghost vseth are not vaine vvordes such as are vsed by men to deceiue with the examination search wherof yeeldeth no profit but he that wil weigh them aright must not only view the outwarde face of the whole sentence at large but sucke out the iuice and bloude of every severall vvorde therein contained The extremitye of the soule of Ionas seemeth to bee very greate because there is no little trouble and care how to expresse it The Septuagints render it an eclipse or if you will a dereliction and death of the soule Calvin a convolution or folding vp togither Tremelius an overvvhelming Ierome a streightning or compacting into a close roume Pomeran a despairing VVhatsoever it is Rabbi Kimhi affirmeth that the vvorde is never vsed but of greate miserie happily such as shall accompanie the last times when men shall bee at their wittes endes for feare and their heartes shall faile them because of troubles Nowe whither you saie that his soule forsooke him as if it were and there was deliquium animae a disparition of it for a time as if it vvere not like the state of Eutychus in the Actes who was taken vp for deade though his life remayned in him or vvhither it were wrapt and vvounde vvithin it selfe that her owne house was a prison vnto her and shee had no power to goe foorth no list to thinke of heaven no minde to aske the counsaile of GOD or man as vvhen a birde is snared the more it laboureth the harder it tieth it selfe and though it vse the legges or the vvinges it vseth them to a further hinderaunce so all the thoughtes that the soule of Ionas thought were not to ease the hearte but more to perplexe it and all fell backe againe vpon himselfe or whither the soule were overwhelmed vvithin him with her owne weighte as one that shoulde gather stones for his owne graue or that it was pinched and pressed within a narrowe place that all those former impedimentes promontories and barres of the earth did not imprison him so close as his owne feare or whatsoever it were besides what was it else but either the messenger and fore-runner or a neare companion to that vnnaturall and vngratious sinne which wee haue often alreadye smitten at with the sworde of Gods spirite accursed desperation Howe is the golde become drosse howe is the soule of man turned into a carkeise The chaunge is marvailous That that was given to quicken the bodie and to put life into it is most dull and liuelesse it selfe That that was given to giue liberty explication motion agilitie and arte to every parte of the bodye is nowe the greatest burthen that the body hath If I shall giue the reason heereof it is that which Bernarde alleageth in a Sermon The reasonable soule of man hath two places an inferiour vvhich it governeth the bodie a superiour vvherein it resteth GOD vvhich is the same in substance that Augustine had before delivered in his nineteenth treatise vpon Saint Iohn it quickneth and it selfe is quickened VVherefore if that better life vvhich is from aboue relinquish the soule vvith the comfortes and aides of GODS blessed spirite hovve is it possible but that the soule should also relinquish her body with the offices of her life This is the reason then that the soule faineteth shee first dyeth vpwardes then dovvne-wardes and invvardely to her selfe Shee forgetteth her maker and preserver and hee likevvise striketh her vvith amazement and confusion in all her powers that shee lyeth as it vvere in a traunce and knovveth not howe to apply them to their severall and proper functions Nowe therefore if the floudes and waues of the sea wherewith hee was embraced on every side had beene as kinde vnto him as ever were his mothers armes and those ragged endes of the mountaines like pillowes of downe vnder his bones if the promontories and barres of the earth had vnbarred themselues vnto him of their owne accorde like those dores of the prison in the Actes to let him out yet if the soule within him did remaine thus fettered and gived with the chaines of her owne confusion and all the devises and counsailes of her heart were rather hinderances than helpes vnto her and her greatest enmitie or at least her least friendship came from her owne house that either shee thought nothing or all that shee thought was but the imagination of a vaine thing I would not wish her greater harme Hee wanteth no other miserie that is plagued with a fainting soule Aske not the malice of the sea the malice of the lande the malice of hell against him vvhom the vntovvardenesse and distruste of his ovvne soule hath beaten downe The thirde circumstaunce maketh mention of the subiect or place vvherein his soule fainted that you may knovve there is no power in man to vndoe such implicite cordes and to loose the bandes of sorrowe and death vnlesse some vertue from vvithout set too an helping hande The sense is verie plaine that in himselfe his soule fainted that is there vvas no domesticall earthly naturall helpe that coulde release him but vvhen his father mother friendes lande sea his soule all had forsaken him the Lorde tooke him vp and gaue him better hope For vvho should restore to libertie a soule confounded as this was and re-deliver it to her former abilities teach her to vnderstande arighte prudentlie to deliberate assuredly to hope who reconcile a man fallen out with himselfe and make peace within his borders or rather reviue and recover a man fallen from himselfe but hee who is said to order a good mans goinge and to bee a GOD of order not of confusion VVhen the earth was vvithout forme and voide and darkenesse vpon the deepe and neither heaven nor earth lande nor water day nor night distinguished who fashioned the partes of that vnshapen Chaos separated light from darkenesse and brought the creature into a comely proportion but even the same LORDE who finding this wastnesse and informity in the soule of Ionas made it perfit againe It is evident in the nexte wordes For marke the connexion VVhen my soule fainted within me I remembred the Lorde How is it possible for did his soule faint and was it in maner no soule vnto him as it fareth with some who seeme for a space to bee deade and their spirites to haue forsaken them was all the strength thereof consumed stifled choked given over within him and had hee a memorie
at Lystra that ye turne froÌ„ these vaine hopes from these foolsh and paltry idols whether you are fallen in liking with your selues or other creatures to serue the living God which made the heavens the earth the sea and all that therein is The prophete mighte haue called them by other names to note that iniquity filthines abhomination that is fouÌ„d in theÌ„ but setting the Lorde and his kingdome aside he taxeth the whole worlde and whatsoever is therein contained with the generall censure of Salomon vanitie of vanities all is vanitie He that filled the earth with his wisedome as with a floude filled it also with vanitie as with a floude hee smiteth on both cheekes vanitie and vanitie againe and to shevv that hee did not repente him of his speech pronounceth a thirde time All is vanitie that you may knowe whatsoever you cleaue vnto besides the true subsisting Lord it hath not that substance and certainty which you first imagined Therefore is the attibute set vnto it in the next place lying vanitie because there is nothing but deceite in them In the 4 of Gen. when Eue had brought forth her first begotten son she called him Cain a maÌ„ purchased or obtained of the Lord. Some say more I haue obtained the man that is the Lord. Thinking vndoubtedly that she had bin the mother of that blessed seed which should bruise the head of the serpent But finding her selfe deceived overweening in a corrupt cruell man shee named her second son Abell that is vanity to note that her former hope was altogither frustrated The Epithit is very fitlie adioined to vanity and in effect signifieth the same that vanitye doth for what is vanitye but lyinge and deceavinge Auâ—us Gellius writeth of a vaine Grammatian that made himselfe most skillfuâ—l in Salustes wordes Apollinaris to trie his skill met him on a day and asked him what Salust meant if hee were so cunninge in the bloude and marrowe of his history as he professed by saying of C. Lentulus that it was a question whether hee were more foolishe or vaine The interpreter aunswered him the knowledge I take vpon mee is in auncient words not these that are common and worne by daily vse For he is more foolish and vaine than was that Lentulus vvho knoweth not that both these words note but the same weaknes Apollinaris not satisfied with this answere to satisfy others that desired to be better instructed by him at leÌ„gth resolved that they were properly tearmed vaine men not as the common people helde who were dullardes wiâ—lesse and fooles but in the opinion of the most auncient learned such as were given to lyinge and faithlessenesse who gaue lightnesse for waighte and emptinesse for that that hath true substance Now as in an idoll in proprietye there are sundrye reasons that make it to bee a lying vanitye for first the authour and suggestour was the father of lies secondly the former of it lied to himselfe in thinking that it was the pleasure of God that idolles shoulde be fashioned thirdly hee that trusteth therin lieth for he saith to wood or stone thou art my helper 4. the whole substance of the idoll lieth in promisinge helpe where none is and seeminge to be that which is not so on the other side those other idolles which I named are lyinge vanities and shall as litle profite vs when wee craue their truth as grasse the mower that grovveth vpon the house toppes If vvee trust vnto them let vs looke for no better aide and comfort therein than those others in the prophet who confessed too late vvee haue made falshood our refuge and vnder vanitye are wee hid I conclude the first member Trust not in oppression or robberye If riches encrease set not your hearte vpon them man disquieteth himselfe in vaine saith the Psalme heapeth vp riches not knowinge who shall gather them An horse is but a vaine thinge to saue a man neither is it his bowe that can deliver him A man is but a vaine thinge to saue a man if you weighe him vpon the ballance you shall finde him lighter then vanitye Wisedome is as vaine and shall become as foolishe as of the beastes that perishe Strength is as vaine and shall become as weake as vvater spilte Beautye is as vaine and shal bee changed into lothsomenesse more than the sores of Lazarus All these are vanities and vaine vanities lyinge vanities as emptye as the vvinde as â—leetinge as the miste in the aire God onely is true and his promise iust his faithfullnesse is aboue the cloudes and his righteousnesse exceedeth as the greatest mountaines The consequent or private part of the refutation is in the words following They forsake their owne mercy Mercy forsaketh not them but they mercy God is ever formost in loue never hateth till hee is first hated It is not onelye to hazard and put in adventure nor to extenuate and diminish the mercy of God but wholie to renounce it and to sende a farewell to God to embrace vanities It is a vvall of partition betwixt vs and grace I had almost said it is as the greate gulfe that vvas betwixte Abraham and the rich man Surelye it shall stande as the faithfull vvitnesse in heaven that neither idolatour nor adulterer nor covetous persons both vvhich vvith manye other offendours are idolatours in an other kinde shall ever inherite the kingdome of God You see how the consequence holdeth Loue they the one they certeinlye leaue the other There is no haultinge betwixte two opinions If God bee God they must followe him alone there is no minglinge of Baal with him Our God is a iealous God and suffereth no copartner or competitour in any part of that honour that belongeth vnto him But in leaving mercy so sweete and amiable a nature in him that is loue it selfe vnwise and vnhappye wretches vvhat doe they leaue more than all the wordly solaces shall bee able to supply vnto them They leaue even the bowelles of mercy as Zacharye sange in the gospell of Luke For as a father pittyeth his children and more by a thousande degrees so hath the LORDE compassion towarde all them that feare him And a mother may forget the fruit of her wombe but the LORDE shall never forget his children of election These bovvelles and invvardes of mercye they leaue mercye so deepe and affectionate that the seate of affections in man sufficeth not to expresse it that relinquishe GODS mercye It had bene more ease and happinesse vnto them if their owne bowelles had fallen from their bodies as the bowelles of Iudas They leaue not handefulles of barlye and pieces of breade temporall and trâ—fling commodities parcells of that bouÌ„ty and goodnes which God hath bestowed vpon them but the vniversall mercye of God as greate in quantity as the spaces of the whole worlde for looke how high the heaven is above the earth so great is his mercy towardes them that
feare him nay the worlde may bee measured and spanned but of his goodnesse there is no end They leave that mercy that is better than their life For what is life without mercy Mercie gave it vnto them at the first mercie preserveth it mercie shall exchange it hereafter mercie restore it at the last day without this life of mercie to their mortall lives they live or rather die in everlasting misery Peter tolde his maister in the gospell to shew how willing they were to make Christ their onely advantage Beholde wee have left all He might as truely have saide beholde wee have founde all They left their fathers mothers kinsfolkes houses nettes vanities They found the mercy of God which made a full amendes These other were the thinges that were made to bee lefte Linquenda tellus domus placens Vxor. Wee must leave landes and houses wives and children with their temporall commodities But the change of the apostles of Christ was no vnprofitable change to have left all for him that is above all But woe vnto them who after their tearme of vanity expired and vanities left have not miserere in store a grone and sobbe in their soules to call for mercye and a favourable propension in the eares of their Lorde to haâ—ken to their crie Lastly it is their owne mercy which they forsake that embrace vanity I meane not active mercye in themselves inhabiting their owne heartes but the mercy of almighty God tendered and exhibited to each man in particular vvhither hee bee bond or free Iew or Gentile For his mercy is not onelye from generation to generation but from man to man And in this sense it is true which God spake by Ezechiell Every soule is mine the soule of the father is mine and the soule of the sonne is mine also Therefore it is not saide in my text that they leave the mercie of God but their owne mercy the patrimony of their father in heaven a portion wherof was allotted to every childe For the inheritance of the Lorde is not diminished by the multitude of possessours it is as large to every heire a part as to the whole number put togither This poore man cried saith the Psalme naming a singular person but leaving an vniversall president to the whole church and the Lord heard him And that poore man crieth and the Lord will also heare him Iste pauper ille pauper you may make vp a perfect induction and enumeration For if all the poore and destitute in the worlde crie vnto him hee will heare them all The refutation is now ended and giveth place to the assertion or affirmation what himselfe will doe not as before hee did walking after the lustâ—s of his owne eie and heart nor as the manner of the heatheÌ„ is embracing lying vanities but acknowledging his life and liberty to come alone from the Lorde of mercy But I will sacrifice vnto thee c. To him onelye will hee pay the tribute that is due vnto him not deriving his safety from any other imaginary helpes Hee will offer sacrifice which the law required and he will first make and afterwardes pay the vowes which the law required not the one an offering in manner of necessity the other of a free heart Hee will not offer with cakes or wafers and oile and yet perhappes not without these but with thankesgiving an inward and spirituall sacrifice and that thankesgiving shall haue a voice to publish it to the whole worlde that others may witnesse it Sacrifices and vowes I handled once before Let it now suffice by way of short repetition to let you vnderstande that hee offereth the best sacrifice who offereth himselfe body and soule all the members of the one affections of the other to serue the Lord. It shall please him much better and cast a sweeter smell into his nostrelles than a bullocke that hath hornes and hoofes And hee maketh the best vowe who voweth himselfe I say not in the worlde a virgin but a virgin to Christ that whither hee marry or marry not he hath not defiled himselfe with women for he that shall say hath not coupled or matched himselfe with women in an holy covenant misseth the vvhole scope of that scripture that voweth himselfe I say not in the vvorlde a pilgrime to gad from place to place but a pilgrime to Christ that though hee lie beneath in a barren and thirsty grounde where no water is yet hee walketh into heaven with his desires and in affection of spirit liveth aboue where his maister and head is that vovveth himselfe I say not not in the world a begger but a begger to Christ that though hee possesse riches yet hee is not by riches possessed and albe it hee leaveth not his riches yet hee leaveth his will and desire to bee rich For it was well observed by a learned father The bagge is more easily contemned than the will And if you will you may relinquish all though you keepe all This I say is the richest sacrifice and rightest vowe to giue thy selfe and vowe thy service and adherence to almighty God as wee reade that Peter did but to performe it with more fidelity though all forsake thee I will not And what I beseech you are these sacrifices and vowes but pensions of our duety argumentes and seales of thankefull mindes which is as marrowe and fatnesse to the bones of a righteous man to praise the Lorde with ioyfull lippes to remember him on his bed and to thinke on him in the night watches that is both early and late season and not season to bee telling of all his mercifull workes and recounting to himselfe his manifold loving kindnesses The last thing I proposed is the sentence or Epiphoneme concluding the conclusion or it may be the reason of his former promises I will offer sacrifices c. Why because Salvation is the Lordes I am sure it is the summe of the whole discourse one word for all the very morall of the history Shall I say more it is the argument of the whole prophesie and might have concluded every chapter therein The marriners might have written vpon their ship in steede of Castor Pollux or the like devise Salvation is the Lordes The Ninivites in the next chapter might have written vpon their gates Salvation is the Lordes And whole mankinde whose cause is pittied and pleaded by God against the hardnes of Ionas his hearte in the last might have written in the palmes of their handes Salvation is the Lordes It is the argument of both the testamentes the staffe and supportation of heaven and earth They would both sinke and all their iointes bee severed if the salvation of the Lord were not The birdes in the aire sing no other note the beastes in the fielde give no other voice than Salus Iehovae salvation is the Lordes The walles and fortresses to our cuntry gates
her handes and set a crowne of pure golde vpon her heade will maintaine his owne doings perfit his good worke begunne and continued a long time glorifie his blessed name by advauncing her to glorie encrease his kingdome by hers subdue her people vnto her confounde her enemies and when the kingdome of Englande is no longer capable of her as Philip spake to Alexander his sonne hee will establish her in a kingdome of a far more happy condition Amen THE XXX LECTVRE Chap. 2. ver 10. And the Lorde spake vnto the fish and it cast out Ionas vpon the dry lande IONAS hath ended his song of Sion in a strange lande which was the seconde parte of the chapter nowe insisted vpon He hath brooked the seas with patience and digested his perilles with hope and is nowe arrived at the haven of happy deliveraunce The inhabitauntes of the earth vvoulde never haue beleeved that the enemie coulde haue entred within the gates of Ierusalem nor that the prophet of the Lorde coulde haue had egresse from the gates and barres of this monstrous fish But so was it done by the Lorde and it is marvailous in our eies And as the chaines fell from the handes of Peter the very night before Herode intended to bring him forth to his triall and hee passed through the first and second watches without interruption and the yron gate opened by it owne accorde vnto him though hee were delivered to foure quaternions of souldiours to bee kâ—pte and that nighte slepte betweene two bounde with two chaines and the keepers before the dores of the gaole so after seventie two howres which is the iudiciall howre of many daungerous diseases happily the timeliest time wherein Ionas if ever was to looke for libertie againe and the Whale might beginne to plead to himselfe everlasting possession of his pray so longe retained though his heade were wrapte aboute vvith weedes as Peters handes bounde with chaines and he were delivered both to floudes and depthes promontories and rockes as hee to fowre quaternions and at this instante of his deliverye laie betweene the barres of earth and sea as Peter slept betweene two souldiours besides the throate and iawes of the fish his loathsome prison which sate as keepers before the dores yet all these encumbraunces and lettes fell from the bodie of Ionas and hee past through the first and seconde watches I meane the entralles of the VVhale and that iron gate of his strong armed teeth and was cast vp vpon drye grounde as Peter vvas restored to his friendes house In miracles and mysteries must I spend my discourse at this time The miracles are not newes vnto you thorough out the vvhole decourse of these histories VVherein the Lorde hath the principall parte qui facit mirabilia solus vvho onely worketh vvonders and onelye vvonders vvhat haue you seene else Ionas was svvallowed by a miracle by a miracle vvas preserued lived and sang and by a miracle is cast vp VVho was the authour of the miracle The Lorde What were his meanes His vvorde or commandement Who the minister the fish The manner what by vomiting or disgorging himselfe Lastly the terminus ad quem or place that received him The dry land In these particulars doth the sentence of my text empty it selfe 1 The Lorde spake One and the same hande both vvounded and recured him VVho else vvas of mighte to haue encountred this fearefull beast For canst thou drawe out Leviathan with an hooke or pierce his iavves vvith an angle VVill hee make manie praiers vnto thee or speake thee faire Lay but thine hande vpon him and thou shalt haue cause to remember the battell and to doe no more so Beholde thine hope is in vaine if thou thinkest to match him for shall not one perish even at the sighte of him Muchlesse canst thou draw him to the shore and cast a line into his bowels to draw out a prophet or any spoile there-hence They said of David in the Psalme novve hee is dovvne hee shall rise no more If thou hadst askt both lande and sea when Ionas vvas fallen into the depthes of them they vvoulde haue aunswered thee nowe hee is downe hee shall rise no more Even his owne most familiar friende vvhome hee best trusted vvith whome hee had taken his sweetest counsaile the hearte within his brest tolde him many a time Thou shalt rise no more thou art cast out of the sighte of the Lorde and company of men for ever But hee knewe whome hee trusted and who vvas best able to restore the pawne committed vnto him though hee walked in the bellie of the fish as in the valley of death Yet the LORDE was on his side vvhat then coulde hurte him The Lorde liveth the LORD hath spoken the Lorde is his name and such like preambles to manie sentences of scripture are most effectuall motiues of perswasion and giue vs vnquestionable assuraunce of vvhatsoever therein set downe The Angell appeared vnto Gedeon Iudges the sixte and saide vnto him The Lorde is with thee thou valiant man VVhat cause had Gedeon when hee hearde but that preface Dominus tecum the LORDE is with thee to speake of their miseries and to call for wonted miracles and to thinke that God had forsakâ—n them The weakest and feeblest soule in the worlde assistâ—â—â— with the valiancie of the most valiant Lorde cannot be endangered And therefore hee bade Gedeon Goe in this thy mighte and thou shalt saue Israell out of the handes of Madian Not in the mighte of thine owne arme for who hath enabled thee but in this thy might this that I speake of the presence of my maiesty mine by right thine by vse and receipte mine by possession thine by communication mine originally thine instrumentally for haue not I sent thee and I will bee with thee and thou shalt smite Madian as one man The like was the greeting of the angell to the mother of the Lord Dominus tecum The Lord is with thee I haue said enough I neede not giue reasons of my message Aske no questions make no doubt of thine overnaturall and vnkindely conception when thou shalt but heare that the Lorde is with thee and the power of the most high shall overshadowe thee The Lorde spake to the fish The instrumente that the LORD vsed in the delivery of his Prophet is that Delphian swoorde or vniversall instrumente vvhich hee vsed in forming the worlde and all the creatures thereof Hee saide let there bee lighte let there bee a firmament let the waters bee gathered into one place let the dry lande appeare c. and it was fulfilled And at this howre the everliving vvorde of GOD beareth vp and supporteth all thinges by his vvorde VVhat is his word then but his meere and effectuall commaundement and the giving of effecte to that which his hearte hath intended VVho as hee goeth without feete seeth vvithout eies and reacheth without hands so there
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
profit of their heartes but their ovvne vvantonnesse Some haue too many fingers vpon their handes like the Gyant in the second of Samuell And some too fewe like those vvhome Adonibezek mained some offend in excesse some in defecte some adde some diminishe But hee that hath power to adde plagues whilest the worlde standeth that is to multiplie and continue them in such sort that they shall ever encrease to an hundreth hundreth fold and never see an ende and to diminish blessinges so lowe that not the least dramme of them shall remaine hee shall retale their doinges into their bosomes and giue them their reward in the same maner and kinde wherein they haue deserved it The Apostle vvalked vvisely in this calling and stinted himselfe with that measure which God had divided vnto him Quod accepi á domino tradidi What I haue received of the Lord that I haue delivered vnto you neither more nor lesse but iust weight And being iealous over Timothy vvith a godly iealousie for feare hee mighte erre concerning the faith as others had done before him hee adiureth him in the sight of GOD who quickneth all thinges and before Iesus Christ who vnder Pontius Pilate vvitnessed a good confession to keepe the commaundement given vnto him vvithout spotte and vnrebukeable vntill the appearing of our Lord Iesus Christ. And in that praescience he had of times to come and loue hee bare to his scholler he calleth vnto him vvith intensiue inclamation O Timotheus keepe that pledge or gage that is committed vnto thee VVho is that Timotheus in our times The church the Priestes the doctours the pastours the treaters of the worde of God vvhatsoever Keepe it because of Theeues because of enemies vvhich watch to sowe their tares That that is committed vnto thee not that thou hast invented that thou haste received not devised a matter not of thine ovvne vvit but of thy learning not privaâ—lie caught vp but publickely taught vvherein thou must not bee an author but a keeper nor a master but a scholler nor a guide but a follower The Talent of the vniversall faith vvherevvith thou art credited keepe vnviolated thou hast received gold returne gold giue not lead or brasse or copper in steede of golde The precious iewels of heavenly doctrine cut and adorne giue beauty grace and comelines vnto them but suborne them not Illustrate that which was obscure and let posterity gratulate it selfe for vnderstanding that which before they reuerently esteeemed being not vnderstoode But ever bee sure that thou teach the same things which thou hast learned though thou bring vnto them a new fashion let the matter and substance be all one Much more in fitter tearmes doth Vincentius vtter to the same purpose Preach or proclaime vnto it The office of a faithfull prophet vvhen he hath received his message from the Lord is as faithfullie to deliver it Ieremy savve vvhat ensued vpon his simple and plaine dealing in not dissembling the faultes of the vvorlde but setting them in order before the faces of men· Since I spake I cried out of wronge and proclaimed desolation therefore the worde of the LORDE was made a reproach vnto mee and had in derision daylie And hee hearde the rayling of manie and feare on everie side and thought to giue over speaking in the name of the Lord but his vvorde was as fire within his bones and hee was weary of forbearing and coulde not doe it Hee afterwardes cursed the day of his birth and the man that brought newes to his father saying a man child is borne and wished the messenger in case of one of those citties which God overturned without repenting him because hee had not slaine him from the wombe that his mother might haue beene his graue and his belly his everlasting conception that hee might not haue come forth to see labour and sorrow and to haue consumed his daies with shame hee went not into corners to smother the will of him that sent him but in tearmes of defiance and personall application to the stowtest that bare an heade roundlye disclosed it Hee had shewed the precisenesse of his callinge that hee must not spare either small or greate though it pulled the whole vvorlde vpon him not longe before and with vvords of no lesse heavinesse Woe is mee my mother that thou hast borne mee a contentious man and a man that striveth vvith the vvhole earth I haue neither lente in vsurye nor men haue lent vnto mee that is I deale not in these affaires vvhich for the most part breed quarrelles and heart-burninges yet everye one doth curse mee We are the children of those prophets that haue lived in former daies We were borne to contend striue with the whole earth we are despised despighted hated cursed of every man because wee preach the preachings that the Lord hath biddeÌ„ vs proclaime his vengaÌ„ce against sinners our hand against every man every mans hand against vs our tongue against every vice and every tongue walketh rangeth at liberty through our actions We are thought to clamarous against the disorders of commoÌ„ life to busie severe in makinge Philippickes and declamations against every offence Forgiue vs this fault A necessitie is laide vpon vs. And as it is our woe that our mothers haue bredde vs to so quarrelsome a vocation so it is an other and our greater woe if wee preach not the Gospell if not also the lawe if not the tydinges of ioy to those that reioyce in our message if not also the terrours of iudgemente to those that contemne it if not liberty to captiues if not also captivity to libertines if wee pipe not to those that will daunce after vs and sounde not a trumpet of warre to those that resist if wee builde not an arke to those that wil bee saved and poure not out a floude of curses against those that will perish Lastly if wee open not the doores to those that knock and are penitent and stand not at the gates with a flaminge swoorde in our mouthes againste those that are obstinate What Shall the invincible tâ—nts of Christ saith Cyprian defended with the strength of the Lord giue place to the terrours threatnings of men shall the Church yeeld to the Capitoll shall the outrages of mad men bee greater than the iudgments and censures of ministers It must not be If wee bee the light of the vvorld we must espâ—e faultes and if voices of Iohn Baptist we must cry against them If we be the seers of the Lord we must not be blind and if his criers we must not be duÌ„be or tongue-tide I know the preaching of mercy is more acceptable vnto you O how beautifull are the feete how sweete the tongues of those that declare peace and publish good things and how vnwelcome of those that proclaime warres publish woes If every congregation vvee came into we would cry peace to to this
3. according to the worde of the Lorde which erst he had disobeyed Thus farre we vnderstood whither he went nowe we are to learne what hee did in Niniveh namely 1. for the time Hee beginneth his message presently at the gates 2. for the place hee had entred but a thirde parte of the citie so much as might be measured by the travaile of one day 3. for the manner of his preaching hee cried 4. for the matter or contentes Yet fortye daies and Niniveh shall bee destroyed I haue tasted nothinge of this present verse but vvhat mighte make a connexion with the former For the greatnesse of Niniveh repeated in the latter ende thereof served to this purpose partly to commend the faith of the Ninivites who at the first sounde of the trumpet chaÌ„ged their liues partly to giue testimony ito the diligence constaÌ„cy of the Prophet who was not dismaide by so mighty a chardge And Ionas beganne to enter into the city All the wordes are spoken by diminution Ionas beganne had not made an ende to enter the citty had not gone through A daies iourney which was but the third parte of his way Not that Ionas began to enter the citty a daies iourney and then gaue over his walke for hee spent a day and daies amongest them in redressing of their crooked waies But Niniveh did not tarry the time nor deferre their conversion till his embassage vvas accomplished amongest them which is so much the more marveilous for that he came vnto them a messenger of evill and vnwelcome tydinges it is rather a wonder vnto mee that they skorned him not that they threw not dust into the aire ran vpon him with violence stopped his mouth threw stones at him with cursing and with bitter speaking as Shemei did at David as Ahab burdened Elias with troubling Israell so that they had not challenged Ionas for troubling Niniveh because he brought such tidinges as might sette an vprore and tumulte amongst all the inhabitantes That vvicked king of Israell whome I named before hated Micheas vnto the death for no other cause but that hee never prophecied good vnto him A man that ever did evill and no good coulde not endure to heare of evill And for the same cause did Amaziah the priest of Bethell banish Amos from the lande for preaching the death of Ieroboam and the captivitie of Israell therefore the Lorde was not able to beare his words and hee had his pasporte sealed O thou the seer goe flee thou avvaie into the lande of Iudah and there eate thy breade and prophecie there but prophecie no more at Bethel for this is the kinges chappell and this is the kinges courte so I woulde rather haue thought that they shoulde haue entertained Ionas in the like manner because hee came with fire and sworde in his mouth against them the cittye is not able to beare thy wordes vvee cannot endure to heare of the death of our king and the vniversall overthrow of our people and buildings O thou the seer get thee into the lande of Iudah and returne to thy cittye of Ierusalem and there eate thy breade and prophecye there but prophecie no more at Niniveh for this is the kings chappell nay this is the court of the mighty Monarch of Assyria But Niniveh hath a milder spirite and a softer speech and behaviour in receiving the Lordes prophet Now on the other side if you set togither the greatnesse of Niniveh and the present on-set vvhich the prophet gaue vpon it that immediately vpon his chardge without drawing breath hee betooke him to his hard province it maketh no lesse to the commendation of his faithfulnesse then their obedience For when hee came to Niniveh did hee deliberate what to doe examine the nature of the people vvhether they were tractable or no enquire out the convenientest place wherein to doe his message and where it might best stande with the safegarde of his person did he stay till hee came to the market place or burse or the kings palace where there was greatest frequency and audience No but where the buildings of the citty beganne there hee began to builde his prophecie And even at the entrance of the gates hee opened his lippes and smote them with a terrour of most vngratefull newes Againe he entered their citty not to gaze vpon their walles not to number their turrets nor to feede his eies with their high aspiring buildings much lesse to take vp his Inne and there to ease himselfe but to travaile vp and downe to wearie out his stronge men not for an houre or two but from morning til night even as long as the lighte of the daie vvill giue him leaue to worke I departe not from my texte for as you heare 1. Ionas began protracted not 2. to enter not staying till he had proceeded 3. to travaile not to be idle 4. the whole day not giving any rest or recreation to his bodie If wee will further extende and stretch the meaning of this sentence we may apply it thus It is good for a man to begin betimes and to beare the yoke of the Lord from his childe-hoode as Goliath is reported to haue beene a warriour from his youth to enter in the vineyard the first houre of the daie and to holde out till the twelfth to begin at the gates of his life to serue God and even from the wombe of his mother to giue his bodie and soule as Anna gaue her Samuell Nazarites vnto the Lord that his age and wisedome and grace may growe vp togither as Christes did And that as Iohn Baptist was sanctified in his mothers wombe Salomon was a witty childe Daniell and his yong companions were vvell nurtured in the feare of the Lorde and David wiser then his auncientes so all the parts degrees of his life from the first fashioning of his tender limmes may savour of some mercy of God which it hath received That whether hee bee soone deade they may say of him hee fulfilled much time or whither he carry his graye haires vvith him downe into the graue he may say in his conscience as David did Thy statutes haue ever beene my songes in the house of my pilgrimage As for the devils dispensation youth must bee borne with and as that vnwise tutour sometimes spake It is not trust mee a faulte in a younge man to followe harlots to drinke wine in bowls to daunce to the tabret to weare fleeces of vanity aboute his eares and to leaue some token of his pleasure in every place so giving him lycense to builde the frame of his life vpon a lascivious and riotous foundation of long practised wantonnesse it vvas never written in the booke of God prophets and Apostles never drempt of it the law-giver never delivered it heâ—l onelye invented it of pollicy to the overthrow of that age which God hath most enabled to doe him best service And as it was the
you may know what the cry of the beasts was That which David speaketh of the heavens and firmament day and night Psalm 19. that they declare the glory of God and shew forth his handy workes least any shoulde mistake hee explaineth in the thirde verse They haue neither speech nor language yet without these is their voice hearde so wee may say of these beastes that though they cried not vnto the Lorde as the men did yet they cryed after their vsage R. Iarhi hath a conceipt that they tyed their dammes and their foles asunder and said before the Lorde of the worlde vnlesse thou take pittie on vs wee will not pittie these I will not thinke them so vnwise to haue conditioned with God but I will easily admit that they might parte the olde and the yong and doe all that was to bee doone to fill the aire with lamentable outcrying To acquite the king and his counsaile from folly or distraction of their wittes in this so vnvsuall and vnreasonable an acte I shewed you the manner and nature of sorrow before how gladly it seeketh companions Est aliquid socios habuisse doloris It is no little comfort in discomforts not to be left alone in lamenting and to see all thinges turned into mourning that are neare about vs. For as vvee desire nothing more then heavines of spirite in such a case and the cheerefulnes of any thing is as welcome vnto vs as prickels to our eies so vvee blesse that creature whatsoever it is that will helpe to feede vs in our melancholike humors Wee wish fountaines of water in the heades both of men and beastes to be a patterne for our imitation and to draw vs forward in our well-pleasing pensivenes And as in the contrary affection when the name of God was highly to be magnified and there was iust cause to exult and triumph David contâ—â—ted not himselfe with the secret of his owne spirit or with aw kiâ—g his lute and harpe to praise the Lorde but hee desired the harmâ—â—ny of heaven and earth to bee added vnto it so did the childâ—â—â— of Babylon in their songe O all yee workes of the Lorde blesse yee 〈◊〉 Lorde praise him and magnifie him for ever So did the Prophetâ— in their writings Reioyce O heavens showte yee lower partes of the earth burst forth into praises yee mountaines ye forrestes and every tree therein Even so is the nature of griefe never so well pleased as when all the pleasures of the worlde are exiled Shee calleth heaven aboue too weepe the earth beneath to lament beasts to pine away rockes to cleaue in twaine the mouÌ„taines to giue none other Eccho but lamentations the rivers to runne with teares and all the fruits of the earth to bee changed into worm-wood and bitternesse And as it mooveth the affection so it instructeth our vnderstanding also it putteth vs in minde of the hugenesse and horrour of sinne howe dangerous the contagion thereof is to touch not onely our selues but all the creatures of God that belong vnto vs. It is for our sinnes sake that the whole creature Rom. 8. is subiect vnder vanitye that is a fliting and vnstable condition and not onely vnder vanity but vnder corruption yea vnder a bondage and thraldome of corruption not of it selfe but for him that hath subiected it which is either God offended with sinne or man that provoked him and it groneth with vs and travaileth togither in birth and putteth out the head to looke and watch for the revelation of the sonne of God because that is the time vvhen her service shal be ended Genesis 3. besides the curse of the serpent the curse of Eue the curse of Adam in his ovvne person In the sweate of thy face thou shalt eate thy bread that is all callinges of life shall bee laborious and painefull vnto thee and thou shalt eate the hearbe of the fielde common and wast not the fruites of the garden as thou didst before and thistles and briers shall the earth bring foorth vnto thee though thou spende thy labour to the contrarie it is added in the same place maledicta esto terra propter te the earth which thou treadest vpon and vvhich is free from deserving the curse the earth which was made before thee and thou made of the earth cursed bee that earth for thy sake Likewise Genesis the sixte when the Lorde â—aw the wickednesse of man howe greately it was encreased then it repented the LORDE that ever hee had made man and hee was sorrie in his hearte therefore he saide I vvill destroie from of the earth the man whome I haue created hee stayeth not there but from man to beast from creeping thinge to the soule of the heaven for I repente that I haue made them not onely the man but these that were created for mans vse Beholde the vngraciousnesse of sinnefull man VVee were made the Lordes and rulers of the earth both of the fruites and of the people and living creatures thereof vvee haue dominion over all the vvoorkes of GODS handes all thinges are put in subiection vnder our feete all sheepe and oxen yea and the beastes of the fielde the birdes of the aire and fishes of the sea and vvhatsoever vvalketh through the pathes of the sea but wee haue chandged our governemente into tyranny and are not content with the rule vnlesse vvee seeke the spoile nor vvith the vse and commodity vnlesse we worke the ruine and wracke of our poore bond-servantes Quid meruistis oves saieth Pythagoras in the Poet what haue our harmelesse sheepe and oxen deserved at our handes thus to be misused But we the nocent wretches of the worlde workers of all iniquitie deserving not roddes but scorpions cause innocency it selfe to bee scourged for our transgressions But that the providence of God restraineth them it is a marvaile that they breake not their league and shake of their yoke of obedience towardes vs and vvith their hornes and hoofes and other naturall artillerie make warre vpon vs as their vnrighteous Lordes whome it sufficeth not to haue vsed their service alone vnlesse wee plundge them besides into such vndeserved vengeance Againe the punishing of their beastes vvas to adde something to their owne punishmente for vvhen these are not fed and nourished and kept in heart not onely the beast but the owner himselfe smarteth for it Vndoubtedly it is a blessing to men that their oxen are stronge to labour their horses swifte to the race their asses and camelles meete for their burthens that their bullocke engendreth without fayling their covve calveth vvithout casting their sheepe bring forth thousandes and tenne thousandes in their streetes and it is a curse on the other side to be berefte of these commodities as in the fift plague of Egypt Now then a parte of the vvealth and substaunce of Niniveh consisting in these beastes by reason of the service they enioyed and profit they reaped thereby doeth not the afflicting of
them redounde to their maisters and doe they not loose themselues by vveakening the bodies of their cattell through lacke of foode vvhereby not onelye their labour but also their fruite and encrease is hindered Lastly some tooke a pride in some kinde of beastes namely their horses vvhich I mentioned before and not onely fedde them with the best to keepe them fat and shining but cloathed them with the richest We read of Nero the Emperour of Rome that he shodde his mules with silver and of Poppaea Sabina that shee her horses with gold Bernard telleth Eugenius the Pope that Peter rode not vpon a white warre-like horse clad in trappings of golde And it is not vnlikelie but the kings of Niniveh did offende in the sumptuousnesse of their horses asmuch as the Emperours or Popes of Rome In these it was not amisse that their glorie and pompe should be abated howsoever it fared with the rest and that their bellies should be pinched with hunger which were pampered before and their backes cloathed with sack-cloath which were wont to be magnified with such costlie furniture These and such other reasons of their act as might be alleadged I let passe and come to the handling of the wordes themselues But let man and beast put on sacke-cloath The first member commaundeth the habite that their repentance must be cloathed with It was the manner of those times especially in the East partes if either they lost a friend or childe by death as Iacob his son Gen. 37. but rather for the losse of the favor of God and commonly when they repented their sinnes and sometimes when they praied not only to refuse their best garments as the children of Israell Exod. 33. When the Lorde tolde them that he would not goe himselfe but send an angell with them they sorrowed exceedingly and no man put on his best raiment sometimes to cut their cloathes as Iosu. 7. sometimes to rend them from their backs as Ioel. 2. but insteed thereof to take vnto themselues the vncomfortablest weedes and fashions that might be devised For besides their wearing of sacke-cloath they would sit vpon the ground and in ashes as the friendes of Iob and not only sit but wallow in dust and ashes as the daughter of Ierusalem is willed to doe Ierem. 6. and claspe the handes vpon the heade and sprinkle ashes vpon it as Tamar did 2. Sam. 12. and their haire as their mannes is described Amos 8. and finally take vppe an howling and make an exquisite lamentation as one that shoulde mourne for her onelie sonne In all which and such like outwarde observaunces I like the iudgemente of a learned Divine that they are neither commaunded by God nor by GOD forbidden and are not so properly workes as passions not sought or affected or studied for but such as in sorrowe or feare or the like perturbations offerre themselues and are consequent of their owne accordes as helpes to expresse vnto the world our inwarde dispositions So when we pray vnto God wee bowe the knees of our bodies lie vpon our faces cast vp our eies to heaven smite vpon our breasts with the like ceremonies In all which praier is the substance and worke intended and these though we thinke not of them come as a kinde of furniture and formality if I may so speake to set it foorth The â—â—â—nesse of the spirite draweth the whole body into participation of the griefe making it carelesse of the foode and negligent in the attire that belongeth vnto it And if ever they be alone these shaddowes and dumbe shewes I meane of sacke-cloath and mourning without their body of toward contrition as they fasted in Esay from meate and were prowde of their fast Why haue wee fasted and thou regardest it not but not from strife and oppression and the prophetes in Zachary ware a rough garment but it was to deceiue with then is our thankes with God the same that he gaue to Israel in the place before mentioned Is this the fast that I haue chosen that a man should afflict his soule for a daie and â—owe downe his heade like a bull-rush and lie in sack-cloath and ashes wilt thou call this a fasting or an acceptable daie vnto the Lorde or is not this rather the fasting that I haue chosen insteede of forsaking thy meate to deale thy breade to the hungrie and for sacke-cloath about thy loines to cover thy naked brethren and not to hide thine eies from thine owne flesh And as of sacke-cloath and fasting so wee may like wise say of crying which was the voice of repentaunce For was it the neying of horses lowing of oxen and bullockes lamentation of men eiulation of women and children mingling heaven and earth togither with a confusion of out-cries that could enforce the LORDE aboue to giue them aâ—dience doubtlesse no. For the praier of this people a shielde against the iudgement of GOD which nature it selfe thrust into the handes of the marriners before and heere of the Ninivites yea that obstinate king of Egypt which sette his face against heaven and confronted the GOD thereof vvas glad to flie vnto it Pray vnto the LORD for me and my people that this plague maie departe and Simon the sorcerer who deceived the worlde with his enchauntmentes thought it the onelie charme vvhereby the mercy of God mighte be procured though it bee reported of by as speciall notes as praier may bee honoured with 1. for the manner of it that it was vehemente and forcible They cryed 2. for the grounde invvarde and intentionall They cryed mightilie and from the bottome of their heartes 3. for the obiect right and substantiall They cryed vpon GOD yet if their words and works purpose and performance had not kissed each other if with their lips alone they had honoured God without their heartes or with their heartes alone without their handes as we haue to consider in the nexte wordes they had soone beene aunswered as a people better favoured than themselues were Esay the first Though you stretch out your handes I vvill hide mine eies from you and though you make many praiers I vvill not heare you The Gentiles Matthew the sixte vsed longe speech and much babling and thought to bee hearde for that cause but they lived as Gentiles The Scribes and the Pharisees in the same place praied also not as the Gentiles to vnknowne GODS but to the God of the Hebrews they cryed Lorde Lorde with often inclamation yea they stood and praied not onely in their houses but in the synagogues and corners of the streetes to appeare to men and no doubt to be hearde of men and they vsed likewise longe praiers Luke the twentieth as the Gentiles did yet they were but hypocrites and the portion of hypocrites was reserved for them And this is your meede looke for it hypocrites as you looke for summer vvhen you see the blooming of the figge-tree when you pray as if
a softe answere turneth away wrath a gentle tongue breaketh a man of bones that is of the hardest and toughest disposition that can be If such then be our vsage before the princes of the earth who are but smoake and vanity much more doth the presence of the most high God require it I pray thee The forme of speach I haue else-where noted befitteth suiters The poore speaketh with praiers but the rich speaketh roughlie for those that are rich are full and sufficient as they thinke in themselues and therefore they say vnto God in the vaine trust of their owne abundance who is the Almightie that wee shoulde serue him and what profite shall we haue if we pray vnto him The Iewes Esas 58. were so filled blowne vp with the opinion of their own merits that they thought perhappes God was little able to stand them in steede and therfore they come not vnto him we beseech thee but vpbraiding challendging provoking vvherefore haue we fasted and punished our selues and thou regardest it not As if God were bounde vnto them to heare them for their service sake Such vvere the Scribes and the Pharisees in the Gospell why eateth your master vvith Publicanes and sinners and this man is a friend to Publicanes and sinners and if this man vvere a prophet he would haue knowne who had touched him for she is a sinner Themselues what were they in this eying and pointing at sinners so much Angels or men Saintes or sinners One of that schoole though hee went into the temple to pray yet he praied not as if he founde want but rather gaue thankes for that which he had received and gloried in himselfe before all other men especially with scorneful demōstration before that Publican Let them swell with their ful conceiptes till they breake and let their eies stand out with fatnes let them beare the collopes of presumption and disdaine in their flankes but the voice of the gospell of Christ which is the rod of our comfort The poore receiue the gospell and Blessed are the poore in spirit is smally to the comfort of these stately and stout guestes I came not to call the righteous but the sinners to repentance This is the sparre of the gate if ever thy thinke to enter into the supper of the Lambe their righteousnes fasly supposed keepeth them out They haue purchased a farme of righteousnesse they thinke their dwellings safe enough without the house of God and therefore they desire to be excused they plough with the oxen of their owne imagined righteousnes and haue married themselues vnto it as vnto a wife and therefore they cannot come To him that is full hony is vnpleasant but emptines and sinfulnes lieth at his gates who is rich in mercy as Lazarus at the gates of the Rich man with al her vlcers and sores laid open all her infirmities detected craving begging beseeching to be refreshed with the crums that fall from his boarde even with the smallest pittance of mercy that God is authour of Therefore he saith I pray thee Lord. In the praier of the Mariners before I commended their humility vpon occasion of the like tearme in that they vsed the right forme of supplication it shall not be amisse to commend humility vnto you you vnto it once againe there is so hard getting harder keeping of it We haue all hawty Pharisaicall eie-browes whether we talke with God or man as all vices are against humility either openly or privately so especially pride of heart is a sworne profest enemy vnto it in the open field Yea all vertues are against humility for wee are prowd of giving almes tithing fasting praying learning wisedome knowledge and loue to be seene of men To say further humility hath an hand against humility against her owne person by an vnnaturall prodigious birth bringeth forth pride For the humble sometimes is as prowde of his lowlines as Digones of his ragges Even for that difficulty sake we are to desire the teacher actor of humility who both delivered it by precept Math. 11. and declared it by the example of his whole life when we send our praiers into heaven not only to bow the knees of our bodies but the knees of our hartes yea even to humble and bow the very phrase of our words that wee may vtter thē as if the smallest grashopper of the earth were to speak with feare reverence before that dreadfull Maiesty I beseech thee Lord without vpbraiding challēdging covenāting for any our highest service that hath bin or shal be done If we wel examine our selues we shall finde somwhat without vs to teach vs humility not only the better vertues of other men who haue more deserved and received lesse at Gods handes but even their falles in the midst of those vertues somewhat beneath vs the obedience of beasts and birdes who in their kindes glorifie their maker God hath enabled them with strength comelines of nature more thā our selues somewhat within vs the conscience of our own vnworthines deformity of sinne wherewith we are spotted somwhat aboue vs the maiesty iustice vengance of an angry God finally somewhat against vs enemies of al sorts outward inward carnal spiritual many mighty deadly both in heavenly and in earthly places Boughes of trees the more they are laden with fruit the nearer they hang to the earth the best golde goeth downe in the ballance the lighter staieth aboue good corne lieth in the bottome of the heape the chaffe keepeth on high so the more fruitfull precious vertuous the soule is the more it abaseth vilifieth it selfe that he who hath chosen the weake to confounde the mighty may the more exalt it Was not this my saying Ionas began well if he had continued it but he stumbleth at the thresholde and in the first entry of his speach starteth backe I should haue thought by the hope which he gaue in the greeting and salutation of GOD in his formost vvordes I pray thee LORD that he would haue proceeded to an humble recapitulation and recitall of his rash both speaches and actions before past pardon O Lord mine vnadvised vvoordes which I vsed in mine owne countrey forgiue my purpose of preventing thy vvill bury my flying to Tharsis and all my transgressions in the bottome of the sea vvhere thou buriedst me thus hee shoulde haue done but he in a different moode as if he had gotten a victory against God beginneth gloriously to triumph litle esteeming to set his foote vpon the necke of iustice it selfe so the credite of his doinges and sayings may be iustified Loe Lorde this this vvas the cause vvhy I plaide the fugitiue vvas not this my word had I not reason to do as I did to run vnto Tharsis did I not say thus much before was I not wise to presage the event that would fall out if my counsaile had beene
yea or no we will double sinne and binde two togither by hiding excusing translating sinne if there bee any meanes in the world and bush in paradise to flie vnto wee will shrovvde our selues If wee can put it to the vvoman or rather by rebound to God the woman not of mine owne choosing but which thou gavest me whereas â—ndeed it was a woman of his owne choosing even the concupiscence of his hart or if we can lay it vpon the serpent if we can cover it with lying as Gehazi did thy servant went no whither or colour it with pretence as Saul did I kept the best for the sacrifice if there be good intention I meant well or happy event it succeeded well or any other thing to bee alleadged we will not omit it Brethren forsake these waies of dissembling diminishing selfe-liking and set your desires wholy vpon that which our Saviour prayed for Ioh. 12. father glorifie thy name His owne name he would not say that had a name aboue al names shal we seeke to glorifie set forth ours Whither we seeke the glory of his name or not the voice that came from heaven at that time shall be fulfilled I haue both glorified it and will glorifie it againe God is true the vnfaithfulnesse of man shall never bee able to diminish his truth his iustice shal be iustified in heaven and earth and his name shal be sanctified even when we study most to blaspheme it Therefore let vs conclude with that generall dischardge and manumission that the blesse Prophet giveth to the whole honour of mankinde Not vnto vs O Lord but vnto thy name giue the glorie not we to our owne earthly corrupt rotten names And let it not repent vs once to haue given it away from our selues but againe and for evermore Not vnto vs not vnto vs. And rather than thou shalt loose any part of thy glory losse of credite and reputation be to all our doinges and sayings losse to our goods and good names landes and liues and whatsoever in this world is more deare vnto vs. This is the way to be iustified to iustifie God in his words and workes to condemne our selues to cast away our righteousnes as stained clowtes to renounce our wisedome as foolishnesse our strength as weakenes our knoweledge as ignorance and to ascâ—ibe all vnto him who is all in all righteousnes wisedome sanctification glory and peace vnto vs. THE XLII LECTVRE Chap. 4. vers 2. Therefore I prevented it to flee vnto Tharsis For I knewe that thou art a gracious God IN distributing the matter in hand I haue alreadie acquainted you both that Ionas praied and what hee praied In the latter of these two 1. the substance of his petition togither with the reason subioyned 2. the causes impulsiue that mooved him to make it In those impulsiues we weighed every moment 1. his smooth insinuation I pray thee O Lord wherein I doubte noâ— was hid some secret murmuring and repyning but all the rest bewray a manifest imperfection 2. his speaking by demand which is the manner of vpbraiders 3. the advancing of his owne worde thought 4. his fighting against God with circumstaunces of time and place 5. his malapert concluding as if hee had overthrowen God by plaine argumeÌ„t 6. his endevour to prevent as if he had beene able to do it lastly not by going but by flying to Tharsis as if by the swiftnes of his feete he could haue out-run him who rideth vpon the wings of the Cherubins That which angred discoÌ„tented Ionas so much was the mercy of God which Ionas knewe and vpon that knowledge concluded with himselfe that hee was to decline the coÌ„mandement howsoever it fared the meane-time either with his owne safety or with the honour will of him that sent him But admit that the Lord was a merciful God and woulde deale vvith the Ninivites otherwise than Ionas had preached what then was this a iust cause to refuse the errand surely it seemeth so for thervpon Ionas inferreth Therefore I prevented c. There are two reasons broughte why Ionas assaied to prevent this busines 1. Because he was loth to be accoÌ„pted a false prophet to haue his credit impaired to haue his name called into question as if he had run not being sent and to be mistrusted in whatsoever hee should afterwards speake The cause I confesse is vehement weighty For the least suspition of heresie and falshood if any thing in the world maketh a man impatient he that dissembleth or putteth vp one note of heresie without clearing himselfe is not a Christian. It is required of a dispenser that he be found faithfull 2. Cor. 4. and the maister of the house Luk. 12. asketh for a faithfull servaunt vvhom he may set over his housholde The law of God is strict against false prophets Deut. 13. 18. his father and mother that begate him shal say vnto him thou shalt not liue for thou speakest lies in the name of the Lorde yea his father and mother that begate him shall thrust him through when hee thus prophecieth One shall saie vnto him what are these wounds in thine handes then he shall answere thus was I vvounded in the house of my friendes The admonitions of Christ in the gospell and his disciples are frequent against false prophets false Apostles false Christes wolues in sheepes clothing lying spirites Antichristes mockers seducers How carefull was Samuell towardes the ende of his life to approue his innocency both to God and man through the whole course of his forepassed administration first in the integrity of his life whome haue I ever wronged afterwardes in the syncerity of his office God forbid that I should sin vnto the Lorde and cease praying for you but I will shew you the good and the right way When Ieremy saw that the word of the Lorde was in reproch derision that every man mocked him his familiar friendes watching for his halting saying It maie be he is deceived so shall we prevaile against him you know what perplexities it draue him vnto First he would not make mention of the Lorde nor speake any more in his name afterward he curseth the day of his birth the messenger that carryed worde of it It is a memorable apologie which Paul maketh in the Actes for himselfe and his Apostleship vnto the clergie of Asia appealing to their owne knowledge that hee had taught both Iewes and Graecians openlie and throughout every house and that hee had kept nothing backe vvhich vvas profitable but shewed them all the counsailes of GOD he careth not for bondes afflictions death it selfe so hee may fulfill his course vvith ioy and the ministration which hee had received of the Lorde Iesus Consonant heerevnto was that which hee did in other Churches VVee are not as manie vvho make marchandize of the vvorde of God but as of syncerity but as of God in
that thy sins are as the sins of Manasses more than the sands of the sea in number and their burthen such that they are gone over thine head like mighty waters answer him that the goodnes of the Lord is as much that there is no comprehension of his loving kindes If lastly he obiect that iudgmeÌ„t hath begun at thine house to put thee out of doubt that thou art not in the favour of God he hath smitteÌ„ thy body with sore diseases thy soule with agonies thy family with orbities privations tell him for full conclusion that he can also repent him of the evil and cease to punish and leaue as many blessings behinde him when his pleasure is It was never the meaning of God that these vvordes should be spokeÌ„ in the winds blowne away like empty bladders They were spoken written no doubt for the vse of sinners This is the name which God hath proclaimed to the world and whereby he would be knowne to meÌ„ that if ever we came before him we might speake our mindes in the confidence trust of that amiable name Thus Moses vnderstoode it For assone as the Lord had ended his speach Moses applied it to the present purpose for he bowed to the earth and worshipped God and said O Lorde I beseech thee pardon our iniquities and sinnes and take vs for thine inheritance Likewise in the 14. of Num. And now I beseech thee let the power of my Lord be great according as thou hast spoken saying The Lord is slow to anger c. referring himselfe to the speach and proclamation which God had vsed vpoÌ„ the mount We are the childreÌ„ of our father which is in heaveÌ„ If therefore it be an honor vnto vs to be reputed his sons let vs follow our fathers steps beare some part of his heavenly image Let vs not seeke to be like vnto him in the arme of his streÌ„gth nor in the braine of his wisedome nor in the finger of his miracles but in his bowels of piâ—â—y tender compassion Let Lions and Beares and Tigers in the forrest be 〈◊〉 towardes their companions let them biâ—e be bitten devour be devouted againe let dogges grinne let Vnicornes push with their hornes let Scythians and Cannibals because they knowe not GOD not knovve vvhat belongeth to humanity and gentlenesse but let Christians loue their brethren even as God hath loved them and remitte one the other their offences as Christ hath freely forgiven the sinnes of his church Let those reprobate-minded Rom. 1. carry to their graves with them and to the bottome of hell where all hatred must end that marke which the holy Ghost hath scored vpon their browes that they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without naturall affection not fit for societie voide of pitty but let the example of the most holy Trinity the God of peace the prince of peace the spirit of peace that one God of all consolation rich in mercies bee ever before our eies that as wee have received freely so we may freely returne grace mercy long-suffering abundance of kindnes revocation of our wronges and iniuries begun to all our brethren in the flesh but especially to Christes chosen and peculiar members THE XLIII LECTVRE Chap. 4. vers 3. Therefore now O Lord take I beseech thee my life c. THat Ionas praied how he praied in what sort expostulating with God iustifying his offence and abusing his knowledge of the mercy of God to vtter the malice and cruelty of his owne heart wee have already seene considered the reasons which are supposed to have moved him to that vndutifull vncharitable course Either the care of his own credite which he should not have stood vpon to the derogatioÌ„ of the honor of God when the angels of heaven sing glory vnto him or affection to his country which perswasion was as weake to have drawne him to obedience seeing that the Israell of God might have bin in Niniveh aswell as in Iury because there are Iewes inwardly and in the spirit as truly as outwardly and in the letter and those that heare the word of Christ are more kindly his brethren and sisters than those that are affined vnto him in the flesh Vpon these premisses be they stronge or weake is inferred the conclusion including his request to God Therefore now O Lord c. A maÌ„ so contraried crossed in mine expectation how can I ever satisfie my discontented mind but by ending my life and he addeth a reason or confirmation drawne from vtility and amplified by comparison It is not only good for me to die but better to die than to live The force of anger we have in part declared before It rageth not only against men made of the same mold but against God Let the bloud of Iulian throwne vp into the aire and togither with his bloud blasphemy against the son of God witnes it Nor only against those that haue sense and vnderstanding but against vnreasonable vnsensible creatures As Xerxes wrote a defying letter to Athos a mouÌ„taine of Thrace Mischievous Athos lifted vp to heaven make thy quarries and veines of stone passable to my travaile or I will cut thee downe and cast thee into the midst of the sea Nor only against those things which are without vs but against our selves As in this place the anger of Ionas beginneth to take fire against the Ninivites Proceedeth as far as it dareth against God and endeth in it selfe In one worde that which Ionas requesteth though spoken by circumlocution and more wordes than one is that he may die Take away my soule from me For what is life but as the philosopher defineth it the composition and colligation of the soule to the body In the 2. of Gen. the Lord formed man of the dust of the ground there is his matter and breathed in his face the breath of life and the man was a living soule there is his forme and perfection And what is death on the other side but the dissociation and severing of these two partes or the taking of the soule from the body according to the forme of words in this place God telleth the rich man in the gospell who was talking of lardger buildinges when the building within him vvas neare pulling downe and thought he had goods enough for his soule to delight in when he had not soule enough to delight in his goods Thou foole this night 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doe they require and redemaunde thy soule that is this night thou must die Elias in the first of Kinges and nineteenth vseth the same phrase in the wildarnesse It sufficeth Lorde take away my soule from me Let me not longer live to see the misery that Iezabell hath threatned vnto me As when you take away structure and fashion from an house temple or tabernacle there remaineth none of all these but a confused and disordered heape of stones timber iron morter
place of the other Our Saviour vvho was evermore prophecied to bee the light of the Gentiles is by none other name figured Malach. 4 than of the sunne rising Vnto you that feare my name shall the sunne of righteousnesse arise and in the song of Zachary Luke 1. he is called the day spring from an high Many religious actions wee rather doe towardes the East than any other pointe of heaven We bury our dead commonly as the Athenians did their faces laide and as it vvere lookinge Eastwarde And for the most part especially in our temples wee pray Eastward So did the idolatours Ezech. 8. turning their backes to the temple of the Lorde and their faces to the East Will you haue the reason heereof Why was Aaron willed Levitic 16. to take the bloud of the bullocke and to sprinckle it with his finger vpon the mercie-seate Eastwarde It was the pleasure of God so to haue it And vnlesse nature direct vs to these observations whereof I haue spoken I know not how we are moved The rising of our sunne whose resurrection wee now celebrate the true and onely begotten sonne of God was in the Morninge Mathew saith in the dawning of the day Marke very early when the sun was risen not that hee had yet appeared in their hemisphere but his light hee sent before him Iohn saith when there was yet darknesse that is the body of the sunne was not yet come foorth And Thomas Aquinas thinketh it probable enough that our resurrection shal bee very early in the morning the sunne being in the East and the moone in the West because saith hee in these opposite pointes they were first created You may happily mervaile what the event of my speech will be I haue seldome times carried you away from the simplicity of the prophecy which I entreate of by allegories and enforced collections Yet I am not ignorant that many mens interpretations in that kinde are of many men gladly and plausibly receaved I hope it shall bee no greate offence in mee to fit and honour this feast of the resurrection of the Lorde of life with one allegory We are now walking into the West as the sunne in his course doth Beholde we are entring into the way of the whole worlde And as the sun goeth downe is taken from our sight by the interpositiō of the earth so into the body of the earth shall wee likewise descend and be taken from the company of the living Christ our Saviour who was both the living and life it selfe and had the keies of hell of death whose manner of protestation is Vivo in saecula I liue for ever and ever yet touching his humane nature when hee soiourned vpon the face of the earth had his setting and going downe In this sense we might aske the Spouse in the Canticles O thou fairest amongest vvomen what is thy wellbeloved more than other men And though shee aunswere my vvelbeloved is white and ruddy the chiefest of ten thousand yet in this condition of mortall and naturall descent he is equall vnto his brethren This Passe-over we must all keepe and therefore let vs trusse vp our loynes and take our staues in our hands that wee may vvalke forwardes towardes the West in steede of other precious ointments let vs anointe our bodies to their buriall and for costly garmentes let vs lay foorth shrowdes for our flesh and napkins to binde about our heades that is let vs remember our ende and the evening of our liues wee shall offende the lesse The death of the Son of God if ever any mans vvas ratified and assured as farre forth as either the iustice of his Father or the malice of men might devise If his body had beene quickend with seven soules and they had all ministred life vnto it in their courses yet such vvas the anger of GOD against sinne and the cruelty of man against that iust one that they would all haue failed him And his buriall and descension into the lower partes of the ground was as certainly confirmed For you knovve vvhat caution the providence of GOD tooke therein to prevent all suspicion of the contrary For his body being taken downe from the crosse vvas not only embalmed and vvrapt in a linen cloath but laide in a nevve sepulcher vvhere never corpse had lien before least they might haue saide that the body of some other man was risen and in a sepulcher of stone because the dust and softer matter of the earth might easily haue been digged into and in a sepulcher of rocke or one entire stone least if there had beene seames and fissures therein they might that way haue vsed some cavil against his resurrection Besides a stone at the mouth of that stone and a seale and a watch and as sufficient provision besides as the vvisedome of vvordlye and ill-minded men coulde thinke vpon Notwithstanding as the brute of his death was vniversallie spread and beleeved for the very aire range with this sounde Magnus Pan mortuus est The greate and principall shephearde is deade and the sunne in the skye set or did more at his setting and the graues opened and sent foorth their deade to receiue him so the newes of his resurrection vvas as plentifullye and clearely vvitnessed by Angelles men women disciples adversaries and by such sensible conversation vpon earth as that not onely their eies but their fingers and nayles were satisfied Beholde then once againe the sunne of righteousnesse is risen vnto vs and the daie-springe from an high or rather from belowe hath visited vs for then vvhen Zachary prophecied hee vvas to descende from the highest heavens but novve hee ascended from the hearte of the earth Once againe vvee haue seene our brighte morninge starre vvhich was obscured and darkened by death shining in the east with so glorious a countenaunce of maiesty and power as shall neuer more bee defaced Even so the daies shall come when after our vanishing and disparition for a time vnder the globe of the earth wee shall arise againe and the LORDE shall bringe vs out of darkenesse into the lighte of his countenance Our nighte wherein vvee sleepe a while shal bee chandged into a morninge and after obscuritie in the pitte of forgetfulnesse we shall appeare and shine as the starres of GOD in their happiest season VVee shal goe out of Niniveh as Ionas did a Gentile and straunge citty a place vvhere wee are not knowne a lande where all thinges are forgotten for vvhither wee bee in the flesh vvee are strangers from GOD or whither in our graues we are not with our best acquaintaunce both these are a Niniveh to right Israelites and vvee shall fit in the East that is wee shall meete our Saviour in the clouds and bee received vp with him into glory and dwell in everlasting daie vvhere wee shall never knowe the West more because all parts are beautifull alike nor feare the decay of our bodies
because corruption hath put on incorruption and neither feele the horrour of darknesse nor misse the comforte of the sunne because the presence of eternall and substantiall lighte illighteneth all places My purpose was not vpon so easie an occasion to prooue the resurrection either of Christ which I haue else-where assayed to doe or of his members that belonge vnto him For as it reioyced Paule that hee was to speake before kinge Agrippa vvho had knovvledge of all the customes and questions amongest the Ievves so it is the happier for mee that I speake to those vvho are not vnskilled in the questions of Christianity and neither are Sadducees nor Atheistes nor Epicures to denye the faith of these liuelye mysteries Onelye my meaning vvas vpon the LORDES day whereon hee rose to life and chandged the longe continued sabboth of the Iewes and sanctified a newe day of rest vnto vs to leaue some little comforte amongst you aunswerable to the feast which wee nowe celebrate Surelie the angelicall spirites aboue keepe these paschall solemnities this Easter with greate ioye They wonder at the glorye of that most victorious Lion who hath triumphed over death and hell It doeth them good that the shape of a servaunt is againe returned into the shape of GOD. They never thought to haue seene that starre in the East vvith so fresh and beautifull a hewe which was so lowe declined to the VVest and past hope of gettinge vp VVee also reioyce in the memorye and are most blessed for the benefite and fruite of this daye the sabboth of the newe vvorlde our Passe-over from everlastinge death to life our true Iubilee the first daye of our weeke and chiefe in our kalender to be accounted of whereon our Phoenix rose from his ashes our eagle renevved his bill the first fruites of sleepers avvoke the first begotten of the dead was borne from the wombe of the earth and made a blessed world in that it was able to say The man-childe is brought forth the seede of Abraham which seemed to haue perished vnder the clods fructified not by proportioÌ„s of thirty or sixty or an hundreth but with infinite measure of glory both to himselfe to all those that liue in his root Him we looke for shortly in the cloudes of heaven to raise our bodies of humility out of the dust to fashion them like to his owne to performe his promise to finish faith vpon the earth to perfite our glory and to draw vs vp to himselfe where he raigneth in the heaven of heavens our blessed redeemer and advocate THE XLV LECTVRE Chap. 4 vers 5. And there made him a booth and sate vnder it in the shadowe BEfore the Lorde hath begunne to reprehend Ionas in wordes nowe hee addresseth himselfe to reprooue him also by a sensible signe and because his eares vvere vncapable speaketh vnto his eies and shevveth him a life glasse wherein hee may see himselfe and his blemishes Words are oftentimes received as riddles and precepte vpon precept hath not prevailed when a familiar and actuall demonstration hath done good So Ahâ—iah the Prophet rent the new garment of Ieroboam the king in twelue peeces and bade him reserve ten to himselfe in signe that the kingdome was rent out of the handes of Salomon and ten tribes given to Ieroboam So Esay by going bare-foote teacheth Egypte and AEthiopia that they shall also go into captivity in the like sort Ieremy by wearing yokes about his necke and sending yokes and giues to the kings of Edom Moab Ammon Tyre Sydon Iudah giveth them a visible sacrament and representation of their captivity in Babylon Thus Ezechiell portrayed the siedge of Ierusalem vpon a bricke thus Agabus taketh the girdle of Paule and bindeth himselfe handes and feete and saith so shall the man bee bound that oweth this girdle And thus doth the Lorde admonish Ionas by a reall Apophthegme a liuelie subiection to his eies vvhat it is that hee hath iust cause to dislike in him But before wee come to the very pointe and winding of the matter wherein vvee may see the minde of God there are many Antecedents and preparatiues before hande to be viewed 1. That Ionas goeth out of the citty 2. buildeth him a booth 3. that God provideth him a gourd 4. sendeth a worme to consume it 5. that the sunne and the winde bet vpon the heade of Ionas till hee fainted All this is but the Protasis an onely proposition so farre wee perceiue not whitherto the purpose of God tendeth then followeth the narration the anger of Ionas once againe and once againe Gods increpation first touching the type or image which was the gourd for the gourd standing and flourishing was an image of Niniveh in her prime and prosperity the gourd withered of Niniveh overthowen then touching the truth represented by that figure which was the city it selfe For the meaning of God was to laye open the iniquity of Ionas before his face in that he was angry for the withering of an hearbe and had no pitty in his hearte vpon a mighty and populous citty The order of the words from this present verse to the end of the prophecy is this in this fifth Ionas buildeth for himselfe in the 6. GOD planteth for him in the 7. he destroyeth his planting in the 8. Ionas is vexed and angry to the death in the 9. God reprooveth him in the figure in the 10. and 11. in the trueth by that figure exemplified Of the Antecedentes I haue already tasted two members 1. his goinge out of the cittie to shunne their company who did not so wel like him 2. his sitting on the East-side of the citty either to bee farther from the iudgement of God which was likely to come Westward because Ierusalem stoode that way or to bee out of the trade and thorough-fare of the people which was likeliest to bee at their kaie for the river laye also vpon the West-side or to bee freer from the heate and parching of the sunne vvhich in the morning and towardes the East is lesse fervent or lastly I tolde you to take the comfort and benefite of the sunne rising Now the 3. in the number of those Antecedentes is that hee maketh himselfe a booth Wherein I mighte obserue vnto you that a Prophet is enforced to labour with his handes for the provision of necessaries And surely if it were not worthy the notinge the Apostle woulde never haue said Act. 20. You know that these handes haue ministred vnto my necessities and to those that were with mee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these verye handes that breake the breade of the Lord these handes that baptize and that are laide vpon the heades of Gods servauntes these haue ministred vnto my necessities Likeweise the first to the Corinthians and fourth VVee labour vvorking vvith our owne bandes And in his Epistles to the Thessalonians twise hee maketh mention of his labour and travaile day and night But I rather
in my text higher higher as the tree it selfe doth that we may know how wisely the workes of God are done and they never misse the end whereunto they were addressed Two of these foure members to weete the springing and climbing of the gourd that in a moment of time it was over the head of Ionas shew the omnipotēt power and providence of the Almighty who contrary to the rule of the philosophers that nothing is made of nothing without some matter praeexistent causeth a tree to arise without either seede or stocke to produce it hasteneth the worke in such sort that wereas other plantes require the chādges and seasons of the yeare to make them sprout yeeld their encrease not without the kindnes of the groūd dropping of the aire influence of the sunne and starres other naturall concurrences this by the extraordinary hand of God presently and immediately came to a full growth For I like not their opinion who think that the gourd was there before therfore Ionas applied himselfe to that place and there erected his booth vvhen the iudgements of so many learned and the letter of the text is flatly against them Besides the word of preparing that is here and elsewhere vsed for who but the same Lord God prepared the fish before or who the worme and the East-winde hereafter noteth a quicke speedy expeditiō in the working of God when his pleasure is that al things in the world great smal the winds in the aire the fishes in the water the plants in the earth and vnder the earth wormes and creeping things are subiected to his mighty providence The latter two declare the goodnes of God towards Ionas in his application of the gourd to so acceptable an end For by that meanes his body was shadowed and his soule eased I knovve there is misery enough in nature and that iudgemente sometimes beginneth at the house of GOD and they drinke deepely of the cuppe to whome it vvas not meant And the griefe vvhich Ionas here feeleth is but a portion of that griefe which corruption and mortality hath addicted vs vnto And the farther we goe from GOD the nearer vvee ever approch to misery for neither land nor sea nor citty nor field nor aire nor earth nor any worme of the earth shall favour vs no more than they favoured Ionas I am not ignorant on the other side that all nature is provided for the comfort of Gods elect And nature shall even be chandged and made to runne faster than her manner is to doe them good The Lord shal not only doe it but doe it with speed whē we haue little reasō to looke after it sometimes by rule sometimes at liberty sometimes by law sometimes by priviledge and aboue his law sometimes by nature and sometimes by miracle but doe it he will rather than his helpe shall faile Who thought of the ramme in the bush when Isaac lay vpon the fagots the good will of him that dwelt in the burning bush sent it Hee came not vpon his feete but was brought by speciall providence Who dreamed that an Eastwind should haue filled the campe of Israell with quailes It had blowne often before and sometimes hurtfull and vnprosperous blastes but never quailes VVho looked for Manna from heaven when they wanted bread in the wildernesse Many a dew and frost had they seene vpon the ground but never with such effecte Who durst presume to thinke that Iordan would runne backe or the red sea divide it selfe till they saw it fulfilled Or woulde not haue sworne that the lions woulde haue rent Daniell in pieces and bruised every bone and the fire of that oven in Babylon haue burned those three Salamanders to powder till they saw it otherwise But these thinges haue bene done vvee know and done on the suddaine the LORDE hath risen earlye to doe them that is hastned his acte and set vvheele as it were to his power and goodnesse to make them speede And thus was this gourd provided to the growing whereof were required a spring and sommer at the least but to such augmentation and largenesse the space of many yeares These two companions the might and mercy of God betweene which as before I saide those 4. members of my text divide themselues are his two wings vnder the shadowe whereof wee shall bee safe And as the disciples of Christ were sent into the worlde two and two before his face to preach the gospel and to heale diseases so these two hath the Lord ioyned togither and they goe before his face as farre as the earth is bounded to assist his chosen in all their griefes And rather than any temptation shal waxe too stronge for them and put them in hazard hee will be Adonai Adonai twice a God as it were and double his spirite stronge and stronge mercifull and mercifull and as his goodnesse is infinite so it shall draw forwards his infinite power to some extraordinary and vntimely worke which nature without leasure and tracte of time could not have produced THE XLVI LECTVRE Chap. 4. vers 6. So Ionas was exceeding glad of the gourd IN the building of God after the building of Ionas withered and defaced I noted 1. the provision that the Lord made for him 2. his owne acceptation The former with the brāches thereto belonging namely the creation and propagation of the gourd wherein the power of God was manifested togither with the shadow and end of the shadow wherin his goodnes shewed it selfe we have already treated of and are now to consider the acceptance and applause that Ionas gave vnto it It offereth vnto vs these two thinges 1. his affection ioye 2. the measure of that affection exceedinge great ioy Many things there were which might provoke the reioycing of Ionas 1. The fāning of the leaves which was a great comfort to a man that sate in the sun and was parched with the heate as a cake in the hearth for the sunne is a marveilous instrument as the sonne of Syrach speaketh it burneth the mountaines three times more than one that keepeth a fornace it casteth out fierie vapours and with shining beames blindeth the eies we know that burning heate is in the number of the plagues threatned Deut. 28. Revel 16. The fourth Angell powred out his viall vpon the sunne and it was given him to torment men with heate of fire and men boyled in greate heate and blasphemed the name of God for it This was the griefe wherewith it is saide before that Ionas was perplexed for it is not a meane plague to lie open to the skorching of the sunne without shadow and protection so much the rather if as the Rabbines imagine the skinne of Ionas were waxen more tender since his inclosure in the bowelles of the fish than before 2. The gourd saved him the continuall renewing of his booth for it was likelye enough that his naturall
house built by the hands of God should longer have continued thā that artificial tabernacle which himselfe had erected of such slender stuffe 3. It is thought that the colour of his arbour being greene and fresh pleased well his eies 4. That the sent of the leaves was not vnwelcome to his nostrelles Paulus de Palatio addeth other reasons of his ioy 1. He thinketh that Ionas was sicke through griefe of heart and that it much revived his soule to see the care which God had over him 2. He imagineth that Ionas perswaded himselfe even for this miracles sake that the people of Niniveh would not esteeme him as a false prophet Lastly hee accordeth to Saint Ierome and supposeth this tree to have beene common in Iudaea and therefore it much delighted Ionas to behold a tree of his owne countrey They adde moreover the sodainnesse of the miracle and that the gourd was so much the more gratefull vnto Ionas because it came vnlooked for But the most of these before alleadged are but sensible pleasures and there is no question but that which most affecteth him was the presence and favour of God so miraculously and extraordinarily shewed For that argument which Gedeon asked of God if God be with vs where are his miracles Iudg. 6. to seale vp his mercies towardes him the same doth the Lord bring in this place for the confirmation of Ionas That Ionas reioyced for the gourd I cannot dislike it argueth that he weighed and esteemed the blessings of God as they deserved Many though they fall vpon their heades as the dew of heaven vpon their ground yet are more senselesse in them and as they meete the motes in the sunne-beames so they entertaine the giftes of God as if they came by chance skarsely lending a thought to consider them Others are ioyfull enough of that which they are possessed of sometimes insolent and prowde their lookes and their gate have maiesty and disdaine in them against those who are not so plentifully visited but they litle regard the authour of those benefites who hath sent this ticket or remembrance to every man vpon the face of the earth what hast thou that thou hast not receaved Let Naball be the person and parable in whome I report onely chandging the name the history of all worldly men who having the riches of the earth take them as inheritance or due debt and spend them like Lords to fulfill their lustes meane-while not minding either sacrifice to God or reliefe to the poore or any way applying themselves to those endes for which they were enriched Naball 1. Sam. 25. had riches enough and mirth enough hee made a feast after his shearing like a king and his heart was merry within him the reason was for hee was very drunken there is the vse of his riches Besides the opinion of his mightines and wealth made him as drunke otherwise For the vsage of himselfe in the dispensation of his riches was so base every way that neither servant nor wife nor stranger gaue good report of him The servant vttereth his complaint he is so wicked that a man cannot speake vnto him the wife concealeth not hirs let not my Lorde regarde this wicked man for as his name is so is hee Naball is his name and folly is with him David oftentimes fretteth at his churlishnesse he hath requited mee evill for good who would not bestow a little portion of his substance to refresh the servants of David that walked at the feete of their Lord though they were a wall vnto him by day and by night and safegarded all that he had in the wildernes But his end was aūswerable to his deserving for it is said in the text the Lord smote him within ten daies that hee died and before that death of his body his heart died within him and hee was like a stone The best instruction is as we reioyce in these temporall blessings of God so to vse them that they may be our ioy for to some they are snares and destructions to receiue them with thanksgiving embrace them in measure and dispense them with wisedome to the honour of our bountifull God reliefe of afflicted Ioseph and a furtherance vnto vs to dischardge those Christian dueties wherevnto wee are bound Besides the acknowledging of the author the pleasure which Ionas tooke in the gourd was a signe that hee felt the sweetnsse and vse of the benefite which if you obserue is a blessing vpon a blessing for as the wise Preacher noted to every man to whome God hath given riches and treasure and giveth him power to eate thereof and to take his parte and to enioy his labour this is the gift of God the other are his giftes but this is a double gift Surely hee will not much remember the daies of his life because God aunswereth to the ioy of his heart Without which ioy and comfort of heart he will remember not onely the daies but the houres and minutes of his life and everye one is more bitter than other vnto him all the meate that hee eateth seemeth to be mingled with gall and his drinke spiced vvith worm-wood his clothes sit to straight vpon his body his body is a prison to his soule and his soule a burden clogg to it selfe Therfore the Preacher addeth ther is an evill which I haue seene vnder the sunne and it is much amongst men a man to whome God hath given riches and treasure and honour and hee wanteth nothing for his soule of all that it desireth but God giveth him not power to eate thereof but a stranger shall eate it vp this is a vanity and this is an evill sickenesse Ionas was not sicke of this disease for hee both enioyed the gourd perceived those comfortes and pleasures for which it was provided But what meaneth the immoderate and excessiue ioy that Ionas tooke therin for I come now to the measure of his affection It is true oftentimes which the Poet hath So foolish are we that while wee avoide one fault wee fall into the contrary Ionas is quickely angry and quickely pleased and very angry and very well pleased Whatsoever he is or doth he putteth full strength vnto it It is a great maistery saith Seneca to play a man kindly Of one whome thou sawest but yesterday thou maist aske the next who is this he is so much changed VVould a man know Ionas to be Ionas that had seene him before in his exceeding wrath and now should finde him so exceedingly well pleased This vvere enough for a childe whose limber and inconstant passions are every howre altered Yet Ionas bewraieth his weakenesse in the like mutability of māners sometimes boyling like a sea or like the river in Esay mightie and greate with abundance of choler sometimes as strongly over-borne vvith a contrary affection constant in nothing but in his inconstancie and never moderating himselfe with a milde and sober cariage as those vvaters of Shiloah
gourd c. WE are at length come to the last parte of the Chapter which was the scope whereunto all the sayings doinges of God were referred coÌ„prehended in these 2. last verses containing generally an earnest contentioÌ„ plea for the iustification of his goodnes in sparing Niniveh For what other purpose had God in the whole course of his speaches actioÌ„s by the words of his mouth once againe iterated by the sensible image of the gourd obiected to the eies of Ionas than by irrefragable demonstration by the concession of the adversary himselfe to cleare deliver his mercy from iust reproofe God first drew him by demauÌ„ds as it were by captious Socraticall interrogations whither he would when he had him in snares theÌ„ inferreth vpon him which no maÌ„ could deny that were not too prefract and obstinate thou hast had pitty on the gourd c. shall not I spare Niniveh thou on a light teÌ„porary plant which was not thine wherin there was neither value nor coÌ„tinuance nor any propriety beloÌ„ging vnto thee shal not I much more spare Niniveth c. The argumeÌ„t standeth in coÌ„parison froÌ„ the lesse to the greater both the meÌ„bers thereof coÌ„pared are so strengthned set forth that he must needes shew himselfe forsaken of coÌ„mon sense that doth not assent vnto it Ionas hath not now to deale with Chrysippus who was able to speak probably of any thing brought in question but with the most expert schoole-man that ever spake with tongue with the God of heaven who bindeth with arguments as with chaines of iron leaveth no evasioÌ„ For vnlesse Ionas would except against the reasoÌ„ing of God as those whoÌ„e Tully scoffeth at who wheÌ„ they were brought to an incoÌ„venience in disputatioÌ„ had no other refuge but to craue that those inexplicable argumeÌ„ts might be left out Tully answered theÌ„ again that then they must goe to an officer for they should never obtaine that exception at his hands what should he do to rid himselfe of this strong opposition Before you haue heard 1. of the affliction of Ionas the sun the East-winde following the sunne the same tract pace by pace confederate with him working his woe a fervent East-winde beating vpon his backe sides no but vpon his head the most dainty daÌ„gerous place by reason of the senses his fainting wishing in his soule to die professing in open tearmes that it was better for him so to than to liue 2. of the reproofe of God in controlling that impatience 3. of his obfirmed hereticall maintaining of it which was his greater offence for there is no man that falleth not as there is no pomegranate wherein there is not some kernel amisse but when a fault is espied conuicted then to defend it with pertinacy is another fault And the milder punishmeÌ„t is evermore due to modesty It is the fact of meÌ„ to erre but of beasts to persist persevere in error TheÌ„ said the Lord by way of conclusion inferred vpoÌ„ the auÌ„swer grant of Ionas vouchsafing to reply vpon him whose auÌ„swere before was more worthy of stripes than speach by continued remembrances as by bandes of loue pulling his prophet out of the fire who had burnt to ashes in the coales of his indignation if God had not staied him even that mercifull and patient Lord who when he beginneth to loue loveth to the end who spake within himselfe though he haue often refused my word and dealt vnfaithfully with my commauÌ„dement yet once more will I shake the heavens and speake vnto him I wil not loose a soul for want of admonition It is true in men that he twise sinneth who is over-indulgent favourable to a sinner God is a debter to no man yet of his grace and benignity he doth often admonish vs. Then the Lord said The dignity of the person addeth great authority to the speach the Apostle vrdgeth the credite of the speaker strongly in his epistle to the Hebrews If the word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every transgression and disobedâ—ence receiued a iust recompence of reward how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at the first beganne to be preached by the Lord and afterwardes was confirmed vnto vs by them that heard him God bearing witnesse thereunto by signes c. Againe see that you despise not him that speaketh for if they escaped not vvhich refused him that spake on earth shall vvee escape if vvee turne avvaie from him that speaketh from heaven Therefore doe the prophetes Haback aub Zacharie becken with the hand as it were to the whole earth and to all flesh to giue eare when the Lord speaketh the Lord is in his holy temple let all the oerth keepe silence before him and let all flesh be stil before the LORD for he is raised vp out of his holy place Thou hast had pitty tu parcis thou favourest or desirest that it maie bee preserved tu doles thou art grieved all vvhich constructions are included in the demaund that went before Dost thou well to be angry For whereas other affections are simple anger is compounded and mixed of divers partly of griefe for the iniurie received partely of commiseration of the thing iniured partely of desire and pleasure to revendge the wronges But I sticke not in the vvordes I I proceed rather to the argument which is so mightily invincibly shaped that Ionas frameth no auÌ„swere vnto it It must needs be that as the plate sincketh down in the ballaÌ„ce when waight is put into it so the mind must yeeld it selfe captiue vnto the truth when things are evidently perspicuously proved Geometricians professe that their art staÌ„deth not vpon perswasion but vpon coaction inforcement their principles theoremes are so firmely grouÌ„ded But let all artes giue place al actions bow all Logicke submit it selfe vnto him who is admirable in couÌ„saile excelleÌ„t in his works incomparable for his wisdoÌ„e The maÌ„ner of speach which God vseth being not plaine affirmatiue I wil spare Niniveh as thou pitiest the gourd but by interrogation negation shall not I spare Niniveh sheweth what indignity is offered vnto him as if soÌ„e right of his were kept backe To set some order in my speach the comparison here formed consisteth of 2. parts the antecedent or that which goeth before the lesser inferiour weaker part in the 10. verse the consequeÌ„t or stronger in the 11. The persons ballaÌ„ced togither thou I thou art moved shal not I pittie The things weighted one against the other are for their substaÌ„ce a gourd Niniveh For their accidents 1. of the gourd Ionas had not labored for it Ionas had not brought it vp it was neither of his making nor of his cherishing Ionas had not right in it it was not his worke besides the continuance was so small that he had no reason
to be fond of it for it came vp in a night and in a night perished 2. for Niniveh it was not a bush or a tree but a citty and not a little but a great cittie and had not onely those of riper yeares but infantes and not a few but sixe score thousande infantes and as they vvere in age to be pittied so for their innocencie because they knâ—vv not their right hand from their lefte and not only men but cattle and not in a sparing quantitie but much catle all vvhich both in nature and vse are better than the gourd for which thou contendest These things considered be thou the iudge whither it be not lawfull reasonable for me me in a far greater matter to take vpon me that right to put on me that affection which thou challengest vnto thy selfe in a much lesse The meÌ„bers of the comparison must be matched together as I goe to giue the more light one to the other for beeing severed we shal not so wel perceiue the force of them Thou I as differeÌ„t as heaveÌ„ earth light darknes thou a maÌ„ I a God thou flesh I spirit thou dust ashes I the Lord of hosts thou a creature I thy maker thou the clay I the potter thou sitting at my foot-stoole I inhabiting eternite thou creeping as a worme vpoÌ„ the circle of the earth I spanning heaveÌ„ earth in my fist weighing the mouÌ„taines hils in a ballance finally especially thou an vnmerciful man cruel hard-hearted without natural affection whose kindnes to mine is not so much as a gravell stone to the whole sea-sand nor as a minute of time to the daies everlasting yet thou takest pitty shal not I much more be moved whome thou hast both preached knowne to be a mercifull gracious long-suffering God The inequality of the persons is very emphaticall forcible thou sparest shall not I spare who haue more wisedome in my purposes more libertie in my actions more goodnes in my nature than al the soÌ„nes of AdaÌ„ so doth our Saviour reason Mat. 7. from this disparity of persons if you which are evill can giue to your children good giftes how much more shall your father which is in heaven giue good thinges to them that aske him So did the famous Orator reason against Catiline Did Pu. Scipio a private man kil Tib. Gracchus but lightly weakning the state of the coÌ„mon weale and shall we that are Consuls let Catiline alone desirous to lay wast the world with slaughterings and fierings So did Iuno reason in the Poet Could Pallas burne the navy of the Grecians but I that am the Queene of the GODS the sister and wife of Iupiter shall I be able to do nothing against mine enemies So likewise it holdeth strongly on the other side from the greater to the lesse as Luke 11. If I through Belzebub cast out devilles by whome doe your childreÌ„ cast theÌ„ out they are far inferiour to me in righteousnes innoceÌ„cy But in the 18 of Mat. beyond al exception O thou evill servant I forgaue thee al that debt because thou praiest me a Lord my servaÌ„t not mine equall I did not respite giue time for but forgiue a greater debt yea all that debt vpon thine owne entreaty Oughtest not thou then to haue had pitty on thy fellow even as I hed on thee Secondly these persons are coÌ„pared as the nature of comparisons requireth in some third thing common to them both thou sparest shal not I spare I depart not from thine own affection the law is equall to vs both if we take leave we must also giue leaue and it is meete that he that craveth pardon for a fault should also yeeld pardon for the same fault If thou hadst favoured I maliced thou pittied I hated thy complaint perhappes had carried some colour of Iustice but both our dispositions are alike thou accusest me of that vvhereof thy selfe art not free thine own deeds thine own mouth witnesse against thee Is it a fault in me to pitty begin at thine owne howse there correct it first go thou vpright before thou accuse me of going crooked But this is the fashion of vs all in fâ—râ— vâ—x decimus quisque est qui sâ—ipsum noverit scarsely every tenth man amongst vs knoweth himselfe And we haue need of censurers to make vs more careful of our own doings who are so privy severe to others mens as Diogenes sometimes was to the Gramatians whom he much laughed at for taking diligent paines in searching after the faults of Vlysses not seeing their owne Thirdly sparing was more agreeable to the nature of God thaÌ„ of Ionas therefore he might better contend for it Never was it more liuely expressed thaÌ„ when David made his choice of a third plague which came immediately from the hands of God man not working therein O let me not fall into the handes of man He praieth to be delivered from his own kinde more than from lionesse and shee-beares A man may play at the hole of an Aspe and handle a Cockatrice vvith more safety than fal into the danger of his owne brother The finger of God hath signed it the Apostle hath concluded it of vs all Iewes Gentiles there is none righteous no not one their throat is an open sepulchre they haue vsed their tongues to deceit the poison of Aspes is vnder their lippes their mouth is full of cursing bitternes their feete are swift to shed bloud calamity destructioÌ„ are in their waies the way of peace they haue not knowne This is the glasse wherein we may all behold our natures If there were neede of proofe I would aske the generations both past and present and they should make report vnto you that neither the maister hath beene safe from the servant of his owne tabernacle nor the king from the subiect that hath lived by the salt of the pallace nor the father from the son of his owne loines nor the brother from his brother of the same wombe nor the husband from the wife of his owne bosome and that not only nature hath beene dissolved and vnknit in private families by treacheries poisonings slaughtering and such like Scythian kindnesse but policie and communitie of life cut a sunder torne and dismembred by sacking of townes and citties depopulations and wastes of whole countries through the vntractable and vnpeaceable nature that man is fallen into But on the other side the mercy of GOD is so infinite that no affection in nature no dimention or proportion in the whole creature hath beene fitte to expresse it The height of heaven aboue the earth the distance of the East from the West the loue of fathers tovvardes their sonnes of mothers towardes the latest fruite of their vvombes of nurses tovvardes their sucking babes Eagles tovvardes their younge ones hennes towardes their chickens haue beene shadovves
take him into her possession Let the covetous also remember this Nature shal as narrowly examine them at their going out as at their first entring They brought nothing with them into this world but skin over their teeth and over the other partes of their bodie and it is as certaine they shall carry avvay nothing They ioine house to house field to field by disioyning the companies and societies of men they vvill dwell alone vpon the earth leaue the inheritance of the worlde to their babes after them And as they vvere happy common-weales heretofore wherein these speaches Mine Thine were least heard so are we falleÌ„ into these vnhappy and vnrighteous daies wherein there is small care taken what communities bee overthrowne and dispersed so all may acrue to a fewe Lordes Socrates carried Alcibiades bragging of his landes to a map of the world and bade him demonstrate where his land lay He could not espie it for Athens it selfe was but a smal thing I will not deale so sparinglie with you ye rich men of this world for the Apostle distinguisheth you to shew that there are both riches and a worlde to come I will tell you where your lande lieth and vvhat is truely mine and thine and belonging to every man So much measure of ground to the length and breadth of your bodies as maie serue to burie them in or so manie handfulles of dust as your bodies goe into after their consumption This is terra mea terra sua terra vestra my earth and his earth and your earth more than this we connot claime Therefore as the son of Sirach asked the prowd Quid superbis terra câ—â—is so I the covetous quid concupiscis terra cinis VVhy doest thou covet earth and ashes vvhen if it vvere possible for thee to possesse as much grounde as ever the devill shewed vnto the sonne of GOD from that high mountaine yet in the ende thou shalt be driven from all this as the people of Canaan vvere driven from that lande vvhich they thought their everlasting inheritance and thou must betake thy selfe to thine ovvne earth to that little quantitie and rod of grouÌ„d which nature hath proportioned unto thee Ecce vix totam Hercules Implevit vruam Behold great and victorious Hercules the subduer of the monsters of the world when he was dead and his bodie resolved into ashes scarselie filled an earthen pitcher Amongst other thy purchases forget not to buy a field as AbrahaÌ„ did to bury thy dead in a potters field such as they had at Ierusalem bought with the price of bloude vvherein thy bones and the bones of thy sonnes and nephewes may be bestowed· Now the thoughtes of man are endlesse Aboue all things man hath an vnfaithfull hearte saieth the Prophet as deepe as the sea vvho can finde it out I leaue it to the searcher of all hartes to examine The ambitious hath his thoughtes as lardge as hell such as Pyrrhus had from Macedon to Greece from Greece to Italy c. The voluptuous his thoughtes let vs eate and drinke Better is a living dogge than a dead lion The malicious his thoughtes vvho vvill giue mee of his flesh to eate The covetous his thoughtes soule take thy rest to daie or to morrovve wee will goe into such a cittie and there continue a yeare and buy and sel and gaine Such are the purposes and supposals of men minding earthlie things But the Lord knoweth the thoughts of meÌ„ that they are but vanity I would they were not grosse impiety And they imagine such counsailes as they are not able to bring to passe for their thoughts perish Plus proficitur cum in rem praesentem venitur there is more good done by one example than by manie preceptes Perhaps I haue told you a tale as to men a sleepe and novve I haue done you aske me vvhat is the matter This is the matter if there vvere none other explication the present spectacle before your eies is the example of this precept the life of this letter this precept the sentence or moral of this spectacle For if you will aske me of the person proposed to your view what he was surely he was a Prince a great state of the land and I maie saie of him as David said of Abner hoaâ—e princeps cecidit in Israele this daie is there a chiefe man fallen in England If you demauÌ„d further what he was by generatioÌ„ I auÌ„swer one of the sonnes of men If what by impotencie and imperfection vnable to helpe either himselfe or others there is no salvatioÌ„ in him If whither he were mortall or no yea for his spirit is departed from him If what becommeth of his body you see we haue brought it to the earth and thither 〈◊〉 must returne If what of his minde his thoughtes are also gone Lastly if you wil know the vse take an advise and counsaile out of all these put not your trust in him nor in anie the like fraile mutable creatures Blessed is the man whose helpe is in the Lord Non â—lle homo aut ille homo non ille angelus aut ille angeâ—u not this man or that man not this Angell nor that Angell but the God of Iacob the Lorde of hostes vvhich made heaven earth the sea and all that therein is and keepeth his promise for ever He that not long since was a glorious tree amongst vs like the Cedar of Libanus his boughes were a shadow to these North partes hath had the message of the Lord by his angell accomplished vpon him hew downe the tree and there is but a stumpe left a remnant of that substance now to be hid and buried in the earth till the daie-spring froÌ„ an high the light of Gods couÌ„tenance shal againe visite it Do you doubt of the fal of Princes handle see his body that here lieth examine his nostrels if there be any breath in them his eies if they haue any sight his cheeks if any colour his veines if any warme bloud and then beleeue as the Samaritans did not because of my word but because your selues are witnesses vnto it And as his body in life hath giveÌ„ you many an instructioÌ„ so let his dead breathlesse corpse adde one more vnto you of coÌ„moÌ„ vnevitable mortalitie It hath bin the maÌ„ner of auÌ„cient times to coÌ„meÌ„d their dead rather to testifie their good affection bemoane their losse to hold out the lampe of their vertuous liues to others left aliue than to gratifie the deceased Thus David commended Saul and Abner Elizaeus Elias the Apostles those Sainctes whome the worlde was not worthy of Nazianzen Basil making his followers in comparison with him for his excellent parts no more than an Eccho to the true voice Thus Bernard lamented Malachy complayning that his very bovvells were pulled from him and he could not but feele the wounde Our
fathers and Queenes thy nurses in the nine fortieth of Esay there as the Queene of Saba blessed both the people of Salomon and the king himselfe so happy is the church for drawing her milke and sustenance from such heroicall breasts and happye are those breasts that foster and nurse vp the Church of Christ. They giue milke and receiue milke they maintaine the Church and the Church maintaineth them they bestow favour honour patronage protection they are favoured honoured patronaged and protected againe I will not stay to alleage the fortunate and happy governments of well disposed kings The decrees of the king of Persia and Babylon for repairing the temple worshipping the God of the three children or the God of Daniel brought more honour vnto them than all their other lawes The pietie of Antonius Prus is very commendable for his gracious decree that none shoulde accuse a christian because hee was a christian Constantius the father of Constatifie the great made more reckoning hee said of those that professed christianitie then full treasures Iovianus after Iulian refused to be Emperour albeit elected and sought to the Empire vnlesse he might governe christians Great Coustantine and Charles the great had their names of greatnes not so much for authoritie as for godlines But on the other side the bookes are full of the miserable falles ofirreligious princes their seede posteritie whole race and Image for their sakes overturned and wiped from the earth at one woulde wipe a dish and turne it vpside-downe The name of Antiochus the tyrant stinketh vpon the earth as his bovveles sometimes stuncke and as then the vvormes devoured his lothsome carkasse so his other vvorme yet liveth and ceaseth not crying to all the persecutors vnder heaven take heede Hee thought to haue made the holy city a burying place but vvhen hee savve his misery then he vvoulde set it at liberty The Iewes vvhome hee thought not worthy to bee buried he vvoulde make like the citizens of Athens and the temple vvhich he spoiled before he would garnish with great giftes Likewise Galerius lying sicke of a wretched disease crieth to haue the Christians spared and that temples and oratories should be allovved them that they might pray for the life of the Emperour The vnripe vnseasonabl vnnaturall deathes of men more vnnaturall in their liues the monsters and curses of the earth they trode vpon the bane of the ayre they drewe the rulers of the Ievves and Romanes high Priestes Princes Emperours and their deputies that murthered the Lord of the vineyard the sonne and the servantes in the time of Christ and his Apostles and by the space of three hundred yeares the workers of the tenne persecutions no meanes plagues to the Christian faith than those tenne plagues were to Egypt or rather tenne times tenne persecutions for they were multiplied like Hydraes heades proclaimed to the Princes of succeeding ages not to heave at Ierusalem it is to heavie a stone lapis comminuens a stone that vvhere it falleth will bruise to peeces nor to warre against the Sainctes to bande themselves against the Lordes anointed and against his anointed the Church vnlesse they take pleasure to buy it with the same price vvherevvith others have done before them to have their flesh stincke vpon their backes and rotte from their bodies to be eaten vp with lice and vvormes to bee slaine strangled or burnt some by their owne handes some of their servantes children and wives as is most easie to proove in the race of 40. Emperours the Lord getting honour vpon them as hee did vpon Pharaoh by some vnwonted and infamous destruction Heliogabalus thought by the pollicy of his head to have prevented the extraordinary hand of God providing him ropes of silke swordes of gold poison in Iacinthes a turtet plated with gold and bordered with precious stones thinking by one of these to have ended his life Notwithstanding hee died that death which the Lord had apointed The 2. thing which I limited my selfe vnto that it is the greatest dishonour to religion to pull downe princes is as easy to be declared A thing which neither Moses in the old nor Christ in the new testament neither Priest high nor low nor Levite Prophet EvaÌ„gelist Apostle christian Bishop ever hath taught counsailed much lesse practised I say not against lawfull magistrates but not against heathenish infidell idolatrous tyrannous rulers though by the manifest and expresse sentence of God reprobated cast of Samuell offered it not to Saul a cast-away he lived and died a king after the senteÌ„ce pronounced against him of an higher excommunication than ever came from Rome Samuel both honoured mourned for him The captive Iewes in BabiloÌ„ wrote to their brethren at IerusaleÌ„ to pray for the life of Nabuchodonozor answerable to that advise which Ieremy giveth the captives in the 29. of his prophecy though in words somewhat different seeke the prosperity of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives pray vnto the Lord for it for in the peace thereof shall you have peace Daniel never spake to the king of Babylon but his speech savoured of most perfect obedience my Lord the dreame bee to them that hate thee and the interpretation thereof to thine enemies his wordes had none other season to Darius though having cast him into the Lyons denne O King live for ever I never coulde suspect that in the commission of Christ given to his disciples there is one word of encouragement to these lawlesse attemptes go into the worlde preach baptize loose retaine remit feede take the keyes receaue the holy Ghost what one syllable soundeth that way vnlesse to go into the worlde be to go and overrunne the world to shake the pillers and foundations thereof with mutinies and seditions to replenish it with more than Catilanary conspiracies to make one Diocesse or rather one dominion monarchie subiect to the Bishop of Rome vnlesse preaching may be interpreted proclaiming of war and hostilitie sending out bulles thundering and lightning against Caesar and other states vnlesse to baptize bee to wash the people of the world in their owne bloud vnlesse binding and loosing be meant of fetters and shackles retaining and remitting of prisons and wardes vnlesse the feeding of lambes and sheepe bee fleecing fleaing murthering the king and the subiect old and young taking the keyes be taking of crownes and scepters and receiving the holy Ghost bee receiving that fiery and trubulent spirit which our Saviovr liked not Yea let them answere that saying these priestes and successours of Romulus Giants of the earth incendâ—aries of the Christian world you shall bee brought before governours and kings and skouraged in their Councelles if ever our Saviour had meaÌ„ing governours kings shal be brought before you Emperours shall kisse your feete waite at your gates in frost and colde resigne their crownes into your handes and take their crownes I saye not at your
handes but at your feete to your feete submitte their neckes and hold your stirrops or that Princes shoulde eate bread vnder your tables like dogges I shame almost to report that a skar-crow in an hedge should thus terrifie Eagles Wher was then the effect of that praier which David made in the Psalme O Lord giue thy iudgement vnto the king wheÌ„ the kings of the earth were so bewitched and enchanted with that cup of fornicatioÌ„ Christ though the iudge of the quicke and dead refused to be a iudge in a private inheritance who made me a iudge or divider over you these wil be iudges and disposers of Kingdomes Empires Dukedomes and put Rodolph for Henry Pipin for Childericke one for another at their pleasures And when they haue so done no man must iudge of their actions why because the disciple is not aboue his maister Let not a priest giue an accusation against a Bishop not a Deacon against a priest not a sub-deacon against a Deacon not an Acolyth against a sub-deacon not an exorcist against an Acolyth but as for the highest prelate hee shal be iudged by no man because it is vvritten non est discipulus c. So did the Devill apply the scriptures The Apostles all concurre in one manner of teaching let every soule be subiect to the higher powers hee meaneth of temporall powers because they beare the sword require tribute Chrysostome expoundeth it of all sortes of soules both secular religious Submit your selues to every ordinance of man feare God honour the king let prayer and supplcation bee made for all men for kinges those that are in authority that wee may leade a quiet and peaceable life vnder them This is the summe of their doctrine Now either the Bishop of Rome hath not a soule to be subiect or he is a power aboue all powers and must commaund others And so in deede he vsurpeth abusing that place of the Psalme Omnia subiecisti sub pedibus eius thou hast put all thinges in subiection vnder his feete all sheepe and oxen yea and the beasts of the field Where by oxen are meant Iewes and heretiques by beast of the field Pagans and infidelles by sheepe Christian both kings and subiects by birdes of the aire Angelles in heaven by fishes in the sea soules in purgatory I do wrong to your sober eares to fill them with such fables but subiection I am sure they deny if the whole world should be filled with bookes legall Evangelicall to admonish them Nay they will take both the law and gospell and make them speake vanity blasphemy meere contradiction rather than want authorities to vphold their kingdome Thus when Adrian set his foote in the necke of the Emperour he alleaged the words of the Psalme thou shalt tread vpon the adder the basiliske c. The Emperour highly sinned that he had not a sting to thrust forth against him and to tame his pride Iohn the 22. perverted the words of Christ to this purpose behold I haue set theeover kingdomes c. Innocentius the 3. fetcheth a prophecy of his vsurped Hierachie from the first creation God created two light in the firmament of heaven so in the firmament of the earth two rulers a greater light and a lesser light that is the Pope and the Emperour the one to governe the day the other the night that is the Pope to governe the Clergie the Emperour the laitie for this cause they say to shew the difference the Pope hath his vnction on the head the Emperour but on his armes· To leaue their glosses and devises let vs harken to their practise What a strange commauÌ„dement was that which Gregory the 7. sent forth we commaund that no man of what condition soever he be either king or Archbishop Bishop Duke Earle Marques or Knight be so hardly to resist our legates if any man do it we binde him with the bond of a curse not onely in his spirit but in his body and all his goods In excommunicating the Emperour then being he vsed this forme Henry the king sonne of Henry late Emperour I throw downe from all both imperiall and royall administration and I absolue from their othe of obedience all christians subiect to his authority and being requested to vse more mildnes in proceeding to excommunicate him answered for himselfe when Christ committed his church to Peter and said feed my sheepe did he exempte kinges afterward he calleth vpon Peter Paul saith vnto them go to now so vse the matter that all men may vnderstand if your selues haue power to binde loose in heaven that we may haue also power on earth both to take awaye and to giue Empires kingdomes principalities and whatsoever mortall men may haue Boniface the 8. whome Benevenutus called the tyrant over Priests Petrarch the terrour of kings nâ—mâ—d himselfe the Lord not only of FraÌ„ce but of the whole world Philip sirnamed the faire theÌ„ king of FraÌ„ce advised him not to vse that kind of speech to the overthrow of his kingdome Hence grew all those stirres and tumultes betweene them It is a notable admonition which Massonus there giveth in the knitting vp of his life I vvoulde wish the Bishoppes of the cittie not to make kings their enemies who are willing to be their friendes for let them not thinke that they are sent from GOD as bridles vnto kinges to maister them at their pleasure as wilde and vnbroken horses let them admonish and pray them and ther harty praiers shall bee insteede of commanding but to threaten terrifie raise vp armes is not beseeming Bishoppes Platina concludeth him almost to the same effect thus dieth Boniface vvhose endevours evermore were rather to bring in terrour than religion vpon Emperours kinges princes nations and peoples This Platina was a professed catholique living within a colledge at Rome that you may the lesse thinke the author willing to sâ—aunder them On a time vvhen Paul the seconde vvent about to pull downe that colledge hee besought the Pope that the matter might first bee hearde before the maisters of the rowels or other like iudges itané aâ—t nos ad iudices revocas What Is it come to this saieth hee doest thou call vs backe vnto iudges doest thou not knovvs that all the lavves are placed in the shrine of my breast Innocentius the sixt sendeth Carilas a Spanish Cardinall but withall a cardinall warriour into Italie to recover Saint Peters parrimonie if praiers were vnavaileable by force of armes for armes are the succours of Popes vvhen praiers vvill not serue Innocentius the seventh had a meeker spirite of vvhome Bapâ—ista Fulgosus vvrireth that such idle houres as hee had he bestowed in pruning his orcharde and wisheth that other Popes had done the like vvho vvere better pleased with making warre for it is fitter for the Bishopes of Rome to prune orchardes than men Iulius the 2.
conceiue was not a Psalme composed for any particular vse but lefte to the church of God as a generall rule and prescription to fit the condition of every man Wherin there are first some reasons in our owne behalfe wherwith we insinuate our selves into the favour of God that he may heare vs. 1. Bow downe thine â—are vnto me O Lord. Why I am poore and needy the exigence of my distressfull affaires requireth thy helpe 2. Preserue thou my soule Why I am mercifull I aske not mercy at thy throne but as I shewe mercy againe to my brethren 3. Saue thou thy servant my God Why because he putteth his trust in thee he hath no other rocke to cleave vnto 4. Be mercifull vnto me O Lord. Why I crie vpon thee continually I haue constantly decreed with my selfe not to give over the hope of thy comfort 5. Reioice the soule of thy servant Why for to thee O Lord doe I lift vp my soule the best and chosenest member I haue shall doe thee service His misery mercy faithfulnesse constancy syncerity speake for audience Now on behalfe of God there are other inducementes recited from the 5. verse why wee resort to the winges of his favour when we are distressed 1. from his mercy and kindnes to all that call vpon him for thou Lord art good and gracious and of great compassion therefore giue eare to my praier and harken vnto the voice of my supplication 2. from experience and triall In the day of my trouble will I call vpon thee for thou hearest me 3. from comparison and greatnes of his workes Amongest the Gods there is none like vnto thee and who can doe like thy workes 4. from consent of the worlde All nations whome thou hast made shall come and worship before thee O Lord and shall glorifie thy name 5. from the solenesse and singularitie of his godheade which is the chiefe for thou art greate and doest wonderous thinges and art God alone 1. His generall exhibition of mercy to all 2. particular and personall application to some 3. the rarenesse and maiesty of his workes 4. the consent of nature and nations 5. the singularity of godheade these are motions and perswasions to call forth our prayers and these if they can be verified either of Angels or men I refuse not to giue them a part with God in this our sacred oblation They cried and said Their praiers were also vocal expressed The gronings of the spirit vndoubtedly though Zâ—chary be dumbe and cannot speake a worde shall never bee reâ—used Hee made the heart and the tongue that vnderstandeth the language of both alike he is as neare to our reines as to our lippes and the voice of the one is not more audible to him that heareth without eares than the others intention In Dei auribus desiderium vehemens clamor magnus est remissa intentio vox submissa In the eares of God a vehement desire is a great crie a remisse and carelesse intention is a submisse and still voice Anna a type of the church spake in her hearte her lippes did onely mooue and her voice was not hearde Yea the gestures of her body through the griefe of her soule were such that â—â—li reprooved her of drunkennesse Indeede shee was drunke not with the wine of grapes but vvith the wine of devotion which ranne from the wine-presse of a troubled spirit and the Lord remembred her petition though shee praied with her hart alone and her tongue stirred not What then hath the tongue immunity therby from doing that homage vnto the Lord which he hath enioyned it shal not the calues of our lippes bee required because we haue tendered the calues of our heartes must not both the heart beleeue and the mouth make confession and as the one is the cistetne within thy selfe to conteine the honour of God so must not the other be the pipe to convey it to thy brethren surely yes Aske both body and soule and every part of them both vvhose image and inscription they beare they will tell thee Gods then pay the tribute of both and glorifie God with thy bodie and spirit for both are his And as thou liftest vp thy soule with David in the 86. Psal. so lift vp thy handes also with Moses lift vp thine eies with Steven lift vp thy voice with Deborah and with all the children of God whose pleasure and ioy it is to heare God praised in the great congregation If there be priestes to pray for the people which must weepe betweene the porch and the altar even in the body and navell of the church vvhere the sounde of his voice may best bee hearde and saye spare thy people O Lorde c. if there bee temples and churches which the prophet hath tearmed and Christ ratified to bee the houses of praier if there be seldome and set times apointed for these duties to bee done in if there bee formes and patternes devised even from the sonne of God how our praiers should be conceived then is there no question but we must open our lippes in the service of God and our mouthes must be willing to shew forth his praise Wee beseech thee O Lord. They vse the properest tearmes of submission that may be They come not to bragge wee are worthy O Lord whome thou shouldest do for as the princes of the people spake for the Centurion in the gospell they come not to indent and bargaine If thou wilt be our God c. they knowe they stand vpon grace not desert and that the Lord must be entreated or they cannot liue Humility is both a grace it selfe and a vessell to comprehend other graces and this is the nature of it the more it receaveth of the blessinges of God the more it may For it ever emptieth it selfe by a modest estimation of her owne giftes that God may alwaies fill it it wrastleâ—h and striveth with God according to the pollicy of Iacob that is winneth by yeelding and the lower it stoupeth towardes the ground the more advantage it getteth to obtaine the blessing O quà m excelsus es domine humiles corde sunt domus tuae O Lord how high and soveraigne art thou and the humble of heart are thine houses to dwell in where is that house that yee will build vnto mee and where is that place of my rest To him will I looke even to him that is poore and of a contriâ—e spirit and trembleth at my wordes Plutarke writeth of some who sailed to Athens for philosophy sake that first they were called sophistae wise men afterwardes Philosophi but lovers of wisedome nexte rhetores onely reasoners and discoursers last of all idiotae simple vnlettered men The more they profited in learning the lesse they acknowledged it Thus in spirituall graces vvee should study to bee greate but not knowe it as the starres in the firmament though they be bigger than the earth yet they seeme much lesse
In alto non altum sapere not to bee high-minded in high desertes is the way to preferment Davâ—d asketh Quis ego sum domine O Lord who am I He was taken from that lowlines of conceipt to be the king of Israell Iacob protesteth Minor sum I am lesse than the least of thy mercies hee was preferred before his elder brother and made the father of the twelue tribes Peter crieth exi à me domine homo peccator sum Goe out from mee Lorde I am a sinfull man he heard feare not I will henceforth make thee a fisher of men Iohn Baptist soundeth Non sum diguus I am not worthy to loose the latchet of his shoe hee was founde worthye to laye his handes vpon the head of Christ. The Centurion treadeth in the same footesteps Non sum dignus I am not worthye vnder the roofe of whose house thou shouldest come his commendation was rare I haue not founde so great faith no not in Israell Paul departeth not from the same wordes Non sum dignus I am not worthy to bee called an apostle he obtained mercy to the example of those that were afterwardes to come The blessed Virgin in her aunswere to the Angell sheweth that the salutation no way lifted vp her hearte ecce ancilla Domini beholde the hande-maide of the LORD shee obtaineth that for which all the generations of the vvorlde shoulde call her blessed This base and inglorious style of the most glorious Saintes of God Non sum dignus and the like shall get vs the honour of Saintes shall raise vs from the dust and set vs vpon thrones take vs from amongst beastes and place vs with Angels What was it in the blessed Virgin the mother of Gods first-borne the glory and flowre of women-kinde that God regarded so much She telleth you in her songe of thanksgiving Hee hath regarded the lowlinesse of his hand-maide yea the bloude and iuice of that whole song is in praise of humility Hee hath scattered the proude in the imaginations of their hearte hee hath put downe the mighty from their seate and hath exalted the humble and meeke O that the women of our age could singe Magnificat with that humblenesse of spirite that Marye did My soule doth magnifie the Lorde that recompence woulde bee theirs which followeth hee that is mighty hath magnified mee againe and holie is his name But they magnifie themselues too much with pedlers ware what shall I tearme it vnprofitable garments which the moth shall fret and time it selfe rotte vpon their backes but they never thinke in their hartes how God may bee magnified It is not without some mystery that the Angels tolde the shepheards Luke 2. this shall be a signe vnto you you shall finde the infant wrapt in swadling clothes In signum positi sunt panni tui O bone Iesu sed in signum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A signe that is spoken against a signe that is done against we cannot abide thy clowtes thy ragges O Lorde Iesu nor any part of thy humility His nativity was by his ordinance first preached to shepheardes hee contended with his fore-runner who shoulde bee the lowlier of the two hee tooke fisher-men to bee his disciples embraced young children paide tribute to his inferiours fled away that hee might not be made a king washed the feete of his apostles charged the leper not to tell any man rode vpon an asse sought his fathers glory not his owne to whome he was obedient to the death even to the death of the crosse In all which hee doth not lesse than proclaime vnto vs learne of mee to be humble and meeke and you shall finde rest for your soules I say but this The maister is worthy your hearing the lesson your learning the recompence your receaving In this beâ— of humility let mee rest your soules for this time and let vs beseech the God of maiesty who is higher than the highest in the earth who will resiste the proude and giue his graces to the humble and meeke that whether wee aske wee may aske in humility or whether wee haue receaved we may vse it without vaineglory that all our wordes and workes may be powdered with that salt in the Psalme which shall eate out all ostentation Not vnto vs O Lord not vnto vs but vnto thy name giue the honour and praise Amen THE XVII LECTVRE Chap. 1. ver 14. Wee beseech thee O Lord wee beseech thee let vs not perish for this mans life THe praier of the marriners beginneth not till you come to these wordes the other were the wordes of the history reporting vvhat they did these now propounded are their owne or at least the summe and effecte of them Wee may reduce them to two heads first a Petition and therein a preface Wee beseech thee O Lorde wee beseech thee comprising the manner and forme of praying and the matter or substance of the petition let vs not perish for this mans life c. 2. the reason For thou Lorde hast done as it pleased thee So as in the wordes of the history signifying howe they behaved themselues togither with the pitition and the reason of the same wee finde eight conditions requisite to the nature of praier Fiue wherof wee haue already dealt in the sixte vvee are to proceede vnto The Importunity they vse implied in the doubling and iterating of their suppliant tearmes Wee beseech thee O Lorde wee beseech thee Woe bee to him that is alone who when he hath spoken once speaketh no more as if he were weary of wel-doing and repeÌ„ted himselfe that he had begun If his former request be weake and infirme fainting in the way to the mercy of God hee hath not a friende to helpe it nor a brother to say vnto it Be stronge This double supplication of theirs falleth as the showres of the first and latter raine if the one faileth of watering the earth sufficiently the other fulfilleth the appetite and thirst thereof So should our praiers bee beâ—t that as the kine of the Philistines which bare the Arke though they were milche and had calues at home yet they kept the straight way to â—ethshemesh and held one path and lowed as they went and turned neither to the right hand nor the left neither ever stoode still till they came into the field of Iosuah where he was reaping his harvest so the affection of our soules bearing the Arke and coffer of our suites though it hath worldly allurements to draw it backe as the kine had calues yet keepeth on the way to the house of God as they to Bethshemesh holding one path of perseverance lowing with zeale turning neither to the right nor to the left hand with wandring cogitations till it commeth into the field and garden of God where her harvest groweth We beseech thee we beseech thee This ingemination of speech noteth an vnmooueable and constant affection to the thing we affect as if the tongue and hearte
lefte the cofferer and treasurer of the soule to remember the Lorde with how came this gift of memory to a soule so taken and possest that as Orbilius a Grammarian in Rome forgot not onely the letters of the booke but his owne name so this is even deade and buried vnder it selfe and hath forgotten to thinke a thought and laide aside all her accustomed heavenly meditations Ionas without question had never remembred the Lorde vnlesse the Lorde had first remembred him Bernarde vpon the wordes of the Canticles I sought him in the night season Every soule amongst you saith he that seâ—keth the Lorde that it turne not a great blessing into a greate mischiefe let her knovve that shee is prevented by the Lorde and that shee is first sought before shee can seeke For then are our greatest felicities changed into our greatest woes when being made glorious by the graces of God wee vse his giftes as if they were not given and ascribe not the glory of them to his holy name Who hath first loved him Giue mee a man that ever loved GOD and was not first beloved and enabled therevnto it shal bee highly recompensed vnto him But it is most cerâ—aine that hee loued vs vvhen vvee were his enimies and when we had not existence or being I say more when wee made resistaunce to his kindenesse Wee can promise no more in this heavenlesse race and exercise of Christianity than the Prophet doeth in the Psalme I will runne the waies of thy commaundementes when thou hast set my hearte at liberty Wilt thou runne with thy feete before thy heart be prepared or canst thou run with thy hart before God hath enlarged it or canst thou runne the way without the way which is Iesus Christ a vvay that thou canst not see till thine eies bee opened and illightened or wilt thou runne the way of Gods commaundements when thou canst not discerne the commaundementes of God from the motions and fansies of thine owne minde not so But when the Lorde shall haue set thine heart at liberty then runne when the LORDE hath quickened and rubbed vp thy memory then remember him Otherwise without that helpe wee lye lame and impotent as the creeple at the poole of Bethesda all the daies and yeares of our life are spent like his without ease of our infirmities and the vertue of the waters of life as of those in the poole are by others caught from vs. Ierome translateth the wordes with some little difference from others I remembred the Lorde That my praier might come into his holy temple So his praier came vnto the Lorde by meanes of his praier for that remembring of the Lorde was his praier But whence came that former praier that made way for the later Fulgentius in an epistle to Theodorus a senatour laying a sure foundation and axiome to the rest of his speech would haue all that we doe or enioy ascribed to the grace of God Next that the helpe and assistance of that grace must be craved of God Thirdly that the craving of his grace is also it selfe the worke of grace For first it beginneth to bee powred into vs that it may afterwardes beginne to be begged by vs. As vnlesse the light of the aire first goe into our eies our eies though made to see yet see nothing Fourthly vve cannot aske hee saith vnlesse wee haue a will to aske and what wil is there if God worke it not Lastly hee counselleth all men diligently to converse in the scriptures vvherein they shall finde the grace of God both preventing them in such sort that when they are downe they may rise vp and accompanying them to hold them in their right course and following them till they come to these heavenly beatitudes And as he accounteth it a detestable pride of the hart of man to do that which God in man condemneth he meaneth sinning so much more detestable that when a man doth attribute to himselfe the giftes of God Thus much by the iust occasion of my texte because hee saide when his soule fainted vvithin him yet he remembred the LORD which I say againe hee coulde never haue done his reason knowledge will memorie all being past excepte the Lorde had first remembred him After his feare againe his hope I remembred the Lorde and my praier came vnto thee into thine holy temple The particulars are quickely had after that fainting and fit of his soule 1. what hee did hee remembred 2. whome hee remembred the Lorde All the rest serveth for explication As namely 3. how he remembred him by praier For it seemeth that not only his memory but al the faculties and affections of his soule were set on worke by him 4. How his praier sped It was not stopped by the way but came vnto the Lorde and did the part of a trustie embassadour 5. It is not amisse to know that every soule is the Lordes the soule of the father and the soule of the childe are his and that the promises are made not only to Abraham but to his seede after him and to all of that seede in particular for hee is neither multiplied with multitudes nor scanted with paucities so caring for one that hee omitteth not the care of many so for many that he ceaseth not to care for one and therefore the praier heere sent was peculiarly his owne as of a person accepted chosen vnto the Lord my praier 6. The faithfull coniunction of his soule with God which the Apostrophe and suddaine change of the speech causeth me to note For now he speaketh not to vs or to his owne spirit as before I remembred the Lorde but vnto the Lorde himselfe laying his mouth to those pure vndefiled eares my praier came vnto thee 7. The place wherein it was presented vnto him into thine holy temple which either he meaneth of heaven the pallace and basilicke of the great king or of the temple of Ierusalem which all the children of God in those dayes had respect vnto So Daniell though he prayed in Babylon yet opened hee the windowes of his chamber towardes Ierusalem And Salomon made request at the dedication of the temple that if ever his people in the time of famine battaile captivity or any the like tribulation shoulde pray towardes that citty and towardes that house of praier the Lord that sate in heaven would vouchsafe to heare them Though not sure of the place yet this I am sure of that whither soever of the two be spoken of the holy Lorde hath dedicated it to holinesse and called it by the name of an holy temple setting thereby a barre about it as hee did aboute the mounte to keepe out beastes and brutish men For as his temple vpon the earth none should so that other more sacred and secret that is in heaven none shall ever enter into that is vnholy and vncleane To draw these scattered braunches home to their roote againe the
generall substance of them all togither is this that Ionas received hope by remembring the Lorde for his part and that the Lorde on the other side accepted his prayer and gaue successe to it As Ieremie spake in the Lamentations so mighte Ionas say It is the mercie of the LORDE that I am not consumed The reason is For his compassions fayle not The danger seemed vncurable because it lighted vpon the soule not to the crazing and distempering alone but the vtter overwhelminge of it and no hope left in himselfe to heale the hurte What doth he then hee betaketh himselfe to the glasse of memory to see what succour hee can finde there and as it is placed in the hinder parte of the head so he reserveth it for the hinder part of his miseries maketh it his latest refuge to ease his heart I haue red of memories in some men almost incredible Seneca writeth of himselfe that he had a very flourishing memory not only for vse but to deserue admiratiom He was able to recite by hearte 2000. names in the same order wherein they were first digested Portius Latro in the same author wrote that in his minde which other in note-bookes A man most cunning in histories If you had named a capitaine vnto him he would haue runne thorough his actes presently Cyneas being sent from Pyrrhus in an embassage to Rome the nexte day after he came thither saluted all the Senatours by their names and the people round about them A singular gift from God in those that haue attained thereto howsoever it bee vsed But yet as the obiect which memory apprehendeth is more principall so the gift more commendable As Tully comparing Lucullus and Hortensius togither both being of a wonderfull memory yet preferreth Lucullus before Hortensius because he remeÌ„bred matter this but words Nowe the excellentest obiect of all others either for the memorie to accounte or for any other part of the soule to conceaue is the Lord. For he that remeÌ„breth the Lord as the Lord hath remembred him that nameth his blessings by their names as God the starres and calleth them to minde in that number order that God hath bestowed them vpon him if not to remember them in particular vvhich are more then the haires of his head yet to take their view in grosse and to fold them vp in a generall summe as David did vvhat shall I render to the Lord for all his benefites though he forget his owne people and his fathers house though the wife of his bosome and the fruit of his owne loines yea though he forget to eate his bread it skilleth not hee remembreth all in all and his memorye hath done him service enough in reaching that obiect And for your better encouragement to make this vse of memory vnderstande that it is a principall meanes to avoide desperation onely to call to minde the goodnesse of the Lorde forepassed either to our selues or others Thinke with your selues that as it was hee that tooke you from your mothers wombes and hath beene your hope ever since you hungâ— at the breastes and hath opened his handes from time to time to fill you vvith his goodnesse so hee is as able to blesse you still Compare and lay togither the times as David did that because hee had slaine a lyon and a beare at the folde therefore GOD woulde also enable him to prevaile against Golias So if the mercies of the Lorde haue beene so bountifull tovvardes you in former times to create you of the slime of the grounde and to put y a living and reasonable soule into you to nurse you vp in a civil and well-mannered country to redeeme you with the bloude of his begotten sonne to visite you vvith the lighte of his gospell to iustifie you with the power of his free gratuitall grace to fill your garners with store and your baskets with encrease and to giue you sonnes and daughters to the defyinge of your enemies in the gates saye to your selues his arme is not shortened hâ—â— is the same to day that yesterday hee will never forsake vs witâ— his loving kindenesse This is the course that David taketh in tâ—e Psalmes a capitaine never more skilfull to leade in the vvarres though the Lorde had taught his fingers to fighte than to conduct the desolate in the battailes of conscience Call to remembraunce thy tender mercies O Lorde which haue beene ever of olde This was the songe that hee sange to himselfe in the nighte season in the closet and quire of his owne breast vvhen hee communed with his private heart and searched out his spirites diligentlie Hath the LORDE forgotten to bee graciouâ— hee hath then lefte his olde wont No David forgot that the Lorde was gracious and afterwardes confessed his faulte of forgetfulnesse stirred vp his decayed memory and saide But I vvill remember the yeares of the right hande of the most high Not the momentes nor houres nor dayes of a few moment any afflictions which hee hath delt foorth vnto me with his left hande but the years of his right hand his wonders and actes that have beene ever of olde So likewise in an other Psalme Our fathers haue trusted in thee O Lorde Our fathers haue trusted in thee and were not confounded What is that to vs yes we are the children of those fathers sonnes of the same hope and heires of the same promises When the disciples of Christ mistooke the meaning of their maister touching the leaven of the Pharisees supposing he had said so because they had brought no breade he reprooved them for lacke of memory O yee of little faith vvhy thinke you thus in your selues doe yee not remember the fiue loaues vvhen there were fiue thousand men and howe many baskets full yee tooke vp neither the seaven loaues when there were foure thousande men and howe many baskets yee tooke vp thus we shoulde remember indeede how few loaues and howe many thousandes of men haue beene fed with them and what reversions and remnantes of mercy the Lord hath in store for other times O good Iesus saieth Barnarde vpon the Canticles VVee runne after the smell of thine ointmentes the perfume and sweeee savour of thy fat mercies Wee haue hearde that thou never despisest the poore afflicted Thou diddest not abhorre the theefe vpon the crosse confessing vnto thee nor Matthew sitting at receipt of custome nor the woman that washt thy feete with her teares nor the woman of Canaan that begged for her daughter nor the vvoman taken in adultery nor the Publican standing a farre of nor the disciple that denied thee nor the disciple that persecuted thee and thine nor the wicked that crucified thee therefore wee runne after the smell of thine ointmentes and hope to be refreshed with the like sent of grace Many haue written preceptes of memory and made a memoratiue art apointing places and their furniture for the helpe of such as are