hid from our eies 2 Arise goe vnto Niniveh Arise is but a word of preface or preparation and noteth as I saide before that forwardnesse that ought to bee in the prophetes of the Lorde Lying downe for the most part is a signe that both the body and minde are at rest Sitting betokeneth the body at ease but the minde may be occupied Rising most commonly is an argument that both are disposed to vndertake some worke Now as it is both shame and sin for any sorts of men to trifle in their calling for wee shall all rise in our order but those vnordinate walkers saith Bernard in what order shall they rise who keepe not that order and ranke vvhich GOD hath assigned them vnto so especially for those that are sent about the message Christ tolde his disciples in the ninteenth of Mathew that when the sonne of man sate they should also sit But I beseech you saith Bernard when sate hee in this world where rested hee or what place had hee to lay his heade vpon rather hee reioyced as a Gyant refresht with wine to runne his race and he vvent about doing good as it is vvitnessed in the Actes of the Apostles birdes had their nestes and foxes their holes but Christ had no resting place till his worke being finished he had dearly earned and deserved to haue his leaue warranted vnto him when the Lord saide to our Lord sit at my right hande Thomas Becket an evill man and in an evill cause but vvith wordes not impertinent to his place if he had well applied them aunswered one who advised him to deale more moderately towardes the king Sit I at the sterne and would you wish me to sleepe Our Saviour to the like effect vvhen he founde his disciples a sleepe why sleepe you and to Peter by name Sleepest thou Peter is Iudas vvaking are the high-priests consulting the souldiours banding the sonne of man neare his betraying the envious man sowing his tares marring the field hindring the good seed and the gospell of the kingdome and will not you awake Rise let vs walke and consider the regions farre and wide that they are not only white to the haruest but drie to the fire if they be neglected They must be labourers that are sent into that harvest and to shew what a blessing it is that such be sent the Lord of the harvest must be earnestly praied vnto Such a labourer was he who though he were borne out of due time yet he omitted no due time of working and though the least of all the apostles in some honours of that calling yet in the burthens and taskes that belonged vnto it he attributed it to the speciall grace of God that hee labouâ—ed more abundantly than all they Seneca was so farre at oddes with idlenes that he professed he had rather bee sicke than out of businesse I sleepe verie little saith he It is enough for me that I haue but left watching Sometimes I knowe I haue slept sometimes I doe but suspecte it The examples of heathen men so studiously addicted to their woorke that they forgot to take their ordinary foode and tied the haire of their heades to the beames of their chambers least sleepe should beguile them in their intended labors are almost incredible but to the open disgrace of vs who having a marke set before our eies and running to the price which they knew not are so slacke in our dueties But as before so againe I demaund why to Niniveh we haue alreaâ—y coniectured fowre reasons Let vs adde a fifth The force of example wee all know and very greate to induce likenesse of manners and to verifie the the proverbe in the prophet Like people like priest like servant like maister like maide like mistresse like buyer like seller like lender like borrower like giver like taker to vsury And the greater the example is the greater authority it hath to draw to similitude Facile transitur ad plures we are easily moved to go after a multitude I may adde facile transitur ad maiores It is no hard labour to make vs imitate great authorities be our patterns good or bad Evill behaviour in Princes prophets and higher degrees whatsoever corrupteth as it were the aire round about and maketh the people with whome they liue as like vnto them in naughtinesse as they say bees to bees God telleth IerusaleÌ„ in the 16. of Ezec. that al that vsed proverbes should vse this amongst the rest against her As is the mother so is the daughter Thou art the daughter of thy mother that hath cast of her husband and her children and thou art the sister of thy sisters which forsooke their husbandes and their children You see how evenly they tread in the steppes of the same sinnes Your mother is an Hittâ—te and your father an Ammorite Did the daughter degenerate from her kind Her elder sister at her left hande was Samaria and her daughters And the yonger at her right Sodome and her daughters Father and mother daughter and sisters the whole broode was alike infected Ieroboam the sonne of Nebat is never mentioned in the writinges of Israell but hee draweth a taile after him like a blasing starre Who sinned and made Israell to sinne A sicke head disordered all the other partes and a darke eie made a darke body A fearefull instruction to those that feare God to make them beware of binding two sinnes togither that is of sinning themselues and sinning before others to put a stumbling blocke before their feete of falling into the like offence especially when the credit and countenance and priority of their places maketh others the bolder to sin because they sin with such authors Such bitter rootes shall aunswere for themselues their corrupted braÌ„ches Such poisoned fouÌ„taines shal not escape vvith single iudgment because they haue polluted the vvhole course of vvaters Such leprous and contagious soules as they heape sin vpon sin so by numbers and heapes they shall receaue their plagues and accompt to the iustice of God not onelye for the pollutioÌ„ of their owne persons but of many thousands more whome by the warrant of their precedency they haue pulled vnto vvickednes And for this cause I take it amongst others Niniveh is crowned in the next words with the honorable title of her greatnesse to let her know that the more eminent in dignity the nearer shee lay to daunger and as shee gave to the inferiour citties of the lande an example of sinning so shee shoulde also bee an example of desolation vnto them Goe to Niniveh that great citie that is preach repentance to the mother and the daughters will drawe their instructions from her breastes Winne the Lady and princesse and her handmaides wil soone be brought to obedience Speake to the hauty monarch of the world knocke at the gates of his prowde pallace beat the eares of those insolent and wealthy marchants shake them from
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
al posterity to come that I will not meane-while forget to looke vp to the mountaines from whence my helpe was It is the parte of an honest ingenious minde to confesse vvho they are by whome thou hast profited but on the other side the marke of a most vngratious amd vnhappy nature rather to be taken in the theft than to returne like for like And what doe they else but steale and embezell the graces of God which either dissembling their authour assume them to themselves or confessing the authour extenuate their worth as if they were not meete to bee accounted for These are the theeves robbers indeede capitall malefactours sure to bee cut of on the right hand and on the left and not to inherite the kingdome of God as the Apostle threatneth The stealing of temporall things may bee acquited againe either with single or double foure-folde or seven-folde resolution But the filching and purloming of the glory of God can never bee aunswered Others steale of necessity to satisfie their soules because they are hungrie and but equall from equall man from man But these of pleasure and pride breake through heaven which though it bee free from violent theeves yet these by a wile and insidiation enter into it and steale away the honour of God which is most precious vnto him When Iohn Baptist was borne the neighbours and cousins vpon the eighth day at the circumcising of the childe called him Zacharias after the name of his father Elizabeth aunswered them not so but hee shal bee called Iohn though it were a mervaile to them all and none of his kinred were so named and Zachary wrote in his tables that Iohn should be his name They knew that hee was the gift of God which his mother in her olde age and in the state of her barrennes had conceaved and therfore called him Iohn that is the gift of God in remembrance of natures vnfuitfulnesse and their vndeserved sonne whome neither father nor mother nor kinred I meane not ordinary and carnall generation could haue given vnto them· such are the children of our wombes a gift that commeth from the Lorde And such are our children and fruit otherwise whatsoever wee possesse outwarde or inwarde wee holde it in Capite even in the Lorde of Lordes who is the giver of every good perfit gifte as Iames writeth Scipio Africanus the elder had made the citty of Rome being in a consumption and readie to giue vp the ghost Lady of Africke At length being banished into a base country towne his will was that his tombe should haue this inscription vpon it Ingrata patria ne ossa quidem mea habes vnthankefull country thou hast not so much as my bones Many and mightye deliverances haue risen from the Lorde to this lande of ours to make provocation of our thankefulnesse For not to goe by a kalender but to speake in 2. wordes wee haue lien in ignorance as in the belly of the whale or rather the belly of hell for blindnesse of heart is the very brimme and introduction into the hell of the damned the Lorde hath pulled vs thence Wee haue also lien in the heart of our enemies as in the belly of the fishe Gebal and Ammon and Amelek and the Philistines with those of Tyre haue combined themselues and cried a confoederacy a confoederacy against vs the Lorde hath also delivered vs to make some proofe of our gratefull spirites For this a rule in beneficence Ingratus est adversus unum beneficium is a man vnthankefull for one benefite for a seconde hee will not Hath hee forgotten two the third will reduce to his memory those that are slipt thence God hath liberally tried vs with one and an other and a third and yet ceaseth not But what becommeth of our gratitude It hath bene our manner for the time to haue pamphlets and formes of thankesgiving in our churches our heartes haue burnt within vs for the present as of the two disciples that went to Emaus to assemble our selues at praiers preachings breaking of bread and to give an howre or two more than vsuall from our worldly affaires as a recompense of Gods goodnes Our mouthes have beene filled with laughter and our tonges with ioy and wee have bene content to say the Lord hath done greate thinges for vs wherof wee reioyce But how quickly forget wee all againe Ingrata Anglia ne ossa quidam habes Vngratefull England thou hast not so much as the bones of thy patrone and deliverer thou hast exiled him from thy thoughtes buried him in oblivion there is not one remnant or footeprint left to witnesse to the worlde that thou hast bene protected What others have testified in former times by building of altars pitching of huge stones raysinge of pillers dedication of feastes vvriting of bookes that their childrens children might aske a reason and bee instructed in GODS auncient mercies thou haste not lefte to thy race to come by one stone one turfe one post one paper or schrole of continuaunce in remembraunce vnto them of thy ampler benefites It deserveth the protestation of GOD 1. Esay Heare O men and harken O Angels no. A greater auditorie is required Heare ô heavens and harken ô earth I have brought vp preferred and exalted sonnes and they have despised me If servauntes and bond-men the sonnes of Agar of whome it was saide Cast out the bond-man it mighte lesse have beene marvayled at but sonnes of mine owne education adopted by speciall grace these have despised mee They had an action in Athens against vnthankefull persons The more their blame Qui cum aequissima iura sed iniquissima haberent ingenia moribus suis quà m legibus vti maluerunt vvho having good lavves ill natures had rather vse their manners than their lawes For if some of those excellent men which Athens despightfully and basely required Theseus who was buried in a rock Miltiades who dyed in prison and the sonne of Miltiades vvho inherited nothinge amongst them but his fathers bandes Solon Aristides Phocion who lived in banishmente shoulde bring their action against Athens in the courte of some other cittye vvere it able to aunswere their iust exprobrations O Athens thy wals thy people thy trophees and triumphes farre and neare by lande and sea are thus and thus multiplyed Horum authores vbi vixerint vbi iaceant responde But put in thine aunsvvere and shevve vvhere the authours of those thinges lived and vvhere they are buryed God hath an action of ingratitude against his sonnes and bringeth them into lawe not before citty or nation but to note the horror of the vice before heaven and earth that all the corners and creatures of the vvorlde may both knowe and detest it And surelye it was well marked by a learned man No man wondreth at dogs or wolues because they are common but centaures and satyres such monsters of nature al gaze vpon It may be drunkennes
beast So was the house of Niniveh sowen for her inhabitants were multiplied as the grashoppers her marchaÌ„ts as the stars of heaven her princes and captaines as the locustes Nah. 3. Shall not I spare Niniveh wherein there is such a multitude Or if thou art not mooved with a multitude doth not the age of infants and suckelings touch thy heart that cannot speake caÌ„not stand cannot helpe themselves that sticke to their mothers as apples to their trees if thou plucke them away before their time they perish Is this thy welcome of babes into the world is this the milke thou wilt feede them with Is this thy stilling and pacifying of them to quiet theÌ„ with death Is this thy nursing of their teÌ„der vngrown limmes to wrap theÌ„ vp in flames of fire as in swath-baÌ„des to rocke theÌ„ a sleepe with pittiles destructioÌ„ can thine eares endure that lamentable confused harmony of so many young musitiaÌ„s singing in their kind as nature hath taught them crying vp togither into heaveÌ„ wilt not thou cry for coÌ„pany say O Lord stay thine haÌ„d forbeare theÌ„ or can thine eies behold the shrinking of their soft members at every pull of griefe their sprawling vpon the ground their flesh scorched with heat as a scrole of partchmeÌ„t not be moved I stay not vpoÌ„ this point but the age of youÌ„g infants hath evermore bin pittied The midwives of Egypt Ex. 1. though straÌ„gers and chardged with the kings coÌ„mauÌ„dement yet would not slay the childreÌ„ of the Hebrews Even the daughter of Pharaoh himselfe Exo. 2. finding Moses hid in the bulrushes had compassion on the babe for it was a goodly child wept One of the properties of an impudeÌ„t barbarous cruell nation described Deut. 28. is it shall not regard the person of the olde nor have compassion vpoÌ„ the young There is a notable place to this purpose 2. King 8. where it is saide that Elizaeus looked vpon Hazael a servant and messenger vnto him from Benhadad the king till he was ashamed the man of God wept Hazael demauÌ„ding why weepeth my Lord he auÌ„swered because I know the evill that thou shalt doe vnto the children of Israell for their strong cities shalt thou set on fire and their young men shalt thou slay with the sword and shalt dash their infants against the stones and rend in pieces the women with child then Hazaell said what is thy servant a dogge that I should doe this great thing So brutish a part he held it to doe such villany vpon the mothers and their infants Or if thou regardest not their age doth not their innocency affect thee say that the elder sort have sinned because they have iudgment and election in them but what have these infantes done who know not their right hand from their left nor haue attainned to their yeares of discretion nor able to distinguish betvveene straight and crooked good and evill but are altogither innocent It is a circumlocution of their ignorance simplicity the like wherof we haue Esay 8. before the childe shall haue knowledge to crye my father or my mother that is before he can speake or discerne the one from the other Which was no more than went before in the 7. of the same prophecy before the childe shall haue knowledge to eschewe the evill and choose the good The sonne of Syrach speaketh of a foole in the same manner hee knoweth not the way into the citty that is ordinary and common things which every man knoweth We shall reade that God hath evermore had a speciall regard to the infant because of his harmelesnesse and innocency he commaunded Deut. 21. that they shoulde bee spared in warre and the women and the cattle excepting those of the Ammonites in the same place and of those citties which were altogither execrable in the sight of God as of Iericho Iosh. â— and of Edom and Babylon Psalme 137. Their innocencye is every where proposed as a patterne for the riper ages to imitate Our Saviour tolde his disciples Mat. 18 having first placed a little child in the midst of them except yee bee converted and become as this little childe yee shall not enter into the kingdome of heaven And in the 19. of the same Evangelist suffer little children to come vnto mee for to such as these are belongeth the kingdome of God The Apostles of Christ framed their exhortations from the same presidents brethren be not children in your mindes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But in malice be you infants and as new borne babes desire the sincere milke of the worde that yee may grow therby But if thou hatest the children togither with their parents as wee destroy the whelpes of wolues even for their kinde sake because the fathers haue eaten the sowre grape the childrens teeth must needes be set on edge and the infants smart for their offences shall I not spare Niniveh wherin there is much cattle What haue the dumbe beasts deserved that they shoulde also perish Salomon in the 12. of the Proverbs sheweth what the practise of the iust is even in this case A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast but the mercies of the wicked are cruell And his rule agreeth with that practise Prov. 27. Bee diligent to knâ—w the state of thy flockes and take heede to thy heardes Iacob hath pitty vpon the children and vpon the ewes and the kire with yong vvhich were vnder his hand for hee saide to his brother Esau if I should over-driue them one day all the flocke would die The errand that he sent Ioseph in Genes 37. was goe see whether it bee well with thy brethren and how the flockes prosper David 1. Sam. 17. obiecteth his life vnto a Lion afterwards to a beare rather than on sheepe should miscarry Howsoever Philip complayned cuiusmodt est vita nostra cum ad asâ—llorum occasiionem videndum est how basely is our life conditioned vvhen we must liue to make provision for asses to one in his army who told him that there wanted foode for their beasts yet it is true that some part of our care forecast must this way be imployed We also know that the lavv of God favoureth them Deut. 25· Thou shalt not muzzle vp the mouth of the oxe that treadeth out the corne and the Sabboth though made for man yet it extended to the resting of the beast And either nature or profit or something else mooved the hard hearted Iewes if their oxe or asse were fallen into a pit even vpon the sabboth day to pull him out Moses kept lethroes sheepe Iacob Labans the Patriarches his sonnes were all sheepheardes David followed the ewes Saul sought asses Amos was taken from the heardes that you may know the care of these vnreasonable creatures not to haue bene small in former times The last branch of amplificatioÌ„ which God vseth against Ionas was the store of
for the life of Nabuchodonozor or the king of Babylon and of Balthasar his son that their daies may be as the daies of heaven vpon the earth This the Apostle requireth of vs that praiers and supplications be made for all men namely especially for kings and all that are in authority and that we be subiect one saith to the creature or constitution of man another saith to the ordinance of God because God hath ordained it by the hands of man whither it be to the king or his officer higher or lower One saith for conscience sake another for the Lordes sake because conscience is then assured when it goeth after his direction This is their right but that confidence which my text speaketh of belongeth onely to the hope of Israell to him is fully reserved VVill you knovve a farther reason to exclude both princes and all others vvho haue their dwellinges with mortall flesh from this affiance of ours they are the sonnes of men I except but one in vno filio hominis salus in one and that onely sonne of man there vvas salvation not because hee was meerely the sonne of man but the sonne of God also Amongst those that vvere begotten of vvomen there never arose a greater than Iohn Baptist yet hee tolde his disciples that claue vnto him I am not hee and sent them away vnto a greater and pointed at him with his finger Beholde the lambe of God When Cornelius fell downe at the feete of Peter to vvorshippe him Actes the tenth Peter tooke him vppe and aunswered I my selfe am also a man VVhen the priest of Iupiter brought bulles and garlandes to sacrifice to Paule and Barnabas it set them in a passion they rent their clothes and ranne in amongest the people crying and saying O men vvhy doe yee these thinges for vvee are also men subiect to the like passions that yee bee They mighte haue added for further explication sake that vvhich is vvritten Esay the seconde Cease from the man whose breath is in his nostrelles for wherein is hee to bee esteemed and in the 51. of the same prophecie VVho art thou that thou shouldest feare a mortall man and the sonne of man that shall bee made like grasse and a little before The moth shall devoure him like a garmente and the vvorme devoure him like woll but my righteousnesse shall bee for ever and my salvation from generation to generation A man of vvhat condition so ever he be saith Lactantius Si sibi credit hoc est fi homini credit if he trust himselfe that is if hee trust man besides his folly in not seeing his errour he is very arrogant and audicious to challendge that vnto himselfe which the nature of man is not capable of when the Israelites Esay 31. waited vpon the helpe of Egypt trusting in their chariotes because they were many and their horses because they were strong God gaue them none other aunswere than this the Egyptians are men and not God their horses flesh and not spirit and therfore when the Lorde shall stretch out his hand the helpe shall fall and hee that is holpen and both shall faile togither The nature of man at the first creation before that lumpe was sowred with the leaven of sinne was full of glory and grace as God expostulated with David I made thee king over Israell and if that had beene too little I would haue done much more so man vvas made king and put in Lord-like dominion and possession not over cantons and corners of the worlde but over the aire the sea the earth and every beast and fish and feathered foule therein created All thinges were made for vs for in a manner we are the ende and perfection of all thinges And if this bee to little God hath yet done more for vs. For our sakes were the heavens created and for our sakes were the heavens bowed and God vvas made man to pleasure man so that all is ours and wee are Christs and Christ is Gods The wise men of the worlde who never looked so far into the honours of man as we do yet evermore advanced that creature aboue all others One called him a little worlde the vvorlde a great man another a mortall God God an immortall man another all thinges because he partaketh the nature of plants of beasts and of spirituall creatures Phavorinus mervailed at nothing in the world besides man at nothing in man besides his mind Abdala the Saracen being asked what hee most wondred at vpon the stage of this world aunswered man and Saint Augustine saith that man is a greater miracle than all the miracles that ever haue beene wrought amongst men VVhatsoever our prerogatiues are as they haue beene greater in times past fuimus Troes vvee haue beene Trotanes and it hath beene an happy thing to be borne man wee cannot nowe forgoe our nature our generation is knowne to the worlde our foundation is in the dust vvee were fashioned beneath in the earth wee were brought togither to bee flesh in our mothers wombes in ten monethes and when we vvere borne vvee receaved no more than the common aire and fell vpon the earth vvhich is of like nature Our father is prooved to bee an Ammorite neither Angell nor God and our mother an Hittite and vve the vncleane children of an vncleane seede Let Alexander perswade himselfe that he was the sonne of Iupiter Hammon till he see his bloud let Sapor the king of Persia write himselfe king of kinges brother to the sunne and moone partner with the stars let the canonistes of Rome make a new canon to transfigure their Pope into a new nature writing him neither God nor man but somewhat betweene both let Antiochus thinke to saile vpon the mountaines Zenacharib to dry vp the rivers with the plant of his foote let Edom exalt himselfe like an Eagle and build his nest amongest the starres and say in the swelling of his heart who shall bring me downe to the ground yet when they haue all done let them looke backe to their tribe their fathers poore house and the pit from whence they were hewen let them examine their pedegree and descent and they shal finde that they are but the sonnes of men and that the Lord hath laid this iudgement vpon them man that is borne of a woman hath want of daies and store of miseries I end with that excellent admonition of Scaliger to Cardan I woulde ever haue thee remember that thou and I and others are but men for if thou knowest what man is thou wilt easilie vnderstande thy selfe to bee nothing For mine owne part I am not wont to say that wee are so much as men but pieces of man of al which put togither something may be made not great but of each of them sundred almost lesse than nothing If you vvill novve learne the reason vvhy you must not trust in the
longe as there shall bee a Chronicler in the vvorlde to vvrite the legende of the French Iacobin I shall ever haue in ielousie the comminge of these emissaries and spies from their vnholie fraternities into Princes courtes They persecute the infante in his mothers belly and the childe yet vnborne vvhome they seeke to dispossesse of their Fathers and Grand-fathers auncient inheritaunces hovve gladlye vvoulde they see an vniversall alteration of thinges Israell cast out and the Iebusite brought in crying in our houses complayning in our streetes leading into captivity throughout all quarters themselues as it were the handes and members to this body and yet playing the first vnnaturall part and studying to cut the throate of it Now what comparison is there betvvixt quenching a sparcle of vvild-fire here and there flying vp and downe to burne our country and quenching the light of Israell betwixt the incision of a veine now and then to let out rancke bloud and choaking the breath of Israell betwixt destroying one and one at times and destroying that vnitie wherein the whole consisteth for such is our persecution and such are theirs The person to whome the coÌ„mission was directed is Ionas the son of Amittai wherein you haue 1. his name Ionas 2. his parentage the son of Amittai 3. you may adde his country from the 9. ver An Hebrew 4. his dwelling place from the 2. Kings Gath Hepher for there was another Gath of the Philistines 5. the time of his life prophecy from the same booke Vnder the reigne of Ieroboam the second or not far of 6. the tribe whereof he was namely a Zabulonite for that Gath appertaineth to the tribe of Zabulon you haue as much of the person as is neeedefull to be knowen The opinion of the Hebrewes is and some of our Christian expositours following theâ—r steps affirme that Ionas was sonne to the widdow of Sarepta and that he is called the sonne of Amittai not from a proper person his father that begat hâ—m but from an event that happened For after Elias had restored him to life the mother brake forth into this speech Nowe I perceiue that thou art the man of God and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is true Therehence they say he was named the son of Amittai that is the sonne of truth by reason of that miracle truely accomplished Surely the word of the Lorde that gaue a commission to Ionas to goe to Niniveh giveth no commission to vs to goe to such forreine and vnproper interpretations So long as we heare it but in our owne country as the Queene of the South spake of those that are flesh and bloud like our selues and interpreters perhaps not so much of the counsels of God as their owne coniectures we are at liberty to refuse them where wee heare it from the mouth of Salomon or Ionas or one that is more then them both wee are ready to giue credit Our boundes are set which wee must not passe wee may not turne to the right hande nor to the lefte and neither adde nor diminish nor alter any thing of Gods testimonies It is a zealous contention that God maketh in Ieremy They shall know whose word shall stande mine or theirs Who hath instructed the spirit of the Lorde or was his counseller or hath taught him Shall we correct or rather corrupt falsifie depraue the wisedome of God in speaking vvho is farre vviser then men who made the mouth and the tongue openeth the lips instilleth grace and knowledge into them Let it suffice vs that the spirit of truth and the very finger of God in setting downe his minde hath eased vs of these fruitles and godlesse troubles and expressed this Prophet to bee an Hebrew not a Gentile his dwelling place to be Gath Hepher in the possessions of Zabulon not Sarepta a Citie of Sidon And as it is the manner of the scrâ—pture vvhere the Prophets are named there to reckon withall the names of their fathers as Esay the sonne of Amos Ieremy of Hilkiah Ezekiell of Buzi c so there is no likelihood to the contrary but the father of Ionas is meant vvhen he is called the sonne of Amittai But it is the maner of some to languish about wordes and in seeking deepely after nothing to loose not onely their time travell and thankes but their wits also Such hath beene the sickenesse of all the Allegoristes for the most part both of the former and later times I excepte not Origen their prince and originall patrone who not contenting themselues vvith the literall and genuine sense of the scripture but making some mysterie of the plainest history that ever was delivered and darkening the evident purpose of the holy Ghost vvith the busie fansies of their owne heades as if one should cast cloudes and smoke vpon the sun-beames haue left the scripture in many places no more like it selfe then Michals image in the bed vpon a pillowe of goates haire was like David How forwarde haue our schoole-men beene in this rancknesse of wit how haue they doted and even died vpon superfluous questions hovv haue they defaced the precious word of God finer theÌ„ the gold of Ophir with the drosse of their owne inventions setting a pearle aboue value in lead burying the richest treasure that the world knoweth in their affected obscurities For not to speake of their changing the stile of the holy Ghost into such barbarous desert terms as that if the Apostles now lived as Erasmus noteth they must speake with another spirit and in another language to encounter them how many knots haue they made in divinity subtilties vvithout the circle and compasse of the worlde and such as Chrysippus never thought vpon to as little purpose as if they had throwne dust into the aire or hunted their shadowes they had done more service to the Church of God if they had laid their handes a great number of them vpon their mouthes and kept silence Rupertus Gallus likeneth them to one that carrieth manchet at his backe and feedeth vpon flint stones For these reiecting the bread of life the simple word of God and the power thereof macerate and starue themselues with frivolous sophistications One of their questions for a taste or rather as Melchior Cane tearmeth them their monsters and chimers is vvhether an asse may drinke Baptisme It is not vnlike another in that kinde whether a mouse may eate the body of the Lord More tolerable a greate dâ—ale were the questions which Albutius the mooter proposed in a controversie why if a cup fell downe it brake if a sponge it brake not Cestius as scornfully censured him To morrow he wil declame why thrushes flie and gourdes flie not These are the mistes of Gods iudgement vpon the heartes of such men who having Manna from heaven preferre a cornes before it and leaue the breade in their fathers house to eate the huskes of beanes
preachers And let him make those preachers and hearers hearers and doers doers and perseverers good teachers good learners good liuers everlasting companions within our borders So shall our land be blessed with all both heauenly and earthly encrease and God even our owne God shall never repent that hee bestowed such blessing vpon vs Amen THE SECOND LECTVRE Cap. 1. vers 2. Arise and goe to Niniveh that great citie crie against it for their wickednesse is come vp before mee NOT to trouble you with longer repetition wee enquired in the former exercise of these three pointes 1. The place which Ionas was sent vnto 2. his busines there 3. the cause Touching the place we proposed foure reasons why God sent him to Niniveh 1. To keepe his manner and vse of foretelling the plague before hee inflicteth it 2. to set vp a standard of hope to the rest of the Gentiles that they also should pertake the goodnes of God 3. to prevent his people with mercy and to take vp favour in Assyria for them before hand against the time of their banishmente 4. to shame and confound the house of Israell with the singular repentance of a strange people Niniveh is further beautified in my text by two epithets or additions the one describing the nature or kind of the place A citie the other the quantity or amplenes thereof A great citie The inference from both these must needes be this that because it was a city and a great city it was therefore stately for wealthines glorious for buildings well peopled tedious to be gone through perillous to bee threatned where the prophet was likely to finde in all states of men Princes Counsellors Courtiers Marchants Communers mightie contradiction The greatnesse of Niniveh is more plentifullie set downe in the thirde of this prophecie vvhere it is tearmed a greate and an excellent citie of three dayes iourney It had an auncient testimony long before in the booke of Genesis for thus Moses vvriteth that Asshur came from the lande of Shinar and builte Niniveh and Rehoboth and Calah and Resin betweene Niniveh and Calah at length he singleth out Niniveh from the rest and setteth a speciall marke of preheminence vpon it This is a greate citie VVhich honour by the iudgement of the most learned though standing in the last place belongeth to the first of the foure cities namelie to Niniveh Others imagined but their coniecture is without grounde that the vvhole foure cities vvere closed vp vvithin the same vvalles and made but one of an vnusuall bignesse Some ascribe the building of Niniveh to Ninus the sonne of Belus of vvhome it tooke the name to bee called either Ninus as we reade in Plinie or after the manner of the Hebrewes Niniveh They conceiue it thus that when Nimrod had builte Babylon Ninus disdaining his governement went into the fieldes of Ashur and there erected a citie after his owne name betweene the rivers Lycus and Tybris Others suppose that the affinitye betwixt these names Ninus and Niniveh deceaved prophane writers touching the authour thereof and that it tooke to name Niniveh because it was beautifull or pleasant Others holde opinion that Ashur and Ninus are but one and the same person And lastly to conclude the iudgement of some learned is that neither Ashur nor Ninus but Nimrod himselfe was the founder of it But by the confession of all both sacred and Gentile historyes the citâ—e vvas verie spacious having foure hundred and eighty furlonges in circuite vvhen Babylon had fewer almost by an hundred and as afterwardes it grew in wealth and magnificence so they write is was much more enlarged Raphaël Volateranus affirmeth that it was eight yeares in building and not by fewer at once then ten thousand workemen There was no citie since by the estimation of Diodorus Siculus that had like compasse of grounde or statelines of walles the height whereof was not lesse theÌ„ an 100 feete the breadth sufficiently capable to haue received 3. cartes on a row they were furnished and adorned besides with a 1500 turrets The holy Ghost no doubt had a double purpose in giving this glorious title of distinction vnto Niniveh the one in respect of Ionas the other of Niniveh it selfe 1 In respect of Ionas it was the meaning of God to trie and arme his prophet before hand with commemoration of the greatest difficulties that by naming the worst at the first vnto him hee might prooue his obedience whether hee felt himselfe disposed to holde out and so settle his thoughts in some sort in declaring the costes of the building before hee vndertooke it least afterwardes when hee came and founde the danger of the place beyond his expectation hee might complaine of God as we read that Ieremy did I am deceived O Lord and thou hast deceived mee Thus hee dealt with Abraham his servant in the 22. of Genesis about the offering of his son whose faith and obedience hee sounded before by aggravating in his eares everye circumstance of the action that Abraham might forecast with himselfe whether the infirmity of his nature were able to brook it for it is written there that God did prooue Abraham The proofe was thus Abraham take 1 thy sonne 2 thine onely sonne 3 Isaac thy son 4 whome thou lovest take him 5 thy selfe take him 6 nowe presently 7 get thee into the lande of Moriah 8 there offer him offer him 9 for a burnt offeringe vpon one of the mountaines which I shall shew thee The weight of every worde is enough to bruise him in pieces and make him since downe vnder the burthen of that charge 1. Take thy sonne not thy bondman nor beast nor any common thing that belongeth vnto thee 2. thine onelie sonne the onely begotten of the free woman 3. not Ismaell but Isaac thy sonne to vvhome thy promises are established 4. Isaac whome thou lovest as tender and deare vnto thee as the bowelles of thine owne breast 5. take him in thine owne person even thou the father of the childe turne not over the execution to any other man 6. take him without delay I giue thee no time to deliberate nor day nor houre to conferre vvith thy selfe and to comfort thy broken harte about the losse of thy beloved 7. Get thee into the land of Moriah which will aske the travell of three daies so long vvill I holde and suspend thy soule in bitternes 8. leaue not thy sonne in Moriah as an Orphan without his father to soiourne in a straunge country offer him in sacrifice commit slaughter vpon his flesh 9. lastly vvhen thou hast slaine him thou shalt burne him in the fire and consume him to ashes thou shalt not spare thy sonne for my sake neyther quicke nor deade So likewise vvhen he sent Ezechiel to the rebels of Israell hee gaue him this provision Sonne of man I sende thee to the children of Israell What are they I will not
of the whole sentence doth amply disclose it 1. But Ionas Ionas was the author writer of this history yet Ionas reporteth the fault in himselfe as if some stranger person without his skin had committed it He forgetteth as it were his owne people and his fathers house and setting affection aside to his owne credite maketh a simple and plaine declaration namely singularly of the transgression of Ionas A wise man by the rule of Salomon in the beginning of his speech will accuse himselfe so doth Ionas not shrowding his head nor running into a bush as Adam did but vvriting his fault in his brow and pointing with his finger at the very transgressor vnder his proper and individual name hee bringeth the accusation Then Ionas arose the party not long since mentioned even the son of Amittai he that immediatly before received the word of the Lord to go to Niniveh let his name be registred and his fault be published to the whole world Ionas arose 2. Arose Will you now see his readines in an evill cause no sooner called but he arose forthwith Hee might haue excused himselfe as Moses did in the 3. and 4. chapters of Exodus when he was called to his burthensome office who am I that I should go to Pharaoh bring the children of Israell out of Aegypt againe O Lord send by the hands of him whome thou shouldest send It hath bene the vse of Gods seruants vvhen they haue found their ability vnmeete to vndergo the duties of their provinces allotted them in modesty humility to withdraw themselues So did Gedeon in the 6. of Iudges For when the Lorde had encouraged him Goe in thy might thou shalt saue Israell out of the handes of the Midianites he aunswered againe Ah my my Lord whereby shall I saue Israell Behold my father is poore in Manasses and I the least in my fathers house Likewise when Samuel asked Saul On whome is all the desire of Israell set Is it not vpon thee and all thy fathers house he returned this answere vnto him Am not I the son of Iemini of the smallest tribe of Israell c. wherefore then speakest thou so to me But Ionas hath no such excuse nor that he is the son of Amittai nor of the least tribe nor of the poorest family nor himselfe the vnfittest of all the rest to be sent to Niniveh but at the first call and summons of the Lord he ariseth vp 3. To flie When he is vp he flieth his driving is as the driving of Iehu the sonne of Nimshi saith the watch-man in the seconde booke of the Kings and the ninth chap. for he driveth as if hee were madde So driveth Ionas as if he had received that postinge commission which the Apostles received Salute no man by the way or rather as if he had vowed a fast with himselfe neither to eate nor drinke till he had frustrated Gods commandement Cyprian wrote to Cornelius of fiue Schismatickes that had taken shipping and sailed to Rome with their mart of lies as if the Lord of heaven who rideth vpon the Cherubins could not overtake them 4. To Tharsis If he had fled to the right place the hast he made had added much to the commendation of his painefulnes God loveth cheerefulnes alacrity in his worke excuses dislike him much The delay that Elizeus made let mee goe kisse my father and those shiftes in the gospel let mee go bury my father or take my leaue of my friends are not admitted in his businesse Paul witnesseth of himselfe in the 1. to the Galathians that when hee was called by the grace of God to preach his sonne amongst the Gentiles immediatly hee communed not with flesh and bloud neither came he againe to Ierusalem but went into Arabia and so forwardes for the execution of that message That vvhich hee did hee did presently and his hast is praise worthy because hee followed the will of the Lorde rather then the motions of fleshe and bloud In this sense it is true that the kingdome of heaven suffereth violence and the violente catch it away A man can never runne too fast that runneth in these waies I will run the waies of thy commaÌ„dementes saith David when thou hast set my hart at liberty Otherwise to run the way of our owne devises is cursus celerrimus praeter viam a swift race besides the way So run saith the Apostle that ye may obtaine run wisely run aright run by the levell and rule of Gods statutes Philosophers hold that if the inferiour spheres were not governed and stayed by the highest the swiftnesse of their motion would quickly fire the world And if the affections of men were not moderated by the guidance of Gods holy spirit it could not be chosen but this litle image of the world would soone be overthrovvne Hast in Ionas was not amisse but there was more hast then good speede in his travell because hee went to the wrong place This is to go I graunt but not with a right foote as the Apostle speaketh in the second to the Galathians The wicked haue their waies but they are crooked and circular endlesse waies as it is noted of them in the 12. Psalme Impij in circuitu ambulant they walke by compasse they walke not towards the marke the price that is set before them and therefore loose both their paines and their recompence they followe their father the Divell in these walkes who testifieth of himselfe in the first of Iob that he had compassed the whole earth These crooked waies are ever applied by the iudgment of Cassiodore to evill manners They shall never come to the rest of the eight day that thus goe wheeling about to no purpoâ—e like the turning of Sampsons mill which when it hath laboured the whole day long is founde at night in the selfe same place where it first began Thus the wicked haue their compassing waies the devil hath his outwaies and by-waies but happy is that man that ordereth his feete in the pathes of Gods commandements Now whether the place here mentioned signifie the sea as the Chaldaik paraphrast and Ierome and others according to the Hebrew name so importing expounde it whose reason is not much amisse that being amazed and at his wits ende more confused in his minde then the windes and waues that draue him he cared not whether hee went so hee walked not with God as Henoch did taking his marke at large and putting him selfe vnto the sea to fall by adventure vpon any country or whether Tharsis were that famous haven-towne of Africke of which wee reade Ezech. 27. They of Tharsis were thy marchantes for the multitude of all riches for silver iron tinne and lead which they brought to the faires the riches wherof may bee esteemed by that report which is made in the 2. of the Chronicles that silver was nothing accounted of in the dayes of Salomon
great wind c. Behold a pursivant dispatched from heaven to attach him vengeance is shipped in a whirle-wind and saileth alofte in the aire to overtake him There is no counsaile as Ierome here noteth against the Lord. In a calme commeth a tempest the ship is endangered which harboureth a daungerfull passenger there is nothing peaceable where the Lord is an enemy Whome the voice of the Lord could not moue a storme solliciteth him as when Absolom could not drawe Ioab vnto him by entreatie and faire meanes he fiâ—eth his barley fieldes to make him come and whome a still spirit could not charme the turbulent spirit of a raging wind Severior Magister a rougher instructour to deale withal enforceth to harkeÌ„ There be spirits saith the son of Syrach that are created for vengeance which in their rigour lay on sure strokes In the time of destruction they shew forth their power and accomplish the wrath of him that made them Fire and haile and famine and death all these are created for vengeance the teeth of wild beasts and the scorpions the serpents and the sword execute iudgement for the destruction of the wicked Nay the principall things for the whole vse of mans life as water fire and iron and salt and meale wheat and hony and milke and the bloud of the grape oile clothing all these thinges are for good to the godly but to the sinners they are turned to evill To these you may adde the wind which being a meteor wherby we liue in some sort for our life is a breath a fanne in the hands of God to purge the aire that it be not corrupted as the lunges lie by the heart to doe it good is heere converted to bee a plague vnto them that as David was afflicted by the sonne of his owne bowelles who should haue beene the staffe of his age Sampson by the wife of his bosome who should haue bene his helper the children of Israell by Manna stinking and full of wormes and by quailes comming out of their nostrelles and the children of the prophets by a bitter hearbe in the pottage which were appointed for their sustenance and foode so these marriners for the sinne of Ionas are scourged with a winde a principall furtherance and benefit at other times required to sailing Obedience hath her praise both with God and men the of-spring of the righteous is obedience loue The Rechabites shall never want a testimony of their obedience vnles the booke of Ieremy the Prophet be againe cut with a penknife burnt vpon an hearth as in the daies of Zedekias Ionadab their father commaunded them to drinke no wine and they would not drinke it for that commaundement sake they nor their wiues their sonnes nor their daughters Christ prophecieth of himselfe Esay 50. The Lord hath opened mine eare and it was not rebellious neither turned I backe It was written of him in the booke that he should doe the will of his father he was ready to do it The law was in the midst of his bowels and without protracting the time he offered himselfe Loe I come He was obedieÌ„t vnto death even the death of the crosse And though he were the sonne yet learned he obedience by the things he suffered qui ne perderet obedientiam perdidit vitam though he slept a wofull and heavy sleepe to flesh and bloud yet he slept in peace Disobedience on the other side hath never escaped the hands of almighty God It cast Ionas out of the ship and the angels before Ionas out of heaven Adam and Eue out of paradise Lots wife out of her life and nature to Saule out of his kingdome the children of Israell out of their natiue soile and further their naturall roote that bare them For no other reason is given but this Ieremy 35. I spake they would not heare I cried they would not answer To leaue forraine exaÌ„ples the iustice of God now presently manifesting it selfe against disobedience coÌ„meth in a storme the vehemency and fury whereof appeareth 1. By the author God sent it Who although he be the author of all windes weathers and bringeth them out of his treasures yet when it is singularly noted of God that he was the cause it carrieth a likelyhood not of his general providence alone but of some speciall and extraordinary purpose 2. By the instrument which is a winde and neither thunders nor raines to helpe it 3. By the epithet appositioÌ„ of the instrument a great winde 4. By the nature of the word here vsed it was sent nay rather throwne sent headloÌ„g as the lightning is shot from heaveÌ„ It was cast froÌ„ God as the marriners cast their ladings into the sea for the same word is originally vsed in both places A wind so sodain furious that they could gesse at other teÌ„pests before they fel they had no signes wherby to prognosticate this 5. By the place that receiveth it the sea a champian plaine channel an open flore where there was neither hill nor forrest nor any other impediment to breake the force of it 6. By the explication added there was a tempest vpon it eveÌ„ a mightie tempest 7. By the effects that ensued in 4. 5. verses marveilouslie described 1. The breaking of the ship a stroÌ„g an able ship by coÌ„iecture because so lately set forth to sea the danger is the more to be considered that it fel not vpon rockes or shelues but by the power of the onely winde was almost splitted the Hebrew phrase is very significant the ship thought to be broken as if it had soule and sense to feele the hazard it was in 2 The feare that followed vpon the whole companye of the passengers 3 The feare of the marriners men accustomed inured to the like adventures of whome it is truely spoken â—llis robur aes triplex c. their harts are of brasse and oke to encounter dangers 4 Their praiers nay their vociferations outcries vpon their Gods as the priests of Baal cried vpon their idoll 5 The casting out of their ladings the necessary instruments vtensiles for their intended voiage Al which whatsoever besides is set down to the end of the 5. ver may be reduced to 3. persons with their actions administratioÌ„s belonging vnto them the 1. is the Lord the 2. the marriners the 3. Ionas Of the first it is said that he sent out a great winde It was the error of the Paynims to devide the world amongst sundry Gods with every severall region city family almost chamber chimney therin with heaven hell land sea woodes rivers wine corne fruits of the ground al things whatsoever AmoÌ„gst the rest the winds in the aire they ascribed to Aeolus whoÌ„e they imagined to haue them closely mued vp housed in a lodge and to haue sent theÌ„ abroad either for calmes or teÌ„pests
them I shewed before that by the instinct of nature it selfe the marriners might conceiue there was a God Heere it appeareth by the multitude they worship every man his God that nature alone sufficeth not without further revelation Nature may teach that there is a God but what in substance propriety how to be worshiped must elsewhere bee learned Nature without grace is as Sampson without his guide wheÌ„ his eies were out without whose direction he could not finde the pillars of the house nor the natural man any piller or principle of faith without the spirite of God guiding his steps vnto it or as Barach without Deborah who would not go against Sisera vnlesse the prophetesse went with him Such is the faintnesse of nature except it be streÌ„gthned with a better aide Vae soli if nature be single woe to it she falleth downe there is not another to helpe her vp Therefore our Saviour maketh a plaine distinction betwixt these two Blessed art thou Simon the sonne of Ionas for flesh and bloud hath not revealed this vnto thee the affirmatiue part followeth but my father which is in heaven when he made that notable fundamentall confession Afterwards when he had dehorted his maister with carnall perswasions sir pitty thy selfe he biddith him avant not by the name of Peter nor the sonne of Ionas nor Cephas but of Satan himselfe Nature was then alone and the heavenly light had withdrawne her influence from him No man living had ever greater endovvments and blessings of nature then the Apostle Saint Paul First he was a man that was a Iew as great a comfort vnto him no doubt as it was to Plato to be borne at Athens rather then in Barbary and although borne at Tarsus in Cilicia yet brought vp in the city of Ierusalem at the feete of Gamaliell and instructed according to the perfit manner of the lawe of the fathers and zealous towards God You haue his birth education maister learning and devotion already set downe we may adde his sect and profession out of the same history For after the strictest sect of the Iewish religion hee lived a Pharisee In his epistle to the Philippians he concludeth from the whole heape of his prerogatiues If any other man thinketh that hee hath whereof to trust in the flesh much more I circumcised the 8. day of the kinred of Israell of the tribe of Beniamin an Hebrewe of the Hebrewes by profession a Pharisee Concerning zeale I persecute the church touching rightuousnesse in the law I was vnrebukeable so he persecuted the church you see out of that place and he verily thought in himselfe that he ought to doe many things contrary to the name of Iesus of Nazareth which thing he also did in Ierusalem Thus notwithstanding hee had received the signe of the covenant circumcision not as the manner of proselytes was at the time of their conversion sometimes old sometimes young but 2. according to the law the eight day and 3. his kinred and descent were from Israell not from Esau vvhich lost the inheritaunce 4. his tribe such as never fell to idolatry but continued in the service of God and 5. his antiquity in that line not inferiour to the auncientest being as able to shew his greate and greate grandfathers from the first roote of the Hebrewes as any man besides those personall advantages of profession emulation conversation yet till there shined a clearer light from heaven not only vpon his face but vpon his heart and he was throwne to the ground both from his horse and from his confidence in the flesh and hearde a voice speaking vnto him Saul Saul why persecutest thou me and was instructed who it was that spake vnto him I am Iesus of Nazareth c. and received direction for his life to come Arise and go to Damascus all the knowledge hee had before was but dunge and losse and not worth the rekoning Socrates was a man excellent for humane wisedome the like to whom could not be found among many thousandes of men of whome notwithstanding Lactantius writeth thus vt aliorum argueret inscientiam qui se aliquid tenere arbitrabantur ait se nihil scire nisi vnum quòd nihil sciret to convince the ignorance of others who thought they knewe something he professed to knowe nothing but this one that he knewe nothing He further testified openly and in a place of iudgement that there was no wisedome of man and the learning whereof the philosophers then gloried he so conteÌ„ned scorned renounced that he professed it his greatest learning to haue learned nothing It is not vnknowne what Cicero said Vtinam tam facilè vera invenâ—re possem quam falsa convincere I would I were as able to find out trueth as to refute falshood the most renowmed oratour that ever Rome or the earth bare Daniell sawe more in the secrets and counsels of God than all the wisards of Babylon besides The enchanters and the Astrologians and the sorcerers and Chaldeans as they are numbred in the second of Daniell they confesse plainely before the king concerning his dreame there is none other that can declare it before the king except God whose dwelling is not with flesh yet they are called in the same prophecy the kinges wise men But by the iudgment of the Queene wife of Balthazar Daniell exceedeth them all in wisedome there is a man in the kingdome saith shee in whome is the spirit of the holy Gods and in the daies of thy father light and vnderstanding and wisedome like the wisedome of the Gods was founde in him Pharaoh made no lesse report of Ioseph in the eares of all his servauntes Genesis the one and fortieth Can wee finde such a man as this in whome is the spirit of God It was wisedome in them that they vvere able in some sorte to discerne such spirites and to giue them their proper names though secretly condemning themselues thereby to haue but the spirites of men or beastes vvhen Daniell and Ioseph were inspired farre otherwise The litle flocke of Christ exempted only to whome it is given to knowe misteries vvee may seeke the whole vvorld besides with cresset light and enquire as the Apostle did Where is the wise Where is the scribe Where is the disputer of this worlde Hath not GOD made the wisedome of this worlde foolishnesse To what other ende is that confession or thankesgiving of our Saviour in the eleventh of Matthew I giue thee thankes O Father Lorde of heaven and earth because thou hast hid these things from the wise and men of vnderstanding and hast opened them vnto babes wise and yet fooles men of vnderstanding yet they vnderstande nothing How are wisdome and folly bound vp togither in one hart or what agreement betweene light darknes in one eie No marvaile if vve aske of it for the Lord himselfe calleth it a marvelous worke Even
hart for his endlesse miseriâ—s the eies labouring for teares which shall ever run downe and the teeth grinding one the other without ceasing THE SEVENTH LECTVRE Chap. 1 vers 6. Arise call vpon thy God c. BEfore I haue shewed and coÌ„mended the diligence of the ship-master and prooved that there must be some power and superiority to restraine inferiours by feare to reprooue sleepers and all kindes of offenders The praise of this governour farther appeareth that he doth not only reprehend Ionas what meanest thou sleeper but vrgeth and prosecuteth him Arise and instructeth him what he ought to do Call vpon thy God and openeth the vncertainty and hazard wherinto they were falleÌ„ If so be that God will thinke of vs that the imminent daÌ„ger toucheth not their goods alone but their liues also as appeareth by the end of his speech That we perish not Thus he is not coÌ„tent to pul him as it were by the eare with checking him but he shaketh him by the arme to to set him on his feete hee entreth into his coÌ„scieÌ„ce with wise and godly advise pricketh the inwardest veine of his heart with commemoration of their danger if God stay it not He hath laid his hand vpon a plough his eie goeth not from it he sticketh not in the beginnings of his calling but groweth onward by degrees till hee commeth to the full stature of a good magistrate Giue mee a shepheard thus zealous of his flocke and I will say he is better then seven other shepheards a man of principallity so careful of this duty more then eight principall men that neglect theirs It vvas not enough for Eli you knowe to chide his sonnes why doe you such thinges for of all this people I heare evill reports of you Do no more so It is not a good report that I heare of you because he did no more but so and proceeded not in the chastisement and reformation of them God chargeth him in plaine tearmes that hee honored his children aboue him and threatneth to cut of his arme and the arme of his fathers house Afterwardes hee telleth Samuell that hee will doe a thing in Israell that whosoever hearde of his two eares should tingle Hee would iudge the house of Eli for ever because his sonnes ranne into slander and hee stayed them not And the wickednesse of his house should not bee purged with sacrifice and with offering whiles the world stoode And if you harken for the sequel of all this his two sonnes Hophni and Phinees died both in one day and himselfe receiving a tydinges worse then death brake his necke All this vvee heare of fathers and maisters and magistrates and ministers and yet our eares tingle not we suffer our sonnes our servantes our people our â—â—ocks to runne into slander themselues to redouble that slaunder vpon our ovvne heades to multiplie it against God his gospell his church and we stay them not The rest of our tongues within their walles and wardes and the rust of the sword within the skabbard the admonition of the one winking with both the eies and the correction of the other fast a sleepe shew how vnworthy we are to be trusted in our places and how vnlike the maister of the shippe heere spoken of Beholde I haue sought one by one to match this example of gentility and I haue found one man of a thousand that may contend with him The government of Nehemias throughout the whole booke is a singular president to all rulers 1 In the building of the wals of Ierusalem he would not bee checked by Sanballat and his mates when they dispightfully asked him what doe you will you rebell against the king He then answered The God of heaven will prosper vs and we will rise vp and build but as for you ye haue no portion nor right nor memoriall in Hierusalem 2 When they determined by conspiracy to fight against Hierusalem and slaie the builders of the walles he placed them with speares and bowes and gaue them this encouragement Be not afraid of theÌ„ but remember the great Lord and fearefull and fight for your brethren your sons your daughters your wiues your houses So they did the worke of the Lorde with one hand and held the sword with the other wroughte by daie and watched by night yea they were so carefull in their watch hee and his servantes and his brethren and the men of the warde which followed him that no man put of his cloathes saue that they put them of for washing 3 When the people were oppressed by their brethren their landes houses vineyards gaged for corne their sons and daughters brought to subiection he rebuked the princes and rulers Yee lay burthens every one vpon his brethren wee haue redeemed them from the heathen and yee will sell them againe that which yee doo is not good restore them their lands oliues vineyards houses remit the hundreth part of the silver corne wine oile that yee exact of them Yea hee called the Priestes and caused them to sweare to doe it Moreover he shooke his lap and said Thus let the Lord shake out every man that performeth not his promise even thus let him be shaken out and emptied 4 When the sabbath was prophaned amongst them for some in Iudaea trode wine-presses and brought in sheaues and laded asses with wine grapes and figges and other of Tyre brought fish and all wares and sold them on the sabbathes in Ierusalem he not only rebuked their rulers what evell is this that yee doe and shewed them the daunger This did our fathers and God plagued the cittie but hee caused the gates of the cittie to bee shutt before the sabbath and set servants of his at the gates and the chapmen remained without the walles at night and he protested vnto them that if they tarried againe about the wall he would lay handes vpon them 5 When some of the Iewes married their wiues from Asdod Ammon and Moab and their children spake halfe in the speech of Asdod and coulde not speake in the Iewes language first hee reproved them secondly cursed them thirdly smote certaine of them fourthly pulled of their haire for a further reproch vnto them and lastly tooke an othe of them by God yee shall not giue your daughters unto their sonnes neither shall yee take of their daughters for yours sonnes nor for your selues 6 Eliashib the Priest kinsman to Tobiah in the absence of Nehemie from Ierusalem having the oversight of the chamber of the house of the Lorde where the offering and incense vesselles and tithes for the provision of Levites singers and porters and the offerings of Priests were wont to be laide hee made a chamber thereof for his kinsman Tobias the Horonite The order that Nehemias tooke for the amendment of this abuse is throughly persued 1. it grieved him sore 2. he cast out the vesselles of Tobiah out of the chamber and then caused the
children within the citty of Shusan throughout all the provinces of the kingdome should be destroied But did the Almighty sleepe at this wicked and bloudy designemeÌ„t or was his eie held blind-folded that he could not see it No that powerfull and dreadfull God who holdeth the bal of the world in his hand and keepeth a perfite kalender of all times seasons had so inverted the course of thinges for his chosens sake that the moneth day before prefined became most dismal to those that intended mischiefe Without further allegations this may suffice as touching the successe of the lots and consequently the providence of God in the moderation thereof It is now a questioÌ„ meete to be discussed the offender being found whether it stande with the iustice of God to scourge a multitude because one in the coÌ„pany hath transgressed For though I condemned their arrogancy before in that not knowing who the offender was they wiped their mouthes each man in the ship with the harlot in the Proverbs asked in their harts Is it I yet when the oracle of God hath now dissolved the doubt and set as it were his marke vpon the trouble plague of the whole ship they had some reason to thinke that it was not a righteous parte to lay the faults of the guilty vpon the harmelesse innocent This was the cause that they complained of old that the whole fleete of the Argiues was overthrowne Vnius ob noxam furias Aiacis Oilei for one mans offence Nay they were not content there to rest but they charged the iustice of God with an accusation of more vveight Plerunque nocenâ—es Praeterit examinatque indignos inque nocentes as though oftentimes hee freed the nocent and laide the burthen of woes vpon such as deserved them not It appeareth in Ezechiell that the children of Israell had taken vp as vngratious a by-word amongst them the fathers haue eaten the sower grape and the childrens teeth are set on edge and they conclude therehence the waies of God are not equall It was an exception that Bion tooke against the Gods that the fathers smarte was devolved to their posterity and thus hee scornefully matched it as if a physitian for the grandfathers or fathers disease shoulde minister physicke to their sonnes or nephewes They spake evill of Alexander the greate for razing the city of the Branchides because their auncestoures had pulled downe the temple of Miletum They mocked the Thracians for beating their wiues at that day because their foreruÌ„ners had killed Orpheus And Agathocles escaped not blame for wasting the island Corcyra because in ancienter times it gaue entertainment to Vlysses Nay Abraham himselfe the father of the faithfull heire of the promises friend of God disputeth with the Lord about Sodome to the like effect Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked Againe Be it far from thee for doing this thing to slay the righteous with the vnrighteous and that the iust should be as the vniust this be far from thee shal not the iudge of al the world do right In the booke of Numbers when God willed Moses Aaron to seperate themselues froÌ„ the congregation that he mighte at once destroy them they fel vpon their faces said O God the God of the spirits of every creature hath not one man only sinned wilte thou bee wroth with all the congregation In the first of Chronicles when for the offence of David in numbring his people the plague fell vpon them slew seventy thousand of them the king with the elders fell downe cried vnto the Lord Is it not I that commanded to number the people It is even I that haue sinned and committed this evill but these sheepe what haue they done O Lord my God I beseech thee let thine hand bee vpon me and vpon my fathers house and not on thy people for their destruction I answere this hainous crimination grievance against the righteousnes of God in few words froÌ„ the authorities of Ezechiel Ieremy before alleaged Behold all soules are mine saith the Lord both the soule of the father also of the sonne are mine the soule that sinneth it shall die O yee house of Israel is not my way equal or are not your waies vnequall If it vvere a truth which the poet sang to his friend Delicta maiorum immeritus lues Romane thou shalt beare the faultes of thy forefathers vvithout thine owne deservings the question vvere more difficult But who is able to say my heart is cleane though I came from an vncleane seede though I were borne of a Morian I haue not his skinne though an Ammorite were my father and my mother an Hittite I haue not their nature I haue touched pitch am not defiled I can wash mine handes in innocency say with a cleare conscience I haue not sinned But if this be the case of vs all that there is not a soule in the whole cluster of mankind that hath not offended though not as principal touching the fact presently enquired of as Achan in taking the accursed thing Corah in rebelling David in numbring the people yet an accessary in consenting coÌ„cealing if neither principal nor accessary in that one sin yet culpable in a thousand others coÌ„mitted in our life time perhaps not open to the world but in the eies of God as bright as the sun in the firmament for the scorpion hath a stinge though hee hath not thrust it forth to wounde vs man hath malice though he hath not outwardly shewed it it may be some sins to come which God foreseeth some already past which he recouÌ„teth shall we stand in argument with God as man would plead with man charge the iudge of the quicke dead with iniurious exactions I haue paide the thinges that I neuer tooke I haue borne the price of sinne which I neuer committed You heare the ground of mine answere We haue al sinned father and son rush branch deservedly are to expect that wages from the hands of God which to our sin appertaineth touching this present company I nothing doubt but they might particularly bee touched for their proper private iniquities though they had missed of Ionas Bias to a like fare of passengers shakeÌ„ with an horrible tempest as these were and crying to their Gods for succor answered not without some iest in that earnest hold your peace least the Gods hap to heare that you passe this way noting their lewdnesse to be such as might iustly draw downe a greater vengeance Besides it caÌ„not be denied but those things which we seyer part in our conceits by reason that distance of time place hath sundred theÌ„ some being done of old some of late some in one quarter of the world some in an other those doth the God of knowledge vnite and veweth them at once as if they were done
togither Say that being young thou wert riotous gluttonous libidinous given to drinking surfetting giving thy streÌ„gth to harlots shal not thine olde age rue it art thou not one the saÌ„e person both in thy yonger older years in the waxing in the waning of thy daies shall the difference and change of times exempt thee froÌ„ the gout dropsie the like distemperature Thy grandfather 2. or 3. degrees beyond thy father and thy selfe Et natinatorum qui nascentur ab illis thy childrens children nephews to come you are all but one house Aeacidae froÌ„ Aeacus springing froÌ„ one roote the head of the family in his sight account who esteemeth a 1000. generations but as one day Plutarch himselfe was wise enough to answere the argument There is not the like comparison betwixt father son as betwixte a workeman his worke neither can they alike be separated for that which is borne or begotten is not only from the father but of him as a part belonging vnto him The Castilions bloud in France spilt at the massacre may rightfully be required of the Guisian race in the 4. or 5. generation to come This is the cause that David curseth the wicked on both sides both in their descent let their children bee vagabondes begge their breade and in their ascent let the iniquity of his father be had in remembrance let not the sinne of his mother be done away The like is daily practised in the community and felowship of diverse partes within the same body as in a matter of felonie the hand only hath taken and borne away but the feete are clapt in iron the belly pinched with penury the bones lie hard the best iointe is endangered for it Sundry partes though distinguished both in place and office feele the punishment which they may fondly say the hand only deserved Yea the eie may bee sore and a veine prickt in the arme to cure it the hoofe tender and weake and the top of the hoâ—ne annointed for remedie thereof eveÌ„ so in the body of a city the body of an army the body of a church the bodie of a ship though happily few offend yet their iniquity is brought vpon the head of a whole multitude The kinges are mad the Greekes are plagued 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the vvhole citie oftentimes reapeth the fruite of one vvicked man amongst them What iniury is done therein is it more then one citie is not that citizen a member of their body Is not Socrates one and the same man at the head at the foote is not Englande one and the same land at Barwicke and at the Mount is not London one and the same city at Ludgate at Aldgate These may be the reasons why the whole number of passengers is plagued both in the losse of their wares in the hazard of their liues for the principall transgression of Ionas 1. they were wicked themselues because they were idolatrous what other corruptions they had the Lord knoweth 2. they were all but one body vnder the same discipline and government tied togither by orders lawes for sea as by iointes by reason they had entertained and consorted themselues with disobedient Ionas Other causes there may be secret vnto God which I dare not search out Why should I climbe into paradise or pâ—ie into the arke to behold his counsels wheÌ„ he hath set darknes clouds about his pavilioÌ„ why should I labor to remoue theÌ„ We know not the reasons of many a thing beloÌ„ging to our coÌ„moÌ„ life how it coÌ„meth that our clothes are warme about our backs when the earth is quiet through the south-winde shal we reach after hiddeÌ„ knowledge A plague begaÌ„ in Aethiopia filled AtheÌ„s killed Pericles vexed Thucy dides or to match the example a plague beginneth in FraÌ„ce taketh shipping at NewhaveÌ„ laÌ„deth in EnglaÌ„d with Englishmen harboureth it selfe in LondoÌ„ never departeth therehence againe Wil you know the reason hereof It may be that the works of God may be made manifest as Christ spake of the blind maÌ„ Ioh. 9. or to shew his power that he hath over his clay to exercise his iustice to practise proue our patience whether we wil curse him to his face as it may be the divel hath informed against vs or to apply the coÌ„tinual physick of afflictioÌ„ chastisemeÌ„t vnto vs that we ruÌ„ not into desperate maladies For there are 4. kinds of meÌ„ which by 4. kinds of means come to heaveÌ„ 1. some buy it at a price which bestow al their teÌ„poral goods for the better coÌ„passing therof 2. soÌ„e catch it by violeÌ„ce they forsake fathers mothers land living life al that they haue for that kingdomes sake 3. some steale it they do their good deeds secretly they are opeÌ„ly rewarded 4. others are enforced to take it by coÌ„tinual afflictioÌ„s made to fal into the liking therof Or whatsoever els be the cause which the sanctuary of heaven hath reserved to it selfe buried in light that may not be approached vnto this I am sure of that the challeÌ„ge of the Apostle shal stand like a wal of brasse against al the obiectioÌ„s in the world NuÌ„quid iniquitas apud DeuÌ„ Is there any vnrighteousnes with God And so farre was it of that these marriners receiued losse by their losse that it vvas their occasion to bring them to the knowledge and feare of the true God as hereafter shall appeare vnto you in the tendering of their vowes and other the like religious dueties Then saide they vnto him tell vs for whose cause this evill is vpon vs c. Having presumed that the lots could not lie being governed and guided by the wisdoÌ„e of God they gather theÌ„selues togither like bees al make a coÌ„mon incursion vpon Ionas For by likelihood of their demands because they are many in nuÌ„ber many to the same effect as some supposed it is not vnprobable that their whole troupe assaulted him each one had a pul after his fashioÌ„ as they had sundry heads mouthes so they had sundry speeches to expresse one the same thing therfore one asked vnde venis wheÌ„ce coÌ„mest thou another quae terra tua what is thy couÌ„try a third ex quo populo of what people art thou when his people couÌ„try dwelling place differ not in substaÌ„ce And certainely I cannot blame them if in such peril of their liues when the first borne of death the next immediatest death to sight was vpoÌ„ theÌ„ they al make an head open their mouthes without order or course against the worker of their woes When Achan was brought to the valley of Achor to be executed he his sons daughters asses sheepe the silver garment wedge of golde his tent all that hee had there produced it is said that all Israell threw stones at him and burnt them with fire and stoned
thy walles wee finde but rubbell nay wee finde not the grounde wherein thy walles haue stoode wee looke for Greece in Greece wee search for her cities and finde nothing saue their carkasses and ruinated fragmentes It is a paradoxe in common reason hardly to bee prooved but that experience findeth it true Brethren kinsmen or friendes when they fall to enmity their hatred is greater than betwixte mortall foes according to the prophecie of Christ Inimici viri domestici eius a mans enimies indeede and to purpose to worke him most harme shall bee they of his owne house Of all the vialles of the wrath of God powred dovvne vpon sinners it is one of the sorest vvhen a man is fed with his ovvne flesh and drunken with his owne bloude as with sweete wine that is taketh pleasure in nothing more than in the overthrow and extirpation of his owne seede Non nisi quaesitum cognatâ caede cruorem Illicitumque bibit careth not for any bloude but that which is drawne from the sides of his brethren and kinsmen Tacitus noteth no lesse than I speake of betweene Segestes and Ariminius the one the father the other the sonne in law both hatefully and hostilely bent That which bounde them togither in loue vvhilst they vvere at concorde put them further at variance being once enimies VVhat more eager and bitter contention hath euer beene betweene Christian and Saracen than betweene Christian and Christian we are brethren I confesse one to the other fratres vterini brethren from the wombe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having one father in heavē and one mother vpon earth but it is fallen out vpon vs vvhich Iacob pronounced vpon Simeon and Levi vvee are brethren in evill they in their wrath slewe a man and in their selfe-will digged downe a wall and therefore their rage was accursed Can we escape a curse that haue slaine a man and a man digged downe a wall and a wal betraied a kingdome a kingdome laid opē the vineyard for the wild boar givē the soule of the turtle to the beast resigned vp many sanctified dominions wherein the scepter of Christ was acknowledged to capital and deadly enimies by our mutual intestine seditions I can better shewe you the malignity of the disease than prescribe the remedy But vvhere brethren kinsmen confederates contende togither what parte gayneth the vanquished and the victorers maie both beshrewe themselues They may fighte and embrue their handes in bloude and get the honour of the daie but they vvill haue little list to triumph at night Iocasta tolde her two sons rather her firebrands as Hecuba foresaw of Paris agreeing togither like fire water that whosoeuer conquered the other he would neither make shew nor beare signe of the conquest O pray for the peace of Ierusalē they shall prosper and speede right happilie that wish her prosperity Pray not for the peace of Edom whilst it is Edom pray not for the peace of Babylon whilst it continueth Babylon so long as they cry against Sion dovvne vvith it downe with it euen to the grounde the Lord returne it seven-folde into their bosome But pray to the prince of peace whose blessing and gift peace is that if ever we fight by moving either hand or pen vvee may fight against Edom Babylon Ammon Aram as Ioab and Abisai did those that are without but evermore desire procure ensue the peace of Ierusalem Thus far of the kindnes shewed by the marriners vnto Ionas who though they were but men strange vnknown vnto him yet vpon that knowledge of God which he had instilled into their mindes by his preaching they endevoured what they could to saue his life How sped their labours But they could not for the sea wrought c. I remit you for instructiō her-hence to the 11. ver where you haue most of these very words It shall stand more durable than the firmament of heauen which the king of Babylon testified of God Daniel 4. According to his will hee vvorketh in the army of heauen in the inhabitantes of the earth no man can staye his hand or say vnto him what doest thou he pronoūceth as much of himselfe Esay 46. My counsell shall stand I will do whatsoeuer I will The earnestnes improbity of mans labor nothing availeth if God be against it It is but the labour of Sisyphus labouring in the fire ploughing vpon the rockes as the mouth of God speaketh according to his word in Malachy They shall build but I will pull downe The vigour of the wordes once againe giueth this counsel vnto vs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to contēd or wrastle with the power of God which is as if a flie should oppose her force against a bulwarke They preach doctrine of sufferance patience at the will of God Quod ferendū est feras that which thou must beare of necessity beare with good contentment of minde Hee is an vnmeete souldiour that followeth his generall with groning Thou canst not striue vvith thy maker thou canst not adde to the stature of thy body nor chaunge one haire of thy head from the colour which God gaue it It is not thy rising early that can make thee rich nor barring the gates of thy citty that can make thee safe much lesse canst thou ransome thy life nor the life of thy brother from the hand of God thou must perforce let that alone for ever A league with all the elementes of the world with the beastes of the field stones in the streete with death hell themselues is vnable to secure thee Therefore whatsoever befall thee in thy body goods children or beasts enter into thy chamber bee secret still let the right hand of the Lord of hostes haue the preheminence This was the reason I conceiue that after those last words cast me into the sea though the men stroue with their ores cried to the Lord in the next verse yet there is no mention made either of deed or word added by Ionas For what shoulde he doe when the countenance of the Lord was against him but run the race set before his eies with patience fal to another meditatiō than before he had that although he were throwen into the sea yet God was the Lord both of the lād the waters whether he sunke or swam lived or died he was that Lords Impatientiae natales in ipso diabolo deprehendo I finde that impatience was borne of the devil saith Tertullian to him let vs leaue this plant which the hand of the Lord never planted to his mal-contented impes with whōe there is nothing so rife as banning blaspheming bitter and swelling speech against the highest power of heauen if ever they bee crost or wrung with the least tribulation They never learned how the linkes of that heauēly chaine are fastened one to the other that tribulation bringeth patience patience
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
greate and vvide sea vvherein are thinges creeping innumerable both small and greate beastes There goe the shippes the artificiallest wonder that ever vvas framed and there goeth that Leviathan the wonder of that nature vvhom thou hast made to play therein In the booke of Iob two argumeÌ„ts are produced to amplifie the incomparable power of God Behemoth by land Leviathan by sea and for the power and perswasion of wordes I do not thinke that ever more was vsed than where the power of those 2. creatures is expressed Of the latter of these it is professed in open tearms I wil not keepe silence coÌ„cerning his parts nor his power nor his comely proportion Indeed they are all worthily described by the tongue of the learned eveÌ„ the learnedst tongue that the holy ghost had Never were there rivers flouds of eloqueÌ„ce neither in the orators of AtheÌ„s Rome nor in the Seraphins of heaveÌ„ equal to those that are powred forth in that narratioÌ„ Augustine some-where noteth that al men marvailed at Tullies tongue but not his inveÌ„tion At Aristotles inveÌ„tioÌ„ all men but not his tongue At Platoes invention tongue both But for a tongue wisdome to not to be vttered by the tongue nor to be coÌ„prehended by the wisdoÌ„e of mortal man I remit you to those chapters Ierome writeth of the whole booke Singulain eo verba plena sunt sensibus Every word of it is very sententious But no where through the whole more sense more substance grace and maiestie spent than where the meaning and intent was that the maiesty of the most high God should fully be illustrated To cast mine eies backe againe from wheÌ„ce I am digressed it is writteÌ„ of the whale that wheÌ„ he swimmeth sheweth himselfe vpoÌ„ the flouds you would think that ilaÌ„ds swam towards you and that very high hils did aspire to heaven it selfe with their tops Pliny giveth the reasoÌ„ why many beasts in the sea are bigger theÌ„ those vpoÌ„ land Causa evidens humoris luxuria The evideÌ„t cause saith he is superfluity of moisture Howbeit it holdeth not in birds whose ofspring is froÌ„ the waters to quibus vita pendentibus because they liue haÌ„ging as it were hovering or waâ—ting in the aire But in the open champian sea being of a soft fruitfull encrease semperque pariente naturâ of a nature that is ever breeding and bringing forth monsters are often engendred He writeth of Balaeâ—a the whirle-poole or we may english iâ— also a whale so doth Tremelius interpret the name of Leviathan in Iob the Psalme that in the Indian sea there are some founde to the largenes of fowre acres of grounde that they are laden surcharged with their owne waight Likewise he reporteth of other beasts in the sea that the dores of houses were made of their iawes and the rafters of their bones some of which bones were 40. cubites in length and that the skins of some were broad enough to cover habitable houses So true is the opinion of the people coÌ„monly received that whatsoeuer is bred in any part of nature is in the sea many creatures besides which are no where els And therfore the lesse marvaile may it seeme eveÌ„ to a natural man by the course of nature it selfe his lady mistresse that God should prepare a fish great enough to swallow vp Ionas For the attribute is not adioyned for naught A great fish Seneca the philosopher writeth of one Senetio sirnamed Grandio others haue beene called Magni for the greatnes of their vertues Alexander in Greece Pompey in Rome Arsaces in Parthia Charles amongst the Emperors the great and Gregory the great amongst the Popes but Senetio had to name the graÌ„d or the great for his great vanity He liked of nothing that was not great He would not speake but what was great He kept no servants but great Vsed no plate but great The shoes he ware were over great The figs he ate were great outlaÌ„dish figs And he had a wife besids of a great stature But whosoever is greatest vpoÌ„ the face of the earth though his stile be as great as that emperours of whoÌ„ Eusebius writeth whose titles were suÌ„med togither in a long catalogue The greatest bishop greatest in Thebes greatest in Sarmatia in Persia fiue times the greatest greatest in Germany greatest in Egypt yet I will say vnto him as the Psalme to the princes of that time Give vnto the Lord yee sons of the mightie giue vnto the Lord glorie and strength giue vnto the Lord the honour due vnto his name That greatnesse belongeth vnto the Lord alone wee are taught by an excellent phrase of speech proper to the Hebrews The striving of Raâ—ell with her sister Leah about the bearing of childreÌ„ because it was very great is called the wrastling of God The mountaines of the earth wherwith the righteousnesse of God is coÌ„pared because they were very great are called the mountaines of God The city of Niniveh because very great of 3. daies iourney is called the citie of God In all which singular idiotismes the letter it selfe directeth vs rightly where to bestowe all greatnes Vndoubtedly it was the great God of heaven and earth that prepared great lightes in the firmament great fishes in the sea great men great beasts vpon the drie land magnitudinis eius non est finis and there is no ende no limits of his greatnesse To swallowe vp Ionas They have an history in prophane reading that Arion the Lesbian a famous musitian beeing embarked with some who for the gaine of his money woulde haue cast him into the sea he craved a litle respite of them before his casting forth taking his harpe in hand playing a while theron at length himselfe leapt into the waters was caried vpon the backe of a dolphin to the landing place intended before the Mariners could possibly ariue there In Herodotus the father of history saith Tully there are innumerable fables happily this amongst the rest But I alleadge it to this end that if God had prepared a whale to have borne Ionas vpon his back to have held him aboue the waters where he might have beheld the light of heaven drawn the comfort of the aire as other living souls there had been no fear of miscariage It is quite contrarie for the Lorde prepared a fish to swallow vp Ionas Whereof one spake a thing not hearde of before the belly of a fish is the habitation of a man If of a man dismeÌ„bred dissolved piece-meale I would never haue doubted The crocodiles of Nilus in Egypt Gangs in India other rivers of Mexico Peru will devour not onely men but whole heards of cattell And a physitian of our latter times hath written Calvin not sparing to testifie the seme that in the bowels of a Lamia hath beene found a whole armed man But Ionas is taken in
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
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
mercie pleaseth him For who hath first loved or first given or anye way deserved and it shal bee restored vnto him a thousande folde Blessinges and thankesgivinges for evermore bee heaped vpon his holy name in whom the treasures of mercy and loving kindenesse dwell bodylie who of his owne benevolente disposition hath both pleased himselfe and pleasured his poore people with so gracious a qualitye Even so LORD for that good pleasure and purpose sake deale with the rest of thy people as thou hast dealt with Ionas and the marriners take awaie those iniquities of ours that take away thy favour and blessing from vs and as a stranger that knoweth them not passe by our transgressions retaine not thine anger for ever though we retaine our sinnes the cause of thine anger but returne to vs by grace who returne not to thee by repentance and haue compassion vpon vs who haue not compassion vpon our owne soules subdue our raigning and raging vnrighteousnesse and drowne our offences in the bottome of the sea which els will drowne vs in the bottome of perdition The mysteries buried vnder this type of the casting vp of Ionas the seconde principall consideration vvherein I bounded my selfe are collected by some 1. The preaching of the gospell to the Gentiles not before the passion and resurrection of Christ because Ionas went not to Niniveh till after his sinking and rising againe 2. A lanterne of comforte to all that sit in the darkenesse of affliction and in the shadowe of death held out in the enlargement of Ionas who though hee vvere swallowed downe into the bowels of an vnmercifull beast yet by the hand of the Lord he was againe cast our These are somewhat enforced But the only counterpane indeed to match this original is the resurrection of the blessed sonne of God from death to life figured in the restitution of the prophet to his former estate of liuelyhode and by him applyed in the gospel to this body of truth who is very and substantiall trueth For so hee telleth the Scribes and Pharisees twise in one Evangelist An evill and adulterous generation degenerated from the faith and workes of their father Abraham wherein standeth the right descent of his children asketh a signe but no signe shall bee given vnto it saue the signe of the Prophet Ionas For as Ionas vvas three daies and three nightes in the whales belly so shall the sonne of man bee three daies and three nightes in the â—earte of the earth His meaning was that if this so vnlikely and in nature so vncredible a signe coulde not mooue them all the tokens in heaven and earth would not take effect That Christ is risen againe there is no question The bookes are open and hee that runneth may reade enough to perswade him Hee that tolde them of the signe before mentioned signified the same worke vnder the name and shadow of the temple of Ierusalem a little to obscure his meaning and that hee tearmed a signe also Destroie this temple and I will builde it againe in three daies He meante not the temple of Salomon as they mistooke but the temple of his bodie more costly and glorious than ever that admired temple of theirs the buildinge whereof in the counsaile of his father was more than forty and sixe yeares even from the first age of the worlde and everie stone therein angular precious and tryed cut out of a mountaine without handes ordeined from the highest heauens without humane furtheraunce and such whereof hee affirmed longe before in the mouth of his Prophet who could iustifie his saying Thou shalt not suffer thine holy one to see corruption though of the other temple hee prophecied and it was perfourmed there shall not a stone bee lefte standing vpon a stone that shall not bee cast dovvne Praedixit revixit He gaue warning before that it shoulde so bee and hee fulfilled it The earth-quake at the very time of his resurrection Math. 28. the testimonie and rebuke of Angelles vvhy seeke yee the living amongest the deade hee is risen he is not here his manifestation to one to two to twelue to moe than fiue hundreth at once once and againe his breaking of breade amongst them the printes of his handes and side their very fingers and nayles for evidence sake thrust into them togither with so many predictions that thus it must bee and so many sermons and exhortations that so it was are able to resolue any spirite that setteth not it selfe of purpose to resist the holie Ghost Or if there be any of so audacious impiety as to deny the scriptures the warrante whereof is so stronge that Paul in the Actes of the Apostles not tarrying the answere of king Agrippa by his owne mouth speaketh in his name by a reasonable and vndoubted concession I know thou beleevest them and hee thought it afterwardes firme enough to prooue any article of the faith without other force according to the scriptures let them listen a while to that learned disputation that GREAT ATHANASIVS helde concerning this point Hee proveth that the sonne of God coulde not chuse but die having taken vnto him a body of death and that hee coulde not but liue againe because that bodye of his was vitae sacrarium The vestrie or chappell wherein life vvas conserved And hee holdeth it a senselesse thing that a dead man shoulde haue the power so to extimulate and pricke the mindes of the livinge that the Grecian and Pagan was brought to forsake his auncient nationall idolatries and worship the Saviour of the world that a man forsaken of life and able to doe nothing should so hinder the actions of actiue and liues-men that by the preaching of Iesus of Nazareth an adulterer leaveth his adulteries a murtherer his bloud sheades and at the naming of his dreadfull name the very devilles departe from their oracles and oratories He vrgeth yet further Howe can the carkas of a dead man prevaile so much with the living that vpon the confidence of life therein contained they haue endured the losse of libertie countrie wife children goods good name and life it selfe with such Christian magnanimity that the Arrians espying it beganne to receiue it as a ruled and resolved case not to be doubted of there is no Christian living that feareth death As for the slaunder of his sworne enemies the Iewes whose malice cannot ende but in the ende of the woorlde vvho contrary to common humanity belyed him in his graue and gaue not leaue to his bones to rest in peace saying and hyring men to saye and vvith a greate summe purchasing that vntrueth as the chiefe captaine did his burgesshippe Actes the two and twentith His disciples came by nighte and stole him awaie while we slept let it sleepe in the dust with them till the time come When everie eie shall see him even those that pierced him vpon the crosse and those that watched
and the beautifull flowre of the roote of Iesse though withered and defaced for a while in his passion hath so reflourished by raysing him selfe that in him is the blooming and springing of all that loue his name This is that which Paul in his aunswere before Agrippa called the hope of the fathers and this I may as properly tearme The faith and patience of the Saintes For as in every action the vertue that mooveth the agent to vndertake it is the hope of good to come for hee that soweth soweth to reape and hee that fighteth fighteth to get the victory so take away the hope of resurrection and all the conscience or care of godlinesse will fall to the grounde Gregorie vpon these wordes of the last of Sainâ— Matthew But some doubted VVherevpon hee else-where â—oteth that it was the especiall providence of God that Thomas shoulde bee away and afterwardes come and heare heare and doubte doubte and handle handle and beleeue that so hee might become a witnesse of the true resurrection and that it was not so much a touch of infirmitye in them as a confiâ—mation to vs who by that meanes haue the resurrection prooved by so many the more argumentes there are many saith hee who considering the departure of the spirit from the flesh the goinge of that flesh into rottennesse that rottennesse into dust that dust into the elementes thereof so small that the eie of man cannot perceiue them denie and despaire of the resurrection and thinke it vnpossible that ever the withered bones shoulde be cloathed with flesh and waxe greene againe Tertullian frameth their obiections more at large Can that body ever bee sounde againe that hath beene corrupted whole that hath beene maymed full that hath beene emptied or haue any being at all that hath beene altogither turned into nothing Or shall the fire and water the bowels of wilde beastes gordges of birdes entralles of fishes yea the very throate that belongeth to the times themselues ever bee able to restore and redeliver it to the former services thereof Heerevpon they inferred vvho had no longinge after life nor desire to see good dayes let vs eate and drinke for to morrowe vvee shall die that is they will not die before to morrowe but in drunkennes and excesse they will bury themselues to day And liue whilest thou mayest liue And it is better to be a living dogge then a deade lion And there is nothing after death no not death 〈◊〉 selfe Who if they helde not saith Gregorie the faith of the resurrection by submitting themselues to the worde of God surelie they shoulde haue helde it vpon the verdite of reason For what doth the worlde daylie in the elementes and creatures thereof but imitate our resurrection VVe see by degrees of time the withering and falling of the leaues from the trees the intermission of their fruites c. And beholde vpon the suddaine as it vvere from a drye and deade tree by a kinde of resurrection the leaues breake foorth againe the fruites waxe bigge and ripe and the whole tree is apparrailed with a fresh beauty Consider wee the little seede whereout the tree ariseth and let vs comprehend if wee can in that small-nesse of seede howe so mighty a tree and where it was couched Where was the wood the barke the glorie of the leaues the plenty of the fruit when we first sowed it when wee threw it into the grounde was any of these apparant what marvaile is it then if of the thinnest dust resolved into the first elementes and remooved from the apprehension of our eies God at his pleasure reforme a man when from the smallest seedes he is able to produce so huge trees The Apostle vseth this similitude of the seed and the body that springeth from it Thou foole that which thou sowest is not quickened except it die And that which thou sowest thou sowest not that body that shall bee but the naked and simple seede whereof the blade and the eare with the rest of the burthen and encrease ariseth And Tertullian much wondreth that the earth is so kinde vnto vs to returne our corne with such aboundance of a deceaver shee becommeth a preserver And before shee preserveth shee first destroieth First by iniurie then by vsurie First by losse then by gaine This is the manner of her dealing He addeth to giue more light even from the starre of nature the revolutions of winters sommers autumnes springes as it vvere so many deathes and so many resurrections the dying of the day dayly into night and vprising to the worlde againe as freshly be-decked with honour and bravery as if it had never died So true it is vvhich Arnobius wrote against the Gentiles Beholde howe the whole creature doth write a commentary to giue vs comfort in this pointe If wee shall shewe this booke to the Atheistes and Epicures of these daies and bid them reade therein the resurrection of the flesh liuely discoursed and they answere vs againe either that they cannot reade it because the booke is sealed and not plaine vnto them or will not because their heartes are seared I say no more but this at Paul of the hiding of the Gospell to the like nighte-birdes I am sure they are seared and sealed to them that perish So let them rest their bodies rotting in the grounde as the seede vnder the clods which God blesseth not the graue shutting her mouth and destruction closing her iawes vpon them and when others awake to singe themselues awaking to howling and everlasting lamentation For our owne partes wee rest assured in the authour and finisher of our faith that if the spirit of him who raised vp Ionas and Iesus from the dead dwell in vs hee that raised vp them shall also quicken our mortall bodies And as hee spake to the fish and it cast vp Ionas spake to the earth and it cast vp Iesus for vpon the trueth of his fathers word did his flesh rest in hope so the time shall come when all â—hat are in the graues shall heare the voice of the sonne of God vvhen hee shall speake to the earth giue and to the sea restore my sonnes and daughters to all the creatures in the vvorlde keepe not backe mine inheritance and finally to the prisoners of hope lodging a while in the chambers of the grounde Stande foorth and shew your selues And as Ionas was cast vp against the wil of the fish his bowels not able to hold him longer then the pleasure of God was and Christ returned to life with a songe of triumph in his mouth O graue where is thy conquest because it was vnpossible that he should be hoâ—den of it so when that howre commeth the earth shall disclose her bloud and shall no longer hide her slaine And the sea shall finde no rest till the drowned be brought forth nor any creature of the world be able to steale one bone that hath bin
at the commandement of the Lorde they iournyed and at the commaundement of the Lorde they kepte the Lordes watch by the hande of Moses O happy and heavenly sound of wordes where the lustes of their owne eies and counsailes of their owne hearts were displaced and the commaundement of the Lorde in all thinges for going and tarrying from a day to a month and so to a yeare was only observed That which David demaunded in behalfe of a yong man wee may aske of yong and old and all sorts of men In quo corriget c Wherewithall shall a yong man amende his waies or an old man his or theirs the Prince subiect noble vnnoble Priest prophet for we are all crooked and haue neede to be rectified But wherewithall even by ruling our selues after thy worde Whither shall we else goe as Peter akt his master in the gospell Thou hast the words of eternall life not only the words of authority to commaunde and binde the conscience nor the wordes of wisedome to direct nor the wordes of power to convert nor the woordes of grace to comforte and vpholde but the wordes of eternall life to make vs perfitely blessed And therefore wo to the foolish prophets that follow their owne spirites and prophecie out of their owne heartes so likewise wo to the foolish people that follow their own spirits walke by the dimme and deceitfull light of their owne devises I may say vnto such as Ieremy to their like in the eighth of his prophecie How doe yee saie we are wise and the law of the Lord is with vs for he answereth them with wonder and demonstration to the world that they were to senselesse to builde vpon so false a grounde Loe they haue reiected the worde of the Lorde and what wisedome is in them The messenger that went to Micheas to fetch him before Ahab and Iehosaphat might sooner haue craved his head and obtained it then one word from his mouth contratying the word of the Lord. He spake him very faire in a fowle matter Beholde nowe the wordes of the prophetes declare good vnto the king with one accorde Let thy worde therefore I pray thee he like the word of one of them and speake thou good But the prophet wisely aunswered him knowing that the best speech is that not which pleaseth the humours of men but the minde of GOD As the Lorde liveth though I die for it my selfe whatsoever the Lorde saith vnto me that will I speake So like wise whatsoever the Lorde saith vnto vs that let vs doe and let vs learne how dangerous it is to swerue from his will I say not by open rebellion as Ionas did but in the least commaundemente by the smart of Moses and Aaron who being willed in the twenteth of Numbers onely to speake vnto the rocke and to vse no other meanes saue the word of their mouthes and it shoulde giue water vnto them because they smote it with the rodde and smote it twice both to shew their distrust of the promise of God and to vtter their impacience they were also smitten with the rod of his lips and had a iudgement denounced against them that they should not bringe the people into the land which hee had promised vnto them Now Niniveh was a great and an excellent citty of three daies iourney Wee haue heard of the greatnesse of Niniveh twice before once so late that a man woulde thinke it were needelesse so presentlye to repeate it Howbeit we shall heare it againe and this third time in an other manner then before forciblie broughte in as it vvere and breaking the hedge of the sentence and with greater pompe of wordes and every place of her ground exactly measured vnto vs. Ionas was going apace to Niniveh The history was running onwards as fast and keeping her course And it may be the mindes of those that heare or reade the history passe too quickly lightly over the sequele thereof They heare of the greatnes of Niniveh as that Queene did of the greatnesse of Salomon but they will not beleeue howe greate it is vnlesse they may see it with their eies and haue a table or map thereof laide before them at lardge This is the reason that first the vvisedome of God interrupteth the sentence and maketh an hole as it were in the midst thereof as God in the side of Adam and closeth not vp the flesh againe till the greatnes of Niniveh be thoroughly known Now Niniveh c. That is I must tell you by the way once againe for feare of forgetting I will rarher hinder the history a while then not put you in mind of a matter worthy your gravest attnetiō That Niniveh was a great cittie yea very great a citty though lent to men yet better beseeming the maiesty of God so stately and excellent that we find not in earth wherewith to match it and somewhat to say in particular not filling your ere 's alone vvith generall tearmes the very vvalke of their borders will aske the travaile of three daies A great and excellent cytty or exceedingly great The mother tongue wherein the history was written hath it thus a cytty great to God The like maner of speech is vsed by Rachel Gen. 30. Whē Bilha her maid had the secōd time borne a son to Iacob Leah ceast to be fruitful with the wrestlings of God haue I wrestled with my sister and gotten the vpper-hand that is with wrestlings aboue the nature and reach of man I take the meaning of the phrase to be this if life finite and infinite haue any proportion Either that Niniveh was as greate for a cittie as God is great for a God or that it surpassed so farre the nature of created and inferiour thinges that nothinge but the most excellent himselfe must bee named vvith it or happily as Troy vvas feigned to bee the buildinge of the Goddes so no worke-man in heaven or earth vvas worthye to bee credited vvith the building of Niniveh but the chiefe of all Others do otherwise interpret it I knowe That therefore it is called a cittye to GOD because there was no idoll in it but it was truely and properly dedicated to the service of one onely God whereas the contrary is manifest both by the multitude of her fornications mentioned in the thirde of Nahum and by Nisroch their false God which Senacharib was worshipping in the temple of Niniveh when his two sonnes slew him or because it was in especiall regarde with GOD in that hee sent a prophet to reclaime it and to plucke it foorth of the fire of his intended iudgement whereas Bethleem the least amongest the thousandes of Iudah and but an handefull to Niniveh and Bethania the towne of Marie and Martha though more tender in the eies of GOD for the birth doctrine and miracles of more then a prophet were never so called Vndoubtedly the reason
to day neither too shorte least they might despaire of mercy by thinking themselues overmuch straightned But as Salomon bounded his estate in a middle and convenient sort betweene povertie and ririches little and much least â—f hee were too full he might deny his maker and aske who is the Lord or if hee were too emptie he might steale and take the name of God in vaine so is the time of this people temperatly measured vnto them betweene long and shorte that neither abundaunce of daies may make them forget GOD nor skarsitie driue them from the hope of their vvished salvation Auncient woundes saieth Ierome are not cured in haste the plaister must long lie vpon them and the olde festared sinnes of Niniveh coulde not be done away vvith a daies repentance The measure and quantitie of their iudgement is an overthrow Niniveh shall bee destroyed Shee might haue beene plagued many vvaies and yet haue stood vpon her pillers and foundations plagued vvith the want of raine as Samaria in the daies of Ahab with skarsitie of breade with pestilence vvith siege of enemies with the tyranny and exaction of her own kings and governours but these are all too light in the eies of God and nothing will satisfie his iustice but her finall subversion If the grape-gatherers come to a vine saith Ieremie vvill they not leaue some grapes if theeues come by night they vvill but steale till they haue enough but Niniveh must bee gathered and prayed vpon by the vnsatiable iudgment of God till it hath left her nothing Some of the Hebrewes thinke that Niniveh should haue beene destroyed by fire from heaven as Sodome and Gomorrhe were Others suppose by the sworde of a forreigne enimie If by the former of these tvvo what a fearefull thinge vvas it that in steede of the fatnesse of the clowdes the greater and the smaller raine the sweete dewes of heauen comfortable showers which God hath engendered in the aire and devided by pipes to fall vpon the earth in their seasons their ground should be watered nay vvithered and the fruites of the earth cherished nay consumed their temples and buildinges resolved into cinders yea their very skinnes and bones molten from their backes with the heate of Gods vengeance The other in effect is not much behinde though in manner and kinde different vvhen so forcible and fierce an enemy commeth that destructions shall not need to arise vp the second time where neither the aged hath reverence for his gray haire nor the suckling release for the innocency of his age where neither matrone nor virgin priest nor Senatour shall be priviledged from slaughter When mourning shall be in their streetes and they shall saie in all their high waies alas alas or as it is in the fourth of Ieremy Woe is mee for my soule fainteth because of the murders vvhen there shall bee no man lefte to carry nevves to the next citye none to say to his friende leave thy fatherlesse children to mee and I will preserve them alive and let thy vviddowes trust in mee Finallye when the bloud of men shall bee powred out as dust and their flesh as dung and all the beastes of the field togither with the foules of the aire shall be called to a sacrifice of dead corpses The subiect of that overthrow is Niniveh Niniveh in state and magnificence as the stars of God Niniveh that excellent city which had her name from God himselfe Niniveh of such antiquity that from the floud of Noah she had stood vpright Niniveh that over-avved Babylon destroyed Samaria brought Ierusalem vnder tribute and was the rod of Gods anger to smite the nations with Niniveh that glorious city which dwelt in confidence and saide in her hart I am there is none besides me Niniveh must be subverted Niniveh built with so much labor and ambition by infinite numbers of men exquisite artificers vnmesurable chardges Niniveh with her walles 400. miles about their heighth and theit bredth wondered at vvith her thousand five hundred turrets so glorious to the eie Niniveh must bee subverted Her wealthy insoleÌ„t imperious inhabitaÌ„ts not only those of Assiria but the choise of al the couÌ„tries rouÌ„d about father son nephew old young all must be destroied It is not the losse of their king alone that is here threatned nor decay of marchants men of war nor the rooting out of the noblest families in Niniveh nor the funerals of private houses It is the fal overthrow without restraint of the whole city Thus pride when it commeth to the highest I say not in the sonnes of men and women but in the very sonne of the morning and the angels of heaven and not onely in common and singular persons but in societies citties kingdomes monarchies shall be brought downe Notvvithstanding vvrite it in tables and let it be a monument for the last day hovv gracious the Lord is towardes vngracious sinners Niniveh is threatned to be overthrowen and hath yet forty daies stinted to repent her in but vvho can number the yeares vvhich Niniveh hath enioyed aforetime yet God is content to sustaine the losse and profusion of all those and as he added in mercy 15. yeares to the life of Ezechias so to the life and being of Niniveh 40. daies The particle of remainder yet 40. daies doth woÌ„derfully set forth the bounty of God that albeit ten generations had past before and ten more succeeded vvithout fruit yet he woulde spare them thus much longer to try their amendment The people of the Iewes endured sufficiently in the vvildernes when he protested in the Psalme forty yeares long was I grieved with this generation not only provoked offended discontented but grieved at his very soule vvho could haue grieved all the vaines of their harts and taught them the price of angring so dreadfull a maiesty as his is In the prophecie of Ieremie he repeateth their disobedience from farther antiquity The children of Israell and the children of Iudah haue surelie done evill before mee from their youth and this city hath beene vnto mee a provocation of anger from the day that they first built it But I neede not labour to prooue the patience of God when the worst servant in his house confesseth it My master is gone into a farre countrey and vvill not returne in hast yea when the Athiest and skorner himselfe acknowledgeth no lesse For if they vvere not acquainted vvith his patience and long sufferance they vvoulde never haue called it slacknesse nor askt in derision for the promise of his comming nor taken advantage of impiety because al things had stoode in their state from the daies of their fathers nor put the evill daie farre from them and slaundered the footsteppes of Gods anointed sonne The time of this life is as the forty daies of Niniveh a time of repentance to some it is forty yeares as it was to
Israell in the desert to some not houres to others not minutes but their spirit departeth from them as Iacob vvent from Laban and the Israelites from the land of Egypt without leaue taking carrying away their iewels and treasures and vvhatsoever in this life is most deare vnto them O happie are they to vvhome this favour is lente vvhich vvas shewed to Niniveh yet forty daies for thy repentance But thrise most vvretched on the other side vvhome the Angell of God hath aunswered time shall be no more vnto thee the night is come wherein thou canst not worke the vision is ended the prophecy fulfilled the doores shut vp thy gracious visitation past who in the closing of an eie are pulled from the lande of the living their place is no more knowne Let me tell you for conclusion that which was spoken to Niniveh in this place vnder condition was afterwards simply pronounced by Nahum Niniveh was destroied indeede Tobias before his death hearde of the fall of Niniveh the monarchie that said within it selfe here will I dwell was translated into Babylon He that endured Ierusalem so longe was afterward so obstinate against it that if Moses and Samuell had stoode before him to aske her pardon hee woulde not haue beene entreated hee that forbare that froward and stubborne generation forty yeares long afterwards sware in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest And as he hath spared and spared and spared so hee will overturne and overturne and overturne Ezech 31. and as he hath added yet more houres and yet more yeares and yet forty daies so hee will add yet more plagues and yet more punishments and yet more vengeance According to his fearfull commination Levit. 26. I will yet plague you seven times more yet seven times more still with further repetition as there is no end of our sinnes so there is no end of his anger This were the preaching fitt for these times blessings must sleepe a while mercy go aside peace returne to the God of peace not be spoken of That reverend religious honest estimation which was of God in former times there is mercy with thee o Lord and therfore shalt thou be feared is now abandoned and put to flight This rather must be our doctrine there is iudgement with thee o Lord with thee o Lord there is ruine and subversion vvith thee are plagues o Lord with thee there is battaile and famine and snares and captivity storme tempest there is fire brimstone with thee O Lord therefore thou shalt be feared Happy are we if either loue or feare will draw vs to repentance if our marble and flinti heartes wil be softned with any raine that falleth if our stiffe and yron-sinued neckes will bow with any yoke either the sweete yoke of the gospell of Christ or the heavye vnsupportable yoke of the lawe and iudgement But if Niniveh continue as it hath begun Niniveh shall bee overthrowen I am not a prophet nor the sonne of a prophet to set the time either of forty or fifty daies or yeares more or lesse hee sitteth aboue to whome it is best knowne and is comming in the cloudes to determin that question But mercye and iustice I knowe are two sisters and as the one hath had her day so the other shall not misse hers and the Lord hath two armes two cuppes two recompences and doubtlesse there is a rewarde for the righteous and doubtlesse there is also a plague for obstinate and impoenitent sinners THE XXXIIII LECTVRE Chap. 3. vers 5. So the people of Niniveh beleeved God and proclaimed a fast c. THE third part of the fowre whereinto the Chapter divideth it selfe containeth the repentance of Niniveh continued vvithout interruption from the beginning of the fifth verse to the end of the ninth where it is ioifully embraced by the mercy and pardon of God towards her which was the last parte The first of these five which we are presently to deale with is the generall table contents of that which the other fowre diduce into speciall branches as Ezechiel first portraied the siege of Ierusalem vpon a bricke to give the people of the Iewes an image of that misery vvhich afterwardes they should finde distinctly and at large accomplished For whatsoever wee heare in the lineall succession of all the rest touching their faith fastes sackloth proclamations vvithout respect of person or age wee have broched vnto vs in this prooemiall sentence Their ordering and disposing of this weighty businesse of repentance with every office and service belonging vnto it is so comely convenient and with such arte as if David were to apoint the Levites and priestes of the temple their courses againe and to settle the singers and porters in their severall ministrations hee could not have shewed more wisedome and skilfulnes For such are the duties tendered to God by this people of Niniveh as were these officers of the temple Some principall others accessary some morall others ceremoniall some for substance others rather for shew and to set out the worke some to the soule belonginge others to the body and outward man And in all these the first have the first places the second and inferiour such as are fitte for them Faith goeth before works in worke fasting goeth before sackloth in the persons the greatest goeth before the lesse in the doinge of all this the proclamation of the king and counsaile goeth before the excecution of the people The army that Salomon spake of was never better set nor almost the starres of heaven better ordered then this conversion of Niniveh First they beleeved God For the Apostles rule admitteth no exception Without faith it is vnpossible to please God For he that commeth to God must beleeue that God is and not onely his being but in his nature and property that he is also a rewarder of them that seeke him This is the first stone of their building the first round of the ladder of Iacob whereby they climbe to the presence of God From faith which is an action of the minde they goe to the workes of the body Fasting and sackloth For faith cried within them as Rachel cried to Iacob giue mee children or I die Faith is hardely received and credited to be faith vnlesse it be testified For that is the touchstone that the Apostle trieth vs by Shew mee thy faith by thy workes So first they quicken the soule for faith is the life of it and then they kill the body by taking away the foode thereof wherein the life of the body consisted and buryinge it in a shrowde of sackloth In their workes they begin with fasting as it were the greater thinges of the lawe and end with sackecloth as the lesse For as Ierome noteth fasting is rather to be chosen without sackcloth then sackcloth without fastinge therfore is fasting put before sackecloth But if wee shall adioyne
sustenance sake Wherein they noted a great indignity that those hands should be vsed at the mill wherewith hee wrote of the sunne and starres It grieveth mee to speake vvhat shiftes they are driven vnto who are able to labour in the word to doe the worke of righte good evangelistes idque vitae sustentandae causa not to grow rich thereby but to put meate into their mouthes and the mouthes of their families I conclude with the exhortation of the Apostle 1. Thes. 5. Now wee beseech you brethren that you know them which labour amongst you and are over you in the Lorde and admonish you that yee haue them in singular or abundant or more then abundant loue for their workes sake From an abundant spirit hee craveth abūdant abūdance of loue empting his soule of words that if it vvere possible hee might stirre their heartes In this sparingly sparing generation of ours what wordes might serue to warme their frozen devotion vvhome neither painefulnesse in labouring nor preeminence in overseeing nor vigilancy in admonishing can cause to knowe and discerne no nor keepe from contemning or so exceedingly to loue no nor vvithdraw from exceedingly hating these labourers rulers vvatchmen of theirs but even for their workes sake because they are ministers most debase and despight them They knew Christ among the Iewes to bee the carpenters sonne and such to bee his brethren and sisters So these they are content to know not in the worthinesse of their calling givinge countenance to their place and maintenaace to their service but in the basenesse of their birth and kindred poorenesse of their liuinges pensions and whatsoever may make to adde vnto them further disgrace And proclaimed a fast and put on sackloth Fasting and sackeclothe saith Ierome are the armour of repentaunce Shee commeth not to God with a full belly and meate betweene the teeth nor in gorgeous attire of silver and golde or of needle worke but with the thinnest face and coursest apparrell that shee can provide Shee is so much the apter to apply her suite and to entreat GOD. Not that the emptinesse of the stomake or roughnesse of the garment doe so much content him which are but outwarde signes of an inwarde cause from whence they proceede For when the soule is touched indeede and feeleth the smarte of her sinnes because it hungreth and thirsteth after the righteousnesse of God therefore it cannot thinke on feeding the outward man but commaundeth it abstinence for a time even from necssary eating and because it longeth to bee clothed with the salvation of God therefore it chargeth her flesh and bloud not to take care for wonted attiring but to change their accustomed ornamentes into sackcloth and ashes Meanetime the pleasure that God hath is in the sorrow of the heart and in the humility of the minde which the humiliation of the body giveth him assurance of The practise of David Psalm 35 is mee thinketh a very good paterne both to shewe the order of repentance to assigne the place that fasting sackcloth haue therein When they were sicke I clothed my self with sackcloth humbled my soule vvith fasting and my praier vvas turned vpon my bosome I behaved my selfe as to my friend or brother and made lamentation as one that bewaileth his mother 1. There must be some misery as the sickenes of friends maladies of our own soules or the publicke sores of the whole land 2. Vpon that misery ensueth an inward harty compassion as in a case that dearely affecteth vs. 3. vpon that cōpassion griefe which mercy is never sundred frō 4. vpon that griefe a neglect of bodily duties neither leasure to fill it with meates drinkes nor care to trim it with ornamēts 5. vpon the neglect of the body doe the exercises of the soule praier the like offer thēselues 6. praier with her other cōpanions at length come laden home with the sheaues of comfort blisse frō the plentifullest fields So that sackecloath and sasting as they are the witnesses of sorrow or some like passion so are they helps also occasions to more acceptable workes then they are themselues neither lye they next to the favor of God but they thrust praier faith between them and home to begge remission I meane not to prevent my text by shewing the nature originall kindes and vse of fasting amongest both heathens Christians which some later verses of this chapter doe challendge to themselues Only I obserue for this present that both those sinnes wherwith the people of Asia did most especially abound and these in Niniveh perhaps more especially then the rest they laboured forthwith to reforme that is the delicacy of meates drinkes intemperancy in cloathing The rich man in the gospell is noted for both these as handmaides that waited vpon his riches And Niniveh the richest lady vnder heaven was not cleare from them To rid themselues of these baites allurements 1. they fast from meate drinke sleepe ointments delightes recreations of all sorts For that is truly to fast not only to forsake forget ordinary food but to emprison shut vp the body from all the pleasures of life to pul downe the strength and pride thereof for neighbour-hoods sake to afflict the soule with it in effect to giue it straight commandement touch not taste not handle not any thing wherein thy wonted ioies consisted 2. They proclame a fast they leaue it not indifferent and arbitrary to the will of every private cittizen to doe what hee best fansied They binde them by a law and decree to do as the rest did least there might have bin some in the city carrying their Epicurisme and loosenesse of life to their graue Let vs eate and drinke for within forty daies vvee shall die 3. They put on sacke-cloath Perhappes not sacke-cloth in kinde which all the shoppes in Niniveh coulde not supply them with but the vilest and simplest vveedes that they might devise Their purple and prince-like furniture wherein they esteemed not warmth but the colour and die and ware them for their price more then necessity their wanton disdainefull superfluous sailes of pride and vaine-glory they lay aside and but for open vncivilitie they would strippe themselues to the bare skinne and repente naked 4. from the greatest to the least They spare no calling Prince nor peere noble nor vulgar person They spare no age old nor yong The aged that went with his staffe and the suckling that drew the breast are all chardged alike even those who for bodily infirmities were vnable enough to beare it The two daughters of the horse-leach which sucke the bloude of our land wasting the substance and commodity thereof in vaine in some the effects of their wealth in others the efficientes of their beggery are the vices of these Assyrians which directly and purposedly they crosse in this worke of repentaunce For what hath
preach it vnto you that you may take knowledge And for this cause doe the septuaginte adde in the end of the former verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is saying as if it were the voice of the people that is now in question and not of the king his princes But how can it any way stand with the nature of repentance either in prince or people to doubt seeing that faith is the principal proppe wherwith repentance is borne vp we cannot acknowledge this to be a true faith which hangeth and wavereth betweene such vncertainties Rather it savoreth of infidelity and desperation to cast forth such demaundes It might be answered that albeit they doubted of the event of this senteÌ„ce yet not of the favour of God towards theÌ„ for what if their city had bin overthrowen as the towre of Siloe their bodies had perished had that bin an argument that his mercies had forsaken them No more than it was to Moses who died for angring the Lord before he went into the land of promise or than it was to Paul who said that the Lorde had delivered him out of the mouth of the Lion and would also deliver him from every evill worke and preserve him vnto his heavenly kingdome though afterwarde hee was slaine by Nero who was the Lion hee there ment But I rather aunswere that infidelitie woulde have spoken by a flatte negation God vvill not returne and desperation woulde not have cried vpon God at all nor have pretended so much earnest This speech of the Ninivites at the most hath but doubting and doubting containeth in it a kinde of affirmation As Mardochey spake to Esther in the fourth of that booke if thou holdest thy peace at this time breathing and deliverance shall arise to the Iews out of an other place but thou and thy fathers house shall perish and who knoweth whither thou art come to the kingdome for such a time That is I little doubte but the providence of GOD hath advaunced thee thus highe to doe this service I finde noted vpon the same phrase Ioel the seconde that is the fittest speach the penitent may vse for it includeth both these a sense of sinne hope of deliverance The leper commeth to Christ Mar. 1. and telleth him Lorde if thou wilt thou canst make me cleane I cannot say that either thou wilt or thou wilt not I leaue it to thine owne wisedome For mine owne part I haue deserved no grace at thy handes I see nothing in my selfe either in body or soule but leprosie and vncleanes but in thee there is power and mercy if it shall please thee to extend theÌ„ towardes mee In the ninth of the same Evangelist our Saviour answered the father of the childe that had a dumbe spirit requesting him if he could doe any thing to helpe them to haue compassion vpon them this if thou canst beleeue all thinges are possible to him that beleeveth The father cried vvith teares Lorde I beleeue helpe mine vnbeliefe That is I beleeue and skarse beleeue I would faine but I feele a fainting in my selfe and therefore hee that craved but lately a cure for his sonnes infirmity novv craveth helpe for his owne vnbeliefe So then I make no doubt but these are the wordes of faith vvho knoweth if the Lorde vvill returne albeit an infirme and vnsetled faith For as betweene knovvledge and meere or negatiue ignorance opinion lieth so betweene a perfect and ripe faith and plaine infidelity or distrustfulnes a weake and midling faith For there are degrees in faith it hath a beginning encrease and consummation The disciples are rebuked Mar. 9. by the name of a faithlesses generation O faithlesse generation howe longe shall I nowe bee vvith you c. Peter Mat. 14. for a little and doubting faith Paule 2. Cor. 10. speaketh of an encreasing faith but Colossians the first and second of a faith wherein they are rooted built and established Yea the strongest faith that ever was is it not mixte with doubtfulnes overcast with clouds shakeÌ„ with stormes beaten vvith windes and raines winowed by sathan that if it were possible it might bee turned into chaffe and branne What else ment that wary advertisement given to Peter by his maister Luke 22. and his vigilant care over him Simon Simon listen to my speech Behold looke well to thy foote-steppes haue an eie to thy soule Satan hath desired you it is the care of his heart it is the marke that he shooteth at he watcheth walketh roareth transformeth him into all shapes yea into an angell of light to haue his purpose to sifte you ex amine you as vvheate graine after graine person after person that if it be possible you may bee reprooved And surely we need the praiers of our owne spirites and of the spirite of GOD that groaneth with groanings which cannot he expressed and of the sonne of God himselfe who siâ—teth at his fathers right hande and maketh request for vs that our faith faile not For what thinke we of our selues are we pillers of brasse or as the deafe rockes of the sea or as mount Sion on that can never be remooved Our shield and breast-plate of faith for so it is called is it not beaten and driven at vvith dartes fierie dartes yea all the fierie dartes I say not of the vvicked that are in our flesh Athiestes Arrians Iewes Paynims deriders blasphemers of our faith but of him that is pricinpally vvicked and Leader of the daunce Satan himselfe This made him trivmph so much when hee saw the fielde ended and his tabernacle at hand to be pulled vp that he had fought a good fight though his enemies were encreased against him as the haires of his head that hee had runne his race though hee had many stumbling blockes and snares laide in his vvay openly to detaine secretly to vndermine him and finally vvhich vvas the chiefe glory of a christian souldiour that hee had kept the faith and not lost his target though hee had borne in his body the markes of Christ Iesus and felte in his soule many a buffet and wound given by Satan and his confederates The issue is this the faith of a christian is sometimes in fight and conflicte in agonie passion sweating bleeding as Christ vvas in the garden resisting vnto bloud shall I say nay even vnto hell it selfe They knewe it by experience who saide thou bringest downe to hell It is as the last and least sparkle of fire almost extinguished as a little graine of seede which the birdes nay the devils of the aire seeke to picke from vs and as the last gaspe and pant of the soule readie to flie out at length it getteth the victory againe according to that Ioh. 1.5 this is the victorie that overcommeth the world even your faith Such as I speak of was the faith of these Ninivites doubting I confesse but not despairing And as Aquinas to acquite
vnto them for righteousnesse as it was to Abraham and to testifie that faith to man to make it perfect before God to seale it vp to their owne conscience they are abundant also in good workes which is that other iustification vvhereof Iames disputeth For as in the temple of Ierusalem there were 3. distinctions of roumes the entry or porch where the beasts were killed the altar where they were sacrificed the holiest place of al whither the high priest entred once every yeare so in this repentance of Niniveh there are 3. sortes of righteousnes the first of ceremony in wearing sacke-cloath and fasting the second of morality in restitution the third the iustice of faith and as it were the dore of hope wherby they first enter into the kingdome of heaven We haue heard what the Ninivites did for their partes let vs nowe consider what God for his It is said that he saw their workes and repentâ—d him of the plague intended and brought it not Nay it is saide that God saw their workes God repented him of the plague vvith repetitioÌ„ of that blessed name to let the world vnderstande that the mischiefe was not turned away for the value and vertue of their workes but for the acceptance of his own good pleasure nor for the repentance of the city but for the repentaÌ„ce of his own heart a gracious inclination propension that he tooke to deliver them No marvaile it was if when God saw their workes he bethought him of their deliverance For when the person is once approved received to grace which their faith procured them his blemishes are not then looked vpon his infirmities covered his vnperfect obedience taken in good part nay coÌ„meÌ„ded honored rewarded daily provoked with promises invitatioÌ„s of greater blessednes to come So a father allureth his son the servaÌ„t doth ten times more yet is the recoÌ„peÌ„ce of the son ten times greater for the father respecteth not so much the workes of his child but because he is a father teÌ„dreth followeth him with fatherly affection wheras the hired servant on the other side is but a stranger vnto him Why then were the works of Niniveh acceptable vnto God not of theÌ„selues but for their sakes that wrought them they for their faith for this is the root that beareth theÌ„ al. In that great cloud of witnesses Heb. 11. what was the reason that they pleased God besides the honour of the world that they vvere vvell reported of and obtained the promises which was the garlande they ranne for besides their suffering of adversities subduing of kingdomes vvorking of righteousnesse with many other famous exploites there ascribed vnto them what was the reason I say but their faith which is the whole burdeÌ„ of the song in that memorable bead-role By faith did Abell thus Enoch thus and others otherwise But why not their workes of themselues For is not charity more than faith these three remaine faith hope and loue but the greater of these three is loue 1. Cor. 13. And the first and the greate commaundemente is this Thou shalt loue the Lorde thy GOD c. Math. the two and twentith And the end of the commaundement is loue 1. Tim. 1. And loue is the fulfilling of the lawe Romanes the thirteenth I graunt all this if thou be able to performe it Loue the Lorde thy God with all thy heart c. and thy neighbour as thy selfe and there is nothing wanting vnto thee thou hast kept the commandement thou hast fulfilled the law thou needest not the passion of thy redeemer thou maiest catch the crowne of life by rightfull desert But this thou art not able to performe were thou as righteous as Noe as obedient as Abraham as holy as Iob as faithfull as David as cleare as the sunne and moone as pure as the starres in heaven yet thou must sing and sigh with a better soule than thine owne who saw and sighed for the impurity of all living flesh Enter not into iudgement vvith thy servant O Lorde for no flesh living can bee iustified in thy sight God hath concluded thee and thy fathers before thee and the fruit of thy body to the last generation of the world vnder sinne and because vnder sinne therefore vnder wrath and malediction and death if thou flie not into the sanctuarie to hide and safegarde thy selfe But blessed be the name of Christ the daies are come wherein this song is sunge in the lande of Iudah and through all the Israell of God farre and neare vvee haue a stronge cittie salvation hath God set for wals and bul-workes about it Open ye the gates that the righteous nation which keepeth faith may enter in Which is that righteous nation that shall enter into the citty of God thus walled and fortressed but that which keepeth faith or rather faithes as the Hebrew hath that is all faith not ceasing to beleeue till their liues end They that beleeue thus adding faith vnto faith the Lord vvill returne them as great a measure of his blessing even peace vpon peace in the next wordes because they trust in him We neede no better expositour The righteous man is he that beleeveth and the beleeving man is he that vvorketh righteousnes for these two shall never be sundred and the onlie key that openeth vnto vs the gates of the citty is our faith So then when we see good workes we must know that they are but fruites and seeke out the root of them and when we haue the root we must also haue regarde to the moisture and iuice whereby it is nourished For as the fruits of the earth grow from their root that root liveth not by it selfe but is fedde and preserved by the fatnes of the soile warmth of the sun benefite of the aire vnder which it standeth so good workes grow from faith and that faith liveth in the obiect the merites and obedience of Iesus Christ feeding and strengthning it selfe by the sweet influence and sappe of these heavenly conceites that he came into the worlde to saue sinners and that he died for her sinne and rose to life for her iustification For as we esteeme the worth of a ring of gold not so much in it selfe as in the gemme that it carrieth so are we iustified magnified also in the sight of God by faith in Christ not for this quality of beleeving which is as vnperfite as our works but for the obiect of this quality Christ our mediatour which is the diamonde and iewell borne therein The hand of a leper though never so bloudy and vncleane yet it may doe the office of an hand in taking and holding fast the almes that is given The giver may bee liberall enough and the gift sufficient to releeue though the hand that received it full of impurity So it is not the weakenesse of our faith in apprehending and applying the passion of Christ that
deliveraunce of Niniveh whither revealed and by a propheticall spirite discovered before the tearme of 40. daies or to the expiration of them differred I cannot say 2. The reprehension rebuke which God vseth against him for that affection both by speech doest thou well to bee angry and by fact in confuting him by a reall similitude of a gourde soone sprunge vp as easily withered And as Ionas repeateth his impatience so God walketh with an even pace by him repeateth his reproofes 3. The conclusion or scope which God referred himselfe vnto Not the forbearing of the city which was already past but the iustification of his goodnes therein For first he did it of fact as they say and then defended the right of it The affection of Ionas is generally recited in the first verse and more particularly displaied in the rest touching his speech gesture carriage of himselfe in all pointes So it displeased Ionas exceedingly What displeased him Turne backe your eies to the epilogue of the former Chapter God repented him of the evill he did it not This is it that so much disquieteth Ionas that seemeth so evill very evill as the Hebrew hath in his vnmercifull eies rather this was evill very evill in the heart of Ionas For why is Ionas so exceedingly displeased that God hath spared Niniveh It had beene fault enough in Ionas not to haue blessed and embraced the mercy of God towards Niniveh to haue given testimony vnto it But to go so far from renowming it that he condeÌ„neth it in his iudgement so far in condeÌ„ning it that he is grieved at the heart and so far in grieving that he holdeth no measure stint therein but doeth exceedingly vexe himselfe this was a sore offence Had Ionas receaved mercy himselfe and doth Ionas envy mercy to others Did hee know by experience in his owne person what it was to be driven froÌ„ the land of the living to bee cast into the mouth of destruction to loose the favour of God and hath he no sparkle of charity lefte no graine of compassion to weigh with himselfe the destruction of this great citty Avexation saith Basâ—l without all reason Vnhappy man why art thou troubled so having felt no harme I would rather haue thought if neede had beene that Ionas would haue stood for Niniveh being a prophet and so lately plucked from the fire himselfe as Abraham did for Sodome If there shal be ten righteous men found in Niniveh destroy it not For what els is the ioy crowne of a Prophet Apostle any messenger of Christ in this service emploide but the winning saving of soules converting men vnto righteousnes translatinge them from darkenes into light a blessing froÌ„ God vpon his labours an encrease vpon the seede he hath sowen which others would speÌ„d their daies consume their bodies ieopard their liues to obtaine when Ionas obtained it with ease in the compasse of a short time The parable of the Lord the labourers which wrought in the vineyard thus far accordeth to Ionas Take that which thine is I doe thee no wrong is it not lawfull for me to doe with mine owne as it pleaseth me Is thine eie evill because I am good I will giue to this last as much as to the first to this least as much as to the greatest to a Gentile as much as to an Israelite to Niniveh as much as to thy selfe You see the nature of envy the honour prosperity wealth and whatsoever is good in an other sometimes life it selfe it repineth at fruitfull encrease full vdders in the fields and beastes of any man it pineth with 't filleth men to the eies and in the eies it sitteth and by those windowes looketh forth and whersoever it seeth a blessing it is sicknes and death vnto it if God curse it not And it is true that Basile noteth of envie A Scythian seldome maliceth an Aegyptian They spend their despight for the most part within the same countrey same kinred same professioÌ„ same benefite as Ionas envieth Niniveh for communicatinge vvith him in the mercy of the Lord. According to that vvisedome vvhich God gaue to man to call thinges by their right names so is the name of envy either because it will not see at all that which in the blessinges of God is to be seene or because it prieth too deepe into them It was the first vemine which the devill powred forth against mankinde Hince perijt primus per didit By this he first perished himselfe destroied others What els was the cause that Caine lifted vp his hande against his brother Abell robbed himselfe almost of his onely comforte in that new-borne vvorld But that the gifte of his brother was accepted to God his owne reiected vpon this he was very wroth his countenaÌ„ce fell downe as not able to endure the sight of his brother his anger was not satisfied with bloud Did the brethreÌ„ of Ioseph go home to their old father Iacob and bring him into an errour that a vvicked beast had devoured the childe and that Ioseph was surely torne in pieces A wicked beast had devoured him indeede and Ioseph was torne in pieces by the envie of his brethren Israell looved Ioseph more than all his other sonnes therefore they hated him and could not speake peaceably vnto him And Ioseph dreamed a dreame and tolde it to his brethren therefore they hated him so much the more This vvas the wicked beast that cast him into the pit where their meaning was to haue sterved him to death and to haue kept his bloud secret as appeareth by the speech of Iudah and but that Reuben perswaded the contrary with their owne handes they had taken his life from him Because the women sange in the streetes Saul hath slaine his thousande David his ten thousande therefore was Saule exceedinglie vvroth and it is saide that Saule had an eie to David from that day forwarde It was a venemous mischievous eie such as the burning eies of witches or the Basiliske or Gorgon that he cast towardes him The elder brother Luke 15. when he heard melodie and dauncing in his fathers house and knevve what it ment and that his father had killed the fat calfe to welcome home his lost sonne he was angry at the matter and woulde not goe in but that his father went out and entreated him He omitted no argument of exprobration his service for many yeares without breach of any commaundement and not the gifte of a kid by vvay of recompence he saith not wastfully to spend but to make merry amongest his friendes when the other that had devoured his goodes with harlots must be entertained with the fat calfe Examine the reason why innocency it selfe was hunted and followed to death with crucifie him crucifie him he is not worthy to liue and Barrabas set at liberty and let Pilate be the
iudge to pronounce sentence against them hee knewe besides the knowledge of their owne consciences that for envie they had delivered him Do we looke that envy should favour the honour and well-fare when it favoureth not the life or the life of man when the Lord of life himselfe is vile before it Poyson they say is life to a serpent death to a man and that which is life to a man his spittle and naturall humidity is death to a serpent I haue found it thus applyed vertue and felicity which is life to a good man is death to the envious and that which the envious liveth by is the misery and death of a good man For envie endevoureth either that hee may not liue at all as all the former examples declare for even the prodigall sonne vvas also deade and it grieved his brother that he was brought backe to life or that he may liue such a life as for the discomfortes thereof he may cal it happines to haue ended Therefore amongst other the fruites of a reprobate minde Rom. 1. those two are ioyned togither 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 envie and murther and likewise amongst the workes of the flesh Galathians the fifte vvith the same combination as if they vvere twinnes growing in one body and could not be put asunder It is not namely expressed in the former member of the verse what perturbation it was wherewith Ionas was so overborne But by the effectes it shewed in him in seeking so heartily the overthrow of Niniveh and wishing to die himselfe because the Ninivites lived besides the bidding of open battaile to charity one of whose properties is that shee envieth not setting pitty at naught which hath ever a miserable heart when it seeth the wretched we may reasonably suppose it to haue bin envy The nature whereof is this that God in his iustice hath apointed it to be a plague to it selfe and amongst many mischiefes it hath furnished it with one onely profitable quality that the owner thereof taketh most hurt He biteth is bitten againe becoÌ„meth his own punishment And as Aetna consumed it selfe so the malicious man is burnt with the fire of his own hart And therefore the Poet did notably describe her to haue a pale face without bloud a leane body without any iuice in it squint eies blacke teeth an heart full of gall a tongue tipt with poison never laughing but wheÌ„ others weepe never sleeping because shee studieth and thinketh on mischiefe It displeaseth Ionas exceedingly But the vexation which he tooke hurt himselfe more than Niniveh And Ionas was angrie We haue not ended the affections of Ionas Wee haue an other companion to adde to envie which for the most part is coupled with it For so we read Genes 4. Caine vvas exceedingly vvrath And 1. Sam. 18. Saul was wrath at the song of the vvomen And Luke 15. the elder brother was angry either with the father or the yonger son Angeâ— in a fit place is the gift of God and there is great cunning in being angry with advised speach and in a seasonable time But of that hereafter Meane-while the time and cause and measure of this anger in Ionas I thinke are worthy to be blamed For with whom is he angry It seemeth with himselfe Take away my life from me Or rather with God who if he had taken him at his worde the sun had gone downe vpon his anger I meane his life had ended in a froward and furious passion If God bee angry with vs there may be some remedy because God is mercifull But if we be angry with him there is no helpe for it Quis populo Romano irasci sapienter potest What man of wisedome can be angry with the people of Rome much lesse with God And that you may know howe righteous the Lord is in this affection of anger as before of envie vvhen we are vnruly and lawlesse therein Valerius Maximus comparing anger and hatred togither the one at the first setting forth the quicker the other in desire of reveÌ„ge the more obstinate saith that both those passions are full of consternation and amasement and never vse violence without torment to themselues for where their purpose is to offer wrong they rather suffer it as shall better appeare vnto vs hereâ—fter in the behaviour of Ionas I haue in parte described vnto you the nature and enormitye of these perturbations from the mouth of naturall worldly wisdome VVhat iudgement belongeth vnto them when they breake their bounds I learne in a better schoole Whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shal be culpable of iudgement And they are numbred amongst the works of the flesh Gal. 5. whereof the Apostle gaue them double warning that they which did such things should not inherit the kingdome of God Notwithstanding the viciousnes hereof hath beene both opened and condemned by those who though they had not the law of God by peculiar assignement as the Iewes had written in books or in tables of stone yet the effect of that law was written in their harts they were a law to themselues their thoughts accusing or excusing them in most of their doings Precepts of moral conversatioÌ„ they haue as soundly delivered some as strictly observed as if Moses had taught and lived among theÌ„ The Apostles precept is Rom. 12. Giue place to wrath Ephes 4. Be angry and sin not Let not the sun goe downe vpon your wrath They had the same precepts in Gentility who sawe no lesse herein by their light of nature therefore devised lawes to represse anger That an angry man should not set hand or hart to any thing til he had recited the Greeke alphabet for by that time the heart of choller woulde be alaide and that he should sing to his passion as nurses to their babes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hast not cry not anone I will content thee And the practise of Plato was according to these rules for his servant offending him he said he could haue killed him but that he was moved therefore desired a friend to punish him in his steede Likewise reprehensions of all sortes of vices and commendations of their contrarye vertues they haue both wisely conceaved faithfully penned earnestly perswaded And although they were ignorant of the ioyes of heaven and hell fire yet in their Gentile learning the saw reason sufficient that the embracers of these contrary qualities should be contrariwise recompensed Therfore I am not of opinion with those men who thinke that all secular and prophane learning should be abandoned from the lips of the preacher and whither he teach or exhort he is of necessity to tie himselfe to the sentence and phrase of onely scripture Good is good wheresoever I finde it Vpon a vvithered and fruitlesse stalke saith Augustine a grape sometimes may hange Shall I refuse the grape because the stalke is fruitlesse and vvhithered
There is not any knowledge of learning to bee despised seeing that all science whatsoever is in the nature and kinde of good thinges Rather those that despite it vvee must repute rude and vnprofitable altogither who would bee glad that all men vvere ignoraunt that their owne ignorance lying in the common heape mighte not be espied If Philosophie shoulde therefore not be set by because some haue erred through Philosophie no more shoulde the sunne and the moone because some haue made them their Gods and committed idolatrie vvith them It seemeth by the preface of M. Luther vpon the Epistle to the Galathians that the Anabaptistes condemned the graces and workes of God for the indignity of the persons and subiectes in vvhome they were founde Luther retorted vpon them Then belike matrimony authority liberty c. are not the workes of God because the men who vse them are some of them wicked Wicked men haue the vse of the sun the moone the earth the aire the water and other creatures of God Therefore is not the sunne the sunne and do the others loose their goodnesse because they are so vsed The Anabaptistes themselues when as yet they were not rebaptised had notwithstanding bodies and soules now because they were not rebaptized were not their bodies true bodies and their soules right soules Say that their parents also had a time when they were not rebaptized Were they not therfore truly married If not it will follow therevpon that the parentes were adulterers their children bastardes and not meete to inherite their fathers landes Likewise truth is truth wheresoever I finde it Whither vvee search in Philosophy or in the histories of the Gentiles or in Canonicall scriptures there is but one truth If Peter if the Sibylles if the devilles shall say that Christ is the sonne of the living GOD it is not in one a truth a lie in the other but though the persons motiues and endes bee different the substance of the confession is in all the same It was true which Menander the Poet spake before the Apostle ever wrote it to the Church of Corinth Evill wordes corrupt good manners And because it was a truth in Menander therefore the Apostle alleadged it which else hee woulde not The difference betweene them is that as in Lacedaemon sometimes when in a waighty consultation an eloquent but an evill man had set downe a good decree which they coulde not amende they caused it to bee pronounced by one of honest name and conversation and in such simplicity of wordes as hee was able presently to light vpon by that meanes neither crediting the bad authour so much as to take a iudgement from his mouth nor reiecting the good sentence so that which was a truth in the lips of Menander is not more true vttered by an Apostles tongue but it hath gotten a more approoved and sanctified author And surely as in the tilling of the ground the culter and share are the instrumentes that breake the cloddes and carry the burthen of the worke yet the other partes of the plough are not vnnecessary to further it so for the first breaking vp of the fallow ground of mens heartes and killing the weedes and brambles that are therein of Adams auncient corruption or for preaching the greate mysterie of pietie and comfortable speâ—king to Sion touching the pointes of salvation the onely worde of God sharper then culter or share or two edged sword is onely and absolutely sufficient But a man must dayly builde vpon the former foundation and not onely teach but explicate by discoursing illustrate by examples exemplifie by parables and similitudes by arguments confirme shame the gaine-saiers convince the adversaries fashion the life to the doctrine plant iudgement and iustice insteede of vnrighteousnes stirre vp the affections and shewe himselfe every way a vvorkeman not to bee ashamed and rightly dividing the worde of trueth from whom if you take his knife that is his arte and cunning he shall rather teare it with his teeth and pull it asunder with his nailes than rightly divide it But you appeale to the consciences of beleevers and desire to knowe vvhither their first conversion to the faith vvere by reading or hearing of Gentile stories No. For who ever required that service of prophane learning which whatsoever the instrument or meanes be is principally and almost wholy the worke of the holy Ghost and wherein is fulfilled vpon every convert that commeth to the knowledge of the trueth that which Samuell comforted Saule with The spirite of the Lorde shall come vpon thee and thou shalt bee turned into an other man VVho else taketh the stonie hearte out of their bodies and giveth them an hearte of flesh And we know besides that the conversions of men to the faith haue not beene all after one sorte in some by the preaching of Christ crucified as in those that vvere added to the Church by the sermon of Peter in some by a word from the mouth of Christ Follovve mee in some by visions and voyces from heaven as Paule Act. 9. was throwne from his horse and smitten with blindnesse and a voice came downe from the clowdes saying Saul Saul why persecutest thou mee and Saint Augustine reporteth Confess 8.12 that by a voice from heaven saying Take vp and reade take vp and reade hee was directed to that sentence Rom. 13. Not in chambeâ—ing and wantonnesse c. Iustine Martyr witnesseth of himselfe in his Apology to Antoninus that when he saw the innocent Christians after their slaunderous and false traducementes carried to their deathes patient and ioyfull that they were thought worthy to suffer for the name of Christ it occasioned his chandge of religion Socrates and Sozomene write that many of Alexandria when the great temple of Serapis was repurdged and made serviceable for the vse of the Christians finding some mysticall letters or cyphers therein vvhereby the forme of a crosse was figured and signification long before given that the temple shoulde haue an ende thought it warning enough to forsake their heathenish superstitions and to embrace the gospell of Christ Iesus Many other Aegyptians beeing terrified by the strange inundation of Nilus higher than the wonted manner thereof was immediatlie condemned their ancient idolatry and applyed themselues to the worship of the living God Clodoveus the French King after manie perswasions of Crotildis his lady a religious Burgundian vainelie spent vpon him having at length receaved a great discomfiture and slaughter in a battaile against the Almannes and finding himselfe forsaken of all earthly aide cast vp his eies into heaven and vowed to become a Christian vpon condition that God would giue him the victory over his enimies which he faithfully performed Now it holdeth not in reason that because men are converted to the faith by miracles martyrdoms visioÌ„s inundatioÌ„s hieroglyphicks such meanes therefore they should alwaies be confirmed by the same or that those
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
softer mighte suffice But if vvee be briars in your coates and flesh it is because wee dwell with briars if vvee be perverse it is because wee dwell in the midst of a perverse generation An hard knot in the timber cannot be driven out vvithout heavy blowes sundry diseases require sundry kinds of cures as the dispositions of men are varied so must wee vary our teachings one must be washt with gentle bathes another must haue his woundes cut with lancers and as the damsell Matth. 9. was raised vp in her fathers house the widowes sonne of Naim without his mothers gates Lazarus before a greate multitude of all sorts so some must be handled privately others openly a thirde kinde publiquely some must be held for weake others accounted Publicanes vnto vs some their infirmities supported others delivered vnto Satan some chastised with a rod others warned in the spirit of meeknes some pulled out of the fire others left to be burnt some saved by feare others by loue some must be vsed as our owne bowels others as rotten members vvhose cure is despaired cut of from the body that they do no more hurt In all which reprehensions except where all hope is past that singular precept of Gregory taketh place In the controlling of faultes there must be some anger rather to attend vpon reprehension than to commaund it so that in the execution of this charitable and mercifull iustice it beare not a sway by going before but rather make a shew by comming after And Leo hath the like counsaile that it must bee vsed non saevientis animo sed medentis not with the minde of a tirant or persecutor but of an helper Considering thy selfe saith the Apostle least thou also be tempted For a man may once and often in his life time say to him that reprooveth another as Eliphaz did to Iob. Behold thou haste taught many and strengthened the weary hands thy words haue confirmed him that was falling and thou haste vphelde the weake knees but now it is come vpon thee and thou art grieved it toucheth thee and thou art troubled The matter reproved by God is anger Dost thou well to be angry or as some render it doth anger helpe thee or art thou angry iustly and vpon reasonable cause or as some of the Hebrewes expounde it art thou very angry is not thy wrath vehement interpreting bene by valdè as Moses did Deut. 9. when he told the children of Israell that he tooke the sinne the calfe which they had made ground it verie well that is sufficiently till he had brought it to the smallest dust So some interpret well in this place by the quality goodnes of anger whether it may be iustified others by the quantity and greatnes noting the excesse and immoderation thereof They come both to one for whether God aske of the qualitie he seemeth to imply a secret subiection it is not well done of thee thou hast no iust cause to be angrie or whether of the quantity he thinketh that there is as little reason that the sparing of penitent sinners shoulde mooue such stomacke in Ionas The question is disputed throughout the whole chapter betweene God the prophet God the opposer Ionas the defender whether he do well to be angry God confuteth him both by word deed Ionas contendeth for it to the death I will not trouble you with the aunswering of the question till we come to the ninth verse where the Lord doth demaund againe in the same words and Ionas though he be silent in this place yet there dissembleth not his minde for he aunswereth I do well to be angry and addeth measure sufficient even vnto death Meane-while because this is the time wherin a generall forgetting of wrongs and laying malice a sleepe is professed so far as the world is christened partly the Canōs of the church partly devotion it selfe leading vs al to a thankfull commemoration of the death and resurrection of Christ and to the communion of his body bloud which is a badge of our Christian loue fellowship the time inviting me therevnto which S. Austen calleth the solēnity of solemnities the vncurteousnes of these our times requiring no lesse giue mee leaue in few wordes to convert my speech vnto that which the celebration of the feast it selfe doth easily exhort you vnto The blessed Apostle thought not that any more effectuall persuasion to charity could be gathered than from the example of the son of God himselfe whose dying rising againe is now solēnized For so he frameth his exhortation to the Colossians Now therefore as the elect of God holy beloved as you haue any part in these graces electiō sanctification the loue of God if you haue any argument seale to your own consciences that you are a part of his inheritāce for they are not marked for his chosen which are without these markes put on the bowels of mercy kindnes humblenes of minde meekenes long suffering forbearing one another forgiving one another let these bee your robes and coverings weare thē as you weare your garments let them bee as tender inward vnto you as your own principal most vitall parts even as Christ freely bountifully forgaue you even so do ye How that was I neede not recite The Apostle Rom. 5. collecteth sundry arguments to shew how far forth that substātiall saving grace of God hath gratified vs. 1. We were weake 2. godlesse 3. sinners 4. enemies we had neither strength to endevour neither piety to procure nor righteousnes to satisfie nor acquaintaunce and friendshippe to deserue in the fight of God yet notwithstanding all these impediments and deficiencies Christ died for vs. So the other Apostle speaketh Christ suffered for sinnes the iust for the vniust that hee might bringe vs to God The cause most odious the persons most vnequall the end most absolute How thē cā I better exhort you to an imitatiō of the loue of Christ than as S. Paul exhorteth the Philippians If there bee any consolation in Christ so we may rēder it or if there be any advocation in Christ as all the consolation and advocation that we looke for must 〈◊〉 drawne from that fountaine If any comfort of loue as who feeleth not the vse of loue that hath not beene nursed vp with the tygers of the wildernes If any communion of the spirit by whom we are al knit togither in the body of Christ lastly if any bowelles of mercy surely he meaneth that there is or should be much of al this much consolation in Christ much cōfort of loue c. But if there bee any remnant and seede left if all bee not spent exhausted to satisfie your rancorous malice fulfill my ioie and your owne ioy and the ioy of the angels in heaven and the ioy of the bride and bridegroome to whom it is a good and pleasant thinge
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
of Christ though they fill all the corners of heaven from the rising of the sun to the going downe thereof yet they are driven from the face of God as far as the East West are sundred lastly though they are libelled and entred into his court by the accusation of the devill and by his most righteous iustice registred yet the bookes are defaced and all those writinges against vs naâ—eâ— to the crosse of Christ by whome we are redeemed THE XVIII LECTVRE Chap. 1. ver 14. Lay not vnto our charge innocent bloud for thou Lorde hast done as it pleased thee THe praier of the Marriners vvithout longer repetition vvas common fervent discreet vocall humble importunate pertinent to the time occasion wel grounded â—n the 7th of these wherein I obserued hovve rightly they applyed theÌ„selues to the deprecation of their present daungers I examined besides their general inteÌ„t in asking pardoÌ„ for bloudshed 2. particulars arising naturally froÌ„ the words 1. the proceeding of God in case of murther life for life 2. in vvhat respect the bloud of Ionas might be tearmed innocent not that the life of Ionas could no way be toucht with sinne but that it was freed in his present and particular behaviour towards this coÌ„pany with whome he sailed I would further haue demauÌ„ded but that the time intercepted me how Ionas could be held innocent towards the Marriners whom hee had actually wronged in the losse of their temporall commodities for he onely was the cause of that generall detriment and the hazard was as great that hee might haue eased them of their better treasure I meane their lives if God had not staied it these though having sense of the one feare of the other yet call his bloud innoceÌ„t bloud The answere briefly is They wrote that in the waters which others vvrite in marble Iniuries Though their voiage vvere lost by this meanes their busines disapointed the season of their marte diverted their marchandize wrackt their provision wasted it may be to some their wiues and children vndone their estate sunke by it yet they forgiue and forget the damages and with a mantel of charity cover al his wrongs The perswasioÌ„ holdeth by coÌ„parison that if nature so newly reformed having tasted but the milke of the knowledge of God haue so quicke a digestioÌ„ of forepassed wrongs much more is required of vs who have bene dieted with the strongest meat to whom the precepts of charity have in most ample manner beene revealed The commendatioÌ„ shall ever live which Ambrose giveth to Theodosius the Emperor being dead Theodosius of happy memory thought he received a benefite as often as hee was intreated to forgive that was wished in him which in others was feared that hee would bee angry Tully reporteth the like of a far vnlike Emperour that Caesar forgat nothing but iniuries There is a learned skilfull vertuous kinde of forgetfulnes It is good to forget some things All Manasses went not over â—ordeÌ„ part staied behind Now Manasses had his name of forgetfulnes and Bernard illuding thereunto saith It is good to forget Babylon to remember Ierusalem to forget the flesh-pots and 〈◊〉 of Aegypt to remember the milke and honie of Canaan to forget our owne 〈◊〉 and our fathers house and to remember heaven heavenly thinges So Paul forgat that which was behinde his former defects delinquishments and it shall be happy for vs all to doe the like not in the mercies either of God or man but in the crosses and grievances which wee have sustained Peter asked his maister in the gospel how of the should forgive his brother offending against him whether to 7. times It is added Luke 17. how often in a day our Saviour telleth him vnto 70. times 7. times that is as Ierome accounteth it 490. times so often in a day as is not possible for thy brother oftner to trespasse against thee Augustine in effect hath the same note Why doth our Saviour saye seventie times seven times and not an hundreth times eight times hee aunsvvereth from Adam to Christ vvere seuenty generations therefore as Christe forgaue all the transgressions of vvhole mankinde parted and diffused into so manye generations so also vvee shoulde reâ—itte as manye offences as in the tearme and compasse of our life are committed against vs. Examine shall I say one day nay all the dayes of our life if all might goe for one haue wee forgiuen haue wee forborne that were one degree lesse haue we not persecuted Turkes Infidelles vessels of dishonour nay our owne brethren 7. yea and 70. times 7. times vvithout number or measure the sunne rising and the sunne going downe vpon our wrath our waies being the waies of destruction our beddes the beddes of mischiefe as the Psalme calleth them daies nights openly privately meditating talking practising howe to avenge our selues of the least discontentmentes It were as â—are a matter in our age as to see the sun go backe to heare of any amongst vs patient of iniuries as that patriarke sometimes of Ierusalem was of whome the proverbe of those times vvente Nihil vtilius quà m Alexandro malefacere Nothinge can more profite a man than to hurte Alexander Yet hee kepte but that rule which they that kepte not are no parte of the Israell of God Not to resist euill To giue cheeke after cheeke cloake after coate to take all that was offered whether vpon or without the body as that precept implyeth nay rather to returne good for euill Rom. 12 loue for enmity blessing for cursing good deedes for hatred praiers for persecutions Math. 5. VVe rather imbrace the instigations of gentilitye and such as the nature of man easilye propendeth vnto beare one iniurye and beare more hee that wrongeth one threatneth all and such like proâ—ocations I will end with the exhortation of our Lorde Luke 6. so giue aâ—d you shalbeâ— forgiuen Or rather with that which Mat. 6. is more peremptory If you forgiue him not you shall not bee forgiuen He indenteth for that by mercye vvhich hee mighte exacte of duetye and equâ—tie and hee that shall bee our iudge almost against the nature and righte of his office sheweth vs the vvay to escape his iudgementes The conditions betwixte God and man in this exchange are very vnequall 1. thine enemy was created by God as thy selfe wert God hath an enemy of thee whom he hath created 2. thou pardonest thy fellow servant God merely his servant 3 thou pardonest standest in neede of pardon againe God hath no neede to be pardoned 4. thou forgiuest a definite summe God an infinit debt requiring the proscription of thy selfe wife and children and al that thou hast body soule if thou shouldest defray it Incredibili me sericordia nos ad certam veniam vocat By vncredible compassion he draweth vs to a limited bounded pitty the extention wherof maketh vs the children of our father which is in heauen but the streightning of our