am and without the grace of God assisting the perfectest that ever were among the sonnes of men Christ only excepted had not power of themselves one houre to subsist In this then let mee cheere vp my heart that if I fall into drunkennesse I have a Noah to raise me when I am truly grieved if into adultery I haue a David to support mee when my heart is truly affected with his penitentiall Psalme if into pride of heart I have an Hezekiah to restore mee when the same heart is with godly sorrow truly humbled If I fall into plaine impaciencie murmure and repining I have a Moses a Iob a Ieremy a Ionah to direct mee when vnto a more sober and setled spirit with them I am returned Let this vse be made of the Saints faylings to comfort vs in our infirmities not to animate vs in any wilfull impieties Children they are not of God but of Belial who doe this latter Thirdly In the third place since it is a Prophet that here complaineth and we have observed the like complaints of sundry the Prophets in the examination of this doctrine more then of any other kinds and professions of men whatsoever Let the Prophets and Ministers of God from hence learne somewhat to their instruction at least-wise a right iudgement of the calling and businesse they take in hand Qui desiderat Episcopatum c. saith the Apostle he that desires the office of Bishop or of some inferiour Pastor and Teacher in the Church he desires a good worke But now worke hath painfulnesse and this by few I am sure is desired and if the calling may bee honourable yet sure it is not easefull Cursed is that man especially in this high and holy function that divideth what God hath ioyned together honour and labour or that ioyneth what God hath separated ease and honour The Angels of God the higher in nature the more quicke and diligent are they in their service to God and to his Church and the Prophets of God are called Angels and the Angels Ministers and fellow-servants with them Hee that shall with Atlas vnder-proppe the heavens or with David who was a Prophet beare vp the pillars of the earth no marveile if he groane sometimes And thinke not that it was not for nothing that Ionah here was thus besides himselfe and so iudge of the former complaints of those good Prophets mentioned that they did proceede from the grievous pressures and waight of those burdens which in the waightie charge of their callings they have sustained The names wherewith I finde the calling named may partly instruct vs herein Seers are they called and o how long wilt thou cause mee to behold or see grievance saith one of them Hab. 1. Shepheards they are called and well may say with Iacob Thus was it with mee in the day time the heate consumed mee and the frost by night and my sleepe departed from mine eyes Gen. 31. Are they not also called Watch-men and to them the voyce calleth Watch-man what of the night Watch-man what of the night A Lyon my Lord a Lyon the roaring Lyon that goes about seeking whom hee may devoure Watch yee stand yee fast quit your selves like men I stand I stand continually vpon the Watch-tower saith the Prophet Isaiah in the day time and I am set in my Ward whole nights you know to what end to fore-see dangers Lastly they are called Fishers Matth. 4. and here they must resolve to grapple with many an hideous storme If Peter and Andrew will follow Christ they shall catch soules but withall must looke to finde a sea of trouble of it when once they have launched out into the deepe O that this were considered of at Naioth in Ramah and in the Schooles of the Prophets The Lacedaemonians had their Palastram or place of exercise for the youth that afterwards they might make choice of tryed souldiers against the times of needfull warre What are those houses before named in the right intendment but improovements vnto noble fortitude that with the Priests of God who sounded the trumpets of old the Priests of these dayes may proove incouragers to the Lords people in the Lords battels against sinne and wickednesse Diogenes vpon a time comming into the tent of Philip King of Macedon was askt by him if he came as a spye yea quoth he for I come to spye out thy folly and madnesse who being not constrained by any necessitie doest set as it were vpon the dicing board both thy life and kingdome Are not we according to the best acception in as high honour as ever was the Macedonian Philip doth not the neglect of our office draw with it as great danger as his folly How is it then that we who should bee leaders to the Lords people have cloathed our selves with the fashions and humours of the times in stead of the compleate Armour commended by Saint Paul to the Ephesians have put on the sword of infidelitie the girdle of licentiousnesse the breast-plate of vnrighteousnesse the shield of infidelitie Whooredome and wine and new wine take away the heart was the complaint of old We have not lessoned but added to the account chambering and wantonnesse Tobacco too and drunkennesse are the sins of these dayes and which is worst of all I would not speake it the Prophets doe eate vp the sins of the people O that my head were a fountaine of teares that I might weepe day and night for the sinnes of the Prophets For the leaders of my people cause them to erre saith the Lord leading them into blinde pathes and crooked waies and they shall stumble and fall together and none shall raise them vp saith the Lord. The case indeede must needs proove desperate when they who should support doe stand in neede of supportation and they who should be raisers vnto others are themselves down Awake for shame oh yee of the stocke and stemme of Levi and let Aarons rod flourish in your hands or else resolve to burne eternally Breake forth into thunder o yee sonnes of thunder and let the trumpet yet sound louder Are not we the men who are now even now to prepare a people against our Masters second comming and is the spirit of Eliah thinke you sufficient for vs now is the time to be zealous or never or never O let the people of God pray for the Priests of God O let the Priests of God whose office calles for more zeale now then did the former dayes looke well into their office if not so farre as to distast the same with Ionah yet to have a more considerate regard and to be more sensible of so sacred and Angelicall a function and not to prepare thereto as the most doe with myrth and Ioviality Neither is my speech wholly to these a word of exhortation would not doe amisse to the Prophets of God in earnest who having in sinceritie vndertaken the calling doe finde truly the burden of it Let them not
the fire without melting And for this cause neyther was it the voyce of the Lord proceeding immediately from his spirit which spake to Ionah here or to any of his Prophets elsewhere For as no man hath seene his shape so neyther hath any man heard his voyce at any time as sayth our Saviour Ioh. 5.37 The voyce of the Lord sayth David is powerfull the voyce of the Lord is full of maiestie c. but in his Temple doth everie man speake of his glory And truly vnlesse wee first take comfort in hearing the Lords voyce in his Temple and that by the Ministery of man daily delivered wee shall take little pleasure in hearing the Lords owne voyce which shall shake both heaven and earth much more the consciences of all sinners when he shall show himselfe in farre more dreadfull manner then once he did vpon Mount Sinai But how came the voyce to Ionah I have showen you negatively how not was it then in audible manner from without audible or rather intelligible it was to Ionah but in secret and from within like that still small voyce that came to Eliah The Lord spake vnto Iob but out of the whirl-winde and Job therewith grew humbled before a man most daring And I thinke had there to this voyce in what kinde soever it came to Jonah beene ioyned but some powerfull signe of the Lords presence Ionah durst not then have carryed himselfe so petulantly if the Lord had spoken to him whither out of the whirlewinde as to Iob or out of the flaming bush as to Moses or out of the storme as to Eliah or in a more excelling vision as vnto Daniel as vnto Iohn Rev. 1. He durst not then have replyed as he doeth much lesse if as he is in his owne ineffable existency had God spoken durst he once to have muttered It is true the Lord doeth sometimes speake audibly striking the outward sense of man as by the Trumpet which called vnto Iohn Revel 4. Againe sometimes hee hath revealed himselfe visibly to the eye of mans body and so he did to the young man with Elisha the Prophet 2. Kings 6.17 and to Paul Actes the 9.3 Sometimes againe and that very vsually vnder the time of the old Law he hath revealed his will to the fantasie or imagination and that by a dreame in the night Lastly and that most specially and most inwardly of all hath the Lord made knowen his purpose to the minde of man his intellective or vnderstanding part as the most essentiall part of man and most capable of Divine revelation But this last hath not happened alwayes after one kinde and manner but sometimes after a more abstracting and ravishing sort the man for the present being so disposed that hee knowes not whether his spirit bee in or out of his body at the lestwise the spirit being for the time deprived the vse of any the senses that it may attend the better to heavenly visions Thus was Ezekiel carryed out of himselfe into the valley of dry bones Paul into the third heavens thus fell Peter into his trance Sometimes againe to come to the question in hand and this most commonly to his Seruants the Prophets the Lord hath given his word or his signe by a secret instinct or inspiration Thus was the manner of olde and that thus it was with Ionah in this place may appeare by the context in comparing this speech with the precedent verse where is set downe that Ionah fainting wished in himselfe to die and said it was better for him to die then live This wish or speech of Jonah was secret within himselfe no eare heard it but the Lord and so the Lord in secret againe doth answer him and hee againe answers to the Lord. The Lord saide to Ionah and Ionah saide to the Lord the manner and carriage of which saying and interchange of speech as it was secret and silent so no thoughts could vnderstand but the heart of Ionah and the Lord only Shall we now apply this the Author to the Hebrewes hath done it in these words God who did in times past at divers times and sundry waies speake vnto the Fathers the Prophets have in these last daies spoken to vs by his owne Sonne whom hee hath appointed heire of all things by whom he made the worlds Now which kinde of speakings had you rather choose whither by seruants in the house or him that hath made the house and is heire of all Some there be who say O that we had lived in the daies of the Prophets or the Prophets now in our daies for then should we be vifited with new revelations and visions from the Lord. Hence spring vp almost in all ages those Anabaptisticall spirits pretending daily new revelations but inspired from hell to leade away vnstable soules which will not content themselues with the sound doctrine of the Gospel delivered by Christ Iesus the only Sonne of God To this end also have the Ministers of Antichrist devised new traditions and vnwritten verities to feed the humour of such men that they all might bee damned saith Saint Paul who beleeve not the truth but have pleasure in vnrighteousnesse in his second Epistle to the Thessalonians O remember the saying before that God spake divers times and diversly to the Fathers the Prophets none of them for the time being able to deliver an absolute forme of doctrine but as expecting daily somethings yet to bee added they waited for further revelations or inspirations from above And shall we expect that doctrine which they left imperfect to be made vp or perfected by the giddy spirits or furious phantasies of such who come like the old Prophets I have dreamed I have dreamed O no God hath spoken to vs in these last dayes by his Sonne the heyre of all who came out of his Fathers bosome and therefore hath revealed his whole will concerning our salvation and the means thereof and the same to remaine without any addition alteration or change to the end of the world he hath also sealed the same by the witnesse of his spirit in the hearts of all beleevers so that we may say with Peter whether shall we goe from thee for thou hast the word of Life c. To conclude since Saint Iohn wrote his revelation which he received from Christ there is to be looked for no other Revelation whether from Angels or men but cursed is he that addeth or taketh away from the words of the Booke of this Prophesie or from the writing of any other the Prophets Euangelists Apostles This word of God saith S. Paul to Timothy is able to make the man of God perfect what neede then any other helpe and furtherance perfection being by this word to bee attained vnto a perfection greater then that the fathers before Christ saw a perfection so farre as is conuenient during the state of our mortall life and Pilgrimage here vntill that glorious day in full strength breake out and the
dust and ashes But what marueile if while the fit lasteth the yet vnmortified flesh take on this being the beast which is to bee sacrificed vntill we be quite dead vnto our owne naturall desires reason and perverse iudgement This is that which the Lord in mercy passeth over putting a difference here betweene Ionah and his anger and betweene the sinnes of his children and his graces in them So the words here according to the originall are not to be read Doest thou well to be angry but thus is it well that anger is with thee according to the saying of the Apostle It is not I that sinne but sinne that dwelleth in me This as one day to be cast out and quite abolished from our natures the Lord doth passe by for the present accepting our persons not regarding the workes of our owne hands but as we are his workemanship in Christ Iesus Secondly And this is the second thing that preserveth and vpholdeth Ionah and with Ionah all Gods Elect in the most bitter conflicts from sinking into the pit and finall perishing namely the hand and power of grace which hath stated them in the covenant of Gods free Election and doth sustaine them in the same condition to their lives ends For first there is semen immanens an abiding seede as John calles it whereof whosoever be quickened never totally lose the life thereof but the vertue thereof at all times remaineth though not so evidently at all times discerned even as the Starres in a darke night are not seene to the eye yet both the eye retaineth the power of seeing and the Starres also are visible in themselves and abide fixed in the firmament which the succession of an other night plainly doeth discover So in this case againe and in this particular of anger a Christian is compared to a Philosopher in a tempest at the Sea While there is tumultus multus clamor magnus Much tumult and clamour the Philosopher though he be grounded in the Principles of his Art at that time hath no abilitie of manifestation neither himselfe being at all disposed nor his hearers capable of instructions so while the fury and strength of temptation lasteth the Christian is not his owne man in appearance waite then a while longer the tempest will be over the Starres shine cleere and the eye of faith shall be comforted with the light of Gods countenance Now as there is evermore an habite of grace and seede of God remaining in the soule of every true servant of God and faithfull member of Christ Iesus and ever shall remaine in spight of all the malice of Satan and the gates of hell and our owne corruptions too and the rage of wicked men so for the operation of the same it is at all times stirring the power thereof being never wholly buryed even in the greatest agony of the soules vexation there is a resistance vnto evill and a secret hand of grace running along with our impotent and tumultuous passions keeping those waving stormes of the soule within some compasse which else would swell above the bankes to the fearefull inundation of the soules tranquillitie And therefore is it howsoever may arise rebelling commotions from within yet never shall we finde that they have in direct tearmes of blasphemy broken out contrary to divine light inkindled in their breasts in despight against the Holy Redeemer which too often falleth out in Cast-awaies Consider the example before mentioned whether Moses or Eliah or Job or Jeremy It is true they were exceedingly and beyond measure transported to wish for death and to curse the day of their nativity doeth argue a great distemper of spirit but it is but a distemper and doth not forbid but they might as soone after they were be brought to a more sober moode and better minde Eliah wisht to dye so Moses so Jonah here wishes directly against themselves howsoever their anger or a great part thereof might be against the Lord. Iob and Ieremy they cursed but whom the Lord no they durst not they could not therefore it breakes out another way and is discharged vpon the day the night wherein they were conceived and borne the pappes that suckled knees that dandled them the man that brought tydings they shot at randome bitter words yet none flye vpward against their Maker this caution still hath beene remembred and the secret power that hath curbed those swelling motions hath at no time beene wanting to them Two cases there bee wherein I observe the holyest of Saints living to be iniurious in the highest measure against their owne felicitie but never directly against God the one is in extremitie of their owne sufferings which hath now beene handled the other an excesse of their zeale to Gods glory Thus Moses wished to be wiped out of the booke of life rather then that people should have beene consumed to whom the Lord had made promise of entring Canaan What would the nations have said thought he either that the God of Israel was vniust of his word or vnable of power to bring and plant that people in the land of the possession O let me never see good day saith Moses rather then God should suffer this dishonour With the same affectionate zeale was Paul mooved partly to his countrey-men the Iewes of the same flesh with him chiefely in regard of Gods honour who had sworne and bound himselfe in an everlasting covenant to Abraham and his seede for ever that rather then that people should absolutely be cast off and forsaken hee himselfe might become Anathema and accursed for ever Doe you see by these examples how iealous of Gods glory the Saints have beene though no mans zeale can be too great to Godward yet in the ardour thereof working with their dimme faith to have discovered manifest impotency The same effect well nigh to returne to the present purpose after a contrary manner of working in the violence of their owne extremities most commonly hath beene produced There can no such causes happen wherein a man with Ionah ought to wish for death the time by God appointed yet not come Ionah truly herein did transgresse so did Moses and Eliah too Yea but to be angry with God in expresse tearmes or to fall into this hopelesse exigent of cursing can it any waies be excused or made tolerable in the sight of God or course of sanctitie What then shall we say for Iob and Ieremy or yet for Jonah the occasion of this whole dispute Yea there is none so madde I doe suppose who will offer the excuse or purgation of Ionah in this his madde teasty combate and quarrell against the Lord his Maker yet in this will I exempt Ionah from the everlasting curse in that hee fell not into expresse tearmes of cursing For the other two O what iust what holy men Iob I meane and the other good Ieremy whether went ye downe downe vnto the sides of the pit or how fell yee downe downe into the
finde by the pulse of their affections a strong inclination to Ionah's disease they may vse these remedies to allay the fury and settle the tranquillitie of their owne soules First let them consider against whom they doe oppose in their anger is it not against the great and mighrie God The Thistle in Lebanon sent to the Cedar in Lebanon saying give thy daughter to my sonne to wife or take thou my daughter to thy sonne to wife and there passed by a wilde beast that was in Lebanon and trode downe the Thistle Thus said Joash King of Israel to Amaziah King of Iudah when he sent this message let vs looke one another in the face and this is the least of a thousand that I can say when we dare provoke the God of heaven to his face Can we throw downe mountaines by our might or dry vp the sea at our rebuke Can the Toade as the Fable hath it equall the Elephant in bignesse though shee swell and swell and swell againe and burst in swelling O then let vs remember that arrowes shotte vp into the ayre returne vpon the head of the shooters and pierce downewards Againe consider thine owne deserving for sure thou hast good cause to be angry with God and why thou hast from time to time so well deserved at his hands It is the mercy of the Lord that we are not all consumed saith Ieremy and truly wee are lesse then the least of all his mercies therefore the vse is soveraigne which the same Prophet maketh Lament 3. Wherefore doeth a living man complaine a man for the punishment of his sinnes Let vs search and try our waies and turne againe to the Lord Let vs lift vp our heart with our hands vnto God in the heavens c. Thirdly to passe from this iudge not of Gods favour to thee or his righteous proceedings in thy cause or person from the sense of thy present suffrings but from the end and issue which commonly God makes of his Saints afflictions and therefore whereas now thou art vnder and thy feete sticke fast in myre and clay pray vnto God with David that he would advance thy head and set thee vpon the rocke which is higher then thou so shalt thou be able to looke about thee round and with comfort behold the hilles and dales spacious forrests and groves thou shalt then with correction of thy passed folly perceive plainely the causes the reasons the end issue of Gods wise and gracious proceeding with thee and perceiving shalt praise and magnifie his name for it The Warre-like Souldier while the heate of the battell lasteh heares and sees nothing but confused noise and garments rolled in blood the pransing of strong horses the ratling speares Bellonaes rage with the clashing armes and clanging trumpe doth astonne his sense for the present and hee hath no leisure so long to thinke of the countrey of Peace the Ensignes of Honour the Garlands of Victory Victorious when he doth returne from the spoyle of his enemies then he rides in the Chariot of Triumph Trophees are erected he doth with ioy recount his dangers passed glory in his wounds received when all tongurs doe sound his praises Saul hath slaine his thousand and David his ten thousand Even so when the Warre-fare appointed for vs is accomplished we shall stand vpon Mount Sion Victorious beholding the Aegyptians dead vpon the shoore and shall sing the song of Moses the Horse and his ryder are throwne into the Sea Principalities and Powers are vanquished and subdued and we shall raigne for evermore Secondly My second vse shall be also of exhortation but this to the troublers of Sions peace and Edoms children who insult vpon her desolations It is necessary saith our Saviour that offences come but woe be to them who are the causers and grieve the soules of Gods children for they doe not alwaies labour of their owne inward griefes and private distresses of their owne soules from within Eliah flyes from the face of Iezabel and growes weary of his life woe be to Iezabel therefore who is the cause of it In the meane time the Saints groane and cry out for the wrongs done vnto them and grow impatient of spirit because the Lord doeth not worke the deliverance shall we say howsoever their impatiencie is not to bee excused that the world who hath procured their vnrest shall escape vnpunished or that the soules shall not be heard who to this day cry from vnder the Altar how long o Lord holy and true doest thou not iudge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth Remember the parable of the widow and vniust Iudge avenge me of mine adversary saith shee avenge mee of mine adversary and still shee cryeth avenge mee of mine adversary he would not for the iustnesse of her cause heare her but her importunity prevailed What 's the vse our Saviour makes thereof the answere ariseth by a gradation shall not God much more Iudge and revenge who is a iust Iudge and in a most iust and rightfull cause and that in the behalfe of his children his children which doe not onely call but cry and cry day and night shall not God avenge his owne elect saith he which cry day and night vnto him though hee beare long with them As who would say there is no sense nor reason to the contrary and therefore he saith plainly I tell you he will avenge them speedily Luk. 18. Thirdly In the third place Let vs learne to bee advised of this one thing how wee spend our iudgements vpon any whom we yet see labouring vnder the crosse least prooving vncharitable in our censure it proove to be our turne next to vndergoe the same tryalls vnder which wee see our â—â—other with some bitternesse of spirit wrastling for the present Alas If we iudge onely from the outward behaviour and externall effects which for the present affect our senses Ionah then is already condemned by our doome and how hardly must it goe with all those famous Worthies before named Rather Let vs enter into this account with our selves and say good God if Ionah indued with a farre greater measure of holinesse then poore I did proove thus fretfull and impatient vnder the hand of God how lesse able should I have beene to have borne but halfe the burden he sustained If Eliah Moses Ieremy Iob had not the power to master their vnruly passions sure then if Ibe not conscious to my selfe of the like weakenesse I never came vnto the tryall or how weakely should I resist in the day of evill A man that lyes groveling on the ground and sends forth lamentable groanes wee know not well the anguish of his spirit yet this we know that he is terribly indisposed yet for all this though the sight of all men and in his owne thinking too he be as a man most desperately forlorne and miserable he may notwithstanding by the helpe of some cunning Physitian and Chirurgion be
good nature I would intreat thee for the Author thus to iudge That he fell not by his hap-hazard vpon his text or that hee hath not had a feeling of the same What learning call you that which doth carry in hir bosome a sense or feeling of hir knowen principles It hath the name of knowledge experimentall which cannot be attained by all the search of meere study and is to bee preferred before all humane learning acquired by the documents and precepts of men Who can describe the image of God the father or pourtray out the shape of the holy Ghost or expresse the glory of the blessed Trinity The meanest Christian who hath God in his heart doth retaine a sounder knowledge of his maker by those hidden operations felt within then the stoutest Philosopher in the height and sublimity of his soring speculation or those better learned clearkes who can dispute subtilly aboue the Trinity yet want power to please the holy Trinity O but that knowledge is full of danger my text speaks of and who would wish to be possessed with such a feeling as Ionah was not I not thou nor any man yet take heede thou maiest be over-rash in iudging For why anger doeth sometimes and that ordinarily presuppose love O fearefull case is Ionah angry with God saist thou an other is of this minde is it possible in a fraile man to conceive anger against the great God whence springs this familiarity betweene heaven and earth aut quam nuper è coelo descendisti Ionah how lately camest thou out of heaven O Ionah yea sure by the very nature of the speech must be implyed a certaine intercourse of favour and loving commerce betweene the heavenly God and vs. Why els is any man angry with his fellow but in a conceyt that he hath bin requited euill for good and the fruits of hate where hee looked for the effects of loue Why then euen hence in like manner arise those manifold heart-burnings and great disturbances of the Saints quiet since they have bin assured of Gods love but want all signes thereof in their distresses Is this the part of a loving father think his misbeleeving children to neglect their suites who call day and night vnto him what 's become of his promises and those mervailous workes our forefathers have told vs of wherefore doth he not arise and helpe vs and that early O my God I cry in the day time and thou hearest not and and in the night season also my soule refuseth comfort Here our faith begins to stagger for what hath God forgotten to be gracious and will he be no more intreated and is his mercy cleane gone for evermore Then the spirit is almost tyred with waiting and the flesh growes monstrous vnruly God is not so good as his word for he hath promised if in trouble we call vpon him he will helpe vs but he regards neither our calling nor cryes nor teares O now the spirit waxeth hot and the blood doth boyle within the veines and thus our anger ariseth against God a thing not impossible as you see nor yet allowable to the Saints most incident and to the best of Saints more ordinarily then to the worst of hypocrites or any other to the state of grace not yet called Indeede for these I doe not reade of many or any examples in this kinde to have entred Contestation with the Lord as Ionah here hath done nor is it the Nabals of the world but the Davids who mourne in their prayer and are vexed For vpon what grounds can they challenge God of his promise and expostulate where hath God bound himselfe vnto these with an oath that he will be their God and of their seede for ever how oft have they called vpon him in faith and wept vnto him in zeale what love to his ordinances what trust to his Word what assurance of his mercies what consolation in his promises hath beene at any time in their hearts residing I am not angry with the Sunne when it shineth to the Antipodes nor with the Starres because they runne round I am not angry with the Windes at Sea when my house by fire is burnt at home or lastly why should the Malefactor who cryes guiltie at the Barre be angry with the Iudge who gives sentence according to the law vpon his offence Even so truly the wicked foolish who say in their hearts there is no God and doe impute their good and bad hap to blinde chance or fortune who are men of an other world and strangers to godlinesse I see no reason their anger should reach whether their beleefe doth not Yea truly when they are haled before Gods iudgement Seat as Malefactors arraigned their guiltie consciences proclaime woe immediately but then begins their anger and desperate rage when the scalding plagues of Gods wrath doe begin to torment their bodies and the horrour of deadly darkenesse doth cease vpon their soules for their wilfull blindnesse and folly and their rage is not only against God but in a remarkeable kinde of iustice against their owne members they gnawed their tongues and blasphemed Rev. 16. But if their malice breake out against God or his Saints sooner as oft it doth it is then a fearefull preparation to these eternall woes mentioned and hath more properly the name of malice then of anger For what difference is there betweene the anger of Gods Saints and of his enemies even such as I have shewed as is the anger betweene two friends and two most contrary enemies These things gentle Reader I have more deepely searcht into by occasion of my Text not that I presume herein to commend vnto thee any rare point of skill for that which may fall out to be rare in the course of my studies may have beene more soundly noted in the labours of other men and perhaps is not new vnto thy iudgement nor to this end doe I it to commend the feeling of this knowledge vnto any not so farre experimented in this kinde of learning which wee have from Ionah but to this end rather that wee may bee wise to put a difference and be suspended from rash iudgement concerning the state of divers Gods Elect wrastling here in this vale of misery falling and rising foyled and sometimes foyling like prevailers and that herein we studie true thankfulnesse to the sole-worker of our salvation who preserveth the soules of his Saints from going downe into the pit of desperation For my selfe Christian Reader I was angry with my God and knewit not very angry but did not well consider it How manifold are thy tryalls O how various and wonderfull art thou in the exercising of vs thy fraile creatures Vsque quo Domine vsque quo shal not my griefes and groanes my deepe sighings and often teares and strong cryes be full effectuall in thy fight to manifest thy power within to vtter thy praise abroad O those hills of peace where are they why hast thou caused me to hope in thy word hast nor furnisht me vnto the battel why was I called but returne now vnto thy rest O my soule and hope yet confidently I was angry and mourned in my prayer and was vexed was it not in thy temple O God in thy temple that my soule was exceedingly cast downe and troubled in thy temple therefore will I praise thee because there thou spakest peace vnto my troubled soule and did'st allay the heat of all my discontented passions saying as sometime thou didst vnto thy servant Ionah Doest thou well to be angry Thus even thus thou rebukedst the windes and the waves of all my inward commotions and there followed immediately a great calme praise the Lord O my soule and all that is within me praise his holy name For it was not flesh nor blood then which then was in the strength of impariency and stamped with the foot it was not flesh and blood that did reveale that did put this good motion into my breast but my father in heaven therefore praise the Lord O my soule At this time I was assigned to the Crosse had not yet chosen the Text I meant to treat of the choise was soone made For what more acceptable service to our God more pleasing to his Church more effectual for the preachers of his word to deale in then to expresse their minds vpon those Themes the power whereof hauing first subdued their owne affections doth with greater force from them flow forth vnto others and procure more ample glory to his name vnto whom the whole action and efficacy of the worke is in speciall wise to be referred Thus have I made my selfe a foole in glorying but it is in my infirmityes and if for this I be disdained of the Michals of the world I will study to become yet viler in their eyes that Gods power by my weaknes may be exalted Is not this the end of all our beings and ought we not by all meanes whether by precept or example or however labour here vnto whether we be besides our selues saith S. Paul to the Corinthians it is to God or whether wee bee sober it is for your cause and hee is no follower of Paul as hee followed Christ in this who will not thus indeavour to become all things to all men that of all sorts he may gaine some to God and he that respecteth his owne credit private opinion and speeches of others before the winning of souls he is ashamed of the Gospell of Christ a shame of all others most shamefull and one most vnworthy to be a minister of the new Testament Thus Christian and friendly Reader and one of the houshold of faith whose love I doe onely imbrace have I not made my selfe strange vnto thee and for this cause desire the fruit of thy prayes to be assistant vnto me that I may open my mouth with boldnesse in the cause of the Gospel whervnto I have traviled and am yet in paine I beleeved and therefore did I speake saith David but I was sore greived I also beleeved the same have I preached the same againe have I penned Now to all those who love the Lord Iesus I conclude Grace be vnto them and Mercy and vpon the Israel of God FINIS