the Psalme Dixâ— Custodiam c. I saide I will keepe my waies then with our lippes that first we hew the stones and make them fit for the building of the teÌ„ple before we place them in the walles least by our hammering and confusion at the present time wee disorder al things finally that whither we pray or preach we come not wildly and vnadvisedly to those sacred workes beating the aire with empty words and seeking our matter vp and downe as Saul his fathers asses but furnished and prepared to our busines with sufficient meditation I never shal perswade my selfe that the exactest industrie vvhich either tongue or penne can take in the handling of his workes can displease God And they that thinke the contrary seeke but a cloake for themselues the greater parte to cover their ignorance withall as it was noted of Honorius the thirde when he forbade the cleargy the study of both laws the foxe dispraiseth the grapes vvhich himselfe cannot reach VVhen the Tabernacle shoulde bee made with the arke of testimonye and the mercy seate and all other instrumentes belonging therevnto GOD called Bezeleel by name and filled him vvith his spirite in wisedome and in vnderstanding in knovvledge and in all workemanshippe and ioyned Aholiab vvith him and as manye as vvere vvise of hearte besides God put cunning into them As Bezeleel and his fellowes were fitter for these works then others vnfurnished so had they been very vnworthy of these graces of God if beeing bestowed to such an end they had not vsed theÌ„ to the vttermost I aske in the like maner Who made the mouth and the heart of man whose are learning and artes invention and eloquence what wombe hath ingendred them are they not Gods blessings shall we dissemble the authour shall vvee obscure the giftes shall wee wrap them vp in a napkin hide them in the grounde and not expresse them to the honour of his name by whom they were given Erasmus in his preface vpon the workes of Cyprian giveth this testimony applause to that glorious martyr of Christ. Talem ecclesiae doctorem c. such a doctour of the church such a chaÌ„pian of Christian religion did the schoole of rhetoricians bring forth vnto vs least any man foolishlie shoulde flatter himselfe that hee never mâ—dled vvith rhetoricke It is not vnknovvne to all that peruse the holye vvritte that Moses vvas learned in all the vvisedome of Aegypte Daniell of Chaldee Iob not vnexpert in astronomy Ieremy in the common lawes of his time David in musicke Paul in Poetry and in all the knowledge both of Iewes Gentiles and those that delight in the histories of the church shall finde Cyprian Optatus Hilarie Lactantius and others laden out of Egypte vvith the treasures and spoiles of the Egyptians instructed for the better service of GOD vvith the helpes of prophane writers They require but their owne for these other were but theeues saieth Clem. Alex. and robbed Moses and the prophets and likewise in the iudgement of Tertullian harping vpon the same string vvhat poet or sophister hath there ever beene that dranke not at the well of the prophets or if there be any thing in them besides let them be enforced to confesse with Iulian proprijs pennis consigimur wee are striken thorough vvith our owne â—uilles that is vvounded and disadvantaged by our owne learning And therefore I ende with the saying of Picus Mirandula if it bee an opprobrious thing to embrace good letters I had rather acknowledge my faulte then aske pardon for it Hitherto vvent the words of the history now let vs see what Ionas himselfe saith I cryed in mine affliction vnto the Lord c. I remember what Eschines spake of Demosthenes at Rhodes when hee red the defence that Demosthenes had framed to his accusatioÌ„ the people wondring at the strength and validity of it quid si ipsum audissetis what would yee haue thought if you had heard him pronouncing with his owne mouth I thinke no lesse betwixt Ionas Ionas vvhen I find what oddes there is betwixt him and himselfe as he speaketh in the name of the history vvhich hee vvriteth and as in his owne person His pen wrote nothing so effectually as his heart felt and being the scribe and oratour onely hee is not so fluent and copious as vvhen he is the patient Iob demaundeth in the sixt of his booke will yee giue the words of him that is afflicted to the winde as if hee had saide when affliction it selfe and the inmost sorrowes of my hearte tell my tale will you not regarde it Oh that your soules were in my soules steede that you felt as much as I am grieved with I could then keepe your company and could shake mine head at you Loquor in angustia mea queror in amaritudine animae meae I speake that that I speake from a worlde of trouble I make my complaint in the bitternes of my soule So Ierusalem cryeth in the Lamentations of the prophet O all yee that passe by stay and consider if ever there were sorrow like vnto that wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me For they that past by considered it not but Ierusalem felt it at the heart The style of the history before if you observed it was simple and plaine in as vsuall naked and vulgar tearmes as might be Ionas prayed vnto the Lorde his God out of the belly of the fishe what one worde therein lofty and magnificent and lifted aboue the common course of speech But the style of Ionas himselfe speaking from a sense and impression of his vvoes is full of ornament and maiesty full of translated and varied phrases as if a sentence of ordinarye tearmes were not sufficient to expresse his miseries It is not novve said that he praied but that he cried praying is turned into crying not from the belly of the fish but froÌ„ the belly of hel a marveilous transformatioÌ„ the trouble he speaketh of is not properly trouble but narrownes streights the hearing of the Lord is not naturally hearing but aunswering a degree beyond Againe the stile of the historye was single and briefe and not a worde bestowed therein more then was needefull to explane the matter intended But the stile of Ionas himselfe in every parte is doubled and iterated For where it was saide before at once Ionas prayed now hee cried and cried And the Lorde hearde and hearde And the belly of the fish there mentioned is now both pressure and tribulation and the belly of hell to Euripides charged Eschylus in the comedy for vnnecessary repetition of wordes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wise Eschylus hath one thing twise repeated In that I come and come againe is vsed When comming there and comming is not changed But in the two members of this present verse though there bee neare affinity and they seeme to importe but 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
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
from it Iudas hath nothing but mill-stones aboute his necke the necke of his guiltye conscience to vveigh him downe Ionas hath wings and corke to beare him vp Iudas like a carkas vvherein there is no life falleth downe as the Lacedemonian saide of a dead man whom hee coulde not set vpright vpon his feete oportet aliquid intus esse there must bee somevvhat vvithin Ionas hath that vvithin a spirite of comforte to quicken and supporte him Hee hath an eye in his heade discovering those hidden vvaies vvhich the eye of the eagâ—e and kite never founde out to looke to the temple of the LORDE VVhither he ment the temple at Ierusalem or vvhither his temple in heaven vvhereof the Psalme speaketh the LORDE is in his holy pallace the Lordes throne is in the heavens I enquire not but thrice blessed were those eies that did him this service If his sentence and resolution had ended in those former wordes I am cast out and there had beene the periode and full pointe all his ioyes had ended When the Iewes saide in the Prophet perijt spes nostra our hope is gone they mighte aswell haue added perijt salus nostra our salvation is gone a man vvithout hope is without his best advocate Good successe may often for sake the innocente but never good hope And therefore hee chaunged his stile in good time veruntamen yet notwithstanding I haue annointed mine eyes with the eye salue of hope and through all those obstacles of sea and seas floudes and surges I am able to looke to the place of thy rest It standeth as the rudder in the sentence and turneth it quite an other way It vvas running apace vpon dangerous shelues and had set vp the full sailes of deadliest discomfortes but a breath of faith commeth in and stoppeth that wretched course Notwithstanding Now doth Ionas begin to neese with the childe that the prophet called to life now is his first vprising from the dead he had vtterly fainted when he was in the belly whither of the vvhale or of hell but that he beleeved verily to see the goodnesse of the Lord in his holy temple Epaminondas being striken thorough with a speare and his bloud fayling him asked if his target were safe and whither the enimy were put to flight and vnderstanding all to be answerable to his heartes desire saide my fellowes in armes it is not an ende of my life that is nowe come but a better beginning The losse of the body is not great VVe sow it in dishonour we shall reape it in honour And conscience may be wounded and daunted sometimes in the best that liveth But if Ionas had lost his shielde of faith and his helmet of hope the principall armour of defence the one for the head vvherein the braine the other for the breast vvherein the heart lieth and if the enimies of his soule these desperate agonies had gotten the vpper hande and not beene vanquished by him where had his glory where had his safety beene But his shield you heare is whole Notwithstanding I will looke towardes thine onely temple VVith a little difference you haue the same speeches in the Psalmes which Ionas heere vseth As in the 31. Psalme I saide in mine haste I am cast out of thy â—ight Likewise in 42. All thy waues and thy floudes are gone over me I repeate no more But they make it an argument that Ionas had diligently red the Psalmes and kept them by hearte and applyed them as neede served to his particular occasions Est certe non magnus verùm aureolus ad verbum ediscendus libellus As he spake of Crantors booke Surely the booke of the Psalmes is not greate but golden and throughly to be learned Ierome advised Rusticus that the booke of the Psalmes shoulde neuer depart from his handling and reading Let every worde of the Psalter bee conned vvithout booke I vvill say shortely sayeth he It is a common treasurie of all good learning It appeareth in the gospel that Christ and his disciples were very conversant in that booke because in their sayings writings not fewer then threescore authorities are procured from aboue forty of those severall Psalmes But my meaning is not so much to commende the booke at this time as your vse of it For it is never so well red or hearde as when the harpe of David and the ditty of our hearte the scripture of the Psalme and the sense of our present occasion go togither Quid prosunt lecta intellecta â—isâ— teipsum legas intelligas readinge and vnderstanding without application is nothing Neither is it to purpose to singe Psalmes vnlesse we make them accord to our present miseries when we are in misery when we are delivered to our deliverances other the like variations Thus did Ionas But to come backe to David himselfe though hee spake so daungerously as you haue hearde I am cast of yet hee confesseth hee spake it in his haste and hee correcteth that hasty speech with a veruntamen a particle of better grace as Ionas did yet thou heardest the voice of my praier vvhen I cryed vnto thee And he exhorteth all those that trust in the LORDE to bee stronge and hee vvill establish their heartes Likewise in former vvordes these amongst the restiarring very vnpleasantly and striking out of tune I am forgotten as a deade man out of minde I am like a broken vessell But I trusted in thee O Lorde I saide thou art my God But for nisi and veruntamen but and notwithstanding notes as it were of a better sound our heartes might quake to see such passions in the Saintes of God The beloved sonne of God was not without this convulsion of spirite My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee not feared and suspected but felt and presently endured why hast thou done it yet he commendeth his spirit into the handes of that Lord who seemed to haue forsaken him Thus ever the Lord sendeth a gracious raine vpon his inheritance to refresh it when it is weary and it is true which Osee saith though wee looke for a day or two as if wee were dead and forlorne yet after those two dayes hee vvill reviue vs and the thirde he vvill raise vs vp and we shall liue in his sight I will now proclaime from an other Psalme Heare this all yee people giue eare all that dwell in the world low and high rich and poore one with an other My mouth shall speake of vvisedome and the meditation of my hart is of knowledge I will encline mine eare to a parable and vtter a graue matter vpon mine harpe Surely it is wisedome and knowledge and a graue matter indeede and blessed are they that conceaue it If it bee hid it is hid to those that perish it is a parable to Cain and Saul and Iudas and such like cast-awaies If I had the doubled spirit of Elias and wisedome like
for the kings shippes went to Tharsis with the servants of Hiram every three yeares once came the shippes of Tharsis and brought golde and silver yvorye apes and peacockes or vvhether it signifie Carthage which Dido sometime built and is now called Tunes which is the opinion of Theodoret and others or vvhether Tartessus a towne in Spaine or vvhether that city in Cilicia nearer to Syria vvhence Paul reporteth himselfe to haue beene in the 21. of the Actes I am a citizen in Tharsis a famous city in Cilicia or vvhether the whole countrey of Cilicia because in auncient times if Iosephus deceiue vs not all Cilicia vvas called Tharsis by the name of the chiefe city or whether it name vnto vs any other place not yet agreed vpon partly by curious partly by industrious authors it skilleth not greatly to discourse I leaue you for your satisfactiō therin to more ample cōmentaries But certeine I am vvhether his minde beare him to lande or to sea to Asia or Africk cuntry or city nearer or farther of at Niniveh he commeth not which was the place of Gods apointment Many dispute many things vvhy Ionas forsooke Niniveh and fled to Tharsis 1. The infirmity of the flesh some say was the cause pusillanimity of minde vvant of courage beeing terrified vvith the greatnesse of the citye 2. Or there was no hope say others of the dry when the greene was so barren The children of Israell had so hardened his heart with the hardnesse of theirs that he coulde not imagine the children of Ashur would ever haue fallen to repentāce 3. Or the strangenesse of the charge dismaide him for vvhen all other Prophets were sent to Israell he reasoneth vvith himselfe vvhy should I bee sent to Niniveh it was as vncoth vnto him as when Peter was willed to arise kill and eate vncleane beastes and hee answered in plaine termes not so Lorde 4. Or it might bee zeale to his countrey because the conversion of the Gentiles hee sawe woulde bee the eversion of the Iewes And surely this is a greate tentation to the minde of man the disadvantage and hinderance of brethren For this cause Moses interposed himselfe in the quarrell betvveene the Hebrew and the AEgyptian and slew the AEgyptian and in the behalfe of all Israell he afterwardes prayed vnto the Lord against his owne soule If thou wilt pardon their sinne thy mercie shall appeare but if thou wilt not I pray thee raze mee out of the booke of life which thou hast written 5. Or it might bee hee was afraide to be accounted a false prophet if the sequele of his prophecy fell not out which reason is afterward expressed by him in the fourth chapter I pray thee Lorde was not this my saying when I was in mine owne countrey c. As I saide of the place before so of the reasons that mooved him for this present till fitter occasions bee offered vvhatsoever it vvere that drewe him awaie vvhether weakenesse of spirite or despayre of successe or insolency of charge or ielousie over the Israelites or feare of discredite sure I am that hee commeth not to Niniveh but resolveth in his heart to reiect a manifest commandement I make no quaestion but in every circumstance forehandled he vncovereth his owne nakednes and laieth himselfe open to the censure and crimination of all men As who would say will you know the person without dissembling his name It was Ionas his readines without deliberation he ariseth his hast without intermission he flyeth the place farre distant from the which God had appointed Tharsis And if all these will not serue to prooue the disobedience of Ionas a a fault by his owne confession then harken vnto the next word if other were but candels to discover it this is a blazing lampe to lay it forth to all mens sight 5 From the presence of the Lord. He flyeth into Tharsis from the presence of the Lorde how can that bee if it bee true which David wisheth in the 27. Psalme Blessed bee his glorious name for ever and let all the earth bee filled with his glorie But in the hundreth thirty and eighth Psalme wonderfull are the testimonies that the prophet there bringeth to amplifie Gods illimited presence O Lord thou hast tried mee and knowne mee thou knowest my sitting and my rising thou vnderstandest my thoughtes a farre of c. For not to stay your eares with commemoration of all those argumentes this I gather in summe that there is neither heaven nor hell nor the outtermost part of the sea neither day nor night light nor darkenesse that can hide vs from his face Our sitting rising lying downe the thoughtes of our heartes wordes of our tongues waies of our feete nay our raines our bones our mothers wombes wherein wee laye in our first informitye and imperfection are so well knowne vnto him If this vvere his purpose to thinke that the presence of God might bee avoided who sitteth vpon the circle of heaven and beholdeth the inhabitantes of the earth as grasse-hoppers whose throne is the heaven of heavens and the earth his footestoole and his waies are in the greate deepe I must then needes say vvith Ieremie doubtlesse every man is a beast by his owne knowledge Prophet or no prophet If the spirit of God instruct him not hee is a beast worse then Melitides that naturall foole of vvhome Histories speake that hee coulde not define whether his father or his mother brought him forth But I cannot suppose such palpable and grosse ignorance in a prophet who knowing that God was well knowen in Iurie and his name greate in Israell coulde not be ignorant that God was the same God and the presence of his Godhead no lesse in Tharsis and all other countries What then is the meaning of this phrase He fled from the presence of the Lord 1. Some expounde it thus He left the whole border and grounde of Israell where the presence of the Lord though it were not more then in other places yet it was more evident by the manifestations of his favours graces towards them There was the Arke of the covenant and the sanctuary and the Lord gaue them answere by dreames oracles and other more speciall arguments of his abode there Moses spake truth in the 4. of Deut. of this priviledge of Israel what nation is so great vnto whom their Gods come so neare vnto them as the Lord is neare vnto vs in all that wee call vpon him for Davids acclamation Psalm 147. goeth hande in hand with it He hath not dealt so with other nations neither haue the heathen knowledge of his iudgments But I rather conceiue it thus which maketh much for the confirmation of my matter now in hand He fled from the presēce of the Lord when hee turned his backe vpon him shooke of his yoke and willfully renounced his commaundement It is a signe of obedience that servantes beare vnto their Lords and maisters when
enquire because they applie it not to the true and living GOD. But let this be observed as a matter saith the Psalme of deepe vnderstanding and one of the secrets within the sanctuarie of the Lorde that sea-beaten Marriners barbarians by countrey and men as barberous for the most parte for their conditions fearing neither God nor man of sundry nations some and most of sundry religions it may be Epicures but as my text bewraieth them idolatours they all know that there is a God whome they knowe not they feare a supreme maiesty which they cannot comprehend they reverence invocate and cry vpon a nature aboue the nature of man and all inferiour things potent benevolent apt to helpe whereof they never attained vnto any speciall revelation This man adoreth the God of his countrey that man some other God and Ionas is raised vp to call vpon his God but all haue some one God or other to whome they make supplication and bemone their daunger If Ionas had preached the living and immortall God vnto them the God of the Hebrewes the God of Abraham Isaac Iacob the holy one of Israel I would haue imputed their devotion to the preaching of Ionas Or had there bene any other soule in the ship belonging to the covenaÌ„t born within the house as the prophet speaketh that might haue informed theÌ„ in this behalfe Ther was not one who theÌ„ instructeth theÌ„ Nature Nautae intellexèruÌ„t aliquid esse veneranduÌ„ sub errore religionis the marriners vnderstood even in the falshod of that religioÌ„ which they held that somthing was to be worshiped It is not denied by any sort of divines auncient or recent but that by nature it selfe a man may conceiue there is a God There is no nation so wild and barbarous which is not seasoned with some opinion touching God The Athenians set vp an alter Ignoto Deo to an vnknowne God Act. 17. The Gentiles not having the lawe doe by nature the things conteined in the lawe and are a lawe vnto themselues and shewe the effect of the lawe written in their heartes their conscience bearing witnesse and their thoughtes accusing one another or excusing the second to the Romanes For the invisible things of him that is his eternall power and Godhead are seene by the creation of the world being considered in his workes to the intent that they should be without excuse Rom. 1. These are common impressions and notions sealed vp in the mind of every man a remnant of integrity after the fall of Adam a substance or blessing in the dead Elme sparkles of fire raked vp vnder the ashes which cannot die whilest the soule liveth Nature within man and nature without man which Ierome calleth Naturam facturam nature and the creature our invisible consentes and Gods visible workes an inward motion in the one and an outward motion of the other if there were no further helps shew that there is a God leaue vs without excuse Protagoras Abderites because he began his booke with doubt de dijs neque vt sint neque vt non sint habeo dicere I haue nothing to say of the Gods either that they be or that they be not by the commandement of the Athenians was banished their city countrey his bookes publiquely solemnly burnt to ashes I may call it a light that shineth in darknes though the purity and beames therof be mightely defaced which some corrupt abuse so become superstitious vanish away in their vaine cogitations others extinguish so become meere Atheists For so it is as if we tooke the lights in the house and put them out to haue the more liberty in the works of darknes Thus do the Atheists of our time the light of the scripture principally the light of the creature and the light of nature they exinguish within the chaÌ„bers of their harts with resolute dissolute perswasioÌ„s threape vpon their soules against reason coÌ„science that there is no God least by the sight of his iustice their race of impiety should bee stopped I trust I may safely speake it There are no Atheists amongst you though many happily such as Agâ—ippa was but almost christiaÌ„s I would to God you were not only almost but altogither such as you seeme to professe But there are in our land that trouble vs with virulent pestâ—lent miscreant positioÌ„s I would they were cut of the childreÌ„ of hel by as proper right as the divel himselfe the savour of whose madnes stinketh from the center of the earth to the highest heavens Let theÌ„ be confuted with arguments drawne from out the skabberds of Magistrates argumeÌ„ts without reply that may boâ—h stop the mouth choke the breath of this execrable impiety as the angel cursed Meroz 5. Iudg. so cursed be the man let the curse cleaue to his children that cometh not forth to helpe the Lord in this cause It is fit to dispute by reasoÌ„ whether there be a God or no which heaveÌ„ earth angels men divels al ages of the world all languages in the atheist himselfe who bindeth a napkin to the eies of his knowledge shame feare and 1000. witnesses like gnawing wormes within his breast did ever heretofore to the end of the world shal acknowledge Let vs leaue such questioÌ„s 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 incredible inglorious infamous questions to the tribunal trial of the highest iudge if there be no throne vpon the earth that wil determine them for our own safety the freeing of our souls let vs hate the very aire that the Atheist draweth as Iohn eschewed the bath wherin Cerinthus was let their damned spitits having received damnation in themselues ripen and bee rotten to perdition let them sleepe their everlasting sleepe in filthines not to be revoked when death hath gnawne vpon them like sheepe for a taste before hand let them rise againe from the sides of the pit maugre their stout gaine saying at the iudgement of the great day to receiue a deeper portion As for our selues my brethren which knowe and professe that one and only God for ever to be blessed let vs be zealous of good workes according to the measure of our knowledge which we haue received Let vs feare him without feare as his adopted sonnes and serue him without the spirit of bondage in righteousnesse all the daies of our liues that at the comming of the sonne of God to iudge the endes of the eatth we may be found faithfull fervants and as we haue dealt truely in a little we may be made rulers over much through the riches of his grace who hath freely and formerly beloved vs not for our owne sakes but because himselfe is loue and taketh delight in his owne goodnes THE FIFT LECTVRE Cap. 1. ver 5. And cried every man vpon his God and cast the wares in the shippe into the sea to lighten it of
will not say what a shame it is to Ionas that he which was apointed a watch-man vnto others should himselfe be awaked nor how much the greater reproch to be condemned by an heathen who himselfe was condemned by the sentence of the Hebrewes for an vncircumcised common and vncleane person But me thinketh I see an image in the ship-master of a good governour who is not content alone himselfe to take paines which was the complainte of Nehemias that the greate men of the Tekoites put not their necke to the vvorke but so ordereth the rest of his company as the head and hart copartners in the kingdome or one the king the other the vice-roy the members of the body that there is not a man amongst them suffered to sit at rest and do nothing The care of a governour over his charge is no way better expressed then by the phrases which the scripture hath vsed For therefore is he said to go in and out before the people to note not onely the priority of his place but the prudency of vertue every way to lead them as a shepheard his sheepe on whome their dependance standeth both for the safegard of their liues and estate and their provision otherwise To forbeare other proofes herein Moses nameth both at once in that serious request of his which after the knowledge of his death given hee made to the Lorde for substitution of some other in his roume Let the Lorde God of the spirites of all fleshe apointe a man over the congregation who maie goe in and out before them and both leade them forth and bring them home againe and that the congregation of the Lorde bee not as sheepe without a shephearde It appeareth by a former speech by him vttered that hee vvas not onelye charged vvith them as a leader with his follovvers or a shephearde vvith his sheepe but as a father mother or nurse vvith his children and sucking babes Else vvhy did hee aske his maker in tearmes of most naturall reference haue I conceaved all this people or haue I begotten them that thou shouldest say vnto mee carrie them in thy bosome as a nurse beareth her sucking childe Let masters and magistrates learne by this speech that when they are put in authoritye they receiue as it vvere a role from the Lorde like the role of Ezechiell vvherein their duties are abridged and summed vp in this shorte sentence carrie them in thy bosome For as a writing received immediately from the mouth of God so doth Moses set it downe or as if there had past some interlocution betwixte God and him as much as to say let them bee tender and deare vnto thine affection let them bee vnder thine eye and neare thine hearte that they perish not pittie their miseries redresse their wrongs releiue their wants reforme their errors prevent their mishaps procure their welfare and peace by all good meanes It is an art of artes and science of sciences to rule man and they are magistrates indeed which haue the knowledge and skill that belongeth to magistrates which haue oculum cum sceptro by which Embleme the AEgyptians figured their governments a scepter for iurisdiction and power an eie for watchfulnes and discretion For if they interpret their callings aright they haue not the bondage service of the people so much as the tutage of them Neither is the common wealth theirs to vse as they list but they the common wealths What meant Clem. Alexandrinus in his fiction that he citeth out of Plato that the former of all things hath mingled gold with the complexion and temperature of princes of their subordinate helpers and assessors silver but in the constitutions of husbandmen and artificers brasse and yron but that the excellentest roumes should be furnished with the excellentest giftes and as for meaner callings they were sufficiently sped if they had common and ordinary qualities Sedes prima vita ima saith Bernard the highest place and basest life agree not and the ancient proverbe agreeth here vnto Rex fatuus in solio simia in tecto a foolish king in a throne is an ape vpon the house top highly pearched but absurdly conditioned The example of good governors we know is of great force to draw the harts of the people after them their proclamations and edicts are not so availeable to perswade as their maÌ„ners Confessor papa Confessor populus saith CypriaÌ„ to Cornelius Bishop of Rome where the prelate or pastour is confessour of the name of Christ his people will confesse it also When Shemaiah councelled Nehemias to flie into the temple and shut the doores because his enemies would that night come to slay him he drew an argument of courage and magnanimity from the preheminence of his office and withstood his perswasion Should such a man as I slee who is he that being as I am woulde goe into the temple to liue I will not goe in Where an harte leadeth the armye though it consist wholy of lyons hee maketh them all hâ—artes but vvhere a lyon is captaine over hartes hee turneth them all into lyons The feare of Nehemias beeing their prince and commaunder had beene enough to haue weakened the handes and heartes of all his flocke for thus they vvoulde haue reasoned against themselues Our leader is discomforted vnder vvhose shaddow vvee saide wee shall be safe VVhat a mischiefe it is to a common vvealth to bee encumbred with a foolish vntemperate ruler the wisest preacher of the earth next the sonne of God hath soundly defined in these wordes Woe to thee O land where thy king is a childe and thy princes eate in the morning vvhen they haue not wisedome to governe and rather follow those pleasures which accompanye the honour and royalty of Princes then the paines which their magistracy requireth Whereas on the other side the governement of an honourable and temperate magistrate bringeth singular blessinges with it Blessed art thou O land when thy king is the sonne of Nobles and thy princes eate in time for strength and not for drunkennes What are the stayes and strengthes of Ierusalem and Iudah cities and nations all publique and politique bodies Are not the strong man and the man of warre the Iudge and the prophet the prudent and the aged the captaine over fiftie the honourable and the counsellour and so forth And are not their ioyntes loosed and their sinewes taken away when that iudgement of God is fulfilled vpon them I will apointe children to bee their princes and babes shall rule over them Amongst those dreadfull curses which the prophet calleth from heaven against his malicious vnthankefull adversaries leaving no part vnexamined but running like oyle into every ioynte and bone of them smitinge themselues vviues children posteritie goods good names and memories that they leaue behinde them the first that leadeth them all the race as Iudas led that cursed band of souldiours is this set thou
conscience I am afflicted the inheritaÌ„ce I am diminished liberty I am restrained for thy sake These are arguments perswasions that haue done good as Augustine affirmeth of the Donatistes and Circumcellions in Affricke that being terrified by paines they began to enter into consideration with themselues whether they suffered for iustice or for obstinacie and presumption But you will say that some men are not bettered hereby Shall wee therefore saith Augustine reiect the phisicke because the sicknesse of some is incurable For of such it is written I haue smitten your children in vaine they receiue no correction And for the better managing of the whole cause he addeth this iudgement If they were terrified and not taught it would seeme tyrannie againe if taught not terrified it would harden them in an inveterate custome make theÌ„ more sluggish to recâ—iue their saluatioÌ„ As for that obiectioÌ„ of liberty of conscience he answereth it in an other place It is in vaine that thou saiest leaue me to my free will for why proclaimest thou not liberty in homicides and whordomes aswell GOD hath given indeede free will vnto man free from coaction but it vvas not his will meane time that either the good will of man shoulde bee without fruite or his evill will without punishment Tertullian is of the same minde with Augustine that it is meete that heretickes shoulde bee compelled to doe their duetie not allured I say compelled if allurement will not serue for they must not alway bee prayed and entreated Hee that hath a phrensie must be bound â—nd he that hath a lethargy must be prickt vp and he that hath strengthned himselfe in heresie whether he keepe it privately to himselfe or diffuse it amongst others must violently be pulled from it These persons hath Augustine distinguished For there are some heretickes troublesomely audacious others anciently sluggish and taken with a sleepy disease neither of these may in wisedome be forborne There are some makers others but followers proselytes disciples in heresies these are either weake or indurate So then first counsell and afterwardes compell them if that will not serue to bring them to the service of God according to that forme which the lawes of our countrey haue set downe though I wish not one haire of their heades diminished but vvhen they strike at our heade and had rather powre bloude into their veines then let it out but when the atrocity of their actes can no longer bee tolerated yet were I worthy to giue advise I would haue a writer go with his inckhorne from man to man and marke them in the foreheades that mourne for the vvelfare of our realme and as bond-men to their brethren they should hew woode and draw water to the hoast of Israel as Iosuah vsed the Gibeonites for their guile Who will pitty the charmer that is stung by the serpent because it was the folly of the charmer to go to neare or who will favour that man that nourisheth a gangrene within his body and seeketh not helpe to remooue it We nurse vp lions whelps for our owne overthrow as Amilcar brought vp his sonnes for the ruine of Rome we play too boldly at the holes of aspes we embolden the faces encourage the harts strengthen the handes of them that keepe an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a daily recorde of all our actions and haue taken to vse whatsoever hath beene spoken or done against them these many Halcyon yeares of ours meaning to exchange it ten for one if ever they see the day of their long expected alteration But the cause is the Lords Whatsoever they looke for let vs vindicate his dishonor who hath made this countrey of ours a sanctuary for true religion a refuge and shade in the heate of the day for persecuted professors who haue beene chased like bees from their owne hiues a temple for himselfe to dwell in Let vs not make that temple a stewes a coÌ„mon receit for all coÌ„mers that both Atheists Papists Anabaptists and all sortes of sectaries may hold what conscience they will and serue such God as like themseles THE EIGHT LECTVRE Chap. 1. vers 6. Call vpon thy God if so bee that God will thinke vpon vs that wee perish not I Haue noted before out of these words both the carefulnesse of the Ship-master continued towardes his charge and the liberty or rather license hee gaue vnto Ionas to serue his peculiar God Touching which indulgence of his I shewed my opinion whether it bee expedient that a governour shoulde tolerate a distraction of his subiectes into divers religions Mee thinketh there are two thinges more implyed in this member Call vpon thy God carying the reasons why hee called vpon Ionas after this sort For either he affected the person of Ionas supposing perhappes that some merit and grace in the man might more prevaile by prayer then the rest or els he affianced the God of Ionas and as one weary or distrustfull of his owne hoped there might be an other God more able to deliver them I will not enter into coniectures too farre but surely it is likely enoughe that either by the lookes or speech or attire or behaviour or some forepassed devotion or other the like notice the maister conceaved a good opinion of Ionas The forehead sometime sheweth the man as the widow of Shunem by the very vsage countenance speech of Elizeus was able to tell her husband Beholde I know now that this is an holy man of God that passeth by vs continually If this were his reason it was not greatly amisse because there is great difference betweene man and man For neither the priority of birth which Esau had of Iacob Gen. 25. nor the heigth of stature which Eliab had of David 1. Sam 16. nor the pompe and honour of the world which Haman had of Mardochai Esther 3. nor all the wisedome of Chaldea which the Astrologers had of Daniel nor the antiquity of daies which many daughters of Sion had of the blessed Virgin nor the prerogatiue of calling which the Scribes and Pharises had of poore fishermen nor the countrey which Annas and Caiaphas had of Cornelius nor eloquence of speech which Tertullus had of Paule nor any the like respect is able to commende a man in such sort but that his inferiours in that kinde for more vertuous conditions may be magnified aboue him It may be the maister of the shippe vvas so perswaded of Ionas that though he were but one to a multitude a stranger amongst strangers a scholler and puny amongst marchants and souldiours whose state and carriage was every way beyond his yet he might haue a spirit blessing and wisedome beyond all theirs and therefore repaireth vnto him Arise call vpon thy God How onelye and incomparable vvas the favour vvhich Abraham the great father of many people found in the eyes of God who being but dust and ashes as himselfe confessed pleaded vvith his maker as
immortality of their soules others disputing doubting knowing nothing to purpose til their knowledge commeth to late others obiecting themselues to death rather in a vaineglorious ostentation then vpon sound reason I say compare with them one the other side christian consciences neither loving their liues more than a good cause and yet without good cause not leaving them and aske them what they thinke of this temporall life they will answere both by speech and action that they regard not how long or how short it is but how well conditioned I borrow his words of whome I may say concerning his precepts and iudgements for morall life that he was a Gentile-christian or as Paul to Agrippa almost a christian as in the acting of a comedy it skilleth not what length it had but how well it was plaide Consider their magnanimous but withall wise resolutions such I meane as should turne them to greater advantage Esther knew that her service in hand was honourable before God and man and her hope not vaine therefore maketh her rekoning of the cost before the worke begun If I perish I perish her meaning assuredly was If I perish I perish not though I loose my life yet I shall saue it If there were not hope after death Iob would never haue said lo though he kill me yet will I trust in him And what availeth it him to know that his redeemer lived but that hee consequently knewe the meanes wherby his life should be redeemed If the presence of God did not illighten darknes and his life quicken death it selfe David woulde never haue taken such hart vnto him Though I shoulde walke through the valley of the shadowe of death I woulde feare no evill for thou art with mee and thy rodde and thy staffe comforte mee If his shepheardes staffe had fayled him against the Lyon and the Beare which hee slevve at the sheepe-foulde or his sling against Golias that he had fallen into their handes yet this staffe and strength of the Lord could haue restored his losses The sentence that all these bare in their mouthes and harts and kept as their watch-worde was this Death is mine advantage The Apostle taketh their persons vpon him and speaketh for them all Therefore we faint not because we know that if our outward man perish yet the inward man is renued daily God buildeth as fast as nature and violence can destroy Wee know againe that if our earthly house of this tabernacle bee destroyed wee haue a building given of God that is an house not made with handes but eternall in the heavens Vpon the assurance of this house not made of lime and sande nor yet of flesh and bloude but of glorie and immortalitie hee desireth to bee dissolved and to bee with Christ and by his reioycing that hee hath bee dyeth dayly though not in the passion of his body yet in the forwardnesse and propension of his minde and and he received the sentence of death in himselfe as a man that cast the worst before the iudge pronounced it I may say for conclusion in some sort as Socrates did Non vivit cui nihil est in mente nisi vt vivat He liveth not who mindeth nothing but this life or as the Romane orator well interpreteth it cui nihil est in vitâ iucundius vitâ who holdeth nothing in his life dearer then life it selfe For is this a life where the house is but clay the breath a vapour or smoake the body a body of death our garment corruption the moth and the worme our portion that as the wombe of the earth bred vs so the wombe of the earth must againe receiue vs and as the Lorde of our spirites said vnto vs receiue the breath of life for a time so he will say hereafter returne yee sonnes of Adam and go to destruction By this time you may make the connexion of my text The master of the shippe and his company 1. worshippe and pray vnto false Gods that is builde the house of the spider for their refuge 2. Because they are false they haue them in ielousie and suspicion call vpon thy God 3. because in suspicion they make question of their assistaunce if so bee 4. because question of better thinges to come they are content to holde that which already they haue in possession and therefore say that wee perish not With vs it fareth othervvise Because our faith is stedfast and cannot deceiue vs in the corruption of our bodies vexation of our spirites orbity of our vviues and children casualty of goods wracke of ships and liues wee are not removed from our patience we leaue it to the wisedome of God to amend all our mishappes we conclude with Ioab to Abishai The Lorde doe that which is good in his eies honour and dishonour good reporte and evill reporte in one sense are alike vnto vs and though wee bee vnknowne yet wee are knowne though sorrowing yet wee reioyce though having nothing yet wee possesse all thinges though wee bee chastened yet are we not killed nay though we die yet we liue and are not dead we gather by scattering we win by losing we liue by dying we perish not by that which men call perishing In this heauenly meditation let me leaue you for this time of that blessed inheritance in your fathers house the peny nay the poundes the invaluable weight and masse of golde nay of glory after your labours ended in the vineyard meate drinke at the table of the Lord sight of his excellēt goodnes face to face pleasures at his right hand and fulnes of ioy in his presence for euermore Let vs then say with the Psalmist my soule is a thirst for the living God oh whē shall I come to appeare in the presence of our God For what is a prison to a pallace tents boothes to an abiding citty the region of death to the land of the living the life of men to the life of angels a bodie of humility to a body of glory the valley of teares to that holy and heauenly mounte Sion whereon the lambe standeth gathering his saints about him to the participation of those ioies which himselfe enioieth and by his holy intescession purchaseth for his members THE NINTH LECTVRE Cap. 1. ver 7. And they saide euery one to his fellowe Come and let vs cast lottes c. AS the māner of sick men is in an hote ague or the like disease to pant within themselues and by groning to testifie their pangs to others to throw of their clothes and to tosse from side to side in the bed for mitigation of their paines which whether they doe or do not their sicknes still remaineth till the nature thereof bee more neerely examined and albeit they chaunge their place they change not their weaknes so do these Marriners sicke of the anger of God as the other of a feuer disquieted in al their affectiōs
haue knowne it to turne from the holie commaundement given vnto vs. For where as the ende is the perfection of every thing the ende of the relapsed Christians is vvorse then their beginning There is scientia contristans a sorrowfull and wofull knowledge as Bernarde gathered out of the first of Ecclesiastes Hee that encreaseth knowledge encreaseth sorrow It is truest in this sense when wee are able and willing to say vvith the Pharisee are vvee also blinde and yet with our eies open vve runne into destruction The time shall come vvhen many shall say that you may knowe it is the case of a multitude to bee svvallovved into this gulfe Lorde vvee haue hearde thee in our streetes c. and yet their knowledge of Christ shall not gaine his knowledge of them but as straungers and reprobates they shal bee sent from him Our knowledge shall then bee vveighed to the smallest graine but if our holinesse of life put in the other plate of the ballance bee founde to lighte and vnanswerable vnto it our sorrowes shall make it vp Therefore vnlesse vve be still sicke of Adames disease that vvee had rather eate of the tree of knowledge then of the tree of life let vs be carefull of knowledge not only to sobriety but with profitte also that the fruit of a good life bringing eternity of daies to come may waite vpon it Blessed are those soules wherein the tree of syncere knowledge is rooted and the worme of security or contempt hath not eaten vp the fruit the Lord shall water them with the dew of heaven in this life and translate them hereafter as glorious renowned plantes into his heavenly garden THE XII LECTVRE Chap. 1. ver 10. Then were the men exceedinglie afraide and said vnto him why hast thou done this For the men knew that hee had fled from the presence of the Lord because he had told them BEcause the confession in the ninth verse is not so absolute as to aunswere all the questions which were propounded therefore the supply and perfection thereof must bee brought from this tenth wherein we vnderstande that the whole order summe of his disobedience was related albeit not described at large that being a prophet and sent vvith a message to Niniveh hee fled from the presence of the Lord that is cast his commaundementes behinde his backe The connexion then betwixt these two verses is this I am an Hebrew of the happiest people and country vnder heaven I am not ignorant of true religion For I feare the Lorde c. All which is by way of preface for amplifications sake the more to extende the fault mentioned in the words following yet am I fled from the presence of the Lorde I haue taken a froward and vnadvised course to frustrate his businesse With this addition you may shape an answere directly to every question 1. What is thine office shunning the face of God running from his presence contēpt of his voice 2. What is thine occupation not manuary and illiberall not fraudulent deceitfull but a calling immediate from God I stand in his sight as the Angels of heaven doe to heare my charge and when he giveth mee an errande my office is to performe it 3. Whence commest thou from the presence of the Lord from whose lips I received my late commission 4. What is thy country I am an Hebrew 5. Of what people the most scient skilfull in the service of God Thus haue you his whole confession Now he beginneth to be wise and with a prudent simplicity more worth then a thousande tergiversations to returne vnto him by confessing his fault from whome hee was fled by disobedience to recover his lost iustice by accusing himselfe to cast forth the impostumated matter of a dissembling conscience vvhich being concealed had beene presente death to honour the righteous Lorde whom hee had grossely dishonoured and by opening his lippes into an humble confession to shut the mouth of hell which began to open vpon him My sonne saith Iosuah to Achan I beseech thee giue glory to the Lorde God of Israell and make confession vnto him and shewe mee nowe what thou hast done hide it not from mee It is a part of the glory of God to shame our selues I meane to confesse our sinnes which in modesty and shamefastnes we striue to keepe close not onely vnto God against whom onely vvee haue sinned and to whom onlie it appertaineth to saie I haue pardoned I will not destroy but vnto men also either to the magistrate vvho hath authority to examine either to the minister who hath power to binde and loose either to our brethren generallie that the common rule of charity one in supporting the others infirmities may be kept in practise And it is on the other side an iniurie to God not to iustifie his iudgementes nor to acknowledge the conquest of his trueth when it hath prevailed but in a fullen and melancholy passion to strangle it vvithin our bones and never to yeelde the victorie therevnto till as the sunne from out the cloudes so trueth hath made her a way by maine force from out our dissimulations The first degree of felicitie is not to offend the seconde to knowe and acknowledge offences And as men dreame in their sleepe but tell their dreames waking so howsoever wee may sin by carelesnes yet it is an argument of health and recovery to confesse our sinnes For vvhat shal we gaine by dissembling them Wounds the closer they are kept the greater torture they bring sinnes not confessed will bring condemnation vpon vs without confession What followeth When Ionas had confessed his fault 1. They knewe it for his owne mouth hath condemned him They had a presumptuous knowledge before by the eviction of the lottes but now they are out of doubte by his owne declaration So the texte speaketh The men knew that hee had fled from the presence of the Lord because hee had tolde them 2. Their knowledge wrought a feare in them Then were the men exceedingly afraide 3. Their feare brake forth either into an increpation or a wonder at the least They saide why hast thou done this Their knowledge was consequent of force to his confession they could not but be privie therevnto because hee powred not his speech into the aire but into their eares that they might apprehend it But this knowledge of theirs was not a curious and idle knowledge such as those men haue who know onely to know but a pragmaticall knowledge full of labour and businesse it went from their eares to their heartes and made as greate a tempest in their consciences as the winde in the seas it mingled and confounded all their cogitations it kindled a feare within them that sundered their soules and spirites And though their feare before was vehement enough in the fifth verse when neither their tongues were at rest for crying nor their wares had peace from being cast out yet
the Apostle treadeth in this senteÌ„ce peradventure some man dareth die so it may bee when it is not and he dareth though hee will not doe it and but some one perhappes amongst a thousande Life to a naturall man who thinketh he liveth but whilst hee liveth is sweete vpon any conditions as may appeare in the example of the Gibeonites before produced who did that they did for feare of their liues And though they were cursed for their wilie dealinge and none of them ever aftervvardes freed from being a bondman but made hewers of woode and drawers of water for the congregation of the Lorde for ever yet they were content to escape vvith their liues and to endure any thing so the people might not slay them Beholde wee are now in thine handes doe as it seemeth good in thine eies to doe vnto vs. So true it is which Lactantius writeth of this transitory life that although it bee full of vexations yet is it desired and wished for of all men Olde and Younge Kinges and meane persons wise and foolish desire it alike Hee addeth the sentence of Anaxagoras Tanti est contemplatio coeli ac lucis ipsius vt quascunque miserias libeat sustinere The very beholding of heaven and the light it selfe is so much worth that vvee are contente to endure anie wretchednesse for it Nowe these marriners having an eie to their private estates to pacifie the anger of God and quiet the sea for their owne deliverie standing vpon the losse and miscariage not now of their substance which was already gone and might in time be supplied but of their liues which never could be raunsomed I marvell that they make delaies and take not the speediest way for the ridding of Ionas and safegarding of their endaungered liues There is no more required of man but this to doe good to men if it may be to many if not to few if not to those that are nearest him if not to himselfe and therefore the saâ—ing of Ionas being plainly despaired mee thinketh the care of their owne welfare shoulde presently and eagerly haue beene intended The other argument to spur them forwardes was the impatience of the sea the sea wrought nay the sea went was tempestuous An excellent phrase of speech The sea went it had a charge for Ionas as Ionas had for Niniveh for as God said to the one Arise go to Niniveh so to the other Arise goe after Ionas Doth the sea sit still as Elias sate vnder the Iuniper tree and cried it is enough or settle her waters vpon her slime and gravell and not fulfill the commandement of him that made it No but as a Gyant refresht with wine so it renueth and redoubleth her wonted force feeleth not the labour imposed but doth the worke of the Lord with all possible diligence The Lord saith go and it goeth and it goeth with a witnes as Iehu marched of whom the watchman gaue warning he marcheth like a mad man so doth the sea go furiously with an vnquiet hasty turbulent spirit full of impatience and zeale till God haue avenged himselfe against his disobedient servaunt Thus all the creatures in the worlde haue armes and legges as it were and all the members of living thinges and a spirite of life in some sorte to quicken them and activitie to vse them and courage with wisedome to direct them aright and convert them to the overthrow of those that with contemptuous security depart from Gods waies Do we then thinke that the will of God can ever be frustrated The Lorde of hostes hath worne surely as I haue purposed so shall it come to passe and as I haue consulted so shall it stand Who can make streight that which he hath made crooked There is no wisedome no vnderstanding no counsell against the Lord. He hath determined who shall disanull it his hand is stretched out and who shall turne it away See an experiment hereof Whilest the marriners were knitting and devising a chaine of delaies adding protraction to protraction wherewith to spend the time desirous either to saue or to reprieue the guilty person and with a number of shiftes labouring to evade that counsell which God had enacted howe vaine and vnprofitable are all their consultations If all the Senates and sessions in the world had ioyned their wisedome togither to acquit the offend our it had beene as bootelesse as to haue runne their heades against a wall of brasse to cast it down Vnlesse they caÌ„ see corrupt the heaveÌ„s with all that therein is the earth with al that therein is the sea with all that therein is to keepe silence to winke at the faultes of men and to favour their devises it cannot be For whilest these men are in counsell conference the sea is in action they are backewarde to punish the sea goeth forward with his service they loose time the sea will admit no dilatioÌ„ and to teach them more wit and obedience the sea is in armes against the marriners themselues and persecuteth them as consenters and abetters to the sin because the Lord had elected them ministers of his iudgments and they neglect their office The will of God must either be done by vs or vpon vs as it befell Ierusalem How often would I c. thou wouldest not Because it was not done by Ierusalem It was done vpon Ierusalem They would haue said afterwardes in Ierusalem when the blessings were all gonne and whole rivers of teares could not haue regained them Blessed is he that commeth in the name of the Lord. And therefore I conclude with Bernard Wo to all crossing and thwarting willes gaining nothing but punishment for their gainesaying What is so miserable as ever to intende that which never shall bee and ever to be against that which shall never but be they shall never attaine what they would and evermore sustaine what they would not And take this for a further warning out of this phrase the sea went and was troublous wherby is declared the travell paines it tooke to take vengeance that when the anger of the Lorde is once throughly fired all the waters in the South cannot quench it It lieth happely in a smother and smoke a long time before it breaketh out but when it is once ascended hath gotten height incaÌ„descit eundo it encreaseth by going gathereth more strength It burneth to the bottome of hell before it giveth over consuming the earth with her encrease setting on fire the foundations of the mountaines It followeth in the same scripture I lift vp mine hand to heaven say I liue for ever a solemne venerable protestation If I whet my glittering sword my hand take holde on vengeance I will execute my iudgment vpon mine enimies reward them thae hate me Mine arrowes shal be drunke with their bloud my sword shall eate their flesh There is a time I perceiue when his sword is dull
conceiue was not a Psalme composed for any particular vse but lefte to the church of God as a generall rule and prescription to fit the condition of every man Wherin there are first some reasons in our owne behalfe wherwith we insinuate our selves into the favour of God that he may heare vs. 1. Bow downe thine â—are vnto me O Lord. Why I am poore and needy the exigence of my distressfull affaires requireth thy helpe 2. Preserue thou my soule Why I am mercifull I aske not mercy at thy throne but as I shewe mercy againe to my brethren 3. Saue thou thy servant my God Why because he putteth his trust in thee he hath no other rocke to cleave vnto 4. Be mercifull vnto me O Lord. Why I crie vpon thee continually I haue constantly decreed with my selfe not to give over the hope of thy comfort 5. Reioice the soule of thy servant Why for to thee O Lord doe I lift vp my soule the best and chosenest member I haue shall doe thee service His misery mercy faithfulnesse constancy syncerity speake for audience Now on behalfe of God there are other inducementes recited from the 5. verse why wee resort to the winges of his favour when we are distressed 1. from his mercy and kindnes to all that call vpon him for thou Lord art good and gracious and of great compassion therefore giue eare to my praier and harken vnto the voice of my supplication 2. from experience and triall In the day of my trouble will I call vpon thee for thou hearest me 3. from comparison and greatnes of his workes Amongest the Gods there is none like vnto thee and who can doe like thy workes 4. from consent of the worlde All nations whome thou hast made shall come and worship before thee O Lord and shall glorifie thy name 5. from the solenesse and singularitie of his godheade which is the chiefe for thou art greate and doest wonderous thinges and art God alone 1. His generall exhibition of mercy to all 2. particular and personall application to some 3. the rarenesse and maiesty of his workes 4. the consent of nature and nations 5. the singularity of godheade these are motions and perswasions to call forth our prayers and these if they can be verified either of Angels or men I refuse not to giue them a part with God in this our sacred oblation They cried and said Their praiers were also vocal expressed The gronings of the spirit vndoubtedly though Zâ—chary be dumbe and cannot speake a worde shall never bee reâ—used Hee made the heart and the tongue that vnderstandeth the language of both alike he is as neare to our reines as to our lippes and the voice of the one is not more audible to him that heareth without eares than the others intention In Dei auribus desiderium vehemens clamor magnus est remissa intentio vox submissa In the eares of God a vehement desire is a great crie a remisse and carelesse intention is a submisse and still voice Anna a type of the church spake in her hearte her lippes did onely mooue and her voice was not hearde Yea the gestures of her body through the griefe of her soule were such that â—â—li reprooved her of drunkennesse Indeede shee was drunke not with the wine of grapes but vvith the wine of devotion which ranne from the wine-presse of a troubled spirit and the Lord remembred her petition though shee praied with her hart alone and her tongue stirred not What then hath the tongue immunity therby from doing that homage vnto the Lord which he hath enioyned it shal not the calues of our lippes bee required because we haue tendered the calues of our heartes must not both the heart beleeue and the mouth make confession and as the one is the cistetne within thy selfe to conteine the honour of God so must not the other be the pipe to convey it to thy brethren surely yes Aske both body and soule and every part of them both vvhose image and inscription they beare they will tell thee Gods then pay the tribute of both and glorifie God with thy bodie and spirit for both are his And as thou liftest vp thy soule with David in the 86. Psal. so lift vp thy handes also with Moses lift vp thine eies with Steven lift vp thy voice with Deborah and with all the children of God whose pleasure and ioy it is to heare God praised in the great congregation If there be priestes to pray for the people which must weepe betweene the porch and the altar even in the body and navell of the church vvhere the sounde of his voice may best bee hearde and saye spare thy people O Lorde c. if there bee temples and churches which the prophet hath tearmed and Christ ratified to bee the houses of praier if there be seldome and set times apointed for these duties to bee done in if there bee formes and patternes devised even from the sonne of God how our praiers should be conceived then is there no question but we must open our lippes in the service of God and our mouthes must be willing to shew forth his praise Wee beseech thee O Lord. They vse the properest tearmes of submission that may be They come not to bragge wee are worthy O Lord whome thou shouldest do for as the princes of the people spake for the Centurion in the gospell they come not to indent and bargaine If thou wilt be our God c. they knowe they stand vpon grace not desert and that the Lord must be entreated or they cannot liue Humility is both a grace it selfe and a vessell to comprehend other graces and this is the nature of it the more it receaveth of the blessinges of God the more it may For it ever emptieth it selfe by a modest estimation of her owne giftes that God may alwaies fill it it wrastleâ—h and striveth with God according to the pollicy of Iacob that is winneth by yeelding and the lower it stoupeth towardes the ground the more advantage it getteth to obtaine the blessing O quà m excelsus es domine humiles corde sunt domus tuae O Lord how high and soveraigne art thou and the humble of heart are thine houses to dwell in where is that house that yee will build vnto mee and where is that place of my rest To him will I looke even to him that is poore and of a contriâ—e spirit and trembleth at my wordes Plutarke writeth of some who sailed to Athens for philosophy sake that first they were called sophistae wise men afterwardes Philosophi but lovers of wisedome nexte rhetores onely reasoners and discoursers last of all idiotae simple vnlettered men The more they profited in learning the lesse they acknowledged it Thus in spirituall graces vvee should study to bee greate but not knowe it as the starres in the firmament though they be bigger than the earth yet they seeme much lesse
he himselfe tempteth no man Therefore I blame not Edmunde Campian if hee holde it in his eighth reason of his pamphlet cast foorth a paradoxe that is an insolent vnwonted vncredible position to make God the author of sinne But to charge our reformed churches with the conception and birth of so vile a monster is as vnrighteous a calumniation against vs as God vvhose iustice vvee mainetaine is most righteous If I should answere slaunder by slaunder we should proue two slanderers as Augustine sometimes aunswered Petilian These are Convicta convicia auncient reproches deade and rotten long since We never saide it Our church hath beene iustified by her children a thousand times in this point This wee haue saide that in a sinnefull action there are two thinges the acte and the defecte essence and privation the materiall and the formall parte the substaunce and the quality The latter vvhereof is that deformity or irregularity as they call it vnlawfulnesse transgression pravity that in every such action is contained Aquinas obserueth it in the definition of sinne which Augustine gaue against Faustus the Manichee Sinne is any thinge spoken coveted or done against the everlasting lawe One thing saith hee in this definâ—oion belongeth to the substance of the acte the other to the nature of the evill that is therein God is the authour of the act because all motion commeth from him but not of the acte as it hath defect in it Hee bringeth the example of a lame legge wherein are two qualities abilitie to goe but vnabilitie to goe vprighte The going and stirring it hath is from the vertue that mooueth it as vvhen a rider driueth his horse the lamenesse and debility belongeth to an other cause distortion or crookednesse or some other impotency in the legge it selfe The like is in the striking of a iarring and vntuned harpe the fingeringe is thine the iarringe and discorde is in the instrument The earth giveth fatnesse and iuice to all kinde of plants some of those plantes yeelde pestilent and noysome fruites vvhere is the faulte in the nourishment of the grounde or in the nature of the hearbes vvhich by their natiue corruption decoct the goodnesse of the grounde into venime and poyson The goodnesse and moysture is from the earth the venime from the hearbe the soundinge from the hande the iarring from the instrumente the motion from the rider the lamenesse from the legge so the action or motion is from God the evill in the action from the impure fountaine of thine owne heart Howe coulde the minde of Caine ever haue thought of the death of Abell his eies haue seene any offensiue thing in his accepted sacrifice his hearte haue prosecuted vvith desire and his hand executed with power so vnnaturall a fact more than a stone in the wall which if it be not stirred forsaketh not his place if God had not giuen him strength and activity to haue vsed the service of al these faculties To thinke to see to desire to mooue the partes of the body were the good creatures of God therein consisteth the action but to turne these giftes of God to so vile a purpose was the sinne of Cain the fault of the action proper and singular to his owne person It is skarse credible to reporte howe Campian goeth forwarde against vs that as the calling of Paul so the adultery of David and the treason of Iudas by our doctrine were the proper vvorkes of God all alike as if we mingled yron and clay togither and the spirit of God had giuen vs no wisedome to discerne thinges in nature and quality most repugnant I againe borrowe Saint Augustines wordes Petilianus dicit ego nego eligite cui credatis Petilian affirmeth it I deny it chuse vvhether you vvill beleeue The conversion of Paul was the regeneration and newe birth of one that was a straunger to the covenauntes of God the adultery of Dauid the fall and escape of a Saint the treason of Iudas the damned apostasie of a reprobate The conversion of Paul was the proper worke of God whom Sathan had held in darkenesse and in the shadowe of death whilst the world had stoode if God had not cast him into a trance blindinge the eies and killinge the senses of his body for a time but illuminatinge his minde changing his heart creating a new spirit within him and speaking both to his eares and conscience vvith an effectuall calling Finally hee founde no vvill in him fitte for his mercies but wrought both the vvill and the worke to In the adultery of Dauid and the treason of Iudas hee founde the vvill eagerly prepared to iniquity God doth but vse that will they runne of themselues God staieth not behinde but runneth with them though to an other end they to the satisfaction of their naughty lustes God to the declaration of his righteous and vvise iudgementes And although he loueth not their sinnes yet hee loueth and is delighted vvith the execution of his admirable iustice hanging therevpon And albeit neither the adultery of David nor the treason of Iudas be his proper workes yet God hath his proper working in both their workes For as from vnhonest actions may come good creatures as vvhen a childe is borne in adulterie the commixtion of adulterers is wicked the creature good so from the lewdest and corruptest willes God can produce good effectes Not vnlike the wisedome of Physitians in vsing the poyson of serpentes for how harmefull a nature soeuer the poison hath the Physition tempereth it by degree and healeth his patient therby the poyson it selfe notwithstanding hurtful the skil of the Physition commendable the effect profitable Thus wee haue ever distinguished not onely the workes vvhich vvee know are indifferent but in one and the same action the diversitie of agentes and dealers both in this manner of working and in their endes In the afflicting of Iob for example sake Sathan hath leaue to lay his hand vpon Iob his servauntes are slaine his oxen asses and camelles taken and driuen away by Sabaeans and Chaldaeans Slaughter and spoile without mercy For if a grape-gatherer shoulde come to a vine woulde hee not leaue some grapes heere neither camell nor beast is lefte nor any seruaunt saue one alone to bringe newes Yet Iob confesseth after all this The Lorde hath giuen and the Lorde hath taken Here are three sundry agents A man mighte imagine that either Sathan and the Sabaeans shal be excused for having society in this action with God or God brought into question for having society with them Neither of both The difference of their intentions setteth them as farre asunder as heauen is from the earth at her lowest center God hath a purpose to try the patience constancy of Iob to reforme the opinion of his owne innocencie to make him knowe that hee was but man and to finde an occasion of powring greater blessings vpon him Sathan to shew his envy and malice to mankinde to
thou diddest it secretly but I will doe this thinge before all Israell and before the sunne Micheas told Ahab The Lorde hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all thy prophets and the Lorde hath apointed evill against thee Ieremy to the face of GOD chargeth him Surely thou hast deceived this people and Ierusalem saying you shall have peac◠and behold a sworde And the Lorde in plainer tearmes taketh it vpon him Ezech. 14. If the prophet bee deceived when he hath spoken a thing I the Lorde have deceived him God gave the Gentiles vp Rom. 1. to the desires of their heartes to vncleanenesse to defile their bodies betweene themselves c. into vile affections affections of dishonour dishonesty contumely shame to doe against nature it selfe into a reprobate minde Iulian interpreted al these speeches by Permittere as if then God did it when hee suffered it to be done so did many auncient writers by wordes of the like importance Passus est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Augustine answered him that God doth not only permit then but declare his wrath power therein Iulian replied that they were phrases hyperbolicall that is in some sort exceeding trueth Augustine answered they were proper Iulian replied what needed God deliver them to these lusts wherein they were before it was sufficient to let them sticke fast therein Augustine answered It is one thinge to haue them an other to bee giuen over vnto them the wicked are giuen over to their lustes not only to haue them but to be had that is held and possest of them We have the like specified 2. Thess. 2. God shall sende them operation of deceite that they may beleeve lies I omit a hundreth places of no lesse significance Can there be mightier sinnes committed nay conceaved and comprehended in the minde of man than those I have named than hardnesse of heart the onely rocke to builde all iniquity vpon when one neither is nor can be ashamed than cursed and slanderous speech rayling at the Gods of the earth than adulteries constuprations open shamelesse even in the sight of the sunne lying deceaving sinnes of Sodom vnnaturall lustes in men women not to bee spoken of reprobate sense mighty illusions and such like All which notwithstanding the spirit of the counselles of GOD of whome it is most true that wisedome shall live and die with him vvho neither deceaveth any man neither can bee deceaved hath not forborne largely to speake of and to derive them in some sort from the throne of GOD where iustice it selfe is seated GOD did thus and thus To turne this night into day and to make it appeare vnto you how God shal be iust still and yet both nature and the workers of such thinges abhorred and abominated before him to the bottome of hell consider I beseech you attentively these two thinges First that in all the scriptures to-fore alleaged there is mention made of some precedent iniquity in those vngracious persons whom God so dealeth with deserving and procuring the hand of God thus heavily vpon them Recessurum non deserit antequam deserat God never forsaketh a man that will depart from him before hee forsaketh God plerumque facit ne deserat and often times he worketh so that hee shall not forsake him Hath God hardened Pharaoh Pharaoh hardened himselfe before God hardened Pharaoh by his iust iudgment Pharaoh himselfe by his free will Bad he Shemei curse David gave hee his wives to be defiled by his owne sonne David had deserved both for touching both the wife and life of Vriah VVilled hee a lying spirit to seduce Ahab Ahab would not giue credit to the right spirit and he had sold himselfe to worke all manner of wickednesse in the sight of the Lord. Did he seduce both people and prophets the leaders of the people they had before set vp idolles in their heartes and put a stumbling blocke of iniquitie before their faces Did hee giue over nations to lusts vncleanesse dishonest affections actions against nature reprobate senses the Apostle answereth in Gods behalfe it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a recompence of their former errors because they changed the truth of God into a lie worshipped the creature more than the creator turned the glory of an incorruptible God into the image of corruptible mē birds four-footed beasts creeping things And wherfore were they misled with strong illusions but because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved Now where sinne is plagued with sin as in the pollicie of God wherewith he governeth the world you shall finde it 1000. times then is not peccatum peccatum but iudiciū though sin in nature yet in respect of God not sin but iudgment it changeth the name cōmeth in another nature presenteth it selfe with another face countenance sin of it selfe I must confesse but as it cōmeth from God iustice for it is the repaiment retaliatiō of some former sin Iussisti Domine verè sic est vt omne peccatum sit poena peccantis O Lord thou hast commanded indeed so it is that all sin shall be a punishment to him that committeth it Envy hath much iustice in it though a malicious vniust quality in it selfe for it eateth vp the hart and marrow of her master as he desireth to eate vp another VVhen David gave charge for Shemei let him alone was it to iustifie Shemei in his wickednes No. He acknowledged the scourge of God for his sins in the tonge of Shemei boūd togither not of whip-chord but of the venemous reproches which Shemei cast forth He looked to the iudge frō whome it was iustice not to the instrument rod in the hand of the iudge frō whom it was malice therfore said It may be the Lorde will looke vpon my teares do me good for his cursing this day knowing that by the wisdome of God these bitter waters could easily be made sweete Things that are evil in nature God can handle not in evil maner Hemlocke of it selfe is a pestilent and noxious hearbe Yet the magistrates of Athens pronounce in iudgment that Socrates shall drinke a boule of hemlocke What is iudgement turned into wormewood iustice in to hemlocke is there poisoning destroying of men at a iudgement seate yea and good enough An action evill simply in it selfe may be good by a circumstance the poison is in the hearbe not in the magistrate he commādeth it to be drunken though as a bane to the malefactor to shortē his life yet a preservative of the cōmon wealth for the terror of others a punishment to him that hath poisoned and annoied the welfare thereof as it proceedeth frō the magistrate so leaveth it as it were the name nature of poisō is called iudgmēt The next thing which I wish to be harkened vnto is this that whatsoever God doth in the hardning of Pharaohs hart
kill and eate And the first time he denyed it plainely Not so Lorde Afterwardes hee was better advised and harkened to the voice of the Lorde VVhen the angell of Sathan was sent to buffet Paule least his visions shoulde lifte him vp too high hee besought the Lorde thrise that it mighte departe and then the Lord aunswered him My grace is sufficient for thee It may bee according to the signe vvhich God gaue Ezechias that the first yeare hee shoulde eate of such thinges as came vp of themselues the seconde such as sprange againe vvithout sowing the thirde they shoulde sowe and reape and plante vine-yardes c. So for the first and seconde time that we heare the doctrine of salvation wee heare vvithout profit we breed no cogitations within vs but such as growe of themselues naturall worldlye corrupte and such as accompanie flesh and bloud fitter to cast vs downe than to helpe vs vp but at the thirde time when the wordes of God with often falling shall haue pearsed our heartes as raine the marble-stones vvee then apply our mindes to a more industrious and profitable meditation of such heavenly comfortes Let it not grieue you then if I speake vnto you againe the same thinges and as Paule disputed at Thessalonica three sabbath dayes of the passion and resurrection of Christ so I three sabbath dayes amongst you of our hope in Christ. Let it bee true of vanities and pleasures that the lesse they are vsed the more commendable but in the most accepted and blessed thinges that belong to our happiest peace bee it faire otherwise Our dayly breade though it bee daily received wee are as ready to craue still neither can the perpetuall vse of it ever offende vs. The light of the sun woulde displease no body but some lover of darknesse if it never wente downe in our coastes The nature of such thinges for their necessary vse must needes bee welcome vnto vs though they never shoulde forsake vs. And can the doctrine of saith and affiaunce in the mercies of God the light of our dimme eies the staffe of our infirmities our soules restoratiue when it lyeth sicke to death and as Chrysostome well compared it a chaine let downe from heaven which hee that taketh holde on is presentely pulled vppe from the hande of destruction and set in a large place to enioy the peace of conscience can it ever displease vs wee were content to heare it once and I doe not doubte but it will bee as welcome being repeated tenne times I make no question but as vvhen Paule had preached at Antioche in the synagogue of the Iewes one day the gentiles besought him that hee woulde preach the same vvordes to them againe the nexte sabbath so though it were the last worke that I did amongst you to cut the throate of desperation which hath cut the throate of many a wretched man and woman to set the piller of hope vnder all fainting and declining consciences yet because it is our last refuge in adversitie and standeth vnmooueable like the Northerne pole when our soules are most distracted with doubtes and fullest of scruples to giue vs aime and direction whither to bend our course if I shall once againe repeate vnto you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the selfe-same wordes that before in substance and sense though not in syllables I trust I shall finde your acceptaunce as good as when I first began it The wordes propounded are the last of the whole narration and drawe into a narrower compasse of speech all that hath beene saide before For whatsoever you haue hearde of the boâ—tome of the sea floudes and surges vvith all those other disturbances already reckoned vp they are now concluded in a little roume My soule fainted The partes the same vvhich I haue observed before for I neede not to acquainte you againe that hee hangeth and devideth the whole song betweene feare and hope And as the feete to that image in Daniell were parte of yron parte of clay which the prophet expoundeth partely stronge partely broken so are the feete if I may so call them which Ionas through all this travaile goeth vpon the one of clay weake impotent alwaies shivering and sinking downewarde I meane his feare and distrust the other of yron strong stable and firme keeping him vpright his hope and confidence in the mercies of God His feare is in the former member of the senteÌ„ce When my soule fainted within mee his hope in the nexte I remembred the Lord c. Wherein to shew that it was not in vaine for him to remember the Lorde and withall how hee remembred him he telleth vs that his praier came vnto him into his holie temple Concerning his feare wee haue to consider first what person or part he notifieth to haue beene assaulted his soule Secondly the plight or perturbation of his soule it fainted Thirdly the application of the place within himselfe The daunger is much augmented from that which before it was Then the vvaters but came to his soule heere they had fought against him so long that his soule plainely fainted Then the perill but imminent and hard at hand heere it had taken handfast Then was he but threatned or beaten by the waters heere he seemeâ—h to bee vanquished Al that vvente before might concerne the body alone and the losse of his temporall life whereof hee was yet in possession As when he pronounced against himselfe I am cast away out of thy sighte it mighte bee no more in effecte than vvhat Ezechiell spake I saide I shall not see the LORDE even the LORDE in the lande of the living I shall see man no more amongest the inhabitauntes of the vvorlde mine habitation is departed and remooved from mee like a shepheardes tente and as a vveaver cutteth of his threade so is my life ended But heere hee confesseth in open tearmes that his very soule that invvarde immortall heavenly substaunce vvhich when the bodye fainteth is sometimes most in health and liveth vvhen the bodye dyeth that this parte fayleth him and leaveth no hope of better thinges Saint Augustine very vvell defineth the soule to be the vvhole invvard man wherewith this masse of clay is quickened governed and helde togither changing her names according to the sundry offices vvhich shee beareth in the bodye For when shee quickneth the bodie shee is called the soule when shee hath appetite or desire to any thing the vvill for knowledge the minde for recordation memory for iudging and discerning reason for giving breath spirite lastly for apprehending or perceiving outwardly sense so as the fainting of the soule is the decay of all these faculties Nowe if the lighte that is in vs bee darke howe great is the darkenesse if the life bee death howe greate is the death if the soule fainte howe greate the defections The infirmities and disablementes of his bodye I knowe vvere very great in the whole service and ministery
surelye recompence and to take holde of no vvorde from his mouth but Niniveh shall bee destroied this were enough to make them desperate to cause them to stone his Prophet to set their cittye on fire as Zimri did the pallace and to die cursinge and blaspheming the name of the Lorde of hostes· But there is no question but eyther by the preachinge of Ionas who might mingle a little sweete with their sower or by the goodnesse of God by delivering Ionas vvhich manye of the Rabbins thinke they had hearde of or by the light of nature some particles and sparkles vvhereof might yet remaine in them because they came from Assur Assur from Sem and Sem had the knowledge of God or by some other meanes the spirite of God especially havinge a worke to vvorke and ready to helpe their infirmities they conceived some hope of the bountye and graciousnesse of the LORDE and therevpon humbled themselues in fastinge and prayer vpon trust to receaue it They beleeved GOD not Ionas although in meaning it is all one they beleeved GOD as the author Ionas as the minister God in Ionas or Ionas from GOD and for Gods sake therefore Rabbi Esdras saith they beleeved GOD that is the vvoorde of GOD which GOD sent Ionas pronounced As it is said of the Israelits Exodus the fourteenth ioyning both togither that they beleeved God and his servant Moses And 2. Cor. 5. there is a like savinge Nowe therefore are wee embassadours for Christ As if GOD did beseech you through vs c. Wee for Christ and GOD through vs. Therefore to shewe that the contempt of the servant redoundeth to the Lord God telleth Samuel 1. Sam. 8. They haue not cast thee away but they haue cast me away and Christ his disciples Luc. 10. hee that heareth you heareth mee and hee that despiseth you despiseth mee and him that sent mee and hee that receaveth a prophet in the name of a prophet and a disciple in the name of a disciple not in the name of an Israelite or Samaritan brother or straunger But vnder that relation shall not loose his revvarde An admirable and gracious dispensation from God to speake vnto man not in his owne person and by the voice of his thunders and lightnings or with the sounde of a trumpet exceeding lowde as hee did vpon the mount for then wee shoulde runne away and cry vnto Moses or anye other servant of God talke thou with vs and vvee will heare thee but let not God talke with vs least vvee die but by prophets and disciples of our owne nature flesh of our flesh and bones of our bones and as the Scripture witnesseth of Elias men subiect to the same passions whereto wee are accordinge to the worde of Moses Deuter. 18. A prophet will the Lorde thy God raise vp vnto thee like vnto mee from amongst you even of thy brethren bringing neither shape nor languadge other then I haue done And that prophet shall raise vp others of the like condition for the perfiting of his Saints â—â—ll the vvorldes ende In which borrowing and vsing of the tongues of men hee doth not begge but commaunde nor wanteth himselfe but benefiteth vs nor seeketh strength to his owne worde but congruence and proportion to our infirmities for we were not able to beare the glorye of that maiesty if it did not hide in some sort and temper it selfe vnder these earthly instrumentes But now wee may say renouncing their idolatry as they did in Lystra of Paul and Barnabas when wee take the counsailes of God from the lippes of our brethren God is come downe amongst vs in the likenesse of men It is hee that speaketh from aboue and blesseth and curseth bindeth and looseth exhorteth and dehorteth by the mouth of man And surely for this respect and relations sake betvveene God and his ministers whome it hath pleased of his mercy to dignifie in some sort with the representation of his ovvne person vpon earth the vvorlde hath ever held them in very reverent estimation Insomuch that Paul tolde the Galathians although he preached the Gospell vnto them through infirmity of the flesh without the honour ostentation and pompe of the worlde rather as one that studied to bring his person into contempte yet so far was it off that they despised or abhored his infirmities that they rather received him as an Angell of God yea as Christ Iesus And hee bare them record that if it had beene possible nature and the law of God not forbidding they woulde haue pluckt out their eies to haue bestowed vpon him Chrysostome vpon the second to Timothy thinketh no recompence equall to their daungers and that it is not more then deserved if they shoulde lay downe their liues for their pastours sake because they doe it dailie for them although not in this life for lacke of persecution to try it yet by exposing their soules to the perrill of eternall death I beare you record to vse the Apostles vvords that in former times when you had ligneos sacerdotes woodden priestes priestes of Babylon to bee your leaders and guides and not onely Balaam the Prophet of Moab Balaams asses who never opened their mouthes but it was a miracle to heare them you gaue theÌ„ the honour of angels of Christ Iesus himselfe You theÌ„ bestowed your earings and frontlets as Israell did vpon a golden calfe vpon those leaden calues I meane your landes and revenewes to maintaine the covents of Monkes cages of ignorant and vnlearned buzzardes Then you committed idolatrye with stockes and stones to every Frier that drew you aside were ready to submit your selues pater meus es tu you are my father Then religion ate vp pollicy the Church devoured the common wealth cloysters were fuller of treasures then Kinges courtes all the wealth and fatnesse of the lande was swallowed downe into the bellies of Frieries and NoÌ„neries And as the king of Persia continued his feast to his princes and servantes an hundreth and fourescore daies so if these had continued their eating and drinking the substance of the world to this day their appetite woulde haue lasted Then had you priestes without learning Zeale without knowledge devotion without discretion and liberalitie without moderation But there is a time to win and a time to loose a time to gather and a time to skatter a time to eate and a time to cast vp For now pollicy hath eaten vp religion the common wealth the Church and men spoile their Gods as God expostulateth Malac. 3. against all equity and conscience His tithes and offeringes are translated to strangers they eate the materiall bread of the Prophets who never giue them spirituall foode and they that serue not at the altar liue by it when they that serue indeede cannot liue Antigonus asked Cleanthes a learned Philosopher and painefull student at his booke Cleanthes doest thou yet grind I grind saith hee and that for
it had beene supprest by silence as one that seeth the branches and fruites of a tree knoweth there is a roote that carrieth them though it be buried in the moulde of the grounde or the members of the bodie of man stirring and mooving themselues to their severall functions knoweth there is a heart that ruleth them though it dwell secretly within the bosome so though the name of faith had not heere beene heard of he that had seene such branches and members of religious devotion and humiliation in the people of Niniveh might easilie haue ghessed that there was a roote and hearte of faith from whence they proceeded To this they adioine fasting and sacke-cloath not only as arguments and outward professions of their inwarde contrition or griefe but as adminicles helpes commendations besides to that effectuall praier of theirs which afterwardes they powred forth The belly they say hath no eares and we may as truely say it hath no tongue or spirit to call vpon God and sumptuous garmentes are either the banner of pride and nest of riotousnes as the Emperour of Rome tearmed them or tokens at least of a minde at rest and no way disquieted therfore they cry in the second of Wisedome Let vs fill our selues with costly wine and ointments and let vs crowne our selues with rose buddes And Amos complaineth of them in the sixt of his prophecie that put the evill day farre from them and approach to the seate of iniquitie that they eate the lambes of the flocke and the calues out of the stall drinke their wine in bowles and anointe themselues with the chiefe ointmentes but no man is sory for the affliction of Ioseph For it is not likely that the affliction of oth ers should mooue their heartes who are so occupied and possest before with fulnes of pleasures For the better explication heereof it shall not be impertinent to consider and apply the behavior of Benadab 1. Kings 20. he had received an overthrow of the children of Israell one yeare in the mountaines the next at Aphek An hundred thousand footmen were slaine in the field in one day seven and twenty thousand perished with the fall of a wall in the city besides the danger of the king who is afraid of his owne life and runneth from chamber to chamber to hide himselfe Vpon this misery wherewith they were toucht one daunger being past another imminent his servauntes come vnto him with these wordes Behold now we haue heard say that the kings of Israell are mercifull kings we pray thee therefore let vs put sacke-cloath about our loines and ropes about our heades and goe out to the king of Israell it may be that hee will saue thy life They did so and came to the king and said thy servant Benadab saith I pray thee let me liue Benadab of late a puissant king having two and thirty kings in his army is novv content with the name of a servant First then you see there is a perswasion of mercy in the kings of Israell so there must be a perswasion of mercy in the God of heaven vvhich the Ninivites were not voide of Secondly that perswasion was vnperfect mingled with feare standing vpon tearmes of doubt it may bee hee will saue thy life so likewise said the king of Niniveh who knoweth if the Lorde will repent Thirdlie vpon this perswasion such as it is the Sirians go and entreate the king of Israell vpon the like doe the inhabitantes of Niniveh cry vnto God Lastly to testifie their humilitie and to mooue him to pitty they put sacke-cloath aboute their loines and ropes aboute their heades so doe the people of Niniveh sit in sacke-cloath and ashes to bewray their contrite spirites Now as Aram put ropes about their heades to shew that for their owne partes they had deserved nothing but their liues and deathes vvere in the kings handes either to saue or hange them so to fast or vveare sacke-cloath with any intention to merite or satisfie the anger of God is to abuse the endes of both these services Aquinas reciteth three endes of a fast First to represse and subdue the insolencie of the flesh hee prooveth it from the seconde to the Corinthians the sixte vvhere the Apostle ioyneth fasting and chastitie togither the one the cause the other the effect that followeth it Secondly to elevate the minde and make it more capable of heavenly revelation as Daniell in the tenth of his prophecie after his fasting three vveekes from pleasaunt breade flesh and vvine behelde a vision Thirdlie to satisfie and appease the anger of God for sinnes which wee can in no case admit the proofe he bringeth is from the seconde of Ioell vvhere we are willed to turne vnto the Lorde with all our hearte with fasting and mourninge and weeping to rende our heartes and not our garmentes c. VVhat then It is the manner and vsage wee graunte of suppliant petitioners to abstaine from meates and to teare their garmentes from their backes not with purpose to satisfie the wrath of GOD but rather to execute vvrath and vengaunce vpon themselues and by macerating their bodies and stripping them of their best ornaments to shew howe vnworthy they are of the blessings of God whom by their hainous iniquities they haue so offended For it is not fasting and sacke-cloath that pleaseth him so much nor rending the garments nor looking vnder the brow nor hanging downe the head like a bulrush nor shaving the head and the beard nor casting dust vpon the face nor sitting in ashes nor filling the aire with howlinges and out-cries but inwarde and hartie conversion to God acknowledgement of our grievous provocations confession of our owne vnworthines by these outward castigations vnfained repentance vacation to praier a faithfull apprehension of his auncient and accustomed mercies Therefore it followeth in Ioel For the Lord is gracious and mercifull slow to anger of great kindnes and repenteth him of the evill As much as to say when you haue sorrowed sufficiently for your sinnes and signified that sorrow with abstinence and teares take comforte at the length againe not in your owne satisfactions but in the remembrance and view of Gods everlasting mercies For word came vnto the king of Niniveh Some thinke that the matter herein contained is distinguished from that which wente before in the fifte verse and that the rulers and warders of the several partes of the city which Ionas had past through had proclaimed a fast to the people before the preaching of the prophet came to the kings eares Herevpon they inferre that in matters appertaining to God we must not tarry the leasure of Princes their license be obtained for Princes they say are slowest to beleeue and farthest from humbling themselues before the maiesty of God when his anger is kindled I take it to be otherwise and I am not left alone in that opinion for most agree that the former verse is but an index or
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
pleasure in Though I speake with the tongues of men angelles and haue not charity I am as sounding brasse or a tinckling cymball though I had the gift of prophecy and knew all secrets and knowledge yea if I had all faith so that I coulde remooue mountaines and had not charity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before I was little I was but a sound now I am nothinge What can we lesse pronounce of the prayer of Ionas though one that spake with the tongue of a man in coÌ„parison of other men the tongue of an angell a tongue of the learned a tongue refined like silver though one that had the gift of prophecy and knewe as many misteries of knowledge as was expedient for flesh and bloud to be acquainted with one that had faith enough to saue him in the bottome of the seas the bottome of the mountaines the bottome belly of a monstrous fish but that the want of loue was sufficient to haue lost the blessing grace of all his hearts desires And said I pray thee O Lorde was not this my saying c. Consider now I beseech you what he prayed and therein howe long it is before hee commeth to the matter intended a foolish and vnnecessary discourse interposed of his owne praise but his subiection to the wil of God not thought vpon For what is the substaÌ„ce of his prayer that which is inferred after a loÌ„g preface therfore I pray thee take away my life from mee hee strengthneth it by reason for it is better for me to die than to liue Why better the cause of this commodiousnes and convenience are contained in the prolocution in those frivolous vaine speeches that are first laide downe I beseech thee was not this my saying c. Asmuch as to say I was thrust forth into a charge which from the first houre I had never liking vnto wherin I thought said and resolved to my selfe from the very beginning that I should be deceived Admit all this Say thou foresawest it and that the end would bee other than thou lookedest for oughtest thou therfore to haue refused thy message a necessity was laid vpon thee and thou mightest well assure thy selfe that woes would haue lighted vpon thee as many as the haires of thy head if thou didst it not Leaue the event to God let him vse his floore at his pleasure whither hee gather into the barne or skatter as the dust of the earth do thou the office of a prophet Againe thou sentest me to denounce a iudgment thou meantest nothing but wel vnto theÌ„ I preached righteousnes and severity thou art a gracious God and full of pitty I made their accounts perfect and straight that destruction should fal vpon them at the end of forty daies thou takest a pen of thy mercy and dashest thy former writing writest theÌ„ a longer day yeares and generations to come I know not how many Vpon this he concludeth therefore now O Lord take away my life c. But we will weigh the conclusion when we come to it Mean-time we must rip vp his former speaches which were of preparatioÌ„ making the way to his suit before haÌ„d Peruse theÌ„ who will he shal finde them fuller of affections than words and such a bundell of errors wrapt togither as one would hardly haue imagined in a prophet Wherein by a blind selfe-liking loue to his owne wit iudgement he is carried from reason truth obedience from that reverent estimation which he should haue had of God For howe often in so short a space doth he challendge wisedome to himselfe I beseech thee O Lord I appeale to thine own coÌ„scieÌ„ce speake but truth be not partiall in thine owne cause was not this my saying I am able to alleadge particulars I can remember the time and the place when I was yet in my countrey therefore I prevented it If I had had mine own will I had stopt this inconvenience for I was not to learne that thou vvast a gracious God there was no pointe of fore-sight wherein I mistooke Thus his saying his providence his prevention his knowledge these are the thinges that hee standeth to much and to long vpon Thy saying Ionas or my saying or the saying of any mortall man what are the wordes of our lippes or the imaginations of our harts but naughtie foolish peruerse from our youth vp if God direct them not or vvhat thy prevention and forecast or of all thy companions prophets or prophets children in the world to knowe what to morrow will bring vpon you or the closing vp of the present day vnlesse some wisdome from heaven cast beames into your mindes to â—llighten them As Elizeus directed the hand of Ioash the king of Israell to shoote and the arrow of Gods deliverance followed vpon it and so often as he smote the ground by the apointment of the prophet so often and no longer he had likelihoode of good successe so the Lord must direct our tongues hearts in all that proceedeth froÌ„ them and where his holy Spirit ceaseth to guide vs there it vvill bee verified that the prophet hath Surelie everie man is a beast by his owne knowledge Therefore the advise of Salomon is good Trust in the Lorde vvith all thine hearte and leane not vnto thy vvisedome in all thy waies acknovvledge him and he shall direct thy pathes Be not wise in thine owne eies and feare the Lorde and departe from evill so shall health bee to thy navell and marrow to thy bones You haue heard the counsaile of the wise nowe ioine vnto it for conclusion the iudgment of the most righteous Wâ—e vnto them that are wise in their owne eies and prudent in their owne sight Wisedome presumed you see and drawne from the cisterne of our owne braine is in the reputation of God as the sinnes of covetousnesse oppression drunkennes and such like and standeth in the crew of those damned and wretched iniquities which God accurseth I pray thee I like the note that Ierome giveth vpon this place he tempereth his complaint because in some sort he accuseth God of iniustice For this cause he sweetneth the accusatioÌ„ with faire flattering speach For to haue challendged God in grosse blunt tearms had bin to apparant therfore he commeth with a plausible glosing insinuation vnto him I pray thee O Lord for remembring that fearful name of his Iehova wherein he saw nothing but maiesty dreadfulnes could he do lesse than entreate him if he had spoken but to the king of Niniveh in whose dominions he was or to Ieroboam the second who raigned in his own natiue couÌ„try the very regard of their persons and place would haue enforced him so much It was the couÌ„saile that AEsop gaue to Solon enquiring what speach he should vse before Croesus either verye little or very sweete For a prince is pacified with curtesie and