I would not haue any man distrustfully to doubt yet flie from sinne and do morall vertues and that at least shall ease some part of the extremity of those torments which thou shalt haue in hell fire Although thou gaine no ioy by it yet thou shalt escape much euill Thy paine shall be the lesse not because thou hast done well but because thou hast lesse declined from vertue as Austen speaketh making difference betweene Catiline and Fabricius Fabricius shall be lesse punished then Catiline not because he was good but because the other was more bad and Fabricius was lesse vvicked then Catiline was not in that he had true vertues but because he did not as farre as might be stray from true vertues But be it the one or the other take all thy sinnes vpon thy selfe and seeke not to excuse the nocent by accusing the innocent who is free from the smallest blemish In a lesser matter then eternall life or death is it was a fault in our Prophet that he would assume the better and God must haue the worse he will be cleare and the Lord shall be culpable And let this be sayd of his excuse The mercy of God 10 The third note is the reason whereon he groundeth his defence that is the Lords procliuity and propensenesse vnto mercy And here howsoeuer the former matters may trouble vs by a remēbrāce that they may be our own case yet this maketh amends for al that we haue to do with a Lord whose goodnesse is so great whose graciousnesse so plētiful that we need words to vtter it Ionas therein walking right howsoeuer else he tread ill goeth as farre as may be A gracious God and mercifull slow to anger and of great kindnesse and repentest thee of the euill such a one is ready euery way to take pity but commeth to vengeance and fury with heauy and leaden feete Our man doth so well at this that we need not doubt but he had a good schoolemaister to direct him and that is the Lord himselfe who appearing vnto Moses doth cry thus of his maiesty The Lord the Lord strong and mercifull gracious and slow to anger aboundant in goodnesse and truth reseruing mercy for thousands forgiuing iniquity transgression and sinne in which place of Exodus although afterward there follow a little of his iustice which he may not forget yet we see the maine streame runneth concerning mildnesse and kindnesse and compassion That is it wherein the Lord may be sayd to delight ioying to be a Sauiour a deliuerer a preseruer a redeemer a pardoner rather thē to be a Iudge He hath one skale of iustice but the other doth prooue the heauier mercy doth ouerway He who is euer iust is mercifull more then euer if possibly that may be And it seemeth that euery day as his Gospell was growing on so his pity came also forward He who for one transgression thrust the Angels out of heauen and for his first slipping awry turned Adam out of Paradise his fury breaking foorth against both them now in the dayes of grace beareth with vs yeares and yeares from our cradle to our graue after a thousand and a thousand fals of weaknesse and wilfulnesse by word by thought by deed Yea he came to this soone not long after the creation giuing in the dayes of Noe a hundred and twenty yeares of repentance before the floud Our Niniue from the mouth of this present Prophet had forty dayes before it should be destroyed But Hierusalem being growne to the height of all iniquity so that both the seruants and Sonne of God were slaine by them the Sabaoth polluted the Sanctuary profaned yea a horrible sinke of filth being now among them yet was spared fortie yeares before that God sent vp Vespasian and Titus See whether this be not tollerancie which we with amazednesse may admire Indeede when nothing would serue but the member being quite vncurable must needs be cut off by him when their sinne extorted and wrung downe vēgeance he payd them for all together that they who would none of his loue might haue full heapes of his hatred His arme being lift vp the higher did fall so much the heauier the water-course stopped the longer did breake out the more fiercely according to the custome of God who as Bernard sometimes spake By how much the longer he expecteth that we should amend so much the more strictly he will iudge vs if we neglect The Iewes felt this to the full but how slow was he to his anger 11 Christ Iesus who is the image and engrauen forme of his father was not behind hand in this propertie while he liued here vpon earth He taught it by the figge-tree which bearing no fruite was not by and by cut downe but first for one or two yeares it should be dunged and trimmed to see what good would come of it He sustained many ignorances vntowardnesses in the Apostles and yet did not reiect them yea his patience was so great that it shewed it selfe to Iudas No maruell sayth Saint Cyprian that he shewed himselfe patient toward his obedient disciples who could with long suffering endure very Iudas to the last could take his meate in company of his enemie knew a foe to be in his house and did not openly descry him yea refused not the kisse of a traytour He might rightly be called a lambe yea that innocent Lambe of God by an excellency aboue all other who could see such a one and suffer him so often and so neare him and scant say a word against him This did no good on Iudas but as the same Cyprian obserueth the like tollerance was effectuall to saluation in other men If those who did shed the bloud of Christ had bene taken presently after they had perished euerlastingly but God so graciously disposed for their good that they were pricked in their hearts and so brought home to the sheepfold of enemies being now made friends Which made that father say He who shed the bloud of Christ vvas quickened by the bloud of Christ such and so great vvas Christs patience vvhich if it had not bene such and so great the Church should not haue had Saint Paule for an Apostle Thus the holy and blessed Trinity dealeth with men in this present age in great mercy after yeares and twenty yeares before they come to the graue respecting such as haue bene men audacious and impudent in vngodlinesse such as haue bene superstitious and Popish euen vnto idolatry such as in a conceited fancie were so fastened to Antichrist that to lose their liues for the beast they thought to be to do God good seruice Those persons who had lyen fried in hell as fire-brands to be burnt remedilesse and euerlastingly if they had departed in that mind to the graue the place where is no redemption by compassion from the mightie one whose bowels are made of mercy are
Minister Be strong and let vs be valiant for our people and for the cities of our God and then let the Lord do what seemeth good in his eyes So should Ionas haue said In an vnknowne countrey God might haue sent him fruite who found none in his owne It is noted of Herod the great by Iosephus that he who at home was a man most vnhappie in his wiues his children was abroad a man most happie for his great friendes and acquaintance and much other prosperitie So it might haue bene with the Prophet Therefore this yet is no reason 9 It may be that he stomaked it that the Gentiles should know God which was a fault in his country-men while they accounted all other men dogges but themselues the holy seed We haue Abraham to our father In respect whereof when Peter had preached to the Gentils and the gifts of the holy Ghost had fallen on Cornelius and those which were with him they of the Circumcision did chalenge the Apostle that he had gone in to meÌ„ vncircumcised So the Prophet being sicke of his country-mens disease might murmure that the Niniuites should be preferred before the auncient people of God his word being taken from these and giuen to the other as if they had better deserued it This might in time bring in the refuâ—all of the Iewes and the calling of the Gentiles so spoken of by Noe so told of by Iacob so fore-prophecied by Moses so fore-written by Dauid all which more then apparantly did aime at such a matter But is it come to this passe that the axe shall leade the workeman or shall man teach his God what people he shall chuse Hiram although a Gentile yet had a finger in the Temple of Salomon so Niniue of the Gentiles might be a part of Gods spirituall temple If Israel were to be reiected they might thanke none but themselues for that losse who had the custodie of so precious a treasure as the Arke was and the Cherubins which signified Gods presence and lost all the fruit of them and many blessings besides But by many wordes of the old Testament that time could not yet be come nor the generall calling of the Gentiles till that Messias did appeare who was farre inough from Ionas Therefore as the rest so this was no pretence for the Prophet to flie away from his charge 10 Thus haue I touched such causes as sense and reason yeeld and the expositions on this place The text doth not contrarie these and it is not vnlikely that all or diuerse of them were tumbling at that time in the working head of Ionas But there is one which expresly is named in the bodie of the text as appeareth in the fourth chapter Ionas stood on his reputation that he was the Lords messenger therfore was to speake nothing but truth He imagined that it might be his grosse discredit to be taken in a lye and he thought it might be a meanes that Gods name might be reproched and the Lord be blasphemed For I know saith he that thou art a gracious God and mercifull slow to anger and of great kindnesse and repentest thee of the euill Thus the man is so straight laced that rather then him selfe would lose a word he careth not if a million of men do lose their liues if that goodly glorious citie were ruinated to the ground if the innocent sucking infants were deuoured vp by destruction A preposterous zeale and furious and which wanteth no ignorance also For he should haâ—â— learned to distinguish betweene Gods absolute word and his conditionall threatnings Some things are without anie condition â—e will haue them to be so some other things are with an If as if they do not repent It was an absolute speech The seed of the woman shall bruse the serpents head But it is a word with condition The Lord will not forsake his people that is if they do not first forsake him which maner of intended or included condition if Ionas had remembred when he was to vtter his speech That Niniue should be destroyed Verum est if they repented not and called for grace God might haue done his pleasure and his seruant haue said true also 11 This reason of the Prophet wherfore he should fly from Gods seruice is more grieuous then the rest For would he shorten the Lord of his mercie Would man that was a sinner and must be saued by a pardon enuie that other sinners should haue their pardoÌ„ also Was Ionas his eye euil because Gods eye was good Then wellfare Saint Paule writing to Titus whom he would haue to remember his charge and the people whom he taught to shew meekenesse to all men and he layeth this downe as one cause for that we our selues also were in times past vnwise and disobedient Tully was of better nature who would haue Marcellus spared because himselfe before had by Caesar bene spared But he reprocheth it vnto Tubero that he would offer to accuse Ligarius of that wherein himselfe and other had bene guiltie S. AusteÌ„ in the sixth of those which are only called by the name of his Homelies doth by a secret inclusion compare this mind of man to one who is to passe ouer a ditch or streame of water where if he passe not he dieth and if he plunge in he drowneth and there doth find that fauour to haue a bridge or planke of timber layed crosse to helpe him ouer but when other do come after who are in that state as he was he would haue it withdrawne from them When God saith he hath stretched out his bridge of mercy that thou mayst go ouer wilt thou that he shall withdraw it least some other do come that way This is a cruell position and should not be in the child of God Graue Seneca doth acount it a great fault in Lysimachus that whereas himselfe vpon Alexanders displeasure was cast vnto a Lion to be deuoured and happily escaped by killing that Lion yet he caried so furious and cruell a heart toward another man as to cut off the eares and nose from Telesphorus Rhodius whom in former time he had entertained as his friend but then afterward kept him being so mangled in a cage as if he had bene some strange beast He should haue learned by his owne example to haue pitied another man That verse of Dido is good Non ignara mali miseris succurrere disco I who haue tasted of sorow haue learned thereby to pitie those whom I see to be in misery That partie who hath found mercie should not grudge mercie vnto other Our Prophet hath forgot this Nothing else but thunder and lightening and fire from heauen would serue the turne if he must go to Niniue A humour verie ambitious which to feed it selfe in his fancies careth not if other perish This is a grieuous fault wheresoeuer it be found The magnifying of one
Hierusalem was vsed in another sort when the Prophet here called it holy otherwise he might iustly haue feared that God had not bene there to haue heard him when he cried out of the fishes belly 15 But hitherto the Temple was not relinquished by him as the later house was afterward when a voyce was heard in the night saying Migremus hinc let vs be gone from this place and therefore the Prophets prayer which was directed hither found the successe which it wished It came thither to the Lord. The distance of the place the great depth of the water the shutting vp in the whale yea the odiousnesse of his sinne could not detaine his crying and seeking to the Lord. He who in the fourteenth of Exodus did heare the crye of Moses although neuer a word were vttered and he who heard Hannas prayer when her lippes onely did mooue and no word was spoken out did attend Ionas when hee besought him with faith and implored his gracious goodnesse ouer him He hath bid vs call vpon him in the day that is in euery day of trouble and he hath said that he will heare It is he who neuer failed any of those who seeke to him As in all other matters so in this he hath a prerogatiue aboue all other he can heare and he will heare Heathenish Gods are but delusions and imaginarie toyes he who prayeth to them prayeth to nothing Baal may be iested at as sleeping or being busie Idols are but dead stockes they cannot mooue themselues and therefore not helpe themselues much lesse those that pray to them Yet a man exceedeth all these if they were in number ten thousand although oftentimes he debaseth himselfe as a seruant vnto these But how short of God doth this man come This will not if he could another could if he would a third both could and would but is absent and therefore ignorant what it is that is begged of him The power of all is so limited that the greatest cannot graunt the tenth thing which is asked and either themselues do confesse this or vse base shifts to couer it And how hardly do men part with that which is in their power As Seneca writeth on a time a Cynike Philosopher asked a talent of Antigonus who would gladly haue bene reputed a bountifull Prince His answer was that a talent was too much for a Cynike to receiue Then the other asked him a peny That saith he is too little for a king as I am to giue How oft soeuer such answers be giuen from men they do neuer come from God He giueth without reproching he heareth without delaying But we must aske that which is lawfull and we must aske in faith and we shall not haue a denyall 16 It pleaseth him to yeeld so much vnto our prayer appointing that as the instrument whereby we do approch him And indeed it is a good meanes to come into his presence For prayer is so piercing that it will get to the seat of God through the very heauens and cloudes It is winged and ascendeth vpward being made light by the heat of fierie pure deuotion The wind is not so quicke the lightning is not so nimble which goeth from East to West as this is in his passage In a moment it ascendeth from our tongs to Gods eares His eyes see our eyes weeping he well conceiueth our grones he well vnderstandeth our sighs If heauinesse do oppresse vs and sorrow weigh vs downe yet if our knees be bent vnto him or our hands held vp on high or our breasts be beaten before him or our cheeks bedewed with teares we shall be eased from all Then this is the onely remedie in agonies and in anguishes for the afflicted soule to seeke to It hasteneth to and fro and neuer returneth emptie Our sinning and suffering Prophet this drowning and dying Ionas did crye fâ—om the middle of the whale from the bottome of the sea from the very belly of hell and as he said before so here againe he professeth it the Lord did heare his voyce his prayer came to Gods temple Now you haue heard what he did and how likewise he sped Let vs here come to the second part which noteth some other persons whose words and deedes are otherwise They that wayt vpon lying vanities forsake their owne mercie 17 These words do imply a kind of Antithesis or contrarie successe betweene him before mentioned and those who do now follow as if he should say I scant looked for mercie and yet I did find it I prayed and was heard but these might receiue mercie and themselues do forsake it These are such which obserue or keepe or wayte vpon lying vanitie in stead of truth not ignorantly falling into it but wilfully pursuing it Such as set their whole labour on that which is but errour and make a studie of it Now those who with such egernesse do follow wrong paths the farther they go on the more they go astray They bend indeede all their diligence to somewhat but it is to lying vanitie vnder which name the Scripture doth comprehend all things which are besides pietie and the true seruice of God I haue hated them saith Dauid who giue themselues to deceitfull vanities And in another place Trust not in oppression and robberie be not vaine Gods Spirit doth account euery thing to be but vaine and lying and deceitfull which cannot endure the tryall which faileth vs and falleth from vs and when we most trust to it is least able to do vs good Such are all earthly things without the grace of God being ioyned to them as riches which are so much desired and honour which is so hotely sought or beautie or strength or friends which helpe not in that day when iudgement or vengeance commeth 18 Such are all the inuentions and deuised figments of men superstitions and false religions Pharisaicall obseruations papisticall dreames and fancies for whose sake whosoeuer will leaue the true prescript of Gods word he may be said to forsake the fountaine of liuing water and digge vnto himselfe broken pits He may be said to haue turned from the Lord who is only truth and to haue embraced falshood to haue refused grace and forsaken his owne mercie For where as God hath promised to be mercifull to all such who serue him as he hath taught by their neglecting of true deuotion they also neglect that mercie which was offered to them before So they make themselues vnworthie of remission and pardoning of their sinnes And in this case the end doth prooue heauie like to that rule of Aristotle where he saith that it must needes be in progresse of time that of counterfeited good things should grow that which is truly euill That wherein Zedechias trusted was but a lying vanitie and had a dolefull issue when as Iosephus did well gather he thought that the two Prophets Ezechiel and Ieremie had spoken contrarie things therefore that