Hilkiah what should be done 2. the booke of the law is presented vnto him he commauÌ„deth both the priests princes to enquire of Huldah the prophetesse about it he weepeth reÌ„deth his cloathes as the principall person whoÌ„ that daÌ„ger care doth principally coÌ„cerne 3. he assembleth all the people both in Iudah IerusaleÌ„ the Chronicles adde Ierusalem Beniamin al the couÌ„tries that pertained to the childreÌ„ of Israel throughout his whole dominion both small great elders priests prophets levites both laity Clergy 4. he readeth the law in the house of the Lord 5. he maketh a covenaÌ„t himselfe 6. taketh a covenaÌ„t of the people to keep it 7. he causeth al to staÌ„d vnto it 2. Ch. 34. coÌ„pelleth al in Israel to serue the Lord 8. he ordaineth holdeth a passeover the like wherof was never seene since the daie of the Iudges nor in al the daies of the Kings of Israel the kings of Iudah he apointeth the priests to their chardges 2. Chr. 35. chaÌ„dgeth the office of the levites that they should not beare the arke any more so the priests stood in their places also the levites in their orders iuxta regis imperium according to the coÌ„mauÌ„demnt of the king 9. in the purdging of Idolatry removing those swarmes of idolatrous priests with al their abominable service he coÌ„maundeth Hilkith the high priest the priests of the secoÌ„d order to do thus or thus Meane while the levite the priest the prophet are not wronged by the king in their callings The king doth the office of a king in commaunding and they their offices in administring Hee readeth the booke of the covenant doubtlesse in person and in the house of the Lorde but he standeth not on a pulpit of wood made for preaching to giue the sense of the law and to cause the people to vnderstand it for that beloÌ„geth to Ezra the Priest to the Levites Neh. 8. Again he causeth a passeover to be helde but he neither killeth the passeover nor prepareth the people nor sprinckleth the bloud nor fleaeth the breast nor offereth burnt offerings for all this he leaveth to the sonnes of Aaron yet is nothing done but iuxta praeceptum regis Iosiae according to the commauÌ„dement of king Iosias Moreover the booke of the Lorde was his counsailour and instructour in all this reformation For so is the wil of God Deuteronomie the seventeenth that a booke of the law shoulde be written to lie by the king to reade therein all the daies of his life that he might learne to feare the Lord his God and to keepe all his lawes And in a matter of scruple he sendeth to Huldah the prophetesse to be resolved by her and she doth the part of a prophetesse though to her king liege Lord tell the man that sent you vnto me thus saith the Lord beholde I will bring evill vpon this place 2. King 22. By this it is easie to define if the spirit of peace be not quite gone from vs a question vnnecessary to be moved dangerous and costlie to Christendome the triall whereof hath not lien in the endes of mens tongues but in the pointes of swordes and happy were these Westerne partes of the world if so much bloud already effused so many Emperours Kings Princes defeated deprived their liues by poison by treason and other vndutifull meanes vnder-mined their state deturbed overthrowen might yet haue purchased an ende thereof but the question still standeth and threatneth more tragedies to the earth Whither the king may vse his authority in ecclesiastical causes persons Who doubteth it that hath an eare to heare the doings of Iosias He is the first in all this busines his art facultie professioÌ„ authority immediate next vnto God held froÌ„ him in capite not derived froÌ„ beneath is architectonicall supreme Queene coÌ„mauÌ„der of al other functions vocations not reaching so far as to decree against the decrees of God to make lawes coÌ„trary to his law to erect sacraments or service fighting with his orders nor to â—surpe priestly propheticall offices nor to stop the mouthes of prophets and to say vnto them prophecy not right thinges but having the booke of the law to direct him himselfe to direct others by that rule and as the Priestes instruct the prophets admonish him in his place so himselfe to apoint and commaund them in their doings VVhat should I trouble you Iosias as their Lord maister and king 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 assembleth commaundeth causeth compelleth buildeth pulleth downe planteth rooteth vp killeth burneth destroyeth VVhat doth Hilkiah in all this but obey though higher than al the priests because he was the high priest yet lower than Iâ—sias Or vvhat doeth Huldah the prophetesse but pronounce the worde of the Lorde her person possessions family liberty life all that shee had being otherwise at the kings commaundement So let Samuel tell Saul of his faultes Nathan tell David of his Ahia Ieroboam Elias Micheas Ahab Elizeus Iehoram Ieremie Zedekias Iohn Baptist Herod Ambrose Theodosius and al Christian Bishops and priests their princes offendours The state of the questioÌ„ me seemeth is very significantly laid down in that speach of Constantine the Emperour to his Bishoppes you are Bishoppes within the church and I a Bishoppe without the church They in the proper and internall offices of the worde sacramentes ecclesiastical censures he for outward authority and presidence they as over seers of the flocke of Christ he an over-seer of over-seers they as pastours and fathers he as a maister and Lord to commaund their service they rulers and superiours in their kinde but it is rather in the Lord than that they are Lordes over Gods inheritance and their rule is limited to the soule not to the body and consisteth in preaching the vvorde not in bearing the sword but he the most excellent having more to doe than any man Lastly to them is due obedience and submission rather offered by their chardges than enforced to the other a subiection compelling ordering the people whither they will or no. I will drawe the substance of mine intended speach to these tvvo heads 1. That the greatest honour and happinesse to kings is to vphold religion 2. That the greatest dishonour and harme to religion is to pull downe kings The former I need not stand to prooue they are happy realmes in the middest whereof standeth not the capitol but the temple of the Lord. If this lie wast vnfurnished vnregarded and men be willing to cry the time is not yet come that the house of the Lorde shoulde bee builte or beautified the plagues that ensue are without nuÌ„ber heaven shal giue no dew earth no fruite drought shal be vpon mountaines valleyes much shall be sowne little brought in and that little shall bee blowne vpon and brought to nothinge But vvhere the prophecie is fulfilled kings shall bee thy nursing
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
him 4. He heareth of a great city of a wearisome peraÌ„bulation asking the travell of 3. whole daies but he saveth the labor of his feete goeth into a litle vessel travelleth by sea a far easier iourney 5. He is bidden to cry but he is so far from making any noise that al the clamour and noise of the marriners could not awake him stir him vp 6. He heareth that the wickednesse of Niniveh is come vp before the presence of the Lorde notwithstanding hee feareth not to mocke and abuse the presence of the same Lord neither despaireth he to avoide it There is nothing in all these but stubbornes and rebellion which is as kindly to man as the flesh and bones that he beareth about him Amongst the other plants in the garden of EdeÌ„ not far froÌ„ the goodliest trees of life knowledge grew the bitter roote of disobedience which our forfathers no sooner had tasted but it infected their bloud and the corrupt nutriment thereof converted it selfe into the whole body of their succeding linage The breasts of Eue gaue no other milke then perversnesse to her children and Adam left it for a patrimony and inheritance vnto all his posterity Though God had precisely said Of the tree of knowledge of good and evill thou shalt not eate for in the daye that tâ—ou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death though there were no comparison betweene their maker and a murtherer froÌ„ the beginning the father of truth and the father of lies a God and a divell and the one had forbidden but one tree and fenced it as it were with a double hedge of a two-fold death yet when the serpeÌ„t came to the woman with a meere contradiction to the voice of God yee shall not die the death how credulous and forwarde was shee to entertaine his suggestion Moses proved to the children of Israel in the 9. of Deuteronomy by a perfect induction that there was nothing but rebellion in them Remember and forget not saith he how thou provokedst the Lord thy God to anger in the wildernesse also in Horeb afterwardes in Taberah and in Massah and at the graues of lust likewise when the Lord sent you from Cadesh Barnea c. At length hee concludeth yee yaue beene rebellious vnto the Lorde since the day that I knevve you And God pronounceth of the same people in the fourth of Num. that though they had seene his glory and the miracles which he did in Aegypt and in the wildernesse yet they had tempted him ten times and had not obeyed his voice In the 17. of the same booke the Lord gaue commaÌ„demeÌ„t vnto Moses that Aarons rod which budded for the house of Levi when the other rods budded not should be kept in the arke for a monumeÌ„t of their murmurings rebellions forepassed To forbeare infinite other testimonies the whole world may bee the arke to keepe the monumentes of their and our disobedience it is so common to vs both when we are willed to aske for the old way which is the good way to answere wee will not walke therein when the watchmen cry vnto vs take heede to the sounde of the trumpet to answere wee will not take heede when wisedome crieth abroade and vttereth her voice in the streetes O yee foolish how long will yee learne foolishnesse c. to despise her counsell and to make a Skorne of her correction What worke of our handes bewrayeth not this malice vvhat word of our mouthes speaketh not perverse thinges almost what thought of our heartes kicketh not against the prickes of Gods sacred commaundementes and desperatelye adventureth her selfe vpon the point of his sharpe curse O that our waies were made so direct that wee might keepe his statutes then shoulde wee never bee confounded whilst wee had respect vnto all his commaundementes It is a question made by some though I make no question of it vvhether this detraction and refusall of Ionas vvere a faulte yea or no Dionysius Carthusianus vpon this place doeth partly excuse it I thinke it farre from excuse fot doubtlesse the voice of GOD is the first ruâ—e and rudimentes of all Christian instruction the first stone to bee laide in the whole building that cloud by day that piller of fire by night vvhereby all our actions are to bee guided Paule in his marveilous conversion desired no other lighte and load-starre to bee governed by but the vvill and vvorde of his Saviour Lorde what wilt thou haue mee doe The verie Prophet of Moab vvoulde not departe from this standarde for vvhen Balaac by his messengers sent him worde that hee woulde promote him and God did but keepe him backe from honour hee made this answere vnto him If Balaac woulde giue mee this house full of silver and golde I cannot passe the commaundement of the LORD to doe either good or badde of mine owne minde what the Lorde shall commaunde that same will I speake Hee had saide before to the king in person Loe i am come vnto thee and can I nowe saye anye thinge at all the worde that GOD putteth in my mouth that shall I speake The vvordes of Samuel to Saule determine the doubt and make it as plaine as the light at noone day that the fact of Ionas here committed was an vnexcusable offence Beholde saith hee to obey is better then sacrifice and to harken is better then the fat of rammes For rebellion is as the sinne of witchcraft and transgression is wickednes and idolatrie It followeth in the next wordes Because thou hast cast away the worde of the Lord therefore he hath cast away thee from being King You heare the nature of these two contraries Obedience and Disobedience kindly disciphered the one to be better then sacrifice for he that offereth a sacrifice offereth the flesh of a beast but he that obeyeth offereth his owne will as a quicke and a reasonable sacrifice which is all in all the other to be as witchcraft and idolatrie for what is disobedience but when the Lord hath imposed some duety vpon vs wee conferre with our owne hearts as Saul consulted with the woman of Endor or Ahaziah Kinge of Samaria with the God of Eckron Belzebub whether the word of the Lord shal be harkened to yea or no Thus we set vp an idol within our own breasts against the God of heaveÌ„ forsaking his testimonies we follow the voice and perswasion of our owne devises Bernard alluding to this place before recited writeth thus The children of disobedience make their will their Idoll Hee addeth for further explication that it is one thing not to obey an other thing to purpose and prepense disobedience Neither is it the simple transgression of Gods commandement but the proud wilfull contempt of his will which is reputed the sin of idolatry And surely I see no reason they haue to conceale the infirmity of Ionas herein when Ionas himselfe if I mistake not the meaning
were willing to dwell therevpon O Absalon O my sonne Absalon O Absalon my sonne my sonne was the mourning of David when hee heard of the death of Absalon as if his soule had beene tied to the name and memory of his sonne and his tongue had forgotten all other speech saue only to pronounce Absalon It sheweth what loue our Saviour bare to the holy city in that he repeated his sorrowes over it O Ierusalem Ierusalem as if hee had made a vowe with David If I forget Ierusalem let my right hand forget her cunning or rather my tongue her moving I caÌ„not leaue thee at the first naming thou art deeper in my hart therefore I say Ierusalem and againe Ierusalem I ever regarded thy welfare with vndoubted compassion The marâ—iners import no lesse in repeating their request we beseech thee O Lord and once againe we beseech thee pardon our importunate out-cries our heartes are fixed yea our heartes are fixed our soules are athirst for thy loving kindnes wee will giue thee no rest till thou receivest our praiers The longer AbrahaÌ„ talked with God Gen. 18. the more he gained Hee brought him from the whole number to fiftie and from fiftie to ten before he lefte him Behold I haue begunne to speake vnto my Lorde and am but dust and ashes let not my Lorde be angry and I will speake againe and once more I haue begun to speake and once more let not my Lord be offended Once more and againe you see are able to send away cloudes of fire and brimstone And so far was it of that God was angry with his instant request that he gaue him both a patient eare and a gracious answere If ten be found there I will not destroy it It pleaseth the eares of his maiesty right well to bee long intreated his nature is never so truely aimed at as when vvee persvvade our selues that our impatience in praier can never offende his patience He that hath twise and ten times togither ingeminated the riches of his mercy as Exod. 34. The Lord the Lord is mercifull gracious slowe to anger abundant in goodnes truth reseruing mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity sin transgressioÌ„ What did he meane therby but that twise and ten times togither we should cry for his mercy Wee beseech thee O Lorde vvee beseech thee A woman of Canaan in the gospell calleth vpon our Saviour Have mercie vpon mee O Lord thou sonne of David my daughter is miserably vexed with a devill hee answered her not one worde It appeareth that shee called still because his disciples said Sende her away for shee crieth after vs Then hee vvas not sent but to the lost sheepe of the house of Israell yet shee came and vvorshipped him saying Lorde helpe mee hee aunswereth It is not meete to take the childrens breade and cast it to vvhelpes Shee replyed vpon him Truth Lorde but the vvhelpes eate of the crummes that fall from their masters table Then Iesus answered and said vnto her O woman great is thy faith Shee fastened vpon Christ with her praiers as the vvoman of Shunem vpon Elisha with her handes Shee caught him by the feete and saide vnto him As the Lorde liueth and as thy soule liueth I vvill not leaue thee Consider what discouragements her poore soule digested 1. shee was not aunswered by Christ 2. shee had backe-friends of his disciples 3. she was none of the lost sheepe 4. shee was a whelpe yet in the ende shee obtained both a cure for her daughters infirmity and a commendation for her owne faith Shee wrought a miracle by the force of her praiers shee made both the deafe to heare and the dumbe to speake she cried to the eares and tongue of her redeemer Ephata Bee yee opened heare and aunswere my petition fullfill my request Non importunus nec impudenses c. It is not a sawcie nor shamelesse part in thee to aske remission of thy sinnes at Gods handes without ceasing thou giuest him occasion to doe a memorable acte conveniente to his nature glorious to his holy name That which man giueth hee looseth and dispossesseth himselfe of it is not so with God thou art not the better God the worse thou the richer God the poorer for his giftes Open thy mouth wide and he will fill it enlarge thy belly and he will satisfie thee Fons vincit Sitientem The fountaine and source of his goodnes is aboue the desire and thirst of thy necessities If you observed it in the last historie The disciples of â—hrist thought it an impudent parte that the Syrophoenissian cryed after them Sende her avvaye Did Christe so accounte it or woulde he dismisse her Doubtlesse it ioyed his hearte to suspende her desâ—res in expectation and consequentlye to extende them to holde her long in his companye hee saide to himselfe I am vvell pleased that shee cryeth after mee it delighted his eares to heare her redoubled obsecrations more than the instrumentes of David coulde haue done it gaue him matter to vvorke vpon it tried a faith it vvanne a soule it occasioned a miracle Bernard to this purpose noteth of the spouse in the Canticles beginning her suite and woing of Christ so rudely as shee doeth let him kisse mee with the kisses of his mouth though to entreate a greate fauour of a greate Lorde shee vseth no flattery vnto him shee seeketh no meanes shee goeth not about by driftes and circumlocutions shee maketh no preamble shee worketh no benevolence but from the abundance of her heart sodainely breaketh forth Nudè frontesque satis Barelie and boldelie enough let him kisse mee vvith a kisse of his lippes The parables in Sainte Luke the one of a friende called vp at midnight the other of a wicked iudge instruct vs thus much that vnlesse vvee holde a meaner opinion of God than of a common vulgar friend which were too base to conceiue or a more vnrighteous iudgment of him than of the most vnrighteous iudge than which what can bee thought more blasphemous vvee shoulde not distrust the successe of our praiers but that improbitie and importunitie at the least would draw him to audience It was midnight with these marriners when they called at the gates of God the friende and louer of the soules of men the vnseasonablest and deadest time in the iudgement of humane reason They called for more than loaues the reliefe and succour of their liues more deare vnto them than any sustenaunce Their friende Nay their enemy vvas at hande and the last enemie of mankinde The gates seemed to be shut all hope of deliverance wel nigh past the children were in bedde a sleepe vaine was the helpe of man their arme was weake and their ores vnprofitable Angels and Saintes could not helpe them yet they knocked at the gates of their friend once We beseech thee O Lord and because he denied them the first time they knocked againe We beseech thee O Lord and I doubt not
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
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
He roared then for Lazarus whom he loved and for Martha's sake and for other of the Iewes that were there abouts But afterwardes in his owne cause when not onely his soule was vexed vnto death and vexation helde it in on every side but when he cried with a great voice My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee and crying againe with a great voice gaue vp the ghost Therefore the Apostle speaking of the daies of his flesh and that fruite of his lippes and spirite which wee are now in hande with thought it not sufficient to make mention of his praiers and supplications nor of his teares which watered his blessed plantes nor of a crie alone weakely sent forth but of a stronge cry which if heaven were brasse were able to breake through it So it is saide of the â—pirite of God who helpeth our infirmities that because wee know not our selues what to aske as wee ought to doe hee maketh request in our names with grones not to bee expressed Ipse inducitur gemens qui gementes facit hee that putteth groninge into vs is brought in groninge himselfe The voice of the 〈◊〉 is hearde in our lande the groninge of this turtle doue is heard within our bosome Vox quidâ—m gementinon caâ—enti similis a voice in truth as of one that mourneth and that siâ—geth not Thus the example of the glorious Lorde of life who mourned vnspeakably not for the sinnes of his owne person but of the sonnes and daughters of Ierusalem who led the way before vs in water and bloud not in water alone but in water and bloude both who with his bleeding teares shewed vs the right forme of faithfull supplications this very example biddeth vs crie in our prayers The helpe and assistance of the blessed spirit of God groning as vnmeasurably on the other side not for his owne necessities but for ours his wretched creatures and clientes not of infirmitye in himselfe but of compassion towards vs whome wee continually greeue and no way so much as for want of our greefe and repentance biddeth vs cry The dreadfuâ—l maiestye of the sacred LORDE of hostes whome wee stande before the roialty of his nature sublimity of his place dominion over men and angelles who with the spirit of his mouth is able to consume ouâ— both bodies and spirites biddeth vs cry The view of our wretched mortalitye as Adam and Eue when they sawe their nakednesse fled Miriam when her leprousy sheee was ashamed after mortality exceedingly mortall the view of our sinne exceedingly sinfull that wee are not worthy to cast vp our eies towards the seate of God and after our sinne our misery exceedinglye miserable that the prophet was amased in himselfe to see either man or the sonne of man so kindelye visited biddeth vs crye Lastlye the hope and expectation of successe vnlesse wee will sowe and not reape plant vines and not drinke the wine thereof powre out many prayers and not bee hearde the delicacie and tendeâ—nesse of the eares of God which must bee wisely entreated and the precious favour of his countenance which must be carefully sought bid vs cry Let vs not thinke that the sounde and noise of our lippes as the ringing of basons or vocall modulation without cordiall and inward meditation can procvre vs audience Valentiores voces apud secretissimas dei aures â—on faciunt verba seddesiâ—â—ria The most effectuall speech in the secret eares of God commeth not from wordes but from desires He that heaâ—eth without eares can interpret our praiers without our tongues He that saw and fansied Nathaniel vnder the figtree before he was called saw and sanctified Iohn Baptist in his mothers wombe before he came forth he seeth and blesseth our praiers fervently conceaved in the bosome of our conscience before they be vttered but if they want devotion they shall be answered by God as the praiers of those idolators in Ezech. though they cry in mine eares with a lowde voice yet will I not heare them And he hearde me The Hebrew saith he answered me which doth better expresse the mercy of God towards Ionas than if it had bene barely pronounced that he heard Ionas For a man may heare when he doth not answere as Christ heard the false witnesses when the priests asked him answerest thou nothing tâ—cuit he held his peace And likewise he heard Pilate wheÌ„ vpon the accusatioÌ„ of the priests he askt him answerest thou nothing yet he answered not so as Pilate mervailed at his silence David in the 18. Psal. confesseth of his enemies that they cried but there was none to save them even vnto the Lorde but he answered them not Now this answere of God wherof he speaketh is not a verbal answere sharpt of words but a reall substantiall satisfaction and graunt directly fitly applied as answeres should be to questions so this to fulfill the minde desire of Ionas For as be heard the heavens Osee 2. not that the heaveÌ„s spake or he listened the heavens the earth the earth the corne oile wine the corne oile wine Israel not by speech but by actuall performaÌ„ce of some thing which they wanted he the heaveÌ„s by giving vertuous dispositioÌ„ vnto theÌ„ they the earth by their happy influeÌ„ce the earth her fruits by yelding theÌ„ iuice these Israel by ministring their abuÌ„daÌ„ce so doth he answer Ionas here by grauÌ„ting his petition For as to answer a questioÌ„ is not to render speech for speâ—h aloÌ„e but if ther be scruple or vncerteinty in the matter proposed to resolve it so to answere a suite is to ease the hart satisfy the expectatioÌ„ of him that teÌ„dred it In this case Pub. Piso a rhetoriciaÌ„ in Rome was abused by his servaÌ„t who to avoide molestatioÌ„ had given his servants a charge to aunswere his demandes briefly directlye without any further additions It fell out that he provided a supper for Clodius the generall whome he long lookt often sent for at the howre â—et Clodius came not At leÌ„gth he asked his man didst thou bid Clodius I bad him Why commeth he not he refused How chanceth thou toldst me not so much because you demaÌ„ded it not Plutarke in the same booke where hee reporteth that tale maketh three sortes of aunswerers For some giue an aunswer of necessity some of humanity others of superfluity The first if you aske whether Socrates bee within telleth you faintly and vnwillingly he is not within perhappes hee aunswereth by a Laconisme 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not The second with more curtesie and to the sufficient measure of the demaund willing to instruct the ignorant hee is not within but in such a place at the exchange The third running over with loquaâ— city knoweth no ende of speaking hee is not within but at the exchange waiting for straungers out of Ionia in vvhose behalfe Alcibiades hath written from Miletum c. The aunsweres
verse The rest to the end of the 7. though it be speÌ„t vpon the same argument yet is it with such descante and variety to grace the plaine-song the phrase so delectably altered and the sense of the wordes so mightily augmented as I cannot faine to my selfe how the description of his troubles coulde haue beene furnished with better lightes of speach I haue hearde the descriptions both of auncient Poets and of those in our latter daies Tassus Ariostus and the like so highly extolled as if wisedome had lived and died with them alone And it may be the sinne of samaria the sin of this lande and age of ours perhappes the mother of our atheisme to commit idolatry with such bookes that insteed of the writings of Moses and the prophets and Evangelistes which were wont to lie in our windowes as the principall ornaments to sit in the vppermost roumes as the best guests in our houses now we haue Arcadia the Faery Queene and Orlando Furioso with such like frivolous stories when if the wanton students of our time for all are studentes both men and women in this idle learning would as carefully read and as studiously obserue the eloquent narrations and discourses contained in the Psalmes of David and other sacred bookes they would finde theÌ„ to be such as best deserved the name coÌ„mendation of the best Poets So rightly did Ierome pronouÌ„ce of David to Paulmus that he is our Simonides Pindarus Alceus Flaccus Catullus Serenus in steed of al others For the warrant of my sayings coÌ„sider but this scripture now in hand The danger of Ionas one might haue thought was so handled before as if he had powred forth his whole spirit at once He tolde you of the deepest and of the midst and of the number of the seas with as many perturbations for ought I know as the sea is subiect vnto the confluge of repugnant waters ebbing flowing and breaking of the surges Yet is he stil as ful as the moone and as if he were freshly to begin entreth againe with an other stile much more abundance into the same narration Now he acquainteth you how farre the waters came He was in the waters and waues before but within the bowelles of the fish as it were in a christall cage here it is otherwise for the waters compasse him ad animan vsque even vnto the soule hee was now in the presentest daunger of his life there was not an haires breadth betwixte him and death his soule lay even at the gates of his body ready to passe forth He told you of a bottome before but now of a depth without a bottome there profundum here abyssus and he addeth to his former encumbrances weedes about his head mountaines and promontories and rockes the barres of the earth wherewith he was imprisoned The son of Syrach speaketh of wisedome that shee is set vp like a cedar in Libanê° and as a cypres tree vpon the mountaines of Hermon exalted like a palme-tree in Cades and as a rose-plant in Iericho as a faire oliue-tree in a pleasant fielde and as a plane-tree by the waters as a terebinth so shee stretcheth out her branches and her boughes are the boughes of honour and grace Her roote is so rich and so ful of sap that an heart endued therewith never lacketh matter or wordes whereby to perswade It is written of Salomon one of the ofspring of wisedome that God gaue him prudence and vnderstanding exceeding much and a large hearte even as the sande that is vpon the sea-shore and that his wisedome exceeded the vvisedome of all the children of the East and all the vvisedome of Egypt That he was able to speake of trees from the cedar of Lebanon to the hysope that springeth out of the wall hee also spake of beastes and fowles and creepinge thinges and of fishes 1. King 4. Compare the hearte of Ionas a little vvith the hearte of Salomon You see howe large it is Larger I am sure if it be wisely weighed than of all the people of the East and children of Egypt before mentioned He speaketh of all his troubles by sea from the greatest to the least even to the weede and bulrush that lyeth in the basest part of it Wee say where the griefe is there commonly the finger· It is not an easie matter for those that are pintâ—ht with griefe indeede hastily to departe either from the sense or report of it A man must speake sometimes to take breath Ieremy wrote a whole booke of Lamentations and in the person of the people of the Iewes as if all the afflictions vnder heaven had beene stored vp for that one generation proclaimed Ego vir ille sum I am that man that haue had experience of infirmities that one and only singular man This is the manner of al that are afflicted as Ionas before all thy surges and all thy waues passed over me they thinke their miseries to bee alone and that no other in the worlde hath any parte with them Contrary to the iudgement of Solon the wise Athenian who thought that if men were to laye their griefes vpon one common heape and thence to take out an equall portion with their fellowes they woulde rather carry their owne home againe and beare their burthen aparte than divide at the stocke where they should finde their wretchednesse much more encreased David in many Psalmes declameth at large of his miseries In the 69. by the same words which Ionas here vseth happily borrowed from that ancienter prophet The waters are entred in vnto my soule and I sticke fast in the deepe mire where no stay is I am come into deepe waters the streams runne over me I am weary of crying my throaâ—e 〈◊〉 dâ—ie and mine eies faile whilest I waite for my GOD. It is thoughâ— that the 102. Psalme was a praier written by Daniell or some other prophet for the children of Israell whilst they were at Babylon in captivity My daies are consumed like smoake my bones are burnt vp like an hearth Mine heart is smitten and withered like grasse I forget to eate my breade for the voice of my groaning my bones doe cleaue to my skinne I haue eaten ashes like bread and mingled my drinke with vveeping These were perswaded that the sunne was no where overcast so much as vvhere they were and that it woulde bee happy for them to exchange their woes with any other living creatures Howe often did our Saviour the heade corner stone of the building tell his disciples before hand of his perils to come at Ierusalem The emperour Otho thought it a parte of dastardy to speake too much of death the emperour over Otho thought otherwise If you search the Evangelistes you shall finde his arraignement and death often repeated from his owne mouth Matth. the 17. as they abode in Galilee The twentieth of that Evangelist he tooke them apart in the way as they were
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
who are converted by the word of faith should no otherwise be confirmed and strengthened than by that only word For our owne partes we cannot worke wonders we cannot call downe lights visions from heaven we must vse such meanes as God hath enabled vs vnto And therein tell mee also by experience If as in former times the Gentiles were confuted by the writings of the Gentiles which is either a parte or at least a preparatiue to conversion for wee must first remooue the preiudices conceaved against the trueth by the philosophy of Plato Trismegistus and others vvhich Iulian a wise but wicked Emperour saw beholde vvee are wonded vvith our owne quilles out of our bookes they take armour vvhich in fighte they vse against vs and therefore made a lawe that the children of the Galilaeans shoulde not reade philosophers nor Poets and as the Iewes in later yeares by the Talmud of the Iewes for proofe whereof I send you to the Truenes of ChristiaÌ„ religion written both in Latin French put into English by as honorable a translator as the author was So in the winning reclaiming of Papistes at this day it bee not an ordinary way to roote vp their errors besides the scriptures of God not onlie by consent of Fathers decisions of Councels but even by principles of philosophy by reason outward sense from the verdict wherof in many questioÌ„s amongst them they are wholy departed In TransubstantiatioÌ„ by name do we not shake coÌ„vince their in extricable absurdities by evidence of sense by that which our hands handle our eie declareth vnto vs by natural demensions which a natural body is subiect vnto by circuÌ„scriptioÌ„ of place collocatioÌ„ in one place at once how vnsensible a thing it is to have accideÌ„ts without their subiect roundnes whitenes the rellish of bread without bread even as the Lord himselfe proved the truth of his body by a truth of philosophy when they tooke him for a spirit touch me handle me see me TaÌ„gere enim tangi nisi corpus nulla potest res for nothing caÌ„ touch or be touched but a true body Is it enough in this coÌ„flict to tel a Papist that Christ is ascended into heaven there must sit til al things be restored doth he not drive thee froÌ„ thine holde put thee to a further replication So do they also in many other questions wherin if we rest vpon scripture alone we shall send them away vnsatisfied because they admit not this iudge without other copartners to sit give sentence alone in the ending of our controversies And therefore they must be vanquished as Basilides Saturninus were in Eusebius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both by written demonstrations and by vnwritten redargutions Is this now to make the pulpit a philosophers schoole or rather the philosophers schoole a foote-stoole to the pulpit and to vse it as a servant to Divinity that it may the better proceede in the necessarye vvorke The histories of the Heathen as lightly as we reckon of them of Moab and Ammon and all the cuntries of Canaan in former times of the Medes Persians auncient Romanes Graecians at this day of the Mores Moscovites Turkes and Tartarians their religion sacrifices manners lawes leagues wars stratagemes and even the wars of HaÌ„niball and Scipio wherin the providence of God mightily wrought and the pollicy of men carefully bestirred it selfe have they nothing in them fit for the vse of the teÌ„ple for the building of Gods house Then why do we traine vp our children in poets orators histories Greekc Latine old new not presently set theÌ„ to the testaments everlastingly keepe theÌ„ in the reading conning of only catechismes if all that elementary learning for so I confesse with Seneca rudimenta sunt non opera they are rudiments beginnings not workes must be wholy forgotten and laide aside in the exercising of an higher calling Or is it a point of wisedome thinke we to season these new vessels when their taste of life to come is especially to be framed with such vnprofitable licour wherof ther is no good vse to be made in riper yeares and at sounder discretion If such were the vanity and no better fruites of these yonger studies when an elder profession and a more settled iudgment hath them in handling let Licinius be cleared of that infamous speech of his in tearming good Letters the poison of a coÌ„moÌ„-wealth let al our bookes be heaped togither burnt in the market-place as those books of curious arts Act. 19 let their barbarous opinion who cry to pull downe schooles vniversities find favour good speed in the wishings of al men But I ever retained til I am better informed wil endevor to maintainea more honorable opinioÌ„ of learning such poore friendship as I am able to lend to the defence of it I wil ever be ready to shew as Ionatha did to David not only in the field where no man seeth it but even to the face of those by whoÌ„ it is most discredited Because I have ever found by my little simple experience that neither the vse of GraÌ„mer in the proprieties of words nor of Logicke in distinguishing ambiguities nor Rhetoricke in following precepts rules of speech nor Philosophy in scaÌ„ning causes their effects nor history in calculating times nor of any of these in many other vses and services could at any time be missing to the mistres Queen of al these arts I meane to the handling of Divinity which is the scieÌ„ce of sciences S. Austin writing against Petilian telleth vs that his adversary sometimes with open mouth and full breath would accuse him for a Logician bring Logicke it selfe to her triall before the people as the mistresse of forgery lying because he shewed some Rhetoricke would note him by the name of Tertullus the orator charge him with the damnable wit of Carneades the Academicke but you must know the reason CuÌ„ ad interrogatum respondere non posset when he was not able to answere the question propounded No doubt it was some great disgrace to that learned father to be blamed for good artes and to beare an obiection and reproach for too much schollership Thus let ignorance ever be able to obiect to the champians of the true church and propugners of the faith of Christ. And because I am falleÌ„ into the testimony of S. Austin let me further acquaint you what hee writeth of this very argument in his 2. booke of christiaÌ„ learning His iudgement is ample plaine that if the philosophers so called especially the Platonickes had spokeÌ„ any truth consonant to our faith we should be so far of from fearing it that we should bereaue them thereof as vniust owners and possessioners apply it to our owne vse For as the Egyptians had not onâ—ly idols burthens
sentence in the last vvordes of the sentence this Ionas knevv hee saieth and vpon that knowledge resolved long since vpon his resolution laboured to prevent it We are now come to that which if Ionas had rightly conceived of it would never haue grieved him to see the bowels of pitty opened enlarged towards his poore brethren Did Ionas know that God was gracious mercifull slow to anger of greate goodnesse repenting him of the evill I will render these variations in as many wordes more did Ionas knovve that God was gracious in affection mercifull in effecte longe suffering in vvayting for the conversion of sinners of greate kindenesse in striking shorte of their sinnes repenting him of the evill in vouchsafing mercy to sinners and remitting their misdeeds Did Ionas know that God was graciois in himselfe by nature mercifull towards his creatures by comunicatioÌ„ long suffering before he inflicteth vengeance of great goodnes in the number measure of his stripes penitent in the stay intermission thereof is it so strange offeÌ„siue vnto him that God should spare Niniveh a thing which his nature maÌ„ner was so inured vnto The words though different in sound the power signification of them not all one yet in the principal they all agree knit their soules togither in the commendation of Gods mercy The 1. importeth a liberall disposition franknesse of heart gratuitall vndeserved benevolence not hyred and much lesse constrained but voluntarily and freely bestowed The 2. a commiseration over other mens miseries motherly bowels tender compassion towardes those that suffer affliction Saul Saul why persecutest thou me We haue not a high Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities I would not the death of a sinner It goeth to his heart when he is driven and inforced to take punishment The 3. bewraieth a nature hard to conceiue not willing to retaine wrath and when it seemeth to be angry not angry indeede vsing rather a fatherly scourge of correction than a rod of revenge The 4. declareth that there is no end of his goodnes although he is somewhat in all things nay all in all yet he is much more in mercy more than in other his properties for his mercy is over all his workes to the good evill friendes enemies that when he giveth he giveth with an open hand not sparingly more than our tongues haue asked or our hearts ever thought of Lastly he repenteth him of the evill that is altereth the word that is gone out of his lips sheweth how easie hee is to be intreated that the rod may be pulled forth of his handes even when he is smiting vs. Paul in his voiage towards Rome speaketh of a certain place which was called the faire havens We are now arrived at the faire havens they are in number many for the harbour and rode of a wearied sea-beaten conscience which hath long bin tossed in a sea of wretchednes more comfortable and safe than ever was the bosome of a mother to her yong infant Happy is the soule that landeth at these havens and blessed be the God of heaven which hath given vs a carde of direction to leade vs there vnto the witnesse of his holy word written and sealed that can never deceiue vs. For these are the words of the ignorant but hee that knew them bare record and his witnes is true they are the wordes of a prophet who spake not by his private motion but as he was mooved by the holie Ghost Nay they are not the wordes of one but of many prophets that in the mouthes of sufficient witnesses they might be confirmed Ionas reciteth them in this place Ioel repeateth them in the second of his prophecy David hath the same thrise in his Psalmes either al or the most part of them Moses in the 14. of Num. bringeth in their perfect catalogue Nay they are not the words either of Moses or David or the prophets but of God himselfe The fountaine and well-head froÌ„ whence they haue all drawne them as Moses there confesseth is the proclamation which God made Exod. 34. wheÌ„ he descended in the cloud delivered his name in this manner the Lord the Lord strong mercifull and gracious slow to anger and abundant in goodnes in truth reserving mercy for thousands forgiving iniquites transgression and sinne Ho all yee that thirst come to the waters of comfort Heare are welles enough to be drawen at drinke at the first fountaine the Lord is gracious and if your appetite be not there quenched go to the second the Lorde is mercifull if you be yet thirsty go to the thirde the Lord is slow to anger thence to the fourth and fifth bibite inebriaminâ— drinke til your seules are more thaÌ„ satisfied Doe you not read 1. Sam. 17 of fiue smooth stones which David chose out of a brooke to fling at Golias here is the brooke my brethren the history of this prophet and these are the fiue smooth stones which are now proposed Let them not lie in the brooke vnhandled vnoccupied but put theÌ„ in your scrip as David did beare theÌ„ in your minds lay theÌ„ vp in your hearts apply theÌ„ to your coÌ„sciences that they may be ready at hand against the face of the Philistine against the force of Satan if ever he steppe forth to deâ—â—e the Lord of hostes or any Israelite in his campe We finde but 3. temptations Mat. 4. that Satan bent against the sonne of God differing both in the place in their strength The 1. was vpoÌ„ the ground of turning stones into bread the 2. vpoÌ„ the pinacle of the teÌ„ple of casting his body downe the 3. vpon an exceeding high mountaine of coÌ„mitting idolatry The 1. concerned his power the 2. his life the 3. his conscience And our Saviour refelled him in al these with 3. several answers But here we haue matter answere enough for more than 3. teÌ„ptations for if Satan obiect vnto vs lower vpon the ground as it were that God is a righteous iudge full of indignation impatience not making the wicked innocent answer him that withal he is a gracious God caÌ„not deny himselfe If he climbe higher in temptatioÌ„ as it were to the pinnacle of the temple reply vpoÌ„ thee but thou art vnworthy of that grace because thou art full of iniquity vnrighteousnes answere him that withal he is a mercifull God and sheweth greatest pitty where there is most need of it If he assault thee a third time thinke to overthrow thee as it were vpon the toppe of a mountaine by telling thee that thou hast long continued in thy sinnes that thou broughtest them from the wombe and they haue dwelt with thee to thy gray haires answere him that God is as much commended for his longe sufferance If yet his mouth be not stopt but he maintaine a further plea against thee
to Christ vnder the colour of a kisse so to tender his impatient fittes vnto the Lord the searcher of his heart reines vnder the nature and forme of prayer His anger at an other time and in another action when hee had sequestred his soule from the king of heaven and heavenly things had beene more sufferable But then to pray vvhen hee vvas thus angry or then to bee angry vvhen hee came to pray and not to slake the heate thereof but still to heape on outragious wordes as hote as Iuniper coles can no way bee excused Yet thus hee doth The fire is kindled in his heart and the sparkles fly forth of the chimney as Salamon spake vndutifull speaches towards the maiesty of God and most vnaturall against his owne life Surely the wrath of man doth not accomplish the righteousnes of God it is very far form it 2 Consider his haste how headlong hee goeth in his rash and vnadvised request For as if the case required some such speede as the prophet had in chardge for the annointing of Iehu powre the boxe vpoÌ„ his head and say thus saith the Lord and then open the dore and flee without tarrying no sooner hath he opened his lippes or conceived his suit in his minde but the Lord must presently and without delay effect it It appeareth in that he vrdgeth the matter so closely at Gods hands Now therefore since I haue prooved it and I am not able to beare the burthen of my griefe nor longer endure the tediousnes of my life doe it without protraction of time It was a goodly and sober oration that Iudith made to her people of Bethulia touching their oath to deliver the cittie to the enemie vvithin fiue daies vnlesse the LORDE sent helpe And novve vvho are you that haue tempted God this daie and set your selues in the place of GOD amonge the children of men Nay my brethren provoke not the Lorde our God to anger For if hee vvill not helpe vs vvithin these fiue daies hee hath povver to defend vs vvhen hee vvill even every day or to destroy vs before our enemies Doe not you therefore binde the counsailes of the LORDE for God is not as man that hee may bee threatned neither as the sonne of man that hee may bee called to iudgement Therefore let vs waite for salvation of him and call vppon him to helpe vs and hee vvill heare our voice if it please him Thus we should teach and exhorte our selues in all our praiers not to set him a time as the disciples did about the kingdome of Israell vvhen LORDE or as Ionas doeth in this place novve Lorde or then Lorde but vvhen it pleaseth him And as the Psalme adviseth vs O tarrie the LORDES leasure hope in the Lorde and bee stronge and hee shall comforte thine hearte when hee thinketh good There are many reasons why God differreth to graunt our petitions 1. to prooue our faith vvhither we will seeke vnlawfull meanes by gadding to the woman of Endor or the idoll of Ekron or such like heathenish devises 2. to make vs thoroughly privie to our own infirmities and disabilities that wee may the more heartily embrace his strengh 3. to strengthen and confirme our devotion towardes him for delay extendeth our desires 4. to make his giftes the more welcome and acceptable to vs or 5. it is not expedient for vs to haue them granted too soone Or lastly there is some other cause which God hath reserved to his owne knowledge Now this petition which Ionas is so forward hasty in is contrary to all reason For are not the daies of man determined Iob. 14. is not the number of his monethes with the Lord and hath not the Lord set him boundes which he cannot passe Doth not an other say My times are in thine handes O Lord why then doth Ionas so greedily desire to shorten his race to abridge that number of time which his Creator hath set him 3. We commonly pray that it wil please the Lord to give not to take away to bestow something vpon vs not to bereave vs of any blessing of his SalomoÌ„ 1. Kin. 3. beseecheth him for wisedome Giue vnto thy servant an vnderstanding heart da mihi intellectum giue me vnderstanding was the vsuall request of his father David We say in our daily praier giue vs this day our daily bread forgiue vs our trespasses that is give vs remission of all our sins That that is said to descend from above from the father of lights is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 giving and gift not taking away For God hath a bountifull nature and as liberall an hand he openeth it at lardge and filleth every living thing with his blessing Hee asketh of every creature in the world what hast thou that thou hast not receaved and of vs that have receaved the first fruites of his spirite and to whome he hath given his sonne what is there in the world that you may not receaue But Ionas is earnest with God against the accustomed manner of prayer and the course of Gods mercies to take something from him 4. But what Aufer-opprobrium take from mee shame and rebuke vvhereof I am afraide as David besought Vanitatem verba mendacia longè fac à me vanitye and lyinge vvordes put farre from mee Aufer iniquitatem servi tui take avvay the sinne of thy servant when hee had numbred the people Or as Iob prayed Aufer at à me virgam suam let him take avvay his rodde from mee Or as Pharaoh requested Moses and Aaron to pray to the Lord for him to take avvay the frogges and afterwardes vvhen the grassehoppers vvere sent to take avvay frow him that one death onelye No his life His dearling that lived and laye within his bosome VVhich because it is the blessing of God good in nature and fitâ— for the exercise of goodnesse the strongest man living is loth to depart from The other which I spake of were plagues to the land banes to the conscience hinderances â—o salvation and therefore it was no marvaile if God were humbly entreated to remove them But Pharaoh in his right wittes nor skarsely Orestes beinge madde vvoulde ever have desired that his life shoulde bee taken from him Who ever became a suter to GOD to take avvaye the life of his oxe or asse because they were given him for labour Much lesse of his wife which was made an helper vnto him or his childe a comforter Or who ever hath entreated him to give him evill for good a scorpion for a fish a serpent for an egge stones for bread Ionas is found thus senselesse skant worthy of that soule which he setteth so light by He should have desired God to have taken away the stony heart out of the middest of him and not scelus de terra Ezech. 23. or spiritum immundum de
strife betweene theÌ„ shall vanish without profite sheweth more mildnesse than Ionas had deserved His kindnes appeareth in 3. things 1. In reprooving repressing his rage for which cause David blessed Abigaill blessed bee the Lord God of Israell which sent thee this day to meete me and blessed be thy counsaile blessed be thou which haste kept me this day from comming to shed bloud 2. In reprooving him twise for owne thing who with one angry word of his lips could so haue abated his passion at the first that there should haue beene no place for a second as Abisai spake to David of smiting Saul let me smite him once to the earth with a speare and I will not smite him againe 3. In reprooving him so friendly I am sure servants with their fellow servantes haue dealt otherwise Iohn Baptist with the Pharises Peter with Ananias and Saphira and with Simon Magus Paul with Elimas and Ananias the High Priest Steven with the rulers of the Iewes O yee of harde neckes and vncircumcised hearts yet God the Creatour of all thinges with his sinnefull creature or more properly as David tearmed himselfe before Saul vvith a dead flie demeaneth himselfe vvith favourable speeches Doest thou vvell to bee angrie for a gourd The interrogation ariseth by degrees and accuseth Ionas in many over-sightes 1. Art thou angrie Ionas thou shouldest rather humble thy selfe acknovvledge thine ignoraunce and weakenesse presume the iudgementes of thy iudge to be righteous thou shouldest rather blesse and pray and giue thankes for this is the manner of Prophetes and art thou angry vvhat is anger but a desire of revendge for contempt or wronge done and whome desirest thou to be revendged of the worme or the sunne or God that hath sent them 2. Art thou not onely angry but art thou very angry For if well doe note the measure of his anger the exprobration is the greater because passions offende not commonly but in excesses and extremities or if the quality Doest thou vvell and iustly to be angry wilt thou defende and patronage thy wrath it is then a greater fault than the former 3. And art thou angry for a gourde so small a matter farre bee such corruption from the servant of Christ that his patience prepared for greater thinges shoulde fall awaie in trifles Thou hast lost but a poore gourde a little plante of the earth what if thou hadst lost a vineyarde full of trees as Naboth did of farre greater value than a gourd or thy life more deare than a vineyard what if thine one and onelye sheepe as Vrias did the wife of thy bosome or thy life more precious than thy wife Art thou angrie for a gourd Ionas answered I doe well to be angry vnto the death Thou hadst done better if thou hadst held thy peace if as before thou hadst passed the demaund of God without answere Was Balaam fit to speake vnto an Angell of the Lord being so blinded and overcast with the clovvds of wrath that he saw not so much as the dumbe asse vnder him is Ionas fit to speake vnto the Lord himselfe rather as Plato said to his servant I would haue killed thee but that I am angry so he shoulde haue said vnto the Lorde I woulde haue aunswered thee but that my passions haue set mee besides my selfe Hee that knoweth not his fault will never bee amended There is litle hope that the speech of God can doe good vpon Ionas who rather becommeth a patrone of his sin than a suiter for pardon The aunswere iustly followeth the steppes of the interrogation and indeede over-runneth it Art thou angry I am angry I dissemble not I blush not to confesse it though I concealed it before at thy first asking yet now bee it knowne vnto thee I am angrye Art thou very angry yea I put not a counterfeit person vpon me I am on fire with my vvrath I burne like reâ—in or pitch that cannot bee quenched Dost thou well to bee angry I do well to be angry It doth not repent mee and more than before thou ever hast demaunded I doe vvell to be angry vnto death Thus an evil cause is made much worse by evill handling and the defence of the fault vvaxeth more vnpardonable than the fault it selfe Giue admonition to the wise and hee vvill bee the vviser teach a righteous man and hee vvill encrease in learning but he that reprooveth a skorner purchaseth vnto himselfe shame and hee that rebuketh an angry man heapeth more coles of anger vpon him To admonish the frovvarde is to set goades to one that is mad enough alreadie and to powre oile into the chimney Nothing vndertaken vvith impatience can bee done vvithout violence and whatsoever is violently done either miscarrieth or falleth or flieth headlong away Hitherto I haue deferred to handle a question which this whole contention betweene God and Ionas leadeth mee vnto whither it be lawfull to be angry For aunswere whereof wee must knowe that anger is in the number of those affections vvhich God hath engraffed in nature and given them their seates in man and fitted them with their instruments and both ministred their matter from whence they proceede and provided them hâ—mours wherewith they are nourished They were ordained to be spurres vnto vs for the prosecution of vertue and as the body hath his nerves so hath the soule hers whereby shee is moved either with a slower or speedier cariadge The Stoicke Philosophers holde a vacuity of affections and condemne them all as vicious why Because they driue vs to disorder and exceede their compasse I graunte it But this is not the nature of the affections themselues but the affection of our corrupt natures Christ himselfe was not without affections hee was angry vvhen hee cast the merchantes out of the temple pitifull when hee sawe the people scattered like sheepe vvithout a sheepehearde sorrowfull when he shed teares over Ierusalem and wee knovve that anger repentance mercie hatred and the like are attributed to GOD in the Scriptures vvhich if they vvere simply and by nature evill shoulde never haue beene ascribed vnto him Touching anger in particular the Philosopher saide truely that anger is the whet-stone vnto fortitude and Basill called it a nerve or tendon of the soule giving it courage and constancie and that vvhich is remisse and tender otherwise hardening it as it vvere vvith iron and steele to make it goe thorough vvith her businesse To bee angrie saith Ierome is the part of a man And if anger were not by the suffrage of Chrysostome neither would teaching availe nor iudgements stande neither coulde sinnes bee repressed Wherefore the counsaile of David in the 4. Psalme and of the Apostle to the Ephesians is bee angry but sinne not Wherevpon the glosse noted Be angrie as touching the first motions which they accounted not sinnes because they were rather propassions and entrances into passion than passions rather infirmities than
but he is better thaÌ„ they all though they all were equall in dignitie and authority and had power in their hands and counsaile by their sides yet were they inferiour vnto him in the care of Gods service To haue compared him with Manasses his grand-father or Amon his father who went next before him and whose steps he declined contrary to the maner of childreÌ„ for vvho would haue thought when Manasses did ill and worse than the Amorites and Amon no better that Iosias would not haue followed them or to haue matched him with a few given him preheminence within some limited time say for an age or two or three had sufficientlie magnified him But all times examined chronicles and recordes sought out the liues and doings of kings narrowly repeated Iosias hath the garland from them all the paragon to all that went before him and a preiudice to as many as came after him The reason is because he turned His father grandfather went awry they ranne like Dromedaries in the waies of idolatry but Iosias pulled back his foot David turned to his armed men strength of souldiours Salomon to the daughters of Pharao Moab RehoboaÌ„ to his young couÌ„sailers Ieroboam to his golden calues Ezechias to the treasures of his house contrary to the word of the Lord Deut. 17. hee shall not provide him many horses neither shall he take him many wiues neither shall he gather him much silver and gold Some had even solde themselues to worke vvickednes had so turned after the lusts of their owne hearts that they asked who is the Lord but Iosias turned to the Lord the onely strength of Israell as to the Cynosure and load-starre of his life as that which is defectiue maimed to his end perfectioÌ„ as to his chiefest good as to the soule of his soule as to his center and proper place to rest in They said like harlots we will goe after our lovers that giue vs breade and water wooll flax but Iosias as a chast and advised wife I will goe and returne to my first husband The maner measure of his turning to the Lorde was with all his heart withall his soule c. You seeme to tell me of an Angell of heaven not of a man that hath his dwelling with mortall flesh and that which God spake in derision of the king of Tyrus is true in Iosias thou art that anointed Cherub for what fault is there in Iosias or how is he guilty in the breach of any the least commandement of the law which requireth no more than is here perfourmed Least you may thinke Iosias immaculate and without spot vvhich is the onely priviledge of the sonne of GOD know that he died for sinne because he coÌ„sulted not with the mouth of the Lord he was therfore slaine at Megiddo by the king of Egypt But that which was possible for flesh bloud to do in an vnperfect perfection rather in habite thaÌ„ act endevor than accomplishment or compared with his forerunners followers not in his private carriage so much as in his publike administration in governing his people and reforming religion all terrors difficulties in so weighty a cause as the chandge of religion is for chandge it selfe bringeth a mischiefe all reference to his forefathers enmity of the world loue to his quiet set apart he turneth to the Lord with all his hart c. So doth the law of loue require God is a iealous God cannot endure rivals hee admitteth no division and parâ—ing betweene himselfe Baal himselfe Mammon himselfe and MelchoÌ„ his Christ Beliall his table the table of devils his righteousnes the worlds vnrighteousnes his light and hellish darknes I saie more he that forsaketh not I say not Baal Mammon Melchom Beliall but father mother wife brethren sisters landes life for his sake loveth not sufficiently For as God himselfe ought to bee the cause why we loue God so the measure of our loue ought to bee vvithout measure For hee loveth him lesse than he shoulde vvho loveth any thing with him What not our wiues children friendes neighbours yea and enemies to Yes but in a kinde of obliquity our friendes and the necessaries of this life in God as his blessings our enemies for god as his creatures so that whatsoever we loue besides God maie be carried in the streame of his loue our loue to him going in a right line and as a direct sun-beame bent to a certaine scope our loue to other either persons or things comming as broken reflexed beames froÌ„ our loue to God You see the integritie of Iosias in every respect a perfect anatomy of the whole man every part he had consenting to honour God and that which the Apostle wished to the Thessalonians that they might be sanctified throughout and that their whole spirite soule and body might be kept blamelesse vnto the comming of Iesus Christ their spirit as the reasonable and abstract part their soule as the sensuall their bodie as the ministeriall and organicall is no way wanting in Iosias For whatsoever was in the hart of Iosias which â—yra vpon the sixth of Deut. S. Augustine in his first booke of Christian Learning expound the will because as the hart moveth the members of the body so the will inclineth the partes of the soule whatsoever in his soule vnderstanding sense which Mat. 22. is holpen with another word for there is soule minde both whatsoever in his strength for outward attempt performance all the affection of his heart all the election of his soule all the administration of his bodie the iudgment vnderstaÌ„ding of the soule as the Lady to the rest prosecution of his will excecution of his strength he wholy converteth it to shew his service and obedience to almighty God Bernard in a sermon of Loving God in his 20. vpoÌ„ the Canticles expoundeth those words of the law thus thou shalt loue the Lord thy God with all thy heart that is kindly affectionately with all thy soule that is wisely discreetly with all thy might that is stedfastly constaÌ„tly Let the loue of thy heart enflame thy zeale towards 〈◊〉 let the knowledge of thy soule guide it let the constancie of thy might confâ—â—me it Let it be fervent let it be circumspect let it be invincible Lastly the rule which he fastneth his eie vpon was the law of Moses and the whole law of Moses other rules are crooked and 〈◊〉 this only is straight as many as minde to please God must 〈◊〉 themselues wholy to be directed thereby not turning eithâ—â— to the right hand or to the left This history considered I pray you what hindereth the commauÌ„dement government of the king both in causes and over persons of the church For 1. in the building of the temple Iosias giveth direction both to Shaphan