malefactor that being in feare lest he should be put to death or at least lose both his hands did at the first word willingly cut off his owne left hand that he might preserue the other Iudge now at length for this tempest whether it were not a sound one when it put such men as these vnto such shiftes as these men that aduentured their liues for money to part from wares which would yeeld them mony men bold to be stricken with such feare men carelesse to be driuen to such deuotion and praying vnto their Gods Ionas thou canst not say but thou art followed for thy sinne not as with a furie from hell but with iustice from aboue But of that may be more hereafter 18 But here I may not forget this in these idolatrous persons because it doth yeeld vnto vs the best of all these instructions that these Ethnicks who here are actors did neuer fall to their calling vpon their heathenish Gods till that daunger did grow vpon them Their mind did run at randon till affliction as a spurre did quicken their strong obliuion Sea-daungers haue that force aboue all other daungers to make men crie with earnestnesse when nothing is to be seene but heauen aboue and water below Coelum vndique vndique pontus Dauid did wel note this when after the description of a storme he addeth this for a conclusion Then they cry vnto the Lord in their trouble and he bringeth them out of their distresse There is trouble and distresse and crying to the Lord. Violent motions of the aire generally cause a feare In them the voice of the Lord maketh the wildernesse to tremble the renting of the clouds the cracking of the aire do much affright the wicked Caligula the Romane Emperour would needs be reputed for a God and there was no measure of follie with him yet if he had but heard a clap of thunder he wold winke or hide his head or run perhaps vnder a bed Now feare in all men who haue sence doth enforce vnto religion or at least to superstition As long as Gods hand is ouer vs we feare and so by a consequent are carefull If we were as dull as that Asse whereon Balaam vsed to ride yet if an Angell hold out a sword it will make vs stagger at it But as soone as the sword is sheathed so soone we will forget it It is the crosse of Christ which maketh a man a true Christian it keepeth vs in obedience howsoeuer the flesh repineth the spirit is bettered by it Sicknesse or plague or famine or war or any great iudgement maketh more prayers in a day more seeking to God and that feelingly hartily then otherwise are ordinary in a weeke 19 I do find in Agathias that when on a time the Citie of Constantinople was shaken with a verie terrible earthquake many houses were ouerthrowne and with the fall thereof great store of people perished Herewith the whole Citie was so frighted and euerie man so remembred to thinke on God that solemne supplicatiōs and publike prayers were had the Churches euerie day were full and all men for a while were much amended The poore folkes were releeued iustice was well administred there was no fraude thē in bargaining yea it was become a verie holie place But whē God once held his hād they also held their prayers when his rod ceased then ceased their pietie too That which he did obserue concerning Constantinople may be noted of other places Yea Historians do obserue it In the first late ciuill warre in Fraunce which arose now more then thirtie yeares agone after the putting foorth of that Edict which is commonly called the Edict of Ianuarie and in like sort in the second third of those warres such as were of the Religion then groning vnder the crosse of pouertie of oppression and warre were verie deuout toward God verie carefull toward to the world glad to heare any preach the word glad to receiue the Sacramēt but whē the third peace was concluded which seemed a verie sound peace and the rod was now thought to be remoued farre of such carelesnesse and securitie did ouergrow the harts of all and in the Protestants there was so cold a zeale nay rather such a tedious curiositie as a French man termeth it and that within lesse thē two yeres space that a Sermō soūdly made with good groūds of diuinitie was not thought to be worth the hearing vnlesse it were spiced with eloquēce or flourished with daintie phrases such as were fit for the Court But immediatly afterward this contempt of theirs was pursued with that great massacre that bloudie and horrible massacre like to which the Sunne scant euer did see any thing and then the mariners in the ship with Ionas did not cry more hotely on their Gods then the Frēch men our neighbors did cry vnto the true Lord of heauen 20 Might it please our God that we by their example could learne to be thankfull in prosperitie as well as to be crying when miserie hangeth on vs. In Queenes Mariesdayes when the fire deuoured the flesh of Gods saints what prayers were then made for the faithfull congregation by many within the land and without Coldnesse hath since benummed some hote ones of that time The Spaniard threatned warre not manie yeares agone the pietie of our land exceeded for that time yoūg and old then came together into the courts of the Lord the Sabaothes were then sanctified the weeke dayes were well spent we had prayers extraordinarie lectures twise a weeke as this place doth well know But with the cold of the winter our holinesse waxed cold and manie monethes had not passed but as in few things we were better so in some things we were worse Good God that thy great mercie should make thee to be loued the lesse One yeare is not passed ouer since besides manie other quarters the chiefe Citie of our kingdome being visited by Gods messenger the pestilence which destroyeth as well by night as by day did hang downe her head for sorrow I haue heard that since that time it is verie much forgotten in buying and in selling in bargaining and deceiuing God sent vs here a warning and then another warning in the verie hart of our Citie I thinke that we and other did in that time more thinke of deuotion toward the Lord of purging of our soules of true mortification of preparing our soules to Christ then we haue done manie times since It is not well if it be so It is a reproch to some no penie no Pater noster It is a reproch to vs no plague no Pater noster no punishment and no prayers Let it not be noted of vs that we are like to those Gentiles who only when the tempest raged did cry vnto their Gods Let vs feare the Lord for his loue and loue him for his mercie let vs not prouoke him
Pastour hath his vexations and grieuances at his heart The vntowardnesse of his people doth make him fret like Moses so the wilinesse of the serpent in deuising new kinds of euill or the stubburnnesse of Recusants or the circumuentings of heretickes or the deriding of enemies may disquiet him and afflict him The father and the housholder may be grieued and disturbed by the vnrulinesse of his children and the infamie which is vpon them as was vpon the sonnes of Eli or Samuel or by the falsenesse of his seruants and treacherie of his people by whom he sustaineth harmes or losses or by malicious neighbours The faithfull man who is in any vocation may be tormented in his spirit by an vndermining Ziba or by an oppressing Pharao or by a deriding Ismael or by a contemning Haman or by a reuiling Shimei or by a slaundering Doeg The tender and troubled conscience may be frighted and molested by recounting his iniquities against so high a maiestie and so seuere a iustice There is no one of these but being followed pursued as with waue after waue must needes sinke grow faint vnlesse there be some remedie He that should onely feed vpon this in his thought and as one who made much of the humour should increase it and maintaine it might fret himselfe to peeces and if his bones were iron or if his sides were brasse might consume them and dissolue theÌ„ Therefore our respectiue father knowing wherof we are made remembring that we are but dust doth take this order for vs that as sometimes he intermingleth ioy with sorrow like the night with the day and faire weather with cloudie and peace with warre health with sicknesse so otherwise in our troubles he sendeth such varietie and vicissitude of disturbances that this businesse is driuen away and remooued with that as a nayle is forced with a nayle or one woodden pin with another that the mind may not haue time to gâ—aw or leisure to wast it selfe with sorrow This dutie or that necessitie or the comming in of a friend or feare of euill to come or hope and expectation or watchfulnesse to preuent or labouring to escape or one thing or another is set by God as a stay that we shall not with Iob onely sit downe and mourne or with Ieremie yeeld our selues wholly to lamentation We shall haue some thing or other say to vs as to Ionas arise I am assuredly perswaded that this was the estate of Saint Paule aboue all other men who ranne through so many difficulties in watching and in fasting in imprisonment and in beating in preaching and in writing in comforting the weake in combating with the enemie in taking care of all Churches God did not affoord him time to greeue at his perplexities but choked one with another and gaue him grace for all Euerie man may apply this to himselfe as he pleaseth But to the end that our Prophet might not be steeped and quite dissolued with sorrow the word of the Lord commeth to him No more Ionas of this heauinesse Arise and go to Niniue that great citie 15 No maruell if this did awake him to send him in such an errand Now he is not to go as vpon any priuate businesse from one man to another but he must go from God and he must go to a citie and that as I thinke the greatest which then was on the earth which might very well vrge him to looke about him with all his wit and vnderstanding I shall haue more occasion in the third verse to speake of the hugenesse of this place because there it is said that Niniue was a great and excellent citie of no lesse then three dayes iourney It shall suffice for that purpose which I now intend to follow out of these words of my text that Niniue was a great citie to contemplate with reuerend admiration the sound force and effectuall operation of the word of God and the ministerie that one man and a stranger without pompe without traine without any one to grace him should be sent to such a multitude and being sent should preuaile See whether some secret vertue power which cannot be expressed be not in this liuely word when it is taught See whether the mightie finger of the Lord himselfe be not with it that he should depute one mouth to speake vnto a million and to mooue them and perswade them and sometimes to erect them and sometimes to depresse them with promises and with threatnings to make so many hearts as would not feare an armie of the old Greekes or Aegyptians to quake and with a quauering to tremble in all the bones That he should appoint one Moses to aduise and giue precepts to sixe hundred thousand men which were able to fight in battell besides women and children That Peter at one Sermon shold not only speake to so many but should winne three thousand soules That in a great congregation where hundreds or thousands be a man of the selfe same qualitie as those to whom he doth preach clothed with many weaknesses and bringing this most precious treasure but in an earthen vessell should stand betweene the Lord and the consciences of the people and with memorie coÌ„stancie shold speak boldly to the best and rebuke them reprooue them and thunder out Gods iudgements And that the toung of this man a little peece of flesh and nothing in comparison should talke of God and Angels of the mysteries of the Trinitie of the benefits of the Redeemer of the power of the holy Ghost of euerlasting ioy and of the paines of hell of saluation and damnation and with this speech so vttered should conquer preuaile incite men vnto fasting weeping lamenting yea to suffering of affliction yea to martyrdome it selfe 16 It sheweth that this word is truely likened to the mustard seed which being small in the sowing groweth to great branches afterward And to leauen which being put in meale farre greater then it selfe yet doth season and sauour it all So it is fitly compared vnto a little sparke or coale of fire which lighting vpon apt matter prooueth soone a burning flame and hath in it such power as that cities or forrests or whole realmes may be wasted with it This word hath endlesse encrease when God giueth a blessing to it By how few in respect of a multitude was the Gospell propagated in all the coasts of the earth Their sound went out into all lands They were but a few Apostles and a small number of their scholers neither rich nor learned nor eloquent yet India and Armenia and Greece and Rome and Spaine were filled with their deuotions the base were heard by the noble and fishermen and their followers catched Caesars and mightie Emperours The Eâ—nuch of Candaces had but a little parley with Philip the Euangelist yet he so planted Christs doctrine in the countrey of Ethiopia that it
from his maister All the Prophets were so tyed this onely commeth from them Thus or thus saith the Lord. Yea Balaam that false Prophet had catched this by the end If Balac vvould giue me his house full of siluer and gold I cannot go beyond the vvord of the Lord my God to do lesse or more Saint Paule had learned this lesson as the first in all his booke He sheweth it in nothing more plainly then in the case of the Sacrament I receiued from the Lord that vvhich I also haue deliuered vnto you So in the first to the Galathians If an Angell from heauen preach vnto you otherwise then that vvhich vve haue preached vnto you he had called himselfe before an Apostle from Iesus Christ let him be accursed It is a rule inuariable that in cases of saluation we looke to God the oracle of wisedome and truth not to our owne inuentions or to confirme our doctrine from this or that of our owne brayne but if we haue our warrant from the old or the new Testament then we may safely speake it Origene proposeth Saint Paule for an example in this case Paule saith he as his custome is vvill affirme that vvhich he teacheth out of the holie Scriptures and he doth giue an example to the Doctours of the Church that they should produce those things vvhich they speake to the people not grounded vpon their owne opinions but strengthened with the testimonies of God For if he so great and such an Apostle did not thinke that the authoritie of his words might suffice vnlesse he did know that those things were written in the law and the Prophets which he said how much more should we little ones obserue this that when we teach we vtter not our owne but the meanings of the holy Ghost 19 If the teachers and preachers of the Antichristian faith had kept this for a lawe there had neuer so absurd and filthie points of doctrine bene taught to their people visions and reuelations and messages from the dead dreames customes and such follies as are besides the word Purgatorie and limbus Patrum pilgrimages vnto Reliques and Transubstantiation of the bread into Christs bodie being contrarie to the Scriptures and many other things of this qualitie the later euer adding to the inuention of the former such a Canon or such a ceremonie These men are bold beyond the authoritie which was committed to them for theirs was but as this of Ionas thou must preach to them that preaching which I shall shew vnto thee Their charge was but as Timothies was and Paules words to Timothie were O Timothie keepe thy charge Keepe and hold fast that which by the Scriptures is committed to thee from the Lord and from me by his direction And there is not the greatest Minister not the most learned or acute but must obserue this rule Not Iames not Iohn not Peter not all the troupe of the Apostles may once varie from this He who shall bring other doctrine let him be accursed by vs. He who speaketh of himselfe let him be refused by vs. Howsoeuer godly or holy he do pretend himselfe yet if he decline that word which should be his direction let him be declined by vs. Whosoeuer shall say otherwise then that which is appointed saith Ignatius he meaneth otherwise then God hath appointed although he be a man of credit although he fast and keepe virginitie although he do miracles although he prophecie let him be thought by thee to be a wolfe who vnder a sheepes skinne doth intend the marring of the sheepe Thus shold the hearers be carefull that they receiue no doctrine but that which is approoued and the Preachers be aduised that they neuer teach any thing but what God hath commaunded Our Barhoisticall separations and absentments from the Sacraments had not crept so farre in the land if this had bene well practised 20 I need not giue farther exhortation in this place to retaine this as a ground in as much as all of vs do lay it downe as a principle that the written word of God is the onely guide to saluation and that fancies and traditions are to be exiled from vs. I therefore will here end desiring the Almightie that such doctrine as is oftentimes taught vnto vs from this place may bring foorth such plenteous fruit that in this congregation the name of God may be honoured and glorified in great measure and our soules may be so strengthened that they may soundly perseuere to euerlasting life To the which God the Father bring vs for his owne Sonne Christs sake to both whom and the holy Spirit be glorie euermore THE XVII LECTVRE The chiefe poynts 2. Carnall reasons why Ionas might yet haue refused to go 3. But affliction hath schooled him 4. and that not onely while it was on him 5. Affliction worketh otherwise in the good 6. and in the bad 7. A reproofe of the present time 9. Obedience requireth euen circumstances to be regarded 10. God must be obeyed without debating 11. The greatnesse of Niniue 12. Ionas feareth not that he is alone 14. A great auditorie giueth more courage to a wise Preacher 15. Ionas speaketh not fearefully 16. The difference of opinions for the daies of repentance allowed to Niniue 17. Iudgement concerning Luther in the matter of the Sacrament 18. The Hebrew toung is not to be neglected by a Diuine Ionah 3.3.4 So Ionah arose and went vnto Niniue according to the word of the Lord Now Niniue was a great and excellent citie of three dayes iourney And Ionah began to enter into the citie a dayes iourney and he cried and sayd Yet fortie dayes and Niniue shall be ouerthrowne THe Prophet Ionas who should haue gone in the businesse of his maister but vpon some supposals had no mind vnto it and therefore starting aside like a broken bow was well beaten for his labour hath now a second time his commission drawne and his instructions giuen him to go as an Ambassadour from the Almightie king of heauen to a great Prince vpon earth The message which he bringeth is of more fearefull qualitie then if all the Princes adioyning had sent him their defiance by their Heralds that they would immediatly inuade him with fire and sword and irreconcilable hatred For he might haue made some shift against all their powers and standing vpon his gard in the defensiue part he might haue repelled them with such multitude of people as were vnder his gouernement and a citie so fortified as his was at that time Or if he and his people must needes end their dayes by the outrage of their enemie who would be much encouraged by prosperitie and desired successe yet that might be his comfort which is the last comfort in death to men in his case that hee went not awaye vnreuenged but hee had ridde some of those who came to ridde him and slayne some of the murtherers before that his last
stood so that if they had written falsly common men might haue controlled them Diodorus then sayth that this city had walles of maruellous bredth so that carts might not onely go but very well meete vpon them that it had fifteene hundred towers which argueth a great bignesse that the walles being foure wayes set although not equally square had no lesse in the compasse of the out-side then foure hundred and fourescore furlongs Where if we accompt after eight furlongs to the mile all amounteth to threescore miles and not onely to eight and fortie as the Geneua note in the English Bible hath vpon the first Chapter So then threescore miles in circuite may be reckened for three dayes iourney twenty miles to a day which is more then souldiers march and for ordinary footemen in the winter it is harder in the sommer it is easier And this I take to be the true meaning of the Prophet and not onely as some would haue it which may be true also that it was full three dayes labour to go through euery lane or broade streete in the Citie 12 When I opened the first verses of this prophecy speaking out of this place I more fully handled this argument and shewed that in old time the Easterne Cities were very huge as for example sake Babylon which Aristotle reporteth to be so great as that when one part thereof was taken by an enemy the the other part heard not not of it in three whole dayes together Moreouer that the city stood on a riuer and therefore had store of water that the fertility of the soile was such that Herodotus on his knowledge speaketh it in his first booke that the seed thereabout sowed did returne two or three hundred fold so many bushels for one The water then being plentifully there the soile answering to it to yeeld food for such a multitude the place being the royal city of the Assyrian Monarchy and therefore built with all magnificence for the honor of the kingdome yea the profane writers confirming it but that which is most of all the Spirit of God affirming it we may very well take Niniue for an excellent and great city such a one as I suppose that neither the old world nor the new world had any like vnto it Not Babylon not Hierusalem not Rome with her seuen hils not Quinzay in the East nor Mexico in the West not Millaine as it is nor Antwerpe as it was not Paris in her late glory nor Venice in her now beautie Which since the holy Scripture hath described so plainely we must needs labour to find some thing in it which may be applied to our learning It is worth the thinking on that the Prophet is not discouraged to go to such a place a single one to so many a sole man to such a citie Who would not haue thought that himselfe should there haue bene contemptible and derided for the paucity of his attendants not a fellow to beare him company not a boye to do him seruice Appian in his booke of the warres of the Romanes with Mithridates telleth how Tigranes iested when he sawe the small number of souldiers which the Romanes sent against him he must needes bestow one scoffe on them What are these men sayth he I thinke they come as Ambassadors but then they be too many or if they come as souldiers alas they be too few It is likely that if he had seene this Ambassadour and his traine to be none and peraduenture his apparell to be base and disgracefull he would not haue left at one speech but doubled his wit vpon him 13 Our man standeth not at this neither feareth he his life among them although their number were so great that with ease they might haue deuoured him and euery one of them taken so litle that it needed not offend them His faith and his resolute mind now put him through thicke thin his confidence in his maister maketh him contemne the greatnesse of a world He knoweth that if God be on his side what matter is it who be against him All that is borne of God saith S. Iohn in his first Epistle ouercommeth the world so doth that also which is borne out by God I will not be affraid saith Dauid for ten thousand of the people that should be set me round about Then what the Niniuites should thinke of him or how the king would frowne vpon him he reckeneth not to dispute they were all in the hands of his maister so himselfe was also therefore he only stroue how to please him and not any other man And this is a good resolutiō more to thinke on one God and retaining of his fauor then of all the world besides His loue is incōparably greater then the loue of Niniue ten Niniues yea of all the frame of creatures For instruction herein Chrysostome directeth vs to chariot driuers of whom he speaketh in this maner Dost thou not see the driuers of chariots who passing swiftly by all the part of the race where the whole city sitteth to behold the coursing of the horses do there striue to ouerturne the chariots of them whith whom they cōtend where they behold the Emperor sitting do say that the eye of him alone is more worthy to trust vnto thē the faces of so many mē But when thou seest the very king of Angels to sit as the iudge and rewarder of thy striuing passing by him thou fliest to the eyes of thy fellow-seruants seeking to please them We should imitate these chariot-riders preferring Gods liking and loue before a many of Niniuites For put them in the ballance and he ouer-weigheth them all 14 His setled mind at this time remembreth this well inough therfore feareth not this mighty city Nay on the cōtrary side if his heart were vpright as it should be and I thinke that at this time so it was the greatnesse of the company to which he was to be sent should giue him larger hope and yeeld him greater spirits for if God did blesse his labour here was good indeede to be done to angle where was such store to speake where was such an auditory For by this meanes how many thousands might he winne to the Lord and what ioy might he conceiue that his mouth should be the instrument to winne their soules from destruction If God be glorified in gaining one how is he honoured in gaining many If men labour and spend themselues to obtaine a little what should they do for much Then the Prophet need not feare but take it as a mercy of his God shed vpon him that he must go to great Niniue For I doubt not but he was furnished with the powerfull grace of the Spirit that he needed not feare himselfe or distrust his owne ability And indeed I am of that mind that whē a man is prouided with sufficient meditation and earnest prayer to God to
speake to a congregation his heart is more with child his vigour is more kindled and his spirits are more quickned when he seeth a great assembly attentiue and intelligent so that nothing may fall to the ground I doubt not but this was the very case of S. Peter his heart did yearne in his belly and his bowels were more dilated when he saw so many hearing with reuerence respect as that three thousand of them might be catched at one time And it is mine opinion although perhaps it be but mine that the Sauiour of the world according to those different inclinations which his manhood brought vnto him did rouze himselfe the more and did pierce the hearts of his hearers with more patheticall speech when he saw such troupes come about him that he was forced to go to a mountaine or betake him to a ship to teach so many of them He who was mooued in his bowels with compassion to see so many as sheepe without a shepheard may be more mooued in and with his tongue to satisfie such a multitude Quintilian sayth of a schoole-maister imagine that he meaneth a good one such a one as is well prepared to teach that since a good Lecture is not like a supper which being prouided for a set number will serue no more but as the sun-shine which may satisfie all without scanting come as many as will that he is very much incouraged when he readeth to many and doth vse such voyce and gesture as if he should vse to one a man would thinke that he were madde Surely this is the case of the faithfull steward of Christ who aimeth onely at the honouring and glorifying of his maister and doth not meane to set himselfe at sale with vaine glory for there God oftentimes doth send a curse in matter or voyce or memorie or one thing or another besides those common infirmities which are incident to Gods seruants he is cheered that the Lord is pleased to make his tongue the conduite to conuey grace to so many It is likely that our Ionas at this time was so well perswaded and therefore it is sayd here so precisely that the city was so great and huge a city straight after mention made of his willingnesse and obedience 15 Well be it as it is he entreth this great city a dayes iourney it is sayd This is as Hierome citeth the opinion of some men he passed so among them that he warned and instructed the third part of the city so much as a man might compasse in the iourney of a day And there he began to cry he crept not in as heretikes do nor whispered like to our Iesuites who by secret reconciling draw men from God and their Prince and all true loue to their countrey not as a fearfull coward who dare not shew his head for feare lest he should be taken but as one of the Lords Prophets he deliuereth his message in open streetes and the market Gods seruants haue not feared to speake euen to the faces of kings and cruell tyrants Christ Iesus taught in the Temple and in the midst of Hierusalem and so did his Apostles Neither may that be sayd to be by a secret or priuate conference but as our Ionas here so Christ in the seuenth Chapter of Saint Iohn did stand and crye in the Temple They were on sleepe in Niniue through prosperitie and securitie and therefore that they might be awaked they had neede of one to crye The more they were lulled in euill the more noyse must be made to rowze them out of euill He who should haue spoken mildly and but softly and quietly there might haue bene passed by of all men which was the estate of Christendome when Luther came into the world and therefore he spake with a stirring spirit of fortitude and courage God sending a sharpe surgeon to sores which were so vlcerated Our Prophet is in this predicament of vehemency and earnestnesse which appeareth by all particulars as first that he began so soone to tell his message he goeth not about the city nor gazeth to see the buildings or with curiositie to obserue the streetes or houses or pallaces or Temples but he straight way falleth to his worke secondly he thundreth with voyce lift vp and speaketh out that euery one may take notice but thirdly which is most of all he vttereth that which biteth The matter is a great deale more piercing then the manner Yet forty dayes and Niniueh shall be destroyed But because this is the third maine note which I culled out of my text giue me leaue now to come to it The Sermon of Ionah 16 The substance of his Sermon and the doctrine contained in it is that which reason teacheth should be handled in these words for there is the life of the Scripture but lest I should be wearisome to you I must be enforced to leaue that to the next when it may with fit opportunity inferre their repentance Yet in the meane while I will prepare your eares to that by touching some thing from the letter and one collection from the words In decrees of men our Lawyers still haue recourse principally to the very letter and plaine words of the Satute which if we here shall do we shall find that there is great disagreement concerning it euen among great ones The Hebrew verity hath forty dayes as we reade it yet forty dayes and Niniueh shall be destroyed The Septuagint translate it yet three dayes and no more which caused the expositours of the Greekes who onely followed the Septuagint to vse no other number So Origen vppon Ezechiel hath three dayes So Athanasius in his Synopsis and in his booke De passione de cruce Domini Hierome vpon this place wondreth how the Septuagint could so much ouer-see themselues since there is no similitude of sillables words or accents in the Hebrew betweene Shalosh and Arbagnim whereof the one doth signifie three and the other forty Saint Austen although in most things he be a follower of the Septuagint yet as I suppose being put in minde by the translation of Hierome which about that time began to be published that in the originall it was fortie and thereby being put to a push whether to chuse in his bookes De ciuitate Dei doth modestly like of that which is in the Hebrew fountaine but being desirous withall to retaine that which was receiued from the Septuagint vnder a mysticall figure applyed to Christ Iesus who was three dayes in the graue hath that excellent wit of his as Lodouicus Viues writing vpon that place speaketh so troubled and so intangled that he knoweth not how to cleere it Thus the greatest are but men and euery man hath his errors But as it falleth out that iudges who are too facile to qualifie two opinions would gladly say as both haue said and yet do say like neither so I find that Iustinus Martyr will neither haue
writeth reporting very maruellous things thereof Remember the force of enemies assembled in great number and with discipline of warre what strange things they haue done I spake before of Hierulalem and who thought themselues more safe then the inhabitants of that city and yet the Romanes tooke them The Gothes surprised Rome when Honorious who was then Emperour lying quietly at Rauenna thought the matter so vnlikely that when newes was brought vnto him that Rome was lost he supposed that they had meant a fighting cocke which he called by that name So it might be with other places euen with this mighty Niniue 16 Truth it is that they had people and souldiers in great store a city strongly defenced mony and much munition yet these things are not euermore of power to keepe and saue from an enemy You haue heard of that speech of Philip who neuer feared but he might take that city whose gates were so wide that an Asse laden with gold might enter Iugurtha could say that Rome it selfe might haue bene bought for money if there had bene any to buy it But it is the note of an historian in our age that it is a foolish speech which commonly men do vse to say that any city or fortresse is inuincible For sayth he when an enemy hath once layd siege against it either force of gunnes by violence or craft of mining in secret or priuy scaling by night or tiring out the besieged by long continued labours or treason or some stratageme may bring it to the inuader Yea victuall may want within or things fit for defence or the garrison may be worne And by such meanes warriours may win any place Let Tyrus be the example which was gained by Alexander the Great And if a hold he once taken why is it not in the mercy of the conquerour both for the place and the people to be vsed at his pleasure to be saued if he will saue or spilled if he will spill And is a mortall creature of power to breake the greatest and shall we not thinke that God who mooueth and the heauen doth stir who speaketh and the earth doth tremble can plucke Niniue on her knees within forty dayes or whensoeuer it shall seeme good vnto him There is no doubt at all of this matter Then since they had no suspect of the ability of â—â—s power and what his will was they had heard no maruell if all their hearts were filled with such a sorrow as requireth time to describe it Thus you now know the cutting Sermon and galling speech of our Prophet which is short not sweet few words but full of waight so heauy that they make the proudest there to quake Which I shall let you know as God shall giue occasion In the meane while let vs pray that the Lord will send vs that grace to leade our liues in his feare that he in wrath be not enforced by the multitude of our sinnes to intend such destruction to vs as is here proclaimed against Niniue but that we may do those deeds which belong to Christ Iesus his seruants to which Christ with his blessed Father and his eternall Spirite be praise for euermore THE XIX LECTVRE The chiefe poynts 1. The Niniuites are not obstinate but yeeld 3. The force of the word of God 5. Conscience and present feare maketh sooner to repent 6. The Pastour must not be discouraged if at the first he preuaile not 7. The Pastour is neare to God 8. Therefore he should be very wary 9. The people should vse their Ministers reuerently 10. Godlinesse is most imbraced where it may be least expected 11. Fasts are to be proclaimed by the Magistrate 13. The force of fasting and praying 14. But we are negligent herein Ionah 3.5 So the people of Niniueh beleeued God and proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them euen to the least of them IT hath bene shewed before how fearefull a message the Prophet Ionas brought to mighty Niniue That yet forty dayes and Niniue shall be ouerthrowne Yet forty dayes and then as Ioel sometimes spake a day of darknesse and blacknesse of cloudes and obscurity of lamentable horrour and vnspeakeable desolation The great city the rich city the Imperiall commaunder of all the East parts he knoweth not how nor he speaketh not how but be it howsoeuer shall be surely destroyed I am now to lay downe according to the order of the story the good intertainement which this messenger found Who would not imagine that men in that height of prosperity in the top of the wheele now bearing rule ouer a great part of the world would haue vsed this stranger in some strange manner sutably to that pride and disdainefull contempt which commonly waiteth vpon abundance That an vnknowne fellow simple out of countenance hauing neither statelinesse of apparell nor any attendants to commend him should come facing and threatning with a tale of that nature neither respecting himselfe nor his superiours If it be want of maners in him he must be taught good maners if it be lacke of wit he must be taught wit not to disturbe or interrupt the peace of such a city Ahab although he knew well inough who Elias was yet in like case would haue sayd vnto him Art thou he that troublest Israel The Iewes would haue serued him as they serued Saint Steuen shoute at him stop their eares runne vpon him at once draw him out of their city and stone him Or as they serued Paule crye Away with such a fellovv from off the earth it is not fit that he should liue and then againe shoute and cast off their clothes and throw dust into the aire Verie few of the qualitie of the citizens of Niniue would haue forborne to imprison him or dâ—â—e him from among them 2 But the Auditors here being made of other more gentle and soft mettall do beare themselues better The sound of his voyce being entred into their eares hath descended to their hearts and there hauing wrought an effectuall conuersion reflecteth it selfe so againe that their vttermost members are affected therewith The soule hauing once giuen credit to this so imminent an euill the whole man is possessed with a fearefull contemplation the body quiuereth at it and all the ioynts do tremble the voyce is lifted vp to proclaime mortification the belly shall be pinched with a macerating fast the backe shall be disguised with sordidity of sackcloth the head shall be couered with ashes and dust the tongue shall crye mightily vnto God for mercie Yea great and small of them without any exception shall thus be brought downe Such a change in such a moment of time was neuer seene That the voyce of musicke should be turned into mourning the sound of the viole and harpe into howling and schreeching that the Princes and beggers should be equalled together that the daughters of Niniue the daintiest of ten thousand depriued of their
AN EXPOSITION VPON THE PROPHET IONAH Contained in certaine Sermons preached in S. Maries Church in Oxford By GEORGE ABBOT Professor of Diuinitie and Maister of Vniuersitie Colledge IOHAN 9.4 The night cometh when no man can worke ANCHORA SPEI LONDON Imprinted by Richard Field and are to be sold by Richard Garbrand 1600. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE MY VERY ESPEciall good Lord Thomas Baron of Buckhurst Lord high Treasurer of England one of the LL. of her Maiesties most honorable Priuie Counsell Knight of the honorable Order of the Garter and Chauncellour of the Vniuersitie Of Oxford IT is now more then a whole yere Right Honorable since that according to the slendernesse of that abilitie which God hath giuen vnto me I brought to an end these few Lectures vppon the Prophet Ionas In all which time being doubtful whether I should publish this small Treatise to the view of the world or no sometimes in mine owne mind resoluing for it and sometimes against it I haue at the last aduentured to let it see the Sunne by an open imparting thereof vnto other VVherein my assured hope and confidence is that the same holy and gracious Spirite which first moued me to vndertake this worke and by litle and litle hath enabled me to bring it to this passe will also giue that blessing thereunto that it shall not be vtterly vnprofitable to the Church but that such as are indifferent Readers may some in one kinde and some in another reape such frute as that thereby they may be strengthened to continue on their iourney to euerlasting happinesse For the better accomplishing whereof according as the text hath yeelded me occasion I haue laboured seuerally sometimes to informe the ignorant sometimes to comfort the weake somtimes to settle the doubtfull some other times to encorage on to vertue and oftentimes to beate downe vice and iniquitie which in this later age euery where aboundeth To which purposes as God did diuerse wayes make me know in the first vttering thereof that it returned not altogether frutelesse so I trust that it wil please the same guide of heauen and earth farther to blesse it that in this course now intended by me it may yet also be a meanes to multiply and increase the Lords seruice in some persons more plentifully But being now to commend it to the consideration and perusing of manie other I do first present it to the good and fauourable acceptation of your Lordship as hauing the principall and most speciall interest therein for besides that it had his birth and growth in that Vniuersitie vvhose sterne vnder our most gracious Soueraigne your Lordship doth with great wisedome rule and therefore may chalenge it for the places sake as belonging in a generall regard to your Lordships protection The Authour thereof is in dutie so specially and particularly bounden to your Lordship that in right he must acknowledge the continuance and progresse of his studies for these manie yeares to haue rested and relyed solely on your Honourable fauour In which respect he amongst manie others hath great cause to giue praise and thankes to the Almightie for your Lordships high aduauncement in this State in as much as he apparantly findeth and by experience knoweth that after a desire to do faithfull seruice to her sacred Maiestie to administer iustice to the Subiect and to be as a father in hearing the complaints of the poore it is not the least care which your Lordship hath to helpe and preferre in Church and Common-wealth such as haue or do depend vpon your Honour Amongst whom I should be verie forgetfull and vnthankfull if I did not to my vttermost let all men vnderstand with how honourable regard your Lordship hath bene pleased now for diuerse yeares to looke vpon me and of your Lordships owne disposition at euery first occasion so to thinke on my preferment as I had no reason in my conceit to looke for or any way expect But in this as in many other matters your Lordship doth let the world see that there is nothing more proper to personages truly honorable then to do honorable deedes and thereupon it is that with this extraordinarie respect your Lordship hath both intended and affected not a litle for my good An example for the matter verie rare in this barren age wherein we now liue but to the maner of the happie accomplishing thereof both my selfe and diuerse other are so priuie that we must confesse it to be a singular consideration of your Lordship so to begin and consummate the same that all men might see the thankes only to belong to your Lordship and that no second person hath had anie finger in that which hitherto I haue receiued In gratefull representation of my remembrance herein I bring this litle gift and as thereby I conceale not from anie how deepely vnder God and my Soueraigne I am obliged to your Honor so otherwise I shall euer be readie with all my power to do your Lordship seruice thinking my selfe happie when I may perfourme anie thing which may testifie my respectiue and dutifull affection God Almightie long preserue her most gracious Maiestie the onely fountaine vpon earth of all our felicitie God Almightie blesse your Lordship that the Common-wealth for many yeares may enioy such a Counseller and this Vniuersitie so Honorable a Patrone From Vniuersitie Colledge in Oxford this tenth day of October In the yeare of our Lord 1600. Your Lordships Chapleine in all dutie bounden GEORGE ABBOT The chiefe points in the first Lecture 2. Ionas was not the sonne of the widow of Sareptha 5 Neither had a Prophet to his father 6 The taking away of the word is a grieuous plague 10 Gods word must be a direction to the Minister who is not to gad vp and downe 11 Diuines of the Vniuersity may preach in parishes adioyning 13. Niniue a great Citie 17. Why crying is vsed in Scripture 18 The Easterne curious artes likely to be in Niniue 19 But certainly robberie and oppression IONAH 1.1.2 The word of the Lord came also vnto Ionah the sonne of Amittai saying Arise and go to Niniueh that great Citie and crie against it for their wickednesse is come vp before me THat which Hierome said to Paulinus concerning the seuen Catholike or Generall Epistles for so they are called of Iames and Peter and Iohn and Iude that they are long and they are short short in words long in substance may I thinke be wel spoken of this Prophecy of Ionas that it is long it is short short if we respect the smalnesse of the volume but long if we regard the copious varietie of excellent obseruations which are therein to be found As the horriblenesse of sin which was able within fortie dayes to plucke downe an vtter desolation on so famous a citie as Niniue was Gods loue in forewarning them who dwelt in that place that they might be spared the Prophets foule fall and his strange punishment for
it his of-wardnesse from God and Gods fauourable inclination euermore to him the regard which the King of Niniue and his people did beare to Gods iudgements when they were denounced the free pardon of the Lord and his remitting of their sinne vpon their earnest repentance The subordinate circūstances do yeeld as good doctrine as the maine storie it selfe and from them both this thing of note is collected that our Sauiour Christ in two seueral matters doth take occasion to draw his similitudes or comparisons from this Prophecie which is not obserued of farre greater bookes The one of them is in the 11. of Luke The men of Niniuy shall rise in iudgement with this generation shall condemne it for they repented at the preaching of Ionas and behold a greater then Ionas is here The other is in the twelfth of Mathew As Ionas was three dayes and three nights in the whales belly so shall the sonne of man be three dayes and three nights in the heart of the earth Here our Prophet was a figure of the Redeemer of the world and in that did liuely expresse him And some thinke that another thing in him did as liuely paint out a second matter in our Sauiour Christ that as Ionas preaching long to the people of Israel and doing litle good there by reason of the stubburnnesse of that nation was sent vnto Niniue a citie in Assyria to men strangers from the couenant so Christ by himselfe and by his Apostles laying open to the Iewes the will of his father and finding nothing but vnthankfulnesse to be the frute of his paines should turne away his loue and affection from them and bestow it on the Gentiles Now as this may agree with the analogie of faith may be deduced not vnfitly out of the text so to thinke that all the prophecie may allegorically be applied vnto Christ wherein some of the old fathers were too too much credulous were to straine the storie too farre and indeed it may not be as Hierome hath well noted on the third verse of this Chapter And therefore in that proceeding which God shall send vnto me in the opening of this Prophecie my purpose is to follow the letter of the text and to lay downe the doctrine of it with conuenient application but without allegories Origenicall or wrestings at all 2 The time wherein our Prophet did liue should seeme to be soone after the death of Elizeus in as much as he did prophecie of Ieroboam the later the sonne of Ioas that he should restore or recouer againe the coasts of Israel which were lost Ieroboam restored the coast of Israel from the entring of Hamath to the sea of the wildernesse according to the word of the Lord God of Israel which he spake by his seruant Ionah the sonne of Amittai the Prophet which was of Gath Hepher From which words a foolish tradition that is among the Iewes may wel be refuted for the Rabbins of that people who with their Talmudicall vanities and Cabalisticall subtilties haue peruerted much of the Scriptures do teach and haue long so taught that this Ionas was the sonne of the widow of Sareptha whom Elias did raise vp from death to life Which opinion hath gone so currant that among our Christians also some of the new writers haue accepted it for a truth but among the old farre more as Lyra vpon this place and Isidore in the seuenth of his Etimologies Nay those who were verie auncient and verie learned withall haue rehearsed it vncontrolled as Epiphanius and S. Hierome in his Preface to this Prophecie Thus an opinion once begun doth go from hand to hand receiued without discussing and from error in one man groweth error in another 3 For if there were no more but that God himself hath cōcealed it not naming any such matter in the Scripture where notwithstanding is oftentimes speech of Ionas it were a probable argument against that their assertion For when the maister is silent why should the seruant speake When God saith no such matter why should any man affirme it especially since to vtter it had bene for a solemne remembrance of Gods glorie and it might haue procured to Ionas farre greater obseruance among the people to whom he was to preach that he should be knowne to be sonne to that woman who was picked out by the Lord himselfe to be a nurce to that reuerend man Elias in the time of bitter famine and that this preacher should be the selfe same person who was raised from death to life But in my iudgement the point is fully answered when he is said to be of Gath Hepher and not of Sareptha For Gath Hepher or as it is in the Hebrew Gittah Hepher which to S. Hierome are both one was a citie in the land of Israel in the tribe of Zabulon as we may read in Iosuah But Sareptha was not in Israel as Christ himselfe verie euidently doth signifie in S. Luke Many widowes were in Israel in the dayes of Elias but vnto none of them was Elias sent saue into Sareptha a citie of Sidon vnto a certaine widow Also many leapers were in Israel in the time of Elizeus the Prophet yet none of them was made cleane sauing Naaman the Syrian As if he should say that in those places strangers were preferred before the children Nay he addeth more to Sareptha of Sidon or a citie of Sidon And Iosephus also telleth vs in the 8. of his Antiquities that Sareptha is a citie betweene Tyre and Sidon where speaking of Elias of the widow and her son he hath not a word of Ionas And left it may be thought that Gath Hepher did stand neare to this city of Sareptha and so that our Prophet for the nearenesse of the places may be sayd to be of both it was the tribe of Asser and not the tribe of Zabulon which was nearest vnto Sidon Then our Ionas being takē from the tribe of Zabulon and therefore being an Israelite he was fit to preach to the Israelites as to his owne countrimen Which course the Lord did take commonly in sending of his owne to those which were his owne as Iewes to the tribe of Iuda and Israelites to the other ten tribes which he had not here obserued if Ionas had bene sonne to the widow of Sareptha 4 I haue opened this error as principally occasioned by the person of our Prophet with whom I am here to deale so secondly to shew the boldnesse of the Iewes who dare on naked coniectures grounded on weake foundations as is this that because his mother who was raised vp by Elias vsed a word in Hebrew like to the name of Amittai therefore Ionas the sonne of Amittai must of necessitie be her sonne giue out assertions boldly boldly I say but falsly and that in their owne Prophets and that in their owne Scriptures Verie endlesse is their follie which they vse in
fiftie furlongs the two shorter sides had each of them ninetie which arising in the whole number to foure hundred and foure score furlongs the compasse of the Citie did amount to thirtie French leagues or threescore Italian miles The walles sayth Diodorus were in height an hundred foote the bredth of the walles that three cartes might go together the towers which were about it were one thousand and fiue hundred the height of the towers was two hundred foote in each This Citie being built to shew the magnificence and royalty of the founder was without doubt populous for the proportion the country yeelding food to sustaine so great a multitude and they hauing water at wil by the nearenesse of the riuer The fertilitie of the soile was such in old time about this place although not for other things in like measure yet for corne that Herodotus writing of it doth speake of his owne knowledge that the ordinary fields did returne the seed sowne in them two hundred fold the better places three hundred three hundred bushels for one or at least three hundred graines of one corne 16 Our Ionas is to go by Gods commandement to this Citie which if any will denie to be good yet he must confesse to be great as once it was said of the Gracchi in Rome He needed not to find fault that he had nothing to do who had Niniue for his charge and whose businesse was to preach to such an auditorie where were so many and so mightie If he stood vpon his credit as it seemeth that he did too much which hereafter may be shewed here was a place of reputation for him if any were vpon earth Tullie was no great warriour for ought that I can reade and I thinke that himselfe thought so yet in one of his Epistles he telleth that he did besiege a litle towne Pindinessus he calleth it with such egernesse that there was nothing wanting to him of the top and height of glory for his good seruice there but the name of the towne His towne did want a name He meaneth that it was but base and not knowne to men in Rome Our Prophet in his preaching need find no such fault his charge hath a name it is Niniue that great Citie which ruled ouer the earth the seat of the Empire the Ladie of the East the Queene of nations the riches of the world where more people did inhabit then are now in some one kingdome I do reade in Seneca that there was once a man of a turbulēt wit called Senecio who wold speake none but great words wold haue none but great things His seruants were all great his siluer vessels plate were great Nay beleeue me saith Seneca his folly grew so great that his shoes were still too big for him he would not eate figs but Mariscas a kind of grosse great figs. He had a concubine of a huge and mighty stature He had all things so bigge that the sirname cognomen or rather cognomentum as Messala did terme it was set vpon him of Senecio Grandio If this Grandio had bene sent on such a message as Ionas was it may be supposed that he wold haue bene a proud man But our Prophet was not so as in the next verse hereafter we shall find 17 Well God goeth forward with him Arise and cry against it The Lord telleth him all the circumstances which must be done in this message least he should be to seeke and so do somewhat amisse and againe to make him more carefull in performing of that wherin God himself was so desirous to informe him in particular He must crie against Niniue not whisper in the eare as if it were to one not speake softly as to a few but cry as vnto all this is a general proclamation This word Cry is vsed in Scripture when men are fast asleepe and lulled in their sinnes and awake not with a litle so that as Eliah sayd to the Baalites that they were to cry alowd because Baal might be sleeping and must be awaked so the Minister must crie aloud that men may be raised from their drowsinesse in sinne When the iniquities of Israel transgressions of Iacob began to grow great the Prophet Esay is called vpon to crie alowd and not to spare yea to lift vp his voyce as if it were a trumpet In like maner when as it should seeme men being drowned in securitie did forget their owne mortalitie A voyce sayd Cry The Prophet asketh what shall I cry All flesh is grasse and the beauty thereof as the floure of the field So the voyce of Iohn the Baptist who bad men repent because the kingdome of heauen was neare is called the voyce of a cryer Againe this word Cry is some other time vsed when some thing else crieth first and maketh such a noise in the eares of the Lord that it calleth for vengeance of him and in the eares of the committers that they cannot heare any thing vnlesse it be lowd In such cases men are not moued at all with low words as the whistling of the winde is not perceiued at all in the blowing of trumpets or the ringing of belles Those things which are violent must be driuen foorth with such other things as are violent It is sayd of bloud that it cannot be satisfied but with bloud It is knowne of loue that it cannot be recompenced or requited but with loue Euen so the crie of sinne cannot be stopped but by crying out against sinne and condemning it openly But that sins do crie we reade oft in the Scripture Abels bloud did crie that is indeed the murther of Cain did call to God for vengeance The crie of Sodome and Gomorrha was great The detaining of wages from the laborer hired seruant doth yeeld foorth a crie And here in this place the wickednesse of Niniue cometh vp before God with what but with a cry As if he shold say that it was now grown so great that the earth was no longer able to hold it but both the aire and the heauen too did ring of the same Exceeding force of sin which wil thus call for vengeance This was it which once plucked downe fire and brimstone from heauen vpon Sodome and Gomorrha This was it which caused that vniuersall floud in the dayes of Noe. This made Corah and his company to be swallowed vp by the earth go down quick into the graue This brought an incredible destruction vpon Ierusalē which somtimes was Gods own Citie Nay this very place Niniue although now it were spared vpon their apparāt repentance yet when afterward they returned to their malice as a dog to his vomit it was destroyed as Nahum the Prophet had foretold Those other Monarchies of the old Babylonians of the Medes the Persians of the Greeks and Romanes did speed after like sort Their sinne ascending vpward rebounded againe vpon them with a
seruice of the coÌ„mon wealth in humane societie be euermore to be respected what comfort can such persons who indeede are but a burthen to a land or the Citie where they dwell take to go on forward to their graues in in that which to speake of it most moderately is but doubtfull I can hardly be perswaded that the consciences of such men do alwayes conteÌ„t and satisfie themseluâ—â— I am sure that according to the proportion of their calling with his they are not able to say as the Apostle Paule sayd a little before his death I haue fought a good fight or as Beza readeth it I haue fought that excellent fight I haue finished my course and so take ioy in their calling Such men who make a life of playing vpon a stage may bethinke themselues in this reckening If you will put vnto these our common dauncing-maisters and others of like sort Mistake me not in these wordes as if I did condemne all honest recreation I dare not to do so I know the priuilege and prerogatiue is great which men aboue all the creatures of God haue if we do not abuse our libertie but it is one thing for one man after his honest labour in that trade wherein the Lord hath placed him to vse fit and moderate recreation and other thing for another to haue no other kinde of life but to make of such exercises an occupation Many kindes of businesse are warranted both by the lawes of God and men apparantly but these at least may come vnder question 10 The next demaunde here made to our Prophet is from what place he did come presuming that a maÌ„ may draw froÌ„ some places such a staine as caÌ„not be washed off but with veÌ„geance He that toucheth pitch shall be defiled vvith it Holy Ioseph being among the Aegyptians had learned new deuised oathes he could sweare by the life of Pharao Lots wife did so well like the companie which she had in Sodome that she longed to be there againe although for her labour it cost her the turning into a pillar of salt Some places are hatefull to God his people must out of Babylon The companions of the wicked are supposed to be wicked It may well be feared that the young man was a sinner of whom Salomon telleth that he went to the house of the harlot entring in thither at the twilight and comming out perhaps at the midnight It could be no great credit for Demosthenes to be seene to come from the house of Lais. It is a case well knowne that there be at Rome whole streetes of Curtisans Onely Surius to extenuate the filthinesse of the matter saith they be but the baser streets and lanes of lesse account where these honest folkes do inhabite And he holdeth it for a great praise to Pope Pius the fifth that hee brought it to that passe This multitude must haue money to maintaine theÌ„ in their abuses whereby it may be collected that many and that frequently resort vnto them Now if Christ should aske of those who returne from those places whence come you where haue you beene they might right well quake with Ionas feare his heauie iudgemeÌ„t But if it be but his holinesse the Vicar or vicegerent of Christ vpon earth the successour of Saint Peter as he merily termeth himselfe there needeth no great dread for the matter From a knowne place of your Citie from that which yeeldeth you money which you permit for tribute Rome how rightly wast thou termed by the name of the vvhore of Babylon which sufferest such abuses in open professed sort and therby giuest incouragement to some to embrace that sinne For whereas in the dayes of our old forefathers the ignorant did account it a crime to keepe a concubine now when they see that euen at Rome in the verie eye of his holinesse in the chiefe Citie of residence for Christes Vicar such matters be maintained they may thinke that now to keepe two or three is a worke meritorious the more the more meritorious But to leaue them to their filthinesse if it do so much touch our Prophet to be asked from whence he came those of the yonger sort who come to this place for learning for vertue and good instruction may reuolue this ouer and ouer If any day in the euening when they should be at home in their beddes or else quiet in their studies or if vpon the Sabaoth in seruice time or while other are at the sermon a tauerne should be their rest which doth not well agree with a long gowne how farre should they be forgetfull or blush to heare that question whence come you where haue you bin or as God spake to our forefather in the bushes where art thou Adam If there should be any such as God be praised that custome is well left how will they hereafter lament that those good houres which should and might by the Lordes good blessing be well imployed are ill and fruitlessely spent that idlenesse and vnthriftinesse yea peraduenture drunkennesse also should be that whereunto they bend their studie when in the meane while knowledge and precious learning might adorne them Time foolishly wasted can neuer be recalled and it is hard to call backe our selues when we are once growne to a custome of any euill 11 The ship-maister and his fellowes yet haue not inough of Ionas some more questions for their money They aske him of his countrey and from what people he did come God sometimes is angry with a whole laÌ„d for the wickednesse of the inhabitants The goodly fields of Sodome do find that vnto this day This also is witnessed vnto vs by the barrennesse of Palestina which was sometimes the holie land somtimes the happie land flowing with milke and hony which now answereth in no measure to the fertilitie of auncient time When sinne hath ouergrown a countrey each inhabitant feeleth a wo euen the good in temporall punishments do smart as well as the wicked For the iniquitie of their nation both Daniel and the three children together with the rest of their countrimen were led into captiuitie Some kind of people euen almost in generall are displeasing to the Lord. The Ammonites and the Moabites were litle accepted of him But Amelechs name was so cursed that the Lord would haue the remembrance of them to be rooted out from vnder the heauen Aboue all the people who liue vpon the earth the Iewes do demonstrate this doctrine to vs whose children and childrens children haue for many ages bene blinded with the grosse and grieuous sinne of their fathers who put Christ cruelly to death Other nations had their faults and so might be hatefull to men who bordered neare vpon them and they might also prouoke wrath from God S. Paule did obserue out of the Poet Epimenides that the Cretians were great lyers Now least some such generall sinne of parentage or countrey should hang
them but they shall deuoure most greedily when the wicked accusers are cast in vnto them He who hath the key of heauen and hell and death to open when he pleaseth and shut when he listeth can so order his seruants and ministers which are vnder him that sometimes they shall take and sometimes they shall loose here punish and there saue this day sound out his iustice and the next day teach his mercie 5 Neither was it onely in the time of the Prophets and Apostles that God had all his creatures miraculously if need be to execute his appointment but also since their time they giue the selfe same assistance although miracles be not common as they were in former ages Tertullian in his Apollogie and Eusebius do witnesse that at the prayer of a legion of the Christians the Emperour Marcus Aurelius in his warres against the Germanes had his armie relieued with raine which was before in daunger to perish for want of water and they adde that at that time certaine thunderbolts did strike and beate downe the enemie In some Editions of the workes of Iustine Martyr may be seene the copie of the Epistle of the Emperour himselfe who giueth witnesse thereunto When Iulian the Apostata vpon an intendment to crosse the faith of Iesus Christ had set the Iewes on worke to build againe the Temple at Hierusalem as both Saint Chrysostome and Socrates write at first an earth-quake marred their worke and afterward fire from heauen did burne and spoile their instrumēts and tooles wherwith they wrought so that they could not proceede Yea something more then this is to be found in the storie of the signe of the crosse appearing vpon their garments Ammianus Marcellinus who was no friend to the Christians yet giueth testimony to some part thereof sauing that he rather supposeth that the fire issued out of the earth which commeth all to one end When the barbarous Northren nations did breake into the bounds of the Romane Empire in the dayes of Basile the Great who liued in the time of Valens the Emperour as Basile himselfe writeth God destroyed them with fire and haile without the hand of man And as we reade in the same place of that Father the Lord did so by the Persians attempting to do the like But in my iudgement there is no example more memorable or true then that which fell out in our owne time after that great Massacre in Fraunce but especially at Paris in the yeare seuenty and two For at that time the whole power almost of that kingdome being gathered together against the citie Rochel and besieging them with extremitie who defended the towne God in the time of famine and want of bread did for some whole moneths together daily cast vp a kind of fish vnto them out of the sea wherewith so many hundreds were relieued without any labour of their owne euen as the Israelites were fed with Manna euery morning while they were in the wildernesse And as all the while that the enemie was before them this endured to their maruellous comfort so to proclaime to the world Gods prouidence the more when the enemies tents were once remooued and the citie was open againe this prouision immediatly did cease It was a good testification that the Lord of hostes would leaue a remnant euen a seed of his faithfull in that land and although he had sealed his truth with the bloud of his other seruants yet he would not deale so with them To the end that all might not sinke in despaire he ordained that when men failed yet the sea should be a maintainer to them 6 There God to shew his power did fill a many with fish and here to shew his power he did emptie a fish of one both declaring his loue and greatnesse which he purposing to complete make perfect in our Prophet to whom I now returne not only causeth the fish to free him from his stomake and that not in the middest of the Ocean sea that there once againe he might be shifting for his life that is if he could not swim sinke and drowne but he so directeth this carier as that he came to the shore Of all liklyhood this was a chosen shore where the water was so deepe as that it could beare the whale who swimmeth not in the shallow and yet the banke withall so low as that with putting vp his head he might cast the prisoner to the land When the Lord doth decree the substance of a matter the circumstance shall not be wanting He who made all the rest will find a place for accomplishing of the deede It is not much materiall where or in what coast of the world the Prophet was cast on land but Iosephus saith that the report was that this happened in Pontus Euxinus as it is commonly called and that it was that part of the Ocean where he was put to shore If it were so then the whale did carie him a great way from the sea towards Cilicia on the south side of Natolia or Asia the lesser through the Hellespont and Propontis all the straights neare to Thrasia and so into that Pontus Euxinus which was a long space of way in so short a time to be passed But if this were so done then the fish was as a shippe as the fleetest and swiftest shippe to conuey him forward on the way that whereas toward Niniue the place whither he should go the coast was East he was brought backe againe to the East on the North-side of Natolia so much being recouered by the fish as he was caried by the ship before toward the West But this is onely coniecturall and therefore I do not follow it 7 Thus farre the Spirit of God hath plainly said that Ionas is gotten to the land he is freed from the terrour and imprisonment of the whale and now he is so set at libertie as if there had neuer bene any such matter Which whether we will in the figure apply to Christ or by example to our selues it is worthie consideration Our Sauiour who is the best interpreter and expositor of the Prophets in the twelfth of Saint Mathew doth compare this lying of Ionas for three dayes in the whale to the burying of himselfe for three dayes in the graue Then by the same Analogie or proportion the restoring of Ionas from the belly of the fish must represent Christs resurrection As this sinner was designed not for euer but for a time to be kept within that ward and when his houre was expired his keeper might not hold him so our Sauiour was shut vp in the tombe not for euer nor vntill the day of iudgement but a set space was appointed wherein he was to rest and when that was consummated the graue could no longer hold him It had receiued a burthen which it had no power to beare It detained him for a little while because it was his good
of that learned man I hold it to be very lawfull to obserue those seuen and twelue for the one and for the other So he saith that the veile in the Tabernacle of blew silke and purple and scarlet and fine linnen did intend the foure elements and he giueth good reason for that And the same is also the opinion of Saint Hierome Here to compare foure and foure hath a naturall vse in discoursing of the elements the good creatures of God Nay it will not do amisse if by a farther allusion we shall make application thus that as we reade in Exodus that the veyle made of those foure things did hang betweene the holy place whither the Priests did come to offer and the Sanctum Sanctorum the Holy of Holyes where the presence of God was so that they who stoode in the one could not behold the other vntill the veyle which was betweene them were rent or remooued So the holyest man that is euen the very Priest at the altar cannot see God as he should in the high abode of his holinesse vntill that his flesh and bodie which are made of those foure elements be torne off and remooued away by death and by the graue This or the like about numbers may be thought to be naturall and not strayned so that I dare not determine against it as also against nothing else which apparantly hath true and proper vse of doctrine or due application But I leaue to your consideration whether the authour of the booke De Spiritu sancto who sometimes but not rightly is supposed to be Saint Cyprian or other like to him do keepe close within these bounds when he especially magnifieth the number of seuen aboue other because it consisteth of three and foure where saith he three shew the three persons of the Trinitie and foure noteth the foure elements which intendeth that God who is signified in the mysterie of the Trinitie is caried with a loue ouer his creatures who are figured in the compasse of the foure elements A man may go too farre And this I haue obserued by reason of Saint Hieromes note vpon this place concerning fortie which I hold to be not vnfit for this auditorie because it is few times touched But now for the benefite of the vnlearned I come to doctrine which is more morall 8 When God giueth the Niniuites fortie dayes to bethinke themselues it implyeth his exceeding mercie who as he was very louing to them when he sent them warning of their destruction so is his loue more abundant when he giueth them space of repentance that they might turne away his wrath which was to breake out against them The prayer of the Leuites is true Thou art a God of mercies gracious and full of compassion of long suffering and of great mercie And so is that of Dauid The Lord is full of compassion and mercie slow to anger and of great kindnesse We can neuer sufficiently admire his bearing patience That citie which for the manifold euill of it had deserued to haue perished in one day shall haue a day and a day and fortie dayes of grace to purge it selfe if it will The tree which bore no fruit shall haue this yeare of probation and the next yeare of expectation and shall be pruned and dounged before it be cut downe So that Lord who is iealous in his anger is yet a mild God in his suffering It is obserued in men that they are long in making any thing but very quicke in marring of it A house built in a yeare may be plucked downe in a moneth A castle which hath bene long in setting vp by mining and powder may be blowne vp in a moment A citie whom many ages haue but brought to her beautie is consumed in a little time by fire put to it of the enemie Onely God is quicke in making but pawseth vpon destroying he commeth not but by steppe after steppe and when he should strike he stayeth and turneth and looketh away and will not roote vp till iustice can no longer endure He made the heauen in a day and might haue done in a moment but Niniue that one citie shall haue fortie dayes to breath in before her ruine come The Sunne and Moone and starres had but one day for their creation but man had warning for a hundred and twentie yeares before the comming of the floud in the time of Noe and Hierusalem shall haue admonishment by the Scriptures before the appearaunce of Christ by Iohn the Baptist afterward by our Sauiour personally and when they haue killed that iust one yet fortie yeares shall passe ouer before that it be quite destroyed Sixe dayes made the whole world but almost sixe thousand yeares haue beene affoorded to it before that the end ouertake it Thus iustice in many cases is if not swallowed and deuouted vp yet much shadowed by mercie which sometimes ouer-weigheth it and other times ouer-layeth it when it is readie to rise preuenting it and holding it downe And there be few of vs who may not feele this proposition true in our selues 9 If we looke vpon our own land how may we breake out and say that pitie and compassion haue abounded on vs from him See whether he hath not lent vs as many yeares to repent as he did dayes to Niniue when the infinit prouocations wherwith we haue prouoked him in hypocrisie in luke-warmnesse in gluttony and in wantonnesse in securitie and vnthankfulnes haue called on him for a shorter time Seueritie might haue said Fortie yeares I haue bene grieued or contended with this generation yet clemeÌ„cie stayeth that speech He lent not so much time to our fathers next before vs his mercie did straine it selfe to affoord sixe yeares to them of free passage of his word vâ—der his gracious instrument King Edward whose memorie liâ—e for euer and yet that was encombred with seditions of the subiect and tumults of the Commons as also with much hurrying and banding of the Nobilitie But concerning our time the question may be whether is more to be admired the greatnesse or the goodnesse the length which is very memorable or the varietie of those blessings which we do little conceiue because we most enioy them euen as no man noteth the benefit of the ayre whereon we breath because we haue store of it and yet nothing is more precious then it or nearer to life it selfe So in a common generalitie God doth beare with vs all But farther if each man will take the paines to looke on himselfe in priuate he may say that he hath had his fortie dayes oft-times told together with Niniue our citie here Saint Bernard in one of his Sermons shall speake that which I do meane The mercie and expectation of the Lord is great toward thee for when the Angell had offended he stayed not at all for him but threw him downe to hell and when Adam transgressed
delicacy and luxurious attire the ioy of their hearts formerly and pleasure of their eyes should lye grouelling on the ground in sobbing bitternesse as vilefied creatures and as deiected wormes So mightily did Gods word and the horrour of their sinne preuaile among them But this was a happy fall to shrinke once and stand long for it to sinke a while and rise againe Here because the things are diuerse which my text saith they did in signe of repentance to the end that you may particularly vnderstand so much of them as I thinke fit at this time to deliuer I suppose it best for plainnesse sake to braunch all into these two heads First the force of the word whereby they were brought to beleeue the Lord So that is vpon his preaching they beleeued God And secondly the effect which followed of their beleeuing they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth For auoiding of confusion I do not now name such subdiuided circumstances as do arise from these but they shall be touâ—hed as they lye The people beleeued God 3 I stand not to dispute whether Belohim in this place with the prepositiue letter B being put to Elohim be better translated by they beleeued Deo or in Deo or in Deum they beleeued God or they beleeued in God or they beleeued on God as diuerse diuersly haue it for howsoeuer otherwise these may haue their difference yet in this place as I take it they come all to one end they beleeued that the Prophet had reported from God whatsoeuer he reported But I rather obserue the excellent vertue of the word of truth and such a force in it as cannot be vttered that in so short a time as the preaching of one day for so the text best beareth it by a man so vnacquainted with that place in a Citie so auerse from sanctitie and deuotion it should worke so strong an effect that flesh and bloud may maruell and the naturall man may stand amazed at it But is not this it which Esay hath compared to the snow and raine who come downe from aboue but returne not thither againe but water the earth and procure a fruite out of it Is not this it which the Apostle doth affirme to be liuely and mightie in operation and sharper then any two edged sword and entreth through euen to the diuiding a sunder of the soule and the spirit and of the ioynts and the marrovv and is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart Is not this it which by Christ is called a net which doth take the greatest fishes euen against their will Which as it made Iosias a religious Prince to melt at the heart vpon the reading of it so it forced Felix also an irreligious Deputie to tremble at the hearing of Saint Paule when he disputed of iustice and temperance and the iudgement to come Then surely this also might do good among the Niniuites 4 The Law of the Lord as Dauid hath taught vs giueth vvisedome to the simple I may adde that it maketh the rough wayes plaine and crooked things straight it remooueth away that which is scandalous it doth rectifie the vntoward Giue me a man sayth Lactantius vvho is angry an euill speaker and vnbridled and by a fevv vvords of God I vvill make him as milde as a lambe Giue me a man that is greedie couetous and hard and I vvill returne him to thee liberall and such a one as vvith his owne and full hands vvill bestovv his money Giue me one that is afrayd of smart and death and foorthwith he shall contemne the gallowes and fire and the very bull of Phalaris Let sinne sayth Saint Chrysostome be like an Oke which hath taken deepe roote in thee yet Gods word is like an axe which will hew downe that Oke and if it do it not at one stroke yet it will be brought about with doubled and multiplied blowes Saint Austen or whosoeuer he is who is the authour of that Treatise De sanctis alluding to the parable of Christ sayth that the word is like to mustard seede which being first ground and then tasted by the biting thereof maketh the countenance sowre the forehead contracted or drawne into a narrow roome the teares to breake foorth but it is wholesome and purgeth the head So the word of the Lord being receiued maketh the minde heauie the bodie disquieted the teares to drop downe but yet all this in such sort as that saluation is gayned with this weeping and bitternesse Then if it be so powerfull and the basenesse of the messenger detract nothing from it but rather adde honour to it for by weake things and foolish things God will confound the wise and his power is made perfect by vveakenesse and the vvords of fishermen are read but the neckes of Oratours are subdued by them as the afore named Saint Austen hath then no maruell if so many were pricked in their hearts at the speech of this poore Prophet and as being wounded to the bone could not bee at any quiet till the sore were both searched and healed No maruell if this Sermon did worke as much with them as once a letter of Paules did with the people of Corinth whereof himselfe doth witnesse thus What great care it hath vvrought in you yea vvhat clearing of your selues yea indignation yea feare yea great desire yea zeale yea punishment So this here procured that all the faculties of their minde were frighted and mooued and busied to the full to turne away that wrath which now did hang ouer them 5 And although they had many things yea all the things that might be to deteyne them from these good motions prosperitie securitie satietie of bread a wall of sinne about them a sea of sinne within them superstition and ignorance and contemning pride which so loueth it selfe that it loueth not to bee controlled yet the breath of one mortall man although inspired indeede from an immortall God doth ouertumble all For first albeit the words of his Sermon be most briefly set downe here yet without question he inueighed against their sinnes the enormitie of their liues the crookednesse of their wayes their outragious impiety their insolent intemperancie And vppon this they were stricken with a biting remorse and feare that some diuine essence or supreme Iusticer would take vengeance vppon them For the minde of all euill men agreeth with Adam in this that after that a sinne is done there is a horrour for the same and blushing and concealing and there is an impression by the very light of nature that transgression is punishable and the integritie of iustice is louely and acceptable The Atheniens and Greekes who neuer knew God did admire vertue as may be euident by the deedes of Socrates and Aristides and the writings of Plato and Xenophon and they seuerely chastised some iniquitie yet they knew not the Scripture But where the
Lord himselfe speaketh if men be not impudent euen their faces of brasse and their bowels of the adamant they must needes shew a conformitie in acknowledging the equitie of his exclamations against sinne howsoeuer in some mysteries they yeeld not their consent Petrus Maffeus a Iesuite reporteth in his historie that when his fellowes came first to preach in the East Indyes the Gentiles and Infidels there hearing the ten Commaundements did exceedingly commend and magnifie the equity and vprightnesse of them For what could be thought they more reasonable or more holy or iust then that men should not steale or murther one another or liue in adulterie or dishonour those that bare them or abuse the name of him whom they accounted for their God and so of the rest Thus ignorant men do assent that there is a good and an euill a lawfulnesse and vnlawfulnesse that vertue is to be praysed and sinne deserueth punishment and this opinion well rooted in the men of Niniue doth make much for the Prophet Secondly it is manifest that his threates were of such daungers as were soone after to follow so that wrath was at their gates and vengeance at their doores and would quickly breake in vppon them But onely fortie dayes space and all must to destruction If it had bene yeares or ages they might haue contemned but they are put to their dayes and fortie dayes God knoweth will soone bee expired The long suffering of the Lord maketh Atheistes to scorne and deride Where is the promise of his comming and the opinion of impunitie or scaping scot-free vntill the daie of iudgement maketh the wantons of the world persist in disobedience But here is no such remoouing nor putting off of time no repriuing till next Assises or binding to expect iudgement a hundred yeares after as once the Iudges at Athens serued a woman whose cause they knew not how to sentence It is a daunger which is to follow immediatly that will make men looke about them Tell a scorner in his iolity that he must dye one day he answereth vvhat remedy and maketh no more of it but let him heare that which Ezechias did Set thine house in order for now thou must dye or as Nero sent word to diuerse that they by their owne hands must foorthwith make away themselues or else they should dye with torture and this ruffler is by and by abated in his courage groweth pale in his countenance and is deiected like a miserable caytife Cato had oftentimes cryed out that Carthage must be destroyed by the Romanes that it was too neare a neighbour to their citie For a long space together he made no speech in the Senate house about whatsoeuer businesse but that was brought in as his conclusion in euery Oration But this earnestnesse of his preuailed not And that so much the rather because Scipio Nasica with a contrary opinion did in euery speech maintaine that it was for the good of the Romane common-wealth that Carthage should continue Yet as Pliny writeth when Cato on a day brought a greene figge into the Senate house among them and auowed vnto them that but three dayes before that figge was growing in Carthage he made plaine demonstration to them that if the wind did serue and all other things were ready within the space of three dayes an enemy might come from Carthage to Rome with a fleete of ships and an armie and besiege them in their Citie And the nearenesse of this daunger did so much mooue and earnestly affect the beholders that whereas they could neuer before be brought to it they gaue not ouer till Carthage were layd on the ground Beware of euill at hand it is that which stingeth in earnest The word of God coupled with these two attendants first that sinne deserueth punishment and then that this plaguing was immediatly to follow hath preuailed so farre from the mouth of Ionas 6 A thousand things beside these do waite vpon the word of God as allurements reasons promises of infinite variety and that doth fasten one way which doth not catch another and that is done one day which is not done another Then let the faithfull Pastour who standeth betweene the Lord and the consciences of the people still hope the best of his labours that his haruest may be great although yet he reape little of an of-ward and vntoward and stif-necked congregation Let him plant with diligence and let him waite with patience let him teach and let him pray and God will giue an increase But let not him appoint the time and be wiser then his maker It is the Lords owne word a softening seasoning piercing a working winning word and by the force thereof he who hath fished a whole night and caught nothing may make a draught to be wondered at in a Sermon of one houre That sinfull man Ionas who lately by his notorious disobedience and sleeping vpon his fault had prouoked the Lords high displeasure and was accordingly chastised for it hath his labours so countenanced and graced euery way by his maister that he stirred the greatest city that all the world had to fasting and repentance And shall thy single heart deuote it selfe to the Lord and consecrate all his ability sincerely and entierly to the honour of his name and to the enlarging of his kingdome and shall not a blessing follow thee yea an inestimable blessing Onely see that thou do serue him in integrity of thy soule and go in and out as thou shouldest without halting or paultring and if thou gaine not much yet thy ioy is with the highest and thy comfort is with that blessed one that thy heart doth beare thee true witnesse that the fault is not in thee He who laboureth to draw other vnto euill although he preuaile not yet he is punished as a naughty man for his wils sake when he speedeth not this most plainely appeareth in cases of treason And God forbid that the pastour who endeuoureth to bring the stray sheepe home to Christs fold should loose his reward with the Lord for his willing trauels sake although he should be refused or reiected by men This is the comparison of Saint Austen And he addeth farther afterward that Christ wept ouer Hierusalem and professed that he would haue gathered them together as a hen gathereth her young ones vnder her winges and yet they would not By this sayth he he intended to teach vs that if we striue to conuert men to grace and do not obtaine our purpose we should not thereupon sinke and be discouraged in our hearts because Christ sped so before vs. So if we do our dutie we are sure on euery side To winne nothing is the worst that in reason can befall vs yet we our selues do fare well But if our faith bee stedfast and we apply the meanes without fainting we may build so farre vppon God in the confidence of his promises that for his owne
as he still is deiected so still againe they fall Euen so without doubt all regaining of good aspect from the Highest doth refresh these inferiour bodies as sometimes appeareth when in noted prosperitie of the owner the cattell fare the better but while man doth stand disgraced they must expect the like fortune and if extraordinarily at any time he do smart they must also looke for some vnusuall kind of sorrow Then when this straunge feare and heauinesse possessed the mindes of the Niniuites the horses and beastes of Niniue by partaking that miserie which belonged to their maisters might bee taught to be affected with some measure of that sorrow as knowing that some euill was now lighting vpon them 7 This matter will grow playner if this also be considered that the cattell manie times do actually feele shrewd paynes together with their owners When destructions happen vnto places all things abiding in those places haue their share in the miserie When a towne of warre is assaulted do not the houses oft tast of the enemies batterie and are not those razed or fired together with the desolation of the walles Are not the trees of pleasure neare adioyning verie often cut downe Yea are not the horses wounded and perhaps slaine in the fight or other cattell burnt in the stall Is not that prouerbe experimented diuerse times in this case Loue the maister loue his dogge hate the maister hate his dogge When Saule was sent to destroy Amalek was there not a strong charge layed vpon him to kill the sheepe and the oxen and euerie liuing thing And if God send foorth a pestilence come there not as well rottes of cattell and great murrens of beasts as mortalities of men But if there should be some earth-quake which either should cast downe the houses and crush that which were vnder them or should force the ground to open so to swallow vp that where withall it meeteth how could the dumme creatures hence escape When therefore it was foretold that within fortie dayes desolation should betide the citie Niniue and mention was not made in what particular sort it should come the inhabitants could not tell but that the beastes in their place had as much neede to crye as those who were their owners Adde to these that some liuing things whom vse hath made domesticall are not so deuoyde of feeling but that sensiblie they perceiue the ioy or discontentednesse of those which are their keepers and oftentimes are affected with some things like to man Birdes haue their dumpes and their notes and take knowledge in generall when they heare the voyce of musicke Vsing to the hand doth make the horse and dogge and calfe to play and be wanton and to expresse some signes of ioy And I thinke that I do not abuse the word to say that some of them in some things haue a kind of fellow-felling with vs. Now there is nothing which doth more teach this then by giuing or denying them foode for their bellies which was done among the Niniuites while the fast continued For as the oxe doth know his owner so the Asse doth take notice of his maisters cribbe although he be dull yet his sence can serue him to obserue those things which make for the filling of his paunch And if this be moreouer true that those beasts do take delight in their furniture and ornaments and the proud neighing horse as we may gather from the words of Iob knoweth when he goeth to the battell if he thinke himselfe the brauer for his saddles and caparisons or bels or plumes of fethers which be about him then by a reason drawne frō the contrary there may be in them a perceiuing what it is to be spred with vile things and so it might be a discouragement to be clothed with sackcloth So we see by this time that it was not without reason when by the proclamation of the king the beasts had their part as well as the men that either as a glasse set before them they might mooue them to thinke of themselues by seeing the creatures whose affliction could not chuse but touch them since they are giuen to men for helpes Or because by the prouidence of God they are pinned to the suffering of man in ordinary disgraces to be disgraced with him and in sorrowes extraordinary to haue their part in like manner If I had not already bene ouer-long in this point I might ioyne this also to that which hath bene sayd before that it is the more reasonable that the dumme creatures should feele some portion of the paynes for sinne because they oftentimes are apparant meanes and helpes and instruments for men to sinne withall as might largely be amplified But no more of that matter 8 I obserued in the second place that next to the sackcloth imposed on the men and beasts it was inioyned by the King that both the one and the other should cry mightily to God Then the next helpe which they had was prayer and inuocation I meane not much to dispute whether the cattell may be sayd to cry to God We may hold it for an vndoubted truth that there be no such meditations and reasonable discourses in them as are fit to be in one of vs when we are praying they haue no such vnderstanding and yet the Lord who in his prouidence doth take care ouer haires and sparrowes respecteth all their cryes and taketh many of those cryes as a kind of calling on him We neede not feare to speake that which the Spirit of God hath spoken In the hundreth forty and seuenth Psalme our common translation hath he feedeth the young rauens that call vpon him the letter in the Originall goeth not so farre but he feedeth the young rauens vvho do crye or croape not mentioning that they call vpon God But if we will supply it from the nine and thirtieth of Iob we may perfect it vp to this purpose for there the Lord himselfe speaketh thus Who prepareth for the rauen his meate vvhen his birdes crye vnto God vvandering for lacke of meate He who heareth the cry of the rauens heareth the cry of other things and he who reputeth their croaping a calling vpon himselfe may do so in other creatures Then it offendeth him not when together with the out-cryes of the men and the howlings of the women and the schreeking of the children the bellowing of the oxen and the bleating of the sheepe was heard nay without doubt it was the more gracious in the eares of the Lord of hostes For as when men do sing it maketh the more perfect musicke to ioyne to their liuely voyces the sound of diuerse instruments which are dead matters without life or feeling so it helped the heauenly harmony of these calling and praying Niniuites to haue the out-cryes of the cattell mixed with them and God did hold this varietie to be the more perfect a consort So that the place beareth it not amisse
Lord but because it followed consequently vpon that which he intended But the maine point which did vexe him and put him to all the sorow was lest he should be accounted a false and lying Prophet to tell a tale and deliuer a message which prooued cleane otherwise He had spoken it definitely in the name of the Lord Yet forty dayes and Niniue shall be destroyed And since that the city stood in maiesty as before vntouched and vnharmed he might very well be taken for a forger and a fainer And this is declared by the text to be the cause of his moouing Was not this sayth he my saying vvhen I was yet in my countrey that is did I not suppose that thou who art so mercifull and doest take pity so soone wouldst relent from this thine indignation and so I should be sent but on a sleeuelesse errand Therefore I tooke this course and preuented this inconuenience by flying to Tharsis Then his anger was because by the Lords direction he was forced to say that which he saw fell out otherwise 13 It is his reputation then whereupon he so much standeth yet perhaps with a certaine reference to this lest God should be blasphemed and traduced as vnconstant But vnder this opinion not knowing of what spirit he is or ought to be in a most preposterous zeale he could haue wished with the Apostles that as in the dayes of Elias fire might be brought from heauen to consume the city Niniue or that the earth might open vnder them and swallow them vp as Corah and Abiron were serued All this while he runneth on a very wrong ground exacting ouermuch the rigour of the letter in his preaching and not knowing that inclusiuely God vnderstood this condition Niniue shall be destroyed that is if they repent not But he is firmely perswaded that the glory of the Lord is like onely to appeare and be eminent by vengeance He had already sayd it and auerred it that ruine and desolation was immediatly to follow and a Prophet was sent foorth of purpose to do that message therefore in his opinion it is high time that the thing were now perfourmed If we thinke of him alone then a matter of reputation and credit in the world doth carry him so farre headlong But that was fame dearely bought and the credit of one man prized at too high a value What must God be the minister and worker of his ambition and must he establish it by such a ruine and such destruction of so many thousands This although in a different sence was pride little inferiour to that of wicked Haman who because he would teach such fellowes as Mardocheus was next time to bow before him would haue all the Iewes which were dispearsed through sixe score and seuen Prouinces to be slaine vpon one day and the mighty king Assuerus must be he that must do it by a very sharpe proclamation Our Prophet looketh so much to the ruffe of his owne glory that rather then himself will be tainted for his word not an earthly Assuerus but God must be the instrument to destroy the liues of thousands In the warres he is thought but a hard Generall and Commander who when himselfe vnaduisedly by fury or sudden passion hath sayd he will haue this or such a day he will do it when afterward it falleth out to be a thing of great difficultie yet will thrust his souldiers on and make them be slaine like sheepe whereas if he had his will that for which he did sweate will bring no profit to him but the matter is he will keepe his word Oh the liues of men should be deare and bloud should be much esteemed There was a Romane who could say I had leyser saue one citizen then destroy ten of mine enemies The Niniuites who formerly were miscreants are now come to be Gods subiects then Ionas thou shalt be but a bloudy leader if for thy words sake thousands of them should dye It is better that thou shouldest loose thy will better that thou shouldest lose thy longing then they should lose their liues 14 If it were that he thought the glory of God was hazarded by that bargaine and thereupon he was angry that is a most inconsiderate zeale to take on him to be wiser then the very fountaine of knowledge Can man be more iealous then God himselfe is of his glory Can the creature better know what belongeth to it then his maker How dareth flesh band with God for iustice or for mercy or for true vnderstanding Were it not the easier way for it to thinke it selfe to be ignorant to be defectiue to be farre short of the Lords proiects and purposes and to suppose that he best knoweth what is fittest for himselfe and for all those which are vnder him If the Prophet had bene set to the guiding of an Elephant or a ship vpon the sea he knew not how to rule it yet the silly man would now sit in a throne and dispose of Niniue and by a consequent of the world and of God also how he should order it And although it be the Lords honour which is in question yet he will be the caruer to tell what best befitteth It had bene his part rather to subiect his discretion to the discretion of his maker and if that wise Creator would in iustice haue proceeded against that people to like well of that iustice because the Lord liked of it but if he would haue inclined to a fauourable pardoning to be best pleased with that Nay rather if he with Moses had stept in as an intercessour it had argued more charity or if he imagined that to vndertake that was too hard a point for him to manage yet at least vpon the smallest inkling that grace should be affoorded he should haue waited for it and should haue reioyced that light might breake out of darknesse and that the frowning countenance of God had bene turned into a pleasing And if he could not be induced to go thus farre yet he should neuer haue made stay to be content with the Lords doing let him worke his will but to fret and grieue and vexe at it yea to chide with God as he did afterward is a fault of a grieuous nature 15 The doctrine which we must learne by it is of more then ordinary benefite Wheresoeuer we liue and God offereth vnto vs any matter wherein we are to spend our labor it cōcerneth vs to be diligent industrious in the performance of that which belongeth vnto vs. In season and out of season by friends by purse by presence by all our strength and indeuor to further and forward that which we vndoubtedly know to be good and to aduance all duty of piety and charity or of seruice to the Church But when we haue done all let vs leaue the euent to God let vs leaue the successe to him to whom it properly appertaineth let there not be the least
had thereof let vs learne another lesson first to try all spirits that we be not deceiued in taking errour for truth that so we may not yeeld to each suggestion of appearance or probability for that is not Christian wisedome but to harken what the Lord doth say of vs and of all men But secondly when we see by the assurance of the word and the motions of Gods spirit that this or that he would haue then with constant resolution with patience and obedience let vs yeeld our selues vnto it not with humming or standing like Lots wife who desired very faine to be safe in the mountaines yet wold she be in Sodome too God loueth a cheerefull obedience a ready resolued submission to take well what he would haue And although we misse of our minds as Ionas did here in his yet if we renounce our selues and will be led by him the end shall still be with comfort But no kicking against the prickes no spurning against heauen no wrastling against God but obey and liue for euer The Lord direct vs so with his grace that making vse of such lessons as the word in euery petty circumstance doth yeeld vnto vs we may serue him with alacrity neuer swayed aside by our will till we come vnto his kingdome to the which the Father bring vs for his owne Sonne Christ his sake to both whom and the holy Spirit be praise for euermore THE XXVIII LECTVRE The chiefe poynts 3. It hath bene controuersed what greene thing it was which grew vp vnto Ionas 5. What it was in truth 6. Gods power in helping his seruants 7. His prouidence disposeth smallest things 8. in our griefe God refresheth vs one way or other 9. The vnwise ioy of Ionas for the gourd 10. Our mind runneth too much on worldly things as children 11. beauty and long hairâ— 12. Hastie matâ—ers are soone gone 13. All things here are vnconstant 14. God in his loue taketh many of them from vs. Ionah 4.6.7 And the Lord God prepared a gourd made it to come vp ouer Ionah that it might be a shadow ouer his head and deliuer him from his griefe So Ionah was exceeding glad of the gourd But God prepared a worme when the morning arose the next day and it smote the gourd that it withered OVr Prophet being earnest on euery thing saue that which he ought to do for therein he is slow inough as appeareth in the first Chapter with a burning desire to see Niniue desolated sitteth him downe neare the city thinking euerie minute long before that was effected Albeit these people were farre more yet he doth not for them as Abraham did for Sodome that is double and triple a passionate request that they might be forgiuen but hauing a desire that himself might seeme no lyer he doth wish could willingly put to his hand to helpe it forward that all were ouerthrowne But when he taketh notice that without his motion God would spare that multitude he fretteth and rageth at it and in exceeding discontentment remaineth not farre off euen hoping beyond hope that some euill would befall them Being thus in his anguish because he might not haue his will for so the most do interprete it and the literall proceeding and going on of the story do seeme to enforce it or being troubled otherwise as some other would haue it with the scorching heate of the Sunne while he remaineth there expecting what should be the end God raiseth vp a certaine plant or growing kind of creature to yeeld some reliefe to this angry person that so consequently some little comfort might accrew vnto him Whether this were prepared at the first when he came out of the city that he made his booth onely with that or whether hauing cut downe some other boughs and enioyed them in manner of a sommer-house and those now being dried the other did spring vp as a better sort of succour more naturall and more fresh it is not much to our matter but by Gods speciall worke he had it and sate vnder it There is a double drift which is aymed at by the sending of this greene thing to the Prophet one to teach him by a parable and demonstratiue instruction that he was much to blame that himselfe louing such a trifle would haue had no reckening made of such a city as Niniue But of that I shall haue occasion to speake in the end of the Chapter where the Lord himselfe apparantly deduceth it in that manner 2 The other thing to be considered by vs for the present is the plaine direct narration wherein we are let to know that Ionas to comfort him and appease him for the time hath a little tree raised vp vpon the sudden out of the ground which the Lord of purpose stirred vp so that it had not bene there but only vpon that occasion Which when it had brought vnto him a delicate pleasing shadow fitting to his oportunity he tooke as much ioy in it as if it had bene some great treasure But when he was more proud of it then a wise man would haue bene the glory and beauty of it was dashed quite on a sudden There commeth a little gnawing worme which destroyed the life of this greene thing so that it prooued to be dry and withered and the couer was now as nothing the shadow was cleane ceassed Then he who very lately thought himselfe a happy man in hauing somewhat to refresh him is now as farre to seeke as euer he was before That you may the better conceiue this whole case of the Prophet so plentifully teaching vs as it doth may it please you to note with me those three things which the text doth orderly offer to vs. First the prouision here made for him of purpose by the Lord and therein we may obserue the thing it selfe which was sent and then by whom it came and afterward the vse of it My second part is the hasty contentment which the Prophet too violently and greedily receiued by the comming of this to him And the third is the dissolution ending of all his ioy by taking his pleasure from him The instructions arising hence shall be mingled with the doctrine The Lord God prepared a gourd 3 What that was which is here spoken of hath not onely bene doubted in the auncient primitiue Church but it hath caused some stirre also The Septuagint expressed it by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which our English translation doth apparantly follow and nameth it to be a gourd The later Greeke interpreters to wit Aquila and Symmachus and Theodotion not liking of that word did render it by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is as much as Iuy When Hierome afterward tooke on him to translate the old Testament out of the Hebrew into Latine he following those later ones put it hederam that is Iuy And his translation now in his owne time growing to be read and that commonly in Churches it seemed
whole citie But the other was that grand one who raigneth aboue in heauen full of power and full of wisedome who directeth all his creatures in number waight and measure whose word goeth for an Oracle whose will is for a law who can do what he listeth none must stand against him So the things whereof the question was were in like sort different the one spake for a tree or greene herbe of the ground which grew vp on the sudden and as suddenly was gone which was but of one daies standing and which so long as he had it was not at all by his labour he neither planted nor watered it but his great maister did send it and againe for that space wherein he had it none else was the better for it but he alone made vse of it and his pleasure was no more but either to â—it vnder it as a shadow or a bower or to gaze and looke vpon it But the other thing was Niniue the huge citie of the world the gouernesse of the East the mansion of the king the glorie of the Empire where were so many thousands as were leaues vpoÌ„ the gourd where children were in great number little infants and little innocents and where was much store of cattell the life of the worst whereof was better then a gourd A citie and a great citie and populous and repentant should sway more then a shadow Then their ends were as different the one wold shew his fancie the other would shew his mercie the one thought of his present pleasure the other would record to all posteritie an example of clemencie pittie the one had respect to himselfe the other to his creatures Now if the seruant so loued the gourd because he liked it how might the maister loue a citie because he had a mind vnto it 8 For the better opening of this comparison the text obserueth vnto vs that Niniue was a great citie which I haue touched twise before as first in the first chapter where that title a great citie is giuen vnto it and then in the third chapter where it is named an excellent citie and of three daies iourney In which two places both from the Scriptures and other approued authours I shewed the greatnesse of it for the compasse for the wals and made plaine the reasons of it Now here something is added for the hugenesse of the place which agreeth with all the rest that there were so many infants within the coÌ„passe of it as one hundred and twentie thousand so many as if we take a million for ten thousand do make no lesse then twelue millions which arise to sixe score thousands And lest any man should imagine that children of riper age were comprehended there the text describeth these children to be all of them so little that they could not discerne betweene their right hand and their left hand which seemeth to be some Prouerbe among the Hebrewes like that I will cut off from Ahab euery one that maketh water against a wall that is all that are males here are meant none but very young ones I know that some haue thought the number set downe here to be a certaine number staÌ„ding for an vncertain so they do interpret it that there were many thousand babes and no more to be implyed But I wil not do that iniurie to the Spirit of God as to doubt but this number must definitely be taken for so many thousands full out that there were at least of these little ones sixe score completed thousands The compasse of the citie as in former times I haue shewed was three-score Italian miles wherin that many thousands yea a hundred thousand houses might stand may well appeare from proportion of other cities Athens was neuer takâ— in the number of very great ones yet as Xenophon doth report in that time when he liued there were ten thousand houses in it Philo Iudaeus sheweth that in his time there were many of the Iewes inhabiting in Egypt Africa He nameth Alexandria which as we know was no huge citie as a place distinct against all the other of that countrie as if there were their speciall residence and in other townes and cities and shires were but a scattering of them But saith he in Alexandria and the other named places there were of Iewes ten hundred thousand Then with the nuÌ„ber of that people who were naturals of that countrie and with all other straungers and trafiquers in that place how many were the persons which lodged within those walles Rome was famous but neuer great When it was at the largest it was neuer the sixth part so spacious as Niniue was not ten miles about in compasse and yet we find in that Epitome which Lucius Florus left gathered out of those bookes of Liuy which are lost that the Censors taking view of the citizens of that Rome found of soules of heades full out foure hundred thousand That for all the inhabitants was more then thrise the nuÌ„ber of infants who were found in the mightie citie Niniue According to which proportion if we will compare place to place we shall see that there needeth no scruple to remaine in this whole matter Ordinarily there are more of children in al places then of any age by proportion All who are elder haue first bin infants but all infants grow not elder death cutteth off many of them Allow then that these children of three yeares old and vnder or foure yeares if ye will were the seuenth part of the citie yet the whole number of inhabitants shall but little exceed the double of the Romanes If you will suppose the children for the tenth or the twelfth part and not so low as the seuenth yet Niniue will still beare it Then this must be accepted as a iustifiable truth not onely ratified by faith and the word of God but probable and most likely in the naturall course of things Which being so then it is no maruell if the Lord who oftentimes pittieth his creatures sole and single did take such open commiseration vpon so populous a place 9 Now what like thing had Ionas which he might ballance against this Such a small thing such a light thing such a vaine thing in comparison as is scant worth the naming When they should be weighed together how iustly might he stand backward and hide his face for shame It is a gourd-like Kikajon a thing of one daies antiquitie whose wood was not for building whose fruite was not for feeding but the vse was only a shadow and yet so too that a little worme might destroy it all in a moment When at that time Niniue had stood and flourished a thousand yeares How is the iudgement of man besotted when we are left to our selues to sticke vpon things so contemptible and passe by that which is of moment Socrates the Historien doth tell of some who accounted of whoredom but as of a thing