such factes if they will Let Calanus and his wise Indians hate to dye a naturall death but end their dayes by burning themselues in the fire Let the scholers of that Philosopher Egesias Cyrenaicus so far beleeue their maister disputing of the immortality of the soule that to the end that they might be depriued of life and enioy that spoken of immortality they go home and kill themselues Let Vibius Virius in Capua professe that he hath poyson for himselfe and all his friends which is able to free thē from the Romanes from punishment and from shame and let him drinke and dye Yea let the younger Cato a man held to be admirably wise be a butcher to himselfe rather then endure to see Caesar who was then become a Conquerer Yea let Seneca himselfe try the maner of Cato his death although in another sort after that himself a Philosopher a mirrour of heathen wisedome had so often and so highly commended that deed of Cato that it was not bloud but honour which gushed out of his side Yea let ten thousand more with Dido and Lucretia be recorded in Gentile stories yet all these are no warrāts for Christians we haue a better maister who hath taught vs a better lesson That aduersity and bitter afflictiō must be born with patience that we must expect Gods end in misery calamity and not hasten the issue in our selues that true fortitude is in bearing the sorrowes which are assigned allotted out for our portion that to fly from thē fearefully is cowardise Where is valure but in sustaining the greatest crosses with constancie and where is timiditie but in this to kill thy selfe that thou mayest be freed from that which doth not like thee What daunting force saith S. Austen had those euils which cōstrained Cato a wise man as they accounted of him to take that away from himselfe that he was a man whereas men say that truly that it is after a sort the first and greatest speech of nature that a man should be reconciled to himselfe and therefore naturally flye death so be a friend to himselfe as that earnestly he should desire to be a liuing creature and to continue in this coniunction of the body and soule He did not resist and stand strong against his euils but indeede fainted as a coward he sunke vnder his burthen I may conclude of him and of all that do treade his steps with that learned man who wrote the treatise De duplici Martyrio which is commōly called Cyprians If we reade that any haue killed themselues valiantly it was either weaknesse which by death did seeke an end of sorrowes or ambition or madnesse So farre in truth are they off from any iust commendation in Christianitie and Diuinitie 22 Nay what if it were held a thing vnlawfull among the very Gentiles See the Poet Virgils iudgement of it When Aeneas came downe to hell as the Poet there doth deuise he seeth in a seuerall and disiunct place such as had made away themselues He maketh their estate to bee so wofull as that gladly they would do any thing to be aliue againe quà m vellent aethere in alto Nunc pauperiem duros perferre labores How gladly now would they be content to endure pouertie and take hard paines in the world See the iudgement of Tully concerning this in his Somnium Scipionis When Scipio vpon the tale of his father being growne into admiration of the glorie of men which are dead asked What do I then vpon earth why hasten I not to dye his father maketh him answere with a very diuine speech although he were but a heathen man No son thou mayest not haue any passage hither but when that God whose temple all that thou seest is shall free thee out of this body For men are borne to that purpose and haue soules giuen them to that end to rest themselues on this earth which soules they must keepe safely within the ward of their bodies And they are not to flit from this life without his commaundement least they should seeme to flye that dutye of a man which is assigned them by God I might adde to these the iudgement of Aristotle in his Ethicks where he saith that to kill a mans selfe for the auoyding of infamie or pouertie is not the part of a valiant man but of a coward But I leue these forraine testimonies 23 Some among the Christians haue thought that maydens for sauing and preseruing their virginitie inuiolate might kill themselues An opinion voyde of any shadow of warrant out of Gods word For ought we to do euill that good may come therby Shall we aduenture the greater sinne for the auoyding of a lesse euill Nay is it a fault in a virgin at all that she is defloured by force Was Tamar to be condemned because Amnon did defile her It is consent that maketh iniquitie Tarquinius and Lucretia were two bodies saith Saint Austen but there vvas but one adulterer I adde no more of that matter The Donatistes and furious Circumcellions in old time because they were restrained by the ciuill sword of the Magistrate from the exercise of their heresies and keeping of their Conuenticles would cast themselues from the rockes and breake their neckes by the fall they would drowne and kill themselues Thereupon Theodoret hath a very pretie narration concerning them Many of them on a time met a young man on the way and giuing him a sword commaunded him to wound them and threatned him that if he would not they would kill him for refusing The young man being put vnto his shifts told them that he durst not do it because he had iust cause to feare that whē some of thē should see their fellowes slaine the rest would turne on him for doing it and murther him But if they would first suffer him to bind thē all fast and sure he would tell thē another tale They liked well of this motion in their sencelesse stupiditie yeelding to be bound the yong man got good store of rods shrewdly swinged them all so went his wayes and left them They imagined that God did well accept of their murtherings in this or the like kind caried an opinion that now they were become martyrs of Iesus Christ. Gaudentius their Bishop writeth in defence of the deedes of these Donatistes in behalf therof vrgeth the exāple of Razias in the Machabees who when he should be slaine in maintenance of the religiō of the Iewes to saue himself frō the infidels first ran vpō his sword And whē that would not serue the turne he threw himselfe from a wall and when all this could not kill him he ranne to the top of a rocke and there plucked out his bowels and threw them among the people That holy man Saint Austen the most iudicious of all the fathers comming to
sort of things which be they or be they not it maketh not any matter A conceipt which is very earthie and dull as is the clay and in no sort beseeming a reasonable soule who should carry his face vpright to God and to the heauens and thinke himselfe to be made for somewhat to glorifie the Almightie to be a part of the Church to helpe to adorne the world to be doing honest actions while he is here in this life and not to go poring forward as a beast which looketh onely downeward Is it nothing that he hath giuen thee speech and reason which he denieth to euery thing but man Is it nothing that his sonne redeemed thee with his bloud and payd such a raunsome for thee Or to note what my text doth note is it nothing that thy life is dayed and houred and inched out by a fearefull God and a terrible who among so many motions and directions and disposings and altering transmutations of heauen and earth and water yet hath thee so in his reckening and beareth such an eye vpon thee on thy in-going and thy out-going of thy lying owne thy rising of thy sicknesse and thy health of thy liuing and thy dying as if onely he did intend vnto thy selfe in speciall Do not thou esteeme that to be vile which he reckeneth of so much worth let that soule be precious to thee which he accounteth of so great price do not hang downe thy head but with industrie adorne thy soule and with diligence in his seruice thinking it a shame to see that actiue nimble and stirring substance to be ouergrowne with mossinesse and rust of such neglect as hitherto hath possessed it 6 Now as it is not vnproper to obserue this in glauncing sort because the Prophet giueth that attribute to the Lord that it is his prerogatiue to take away life so from this there euidently ariseth as a doctrine to be thought of in the next place that it is a great fault and a transgression not excusable to thrust our selues into that which belongeth vnto our maker and so by an vsurpation to depriue God of that singular priuiledge which is proper to himselfe of taking away life from man I do not here speake of the Magistrates who carry the sword as from God and are bound not to acquit or excuse the guiltie To them the charge is giuen against murtherers and manquellers that he vvho sheddeth mans bloud by man shall his bloud be shed Moses stoned the blasphemer Iosuah did so by Achan and Salomon in his vprightnesse tooke away the life of Ioab But I speake here of that case which might touch our Prophet nearer that is that although he did pretend that he willingly would be dead yet he doth not take a course violently to lay hands on himselfe and his owne bodie but prayeth the Lord to dissolue him Wherein it appeareth that although he were peruerse and discontent yet he was not come to that height of iniquity and impietie as to destroy himselfe A sinne of the most straunge nature that any is in the world that whereas all other sinnes are to preserue the body indeed or in a fancie in circumstance or in substance this is to ouerthrow it Yea to ouerthrow it with God and ouerthrow it with man in this world and the next without hope and all recouerie vnlesse the Lords mercie which cannot be limited do that whereof is no warrant His commandement is in generall Thou shalt commit no murther If no murther vpon other then much lesse on thy selfe For thou must loue thy neighbour but as thou louest thy selfe and the patterne of all dutie to be extended in him is taken from thine owne person Then when the Lord hath created thee and put thee into the world and bid thee there to keepe as in a standing place as in a watch or ward from whence thou mayest not mooue till he come to discharge thee wilt thou dare to leaue thy ground and forsake that which he hath enioyned thee When thy soule shall come before his iust and fearefulll countenance how must it needes be dismayed when that speech shall come from his mouth what doest thou in this place who sent for thee who dismissed thee As thou with violence hast cut thy selfe from thy bodie so with violence I do cut thee from all hope of participation in my glorie 7 What a trembling may this sentence procure vpon this soule what mountaines may it not cry to or what hils to fall vpon it to be freed from such a doome It is good therefore that euerie Christian who desireth to haue his part in the holie resurrection should flie from this as the way to euerlasting damnation This is a pranke for such as despairing Saule was to fall vpon his owne sword or of cursed craftie Ahitophell to go home and hang himselfe or of Iudas to go foorth and worke himselfe to his end How many are the miseries and vexations which a Christian should suffer all his life time here before that he should once thinke of this With what earnestnesse of prayer should he resist this tentation Should I say that Iosephus a Iew with full reasons refuted that which was vrged for this vngodly fact at such time as he was pressed vnto it by his bloudy minded fellowes Yea heathen men haue taught this as Plato in Phaedone from whom we find that Macrobius hath collected seauen reasons why we should not dare to attempt this But the speech of Tully is excellent in that Somnium Scipionis whereupon Macrobius there commenteth For when Scipio had said If true life be onely in heauen vvhy stay I then vpon earth vvhy hast I not to come to you No it is not so sayth his father for vnlesse that God vvhose Temple all this is that thou seest free thee from the fetters of thy body thou canst not haue an entrance thither For men are begotten and bred vpon that condition that they should maintaine that round thing vvhich thou seest in the middest of that Temple and vvhich is called the earth And there is giuen vnto them a soule of those euerlasting fires vvhich you call starres and planets Wherefore ô Publius both thy soule and the soules of all good men is to be kept by them in the safe custodie of thy body neither vvithout his commandement by vvhom it is giuen vnto you are you to leaue this life lest you should seeme to flye this duty assigned by God If a heathen man by the light of nature could go so farre it were a thing very admirable that bare reason should be able to teach so much But we may very well imagine that this came from the Diuinitie of the lewes For Tully in that place deriueth his position from Plato which Macrobius plainely noteth and Platoes diuine Philosophy was by hearing or reading sucked from the bookes of Moses which thing Eusebius in his booke De
grosse and filthie that if it were not that custome from old time had so preuailed and diuerse of our countrimen did yet so hold it in their blindnesse and it is our dutie to seeke to win them I should thinke my self very idle and should partly be ashamed to speake of it in this place The fasts in Scripture are pure abstinence men eate nothing and drinke no water but here they may eate and drinke and be full and yet fast too This is one of the grossest Paradoxes which the blind beast of Rome that deceitfull whore of Babylon doth broach vnto her followers 13 And yet poore soules they see it not nor the fondnesse of that doctrine that such and such dayes should be fasted not for lawes sake and pollicie but for religion and deuotion I do maruell what sound warrant they can haue for that conclusion for no such thing can be deriued from any place of Scripture Heare S. Austens iudgement vpon that matter If you aske my opinion in this point I reuoluing it in my mind do find that in the writings of the Euangelists and the Apostles and in all that instrument which is called the new Testament fasting is commanded But what dayes we should not fast and what dayes we should I see it not defined by the precept of the Lord or the Apostles And in the auncient Church they had another custome then is kept at this day Origene vpon Leuiticus saith that they had the fourth sixth day of the weeke wherein they solemnely fasted Now to tye this or the alteration from it to be a case of religion is a seruitude of all seruitudes and a Babylonian bondage The time of Lent I confesse is a very auncient custome but so farre from being found a point of faith and saluation that the most approoued auncient histories tell how diuersely it was kept one day or two dayes or seuen dayes and by some for twenty dayes and by some other for fortie by some coniunctim by some diuisim some abstaining from this foode some from that but that the Apostles left it for so Socrates doth speake to the liberty of the Church nay to euery mans mind and will I would that our people vndestood this euery where that they might take things aâ—ight ciuill orders to ciuill orders and customes which were indifferent for nothing else but indifferent and not to put heauen and hell vpon superstitious obseruances True fasting is not of custome but vpon an especiall purpose by the good motion of the mind 14 Yet these are not the onely errours in the fasts of the Church of Rome but this may be added to them that commonly they respect the externall worke alone But the Apostle telleth vs that if there be nothing else bodily exercise profiteth little There must be a directing faith and an vnderstanding knowledge which must make all acceptable The end why it is done doth much make or marre the matter if it be to humble the body to worke in it more obedience so to practise spirituall things if it be to testifie true deuotion if to seeke to abate the Lords fury this sheweth that all is right but these other being for the most part ignorant do thinke the thing barely done to be a deseruing worke a meritorious action And this thought being once receiued multiplieth euill on it selfe so far that many in their superstition do not feare to spill their body that they may merite the more and so macerate the flesh that they make themselues vnfit to performe such Christian duties as otherwise they might do They procure diseases to themselues and impotency by reason of sicknesse whereby they make their body which is the house of their minde to sinke downe on their soule and to lade it ouer heauily Then that mind which with alacrity might many wayes haue serued God with impatiency peraduenture but assuredly with much griefe doth grone vnder the body And so in steed of increasing they diminish true deuotion Hierome as it is easie to be gathered alludeth to this when he sayth that a little meate and a belly vvhich is euer hungry is preferred before fasting three dayes And againe Do thou impose on thy selfe such a measure of fasting as thou art able to beare Let thy fasts be pure and chast and single and moderate and not superstitious And he addeth fully to that point which I mentioned a little before What doth it profit not to eate oyle and to seeke out such troubles and difficulties of meates carrets pepper nuts and dates fine cakes and honey and baked things So Fulgentius giueth an item for fasting moderatly A temperature is in such sort to be added to our fasts that neither saturity do stirre vp and prouoke our body nor immoderate abstinence vveaken it But some other of the auncient haue not only dehorted it but haue perstringed it with right seuere censures and written against it As namely Athanasius If thy enemy the Diuell do suggest into thy mind great exercises of deuotion that thou mayest make thy body vnprofitable and vveake do thou on the other side see that thy fasting haue a measure He reputeth it for no better then a temptation of the Diuell if it be excessiue Saint Basile speaketh to this matter most soundly and with much reason I do not so beate downe my body that I vveare it out vvith immoderate vvounds and make it vnprofitable for seruice but that is my onely cause of chastising my body that I may subdue it to seruice and make it rightly obedient to his maister But he vvho bringeth his seruant so vnder by hunger that not onely he is vnprofitable for the ministery of his maister but is not sufficient for himselfe vvhat else doth he then make himselfe a seruant to his seruant For it must needs be that the body being vnable to serue and by infirmitie vvaxing faint his maister must novv serue him vvhile he must stand amased about the curing of the infirmity of the other So farre Basile who esteemeth the mind as the maister and the body as the seruant Vnto these I will onely adde the iudgement of Saint Bernard who vttereth a most godly and sober doctrine Watchings fastings and such like do not hinder but helpe if they be done vvith reason and discretion Which things if by fault of indiscretion they be so done that either by the spirit fayling or the body faynting spirituall things be hindered he vvho so doth hath taken away from his body the effect of a good vvorke from the spirite a good affection from his neighbour a good example from God his honour he is a sacrilegious person and guilty of all these things toward God Not that according to the meaning of the Apostle this seemeth vnfit for a man and be not decent and iust that the head should sometimes ake in the seruice of God vvhich hath aked oft before in the
lying vanities we may acknowledge thee in our life time to be the onely Lord and when our soule fainteth within vs and is departing hence we may onely thinke on thee that both our present prayers and spirits afterward may ascend into thy celestiall temple where thou raignest with thy most blessed Sonne to whom with thee and thy holy Spirit be laud and praise for euer THE XIIII LECTVRE The chiefe poynts 1. Ionas prooueth thankfull for Gods mercie 3. The reason and order of sacrifices 5. They should be spiritually meant 7. How we should do in Gods seruice 8. Gods praise is publikely to be sounded out 9. Thankfulnesse is a sacrifice to be offered of all 11. We are forgetfull in it 12. The manner of vowes 14. What rules are to be obserued in them 17. Popish vowes examined 19. All helpe commeth from God Ionah 2.9 But I will sacrifice vnto thee with the voyce of thankesgiuing and will pay that that I haue vowed Saluation is of the Lord. IN the words before going the Prophet doth comfort himselfe exceedingly that he serueth such a maister as is best able to helpe him whē he most needeth and in his Temple attended to his heartie prayer when as his soule fainted within him whereas all other things be they idols or heathen Gods or any deuised refuges be nothing but lying vanitie and therefore those who wait and depend vpon them do forsake their owne mercie Where when he had found God so eminent and incomparably great in comparing him with those weake ones he esteemeth it a speciall point of dutie to yeeld to one so excellent a high measure of praise and most deserued thankes to him who in extremitie had so raised him from the pit And this is the drift of this present verse to acknowledge himselfe so bound and deuoted to God that all the powers of his mind and faculties of his soule should be employed in his seruice A conclusion well beseeming him who had receiued such fauour that he would not as beastes or as vnthankefull persons do onely take that which doth come and make no more adoo but with a respect vnto the giuer who beyond all expectation had raised him and relieued him would record it and repeate it and in his best meditation againe and againe reuolue it as not knowing how to returne enough for Gods great mercie 2 But in the meane while the words which he vseth are various and significant He doth mention thankesgiuing which declareth his gratefull mind and the better to expresse it he nameth the voyce of thankesgiuing as intending that he would aduaunce the honour of him who saued him not in secret onely but with manifest declaration to others and to both these he doth ad the act of offering sacrifice applying that to his thankes which was the most solemne seruice vsed in old time to God Neither doth he make his stand heere but whereas he had vowed some things vnto the Lord which he promised to performe if euer he did escape he saith he vvill pay those vowes and at the last for a conclusion he shutteth vp all with these words saluation is of the Lord. Where because as you see the circumstances in the text are manifold and all of them haue their vse for better order of instruction I thinke good to obserue two things First the dutie returned by Ionas and that consisted in a double deede one the sacrifice of thankesgiuing and the other the paying of his vowes Secondly that good which commeth from God not onely to the Prophet but to all those who do serue him Saluation is of the Lord. Among all which the word of sacrificing is first proposed vnto vs. I will sacrifice vnto thee 3 The only thing which God doth looke for at mans hands for creating him in so goodly a shape for enriching him with gifts so glorious in shew so gracious in deed for preseruing him and protecting him in such infinite varietie of dangerous occurrents for heaping daily vpon him such multiplied benefites is to be serued and feared by him Thou shalt vvorship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serue In this because he hath made all he doth require all our selues and all ours the bodie and the soule the inward and the outward the sensible and inuisible although especially the heart and immateriall soule yet ioyntly the hand and action from without yea and the wealth also that euery part may recommend a dutie to the authour And for these externall matters he hath giuen vnto man not onely members as in prayer his hands to be lifted vp his breast to be beaten on his knees to be bowed his eyes to be bedewed that so compunction in the mind may the more be stirred vp but also his other creatures either dum or dead things the fruites of the earth the birds of the aire the beasts of the field the mettals of the ground to be vsed to his glorie And this in old time was done in nothing more then in sacrifices which was in some to consecrate and dedicate them vnto him in some other to offer them in whole or in part consumed with fire to testifie their obedience and seeking vnto him Which manner of sacrificing was knowne vnto men from the first time of nature as good Abel and bad Cain the first heires of the world presented an oblation of such things as they had to him who had sent them Noe after the floud offered a sweet smelling sauour and Abraham by commaundement intended to sacrifice his onely sonne Isaac By all which it is euident that sacrificing was common before that any order for Gods seruice was settled 4 But when the people once were returned out of Egypt and God by the hand of Moses had ordained a ciuill pollicie for the gouernment of the laitie and a Hierarchie Ecclesiasticall for so I may well call it for guiding of his Clergie to the end that euery thing afterward might be practised with conformity he appointed first for the Tabernacle and after that for the Temple a tribe of Priests Leuites whose office was to attend to the offerings of the people And himselfe did name the matter and manner of euery sacrifice what bird or beast daily or on other occasion should be offered as the whole body of the Leuiticall law doth make knowne to vs. Thence grew the daily sacrifice which neuer was omitted the sinne-offerings and free-will-offerings and many sorts besides and when extra-ordinarie cause was giuen great store of beastes were slaine as when Salomon to consecrate the Temple at Hierusalem did offer in his magnificence two and twentie thousand Oxen and one hundred and twentie thousand sheepe such a sacrifice as I thinke the like was neuer seene And that time onely excepted when the Iewes were captiues in Babylon or when Antiochus did tyrannize at his pleasure the altars were still going till the very time of Christ and diuerse yeares afterward vntill that
vanitie of the vvorld or that the belly should be hungry euen to croaping and roaring vvhich hath bene filled oftentimes euen to vomiting but a measure is to be vsed in all things The bodie is to be afflicted sometimes but not to be quite vvorne out See how grauely these learned fathers inueigh against immoderate abstaining from necessarie things and giue vs to vnderstand that we may feede sparingly and moderately and yet serue God too although sometimes there be an abstinence from all meate to be required 15 I do vrge this doctrine so farre for some few who yet remaine in our land here and there but not for the common sort who stay themselues inough from taking harme by abstayning For a great part of men spend much of their time in gluttony and riot and very few now fast if it be not for want of meate And herein our sensuality may be iustlie reprooued that whereas there is such occasion offered to study for the turning away of Gods iudgements which appeare in sending famine and otherwise and againe when whatsoeuer is spared may find good vent by poore mens bellies yet we liue not so temperately as in reason we should Surely the Almighty doth much threaten vs and therefore we should awake and besides that we enioy many things the continuance of whom is very well worth the begging as especially the Gospell and health and peace and a louely and gracious Prince let vs therefore not be so farre wanting to our selues as to forget to pray that these may endure And as here by the example of the Niniuites there should in great cases be a great abstinence so let euery maâ— ordinarily so keepe vnder his body that it may be fit for all celestiall and spirituall duties And yet I do not thinke it conuenient for vs who liue in this countrey to emulate and imitate the fasts of holy men in the Scriptures I meane not those of Moses and Elias which were for forty dayes and indeed were miraculous matters but such as was that of the Iewes vnder Hester who did eate nothing nor drinke water for three dayes and three nights or of some other Christians who as Saint Austen mentioneth did forbeare in like sort being both men and women The difference of climates for heate and cold maketh the stomacke different and that may be endured in hote countries which in the cold cannot Their inward heate is lesse and therefore their appetite is not equall Philosophers and Cosmographers do yeeld the reason of this and why men eate more in the Northern countreyes then in the Southerne and do digest it more readily And experience doth so farre witnesse this that as Buchanan hath noted the French men do thinke that we of Britany that is Englishmen and Scots are great deuourers of flesh so the Spaniards thinke of the French men and the people of Africa do imagine so of the Spaniards Then is it an vnequall match for vs that are coldly situated in comparison of theÌ„ who liue nearer the Tropike to imitate them in fasting And this consideration together with a remembrance that amating and feare of death do vtterly quell the stomacke giueth much light to that place where it is written that Paules company did abstaine for so many dayes together in the daunger of a shipwrack It is said that they continued fasting and receiued nothing which I vnderstand to be meant that they receiued nothing by any set and orderly meale or they receiued nothing in comparison of their ordinary feeding And so much I thought good to speake concerning fasting being occasioned thereunto by the deed of the Niniuites and the Kings proclamation This verse doth yeeld one thing more that the cattell and beasts were inioyned here to the penance which because it is offered againe in the next verse I do deferre it thereunto In the meane time let vs pray to God that he will pardon vs our negligence in our duty and that he will stirre vp our spirits partly by example here of these Niniuites and partly by other in his word to be fearefull of his displeasure and to be willing to serue him that after the expiring of this life we may liue together with him to whom with his blessed Sonne and his most holy Spirit be glory for euermore THE XXII LECTVRE The chiefe poynts 2. Some apparell sheweth sorrow 4. Reasons why beasts bore part in this humiliation 8. How cattell may be sayd to cry to God 9. The necessity and force of prayer 12. Reformation of life must go with fasting and prayer Ionah 3.8 But let man and beast put on sackcloâ—h and cry mightily vnto God yea let euery man turne from his euill way and from the wickednesse that is in their hands I Haue read this verse as an imperatiue speech but the Septuagint translate it as an Indicatiue in the time past that men and beasts did put on sackcloth and cried mightily vnto God Wherein as it may well be collected they did not so much respect the originall words in the Hebrew as intended to make the deed of the Niniuites plaine who doubtlesse did repent and performed that charge which their King did put vpon them But since the words and letter of the text are otherwise as it is plaine in the Prophet and all other interpreters as farre as I can find do with one consent translate it as I reade it I thinke that they might well haue forborne to take on them the office of Expositours or openers of the text at large and kept themselues to the letter allowing that to Gods spirit which is very familiar with it that is to say that oftentimes it should briefly insinuate things and leaue that by necessary circumstances to be vnderstood which yet it doth not openly specifie in word And the truth concerning this place now in hand is that it is meant that we should take it that the Niniuites repented and so much is implied by such consequents as afterwards follow but this verse is a part of the Kings Edict wherein he inioyneth some thing more then a fast which should pinch the belly and commandeth sackcloth to be put on the backe as an externall signe of sorrow and then prayers to be powred out to the Lord with vehement exclamation and last of all that there should be a conuersion from iniquity and sinne that the cause of the wrath being once remooued vengeance it selfe might cease I can neuer sufficiently commend the care of this mighty ruler who left nothing vnperformed which might win God vnto him A man worthy to be eternized in the memory of all ages But my meaning is that thosâ— things which he did should rather commend him then any praise of mine You haue heard some arguments of his goodnesse before which I neede not to repeate but now there are offered to vs three branches of his commandement First that men and beasts should weare sackcloth Secondly
Praeparatione Euangelica doth manifestly lay downe citing there Numenius the Pythagorian who writeth that Plato was nothing else but Moses speaking Greeke or in the Attike language But be this so or be it otherwise the doctrine is most true 8 First then in this are condemned those who yeelding themselues too much vnto Satans suggestions wilfully destroy their owne bodies frō whom as I dare not generally withdraw the hope of saluation and euerlasting life for Gods mercy may giue grace and a sudden hastie repentance betweene the bridge and the water betweene the deed the dying so that then they could wish all were well and no violence offered so on the other side I cannot but pronounce that the case is very daungerous and in the highest sort to be suspected and feared vnlesse the Lord do giue apparant tokens of penitencie Do not first take strong poyson and then afterward seeke some such remedie as may be offered in an instant whereunto to trust thou hast no warrant but almost all to the contrarie Secondly they are here taxed who wilfully and without cause aduenture vppon such things as are the wayes of death by that meanes tempting God to see whether he will preserue them for so it must needs be if they thinke of him at all Remember how Christ discountenanced all leaping off from the Temple which in nature had bene a meanes to dash himselfe to peeces Some dangerous tumbling trickes and walking vpon ropes not without danger of life and other sports of that qualitie are very neare to this Here let me acknowledge one thing to you wherof I haue oftētimes thought in my selfe by occasion of that text which was cited to our Sauiour by Satan the great tempter in the story last mentioned When he would haue Christ throw himselfe from the pinnacle of the Temple he incouraged him by that place of the Psalme He shall giue his Angels charge ouer thee and with their hands they shall lift thee vp that thou dash not thy foote against a stone Where as euerie man may see he cited the Scripture falsly leauing out that which is very materiall to keepe thee in all thy wayes He shall giue his Angels charge ouer thee to keepe thee in all thy wayes I haue heard that a reuerend mā preaching on a time in our sister Vniuersity at the buriall of one or two gentlemen who came to an vntimely end by swimming enforced out of that place of Mathew that it is the pollicy of the tempter to draw men from their owne wayes to the waies of other creatures And therin as I haue heard he obserued that a mās way was to go a birds way was to flie as fishes way was to swimme and if we would leaue our owne pathes dangerously and without cause to do as fishes or birds do we tempt God in that case and suppresse as much of the Psalme to our selues as Satan did to Christ. For God will keepe thee in all thy wayes not in the wayes of a bird not in the wayes of a fish I cannot say that at that time by collection from that text or by the dolefull example which was then before his eyes that reuerend learned man vtterly forbad that exercise as impious vnlawfull neither dare I do so for fishermen haue vse of it and Peter in the presence of our Sauiour girded his linnnen garment to him and threw himselfe into the sea and the meanes that some escaped from the ship-wracke in the company of Saint Paule was their swimming and souldiers in passing waters are oftentimes constrained to betake them to this exercise So that vtterly to condemne it or dislike it I thinke it not conuenient or warrantable but certainely in that sort as many vse it and too many in great cities and perhaps some in this place that is to say young ones in the deepe and without company or good helpe yea and vpon the Sabaoth day which the Lord hath notedly punished as some of vs may remember doth fall within iust reproofe of being too much accessarie of shortening mens owne liues Let the elder and the younger lay this to their owne consciences and make the vse to themselues Onely vppon occasion of this sommer time of the yeare I do briefly mention it 9 Within this compasse there come plainely our chalenges and defendances for combats in the fields for euery trifling braule where not for God and their countrey or for their Princes safetie but vpon euerie brauling disgrace the life is thrust into danger How vncomfortable a thing is it in a mortall deadly wound which may very well be thy share to thinke that thou hast sought the dissolution of thy soule from thy body and to haue rather stood on thy manhood and fame with other men then vpon thy Christian dutie How many lawes did Moses make but none for the duellum or combat betweene two Nay he who layd it downe that if the head of an axe flie off as a man is cutting wood and slay his neighbour being neare vnto him with whom he had no quarrell if the pursuer should take his person before he came to the city of refuge it was lawfull to kill him what would he haue thought of these men who will thrust themselues into this straigth to slay or to be slaine What the Emperour Honorius sonne to that good Theodosius thought of this appeareth hereby that as Theodoret writeth he tooke away all sword-playings and gladiatorie fights which so long had bene vsed in Rome because they were the meanes of many slaughters The very Turkes in this case are worthie of commendation of whom I find in the Epistles of Augerius Busbequius Embassadour sometimes among them for Ferdinandus the Emperour that while he was in the countrey when one of the Turkish Captaines had reported before the Bassas that he had challenged into the field another of the San-iacks or Lieutenants of the Turke of whom he had receiued some grieuance the Bassas that Graund Segnieur thrust him presently into prison and vsed these words vnto him Didst thou dare to denounce the combat against thy fellow souldier vvere there not Christians to fight vvith You liue both by the bread of our Emperour and would you trye for each others life Knovv you not that vvhether soeuer of you had ben◠slaine it had bin a losse to our Soueraigne he had lost a man a souldier This was but a worldly reason which yet holdeth among vs also But for the auoiding of slaughter vpon other men or our selues which point concerneth the Lords commandement we should flie from these great occasions of murther which is so horrible a sinne But to returne to the maine cause if these accessaries and helpes to bring our selues to the graue be things not to be iustified then what a great fault is man-slaughter directly done vpon our selues 10 I haue sayd more of these adiacents then my purpose was to speake but for
other men For where an ill mind toward other is entertained by mistaking or wrong informing or whispering tales of slanderers if an answere may be heard or reason compared with reason furie may be quickly appeased When Miphiboseth was heard speake the strength of Ziba his former slaunder was presently laid on ground But if we will be so head-strong that nothing can reclaime vs let vs consider other folkes and not onely our selues and griefe will soone be appeased If Ionas had had the grace to thinke that it might be his case as it was the case of the Niniuites or that it might be the portion of Hierusalem Gods owne Citie he might haue bene patient before But being now as he was when he looked vpon the Lord and saw that it more concerned him for the bâ—azoning of his pitie ouer all the coasts of the earth and for the safe-garding of such a Citie then it could concerne his fond and vnaduised fancie he had no more to say His silence sheweth his consent Because he gaue no reply it seemeth that he was satisfied He endeth well who began ill and better late then neuer Thus albeit the entrance was rough the close was very calme Ionas is freed from his transgression and the Niniuites from their punishment God is mercifull in great plentie and honored in his mercie 14 And thus by the assistance of the Lord at length I am come to the ende of this message deliuered by the Prophet wherein as occasion hath serued I haue from time to time in this place discharged my dutie with faithfulnesse and that measure of vtterance which I had And although it hath bene long in comming yet am I the more bound to giue praises to the Lord who hath giuen strength and a minde and euerie way opportunitie to finish this be it whatsoeuer without any great interruption Whereunto if now I should adde any thing it should be but to stirre vp our selues to a dutie vs I say vpon whom a like burthen lyeth as did here vpon Ionas For although it be not so immediatly as it came to him yet we haue receiued a Commission to be executed in Gods name And we neede not seeke farre for Niniuie either trauell much by land or take a ship to find it it is euerie where among vs. Not the greatnesse of that Citie but the greatnesse of sinne which cryeth to heauen for vengeance Where may we not find matter for the hammer of the Law to beate downe strong iniquitie Where may we not finde place for the Tweete balme of the Gospell to supple the wounded conscience Here now if we will finde starting holes to pull our hand from the worke and to slip our selues from the businesse if we will deceiue our owne hart by fayning of excuses and entertaining discouragements which may slake the zeale which is or ought to be within vs let vs â—eare lest Gods wrath attend vpon vs as it did vpon flying Ionas nay let vs feare somewhat worse Surely he who liueth in this pilgrimage shall finde many great impediments to waie him downe from his duetie his owne defects and inabilities which do most displease himselfe because he is most priuie to them the Criticall curiositie of such as come to heare their preiudicate opinions that men preach not for Christs glorie but vpon vaine ostentation and because they loue to be doing the small returne and vnfruitfulnesse of the seede which is scattered by them the danger to displease the vnwelcomenesse of so reuerend a message to the world the scorning of many hypocrites the small reward for great labours and a thousand things best knowne to the particular minde of each man But what are these when we looke to the dignitie of our calling to the burthen which we beare to the charge that lieth vpon vs to the account which we must make to the pleasing and the recompence of him whose the worke is 15 If these matters should haue stayed Gods seruants how had the Apostles gone to spread the word at first Or if you would except against that their example because they were so furnished with speciall gifts and graces how should they who were our fathers and begetters in the faith men of qualitie like our selues clothed with the same infirmities haue aduentured vpon the seruice If some should not haue bene doing and set light of the taunts of other how should we euer haue had monuments and bookes of learning to instruct our selues withall Is it not farre better in the eyes of God and men since no man liueth vpon earth but subiect to the censures of other to be blamed vniustly for labouring to do somewhat after our mediocritie then iustly to be taxed because we will do nothing If we must needs be reprooued how much better is it to endure that for doing of our dutie then for sitting still and doing nothing I dare pronounce this as first of all from out the Scripture so secondly from some other matters which my selfe haue heard and seene that at such time as we come to our death-bed when it were ten thousand follies to flatter our soules in vanitie and sooth our selues with a lie it is one of the hardest and heauiest burthens to thinke that we haue neglected the ministerie of the Gospell our owne harts cannot be satisfied by exclaming against that ouersight And on the other side it is a ioy of all ioyes inconceiueable and vnspeakeable that our conscience shall giue witnesse and that before the Lord that we haue not refused to beare the heat of the day to stand vp in the gap but haue planted and watered duly we haue passed on with cheerefulnesse to the marke which is before vs and haue not liued as a by-word or a burthen of the Church This meditation alone should be of more worth vnto vs then all snares and intanglements to with-draw vs and plucke vs backe And before that we come to this God be praised we neede not say that we are left without comfort but good things are prouided for vs. But that should be the least respect for not for gaine or ought else should vertue and religion be loued but for vertues sake That virtutis amore to loue vertue for vertues sake and religion for religion is the right that we should ayme at Let vs shake off all incumberments and if we haue a message in our mouthes at one Niniue or another let vs do it let vs deliuer it Let the punishment vpon Ionas detracting his maisters businesse be a spurre to all who with iudgement and sobrietie are able to remooue away that accusation which I simply professe is not most vniust vpon this place and the guilt whereof I pray God be not one day required of many of vs. 16 If we will quicken the Spirite and stirre vp the grace which is in vs God may giue vs the same blessing which he gaue here to his word out of the mouth of his Prophet that we shall