found this to his cost for he was enforced to besiege it three years and he had never taken it Haec totius terrae imperium olim magna pompa maximisque viribus nulli postea regioni aequandum tenuit Ar. Mont. Scimus illam non modo similem fuisse magnis urbibus quales hodiè multae in Europa sunt sed superaste omnia quaecunque praecipuum nomen obtineret Calvin in 4. Jonae Cui par magnitudine neque fuisset antea neque esset futara Ribera in 3. Jonae but for the rising of the River Arias Montanus saith that the height of the walls was an hundred foot in height and the breadth of them so large that three Carts could go abreast upon them the Towers were a 1500 and two hundred foot high and that it was such a stately City that it commanded the Empire of the Earth to which none was yet equall either for Pomp or Force Calvin saith It was not like to our Cities in Europe but it did exceed them all which of them soever have had the greatest fame and renown So that now ye see what is spoken here by the Spirit of God concerning Nineveh is no hyperbole as when we say that a thing is whiter then snow sweeter then holly clearer then the Noon-day No man may have his nimieties of expression his diffluences redundances superjections and transiliences of speech but the Scripture doth not blandish over-phrase extra-fame any thing truth it self cannot falsify Nineveh here hath from God but her just commendation for it was singular and supreme a great City and That great City Should not I spare Nineveh that great City From hence observe that Eminency hath an eminent respect with God Almighty he is loth to pluck down that City which he hath suffered to rise up to the heighth of greatnesse Jerusalem was become a prime City the joy of the whole Earth the perfection of beauty how doth our Saviour weep when he looketh upon Jerusalem weep why weep what is he offended at such a delectable object do the Towers or the Bulwarks the Fort of Sion or the Temple grieve his eyes no he doth weep because he was to shed the first tears but Jerusalem ere long was to weep her self blind to weep her self dead it was an antient City and she was now crumbling away to her first dust it was a great City and she was now demolishing to her first stone yea Not one stone shall be left upon another the very thought of her misery makes our Saviour cry out Oh Jerusalem Jerusalem thou hast killed the Prophets and stoned them which were sent unto thee that blood wil fetch out all the blood in thy veines those stones will dash out thine own brains thou wouldst not be gathered therefore thou shalt be scattered thou wouldst not come under my wings therefore thou shalt fall under other Nation 's claws thou hadst an house but thy house shall be left desolate unto thee Thus ye see that though Jerusalem had been the Cutthroat and Executioner of his Prophets yet becaushe she had been a place of eminency it cannot but grieve him to see how shee hath brought this blood of Martyrdome upon her self to gush to death with the blood of revenge and how her stones of persecution will be the stoneheap that will crush the head of a whole City with direfull curses Christ cannot think of this accident without grones nor look upon this sad fate without tears Ephraim had been another famous City how is God pained to the heart to behold Ephraim in danger When Ephraim spake there was trembling sure I am when God doth speak against Ephraim there is trembling Ephraim is joined to Idols let her alone alone how long see how soon God doth renew his presence and pitty to Ephraim Thou hast gone saith God to the Assyrian and sent to King Jareb and these could not heal thee But what shall Ephraim be without remedy these cannot heal thee shall none heal thee yes alas sick Ephraim if thou wilt thou shalt not yet fester to death in these wounds I saith God offer to be thy Physitian Oh Ephraim what shall I do unto thee Hos 6.4 He will teach Ephraim his own shame him in his exorbitances represent to him what a mixed piece and a clammy patch he is become a meer Time-server and Newter Ephraim is mixed amongst the people a cake not turned Hos 7.8 yea he will call him simple to his face Ephraim is a silly Dove without heart v. 11 yea and he will plead kindnesse to him ask Ephraim if this be the fruit of his affection instruction protection Oh Ephraim did I never do thee any courtesies was I never usefull and beneficiall to thee yes I taught Ephraim to go taking him by the armes I drew him with the cords of a man with the hands of love and I was as one that took off the yoak from his jaws and laid meat unto him Hos 11.3.4 Thus God will hint defection accuse of folly and intimate favour he will counsell and chide admonish and rebuke rather than he will repell and reject he will never leave till Ephraim leave old strayings and come to new tracks till Ephraim shall say What have I to do any more with Idols I have heard and observed him I am like a green firr tree from me is thy fruit found Hos 14.8 yea when God is constrained to be rough against Ephraim how is it as if a Father should dishinherit or tear out the bowells of his own heir Is Ephraim my dear Son is he my pleasant child since I spake against him I earnestly remembred him still therefore my bowels are troubled for him Jer. 31.20 With such a heavinesse if ever God doth deliver up Ephraim to judgment shake down his walls bring the yoak of captivity into his streets Oh Ephraim how shall we part how shall I separate my heart from thee thou hast done much unto me yet Oh Ephraim what shall I do unto thee There is a saying in the sixth of Micah 9. That the Lords voyce cryeth unto the City What City What cry A City saith God that I have fetched the stones of it out of a far Country for I have brought you saith God out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of servants yea I appointed Master-workmen to go along with the materialls and advance the buidling I sent before thee Moses Aaron and Miriam v. 4. and I yet further preserved the quarry-pieces whereof the City should be framed by might and miracle that they might not be seased upon scattered and dashed in pieces by the way for Oh my people remember what Balack the sonne of Moab consulted and what Baalam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal Thus farre I have gone for this City nay I never left it till in despight of all opposition and maugre all practisings against it I raised it up to
men leave their seats of honour and apply their selves to sack-cloth ashes fasting mighty cryes turning from their evill waies and from the violence of their hands Oh that we could see such a beautifull City to honour our Nation and blesse it selfe But I am afraid that this is but a City of desires and that it is not harder to build up Jerusalem againe in her first glory than to raise up such a City amongst us every stone in this City may sooner be altered and new laid rather than mens mindes and consciences I doubt whether penitent duties were ever truly intended amongst us and I am very jealous whether ever or no we shall see them really expressed Men can rather shoot the gulfe climbe the Alpes go a pilgrimage over the whole earth than repent Well as it is my drift to propose impose and dispose so let it be yours to explore at homt and excite abroad Oh to incline God to plead with his judgements saying Should not I spare this great City wherein are more then sixscore thousand persons which cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand and also much cattel That the Citizens could first plead with their consciences saying Should not we turn to that great God who hath invited us by more then sixscore thousand warnings which cannot discern between pitty and forgivenesse and also much forbearance Ye see now what a great task ye are to undertake and that ye had need to lay to your whole strength to bring forth a right City Is it an easie matter for your selves to speak this language and to feel these brest-motions howsoever is it so to open other mens lips and to set omens hearts on working All the difficulties which ye ever met withall upon earth are not like unto this streight Yet to what end do ye wait upon the Lord if ye will not do him this service Why are ye trees of righteousnesse if ye will not bring forth this fruit I hope ye are alive to God your selves yea that there are some of the regenerate race which doe stir quick in this City but how many dead carkasses doe ye walk amongst I trust that ye have brought iniquity to remembrance but are there not too too many that need their Monitours and Remembrancers as if they had forgotten their selves and their sins In what forwardnesse is the great work is not the first stone for the generality yet to be laid yes it would astonish a man that amongst so many celestiall shewes there should be so little heaven and that the Devill should be lurking under so many Angelicall transformations I confesse here doth appear to be much Religion in the City but what Repentance is there or if Repentance is it that of Nineveh No here are sins enough in the City to have it overthrown but is there repentance enough in it to have it spared What people are they may find out by examination what they should be they may find out by the Example The earth never saw greater provocations but when shall it be said that the heavens never saw greater propitiation People are much for patterns but not for imitation wise men may devise formes but where are the vertuous men which will conforme to them No as a beast neighed to Alexanders horse which was painted but the spectators expressed no such respect to Alexanders Image it self whereupon Apelles said That he had painted the Horse better then the Prince Equus oh Rex melius expressus est quà m Tu. Erasm in Apoph So Brutes will be more affectionate to those things which doe resemble their nature then we to those things which should direct our manners Xenophon wrote a rare Book called Cyrus but where was there ever such a prince Plato set forth a singular Treatise de Republica but when was there ever such a Common-wealth No it is an easie matter to describe but it is an hard matâ—erto exhibit the like Here is a choise Picture Nineveh limmed out with tears graces and a frame made for it even this record in holy Scripture but when shall we behold the parallel Oh Citizens and Religious though ye may have some skill in painting yet can ye draw Nineveh to the life in Orient colours amongst you No were it to preserve the City from fire and sword yet wil ye readily be thus abased and changed ye may be but it will be with a great difficulty For the present what signs are there of such prostration consternation renovation No they which have committed horrible sinnes may rather have formes of seeking God to confirme themselves in their wickednesse than many here which are liable to imminent dangers have any evident expressions to fall to the earth or to look up to heaven to avert vengeance Can these bones live O Lord thou knowest Ezech. 37.3 It were a miracle almost to see these dry and scattered pieces though prophesied upon to have a noise and a shaking amongst them and bone to come together to bone and flesh and sinewes and skin to grow upon them and the spirit of life to enter into them There is nothing impessible to God but this is almost incredible to the present view For I doe not see that men have learned Nineveh's initiating much lesse then her compleating graces They are not yet come to her dejections trepidations perculsions astonishments humi-cubations macerations syncopes of griefe paroxisms of conflicts gravitoned accents of prayer No people nourish the flesh catch at the world follow modes temporise with changes and leave perills to the venture and judgments to the chance Happen what wil they have not so much as a wrimpled brow or a trembling breast A Stork will flie faster from a cold Country or a beast from a naked sword then these from plagues and punishments Then if they be not come to the disfigured face of repentance how will they ever come to her transfigured spirit When shall we see the two essentiall parts of repentance amongst them The turning from their evill waids and from the violence of their hands First Their evill waies do seem to have a mist upon them they have not eyes clear enough to see them or hearts tender enough to lament them Though they have strayed far enough from the prescript rule of obedience they find never a precept warranting their lawlesse paths yet they do tread on and consider not whither their feet do carry them the Ignis erraticus hath led them aside and they do not lay to heart over what ditches rocks cliffs and precipices they do passe It is enough that they are in motion but whether in regular or erroneous courses they do not apprehend Oh that there should be such declinations under the directing Ordinances or such foot-prints amongst instructed Christians No man saith What have I done Many a man saith What may I not do but No man saith What have I done People do look upon their faces but seldome upon their
the gates of heaven put the triumphant palm into the hand and set the Crown of immortal glory upon the head oh be thou visible in this Nation till thou canst make us the new Jerusalem make us Nineveh Oh beloved listen to repentance begin the work make it compleat think it a necessary thing to repent think it not an easie thing to repent make a strict inquisition and have an heart-aking discussion fall upon your knees hold up your hands let not your conversion be too high-browed nor your repentance too blunt-edged blush and bleed sigh and sob wring and wayl scrape the walls infected with the leprosie hate the garment spotted by the flesh Mortifie your members which are upon earth abstain from all appearance of evill live as if ye conversed with Angels and did but tread below to clense your selves before ye put on the white Robe Oh come out of the finig-pot without any dross come out of the Bath without a steyn as your crimes have been exorbitant so let your repentance be exemplary So me-think I see judgement drawning back the destroying Angell called off the arrows taken off from the string the viall of wrath set by for if thou dost well shalt thou not be accepted So long as ye are peccant can God pardon sinne so soon as ye are penitent can God punish repentance No I see Gods compassionate eye looking upon this renewed face fire from heaven falling upon this acceptable sacrifice tears shall quench all indignation repentance prevent all judgements and reformation be the Rahabs thred hung out at the window to keep the house in safety if ye be humbled God will be pacified if ye be Nineveh ye shall be spared Should not I spare Nineveh Now let us come from the name of the place Nineveh to the nature of the place That great City and to the description of it wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand and also much cattel That ye may not forget that which I delivered unto you in the beginning I will for the present joyn both these parts together and shew you as I did at first that God in these words doth produce reasons why he should spare Nineveh and that because it was no Family or Village or Burrough but a City and no obscure vulgar City whose streets were short lanes streight buildings low or compass narrow but a vast large great City yea match all the Cities upon earth yet as the Poet said Let Rome be to me instead of all Sit mea Roma mihi so Nineveh had the precedency and preheminency it was the most celebrated and magnified City That great City But will some say We shall know a City by the City-rarities are there any things to be found in it Yes Wherein Wherin Ah but when Is there not some precedent age to be looked back unto to set out the glory of this City Indeed we have been Trojans is little comfort or honour no Fuimus Troes fore-past happinesse is rather anguish then solace misery then honour what therefore hath not this City been flourishing but is now decayed and desolate no it is in the standing beauty it is for the present magnificent for there are Are what are there gorgeous structures rich merchandises but scarce inhabitants to dwel or trade in it no there are Persons Persons but in what numbers if a man take the sum of them is there any large tale to be brought in Yes Sixscore thousand Ay but perhaps the reckoning is too great or but nigh to the number no there may be a surplusage added for there are more then sixscore thousand But are not these intelligent persons and so they could foresee the danger and little pitty can belong to them because they perish wilfully no they cannot discern not onely the policies and City arts but not obvious and familiar things they cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand Well is all now spoken no there is a further aggravating reason for And also What is this enlargement about it is about poor dumb beasts there are persons that cannot and there are cattel that cannot discern Well there were sixscore thousand persons but is there any such store of cattel to move pitty yes multitudes of persons and multitudes of beasts much people and much Cattel Now Jonah saith God in effect doth not every word here plead for a sparing yes it would grieve one to see an house set on fire or an hamlet laid levell how much more a City and if a City of mean quality how much more a great City and if any great City how much more that which is the most famed City in the world which is superiour to all in glory That great City And if a City that hath but a little in it how much that which hath some things of price in it for wherein and if a City that was once happy but is now become unfortunate how much more a City in her visible splendor Wherein are And if a City wherein are only Ware-houses and Banquetting-houses Marble-pillars goodly Theaters lofty Citadels how much more that City wherein there are persons And if a City wherein there are persons in thin ranks how much more such a City that hath such a company of persons in it that they are able to plant a little Country even sixscore thousand And if a City that is but voyced up to be so great for ostentation sake how much more that City that hath such multitudes in it that if there were strict inquiry made the former number will not suffice but the Bill must be enlarged for there are sixscore thousand persons and more Oh Jonah whose heart would it not appall and terrifie to see that great City and that vast company perish at one stroke yes and if this be consider'd that many of them are not come to years of understanding they know neither sinne nor judgement provocation nor reconciliation the benefit of life nor the miseries of death for they are blamelesse harmlesse heartlesse artless Infants which know not their own names which cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand Besides if the ruine of reasonable persons do not move compassion should not the rage against bruit beasts the one cannot discern and the other cannot discern the offering of Infants would be grievous and so the sacrificing of so much cattel in the destruction of the City the shrieking of Infants would be dreadful and so the bleatings brayings neighings bellowings roarings of so many bruits Oh thou hast an heart of flint if these things do not melt it thou art no man and worse then a beast if the destruction of so many Infants and so much Cattel do not make thee relent Howsoever if thou hast no sense nor apprehension of these dolefull dismall accidents yet the great numbers both of Infants and Cattel do incline me absolutely
to spare Should not I spare Nineveh that great City wherein are more then sixscore thousand persons that cannot discerne between their right hand and their left hand and also much Cattel As I have for a while joyned both these parts together so now I must sever them and begin first with the nature of the place That great City Wherein there are three things considerable the subject City the attribute Great the eminency That That great City First For the subject City From hence observe That a City in it selfe is an attractive of pitty He which doth preserve a particular man or a particular family Bonum vult cennibus sed non idem bonum Aquin. will he readily destroy a City No Gods greatest providence is seen in the greatest things He willeth good to all but not to all the same good Where there is the chiefest perfection there God is chiefest in conservation What more beautiful then a City no Mountains Rivers and Cities are esteemed the great wonders of the world There is a great weight in the name of a City Est grande mâ—mentum in nomine urbis Tacit l. 1. Omnes homines feruntur ad civitatem quodam impetu naturae Cicer. 1. Offic. All men are carried to a City as to a place of the greatest honour by a certain instinct of nature Solomon doth compare the strength of affection to a strong City Prov. 18.19 And Esay saith that there are houses of joy in the joyous City Isai 32.13 Yea God doth animate Jeremy to deliver his message with confidence for he had made him like a fenced City Jer. 1.18 as if he could single out no better thing upon earth to shew the power of his providence or to put courage into his Prophet What offerings were there appointed to be at the building of a City Ezech. 48. and what solemnities were there used with Cymbals Psalteries and Harps at the dedication of a wall of a City Nehe. 12.27 A City then must needs be a thing of principall esteem yea Civitas vocatur quaedam perfecta congregatio Uar sil Patav. c. 4. de defensore pacis Nihil est principi illi Dequi omnem hunc mundum regit quod quidem in terris fiat acceptius quam concilia coeisuque hominum jure socioti quae civitates appellantur Cicero de somnio Scipion. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Marsilius could say that a City is a kind of perfect Congregation and association Tully by the light of nature speaketh expresly That to that great prince God which doth govern the whole world there is nothing more acceptable upon earth then councils and companies lawfully met together which are called Cities God himselfe as he would not be without a Law an Ark a Tabernacle so he would not be without a City which is called the City of God yea how deare a City is to God may appear by the name of it in Hebrew which doth come from a word that signifieth to stir up as if God by the name of a City were stirred up to provide for it indeed he keepeth the City and his eyes are towards the City and it is graven upon the palms of his hands as if a City were precious in his account he will spare many things but especially a City Should not I spare Nineveh a City There are many things in a City which may take Gods eye and endeer it to him First it is a goodly resting-place Men had at first but mean sleeping-rooms Dâ—mus antra fuerunt their Houses were but hollow Caves or Dennes But now God hath allowed them nearer structures where they may house themselves and will God be ready to unlodge men from those Bedchambers where he hath suffered them so sweetly to take their rest and repose Secondly Cities are places of meeting for what is a City but a Community there people cluster together for the seed of a City is as the gravell Clvitas Communitas Esa 48.19 it doth multiply Merchants like the stars of Heaven Nahum 3.16 therefore He who is Bonum commune the Common good will he be hasty in destroying Generalities Thirdly they are places of Order for a City hath Government and Authority in it Non maenia sed leges civitatem servant they are not walls but Lawes which keep Cities Now God which is the Judge of the whole Earth will he destroy those places which excell in Government and Magistracy the very image of his supream Regiment Fourthly Cities are places of Arts and Sciences for in the Country there are none but Heardsmen and Tilthmen to be found but in the City is the Cunning Artificer a man which doth find out intricacies out of whose brain do come all the rare inventions upon earth now the Only wise God will he deface those places where so much pregnancy and acrimony of with doth abound Fifthly Cities are conspicuous for a City set upon an hill cannot be hid let them seated where men please they are the places of the greatest dignity Now God himself who is clothed with glory and Majesty will He ruine those places which do shine and carry in them the most radiant beams of his own excellency will he throw down those piles and Spires of worldly magnificence wound the face of beauty strike out the right eye out of the head of the whole world No for these reasons God will spare Cities It is true There is no evill in the City but the Lord hath done it but that evill doth not come in haste but with much protraction and delay to a City the City usually feeleth of it in the last place God doth land his judgements upon the Shores side and doth make them take a long march through the Country before they do pitch down their Tents dig Trenches lay streight sieges and set up scaling ladders against the City Indeed if a City doth live out of fear live in pleasure and dwell carelessly if the Harp the Viole the Tabret the Pipe the wine be in their Feasts if they deride and defy judgements then God may fray the City in the midst of her jovisance case up her musicall instruments bring in the voider to her sumptuous Banquets turn this dancing City into a sorrowfull Lady yea make this melodious City a Ramah wherein there shall be nothing but mourning and weeping and great lamentation instead of the mirth and the jollity of the City the cry of the City shall go up to Heaven 1 Sam. 5.12 For if a City wax proud and insolent daring and braving it shall know that they are neither gates nor bars walls Towers impregnable Castles millions of armed men that shall secure her Gods confounding judgements shall pull down the most potent and haughty City A City of perversenesse Ezech. 9.9 shall be a City of perplexity Then the City shall be smitten Ezech. 33.24 laid desolate Es 27.10 made a Den of Dragons Jer. 10.22 a defenced City shall be made an
sighing shall flee away Esai 35.10 God will lead them out of dores in the day time and put them to bed at night he will keep their City-keyes and set Guards over them Oh therefore serve God and your Master will take you into his protection hee will not only give you a Charter but be the City-Standard-bearer and Champion Whosoever will not spare he will spare yea even because it is a City Should not I spare Nineveh a City 2. This shews that a City in it selfe is a place of honour for do men cast contempt upon that which God himselfe doth magnifie will God spare Nineveh because a City and shall not a City for this be thought worthy of an excellency yes Civitatem principalissimum esse corum quae humana ratione constitui possunt Aquin. lib. 1. Pol. c. 1. or else we correct Gods Herauldy and strive who shall be the best Judges about Titles of honour let no man therefore deprive a City of her Cap of Maintenance or abase the furred Gown For a City is the most principall thing of all things which can be constituted by mans reason as Aquinas saith Shall the foam never be wiped from the lips of contemners concerning a City yes it is the part of an ignoble spirit to vilifie that which God and nature have dignified if a man would commend a place it is enough to say It is a City Let men lessen the reputation of it what they can yet a City must needs be a place of honour first in respect of the laudable conversation Behold what commerce doth it instils a kind of generosity by mutuall negotiation Aspice quid faciant commercia Juven Prima sit in vobis morum tu tela Ovid. de med fac Est in in essu pars non temnenda decoris ld l. 3. art where is an interchange not onely of goods but manners Behaviour is one of Mens principal Ornaments yea the very gate and gesture carry a kind of grace in them and where shall ye see these with greater lustre than in the Citizen who is a man generally composed of a laudable deportment Rudenesse may be earthed into the Hind but the breath of a Citizens lips is courtesie the stretch of his hands respect yea he seemeth to be nothing but the mould not good manners sure I am seemly carriage hath borrowed two of her best titles from the City namely Civility Urbanity Secondly a City is a place of honour because there men wind up a clew of meanes in a more noble way than other men for whereas these men for the most part have no great patrimonies left them nor fields to till nor Pastures to feed yet by a meer ingenious and artificiall way they raise vast Estates Diodorus Siculus saith that they are called Merchants from Mercury Deus facundiae Caesar Comment Hermes Gracè quòd sermo vel â—nterpretatio qua utique ad sâ—rmonen pertinet Herme nia dicitur Vnde mercibus praeest quiae inter vendentes ementes sermo fit medius Calep. in voce Mercurius that great Godo wit that though he be the inventer of all Arts as some hold yet the Merchant hath the honour to have his name engraven into him and therefore it was as Caesar thinketh that he saw so many Images of Merchants built to Mercury as if he were their particular Deity Calepine expresly saith That he is called Hermes because he is set over Merchandize and that that calling doth require communication and conference Yea as Hermes Frismegistus borrowed his name from him in Greek so doth the Merchant in Latine A lofty derivation and yet the learned Ancients thought they must go so high to find out the Originall of Merchants I do not onely find that in latter times Laurence Medici Duke of Florence and Rodolph King of Bohemia the Son of the great Albertus that Pertinax the Emperour as Petrus Gregorius reporteth and Psammeticus King of Egypt as Diodorus affirmeth were Merchants and if we can find crowned Merchants then Merchants must be thought to get their meanes in a splendid way for Princes would never spot their Courts and soyl their Robes in medling with a sordid calling In generall ye see that this person doth not hew and plaister and delve and drive for his living but by the near art of contracts and the curious science of commerce as it were by wit and pregnancy he doth advance both his name and family Merchant and Citizen therefore lift up thy face as a person of honour Thirdly a City is a place of honour Vicissitudinariâ— commercio Columel because there is a daily Mart where by exportation and importation she doth supply other Countries and store her selfe with all manner of necessaries for a Citizen doth not content himselfe with what he doth find within his own walls but like a laborious Bee he doth fly to all the quarters of the world to gather hony for his own Hive He hath a magnetick vertue in him to draw commodities to him from the farthest Zone Impiger extremos currit mercator ad Indos Horat. yea he will search all the Store-houses of Egypt the Ware-houses of Persia the perfuming-shops of Arabia and Treasuries of the Indies to be replenished with all the rarities which the earth doth afford the Citizen is the great Cosmographer he is most skilfull in the terrestriall Globe Mercatura est magna copiosa multa undique adportans Cic. l. 1. Offic. ignotis repetens compendia terris Tibul. l. 1. Mercibus hic Italis mutat sub sole recenti Rugosam piper pallentis grana cumini Quae nobis nostrae reip supersua sunt exportant aliunde quae nobis necessaria sunt quaeve apud nos non inveniuntur important Petrus Gregori is de rep l. 4. c. 7. Commercia sunt juris Gentium L. ex hoâ— jure justit jur P. dict capit qualitas Mercatores negotiatores institores propolas nemo negare potest Plut. 2. de Rep. Callistratus l. 2. de nundinis If ye would see the Map of the world go to a Citizens shop for Merchandise is vast and copious it bringeth home things from all places yea from unknown Lands it filleth the Land with all Nature's wares and wonders By exchange it doth lend and borrow and so by permuting for Native commodities it gaineth the varieties of all Countries for the nature of Merchandise is to carry out superfluous things and to bring in necessary things Therefore to pull down the Merchant and the Citizen it were to turn the whole Kingdom into a plow-share or a Grasiers hide or a Weavers shittle we must eat nothing but our own fatlings drink nothing but our own Cider wear nothing but our own wooll Physick our selves with our own druggs mint out of our own Mines yea it were to unrigge a great part of our own shipping to embarque our own Nation to build Blockhouses against our selves and to bar up our
encreased to the height All these Titles were given to these severall persons that like deserving men they might be esteemed Great Yea the name Great conferred upon some in expresse termes as upon Valerius Fabius Pompey Alexander Gonsalve Leo yea this is the highest title of honour that can be attributed to the most flourishing Princes upon the face of the earth as to be styled the Great Mogul the Great Cham the Great Turk To be Great then is of high esteem with men and is it not as highly prised by God Almighty yes what thing is there of valew with him but to set out the excellency of it he doth record it to be great the great lights the great depths the great Sea the great Mountains the great Rivers the great Behemoth the great Leviathan the great Wildernesse are so called Yea things which in a more sacred way do relate to him are thus dignified as the great Nation Gen. 12.2 the great Altar 2 Kings 16.15 the great Temple 2 Chron. 12.9 nay not so much but the Church hath this glorious character set upon it what the world might look upon her with reverence and wonder for it is called a great house 2. Tim. 2.20 and a great City Rev. 11.8 Et non decernis Taure quid esse velis Mar l. 2.2 Epig. vixit inaequalis Horat l. 2. Sat. 7 Nil fuit unquam Sic impar sibi Id. l. 1. sat 3. Thus ye see how God doth love greatnesse in other things and why not in Cities yes or else as it was said of 〈◊〉 that he was so mutable that he knew not what he would have nor what he would be and of Prisous that he lived unequally to himself and of Tigellius Sardus that for his fickle expressions he was like a person unlike to himself so a man might suspect God had various affections in him that what he doth resent in one thing he hath a regret against it in another but there is no such inconstancy in the immutable God therefore as he doth exalt other things by their greatnesse so he doth set out the honour of Cities by being great or describing them to be great Ashur built Reshen the same is a great City Gen. 10.12 Gibeon was a great City as one of the royall Cities greater then Ah. Jos 10.2 Sidon the great Jos 11.8 Hemath the great Amos 6.2 the Canaanites had great Cities and walled up to Heaven Deut. 1.28 Yea great and goodly Cities Deut. 6.10 How is Gebers Sons portion magnified for this To him pertained the region of Argob which is in Basham with threescore great Cities which had walls and brasen bars 1 Kings 4.13 Yea how is Babylon because it was a great City mentioned with all the emphaticall appellations that can be imagined It is called the Virgin Daughter Esa 47.1 the Golden Cup. Jer. 51.7 the glory of Kingdoms and the beauty of the Chaldees excellency Esa 13.19 No marvail therefore if God doth so plead for the preservation of Nineveh for it was no vulgar inferiour City but a City and a great City Should not I spare Nineveh a great City Yes the greatnesse of it was a great inducement God to restrain the imminent danger of it for first it had been a long in comming to that height Elephantis partus Annosa quercus Marmor durabile diuturnitate temporis durescit greatnesse is not suddainly attained unto no there is a long time for the production of it Men rise by degrees and so do all other things An Elephants birth as some say is two years in the bringing forth an Oak is an hundred years in the ground the durable Marble lyeth many hundred years in the bowels of the earth before it is hardened Tantae melis erat Could Nineveh then on an instant lift up her head with glory no of so great difficulty was it for her to be seen in her bignesse and beauty How then doth it grieve God to lay wast such a City which had such a tract of time to be compleatly built Hee would spare Nineveh the Great because by so many pawses and interstitiums it came to be Great Secondly because of their long standing for it had continued in that flourishing condition for above a thousand years old evidences old Monuments old gold old Proverbs old Families and pedigrees are dear to us how much more the great City which was the old City shall be pretious in Gods eye He that would not have us to remove the antient bounds will not be very ready himself to deface that which is antient Age is a Grown of glory and diuturnity in any thing is thus diademed Omnia momentae antiquitatis servande sunt Val. Max. l. 3. the hoary hairs of a long continuance upon the head of any thing as well as any man are venerable Allethe moments of Antiquity are to be observed Theophilus caused one to be beat en with clubs because he overshadowed an old house with new buildings and so the honour of antient things is strictly to be preserved Art not thou of old O Lord our God our holy one Hab. 1.12 Yes and as he is of old himself so be doth affect any thing that is old Nineveh then that was not only the City of Conquests but the City of continuance not the City of Authority but the City of Ages which could plead prescription of time and out date the longest-lived City then in the world which might be a grandame to all the younger daughters for when they were sparse conceived in the womb or drawn from the womb by the Midwife or were out of their swadling cloths which had not a stone laid or a gate built then she stood upon her feet traced the earth with terrour was full of Towers and Palaces sate in a Throne had her Imperiall Robe upon her back Provinces and Kingdoms doing obeysance to her Oh is it not pitty that such an old gray headed City should perish yes a man would not make a spoyle of old Altars old Liberties old Statues old Customes old Records old Sepulchres how much lesse should the great God make a devastation of such an old City No he would spare it because it was great in dominion and great in diuturnity of a large extent and long standing I might likewise shew you that God would spare this great City for the great misery that should happen upon the fall of such a great City for what a lowd shriek must there be heard from the lips of so many perishing souls and likewise for the great repentance that had been expressed in such a vast City for what a Sea of tears had there dropped from the eyes of such numerous Penitents But I have shewn you the speciousnesse and spatiousnesse of the City and this was enough to prompt God to spare it even be cause it was Great Should not I spare Nineveh the great City Application 1. This serves to shew that God is no enemy to
picture in it because by her meanes they recovered their City again Athen. l. 13. c. 11. Pyrrhias redeeming an old man out of the hands of Pirates and he telling him where he might find a great deale of gold covered over with pitch he getting the treasure and growing infinitely rich upon it offered a Bullock to testifie his thankfulnesse Nemo bene merito bovem immolavit praeter Pyrrhiam Plut in quaest Graecanicis Diodor. Sic l. 20. for the old mans kindnesse insomuch that it went for a Proverb That no man was more thankfull then Pyrrhias Demetrius Polyorcetes freeing the Sicyonians from the yoke of Prolemy they took it so thankfully that they called their chief City after his name Demetrias and kept an annuall feast as long as the City stood to commemorate such a deliverance These and thousand the like examples might be produced to declare how apprehensive people are of mens favours but where is there the like gratitude expressed towards God Let him pleasure us in never so many things yet he doth get neither pillar nor bullock nor any thing called after his name as noble hearts as we seem to have to others we are base towards our God we think it inhumanity to forget courtesies but here we forget blessings man can heare of his Civilities but not God of his respects Here all obligations and engagements dye with the participation of the favours as if we had neither sight speech nor affection so that we are strict Courtiers but very formall Christians we are mens very humble servants and thrice bounden but we are Gods very insolent servants and scarce one twisted oh what are the ties and bands of blessings We do not render again according to the benefits done unto us 2 Chron. 32.25 Ingratitude is branded upon our brows brests eyes ears lips and lives where is there promotion and devotion favour and zeal met together No oh ye great men ye are the great dis-esteemers and disparagers of mercies a non-magnifying and unglorifying generation Ye cannot see favours at Noontide nor speak of mercies when every corner of your houses is a Pulpit where ye have domesticall Chaplains to preach out unto you Gods blessings Why are ye thus blind and deaf would ye weep for the want of blessings and do they congeal you with their warmth is it your high ambition to be great and doth greatnesse dwarf you by raising you many Cubits above your brethren 〈◊〉 constrain not Heaven to defy you as if ye were detestations Force not God to cry out Hear oh Heavens and hearken oh Earth as if ye were Monsters Set your eyes therefore if it be possible right in your heads and seek up mercies turn the keyes in those rusty lips of yours that that bed-rid duty of thankfulnesse may walk sorth and sing hymnes to the honour of blessings if ye be great know who hath given you these dimensions if ye be great be not too great for your Maker Cogitâ— quo cultu transieris Histriam quibus nunc utaris vestibus Eâ—asm in vitâ Chrys as Chrysoâ—lom said to Gaynas the Arian Captain Bethink thy self in what poor attire thou diost once posse through Histria and how richly thou art now apparelled So consider ye the simple weed perhaps that was once upon your backs and how God hath given you change of apparell Had ye alwaies such shops such Counting-houses such wardrobes such cupbords of plate such chains such jewels such habitations such honours have ye forgotten your beginnings can ye not tell how many pieces ye were worth when ye were first sworn Freemen or ye sealed the first leaf to have a standplace for trading oh swollen cheeks staring eyes infatuated brains look backward search out your selves to the first year and quarter nay the first change of the Moon when your prosperity crept out of the nest and first cast the shell from her spoonfeathered head and set down every penny that ye have received out of Gods privy purle remember how many thousand pounds ye are indebted to Gods blessing Ye are ignorant men to imagine that the Original of your welfare began at your selves yea arrogant and Mad men to think that your own prudence or diligence hath advanced you Ireturned and saw under the Sun that the race is not to the swift nor the battell to the strong nor bread to the wise nor riches to men of understanding Eccles 9.11 are ye high ye are lifted up are ye great ye are made great Consider therefore what a small stock ye had once to begin with and how God hath conveyed unto you hidden Treasure what Minums ye were once in the world and what Grandees ye are now become and let every man of you like a person rapt and transported with a traunce and exstasy that ye are made Heavens Favourites say with David Who am Ioh Lord God and what is my house that thou hast brought me hitherto 2 Sam. 7.18 Oh if ye will not confesse the kindnesse of your Creditour he may well call back what he hath lent you if ye will not acknowledge what webs ye have spun out of his providence he may justly recocover his Weoll and his Flax Let them be fired out of their estates or shipwracked in their means or turn Bankrupt in trading who so long as they abound know not the benefit of fulnesse or so long as they are advanced see not who hath advanced them Oh therefore if your mouths be satisfied with good things know who it is that hath given you such a taste of bounty if ye have treasures by the heap consider who it is that hath filled your coffers if ye be great blesse the Author of your greatnesse When ye eat in plenty and are satisfied praise the name of the Lord your God which hath done wonderfully with you Joel 2.28 say with David All that we enjoy commeth of thine hand and all is thine own 1 Chron. 29.16 I know it is an hard thing to fetch praise out of preferment or gratitude out of greatnesse to get a rich man to speak or a great man to magnify but know your duty lay to heart the office of prosperity and see Gods Image stamped upon your coin and him written Founder upon the groundsells pillars tarasses roofs and lanthorns of your houses oh therefore perfume an estate with devotion make Gods providence the crest of your escutcheon If ye flourish upon earth look up to heaven if your boughs be laden with fruit let God taste the first ripe apples of the tree if ye be rich celebrate divine favour if ye be mighty remember your best Friend if ye be great be not unthankfull why should Gods eye be fixed upon thee why should his rain fall upon thy ground why shouldst thou see the Rivers and floods and brooks of honey and butter why should he take thee by the hand why should he lift up thy head is there no reason for thy weal then there
if man be the Protonotary in Gods Court to have the chiefe hand in his Records and Decrees If he had power to bring Gods mercy under his restraint and to bind Gods orders in his narrow lists we should have strange determinations We doome upon earth and damn to hell many persons as if they had sinned beyond favour and were too great to be pardoned Mary Magdalen should have been a weeping Lady till death if she had wept till Simon had stanched her teares Not a Publican or Harlot though never so penient should have raigned above if the Scribes Pharisees had had the keys of the kingdom of heaven and had had the office to put on Crowns Man is a rigid and severe sentencer God keep thy estate from his justice thy life from his verdict and thy soul from his charity Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth This people which know not the law are cursed Who is this David who is this son of Ishai there be many men now adayes that run away from their Master There are men so liberal of their judgements that we may say to them as Diogenes said to one in the like kind Quà m nuper de coelo venisti Laert. l. 6. How long is it since thou camest out of heaven They are settling of other mens future estates when they had more need to be ordering their present callings or howsoever not to pronounce beyond their Trades as Ptolomy rebuked a smith who would needs be spending his opinion upon Musick Dost not consider Eras l. 6 Apoph saith he How thou speakest beyond thy Hammer Where these men have liberty many a wicked man shall be justified and many a righteous man shall be condemned as Megabysus magnified the coorse Pictures of Apelles but by no meanes he would give in his approbation to those which were drawne by true art Aelian l. 2. Var. Hist That attempt which hath gotten the successe by basenesse shall be more cryed up then that which hath been advanced by noblenesse as the people admired the Pyramide Eras in Sim. that Rhodope the Harlot built more then all those which the brave Kings of Aegypt erected But doth God sayl according to mans Load-star or march according to his beating the Drum Is the circumference of divine favour measured according to the stretching of these compasses Do those cheyms go according as these Clocks doe strike Is Gods ballance guided by these weights below or do his Orbs turn about according to the motion of the worlds Primum mobile Shall every one be a sinner that man doth call Malignant or every one a Saint whom he doth put into his Calender No I would be loath to have my conscience brought up as a pupill in this University or my soul to clear her innocency before this Tribunall Man hath a cursing humour and is apt to reprobate too much we should have wretches by scores nay sons of perdition by myriads if man had the Book of life in his keeping But Gods mercy doth exceed mans severity he hath a Spring-tide that by some secret influences doth rise higher in the Channell then the ordinary course of this brackish Ocean would make it to flow The woman taken in Adultery shall be acquitted though those brayners with stones taken out of Moses Law would have had her knocked down not considering how nigh their own skulls were to pelting That modest Petitioner that durst not come too near nor speak too loud which had rather lift up his eyes then lift up his tongue and carry it with knocking upon his brest then knocking out selfe-fancies which hath nothing in his lips but an arraignment or a Petition of grace God be mercifull to me a sinner shall depart away justified sooner than he which justified himselfe and quavered upon his personall innocency I thank God I am not as other men are and had no other style for the disconsolate Petitioner than that snarling scorn This Publican God hath compassion where man hath no bowels and pitty where man hath nothing but reproach Two Brabant horsemen came over to help Edward the second against the Scots but hearing nothing but scandals uttered against Robert Bruce whom they knew to be a prince of admired worth though the cry of the Souldiery was wholly in the defamation of Robert Hector Poeth l. 14. yet they openly prayed for his happy successe and deserted our Army Amanus Aurelianensis going to his Bishoprick desired Agrippinus the Governour of the City that the Prison doors might be set open to honour his entrance with the release of condemned men he denyed it and said They were all Villains and Monsters and should suffer the paines of death oh no saith Amanus there may be some men amongst them as just as our selves therefore I pray you release them lest God doth declare their innocency the Governour still denyed it till a stone fell miraculously from heaven and so bruised him that he was glad to free them Bonsin l. 4. Dec. 1. whom he would gladly have executed The Magistrates of Thebes whould have condemned Epaminondas because he went and sought against the Arcadians and Messenians though they had given him commission onely because he would not return back at their command to give answer to a frivolous accusation but the Citizens seeing him come home with Honour and Conquest and knowing the integrity and innocency of their famous Captaine Probus in Epaminonda in despight of the peevish Magistrates got him to be discharged So God doth assoyle where man doth accuse and justifie where man hath nothing but hard censure both in his lips and heart Gods rule and mans square do differ He will not have mercies confined according to mans limitations God and Jonah are here in a contest the two Bars vary Nineveh must perish at the one because it is That great City Nineveh is spared at the other because it is That great City Thirdly God would spare Nineveh That great City because he desireâ—h to be honoured in a great Preservation Gillas habuit praecordia liberalitatis benignum finum that he might be said to have in him as it was said of Gilias of Agrigentum the heartstrings of liberality and the bosome of benignity God would be abundant in goodnesse Exod. 34.6 and save by a great deliverance Gen. 45.7 not spare a particular eminent person or a distinct eminent family but That great City that upon all the glory there might be a defence Es 4.5 this is the triumph of divine favour or the Trophe which he doth aime at to be pight up to the honour of his Commiseration then is God conspicuous like himself when great Countries great Nations great Churches participate of his mercy that it might be said here God hath been Ensigne-bearer here is his great Banner flourishing and his very Buckler hung up The whole Camp of Israel defended by God raising up one David to kil the great
brest lying in the Cradle standing upon thy feet growing up to ripe years and performing the manlike acts of a Penitent He can repeat to thee thy checks thy conflicts thy groans thy protestations thy supplications thy fruitfulnesse thy fervency thy watchfulnesse Oh then if God hath all things under his eye how can repentance be rejected or despised no depend upon thy repentance trust and rest upon it jeopard a soul and venture heaven upon it think thy state is secure thy bliss infallible for God will examine thy repentance to find out all the assurances for thy justification as in his plea for Nineveh he doth urge all the arguments and ratifications for the sparing of it as that it was a City a great City and That great City Should not I spare Nineveh that great City Seventhly This doth shew That no earthly eminency is certaine for God once spared Nineveh that great City but now that great City is wasted Nineveh nunc tota est vastata Hayt de Tartaris l. 12. Funditùs periit Pappus in 3. Jon. Centum annis ad concionem Jonae actâ paenitentiâ paenam sibi denuntiatam evadebat Verum cùm felici rerumsuccessu elata ad vomitum rediret excusso timore Dei Dominum tandem usciscentem experta est Pappus in a Nahum Carthw Hist some say that Mosul is built out of the ruines of it as Tunis is said to be built out of the ruines of Carthage howsoever the old Nineveh is demolished Haiton saith it is wholly decayed Pappus saith it is utterly perished for he saith Repentance at the preaching of Jonah saved it for an hundred years but afterwards being puffed up with happy successe it felt an avenging God Carthwright which lately travelled into those parts saith That he saw but some pieces and broken walls remaining of it and that Almutsal or as we call it Mosul was built upon the same place where it once stood The most judicious Writers hold that after Arbaces had taken it from Sardanapalus it did continue under the Medes in some flourishing condition till the time of Cyaxares the son of Phraartes who began to destroy it and Astyages his son levelled it with the ground O then what stability is there in any earthly greatnesse That great City hath had both her Obit and her Funerall yea there is scarce an urne remaining where we may find her ashes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a Tomb-stone upon which we might write her Epitaph What pleasure then in smelling of these Nosegayes or looking with delight upon the brightnesse of these falling stars Why dost put water into a riven vessel That nothing was seen scarce remaining of it Cyril Alex. in Nahum M. Gregory in his description of the Assyrian Monarchy saith That if Ninus which built Nineveh were now alive he should find the City to be so fallen into mine that he would not know it to be Nineveh Cur perforato aquam dolio ingeris Chrys Hom. 77. in Matth. Alba ligustra cadunt Virg. Ecce mundus qui diligitur sugit Greg. this world is crackt and split and can hold nothing in it long the whitest stowers welk and drop It is much we can enter into league or vow familiarity to such a mutable friend Behold the world which is loved doth flee away We do but warme our selves at a blaze borrow our light from a melting Candle travail with a fugitive guides these Musks will lose their sent this juicy meat will turn into dung this keeper of our treasure will prove a Thiefe our best buildings here stand upon a weak pinning our richest Garments are stitched up with a rotten thred our strongest-ships are subject to Leakes how soon will these mists be exhaled these bright days be obscured with dark night these pleasant Comedies be acted out Oh that our hearts could trample upon this earth as well as our feet do that our consciences could renounce the world as well as our profession doth that we could wear St Pauls Crucifix about our necks I am crucified to the world and the world to me How many great families have we seen decay how many great Cities have we found laid in the dust Baldnesse is come upon Gazah Jer. 47.5 How is Sheshach taken the praise of the whole earth Jer. 51.41 What City like to Tyrus yet she destroyed in the midst of the flood Ezech 28.8 Babylon the glory of Kingdoms the beauty of the Chaldees excellency yet she that cryed a Lady sure for ever is now but a poor Madam The hammer of the whole earth is cut asunder and broken Ier. 50.23 Yea Nineveh that was the Crown Imperiall of the whole world hath now lost her Diadem That great City hath not one of her thousand five hundred Towers or one of her splendid Palaces to be seen Oh then why are ye enamoured upon your beautifull Empress do ye dwell here in the inchanted City are ye out of the dint of vengeance do ye feare no judgements what should make you so confident Nineveh's circuit was more large her walls more strong her streets more populous her treasures more abundant and her dominion more ample then yours then may not ye drop as well as Nineveh is fallen Are your sinnes lesse No ye have four sinnes within your walls and yet I will except fraud pride partiality and bribery that shall justifie Neneveh from being the more guilty sinner Four sinnes What are they I know ye are good at asking of questions and apter to sciscitate than to eliminate therfore becaus I have often heard you told of these things and yet I could never see you blush at these things but rather rage not softned with ministeriall zeal but rather hardened therefore I shall not speak where the Lord hath commanded to keep silence Amos 5.13 nor throw abroad his Pearls but where he hath directed me to cast them nor impart his holy things but where he hath enjoyned me to give them Mat. 7.6 If ye command the Prophets saying prophesie not Amos 2.12 and the times be come about that no man must strive nor reprove another for the people are as they which strive with their Priest Hos 4.4 Then why should we reiterate that which we have had preached upon the house-top and made plain upon Tables for fear therefore I should be charged to bring in railing accusation I shall-say onely as Michael did when he contended with the Devill about the body of Moses The Lord rebuke thee But these sins are such that if ye had walls of brass and guards of Anakims they will make every beam of your-houses and every stone in your buildings cry out confusion to you Ye have nothing but conversion to preserve you and I doubt whether ever I shall see Ninevehs repentance amongst you Oh that the Jonah were born that could cry effectually in your streets oh that the Auditors were yet so prepared that they could listen to a message from heaven with Ninevehs ears oh
vicissitudes of events changes of States in Mineralls and Meteors Thunders and Comets Influences and Constellations as if he had a Chamber in the bowels of the earth a Closet under the hollow of the Moon or a Study in the eighth sphear which hath the lips of knowledge and the minde that hath understanding which hath Orpheu's harp in his mouth and can draw Congregations and Kingdoms after him with his tongue which is the curious Observer and the eloquent Oratour which hath wrought all the strange feats setled all the Ordinate rules atchieved all the Conquests and reered up all the Monuments which are upon earth Oh Man what weight and wonder do there lie couched in thee Lord what is man that thou shouldst be so mindfull of him and the son of man that thou shouldst so regard him But Lord what is man that he should be so unmindfull of himself and the Son of man that hee should so little regard himself Oh Man how hast thou wretched thy self God made thee a Lampe and thy light is extinguished he did set thee upon thy feet and thou hast brought thy self to thy knees thou shouldst be the splendour of the whole world and thou hast made thy self a scandall a blemish a curse to thine own being where are thy primitive engravings where are thy Creation prints Oh Lucifer how art thou fallen from Heaven thou Son of the Morning Bern. Lucifer is become Noctifer instead of a Moning-star a Night-Orbe a Star fit only to shine in Hades the Region of darknesse So oh Man how hast thou eclipsed thy brightnesse where is thy wonted fulgour where are thy morning beams no thou art now instead of a wonder an astonishment and fright for he is a rare man which doth live according to his endowments and act according to his priviledges instead of those Ornaments that were wont to be seen in man there are now so many torments of Soul Tot animael tormenta Jeron Tota sua viscera serpens concutit imprimendae malitiae pestem vomit Greg. Ego adolescentule non ob patrias sed proprias cujusque viri virtutes mercedem munera dare seoco Plat. in Reg. Imper Apoph yea Man is so envenomed as if the serpent had stirred all his poysoned entrayles to infect him Whatsoever our Forefathers deserved for vertue and piety yet can wee challenge their honours no we are degenerated and so have forfeited all their rights as Amigonus the second when a debauched Souldier came to ask his Fathers Salary said to him no I pay stipends to Souldiers not for their Father's but their own vertues Oh man how shall I deplore thy disfiguration and deformation thou knowest not thy self to be Man thou hast scarse any part of a Man about thee setting aside thy visage what affections or actions hast thou to declare thy selfe to be Man thou hast beauty in thee to be the Lure of thy Iusts strength to be the Club of thy passions wisdom to be the Craftmaster of thy damned policies dominion to be the Rentgatherer of thy covetousnesse and the Wardrobe-keeper of thy pride what man-like thing is there discernable in thee no thou hast perverted every excellent thing in thee to the satisfying of thine own vitious and pernicions desires and designs Man being in honour may be compared unto the beasts that perish It is worse to be compared to a beast then to be born a beast for a man naturally to want reason is tolerable Pejus est comparari quà m nasci naturaliter non habere rationem tolerabile est hominem verò ratione decoratum esse irrationali creaturae comparari voluntatis crimen est Aug. Homil. Heu tristis lacrhymosa mutatio Bern. s 35. in Cant. but to be endowed with reason and to be compared to the unreasonable Creature this is the crime of the will Oh sad and lamentable change that Man which was the Inhabitant of Paradise the Lord of the Earth the Citisen of Heaven the domesticall servant of the Lord of Sabboths the brother of blessed spirits and Coheyre of the Heavenly Powers should now by a suddain change be turned out of himself and become a beast as if for the generality here were nothing but Dens for savage Creatures Cribs for bruits and Stalls for beasts that it was not so dreadfull for Loths wife to be changed into a Pillar of salt Miriam into a Leper Saul into a Phrentick as for Man to be changed into a Beast A beast indeed who must not onely be rid with a bridle or pricked with a goad but he doth wallow in the mire and doth he down in dung which hath mind of nothing but inhumane barbarous obscene filthy beastly and brutish things And would to God that this were his last and worst change but I doubt there is another Metamorphosis to be found of him that he is changed into a Fiend and a Devill for the Devill is his Companion and Counsellor his Leader and Lawmaker no Conjurer more conversant with his black Daemon nor Witch with her familiar spirit Insomuch that it may be said to too many that the God of this World hath blinded their minds that the Prince of the air doth work in the children of disobedience that a lying spirit is in their mouths that the Angell of the bottomlesse pit hath locked them up in close prison that they are of their Father the Devill that the Devill is entred into their hearts yea that Sathan hath filled their hearts to lye to the Holy Ghost Oh Men then where is your Manhood what Monsters and Prodigies are ye become that ye should be turned into Beasts and Devills Is this according to the honour of your nature the perfection of your endowments Oh look with shame and horrour upon this wofull evirating or disâ— humaning your selves and reassume your first dignity live answerably to your qualifications be Men and assure your selves if ye glorifie God as he hath enabled you that ye are the Beauties in your severall Stations yea that the Earth hath no greater Ornaments then Men ye may see it here in Nineveh which had not more rich and pretious things to be found in it then these Persons Wherein are Persons Secondly this doth serve to present to the City her treasures these living souls are your lasting Excellencies As Cornelia being the Mother of the Gracchi she brought forth her two sons Haec sunt ornamenta mea Plut. and said to the Romane Ladies which delighted in other things These are my Ornaments so when ye have viewed all the principall things within your walls Sicut pascua sine armentis non sunt speciosâ— sic nec civitales sine Inâ—olis Epictetus yet these are your true Glories As pastures are not gracefull without Heards so no more are Cities without Inhabitants As Lycurgus called men the walls of Cities so are they the Decorements of Cities If your walls were made of Alablaster your streets paved
liberty be so much tendered how much more life Oh there is not a more crimson sinne then when blood toucheth blood Hos 4.2 That is That there is no end in blood-shed when blood is powred out as dust and flesh as dung Zeph. 2.17 When widows are increased like the sands of the Sea Jer. 15.8 When a Land is soaked with blood Isai 34.7 Oh that men to men should be such Tigers and Furies as if it were a mirth to open the Conduits of life to gush forth till the last drop and to water fields with tempests of blood What dreadfull examples of cruelty do we meet withall in ages Pericles as Plut. reporteth exterminating the Calcidenses and Estienses The French after the defeat at Thermopylae as Pausanias saith destroying the Callienses to a man plucking the Children from their Mothers brests and killing them tearing in pieces the marriagable virgins so that happy were they which could get a Frenchmans sword to dye upon without further torture Totila as Gregorius Turon reporteth flaying quick Herculanus the Bishop of Perusium and cutting off the heads of all the Citizens Sylla slaying twelve thousand in one City of Preneste Attila 30000 at the sacking of Rome Abderamen an hundred thousand at one battell in Gallicia Marius so busie in killing his Country-men that he wished himselfe the onely Roman to be left alone Hanibal so eager in destroying Flaminius and his Souldiers that he felt not an earth quake which happened in the time of the battel Don Pedro the cruell making Spain in his time a Charnel house full of nothing but dead mens bones Mahomet the great causing the streets and Temples of Constantinople to swim with blood Selim the Turk killing the Persians so with without mercy that he built a Tower barely of their dead heads Oh these men if it were in their power how would they exanimate nature dispeople the earth and leave the world a wildernesse Wounds are their feats of activity blood their cordiall crying groans their musick gastly faces their looking-glasses shivered bones the reliques of their puissance and dead carkasses the emblems of their glorious triumphs But wo and alass to such harsh Encomiasticks I which never slew man nor have yet seen a man slain do account such praises which have blood for the ground of the ditty but sad honours These things may be famous amongst Pagans but they are but dolefull accidents amongst Christians For we which are commanded so keepe the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace and to be courteous and tender-hearted one towards another and to love one another with a pure heart fervently are so unsainted that if we speak with the tongue of men and Angels and have not charity we are but as the sounding brass and the tinkling Cymballs doubtlesse the thought of these things should make us oftentimes either to sheath up the sword in affection or to go to War in tears Whence come Wars whence come contentions are they not from hence even from the lusts that are in your members And are lusts justifiable pleaders at Gods Throne Is there a judge is the reckoning hastening on will blood be one of the most criminall guilts at that Tribunal then how ought we to skreen and riddle our soules concerning the steyn of blood-shed He which hath slayn his brother how shall he shew his face before that Father he which hath a bloody hand how shall he lift it up with innocency at the white Throne How will the lives of men go at an high rate at that day when here God doth prize the chiefe Treasures of a City to be these Persons Wherein are Persons Should not I spare Nineveh that great City wherein are Persons Sixscore thousand 4. Now let us come to the quantity of the Treasures Sixscore thousand So many there were in the minority of yeares how many then were there of riper age From hence observe That a great blessing to a Citty is to abound in people Numerosa multitudo isocrates Civitas est societas ex multis viciniis constans Pet. Greg. Stante Coronâ Ovid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eâ—rip in Phrixo for a true City is a numerous multitude yea an happy City is a society consisting of many neighbourhoods When a Crown of living souls seemeth to stand together and a whole Country is met in a Ring for Cities are a confluence of men and not desolate wildernesses That as it is said Who can tell the dust of Jacob and the number of the fourth part of Israel Num. 23.10 So who can tell the multitudes of a populous City Oh it is a glorious thing when a City doth passe Arithmetick when the totall sum can scarce be cyphered up Who can tell Who can number when such a loud peal is rung within the walls that a City is full of noise Isai 22.2 when there is such a crowd for room that the place is too narrow for men to dwell in Isai 49.19 when new hangings must be bought for such a large family or new Bedsteads set up for the plenty of guests that come to lodge there that a City doth spread out the Curtains of her habitations and increase on the right hand and on the left Es 54.2 3. When such a flood of Inhabitants doth seem to stream in the streets that the Citizens are like many waters Rev. 17.1 when such swarms of living souls do skip up and down in the streets that they are as the grashoppers for multitude Judg. 6.5 When the sand-heaps do scarce exceed the number of their lovely issues the fruitfull Mothers seeming to have gotten shoals and shores of progenies into their wombs the ofspring of their bowels being as the gravell Esai 48.19 Is not this glory is not this honour yes this is to be a City with an excellency as Ninevehs fame and felicity is here described to be great that she can reckon by her many thousands even sixscore thousand Application 1. This doth serve first to present to you your Life-Blessing are ye not peopled Vnd undique circum Fundimur Virg. 3. Aeneid Quôque capit latis immensum moenibus orbem Ovid. 2. de Ponto turba vias impleverat agmine denso Lucan ad Cal. Pl. Veteri exhausta habitatore H. Boeth Pudendus ex ercitus ex maneipiis Plut. yes the City of Numbers every street and lane stored with dwellers yea a City so plenished with Inhabitants that it doth seem to contain a world within her walls the waies seem to be too streight for frequency of passengers If it should be said to you as it is Num. 1.40 Take the sum of the people or give in the full tale 1 Sam. 18.27 what troops might here march forth what armies might be drawn out Armorica Bretaigne in France was so thinned of men after the wars of Maximian that it was afraid that the Country should be drained of the old Inhabitant after the battle of Cannae Rome was so desolate that
it was enforced to raise up a shamefull Army of slaves but these fears are not yet come upon you for the Lord your God hath blessed you and ye are as the stars of Heaven for multitude Deut. 1.10 yea we might almost say to you that ye are a great people which cannot be numbred or counted 1 Kings 3.8 ye know the bounds of your City but which of you all do know the vastnesse of your Inhabitants oh your Vine doth hang full of clusters your ricks stand thick with corn ye have a rich Banquet served up with variety of services your quarry is large your book in solio hath so many pages in it that there want figures to number them how much liquor is there in this spacious Winepresse how many sockets with bright lights shining in them are there in this mighty Branch Oh ye are a great City and a great People If blossoming and budding and filling a place with fruit be a blessing how high ought the tone of your Magnificat to be the sound of your hymn ought to be little inferiour to the noise of the Hallelujah in Heaven It is a blessing when God doth fill the face of the world with Cities Esay 14.21 but it is a greater blessing when God doth fill the face of a City with the amiablenesse of Inhabitants and is not this your happinesse yes oh that ye could see it that ye could sing to the honour of it that ye had learned some speciall Antheme or some Psalme of degrees for it that ye would make it not your boast but your exultation not your pride but your praise not your glory but your glorifying Sure I am few Cities upon earth have a greater incentive of celebrating for as Cyprus was called Macaria the Happy Island for fruitfulnesse of ground so may ye the Happy City for fruitfulnesse of people Knowls in his Turkish Hist Your sons grow up as the young Plants and your daughters as the polished corners of the Sanctuary hither the Tribes go up even the Tribes in their Order ye are sown with the seed of man yea your seed is as the dust of the Earth ye have enough to answer all Nations in traffick ye have enough to answer your enemies in the gates ye have planted whole Countries beyond the Seas and ye have a Noursery yet left to make wast plains and wild wildernesses Orch-yards and Gardens Ye have the double blessing amongst you the blessing of the backet and store Deut. 28.5 and the blessing of the breast and womb Gen. 49.25 What a large Ordinary is this City how many Tables are there here every day spread to satisfie hunger what a spacious Bedehamber is this City how many Couches are there every night here prepared to refresh weary souls What a spring of people is there here the breath of life never stirred quicker in such a quantity of ground Nature here doth shew her organizing art this is one of her gendring Receptacles The Myrmidons were so many that they were said to be begotten of Pismires and this City doth so abowâ—â—d with people that it may be called one of the Ant-heaps of the earth the Curetes are reported to be begotten by a stroke upon a Mountain and living persons do here so abound that they seem rather to be strook out then brought forth their encrease is so plentifull and speedy that a man would think that they came up like spring-flowers to garnish the City or that they were rained down from Heaven by the vertue of the sweet Influences of the Pleiades Oh look about and see that if these Persons be your treasures how fast your mint do go and what incredible heaps ye have in banks ye are the skinned and fleshed City the true Corporation indeed for here are enow to make up not only a body Politique but a Republique of bodies if all your bodies should appear at once ye would scarse have streetroom enough for them they would adorn your City more than your hangings of Arras at the most publique shew Every place is so thronged with them that people can scarceget passage every dwelling so stored that there is scarce an empty house to be found your births do so exceed that ye can scarce build fast enough to house them the branches have almost as much timber as the stock of the tree the land without the inclosure is almost as fruitfull as the ground within the hedge your Suburbs do almost vye multitudes with the City These slifts which have been taken from you are grown up to a wonderfull height The daughters which have come out of your womb do equall the Mother in pedigree and progeny But are the people treasures are ye affected with these treasures have ye done honour to the Lord of the Mine that your City is sprinkled scattered heaped and wedged with these treasure that yee are filled with these pretious and pleasant riches as Solomon saith that these glistering pieces are in every corner that your wealth cannot be told that there is no end of your riches did ye ever open your Coffers look upon your riches blesse your selves and blesse your God in this abundance oh if a multitude in the Hebrew doth come of a verb that signifies to make a noise Strepuit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 arena 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eurip. in Hecuba Populus civitatis robur Dionys Halic l. 3. and to congregate in Greek doth intimate as much as the sand if a multitude be a weighty thing and the people be the vigour and strength of the City if there be no greater happinesse than to see a people led like a flock Psalm 77.20 and to have the noise of a multitude in the mountains as of a great people Esa 13.4 and to have people to flow to the mountain of the Lord. Micah 4.1 and to have them encrease as they have increased and to be sown amongst the people Zach. 10.8 9. yea if the glory of a City be to be full of people Lam. 1.1 and the honour of a King be in the multitude of his people Prov. 14.28 then how are ye bound to magnifie God for this lowd sound in the City for the quick sand which run up and down by heaps in the City for the City weight and the City strength the huge bone and the backbone as it were of the City to see people flock and flow increase and fill and grow up to the number of multitudes Did ye ever look upon the goodly house that God hath given you and see how richly he hath furnished it for you Did ye ever mark your golden Cup and consider how God hath fillled it brim full with people people shining amongst you like the Sun beams or lying as thick as the dew upon the grasse Did all the bells in the City ever ring the trumpets blow and the wind-instruments play I mean your thankfull lips make melody to the Lord for
the People No I doubt ye have forgotten your people that though they daily face you and their clappers strike in your ears yet that ye are both blind and dumb in extolling God for this high speeched favour What Hecatomb have ye ever offered for this numerous blessing Have ye ever sung Hosannah in the highest for this high mercy I question whether ye have an Altar in the City for this service or whether the smoak of the sacrifice hath bin seen ascending Have ye told over your people in heaven and sent up a bill to God Almighty of your multitudes and wrot in the bottom Sit nomen Domint benedidum Let the name of he Lord be praised for this populous City No I am afraid ye have too much silence closing up your lips and too much ingratitude sticking upon your heart strings that God hath not heard from you a great while concerning the state welfare prosperity innumerability of the City that ye have not sent him word how the people do how this City is stocked with people and what quantity of these treasures there are Would ye have a City with bare walls or these gorgeous buildings stand without Inhabitants ye deserve it if God hath given you houses and housholders and hath breathed the breath of life into every living person amongst you and ye will not so much as give him thanks for this quickning mercy Therefore as ye cannot shew to the world a greater Ornament of your City then your people so present this people to God as your City-Benediction let it be the cry of your streets and the charme of your Pulpits an extasie for the people a Rhapsody for the multitudes Oh for this keep your solemn triumphs and hang up your banners for Tokens Study the flesh-song the womb-streynes as ye have the people-blessing so learn the People-ditty let young Men and Maydens old men and Babes Bride grooms and Brides Masters and Servants Liverymen and Senators Princes and Judges Closets and Galleries Chambers and Chappels Towers and Temples City and Suburbs Heaven and earth eccho and rebound with varied notes of a Canticle upon the Persons For that Persons in great multitudes are a great blessing ye may see it here by Nineveh who hath it mentioned as her high felicity to reckon Persons by thousands Wherein are sixscore thousand persons Secondly This serves to eye your present blessing that ye are yet preserved in your thousands Ye are yet a populous City and the Lord God if it be his blessed will make you a thousand times so many more as ye are Deut. 1.11 But if the Arrow that flyeth at noon day Psal 91.5 should glide amongst you how many wounded brests would there be If God should send the Pestilence amongst you after the manner of Egypt Amos 4.10 with as consident a foot as ye now walk yet then with the Magitians of Egypt ye would not be able to stand because of the boyles Exod. 9.11 If Hippocrates were then amongst you with his precious odours and sweet oyntments to persume places If Miadererus were shooting of Guns in every corner of your streets Quercit in Diet Polyhist Sect. 2. c. 8. Avicen l. 1. Fen. 3. Doct. 2. c. 7. Gal. l. 1 de dâ—sser Feb. c. 4. Paulus Aegin de re medica l. 1. c. 32. because the forceable noyse dissipates the ayr and sulphur and salt-peter with strong sinells purge it If Quercitanus and Avicen were preseribing the strictest rules of dyet if Galen and Paulus Aegineta were giving cautions against Plethorick bodies If Aetius Aretaeus Rasis Rondeletius Albucasis Azaramias Baria Papillia Chelmetius Fernelius Fallopius Georgius Pistorius Georgius Cusnerus Guido de Canliato Gulielmus de Saliceto with the most expert Physitians that ever lived were then teaching you the art how to make Confections Electuaries Pilles Pomanders Cordials Epithymes Frontals Funtanels and to make new sires and fumigations of Storax Calamint Labdanum Ireos Nemphar Dragagant Withy-cole and a thousand other materials for pure smoaks to expell ill sents yet they might be all ineffectuall to prevent that irresistible stroak For I am not yet resolved with some Astrologers that if Saturn and Mars be in dominion under Aries Sagittarius and Capricorn and in opposition to Jupiter that the plague doth infallibly follow nor that it doth arise alwaies from hot and moist ayr Hippoer l. 2. Epidem Galen l. 1. de Temp. c. 4. Avenzoar l. 3. Tract 3. c. 1. as Hippocrates and Galen do hold nor from hot and dry air as Avenzoar conceiveth nor that kindred do take the infection sooner one from another than strangers because of the assimilation of blood as Vido Vidio affirmeth and that Virgins are more subject to it than married women because the spirits are fluid and reteyned and so apt to putrisie as Mindererus holdeth Cels l. 8. de re Med. c. 27. neither do I think that wine is an Antidote against all poysons nor that if a man be well dyeted he may escape any infection Lacrt. l. 2. because Socrates if it be true lived in Athens in many plagues and yet was never touched with it being a man of high temperance But I hold that a Pestilence is the Hand of God as David calleth it 2 Sam. 24.14 and the sword of the Lord as it is styled 1 Chron. 21.12 So that when God will strike or where or by what means is uncertain onely this is certain that whensoever God doth lift up his hand he will strike home Is there a more terrible and dismall blow then that of the Pestilence No it is the noysome pestilence Psa 91.3 and if this stinche come up into your nostrils ye are gone God will make you then smite with the hand stamp with the foot and cry alas Ezech. 6.21 Yea it is a weapon so sharp that it is able to leave a Nation without an heir for I will smite them with the Pestilence and disinherit them Num. 14.12 There is nothing but a burying-place to be seen where a Pestilence doth cleave to a place Deut. 28.21 Behold a pale horse and he that sat upon it was death Rev. 6.8 If this pale horse come to neigh in your streets and death be the Rider such an Horse and such a Rider are able to dash asunder and to dash into the grave many thousands I read of fourteen thousand seven hundred that dyed in one plague Num. 16.49 of twenty four thousand which dyed in another plague Num. 25.9 of seventy thousand in a third plague 2 Sam. 24.15 Paus in Baeoticis C. Rhod. ant lect l. 8. c. 12. Dion Ziphilinus liabell l. 9. Aencad 1. Ensebius lib. 7. c. 21. The Ectenae a people of Baeotia with their first King Ogyges were wholly destroyed with the plague so that the Hyantes and Aeones came in their stead to people the Land A golden Coffer in the Temple of Apollo at Babylon being opened it infected the whole Country with the Pestilence and spread
Nineveh that great City wherein are more then sixscore thousand persons which cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand And also Cattle 2. Now let us come to the strange Subject Cattle A strange Subject indeed for Nunquid de bobus cura est Deo Hath God care of Oxen So are Cattle a fit subject for the onely wise God to discourse of yes he gave them life and the lives of them are tender to him From hence observe that God is compassionate to the very beasts His providence doth reach to the very brutish Creatures All the beasts of the Forrests are mine Mine by soveraignty and sustentation they are a part of my glory and honour therefore under my care and custody they had their distinct Creation for God saith Let the earth bring forth the living Creature Cattle creeping things and the Beast after his kind Gen. 1.24 as if the earth were not compleat without this furniture Sure I am they were snatched by God out of the generall deluge and put into the Ark as a speciall treasure Gen. 7.2 and when they came out of the Ark God entred into a Covenant with them for This is the token of the Covenant which I make between me and you and every living Creature Gen. 9.10 Solomon amongst his blessings doth reckon not only that he had made him great works and built Princely houses that he had silver and gold and the peculiar treasure of Kings that he had Vineyards and Orchards Men singers and Women-singers but that he had possession of great and small Cattle Ec. 2.7 David doth describe it as an high perfection of a flourishing Kingdom not onely that the garners are full affording all manner of store but that the Sheep bring forth thousands and ten thousands in the streets and that the Oxen are strong to labour Psal 144.13 14. Moses would not leave an hoof in Egypt and wherefore but to shew that these hoofed creatures were worthy the carrying along with them It is an heavy punishment when a judgment doth light upon the Cattle the murrain of Beasts was one of the plagues of Egypt And find wee not a sad grone throughout all the Scripture when this heavy accident doth happen yes How do the Beasts grone the heards of the Cattle are perplexed the flocks of Sheep are made desolate Joel 1.18 Where is thy Flock thy beautifull Flock Jer. 13.20 Doth not Amos join the death of Beasts with the destruction of men yes Your young men have I slain with the sword and taken away your horses Amos 4.11 God doth threaten this as one way by which he will be avenged upon a disobedient people that they shall be cursed in the increase of their Kine and the Flocks of their Sheep Deut. 28.18 This was that which made Habbacucks belly to tremble his lips to quiver and rottenesse to enter into his bones that the Flocks should be cut off from the Fold and there should be no Heards in the Stalls Habbacuck 3.17 Without Cattle the whole earth doth languish and a great part of mans Dominion is diminished the prejudices are many if beasts be wanting A man cannot march into the field without them for An horse is prepared for Battle Prov. 21.31 there would be a thin table without them for if all the labour of man be for his mouth Eccles 6.7 without these he cannot eat of the sat Nehem. 8.10 a man can scarce cloth himself without these for from these come the goodly rayment Gen. 27.15 and the Family clad in skarlet Prov. 31.21 our shops can scarce be well furnished without them Ivory Furs Masks Sables healing-horns Bezar-stones c. come not these from Beasts Besides are they not goodly to look upon yes a pleasing sight it is to behold the burthen-bearing Camel the swift paced Dromedaty the scaled Rhinoeros and in a word the Princely Lion therefore if a man consider his honour in the field his sustenance at the Table the bravery of his back the benefit of his Merchandise or but meerly his pleasure and delight he must say Beneficiorum Dei animalia etiam habent partem Aug. de quant animae Animantia fecit Deus propter hominem animalibus ministrat propter hominem Chrysost Hom. 28. in Gen. Domestica sylvestria animalia homini benefica Plato In Polit. Cissamim Coum supra modum pecuariis gregibus aiunt fuisse divitem Zenod. Pecunia à pecude Sabellic l. 3. Aenead 4. that of Gods blessings the beasts have a part and that God doth stretch out a providentiall hand to beasts for the comfort of man yea whether they be tame or wild they are highly beneficiall â—o man Why did Aristotle Aelian C. Plinius Albertus Magnus Michael Herrus Gesner with many others write such large and learned Treatises of Beasts if to men they were not very usefull Did not the Patriarks wealth chiefly lie in Beasts and was not Cissamis of Cous famous far and nigh for his riches in Cattle Did not money of old carry this stamp upon it as if in Cattle men imagined the greatest treasure of the earth to consist Did not Tullus Hostilius as Valerius Maximus saith and Maximinius the elder as Capitolinus writeth and Caraloman as Volateran reporteth come to the height of preferment by having their first raise by the increase of Cattle Why are Jasons golden Fleece the Cornucopia the plenty of the horne which the Naiades so decked with flowers and Trojanes great horse so wondred at then over all the world to this day so famous but that people in generall conceived that in these Beasts there was a great deal of profit and advantage have not the noblest presents been usually tendered in Beasts Yes Cornelius Cossus gave to P. Decius the Tribune an hundred Bullocks with one white one having the hornes tipped with gold as a gratification for defending the Romane Army from the Sabines and Canutus sent as a testimony of his royall respect a goodly horse shod with gold to Lotharius the Emperour Saxo Gram. l. 13. Amongst the Heathens was Neptunes threeforked Mace or Apollo's Harp more famous then Pans sevenbranched Pipe Calepin No he was called Pan because in looking to Cattle people held that he conveyed all the manner of blessings to the world Seeing then by the light of the Scripture and the light of nature by our pastures and our stables by our markets and our shops by our bargains and our backs by the tast of our mouths and the pleasure of our eyes in sitting at home or travelling abroad in war and in peace beasts are so commodious and beneficiall no marvail if God put in as an additionall motive to preserve this City for Beasts that he would spare Nineveh amongst the rest of the impulsive reasons even for the Cattle for so is it here urged Should not I spare Nineveh that great City wherein are more then sixscore thousand persons which cannot discern between their right hand and their