to strike vs because otherwise he cannot awake vs but let vs watch to him that his anger may sleepe to vs. 21 If our Ionas haue offended by wilfull disobedience let vs dread to do the like if he were punished for that then let not vs presume to sinne by his example if God sent a tempest against him he can vse his rods against vs if Satan be sometimes the instrument of Gods iustice let vs feare to come in his fingers if the Lord so hateth iniquitie that the companions of the wicked are oft punished for their sakes let vs hate sinne as a serpent and flie from the profane if heathen men preferre their liues before their wares let not vs aduenture our soules to get temporall trash on earth if idolaters serue their Gods once when they be in daunger let vs serue our God euer to keepe vs free from daunger if they pray when they haue neede let vs pray euerie day because euerie day we neede Lord guide vs still with thy grace and bring vs vnto thy kingdome To thy name be prayse for euer THE IIII. LECTVRE The chiefe points 1. The drowsinesse of Ionas in his daunger 2 Sinne breedeth sinne 4 Satan is desirous to make vs secure 6 A superuising diligence should be in all that haue charge 10 The ship-maister teacheth the Prophet 11 Idolaters had many Gods and their vsage toward them 14 One man is more acceptable to God thē another 15 Danger of praying to many Gods 16 Heathē men know there is a God 17 In crosses it is good to suspect that there is some sin 18 The vse of lots and diuerse circumstances in them 23 Sinne will be discouered IONAH 1.5.6.7 But Ionah was gone down into the sides of the ship he lay down and was fast a sleepe So the ship-maister came vnto him and said vnto him what meanest thou ô sleeper Arise call vpon thy God if so be that God vvill thinke vpon vs that vve perish not And they said euery man to his felow Come let vs cast lots that we may know for whose cause this euill is vpon vs. So they cast lots and the lot fell vpon Ionah WHen Alexander the Great with his happy temeritie as a Philosopher doth call it but by the prouidence of God as Daniel doth describe it had proceeded so farre as that after one great ouerthrow giuen to Darius in person in the straights of Cilicia he was now a second time in the fields neare Arbela or as the best writers haue in the fields neare Gaugamela to ioyne battell against him whereas many things should haue inforced him to looke about him as the smalnesse of his armie the strength of his aduersarie the widenesse of the field where he had none aduauntage his distaunce from his owne home and no place to flie vnto yet when it was farre day that verie morning when the battell was to be tried and by that time his armie should haue bene ordered and raunged into aray the enemie comming forward the Generall Alexander who otherwise did stirre with the formost was fast asleepe in his tent Parmenio and his Nobles who for no cause of their owne but for his sake and his honour there aduentured their liues were troubled aboue measure they were in a sea of cares and scant knew which way to turne them onely he whom all concerned and whose making or marring depended on that dayes triall and for whom and whose sole sake they endured all things which they were then to sustaine as a man that knew not of it or one that tooke no care which end went forward lay in his bed soundly sleeping The Prophet in this place shall be no whit behind him but rather much beyond him He hath listes to enter with the verie wrath of God his life doth lye vpon it and his soule too if his God should not deale kindly with him the ayre is now disturbed and yeeldeth a mightie tempest the waues they froath and roare the windes they beate and blow the sea is moued exceedingly the ship is almost broken the sea-men are afrayde happie man that can pray fastest the burthen of the ship be it costly or be it necessarie it must out into the water and all for Ionahs sake his cake it is that is baking the euent concerneth him onely and he alone as the man who of all other did know least and was a straunger to the action doth seeke a secret corner the inner sides of the ship where he may lye rest Oh Ionas thou who shouldst be a mā beyond a many euen the Prophet of the highest thou art now short of a mā thou art now below thy selfe sleeping snorting then when all the powers of thy spirits were too few to looke about thee 2 If the man had not liked of Niniue for reasons which once I named but yet wold still haue kept his calling and wold haue held on his preaching his sin had weighed the lighter he might haue bestowed his talent at Tarshish when he came there and done some good on the marchants by the way going thither he might haue giuen exhortatiō to his fellow trauellers to serue the true God of Israel If he had not had so many auditours as were in Niniue or so many as S. Peter had when at one sermon he won three thousand soules to Christ yet he should haue had some hearers if it had bene but one Plato to haue attended Socrates he had not vtterly lost his labour he who hath conuerted one sinner from going astray out of his way shall saue a soule from death and shall hide a multitude of sinnes which either the conuerted or conuerter hath committed But it is not for this cause that our Ionas goeth to the sea his preaching is turned to sleeping Let the world go how it wil he is got away from his maister will thinke no more of the matter See what the best man on earth is if God withdraw his Spirit eclipse his grace but a moment We are desperate to all wickednesse but beetles and blocks to goodnesse Here is an obdurate sinner a hard brawne is ouer his heart a thicke skin and insensible let the sea roare and the mariners crie and tumble out their packs our Ionas taketh a nap in verie supine securitie and maketh no more of it Oh the stubburnnesse of iniquitie and mans auersenesse from his maker But when we haue once passed the lines of duty obedience and grosse sinnes haue taken hold vpon vs then we must iustifie our actions we will run we care not whither from the shoes vp to the shoulders yea sometimes ouer head and eares 3 Sin stealeth on vs by degrees but cōmonly the last step is the deepest Dauid being idle had spied out Bethsabe there idlenesse was the beginning then did his eye as the window of his mind let in concupiscence into his hart Of idlenesse cometh cōcupiscence Therof foloweth
times we heare not of any Dolphine which delighted in Musicke or saued any man in the sea or caried any ouer the water Besides that Rondeletius whose worke is many times ioyned with Gesners denieth that a Dolphine hath any such sinnes as they in old time did describe him to haue for that saith he there is onely one in his backe and it is not all along him which may be thought vnfit to beare a man But imagine that it were true which Plinie hath concerning them yet his speech is that they were brought to that custome by much practise and feeding them with bread which agreeth with the qualities of that straunge fish Matum which the Historian Peter Martyr reporteth to haue bene in the West Indies But how could this acquaintance with men and feeding by hand happen to this fish of Arion who was found at al-aduenture in the midst of the Mediterrane sea 14 Neither doth the report at Lesbos any whit confirme this tale For who knoweth not that euery countrie hath straunge reports of it selfe which by the common sort are reputed for great truths If we looke on our owne land how many things haue bene said of King Arthure and of the Prophet Merlin who although they may haue in them some ground of truth which I will not stand to dispute yet questionlesse much vanitie is mixed there withall We need no better example then the selfe same Herodotus who although in his positiue declarations he be held a good Historian and therefore is named by Tully Historiae pater the father of storie yet in his by-digressions by heare-saies and reports he hath so many vntruths that by other men he is termed with a censure too too gauling mendaciorum pater the father of lyes That such fames haue gone for currant euen among Christians the words of Paule to Timothie and Titus may shew where he speaketh of fables and Iewish fables and of old wiues fables also Now for the picture or image of the Dolphin and the man sitting vpon it that doth make a great deale lesse for inuentions and wrong deuises are wrought as well as truthes by painters and image-makers Saint Austen telleth how the Gentiles reported that Christ was a sorcerer and that he did his workes by Magicke and because they had seene Iesus in windowes painted with Peter and Paule standing by him they gaue out that hee wrote vnto them some things concerning Magicke not knowing saith Saint Austen that Paule was conuerted to the faith somewhat after Christs death But he maketh this conclusion vpon them Thus haue they deserued to erre who haue sought Christ and his Apostles not in holy bookes but in painted wals and windowes That which he iudged in a matter of farre greater importance that I may say of this A picture or image is not an argument of an approoued truth although Maister Campian do call such in church windowes for witnesses of the veritie of his cause So the song which is now extant and said to be Arions is as weake a proofe as any for why might not another man beleeuing the tale to be true put it out in his name Yea peraduenture if hee did not beleeue it as in Poets we haue many speeches fayned on other mens persons Then we may gather that either the narration is altogether fabulous or if he were so throwne by any into the water that another shippe intercepted him the badge whereof was a Dolphin as in the Actes of the Apostles the badge of that shippe wherein Paule sayled was Castor and Pollux And thereupon together with the inuention of Antiquitie grew the fable as some other haue imagined 15 To apply this somewhat nearer to my bresent purpose and to a true vse in Diuinitie if there were any such matter of the Dolphin and Arion as I in no sort do beleeue it we must hold it for a miracle wrought by the Diuell who by the Lords permission hath false wonders of his as God hath true of his Christ saith that false Christes and false Prophets shall shew great signes and wonders so that if it were possible they should deceiue the very elect The beast in the Reuelation doth bring fire downe from heauen When Moses was in Egypt the sorcerers had their sleights wrought by the finger of Sathan Eusebius speaketh of straunge deedes done by the Diuell and by Magicke Saint Austen in his tenth booke De ciuitate Dei doth attribute such credite to the stories of the Romanes that he thinketh that the Troiane Penates which were a kind of images did go from place to place and that Tarquine with a razor Liuie saith it was Actius Nauius did cut a whetstone in peeces and other such like things named there but he addeth that these were done by the power of infernall spirits So in his booke De Vnitate Ecclesiae speaking of miraculous matters he maketh this diuision of them Let these things be set aside being either fained inuentions of lying men or monstrous actes of cousining spirits supposing that some strange reports were fained and inuented by men and some other things were indeed brought about and effected by the Diuell If we would hold this of the Musitian in Herodotus for a truth then it teacheth vs this doctrine that as an Ape is the imitatour of man in his acts and gestures so is Sathan the Ape of God to follow him in his powerfull workes But how farre doth he come short of the originall which he looketh at He followeth him indeed but it is non passibus aequis with very vnequall steppes He seeth that God is mightily glorified in doing such straunge and rare deedes as he pleaseth and he will study to do the like that himselfe also may be glorified among the sonnes of darkenesse As the Lord shall haue his Ionas to be spoken of euery where so he will haue his Arion both of them throwne downe into the sea and both saued by a fish 16 Hence it is that we haue so many arguments of his suttle imitation God hath appeared like an Angell and Satan transformeth himselfe into an Angell of light God rayned stones on the enemies of Iosuah when they fled before him from the battell and Liuie writeth of credit that in the time of the Romane wars with Hannibal it rained stones for two dayes together on the hill called Mons Albanus So Hirtius that great welwiller of Iulius Caesar doth write that when Caesar was personally present in his wars in Africa very stones fell on the armie as it vseth to haile God rayned Manna from heauen and fire and brimstone vpon Sodome the one to helpe the other to hurt So the stories of the Romanes do mention that it rayned bloud and rayned flesh and wooll too saith Orosius in the dayes of the Emperour Valentinian and milke other such stuffe which as the learned do gather were
saith he haue kept it and did keepe it so long as Christes sheepe were in quiet but now that tempestes do come on and stormes bring them in danger euery stone is to be turned euery means is to be sought to free them from this perill He goeth on If I were daughter to any man whatsoeuer and according to my sexe as decency would require were kept vp in a closet or in some secret chamber and inner part of the house yet if my fathers dwelling were on fire should I not be verie carelesse if I wold not then come forth to helpe to quench the fire or giue direction for it So if now I should not helpe to teach true faith in Christ by coming out of my Monastery I should do much amisse Let vs remember the like in these most perillous times so we shall discharge our consciences we shall disburden our soules and God himselfe will reward it by one meanes or another although men do not requite it for do not looke for that if you do they will deceiue you And thus hauing shewed the reason why Ionas went from Israel I come to the second verse Arise 12 It should seeme that our Prophet hauing long preached to his country-men and litle preuailed had now discouraged himselfe and euen set him downe which case doth oft befall the Minister through that weaknesse and frailtie which is in humane nature For the preuenting whereof in his seruant Ezechiel God himselfe doth foretell him that he sendeth him to such as are a rebellious house and will not heare his voyce Notwithstanding the Prophet is enforced to do his dutie and leaue the successe to God That is it whereunto the Minister should looke performe all which the Lord requireth and leaue the euent to him For we are not in Gods place to alter change and mollifie mens hearts Paule planteth and Apollos watereth but God giueth the increase In the meane time the labour of the faithfull Minister whether it speed or misse is accepted of the Lord. For as he sayth Saint Austen who perswadeth to euill as to heresie or treason is punished accordingly although he do not preuaile yet because he intended it because he did labour it so he that doth his best to winne men to heauen although he effecteth not what he desired findeth his reward with God And he addeth in the same booke that when Christ did lament ouer his owne Citie Hierusalem and said that he would haue gathered the Iewes together as the hen gathereth or clucketh her yong ones vnder her wings and they would not that perhaps he did encourage vs by his own example that if we should not obtaine when we haue spent our labour yet we should not dismay our selues because no more befalleth vs then did betide Christ. And the disciple as we know is not greater then his maister If such a drowsinesse or sleepinesse were now vpon Ionas after his small successe in preaching to Israel God biddeth it be shaken off when he willeth him to Arise that is pluck vp his spirits and rouze vp himself and make speed in his message And go to Niniueh that great Citie 13 Although God in ordinarie did tye himselfe to his people of Israel yet at this time for so was his good pleasure he sheweth that himselfe is Lord ouer all the earth and taketh care of all and punisheth all who do sinne against him in as much as he did send his Prophet to Niniue which was a Citie in Assyria and the Metropolis of that countrey and iustly in this place sayd to be a great Citie By that which is written of it it may be iudged that Niniue was then the greatest Citie that was vpon the earth When Moses doth mention it he giueth that testimonie of it This is that great Citie In the third chapter of this present Prophesie it is sayd to be a great and excellent Citie of three dayes iourney That in those dayes this was no strange thing in the Easterne countreys to haue som places verie huge we may somewhat iudge by Babylon which Aristotle setteth downe to haue bin so big as that when some part of it had bene taken by the enemy some other quarters of it did not heare of any such newes till within three dayes after But for Niniue thus much more In the last chapter of this Prophecie it is put for the conclusion of the booke that there were in it sixe score thousand persons that could not discerne betweene their right hand and their left hand which importeth that they were children of small age and vnderstanding 14 This City by profane writers is called Ninus as by Herodotus in his Clio by Strabo in the sixteenth of his Geography by Plinie in the sixth of his Naturall historie by Tacitus in the twelfth of his Annales And by some of them it was supposed to be builded by Ninus the great Monarch of Assyria and husbà nd to Semiramis which is also the opinion of Saint Austen in his bookes De ciuitate Dei Some argument why we should beleeue it to be so may be gathered from the name being termed of Ninus the king Ninus Niniueh in the Scripture But see whether that in this case a man may not say as Austen sayd to Hierome about that great controuersie betweene Paule and Peter whether Peter sinned or sinned not and dissembled with the Iewes in deed or but in shew that although Hierome had more witnesses in nūber to proue his assertion thē Austen could bring yet that S. Paule who had Gods Spirit and thereby did write was in steed of all the rest nay in truth aboue all So although both Heathen and Christians and among them S. Austen do say that this Citie was built by Ninus yet see whether Moses who had the immediate Spirit of God be not in steed of all or rather beyond all And he doth tell vs that this Citie was built by Assur Neither doth the Hebrew name import ought to the contrary if it be as some suppose not Niniueh of Ninus but Niniueh of Nauah the Hebrew word so signifying beautiful or goodly or faire or fit to be inhabited But this controuersie may be ended if that opinion be true which Munster doth deliuer vnto vs that some thinke that both Assur and Ninus are one man called by diuerse names in diuerse languages He doth not specifie in that place who they be that so reconcile this doubt neither yet haue I found any that be of that minde 15 But to let that go this Citie is described by Diodorus Siculus in the second of his Antiquities as Stephanus will haue it as some other in the third to stand vpon Euphrates I thinke he meaneth Tigris for so all consent hath it and Babylon on Euphrates to be built with foure sides but not equall or square for the two longer sides had each of them one hundred and
be it the ancient Donatist or Rogatian in times past so peeuishly bent who abstained from the assemblies of all other men whatsoeuer which were not of his opinion and tied to a small corner in Africa that Catholike Church which is so farre diffused ouer all the face of the earth Vincentius one of their company is iustly reprooued by Saint Austen because when the Lord had sayd that all the earth should be filled with his maiesty Amen Amen so be it so be it for so it is in the Psalme he would sit at Cartenae some meane place belike in Africa and with ten perhaps of his Rogatians which yet remained with him would say Non fiat non fiat that it should not be so Or be they our new Barrhoists sprong from the seede of the Donatists who because they conceiue that some spots spotted men do yet remaine within the Church of England they single themselues from vs by a schismaticall rent They forget that the spouse is blacke while she remaineth on earth that in the field where the best seede is said by Christ to be sowne tares spring vp as well as wheate and both must grow together vntill the day of haruest That in the wombe of Rebecca which was a good figure of the Church is Esau as well as Iacob which cannot be discerned vntill the time of their birth And this birth is the iudgement What a holy and wise saying is that which Austen hath in this behalfe We suffer many in the Church whom we can neither correct nor punish But yet for the chaffes sake we do not forsake the threshing floore of the Lord nor for the bad fishes sake do we breake the nets of the Lord nor for the goates which are to be seuered in the end do vve leaue the flocke of the Lord nor for the vessels made to dishonour do vve flit out of the house of the Lord. Let the spirite of singularitie carie these meÌ„ in our time headlong while it will but let vs loue the publike meetings of the faithfull the sacraments duly administred the word sincerely taught the deuotions vttered here Let vs hold it our ioy and crowne that we may so come together that we may not onely with our Prophet here looke toward the temple but that if we will our feet may stand in the gates of Ierusalem We do sinne against our soules when by a fancie we debarre our selues from the fellowship of the faithfull and communion of Gods Saints And so now leauing this let vs come vnto the third thing which was at the first proposed by me and that is the grieuous conflict which Ionas here sustained The combat of the Prophet 13 And what can be straunger to a man at first sight then that he who late before was the Prophet of the Highest and therefore much in his grace acquainted with his counsels and purpose concerning Israel where he had long preached one neere about his God should now with such a horrour as a despairing person be vp and then downe be at the first so distrustfull although afterward resolued But the remembrance of that fauour which he before enioyed doth deiect him the more that after so large measure of Gods bountifulnesse toward him he shold be vnthankfull For now his conscience cryeth out against him that he was most vnworthie to haue any part in the Redeemer who had turned from him so wilfully Now he breatheth out displeasure and indignation against himselfe So fearefull a thing is sinne it doth so wound the soule Hence great fights do oftentimes arise vnto the faithfull where the flesh armed with desperation layeth on loade euen to destruction but faith holdeth out a buckler wherewith she wardeth the blowes Notwithstanding betweene the one and the other there is a combat hardly fought out much ebbing and much flowing much rising and much falling that the waues are not so various as the thoughts of this sufferer are disputing pro and con acquiting and condemning Whereunto at the last a victorie commeth but it is with great difficultie in the meane while the inward man and the outward the spirit and the flesh most vehemently wrastling Now as Saint Iames hath told vs Blessed is the man that endureth temptation he that striueth and standeth and in the end coÌ„quereth shall not loose his reward But in the meane time it maketh the weake one the tender and sickly conscience to droope and be discouraged so that being heated violently he thirsteth after comfort In which case since God himselfe is so farre from despising the broken and contrite heart that in very truth he doth loue it and Christ for his part came for that purpose not to breake the brused reed nor to quench the smoking flaxe we are in exaÌ„ple of theÌ„ both the father the word to bind vp the broken to seeke out that which is perishing 14 Then to speake to this argument whosoeuer thou art that gronest vnder this heauie burthen strengthen thy feeble knees resume thy decaying spirits If the motions of thy mind be fearefull beyond measure yea vnfit to be spoken and vttered by thee so that thou art ashamed euen to name them as that Gods being is not certaine that the Scriptures may be doubted of that Christ was not the Messias Sauiour of the world that thy sins shal not be forgiueÌ„ thee that thou beloÌ„gest not to Gods electioÌ„ that the promises of his mercie appertain to other meÌ„ but are not true in thee that thy best way were to dispatch thy selfe of thy life by some fall or a knife or by drowning or otherwise since thou art but a forlorne person and a castaway in Gods sight which is a most fearefull and vncomfortable thought yet vnderstand that these suggestions and a thousand more of that kind are but attempts of thine enemie who would willingly rush vpon thee but know that thou herein art not alone such coâ—flicts are very common The Prophets and the Apostles the best Saints of God haue endured them How great was Iobs extremitie when he cursed the day of his birth and being vnpatient and vnruly he satisfieth not himselfe againe and againe to curse it In what a case was Dauid when he seemed to feare vtter perdition Cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy holy Spirit from me He speaketh as if he doubted of his election It was not well with him when he distrusted God in his promises daring to say vnaduisedly in the midst of his distresses that all men were lyers that was euery one of them who did tell him and that from the mouth of Samuel the true Prophet of the Lord that he should be the king ouer Israel How was Ieremie on his knees when he cursed and fretted bitterly and wished that he had neuer bene or would that he had bene slaine at his first entring into the world How was
them but they shall deuoure most greedily when the wicked accusers are cast in vnto them He who hath the key of heauen and hell and death to open when he pleaseth and shut when he listeth can so order his seruants and ministers which are vnder him that sometimes they shall take and sometimes they shall loose here punish and there saue this day sound out his iustice and the next day teach his mercie 5 Neither was it onely in the time of the Prophets and Apostles that God had all his creatures miraculously if need be to execute his appointment but also since their time they giue the selfe same assistance although miracles be not common as they were in former ages Tertullian in his Apollogie and Eusebius do witnesse that at the prayer of a legion of the Christians the Emperour Marcus Aurelius in his warres against the Germanes had his armie relieued with raine which was before in daunger to perish for want of water and they adde that at that time certaine thunderbolts did strike and beate downe the enemie In some Editions of the workes of Iustine Martyr may be seene the copie of the Epistle of the Emperour himselfe who giueth witnesse thereunto When Iulian the Apostata vpon an intendment to crosse the faith of Iesus Christ had set the Iewes on worke to build againe the Temple at Hierusalem as both Saint Chrysostome and Socrates write at first an earth-quake marred their worke and afterward fire from heauen did burne and spoile their instrumēts and tooles wherwith they wrought so that they could not proceede Yea something more then this is to be found in the storie of the signe of the crosse appearing vpon their garments Ammianus Marcellinus who was no friend to the Christians yet giueth testimony to some part thereof sauing that he rather supposeth that the fire issued out of the earth which commeth all to one end When the barbarous Northren nations did breake into the bounds of the Romane Empire in the dayes of Basile the Great who liued in the time of Valens the Emperour as Basile himselfe writeth God destroyed them with fire and haile without the hand of man And as we reade in the same place of that Father the Lord did so by the Persians attempting to do the like But in my iudgement there is no example more memorable or true then that which fell out in our owne time after that great Massacre in Fraunce but especially at Paris in the yeare seuenty and two For at that time the whole power almost of that kingdome being gathered together against the citie Rochel and besieging them with extremitie who defended the towne God in the time of famine and want of bread did for some whole moneths together daily cast vp a kind of fish vnto them out of the sea wherewith so many hundreds were relieued without any labour of their owne euen as the Israelites were fed with Manna euery morning while they were in the wildernesse And as all the while that the enemie was before them this endured to their maruellous comfort so to proclaime to the world Gods prouidence the more when the enemies tents were once remooued and the citie was open againe this prouision immediatly did cease It was a good testification that the Lord of hostes would leaue a remnant euen a seed of his faithfull in that land and although he had sealed his truth with the bloud of his other seruants yet he would not deale so with them To the end that all might not sinke in despaire he ordained that when men failed yet the sea should be a maintainer to them 6 There God to shew his power did fill a many with fish and here to shew his power he did emptie a fish of one both declaring his loue and greatnesse which he purposing to complete make perfect in our Prophet to whom I now returne not only causeth the fish to free him from his stomake and that not in the middest of the Ocean sea that there once againe he might be shifting for his life that is if he could not swim sinke and drowne but he so directeth this carier as that he came to the shore Of all liklyhood this was a chosen shore where the water was so deepe as that it could beare the whale who swimmeth not in the shallow and yet the banke withall so low as that with putting vp his head he might cast the prisoner to the land When the Lord doth decree the substance of a matter the circumstance shall not be wanting He who made all the rest will find a place for accomplishing of the deede It is not much materiall where or in what coast of the world the Prophet was cast on land but Iosephus saith that the report was that this happened in Pontus Euxinus as it is commonly called and that it was that part of the Ocean where he was put to shore If it were so then the whale did carie him a great way from the sea towards Cilicia on the south side of Natolia or Asia the lesser through the Hellespont and Propontis all the straights neare to Thrasia and so into that Pontus Euxinus which was a long space of way in so short a time to be passed But if this were so done then the fish was as a shippe as the fleetest and swiftest shippe to conuey him forward on the way that whereas toward Niniue the place whither he should go the coast was East he was brought backe againe to the East on the North-side of Natolia so much being recouered by the fish as he was caried by the ship before toward the West But this is onely coniecturall and therefore I do not follow it 7 Thus farre the Spirit of God hath plainly said that Ionas is gotten to the land he is freed from the terrour and imprisonment of the whale and now he is so set at libertie as if there had neuer bene any such matter Which whether we will in the figure apply to Christ or by example to our selues it is worthie consideration Our Sauiour who is the best interpreter and expositor of the Prophets in the twelfth of Saint Mathew doth compare this lying of Ionas for three dayes in the whale to the burying of himselfe for three dayes in the graue Then by the same Analogie or proportion the restoring of Ionas from the belly of the fish must represent Christs resurrection As this sinner was designed not for euer but for a time to be kept within that ward and when his houre was expired his keeper might not hold him so our Sauiour was shut vp in the tombe not for euer nor vntill the day of iudgement but a set space was appointed wherein he was to rest and when that was consummated the graue could no longer hold him It had receiued a burthen which it had no power to beare It detained him for a little while because it was his good
stood so that if they had written falsly common men might haue controlled them Diodorus then sayth that this city had walles of maruellous bredth so that carts might not onely go but very well meete vpon them that it had fifteene hundred towers which argueth a great bignesse that the walles being foure wayes set although not equally square had no lesse in the compasse of the out-side then foure hundred and fourescore furlongs Where if we accompt after eight furlongs to the mile all amounteth to threescore miles and not onely to eight and fortie as the Geneua note in the English Bible hath vpon the first Chapter So then threescore miles in circuite may be reckened for three dayes iourney twenty miles to a day which is more then souldiers march and for ordinary footemen in the winter it is harder in the sommer it is easier And this I take to be the true meaning of the Prophet and not onely as some would haue it which may be true also that it was full three dayes labour to go through euery lane or broade streete in the Citie 12 When I opened the first verses of this prophecy speaking out of this place I more fully handled this argument and shewed that in old time the Easterne Cities were very huge as for example sake Babylon which Aristotle reporteth to be so great as that when one part thereof was taken by an enemy the the other part heard not not of it in three whole dayes together Moreouer that the city stood on a riuer and therefore had store of water that the fertility of the soile was such that Herodotus on his knowledge speaketh it in his first booke that the seed thereabout sowed did returne two or three hundred fold so many bushels for one The water then being plentifully there the soile answering to it to yeeld food for such a multitude the place being the royal city of the Assyrian Monarchy and therefore built with all magnificence for the honor of the kingdome yea the profane writers confirming it but that which is most of all the Spirit of God affirming it we may very well take Niniue for an excellent and great city such a one as I suppose that neither the old world nor the new world had any like vnto it Not Babylon not Hierusalem not Rome with her seuen hils not Quinzay in the East nor Mexico in the West not Millaine as it is nor Antwerpe as it was not Paris in her late glory nor Venice in her now beautie Which since the holy Scripture hath described so plainely we must needs labour to find some thing in it which may be applied to our learning It is worth the thinking on that the Prophet is not discouraged to go to such a place a single one to so many a sole man to such a citie Who would not haue thought that himselfe should there haue bene contemptible and derided for the paucity of his attendants not a fellow to beare him company not a boye to do him seruice Appian in his booke of the warres of the Romanes with Mithridates telleth how Tigranes iested when he sawe the small number of souldiers which the Romanes sent against him he must needes bestow one scoffe on them What are these men sayth he I thinke they come as Ambassadors but then they be too many or if they come as souldiers alas they be too few It is likely that if he had seene this Ambassadour and his traine to be none and peraduenture his apparell to be base and disgracefull he would not haue left at one speech but doubled his wit vpon him 13 Our man standeth not at this neither feareth he his life among them although their number were so great that with ease they might haue deuoured him and euery one of them taken so litle that it needed not offend them His faith and his resolute mind now put him through thicke thin his confidence in his maister maketh him contemne the greatnesse of a world He knoweth that if God be on his side what matter is it who be against him All that is borne of God saith S. Iohn in his first Epistle ouercommeth the world so doth that also which is borne out by God I will not be affraid saith Dauid for ten thousand of the people that should be set me round about Then what the Niniuites should thinke of him or how the king would frowne vpon him he reckeneth not to dispute they were all in the hands of his maister so himselfe was also therefore he only stroue how to please him and not any other man And this is a good resolutiō more to thinke on one God and retaining of his fauor then of all the world besides His loue is incōparably greater then the loue of Niniue ten Niniues yea of all the frame of creatures For instruction herein Chrysostome directeth vs to chariot driuers of whom he speaketh in this maner Dost thou not see the driuers of chariots who passing swiftly by all the part of the race where the whole city sitteth to behold the coursing of the horses do there striue to ouerturne the chariots of them whith whom they cōtend where they behold the Emperor sitting do say that the eye of him alone is more worthy to trust vnto thē the faces of so many mē But when thou seest the very king of Angels to sit as the iudge and rewarder of thy striuing passing by him thou fliest to the eyes of thy fellow-seruants seeking to please them We should imitate these chariot-riders preferring Gods liking and loue before a many of Niniuites For put them in the ballance and he ouer-weigheth them all 14 His setled mind at this time remembreth this well inough therfore feareth not this mighty city Nay on the cōtrary side if his heart were vpright as it should be and I thinke that at this time so it was the greatnesse of the company to which he was to be sent should giue him larger hope and yeeld him greater spirits for if God did blesse his labour here was good indeede to be done to angle where was such store to speake where was such an auditory For by this meanes how many thousands might he winne to the Lord and what ioy might he conceiue that his mouth should be the instrument to winne their soules from destruction If God be glorified in gaining one how is he honoured in gaining many If men labour and spend themselues to obtaine a little what should they do for much Then the Prophet need not feare but take it as a mercy of his God shed vpon him that he must go to great Niniue For I doubt not but he was furnished with the powerfull grace of the Spirit that he needed not feare himselfe or distrust his owne ability And indeed I am of that mind that whē a man is prouided with sufficient meditation and earnest prayer to God to
of that learned man I hold it to be very lawfull to obserue those seuen and twelue for the one and for the other So he saith that the veile in the Tabernacle of blew silke and purple and scarlet and fine linnen did intend the foure elements and he giueth good reason for that And the same is also the opinion of Saint Hierome Here to compare foure and foure hath a naturall vse in discoursing of the elements the good creatures of God Nay it will not do amisse if by a farther allusion we shall make application thus that as we reade in Exodus that the veyle made of those foure things did hang betweene the holy place whither the Priests did come to offer and the Sanctum Sanctorum the Holy of Holyes where the presence of God was so that they who stoode in the one could not behold the other vntill the veyle which was betweene them were rent or remooued So the holyest man that is euen the very Priest at the altar cannot see God as he should in the high abode of his holinesse vntill that his flesh and bodie which are made of those foure elements be torne off and remooued away by death and by the graue This or the like about numbers may be thought to be naturall and not strayned so that I dare not determine against it as also against nothing else which apparantly hath true and proper vse of doctrine or due application But I leaue to your consideration whether the authour of the booke De Spiritu sancto who sometimes but not rightly is supposed to be Saint Cyprian or other like to him do keepe close within these bounds when he especially magnifieth the number of seuen aboue other because it consisteth of three and foure where saith he three shew the three persons of the Trinitie and foure noteth the foure elements which intendeth that God who is signified in the mysterie of the Trinitie is caried with a loue ouer his creatures who are figured in the compasse of the foure elements A man may go too farre And this I haue obserued by reason of Saint Hieromes note vpon this place concerning fortie which I hold to be not vnfit for this auditorie because it is few times touched But now for the benefite of the vnlearned I come to doctrine which is more morall 8 When God giueth the Niniuites fortie dayes to bethinke themselues it implyeth his exceeding mercie who as he was very louing to them when he sent them warning of their destruction so is his loue more abundant when he giueth them space of repentance that they might turne away his wrath which was to breake out against them The prayer of the Leuites is true Thou art a God of mercies gracious and full of compassion of long suffering and of great mercie And so is that of Dauid The Lord is full of compassion and mercie slow to anger and of great kindnesse We can neuer sufficiently admire his bearing patience That citie which for the manifold euill of it had deserued to haue perished in one day shall haue a day and a day and fortie dayes of grace to purge it selfe if it will The tree which bore no fruit shall haue this yeare of probation and the next yeare of expectation and shall be pruned and dounged before it be cut downe So that Lord who is iealous in his anger is yet a mild God in his suffering It is obserued in men that they are long in making any thing but very quicke in marring of it A house built in a yeare may be plucked downe in a moneth A castle which hath bene long in setting vp by mining and powder may be blowne vp in a moment A citie whom many ages haue but brought to her beautie is consumed in a little time by fire put to it of the enemie Onely God is quicke in making but pawseth vpon destroying he commeth not but by steppe after steppe and when he should strike he stayeth and turneth and looketh away and will not roote vp till iustice can no longer endure He made the heauen in a day and might haue done in a moment but Niniue that one citie shall haue fortie dayes to breath in before her ruine come The Sunne and Moone and starres had but one day for their creation but man had warning for a hundred and twentie yeares before the comming of the floud in the time of Noe and Hierusalem shall haue admonishment by the Scriptures before the appearaunce of Christ by Iohn the Baptist afterward by our Sauiour personally and when they haue killed that iust one yet fortie yeares shall passe ouer before that it be quite destroyed Sixe dayes made the whole world but almost sixe thousand yeares haue beene affoorded to it before that the end ouertake it Thus iustice in many cases is if not swallowed and deuouted vp yet much shadowed by mercie which sometimes ouer-weigheth it and other times ouer-layeth it when it is readie to rise preuenting it and holding it downe And there be few of vs who may not feele this proposition true in our selues 9 If we looke vpon our own land how may we breake out and say that pitie and compassion haue abounded on vs from him See whether he hath not lent vs as many yeares to repent as he did dayes to Niniue when the infinit prouocations wherwith we haue prouoked him in hypocrisie in luke-warmnesse in gluttony and in wantonnesse in securitie and vnthankfulnes haue called on him for a shorter time Seueritie might haue said Fortie yeares I haue bene grieued or contended with this generation yet clemeÌ„cie stayeth that speech He lent not so much time to our fathers next before vs his mercie did straine it selfe to affoord sixe yeares to them of free passage of his word vâ—der his gracious instrument King Edward whose memorie liâ—e for euer and yet that was encombred with seditions of the subiect and tumults of the Commons as also with much hurrying and banding of the Nobilitie But concerning our time the question may be whether is more to be admired the greatnesse or the goodnesse the length which is very memorable or the varietie of those blessings which we do little conceiue because we most enioy them euen as no man noteth the benefit of the ayre whereon we breath because we haue store of it and yet nothing is more precious then it or nearer to life it selfe So in a common generalitie God doth beare with vs all But farther if each man will take the paines to looke on himselfe in priuate he may say that he hath had his fortie dayes oft-times told together with Niniue our citie here Saint Bernard in one of his Sermons shall speake that which I do meane The mercie and expectation of the Lord is great toward thee for when the Angell had offended he stayed not at all for him but threw him downe to hell and when Adam transgressed