a part put for the whole And thus they make their account the first day of his passion enterrement which was the preparation of the Iewish sabbath must haue the former night set to it The second was fully exactly run out The third had the night complete and only a piece of the first day of the weeke which by the figure before named is to be holpen supplied Now I go forwardes to explicate the behavior of Ionas in the belly of the fish Therein we are to consider 1. what the history speaketh of Ionas 2. what he speaketh himselfe The words of the history testifying his demeanour are those in the head of the chapter which you haue already heard Then Ionas prayed vnto the LORDE his GOD out of the bellie of the fish and saide VVherein besides the person of Ionas needelesse to bee recited any more wee are stored vvith a cluster of many singular meditations 1. The connexion or consequution after his former misery or if you will you may note it vnder the circumstance of time Then 2. What he did how hee exercised and bestowed himselfe Hee prayed 3. To whome hee prayed and tendered his mone To the Lorde 4. Vpon what right interest or acquaintance with that Lorde because he was his God 5. From whence he directed his supplications Out of the belly of the fish 6. The tenour or manner of the songe and request hee offered vnto him And saide Thus far the history vseth her owne tongue the wordes that followe Ionas himselfe endited Many thinges haue beene mentioned before vvhereof we may vse the speech of Moses Enquire of the auncient daies which are before thee since the day that God created man vpon the earth and from one ende of heaven to the other if ever there were the like thing done as that a man should breath and liue so long a time not onely in the bowels of the waters for there Ionas also was but in the bowels of a fish vvithin those waters a prison with a double ward deeper than the prison of Ieremie wherein by his owne pitifull relation hee stacke fast in mire and was ready to perish thorough hunger and when hee was pluckte from thence it was the labour of thirtie men to drawe him vp with ropes putting ragges vnder his armes betweene the ropes and his flesh for feare of hurtinge him closer then the prison of Peter who was committed to fowre quaternions of souldiours to bee kept and the night before his death intended slept betwixte two souldiours bounde with two chaines and the keepers before the doore yea stricter then the prison of Daniell the mouth whereof was closed with a stone and sealed with the signet of the king and the signet of his princes and the keepers of the ward by nature harder to be entreated than ten times 4. quaternions of souldiours Name me a prison vnder heaven except that lake of fire brimstone which is the second death comparable vnto this wherein Ionas was concluded Yet Ionas there liveth not for a moment of time but for that cōtinuance of daies which the greate shepheard of Israell afterwards tooke thought a tearme sufficient wherby the certain vndoubted evictiō of his death might be published to the whole world But this is the wonder of wonders that not onely the body of Ionas is preserved in life liuelyhood where if he receaved any foode it was more lothsome to nature than the gall of aspes or if he drew any aire for breath it was more vnpleasaunt than the vapours of sulphur but his soule also and inwarde man was not destroyed and stifled vnder the pressure of so vnspeakable a tribulation For so it is he lieth in the belly of the fish as if he had entered into his bed-chamber cast himselfe vpon his couch recounting his former sinnes present miseries praying beleeving hoping preaching vnto himselfe the deliveraunces of God with as free a spirite as ever he preached to the children of Israell vpon dry lande He is awake in the whale that snorted in the shippe VVhat a strange thing was this O the exceeding riches of the goodnesse of God the heigth and depth whereof can never be measured that in the distresses of this kinde to vse the apostles phrases aboue measure and beyond the strength of man wherein we doubte whether wee liue or no and receaue the sentence of death within our selues that if you should aske our owne opinion we cannot say but that in nature and reason we are dead men yet God leaveth not onely a soule to the body whereby it mooveth but a soule to the soule whereby it pondereth and meditateth within it selfe Gods everlasting compassions Doubtlesse there are some afflictions that are a very death else the Apostle in the place aforesaide woulde never have spoken as he did Wee trust in God who raiseth vp the deade and hath delivered vs from so great a death and doth deliver vs and in him wee hope that yet hee vvill deliver vs. Harken to this yee faint spirites and lende a patient eare to a thrice most happy deliveraunce be strengthened yee weake handes and feeble knees receaue comforte hee hath he doth and yet he will deliver vs not onelie from the death of our bodies when wormes and rottennesse haue made their long and last pray vpon them but from the death of our mindes too when the spirit is buried vnder sorrowes and there is no creature found in heaven or earth to giue it comforte The next thing we are to enquire is what Ionas did Hee praied All thinges passe sayeth Seneca to returne againe I see no nevve thing I doe no newe A wise man of our owne to the same effect That that hath beene is and that that shal bee hath beene I haue before handled the nature and vse of prayer with as many requisite conditions to commende it as there were chosen soules in the arke of Noah You will now aske me quousque eadem how often shal we heare the same matter I would there were no neede of repetition But it is true which Elihu speaketh in Iob God speaketh once and twice and man seeth it not There is much seede sowen that miscarieth some by the high-way side some amongst thornes some otherwise many exhortations spent as vpon men that are a sleepe and when the tale is tolde they aske vvhat is the matter Therefore I aunswere your demaund as Augustine sometimes the Donatistes when hee was enforced to some iteration Let those that know it already pardon mee least I offende those that are ignorant For it is better to giue him that hath than to turne him away that hath not And if it were trueth of Homer or may be truth of any man that is formed of clay Vnus Homerus satietatem omnium effugit One Homer never cloyed any mā that red him much more it is truth that one and onely Iesus
the light of his countenance the life of his compassions taken away his wrath kindled nay his fierce and furious wrath the length and breadth whereof no more than of his mercies canne be measured there ensueth an abundance of misery vvith a diligent traine of all kindes of plagues having an open field to range in because there is no wil in God to resist them Therfore they beleeved in the fourth place that if his presence were recovered his decree changed and his wrath stopt they should be freed from the danger threatned vnto thē assuring thēselues otherwise that the buildings of their city should sinke downe stone after stone and that the children thereof should all be buried and entombed togither in one cōmon destruction Therefore miserable is their estate who liue within the vapour and heate of Gods displeasure We are all by nature the children of wrath borne to inherite it as we inherite our fathers lands but Christ hath purchased vs favour by his bloud we confirme it to our selues in some sort by making conscience to offend walking warily in the feare of the Lord. But such as run on their wicked race without turning draw their vnhappy breath vvithout repenting heaping anger vpon anger and not caring to pacifie the force therof their ende is the ende of the sentence that they are sure to perish not in themselues alone but in al that appertaineth vnto them their tabernacles children posteriey memortials nor onely in the life of their bodies but in the life and eternity of their soules nor for an age and generation of time but whilst God raigneth in heaven able to do iustice To avoide this danger it shal be safe for vs all to quēch the anger of God in time to take the bloud of the Lambe and cast vpon the flames therof and through the riches of his merites to seeke the acceptance and to hold acquaintance friendship vvith our God that we perish not And God sawe their workes c. We are now come to the fourth part of the chapter the mercy of God towardes Niniveh greater than both the former because it is not exhibited to one as vnto Ionas nor vnto a fewe as vnto the mariners but vnto a whole citty plentifully peopled and stored with inhabitantes Even so it is whither one or more many or fewe man woman childe citties kingdomes Empires worldes all generations past present and those that are to come wee drawe out waters of ioy and comfort out of this well of salvation There is a degree also in the wordes of this sentence For 1. God approoveth their workes and conceaveth a liking of their service done if you will knowe what works you haue it by explication made plaine their conversion from their evill waies that is their whole course of repentance Secondly vpon that approbation hee repented him of the evill which hee saide hee woulde bringe vpon them Thirdly vpon that repentance and change of minde he doth it not The words are not greatly obscure a little explanation may serue to vnfold them God saw Why was he a straunger till that time in Niniveh or did he but then begin to open his eyes to take the knowledge of their works or is ther any thing in heavē or earth or in the deepe that he seeth not with his eies tē thousand times brighter than the sun yea though it were hid I say not within the reines hearts of our bodies but in the reines and hart of the lowest destruction Some interpret it thus he saw that is he made thēselves to see or the world to see that hee was well pleased with their workes others more simplie and truly he saw their works that is himselfe approved them as Gen. 1. hee saw that the light was good that is he allowed it by his iudgement so heere hee shewed by his fact event that followed that the repētance of Niniveh highly cōtented him Likewise Gen. 4. God looked vnto the gift of Abel but not vnto the gift of Cain he saw thē both with his eie of knowledge but not of liking good affection Or to say further God saw that in the works of the Ninivites which if Ionas or the whole world had presumed to have seene they had deceived themselves he saw their hearts from whence those works proceeded how truly syncerely they were done without dissimulatiō In this sense we say that the church is invisible as we are taught in our Creede we rather beleeve that it is thā with our eies can behold it not that we turne men into spirits not having flesh bones or into trāsparēt substāces such as the aire is which we cannot see but because although we behold the body the outward appearance wee cannot search into their spirites neither are able to discerne them in that whereby they are Christians and of the householde of faith Wee thinke they are myrtles when they are but netles lambes when they are but vvoolues and citizens of Ierusalem vvhen they are but Iebusites Their workes Not onely their workes of ceremony order and discipline as fasting sackcloth crying which are not godlinesse it selfe but gestures and behaviours setting it forth nor onely their morall workes of charity towardes God and man in forsaking their wicked waies and making restitution of ill gotten goodes for these are most of them outwarde workes but hee sawe the workes also of the inward man and as it is expounded in the next vvordes hee saw their perfect and full conversion which consisted not in fasting and sackcloth alone or in formall professions but in the change and alteration of all their powers Thus to acknowledge the true and immortal God is a worke but a worke of the spirit both because the spirit of God is the author and because the spirite of man is the actour and administer thereof To beleeue is also a worke of the spirit for when they asked Ioh 6. What shall wee doe that wee might worke the workes of God Iesus answered them this is the worke of God that yee believe in him whome hee hath sent GOD sawe all these workes in them what they thought howe they beleeved which way the purposes of their heartes were bente hee sawe their faith as well as their ceremonies their iustice Evangelicall aswell as their Legall hee sawe their whole bodye of repentance wherein there was knowledge desire iudgement affection faith hope and whatsoever else was requisite to bee vsed in that worke And God repented Wee had the worde before who knoweth if God will repent But can this bee Repentance hath ever some griefe annexed vnto it and an accusation of our selues of something done amisse which wee woulde gladly retract both these are far from God who sitteth in heaven having all sufficiencye of pleasure and contentment in himselfe and for his workes abroade they are so exactly done by rule that wee cannot suspect any errour
his servant who being taken with thefte and alleadging for himselfe that it was his destiny to steale his maister aunswered And thy destiny to be beaten and accordingly rewarded him If these marriners had so disputed or sitten vpon the hatches of their ship their armes folden togither and their heartes onely desiring to escape their sorrows had there presently bene ended but neither their hearts nor hands were vnoccupied And therfore as in the curing of bodilie diseases though of the most highe commeth healing yet the phisition must be honoured with that honour that belongeth vnto him and the apothecary maketh the confection as in the warres of Israell against Mâ—dia the sworde of the Lorde and of Gedeon went together and the cry of the people was not left out and as in preventing this ship-wracke spirites and bodies praier and labour heaven and earth If I may so say vvere conioyned so in all the affaires and appertenaunces of our liues we must beware of tempting God We must not lie in a ditch sullen and negligent of our selues and looke to be drawne out by others nor thinke to bee fed as the young ravens without sowing neyther to bee clothed as lillies of the fielde without spinning and labouring health commeth not from the cloudes without seeking nor wealth from the cloddes without digging Wee must cast our care vpon God that yet wee bee not carelesse and dissolute in our owne salvation O di homines ignavâ operâ philosophâ sententiâ I hate men that happily haue good and provident thoughtes but they will take no paines That which Metellus sometime spake by number I holde a trueth in him that is without number Our one and one-most God ijsdem deos propitios esse aequum est qui sibi adversarij non sunt It is meete that God favour them who are not enimies and hinderers to themselues But to leaue this point there is a time I perceiue when the riches of this world are not worth the keeping especially compared with the life of man Their wares adventures and commodities and not onely the ballast of the ship but the necessary implements furniture for the original word though signifying a vessell in particular is a generall name for all such requisite provision their victuall munitions and whatsoever was of burthen besides are they conveied landed by boat or any way thought vpon to be saved nay they are throwne into the sea to lighten their ship vvithout ever hope of recovery It â—s a proverbe iustified by trueth though the father of lies spake it Skin for skin and all that a man hath will hee giue for his life And it is a rule in nature allowed No man ever hated his owne flesh nay rather hee will nourish and cherish his life as the Lorde his Church Is not the life more worth then meate and thy body then rayment will not a man giue his riches for the ransome of his life The poorest worme in the earth which hath a life saith Austin as vvell as the Angell in heaven will not forgoe that life without resisting If either hornes or hoofes or tuskes or talentes or beakes or stinges of beasts birds flies vnreasonable creatures may withstand they will not spare to vse their armour and weapons of nature to defende themselues withall Is the life of the bodye my beloved brethren so deare and is not the life of the soule more precious is the life present so tender and the life to come so much inferiour will you vnlode a shippe to saue it vvill you burthen and surcharge a soule to destroy it shall the necessary instrumentes of the one be throwne out and shall not the accessary ornamentes superfluous sumptuous riotous delightes of the other bee departed with or are not soules better then bodies and incorruptible liues hereafter better then these present subiecte to corruption or are not riches a burthen to your soules Ho hee that encreaseth that which is not his owne and hee that ladeth himselfe with thicke clay how long Are not riches a loade or what doubt you of I know your aunswere wee encrease but our owne Your owne who intiteled you thereto Is not the earth the Lords and the fulnesse thereof are you Coloni or Domini Lordes of the earth or tillers manurers dressers dispensers Ierome vvriteth of Abraham and other rich patriarches of former age that they vvere rather to bee tearmed the bayliues of the Lorde then riche men But vvere it your owne hath the sea barres or doores to keepe it in and is your appetite without all moderation How long is there no ende of encreasing The widdow in the 2. of the Kings that had her liberty given to borrow as many vessels for oile to pay her debts as her neighbours could spare her had as large a scope I am sure and with better authority then ever was proposed to you yet there was a time when she said to her son giue me yet a vessel hee answered there are no more vessels and the oile ceased and I doubt not but with the oile her desire ceased to It may be you haue filled your vesselles with oile your owne and your neighbours your garners your coffers your bagges your warehouses your fieldes your farms your children are ful I aske againe with the prophet How long do you ever thinke to fill your hearts The barren wombe vnmercifull graue vnsatiable death will sooner bee satisfied It is a bottomlesse purse the more it hath the more it coveteth See an image hereof Alcmaeon being willed by Croesus to go into his treasure-house take as much gold as he could carry away with him provided for that busines a long hanging garment downe to his ankles and great bootes and filled them both nay he stuffed his mouth and tyed wedges of gold to the locks of his head I thinke but for hurting his braine hee woulde haue ferst the skull of his head and the bowels within his breast if hee coulde haue spared theÌ„ Here is an hart set vpon riches riches set vpon an hart heapes of wealth like the hils that wants cast vp Cumuli tumuli every hill is a graue every heape a tombe to bury himselfe in Is this to dispence Is this to exercise bayliwickes Is this to shewe fidelity in your maisters house In fewe wordes I exhorte you if the ship bee too full vnlade it cast your goods into the sea least they cast your selues cast your bread vpon the waters distribute your mercies to the needy where you looke for no recompence It is not certaine it is not likely and so it may fall out that it is not possible for those that are rich to enter into the kingdome of heaven You can dissolue that riddle I know our saviour you say meant of such as trust in riches do not you trust in them Do you not say to the wedge of golde in the applause that your selues
them with stones as being the very cause that Israel could not stand against their enimies In the conspiracy at Rome against Iulius Caesar there were not fewer by reporte then 24. daggers stabbed into his bodie because he was taken by the nobility of Rome to be the perturber of their common wealth and an enemie to the common liberty An othe of association was taken in many places of this lande I know not if in the whole within these few yeares for the pursuite and extirpation of those persons togither vvith their confederates and as I remember their families who by trecherous machination shoulde violate the life and crowne of our gracious Soveraigne Was it not grounded vpon this presumption that the authours of common calamities and subverters of states can never bee persecuted with too much violence Traitours executed at Tyborne of late were sent I say not to their graues but to their endes such as they were too too mercifull for traitors with such a showte of the people to sâ—ale their affections and assentes as if they had gained an harvest or were deviding a spoile and I doubt not but the Angelles in heaven reioâ—ce when they see such deliverances Others distinguish the questions and make them implie severall thinges as if they enquired of fiue sundrie matters 1. his fact Indica cuius causâ tell vs not for whome but for what this evill is vpon vs 2. his calling and course of life his arte profession quae opera tua 3. his travell and iourney and the company and society hee last came from vnde venis 4. his region quae terra tua 5. his dwelling cittie ex quo populo which last may be referred to the notifying of his service and religion whereof it was easie to gesse by the citie he came from In the generall course of all which particulars wee haue a singular document and instruction of iustice from barbarous nations Ionas had beene detected by the suffrage of God himselfe speakinge in the lotte and doubtlesse by these men helde and reputed the principall malefactour in the ship The lotte fell vpon Ionas vvhat needeth more conuiction how shoulde their eies nowe spare or their handes longer forbeare him mee thinketh they should now cry out against him as the men of Iobs tabernacle vvho vvill giue vs his flesh to eate or as the Priests and false prophets against Ieremy the iudgemente of death belongeth to this man Awaie with him away with him from the earth he is not worthy to liue They doe not thus but in the extreamest perill of their liues having no time to bethinke themselues driven to take counsell vvithout counsell as fensers in the sand who defende themselues but as the blowe falleth out yet they deliberate in the cause they evolue all circumstances for the manifestation of his fact and by a most exquisite inquisition they proceede in iudgement what is thy fact thy trade thy travell thy countrey thy people Tullie affirmeth that a kinde of iustice there is amongst robbers and pirates in deviding their booties and mainteining their fraternities such a iustice as Ananias the high priest was a iudge vvho sate to iudge Paul according to the lawe and caused him to bee smitten contrarie to the lawe a painted iudge and a painted iustice But it serveth mee thus farre to collect that even in the tents of Mesech in the societies of the most wicked there is a counterfeite iustice an image and imitation of that vertue without the which Iupiter himselfe saith Plutarch cannot reigne in heaven much lesse can amitie be maintained betwixt man and man The empresse wiselie admonished her husbande when sitting at play and minding his game more then the prisoners hee pronounced sentence vpon them The life of man is not as a game at tables where a woodden man is taken vp by a blotte and throwne aside and the losse is not greate And whether it be life or lande there is no greate difference in the account of God for the bread of the poore man is his life and hee that oppresseth the poore eateth him like breade Whether therefore it be in the life or in the living of man the office of iustice is not to wade to the anckles but vp to the chinne to sound the bottome and depth of the cause carefully to conferre all presumptions and inducements prudently to deliberate to enucleate all difficulties and though the case bee daungerous as this was and greate preiudices against the examinate yet by a curious indagation to haue the proofe of the fact clearely laide forth We haue a president heereof in God himselfe Who though he bee nearer to offenders then the barke to the tree by the presence of his godhead which filleth heaven and earth yet when the cry of Sodome and Gomorre was greate to leaue an example of iustice to the sons of men I will now go downe saith he see whether they haue done altogither according to that crie if not that I may know This descension of God to see and to know what is it els but the delivery of his iustice by rule by number and by ballance that first he will weigh and ponder the cause afterwardes measure out his iudgementes Now to the particulars In the first of these demaundes which is of the fact the other but coniectures tending to the proofe of it they are not content with the sentence of the lot but they require further the confession of his owne mouth Indica nobis Tell vs for what cause The like did Iosuah to Achan My sonne giue the glory to God tell me what thou hast done hide it not It is a part of the glory of God to iustifie him his iudgmentes to yeeld to the victory of trueth when he hath put a spirit as it were into lottes and lawes to gesse aright not to dissemble the force thereof Now if any shall inferre herevpon that by the examples of Iosuah proceeding against Achan the marriners against Ionas the trâ—all of life landes good name should be brought from the lawes of the country and put to the decision of lottes besides the rule of Ierome vpon this place Privilegia singulorum non faciunt legem communem that the priviledges of singular men make not a common law and the generall rule in all examples that none is further to be followed theÌ„ the lawe abetteth and maketh it good otherwise they are to be admired rather then imitated it is the teÌ„pting of God to seeke signes when they are not for profit but onely for experience we ought to be very circumspect in executing iudgment and to leaue no lawfull meanes vnattempted least we iustifie the wicked and condemne the innocent I say besides al these reasons it appeareth from both the examples before specified that neither Iosuah nor the marriners rested in the designation of the lottes but desired further to be asserteined from
place of the other Our Saviour vvho was evermore prophecied to bee the light of the Gentiles is by none other name figured Malach. 4 than of the sunne rising Vnto you that feare my name shall the sunne of righteousnesse arise and in the song of Zachary Luke 1. he is called the day spring from an high Many religious actions wee rather doe towardes the East than any other pointe of heaven We bury our dead commonly as the Athenians did their faces laide and as it vvere lookinge Eastwarde And for the most part especially in our temples wee pray Eastward So did the idolatours Ezech. 8. turning their backes to the temple of the Lorde and their faces to the East Will you haue the reason heereof Why was Aaron willed Levitic 16. to take the bloud of the bullocke and to sprinckle it with his finger vpon the mercie-seate Eastwarde It was the pleasure of God so to haue it And vnlesse nature direct vs to these observations whereof I haue spoken I know not how we are moved The rising of our sunne whose resurrection wee now celebrate the true and onely begotten sonne of God was in the Morninge Mathew saith in the dawning of the day Marke very early when the sun was risen not that hee had yet appeared in their hemisphere but his light hee sent before him Iohn saith when there was yet darknesse that is the body of the sunne was not yet come foorth And Thomas Aquinas thinketh it probable enough that our resurrection shal bee very early in the morning the sunne being in the East and the moone in the West because saith hee in these opposite pointes they were first created You may happily mervaile what the event of my speech will be I haue seldome times carried you away from the simplicity of the prophecy which I entreate of by allegories and enforced collections Yet I am not ignorant that many mens interpretations in that kinde are of many men gladly and plausibly receaved I hope it shall bee no greate offence in mee to fit and honour this feast of the resurrection of the Lorde of life with one allegory We are now walking into the West as the sunne in his course doth Beholde we are entring into the way of the whole worlde And as the sun goeth downe is taken from our sight by the interpositiō of the earth so into the body of the earth shall wee likewise descend and be taken from the company of the living Christ our Saviour who was both the living and life it selfe and had the keies of hell of death whose manner of protestation is Vivo in saecula I liue for ever and ever yet touching his humane nature when hee soiourned vpon the face of the earth had his setting and going downe In this sense we might aske the Spouse in the Canticles O thou fairest amongest vvomen what is thy wellbeloved more than other men And though shee aunswere my vvelbeloved is white and ruddy the chiefest of ten thousand yet in this condition of mortall and naturall descent he is equall vnto his brethren This Passe-over we must all keepe and therefore let vs trusse vp our loynes and take our staues in our hands that wee may vvalke forwardes towardes the West in steede of other precious ointments let vs anointe our bodies to their buriall and for costly garmentes let vs lay foorth shrowdes for our flesh and napkins to binde about our heades that is let vs remember our ende and the evening of our liues wee shall offende the lesse The death of the Son of God if ever any mans vvas ratified and assured as farre forth as either the iustice of his Father or the malice of men might devise If his body had beene quickend with seven soules and they had all ministred life vnto it in their courses yet such vvas the anger of GOD against sinne and the cruelty of man against that iust one that they would all haue failed him And his buriall and descension into the lower partes of the ground was as certainly confirmed For you knovve vvhat caution the providence of GOD tooke therein to prevent all suspicion of the contrary For his body being taken downe from the crosse vvas not only embalmed and vvrapt in a linen cloath but laide in a nevve sepulcher vvhere never corpse had lien before least they might haue saide that the body of some other man was risen and in a sepulcher of stone because the dust and softer matter of the earth might easily haue been digged into and in a sepulcher of rocke or one entire stone least if there had beene seames and fissures therein they might that way haue vsed some cavil against his resurrection Besides a stone at the mouth of that stone and a seale and a watch and as sufficient provision besides as the vvisedome of vvordlye and ill-minded men coulde thinke vpon Notwithstanding as the brute of his death was vniversallie spread and beleeved for the very aire range with this sounde Magnus Pan mortuus est The greate and principall shephearde is deade and the sunne in the skye set or did more at his setting and the graues opened and sent foorth their deade to receiue him so the newes of his resurrection vvas as plentifullye and clearely vvitnessed by Angelles men women disciples adversaries and by such sensible conversation vpon earth as that not onely their eies but their fingers and nayles were satisfied Beholde then once againe the sunne of righteousnesse is risen vnto vs and the daie-springe from an high or rather from belowe hath visited vs for then vvhen Zachary prophecied hee vvas to descende from the highest heavens but novve hee ascended from the hearte of the earth Once againe vvee haue seene our brighte morninge starre vvhich was obscured and darkened by death shining in the east with so glorious a countenaunce of maiesty and power as shall neuer more bee defaced Even so the daies shall come when after our vanishing and disparition for a time vnder the globe of the earth wee shall arise againe and the LORDE shall bringe vs out of darkenesse into the lighte of his countenance Our nighte wherein vvee sleepe a while shal bee chandged into a morninge and after obscuritie in the pitte of forgetfulnesse we shall appeare and shine as the starres of GOD in their happiest season VVee shal goe out of Niniveh as Ionas did a Gentile and straunge citty a place vvhere wee are not knowne a lande where all thinges are forgotten for vvhither wee bee in the flesh vvee are strangers from GOD or whither in our graues we are not with our best acquaintaunce both these are a Niniveh to right Israelites and vvee shall fit in the East that is wee shall meete our Saviour in the clouds and bee received vp with him into glory and dwell in everlasting daie vvhere wee shall never knowe the West more because all parts are beautifull alike nor feare the decay of our bodies
because corruption hath put on incorruption and neither feele the horrour of darknesse nor misse the comforte of the sunne because the presence of eternall and substantiall lighte illighteneth all places My purpose was not vpon so easie an occasion to prooue the resurrection either of Christ which I haue else-where assayed to doe or of his members that belonge vnto him For as it reioyced Paule that hee was to speake before kinge Agrippa vvho had knovvledge of all the customes and questions amongest the Ievves so it is the happier for mee that I speake to those vvho are not vnskilled in the questions of Christianity and neither are Sadducees nor Atheistes nor Epicures to denye the faith of these liuelye mysteries Onelye my meaning vvas vpon the LORDES day whereon hee rose to life and chandged the longe continued sabboth of the Iewes and sanctified a newe day of rest vnto vs to leaue some little comforte amongst you aunswerable to the feast which wee nowe celebrate Surelie the angelicall spirites aboue keepe these paschall solemnities this Easter with greate ioye They wonder at the glorye of that most victorious Lion who hath triumphed over death and hell It doeth them good that the shape of a servaunt is againe returned into the shape of GOD. They never thought to haue seene that starre in the East vvith so fresh and beautifull a hewe which was so lowe declined to the VVest and past hope of gettinge vp VVee also reioyce in the memorye and are most blessed for the benefite and fruite of this daye the sabboth of the newe vvorlde our Passe-over from everlastinge death to life our true Iubilee the first daye of our weeke and chiefe in our kalender to be accounted of whereon our Phoenix rose from his ashes our eagle renevved his bill the first fruites of sleepers avvoke the first begotten of the dead was borne from the wombe of the earth and made a blessed world in that it was able to say The man-childe is brought forth the seede of Abraham which seemed to haue perished vnder the clods fructified not by proportioÌ„s of thirty or sixty or an hundreth but with infinite measure of glory both to himselfe to all those that liue in his root Him we looke for shortly in the cloudes of heaven to raise our bodies of humility out of the dust to fashion them like to his owne to performe his promise to finish faith vpon the earth to perfite our glory and to draw vs vp to himselfe where he raigneth in the heaven of heavens our blessed redeemer and advocate THE XLV LECTVRE Chap. 4 vers 5. And there made him a booth and sate vnder it in the shadowe BEfore the Lorde hath begunne to reprehend Ionas in wordes nowe hee addresseth himselfe to reprooue him also by a sensible signe and because his eares vvere vncapable speaketh vnto his eies and shevveth him a life glasse wherein hee may see himselfe and his blemishes Words are oftentimes received as riddles and precepte vpon precept hath not prevailed when a familiar and actuall demonstration hath done good So Ahâ—iah the Prophet rent the new garment of Ieroboam the king in twelue peeces and bade him reserve ten to himselfe in signe that the kingdome was rent out of the handes of Salomon and ten tribes given to Ieroboam So Esay by going bare-foote teacheth Egypte and AEthiopia that they shall also go into captivity in the like sort Ieremy by wearing yokes about his necke and sending yokes and giues to the kings of Edom Moab Ammon Tyre Sydon Iudah giveth them a visible sacrament and representation of their captivity in Babylon Thus Ezechiell portrayed the siedge of Ierusalem vpon a bricke thus Agabus taketh the girdle of Paule and bindeth himselfe handes and feete and saith so shall the man bee bound that oweth this girdle And thus doth the Lorde admonish Ionas by a reall Apophthegme a liuelie subiection to his eies vvhat it is that hee hath iust cause to dislike in him But before wee come to the very pointe and winding of the matter wherein vvee may see the minde of God there are many Antecedents and preparatiues before hande to be viewed 1. That Ionas goeth out of the citty 2. buildeth him a booth 3. that God provideth him a gourd 4. sendeth a worme to consume it 5. that the sunne and the winde bet vpon the heade of Ionas till hee fainted All this is but the Protasis an onely proposition so farre wee perceiue not whitherto the purpose of God tendeth then followeth the narration the anger of Ionas once againe and once againe Gods increpation first touching the type or image which was the gourd for the gourd standing and flourishing was an image of Niniveh in her prime and prosperity the gourd withered of Niniveh overthowen then touching the truth represented by that figure which was the city it selfe For the meaning of God was to laye open the iniquity of Ionas before his face in that he was angry for the withering of an hearbe and had no pitty in his hearte vpon a mighty and populous citty The order of the words from this present verse to the end of the prophecy is this in this fifth Ionas buildeth for himselfe in the 6. GOD planteth for him in the 7. he destroyeth his planting in the 8. Ionas is vexed and angry to the death in the 9. God reprooveth him in the figure in the 10. and 11. in the trueth by that figure exemplified Of the Antecedentes I haue already tasted two members 1. his goinge out of the cittie to shunne their company who did not so wel like him 2. his sitting on the East-side of the citty either to bee farther from the iudgement of God which was likely to come Westward because Ierusalem stoode that way or to bee out of the trade and thorough-fare of the people which was likeliest to bee at their kaie for the river laye also vpon the West-side or to bee freer from the heate and parching of the sunne vvhich in the morning and towardes the East is lesse fervent or lastly I tolde you to take the comfort and benefite of the sunne rising Now the 3. in the number of those Antecedentes is that hee maketh himselfe a booth Wherein I mighte obserue vnto you that a Prophet is enforced to labour with his handes for the provision of necessaries And surely if it were not worthy the notinge the Apostle woulde never haue said Act. 20. You know that these handes haue ministred vnto my necessities and to those that were with mee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these verye handes that breake the breade of the Lord these handes that baptize and that are laide vpon the heades of Gods servauntes these haue ministred vnto my necessities Likeweise the first to the Corinthians and fourth VVee labour vvorking vvith our owne bandes And in his Epistles to the Thessalonians twise hee maketh mention of his labour and travaile day and night But I rather
there anie vessell more or lesse in honour then the rest are Moses is no better then Samuel Samuel thē David David a king then Amos an heardman Iohn Baptist more then a prophet not more then a prophet in this auctority Peter or Andrewe the first that was chosen not better then Paul that was borne out of due time The foure beastes in the Revelation haue eies alike before and behinde and the Apostles names are euenly placed in the writings of the holy foundation Salomon the vvisest king that euer vvas in Ierusalem perceiued righte vvell that wheresoeuer the vncreated vvisedome of GOD spake it spake of excellent thinges even thinges seemelie for Princes David his princelie father before him had so high a conceite of these ordinances of the most high that vvhere he defineth any thing he esteemeth them for value aboue great spoiles and thousandes of gold and silver yea all maner of riches and for sweetnesse aboue the hony and the honycombe where he leaueth to define he breaketh of with admiration wonderfull are thy testimonies I haue seene an ende of all perfection but thy commandement is exceeding broade meaning thereby not lesse then infinite The Iewes acknowledge the old testament abhorre the new the Turkes disclaime Iulian atheists and skorners deride Grecians haue stumbled at both olde and newe Papistes enlarge the olde vvith Apocryphall vvritings some of the ancient heretickes renoūced some prophets others added to the number of Evangelists but as the disciples of Christ had but one Maister or teacher in heauen and they were all brethren so one was the authour of these holy vvrittes in heaven and they are all sisters and companions and vvith an vnpartiall respect haue the children of Christes familie from time to time receiued reverenced and embraced the whole and entire volume of them They knowe that one Lorde vvas the originall fountaine of them all vvho being supremely good vvrought and spake perfect goodnesse One vvorde and vvisedome of God revealed these wordes to the sonnes of men himselfe the subiect and scope of them one holie Ghost endited them one bloude of the lambe sealed and confirmed the contentes of them one measure of inspiration vvas given to the pen-men and actuaries that set them downe one spowse and beloved of Christ as gages of his eternall loue hath received them all in keeping And surely shee hath kept them as the apple of her eie and rather then any maime or rent shoulde bee made in their sacred bodye shee hath sent her children into heaven maimed in their owne bodies and spoiled of their dearest bloud they had thinking it a crowne of ioie vnto them to lay downe their liues in the cause of trueth And therefore as branches of the same vine that bare our predecessours to vvhome by devolution these sacred statutes are come vvee esteeme them all for Gods most royall and celestiall testament the oracles of his heavenly sanctuary the onelie keye vnto vs of his revealed counselles milke from his sacred breastes the earnest and pledge of his favour to his Church the light of our feete ioy of our heartes breath of our nostrels pillar of our faith anchor of our hope ground of our loue evidences and deedes of our future blessednes pronouncing of the vvhole booke with every schedule and skrole therein conteyned as hee did of a booke that Sextius vvrote but vpon farre better groundes vivit viget liber est supra hominem est It is a booke of life a booke of liuelyhood a booke in deede savouring of more then the wit of man Notwithstanding as the parcelles of this booke were published and delivered by divers notaries the instruments of Gods owne lippes in divers ages divers places vpon divers occasions and neither the argument nor the stile nor the end and purpose the same in them all some recounting thinges forepassed some foreseeing thinges to come some singing of mercy some of iudgement some shallowe for the lambe to wade in some deepe enough to beare and drowne the Elephant some meate that must bee broken and chevved vvith painefull exposition some drinke that at the first sighte may bee supt and swallowed dovvne somevvhat in some or other parte that may please all humours as the Ievves imagine of their Manna that it rellishte not to all alike but to everie man seemed to taste accordinglie as his hart lusted so though they vvere all vvritten for our learning and comforte yet some may accorde at times and lende application vnto vs for their matter and vse more then others Of all the fovvles of the ayre I meane the Prophetes of the LORDE flying from heaven vvith the winges of divine inspiration I haue chosen the Doue for so the name of Ionah importeth and Ierome so rendereth it to Paulinus to bee the subiecte of my labour and travell vndertaken amongest you vvho vnder the type of his shipwracke and escape figuringe the passion and resurrection of the sonne of GOD and comming from the sea of Tharsis as that Doue of Noahs Arke came from the vvaters of the floude vvith an oliue branch in his lippes in signe of peace preacheth to Niniveh to the Gentiles to the vvhole vvorlde the vndeserved goodnesse of GOD towardes repentant sinners For if you vvill knowe in briefe vvhat the argument of this Prophet is it is abridged in that sentence of the Psalme The LORDE is mercifull and gracious of longe suffering and of grette goodnesse Hee is mercifull in the first parte of the prophecy to the Mariners gracious in the seconde to Ionas long suffering in the thirde to the Ninivites and of great goodnesse in the fourth in pleading the rightfulnesse of his mercie and yeelding a reason of his facte to him vvhich had no reason to demaunde it So from the foure chapters of Ionas as from the foure windes is sent a comfortable breath and gale of most aboundant mercies And as the foure streames in paradise flowing from one heade vvere the same water in foure divisions so the foure chapters or sections of this treatise are but quadruple mercie or mercie in foure parts And so much the rather to bee harkened vnto as an action of mercie is more gratefull vnto vs then the contemplation the vse then the knowledge the example then the promise and it is sweeter to our taste beeing experienced by proofe then vvhen it is but taught and discoursed You heare the principall matter of the prophecie But if you woulde knowe besides what riches it offereth vnto you it is a spirituall library as Cassiodore noted of the Psalmes of most kindes of doctrine fit for meditation or as Isidore spake of the Lordes prayer and the Creede the vvhole breadth of scripture may hither bee reduced Here you haue Genesis in the sodaine and miraculous creation of a gourd Moses and the lawe in denuntiation of iudgement Chronicle in the relation of an history Prophecy in prefiguring the resurrection of
Put and Lubim were her helpers yet was shee carried awaie and vvent into captivitie her young children were broken in pieces at the heade of all the streetes and they cast lots for her noble men and all her mightie men were bounde in chaines The reason holdeth by equality the strength and puissance of No was abased and thy mighte shal be cast downe It was afterward accomplished vpon Niniveh because shee was full of bloud full of lies and robbery a maistres of witchcraftes her multitude vvas slaine and the deade bodies were manie there was no ende of her carkases and they euen stumbled as they went vpon her corpses Mercurius Trismegistus sometime spake to Asclepius of Aegypt after this sort Art thou ignorant O Asclepius that Aegypt is the image of heaven c. And if vvee shall speake more truely our land is the temple of the whole vvorlde and yet the time shall come when Aegypt shall be forsaken and that land which was the seate of the Godhead shal be deprived of religion and left destitute of the presence of the Gods It is written of Tyrus in the three and twentith of Esay that shee was rich with the seede of Nilus that brought her abundance the harvest of the river were her revenewes and shee was a mart of the nations c. Yet the Lord triumpheth and maketh disport at her overthrowe Is this that glorious citie of yours vvhose antiquitie is of auncient daies c who hath decreede this against Tyrus shee that crowned men whose marchants are princes and her chapmen the nobles of the worlde the Lord of hostes hath decreede it to staine the pride of all glory and to bring to contempte all the honorable in the earth It is fallen it is fallen saith the Angell in the Revelation Babilon the great citie having the same title of greatnes that Niniveh hath in this place and is become the habitation of divelles and the hole of all fowle spirites and a cage of every vncleane and hatefull birde though shee had saide in her heart I sit as a Queene I am no widovv and shall see no mourning That everlasting citie of Rome as Ammianus Marcellinus called her shall see the day vvhen the eternity of her name and the immortalitie of her soule vvherewith shee is quickned I meane the supremacie of her prelates aboue Emperours and princes shal be taken from her and as Babilon before mencioned hath left her the inheritaunce of her name so it shall leaue her the inheritaunce of her destruction also and she shal become as other presumptuous cities a dwelling for hedghogs an habitation for owles and vultures thornes shall growe in her palaces and nettles in her strong holdes The lamentations of Ieremie touching the ruine of Ierusalem sometimes the perfection of beauty and the ioy of the whole earth as neare vnto God as the signet vpon his right hand yet afterwardes destroyed as a lodge in a garden that is made but for one night if they can passe by the eares of any man and leaue not lamentation and passion behinde them I will say that his harte is harder then the nether milstone How were her gates sunck to the ground her barres broken the stones of her sanctuary scattered in the corners of every streete her mountaine of Syon so desolate that the very foxes runne vpon it whose strength was such before that the Kinges of the earth and all the inhabitants of the worlde woulde never haue beleeved that the enemy shoulde haue entered into the gates of Ierusalem I now conclude Greatenesse of sinnes will shake the foundations of the greatest cities vpon the earth if their heades stoode amongst the stars iniquitie woulde bring them downe into dust and rubble Multitude of offences vvill minish and consume multitudes of men that although the streets were sowen with the seede of man yet they shal be so scarse that a child may tel them yea the desolation shal be so great that none shall remaine to say to his friend leaue thy fatherlesse children behind thee and I will preserue them aliue and let thy widdowes trust in me The daies can speake and the multitude of yeares can teach vvisdome aske your fathers and they can reporte vnto you that grasse hath growen in the streetes of your cities for want of passengers and a man hath beene as precious as the gold of Ophir as rare almost to bee found as if the grounde of your city had beene the moores and wasts where no man dwelleth One would haue wished a friend more then the treasures of the East to haue kept him company releeved his necessity to haue taken some paines with his vviddowe and Orphanes to haue closed his eies at the time of his death to haue seene him laide forth for buriall and his bones but brought to the graue in peace The arme of the Lorde is not shortned hee that smote you once can smite you the second time hee can visit the sonnes as well as the fathers he is a God both in the mountaines and in the vallies in the former later ages he is able againe to measure the grouÌ„d of your citie with a line of vanity pull downe your houses into the dust of the earth and turne the glory of your dwellings into ploughed feilds onely the feare of his name is your safest refuge righteousnes shal be a stroÌ„ger bulwarke vnto you then if you were walled with bras mercy and iudgment and truth and sobriety and sanctimony of life shall stand with your enemies in the gate repell the vengaÌ„ce of God in the highest streÌ„gth therof And so I come to the 2 generall part wherein we are to consider what Ionas was to doe at Niniveh it is manifested in the wordes following Crâ—e against it Laye not thine hande vpon thy mouth neither drawe in thy breath to thy selfe vvhen the cause of thy maister must bee dealt in Silence can never breake the dead sleepe of Niniveh Softnesse of voice cannot pearce her heavy eares Ordinary speaking hath no proportion with extraordinary transgression Speake and speake to bee heard that when shee heareth of her fall shee may bee wounded with it It was not nowe convenient that Ionas should goe to Niniveh as God came to Elias in a still and softe voyce but rather as a mightie strong winde rending the mountaines and breaking the rockes abasing the highest lookes in Niniveh and tearing the hardest hearte in peeces as an earthquake and fire consuming all her drosse and making her quake with the feare of the iudgementes of God as the trees of the forrest Iericho must bee overthrowne with trumpets and a shout and Niniveh will not yeeld but to a vehement outcry A prophet must arme himselfe I say not with the speare but with the zeale of Phinees when sinne is impudent and cannot blush God cannot endure dallying and trifling in weighty matters The gentle spirit of Eli is not
it noteth some order in the actions of God He sawe their sinnes in the booke of eternitie before their hearts did ever conceiue them he saw them in their breasts before their hands committed them he saw their infancy and their full strength their thirst and drunkennes their beginning and proceeding But then hee sawe them indeed and to purpose when hee sawe them perfected and fulfilled and havinge vvincked as it were before and in patience forborne them nowe behelde them with fiery eyes and his hearte vnremoueably bent to take vengeance The wilde asse vsed to the wildernesse snuffeth vp winde at her pleasure who can turne her backe they that seeke after her will not wearie themselues but will finde her in her moneth GOD seeth and observeth at all times the vntamed madnesse of the vvicked wearying themselues like the wilde asse or the dromedarye in a race of abhominations but hee will take them in their moneth and turne them backe when their sinnes are ripe and his wrath throughly incensed 2 Their wickednesse is come vp before mee The phrase doth minister a further instruction vnto vs. Sinne in the eyes of some man seemeth not sin Lactantius writeth of those who were not ashamed of their faultes but rather sought out patronage and defence for them that at the least they might seeme to sinne honestly Ieremy speaketh of the Iewes in the same manner were they ashamed when they had committed abhomination nay they were not ashamed neither coulde they haue shame He smiteth them afterward in the 11. of his Prophecy with a sharper reproofe that when they did evill they reioyced at it And it is the fashion of vs all to bolster and beare out the vices of our friendes changing sower into sweet and evill into good even for their friendships sake Alceus tooke a mole in the body for a grace yet was it a blemmish One mule rubbeth another an hypocrite liketh an hypocrite because hee is like vnto him a drunkarde a drunkarde an vsurer him that is practised in the same trade he that transformed himselfe into an Angell of light being a fiende of darkenes hath taught an harlot to cloath her selfe like an honest matrone and vices to disguise themselues vnder the habite of vertues But howsoever the the eyes of men are blinded with partiality yet the eye-liddes of the Lorde shall trie the children of men his righteous and flaming countenaunce shall soundelie examine their actions vncover the faces of their iniquities and call them rightly and truely by their proper names 3 But whatsoever we find else in the riches store of these words this wee may gather from the nature of them that there are some sinnes winged of an high elevation ascending aboue the toppe of Carmel aspiring pressing before the maiesty of Gods owne thrōe The speech is but altered in other scriptures the substance and signification all one where it is said that some sinnes cry in the eares of God that which is the winges or chariot vnto them in this place to make them mount so high is their cry in those others I meane their outrage and enormity Cains sin cried vnto the Lord. Gen. 4. And in the 18. of Gen. Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great which is expoūded in the next words because their sin is exceeding grievous I will now goe downe saith the Lord and see whether they haue done altogither according to that crie which is come vp vnto mee Beholde the hire of the labourers which haue reaped the fieldes which is of you kept backe by fraude cryeth and the cries of them which haue reaped are entered into the eares of the Lorde of hostes in the Epistle of Iames. Aunswerable to that part of Iob his Apology which he presenteth vnto his iudge in the 31. of his booke If my lande cry against mee or if the furrowes of my fielde complaine c. Let thistles growe in steede of wheate and cockle in steede of barley Oppression is threatned by the like tearmes in the seconde of Abacuck The stone shall crye out of the wall and the beame out of the timber shall answere it woe vnto him that buildeth a towne with bloude and erecteth a citie with iniquitie All which sentences of scripture expressing the loudnesse and vocality of sinne are of the same force as before I saide with those that declare the sublimity and reach of it God speaketh to Senacharib in an other manner of speech but the matter and purpose is not different from this Because thou ragest against mee and thy tumult is come vp to mine eares I will put my hooke in thy nostrels c. Likewise the prophet telleth the children of Israell in the seconde of Chronicles that because the Lorde God was wroth with Iudah he had delivered thē into the Israelits hands and they had slaine them in a rage that reached vp to heaven By these and the like conferences a man may determine the nature and set downe a catalogue in some sorte of crying sinnes Bloudeshedde is a crying sinne I say not all kinde of bloudshedde for the speech of God to Cain hath bloudes not bloud which noteth an vnsatiable appetite wherewith hee was so dry that if his brother had possessed a 1000. times as much bloud he would haue spilt it all and though he tooke away his life yet he tooke not leaue of his own malitious thirst of bloud Blasphemy and rage against God is a crying sin oppression extortion fraud against poore labourers against right owners is a crying sin and sin with outragiousnesse and impudencie any vvay publicke infamovs enormous sin contemning the iudgement of GOD and censures of men committed with greedinesse drawn with cart-ropes gloried in where men even sel themselues to vvorke vvickednesse is a crying sinne VVhich immoderate and proud humour of viciousnesse is notably expressed in the sixt of Genesis where it is alleadged that when the Lord saw the wickednesse of man was greate vpon the earth and all the imaginations of the thoughts of his hart were onely evill continually then it repented the Lord that he had made man and hee was sorrie in his heart 1. It vvas vvickednesse 2. greate 3. evident for the Lorde sawe it 4. their hearts were evill 5. every thought of their heart 6. every imagination of thought 7. onely evill 8. continually or day by day there was no hope of amendmente Equall herevnto is that generall and vnbridled corruption vvhich David setteth downe in the 14. Psalme vvhere they beginne vvith a most damnable principle of Atheisme the gate and highway into all iniquity The foole saith in his hearte there is no God Then is the sincke or channell opened to all dissolution of life They are corrupted and doe abhominably there is none that doth good The Lorde looked downe from heaven vpon the children of men to see if there were anye that woulde vnderstand seeke after God but they
at his discretion Horace commended Virgil his friend going towards Athens to the mighty goddesse of Cyprus the two brethreÌ„ of Helen the father of the winds that is to Venus the two twins Castor Pollux Aeolus wishing for his better speed that all the windes might be bounde vp besides Iapyx a quiet westerne winde with many the like fables not vnknowne to grammer schooles The blowing of the windes more or lesse wee impute not to Aeolus nor any the like devised God of the gentiles we honour the Lord of hosts alone in the power of this creature who sitteth vpon the circle of heaven and causeth both the sunne to shine and the raines to fall and the winds to blow in their seasons and at this time appointed this winde to a singular service It is he that flieth vpon the winges of the wind The channels of the waters haue beene seene and the foundations of the earth discovered at his rebuking and at the blasting of the breath of his nostrels You see it is called the breath of the Lord as also in the booke of Iob not that substantiall breath of his wherof we read in the 1. of Gen. the spirit of God moved vpon the waters but a created breath extracted and engendred out of other creatures The winde that came from the wildernes and overthrew the corners of the house wherin the children of Iob were feasting that saint acknowledgeth to haue come from heavenly disposition The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away Wind fire bands of robbers he assigneth not to any idol of the heatheÌ„ nor to the malice of men nor to the hazard of fortune which others made a goddes but to the almightines soverainty of him who ruleth al things And as his dominion is vndoubted in the aire so doth the sea submit it selfe likewise to his governance who sitteth vpon the water-flouds and is a king for evermore as the Psalme speaketh For who but he hath shut vp the sea with doores when it issued and came forth as out of the wombe who established his commandement vpon it when he set bars gates said hitherto shalt thou coÌ„e and no further here will I stay the proud waues Who els devided the red sea into two parts that the children of Israell passed through on dry foote But as for Pharaoh and his host the horse and the rider they were overthrown therin Who els turned the streame of Iordan the contrary way whereof the Prophet demandeth with admiratioÌ„ what aileth thee O IordaÌ„ that thou wentest backe who els turned the waters into bloud and drieth vp the rivers that the fishes rotte for wante of moisture Tell mee his name to vse the words of Iob if thou knowest it and what is his sonnes name It is he and his son who in the gospell of Marke rebuked the windes and saide vnto the sea peace and bee still and the winde ceased and there was a great calme and they could not be satisfied about it but asked who it was that both the winds the sea should thus obey him All kindes of vveather by lande or sea thunders and lightning even the coales of fire that were never blowne haile-stones stormy tempestes they come by his assignement who cleaveth the rockes asunder with his voice and shooteth forth his thunderbolts as arrowes at a marke who biddeth his lightnings walke and they say loe here we are and devideth the spouts in the aire to yeeld their moysture to the ground more or lesse at the will of their maker And we vtterly renounce herein not onely the palpable idolatrie of the Gentiles vvho gaue the glory of the most highe to â—heir base and inglorious abominations but the foolish ignorance of others nearer home vvho in the vvorking of these creatures never looke vp to the seate of maiesty that ordereth all thinges but whatsoever befalleth them by fall of fire blast of wind inundation of waters or the like they tearme it chance Alas chance is nothing for nothing is done in the whole world without an order from aboue and it vvas wisely noted by a learned man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nature bringeth forth that which we wroÌ„gfully cal chaÌ„ce because it commeth vnexpected I read of a certaine people in Africke who being troubled with the North-wind driving heapes of sandes vpon their fieldes dwelling places they gathered an army of men to fight against it but with so evill successe that themselues were also buried vnder hilles of sandes Xerxes the Persian Monarke having received a losse by the rage of Hellespontus himselfe more mad then the sea caused fetters and manacles to be cast into the waters thereof as if he would make it his prisoner binde it with linkes of iron at his pleasure Darius did the like vpon the river Gynde who because it had drowned him a white horse threatned the river to devide it into so many streames so to weaken the strength of it that a woman great with child should goe over it dry-shod It is not vnlike the madnes of our daies who must not be crossed either with wet or dry winds or raines faire or fowle but we fall to repining murmuring banning blaspheming al kind of cursed either speaking or wishing at least But as God asketh Senacherib whome hast thou railed vpon or whome hast thou blasphemed so I aske these meÌ„ whome are you angry with who hath displeased you are you angry with the saw or with him that lifteth it do the winds and seas mooue your impatience they are but servantes vnto that Lord who saith vnto them smite and they do it favor they are obedient Rabsakeh speaketh to the nobles of Ierusalem Esay 36. Am I come hither without the Lord The Lord said vnto me Go vp against this land to destroy it So it is in the force of these creatures wheÌ„ either they drowne or blast or parch to much it is not done without the Lorde the Lord saith vnto them doe thus or otherwise Besides the impieties aboue named it is an error of our times heathenish enough to giue the honor of God in these and the like accidents to witches coÌ„iurers For if ever tempest arise more theÌ„ coÌ„mon experience hath inured vs vnto especially with the havock and losse either of life or limme in our selus or of our cattel or howsings forthwith the iudgmeÌ„t is given as if the God of heaveÌ„ earth were fallen a sleepe minded nothing there is some coniuring Be it so What is coniuring a pestilent commistion conveÌ„tioÌ„ stipulation betwixt men divels MeÌ„ divels what are they looke vpoÌ„ the sorcerers of Aegypt for the one Magorum potestas saith Augustine defecit in muscis they cried in the smallest plague that was sent and past their cunning to remoue this is the figure of the Lord their power is limited therfore Looke vpon
of the ship flying the face of God the face of men the face of his owne person the face of the light of heaven not able to endure the face of the winds and seas that were vp in armes against him yet sleepeth It is against all reason For sleepe departeth from the eies of fearefull men If they lay them downe they saie vvhen shall I rise they measure the houres of the night they are full of tossing to and fro vntill the dawning of the daie When they saie my couch shall relieue mee and my bedde shall bringe comforte in my meditation then are they feared vvith dreames and astonished with visions Therefore the Poet called one of the sonnes of sleepe Phobetor a terrifier of men presenting himselfe vnto their phantasie in the likenes of beastes of birdes of serpentes of any thing that may affright the wicked I neuer would haue thought that conscience could haue slept till this time shee is so marked and observed by her owne eie though no other eie perceiue her so followed and chased by her owne foote though nothing els in heaven or earth pursue her Shee flieth when no man followeth and hath a thousande vvitnesses within her owne breast vvhen shee is free from the vvhole vvorlde besides The worme that euer gnaweth the fire that euer burneth is the remembrance of her forepassed iniquities And though wee escape the handes of the living God we shall finde it fearefull enough to fall into the handes of a living and yet dying conscience But nothing in the world I thinke saue either a dulnesse of sinne incredible and the next degree to a reprobate sense or els a purpose of God to shewe the perfection of his power in the imperfection and weaknes of his prophet could haue wrought this effect The ende of all is this He neither slumbereth nor sleepeth that keepeth Israell he waketh in heauen that hath an eie and care of Ionas in his profound sleeping Though smitten into the place of Dragons or whales and covered with the shaddow of death he commeth to light againe though hee lieth amongst the pots as an other Psalme speaketh in a filthy fuliginous corner as one forgotten forsaken forlorne he becommeth as a Doue whose wings are of siluer and her feathers of yellow golde purified as it vvere by the finer of his soule and restored to that beauty and perfection wherewith before he shone Though he dwelleth in the land of forgetfulnes and is laid in the lowest pit in the deepe of displeasure as a man without strength free among the dead and exiled from the living and as the slaine in the graue vvhome God remembreth no more for such was the cabbin of security vvhich Ionas was entred into yet he is quickned vvith life and broughte vp to heauen to bee an example of mercy to those that vvere then vnborne Of iudgement and mercie may bee our songe iudgement in the revenge mercie in the deliveraunce of Ionas iudgement in his flight and running from God mercy in his retreate iudgment in his sleeping mercy in his rising vp If God had not watched to preserue Ionas as when vvee all sleepe hee vvaketh for vs all Ionas might haue slept his sleepe to vse the phrase of the Psalme and as Ieremy expoundeth it his everlasting sleepe not that sweete sleepe of the body vvherewith nature is refreshed but of the soule in sinne and of the body and soule in immortall perdition If God shoulde haue saide vnto him touching the spirite of slumber now fallen vpon the spirite of Ionas as our saviour saide to his disciples touching the sleepe of their bodies from henceforth sleepe and take thy rest till thy eies sinke into the holes of thy heade I will neither come nor send to call thee vp againe the night had compassed him in with darkenesse and the pit had shut her mouth vpon him for ever Looke not my brethren for favour at the handes of God so singular as Ionas found make not the watchfulnes of God an occasion to your sluggishnesse neither sleepe you in sinne because he sleepeth not in his providence and protection Looke not that the sunne shall stand still any more as it did to Iosuah or go backe againe as to Ezechias or that Iordan shall flee from his place the sea devide it selfe and stande vp like vvalles as to the children of Israell nor that a voice shall bee hearde from heauen or a light seene besides the ordinary light of the firmament as when Paule was converted Do yee complaine that the arme of the Lorde is shortened in your daies because yee see not the like signes or will ye not be saved without miracles are your eies evill because God hath a larger hande towardes other men or is not his hande full enoughe tovvarde vs if vve knew our happinesse vnlesse the course of the vvorlde be altered for our sakes the pillars of the earth mooved the channels of the vvaters discovered vnlesse we see tokens in the sunne and the moone and one rise from the deade to giue vs warning vvill wee not bee vvarned The Iewes require a signe and the Greekes seeke after wisedome we preach Christ crucified and vvoe to the world if the open face of the Gospell cannot mooue vs vvithout a signe nor the simplicitie of Christ Iesus persvvade vs vvithout other vvisedome Ionas vvas suffered to runne his race of disobedience and vvhen hee had vvearied and spente himselfe in perverse vvaies mightily brought backe thou sayest vvhy not I I dispute not God will measure his graces at his pleasure and though they runne over to some they are plentifull enoughe to vs all as it is in the tenth to the Romanes Hee that is Lorde o-over all is rich vnto all that call vnto him That answere which he gaue to Paule in an other case Sufficit tibi gratia mea my grace sufficeth thee may suffice all sutours But if they will not returne to God till they haue tempted his iustice as farre as Ionas did and bee cast into a bedde of sinne as Iesabell into a bedde of fornication and rocked a sleepe in the deepest security that can bee imagined till they haue lyen like brandes in the fire wasted to the stumpe or as a sheepe in the mouth of the Lyon consumed to an eare or a legge as the prophetes spake in this case if God giue them over also and leaue them to perish in the fire and in the lyons mouth and in that bedde of rest vvhich their heartes haue coveted their destruction is of themselues for putting backe that accepted time were it more or lesse which God had offered them But Ionas findeth more favour with God as appeareth by a message sent vnto him So the ship-maister came vnto him said vnto him what meanest thou O sleeper c. The ship-master or the master of the cable the cordage and tackle commeth vnto Ionas and biddeth him arise I
this was a feare beyond that as may appeare by the epithet Timnerunt timore magno They were exceedingly afraide Nowe why they feared I cannot so vvell explicate It may be in regarde they bare to the person of Ionas knowing what hee was not knowing how to release him They vnderstande him to be an holy man and of an holie nation therefore vvere they brought into streightes they haue not hearte to deliver him they haue not meanes to conceale him hee is greate that flyeth he is greater that seeketh after him That is Hieromes coniecture vpon their feare It may bee in regarde of their sinnes For if a prophet of God and a righteous soule to theirs were so persecuted they could not for their owne partes but feare a much sorer punishment For if iudgement beganne at the house of God what shal be the ende of them which obey not the gospell of God And if the righteous shall skarse bee saved where shall the vngodlie and sinner appeare The Apostle maketh the comparison but it is as sensible and easie to the eie of nature to see so much as the high way is ready to the passenger God speaketh to the heathen nations with a zealous and disdainfull contention betwixte them and his people Lo I beginne to plague the citie vvherein my name was called vpon and shall you goe free It maie bee the maiestie of Gods name did astonish them and bruise them as a maule of iron having beene vsed but to puppets and skar-crowes before in comparison They were not acquainted with Gods of that nature and power till this time they never had dreamed that there was a Lorde whose name was Iehovah whose throne was the heaven of heavens and the sea his floore to walke in and the earth his foote-stoole to treade vpon who hath a chaire in the conscience and sitteth in the heart of man possessing his secret reines dividing betwixt his skinne and his flesh and shaking his inmost powers as the thunder shaketh the wildernes of Cades It is a testimony to that which I say that when the Arke was brought into the campe of Israell and the people gaue a shoute the Philistines were afraide at it and saide God is come into the hoste therefore they cried wo wo vnto vs for it hath not bene so heretofore wo be vnto vs who shall deliver vs out of the handes of these mighty Gods These are the Gods which smote the Aegyptians with all the plagues in the wildernes Wherein it is a wōderful thing to consider that the sight of the tēpest drinking vp their substance before their eies and opening as it were a throate to swallow their liues vp did not so much astonishe them as to heare but the Maiesty of God delivered by relation Alas what did they heare to that which he is indeede It was the least parte of his waies to heare of his creation of heaven and the sea and the dry land he is infinite and incomprehensible besides all that thou seest and all that thou seest not that in some sort God is And it is not a thing to bee omitted that the speech of the prophet made a deeper penetration and entrance into them than if a number besides not having the tongue of the learned had spent their wordes For consider the case The windes were murmuring about their eares the waters roaring the soule of their ship sobbing their commodities floating the hope of their liues hanging vpon a small twine yet though their feare were greate it was not so greate as when a prophet preached declared vnto them the almightinesse of the sacred godhead They haue not onely wordes but swordes even two edged swordes in their mouthes whome God hath armed to his service they are able to cut an hearte as hard as adamant they rest not in the iointes of the bodie nor in the marrow of the bones but pearce the very soule and the spirite and part the very thoughtes and intentions of the heart that are most secret The weapons of their warfare wherewith they fight are not carnall but mighty through God to cast downe holdes and munitions and destroying imaginations disceptations reasonings and every sublimity that is exalted against the knowledge of God and captivating every thought to the obedience of Christ. So there is neither munition for strength nor disputation for subtility nor heighth for superiority nor thought in the minde for secrecy that can holde their estate against the armour of Gods prophets Haue they not chaines in their tongues for the kinges of the earth and fetters of yron for their nobles did not Pharaoh often entreate Moses and Aaron to pray to the Lord for him did not the charme of Elias so sinke into the eares of Ahab that hee rent his clothes and put sacke-cloth vpon his flesh fasted and lay in sacke-cloath and went softlie Did not Iohn Baptist so hew the eares of the Iewes vvith the axe of Gods iudgements that they asked him as the physitian of their diseased soules by severall companies and in their severall callings the people though as brutish for the most part as the beastes of the fielde What shall wee doe then the publicanes though the hatred of the world and publique notorious sinners And vvhat shall wee doe the souldiours though they had the law in their swordes pointes And what shall wee doe Hath not Peter preached at Ierusalem to an audience of every nation vnder heauen of what number you may gesse in part when those that were gained to the Church of Christ were not fewer then three thousande soules and was not the pointe of his sworde so deepely impressed into them that they were pricked in their harts and asked as Iohn Baptists auditours before Viri fratres quid faciemus men and brethren what shall wee doe It is not a word alone the vehemency and sounde whereof commeth from the loines and sides that is able to do this but a puissant and powerfull worde strengthened with the arme of God a vvord vvith authoritie as they witnessed of Christ a vvorde vvith evidence and demonstration of the Spirit smiting vpon the conscience more then the hammers of the smith vpon his stithie a word that draue a feare into Herodes heart for he feared Iohn Baptist both aliue deade that bet the breath of Ananias and Saphira from out their bodies stroke Elymas ' the sorcerer into a blindnes and sent an extraordinary terrour into the hartes of these marriners So then the reason of their feare as I suppose was a narration of the maiesty of God so much the more encreased because it was handled by the tongue of a prophet vvho hath a speciall grace to quicken and enliue his speech whose soule was as a well of vnderstāding and every sentence that sprang from thence as a quicke streame to beate them downe And that this was the reason of their feare I rather perswade my selfe
experience experience hope and hope will neuer suffer them to be ashamed or dismaide They breake the chaine at the first linke troubled they are against their wils but that which is voluntarie as patience experience hope they wil not adde that both in body soule they may be confoūded We on the other side hang vpon the chaine trust to climbe to heauen by it through the merits of Christs death and passion whereof the last linke consisteth and wee suffer none of those comfortable perswasions to fall to the ground without vse that if we suffer with him we shall also raigne with him and through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdome of heauen wee regarde not so much what part we haue in the whip but what place in the testament wee knowe who hath sequestred for vs to vse the word of Tertullian Idoneus patientiae sequester Deus God will truely account for all our sufferings If wee commit our wrongs vnto him he will reuenge them our losses hee will restore them our liues he will raise them vp againe THE XV. LECTVRE Chap. 1. ver 14. Then they cried vnto the Lorde and saide we beseech thee O Lord we beseech thee THE sea is angrie you haue hearde for the Lorde of hostes sake and will haue a sacrifice They gaue it space and respite enough to see if time coulde make it forgette the iniurie that vvas offered they entered consultation vvith Ionas himselfe of some milder handlinge him they spared not their painfullest contention of armes and ores to reduce him to land againe But when delay wrought no better successe and neither the prophet himselfe coulde by advise prescribe nor they effect by labour and strength the release of GODS vengeance what shoulde they doe but make ready the sacrifice and binde it to the hornes of the altar bestovvinge a fevve vvordes of blessing and dedication if I speake rightly before the offering thereof Ionas is sacrificed in the nexte verse So they tooke vp Ionas But the consecration and hallowing of the sacrifice goeth before in these wordes vvherefore they cryed c. It is the catastrophe of the vvhole acte novve it draweth to an issue and accomplishment their feare praier proiection of their vvares sortilege examination of Ionas consultation and other machinations and assaies whatsoever were but prefaces and introductions to this that followeth The sea hath made a vowe and will surely performe it I will not giue my waters any rest nor lye downe vpon my couch till Ionas be cast forth Wherefore or then It implyeth an illation from the former speeches When neither head nor handes counsaile nor force coulde provide a remedie they make it their last refuge to commende both themselues and Ionas to God by supplication t Ionas by a touch and in secret in that they call his bloud innocent bloude as who woulde saie hee never did vs hurte themselues of purpose and by profession that having to deale in a matter so ambiguous the mercy and pardon of God might be their surest fortresse The substance and soule of the vvhole sentence is prayer a late but a safe experiment and if the worst shoulde fall out that there vvere imperfection or blame in their action nowe intended praier the soveraignest restoratiue vnder heauen to make it sound againe For thus in effecte they thinke It may be wee shall be guilty of the life of a Prophet wee addresse our selues to the effusion of harme lesse bloude we must adventure the fact and whether we be right or wrong we knowe not but whatsoever betide we begge remission at thine hands be gracious and merciful vnto our ignorances require not soule for soule bloud for bloud neither lay our iniquities vnto our charge Praier hath asked pardon praier I doubt not hath obteined pardon for some of that bloudy generation which slew the very son heire of the kingdome which offered an vnrighteous sacrifice of a more righteous soule than ever Ionas was Else why did he open his mouth at his death powre forth his gronings for those that opened his side and powred forth his blood father forgiue them Before they had handled the ores of their trade and occupation but prevailed not for bodily exercise profiteth nothing novve they betake them to the ores of the spirite invocations intercessions to the ever-liuing God that if the bankes of the land vvhich they hoped to recover should faile them they might be receiued to an harbour and rode of the mercies of God These are the ores my brethren which shall rowe the shippe through all the stormes and insurrections of the waues of the seas I meane the Arke of Gods Church vniuersal and these vessels of ours our bodies soules in particular through all the dangers of the world and land them in the hauen of eternal redemption This worlde is a sea as I finde it compared swelling with pride vaineglory the winde to heaue it vp blew livide with envy boiling with wrath deepe with covetousnes foming with luxuriousnesse swallowing drinking in all by oppression dangerfull for the rockes of presumption and desperation rising with the waues of passions perturbations ebbing flowing with inconstancy brinish and salte with iniquity and finally Mare amarum a bitter and vnsavory sea with all kinde of misery What shoulde wee doe then in such a sea of tēptations where the arme of flesh is too weake to beare vs out if our strength were brasse it coulde not helpe vs where we haue reason to carry a suspition of all our waies and he that is most righteous in the cluster of mankinde falleth in his happiest day seven times and though we were privie to nothinge in our selues yet were wee not iustified thereby but had need to craue Clense vs O Lord frō our secret faults where we are taught to say father forgiue our debts and if the summe of our sins at our liues end be ten thousand talents then whether we speake or thinke wake or sleepe or whatsoever we do we adde a debt when all offend in many thinges many in all and he that offendeth in one iote of the law breaketh the vvhole vvhat should we doe I say but as the Apostles exhortation is pray continually and thinke neither place nor time nor businesse vnmeete to so holy and necessary an exercise that whether we beginne the day we may say with Abrahams servaunt O Lorde sende mee good speede this day or vvhither wee be covered with the shaddowes of the night we may begge with that sweete singer of Israell Lighten mine eies that I sleepe not in death or whatsoeuer vvee attempt in either of these two seasons vve may prevent it vvith the blessing of that other Psalme Prosper the vvorke of our handes vpon vs oh prosper thou our handy vvorkes Egredientes de hospitio armet oratio regredientibus de plataea occurrat oratio vvhen thou goest out of thine house let prayer
wherewith Pharaoh was smitten all the waters of Aegypt in their rivers their streames their pondes their pooles their vessels of woode and their vessels of stone were changed into blood so in the minde and conscience of a murtherer there shall alwaies remaine a plague of bloud his eies shall behold no other colour but sanguine as if the aire were died into it the visions of his head in the night time shal cast a boule of bloud in his face all the cogitations and thoughtes of his heart shall overflow with the remembrance of that bloud which hee hath effused Againe if he that hath killed a man dieth in his bed or otherwise by the handes of God without the irrogation of this iudgement vpon him to be killed or executed by the hands of men yet let him know that he is dead by the law already the sworde of the spirit of God hath fallen vpon him the word and sentence of the law hath condemned him and that hee is reserved to the iudgemente of the greate daie where the sworde of eternall damnation the double and triple edge whereof can neuer be rebated shall feede vpon his flesh and be drunken with his bloude without ceasing Or lastly if he escape the dint of all these swordes temporall in this life internal in the conscience eternall in the worlde to come let him thanke his crucified redeemer whose stripes haue healed him the wounding and bleeding of whose precious body hath made intercession with his father in heauen that the wounds and bloudshed which he was worker of are not thought vpon Secondly we enquired how the bloud of Ionas might be tearmed innocente a man that fled from the face of God whom the winds and the sea hated with a perfite hatred euen vnto death an an vvhome the Marriners themselues rebuked and novve by the instant voice of God are ready to cast forth how is he innocent I answere In part not wholy with respect not absolutely innocent towards these men whome hee neuer iniuried not vvith relation to God whom he had hainouslye offended The Pelagians of our time magnifying the arme of flesh and the nature of mankinde more than reason admitteth by a sophisticall and deceitfull conclusion haue sought to obscure the trueth and to overâ—reach the world in this pointe For because they finde in the scriptures often mention of the innocencie iustice perfection of the children of God they dissembling or not wiselie weighing the drifte of the place simplie inferre thereupon that the law of GOD may be kept and fulfilled in this life Their paralogisme is easily discovered and disprooued by the rule of Augustine When the perfection of any man is named vvee must consider wherein it is named A man may bee a perfite hearer of vvisedome not a perfite teacher Thus is hee perfite and vnperfite a perfite knovver of righteousnesse not a perfite doer perfite in this that hee loueth all men and yet vnperfite in the loue it selfe It were absurdly concluded Ionas was innocent towards the Marriners therefore innocent towardes the Israelites innocent towardes man therefore innocent towards God innocent in this present behaviour therfore innocent in the whole conversation of his life As it hath no iust consecution David was innocent towardes Saul therefore innocent towardes Vrias A man may be righteous both in comparison of others for hee is the best which hath the fewest faultes and in comparison of himselfe for wee must iudge of a man by that whereto the greater part of his life and disposition hath beene inclined And because there was no father in the church who had greater reason to ventilate this argument vnto the bottome than Augustine had himselfe in that ambitious age being sifted and proued by so many adversaries to the grace and righteousnes of God I will giue you a short taste of his aunswers and satisfactions to the question as I finde them in his writings Touching perfection hee vvriteth thus by occasion of the Apostles wordes Philippians the thirde Let vs as manye as bee perfiâ—â—e bee thus minded Yet in the twelfth verse before it is contraried Not as though I had alreadie attained it or that I were alreadie perfite How may these stande togither Perfite and vnperfite If vve take perfection in intention and purpose not in pervention and obtaining the purpose in contention endevour inchoation that is in imperfection and not otherwise thou canst not otherwise bee perfite in this life vnlesse thou knovve that in this life thou canst not bee perfite There is a certaine perfection according to the measure and proportion of this life and to that perfection this is also deputed If a man knowe that yet hee is not perfite So as it is not the least parte of our perfection to knovve and confesse our imperfections Bernarde vpon the former wordes to the Philippians that I may inserte his iudgement also by the way beateth downe the arrogancie of all high minded flesh Magnum electionis vas profectum abnuit perfectum fatetur The greate vessell of election denyeth perfection to himselfe confesseth his profection and goinge forwarde I endevour my selfe to that vvhich is before I proceede vvith Augustine VVee maye be perfite travellers in righteousnesse before heereafter vvee shall â—ee perfite owners and possessours of righteousnesse vvee may bee perfite by anticipation carrying the name of the thinge before vvee haue attayned vnto it as vvee are saide alreadie to bee glorified though our glorification shall bee consummate in time to come We are the sonnes of God saith the Apostle and yet it appeareth not what wee shall bee What meaneth this vvee are and vvee shall bee but that vvee are in hope and shall be indeede Finally hee alloweth a certaine perfection sufficient to converse and holde societie vvith mankinde a perfection for the modell and capacitie of this life for the state of passengers and way faring men and whatsoeuer hee allovveth more in this kinde I am sure he concludeth that the perfection of all righteous men vvhile they are in the flesh is imperfect This of perfection Of righteousnesse and iustice thus hee affirmeth in other places The Evangelist Sainte Luke reporteth of Zacharie and Elizabeth his vvife that they vvere both righteous before God that is without hypocrisie vvalking in the commaundementes of God Now because they vvalked it is an argument that they were not yet come to the marke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in all the commauddementes and iustifications of the Lorde The testimonie is alreadie verye large but yet hee addeth more They vvalked in them all vvithout reproofe Howe without reproofe Augustine interpreteth it to Innocentius Sine querelâ non sine peccato Not vvithout sinne but vvithout grievance quarrell iust complainte or exception to bee made against them Nay hee proveth out of the same scripture that because Zacharie was a Priest therefore a sinner for hee was bounde to offer for sinnes aswell for his own parte as for
the peoples In another place speaking of their righteousnesse he limiteth it thus They were righteous after a probable and laudable conversation amongest men He often distinguisheth betweene these two Peccatum querela Peccatum criâ—â—en the one sinne in generall which no man is freed from for it is an absolute sentence and needeth no exposition if we say that we haue no sinne wee deceiue our selues wee are but blowne bladders the other some great offences as David calleth it malicious vvickednesse some hainous notorious scandalous sinne culpable in the eies of men and vvorthy of censure and crimination Wee saie in his Enchiridion to Laurentius that the life of holie men may bee founde though not vvithout faulte yet vvithout an offensiue faulte Againe in his bookes of the city of God It is not the speech of vulgar and common men but of those that are rightly Saintes If vvee say that vvee sinne not c. then shall this liberty and immunity from passions bee vvhen there shall bee no sinne in men nowe vvee liue vvell enough if vvithout scandall but hee that thinketh hee liueth vvithout sinne hee doeth not thereby free himselfe from sinninge but from receiving remission of sinnes In the first epistle of Iohn the thirde chapter the Apostle seemeth to favour the opinion of absolute righteousnesse in man Hee that is borne of GOD sinneth not Peradventure saieth Augustine hee meaneth some certaine sinne not all sinne Vnderstande heereby a definite speciall sinne which he that is borne of GOD cannot commit It maye bee the vvante of loue Dilectionis carentia It may bee the greate sinne of infidelitie vvhich our Saviour noteth in the Iewes Iohn the fifteenth If I had not come and spoken vnto them they shoulde not haue had sinne the sinne vvherein all other sinnes are helde the sinne vnto death the sinne not to bee repented of and therefore not to bee pardoned Against Parmenian he aunswereth it thus Although we sinne not so farre foorth as vvee are borne of GOD yet there remaineth in vs some parte of our birth from Adam Bernarde vpon the Canticles giueth the reason why hee sinneth not The heauenly generation preserveth him that is the euerlasting predestination VVhich reason the Apostle himselfe seemeth to accorde vnto for his â—eede remaineth in him Surely there is no man that sinneth not Salomon preciselie affirmeth it in the dedication of the temple GOD hath concluded all vnder sinne Omnes odit qui malos odit Hee that hateth evill men hateth all men because there is none that doeth good no not one Noah may be a righteous man in his time and generation compared vvith thoâ—e amongst whom he liued Thamar may bee more righteous than Iudâ—h yet Thamar sinnefull enough the Publican may goe to his house more iustified than the Pharisee yet not simply iustified thereby The spouse in the Canticles may bee faire amongest women yet her beautye not such but that shee iustlye complaineth of her blackenesse Though she exceedeth the soules of men whilst they liue in the body yet shee is shorte of angelicall perfection Iohn Baptist had not a greater amongest the sonnes of vvomen but vvhosoever vvas least in the kingdome of GOD and all the coelestiall spirites are farre beyonde him The best that liue vpon the earth have brevia leviaque peccata shorte and lighte sinnes yet sinnes quamvis pauca quamvis parva non tamen nulla Though fevve in number small in measure yet sinnes in nature Therefore vve may conclude with the same father whose shielde I haue hitherto vsed against the enemies to the grace of God Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousnesse VVee must knovve our povertie and become suâ—ters and bâ—ggers for iustice if vve meane to speede Our righteousnesse in this life is such as â—ather consisteth in the remission of our sinnes than in the perfection of our vertues And to speake the trueth in the vvhole question of iustification betwixte the Papistes and vs our iustice is not iustice in proper and direct tearmes but mercy For that righteousnesse that we haue is meerely of mercy not actiue but passiue not that which wee worke our selues but GOD worketh it for vs. Abluta estis iustificati estis you haue washed or iustified your selues No you are vvashed and iustified And therefore it is called the righteousnesse of GOD because it commeth from abroad not inherent in our selues but from God deriued and by him imputed And 1. Corinthians 1. Christ is made vnto vs of God vvisedome and righteousnesse and sanctification and redemption First wisedome in preaching and instruction Secondly righteousnesse in the forgiuenesse of our sinnes Thirdly sanctification in the holinesse of our liues Fourthly redemption in his mighty deliueraunce from all our enemies that as it is vvritten hee that reioyceth may reioyce in the Lorde and knovve that neither of all these is of himselfe God obiected to the king of Tyrus in derision Ezechiell the twenty eighth Thou arte vviser then Daniell I aske of the children of Babylon what they thinke of themselues whether they goe beyonde Daniell in holinesse and integrity of life He in the ninth of his prophecie confesseth sinne and iniquitie and rebellion in all the men of Iudah and inhabitantes of Ierusalem and the vvhole people of Israell farre or neere kinges princes fathers and that righteousnesse is vvith GOD alone and vvith them confusion of face hee vtterly disclaimeth their owne iustice we come not to pray before thee for any righteousnesse in our selues and appealeth vnto the righteousnesse of the Lorde O Lorde according vnto all thy righteousnes let thine anger bee turned away ver 16. For the Lords sake that is thy Christ thine annointed verse 17. For thy greate tender mercies verse 18. Finallie for thine owne sake ver 19. This was the spirit of Daniell and they that come in the confidence of their owne pure spirites neither shall their owne praiers availe and the praiers of Daniel and Noah and all the righteous saintes in heaven which they hang vpon shall not helpe them You see our innocency iustice and perfection not that our sins are not but that they are remitted but that they are covered by the mercie of God but that they are not imputed which is the chiefe blessednes of man as wee reade in the 32. Psalme I coulde haue noted so much vnto you by a phrase which my text affordeth Lay not vpon vs innocent bloud For then are we cleere in the sight of God when the sins whereof we are guilty are not laide to our charges nor remembred Blessed are all those vvho are thus discharged of their vnsupportable soules burden that though they have many sinnes they are bound vp in a bundle and drawne into a narrowe roome though insolent climbing aspiring sinnes yet they are cast into the bottome of the sea though they are as red as crimson and scarlet yet their hue is changed they are made as white as wooll or snowe by the bloud
of Christ though they fill all the corners of heaven from the rising of the sun to the going downe thereof yet they are driven from the face of God as far as the East West are sundred lastly though they are libelled and entred into his court by the accusation of the devill and by his most righteous iustice registred yet the bookes are defaced and all those writinges against vs naâ—eâ— to the crosse of Christ by whome we are redeemed THE XVIII LECTVRE Chap. 1. ver 14. Lay not vnto our charge innocent bloud for thou Lorde hast done as it pleased thee THe praier of the Marriners vvithout longer repetition vvas common fervent discreet vocall humble importunate pertinent to the time occasion wel grounded â—n the 7th of these wherein I obserued hovve rightly they applyed theÌ„selues to the deprecation of their present daungers I examined besides their general inteÌ„t in asking pardoÌ„ for bloudshed 2. particulars arising naturally froÌ„ the words 1. the proceeding of God in case of murther life for life 2. in vvhat respect the bloud of Ionas might be tearmed innocent not that the life of Ionas could no way be toucht with sinne but that it was freed in his present and particular behaviour towards this coÌ„pany with whome he sailed I would further haue demauÌ„ded but that the time intercepted me how Ionas could be held innocent towards the Marriners whom hee had actually wronged in the losse of their temporall commodities for he onely was the cause of that generall detriment and the hazard was as great that hee might haue eased them of their better treasure I meane their lives if God had not staied it these though having sense of the one feare of the other yet call his bloud innoceÌ„t bloud The answere briefly is They wrote that in the waters which others vvrite in marble Iniuries Though their voiage vvere lost by this meanes their busines disapointed the season of their marte diverted their marchandize wrackt their provision wasted it may be to some their wiues and children vndone their estate sunke by it yet they forgiue and forget the damages and with a mantel of charity cover al his wrongs The perswasioÌ„ holdeth by coÌ„parison that if nature so newly reformed having tasted but the milke of the knowledge of God haue so quicke a digestioÌ„ of forepassed wrongs much more is required of vs who have bene dieted with the strongest meat to whom the precepts of charity have in most ample manner beene revealed The commendatioÌ„ shall ever live which Ambrose giveth to Theodosius the Emperor being dead Theodosius of happy memory thought he received a benefite as often as hee was intreated to forgive that was wished in him which in others was feared that hee would bee angry Tully reporteth the like of a far vnlike Emperour that Caesar forgat nothing but iniuries There is a learned skilfull vertuous kinde of forgetfulnes It is good to forget some things All Manasses went not over â—ordeÌ„ part staied behind Now Manasses had his name of forgetfulnes and Bernard illuding thereunto saith It is good to forget Babylon to remember Ierusalem to forget the flesh-pots and 〈◊〉 of Aegypt to remember the milke and honie of Canaan to forget our owne 〈◊〉 and our fathers house and to remember heaven heavenly thinges So Paul forgat that which was behinde his former defects delinquishments and it shall be happy for vs all to doe the like not in the mercies either of God or man but in the crosses and grievances which wee have sustained Peter asked his maister in the gospel how of the should forgive his brother offending against him whether to 7. times It is added Luke 17. how often in a day our Saviour telleth him vnto 70. times 7. times that is as Ierome accounteth it 490. times so often in a day as is not possible for thy brother oftner to trespasse against thee Augustine in effect hath the same note Why doth our Saviour saye seventie times seven times and not an hundreth times eight times hee aunsvvereth from Adam to Christ vvere seuenty generations therefore as Christe forgaue all the transgressions of vvhole mankinde parted and diffused into so manye generations so also vvee shoulde reâ—itte as manye offences as in the tearme and compasse of our life are committed against vs. Examine shall I say one day nay all the dayes of our life if all might goe for one haue wee forgiuen haue wee forborne that were one degree lesse haue we not persecuted Turkes Infidelles vessels of dishonour nay our owne brethren 7. yea and 70. times 7. times vvithout number or measure the sunne rising and the sunne going downe vpon our wrath our waies being the waies of destruction our beddes the beddes of mischiefe as the Psalme calleth them daies nights openly privately meditating talking practising howe to avenge our selues of the least discontentmentes It were as â—are a matter in our age as to see the sun go backe to heare of any amongst vs patient of iniuries as that patriarke sometimes of Ierusalem was of whome the proverbe of those times vvente Nihil vtilius quà m Alexandro malefacere Nothinge can more profite a man than to hurte Alexander Yet hee kepte but that rule which they that kepte not are no parte of the Israell of God Not to resist euill To giue cheeke after cheeke cloake after coate to take all that was offered whether vpon or without the body as that precept implyeth nay rather to returne good for euill Rom. 12 loue for enmity blessing for cursing good deedes for hatred praiers for persecutions Math. 5. VVe rather imbrace the instigations of gentilitye and such as the nature of man easilye propendeth vnto beare one iniurye and beare more hee that wrongeth one threatneth all and such like proâ—ocations I will end with the exhortation of our Lorde Luke 6. so giue aâ—d you shalbeâ— forgiuen Or rather with that which Mat. 6. is more peremptory If you forgiue him not you shall not bee forgiuen He indenteth for that by mercye vvhich hee mighte exacte of duetye and equâ—tie and hee that shall bee our iudge almost against the nature and righte of his office sheweth vs the vvay to escape his iudgementes The conditions betwixte God and man in this exchange are very vnequall 1. thine enemy was created by God as thy selfe wert God hath an enemy of thee whom he hath created 2. thou pardonest thy fellow servant God merely his servant 3 thou pardonest standest in neede of pardon againe God hath no neede to be pardoned 4. thou forgiuest a definite summe God an infinit debt requiring the proscription of thy selfe wife and children and al that thou hast body soule if thou shouldest defray it Incredibili me sericordia nos ad certam veniam vocat By vncredible compassion he draweth vs to a limited bounded pitty the extention wherof maketh vs the children of our father which is in heauen but the streightning of our
bowels of compassion as it taketh from vs the name and priviledge of sons so it marketh vs for servantes of the worst condition naughty vngracious seruants for whom is iustly reserued the vvages of Balaam I meane the repayment stipende of everlasting destruction The last commendation in the praier of the marriners is their grouÌ„ding therof vpon the pleasure of God for thou Lord hast done as it pleased thee which soundeth thus We aske thy favour in this respect that we haue not departed froÌ„ the rule of thy wil but followed as neare as wee could the verdit answere of thy heaueÌ„ly oracle The lot hath enformed vs the mouth of the prophet himselfe confirmed vnto vs the coÌ„stant indignation of the sea maketh it past question that thou in thy counsell hast decreed that Ionas shal be cast forth It was a sanctified iudgment in theÌ„ both to acknowledge the finger of God in so casuall an accident thou Lord hast done it withal to assent in secret that the wil pleasure of God is the exactest rule of equity that can be imagined as it pleased thee They gather thus in effect we doe but the will of the Lord therefore more iustly to be pardoned The wisdome of God it selfe in whoÌ„ the deity dwelt bodily was content to forsake his wisdome to be ordered rectified by this squire of his fathers wil father not my wil but thine be fulfilled I know the measure of thy wil is straight shal I be croked perverse in my waies I wil not Bernard demaÌ„deth vpoÌ„ that submission of Christ. O Lord the wil whereof thou speakest Not my wil be done if it were not a good wil how was it thine if good why relinquished forsakeÌ„ he answereth Non oportebat propria praeâ—â—dâ—care communibus Priuate affaires must not hinder publique 't was both the will of Christ it was a good wil wherby he said If it be possible let this cuppe passe but that whereby hee spake otherwise thy will â—e doâ—e was better because it was common not only to the father which gaue his sonne but to the sonne himselfe who was offered because hee would and to vs who hartily desired it The will of a righteous man may misse oâ— the wil of God sometimes and yet be iustified approued before God A child may wish the life of his father whom God hath visited with sicknesseâ— and mindeth not to spare Here haue you the wil of a man against the will of God in some sort Doth he offend herein nay rather should he not offend if nature and duty forgotten he wisht otherwise for whatsoever the secret wil of God hath decreed yet by his open and revealed will parentes must bee honoured and their life and vvell-doinge by prayer commended to the goodnesse of God It is the vvill of GOD permanent and vnchaungeable that Ionas bee cast forth It is the vvill of the marriners to saue Ionas if it may bee Doe they displease God heereby rather they shoulde displease if layinge aparte humanity they bare not compassion to the life of Ionas For howsoeuer his secret will hath determined yet by his open and revealed will the life of man must bee tendered VVho hath ascended into heauen to knowe the counselles of the Lord Therefore it is ever safe to cast the ankers of all our purposes and to staie our vvilles vpon the vvill of God before wee see the event of things to say as our Saviour willed vs Thy will bee done and when it is clearely decided what his pleasure was to ioine with these marriners thou Lorde haste done as it pleased thee vvee acknowledge thy supreme authoritie thou sittest vpon the circles of heauen thou holdest the scepter and ball of the worlde in thy right hande thou art the king and commander of the earâ—h bee it neuer so vnquiet the heartes of kings and subiectes are in thine hand Thou vvoundest healest killest quickenest where thou thinkest good and vvhatsoeuer man purposeth thou disposest as thy pleasure is Others confesse no lesse of the will of GOD than these marriners doe Thou Lorde haste done as it hath pleased thee but vvith another construction For as they confesse the efficacie and power thereof so they deny the equity as if hee helde a tyrannye and governed the worlde not by law but by lust drawing it to obedience not by reason and iustice but by the violent chaine of his vnchangeable purpose so making his will in the moderating of the worlde as immoderate as the vvilles of inordinate princes who having the raines of dominion giuen into their handes if they proclaime not out-right with Nero My authoritye giveth me license to doe all things Hee is a foole that knovveth not vvhat hee may doe yet they say to themselues I am a king vvho dareth call mee to accounte and aske me vvhat doest thou yea vvhat is that God that can deliver out of my handes This kinde of impetuous and maisterlesse vvill the servantes of the servauntes of God mistearmed haue challenged to their chaire at Rome For howsoever they behaved themselues no man might say vnto them Cur ita facis vvhy doest thou so vvhatsoever they enacted Sic volo sic iubeo their will and commaundement was warrant enough Franciscus Zabarella complaineth of those that drewe them into such arrogant errour They haue perswaded the Popes that they can doe all thinges even vvhatsoever pleased them thinges vnlawfull too and that they are more than God Silvester the first in the first councell of Rome prooved it by scripture The highest bishoppe is not iudged of any because it vvritten the disciple is not aboue his maister And shall the sawe boast it selfe against him that mooveth it Esay the tenth Therefore let no man iudge the Poâ—e So was the speech of the Donatistes as Augustine remembreth it vvhen they had nothing to answere sic volumus VVhy For vvho are thou that iudgest another mans seruaunt The Pope giveth another reâ—son Thou art a servaunt a disciple who art thou that iudgest thy Lord Saint Augustines answere shal fit them both both the Donatistes of Africke and the greate Donatist of Rome what else doe all flagitious and lewde men riotous drunkards adulterers shamelesse and dishonest persons theeues extortioners murtherers robbers sorcerers idolaters vvhat else doe they answere the word of truth and rigâ—teousnesse vvhen it reprooveth them but this hoc volo hoc me delectat thus I will doe this delighteth me Now it is most true that the will of God is an absolute praedominant soveraigne vvill vvhere hee vvill hee taketh mercie and vvhere he vvill he hardeneth The ground of their complainte is good though they miss-applie it vvho hath resisted his will and if we go to farre to enquire and examine wee are mette in the way and willed as it were to stande backe O homo tu quis es qui disputas O man vvho art thou that disputest and preassest so boldlie
haue saved Ionas Put from the succor of the ship froÌ„ the frieÌ„dship of his associats having no rocke to cleaue vnto far from the shore and neither able perhaps nor desirous to escape by swimming yeelding himselfe to death and to a living graue with as mortified an affection as if lumps of lead had been cast down yet God had prepared a meanes to preserue the life of Ionas EveÌ„ the bowels of a cruel fish are as a chariot vnto him to beare him in safety through those vnsearchable depthes O how many wonders in howâ— few wordes how many riddles and darke speeches to the reason of man he will scarselie beleeue when they shall be tolde vnto him 1. That so huge a fish shoulde bee so ready to answere at the call of the Lorde to saue his prophet 2. So able to devour a man at a morsel without comminutioÌ„ or bruise offered to any one bone of his 3. That a man could liue the space of 3. daies and nights in a fishes belly But so it was The Lorde doeth but vse a preamble to finish his worke intended He suffereth not the ship to carry him forth-right to the city but so ordereth the matter that the Mariners deliver him to the sea the sea to the whale the whale to the Lorde and the Lorde to Niniveh That we may learne thereby when our sinnes hange fast vpon vs the harbour of a warme shippe cannot bee beneficiall but when wee haue shaken them of the sea shall make a truce and the vngentlest beastes bee in league with vs. The demaunde of the earthlie man in these vnprobable workes hath ever beene 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how can this bee Though an angell from heaven shall tell Sarah of a sonne after hath ceased to bee with her after the manner of women shee will 〈◊〉 within her selfe and saie What after I am waxen olde and my Lord 〈◊〉 But what saith the Angell vnto her Shall any thing bee harde to the â—orde VVhen the children of Israell wanted flesh to eate and cryed in the eares of the Lorde quis dabit VVho shall giue vs flesh to eate God promised it for a moneth togither vntil it should come out of their nostrels And Moses saide sixe hundreth thousande footemen are there among the people of whom I am and thou saiest I will giue them flesh to eate a moneth long Shall the sheepe and the beeves be slaine for them to finde them either shall all the fish of the sea bee gathered togither for them to suffice them But the Lorde aunswered him is the Lords hand shortened Thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to passe vnto thee or no. Elizeus prophecied in that wofull famine of Samaria when they bought an Asses head and Doues dunge at an vnreasonable rate To morrowe by this time a measure of fine flowre shall bee solde for a shekell c. Then a prince on whose hande the king leaned aunswered the man of GOD Though the Lorde woulde make windowes in heaven can this thinge come to passe the prophet aunswered him Beholde thou shalt see it with thine eies but shalt not eate thereof Saint Augustine in his thirde epistle to Volvsian and elsewhere giveth the rules to satisfie these distrustfull reasonings Wee must graunte that GOD is able to doe some thinge vvhich wee are not able to finde out in such works the whole reason of the doing is the power of the doer It is GOD that hath done them Consider the authour and all doubts will cease Therefore if Marie receiving a message of vnexpected vnwonted conception shal say at the first how shall this thing be yet when the angell shal say vnto her that it is the worke of the holy ghost and the might of the most high that her coâ—zen Elizabeth hath also conceived in her olde age though shee had purchased the name of barren by her barrennesse because with God saith the angell nothing is vnpossible then let Marie lay her hande vpon her heart and saie Beholde the hand-maide of the Lorde that is without further disceptation I submit my selfe to the power of God But if that former reason of his all-sufficient might bee not of strength enough to resolue either pagans abroade or atheistes at home touching the likelihoode and probability of such vnlikely actes but the innocencie of the sacred Scriptures wherein they are written must be arraigned and condemned by their carnall reason and our whole religion derided because wee iustifie them I will say no more vnto them but as Augustine doth in his bookes of the city of God Quicquid mirabile fit in hoc mundo profectò minus est quà m totus hic mundus The very creation of the worlde which being the booke of nature they runne and read and can deny no part of it though they deny depraue the booke of scripture sheweth them a greater miracle in the world it selfe than whatsoever in these or the like singularities seemeth most incredible A great fish Some of the rabbines thinke that the fish was created at that moment when Ionas was to be swallowed Others that he had lasted from the sixt day of the world A thirde sorte that it was a whale that first devoured Ionas that afterwardes the Lord beckened vnto him then hee cast him into the mouth of a female which was full of yong where being streightned of his wonted roume he fel to praier Fabulous inveÌ„tions fruit according to the trees that bare it Whither tâ—e fish were created at that instaÌ„t or before sooner or later I list not enquire Neither will I further engage my self herein thaÌ„ the spirit of God giveth me direction Only that which the prophet setteth downe in 2. words by a circumlocution a great fish it shall not be amisse to note that the evaÌ„gelists abridge name more distinctly in one shewing the kinde of the fish therefore Matthew calleth it the belly of a whale So do the 70. interpretours from whom it is not vnlikely the expositour of Matthew tooke his warrant I never found any mentioÌ„ of this goodly creâ—ture but the wisdoÌ„e of God the creator was willing to commeÌ„d it in some sort In the first of Genes God saide Let the waters bring forth in abundance every creeping thing that hath the soule of life howbeit in all that abundaunce there is nothing specified but the whale as being the prince of the rest and to vse the speach of Iob the king of all the children of pride vvherein the workemanshippe of the maker is most admired for so it is saide Then God created the whales and not singlie vvhales but vvith the same additament that this prophet vseth the greate vvhales So doth the Poet tearme them also immania caete the huge vvhales as being the stateliest creature that mooveth in the waters Likewise in the Psalme The earth is full of thy riches so is the
same meaning yet we may not take theÌ„ for an idle repetitâ—oÌ„ the later of the two rising in degree in some sort giving elucidation to that which went before it And as nature in the body of man hath doubled his eies his eares and other partes that if the one should faile in his office charge the other might supplie the defecte so in the body of this sentence the wisedome of the prophet hath doubled every word that if those of the former ranke faile in their office and message wherevnto they are sent the other in the later might helpe them out For thus mee thinketh they found Is any man desirous to vnderstand my case I was in affliction and that affliction so great as if I had been pinched and thronged in some narrowe roume as if the Lord had hedged aboute mee that I shoulde not get foorth and mured mee vp within hewen stone they are the words of Ieremy to shewe the nature of extreme tribulatioÌ„ If you will know my refuge I weÌ„t vnto the Lord not with a cold carelesse devotioÌ„ nor with a duÌ„be spirit but with as earnest impatient a voice as the affections of my hart could send forth If you will also learne the successe what coÌ„fort speed my crying had the Lord gaue eare and answere vnto it Now in the second clause of my text though neither the order of the partes nor the substaunce of the words disagreeth yet their vertue and power is much more significant For that which he called before tribulation and anguish is now the belly of hell And the cry that he vsed before is now vociferation an other kinde of crie And whereas he said before the Lord hath heard me as one that were farther removed from him now by changing the person he coÌ„meth nearer to his throne of grace delivereth his tale as it were in the eares vnder the eies of the author of his deliverance Thou Lord hast answered me FroÌ„ this difference of stiles that when he speaketh froÌ„ himselfe he vseth greater force of wordes theÌ„ when the history speaketh of him I make this briefe collection that Ionas interpreted aright the afflictions sent of God mistooke not the end why he was chastened For what was the cause of them but to put a sensible liuely feeling into the soule of Ionas that he might see and say in himselfe I am sicke indeed and that his soule refusing all other comfort he might run to the succours of God there to be refreshed God did iustly complaine against Israel in the second of Ieremy I haue smitten their children in vaine they received no correction The prophet in the 5. chap. findeth the same fault Thou hast striken them but they haue not sorrowed thou hast consumed them but they refuse to be corrected they haue made their faces harder then a stone and refuse to returne But what wil be the end of this stupidity blockishnes in appreheÌ„ding the chastisements of God the same which is spoken of Ezec. 16. recessit zelus meus à te my wrath is departed froÌ„ thee I wil cease bee no more angry Wherupon sweet S. Barnard I treÌ„ble at the very hearing of it Now thou perceivest that God is then more angry when he is not angry God keepe me froÌ„ such mercy this pitty is beyonde all wrath Let theÌ„ consider this wel that take the afflictions of God brought vpon theÌ„ as an horse or mule taketh the braÌ„ding of an hote iron which they presently forgeâ— who wheÌ„ they are smitten with sorrow sicknes infamy losses or such like teÌ„ptations are no more moved therwith theÌ„ when they see the wether or winde in the aire chaÌ„ged O Lord they wil not beholde thine high hand but they shall see it If they will not apply it to amendmente of life they shall receiue it to their further iudgement The partes severally to be handled in the present words are these 1. the gravity of his afflictions declared by two metaphors straightnes the belly of hell what effect those afflictions drew froÌ„ him prayer 2. the vehemency of that praier expressed both by the ingemination increment of 2. wordes crying vociferation or outâ—crying 3. the successe of his praier in two other words laide downe and amplified by changing the person he heard thou heardest The first metaphor or translation bewraying his misery vnto vs is angustia narrownes strictnes of roume as it were a little-ease whence I suppose we deriue our english name anguish The reason of this metaphor in afflictions is because the heart countenaÌ„ce at such times indure a kinde of coÌ„pression coartation a shrinking togither are drawne as it were into a lesser roume the spirites not diffusing themselues so freely as when there is occasion of mirth cherefulnes For it is not vnknowne in common experience that laughter dilateth spreadeth the face abrode which sorrow contracteth therefore God promiseth in the 60. of Esay that the heart of the church shall be enlarged that is filled with ioy Or this may be an other cause that in a narrow close roume say for exaÌ„ple the prison of Iohn Baptist or the grate wherein TaÌ„berlaine kept the great Turke there is not that scope and freedome of passage there is not that plenty and variety of necessary helpes as in a larger place Therefore David giveth thankes in the Psalme at his first comming to the kingdome that after he had been chased like a flie from cuntry to cuntry first to Samuell in Ramah then to Abimelech in Nob afterwardes to Achis in Gath sometimes into a caue sometimes into a wildernesse at lengh the Lord had delivered him and set his feete in a large roome The afflictions of Iob you all know how vehmeÌ„t they were he never more kindly expressed theÌ„ then by this translaâ—ioÌ„ in the 7. of his booke Am I a sea or a whale fish that thou keepest mee in warde afterwardes hee expoundeth his meaning that God did try him every moment that hee would never depart from him nor let him alone till he might swallow his spittle downe such were the straightes he was hemd in The like manner of speech he vsed in the 11. He hath put my feete in the stockes looketh narrowlie to al my waies There were enough in this former borowed tearme to shew the affliction of Ionas which by the grace that is vsed in the words seemeth to haue sitten as close to his soule as a garment to his skin or as the entrals of the fish lay to his body wherin as the spaces of groÌ„d which he vsed to walke were stinted abridged him so the pleasure feeedome of his mind solace of his frinds comfort of the lighte of heaven were taken from him but the other without comparison let the worlde be sought through from the vtmost
ages were heapes of ashes and cloudes of pitch but fire and brimstone from a bottomlesse mine which burneth in the lake of death and shall never cease from burning Lastly this is that greate wine-presse of the wrath of God where the smoke of torment ascendeth for evermore and there is no rest day nor night those endlesse and vnmercifull plagues which the angels powre out of their vialles when men have given them bloude to drinke and boile in heate and gnaw their tongues for sorrowe And yet are these but shadowes and semblances which the scripture hath vsed therein to exemplifie in some sorte the calamities to come fearefull enough if there were no more to make the heart of the strongest melte and fall asunder within him as the yce against the summers sunne but that as the ioyes of heaven are vnmeasurable for their parte so concerning the paines of hell the eye hath never seene the eare not hearde the tongue not vttered the heart not conceived them sufficiently in their nature and perfection That accursed glutton in the gospell who coulde speak by experience of his vnestimable discruciatioÌ„s as Aeneas did of the troubles of Troy Et quorum pars vna fut what I haue felt and borne a parte of he giveth a warning to al his brethren in the flesh not to accounte so lightly as they doe of the tormentes of that place The flames fervour wherof were so importunate to exact their due of him that hee craved with more streams of teares thaÌ„ ever Esau sought his blessing but one drop of water to coole his tongue with could not obtaine it And what if all the rivers in the South if all the waters in the Ocean sea had bene graÌ„ted him his tongue notwithstanding would haue smarted and withered with heat stil he would haue cried in the laÌ„guage of hel It is not enough Or what if his toÌ„gue had bene eased his hart his liver his lunges his bowels his armes his legs would haue fried stil. O bitter day when not the least finger I say not of God whose hand is wholy medicinal but not of the poorest saint in heaven nor the skantest drop I say not from the waters of life but not of the waters of the brooke shal be spared to a soule to giue it comfort Which if the latest day of al the running generations of men if the great yeare which Plato dreamed of might ever end the ease were somewhat for hopes sake But it is apointed for a time times no time even when time shall be no more then shal it continue The gates are kept from egresse as the gates of paradise were warded from entrance not by the Cherubines with the blade of a sworde but by the angels of Sathan with all the instrumentes of death and the seale of Gods eternal decree set thereunto as the seale of the high priestes and rulers were set vpon the tombe-stone of Christ. The covenant of day and night shall one day bee changed The starres shall finish their race the elements melt with heat heaven and earth be renued sommer and winter have an end but the plagues of the prisoners in hell shall never be released If you aske the cause why I enter so large and vngratefull a discourse of hel vpon so smal an offer in my text as some may conceive I will not dissemble it Some may be deceived by the translation impropriety and abuse of words For because they heare the name of hell alleadged and applied to the present tribulations of this life they are induced thereby to thinke that there is no other hell nor sorer vexations elswhere to be sustained as some on the other side hearing the rest of God to be called by name of Ierusalem that is aboue the wals foundations wherof are saphires carbuncles c. take it to be no more thaÌ„ IerusaleÌ„ in Palestina or Venice in Italy or any the like glorious and sumptuous cittie vpon the face of the earth and therefore dispose themselues with so much the colder affection to the attainment of it Some haue taught and commaunded their tongues to speake a lye to say that there is no hel for I caÌ„not thinke that ever they shal commaÌ„d their harts to deny it as Tully spake of Metrodorus an atheist of his time I never sawe any man that more feared those â—hings which he said were not to be feared I meane death the gods so I wil never perswade my selfe but the atheists of our times hartilie feare that which they are content to say they feare not Now lest these sleepy adders should passe their time in a dreame or rather in a lethargy no man awaking theÌ„ vp from their carelesse supine opinions wherwith they enchant their soules infect others Let not the watchman hold his peace least they die in their sins for waÌ„t of warning let the truÌ„pet of iudgmeÌ„t ofteÌ„ be blowne vnto theÌ„ let it be published in their eares 7· times as the rams-horns 7 times souÌ„ded about the wals of Iericho that their ruine downfal is at hand that hel gapeth for theÌ„ that God hath ordained long since their impious blasphemous spirites to immortal malediction Of others that is true which God complaineth in Esay Let mercy be shewed to the wicked yet he wil not learne righteousnes Preach honor glory peace a garlaÌ„d of rightousnes an vncorruptible crowne fruit of the tree of life sight of the face of God following the laÌ„be fellowship with angels saintes the congregatioÌ„ of first-borne new names and white garments pleasures at the right hand of God and fulnes of ioy in his presence for evermore they are as obstinately bent vnmovably setled against these blessings of God as Daniel against the hire of Balthazar keepe thy rewardes to thy selfe and giue thy giftes to an other They are not wonne nor enarmoured with the expectation of good thinges and the revelation of the sons of God which the whole creature longeth groneth for savoureth no more vnto them than a boxe of putrified ointment What is there no way to quicken put life into them yes If the blessings of sixe Levites vpon mount Garizzim will not mooue them let them heare the cursing of sixe others vpon mount Ebal if they take no pleasure in the beautie of Sion let the thundering lightning of Sinai fire to the midst of heaven mistes cloudes smoke ascending like the smoke of a fornace the exceeding lowde sounde of a trumpet put them in feare make them beleeue that there is a God of iudgment if the spirit of gentlenes take no place shake the rod over them as the Apostle speaketh Giue theÌ„ mourning for ioy ashes for beauty the spirit of heavines for the oile of gladnes a rent insteed of a girdle teare I say not their garments but their hearts a sunder pull their bodies
soule no whit endangered But the worker of this woe is the most mighty LORDE whose face is burning and his lips full of indignation whose wrath he liveth not vpon the earth that can abide vvhen the foundations of the mountaines mooue and sbake because hee is angrie vvhose anger hath a further extente not vpon the body alone but vpon the soule too not onely to kill but to cast them both away for ever into hell fire Beholde he breaketh downe and it cannot be built hee shutteth vp a man and hee cannot be loosed Woe woe be vnto vs cried the vncircumcised Philistines though they stood in battaile aray who shall deliver vs out of the hands of these mightie Gods erring in the number but not in the power of the glorious deity The men of Bethshemesh being afterwards smitten because they had pried into the arke of Covenant accounted themselues but dead men before him VVho is able to stande before this holie Lord God The very pillers of heaven saith Iob tremble and quake at his reproofe At his rebuke hee dryeth up the sea and maketh the flouds deserte their fish rotte for vvant of water and die for thirst Hee clotheth the heavens with darkenesse maketh a sacke their covering in the prophecy of Esay How fearefull a thing shall it then be to a sinfull man vvhose foundation is but dust and not like those of the mountaines and the pillers of his body but flesh and bloud farre inferiour to the pillers of heaven all the moisture of whose substance shall sooner be exacted than that of the flouds rivers to fall into the handes of the living God who liveth for al eternity beyond the daies of heaven and therefore is more able to aveÌ„ge any iniury done vnto him The anger of a prince though it seemeth as dreadful as the messengers of death vnto vs may bee pacified if not his anger is mortal like himselfe his breath is in his nostrels and promiseth to those that feare an ende of his life and wrath togither The hostility of a deadly foe may beeresisted by hostilitie againe though his quiver bee an open sepulchre and they all very strong if not hee can but eate vp our harvest and bread eat vp our sonnes and daughters our sheepe and our bullockes our vines and fig-trees and destroy our cities But if the anger of the Lord of hosts be kindled who can put it out if he be an enemy let heaven and earth ioine hand in hand to worke our safety it should not helpe If he begin he vvil make an end in the first of Samuell or rather not an ende in the fourth of Ieremie Consider the vision I haue looked vpon the earth saieth the Prophet and loe it was vvithout for me and voide and to the heavens and they had no light I behelde the mountaines and loe they trembled and all the hils shooke I behelde and loe there vvas no man and all the birdes of the ayre vvere departed I behelde and loe the frâ—â—tfull place was a vvildernesse and all the cittyes thereof vvere broken dovvne at the presence of the LORDE and by his fierce wrath For thus hath the Lorde saide the vvhole lande shall be desolate yet vvill I not make a full ende Beholde now an ende and no end Nowe if the Lorde had so cast Ionas as he cast the Angels out of heaven vvithout repentance and revocation of his fact Ionas must haue lien belovv as the gravell and slime of the sea never to haue risen vp But he cast him in mercy not in fury as he cast Adam out of Paradise to till the ground Nabuchodonosor from his kingdome to eate with the beasts of the fielde Iob from hâ—s house and home to lie vpon the dunghill to doe them greater honor and favour in time to come The place hath three amplifications 1. Hee vvas cast into the bottome of the sea vvhere-hence in likelyhoode there was no recovery Else what ment Micheas by the phrase in the seventh of his booke that God vvill cast our sinnes into the bottome of the sea but that hee vvill lay them so lowe and heape such a burthen and weight vp on them that they shall never rise vp againe And our Saviour by the same in the gospell that he who should offend one of his little ones it were better for him that a mil-stone were hanged aboute his necke and hee throwne into the bottome of the sea Implying therein so desperate a danger to the body as would never be restored So they singe of Pharaoh and his host in the fifteenth of Exodus Abyssi operuerunt eâ—s descenderunt in profundum velut lapis and afterwardes profunda peâ—ierunt vt plumbum The bottomlesse depthes covered them and they sunke to the bottome as a stone and as lead they were swallowed in the waters Some vvrite that the sea at the deepest is forty furlonges I cannot censure their estimation But this I am sure of it is very deepe and our Saviour ment to signifie no lesse when he called it not mare the sea by it selfe but Pelagus maris the bottome of the sea So Iob speaketh of Leviathan hee maketh the deepe to boile like a potte of ointemente Yea thou wouldest thinke that the bottomelesse depth had an hoary heade VVhere it is compared for depth vvith that which the legion of Devils in the eighth of Luke desired they mighte not be throwne into Nowe one furlong or faddome of waters had beene deepe enough to haue taken away the life of Ionas much more was he in ieopardy when he was cast into the bottome of the sea 2. he was not onely in the sea but in the midst the heart the inwardst secretes and celles of it as the heart of a living thing is mid-most and inwardst vnto it Wherevpon Christ is saide to haue lien in Corde terrae in the heart of the earth Math. 12 and the depthes to haue stoode vp togither in Corde maris in the heart of the sea Exodus the fifteenth This was the next augmentation of the daunger that the whale bare him farthest from the shore and kept his way in the deepest channell or trade so that all hope of ever comming to lande againe seemed to haue forsaken him 3. he was not onely in the heart of the sea but of the seas There is but one vniversall and maine sea which is the girdle to the dry land but many particulars which take their severall names from the places they lie next vnto Nowe the voyage of Ionas vvas not limited and bounded vvithin the compasse of the Syriacke sea vvhereinto hee vvas first received But if it be true which Iosephus hath that hee vvas cast vp to lande vpon the shore of the Euxine sea then must hee needes bee carryed through diverse seas before his arrival to that place Hee had a purpose at first perhappes to goe no further then to
thereof For what vse had he either of his hands to helpe himselfe withall more than Ieroboam had when his hande was withered or of his eies to beholde the light of heaven more than if the eagles of the valley had pickt them out or of his eares to heare any sentence of comforte more than if they had never beene planted The grinders within his head what did they for him vnlesse they ground and whetted themselues His tongue what tasted it excepte his owne spittle He might truly say with the prophet Esay that from the crowne of the heade to the sole of his foote there was no parte that did the duties of it But all those former defectes and impotencies are nothinge to that he nowe speaketh of VVhen my soule fainted within mee For as the soule is of more worth and excellencie than the body so the languishmentes of the soule more grievous and the death of the soule more remedilesse than those of the bodie and therefore as the hazarde exceedeth so the health of the soule is more dearely to bee tendered In the greatest distemperatures and disorders of the body vvhen the bones are smitten asunder and the loynes filled vvith a sore disease when the woundes are putrified and stinke the marrow and moysture quite dryed vp yea though it bee brought and dissolved into the dust of death yet the soule may bee safe and sounde notwithstanding and in farre better case than vvhen shee lived in her house of claie But if the soule bee sicke can the body have any comforte Maie vvee not then inferre vvith him in the comedie My hearte is sicke my raines sicke my splene sicke my liver sicke and all my other partes are out of frame Out of this comparison betweene the body and soule let mee make my perswasion vnto you The men of the world were wâ—nt to say saith Bernarde that hee that keepeth his bodie keepeth a good castell A castell how long to continue this is the errour of worldly men to call their tabernacle which was made to be removed and pulled downe vpon every light occasion a castell VVee say not so but hee that keepeth his bodie keepeth a base dunghill He that had seene the body of righteous Iob vlcerated botched and blained sitting vpon the dunghill woulde he not haue thought that a dunghill had sitten vpon a dunghill But hee that keepeth his soule hee keepeth a good castell indeede borne to eternity hee keepeth a heaven in comparison the sunne and moone and starres whereof are vnderstanding faith and hope with other Christian graces and the Lord of hostes himselfe hath his dwelling therein There is no man so simple no man so vile but taketh this to bee a castell of honor and strength because they beleeue it to be immortall Our saviour manifested this difference both by the ende of his comming in the flesh which was principally for our soules after for our bodies first to take away the sinnes of the worlde which are spirituall diseases then to remooue corporall infirmities and by the behaviour of his owne person amongst vs who though he suffered his body to bee tried with all kindes of ignominious and accursed vexations with spittings whippings buffetings and the bitterest death of the crosse yet was it ever his care to preserue his soule free from staines and corruptions It is not thus with the sonnes of men nowe a daies They neglect the care and culture of their soules but the lustes of the flesh they make provision for with all possible diligence They haue learned from the schoole of Hippocrates the physitian and Epicurus the swine to physicke and diet their bodies but the sicknesse and death of the soule which are their sinnes they never account of till they see they must bee punished O yee sonnes of men foolish and slowe of hearte to conceiue the rightest thinges howe long will yee loue such vanities and seeke after leasing These times are allotted to the soule not to the bodie Nowe is the time of salvation not of pleasure and pastime Let the flesh alone a while more then nature and necessity require let it not bee favoured either in food or rayment or any the like transitorye and fading benefite And vvhen it is vveary of walking vpon the face of the earth let it goe downe in peace and rest in hope till hee that came for your soules before shall also come to raise and reforme it In the fainting of our soules there is a grosse difference betwixte Ionas and vs. His soule fainted vvithin him through paine ours through pleasure and that pleasure the mother and nurse of a worser paine Our fleshe is too insolent against the spirite and keepeth it vnder with a stronge hande Hagar despiseth Sara the servaunt setteth her foote in the necke of her mistresse The flesh is cloathed like the raine-bowe with colours of all sortes wee goe into the bowels of the earth wee goe into the bowelles of the sea as farre and as lowe as ever Ionas went to seeke pearles and the riches of the sea to adorne it VVe forget our selues shamefully in such vnnecessary travaile It is the Queene that shoulde bee cloathed in a vesture of needle vvorke wroughte with diverse colours but the Queene is stripte of her iewels the soule robbed of her ornamentes and rich attire and the body is the theefe that deceiveth it The flesh is daintily fedde with the finest flowre of the wheate and the reddest bloud of the grape wee care not what it costeth the vnworthiest member we haue is deâ—fied and made our God a sinne beyonde the sinne of the Pagans shamefull and beastly idolatry they made them Gods of silver and golde and marble wee of our bellies what is done with the soule the meane time behold shee is pined and famished the breade of life is not bought nor sought for to strengthen her withall shee is kept from the gospell of peace and from the body and bloud that inconsumptible meate of her holy redeemer Shee that was borne from aboue to eate the hidden Manna the foode of Angels and to be nourished with the tree of life whose beginnings call her home againe is lesse regarded than a lumpe of earth O consider that hee vvho looseth the life of a bodie maie finde it againe The time shall come vvhen they that are in the graues shall heare the voice of the sonne of GOD. But the losse of a soule is vnrecoverable If it die in sinne it shall also die in perdition Rather it shall not die for it is not as the soule of the beast that endeth with the bodie O living and ever-living death Let them take heede that haue eares to heare with Their price hath beene once paide vvhich if the riches of Salomon treasures of Ezechias all the silver and golde within the globe of the earth coulde haue satisfied God would willingly haue spared his owne bloude Let them not looke for more Christs
at Lystra that ye turne froÌ„ these vaine hopes from these foolsh and paltry idols whether you are fallen in liking with your selues or other creatures to serue the living God which made the heavens the earth the sea and all that therein is The prophete mighte haue called them by other names to note that iniquity filthines abhomination that is fouÌ„d in theÌ„ but setting the Lorde and his kingdome aside he taxeth the whole worlde and whatsoever is therein contained with the generall censure of Salomon vanitie of vanities all is vanitie He that filled the earth with his wisedome as with a floude filled it also with vanitie as with a floude hee smiteth on both cheekes vanitie and vanitie againe and to shevv that hee did not repente him of his speech pronounceth a thirde time All is vanitie that you may knowe whatsoever you cleaue vnto besides the true subsisting Lord it hath not that substance and certainty which you first imagined Therefore is the attibute set vnto it in the next place lying vanitie because there is nothing but deceite in them In the 4 of Gen. when Eue had brought forth her first begotten son she called him Cain a maÌ„ purchased or obtained of the Lord. Some say more I haue obtained the man that is the Lord. Thinking vndoubtedly that she had bin the mother of that blessed seed which should bruise the head of the serpent But finding her selfe deceived overweening in a corrupt cruell man shee named her second son Abell that is vanity to note that her former hope was altogither frustrated The Epithit is very fitlie adioined to vanity and in effect signifieth the same that vanitye doth for what is vanitye but lyinge and deceavinge Auâ—us Gellius writeth of a vaine Grammatian that made himselfe most skillfuâ—l in Salustes wordes Apollinaris to trie his skill met him on a day and asked him what Salust meant if hee were so cunninge in the bloude and marrowe of his history as he professed by saying of C. Lentulus that it was a question whether hee were more foolishe or vaine The interpreter aunswered him the knowledge I take vpon mee is in auncient words not these that are common and worne by daily vse For he is more foolish and vaine than was that Lentulus vvho knoweth not that both these words note but the same weaknes Apollinaris not satisfied with this answere to satisfy others that desired to be better instructed by him at leÌ„gth resolved that they were properly tearmed vaine men not as the common people helde who were dullardes wiâ—lesse and fooles but in the opinion of the most auncient learned such as were given to lyinge and faithlessenesse who gaue lightnesse for waighte and emptinesse for that that hath true substance Now as in an idoll in proprietye there are sundrye reasons that make it to bee a lying vanitye for first the authour and suggestour was the father of lies secondly the former of it lied to himselfe in thinking that it was the pleasure of God that idolles shoulde be fashioned thirdly hee that trusteth therin lieth for he saith to wood or stone thou art my helper 4. the whole substance of the idoll lieth in promisinge helpe where none is and seeminge to be that which is not so on the other side those other idolles which I named are lyinge vanities and shall as litle profite vs when wee craue their truth as grasse the mower that grovveth vpon the house toppes If vvee trust vnto them let vs looke for no better aide and comfort therein than those others in the prophet who confessed too late vvee haue made falshood our refuge and vnder vanitye are wee hid I conclude the first member Trust not in oppression or robberye If riches encrease set not your hearte vpon them man disquieteth himselfe in vaine saith the Psalme heapeth vp riches not knowinge who shall gather them An horse is but a vaine thinge to saue a man neither is it his bowe that can deliver him A man is but a vaine thinge to saue a man if you weighe him vpon the ballance you shall finde him lighter then vanitye Wisedome is as vaine and shall become as foolishe as of the beastes that perishe Strength is as vaine and shall become as weake as vvater spilte Beautye is as vaine and shal bee changed into lothsomenesse more than the sores of Lazarus All these are vanities and vaine vanities lyinge vanities as emptye as the vvinde as â—leetinge as the miste in the aire God onely is true and his promise iust his faithfullnesse is aboue the cloudes and his righteousnesse exceedeth as the greatest mountaines The consequent or private part of the refutation is in the words following They forsake their owne mercy Mercy forsaketh not them but they mercy God is ever formost in loue never hateth till hee is first hated It is not onelye to hazard and put in adventure nor to extenuate and diminish the mercy of God but wholie to renounce it and to sende a farewell to God to embrace vanities It is a vvall of partition betwixt vs and grace I had almost said it is as the greate gulfe that vvas betwixte Abraham and the rich man Surelye it shall stande as the faithfull vvitnesse in heaven that neither idolatour nor adulterer nor covetous persons both vvhich vvith manye other offendours are idolatours in an other kinde shall ever inherite the kingdome of God You see how the consequence holdeth Loue they the one they certeinlye leaue the other There is no haultinge betwixte two opinions If God bee God they must followe him alone there is no minglinge of Baal with him Our God is a iealous God and suffereth no copartner or competitour in any part of that honour that belongeth vnto him But in leaving mercy so sweete and amiable a nature in him that is loue it selfe vnwise and vnhappye wretches vvhat doe they leaue more than all the wordly solaces shall bee able to supply vnto them They leaue even the bowelles of mercy as Zacharye sange in the gospell of Luke For as a father pittyeth his children and more by a thousande degrees so hath the LORDE compassion towarde all them that feare him And a mother may forget the fruit of her wombe but the LORDE shall never forget his children of election These bovvelles and invvardes of mercye they leaue mercye so deepe and affectionate that the seate of affections in man sufficeth not to expresse it that relinquishe GODS mercye It had bene more ease and happinesse vnto them if their owne bowelles had fallen from their bodies as the bowelles of Iudas They leaue not handefulles of barlye and pieces of breade temporall and trâ—fling commodities parcells of that bouÌ„ty and goodnes which God hath bestowed vpon them but the vniversall mercye of God as greate in quantity as the spaces of the whole worlde for looke how high the heaven is above the earth so great is his mercy towardes them that
mercie pleaseth him For who hath first loved or first given or anye way deserved and it shal bee restored vnto him a thousande folde Blessinges and thankesgivinges for evermore bee heaped vpon his holy name in whom the treasures of mercy and loving kindenesse dwell bodylie who of his owne benevolente disposition hath both pleased himselfe and pleasured his poore people with so gracious a qualitye Even so LORD for that good pleasure and purpose sake deale with the rest of thy people as thou hast dealt with Ionas and the marriners take awaie those iniquities of ours that take away thy favour and blessing from vs and as a stranger that knoweth them not passe by our transgressions retaine not thine anger for ever though we retaine our sinnes the cause of thine anger but returne to vs by grace who returne not to thee by repentance and haue compassion vpon vs who haue not compassion vpon our owne soules subdue our raigning and raging vnrighteousnesse and drowne our offences in the bottome of the sea which els will drowne vs in the bottome of perdition The mysteries buried vnder this type of the casting vp of Ionas the seconde principall consideration vvherein I bounded my selfe are collected by some 1. The preaching of the gospell to the Gentiles not before the passion and resurrection of Christ because Ionas went not to Niniveh till after his sinking and rising againe 2. A lanterne of comforte to all that sit in the darkenesse of affliction and in the shadowe of death held out in the enlargement of Ionas who though hee vvere swallowed downe into the bowels of an vnmercifull beast yet by the hand of the Lord he was againe cast our These are somewhat enforced But the only counterpane indeed to match this original is the resurrection of the blessed sonne of God from death to life figured in the restitution of the prophet to his former estate of liuelyhode and by him applyed in the gospel to this body of truth who is very and substantiall trueth For so hee telleth the Scribes and Pharisees twise in one Evangelist An evill and adulterous generation degenerated from the faith and workes of their father Abraham wherein standeth the right descent of his children asketh a signe but no signe shall bee given vnto it saue the signe of the Prophet Ionas For as Ionas vvas three daies and three nightes in the whales belly so shall the sonne of man bee three daies and three nightes in the â—earte of the earth His meaning was that if this so vnlikely and in nature so vncredible a signe coulde not mooue them all the tokens in heaven and earth would not take effect That Christ is risen againe there is no question The bookes are open and hee that runneth may reade enough to perswade him Hee that tolde them of the signe before mentioned signified the same worke vnder the name and shadow of the temple of Ierusalem a little to obscure his meaning and that hee tearmed a signe also Destroie this temple and I will builde it againe in three daies He meante not the temple of Salomon as they mistooke but the temple of his bodie more costly and glorious than ever that admired temple of theirs the buildinge whereof in the counsaile of his father was more than forty and sixe yeares even from the first age of the worlde and everie stone therein angular precious and tryed cut out of a mountaine without handes ordeined from the highest heauens without humane furtheraunce and such whereof hee affirmed longe before in the mouth of his Prophet who could iustifie his saying Thou shalt not suffer thine holy one to see corruption though of the other temple hee prophecied and it was perfourmed there shall not a stone bee lefte standing vpon a stone that shall not bee cast dovvne Praedixit revixit He gaue warning before that it shoulde so bee and hee fulfilled it The earth-quake at the very time of his resurrection Math. 28. the testimonie and rebuke of Angelles vvhy seeke yee the living amongest the deade hee is risen he is not here his manifestation to one to two to twelue to moe than fiue hundreth at once once and againe his breaking of breade amongst them the printes of his handes and side their very fingers and nayles for evidence sake thrust into them togither with so many predictions that thus it must bee and so many sermons and exhortations that so it was are able to resolue any spirite that setteth not it selfe of purpose to resist the holie Ghost Or if there be any of so audacious impiety as to deny the scriptures the warrante whereof is so stronge that Paul in the Actes of the Apostles not tarrying the answere of king Agrippa by his owne mouth speaketh in his name by a reasonable and vndoubted concession I know thou beleevest them and hee thought it afterwardes firme enough to prooue any article of the faith without other force according to the scriptures let them listen a while to that learned disputation that GREAT ATHANASIVS helde concerning this point Hee proveth that the sonne of God coulde not chuse but die having taken vnto him a body of death and that hee coulde not but liue againe because that bodye of his was vitae sacrarium The vestrie or chappell wherein life vvas conserved And hee holdeth it a senselesse thing that a dead man shoulde haue the power so to extimulate and pricke the mindes of the livinge that the Grecian and Pagan was brought to forsake his auncient nationall idolatries and worship the Saviour of the world that a man forsaken of life and able to doe nothing should so hinder the actions of actiue and liues-men that by the preaching of Iesus of Nazareth an adulterer leaveth his adulteries a murtherer his bloud sheades and at the naming of his dreadfull name the very devilles departe from their oracles and oratories He vrgeth yet further Howe can the carkas of a dead man prevaile so much with the living that vpon the confidence of life therein contained they haue endured the losse of libertie countrie wife children goods good name and life it selfe with such Christian magnanimity that the Arrians espying it beganne to receiue it as a ruled and resolved case not to be doubted of there is no Christian living that feareth death As for the slaunder of his sworne enemies the Iewes whose malice cannot ende but in the ende of the woorlde vvho contrary to common humanity belyed him in his graue and gaue not leaue to his bones to rest in peace saying and hyring men to saye and vvith a greate summe purchasing that vntrueth as the chiefe captaine did his burgesshippe Actes the two and twentith His disciples came by nighte and stole him awaie while we slept let it sleepe in the dust with them till the time come When everie eie shall see him even those that pierced him vpon the crosse and those that watched
vndone both gentlemen meane men in our country so much broughte some to shame as their backe bellie pride and profusion What means shall we vse to crush these vipers amongst you declaiming will not serue Denouncing of the iudgements of God we haue found vnprofitable by over-long experience Haue we not beaten your eares I mistake the aire the winde a thousand times vvith faithfull earnest detection of these monsters pride prodigality strangenes of apparell excesse of meates drinkes and haue we not gained thereby as if we had preached but fables Niniveh is fallen long since because shee returned to that wallowing which here shee repented her of But Niniveh shal rise againe and stand vpright against vs and condemne vs face to face for shee repented in hunger and thirst we in satiety gluttony surfetting drunkennes for either we never repente at all or these are the stomakes which we bring in repentance And Niniveh repented in sacke-cloth and ashes stuffe of the coursest woofe and workemanship and of the simplest fashion that their wits coulde invent we in our silkes and velvets of French Italian Iewish Turkish Barbarian hellish devises for either vve never repent at all or these are the guises and shewes we bring in repentance These these are the stomakes we goe with I say not to our beddes to stretch our selues and to take our ease till we haue gotten our appetites againe and these are the weeds we carry I say not to the theatres to bee stared vpon nor to the kings court where soft raiment is more tolerable to be worne But vvith these stomakes and these weedes we goe to the temple of the Lorde his house of praying and preaching and as boldly present our selues therewith as if the favour of God were sonest wonne by such intemperancies Whither we be a people defiled and corrupted as these in Niniveh were vvee are not so shamelesse to dissemble and whither prophets haue beene amongst vs as Ionas was in Niniveh let their wearied tongues and sorrowfull soules for their lost labour witnes an other day whither the iudgementes of God some we haue already felt and some wee haue cause to feare though not so grievous as they did we neede none other messengers to report then our eies standing in our heades and beholding some parte of them accomplished And lastly we would thinke it a great wrong vnto vs to be chardged with vnbeleefe Wee say wee beleeue God as frankely and confidently as ever the men of Niniveh did Thus far wee will be equall with Niniveh But shewe me your faith by your workes as they did in Niniveh If your sinnes haue deserved a iudgement and iudgement hath beene sounded by prophetes besides the preaching of experience and prophets you say are beleeved because you receiue them as those that speake in the name of the Lord I say againe shew me your faith by your workes as that citie did When did you fast I name not bread and water but from superfluous sustenance VVhen did you pull one dish from your tables or one morsell from your bowels Nay doe you not daily adde and invent for pleasure even till the creatures of God which die for your liues cry out vpon you we desire not to bee spared but not to bee abused vvee refuse not to serue your necessitie but your riot kill to eate but to eate deliciouslie and intemperately kill vs not Or when did you chandge one sute or thred of your rayment in signe of suppliant and contrite spirites shall I say by proclamation no nor by the secret and single decree of any private heart Or from the greatest to the least No. For greatnesse will not stoupe but at greater iudgementes The Lorde doth bruise but the heele of the body when the poore are smitten vnlesse he reach the head the rich and mighty amongst vs feele it not Brethren there must be some ende of these things our eating and drinking not to liue but as if wee woulde die with fulnesse and wearing of pride like a chaine to our neckes and a mantle to our whole bodies or if Moses and Samuell vvere amongst vs they woulde be weary of their preaching Yea there must be some ende or if Moses and Samuell vvithall the angels in heaven vvere amongst vs to bestowe both their preachings and praiers that we might be saved they should saue but their owne soules and neither vs nor our sonnes and daughters This is an yeare of temptation whereof I maie saye as Moses did in Deuteronomie of a straunge prophet Tâ—ntat vos dominus vester The LORDE your God prooveth you whither you loue him or no vvhither you can bee contente for his sake to leaue superfluities a while and to lay aside vanitie and converte your heartes and handes to the workes of mercie In the timeliest time of your harvest hee covered the heavens with a sacke to teach you the way to sacke-cloath and sent leanenesse vpon the earth to teach you frugalitie and thriftinesse in the vse of his blessinges Manie the poorer of our lande vvoulde bee glad vvith the disciples of Christ to rubbe an eare of corne betweene their handes for reliefe of their hunger if they coulde come by it Their bowels sounde like shaumes for vvante of foode and their teeth are cleane vvhen your barnes and garners are filled to the toppe your presses runne over and your bellies are satisfied vvith more then the flower of vvheat O take somewhat from your bellies and backes if you haue any loue to that hidden Manna the meate that perisheth not the fruites of the tree of life in the middest of the paradise of God if any desire to those vvhite garmentes washt in the bloud of Christ and rather to shine hereafter as the starres in the firmament then as glo-wormes vpon the earth in this present life take from your bellies and backes both in regard of your owne soules to witnesse humility and sobriety before God and man and for your poore brethren sake that they may bee fedde and clothed It is Christ that hungreth and Christ that must satisfie you Christ that craveth and Christ that must give vnto you Christ that lieth at your gates and Christ that must advaunce you to glorie Hee is the advocate to the poore and the iudge of the rich hee hath the sentence of blessing and cursing in his mouth and to those that are plentifull givers he shall render a plentifull recompence THE XXXV LECTVRE Chap. 3. ver 6. For word came vnto the king of Niniveh and he rose from his throne c. THE first of those fiue verses vvherein the repentaunce of Niniveh is laide downe is nothing else I told you but a generall comprehension of that which is afterwarde repeated and repolished with more particular declaration Therein they lay their foundation low and sure for the first stone of their building that beareth vp al the rest is faith plainly and expressely mentioned which if
drinke intemperately I say not water which is here forbidden but wine and wine in excesse wine withal the helpes that may be to make vs more exceede And we sinne and cloath our selues rather we cloath our selues sin by cloathing vs for we cloath our selues superfluously I say not with sackcloath but with that which might beseeme Salomon if he were now king in Ierusalem And we feed not only our selues but our oxen in our medowes stalles to feede our vnprofitable carkasses our horses in the stables to bear our vnprofitable carkasses vvhen the poore in our streetes and at our gates feede vpon empty aire for lacke of sustenance I aske againe in the heâ—ghth of our sins what is become of repentaÌ„ce Repentance which God preached in paradise for he shewed our fore-fathers their sin gave them the promise Which Noah proclaimed to the old world Lot to Sodome Moses to Egypt Prophets in their sundry generations to Israel and Iudah Iohn Baptist the day-star morning of the Gospell Christ the sonne of righteousnes and all his Apostles the shining lamps of the new world what els did they preach to the people that then was of faith repentance were their sermons Repent beleeve the gospell Repent for the kingdome of God is at hand These such like were their textes and these shal be our preachings and themes till we see some number measure of our vnruly transgressions If we beleeve not we are already iudged And if we repent not the kingdome of God is comming vpon vs But the scepter will bee changed the governmeÌ„t wholy altered Then was the kingdoÌ„e of grace now of glory iustice Then was the saving now the iudging of soules then came it in the tongues of men now in the trumpet of an archangell then with tidinges of greate ioy to the whole world now with terrour and amasement to all the kindreds thereof Then with glory to God on high and peace vpon the earth now with vae vae vae habitatoribus terrae thrice woe to them that dwell vpon the earth Then to gather the lost sheepe of Israell into the sheepe-folde now to sever the goates from the sheepe then to embrace both Iew Gentile now to divide betweene servant and servant at the same mil betweene man and wife in the same bed betweene Iacob and Esau in the same wombe and to pronounce the one of them blessed the other accursed Repent therefore for this kingdome of God is at hande to deface all kingdomes to roote vp the nations to consume the earth with her workes and her people with their sinnes and to feede them with the foode of iudgement and water of gall who eate and drinke vp iniquitye like their daielye repaste It belongeth to vs all to repent Wee vvere all conceived in sin and in iniquitye have our mothers brought vs foorth Concupiscence hath beene the nurse whose milke we have dravvne from time to time and as wee have growne in yeares our selves so hath corruption growen with vs. What remaineth but to repent to chandge our Morians skinnes to putte off our stained coates and to vvashe our feete from their filthinesse as Iob spake and not onelye our feete but our heades also as Peter spake in the gospell to renew both bodies and soules and to serue him in holinesse and righteousnesse vvho long time hath served himselfe vnder the burthen of our sinnes So God shall aunswere repentance with repentance Hee shall bee sorye in his hearte that ever hee past that sentence against vs. It repenteth mee to haue made man And if hee haue thought vpon anye plagues to smite vs vvithall it shall also repente him that ever hee devised them THE XXXVII LECTVRE Chap 3. vers 8. But let man and beast put on sackloth c. OF the two generall partes wherein the repentance of Niniveh stood the negatiue being ended in the former verse contayning the dyet of repentance we are now to proceede to the affirmatiue delivered the most part in this eighth wherein 1. the habite attire of repentance sackcloth 2. the tenour of her speech mighty crying 3. her very substance and soule the change of life are expressed Wee mooved a question why beastes shoulde bee called to communion of fasting and those other afflictions exercised by the Ninivites Some thinke they are put by tanslation of speech so that the distribution of man and beast signifieth not two disparate kindes of creatures but in the same kind men of sundry condtions wise and vnwise prudent and simple reasonable and vnreasonable so doth Ierome expound them How be it there is no question but the most foolish are also men and therefore included in the former member of the division Of withholding food from the beasts there is lesse doubt but that they should cloth them in sackcloth and place them in the number of those that cry mightily vnto the Lorde seemeth more vnsensible for they haue neither vnderstandinge nor speech and their bodies are wet with the dew of heaven as Nabuchodonozors was and their hydes are those naturall indumentes which God hath provided for them Touching the sackcloth it is not necessary to enquire whether they were all covered vvith it yea or no happily but their horses and mules which were in greatest price and wherein they most gloried whose manner aforetime was to bee clothed in sumptuous trappings of such it is likelie enough that their ornaments vvere chandged and it maie bee their whole heardes and flockes to make the greater spectacle and solemnite of dolefulnes For it is no more vnprofitable in these funeralles of their city when she was going as it were to her graue that these beastes should also accompany her in mourning steedes vvith the rest of her people and children then that at the funeralles of noble men not onely their kinsmen and friendes nor their houses and herses alone but their horses which they vsed for service should also bee drawne into the fellowshippe of their sorrovvinge And wee reade Iudith 4. vvhen the approach of Holofernes was feared that the children of Israell cried every man to God with greate fervencie and their soules with greate affection and that both they and their wiues and their children and their cattell and every stranger and hireling and their bought servantes put sackcloth vpon their loyâ—es And to make the greater shew of sorrowe they sprinkled ashes vpon their heades and spread out their sackcloth before the face of the Lord and they put sackcloth also about their altar Their cryinge Lyra expoundeth to haue beene after their kind they roared and brayed for want of foode which naturall moane of theirs was their cryinge It is saide Psalm 147. that God giveth foode to the beasts and to the yonge ravens that call vpon him Likewise Iob. 39. VVho prepareth meate for the crovves vvhen their yong crye vnto the Lorde for it By these and by the like scriptures
them redounde to their maisters and doe they not loose themselues by vveakening the bodies of their cattell through lacke of foode vvhereby not onelye their labour but also their fruite and encrease is hindered Lastly some tooke a pride in some kinde of beastes namely their horses vvhich I mentioned before and not onely fedde them with the best to keepe them fat and shining but cloathed them with the richest We read of Nero the Emperour of Rome that he shodde his mules with silver and of Poppaea Sabina that shee her horses with gold Bernard telleth Eugenius the Pope that Peter rode not vpon a white warre-like horse clad in trappings of golde And it is not vnlikelie but the kings of Niniveh did offende in the sumptuousnesse of their horses asmuch as the Emperours or Popes of Rome In these it was not amisse that their glorie and pompe should be abated howsoever it fared with the rest and that their bellies should be pinched with hunger which were pampered before and their backes cloathed with sack-cloath which were wont to be magnified with such costlie furniture These and such other reasons of their act as might be alleadged I let passe and come to the handling of the wordes themselues But let man and beast put on sacke-cloath The first member commaundeth the habite that their repentance must be cloathed with It was the manner of those times especially in the East partes if either they lost a friend or childe by death as Iacob his son Gen. 37. but rather for the losse of the favor of God and commonly when they repented their sinnes and sometimes when they praied not only to refuse their best garments as the children of Israell Exod. 33. When the Lorde tolde them that he would not goe himselfe but send an angell with them they sorrowed exceedingly and no man put on his best raiment sometimes to cut their cloathes as Iosu. 7. sometimes to rend them from their backs as Ioel. 2. but insteed thereof to take vnto themselues the vncomfortablest weedes and fashions that might be devised For besides their wearing of sacke-cloath they would sit vpon the ground and in ashes as the friendes of Iob and not only sit but wallow in dust and ashes as the daughter of Ierusalem is willed to doe Ierem. 6. and claspe the handes vpon the heade and sprinkle ashes vpon it as Tamar did 2. Sam. 12. and their haire as their mannes is described Amos 8. and finally take vppe an howling and make an exquisite lamentation as one that shoulde mourne for her onelie sonne In all which and such like outwarde observaunces I like the iudgemente of a learned Divine that they are neither commaunded by God nor by GOD forbidden and are not so properly workes as passions not sought or affected or studied for but such as in sorrowe or feare or the like perturbations offerre themselues and are consequent of their owne accordes as helpes to expresse vnto the world our inwarde dispositions So when we pray vnto God wee bowe the knees of our bodies lie vpon our faces cast vp our eies to heaven smite vpon our breasts with the like ceremonies In all which praier is the substance and worke intended and these though we thinke not of them come as a kinde of furniture and formality if I may so speake to set it foorth The â—â—â—nesse of the spirite draweth the whole body into participation of the griefe making it carelesse of the foode and negligent in the attire that belongeth vnto it And if ever they be alone these shaddowes and dumbe shewes I meane of sacke-cloath and mourning without their body of toward contrition as they fasted in Esay from meate and were prowde of their fast Why haue wee fasted and thou regardest it not but not from strife and oppression and the prophetes in Zachary ware a rough garment but it was to deceiue with then is our thankes with God the same that he gaue to Israel in the place before mentioned Is this the fast that I haue chosen that a man should afflict his soule for a daie and â—owe downe his heade like a bull-rush and lie in sack-cloath and ashes wilt thou call this a fasting or an acceptable daie vnto the Lorde or is not this rather the fasting that I haue chosen insteede of forsaking thy meate to deale thy breade to the hungrie and for sacke-cloath about thy loines to cover thy naked brethren and not to hide thine eies from thine owne flesh And as of sacke-cloath and fasting so wee may like wise say of crying which was the voice of repentaunce For was it the neying of horses lowing of oxen and bullockes lamentation of men eiulation of women and children mingling heaven and earth togither with a confusion of out-cries that could enforce the LORDE aboue to giue them aâ—dience doubtlesse no. For the praier of this people a shielde against the iudgement of GOD which nature it selfe thrust into the handes of the marriners before and heere of the Ninivites yea that obstinate king of Egypt which sette his face against heaven and confronted the GOD thereof vvas glad to flie vnto it Pray vnto the LORD for me and my people that this plague maie departe and Simon the sorcerer who deceived the worlde with his enchauntmentes thought it the onelie charme vvhereby the mercy of God mighte be procured though it bee reported of by as speciall notes as praier may bee honoured with 1. for the manner of it that it was vehemente and forcible They cryed 2. for the grounde invvarde and intentionall They cryed mightilie and from the bottome of their heartes 3. for the obiect right and substantiall They cryed vpon GOD yet if their words and works purpose and performance had not kissed each other if with their lips alone they had honoured God without their heartes or with their heartes alone without their handes as we haue to consider in the nexte wordes they had soone beene aunswered as a people better favoured than themselues were Esay the first Though you stretch out your handes I vvill hide mine eies from you and though you make many praiers I vvill not heare you The Gentiles Matthew the sixte vsed longe speech and much babling and thought to bee hearde for that cause but they lived as Gentiles The Scribes and the Pharisees in the same place praied also not as the Gentiles to vnknowne GODS but to the God of the Hebrews they cryed Lorde Lorde with often inclamation yea they stood and praied not onely in their houses but in the synagogues and corners of the streetes to appeare to men and no doubt to be hearde of men and they vsed likewise longe praiers Luke the twentieth as the Gentiles did yet they were but hypocrites and the portion of hypocrites was reserved for them And this is your meede looke for it hypocrites as you looke for summer vvhen you see the blooming of the figge-tree when you pray as if
mee recompence but to the poore and if ever I defrauded much more if ever I defeated by mighte any man straunger or home-borne I say not of his maine estate but of anie his smallest portion nor by open detected wronge but by secret concealed cavillation I restore it principall and damage for I restore it foure-folde VVhat follovved but that hee emptyed his house of the transitorie treasures of this vvoorlde and insteede thereof let in salvation vnto it This day is salvation come to this house not onely to the private soule but to the house of Zacheus thorough his meanes I scarsely thinke that these ravenous and greedy times can yeelde a man so innocent as to say vvith Samuell vvhose oxe or asse haue I taken or vvhome haue I vvronged At the least let him say vvith Zacheus I say not in the former parte of his speech halfe of my goodes I giue to the poore for that vvere heresie to bee helde and false doctrine to bee preached in this illiberall age but in the latter clause if I haue iniuried anâ—e man though I restore not foure-folde yet I restore him his owne Otherwise our houses and consciences vvill bee so full of houses fieldes vineyardes oliues silver golde vnrighteous pledges that there wil bee no roume for the peace and consolation of GOD to dwell vvith them Therefore washe your handes and heartes from this leprosie my brethren that you may bee receaved into the hoste of the Lorde and dwel with his first-borne and either forsake your violence or convert it an other way Let the kingdomes commodities of the earth alone and learne that the kingdome of heaven suffereth violence and must bee wonne by force See if you can extorte this spoyle from him that keepeth it Spare no invention of witte intention of will contention of sinewes strength of handes to get this kingdome Begge it buy it steale it assault it vse any meanes This this is the onely oppression and violence that we can allow you and in this onely thing Bee not modest and curteous towardes any man in this heavenly price Hither if you bring not tooth and naile and resisting vnto bloud and hating your liues vnto the death you are not worthy of it It suffereth violence it selfe it is so proposed conditioned and they are men of violence that by violence must attaine vnto it Therefore wrastle for this blessing though you lame your bodies and striue for this kingdome though you loose your liues THE XXXVIII LECTVRE Chap. 3. vers 9. Who can tell if God vvill turne and repent c. THE last thinge in the repentaunce of the Ninivites by the order of the wordes though in purpose and intention first and that which presently giveth place to the repentaunce of God their expected deliverance in the nexte sentence is the foundation wherevpon they grounde a knowledge and apprehension such as it is of the goodnesse of God and some likely hope to escape his vengance intended There may be some part of repentance without faith contrition anguish vexation for sinne till not onely the heart aketh but the conscience also is quite swallowed drowned in the gulfe of it As there is no question after that horrible fact of Iudas but his spirite was as full of griefe as before of trechery and covetousnes Let the world witnesse with him how deepely he rued his malice vvhen hee pledged body and soule for it and gaue over the one to the tree the other to hell fire For it there had beene a penaltie to haue taken of himselfe worse than death and damnation hee woulde not I thinke haue shunned it Caine was also as sory for his bloudy fact as ever greedy before to commit it He felt even a talent of lead vpon his soule never to be remooved and therefore vttered a blasphemy against the grace of GOD never to be pardoned My sinne is greater than can bee forgiven This is the reason that he had a marke set vpon him that no man shoulde kill Caine who with a thousand daily woundes killed himselfe and that â—ee ranne from place to place not so much in his bodie as in his minde tossed like a waue of the sea and finding no place for rest because the mercy of God shone not vnto him Beholde thou haste cast mee this daie from the face of the earth is that all And I shall bee hidde from thy face driven from thy presence banished from the light and favour of thy gracious countenance This is the dart that woundeth him to death For this received into the minde that we are hidde from the face of GOD that wee are so farre in contempte and hatred with his maiestie that hee vvill not vouchsafe to giue vs the looking on if all the clowdes in the aire rained loue and compassion we could not bee perswaded that any of the least droppes thereof should fall vpon our grounde VVherefore there must be a beleefe to conceiue and an hope to expect our reconciliation and and attonement with God and GODS with vs or it will bee an vnprofitable and vnpossible attempte to endevour a true repentance For either it will followe that wee become desperate and giue over care of our selues it is in vaine to serue GOD and vvhat profit shall we reape to humble our selves before him seeing his mercy is cleane gone from vs for ever and hee hath bent his soule to doe vs mischiefe And as it is written of Iulius the Pope that having received an overthrow by the French at Ravenna which he looked not for he set his face and mouth against the God of heaven and thus spake vnto him So hence-forth become French in the name of all the divels of hell holy Switzer pray for vs so wee betake vs to new Saintes or rather to newe divelles flying to hardnesse of heart carelesnesse of salvation contempt of God or else vve repent but after the manner of hypocrites wee make some proffer and likelyhoode of returning to God but cannot do it Such I thinke was the repentance of the Philistines the first of Samuell the fift and sixt when they had taken the arke of the Lorde and placed it first in Ashdod and there were punished with Emerodes and with death afterwardes in Gath and Eckron and there they could not endure it It is said of them not only that they were troubled and conferred of carrying home the arke againe but that they cried and their crie vvente vp to heaven and they sent it backe with a present vnto the Lorde and with sinne offerings nay their priestes and sooth-sayers saide vnto them wherefore shoulde you harden your harts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened theirs Such the repentance of Saul 1. Sam. 15. who having received a message by the prophet that as he had cast of the word of the Lorde so the Lord had cast him of from being a king and that his kingdome was given to his neighbour better than
vnto them for righteousnesse as it was to Abraham and to testifie that faith to man to make it perfect before God to seale it vp to their owne conscience they are abundant also in good workes which is that other iustification vvhereof Iames disputeth For as in the temple of Ierusalem there were 3. distinctions of roumes the entry or porch where the beasts were killed the altar where they were sacrificed the holiest place of al whither the high priest entred once every yeare so in this repentance of Niniveh there are 3. sortes of righteousnes the first of ceremony in wearing sacke-cloath and fasting the second of morality in restitution the third the iustice of faith and as it were the dore of hope wherby they first enter into the kingdome of heaven We haue heard what the Ninivites did for their partes let vs nowe consider what God for his It is said that he saw their workes and repentâ—d him of the plague intended and brought it not Nay it is saide that God saw their workes God repented him of the plague vvith repetitioÌ„ of that blessed name to let the world vnderstande that the mischiefe was not turned away for the value and vertue of their workes but for the acceptance of his own good pleasure nor for the repentance of the city but for the repentaÌ„ce of his own heart a gracious inclination propension that he tooke to deliver them No marvaile it was if when God saw their workes he bethought him of their deliverance For when the person is once approved received to grace which their faith procured them his blemishes are not then looked vpon his infirmities covered his vnperfect obedience taken in good part nay coÌ„meÌ„ded honored rewarded daily provoked with promises invitatioÌ„s of greater blessednes to come So a father allureth his son the servaÌ„t doth ten times more yet is the recoÌ„peÌ„ce of the son ten times greater for the father respecteth not so much the workes of his child but because he is a father teÌ„dreth followeth him with fatherly affection wheras the hired servant on the other side is but a stranger vnto him Why then were the works of Niniveh acceptable vnto God not of theÌ„selues but for their sakes that wrought them they for their faith for this is the root that beareth theÌ„ al. In that great cloud of witnesses Heb. 11. what was the reason that they pleased God besides the honour of the world that they vvere vvell reported of and obtained the promises which was the garlande they ranne for besides their suffering of adversities subduing of kingdomes vvorking of righteousnesse with many other famous exploites there ascribed vnto them what was the reason I say but their faith which is the whole burdeÌ„ of the song in that memorable bead-role By faith did Abell thus Enoch thus and others otherwise But why not their workes of themselues For is not charity more than faith these three remaine faith hope and loue but the greater of these three is loue 1. Cor. 13. And the first and the greate commaundemente is this Thou shalt loue the Lorde thy GOD c. Math. the two and twentith And the end of the commaundement is loue 1. Tim. 1. And loue is the fulfilling of the lawe Romanes the thirteenth I graunt all this if thou be able to performe it Loue the Lorde thy God with all thy heart c. and thy neighbour as thy selfe and there is nothing wanting vnto thee thou hast kept the commandement thou hast fulfilled the law thou needest not the passion of thy redeemer thou maiest catch the crowne of life by rightfull desert But this thou art not able to performe were thou as righteous as Noe as obedient as Abraham as holy as Iob as faithfull as David as cleare as the sunne and moone as pure as the starres in heaven yet thou must sing and sigh with a better soule than thine owne who saw and sighed for the impurity of all living flesh Enter not into iudgement vvith thy servant O Lorde for no flesh living can bee iustified in thy sight God hath concluded thee and thy fathers before thee and the fruit of thy body to the last generation of the world vnder sinne and because vnder sinne therefore vnder wrath and malediction and death if thou flie not into the sanctuarie to hide and safegarde thy selfe But blessed be the name of Christ the daies are come wherein this song is sunge in the lande of Iudah and through all the Israell of God farre and neare vvee haue a stronge cittie salvation hath God set for wals and bul-workes about it Open ye the gates that the righteous nation which keepeth faith may enter in Which is that righteous nation that shall enter into the citty of God thus walled and fortressed but that which keepeth faith or rather faithes as the Hebrew hath that is all faith not ceasing to beleeue till their liues end They that beleeue thus adding faith vnto faith the Lord vvill returne them as great a measure of his blessing even peace vpon peace in the next wordes because they trust in him We neede no better expositour The righteous man is he that beleeveth and the beleeving man is he that vvorketh righteousnes for these two shall never be sundred and the onlie key that openeth vnto vs the gates of the citty is our faith So then when we see good workes we must know that they are but fruites and seeke out the root of them and when we haue the root we must also haue regarde to the moisture and iuice whereby it is nourished For as the fruits of the earth grow from their root that root liveth not by it selfe but is fedde and preserved by the fatnes of the soile warmth of the sun benefite of the aire vnder which it standeth so good workes grow from faith and that faith liveth in the obiect the merites and obedience of Iesus Christ feeding and strengthning it selfe by the sweet influence and sappe of these heavenly conceites that he came into the worlde to saue sinners and that he died for her sinne and rose to life for her iustification For as we esteeme the worth of a ring of gold not so much in it selfe as in the gemme that it carrieth so are we iustified magnified also in the sight of God by faith in Christ not for this quality of beleeving which is as vnperfite as our works but for the obiect of this quality Christ our mediatour which is the diamonde and iewell borne therein The hand of a leper though never so bloudy and vncleane yet it may doe the office of an hand in taking and holding fast the almes that is given The giver may bee liberall enough and the gift sufficient to releeue though the hand that received it full of impurity So it is not the weakenesse of our faith in apprehending and applying the passion of Christ that
iudge to pronounce sentence against them hee knewe besides the knowledge of their owne consciences that for envie they had delivered him Do we looke that envy should favour the honour and well-fare when it favoureth not the life or the life of man when the Lord of life himselfe is vile before it Poyson they say is life to a serpent death to a man and that which is life to a man his spittle and naturall humidity is death to a serpent I haue found it thus applyed vertue and felicity which is life to a good man is death to the envious and that which the envious liveth by is the misery and death of a good man For envie endevoureth either that hee may not liue at all as all the former examples declare for even the prodigall sonne vvas also deade and it grieved his brother that he was brought backe to life or that he may liue such a life as for the discomfortes thereof he may cal it happines to haue ended Therefore amongst other the fruites of a reprobate minde Rom. 1. those two are ioyned togither 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 envie and murther and likewise amongst the workes of the flesh Galathians the fifte vvith the same combination as if they vvere twinnes growing in one body and could not be put asunder It is not namely expressed in the former member of the verse what perturbation it was wherewith Ionas was so overborne But by the effectes it shewed in him in seeking so heartily the overthrow of Niniveh and wishing to die himselfe because the Ninivites lived besides the bidding of open battaile to charity one of whose properties is that shee envieth not setting pitty at naught which hath ever a miserable heart when it seeth the wretched we may reasonably suppose it to haue bin envy The nature whereof is this that God in his iustice hath apointed it to be a plague to it selfe and amongst many mischiefes it hath furnished it with one onely profitable quality that the owner thereof taketh most hurt He biteth is bitten againe becoÌ„meth his own punishment And as Aetna consumed it selfe so the malicious man is burnt with the fire of his own hart And therefore the Poet did notably describe her to haue a pale face without bloud a leane body without any iuice in it squint eies blacke teeth an heart full of gall a tongue tipt with poison never laughing but wheÌ„ others weepe never sleeping because shee studieth and thinketh on mischiefe It displeaseth Ionas exceedingly But the vexation which he tooke hurt himselfe more than Niniveh And Ionas was angrie We haue not ended the affections of Ionas Wee haue an other companion to adde to envie which for the most part is coupled with it For so we read Genes 4. Caine vvas exceedingly vvrath And 1. Sam. 18. Saul was wrath at the song of the vvomen And Luke 15. the elder brother was angry either with the father or the yonger son Angeâ— in a fit place is the gift of God and there is great cunning in being angry with advised speach and in a seasonable time But of that hereafter Meane-while the time and cause and measure of this anger in Ionas I thinke are worthy to be blamed For with whom is he angry It seemeth with himselfe Take away my life from me Or rather with God who if he had taken him at his worde the sun had gone downe vpon his anger I meane his life had ended in a froward and furious passion If God bee angry with vs there may be some remedy because God is mercifull But if we be angry with him there is no helpe for it Quis populo Romano irasci sapienter potest What man of wisedome can be angry with the people of Rome much lesse with God And that you may know howe righteous the Lord is in this affection of anger as before of envie vvhen we are vnruly and lawlesse therein Valerius Maximus comparing anger and hatred togither the one at the first setting forth the quicker the other in desire of reveÌ„ge the more obstinate saith that both those passions are full of consternation and amasement and never vse violence without torment to themselues for where their purpose is to offer wrong they rather suffer it as shall better appeare vnto vs hereâ—fter in the behaviour of Ionas I haue in parte described vnto you the nature and enormitye of these perturbations from the mouth of naturall worldly wisdome VVhat iudgement belongeth vnto them when they breake their bounds I learne in a better schoole Whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shal be culpable of iudgement And they are numbred amongst the works of the flesh Gal. 5. whereof the Apostle gaue them double warning that they which did such things should not inherit the kingdome of God Notwithstanding the viciousnes hereof hath beene both opened and condemned by those who though they had not the law of God by peculiar assignement as the Iewes had written in books or in tables of stone yet the effect of that law was written in their harts they were a law to themselues their thoughts accusing or excusing them in most of their doings Precepts of moral conversatioÌ„ they haue as soundly delivered some as strictly observed as if Moses had taught and lived among theÌ„ The Apostles precept is Rom. 12. Giue place to wrath Ephes 4. Be angry and sin not Let not the sun goe downe vpon your wrath They had the same precepts in Gentility who sawe no lesse herein by their light of nature therefore devised lawes to represse anger That an angry man should not set hand or hart to any thing til he had recited the Greeke alphabet for by that time the heart of choller woulde be alaide and that he should sing to his passion as nurses to their babes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hast not cry not anone I will content thee And the practise of Plato was according to these rules for his servant offending him he said he could haue killed him but that he was moved therefore desired a friend to punish him in his steede Likewise reprehensions of all sortes of vices and commendations of their contrarye vertues they haue both wisely conceaved faithfully penned earnestly perswaded And although they were ignorant of the ioyes of heaven and hell fire yet in their Gentile learning the saw reason sufficient that the embracers of these contrary qualities should be contrariwise recompensed Therfore I am not of opinion with those men who thinke that all secular and prophane learning should be abandoned from the lips of the preacher and whither he teach or exhort he is of necessity to tie himselfe to the sentence and phrase of onely scripture Good is good wheresoever I finde it Vpon a vvithered and fruitlesse stalke saith Augustine a grape sometimes may hange Shall I refuse the grape because the stalke is fruitlesse and vvhithered
There is not any knowledge of learning to bee despised seeing that all science whatsoever is in the nature and kinde of good thinges Rather those that despite it vvee must repute rude and vnprofitable altogither who would bee glad that all men vvere ignoraunt that their owne ignorance lying in the common heape mighte not be espied If Philosophie shoulde therefore not be set by because some haue erred through Philosophie no more shoulde the sunne and the moone because some haue made them their Gods and committed idolatrie vvith them It seemeth by the preface of M. Luther vpon the Epistle to the Galathians that the Anabaptistes condemned the graces and workes of God for the indignity of the persons and subiectes in vvhome they were founde Luther retorted vpon them Then belike matrimony authority liberty c. are not the workes of God because the men who vse them are some of them wicked Wicked men haue the vse of the sun the moone the earth the aire the water and other creatures of God Therefore is not the sunne the sunne and do the others loose their goodnesse because they are so vsed The Anabaptistes themselues when as yet they were not rebaptised had notwithstanding bodies and soules now because they were not rebaptized were not their bodies true bodies and their soules right soules Say that their parents also had a time when they were not rebaptized Were they not therfore truly married If not it will follow therevpon that the parentes were adulterers their children bastardes and not meete to inherite their fathers landes Likewise truth is truth wheresoever I finde it Whither vvee search in Philosophy or in the histories of the Gentiles or in Canonicall scriptures there is but one truth If Peter if the Sibylles if the devilles shall say that Christ is the sonne of the living GOD it is not in one a truth a lie in the other but though the persons motiues and endes bee different the substance of the confession is in all the same It was true which Menander the Poet spake before the Apostle ever wrote it to the Church of Corinth Evill wordes corrupt good manners And because it was a truth in Menander therefore the Apostle alleadged it which else hee woulde not The difference betweene them is that as in Lacedaemon sometimes when in a waighty consultation an eloquent but an evill man had set downe a good decree which they coulde not amende they caused it to bee pronounced by one of honest name and conversation and in such simplicity of wordes as hee was able presently to light vpon by that meanes neither crediting the bad authour so much as to take a iudgement from his mouth nor reiecting the good sentence so that which was a truth in the lips of Menander is not more true vttered by an Apostles tongue but it hath gotten a more approoved and sanctified author And surely as in the tilling of the ground the culter and share are the instrumentes that breake the cloddes and carry the burthen of the worke yet the other partes of the plough are not vnnecessary to further it so for the first breaking vp of the fallow ground of mens heartes and killing the weedes and brambles that are therein of Adams auncient corruption or for preaching the greate mysterie of pietie and comfortable speâ—king to Sion touching the pointes of salvation the onely worde of God sharper then culter or share or two edged sword is onely and absolutely sufficient But a man must dayly builde vpon the former foundation and not onely teach but explicate by discoursing illustrate by examples exemplifie by parables and similitudes by arguments confirme shame the gaine-saiers convince the adversaries fashion the life to the doctrine plant iudgement and iustice insteede of vnrighteousnes stirre vp the affections and shewe himselfe every way a vvorkeman not to bee ashamed and rightly dividing the worde of trueth from whom if you take his knife that is his arte and cunning he shall rather teare it with his teeth and pull it asunder with his nailes than rightly divide it But you appeale to the consciences of beleevers and desire to knowe vvhither their first conversion to the faith vvere by reading or hearing of Gentile stories No. For who ever required that service of prophane learning which whatsoever the instrument or meanes be is principally and almost wholy the worke of the holy Ghost and wherein is fulfilled vpon every convert that commeth to the knowledge of the trueth that which Samuell comforted Saule with The spirite of the Lorde shall come vpon thee and thou shalt bee turned into an other man VVho else taketh the stonie hearte out of their bodies and giveth them an hearte of flesh And we know besides that the conversions of men to the faith haue not beene all after one sorte in some by the preaching of Christ crucified as in those that vvere added to the Church by the sermon of Peter in some by a word from the mouth of Christ Follovve mee in some by visions and voyces from heaven as Paule Act. 9. was throwne from his horse and smitten with blindnesse and a voice came downe from the clowdes saying Saul Saul why persecutest thou mee and Saint Augustine reporteth Confess 8.12 that by a voice from heaven saying Take vp and reade take vp and reade hee was directed to that sentence Rom. 13. Not in chambeâ—ing and wantonnesse c. Iustine Martyr witnesseth of himselfe in his Apology to Antoninus that when he saw the innocent Christians after their slaunderous and false traducementes carried to their deathes patient and ioyfull that they were thought worthy to suffer for the name of Christ it occasioned his chandge of religion Socrates and Sozomene write that many of Alexandria when the great temple of Serapis was repurdged and made serviceable for the vse of the Christians finding some mysticall letters or cyphers therein vvhereby the forme of a crosse was figured and signification long before given that the temple shoulde haue an ende thought it warning enough to forsake their heathenish superstitions and to embrace the gospell of Christ Iesus Many other Aegyptians beeing terrified by the strange inundation of Nilus higher than the wonted manner thereof was immediatlie condemned their ancient idolatry and applyed themselues to the worship of the living God Clodoveus the French King after manie perswasions of Crotildis his lady a religious Burgundian vainelie spent vpon him having at length receaved a great discomfiture and slaughter in a battaile against the Almannes and finding himselfe forsaken of all earthly aide cast vp his eies into heaven and vowed to become a Christian vpon condition that God would giue him the victory over his enimies which he faithfully performed Now it holdeth not in reason that because men are converted to the faith by miracles martyrdoms visioÌ„s inundatioÌ„s hieroglyphicks such meanes therefore they should alwaies be confirmed by the same or that those
who are converted by the word of faith should no otherwise be confirmed and strengthened than by that only word For our owne partes we cannot worke wonders we cannot call downe lights visions from heaven we must vse such meanes as God hath enabled vs vnto And therein tell mee also by experience If as in former times the Gentiles were confuted by the writings of the Gentiles which is either a parte or at least a preparatiue to conversion for wee must first remooue the preiudices conceaved against the trueth by the philosophy of Plato Trismegistus and others vvhich Iulian a wise but wicked Emperour saw beholde vvee are wonded vvith our owne quilles out of our bookes they take armour vvhich in fighte they vse against vs and therefore made a lawe that the children of the Galilaeans shoulde not reade philosophers nor Poets and as the Iewes in later yeares by the Talmud of the Iewes for proofe whereof I send you to the Truenes of ChristiaÌ„ religion written both in Latin French put into English by as honorable a translator as the author was So in the winning reclaiming of Papistes at this day it bee not an ordinary way to roote vp their errors besides the scriptures of God not onlie by consent of Fathers decisions of Councels but even by principles of philosophy by reason outward sense from the verdict wherof in many questioÌ„s amongst them they are wholy departed In TransubstantiatioÌ„ by name do we not shake coÌ„vince their in extricable absurdities by evidence of sense by that which our hands handle our eie declareth vnto vs by natural demensions which a natural body is subiect vnto by circuÌ„scriptioÌ„ of place collocatioÌ„ in one place at once how vnsensible a thing it is to have accideÌ„ts without their subiect roundnes whitenes the rellish of bread without bread even as the Lord himselfe proved the truth of his body by a truth of philosophy when they tooke him for a spirit touch me handle me see me TaÌ„gere enim tangi nisi corpus nulla potest res for nothing caÌ„ touch or be touched but a true body Is it enough in this coÌ„flict to tel a Papist that Christ is ascended into heaven there must sit til al things be restored doth he not drive thee froÌ„ thine holde put thee to a further replication So do they also in many other questions wherin if we rest vpon scripture alone we shall send them away vnsatisfied because they admit not this iudge without other copartners to sit give sentence alone in the ending of our controversies And therefore they must be vanquished as Basilides Saturninus were in Eusebius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both by written demonstrations and by vnwritten redargutions Is this now to make the pulpit a philosophers schoole or rather the philosophers schoole a foote-stoole to the pulpit and to vse it as a servant to Divinity that it may the better proceede in the necessarye vvorke The histories of the Heathen as lightly as we reckon of them of Moab and Ammon and all the cuntries of Canaan in former times of the Medes Persians auncient Romanes Graecians at this day of the Mores Moscovites Turkes and Tartarians their religion sacrifices manners lawes leagues wars stratagemes and even the wars of HaÌ„niball and Scipio wherin the providence of God mightily wrought and the pollicy of men carefully bestirred it selfe have they nothing in them fit for the vse of the teÌ„ple for the building of Gods house Then why do we traine vp our children in poets orators histories Greekc Latine old new not presently set theÌ„ to the testaments everlastingly keepe theÌ„ in the reading conning of only catechismes if all that elementary learning for so I confesse with Seneca rudimenta sunt non opera they are rudiments beginnings not workes must be wholy forgotten and laide aside in the exercising of an higher calling Or is it a point of wisedome thinke we to season these new vessels when their taste of life to come is especially to be framed with such vnprofitable licour wherof ther is no good vse to be made in riper yeares and at sounder discretion If such were the vanity and no better fruites of these yonger studies when an elder profession and a more settled iudgment hath them in handling let Licinius be cleared of that infamous speech of his in tearming good Letters the poison of a coÌ„moÌ„-wealth let al our bookes be heaped togither burnt in the market-place as those books of curious arts Act. 19 let their barbarous opinion who cry to pull downe schooles vniversities find favour good speed in the wishings of al men But I ever retained til I am better informed wil endevor to maintainea more honorable opinioÌ„ of learning such poore friendship as I am able to lend to the defence of it I wil ever be ready to shew as Ionatha did to David not only in the field where no man seeth it but even to the face of those by whoÌ„ it is most discredited Because I have ever found by my little simple experience that neither the vse of GraÌ„mer in the proprieties of words nor of Logicke in distinguishing ambiguities nor Rhetoricke in following precepts rules of speech nor Philosophy in scaÌ„ning causes their effects nor history in calculating times nor of any of these in many other vses and services could at any time be missing to the mistres Queen of al these arts I meane to the handling of Divinity which is the scieÌ„ce of sciences S. Austin writing against Petilian telleth vs that his adversary sometimes with open mouth and full breath would accuse him for a Logician bring Logicke it selfe to her triall before the people as the mistresse of forgery lying because he shewed some Rhetoricke would note him by the name of Tertullus the orator charge him with the damnable wit of Carneades the Academicke but you must know the reason CuÌ„ ad interrogatum respondere non posset when he was not able to answere the question propounded No doubt it was some great disgrace to that learned father to be blamed for good artes and to beare an obiection and reproach for too much schollership Thus let ignorance ever be able to obiect to the champians of the true church and propugners of the faith of Christ. And because I am falleÌ„ into the testimony of S. Austin let me further acquaint you what hee writeth of this very argument in his 2. booke of christiaÌ„ learning His iudgement is ample plaine that if the philosophers so called especially the Platonickes had spokeÌ„ any truth consonant to our faith we should be so far of from fearing it that we should bereaue them thereof as vniust owners and possessioners apply it to our owne vse For as the Egyptians had not onâ—ly idols burthens
that thy sins are as the sins of Manasses more than the sands of the sea in number and their burthen such that they are gone over thine head like mighty waters answer him that the goodnes of the Lord is as much that there is no comprehension of his loving kindes If lastly he obiect that iudgmeÌ„t hath begun at thine house to put thee out of doubt that thou art not in the favour of God he hath smitteÌ„ thy body with sore diseases thy soule with agonies thy family with orbities privations tell him for full conclusion that he can also repent him of the evil and cease to punish and leaue as many blessings behinde him when his pleasure is It was never the meaning of God that these vvordes should be spokeÌ„ in the winds blowne away like empty bladders They were spoken written no doubt for the vse of sinners This is the name which God hath proclaimed to the world and whereby he would be knowne to meÌ„ that if ever we came before him we might speake our mindes in the confidence trust of that amiable name Thus Moses vnderstoode it For assone as the Lord had ended his speach Moses applied it to the present purpose for he bowed to the earth and worshipped God and said O Lorde I beseech thee pardon our iniquities and sinnes and take vs for thine inheritance Likewise in the 14. of Num. And now I beseech thee let the power of my Lord be great according as thou hast spoken saying The Lord is slow to anger c. referring himselfe to the speach and proclamation which God had vsed vpoÌ„ the mount We are the childreÌ„ of our father which is in heaveÌ„ If therefore it be an honor vnto vs to be reputed his sons let vs follow our fathers steps beare some part of his heavenly image Let vs not seeke to be like vnto him in the arme of his streÌ„gth nor in the braine of his wisedome nor in the finger of his miracles but in his bowels of piâ—â—y tender compassion Let Lions and Beares and Tigers in the forrest be 〈◊〉 towardes their companions let them biâ—e be bitten devour be devouted againe let dogges grinne let Vnicornes push with their hornes let Scythians and Cannibals because they knowe not GOD not knovve vvhat belongeth to humanity and gentlenesse but let Christians loue their brethren even as God hath loved them and remitte one the other their offences as Christ hath freely forgiven the sinnes of his church Let those reprobate-minded Rom. 1. carry to their graves with them and to the bottome of hell where all hatred must end that marke which the holy Ghost hath scored vpon their browes that they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without naturall affection not fit for societie voide of pitty but let the example of the most holy Trinity the God of peace the prince of peace the spirit of peace that one God of all consolation rich in mercies bee ever before our eies that as wee have received freely so we may freely returne grace mercy long-suffering abundance of kindnes revocation of our wronges and iniuries begun to all our brethren in the flesh but especially to Christes chosen and peculiar members THE XLIII LECTVRE Chap. 4. vers 3. Therefore now O Lord take I beseech thee my life c. THat Ionas praied how he praied in what sort expostulating with God iustifying his offence and abusing his knowledge of the mercy of God to vtter the malice and cruelty of his owne heart wee have already seene considered the reasons which are supposed to have moved him to that vndutifull vncharitable course Either the care of his own credite which he should not have stood vpon to the derogatioÌ„ of the honor of God when the angels of heaven sing glory vnto him or affection to his country which perswasion was as weake to have drawne him to obedience seeing that the Israell of God might have bin in Niniveh aswell as in Iury because there are Iewes inwardly and in the spirit as truly as outwardly and in the letter and those that heare the word of Christ are more kindly his brethren and sisters than those that are affined vnto him in the flesh Vpon these premisses be they stronge or weake is inferred the conclusion including his request to God Therefore now O Lord c. A maÌ„ so contraried crossed in mine expectation how can I ever satisfie my discontented mind but by ending my life and he addeth a reason or confirmation drawne from vtility and amplified by comparison It is not only good for me to die but better to die than to live The force of anger we have in part declared before It rageth not only against men made of the same mold but against God Let the bloud of Iulian throwne vp into the aire and togither with his bloud blasphemy against the son of God witnes it Nor only against those that haue sense and vnderstanding but against vnreasonable vnsensible creatures As Xerxes wrote a defying letter to Athos a mouÌ„taine of Thrace Mischievous Athos lifted vp to heaven make thy quarries and veines of stone passable to my travaile or I will cut thee downe and cast thee into the midst of the sea Nor only against those things which are without vs but against our selves As in this place the anger of Ionas beginneth to take fire against the Ninivites Proceedeth as far as it dareth against God and endeth in it selfe In one worde that which Ionas requesteth though spoken by circumlocution and more wordes than one is that he may die Take away my soule from me For what is life but as the philosopher defineth it the composition and colligation of the soule to the body In the 2. of Gen. the Lord formed man of the dust of the ground there is his matter and breathed in his face the breath of life and the man was a living soule there is his forme and perfection And what is death on the other side but the dissociation and severing of these two partes or the taking of the soule from the body according to the forme of words in this place God telleth the rich man in the gospell who was talking of lardger buildinges when the building within him vvas neare pulling downe and thought he had goods enough for his soule to delight in when he had not soule enough to delight in his goods Thou foole this night 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doe they require and redemaunde thy soule that is this night thou must die Elias in the first of Kinges and nineteenth vseth the same phrase in the wildarnesse It sufficeth Lorde take away my soule from me Let me not longer live to see the misery that Iezabell hath threatned vnto me As when you take away structure and fashion from an house temple or tabernacle there remaineth none of all these but a confused and disordered heape of stones timber iron morter
terrâ Zach. 13. wickednesse out of the land or an vncleane spirit from the earth but a wicked and vncleane spirit from out his owne breast whereby hee was driven to so franticke a passion 5. Hee will also proove which is the reason annexed to the petition that it is better for him to die than to live and he prooveth it by comparing two opposites death and life the horrour of one of which he shoulde rather have commended the svveetenesse and comfort of the other Thales on a time giving forth incredibly and strangely enough that there was no difference betweene life and death one presently closed vpon him Cur ergo non moreris why then diâ—st thou not because saith hee there is no difference Albeit it appeareth sufficiently that hee shâ—wed a difference by refusing it But the paradoxe which Ionas heare alleadgeth addeth much to that of Thales For hee affirmeth in peremptory tearmes havinge them laide before his eies to compare togither and to make his choice Death is better than life Howbeit hee saith not simply it is better to die than to live but better for mee One as wise as ever Ionas was who had beene taken vp into the third heavens seene revelations in this very question betweene life and death gave no other answere or solution vnto it but per hoc verbum Nescio by this word I knowe not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what to choose I knowe not And hee confessed that hee vvas streightened or pinched betweene these two whither it were better for him to abide in the flesh or to be with Christ. No doubt simply to bee with Christ. For that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but onely better but much and very much better but to abide in the flesh was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more needefull and profitable for the Church For wee were not borne to our selves but for the good of our parents countrey kinred and friendes saide Plato and much more for the flocke of Christ which he hath purchased with his bloud whither they bee Iewes or Gentiles weake or stronge Israelites or Ninivites to further their faith and to helpe them to salvation for thus we are debters to all men The speeches of Caesar were wont to be that hee had lived long enough whither hee respected nature or honour Tully aunswered him It may bee for honour and nature longe enough but that vvhich is chiefest of all not for the common wealth Againe I haue heard thee say that thou hast lived longe enough to thy selfe I beleeue it But then I would also heare If thou livedst to thy selfe alone or to thy selfe alone wert borne Wee are all placed and pitched in our stations and haue our watches and services apointed vs. Let vs not offer to depart thence till it bee the pleasure of our God to dismisse vs. Vnlesse wee haue learned that vndutifull lesson which the messenger vsed at the dores of Elizeus 2. of Kinges and the 6. Beholde this evill commeth of the Lorde should I attend on the Lord any longer It is better for mee to die than to liue Say not so for how knowest thou If thou wilt harken to counsaile leaue it to the wisedome of God to iudge what is best for thee for he will not giue that which is most pleasant but most convenient Charior est illis homo quam sibi A man is dearer to God than to himselfe Socrates in Alcibiades woulde not haue any man aske ought at Gods handes in particular but in generality to giue him good thinges Because he knew what was most behoofe-full for each one whereas our selues craue many thinges which not to haue obteined had bene greater ease At length hee concludeth For hee that is vvont to giue good thinges so easily is also able to choose the fittest The promises in the gospell I graunt are verye lardge Whatsoever you shall aske in my name that will I doe Ioh. 14 And Aske and it shall bee given you Math. 7. For every one that asketh receaveth Howe commeth it to passe then that the sonnes of Zebedee aske and receave not Wee woulde that thou shouldest doe for vs that that we desire Marke 10. The reason is given there by our Saviour Nescitis quid petatis You knowe not what you aske This is also the cause that Ionas receaveth not his asking he knoweth not what hee asketh You haue not because you aske not Iam. 4. that is one cause Yea but you aske and haue not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Because you aske amisse both concerning the end to consume it on your lusts and touching the maÌ„ner because without faith and for the matter it it selfe because it is hurtfull vnto you And if you obserue it you shall espie a condition conveyed into the promise of Christ If you being evill giue good thinges to your children how much more shall your father in beaven giue good things to them that aske him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 good thinges not such as may doe you hurt Another evangelist faith for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the holy or good Spirite Which is all in all able ready to rectifie your mindes order your affections set you to craue more holesome and profitable giftes For if vvee aske the contrary except when the Lorde is pleased to lay a curse vpon our praiers though wee call never so loude and impatientlye in his eares Vsque quó domine clamabo non exauâ—ies O Lorde hovve longe shall I cry vnto thee and thou wilt not heare me he answereth at least by his silence and deniall even as long as a man in a burning ague shall say to his Phisitian vsque quó how longe shall I cry for colde water I burne I am vexed I am tormented I am almost out of breath and hee answereth againe Non misereor modo I cannot yet pittye thee Such mercy were cruelty and thine owne will and wishe is daungerously bent against thee This is the cause to conclude that Ionas his suite speedeth not Ionas thinketh it better to die It is onely better in seeming as a distasted palate is soonest pleased with the worst meate God thinketh the contrary Naye Ionas thinketh God knoweth that hee dieth indeede if he die out of charity and that if hee shoulde giue his bodie to the fire or againe to the water or a thousand deathes more without loue it could not profite him Therefore hee is not suffered to dye when he would but by another mercy of God not inferiour to that in his former deliverye is reserved to an other repentance and to more peaceable dayes Saint Augustine vpon the wordes of the Evangelist If thou wilt enter into life keepe the commaundementes where hee proveth that there is no true life but that which is blessed nor blessed but that which is eternall noteth the manner of men to be in their miseries to call for death rather
proofe hereof may seeme to haue bin already past the forty daies fully accōplished Some thinke that Ionas went out of the citty some 3. or 4. daies before that tearme expired there waited the event that he was not displeased with God till after the time fulfilled Which seemeth not probable vnto me that Ionas so lately seriously with so much daūger of his life admonished of his duety neglected before would now againe forsake the Ninivites giue over his preaching before the accōplishment of those daies which God hath nūbred vnto him Others are of iudgmēt that the time was fully elasped that Ionas knew wel enough that God was minded to spare Niniveh touching their finall vtter overthrow yet not to pardō thē altogither without the irrogatiō of some lighter punishment vpō them As he dealt with Israel Exod. 23. when they worshipped the moltē calfe saying these be thy gods O Israel c. He threatned to cōsume thē yet afterwards though by the intercession of Moses he changed his minde from the evil which he threatned vnto them yet he forgaue thē not wholy but punished thē by the slaughter of three thousand men Lastly it is thought by a third cōpany that Ionas saw by revelarion the sparing of Niniveh In such variety of opinions I abridge not your liberty to take which best liketh you But howsoever you take it Ionas you see hath the thirstiest nature after the destructiō of Niniveh that might be If Ionas had bin armed vvith povver for in this respect he wanted not the spirit and wish of Elias to haue commaunded fire against the Ninivites as Elias did against the captaines and their bandes Niniveh had lien in ashes at the end of fourty daies for nothing can please Ionas vnlesse somewhat be done against the people of that place But his message being ended why returneth he not towards Israel again No he wil take an homely comfortlesse habitation he wil labour with his hands put them to base service he wil lie abroade in the field bearing the heate and burden of the day wet with the dew of the night and happily not fed in that solitary place but with the waters from the brooke and fruites of the earth of his owne provision and dressing only to stay the time and not to misse that opportunity when God should plague Niniveh the bruite and report whereof might not content but he wil see with his eies his desire vpon his enemies for they that heare are able to speak but of hear-say they that see are out of doubt There was some reasō that Moses was so sharply bent against an Egyptiā offering wrong to one of his coūtry-men Phinees against adulterers Peter against Malchus a servāt to his masters ēemies Paul against Elymas a sorcerer other Apostles against a village of Samaria for refusing to entertaine Christ but Ionas vpon smal reason a prophet of the Lord but lately his oratour bead-mā in a capitall daūger of his own you heare how his heart eies are fixed in a mercilesse affection against penitent and reformed men And the Lord God prepared a gourd and made it to come vp over Ionas It seemeth that the booth was withered being built but of boughes or reedes or some other stuffe which the heate of the sun did easily worke vpon For when the gourd was afterward smitten the sun and the wind beat vpon the head of Ionas which argueth that his booth was defaced Before you haue heard of the building of Ionas novv God buildeth the one by art the other by nature the one a tabernacle of boughs the other an arbor or boure of a living or growing tree which the fatnes of the earth nourished having seed bud in it according to the kind therof the one withereth because it is but propt vp having no iuice in it the other spreadeth her rootes and strings in the ground having whereby to encrease I need not say how vnprofitable and barren the labour of man is being left to it selfe without the favour of God to supply the imperfectiōs therof This very place doth sufficiently iustifie that of the Psalme Except the Lorde build the house they labor in vaine that build it The fruites of the body fruites of the field fruits of cattle encrease of kine flockes of sheepe the basket the store in the basket they make a number shew of goodly cōmodities but vnlesse you giue them their blessing which is their annexed benedict us fructus vētris blessed shal be the fruit of thy body and blessed al the rest mourne as Esau did when Iacob had prevented him of the blessing as the grasse vpon the house tops which no man taketh in his hād or blesseth in his hearte so doe they languish pine away come to nothing The Lord must cōmaund his blessings to be with vs in our store-houses in al that we set our hād vnto as it is there added or our labour dieth betweene on◠fingers Zophar Iob 20. speaketh many things of the ioy of an hypocrite his excellency mounting vnto heavē his head reaching vp vnto the clouds yet he shal perish saith Zophar like the dunge they that haue seene him shal say where is he he shal flee away as a dream◠passe away as a vision of the night there is nothing left of his meate and no man shal hope for his good yea when he shall haue filled his belly God shall send downe his fierce wrath raine even vpon his meate You see there is nothing prospereth with him because he is an hypocrite and when he went to his worke the blessing of the Lorde was cōmaunded to stay behind The blessing of the Lord must be vpon the building of our houses watching of our citties tilling of our ground filling of our bellies training vp of our children or whatsoever paines we bestow in al these falleth into emptines This was it that secōded supplied the labour of Ionas hee built him a booth which withered but God prepared him a gourd an house of a better foundation because it lived by the moisture of the earth which the other was destitute of There is a great question cōtentiō betweene writers touching the plāt that was here provided what it was by kind how to be termed The wisdōe which God gaue vnto Adā Gen. 2. was yery great in the morning of all those creatures that God brought before him But concerning the hearbe or tree heere mētioned the most learned wise amōgst the Hebrews Greciās Latines Spanish Frēch Germanes Hetruriās haue labored beatē their braines to giue it a nāc but hitherto haue not found it and vnlesse there be some second Adam to speake his mind or an other Salomon who was able to speake of the trees frō the Cedar to the Hysope I thinke the controversie wil never be ended Notwithstanding as
in my text higher higher as the tree it selfe doth that we may know how wisely the workes of God are done and they never misse the end whereunto they were addressed Two of these foure members to weete the springing and climbing of the gourd that in a moment of time it was over the head of Ionas shew the omnipotēt power and providence of the Almighty who contrary to the rule of the philosophers that nothing is made of nothing without some matter praeexistent causeth a tree to arise without either seede or stocke to produce it hasteneth the worke in such sort that wereas other plantes require the chādges and seasons of the yeare to make them sprout yeeld their encrease not without the kindnes of the groūd dropping of the aire influence of the sunne and starres other naturall concurrences this by the extraordinary hand of God presently and immediately came to a full growth For I like not their opinion who think that the gourd was there before therfore Ionas applied himselfe to that place and there erected his booth vvhen the iudgements of so many learned and the letter of the text is flatly against them Besides the word of preparing that is here and elsewhere vsed for who but the same Lord God prepared the fish before or who the worme and the East-winde hereafter noteth a quicke speedy expeditiō in the working of God when his pleasure is that al things in the world great smal the winds in the aire the fishes in the water the plants in the earth and vnder the earth wormes and creeping things are subiected to his mighty providence The latter two declare the goodnes of God towards Ionas in his application of the gourd to so acceptable an end For by that meanes his body was shadowed and his soule eased I knovve there is misery enough in nature and that iudgemente sometimes beginneth at the house of GOD and they drinke deepely of the cuppe to whome it vvas not meant And the griefe vvhich Ionas here feeleth is but a portion of that griefe which corruption and mortality hath addicted vs vnto And the farther we goe from GOD the nearer vvee ever approch to misery for neither land nor sea nor citty nor field nor aire nor earth nor any worme of the earth shall favour vs no more than they favoured Ionas I am not ignorant on the other side that all nature is provided for the comfort of Gods elect And nature shall even be chandged and made to runne faster than her manner is to doe them good The Lord shal not only doe it but doe it with speed whē we haue little reasō to looke after it sometimes by rule sometimes at liberty sometimes by law sometimes by priviledge and aboue his law sometimes by nature and sometimes by miracle but doe it he will rather than his helpe shall faile Who thought of the ramme in the bush when Isaac lay vpon the fagots the good will of him that dwelt in the burning bush sent it Hee came not vpon his feete but was brought by speciall providence Who dreamed that an Eastwind should haue filled the campe of Israell with quailes It had blowne often before and sometimes hurtfull and vnprosperous blastes but never quailes VVho looked for Manna from heaven when they wanted bread in the wildernesse Many a dew and frost had they seene vpon the ground but never with such effecte Who durst presume to thinke that Iordan would runne backe or the red sea divide it selfe till they saw it fulfilled Or woulde not haue sworne that the lions woulde haue rent Daniell in pieces and bruised every bone and the fire of that oven in Babylon haue burned those three Salamanders to powder till they saw it otherwise But these thinges haue bene done vvee know and done on the suddaine the LORDE hath risen earlye to doe them that is hastned his acte and set vvheele as it were to his power and goodnesse to make them speede And thus was this gourd provided to the growing whereof were required a spring and sommer at the least but to such augmentation and largenesse the space of many yeares These two companions the might and mercy of God betweene which as before I saide those 4. members of my text divide themselues are his two wings vnder the shadowe whereof wee shall bee safe And as the disciples of Christ were sent into the worlde two and two before his face to preach the gospel and to heale diseases so these two hath the Lord ioyned togither and they goe before his face as farre as the earth is bounded to assist his chosen in all their griefes And rather than any temptation shal waxe too stronge for them and put them in hazard hee will be Adonai Adonai twice a God as it were and double his spirite stronge and stronge mercifull and mercifull and as his goodnesse is infinite so it shall draw forwards his infinite power to some extraordinary and vntimely worke which nature without leasure and tracte of time could not have produced THE XLVI LECTVRE Chap. 4. vers 6. So Ionas was exceeding glad of the gourd IN the building of God after the building of Ionas withered and defaced I noted 1. the provision that the Lord made for him 2. his owne acceptation The former with the brāches thereto belonging namely the creation and propagation of the gourd wherein the power of God was manifested togither with the shadow and end of the shadow wherin his goodnes shewed it selfe we have already treated of and are now to consider the acceptance and applause that Ionas gave vnto it It offereth vnto vs these two thinges 1. his affection ioye 2. the measure of that affection exceedinge great ioy Many things there were which might provoke the reioycing of Ionas 1. The fāning of the leaves which was a great comfort to a man that sate in the sun and was parched with the heate as a cake in the hearth for the sunne is a marveilous instrument as the sonne of Syrach speaketh it burneth the mountaines three times more than one that keepeth a fornace it casteth out fierie vapours and with shining beames blindeth the eies we know that burning heate is in the number of the plagues threatned Deut. 28. Revel 16. The fourth Angell powred out his viall vpon the sunne and it was given him to torment men with heate of fire and men boyled in greate heate and blasphemed the name of God for it This was the griefe wherewith it is saide before that Ionas was perplexed for it is not a meane plague to lie open to the skorching of the sunne without shadow and protection so much the rather if as the Rabbines imagine the skinne of Ionas were waxen more tender since his inclosure in the bowelles of the fish than before 2. The gourd saved him the continuall renewing of his booth for it was likelye enough that his naturall
worke vnder heaven proceede without it But I leaue those repetitions The sun the wind we see rise togither set thēselues against Ionas as the two smoaking fire-brāds Rezin Pekah against Ierusalē cōbining binding thēselues not to giue over til they haue both done their part in the vexing of the prophet The wind here mentioned is described by 2. attributes the one of the quarter or coast from whence it blew an East-wind the other of the quality which it had a fervēt East-wind The cardinall principal windes as appeareth both in many places of the scripture and in forreine authours are but 4. breathing from the 4. quarters or divisions of heaven as in the 37. of Ezechi come from the 4. vvindes O breath And Math. 24. God shall gather his elect from the foure windes Afterwardes they added 4. more which they cal collateral or side-windes subordinate to the principal thence proceeded to the nūber of 12. In these daies we distinguish 32. Betweene every two cardinal winds seven inferiour We may read Act. 27. that Paul was very skilful of the sea-card vsed in those daies for describing his voiadge to Rome he maketh mention not only of East West South but of South-west by West of North-west by West as the Westerne winde blew either nearer or further of But not to trouble you with these things the winde that is here spokē of some take to be Eurus or Vulturnus which is the Southeast by East followeth the sun in his winter rising others to be the principal high East-winde following the sun when he riseth in the Equinoctial Now the nature of an East-wind in any point therof is to be hote dry for the most part a clearer of the aire but this of al the rest being so serviceable to the sun going forth so righte with it walking in the same path which the sunne walketh in must needs be an hoter wind thā if it had crossed or sided the sun any way 2. Touching the quality or the effect which it wrought it is called a fervent East-wind some turne it vehement not for the sound and noyse that it maketh but for the excessiue heat For no doubt it is distinguished frō Caecias North-east by East which is a more soūding blustering wind not so fit for the purpose of God in this place Of that ye haue mention Exod. 14. where it is said that the Lorde made the sea run backe with a strong East◠winde all the night made it dry land Some translate it silent quiet to put a differēce betwixt this the former East-wind albeit others giue the reason because it maketh mē silent deafe with the soūd that it hath others because it maketh the rest of the winds silent quiet when it selfe bloweth Howsoever they vary otherwise they al agree in the heate for it is a gētle soft wind which whē the aire is enflamed by the sun is so far frō correcting the extremitie therof that it rather helpeth it forwarde becōmeth as a waggon to carry the beames of the sun forth-right It is manifest by many places of scripture that it is an easterne wind which burneth with his heate not only the fruites but the people of the earth The 7. thin eares of corne Gen. 41. were burnt with an East-winde so are the fruites withered Ezek. 19. so is the fountaine dried vp Ose 13. The vulgar edition doth evermore translate it vrentē ventum by the name of a burning winde and whersoever it is mentioned in the booke of God the property of it is to exiccate and dry vp Columella writeth that at some time of the yeare especially in the dog-daies mē are so parched with the East winde that vnles they shade thēselues vnder vines it burneth them like the reaking of flames of fire I haue now shewed you both the nature and the quarter of this winde that albeit it were a winde yet you may know it was not prepared to refrigerate but to afflicte the head of Ionas When the sunne and the winde are vp what do they the sunne not vvithout the helpe of the vvinde vvhich vvas in manner of a sling or other instrumente to cast the beames of the sun more violently vpon them although created for another end to governe the daie and to separate it from the night and to giue light in the earth yet here receiveth a new commaundement and is sent to beate all other inferiour partes omitted even the head of Ionas wherein is the government of the vvhole creature the seate of the minde the top of Gods workmanshippe from vvhence the senses and nerves take their beginning In this assault of the principall part the danger was no lesse to the body of Ionas than if an enimy had besiedged the Capitoll of Rome or the Mount Sion and Anthonies towre in Ierusalem But we shall the better conceaue the vexation of Ionas if we ioyne the effectes which these two enimies draue him vnto 1. It is saide hee fainted I marvell not for the force of heate is vntolerable vvhen the pleasure of God is to vse that rod. So hee telleth them Amos 4. Percussi vos vredine I haue smitten you with blasting or burning and you returned not On the other side it is numbered amongst the blessings of God which Christ shall bring vnto his people Esay 49. they shall not bee hungrie neither shall they thirst neither shall the heate smite them nor the sunne which is spoken I graunt by translation but that from whence it is transferred in the naturall sense must needes be very commodious because it is applyed to the highest mercies So likewise in the 3. of Act. the state of everlasting life is called the times of refreshing or respiration 2. Hee wishte in his hearte to die my text saith not so in tearmes though in effect but he desired his soule or he made petition and suite to his soule to die that is to relinquish and giue over his bodie or hee desired death to his soule as a man forlorne and forsaken having no friend to make his moane vnto he vttereth his griefe to his private spirit speaking therevnto that if it vvere possible some remedy might be had 3. Though the eare of ielousie which heareth all thinges heard the wishes and desires of his hearte yet hee is not contente with secret rebellion vnlesse his tongue also proclaime it for he saith it is better for mee to die than to liue I shewed the madnes of Ionas before in this very wish It was not better for Ionas to die than to liue nor for any other in his case a milstone about their necks to haue drowned them in the bottome of the sea had beene lesse vnhappinesse When they die let them pray to the Lord of life to close vp their eies and
fathers and Queenes thy nurses in the nine fortieth of Esay there as the Queene of Saba blessed both the people of Salomon and the king himselfe so happy is the church for drawing her milke and sustenance from such heroicall breasts and happye are those breasts that foster and nurse vp the Church of Christ. They giue milke and receiue milke they maintaine the Church and the Church maintaineth them they bestow favour honour patronage protection they are favoured honoured patronaged and protected againe I will not stay to alleage the fortunate and happy governments of well disposed kings The decrees of the king of Persia and Babylon for repairing the temple worshipping the God of the three children or the God of Daniel brought more honour vnto them than all their other lawes The pietie of Antonius Prus is very commendable for his gracious decree that none shoulde accuse a christian because hee was a christian Constantius the father of Constatifie the great made more reckoning hee said of those that professed christianitie then full treasures Iovianus after Iulian refused to be Emperour albeit elected and sought to the Empire vnlesse he might governe christians Great Coustantine and Charles the great had their names of greatnes not so much for authoritie as for godlines But on the other side the bookes are full of the miserable falles ofirreligious princes their seede posteritie whole race and Image for their sakes overturned and wiped from the earth at one woulde wipe a dish and turne it vpside-downe The name of Antiochus the tyrant stinketh vpon the earth as his bovveles sometimes stuncke and as then the vvormes devoured his lothsome carkasse so his other vvorme yet liveth and ceaseth not crying to all the persecutors vnder heaven take heede Hee thought to haue made the holy city a burying place but vvhen hee savve his misery then he vvoulde set it at liberty The Iewes vvhome hee thought not worthy to bee buried he vvoulde make like the citizens of Athens and the temple vvhich he spoiled before he would garnish with great giftes Likewise Galerius lying sicke of a wretched disease crieth to haue the Christians spared and that temples and oratories should be allovved them that they might pray for the life of the Emperour The vnripe vnseasonabl vnnaturall deathes of men more vnnaturall in their liues the monsters and curses of the earth they trode vpon the bane of the ayre they drewe the rulers of the Ievves and Romanes high Priestes Princes Emperours and their deputies that murthered the Lord of the vineyard the sonne and the servantes in the time of Christ and his Apostles and by the space of three hundred yeares the workers of the tenne persecutions no meanes plagues to the Christian faith than those tenne plagues were to Egypt or rather tenne times tenne persecutions for they were multiplied like Hydraes heades proclaimed to the Princes of succeeding ages not to heave at Ierusalem it is to heavie a stone lapis comminuens a stone that vvhere it falleth will bruise to peeces nor to warre against the Sainctes to bande themselves against the Lordes anointed and against his anointed the Church vnlesse they take pleasure to buy it with the same price vvherevvith others have done before them to have their flesh stincke vpon their backes and rotte from their bodies to be eaten vp with lice and vvormes to bee slaine strangled or burnt some by their owne handes some of their servantes children and wives as is most easie to proove in the race of 40. Emperours the Lord getting honour vpon them as hee did vpon Pharaoh by some vnwonted and infamous destruction Heliogabalus thought by the pollicy of his head to have prevented the extraordinary hand of God providing him ropes of silke swordes of gold poison in Iacinthes a turtet plated with gold and bordered with precious stones thinking by one of these to have ended his life Notwithstanding hee died that death which the Lord had apointed The 2. thing which I limited my selfe vnto that it is the greatest dishonour to religion to pull downe princes is as easy to be declared A thing which neither Moses in the old nor Christ in the new testament neither Priest high nor low nor Levite Prophet EvaÌ„gelist Apostle christian Bishop ever hath taught counsailed much lesse practised I say not against lawfull magistrates but not against heathenish infidell idolatrous tyrannous rulers though by the manifest and expresse sentence of God reprobated cast of Samuell offered it not to Saul a cast-away he lived and died a king after the senteÌ„ce pronounced against him of an higher excommunication than ever came from Rome Samuel both honoured mourned for him The captive Iewes in BabiloÌ„ wrote to their brethren at IerusaleÌ„ to pray for the life of Nabuchodonozor answerable to that advise which Ieremy giveth the captives in the 29. of his prophecy though in words somewhat different seeke the prosperity of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives pray vnto the Lord for it for in the peace thereof shall you have peace Daniel never spake to the king of Babylon but his speech savoured of most perfect obedience my Lord the dreame bee to them that hate thee and the interpretation thereof to thine enemies his wordes had none other season to Darius though having cast him into the Lyons denne O King live for ever I never coulde suspect that in the commission of Christ given to his disciples there is one word of encouragement to these lawlesse attemptes go into the worlde preach baptize loose retaine remit feede take the keyes receaue the holy Ghost what one syllable soundeth that way vnlesse to go into the worlde be to go and overrunne the world to shake the pillers and foundations thereof with mutinies and seditions to replenish it with more than Catilanary conspiracies to make one Diocesse or rather one dominion monarchie subiect to the Bishop of Rome vnlesse preaching may be interpreted proclaiming of war and hostilitie sending out bulles thundering and lightning against Caesar and other states vnlesse to baptize bee to wash the people of the world in their owne bloud vnlesse binding and loosing be meant of fetters and shackles retaining and remitting of prisons and wardes vnlesse the feeding of lambes and sheepe bee fleecing fleaing murthering the king and the subiect old and young taking the keyes be taking of crownes and scepters and receiving the holy Ghost bee receiving that fiery and trubulent spirit which our Saviovr liked not Yea let them answere that saying these priestes and successours of Romulus Giants of the earth incendâ—aries of the Christian world you shall bee brought before governours and kings and skouraged in their Councelles if ever our Saviour had meaÌ„ing governours kings shal be brought before you Emperours shall kisse your feete waite at your gates in frost and colde resigne their crownes into your handes and take their crownes I saye not at your
kill and eate And the first time he denyed it plainely Not so Lorde Afterwardes hee was better advised and harkened to the voice of the Lorde VVhen the angell of Sathan was sent to buffet Paule least his visions shoulde lifte him vp too high hee besought the Lorde thrise that it mighte departe and then the Lord aunswered him My grace is sufficient for thee It may bee according to the signe vvhich God gaue Ezechias that the first yeare hee shoulde eate of such thinges as came vp of themselues the seconde such as sprange againe vvithout sowing the thirde they shoulde sowe and reape and plante vine-yardes c. So for the first and seconde time that we heare the doctrine of salvation wee heare vvithout profit we breed no cogitations within vs but such as growe of themselues naturall worldlye corrupte and such as accompanie flesh and bloud fitter to cast vs downe than to helpe vs vp but at the thirde time when the wordes of God with often falling shall haue pearsed our heartes as raine the marble-stones vvee then apply our mindes to a more industrious and profitable meditation of such heavenly comfortes Let it not grieue you then if I speake vnto you againe the same thinges and as Paule disputed at Thessalonica three sabbath dayes of the passion and resurrection of Christ so I three sabbath dayes amongst you of our hope in Christ. Let it bee true of vanities and pleasures that the lesse they are vsed the more commendable but in the most accepted and blessed thinges that belong to our happiest peace bee it faire otherwise Our dayly breade though it bee daily received wee are as ready to craue still neither can the perpetuall vse of it ever offende vs. The light of the sun woulde displease no body but some lover of darknesse if it never wente downe in our coastes The nature of such thinges for their necessary vse must needes bee welcome vnto vs though they never shoulde forsake vs. And can the doctrine of saith and affiaunce in the mercies of God the light of our dimme eies the staffe of our infirmities our soules restoratiue when it lyeth sicke to death and as Chrysostome well compared it a chaine let downe from heaven which hee that taketh holde on is presentely pulled vppe from the hande of destruction and set in a large place to enioy the peace of conscience can it ever displease vs wee were content to heare it once and I doe not doubte but it will bee as welcome being repeated tenne times I make no question but as vvhen Paule had preached at Antioche in the synagogue of the Iewes one day the gentiles besought him that hee woulde preach the same vvordes to them againe the nexte sabbath so though it were the last worke that I did amongst you to cut the throate of desperation which hath cut the throate of many a wretched man and woman to set the piller of hope vnder all fainting and declining consciences yet because it is our last refuge in adversitie and standeth vnmooueable like the Northerne pole when our soules are most distracted with doubtes and fullest of scruples to giue vs aime and direction whither to bend our course if I shall once againe repeate vnto you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the selfe-same wordes that before in substance and sense though not in syllables I trust I shall finde your acceptaunce as good as when I first began it The wordes propounded are the last of the whole narration and drawe into a narrower compasse of speech all that hath beene saide before For whatsoever you haue hearde of the boâ—tome of the sea floudes and surges vvith all those other disturbances already reckoned vp they are now concluded in a little roume My soule fainted The partes the same vvhich I haue observed before for I neede not to acquainte you againe that hee hangeth and devideth the whole song betweene feare and hope And as the feete to that image in Daniell were parte of yron parte of clay which the prophet expoundeth partely stronge partely broken so are the feete if I may so call them which Ionas through all this travaile goeth vpon the one of clay weake impotent alwaies shivering and sinking downewarde I meane his feare and distrust the other of yron strong stable and firme keeping him vpright his hope and confidence in the mercies of God His feare is in the former member of the senteÌ„ce When my soule fainted within mee his hope in the nexte I remembred the Lord c. Wherein to shew that it was not in vaine for him to remember the Lorde and withall how hee remembred him he telleth vs that his praier came vnto him into his holie temple Concerning his feare wee haue to consider first what person or part he notifieth to haue beene assaulted his soule Secondly the plight or perturbation of his soule it fainted Thirdly the application of the place within himselfe The daunger is much augmented from that which before it was Then the vvaters but came to his soule heere they had fought against him so long that his soule plainely fainted Then the perill but imminent and hard at hand heere it had taken handfast Then was he but threatned or beaten by the waters heere he seemeâ—h to bee vanquished Al that vvente before might concerne the body alone and the losse of his temporall life whereof hee was yet in possession As when he pronounced against himselfe I am cast away out of thy sighte it mighte bee no more in effecte than vvhat Ezechiell spake I saide I shall not see the LORDE even the LORDE in the lande of the living I shall see man no more amongest the inhabitauntes of the vvorlde mine habitation is departed and remooved from mee like a shepheardes tente and as a vveaver cutteth of his threade so is my life ended But heere hee confesseth in open tearmes that his very soule that invvarde immortall heavenly substaunce vvhich when the bodye fainteth is sometimes most in health and liveth vvhen the bodye dyeth that this parte fayleth him and leaveth no hope of better thinges Saint Augustine very vvell defineth the soule to be the vvhole invvard man wherewith this masse of clay is quickened governed and helde togither changing her names according to the sundry offices vvhich shee beareth in the bodye For when shee quickneth the bodie shee is called the soule when shee hath appetite or desire to any thing the vvill for knowledge the minde for recordation memory for iudging and discerning reason for giving breath spirite lastly for apprehending or perceiving outwardly sense so as the fainting of the soule is the decay of all these faculties Nowe if the lighte that is in vs bee darke howe great is the darkenesse if the life bee death howe greate is the death if the soule fainte howe greate the defections The infirmities and disablementes of his bodye I knowe vvere very great in the whole service and ministery
softer mighte suffice But if vvee be briars in your coates and flesh it is because wee dwell with briars if vvee be perverse it is because wee dwell in the midst of a perverse generation An hard knot in the timber cannot be driven out vvithout heavy blowes sundry diseases require sundry kinds of cures as the dispositions of men are varied so must wee vary our teachings one must be washt with gentle bathes another must haue his woundes cut with lancers and as the damsell Matth. 9. was raised vp in her fathers house the widowes sonne of Naim without his mothers gates Lazarus before a greate multitude of all sorts so some must be handled privately others openly a thirde kinde publiquely some must be held for weake others accounted Publicanes vnto vs some their infirmities supported others delivered vnto Satan some chastised with a rod others warned in the spirit of meeknes some pulled out of the fire others left to be burnt some saved by feare others by loue some must be vsed as our owne bowels others as rotten members vvhose cure is despaired cut of from the body that they do no more hurt In all which reprehensions except where all hope is past that singular precept of Gregory taketh place In the controlling of faultes there must be some anger rather to attend vpon reprehension than to commaund it so that in the execution of this charitable and mercifull iustice it beare not a sway by going before but rather make a shew by comming after And Leo hath the like counsaile that it must bee vsed non saevientis animo sed medentis not with the minde of a tirant or persecutor but of an helper Considering thy selfe saith the Apostle least thou also be tempted For a man may once and often in his life time say to him that reprooveth another as Eliphaz did to Iob. Behold thou haste taught many and strengthened the weary hands thy words haue confirmed him that was falling and thou haste vphelde the weake knees but now it is come vpon thee and thou art grieved it toucheth thee and thou art troubled The matter reproved by God is anger Dost thou well to be angry or as some render it doth anger helpe thee or art thou angry iustly and vpon reasonable cause or as some of the Hebrewes expounde it art thou very angry is not thy wrath vehement interpreting bene by valdè as Moses did Deut. 9. when he told the children of Israell that he tooke the sinne the calfe which they had made ground it verie well that is sufficiently till he had brought it to the smallest dust So some interpret well in this place by the quality goodnes of anger whether it may be iustified others by the quantity and greatnes noting the excesse and immoderation thereof They come both to one for whether God aske of the qualitie he seemeth to imply a secret subiection it is not well done of thee thou hast no iust cause to be angrie or whether of the quantity he thinketh that there is as little reason that the sparing of penitent sinners shoulde mooue such stomacke in Ionas The question is disputed throughout the whole chapter betweene God the prophet God the opposer Ionas the defender whether he do well to be angry God confuteth him both by word deed Ionas contendeth for it to the death I will not trouble you with the aunswering of the question till we come to the ninth verse where the Lord doth demaund againe in the same words and Ionas though he be silent in this place yet there dissembleth not his minde for he aunswereth I do well to be angry and addeth measure sufficient even vnto death Meane-while because this is the time wherin a generall forgetting of wrongs and laying malice a sleepe is professed so far as the world is christened partly the Canōs of the church partly devotion it selfe leading vs al to a thankfull commemoration of the death and resurrection of Christ and to the communion of his body bloud which is a badge of our Christian loue fellowship the time inviting me therevnto which S. Austen calleth the solēnity of solemnities the vncurteousnes of these our times requiring no lesse giue mee leaue in few wordes to convert my speech vnto that which the celebration of the feast it selfe doth easily exhort you vnto The blessed Apostle thought not that any more effectuall persuasion to charity could be gathered than from the example of the son of God himselfe whose dying rising againe is now solēnized For so he frameth his exhortation to the Colossians Now therefore as the elect of God holy beloved as you haue any part in these graces electiō sanctification the loue of God if you haue any argument seale to your own consciences that you are a part of his inheritāce for they are not marked for his chosen which are without these markes put on the bowels of mercy kindnes humblenes of minde meekenes long suffering forbearing one another forgiving one another let these bee your robes and coverings weare thē as you weare your garments let them bee as tender inward vnto you as your own principal most vitall parts even as Christ freely bountifully forgaue you even so do ye How that was I neede not recite The Apostle Rom. 5. collecteth sundry arguments to shew how far forth that substātiall saving grace of God hath gratified vs. 1. We were weake 2. godlesse 3. sinners 4. enemies we had neither strength to endevour neither piety to procure nor righteousnes to satisfie nor acquaintaunce and friendshippe to deserue in the fight of God yet notwithstanding all these impediments and deficiencies Christ died for vs. So the other Apostle speaketh Christ suffered for sinnes the iust for the vniust that hee might bringe vs to God The cause most odious the persons most vnequall the end most absolute How thē cā I better exhort you to an imitatiō of the loue of Christ than as S. Paul exhorteth the Philippians If there bee any consolation in Christ so we may rēder it or if there be any advocation in Christ as all the consolation and advocation that we looke for must 〈◊〉 drawne from that fountaine If any comfort of loue as who feeleth not the vse of loue that hath not beene nursed vp with the tygers of the wildernes If any communion of the spirit by whom we are al knit togither in the body of Christ lastly if any bowelles of mercy surely he meaneth that there is or should be much of al this much consolation in Christ much cōfort of loue c. But if there bee any remnant and seede left if all bee not spent exhausted to satisfie your rancorous malice fulfill my ioie and your owne ioy and the ioy of the angels in heaven and the ioy of the bride and bridegroome to whom it is a good and pleasant thinge
to see brethren dwelling togither in vnity minding the same thing not the like but the same and having the same loue not equal but the same and having the same soules growing togither like twins concorporate coanimate and being of one iudgement Lastly he forgetteth not the most exquisite patterne of all loving kindnesses let the same minde be in you that vvas in Christ Iesus The same minde I am out of hope of it his loue was as stronge as death water could not quench it yea water and bloud could not put it out He cried vpon his crosse for the Iewes when hee hung vpon the top of a mountaine in the open face of heaven God and angelles and men beholding hearing wondering at it father forgiue them they know not what they doe Let not that minde be in you which is in lions and leopardes and good enough I haue heard of such peaceable times prophecied that swordes shoulde bee turned into fishes and speares into mattockes but never of so warlike furious wherein the tongues of men should be turned into swords and their heartes into wounding and slaying instrumentes yet though this were never prophecied we haue fulfilled it To make an ende the best remedy against iniuries is forgetfulnes Marcus Cato on a time being smitten in the bath to him that had done the wrong was desirous to make him amendes aunswered I remember not that I was smitten Shal Cato be wiser and patienter in his generation than wee in ours If wee cannot forget the time wherein wee haue beene smitten or otherwise iniuried at least let vs follow the coūsaile of the Psalme to bee angry without sinning that is if wee doe that which is naturall and vsuall and can hardly be stayed let vs avoide the other which can never be iustified Or if we sinne in our anger as who in the world is angry and sinneth not let the monition of the spirite of God in another place quickly temper our heat let vs beware that the sun goe not downe vpon it It was one part of the epitaphe written vpon Sylla his tombe Nemo me inimicus inferēdâ iniuriâ superavit I never had enimy that went beyond me in doing wrong Let not our liues or deaths bee testified vnto the world by such monumentes It was an honour fitter for Sylla of Rome an heathen a tyrant who died the chānels of the streetes with bloud than for any Christian. I will by your patience enter a little way into the next verse send as it were a spie to view at least the borders thereof before I proceede to examine the whole contentes So Ionas went out of the cittie It is thought by some that he offended no lesse in going foorth than when he first refused to come thither For he should haue continued amongst them to haue given them more warning The reason why Ionas went out I cannot rightly set downe Some coniecture and it is not vnlikely to avoide the company of wicked men for so he accompted the Ninivites and hee was afraide to beare a parte of their plagues The rule is good for can a man take coles in his bosome and not bee burnt or handle pitch and not bee defiled or flie with the Ostriches and Pellicans and not grow wild or dwell in the tents of wickednesse and not learne to be wicked or if Rahab abide still in Iericho Lot and his kindred in Sodome Noah and his family in the wast world Israell in Babylon shall those execrable places and people be punished by the hand of God and these not partake the punishmēt One place for many Iosh. 23. If yee cleaue vnto these nations make marriages with thē go vnto them they vnto you the Lord will no more cast them out but they shal be a snare and destruction vnto you a whip on your sides thornes in your eies vntill yee perish out of this good land which the Lord your God hath given you but his errour vvas in the applicatiō of the rule for if the Ninivites were so penitēt as before we heard the worst man for ought I know was within his owne bosome And sate on the East side of the city His purpose in chosing his groūd cannot certainly be perceived Ar. Mōt giveth this gesse that he thought if any plague were sent frō God it was likely to come from West and South because Iudaea in respect of Niniveh was so placed therfore because God was only knowne in Iudaea seemed to dwel no where els he wold surely punish thē out of those quarters for this cause as if he had decreed with himselfe if a scourge come frō God it shall not cōe neare me he taketh vp his lodging in that part of the city which was most safe Others make this supposition they say Tigris the river ranne on the west side of Niniveh vvhere by reason of their haven there was daily concourse of marchantes and passengers to and fro This frequencie Ionas avoided and betooke himselfe to that parte where the vvalkes were most solitaire and his heart might least be troubled Others thinke that hee shunned the heate of the sunne which in those countryes is farre more fervent than in ours and because in the mourning it is more remisse than at the heigth of the day when it is in the south or betweene the heigth and the declination when it draweth to the west therefore hee seated himselfe on the east side of the citie where hee might be freest from it Happily he vvent vnto that side by adventure quòpes tulit as his minde and feete bare him and it had beene indifferent vnto him to haue applied his body to any other side Or it may bee hee was thither brought by the especiall commandement and providence of almighty God As when Elias had prophecied of the drought for three yeares he was willed to goe towardes the East where he should finde a brooke to drinke of and the ravens were apointed to feede him It is not vnlawfull for mee to adde my surmise amongst other men In the East because of the sunne-rising there seemeth to bee greatest comforte and I nothing doubt but in this banishment of his Ionas sought out al the comfortes he might The garden in Eden which the Lorde God planted for man was planted Eastwarde Some say Eastwarde in respect of the place where Moses wrote the story that is of the wildernesse where Israell then was Others with more probabilitie in the Easterne part of Eden the whole tract wherof was not taken in for the garden but the choicest and fruitfullest parte which was to the East It is true in nature which some applyed to policie and to the state of kingdomes and families That more worshippe the sunne in his rising than at his going downe I saw all men living saith the Preacher ioyning themselues with the seconde childe which shall stande vp in the
sinceâ—noted you you that are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lovers of pleasure more than of God or if you loue it no more than that it maketh you to forget God in whose presence is the fulnesse of ioie and at his right hande pleasure for evermore Psa. 16. and vvho giveth vs drinke out of a vvhole river of pleasures Psalme 36. contemne these transitory gourdes and reserue your selues for a better building in heaven vvhere is neither sunne nor winde to beate vpon your heades nor vvorme to alter your happinesse VVhere your ioye shall ever be present yet can you not be filled rather you shall be filled but cannot be satisfied Or if I say that you cannot be satisfied then there is hunger or that you may then there is loathing I know not what to say Deus habet quod exhibeat God hath somewhat both to reveale and to bestow vpon you which I know not but 〈◊〉 beata vita in â—onte there is blessednesse at the heade of the spring not in cisternes or brookes that I am sure of Were you able to drinke vp the pleasures of the worlde in as plentifull manner as Cleopatra dranke the riches the value of fiftye thousand pounde at a draught yet remember that it is but a draught and quickely downe the throate The length of the throate saith Bernard is but two or three inches at the most or if it were as long as a cranes necke which Philoxenus the Epicure wished that the sweetnes of his meats and drinkes might the longer abide with him the matter were not much But when they are drunke and digested then what becommeth of them more than of your meates and drinkes to bee cast out into the draught so these to perish with their vse not without shame and sorrow of heart to bee throwne away as vnhappy superfluities whereas the pleasures of aeternity before the face of God deserue that commendation which Booz gaue to Ruth and with his words wee may blesse it blessed art thou my daughter for thou haste shewed me more goodnesse in the latter eâ—de than at the beginning To conclude the blessedst tree is in the midst of the paradise of God neither on the East nor on the West side of Niniveh nor any other city of the world And the leaues of the tree are not only for shadow as these of the gourd but to heale the nations with and it hath both leaues and fruites to satisfie our hunger and twelue manner of fruites every month brought forth to satisfie our pleasure And it groweth by a river side cleare as christall proceeding out of the throne of God that it cannot possibly wither For it let vs keepe our better appetites and let vs beseech him who hath planted it with his owne right hand that we may liue to taste how holesome and pleasant that tree is THE XLVII LECTVRE Chap. 4. ver 1. And when the sun did arise God also prepared a fervent East-winde and the sunne beat vpon the head of Ionas c. THe temporary ioy which Ionas entertained for the gouâ—d is as quite forgotten as if it had never beene and buried vnder an heape of succeeding griefes as the fruitfull years Gen. 41. were buried vnder the yeares of famine for so said Ioseph the famine shall bee so greate that the yeares of plentie shall not be thought vpon It followeth in the line of those afflictions which God stretched out vpon the heade of Ionas that when the sunne did arise God prepared also a fervent East-winde c. For it did not suffice him to haue sent a worme which smote the gourd but he adioineth new corrosiues and calamities to afflict the soule of Ionas For as his blessings when he watcheth to do vs good as the prophet speaketh the foote of the one shall ever bee treading vpon the heele of the other so also in his castisements and corrections he doth not desist to inflict theÌ„ till he haue left an inwarde sense in those who are his patients Thus he dealt in the scourdging of Iob though a servant dearly beloved as appeareth by his complaints how long will it be ere thou depart from me thou wilt not let me alone while I maie swallow my spittle Againe thou renuest thy witnesses that is thy plagues witnesses of thy displeasure against me changes armies of sorrow are against me Surely God is wiser in handling our sins thaÌ„ any Physitian in dealing with sicknesses therfore he best knoweth both what medicine is fittest how long to be applied 1 The sun ariseth as a gyant refreshed with wine to run his race or rather as an enemy prepared to the battaile the only enemy vvhich Ionas had cause to feare his fortresse castle of boughes being takeÌ„ froÌ„ him 2 After the sun a winde and that fighting vnder the banner of the sun confaederate with him an East-winde for the quality of it a fervent East-winde 3. The sunne is not sent to shine to cast forth his beames but to beate 4. Not any inferiour part but that which was highest next to heaven the head of Ionas 5. The effectes that follow al these are 1. his fainting in his body 2. in his soule wishing to die 3. professing it with his tongue it is better for me to die than to liue And when the sunne did arise The arising of the sun noteth no more than the opportunity of time which God taketh to punish Ionas He beginneth with the beginning of the day the shadowes of the night are gone the fresh dews of the morning sone dispersed and the sunne at his first discovery hath a chardge from God to assault the heade of Ionas no part of the day as it seemeth not the coolenesse teÌ„perature of the morning are friendly vnto him He rather wished in his heart as Iob did let the day be darkenes still and let not God regarde it from aboue nor the light shine vpon it but let darkenes clowdes the shadowe of death staine it that is let there be an everlasting night rather than the beams of the sun should come forth to do me this violence as the sun did once go backe in the daies of Hezekias vpon the diall of Ahaz so it would haue reioiced him if it had gone backe againe to the North or stoode vnmoueable in a place that the earth might haue beene as a piller betweene him and the heate thereof God prepared also a feruent East-wind I should but roule the same stone once again too ofteÌ„ to speak of the author of this whole busines his speedy expedition therin which I haue told you before is noted in the word of preparatioÌ„ whose mighty over spreading providence is as the soule of the world as inward familiar to al the actions therin great small as the spirit to our reines better may a body liue without breath than any counsaile or