that he referreth all his punishment to the hand of the Lord. He speaketh not of the mariners by whose meanes it was done much lesse doth he reuile them as in our time wicked offending persons oft do to the magistrates or Iudges or other officers who do but see that to be done which iust law layeth vpon thē and they wilfully haue deserued But Ionas passing by the instrument and meanes whereby God wrought seeketh vnto the fountaine and originall of the deede He acknowledgeth that his maker was he who was offended that his hand had corrected him that his wrath must be satisfied but by all other he passeth That euill Ioram did not so when his citie of Samaria was oppressed with a famine so grieuous that the mother did eate her owne child which extremity it is likely that the Prophet Elizaeus did foretell should fall vpon them for the greatnesse of their sin But then he in stead of looking vpward to God whom he should haue sought vnto by fasting and by prayer turneth his anger on the Prophet the minister of the Almightie and voweth himselfe to much euill if innocent Elizaeus were not put to death that day Blind man who could not looke higher and see whose messenger the Prophet was How much better was Iobs behauiour for when newes was brought vnto him that the Sabees and Chaldeans by violence and strong hand had taken away his Oxen and robbed him of his Camels he did not straight way curse those sinners and wish much euill on them but not so much as naming them did fasten his thoughts on God and imputed all vnto him saying most patiently The Lord hath giuen and the Lord hath taken it blessed be the name of the Lord. I would that men in our time could carry his resolution When ought amisse doth befall them to haue recourse to the Highest and to suppose that either he doth trie them or doth punish thē for their sinnes or hath some other good purpose But we rather run to any thing then that which most doth vrge vs oft surmising that which is not and suspecting those that be innocents And if we can find the meanes whereby all is brought about we double our force on that this witch hath killed my beasts this wicked man hath vndone me this mightie man hath crossed me I would he were in his graue or some mischiefe else were on him Indeed I do not deny but that the euill are oftentimes the rods of God to chasten good men withall but yet thinke thou euermore that his hand is it which effecteth all that his stroke is in the action Fasten thy eyes on him and with sighing and true repentance seeke to appease his wrath and thē the meanes shall not touch thee no wicked thing shall haue power ouer thee But let this be thy song to vtter foorth with the Prophet thou hadst cast me into the water thou hast layed this crosse vpon me 22 The third circumstance now remaining is that God did heare his prayer I cryed in mine affliction and thou heardest me and againe O Lord thou heardst my voice You see that his woe was exceeding and after the common course of sorrow it droue him vnto his maker it enforced him to pray Where behold the comfort is that he did not loose his labour the Lord did heare his voice This euermore is his propertie to attend to those who sollicite him to respect those who call on him I called on the Lord in trouble saith Dauid and the Lord heard me at large So by Ieremie his seruant God promiseth to the Iewes and in them to all his Saints you shall cry to me and shall go and pray to me and I will heare you And you shall seeke and find me So respectiue is the Lord to those who fly to him which sheweth his great prerogatiue aboue all heathen idols who may be derided with Baal that either they are busie in following of their enemies or asleepe and must be awaked but surely they cannot heare But especially to vs it is comfort in extremity that if sicknesse or pinching pouertie or malice of any man nay if pangs of death do hurt vs or if in the soule which is our better part temptation ouercharge vs and Satans darts hardly driue at vs if we call vnto that Lord who can bind and loose and hath the keyes of hell and of death he can rid vs and deliuer vs. Yea he so yeeldeth to our prayers that they shall not returne in vaine but comfort at the least and patience in our miseries shall be bestowed vpon vs. It is a good speech in Cyprian if that tract be his De caena Domini In the presence of Christ our teares which are neuer superfluous do beg a pardon for vs neither euer doth the sacrifice of a contrite heart take repulse As often as in Gods sight I see thee to be sighing I doubt not but the holy Ghost doth breath vpō thee when I see thee weeping then I perceiue him pardoning This should be a great instigation that when any thing doth oppresse vs be it inward or be it outward we should runne vnto the Lord. So may also be that of Austen The prayer of the righteous is the key of heauen Prayer ascendeth vp and Gods mercie descendeth down Although the earth be low and the heauen high the Lord doth heare the tong of man if he haue a cleane conscience It speaketh with feeling if it be but onely our sigh A showre of the eyes is sufficient for his eares he doth sooner here our weeping then our speaking 23 I doubt not but all the faithfull do find this easily in thēselues that when they do lay open their soules before the Lord as Ezechias did the letters of Sennacherib when they do earnestly pray a deaw of consolation of most blessed consolation is distilled downe vpon them whereby they are assured that they haue to deale with a father who seeth their fraile infirmities and hath compassion on them Yea as a father doth pitie his children so hath the Lord compassion on all that do feare him for he knoweth wherof we be made he remembreth that we are but dust He knoweth vs to be most ignorant most foolish and vnfit for all goodnesse very impotent and vnable to keepe off wrong from our selues He knoweth this considereth it as euermore he supporteth vs keepeth vs to himself as the apple of his eye giuing when we demand not more then we thinke on so if we lift vp our voyces powre out our complaints before him he will neuer faile vs seeking him Onely this he claimeth of vs that we aske that which is fit not vanities or impieties or to bestow vpon our lustes for he denyeth these things to vs and our faith hath no warrant to aske such requests of the Lord. And againe that in those things which are lawfull we
Niniuites all points succeeded well although they sowed in teares yet they reaped in ioy so shall it be with thee But let word of causes important be still brought to thy selfe 6 The next matter which in generall I note in this great person is that God would haue him to be touched aboue other that his humiliation might be accepted beyond others For the Lord is much affected toward them in the persons of whom he hath imprinted a maiestie and by speciall ordinance hath made them his Vicegerents As he hath seated them in a propriety of dignitie aboue all their fellowes so the account which he hath of them is of speciall property Looke through the Heathen men as well as vpon such as knew him and feared him Where do we find a man furnished with such parts as Alexander was of celerity of resolute magnanimity of felicity in all his attempts Where see we a man comparable with that worthy Iulius Caesar How admirable were the workes of Herode the Great and how maiesticall yea terrible was the presence of his person when enemies of his came into the place where he was washing and yet feared to make toward him although he were naked and they armed Name him who may be like to Constantine that blessed Emperour And if it be suggested that the faculties and abilities which they had to do great things because they were mighty Princes might make them to do such matters as which others in their places might as well haue effected yet this serueth not the turne since a spirite of rarer quality then other men haue enioyed might apparantly be seene in them Now where the Lord soweth most he looketh to reape most largely Where he powreth foorth most benefits he expecteth most gratefulnesse And if his seruice be neglected but especially contemned by these royall Potentates he taketh it more vnkindly of them then of a common man When Saul being brought to a kingdome from following his fathers asses had faulted in that case of Amelek what furies did follow him euer after with irreconcilable desolation It was not a little punishment which followed after the murther and adultery of Dauid The childs death the reuiling of Shimei the rebellion of Absolon the deflouring of his concubines were euident corrections When Salomon who was fraught with wisedome fell foolishly to idolatrie at once ten tribes were rent off from from the kingdome of Iuda The like may be sayd of many the persecuting Emperours when they being aduanced by Christ turned their swords and scepters against Christ and his Gospell he did not long endure their tyrannie but with violence cast them downe 7 But on the other side God so embraceth the true piety of those in highest authority that themselues are not onely blessed for their entire deuotion but their people for their sake The blessings powred on the heads of them runne downe vnto the skirts and lower parts of their garments When such as by Gods hand are lifted vp aboue others do come nearer then their people to the heauen not so much in place as in spirit and the inward man the Lord doth accept them with greater fauour and acquaintance The Israelites knew this when they thus make request for their king The Lord heare thee in the day of trouble the name of the God of Iacob defend thee Send thee helpe from the Sanctuarie and strengthen thee out of Sion Let him remember all thine offerings and turne thy burnt offerings into ashes Graunt thee according to thy heart and fulfill all thy purpose That we may reioyce in thy saluation and set vp our banner in the name of our God the Lord shall performe all thy petitions And so they go forward Now know I that the Lord will helpe his annointed and will heare him from his sanctuary They knew that from him being blessed good things would flow to them and God would blesse his deuotion How louely and how precious in the eyes of the Almighty was the melting heart of Iosias when he heard the threates of the Law read vnto him What priuate man alone euer turned backe so much wrath Yea God doth attribute so much to this his ordinance that if it be but Ahab yet if he put on sackcloth and will fast and go barefoote the Lord will deâ—erre that vengeance which was to come on him and his land Those countries then are right happy where such sit in the throne of honor and most eminent place of glory who do loue and feare the Lord in integrity and sincerity full of faith For mercy and louing kindnesse is by such conduit-pipes diffused through all the coasts and quarters of a land If the pestilence shall deuoure yet the prayer of such Dauids will stay the destroying Angell If Sennacherib shall reuile yet if such Hezekiahs shall enter into the Temple and with weeping shall lay open the letters before the Lord a hooke shall be put in his nostrels and he shall be turned another way If a victory shall be gotten and such Deborahs shall acknowledge it by a publike gratulation this victory shall be doubled When our Deborah and Hester as it is voyced and receiued with bended knees did begge of the Omnipotent maker and guide of all our worlds masse that he would prosper the worke and vvith best forewinds guide the iourney speede the victory and make the returne the aduancement of his glory the triumph of the fame of those which were sent and the surety of our Realme with least losse of English bloud we all know what effect this holy prayer had to foile the proudest enemy in a strange land we all know it and it were great pity but succeeding ages should remember it And that may serue for an example of the point whereof I now intreate which is that the actions of great Monarkes haue a straighter kind of reference vnto God then those of common men Their voluntary debasing doth lift them high with the Lord their repentance is very gracious their sorrow is much acceptable Then it was well with the Niniuites that such a king did raigne ouer them as had an humble mind God dealt with them most bountifully to send them such a ruler as whose heart he himselfe did soften and put some graces into it and then did crowne those graces to the comfort of all his subiects For I ascribe all this to God The words of the Prophet were something but the heart was touched from the Lord. Paule may plant and Apollos water but God must giue the encrease And as Saint Austen speaketh Teachings without and admonitions are helpes to set things forward but he hath a chaire in heauen who teacheth the hearts of men I speake sayth he of the Lord. God then did them much fauour when he sent such a king among them as whose heart he made to be flexible that so the Lord might embrace him and with him
He is not as Baal was whose seruants might crye and launce themselues with kniues and all for his honour yet himselfe be neuer the wiser The Niniuites fasted and put on sackcloth and prayed vpon the newes of the Prophets preaching and with lamentable behauiour did labour to shew their sorrow that they should be reputed iustly so vile in Gods eyes They acknowledge themselues to be ashes and dust they stand as the stubble now ready for the flame How the heauen might helpe they know not but from the earth is like to come no consolation The Lord whose drift it was to bring them to that passe and had no other end of the sending of Ionas so farre from his owne countrey but to worke them hereunto sitteth aboue in the heauen and beholding it is much pleased A fauourable Iudge who will turne his eyes of iealousie into a gracious aspect and will endure as much to saue men as he will to spill them As the crying sinnes of Niniue and of Sodome and like places had accesse vnto his cares and so did call for vengeance so the repentance of the Niniuites had accesse vnto his seate and did pleade hard for a pardon Yea to shew that he delighteth to helpe rather then to hurt to spare rather then to punish he who would not receiue the cryes of the great sinnes of the Sodomites vntill he came downe to prooue whether it were so or no taketh the sorrowes of the city euen at the first rebound and not standing to examine them in the strictnesse of his seuerity is by and by appeased He who is slow to anger is quickeâ— sighted at repentance and when his sonne is comming home he beholdeth him a great way off and meeteth with him and falleth on him and kisseth him and with much loue embraceth him 10 He saw that which they did But marke God saw their vvorkes That which they ouâ—wardly did was a token of their mind and a fruite of their faith which faith had entred into their heart and in some measure purified that which of it selfe was corrupt But he beheld their workes not their speech but their deedes not their tongue but their hands not that afterward they would do better but that alreadie they had left their filthinesse And this fruite is it which God requireth to testifie whether the roote be good If words would haue serued the turne the Prophet needed not haue gone to the Gentiles in Assyria the Israelites and Iewes could haue furnished him well inough who made no spare to say that they would serue the Lord the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord was euer in their mouthes and afterward We haue Abraham to our father but they did nothing which was sutable but cleane contrarie to their speaking The Pharisees who succeeded long after our Prophets time had by this reckening bene very holy for they could pray in the streetes and disguise their faces with fasting yet Christ brandeth them for hypocrites and speaketh to all in generall Not euery one that saith vnto me Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdome of heauen but he that doth the will of my father which is in heauen Saint Basile vpoÌ„ these words of the Prophet Esay And if they multiply their prayers I will not heare them doth declare what the mind of God is toward such as thinke religion to be in words They who in this life do no worke which is worthy the name of vertue but only for the lengths sake of their prayers do hold themselues to be righteous let them heare these vvords vvith attentiue eares For prayers are not a helpe vvhen they are powred out in any sort vvhatsoeuer but if they be vttered vvith earnest and feruent affection For the Pharisee did multiplie prayers in shew but vvhat sayth the Scripture The Pharisee standing did pray thus vvith himselfe But it vvas not with the Lord. For all of it returned to the good opinion of himselfe for he still remained in the sinne of pride That man who would not be taken for such a Pharisee and so consequently be refused of the Lord must thinke that there is something else in the seruice of the Highest then to say or seeme to be holy For that is a matter common to reprobates to idolaters to dissemblers and deceiptfull men which yet escape not his eyes who trieth the hearts and reynes and rewardeth men accordingly Saint Bernard obserueth that the two Kings Saule and Dauid when they were reprooued by the two Prophets Samuel and Nathan cried peccaui both alike and yet Saule heard that sentence the Lord hath taken thy kingdome from thee and will giue it to thy seruant and Dauid heard that comfort The Lord hath remooued away thy sinne and thou shalt not dye for it What was this sayth Saint Bernard but that Saule had not that in his heart which he had in his mouth but with Dauid it was otherwise 11 Then he who hath gone astray and by that meanes hath offended God and desireth to returne at last after a thousand prouocations into the Iudges fauour let him first depart from euill and purge himselfe of all poyson as the serpent doth going to drinke and let him neuer againe resume it but secondly therewithall let him do that which good His light must shine before men that they may see his good workes his life must shine before God in purity and integrity Of which how little all sorts of men do thinke now a dayes experience too much witnesseth For who is he almost that intendeth to that which he should I speake not of the Atheist who is an enemy to God the father I speake not of the Papist who is no friend to Christ the sonne many points of their doctrine crossing the life of his redemption but of those who seeme to be somewhat The Pastours which are learned are almost like the vnlearned The one cannot the other will not but neither of them do preach They thinke it is inough to be able to de somewhat when they shall see occasion that to censure the workes of other this was well or this was ill is a great part of learning but worke they will not themselues neither God nor men see their labours The gentlemen in the countrey I meane very manie of them thinke it is inough if they like not any thing which commeth from Rome but if they can declaime in the greatest assemblies against the errours of the Clergie or spie a fault in their gouernement they are more then common men yea but if they come so farre as to haue prayers in their houses which is a very holy sacrifice if other things accordingly be ioyned they thinke that there is no more needfull to heauen But as for any works of mercie or charitable pitie they are not oftentimes to be found They yeeld small comfort to the poore who perish before their faces Little helpe vnto the Minister who may
magnifie themselues and make their wordes seeme glorious dare oppose their wits against heauen and earth against Iewes and Gentiles against God and men could remember the endlesse wisedome of the word of life they might plentifully admire their spirit who to giue God the glory do reioyce in their infirmities proclaime their owne follies And if they would compare the maner of these writers inspired with the holy Ghost with the workes of other men of what sort soeuer they must either shut their eyes or confesse a great difference 3 For the writers of this world howsoeuer against enemies they speake all and more then all as Zozimus did against the Christians or for their friendes and countrymen set all at the highest as Salust doth obserue that the Athenien and Greeke writers did long before his time yea howsoeuer sometimes they speake truth where it cometh to their notice or toucheth not themselues or their partiall friends yet in them we find few examples of laying open the errors of themselues or of their friēds especially when in any sort it may be concealed Let Tully be a witnesse of whose faults we do not reade in any thing of his owne but that Rome was saued by him from the furie of Catiline that when he was Consul he did more then good seruice to the common-wealth his tong and his pen haue neuer done What learned man hath not heard of his Cedant arma togae concedat laurea linguae In the Commentaries of Caesar a booke worthily penned may we find any thing which maketh against himselfe yea in his ciuill warres But in his friend Hirtius what is there to be read that doth not make for him The writings of Mahomet I meane such as are written of him do make him the onely Prophet in the last age of the world the great seruant of the Highest hauing messages from aboue and oracles from heauen yea such a one as was able bodily to rise againe from the dead but that must be after eight hundred yeares he taketh a pretie time for the trying of that conclusion whereas Christ tooke but three dayes yea as Viues obserueth that he was the Cōforter whom Christ promised to send into the world after his ascension and that it was written in the Gospell of Saint Iohn I will send you a Comforter and that shall be Mahomet but that those last words concerning Mahomet were razed out by the Christians 4 By these we may iudge of the rest But it is so farre off from men who are but naturall men to be detectors and discouerers of their owne falles to posterity that they cannot with patience endure that they should be opened by other For that is a common fault and not proper to one which Pliny reporteth of one in his time And that was that whereas according to the custome of that age a certaine writer had read and rehearsed in the presence of diuerse a peece of a booke which truly deciphered the faults of some men and sayd that he would reserue the rest vntil the next day to be heard the friends of one party who was touched in that booke and not without desert came in the meane while to the Author and most earnestly intreated him in their friends behalfe that he would forbeare to reade of that matter any further Which made Pliny to inferre this in one of his Epistles Such shame is there of hearing such things as are done by them who shame not to do that which they blush to heare What his friends could not endure himselfe would much lesse what to heare had bene grieuous to write had bene ashame The Prophets and pen-men of the Spirit of God by a peculiar prerogatiue are singular in this kind to shew that their bookes are the bookes of their Maister and so by that one meanes among other to stop the mouths of blasphemers and miscreants who measure God by themselues and pietie by their profanenesse Ionas was better taught not to giue the glory to himself but to God hauing learned that lesson which Saint Austen afterward did mention that he who hath failed in the first degree of wisedome that is vertue and obedience should betake him to the second that is modestie in confessing and acknowledging his fault Heare now therefore what he did and how he performed his message He arose to flie into Tarshish 5 Ionas thus farre was obedient to arise when he was bidden but he might as well haue sate still for anie good which he did He rouzeth vp himselfe as if he intended to fall hardly to his matters but after the first step he trode not one foot right He should haue rose to crie and he arose to flie he should haue gone East to Niniue and he went Westward to Iapho But euen cleane contrary A liuely example of the infirmitie of man that without Gods grace we very soone plunge into all maner of sin without measure or meane when a Prophet so experienced in the mysteries of saluation could play so foule a part But there is no man that sinneth not as Salomon saith And the iust man doth fall seuen times whereof although Hierome aske If he be iust how doth he fall and if he fall how is he iust yet he answereth himselfe that he looseth not the name of a righteous man who ariseth by repentance and we may say further he falleth by nature and ariseth by grace he falleth by sinne and is righteous by faith In many things we sinne all saith S. Iames not you only who be the people but we also the Apostles And if that there should haue come any other after the Apostles that should not haue sinned it is very likely that our Sauiour in the midst of his wisedome wherewith he gouerneth his Church would haue appointed for them some other prayer then the ordinary Lords prayer they should not haue sayd forgiue vs our trespasses because they had none This is a cooler both to the Pharisees and Nouatians who were wont to despise sinners If Ionas fall and Iob and Noe and Lot and Dauid whom the scripture calleth iust and righteous persons and after Gods owne heart let other men take heed of presumption and trusting in themselues Yet this is a comfort to sinners in the weakenesse of their soules If God forgaue Ionas repenting and beleeuing he will forgiue vs also if we beleeue and repent Therfore let not despaire deuour our wounded consciences Yet let not this be an incouragement to offend in any wilfulnesse Many will fall with Dauid but they will not arise with Dauid Our Prophet at the length amendeth but his fall was great the while Let vs first see the reasons that moued him to his flight and then the maner of it 6 We need not to doubt but Satan who is euer at hand to promote bad causes could yeeld reasons enough for the hinderance of this worke He had cause to
Sidius and wisheth him that by Art Magike he would procure down some raine or at least suffer it so to be professing that him selfe had oftentimes made triall thereof and had neuer failed in his attempt This was done and immediatly such store of rayne did folow thereupon as both releeued his men and frighted his enemies as if heauen it selfe had now conspired against them I might adde more examples of graue and learned writers who thinke that such meteors come oftentimes by such meanes 7 Iouianus Pontanus in the fifth booke of the Actes of his time hath a Narration to this purpose but a iudgement to the contrarie In that mightie quarrell betweene the kings of Arragon and the house of Aniou in Fraunce for the kingdome of Naples Ferdinandus king of Arragon did besiege Mont-dragon a towne and castle in old Campania where because the towne stood high on the top of a rocke and the season was exceeding dry he hoped that ere lōg for want of water he should winne it to his pleasure Now the inhabitants thereof being almost dead for thirst being aduised therunto by certaine Priests most wicked and vngodly persons did trie this conclusion then the which there haue bene few more irreligious or impious Stealing downe in the darke of the night through the watch which was set by the enemie they crept along the rockes euen to the sea side and all the way drew with them a Crucifixe the resemblance of Christ crucified and hanging on the crosse which first they cursed and banned with manie inchanted speeches but afterward with most execrable wordes they threw it into the sea vsing imprecations against the heauen and earth and water so to wring from them a tempest In the meane time the Priests being as wicked men as liued to satisfie the souldiers who set them on worke brought an Asse to the church doore and sung a Dirge to him as to a man now dying then they put into his mouth their Sacrament of the Altar so with funerall hymnes did burie the Asse aliue before the church doore This vngodly solemnitie was scant ended but the aire was full of clouds the sea was stirred with the wind the heauen did roare with thunder the earth did flash with lightening trees were plucked vp by the rootes the stones did rent in peeces there fell such abundance of raine that from the top of the rock whole streames did runne of water So the king missed of his purpose The Author which writeth this confessing the whole matter and describing it as I haue done doth thinke that their Magicke did not cause the raine but that it came naturally so much wet falling after so long a drowth His reason is that for such villany and blasphemie as was then vsed toward himselfe God would not send a benefite vnto men to helpe them at their need but would rather suffer them to fall into destruction 8 But that reason is not sufficient for God oftentimes doth suffer the reprobate to haue worldly things at their pleasure to harden them the more and that the delusions of Satan may be so much the stronger in them to their finall confusion It is therefore most probable that their wickednesse did so extraordinarily stirre vp that raine For when Satan hath libertie frō the Lord to do things either to blind the reprobate or to chastise the elect being fallen into sinne or to trie the faith of the best he imparteth his power with his ministers speciall instruments of his glorie these necromancers coniurers and other such like The sorcerers who shewed such sights to Pharao in Egypt do proue both these grounds to be true first that Satan oftentimes yeeldeth his power vnto his seruaunts and secondlie that God suffereth the wicked to haue their desire in many things to their greater ouerthrow To turne a rod into a serpent and riuers into bloud and to make the fish to dye for that may be collected because the text saith that the enchaunters did likewise so to bring vp frogs on the sodaine were these in truth or in shew do shew the great power of Satan which he to delude the wicked cōmunicateth with his folowers He who had leaue for the one may somtimes haue leaue for the other In the 2. to the Ephesiās Satan by the Apostle is called the prince that now ruleth in the ayre which name although it may note to vs some other thing besides yet it doth also intēd as all that write of this argumēt do vse to expound that place that in winds raine and thunder he beareth sway in the aire whē God will giue him licence But for the point of the question this is put out of controuersie by that which we reade in Iob where it is set downe that by the hand of Satan whether by witch or no I stand not to dispute for the text doth not reueale it Gods leaue going before a fire fell out of the ayre and burnt vp Iobs sheepe and seruaunts and such a wind came from the wildernesse as at one time striking all the corners of the house destroyed Iobs sonnes and daughters He hath not read the chapter or litle hath considered it who maketh doubt whether Satan there did such things or no. Gregorie vpon that place positiuelie layeth it down that the deuill hauing once receiued power of the Lord that is leaue being giuen him to the bringing about of his naughtinesse is able to stirre the elements by which word he meaneth the mouing of the fire or disturbing of the ayre And elsewhere interpreting that Behemoth spokē of in Iob to be Satan he hath these words This Behemoth who is the beginning of the waies of God whē he had leaue to tempt that holie man meaning Iob stirred vp people against him tooke away his heards of cattell fetched downe fire from heauen troubling the ayre stirred vp vvinds shaking the house ouerthrew it And that is the iudgemēt of Saint Austen writing on these wordes of the seuentie and eight Psalme He cast vpon them the fiercenesse of his anger indignation and vvrath and vexation by the sending out of euill Angels He there saith that Satan was he who sent downe the fire on Iobs cattell and more generallie telleth vs that both good and euill Angels by the permission of God may vse these visible elements to their purposes Yea Brentius himselfe in the Sermon which I named before yeeldeth such things to be done by the Diuell saying that God is the authour and gouernour of the haile and yet that for our sins it is permitted to the diuell that he may raise haile What he did in former times and especiallie to Iob he can do now also if he haue commission for it 9 When Columbus and the Christians with him arriued first in the Westerne Indies and began to plant themselues in Hispaniola and the Ilands as the authours do agree Peter Martyr Benzo and other there
and what we should haue borne his humanity did sustain with a louely chaunge of our parts For the vnrighteous sinneth and the righteous man is punished the guiltie man did offend and the innocent one is beaten the vngodly had transgressed and the godly was condemned what the wicked man had deserued that did the good one suffer what the seruant had endomaged that did the maister pay and what man had committed that he a God tooke vpon him This bringeth a way to the wandring this bringeth life to the dying and safetie to the perishing For his losse was our gaine his impouerishing our enriching The worst which was on Christ was the best helpe vnto vs for his death was our life his wounding was our life his bleeding was our life his burying was our life his rising againe our life as Saint Ambrose truely noteth This is the assured comfort which the wounded conscience hath although he be fallen in Adam yet he is risen in Christ although the lawe do condemne him yet the Gospell doth acquite him although generation doth kill him yet regeneration saueth him although the tempest of Gods wrath be ready to swallow him yet notwithstanding the casting in of this Ionas procureth a calme vnto him And so hauing Satan maistered and hell gates shut against him he dareth to present himselfe before the throne of grace with chearefulnesse and boldnesse in the confidence of his passion who hath entred into the heauen and made way to his father This is it which holdeth vs when we are liuing this is it which helpeth vs when we are dying A God become a man the celestiall made terrestriall our iudge become our Iesus to cease the rage of the sea to stoppe the wrath of the Father We find this accomplished in our Iesus but we may learne it in Ionas whose mariners found their best ease by putting him to paine For the casting foorth of him did put them from their perill when the sea once had him for whome it looked that immediatly was quiet And now let vs see what effects all this wrought in the beholders Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly c. 13 No maruell if this miracle did make them quake for what flesh can choose but tremble to see and feele his hand who shaketh the mightie ceders It is written of the Israelites that when they saw Gods power which he shewed in drowning the Egyptians and their king Pharao in the midst of the sea they began to feare the Lord beleeue his seruant Moses They saw that God could serue them as he had serued their pursuers that all power is his owne that vengeance and protection are in euery place at his pleasure So these mariners had experience how grieuous in Gods sight iniquity was euen in thē who did peculiarly belong vnto him how he could follow one to the sea deprehend him with a tempest discouer him with a lot and would not rest till his life had made amends for his folly How must their heart needes quake how must their conscience tremble to think on their own transgressions their commissions and omissions the number whereof was great the hugenesse whereof was horrible If it were thus with the greene wood how should it be with the drie If an Israelite had such measure measured vnto him how should a Gentile escape If a Prophet were so punished how should such a profane man as all they were beare that burthen Signes and wonders and straunge punishments are of force and power to make men looke backward into their own soules and make application to their owne consciences 14 In which respect the dulnesse of our age is much to be deplored We behold as in a glasse the almightie power of Gods iustice We reade it and heare it read out of the booke of the Lord which to those who are faithfull is as present as if their very eyes did behold it For where faith maketh a doubt there the sence is neuer satisfied and those will not beleeue no not if one should come from the dead who haue Moyses the Prophets and giue no credit to them The case was tryed in the Iewes of Chorazin and Bethsaida who saw many of Christs miracles and yet remained vnbeleeuers Out of the holy Scriptures we haue heard of straunge examples of Gods punishment toward sin a whole world drowned for security cities more then one for their lusts sake consumed with fire and brimstone from heauen the Israelites stung with serpents for their murmuring in the wildernesse Nadab and Abihu blasted to death for offering with strange fire Vzzah stricken that he dyed for touching of the Arke which did not belong vnto him Ionas drowned for refusing to go and denounce Gods iudgements a whole land cursed in the prophecie of Malachi for sacriledge and detaining the portion of the Leuite These things are written for our example for vs I say on whome the ends of the world are come 15 These and the like things are often sounded into our eares but do we learne thereby to feare the Lord exceedingly do we apply this plaister by remembrance of our owne waies that in such or such a deede I and I haue sinned more then these I transgressed in wilfulnesse with such a prouocation and with such a one in infirmitie I were best to withdrawe my foote from doubling of such leud crimes I may preasse vpon God too farre and ouerlay his patience with mine incroching boldnesse Who is he that maketh such vse of the fearefull and terrible workes of God Who taketh these things to heart The deede declareth the mind as the fruite maketh the tree knowne Doth the wanton leaue his wantonnesse and the adulterer hate his lust Doth the swearer of our age remember that his blasphemies are written vp in a booke and sealed vntill the day of vengeance Doth Ionas go to Niniue and rebuke the great and small with that spirite wherewith he should No but either we will say nothing like men who cannot speake and so leauing it to younger persons wee our selues growe to a desuetude which afterward we peraduenture would be willing to leaue and cannot or if we speake at all it is but a bare and cold narration neither ayming to teach for faith nor to infourme for manners Wee doe not cut at the roote of sinne we seeke not to warme the conscience Where is our feare of the Lord our reuerence to his sanctitie our submission to his maiestie Yet well fare these silly mariners one example could worke with them to mooue them exceedingly for the time and to cause them to sacrifice to the Lord. 16 In opening of which words and by a consequent of this whole verse I must professe vnto you that here I find among the interpreters more difference in opinions then in any thing yet in this Prophecie of Ionas The text saith that they offered sacrifice but what or where it
a moment of time he hath them very readily attending wheresoeuer he pleaseth It is he who alone may say as he doth speake in Iob All vnder heauen is mine The people say of him truly Our God is in heauen he doth whatsoeuer he will There is not any creature in the heauen or earth or sea be it body or be it spirit which is not at his deuotion and waiteth not at his becke The greatest do him homage the smallest do him seruice For he is greater then the mightiest by whole millions of degrees and his ouer-seeing prouidence taketh knowledge of the meanest Not a sparow which lighteth on the ground not an haire which falleth from the head but he is interested in it 2 What is greater then the heauen yet if Iosuah pray vnto him for one whole day this euer-wheeling body shal cease his swift diurnall motion The Sunne shall stand still in Gibeon and the Moone in the vale of Aialon That which commeth forth as a Giant and reioyceth to runne his course yet to satisfie Ezechias and to confirme his faith shall flye backe as a coward for ten degrees at once as then it appeared by the diall of Ahaz What is ruder or more vnfit to be dealt with then the earth Yet at his pleasure he shaketh both earth and sea What is more excellent or of a more pure and single nature then the Angels Yet he hath bound vp foure of them in the riuer Euphrates and although they be prepared at an houre and at a day and at a moneth at a yere to slay the third part of men yet these Angels cannot stirre vntill that they be loosed by his precise commandement And such is his soueraigne power that when he findeth occasion they are freed all in a moment In like sort to effect his purposes he needeth not the posts of Persia whoÌ„ Haman sometimes vsed nor the dromedaries of Egypt nor the swift runners of other nations to go from place to place and giue notice of his will but in the very instant he either doth touch the mind of him who is to be the doer or he raiseth vp some thing else which shall declare his meaning God sendeth forth his commandement and his word runneth very swiftly The day is his and the night the open place and the secret fish and birdes and beastes and all the very wings of the wind to cary his precept on them Vnconceiuable is his Maiesty vnestimable is his power the highest things and the lowest the greatest and the weakest are euer at his commandement he hath the keyes of heauen nay of hell and of death This his power so vncontrollable most eminently appeareth in punishing the wicked and preseruing his owne children 3 Ammianus Marcellinus reporteth that in Mesopotamia among the reedes and bushes growing neare to the riuer Euphrates are euermore great store of Lions which vse to remaine there being much delighted with the great calmenesâ—e and pleasure of that climate The danger arising from these both vnto men and beasts would be perpetuall but that God hath prouided a remedy to slacke the fury of them and that is in admirable maner There are alwayes in that coast infinite swarmes of gnats which gather much about those Lions and to nothing in them so desirously as to their eyes whom we know to be bright and shining members But sitting fast on the eye-lids they do so pricke and sting them that the raging Lions are forced to scratch with their nailes as if they would remooue the gnats but indeede they claw out their owne eyes so that many of them by this meanes growing blind do drowne themselues in the great riuers or otherwise become lesse terrible This is an argument of Gods wisedome who delighteth in such variety of these inferiour bodies And yet withall it is an argument of his puissance who by so weake a matter can ouerthrow such a great one a Lion by a gnat and hath those little ones so attendant as that euery man may see that they are prepared by their maker to ouer-rule the other to chase them and pursue them and vexe them vnto destruction The tyrants of the earth are â—earefull vnto the poore as the Lion is to the lambe Their might giueth them abilitie and their minde doth yeeld them will to treade downe their inferiours Now for the punishment of these bitter ones God hath prepared as small things as the gnats to maister them in their fury Let Pharao be one man and Herod be another who shall demonstrate this The violence of the former and his cruell oppression toward the sonnes of God was insolent and outragious But how doth the graund ruler of the heauen trample vpon him and make him cry peccaui with the basest of those bodies which mankind euer seeth The hand of his seruant Aaron was but stretched out on the waters and frogs came in such store as made him loath himselfe and euery thing about him So the swarmes of flies did force him to be humbled for a time What hostes were there of grashoppers and of deuouring caterpillers which came forth at one call as if they had bene reserued before by the Lord to shew his mighty hand and his power which is not limited Nay to testifie Gods owne finger there was an army of lice then whom nothing is more vile yet prepared they were at an instant to plague where the Lord commanded The other that proud Herod who vpon a glosing flattering speech of the people assumed to himselfe that glory which of right appertained to his maker was stricken with Gods Angell and so died consumed with wormes In such manner hath the Almighty euery creature for his messenger and executing seruant close standing at his elbow to vexe and plague and torture the enemies of his Maiesty or the oppugners of his glory 4 And is he strong to hurt and is he not so to helpe To defend and to offend are they not alike vnto him protection and correction His sweete mercy triumpheth ouer his bitter iustice and his power attendeth his mercy and the world attendeth his power and so doth euery thing which is in it In the twelfth of the Reuelation this is well shadowed to vs. The woman which is the Church here militant vpon earth is followed hard by the Dragon there are found two Egles wings by the which she doth escape Behold there is one deliuerance and one not looked for remedy The Dragon yet doth not leaue her but since he cannot come he thinketh to send home after her he casteth out of his mouth a water like to a riuer thinking thereby to drowne her See another helpe in a moment The earth openeth herselfe and swalloweth vp that water which the Dragon had cast forth To the same effect with this parable or vision were the Israelites reskued by the red sea the waters flying a sunder and
booke of God prayer is both commended and commanded to vs and not any way for his profit who is to be sought too but for ours who are to cry Aske and it shall be giuen you knocke and it shall be opened to you Watch and pray saith our Sauiour Christ. Continue sayth Paule in prayer Is any of you afflicted let him pray sayth Saint Iames for the prayer of a righteous man preuaileth much if it be feruent The faithfull euermore haue had recourse to this in their necessity as when Iacob feared Esau he called on the name of the Lord that he would send him safety When the Israelites were driuen to that extremity that nothing in mans reason but present death did remaine for them behind them being Pharao and their enemies to slay them before them the red sea a fit place to drowne them then Moses being troubled in his spirit although he sayd neuer a word hauing his heart as bleeding within him cried vnto the Lord. When it went hard with that people fighting against the Amalekites what did Moses but pray for them when he held vp his hands from which when by wearinesse he did cease they sped ill but while he continued it they did conquer What are the Psalmes of Dauid but recourses in his passions vnto the highest God Did not Ieremy in the pit and bottome of the dungeon fall to calling vpon the Lord And our Prophet in worse case then euer was any of these had nothing else to comfort him but to addresse himselfe to his prayers When all other helpes do faile yet this is neare at hand we neede not runne farre to seeke it And blessed is the reward which oftentimes doth follow these requests either the hauing of that which we desire or a contententednesse to leaue it 5 The Church of God and the faithfull haue euermore retained the vse hereof somtimes men which haue bene infidels haue bene glad to seeke to them for it When the Emperor Marcus Aurelius had almost lost his army in Germany for want of water a legion of the Christians which were then in his seruice had recourse vnto this remedy and by vehement inuocation did begge raine at Gods hands which he sent them in great abundance to the amazing of the Emperour but the safety of all his army That noble and mighty Constantine knowing that one in heauen is the true Lord of hostes and all victory commeth of him that the ioyning of a battell is the loosing of a kingdome vnlesse he do assist would neuer enter fight but that first himselfe and his forces with knees bended vpon the ground would desire the Lord to blesse them When his enemies on the other side and Licinius aboue other would begin with incantation and seeking to the Diuell But the good Emperour hauing many things of great waight still vpon him which he knew not how to weild without the helpe of the Highest and that was to be had for asking did so delight in prayer that in memory thereof not as the dissembling Pharisee but in true feare to his God and the better to instruct his people in it by his owne example he ordained that his image which we know that Princes do vse to coine vpon their money should be stamped with the resemblance of him praying The example of Theodosius is in this case not vnfit Being in a battell which was hardly fought on both parts but at length his men being put to the worse and now apparantly ready to flye he throweth himselfe on the ground and with all the powers of his soule he desireth the Lord to pity him and to prosper him in that daunger God heard the voice of his seruant and in miraculous manner did graunt to him the victory To this comfort he found that of Origene to be true One holy man preuaileth more in praying then innumerable sinners do with their fighting For the prayer of a holy man doth pierce vp to the heauen I need not vrge other examples of other in latter ages who haue euermore made this their refuge in daungers and extremities to flye with speede vnto the Lord. For Diuinity buildeth vpon it Christianity doth enforce it no faithfull man maketh doubt of it very Ethnickes in their seruices to their Gods continually did frequent it and openly did practise it 6 In the meane while the supine security of our age shall I say cannot be inough rebuked nay cannot be inough lamented of which it may be sayd as one speaketh of the Monkes that their fasts are very fat but their prayers exceeding leane for if we will compare matters that be in secret with such things as are open and iudge the one by the other how cold are all our prayers If we looke into our Churches we shall find many of our Pastours to go through their common prayers with very small deuotion little mooued and little moouing The people that is not onely young ones who are of-ward inough from God and whose feeling is not so passionate as the Lord in time may make it but the elder sort very slowly do repaire vnto the tabernacle euery light occasion doth keepe them away halfe-seruice doth serue the turne and for that which is it were as good to be neuer a whit as not to be the better they sit there as in a giddinesse neither minding God nor the Minister but rather obseruing any thing then that for which they come thither If it be thus in publicke what may be thought of those prayers which in secret are powred forth betweene God and our selues in our closets or our studies when we rise vp or lye downe It is to be feared that they are few and those which be are very sleepy rather perfunctory and customary then warmed with zeale of affection And how shall God know what we say when we our selues do not know how shall he heare that prayer which we our selues do not heare Let vs brethren stirre vp our selues and be feruent in this if in any thing and the tutour for his scholers the parents for his children the maister for his family the Magistrate for his people the Minister for his flocke pray euery day that the Lord will blesse them in their inward man and their outward in their businesses and their studies in their piety and their safety Remember how holy Iob did sacrifice for his children least in vanity of their youth they should forget the Lord. 7 And let euery man for himselfe giue no rest to his God but begge of him oftentimes to double and multiply his gracious spirite on him For how dangerous are these wayes wherein we here do walke What perils and great hazards are euery day about vs What drawings on are there to sinne what entisements to iniquity How is the Diuell more ready to swallow vs into hell then the fish was to swallow Ionas What Atheisme doth increase what worldly lusts
sorrow shall not vpbraide vs that wee haue feared men more then the eternall God that we haue for the pleasure of any made shippe-wracke of a good conscience or very farre aduentured toward it Take heede then by the Prophet that in seeking to flye such harme as is but imaginarie or little in comparison we do not runne our selues by offending of the Lord into daunger which is ineuitable Now goe we a little forward Yet thou hast brought my life from the pit 16 The common translation hath in the future tense thou wilt lift vp my life The Septuagint let my life ascend from corruption The Chaldee Paraphrase it is readie or but a small thing vnto thee to bring me from corruption The best do translate it by the time that is past thou hast brought my life from the pit or corruption He ascribeth all to God as moouing in him and liuing in him and in him hauing his being So the faithfull do euermore I wayted saith Dauid patiently for the Lord and he enclined vnto me and heard my crye He brought me also out of the horrible pitte out of the mire and clay and set my feete vpon the rocke and ordered my goings A gracious God who can strike vs and can heale vs can foile vs can raise vs. He whippeth vs by number scourgeth vs by measure and when we turne vnto him he will quicken vs and reuiue vs from death and the gates of hell Ionas sinning is punished Ionas crying is helped While stubburnnesse is on him downe must his proud heart but when feare and faith possesse him he is hoyssed vp againe Let vs then chaunge our heart and God will change his hand in the middest of his roughnesse toward vs. Saint Austen in those eight questions which were proposed to him by Dulcitius speaketh fitly to this matter When the woman came to Christ from Syro Phaenicia he said vnto her the childrens bread is not to be throwne to dogges but afterward not O dogge great is thy faith but O woman great is thy faith He chaungeth his word because he saw her affection chaunged and he vnderstood that the same reproofe of his was growne vp to good fruite So it is with this patient when his faith once breaketh foorth he shall come from corruption 17 But what may be the matter that he so much reioyceth that he should liue againe The words which go before from the beginning of the chapter do shew a fast hold to be layed on Gods fauour by faith howsoeuer for some little time it was dismayed a remission of sinnes and a hope of life eternal although he had very much transgressed Then since his life was sealed vp against another world why should he desire to be here againe Why should he so reioyce that he should be deliuered Very shame might haue enforced him to hate the light The report of the mariners who would freely speake wheresoeuer they came might spread the name of him as of a most infamous person He might be poynted at with the finger by children and vile folkes as he went in the streete Howsoeuer Gods children should thirst to be aboue should long to be dissolued and be at home with their father So did Saint Paule in the new Testament when he desired to be loosed so did Elias in the old when he cryed It is now enough ô Lord take my soule for I am no better then my fathers And who would be in his pilgrimage when he might be in his countrey who would be in the sea when he might be in the hauen who would be warring when a crowne might then be giuen him for his victorie who would be in the way when he might be at home in rest It seemeth then at the first sight that the Prophet doth take ioy in his losse and desireth that for a benefite which was a harme vnto him But when all these things are scanned as they should bee it will appeare farre otherwise 18 Now it was no time to feare the shame of the world he was rather to seeke to please one and that was his old maister yea if he displeased all other by it It was a good resolution of him who did write the eigth of those Epistles which be in the end of Saint Hieromes workes Let euerie one say what himselfe will In the meane time according to my small vnderstanding I haue iudged it better for my selfe to blush before sinners vpon earth then before the holy Angels in heauen or wheresoeuer the Lord will shew his iudgement And to wish as Elias wished were but to be impatient wherein Ionas is not behind as appeareth in the fourth chapter And his case was not like Saint Paules who might yeeld vp his soule in quietnesse of conscience as hauing in his heart a testimonie of the Lords good accepatnce of his labours in this world Now he who is setled in such an opinion neede not feare to depart from this transitorie habitation nay he may well long to dye But with Ionas it is otherwise he standeth yet in a mammering and knoweth not which way to turne him Yet he is not quite exempted from that conflict of his betweene hope and despaire yet although his faith be not extinguished he is not assured how the Lord will take his sinne at his hands This maketh him wish for more time to testifie his obedience to make a recompence if it might be for his sinfull rebellion or at the least to wash away his iniquitie with many teares And hauing this purpose in him to aske pardon with sighes and sobbes he ioyeth with all his heart that time is permitted him to performe the vowes of his soule and to remooue away from the Church of God that scandale which he had offered 19 Moreouer if he had dyed in the sea and the belly of the fish his departure had bene violent and layed vpon him for his sinne as a grieuous punishment for vngodlinesse and such a kind of death the faithfull seruants of the Lord haue no desire to dye It may well be gathered out of the thirtieth Psalme that the sicknesse of Dauid there insinuated for that Psalme may best be vnderstoode of sickenesse was layed vpon him for one fault or other perhaps for presumption he thought that he was too strong But when for that cause he felt the hand of the Lord sharpely chastising him he beggeth that he might not in such a sort go downe to the graue What profite is there in my bloud vvhen I goe downe to the pit shall the dust giue thankes vnto thee or shall it declare thy truth For some one reason or other which the Spirit of God hath concealed Hezechias was not readie when the Prophet Esay came vnto him and told him that he must dye This did make him turne himselfe to the wall and weepe and pray to the Lord that if it might stand with his good pleasure that sentence might
be reuersed Then it is not our best safetie at euery time and in euerie case to be remooued hence but vpon some occasion we may ioye with Ionas that longer time is affoorded vs to bethinke our selues This is his exceeding comfort that though the pangs of death were vpon him yet that God once againe brought his life from corruption O Lord my God 20 The onely thing now remaining is the confident appellation which he vseth to the Lord Iehouah ô my God This sheweth a faith beyond faith and a hope beyond hope when he knew that the Lord was angrie and extremely wrathfull at him yet to cling in so to his mercie as to appropriate to himselfe a portion in his maker For what greater insinuation of confidence can there be then by particular application to apprehend Gods mercie to lay hold vpon him as on a father and that not as we say with a reference to the Communion of Saints Our father vvhich art in heauen but my father and my God This hath bene the perfect trust of the faithfull in all ages which hath encouraged them to approch with boldnesse vnto the throne of grace My God my God saith Dauid And thou that art the God of my saluation And Iob I am sure that my Redeemer liueth My spirit saith the Virgin Marie doth reioyce in God my Sauiour My Lord and my God saith Thomas Paule saith of himselfe I liue by faith in the Sonne of God who hath loued me and giuen himselfe for me This true faith doth close with God and incorporateth it selfe into the bodie of the Redeemer 21 And this is it which bringeth comfort vnto the wounded soule and afflicted conscience not that Christ is a Sauiour for what am I the better for that but a Sauiour vnto me That I am one of the adoption reconciled and brought into fauour sealed vp against that day when the quicke and dead shall be iudged my portion is with the Highest mine inheritance with the Saints How could flesh and bloud euer beare the heate of strong temptation without this firme perswasion What is it to my belly that bread is prepared for other vnlesse I be assured that my part is therein What is it to my soule that Christ hath dyed for other vnlesse I know that my sins are washed away in his bloud It may be good for Moses it may be good for Paule or Peter or Iames or Stephen but what is it vnto me It is Meus then and Tuus as Luther did well teach it is my God and thy Sauiour which doth satisfie thirstie consciences There is the ioy of the Spirit when men come to that measure Then it is a blessed doctrine which instilleth that faith into vs and in that if in any thing doth appeare the fruit of the Gospell which is preached in our dayes that people sicke and dying being taught before in their health can giue most diuine words and right admirable speeches in this behalfe whereof I speake sayings full of holy trust and assurance which as it is a thing most comfortable to themselues beyond all gold and treasure which are but as dung and drosse to a man yeelding vp the ghost so it bringeth good meditations vnto the standers by in causing them to acknowledge very euident an plaine arguments of election in the other whom they see to be so possessed with ioy in the holy Ghost and so rapt vp as if they had alreadie one foote within the heauen 22 But it is otherwise with the ignorant they lye groueling vpon the ground and cannot mount vp with the Eagle So is it in that doctrine which the Church of Rome doth maintaine when their people are taught that they must beleeue in generall that some shall go to heauen that some belong to God but to say or thinke that themselues shall be certainely of that number or constantly to hope it that is boldnesse ouermuch that is ouer-weening presumption They are to wish and pray that it may be so with them but yet it appertaineth to thē euermore to doubt because they know not the worthinesse of their merits a most vncomfortable opinion which cannot chuse but distract the heart of a dying man that he must not dare to beleeue with confidence that he shall go to God that Iesus is his Sauiour the pardoner of his faults No maruell if the life and death of such who hearken vnto them be full of sighs and sobs grones and feares and doubts since quietnesse and setled rest cannot be in their hearts They haue a way to walke but what is the end they know not They are sure of their departure but whither they cannot tell A lamentable taking and wherein of necessitie must be small ioy How contrarie hereunto doth Saint Paule speak being iustified by faith we haue peace toward God through our Lord Iesus Christ. How contrarie to this doth Saint Iohn speake in the name of the faithfull we know that we are of God How doth deiected Ionas yet keepe him fast to this tackling when he crieth ô Lord my God 23 And this is the surest anker whereunto a Christian man may possibly know how to trust This is it which in the blastes of aduersity will keepe him fast at the roote which in the waues of temptation will hold him fast by the chinne which in the greatest discomforts and very pangs of death will bring him to life againe To ground himselfe vpon this as on a rocke assured that his God is his father that Iesus is his redeemer that the holy Ghost doth sanctifie him that although he sinne oft-times yet euermore he is forgiuen and albeit he do transgresse dayly yet it is still forgotten that whether he liue or dye yet euer he is the Lords Good father leade vs so by thy most blessed Spirite that we neuer do fall from this But although sinne hange vpon vs as it did vpon the Prophet yet raise vs so by thy loue that laying hold on thy promises and the sweetenesse of thy fauour we may reape eternall life to the which ô blessed Lord bring vs for thine owne Sonne Christ his sake to whom with thee and thy Spirit be laude for euermore THE XIII LECTVRE The chiefe poynts 3. Gods election is sure 4. One argument thereof is to remember the Lord after affliction 6. That cogitation is very comfortable 7. The good and bad do differently remember God 8. The wicked do it with a murmuring 10. Especially in death God is to be thought on 11. Therefore it is good to thinke on him in health 12. Else we shall not be willing to dye 14. Churches are to be vsed reuerently 15. God heareth the prayers of his seruants 17. By vanity is signified euill 19 as Adams fall may therein be comprehended 20. or idolatry 21. or curious crafts and studies 22. or adultery and carnall sinne 23. and ill gotten goods 24. and ambition Ionah 2.7.8 When my soule fainted within
may afterward fight againe as Demosthenes once could say And as Eusebius sheweth many Christians which renounced Christ for the feare of cruell torment returned to him againe and made a good confession Oftentimes saith Cypâ—ian both adulterers and murtherers and drunkards and those vvho are guiltie of all vvickednesse finding occasion of a fight and being conuerted haue deserued to come to a palme of martyrdome How much more then may a weake brother The example of Bishop Cranmer is very well knowne vnto vs who was a great pillar of Gods Church a great light of the Gospell but yet first denied but afterward repented and purged it with teares But as the scholers do oftentimes say more then their maisters so the Cathari and Nouatians who were the Disciples of Nouatus did giue a more bloudy sentence then euer their teacher did For they held that not onely to deny Christ was so haynous but whosoeuer after Baptisme had done any mortall sinne such as we find in the Scripture that death is threatned to was cut off from the Church and hee might haue no portion in the Eucharist or Communion howsoeuer afterward he did behaue himselfe He must stand a man sequestred and excommunicate to the death 9 A hard saying to all men for who is he that sinneth not in that sort since euerie â—â—nne is deadly vnlesse the Lord do pardon it Circumcision was to the Israelites as Baptisme is to the Christians an admission into the flocke and a testification to the conscience of euery beleeuer that he was in Gods fauour but Dauid circumcised was an adulterer and a murtherer yet vpon his true repentance both the Lord and the congregation receiued him to mercy The righteous man sayth Saloman falleth seuen times and riseth againe Whereof although Hierome doth aske if he be iust then hovv falleth he if he fall hovv is he righteous yet he aunswereth himselfe that he looseth not the name of a righteous man because he riseth by repentance And this is the hope of the best for who otherwise should not perish When Acesius a Bishop of the Nouatians at the Nicene Councell did shew Constantine that holy and blessed Emperour the strictnesse of their opinions and how precisely a man must liue without sinne after Baptisme if he would attaine saluation the Emperour maketh him aunswer If this be so Acesius then get thy selfe a ladder and clime alone into heauen giuing his censure of it so that scant any man should be saued if that ground were maintained No maruell if for the comfort of wounded consciences at the first Saint Cyprian and Cornelius Bishop of Rome and Dionysius of Alexandria so hotely did impugne this heresie and after them Chrysostome who so farre did dislike this hard lacing of Nouatus that he spake thus against it If thou haue fallen a thousand times and dost repent thee of it enter into the Church that is if thy repentance bee true I will not seclude thee from the fellowship of Gods children We do teach the selfe same doctrine not to stirre men vp to sinne for that were to fall of presumption vnto which many times God denieth the benefite of repentance but that we may seeke out that which is lost and bind vp that which is broken and raise vp that which is fallen and saue some out of the fire Gods Church is made of sinners Christ Iesus did dye for sinners Our verie Creede doth teach vs that the Communion of Saints and the forgiuenesse of sinnes must be ioyned and go together He who will haue part in the one must haue his fellowship in the other He cannot come to the first but he must tast of the latter We cry to the man lamenting his iniquities as Ambrose writing vpon Luke crieth Let no man distrust let no man being priuie to his old faults despaire of a reward from God God knoweth how to chaunge his sentence if thou know how to change thy fault We testifie with Saint Bernard It seemeth vnto God that he doth more slowly giue pardon to the sinner then it doth vnto the other that he doth receiue it For the mercifull God doth so hasten to acquite the guiltie man from the torment of his conscience as if the suffering of the wretch did more grieue the pitifull God then his owne suffering did the man which is in miserie For he who truly repenteth and earnestly sorroweth without doubt without delay shall receiue a pardon Let the weake then raise vp his heart and strengthen his feeble knees Sinners which call for grace do belong to the adoption Noe swarued and yet he was a Patriarke Lot fell yet he is said by Saint Peter to haue had a righteous soule Peter himselfe had a guiltie conscience and yet was a great Apostle Ionas became a mightie trespasser and yet still remained the Lords Prophet It was Gods gracious bountie whose fauour originally euer commeth for nothing but being once setled it is not lost for a little And thus haue you his loue both to Niniue and to Ionas 10 There is yet another matter which in this former verse is worthie of consideration that the word of the Lord is said here to come to Ionas The Creatour of all things might haue vsed many other wayes to reclaime that offending citie In old time he did call and warne men by visions and by dreames as it is in Iob or his benefits might haue allured or if those had but choked and pampered them vp with fatnesse his rods might haue beat them to it famine might breede remorse or the sword of the enemie or some deuouring pestilence Or if he would saue all their liues such iudgements might haue frighted them as were shewed at Hierusalem at the last destruction of it For as we find in Iosephus a Comete like to a sword did long hang ouer the citie and troupes of armed men were seene to fight in the aire What terrour would this haue wrought what heart would not this haue rented and driuen it into mourning and calling to God for pardon But the great Lord who in his wisedome hath ordained another way as the ordinarie course to winne men to himselfe that is by his most precious word and his ministerie doth here commend this his ordinance for the instrument of their good He hath made this word more sharpe then is any two edged sword This is it which doth pierce the marrow and breake the bones in sunder which entreth into the diuision of the soule and of the spirit of the heart and of the reines which wresteth sighs from the mind and wringeth teares from the eyes and maketh a whole man as it were to melt and dissolue into water This is it to which especially he hath promised to giue a blessing that it shall not returne in vaine but as the rayne commeth downe and the snow from heauen and returneth not thither but
which containeth thrise fiftie Psalmes the second our Ladies Psalter and containeth thrise fiftie Aues and the third is Iesus Psalter containing fifteene petitions which being ten times repeated do make in all thrise fiftie And indeede sutable hereunto there are fifteene Petitions where Iesu Iesu Iesu mercie is ten times word for word to be repeated in the beginnings of them And if you faile in the compt the deuotion is not perfect What is it to put superstition in numbers if this be not And where are the people kept in bondage and blindnesse of darkenesse and grosse errour if it be not in these toyes Iesus Christ open the heart of many of our nation but especially of that sex◠which is the weaker vessell that at the last they may shake off this yoke of vanitie and superstition 6 Of the third kind who offend rather in curiositie and do not deserue to be reprooued so sharply as those two other sorts are some that fault in Diuinitie and some other in other matters In Diuinitie such as if they can catch any nūber in a peece of Scripture which is to be intreated of their people aboue all things shall haue that for a note either in their preaching or writings as if there were more in that then in the best text of the Bible yea such mysteries and such secrets as that he is scant a Christian man who doth not vnderstand them or at the least he is but a simple fellow and fit to be despised As for example sake there is much in the number of seuen The seuenth day in the creation was the day wherein the Lord did rest the seuenth day was the Sabboth of the Iewes at Hiericho seuen Priests did take seuen trumpets of Rammes hornes and they went seuen dayes about and the seuenth day seuen times and the Deacons were seuen whom the Apostles chose and Iohn wrote to the seuen Churches where seuen starres and seuen candlesticks are mentioned in like manner And this is vrged without any reason which may imply fruit of doctrine or sound edification or without any necessitie of the place and yet is pursued and followed more then if it were an Article of the faith as if the whole lawe and the Prophets and the greatest meanes of comming to saluation consisted in such points as these and in the ripping vp of Genealogies It is good to be wise but yet be wise to sobrietie Not so much trickes of our owne wit and the glorifying of our selues is to be respected of vs as an vpright zeale to magnifie our eternall and fearefull maker But for the matter it selfe how many numbers be there which might be amplified in such sort As for two to say the two tables wrought by the finger of God the two Testaments old and new the two persons in Christ the Diuinitie and the manhood the two parts of a man the bodie and the soule For three the blessed Trinitie and the three who came to Abraham For foure the foure beastes in Daniel the foure wheeles in Ezechiel the foure Euangelistes in the new Testament For fiue the fiue bookes of Moses the fiue sences the fiue wise virgins This may be said for ten and twelue and thirtie and fiftie and many more whom I follow not lest I my selfe may iustly be reprooued in this my reproofe of other Yet I giue a tast by the way of the Non sequitur of the matter In cases of other nature those come within this compasse who do tye the euent of things to Pythagorean numbers as the chaunges of states and kingdomes to the ends of seuen yeares and of nine yeares being multiplied vp and downe Herein Bodine in his Methode of Historie is too free howsoeuer for other matters of inuention and good wit scant thought of before his time his industrie is praise-worthie Now if any should make a booke containing nothing else but examples of some one number and seruing in truth to no purpose that should neede no other censure but to be termed the fruite of an idle wit From which I would that our countreymen at last would keepe their hands cleane leauing iudgement and iudicious workes to our nation for which some Critickes will say that we are fit by the stayednesse of our constitution and robustiousnesse of nature but trickes to the Italians who suppose that their wits more abound Thus let numbers of curiositie of superstition and of sanctitie be quite remooued and separated from vs. 7 Yet being kept in measure they haue their good and profitable vse As first where the word of God doth apply them directly and apparantly to any purpose we may also do the like and amplifie them so farre as they serue naturally to expresse the text in question In the last of the Reuelation there is speech of the tree of life which is said to beare twelue fruites and to giue fruite euery moneth and that the leaues thereof do heale all kinds of diseases Here to speake of the twelue moneths of the yeare and of twelue fruites is fitly to the matter Yea to note that euery moneth in the yeare hath seuerall pleasures and that some things are more seasonable in one moneth then in another as some fishes are for speciall times and fruites in hotter countreys where the daintie orchards are are more kindly at set seasons And moreouer that many diseases do follow termes of the yeare but yet that by the tree of life there is prouision made for all these matters in the diuersitie of whose good things the various ioyes of heauen are painted out vnto vs and that nothing is conuenient for heauen but there it is to be had all this is consonant to the place and both for the matter and number it may be soberly discoursed Where there is an vse which is not forced and wrested there the Spirit of God is so farre off from forbidding vs to apply numbers and make ou◠benefite by them that it giueth vs the example In the beginning of Saint Matthewes Gospell in shewing the discent from Abraham to Christ are named fourteene generations and then fourteene generations and so againe the third time but that is partly to helpe memorie but most of all to note the times which were of fame as that of Dauid and the other of the captiuitie In such cases as are manifestly offered by the text which is in hand we may very well stand on numbers Secondly I do not thinke but we may also apply them when we vse some allusion which is consonant and agreeable to the analogie of faith or in which there is reason to thinke in the true feare of God that the Lord himselfe had a reference to such matters Iosephus doth expound the seuen candles which did burne in the Candlesticke in the Tabernacle to signifie the seuen planets and the twelue loaues of shew-bread to note the twelue signes of the Zodiacke Here if we beleeue the assertion
bodie If the bodie stand vpright the shadow is vpright also But maruell not if the shadow do double if the body be first crooked Thy fals draw other on with them For thy callings sake and for his sake whose marke is stamped in thy forehead haue an eye vnto thy wayes But aboue all follow him in this He sitteth on high in the heauen there is no earthinesse with him let not thy celestiall spirit be fixed vpon the earth and lye groueling on the ground Thy outward man and thy inward man and all thy conuersation must be aboue in heauen not in scraping or in scratching as if thou hadst a perpetuall habitation in this world How shall other by thy example learne to contemne that world which thou with greedinesse doest embrace and shewest thy selfe as if thou hadst lost much time at thy studie in the Vniuersitie and wast now to recouer it with a preposterous emulation of the fiercest hungriest worldlings There is nothing farther from heauen then this there is nothing more vnlike to thy maker It is noted that those creatures which are nearest the earth take most care to get store those which are more remote are lesse busied but those who liue next the heauen haue their hearts least set vpon it What hoordeth like the Emet or pismire which is an earthy thing and dwelling thereupon But the birds of the ayre who flye next to the heauen as Christ himselfe doth teach do neither sow nor reape nor carie into the barne Let thy meditations cary thee much higher then their wings that although thou liue with men yet thy loue may be with God So thy celestiall contemplation thy pastourlike conuersation thy knowledge fit for a teacher may shew that thou art one of them by whom the Lord doth speake and that title shall be giuen thee And so much for the Minister 9 But the people are also taught from hence to yeeld an vnfained reuerence to their pastors and preachers yea although they be such as haue their infirmities For who had more then Ionas and yet his speech is called Gods speech the beleeuing of his words the beleeuing of the Lord. The profite which is brought by the true Pastours to their congregations their maister who doth send them and the message which they bring do deserue to be well regarded It is more then men do accompt it to seeke out what goeth astray to comfort the broken hearted to leade in the way of peace to feede that with spirituall foode which otherwise would perish To ouerturne the strong holds of Satan and of sinne is that which is worth the receiuing But as Origene once said as the wals of Hierico fell downe by nothing but by the trumpets of the Priests so be the strong holds of Satan ouerthrowne by nothing but by the doctrine of good teachers These come from the immortall Lord who is a iealous God and a terrible and doth hold the disgrace done to his Ministers as a disgrace offered to himselfe and punisheth it accordingly A Christian captaine could once say to Valens the Emperour that he lost a victorie for abusing of Gods ministers and they saith he who fight against the Lord do prosper in nothing Moreouer the message which they bring is the true peace of conscience and ioy in the holy Ghost A treasure beyond all treasures and although they be but earthen vessels and therefore brittle who bring it yet for the treasures sake they should be well intreated How do they keepe this lesson who accompt it part of their happinesse if with facilitie they may abuse and with promptnesse depraue those whom in truth they shold honour for so the Apostle speaketh and yet they will be Christians and men knowne for religion Thou who so doest art an vnhappie man thou wrongest thy self and knowest it not Heare what Saint Cyprian saith vnto thee Thou art angrie with him who laboureth to turne away the wrath of God from thee thou threatnest him who intreateth the mercie of God for thee who feeleth that wound of thine which thou thy selfe doest not feele who powreth out those teares for thee which thou thy selfe perhaps doest not powre out for thus the true Pastour doth I may adde Thou wicked heart why doest thou render him so ill thankes for his labour Commest thou not vnto his Church by that meanes thou debarrest thy selfe from the communion of Gods saints Doest thou come ioynest not with him in prayer and inuocation then thou secludest thy selfe from a multitude of men who call vpon the Lord and it is better that thou hadst beene absent for now thou condemnest thy selfe for coming and yet refusing But thou prayest ioyntly with thy Pastour then let Saint Chrysostome speake vnto thee when he saith peace be to you as we say in our Liturgie the Lord be with you thou answerest with thy spirit for in old time they replyed so also as we do now Thus thou sayest in the Church and as soone as thou art come out thou impugnest him thou despisest him thou reuilest him and priuily with a thousand reproches thou rentest him and tearest him what a peace is this to his spirit which thou doest wish vnto him Take heede and be aduised ô you sonnes of men lest despising those whom your God fauoureth you purchase his high displeasure Learne of the Gentiles of Niniue to thinke of God in his messengers and by the visible creature to remember the inuisible Lord and to respect them both the Eternall for himselfe the other with a reference because he commeth from him 10 Now to returne to my Prophet by him speaking from God and by God sending his word his louing moouing word faith is wrought in the Niniuites according to that of the Apostle Saint Paule that faith is by hearing and hearing by the word of God They by a terrour apprehend the conscience of their sinnes and imagine that without repentance destruction and vnauoidable desolation is at their doores See the straunge effect of one sermon and the doctrine of one day for so I do still take it among a forlorne people The stonie heart is made like waxe the flintie mind is made soft But how strange a worke is this where something was expected there nothing is to be found and where nothing was looked for there it commeth in great abundance There is more treasure in a wildernesse then in the treasure house He had long preached to the Israelites and Israel was not Israel but a disobedient nation Gods people were now become a Niniue or a Babylō in comparison of that which they should haue bene He commeth among the Niniuites and there he findeth more of Israel then he did in his own countrey The circumcision scorneth and the vncircumcised are made heires of the promises The children prooue to be rebels and the rebels are chaunged into children So in the time of our Sauiour the
to bend our knees to cast vp our eyes to lift our hands to heauen to beate our breasts or the like yea also with contention of spirit and extention of voyce if time and place serue to releeue our own infirmitie But this in synceritie as before God and without fained hypocrisie which is a double wickednesse 11 There may also be a second vse of this praying aloude Seneca a heathen man and yet as if seemeth religious in his Ethnicke superstition doth complaine in this manner What a madnesse is this in men They do whisper vnto their Gods most fi lt hie requests and if a man do hearken vnto them they will bold their peace and what they would not haue a man know that they tell to God This custome hath preuailed among Christians that leude men will not feare to aske leude things in their prayers the wanton to speed in his wantonnesse the deceiuer in his bargaines the oppressour in his oppressions Loud crying doth meete with this for although we dread not God yet we stand in feare of men The Pythagoreans in old time did obserue this well enough of whom Clemens Alexandrinus doth write thus What do the Pythagoreans meane when they bid men crye aloud Not as I thinke that they imagined that God would not heare such as speake secretly but because they would haue the prayers of men iust which they should not feare to vtter yea although men did know it It is certainely a preposterous course more to respect men who stand by then the Lord before whom they stand but since the folly of men is such it is to be met with in his kind He alluded well to this who although he spake not of loud crying yet gaue counsell that we should so speake to men as if God did alwaies heare vs that is our talke should be with sobrietie and wisedome and so speake to God as if men did euer heare vs that is reuerently and religiously Now as this doth teach vs something so I am rather of that mind for the king of Niniue that he commaunded his by Proclamation to crye stongly vpon God that by their importunitie and vehement exclamation the Lord might be more mooued to take mercie vpon them When the heare of the heart within shall breake foorth into the toung it is so much the more forcible Let them turne from their euill way 12 There is yet a third thing to be found in this Proclamation that besides fasting and prayer there should be a reformation in manners and life Let euery man turne from his euill way and from the wickednesse that is in their hands That which our English readeth wickednesse is by other most fitly translated violence or robberie or rapine but Hierome and the Septuagint haue iniquitie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where one kind of sin is put in the place of all the rest that one sinne for all his fellowes either because that fault did much abound in Niniue I meane rapine and oppression toward those who were their subiects or toward the poore among them or because in generall all men who know not the Lord are soone taken in that crime as from some words of Saint Paule may not vnfitly be gathered where after that he hath exhorted them to possesse their vessels in holinesse not in the lust of concupiscence as the Gentils who know not God he doth name this as a speciall fruit of their not knowing God dehorting them from it that no man oppresse or deceiue his brother in any thing But to leaue this particular the doctrine is that euery man who wil turne to the Lord must hate euill and flye wickednesse because the Lord requireth that as a certaine signe of repentance When Salomon consecrating the Temple made his prayer he speaketh to God on this manner When the heauen shall be shut vp and there shall be no raine because they haue sinned against thee and they shall pray in this place and shall confesse thy name and turne from their sinne when thou doest afflict them then heare thou in heauen The condition is put in that they must turne from their sinne So in the Prophet Ieremy O Israel if thou returne returne to me saith the Lord and if thou put away thine abominations out of my sight then shalt thou not remooue It was the preaching of Iohn the Baptist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 repent be wiser chaunge your minds or amend and alter you liues for the kingdome of heauen is at hand So the Apostle Peter Amend your liues and returne that your sinnes may be put away And this putting off of sinne this laying away of the old man is that which maketh vs apt to walk the wayes of the Lord. For doing so we are expedite and nimble to tread his paths to do as he doth commaund vs to go whither he biddeth vs. But the packe of sinne is so heauie that we cannot choose but double vnder it and sinke and fall Then why do we not make hast to be freed from this burthen If men as Saint Austen speaketh should beare any heauy load of wood or stone or the like yea if it were something gainefull of wine or corne or money they would hasten to put that off But they beare a greater loade of sinne and make no speede to be freed from it But the retaining of this so long doth in the end so tire out the conscience that it fainteth vnder the burthen as appeareth too often when in sicknesse otherwise the minds of some are so distracted that they tremble dread much lest it be too late to cry for mercy They haue giuen way to malice and haue heaped euill vpon euill and are so incorporated into it that they cannot in theÌ„selues see any way of separation Yet let not such men despaire for Gods mercy is infinite and if a sentence were gone out against such yet as Saint Ambrose writeth in his Commentarie on Saint Luke God knoweth how to change his sentence if thou knovv hovv to amemd thy fault But the fault at last must be amended and the former offences vnlearned and forgotten else it is no good repentance For he alone doth shew himselfe worthily penitent who so deploreth euils past that he doth â—not againe commit the same afterward for he who bewaileth sinne and afterward committeth that sinne is as if he were washed a raw or vndried bricke where the more he rubbeth it in washing the more dirt he doth make Whosoeuer then commeth to God who is a God of pure eyes must know that it is his will that first he depart from euill 13 And if this be not done then all externall workes are but hypocriticall shewes thy prayer is but hypocrisie for thou faiest to God thy will be done and yet thou doest thine owne Thy sackcloth is but a couer of a counterfeit and deceiuer Without a whited sepulchre within full of
out Kings make Samgar with an Oxe-goade destroy sixe hundred Philistines and Samson a thousand of them with the iaw-bone of an Asse What could more sound out his honour then the ouerturning of Hierico with trumpets made of rammes hornes and the victorie of Gedeon vpon the Madianites or the slaying of Goliah with a sling and a stone It had bene lesse fame to haue brought great things about with great and mightie meanes In like sort it demonstrateth his powerfull abilitie that he can so dispose of his creatures as that a Cocke should fright a Lion a mouse trouble an Elephant an Ichneumon a little serpent destroy a huge and bigge Crocodile Euen so in the course of the Gospell it declared Gods owne finger when fishers conuerted Oratours and poore men perswaded Kings And so it singeth out his saluation that sinners should bring home sinners and faultie persons men blame-worthie As it was answered to Paule complaining of his weaknesse My grace is sufficient for thee for my power is made perfect by weaknesse so where the grace and strength of God do accompanie the toungs of sinners in proclaiming forth his word they shall preuaile and prosper albeit not for the commers cause yet for the senders sake Though it be but an earthen vessell which containeth that which is brought yet because there is treasure in it some there be which shall receiue it This is no protection for sinne for all faults are worthie blame but especially in the Minister in whome all things are conspicuous like spots in the fairest garment If the eye be darke what shall see if the guide be blind who shall leade if he who should shine for puritie be impure beyond other men who shall profite by good example You are a citie set on an hill Yet this is a iust defence against our runagates Seminarie priests of Rome who take occasion by reason of some slippes in our Cleargie defects in our ministerie which yet may easily be demonstrated to be greater at this time in their Papacie and in the highest of their Hierarchie their owne stories resound them to haue bene exceeding filthie to vnder-mine any good opinion of our religion in the simple But this is practised most of all to the ignorant and to silly women into whose houses they creepe and leade them captiue being laden with sinnes and led with diuerse lustes In like sort it is an answere to Atheists and hypocrites liuing among vs who to couer their oppression their auarice and extortion pretend it to be no fault to detaine and hold away any thing from men so culpable by that meanes requiring that their brethren the Preachers of the word should be no lesse theÌ„ Saints when they themselues who require it are most farre off from all sanctified and good things God hath made his Pastours and Ministers of like mould with other men he expecteth it not neither can it be that they should liue here like Angels for this is the way and not the countrie yet by his Spirit he keepeth his seruants from delighting and persisting in grosse sinnes and he couereth their errours and imputeth them not vnto them But he pinneth not the veritie of his doctrine vpon men As Moses chaire was Moses chaire when the Pharisees did sit in as Christs faith was the assured faith although the traitour Iudas might preach it and the Prophecie was Gods message when weake Ionas did carie it so the Gospell is the Gospell when ignorant men and young men and sinfull men do deliuer it Blessed be the God of our hope who will not haue vs depend on flesh or bloud or man but on his assured truth and his ouer-ruling Spirit God guide vs so by his grace that by the good we may learne good and by the euill to flye from euill that so we may be fit members of that body whereof his Sonne is the true and liuing head to both whom and to the holy Ghost the Trinitie in Vnitie be honour for euermore THE XXX LECTVRE The chiefe poynts 3. Parables may be vsed 4. and all good eloquence by the Minister 6. Ionahs words returned vpon himselfe 7. The comparison betweene God and Ionah 8. The multitude of inhabitants in Niniue 9. with whom the gourd was not to be ballanced 10. God prouideth blessings for man without his labour 11. Gods care ouer infants and all beasts 12. Therefore parents should not be too carefull 13. Ionas at length yeeldeth 14. The conclusion of the Prophecie ioyned with exhortation Ionah 4.10.11 Then said the Lord thou hast had pittie on the gourd for the which thou hast not laboured neither madest it grow which came vp in a night and perished in a night And should not I spare Niniue that great city wherein are sixe score thousand persons that cannot discerne betweene their right hand and their left hand and also much cattâ—ll IN that which goeth before the intemperate furie and vnaduised rashnesse of the Prophet hath bene such that he is readie to take an occasion of chiding with the Lord vpon a most trifling cause euen the withering of a gourd And being reprooued for it not by his fellow seruant but by his maisters owne mouth he standeth on his owne iustification that he did well to be angry yea if it were to the death In which moode if he had departed his iudgement now was so peruerted that he would haue thought that he had had a great hand vpon God that he himselfe had bene in the right and the Lord had bene to blame because he had not fitted his fancie But the inconceiuable wisedome of the euerlasting Father doth so farre ouermatch him that where he expected victorie although it were but in words and thoughts he is taken at that aduantage that he is for euer put to silence in this matter For his owne speech is so fitly returned vpon himselfe and he is so caught and entangled in the words of his owne mouth that he is enforced to yeeld a greater thing then that whereof the present question was and that is concerning Niniue that since iustice was pleased to turne it selfe into mercie and seueritie into clemencie nothing was done vniustly or vnbeseeming him who is the rule of truth For that was it which the Prophets maister in this place especially did ayme at that his seruant shold be satisfied and thereby all the world be aduertised to the full that the holy one of Israel is delighted to shew pittie vpon the sonnes of men that where repentance ascendeth from the earth to the heauen there a pardon will come downe from the Highest vpon his creatures that Niniue it selfe whose sinnes did crye for vengeance vpon submission and conuersion should be spared from destruction So that mankind in generall taking notice of such grace and propensenesse vnto clemencie might confesse that the Lord is gracious and that his mercie endureth for euer 2 But to make this the more
not beate the ayre nor spend our spirits in vaine but although our selues be weake yet we shall make others strong and although we our selues be poore yet we shall make others rich We shall raze the forts of ignorance and ouerturne the holds of sinne we shall bring persons and places as stubborne and as stoute as euer was mightie Niniue to compunction and remorse to fasting and lamentation For the force of that word is great which commeth from the most high maiestie of the Almightie and especially when it is vttered with a zeale which is mixed with sober discretion and when Gods honour is principally shot at by the speaker and his omnipotencie is throughly sollicited with frequent and holy prayer to giue a blessing to the labour And what a ioy is it to be an instrument not contemptible in sauing the soules of men to haue had a peece of a finger in completing that for which Christ Iesus came from heauen Lord send vs thy best direction that we may make conscience of our calling that nothing do abash vs or detaine vs in the exercise of our vocation but that with an vpright foote we may crosse the way of this pilgrimage that so we may be admitted to raigne with thy Sonne Christ Iesus to whom with thee and the euerlasting Spirit be glory and praise eternall Soli Deo honor To the Reader CHRISTIAN Reader hauing learned this lesson that a Minister of the Gospell is to do good in and to the Church of Christ so farrefoorth as possibly he may while he liueth in this world I do not refuse to publish to the view of many men these small labours of mine that either learned or vnlearned may reape some profite from them And if in the perusing of them thou do find either directly or by circumstance that mention is made of some things which were done or suffered now some yeares past vnderstand it for a truth that I first aduentured on the handling of this Prophecie in the yeare 1594 and brought it to an end in 99. For it is the manner of our Vniuersitie that no one man doth continually keepe and reade our English Lectures or Sermons as it is in diuerse other charges in this Realme but in as much as there be among vs many who are furnished with great gifts and graces from aboue our exercises here are supplied by sundry persons who when they haue perfourmed any of these solemne ones are not immediatly called againe but haue a conuenient space left to employ their talent in other Churches of the citie or countrie adioyning or in their priuate Colledges or where else it pleaseth God to offer them oportunitie But among other the most holy religious and fruitfull exercises in our assembly there is none in my opinion more honorable to the Almightie nor more profitable to our brethren among vs then those Lectures which with solemnitie are kept both winter and sommer on the thursday mornings early where sometimes before day-light the praises of God are by preaching sounded out in the great congregation For there euen on the working dayes not only our youth which are sent hither for good education from most places of this land are trained vp in the knowledge of godlinesse which maketh them afterward the more deuoutly able to do seruice and performe a dutie in Church and common-wealth but the elder and strongest sort by fresh and various remembrances are quickened to go forward in the way of righteousnesse the weak are comforted the straying are recalled the obstinate are conuinced and all kinds of men which will repaire thither are duly instructed It were great pittie therefore but that the reuerend godly Vice-chauncellers and chiefe gouernours of this body shold from time to time take faithfull care to perpetuate this holy seruice and businesse by stirring vp the spirits of many of their brethren with alacritie and chearefulnesse to continue this free-will offering to the Lord which he himselfe certainly will requite and alreadie in his mercie hath not left vnrewarded in many of them who haue taken paines this way There is no man that in the end loseth but gaineth by the true seruice of our Almightie maker In the turnes of this voluntarie Lecture haue the most part of these Sermons vpon Ionas bene preached which hath bene the cause that I haue bene forced to be so long in perfecting and consummating this worke But yet now that I am resolued to communicate it farther I thinke it not vnfit therein to recount those things which vpon speciall occasions of the times had their first and most direct vse before in as much as I haue warrant thereof by examples of holy Scripture where there be plentifully recorded to vs matters past and in the Sermons and Homilies of the auncient Fathers of the Primitiue Church we at this day reade mētion made of famines or pestilences or warres or vnseasonable weather or such other like occurrents from which great vtilitie may now be reaped as to teach the people for their comfort in miserie or warning in prosperitie that God dealeth by men in this age as in former times and the Minister that he shold not be blind but quick-sighted to make application to his auditorie of such benefites or punishments as are sensibly represented to his congregation The same or the like vse we may make of hearing that good or euill which lately before befell our selues or our brethren that so by things which are past as well as by the present Gods name may be glorified and our consciences religiously edified As for the most part of matters handled here be they either exhortations or applications or doctrines or refutations of any opinions Popish or otherwise erronious they haue their perpetuall commoditie and somewhat may euermore be sucked out of them In the reuoluing whereof if any man shall take profite I shall be right glad and account it a blessing of God on me that he maketh my weaknesse the meanes and instrument to build any thing be it but little in his spirituall house The Lord direct vs aright in our knowledge and vnderstanding the Lord guide our waies that we may euermore walke in his feare that passing ouer the dayes of this pilgrimage with comfort we may in the end dwell in ioyfull and euerlasting habitations Amen FINIS Hieron ad Paulinum Breues pariter longas breues in verbis longas in sententijs Luk. 11.32 Math. 12.40 Hieron in Ion. 1.3 Ionas propheta non absque periculo interpretantis totus referri ad Dominum poterit 2. Reg. 14.25 1. Reg. 17.17 Lyra in Ion. 1. Isidor in 7. Etimolog Epiphan de vitis Prophe Hieron in Praefat. in lib. Ion. In vulgata editione Iosuah 19.13 Luk. 4.25.27 1. Reg. 17 9. Ioseph Anti. lib. 8.9 Iosua 19 28. 1. Reg. 17.24 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vide Hieron in Proaemio commētarij in Ionam Epiphanius Haeresi 29. Lodou Viues de Veritate fidei lib. 3. Lyra in Ion. 1.