the Lord Deut. 32. kill and make alive I wound I heal Therefore he wils us to call upon him in the time of trouble and he will deliver us Deut. 32.32 For howsoever by our sins we provoke him to afflict us yet if we call upon him for mercy and grace he hath an ear to hear us an eye to behold us a heart to pity us and an hand to help us And thus much concerning the first point the Agēt or party afflicting That it is God that chastens I come now to the second namely The Patient or party afflicted the beloved of God he chastens whom he loves Doct. God though he love whatsoever he hath made yet among all his creatures he loves man best and among men especially those who are of the houshold of faith which is his Church These he loves with an everlasting love he hath given his only Son for their redemption and hath adopted them in Christ Jesus to be his children And yet howsoever he loves them so dearly yet many times he doth afflict and chasten them for so we see here whom he loves he chastens The Doctrine that we may gather from hence is this That they who are in the love and favour of God are neverthelesse afflicted In the 11th of Saint John Behold Lord John 11.3 he whom thou lovest is sick Christ loved Lazarus and yet did not free and exempt him from sicknesse Dan. 9.23 Daniel was greatly beloved of God as the Angell Gabriel told him yet Daniel was cast into the Lions den The Virgine Mary was freely beloved of God as the same Gabriel told her Luke 1. yet a sword was to pierce through her heart Luke 1.28 Luke 2.35 1 Sam. 13.14 Job 1.1 as old Simeon prophesied David was a man according to Gods own heart yet David was often and many wayes afflicted Job was a just and an upright man yet Job was extraordinarily afflicted Saint Paul was a chosen vessel of God yet after he was converted his whole life was nothing but a continued affliction In a word Acts 9.15 all the Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles and all the beloved children of God even from the beginning of the world to this present time have suffered affliction Therefore Christ saith Revel 3. As many as I love Revel 3.19 I rebuke and chasten Read over the Scriptures and ye see examples hereof almost in every leafe Gen. 39.20 In one place ye shall see Joseph cast into the dungeon Dan. 3.20 in another the three children into a fiery furnace 1 King 22.27 here ye shall see Michea fed with the bread of affliction there David washing his couch with tears in one place ye shall see Steven stoned to death Psal 6.6 in another ye shall finde John the Baptist beheaded Acts 7.59 To be short as it was said of Rome heretofore Mark 6.27 that a man could not step into any part thereof but he should tread upon a Martyre so a man can hardly read any part of the Scripture but he shall light upon the affliction of the children of God either one or other affliction being common to every one of them and more common then any thing The floud that overspred the whole face of the earth in the days of Noah was common generall yet eight persons ye know were freed frō the flood Gen. 6.18 preserved in the Ark Death is more cómon general then the flood Gen. 5.24 seizing upon the whole of-spring of Adam and yet two persons Enoch and Elias have been freed from death a King 2.,11 and were taken up into heaven while they were living upon the earth Sin is more common and generall then death and yet one person even Christ and he alone was free from sin but affliction is more generall then any of them all which hath lighted upon all men without any exception for even Christ himself though he were free from sin Esay 53.3 yet he was vir dolorum as the Prophet Esay calls him a man of sorrows as being subject through the whole course of his life to much sorrow affliction For this is the condition of all Gods children that first they must wear a crown of thorns before they receive a crown of glory first they must suffer with Christ in this life before they reign with him in the life to come Therefore Christ wills us if we will be his disciples to take up his crosse every day Acts 14. and follow him And the Apostle tels us That through many afflictions we must enter into the Kingdom of heaven Vse 1 The use to be made hereof is two-fold First Seeing Goddeth visit his own children with the rod of affliction then much lesse shall the wicked escape Gods judgements if God chasten the godly whom he loves and is loved of them much lesse will he spare his enemies those that hate him Prov. 11.31 Therefore Solomon Proverbs 1◠Behold the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth much more the wicked and the sinner And therefore Peter 1 Epist 4. Chapter If judgement saith he 1 Peter 4.17.18 first begin at us what shall the end of them be that obey not the Gospel and if the righteous scarcely be saved where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear For if God chasten the one much lesse out of doubt will he spare the other You will say but it is ordinarily seen in the World that the wicked are not subject to the like afflictions that the godly are Their houses as Job in his 21. Chapt. Job 21.9 saith of the wicked are peaceable without fear and the rod of God is not upon them and as the Prophet David saith of the ungodly they prosper in all their wayes and flourish like a green bay-tree It is true indeed and cannot be denied that the godly many times do suffer in this World more crosses and afflictions then the wicked but therefore we must remember that the punishment of the wicked is kept and reserved till the World to come Lazarus was farre more afflicted in this life that lay full of sores at the rich mans gates and would have been glad of a morsell of bread then the rich man was that fared so sumptuously and lived in pleasure but therefore what saith Abraham to the rich man Sonne saith he Luke 15.25 remember that then in thy life-time receivedst thy good things and Lazarus evill but now is he comforted and thou art tormented Whensoever therefore we see the godly to live in affliction and misery and the wicked in prosperity and hearts-ease yet it need not trouble us because there will come a time when the wicked shall be punisht and the godly comforted When the godly shall have all their teares wiped from their eyes Revel 7.17 and the wicked shall suffer Gods wrath and vengeance for if God afflict and chasten such as he loves much lesse
best counsel which he could give them to leave their unjust and unlawfull exactions because this was the vice which was most ordinary among them in regard whereof the Publicans were alwayes had among the Jews in the greatest disgrace of all others And therefore the Pharisees Mat. 9. accused our Saviour unto his Disciples for eating with Publicans Mat. 9.11 Why eates say they your Master with Publicans and sinners as thinking the Publicans to be so vile persons that it was a disgrace for any honest man to be in company with them And our Saviour himselfe Mat. 18. speaking of such a man as having trespassed against his brother and done him wrong and yet will not be wonne by fair means or foule neither by private or publick admonition Let such a man saith he be unto thee as a Publican or Heathen Mat. 18.17 Noting thereby that such a man is incorrigible and his case desperate and therefore that there is no more hope to be conceived of him then there is of a Publican And Matth. 21. reproving the chief Priests and the Elders for their great unbelief and disobedience he tels them That even the Publicans and the harlots should go before them into the Kingdom of God Mat. 21.31 shewing them thereby that there was small hope for them to be admitted into Heaven when the most notorious sinners even Publicans and harlots should take place before them Thus the name of a Publican is a name of disgrace for they seldome ye see appear in the Book of God but they come shackled together with desperate persons somtime with sinners somtime with harlots and somtime again with heathen or infidels But Zacheus here was not onely a Publican but the chiefe among them so that if the Publicans were such notorious sinners then what was he that was the chiefe of the Publicans And therefore the people had so bad an opinion of him that though they saw how earnestly he desired to see Christ for which they might have thought the better of him yet they murmured when our Saviour went into his house because he would lodge with so sinfull a man And yet Zacheus though he be the chiefe of the Publicans and a man reputed to be so wicked yet it is he that is here converted by Christ and brings forth such fruit of his conversion And from hence we may learn two speciall Lessons First To admire Gods infinite power who is able to make us new creatures though we be never so wicked and to restore us again to his own Image It is said of Apelles an excellent painter that having made an exquisite picture it was afterwards by chance so strangely defaced that no man was able to repair the same but only Apelles himselfe that made it And thus man having lost the Image of God wherein God created him God only is able to renue the same and by casting us again as it were into a new mould to make us the Sons of the living God If a man should make any curious work though the matter whereof he made it were either gold or silver yet we would like his workmanship and commend him for it but if he should take the drosse thereof and to shew his cunning should make as exquisite a piece of work as the former then we would have him in admiration But God even of the scum as it were of the people even of those that of all other are the vilest of sinners he makes singular instruments of his own glory and inables them to bring forth excellent fruits by converting them to grace as he did here Zacheus which may teach us to admire his infinite power Secondly Seeing Zacheus is here converted it may teach us neither to judge rashly of others nor to despaire of our selves though we have been never so hainous sinners For who can despair of Gods mercy which extends it self even to those that are Publicans The whole Scripture is written for our instruction and there is not so much as one example in the whole Book of God but a man may make excellent use of it if he will apply it unto himselfe For to what end are there set down in the Scripture so many examples of Gods wonderfull mercies to grievous sinners but that we might learn not to despair of mercy by applying these examples unto our selves When we read of Zacheus here that though he were a Publican and a grievous sinner yet as soon as he had a desire to see Christ and sought for grace Christ called him unto him and offered him grace are we not to make this use hereof that how lewdly soever we have lived herecofore yet if we have a desire to entertain Christ in our hearts he will offer himselfe unto us as he did to Zacheus When we read of the Publican in the former Chapter who being truely humbled with the sight of his sins went into the Temple and prayed unto God O God be mercifull to me a sinner and that he went away justified are we not to make this use thereof that if we will humble our selves and acknowledge our sin God will likewise forgive us as he forgave that Publican In a word vvhen vve read of the young unthrift in the Gospell who though he had left his Father and his Countrey though he had spent his patrimony and that very lewdly yet after that he repented and returned to his Father his Father went out to meet him and when he saw him he was so joyfull for his Sons return that he never expostulated vvhy he had left him he never demanded hovv he had spent his portion but forgetting all his former levvd behaviour he entertained him as gladly as if he had never offended him are vve not to make this use thereof that though we have run riot with the Prodigal and lived never so levvdly yet if vve repent and return unto God he vvill receive us into favour as he did this Prodigall For these things are written for our instruction that we might apply the same to our selves and finde comfort in them It vvas a custome among some of the Heathen that vvhen any man vvas cured of any dangerous disease he vvent into the Temple of Aesculapius and there he registred his name and disease and the means whereby he was restored to his health and the reason of this custome among them was this that if any man fell afterwards into the like disease he might there finde the means which he was to use for his recovery And thus have Gods Secretaries the pen-men of the Scriptures set down in the Book of God many severall examples of such as have been hainous and notorious sinners to the intent that we observing both how they fell and were aftervvards restored finding mercy through their unfeigned repentance might learn by their examples not to despair of mercy And therefore to conclude the first point when soever thou art ready to despair of Gods mercy through the
that it vvas not for him to relieve them all the Evangelist ansvvers that there vvas but one If he reply again that though there vvas but one yet he vvas such a one as needed not to have begged but vvas able enough to have laboured for his living the Evangelist answers That he could not labour for he was full of sores If he reply again that though he were full of sores yet he was not in any great want and necessity the Evangelist answers that he was so hungry that he would have been glad of the very crums which fell from his Table In a word if he reply again that though he was hungry yet he would not stay till he might be served and that he might have been served if he would have stayed the Evangelist answers that he stayed long enough for he lay at his Gates And as he is left without all excuse so are all they that turn avvay their ears from the cries of the poor For first lest any man should imagine That giving to the poor is no matter of necessity but left to every mans ovvn discretion God hath given strick charge and command for the performance of this duty Deut 15.11 Because there shall ever be some poor in the Land therefore I command thee saying thou shalt open thy hand unto thy brother to the poor and needy in the Land Charge them saith Saint Paul 1 Tim. 6.18 that are rich in this world that they do good and be rich in good works and that they be ready to distribute and willing to communicate Least any man should think again that this is a duty which is imposed only upon those that are of ability and that it concerns not those that have but sufficient to maintain themselves Ephes 4.28 the same Apostle tels us That though we have not of our own to give yet we must labour and work with our hands that we may have to give unto him that needs Least any man should think again that so he himself may come into want by giving to others God hath given us his promise that while we supply the wants of others he will give us this blessing Prov. 28.27 that we shall not want our selves He that gives unto the poor he shall not want he shall be like unto a garden that is watered Esay 58.11 or like unto a spring of waters whose waters faile not Thus the widow of Sareptha 1 King 17. while she imparted her meale and her orle to the Prophet God gave such a blessing to that little which she had that whatsoever she spent yet it decreased not and thus while we supply the wants of others we shall have this blessing that we shall not want our selves Prov. 19.17 He that gives unto the poore he lends unto the Lord and the Lord will recompence him that which he hath given Is not the poor then worthy that we should give him almes yet God is worthy that requires it at our hands Hath not the poor deserved that we should give him any thing yet God hath deserved whatsoever we can give him Is not the poor of ability to pay us again yet God is able and he hath promised to pay us for him O saith Saint Basil upon the 14th Psalm Wouldst thou not have the Lord of heaven and earth be indebted unto thee If any wealthy man saith he in the City should promise to pay thee for an other thou wouldst take his word and art thou afraid to take Gods word when he hath bound himself by promise to pay thee for the poor Indeed Evaegrius the Philosopher as we read of him being exhorted by Synesius the Bishop of Alexandria to give some part of his goods to the poor and that God would repay him an hundreed sold for it he could hardly be brought to believe this doctrine and therefore before he would give any thing to the poore he took a Bond of the Bishop for Gods payment of it But is not God to be credited without a pawne and shall we doubt of Gods payment for that which we lend him Deus in paupere absconditur saith Chrysostom panper quidem porrigit manum sed Deus Juscipit donum God lyeth hidden in the poore man It is the poor man indeed that stretcheth sorth his hand to take thy almes but it is God that takes them And therefore we may well be assured that what we give to the poore God will ' pay it us againe One writes of St. Thomas the Apostle that he being commended to Gnodophrus the King of India Rom. 15.20 Gal. 2.18 for a skilfull builder as the Apostles are compared in the Scripture to builders he was appointed by the King to build him a sumptuous and stately pallace St. Thomas having received a great summe of mony of the King for the same purpose distributed the mony among the poor The King being therefore incensed against him caused him presently to be apprehended and clapt him in prison It happened in the meane time that the Kings brother fell sick and died and afterwards being carried forth to be buried he revived upon the suddain and was brought back againe And coming to the King he told him what he had seen and heard in Heaven that he had seen a very goodly Pallace which was newly erected and that he had heard it was built by St. Thomas for the King of India but that the King had made himself unworthy of it whereupon St. Thomas was set at liberty and the King by hearing the Apostles doctrine was soone after converted to Christianity The History it self may well be but a siction but this is most certaine that whatsoever we give to the poore upon earth is rewarded in Heaven Come ye blessed of my Father will Christ say at the day of Judgement Math. 25â— inherite the Kingdom prepared for you For when I Was hungry ye gave me to eate when I was thirsty ye gave me to drink c And when the godly who are unwilling to justifie themselves shal say unto him Lord when saw we thee hungry and gave thee meate When saw we thee a stranger and provided thee harbour c. Verily will Christ say in as much as ye have done it to one of the least of these my Brethren ye have done it to me Thus he counts that what we give to the poor we give it to him and he wil reward us as if he himself had received it But it may be demanded what kind of poor are to be relieved For answer whereof we must distinguish of such as are poor For some become poor and fall into want through their own fault and that especially two wayes First by unthriftiness as by gaming drinking keeping ill Company and unnecessary mispending that portion of goods which God hath given them These howsoever the World accounts them good-fellowes yet God reputes them no better then the theeves and no doubt without their repentance and
like a sweet perfume is pleasing to every man Lucri bonus est odor exâ—re qualibet and though many are much affected with pleasure and delight yet the hâ—ost are most affected with gaine and profit What makes the Husbandman to toile all his life-time but hope of gaine What makes the Merchant to venture his life and his whole Estate but hope of gainâ— This is that which the most so affect that they can never find any arietie in it but the more they have the more they desire and the greater the gaine the more it affects them But here you see is the gaining of the whole World a whole world of gaine that if a man will part with his soul for any thing he can hardly part with it upon a better bargaine If it were but for the gaining of one Kingdom in the world what would a man hazard and venture for it Judges 9.5 Rather then Abimilech will not raign over Israel he will put seventy of his Brethren to death together Rather then Herod will stand in fear of losing his Kingdom Mat. 2.16 Macrob. Satur lib. 2. cap. 4.2 Sam. 15.10 thousands of innocents shall lose their lives though his own son be one of them Rather then Absalon will not raigne he will rise up in Armes against his own Father and seek to deprive him of life and Kingdom And rather then Nero shall not raigne his own Mother will be content to be murdered by him Ocâ—idat modò imperet Let him kill me saith his Mother so he may get the Empire A Kingdom can hardly be valued at too high a rate For if we consider the state of a King there is scarce any thing that may seem to make a man happy that can be wanting unto him His word for the most part is a sufficient warrant for the effecting of his pleasure and his intreatie a most forcible kind of command for the obtaining of his desire so that if he would have any thing he may have what he likes and no man deny him if he would do any thing he may do what he please and no man oppose him If therefore a King be so mighty how mighty should the Monarch of the World be If he hath such command that hath but a Kingdom What command should he have that should have the whole World under his Dominion If King Assnerus his Dominions were so large that he raigned over an hundred and seven Provinces Hester 1.1 if his magnificence and bounty were such that he made a feast royall for all his Princes and Servants which continued for an hundred and fourescore daies If King Salomons yearely revenues were so great that he had six hundred threescore and six talents of Gold Ester 1.4 1 Kings 10.14 and Silver as plentifull as stones in the street If King Xerxes his power was so unresistable that Rivers and Mountaines could not stand before him 2 Chro. 1.15 but he was able to turn and overturne them at his pleasure then what might not he do that were Monarch of the World and had all Kingdoms and Nations to do him service A King howsoever his power be great yet he hath his equals in other Countries and though his command reach very far yet it reacheth no farther then his own Dominions But he that were Monarch of the whole World command where he would and he should be obeyed for all the Princes of the earth should be his Subjects A King though he may have whatsoever his Kingdom affords yet every Kingdom affords not every thing and those things do commonly most affect us which other Countries do yield and are not to-be had in our own But he that were Monarch of the whole World whatsoever any Kingdom in the World could afford he should be sure to have it and happy were he that should first present it A King though he may greatly advance his favorites yet he hath but one Kingdom for himself and them and if with Herod he should promise unto one the half of his Kingdom Mark 6.23 and after promise as much to another were he taken at his word he might leave himself nothing But he that were Monarch of the whole World he should have severall Kingdoms for his severall favorites ' and yet leave himself more when he had inriched them all then ever Alexander had after all his conquests It is said of Cyrus that to perswade the Lacedemonians to follow him in the warres he made them this promise They saith Cyrus Plutarch in Reg. Apophtheg that will be my followers if they be Footmen I will give them Horses if they be Horse men I wil give them Chariots if they have houses and tennements of their own I will give them Villages and if they have Villages I will make them Lords of Townes and Cities This was a great advancement of his followers But he that were Monarch of the whole World where King Cyrus left there might he begin They who were his favourites and Lords of Towns he might make them Princes and give them Kingdoms if they were Kings he might make them Emperours and if this were not enough he might double their Dominions For a Kingdom in comparison of the whole World is no more then a town in comparison of a Kingdom then what would not a man do for so great a gaine And therefore the Devill when he tempted our Saviour in the fourth of Matthew knowing that there is not any more forcible argument to perswade a man to any thing then the gaining of the World like a cunning Orator he reserved this temptation for the last of all and when he had shewed him all the Kingdoms of the World and the glory of them and had given him his promise Mat. 4.9 That he would give him all if he would fall down and worship him and saw that all this would not prevaile with him it was high time for him to be gon he thought it to no purpose to tempt him any longer and so presently left him For he that will not stoop to so faire a lure he that will not be moved with so great a gain he will be moved with nothing But now howsoever this gain be great yet withall it hath divers inconveniences which do lessen and diminish the value of it And therefore as he that would purchase a house he will not only know what commodities it hath but he will likewise be informed of the inconveniences of it So having heard of the profits and pleasures and preferments of the world we are further to enquire of the discommodities of it And they especially are these three First That whatsoever the world can afford us yet it is but short and of small continuance For were a man Monarch of the whole World and had he all that his heart could desire yet when he dieth he must leave all that he hath and all that he hath can neither deferre the comming of death nor
Apostle tells us Hebrewes 11. is but for a season and therefore seeing the sinnes of the wicked are but temporall how can it stand with the justice of God that their punishment is eternall First Therefore we are to know that sinne though it be committed and past in a moment yet as it is a trespasse against God that is infinite so it deserves an infinite punishment Tanto majus est peccatum quanto major in quem peccatur Every sinne is by so much the greater and so deserves the greater punishment as the person is the greater against whom it is committed If a man should dishonour and revile his Father he deserves ye know a farre greater punishment then he that should dishonour and revile his Neighbour If a man should strike a publick Magistrate he deserves a greater punishment to be inflicted upon him then he should if he struck but a private person but every sinne is committed against God and therefore deserves eternall punishment Secondly Though the wicked do but sinne for a time yet they have a perpetuall desire to sinne and should they live never so long in this World they would continue in sinne For like as Gamesters that delight in nothing so much as in gaming they will usually play as long as they can see and still have a desire to play longer but that the night comes upon them and compells them to give over So it is with sinners they take their pleasure and delight in their sinnes through the whole course of their life and so would continually go on in their sinnes but that they are prevented and cut oft by death Voluissent saith Gregory sine fine vivere ut sine fine possent in iniquitatibus permanere they would have lived in this World for ever that they might have continued in their sinnes for ever and therefore as they would have continually sinned so they justly deserve to be eternally punished And thus we have heard What it is to lose the soule and the misery which the soule which is lost is to undergoe both in regard of the felicity it shall lose and the torments it shall suffer What comparison is there then between the gaining of the World and the losing of the soule the gaining of the World with some temporall pleasures and the losing of the soule with eternall happiness the gaining of the World whereby we are freed from some worldly miseries and the losing of the soule whereby we are subject to everlasting torments the gaining of the World whereby for a time we may advance our friends and the losing of the soule whereby for ever we undo our selves All other losses whether of body or goods a man may well bear but the losse of the soule of all other losses is the most intolerable whatsoever a man loseth besides his soule yet he loseth that which was given him but for a time and which at one time or other he must have forgone but losing his soule he loseth that which he might have kept for ever Whatsoever a man loseth besides his soule yet he may recover it again If he lose his Children as Job did Job 1.19 yet he may have more if he lose his friends as David did yet he may find better Dan. 4.31 if he lose his Kingdom as Nebuchadnezer did yet he may recover it again or get another but losing his soule he loseth that which he can never recover Whatsoever a man loseth besides his soule yet he hath something left him If he lose his goods yet he may have a good name if he lose his good name yet he may have his liberty if he lose his liberty yet his life may be left him and if he lose his life yet his soule is remaining but losing his soule he hath no more to lose but loseth all at once his life liberty goods good-name even all that he hath and his soule besides Xxres having escaped a dangerous tempest Sabellic lib. 2. but yet with the losse of divers of his Nobles to reward the Governour of the ship for it he set upon his head a Crown of gold but withall Ennead 3. because he had not saved his Nobility likewise he caused him to be beheaded So he gave him that which he could take away from him but he took away that which he could not give him making him to lose not onely his reward but his life to boote Now who would have a Crown upon the like condition If the Devill should offer as he did to our Saviour the whole World unto any man and should say unto him All this will I give thee if thou wilt die presently there is no man in the World would accept of his offer for he should be so farre from gaining by the bargain that he should lose all he had and his life together If this therefore be so hard an exchange then what is theirs who for the gaining of the World do part with their soules Job 2.4 The Father of lies said true in this skin for skin and all that a man hath he will give for his life but yet life and all he may well give for his soule for he may lose his life and not lose his soule but losing his soule he loseth life and all Jonah 1.5 We see that Seamen will cast away their goods into the Sea to save their lives as the Mariners did in the first of Jonas We see in the Gospel that the woman that was diseased with an issue of blood she valued her bodily health at so high a rate that she spent all her substance upon the Physitians to be cured of her disease And we see in the old Law that every part and Member of our bodies was valued by God at so high a rate Exod. 21.24 that he that should put out another mans eye or but strike out his tooth he was to be punished with the losse of his own and might not be excused with any other satisfaction if a man had taken away another mans goods yet he was bound with his goods to make him amends but in this case his goods would not serve the turne but an eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth and no other satisfaction If therefore our bodies be so dear and precious that every part and Member thereof is more to be valued then our Worldly goods then what gaine is sufficient to make any recompence for the losse of our soules We have heard then briefly both what it is to gain the Would and to lose the soule and that the gain of the one cannot countervaile the losse of the other Vse The use that we may make hereof is this that therefore we affect not this World so much as that thereby we hazard and indanger our soules If a man have a Jewell of any great value which he is to carry through any dangerous place he will look carefully to it and he will take no delight to converse
all the rest of his outward parts be sound and perfect if his lungs or any other of his inward parts be unsound and diseased So this Law doth not count him to be a good man though his outward actions seem never so good if his inward parts his thoughts and affections be ill and disordered In a word all other Lawes propound no other but temporall rewards to those that observe them and temporall punishments to such as trangress them but the rewards and punishments which this Law propounds are both corporall and spirituall temporal and eternall both in this World and the World to come By all which it is plain that this Law which we find recorded in the Scripture is in many respects more absolute and perfect then all the flowers which men have invented and therefore that God and no other could be the Authour of it Fourthly If we consider what effects the Scriptures work in the hearers and readers of them it will confirm our faith in this point that they must needes have God for their Authour and not man The Doctrine which is contained in the Scripture is quite opposite and contrary to flesh and bloud and crosses our nature We naturally desire to live in peace and prosperity we affect honour and advancement ease riches pleasures liberty and the like which if the Scripture had promised it would in all likelihood have been a motive to make men the more to affect and imbrace it But we see the Scripture promises the quite contrary to these crosses and troubles persecution and hatred for the Gospels sake and yet the sound thereof is gone through the World and thousands do daily more and more affect it When Cyrus would perswade the Lacedemonians to follow him in the Warres he made them this promise whosoever saith Cyrus will be my followers if they be foot-men I will give them Horses if they be Horse-men I will give them Chariots if they have Houses and Tenements of their own I wil give them Villages and if they have Villages I vvill make them Lords of Townes and Cities and for gold and silver I vvill heap it unto them by vveight and by measure Thus Cyrus allured them by his fair promises as the likeliest meanes to vvinne their affections Luke 9.23 But vvhat saith Christ in the Gospel to his followers If saith he ye will be my Disciples ye must daily take up my Crosse upon you you must leave your Parents Wives Children and Friends and all you have to follow me you must be reviled and persecuted Mat. 10.22 and hated of all men for my names sake Now this ye know should rather hinder men when they read the Scriptures from imbracing the Gospel and becoming Christians yet so effectual are the Scriptures through the operation of the spirit in those that read or hear them that nothing can hinder them from imbracing the same which is an evident proof that no other but God could be the Authour thereof Lastly if we consider the long continuance and antiquity of the Scripture how God in all ages hath miraculously preserved it notwithstanding the malice of Satan and all those Tyrants and Persecuters who have opposed themselves against it we may plainly see that it is the word of God When the Jewes would have hindred the Preaching of the Apostles Acts 5. Acts 5.38.39 it was Gamaliels Counsell to let them alone and he gave this reason for saith he if it be of men it will come to nought but if it be of God ye cannot destroy it All false Religions which have had their beginning and original from man have continued for a time and have afterwards vanish't but the true Religion which the Scripture containes hath continued without change in all ages nay the more it hath been opposed the more it hath flourish't God having ordain'd that the Persecution of those that professe the Gosple vvhich in all likelihood vvould have been a meanes to have rooted it out should make men the more to affect and imbrace it Histories are full of examples to this purpose I will onely name one and that out of Sozomen when Christianity began to increase in Persia the King being an enemie to the true Religion sought by all meanes to root it out of his Kingdome And first he imposed so grievous taxes upon the Christians that many thereby were brought into Poverty And seing that the number still increased more and that they would not leave their Religion for the losse of their goods he threatned them in the end with the loss of their lives Some few revolted for feare of Torment but the number of professers did daily increase though they daily were Martyr'd Amongst the rest Simeon the Arch-Bishop of Seleucia vvas apprehended and because he persisted in the profession of the Gospel the King sent him to Prison And as he was going Vstazares one of the Kings chiefe Officers about his house vvho had been a Christian but for feare of torment had renounced his Religion met the Bishop in the way and offered to salute him but the Bishop turned away from him as from an Apostata and would not vouchsafe to look at him Oh wo is me saith Vstazares what favour can I look for at Gods hands whom I have denied when in regard of my apostacy my familiar friend will not vouchsafe me a word And thus mourning and lamenting he ran to the King and openly professed himself a Christian and added further that he would never recant the second time whatsoever became of him The King commanded that he should be beheaded at such a time and when the time came Vstazares sent this message to the King to desire him that for all the faithfull service which he had ever done him he would grant him this favour that while he was led to the place where he should be beheaded a Herald or Crier might go before him and make proclamation that Vstazares was to suffer not for any treason or evill that he had committed but only because that he was a Christian The King granted his suit as thinking that this would be a means to terrifie others when they should hear that the King would not spare no not those who were his chief Officers if they professed themselves Christians This in all likelihood should have been a means to make others revolt but this made them to be far more couragious and resolute Some imbracing the block where they were to be beheaded as if their beheading had been their coronation others running with such alacrity to the stake where they were to be burnt as if the very flames which they were to enter into had been the Gates of Heaven The persecution of the faithfull in all ages being the whetstone of faith as Saint Jerome calls it which makes the godly that are persecuted the more willing to suffer and the persecutours when they see they cannot prevail the more willing to give over In so much that
that which is poured out of it comes but guttatim drop by drop and is long coming out So it is when god punishes his punishments come slowly that even while he is punishing men might be drawn to repentance And if they repent how many soever their sinnes have been hovv hainous soever and hovv long soever they have continued therein he is ready to forgive them You will say indeed if I could repent of my sins I doubt not but God who is so infinitely mercifull would receive me into favour and be reconciled unto me in Christ Iesus but I have so hard a heart that still I go on and continue in sinne and cannot repent I would therefore aske thee But art thou not displeased with the hardnesse of thy heart and doest thou not desire to forsake thy sins and to be reconciled unto God Oh this you vvill say is that which I desire above all things in the World Then knovv for thy comfort that thy state is better then thou supposest and I may say unto thee from Christ as Christ said to the Scribe Mark iâ— 34. Marke 12. Thou art not far from the Kingdom of God For could'st thou be displeased vvith the hardnesse of thy heart if thy heart vvere hardned could'st thou be desirous to forsake thy sinnes if thou vvert not weary of them and could'st thou desire to be reconciled unto God If thou didst not love him for these though thou thinkest thou canst not repent are signes of thy repentance vvhich though it be weake yet he who hath promised that he will not break the bruised reed nor quench the smeaking flax will accept of it and notwithstanding thy sinnes will he gracious unto thee as he was here unto Jonas And so from Gods gracious renewing of Jonas his Commission I proceed to the Charge which God gave Jonas which containes two things First The place which God sends him unto Arise and go to Nineveh that great City Secondly The work which God appoints him to do Preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee The place which God sends him unto is Nineveh The Ninevites were so hainous sinners that their wickednesse as we heard before was come up before God and cried up to Heaven unto God for vengeance yet God would not destroy them before he had sent unto them that before their destruction they might have warning Doct. Here then observe Gods dealing with sinners He commonly first sends to admonish them of their sinnes before he inflicts his judgements upon them God might if he pleased and that without any breach of justice be revenged on the sudden upon the wicked without sending unto them and giving them warning but first he threatens before he punishes to teach them thereby to avoid his judgements Deut. 20.10 God made this Law Dent. 20. That no City should be destroyed before that peace had been offered unto it that before their destruction they might have warning and might imbrace if they would the conditions of peace to prevent their ruine As God will have us to deale in mercy with our enemies so he himselfe likewise deales with sinners First Giving them warning and threatning his judgements before be inflicts them Though God was highly offended with Pharaoh for dealing so cruelly with the Children of Israel yet God would not send his judgements upon him till Moses was sent to fore-tell him of them Though God vvere so offended with the old World for their sins that he purposed to overwhelme it with water and by an universall deluge to destroy all flesh yet he vvould not do it till Noah had forvvarn'd and admonisht them of it And at the end of the World when the World shall be destroyed and consumed by fire Luke 21.25 yet there shall be vvarning of it for there shall be signes in the Sun the Moon and the Starres as our Saviour saith that the very Heavens may become Preachers as it vvere unto us to admonish us to repent by fore-warning us of the end of the World and the day of judgement And here though the Ninevetes vvere so hainous sinners yet he sends unto them that being fore-warned of the danger they were in they might repent and avoid the same Now Nineveh vvhereunto God sends Jonas is here said to be a great City And so it is else-vvhere called in the Scripture Thus Moses speaking of Nineveh Gen. 10. Gen. 10.12 The same saith he is a great City and here in the next verse it is called an exceeding great City of three dayes journey And by that which Histories report of it it seems to have been the greatest City in the World and fevv ever since for largenesse and beauty have been compared to it Indeed if it be true which some vvrite of the City Quinsai in the Kingdom of China it vvas a City far larger then Nineveh as being in compasse a hundred miles but aftervvards it vvas overthrown by an earthquake and another Quinsai built but far lesse being but thirty miles in compasse which is just halfe of that bignesse which Nineveh was For Nineveh was in compasse no lesse then four hundred and fourscore furlongs which make threescore miles The Walls of Nineveh were an hundred foot high and they were of that thicknesse that three Carts might go side-long together upon them and upon the Walls were fifteen hundred Turrets and each of them an hundred foot higher then the Walls The City of Babylon was so great that Aristotle in his Politicks calls it a Countrey rather then a City and vvrites that when it vvas besieged and the enemy had taken one part of it some part of the City did not heare thereof till three dayes after so large was Babylon from the one end to the other Yet Babylon was not so large as Nineveh but lesse in compasse by almost an hundred furlongs Nineveh was many years in building and by no fewer at once then ten thousand work-men and it was so populous that God tells Jonas in the next Chapter the last verse That there were six-score thousand in it that knew not their right hand from their left and therefore if there were so many infants what a multitude were there of all other ages no doubt but many more in that one City then there are now in some Kingdoms But now what must Jonas do vvhen has was come to Nineveh Preach saith God unto it the preaching that I bid thee What this was which he was to preach we see afterwards in the fourth verse namely That Nineveh should be overthrown after forty dayes This God commanded him to preach and gave him his message And from hence we may observe That the Prophets had their direction from God what they were to deliver God put into their mouths what they were to speak and they spake onely that which they were appointed by God 2 Pet. 1.21 So saith Saint Peter That Prophecy came not in old time by the will of man but the