as to thinke that his shape was of such a strange kind of making Yet we must go a litle farther he doth adde that in that countrey he saw men which had but one eye that in the middest of their fore-heads The foole had heard or read in Herodotus or in Pliny or some one of the auncient that some such things were talked of Acephali men without heads Cynocephali men with heads like to dogs Arimaspi men with one eye in the middle of their fore-head and other of monstrous shape all which were imagined to be in the hoate countries within the Zona Torrida or in the cold coasts of Scythia whither very few in old time did offer at all to trauell either by land or sea for the great heate of the Southerne parts and the great cold of the Northerne Yea many in ancient time did thinke those quarters of the earth to be vtterly inhabitable by men of common proportion neither in the most ciuill countries of Asia and of Europe where learning and knowledge abounded was the contrary receiued vntill that the late discoueries of the Portingales the Spaniards toward the hoter climates of the English toward the colder by sea and some other few by land haue let men know the contrary And indeed vntill very late times the opinion so preuailed of people of such strange figures that Authors of good reckening receiued it for a truth and left it so in their writings For that conceit was continued frō hand to hand which at the first did arise from this imagination that in countries so strange from the ordinary temperature must be people as farre differing from ordinary men which ground being once layd downe it was no hard thing for fancy to frame very many shapes which beleeued once by the simple and being sometimes talked of for the commonnesse of the fame were reported by some learned which were in ancient times yet doubtfully and otherwise then their successours entertained them but such as did come after them tooke them vp for a truth well ratified so did set thē downe Now this honest man who gladly wold shrowd so vaine a tale vnder Saint Austens name in kindnesse good nature to the Friers in his Couent very soberly aduisedly professeth that he had seene thē And you know that one eye-witnesse is better then ten other who speake only by report Very many such bastard broods are fastned vpō the Fathers besides here there whole pages sentences shuffled in notes that were in the margēt put afterward in the text by this Frier that Mōke when their Nouices were appointed to transcribe their ancient copies He that would see more of this let him looke Lodouicus Viues in his bookes De causis corruptarum Artium Now in these forged writings are many of those plaine places for prayers to any creature and especially in Saint Austen as in the booke De spiritu anima in his Meditations and in his Sermons De sanctis al which are expunged by the learned and shut out from his true workes as may be seene in the censures on them 13 Yea but in their vndoubted works there are many things to that purpose Indeed I do not deny this but yet take this withall that if we looke through their writings we shall find that they set it downe so waueringly and doubtfully that a sober man would be fearefull to build his faith vpon it In the eight Tome of Saint Hierome are foure Homilies on the Canticles supposed to be Origens and translated by Saint Hierome In the third of them I find this All the Saints which are departed out of this life hauing yet a loue toward those which are in this vvorld if they should be sayd to take care of their safety or saluation and to helpe them with their prayers and intercession to God it shall not be inconuenient How cold a speech is this It shall not be inconuenient That great clerke Gregory Nazianzene doth make a kind of prayer both to the Virgin Mary and vnto Athanasius yet see whether in some other places it be not as a scruple vnsatisfied in his mind whether that the Saints did know and take care of the affaires of their friends remaining on earth when speaking of Basile lately dead he vseth these words But novv is Basile in heauen there as I do thinke offreth sacrifices for vs powreth prayers out for the people He did not know it but thought it But speaking of Gorgonia his owne sister departed he expresseth his doubt more plainly And if thou do take care of the honouring of vs and if this reward be giuen by God vnto holy soules that they shall perceiue these things then receiue my prayer If besides other mens opinions he had bene resolued in it what needed this If and this doubting But Saint Austen whom I honour aboue all the old for his iudgement when he canuasseth this question disputing it of purpose and not slightly or by the way whether the soules departed hence do know what is done here how vncertaine is he in it and rather propendeth to the Negatiue Let euery man saith he take as himselfe will that which I shall say so seeming to crosse the streame of that which was thē receiued Then he inferreth three reasons The first was that if the dead did know our deedes he certainely was perswaded that his mother Monica who loued him so well while she liued would sometimes haue appeared to him and taught him something for his good For God forbid saith he that she being now in a life of more felicity should be growne cruell toward me But he found that neither by dreame nor vision nor any apparition she had euer bene present with him and therfore he much suspected that she had no knowledge of him Secondly he citeth the place out of the Prophet Esay that Abraham is ignorant of vs and Israel doth not know vs. And therefore not other men Thirdly that Iosias was taken away that he might not see the euill which was to come vpon the lād which if afterward he did see in soule in the heauens his remoouing had bene in vaine Thus doth he dispute against it and doth not answer his owne reasons otherwise then that it may be said that the departed may be enformed what is done here on earth by men by the soules of other which dye from hence or by the Angels So far off is this holie father when he thinketh of the thing aduisedly from pronouncing of any certaintie which vnfallibly and vndoubtedly will maintaine this suspected doctrine 14 Next to suppose that many of the Auncient directly and conclusiuely did iumpe in the consent hereof which cannot be found as I haue shewed yet were this a sure rule of truth What when the word of God doth giue no warrant for it nay doth teach vs the contrarie as before hath bene mentioned Haue
man and the loftinesse which he conceiueth should not be the ruine of manie What is the cause saith Saint Bernard of such fury many times Nothing else saith he but this that the diuision of the Angels doth not please mortall men For they say Glorie to God on high and peace to men but vvhile men do seeke the glorie they do disturbe the peace The Prophet in this place is sicke of this disease Let Niniue and ten Niniues sincke burne or do what it will he had leifer haue his minde satisfied then all the world besides Whereof because he feareth that he shall faile he will take such a course as in the end proueth little to his owne ease He ariseth as God bad him and away he goeth with haste but better that he had halted so it had bene in the right way then to run with speed in a wrong way And thus now hauing heard the reasons which are by anie supposed to put him besides his dutie let vs see the course which he taketh He went downe to Iapho c. 12 The Septuagint translate it he went vp to Iapho but Hierome doth dislike it being moued thereto both by the Hebrew word and by his owne experience For liuing long as he did in the holy land as we commonly call it he saw that Iapho did stand low and therefore to be more fit for descending then ascending It is a hauen towne in Palestina standing vpon the Mediterrane sea and it is the same which is called Ioppa in the tenth of the Actes whither Cornelius sent for Peter This is one of those townes which the Christians sometimes in their voyage to the holy land did recouer from Saladine the great king of Egypt and it had afterward bene regained by him but that Richard the first then king of this land being returning on his iourney for England did bring backe his armie and succour it at need as Neubringensis writeth From this Iapho our Prophet would go vnto Tarshish which some haue thought to be the old citie Carthage and Hierome himselfe though not in this place yet in the seuen and twentieth of Ezechiel doth reade Carthaginiens where as we reade men of Tarshish Yet because we are not sure that Carthage was then built for this Prophecie is auncient and Salomons time more auncient when Tarshish was right famous which I thinke Carthage was not I therefore followe them who take it for Tarsus a towne of Cilicia in Asia the lesser which was nearer to the Iewes and well knowne among them as may be gathered by Pauls speech saying that he was borne there and calling it a famous citie in Cilicia I am the more induced hereunto because Iosephus reciting this storie saith expresly that Ionas meant to flie to Tarsus in Cilicia And I suppose this to be the place whither Salomon did send for things of pleasure and of profit when it is said that he sent vnto Tarshish for gold and siluer and iuorie and Apes and peacockes 13 This Citie then being a place of great traffike whither marchants did frequent to buy and sell wares doth yeeld probable coniecture although no necessarie inference that Ionas not liking his message to Niniue wold now for worldly respects leaue his calling and become a marchant It would wel haue becommed him to renounce his vocation and fallen to merchandising His sanctified gifts would haue well serued to that purpose That calling in it self is certainly not vnlawfull but yet not lawfull to euerie man There are in it as by men it is commonly vsed great occasions of abuses and those so great that Syracides saith of it A marchant cannot lightly keepe him from vvrong And As a naile in the wall sticketh fast betweene the ioynts of the stones so doth sinne sticke betweene the selling and buying Cyrus the king of Persia did note great fraud and deceipt to be in the Greeks when he could say of them that he feared not such men as had a place emptie in the midst of their citie to the which they gathering euery day beguiled one another with othes and swearing These wordes saith Herodotus did Cyrus cast foorth against all the Greekes because they had large market places wherin they vsed their traffiking as among vs might be a Bource or Exchange Let this rather be a fault of the persons then of the things since God hath ordained that trade to his glorie to the vse of nauigation to the discouerie of countreys to the communicating of cōmodities in one nation to another to the bringing in of such things as are comfortable to man yea seruiceable in religion as wine to vs Northerne people to be vsed in the Sacrament as the best representation of the bloud of Christ Iesus But howsoeuer for a Prophet to leaue his preaching in the name of the Lord and fall to marchandising if we will take it so was a fault in the highest degree to run from God to men from heauen vnto earth 14 I find in the new Testament that from towl-gatherers and fishers men came to be Apostles and I know that after their sanctifying for a need they did vse their occupations as the Apostles went a fishing and Saint Paule did make tents but these things were but as hand-maidens to the studie of Diuinitie and to the Mistresse the word but that preaching was left for anie of these I thinke a man may turne the whole Bible ouer and ouer againe and find no such example Onely this it was small praise to Demas as here it is to Ionas that he left S. Paule and embraced this present world In our time let mē take heed whō God hath blessed with verie good gifts that it be not layd vnto their charge that they with Ionas haue chosen to do something else as to be farmors or graziers or husbandmē in the country rather then to preach the word whereunto in former time they were in shew selected I speake not in bitternesse but rather do grieue at it The Church hath had a wound by it If when they did teach before they preached and were not called that were a grieuous fault to run not be sent If they formerly were called then who hath now recalled thē Those things about which they faint and fall are not of that moment as is the preaching of the word I do not yet find any thing either expresly or by consequent directly to be drawne throughout the whole booke of God for the leauing or refusing of this or of that garment so of other circumstances which somtimes were in question but I am sure that I find this plainely wo is vnto me if I preach not the Gospel I do iudge no mans consciēce but leaue that to the Lord. Yet to speake mine opinion I do feare that it cā be but smal cōfort to the heart of a true Christian in so glorious a time of the Gospel as we haue
or other shall declare it Some letter perhaps or writing The adulterer who doth thinke himselfe safely concealed in the darke or by the close and hidden walles yet cannot escape his sight whose eyes are said to be ten thousand times brighter then the Sunne He that wisheth ill to his brother is well knowne to that maiestie which trieth the hearts and reines In one word what can escape him who hath such prerogatiue of power as to sit so vpon a throne that heauen and earth flie before him the graues giue vp their dead and the sea doth yeeld vp hers that the bookes shall be layed open and mens consciences be detected and the mountaines cannot couer them nor the rockes cannot keepe them from him It is a good meditation to feare his angrie iudgement It is a fearefull thing to fall into the hands of the liuing God If we serue him he will loue vs if we fall from him he will find vs. Lord direct vs so with thy Spirit that if we should fall with Ionas we sleepe not in sinne with Ionas but as the carefull ship-maister looking in all sinceritie through the corners of our hearts we may raise vp our selues and call to thee the true God to helpe vs in all extremities to stand by vs in all temptations that the lot fall not on vs to be cast away from thy fauour but that we may raigne with thee in thy most blessed kingdome to the which bring vs ô good father for thine owne sonne Christ his sake to whom with thee and thy Spirit be glorie for euermore THE V. LECTVRE The chiefe points 2 Many questions import egernesse to know 4.6 In doing iustice due examination should go before 5 Mens hard hearts to strangers 7 Some trades vsed are odious to God 8 As vsurie 10 It is not fit to come in all places 11 Some people are not acceptable to God 12 Confession of a fault 14 What is meant by fearing 15 Two sorts of feare 16 The horror of sin 17.22 The power and being of God shewed against the Atheist 19 Authorities of heathen men and reasons prouing the creation 23 Foure questions to the Atheist IONAH 1.8.9 Then sayd they vnto him Tell vs for whose cause this euill is vpon vs what is thine occupation and whence comest thou which is thy countrey and of what people art thou And he answered them I am an Hebrew and I feare the Lord God of heauen which hath made the sea and the dry land BEcause our Ionas hath a great deale more minde to go to Tarshish by sea then to Niniue by land rather about his owne pleasure then the businesse of his maister he is so well preferred as of a Prophet to become a prisoner first arrested by a tempest then discouered by a lot to be a malefactour in what place or cause it doth not yet appeare but allow time onely and that shall be reuealed In this my text he is brought to his examination not in a court of magistrates but a companie of mariners must be his Inquisitours Being arraigned he is conuicted and by his owne mouth condemned but by them afterward he is brought to execution I am here to looke into the manner of inquirie which is made vpon him and that is layed downe vnto vs in the former verse and in the next place to handle his personall answer which is in the latter verse both of them yeelding to vs verie good instruction if I be not deceiued as may appeare in order 2 Saint Hierome doth obserue the maner of the words that there should be within so small a compasse so many questions and those so significant and effectuall And as he was a miracle of the world for learning and that for humanitie as well as Diuinitie so it putteth him to remember the excellent concisenesse of the Poet Virgil who in a maner right compendious is accustomed to inclose many questions in verie fewe words He citeth that one place Iuuenes quae causa subegit Ignot as tentare vias quo tendit is inquit Qui genus vnde domo pacémne huc fertis an arma Young men what cause hath brought you into these vnknowne wayes whither go you of what kindred are you vvhere do you dvvell bring you hither vvarre or peace But the matter of the wordes is rather the ground whereon we are to stand euerie question including some thing of importance to this present purpose These mariners being followed with so strange a tempest as made them quake for daunger of their liues and crie with importunitie to their heathen Gods and disburden their ship of such wares as were in it and cast lots for their liues who should die for all his fellowes may iustly be supposed to be in such a fright that if anie thing extraordinarie should appeare vnto them what might be the reason of their daunger or how they were to be eased and put away from their â—eare he by whom or in whom it might be coniectured to be should be plucked and tugged and haled by one and by another as a Beare that were to be bayted to know what was the reason of this terrible daunger or what secret he could open What art thou whither wilt thou whence comest thou what doest thou how cometh all this about 3 For men in such extremities can not satisfie them selues but either in strange newes or any mightie perill will so runne question vpon question that it is scant in mans wit to make a readie answer When the Romanes had sustained that deadly ouerthrow at Cannae by Hannibal the Carthaginian and their Citie was growne into that perplexitie as it neuer was in almost before that wise Fabius Maximus causeth scoutes to be sent foorth with demaunds vpon demaunds to such as they should meete in what case the armies were in what estate were the Consuls what the Gods had left remaining to the Romanes where the remnant of their armie did abide whither Hanniball was now gone what he intended what he did what he purposed to attempt Thus daunger affrighteth the wisest and maketh the simpler sort oftentimes to runne toung before the wit In the sixteenth of Luke the rich maÌ„ is brought in making request to Abraham that he would send Lazarus to his fathers house to giue warning to his fiue brethreÌ„ that they by the wickednesse retchlesnesse of their liues came not into those torments which he then with much paine endured If that should haue bene in deede which is there but in a parable described and he who had come from the dead should haue had but some few houres allotted him to stay imagine you for this is but a supposall among a multitude what preassing there would haue bene about him what plucking by one elbow and holding by another what doubled interrogations how doth such a one or such a one my father or my friend is he in heauen or hell in lesser or greater ioy in more
his willingnes to dy besides such stubburne qualities as of likelyhood were fast rooted in mariners and idolaters and yet how by no meanes they would take his life away from him I cannot but obserue their maruellous of-wardnesse and vnwillingnesse in very high sort to the shedding of bloud which affection of theirs is amplifyed in all my text Because he should not dy they wold go back to land and when they see that there must be no nay but God would haue them to throw him into the sea they cry forth with great vehemency that in as much as it was the Lords owne doing and not any desire of theirs they were but as his instruments ministers of his iustice the bloud of this dying passenger might not be imputed to theÌ„ Although I be not before Iudges and lurours who haue to do with mens deaths nor before any Martiall warriours whose speare sometimes eateth flesh and whose sword oftentimes drinketh bloud yet because I speake to men whome this cannot but concerne for life belongeth vnto all because my text doth inforce it giue me leaue men brethren to discourse this argument vnto you in the first place that afterward I may go forward to some other doctrine 4 Then I feare not to say that the lawes of God and men of nature and of nations of Gentiles and of Iewes of ciuill men and Barbarians haue commaunded that a great regard should be borne to the life of a man the most excellent of all Gods creatures that go vpon the ground the beauty of the world the glory of the workman the coÌ„fluence of all honor which mortality can afford the resemblaÌ„ce of the Sauiour while he liued vpoÌ„ the earth the image of God himselfe vntill that time that Adam lost it to whose absolute frame nothing wanteth but onely a consideration that God hath so graced him as that nothing is wanting to him I neede not speake to all these but vrge that which is the greatest The Lord hath said I wil require your bloud wherein your liues are at the hand of euery beast will I require it and at the hand of man euen at the hand of a mans brother will I require the life of man Who so sheadeth mans bloud by man shall his bloud be shed for in the image of God hath he made man The often ingemination of requiring and requiring doth inforce the greater charge He that smiteth a maÌ„ he dye shal dye the death Doth not the bloud of Abell cry for vengeance vnto the Lord How doth God take the shedding of Vriah his bloud at Dauids hand How doth he threaten a punishment and that in bitter sort vnto the men of Babylon for their murthering of many persons The killing of a maÌ„ the murthering of thy neighbor is such a matter as for the which can be made no satisfaction A kingdome can make no ransome for it the whole world cannot make a recompence if we will take things aright It is in one to marre it but it is not in all Gods creatures to make the life of a man The Creatour himselfe doth giue it he willeth vs to preserue it that none should dare to destroy it either in our selues or other 5 How doth he seeme to tender it when he expressely commandeth the Israelies to set battelmeÌ„ts vpon the roofes of their houses whereupon they vsed oftentimes to walke because they were flat least if any should fall downe from thence bloud should lye vpon the house In like sort when he giueth charge else-where that the beast which killeth any should be stoned to death with stones How doth he detest bloud-spilling in wilfull sort when Christ giueth to the diuell the title of a murtherer as being most fit for him So that they who are killers and manquellers do seeme to fight vnder the diuels banner to haue put off humane nature which should excell for mildnesse and to be turned into beasts nay to grow into the quality of foule and loathsome spirites The impression of this thought both that it is vnseemely among men and odious before God as it hath possessed the heart of Scythians and Barbarians of Egyptians Greekes and Romanes so these ship-men doubt not of it but with all their power they do flye from it as froÌ„ the gates of hell They row they cry they pray rather any thing then be guilty of the sheading of Ionas his bloud Nay the more they see him yeeld the more their heart doth melt their affection giueth vpon him They know it to be naturall to spare the life of a suppliant to saue the life of a man No custome against that ground no prescription against that principle Life should be deare if any thing It neuer can be recouered 6 They then are monsters in nature and not only irreligious and impious toward God but verily inhumane who do cut off the life of other either in superstition or in any bloud-thirsty humour Be they the Carthaginians who did vse to offer men in sacrifice to their Gods Or be it the king of Moab who being distressed in battell did take his eldest son who should haue raigned in his stead and made a burnt offering of him vpon the top of the wal before the face of the Israelites by that meanes thinking to appease the wrath of his idols For thus some vnderstand it although there be that take it of the son of the king of Edom which is also bad inough Or be they among other or aboue other if you will the people of God himselfe who as Dauid doth say of them if that be Dauids Psalme were so besotted on their follies and so doated on their idolatry that they offered vp their sonnes and daughters vnto diuels This was it which the Scripture calleth the making of their children to go through the fâ—re as did Ahaz the king of Israel Vnto this the story of Iosias alludeth where he speaketh of the valley of Hinnom in which their little ones were enforced as the Hebrewes themselues do write to walke betweene great fires vntil that they sunke down dead with the heate their parents or the consecrators looking on but not hearing the pitifull skreeches and squealings of their children by reason of the great noyse of tabrets and other instruments of musicke which did dull their eares that they might not heare the sound Blind men who supposed that they had done great seruice to the Lord when in truth they did that which was execrable and abhominable in his eyes So farre off they were from the rules of religion that they also slipped from the very grounds of common reason 7 The like may be said of such who not for any superstitious deuotion or idolatrous opinion but in a wooluish rauennousnesse would see the bloud of many shed Be it Haman who to ease his stomacke vpon Mardocheus did cast plots and deuises how to haue the whole people of the
long felt the sweetnesse of the Lords distilling grace prosperitie peace and plentie which maketh men forget the authour of their felicitie They with the Oxe haue tasted the fodder that lieth before thē but they haue not thought of the giuer Oh the blockishnesse of our nature who returne to God little loue for his great loue vnto vs. Our neighbours of Fraunce and Flaunders haue drunke of another cuppe and haue taken another course Some yeares now past religion and true faith hath bene oppugned in France Edicts haue bene made that the Protestants or Huguenots as they call them should get them out of that countrie within such a time or such a space vnder perill of their liues Thousands of them haue fled and left their natiue countrie but not the care of their countrie for although they were elsewhere wishing still good to Sion they haue harkened after the aduentures of that Church and commonwealth and haue found both to be in hazard Many inuasions and great slaughters and ciuill warres in that land wherein those that haue bene the pillars of religion in that countrey haue bene oftentimes shrewdly shaken This hath caused them as London doth well know to assemble thēselues together in their Churches with solemne fasts and prayers which of likelyhood they had not done but that they saw themselues to be fallen into most perillous times These assemblies and these fasts being many more then we haue had did argue that more affliction was on them then on vs which made them so to cry I would that we might learne by their example to be wise before that we be stricken But if peace do lull vs asleepe the rod it is which can awake vs. That we find by our Prophets case in whome the next thing which I obserued is the greatnesse of his calamitie The greatnesse of his misery 19 In the last place I haue noted that misery mindeth God vnto vs. Then the greater our miserie is the more is our mind on our maker If this be true our Ionas might well cry to the Lord for great and exceeding troubles were at this time shewed vnto him He saith that he was in hell yea in the belly and midst of hell and in the third verse plainer that he was throwne into the bottome in the very heart of the sea for so it is in the Hebrew that all the flouds had passed ouer him all the surges and all the waues What can be expressed more horrible then this was vnto Ionas The word which is vsed here is Sheol which sometimes doth note the graue vnto vs and other some times hell and that double signification together with the like in some few other words doth cause that question so oft handled of the manner of Christs descending into hell But partly because I loue not to extrauagate from my text although occasion be here well offered by the nature of the word bearing so plaine a difference but especially in a desire of vnitie in our Church least some by contradiction should gainesay whatsoeuer is vttered in this argument so apt are we to be iarring which I wish were otherwise I passe ouer that point in silence onely obseruing vnto the weake that we all do hold the Article of Christs descense into hell but the disagreement is in the manner of his descending and how that should be expounded The Prophets words here import that he was in the fishes belly as a mā might be in his graue without light without sight in darknesse and discomfort neuer hoping more to liue then a man who was dead and buried Or else that he felt in himselfe such anguish of his conscience because Gods wrath did follow him and because he knew that himselfe had deserued euerlasting torment that now he was so tortured with an Hyperbole speaking of it as if he had bin in hell The Chaldee Paraphrase here hath a word signifying a bottomelesse pit which intendeth to vs that the sea was very deepe wherein he was as if he had bene drowned And this may be an argument that the sea was very deep there that the whale which deuoured him was there whose greatnesse was such and so huge that it would require much water The whale swimmeth not in the shallowes neither can remaine in the foords 20 The greatnesse of this danger so amplified by the Prophet in many parts of his song first could not chuse but much dismay him and fright him home for the present for what could he thinke of himselfe that drowned he was and not drowned eaten vp and not deuoured and yet for euery moment in case to come to his end besides the pangs of his soulefearing eternall death Secondly when afterward he had by the mercie of God escaped from destruction it might be a great remembrance and testimonie to him of the fauour of the Lord. For the greater was his daunger the greater was his deliuerance Neither doth that man euer know what it is to be freed from miserie who was neuer like to feele it To be brought to the pits brinke and then and there to be stayed nay to be in the midst of death and there to be kept from dying must needes vrge in the patient a meditation of thankfulnesse That consideration of Ammianus Marcellinus in his storie is very good that although it be a matter exceedingly to be wished for that fortune would continue in flourishing state vnto vs yet that quality of life hath not that feeling with it as whē frō a desperate very hard estate we are recalled to a better fortune We better know what health is when sicknesse hath much broken vs. We know what it is to haue store of clothing and competent foode if hunger and thirst and nakednesse do for a time assaile vs. It is a prety reason although the practise thereof were bad which Herodotus saith that the Samian tyrant Polycrates did vse to make He very much exercised piracie and robberie as well by land as sea and his custome was to spoile his friends as much as his enemies whereof he assigned that cause that when he shold vnderstand afterward that his friend was robbed of any thing he might gratifie that friend more in restoring what he had lost then if he had taken nothing from him I do not commend his thieuing but his reason had wit meaning God knoweth that whē himselfe taketh from vs such things as are not ours we are but his disposers or as tenants at will vnto him he maketh vs so much the more embrace his mercie who hath sent grace in wretchednesse and present comfort in extremitie Our Prophet in his suffering had good experience of these things which maketh him the rather breake forth into a song of thankesgiuing 21 Thou hadst cast me into the bottome in the very midst of the sea as if he should haue said now it is otherwise and the more am I beholding to thee Where also obserue his speech
were set free from all redeemed by his body and ransomed by his bloud admitted into the couenant and incorporated into himselfe so that now we are made free denizons of the city which is aboue What can be a greater blessing When ignorance and barbarisme were growne ouer the world and the darknesse of superstition as thicke as that of Egypt had possessed the shew of all Christendome that maine Antichrist dominering and triumphing at his pleasure so that few were to be found without the marke of the beast God did dispell that darknesse by sending vs light from heauen and causing the Sunne of righteousnesse to shine out by his word he cleered that filthy mist that the nations of the earth may now fully behold the purity of the Gospell That which was denied to great ones hath bene reuealed to vs. As Moses had more liberty to see the Lord then the people had so we see more then our ancestours But what thankes do we yeeld for that celestiall comfort Do we magnifie his mighty name and sing and speake out the honour of him who hath done such things for men Where is that Glory to God on high and blessed be our strong Redeemer 11 We who liue in this land haue sate as at the well head for many yeares together We haue had a most gracious Princesse a mother to our countrey and a nource vnto Gods Church vnder the shadow of whose wings next after the eternall Lord we haue enioyed much peace prosperity and abundance Our neighbours who grone vnder the burthen of heauinesse and oppression of persecution and ciuill warres do very much admire it Learning hath flourished with vs and manuall artes encreased nauigation hath bene aduanced and trafficke entred with many to the enriching of our people and the honour of our nation I doubt that we are not so thankfull as all this hath deserued Yea it hath come so fast on vs and continued without interruption that our hearts are fatted with it and we as full and glutted haue fallen a sleepe in security so that we vnderstand not the sweete things which are on vs much lesse do we with heart and soule and all the powers which are in vs extoll the author who hath done such things for vs. Conspiracies haue bene made to depriue our land of her gouernesse and to bring it into the thraldom of a proud and bloudy nation yet by the Lords strong prouidence they all haue bene preuented The great fleete which meant to haue made such hauocke hath bene confounded when men did not much to helpe vs the winds and waues did fight for vs. Truth it is that as the Romanes did giue thankes to their Gods when Hannibal was remooued who had oppressed and troubled Italy for sixteene yeares together so by the highest authority in the most famous place of our land and by the noblest persons and in most solemne manner Gods prayse was sounded foorth which was a most holy action and worthy of a Christan kingdome but see whether since that time the common sort of men do study to remember it Our thoughts within are so curious and our eares without are so itching that we loath to heare the Preacher to name this in the pulpit we imagine that this neuer commeth but for want of other matter being a crambe oftentimes sodde It seemeth that we are litle mooued whē we thinke so lightly of that which to the naturall inhabitants of this land was so great a deliuerance as our eyes neuer saw We haue reason to feare that God lately hath brought the same enemy so neare our land to quicken vs and to stirre vs to a remembrance of the former mercy by shaking his rod ouer the sea vnto vs. The acts which God did in Egypt of the which I spake before and his victories by the conduct of Iosuah were commaunded to be proclaimed to all succeeding ages and were bidden to be spoken off I do maruell why no man in that time obiected What shall we neuer haue done of hearing these old matters No their thankfull mind did vse it otherwise and recorded that matter and recounted it as the fairest floure in their garland and their honour with all the earth We should make such reckening of all Gods mercies towards vs but most of all of the greatest The enioying of apparant good things or the escaping of fearefull and dreadfull euils doth deserue thanksgiuing with vs. Ionas had felt the bitternesse being in hazard of destruction of body and soule together but by compassion of his maister he is like to passe through this daunger and therefore he maketh a promise that he will sacrifice to the Highest in spirituall manner by giuing him praise and glory And thus you haue the first point of that which he vndertooke now let vs come to the second I vvill pay that which I haue vowed 12 The making of vowes was a solemne custome among the children of Israel that when any good thing was graunted vnto them but especially if they earnestly desired to haue any thing they would bind themselues by promise or peraduenture by an oath to be kept without violating that this they would performe or that they would abstaine from as it might be drinke no wine or not cut their haire as the vse of the Nazarites was or dedicate their children to an attendance in Gods tabernacle or offer such and such offerings Wherein the care of those who were faithfull was first that they vowed nothing but that which was lawfull and secondly that they performed the thing which they vowed So the Israelites did vow that if the Lord would giue them victory they would raze downe and destroy the cities of Canaan A matter which was lawfull nay which God required of them Barren Hanna did vow that if the Lord would so respect her as to send her a sonne she would giue him to God all the dayes of his life She spake it and she performed it in Samuel her child Thou shalt render thy vowes saith Eliphaz to Iob. My vowes will I performe before all that do feare him saith Dauid of himselfe They knew that God did expect it precisely had enioyned it by a speciall law It is a peremptory place in the three and twentieth of Deuteronomy When thou shalt vow a vow vnto the Lord thy God thou shalt not be slacke to pay it for the Lord thy God vvill surely require it of thee and it should be sinne vnto thee he meaneth if thou performe it not but when thou abstainest from vowing it shall be no sinne vnto thee He would not haue men beare themselues so carelesly toward him as foolishly to promise and falsely to breake promise 13 This made men vnder the law to be very well aduised what it was whereunto they tied themselues by vow that what they vndertooke should still be to Gods glory and withall their promise was for such things as should be
times we heare not of any Dolphine which delighted in Musicke or saued any man in the sea or caried any ouer the water Besides that Rondeletius whose worke is many times ioyned with Gesners denieth that a Dolphine hath any such sinnes as they in old time did describe him to haue for that saith he there is onely one in his backe and it is not all along him which may be thought vnfit to beare a man But imagine that it were true which Plinie hath concerning them yet his speech is that they were brought to that custome by much practise and feeding them with bread which agreeth with the qualities of that straunge fish Matum which the Historian Peter Martyr reporteth to haue bene in the West Indies But how could this acquaintance with men and feeding by hand happen to this fish of Arion who was found at al-aduenture in the midst of the Mediterrane sea 14 Neither doth the report at Lesbos any whit confirme this tale For who knoweth not that euery countrie hath straunge reports of it selfe which by the common sort are reputed for great truths If we looke on our owne land how many things haue bene said of King Arthure and of the Prophet Merlin who although they may haue in them some ground of truth which I will not stand to dispute yet questionlesse much vanitie is mixed there withall We need no better example then the selfe same Herodotus who although in his positiue declarations he be held a good Historian and therefore is named by Tully Historiae pater the father of storie yet in his by-digressions by heare-saies and reports he hath so many vntruths that by other men he is termed with a censure too too gauling mendaciorum pater the father of lyes That such fames haue gone for currant euen among Christians the words of Paule to Timothie and Titus may shew where he speaketh of fables and Iewish fables and of old wiues fables also Now for the picture or image of the Dolphin and the man sitting vpon it that doth make a great deale lesse for inuentions and wrong deuises are wrought as well as truthes by painters and image-makers Saint Austen telleth how the Gentiles reported that Christ was a sorcerer and that he did his workes by Magicke and because they had seene Iesus in windowes painted with Peter and Paule standing by him they gaue out that hee wrote vnto them some things concerning Magicke not knowing saith Saint Austen that Paule was conuerted to the faith somewhat after Christs death But he maketh this conclusion vpon them Thus haue they deserued to erre who haue sought Christ and his Apostles not in holy bookes but in painted wals and windowes That which he iudged in a matter of farre greater importance that I may say of this A picture or image is not an argument of an approoued truth although Maister Campian do call such in church windowes for witnesses of the veritie of his cause So the song which is now extant and said to be Arions is as weake a proofe as any for why might not another man beleeuing the tale to be true put it out in his name Yea peraduenture if hee did not beleeue it as in Poets we haue many speeches fayned on other mens persons Then we may gather that either the narration is altogether fabulous or if he were so throwne by any into the water that another shippe intercepted him the badge whereof was a Dolphin as in the Actes of the Apostles the badge of that shippe wherein Paule sayled was Castor and Pollux And thereupon together with the inuention of Antiquitie grew the fable as some other haue imagined 15 To apply this somewhat nearer to my bresent purpose and to a true vse in Diuinitie if there were any such matter of the Dolphin and Arion as I in no sort do beleeue it we must hold it for a miracle wrought by the Diuell who by the Lords permission hath false wonders of his as God hath true of his Christ saith that false Christes and false Prophets shall shew great signes and wonders so that if it were possible they should deceiue the very elect The beast in the Reuelation doth bring fire downe from heauen When Moses was in Egypt the sorcerers had their sleights wrought by the finger of Sathan Eusebius speaketh of straunge deedes done by the Diuell and by Magicke Saint Austen in his tenth booke De ciuitate Dei doth attribute such credite to the stories of the Romanes that he thinketh that the Troiane Penates which were a kind of images did go from place to place and that Tarquine with a razor Liuie saith it was Actius Nauius did cut a whetstone in peeces and other such like things named there but he addeth that these were done by the power of infernall spirits So in his booke De Vnitate Ecclesiae speaking of miraculous matters he maketh this diuision of them Let these things be set aside being either fained inuentions of lying men or monstrous actes of cousining spirits supposing that some strange reports were fained and inuented by men and some other things were indeed brought about and effected by the Diuell If we would hold this of the Musitian in Herodotus for a truth then it teacheth vs this doctrine that as an Ape is the imitatour of man in his acts and gestures so is Sathan the Ape of God to follow him in his powerfull workes But how farre doth he come short of the originall which he looketh at He followeth him indeed but it is non passibus aequis with very vnequall steppes He seeth that God is mightily glorified in doing such straunge and rare deedes as he pleaseth and he will study to do the like that himselfe also may be glorified among the sonnes of darkenesse As the Lord shall haue his Ionas to be spoken of euery where so he will haue his Arion both of them throwne downe into the sea and both saued by a fish 16 Hence it is that we haue so many arguments of his suttle imitation God hath appeared like an Angell and Satan transformeth himselfe into an Angell of light God rayned stones on the enemies of Iosuah when they fled before him from the battell and Liuie writeth of credit that in the time of the Romane wars with Hannibal it rained stones for two dayes together on the hill called Mons Albanus So Hirtius that great welwiller of Iulius Caesar doth write that when Caesar was personally present in his wars in Africa very stones fell on the armie as it vseth to haile God rayned Manna from heauen and fire and brimstone vpon Sodome the one to helpe the other to hurt So the stories of the Romanes do mention that it rayned bloud and rayned flesh and wooll too saith Orosius in the dayes of the Emperour Valentinian and milke other such stuffe which as the learned do gather were
and the Lord make vs thankful for it to say that in England he is persecuted for preaching of the Gospell Lesse comfort to be said truly to be a cause to himselfe of stopping his mouth from preaching of the Gospell But least of all with Ionas to go from Niniue to Tarsus from being a Prophet to be a marchant or follow some other calling Ionas by it sped but il let thē looke to themselues I desire that all should be wel He found a ship going to Tarshish 15 God doth manie times suffer those things to be ready by the which we may fall that we may learne that in our selues there is no measure of iniquitie if God once do giue vs ouer or leaue vs for a time Whereupon we haue need to pray not only as some pray that he wil not suffer vs to be led into temptation but that he will not leade vs into temptation by causing vs to see enticements and if he do that then he will deliuer vs from euill That is if he trie vs that he will not suffer vs to fall if he lay a burthen on vs that he will giue vs grace to beare it But that is another matter He findeth a ship readie and like a man that meant to trauell hauing money in his purse so the Prophet is not thread-bare he hath money in his purse he payeth the fare of her He may be thought in this to be a man of good conscience that such as laboured for him should haue the price of their paines A lesson worth the learning for those which haue to do with labourers and poore workemen that they do not detaine their wages The labourer saith our Sauiour is worthy of his hire God hath diuerse sayings in his Law that the wages of such persons as are hired should not be detained from them least in anguish of their soule the men crie vnto the Lord and he take it not well The rich men that do this are bidden by Saint Iames to weepe and howle for the miseries that shall come vpon them And it is added Your gold and siluer is cankered and the rust of them shall be a witnesse against you and shall eate your flesh as it were fire The Prophet howsoeuer in other things he deale carelesly yet in this he will not offend He will rather breake with God then cracke his credit with men If they worke they shall haue money 16 But may we not rather collect something here which maketh against the Prophet that so firily he is set and so hotely enflamed to run from his dutie that rather then faile his purse shall go for his passage Here is earnestnesse with a witnesse he careth not for his companie be they Gentiles or infidels or idolaters as they were for that will appeare by it which followeth he careth not so that he may be gone So that he may do amisse he will not spare his money See the corruptnesse of our nature They who are otherwise straight-handed inough in promoting that which is good will spare no cost at all to further that which is euill I do not finde that the Priests were verie liberall to the poore especially out of the common treasurie yet that Christ may be betrayed Iudas shall haue for his part thirtie peeces of siluer Let Ioseph of Arimathea bestow cost if he wil on burying Christ crucified the rulers will none but so that it may be rumoured that his Disciples came by night and stole him away the souldiers shal haue large pay The Apostata Iulian was eger inough to get money from the Christians by exactions and oppressions but when he bad the Iewes build the Temple at Ierusalem in spite of Iesus Christ who had told before that it neuer should be reedified it is certaine that his purse as well as his tongue did go in that bargaine Our age hath too manie of such men as these be Such as be of good place if they be solicited by their honest neighbours to helpe forward a Lecture for the teaching of the people of God their owne children and seruants yea perhaps themselues too who are most ignorant of all or to maintaine an able Minister they haue not a penie their charge is so great and so many wayes they are burthened but to disturbe their Preacher or call him in question or make him stand in law for his tithes and due maintenaunce they haue money inough For the vsing of Gods gifts to the honour of his name they haue other businesse but to vse them against God or anie of his good children they haue store and will inough 17 He payeth that he may be gone and he telleth the other circumstances that he may confesse his sinne to be more grieuous before God But twise in this verse it is named that he would fly from the presence of the Lord. In the beginning in the end But might that be done Ionas Can anie withdraw himself from the sight of the Lord Is not he ruler as well of the sea as of the land Can a man see himselfe anie where where God can not see him He who framed the eye shal not he see or he who made the eare shall he not heare Surely Ionas could not be ignorant that this was not the matter We will not do such wrong to him as to thinke that a Prophet had not read Dauids Psalmes And if he had done that then he well might remember that excellent Psalme of Dauid Thou compassest my pathes and my lying downe and art accustomed to all my wayes There is not a word in my tongue but lo thou knowest it wholly ô Lord. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit or whither shall I fly from thy presence If I ascend into heauen thou art there if I lye downe in hell thou art there Let me take the wings of the morning and dwell in the vttermost parts of the sea yet thither shall thy hand leade me and thy right hand shall hold me Then the caues of the earth the secretes of walles the darkenesse of the night the distance of the place either by land or sea cannot detaine from Gods presence Perhaps Adam and his wife for want of experience for they had neuer fallen before might thinke that by running among the trees of Paradise they might hide thēselues But when God had once found them which was not long to do they might be out of that opinion Their posteritie which came after them had read the Scriptures might be resolued for that matter For in God we moue and liue and haue our being And therefore wheresoeuer we do moue or wheresoeuer we do liue or wheresoeuer we haue our being there God is by his power there God is by his presence It shall be then but a bad shift for the miscreants of the earth to crie in the day of vengeance to the mountaines and the rockes fall on vs
seruice of the coÌ„mon wealth in humane societie be euermore to be respected what comfort can such persons who indeede are but a burthen to a land or the Citie where they dwell take to go on forward to their graues in in that which to speake of it most moderately is but doubtfull I can hardly be perswaded that the consciences of such men do alwayes conteÌ„t and satisfie themseluâ—â— I am sure that according to the proportion of their calling with his they are not able to say as the Apostle Paule sayd a little before his death I haue fought a good fight or as Beza readeth it I haue fought that excellent fight I haue finished my course and so take ioy in their calling Such men who make a life of playing vpon a stage may bethinke themselues in this reckening If you will put vnto these our common dauncing-maisters and others of like sort Mistake me not in these wordes as if I did condemne all honest recreation I dare not to do so I know the priuilege and prerogatiue is great which men aboue all the creatures of God haue if we do not abuse our libertie but it is one thing for one man after his honest labour in that trade wherein the Lord hath placed him to vse fit and moderate recreation and other thing for another to haue no other kinde of life but to make of such exercises an occupation Many kindes of businesse are warranted both by the lawes of God and men apparantly but these at least may come vnder question 10 The next demaunde here made to our Prophet is from what place he did come presuming that a maÌ„ may draw froÌ„ some places such a staine as caÌ„not be washed off but with veÌ„geance He that toucheth pitch shall be defiled vvith it Holy Ioseph being among the Aegyptians had learned new deuised oathes he could sweare by the life of Pharao Lots wife did so well like the companie which she had in Sodome that she longed to be there againe although for her labour it cost her the turning into a pillar of salt Some places are hatefull to God his people must out of Babylon The companions of the wicked are supposed to be wicked It may well be feared that the young man was a sinner of whom Salomon telleth that he went to the house of the harlot entring in thither at the twilight and comming out perhaps at the midnight It could be no great credit for Demosthenes to be seene to come from the house of Lais. It is a case well knowne that there be at Rome whole streetes of Curtisans Onely Surius to extenuate the filthinesse of the matter saith they be but the baser streets and lanes of lesse account where these honest folkes do inhabite And he holdeth it for a great praise to Pope Pius the fifth that hee brought it to that passe This multitude must haue money to maintaine theÌ„ in their abuses whereby it may be collected that many and that frequently resort vnto them Now if Christ should aske of those who returne from those places whence come you where haue you beene they might right well quake with Ionas feare his heauie iudgemeÌ„t But if it be but his holinesse the Vicar or vicegerent of Christ vpon earth the successour of Saint Peter as he merily termeth himselfe there needeth no great dread for the matter From a knowne place of your Citie from that which yeeldeth you money which you permit for tribute Rome how rightly wast thou termed by the name of the vvhore of Babylon which sufferest such abuses in open professed sort and therby giuest incouragement to some to embrace that sinne For whereas in the dayes of our old forefathers the ignorant did account it a crime to keepe a concubine now when they see that euen at Rome in the verie eye of his holinesse in the chiefe Citie of residence for Christes Vicar such matters be maintained they may thinke that now to keepe two or three is a worke meritorious the more the more meritorious But to leaue them to their filthinesse if it do so much touch our Prophet to be asked from whence he came those of the yonger sort who come to this place for learning for vertue and good instruction may reuolue this ouer and ouer If any day in the euening when they should be at home in their beddes or else quiet in their studies or if vpon the Sabaoth in seruice time or while other are at the sermon a tauerne should be their rest which doth not well agree with a long gowne how farre should they be forgetfull or blush to heare that question whence come you where haue you bin or as God spake to our forefather in the bushes where art thou Adam If there should be any such as God be praised that custome is well left how will they hereafter lament that those good houres which should and might by the Lordes good blessing be well imployed are ill and fruitlessely spent that idlenesse and vnthriftinesse yea peraduenture drunkennesse also should be that whereunto they bend their studie when in the meane while knowledge and precious learning might adorne them Time foolishly wasted can neuer be recalled and it is hard to call backe our selues when we are once growne to a custome of any euill 11 The ship-maister and his fellowes yet haue not inough of Ionas some more questions for their money They aske him of his countrey and from what people he did come God sometimes is angry with a whole laÌ„d for the wickednesse of the inhabitants The goodly fields of Sodome do find that vnto this day This also is witnessed vnto vs by the barrennesse of Palestina which was sometimes the holie land somtimes the happie land flowing with milke and hony which now answereth in no measure to the fertilitie of auncient time When sinne hath ouergrown a countrey each inhabitant feeleth a wo euen the good in temporall punishments do smart as well as the wicked For the iniquitie of their nation both Daniel and the three children together with the rest of their countrimen were led into captiuitie Some kind of people euen almost in generall are displeasing to the Lord. The Ammonites and the Moabites were litle accepted of him But Amelechs name was so cursed that the Lord would haue the remembrance of them to be rooted out from vnder the heauen Aboue all the people who liue vpon the earth the Iewes do demonstrate this doctrine to vs whose children and childrens children haue for many ages bene blinded with the grosse and grieuous sinne of their fathers who put Christ cruelly to death Other nations had their faults and so might be hatefull to men who bordered neare vpon them and they might also prouoke wrath from God S. Paule did obserue out of the Poet Epimenides that the Cretians were great lyers Now least some such generall sinne of parentage or countrey should hang
was hindered from assembling within those courts of the Lord that he witnesseth for his owne part that neuer heart did so bray to find the brooke of water as his hart and conscience did thirst for that place yea his teares did trickle downe to thinke that he might not come there And elsewhere he complaineth that the sparrow and the swallow were happy being compared to him for they might come to the Altar to make their nest neare about it but leaue to do that was denied vnto him But afterward when Salomon had erected his famous house to the Lord that had many extraordinarie blessings granted to it at the time of the dedication when God witnessed by his presence that he heard the requests of Salomon among which these were some that if famine or plague or any other affliction did vexe the hearts of the Israelites and they theÌ„ came into that Temple and there prayed to be deliuered from that crosse the Lord would remooue it from them Yea if they were out of their owne land either going against their enemies or captiues in other countries if they turning their faces about to the coastward of this house should either pray for victorie or for release from their captiuitie their God would graunt it vnto them The Iewes afterward obserued this euermore in the earnestnesse of their prayer in what land soeuer they were turning them toward the Temple not tying superstitiously the power of God to that place but knowing that the same house was not erected in vaine And witnessing withall their obedience vnto the Lord and to men the constancie of their profession who held that place as the seale of the Lords assured protection ouer them So when Daniel in Chaldaea would pray he set his windowes open toward Hierusalem to the hazard of his life And truely the maiestie and great fame of the place was such that when the second Temple which was a farre meaner matter was raised vp the Princes of the earth which were of the very Gentiles did repute it and esteeme it a thing most holy The regard which was borne to that sanctuarie by Alexander the great sometimes king of the Macedonians by Ptolomeus Philadelphus by Pompey the great Romane some wherof did there offer sacrifice as it is testified by Iosephus and the coming vp of the Eunuch of Candace the Queene of Aethiopia who resorted thither of purpose for to worship do make this very plaine vnto vs. Then our man who sometimes had bene a Prophet and of likely hood had gone vp to Hierusalem to do his deuotions contrarie to the custome of the Israelites in his time had great reason to bethinke himselfe of this place 11 The doctrine to be deriued vnto vs from hence is this that since in substance we are inheritours of that faith which the Israelites and Iewes did holde and in steade of their Temple haue the Churches of the Christans which are places seuered to Gods seruice for the assembly of his Saints and the gathering together of his people that we therefore should beare the like affection to these as they did to that house and this so much the rather because the substance is here when there was but the shadow there the figure but here the truth there sacrifices made of beasts here the true Lambe Iesus Christ. We should therfore resort to these Sanctuaries with greedinesse euen as to the type of heauen we should ioy to be there and see all other there whom we loue and a Christian man loueth euery man Christ did frequent the Temple he called it an house of praier Anna that widow so much coÌ„mended liued in the TeÌ„ple the Apostles came to this and after that Christ was ascended the holy men who were in the time of the Primitiue Church did reioyce to see the Oratories and places of deuotion which were built in honour of Christ. They knew that if the priuate prayers or lifting vp of the hands of one man were acceptable to the Lord theÌ„ the voyce of a multitude making their requests ioyâ—tly together would more sound in the eares of God If the Sauior hath made a promise to be in the middle of them where two or three are gathered together with what an eye of coÌ„passion is he present to looke vpon hundreds or thousands of his assembled into one place Then let vs account it our happinesse that we may ioyne our prayers vnto a great congregation which God denieth to his best children in the time of persecution and of banishment great sicknesse and let vs presse to this place as to that where bread is broken which is the very food of life For herein God giueth a most approoued argument of his loue that we are not forced to runne from this sea to another from this land vnto that so to enioy this blessing but we need no more but euen step out of doores it is so brought home vnto vs. And let vs each man exhort that brother of his who yet wanteth vnderstanding to hasten vnto this banket for it is a good token of more grace which is afterward to follow when men come to this place although it be for other purposes God catcheth them vpon the sudden the hooke is fastened in them before themselues be aware Austen came with another mind to heare Saint Ambrose preach it was to obserue his words and his eloquence and the manner of his gracious deliuery for Ambrose was an eloquent and sweete man but at length the matter of his Sermons tooke him and made him a good Christian. So mighty Gods word is and hearing is the meanes to bring men vnto faith by which faith they are saued and this is the place of hearing If any man sayth Chrysostome vpon Iohn do sit neare to a perfumer or a perfumers shop euen against his will he shall receiue some sauour from it much more shall he who frequenteth the Church receiue some goodnesse from it 12 Then they are much to be blamed who do willingly and of purpose absent themselues from this place be they either the stiffe and stubburne recusants whose fancy and refractary will is called by the name of conscience who being inuited to the Supper of the Lambe yet keepe themselues away and therefore according to Christs parable are well compelled by the Magistrate to come in It is a most blessed compulsion for a man to be driuen to truth for a woman to be forced to heauen Or be it the idle person who preferreth his rest and sleepe before his owne soules saluation In which case he is worse then the Iew of whom as Ambrose well obserueth the Prophet sayth that he honoureth God with his lips although his heart be farre from him The Iew did yeeld his speech and the Iew did yeeld his presence seemed to giue some countenance to the word but this slouthfull man commeth not so farre Or
and must iudge all See what it is in our life time to thirst after this trash to repose our full contentment and blessednesse in this drosse When the heart should be lifted vp to celestiall contemplation this hangeth so about it that it cannot but lye groueling vpon the the rotten ground 12 Vaine glory or any sinister passion which doth possesse the mind hath the same effect and so hath ignorance of the true God which ignorance and vaine glory as I suppose were the reasons wherfore Titus the Romaine Emperor who was amōg the heathen a mirrour of men was so loath to depart from this earth when knowing that he must dye being caried as he was in his horse-litter he looketh vp toward heauen most bitterly maketh complaint that his life should so be taken away from him not deseruing so ill How vaine are all the shewes of vertue without the knowledge of Christ Iesus Yet the end of Saint Ambrose was in a more holy maner when he being spoke vnto by his friends to pray that yet he might not dye made his answer as he lay at the very dore of death I haue not liued so ill among you that I am ashamed to liue any longer neither am I afraid to dye because we haue a good Lord vpon whom he then did trust There can be no better meditation to any man at that time of departure then to thinke on that good Lord. It causeth a willing and safe leauing of this world a perfecting and completing of all that hath bene here begun which is more to be desired then all the land or treasure which euer the Sunne did see When the time of receiuing the reward commeth it is good to be ready It is best to be aduised of our standing but most of all of our falling He that for a long time runneth nimbly but stumbleth immediatly before the marke hath lost his former labour and is depriued of the price If at any time then at that time when our soule doth faint within vs and is leauing her habitation together with our Prophet let vs thinke vpon our God Now let vs come to the next circumstance and that is how he did speed And my prayer came vnto thee into thy holy Temple 13 Ionas in great misery and expectation of his end hath his mind vpon his maister with faith he remembred him and he remembred him to pray to him Now his prayer was not vnfruitfull as that which is made to idols or vnto hard hearted men but by the fauour of the Iudge it hath audience to the full It came to God in his Temple which is not to be intended as taken of the heauen the chiefe seate of his maiesty and residence of his power although in generall all the prayers of his elect and chosen do ascend and go vp thither but in more speciall manner it is meant of the Temple which Salomon did erect where together with the Arke of the couenant and the Cherubims and the mercy-seate the presence of Gods grace was in most peculiar sort And this house was to the Iewes a visible signe and Sacrament thereof so that according to the request which Salomon made to God they repaired thither when any thing did oppresse them as appeareth by Hezechias who layd open the letter of Senacherib in the Temple before the Lord. Yea when soeuer the Israelites were in a strange land in bondage or captiuity and called vpon the Lord earnestly they did turne themselues to that coast which way this house did stand as I then made plaine vnto you by the example of Daniel when I handled the fourth verse of this present Chapter Then to say no more of that point his prayer was directed to him who sate in this Temple 14 But obserue withall with what reuerence he speaketh here of Gods house the Temple of thy holinesse for so it is in the Hebrew or into thy holy Temple as we commonly do translate it If we referre the appellation of holinesse to the Lord who is so holy as he whose sacred goodnesse and sanctitie doth exceede the thought of all creatures In Leuiticus he speaketh thus be you holy for I the Lord your God am holy So in Exodus it was written in that plate which was in Aarons forehead Holinesse to the Lord. If we take it of the Temple this also was a holy place consecrated vnto piety and dedicated to religion whose inner part by an excellencie was called Sanctum Sanctorum the holy of holies as implying that the rest was also of good qualitie From hence all profaned persons and polluted things were precisely bid to be kept The violating of this house did much offend the Lord as may be seene many times in the Prophets and Iosephus is of opinion that nothing sooner brought destruction to Ierusalem then the execrable deedes committed in the Temple The place was made for all kind of goodnesse and deuotion to the Lord but it was so farre abused as any thing which is most filthie These are warnings to vs that since in our age Churches are as much to the Christians as that Temple was to the Israelites or at least they are sequestred houses to serue God truely in that we vse them with all reuerence for his sake to whom they belong that as we repute them to be consecrated matters so in truth we do vse them as Gods most holie Temple Which whether men do or no let the chopping and the changing in symoniacall sort the buying and the selling of these Churches as of most profane things witnesse vnto the world If we should be silent yet let the preassing in of the vilest right Ieroboams Priests proclaime the truth herein Let the carelesnesse of those Pastours whom God hath blessed with skill make open declaration who do mind that field or barne whence corne or wooll commeth to them oftener in one moneth then the pulpit in a yeare They can enquire for a Curate where one may be had best cheape not respecting whether he be able to teach or what payments be to the Prince or impositions to the state but how the people shall be instructed they do not regard at all And on the other side let the generall behauiour of men throughout the land speake whether those that be of the congregation do vse these houses as sanctified things or no. Looke into their cold coming on the weeke daies in such places where Lectures are continued their talking and gazing about when their soule should be instructed their reuoluing of their worldly businesse their obseruing rather of eloquence in the minister or preacher or in some what may be carped at then how their owne life may be bettered or their conscience informed their perfunctorie praying and formall inuocation of him who requireth the heart These matters shew that it is made vnholy by vs which in it selfe is ordained to be holy Of likelyhood the temple at
pleasure to be so detained there but when he began to stirre it felt it selfe ouercharged and could last out no longer And in my iudgement the Metaphore which is vsed here in the type doth expresse this in Christ Iesus for the Originall hath it Vajake eth-Ionah which Vajake comming of Ko with Aleph in the end signifying Vomere is as much as if it were said the fish did vomite vp Ionas the qualitie of which word Vomite doth imply that which I haue spoken For when the stomake of any liuing thing hath receiued that which either for the weaknesse of it selfe or by reason of the strength of the meat it hath no power to digest it doth cast it vp and vomite The hardnesse for digestion of that which is the ingredient or the weaknesse of the part receiuing more then it ought doth cause that euacuation The case was so with death and the graue when they receiued Christ. 8 It was no common meat which it had taken into it but that which it was impossible should be concocted by it not an ordinarie man but one who had no fellowes His body was but a bait to entise the graue to swallow him but vnderneath was the hooke of eternitie and that Godhead which caught both graue and death and made them glad to put vp such a one out of their bowels Faine they were to be rid of him because he did ouerbeare them The Godhead raised him vp loosed the sorrowes of death because it was impossible that he should be holden by them When Samson was disposed he brake the cordes and ropes wherewith he was tyed they fittered and dissolued euen as the flaxe which is burnt with the fire he rent off the gates of Azzah and postes and barres and all and putting them on his shoulders he caried them whither he pleased So when Christ was disposed be shooke off the graue-clothes from him and bore vp all before him the rocke which was about him and the stone which was vpon him resigned their strength vnto him and he commeth foorth victorious as a Champion who had slept or a Giaunt refreshed with wine As a tamed Lyon he had suffered death and Satan and the infernall spirits for a time to play with him and disgrace him and haue some hand vpon him but when it seemed good vnto him he rowzed vp his bodie and roaring in his might this he renteth and that he teareth he knappeth their chaines in sunder and maketh them glad to fly happie he who could get farthest The whale was not so glad to part here with our Ionas as the earth was with our Iesus Here the drowned man is restored there the dead man is reuiued being the first fruite of the resurrection 9 As he dyed so we shall dy and as he rose againe so we also need not doubt but we shall rise againe Onely he did it by his owne power but we not by our owne force but by the power of him The head is gone before the members shall follow after Many of them that sleepe in the dust of the earth shall awake some to euerlasting life and some to shame and perpetuall contempt Gods children shall be translated into a better state recouering the same puritie which was giuen to Adam in Paradise where he was after the image of God in innocencie and integritie But first by death they must be beate in sunder and knocked in peeces that so they may be remoulded and new cast by the workeman not onely to their old figure but to a better forme in the day of the resurrection But as their captaine was so must they first by death be dissolued and separated that their bodies may be refined and made a great deale better When we plucke downe a house this is Saint Chrysostomes comparison meaning to build it new or repaire the ruines of it we withdraw such from the house as inhabited it before lest they should be soyled with the dust or offended with the noise and bid them for a time to rest in some other place but when we haue new trimmed and dressed it wee bring them backe againe to a better habitation So God when he ouer-turneth the rotten roome of our flesh calleth out the soule for a little and lodgeth it with himselfe in some corner of his kingdome but repaireth the brackes of our bodie against the resurrection and then hauing made it decent yea glorions and incorruptible hee doth put the soule backe againe into her acquainted mansion He hath determined this concerning vs that dust shall recouer breath and rottennesse shall haue life against all Atheists and Epicures there shall be a resurrection But I pursue this no farther because in the end of the first Chapter I handled it at large 10 If in another sence we will turne the present example to the benefite of our selues this giueth great consolation to the deiected conscience which groneth vnder the waight of her sinnes Such things as are written are written for our learning This wretched suffering man had displeased the Lord most grieuously For the haynousnesse of his fault wrath was gone out against him The Lord would not be satisfied but with drowning and deuouring in the belly of such a monster where the feare of death and almost the paines of hell were vpon him The passions of his heart had bene desperate and distrustfull if faith had not come to the rescue Yet we see that he did not perish but when his woe was passed ouer him he came to good againe God did but giue signification as small a thing as might be as if a man should nodde or winke vpon another and his sorrowes are shaked off from him he is set aliue on the land If griefe do assault our minds that we thinke our hearts will breake if temptation haue so rent vs that we suppose wee are all to shiuers if pangs of desperation with remembraunce of sinnes past haue beate faith so out of countenance that wee see no way but our soules must be a pray to Sathan yet there is hope with God and mercie with the Highest He bringeth men to the doore of death but he doth not turne them in Or he putteth them into the pit that they are halfe way downe to the bottome but his hand goeth along with them and suddenly in a trice he draweth them backe againe If we be within the iawes of Sathan he putteth a gagge in his mouth that it shall not close vpon vs. It is neuer too late for him to helpe while life and soule hang together He who bid the dust become Adam and Adam was made of dust he who spake to the graue and bad Lazarus come foorth from it and Lazarus came out of the graue he who commaunded the fish to loose Ionas and Ionas was loosed in a moment This Lord if he speake to hell or diuell or all the feends of darknesse they shall not dare once to
touch thee but thou shalt escape from their clutches as a bird from the snare How much lesse shall mortall man oppresse thee or triumph ouer thee if it be he that doth vexe thee God doth but cast an eye vpon thee and the mist before the Sunne can not be dispersed so suddenly as thy sorrow and heauinesse In steed of sadnesse ioy and mirth shall compasse thee embrace thee If once his refreshing spirit cast but an aspect vpon thee thou art as safe as thy selfe wouldest euer desire to be Onely to win God hereunto be thou sorie for thy transgression and grieue at thine owne iniquitie If thou haue fallen with Dauid spare not to sing with Dauid a Psalme of Miserere if thou haue offended with Peter with Peter go thou foorth and cease not to weepe bitterly With Ionas pray and call and thou shalt be deliuered A comparison betweene the Prophet and Arion 11 Looke what hath bene spoken hitherto may manifestly be gathered by the plaine words of my text and therefore as you haue seene I haue passed it very briefly But pondering farther on this Scripture and looking nearer into it yea withall comparing it with some things of the Gentiles it seemeth vnto me to offer a farther doctrine For thinking with my selfe how strangely those mariners who in the Chapter before threw him into the sea and made account they had drowned him would looke vpon him if they met him any where afterward as that was no impossible matter maruelling how he should liue whom they left in the sea and how he should be at land whom they cast into the water and there relinquished him remedilesse and past hope I called to mind the narration of Arion in Herodotus who being said to be throwne into the Ocean by mariners and supposed by them to be drowned was afterward seene at Corinth in the court of Periander to the great amazement of them who before had consented to his death And I thought of this the rather because Saint Austen in his first booke De ciuitate Dei doth compare this storie of Ionas vnto that of Arion reproching the Gentiles that whereas they would not beleeue this which was written of our Prophet yet they would giue credite to that which their Poets and other writers reported of Arion Whereupon conferring yet farther the likenesse of these two matters although not in euery circumstance yet in the mainest points I could not but suspect that the Greeke tale of the one meant the Hebrew truth of the other And therein I imagined that the Musitian of the Gentiles was the Israelite mentioned here although the storie were peeced vp with another narration after the custome of the Heathens in dealing with the Scriptures And moreouer the note of a learned interpreter writing vpon this place did further this opinion who nameth our Ionas here Arion Christianus the Arion of the Christians I find also that this report is very auncient among the Greekes and therefore might well sort with the antiquitie of the Prophet Now as if we will allow this to be true it doth yeeld vs fruitfull doctrine fit to be handled in this place before so learned and iudicious an auditorie so being otherwise that is vntrue and false it is also worthie of our consideration and therefore giue me leaue to speake a little vnto it You shall see anon to what end 12 Herodotus in his Clio hath a narration to this purpose that Arion a skilfull harper going from Greece his owne countrey into Italy there and in Sicilia by the excellencie of his musicke had gained a great deale of money Being now desirous with his wealth to returne againe to Corinth to his old Prince Periander he found a vessell at Tarentum which belonged to certaine ship-men of Corinth who were returning home and with them he agreeth for his fare When they had him at sea being men of ill conditions and desirous of his money they intended to drowne him He now in this perill maketh request for his life but when nothing would serue those hard-hearted persons but that such must be his doome he begged this fauour of them that yet before he died he might cloth himselfe with his best clothes which being done he taketh his harpe and singing and playing to it a most melodious song then threw himselfe into the sea There a Dolphin a kind of fish delighted as it seemeth with the musicke doth vndertake him and ceassed not to beare him on her backe till it landed him safe at Taenarus whence he going to Periander the tyrant then raigning at Corinth so apparelled as he was when he came out of the water informeth him of all the matter who beleeued it not till at length sending for the selfe same mariners who were arriued in his countrey and shewing them Arion who vpon the sight of him were exceedingly amazed as indeed they had great cause he learned that all was so This saith Herodotus is reported at Lesbos and at Corinth and at Taenarus there is a very great image made of brasse which is a man sitting on a Dolphin and that image was set vp there by Arion This tale with all his circumstaunces is so common among the auncient that Plinie and Plutarke and Ouid and Gellius both do report it at large and Plinie giueth other examples that Dolphines couching downe their pinnas their sinnes which as he seemeth to say go all along their backes haue caried diuerse other ouer the water and so saued them 13 If I shall giue my iudgement concerning this I do not at all doubt but that it is a fable The diuersitie of the report which is among the auncient doth argue the vncertaintie For although the most record it to be one Dolphines doing one that caried him all the while yet Plutarke hath it otherwise that they were diuerse Dolphines which caried him in the sea meaning belike by turnes or many at once supporting him So they agree not in the manner But whether it were one or many why did not the mariners see it that it was so straunge a thing vnto them when they met him on the land If he went aboue the water they of likelyhood might haue spied him and so made some shift to vnhorse him if it were vnder the water how came it about that he was not drowned in all that time The auncient full well saw that this was but a fained thing That made Suidas in Arion to say nothing of the fish nor his escape from drowning although he haue other things of him Strabo in his thirteenth booke saith plainely it is a fable The late writers thinke no otherwise and hold these tales of Plinie to be but fained matters and they giue this reason for it because the nature of Dolphines and of all other fishes as also of all other creatures is the same in our dayes which it was in ages long agone but since those auncient
of that learned man I hold it to be very lawfull to obserue those seuen and twelue for the one and for the other So he saith that the veile in the Tabernacle of blew silke and purple and scarlet and fine linnen did intend the foure elements and he giueth good reason for that And the same is also the opinion of Saint Hierome Here to compare foure and foure hath a naturall vse in discoursing of the elements the good creatures of God Nay it will not do amisse if by a farther allusion we shall make application thus that as we reade in Exodus that the veyle made of those foure things did hang betweene the holy place whither the Priests did come to offer and the Sanctum Sanctorum the Holy of Holyes where the presence of God was so that they who stoode in the one could not behold the other vntill the veyle which was betweene them were rent or remooued So the holyest man that is euen the very Priest at the altar cannot see God as he should in the high abode of his holinesse vntill that his flesh and bodie which are made of those foure elements be torne off and remooued away by death and by the graue This or the like about numbers may be thought to be naturall and not strayned so that I dare not determine against it as also against nothing else which apparantly hath true and proper vse of doctrine or due application But I leaue to your consideration whether the authour of the booke De Spiritu sancto who sometimes but not rightly is supposed to be Saint Cyprian or other like to him do keepe close within these bounds when he especially magnifieth the number of seuen aboue other because it consisteth of three and foure where saith he three shew the three persons of the Trinitie and foure noteth the foure elements which intendeth that God who is signified in the mysterie of the Trinitie is caried with a loue ouer his creatures who are figured in the compasse of the foure elements A man may go too farre And this I haue obserued by reason of Saint Hieromes note vpon this place concerning fortie which I hold to be not vnfit for this auditorie because it is few times touched But now for the benefite of the vnlearned I come to doctrine which is more morall 8 When God giueth the Niniuites fortie dayes to bethinke themselues it implyeth his exceeding mercie who as he was very louing to them when he sent them warning of their destruction so is his loue more abundant when he giueth them space of repentance that they might turne away his wrath which was to breake out against them The prayer of the Leuites is true Thou art a God of mercies gracious and full of compassion of long suffering and of great mercie And so is that of Dauid The Lord is full of compassion and mercie slow to anger and of great kindnesse We can neuer sufficiently admire his bearing patience That citie which for the manifold euill of it had deserued to haue perished in one day shall haue a day and a day and fortie dayes of grace to purge it selfe if it will The tree which bore no fruit shall haue this yeare of probation and the next yeare of expectation and shall be pruned and dounged before it be cut downe So that Lord who is iealous in his anger is yet a mild God in his suffering It is obserued in men that they are long in making any thing but very quicke in marring of it A house built in a yeare may be plucked downe in a moneth A castle which hath bene long in setting vp by mining and powder may be blowne vp in a moment A citie whom many ages haue but brought to her beautie is consumed in a little time by fire put to it of the enemie Onely God is quicke in making but pawseth vpon destroying he commeth not but by steppe after steppe and when he should strike he stayeth and turneth and looketh away and will not roote vp till iustice can no longer endure He made the heauen in a day and might haue done in a moment but Niniue that one citie shall haue fortie dayes to breath in before her ruine come The Sunne and Moone and starres had but one day for their creation but man had warning for a hundred and twentie yeares before the comming of the floud in the time of Noe and Hierusalem shall haue admonishment by the Scriptures before the appearaunce of Christ by Iohn the Baptist afterward by our Sauiour personally and when they haue killed that iust one yet fortie yeares shall passe ouer before that it be quite destroyed Sixe dayes made the whole world but almost sixe thousand yeares haue beene affoorded to it before that the end ouertake it Thus iustice in many cases is if not swallowed and deuouted vp yet much shadowed by mercie which sometimes ouer-weigheth it and other times ouer-layeth it when it is readie to rise preuenting it and holding it downe And there be few of vs who may not feele this proposition true in our selues 9 If we looke vpon our own land how may we breake out and say that pitie and compassion haue abounded on vs from him See whether he hath not lent vs as many yeares to repent as he did dayes to Niniue when the infinit prouocations wherwith we haue prouoked him in hypocrisie in luke-warmnesse in gluttony and in wantonnesse in securitie and vnthankfulnes haue called on him for a shorter time Seueritie might haue said Fortie yeares I haue bene grieued or contended with this generation yet clemeÌ„cie stayeth that speech He lent not so much time to our fathers next before vs his mercie did straine it selfe to affoord sixe yeares to them of free passage of his word vâ—der his gracious instrument King Edward whose memorie liâ—e for euer and yet that was encombred with seditions of the subiect and tumults of the Commons as also with much hurrying and banding of the Nobilitie But concerning our time the question may be whether is more to be admired the greatnesse or the goodnesse the length which is very memorable or the varietie of those blessings which we do little conceiue because we most enioy them euen as no man noteth the benefit of the ayre whereon we breath because we haue store of it and yet nothing is more precious then it or nearer to life it selfe So in a common generalitie God doth beare with vs all But farther if each man will take the paines to looke on himselfe in priuate he may say that he hath had his fortie dayes oft-times told together with Niniue our citie here Saint Bernard in one of his Sermons shall speake that which I do meane The mercie and expectation of the Lord is great toward thee for when the Angell had offended he stayed not at all for him but threw him downe to hell and when Adam transgressed
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
the same fountaine of sorrow teares that with many grones of heart and much weeping of the eyes and many hands lift vp the long suffering God might be mooued to compassion And if this did not suffice then his farther desire was that the emptinesse of the reasonable creatures and hunger of the vnreasonable ones euen the oxen and sheepe and cattell which should breake foorth into bellowing bleating and out-crying might extort and wring foorth commiseration For I may well vse that speech in the same sence that the kingdome of heauen is said to suffer violence And therefore taking counsell of his most honorable Nobles and Princes and Senatours he putteth foorth an Edict and most solemne Proclamation through the streetes of the citie that euery mothers child be it male or be it female young or old or bond or free should enter into abstinence and put on sackcloth and pray but especially with a hatred should turne away from sinne And to make the stronger out-cry in the eares of the Almightie reuenger the brute beastes should be vrged by the pinching of their bellies to make a rufull noyse that these conioyned complaints might preuaile and work out mercie A good consideration of a heathen man which as a glasse may be set before vs who be Christians by profession and may also teach vs something which is very well worth the learning Which that we may vnderstand with better facilitie may it please you to consider with me first the induction to the Proclamation which is here proposed by the Spirit of God that is by a double circumstance one that he proclaimed through Niniue the other that he did it by consent of his Nobles And secondly the Edict or Proclamation it selfe These I am now to lay open to you as the Lord shall inable me He proclaymed 3 It is for no small matters that Princes and mightie rulers are set ouer people and countries and cities not alone to braue it in pompous apparell or by externall helpes to make shew of maiestie for the most coward the veriest foole yea an image may in great sort performe this But there is required of them a superuising care and diligent respect that their people should do well By doing well I meane haue welfare and prosperitiâ— and be free from plagues and punishments So Moyses being in the wildernesse did exceedingly desire that the Lords blessing might abound vpon his people and so also did Dauid when in the time of the deuouring pestilence he said vnto his maker I haue sinned yeâ— I haue done wickedly but these sheepe what haue â—hey done But principally I vnderstand by doing well that they should do their dutie walke in feare of their maker serue him with their heart be informed in true religion pursue that which is vertuous flye from idolatrie and sinne See how great the care of Iosuah was that the children of Israel euen after his death should sticke fast to the Lord and not do as the Gentiles but keepe their faith entirely So Dauid by his owne example stirreth vp his subiects to offer part of their riches to the building of the Temple yea calleth on them by plaine words and when he seeth it willingly done he taketh much comfort in it And which is most of all he prayeth the God of Abraham and Isaac and Israel still to keepe that deuotion in the minds of his people and to prepare their hearts vnto him In another place the deuout mind of Iehosaphat is liuely expressed who sent abrode his Princes and his Leuites ioyned with them that first they might teach the men of Iuda the law of Moyses and the Scripture that so they might know the way to walke vprightly and holily and then afterward his Iudges to see whether they liued according to their knowledge And there was neuer King who was commended in the Scripture or by iust and true desert in Christian common-wealth but he did take such a course They who failed in this may be thought to faile in all for this is the very scope wherefore Kings are ordained 4 It is no question in holy Writ but that the Lord requireth â—hat euery man should embrace and frame himselfe to his commaundement but he hath solemnely appointed the Monarkes of the earth to see this to be done He hath committed the charge of their inferiours to them and doth expect from theÌ„ such executions and accomplishments as may bring the neckes of their subiects vnder the yoke of Christ. Therfore he hath armed them with the highest authoritie therefore he hath giuen them the helpe of wise aduisers therefore oftentimes he enricheth theÌ„ with graces extraordinarie partly being carefully infused by education and partly immediatly inspired by his goodnessed that so they may be able to foresee with wisedome what the common sort do not thinke of and to discerne with iudgement and to preuent with diligence and with violence to restraine from enormities and obliquities And to remember them thereof he giueth them titles accordingly as rulers that they may rule them with a faithfull and true heart which cannot be done but by teaching them obedience to the highest ruler So fathers of the people that as parents are bound to traine vp their children in the feare of the Lord and by naturall affection to worke them all happinesse that may be and intend them all good so these should do to their subiects who are placed vnder their gouernment In like sort they are called shepheards â—o watch ouer them to keepe them from the wolues and foxes of heresie of idolatrie and schisme of Satanicall resolutions and to better their pasture as conueniencie may yeeld The heathen Poet did vse this name to Agamemnon his King 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Agamemnon the shepheard of the people But they are put in mind of their duâ—ie by nothing more significantly then by calling them heads whereby he letteth them know not so much that they are placed vppermost in the bodie but how they are placed why they are placed that is with eares to heare what is good for all the bodie with smelling and tasting to choose what is wholesome with the toung to speake what will helpe or what will hurt but especially with the eyes to see a great way off which way the feete should walke the stomacke should be releeued the bodie should be cherished and euer to thinke that the rest of the parts are so vnited to it that all make but one in the coniunction of the whole God doth require this of the heads of lands and nations that in the middest of daunger they should not be winking with drowsie eyes but see what is comming and withdrawing themselues withdraw their people also And there is no one thing which he will so seuerely exact of them in the day of iudgement as an accompt for this For albeit there must be a reckening for the actions of themselues
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
arose such mightie and incredible tempests as that the like were neuer seene or heard of in that countrey There may be some other reason hereof for such things are secret to all but onely to God yet it is no sin to suppose fitly to this present questioÌ„ as some theÌ„ did coÌ„ceiue that foule spirits stirred them vp to shew their detestation to the name of Christ grieuing that to those brutish creatures who had long liued in ignoraÌ„ce he should in some sort be preached although not yet so well as he ought that the Gospell of the kingdome might be taught through all the world If it were thus yet neither doth this exaÌ„ple nor that forenamed in Iob impeach our first coÌ„cluded doctrine that God doth send the thunder that he is Lord of the winds that he sendeth down the haile and raine for he doth these things of his absolute power by the singlenesse of his own will by the sufficiencie of his nature without reference to any other But Satan and his factours worke their exploits by limitation and by leaue for they depend on the Lord and as if they were tyed in a chaine they cannot exceede one hairebredth of that which is graunted vnto them And therefore we are not to thinke that so oftentimes as men will report it such tempests are caused by meanes of ill members in any common wealth for then it should be verie often our common sort herein erre and are verie credulous or light of beleefe but sometimes this is done by them both at sea at land not vniuersally but in such special places and causes too as the Lord wil permit And some learned men say that these stormes of their raising may be easily distinguished from naturall tempests arising froÌ„ meteors both because they begin most sodainly and violently because they endure but a verie litle time Againe we are not to imagine that these things fall out so often as the diuell and his agents do desire for they are wondrous ful of mischief but theÌ„ they are wheÌ„ it pleaseth God in some measure to graunt the dispensation of them either to crosse the godly as to vexe them in their bodies or disquiet them in their minds or afflict them in their substance but neuer to touch their soules for that is not within their compasse or else to plague the reprobates and the infidels in their bodies their soules to their euerlasting perditioÌ„ He that wold see more exaÌ„ples of the working of sorcerers in this kind let him reade some places of Olaus Magnus And so I leaue this questioÌ„ 10 Not Satan in this place but God sendeth the storme on Ionas the circumstances afterward do make proofe to the ful that it was a verie great one It is termed a mighty tempest the ship was almost broken the mariners are afrayd they cry euerie man to his God they throw the wares into the sea which I shall touch more largely anon In the meane time the note here is that Ionas is the sinner but all the ship smarteth for it the mariners the maister who were not at all accessarie to this foule deede of the Prophet yet are pursued as well as he What had these poore men sinned who after the custome of their trade did let him in for his money as a passenger but medled not with his message they vnderstood not of his prophecying yea it may be that they had neuer so much as heard of Niniue Shall many smart thus for one the mariners for a straunger Here is now another question But learne here Gods hate to sin learne here his deepe and endlesse wisedome His wisedome shineth in this that oftentimes with one man he striketh a many for reasons which in themselues are very different being euermore wel knowne to his Maiestie but secret vnto vs. The partie principall he doth punish to the next he doth teach obedience the patience of the third he will haue to be tried and so forward in the rest in all he seeketh his glorie his honor in the wicked his true feare in the good If all these be whipped at once he doth no wrong to anie He that hath not sinned with Ionas yet hath sinned in somewhat else For what man is he that drinketh not in iniquitie as the water and is not found so to do if he be once brought to his triall before God All the difference then is this that their faults haue seuerall places but their punishment shall haue one Theeues are brought out of diuerse quarters at sundrie times they haue trespassed and in causes verâ—e contrarie yet they are imprisoned in one iayle and punished in one day and suffer all on one tree I doubt not for these sea-men but if all of them had bene drowned they had sufficiently deserued it although they had neuer heard of Ionas God neede not be vniust in his punishments toward man he need not seeke occasion or picke a quarrell against him 11 Piso one of the Romane Generals as Seneca De ira writeth to shew the bloudie humour which was in him commanded that a souldier should be put to death for returning without his fellow with whom he went from the campe saying that he had killed him The Captaine who had the charge to execute this poore souldier when he saw his fellow coming which had bene missed before did spare the first mans life Vpon this Piso found matter to take away the liues of all three Heare his worthie reason for it You are a man condemned saith he vnto the first my sentence was passed on you and therefore you shall die Then turning him to the second You were the cause quoth he wherefore your fellow was condemned vnto death therfore you must die And to the third You Centurion because you haue not learned to obey the voice of your Generall for companie shall die also He deuised saith Seneca how he might make three faults because he found not one The iust iudge of the skie need not deale so with vs neither needed he with these sea-men No beating of his braines to inuent an accusation our thoughts and words and deedes do yeeld him cause enough His wisedome it is to strike many for many ends In one place and with some one who is notorious for a crime to punish those whose faults haue bin in diuerse places His iustice goeth with his wisdome for he neuer doth wrong to any althogh our dul eyes do not see it For the saying is verie true that Gods iudgements although many times they be secret yet euermore they are iust 12 And here appeareth his hatred vnto a grieuous sinne Sometimes for one mans fault who is harboured by another or carelesly entertained without iust inquisition without due examination God calleth the sinnes of other to an apparant reckening to a sensible remembrance which before he seemed to forget Let Achan be the man who serueth here for an example He