of liberty epicurisme sensualitie that we plucke vp good vvorkes as weedes by the rootes and cast them foorth of the doores as the children of the bondwomaÌ„ not worthy to inherite with the free-borne We never said that faith without workes barren and empty of her fruits iustified an vnrighteous soule but that faith so qualified doth notwithstanding iustifie without those workes this we mainetaine against men and angels so we remooue not workes from faith but workes from iustifying Still they followe their mistresse but in remission of sinnes and cloathing the sinner with the iustice of God therein they giue her the place and put the burthen of that worke vpon her shoulders Let Bilha the handmaide supply the defectes of Rahell and beare children vnto Iacob but let her ever remember that Rahel is aboue her and singular in some respect And let not Ioseph forget though he ride in the second chariot of Egypt be the next man to the king yet that the king hath reserved the throne to himselfe Shall I yet teach you by a more sensible and familiar demonstration Bethulia is in danger of Holofernes the terrour of the East as we of the iustice of God and as the strength of Bethulia was thought too weake to encounter him so all our obedience to the law of God is weake and vnsufficient to defende vs. Iudith vndertaketh for the people of her city faith for vs Iudith goeth accompanied with her handmaides faith with her works and though the eies of her handmaid were ever towards her Lady to carry the scrippe c. yet in performing that act of deliverance Iudith is alone her maide standing and waiting at the dore and not so much as setting her foot within the chamber So although our loue and obedience bee as attendant to faith as ever that servant was to Iudith yet in performing this mighty act of deliverance acquiting the conscience froÌ„ the curse of the law pacifying the anger of God and presenting vs blamelesse before his holy eies al which standeth in the apprehension of the merites of Christ and a stedfast perswasion that he hath assumed for vs faith is wholely and solely alone our workes not claiming any part in that sacred action Therefore wee conclude saith the Apostle Rom. 3. that a man is iustified by faith without the workes of the law Therefore you see saith Iames in the second of his Epistle that of works a man is iustified and not of faith only He is and he is not doth the one conclude the former and doeth the other inferre also by way of conclusion that he hath prooved the latter What shall we say is God divided or is there dissension in the spirit of vnity or is there more than one truth Apostle against Apostle Iames against Paul in one and the same question deriving a contrary conclusion Not so But as the striking of two flintes togither beateth out fire so the comparing of these their two opinions will make the truth more manifest Surely by faith we are iustified without the workes of the law Meane it of ceremonies as some doe meane it of morall commandements the position is both waies true This rocke we must cleaue vnto this rocke must be published abroad rockes stones will publish this rocke if we conceale it To him that worketh not but beleeveth on him that iustifieth the vngodly his faith is accounted for righteousnes Rom. 4. to him that worketh not I will not say that he worketh not at all but he worketh not in this action nor with any intent either to prepare or further his iustificatioÌ„ before the face of God his workes are not reckoned at that time nay they withdraw their presence and hang downe their heades and are abashed to offer themselues in that service But here is the point As I am iustified by faith without the workes of the law so by the workes of the law must my faith be iustified that is avouched made good and testified both to God and man with effectuall proofe and demonstration that it is not a naked fruitlesse hypocriticall faith but soundlye and substantially conditioned So Iames ment it And Thomas Aquinas writing vpon that Epistle confirmeth that meaning that the iustification vvhereof he spake is the exercising or accomplishing of iustice for a thing is then saide to bee done either vvhen it is perfected or when it is made knowne So then there is one righteousnesse imputed favoured and cast vpon vs though it bee not ours there is another righteousnes exercised or declared there is one iustice of iustification there is another iustice of testification there is one that acquiteth before God another that approveth especially before man the one without vs and lent the other within vs inhabitant and inherent the one in Christ and from him communicated to vs the other in our selues and to him in some sort recompenced For such is the nature of faith and loue as the Auncientes described their graces the one is in taking and apprehension the other is in giving and remuneration First we receiue by our faith and then by our charitie we returne some-thing Paule speaketh of the former of these iustifications Iames of the latter Paule delivered simply the doctrine Iames answered an obiection against those that gloried in the name and shadow of faith Paule instructed the vnderstanding Iames informed the life Paule as a Doctor and in the schooles lecturing Iames as a pastour and in the pulpit applying the one handling iustification properly the other to speake as properly sanctification the one establishing a reall christian iustifying faith the other confuting a verball devilish falsifying faith There is now then but one Lord one spirit one truth one gospell one tongue one soule in both these Apostles Consider the state of the question in this present example of the Ninivites You know what they were not only aliantes and strangers fâ—om the covenant and hope of God but of aliantes strangers such whose iniquity streamed into the highest heaven and called downe vengance vpon them What should they now doe to redeeme their peace For if they had fasted till their knees had bowed vnder them if they had put sacke-cloath about their loines till the haire and wale thereof had entred even into their soules if they had spent the day in crying and the night in wailing and if they had lived besides as iustly to the world as Aristides did in Athens who was banished the city for over-much iustice and had not withall beleeved I wil not say but God might haue spared to haue made them notorious examples of his iustice to the worlde but surely they had remained as aforetime children of darknes still and sonnes of perdition and the waies of peace they had never knowne Therefore to conclude on their parte they are iustified by their faith This is it that investeth them into the friendship and loue of God their very beleeving of him is imputed
but they continued knocking till in the ende he arose and granted them their hartes requests The nexte condition of their praier was that it was properly and pertinentlie applyed to their present feare Let vs not perish for this mans life c. It was written in their heartes which others might haue red in the Psalmes of David Touch not mine anointed and doe my prophets no harme They thought that Prophets were iewelles and pearles vnto God and that the marring of one such woulde severely bee required Hence come their teares this is the thorne that pricketh them feare to offende in hurting an harmelesse man togither with that stinge and venime which sinne leaueth behinde it they knowe it will call for vengeaunce and though it passe the hande and the eye speeding it selfe in the seeming of him that doeth it into the lande of forgetfulnesse as it shoulde neuer bee thought vpon yet the Lorde will fetch it backe againe and set it before the face of the sinner and lay it as freshly to his charge as if hee vvere then in the act and perpetration thereof These bee the sores wherevvith they smarte daunger of their owne liues if they assaulte the life of Ionas and watchfulnesse of the iustice of GOD in taking account of forepassed sinnes To these they applie the medicines VVe know the order of thy Courte and iudgement seate to exacte life for life therefore let not vs perish for this mans life wee knowe that no sinne can escape thy dreadfull hande therefore if we happe to offende in spilling innocente bloude laie not our iniquitie vpon vs blotte it out of thy booke let it passe as a morning dewe before the sunne and not be imputed In disposing our praiers to God vve must as the Scribe in the gospell bringe forth of our treasures thinges olde and nevve For the blessings of God in generall there may bee generall thankes-givings for sinnes in generall generall confessions auncient and vsuall formes of prayer for auncient and vsuall occurrences Wee may take vnto vs wordes as the Prophet speaketh and say vnto the Lorde at all times Take away all iniquitie and receaue vs graciously so vvill wee render the calues of our lippes But as the matter of Gods iudgments and our dangers is varied so must we accordingly vary our praiers In the time of a plague wee must make of our praiers a particular Mâ—thridate against the plague acknowledging the hand of God that inflicted it knowing that the cause and originall thereof is not so much infection in the aire as rottenesse and corruption within our owne bones beseeching his maiestie as Phinees did that the plague may cease and that hee vvill visite no longer with that kinde of iudgement If the lande bee smitten with leanenesse and skarcity so that the children thereof cry for breade and sowne as they goe in the streetes for vvant of foode wee must pray in another stile that the LORD vvill vouchsafe to heare the heauens againe the heavens may heare the earth the earth the corne the vine and the oyle and these Israell or other his distressed people and that hee vvill visite no longer vvith this kinde of iudgement If the enemy shall saie against vs Come vvee will devour vvee will devoure the name of Sion shall bee no more had in remembraunce wee must turne vnto the Lord with another forme of supplication Spare thy people O Lorde and giue not thine heritage into reproache that the heathen shoulde rule over them vvherefore shoulde they say amongest the people vvhere is novve their God O cease to visite thy servants with this kinde of iudgemente If the heavens be brasse aboue vs and droppe no moisture vpon our fruites or if the spoutes which God hath devided in the aire powre downe too much vpon our heads sometime hee roareth so fearefully with his voice of thunders as who may abide it his lightnings giue shine to the earth and our eies are daseled thereat hee raineth dovvne tempestes and stormes vpon vs haile-stones and coles of fire this is our portion sometimes to drinke still as his plagues are newe so let vs come before him vvith newe songes new intercessions meekely kneeling before the Lorde our maker and falling lowe at his foote-stoole that his hand may be turned backe in these kindes of iudgements Thus did Salomon dedicate and blesse the temple beseeching the Lorde that vvhen the people shoulde pray vnto him accordinge to their sundry needes whether they were troubled vvith the assault of their enimy or vvith wante of raine with famine or mildewe or vvith captivity he would then heare them in heauen and be mercifull vnto them The sickenesse which these marriners suspecte is an issue of bloude which being once opened vvill euer runne and keepe a course if it be not stanched vvith the mercy of God and therefore they call vpon him as that present occasion enforceth them O let vs not perish for this mans life and bring not vpon vs innocent bloud Besides which purpose of theirs in laying their finger vpon the sore that is in suiting of their prayer with the present daunger for the fuller explication of the wordes themselues it may please you to take knowledge of two thinges 1. The proceeding of God in the case of bloudshead life for life deliuered in the former clause Let vs not perish for the soule of this man 2. How the bloud of Ionas in the latter may be called innocent bloud The lawe is generall touching the former Exod. 21. life for life eye for eye tooth for tooth hande for hande foote for foote burning for burning wounde for wounde stripe for stripe It is added Leviticus 24. Breath for breath blemish for blemish Gen. 9. I will require your bould wherein your liues are that is one reason in the nexte wordes vvho so sheadeth mans bloude by man shall his bloude bee shed for in the image of God hath hee made man That is an other reason Our Saviour reciteth the lavve in the gospell Math. 26. vvho so taketh the svvorde shall perish vvith the sworde And that wee may knowe this lavve was neuer repealed wee finde it in the last booke Reuelation 13. If anie leade into captivitie hee shall goe into captivitie if any man kill with a sworde hee must be killed with a a sworde Heere is the patience and the faith of Saintes that is this they beleeue and this they verilie expect to bee perfourmed vpon their enimies So the ordinary rule without question is this He that taketh away the life of man himselfe shall likewise perish Notvvithstanding the maker of the law may and doeth sometimes dispense with his owne lawe Many a one I confesse hath killed his neighbour himselfe not ending his daies in the like manner Be it so yet first he is slaine with a sword of his owne as Golias was he dieth daiely with the stabbing and launcing of his owne hearte and as in that first plague
Israell in the desert to some not houres to others not minutes but their spirit departeth from them as Iacob vvent from Laban and the Israelites from the land of Egypt without leaue taking carrying away their iewels and treasures and vvhatsoever in this life is most deare vnto them O happie are they to vvhome this favour is lente vvhich vvas shewed to Niniveh yet forty daies for thy repentance But thrise most vvretched on the other side vvhome the Angell of God hath aunswered time shall be no more vnto thee the night is come wherein thou canst not worke the vision is ended the prophecy fulfilled the doores shut vp thy gracious visitation past who in the closing of an eie are pulled from the lande of the living their place is no more knowne Let me tell you for conclusion that which was spoken to Niniveh in this place vnder condition was afterwards simply pronounced by Nahum Niniveh was destroied indeede Tobias before his death hearde of the fall of Niniveh the monarchie that said within it selfe here will I dwell was translated into Babylon He that endured Ierusalem so longe was afterward so obstinate against it that if Moses and Samuell had stoode before him to aske her pardon hee woulde not haue beene entreated hee that forbare that froward and stubborne generation forty yeares long afterwards sware in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest And as he hath spared and spared and spared so hee will overturne and overturne and overturne Ezech 31. and as he hath added yet more houres and yet more yeares and yet forty daies so hee will add yet more plagues and yet more punishments and yet more vengeance According to his fearfull commination Levit. 26. I will yet plague you seven times more yet seven times more still with further repetition as there is no end of our sinnes so there is no end of his anger This were the preaching fitt for these times blessings must sleepe a while mercy go aside peace returne to the God of peace not be spoken of That reverend religious honest estimation which was of God in former times there is mercy with thee o Lord and therfore shalt thou be feared is now abandoned and put to flight This rather must be our doctrine there is iudgement with thee o Lord with thee o Lord there is ruine and subversion vvith thee are plagues o Lord with thee there is battaile and famine and snares and captivity storme tempest there is fire brimstone with thee O Lord therefore thou shalt be feared Happy are we if either loue or feare will draw vs to repentance if our marble and flinti heartes wil be softned with any raine that falleth if our stiffe and yron-sinued neckes will bow with any yoke either the sweete yoke of the gospell of Christ or the heavye vnsupportable yoke of the lawe and iudgement But if Niniveh continue as it hath begun Niniveh shall bee overthrowen I am not a prophet nor the sonne of a prophet to set the time either of forty or fifty daies or yeares more or lesse hee sitteth aboue to whome it is best knowne and is comming in the cloudes to determin that question But mercye and iustice I knowe are two sisters and as the one hath had her day so the other shall not misse hers and the Lord hath two armes two cuppes two recompences and doubtlesse there is a rewarde for the righteous and doubtlesse there is also a plague for obstinate and impoenitent sinners THE XXXIIII LECTVRE Chap. 3. vers 5. So the people of Niniveh beleeved God and proclaimed a fast c. THE third part of the fowre whereinto the Chapter divideth it selfe containeth the repentance of Niniveh continued vvithout interruption from the beginning of the fifth verse to the end of the ninth where it is ioifully embraced by the mercy and pardon of God towards her which was the last parte The first of these five which we are presently to deale with is the generall table contents of that which the other fowre diduce into speciall branches as Ezechiel first portraied the siege of Ierusalem vpon a bricke to give the people of the Iewes an image of that misery vvhich afterwardes they should finde distinctly and at large accomplished For whatsoever wee heare in the lineall succession of all the rest touching their faith fastes sackloth proclamations vvithout respect of person or age wee have broched vnto vs in this prooemiall sentence Their ordering and disposing of this weighty businesse of repentance with every office and service belonging vnto it is so comely convenient and with such arte as if David were to apoint the Levites and priestes of the temple their courses againe and to settle the singers and porters in their severall ministrations hee could not have shewed more wisedome and skilfulnes For such are the duties tendered to God by this people of Niniveh as were these officers of the temple Some principall others accessary some morall others ceremoniall some for substance others rather for shew and to set out the worke some to the soule belonginge others to the body and outward man And in all these the first have the first places the second and inferiour such as are fitte for them Faith goeth before works in worke fasting goeth before sackloth in the persons the greatest goeth before the lesse in the doinge of all this the proclamation of the king and counsaile goeth before the excecution of the people The army that Salomon spake of was never better set nor almost the starres of heaven better ordered then this conversion of Niniveh First they beleeved God For the Apostles rule admitteth no exception Without faith it is vnpossible to please God For he that commeth to God must beleeue that God is and not onely his being but in his nature and property that he is also a rewarder of them that seeke him This is the first stone of their building the first round of the ladder of Iacob whereby they climbe to the presence of God From faith which is an action of the minde they goe to the workes of the body Fasting and sackloth For faith cried within them as Rachel cried to Iacob giue mee children or I die Faith is hardely received and credited to be faith vnlesse it be testified For that is the touchstone that the Apostle trieth vs by Shew mee thy faith by thy workes So first they quicken the soule for faith is the life of it and then they kill the body by taking away the foode thereof wherein the life of the body consisted and buryinge it in a shrowde of sackloth In their workes they begin with fasting as it were the greater thinges of the lawe and end with sackecloth as the lesse For as Ierome noteth fasting is rather to be chosen without sackcloth then sackcloth without fastinge therfore is fasting put before sackecloth But if wee shall adioyne
debt vvherewith he was oppressed slept quietly and tooke his ease desired to buy the pallet that hee lodged vpon his servants marveâ—ling thereat he gaue them this answere that it seemed vnto him some wonderfull bed and worth the buying whereon a man could sleepe that was so deepely indebted Surely if we consider with our selues the duety and debt vve owe to God and man to our country to our family to homeborne to strangers that is both to Israell and to Niniveh and most especially to those of the houshold of faith that as it was the lawe of God before the law that we shoulde eate our bread in the sweat of our face so it is the law of the gospell also that hee that laboureth not should not eate that the blessed sonne of God ate his bread not onely in the sweate but in the bloud of his browes rather he ate not but it was his meate to doe his fathers will and to finish his worke that even in the state of innocency Adam was put into the garden to dresse it that albeit all labourers are not chosen yet none are chosen but labourers that the figge tree was blasted by the breath of Gods owne lippes with an everlasting curse because it bare but leaues and the axe of heavy displeasure is laide vnto the roote of every tree that is barren of good fruites and if it be once dead in naturall vegetation it shall bee twise deade in spirituall malediction and pluckt vp by the roote It would make vs vow vvith our selues I will not suffer mine eie-liddes to slumber nor the temples of my head to take any rest vntill I haue finished that charge vvhereunto I am appointed Iacobs apologie to Laban may be a mirrour to vs all not to neglect our accountes to a higher maister then ever Laban vvas These twentie yeares haue I beene in thy house I was in the daie consumed with heate and with frost in the night and the sleepe departed from mine eies So industrious vvas Iacob to discharge the dueties of his place and carefull to make his reckoning straight vvith his maister vpon the earth But I speake of an heavier reckoning to an heavier Lord that will aske an account of everie idle worde much more of an idle habite and therefore let them foresee that heate and that frost to come those restlesse eies the hire of their forepassed drowsinesse for daies for nightes for everlasting generations that are ever framing an excuse It is either hotte or cold that I cannot worke there is a Lyon in the streete or a Beare in the way that I dare not goe forth that being called to an office and having their taskes laide forth vnto them say not vvith Samuell at the call of the Lorde Speake Lord thy servant heareth but in a stubborne and perverse veine speake and command Lord and appoint my order wherein I shall vvalke but I neither heare thy voice neither shall my heart goe after thy commaundements I passed by the field of the sloathfull saith Salomon and by the vineyard of the man destitute of vnderstanding and loe it was all growen over with thornes and nettles had covered the face thereof Peruse the rest of that scripture The wise king behelde and considered it well and received instruction by it that a litle sleepe brought a greate deale of poverty and a little slumber a greate deale of necessity And surely as the field of the slouthfull is covered with nettles and thornes so shall his body be overgrowen vvith infirmities his minde vvith vices his conscience shall want a good testimony to it selfe and his soule shal be empty of that hope hereafter which might haue reioiced it I ende this point Ionas his arise and go to Niniveh giueth a warning to vs all for wee haue all a Niniveh to go vnto Magistrates arise and go to the gate to execute Gods iudgementes Ministers arise and go to the gospel to do the workes of Evangelists people arise and go to your trades to eate the labours of your handes eye to thy seeing foote to thy walking Peter to thy nettes Paul to thy tents Marchant to thy shipping Smith to thy anvile Potter to thy wheele vvomen to your whernes and spindles let not your candle go out that your workes may praise you in the gates Your vocations of life are Gods sanctions he ordeined them to mankinde he blesseth them presently at his audite hee will crowne them if when he calleth for an account of your forepassed stewardships you be able to say in the vprightnes of your soule I haue runne my race and as the maister of the house assigned me so by his grace and assistance I haue fulfilled my office But why to Niniveh Niniveh of the Gentiles vncircumcised Niniveh Niniveh of the Assyrians imperious insolent intolerable Niniveh Niniveh swollen with pride and her eies standing out of her heade with fatnesse Niniveh setled vpon her lees not lesse then a thousand three hundred yeares Niniveh infamous for idolatrie with Nisroch her abhomination Niniveh with idlenes so vnnaturallie effeminated and her iointes dissolued vnder Sardanapalus as some conceiue their 38. Monarch who sate and spanne amongst women that as it was the wonder and by-word of the earth so the heavens aboue could not but abhorre it Foure reasons are alleadged why Ionas was sent to Niniveh First God will not smite a citye or towne without warning according to the rule of his owne lawe that no city bee destroyed before peace hath beene offered vnto it The woman of Abell in her wisedome obiected this law vnto Ioab when he had cast vp a mounte against Abel where shee dwelt They spake in olde time and said They should aske of Abell and thus haue they continued that is first they should call a parle and open their griefes before they vsed hostility against it The sword of the Lord assuredly is ever drawne and burnished his bow bent his arrowes prepared his instrumentes of death made ready his cuppe mingled yet hee seldome powreth dovvne his plagues but there is a showre of mercie before them to make his people take heede Pax domui huic peace be vnto this house was sounded to everie doore vvhere the Apostles entered but if that house vvere not vvorthy of peace and benediction it returned backe vnto them Vertues were vvroughte in Chorazin and Bethsaida before the vvoe tooke holde vpon them Noah vvas sent to the olde world Lot to Sodom Moses and Aaron to the Aegyptians Prophets from time to time to the children of Israell Iohn Baptist and Christ and the Apostles togither vvith signes in the host of heauen tokens in the elementes to Ierusalem before it was destroied Chrysostome vpon the first to Timothie giueth the reason hereof that God by threatning plagues sheweth vs howe to avoide plagues and feareth vs with hell before hande that we may learne to eschew it And it was his
giftes a man of GOD having received a mandate from his Lorde is blinde deafe senslesse to performe it or rather hee goeth hastneth flieth saileth with the winges of the wind from the execution thereof Paul vpbraideth the Iewe Rom. 2. on this wise Thou art called a Iewe and restest in the lawe and gloryest in God and knowest his will and allowest the thinges that are excellent in that thou art instructed in the lawe and persuadest thy selfe that thou art a guide to the blinde a light to them which are in darkenesse an instructor of them which lacke discretion c. Thou therefore which teachest another teachest thou not thy selfe thou that preachest a man shoulde not steale dooest thou steale thou that sayest a man shoulde not commit adulterie dooest thou commit adulterie thou that abhorrest idolles committest thou sacrilege thou that gloriest in the lawe through breaking the lawe dishonourest thou God The coales of this scripture may bee heaped vpon Ionas his heade Thou art a Prophet a familiar friend with God thou hast seene visions and dreamed dreames and alwaies standest in the presence of the Lord to know his counsells thou art a seer to the blinde a teacher of the ignorant a watchman over those that are a sleepe thou therefore that teachest Israell teachest thou not thy selfe thou that preachest obedience to Ieroboam art thou disobedient thou that beginnest thy message Heare the worde of the Lorde doest thou reiect it What shall wee say then but that which Daniel yeeldeth vnto in the 9. of his Prophecy O Lorde righteousnesse belongeth vnto thee but vnto vs appertayneth open shame to our Kinges to our Princes to our Fathers wee may further say to our Prophets to our Priests because wee haue all sinned against thee There is no difference saith the Apostle he meaneth neither of Iew nor Gentile for all haue sinned and are deprived of the glory of God and are iustified freely by his grace thorough the redemption that is in Christ Iesus And the scripture hath concluded all vnder sinne that the promise by faith in Christ Iesus shoulde bee given to those that beleeue I shew you your sinne and the propitiation your sicknes and the remedy to cure it thinke not of the other remedies If you deeme that either Tharsis or any other region beyond seas that a cabbin in a ship or a couch in a chamber that the cloudes of the day or darkenes of the night the top of the mountaines or the bottome of the sea a secret friend or more secret conscience heaven or hel or any the like evasion can hide it from the eies of God you are deceived His seaven eies goe through the whole world You may interpret them 7. thousand thousand of eies for hee is totus oculus altogither eie Therefore let vs not flatter our selues with those that plucke out the eies of knowledge it selfe in the tenth Psalme Tush who seeth vs God hath forgotten hee hideth away his face and vvill never see but rather let vs acknowledge with Iacob all places to be filled with the maiesty of God The Lord was in this place and I vvas not aware of it how fearefull is this place This is the house of God and the gate of heaven this and that and the other within the compasse of the round worlde all are alike Let vs reclaime our selues in time from sinning which Ionas could not doe and in a serious cogitation before wee goe too farre aske one the other what haue vvee done If wee forget it in Israell let vs remember it in Iapho Let either house or field land or sea youth or full strength put vs in minde of our duety neglected Let vs not followe our sensuality too far nor buy voluptuousnes with a price but rather say wirh the Athenian Oratour when we heare how chargeable pleasure is Non ema◠tanti poenitere I will not buy my repentance at so high a rare Or if wee haue paide the fare of pleasure let vs withdrawe our feete before wee descend into the bottome and sinke of it let not the sides and entrals of the ship bury vs nor a carelesse profounde sleepe bereaue vs of all sense Let not the waters goe over our heades nor a floude of iniquitie overwhelme vs least that which is the wages of sinne and presently overtooke Ionas in his transgression wee endanger both body and soule to the iustice of God THE FOVRTH LECTVRE Chap. 1. ver 4. But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea c. THe recusancie of Ionas was the abridgment of the whole third verse whereof 1. he accuseth himselfe by name 2. he noteth his readines in arising 3. his speede in flying 4. his perversnes because to Tharsis 5. open rebelliō in going from the face of the Lord to renounce his service 6. his confirmation therein that having such stops remembrances laide in his way as namely 1. to reach the haven not neare at hand 2. to finde a shippe not without enquiry and to stay the leasure thereof 3. to be at charge 4. therein to be more liberall or more hasty then cause was 5. to commit himselfe to so manifest a danger as the travell by the sea bringeth with it yet he swalloweth and digesteth all these hookes and is not revoked by any meanes to performe his obedience For all this he did to what end That he might goe to Tharsis from the presence of the Lorde Once againe hee repeateth the cause and by a retire to his former speech maketh the publication of his crime both α and ω the first and the last of the sentence thus he beginneth and thus he endeth That hee might flee c. With them To this you may adde as the conclusion of all the rest the company he made choice of that he might goe with them Who were they by accord of all opinions men of sundry nations languages conditions and as is evident in the fift verse idolatours Thus he mingleth himselfe in the exstasie of his wilfulnes as fire and water Hyena with dogges an Israelite with gentiles the circumcised with the vncircumcised a prophet with prophaners of sound religion and one that feareth the God of the Hebrewes with those that worship stran he Gods The parable in Matthew maketh mention of a man that had 2. sonnes the one he biddeth go to his vineyarde and he answered I will not yet afterwardes repented himselfe and went the other saide I will go yet went not The one is the image of the penitent the other of the hypocrire the one a deede without shew the other a shew without deede Ionas may stand in a third branche who neither saith that he will not and doth nor that he will and doth not neither in trueth nor in colour obedient but having cleared and dissolved all obiections of travell charge perill company is shipped as you see and vnder saile to goe to Tharsis But the Lord sent out a
reioine to the sonne of GOD when hee instructed him in the greatest and the next commandements Well maister thou hast said the trueth that there is one God and there is none but he and to love him with all the heart c. and his neighbour as himselfe is more then all burnt offerings and sacrifices And so farre is it of that the slaying of vnreasonable beastes were they in number equall to those millions of bullocks and sheep which Salomon offered at the dedication of the temple and adding a millian of rivers of oile to glad the altars of GOD shall bee acceptable vnto him that the giving of our first-borne for our transgression and the fruit of our bodies for the sinne of our soules shal bee an vnfruitfull present without serious hearty obedience to his counselles Hee that shewed thee O man what is good and what he requireth of thee Surely to doe iustlie and to loue mercy to humble thy selfe and to walke with thy God The ends of the Iewish sacrifices if I mistake not were these First to acknowledge therein that death is the stipende of sinne which though it were due to him those that sacrificed yet was it translated laid vpon the beast that offended not Secondly to figure before hand the killing of the lambe of God which all the faithfull expected Thirdly to testifie the submissioÌ„ of the hart which in these visible samplers shone as a light before the whole world So spoiling the sacrifice of the last of these endes they make it in manner a lying signe leaue it as voide of life breath as the beastes which they immolate The Poet complaineth in his satyre of the costlines vsed in their churches asketh the priests what gold did there willing theÌ„ rather to bring that which Messalas vngratious son froÌ„ all his superfluities could not bring to wit iustice piety holy cogitations an honest hart Grant me but these saith he I will sacrifice with salt and meale only It agreeth with the answer which Iupiter HaÌ„mon gaue to the Athenians enquiring the cause of their often vnprosperous successes in battaile against the Lacedemonians seeing they offered the choicest thinges they could get which their enimies did not The Gods are better pleased with their inwarde supplication lacking ambition than with all your pompe Lactantius handling the true worship of God against the Gentiles giveth them their lesson in few sententious wordes that God desireth not the sacrifice either of a dumbe beast or of death bloudshead but the sacrifice of man and life wherein there is no neede either of garlandes of vervin or of fillets of beastes or of soddes of the earth but such thinges alone as proceede from the inwarde man The alter for such offeringes hee maketh the hearte whereon righteousnesse patience faith innocency chastity abstinence must bee laide and tendered to the Lorde For then is GOD truely worshiped by man when hee taketh the pledges of his hearte and putteth them vpon the altar of God The sacrifices evangelicall which the giver of the newe lawe requireth of vs are a broken spirite obedience to his vvorde love towardes God and man iudgement iustice mercy prayer and praise which are the calves of the lippes almes deedes to the poore for with such sacrifices is the Lord pleased our bodies and soules not to be slaine vpon the altar for it must be a quicke sacrifice not to be macerated and brought vnder even to death for it must be our reasonable service and finally our lives if neede be for the testimony of the trueth All which sacrifices of Christianity without a faithfull heart which is their Iosuah and captaine to goe in and out before them to speake but lightly with Origen in the like case are nutus tantùm opus mutum a bare ceremony and a dumbe shew but I may cal them sorceries of Simon Magus whose heart was not right in the sight of God and not sacrifices but sacrileges with Lactantâ—us robbing God of the better part and as Ieremie named those idle repetitions of the Iewes the temple of the Lord the temple of the Lord this is the temple of the Lord verba mendacij lying wordes so these opera mendacij lying workes so fraudulently handled that if it were possible God himselfe should bee deceived O how hath Sathan filled their harts that they shoulde lie vnto the holy Ghost in making a shewe that they bring the whole price of their possession and lay it downe at the feete of God when they withhelde the dearer part from him They have not â—ied vnto men though that were fault enough but vnto God who will truely require the least vntruthes betweene man and man but falshoods and fallacies committed betweene the porch and the altar within the courtes of his owne house and in the professions of his proper service by casting vp the eies or handes bowing the knee knocking vpon the brest or thigh making sadde the countenaunce mooving the lippes vncovering or hanging dovvne the heade like a bul-rush groveling vpon the earth sighing sobbing praying fasting communicating distributing crying LORDE LORDE seeking to abuse the fleshly eies of men and the fiery eyes of omniscience it selfe hee will right sorely revenge as a dishonour immediately and directly done to his owne sacred person Galienus the Emperour gave this iudgement of one who solde his wife glasse for pearles imposturam fecit passus est hee couzened and was couzened But this for the good of the couzener For vvhen he vvas brought vpon the stage and a Lion expected by the people to have torne him peece-meale a capon was sent vp to assault him The same sentence standeth firme in heaven against the deceitfull marchandizers of true religion vvho offer to the highest emperour clothed vvith essentiall maistye as the other vvith purple and to his spouse the church glasse for pearles copper for golde coales for treasure shewes for substances seeming for being fansie for conscience Imposturam faciunt patientur They mocke and they shal be mocked but in an other kind than the former was for whereas they looke for the thanks and recompence of their forepassed labours loe they are like the dreamer in the Prophet vvho eateth by imagination in the night time and vvhen hee awaketh from sleepe his soule hath nothinge And made vowes The matter of their vowes is as vnceraine as of their sacrifices What it was they promised to the Lorde and by obligation bound themselues to perfourme neither ancient nor recent Iewish nor Christian expositour is able to determine By coniectural presumption they leaue vs to the choice of these foure specialties That either they vowed a voyage to Ierusalem where the latelie receaved Iehovah was best knowne or to beautifie the temple of the Lorde with some rich donaries or to giue almes to the poore or thenceforth to become proselites in the religion of the Iewes and as Ierome explaneth
souls spirits one froÌ„ the other lastly if the offer of peace be refused sound wars rumors of wars at their gates such tribulation besides as the like hath never been since the beginning of the creatioÌ„ which God created vnto that time neither shal be again Who knoweth if they wil be softned if not for the loue of vertue nor for the recoÌ„pence that springeth therehence yet for the other cause for fear of the wrath of God which they hear denouÌ„ced It may be feeding a while vpoÌ„ the foode of iudgment as Ezechiel calleth it will breed good bloud in theÌ„ the coÌ„sideration of such misery wil work the 〈◊〉 effect in theÌ„ that the sense of adversity wrought in Ionas I meane to shake of their burtheÌ„ of sin to turne vnto the Lord their God wiâ—h vnfained coÌ„versioÌ„ which was the 2. thing that I propouÌ„ded vnto you in the afflictioÌ„s of the prophet what effect they produced from him I cried in mine affliction Binde Manasses with chaines loade him with irons bow downe his necke and his backe with bonds he will know himselfe Pull the king of Babylon froÌ„ his throne lay his honor insolency in the dust hunt him froÌ„ the coÌ„pany of men banish him froÌ„ his pallace wherin he â—erted like a monarch indeed turne him into the field to eat grasse like an oxe to be wet with the dew of heaveÌ„ you shal find a miracle quickly done an oxe to have more vnderstaÌ„ding thaÌ„ a maÌ„ he wil theÌ„ learne to praise the king of heaveÌ„ whose tower is an everlasting power his kingdoÌ„â— froÌ„ generatioÌ„ to generatioÌ„ The idolatrous Iewes in the 2. of Ier. that being called to the true God spake desparately stifly No but we have loved strangers those wiâ— we follow in their trouble notwithstanding they will cry to the right God arise thou helpe vs. In their affliction they will seeke him diligently will take sound words into their lips Come and let vs returne to the Lord for he hath spoiled he wil heale vs he hath wounded he wil binde vs vp Let Moab settle it selfe vpon her lees not be emptied froÌ„ vessel to vessel her sent wil remaine in her Doth the wild asse bray wheÌ„ he hath grasse or the oxe low wheÌ„ he hath fodder But take away the grasse from the wilde asse he wil be tameâ— fodder froÌ„ the oxe you shal heare him rore Ther must be a whirl-winde raised a fiery chariot prepared to carry Elias into heaveÌ„ there must be heresies to try the approved there must be a furnace to purge the silver gold there must be a fire to fine the sonnes of Levi there must be an angel of Sathan to keepe Paul from pride A pilote must be tried by a tempest saith Basile a runner by a race a captaine by a battaile a christian by calamity tentation provocation misery Wherin if poisons become preservatives froÌ„ the venime of serpents the wisedome of God can extract an antidote against the venime of serpents if all things shall worke togither to the best for those that are Christes if evill by nature shall be made good by his powrefull art if the waters of a floud overspreading the whole globe of the earth bee so far from drowning the Arke that they shall lift it higher and bring it nearer to the presence of God if afflictions I meane by the good haÌ„dling of our gracious God be not afflictions but medicines the more they encrease vpon vs the nearer they land vs to the haven of his blessings how truely may we say acknowledge with Barnard Totus mundus fideli divitiarum est the whole worlde is riches to a faithful maÌ„ even when it seemeth to be poverty with Augustine that nothing happeneth to man from the Lord our God but coÌ„meth in the nature of mercie when tribulation it selfe is such a benefite For both prosperity is his gift comforting and adversity his gift admonishing vs. A very vnlikely seede to yeeld such fruit as bitter as mustard seede but give it leave to growe the fruit shall be very pleasant The wicked vnderstand not this the vnwise have not knowledge of his waies She crieth in the comoedy shee presenteth the person of them all that are her companions Hanccine ego partem capio ob pietatem praecipuam Tum hoc mihi indecorè iniquè immodestè datis dij Nam quid habebunt sibi igitur impij post hac c. Is this my portion guerdon for my especial piety theÌ„ do the gods reward me very vnsemely vniustly vnreasonably For how shal the wicked hereafter be dealt with if the godly be thus honored amoÌ„gst you Augustine in his preface vpon the 25. Psalme laieth downe the like coÌ„plaints of some O Deus Deus Haecciné est iustitia tua O God God is this thy iustice the Lorde answereth them againe haecciné est fides tua is this thy faith hast thou so learned Christ is this the best instruction thou hast found in my law to murmure against my discipline possesse thy soule therfore in patience whosoever thou art leave the ordering of these things to the wisdome of God with whoÌ„e it is alike to sweeten the pot of the prophets with meale the waters of Iericho with salt to cure the eies of Tobias with a gall to streÌ„gthen the sight of IonathaÌ„ with an honi-coÌ„be Some he healeth by hony some by gall some by salt some by meale some by sower some by sweete some by piping soÌ„e by daÌ„cing some by prosperity some by afflictioÌ„ but al by some meanes or other that have a longing desire to the waies of happines Now then againe I say if it be a good thing sometimes to be humbled of the Lord for till we are huÌ„bled coÌ„monly we go astray if it be an happy pricking of the body that maketh a pricking in the hart if expedient for al sorts of meÌ„ that the hand of the Lord shoulde nowe and then take holde on them because a sinner is amended the righteous is instructed thereby because gold is prooved iron is scowred by this meanes if when the outward man is corrupted the inwardâ— iâ— renued daily 2. Cor. 4. and there is honour in dishonour riches in poverty life in â—eath possessing all thinges in having nothing 2. Cor. 6. if when the fatheâ—s of our flesh chasten vs for their pleasures the father of our spirites correcteth vs for our profit that we may be partakers of his holineâ— though â—o chastisement seeme ioious for the time yet it bringeth the quiet fruit of righteousnes to those that are exercised thereby if when the body of Iâ—nas was in thrall beneath the soule of Ionas triumphed aloft and when the tongue of his flesh could not speake perhaps a word skarce muâ—ter to it selfe the tongue of
al posterity to come that I will not meane-while forget to looke vp to the mountaines from whence my helpe was It is the parte of an honest ingenious minde to confesse vvho they are by whome thou hast profited but on the other side the marke of a most vngratious amd vnhappy nature rather to be taken in the theft than to returne like for like And what doe they else but steale and embezell the graces of God which either dissembling their authour assume them to themselves or confessing the authour extenuate their worth as if they were not meete to bee accounted for These are the theeves robbers indeede capitall malefactours sure to bee cut of on the right hand and on the left and not to inherite the kingdome of God as the Apostle threatneth The stealing of temporall things may bee acquited againe either with single or double foure-folde or seven-folde resolution But the filching and purloming of the glory of God can never bee aunswered Others steale of necessity to satisfie their soules because they are hungrie and but equall from equall man from man But these of pleasure and pride breake through heaven which though it bee free from violent theeves yet these by a wile and insidiation enter into it and steale away the honour of God which is most precious vnto him When Iohn Baptist was borne the neighbours and cousins vpon the eighth day at the circumcising of the childe called him Zacharias after the name of his father Elizabeth aunswered them not so but hee shal bee called Iohn though it were a mervaile to them all and none of his kinred were so named and Zachary wrote in his tables that Iohn should be his name They knew that hee was the gift of God which his mother in her olde age and in the state of her barrennes had conceaved and therfore called him Iohn that is the gift of God in remembrance of natures vnfuitfulnesse and their vndeserved sonne whome neither father nor mother nor kinred I meane not ordinary and carnall generation could haue given vnto them· such are the children of our wombes a gift that commeth from the Lorde And such are our children and fruit otherwise whatsoever wee possesse outwarde or inwarde wee holde it in Capite even in the Lorde of Lordes who is the giver of every good perfit gifte as Iames writeth Scipio Africanus the elder had made the citty of Rome being in a consumption and readie to giue vp the ghost Lady of Africke At length being banished into a base country towne his will was that his tombe should haue this inscription vpon it Ingrata patria ne ossa quidem mea habes vnthankefull country thou hast not so much as my bones Many and mightye deliverances haue risen from the Lorde to this lande of ours to make provocation of our thankefulnesse For not to goe by a kalender but to speake in 2. wordes wee haue lien in ignorance as in the belly of the whale or rather the belly of hell for blindnesse of heart is the very brimme and introduction into the hell of the damned the Lorde hath pulled vs thence Wee haue also lien in the heart of our enemies as in the belly of the fishe Gebal and Ammon and Amelek and the Philistines with those of Tyre haue combined themselues and cried a confoederacy a confoederacy against vs the Lorde hath also delivered vs to make some proofe of our gratefull spirites For this a rule in beneficence Ingratus est adversus unum beneficium is a man vnthankefull for one benefite for a seconde hee will not Hath hee forgotten two the third will reduce to his memory those that are slipt thence God hath liberally tried vs with one and an other and a third and yet ceaseth not But what becommeth of our gratitude It hath bene our manner for the time to haue pamphlets and formes of thankesgiving in our churches our heartes haue burnt within vs for the present as of the two disciples that went to Emaus to assemble our selues at praiers preachings breaking of bread and to give an howre or two more than vsuall from our worldly affaires as a recompense of Gods goodnes Our mouthes have beene filled with laughter and our tonges with ioy and wee have bene content to say the Lord hath done greate thinges for vs wherof wee reioyce But how quickly forget wee all againe Ingrata Anglia ne ossa quidam habes Vngratefull England thou hast not so much as the bones of thy patrone and deliverer thou hast exiled him from thy thoughtes buried him in oblivion there is not one remnant or footeprint left to witnesse to the worlde that thou hast bene protected What others have testified in former times by building of altars pitching of huge stones raysinge of pillers dedication of feastes vvriting of bookes that their childrens children might aske a reason and bee instructed in GODS auncient mercies thou haste not lefte to thy race to come by one stone one turfe one post one paper or schrole of continuaunce in remembraunce vnto them of thy ampler benefites It deserveth the protestation of GOD 1. Esay Heare O men and harken O Angels no. A greater auditorie is required Heare ô heavens and harken ô earth I have brought vp preferred and exalted sonnes and they have despised me If servauntes and bond-men the sonnes of Agar of whome it was saide Cast out the bond-man it mighte lesse have beene marvayled at but sonnes of mine owne education adopted by speciall grace these have despised mee They had an action in Athens against vnthankefull persons The more their blame Qui cum aequissima iura sed iniquissima haberent ingenia moribus suis quà m legibus vti maluerunt vvho having good lavves ill natures had rather vse their manners than their lawes For if some of those excellent men which Athens despightfully and basely required Theseus who was buried in a rock Miltiades who dyed in prison and the sonne of Miltiades vvho inherited nothinge amongst them but his fathers bandes Solon Aristides Phocion who lived in banishmente shoulde bring their action against Athens in the courte of some other cittye vvere it able to aunswere their iust exprobrations O Athens thy wals thy people thy trophees and triumphes farre and neare by lande and sea are thus and thus multiplyed Horum authores vbi vixerint vbi iaceant responde But put in thine aunsvvere and shevve vvhere the authours of those thinges lived and vvhere they are buryed God hath an action of ingratitude against his sonnes and bringeth them into lawe not before citty or nation but to note the horror of the vice before heaven and earth that all the corners and creatures of the vvorlde may both knowe and detest it And surelye it was well marked by a learned man No man wondreth at dogs or wolues because they are common but centaures and satyres such monsters of nature al gaze vpon It may be drunkennes
gracious long suffering and of great goodnesse He crieth vnto the fooles and such vvee are all Proveâ—bes 1. O yee foolish howe long will yee loâ—â— foolishnesse hee dealeth vvith sinners as David dealte vvith Saul vvho tooke avvay his speare and his vvaterpot and sometimes a peece of his cloake as it were snatches and remembraunces to let vs vnderstande that vvee are in his handes and if wee take not vvarning hee will further punish vs. He dresseth his vineyarde Esay the fifth vvith the best and kindliest husbandrie that his heart coulde invente aftervvardes hee looked required not the first howre but tarrying the full time hee looked that it shoulde bring foorth grapes in the autumne and vintage season Hee vvaiteth for the fruite of his figge tree three yeares Luke the thirteenth and is content to bee entreated that digging and dounging and expectation a fourth yeare may be bestowed vpon it They saie that moralize the parable that hee stayed for the synagogue of the Iewes the first yeare of the patriarches the seconde of the Iudges the thirde of the kinges and that the fourth of the prophets it was cut dovvne Likewise that hee hath waited for the church of Christianity three yeares that is three revolutions and periodes of ages thrice five hundreth yeares from the passion of Christ or if we furtheâ— repeate it that hee hath tarried the leasure of the whole world one yeare vnder nature an other vnder the lawe a thirde vnder grace The fourth is nowe in passing vverein it is not vnlikely that both these fiâ—ge-trees shall bee cut dovvne VVhatsoever iudgementes are pronounced Amos the first and second against Damascus and Iudah and the rest are for three transgressions for foure so long he endured their iniquities Hee was able to chardge them in the fourteenth of Numbers that they had seene his glorye and yet provoked him ten times Ierusalems prouocation in the gospell and such care in her loving Saviour to have gathered her children vnder his winges of salvation as the henne her chickens seemeth to bee without number as appeareth by this interrogation O Ierusalem Ierusalem howe often Notwithstanding these presidents and presumptions of his mercy the safest way shall bee to rise at his first call and not to differre our obedience till the second for feare of prevention least the Lorde haue iust cause given by vs to excuse himselfe I called and you haue not aunswered And albeit at some times and to some sinners the Lorde bee pleased to iterate his sufferance yet farre be it of that we take incitement thereat to iterate our misdeedes He punished his angels in heaven for one breach Achan for one sacriledge Miriam for one slaunder Moses for one vnbeliefe Ananias and Saphira for one lie he maie be as speedy and quicke in avendging himselfe vpon our offences But if we neglect the first and second time also then let vs know that daunger is not farre of Iude had some reason meaning in noting the corrupt trees that were twice dead For if they twice die it is likely enough that custome vvill prevaile against them and that they vvill die the thirde time and not giue over death till they bee finally rooted vp There are tvvo reasons that maie iustly deterre vs from this carelesnesse and security in offending vvhich I labour to disvvade 1. the strength that sinne gathereth by growing and going forwardes It creepeth like a canker or some other contagious disease in the body of man and because it is not timely espied and medicined threatneth no small hazarde vnto it It fareth therevvith as vvith a tempest vpon the seas in vvhich there are first Leves vndae little waues afterwardes maiora volumiâ—a greater volumes of waters then perhapps ignei globi balles of fire fluctus ad coelum and surges mounting vp as high as heaven Esay describeth in some such manner the breedes of serpents first an egge next a cockatrice then a serpent afterwards a fierie flying serpent Custome they hold is an other nature and a nature fashioned and wrought by art And as men that are well invred are ashamed to giue over so others of an ill habite are as loth to depart from it The curse that the men of Creete vsed against their enemies vvas not a svvorde at their heartes nor fire vpon their houses but that vvhich vvoulde bring on these in time and much worse that they might take pleasure in an evill custome Hugo the Cardinall noteth the proceeding of sinne vpon the vvordes of the seventh Psalme If I haue done this thing if there bee any wickednesse in my handes c. then let mine enemie persecute my soule by suggestion and take it by consent let him tread my life vpon the earth by action and lay mine honour in the duste by custome and pleasure therein For custome in sinning is not onely a grave to bury the soule in but a great stone rolled to the mouth of it to keepe it downe And as there is one kinde of drunkennesse in excesse of wine an other of forgetfulnesse so there is a thirde that commeth by lust and desire of sinning 2. Nowe if the custome of sinne bee seconded vvith the iudgement of God adding an other vveight vnto it blinding our eies and hardening our heartes that vvee may neither see nor vnderstande least vvee should bee saved and because wee doe not those good thinges which wee knowe therefore wee shall not knowe those evill thinges which wee doe but as men bereft of heart runne on a senselesse and endlesse race of iniquity till the daies of gracious visitation bee out of date it vvill not be hard to determine vvhat the end vvill bee Peter saieth vvorse than the first beginning Matthew shevveth by hovve many degrees vvorse For vvhereas at the first vvee vvere possessed but by one devill novve hee commeth associated vvith seven others all vvorse than himselfe and there they intende for ever to inhabite Therefore it shall not be amisse for vs to breake of vvickednesse betimes and to followe the counsaile that Chrysostome giveth alluding to the pollicy of the vvise men in returning to their countrie an other waie Hast thou come saith hee by the waie of adultery goe backe by the waie of chastity Camest thou by the way of covetousnesse Goe backe by the waie of mercy But if thou returne the same vvaie thou camest thou art still vnder the kingdome of Herode For as the sickenesses of the body so of the soule there are criticall daies secret to our selves but well knowne to God whereby hee doth ghesse whether wee be in likelihode to recover health and to harken to the holesome counsailes of his law or not If then hee take his time to give vs over to our selves and the malignity of our diseases wee may say too late as sometime Christ of Ierusalem O that wee had knowne the thinges that belong to our peace but nowe they are
the blessed Virgin from sinne maketh a double kinde of dubitation one of infidelity another of admiration and discussion hovv can this thing be for it is not doubted by any man but the Virgin there doubted and Augustine so expoundeth the svvorde that shoulde pearse through her soule Luke the seconde so may I vvith better reason make a double kinde of infidelity one of abnegation deniall renouncement the other of wrastling combate contention which hath not yet subdued the adversarie force nor gotten the vpper hande I never knew the soule of any man no not of the sonne of man or rather of rhe sonne of woman though anointed with the oile of gladnesse and spirituall comforte aboue all his fellowes I never knew the soule so happily garded with the strength and munition of God that it coulde escape these fightes and terrours of conscience whereof I speake Looke vpon Abraham the father of the faithfull distrusting the providence of God as vnable to defend him his wife from Pharaoh and Abimelech vnlesse he committed an vntruth vpon Moses when hee was called from Egypt Gedeon when the Angell appeared vnto him at the threshing floore Samuell when he was willed to anoint David and he feared the malice of Saul Elias when he hid himselfe and needes would haue died in haste because of the theatnings of Iezabell vpon Mary and Zachary who asked as doubtfull a question as the Ninivites here did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vpon all the Apostles of Christ whom hee often vpbraied with little faith and no faith and Christ the head of his Apostles whē he died vpon the crosse with such passionate outcrying as if all the mercies of God had died with him And this is the lot of all the members of Christ thus they totter and and reele in their soules though the foundation of the Lord standeth sure and hath this seale vpon it the Lorde knoweth who are his I will more say they are the happiest soules and dearest vnto God that are so tried they are as the best gold which hath beene purified in the fire seven times and the LORDE will heape comfortes and ioies seven-folde into their bosomes The certainety of election and grace and our speciall assurance of the mercy of God is mightily oppugned by the adversaries I vvill say for this time no more than what note Catharinus gaue of the decree made against it by the last Councell of Trent hee was Archbishop of Minoria inwarde with the Popes of Rome and himselfe in person present at that Councell Besides his owne private opinion declared at large against Dominicus of Soto confessour to Charles the fifte that a man may bee certaine of his salvation by that assurance which although it be not equall to to the catholique faith yet it is true faith and that by the common lawe namely by that testimony vvhich the spirite giveth vnto our spirites that wee are the sonnes of GOD hee further telleth vs that both the Presidentes of that Synode one of them afterwarde Iulius the thirde did protest that the question did not seeme vnto them sufficiently discussed to decide any thing and that the Synode it selfe twise declared that the definition thereof vvas to bee omitted and put of to another time lastlie that the title thereof did abundantly manifest asmuch the tenour wherof was against the vaine confidence of heritiques not against the certainty of salvation in sounde and sober beleevers Vaine confidence of heretiques Vaine without probability And in heretiques not holdinge the trueth of doctrine Who ever allowed it But is it vaine confidence which is grounded vpon the promises of God watered by the bloud of Christ sealed by sacramentes testified by the spirit and assertained by the fruites of charity and obedience that vaine confidence where and in whome soever we finde we call by no milder names than the Rhemist commenters doe damnable false illusion vnhappy security presumption faithlesse perswasion and not the faith of Apostles but the faith of devilles Against such wee shut vp the bowelles of charitye the bosome of the church the cōmunion of her treasure and dowry which are the merites of Christ and as far forth as the keyes are committed vnto vs the gates of everlasting life Against such wee say not with the Psalme Reioyce and tremble but tremble without reioycing nor with the Apostle 2. Philip. Worke out your salvation with feare trembling but tremble and feare without any hope of salvation We vse nothinge but fretters and corrosives against such to make them smart be not high minded but feare and hee that seemeth to stande in his owne conceipt let him take heede that hee fall not Wee will sooner cast pearles to swine and bread to whelpes than salvation to such men who howsoever they live having no testimony of a good conscience vaunting of hope without the love of God despighting the good spirit of grace treading the bloud of the new testament vnder their feete turning grace into wantonnes and vsing the liberty of the gospell for a cloke of maliciousnesse yet say they are sure to bee saved by the mercy of God Thus far wee both agree but from the assurance of salvation wisely and substantially held neither the learning of our adversaries nor the cunning of devilles shall ever bee able to drawe vs. Wee will saye with Antonius Marinarius in the Counsell before alleadged If heaven fall if the earth vanishe avvay if the whole worlde runne headlonge I vvill looke to the goodnesse of God and stande vpright and if an Angell from heaven shall labour to perswade mee otherwise I will say Anathema vnto him O happy confidence of a christian heart If an honest vertuous man saith Cyprian should promise thee any thing thou wouldest give credit vnto him now when God speaketh with thee promiseth thee immortality doest thou waver in thy mind 〈◊〉 thou so faithles to distrust him this is not to know God at all this is to offend Christ the maister of beleevers with the sinne of vnbeleefe This is to be plāted in the church that is in the house of faith without faith Steuen saw the heavens open vnto him cōmended his spirit vnto God though as his body was overwhelmed with stones so were his eares with contumelies as many stones of temptation were cast by the devill against his conscience For where shoulde the weake haue safty and security but in the wounds of their saviour the mightier he is to saue me the more carelesse I dwell there the worlde rageth the bodye overbeareth the devell lyeth in waite yet I fall not because I am founded vpon a sure rocke I haue sinned a huge sinnne my conscience is troubled but it shall not bee dismaide for I vvill remember the vvoundes of the Lorde VVhat is so deadlye thae may not bee cured by the death of Christ therefore if I call but to minde hovve soveraigne and effectuall a medicine his
surely I rather thinke that they blessed Ionas in their heartes and that the dust of his feete was welcome and precious vnto them who by his travaile and paines had taught them to flie from the anger of God that was now falling Others conceaue the reason heere implyed therefore I prevented to be this Hee saw that the conversion of the Gentiles vvas by consequence an introduction of the overthrow and castinge out of the Iewes and that it woulde bee fulfilled vpon them which is written in Deuteronomy They haue mooved mee to iealousie with that which is not God they haue provoked mee to anger with their vanities and I mooue them to iealousie with those which are no people I vvill provoke them to anger vvith a foolish nation That is if wee vvill interpret it by this present subiect Niniveh shall repente and condemne Israell the more for not hearkning to the voice of so many Prophets Ierome brieflie thus It grieveth him not that the Gentiles are saved but that Israell perisheth Our Saviour we all know would not giue the breade of children to dogges and hee vvas not sent but to the lost sheepe of the house of Israell and he vvepte over Ierusalem which hee never did over Tyre and Sidon and the prerogatiue of the Iews was either onely or principally that repentance and remission of sinnes should be preached vnto them I remit you to the 10. of the Actes to see what labour was made to drawe Peter to the Gentiles whome hee called common and vncleane thinges And in the 11. of the same booke they of the circumcision contended with him aboute it sayinge thou vventest in vnto the vncircumcised and hast eaten with them It might be his further griefe that he onely amongst so many Prophets should bee singled out to declare the ruine of his people by the vprising of straungers to beare the envy of the facte and to bee the messenger of the vnwelcomest newes that ever Israll received For he is the first that must bring Iudaisme in contempt and make it manifest to the vvorlde that his country-men at home are vnfruitfully occupied and troubled about many things sacrifices sacramentes washinges cleansinges and the like when others abroade observing that one thing that is necessarie with lesse labour and businesse came to be saved Luther comparing the times wherein Ionas and himselfe lived openeth the case by familiar explication thus The Iewes accompted themselues by a constant opinion and claime the peculiar people of God the Romish themselues the onely Catholiques they thought there could be no salvation without observing the law of Moses and the rites of the Iewish Synagogue nor these without observing the ordinances and ceremonies of the Romish Church they cried powre out thy wrath vpon the nations and vpon the people that haue not called vpon thy name these held them for hereticks not worthy the aire they drew that ioyned not themselues vnto them Nowe lastlie as it was an odious office in these latter daies to preach vnto any nation or city vnder heaven that the foolishnesse of preaching and onely Christ crucified was able to saue soules without creeping to crosses kneeling knocking kissing sprinckling censing ringing fasting gadding with such like toyes and the conversion of any parte of Christendome vvith lesse circumstaunce coulde not but bee a shame preiudice and condemnation vnto Rome in some sorte that having greater helpes and furtherances to God went further from him so the reclaiminge of Niniveh by one when Iury had many prophetes by the denouncement of one when Iury had many prophecies by a single and short commination when Iury had the whole law and testimonies by a compendious course of repentance when they fasted and tithed and sacrificed and cryed the temple of the Lord the temple of the Lord and I know not what coulde not lesse be than a reproach to the people which was so backwarde and an exception to their whole forme of religion wherein they no better profited It had beene no marvaile if when Ionas returned into Israell the hand of his own father and mother had beene first against him for doing that wrong to his people as they adiudged their bodies to the fire and their souls they delivered to Satan who opened their mouth against the church of Rome Whatsoever his reasons were whither the care of his credite or whither affection to his country-men drew him away to that recusancie both which are but particular and partiall respects when God commandeth otherwise his fault is no way excusable by reason but that God of his grace is ready to giue pardon and relaxation to al kinde of sinne Therefore I prevented Thy grounde is vnstable Ionas thy argumente vnsounde thou vsest but a fallacie to deceiue thy selfe thou hadst no reason so to do the will of the Lord of hostes which is absolute righteousnes a reason beyond all reasons withstoode it Thou thoughtest to prevent the Lord thou couldest not the vvindes saw thy hast staied thee the sea held thee backe the fish made resistaÌ„ce against thee the bars of the earth shut thee vp if these had failed in their misteries the wisedome of God would haue invented other staies He could haue stopped thee in thy course as he stopped Paule in his iourney by dazeling thine eies that thou shouldest not haue fouÌ„d thy way or as he stopped Lots wife in her way by making thee a pillar of salt or some other rocke of stone a monument of contradiction to the latest age of the world He could haue dried vp thy hands tied vp thy feete in iron no but in the bands of death never to haue stirred againe Let all the wisdome of man beware of the like preventioÌ„ least it prevent it selfe thereby of all the blessings of God vse of natiue country comfort of kinsmen friendes life of bodie happines of soule as Ionas might haue done if the mercies of God had not fauoured him When we are ignorant of the wil of God let vs lay our hands vpon our mouthes vpon our hearts too till God grant wisdome that we may descry it when we are doubtfull let vs enquire deliberate aske counsaile of the lawe testimony of God but when it is clearley revealed by open and expresse commâ—undement let vs not then pawse vpon the matter much lesse resist least of al prevent vnlesse by making a proofe experiment of our own wit as Ionas did we wil hazard that losse which the gain of the whole world shall never be able to recompence For I knew that thou art a gracious God and mercifull slow to anger and of great kindnesse and repentest thee of the evill· Ionas proceedeth to that which was the ground inducement to his rebellion For the order of the scripture is this God is a mercifull God for many respectes one part of office of that mercy is to repeÌ„t him of the evill that is to change his
and kennings in some sort but not sufficient measures to skanne it by It is well observed by Cassiodore vpon the 51. Psalme that the beginning thereof Have mercy vpon me O Lord is the onely voice quae nunquam discutitur sed tranquille semper auditur which is never examined suspended delaied deliberated vpon but evermore heard with peace and tranquillity from God And in the Psalme 136. you shall finde his mercye both the mother that bread and the nurse that to this day feedeth and to the end of the world shal cherish and maintaine al the workes of God It standeth there like a piller or bounder at the end of every verse an endlesse and durable mercy not onely to beautifie the Psalme but to note that the whole frame of the world and every content thereof in particular touching both creation and government oweth not onely their being but their preservation and sustenance to Gods goodnes 4. To leave the persons and to examine the thinges themselves what was a gourd a matter of nothing and in nature but a vulgar ordinary plant for there is a difference in trees as Deut. 20. there is a law made that in besieging a citty they shall not destroy the trees thereof by smiting an axe into them the reason is for thou mayest eate of them therefore thou shalt not cut them downe For the tree of the fielde is mans life Onelye those trees vvhich thou knowest are not for meate those thou shalt destroy and make fortes against the citty Nowe of this tree there vvas none other vse either for meate or for ought besides that he knew save onely for shadow From this difference of things our Saviour argueth Luke 14. when hee healed the man sicke of the dropsy vpon the sabboth day vvhich of you shall have an asse or an oxe fallen into a pit and will not straight way pull him our on the sabboth day For if they tendered the welfare of their beastes much more might he regard the life of man which was far more precious And it is there said that they were not able to aunswere him againe in those things they were so plainely evicted 5. Touching the accidents of this gourd if Ionas had planted nursed it vp which he did not he should have regarded it none otherwise than as a gourd he should not have doted vpon it as Xerxes is reported to have loved a plane-tree in Lydia and he could hardly be drawne away from it and Passienus Crispus twise Consul of Rome a mulberry tree they seeme to have beene some notable bovvers which they fel so in love with The nature of man is to love the works of his owne handes The Poet describeth it in the fable of Pigmalion arte suâ miratur hee is surprised with the liking of his owne arte Who planteth a vineyard saith the Apostle and eateth not of the fruite thereof For this is the ende why he planted it It is confessed Eccles. 2. to be the hand of God that wee eate and drinke and delight our soules with the profit of our labours Nabuchadonozor Dan. 4. boasteth of his greate pallace not which his fathers and progenitours had left vnto him but himselfe had built for the honour of his kingdome The Apostle telleth the Corinthians that hee had laid the foundation amongst them and that others did but builde vpon his beginninges and that although they had tenne thousand maisters in Christ yet had they not many fathers for in Christ Iesus hee had begotten them through the gospell Wherfore he requireth them in equity to be followers of him because they were his building and children and he had a right in their consciences which other men coulde not challendge Novv this vvas a tree wherein Ionas bestowed no labour nec arans nec serens nec rigans neither in preparing the ground nor in setting nor in dressing it was not his worke whereas the Ninivites were Gods creatures neither belonged that to his tuition or chardge to see it preserved whereas that people had evermore lived vnder Gods providence 6. If the continuance and diuturnity of time had bred any liking in Ionas towards the gourd because we coÌ„monly loue those things wherwith we are acquainted his passion might the better haue bene tolerated Nathan doth the rather amplifie the fault of David in taking away the poore mans sheepe because he had had bought it and nourished it vp and it grew vp with him and vvith his children Length of time commendeth many things It commendeth vvine vvee say the olde is better It commendeth wisedome Counsaile must be handled by the aged speres by the young It commendeth truth Id verius quod prius The first is truest It commendeth custome thou shalt not remoue the auncâ—ent boundes which thy fathers haue set It commendeth friendshippe thine owne friend and thy fathers friend forsake thou not forsake not an olde friend for a new will not bee like vnto him It commendeth service in the fielde dost thou despise the souldiours of thy father Philippe saith Clytus to Alexander and hast thou forgotten that vnlesse this olde Atharias had called backe the young men when they refused to fight wee had yet stucke at Halicarnassus Lastly it commendeth our dwellinge places possessions Barzillai telleth David vvho vvoulde faigne haue drawne him alonge vvith him I am foure-skore yearee olde let mee returne to mine ovvne citâ—ye and be buryed in the graue of my father and mother And Naboâ—h telleth Ahab the Lorde keepe me from giving the inheritance of my father vnto thee It would somwhat more haue commended the gourd if Ionas had long enioyed the vse thereof which he did not it was but the child of a night both in rising and falling sodainely sprung vp and sodainely dead againe So there is neither price in it because it is but a gourd nor propriety because he had not laboured for it nor prescription of long acquaintance because it was soone dead Now that which is set against the gourd on the other side is by name Niniveh by forme a citty by quantity a great citty and shall not I spare Niniveh that great citty Niniveh at this time the heade of Assiria the fame and bruite wherof filleth the world and holdeth the people in awe by reason of her soveraigne government Niniveh no villadge or hamlet of the East but a citty that had walles gates for so is the nature of a citty described we haue a strong citty salvation shall God set for our walles and bulwarks Esay 26. and the people wherof are inclosed within orders and lawes as the buildinges within fences Niniveh no small citty in Assiria as Bethlehem was in Iudah or as the litle city of Zoar which Lot fled into but a lardge and spacious citty in circuite of ground but for the number of inhabitants most populous and abundant Now the greater the place is the
but he is better thaÌ„ they all though they all were equall in dignitie and authority and had power in their hands and counsaile by their sides yet were they inferiour vnto him in the care of Gods service To haue compared him with Manasses his grand-father or Amon his father who went next before him and whose steps he declined contrary to the maner of childreÌ„ for vvho would haue thought when Manasses did ill and worse than the Amorites and Amon no better that Iosias would not haue followed them or to haue matched him with a few given him preheminence within some limited time say for an age or two or three had sufficientlie magnified him But all times examined chronicles and recordes sought out the liues and doings of kings narrowly repeated Iosias hath the garland from them all the paragon to all that went before him and a preiudice to as many as came after him The reason is because he turned His father grandfather went awry they ranne like Dromedaries in the waies of idolatry but Iosias pulled back his foot David turned to his armed men strength of souldiours Salomon to the daughters of Pharao Moab RehoboaÌ„ to his young couÌ„sailers Ieroboam to his golden calues Ezechias to the treasures of his house contrary to the word of the Lord Deut. 17. hee shall not provide him many horses neither shall he take him many wiues neither shall he gather him much silver and gold Some had even solde themselues to worke vvickednes had so turned after the lusts of their owne hearts that they asked who is the Lord but Iosias turned to the Lord the onely strength of Israell as to the Cynosure and load-starre of his life as that which is defectiue maimed to his end perfectioÌ„ as to his chiefest good as to the soule of his soule as to his center and proper place to rest in They said like harlots we will goe after our lovers that giue vs breade and water wooll flax but Iosias as a chast and advised wife I will goe and returne to my first husband The maner measure of his turning to the Lorde was with all his heart withall his soule c. You seeme to tell me of an Angell of heaven not of a man that hath his dwelling with mortall flesh and that which God spake in derision of the king of Tyrus is true in Iosias thou art that anointed Cherub for what fault is there in Iosias or how is he guilty in the breach of any the least commandement of the law which requireth no more than is here perfourmed Least you may thinke Iosias immaculate and without spot vvhich is the onely priviledge of the sonne of GOD know that he died for sinne because he coÌ„sulted not with the mouth of the Lord he was therfore slaine at Megiddo by the king of Egypt But that which was possible for flesh bloud to do in an vnperfect perfection rather in habite thaÌ„ act endevor than accomplishment or compared with his forerunners followers not in his private carriage so much as in his publike administration in governing his people and reforming religion all terrors difficulties in so weighty a cause as the chandge of religion is for chandge it selfe bringeth a mischiefe all reference to his forefathers enmity of the world loue to his quiet set apart he turneth to the Lord with all his hart c. So doth the law of loue require God is a iealous God cannot endure rivals hee admitteth no division and parâ—ing betweene himselfe Baal himselfe Mammon himselfe and MelchoÌ„ his Christ Beliall his table the table of devils his righteousnes the worlds vnrighteousnes his light and hellish darknes I saie more he that forsaketh not I say not Baal Mammon Melchom Beliall but father mother wife brethren sisters landes life for his sake loveth not sufficiently For as God himselfe ought to bee the cause why we loue God so the measure of our loue ought to bee vvithout measure For hee loveth him lesse than he shoulde vvho loveth any thing with him What not our wiues children friendes neighbours yea and enemies to Yes but in a kinde of obliquity our friendes and the necessaries of this life in God as his blessings our enemies for god as his creatures so that whatsoever we loue besides God maie be carried in the streame of his loue our loue to him going in a right line and as a direct sun-beame bent to a certaine scope our loue to other either persons or things comming as broken reflexed beames froÌ„ our loue to God You see the integritie of Iosias in every respect a perfect anatomy of the whole man every part he had consenting to honour God and that which the Apostle wished to the Thessalonians that they might be sanctified throughout and that their whole spirite soule and body might be kept blamelesse vnto the comming of Iesus Christ their spirit as the reasonable and abstract part their soule as the sensuall their bodie as the ministeriall and organicall is no way wanting in Iosias For whatsoever was in the hart of Iosias which â—yra vpon the sixth of Deut. S. Augustine in his first booke of Christian Learning expound the will because as the hart moveth the members of the body so the will inclineth the partes of the soule whatsoever in his soule vnderstanding sense which Mat. 22. is holpen with another word for there is soule minde both whatsoever in his strength for outward attempt performance all the affection of his heart all the election of his soule all the administration of his bodie the iudgment vnderstaÌ„ding of the soule as the Lady to the rest prosecution of his will excecution of his strength he wholy converteth it to shew his service and obedience to almighty God Bernard in a sermon of Loving God in his 20. vpoÌ„ the Canticles expoundeth those words of the law thus thou shalt loue the Lord thy God with all thy heart that is kindly affectionately with all thy soule that is wisely discreetly with all thy might that is stedfastly constaÌ„tly Let the loue of thy heart enflame thy zeale towards 〈◊〉 let the knowledge of thy soule guide it let the constancie of thy might confâ—â—me it Let it be fervent let it be circumspect let it be invincible Lastly the rule which he fastneth his eie vpon was the law of Moses and the whole law of Moses other rules are crooked and 〈◊〉 this only is straight as many as minde to please God must 〈◊〉 themselues wholy to be directed thereby not turning eithâ—â— to the right hand or to the left This history considered I pray you what hindereth the commauÌ„dement government of the king both in causes and over persons of the church For 1. in the building of the temple Iosias giveth direction both to Shaphan