separated from the bodie and that it commeth to an account and if it haue so deserued suffereth punishment and great torment yea he mentioneth such a iudgement as wherein the good are set on the right hand and the euill on the left as if he had perused the bookes of the sacred Bible The French Prophets those Druides as Pomponius Mela noteth did both beleeue and teach the immortalitie of the soule which was a good inducement to inferre the resurrection For when they held this vndoubtedly that the better part doth not die and by a consequent that the soules of them which had done well for their good life in this place should come vnto felicitie they might haue easily bene perswaded that by a good congruitie the instrument and copartner and sister of the soule I meane this flesh of ours being ioyned in all actions should in vprightnesse of iustice be ioyned in the reward whether it be good or euill 20 How much to blame are the Atheists and Epicures of our time who come not so farre as this but as they depriue our bodies of all future reuiuing so they teach that our soules in nothing are different from the beasts but that in the dissolution the spirit shall be dissolued as well as the exteriour man in which thoughts they shew thēselues to be worse then many Ethnicks They little conceiue the dignity and simplicity of that spirit the single in compoundnesse of that self-moouing soule for so I may well call it in comparison of the flesh For as Chrysostome maketh his argument If the soule can giue such life and beautie vnto the bodie with what a life and fairenesse doth it liue in it selfe And if it can hold together the bodie which is so stinking and so deformed a carcasse as appeareth euidently after death how much more shall it conserue and preserue it selfe in his owne being So pregnant is this reason that an infidell may conceiue it and very well apprehend it but we which are Christian men may remember a farther lesson That our Sauiour hath dyed for vs and payed a price very great his owne most precious bloud For whom or what was this for our body which liueth and dieth and rotteth and neuer returneth againe for our soule which is here this day and too morrow spilt and corrupted How vnworthy were this of him to endure so much for so little Shall we thinke him so vnwise or repute him so vnaduised No he knew that this soule of ours must stand before his throne and this rottennesse must come foorth by a fearefull resurrection And if this should not be so if there should be no accompt no recompence for ill deedes no retribution for the good to what end should men serue the Lord or what difference should there be betweene the iust and the vniust the holy and the profane nay betweene man the best creature that mooueth vpon the ground and the basest and vilest beast which hath little sence and no reason Because it were impiety to think this of our iust Lord that so slenderly he disposeth things let vs with an assured faith conceiue our immortality and the hope of a resurrection 21 As this hath bene deduced from the example of our Prophet by this or the like sort Ionas was in the fishes belly so was Christ in the graue Ionas came forth from thence so did Christ rise againe his rising doth bring our rising his resurrection ours because he was the first fruits of all those that do sleep So to cōclude this doctrine by making vse of it very briefly if this be determined ouer vs the houre shal one day come that all that is in the graue shall arise heare Gods voice neither the mountains nor the rocks can couer vs frō the presence of the Lambe what ones then how perfect shold we study to be how shold we prepare our selues against that day of reckning that our iudg may acknowledge vs to be his friends his brethren vnspotted vndefiled that so we might not trēble to see him heare his iudgement But alas how far are we from it indeed frō thinking of it For as Chrysostome speaketh some do say that they beleeue that there shal be a resurrectiō a recōpēce to come But I listen not to thy words but rather to that which is done euery day For if thou expect the resurrectiō a recōpence why art thou so giuē to the glory of this present life why doest thou daily vexe thy self gathering more mony then the sand I may go a little farther applying it to our time why do we bath our selues in folly as in the water why do we drinke in iniquitie bitternesse in such measure why hunt we after gifts and thirst after rewards why seeke we more to please men then labour to please the Lord Briefly why doth security in inward sort so possesse vs as if with Hyminaeus Philetus we did think the resurrection past Why do we as that man of whome Saint Bernard speaketh that is eate and drinke and sleepe carelesse as if we had now escaped the day of death and iudgement and the very torments of hell So play and laugh and delight as if we had passed the pikes and vvere now in Gods kingdome Who seeth not this to be so although he could wish it to be farre otherwise 22 The remembrance of this accompt should be as a snaffle to vs or as a bridle to keepe vs backward from profanenesse enormitie And in these euils let them take their portiō who are incredulous and vnbeleeuers of whome it is no maruell that they do hotely embrace them and egerly follow after them For take away an opinion of rising vnto iudgement and all obseruance of pietie falleth presently to the ground and men will striue to be filthie in impietie and in sinne But because we professe Christ Iesus and the hope of immortalitie let vs liue as men that expect it And since that it is appointed that all men shall die once and after it commeth the iudgement and since the day of death is as vncertaine to vs as it euer was to Isaac let vs furnish our selues before hand that with the oyle of faith and of good life in our lampes we may go to meete the bridegroome If Christ as our head be risen from the dead let vs arise from the vanities and follies of this earth which are not worth the comparing with eternitie in the heauens If he as the chiefe of his Church be ascended and gone before let vs who wish to be members wrestle to follow after him Let it be enough that hitherto with Ionas we haue fled from our dutie which we owe to our maker and that we haue lyen not dayes but yeares oft three times and three ouer not in the fishes belly but in the belly of sin And let vs beseech the Lord that since
drew him to idolatrie brought sinne vpon him all the land besides Roboams case is well knowne what good greene heads did to him Few kings haue stoode vpright when they haue leaned on crooked proppes It sheweth that they are weake when they cannot find the deprauednesse or infirmitie of the other but if themselues were able men yet hauing none about them but silly or corrupted ones or carelesse or vnfaithfull persons many things must needes run to wracke if men reputed wise haue conceiued things aright Lampridius in the life of Alexander Seuerus citeth this out of the works of Marius Maximus as an approoued truth that the state is better a great deale safer wherin the Prince is naught if the Counsellers who be about him be good then that wherin the friends of the Prince be euill men although himself be good for one who is amisse may easily be corrected by many which are right but when many are depraued it is hard for one to rectifie thē Thē it is wel with that Prince who being for his own part vertuously minded hath other vertuous ones to assist him 9 I might amplifie this by the example of Iustinus the Emperour spoken of by Euagrius who being growne into much miserie imputeth the cause of it to his Magistrates and those great men who were about him but my purpose is rather to remember that the highest should much depend vpon good counsell and not thinking themselues to be disgraced thereby as not being selfe-sufficient but to repute it their greatest honour to heare as well as to speake That which the Romane Minutius said of himselfe and Fabius is very true that the best thing is to giue counsell and he is but next the best who can take it when other giue it but he is a most miserable man who can neither giue nor take He is not the most eminent whose weakenesse is such that he must onely follow other men but since none here can be absolute as it is the highest glorie to giue so to take it is no dishonour Who was euer among the Romans more gracious for his person or glorious for his actes then Scipio Africanus and yet as Plutarke writeth he so vsed his faithfull and true friend Laelius for his counseller that some spared not to say that Laelius was the Poet and penner of all the play and Scipio did but act it and present it vpon the stage True wisedome had taught that honorable Generall to be no way wanting to himselfe howsoeuer other men would talke their pleasure of it I could wish that in our age persons of high esteeme would so vse the help of their wise and faithfull friends that they might oftentimes runne into so happie an errour You see that he who commaunded Niniue did hold this rule and the Spirit of God doth record it to the instruction of our age and if we will so receiue it as I haue expounded it before to his exceeding commendation that in so waightie a cause he would take the aduise of his Nobles And yet to say what I thinke it may not vnfitly be gathered by those deedes which are reported of him in the former verse that he himselfe stirred vp his Princes and was as a spurre to them to giue assent to his Edict howbeit to shew his mind to be temperate and moderate and humble vnto men as well as deuout to God he ioyneth them with himselfe as not failing to grace them and honour them in their places The ambitious man and he who is desirous of much gaine agree in this one point that they loue to haue no fellowes The man who is greedie vpon money excluding from himselfe all other companions can in his priuate thought onely deuoure the greatest pray And the hawtie and proud heart being like to the iealous man in his iealousie loueth not to communicate to other the least part of that honour which gladly he would appropriate to his owne actions The more runneth to the boughes the more the stocke is lessened shred all the boughes saith Machiauell and the sap then going but one way the bodie of the tree will prooue the greater But is that the way to be honorable The mightiest that euer were haue found it the truest glorie that bearing the raines aright for that must euer be looked to they haue bene kings ouer kings and raigned not ouer beggers but ouer men of woorth And God is better pleased when good things shall be commaunded first by the highest in place and then after it shall be added by the Lords spirituall and temporall and by the assent of the commons And princes which are gracious do neuer grieue at this and wise men do loue that stile when all is not appropriated to one but there is a kind of parting Plutarke in his state-precepts telleth that when himselfe and another ioyned in office with him were sent foorth as Proconsuls in some businesses for Rome and occasion so fell out that his fellow stayed by the way so that all was done by himselfe whē being againe returned he was to make declaration of all things which he had done in his iourney his owne father lessoned him before that he shold not tell his tale in the singular number but speake still plurally not I went but we went and not I but we said assuring him that by this he should ease himselfe of much enuie and by his faire behauiour be very louely and amiable He was a wise father who taught thus and he was a son much to be esteemed who so inwardly embraced his good precept that he thought of it many yeares afterward recorded it to be remembred of others Now if it were wisedome and modestie in him so to do then what humilitie was it for the great king of Niniue to ioyne with him I do not say his fellowes for this great Monarke had none such but his subiects in his stile by the King and his Nobles And this I haue gathered hitherto frō the Preface or induction to this Proclamation now a little while let vs enter into the Edict it selfe Let neither man nor beast c. 10 It is good when an action is caried cleanly throughout to be well and coherent both in matter and manner Euen ceremonies and circumstances detract much from good causes if there be a failing in them but where is a shew of accidents and the substance shall be defectiue there all is but ridiculous Diodorus Siculus telleth that on a time Dionysius the great tyrant of Sicilie according to the custome vsed in those dayes by men of much honour did send to the games of Olympus diuerse singers and Poets who made so excellent musicke that euery one admired them and commended them beyond measure But afterward when the Poemes which were the matter of most expectance came to be rehearsed they were so base and barren that both they and their maister were
magnifie themselues and make their wordes seeme glorious dare oppose their wits against heauen and earth against Iewes and Gentiles against God and men could remember the endlesse wisedome of the word of life they might plentifully admire their spirit who to giue God the glory do reioyce in their infirmities proclaime their owne follies And if they would compare the maner of these writers inspired with the holy Ghost with the workes of other men of what sort soeuer they must either shut their eyes or confesse a great difference 3 For the writers of this world howsoeuer against enemies they speake all and more then all as Zozimus did against the Christians or for their friendes and countrymen set all at the highest as Salust doth obserue that the Athenien and Greeke writers did long before his time yea howsoeuer sometimes they speake truth where it cometh to their notice or toucheth not themselues or their partiall friends yet in them we find few examples of laying open the errors of themselues or of their friēds especially when in any sort it may be concealed Let Tully be a witnesse of whose faults we do not reade in any thing of his owne but that Rome was saued by him from the furie of Catiline that when he was Consul he did more then good seruice to the common-wealth his tong and his pen haue neuer done What learned man hath not heard of his Cedant arma togae concedat laurea linguae In the Commentaries of Caesar a booke worthily penned may we find any thing which maketh against himselfe yea in his ciuill warres But in his friend Hirtius what is there to be read that doth not make for him The writings of Mahomet I meane such as are written of him do make him the onely Prophet in the last age of the world the great seruant of the Highest hauing messages from aboue and oracles from heauen yea such a one as was able bodily to rise againe from the dead but that must be after eight hundred yeares he taketh a pretie time for the trying of that conclusion whereas Christ tooke but three dayes yea as Viues obserueth that he was the Cōforter whom Christ promised to send into the world after his ascension and that it was written in the Gospell of Saint Iohn I will send you a Comforter and that shall be Mahomet but that those last words concerning Mahomet were razed out by the Christians 4 By these we may iudge of the rest But it is so farre off from men who are but naturall men to be detectors and discouerers of their owne falles to posterity that they cannot with patience endure that they should be opened by other For that is a common fault and not proper to one which Pliny reporteth of one in his time And that was that whereas according to the custome of that age a certaine writer had read and rehearsed in the presence of diuerse a peece of a booke which truly deciphered the faults of some men and sayd that he would reserue the rest vntil the next day to be heard the friends of one party who was touched in that booke and not without desert came in the meane while to the Author and most earnestly intreated him in their friends behalfe that he would forbeare to reade of that matter any further Which made Pliny to inferre this in one of his Epistles Such shame is there of hearing such things as are done by them who shame not to do that which they blush to heare What his friends could not endure himselfe would much lesse what to heare had bene grieuous to write had bene ashame The Prophets and pen-men of the Spirit of God by a peculiar prerogatiue are singular in this kind to shew that their bookes are the bookes of their Maister and so by that one meanes among other to stop the mouths of blasphemers and miscreants who measure God by themselues and pietie by their profanenesse Ionas was better taught not to giue the glory to himself but to God hauing learned that lesson which Saint Austen afterward did mention that he who hath failed in the first degree of wisedome that is vertue and obedience should betake him to the second that is modestie in confessing and acknowledging his fault Heare now therefore what he did and how he performed his message He arose to flie into Tarshish 5 Ionas thus farre was obedient to arise when he was bidden but he might as well haue sate still for anie good which he did He rouzeth vp himselfe as if he intended to fall hardly to his matters but after the first step he trode not one foot right He should haue rose to crie and he arose to flie he should haue gone East to Niniue and he went Westward to Iapho But euen cleane contrary A liuely example of the infirmitie of man that without Gods grace we very soone plunge into all maner of sin without measure or meane when a Prophet so experienced in the mysteries of saluation could play so foule a part But there is no man that sinneth not as Salomon saith And the iust man doth fall seuen times whereof although Hierome aske If he be iust how doth he fall and if he fall how is he iust yet he answereth himselfe that he looseth not the name of a righteous man who ariseth by repentance and we may say further he falleth by nature and ariseth by grace he falleth by sinne and is righteous by faith In many things we sinne all saith S. Iames not you only who be the people but we also the Apostles And if that there should haue come any other after the Apostles that should not haue sinned it is very likely that our Sauiour in the midst of his wisedome wherewith he gouerneth his Church would haue appointed for them some other prayer then the ordinary Lords prayer they should not haue sayd forgiue vs our trespasses because they had none This is a cooler both to the Pharisees and Nouatians who were wont to despise sinners If Ionas fall and Iob and Noe and Lot and Dauid whom the scripture calleth iust and righteous persons and after Gods owne heart let other men take heed of presumption and trusting in themselues Yet this is a comfort to sinners in the weakenesse of their soules If God forgaue Ionas repenting and beleeuing he will forgiue vs also if we beleeue and repent Therfore let not despaire deuour our wounded consciences Yet let not this be an incouragement to offend in any wilfulnesse Many will fall with Dauid but they will not arise with Dauid Our Prophet at the length amendeth but his fall was great the while Let vs first see the reasons that moued him to his flight and then the maner of it 6 We need not to doubt but Satan who is euer at hand to promote bad causes could yeeld reasons enough for the hinderance of this worke He had cause to
such factes if they will Let Calanus and his wise Indians hate to dye a naturall death but end their dayes by burning themselues in the fire Let the scholers of that Philosopher Egesias Cyrenaicus so far beleeue their maister disputing of the immortality of the soule that to the end that they might be depriued of life and enioy that spoken of immortality they go home and kill themselues Let Vibius Virius in Capua professe that he hath poyson for himselfe and all his friends which is able to free thē from the Romanes from punishment and from shame and let him drinke and dye Yea let the younger Cato a man held to be admirably wise be a butcher to himselfe rather then endure to see Caesar who was then become a Conquerer Yea let Seneca himselfe try the maner of Cato his death although in another sort after that himself a Philosopher a mirrour of heathen wisedome had so often and so highly commended that deed of Cato that it was not bloud but honour which gushed out of his side Yea let ten thousand more with Dido and Lucretia be recorded in Gentile stories yet all these are no warrāts for Christians we haue a better maister who hath taught vs a better lesson That aduersity and bitter afflictiō must be born with patience that we must expect Gods end in misery calamity and not hasten the issue in our selues that true fortitude is in bearing the sorrowes which are assigned allotted out for our portion that to fly from thē fearefully is cowardise Where is valure but in sustaining the greatest crosses with constancie and where is timiditie but in this to kill thy selfe that thou mayest be freed from that which doth not like thee What daunting force saith S. Austen had those euils which cōstrained Cato a wise man as they accounted of him to take that away from himselfe that he was a man whereas men say that truly that it is after a sort the first and greatest speech of nature that a man should be reconciled to himselfe and therefore naturally flye death so be a friend to himselfe as that earnestly he should desire to be a liuing creature and to continue in this coniunction of the body and soule He did not resist and stand strong against his euils but indeede fainted as a coward he sunke vnder his burthen I may conclude of him and of all that do treade his steps with that learned man who wrote the treatise De duplici Martyrio which is commōly called Cyprians If we reade that any haue killed themselues valiantly it was either weaknesse which by death did seeke an end of sorrowes or ambition or madnesse So farre in truth are they off from any iust commendation in Christianitie and Diuinitie 22 Nay what if it were held a thing vnlawfull among the very Gentiles See the Poet Virgils iudgement of it When Aeneas came downe to hell as the Poet there doth deuise he seeth in a seuerall and disiunct place such as had made away themselues He maketh their estate to bee so wofull as that gladly they would do any thing to be aliue againe quà m vellent aethere in alto Nunc pauperiem duros perferre labores How gladly now would they be content to endure pouertie and take hard paines in the world See the iudgement of Tully concerning this in his Somnium Scipionis When Scipio vpon the tale of his father being growne into admiration of the glorie of men which are dead asked What do I then vpon earth why hasten I not to dye his father maketh him answere with a very diuine speech although he were but a heathen man No son thou mayest not haue any passage hither but when that God whose temple all that thou seest is shall free thee out of this body For men are borne to that purpose and haue soules giuen them to that end to rest themselues on this earth which soules they must keepe safely within the ward of their bodies And they are not to flit from this life without his commaundement least they should seeme to flye that dutye of a man which is assigned them by God I might adde to these the iudgement of Aristotle in his Ethicks where he saith that to kill a mans selfe for the auoyding of infamie or pouertie is not the part of a valiant man but of a coward But I leue these forraine testimonies 23 Some among the Christians haue thought that maydens for sauing and preseruing their virginitie inuiolate might kill themselues An opinion voyde of any shadow of warrant out of Gods word For ought we to do euill that good may come therby Shall we aduenture the greater sinne for the auoyding of a lesse euill Nay is it a fault in a virgin at all that she is defloured by force Was Tamar to be condemned because Amnon did defile her It is consent that maketh iniquitie Tarquinius and Lucretia were two bodies saith Saint Austen but there vvas but one adulterer I adde no more of that matter The Donatistes and furious Circumcellions in old time because they were restrained by the ciuill sword of the Magistrate from the exercise of their heresies and keeping of their Conuenticles would cast themselues from the rockes and breake their neckes by the fall they would drowne and kill themselues Thereupon Theodoret hath a very pretie narration concerning them Many of them on a time met a young man on the way and giuing him a sword commaunded him to wound them and threatned him that if he would not they would kill him for refusing The young man being put vnto his shifts told them that he durst not do it because he had iust cause to feare that whē some of thē should see their fellowes slaine the rest would turne on him for doing it and murther him But if they would first suffer him to bind thē all fast and sure he would tell thē another tale They liked well of this motion in their sencelesse stupiditie yeelding to be bound the yong man got good store of rods shrewdly swinged them all so went his wayes and left them They imagined that God did well accept of their murtherings in this or the like kind caried an opinion that now they were become martyrs of Iesus Christ. Gaudentius their Bishop writeth in defence of the deedes of these Donatistes in behalf therof vrgeth the exāple of Razias in the Machabees who when he should be slaine in maintenance of the religiō of the Iewes to saue himself frō the infidels first ran vpō his sword And whē that would not serue the turne he threw himselfe from a wall and when all this could not kill him he ranne to the top of a rocke and there plucked out his bowels and threw them among the people That holy man Saint Austen the most iudicious of all the fathers comming to
Christ then dyed at the ninth houre that is at three of the clock after noone on a friday as we call it and before that the euening was in on the day of the Preparation which was that selfe same Friday his body was layd in graue That little time before euening is by the figure Synecdoche which taketh a part for the whole reputed for a whole day and a night that is the day and night before going The night then which did follow the setting of the Sunne and the day which was their Easter but by vs is called Saterday is reckened for the second And indeed this was complete both for the day and the night Then followeth the next night wherein Iesus arose very earely in the morning at or before the dawning of the day and the opening of the light and this is to be numbred for the third both day and night the part taken for the whole by the figure as before This kind of computation as with ease it may be gathered from the narration of the Euangelistes so Saint Austen doth approoue it and the late Diuines so accept it And it should not seeme strange since in other things we do vse it The Phisitians call that feauer a Tertian or third Ague which skippeth but one day onely The Termes of our Vniuersitie are reckened in that manner The last day of a Terme is reputed for a Terme and the first day of another is taken for another Terme so that according to our vse in some cases one Terme and two daies are taken for three Termes Thus was Christ in his graue by the space of three daies and three nights either in part or in whole like to which it is very probable that the staying of the Prophet in the whale was abridged and abbreuiated for some part of the time that there might be a full resemblance betweene the one and the other the seruant and the maister But herein I will not be contentious Concerning the Resurrection 13 But to say no more thereof the maine note from this place requireth full vnderstanding because there is hence deduced a mysterie of our faith I meane the Resurrection which Christ Iesus himselfe expoundeth to be here very liuely signified Ionas was in the fishes belly for three daies there nights so shall the Sonne of man be for that time in the graue It must follow thereupon by a necessarie consequent But as Ionas was then deliuered so shall the Sonne of man then come forth with a sensible resurrection Christ foretold that he would do this Do you destroy this temple intending thereby his body and in three daies I will raise it and set it vp againe This was also foretold by Dauid although in the person of our Sauiour Thou wilt not leaue my soule in hell nor suffer thy holy one to see corruption which text Saint Peter citeth to aduouch Christs resurrection That he did rise againe the Euangelists all do cry the Apostles all do confirme it How plentifull is Saint Paule in discoursing this argument that he did appeare oftentimes one while but to a few another while to the Twelue but afterward to more then fiue hundred brethen at once By the vertue of his Godhead Christ had a soueraigne power to loose himselfe from death it was a thing vnpossible that he should be holden of it If his life had bene taken from him vnwillingly and by violence then very likely it is that the selfe same violence might haue still detained him prisoner But his dying was voluntarie he yeelded vp the Ghost and being contented to put himselfe amidst those anguishes and horrours he abode there at his pleasure on the crosse and in the graue and from death he returned with the selfe same pleasure as hauing conquered all and triumphing in great glorie And then he who came from heauen to disquiet himselfe on earth so to purchase mans redemption left death and graue and earth and with captiuitie captiue ascended againe to heauen where he â—ate him downe in his maiestie on the right hand of his Father 14 And by his resurrection our hope is to be saued herein doth rest the anchor of our happinesse and true blessednesse For in vaine had bene his debasing and in vaine his incarnation if he had not liued amongst vs. And in vaine had bene his life and in vaine had bene his preaching if his death had not followed after For his life was giuen for our raunsome his bloud it was which did wash vs his death it was which did quicken vs. But in vaine had bene his death also if he had not shaken off mortalitie from him and borne vp his graue before him and thereby winning his prizes had not maistered all which resisted So that we apprehend his resurrection as the stay and substance of our saluation as the vp-shot of our blessednesse from the which if we should fall we do plunge into vtter ruine Therefore in the Articles of our faith this is put for one that dying he rose againe the third day from the dead Not that onely he died for the Iewes beleeue so much and the Gentiles beleeue so farre but that he was quickened againe For as Saint Austen hath obserued the Paganes do admit this for a truth that Christ did dye but that he rose againe is the proper faith of the Christians and imparted to no other Now we hold Christ for the head and our selues to be the members what he hath done before we trust that we shall do afterward So that by his rising againe is inferred the resurrection of other and that of all as well the iust as the vniust and the vniust as the iust the one sort to raigne with their Sauiour on whome they haue beleeued the other to suffer torments because they haue contemned So that both great and small shall stand vpon their feete in the generall day of iudgement and appearing before the throne shall then receiue their last doome of miserie or of mercie And if we did not expect this the followers of Christ Iesus were most wretched men of all other who for this hope sealed vnto them do endure such strong vexations such grieuances and perplexities All the Martyrs were most foolish who loose their liues in this world for the maintenance of Christs glorie which were absurd stupiditie as Chrysostome hath well noted if they held not themselues assured that he were come from the dead neuer dye for him who liueth not and againe if they beleeued not that in recompence of their sufferings they should see a better life and receiue a firme inheritance in the day of last proceeding 15 Their warrant is sealed vnto them by him who cannot lye both that their holy seruice shall be rewarded by him who shall pronounce that comfort Come you blessed of my Father inherite eternall life and that there shall be a day
be reuersed Then it is not our best safetie at euery time and in euerie case to be remooued hence but vpon some occasion we may ioye with Ionas that longer time is affoorded vs to bethinke our selues This is his exceeding comfort that though the pangs of death were vpon him yet that God once againe brought his life from corruption O Lord my God 20 The onely thing now remaining is the confident appellation which he vseth to the Lord Iehouah ô my God This sheweth a faith beyond faith and a hope beyond hope when he knew that the Lord was angrie and extremely wrathfull at him yet to cling in so to his mercie as to appropriate to himselfe a portion in his maker For what greater insinuation of confidence can there be then by particular application to apprehend Gods mercie to lay hold vpon him as on a father and that not as we say with a reference to the Communion of Saints Our father vvhich art in heauen but my father and my God This hath bene the perfect trust of the faithfull in all ages which hath encouraged them to approch with boldnesse vnto the throne of grace My God my God saith Dauid And thou that art the God of my saluation And Iob I am sure that my Redeemer liueth My spirit saith the Virgin Marie doth reioyce in God my Sauiour My Lord and my God saith Thomas Paule saith of himselfe I liue by faith in the Sonne of God who hath loued me and giuen himselfe for me This true faith doth close with God and incorporateth it selfe into the bodie of the Redeemer 21 And this is it which bringeth comfort vnto the wounded soule and afflicted conscience not that Christ is a Sauiour for what am I the better for that but a Sauiour vnto me That I am one of the adoption reconciled and brought into fauour sealed vp against that day when the quicke and dead shall be iudged my portion is with the Highest mine inheritance with the Saints How could flesh and bloud euer beare the heate of strong temptation without this firme perswasion What is it to my belly that bread is prepared for other vnlesse I be assured that my part is therein What is it to my soule that Christ hath dyed for other vnlesse I know that my sins are washed away in his bloud It may be good for Moses it may be good for Paule or Peter or Iames or Stephen but what is it vnto me It is Meus then and Tuus as Luther did well teach it is my God and thy Sauiour which doth satisfie thirstie consciences There is the ioy of the Spirit when men come to that measure Then it is a blessed doctrine which instilleth that faith into vs and in that if in any thing doth appeare the fruit of the Gospell which is preached in our dayes that people sicke and dying being taught before in their health can giue most diuine words and right admirable speeches in this behalfe whereof I speake sayings full of holy trust and assurance which as it is a thing most comfortable to themselues beyond all gold and treasure which are but as dung and drosse to a man yeelding vp the ghost so it bringeth good meditations vnto the standers by in causing them to acknowledge very euident an plaine arguments of election in the other whom they see to be so possessed with ioy in the holy Ghost and so rapt vp as if they had alreadie one foote within the heauen 22 But it is otherwise with the ignorant they lye groueling vpon the ground and cannot mount vp with the Eagle So is it in that doctrine which the Church of Rome doth maintaine when their people are taught that they must beleeue in generall that some shall go to heauen that some belong to God but to say or thinke that themselues shall be certainely of that number or constantly to hope it that is boldnesse ouermuch that is ouer-weening presumption They are to wish and pray that it may be so with them but yet it appertaineth to thē euermore to doubt because they know not the worthinesse of their merits a most vncomfortable opinion which cannot chuse but distract the heart of a dying man that he must not dare to beleeue with confidence that he shall go to God that Iesus is his Sauiour the pardoner of his faults No maruell if the life and death of such who hearken vnto them be full of sighs and sobs grones and feares and doubts since quietnesse and setled rest cannot be in their hearts They haue a way to walke but what is the end they know not They are sure of their departure but whither they cannot tell A lamentable taking and wherein of necessitie must be small ioy How contrarie hereunto doth Saint Paule speak being iustified by faith we haue peace toward God through our Lord Iesus Christ. How contrarie to this doth Saint Iohn speake in the name of the faithfull we know that we are of God How doth deiected Ionas yet keepe him fast to this tackling when he crieth ô Lord my God 23 And this is the surest anker whereunto a Christian man may possibly know how to trust This is it which in the blastes of aduersity will keepe him fast at the roote which in the waues of temptation will hold him fast by the chinne which in the greatest discomforts and very pangs of death will bring him to life againe To ground himselfe vpon this as on a rocke assured that his God is his father that Iesus is his redeemer that the holy Ghost doth sanctifie him that although he sinne oft-times yet euermore he is forgiuen and albeit he do transgresse dayly yet it is still forgotten that whether he liue or dye yet euer he is the Lords Good father leade vs so by thy most blessed Spirite that we neuer do fall from this But although sinne hange vpon vs as it did vpon the Prophet yet raise vs so by thy loue that laying hold on thy promises and the sweetenesse of thy fauour we may reape eternall life to the which ô blessed Lord bring vs for thine owne Sonne Christ his sake to whom with thee and thy Spirit be laude for euermore THE XIII LECTVRE The chiefe poynts 3. Gods election is sure 4. One argument thereof is to remember the Lord after affliction 6. That cogitation is very comfortable 7. The good and bad do differently remember God 8. The wicked do it with a murmuring 10. Especially in death God is to be thought on 11. Therefore it is good to thinke on him in health 12. Else we shall not be willing to dye 14. Churches are to be vsed reuerently 15. God heareth the prayers of his seruants 17. By vanity is signified euill 19 as Adams fall may therein be comprehended 20. or idolatry 21. or curious crafts and studies 22. or adultery and carnall sinne 23. and ill gotten goods 24. and ambition Ionah 2.7.8 When my soule fainted within
giuen ouer to heare any thing of my prayers Among the old Romane historians which haue written who was wiser then Cornelius Tacitus men do now study him for policy Yet in the first of his history recounting those great grieuances which befell Rome by the ciuill warres vnder Galba and Vitellius he vseth this desperate speech Neuer by greater slaughters on the Romane people or by more iust iudgements vvas it approoued vnto vs that the Gods do not at all respect our safety and security but to take vengeance on vs they are ready inough Here policy hath forgotten the very first grounds of piety which are patience and humility Liuie a graue writer although otherwise superstitious inough as appeareth by his Prodigia and yearely monsters yet tasteth of these dregs when in his fourth booke he writeth thus Here followeth a yeare which for slaughters and ciuill vprores and famine was very famous Onely forreine warre was vvanting wherewithall if our state had bene laded things could hardly haue bene stayed by the helpe of all the Gods but that they had run to ruine 9. Thus the wisedome of this world is nothing else but foolishnesse nothing but doting folly when it commeth indeed to the crosse or to the fiery triall The knowledge of God is wanting or at least the laying hold aright by faith is wanting And where faith is not to be found there is neither hope nor patience which are two infallible notes of a iust and Christian man There is nothing sayth Saint Cyprian which putteth more difference betweene the iust and the vniust then this that the euill man in his aduersity doth complaine and impatiently blaspheme but the good doth suffer quietly The iust hath trust in his Sauior but the other hath no part in him What maruell then is it if the wicked do fret and rage without comfort since he hath no share in him who is the God of comfort What maruell is it if he perish Plutarch telleth that this is the quality of Tigres that if drums or tabours sound about them they will grow madde and then they teare their owne flesh and rent themselues in peeces If the vnbeleeuing reprobate do heare the noyse of affliction he is ready to rent himselfe but by cursing and by swearing he will teare the body of Christ from top to toe in peeces As Ionas did remember God so the reprobate will not forget him but it is not to pray vnto him not to beleeue vpon him for he harh not so much grace but to ban him and blaspheme him I could wish that such prophanenesse as this might neuer be heard off in earnest or in play in the life or death of any man We should thinke of him with a reuerence we should mind him with a feare in prosperity with a trembling in aduersity with a hope There should be no fretting against his prouidence no grudging against his punishment When my soule did faint within me I remembred the Lord sayth Ionas I remembred him to beseech him I remembred him to intreate him I remembred him to embrace him to trust in him as a deliuerer to beleeue in him as a father I called to him and doubted not and he afterward heard my voyce 10 Saint Hierome doth giue this note vpon this place taking it out of the Septuagint That because he thought vpon the Lord when his soule did faint and he was ready to dye we by his example should aboue all things mind our maker when we are in the fits and pangs of death A very needefull doctrine if any thing may be needefull that when we must dislodge and be remooued hence when our glasse is so farre runne that immediatly a change must follow and that not to a trifle or toye which is to bee contemned but either to heauen or hell either to perpetuall ioy or to euerlasting torment we haue him in our meditations who is to see our iudge who is to scanne our actions and to peruse our conscience and giue the last sentence on vs that then with our best remembrance we thinke vpon his mercy and contemplate on his great loue in the redemption of his sonne and desire him for his blouds sake to take vs into his fauour That this lesson might the better be taught vnto vs Iesus the sonne of God and fore-runner of our faith when he was ready to yeeld vp his spirit did commend his vnspotted soule to his most righteous father Father into thy hands I commend my spirit Good Steuen the eldest martyr did tread these steps right after him when at the time of his death he cried Lord Iesus receiue my spirit And euery Christian man should struggle and striue to do so to shake off as much as may be the heauinesse of his sicknesse and as hauing that one prize that last great prize to play should stirre vp his spirit in him and should then pray to God to comfort him to conduct him vnto heauen to leade him along to glorie It is a good thing to liue well but because death is the vp-shot which maketh or marreth the rest it is the best thing to dye well He who hath begun aright hath halfe that whereat he aimeth but to begin is our hurt it shall bee a witnesse against our conscience vnlesse we do perseuere The man who shall bee blessed must continue to the ende 11 Then may the dangerous state of such be iustly deplored who in their life time haue so fondly doated vpon the world that when death which is Gods baylife doth summon them to appeare before the iudgement seate they do least of all other things know wherewith he should be furnished who commeth there but as before in the time of their health so in their despaired sicknesse do thinke only vpon their Mammon admiring it and embracing it and kissing it in their thought as if they were wedded to it But neither of themselues nor by the instigation of the Minister who is a remembrancer for the Lord can they be any way vrged to speake of celestiall things to call on God for mercy or to professe their faith and confidence in their Sauiour And this wordly imagination first ministreth hope of life they not dreaming that death will take them till on the sudden both body and soule do eternally dye together Next if they do conceiue that it must be so and there is no way with them but the graue then is their heart oppressed with sorrow and a huge waight of griefe that there must be a separation from their beloued treasure And lastly if their memory do serue there must be an vnsetled and vnresolued disposing with disquietnesse and much vexing of that which hath bene ill gotten to this child or to that friend and much stirre there must be about the pompe of a funerall by which meanes all good motions are so stifled and choaked that there is scant one word of him who made all
He is not as Baal was whose seruants might crye and launce themselues with kniues and all for his honour yet himselfe be neuer the wiser The Niniuites fasted and put on sackcloth and prayed vpon the newes of the Prophets preaching and with lamentable behauiour did labour to shew their sorrow that they should be reputed iustly so vile in Gods eyes They acknowledge themselues to be ashes and dust they stand as the stubble now ready for the flame How the heauen might helpe they know not but from the earth is like to come no consolation The Lord whose drift it was to bring them to that passe and had no other end of the sending of Ionas so farre from his owne countrey but to worke them hereunto sitteth aboue in the heauen and beholding it is much pleased A fauourable Iudge who will turne his eyes of iealousie into a gracious aspect and will endure as much to saue men as he will to spill them As the crying sinnes of Niniue and of Sodome and like places had accesse vnto his cares and so did call for vengeance so the repentance of the Niniuites had accesse vnto his seate and did pleade hard for a pardon Yea to shew that he delighteth to helpe rather then to hurt to spare rather then to punish he who would not receiue the cryes of the great sinnes of the Sodomites vntill he came downe to prooue whether it were so or no taketh the sorrowes of the city euen at the first rebound and not standing to examine them in the strictnesse of his seuerity is by and by appeased He who is slow to anger is quickeâ— sighted at repentance and when his sonne is comming home he beholdeth him a great way off and meeteth with him and falleth on him and kisseth him and with much loue embraceth him 10 He saw that which they did But marke God saw their vvorkes That which they ouâ—wardly did was a token of their mind and a fruite of their faith which faith had entred into their heart and in some measure purified that which of it selfe was corrupt But he beheld their workes not their speech but their deedes not their tongue but their hands not that afterward they would do better but that alreadie they had left their filthinesse And this fruite is it which God requireth to testifie whether the roote be good If words would haue serued the turne the Prophet needed not haue gone to the Gentiles in Assyria the Israelites and Iewes could haue furnished him well inough who made no spare to say that they would serue the Lord the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord was euer in their mouthes and afterward We haue Abraham to our father but they did nothing which was sutable but cleane contrarie to their speaking The Pharisees who succeeded long after our Prophets time had by this reckening bene very holy for they could pray in the streetes and disguise their faces with fasting yet Christ brandeth them for hypocrites and speaketh to all in generall Not euery one that saith vnto me Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdome of heauen but he that doth the will of my father which is in heauen Saint Basile vpoÌ„ these words of the Prophet Esay And if they multiply their prayers I will not heare them doth declare what the mind of God is toward such as thinke religion to be in words They who in this life do no worke which is worthy the name of vertue but only for the lengths sake of their prayers do hold themselues to be righteous let them heare these vvords vvith attentiue eares For prayers are not a helpe vvhen they are powred out in any sort vvhatsoeuer but if they be vttered vvith earnest and feruent affection For the Pharisee did multiplie prayers in shew but vvhat sayth the Scripture The Pharisee standing did pray thus vvith himselfe But it vvas not with the Lord. For all of it returned to the good opinion of himselfe for he still remained in the sinne of pride That man who would not be taken for such a Pharisee and so consequently be refused of the Lord must thinke that there is something else in the seruice of the Highest then to say or seeme to be holy For that is a matter common to reprobates to idolaters to dissemblers and deceiptfull men which yet escape not his eyes who trieth the hearts and reynes and rewardeth men accordingly Saint Bernard obserueth that the two Kings Saule and Dauid when they were reprooued by the two Prophets Samuel and Nathan cried peccaui both alike and yet Saule heard that sentence the Lord hath taken thy kingdome from thee and will giue it to thy seruant and Dauid heard that comfort The Lord hath remooued away thy sinne and thou shalt not dye for it What was this sayth Saint Bernard but that Saule had not that in his heart which he had in his mouth but with Dauid it was otherwise 11 Then he who hath gone astray and by that meanes hath offended God and desireth to returne at last after a thousand prouocations into the Iudges fauour let him first depart from euill and purge himselfe of all poyson as the serpent doth going to drinke and let him neuer againe resume it but secondly therewithall let him do that which good His light must shine before men that they may see his good workes his life must shine before God in purity and integrity Of which how little all sorts of men do thinke now a dayes experience too much witnesseth For who is he almost that intendeth to that which he should I speake not of the Atheist who is an enemy to God the father I speake not of the Papist who is no friend to Christ the sonne many points of their doctrine crossing the life of his redemption but of those who seeme to be somewhat The Pastours which are learned are almost like the vnlearned The one cannot the other will not but neither of them do preach They thinke it is inough to be able to de somewhat when they shall see occasion that to censure the workes of other this was well or this was ill is a great part of learning but worke they will not themselues neither God nor men see their labours The gentlemen in the countrey I meane very manie of them thinke it is inough if they like not any thing which commeth from Rome but if they can declaime in the greatest assemblies against the errours of the Clergie or spie a fault in their gouernement they are more then common men yea but if they come so farre as to haue prayers in their houses which is a very holy sacrifice if other things accordingly be ioyned they thinke that there is no more needfull to heauen But as for any works of mercie or charitable pitie they are not oftentimes to be found They yeeld small comfort to the poore who perish before their faces Little helpe vnto the Minister who may