ought him but an hundred pence demanded it of him and because he was not of ability to pay the debt he tooke him by the throate and haled him to prison and that the Master when he heard thereof was so incenst against him that he demanded againe the ten thousand talents which before he had forgiven him even to the utmost farthing when we read this I say we are to apply the same to our selves that if we will not forgive those that have offended us no more will God forgive us if we offend him And this use St. Paul teacheth us to make of these examples of Gods judgements upon sinners 1 Cor. 10. where having spoken of the Israelites that perished in the wildernesse They saith he are examples to us to the intent that we should not Iust after evill things as they did 1 Cor. 10. and perish in the wildernesse three and twenty thousand On the other side when we read in the Scripture of Gods wonderfull mercies toward repentant sinners as here we have a notable example of Gods mercy upon David who having committed two heinious sins adultery and murther yet as soon as God saw him ready to confesse himself guilty and to acknowledge his sinne God did presently forgive him are we not to make this use hereof that if we with David will acknowledge our sinne God will be as ready to forgive us as he forgave him When we read of the poor Publican Luke 18. who being truely humbled with the sight of his sinnes went into the Temple and prayed unto God O God be mercifmll to me a finner and that he went away justified are we not to make this use thereof that if we will humble our selves and acknowledge our sinne God will likewise forgive us as he forgave this Publican In a word when we read of the young unthrift in the Gospell Luke 15. who though he had left his Father and his Country though he had spent his patrimony and that very lewdly yet after that he repented and returu'd to his Father his Father went out to meet him fell on his neck and kissed him and was so joyfull for his sonnes return that he never expostulated why he had left him he never demanded how he had spent his portion but forgetting all his former lewd behaviour he received him as gladly as if he had never offended him are we not to make this use thereof that though we hvae rurme riot with the Prodigal and lived never so lewdly yet if we will repent returne unto God he will receive us into favour as he did this Prodigall For these things are written for our instruction that we might apply the same to ourselves and find comfort in them That as they among the Heathen who had been cured of any grievous sicknes set down in the Temple of Aesculapius their names diseases the means of their recovery that if others fel in to the like sicknes they might use the same means which others had done recover their health So have Gods Secretaries the pen-men of the Scriptures instructed us therein by their own examples They have not been tender of their own credits but have Chronicled and Registred their own sins and infirmities to remain as it were upon the file unto all posterities to the intent that we observing both how they fell and were afterwards restored might learne when we are fallen into any sinne to do as they did and obtaine pardon For what sinne is it that thou canst possibly fall into but some of Gods children have already fallen into the same before thee If thou sai'st thou hast lived riotously and luxuriously the Prodigall will presently step forth and tell thee that he also once laboured of the same disease he lived as riotously as ever did any yet after that he repented and returned to his Father he was received into favour If thou saiest that thou hast been a persecutor of the godly Paul will comfort thee by his example If thou saiest thou hast denyed Christ though it were with perjury Peter will lay his example before thee If thou saiest that thou art fallen into a relaps since thou wert a Professor of Religion and since thou hast beene enlightned by the Word of Truth why and I saith David was in the very same case all the World knows that I committed both adultery and murder long after I had been a principall professour Now what a glorious visitation of a sick soul is this when all the Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles who have all of them been subject to the like infirmities shall come to visite thee and standing round about thy bed to cōfort thee shall every one of them tell thee that his life for thine though thy soul be sick to the death by reason of thy sin though the arrow-head of despair begin to rancle in thy bowels and thou be ready to despair of thy salvation yet that it is impossible but that their examples which are as it were so many preservatives of the Holy Ghosts own compounding must needs do thee good if thou wilt apply them and if thou wilt use the self-same means for thy recovery which they have done For therefore hath David propounded his example unto thee and saith That therefore every one that is godly shall pray unto God because he had prayed unto God and had obtained mercy And thus much for the reason why men should come unto God for pardon implyed as we have heard in this word therefore The second thing which is here mentioned are who they be that shall come unto God every one that is godly Where we see who they be that make good use of these examples not the wicked but the godly For as for the wicked as they pervert the use of all things so they abuse the examples of Gods mercies and turn the grace of God into wantonnesse When they hear that David and others have fallen sometimes into grievous sins and that God did pardon them they will challenge to themselves the more liberty to sin by their examples as if David's being once overtaken with women vvere an excuse for adulterers and Noah's being once overcharged with vvine were a warrant for drunkennesse For they will argue thus with themselves David committed adultery and yet David was saved Peter for-swore himselfe and yet Peter was saved Moses was guilty of murder Paul vvas a persecutor the prodigall childe lived in riot and pleasure and yet all these vvere saved and therefore why may not I live riotously why may not I swear and for-swear myselfe vvhy may not I commit adultery or murder why may not I venture upon any sin vvhatsoever and yet be saved as well as they Thus they incourage themselves to sin their examples So vve read of Theodosius the Emperour that having committed a bloudy fact he excused himselfe by the example of David but Saint Ambrose reproved the Emperour for it Secutus es errantem sequere
that all their dayes they should dwell in Tents Though their Father hereby did abridge them of many commodities and comforts of this life vvhich are both lawful and necessary yet because it was the Command of their Father they abstained from every thing that he forbad them and obeyed his vvill And vve see that Isaac vvhen his Father was to offer him for a burnt-offring though Isaac was then about twenty five years old as Josephus vvrites yet he resisted not his Father but suffered him to binde him and to lay him upon the Altar submitting himself to the very death to his Fathers vvill So the Command of Princes over their Subjects is very great and what vvill not a Subject be content to do for his Princes sake 2 Sam. 23.16 ye know vvhen David did long to drink of the vvater of the vvell of Bethleem three of his Servants did break through the Host of the Philistins and brought him some of it even with the hazard of their lives So when Xerxes was upon the Sea in a dangerous tempest and the Governour of the ship told him that there was no hope to escape unlesse the ship vvere lightned divers of his Nobility cast themselves into the Sea that the King might escape And we read of a Prince of Syria that his Subjects vvere so ready to do vvhat he Commanded that vvhen he called to a Centinel that vvas on the top of an high vvatch-towre and bad him come down vvith all speed to him he presently leapt over the Battlements and stood not upon the losse of his life to shew his obedience If Children be so much at the Command of their Fathers and Subjects of their Princes then vvhat should not vve do for our heavenly Father the King of Kings vvhen he Command us For he hath absolute power over us our goods and our lives our bodies and our soules and all that we have are at his disposing and therefore whatsoever he Command us though it seeme never so difficult or dangerous yet vve ought vvith Ionas here to yield him obedience FINIS The Seventeenth SERMON PROVERBES 28.13 He that covereth his sinnes shall not prosper but he that confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy Division WE have here in these words a double description the former of an impenitent sinner the latter of a penitent person and each of them is described both by his property and by his condition The impenitent sinner is described by this property that he covereth his sinnes and his condition is that he shall not prosper The penitent person is described as you see by a double property he confesses his sinnes and withall forsakes them and his condition is that he shall have mercy And these are the severall parts of these words And first for the property of an impenitent sinner that he covers his sins For our better understanding thereof I purpose to explaine these two things 1. How sinne may be said to be covered And 2. What is the cause that makes a man cover and hide his sinnes For the first we are to know that the Scripture makes mention of a twofold covering or hiding of sinne the one by God the other by man God is said to cover our sinnes when he doth forgive them and doth not impute our sinnes unto us and he that hath his sinnes thus covered by God is pronounced by David to be happy and blessed Psal 32.1 Blessed is he whose wickednesse is forgiven and whose sinnes are covered Psal 32.1 blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth no sinne He that hath his sinnes thus covered by God neede not care though they be known to all the World Secondly there is a covering of sinne by man and this is likewise twofold vvhen a man doth cover either the sinnes of others or his own sinnes The sinnes of others two wayes especially by charity or by flattery By charity when vve conceal the faults of others to keep them thereby from shame and disgrace as Shem and Japhet covered their Fathers nakednesse for charity will cover as St. Peter saith a multitude of sinnes Or else by flattery for the flatterer who is but a fawning friend 1 Pet. 4.8 knowing that men love to be commended and not to be dispraised he frames himself to speak nothing but that which is pleasing and therefore will highly commend men for their virtues or any good parts that he sees to be in them but for their faults or vices he will be sure not to speak a word thereof but he will hide and cover them But Solomon here speaks not of covering other mens sinnes but of covering of our own when a man doth what he can to conceal his own sinnes and to keep them hidden as Achan hidde and covered his theft that it might not be known Iosh 7.21 And thus a man may be faid to cover his sinnes four wayes First by a plain and flat denial of them 1. Negando Thus Sarah when she heard Gen. 18. that she should conceive Gen. 18.15 and bring forth a Child in her old age she laught at it 2 King 5.25 and being reproved by the Angel for laughing she presently denied it Thus Gebezi being reprehended by the Prophet for taking a bribe he would have covered his sinne by denial of it And thus many when they are suspected or accused of any thing which indeed they have done but think it cannot easily be proved against them they will never confesse it but seek by their deniall to keep it secret They will never be brought to confesse they have sinned till they be taken in their sinne so that the first time of their taking shall be the first time of their sinning for they will be sure to confesse no more then can be proved against them This is one kind of covering of sinne And hitherto may they be referred who hold with the Pelagians that they do perfectly fulfill Gods Law and that they are free from sinne Luke 18.11 or that say with the proud Pharisee I am not an extertioner I am not unjust I am not an adulterer like other men or with the Church of Laodicea Revel 3.17 I am rich I am increased with goods and I have need of nothing for these do hide and cover their sinnes by their deniall of them In stead hereof we must lay our sinnes open and ingenuously confesse them For he that doth deny his fault he is not therefore without fault because he denieth it but he both doubleth his fault by his deniall thereof and is the further from obtaining pardon for want of acknowledging it as he that hath received a wound in his body both makes it the worse and is the further from being cured while he seeks to conceale it And therefore whensoever thou hast done any thing which thou shouldst not have done though thou be ashamed to have it known yet being charged therewith beware of denying it but think
the upright for the end of that man is peace and in the next verse But the end of the wicked shall be cut off For God being the just Judge of the world it cannot be otherwise but that between the end of the godly and the end of the wicked there must needs be great difference Therefore when Abraham prayed for Sodom that it might be spared for the righteous sake that were therein Gen. 18.23.25 wilt thou saith he Gen. 18. destroy the righteous with the wicked that be far from thee to do after this manner to slay the righteous with the wicked and that the righteous should be as the wicked that be farre from thee shall not the judge of all the earth do right to shew that it cannot stand with the justice of God to respect them alike and to make no difference between the godly and the wicked We see many times that the wicked do flourish and prosper in the world and live in great credit and estimation the godly on the contrary are many times vilified and privily slander'd whereby their good name which is the godly mans Heire is much called into question but God who never failes to help them to right that do suffer wrong at one time or other brings the wicked to shame and makes the innocency of the godly known This is that which God promises Psal 37.6 Psal 37. He shall bring forth thy righteousnesse as the light and thy judgement or just dealing as the noon-day the meaning is that though thy innocency and just dealing may be obscured and hidden for a time as the light in the night yet God will bring it forth like the light in the morning and make it more and more to appear like the Sun at noone whereby both thy innocencie and the falshood of those that unjustly accuse thee shall be openly known This we see by the example of Daniel who was cast by his accusers into the Lyons Den Dan. 6.16 Dan. 3.21 and by those who were cast into the fiery furnace yet God miraculously made known their innocency and brought those that accused them to shame and destruction It is very memorable which we find recorded to this purpose in the Ecclesiasticall Histories Three grace leâ—e Companions accused Narcissus a holy Bishop of an hainous crime and used fearfull imprecations against themselves if the thing were not true whereof they accused him The first wished that if it were not true he might be burnt The second that he might die of some grievous Disease And the third wisht that he might lose his sight And not long after God was reveng'd on every one of them in the same manner For the first had his house set a fire in the night where both himself and his houshold were burnt to death The second fell sick of a fearfull disease and died of it And the third seeing what 〈◊〉 befallen his Companions confessed how they had wrongfully accused the Bishop and with weeping and mourning lost his sight Whereupon the Bishop who had been deposed upon their accusation was restored unto his Bishoprick God having thus made his innocency known and brought them to shame that so falsly accused him And thus much for the former part of these words the description of an impenitent sinner who is described as you have heard both by his property that he covers his sinne and by his condition that he shall not prosper The penitent person is described by a double property he confesseth his sinnes and withall forsakes them and his condition is that he shall have mercy I will speak briefly of them in a word or two Those words of St. John 1 John 1.9 If we confesse our sinnes he is faithfull and just to forgive us our sinnes and to cleanse us from all unrighteousnesse are as it were a commentary upon my Text and the one place may serve well to explain the other St. John names onely our confessing our sinnes If saith he we confesse our sinnes implying under confessing our sinnes our forsaking of them because as St. Ambrose saith Confessio peccati est professio desinendi our confessing of sinne is a profession of leaving the same Solomon in my Text doth name them both who so confesses and forsakes his sins and so expresses what St. John implies And Solomon addes that he shall have mercy but what mercy he doth not shew St. John therefore shewes what this mercy is that God will forgive him his sinnes and will cleanse him from all unrighteousnesse which you know is the greatest mercy For if we consider how highly God is offended with sinners how deeply we are indebted unto God by our sinnes or the great benefit we reape by Gods forgiving us we cannot but see Gods infinite mercy in forgiving our sinnes upon so easie a condition and requiring no more of us for the forgivenesse of our sinnes but that we confesse them If a Creditor should require no more of his Debtor that were indebted in a great summe unto him but to acknowledge the debt he would freely forgive him would not every man magnifie the Creditors bounty in releasing his Debtor upon so easie a condition but thus deales God with us he requires no more of us but to confesse our sinnes and promises to forgive us If saith St. John we confesse our sinnes God is faithfull and just to forgive us our sinnes faithfull and just and so we need not make any doubt thereof because his faithfulnesse and justice are ingaged upon it But some may say it may seeme that seeing God is just he should rather punish us then forgive us our sinnes because his justice requires that we make him satisfaction and that he reward us according to our deserts We are therefore to remember that confession of our sinnes and faith in Christ for the pardon of them do alway go together so that we cannot truly confesse our sins but we must needes have an eye unto Christ for the forgivenesse of our sinnes God therefore cannot but forgive us our sinnes because he is just for otherwise he should be unjust to his Sonne who hath made satisfaction to God in our roome and by his active and passive obedience hath merited for us that our sinnes should be forgiven And herein appeares the admirable wisdome and goodnesse of God in so contriving the work of our redemption that his justice should plead for the forgivenesse of our sinnes which pleaded before for our condemnation For if ye aske why God should condemn us for our sinnes the Reason is because he is just and justice requires that having offended him we should make him satisfaction And yet if ye aske why he should forgive us our sinnes the reason is here given by St. John because he is just and justice requires that Christ having made satisfaction for us we should be forgiven And so we see what mercy it is which he shall have who confesseth his sinnes namely the
in a readinesse Mat. 22.11 Mat. 25.3 that we be not found unprepared like the guest in the Gospel without our wedding Garments or like the foolish virgins without oile in our Lamps To this end we must often think of the day of judgement and remember that whatsoever we do we shall be called to an account of it Therefore the Scripture doth often propound the day of judgement unto us and useth the same as a special Reason to reclaime us from sinne and to move us to repentance This Saint Paul tells the Atheniant Acts 17.30 Acts 17. That God admonishes all men every where to repent because he hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world in righteousnesse Thus Solomon tells the young man Eccles 11.9 Eccles 11. That though he rejoyceth in his youth and followes the lust of his eyes and the wayes of his heart yet he must remember withall that God for all these things will bring him to judgement Therefore Basil gives us this Councel to have alwayes the day of judgement as a Schoolmaster before us that so we might be kept from committing evil by having this day before our eyes as a scholler is afraid to do any thing undecent in his Masters presence Damascen makes mention of a certain King who having the day of judgement alwayes in his mind he was so affected with the remembrance of it that he wholly abstain'd from those pleasures delights whereunto he had been before addicted The Kings Brother seeing the King to be so strangely altered knowing withal the cause thereof willed him not to think of the day of judgement but to passe his time in pleasure and recreation as he had done before when he thought not of it The King to argue his Brothers folly caused his Herald the very next morning to sound a Trumpet a loud at his Brothers doore which was a signe in that Countrey that he at whose door the Trumpet was sounded had offended the King and was therefore to be led to execution His Brother as soone as he heard the Trumpet came trembling to the King and desired pardon and promised that he would never offend him again Why saith the King art thou so afraid when thou hearest this Trumpet and should not I be afraid of that great Trumpet that shall call me to judgement if thou be afraid because of this Trumpet of offending me much more may I by the last Trumpet of offending God And indeed the most desperate sinner that is if the day of judgement were alwayes in his minde so that he were wholly possest with the remembrance of it it would make him afraid to commit sinne and so hasten his Repentance because he may die and be called to judgement he knows not how soone and if he be impenitent when he dies he will be found impenitent at the day of judgement Hic hic amittitur vita aut recuperatur saith Cyprian In this life the life to come is either lost or gotten lost by continuing impenitent in our sinnes or got by repentance God made this Law Levit. 25. That if a man had had a house in a walled City and had sold the same Levit. 25.29 yet he might redeeme it within the compasse of a year but if he redeemed it not within that time it should afterwards be too late to recover it again which Origen expounding he saith that by this house is understood our heavenly Habitation that house whereof the Apostle speakes We have a house not made with hands 2 Cor. 5.1 but eternall in the Heavens by him that sells this house is understood a sinner who sells as it were and forgoes Heaven by his sinnes yet such saith he is the mercy of this Law-giver that he hath given a sinner the whole year of this life for the recovery thereof that what he sold by his sinnes he might redeeme by repentance which if he redeemed not before the year of this life be ended it will be too late afterwards He that repents not till this life be past he knocks with the foolish Virgins when the Gates are shut Mat. 25.11.12 and then he cannot be let in Luke 16.24 he that seekes not for mercy till after this life like the rich man he shall finde none no not so much as a drop of cold water to coole his tongue And therefore now while it is called to day think thus with thy self God hath spared me hitherto and not taken me away that I might repent how long he wil spare me I do not know he may take me away before to morrow if he take me away before I repent Christ will condemn me for my impenitencie when he comes to judgement I will therefore now make a vow unto God even now before I goe out of his house that I will not suffer mine eyes to sleep nor the Temples of my head to take any rest till I turne unto God by unfained repentance and resolve with my self to lead a new life that so I may be sure not to be found impenitent whensoever he comes FINIS
So that this may teach us to extoll and magnifie Gods goodnesse towards us who layeth not so much upon us as he laid upon them but proportions his trials to our infirmity and weaknesse And thus much likewise for the second difficulty in this Commandement in regard of the party that must offer this sacrifice Abraham Isaac a father his sonne difficulty third The third difficulty is in regard of the manner how he must sacrifice his son he must offer him to God in holocanstum for a burnt-offring The manner how they were to offer their burnt-offrings in the old Law is prescribed by God unto Moses in the first of Leviticus where we finde that the burnt-offring that was to be offered was to be killed to be cut in pieces or quartered and every part to be laid upon the fire till it were wholly consumed Whether Abraham when he had killed his son was likewise to quarter him and to hew him in pieces I will not determine but yet it is probable For howsoever the manner of offering these offrings was specified long after this Commandement was given yet Abel and others had offered burnt offrings long before which no doubt they had done as God himselfe had taught them But this is certain that when Abraham had killed his son with his own hands he was likewise to lay him upon the fire till he were wholly consumed and burnt to ashes for so much the word holocaustum signifies And therefore Musculus saith upon this place Non simpliciter immolare filium jubetur Abraham sed offerre in holocaustum hoc est c. Abraham is not commanded simply to sacrifice his son but to offer him for a burnt-offring that is saith Musculus after that he hath imbrued his sword in his sons bloud with his own hands to lay his body in the fire and when one side is burnt to turn the other and so to let it burn till it be consumed to ashes which is all one as if his body were to be consumed to nothing So that this is more horrible then all the rest For how is it possible for a father to endure when he hath bathed his sword in his sons bloud to take him up in his armes and to lay him upon the Altar to see his bowels fry and crackle in the fire and to turn him upside down till every part be consumed and burnt to nothing What death can be imagined so horrible as this If God had commanded Abraham either to have strangled or smoothered his son yet his body ye know would have remained whole he might have entombed him if God had commanded him to cast him down headlong from the top of the mountain so that every member had been dashed asunder yet some part of his body would have been remaining Nay if God had commanded him to take his son and cast him to the wilde beasts that they might devoure him yet at least-wise ye know his bones would have been left and so Abraham might have had some relique of his son but this is such a death as doth utterly consume every part of the body and brings all to nothing But besides this Abraham knew very well that God could not away with humane sacrifices and therefore that Abel Noah and the rest had never offered the like in any of their offrings It is true indeed that many years after the Children of Israel had learn'd of the Gentiles as we see Psalm 106 to sacrifice their sons and their daughters to divels Psal 106.37 but therefore saith David The wrath of the Lord was kindled against them so that he abhorred even his own inheritance Psal 106.40 Nay this is so monstrous and abominable an act that many of the heathen did utterly condemne it We read of the Carthagincans that they were wont to sacrifice their children to Saturne Plutarch in Reg. Apophth as thinking that this would be acceptable to their God because they had heard the fable that Saturne was wont to devoure his children But therefore when Gelo the King of Sicilia had subdued Carthage he forbad this custome as thinking it monstrous that the gods should be worshipt with such cruell sacrifices And therefore when Agesilaus Plutarch in vita Agesilai as Plutarch records was admonished in a dream to sacrifice his daughter to Diana as Agamemnon had done he made this answer that he would not imitate Agamemnons folly but he would offer such a sacrifice as was fit for a goddesse How then could Abraham think that God would be pleased with such a sacrifice and that he who is the father of mercies and would not so much as the death of a sinner should delight in cruelty and in the slaughter of innocents so that when God commands Abraham to sacrifice his son here is a further temptation then all the former which seems not so much to impugne his affection as to confound his faith in that God here seems contrary unto himselfe And indeed beloved the conflict which Abraham sustained in his affection was nothing to that which his faith sustained For how should he believe the promises of God concerning his son being now commanded by God to kill him God had promised Abraham as we heard before that him seed should be called in Isaac that he would multiply his seed like the starres of Heaven Gen. 26.4 and that he would establish his Covenant with Isaac for an everlasting Covenant and with his feed after him Abraham believed according to Gods promise that the Saviour of the World should spring from his Sonne and that so all the Nations of the Earth should be blessed in him and yet now he commands him to sacrifice his Son and so to burn as it were the bond of his own salvation For if Isaac must die how can Abraham look for the Messias from him and if no Messias what remaines but Gods wrath and vengeance to be powred upon all men so that this Commandement seemes quite to overthrow Gods former promise and yet such was Abrahams faith and obedience that he both performed that which God had commanded and withall believed that which God had promised For howsoever it might seeme as impossible to flesh and blood that seed should be raised from Isaac being dead as that a Tree should budde forth when the root is withered yet he knew there was nothing impossible with God and therefore though Isaac were wholly consumed and burnt to nothing yet that God was able even out of his ashes to raise up seed unto him Doct. 3 Now whereas God commands Abraham here to offer his Sonne in holocaustum for a burnt-Offring so that no part of his body may be kept but that it must wholly be consumed and burnt to nothing The Doctrin that might be gathered from hence is this That as God makes tryall of our Obedience in that which of all other is deerest unto us so he requires that we keep nothing thereof unto our selves but
best counsel which he could give them to leave their unjust and unlawfull exactions because this was the vice which was most ordinary among them in regard whereof the Publicans were alwayes had among the Jews in the greatest disgrace of all others And therefore the Pharisees Mat. 9. accused our Saviour unto his Disciples for eating with Publicans Mat. 9.11 Why eates say they your Master with Publicans and sinners as thinking the Publicans to be so vile persons that it was a disgrace for any honest man to be in company with them And our Saviour himselfe Mat. 18. speaking of such a man as having trespassed against his brother and done him wrong and yet will not be wonne by fair means or foule neither by private or publick admonition Let such a man saith he be unto thee as a Publican or Heathen Mat. 18.17 Noting thereby that such a man is incorrigible and his case desperate and therefore that there is no more hope to be conceived of him then there is of a Publican And Matth. 21. reproving the chief Priests and the Elders for their great unbelief and disobedience he tels them That even the Publicans and the harlots should go before them into the Kingdom of God Mat. 21.31 shewing them thereby that there was small hope for them to be admitted into Heaven when the most notorious sinners even Publicans and harlots should take place before them Thus the name of a Publican is a name of disgrace for they seldome ye see appear in the Book of God but they come shackled together with desperate persons somtime with sinners somtime with harlots and somtime again with heathen or infidels But Zacheus here was not onely a Publican but the chiefe among them so that if the Publicans were such notorious sinners then what was he that was the chiefe of the Publicans And therefore the people had so bad an opinion of him that though they saw how earnestly he desired to see Christ for which they might have thought the better of him yet they murmured when our Saviour went into his house because he would lodge with so sinfull a man And yet Zacheus though he be the chiefe of the Publicans and a man reputed to be so wicked yet it is he that is here converted by Christ and brings forth such fruit of his conversion And from hence we may learn two speciall Lessons First To admire Gods infinite power who is able to make us new creatures though we be never so wicked and to restore us again to his own Image It is said of Apelles an excellent painter that having made an exquisite picture it was afterwards by chance so strangely defaced that no man was able to repair the same but only Apelles himselfe that made it And thus man having lost the Image of God wherein God created him God only is able to renue the same and by casting us again as it were into a new mould to make us the Sons of the living God If a man should make any curious work though the matter whereof he made it were either gold or silver yet we would like his workmanship and commend him for it but if he should take the drosse thereof and to shew his cunning should make as exquisite a piece of work as the former then we would have him in admiration But God even of the scum as it were of the people even of those that of all other are the vilest of sinners he makes singular instruments of his own glory and inables them to bring forth excellent fruits by converting them to grace as he did here Zacheus which may teach us to admire his infinite power Secondly Seeing Zacheus is here converted it may teach us neither to judge rashly of others nor to despaire of our selves though we have been never so hainous sinners For who can despair of Gods mercy which extends it self even to those that are Publicans The whole Scripture is written for our instruction and there is not so much as one example in the whole Book of God but a man may make excellent use of it if he will apply it unto himselfe For to what end are there set down in the Scripture so many examples of Gods wonderfull mercies to grievous sinners but that we might learn not to despair of mercy by applying these examples unto our selves When we read of Zacheus here that though he were a Publican and a grievous sinner yet as soon as he had a desire to see Christ and sought for grace Christ called him unto him and offered him grace are we not to make this use hereof that how lewdly soever we have lived herecofore yet if we have a desire to entertain Christ in our hearts he will offer himselfe unto us as he did to Zacheus When we read of the Publican in the former Chapter who being truely humbled with the sight of his sins went into the Temple and prayed unto God O God be mercifull to me a sinner and that he went away justified are we not to make this use thereof that if we will humble our selves and acknowledge our sin God will likewise forgive us as he forgave that Publican In a word vvhen vve read of the young unthrift in the Gospell who though he had left his Father and his Countrey though he had spent his patrimony and that very lewdly yet after that he repented and returned to his Father his Father went out to meet him and when he saw him he was so joyfull for his Sons return that he never expostulated vvhy he had left him he never demanded hovv he had spent his portion but forgetting all his former levvd behaviour he entertained him as gladly as if he had never offended him are vve not to make this use thereof that though we have run riot with the Prodigal and lived never so levvdly yet if vve repent and return unto God he vvill receive us into favour as he did this Prodigall For these things are written for our instruction that we might apply the same to our selves and finde comfort in them It vvas a custome among some of the Heathen that vvhen any man vvas cured of any dangerous disease he vvent into the Temple of Aesculapius and there he registred his name and disease and the means whereby he was restored to his health and the reason of this custome among them was this that if any man fell afterwards into the like disease he might there finde the means which he was to use for his recovery And thus have Gods Secretaries the pen-men of the Scriptures set down in the Book of God many severall examples of such as have been hainous and notorious sinners to the intent that we observing both how they fell and were aftervvards restored finding mercy through their unfeigned repentance might learn by their examples not to despair of mercy And therefore to conclude the first point when soever thou art ready to despair of Gods mercy through the
hainousnesse of thy sins set this example before thine eyes and remember that this Publican though he vvere a grievous sinner yet as soon as ever he sought for grace he found grace and was enabled to perform the works of grace And thus much for the person that gave this gift Zacheus a Publican The second thing which we are to consider is the gift it self or what he gives I give saith he the half of my goods He gives of his own and not of other mens goods and he gives bountifully of his own for though he be rich yet he gives the half of his goods Some are forward enough in giving but they give that which they have no right to give they give not of their own Thus when the Devil tempted our Saviour Mat. 4. he promised to give him all the Kingdoms of the Earth All these saith he Mat. 4.5 will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me here is a large gift but the Earth is the Lords saith the Prophet David and all that is therein and therefore the Devil had no right to give it because it was not his own Some give that which they have unlawfully gotten Thus when Ahab 1 Kings 2â— grew male-content and would eat no meat because he could not get Naboth to part with his Vineyard Jezabell promised him that she would give it him Be of good cheere saith Jezabel unto Ahab I will give thee the Vineyard of Naboth the Jesrcelite 1 Kings 21.7 and then she caused Naboth to be stoned to death and gave Ahab the Vineyard which she had unlawfully gotten Some give of their own and that which they have given lawfully but yet they give sparingly as if they were unwilling to give Thus when the Jewes did sell their possession and brought the money unto the Apostles to be distributed among those that needed Acts 4.35 Ananias and Saphira likewise sold their possessions as the rest did but yet they gave more sparingly then any of the rest for they kept back a part of the price to themselves But we cannot properly be said to give unlesse we give of our own we cannot give of our own unlesse we give that which we have lawfully gotten and though we give of our own and that which we have gotten lawfully yet it is not acceptable in the sight of God unlesse we give liberally For howsoever it be a more blessed thing to give then to take as our Saviour said yet to give that which is none of our own as the Devill did is but a meere delusion to take from one to give to another as Jezabell did is no better then extortion and to give sparingly of our own as Ananias did argues rather covetousnesse and misery in retaining then liberality in giving But Zacheus as ye see here gives of his own I give saith he my Goods he gives of his own which he hath lawfully gotten for look what he had unlawfully gotten from others he restores to the owners in the next words and that with advantage and he gives liberally of that which he hath gotten lawfully for though he be rich yet he gives the half of his Goods How hard a thing it is for a rich man to part with his Goods we see by an example in the former Chapter where there comes a rich man unto our Saviour in the 18. verse having as it seemes a full resolution to do any thing whatsoever for the obtaining of Heaven Good Master saith he what ought I to do that I may inherit eternall life as if he had said Good Master if there be any thing that I ought to do do but teach me what it is and I will do it Oh I will do it whatsoever it is But when Christ wills him to sell all that he had and to give it to the poor and he should have Treasure in Heaven he went away heavy and discontented as thinking he should have made but a hard bargain and therefore rather then he would part with his goods he would part with Christ and the Kingdom of Heaven So that here is a great difference between him and Zacheus He though he was spoken to by our Saviour to give his goods to the poor and that with promise of reward in the Kingdom of Heaven yet he would not do it Zacheus here stayes not till he be spoken unto but gives them a way voluntarily and of his own accord the one shewing what rich men are by nature the other what they are by grace Euripides when he brings in any women in his Tragedies he makes them alwayes bad Sophocles in his Tragedies makes them alwayes good whereof when Sophocles was asked the reason he made this answer Euripedes saith he represents women as they be I represent them as they ought to be And thus the Evangelist in these two Chapters represents before our eyes as it were in two severall Pictures two different examples of rich men shewing us by the one what rich men are by nature covetous and miserable and by the other what they ought to be and what they are by grace franck and bountifull If riches increase saith the Prophet David Psal 62 1â— set not your hearts upon them but this is hard counsell for a naturall man in whom covetousnesse and riches are for the most part inseparable companions covetousnesse being a meanes to encrease a mans riches and riches his covetousnesse There is a Riddle in a Athenaeus of two sisters Athen. Deiâ—nos lib. 10. which mutually and by course brought forth one another which though it be there spoken of the day and the night which bring forth one another by course yet it may as truly be said of riches and covetousnesse For first covetousnes is in labour and brings forth riches then riches wax great and bring forth covetousnesse Hence it is that the more a man hath the more he desires and though he have never so much yet he is not satisfied but as the Israelites when they had store of Manna yet they murmured asmuch as when they had none So though a covetous man have riches in abundance yet he is no better contented then when he was without them And therefore it is that covetous men are said to be miserable miserable both in regard of that which they have not and that which they have that which they have not makes them discontend because they are without it and as for that which they have they are no better for it for though they have whatsoever they want yet they want indeed whatsoever they have because they cannot find in their hearts to use it And such for the most part are rich men so that this makes much for the commendation of Zacheus that though he be rich yet he is not covetous but as God hath given him goods so he imploies them to good uses and as God hath given him bountifully so he gives bountifully to others I give saith he the half
only is to be prayed unto that can hear our praiers he onely can hear them that knows our hearts and understands with what affection we pray unto him But suppose again that Saints and Angels could hear our prayers and did know our hearts and suppose that God had put it to our choise whether we would pray to him or to them have we not more reason to pray to him who is the fountaine of grace then unto them who are but vessels of grace Would they be so propitious as he is unto us Would they be so ready to hear our prayers As he commands us to pray unto him so he promiseth to gives us whatsoever we aske John 16.23 Whatsoever saith our Saviour John 16. ye shall aske the Father in my Name he will give it unto you And because of our selves we know not how to pray nor what to aske he gives us his Spirit to help our infirmitie and to teach us to pray He prepars our hearts as David saith Psal 10.17 and his eare hearkens thereunto And because we are not so ready to ask as he would have us he therfore many times prevents our asking is more ready to grant our requests then we are to make them So he promises Esay 65.24 Antequam clament ego exaudiam Before they call I will answer and while they are yet speaking I will hear So he dealt with David in this 32 Psalme who had no sooner said he would confesse his sinne but God forgave him Nay as he prevents our asking so many times he exceeds our desires and gives us more then we aske of him 1 King 3.13 So he dealt with Solomon when he begged of God that he would give him a wise and understanding heart God gave him both that which he did desire and told him besides I have also given thâ—e that which thou hast not asked both Riches and Honour And can we have greater incouragements then these to pray unto God who is so ready to grant our prayers And so there is great reason why we should pray onely to him And thus much likewise for the Object of prayer I now procced unto the last point The time when the godly shall come unto God by prayer nuncly 〈◊〉 time when he may be found But some man may say why is there time when God may not be found will God at any time absent himselfe and keep himselfe out of the way when men seek after him Indeed Bâ—â—als Priests 1 King 18. They sought and all to besought their God sâ—â—â— morning to noon but could not finde him Cry saith Eluck 〈◊〉 aloud unto your god for it may be he is talking with some body anâ— doth not mark you or it may be he is rid on of town and is in his journey or it may be he is taking a nap and â—â—ust be Wakened before he can hear you Thus the Prophet derided their counterset good but it is not so with the God of Jacob Psal 12â— 4 the Keeper of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps If David seek him David shall finde him nay David and every godly man shall find him whensoever they seek him Paul and Silas cannot pray at mid-night but the will hear them Acts 16.25 Mat. 18.20 Two or three cannot be gathered together in his name but he will be in the midst of them Nay he is so far from not being found that if thou offer thy selfe unto him with the Prodigall he will go forth to meet thee Luke 15.20 Luke 15.4.5 nay though thou be strayed away with the lost sheep he will go after to seek thee and never lin seeking untill he have found thee Why then saith David here In a time when thou mayest be found why is there a time when God may not be found The answer is That there is a time as the very words imply when God may not be found and therefore if we will find God we must come in a time while he may be found The time when God may not be found is two-fold Tempus impossibilitatis and tempus improbabilitatis the time when it is impossible to finde him and the time when it is unlikely to finde him The time when it is impossible to finde him is when this life is ended For after this life there is no time for grace no time for repentence no time for good works Therefore it is that Christ saith John 9.4 I must work the Works of him that sent me while it is day the night comes and then no man can work by day understanding the time of this life and by night death Hie amittitur vita aut reciperatur saith â—â—prian In this life the life to come is either lost or gotten He that defers the seeking thereof till this life be past he knocks with the foolish Virgins when the gates are shut and then it is to late he that seeks not for mercy till after this life he shall find none no not so much as a drop of cold water to coole his tongue For as the tree falls so it lies and as the day of our death doth leave us so shall the day of judgement find us The time when it is unlikely to find God is when he offers us grace and we reject the same when he calls us by his Word and we harden our hearts and when upon presumption of the mercy of God whensoever we repent we deferr our repentance to the end of our lives and so indeed do never truly repent And therefore the Counsell is very good Ecclesiasticus 5.7 Make no tarrying to turn unto the Lord and put it not off from day to day for suddenly shall the wrath of God break forth and in thy security thou shalt be destroyed And as there is a time when God may not be found so there is a time when he may be found this time is likewise twofold either more common and generall or more proper and speciall The common and generall time when God may be found is this whole life time from the beginning of our life till the end thereof And therefore if we must come unto God while he may be found and he may be found this whole life time then we cannot begin to soone to come unto him Therefore Solomon counsells us to remember our Creator in the dayes of our youth that so we may be seasoned with godlinesse and Religion in the beginning of our life The more speciall time when God may be found is when he cals us unto him by the preaching of the word for then he offers his grace unto us and knocks by his Spirit at the doore of our hearts that he may have entrance If we open unto him he will say to our souls here will I dwell for I have a delight herein but if we refuse to give him entrance if we harden our hearts when we hear his voice we know not when whether ever or never he will come againe
we have Pest-houses provided for such as are infected and we have Goales and prisons for theeves and robbers but for such as are a thousand times more mad infectious for such as daly rob God of his glory by profaning his Name without any occasion there is no place of restraint nor punishment appointed And therefore God who is jealous of his honour hath taken the cause into his own hands and threatens that howsoever they that abuse his name do escape before men yet he himselfe will not hold them guiltlesse And thus much for the second condition of an oath that we must swear in judgement And so I come to the last condition Thou shalt swear in righteousnesse I will speak but a word or two of it This condition requires that the matter whereof we take an oath be just and lawfull And hereunto are contrary all wicked oaths vvhich are taken for the performance of any unlawfull actions Such an oath was that vvhich vvas taken by Herod Marke 6. Marke 6.26 Acts 23.21 when for the saving of his oath Iohn the Baptist was beheaded Such an oath was that which vvas taken by the Iews Acts 23. that they would neither eate nor drink still they had killed Saint Paul And such are those oaths which have been taken by the Iesuites for the murdering of Princes and for the concealing of their conspiracy and treason Thus vvhen they vvent about the most horrible treason that ever vvas their Gunpowder-plot the memory vvhereof vvil continue for ever to their perpetuall shame they swore by the blessed Trinity and by the Sacrament vvhich they vvere then to take that they vvould never disclose it A most horrible sinne while they could not be content to be Traytors themselves but God must be made an actor in their treasons his name must help to settle them forward therein Non ad hoc institutum est juramentum ut sit ini juitatis vinculum an oath was not ordain'd to this end that it should be the bond of iniquity much lesse of Treason Such oaths are better broke then kept And therefore David vvith vvhich I vvill conclude when he had sworn in a passion to kill Nabal 1 Sam. 25.32 yet afterward he spared him upon Abigails intercession and blessed God for sending Abigail to intreate for him Juravit David temeré saith St. Augustin August in Ser. de decollat S. Johan Bap. sed non implevit jurationem majore pietate David swore rashly but he performed I not his oath with greater Pietie FINIS The Sixteenth SERMON JONAH 3.1 c. And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time saying Arise go to Nineveh that great City and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh THey that dig into the Mines of the earth for silver or gold or the like mettals they find faith the Philosopher parvum in magno a little in a great deale but little good substance among a great deale of drosse but small store of mettal in a great compasse But they who search into the Mines of the Scripture they finde on the cōtrary magnum in parvo a great deal in a little great store of matter in few words and much excellent treasure in a small compasse This Prophecy of Jonas is very short yet as St. Jerom faith of some the Epistles in the New Testament that they are Breves pariter et longoe both short and long short in words long in substance the same may be said of this Prophecy of Jonas it is short in words but yet very full of excellent matter and among the rest it containes in the compasse of foure short Chapters three memorable examples of the riches of Gods mercy upon heinous sinners The first upon the Marriners The second upon Jonas And the third upon the Ninivites The Mariners and they that were in the ship with them were all of them Idolaters they worshipt feign'd Gods of mens devising but as for the true God that made Heaven and Earth there was not one among them all that either served or knew him Yet God who would as the Apostle faith have all men to be saved 1 Tim. 2.4 and to come to the knowledge of the truth by his providence brought Jonas into the ship among them that he that was then flying from the true God might be a meanes to bring them to the knowledge of him and that they who were in danger by his meanes to perish might by his meanes be kept from perishing The second upon Jonas whose sinnes were more hainous and offensive to God then the sinnes of the Mariners because he was a Prophet and knew Gods will and yet disobeyed it and the Servant that knoweth his Masters will as Christ faith Luke 12.47 and doth it not that Servant shall be beaten with many stripes God Commanded him to go to Nineveh he refused to go and resolved to take ship and to flee to Tarshish God was so offended with him for it that he presently sent a Pursevant after him he pursued him with a tempest and would not suffer the Sea to be quiet till he were cast into it yet such was Gods mercy that when Jonas was cast into the Sea God would not suffer him to perish according to his desert but wrought his preservation after a strange sort by causing him to be devoured that he might not be drowned and making his devourer to bring him safe to Land and so saved his life even then when he was in the very jawes of death The third upon the Ninevites who were so hainous sinners that their wickednesse was come up before God and cried up to Heaven unto God for vengeance and God was so provoked that the sentence was already gone out of his lips that Nineveh should be overthrown after forty dayes yet upon their Repentance and Humiliation God that is infinitely rich in mercy did spare the City and repented of the evil which he had intended against them Nay when Jonas to whom God had been so gracious was offended that God would be so gracious to the Ninevites as to spare them when he had proclaimed their destruction God took upon him the defence of the Ninevites and pleaded for them All these examples plainly verifying that which God faith by the Prophet and confirmes it with an Oath Ezek. 33. As I live Ezek. 33.11 faith the Lord I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live The two former examples of Gods mercy upon the Mariners and Gods mercy upon Jonas are set down before in the two former Chapters and in this Chapter and the next it set down especially Gods mercy upon the Ninevites though the beginning of this Chapter containes his mercy to Jonas For in the words of my Text we may observe these 3 things First Gods gracious renewing of Jonas his Commission when he had so
unto God for the pardon of our sinnes to shew that as vve daily sinne so vve are daily to pray for pardon vvhich ye know vvere in vaine if no man vvere pardoned that sins after Baptisme But God here not onely pardon'd Jonas but set him againe in his former place and renewed his Commission which before he had given him The Word of the Lord came unto Ionas the second time Did God then deale so graciously with Jonas who had so highly offended him Let us therefore first learne by Gods example to deale graciously with those that offend us to pardon their offences and to receive them into favour as God did Jonas It cannot be while we live in this world but that offence will be given us and that we shall have just cause to be offended with others yet that we may not be so offended as to seek to be revenged the Scriputre still mentions Gods pardoning of them that offend him to provoke us thereby to forgive others God speaking as it were by his example unto us and saying as Gideon did to his followers Iudg. 7.17 Judges 7. Looke on me and do ye likewise But we see that God is prone to pardon them that do grievously offend him as here he did Jonas and therefore we must forgive those that offend us This the Apostle requires of us Eph. 4 Forgive one another Ephes 4.32 as God for Christs sake hath forgiven you This Christ requires of us Math. 6. both with a promise that if we forgive others God will forgive us and under a penalty that God will not forgive us if we forgive not others and binding us no otherwise to ask God forgivenesse then upon this condition that we forgive others Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespasse against us Whensoever therefore thou art offended with any and thinkest to be revenged on him that wrongs thee consider the great danger if thou do it consider the great benefit if thou do it not and set GOD as a patterne before thine eyes and remember how he pardons our offences For what canst thou or any one pretend why God should be willing to forgive thee if thou be unwilling to forgive him that offends thee If thou sayest that he that hath offended thee is one that hath many times done thee vvrong that thou hast forborne him a long time and forgiven him often and therefore canst not indure to forbear him any longer seeing he still provokes thee to be revenged on him I would ask thee again and hast not thou more often offended God then any can possibly offend thee Hath not God forborne thee ever since thou wert borne and dost thou not still every day offend him Well therefore may'st thou forgive him that offends thee if God have so often forgiven thee Forgive him that offends thee an hundred pence when God hath forgiven thee ten thousand talents If thou sayest againe But I have been alwayes a friend unto him that hath done me wrong I have shewed him much kindnesse and never deserved but well of him and therefore seeing he requites me evill for good how can I forgive him I would ask thee again But hath not God deserved alwayes far better of thee then thou of him that offends thee Is it not God that gives thee life and health and all things besides Is it not he that gives thee rain from Heaven and fruitfull seasons Acts 14.17 filling thy heart as the Apostle speaks with food and gladnesse Is it not he that continually preserves both thee and thine from a thousand dangers And yet thou notwithstanding dost daily requite him evil for good by sinning against him and therefore if he do thus forgive thee then why shouldst not thou forgive him that offends thee If thou sais t again But if I still pardon and forbear him that wrongs me I cannot but reap discredit thereby because every man will think the more hardly of me I would ask thee again But did ever any man reape discredit by doing that which God commands him And if thou shouldst reape discredit thereby yet were it not better that thou shouldst be discredited then that God should be disobeyed Were it not better that men should think bardly of thee then that God should condemn thee men thingk hardly of thee for suffring wrong then that God should condemn thee for revenging the same And therefore howsoever thou art wrong'd or oftended regard not what others will think of thee but what God commands thee and let his example move thee to forgive others who here forgave Ionas that had so highly offended him and restored him to his Propheticall office Secondly Seeing God dealt so gratiously with Jonas that had so grievously offended him Let it therefore teach us how heinunsly soever we have offended God not to despaire of pardon For Gods merty to others may well be a comfort and incouragement to us Ye know it was an incouragement to King Benhadad and the Syrians to submit themselves to the King of Israel 1 Kings 20. and to hope he would pardon them because they had heard that the Kings of Israel were mercifull Kings We know that God the King of Kings is mercifull and gracious Psa 116.5 Gracious is the Lord and righteous ye our God is mercifull Bis misericordiam posuit saith Ambrose semel Justitiam He saith but once that God is just or righteous but twice in one verse that God is gracious that as his justice might keep us fró sinning so his mercy grace much more might keep us from despairing Therefore to shew that he is gracious and mercifull he commonly bears a long time vvith sinners he doth not punish them so soon as they offend him but doth long forbear them that his forbearance and long-suffering might lead them to repentance He cries to such as go on in their sinnes Prov. i. 22 Prov. 1. Vsque quo simplices How long ye simple ones will ye love simplicity and ye fooles hate knowledge He cries to Jerusalem Mat. 23.37 Mat. 23. Quoties volui How often Would I have gathered thy children together as a her doth gather her brood under her wings and ye would net He was content Luke 13. to expect fruit of the fig-tree the fourth year when he had forborne it three years before He was able to charge them Numb 14 that though they had seen his glory Num. 14.22 Psal 95.10 yet they had provoked him ten times Nay he was able to charge them that forty years long he had been grieved with that generation So gracious is God in forbearing them long that do offend him And as he is long-suffering so he is slow in punishing not inflicting his judgements altogether and at once but by little and little and by degrees Therefore it is said Revel 16. That the Angels powred out the vials of Gods wrath upon the earth Revel 16.1 Now ye know a viall hath a narrow mouth
that which is poured out of it comes but guttatim drop by drop and is long coming out So it is when god punishes his punishments come slowly that even while he is punishing men might be drawn to repentance And if they repent how many soever their sinnes have been hovv hainous soever and hovv long soever they have continued therein he is ready to forgive them You will say indeed if I could repent of my sins I doubt not but God who is so infinitely mercifull would receive me into favour and be reconciled unto me in Christ Iesus but I have so hard a heart that still I go on and continue in sinne and cannot repent I would therefore aske thee But art thou not displeased with the hardnesse of thy heart and doest thou not desire to forsake thy sins and to be reconciled unto God Oh this you vvill say is that which I desire above all things in the World Then knovv for thy comfort that thy state is better then thou supposest and I may say unto thee from Christ as Christ said to the Scribe Mark iâ— 34. Marke 12. Thou art not far from the Kingdom of God For could'st thou be displeased vvith the hardnesse of thy heart if thy heart vvere hardned could'st thou be desirous to forsake thy sinnes if thou vvert not weary of them and could'st thou desire to be reconciled unto God If thou didst not love him for these though thou thinkest thou canst not repent are signes of thy repentance vvhich though it be weake yet he who hath promised that he will not break the bruised reed nor quench the smeaking flax will accept of it and notwithstanding thy sinnes will he gracious unto thee as he was here unto Jonas And so from Gods gracious renewing of Jonas his Commission I proceed to the Charge which God gave Jonas which containes two things First The place which God sends him unto Arise and go to Nineveh that great City Secondly The work which God appoints him to do Preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee The place which God sends him unto is Nineveh The Ninevites were so hainous sinners that their wickednesse as we heard before was come up before God and cried up to Heaven unto God for vengeance yet God would not destroy them before he had sent unto them that before their destruction they might have warning Doct. Here then observe Gods dealing with sinners He commonly first sends to admonish them of their sinnes before he inflicts his judgements upon them God might if he pleased and that without any breach of justice be revenged on the sudden upon the wicked without sending unto them and giving them warning but first he threatens before he punishes to teach them thereby to avoid his judgements Deut. 20.10 God made this Law Dent. 20. That no City should be destroyed before that peace had been offered unto it that before their destruction they might have warning and might imbrace if they would the conditions of peace to prevent their ruine As God will have us to deale in mercy with our enemies so he himselfe likewise deales with sinners First Giving them warning and threatning his judgements before be inflicts them Though God was highly offended with Pharaoh for dealing so cruelly with the Children of Israel yet God would not send his judgements upon him till Moses was sent to fore-tell him of them Though God vvere so offended with the old World for their sins that he purposed to overwhelme it with water and by an universall deluge to destroy all flesh yet he vvould not do it till Noah had forvvarn'd and admonisht them of it And at the end of the World when the World shall be destroyed and consumed by fire Luke 21.25 yet there shall be vvarning of it for there shall be signes in the Sun the Moon and the Starres as our Saviour saith that the very Heavens may become Preachers as it vvere unto us to admonish us to repent by fore-warning us of the end of the World and the day of judgement And here though the Ninevetes vvere so hainous sinners yet he sends unto them that being fore-warned of the danger they were in they might repent and avoid the same Now Nineveh vvhereunto God sends Jonas is here said to be a great City And so it is else-vvhere called in the Scripture Thus Moses speaking of Nineveh Gen. 10. Gen. 10.12 The same saith he is a great City and here in the next verse it is called an exceeding great City of three dayes journey And by that which Histories report of it it seems to have been the greatest City in the World and fevv ever since for largenesse and beauty have been compared to it Indeed if it be true which some vvrite of the City Quinsai in the Kingdom of China it vvas a City far larger then Nineveh as being in compasse a hundred miles but aftervvards it vvas overthrown by an earthquake and another Quinsai built but far lesse being but thirty miles in compasse which is just halfe of that bignesse which Nineveh was For Nineveh was in compasse no lesse then four hundred and fourscore furlongs which make threescore miles The Walls of Nineveh were an hundred foot high and they were of that thicknesse that three Carts might go side-long together upon them and upon the Walls were fifteen hundred Turrets and each of them an hundred foot higher then the Walls The City of Babylon was so great that Aristotle in his Politicks calls it a Countrey rather then a City and vvrites that when it vvas besieged and the enemy had taken one part of it some part of the City did not heare thereof till three dayes after so large was Babylon from the one end to the other Yet Babylon was not so large as Nineveh but lesse in compasse by almost an hundred furlongs Nineveh was many years in building and by no fewer at once then ten thousand work-men and it was so populous that God tells Jonas in the next Chapter the last verse That there were six-score thousand in it that knew not their right hand from their left and therefore if there were so many infants what a multitude were there of all other ages no doubt but many more in that one City then there are now in some Kingdoms But now what must Jonas do vvhen has was come to Nineveh Preach saith God unto it the preaching that I bid thee What this was which he was to preach we see afterwards in the fourth verse namely That Nineveh should be overthrown after forty dayes This God commanded him to preach and gave him his message And from hence we may observe That the Prophets had their direction from God what they were to deliver God put into their mouths what they were to speak and they spake onely that which they were appointed by God 2 Pet. 1.21 So saith Saint Peter That Prophecy came not in old time by the will of man but the