I would not haue any man distrustfully to doubt yet flie from sinne and do morall vertues and that at least shall ease some part of the extremity of those torments which thou shalt haue in hell fire Although thou gaine no ioy by it yet thou shalt escape much euill Thy paine shall be the lesse not because thou hast done well but because thou hast lesse declined from vertue as Austen speaketh making difference betweene Catiline and Fabricius Fabricius shall be lesse punished then Catiline not because he was good but because the other was more bad and Fabricius was lesse vvicked then Catiline was not in that he had true vertues but because he did not as farre as might be stray from true vertues But be it the one or the other take all thy sinnes vpon thy selfe and seeke not to excuse the nocent by accusing the innocent who is free from the smallest blemish In a lesser matter then eternall life or death is it was a fault in our Prophet that he would assume the better and God must haue the worse he will be cleare and the Lord shall be culpable And let this be sayd of his excuse The mercy of God 10 The third note is the reason whereon he groundeth his defence that is the Lords procliuity and propensenesse vnto mercy And here howsoeuer the former matters may trouble vs by a remēbrāce that they may be our own case yet this maketh amends for al that we haue to do with a Lord whose goodnesse is so great whose graciousnesse so plētiful that we need words to vtter it Ionas therein walking right howsoeuer else he tread ill goeth as farre as may be A gracious God and mercifull slow to anger and of great kindnesse and repentest thee of the euill such a one is ready euery way to take pity but commeth to vengeance and fury with heauy and leaden feete Our man doth so well at this that we need not doubt but he had a good schoolemaister to direct him and that is the Lord himselfe who appearing vnto Moses doth cry thus of his maiesty The Lord the Lord strong and mercifull gracious and slow to anger aboundant in goodnesse and truth reseruing mercy for thousands forgiuing iniquity transgression and sinne in which place of Exodus although afterward there follow a little of his iustice which he may not forget yet we see the maine streame runneth concerning mildnesse and kindnesse and compassion That is it wherein the Lord may be sayd to delight ioying to be a Sauiour a deliuerer a preseruer a redeemer a pardoner rather thē to be a Iudge He hath one skale of iustice but the other doth prooue the heauier mercy doth ouerway He who is euer iust is mercifull more then euer if possibly that may be And it seemeth that euery day as his Gospell was growing on so his pity came also forward He who for one transgression thrust the Angels out of heauen and for his first slipping awry turned Adam out of Paradise his fury breaking foorth against both them now in the dayes of grace beareth with vs yeares and yeares from our cradle to our graue after a thousand and a thousand fals of weaknesse and wilfulnesse by word by thought by deed Yea he came to this soone not long after the creation giuing in the dayes of Noe a hundred and twenty yeares of repentance before the floud Our Niniue from the mouth of this present Prophet had forty dayes before it should be destroyed But Hierusalem being growne to the height of all iniquity so that both the seruants and Sonne of God were slaine by them the Sabaoth polluted the Sanctuary profaned yea a horrible sinke of filth being now among them yet was spared fortie yeares before that God sent vp Vespasian and Titus See whether this be not tollerancie which we with amazednesse may admire Indeede when nothing would serue but the member being quite vncurable must needs be cut off by him when their sinne extorted and wrung downe vēgeance he payd them for all together that they who would none of his loue might haue full heapes of his hatred His arme being lift vp the higher did fall so much the heauier the water-course stopped the longer did breake out the more fiercely according to the custome of God who as Bernard sometimes spake By how much the longer he expecteth that we should amend so much the more strictly he will iudge vs if we neglect The Iewes felt this to the full but how slow was he to his anger 11 Christ Iesus who is the image and engrauen forme of his father was not behind hand in this propertie while he liued here vpon earth He taught it by the figge-tree which bearing no fruite was not by and by cut downe but first for one or two yeares it should be dunged and trimmed to see what good would come of it He sustained many ignorances vntowardnesses in the Apostles and yet did not reiect them yea his patience was so great that it shewed it selfe to Iudas No maruell sayth Saint Cyprian that he shewed himselfe patient toward his obedient disciples who could with long suffering endure very Iudas to the last could take his meate in company of his enemie knew a foe to be in his house and did not openly descry him yea refused not the kisse of a traytour He might rightly be called a lambe yea that innocent Lambe of God by an excellency aboue all other who could see such a one and suffer him so often and so neare him and scant say a word against him This did no good on Iudas but as the same Cyprian obserueth the like tollerance was effectuall to saluation in other men If those who did shed the bloud of Christ had bene taken presently after they had perished euerlastingly but God so graciously disposed for their good that they were pricked in their hearts and so brought home to the sheepfold of enemies being now made friends Which made that father say He who shed the bloud of Christ vvas quickened by the bloud of Christ such and so great vvas Christs patience vvhich if it had not bene such and so great the Church should not haue had Saint Paule for an Apostle Thus the holy and blessed Trinity dealeth with men in this present age in great mercy after yeares and twenty yeares before they come to the graue respecting such as haue bene men audacious and impudent in vngodlinesse such as haue bene superstitious and Popish euen vnto idolatry such as in a conceited fancie were so fastened to Antichrist that to lose their liues for the beast they thought to be to do God good seruice Those persons who had lyen fried in hell as fire-brands to be burnt remedilesse and euerlastingly if they had departed in that mind to the graue the place where is no redemption by compassion from the mightie one whose bowels are made of mercy are
a maister where is my feare If Ionas were now his seruant it was but in name onely he did in truth litle regard his maister At this time then he hath much more occasion to stand in awe of his punishment and in that sence he might well say that he feared the God of heauen He who looketh on the next Chapter shall see this to be most likely 15 The horrour of sinne is such euen in the hearts of the best of Gods children that if faith do sleepe but a little and the resolued assurance of mercy in the Sauiour be eclipsed but for a moment it maketh their soules to tremble in such sort as if diffidence and despaire should swallow them vp by and by How was Dauid dismaied when he cried out Cast me not away from thy presence and take not thine holy Spirit from me What did Iob imagine of his owne desert when he thus professed I abhorre my selfe and repent in dust and ashes In what an horrible anguish was Peter when he went out and wept bitterly But our Prophet of all other fearing the dreadfull burthen of sinne vpon his shoulders and gessing at the strange punishment which should follow him immediatly with some measure of seruile feare doth tremble at his Lord. His feare should haue bene before that he had not runne wilfully into sinne for as it is noted in one of those Epistles which are in the workes of Ambrose although not thought to be his It is one thing to feare because thou hast offended another thing to feare least that thou shouldest offend In the one is a dread of punishment in the other is a carefulnesse that thou mayst obtaine the reward Saint Austen doth describe this slauish quaking feare in one and childes feare in another as the schoolemen do call it by a comparison drawne from a good wife and a harlot The adulterous wife and the chast wife sayth he do both feare if the husband be away The one feareth and the other but aske the reason of both and you shall see an apparant difference The bad vvife standeth in feare of her husband least he should come to her The good vvife is in feare least her husband should go from her This feareth least he should condemne her because she hath deserued it That feareth least he should forsake her because she loueth him dearely Remember these things sayth Austen and so thou shalt find a bad feare whom charity driueth foorth and another chast feare vvhich abideth for euer and euer 16 Ionas who was accustomed in his cogitations of God to ioyne a loue with his reuerence as toward a father now thinketh on him no otherwise then as of a Lord ready to take strong vengeance vpon him as on a prisoner deputed to death This is the best fruite of vngratefulnesse and of negligence in our duties to come as vnto a iudge astonished and amased and trembling to see his face or almost to remember his name whereas we might come as to a father or as to a brother with confidence and boldnesse as to the throne of grace Fye filthy sinne that for thy sake we should thus disable our selues we should so disgrace our soules that when we might liue euen in this world with a dayly deaw of sweete influence distilling vpon our hearts from the holy Spirit of God to reuiue vs and refresh vs and whereas Paradise could not yeeld greater comfort to our eye then the presence of the Trinitie dwelling supping with vs would do vnto our minds and wheras we might dye in rest as hauing that ioy of consciēce that perfect peace of God which passeth all vnderstanding resigning vp with gladnesse our spirites vnto our maker yea that whereas either liuing or dying we may rest our selues on that rocke that euermore we are the Lordes belonging to his election and sealed vp with his adoption to that end that we may enioy sinne for a season and the wantonnesse of this flesh the vanities of this earth and the foolerie of this world which are scant worth the naming to a man that hath heard of wisedome which leaue vs and liue not with vs we should plunge our selues into that horrour which wayteth vpon the reprobates and be perplexed in our thoughtes in our vnderstanding dazeled discouraged in our life discomforted in our end thinking of hell and iudgement and wrath and fearefull vengeance which maketh men liue in miserie with sobs and many a sigh and dye without hope of mercie Let vs raise vp our selues at length and with sober meditation contemplate vpon this matter Let our soule be dearer to vs euen that soule which Christ hath bought with his bloud with his precious heart bloud then sinne with his tayle of a scorpion who departeth not without stinging Better to loue God as Ionas should then to quake at God as Ionas did The God of heauen who made the sea and the drie land 17 But here I must not forget the last wordes of my text because they yeeld a speciall doctrine most fit for these present times In this speech Ionas doth entitle his maister to all the world he is first the God of the heauen and then he did create the sea and the drie land Heauen oftentimes by a generall name containeth all things aboue vs be they elements or be they other bodies so then God did make this whole frame The heauen is as his seate the earth he made from which the sea he made to which the Prophet did here flie Be it wet or be it dry be it passable be it nauigable be it aboue or below this maker did create it So Nehemiah witnesseth Thou art Lord alone thou hast made heauē and the heauen of all heauens with all their host the earth and all things that are therein the seas and all that are in them and thou preseruest them all and the host of the heauen vvorshippeth thee So Iob speaketh so Dauid testifieth So the Articles of our faith do teach vs to beleeue on the maker of heauen and earth Whereby it is plaine that he doth renounce the groundes of Christianitie who doth deny this doctrine Yet the world hath hatched such monsters euen of the seed of Christiās as who make no bones therof But young ones abash not at it nor abash not at it old ones for it is no more thē we looke for S. Peter long ago foretold it that in the last dayes there should come such deriders as should laugh at the speech of Christes coming and at the day of iudgement maintaining that there shall be an eternall continuance of all things in such sort as now they are Where is the promise of his coming for since the fathers dyed all things continue alike from the beginning of the creation These will not beleeue that euer the heauen earth were not but they receiue it that they haue stood from all eternitie and shall so continue They see
6 My next obseruation in this generall compasse is that Ionas is here described to haue sinned once againe This plentifully appeareth in the first Chapter so it doth in this last chapter by the reproofe of God himselfe vsed toward him and the words of my text do necessarily include it for to be grieued at the Lords will and to be angry at his workes is a very high transgression And so much the higher because it is in a Prophet a sanctified seruant sequestred for Gods businesse and attendance on himselfe more enlightened then ordinarie and better acquainted with diuine mysteries then other men Then from this man it is euident as well as from Dauid from Salomon from Iosiah from Hezechiah from Peter that the greatest in this life fall and fall to the ground There is no man that sinneth not The iust man doth fall seauen times and ariseth againe In many things vve sinne all sayth the Apostle Saint Iames. And Saint Iohn doth second it If vve say we haue no sinne vve deceiue our selues and there is no truth in vs. Ionas being once freed and deliuered from his sinne by the mercy of the Lord which purged him by a suffering is a second time in and yet remaineth Gods seruant and a member of the Church cleane contrary to that heresie which the Nouatians held who denying repentance to sinnes after Baptisme and secluding offendours from acceptance into the congregatiō among the faithful much impeached Gods mercy and layd an intollerable burthen vpon mens consciences Why should the seruant be hard where the maister is easie and gentle Where the wise owner is well pleased why is the steward straight When he whom it most concerneth hath proclaimed by his Prophet that if a sinner repent be it once or be it often from the bottome of his hart God will put away his sins quite out of his remembrance Indeed from the falles of the old Patriarkes we should not learne to aduenture vpon iniquities with greedinesse and boldnesse lest presuming we come short of that which was granted vnto them For if we will prouoke God in hope of that which in likelyhood will neuer be giuen to vs because we would so prouoke him who can tell whether the Lord will turne and repent and abate his furie The end wherefore the examples of fals in the greatest men are proposed to our reading is not to incourage vs to ill for that were to abuse the kindnesse of God and out of a good flowre to sucke deadly poyson Yet it is a thing too common for Libertines and carnall men so to apply good to euill Many vvill fall with Dauid sayth Saint Austen and will not arise vvith Dauid There is not proposed to thee any example of falling but of arising when thou art fallen Take heed thou do not fall Let not the slip of the greater be the delight of the lesser but let the fall of the greater be a trembling to the lesser What he there sayth of Dauid may most fitly be applied to the rest of the Patriarkes and other Prophets that by any thing of theirs we must not be intised to disobedience 7 Saint Chrysostome taketh occasion by Dauid of whom Austen also spake to draw a threefold benefit from the example of his transgression which I thinke not amisse to be mentioned in this place Dauid sayth he for three reasons vvas suffered to go astray First that he might make the righteous man to looke more earnestly to his way He perhaps sayth to himselfe I am a religious man I am famous for many merites now I haue done those things which appertaine to the garland Deceiue not thy selfe sayth he thou hast done no more then Dauid His meaning is that if such captaines and leaders in the faith so gracious with the Highest so acceptable in Gods sight yet by humane infirmities haue fallen and fallen notoriously then no man shold be proud none senslesly secure no man confidently foolish because his turne may be next He should set a watch before his heart and a hatch before his lips that nothing may enter thither nothing may come out thence which is not weighed and ballanced And that this is one of the causes why the ouersights of the best are made knowne in the Scriptures Saint Austen also consenteth The sinnes of great men are vvritten to this purpose that the saying of the Apostle may euery vvhere be trembled at vvhere he sayth Let him that standeth take heede lest he fall The second reason in Saint Chrysostome is that it might appeare that Christ Iesus alone in mans body vvas pure from all offence For if the holiest creatures and most sanctified sonnes of women men vpright and fearing God men after the Lords owne heart the best men of famous memory yet bore about them a body which was heauy to the soule and were shamefully ouertaken with crimes which their inferiours knew to be enormous then the single prerogatiue and that priuiledge of innocency and vnspottednesse which is not to be communicated to any of Adams children appeareth to belong onely to Christ. He alone could say to the Iewes Which of you can rebuke me of sinne But all other haue this sinne on them although it raigne not in them The iust man must confesse that of Hierome to be very true that while vve dwell here in the tabernacle of this body and are compassed with fraile and brittle flesh we may moderate our affections and rule our perturbations but cut them off we cannot we cannot roote them out Then all arrogant merite-mongers may boast themselues while they will of meriting of saluation and Pelagius he may vaunt that he can keepe the law but we account those speeches to be cursed and hereticall and derogatory from the eminency of Christ. We say to thē as Orosius sometimes wrote to that heretike Pelagius Thou sayest that it is possible that a man should be without sin I repeate it againe oftentimes the mā which can do this is Christ the Son of God Either take that name vnto thee or lay aside thy boldnesse God hath giuen that but to one and that is he which is chiefe and first borne among many brethren Then other yea the Virgin Mary her selfe must renounce themselues and all their possibility and admire the vnspotted beauty of Iesus our Redeemer 8 The third reason in Chrysostome is a matter of more comfort The faults of others are vvritten that sinners may the lesse despaire of their owne errours but if any one haue offended let him daily confesse his sinnes yea if he haue sinned a thousand times yet let him go forward to confesse a thousand times Forthere is nothing vvorse then distrust or despaire This sentence of turning againe a thousand times to God was it whereof Socrates speaketh that Chrysostome did dare to teach this in that time which was so filled with the Nouatian heretikes And this
out of the place knowledge was brought vnto him that the Lord would spare Niniue then the reason wherefore he departed is otherwise and that was for his owne safety For if desolation were now to come vpon them and as reprobate cast-awayes or impenitent sinners they were to smart home the Prophet had great cause to hasten him from among them lest remaining with them he might with them be striken Nature it selfe had taught him to flye from that which he threatned as a plague to others He is in vaine wise who is not wise to himselfe And it is true of a Prophet as well as of a Sophister Odi Sophistam and Odi Prophetam qui sibi non sapit I like not that Sophister nor I like not that Prophet who is not wise for his owne good But Gods owne direction might make him wary therein who when he meant to destroy Sodome and Gomorrha he sent two Angels to Lot both to warne him and to hasten him from the daunger there to follow And when he was disposed to make Corah Dathan and Abiron a fearefull example to all succeeding ages he made Moses cry to all that were neare him Depart from the tents of these wicked men and touch nothing of theirs lest you perish in all their sinnes Ionas might learne by these And Christians vnlesse they will tempt God by presuming of his mercy or of their owne merite are bound to depart from all such places where they know that deseruedly the rod of the Lord doth hang ouer If it come once to that passe that the sinnes of whorish Babylon be gone vp into heauen God remember her iniquities we must take it as spoken to vs Go out of her my people lest you be partakers of her sinnes and that you receiue not of her plagues Yea we should so much feare to be ouertaken with the sinnes and sufferings of men infamously wicked that when we haue no speciall warrant nor any reuelation but Gods generall iustice that punishments will follow yet we should by all meanes decline them It was Saint Iohns case who comming into the Bathe where he found the Arch-hereticke Cerinthus washing he went hastily out and called to his company Let vs flye away with speed lest the bathing house do fall vpon vs. It were much to be wished that as he did by the hereticke so all who loue religion or ciuility or honesty would do by noted sinners that if they come in place where drunkards or swearers be or ruffianly companions whom onely filthinesse of speech or disguised haire or other swaggering behauiour full of rudenesse Thraso-like doth commend shall I say or much rather doth condemne they would secretly slip away or flye backe as as a man who hath trod vpō a serpent For if plagues do waite on sin as vndoubtedly they do why may not God strike suddenly betweene cups and crowzings as almost befell to Balthasar Why may he not turne the weapons of one against another like the Centaures and the Lapithes And what assurance is there that he who is with the wicked wilfully and amidst their follies should not suffer with the wicked It is good to feare the worst and to auoide the occasion of plucking any euill on vs although God do not say before that there and then he will strike 5 But it is manifest that destruction is to come to Niniue therefore Ionas were very vnwise if he would not get him packing if so be that yet he had not intelligence that the Lord would spare the place And withall it is likely that Gods spirit did suggest that to be done of the Prophet Wherein the scope at which the Lord did ayme might be double First to sauegard his seruant that the iust with the vniust the Israelite with the Niniuite might not be ouerthrowne For oftentimes the Lord disposeth so as that Ahab alone shall dye and Iehosaphat shall escape But at the siege of Hierusalem when it was taken by Titus this manifestly appeared For when the rest of the city most miserably dyed by the sword and grieuous famine and hauocke was made of all things both within and without the Disciples of the Apostles that little faithfull flocke being forewarned by an Angell had gotten themselues to Pella a city not farre off where they remained in safety Another cause why the Lord might make Ionas remooue might be the more to fright and terrifie that people for if he had stayed there still they foorthwith would haue gathered that it had bene but a bugge for why should he who brought the newes of euill to other expect the extremity of the euill with the other But now when he departed and left them all to the vengeance they might iustly suppose that some sore thing was following Then if they grieued not before yet they might begin vpon this occasion if they did repent before they might proceed more earnestly to continue it and increase it So mercifull is the Lord toward those whom he will saue that one thing or another shall be represented to them yea peraduenture diuerse matters this heard another seene a third supposed or imagined all which shall quicken on vnto grace As those whom in his purpose he hath designed to euill shall haue all things to the worst as all the miracles were to Pharao they shall either haue their sight blinded that seeing they shall not see or they shall haue eares not heare so where the Lord hath cōpassiō that he may shew himself admirable in his mercies many matters shallioyne to helpe forward as affliction̄ sicknes pouerty reading good coūsell threatnings hope feare a thousand other things If the Niniuites shal be called they shal not only heare the Prophet preach the word but they shall behold his example of going out of the city more liuely to auoide that by repentance which they see another flie from by wisdome And this be spoken of his departure He sate on the East side of the city 6 Being come out of the city he sitteth him downe not farre off against the East of the city as Hierome doth translate it or on the East of the city as other more plainely haue it which place why of all other he chose for his abode may be very well worth the doubting At first I was of opinion that some of the Popish writers might make this as a figure of some thing in the Church for so farre sometimes do they straine The matter which I minded most was that his sitting vpon the East side might foreshew the manner of the Christians seruice which was accustomed to be toward the East as Gregory Nazianzene writeth and Saint Austen also who tooke on him to giue a reason for it and Iustine Martyr in his Questions where he yeeldeth another reason Now if I had found this then had I spoken somewhat largely concerning that custome of praying toward the East with some consequents of it
Gods permission haue sometimes a finger in them 10. How the sinne of one bringeth punishment vpon manie 13. Bad companie is to be auoided 14. The description of the tempest 16. Life is dearer then goods 18. Affliction driueth to deuotion IONAH 1.4.5 But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea and there vvas a mighty tempest in the sea so that the ship was like to be broken Then the mariners were afrayd and cried euery man vnto his God and cast the wares that were in the ship into the sea to lighten it of them OVr Prophet as a man who would verie gladly be rid of his maister hath gotten him to the sea the land cannot hold him but his maister not so willing to part with his seruant sendeth such a message after him as will bring him back againe or make him do farre worse He would not haue his messenger run so to his owne ruine and lie obdurate in his sinne he wold not haue his purpose of preaching at Niniue be vtterly relinquished but rather because it hath so long bin deferred he by whom the stay hath bin made shall heare of it with a witnesse Here followeth such a tempest to bid him welcome to the sea that if such should be common it needed not be noted to be the speech of a wise man that he wondred that anie one wold come twise at the sea hauing seene the perill of it wold come at it againe for euerie wise man wold so say The wind doth now so blow the waues do so beate the sea doth so worke the ship is so endangered the sea-men are so afraid Ionas so by a lot is singled out to death that drowning was the least that could befall vnto him We neede make no doubt but all this was done for Ionas his sake For the question is here true which a Prophet elsewhere asketh Was the Lord angry against the riuers or was thine anger against the flouds or was thy vvrath against the sea No it was against the sinne of Ionas that all this came as vengeance and that God so sent his messengers of wrath and of displeasure 2 He desireth that his Prophet should be warned for all the dayes that he was to liue in the world to play no more such parts for what end should the next haue if he sped so ill with this And he would haue other men to take example by him that they run not no not with his owne seruants to grosse notorious crimes least they smart for it with his seruants For if the greene wood so burne what shall become of the drie if a leader do such penance what shall a common man if a Prophet do so pay for it how shall a meane bodie escape By this example the presumptuous heart of such is broken as when they haue sinned wilfully in steed of asking pardon by confession and repentance can sooth themselues in their follies saying that the best men haue offended and whie should it be strange for them to go astray since Gods Saints haue done worse Not onely Ionas here forsaketh his vocation but Noe offendeth in drunkennesse and Lot in worse euen in incest and Dauid in adulterie and Salomon that wise king in marying manie infidels The grosse falles of all which men are not proposed vnto vs in the holy booke of God to incourage vs to transgression for that were a Spiders propertie to sucke such poison from them but rather as S. Austen teacheth vs to put vs in minde of that warning of the Apostle that he who standeth should take heed least he fall to humble vs to obedience not to puffe vs vp to pride But withall if they could remember that although the Lord did couer the infirmities of his children with the skirts of his Sonnes mercie least they should finally perish yet to shew how he hateth sinne euen in the best of his people he sendeth them in this world whipping with temporall rods enough they may verie well find that there is small reason why they should be in loue with the bargaine For was there not a Cham to deride his father so farre to moue the patience of that righteous preacher Noe as in bitternesse to curse him Was there not an Absolon readie so with all kind of contumelie to scourge offending Dauid as to abuse his fathers concubines and to seeke his fathers life Here was a Hadad and there a Rezon and a Ieroboam in the third place to vexe wife-doting Salomon that he could not rest in his old age and afterward his sonne Roboam did lose ten tribes of twelue 3 And as for the Prophet here he bestoweth on himselfe a whole Chapter to shew the fruite of his fall that other might forbeare to offend by the example of that grieuous punishmēt which he sustained If he had bene as nimble to haue excused his fault as these be in our dayes he might haue made some Apologie for himselfe or at least haue concealed his penance which befel him that when no man had bene frighted by his case other might haue walked in his steps and the commonnesse of the fault might haue excused the crime For when multitudes do as we do we thinke that they do ease our burthen as the Emperour Valentinian imagined if Socrates report truth of him when hauing one wife of his owne called Seuera whom he was vnwilling to leaue he was in loue also with another virgin called Iustina and he maried her too And least this fault should seeme most grosse if he alone were noted for so scandalous behauiour by a law of purpose made he giueth leaue to all that would to marrie two wiues a peece thinking that when manie transgressed he should be more free from blame Our Ionas is so charitable as to take another course not to induce men to the like by himselfe but to terrifie them much rather by recording how he sped To fall because the Patriarkes and Prophets haue oft fallen is as much as willingly to tast of poyson because Socrates once drunke poyson which were but a foolish triall His poyson was his death And so had sinne bene death to the holiest if God had not giuen repentaunce to expell the force of iniquitie But what man is he who can promise to himselfe repentaunce or rising when he is fallen Manie hope for it but few haue it manie speake of it but few vse it which maketh that worthie saying of S. Austen to be true Manie will fall vvith Dauid but they will not arise with Dauid No example of falling is in him proposed to thee but of rising if thou haue fallen Take heed thou go not downe Let not the slip of the greater be the delight of the lesser but let the fall of the greater be the trembling of the lesser Thus that holie father speaketh If the greatest fall thou mayest fall therefore do not presume but if the greatest be
disease shew the remedie how to cure it A little before he hath this also That great was he who fled but greater was he that followed They dare not deliuer him they know not how to conceale him So there is as it seemeth a great wrastling in the minds of these poore men what they should do or should not do They now know that he was a Prophet a man reuerend in his calling and therefore they were loath to lay any violent hands vpon him They would rather suppose that he who was so contrite and had made such an acknowledgement of the fault which he committed would proceede to let them know the meanes to escape from drowning 14 Many gracelesse ones in our dayes would haue taken another course A runne-away so pursued a fugitiue so made after we will soone ease our selues of the feare we will quickely free our shippe from the daunger what should so vile a person be roosting in our vessell Perhaps without many wordes he might haue gone ouer boord he might haue diued vnder water they would neuer haue stood to aske what they should do vnto him So much doth the inciuilitie and barbarous behauiour of our age passe the manners of rude men in old time But they had a good remembrancer to keepe them in moderation euen their reuerence vnto God whose hand they did find vpon them as knocking at the doore On the one side how could they tell least by sufferance and impunitie toward Ionas they should incurre the displeasure of the Almightie And on the other side how could they tell least in punishing and taking away his life the reward which belonged to murtherers might be layd vpon them Ionas for his refusing to go to preach at Niniue was chased with wrath from heauen Then what vengeance might befall them in a greater fault as in crueltie and in shedding of his bloud who neuer had offended them Thus they feare to spill his life although they see shew of very fit occasion They aske aduise of him The maine note from this place is the care which men should haue to destroy the life of none that they should be auerse from bloud which because it is the full subiect of those verses which follow next after my text I do deferre it thither And so I come to the aunswere of Ionas which is my second part And he sayd vnto them Take me and cast me into the sea c. 15 It seemeth that the Prophet is now as farre in his penaunce as possibly he can go He knew that he had sinned and Gods wrath must be satisfied with some temporall punishment and therefore he yeeldeth himselfe with patience to the very death Better drowne then dye eternally better loose his life here then loose his life elsewhere He is therefore content to sustaine the vttermost extremitie He knew that God was glorifyed in the execution of iustice as well as in mercie A lesson which Iosuah did once teach Achan when he willed him to confesse and giue God the glorie and by a consequent endure his death with patience An instruction which we can neuer too much teach to prisoners and such as are to suffer by iugdement of law that they should beare with mildnesse and quietnesse of behauiour that which they wilfully haue deserued The conscience of their sinne the astonishment at their iudgement the feare of violent death the shame of such a suffering is inough to amaze their thoughtes and ouerwhelme resolution Whereas on the other side the putting of them in remembrance that at one time or another they must be content to dy and the vrging that God doth lay such temporall punishments vpon malefactors for the sauing of their soules the recounting of that benefite which ariseth from Christs passion to wit a pleading before his father to get pardon for all that be repentaunt doth settle the disquieted and affrighted mind right well I would to God that our English were as backeward to transgresse as in this case they are forward to satisfie euen with their liues the extremitie of the lawe and that in a peaceable resolued sort I impute it to nothing but to the ordinarie passage of the word of God among vs which is euerie way able to quiet and settle the penitent sinners heart Other nations do admire it in our men as the Italians most of all and the French as we may see it obserued in the defence of Henry Stephanus for Herodotus It sheweth a right firme constancie and sure hope in Christ Iesus And as those two brought the theefe which dyed with Christ into Paradise so no doubt but that many with vs go by execution into heauen who if they were not recalled by violence and by lawe would prooue firebrands of hell 16 I remember the patience of our countrey-men by the quietnesse of Ionas here who alone desireth to dye because he alone had offended in the sinne which now is in question He would not that other innocent men should perish by his means This is the course of Gods children to haue remorse vpon other and not to intangle them in their plagues It is I saith Dauid that haue offended not these sheepe alas what haue they done But contrariwise the reprobate if destruction must befall them would haue all other to take part in that their iudgement that themselues might not be singular They would haue company to hell If they needes must from hence they care not if all the world come to ruine together with their fall They earnestly desire that other men should be partakers of their smart The name of Herode the great is very odious in this respect who layd a plot that when he dyed many other might dye with him And gaue expresse commaundement that one of euery noble family in his kingdome should be slaine that by that meanes his death might of necessitie be lamented if not for loue of him which the tyrant had no reason to expect yet for the losse of others Such are the vnnaturall passions of cruell and bloudie miscreants But the blessed sons of God be of another spirit they would rather purchase peace to others by their losses then hurt others by their errours Ionas would dye alone because he alone had offended 17 Here now is it worth the discoursing why the Prophet in this manner should vrge and hasten himselfe to death Was it as Arias Montanus thinketh because yet he is so obstinate that in no case he will to Niniue but rather dye in a frowardnesse then teach them who afterward should worke harme to his people No his confession before handled doth keepe me from that opinion I hold him now very carefull to commit no farther sinne He feeleth the weight of the former inough too much on him Is it then for a fretting indignation which he beareth vnto himself or for hatred of his life because his consciēce did now pricke him as the conscience of
answer these things first disclaimeth them from being Martyrs They who liue not the liues of Christians cannot dye the death of Martyrs And he also vseth that maxime of Cyprian Not the punishment but the cause doth make the Martyr Secondly he sheweth out of the Scripture that a man in no case should kill himselfe Thirdly he doth so handle the example of this Razias that he maketh it to be no warrant to attempt any such like deede Heare his reasons 24 First the Iewes do giue no credit vnto the bookes of the Machabees they expugne them out of their Canon Thus Austen himselfe can say who for want of the Hebrew toung is sometimes more then an ordinarie friend to the Apocriphall Scripture Secondly the authour there giueth such testimonie to that deede as is not sufficient to allow it for currant He vvas a louer of the Citie and a man of good report and therefore was commonly called a father of the Ievves But heathen men saith Saint Austen haue gone as farre as this He offered to spend his bodie for the Religion of the Ievves So vvould other saith Saint Austen who had a zeale as Saint Paule speaketh but not according to knowledge Such men as vvere earnest holders of the traditions of the Ievves but did not accept the Messias He desired that his bovvels might be restored in the resurrection But that shall be common to the vvicked as vvell as to the iust He dyed noblie saith the authour but better saith Saint Austen if it had bene reported that he dyed humblie He dyed manfully sayth the authour and I do not say quoth Saint Austen that he did dye vvomanly Thus he scanneth all the wordes of that narration Thirdly he addeth If he had done vvell he should haue done like the seuen brethren of vvhom vve reade in that booke He should not haue thrust himselfe vpon death but whatsoeuer had bene imposed by the persecuting tyrant he should haue endured that vvith patience and humilitie Wherefore since he could not suffer his humbling amongst his enemies he shewed himselfe an example not of wisedome but of folly not to be imitated of Christs martyrs but of Donatist circumcellions This is the round and apparant christian iudgement of that most learned Father He doth aunswere the place of Samson as anon I shall shew vnto you For he also killed himselfe In the meane time I may with him lay downe this generall doctrine that none should spill the bloud or destroy the life of himselfe for any cause whatsoeuer because that is a deed most vnchristian most damnable and most wicked 25 I cannot deny but Gods mercie wherein he is exceedingly rich doth sometimes shew it selfe in the very pangs of death That betweene the bridge and the water betweene the knife and the dying betweene the rocke and the ground repentaunce may be suggested to the heart in a moment or twinckling of an eye but especially where poyson being taken doth not kill vpon the sudden or where death doth not follow presently there may be some remembrance Notwithstanding who is he that dareth to presume vpon such mercy God is louing but he is iust he is kind but he is dreadfull he liketh not to be tempted It were folly to breake thy necke to trie the skill of a bone-setter to trie the wil of a surgeon It is monstrous in Diuinity to preasse vpon such iniquitie with hope of that wherein thou hast such threatnings to the contrary God would haue vs to lay downe our liues if need be for his sake if a tyrant will take them frō vs but we must not leape out of thē for any thing of our owne Nay we should be so carefull that we shold not rashly hazard them or bring them into perill In forbidding sinne God vseth to forbid all the inducements which leade vnto that sinne I would that such could remember this who think that they are not men vnlesse they make a braule or enter into a combat for euery fond word or speech By that meanes they prouoke the Lord and if they happen to be slaine they are accessaries to their owne deaths That which S. Bernard speaketh of iniust warre is not vnfit to be rehearsed in this place If in thy fighting thou haue a mind to kill another man and then art slayne thy selfe thou dyest a murtherer if thou preuaile and kill the other then thou liuest a murtherer But whether thou liue or dye be a conquerour or conquered it is not good to be a murtherer Theodoret doth commend the good minde of Honorius sometimes Emperour of Rome because he tooke quite away out of that Citie the fightes of the Gladiatores or sword-players in Rome wherein to shew sport to other men and make triall of their manhood oftentimes they killed one another I pursue this matter no further but onely adde this that howsoeuer an opinion hath preuailed to the cōtrarie true manhood is not in quarrelling and brabling for priuate iniuries but in maintenance of Gods honor in preseruing thy alleageance to thy Prince in safegarding of thy countrey in defending thy selfe from theeues and such other iust occasions 26 I forget not my Ionas here from whom as the originall this question of doing violence to our selues did arise Neither do I forget Samson whome I reserued to this place because there is some similitude betweene him and our Prophet In that place which I named before Saint Austen briefly but yet notably doth determine this deede of Samson When he plucked downe the house on himselfe he slue himselfe and his enemies But the reason of it was that since he could not escape because they meant to slay him he would destroy them also with him euen the Princes of the Philistines Neither did he this of himselfe marke the words of the learned father but by direction of Gods spirite vvhich vsed him to do that which otherwise without the strength of that spirit he could neuer haue bene able to do that was plucke downe the house The commaundement of that spirite made this deede to be lawfull as the offering vp of Isaac was a lawfull deede in Abraham That vvhich had bene nothing else but madnesse if God had not commaunded it when God did bid it was obedience So he holdeth this a particular deede precisely cōmaunded to him which we may imitate by no meanes because we haue no such warrant But Hierome in his Cōmentarie on the sixe and fortieth of Ezechiel doth go a little farther saying that Samson in that deede was a figure of Iesus Christ. As Samson slue more at his death then he did in all his life time so Christ although while he liued he gaue many a wound to Satan by his miracles and his doctrine yet it was his death and his suffering that broke the backe of hell and the verie heart of Satan These matters may in good sort be applyed to our Prophet He was assured
then euer Ionas did because his word was wrath but theirs is reconcilement in the bloud of Christ our Sauiour I find a very great difference I speake it with some grief euen for the Gospels sake which by this meanes is reproched I find a very great difference For in the countries abroad it is a matter not straunge that painefull and carefull pastours who labour in the word and doctrine and therefore by the testimony of Saint Paule are worthy of double honour who studie to frame themselues to the rule of the Apostle to shew themselues examples of patience of long suffering of mildnesse of sound doctrine of industrie in Gods businesse are vilefied and conteinned are slâ—â—ndered and reproched being made as the filth of the world the of scouring of all things Whereof there needeth no farther witnesse then the libellings which in some places haue bene made against the Preachers for rebuking of sinne the rimes and meeters which elsewhere haue bene song and resounded out the manifold cauillations and false exceptions taken to that which they teach yea sometimes reports most constantly auouched of this or that point of doctrine deliuered openly which is both absurd and monstrous These things partly arise by ignorance want of iudgement in discerning causes aright but the truest and most ordinary cause is the lacke of zeale to God and of charity toward man and of dutifull regard to those who should not be wilfully grieued but esteemed as such who waite for mens soules and must giue an account which they would be glad to do with ioy Hereunto may be ioyned the pulling and renting away of the maintenance of the minister that whereas Ethnicke people yea and our forefathers too in the dayes of superstition did thinke that they could neuer be too prodigall in heaping much of their substance on those who were no better then blind guides now cleane contrarie he is held the most wise and prudent man who either by cunning deuise can steale something secretly from the portion of the Leuite or with strong hand will maintaine his open and grosse oppression 6 And if the iniuried person taking knowledge of the wrong which is smartingly done vnto him seeme but to thinke how he may procure due satisfaction although it be by intreaty his actions are straight pryed into his fame is called in question he is generally reproched for a hard man and a couetous for a peace-breaker and contentious Now see whether this be the regardfull cariage which should for his maisters sake be borne to him who standeth betweene God and the people whose handes do reach foorth that sacrament which is the representation not only of the Communion of the Saints each with other but of the vnion also of them with Christ their head For the office which he beareth for the message which he bringeth let him haue that immunity that if thou wilt not honour him and regard him as thou oughtest yet do no ill vnto him nay say to him nothing euill When Saint Cyprian once was enformed that a Deacon had giuen ill and railing speeches against Rogatianus who was of eminent place in the Church his spirite could not endure it but he writeth back againe that the Deacon should be enforced to do some penance for that his foule abuse And yet this man was by vocation a kind of spirituall person who therefore had some more prerogatiue then a common body to rebuke sharply if he saw any thing amisse But in these daies men go farther then to vse vnseemely speeches when they are ready in bitternesse of heart not to stay till occasion be offered but to waite opportunity and spie nay seeke meanes true or false of turning the Prophets of the Lord out of their liuings and houses As Ionas might not rest and be harboured in the ship so they shall be remoued as he was throwne into the sea where in the reason of man nothing was to be expected but that he should drowne perish so these shall be cast out into the wide world as men without a place wherein to rest their heade so that for ought which their aduersaries intend they may famish for want of foode But whereas all was done to Ionas vnwillingly and forced and at the last cast they honoured him men of our age do take their victories ouer their Pastours as things to be triumphed on they hold those acts as their crowne their glorie and commendation much to be boasted of When in truth there is no one thing more infamous in the eyes of all good men or more to be shamed at then for sheepe to arise against the carefull shepheard the children and congregation against their spirituall Father 7 We do find in the booke of God that an euerlasting blot is layd on wicked Doeg for one part which he played although he were an Edomite and no Israelite and therefore the more likely to commit any such outrage When Saul in his malicious humour picked a quarrell against Ahimelech and the Priestes for giuing foode to Dauid in his necessitie and commaunded such as attended vpon him to run on them and slay them not one man of all the Israelites dared to lay hands vpon them but Doeg the Edomite was he who spilt their innocent bloud This as an euerlasting spot is registred of him to all posterities It is for infidels and Edomites to do such deedes as these But Christian men should submit them selues with patience and mildnesse to the moderate reproofs of their wise carefull Pastors and not to be offended with them who labor to do them good by the word and by their prayers It is a good memorandum which Saint Cyprian hath in this case Thou art angry with that man who laboureth to turne away the wrath of God from thee he speaketh of the Minister thou threatnest him who desireth the mercie of God vpon thee who feeleth that wound of thine which thou thy selfe doest not feele who sheddeth those teares for thee which thou thy selfe doest not shed And God knoweth that the good Pastor doth most diligently perfourme these duties that is grieue to see ought amisse and pray that all may be well take pleasure in the true and spirituall welfare of his charge as well as in his owne Let him therefore be esteemed as a friend and reuerenced as a father I will presse this note no farther They cast him into the sea and the sea ceassed from her raging 8 Saint Chrysostome in that one Homily which he hath vpon this Prophet doth note that by the curtesie which these mariners shewed to Ionas and their very great vnwillingnesse that he should come to destruction God would teach the Prophet to haue mercie vpoÌ„ the Niniuites as these men had on him that he should by his preaching reclaime them from their sins so saue them froÌ„ ruine which because God more at large laieth downe in the fourth chapter
belong vnto any man it is vnto him haue compassion of some in putting difference and other saue with feare pulling them out of the fire This is to imitate Christ who will not breake a brused reede nor quench the smoking flaxe This is to seeke out the lost and to bind vp that which is broken Vnto these this may be added that it shall not a little helpe to haue conference with such who in former times haue bene exercised with the like temptations that out of their experience being plentifully powred out the distressed mind may be relieued None can speake more sufficiently and vnto better purpose then he that hath felt the same fire wherein this grieued soule is now burned And they who are in this cafe are not a little reuiued to know that any other hath bene troubled like themselues which they will hardly beleeue thinking that none did euer beare such a burthen as is vpon their shoulders Lastly as they ought rather to remember their former deliuerances then the griefe which presently is vpon them so they are rather to beleeue the speeches of other men I meane Gods children who come to yeeld comfort to thē then their own troubled thoughts which being perplexed and disquieted with frightfull imaginations can giue no setled iudgement This matter were worthie a longer speech but I am forced here to end Lord comfort those which are comfortlesse and strengthen thy weake children that they may not be so cast downe and plunged into perdition but that in their greatest temptation they may retaine thee still for their Sauiour that liuing in thy feare and dying in thy faith they may come to eternall glorie To the which ô Father bring vs for thine owne sonne Christ his sake to whom with thee and thy holy Spirit be glorie for euermore THE XII LECTVRE The chiefe poynts 2 The circumstances aggrauating his daunger 6. which do the more shew Gods mercie toward him and other sinners 8. Why God suffereth his to be in miserie 9. Particular consideration doth most stirre vp our affection 14. By fearing small crossings in doing our duties we incurre other very great daungers 16. All helpe is to be ascribed to God 17. How a godly man may desire that his life may be prolonged 20. The faithfull ought particularly to apply Gods loue to themselues 22. which the Church of Rome doth not Ionah 2.5.6 The waters compassed me about vnto the soule the depth closed me round about and the weedes were wrapped about mine head I went downe to the bottome of the mountaines the earth with her barres was about me for euer yet hast thou brought vp my life from the pit ô Lord my God THe fearefull conflict which the Prophet sustained in the verse next before going hath bene made plaine vnto you A passion of little lesse then distrustfull despaire did vexe him and disquiet him for the time From the terrour and danger wherof being recouered by the effectuall apprehension of grace by a liuely faith he returneth to contemplate the perill of his body which as it was great in the middle of the sea in the belly of the whale which was irrecouerable in mans iudgement so he seeketh to expresse it by multitude of words repeating it and reuoluing it with varietie of phrase but all tending to one end yet with such copiousnesse especially being in so short a prayer that a man would wonder at first how the Spirit of God which vseth to speake pressely and briefly so that no one word may fitly be spared should so runne vpon one thing with difference of speech but in substance all agreeing Yet the vse of it is such as of words fully replenished with sanctitie and holinesse as shall appeare in his due place In the meane time that which he saith is this 2 First the waters did compasse me about vnto the soule to the death saith the Chaldee Paraphrase as intending that he was now likely to be drowned his life to depart from him his soule to be seuered from her carnall habitation Dauid also doth vse such vehemencie of words Saue me ô God for the waters are entred euen to my soule Neither is there any speech which more liuely discouereth the earnestnesse of that which is presently in hand be it prayer or perill or desire or detestation then the name of soule doth As the Hart brayeth for the riuers of water so panteth my soule after thee ô God My soule thirsteth for God This noteth an entire affection and earnest desire wherewith Dauid was mooued As the Lord liueth and as thy soule liueth I will not leaue thee saith Elizaeus to Elias A very passionate affirmation Iacob in Genesis giueth this censure of Simeon and Leui. The instruments of crueltie are in their habitations Into their secret let not my soule come This argueth a perfect detestation So the depth of danger is purported here when he speaketh thus the waters compassed me vnto the soule the enemie of my life the water which hath no mercie was aboue me and below me and round about me without me and within me that my being was death my hope was but destruction nothing possible vnto me but drowning as farre as mans wit might imagine Secondly the depth did close me round about I was not in the shallow as a man in a lake who lying downe may be stifled but standing may be safe but I was in the maine Ocean which is called for the hugenesse of it the gathering of waters and elsewhere Tehom a gulfe or bottomelesse pit I was in that vastnesse which sometimes cannot be sounded by very long lines I was in waters by multitudes and there not diuing or floating vp and downe but as closed and shut vp as included in a sepulcher or made fast in a prison this deepe pit this darke pit this vncōfortable dungeon had closed her mouth vpon me 3 Thirdly the weedes were wrapped about mine head The sea doth beare weedes as well as shallow water yea somewhere very straungely strangely I say that in such places as where the depth seemeth to be of incredible greatnesse weedes should be seene in abundance in the vpper superficies the very toppe of the water and that so plentifully that in nauigation the course of ships is stayed sometimes by them Experience hath confirmed this in the huge Atlantike sea as men saile to America whereout doth grow a very strange Dilemma or Diuision because either they be there without any rootes at all and that is very maruellous or because the rootes do go downe exceeding deepe in the water which is not otherwise affoorded by nature in thinne spindie bodies But that weedes do grow in the sea those of some price Solinus letteth vs know saying that shrubs and weedes in the Ligustike sea are those from whence our Corall commeth Such then being in the bottome are about the head of our Prophet he is wreathed and tangled in them
or as some do suppose he was so fast in the water as if he had beene tyed there with as little hope of rising or comming vp againe But the words here being positiue that his head was wrapped in them I imagine that when he sunke went down to the bottome he there strugled for life as men do that are dying and by that meanes he was entangled in the weedes as if some net had bespread him And in my iudgement this cleareth that doubt which ariseth vnto some in the third verse of this chapter where because it is reported that he was in the very bottome in the midst of the sea and all the waues and surges did go ouer and ouer him they suppose the meaning of it to be that as soone as he was cast foorth ouer shipboord by the mariners the whale forthwith deuoured him on which because the waues passed and he was in the whale he saith they went ouer him and because the fish went downe to the bottome of the sea the Prophet in the fish is said to do the like Whereas this place doth rather enforce that betweene the time of his casting foorth and the swallowing of the whale there was some prety little space which in this text is insinuated 4 Fourthly he dilateth his sorrow by adding that he went downe to the bottome of the mountaines It is very likely that it was some Cape or Promontorie which did shoote foorth from the continent or firme-land whereof there are very many in all the sea shore neare to Iapho both Syria and Iudea being described to be hemmed in with mountaines And this argueth all to be done not very farre from the shore because a tempest deprehended the mariners at the first soone after that they put frō land Or else he may meane the rockes which being in the midst of the water haue the hugenesse of prety mountaines and this desolate man is now fallen into the clifts or concauities of one or other of these He is then euery way a prisoner fast fettered in the sedge and closed vp in the hollownesse of the mountaine which was ouer him Thus water and weedes and earth haue all conspired to drowne him If otherwise he might haue risen yet now the hill is vpon him not fainedly as Aetna was said to be on Enceladus but verily and indeed not to crush him with the weight but onely to keepe him there and detaine him till he were drowned 5 And this he maketh more plaine vnto vs in the fifth circumstance when he saith the earth with her barres was about him and that for euer Barres are to make things strong as in dores or otherwise Then the strength of the earth had him within her keeping euen that which Dauid doth call the pillars of the earth I will establish the pillars of it He was now as in a pit fast bolted and surely kept and as it seemed vnto him for euer and for euer neuer hoping to escape and to be freed from that daunger He held that the doome of fearefull death was pronounced ouer him the sentence of dissolution and destruction now he is in the midst of his dolorous execution Thus he doth paint out vnto vs the abundance of his miserie proposing himself as a wretched spectacle for the time enuironed with such woes as he knoweth not how to describe them The water that did compasse him euen to the very soule the depth did round beset him the sedge was about his head he was at the rootes of the mountaines the great barres of the earth were closed and made fast vpon him What more could a carnall man wish vpon his enemie if he would wish to be neuer afterward troubled with him on earth This is the full recounting in particular of those feares which were vpon this sinner Now let vs see the vse of these words 6 If I should be asked here why I haue vsed this Paraphrasticall exposition so much speech in a case so euident and apparant whereas doctrine and store of matter is more fit and acceptable to this auditorie I must foorthwith shrowd my selfe vnder the Prophets shield He thought good to write it and I thinke not amisse to touch it if any man shall say vnfruitfully he doth wrong to Gods Spirit who throughout all the whole booke of the Scripture hath put no one thing in vaine although the dimme eyes of our weaknesse cannot hastily comprehend the mysterie of his meaning The speaker then and the reader are in this case to pray God that he will descend and come downe vnto them that he will touch the heart of the one with the key of knowledge and that he will seare the lippes of the other with the coale of the Seraphim And then this shall be gathered out of it The vehement inculcation of so many degrees of miserie doth the more magnifie Gods great mercie vnto our Ionas The harder his necessitie was the more welcome was Gods ayde The more grieuous that his wound was the greater was the cure The more daungerous the sicknesse was the more gracious was the healing Beyond hope to saue beyond thought to preserue in a deplored state and at a desperate pinch to succour is an eminent grace and fauour neuer enough recorded neuer enough reported My daunger was vnspeakeable my perill was vndescribable all hope was past and exiled yet now in this wretched tenure ô Lord my blessed God and euerlasting Father thou hast brought vp my life from the pit Now his obstinate hard affection beginneth to yeeld this doth euen melt the heart of the Prophet in kindnesse to see that from the bottome of millions of extremities he was deliuered by the free grace of his maker 7 The remembrance of this benefit doth so stir vp his mind in his holyest meditations and giueth such life to his motions that he doth not satisfie himselfe but the more expresse his miserie the more to extoll Gods mercie He thinketh himselfe the more deepely deuoted to such a Sauiour The lower he was deiected the greater was his deliuerance and the more sound his deliuerance the more sufficient should his thankfulnesse be to the Lord. Now he seeth his God to be a God of power and maiestie able to free from any thing Where his creatures do depresse there he alone can lift vp Although the wind rage and the sea roare and all the earth be disquieted yet he doth beare sway ouer them Then we neede not despaire in the waues of wo and extremitie if our faith be not extinguished It is Gods greatest glorie to rid from greatest euils Where all mans helpe is wanting there his finger is most conspicuous It was a good speech of Philo the Iew which he vttered on this occasion whē that beast Caligula could be perswaded by no reason nor by any mans intercession but that his image must be set vp at Hierusalem which would quickly haue inferred the adoration of it and he
Hierusalem was vsed in another sort when the Prophet here called it holy otherwise he might iustly haue feared that God had not bene there to haue heard him when he cried out of the fishes belly 15 But hitherto the Temple was not relinquished by him as the later house was afterward when a voyce was heard in the night saying Migremus hinc let vs be gone from this place and therefore the Prophets prayer which was directed hither found the successe which it wished It came thither to the Lord. The distance of the place the great depth of the water the shutting vp in the whale yea the odiousnesse of his sinne could not detaine his crying and seeking to the Lord. He who in the fourteenth of Exodus did heare the crye of Moses although neuer a word were vttered and he who heard Hannas prayer when her lippes onely did mooue and no word was spoken out did attend Ionas when hee besought him with faith and implored his gracious goodnesse ouer him He hath bid vs call vpon him in the day that is in euery day of trouble and he hath said that he will heare It is he who neuer failed any of those who seeke to him As in all other matters so in this he hath a prerogatiue aboue all other he can heare and he will heare Heathenish Gods are but delusions and imaginarie toyes he who prayeth to them prayeth to nothing Baal may be iested at as sleeping or being busie Idols are but dead stockes they cannot mooue themselues and therefore not helpe themselues much lesse those that pray to them Yet a man exceedeth all these if they were in number ten thousand although oftentimes he debaseth himselfe as a seruant vnto these But how short of God doth this man come This will not if he could another could if he would a third both could and would but is absent and therefore ignorant what it is that is begged of him The power of all is so limited that the greatest cannot graunt the tenth thing which is asked and either themselues do confesse this or vse base shifts to couer it And how hardly do men part with that which is in their power As Seneca writeth on a time a Cynike Philosopher asked a talent of Antigonus who would gladly haue bene reputed a bountifull Prince His answer was that a talent was too much for a Cynike to receiue Then the other asked him a peny That saith he is too little for a king as I am to giue How oft soeuer such answers be giuen from men they do neuer come from God He giueth without reproching he heareth without delaying But we must aske that which is lawfull and we must aske in faith and we shall not haue a denyall 16 It pleaseth him to yeeld so much vnto our prayer appointing that as the instrument whereby we do approch him And indeed it is a good meanes to come into his presence For prayer is so piercing that it will get to the seat of God through the very heauens and cloudes It is winged and ascendeth vpward being made light by the heat of fierie pure deuotion The wind is not so quicke the lightning is not so nimble which goeth from East to West as this is in his passage In a moment it ascendeth from our tongs to Gods eares His eyes see our eyes weeping he well conceiueth our grones he well vnderstandeth our sighs If heauinesse do oppresse vs and sorrow weigh vs downe yet if our knees be bent vnto him or our hands held vp on high or our breasts be beaten before him or our cheeks bedewed with teares we shall be eased from all Then this is the onely remedie in agonies and in anguishes for the afflicted soule to seeke to It hasteneth to and fro and neuer returneth emptie Our sinning and suffering Prophet this drowning and dying Ionas did crye fâ—om the middle of the whale from the bottome of the sea from the very belly of hell and as he said before so here againe he professeth it the Lord did heare his voyce his prayer came to Gods temple Now you haue heard what he did and how likewise he sped Let vs here come to the second part which noteth some other persons whose words and deedes are otherwise They that wayt vpon lying vanities forsake their owne mercie 17 These words do imply a kind of Antithesis or contrarie successe betweene him before mentioned and those who do now follow as if he should say I scant looked for mercie and yet I did find it I prayed and was heard but these might receiue mercie and themselues do forsake it These are such which obserue or keepe or wayte vpon lying vanitie in stead of truth not ignorantly falling into it but wilfully pursuing it Such as set their whole labour on that which is but errour and make a studie of it Now those who with such egernesse do follow wrong paths the farther they go on the more they go astray They bend indeede all their diligence to somewhat but it is to lying vanitie vnder which name the Scripture doth comprehend all things which are besides pietie and the true seruice of God I haue hated them saith Dauid who giue themselues to deceitfull vanities And in another place Trust not in oppression and robberie be not vaine Gods Spirit doth account euery thing to be but vaine and lying and deceitfull which cannot endure the tryall which faileth vs and falleth from vs and when we most trust to it is least able to do vs good Such are all earthly things without the grace of God being ioyned to them as riches which are so much desired and honour which is so hotely sought or beautie or strength or friends which helpe not in that day when iudgement or vengeance commeth 18 Such are all the inuentions and deuised figments of men superstitions and false religions Pharisaicall obseruations papisticall dreames and fancies for whose sake whosoeuer will leaue the true prescript of Gods word he may be said to forsake the fountaine of liuing water and digge vnto himselfe broken pits He may be said to haue turned from the Lord who is only truth and to haue embraced falshood to haue refused grace and forsaken his owne mercie For where as God hath promised to be mercifull to all such who serue him as he hath taught by their neglecting of true deuotion they also neglect that mercie which was offered to them before So they make themselues vnworthie of remission and pardoning of their sinnes And in this case the end doth prooue heauie like to that rule of Aristotle where he saith that it must needes be in progresse of time that of counterfeited good things should grow that which is truly euill That wherein Zedechias trusted was but a lying vanitie and had a dolefull issue when as Iosephus did well gather he thought that the two Prophets Ezechiel and Ieremie had spoken contrarie things therefore that
Saint Austen thought another matter fit to be recorded of that Cato and that was this that when one asked counsell of him in sober earnest what harme he supposed was aboded him because rats had eate his hose he aunswered that partie with a iest that it was no very straunge thing to see that but it had bene much more maruellous if his hose had eat vp the rats In Tullies disputation concerning such arguments when one to enforce the veritie of Diuination had said that a victorie which fell to the Thebanes was foreshewed by some extraordinarie crowing of Cockes Tully could aunswere that with a smooth flowte but very significant that it was no miracle that Cockes should crow but if fishes had done it that had bene straunge indeed Those Ethniks could see that these things were falshood and exceeding lying vanities worthy to be but laughed at yet how did some of their greatest men attend and wait vpon them I may call these foolish Arts for I thinke that they come not so farre as curious crafts extend which are named in the Acts of the Apostles But to speake mine opinion I imagine that figure-casting for such things as are lost or to iudge of Natiuities is fully within that kind and is a lying vanity as that which is most lying Yet although by the Prophets it be sharpely rebuked although condemned by Philosophers although ill spoken of by Historians although by good lawes forbidden in well gouerned common wealths although no Principle therein haue approoued veritie neither may there be any good argument or conclusion made for it yet how do some waite vpon it and in no sort will go from it Of whom I may also say as Cato said of the Aruspices that I maruell when they meete one another how they can forbeare to laugh to see how they get monie From the number of these I may not seclude superstitious obseruations of ominous or vnfortunate things vpon which some men do so dote that they beleeue such vanities as a man should beleeue the Gospell All fearefull iudgements sent from God are to be regarded by vs but friuolous superstitions and traditions from old tales are rather to be contemned He that obserueth the wind shall not sow and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reape Take heed of such lying vanities 22 Fourthly ordinarie transgressions may very well be taxed hence and adulterie among other wherein although Satan the more to inflame it do buzze a tale into want on flesh that great men haue sinned so that God will not call such natural faults as those be to reckening that there is time inough to repent in old age and it is best in the meane while to satisfie concupiscence yet when these things come to be weighed in the ballance of Gods iustice they prooue both light and lying For the wrath of the Lord is oftentimes kindled against such wilfull crimes and he hath threatned that whore mongers shall be shut out from the new Hierusalem They then do forsake their owne mercie who pollute themselues in such sort and withall are a cause for other to be filthie Yet how some wait vpon this it is lamentable to thinke seeking to hurt themselues by euery kind of wantonnesse Good Iob in his confession held this for a grosse sinne and disclaimed it from himselfe If my heart haue bene deceiued saith he by a woman or if I haue layed waite at the dore of my neighbour obserue that adulterers do wayt vpō their sinne let my wife grind vnto another man and let other men bow downe vpon her that is let my wife also be false to me for this is a wickednesse and iniquitie to be condemned But many do not feare this and so plucke Gods iudgement on them 23 Fiftly they who in desire to enrich themselues or theirs do set their heart vpon mony and care not how they gaine it by robberie or oppression by briberie or extortion so that it come in vnto them do wayt vpon lying vanitie Which may easily be gathered from the very words of Dauid whom I cited before trust not in oppression nor in robberie be not vaine or giue not your selues vnto vanitie if riches encrease set not your heart vpon them If any then this is a vaine conceit to thinke that a mans purse is the best friend which he hath that riches can preserue in the day of greatest trouble that God accepteth mony that ill gotten goods can long prosper Oftentimes mony is kept to the hurt and death of the owner and children are so farre off from being blessed with goods which are ill gotten that fretting and consuming and a curse is ioyned with them Then what folly is it to force and straine our consciences and so to aduenture on Gods displeasure and the losse of his best mercie for the gaining of that which is but a fugitiue seruant and cannot helpe at neede And yet it is straunge to see how the world lyeth open to vnlawfull and filthie gaine what wringing there is from all sortes what griping of the poore what thirsting after gifts and hunting after rewards Are there not which wayt vpon this and make a studie of it as a man would studie heauen deuising and contriuing by what fine sleight and skill this money may be soked out and this cheate may be gotten and that gift may be had and then like to the hypocrite whereof Zacharie speaketh in his time they can crye blessed be God for I am rich and liue well seeming to giue the Lord thankes for that which they haue spoyled and robbed from their brethren whom as there the Prophet speaketh they slay and sell for money It is great thankes which we returne to God for the wit and reason which he hath bestowed vpon vs to employ it in that sort as to offend his diuine Maiestie to abuse those with whom we liue to helpe our selues so farrefoorth as is in our owne power to infamie in this life with all such as be vertuous to destruction in another Better it is to haue cleane hands here with a little then much profite by false vanitie 24 The same application may be made concerning ambition and other sinnes in all which we may take this for a warning that our sight is so dimme and our vnderstanding so darke and such are the false shewes of many things in this life that we may quickly pursue a lye in steede of truth and vanitie for sound veritie and so purchase Gods wrath vnlesse with a single eye we looke on things aright and euer take the iudgement of Scripture for our triall and withall pray that our heart and intellectuall powers may be lightned in that behalfe that so hauing will and strength by the mercie of the Lord we may walke as we ought and as it beseemeth our calling And here I end Holy Father we beseech thee to direct our steps in thy paths that renouncing all
of God did a second time send his seruants to bring light to the world and furnishing one with this talent and another with that good thing he brought life againe to the dead and sun-shine in the middest of darknesse A great token of his gracious and bountifull inclination to the age wherein we liue It must be imputed to his loue it must be ascribed to his mercy 6 So must that which we enioy so abundantly at this time God hath sent twise to our nation in a speciall manner as he did to Niniue In the time of good King Edward and in the dayes of our Queene The difference is in this that those which were sent to vs did come indeede and did not like Ionas and besides it was not one but many seruants of the Lord which shewed themselues But herein is the likenesse that as when the first serued not he sent the next time to Niniue so hauing here appointed that so many should be sealed and marked in the forehead as belonged to his election so many thousands or millions which number in those sixe yeares of king Edward was in no sort completed and God forbid for our sake and our posterity that it should haue bene he stayed not at that stop which was made in Queene Maries dayes but went on with his purpose The conspiring against the Gospell the striking of the sheapheards the burning of the professours the yeelding of all to the Pope the confederacie with the Spaniard which were things of farre greater moment then the turning backe of one Prophet did not so restraine his affection but that a second time we should heare from him more at large to the building vp of his Church and dilating of his kingdome but to the eternall blessednesse of vs both in soule and bodie If any thing may deserue it this deserueth at our hands a thankefulnesse and gratefull consideration I would that our liues and our contempt of the world could testifie that so we do thinke of it But we must impute this to his loue as also the other that he would send againe to Niuiue 7 Which Citie as I do now leaue so I may not leaue that argument of the kindnesse of the Lord for the messenger yet giueth farther occasion to magnifie that For he who had but lately runne away from his maister and cast his word behind him he who for some carnall reason had despised his commaundement he who had so transgressed that a punishment neuer heard off before was inflicted for his labour is once againe put in trust as the Prophet of the Highest to go to a King and a Citie with threates which are so terrible Why would not he who is Lord of all things rather make choyse of some other to bee vsed in this seruice who was vntainted and vntouched vnstayned and vnreprouable This may seeme at the first blush to bee more for the senders honour and againe hee that should bee sent might reprooue the sinnes of other with a freer conscience when he knew himselfe to bee innocent The Lawyers would haue sayd Semel malus semper malus Once euill and euer euill he may not bee admitted Perhaps the Elders of the Church or the grauer sort of men might haue receiued him againe into the congregation vpon his testification of sorrow for his fault but to honour him as a Prophet or to esteeme him as in former time that doth not stand with discipline that were no safe example The Gibeonites were suffered by Iosuah to come into the Tabernacle but they came without preferment nay it was with great disgrace they serued but for wood-cutters and drawers of water Such as in the Primitiue Church being Clergy men before had notoriously fallen were permitted vpon repentance to come to the Eucharist but it was to the lay-mens Communion not as Bishops or Priests who might consecrate and minister to other but as men of the congregation who were to receiue at the hand of another And thus Cornelius Bishop of Rome serued a Prelate who layd hands foolishly vpon Nouatus at his consecration The Brutij were the first of all Italy who reuolted from the Romanes to Hannibal But for that tricke the Romanes would neuer trust them afterward although vpon their humble submission they tooke them into their protection yet they reckened them not as fellowes neither mustered they any souldiers out of their countrey but appointed them to attend on such Deputies and Lieutenants as they sent into their Prouinces Thus would worldly and carnall wisedome haue dealt with this man he may be held for an Israelite but in no sort for a Prophet no gracing no aduancing no honouring yet a while Let him bite vpon the bridle that knowing how he hath fallen he may be wiser afterward But the Lord who knew his heart and saw it now quite broken waiteth not for more experience or for yeares of probation but as fully satisfied with his sorrow and putting the greatnesse of his errour out of memory he setteth him once againe in his old place and old honour without disgrace or diminution He doth not so much as vpbrayd or cast him in the teeth as an vngracious seruant that thus or thus he had serued him but shutting vp all together he employeth him as before This is a lesson to the Ministers and pastours of the flocke that by Gods owne example they should not be too rigorous vpon such as haue gone astray euen in the greatest crimes but when conspicuous tokens of repentance shall be giuen to open the lap and bosome of the Church to receiue them Not euery slight acknowledgement but yet pregnant signes may be taken and better it is that he be an hypocrite then thou an hard hearted father God will not the death of sinners but that they should turne and liue The very Angels reioyce for one repenting sinner When the prodigall child came toward his father did runne and meete him and kissed him and embraced him Let not the seruant be hard vnto his fellow seruant when the maister is so easie 8 The more cruell in the meane while was the doctrine of Nouatus who barred not for a time but for euer from the Communion and accesse into the Church such as in the bloudy persecution of Decius the Emperour had by infirmitie offered vnto idols teaching that God if he would might take them to mercy but man might not deale with it no not although they did implore it with sobbes and continued teares He had forgotten that Peter denying Christ three times yet continued an Apostle and was afterward martyred for Christ. That the spirit may be willing and yet the flesh may be weake That to endure the fierie triall is onely the gift of God who graunteth it when he listeth and giueth it where he pleaseth That he that standeth or at the left thinketh that he standeth may take heede left he fall That the souldier who now â—lieth
the place I do leaue that to be touched as God shall giue grace hereafter In the meane time let vs pray to him so to open our hearts that we may make true vse of the rods of our afflictions and with patience beare his crosse with trembling respect his iudgements and with obedience worke his will that his iustice be not enforced to send foorth against vs a sentence of destruction as it did against Niniue From the which the Father saue vs for his owne Sonne Christ his sake to both whom and his holy Spirit be honour for euermore THE XVIII LECTVRE The chiefe poynts 1. How the Sermon of Ionas might be short and yet effectuall 4. Numbers are obserued in Diuinitie 5. and may be abused 7. How they may be rightly vsed 8. Gods mercie in forbearing sinners 11 Sinne is forcible to draw downe vengeance 14. It is the more fearefull that they are not told how they are like to perish 15. God hath many wayes to destroy 16. No place is inuincible Ionah 3 4. Yet fortie dayes and Niniueh shall be ouerthrowne HE little conceiueth the purpose of this Prophecie who seeth not that Gods drift from the beginning of it was to haue Ionas go and preach to the Niniuites You haue seene what worke he hath had to bring this businesse about The sea ayre haue bene troubled the mariners much disquieted Ionas himselfe so vexed that he hath spent halfe this booke to tell what did befall him because he did not preach But at last after all this he is come to it and therefore we may now very well expect a long Sermon and a large For like to the young of an Elephant it hath bene long in breeding therfore it may be great Else it may be said that we stay long for a litle he came far for a small message and a great head to a childs body and a Preface very tedious to a tale which is quickly ended But God tyeth not himselfe to the rules of Rhetoricke so to fit the fancies of men but as in matter he is euermore the same to speake nothing but truth so in manner he is oft-times different now longer and then shorter now sharper and then sweeter But the qualitie of his shortest speech doth recompence want of quantitie for much is in a little and in few things there are many things Yet if that which is short be repeated many times the frequent repetition doth also make that large as that Psalme is no small one which hath reiterated in each verse for his mercie endureth for euer Then if our Prophet being in Niniue and going from one street to another had vsed in the ends and middle of them but these words Yet fortie dayes and Niniue shall be ouerthrowne he might first haue spent his day found himself work enough and secondly haue left much more amazednesse in the people that he would denounce one thing so frequently and so confidently and say no more nor lesse and thirdly he might also fulfill the end of his comming 2 My text saith that he cried and I reade of another cryer who tooke the selfe same course in a citie of no lesse note although somewhat meaner in quantitie When the time was come that Hierusalem soone after was to be destroyed by the Romanes a countreyman while yet there was great peace and prosperitie cried day and night in the street and sometimes in the Temple A voyce from the East a voyce from the West a voyce from the foure winds a voyce against Hierusalem and the Temple a voyce against new maried men and against new maried women a voyce against all this people This was continued by him in the selfe same words sauing that sometimes he added Wo wo vnto HierusaleÌ„ The man who did this was named Iesus I doubt not but in this case of Niniue our Prophet was a Preacher and I reade of another Preacher who tooke the same course also Hierome writeth concerning Iohn the Euangelist that he abode at Ephesus till he was so old and fâ—eble by reason of age that he could hardly be borne to Church by his scholers But being there and his memorie or voyce not framing to his mind he would say againe and againe ouer and multiply it oftentimes Litle children loue one another litle children loue one another And when his scholers and auditours were wearie with the continuall hearing of these words and no other they asked him the reason of it who gaue them this answere It is the commaundement of our Lord and this alone is sufficient if it be done as it should If our Ionas as a Preacher should like that Preacher Iohn or our Ionas as a crier should like that crier Iesus haue sung the selfe same song and redoubled the selfe same note I feare not but as these men offended not in the manner but caused much admiration so he might haue done likewise 3 But I rather thinke that this case was the case of Iohn the Baptist who had both persons in him a crier in the wildernesse and a Preacher among the people Yet when his Sermon is described by Mathew the Euangelist it is in as short termes as this was here at Niniue Repent for the kingdome of heauen is at hand Where although the words be few yet those were but the knitting vp and briefe of a great deale more for Iohn sung not one note but rose and fell and varied as occasion was offered vnto him as in the middest of the chapter is manifest to the reader For the Pharisees had their errand and the Saduces had their item and Luke goeth farther yet the Publicanes had one lesson and the souldiours had another and the people went not free Yet because the solide substance of all which Iohn did say was reduced to that head of repentance and to informe them that the kingdome of grace and appearance of Messias was now to be seene of them all his doctrine and preaching is layed downe in that briefe summe So it may be rightly supposed that this messenger did tell a longer tale in Niniue euen the narration of himselfe to procure more credit to his words and the recounting of his punishment and escaping from the same but especially did inueigh against those noted sins which were in that great citie their oppression and their rauening their tyrannie and bloud-shedding which they exercised vpon those who were vnder them their arrogâ—ncie and pride whereunto prosperitie did puffe them their auarice and their wantonnesse but most of all their securitie growing by their abundance and that for these and the like destruction and a speedie ruine should be their portion Yet because the burthen of all was fortie dayes and destroying all is closed vp in those words So that it which being folded vp doth fill but a little roome if it be opened and spred doth make a greater shew Caesars veni vidi vici contained much matter
a day but that he went to the Capitoll to performe his deuotions 5 But as I take it the wisedome of the Lord in declaring to the ignorant how far he hateth euill doth appeare more fully in nothing then by putting into men a conscience within which should accuse and condemne the most hard harted sinner which so often as by maliciousnesse great mischiefes are done should represent the sinne vnto the inward thought with terrible suggestions of vengeance to follow and should giue no rest to the disquieted sinner Among ignorant men there is no one token which enforceth like this token that vngodlinesse is loathsome and odious in it selfe and beareth a sting with it And this hath so farre bene knowne to haunt the offenders and torture them within that Tragedians on their stages haue oftentimes represented those passions by furies of hell fearefully tormenting some which thing Tully doth truelie interprete of the conscience of the transgressing sinner which doth vse to discruciate the person affected in vnspeakeable manner Now what is it that the conscience being in this case doth giue warning of Euen that at the least it is vnlikely but many times that it is impossible that they should be remitted And hereof in the Scriptures Cain and Iudas are eminent examples who had an opinion that they had faulted so farre that they could not be pardoned The biting remorse of haynous offences doth gnaw and gnaw through The persecutours of others haue tasted of this cup and smarted with this rod. Philo Iudaeus writing against Flaccus telleth that the same lewd man playd all the parts of cruelty which he could deuise against the Iewes for their religion sake but afterward when the doome of Caligula fell vpon him and he was banished into Andros an Iland neare Greece he was so tormented with the memorie of his bloudie iniquities and a feare of suffering for them that if he saw any man walking softly neare to him he would say to himselfe This man is deuising to worke my destruction If he saw any go hastily Sure it is not for nothing he maketh speed to kill me If any man spâ—ke him faire he suspected that he would cousin him and sought to intrap him If any talked roughlie to him then he thought that he contemned him If meate were giuen him in any plentifull sort this is but to fat me as a sheepe or an oxe is fed to be slaughtered Thus his sinne did lye vpon him and euer remember him that some vengeance was to follow from God or men or both In our time such measure hath bene measured to murtherers their thoughts haue bene so troublesome after their wickednesse done that they haue no more rested then if continuallie and vncessantlie they had bene pursued with legions of euill spirites The ages which are past haue had their examples in this kind When Theodorike sometimes King of the Gothes had vniustlie and tyrannouslie slaine Symmachus and Boëtius two Noble men of Rome the crueltie of that deede and guilt of that foule trespasse did so boyle in his heart that when once at his table among other meate a fishes head was set he conceiued it to be the verie head of Symmachus the eyes to be his eyes the teeth to grinne vppon him and falling into a fright and stiffe coldnesse withall he lyeth him downe as a â—an much distracted and dyeth So heauie a burthen is sinne in the heart which depresseth and crusheth downe without recouerie if it be not helped with some better perswasion sent immediatly from God There may in a naturall man be a strugling and wrastling against such motions but his heart and conscience are greater then himselfe and will put him in minde that terrible desolation remaineth for him who hath sinned presumptuously or wilfully and of purpose and that he is not very likely to be quitted from such crimes This knowing of monstrous iniquities in Niniue doth make the king thereof as one who was amated and distracted to hope but doubtfully and fearefully for reconcilement betweene God and his soule betweene the Lord and his people 6 And if he had reason for this because of the heauinesse of that sinne which euen by the light of nature and assent of his owne heart he might feare would be punished we may make this vse thereof that boldly and audaciously we diue not into wickednesse and plunging into the depth do not tumble in the suddes of it and wallow in the sinke lest when we would be glad to come foorth againe and turne another leafe distrust be our portion and doubting in a high degree whether God will receiue vs. It is good so to embrace the mercy of our Sauiour that we also remember the seuerity of our Iudge When for many yeares together we with greedinesse haue drunke in the puddle-water of wickednesse we cannot be assured that the Lord at our becke will bend himselfe to clemency Perhaps time may be wanting perhaps the counsell of Gods Ministers it may be the minde inured to a custome of filthinesse cannot extricate it selfe perhaps God will not giue the gift of repentance but as we haue despised to heare when he calleth vs so when we shall call to him vnfruitfully and vnfaithfully he will not attend It may be that the canker of desperate sinnes hath so eaten out all faith in vs that we cannot by any meanes appropriate Gods mercy to our selues and our soules It is a fearefull thing when the Lords goodnesse shall be ingeminated againe and againe to the fainting heart how readie he is to receiue the repentant how he calleth to sinners and openeth the bosome for them and stretcheth out his armes and how Christ of purpose came to dye for offenders and yet all this shall find no other aunswer but These things are for other they be not for me I doubt not but the Ministers of God who haue had tryall in like cases do sometimes quake in their flesh and tremble in their bones to remember such examples as their owne eyes haue seene It had bene good for such who at length be so touched and indeede for all men to haue made stay in time for if they go on and will not be reclaimed when mercy is offered who knoweth if afterward God will turne and repent and shew pity vpon them Then learne to flye from sinne as from a killing pestilence go from it soone and farre and neuer turne againe This is worse then the pestilence it is poyson sugred ouer which may be sweete in tast but is pernitious in effect The pleasure is soone gone but the guilt remaineth Saint Chrysostome therefore doth make a fit Antithesis betweene it and the trauell of a woman She sayth he hath her throbs and pangs at the first which in truth are very vehement but afterward there commeth ioy when she beholdeth a child borne of her selfe into the world But on the other side while it is in performance
Praeparatione Euangelica doth manifestly lay downe citing there Numenius the Pythagorian who writeth that Plato was nothing else but Moses speaking Greeke or in the Attike language But be this so or be it otherwise the doctrine is most true 8 First then in this are condemned those who yeelding themselues too much vnto Satans suggestions wilfully destroy their owne bodies frō whom as I dare not generally withdraw the hope of saluation and euerlasting life for Gods mercy may giue grace and a sudden hastie repentance betweene the bridge and the water betweene the deed the dying so that then they could wish all were well and no violence offered so on the other side I cannot but pronounce that the case is very daungerous and in the highest sort to be suspected and feared vnlesse the Lord do giue apparant tokens of penitencie Do not first take strong poyson and then afterward seeke some such remedie as may be offered in an instant whereunto to trust thou hast no warrant but almost all to the contrarie Secondly they are here taxed who wilfully and without cause aduenture vppon such things as are the wayes of death by that meanes tempting God to see whether he will preserue them for so it must needs be if they thinke of him at all Remember how Christ discountenanced all leaping off from the Temple which in nature had bene a meanes to dash himselfe to peeces Some dangerous tumbling trickes and walking vpon ropes not without danger of life and other sports of that qualitie are very neare to this Here let me acknowledge one thing to you wherof I haue oftētimes thought in my selfe by occasion of that text which was cited to our Sauiour by Satan the great tempter in the story last mentioned When he would haue Christ throw himselfe from the pinnacle of the Temple he incouraged him by that place of the Psalme He shall giue his Angels charge ouer thee and with their hands they shall lift thee vp that thou dash not thy foote against a stone Where as euerie man may see he cited the Scripture falsly leauing out that which is very materiall to keepe thee in all thy wayes He shall giue his Angels charge ouer thee to keepe thee in all thy wayes I haue heard that a reuerend mā preaching on a time in our sister Vniuersity at the buriall of one or two gentlemen who came to an vntimely end by swimming enforced out of that place of Mathew that it is the pollicy of the tempter to draw men from their owne wayes to the waies of other creatures And therin as I haue heard he obserued that a mās way was to go a birds way was to flie as fishes way was to swimme and if we would leaue our owne pathes dangerously and without cause to do as fishes or birds do we tempt God in that case and suppresse as much of the Psalme to our selues as Satan did to Christ. For God will keepe thee in all thy wayes not in the wayes of a bird not in the wayes of a fish I cannot say that at that time by collection from that text or by the dolefull example which was then before his eyes that reuerend learned man vtterly forbad that exercise as impious vnlawfull neither dare I do so for fishermen haue vse of it and Peter in the presence of our Sauiour girded his linnnen garment to him and threw himselfe into the sea and the meanes that some escaped from the ship-wracke in the company of Saint Paule was their swimming and souldiers in passing waters are oftentimes constrained to betake them to this exercise So that vtterly to condemne it or dislike it I thinke it not conuenient or warrantable but certainely in that sort as many vse it and too many in great cities and perhaps some in this place that is to say young ones in the deepe and without company or good helpe yea and vpon the Sabaoth day which the Lord hath notedly punished as some of vs may remember doth fall within iust reproofe of being too much accessarie of shortening mens owne liues Let the elder and the younger lay this to their owne consciences and make the vse to themselues Onely vppon occasion of this sommer time of the yeare I do briefly mention it 9 Within this compasse there come plainely our chalenges and defendances for combats in the fields for euery trifling braule where not for God and their countrey or for their Princes safetie but vpon euerie brauling disgrace the life is thrust into danger How vncomfortable a thing is it in a mortall deadly wound which may very well be thy share to thinke that thou hast sought the dissolution of thy soule from thy body and to haue rather stood on thy manhood and fame with other men then vpon thy Christian dutie How many lawes did Moses make but none for the duellum or combat betweene two Nay he who layd it downe that if the head of an axe flie off as a man is cutting wood and slay his neighbour being neare vnto him with whom he had no quarrell if the pursuer should take his person before he came to the city of refuge it was lawfull to kill him what would he haue thought of these men who will thrust themselues into this straigth to slay or to be slaine What the Emperour Honorius sonne to that good Theodosius thought of this appeareth hereby that as Theodoret writeth he tooke away all sword-playings and gladiatorie fights which so long had bene vsed in Rome because they were the meanes of many slaughters The very Turkes in this case are worthie of commendation of whom I find in the Epistles of Augerius Busbequius Embassadour sometimes among them for Ferdinandus the Emperour that while he was in the countrey when one of the Turkish Captaines had reported before the Bassas that he had challenged into the field another of the San-iacks or Lieutenants of the Turke of whom he had receiued some grieuance the Bassas that Graund Segnieur thrust him presently into prison and vsed these words vnto him Didst thou dare to denounce the combat against thy fellow souldier vvere there not Christians to fight vvith You liue both by the bread of our Emperour and would you trye for each others life Knovv you not that vvhether soeuer of you had ben◠slaine it had bin a losse to our Soueraigne he had lost a man a souldier This was but a worldly reason which yet holdeth among vs also But for the auoiding of slaughter vpon other men or our selues which point concerneth the Lords commandement we should flie from these great occasions of murther which is so horrible a sinne But to returne to the maine cause if these accessaries and helpes to bring our selues to the graue be things not to be iustified then what a great fault is man-slaughter directly done vpon our selues 10 I haue sayd more of these adiacents then my purpose was to speake but for
whole citie But the other was that grand one who raigneth aboue in heauen full of power and full of wisedome who directeth all his creatures in number waight and measure whose word goeth for an Oracle whose will is for a law who can do what he listeth none must stand against him So the things whereof the question was were in like sort different the one spake for a tree or greene herbe of the ground which grew vp on the sudden and as suddenly was gone which was but of one daies standing and which so long as he had it was not at all by his labour he neither planted nor watered it but his great maister did send it and againe for that space wherein he had it none else was the better for it but he alone made vse of it and his pleasure was no more but either to â—it vnder it as a shadow or a bower or to gaze and looke vpon it But the other thing was Niniue the huge citie of the world the gouernesse of the East the mansion of the king the glorie of the Empire where were so many thousands as were leaues vpoÌ„ the gourd where children were in great number little infants and little innocents and where was much store of cattell the life of the worst whereof was better then a gourd A citie and a great citie and populous and repentant should sway more then a shadow Then their ends were as different the one wold shew his fancie the other would shew his mercie the one thought of his present pleasure the other would record to all posteritie an example of clemencie pittie the one had respect to himselfe the other to his creatures Now if the seruant so loued the gourd because he liked it how might the maister loue a citie because he had a mind vnto it 8 For the better opening of this comparison the text obserueth vnto vs that Niniue was a great citie which I haue touched twise before as first in the first chapter where that title a great citie is giuen vnto it and then in the third chapter where it is named an excellent citie and of three daies iourney In which two places both from the Scriptures and other approued authours I shewed the greatnesse of it for the compasse for the wals and made plaine the reasons of it Now here something is added for the hugenesse of the place which agreeth with all the rest that there were so many infants within the coÌ„passe of it as one hundred and twentie thousand so many as if we take a million for ten thousand do make no lesse then twelue millions which arise to sixe score thousands And lest any man should imagine that children of riper age were comprehended there the text describeth these children to be all of them so little that they could not discerne betweene their right hand and their left hand which seemeth to be some Prouerbe among the Hebrewes like that I will cut off from Ahab euery one that maketh water against a wall that is all that are males here are meant none but very young ones I know that some haue thought the number set downe here to be a certaine number staÌ„ding for an vncertain so they do interpret it that there were many thousand babes and no more to be implyed But I wil not do that iniurie to the Spirit of God as to doubt but this number must definitely be taken for so many thousands full out that there were at least of these little ones sixe score completed thousands The compasse of the citie as in former times I haue shewed was three-score Italian miles wherin that many thousands yea a hundred thousand houses might stand may well appeare from proportion of other cities Athens was neuer takâ— in the number of very great ones yet as Xenophon doth report in that time when he liued there were ten thousand houses in it Philo Iudaeus sheweth that in his time there were many of the Iewes inhabiting in Egypt Africa He nameth Alexandria which as we know was no huge citie as a place distinct against all the other of that countrie as if there were their speciall residence and in other townes and cities and shires were but a scattering of them But saith he in Alexandria and the other named places there were of Iewes ten hundred thousand Then with the nuÌ„ber of that people who were naturals of that countrie and with all other straungers and trafiquers in that place how many were the persons which lodged within those walles Rome was famous but neuer great When it was at the largest it was neuer the sixth part so spacious as Niniue was not ten miles about in compasse and yet we find in that Epitome which Lucius Florus left gathered out of those bookes of Liuy which are lost that the Censors taking view of the citizens of that Rome found of soules of heades full out foure hundred thousand That for all the inhabitants was more then thrise the nuÌ„ber of infants who were found in the mightie citie Niniue According to which proportion if we will compare place to place we shall see that there needeth no scruple to remaine in this whole matter Ordinarily there are more of children in al places then of any age by proportion All who are elder haue first bin infants but all infants grow not elder death cutteth off many of them Allow then that these children of three yeares old and vnder or foure yeares if ye will were the seuenth part of the citie yet the whole number of inhabitants shall but little exceed the double of the Romanes If you will suppose the children for the tenth or the twelfth part and not so low as the seuenth yet Niniue will still beare it Then this must be accepted as a iustifiable truth not onely ratified by faith and the word of God but probable and most likely in the naturall course of things Which being so then it is no maruell if the Lord who oftentimes pittieth his creatures sole and single did take such open commiseration vpon so populous a place 9 Now what like thing had Ionas which he might ballance against this Such a small thing such a light thing such a vaine thing in comparison as is scant worth the naming When they should be weighed together how iustly might he stand backward and hide his face for shame It is a gourd-like Kikajon a thing of one daies antiquitie whose wood was not for building whose fruite was not for feeding but the vse was only a shadow and yet so too that a little worme might destroy it all in a moment When at that time Niniue had stood and flourished a thousand yeares How is the iudgement of man besotted when we are left to our selues to sticke vpon things so contemptible and passe by that which is of moment Socrates the Historien doth tell of some who accounted of whoredom but as of a thing
indifferent but if question were concerning an holy-day they would striue for that as for their life Our Sauiour saith that the Pharisees stood to tith mint and anise but let go iudgement and mercie An absurditie of absurdities but yet short of this in our Prophet For if euer man strained a gnat and swallowed vp a camell it may be said to be he Indeede Adam went beyond him when in the height of his wisedome he preferred the tast of an apple or some such other fruite of a tree before the perpetuated ioyes which should haue bene in Paradise And so consequently they do who embrace the fraude of this world and contemne the blisse of eternitie But betweene eternall and tēporall there should be no comparison And as little almost is there betweene a gourd and Niniue Yet so that in his melancholie he might sit vnder the one he careth not what becommeth of the other An vnsociable part and exceedingly inhumane What man of kind affection would not leaue pleasure profite to do well to a many Camillus and Aristides and Cato would haue done it But they are wretched creatures who care not what sinke or swimme rather then themselues be disquieted the wagging of a finger It is recorded by Gellius as an euerlasting blot against the daughter of Appius Caecus that when comming once out of a play she was thronged by a multitude she wished that a brother of hers were aliue againe who lately before had lost many thousands of the Romanes in Sicily that he might make a hand with more of them The Aediles of the people set a great fine on her head for that her cruell conceit because rather then her selfe who might haue stayed at home would be thrust at a play she would wish the death of so many Ionas deserued higher punishment in as much as whē his case was no more serious yet he wished a greater matter But God willing to include his messenger in his mercie as well as the straungers of Niniue will not deale with him so seuerely but onely talking with him doth let him see his folly and so secretly reprooueth him By an argument which is drawne à minori ad maius he doth open his vnderstanding Thou a man doest loue a plant I a God do loue a people thou likest that which hath no sense I stand for that which hath reason thou carest for that which is but of thy new acquaintance I respect mine auncient charge Thou desirest that which did grow without any of thy labour I preserue that which I planted and watered with great diligence thou regardest that which is most momentanie I that which may stand thousands of yeares thou one indiuidual bodie I millions of more worth thou only carest for thine ease but I do this for mine honour that all the earth may know it In al which we may consider that is put with an Emphasis still designing the highest Maiestie And this may be said of the comparison 10 If I should proceede at large to obserue vnto you euery point which may fitly be deduced hence I might iustly offend your patience I will therefore but briefly touch that which may be enlarged farther In speaking of the gourd it is said that the Prophet did neuer labour for it he had it when he thought not of it This commendeth the most large bountie of him who ruleth all things who not onely sendeth somewhat to Ionas without his labour but to euery man besides In that sort he began with him from whome we all are deriued he put him into the world as into a house prepared and furnished to his hand Although not in that high degree yet many men of the world do tast of this in great measure Inheritours vnto kingdomes other earthly possessions left to them by their parents and for which they did neuer sweate but found them readie prouided are partakers of this blessing Their thankfulnesse should be the greater because their labour was the lesse Many of vs here assembled haue experience of Gods kindnesse powred on vs in that behalfe when we inhabite houses which we our selues neuer built and feed of that and are clothed with it which we did neuer buy Gods selected and choise instruments our honorable founders haue prouided these things for vs wherein we had no more finger then Ionas had in his gourd and the enioying whereof we could no more promise vnto our selues then they which least partake them It behooueth vs to remember that these consecrated things are not disposed by God nor dispensed by his seruants for idlenesse or luxurie or pampering of our selues but there is another end which will exactly be required of vs the glorifying of Christ an attendance at the altar a seruice in the Tabernacle or at least a doing of good in a ciuill and sociable life that it be not ill spent vpon vs which might better be spared Now as some do plentifully tast of wels which they neuer digged so there is not the poorest man nor most discontented creature but herein he hath a share For doth he liue and mooue what paines did he take for that It was giuen vnto him whē he thought not of it Hath he the earth to beare him the water to refresh him the aire to returne him breath what doth he for all these matters We are very dull if we see not that all the treasure vpon earth is not like to these gifts the worth whereof we conceiue not because we haue them but let vs want them but a little and we shall easily see at how high a rate they are to be esteemed But who is he that will earnestly enter into himselfe and call his wits to remembrance who may not see that from his cradle vnto this day many things according to his proportion haue bene bestowed vpon him which came wholly by Gods prouidence and quite without his trauell The conscience of each priuate man may best of all testifie this but euery one hath had more or lesse the most needie many an almes and other men other matters He who sent the gourd to the Prophet when he did not labour for it sent these good gifts to them and it was none but himselfe his name be praised for it 11 As this may teach true patience to him who wanteth many things so to returne to the infants somewhat more then is in them which may offer comfort vnto him What the number of little ones was in Niniue was well knowne to the Lord. By meanes of his infinit prouidence he hath the reckening of them He who calleth the starres by their names knew their kindreds and their houses and the accompt of the children And did he then precisely know how many and whose they were and doth he not so now Was there knowledge vnder the law and is there not in the time of grace was there fauour to the Gentiles and is there not to the Christians Yes he is the