a marveilous worke a wonder For the wisdome of the wise men shal perish the vnderstanding of the prudent men shall be hid Before he bad them stay themselues wonder that men should be drunken but not with wine stagger but not with strong drinke The cause followeth the Lord had covered them with a spirit of slumber and shut their eies There are many and mighty nations at this day their soile most happy their aire sweetly disposed people for flesh and bloud as towardly as the ground carrieth most provident to forecast most ingenious to invent most able actiue to performe of whoÌ„e you would say if you tried them Surely this is a wise people and of great vnderstanding To whome notwithstanding if Christ shoulde speake in person as he spake to Saule before his illumination why persecutest thou mee why do you stumble at my gospell and are offended at my name and account the preaching of my crosse foolishnesse they woulde aske as hee did who art thou or what is thy gospell name and crosse that thou tellest vs of So blind they are to beholde our day-spring so ignorant and vntaught touching Iesus of Nazareth Or if we should aske them of the holy ghost haue you received the holy ghost since you beleeved nay doe you beleeue that there is an holy ghost they would answere as the Ephesians did to Paul we haue not so much as heard whether there be an holy ghost What new doctrine is this they seeme to bee setters forth of new Gods and though they acknovvledge some God which nature it selfe obtrudeth vnto their thoughts yet they know not the God of Sydrach Misach Abednego whom Nabuchodonosor with that difference confessed after his vnderstaÌ„ding was restored vnto him nor the God of Daniell whome Darius by that name magnified after he saw the deliveraÌ„ce of his prophet from the lions den nor the God of Abraham Isaac Iacob to whom the promises were made nor the Lord God of heaven which hath made the sea and the dry land here specified Is it not a wonder thinke you that the people of the Turkes the hammer of the world as sometimes Babylon the rod of christendome able to say as the Psalme spake of Gilead and Manasses c. Asia is mine Africke is mine over Europe haue I cast my shooe a warlike politicke stately magnificent nation shoulde more bee carried avvaie by the enchantmentes of their lewde Prophet Mahomet then by the celestiall doctrine of the everlasting sonne of GOD who shed his bloud and gaue his soule a ransome for the sinne of mankinde what is the reason heereof vvant they nature or an arme of flesh are they not cutte from the same rocke are they not tempered of the same moulde are not thâ—ir heades vpwarde towarde heaven as the heades of other men haue they not reasonable soules capable and iudicious VVhat wante they then It is rectus spiritus a right spirite whereof they are destitute they haue a spirite I graunte to enliue their bodies but not rectified sanctified regenerated renewed to quicken their soules They haue an hearte to conceiue but it is a frowarde hearte a slowe hearte a stonie hearte a vaine and foolish hearte a skornefull contemptuous insolent incredulous heart against him that framed it Now if AEgypt bee so darke that the darkenesse thereof may be felt and it is a wonder in our eies to see such mistes in other places yet let Goshen reioyce that it standeth illightned still And those that haue seene an happye starre in the East to leade them to Christ which Herode and his princes the Turke and his Bassaws never sawe let them come and worship and bring presentes vnto the king of glory not of golde mirrhe and frankincense but of the finest mettall purest odours frankest offering of thankfull harts And let them not thinke but where more is received more vvill bee required and that they must answere to the Lorde of these talentes not onelye for nature but for a speciall inspiration besides wherewith they are endued And so to ende this point Blessed are your eies for they see and your eares for they heare I will not say that which many Prophets and righteous men haue desired but to change the speech a little that which many mighty Empires and large Continentes and not small cantons or corners but vvhole quarters of the world never attained vnto and will bitterly rue the time and wish to redeeme vvith the losse of both their eies that they haue not heard and seene as much as you haue done To come now to my purpose these marriners feare but where no feare is they feare nothing because they feare but idols and fansies the suppositioÌ„s of their owne braines And as they feare so they pray which was the second action and their errour therein being pardoned a naturall necessary service belonging to every mortall man their praier is consequent to their feare For vpon the reverence they carried towards their imaginary Gods they betooke themselues to this submissiue and suppliant service Primus in orbe Deos fecit timor Vnles we feared we could not thinke that there were a God But this actioÌ„ of theirs hath something good in it something to be reproved 1 In that they pray it sheweth the debility and weaknes of the nature of man if it be not holpen and commendeth the necessity and vse of prayer in all sorts of men 2 In that they pray with crying vehemency it noteth that their harts were fixed earnestly loÌ„ged for that which their lips craved 3 In that they cry to their Gods it proveth it a tribute due vnto God alone by the practise of heathen men 4 In that they pray every man as if in a common cause though they had not a common religion yet they had one soule hart and tongue common to them all it noteth the communion and fellowship of mankinde Thus far the observations hold good Their praying sheweth the misery of mortall men crying in praier their earnest desire to obtaine praying to Gods the maiesty of the immortal power praying togither that bond of humanity and brotherhood wherewith we are coupled 5 Their errour is a part of their obiect in the number of the Gods which they invocate that every person in the ship hath a proper and peculiar God whome he calleth vpon The Gods of the nations haue beene multiplied as the sandes of the sea what haue they not deified it cost but a little frankincense to giue the godhead vvhere it pleased them they haue turned the glorye of the immortall God into the similitude of the image of corruptible man and of birdes and foure footed beastes and of creeping thinges Besides the sunne and moone and the whole hoast of heaven they haue consecrated for Gods the sonnes of men vvhose breath is a vapour in their nostrels vvho shall be consumed before the vnprofitable mothes of
they had no answere they cried lowde nay they cut themselues with kniues and launcers till the bloude flowed out so they prayed not only in teares but in bloud that they might be heard I would the children of the lighte vvere as zealous in their generations But rather let them receiue their lighte and directions for the framing of this holie exercise from the sunne of righteousnesse of vvhome the Apostle vvitnesseth that in the daies of his flesh hee offered vp praiers and supplications with strong crying and teares vnto him that vvas able to helpe him And the gospel further declareth not only that he kneeled at the naming of whose name all knees haue bowed both in heauen and earth and vnder the earth but that hee fell vpon the grounde the foote-stoole of his owne maiesty and laie vpon his face which never Angell behelde without reverence and when he had praied before he praied more earnestly as the scripture recordeth hee once praied and departed and a second time departed and yet a third time and departed evermore vsing the same petition his praier ascended by degrees like incense and perfume and not only his lips went but his agony and contention within was so vehement that an angell was sent from heaven to comfort him and whereas the Priestes of Baal vsed art to make them bleede cutting their flesh with launcers and kniues to that purpose he with the trouble of his soule swet a naturall or rather vnnaturall sweat like dâ—oppes of bloude trickling downe to the earth Wee when wee goe to praier as if our soules and tongues were straungers the one not weeting what the other doth the lippes babbling without and the hearte not pricked with any inwarde compunction honouring GOD with our mouthes and our spirites farre from him deserue to bee answered as hee answered the Iewes Esay 1. When you stretch foorth your handes I will hide mine eies from you and though you make many praiers I will not heare you The reason is there your hâ—ndes are full of bloud the reason to vs may be your heartes bleede not you call me Lord Lord but meane it not the alter is without fire praier without heate wordes without intention gesture of the body without the consent of the inwarde man They cried vnto the Lord. It is not lesse then a miracle that men so newely endued with the knowledge of God can so presently renounce their ancient idolles which they had ever served and within but few minutes of time most religiously adored they call vpon Iehovah that hidden and fearefull name which earst they had not knowne and neither the accustomed maner of their countries nor colour of antiquity nor want of experience in another Lorde nor the simple narration of one singular prophet nor any the like motions can holde them in awe of their former imaginary GODS and keepe them from invocation of the Lorde of hostes No reason can bee yeelded but this The winde bloweth where it lifteth and the spirite breatheth where it will and the mercy of God softneth vvhere his pleasure is It is a gifte from him alone who giveth the new hart and putteth the new spirit within a man who taketh the stony hart from him and giveth him an hearte of flesh in steede thereof who of the stones by the bankes of Iordan saith Iohn Baptist is able to raise vp children to Abraham daily doth raise vp children to himselfe to do him worship and service of those that were hardned in idolatry before like flintes in the streetes Turne vs O Lord and we shall be turned wash vs with cleane water and we shall be cleansed renue vs as the eagle her daies and we shall be renued gather thy chosen flocke from the mountaines and desertes wheâ—n they stray to fulfill thy fold and we shall be gathered say thou wilt sweepe thy house and finde thy groat and we shall be found Nature cannot make a newe birth entring into our mothers wombe againe is vnable to worke it the gold of Sheba and Seba cannot purchase it No man commeth to the sonne vnlesse the father drawe him and if the father haue once given him into his handes all the devils in hell cannot pull him out againe I make it the wisedome of him that praieth to levell his heart and affections at the very right center and marke of praier which is God alone hee is the sanctuary to whome we must flie the periode and scope in whome our requestes must end Praier and faith if the Apostle deceiue vs not must kisse each other howe shall they call on him in whome they haue not beleeved faith is the ground of praier First we beleeue and then speake so was the order of David Doe wee my brethren beleeue in Angels for that is the Apostles phrase howe shall they call on him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in whome or vpon whome they haue not beleeved We beleeue that there are Angels which the Sadduces denied And if an Angell should come from heaven vnto vs with a message from God as he came to Mary and others we would beleeue Angels that is giue credence vnto them as they did But if we beleeue in Angels we forget their place of ministration which they are apointed vnto and make them our Gods Much lesse beleeue we in the sonnes of men which are lesse than Angels Therefore the gleaning of these Marriners is more worth than the whole vintage of Rome who in a moment of time haue gathered more knowledge howe to informe their praiers aright than they in the decourse of many continued generations These pray to Iehovah the true subsisting God they not only to God but to Angels and men and stockes and stones and metalles and papers and I knowe not what It may be a challenge sufficient vnto them all to say no more that in so many praiers of both auncient and righteous patriarkes prophets Iudges kings registred in the booke of GOD and in an hundreth and fiftie Psalmes an hundreth whereof at least are praiers and supplications and in all the devout requestes that the Apostles of Christ and other his disciples sent into heaven if they take the pen of a writer and note from the beginning of Genesis to the end of the Revelation they cannot finde one directed to Cherub or Seraphin Gabriel or Raphael Abraham or Moses or Iohn Baptist after his death or any other creature in heaven or earth saue only to the Lord and his annointed Haue these all erred Even so will we and more sweete shall our errour be vnto vs with these of whome we make no question but that they are bounde vp in the bundell of life with the congregation of first-borne than a newe and recent devise of praier obtruded vnto vs by those who falsly suppose themselues to bee the pillers and staies of Gods militant church The 86. Psal. to giue you a little portion of foode to ruminate vpon as some
thereof For what vse had he either of his hands to helpe himselfe withall more than Ieroboam had when his hande was withered or of his eies to beholde the light of heaven more than if the eagles of the valley had pickt them out or of his eares to heare any sentence of comforte more than if they had never beene planted The grinders within his head what did they for him vnlesse they ground and whetted themselues His tongue what tasted it excepte his owne spittle He might truly say with the prophet Esay that from the crowne of the heade to the sole of his foote there was no parte that did the duties of it But all those former defectes and impotencies are nothinge to that he nowe speaketh of VVhen my soule fainted within mee For as the soule is of more worth and excellencie than the body so the languishmentes of the soule more grievous and the death of the soule more remedilesse than those of the bodie and therefore as the hazarde exceedeth so the health of the soule is more dearely to bee tendered In the greatest distemperatures and disorders of the body vvhen the bones are smitten asunder and the loynes filled vvith a sore disease when the woundes are putrified and stinke the marrow and moysture quite dryed vp yea though it bee brought and dissolved into the dust of death yet the soule may bee safe and sounde notwithstanding and in farre better case than vvhen shee lived in her house of claie But if the soule bee sicke can the body have any comforte Maie vvee not then inferre vvith him in the comedie My hearte is sicke my raines sicke my splene sicke my liver sicke and all my other partes are out of frame Out of this comparison betweene the body and soule let mee make my perswasion vnto you The men of the world were wâ—nt to say saith Bernarde that hee that keepeth his bodie keepeth a good castell A castell how long to continue this is the errour of worldly men to call their tabernacle which was made to be removed and pulled downe vpon every light occasion a castell VVee say not so but hee that keepeth his bodie keepeth a base dunghill He that had seene the body of righteous Iob vlcerated botched and blained sitting vpon the dunghill woulde he not haue thought that a dunghill had sitten vpon a dunghill But hee that keepeth his soule hee keepeth a good castell indeede borne to eternity hee keepeth a heaven in comparison the sunne and moone and starres whereof are vnderstanding faith and hope with other Christian graces and the Lord of hostes himselfe hath his dwelling therein There is no man so simple no man so vile but taketh this to bee a castell of honor and strength because they beleeue it to be immortall Our saviour manifested this difference both by the ende of his comming in the flesh which was principally for our soules after for our bodies first to take away the sinnes of the worlde which are spirituall diseases then to remooue corporall infirmities and by the behaviour of his owne person amongst vs who though he suffered his body to bee tried with all kindes of ignominious and accursed vexations with spittings whippings buffetings and the bitterest death of the crosse yet was it ever his care to preserue his soule free from staines and corruptions It is not thus with the sonnes of men nowe a daies They neglect the care and culture of their soules but the lustes of the flesh they make provision for with all possible diligence They haue learned from the schoole of Hippocrates the physitian and Epicurus the swine to physicke and diet their bodies but the sicknesse and death of the soule which are their sinnes they never account of till they see they must bee punished O yee sonnes of men foolish and slowe of hearte to conceiue the rightest thinges howe long will yee loue such vanities and seeke after leasing These times are allotted to the soule not to the bodie Nowe is the time of salvation not of pleasure and pastime Let the flesh alone a while more then nature and necessity require let it not bee favoured either in food or rayment or any the like transitorye and fading benefite And vvhen it is vveary of walking vpon the face of the earth let it goe downe in peace and rest in hope till hee that came for your soules before shall also come to raise and reforme it In the fainting of our soules there is a grosse difference betwixte Ionas and vs. His soule fainted vvithin him through paine ours through pleasure and that pleasure the mother and nurse of a worser paine Our fleshe is too insolent against the spirite and keepeth it vnder with a stronge hande Hagar despiseth Sara the servaunt setteth her foote in the necke of her mistresse The flesh is cloathed like the raine-bowe with colours of all sortes wee goe into the bowels of the earth wee goe into the bowelles of the sea as farre and as lowe as ever Ionas went to seeke pearles and the riches of the sea to adorne it VVe forget our selues shamefully in such vnnecessary travaile It is the Queene that shoulde bee cloathed in a vesture of needle vvorke wroughte with diverse colours but the Queene is stripte of her iewels the soule robbed of her ornamentes and rich attire and the body is the theefe that deceiveth it The flesh is daintily fedde with the finest flowre of the wheate and the reddest bloud of the grape wee care not what it costeth the vnworthiest member we haue is deâ—fied and made our God a sinne beyonde the sinne of the Pagans shamefull and beastly idolatry they made them Gods of silver and golde and marble wee of our bellies what is done with the soule the meane time behold shee is pined and famished the breade of life is not bought nor sought for to strengthen her withall shee is kept from the gospell of peace and from the body and bloud that inconsumptible meate of her holy redeemer Shee that was borne from aboue to eate the hidden Manna the foode of Angels and to be nourished with the tree of life whose beginnings call her home againe is lesse regarded than a lumpe of earth O consider that hee vvho looseth the life of a bodie maie finde it againe The time shall come vvhen they that are in the graues shall heare the voice of the sonne of GOD. But the losse of a soule is vnrecoverable If it die in sinne it shall also die in perdition Rather it shall not die for it is not as the soule of the beast that endeth with the bodie O living and ever-living death Let them take heede that haue eares to heare with Their price hath beene once paide vvhich if the riches of Salomon treasures of Ezechias all the silver and golde within the globe of the earth coulde haue satisfied God would willingly haue spared his owne bloude Let them not looke for more Christs
the peoples In another place speaking of their righteousnesse he limiteth it thus They were righteous after a probable and laudable conversation amongest men He often distinguisheth betweene these two Peccatum querela Peccatum criâ—â—en the one sinne in generall which no man is freed from for it is an absolute sentence and needeth no exposition if we say that we haue no sinne wee deceiue our selues wee are but blowne bladders the other some great offences as David calleth it malicious vvickednesse some hainous notorious scandalous sinne culpable in the eies of men and vvorthy of censure and crimination Wee saie in his Enchiridion to Laurentius that the life of holie men may bee founde though not vvithout faulte yet vvithout an offensiue faulte Againe in his bookes of the city of God It is not the speech of vulgar and common men but of those that are rightly Saintes If vvee say that vvee sinne not c. then shall this liberty and immunity from passions bee vvhen there shall bee no sinne in men nowe vvee liue vvell enough if vvithout scandall but hee that thinketh hee liueth vvithout sinne hee doeth not thereby free himselfe from sinninge but from receiving remission of sinnes In the first epistle of Iohn the thirde chapter the Apostle seemeth to favour the opinion of absolute righteousnesse in man Hee that is borne of GOD sinneth not Peradventure saieth Augustine hee meaneth some certaine sinne not all sinne Vnderstande heereby a definite speciall sinne which he that is borne of GOD cannot commit It maye bee the vvante of loue Dilectionis carentia It may bee the greate sinne of infidelitie vvhich our Saviour noteth in the Iewes Iohn the fifteenth If I had not come and spoken vnto them they shoulde not haue had sinne the sinne vvherein all other sinnes are helde the sinne vnto death the sinne not to bee repented of and therefore not to bee pardoned Against Parmenian he aunswereth it thus Although we sinne not so farre foorth as vvee are borne of GOD yet there remaineth in vs some parte of our birth from Adam Bernarde vpon the Canticles giueth the reason why hee sinneth not The heauenly generation preserveth him that is the euerlasting predestination VVhich reason the Apostle himselfe seemeth to accorde vnto for his â—eede remaineth in him Surely there is no man that sinneth not Salomon preciselie affirmeth it in the dedication of the temple GOD hath concluded all vnder sinne Omnes odit qui malos odit Hee that hateth evill men hateth all men because there is none that doeth good no not one Noah may be a righteous man in his time and generation compared vvith thoâ—e amongst whom he liued Thamar may bee more righteous than Iudâ—h yet Thamar sinnefull enough the Publican may goe to his house more iustified than the Pharisee yet not simply iustified thereby The spouse in the Canticles may bee faire amongest women yet her beautye not such but that shee iustlye complaineth of her blackenesse Though she exceedeth the soules of men whilst they liue in the body yet shee is shorte of angelicall perfection Iohn Baptist had not a greater amongest the sonnes of vvomen but vvhosoever vvas least in the kingdome of GOD and all the coelestiall spirites are farre beyonde him The best that liue vpon the earth have brevia leviaque peccata shorte and lighte sinnes yet sinnes quamvis pauca quamvis parva non tamen nulla Though fevve in number small in measure yet sinnes in nature Therefore vve may conclude with the same father whose shielde I haue hitherto vsed against the enemies to the grace of God Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousnesse VVee must knovve our povertie and become suâ—ters and bâ—ggers for iustice if vve meane to speede Our righteousnesse in this life is such as â—ather consisteth in the remission of our sinnes than in the perfection of our vertues And to speake the trueth in the vvhole question of iustification betwixte the Papistes and vs our iustice is not iustice in proper and direct tearmes but mercy For that righteousnesse that we haue is meerely of mercy not actiue but passiue not that which wee worke our selues but GOD worketh it for vs. Abluta estis iustificati estis you haue washed or iustified your selues No you are vvashed and iustified And therefore it is called the righteousnesse of GOD because it commeth from abroad not inherent in our selues but from God deriued and by him imputed And 1. Corinthians 1. Christ is made vnto vs of God vvisedome and righteousnesse and sanctification and redemption First wisedome in preaching and instruction Secondly righteousnesse in the forgiuenesse of our sinnes Thirdly sanctification in the holinesse of our liues Fourthly redemption in his mighty deliueraunce from all our enemies that as it is vvritten hee that reioyceth may reioyce in the Lorde and knovve that neither of all these is of himselfe God obiected to the king of Tyrus in derision Ezechiell the twenty eighth Thou arte vviser then Daniell I aske of the children of Babylon what they thinke of themselues whether they goe beyonde Daniell in holinesse and integrity of life He in the ninth of his prophecie confesseth sinne and iniquitie and rebellion in all the men of Iudah and inhabitantes of Ierusalem and the vvhole people of Israell farre or neere kinges princes fathers and that righteousnesse is vvith GOD alone and vvith them confusion of face hee vtterly disclaimeth their owne iustice we come not to pray before thee for any righteousnesse in our selues and appealeth vnto the righteousnesse of the Lorde O Lorde according vnto all thy righteousnes let thine anger bee turned away ver 16. For the Lords sake that is thy Christ thine annointed verse 17. For thy greate tender mercies verse 18. Finallie for thine owne sake ver 19. This was the spirit of Daniell and they that come in the confidence of their owne pure spirites neither shall their owne praiers availe and the praiers of Daniel and Noah and all the righteous saintes in heaven which they hang vpon shall not helpe them You see our innocency iustice and perfection not that our sins are not but that they are remitted but that they are covered by the mercie of God but that they are not imputed which is the chiefe blessednes of man as wee reade in the 32. Psalme I coulde haue noted so much vnto you by a phrase which my text affordeth Lay not vpon vs innocent bloud For then are we cleere in the sight of God when the sins whereof we are guilty are not laide to our charges nor remembred Blessed are all those vvho are thus discharged of their vnsupportable soules burden that though they have many sinnes they are bound vp in a bundle and drawne into a narrowe roome though insolent climbing aspiring sinnes yet they are cast into the bottome of the sea though they are as red as crimson and scarlet yet their hue is changed they are made as white as wooll or snowe by the bloud
souls spirits one froÌ„ the other lastly if the offer of peace be refused sound wars rumors of wars at their gates such tribulation besides as the like hath never been since the beginning of the creatioÌ„ which God created vnto that time neither shal be again Who knoweth if they wil be softned if not for the loue of vertue nor for the recoÌ„pence that springeth therehence yet for the other cause for fear of the wrath of God which they hear denouÌ„ced It may be feeding a while vpoÌ„ the foode of iudgment as Ezechiel calleth it will breed good bloud in theÌ„ the coÌ„sideration of such misery wil work the 〈◊〉 effect in theÌ„ that the sense of adversity wrought in Ionas I meane to shake of their burtheÌ„ of sin to turne vnto the Lord their God wiâ—h vnfained coÌ„versioÌ„ which was the 2. thing that I propouÌ„ded vnto you in the afflictioÌ„s of the prophet what effect they produced from him I cried in mine affliction Binde Manasses with chaines loade him with irons bow downe his necke and his backe with bonds he will know himselfe Pull the king of Babylon froÌ„ his throne lay his honor insolency in the dust hunt him froÌ„ the coÌ„pany of men banish him froÌ„ his pallace wherin he â—erted like a monarch indeed turne him into the field to eat grasse like an oxe to be wet with the dew of heaveÌ„ you shal find a miracle quickly done an oxe to have more vnderstaÌ„ding thaÌ„ a maÌ„ he wil theÌ„ learne to praise the king of heaveÌ„ whose tower is an everlasting power his kingdoÌ„â— froÌ„ generatioÌ„ to generatioÌ„ The idolatrous Iewes in the 2. of Ier. that being called to the true God spake desparately stifly No but we have loved strangers those wiâ— we follow in their trouble notwithstanding they will cry to the right God arise thou helpe vs. In their affliction they will seeke him diligently will take sound words into their lips Come and let vs returne to the Lord for he hath spoiled he wil heale vs he hath wounded he wil binde vs vp Let Moab settle it selfe vpon her lees not be emptied froÌ„ vessel to vessel her sent wil remaine in her Doth the wild asse bray wheÌ„ he hath grasse or the oxe low wheÌ„ he hath fodder But take away the grasse from the wilde asse he wil be tameâ— fodder froÌ„ the oxe you shal heare him rore Ther must be a whirl-winde raised a fiery chariot prepared to carry Elias into heaveÌ„ there must be heresies to try the approved there must be a furnace to purge the silver gold there must be a fire to fine the sonnes of Levi there must be an angel of Sathan to keepe Paul from pride A pilote must be tried by a tempest saith Basile a runner by a race a captaine by a battaile a christian by calamity tentation provocation misery Wherin if poisons become preservatives froÌ„ the venime of serpents the wisedome of God can extract an antidote against the venime of serpents if all things shall worke togither to the best for those that are Christes if evill by nature shall be made good by his powrefull art if the waters of a floud overspreading the whole globe of the earth bee so far from drowning the Arke that they shall lift it higher and bring it nearer to the presence of God if afflictions I meane by the good haÌ„dling of our gracious God be not afflictions but medicines the more they encrease vpon vs the nearer they land vs to the haven of his blessings how truely may we say acknowledge with Barnard Totus mundus fideli divitiarum est the whole worlde is riches to a faithful maÌ„ even when it seemeth to be poverty with Augustine that nothing happeneth to man from the Lord our God but coÌ„meth in the nature of mercie when tribulation it selfe is such a benefite For both prosperity is his gift comforting and adversity his gift admonishing vs. A very vnlikely seede to yeeld such fruit as bitter as mustard seede but give it leave to growe the fruit shall be very pleasant The wicked vnderstand not this the vnwise have not knowledge of his waies She crieth in the comoedy shee presenteth the person of them all that are her companions Hanccine ego partem capio ob pietatem praecipuam Tum hoc mihi indecorè iniquè immodestè datis dij Nam quid habebunt sibi igitur impij post hac c. Is this my portion guerdon for my especial piety theÌ„ do the gods reward me very vnsemely vniustly vnreasonably For how shal the wicked hereafter be dealt with if the godly be thus honored amoÌ„gst you Augustine in his preface vpon the 25. Psalme laieth downe the like coÌ„plaints of some O Deus Deus Haecciné est iustitia tua O God God is this thy iustice the Lorde answereth them againe haecciné est fides tua is this thy faith hast thou so learned Christ is this the best instruction thou hast found in my law to murmure against my discipline possesse thy soule therfore in patience whosoever thou art leave the ordering of these things to the wisdome of God with whoÌ„e it is alike to sweeten the pot of the prophets with meale the waters of Iericho with salt to cure the eies of Tobias with a gall to streÌ„gthen the sight of IonathaÌ„ with an honi-coÌ„be Some he healeth by hony some by gall some by salt some by meale some by sower some by sweete some by piping soÌ„e by daÌ„cing some by prosperity some by afflictioÌ„ but al by some meanes or other that have a longing desire to the waies of happines Now then againe I say if it be a good thing sometimes to be humbled of the Lord for till we are huÌ„bled coÌ„monly we go astray if it be an happy pricking of the body that maketh a pricking in the hart if expedient for al sorts of meÌ„ that the hand of the Lord shoulde nowe and then take holde on them because a sinner is amended the righteous is instructed thereby because gold is prooved iron is scowred by this meanes if when the outward man is corrupted the inwardâ— iâ— renued daily 2. Cor. 4. and there is honour in dishonour riches in poverty life in â—eath possessing all thinges in having nothing 2. Cor. 6. if when the fatheâ—s of our flesh chasten vs for their pleasures the father of our spirites correcteth vs for our profit that we may be partakers of his holineâ— though â—o chastisement seeme ioious for the time yet it bringeth the quiet fruit of righteousnes to those that are exercised thereby if when the body of Iâ—nas was in thrall beneath the soule of Ionas triumphed aloft and when the tongue of his flesh could not speake perhaps a word skarce muâ—ter to it selfe the tongue of
or more passions if they vvill goe into captivity againe let them goe but they shall not returne if they sell themselues to the will of their enemy let them never hope for a second ransome VVhen my soule fainted In the second circumstance of the first branch wherein is noted the affection of his soule I will rather marke the efficacie of the worde heere brought than make discourse vpon it The very noting of the worde is discourse enough The wordes that the holy ghost vseth are not vaine vvordes such as are vsed by men to deceiue with the examination search wherof yeeldeth no profit but he that wil weigh them aright must not only view the outwarde face of the whole sentence at large but sucke out the iuice and bloude of every severall vvorde therein contained The extremitye of the soule of Ionas seemeth to bee very greate because there is no little trouble and care how to expresse it The Septuagints render it an eclipse or if you will a dereliction and death of the soule Calvin a convolution or folding vp togither Tremelius an overvvhelming Ierome a streightning or compacting into a close roume Pomeran a despairing VVhatsoever it is Rabbi Kimhi affirmeth that the vvorde is never vsed but of greate miserie happily such as shall accompanie the last times when men shall bee at their wittes endes for feare and their heartes shall faile them because of troubles Nowe whither you saie that his soule forsooke him as if it were and there was deliquium animae a disparition of it for a time as if it vvere not like the state of Eutychus in the Actes who was taken vp for deade though his life remayned in him or vvhither it were wrapt and vvounde vvithin it selfe that her owne house was a prison vnto her and shee had no power to goe foorth no list to thinke of heaven no minde to aske the counsaile of GOD or man as vvhen a birde is snared the more it laboureth the harder it tieth it selfe and though it vse the legges or the vvinges it vseth them to a further hinderaunce so all the thoughtes that the soule of Ionas thought were not to ease the hearte but more to perplexe it and all fell backe againe vpon himselfe or whither the soule were overwhelmed vvithin him with her owne weighte as one that shoulde gather stones for his owne graue or that it was pinched and pressed within a narrowe place that all those former impedimentes promontories and barres of the earth did not imprison him so close as his owne feare or whatsoever it were besides what was it else but either the messenger and fore-runner or a neare companion to that vnnaturall and vngratious sinne which wee haue often alreadye smitten at with the sworde of Gods spirite accursed desperation Howe is the golde become drosse howe is the soule of man turned into a carkeise The chaunge is marvailous That that was given to quicken the bodie and to put life into it is most dull and liuelesse it selfe That that was given to giue liberty explication motion agilitie and arte to every parte of the bodye is nowe the greatest burthen that the body hath If I shall giue the reason heereof it is that which Bernarde alleageth in a Sermon The reasonable soule of man hath two places an inferiour vvhich it governeth the bodie a superiour vvherein it resteth GOD vvhich is the same in substance that Augustine had before delivered in his nineteenth treatise vpon Saint Iohn it quickneth and it selfe is quickened VVherefore if that better life vvhich is from aboue relinquish the soule vvith the comfortes and aides of GODS blessed spirite hovve is it possible but that the soule should also relinquish her body with the offices of her life This is the reason then that the soule faineteth shee first dyeth vpwardes then dovvne-wardes and invvardely to her selfe Shee forgetteth her maker and preserver and hee likevvise striketh her vvith amazement and confusion in all her powers that shee lyeth as it vvere in a traunce and knovveth not howe to apply them to their severall and proper functions Nowe therefore if the floudes and waues of the sea wherewith hee was embraced on every side had beene as kinde vnto him as ever were his mothers armes and those ragged endes of the mountaines like pillowes of downe vnder his bones if the promontories and barres of the earth had vnbarred themselues vnto him of their owne accorde like those dores of the prison in the Actes to let him out yet if the soule within him did remaine thus fettered and gived with the chaines of her owne confusion and all the devises and counsailes of her heart were rather hinderances than helpes vnto her and her greatest enmitie or at least her least friendship came from her owne house that either shee thought nothing or all that shee thought was but the imagination of a vaine thing I would not wish her greater harme Hee wanteth no other miserie that is plagued with a fainting soule Aske not the malice of the sea the malice of the lande the malice of hell against him vvhom the vntovvardenesse and distruste of his ovvne soule hath beaten downe The thirde circumstaunce maketh mention of the subiect or place vvherein his soule fainted that you may knovve there is no power in man to vndoe such implicite cordes and to loose the bandes of sorrowe and death vnlesse some vertue from vvithout set too an helping hande The sense is verie plaine that in himselfe his soule fainted that is there vvas no domesticall earthly naturall helpe that coulde release him but vvhen his father mother friendes lande sea his soule all had forsaken him the Lorde tooke him vp and gaue him better hope For vvho should restore to libertie a soule confounded as this was and re-deliver it to her former abilities teach her to vnderstande arighte prudentlie to deliberate assuredly to hope who reconcile a man fallen out with himselfe and make peace within his borders or rather reviue and recover a man fallen from himselfe but hee who is said to order a good mans goinge and to bee a GOD of order not of confusion VVhen the earth was vvithout forme and voide and darkenesse vpon the deepe and neither heaven nor earth lande nor water day nor night distinguished who fashioned the partes of that vnshapen Chaos separated light from darkenesse and brought the creature into a comely proportion but even the same LORDE who finding this wastnesse and informity in the soule of Ionas made it perfit againe It is evident in the nexte wordes For marke the connexion VVhen my soule fainted within me I remembred the Lorde How is it possible for did his soule faint and was it in maner no soule vnto him as it fareth with some who seeme for a space to bee deade and their spirites to haue forsaken them was all the strength thereof consumed stifled choked given over within him and had hee a memorie
and the like so vvhen the soule is taken from the body either of man or beast there remaineth but a carkas Therefore the Apostle calleth death the dissolution or pulling downe of our earthly house Peter the deposition or laying along of a tabernacle And our saviour bade the Iewes speaking of his bodilie death Destroie this temple and in three daies I vvill reare it vp againe There are many phrases throughout the scripture abroad wherby the terrour of death is lenified and tempered vnto vs and the very nature thereof wholy changed For whereas the nature of death is to kil and to spoile the being of living things by these we may gather that touching the elect death it selfe is slaine and deprived of it owne being God telleth Abraham Gen. 15. that his seed should be a stranger in a land that was not theirs but himselfe shoulde goe to his fathers in peace What is that shall hee travaile againe as hee did to Chanaan or Egypt no but hee shall bee buried in a good age not prevented by vmtimely death nor carried into captivity but laide in the graue amongst his auncient friendes and acquaintance A thing vvhich a man vvoulde desire with much suite if hee were held from it To Moses his servant hee altereth the phrase For Numb 27. hee shall bee gathered to his people as one that were scattered and straied from the rest of the flocke and Deut. 31. he must sleepe vvith his fathers and take a comfortable rest wiâ—h others that haue laboured in their times David beginning as it vvere vvhere Moses leaveth calleth it the rest of the flesh in hope Psalme the sixteenth Esay addeth the place and noteth where that rest shall bee They shall enter into their chambers and shutte the dores vnto them and hide themselues for a time But in the fifty and seventh of his prophecie more perfitely speaking of the deliverance of the righteous they rest in their beddes So first they go to their fathers as men left behinde to the company of strangers after their going they are gathered vnto them that as there vvas but one folde of the living so there may bee but one folde and condition of the deade after their gathering vnto them they sleepe and take their rest the visions of their heades not making them afraide nor breaking their quiet as in their life time not vpon a stone as Iacob did nor in the tent of an enemy as Sisera but in their chambers and vpon their beddes the dores beeing close about them and their bones delivered from former disturbances But all these concerne the bodie alone The sweetest and ioyfullest of them all I meane to the Lordes inheritance is the surrendring of the soule into the LORDES custodie and protection and the resigning vp of the spirit to him that is the LORDE of the spirite of all flesh Numbers the sixteenth So was the praier or rather bequest of David Psalme 31. leaving his crowne to Salomon his body to wormes and rottennesse or to their lodging in darkenesse as Iob called it Lorde into thy handes I lay downe or pavvne my spirite And CHRIST of the seede of David commended his spirite to none other keeper nor in other tearmes And that you may know how vniforme like it selfe the Spirit of God is the blessed Apostle keepeth the same stile 2. Tim. 1. These things I suffer but I am not ashamed for I know whom I haue trusted I am perswaded that he is able to keepe my pledge that I haue coÌ„mitted vnto him against that day To those that must die more surely than they liue for Iosuah calleth it the way custoÌ„e of the whole earth can there be a greater coÌ„fort than this that when the dust shall returne to the earth as it was yet in fulnesse of time to be formed into a new Adam as that first originall dust the spirit returneth to God that gaue it that we may as boldly go to our maker as ever Paul weÌ„t to Carpus at Troas to leaue his cloke bookes parchments in his handes so we to commend the richest iewels we haue vnto his fidelity to say with his holy martyr Lord Iesu receaue our spirtes But to cease from farther discussion of the phrase wee may a little enquire whither it were lawfulll for Ionas to wishe for death Many I graunt oppressed with misery and not able or willing to beare their crosse doe little lesâ—e than call to mountaines and rockes to fall vpon them and to end their wretched daies I am sure they complaine that light shoulde bee giuen vnto those men whome God hath hedged in and they reioyce for gladnes when they can finde the graue For then they say wee shoulde haue lien and beene in quiet vvee shoulde haue slept then and beene at rest As if they had beene borne with any other coÌ„dition theÌ„ to walke a pilgrimage of few evill daies or as if the evill day which the Apostle warneth vs of were not the whole course of our life partely through him who is principally evill breathing out his malice against vs partly through evill men infesting and disturbing our peace but rather through the evill of sinne procuring wrath and the evill of adversity ensuing thervpon In consideration of which troubles of life it was that Simonides being asked as Iacob was by Pharaoh how long he had lived made answere but a little though many yeares For if wee remember how much of our better and vitall life goeth away in agues and feeblenesse and other the like annoiances we may seeme perhappes olde men and are indeede but children It was a worthy aunswere that Artabanus gaue to Xerexes the mighty Emperour of Persia when viewing his huge army of at least a thousand thousand men drinking whole rivers dry as they vvent and commaundinge both hilles and seas to giue vvay vnto them hee vvepte because it came to his minde that vvithin the space of an hundreth yeares not one of that goodlye companye shoulde bee founde aliue I vvoulde that vvere the vvorst saith hee For vvee endure much more sorrowe by retayning life Neither is there any one of these nor of all men living besides so happye vpon the earth that hee doth not once and often cast in his minde how much more pleasure there were in dyinge than in living As our life is replenished with all kinde of misery so death by nature is an enemy to life which both man and beast flye from All thinges desire being And God never created death amongst his good workes It came partlye through the envye of the devill vvho lied vnto man saying yee shall not die partely through the transgression of Adam and partlye through the anger of God rendring the right stipend due to sinne VVherefore hee threatned it as a punishment Genesis the second The day vvherein thou shalt eate of the forbiedden fruite thou shalt dye the death Afterwardes vvhen
and cannot be satisfied with the pure and vndefiled word of God converting their soules but being called out of darkenesse into a marveilous light they call themselues out of light into a marveilous darkenesse againe What is this but to feele for a wall at noone day as Iob speaketh that is when the clearest light of the gospell of Christ shineth in the greatest brightnesse and perfection thereof to wrap it vp in the darknes of such disputations as bring no profit You see the occasion of my speech the indiscretion and abuse of those men who take the scriptures as it were by the necke writhe them from the aime and intention of the holy ghost The substance of the commission followeth Arise and goe to Niniveh that great citie c. Every word in the charge is weighty and important 1 Arise In effect the same commaundement which was giuen to Ieremy Trusse vp thy loines arise and speake to them the same which to Ezekiel Sonne of man stand vpon thy feete that is set thy selfe in a readines for a chargeable service sit not in thy chaire lie not vpon thy couch say not to thy soule take thine ease Arise It craueth the preparation and forwardnes not onely of the body but also of the minde and spirit of Ionas 2 Goe When thou art vp keepe not thy tabernacle stand not in the market place nor in the gates of Ierusalem nor in the courtes of the Lords house but girde vp thy reines put thy sandales about thy feete take thy staffe in thine hand thou hast a iorney and voiadge to be vndertaken Goe 3 To Niniveh Not to thine owne country where thou wast borne and bredde and art familiarly acquainted linked with thy kindred and friends and hast often prophecied but to a forreign nation whose language will be ridles vnto thee to the children of Assur the rod and scourge of Israell Goe to Niniveh 4 To Niniveh a citie c. No hamlet nor private village but a place of frequencie and concourse proud of her walles and bulwarkes plentifully flowing with wealthe her people mutiplied as the sandes of the river and the more populous it is the more to be feared and suspected if thy message please them not The first that ever built a city was Cain and it is noted by some divines that his purpose therein was to in viron himselfe with humane strength the better to avoide the curse of God 5 A greate city Large and spacious which had multiplied her marchantes aboue the starres of heaven and her princes as grasshoppers the Emperours courte the golden heade of the picture the ladie of the earth the seate of the monarch the mother city and heade of the whole land 6 Cry When thou art come to Niniveh keepe not silence smoother not the fire within thy bones make not thy heade a fountaine of teares to vveepe in secret for the sinnes of that nation vvrite not the burden in tables vvhisper not in their eares neither speake in thy vsuall and accustomed strength of speech but Crye lifte vp thy voyce like a trumpet charme the deafest adder in Niniveh let thy voice bee heard in their streetes and thy sounde vppon the toppes of their houses 7 Against it Thou mightest haue thought it sufficient to haue cried vvithin the cittie of Niniveh it vvoulde haue dravvne the vvonder of the people vppon thee to haue seene a matter so insolent and seldome vsed But thou must cry against it even denounce my vengeance and preach fire and brimstone vppon their heades if they repent not 8 For their wickednesse c. But the reason shal be handled in the proper place thereof For brevities sake I will reduce the whole vnto three heades 1 The place which the prophet is sent vnto Arise and goe to Niniveh 2 What he is to doe in Niniveh Cry against it 3 For what cause For their wickednesse is come vp before me These two former words differing sōwhat in degree the one calling vp Ionas as it were from sleepe Arise the other setting him forward in his way Go and the one happily belonging to the inward the other to the outward man as they import a dulnes and security in vs without Gods instigation and furtherance so they require a forwardnes and sedulity of every seruant he hath in his severall calling Our life is a warfare vppon the earth saith Iob the condition whereof is still to be exercised Iacob the patriarch after his long experience of an hundred and thirty wearisome winters called it a pilgrimage of fewe and evill daies therefore no rest to be taken in it They that accounte it a pastime shewe that their heart is ashes their hope more vile then the earth we walke vpon We must awake from sleepe stande vp from the dead for idlenes is a very graue vnto vs that Christ may giue vs light we are called into a vineyard some one or other vocation of life and christianity the vniversall vineyard common to vs all Shall wee stand to see and to bee seene as in a market place and doe nothing Are wee now to learne that the penny of eternall blisse is reserved for workemen and the difference betweene the hiring of God and the divell is that God requireth the labour before hee payeth the wages the divell paieth the wages before hand that so he may dull our edge vnto labour and nurse vs in idlenesse for paines to come VVhen wee heare the messengers of God returne with these vnwelcome tidings vnto him wee haue gone through the whole world beholde it sitteth still and is at rest can wee bee ignorant what echo resoundes vnto it for when they shall say peace and safetie then shall come vpon them sodaine destruction as travell vpon a woman with childe and they shall not escape Haue wee not red that idlenesse and security was one of the sinnes that overthrewe Sodome and her daughters that allthough themselues slept and snorted in pleasure yet their damnation slept not And what els is an idle man but a citie vvithout defence which when the enemy of the soule hath destroyed he saith as that other enemy in Ezechiel I will go vp to the land that hath no walled towers I will go to them that are at rest and dwell in safety which dwell all without walles and haue neither barres nor gates The fodder the whip and the burthen belong to the asse meate correction and worke vnto thy servant Send him to labour that hee grow not idle for idlenes bringeth much evill it is the counsell of the sonne of Syrach happy is that man that ordereth his servant according to that counsaile I meane that saith vnto his flesh arise and it ariseth goe and it goeth As the Centurion in the gospell said to his souldiour do this and he did it Augustus the emperour hearing that a gentleman of Rome notwithstanding a great burthen of
dissemble with thee they are a rebellious nation they and their fathers before them vnto this daie children harde of face and stiffe harted Thou shalt say vnto them thus saith the Lorde God but surely they will not heare neither will they cease for they are rebels and thornes and scorpions I haue now vnfoulded the conditions of thy charge If thou findest thy courage sufficient to endure the gain-saying of rebels the pricking and rending of thornes tearinge the eares with contumely and the name of thy maker with blasphemous speech the hissing and stinging of pestilent scorpions then go to the children of Israell if not thou art vnmeete for this busines As if a prophet of our daies should be sent to Constantinople and haue his instruction given him at his setting forth that it is a portlye and insolent city the seate of the greate Turke the hart of the Empire a cage of all vncleanenes an enemy to the name of Christians vvarring continually against the saints a scorner of our crucified Redeemer a worshipper of the false prophet Mahomet vvith other such like colde encouragements feeling his pulses as it were and examining his spirit whether it hath a power to fight with these daungers It was some comfort no doubt amongst the discomfortes to come that our saviour lessonned his Disciples before their goinge abroade Beholde I send you as lambes among Wolues They will deliver you vp to the Councelles and scourge you in their synagogues and you shall bee brought to the governours and Kings for my sake in witnes to them and to the Gentiles In the 16. of Iohn hee plainely professeth his meaning in these kinds of predictions these thinges haue I saide vnto you that yee should not bee offended They shall xcommunicate you yea the time shall come that whosoever killeth you shall thinke that hee doth God service But these thinges haue I told you that when the houre shall come you may remember that I told you of them The foreknowledge of dangers ensuing gaue invincible constancy and resolution to Paul as appeareth in his excellent oration made at Miletum behold I go bounde in the spirit to Ierusalem know not what things shall come vnto mee there saue that the holie Ghost witnesseth in everie citie saying that bandes and afflictions staie for mee Herevpon he composeth his heart to patience and calleth all his forces home to himselfe to resist those afflictions But I passe not at all neither is my life deare vnto me c. And when Agabus at Caesarea had taken the girdle of Paul and bounde his owne hands and feete saying from the mouth of the holy Ghost So shall the Iewes at Ierusalem bind the man that oweth this girdle when his friends would haue held him backe from going to Ierusalem he aunswered boldly and saide what doe ye weeping and breaking mine heart For I am ready not to be bounde onely but also to die at Ierusalem for the name of the Lorde Iesus Peter perswadeth the dispersed saints dwelling here and there to patience in troubles by an argument drawen from the knowledge and experience thereof before had Dearlie beloved saith he thinke it not strange concerning the fierie triall which is amongst you to proue you as though some new thing were come vnto you as if he had saide this fire is auncient and well knowen you haue long seene the smoke thereof and therefore the breaking forth of the flames should not so greatly astonish you His owne practise was not inferiour to his advise For vpon that praesage which his maister gaue in the last of Iohn when thou art olde thou shalt stretch forth thine handes and an other shall girde thee c. hee tooke his occasion to vse more diligence in his calling knowing as himselfe speaketh that the time was at hand whē he must lay downe his tabernacle even as the Lord Iesus Christ had shewed him Thus much on the behalfe of Ionas that if the greatnes of the citie were anie terrour vnto him hee might not complaine that he was taken at vnawares sodainely called and improvidently thrust forth but with alacritie of minde set his shoulder to the vvorke and settle his confidence in the greatnesse of that God from whom he was commaunded It is a direction to vs all whatsoever our service be wherein God shall employ vs whether in Church or in common vvealth vvhether vve sit vpon the thrones of David for execution of iudgment or in the chaire of Moses for exposition of the lavve vvhich are the combersomst charges vpon the earth the very heate and burthen of the day if I may so tearme them not to remit our labours and vvith the sonnes of Ephraim being armed and bearing bowes to turne our backes in the day of battell but though vvee be crossed vvith a thousande afflictions and haue iust cause to crie out as Moses in his government why hast thou vexed thy servant yet to persist and go forward in our paines addressing our soules to contentment and quietnes this was I called vnto I cannot pleade ignorāce neither had I reason to expect lesse travell vexation anguish of spirit were giuen me for my lot and my portion to drinke when I first entered into these affaires 2 Touching the place vvhen vvee heare it commended for a great citie shall vve inferre heerevpon Therefore priviledged to carelesnesse hautinesse oppression wickednesse vvhich are the wormes and mothes for the most part that breede of greatnesse therefore may Niniveh sin with impunity and say I am the Queene of the earth who shall controll me therefore must sinnes set vp a monarchie also in Niniveh must Prophets go to Bethel and prophecie in out-corners because Niniveh is the Kings Court and cannot beare the words of Prophets can the mightines of her state singularity of her government climing of her walles aspiring of her towres multitude of her people make her secure against the vvrath of the Lorde of hostes or can the barres of her gates keepe out his iudgementes Alas vvhat is the greatnes of Niniveh compared with the greatnes of the Lord The landes of Alcibiades in the mappe of the vvhole vvorlde vvere lesse then a center and small title they could not be espied all the islandes of the sea are as a little dust in the sight of the almighty and the nations as the droppe of a wel bucket vvhat is the number and the heigth of thy proude turrets though they hold the earth in awe they cannot threaten heaven and the closer they presse to the seate of God the nearer they lie to his lightning The challenge of God to the selfe same citie is notablie set dovvne in the prophecy of Nahum Art thou better then No which was full of people that lay in the rivers and had the waters rounde about it whose ditch was the sea and her wall was from the sea Aethiopia and Aegypt were her strength and there was no ende
fro and stagger like a drunken man and all their cunning is gone A liuely image of their vncertaine and variable liues and if you hearken to the comparison it is next to famine imprisonment a deadly disease to be a sea-man Sailers adventurors are neither amongst the living nor amongst the dead they hang betweene both readie to offer vp their soules to every flawe of winde and billow of water where with they are assaulted Yet these are the men and such the instrumentes and meanes whereby your wealth commeth in that liue by Marchandize you eate and drinke and vveare vpon your backes you traffique and spend the bloude of your sonnes and servantes So David called the water of the well of Bethlehem bloud because it vvas brought through the armie of the Philistines vvith the hazard of mens liues You owe much vnto God for the preservation of their liues your shippes and commodities are bounde to rehearse vnto your soules day and night that verse of thankesgiving which David repeateth in the Psalme before named as the burthen and amoebâ—um to those songes of deliverance Let vs therefore confesse before the Lord his loving kindnesse and his wonderfull workes before the sons of men let vs exalt him in the congregation of the people and praise him in the assembly of the elders And as you feare his maiesty your selues who turneth the flouds into a wildernes and a wildernes into springes of water who breaketh the shippes of the sea with an East-wind so see that your factors beyond the seas with all the officers and ministers belonging to your company bee men of the like affection It is not the tallenes of your shippes nor their swiftnesse manning and munition that can protect them against Gods vengeance You call them Lyons Leopards Beares and skorning the names of beasts you tearme theÌ„ Angelles Archangelles but remember when all is done that as Themistocles called the Navy of Athens wooddeÌ„ walles so yours are but woodden Beasts and woodden Angelles And woe be to him that saith to a stone thou art my father and to a peece of wood thou art my helper They haue good fortune written vpon their beakes saith Plutarke but many misfortunes in the successe of their labors Horace spake to as prowd a ship it should seeme as any those times knew Though Pontus pines thy frame A forrest faire thy dame Prowde be thy stocke And worthlesse name The windes will mocke To see thy shame Take heede The navy of Tyrus if the prophet describe it aright was the noblest navie that ever the seas vvere furrowed vvith the builders thereof made it of perfect beautie the boordes of the firre trers of Shenir the mastes of the cedars of Lebanon the oares of the Okes of Basan the bankes of the yvory of Chittim the sailes of the fine embrodered linnen of AEgypt the coveringes blew silke and purple of the Iles of Elisha They of Sidon and Arvad were her marriners the wisest in Tyre her pilottes the auncients of Gebal her calkers they of Persia and Lud and Phut her souldiours the Gammadins were in her towers and hung their shieldes vpon the walles round about and the King of Tyre saide in the hautines of his heart I am a God I sit in the seate of God in the midst of the sea yet see the ende in the same place her rowers brought her into greate waters and the east-winde brake her in the midst of the sea her riches together with marriners pilottes and calkers marchantes and men of warre all were overthrowen and came to a fearefull ruine The feare of the Lorde will be in steede of all these provisions feare him and both floudes and rockes shall feare you and all windes shall blow you happines and ship-wrackes shall avoide the place where your foote treadeth and as the apples of Gods owne eies so shall they reverence you and not dare to approch the channell where your way lieth hilles shall fall downe and mountaines shal be cast into the sea but those that feare the Lord shall never miscary the feare of the Lord shall both laÌ„d your ships in an happy haven and after your travels vpon the earth harbour your soules in his everlasting kingdome They were afraid I will not examine what kinde of feare it vvas vvhich surprised these marriners There is a feare that accompanieth the nature of man and the son of God himselfe was not free from it Marc. 14. It is written of him that he began to be afraid which feare of his and other the like vnpleasant affections he tooke vpon him our Divines say as he tooke our flesh vndertooke death rather in pitty then of necessity And Ierome vpon the place of the Evangelist before cited noteth that the feare of our blessed saviour was not a passion which overbare his mind but a propassion which he seemeth to collect from the word it selfe He began to be afraid 2 There is besides a fond and superstitious feare when men are afraid of their shadowes as Pisander was afraide of meeting his owne soule and Antenor would never go forth of the doores but either in a coach closed vpon al sides or with a target borne over his head fearing I gesse least the sky should fal down vpon it according to that in the Psalme They feare where no feare is The disciples were abasht at the sight of their maister after his resurrection supposing they had seene a spirite when neither had they seene a spirite at any time to moue that conceit neither is it possible that a spirituall substance caÌ„ sensibly be perceived We may easily acquite this coÌ„pany from such foolish feare it hath so apparant a reason to be grounded vpon 3 There is an other feare the obiect wherof is only God which by the praier and cry that followeth in the next wordes seemeth to be the feare meant though ignorantly misplaced and this in some is a servile feare ful of hatred malice contumely reproch if they durst bewray it tristis invtilis crudelis qui quia veniaÌ„ non quaerit noÌ„ consequitur saith Bernard it flieth abhorreth the Lord because he is Deus percutiens a God of vengance in other it is filiall such as the childe honoureth his father with perfitly good wherein there is nothing but loue reverence puritie ingenuitie borne of a free spirite the spirite of bondage slavery wholy abandoned so near in affinity to loue that you can hardly discerne them Pene illa est pene non est It is almost loue and almost not loue so little difference is it never beholdeth God but in the gracious light of his countenance There is mercy with thee O Lord therefore shalt thou be feared howsoever the cloudes of displeasure seeme sometimes to hide that grace away The feare of these men I cannot decide whether it were mixte with hope or altogether desperate and it skilleth not greately to
giue to it Thou art my confidence Do you not plant build purchase adde house to house ioine fielde to field put to vse grinde eate teare racke extort to the outtermost what meaneth such costlines in your houses delicacy at your tables stately habiliments vpon your wiues and daughters insolent neighbourhood against your brethren like the malignant aspect of vnluckie planets vpon them discountenancinges disturbings dispossessings of them but that you trust in riches Where is your trust in the living God meane time richnes in good workes readines to distribute and communicate which the Apostle preached to Timothy and willed him to giue in charge because such hard doctrine must bee driven in with hard hammers to those that are rich in this present worlde least they be deprived of those incorruptible riches which God hath stored vp where are your morsels of bread to feede the hungry your fleeces of woll to warme the loynes of the naked hospitality in your halles bounty at your gates liberality in your hands I thinke you keepe the rule of the gospell that the right hand knoweth not vvhat the left doth because neither right nor left doth any thing I like the advise of an heathen well Vse thy wealth as thou wouldest vse thy coate let it bee rather fit then too long A little may bee a burthen but in too much there is no question In the land of Havilah there is good gold In the land of the living in the land of promise in the land of heavenly Ierusalem there is good golde indeede golde tried in the fire in the third of the revelation where neither moth nor rust can corrupt nor theefe purloine it gold of more worth than all the mines of the earth can send vp O thirst after this gold if you must needes thirst be covetous after durable riches Lay vp treasures for your selues in heauen and of your vnrighteous Mammon neither well gained perhaps and ill kept and worse laide out make friends in time that they may receiue you into the heavenly tabernacles saue your shippes if it may be and saue your liues but saue your soules though you lose your wares your shippes and your lives to THE SIXT LECTVRE Chap. 1. ver 5. But Ionas was gonne downe into the sides of the shippe and he lay downe and was fast a sleepe THE marriners had throwen out their wares but the greatest burthen was behinde the sinne of Ionas for wickednes is as a talent of lead Zach. 5. the weight whereof cannot be expressed Salt and sande and a lumpe of iron is easier to beare then an vnwise foolish vngodly man We see by the proofe of this example that the sinne of one private person is likely to sinke a shippe in the middest of the sea and Peter thought it of force to overturne more then one Luke 5. For when the two shippes were so fraught with fish that they were ready to sinke he fell downe at the knees of Iesus and said goe from me Lorde for I am a sinfull man thinking that his sinne had so endaungered them They say no element is ponderous in the proper place of the element wee feele not the weight of the aire though we liue in the circle of it the water of the sea as much as the whole chaÌ„nel holdeth if we lay in the nethermost bottome therof would not offend vs with burthen though annoy vs otherwise so is it in the estimatioÌ„ of sin it seemeth not a burtheÌ„ in the wil of man wherein the region and elemente of sinne is because of that lust and appetite the will hath to commit sinne but bring it from the house and home where it dwelleth convent it before reason examine it with iudgment and vnderstanding consider what an infinit maiesty it offendeth and what infinit plagues it bringeth forth then shall wee know the weight of sinne No sooner had Ionas entered the ship but the sea which was at rest before feeling a burthen more then common came forth like a bride-groome out of his chamber and channell to ease it selfe and to shake his bones with an ague that troubled the quiet therof that we may learne saith Chrysost. vbi peccatum ibi procella where sinne is there will also bee a storme and if wee will saue our selues wee must drowne sinne as they drowned Ionas The sleepe of Ionas is as strange prodigious and brutisâ— kind of sleepe as ever I hearde of The windes rage the sea roareth the ship tottereth and groaneth the marriners feare and pray and cry euery soule in the ship so many persons vpon so many Gods it was as the howling of Baals Priestes or as the yelling of wolues they runne to and fro they ransacke all the corners of the ship vnbowell her in most celles throwe out commodities rende and rape downe tackles sailes all implementes Ionas in the meane time as a man possest with the deafe Divell Marke 7. or as one that had lost his soule as they write of Hermotimus that his soule would depart from the body at times and come home againe sleepeth If a theefe should come to robbe woulde hee not steale till hee had enough If grape-gatherers should come to a vine would they not leaue some grapes Obadiah 5. Beholde the customer of the life of man who taxeth halfe our daies to his owne vse commeth vpon Ionas and is not content with ordinary moderate fees but bereaveth him of all sense And no oratour in the world could better haue described this drowsines to the disgrace of Ionas than Ionas himseâ—fe 1 He descended Hee staid not vpon the hatches to visite the light of heaven to behold the waues of the sea his persecutours but removed as far from God and his anger as his heart could devise shewing that his workes were evill because he buried himselfe in darkenesse A sinner ever descendeth till hee commeth to the lowest that may bee his affections are down-wardes and I am sure his inheritance and hope is not aboue but as wee bury dead flesh vnder the ground so it is not vnlikely of deade soules and as the heaviest bodies draw to the center of the earth so the saddest and heaviest spirites which the mercy of God hath forsaken 2 He descended not into the bosome through fare of the ship where the passage of the marriners vp and downe might haue disturbed him but into the sides or thighes of it 3 He descended into the sides of the keele the veriest bottome that the vessell had I thinke if there had beene a vault in the shippe as deepe as hell and destruction it selfe hee woulde haue entered thereinto 4 Hee descended into the shippe not to bestow time in any serviceable imployment for the furtherance of the voiage but to lye downe 5 Not for the ease of his body alone to giue it some short repose but to sleepe 6 Nay he slept and slept Endimions sleepe Somno
sopitus est it vvas an heavy stupide deadly sleepe The best inducement to sleepe you know where the body is aptly framed vnto it is stillnesse and quietnes and therefore the Poet describeth the place of sleepe to bee in a vault of the earth where the light of the sunne never commeth a long gallery or porch leading vnto it to remoue it from the assembly of people no doore to the house least the turning of the hinges should disquiet his ease and neither dog nor cocke nor goose nor any wakefull creature to breake silence nor tree to make a noise thus is he lodged vpon a bed of downe in a bedsteede of ebony free from the annoiance of any thing This was the reason that the Sybarites a sleepie lascivious riotous nation of men who would lodge themselues for pleasure in beddes of violettes the better to take their ease banished cockes from their citties and all kindes of trades wherein hammeringes or noise might be vsed Ionas hath nothing in the world neither without nor within to invite sleepe clamours and commotions and cursitations one way vexation and trouble of heart an other way these were his helpes Admitt he were weary with travell from the citty to the haven as Iacob was weary when he went to Haram and lay downe by the way and slept vpon a pillow of stone what so vveary that neither the voice of men nor God nor conscience nor the voice of the shippe which as before I noted yearned in her inward spirit and thought to be rent could awake him The sleepe of Adam was an heavy sleepe so the text tearmeth it when God tooke a rib from his side and closed vp the flesh againe and hee felt it not But the reason is there given God cast him into it it was a matter devised and composed before hand The sleepe of Sisera Iudg. 4. was an heavy sleepe when a naile was driven into the temples of his head But he had runne one foote from the battaile and was wearied with hotte pursuit The sleepe of Isboseth 2. Sam. 4. an heavy sleepe when his two captaines slew him at noone vpon his bed But the heate of the day procured that sleepe The sleepe of Sampson Iudg. 16. an heavy sleepe when the 7. locks of his head were shaven off But the charmes and enticements of Delilah caused him to sleepe vpon her knees The sleepe of Eutyches Act. 20 an heavy sleepe when he fell from the third lofte and was taken vp dead But the night which was the time of rest was far spent that reason Scipio giveth and it holdeth in nature Quia ad multam noctem vigilassem arctior me somnus complexus est Because I had watched long til a great part of the night was spēt I fell into a deeper sleepe It was a marveilous sleepe which Lot was surprised with when his two daughters abused themselues with him and he neither perceived when they lay downe nor when they rose vp But the text noteth their shamelesse pollicy They gaue him wine to make him sleepe The seaven sleepers in the time of Decius the Emperour if the history deceiue vs not slept in an hill by a miracle Epimenides the Cretian slept fourescore yeares in a caue they that say fewer say enough beyond a miracle and I nothing doubt but beyond the trueth Surely the sleepe of Ionas though neither so fabulous as some nor so miraculous as others and more vnprobable then the most is for the time not inferior to any before mentioned and no right cause can be rendred of it For what can we say was it because he was vexed and troubled in his spirit as the disciples of Christ Matthew the 26. and in the number of the disciples the choice Peter Iohn and Iames to whome our Saviour came and saide could ye not watch with me one houre and a second time in the same manner But they are there excused in parte by the weakenesse of nature For their eies were heavy and surely the heavinesse of their eies came from the heavinesse of their spirits Or was it not rather the hardnesse and resolution of his heart the dregges of sinne frozen and congealed within him sin beyond measure sinfull and beyond measure dull that so oppressed him Vndoubtedly there is a time and state in sinne let it be heard attentiuely that the enchantments thereof get not to deepe a possession there is a time and state in sinne when the heart is as fat as grease the conscience feared as with hott irons and as they write of Dionysius Heracleote though they thrust needles into his belly to let out his fat by reason of his grossenesse hee felte them not so vvounde and extimulate and grieue this head-strong iniquity never so much it careth not stoutly bearing it selfe against God and man and as it hath no hope so having in a manner no desperation Such vvas the case of Catiline vvhen hee had fired the cittye of Rome vvith his conspiracies hee had no better comforte then this Incendium meum ruina extinguam I will quench the fire I haue kindled with a finall ruine I vvill adde vvorse to evill thirst to drunkennesse and leaue the successe of my mischievous and vngratious actions to the extreamest adventures Cyprian vvriteth of himselfe who had sometime beene a great persecutour and afterwardes proved a glorious Martyr that being entangled in the errors of his former life past hope of getting out hee even gaue over himselfe to his adherent vices and favoured his sinnes as nowe become proper vnto him borne as it were in his owne home and incorporate into his flesh and bones by long acquaintance And Bernard in his bookes of consideration to Eugenius doth notablye describe an hard heart what it is saith he It is that which is not cut with compunctiō a rasour will sooner cut a whetstone not softned with loue not moved with intreaty yeeldeth not to threatnings with scourges is hardened vnthankefull for benefits vnfaithfull in counsels vnmercifull in iudgments shamelesse in dishonesty rechlesse in daungers in things appertaining to men voide of humanity in matters concerning God full of temerity vnmindfull of what is past negligent of vvhat is present improvident of vvhat to come This mighte bee the cogitation of Ionas I haue runne too farre in rebellion to returne I know the worst that can befall me but be it as it may from henceforth sleepe my soule and take thy ease bury thy selfe in security and digest thy sorrow with carelesnesse Or was it a spirite of slumber sent from God was hee brought into this drowsinesse for some ende vnknovvne vnto him vvere his eyes helde of purpose as the eyes of the two Disciples that vvent to Emaus his senses bounde vp that some extraordinary vvorke of GOD might aftervvardes bee manifested There is a conflict and repugnancy heerein which I know not howe to reconcile a man so troubled in conscience that hee descendeth into the sides
of the ship flying the face of God the face of men the face of his owne person the face of the light of heaven not able to endure the face of the winds and seas that were vp in armes against him yet sleepeth It is against all reason For sleepe departeth from the eies of fearefull men If they lay them downe they saie vvhen shall I rise they measure the houres of the night they are full of tossing to and fro vntill the dawning of the daie When they saie my couch shall relieue mee and my bedde shall bringe comforte in my meditation then are they feared vvith dreames and astonished with visions Therefore the Poet called one of the sonnes of sleepe Phobetor a terrifier of men presenting himselfe vnto their phantasie in the likenes of beastes of birdes of serpentes of any thing that may affright the wicked I neuer would haue thought that conscience could haue slept till this time shee is so marked and observed by her owne eie though no other eie perceiue her so followed and chased by her owne foote though nothing els in heaven or earth pursue her Shee flieth when no man followeth and hath a thousande vvitnesses within her owne breast vvhen shee is free from the vvhole vvorlde besides The worme that euer gnaweth the fire that euer burneth is the remembrance of her forepassed iniquities And though wee escape the handes of the living God we shall finde it fearefull enough to fall into the handes of a living and yet dying conscience But nothing in the world I thinke saue either a dulnesse of sinne incredible and the next degree to a reprobate sense or els a purpose of God to shewe the perfection of his power in the imperfection and weaknes of his prophet could haue wrought this effect The ende of all is this He neither slumbereth nor sleepeth that keepeth Israell he waketh in heauen that hath an eie and care of Ionas in his profound sleeping Though smitten into the place of Dragons or whales and covered with the shaddow of death he commeth to light againe though hee lieth amongst the pots as an other Psalme speaketh in a filthy fuliginous corner as one forgotten forsaken forlorne he becommeth as a Doue whose wings are of siluer and her feathers of yellow golde purified as it vvere by the finer of his soule and restored to that beauty and perfection wherewith before he shone Though he dwelleth in the land of forgetfulnes and is laid in the lowest pit in the deepe of displeasure as a man without strength free among the dead and exiled from the living and as the slaine in the graue vvhome God remembreth no more for such was the cabbin of security vvhich Ionas was entred into yet he is quickned vvith life and broughte vp to heauen to bee an example of mercy to those that vvere then vnborne Of iudgement and mercie may bee our songe iudgement in the revenge mercie in the deliveraunce of Ionas iudgement in his flight and running from God mercy in his retreate iudgment in his sleeping mercy in his rising vp If God had not watched to preserue Ionas as when vvee all sleepe hee vvaketh for vs all Ionas might haue slept his sleepe to vse the phrase of the Psalme and as Ieremy expoundeth it his everlasting sleepe not that sweete sleepe of the body vvherewith nature is refreshed but of the soule in sinne and of the body and soule in immortall perdition If God shoulde haue saide vnto him touching the spirite of slumber now fallen vpon the spirite of Ionas as our saviour saide to his disciples touching the sleepe of their bodies from henceforth sleepe and take thy rest till thy eies sinke into the holes of thy heade I will neither come nor send to call thee vp againe the night had compassed him in with darkenesse and the pit had shut her mouth vpon him for ever Looke not my brethren for favour at the handes of God so singular as Ionas found make not the watchfulnes of God an occasion to your sluggishnesse neither sleepe you in sinne because he sleepeth not in his providence and protection Looke not that the sunne shall stand still any more as it did to Iosuah or go backe againe as to Ezechias or that Iordan shall flee from his place the sea devide it selfe and stande vp like vvalles as to the children of Israell nor that a voice shall bee hearde from heauen or a light seene besides the ordinary light of the firmament as when Paule was converted Do yee complaine that the arme of the Lorde is shortened in your daies because yee see not the like signes or will ye not be saved without miracles are your eies evill because God hath a larger hande towardes other men or is not his hande full enoughe tovvarde vs if vve knew our happinesse vnlesse the course of the vvorlde be altered for our sakes the pillars of the earth mooved the channels of the vvaters discovered vnlesse we see tokens in the sunne and the moone and one rise from the deade to giue vs warning vvill wee not bee vvarned The Iewes require a signe and the Greekes seeke after wisedome we preach Christ crucified and vvoe to the world if the open face of the Gospell cannot mooue vs vvithout a signe nor the simplicitie of Christ Iesus persvvade vs vvithout other vvisedome Ionas vvas suffered to runne his race of disobedience and vvhen hee had vvearied and spente himselfe in perverse vvaies mightily brought backe thou sayest vvhy not I I dispute not God will measure his graces at his pleasure and though they runne over to some they are plentifull enoughe to vs all as it is in the tenth to the Romanes Hee that is Lorde o-over all is rich vnto all that call vnto him That answere which he gaue to Paule in an other case Sufficit tibi gratia mea my grace sufficeth thee may suffice all sutours But if they will not returne to God till they haue tempted his iustice as farre as Ionas did and bee cast into a bedde of sinne as Iesabell into a bedde of fornication and rocked a sleepe in the deepest security that can bee imagined till they haue lyen like brandes in the fire wasted to the stumpe or as a sheepe in the mouth of the Lyon consumed to an eare or a legge as the prophetes spake in this case if God giue them over also and leaue them to perish in the fire and in the lyons mouth and in that bedde of rest vvhich their heartes haue coveted their destruction is of themselues for putting backe that accepted time were it more or lesse which God had offered them But Ionas findeth more favour with God as appeareth by a message sent vnto him So the ship-maister came vnto him said vnto him what meanest thou O sleeper c. The ship-master or the master of the cable the cordage and tackle commeth vnto Ionas and biddeth him arise I
chambers to be clensed and the vesselles of the house of God to be brought thither againe 3. because the portions of the Levites and singers had not beene giuen to them and everie one was fled to his lande hee reprooued the rulers Why is the house of God forsaken 4. he caused the tithes to be restored brought the Levites togither to their place againe and apointed faithfull officers and treasurers to distribute vnto them The petition that hee maketh vnto the righteous Lord who will not forget our labours at the foote of every of those services is framed to this effect Remember me O my God in goodnesse and wipe not out my kindnesse concerning this and pardon me according to thy great mercies Thus Nehemias you see was not vnmindefull of the Lord that the Lorde might be mindefull of him againe Neither in the building nor in the warding of the wals of Ierusalem nor in releeving the burthens of his brethren nor in sanctifying the sabbath nor in purging the people from commixtion with strangers nor in replenishing the chambers of Gods house vvith maintenaunce for his ministers All which he zealously vndertooke and constantly followed to the end fastening his reproofes like nailes that are driuen in a sure place and shewing himselfe a carefull Magistrate both in warre and peace in civill religious affaires towardes the children of the lande and towardes strangers that traffiqued within the borders thereof Vndoubtedly your charge is greate whome the Lorde hath marked out to places of gouernment and if euer you hope as Nehemias wished that God shall remember you concerning this or that kindenesse shewed in his businesse remember you whose image you carry whose person you present whose cause you vndertake whose iudgmentes you execute vpon earth And though yee are not troubled vvith building and warding the wals of your countrey because peace is the walles and the strength of God our bulwarkes and fortresses and mine eies would faile with expectation of that day vvhen the chambers of the Lordes house vvhich Tobiah the Horonite hath seized into his handes should be restored to their auncient institution for the maintenaunce of Levites and singers yet in the oppressions of your brethren vvhose vineyardes fieldes houses libertie living are wrung from them and their sonnes and daughters vndoone if you doe not in all respects as Nehemias did lend them money corne hee and his servauntes of their owne and bestowe the fees of your places tovvardes their reliefe for hee ate not the breade of the governour in twelue yeares and an hundred and fiftie hee mainetained dailie at his boarde with sufficient allowance yet such as oppresse too much exhort ' reprooue cause them to respight cause them to remit tie them by promise to do it binde them by oath and if that will not serue vnlesse you be loath to throw a stone against an adulterer or to shake your lap against an oppressour because you are guilty in your heartes of the like trespasses shake the lappes of your garments against them and with an vnfeigned spirit beseech the iust iudge that such as will not restore may so be shaken out and emptied from all his mercies Likewise for the sabbath of the Lord the sanctified day of his reste helpe to bringe it to reste it is shamefully troubled and disquieted the common daies in the weeke are happier in their seasons then the Lords sabbaths Then are the manuary craftes exercised every man in his shop applying his honest and lawfull businesse the sabbath is reserved as the vnprofitablest day of the seven for idlenesse sleeping vvalking rioting tipling bowling daunsing and what not I speake what I know vpon a principall sabbath for if the resurrection of Christ deserue to alter the sabboth from day to day I see no cause but the cōming downe of the holy ghost should adde honour and ornament vnto it I say vpon a principall sabbath not onelye those of Ierusalem and Iudah solde their wares but those of Tyre also vvhich came from abroade brought in their commodities and neither your gates shut nor forreiners kept out nor citizens reprooved nor any thing donne wherby Gods name and day might be honoured Go now and aske if you can for blushing as Nehemias did O Lord remember vs concerning this kindnesse It is not enough for you to beare the place of preeminence in the shippe but you must reprooue as the maister here did nor enough barelie to reprooue but you must goe forwardes in hunting securitie from her couche by vrging how hard it is to appease the anger of God if it bee throughly enflamed how dangerous against the life and soule if it be not prevented It is the fervency of the spirite even of a double spirit as Elizeus sometime wished the spirite of magistrates which are more then single persons perfit hatred to sin crushing both the egge the cockatrice courage in the cause of the Lord zeale to his house both kindling and consuming your heartes a good beginning and a good ending which the Lorde requireth Will you saue-gard the ship in the Ocean sea and breake her vvithin a league of the haven will you put your hande to the plough of the best husbandry and thriving in the world and then looke backe vvill you lay the foundation of the house rere vp the vvalles and not seeke to couer it you know the parable This man beganne to builde It had beene better not to haue knowne the way of trueth then not to persist in it nor to haue set your shoulders to the worke of the Lorde vnlesse yee hold out The leafe of a righteous man neuer fadeth vvherevpon the glosse noteth that the fall of the leaues is the dying and decaying of the trees When it repenteth a man to haue begunne well it is a sinnefull repentaunce and much to bee repented of The fire vpon the altar of the Lord must alwaies burne never go out and the sedulitie of Gods lieutenantes vpon the earth must euer bee working neuer wearied All vertues runne in the race one onely receiveth the garland the image of most happy eternitie happy continuance I tolde you before that nature directed the Marriners to the acknowledgement of a God it is heere further ratified with manie other principles of nature if they vvere needefull to bee examined as 1. that God only is to be invocated and called vpon Call vpon thy God 2. the vnity of the godhead is avowed For the shipmaster forgetting the multitude of Gods nameth one singlie without other associates If so be God 3. That the felicity of mankinde dependeth vpon the serenity gracious favorable aspect of God as I gather by the phrase here vsed if God will shine vpon vs. 4. It is implied that our life death are in Gods hands That we perish not But let those passe a while The matter we are now to examine is the liberty and freedome vvhich the shipmaister gaue vnto Ionas
heads like burning coales that were bewitched with such preachings he protesteth vnto them not hiding his face nor dissembling his name Behold I Paul say vnto you that if yee be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing If he coulde not sustaine a little leaven in the lumpe as there hee calleth it what would he haue said of poyson I meane of an impious blasphemous sacrilegious manner of worship when this was rather curious frivolous and ceremonious When Moses and Christ togither were so offensiue vnto him he would never haue heard of a reconciliation betweene Christ and Belial light darknes righteousnes vnrighteousnes beleevers infidels the temple of God idols the cup of the Lord and the cup of Devils the table of the Lord the table of Devils in the coÌ„munion wherof he noteth an impossibility in both his epistles to the Corinthians I will not stand to dispute how vnpossible it is for any either person or state to serue two maisters the one not subordinate to the other but flatly repugnant say for example God and Mammon or Melchom or Baal or any the like abomination Must they not vse a ballance a ballaÌ„ce a conscience a coÌ„science that do so go after two waies But what danger ensueth vpon such confected religions halting consciences as Elias named theÌ„ they may best learne both by word and deed from that zealous God who hath taken expresse order against strange Gods executed his fierce wrath vpon those that haue offered but strange fire and ordayned his law strictly to be kept without declining to the right hand or to the lefte and himselfe will be served alone without corrivals of his glory with al our heart soule and strength as he hath often enioyned There is but one Lord one mediatour one spirit one baptisme one supper one faith al in vnity The body and state is then strongest when the multitude of beleevers haue but one hart one soule amongst them all shall one people within the same land and vnder the same government sunder distract themselues into many religions Or can the Lord bee at vnitie with that people where immunity is given to deale in the manner or matter of his service otherwise then he hath prescribed Nazianzen writeth that many people lying rouÌ„d about theÌ„ as a circle about the ceÌ„ter did much obserue marvel at the Cappadocians not only for their sound faith but for the gift of coÌ„cord which God bestowed vpon theÌ„ For because they thought aright of the Trinity defended it iointly against the Arrians they were defended by the Trinity theÌ„selues Clemens Alexandrinus wisheth much happines to the king of the Scythians vvhosoever that Anachatsis were vvho tooke a citizen of his for imitating some Greekish effoeminate sacrifices offered to the mother of the Gods hung him vp by the necke shot him through with arrowes because he had both corrupted himselfe amongst the Grecians infected others with the like disease The counsaile which Mecoenas gaue to Augustus the Emperour is very sage the reasons by him alleaged such as touch the quickest vâ—ine of the question in hand Put his words into the mouth of some other man whose lips an Angell hath touched with a cole from the altar of the Lord the holy ghost sanctified they are then right worthy to be accounted of Thus he exhorteth The divine godhead see that thou reverence thy selfe according to the lawes of thy countrey cause others to do the like And those that change any thing in matters appertaining thereunto hate correct not only in behalfe of the Gods whom whosoeuer neglecteth he will never regard oughte els but because such as bring in new Gods draw others also to alteration change And hence come conspiracies seditions conventicles things not expedient to a government Religion is the truest band betwixt man and man the knot of al coÌ„munion coÌ„sociation Now what coniunction of mindes can there be what attonement of iudgements what inward peace syncere charity harty god-speed in that disparity of religions where one house hath Iewes an other Samaritans some calling vpon God some vpon Angels Saints creeping to crosses bowing to images so burning in emulation for their severall services as fire and water shall sooner agree then their iudgments affections Let our laws be grounded vpon the law of God it wil be the greatest safety of our land to enact as the Athenians sometimes did that whosoeuer should speak one word of their God beside their lawes should be punished vnmercifully for it It hath beene a favourable compromission of men more partiall then wise that the questions betwixt Rome and the reformed churches might easily be accorded I finde it not And I will be bolde to say as Tully somtimes of the Stoickes Academickes That the coÌ„tentioÌ„ between vs is not for bouÌ„ds but for the whole possession inheritaÌ„ce whether God or maÌ„ grace or nature the bloud of Christ or the merits of saints written verity or vnwritten vanities the ordinaÌ„ce of the most high in authorizing princes or the Buls of Popes in deposing them shall take place We haue altar against altar liturgie against liturgy praiers against praiers doctrine against doctrine potentate against potentate Pope against Prince Religion against Religion subiection against subiection faith against faith so diametrally opposed as the Northerne and Southerne poles shall sooner meet togither then our opinions standing as they do can be reconciled Looke vpon Fraunce and nether Germany for the proofe hereof The effusion of so much Christian bloud the eversion dissipation of so many noble houses the commotions and tumults of so many yeares whence haue they sprung The reason or pretence at least of those murthers massacres wasts tragedies hath beene contrary religions If this be the fruit then shall every subiect in a realme be priviledged in his house to haue a God to himselfe a priest to himselfe a worship to himselfe as Micah had in Ephraim shall hee beleeue and pray and obey shall he both feare God honor his king as himselfe listeth But what will yee doe in this case Their mindes are as free as the Emperours Every man is a king in his own house as Telemachus said his conscience is his castle and fortresse nothing is so voluntarie as religion wherein if the minde be averse it is now no religion We maie shifte the bodies of men from place to place wee cannot change their mindes Wee shall sooner enforce stockes and stones to speake vnto vs. Advise will doe more then threatning and faith commeth rather by perswasion then by compulsion I graunt it Therefore first speake to the conscience by good counsell but if the eare of the conscience bee stopt with wax shake the whole house about her and raise her vp speak to the eares of the body inheritance liberty let the body tel the
blessed for ever For to returne where I first began besides the folly of the thinge the mischiefe is behinde Go cry vnto your Gods which you haue chosen and let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation What a wofull discharge and dismission were this to be lefte vnto such Gods whose heads the hands of a carver hath polished and if their eies be full of dust and their clothes eaten vpon their backes with mothes they cannot helpe it the beastes are in better case then they for they can geâ— them vnder a covert or shadow to do themselues good Then they may cry as the Apostles did vpon the motion of the like departure Lorde whether shall I goe for as Christ there had the words so hath the blessed Trinitie alone the power and donation of eternall life When Senacherib and Rabsakeh bragged that both the kings and the Gods of the nations vvere destroied by them Ezâ—chias aunswered the obiection Trueth it is Lorde that the kings of Assur haue destoyed their nations and their lands and haue set fire on their Gods for they were no Gods but the worke of mens handes even wood and stone therefore they destroyed them now therefore O Lorde our God saue thou vs out of his hand that all the kingdomes of the earth may know that thou O Lord art onely God This argument Moses tried vpon the golden calfe whereof Israell had said Behold thy Gods O Israell to shew that it was no God hee burnt it in the fire grounde it to powder strawed it vpon the water and then caused the people to drinke it To conclude the pointe It is most true which the Prophet resteth vpon Psalme 86. Amongst the Gods there is none like vnto thee O Lord and there is none that can doe like thy workes And as there is but one trueth encountered with as many falshods as there were gobbets and shreddes of dismembred Pentheus so is there but one true God opposed by as many false as happily there are falshoods It may be the maister of the ship finding a defect miscariage of their former labours that there was no succour to bee had vvhere they sought comfort that though they had all prayed they are not released standeth in a wavering touching the Gods which they called vpon and thinketh there may be a God of more might vvhome they knowe not so as in effect vvhen hee thus spake vnto Ionas he set vp an altar and tendered honour vnto an vnknowne God As if he had said I am ignorant whom thou seruest but such a one he may be as is pronest to do vs good and best able to saue our shippe For as an idoll is nothing in the worlde and there is no time in the worlde wherein that nothing can do good so there are many times vvhen idolaters that most dote vpon them as Ieremy speaketh are brought to perceiue it Esay in the second of his prophecie speaketh of a day vvhen men shall not onely relinquish but cast away their idols of siluer and golde vvhich they haue made to themselues to worship vnto the mowles and battes children of darkenesse fitter for those that are either bleare eied or that haue no eies to see withall then for men of vnderstanding go into the holes of the earth and toppes of cragged rocks from the feare of the Lorde and glorie of his maiestie when he shal arise to iudge the earth You see the fruit of idolaters that as they haue loved darkenesse more then the light so they leaue their Gods to the darkenesse and themselues enter into darkenesse a taste and assay before hand of that everlasting and vtter darknes that is provided for them If so bee God will thinke vpon vs. Now that this was the minde of the maister of the shippe to distrust his Gods I gather by this vvhich followeth vvherein the vncertaintie of his faith is bewraied and his hope hangeth as the crowe on the arke betwixt heauen and earth finding no rest without resolution of any comforte Si forte if so be is not a phrase fitte to proceede from the mouth of faith it is meeter to come from Babylon whereof the Prophet writeth Bring baulme for her sore si fortè sanetur if happilie shee maie bee healed her wounds were so desperate and vnlikely to be cured It is meeter to be applied to the sores of Simon Magus whome Peter counselled to repent him of his wickednesse and pray vnto God Si forte remittatur if so bee the thoughte of his hearte mighte bee forgiuen him The nature and language of faith is much different it nesteth it selfe in the woundes of Christ as Doues in the cleftes of rockes that cannot bee assaulted it standeth as firme and stedfast as mount Sion that cannot be removed it casteth an anchor in the knowledge of the true God and because he is a true God it doubteth not of mighte and mercy or rather mercie and might as the heathens call their Iupiter Optimus maximus first by the name of his goodnesse and then of his greatnesse His mercies it doubteth not of because they are passed by promise indenture covenaunt othe before vnmoueable vvitnesses the best in heaven and the best in earth His promises are no lesse assertained because they are signed with the singer of the holy Ghost and sealed with the bloud of his anointed and beloved By faith yee stande saith the Apostle to the Corinthians it is the roote that beareth vs the legges and supporters and stronge men that holde vs vp If we listen to the prophet Abacuk we may yet say more For by faith wee liue it is the soule and spirite of the new man wee haue a name that we liue but indeede are dead to Godwarde if wee beleeue not For if any withdrawe himselfe therehence the soule of God will take no pleasure in him Woe vnto him that hath a double hearte and to the vvicked lippes and faint handes and to the sinner that goeth two manner of waies woe vnto him that is faint hearted for he beleeueth not therefore shall hee not bee defended It is not the manner of faith to be shaken and waver like a reede to and fro nor of a faithfull man to bee tost of every winde as a waue of the sea that is ever rowling And therefore we are willed to come to the throne of grace with boldnesse and to drawe neare with a true hearte in assurance of faith and not to cast awaie that confidence vvhich hath greate recompence of rewarde and when we aske to aske in faith without reasoning or doubting and to trust perfectlie in that grace which is brought vnto vs by the revelation of Iesus Christ. Our life is a warfare vpon earth a tried and expert warriour one that bare in his body the skars of his faithful service keeping the tearmes of his owne art so named it and wee are not to wrastle against
haue knowne it to turne from the holie commaundement given vnto vs. For where as the ende is the perfection of every thing the ende of the relapsed Christians is vvorse then their beginning There is scientia contristans a sorrowfull and wofull knowledge as Bernarde gathered out of the first of Ecclesiastes Hee that encreaseth knowledge encreaseth sorrow It is truest in this sense when wee are able and willing to say vvith the Pharisee are vvee also blinde and yet with our eies open vve runne into destruction The time shall come vvhen many shall say that you may knowe it is the case of a multitude to bee svvallovved into this gulfe Lorde vvee haue hearde thee in our streetes c. and yet their knowledge of Christ shall not gaine his knowledge of them but as straungers and reprobates they shal bee sent from him Our knowledge shall then bee vveighed to the smallest graine but if our holinesse of life put in the other plate of the ballance bee founde to lighte and vnanswerable vnto it our sorrowes shall make it vp Therefore vnlesse vve be still sicke of Adames disease that vvee had rather eate of the tree of knowledge then of the tree of life let vs be carefull of knowledge not only to sobriety but with profitte also that the fruit of a good life bringing eternity of daies to come may waite vpon it Blessed are those soules wherein the tree of syncere knowledge is rooted and the worme of security or contempt hath not eaten vp the fruit the Lord shall water them with the dew of heaven in this life and translate them hereafter as glorious renowned plantes into his heavenly garden THE XII LECTVRE Chap. 1. ver 10. Then were the men exceedinglie afraide and said vnto him why hast thou done this For the men knew that hee had fled from the presence of the Lord because he had told them BEcause the confession in the ninth verse is not so absolute as to aunswere all the questions which were propounded therefore the supply and perfection thereof must bee brought from this tenth wherein we vnderstande that the whole order summe of his disobedience was related albeit not described at large that being a prophet and sent vvith a message to Niniveh hee fled from the presence of the Lord that is cast his commaundementes behinde his backe The connexion then betwixt these two verses is this I am an Hebrew of the happiest people and country vnder heaven I am not ignorant of true religion For I feare the Lorde c. All which is by way of preface for amplifications sake the more to extende the fault mentioned in the words following yet am I fled from the presence of the Lorde I haue taken a froward and vnadvised course to frustrate his businesse With this addition you may shape an answere directly to every question 1. What is thine office shunning the face of God running from his presence contēpt of his voice 2. What is thine occupation not manuary and illiberall not fraudulent deceitfull but a calling immediate from God I stand in his sight as the Angels of heaven doe to heare my charge and when he giveth mee an errande my office is to performe it 3. Whence commest thou from the presence of the Lord from whose lips I received my late commission 4. What is thy country I am an Hebrew 5. Of what people the most scient skilfull in the service of God Thus haue you his whole confession Now he beginneth to be wise and with a prudent simplicity more worth then a thousande tergiversations to returne vnto him by confessing his fault from whome hee was fled by disobedience to recover his lost iustice by accusing himselfe to cast forth the impostumated matter of a dissembling conscience vvhich being concealed had beene presente death to honour the righteous Lorde whom hee had grossely dishonoured and by opening his lippes into an humble confession to shut the mouth of hell which began to open vpon him My sonne saith Iosuah to Achan I beseech thee giue glory to the Lorde God of Israell and make confession vnto him and shewe mee nowe what thou hast done hide it not from mee It is a part of the glory of God to shame our selues I meane to confesse our sinnes which in modesty and shamefastnes we striue to keepe close not onely vnto God against whom onely vvee haue sinned and to whom onlie it appertaineth to saie I haue pardoned I will not destroy but vnto men also either to the magistrate vvho hath authority to examine either to the minister who hath power to binde and loose either to our brethren generallie that the common rule of charity one in supporting the others infirmities may be kept in practise And it is on the other side an iniurie to God not to iustifie his iudgementes nor to acknowledge the conquest of his trueth when it hath prevailed but in a fullen and melancholy passion to strangle it vvithin our bones and never to yeelde the victorie therevnto till as the sunne from out the cloudes so trueth hath made her a way by maine force from out our dissimulations The first degree of felicitie is not to offend the seconde to knowe and acknowledge offences And as men dreame in their sleepe but tell their dreames waking so howsoever wee may sin by carelesnes yet it is an argument of health and recovery to confesse our sinnes For vvhat shal we gaine by dissembling them Wounds the closer they are kept the greater torture they bring sinnes not confessed will bring condemnation vpon vs without confession What followeth When Ionas had confessed his fault 1. They knewe it for his owne mouth hath condemned him They had a presumptuous knowledge before by the eviction of the lottes but now they are out of doubte by his owne declaration So the texte speaketh The men knew that hee had fled from the presence of the Lord because hee had tolde them 2. Their knowledge wrought a feare in them Then were the men exceedingly afraide 3. Their feare brake forth either into an increpation or a wonder at the least They saide why hast thou done this Their knowledge was consequent of force to his confession they could not but be privie therevnto because hee powred not his speech into the aire but into their eares that they might apprehend it But this knowledge of theirs was not a curious and idle knowledge such as those men haue who know onely to know but a pragmaticall knowledge full of labour and businesse it went from their eares to their heartes and made as greate a tempest in their consciences as the winde in the seas it mingled and confounded all their cogitations it kindled a feare within them that sundered their soules and spirites And though their feare before was vehement enough in the fifth verse when neither their tongues were at rest for crying nor their wares had peace from being cast out yet
this was a feare beyond that as may appeare by the epithet Timnerunt timore magno They were exceedingly afraide Nowe why they feared I cannot so vvell explicate It may be in regarde they bare to the person of Ionas knowing what hee was not knowing how to release him They vnderstande him to be an holy man and of an holie nation therefore vvere they brought into streightes they haue not hearte to deliver him they haue not meanes to conceale him hee is greate that flyeth he is greater that seeketh after him That is Hieromes coniecture vpon their feare It may bee in regarde of their sinnes For if a prophet of God and a righteous soule to theirs were so persecuted they could not for their owne partes but feare a much sorer punishment For if iudgement beganne at the house of God what shal be the ende of them which obey not the gospell of God And if the righteous shall skarse bee saved where shall the vngodlie and sinner appeare The Apostle maketh the comparison but it is as sensible and easie to the eie of nature to see so much as the high way is ready to the passenger God speaketh to the heathen nations with a zealous and disdainfull contention betwixte them and his people Lo I beginne to plague the citie vvherein my name was called vpon and shall you goe free It maie bee the maiestie of Gods name did astonish them and bruise them as a maule of iron having beene vsed but to puppets and skar-crowes before in comparison They were not acquainted with Gods of that nature and power till this time they never had dreamed that there was a Lorde whose name was Iehovah whose throne was the heaven of heavens and the sea his floore to walke in and the earth his foote-stoole to treade vpon who hath a chaire in the conscience and sitteth in the heart of man possessing his secret reines dividing betwixt his skinne and his flesh and shaking his inmost powers as the thunder shaketh the wildernes of Cades It is a testimony to that which I say that when the Arke was brought into the campe of Israell and the people gaue a shoute the Philistines were afraide at it and saide God is come into the hoste therefore they cried wo wo vnto vs for it hath not bene so heretofore wo be vnto vs who shall deliver vs out of the handes of these mighty Gods These are the Gods which smote the Aegyptians with all the plagues in the wildernes Wherein it is a wōderful thing to consider that the sight of the tēpest drinking vp their substance before their eies and opening as it were a throate to swallow their liues vp did not so much astonishe them as to heare but the Maiesty of God delivered by relation Alas what did they heare to that which he is indeede It was the least parte of his waies to heare of his creation of heaven and the sea and the dry land he is infinite and incomprehensible besides all that thou seest and all that thou seest not that in some sort God is And it is not a thing to bee omitted that the speech of the prophet made a deeper penetration and entrance into them than if a number besides not having the tongue of the learned had spent their wordes For consider the case The windes were murmuring about their eares the waters roaring the soule of their ship sobbing their commodities floating the hope of their liues hanging vpon a small twine yet though their feare were greate it was not so greate as when a prophet preached declared vnto them the almightinesse of the sacred godhead They haue not onely wordes but swordes even two edged swordes in their mouthes whome God hath armed to his service they are able to cut an hearte as hard as adamant they rest not in the iointes of the bodie nor in the marrow of the bones but pearce the very soule and the spirite and part the very thoughtes and intentions of the heart that are most secret The weapons of their warfare wherewith they fight are not carnall but mighty through God to cast downe holdes and munitions and destroying imaginations disceptations reasonings and every sublimity that is exalted against the knowledge of God and captivating every thought to the obedience of Christ. So there is neither munition for strength nor disputation for subtility nor heighth for superiority nor thought in the minde for secrecy that can holde their estate against the armour of Gods prophets Haue they not chaines in their tongues for the kinges of the earth and fetters of yron for their nobles did not Pharaoh often entreate Moses and Aaron to pray to the Lord for him did not the charme of Elias so sinke into the eares of Ahab that hee rent his clothes and put sacke-cloth vpon his flesh fasted and lay in sacke-cloath and went softlie Did not Iohn Baptist so hew the eares of the Iewes vvith the axe of Gods iudgements that they asked him as the physitian of their diseased soules by severall companies and in their severall callings the people though as brutish for the most part as the beastes of the fielde What shall wee doe then the publicanes though the hatred of the world and publique notorious sinners And vvhat shall wee doe the souldiours though they had the law in their swordes pointes And what shall wee doe Hath not Peter preached at Ierusalem to an audience of every nation vnder heauen of what number you may gesse in part when those that were gained to the Church of Christ were not fewer then three thousande soules and was not the pointe of his sworde so deepely impressed into them that they were pricked in their harts and asked as Iohn Baptists auditours before Viri fratres quid faciemus men and brethren what shall wee doe It is not a word alone the vehemency and sounde whereof commeth from the loines and sides that is able to do this but a puissant and powerfull worde strengthened with the arme of God a vvord vvith authoritie as they witnessed of Christ a vvorde vvith evidence and demonstration of the Spirit smiting vpon the conscience more then the hammers of the smith vpon his stithie a word that draue a feare into Herodes heart for he feared Iohn Baptist both aliue deade that bet the breath of Ananias and Saphira from out their bodies stroke Elymas ' the sorcerer into a blindnes and sent an extraordinary terrour into the hartes of these marriners So then the reason of their feare as I suppose was a narration of the maiesty of God so much the more encreased because it was handled by the tongue of a prophet vvho hath a speciall grace to quicken and enliue his speech whose soule was as a well of vnderstāding and every sentence that sprang from thence as a quicke streame to beate them downe And that this was the reason of their feare I rather perswade my selfe
lesse I would not that iustice shoulde thrust mercy out of place but mercy and pitty differ as much as religion and superstition the one honoureth the other dishonoureth God the one is an ornament to man the other reprocheth him Be compassionate to the life of man and spare it as discretion shall require but rather be compassionate to the life of the common wealth for bee yee assured that the punishment of bloud-shedde is not to shed but to saue more bloude Melius est vt pereat vnus quam vnitas It is better that one should die by lawe then numbers without law The dogge that liveth in the shambles hath commonly a bloudy mouth and he that hath beene flesht vpon the bloud of man will not easily leaue it I leaue the answere of Ionas to the next place â—et vâ— beseech our mercifull God the preserver of mâ—n as Iob calleth him that hee would vouchsafe to preserue vnto vs this vertue of humanity without which we are not men putting softnes and tendernes in them that are cruell iustice into those that must bridle the rage of cruelty kindnesse and compassion into vs all that whatsoever wee are to deale in with any sorte of men wee may carefully cast before â—ande as these marriners did what we should doe vnto them setting their rule of friendship and brotherhood before our eies not to doe wrong or violence in oppressing the state or life either of brethren or strangers but to measure vnto them all such duties of nature and charity as wee wish should be measured againe to our owne soules THE XIIII LECTVRE Chap. 1. verse 12. And he saide vnto them Take mee and cast mee into the sea so shall the sea bee calme vnto you For I knowe that for my sake c. THE order I kept in the verse going before was this Three persons were proposed vnto you 1. the person of Ionas standing vpon his delivery 2. the person of the marriners being in ieopardy 3. the person of the sea continuing troublesome and vnquiet vnto them The two latter whereof the furiousnes of the vvaters and their owne perill were mighty arguments to incense them against Ionas In this verse he answereth their whole demaunde 1. touching my selfe you aske what you shall doe vnto me Take me cast me into the sea By this meanes 2. the sea shall be quieted 3. towardes you against whome it is now enraged This for the order and coherence Now for the matter it selfe it is devided into three branches 1. the resolution decree and sentence of Ionas vpon himselfe Take me cast me into the sea 2. the end and it may be the motiue to harten them So shall the sea be quiet vnto you 3. the reason warrant or iustification of their fact For I knowe that for my sake c. The verse riseth by degrees You aske what you shall doe with me Cast me into the sea What is that for our safety Yes the sea shall be quiet vnto you But howe may we purchase our peace with so vniustifieable an action Right well For I know that for my sake the tempest is vpon you Rabbi â—zra and some of our later expositors following his opinion thinke that he maketh this offer vnto them vpon an obstinate obfirmed minde against the commaundement of God that rather than he would be helde in life to goe to Niniveh to gaine a forreine vncircuÌ„cised nation he would die the death And they ghesse moreover that he would never haue given that liberty vnto them against his life but that he heard them say vnlesse he went to Niniveh they would cast him forth There is not a syllable in the text to iustifie this iudgement For Ionas had made a reverent confession of God a singular testimony of a minde recalling it selfe And as for the marriners what kindnes they shewed him both before and after the letter of the scripture plainly demonstrateth I rather take it to be a doome of most propheticall and resolute magnanimity wrestling with the terrors of death as Israell with God and prevailing against them As if he had saide you shall not lose an haire of your heades for mine offence I will not adde murther to rebellion and the wracke of so many soules to my former disobedience Take mee Not as if you feared to touch me â—ollite me take me on high take me with force and validitie of armes take me with violence lift and hoise me vp when you haue so done vse no gentlenes towardes me let me not downe with ropes neither suffer mee to â—ake my choise howe or where I may pitch Cast me at adventures as you threw forth your wares And though the sea hath no mercy at all threatning both heaven and hell with the billowes thereof at this tiâ—e and bearing a countenance of nothing but destruction and it had beene a blessing vnto me to haue died one the land in some better sort or to haue gained the favour of a more mercifull death yet cast me into the sea and let the barbarous creature glut it selfe Ionas might haue stood longer vpon tearmes I haue committed a fault I am descried by the lots I confesse my misdeed the sea is in wrath your liues in hazard what then will it worke your peace to destroy me Say I were gone and perished is your deliverance nearer than before it was But without cunctation and stay possessing his soule in patience and as quiet in the midst of the sea as if he beheld it on firme grounde making no difference betweene life and death animated with a valiant and invincible spirite triumphing over dread and daunger charitable towardes his companions faithfull and bold as a Lion within himselfe and yeelding to nothing in the world saue God alone he giveth not only leaue and permission vnto them doe what you will I can not resist a multitude you may trie a conclusion by the losse of a man but with a confident intention as willing to leaue his life as ever hee was to keepe it and as ready to goe from the presence of men as before hee went from the presence of GOD First hee putteth them in right and possession of his person Take mee Secondly hee prescribeth them the maner and forme of handling him Cast mee into the sea Thirdly driveth them by agreements therevnto not of coniecture and probability It may bee thus and thus but of certaine event the sea shall bee calme vnto you and of vndoubted perswasion I knowne that for my sake c. It is a question not vnmeete to be considered in this place which many haue handled from the first age of the world not onely with their tongues but with their handes and insteede of sharpenesse of wit haue vsed the sharpnes of kniues and other bloudy instrumentes to decide it whether a man may vse violence in anye case against himselfe I finde it noted vpon these wordes God vvoulde not let Ionas caste foorth himselfe
but woulde haue it doone by the ministerie of the marriners But the oddes is not greate in effecte if you obserue vvhat is mentioned For Ionas setteth on the marriners and not onely counselleth but in a sorte compelleth them to caste him foorth Saul was not deade by the woundes which hee gaue himselfe till an An alekite came and dispatched him yet was Saul an homicide against his owne person and the other that made an ende of him filius mortis the childe of death Surelye GOD hath given a commaundement in expresse tearmes against this horrible practise Non occîdes Thou shalt not kill praesertim quia non addidit Proximum tuum especiallye because he added not Thy neighbour thou maiest the rarher vnderstand thy selfe as in the other commaundement vvhen hee forbâ—d false witnesse hee saide Thou shalt not beare false witnesse against thy neighbour Althoughe if the lawe had spoken more fullye Thou shalt not kill thy neighbour thou haddest not beene freed thereby quomam regulam diligendi proximum à semetipso delector accipit because hee that loveth taketh the rule of loving his neighbour first from himselfe And the conclusion holdeth good Non occîdes non alterum ergo nec te Nec enim qui se occîdit altum quà m hominem occîdit Thou shalt not kill no other man therefore not thy selfe for he that killeth himselfe killeth no other but a man I will require your bloud saith the Lord at the handes of beastes at the handes of man himselfe at the handes of every brother will I require it Will hee require bloud at the handes of beastes in whome there is no vnderstanding and at the handes of every brother which coniunction of brotherhood is the effectuall cause why we should spare one the others life and will hee be slacke to require it at thine owne handes vvho art nearer to thy selfe than thy brother is Tho. Aquinas giveth three reasons to condemne the vnlawfulnes of these bloudy designments 1. They are evill in nature because repugnant to that charity wherewith a man should loue himselfe And death wee all know is an enemy in natuâ—e and life is a blessing of God in the fifth commaundement 2. Each man is a part of the communion and fellowship of mankinde and therfore he doth iniury to the common wealth that taketh away a subiect and member thereof 3. Life is the gift of God and to his onely power subdued who hath saide I kill and I giue life Therefore Ierome writing to Marcell of Blesillaes death in the person of God abandoneth such soules Non recipio tales animas quae me nolente exierunt è corpore I receiue not such soules which against my will haue gone out of their bodies And he calleth the Philosophers that so dyed Martyres stultae philosophiae Martyrs of foolish philosophy There were two vile kindes of deathes wherewith of olde it seemeth they were wont to finish their vnhappy daies Laqueus praecipitium either they hung themselues or brake their neckes from some steepe place Petilian an enemy to the catholicke church had thus reproachfully spoken against the sound belevers The traitour Iudas died by an halter and the halter he bequeathed to such as himselfe was meaning the orthodoxe Christians No saith Augustine this belongeth not to vs for we doe not honour those by the name of Martyres who halter their ovvne neckes Howe much more doe we say against you that the Devill the maister of that traitour woulde haue perswaded Christ to haue fallen dovvne from the pinnacle of the temple and tooke repulse then what are they to be tearmed whome hee hath both counsailed so to doe and prevailed with truely what else but the enemies of Christ the friendes of the Devill the disciples of the seducer fellowe disciples with the traitour for both from one maister haue learned voluntary deathes the one by strangling himselfe the other by falling downe headlong The same father bringeth these murtherers into streightes and holdeth them in so closely on both sides that there is no escapinge from them When thou killest thy selfe either thou killest an innocente whereby thou becommest guiltye of innocente bloud or an offendour which is as vnlawefull to doe because thou art neither thine owne Iudge and thou cuttest of space of repentance Iudas vvhen hee slewe himselfe hee slewe a vvicked man notvvithstanding hee is culpable both for the bloude of Christ and for his owne bloude because though for his wickednesse yet was hee slaine by an other wickednesse Some haue offered themselues vnto these voluntarie deathes to leaue a testimony of courage and vndaunted resolution behinde them of whome Saint Augustine speaketh Perhappes they are to bee admired for stoutnesse of minde but not to bee commended for soundnesse of wisedome Albeit if reason may be iudge wee cannot rightly call it magnanimity for it is a far greater minde which can rather endure than eschew a miserable life I am sure the Patriarchs the Prophets the Apostles never did thus and though they were pâ—nched in their reines and their soules heavy vnto the death as Christes was insomuch that they cried out take my life from mee my soule chooseth to be strangled oh that my spirit were stifled within my bones and wretch that I am who shall deliver me yet they never paide their debte of nature till their creditour called vpon them which time they would never haue staied if in a moment of an houre the service of their owne handes might iustly haue released them Cleombrotus Ambraciote having red Plato his bookes of the immortality of the soule threw himselfe headlong from a wall and brake his necke that he might the sooner attaine to immortality He had another reason than the former It was rather a great then a good act Plato woulde haue done so himselfe or at least haue advised it but that in that learning wherwith hee sawe the immortality of the soule hee also sawe such meanes to attaine it vtterly vnlawfull Some to avoide a mischiefe to come haue fallen into the greatest mischiefe As virgins and honest matrones in a time of warre to avoide the rapes and constuprations of enemies In two wordes doe they consent to that filthines or doe they not consent if they consent not let them liue because they are innocent Non inquinatur corpus nisi de consensu mentis The body is not defiled but when the minde agreeth If they consent yet let them liue too that they may repent it Whether is better adultery to come yet not certaine or a certaine murther presently wrought Is it not better to commit an offence which may be healed by repentaunce than such a sin wherein no place is lefte for contrition O rather let them liue who sinne that they may recover themselues before they goâ— hence and bee no more seene It is a reason sufficient to raze the history of the Machabees out of the canon of the scriptures that the
Hovve ignoraunt were they and forgetfull of themselues till Christ advertised them Then they went out saith the gospell one by one from the eldest to the last being accused by their owne conscience then there was none left to giue evidence against her but our Sauiour asked woman where bee thy accusers or rather their owne accusers they knew that for their sakes Christ spake and they found that writing which he drewe in the dust engrauen so deepe in their owne heartes with a penne of iron that it could not be dissembled This is the case of al those that couer their sinnes Quorum si mentes recludantur possint adspici laniatus ictus Whose mindes if they coulde bee opened wee should see their rentes and stripes within Sinnes may bee without daunger for a time but neuer without feare Happy are they that know as they should know for this Novi vvhereof I speake belongeth to vs all vvhose knowledge is not contristans scientia a sadde vnpeaceable sorrowing knowledge the knowledge of devils who know there is an hell for them and albeit they know much yet they know not the way to salvation but fruitful comfortable ioyful knowledge who knowe to amendment of life who know to runne to the remedy of their sinnes to lay a plaster of the bloude and woundes of Christ to the woundes and hurtes of their soule who knovve that their Redeemer liueth as Iob did knowe Christ crucified not only for the worlde but for themselues also and account all thinges but losse and dunge in comparison of that excellent knowledge This is to bee rich in knowledge as the Apostle speaketh and without this if wee knewe all sortes and all knowledge besides wee might be poore beggerly miserable ignoraunte reprobate as bad as devilles THE XV. LECTVRE Chap. 1. ver 13. Neverthelesse the men rovved to bringe it to lande but coulde not c. IN the former verse there are pregnant causes laide downe why the Marriners should haue eased themselues of Ionas 1. the liberty and leaue he gaue them to cast him foorth 2. the good that shoulde ensue by the pacification of the sea 3. their warraÌ„t 1. the teÌ„pest was vpon them 2. a tempest for his sake 3. himselfe vpon knowledge avowed it Neverthelesse though they see the danger the causes of the danger the remedy thereof plainely assuredlie demonstrated they row to bring it to land It seemeth very straunge vnto me that they take not the first occasion offer to vnwinde theÌ„selues from the perill they were in that neither the master of the ship in his wisedome nor the multitude of the marriners in their tumultuous heady violence nor any one person amongst them forward for the common cause taketh the benefite of al these opportunities to saue themselues It giueth vs a memorable instruction that in singular and extraordinary facts which either the law of God or the law of nature repugneth is plainely against we be not too eager quicke in expedition thereof vntill it be out of doubt by some speciall warrant froÌ„ heaven that they may be atteÌ„pted Touching this present enterprise there is no question but though they had not learned the letter of the law of God Thou shalt not kill yet the law of nature tied them by secret bondes to deale with Ionas as they wished to be dealt with theÌ„selues Then why should they drowne him because the lots had convinced him the lottes might erre at a time or if they spake a truth must these men be his iudges or if iudges of his life and death there mighte some lesser punishment be devised Againe what though he offered himselfe to bee throwen into the sea for their safety must they take him at his first worde Can not their hurtes be cured but by so desperate a medicine as nature cannot brooke When Constantine the Emperour if the history bee true hearde that there was no meanes to cure his leprosie but by bathing his body in the bloud of infantes his hearte abhorred it Malo semper aegrotare quà m tali remedio convalesceâ—e I had rather bee sicke whilst I haue my being than recover by such a medicine Againe the warrant he gaue them I know that for my sake mighte perhappes be without warrant A man might speake in the bitternes of his soule what else he would not wearie of his life not able to beare his crosses and therefore as the manner of many distressed is seeking for death more than for treasures Whatsoever they did or might conceiue this I am sure of they had great reason to bee very circumspect and scrupulous to beare their hearte in their handes to walke with advise and charinesse before they did any thinge in an action so vnusuall and that which nature it selfe forbad them Augustine in the first booke of the cittie of God handling Abrahams paricide intended vpon his owne sonne a fact both against nature for no man ever hated his owne flesh and against the written precepte I vvill require the bloude of man speaketh thus It doeth not excuse another from impietie that shall purpose to offer his sonne because Abraham did so even with commendation For a souldiour also vvhen for obedience sake to that power vnder vvhich hee is lawfully ordained hee shall kill a man hee is not chargeable with murther by any law of the citty nay hee shall be guiltie of contempte to his governour if hee doe it not which had hee committed by his owne accorde and authority hee had fallen into question of spilling mans bloude therefore by what reason hee is punished if hee shall doe it without commaundemente by the same hee is punished if beeing commaunded hee doe it not Quod si ita est iubente imperatore quanto magis iubente creatore If it bee thus for the bidding of the Emperour much rather for the bidding of the creatour He adioyneth the example of certaine virgins Pelagia with her mother and sisters vvho threw themselues into a riuer rather than they woulde bee defiled by a villainous souldiour In excuse of vvhom hee demaundeth vvhat if they did it not deceiued by humane perswasion but commaunded by GOD not of errour but through obedience as in Sampsons departure from his life it is not lawfull for vs to thinke otherwise Onely let him beware that killeth himselfe or his childe and fullie bee satisfied that the commandement of God hath no vncertainetie in it It is the iudgmeÌ„t of sounde diuinitie that some factes vvhich the scripture recordeth are singular and dyed with the persons that did them enforcing no imitation at our handes vvithout the like speciall direction and dispensation from almightie GOD that hee gaue to them as namely Abrahams obedience in offering his sonne Phinees his zeale in killing the adulterers Sampsons magnanimity in destroying himselfe and the Philistines with the fall of the house the Israelites pollicy in spoyling the Aegyptians of
experience experience hope and hope will neuer suffer them to be ashamed or dismaide They breake the chaine at the first linke troubled they are against their wils but that which is voluntarie as patience experience hope they wil not adde that both in body soule they may be confoūded We on the other side hang vpon the chaine trust to climbe to heauen by it through the merits of Christs death and passion whereof the last linke consisteth and wee suffer none of those comfortable perswasions to fall to the ground without vse that if we suffer with him we shall also raigne with him and through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdome of heauen wee regarde not so much what part we haue in the whip but what place in the testament wee knowe who hath sequestred for vs to vse the word of Tertullian Idoneus patientiae sequester Deus God will truely account for all our sufferings If wee commit our wrongs vnto him he will reuenge them our losses hee will restore them our liues he will raise them vp againe THE XV. LECTVRE Chap. 1. ver 14. Then they cried vnto the Lorde and saide we beseech thee O Lord we beseech thee THE sea is angrie you haue hearde for the Lorde of hostes sake and will haue a sacrifice They gaue it space and respite enough to see if time coulde make it forgette the iniurie that vvas offered they entered consultation vvith Ionas himselfe of some milder handlinge him they spared not their painfullest contention of armes and ores to reduce him to land againe But when delay wrought no better successe and neither the prophet himselfe coulde by advise prescribe nor they effect by labour and strength the release of GODS vengeance what shoulde they doe but make ready the sacrifice and binde it to the hornes of the altar bestovvinge a fevve vvordes of blessing and dedication if I speake rightly before the offering thereof Ionas is sacrificed in the nexte verse So they tooke vp Ionas But the consecration and hallowing of the sacrifice goeth before in these wordes vvherefore they cryed c. It is the catastrophe of the vvhole acte novve it draweth to an issue and accomplishment their feare praier proiection of their vvares sortilege examination of Ionas consultation and other machinations and assaies whatsoever were but prefaces and introductions to this that followeth The sea hath made a vowe and will surely performe it I will not giue my waters any rest nor lye downe vpon my couch till Ionas be cast forth Wherefore or then It implyeth an illation from the former speeches When neither head nor handes counsaile nor force coulde provide a remedie they make it their last refuge to commende both themselues and Ionas to God by supplication t Ionas by a touch and in secret in that they call his bloud innocent bloude as who woulde saie hee never did vs hurte themselues of purpose and by profession that having to deale in a matter so ambiguous the mercy and pardon of God might be their surest fortresse The substance and soule of the vvhole sentence is prayer a late but a safe experiment and if the worst shoulde fall out that there vvere imperfection or blame in their action nowe intended praier the soveraignest restoratiue vnder heauen to make it sound againe For thus in effecte they thinke It may be wee shall be guilty of the life of a Prophet wee addresse our selues to the effusion of harme lesse bloude we must adventure the fact and whether we be right or wrong we knowe not but whatsoever betide we begge remission at thine hands be gracious and merciful vnto our ignorances require not soule for soule bloud for bloud neither lay our iniquities vnto our charge Praier hath asked pardon praier I doubt not hath obteined pardon for some of that bloudy generation which slew the very son heire of the kingdome which offered an vnrighteous sacrifice of a more righteous soule than ever Ionas was Else why did he open his mouth at his death powre forth his gronings for those that opened his side and powred forth his blood father forgiue them Before they had handled the ores of their trade and occupation but prevailed not for bodily exercise profiteth nothing novve they betake them to the ores of the spirite invocations intercessions to the ever-liuing God that if the bankes of the land vvhich they hoped to recover should faile them they might be receiued to an harbour and rode of the mercies of God These are the ores my brethren which shall rowe the shippe through all the stormes and insurrections of the waues of the seas I meane the Arke of Gods Church vniuersal and these vessels of ours our bodies soules in particular through all the dangers of the world and land them in the hauen of eternal redemption This worlde is a sea as I finde it compared swelling with pride vaineglory the winde to heaue it vp blew livide with envy boiling with wrath deepe with covetousnes foming with luxuriousnesse swallowing drinking in all by oppression dangerfull for the rockes of presumption and desperation rising with the waues of passions perturbations ebbing flowing with inconstancy brinish and salte with iniquity and finally Mare amarum a bitter and vnsavory sea with all kinde of misery What shoulde wee doe then in such a sea of tēptations where the arme of flesh is too weake to beare vs out if our strength were brasse it coulde not helpe vs where we haue reason to carry a suspition of all our waies and he that is most righteous in the cluster of mankinde falleth in his happiest day seven times and though we were privie to nothinge in our selues yet were wee not iustified thereby but had need to craue Clense vs O Lord frō our secret faults where we are taught to say father forgiue our debts and if the summe of our sins at our liues end be ten thousand talents then whether we speake or thinke wake or sleepe or whatsoever we do we adde a debt when all offend in many thinges many in all and he that offendeth in one iote of the law breaketh the vvhole vvhat should we doe I say but as the Apostles exhortation is pray continually and thinke neither place nor time nor businesse vnmeete to so holy and necessary an exercise that whether we beginne the day we may say with Abrahams servaunt O Lorde sende mee good speede this day or vvhither wee be covered with the shaddowes of the night we may begge with that sweete singer of Israell Lighten mine eies that I sleepe not in death or whatsoeuer vvee attempt in either of these two seasons vve may prevent it vvith the blessing of that other Psalme Prosper the vvorke of our handes vpon vs oh prosper thou our handy vvorkes Egredientes de hospitio armet oratio regredientibus de plataea occurrat oratio vvhen thou goest out of thine house let prayer
arme thee vvhen thou commest home to thine house let prayer meete thee Receaue not thy meate without thankes-giuing take not thy cuppe without blessing pray for the sinne of thine owne soule and offer a sacrifice for thy sonnes and daughters vvhen thou lyest downe couch thy selfe in the mercies of GOD when thou arisest vp walke with the staffe of his providence In this prayer of the Marriners there are many notable specialities First it is common the vvorke of the whole multitude In the fifte verse there was mention of praiers I graunt but there it is saide Invocârunt quisque Deum suum though all praied yet all aparte to their proper Gods Secondly feruent they cryed in their praier It is not a formall seruice the sound of their lippes and the sighes of their soules are seâ—t with an earnest message to the eares of God Thirdly discreete they pray not to their idols as before but to the Lorde of hostes Fourthly vocall and publique there vvas a forme and tenour of supplication which their lips pronounced they saide Fiftly humble they come with the tearme phrase of obsecration we beseech thee O Lord. Sixtly importunate as appeareth by their ingemination vve beseech thee we beseech thee Seventhly seasonable and pertinent applyed to the thing then in hand to be executed bring not vpon vs innocent bloud Eightly reasonable and iust standing vpon a good ground fitted to the will and pleasure of the Almighty for thou Lord hast done as it pleased thee We are vvilled Matthew the sixt to enter into our chambers and shutte the doores and praie to our father in secret and our father that seeth in secret shall openly revvarde it because it was the fashion of hypocrites to stand and pray in the synagogues and in the corners of the streetes to be seene of men Our Saviour neuer meant therby to coÌ„demne prayers in synagogues either standing or kneeling or praiers in the corners of the streets or in the height of the market places or vpon the house toppes in the sight both of men and Angels but only to exclude the affected ostentation of men-pleasing hypocrites vvho prayed to a wicked ende not to obtaine but only to bee seene of men Enter into thy chamber and pray go into the temple and pray commune with thine owne heart commune with the multitude both are good And that we may know that we are not stinted in our praiers onlie to our selues and our private families as the Athenians woulde offer sacrifice but only for their owne citty and theâ—r neighbours of Chios our Saviour hath taught vs the contrary in that absolute forme of his vvilling vs to say Our father vvhich art in heaeuen as if we al came from one wombe and vvhosoeuer spake pleaded the cause of the rest of his brethren Not that we may not say a sunder and in private My father as Thomas saide my God and my Lorde but as there is a time for the one so we must not omit the other in due season It is a principle both of nature and pollicie Vis vnita foâ—tior Strength vnited receiueth more strength it holdeth likewise in divinity If the prayer of one righteous person availeth much the praier of many righteous shall availe more If the Syrophoenician obtained for her daughter the sute shee made much more shall the Church and congregation of Christ obtaine for her children If vvhere two or three bee gathered togither in his name he is in the midst of them much rather in the midst of a people in the midst of thousandes in whom there is anima vna cor vnum one soule one hart one tongue as if they were all but one man Lorde heale the sores of our lande in this point and as it is thy worke alone that those who dwell togither in one house shall be of one minde so magnifie this worke amongst vs that the children of this Realme which flie from our Churches and oratories as Iohn from the bathe wherein Cerinthus was rending and tearing the soule of this countrey into two peeces dividing the voice and language thereof in their praiers to GOD Elias and his companye praying in one place and vvith one stile O Lorde GOD of Abraham and they in an other O Baal heare vs for so they doe in effect when they pray to such as heare them not some calling for fire to consume the sacrifice and some for water to consume the fire some praying for the life of Deborah the Queene of this land and some for the life of Iabin the king of Spaine thus mingling and confounding the eares of the Lorde vvith opposite petitions from crossing contrary affections that at length they may consider from whence they are fallen and severed both from the vnitie of this publique body of ours wherein they haue their maintenance and if they take not heed of that mystical body of their Lord and Redeemer Christ Iesus 2. They cryed It is a condition which Iames requireth the praier of the iust if it be fervent Else even the praiers of the iust if they be perfunctory and colde rather of custome than of devotion and piety they profit not but to condemnation Cursed bee hee that doeth the worke of the Lorde negligentlie praier is a vvorke of his The LORD is neare vnto all them that call vpon him faithfully not formally He giveth both aquam sitim the benefite and the grace to desire thirste after it VVee heare not our ovvne praiers I meane not for wante of sounde and much babbling but for vvante of invvarde desire the voice of our spirite is softe and submisse and dyeth in the aire before it ascendeth into the presence of GOD and shall vvee thinke that GOD will heare vs Our bodies happily in the Church our mindes vvithout our tongue vttereth praiers our hearte thinketh on vsuries wee bowe the knees of our flesh but not the knees of our heartes Hee that knewe in his soule that praier from feinedlippes and a fase heart vvoulde returne emptie into his bosome that sent it vp but a broken and contrite spirite the Lorde vvoulde not despise neuer preassed into the courtes of his GOD but the inwardest and deepest affections of his minde vvere giuen in sacrifice Every nighte vvasht hee his bed and watered his couch vvith teares hee in the night time when others slepte and tooke their naturall recreation yea there was not a night that escaped without taske and it washt not his plantes alone but the very pâ—llet and couch which he lodged vpon So richly was his soule watered with the dewe of heauen that it ministred continually both fountaines to his eies and a fluent expedition to his tongue to commende his praiers We may learne to be zealous in our praiers euen of those woodden priestes 1. King 18. of whome it is written that they called vpon the name of Baal from morning till noone and when
conceiue was not a Psalme composed for any particular vse but lefte to the church of God as a generall rule and prescription to fit the condition of every man Wherin there are first some reasons in our owne behalfe wherwith we insinuate our selves into the favour of God that he may heare vs. 1. Bow downe thine â—are vnto me O Lord. Why I am poore and needy the exigence of my distressfull affaires requireth thy helpe 2. Preserue thou my soule Why I am mercifull I aske not mercy at thy throne but as I shewe mercy againe to my brethren 3. Saue thou thy servant my God Why because he putteth his trust in thee he hath no other rocke to cleave vnto 4. Be mercifull vnto me O Lord. Why I crie vpon thee continually I haue constantly decreed with my selfe not to give over the hope of thy comfort 5. Reioice the soule of thy servant Why for to thee O Lord doe I lift vp my soule the best and chosenest member I haue shall doe thee service His misery mercy faithfulnesse constancy syncerity speake for audience Now on behalfe of God there are other inducementes recited from the 5. verse why wee resort to the winges of his favour when we are distressed 1. from his mercy and kindnes to all that call vpon him for thou Lord art good and gracious and of great compassion therefore giue eare to my praier and harken vnto the voice of my supplication 2. from experience and triall In the day of my trouble will I call vpon thee for thou hearest me 3. from comparison and greatnes of his workes Amongest the Gods there is none like vnto thee and who can doe like thy workes 4. from consent of the worlde All nations whome thou hast made shall come and worship before thee O Lord and shall glorifie thy name 5. from the solenesse and singularitie of his godheade which is the chiefe for thou art greate and doest wonderous thinges and art God alone 1. His generall exhibition of mercy to all 2. particular and personall application to some 3. the rarenesse and maiesty of his workes 4. the consent of nature and nations 5. the singularity of godheade these are motions and perswasions to call forth our prayers and these if they can be verified either of Angels or men I refuse not to giue them a part with God in this our sacred oblation They cried and said Their praiers were also vocal expressed The gronings of the spirit vndoubtedly though Zâ—chary be dumbe and cannot speake a worde shall never bee reâ—used Hee made the heart and the tongue that vnderstandeth the language of both alike he is as neare to our reines as to our lippes and the voice of the one is not more audible to him that heareth without eares than the others intention In Dei auribus desiderium vehemens clamor magnus est remissa intentio vox submissa In the eares of God a vehement desire is a great crie a remisse and carelesse intention is a submisse and still voice Anna a type of the church spake in her hearte her lippes did onely mooue and her voice was not hearde Yea the gestures of her body through the griefe of her soule were such that â—â—li reprooved her of drunkennesse Indeede shee was drunke not with the wine of grapes but vvith the wine of devotion which ranne from the wine-presse of a troubled spirit and the Lord remembred her petition though shee praied with her hart alone and her tongue stirred not What then hath the tongue immunity therby from doing that homage vnto the Lord which he hath enioyned it shal not the calues of our lippes bee required because we haue tendered the calues of our heartes must not both the heart beleeue and the mouth make confession and as the one is the cistetne within thy selfe to conteine the honour of God so must not the other be the pipe to convey it to thy brethren surely yes Aske both body and soule and every part of them both vvhose image and inscription they beare they will tell thee Gods then pay the tribute of both and glorifie God with thy bodie and spirit for both are his And as thou liftest vp thy soule with David in the 86. Psal. so lift vp thy handes also with Moses lift vp thine eies with Steven lift vp thy voice with Deborah and with all the children of God whose pleasure and ioy it is to heare God praised in the great congregation If there be priestes to pray for the people which must weepe betweene the porch and the altar even in the body and navell of the church vvhere the sounde of his voice may best bee hearde and saye spare thy people O Lorde c. if there bee temples and churches which the prophet hath tearmed and Christ ratified to bee the houses of praier if there be seldome and set times apointed for these duties to bee done in if there bee formes and patternes devised even from the sonne of God how our praiers should be conceived then is there no question but we must open our lippes in the service of God and our mouthes must be willing to shew forth his praise Wee beseech thee O Lord. They vse the properest tearmes of submission that may be They come not to bragge wee are worthy O Lord whome thou shouldest do for as the princes of the people spake for the Centurion in the gospell they come not to indent and bargaine If thou wilt be our God c. they knowe they stand vpon grace not desert and that the Lord must be entreated or they cannot liue Humility is both a grace it selfe and a vessell to comprehend other graces and this is the nature of it the more it receaveth of the blessinges of God the more it may For it ever emptieth it selfe by a modest estimation of her owne giftes that God may alwaies fill it it wrastleâ—h and striveth with God according to the pollicy of Iacob that is winneth by yeelding and the lower it stoupeth towardes the ground the more advantage it getteth to obtaine the blessing O quà m excelsus es domine humiles corde sunt domus tuae O Lord how high and soveraigne art thou and the humble of heart are thine houses to dwell in where is that house that yee will build vnto mee and where is that place of my rest To him will I looke even to him that is poore and of a contriâ—e spirit and trembleth at my wordes Plutarke writeth of some who sailed to Athens for philosophy sake that first they were called sophistae wise men afterwardes Philosophi but lovers of wisedome nexte rhetores onely reasoners and discoursers last of all idiotae simple vnlettered men The more they profited in learning the lesse they acknowledged it Thus in spirituall graces vvee should study to bee greate but not knowe it as the starres in the firmament though they be bigger than the earth yet they seeme much lesse
or irrogating any the like iudgment that he doth non impartiendo malitiam not by infusing any wickednesse as the magistrate putteth no venime into the hearbe sed non impartiendo misericordiaÌ„ but by not imparting his mercy or auferendo spiritum by with-drawing his holy spirite as when yee withdrawe the pillers or proppes of the house vvhich Sampson did the house falleth to ruine with the very weight of the building that is laid thervpon or if a countrey he vvaste and vnpeopled it becommeth a desert of it selfe for lacke of better inhabitants it is covered with nettles briers satyres shrich-owles hedg-hogs take it vp so when the aide assistance of Gods grace forsaketh a man vvhose body soule vvere apointed to haue beene the temples of the Lord of hosts to dwell in presently wildnes barbarousnes succeedeth and that which by the mercies of God might haue beene as his garden pleasant paradise through the absence therof becoÌ„meth an habitatioÌ„ for fowle vncleane spirites For as the removing of the sun from these vpper partes of the earth where we liue into the other hemisphere bringeth darknes vpon vs not that the body of the sun is not altogither lightsome his natural office to lighten but because he is gone departed further of so the departure of God himselfe most righteous froÌ„ an vnrighteous soule by the only remove of his gracious presence leaveth it to it selfe in an habite of iniustice never to be recovered Wherein notwithstanding the case is not so harde against God as some imagine it that it is all one to thrust an olde man dovvne and to take away his staffe the only stay to keepe his feete from falling for his helpe being gone he caÌ„ no longer stand as if in God the withdrawing of his grace which is his rodde or staffe to sustaine vs were effectuallie no lesse than to thrust vs into wickednesse for thus they should rather propose it that as when an olde man wilfully casteth away his staffe and no man restoreth it to him againe he falleth through his owne folly not by anothers instigation so when the wicked despisers of the world not only neglect but contemne defie that saving grace wherby they staÌ„d through their own stubbornnes perversity they run a werisome race of wreâ—chednes the Lord not lending them his helping hand to bring theÌ„ backe againe And therfore as they that purposedly abandoÌ„ the light of the sun to goe into a darkesome cave of the grounde where the sunne never shone have no reason to complaine that the sunne woulde not followe them so they that wittingly and stifly renounce the acceptable visitation of God whereby he would have led them into the waies of peace let them blame their owne impenitency that they are not afterwards attended vpon by the like compassion Or to match these incomparable things with Irenee as the sunne which is the creature of God blindeth the eies of such as for the infirmitie of sight cannot behold his beames so God the creator of the sunne hardeneth the heartes of such as for the hardnesse of beleefe will not receave his goodnesse For whome he fore sawe vndisposed to beleeve those hee delivered to their infidelitie and turned avvaye his face from them leaving them in darkenesse which they chose to themselves What is it then to harden the heart of Pharaoh and others nolle emollire this that hee will not soften it What is it to make blinde this that hee will not illuminate what to reiect or to cast of this that hee will not call vvhich is ment not of his generall calling but of that which is effectuall and belongeth to the chosen yet me thinkes there is more â—n it For not onelye hee is vnvvillinge to soften illuminate call the impenitent but hee hath further a will not to doe it For there is greate difference betwixte these two speeches hee will not and hee hath a will not doe it the former arguinge but an indifferent and milder alienation of the minde and rather a carelesse neglect than a purposed and prounded hatred the latter a bent and resolved decree As when a poore man asketh an almes some are vnwilling to relieve him not weighing his necessitie and bidding him goe in peace c. others have a vvill not to relieve him it is determined in their heartes not to afforde him comforte either because they are vnmercifull towardes all the poore or for that they are out of likinge with the manners or person of this man Augustine in three words decideth this whole question against Faustus the Manichee touching the hardening of heartes and the like iudgmentes Diabolus suggerit homo consentit Deus deserit The devill vvorketh it by suggestion man by consenting GOD by forsaking by suffering an hard heart to vvaxe as fatte as brawne by giving successe to â—ll purposes which hee could have stopped by not communicating the helpe of his blessed spirit vt non ab illo irrâ—getur aliquid quo sit homo deterior sed tantùm quo sit melior non erogetur God were able I confesse to soften the hardest heart open the blindest eies when and in whome and where he listed But when he doth so hee doth it by mercy and vvhen he doth it not hee doth it not by iudgement Meane-while let this be helde for a constant and vnfallible rule that although there be many whome God lifteth not vp yet there is none whome properly he throweth downe Ab illo est quòd statur non est ab illo quòd ruitur From him it commeth that we all stand but not from him that any falleth and many have beene helde that they fell not no man pushed at to cause him to fall Onelie hee casteth them downe by a consequence because hee giveth not his grace which might have susteined them as if a nurse lend not her hand to support her childe the childe will fall I graunte but the cause of the falling is the vveakenesse and debility of the childe the nurse no further the cause thereof then that shee did not hinder it Which though it bee a fault amongst vs because wee are members one of the other and tied togither by the bonde of charity yet it is no fault in God who having power over his clay may worke at his pleasure either in iudgement to make it a vessell of dishonour or of honour in mercy For manifestation of this latter point that God instilleth not malice into the offendours in this execution of his iudgementes by punishing sinne by sinne but finding these vesselles of iniquity full fraught of themselves leaveth them with the season of their owne licour and onely applieth theÌ„ by his wisedome to some good service of his though I were able to open it vnto you in all the examples before alleadged yet I will rest in the seducement and fall of Ahab Wherein it may seeme that God
their garmeÌ„t at this time as David caught from Saul onely for a token and note them as I passe by the vvay who if they were kindely vsed should be pronounced by the priest and by the prince proclaimed the vncleanest lepers that ever sore ran vpon not onely to be excluded the host and to have their habitation alone but to be exiled the land and extermined nature it selfe which they so vnnaturally strive to adnihilate Their vsage of parricides in Rome were over favourable for theÌ„ whom they sowed into a male of lether threw into the sea that yet the water of the sea could not soke through nor other element of nature earth aire or fire approach vnto them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Atheisme is the maine disease of the soule not onely of that private man in whome it is harboured but of the whole land wherein permitted For which opprobrious contagious disease till other remedy were found I would they might be marked the meane time that are sicke of it as the leper was that the people might be wise to eschew theÌ„ As the one had his clothes rent his head bare his lippes covered was enioyned to cry where he past I am vncleane I am vncleane so I would the other had either a rent or a writing vpon their clothes a braÌ„d in their forheades that all that behelde them might say an Atheist an Atheist 2 The second collection in offering a sacrifice is that the sensible and ceremoniall handling thereof without the inward oblation of the heart which the other doth but signifie was never approoved I might repeate the proofes hereof from the elements and beginnings of the world the sacrifices of Abel and Caine the first that ever I finde to have beene made although I make no question of Adam himselfe who nurtured his sonnes in religious discipline from thence I might come downe through all the complaintes that even the soule of the Lord grieved with abuse and mockery hath plentifully sent foorth against his people of the Iewes shewing therin that not only he refused but hartily condemned lothed abhorred their offerings and denying with pertinacy that ever hee required them whereas in trueth they were the ordinaunces of his ovvne lippes But vvhen hee ordained them hee made male and female and ioyned two in one hee created a bodie and a soule an outwarde and an inwarde parte the aspectable signe and the invisible affection for want of which latter the better of the two hee renounceth the other as that which he never apointed In the first of Esay forgetting his people to be the children of Iacob because they forgat his sacrifices to bee the sacrifices of a God whome they rather vsed like a skar-crow in the garden of cucumbers than the Lord of knowledge hee calleth them princes of Sodome and people of Gomorah asking them in iealousie as hote as fire What haue I to doe with the multitude of your sacrifices I am full of burnt offeringes of rammes and the fattte of fedde beastes I desire not the bloude of bullockes nor of lambes nor of goates When you come to appeare before mee Who required it at his handes Bringe no more oblations in vaine incense is an abhomination vnto mee I cannot suffer your newe moones and Sabbaths my soule hateth your apointed feastes they are a burthen vnto mee and I am weary to beare them Of the outwarde countenance and lineaments of their sacrificing you heare more than enough Rammes and fed beastes bullockes lambes and goates incense sabbathes new moones festivall daies solemne assemblies togither with stretching out the handes and making of many praiers But I may say that as the minde of a man is the man so the minde and intention of the sacrifice is the sacrifice which the searcher of the hart reines looking for finding a carkeise of religioÌ„ without a quickening spirit protesteth that he hath nothing to doe with them that he is full and overfull that they are an hatred burthen abomination vnto him If they will redeeme his grace with a sweete smelling sacrifice they must cease to doe evill and learne to doe well seeke iudgement relieue the oppressed With such like The beginning ending of the prophecie is in one tune For afterwardes it is denounced in the name of the Lord hee that killeth a bullocke is as if hee slew a man hee that sacrificeth a sheepe as if he â—atte of a dogges necke hee that offereth an oblation as if hee offered swines bloud hee that remembreth incense as if hee blessed an idoll the reason of this misconstrued devotion of theirs is They haue chosen their owne waies and their soule which shoulde haue beene the principal agent delighteth in their abominations The correction of that errour and the erection both of the temple the sacrifices which the Lord chooseth are in the next wordes before To him will I looke even to him that is poore and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my words If this wine be wanting to those bottles this substaÌ„ce to those shadowes we shall go with our bullockes and sheepe as it is in Osee to seeke the Lord but shall not finde him because we goe with these alone Nay these wee may leaue behinde vs as vnprofitable carriage in coÌ„parison of the others so we want not those I will not reprooue thee saith God for thy sacrifices and because of thy burnt offerings that they are not commonly before mee I will take no bullocke out of thine house nor goates out of thy foldes for all the cattell of the forrest are mine and the beastes vpon a thousande mountaines I knowe all the fowles vpon the hilles and all the wilde beastes of the field are mine If I be hungry I will not tell thee for the world is mine and all that therein is Thinkest thou that I will eate the flesh of bulles or drinke the bloude of goates Thus the externall parte and as it were the letter of the sacrifice is not much lesse than cancelled and abrogated that the spririt may take place offer vnto God praise and paie thy vowes to the most high and call vpon mee in the daie of trouble so will I deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie mee This was it that Samuel aunswered Saul when he pretended the saving of oxen and sheepe and the best of the spoile to offer to the Lorde in Gilgal hath the Lorde as greate pleasure in burnt offerings sacrifices as wheÌ„ his voice is obeied to obey iâ— better thaÌ„ sacrifice and to harken is better than the fatte of rammes This did our Saviour implie to the Scribes and Phaâ—ises who did so invvardlye sticke to the outwarde keeping of the Sabbath Go learn what this meaneth I will haue mercie and not sacrifice This did the learned Scribe vvhose praise is in the gospell that hee aunswered discreetely and was not farre from the kingdome of GOD
Christ the precepts and ordinaunces of his law his mysteries of faith haue beene often preached often heard yet never wearied never satisfied those that hungered and thirsted after his saving health I goe backe to my purpose Ionas you heare praied This is the life of the soule which before I spake of when being perplexed with such griefe of heart as neither wine according to the advise of Salomon nor stronge drinke could bring ease vnto her toÌ„gue cleaving to the roofe of her mouth and her spirite melting like waxe in the middest of her bowels when it is day calling for the night againe and when it is night saying to her selfe when shall it be morning finding no comforte at allâ— either in light or darkenesse kinsfolkes or friendes pleasures or riches and wishing as often as shee openeth her lippes and draweth in her breath vnto her if God were so hasty to heare those wishes Oh that thou wouldest hide me in the graue and keepe me secret vntill thy wrath were past yet then shee taketh vnto her the wings of a doue the motion and agility I meane of the spirite of God shee flieth by the strength of her praiers into the bosome of Gods mercies and there is at rest Is any afflicted amongest you Let him pray Afflicted or not afflicted vnder correction of apostolique iudgement let him pray For what shall he else doe Shall he follow the vvaies of the wicked which the prophet describeth the wicked is so prowde that hee seeketh not after God hee saith evermore in his heart there is no God hee boasteth of his owne heartes desires he blesseth himselfe and contemneth the Lorde the iudgementes of God are high aboue his sight therefore hee snuffeth at his enimies and saith to himselfe I shall never be mooved nor come in daunger I can name you a man that in his prosperity said even as they did I shall never be moved thou Lorde of thy goodnesse hast made my hill so strong But see the change Thou diddest but hide thy face and I was troubled Then cried I vnto Lorde and prayed vnto my God saying what profite is there in my bloud c. Or shall hee vvith those vnrighteous priests in Malachie vse bigge wordes against the LORDE It is in vaine that I haue served him and what profite is it that I haue kepte his commaundementes and vvalked in humility before him O the counsell of the vvicked bee farre from mee saith Iob their candell shall often bee put out and the sorrowe of the fathers shal bee laide vp for their children and they shall even drinke the wrath of the Almighty And all such as feare the Lord speake otherwise every one to his neighbour and the Lorde harkeneth and heareth it and a booke of remembrance is written for them that feare him and thinke vpon his name Or shall he on the other side when his sorrowes are multiplied vpon him saie as it is in the Psalme vvho will shew mee any good thing Let him aunswere the distrust of his minde in the nexte woordes Lorde lifte thou vp the lighte of thy countenaunce vpon mee Thou shalt put more ioy thereby into mine hearte than the plentifullest enâ—rease of corne wine and oile can bring to others Or lastly what shall hee doe shall hee adde griefe vnto griefe and welcome his woes vnto him shal he drinke downe pensiuenesse as Behemoth drinketh downe Iordan into his mouth shall hee bury himselfe aliue and drowne his soule in a gulfe of desperation shall hee liue the life of Cain or die the death of Iudas shall hee spend his wretched time in bannings and execrations cursing the night that kept counsaile to his conception cursing the day that brought tidings of his bringing forth cursing the earth that beareth him the aire that inspireth him the light that shineth vpon him shall hee curse God and die or perhappes curse God and not die or shall he keepe his anguish to himselfe let his heart burst like newe bottelles that are full of wine for want of venting or shall hee howle and yell into the aire like the wolues in the wildernesse and as the maner of the heathen is not knowing where or how to make their mone feeling a wounde but not knowing how to cure it or what shall hee doe when he findeth himselfe in misery his waies hedged vp with thornes that heÌ„ cannot stirre to deliver himselfe there-hence what shoulde he doe but pray Bernard vnder a fiction proposeth a table well worthy our beholding therein the Kinges of Babylon and Ierusalem signifying the state of the world and the church alwaies warring togither In which encounter at length it fell out that one of the souldiours of Ierusalem was fled to the castell of Iustice. Siege laide to the castell and a multitude of enimies intrencht round about it Feare gaue over all hope but prudence ministred her comfort Dost thou not knowe saith shee that our king is the king of glorie the Lorde stronge and mighty even the Lord mightie in battell let vs therefore dispatch a messenger that may informe him of our necessities Feare replyeth but who is able to breake thorough Darknes is vpon the face of the earth and our wals are begirte with a watchfull troupe of armed men we vtterlie vnexperte of the waie into so farre a country where vpon Iustice is consulted Be of good cheare saith Iustice I haue a messenger of especiall trust well knowne to the king and his courte Praier by name who knoweth to addresse her selfe by waies vnknowne in the stillest silence of the night till shee commeth to the secrets and chamber of the king him selfe Forthwith she goeth and finding the gates shut knocketh amaine Open yee gates of righteousnes and be ye opened ye everlasting dores that I may come in and tell the kinge of Ierusalem how our case standeth Doubtlesse the trustiest and efectuallest messenger we haue to send is Praier If we send vp merits the stars in heaven wil disdeine it that we which dwell at the footestoole of God dare to presume so far when the purest creatures in heaven are impure in his sight If we send vp feare and distrustfulnes the length of the waie will tire them out They are as heavy and lumpish as gaddes of iron they will sinke to the ground before they come halfe way to the throne of salvation If wee send vp blasphemies and curses all the creatures betwixt heaven and earth will band themselues against vs. The sun and the moone will raine downe bloud the fire hote burning coales the aire thunderboltes vpon our heades Praier I say againe is the surest embassadour which neither the tediousnesse of the way nor difficulties of the passage can hinder from her Purpose quicke of speede faithfull for trustinesse happie for successe able to mounte aboue the eagles of the skie into the heaven of heavens and as a chariote of fire bearing vs aloft into the
for mee Charitie which is the thirde sister saith I runne and endevour to attaine vnto them Before he had saide that there was a neare affinitie betweene faith and hope For that which the one beleeveth shall bee the other beginneth to hope shall bee for her The prophet breaketh not the order of these two vertues first he beleeveth then hopeth For faith is the substance of thinges hoped for and no more can a man hope after that which he beleeveth not then a painter paint in the aire or vpon emptines Augustine in his enchiridion to Laurentius alleadgeth many differences betwixt faith and hope Namely these that more is beleeved then is hoped for as the paines of hell but nothing is hoped vvhich is not beleeved Againe faith apprehendeth both good and evill rewarde and punishmente thinges past thinges present and thinges to come as the death of Christ for the first for the seconde his sitting at the righte hande of God for the last his comming to iudgement Moreover faith hath to do in matters both concerning our selues and others for we also beleeue that that appertaineth to Angels But hope is the expectatioÌ„ only of good things such as are to come are proper to our selues So faith is evermore ampler then hope and hope is in a maner a contracted abridged faith Clem. Alex. faith that hope is the bloud of faith And wheÌ„ hope hath given vp the ghost it is as if the bloud of faith had flowed out all her vitall power were exhausted The devils both know obey God Iob 1. they acknowledge his son Iesus Christ not only in the substance of his deity to be the son of God but in his office of mediation Thou art that Christ Marc. 1. and they professe publish that knowledge of theirs for Christ rebuketh them for it Luc. 4. neither are they ignoraÌ„t of his coÌ„mission that al power is granted vnto him both in heaven earth And that he is ordained the iudge of the quicke the dead Therfore they aske why art thou come to vex vs before the time Math. 8. Yea they fall downe and worship him Mark 5. they feare treÌ„ble and beleeue 2. Iac. and they pray vnto him For the Legion instantlie besought him 4. Mark not to send them away out of the coasts of the Gadarenâ— â—o there is in the devils you see 1. knowledge and that very deepe and profound 2. confession 3. worship 4. feare 5. beliefe 6. praier and supplication what want they that which if christians waÌ„t they haue a name that they liue but indeed are dead They want a particular confident faith the application of mercy which is the life of Christians and the defect whereof maketh devils For not to beleeue assuredly that God is rich in mercy to all that call vpon him in faithfulnes and truth to haue his loving kindnes in iealousie to distrust his promises which are yea and Amen to falsifie his word more stable theÌ„ the pillers of the earth to make him a lier what in vs lyeth to evacuate the testimony of his spirit speaking to our spirites that we are the sons of God as it were to pull off the seale whereby wee are sealed against the redemption of the iust is that damnable desperate infidelity which turneth men into devils and of the houshold of faith maketh them a family for the prince of darknes And not to speake more of this beautiful damsell as highly favoured of the king of kings as ever was Esther of the king of the Medes Persians not coÌ„tenting her selfe to stay without at the gate but with an huÌ„ble presumptioÌ„ approaching into the inner court finding the goldeÌ„ scepter of favor ever ready to be held out vnto her be ye assured in your soules and write it in the tables of your harts with the point of a Diamond with the perswasioÌ„ of Gods holy spirit that the writings of adversaries may never raze it out againe that if you erre not in the nature of a true faith if you take not shadowes of mountaines for men a fansie and shadow of faith for the body it selfe if it be sound substaÌ„tial rightly informed properly qualified you may say vnto it goe in peace it shall walke through life death without controlement If it finde angels principalities powers things present things to come any other creature in the world stopping her passage rebuking her forwardnes she shal cleare her way notwithstanding with the streÌ„gth of her hope and climbe into the presence of her God where if shee craue to sit at his right or left hand in his everlasting kingdome her suite shall be graunted He praied vnto the Lord his God out of the belly of the fish where he had as litle coÌ„fort of life as blind Tobias had what ioy can I haue said he that sit in darknes and behold not the light of heaven Ionas might truly say in a double sense de profundis clamavi abyssus abyssuÌ„ invocat out of the deepe haue I cried one depth calleth vpon an other who lay both in the bottome of a moÌ„ster in the lowest gulfe of afflictioÌ„ that ever soule was plunged in Might he haue had the liberty of the sons of God to haue entred into the house of the Lord the house of praier as the prophet calleth it the place where his honor dwelt there to haue huÌ„bled himselfe powred out his soule to him that made it I woulde lesse haue marvailed to heare this duty performed Anna the daughter of Phanuell hath spent her daies in the temple of God serving the Lord with fastings and praiers night and daie and shee departed not thence David desired but one thing of the Lorde and that he would require that he might dwell in the house of the Lord all the daies of his life to beholde the beautie of the Lord and to visite his temple But in the belly of the fish there was no beauty to invite vnto devotion in this darkesome and deserte house no company or fellowshippe to draw him on Ibimus in domum domini Come vvee will goe into the house of Lord Our feete shall stande in thy gates O Ierusalem No not so much as swallowes and sparrowes which David envied because they had leaue to build their nestes by the altars of God yea if vultures and shrich-owles had but dwelte thereby it had beene some comforte Yet in this desolate and solitary house voider of haunte then the ransackte sanctuary of Ierusalem the pathes wherof foxes for want of passengers ran vp downe vpon wherin he lay as forlorne in a maÌ„ner as he that made his abode amongst the tombes of the dead and frequented the company neither of men nor beasts even in this hatefull cage of filth vncleannes he setteth himselfe on worke humbling his soule in praier lower then his body was humbled in the water talking
his spirit cried cried alowd if wheÌ„ he lay in the belly of hel even then he climbed above the stars of the firmameÌ„t though he saw nothing with his bodily eies he saw heaven opened vnto him with the eies of his vnderstaÌ„ding theÌ„ let vs not be dismaied my brethreÌ„ if tribulatioÌ„ come let vs not thinke it any strange thing yea rather if tribulation come let vs not thinke it an vnprofitable vnwelcome thing let vs receive it with thanks keepe it with patience digest it in hope apply it with wisdome bury it in meditation it shal end vnto vs no doubt in glory and peace more than can be spoken THE XXV LECTVRE Chap. 2. ver 2. I cried in mine affliction vnto the Lord and he heard me out of the belly of hell cried I c. IN the two members of this second verse signifying almost the same thing I observed first the measure of his afflictions explicated by two metaphors togither with the effect they brought forth secoÌ„dly the force zealousnes of his praiers declared likewise by two words and thirdly the audience which ensued vpon his praying The force of his praier wherin I am to proceed is interpreted by 2. phrases though not distinguished in our English traÌ„slatioÌ„s yet in the Hebrew Greek Latine of Tremelius somwhat variâ—d as if he had said I called cried or I cried outcried Which Ierome expouÌ„deth vel aquis cedentibus either the waters yeelding him away making passage vel toto cordis affectu or with the whole inteÌ„tioÌ„ of his hart The former is not likely I rather take it to have bene the vehemency of spirit such as is vsually meÌ„t in the scriptures vnder these or the like words as in the 119. Psalme expresly I have cried vvith my vvhole hearte Galath 4. God hath sent the spirite of his son into our heartes crying Abba that is father though it be in the hart alone yet it is called crying It ever notâ—th whither in propriety or by translation an earnest lowd importunate desire loath to loose audience for wante of speaking out and impatient of repulse when it hath spoken Therefore Elias bade the priestes of Baal cry with a lowd voice and he in the comoedy mervailing at overmuch patience sheweth what shoulde bee done Eho non clamas non irasceris What doest thou not cry art thou not angrie Annah in a part of her song telleth vs what the maÌ„ner of the wicked sometimes is Impij in tenebris tacent when they are afflicted they lay their handes vpon their mouthes and heartes too they frette with indignation repine to themselves letting neither voice nor grone come forth nor any other token of submission to him that hath cast them down Of whome I may say with Gregory To suffer so despâ—ghtfully and maliciouslye is not the true vertue of patience but a covered or concealed madnesse Now Ionas is many degrees beyond these 1. He is not silent which as you heard is sometimes a marke of impiety 2. He doth not mutter to himselfe as the philosophers in the Poet humming within themselves and vttering a kinde of vnsensible and vnarticulate silence 3. He doth more than speake for that might argue the heart of a man but indifferently disposed to obtaine 4. He speaketh with most endevored contention he crieth vnto the Lord when he hath once cried crieth againe with an other kinde of crying For as if the former word were not enough a latter is added to signifie either a different kinde or if the same in a more intensive and forcible affection This ingemination either of one and the same word again repeated or of sundry bearing the same sense giveth as it were a double strength to the declaration of that which is delivered As Phavorinus gave his iudgement of the verse in Homer wherin Idaeus laboureth by perswasion to pacifie the contention betwixt Aâ—ax and Hector 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Warre not any longer beloved youngmen neither fight togither that the addition of the second word though adding nothing in significatioÌ„ to the former is not to make vp the verse but as they continued in their strife so duplex eadem compellatio admonitionem facit intentiorem his twise speaking vnto them in the same maÌ„ner of speech maketh his advise the more earnest And if they were the same words yet one might very wel think them to be others quia aures animum saepiùs feriunt because they beate the eares and the minde of a man often These often and fierce inclamations within the spirit of Ionas speaking to the Lord as it were with a doubled and cloven tongue and sending vp his Praiers into heaven as incense casteth vp smoke without intermission condemne the dissolute and perfunctorie prayings of our daies both in churches chambers who vtter a forme of wordes as the manner of hypocrites or the Gentiles was or as the parret of Ascanius recited the creede rather of custome than zeale flattering God with our mouths and dissembling with him with our tongues leaving our spirites as it were in a slumber the meane time or if we cal theÌ„ vp to praier leaving them again as Christ his disciples before we haue thoroughly awaked them as if the offering of the halt and the lame body without soule or soule without devotion voice without spirit or spirit without clamor and vociferation could please him The praiers of David I am sure had an other edge vpon them In the 55 Psalme I mourne in my praier make a noise Evening and morning and at noone will I pray and make a noise and he will heare my voice In the 38. before I roare for the very griefe of mine heart Lord mine whole desire is before thee and my sighing is not hâ—d from thee Cor meum palpitat my hearte panteth or runneth too and fro I haue no rest no quietnes within me Such was the pange and palpitation of Iâ—bs hart My groning commeth before I eate effunduntur velut aquae rugitus mei and my roarings are powred forth and waue like waters not gronings nor cryings but plaine roarings with a continuall inundation velut vnda impellitur vndâ as one water driveth on an other â—hese are wonderfull passions The Lion in the forest never roared so much for his pray nor the hart after the water-brookes as the soules of the faithfull after Gods goodnes Yea the Lion indeed hath roared who will not feare the Lord God hath spoken who can but prophecie The mightie Lion of the tribe of Iudah hath roared in his supplications and his righteous spirit beene vexed and disquieted within him and shal not we be moved of him it is witnessed in the 11. of Iohn that at the raysing of Lazarus he not only wept but groned or yearned in his spirite and troubled himselfe about it It was trouble indeede Tartarus hath his name from such troubles
the angels of GOD. I woulde spend it wholy in the commendation of this graue and serious sentence VVherefore shoulde I feare in the evill dayes when iniquirie shall compasse mee aboute as at mine heeles vvhen it shall presse and vrge me so closely with the iudgementes of God that I am alwaies in daunger to be supplanted nowe vvhat are the pillers of this heavenly security can riches or wisedome or houses and landes after our names or honour sustaine vs these are but rotten foundations to builde eternity vpon But GOD shall deliver my soule from the power of the grave for hee will receive mee I drawe to an ende GOD is faithfull that hath promised heaven and earth shall passe avvay but not a iote of his blessed worde As the hilles vvere about Ierusalem and as these floudes vvere aboute Ionas so is the LORDE aboute all those that feare him Hee hath made a decree in heaven it belongeth to the nevve testamente confirmed by the death of the testatour witnessed by three in heaven and as many in earth and never shall it be altered That at what time soever a sinner whatsoever shall repent him of his wickednes whatsoever from the bottome of his hearte the Lorde will forgive and forget it O heaven before heaven And the contrarye perswasions hell before hell damnation before the time I say againe if hee repent of his wickednesse it is not the misery of this wretched life nor terrour of conscience nor malice of foes let them bee men or devilles let them bee seven in one a legion in another all the principalities and powers of darkenesse in the thirde that shall hinder forgivenesse Beholde the lambe of GOD you that are lions in your house as the proverbe speaketh worst towardes your selves you that are ready to teare and devoure your owne soules with griefe and feare of hearte beholde the Lambe of GOD that taketh avvy the sinnes of the worlde Hath his death put sense into rockes and stones and can it not perswade you shall that bloud of the lambe cleanse you from your guiltinesse and will you in a madde and impatient moode throwe your bloud into the aire with Iulian or spill it vpon the grounde with Saul or sacrifice it vpon an alder with Iudas and not vse the medicine that shoulde ease their maladies shall hee open heaven and will you shutte it hee naile the writings to his crosse and you renue them hee pull you from the fire and you runne into it againe Is this his thankes this the recompence of his labours this the wages yee give him for bearing the heate and burthen of the day in your persons this the harvest for the seede hee sowed in teares this the wine hee shall drinke for treading the wine-presse in steede of a cuppe of salvation which you ought to take in your handes and call vpon the name of the LORD that is as he hath drunke vnto you in a bitter cuppe of passion so you shoulde pledge him in a plesant draught of thanksgiving will you take a cup of death and desperation blaspheme his name evacuate his crosse treade the bloude of his testament vnder you â—eete and die past hope God forbid and the earnest praiers and sobbes of your owne soules hartely forbidde it Ianuas aeternae foelicitatis desparatio claudit spes aperit Desperation shutteth vp hope openeth the dores of eternall felicitie And therefore hee that hath least and nothing at all to hope yet let him despaire of nothing it was the advise of an heathen let it bee the practise of a Christian. Let him hope against hope though the basenesse of his condition horrour of sinne weight of tribulation envy of Sathan rigour of the lawe iustice of the vpright iudge seeme to overthwarte him THE XXVII LECTVRE Chap. 2. ver 5.6 The waters compassed mee about vnto the soule c. Yet hast thou brought vp my life from the pit O Lord my God IN the third and fourth verses before I haÌ„dled first the daunger or feare of Ionas illustrated 1. from the person that cast him into it 2. from the place with the accessaries thereunto the depth the heart the multitude of seas 3. from the passions of the sea which vvere either floudes compassing him about or waves overwhelming him those waves in nature surges touching the author Gods surges touching the number all his surges 4. from the infirmity of his owne conscience wherein 1. advisedly he pronounceth and saith 2. that as an vnprofitable thing he is cast out 3. from the sight that is the favour and grace of his mercifull Lorde Secondlye I added thereunto his hope and confidence as a peece of sweete woode cast into the waters of Marah to take away their bitternesse so this to rellish and sweeten his soule againe and to make some amendes for all his former discouragementes In these two contrary affections feare and hope I tolde you the vvhole songe vvas consumed to the ende of the seventh verse First you shall heare his daunger displaied in sundry and forcible members for his wordes swamme not in his lippes but were drawne from the deepe well of a troubled conscience and then at the end some sentence of comfort added as a counter-verse to alay the rigour of the other partes and to vpholde his fainting soule This was the order that David tooke with his soule in the 42. and 43. Psalmes Why art thou cast downe O my soule Hope in the Lorde for I will yet giue him thankes for the helpe of his presence Likewise in the 80. Psalme Turne vs againe O God of hostes cause thy face to shine and wee shall bee safe They come 〈◊〉 seemeth as so many breathings to a man wearied with a tedious race or rather as so many lines and recollections of spirites after swoonings Now vnlesse I will leaue my texte as Ionas left the way to Niniveh which God had apointed him to walke in I must againe entertaine your eares with the same discourse which before I helde I hope without offence to any man For the hearing of these admirable wordes and workes of God is not or should not be as the drinking of wine wherin they say the first draught is of necessity the second for pleasure the third for sleepe so ever more worse but here it is true which the son of Syrach wrot of wisedome for this is the pure and holy wisedome They that eate her shal haue the more hunger and they that drinke her shall thirst the more The eie is not satisfied with seeing nor the eare with hearing such things And albeit it bee a faulte in musicke evermore to strike vppon the same string yet Ionas I doubt not shall easily bee excused and finde favour in your eares in handling this song of his though he bring nothing for a time but the repetition of the same matters For first hee gaue you the ground and plain-song which I called the proposition in the second
hee angrye with mee So these affirme in speech that sorrowe is nothing vseth no violence against a wiseman yet when it commeth vpon them they are no more able to endure the gripings of it than other fooles As Taurus spake of the Stoickes ague so may I of the misery of Ionas The force and nature of his miserye did her parte reason and the nature of saith on the other side vvere not idle in their offiâ—es Ionas behaved not himselfe as the deafe roâ—kes of the sea which the waves beating and breaking vpon yet they feele nothing dolere inter dolores nesciens not knowinge how to bee grieved amiddest his griefes but according to the measure and quality of his sorrowes so was his sense and so was the purpose of God by whome they were inflicted To descend now to partâ—culars The matter of his feare or the daunger intended against him arose from two mightye adversaries the sea and the lande His daunger from the sea is tripled in the fifth verse according to the number of the clauses therein First the vvaters compassed him about vnto the soule To have beene in the vvaters had not beene so much nor much to bee compassed and intrenched as those that are helde in siege But that they come vnto his soule the meaning is that his spirite whereof the quickeninge and life of his bodye consisted vvas at hande to departe from him and to yeelde it selfe prisoner to the waters that assaulted it there was the daunger Secondly The depth closed him rounde about The depthe or rather no depthe Some measure of water where the bottome might have beene reached woulde also have kept his feare within a measure But to bee closed about with a bottomelesse water maketh a bottomelesse griefe whereof there is no end 3. the weedes were wrapt about his heade the sedge the flagges the bul-rushes and other the like trashe the very skorne and contempt of the sea daungerous impedimentes to those that by swimming put themselves vpon the mercy of the mercilesse waters they were not now fluent and loose but tied and entangled not about the armes or the legges alone but about the head of Ionas the principall spire of his body the highest tower and as it were capitolle to the city the leader and captaine to all his other partes Now whether his head were bound about with weedes when he was first swallowed vp and so they remained about it still or whither the head of the whale be here the head of Ionas because he is now incorporate into the whale and liveth within him as a part of the whale I examine not but this was the mind of Ionas to omit no word not so much as of the excrementes and superfluities of the sea whereby his inextricable perill might be described His danger by land is likewise expressed in two members of the 6. verse First he was descended to the bottomes or endes or rootes or cuttinges of of the mountaines for where a thing is cut of there it endeth Man by nature and stature was made to ascende God gave him his head vpwardes But Ionas was descended which is the state of the dead according to the phrase of the scripture Descendam lugens c. I shall goe downe sorrowing to my grave Neither vvas hee descended into the sides or some shallowe cave and vawte of the mountaines but as if hee were numbred with those forlorne soules who call vpon whole mountaines fall on vs and vpon whole hils cover vs so vvas he descended ad radices praecisa montium to the rootes and cragges of them lodged in so lowe a cabbin that all those heapes and svvellinges of the earth lay vpon him 2. The earth with her barres was about him for ever What is the strength of a citye or house but the barres of it as we reade in the Psalme Praise the Lord O Ierusalem praise thy God O Sion for he hath made the barres of thy gates stronge and blessed thy children within thee So then the barres of the earth that is the strongest muniments and fenses it hath are the promontories and rockes which God hath placed in the frontiers to withstand the force of the waters These are the barres and gates in Iob which God hath apointed to the sea saying vnto it Hitherto shalt thou passe heere will I stay thy prowde waues and if you wil these also are the pillers of the earth which god hath fixed in such sort that it cannot bee mooved The meaning of the prophet was that hee was lockt and warded within the strengh of the earth never looking to bee set at liberty againe I tolde you before that the nature of the sea wherein Ionas travailed besides the over-naturall working of God did adde much more trouble vnto him than if he had past through the Ocean where he had gained more sea roume and the continent being farther of would haue yelded a liberall current and lesse haue endaungered him Now he hath land round about him by reason whereof the sea is more narrow rockie and hilly apter to stormes skanter of rodes for safety and subiect to a number of other incommodities The course of the seas through which hee past was this First hee tooke shipping at Iapho and was carried thorough the Syriack sea theÌ„ce through Archipelago or the Aegean thence thorough Hellespont betwixt Sestus and Abydus where Asia and Europe are divided not by more than seven furlonges others say but fiue afterwardes thorough Propontis where the sea is patent againe hath his forth from thence through Bosphorus Thracius betwixt Constantinople and Natolia where the passage is so narrow that an oxe may swimme over and lastlie to the Euxine sea where they hold hee was set to land Thus was hee often encumbred with straightes and never had cause to complaine of overmuch liberty where he was most favoured till he came to the dry grounde Thus far of the daungers both by sea and land The first extended his rage not to the chin or lippes of the prophet but to his soule and threatned him with a depthe bottomelesse and vnmeasurable and came not against his life with limpide and pure waters alone but with other impedimentes the vnprofitable pelfe and corruption of the waters The later gaue him not rest vpon a plaine floore of the earth but clasped him vnder the cragges of roâ—kes and held him close prisoner vnder the strongest barres and bounders it had But as in the former staffe of the song so also in this there is a touch of a distrustfull conscience but there it was openly expressed and here it is closely conveyed in The earth with her barres was about mee for ever For what meaneth in seculum for ever but that he was cast away from the saving health helpe of the Lord without all hope of redemption Did hee not know that although his life were taken from him for a time it shoulde bee restored
soule vvhen he is well-nigh spent and it is a question whether his faith be quicke or dead there commeth an other veruntamen like a showre of the later raine in the drought of summer to water his fainting spirite yet hast thou brought vp my life from the pitte O LORDE my GOD. The readings are diverse The Hebrewes sâ—y thou hast brought vp my life or caused it to ascende The septuâ—ginte my life hath ascended Ierome Thou shalt lifte vp Some say from the pitte some the graue some from death some from corruption There is no oddes For whither of the two times bee put the matter is not great Thou hast or thou shalt For the nature of hope is this futura facta dicit Thinges that are to come it pronounceth of as alâ—eadie accomplished In the eigth to the Romanes we are saved by hope though we are not yet saved And whome God hath iustified those hee hath also glorified though not yet glorified Ephesians the second wee are raised from the dead though our resurrection heereafter to be fulfilled But I stay not vpon this It is a rule in Seneca that by the benefite of nature it is not possible for any man to bee grieved much and long togither For in her loue shee beareth vnto vs shee hath so ordered our paines as that shee hath made them either sufferable or shorte that which Seneca imputed to nature I to hope grounded in the promises of God immutable things the safe and sure anchor of the soule of man The sorrow of Ionas was wonderfully vehement but soone alaied Whence had he that speedy mittigation from nature nothing lesse Here what the voice of nature is When the people of Israell crieth vpon Moses for flesh what is his crie to God I am not able to beare this people If I have founde favour in thine eies kill mee that I behold not this misery When Iezabell threatneth to make Elias like one of the dead prophets he hasteth into the wildernes and breaketh out into impatience and irkesomnes of life O Lord it is sufficient either he had lived or he had bene plagued long enough take away my soule from me The woman in the 2. of Esdras having lost her sonne be it a figure or otherwise it is true in both ariseth in the night season goeth into the field decreeth with her selfe neither to eate nor drinke but there to remaine fasting and weeping till shee were dead Esdras councelleth her foolish woman doe not so returne into the city goe to thine husband c. shee answereth I will not I will not goe into the citye but here will I die You heare how nature speaketh Was Ionas thus relieved no. The sense of his owne strength or rather his weakenesse woulde have sent him hedlong as the devils the heard of swine into the lake of desperation It is the Lord his God whose name is tempered according to the riddle of Sampson both of strong and sweete who is forâ—â—ter suavis suaviter fortis strong in sweetenes and sweete in strength fortis pro me suavis mihi strong for me and sweete to me that hath done this deede Behold my brethren there is hoâ—ie in the lion there is mercy in the fearefull God of heaven He is not only a Lord over Ionas to note his maiesty feare but the Lord his God to shew the kindnes of a father It is the Lord his God to whom he repaireth by particular applicatioÌ„ with the disciple of Christ leaneth as it were in his maisters bosome that delivered his life from the pit his soule from fainting Before he lay in the depthes was desceÌ„ded to the ends of the mouÌ„taines c. All that is aunswered in one worde eduxisti thou hast brought me vp from the pit wherein I was buried Before the waters were come even vnto his soule ready to drinke it in and to turne him to corruption but now God hath delivered that soule from the corruption it was falling into What shall we then say the sea hath no mercy the weedes no mercy the earth with her promontaries and bars no mercy the whale no mercy the Lord alone hath mercy It fared with Ionas as with a fore-ruÌ„ner of his when his spirit was coÌ„fused folden vp within him when hee looked vpon his right hand and behold there was none that would know him much lesse at his left wheÌ„ all refuge failed and none cared for his soule then cried he vnto the Lorde his God and saide Thou art my hope and my portion in the land of the living O harken vnto my cry for I am brought very low even as low as the earth is founded and bring my soule out of prison this pit wherin I lie that I may praise thy name O let not life nor death I name noe more for death is the last and worst enemy that shal be subdued bee able to take your hope from you When your heart in thinking or tongue in speaking hath gone too far correct your selues with this wholesome and timely veruntamen yet notwithstanding I will go to the Lorde my God and trust in his name The nailes that were driven into the handes and feete of our Saviour were neither so grievous nor so contumelious vnto him as that reproch that was offered in speech he trusted in the Lorde let him deliver him This was the roote that preserved Iob and Iob preserved it when his friends became foes and added affliction vnto him he willed them to hold their tongues that he might speake not caring what came of it Wherfor do I take my flesh in my teeth saith he and put my soule in my hand that is why should I fret and consume my self with impatience If he shoulde kill me would I not trust in him so far is it of that I despaire of the mercies of God that my life shall sooner leaue me than my assurance of his graces This was the deepe and inwarde matter he ment in the 19. of his booke from the abundance wherof he made that propheticall and heavenly protestation O that my words were written written in a booke and graven with an iron pen in lead or stone for ever I knowe that my redeemer liveth Wormes rottenes shall consume me to nothing but my redeemer is aliue behold he liveth for evermore hath the keies of hell and of death The graue shal be my house and I shall make my bed in darkenes but I shall rise againe to behold the brightnes of his countenance These eies of nature shal sinke into the holes of my head but I shall receiue them againe to behold that glorious obiect And though many ages of the worlde shall run on betwixt the day of my falling his long expected uisitation yet he shalâ— stand the last day vpon the earth himselfe α and ω the first and the last of all the creatures of God to recapitulate former
kill and eate And the first time he denyed it plainely Not so Lorde Afterwardes hee was better advised and harkened to the voice of the Lorde VVhen the angell of Sathan was sent to buffet Paule least his visions shoulde lifte him vp too high hee besought the Lorde thrise that it mighte departe and then the Lord aunswered him My grace is sufficient for thee It may bee according to the signe vvhich God gaue Ezechias that the first yeare hee shoulde eate of such thinges as came vp of themselues the seconde such as sprange againe vvithout sowing the thirde they shoulde sowe and reape and plante vine-yardes c. So for the first and seconde time that we heare the doctrine of salvation wee heare vvithout profit we breed no cogitations within vs but such as growe of themselues naturall worldlye corrupte and such as accompanie flesh and bloud fitter to cast vs downe than to helpe vs vp but at the thirde time when the wordes of God with often falling shall haue pearsed our heartes as raine the marble-stones vvee then apply our mindes to a more industrious and profitable meditation of such heavenly comfortes Let it not grieue you then if I speake vnto you againe the same thinges and as Paule disputed at Thessalonica three sabbath dayes of the passion and resurrection of Christ so I three sabbath dayes amongst you of our hope in Christ. Let it bee true of vanities and pleasures that the lesse they are vsed the more commendable but in the most accepted and blessed thinges that belong to our happiest peace bee it faire otherwise Our dayly breade though it bee daily received wee are as ready to craue still neither can the perpetuall vse of it ever offende vs. The light of the sun woulde displease no body but some lover of darknesse if it never wente downe in our coastes The nature of such thinges for their necessary vse must needes bee welcome vnto vs though they never shoulde forsake vs. And can the doctrine of saith and affiaunce in the mercies of God the light of our dimme eies the staffe of our infirmities our soules restoratiue when it lyeth sicke to death and as Chrysostome well compared it a chaine let downe from heaven which hee that taketh holde on is presentely pulled vppe from the hande of destruction and set in a large place to enioy the peace of conscience can it ever displease vs wee were content to heare it once and I doe not doubte but it will bee as welcome being repeated tenne times I make no question but as vvhen Paule had preached at Antioche in the synagogue of the Iewes one day the gentiles besought him that hee woulde preach the same vvordes to them againe the nexte sabbath so though it were the last worke that I did amongst you to cut the throate of desperation which hath cut the throate of many a wretched man and woman to set the piller of hope vnder all fainting and declining consciences yet because it is our last refuge in adversitie and standeth vnmooueable like the Northerne pole when our soules are most distracted with doubtes and fullest of scruples to giue vs aime and direction whither to bend our course if I shall once againe repeate vnto you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the selfe-same wordes that before in substance and sense though not in syllables I trust I shall finde your acceptaunce as good as when I first began it The wordes propounded are the last of the whole narration and drawe into a narrower compasse of speech all that hath beene saide before For whatsoever you haue hearde of the boâ—tome of the sea floudes and surges vvith all those other disturbances already reckoned vp they are now concluded in a little roume My soule fainted The partes the same vvhich I haue observed before for I neede not to acquainte you againe that hee hangeth and devideth the whole song betweene feare and hope And as the feete to that image in Daniell were parte of yron parte of clay which the prophet expoundeth partely stronge partely broken so are the feete if I may so call them which Ionas through all this travaile goeth vpon the one of clay weake impotent alwaies shivering and sinking downewarde I meane his feare and distrust the other of yron strong stable and firme keeping him vpright his hope and confidence in the mercies of God His feare is in the former member of the senteÌ„ce When my soule fainted within mee his hope in the nexte I remembred the Lord c. Wherein to shew that it was not in vaine for him to remember the Lorde and withall how hee remembred him he telleth vs that his praier came vnto him into his holie temple Concerning his feare wee haue to consider first what person or part he notifieth to haue beene assaulted his soule Secondly the plight or perturbation of his soule it fainted Thirdly the application of the place within himselfe The daunger is much augmented from that which before it was Then the vvaters but came to his soule heere they had fought against him so long that his soule plainely fainted Then the perill but imminent and hard at hand heere it had taken handfast Then was he but threatned or beaten by the waters heere he seemeâ—h to bee vanquished Al that vvente before might concerne the body alone and the losse of his temporall life whereof hee was yet in possession As when he pronounced against himselfe I am cast away out of thy sighte it mighte bee no more in effecte than vvhat Ezechiell spake I saide I shall not see the LORDE even the LORDE in the lande of the living I shall see man no more amongest the inhabitauntes of the vvorlde mine habitation is departed and remooved from mee like a shepheardes tente and as a vveaver cutteth of his threade so is my life ended But heere hee confesseth in open tearmes that his very soule that invvarde immortall heavenly substaunce vvhich when the bodye fainteth is sometimes most in health and liveth vvhen the bodye dyeth that this parte fayleth him and leaveth no hope of better thinges Saint Augustine very vvell defineth the soule to be the vvhole invvard man wherewith this masse of clay is quickened governed and helde togither changing her names according to the sundry offices vvhich shee beareth in the bodye For when shee quickneth the bodie shee is called the soule when shee hath appetite or desire to any thing the vvill for knowledge the minde for recordation memory for iudging and discerning reason for giving breath spirite lastly for apprehending or perceiving outwardly sense so as the fainting of the soule is the decay of all these faculties Nowe if the lighte that is in vs bee darke howe great is the darkenesse if the life bee death howe greate is the death if the soule fainte howe greate the defections The infirmities and disablementes of his bodye I knowe vvere very great in the whole service and ministery
lefte the cofferer and treasurer of the soule to remember the Lorde with how came this gift of memory to a soule so taken and possest that as Orbilius a Grammarian in Rome forgot not onely the letters of the booke but his owne name so this is even deade and buried vnder it selfe and hath forgotten to thinke a thought and laide aside all her accustomed heavenly meditations Ionas without question had never remembred the Lorde vnlesse the Lorde had first remembred him Bernarde vpon the wordes of the Canticles I sought him in the night season Every soule amongst you saith he that seâ—keth the Lorde that it turne not a great blessing into a greate mischiefe let her knovve that shee is prevented by the Lorde and that shee is first sought before shee can seeke For then are our greatest felicities changed into our greatest woes when being made glorious by the graces of God wee vse his giftes as if they were not given and ascribe not the glory of them to his holy name Who hath first loved him Giue mee a man that ever loved GOD and was not first beloved and enabled therevnto it shal bee highly recompensed vnto him But it is most cerâ—aine that hee loued vs vvhen vvee were his enimies and when we had not existence or being I say more when wee made resistaunce to his kindenesse Wee can promise no more in this heavenlesse race and exercise of Christianity than the Prophet doeth in the Psalme I will runne the waies of thy commaundementes when thou hast set my hearte at liberty Wilt thou runne with thy feete before thy heart be prepared or canst thou run with thy hart before God hath enlarged it or canst thou runne the way without the way which is Iesus Christ a vvay that thou canst not see till thine eies bee opened and illightened or wilt thou runne the way of Gods commaundements when thou canst not discerne the commaundementes of God from the motions and fansies of thine owne minde not so But when the Lorde shall haue set thine heart at liberty then runne when the LORDE hath quickened and rubbed vp thy memory then remember him Otherwise without that helpe wee lye lame and impotent as the creeple at the poole of Bethesda all the daies and yeares of our life are spent like his without ease of our infirmities and the vertue of the waters of life as of those in the poole are by others caught from vs. Ierome translateth the wordes with some little difference from others I remembred the Lorde That my praier might come into his holy temple So his praier came vnto the Lorde by meanes of his praier for that remembring of the Lorde was his praier But whence came that former praier that made way for the later Fulgentius in an epistle to Theodorus a senatour laying a sure foundation and axiome to the rest of his speech would haue all that we doe or enioy ascribed to the grace of God Next that the helpe and assistance of that grace must be craved of God Thirdly that the craving of his grace is also it selfe the worke of grace For first it beginneth to bee powred into vs that it may afterwardes beginne to be begged by vs. As vnlesse the light of the aire first goe into our eies our eies though made to see yet see nothing Fourthly vve cannot aske hee saith vnlesse wee haue a will to aske and what wil is there if God worke it not Lastly hee counselleth all men diligently to converse in the scriptures vvherein they shall finde the grace of God both preventing them in such sort that when they are downe they may rise vp and accompanying them to hold them in their right course and following them till they come to these heavenly beatitudes And as he accounteth it a detestable pride of the hart of man to do that which God in man condemneth he meaneth sinning so much more detestable that when a man doth attribute to himselfe the giftes of God Thus much by the iust occasion of my texte because hee saide when his soule fainted vvithin him yet he remembred the LORD which I say againe hee coulde never haue done his reason knowledge will memorie all being past excepte the Lorde had first remembred him After his feare againe his hope I remembred the Lorde and my praier came vnto thee into thine holy temple The particulars are quickely had after that fainting and fit of his soule 1. what hee did hee remembred 2. whome hee remembred the Lorde All the rest serveth for explication As namely 3. how he remembred him by praier For it seemeth that not only his memory but al the faculties and affections of his soule were set on worke by him 4. How his praier sped It was not stopped by the way but came vnto the Lorde and did the part of a trustie embassadour 5. It is not amisse to know that every soule is the Lordes the soule of the father and the soule of the childe are his and that the promises are made not only to Abraham but to his seede after him and to all of that seede in particular for hee is neither multiplied with multitudes nor scanted with paucities so caring for one that hee omitteth not the care of many so for many that he ceaseth not to care for one and therefore the praier heere sent was peculiarly his owne as of a person accepted chosen vnto the Lord my praier 6. The faithfull coniunction of his soule with God which the Apostrophe and suddaine change of the speech causeth me to note For now he speaketh not to vs or to his owne spirit as before I remembred the Lorde but vnto the Lorde himselfe laying his mouth to those pure vndefiled eares my praier came vnto thee 7. The place wherein it was presented vnto him into thine holy temple which either he meaneth of heaven the pallace and basilicke of the great king or of the temple of Ierusalem which all the children of God in those dayes had respect vnto So Daniell though he prayed in Babylon yet opened hee the windowes of his chamber towardes Ierusalem And Salomon made request at the dedication of the temple that if ever his people in the time of famine battaile captivity or any the like tribulation shoulde pray towardes that citty and towardes that house of praier the Lord that sate in heaven would vouchsafe to heare them Though not sure of the place yet this I am sure of that whither soever of the two be spoken of the holy Lorde hath dedicated it to holinesse and called it by the name of an holy temple setting thereby a barre about it as hee did aboute the mounte to keepe out beastes and brutish men For as his temple vpon the earth none should so that other more sacred and secret that is in heaven none shall ever enter into that is vnholy and vncleane To draw these scattered braunches home to their roote againe the
is no question but hee speaketh vvithout a tongue and such instrumentes of speech as are ordinarie vvith the sonnes of men For vvhat eares had the light the firmament and other his vvorkes to heare and obserue his wordes if hee had pronounced them or vvhat capacitie and intelligence had the fish in this place But as the office of speech in man is to bee the messenger and interpreter of his hearte and to signifie his conceiptes invvardely and secretly purposed so somevvhat the LORDE doeth vvhereby he imparteth a knowledge even vnto insensible creatures what his minde and pleasure is Therefore it is saide that the LORDE spake to the fish when he commaunded that service of him and compelled him to execute his will when hee mooved him to more mercie than nature had shaped him vnto and brought him to the shore whome the hugenesse of his bodie naturally enforced to keepe the depthes of the sea It sheweth what divinity there is if I may so tearme it in the word of God how imperious to command how easie to obtaine when it hath commaunded One fiat is of power to make that which was never made before and had lyen in everlasting informitie if GOD had spared to speake to establish nature when it is not and to change nature when it is to create angels men birdes beastes fishes to store heaven earth and the deepe with innumerable armies of creatures and to make them bowe their knees to their maker and render vnlimited obedience to all his decrees VVhen God was manifested in the flesh and wente aboute doing good as the Evangelist writeth a beleeving Centurion in a suite that dearely affected him desired not the travaile of his feete nor any receite of physicke to heale his servaunte no not so much as the laying on his hande vvhich some had requested nor comminge within the roofe of his house but onely a woorde from his lippes Speake but the woorde LORDE and my servaunte shall bee healed Man liveth not by breade neither recovereth by physicke onelie but by everie worde that proceedeth out of the mouth of God A leper had tolde him in the nexte wordes before Lorde if thou wilte thou canst make mee cleane Voluntas tua opus est Thy will is thy worke And hee saide I will bee thou made cleane As if with the breath of his mouth hee had spoken to his leprosie bee gone as hee afterwardes spake to the Devilles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bee packing into the hearde of swine and they went the next way over the rockes and cleâ—ues as if a whirle-winde had borne them He rebuketh the windes and the sea in the same place with more authority than ever Peter rebuked Ananias and Saphira and with the like successe for he smote the breath from the windes and motion from the sea and a greate concussion of waters became a greate calme Who is this that the windes and the sea obey him For they not onelie heare him but heare him vvith effecte they goe and runne and stande still like servauntes of their master and as it were liue and die at his commaundement The prophet in the twenty nine Psalme speaketh of one voyce that the Lorde hath a mightie and glorious voice a voice that hath a sensible sounde indeede and smiteth the eares both of man and beast sometimes with tingling and astonishment that it breaketh the cedars even the cedars of Libanus and shaketh the wildernesse even the wildernesse of Cadesh that it divideth the flames of fire maketh the Hindes to cast their calues and discovereth the forrestes But this voice whereof I speake maketh the cedars even the cedars of Libanus and createth the vvildernesse even the wildernesse of Cadesh formeth the flames of fire fashioneth the Hindes and their younge ones and planteth the forrestes And this was the worde that spake to the fish to cast vp Ionas Beholde at the voice of the Lorde Leviathan casteth his young and aborteth a prophet before hee is willing So true it is by absolute experience which the spirit of God testifieth Heb. 4. That the worde of God is liuely and mighty in operation and sharper then any two-edged sworde and entreth through even vnto the dividing of the soule and the spirite and of the iointes and the marrowe and is a discerner of the thoughtes and the intentes of the hearte Neither is there any creature which is not manifest in his sight but all thinges are naked and open vnto his eies vvith whome wee haue to doe You heare how farre it entered in the wordes of my text It went into the bowels of a Whale lying in the bowels of the seas and as narrowly searched all his entralles as Laban Iacobs stuffe it divided betweene his teeth and their strength that they coulde not chew and went betweene his stomacke the appetite therof that it durst not concoct it drew him as an angle and hooke to the land ransackte his mawe and opened the straights of his throate that the prophet of the Lord might come forth Hee cast vp Ionas The manner of his comming foorth seemeth to haue beene without ease and pleasure to the Whale For as a stomake over-charged or offended with meate that it hath received is not at rest till it hath vnloaden it selfe so the VVhale feeling a morsell vvithin him vvhich hee cannot turne into nutriment what shoulde hee doe for his owne quiet but by the riftings and reachings of his stomacke sende it foorth Thus it is saide of the hypocrite Iob the twentith VVho hath vndone manie and spoiled houses which hee never builded vvhose wickednesse vvas sweete in his mouth as perhappes Ionas in the mouth of the fish and hee hidde it vnder his tongue c. That his meate in his bowels was turned and that the gall of aspes was in the middest of him that hee had devoured substance and shoulde vomit it vp for GOD woulde draw it out of his bellie that hee shoulde restore the labour and devour no more that â—ee shoulde feele no quietnesse in his bodie neither reserue any thing of that vvhich hee desired There you heare at large what the nature of a surfitte is And doubtlesse ill gotten goods vvhen a man snatcheth at the right hande and catcheth at the lefte vvithout beeing satisfied and eateth vp the people of the lande as breade is a spirituall surfitte and not a kindelye or hole-some mainetenance to him that hath coveted it So is pleasure and sweetnesse in sinning vvhen one favoureth it as Zophar there speaketh and vvill not forsake it but keepeth it close in his mouth though it dwell in darkenesse as darke as night and saie to the soule and reines hide mee safe yet it is a surfitte too and vvhen the bellie hath beene filled vvith aboundaunce thereof it shall bee in paine to continue the phrase of that booke and GOD shall sende vpon it his fierce vvrath The angell of the Laodicaean Church Revelation
vndone both gentlemen meane men in our country so much broughte some to shame as their backe bellie pride and profusion What means shall we vse to crush these vipers amongst you declaiming will not serue Denouncing of the iudgements of God we haue found vnprofitable by over-long experience Haue we not beaten your eares I mistake the aire the winde a thousand times vvith faithfull earnest detection of these monsters pride prodigality strangenes of apparell excesse of meates drinkes and haue we not gained thereby as if we had preached but fables Niniveh is fallen long since because shee returned to that wallowing which here shee repented her of But Niniveh shal rise againe and stand vpright against vs and condemne vs face to face for shee repented in hunger and thirst we in satiety gluttony surfetting drunkennes for either we never repente at all or these are the stomakes which we bring in repentance And Niniveh repented in sacke-cloth and ashes stuffe of the coursest woofe and workemanship and of the simplest fashion that their wits coulde invent we in our silkes and velvets of French Italian Iewish Turkish Barbarian hellish devises for either vve never repent at all or these are the guises and shewes we bring in repentance These these are the stomakes we goe with I say not to our beddes to stretch our selues and to take our ease till we haue gotten our appetites againe and these are the weeds we carry I say not to the theatres to bee stared vpon nor to the kings court where soft raiment is more tolerable to be worne But vvith these stomakes and these weedes we goe to the temple of the Lorde his house of praying and preaching and as boldly present our selues therewith as if the favour of God were sonest wonne by such intemperancies Whither we be a people defiled and corrupted as these in Niniveh were vvee are not so shamelesse to dissemble and whither prophets haue beene amongst vs as Ionas was in Niniveh let their wearied tongues and sorrowfull soules for their lost labour witnes an other day whither the iudgementes of God some we haue already felt and some wee haue cause to feare though not so grievous as they did we neede none other messengers to report then our eies standing in our heades and beholding some parte of them accomplished And lastly we would thinke it a great wrong vnto vs to be chardged with vnbeleefe Wee say wee beleeue God as frankely and confidently as ever the men of Niniveh did Thus far wee will be equall with Niniveh But shewe me your faith by your workes as they did in Niniveh If your sinnes haue deserved a iudgement and iudgement hath beene sounded by prophetes besides the preaching of experience and prophets you say are beleeved because you receiue them as those that speake in the name of the Lord I say againe shew me your faith by your workes as that citie did When did you fast I name not bread and water but from superfluous sustenance VVhen did you pull one dish from your tables or one morsell from your bowels Nay doe you not daily adde and invent for pleasure even till the creatures of God which die for your liues cry out vpon you we desire not to bee spared but not to bee abused vvee refuse not to serue your necessitie but your riot kill to eate but to eate deliciouslie and intemperately kill vs not Or when did you chandge one sute or thred of your rayment in signe of suppliant and contrite spirites shall I say by proclamation no nor by the secret and single decree of any private heart Or from the greatest to the least No. For greatnesse will not stoupe but at greater iudgementes The Lorde doth bruise but the heele of the body when the poore are smitten vnlesse he reach the head the rich and mighty amongst vs feele it not Brethren there must be some ende of these things our eating and drinking not to liue but as if wee woulde die with fulnesse and wearing of pride like a chaine to our neckes and a mantle to our whole bodies or if Moses and Samuell vvere amongst vs they woulde be weary of their preaching Yea there must be some ende or if Moses and Samuell vvithall the angels in heaven vvere amongst vs to bestowe both their preachings and praiers that we might be saved they should saue but their owne soules and neither vs nor our sonnes and daughters This is an yeare of temptation whereof I maie saye as Moses did in Deuteronomie of a straunge prophet Tâ—ntat vos dominus vester The LORDE your God prooveth you whither you loue him or no vvhither you can bee contente for his sake to leaue superfluities a while and to lay aside vanitie and converte your heartes and handes to the workes of mercie In the timeliest time of your harvest hee covered the heavens with a sacke to teach you the way to sacke-cloath and sent leanenesse vpon the earth to teach you frugalitie and thriftinesse in the vse of his blessinges Manie the poorer of our lande vvoulde bee glad vvith the disciples of Christ to rubbe an eare of corne betweene their handes for reliefe of their hunger if they coulde come by it Their bowels sounde like shaumes for vvante of foode and their teeth are cleane vvhen your barnes and garners are filled to the toppe your presses runne over and your bellies are satisfied vvith more then the flower of vvheat O take somewhat from your bellies and backes if you haue any loue to that hidden Manna the meate that perisheth not the fruites of the tree of life in the middest of the paradise of God if any desire to those vvhite garmentes washt in the bloud of Christ and rather to shine hereafter as the starres in the firmament then as glo-wormes vpon the earth in this present life take from your bellies and backes both in regard of your owne soules to witnesse humility and sobriety before God and man and for your poore brethren sake that they may bee fedde and clothed It is Christ that hungreth and Christ that must satisfie you Christ that craveth and Christ that must give vnto you Christ that lieth at your gates and Christ that must advaunce you to glorie Hee is the advocate to the poore and the iudge of the rich hee hath the sentence of blessing and cursing in his mouth and to those that are plentifull givers he shall render a plentifull recompence THE XXXV LECTVRE Chap. 3. ver 6. For word came vnto the king of Niniveh and he rose from his throne c. THE first of those fiue verses vvherein the repentaunce of Niniveh is laide downe is nothing else I told you but a generall comprehension of that which is afterwarde repeated and repolished with more particular declaration Therein they lay their foundation low and sure for the first stone of their building that beareth vp al the rest is faith plainly and expressely mentioned which if
preach it vnto you that you may take knowledge And for this cause doe the septuaginte adde in the end of the former verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is saying as if it were the voice of the people that is now in question and not of the king his princes But how can it any way stand with the nature of repentance either in prince or people to doubt seeing that faith is the principal proppe wherwith repentance is borne vp we cannot acknowledge this to be a true faith which hangeth and wavereth betweene such vncertainties Rather it savoreth of infidelity and desperation to cast forth such demaundes It might be answered that albeit they doubted of the event of this senteÌ„ce yet not of the favour of God towards theÌ„ for what if their city had bin overthrowen as the towre of Siloe their bodies had perished had that bin an argument that his mercies had forsaken them No more than it was to Moses who died for angring the Lord before he went into the land of promise or than it was to Paul who said that the Lorde had delivered him out of the mouth of the Lion and would also deliver him from every evill worke and preserve him vnto his heavenly kingdome though afterwarde hee was slaine by Nero who was the Lion hee there ment But I rather aunswere that infidelitie woulde have spoken by a flatte negation God vvill not returne and desperation woulde not have cried vpon God at all nor have pretended so much earnest This speech of the Ninivites at the most hath but doubting and doubting containeth in it a kinde of affirmation As Mardochey spake to Esther in the fourth of that booke if thou holdest thy peace at this time breathing and deliverance shall arise to the Iews out of an other place but thou and thy fathers house shall perish and who knoweth whither thou art come to the kingdome for such a time That is I little doubte but the providence of GOD hath advaunced thee thus highe to doe this service I finde noted vpon the same phrase Ioel the seconde that is the fittest speach the penitent may vse for it includeth both these a sense of sinne hope of deliverance The leper commeth to Christ Mar. 1. and telleth him Lorde if thou wilt thou canst make me cleane I cannot say that either thou wilt or thou wilt not I leaue it to thine owne wisedome For mine owne part I haue deserved no grace at thy handes I see nothing in my selfe either in body or soule but leprosie and vncleanes but in thee there is power and mercy if it shall please thee to extend theÌ„ towardes mee In the ninth of the same Evangelist our Saviour answered the father of the childe that had a dumbe spirit requesting him if he could doe any thing to helpe them to haue compassion vpon them this if thou canst beleeue all thinges are possible to him that beleeveth The father cried vvith teares Lorde I beleeue helpe mine vnbeliefe That is I beleeue and skarse beleeue I would faine but I feele a fainting in my selfe and therefore hee that craved but lately a cure for his sonnes infirmity novv craveth helpe for his owne vnbeliefe So then I make no doubt but these are the wordes of faith vvho knoweth if the Lorde vvill returne albeit an infirme and vnsetled faith For as betweene knovvledge and meere or negatiue ignorance opinion lieth so betweene a perfect and ripe faith and plaine infidelity or distrustfulnes a weake and midling faith For there are degrees in faith it hath a beginning encrease and consummation The disciples are rebuked Mar. 9. by the name of a faithlesses generation O faithlesse generation howe longe shall I nowe bee vvith you c. Peter Mat. 14. for a little and doubting faith Paule 2. Cor. 10. speaketh of an encreasing faith but Colossians the first and second of a faith wherein they are rooted built and established Yea the strongest faith that ever was is it not mixte with doubtfulnes overcast with clouds shakeÌ„ with stormes beaten vvith windes and raines winowed by sathan that if it were possible it might bee turned into chaffe and branne What else ment that wary advertisement given to Peter by his maister Luke 22. and his vigilant care over him Simon Simon listen to my speech Behold looke well to thy foote-steppes haue an eie to thy soule Satan hath desired you it is the care of his heart it is the marke that he shooteth at he watcheth walketh roareth transformeth him into all shapes yea into an angell of light to haue his purpose to sifte you ex amine you as vvheate graine after graine person after person that if it be possible you may bee reprooved And surely we need the praiers of our owne spirites and of the spirite of GOD that groaneth with groanings which cannot he expressed and of the sonne of God himselfe who siâ—teth at his fathers right hande and maketh request for vs that our faith faile not For what thinke we of our selues are we pillers of brasse or as the deafe rockes of the sea or as mount Sion on that can never be remooved Our shield and breast-plate of faith for so it is called is it not beaten and driven at vvith dartes fierie dartes yea all the fierie dartes I say not of the vvicked that are in our flesh Athiestes Arrians Iewes Paynims deriders blasphemers of our faith but of him that is pricinpally vvicked and Leader of the daunce Satan himselfe This made him trivmph so much when hee saw the fielde ended and his tabernacle at hand to be pulled vp that he had fought a good fight though his enemies were encreased against him as the haires of his head that hee had runne his race though hee had many stumbling blockes and snares laide in his vvay openly to detaine secretly to vndermine him and finally vvhich vvas the chiefe glory of a christian souldiour that hee had kept the faith and not lost his target though hee had borne in his body the markes of Christ Iesus and felte in his soule many a buffet and wound given by Satan and his confederates The issue is this the faith of a christian is sometimes in fight and conflicte in agonie passion sweating bleeding as Christ vvas in the garden resisting vnto bloud shall I say nay even vnto hell it selfe They knewe it by experience who saide thou bringest downe to hell It is as the last and least sparkle of fire almost extinguished as a little graine of seede which the birdes nay the devils of the aire seeke to picke from vs and as the last gaspe and pant of the soule readie to flie out at length it getteth the victory againe according to that Ioh. 1.5 this is the victorie that overcommeth the world even your faith Such as I speak of was the faith of these Ninivites doubting I confesse but not despairing And as Aquinas to acquite
death is I cannot bee daunted by the malignitye of anye disease VVherefore as Christ admonished the church of Thyatira so I in the name of Christ exhort you that vvhich you haue alreadye holde fast till hee come Let not your hope and consolations in the mercies of GOD bee taken from you let others for their pleasure and for want of better groundes because they leane vpon a staffe of reede masses merites indulgences the like make shipwracke of this sweete article and bee carued away as the windes and seaes of their owne opinions shall driue them till they finde some other haven to rest in But shall ever raigne and beare the scepter in our consciences as an article of that price without the which our liues are not deare vnto vs· The sunne may bee vnder a cloude at times but feare not it vvill shine againe the may fire be buried vnder ashes but it vvill breake forth the arke may bee taken by the Philistines but it shall bee restored to Israell and these heavenlye perswasions may sometimes bee assaulted and battered but they shall eftsoones returne vnto vs. I dare affirme that there was never elect soule vpon the earth redeemed by the bloud and sanctified by the spirit of God but hath drunke largelye of these comfortes wherof I speake and then their largest draught when they haue most thirsted after it that howsoever their life hath beene tempered of good bad daies and good againe as those that are helde with agues of honour and dishonour health and sicknesse warre and peace ioy and heavinesse yet the betrer of these two conditions hath ever had the later and the vpper hand and to haue ended their liues I say not in their beddes but vnder a showre of stones as Steven did or by the sworde of a tyrant or amongst the teeth of wilde beastes hath beene no more vnto them than if a ripe figge had beene pluckte from the tree which it grewe vpon For they haue gone avvaye with a sentence of peace in their lippes as the doue came backe to the arke with an oliue branch Christ is my life death mine advantage Thus much of the Phrase who knoweth if God will returne The matter which they hope for in a worde and to conclude is the mercy of God In the explication whereof they vse an order of wordes 1. that God must returne as if hee were nowe absente and had withdrawen himselfe from them 2. that God must repent not by changing his minde but by callinge in the decree vvhich vvas gone forth 3. that the furie of his wrath must be pacified Lastly to this ende that destruction may bee averted from them as much as to say if God vouchsafe not his presence vnto vs or if hee holde his former intendment or if the heate of his fierce wrath be not quenched wee are sure to perish And so it fareth vvith vs all that except the Lorde doe illighten vs with his favourable and gracious countenance except hee apply himselfe with his whole heart and with all his soule as it is in Ieremy to doe vs good and vnlesse the fire of his anger bee drowned in the bowelles of compassion and his rage burning downe to hell bee swallowed vp into pitty aboue the cloudes what else can follow but the wracke of our bodyes and soules the eversion of our houses and families and vtter desolation to townes citties and entire countries Therefore let vs beseech God that hee ever vouchsafe to dwell with vs as he sometimes dwelt in the bush to change his cursing into blessings to quench his deserved wrath kindled like a whole river of brimstone with his streames of grace that it may bee well with vs and our children our whole land and our last end may be that which is the end and conclusion of the kings edict that wee perish not THE XXXIX LECTVRE Chap. 3. vers 10. And God saw their workes that they turned from their evill waies THE grounde which the people of Niniveh tooke for repentance was faith which although it appeareth by their manner of speech having scruple vncerteinty in it to have beene an vnperfect faith not throughly strengthned and fighting as yet against the horrour of their owne sinnes and terrour of Gods iudgements yet an vnperfect faith is faith more or lesse and the best that ever were have not escaped such distractions and disquietinges of their soules and when they have wrastled a time against the adversarye powers they have returned with the victory and have set vp their banners of triumph in the name and vertue of the Lord of hostes their foundations are in the holy hilles not in the vallies of their owne infirmities for then they must despaire but in the might and mercye of almightye God which stande for ever The matter of their faith consisting of foure members three of them appertaining to God his returne repentance and leaving of his fierce wrath the fourth and last to themselves I went over in hast and will briefly repeate vnto you 1. They beleeved that God might returne and vouchsafe them his presence and company againe taken from the manner of men who in their anger and displeasure forsake the verye place where their eye-sore lyeth and being reconciled vse it for an argument of their revived frendshippe to returne to those houses which they had forsaken So saith God Ose◠5. I vvill goe and returne to my place till they acknowledge their faultes and seeke mee In their affliction they will seeke mee diligently and say come let vs returne vnto the Lorde So they depart from God and God from them They withdraw their obedience hee his blessinges and although he bee in the middest of them nearer than their flesh to their spirites yet by any demonstration of love they cannot perceave his presence God was ever in Niniveh no doubt by his essence his power his overlooking providence for in him they lived mooved and alvvaies had their being but hee vvas not in Niniveh by grace by the guiding and goverment of his holy spirit neither by speciall favour assistance hee had fotsaken their citty and consciences as thorny vnprofitable ground fitter for idols and abominations than for himselfe to dwell in 2. They beleeved that God might repent which is also borrowed from the affections of men whose māner is to be sory in their harts for their former displeasure conceived and to wish it had never bin and asmuch as possible they may to revoke vvhatsoever in the heat thereof they had determined The 3. is consequent to the former for if he returne and repent his anger must needes bee remooved Al these motions either of the body in going from place to place or of the soule in altering her passions are attributed vnto vs truly but vnto God in no other māner than may stand with the nature and honour of his vnmooueable maiesty Now lastly where God is departed and
can preiudice the bounty of our GOD and those rich benefites of his grace which his beloved sonne hath purchased for vs. I nowe conclude GOD saw the workes of the Ninivites and in those vvoorkes not onely their outwarde countenance but their inwarde and vnfeined affection and faith the roote from whence they sprang and as the fruites of their faith so he accepted them not for the worth and accounte of the workes which they dare not themselues rely vpon but through the riches and abundance of his owne loving kindnesse This is the plea that Daniell helde in the ninth of his Prophecie a man of as righteous a spirite as ever the Lateran pallace of Rome helde according to all thy righteousnesse for the LORDES sake for thy greate tender mercies for thine owne sake and vvith direct exception to their inherente iustice for wee doe not present our supplications before thee for our owne righteousnesse This plea we must all sticke vnto Gods mercy in his owne gracious disposition Gods righteousnesse in his promises Gods goodnesse in the Lorde his anointed his Christ his Messias And this shal be a blessed testimony vnto vs at the last day that wee haue stood and fought for the seede of the woman and for the preciousnesse of his bloud and passion against the seede of the serpent that we never gaue place no not for an instant to Pharisee Iew Pelagian Papist Libertine to diminish or discredite the power thereof Giue mee that soule that breatheth vpon the earth in plight as the soules of these Ninivites were nowe called to a reckoning of their fore passed liues their consciences accusing them of hydeous and monstrous iniquities the law pleading the anger of GOD flaming against them the throate of hell gaping wide and ready to swallow them downe when they were to take their leaue of one worlde and to enter another of endlesse punishment vnlesse they coulde finde the meanes to appease the fury of their maker and iudge Giue me the soule that dareth for the price of a soule stande in contention with the iustice of GOD vpon the triall of good workes either to bee iustified the meane-time or heereafter to be glorified and liue by them O sweete and comfortable name nature operation of grace grace and onely grace blessed bee the wombe that bare thee and the bowels that ingendered thee When it commeth to this question iustificemur simul Let vs bee iudged togither if thou haste ought to saie for thy selfe bring it forth O happy heavenly and only grace that bearest thy children safe in thy bosome and settest them with confidence and ioy before the seat of God when the clients followers of their owne righteousnes be it what it may bee with the least flash of lightning that fleeth from the face of God shal tremble and quake as the popler in the forrest O the Ocean maine sea of over-flowing grace and we drinke at puddles We sit in our cels and comment we come into the schooles and dispute about the merit of good workes without trouble But lie we vpon out beds of sicknes feele we a troubled perplexed conscience wee shal be glad to cry grace and grace alone Christ and Christ alone the bloud of Abell and Peter and Thomas and Paul shall be forgotten and the bloud of the Lambe shal be had in price as for the merits of our vnprofitable service we shal be best at ease when we talke least of them The only one fiftith Psalme Haue mercie vpon me O Lorde c. his memory bee blessed that gaue the note hath saved many distressed soules and opened the kingdome of heaven vnto them who if they had stood vpon riches and sufficiencie in themselues as the church of Laodicea did they had lost the kingdome It is vsually given to our seloâ—s for their necke-verse when the lawe is disposed to favour them Wee are all felons and transgressors against the law of God let it bee our soules-verse and God will seclude the rigour of his law and take mercy vpon vs. Some of the wordes of that Psalme were the last that Bernarde vttered even in the panges of death Let them also be the last of ours a brokeÌ„ contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise Finally the choise is briefely proposed and as quickely made if grace not workes if workes not grace if this be the choise let vs humbly beseech God to illighten our eies to open our vnderstandings to direct our affections and to reach forth our handes to the better part which shall never be taken from vs that leaving our workes to his favourable interpretation either to follow vs or to stay behinde and either to bee something or nothing in his sight his mercy may only triumph and his covenant in the bloud of Christ Iesus may ever be advanced that we may sing in our Ierusalem as they sing in the courtes of heaven worthy is the Lambe that was killed to receive the glory and honour and praise and to beare the name of our whole salvation THE XL. LECTVRE Chap. 4. vers 1. Therefore it displeased Ionas exceedingly he was angry THE whole prophecy of Ionas againe to repeat that which ought not to be forgotten is the preaching of mercy An history written to the world and as a publique evidence instrument from God delivered vnto vs in every page line wherof his goodnes towardes mankind is mervailously expressed And as the 4. beastes in Ezechiel were ioyned one to the other by their winges so the 4. Chapters of this booke hang togither by a continuation and succession of Gods loving kindnes Open this booke as our Saviour opened the booke of the prophecie of Esaias by chance and read at your pleasure from the first of it to the last you shall never vvant a text or example of comforte whereby a distressed conscience may be relieved The marriners are delivered from the fury of the elements Ionas both from those and from the belly of a cruell fishe the Ninivites God knoweth from what whither from fire and brimstone or from sinkinge into the grounde or any such like weapons of wrath which in his armoury of iustice in heaven are stored vp and reserved for the day of the wicked but all are delivered Notwithstandinge which rare examples of mercy as Christ spake in the gospell beholde more than Ionas is heere so though the prophet did his parte before in penninge those discourses yet in handlinge this last he is more than himselfe though the mercy of God abounded before yet here it excelleth Then was mercy practised I confesse but heere it is pleaded maintained prooved by argumeÌ„ts apologies parables the equity and reasonablenes thereof vpheld and means made vnto Ionas in some sort that if God be gracious to Niniveh hee will bee pleased favourably to interpret it The distribution of the Chapter is into three partes 1. The affection of Ionas vpon the
sinceâ—noted you you that are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lovers of pleasure more than of God or if you loue it no more than that it maketh you to forget God in whose presence is the fulnesse of ioie and at his right hande pleasure for evermore Psa. 16. and vvho giveth vs drinke out of a vvhole river of pleasures Psalme 36. contemne these transitory gourdes and reserue your selues for a better building in heaven vvhere is neither sunne nor winde to beate vpon your heades nor vvorme to alter your happinesse VVhere your ioye shall ever be present yet can you not be filled rather you shall be filled but cannot be satisfied Or if I say that you cannot be satisfied then there is hunger or that you may then there is loathing I know not what to say Deus habet quod exhibeat God hath somewhat both to reveale and to bestow vpon you which I know not but 〈◊〉 beata vita in â—onte there is blessednesse at the heade of the spring not in cisternes or brookes that I am sure of Were you able to drinke vp the pleasures of the worlde in as plentifull manner as Cleopatra dranke the riches the value of fiftye thousand pounde at a draught yet remember that it is but a draught and quickely downe the throate The length of the throate saith Bernard is but two or three inches at the most or if it were as long as a cranes necke which Philoxenus the Epicure wished that the sweetnes of his meats and drinkes might the longer abide with him the matter were not much But when they are drunke and digested then what becommeth of them more than of your meates and drinkes to bee cast out into the draught so these to perish with their vse not without shame and sorrow of heart to bee throwne away as vnhappy superfluities whereas the pleasures of aeternity before the face of God deserue that commendation which Booz gaue to Ruth and with his words wee may blesse it blessed art thou my daughter for thou haste shewed me more goodnesse in the latter eâ—de than at the beginning To conclude the blessedst tree is in the midst of the paradise of God neither on the East nor on the West side of Niniveh nor any other city of the world And the leaues of the tree are not only for shadow as these of the gourd but to heale the nations with and it hath both leaues and fruites to satisfie our hunger and twelue manner of fruites every month brought forth to satisfie our pleasure And it groweth by a river side cleare as christall proceeding out of the throne of God that it cannot possibly wither For it let vs keepe our better appetites and let vs beseech him who hath planted it with his owne right hand that we may liue to taste how holesome and pleasant that tree is THE XLVII LECTVRE Chap. 4. ver 1. And when the sun did arise God also prepared a fervent East-winde and the sunne beat vpon the head of Ionas c. THe temporary ioy which Ionas entertained for the gouâ—d is as quite forgotten as if it had never beene and buried vnder an heape of succeeding griefes as the fruitfull years Gen. 41. were buried vnder the yeares of famine for so said Ioseph the famine shall bee so greate that the yeares of plentie shall not be thought vpon It followeth in the line of those afflictions which God stretched out vpon the heade of Ionas that when the sunne did arise God prepared also a fervent East-winde c. For it did not suffice him to haue sent a worme which smote the gourd but he adioineth new corrosiues and calamities to afflict the soule of Ionas For as his blessings when he watcheth to do vs good as the prophet speaketh the foote of the one shall ever bee treading vpon the heele of the other so also in his castisements and corrections he doth not desist to inflict theÌ„ till he haue left an inwarde sense in those who are his patients Thus he dealt in the scourdging of Iob though a servant dearly beloved as appeareth by his complaints how long will it be ere thou depart from me thou wilt not let me alone while I maie swallow my spittle Againe thou renuest thy witnesses that is thy plagues witnesses of thy displeasure against me changes armies of sorrow are against me Surely God is wiser in handling our sins thaÌ„ any Physitian in dealing with sicknesses therfore he best knoweth both what medicine is fittest how long to be applied 1 The sun ariseth as a gyant refreshed with wine to run his race or rather as an enemy prepared to the battaile the only enemy vvhich Ionas had cause to feare his fortresse castle of boughes being takeÌ„ froÌ„ him 2 After the sun a winde and that fighting vnder the banner of the sun confaederate with him an East-winde for the quality of it a fervent East-winde 3. The sunne is not sent to shine to cast forth his beames but to beate 4. Not any inferiour part but that which was highest next to heaven the head of Ionas 5. The effectes that follow al these are 1. his fainting in his body 2. in his soule wishing to die 3. professing it with his tongue it is better for me to die than to liue And when the sunne did arise The arising of the sun noteth no more than the opportunity of time which God taketh to punish Ionas He beginneth with the beginning of the day the shadowes of the night are gone the fresh dews of the morning sone dispersed and the sunne at his first discovery hath a chardge from God to assault the heade of Ionas no part of the day as it seemeth not the coolenesse teÌ„perature of the morning are friendly vnto him He rather wished in his heart as Iob did let the day be darkenes still and let not God regarde it from aboue nor the light shine vpon it but let darkenes clowdes the shadowe of death staine it that is let there be an everlasting night rather than the beams of the sun should come forth to do me this violence as the sun did once go backe in the daies of Hezekias vpon the diall of Ahaz so it would haue reioiced him if it had gone backe againe to the North or stoode vnmoueable in a place that the earth might haue beene as a piller betweene him and the heate thereof God prepared also a feruent East-wind I should but roule the same stone once again too ofteÌ„ to speak of the author of this whole busines his speedy expedition therin which I haue told you before is noted in the word of preparatioÌ„ whose mighty over spreading providence is as the soule of the world as inward familiar to al the actions therin great small as the spirit to our reines better may a body liue without breath than any counsaile or
worke vnder heaven proceede without it But I leaue those repetitions The sun the wind we see rise togither set thēselues against Ionas as the two smoaking fire-brāds Rezin Pekah against Ierusalē cōbining binding thēselues not to giue over til they haue both done their part in the vexing of the prophet The wind here mentioned is described by 2. attributes the one of the quarter or coast from whence it blew an East-wind the other of the quality which it had a fervēt East-wind The cardinall principal windes as appeareth both in many places of the scripture and in forreine authours are but 4. breathing from the 4. quarters or divisions of heaven as in the 37. of Ezechi come from the 4. vvindes O breath And Math. 24. God shall gather his elect from the foure windes Afterwardes they added 4. more which they cal collateral or side-windes subordinate to the principal thence proceeded to the nūber of 12. In these daies we distinguish 32. Betweene every two cardinal winds seven inferiour We may read Act. 27. that Paul was very skilful of the sea-card vsed in those daies for describing his voiadge to Rome he maketh mention not only of East West South but of South-west by West of North-west by West as the Westerne winde blew either nearer or further of But not to trouble you with these things the winde that is here spokē of some take to be Eurus or Vulturnus which is the Southeast by East followeth the sun in his winter rising others to be the principal high East-winde following the sun when he riseth in the Equinoctial Now the nature of an East-wind in any point therof is to be hote dry for the most part a clearer of the aire but this of al the rest being so serviceable to the sun going forth so righte with it walking in the same path which the sunne walketh in must needs be an hoter wind thā if it had crossed or sided the sun any way 2. Touching the quality or the effect which it wrought it is called a fervent East-wind some turne it vehement not for the sound and noyse that it maketh but for the excessiue heat For no doubt it is distinguished frō Caecias North-east by East which is a more soūding blustering wind not so fit for the purpose of God in this place Of that ye haue mention Exod. 14. where it is said that the Lorde made the sea run backe with a strong East◠winde all the night made it dry land Some translate it silent quiet to put a differēce betwixt this the former East-wind albeit others giue the reason because it maketh mē silent deafe with the soūd that it hath others because it maketh the rest of the winds silent quiet when it selfe bloweth Howsoever they vary otherwise they al agree in the heate for it is a gētle soft wind which whē the aire is enflamed by the sun is so far frō correcting the extremitie therof that it rather helpeth it forwarde becōmeth as a waggon to carry the beames of the sun forth-right It is manifest by many places of scripture that it is an easterne wind which burneth with his heate not only the fruites but the people of the earth The 7. thin eares of corne Gen. 41. were burnt with an East-winde so are the fruites withered Ezek. 19. so is the fountaine dried vp Ose 13. The vulgar edition doth evermore translate it vrentē ventum by the name of a burning winde and whersoever it is mentioned in the booke of God the property of it is to exiccate and dry vp Columella writeth that at some time of the yeare especially in the dog-daies mē are so parched with the East winde that vnles they shade thēselues vnder vines it burneth them like the reaking of flames of fire I haue now shewed you both the nature and the quarter of this winde that albeit it were a winde yet you may know it was not prepared to refrigerate but to afflicte the head of Ionas When the sunne and the winde are vp what do they the sunne not vvithout the helpe of the vvinde vvhich vvas in manner of a sling or other instrumente to cast the beames of the sun more violently vpon them although created for another end to governe the daie and to separate it from the night and to giue light in the earth yet here receiveth a new commaundement and is sent to beate all other inferiour partes omitted even the head of Ionas wherein is the government of the vvhole creature the seate of the minde the top of Gods workmanshippe from vvhence the senses and nerves take their beginning In this assault of the principall part the danger was no lesse to the body of Ionas than if an enimy had besiedged the Capitoll of Rome or the Mount Sion and Anthonies towre in Ierusalem But we shall the better conceaue the vexation of Ionas if we ioyne the effectes which these two enimies draue him vnto 1. It is saide hee fainted I marvell not for the force of heate is vntolerable vvhen the pleasure of God is to vse that rod. So hee telleth them Amos 4. Percussi vos vredine I haue smitten you with blasting or burning and you returned not On the other side it is numbered amongst the blessings of God which Christ shall bring vnto his people Esay 49. they shall not bee hungrie neither shall they thirst neither shall the heate smite them nor the sunne which is spoken I graunt by translation but that from whence it is transferred in the naturall sense must needes be very commodious because it is applyed to the highest mercies So likewise in the 3. of Act. the state of everlasting life is called the times of refreshing or respiration 2. Hee wishte in his hearte to die my text saith not so in tearmes though in effect but he desired his soule or he made petition and suite to his soule to die that is to relinquish and giue over his bodie or hee desired death to his soule as a man forlorne and forsaken having no friend to make his moane vnto he vttereth his griefe to his private spirit speaking therevnto that if it vvere possible some remedy might be had 3. Though the eare of ielousie which heareth all thinges heard the wishes and desires of his hearte yet hee is not contente with secret rebellion vnlesse his tongue also proclaime it for he saith it is better for mee to die than to liue I shewed the madnes of Ionas before in this very wish It was not better for Ionas to die than to liue nor for any other in his case a milstone about their necks to haue drowned them in the bottome of the sea had beene lesse vnhappinesse When they die let them pray to the Lord of life to close vp their eies and
are duo in carne vnà as it were two in one flesh Some are vnskilfull in their profession such as Plinie speaketh of experimenta per mortes agunt they kill men to gaine experience And Seneca noteth the like officiosissimè multos occîdunt they are very busie to cast many men away Others are vnfaithfull these in my iudgment are moe to be eschewed than the former evil couÌ„sailors healing the hurts of the people with sweet words crying peace peace al is wel wheÌ„ behold Annibal is at the gates death is entered in at the windowes and at the dores and hath taken the fort of the body into her handes Such are very vnlikely to make found bodies because they come with vnsound hearts and of these is the proverbe verified tituli pharmaca habent pyxides venena al their titles pretences and promises are health health but their drugges and receiptes are poyson I meane not so much to the bodies as the soules of men Trust not in man therefore neither in his strength nor in his skil fidelity for there is no helpe in him Why no help His spirit departeth not only his strength his health his agilitie his liuelihood but his breath I wil ioine the residue of my thxt all in one nor only his breath but his flesh bloud bones marrow sinewes arteries al must goe There is a resolution of his whole substance his last garment which is his skin shal be pulled of he hath here no abiding place nor any state of perpetuity but returneth not immediatly to heaven but to the earth nor to the earth as a straÌ„ger vnto him or an vnknown place but to his earth as his familiar friend of old acquaintaÌ„ce Neither is there only an end of these materiall partes but part of his inward man also perisheth so farre as his carnall and wordly designements went which he fansied to himselfe in his life time Here is the end of al flesh they soiourne vpon the face of the earth their spirit also soiourneth within their bodies It coÌ„meth returneth as a ttavailer by the way staieth perhaps for an houre a daie a yeare a decade of yeares more or lesse theÌ„ exit spiritus our breath departeth from vs. And God called Abraham â—xi de terra tua goe out of thy countrey vvherein thou wert borne bred so he calleth to our spirites come out of your houses wherein you haue long dwelt There is but one manner of entering into the world but many waies of going out we are full of holes wee take water at a thousand breaches one dyeth younge another in a good age some in their full strength vvhen their breasts are full of milke some by the hande of God some by sicknes infirmity some by violence The infants of Bethelem are slaine in their cradles Eglon in his parlour Saule in the field Isboseth vpon his bed Zenacharib in the teÌ„ple Ioab at the very altar some die by famine as the cildren of Ierusalem some by saturitie and surfetting as the children of Sodome some by beares as the boies that mocked Elizeus some by lioÌ„s as the disobedient prophet some by wormes as Herod some by dogges as Euripides but Lucian better deserved that death and he also sustained it The sonnes and daughters of Iob in the middest of their leasting with the fall of an house Chore his complices with the opening of the arth the captaines and their fifties with fire from heaven the coles whereof were never blowne Zimri with fire from earth which himselfe kindled eosdem penates hahuit regiam rogum sepulchrum as Val. Maximus writeth of Tullus Hostilius who was smitten with lightning the same house was both his pallace pile graue to be buried in I adde that which is more admirable Homer died of griefe because he coulde not aunswere a riddle which fisher-men proposed vnto him Sophocles with ioy because in a prize of learning after long expectation he got the victory of his adversary but by one voice Behold ye despisers ' woÌ„der at the haÌ„d of God you that are in league with death make a truce with the graue you that say to your soules take thine ease bee at rest for many yeares to morrow shal be as this day much better with whoÌ„ there is nothing but as in the daies of Noah eate drinke marry vntill the floud coÌ„meth Seeing that both sorrow ioy are able to kil you and your life hangeth vpon so small a thread that the least gnat in the aire can choke you as it choked a Pope of Rome a little haire in your milke strangle you as it did a counsailour in Rome a stone of a raisin stop your breath as it did the breath of Anacreon put not the evill daie far froÌ„ you which the ordinaÌ„ce of God hath put so neare remeÌ„ber your Creator in time before the day come wherin you shal say we haue no pleasure in them walke not alwaies with your faces to the East somtimes haue an eie to the West where the sun goeth downe sit not ever in the prow of the ship sometimes goe to the sterne stand in your watch-towres as the creature doth Rom. 8. and waite for the houre of your deliverance provide your armies before that dreadful king coÌ„meth to fight against you with his greater forces order your houses before you die that is dispose of your bodies and soules and all the implements of them both let not your eies be gadding after pleasure nor your eare itching after rumors nor your mindes wandering in the fields when death is in your houses your bodies are not brasse noâ— your strength the strength of stones your life none inheritance your breath no more than as the vapour and smoake of the chimny within your nostrels or as a stranger within your gates comming going againe not to returne any more til the day of finall redemption It is a wonder that there should be need of any such exhortation after so long experience If we were as Adam was who never saw the example of any precedent death we might the more iustly be excused for as Christ spake in the gospell of the vertues done in Chorazin Bethsaida if the vertues wrought amongst you had beene wrought elsewhere c. So if those innumerable deathes which haue bin shewed amongst vs had beene shewed in the daies of Adam before his fall he would never haue runne into that contempt We know that we must die and as Calvus spake againg Vatinius you know that he hath practised ambition and there is no man but knoweth that you know so much so we know the certainety of our death as we knovv our names and the iointes of our fingers and yet we regard it not What are all the citties and townes of the earth so farre as the line thereof is stretched but humanarum cladium miseranda
but he is better thaÌ„ they all though they all were equall in dignitie and authority and had power in their hands and counsaile by their sides yet were they inferiour vnto him in the care of Gods service To haue compared him with Manasses his grand-father or Amon his father who went next before him and whose steps he declined contrary to the maner of childreÌ„ for vvho would haue thought when Manasses did ill and worse than the Amorites and Amon no better that Iosias would not haue followed them or to haue matched him with a few given him preheminence within some limited time say for an age or two or three had sufficientlie magnified him But all times examined chronicles and recordes sought out the liues and doings of kings narrowly repeated Iosias hath the garland from them all the paragon to all that went before him and a preiudice to as many as came after him The reason is because he turned His father grandfather went awry they ranne like Dromedaries in the waies of idolatry but Iosias pulled back his foot David turned to his armed men strength of souldiours Salomon to the daughters of Pharao Moab RehoboaÌ„ to his young couÌ„sailers Ieroboam to his golden calues Ezechias to the treasures of his house contrary to the word of the Lord Deut. 17. hee shall not provide him many horses neither shall he take him many wiues neither shall he gather him much silver and gold Some had even solde themselues to worke vvickednes had so turned after the lusts of their owne hearts that they asked who is the Lord but Iosias turned to the Lord the onely strength of Israell as to the Cynosure and load-starre of his life as that which is defectiue maimed to his end perfectioÌ„ as to his chiefest good as to the soule of his soule as to his center and proper place to rest in They said like harlots we will goe after our lovers that giue vs breade and water wooll flax but Iosias as a chast and advised wife I will goe and returne to my first husband The maner measure of his turning to the Lorde was with all his heart withall his soule c. You seeme to tell me of an Angell of heaven not of a man that hath his dwelling with mortall flesh and that which God spake in derision of the king of Tyrus is true in Iosias thou art that anointed Cherub for what fault is there in Iosias or how is he guilty in the breach of any the least commandement of the law which requireth no more than is here perfourmed Least you may thinke Iosias immaculate and without spot vvhich is the onely priviledge of the sonne of GOD know that he died for sinne because he coÌ„sulted not with the mouth of the Lord he was therfore slaine at Megiddo by the king of Egypt But that which was possible for flesh bloud to do in an vnperfect perfection rather in habite thaÌ„ act endevor than accomplishment or compared with his forerunners followers not in his private carriage so much as in his publike administration in governing his people and reforming religion all terrors difficulties in so weighty a cause as the chandge of religion is for chandge it selfe bringeth a mischiefe all reference to his forefathers enmity of the world loue to his quiet set apart he turneth to the Lord with all his hart c. So doth the law of loue require God is a iealous God cannot endure rivals hee admitteth no division and parâ—ing betweene himselfe Baal himselfe Mammon himselfe and MelchoÌ„ his Christ Beliall his table the table of devils his righteousnes the worlds vnrighteousnes his light and hellish darknes I saie more he that forsaketh not I say not Baal Mammon Melchom Beliall but father mother wife brethren sisters landes life for his sake loveth not sufficiently For as God himselfe ought to bee the cause why we loue God so the measure of our loue ought to bee vvithout measure For hee loveth him lesse than he shoulde vvho loveth any thing with him What not our wiues children friendes neighbours yea and enemies to Yes but in a kinde of obliquity our friendes and the necessaries of this life in God as his blessings our enemies for god as his creatures so that whatsoever we loue besides God maie be carried in the streame of his loue our loue to him going in a right line and as a direct sun-beame bent to a certaine scope our loue to other either persons or things comming as broken reflexed beames froÌ„ our loue to God You see the integritie of Iosias in every respect a perfect anatomy of the whole man every part he had consenting to honour God and that which the Apostle wished to the Thessalonians that they might be sanctified throughout and that their whole spirite soule and body might be kept blamelesse vnto the comming of Iesus Christ their spirit as the reasonable and abstract part their soule as the sensuall their bodie as the ministeriall and organicall is no way wanting in Iosias For whatsoever was in the hart of Iosias which â—yra vpon the sixth of Deut. S. Augustine in his first booke of Christian Learning expound the will because as the hart moveth the members of the body so the will inclineth the partes of the soule whatsoever in his soule vnderstanding sense which Mat. 22. is holpen with another word for there is soule minde both whatsoever in his strength for outward attempt performance all the affection of his heart all the election of his soule all the administration of his bodie the iudgment vnderstaÌ„ding of the soule as the Lady to the rest prosecution of his will excecution of his strength he wholy converteth it to shew his service and obedience to almighty God Bernard in a sermon of Loving God in his 20. vpoÌ„ the Canticles expoundeth those words of the law thus thou shalt loue the Lord thy God with all thy heart that is kindly affectionately with all thy soule that is wisely discreetly with all thy might that is stedfastly constaÌ„tly Let the loue of thy heart enflame thy zeale towards 〈◊〉 let the knowledge of thy soule guide it let the constancie of thy might confâ—â—me it Let it be fervent let it be circumspect let it be invincible Lastly the rule which he fastneth his eie vpon was the law of Moses and the whole law of Moses other rules are crooked and 〈◊〉 this only is straight as many as minde to please God must 〈◊〉 themselues wholy to be directed thereby not turning eithâ—â— to the right hand or to the left This history considered I pray you what hindereth the commauÌ„dement government of the king both in causes and over persons of the church For 1. in the building of the temple Iosias giveth direction both to Shaphan