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
the thirde was vnto GOD as rawe and vndigested meate which his hearte coulde not brooke His lukenesse and neutralitye of dealing in his service did so much offende him that although he had beene received into some inwarde favour as sustenaunce is taken into the stomacke yet hee is threatned to bee spued vp againe The phrase is some-what infrequent and rare in the scripture yet is it no where vsed but it deserveth wisely and waightily to bee considered In this place to conclude the meaning is that Ionas was not descended into the bellie of the fish to become a pray vnto him but to dwell in a desert and solitarie house for a time as Ieremie wisht him a cotage in the wildernesse and as it were to goe aside and hide himselfe from the anger of the Lord till the storme might be overpast The vvoordes of Micheas doe rightelye expresse my minde heerein I vvill beare the vvrath of the LORDE because I haue sinned against him vntill hee pleade my cause and execute iudgemente for mee Then vvill hee bringe mee foorth to the lighte and I shall see his righteousnesse VVhen thou that arte mine enemie shalt looke vpon it and shame shall cover thee vvhich sayest vnto mee vvhere is the LORD thy God Lastlye the place vvhich received Ionas was the drye lande VVhich noteth a qualitye of the earth commodious and fitte for habitation Hee felte the grounde before vvhen hee went downe to the bottome of the mounetaines and the earth vvas aboute him vvith her barres but he felte not the drie grounde He vvalked not then vpon the face of the earth vvhich is the manner of living soules but vvas vnder the rootes of the mounetaines vvhere hee had not libertye nor power to breath but by speciall providence In the beginning of the creation the vvaters were aboue the earth til the LORDE saide Let the vvaters vnder the heaven bee gathered into one place and let the drie lande appeare and it vvas so According to the vvordes of the Psalmes Hee hath founded it vpon the seas and established it vpon the flovvdes And againe Hee hath stretched out the earth vpon the vvaters for his mercie endureth for ever A straunge kinde of building when others lay the foundations vpon rockes the LORDE vpon the vvaters And yet hee hath so set the earth vpon those pillers that it shall never mooue VVhen thou callest to minde that thou treadest vpon the earth hanging like a ball in the aire and floting in the waters is it not evidente enough vnto thee even by this one argument that there is a God By the confession of all the naturall place of the waters is aboue the earth This at the first they enioyed and after repeated and recovered againe in the over-whelming of the worlde when the LORD for a time delivered them as it were from their bandes and gaue them their voluntarie and naturall passage And at this day there is no doubte but the sea which is the collection of waters lyeth higher than the lande as sea-faring men gather by sensible experimentes and therefore the Psalme saith Thou coveredst it with the deepe as with a garment For as a vesture in the proper vse of it is aboue the bodie that is clothed therewith so is the sea aboue the lande and such a garmente woulde it haue beene vnto the earth but for the providence of GOD towardes vs as the shirte that was made for the muthering of Agamemnon where the heade had no issue out Therefore the Psalme addeth immediately The vvaters woulde stande aboue the mounetaines but at thy rebuke they flee at the voyce of thy thunder they haste away And the mounetaines ascende and the vallies descende to the place which thou haste established for them But thou haste set them a bounde which they shall not passe neither shall they returne to cover the earth The like in the booke of Iob vvhere the phrases are that the LORDE hath established his commaundement vpon the sea though a wilde and vntamed creature and sette barres and doâ—es aboute it and saide Hitherto shalt thou come and no further heere vvill I staie thy prowde waues VVhat from the chambers that are aboue and from the fountaines and sluces that lie beneath howe easie a matter vvere it for the former of all thinges to set open his vvindowes and dammes and every howre of our life to over-runne vs with a newe deluge Nay he hath vvater enough to drowne vs vvithin our owne bodies Hee caâ—â—e there commaunde a full sea of distempered and redundant humors to take our breath from vs. VVee little bethinke our selues howe daylie and continually vvee stande beholding to the goodnesse of GOD for sparinge our liues VVho though hee with holde the forces of those outwarde elementes vvater and fire and the rest that they doe vs no harme yet vvee haue elementes vvithin whereof wee are framed and composed wee haue heate and colde moysture and drought which hee can vse at his pleasure to our owne destruction Let these brethren of one house but withall the fathers and founders as it vvere of our nature fall at variance within vs and they vvill rende our liues a sunder like vvilde boares Howe manye haue beene buryed aliue in the graues of their earthlye and melancholicke imaginations Howe many burned in the flames of pestilent and hote diseases Their bowelles set on fire like an oven their bloude dryed vp their inwardes withered and wasted vvith the violence thereof The vapours and fumes of their owne vicious stomacke as a contagious aire howe manye haue they poysoned and choked vp Finallye howe manye haue beene glutted and overcharged with waters betweene their owne skinne and bones And therefore we must conclude and crye with the Prophet It is the mercie of the LORDE that wee are not consumed both from without and from within because his compassions faile not Hitherto of the myracles the former parte of my promise and the seconde experimente of the ever-flowing mercye of GOD continued towardes Ionas his servaunt O livinge and large fountaine of grace alvvayes drawne yet never dryed vp because it runneth from the breast and is fed with the good pleasure of an infinite and immortall GOD. For what better reason canne bee given of his lovinge affection tovvardes vs than that which Micheas hath in the ende of his prophecie Because mercy pleaseth him VVhat other cause hath induced him not to remooue in haste from the sweete songue of that Prophete to take awaie iniquitie and passe by the transgressions of his heritage not to retaine his anger for ever though for ever deserved but to returne and haue compassion vpon vs to subdue our vnrighteousnesse and cast all our sinnes into the bottome of a sea deeper and farther from his sighte than were these seas of Ionas to perfourme his trueth to Iacob and kindnesse to Abraham accordinge to his othe in auncient time but because
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
great wind c. Behold a pursivant dispatched from heaven to attach him vengeance is shipped in a whirle-wind and saileth alofte in the aire to overtake him There is no counsaile as Ierome here noteth against the Lord. In a calme commeth a tempest the ship is endangered which harboureth a daungerfull passenger there is nothing peaceable where the Lord is an enemy Whome the voice of the Lord could not moue a storme solliciteth him as when Absolom could not drawe Ioab vnto him by entreatie and faire meanes he fiâ—eth his barley fieldes to make him come and whome a still spirit could not charme the turbulent spirit of a raging wind Severior Magister a rougher instructour to deale withal enforceth to harkeÌ„ There be spirits saith the son of Syrach that are created for vengeance which in their rigour lay on sure strokes In the time of destruction they shew forth their power and accomplish the wrath of him that made them Fire and haile and famine and death all these are created for vengeance the teeth of wild beasts and the scorpions the serpents and the sword execute iudgement for the destruction of the wicked Nay the principall things for the whole vse of mans life as water fire and iron and salt and meale wheat and hony and milke and the bloud of the grape oile clothing all these thinges are for good to the godly but to the sinners they are turned to evill To these you may adde the wind which being a meteor wherby we liue in some sort for our life is a breath a fanne in the hands of God to purge the aire that it be not corrupted as the lunges lie by the heart to doe it good is heere converted to bee a plague vnto them that as David was afflicted by the sonne of his owne bowelles who should haue beene the staffe of his age Sampson by the wife of his bosome who should haue bene his helper the children of Israell by Manna stinking and full of wormes and by quailes comming out of their nostrelles and the children of the prophets by a bitter hearbe in the pottage which were appointed for their sustenance and foode so these marriners for the sinne of Ionas are scourged with a winde a principall furtherance and benefit at other times required to sailing Obedience hath her praise both with God and men the of-spring of the righteous is obedience loue The Rechabites shall never want a testimony of their obedience vnles the booke of Ieremy the Prophet be againe cut with a penknife burnt vpon an hearth as in the daies of Zedekias Ionadab their father commaunded them to drinke no wine and they would not drinke it for that commaundement sake they nor their wiues their sonnes nor their daughters Christ prophecieth of himselfe Esay 50. The Lord hath opened mine eare and it was not rebellious neither turned I backe It was written of him in the booke that he should doe the will of his father he was ready to do it The law was in the midst of his bowels and without protracting the time he offered himselfe Loe I come He was obedieÌ„t vnto death even the death of the crosse And though he were the sonne yet learned he obedience by the things he suffered qui ne perderet obedientiam perdidit vitam though he slept a wofull and heavy sleepe to flesh and bloud yet he slept in peace Disobedience on the other side hath never escaped the hands of almighty God It cast Ionas out of the ship and the angels before Ionas out of heaven Adam and Eue out of paradise Lots wife out of her life and nature to Saule out of his kingdome the children of Israell out of their natiue soile and further their naturall roote that bare them For no other reason is given but this Ieremy 35. I spake they would not heare I cried they would not answer To leaue forraine exaÌ„ples the iustice of God now presently manifesting it selfe against disobedience coÌ„meth in a storme the vehemency and fury whereof appeareth 1. By the author God sent it Who although he be the author of all windes weathers and bringeth them out of his treasures yet when it is singularly noted of God that he was the cause it carrieth a likelyhood not of his general providence alone but of some speciall and extraordinary purpose 2. By the instrument which is a winde and neither thunders nor raines to helpe it 3. By the epithet appositioÌ„ of the instrument a great winde 4. By the nature of the word here vsed it was sent nay rather throwne sent headloÌ„g as the lightning is shot from heaveÌ„ It was cast froÌ„ God as the marriners cast their ladings into the sea for the same word is originally vsed in both places A wind so sodain furious that they could gesse at other teÌ„pests before they fel they had no signes wherby to prognosticate this 5. By the place that receiveth it the sea a champian plaine channel an open flore where there was neither hill nor forrest nor any other impediment to breake the force of it 6. By the explication added there was a tempest vpon it eveÌ„ a mightie tempest 7. By the effects that ensued in 4. 5. verses marveilouslie described 1. The breaking of the ship a stroÌ„g an able ship by coÌ„iecture because so lately set forth to sea the danger is the more to be considered that it fel not vpon rockes or shelues but by the power of the onely winde was almost splitted the Hebrew phrase is very significant the ship thought to be broken as if it had soule and sense to feele the hazard it was in 2 The feare that followed vpon the whole companye of the passengers 3 The feare of the marriners men accustomed inured to the like adventures of whome it is truely spoken â—llis robur aes triplex c. their harts are of brasse and oke to encounter dangers 4 Their praiers nay their vociferations outcries vpon their Gods as the priests of Baal cried vpon their idoll 5 The casting out of their ladings the necessary instruments vtensiles for their intended voiage Al which whatsoever besides is set down to the end of the 5. ver may be reduced to 3. persons with their actions administratioÌ„s belonging vnto them the 1. is the Lord the 2. the marriners the 3. Ionas Of the first it is said that he sent out a great winde It was the error of the Paynims to devide the world amongst sundry Gods with every severall region city family almost chamber chimney therin with heaven hell land sea woodes rivers wine corne fruits of the ground al things whatsoever AmoÌ„gst the rest the winds in the aire they ascribed to Aeolus whoÌ„e they imagined to haue them closely mued vp housed in a lodge and to haue sent theÌ„ abroad either for calmes or teÌ„pests
benefit in singling out one of many heyres that cannot agree for the keeping of the deeds and conveiances But to bridle our licentiousnes herein who must liue by lawes not by examples and ought not to turne particular factes into generall practises it shall not be amisse as God set markes about the mount to propose a few conditions carefully to be observed First we must never fall to lotterie but when necessity enforceth vs all other lawfull meanes first assaied and the wisedome of man vnable to proceede vnles a more excellent wisedome from heauen helpe the defect of it For he that is taken by lot must bee past the comprehension of humane iudgement as Ambrose noteth vpon the first of Luke touching the ministerie of Zachary in his course to burne incense Secondly we must vse greate reverence and religiousnesse in the action Sancta sanctè holy things must be doone in an holy manner Beda calleth for this in his commentaries vpon the first of the Actes handling the election of Matthias If any thinke that in a time of necessitie els not the minde of God must be knowne by lots according to the example of the Apostles let them remember that the Apostles medled not therewith but the brethren being first assembled and their praiers powred forth vnto God Thirdly wee must avoide impiety and idolatrie therein ascribing the event of our wishes neither to the starres nor to anie other celestiall body vvhich cannot wante the ingestion and intermedlinge of divelles neither to fortune which is vanitie at the least though Aquinas make that the most neither to divelles nor to any other the like spirituall cause vvhich savoureth of mere idolatry but onely vnto him of whome Salomon testifyeth The lot is cast into the lappe but the whole disposition thereof is of the Lorde Fourthly wee must not apply the oracles of God in his sacred scriptures to our earthly temporall transitorie losses wherin they intolerably offende that for euery trifle stollen from them or casually gone are stronglie conceited by reciting the verse of the Psalme when thou saweth a theefe thou rannest with him and vsing an hollow key or by vsing a â—iâ—e and a paire of sheares not without blasphemous invocation of the names of some saintes to make themselues savers againe Doubtlesse the divell whome they gratifie in this sorcery who also produced scriptures and the names of Saintes to as good purpose as they doe hath sifted these men to the bran and left not a graine of good Christianity in them Augustins iudgement mee seemeth is over favourable vnto them vvho though hee rather wished they shoulde take their lottes from the leaues of the gospell then runne to enquire of divelles yet he misliked that custome that the oracles of God should bee converted to secular affaires and the vanities of this life We may iustly controle them from the same Psalme What hast thou to doe to take my covenant within thy mouth seeing thou hatest to be directed by it thou givest thy minde to evill and with thy tongue thou forgest deceite thou sittest and imaginest against thy brother and slaunderest thy mothers sonne Thus indeede they doe for hee is the theefe whome eâ—ther they in their iealousie thinke vpon or the devill and father of lies in his malignitie offereth vnto them 5. The endes of our lottes must be respected the honour of God as the moderatour of all such ambiguities the furnishing of his Church if two or more be fit with the fitter the preserving of iustice the avoydance of greater mischiefes otherwise in the reason of man vnevitable as envies suspicions tumultes factions seditions arising vvithout such competent and equall iudges Lastly wee must eschew all fraude and deceite in permitting our causes to heavenly arbitrement least wee procure at least the reproofe that Ananias bare Howe hath Sathan filled your heartes that you shoulde lie vnto the holy Ghost You haue not lied vnto men but vnto God vndoubtedly hee hath a girdle of trueth aboute his reines that will heavily repay it Therefore the facte of Temon the Priest recorded by Pausanias can never be pardoned amongst religious eares who in a controversie for lande betweene Cresphon and the issue of Aristodemus to be tryed by lottery in favour of Cresphon vvho had bribed him beguiled the right heires The lottes were of claye to be cast into a pot of water wherein as they sooner or later resolved so the matter should be ended But Cresphons being hardned in the fire the other but against the sun it is not hard to say whether longer endured Within these borders must our lottes be held and then there is little question but as in nature they are thinges indifferent so being bettered by such conditions they may rightfully be borne with Concerning cardes and dice as vsuall pastimes to some as the fieldes to walke in deviding to men the wager or stake pawned downe betwixt them if any haue pronounced with so much severity as to comprise them within the number and traine of vnlawfull lots vtterly to abandon theÌ„ for mine owne part I hinder them not let them proceede to their iudgments Yet amongst sober and discreete companions who vse them to no bad end and neither are so grosse on the one side to make fortune their goddesse in assigning good or evill lucke vnto hir nor so sawcy on the other to call the maiesty of God froÌ„ heaveÌ„ to determine their doubtes for they looke not so high in such frivolous gamesome quarrelles but as they carelesly vndertake them so they further them as lightly and as merily end them vvith no other purpose of heart saue onely to passe the time if not so well as they might which scarcely any recreation is so happy to challenge yet not so ill as the most do to exercise wit to cherish society to refresh the mind for a space froÌ„ serious occupations I thinke it vnder correction no great offence Which temperate excuse of mine notvvithstanding far be it of that it should be rackt to the patronaging of Temo's cosenage those studied fraudes fallacies I meane which the world vseth in packing of cardes shifting and helping of dice they teâ—rme it to the hurting of others estate and their owne consciences Neither doe I allow them for a trade or vocation of life To erect dicing and carding houses or commonly to haunt such as places to thriue by is to set vp temples to fortune a new rather to devilles to lay a foundation which deserveth no milder a curse then the reedifying of Iericho A yong man reprooved by Plato for playing at dice aunswered him it is a small thing to play at dice but the Philosopher replied it is no small fault to make it an habite The last thing that I mislike in them is that that Alexander the greate both blamed and amerced in his friends that when they plaied at dice they played not
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
driue him to desperation the Sabaeans to store vp treasures of vvickednesse and to shew that stolne bread is sweet vnto them The envy and malignity of Sathan whence is it of God No. God borroweth and vseth his service I graunte but Sathan first profered it so the malice is his owne who was a murtherer from the beginning hee onely addâ—ng gouernement and moderation therevnto The furious and bloudy rapines of the other whence are they from God no. They lay in the cisternes of their owne heartes Sathan drew them forth by insâ—igation themselues let loose the streame and when it was once on flote the Lorde directed and disposed the course by his wisedome For this present I ende God is of pure eies and can beholde no vvickednesse hee hath 〈◊〉 righteousnesse to the rule and vveighed his iustice in a ballance his soule hateth and abhorreth sin I haue served with your iniquities It is a labour service thraldome vnto him more than Israell endured vnder their grievous task-masters his law to this day curseth and condemneth sin his hands haue smitten scrouged sin he hath throwne downe angels plagued men overturned cities ruinated nations and not spared his owne bowels whilst hee appeared in the similitude of sinfull flesh hee hath drowned the world vvith a floud of waters shall burne the world with a floud of fire because of sin The sentence shall stand vnmooueable as long as heaven and earth endureth tribulation anguish vpon every soule that doth evil Ievv or Gentile All adulterers murtherers idolaters sacrilegious blasphemous covetous wretches liers swearers forswearers whom the Apostle calleth dogges barking at the iustice of God making a causelesse complaint against him as if he were cause of their sins shall one day see the folly and feele the price of their vnrighteous inâ—ectation Let God therefore be true and let all men be liers let God be iust and all men sinners let God be iustified in al his iudgements and let all his accusers vanish and consume in the madnes of their heartes as the fome vpon the waters THE XIX LECTVRE Chap. 1. ver 14. For thou Lord hast done as it pleased thee THe Mariners in this reason of their petition acknowledge 2. things directly 1. the worke of God in the casting foorth of Ionas Thou Lord hast done it 2. the ground of his workes his owne will as it pleased thee A third thing is acknowledged by implication the equity iustice of that will as the warrant for their deed for thou Lord c. their meaning is not therein either to charge him with a tyraÌ„nous will quod libet licet as the manner of grievous princes is to thinke that lawfull whatsoever pleaseth them either to insimulate and accuse him of iniustice to make him actor or patrone of any their sins who dealeth in the actions of meÌ„ sometimes with open sometimes with secret but alwaies with a righteous iudgement Therefore I noted their corruption who thinke themselues excused in their most enormous and execrable sins because they fulfill the will of God in one sense not that open and revealed will which he hath given in tables published by sound of a trumpet specified by blessings cursings promises threatnings exhortations dehortations and such like wherevnto they stand strictly bound but a secret and hidden will written in another booke wrapt vp in the counsâ—iles of his owne breast which neither they intended when they did their misdeedes neither were they ever charged therewith from Gods lips Secreta Domino revelata nobis filijs nostris Secret thinges belong to the Lord revealed to vs our children 1. Quantum ad ipsos fecerunt quod Deus noluit touching their owne purpose and intendment they have done that which God would not they have transgressed his lawe with contentation of heart perhappes with gladnes it may be with greedinesse taking a solace and pleasure therein and not wishing to have done otherwise they have pursued it to the third and fourth generation from the first assault or motion of sin to consent from consent to delight from delight to custome and yet not giving over till they come to a spirit of slumber or rather a death in sin 2. Quantum ad omnipotentiam Dei nullo modo id efficere valuerunt touching the omnipotencie of God they were never abâ—e to doe it he sitteth in heaven that laugheth them to scorne he besiegeth them round about and his hand is vpon them They are not able to depart from his will more than if a ship were going from Ioppe to Tharsis as this ship was from West to East and one by walking vpon the hatches a contrary course as if he would goe from East to West from Tharsis towardes Ioppe againe might stay the motion or flight of the shippe he doth his endevour to hinder it by bending both his face and his pace backewarde but the ship is too well winged and of too huge a burthen to be resisted so those others shewe their will to frustrate and faile the will of God by committing sinne prohibited but yet they shall doe a will of his or rather his will shal be done vpon them maugre their malicious and sworne contradictions De hijs qui faciunt quae non vult facit ipse quae vult Of those that doe what he would not he doth what he would and as he commanded light to shine out of darknes so he can commaund good out of euill treasure from out the midst of drosse and commodity from the very heart of deepest wickednesse at least he will execute his iustice vpon offenders as he professeth Exod. 14. I will get me honour vpon Pharaoh and all his host for this cause he set him vp to shew his power in him and that his name might be declared to the whole earth Exod. 9. To reduce a diffused but a dangerous intricate question wherin as I then protested the warinesse of my proceeding so now I againe protest the subiection of my spirite to the spirites of prophets God forbid that I should not bee readier to learne than to teach I say to reduce it to heads I proposed vnto you the errors of some in 2. 〈◊〉 of extremities some going too far in that they make God the 〈◊〉 of sin others comming aâ— short that God doth only permit 〈◊〉 The former an error 〈◊〉 for devils than men the latter an error of humanity offending of simplicity rather then malice speaking truth of God when they acknowledge his permission of sinne but 〈…〉 who le truth because they thinke God only permitteth it both deny the godhead in effect the one destroying the goodnes and 〈◊〉 the other impairing the omnipotency providence government thereof in that they restraine it from some thinges The former of these two opinions that God is the author of sin most prodigious to coÌ„ceive though engendred in the braine I know not whether of men or devils yet is taken by
for thou must die and not liue though we turne our faces to the wal pray weepe mourne like a doue beg for life as he did yet if the purpose of God be fixed let vs patiently entertaine it Cur quod necesse est non voluntas occupat Prudentius a Christian prudent Poet spake it That that must be shal be blessed be the name of God let vs not refuse it Let a beast be pulled from his den by force but let a Christian be taken froÌ„ his life with patience For it is not inheritance but debt and he that is the Lord of the spirites of all flesh will as gloriously restore as he will certainely require it Ionas is now at length executed if this had beene done before the sea had beene quiet but the Lord loveth to hold suspend an actioÌ„ for he hath many works in one this amongst the rest that maÌ„ may know that howsoever he be favoured by the intercession respite of time and by other helpes he cannot striue with a mightier nor go to law with his maker but his reckonings and accounts must be made when all is done Adam may runne into thickets and spend the time a while and cover himselfe with leaves and thinke to beguile Gods eie but Adam shall be called forth of his bushes stript of his garments as thinne as spiders webbes and cast out of paradise and haue a sentence of death pronounced and performed to vpon him and his whole linage Doth Sisera thinke by running away to runne from the iudgements of the Lord though there be peace betweene Iabin his master and the house of Heber the Kenite yet that peace shal bee turned into warre hee shall come into the tent of Iahell the wife of Heber and finde the hande of the Lorde as ready to encounter him there as if he had fallen vpon the host of Barake a draught of milke which he beggeth for his comfort shal be his last deadliest draught and insteed of rest to the temples of his head a naile shall be driven into his temples to dispatch his life The Iews may say in the Prophet they vvill ride vpon horses they will flie avvaie vpon the swiftest but their persecutours shall bee swifter than they Others may goe to the mountaines and rockes and say they will lie in the closest but mountaines shal be made as valleyes rocks shall yeeld at the pleasure of God as wax before the sun to open and disclose his enimies Ionas shall haue his leaue to run away on foote with Sisera to ride vpon the swiftest with the Iews to ship himselfe in a vessel lie as close in the shrouds therof as the ribbes wil giue him leaue he shal one while sleepe another draw lots a third discourse now be chid theÌ„ examined afterwards consulted with fairelie entreated hee shal see the losse of all their wares thinke his life may be saved by that losse behold millians of waues broken against the side of the ship and hope that millians more shall passe not touch him he shall haue what friendship helpe the whole company of mariners may afford him either by their praiers or by their advise or by the haÌ„dling of their ores yet the end shal be Ionas must be cast forth This is the wages of sin this is the way of all sinfull flesh When we haue stood long and foughte with the dangers of the world both by land sea when thousandes haue falleÌ„ at our right haÌ„d teÌ„ thousands at our left we haue not fallen wheÌ„ we are coÌ„passed with friends so far forth that we may saie with the woman of ShuneÌ„ I neede not speaking for me either to the king or to the captaine of the host I dwell amongst mine owne people where I may coÌ„mand when we haue walked in the light of the sun our prosperity I meane waxen so great that we haue wanted nothing wheÌ„ we thinke that we are in league with death in covenant with the graue and promise our selues that we shal multiplie our dayes as the sandes by the sea side even when we haue sailes and ores at pleasure that vvee may saie with Antiochus I will not saile in the sea with Ionas but I will saile vpon the mountaines and walke vpon the seas as vpon dry lande yet there must bee a time when all these helpes shal bee frustrated and Ionas shal be cast forth Though wee escape the pit vve shal be taken in the snare Ierom. 48. wee shall flie from a Lyon and a beare shall meete vs or leane our hand vpon a wall and a serpent shall bite vs Amos 5. we maie bee delivered in sixe troubles and the seventh shall dispatch vs him that escapeth from the sworde of Hazâ—ell shall Iehuslaie and him that escapeth from the sword of Iehu shall Elisa slaie 1. Kings 19. As one that shooteth at a marke sometimes is gone and sometimes is shorte sometimes lighteth on the right hand sometimes on the left at leÌ„gth hitteth the marke so death shooteth at noble meÌ„ beyoÌ„d vs at meane men short of vs on the right hand at our friends at our enimies on the left at length hitteth our selues the longer her hande is practised the more certaine it is She was aiming at Adam 900. 30. yeares at last smote him at Methusaleh 969. yeares in the end overthrew him now shee striketh within the compasse of threescore yeares or threescore ten or fourescore at the most sometimes at the first stroke euen in the day of our birth Câ—st them out of my sight saith God to his prophets and let them depart some to captivitie some to the sword some to pestilence some to the water as Pharaoh and the Princes of Egypt soÌ„e to the fire as the king of Edom whose bones were burnt to lime soÌ„e to the bowelles â—awes of the earth as the coÌ„gregation of Abirà Haman to the gallous Iesabel to the dogs Herode to wormes the disobedient Prophet to a lion the sons daughters of Iob to the fall of an house the mothers infantes of Ierusalem to a famine some to a plague some to the edge of the sworde some to a sicknes by the hand of God one crieth my head my head as the Sunamites son another my bowels my bowels as Antiochus another my feete my feete as Asa one complaineth of a palsey another of a burning fever a third of an issue of bloud but whatsoever the meanes be the ordinance of God in the end is this Ionas must be cast forth the ship eased the worlde emptied by degrees new generatioÌ„s successiuely take place If this were remeÌ„bred by vs that as Ionas slept in the sids of the ship we in security so we must both sleep in the dust of the earth as the lot fel vpon Ionas in his time so the lot must fal vpon vs in ours
altered his nature to haue boyled him into nourishmente and to haue incorporated his flesh into an other substaunce Yet Ionas liveth But if the LORDE had not beene on my side might Ionas nowe say if the LORDE had not beene on my side vvhen the beast rose vp against mee hee had swallowed mee vp quicke vvhen his vvrath vvas so sore enflamed But praysed bee the LORDE vvhich hath not given mee over a pray to his teeth My saule is escaped even as a birde out of the snare of the fowler The snare is broken and I am delivered Let all those whome the LORDE hath redeemed from the hande of the oppressour from fire or water or from the perill of death take that songue of thankesgiving into their lippes and singe it to his blessed name in remembraunce of his holinesse O thou the hope of all the endes of the earth sayeth that other Psalme and of them that are farre of in the sea shevve vs but the lighte of thy countenaunce and vvee shall bee safe giue vs but the comforte of thy mercies and wee will not feare though the earth bee mooved and the mountaines fall dovvne into the middes of the sea and the sea and the vvaters thereof rage fearefully though Leviathan open his mouth wee will not quake at it yea though the Leviathan of the bottomelesse pit open the throate of hell never so vvide to devoure vs wee vvill not bee disquieted VVee knowe that there is mercy vvith the LORDE and that vvith him there is plentifull redemption I meane redemption a thousande waies by nature and against nature by hope and against hope by thinges that are and thinges that are not Hee that hath saved his people by gathering the vvaters in heapes like vvalles and making a path in the redde sea hee that hath kept his children in the middest of a fiery oven when if arte coulde adde any thinge to the nature of fire they shoulde have beene burnt seven times for one because it was seven times hote and delivered his prophet in a denne of lyons though dieted and prepared for their pray before hand yet shuttinge their mouthes so close and restrayninge their appetite that they forbeare their appointed foode and committed this servaunt of his to the belly of a fishe as if he had committed him to his mothers vvombe to be kept from harme he is the same GOD both in mighte and mercye to preserue vs no time vnseasonable no place vnmeete no daunger vncouth and vnaccustomed to his stronge designementes Our onely helpe therefore standeth in the name of the LORDE that hath made heaven and earth blessed and thrice blessed bee that name of the Lorde from this time forth for evermore Amen THE XXIII LECTVRE Chap. 2. vers 1. Then Ionas praied vnto the Lord his God out of the fishes belly and saide THIS second section or division of the prophecie wherein the mercy of God towardes Ionas is expressed I parted before into three branches 1. That he was devoured 2. praied 3. was delivered The tearmes that Lyra giveth are these the place the manner the successe of his prayer The marvailes that I haue already noted vnto you were 1. that so huge a creature was suddeinely provided by the providence of God 2. that a whole man passed thorough his throate 3. that he lived in his bowels three daies three nightes Now whither he fulfilled that time exactly yea or no three naturall dayes complete consisting of twenty foure howres neither can I affirme neither is it materiall over-busily to examine Our Saviour you know in the gospell applyeth this figure of Ionas to his buriall As Ionas was in the belly of the whale three daies and three nights so shall the sonne of man bee in the heart of the narth But if you conferre the shadowe and the body togither you shall finde in all the evangelistes that the Lorde of life was crucified the 6. howre of the preparation of the sabbath and the ninth gaue vp the ghost that late in the eveninge his bodie vvas taken downe from the crosse and buried that hee rested in the graue the night that belongeth to the sabbath togither vvith the daie and night nexte ensuinge after it and that in the morning of the first day of the weeke he rose againe So as indeede the body of Christ was not in the heart of the earth more than 36. hovvers to weete two nightes and a daie vvhich is but the halfe space of 72. howers Some to supply this defect of time accompte the lighte before the passion of Christ and the darkenesse till the 9. howre one day and a night because they say there vvas both lighte and darknes And then the light that followed from the 9. howre and the succeeding night a secōd day night likewise the third til the time he rose againe Others expoūd it by a mistery thus 36. hours they say to 72. which is the absolute measure of 3. daies 3. nights is but simplum ad duplū one to two or the halfe of the whole Now ours was a double death both in soule by sin in body by paine Christes was but single only in the body because concerning his soule he was free frō sin therfore they infer that the moity of time might suffice him Hugo Cardin. hath an other conceite that from the creation of the worlde till the resurrection of Christ the day was evermore numbred before the night both in the literall and in the mysticall vnderstanding first there was light then darknes but from the resurrection of Christ forwardes the night is first reckoned for which cause he thought the vigiles were apointed for sabbathes other festivall daies that vvee might be prepared with more devotiō to solemnize them herehēce he cōcludeth that the night which followed the sabbath of the Iews was the angular night must twice be repeated as the corner of a square serveth indifferently for either side which it lyeth betwixte for both it belonged saith he to the sabbath praeceding must be ascribed againe vnto the Christian sabbath or Lords day whereon the son of God rose from death And he thinketh there is great reason of his invention because Christ by one night of his tooke away two of ours So they are not content to be sober interpretours of the minde of God but they wil ghesse and divine at that which he never meant They thinke their cunning abased if they go not beyond the moone to fetch an exposition What needeth such curious learning to apoint every egge to the right hen that laid it as some did in Delos so these to think their labor vnprofitable in the church of God vnlesse they can make the devises of their own heads reach home to the letter of the booke in al respects Our soundest divines agree that the triduan rest of Christ in the graue must be vnderstood by the figure synecdoche
circle to the centre of it is the absolutest patterne of misery that ever sanke into humane invention For as nothing is more direfull and vnsufferable then hell so nothing more fit in the nature of things wherevnto the hugest tribulation may be compared The word in the Hebrew carryeth it selfe indifferently either for hell or the graue for they are both alvvaies craving Bring in and thence they haue their name the graue is never satisfied with the corpses of the dead nor hell with the soules of the damned that descende into it I rather take it to signifie hell in this place one saith because of the horrour an other for the darkenesse some for the depth some for the hugenesse of the belly of the fish· Venter inferni alvus caeti tanti magnitudiniâ— vt instar obtineat inferni The belly of hell is the belly of the fish so large and capable that it may goe insteeede of hell The belly of the fish saith an other alter mihi infernus erat vvas an other hell vnto mee David vseth the same phrase with Ionas the paines of hel compassed mee aboute and the snares of death over-tooke mee But in an other Psalme more distinctly Thou hast delivered my soule from the â—â—thermost hell What did Ionas or David ever descende into that fâ—ery lake to know the torments thereof Or as Pythagoras ghest at the stature and pitch of Hercules by the length of his foote which was but one part of his body so by a taste of bitternesse incident to this present life haue these conceived what sorrow and vexation is reserved to the wicked for times to come Vndoubtedly the griefe of heart hath beene infinite and as much as mortality coulde ever admitte The mournings of Hannah Iob David Ieremy Ierusalem such as his hart must needes bee harder then the stithy which the smith beateth vpon that readeth the catalogues of their woes and is not moved at them But if all those foresaide agonies and as many besides as ever wrunge and wrested the spirite of man since the breath of life was breathed into him were put togither to parte the tormentes of hell among them parte after parte as if they woulde empty the store-houses and breake the streame of it yet hath the hand of hell an vnmeasurable portion behinde to distribute to her children an endelesse patrimony of howling wringing and gnashing which all the forepassed mischiefes and maimes in this life haue skarse beene shadowes and counterfeites of The belly of hell you heare but in a type or figure where the worde is mistaken and abused and broughte from his proper sense though it be fearefull enough and the extremity of paine hath so beguiled and besotted some I speake it with sobriety in the iudgementes of their mindes that they haue thought it very hell indeede yet woe bee to them ten thousande times more and more then can be imagined by any heart as deepe as a floude whome the belly of very hell hath swallowed and closed vp It is not possible to be spoken it is more vnpossible to be endured yet it must bee endured what the terrours and tortures of hell are Take him saith the gospell binde him hande and foote is it no more but so I â—ictor liga manus goe seargeant binde his hands yes cast him into vtter darkenesse outwarde to those inwarde wherein they delighted before blindnesse of minde and vnderstanding outward because the whole man body and soule shal be folded and comprehended therein outward because in extremitie without the limites and borders of any favour of God to bee extended Where neither the lighte of the sunne moone and starres and much lesse the sight of Gods glorious face shal ever shine There shall bee vveeping and gnashing of teeth there is there shal bee no time set It standeth for all aeternity no myriade of yeares shall ever determine it There the eies shall destill like fountaines and the teeth clatter like armed men and all the partes of the body relinquish their natural vses and spend their cursed time in wretchednesse and confusion These are the straightes indeede not like to those vvhich before I mentioned when handes and feete are so bounde body and soule so hampered and snared not with cordes and withes as Sampsons were but vvith the vnexplicable bandes of longe nighte that not a part of either of the two shal haue any power or activity left to gratifie their owner with neither the minde to contemplate more then endlesse infelicity nor the memory to recounte more then auncient and thrice most hatefull sinnes nor the phantasie to present more then fearefull visions nor the eies to behold more then legions of vncleane spirites nor the eares to heare more then the roarings of findes nor the nostrelles to smell more then the smoake of brimstone nor the handes to catch hold of more then flames of fire nor the feete to walke further then their giues and chaines wil giue them leaue Tormentes invented and inflicted by tyrants haue been most hideous the teeth of vvilde beastes hote glowing ovens and fornaces caldrons of boyling oyle fiery brason bulles powning to death in motters rowling in barrels of nailes rosting vpon spittes boaring with angers parting the nailes and fingers-endes with needles nipping the flesh with pinsers racking and rending a sunder the iointes with wilde horses no pittye no remorse taken whilest there was either flesh or bloud or sinew or bone or I say not member but wound in the body to worke vpon But the torments of hell are in greater variety Had I an hundred tongues and mouthes to hold them A voice of iron yet could I not vnfould them and in an other kinde or rather indeede without kind Ibi ordo nullus horror sempiternus where there is no order but everlasting horrour For who can define either by speech or vnderstanding a thing so infinite so monstrously compact of natures most disparate and repugnant an ende not ending a death not dying vnquenchable fire yet a darkenesse withall to accompanie it more palpable then the fogges of AEgypt and blacker then blacknesse it selfe everlastingly burning yet not consuming So much more vnsufferable then any torments of tortours vpon earth as the inventions of devilles can better devise then man and the malice of devilles better put in execution This this is the cup of the deadliest wine that ever was tasted of these these are those deepe graves in the Psalme from whence there is no rising againe This is the fire that goeth not out the worme that never leaveth gnawing in the last of Esaie These are those waters of gall in Ieremy those fearefull thinges wherewith the Lorde shall pleade against the vnrighteous of the earth as he pleaded sometimes against Gog and Magog in Ezechiell pestilence and bloud and sore raine and huge hailestones and fire and brimstone not such as fell vpon the sisters Sodome and Gomorrhe the witnesses wherof for many succeeding
Tarsus in Cilicia which was harde at hande and the Cilician sea the first hee past by But Ionas is borne from the Cilician to the Aegean from thence to Propontis and so to the rode where his landing vvas A iust iudgement of God vpon him that because he would flie from the presence of the Lord he shoulde be made to flie indeed God threatneth Sobna the treasurer Esaie the 22. that hee woulde carry him into captivity and tosse him as a ball in a large country that he would driue him from his station and destroy him from out his dwelling place So is Ionas carried into captivity a prisoner to a whale and tost as a bal in a large country from sea to sea driven from his station vvhere hee mente to haue setled himselfe and destroyed from out his dwelling place from the land of the living as Cain was a runnagate vpon the land so is Ionas vpon the waters and till the Lord giue a charge for his discharge manumission no land dareth receiue him The floudes compassed mee aboute c. His thirde perill is from the accidentes of the sea For being in the bottome and in the middest of the bottome not of the sea but of the seas is he at rest there No. There is no agony nor passion of the sea but Ionas feeleth it The disquietmentes of that element are either the meetinge of the fresh and salte vvaters togither or the ebbing and flowing of it or the waues and surges that arise either by vvindes in the aire or by flawes and expirations from the cavernes of the earth vvith all these is Ionas acquainted There is no question but all rivers runne into the sea according to the proverbe Qui nescit viam ad mare quaerat sibi amnem comitem hee that knoweth not the vvay to the sea let him get some river to be his guide Now it must needes breede a vexation and tumulte vvhen these contrary waters meete there is a fight and contention helde betwixt them for the time It is an other disturbaunce vvhich the continuall agitation the fluxe and refluxe of the waters maketh For when the course of that mighty body of waters is turned backe againe whither by the moone as they holde in Philosophy or by other disposition which al the instrumentes and engines in the worlde cannot bring to passe wee cannot imagine that so reciprocall a motion is done in peace but that the whole heape of the sea is molested thereby There be the floudes vvhich encircle him and compasse him aboute vvhich either the confluence of the waters diversly qualified or the ebbing and flowing of the sea procured vnto him As who should say I laye not in a calme but looke where the waters were most vnpeaceable and vnquiet even there was I compassed about and had no waye to passe forth The sea is otherwise disquieted when either the windes in the aire or flawes from the vawtes and breaches of the ground raise vp the waues thereof For the earth hath aire oftentimes imprisoned in the hollownes of it which being inwardly choked and labouring to get out sometimes shaketh the ioyntes of the land with earth-quakes sometimes setteth the people of the sea in a rage and bringeth a furious commotion vpon the face of the waters Wherefore Ionas being carryed through the Mid-land sea having the land on both sides of it must needes bee troubled the more by reason the waters haue not so free a passage as in the patent Ocean therefore make a way with sorer impatience Giue them streame at will and there is lesse daunger of travaile but straighten their course and they breake a passage by force and shewe what indignation they can against the barres that hinder them By common experience at home in lockes and mill-dammes wee see what catarrhactes and downe-falles there are by the rage of the water what hast it maketh to passe how vnpatiently it roreth because her liberty is denied her But those that ever passed the Magellan straightes or entred the mouth of the Gaditan sea betwixt Europe and Africke where Spaine and Barbary is devided to make a voiage into Barbary or any other coast within the Mid-land sea know it to be most true not by easie experience alone but by the adventure both of their vesselles and their liues also So as you see the very nature of these seas where the propinquity enclosure of the continent did so much annoye them on every side partly by breathing vpon them out of manye holes and ruptures thereof partly by lessening their channell besides the ordinary windes which raised vp their billowes and the extraordinary providence of God which delt more strongly than al these did the more afflict Ionas The wordes are very significant All thy surges and all thy vvaves passed over mee 1. They are not simplie waues as all confesse but waues with irruption and violent assault Our English well interpreteth them surges which is the meeting and breaking of vvaters in such sorte that the one encountreth the other as if they were at war The Poet notably expresseth them in the shipwracke of Caeix that they plaide vpon the shippe as engines and brakes of warre play vpon castles and as a Lion runneth with all his mighte vpon the weapons of man or as in the siege and skaling of a wall though many haue assailed it before yet one of a thousand at length surpriseth it so when many volumes of waues had before beaten and tried themselues vpon the sides of the shippe yet the tenth vvaue commeth further and fiercer than all the rest They were not inferiour to those that shooke and battered the shippe of Ionas when the sides thereof groned and it thought to bee rent in peeces 2. They are not the surges of the dead and senlesse sea such as the winde and wether onely mighte excite but they are the waues of God chosen and appointed by him to bee his ministers to execute vvrath against disobedient Ionas Thy waves 3. Their number is so infinite and past comprehension that hee speaketh in the largest number All thy waues as if they had beene levied from the endes of the sea and had assembled their forces into one place 4. They lay not aboute him as the floudes before mentioned but they passe quite over him and are a burthen to his head to keepe him vnder still they are on his right hande and on his lefte vpwardes and downewardes forwardes and backewardes and leaue him no hope of evasion The severing of the particulars weakeneth the force of the words But take a summary view of all in one and make a single sentence of the vvhole togither and you shall finde them beyonde exception 1. Hee is in the bottome the lowest and basest part far from the top of the waters 2. in the heart and entralles far from the shore 3. not of one singular sea which had some
gracious long suffering and of great goodnesse He crieth vnto the fooles and such vvee are all Proveâ—bes 1. O yee foolish howe long will yee loâ—â— foolishnesse hee dealeth vvith sinners as David dealte vvith Saul vvho tooke avvay his speare and his vvaterpot and sometimes a peece of his cloake as it were snatches and remembraunces to let vs vnderstande that vvee are in his handes and if wee take not vvarning hee will further punish vs. He dresseth his vineyarde Esay the fifth vvith the best and kindliest husbandrie that his heart coulde invente aftervvardes hee looked required not the first howre but tarrying the full time hee looked that it shoulde bring foorth grapes in the autumne and vintage season Hee vvaiteth for the fruite of his figge tree three yeares Luke the thirteenth and is content to bee entreated that digging and dounging and expectation a fourth yeare may be bestowed vpon it They saie that moralize the parable that hee stayed for the synagogue of the Iewes the first yeare of the patriarches the seconde of the Iudges the thirde of the kinges and that the fourth of the prophets it was cut dovvne Likewise that hee hath waited for the church of Christianity three yeares that is three revolutions and periodes of ages thrice five hundreth yeares from the passion of Christ or if we furtheâ— repeate it that hee hath tarried the leasure of the whole world one yeare vnder nature an other vnder the lawe a thirde vnder grace The fourth is nowe in passing vverein it is not vnlikely that both these fiâ—ge-trees shall bee cut dovvne VVhatsoever iudgementes are pronounced Amos the first and second against Damascus and Iudah and the rest are for three transgressions for foure so long he endured their iniquities Hee was able to chardge them in the fourteenth of Numbers that they had seene his glorye and yet provoked him ten times Ierusalems prouocation in the gospell and such care in her loving Saviour to have gathered her children vnder his winges of salvation as the henne her chickens seemeth to bee without number as appeareth by this interrogation O Ierusalem Ierusalem howe often Notwithstanding these presidents and presumptions of his mercy the safest way shall bee to rise at his first call and not to differre our obedience till the second for feare of prevention least the Lorde haue iust cause given by vs to excuse himselfe I called and you haue not aunswered And albeit at some times and to some sinners the Lorde bee pleased to iterate his sufferance yet farre be it of that we take incitement thereat to iterate our misdeedes He punished his angels in heaven for one breach Achan for one sacriledge Miriam for one slaunder Moses for one vnbeliefe Ananias and Saphira for one lie he maie be as speedy and quicke in avendging himselfe vpon our offences But if we neglect the first and second time also then let vs know that daunger is not farre of Iude had some reason meaning in noting the corrupt trees that were twice dead For if they twice die it is likely enough that custome vvill prevaile against them and that they vvill die the thirde time and not giue over death till they bee finally rooted vp There are tvvo reasons that maie iustly deterre vs from this carelesnesse and security in offending vvhich I labour to disvvade 1. the strength that sinne gathereth by growing and going forwardes It creepeth like a canker or some other contagious disease in the body of man and because it is not timely espied and medicined threatneth no small hazarde vnto it It fareth therevvith as vvith a tempest vpon the seas in vvhich there are first Leves vndae little waues afterwardes maiora volumiâ—a greater volumes of waters then perhapps ignei globi balles of fire fluctus ad coelum and surges mounting vp as high as heaven Esay describeth in some such manner the breedes of serpents first an egge next a cockatrice then a serpent afterwards a fierie flying serpent Custome they hold is an other nature and a nature fashioned and wrought by art And as men that are well invred are ashamed to giue over so others of an ill habite are as loth to depart from it The curse that the men of Creete vsed against their enemies vvas not a svvorde at their heartes nor fire vpon their houses but that vvhich vvoulde bring on these in time and much worse that they might take pleasure in an evill custome Hugo the Cardinall noteth the proceeding of sinne vpon the vvordes of the seventh Psalme If I haue done this thing if there bee any wickednesse in my handes c. then let mine enemie persecute my soule by suggestion and take it by consent let him tread my life vpon the earth by action and lay mine honour in the duste by custome and pleasure therein For custome in sinning is not onely a grave to bury the soule in but a great stone rolled to the mouth of it to keepe it downe And as there is one kinde of drunkennesse in excesse of wine an other of forgetfulnesse so there is a thirde that commeth by lust and desire of sinning 2. Nowe if the custome of sinne bee seconded vvith the iudgement of God adding an other vveight vnto it blinding our eies and hardening our heartes that vvee may neither see nor vnderstande least vvee should bee saved and because wee doe not those good thinges which wee knowe therefore wee shall not knowe those evill thinges which wee doe but as men bereft of heart runne on a senselesse and endlesse race of iniquity till the daies of gracious visitation bee out of date it vvill not be hard to determine vvhat the end vvill bee Peter saieth vvorse than the first beginning Matthew shevveth by hovve many degrees vvorse For vvhereas at the first vvee vvere possessed but by one devill novve hee commeth associated vvith seven others all vvorse than himselfe and there they intende for ever to inhabite Therefore it shall not be amisse for vs to breake of vvickednesse betimes and to followe the counsaile that Chrysostome giveth alluding to the pollicy of the vvise men in returning to their countrie an other waie Hast thou come saith hee by the waie of adultery goe backe by the waie of chastity Camest thou by the way of covetousnesse Goe backe by the waie of mercy But if thou returne the same vvaie thou camest thou art still vnder the kingdome of Herode For as the sickenesses of the body so of the soule there are criticall daies secret to our selves but well knowne to God whereby hee doth ghesse whether wee be in likelihode to recover health and to harken to the holesome counsailes of his law or not If then hee take his time to give vs over to our selves and the malignity of our diseases wee may say too late as sometime Christ of Ierusalem O that wee had knowne the thinges that belong to our peace but nowe they are
There is not any knowledge of learning to bee despised seeing that all science whatsoever is in the nature and kinde of good thinges Rather those that despite it vvee must repute rude and vnprofitable altogither who would bee glad that all men vvere ignoraunt that their owne ignorance lying in the common heape mighte not be espied If Philosophie shoulde therefore not be set by because some haue erred through Philosophie no more shoulde the sunne and the moone because some haue made them their Gods and committed idolatrie vvith them It seemeth by the preface of M. Luther vpon the Epistle to the Galathians that the Anabaptistes condemned the graces and workes of God for the indignity of the persons and subiectes in vvhome they were founde Luther retorted vpon them Then belike matrimony authority liberty c. are not the workes of God because the men who vse them are some of them wicked Wicked men haue the vse of the sun the moone the earth the aire the water and other creatures of God Therefore is not the sunne the sunne and do the others loose their goodnesse because they are so vsed The Anabaptistes themselues when as yet they were not rebaptised had notwithstanding bodies and soules now because they were not rebaptized were not their bodies true bodies and their soules right soules Say that their parents also had a time when they were not rebaptized Were they not therfore truly married If not it will follow therevpon that the parentes were adulterers their children bastardes and not meete to inherite their fathers landes Likewise truth is truth wheresoever I finde it Whither vvee search in Philosophy or in the histories of the Gentiles or in Canonicall scriptures there is but one truth If Peter if the Sibylles if the devilles shall say that Christ is the sonne of the living GOD it is not in one a truth a lie in the other but though the persons motiues and endes bee different the substance of the confession is in all the same It was true which Menander the Poet spake before the Apostle ever wrote it to the Church of Corinth Evill wordes corrupt good manners And because it was a truth in Menander therefore the Apostle alleadged it which else hee woulde not The difference betweene them is that as in Lacedaemon sometimes when in a waighty consultation an eloquent but an evill man had set downe a good decree which they coulde not amende they caused it to bee pronounced by one of honest name and conversation and in such simplicity of wordes as hee was able presently to light vpon by that meanes neither crediting the bad authour so much as to take a iudgement from his mouth nor reiecting the good sentence so that which was a truth in the lips of Menander is not more true vttered by an Apostles tongue but it hath gotten a more approoved and sanctified author And surely as in the tilling of the ground the culter and share are the instrumentes that breake the cloddes and carry the burthen of the worke yet the other partes of the plough are not vnnecessary to further it so for the first breaking vp of the fallow ground of mens heartes and killing the weedes and brambles that are therein of Adams auncient corruption or for preaching the greate mysterie of pietie and comfortable speâ—king to Sion touching the pointes of salvation the onely worde of God sharper then culter or share or two edged sword is onely and absolutely sufficient But a man must dayly builde vpon the former foundation and not onely teach but explicate by discoursing illustrate by examples exemplifie by parables and similitudes by arguments confirme shame the gaine-saiers convince the adversaries fashion the life to the doctrine plant iudgement and iustice insteede of vnrighteousnes stirre vp the affections and shewe himselfe every way a vvorkeman not to bee ashamed and rightly dividing the worde of trueth from whom if you take his knife that is his arte and cunning he shall rather teare it with his teeth and pull it asunder with his nailes than rightly divide it But you appeale to the consciences of beleevers and desire to knowe vvhither their first conversion to the faith vvere by reading or hearing of Gentile stories No. For who ever required that service of prophane learning which whatsoever the instrument or meanes be is principally and almost wholy the worke of the holy Ghost and wherein is fulfilled vpon every convert that commeth to the knowledge of the trueth that which Samuell comforted Saule with The spirite of the Lorde shall come vpon thee and thou shalt bee turned into an other man VVho else taketh the stonie hearte out of their bodies and giveth them an hearte of flesh And we know besides that the conversions of men to the faith haue not beene all after one sorte in some by the preaching of Christ crucified as in those that vvere added to the Church by the sermon of Peter in some by a word from the mouth of Christ Follovve mee in some by visions and voyces from heaven as Paule Act. 9. was throwne from his horse and smitten with blindnesse and a voice came downe from the clowdes saying Saul Saul why persecutest thou mee and Saint Augustine reporteth Confess 8.12 that by a voice from heaven saying Take vp and reade take vp and reade hee was directed to that sentence Rom. 13. Not in chambeâ—ing and wantonnesse c. Iustine Martyr witnesseth of himselfe in his Apology to Antoninus that when he saw the innocent Christians after their slaunderous and false traducementes carried to their deathes patient and ioyfull that they were thought worthy to suffer for the name of Christ it occasioned his chandge of religion Socrates and Sozomene write that many of Alexandria when the great temple of Serapis was repurdged and made serviceable for the vse of the Christians finding some mysticall letters or cyphers therein vvhereby the forme of a crosse was figured and signification long before given that the temple shoulde haue an ende thought it warning enough to forsake their heathenish superstitions and to embrace the gospell of Christ Iesus Many other Aegyptians beeing terrified by the strange inundation of Nilus higher than the wonted manner thereof was immediatlie condemned their ancient idolatry and applyed themselues to the worship of the living God Clodoveus the French King after manie perswasions of Crotildis his lady a religious Burgundian vainelie spent vpon him having at length receaved a great discomfiture and slaughter in a battaile against the Almannes and finding himselfe forsaken of all earthly aide cast vp his eies into heaven and vowed to become a Christian vpon condition that God would giue him the victory over his enimies which he faithfully performed Now it holdeth not in reason that because men are converted to the faith by miracles martyrdoms visioÌ„s inundatioÌ„s hieroglyphicks such meanes therefore they should alwaies be confirmed by the same or that those
than life Deus mitte mihi mortem accelera dies meos O LORDE send death vnto mee shorten my daies And sometimes sicknesse commeth indeede but then there is coursinge to and fro Phisitians are brought mony and giftes are promised and death it selfe perhappes speaketh vnto them Ecce adsum beholde here am I Thou calledst for mee thou desiredest the LORDE not longe since to sende mee VVherefore doest thou flye mee now I haue founde thee a deceaver and a lover of this vvretched life notvvithstandinge thy shew to the contrary It is the vse of vs all with the like forme of petitioÌ„ rather oâ— banning and imprecation to wish for death yea strange and accursed kindes of death wherein God sheweth a iudgement Let mee sinke as I stande let the earth open vnto mee let mee never speake worde more And every crosse and vexation of life make it irkesome and vnsavoury vnto vs vvoulde God I vvere dead If God shoulde then answere vs Ex â—re tuo out of your owne mouthes I graunte your requestes Be it vnto you according to your wordes howe miserable and desperate were our case But as olde Chremes in the Comedy tolde Clitipho his sonne a younge man and without discretion vvho because hee coulde not wringe from his father tenne poundes to bestowe vpon Bacchis his lover had none other speach in his mouth but Emâ—ricupio I desire to die First knovve I praie thee vvhat it is to liue vvhen thou haste learned that then if thy life displease thee vse these vvordes so first knowe my brethren you that are so hastye to pronounce the sentence of death against your selues vvhat belongeth to the life of a Christian vvhy it vvas given you by the LORDE of life to vvhat endes hee hath made you living soules what duties and offices hee requireth at your handes these thinges rightlye weighed if you thinke good call for death for by that time I thinke you vvill learne more vvisedome than to doe it It is good for you to see to the vvhole course and transaction of your liues they shoulde bee prelusions and preparations for a better life to come Beginne not then to liue vvhen you must giue over vvhich is the follie of most men or rather take heede that you giue not over life before you haue begunne it As one haire shall not fall from your heades vvithout GODS providence so nor the least haire and minute of time from your yeares vvithout his account taken But especially remember your end looke to the fallinge of the tree consider hovv the sunne goeth dovvne vppon you Novve if ever before cast your accountes you builde for heaven now if ever before bring forth your armies you fight for a kingdome Lay not more burthen of sinne vppon your soules at their going forth Let the last of your vvay be rest and the closing vppe of the day a sweete and quiet sleepe vnto you My meaninge is vvish not for death before you bee very ready for it Nay rather desire GOD to spare you a time that you may recover I say not your strength and bodilye abilitie but his favour and grace before hee plucke you away and you bee no more seene It is not comforte enough vnto you to saie Vixi quem dederat cursum natura peregi I haue lived indeede and finished some time vpon the earth vnlesse you can also adde your consciences bearing you vvitnesse and ministring ioy to the end of your daies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the seconde to Timothy and 4. chapter I haue finished my race I haue not onelye broughte it to an end but to a perfection though I haue died soone yet I haue fulfilled much time my life hath beene profitable to my countrye and to the Church of God and nowe I depart in his peace THE XLIIII LECTVRE Chap. 4. ver 4. Then saide the Lord Doest thou well to be angry The first of those 3. parts wherinto this chapter was devided touching the impatience discontentment of Ionas we haue in part discovered out of the former verses reserving a remnant thereof to be handled afterwardes The reprehension of God which was the 2. beginneth at these wordes and is repeated againe in the 9. verse vpon the like occasioÌ„ given by Ionas The mercy of God towardes his prophet manifesteth it selfe in this fatherly obiurgation many waies 1. That the Potter vouchsafeth huÌ„bleth himselfe to dispute with his Clay 2. that he is ready to giue a reason of all his actions as a righteous Lord who doth not enforce any thing by his absolute and meere authority but dealeth reasonably and iustly much more that the Lord speaketh vnto him who spake fretted against the Lorde giveth an accouÌ„t vnto him why he spared Niniveh of whoÌ„ no maÌ„ wisely durst to haue demaÌ„ded what dost thou that hee that dwelleth in light vnapproachable his counsailes are so high in the cloudes as who caÌ„ finde theÌ„ out placeth theÌ„ notwithstanding in the eies of the world to be examined sifted by the reason of man But most of all that he ministreth a word in season vnto Ionas wheÌ„ the streame of his anger was so violent that it bare him into an hearty desire longing after death then that the Lord intercepteth him aunswereth in his course as Elihu answered Iob Beholde I haue waited vpon thy wordes and harkened vnto thy speach whilst thou soughtest out reasons I will now speake in my turne shew thee mine opinion Doest thou well to be angry It is the singular wisedome of God without which pollicy it were hard for any flesh living to be saved that when we are running on in our sinnes wearying our selues in the waies of wickednes amongst other his retentiues stops he hath the hooke of reprehension to thrust into our noses pull vs backe againe Our iniquities would wander with out measure become rottennes in our bones our wounds woulde dwell for ever in our bowels and fester to the day of iudgement with out this medicine So wisedome began her lore Pro. 1. O yee foolish how long will ye loue foolishnes the scorner take pleasure in scorning the fooles hate knowledge She giveth vs our right names according to our corrupt natures for wisdome is able to iudge of fooles knoweth that without her instructioÌ„ we are wedded to our follies therefore she addeth turne ye at my correction loe I will powre out my minde vnto you make you vnderstand my words ClemeÌ„s Alexandrinus compareth our Saviour to an expert Musitian such as Terpander or Capito never were for hee singeth new songs hath sundry kindes of moodes and varieties to worke the salvation of man Sometimes he hath spoken by a burning bush vnto him sometimes by a cloude of water sometimes by a piller of fire that is he hath beene light to those that were obedient fire to those that rebelled and because flesh is more
in my text higher higher as the tree it selfe doth that we may know how wisely the workes of God are done and they never misse the end whereunto they were addressed Two of these foure members to weete the springing and climbing of the gourd that in a moment of time it was over the head of Ionas shew the omnipotēt power and providence of the Almighty who contrary to the rule of the philosophers that nothing is made of nothing without some matter praeexistent causeth a tree to arise without either seede or stocke to produce it hasteneth the worke in such sort that wereas other plantes require the chādges and seasons of the yeare to make them sprout yeeld their encrease not without the kindnes of the groūd dropping of the aire influence of the sunne and starres other naturall concurrences this by the extraordinary hand of God presently and immediately came to a full growth For I like not their opinion who think that the gourd was there before therfore Ionas applied himselfe to that place and there erected his booth vvhen the iudgements of so many learned and the letter of the text is flatly against them Besides the word of preparing that is here and elsewhere vsed for who but the same Lord God prepared the fish before or who the worme and the East-winde hereafter noteth a quicke speedy expeditiō in the working of God when his pleasure is that al things in the world great smal the winds in the aire the fishes in the water the plants in the earth and vnder the earth wormes and creeping things are subiected to his mighty providence The latter two declare the goodnes of God towards Ionas in his application of the gourd to so acceptable an end For by that meanes his body was shadowed and his soule eased I knovve there is misery enough in nature and that iudgemente sometimes beginneth at the house of GOD and they drinke deepely of the cuppe to whome it vvas not meant And the griefe vvhich Ionas here feeleth is but a portion of that griefe which corruption and mortality hath addicted vs vnto And the farther we goe from GOD the nearer vvee ever approch to misery for neither land nor sea nor citty nor field nor aire nor earth nor any worme of the earth shall favour vs no more than they favoured Ionas I am not ignorant on the other side that all nature is provided for the comfort of Gods elect And nature shall even be chandged and made to runne faster than her manner is to doe them good The Lord shal not only doe it but doe it with speed whē we haue little reasō to looke after it sometimes by rule sometimes at liberty sometimes by law sometimes by priviledge and aboue his law sometimes by nature and sometimes by miracle but doe it he will rather than his helpe shall faile Who thought of the ramme in the bush when Isaac lay vpon the fagots the good will of him that dwelt in the burning bush sent it Hee came not vpon his feete but was brought by speciall providence Who dreamed that an Eastwind should haue filled the campe of Israell with quailes It had blowne often before and sometimes hurtfull and vnprosperous blastes but never quailes VVho looked for Manna from heaven when they wanted bread in the wildernesse Many a dew and frost had they seene vpon the ground but never with such effecte Who durst presume to thinke that Iordan would runne backe or the red sea divide it selfe till they saw it fulfilled Or woulde not haue sworne that the lions woulde haue rent Daniell in pieces and bruised every bone and the fire of that oven in Babylon haue burned those three Salamanders to powder till they saw it otherwise But these thinges haue bene done vvee know and done on the suddaine the LORDE hath risen earlye to doe them that is hastned his acte and set vvheele as it were to his power and goodnesse to make them speede And thus was this gourd provided to the growing whereof were required a spring and sommer at the least but to such augmentation and largenesse the space of many yeares These two companions the might and mercy of God betweene which as before I saide those 4. members of my text divide themselues are his two wings vnder the shadowe whereof wee shall bee safe And as the disciples of Christ were sent into the worlde two and two before his face to preach the gospel and to heale diseases so these two hath the Lord ioyned togither and they goe before his face as farre as the earth is bounded to assist his chosen in all their griefes And rather than any temptation shal waxe too stronge for them and put them in hazard hee will be Adonai Adonai twice a God as it were and double his spirite stronge and stronge mercifull and mercifull and as his goodnesse is infinite so it shall draw forwards his infinite power to some extraordinary and vntimely worke which nature without leasure and tracte of time could not have produced THE XLVI LECTVRE Chap. 4. vers 6. So Ionas was exceeding glad of the gourd IN the building of God after the building of Ionas withered and defaced I noted 1. the provision that the Lord made for him 2. his owne acceptation The former with the brāches thereto belonging namely the creation and propagation of the gourd wherein the power of God was manifested togither with the shadow and end of the shadow wherin his goodnes shewed it selfe we have already treated of and are now to consider the acceptance and applause that Ionas gave vnto it It offereth vnto vs these two thinges 1. his affection ioye 2. the measure of that affection exceedinge great ioy Many things there were which might provoke the reioycing of Ionas 1. The fāning of the leaves which was a great comfort to a man that sate in the sun and was parched with the heate as a cake in the hearth for the sunne is a marveilous instrument as the sonne of Syrach speaketh it burneth the mountaines three times more than one that keepeth a fornace it casteth out fierie vapours and with shining beames blindeth the eies we know that burning heate is in the number of the plagues threatned Deut. 28. Revel 16. The fourth Angell powred out his viall vpon the sunne and it was given him to torment men with heate of fire and men boyled in greate heate and blasphemed the name of God for it This was the griefe wherewith it is saide before that Ionas was perplexed for it is not a meane plague to lie open to the skorching of the sunne without shadow and protection so much the rather if as the Rabbines imagine the skinne of Ionas were waxen more tender since his inclosure in the bowelles of the fish than before 2. The gourd saved him the continuall renewing of his booth for it was likelye enough that his naturall
consepta the lamentable pinfoldes of the deathes of men O pray that the flight departure of this spirit which must depart be not vpon the sabbath day in the rest and tranquility of your sinnes nor in the winter and frost of your hard hearts nor in the midnight of your security when you least looke for it VVoe worth the man whome the Lorde when hee commeth shall finde sleeping I say the vntimely fruite is better than that man it had bin good for that man if he had never bin borne the theeues shall break through his house the daungerous theeues of the soule SataÌ„ his Angels spirituall wickednesse shal rob not his coffers but his conscience of a treasure which he had but lost with carelesnes The bride-grome shal come by with a noise but behold his light is out his oile speÌ„t that is both his matter oportunity of wel-doing is gone he cannot supply either by borrowing or by by buying though he woulde giue his heart bloud for it What shall become of him but that he shall knocke at the gates of heaven while those gates are standing cry vpon the Lord while he hath his being to no purpose The instruction serveth vs all For the prophet was willed to crye that those which were farthest of from hearing the sound and beleeving the report of the voice might be made partakers of it All flesh is grasse and all the goodlines thereof as the flower of the field And to shevve how strange it seemed vnto him that any should bee ignorant of their mortall condition and strangers in Ierusalem as the disciple spake to Christ Luke 24. or rather in the world not knowing the things vvhich ordinarily come to passe from the first creation till time shall bee no more he continueth his crie Know yee nothing haue yee not heard it hath it not beene tolde you from the beginning Haue yee not learned it from the foundations of the earth That it is hee that sitteth vpon the circle of the earth and the inhabitantes in comparison of him are but grashoppers That hee maketh the Princes of the earth as nothinge and the iudges as vanitie as though they were never planted never sowen and their stocke had taken no roote vpon the earth For he doth but blow vpon them and they wither and the whirle-winde taketh them away like strawe Statutum est omnibus semel mori It is apointed vnto all men once to die nay twise to die Moriendo morter is God threatned Adam that he shoulde die the the death so the Apostle here saieth first death and aftervvardes iudgement If we looke into it But the statute touching the former branch shall never be repealed till destruction be throwne into the lake of fire and it be fulfilled which the Apostle hath revealed vnto him Mors non erit vltra death shall be no more Let vs take heed therefore least whilest we are carefull to doe al other things in time to set our trees â—ow our fieldes gather our fruites wee loose or lay vp in the napkin of security and bury in the earth of forgetfulnesse the most precious talent of time committed vnto vs in the ordering and framing of our liues to salvation as if nothing were viler vnto vs than our selues Let vs beware to offer the dregs of our life to him that inspired it least we drinke the dregs of his anger If wee wish with Balaam that our latter endes may be like the endes of the righteous let vs not be negligent to fashion our beginnings middles like theirs Let vs know that life is short and the art of salvation requireth a long time of learning and the way into heaven is long and cannot be troden in a short time Astronomers say that the space betweene heaven earth if one should climbe vnto it by ladders is nine hundreth thousand miles but the distance whereof I speake betweene corruption and incorruption mortality and immortality wretchednes and glory can by no measure be comprehended Let the prowde by name remember that they must turne to the earth which now they set their feete vpon Rather those tender and dainty vvomen that never adventure to set the soule of their foote vpon the grounde but as if the face of the earth vvere not provided for the daughters of men they must be alwaies carried like the fowles of the aire betweene heaven and earth Let them remember that the earth shall set her foote vpon their heades and their lippes shall kisse the dust of the grounde and the very gravell and slime of the grave shall dwell betweene their hawty eye-liddes Why doe they kill the prophets â—nd builde vp tombes kill their soules and garnish their bodies Doe they fore-thinke vvhat shall become of them wheÌ„ after al their labour cost bestowed in whiting painting the outward wals there remaineth nothing but putiduÌ„ putriduÌ„ cadaver â— stinking and rotten carkas when though now they say to their sisters in the flesh Touch me not I am of purer mould thaÌ„ thou art yet the bones of Agamemnon and Thersites shal be mingled togither of Vashti the most beautifull Queene and the blackest Egyptian bond-woman shall not be found asunder I haue not leasure to say much vnto our prowde dust and ashes But if purple and fine linnen vvere an opprobrious note for lacke of an inwarde cloathing to the rich man in the gospell if that parable were to be written in these daies purple fine linnen were nothing And what the burtheÌ„s cariages of pride in the age of Clemens Alexandrinus were I know not but if it were a wonder to him that they killed not themselues vnder those burthens I am sure if the measure were then full it is now heaped vpon the highest and shaken togither and pressed downe againe We are mad to forget nature Adam hath wisdome to call all the beasts of the fielde by their proper names but he forgetteth his owne name that he was called Adam that there is an affinity betweene the earth and him For hee shall returne to the earth his earth He was not made of that substance vvhereof the Angelles and starres no not of that matter vvhereof the aire and the vvater inferiour creatures The earth was the wombe that bredde him and the earth the wombe that must receiue him againe For let him play the Alchymist while he will and striue to turne earth into silver and golde and pearles by making shew to the world vnder his glorious adornations that he is of some better substance yet the time is not farre of that the earth shall challendge him for her naturall childe and say he is my bowelles Neither can his rich apparrell so disguise him in his life time nor fear-clothes spices and balmes so preserue him after his death nor immuring stone or lead hide him so close but that his originall mother will both know him againe and