lectures UPON jonas, DELIVERED AT YORK In the year of our Lord 1594. By JOHN KING: Newly corrected and amended. Printed at Oxford, by JOSEPH BARNES, and are to be sold in Paul's Churchyard at the sign of the Bible. 1599 TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE SIR THOMAS EGERTON, KNIGHT, LORD KEEPER OF THE GREAT SEAL, MY very singular good Lord, such honour and happiness in this world, as may undoubtedly be accompanied with the happiness, and honour of Saints in the world to come. RIGHT Honourable, in this prodigal and intemperate age of the world, wherein every man writeth more than need is, and chooseth such patronage to his writings, as his heart fancieth, If I have taken the like liberty to myself, both of setting my labours openly in the eyes of men, and your Honour's eyes especially over my labours, I hope, because it is not my private fault, your Lordship will either forget to espy, or not narrowly examine it. The number of books written in these days without number, I say not more than the world can hold, (for it even emptieth itself of reason and moderation to give place to this bookish folly, and serveth under the vanity thereof) but more than well use, the titles whereof but to have red or seen, were the sufficient labour of our unsufficient lives, did earnestly treat with me, Vix totâ vitâ indices. Senec. O●erat discentem turba, non instruit. Jd. Eccles. Vl●. to give some rest to the Reader, and not to divide him into more choice of books, the plenty whereof hath already rather hurt than furthered him, and kept him barer of knowledge. For much reading is but a weariness to the flesh, and there is no end of making or perusing many books. For mine own part, I could have been well content not to have added more fullness to the sea, nor to have trained the credulous Reader along with the hope of a new seeming book, which in name, and edition, and fashion, because the file hath a little otherwise been drawn over it, may so be; but touching the substance, that of the Preacher was long since true, and together with the growth of the world receiveth daily more strength, Eccles. 1. Scribimus indocti doctic. Pers. That that is, hath been, and there is no new thing under the sun. But as we all writ, learned and unlearned, crow-poets and py-poetesses, though but our own follies and ignorances, and to purchase the credit of writers, some as mad as the sea, some out their own shame and uncurable reproach, whose unhonest treatises fit for the fire then the books of Protagoras, presses are daily oppressed with, the world burdened, and the patience of modest and religious ears implacably offended: so the ambitious curiosity of readers for their parts, calling forth books, as the hardness of the jewish hearts occasioned the libel of divorce, Poscimus indocti doctic. Act. 17. and a kind of Athenian humour both in learned and unlearned of hearkening after the Mart, & ask of the Stationers, what new things? thereby threatening as it were continually to give over reading, if there want variety to feed and draw them on; made me the more willing to go with the stream of the time, and to set them some later task, wherein, if their pleasure be, their idler hours may be occupied. My end and purpose therein, if charity interpret for me, will be found nothing less than vain ostentation. Because I have spoken at times, and may hereafter again, if God give leave and grace, the meditations of my heart, to as many and as chosen ears almost as these books can distract them unto: and these which I now publish were public enough before, if the best day of the seven, frequent concourse of people, and the most intelligent auditory of the place wherein I then lived, may gain them that credit. So as this further promulgation of them is not much more, than (as the Gentiles besought Paul in the Acts) the preaching of the same words an other sabbath day; Chap. 13. and some testimony of my desire (if the will of God so be) to do a double good with my single and simple labours, in that it grieveth me not, to write and repeat the same things. And to adjoin one reason more, I shall never be unwilling to profess, that I even owed the everlasting fruit of these unworthy travails to my former auditors, who, when I first sowed this seed amongst them, did the office of good and thankful ground, and received it with much gladness. To whom since I went aside for a time far from the native place both of my birth and breed, as Ionas went to Niniveh to preach the preachings of the Lord, or into the belly of the fish out of his proper and natural element to make his song, so I to deliver these ordinary and weekly exercises amongst them; the providence of God not suffering me to fasten the cords of mine often removed tabernacle in those Northward parts, but sending me home again; let it receive favourable interpretation with all sorts of men, that I send them back but that labour which they paid for; and therein the presence of my spirit, pledge of mine heart, Soles acceptior esse sermo vivus quàm scriptus. Bernard. A mortuâ pelle ad hominem vivum recurre Gregor. Laudare se, vani; vitu. perare, stulti. Aristot. apud Valer. Max. Lib. 7. Ca 2. and an Epistle of that deserved love and affection which I justly bear them. I trust no man shall take hurt hereby, either nearer or father of, except myself, who have changed my tongue into a pen, and whereas I spoke before with the gesture and countenance of a living man, have now buried myself in a dead letter of less effectual persuasion. But of myself nothing on either part. I have taken the counsel of the wise, neither to praise nor dispraise mine own doings: The one, he saith, is vanity, the other folly. thousands will be ready enough to ease me of that pains, the uncerteinty of whose judgement, I have now put my poor estimation upon, either to stand or fall before them. Howbeit I will not spare to acknowledge, Nihil egi sine Theseis, & Nihil nostrum, & omnia. that I have done little herein without good guides. And, as justus Lipsius spoke of his Politic centons, in one sense all may be mine, in an other not much more than nothing. For if ever I liked the waters of other men's wells, I drank of them deeply; and what I added of mine own, either of reaching or exhortation, I commend it to the good acceptance of the world, with none other condition, than the Emperor commended his sons, sipromerebuntur, if it shall deserve it. Now the reasons which moved me to offer these my first fruits unto your good Lordship, may soon be presumed, though I name them not. For when the eye that seethe you, blesseth you, and all tongues give witness to your righteous dealing, should mine be silent? yea, blessed be the God of heaven, that hath placed you upon the seat of justice to displace falsehood and wrong. The vine of our English Church spreadeth her branches with more cheerfulness, through the care which your honour hath over her. You give her milk without silver, and bread without money, which not many other patrons do. In this unprofitable generation of ours, wherein learning is praised and goeth naked, men wondering at scholars, ut pueri junonis avem, and scholars wondering more at men, juvenal. that they do so little for them, learning never departeth ashamed and discontented from your face. I add with most zealous and thankful commemoration, in behalf of my mother and all the children at her knees, your love to our University. Of whose age and nativity, which others have been careful to set down, I dispute not. But whither she be the elder sister, it seemeth by that neglect wherein she now standeth, that she hath lost the honour and inheritance of her birthright: or whither the younger, your Lordship hath not many companions to join with you in compassion, and say in these days, Cantic. vlt. soror est nobis parva, we have a little sister, and she hath no breasts, or rather hath not succour to fill out her breasts, what shall we do for her? How many common respects, to let private alone a while, have naturally borne me to the centre and point of your Honours only patronage? I deny not, when at my coming from the North, it first came into my head to divulgate these readings, my purpose was to have made the chief founders and procurers thereof (my two deceased Lords) the chief patrons also: that as the rivers run to the place from whence they come, so these tokens of my grateful mind might return to the principal authors. Wherein the world might justly have censured me with the words of the Prophet, what? from the living to the dead? contrary to the use and fashion of all other men? But so I mean; both to avoid the suspicion of a fault which the world laboureth of (flattering of great personages) who was and am content that all mine expectations in any respect from them or theirs, be laid in the same dust wherein their bones lie; and to show that love is stronger than death, and that the unexorable bars of the grave cannot forbid a man to continue that affection to the memory of the dead which he carried to the living. For which cause, as others provided spices and balms, and monuments of stone or brass to preserve their bodies, so I intended a monument of paper, and such other preservatives as▪ I could, to keep their names in life, which the violence of time cannot so quickly injury, as the fatal ungratefulness of these latter days. But your Lordships most undeserved and unlooked for bounty towards me, hath altered that meaning. In whose countenance & speech evermore from the first hour that I came into your honourable presence, there dwelled such plentiful comforts and encouragements to make me hope for better times, that I never went a way, but with more fatness to my bones. And now the world can witness with me, how largely you have opened your hand, and sealed up that care, in freely bestowing upon me not Leah but Rahel, even the daughter of your strength, the best that your Honour had to bestow, I say not for my service of twice 7. years, but being yet to begin my first hours attendance. Which more than credible benignity, my right hand were worthy to forget her cunning, if she took not the first occasion to write and report with the best skill she hath. Notwithstanding I have been bold thus far, after the trees shaken and the vintage gathered to your Honour's use, to leave as it were a berry or two in the utmost boughs to my former Lords; and by making some little mention of their happy memories, both to testify mine ancient duty towards them, and to deliver them, what I might, from the night of forgetfulness, who were the shining lamps of the North in their life time. Such a Moses and such an Aaron, such a Josuah to lead the people, and such a Priest to bear the Ark, such a Zorobabel, and such a Jehozadak, such a Centurion in Capernaum to rule the country, and such a Jairus to govern the Synagogue, when the Lord shall send together again, I will then say he hath restored his blessing amongst them. To this purpose I have added two sermons more, to these Lectures upon jonas, the one preached at the funerals of my former Lord the late Archbishop of York; the other no way pertinent to the latter, the right noble Earl of Huntingdon, except because he commanded it, and it was not many weeks before his death, and the subject was so agreeable to his most faithful and unstained heart. For if the sound of the tongue and applause of the hands may persuade for him, he never beheld the light of heaven within this land, that more honoured the light of England. Long may it sparkle and flame amongst us according to his hearty wishes. Let neither distempered humours within quench it, nor all the waters of the sea betwixt Spain and us, bring rage and hostility enough to put it out, but let the light of Gods own most blessed countenance for ever & ever shine upon it. It now remaineth, that in the humblest manner I can, I wholly resign myself and the course of my life to your honourable both protection and disposition; asking pardon for my boldness, and defence for these my simple endeavours, & beseeching the God of heaven & earth, to multiply his richest blessings, upon your Honour, your Lady, and your Children whither within or without the land. Your Lordships most bounden and dutiful Chaplain JOHN KING. THE FIRST LECTURE. Cap. 1. verse 1.2. The word of the Lord came also unto jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise and go to Niniveh, etc. COmparisons betwixt scripture and scripture are both odious and dangerous. In other sorts of things whatsoever is commendable, may either be matched or preferred according to the worth of them. I will not make myself so skilful in the orders of heaven, as to advance angel above angel, Quid sin●, dicant qui possunt, dummodo quod dicunt probare valeant. August. enchirid. cap. 38. 1. Chro. 12. 1. Sam. 18. but I am sure one star differeth from another in glory, And God hath given the rule of the day to the sun, of the night to the moon, because they differ in beauty. The captains of the sons of Gad, without offence might bear an unaequall report, One of the least could resist an hundred, and the greatest a thousand; because their prowess and acts were not equal. There was no wrong done in the Anthem which the women song from all the cities of Israel, Saul hath slain his thousand, and David his ten thousand: The unlike deserts of these two princes might justly admit an unlike commendation. unus Cato mihi pro centum millibus. Plato instar omnium. Luke 5. Aul. Gell. noct. Attic. 13.5. One Cato may be of more price than hundredth thousands of vulgar men; and Plato may stand for all. Our Saviour in the gospel preferreth old wine before new: & Aristotle liketh better of the wine of Lesbos, than the wine of Rhodes; he affirmeth both to be good, but the Lesbian the more pleasant, alluding under that parable to the successor of his school, and noting his choice rather of Theophrastus' borne at Lesbos, than Menedemus at Rhodes. But the whole scripture is given by inspiration of God, neither in his great house of written counsels is there any vessel more or less in honour then the rest are. Moses is no better than Samuel, Samuel than David, David a king than Amos an herdman, john Baptist more than a prophet, not more than a prophet in this authority, Peter or Andrew the first that was chosen, not better than Paul that was borne out of due time. Revel. 4. The four beasts in the Revelation have eyes alike, before and behind, and the Apostles names are evenly placed in the writings of the holy foundation. Solomon the wisest king that ever was in jerusalem, Revel. 21. perceived right well that wheresoever the uncreated wisdom of GOD spoke, it spoke of excellent things, Proverb. 8. even things seemly for Princes. David his princely father before him had so high a conceit of these ordinances of the most high, that where he defineth any thing, he esteemeth them, for value, above great spoils, and thousands of gold and silver, Psal. 119. yea all manner of riches; and for sweetness, above the honey, and the honycombe: & where he leaveth to define, he breaketh of with admiration, wonderful are thy testimonies; I have seen an end of all perfection, but thy commandment is exceeding broad, meaning thereby, not less than infinite. The jews acknowledge the old testament, abhor the new; the Turks disclaim; julian, atheists and scorners deride; Grecians have stumbled at both old and new; Papists enlarge the old with Apocryphal writings; some of the ancient heretics renounced some prophets, others added to the number of Evangelists: but as the disciples of Christ had but one Master or teacher in heaven, and they were all brethren; Math. 23. so one was the author of these holy writs in heaven, and they are all sisters and companions; and, with an unpartial respect, have the children of Christ's family from time to time received, reverenced, and embraced the whole and entire volume of them. They know that one Lord was the original fountain of them all, who being supremely good, wrought and spoke perfect goodness. One word and wisdom of God revealed these words to the sons of men, himself the subject and scope of them; one holy Ghost indited them, Verba innumerabilia & unum tantùm verbum omnia: Hugo de arca. Noe. one blood of the lamb sealed and confirmed the contents of them, one measure of inspiration was given to the penmen and actuaries that set them down, one spouse and beloved of Christ, as gauges of his eternal love, hath received them all in keeping. And surely she hath kept them as the apple of her eye; and rather than any maim or rent should be made in their sacred body, she hath sent her children into heaven maimed in their own bodies, and spoiled of their dearest blood they had, thinking it a crown of joy unto them, to lay down their lives in the cause of truth. And therefore as branches of the same vine that bore our predecessors, to whom by devolution these sacred statutes are come, we esteem them all for Gods most royal and celestial testament, the oracles of his heavenly sanctuary, the only key unto us of his revealed counsels, milk from his sacred breasts, the earnest and pledge of his favour to his Church, the light of our feet, joy of our hearts, breath of our nostrils, pillar of our faith, anchor of our hope, ground of our love, evidences and deeds of our future blessedness: pronouncing of the whole book, with every schedule and skrole therein contained, as he did of a book that Sextius written, but upon far better grounds, vivit, viget, liber est, supra hominem est: Seneca. It is a book of life, a book of livelihood, a book in deed, savouring of more than the wit of man. Notwithstanding, as the parcels of this book were published and delivered by divers notaries, the instruments of Gods own lips, in divers ages, divers places, upon divers occasions, and neither the argument nor the stile, nor the end and purpose the same in them all; Gregor. 〈…〉. some recounting things forepast; some foreseeing things to come; some singing of mercy; some of judgement; some shallow for the lamb to wade in, some deep enough to bear and drown the Elephant; some meat that must be broken and chewed with painful exposition, Gregor in moral. some drink that at the first sight may be supped and swallowed down; somewhat in some or other part that may please all humours, as the jews imagine of their Manna, Hieron. that it rellishte not to all alike, but to every man seemed to taste accordingly as his heart lusted; so though they were all written for our learning and comfort, yet some may accord at times, and lend application unto us for their matter and use, more than others. Of all the fowls of the air, I mean the Prophets of the LORD, flying from heaven with the wings of divine inspiration, I have chosen the Dove, (for so the name of jonah importeth, and Jerome so rendereth it to Paulinus) to be the subject of my labour and travel undertaken amongst you; who under the type of his shipwreck and escape, figuring the passion and resurrection of the son of GOD, and coming from the sea of Tharsis, as that Dove of Noah's Ark came from the waters of the flood, with an olive branch in his lips in sign of peace, preacheth to Niniveh, to the Gentiles, to the whole world, the undeserved goodness of GOD towards repentant sinners. For if you will know in brief, what the argument of this Prophet is, it is abridged in that sentence of the Psalm, The argument of the prophecy. Psal. 145. The LORD is merciful and gracious, of long suffering, and of great goodness: He is merciful, in the first part of the prophecy, to the Mariners; gracious, in the second, to jonas; long suffering, in the third, to the Ninivites; and of great goodness, in the fourth, in pleading the rightfulness of his mercy, and yielding a reason of his fact to him which had no reason to demand it. So from the four chapters of jonas, as from the four winds, is sent a comfortable breath and gale of most abundant mercies. And as the four streams in paradise flowing from one head, were the same water in four divisions; so the four chapters or sections of this treatise are but quadruple mercy, or mercy in four parts. And so much the rather to be hearkened unto, as an action of mercy is more grateful unto us, than the contemplation, the use then the knowledge, the example than the promise: and it is sweeter to our taste being experienced by proof, then when it is but taught and discoursed. You hear the principal matter of the prophecy. But if you would know besides what riches it offereth unto you, it is a spiritual library, as Cassiodore noted of the Psalms, of most kinds of doctrine fit for meditation; or as Isidore spoke of the lords prayer and the Creed, Onmis latitudo scriptura●um. the whole breadth of scripture may hither be reduced. Here you have Genesis in the sudden and miraculous creation of a gourd, Moses and the law in denunciation of judgement, Chronicle in the relation of an history, Prophecy in prefiguring the resurrection of Christ, Psalmody in the song that jonas composed, and finally Gospel in the remission of sin mightily and effectually demonstrated. The duties of princes, pastors, people, all estates; the nature of fear, force of prayer, wages of disobedience, fruit of repentance, are herein comprised. And as the finers of silver and gold make use not only of the wedge, Non tantùm auri massas tollunt, ve●ùm & bracteolas par●as. Chrys. hom. 1. ad pop. Antio. Chap. 1. Praeco mittitur, missus contemnit, contemnens fugio. fugi●● dormis, etc. Jsidor. lib. de patrib. ve●. testamen. The text. but even of the smallest foil or rays that their metal casteth: so in this little manuel which I have in hand, besides the plenty and store of the deeper matters, there is not the least jot and title therein, but may minister grace to attentive hearers. The substance of the chapter presently to be handled and examined, spendeth itself about two persons, jonas and the Mariners. In the one opening his commission, transgression, apprehension, execution; in the other their fear and consequent behaviour, which I leave to their order. The words already proposed, offer unto us these particulars to be discussed. 1 First a warrant, charge or commission, The word of the Lord also came. 2 Secondly the person charged, to jonas the son of Amittaie. 3 Thirdly the matter or contents of his commission, Arise and go to Niniveh that great city. In the commission I refer you to these few and short collections. And 1 The particle of connexion and or also; either it joineth jonas with other prophets, or Niniveh with other countries, or the business here related with other affairs incident to those times. It seemeth to begin a book without beginning, and rather to continue a course of some precedent dealings: but sooth it implieth unto us, that he who is α and ω in himself, is also first and last to his Church, the author and finisher of his good works; who as he sent his word to other prophets, so also to jonas; and as for Israel, so also for Niniveh; and as he furnished that age of the world with other memorable occurrences, so with this also amongst the rest, that jonas was sent to Niniveh, and that thus it fell out. 2 The nature of the commission; It is verbum, a word; that is, The word. a purpose, decree, determination, edict, advised, pronounced, ratified, and not to be frustrated; according to the sentence of the Psalm, Thy word O Lord endureth for ever in heaven. Psal. 119. Of the Lord. Luke 1. 3 The author is the Lord, the Ocean that filled all these earthly springs; who spoke by the mouth of all the prophets which have been since the world began. 4 The direction or suggestion thereof. It came: that is, it was not a fantasy or invention of jonas, Came. but he had his motion and inspiration thereunto. The first showeth the continuance of God's graces in his Church, how everlasting they are, and without repentance, in that he sendeth line upon line unto it, and prophets after prophets, (for do the prophets live for ever? Zach. 1. ) and spreadeth his saving health from the East to the West, and leaveth no generation of man empty and bare of profitable examples. The second showeth the stability of his ordinances. For with God neither doth his word disagree from his intention, because he is truth; nor his deed from his word, because he is power: Ne verbum ab intentione quia veritas, nec factum à verbo quia virtus est. Bern. homil. 4. super Missus est. 2 Pet. 1. Rom. 11. hath he spoken and shall he not perform it? The third showeth the majesty and credit of the prophecies. For no prophecy of old time came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the holy Ghost. The fourth declareth his ordinary and necessary course in disclosing his will, which is too excellent a knowledge for flesh and blood to attain unto, without his revelation: for who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his counsellor at any time? The commission in general is most requisite to be weighed, 1 The commission. that we may discern the Priests of the sanctuary from jeroboams Priests, of whom we read that whosoever would, might consecrate himself: 1. King. 1●. lawful ambassadors from erratical and wandering messengers, such as run when none hath sent them; stars in the right hand of Christ, fixed in their stations, from planets and planers of an uncertain motion; shepherds from hirelings, and thieves that steal in by the window; Revel. 2. prophets from intruders, (for even the woman jesabel calleth herself a prophetess;) seers from seducers, enforced to confess from a guilty conscience, as their forerunner sometime did, of whom Zachary maketh mention, Zach. 13. I am no prophet, I am an husbandman; Aaron from Abiram: Simon Peter from Simon Magus; Paul a Doctor of the Gentiles, from Saul a persecutor of the Christians; Cephas from Caiaphas; Jude from judas; Christ from Antichrist; Apostles from Apostates, Revel. 2. backsliders, revolters, who though they bear the name of Apostles, are found liars; and finally, faithful dispensers from marchandisers of the word of God, and purloiners of his mysteries. Who ever intruded himself, with impunity, and without dangerous arrogancy, into this function? The proceeding of God in this case is excellently set down in the Epist. to the Rom. wherein, Rom. 10. as the throne of Solomon was mounted unto, by six stairs; so the perfection and consummation of man, ariseth by six degrees. The highest and happiest stair is this: He that shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. But how shall they call upon him, on whom they have not believed? Or how shall they believe on him, of whom they have not heard? Or how shall they hear without a preacher? Or how shall they preach, except they be sent? A singular and compendious gradation. Wherein you have, 1. sending, 2. preaching, 3. hearing, 4. believing, 5. invocating, 6. saving. For no man taketh this honour unto him, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. Heb. 5. The Apostles rule is universal, & exempteth not the lawgiver himself. For Christ took not this honour to himself, to be made the high Priest, but he that said unto him, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee, gave it him. The 1. question that God moveth touching this ministration is, Esai. 6. Whom shall I send? and who shall go for us? The Devil could easily espy the want of commission in the sons of Sceva, when they adjured him by the name of jesus whom Paul preached: jesus I acknowledge, and Paul I know; but who are ye? Acts. 19 Your warrant is not good, your counterfeit charms are not strong enough to remove me. There are no chains of authority, no links of iron, to bind the nobles and princes of the earth, and to restrain Devils, but in those tongues which God hath armed from above, and enabled to his service. 1. King. 22. What was the reason that Michaiah was so confident with Ahab king of Israel, and Zidkiiah the king's prophet, or rather his parasite, who taunted him with contumely, and smote him on the face, that yet notwithstanding he neither spared the prophet, nor dissembled with the king, his final doom? Only this: he had his commission sealed from the Lord, Zidkiiah had none. What other reason made Elisha, a worm of the earth (in comparison,) so plain with jehoram? What have I to do with thee? get thee to the Prophets of thy father, 2 King. ● and to the prophets of thy mother, etc. see his further protestation. Had he nothing to do with the king, when the king had so much to do with him? did he not fear the wrath of the Lion, who could have said to the basest minister that ate the salt of his court, take his head from his shoulders, and he would have taken it? But his commission was his brazen wall to secure him: and that jehoshaphat the King of juda witnessed, saying, The word of the Lord is with him▪ This is the fortress and rock that jeremy standeth upon before the priests, prophets, and people of juda; If ye put me to death, jer. 2●. ye shall bring innocent blood upon yourselves; for of a truth the Lord hath sent me unto you to speak all these words in your ears. Yea the princes and people upon that ground made his apology, This man is not worthy to die, for he hath spoken unto us in the name of the Lord our God. To spare my pains in examples; fearful are the woes, and not milder than wormwood, and the water of gall, (for under these terms, I find them shadowed, & but shadowed by the prophets) which he denounceth in the course of that prophecy against false prophets, that spoke the visions of their own hearts, and said, The Lord said thus and thus: that were not sent, yet ran; jer. 23. were not spoken unto, yet prophesied; that cried I have dreamt, I have dreamt, when they were but dreams indeed. They are given to understand, that their sweet tongues will bring them a sour recompense, and that the Lord will come against them, for their lies, flatteries, chaff, stealth of his word, (as they are termed) and other such impieties. Their cup is tempered by Ezechiel with no less bitterness, for following their own spirits, playing the foxes, seeing of vanity, Ezech. 1●. divining of lies, building and daubing up walls with untempered mortar. The head and foot of their curse are both full of unhappiness. Their first entertainment is a woe, Vae prophetis: and their farewell an Anathema, a cursed excommunication; They shall not be accounted in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the writings of the house of Isarell. To end this point; let their commission be well scanned that come from the Seminaries of Rome and Rheims, to sow seeds in this field of ours, whether, as jonas had a word for Niniveh, so these for England and other nations, yea or no? whether from the Lord (for that they pretend, as Ehud did to Eglon,) or from Balaak of Rome, who hath hired them to curse the people of God? jud. 3. whether to cry openly against sin, or to lay their mouths in the dust, and to murmur rebellion? whether of zeal to the God of the Hebrews, or to the great idol of the Romans, as they to the great Diana of the Ephesians, to continue their craft, as Demetrius there did, and lest their state should be subverted? Acts 19 whether to come like prophets with their open faces, Zeph. 1. or in disguised attire, strange apparel (in regard of their profession) a rough garment to deceive with, as the false prophet in Zachary? Zach. 13. whether their sweet tongues have not the venom of Asps under them, and in their colourable and plausible notes of peace, peace, there be any peace, either to the weal public, amidst their nefarious and bloody conspiracies, or to the private conscience of any man, in his reconciliation to their unreconciled church, formal and counterfeit absolution of sins, hearing, or rather seeing histrionical masses, visiting the shrines and relics of the dead, numbering of Pater nosters, invocation of saints, adoration of images, and a thousand such forgeries? whether they build up the walls of GOD'S house with the well tempered mortar of his written ordinances, or daub up the walls of their Antichristian synagogue with the untempered mortar of unwritten traditions? whether they come Ambassadors from GOD, and in steed of Christ, seek a reconciliation between GOD and us, and not rather to set the mark of the beast in our foreheads, to make us their Proselytes, and the children of error as deepelye as themselves? If this be the word they bring, a dispensation from a foreign power, to resist the powers that GOD hath ordained, and in steed of planting faith and allegiance, to sow sedition, and not to convert our country to the truth, but to subvert the policy and state hereof, to poison our souls, and to dig graves for our bodies against their expected day, to invade the Dominions, alienate the crowns, assault the lives of lawful and natural princes, to blow the trumpet of Sheba in our land, ye have no part in David, nor inheritance in the son of Ishai, no part in Elizabeth, 2. Sam. 20. nor inheritance in the daughter of King Henrye, every man to your tents O England: let them reap the wages of false Prophets even to the death, Deut. 18. as the law hath designed; and let that eye want sight that pitieth them, and that heart be destitute of comforts, that crieth at their downfall, Alas for those men. Their bloody and peremptory practices call for greater torture than they usually endure, and deserve that their flesh should be grated, and their bones rend asunder with saws, and harrows of iron, 2. Sam. 12. (as Rabbah was dealt with) for their traitorous and unnatural stratagems. I know they justify their cause and calling, as if innocency itself came to the bar to plead her uprightness: and they are willing to make the world believe, that they come amongst their own people and nation, not only lambs amongst wolves, but lambs of the meekest spirit, amongst wolves of the fiercest disposition, whose delight is in bloudsheade; making us odious, for more than Scythian cruelty, as far as our names are heard of, and stretching the joints of our English persecutions, upon the rack of excessive speech, more than ever they felt in the joints of their own bodies. They remember not the meanwhile how much more justly they fill the mouths of men with arguments against themselves, for raising a far sorer persecution than they have cause to complain of. They persecute the liberty of the Gospel amongst us, and labour to bring it into bonds again: they persecute our peace and tranquillity, which by a prescription of many years we begin to challenge for our own: they persecute the WOMAN with the crown upon her head, Revel. 12. whom they have wished and watched to destroy, and long ago had they undone her life, but that a cunning hand above hath bound it up in the boundell of life, and enclosed it in a maze of his mercies past their finding out: whom because they could not reach with their hand of mischief, they have sought to overtake with floods of waters, floods of excommunications, floods of intestine rebellions, foreign invasions, practised conspiracies, imprinted defamatory libels, that one way or other they might do her harm. So long as there shall be a Chronicler in the world to write the legend of the French jacobin, I shall ever have in jealousy the coming of these emissaries and spies from their unholy fraternities into Princes courts. They persecute the infant in his mother's belly, and the child yet unborn, whom they seek to dispossess of their Fathers and Grandfathers ancient inheritances: how gladly would they see an universal alteration of things? Israel cast out, and the jebusite brought in; crying in our houses, complaining in our streets, leading into captivity throughout all quarters, themselves as it were the hands and members to this body, and yet playing the first unnatural part, and studying to cut the throat of it. Now what comparison is there betwixt quenching a sparkle of wildfire, here and there flying up and down to burn our country, and quenching the light of Israel? betwixt the incision of a vein, now and then to let out rank blood, and choking the breath of Israel? betwixt destroying one and one at times, and destroying that unity wherein the whole consisteth? for such is our persecution, and such are theirs. 2. The person charged. The person to whom the commission was directed, is jonas the son of Amittai: wherein you have 1. his name, jonas, 2. his parentage, the son of Amittai. 3. you may add his country from the 9 ver. An Hebrew. 4. his dwelling place, 2 King. 14. from the 2. Kings, Gath Hepher (for there was another Gath of the Philistines.) 5. the time of his life & prophecy, from the same book, Under the reign of jeroboam the second, or not far of. 6. the tribe whereof he was, namely a Zabulonite; for that Gath appertaineth to the tribe of Zabulon. you have as much of the person as is needful to be known. The opinion of the Hebrews is, and some of our Christian expositors following the●r steps affirm, that jonas was son to the widow of Sarepta, and that he is called the son of Amittai, not from a proper person, his father that begat h●m, but from an event that happened. For after Elias had restored him to life, 1 King. 17. the mother broke forth into this speech; Now I perceive that thou art the man of God, and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is true: Therehence, they say, he was named the son of Amittai; that is; the son of truth, by reason of that miracle truly accomplished. Surely the word of the Lord that gave a commission to jonas to go to Niniveh, giveth no commission to us to go to such foreign and unproper interpretations. So long as we hear it but in our own country, (as the Queen of the South spoke,) of those that are flesh and blood like ourselves, and interpreters perhaps, not so much of the counsels of God, as their own conjectures, we are at liberty to refuse them: where we hear it from the mouth of Solomon, or jonas, or one that is more than them both, we are ready to give credit. Our bounds are set which we must not pass; we may not turn to the right hand, nor to the left, and neither add nor diminish, nor alter any thing of God's testimonies. It is a zealous contention that God maketh in jeremy, jer. 44. They shall know whose word shall stand, mine or theirs, Who hath instructed the spirit of the Lord? or was his counsellor? or hath taught him? Shall we correct, or rather corrupt, Esai. 4●. falsify & deprave the wisdom of God in speaking, who is far wiser than men, who made the mouth and the tongue, openeth the lips, & instilleth grace and knowledge into them? Let it suffice us, that the spirit of truth, and the very finger of God, in setting down his mind, hath eased us of these fruitless and godless troubles; and expressed this Prophet to be an Hebrew, not a Gentile; his dwelling place to be Gath Hepher, in the possessions of Zabulon, not Sarepta a City of Sidon. Luke. 4. And as it is the manner of the scripture, where the Prophets are named, there to reckon withal the names of their fathers, as Esay the son of Amos, jeremy of Hilkiah, Ezekiell of Buzi, etc.: so there is no likelihood to the contrary, but the father of jonas is meant, when he is called the son of Amittai. But it is the manner of some to languish about words, and in seeking deeply after nothing, to lose not only their time, travel, and thanks, but their wits also. Such hath been the sickness of all the Allegoristes, for the most part, both of the former and later times, (I except not Origen their prince, and original patron;) who not contenting themselves with the literal and genuine sense of the scripture, but making some mystery of the plainest history that ever was delivered, and darkening the evident purpose of the holy Ghost with the busy fancies of their own heads, as if one should cast clouds and smoke upon the sunbeams, have left the scripture in many places no more like itself▪ then michal's image in the bed upon a pillow of goats hair, 1. Sam. 19 was like David. How forward have our schoolmen been in this rankness of wit? how have they doted, and even died upon superfluous questions? how have they defaced the precious word of God, finer than the gold of Ophir, with the dross of their own inventions? setting a pearl above value in lead, & burying the richest treasure that the world knoweth, in their affected obscurities. For, not to speak of their changing the stile of the holy Ghost, into such barbarous & desert terms, as that if the Apostles now lived, In Moriae encomio. (as Erasmus noteth) they must speak with another spirit, and in another language to encounter them; how many knots have they made in divinity (subtleties without the circle and compass of the world, Subtilitates plusquam Chrysippea et ultra-mūdanae. Id. and such as Chrysippus never thought upon) to as little purpose, as if they had thrown dust into the air, or hunted their shadows? they had done more service to the Church of God, if they had laid their hands (a great number of them) upon their mouths, and kept silence. Rupertus Gallus likeneth them to one that carrieth manchet at his back, and feedeth upon flint stones. For these rejecting the bread of life, the simple word of God, and the power thereof, macerate and starve themselves with frivolous sophistications. Loc. Theol. 12.5. One of their questions (for a taste) or rather (as Melchior Cane termeth them) their monsters and chimers, is, whether an ass may drink Baptism? It is not unlike another in that kind, whether a mouse may eat the body of the Lord? More tolerable a great d●ale were the questions which Albutius the mooter proposed in a controversy; why, if a cup fell down, it broke; if a sponge, it broke not? Cestius as scornfully censured him, To morrow he will declaim, why thrushes fly, and gourds fly not? These are the mists of God's judgement upon the hearts of such men, who having Manna from heaven, prefer a corns before it; and leave the bread in their father's house, to eat the husks of beans; and cannot be satisfied with the pure and undefiled word of God, converting their souls, but being called out of darkness into a marvelous light, they call themselves out of light into a marvelous darkness again. What is this but to feel for a wall at noon day, job 5. as job speaketh? that is, when the clearest light of the gospel of Christ shineth in the greatest brightness and perfection thereof, to wrap it up in the darkness of such disputations as bring no profit. You see the occasion of my speech; the indiscretion and abuse of those men, who take the scriptures as it were by the neck, & writhe them from the aim and intention of the holy ghost. The substance of the commission followeth. Arise, and go to Niniveh, 3 The matter of the commission. that great city etc. Every word in the charge is weighty and important. jer. 1. Ezech. 2. 1 Arise. In effect, the same commandment which was given to jeremy, Truss up thy loins, arise, and speak to them; the same which to Ezekiel, Son of man, stand upon thy feet, that is, set thyself in a readiness for a chargeable service; sit not in thy chair, lie not upon thy couch, say not to thy soul, take thine ease; Arise. It craveth the preparation and forwardness not only of the body, but also of the mind and spirit of jonas. 2 Go. When thou art up, keep not thy tabernacle, stand not in the market place, nor in the gates of jerusalem, nor in the courts of the Lords house, but gird up thy reins, put thy sandales about thy feet, take thy staff in thine hand, thou hast a journey and voiadge to be undertaken; Go. 3 To Niniveh. Not to thine own country where thou wast borne and bred, and art familiarly acquainted, linked with thy kindred and friends, and hast often prophesied; but to a foreign nation, whose language will be riddles unto thee; to the children of Assur, the rod and scourge of Israel; Go to Niniveh. 4 To Niniveh a city etc. No hamlet nor private village, but a place of frequency and concourse, proud of her walls and bulwarks, plentifully flowing with wealth, her people mutiplied as the sands of the river; and the more populous it is, the more to be feared and suspected, if thy message please them not. Genes. 4. The first that ever built a city, was Cain; and it is noted by some divines, that his purpose therein was to in viron himself with human strength, the better to avoid the curse of God. 5 A great city. Large and spacious, which had multiplied her merchants above the stars of heaven, and her princes as grasshoppers; Nah. 3. the emperors court, the golden head of the picture, the lady of the earth, the seat of the monarch, the mother city and head of the whole land. 6 Cry, When thou art come to Niniveh, keep not silence, smother not the fire within thy bones, make not thy head a fountain of tears to weep in secret for the sins of that nation, write not the burden in tables, whisper not in their ears, neither speak in thy usual and accustomed strength of speech, but Cry; lift up thy voice like a trumpet, charm the deafest adder in Niniveh, let thy voice be heard in their streets, and thy sound upon the tops of their houses. 7 Against it. Thou mightest have thought it sufficient to have cried within the city of Niniveh, it would have drawn the wonder of the people upon thee, to have seen a matter so insolent and seldom used: But thou must cry against it, even denounce my vengeance, and preach fire and brimstone upon their heads if they repent not. 8 For their wickedness etc. But the reason shall be handled in the proper place thereof. For brevity's sake, I will reduce the whole unto three heads. 1 The place which the prophet is sent unto. Arise and go to Niniveh. 2 What he is to do in Niniveh. Cry against it. 3 For what cause. For their wickedness is come up before me. These two former words differing somewhat in degree, Arise and go. the one calling up jonas, as it were from sleep, Arise, the other setting him forward in his way, Go; and the one happily belonging to the inward, the other to the outward man, as they import a dullness and security in us, without God's instigation and furtherance: so they require a forwardness and sedulity of every servant he hath, in his several calling. Our life is a warfare upon the earth, job. 7. saith job, the condition whereof is still to be exercised. jacob the patriarch, after his long experience of an hundred and thirty wearisome winters, Gen. 47. called it a pilgrimage of few and evil days; therefore no rest to be taken in it. They that account it a pastime, Wisd. 15. show that their heart is ashes, & their hope more vile than the earth we walk upon. We must awake from sleep, & stand up from the dead, (for idleness is a very grave unto us) that Christ may give us light: we are called into a vineyard, some one or other vocation of life (and christianity the universal vineyard common to us all,) Shall we stand to see and to be seen, as in a market place, and do nothing? Mat. 20. Are we now to learn, that the penny of eternal bliss is reserved for workmen? and the difference between the hiring of God and the devil is, that God requireth the labour before he payeth the wages, Vulgo dictum: precio ac pecuniis datis, brachiae effracta sunt. Zach. 1. the devil payeth the wages before hand, that so he may dull our edge unto labour, and nurse us in idleness, for pains to come? When we hear the messengers of God return with these unwelcome tidings unto him, we have gone through the whole world, & behold, it sitteth still, and is at rest, can we be ignorant what echo resounds unto it? for when they shall say, peace and safety, then shall come upon them sudden destruction, 1 Thes. 5. as travel upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. Have we not red, that idleness and security was one of the sins that overthrew Sodom and her daughters? that although themselves slept and snorted in pleasure, yet their damnation slept not? And what else is an idle man, but a city without defence? which when the enemy of the soul hath destroyed, he saith, as that other enemy in Ezechiel, I will go up to the land that hath no walled towers, I will go to them that are at rest, and dwell in safety, which dwell all without walls, and have neither bars nor gates. The fodder, the whip, and the burden belong to the ass; Ezech. 38. meat, correction, and work unto thy servant: Send him to labour that he grow not idle, for idleness bringeth much evil; Eccle. 33. it is the counsel of the son of Syrach: happy is that man that ordereth his servant according to that counsel, I mean, that saith unto his flesh, arise, and it ariseth, go, and it goeth, As the Centurion in the gospel said to his soldier, do this, and he did it. Augustus' the emperor hearing that a gentleman of Rome, notwithstanding a great burden of debt wherewith he was oppressed, slept quietly, and took his ease, desired to buy the pallet that he lodged upon; his servants marvelling thereat, he gave them this answer, that it seemed unto him some wonderful bed, and worth the buying, whereon a man could sleep, that was so deeply indebted. Surely if we consider with ourselves the duty and debt we own to God and man, to our country, to our family, to home-born, to strangers, that is, both to Israel, and to Niniveh, and most especially to those of the household of faith; that as it was the law of God before the law, that we should eat our bread in the sweat of our face; Gen. 3. 2. Thes. 3. so it is the law of the gospel also, that he that laboureth not, should not eat; that the blessed son of God ate his bread, not only in the sweat, but in the blood of his brows; rather he ate not, but it was his meat to do his father's will, and to finish his work; joh. 4. that even in the state of innocency, Adam was put into the garden to dress it; Gen. 2. that albeit all labourers are not chosen, yet none are chosen but labourers; that the fig tree was blasted by the breath of Gods own lips with an everlasting curse, because it bore but leaves; and the axe of heavy displeasure is laid unto the root of every tree that is barren of good fruits; and if it be once dead in natural vegetation, it shall be twice dead in spiritual malediction, and plucked up by the root: It would make us vow with ourselves, I will not suffer mine eyelids to slumber, nor the temples of my head to take any rest, until I have finished that charge whereunto I am appointed. jacob's apology to Laban, may be a mirror to us all, not to neglect our accounts to a higher master than ever Laban was: These twenty years have I been in thy house; Gen. 3●. I was in the day consumed with heat, and with frost in the night, and the sleep departed from mine eyes. So industrious was jacob, to discharge the duties of his place, and careful to make his reckoning strait with his master upon the earth. But I speak of an heavier reckoning, to an heavier Lord, that will ask an account of every idle word, much more of an idle habit: and therefore let them foresee that heat, and that frost to come, those restless eyes, the hire of their forepast drowsiness, for days, for nights, for everlasting generations, that are ever framing an excuse, It is either hot or cold that I cannot work; Prou. 26. there is a Lion in the street, or a Bear in the way, that I dare not go forth; that being called to an office, and having their tasks laid forth unto them, say not with Samuel at the call of the Lord, Speak Lord, thy servant heareth; but in a stubborn and perverse vein, 1. Sam. 3. speak and command Lord, and appoint my order wherein I shall walk, but I neither hear thy voice, neither shall my heart go after thy commandments. Prov. 24. I passed by the field of the slothful, saith Solomon, and by the vineyard of the man destitute of understanding, and lo it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof. Peruse the rest of that scripture. The wise king beheld, and considered it well, and received instruction by it, that a little sleep brought a great deal of poverty, and a little slumber, a great deal of necessity. And surely as the field of the slothful is covered with nettles and thorns, so shall his body be overgrowen with infirmities, his mind with vices, his conscience shall want a good testimony to itself, and his soul shallbe empty of that hope hereafter which might have rejoiced it. I end this point. jonas his arise and go to Niniveh, giveth a warning to us all: for we have all a Niniveh to go unto. Magistrates, arise and go to the gate, to execute God's judgements; Ministers, arise and go to the gospel, to do the works of Evangelists; people, arise and go to your trades, to eat the labours of your hands; eye, to thy seeing, foot, to thy walking, Peter, to thy nets, Paul, to thy tents, Merchant, to thy shipping, Smith, to thy anvil, Potter, to thy wheel, women, to your whernes and spindle's, let not your candle go out, that your works may praise you in the gates. Your vocations of life are God's sanctions; he ordained them to mankind, he blesseth them presently, at his audite, he will crown them; if, when he calleth for an account of your forepast stewardships, you be able to say in the uprightness of your soul, I have run my race; and as the master of the house assigned me, so by his grace and assistance, I have fulfilled my office. To Niniveh. But why to Niniveh? Niniveh of the Gentiles, uncircumcised Niniveh, Niniveh of the Assyrians, imperious, insolent, intolerable Niniveh, Niniveh swollen with pride, and her eyes standing out of her head with fatness, Gualther in jon. 2. King. 19 Niniveh settled upon her lees not less than a thousand three hundred years, Niniveh infamous for idolatry with Nisroch her abomination. Niniveh with idleness so unnaturally effeminated, Ar. Mont. and her joints dissolved under Sardanapalus, as some conceive their 38. Monarch, who sat and span amongst women; that as it was the wonder and byword of the earth, so the heavens above could not but abhor it. 1. Reason. Four reasons are alleged, why jonas was sent to Niniveh. First God will not smite a city or town without warning; according to the rule of his own law, that no city be destroyed, before peace hath been offered unto it. Deut. 20. The woman of Abel in her wisdom objected this law unto joab, when he had cast up a mount against Abel, where she dwelled, They spoke in old time and said, 2. Sam. 20. They should ask of Abel, and thus have they continued: that is, first they should call a parley and open their griefs, before they used hostility against it. The sword of the Lord assuredly is ever drawn and burnished, his bow bend, his arrows prepared, his instruments of death made ready, his cup mingled; yet he seldom poureth down his plagues, but there is a shower of mercy before them, to make his people take heed. Pax domui huic, peace be unto this house, Luke. 10. was sounded to every door where the Apostles entered; but if that house were not worthy of peace and benediction, it returned back unto them. Virtues were wrought in Chorazin, and Bethsaida, before the woe took hold upon them. Noah was sent to the old world, Lot to Sodom, Moses and Aaron to the Egyptians, Prophets from time to time to the children of Israel, john Baptist and Christ and the Apostles, together with signs in the host of heaven, tokens in the elements, to jerusalem, before it was destroyed. Chrysostome upon the first to Timothy, Homil 15. Nisi gehenna intentata esset, omnes in gehennam laberemur. Non ergo minus, quod semper dico, dei providentiam gehenna commendat, quàm promissio regni. Homil. 5. add pop. Antioch. giveth the reason hereof; that God by threatening plagues, showeth us how to avoid plagues, and feareth us with hell before hand, that we may learn to eschew it. And it was his usual speech (as he there confesseth) that the commination of hell fire doth no less commend the providence of God towards man, than the promise of his kingdom: the terror of the one, and sweetness of the other, working together like oil and wine, to make man wise to his salvation. Niniveh had not stood a longer time, if jonas had not said before, Niniveh shallbe overthrown. The message of their overthrow overthrew the message: the prophecy fell, and the city fell not, because her fall was prophesied. O new and admirable thing! saith he in a homily to the people of Antioch: The denunciation of death hath brought forth life, the sentence of destruction hath made a nullity in the sentence, etc. It was a snare, it became their fortress; it was their gulf, it became their tower of defence; they heard that their houses should fall, and they forsook not their houses, but themselves, and their ancient wicked ways. Secondly he sendeth him to Niniveh, 2. Reason. to make the conversion thereof, as it were of his first fruits, a figure & type of the conversion of other the Gentiles; and to show to the people a far off (far from the seat of judea, & farther from the covenant) that the days drew on, wherein they should be called by the names of sons & daughters, though they were now strangers: And as ten men in Niniveh took hold of the skirt of one jonas an Hebrew, and said, we will go with thee, for we now hear that God is with you: Zach. 8. so ten and ten millions of men, out of all languages, should join themselves to the jews in the worship of that Lord whom they adored. A glimpse of this overspreading light had now and then opened itself in some singular persons, aliens from the common wealth of Israel; as in Melchizedech king of Salem, Naaman the Syrian, Math. 1. job in the land of Us, in Thamar, Rahab, and Ruth inserted into the pedigree of Christ: to show, amongst other reasons, that as he came of the Gentiles, so for the Gentiles to; and that the waters of life (as Zachary termeth them) should flow from jerusalem, Zach. 14. (farther than to the river of Tigris, whereon Niniveh stood) half of them towards the East sea, and half of them towards the uttermost sea, that both ends of the earth might be watered therewith. 3. Reason. Thirdly, he sendeth him to Niniveh, as he sent joseph into Egypt, to provide a remedy against a mischief not far of: joseph to prepare bread for his father's house, in the famine; jonas to prepare a place for the Lords exiles in the captivity. This carefulness of their well-doing herein, appeareth unto us, in a charge given to Moab in the prophesy of Esay; Esai. 16. Hide them that are chased out, bewray not him that is fled, let my banished dwell with thee, Moab, be thou their covert from the face of the destroyer. The time was to come when the sons of jacob should go captives into Assyria, righteous and unrighteous, clean and unclean, those whom he tendered as the apple of his own eye, with their ungrateful and ungracious brethren: yet such was his provident foresight towards his little remnant, growing as thin among the rest, as olive berries upon the tree after the vintage, a berry here and there in the outmost boughs, that though they bore their part of thraldom in a strange land, yet they should meet with some of mild and tractable spirits, whose hearts had been mollified before by the preaching of jonas. lastly, he sendeth him to Niniveh, (which I rather fasten upon) to provoke his people of the jew, 4 Reason. with those that were not a people, to upbraid their contempt, defy their frowardness, and to show that his soul loatheth, abhorreth, abhominateth their incorrigible rebellions. Whom he had girt to himself, as a girdle to ones rains, and married in everlasting kindness; to whom he had risen early and stretched out his hand all the day long, and cried upon them all, hearken O Israel, and I will protest unto thee, Thou shalt be my people, and I will be thy God; whom he had chidden, and not chidden, with so fatherly a spirit, and such obtesting protestations, that they seem to be angry without anger, As I live I would not your deaths; Why will ye die O house of Israel? wilt thou not be made clean? When shall it once be? lastly, to whom he had appealed, though men of unaequall judgements, yet not so far from equality as to condemn his ways; wherein have I grieved thee? testify against me: these he giveth to understand, that, at the preaching of one prophet, when they had precept upon precept; a stranger amongst strangers, a man of an unknown tongue, the whole people of Niniveh, though heathenish and idolatrous, should be won to repentance. Arise jonas, go to Niniveh: Sanctify a people unto me, where I had no people, fetch me sons and daughters from far, let the barren bear children, and let the married be barren. I have been served with the sins of Israel a long time, I am weary of their backsliding, let them henceforth lie and rot in their iniquity, Go thou to Niniveh. Many the like angry and opprobrious comparisons, hath the mouth of the LORD uttered with much indignity in other places: in the eighteenth of jeremy, Ask now amongst the heathen, who hath heard such things? The Virgin of Israel hath done very filthily. Strumpets and brothels had done but their kind; but in the virgin of Israel who would have thought it? In the first of Hosea, Go, take thee a wife of fornication: the meaning of the type is this; I will find more faithfulness in a land enured to whoredoms, than one which I tenderly loved, as mine own wife. Christ in the gospel justifieth this collection against the evil and adulterous generation of that time; Math. 12. The men of Niniveh shall rise in judgement with this generation and condemn it: For they repent at the preaching of jonas, and behold a greater than jonas is here. And in the same Evangelist, he rateth them in parables, for despising the doctrine of john, Publicans and harlots, Math. 21. shall go before you into the kingdom of GOD: For they believed him; and ye, though ye saw it, were not moved to repentance. The argument briefly thus standeth: The people of Niniveh shall condemn the people of Israel: For they will repent at the preaching of one jonas; the others repent not at the preaching of many hundreds of Prophets. It is a curse of all curses, the very bottom of the vial, Conclusion and dregs of the vengeance of God, when prophets are willed to relinquish their accustomed flocks, and their message is translated to foreigners and strangers; the dust of whose feet but shaken against a city or town, or the lap of their garment emptied, the least remembrance, I mean, and watchworde in the world, between GOD and his servants, that here or there they have been, delivered their errand in his name, and were not accepted, shall witness (with a witness) their disobedience in the day of his visitation. So the disciples of CHRIST were willed to proclaim in every city of the earth, where they were not received, even in the streets and thoroughfare's thereof, Luke. 10. The very dust of your city whih cleaveth unto us, we wipe of against you: Notwithstanding know this, that the kingdom of GOD was come near unto you. You see the scourge of those places from which the Disciples are enforced to go, for want of entertainment; the kingdom of GOD goeth with them: And if that kingdom be once gone, their joy goeth with it; all the Empires and dominions in the world subdued, Act. 13. all sceptres and crowns heaped together, cannot bless them. Paul and Barnabas observed the direction of their master to the jew at Antioch, both in gesture and speech; for they first shook of the dust of their feet against those that despised them, and then went to Iconium, but they had told them before their going (which, if they had any sense, was as the wounding of penknives and rasours unto their hearts) It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken unto you, (because the law must come out of Zion, and the gospel begin at jerusalem) but seeing you put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. Gospel, and everlasting life, you hear, are joined together. And therefore the judgement of God was sharper against them there pronounced, then if they had brought them tidings, Behold, the Romans are come to take away your kingdom, to fire your towns, ruinated your houses, ravish your wives and daughters, to dash your infants against the stones in the streets, to pull your eyes from out your heads, and your bowels from out your bodies. Behold, we turn to the Gentiles, wild, unnatural, and neglected branches: and herein behold the full measure of your miseries, behold the dispersion and dissipation of your persons upon the face of the earth, behold the desolation and waist of your country, behold the detestation of your names, the hissing and clapping at your downfall amongst all nations. The loss of the word of God hath lost you credit, liberty, peace, prosperity, salvation both in your own days, and in the days of your children's children. In the eighteenth of the Acts, when the jews at Corinth resisted and blasphemed the doctrine of Paul, testifying unto them, that jesus was that Christ, he shook his raiment as before, and loosed his tongue with much boldness against them, your blood be upon your own heads, I am clean, from henceforth I will go to the Gentiles. As if he had said; I found you the children of death, and so I leave you; grow in your filthiness and unrighteousness, till you have fulfilled the measure of your forefathers: for mine own part, I wash my hands in innocency, I can free my soul in the sight of God, I was careful to apply my cure to the hurts of Corinthe, but you were not healed. Lastly at Rome, in the last of the Acts, he made an open proclamation to the unbelieving jews, Be it known unto you that the salvation of God is sent to the Gentiles, and they shall hear it. And so be it known unto us (my brethren) that the meaning of the holy Ghost in these terms of promulgation, know and be it known, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Luc. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Act. 20. was to make these despisers of Antioch, Corinthe, and Rome, examples to all posterity, especially to us, on whom the ends of the world are come, and with the end of the world, an end of all goodness, that if we take not warning hereby, as we plough the like disobedience, so we shall reap the like wretchedness. If ever the like transgression be found in this land of ours, (I will sooner wish it a wilderness for serpents and dragons to devil in) that as jordan went back and turned his course, so the gospel go back and turn his passage; and as it was said to a prophet in Israel, Arise and go to Niniveh, so it be said to the prophets in England, Arise and go into India, Turckie, or Barbary, and there prophecy, and there eat your bread: I will then say that judgement hath both begun, and made an end with us, and that our case is more desperate, then if the ground of this island had opened her ●awes, and in one common grave buried all her inhabitants. If ever the like transgression be found in this city of yours (I will sooner wish it pools of water, and all the stones of your building thrown down into emptiness) that as the brutish people of the Gadarenes esteemed of their swine, so you of the pleasure of sin for a season, more than Christ jesus, and even hunt him from your coasts, as they did; and as it was said unto a prophet in Israel, Arise, and go to Niniveh, so to the prophets amongst you, Arise, and go to the borders, where theft and revenge are held for currant law, and all the streams of blood which Christ shed upon the tree, cannot beg redemption for one injury done unto them; go carry your tidings of peace to those unpeaceable, uncivil, lawless, & graceless persons: then were your honour gone. And though the gravel of your river that bringeth in merchandise unto you, were turned into pearls, & every shower of rain from the clouds above, were a shower of silver and gold into your houses, yet then were you cast from the favour of God, your sons and your daughters accursed, the sin of their fathers not to be forgotten, nor the iniquity of the mothers to be done away, whilst your name and memory should continue. The prophets are yet in Israel, long may they prophecy in Israel; the pearl is yet in our field, foreign Merchants have not bought it from us; the gospel is yet amongst us, O always may it flourish, and spread like a palm tree, amidst our tabernacles; the kingdom of God is now not far off, neither in heaven above, that we need climb up, neither in the earth beneath, that we need dig low, neither beyond the sea, that we need go over for it, neither in those mists and obscurities, wherein former ages had involved it; we have the sound thereof daily in our ears, the books in our houses and hands, the letter walking through our lips, O that we wanted not the power of the gospel in our consciences, the life and manifestation of it in our lives. The Lord make an happy and an inseparable conjunction between all these, and grant that his law and our obedience may always meet together, his gospel and our fruits kiss each other, his truth and our righteousness, his blessings and our thankfulness never be found a sunder. Let him say of England even for ever and ever, as Sometimes he said of Zion, Here will I dwell, I have chosen England for my habitation: let him confirm that blessing of the Psalm upon us, Psal. 68 The Lord gave the word, great was the company of the preachers: And let him make those preachers and hearers, hearers and doers, doers and perseverers, good teachers, good learners, good livers, everlasting companions within our borders. So shall our land be blessed with all both heavenly and earthly increase, and God, even our own God shall never repent that he bestowed such blessing upon us, Amen. THE SECOND LECTURE. Cap. 1. vers. 2. Arise, and go to Niniveh that great city, cry against it: for their wickedness is come up before me. NOT to trouble you with longer repetition, we inquired in the former exercise of these three points. 1. The place which jonas was sent unto, 2. his business there, 3. the cause. Touching the place, we proposed four reasons, why God sent him to Niniveh. 1. To keep his manner and use of foretelling the plague before he inflicteth it. 2. to set up a standard of hope to the rest of the Gentiles, that they also should partake the goodness of God. 3. to prevent his people with mercy, and to take up favour in Assyria for them before hand, against the time of their banishment. 4. to shame and confound the house of Israel, with the singular repentance of a strange people. Niniveh is further beautified in my text, by two epithets or additions; the one describing the nature or kind of the place, A city: That great city. the other the quantity or ampleness thereof, A great city. The inference from both these must needs be this, that because it was a city, and a great city, it was therefore stately for wealthines, glorious for buildings, well peopled, tedious to be gone through; perilous to be threatened, where the prophet was likely to find in all states of men, Princes, Counsellors, Courtiers, Merchants, Communers, mighty contradiction. The greatness of Niniveh is more plentifully set down in the third of this prophecy, where it is termed a great and an excellent city, of three days journey. It had an ancient testimony long before in the book of Genesis: for thus Moses writeth, that Asshur came from the land of Shinar, Chap. 1●. and built Niniveh and Rehoboth, and Calah and Resin between Niniveh and Calah: at length he singleth out Niniveh from the rest, and setteth a special mark of pre-eminence upon it, This is a great city. Which honour, by the judgement of the most learned, though standing in the last place, belongeth to the first of the four cities, namely to Niniveh. Others imagined, Anius upon Berosus. (but their conjecture is without ground) that the whole four cities were closed up within the same walls and made but one of an unusual bigness. Some ascribe the building of Niniveh, Raph. Vol●●●ter. to Ninus the son of Belus, of whom it took the name, to be called either Ninus, as we read in Pliny; 6. Natur. hist 13. or, after the manner of the Hebrews, Niniveh. They conceive it thus, that, when Nimrod had built Babylon, Ninus, disdaining his government, went into the fields of Ashur, and there erected a city after his own name, between the rivers Lycus, and Tiber. Others suppose, that the affinity betwixt these names, Ninus and Niniveh, deceived profane writers touching the author thereof, and that it took to name Niniveh, Ar. Mont. because it was beautiful or pleasant. Others hold opinion, that Ashur and Ninus, are but one and the same person. And lastly, to conclude, the judgement of some learned is, that neither Ashur, jun. & Trii. nor Ninus, but Nimrod himself, was the founder of it. But by the confession of all, both sacred and Gentile histories, the cit●e was very spacious, having four hundred and eighty furlongs in circuit, Diodor. Si●. Strabo. Paulus de Palatio upon jonas. when Babylon had fewer almost by an hundred: and as afterwards it grew in wealth and magnificence, so (they writ) is was much more enlarged. Raphaël Volateranus affirmeth, that it was eight years in building, and not by fewer at once than ten thousand workmen. There was no city since by the estimation of Diodorus Siculus, that had like compass of ground, or stateliness of walls, the height whereof was not less than an 100 feet, the breadth sufficiently capable to have received 3. carts on a row, & they were furnished and adorned besides with a 1500 turrets. The holy Ghost, no doubt, had a double purpose, in giving this glorious title of distinction unto Niniveh; Two reasons why Niniveh is so commen●ded. the one in respect of jonas, the other of Niniveh itself. 1 In respect of jonas it was the meaning of God to try and arm his prophet before hand, with commemoration of the greatest difficulties; that by naming the worst at the first unto him, he might prove his obedience, whether he felt himself disposed to hold out, and so settle his thoughts in some sort, in declaring the costs of the building before he undertook it, lest afterwards, when he came and found the danger of the place beyond his expectation, he might complain of God, Chap. 20. as we read that jeremy did; I am deceived O Lord, and thou hast deceived me. Thus he dealt with Abraham his servant in the 22. of Genesis, Affectum inquirit non factum exigit. Ambros. de patriarch. about the offering of his son, whose faith and obedience he sounded before, by aggravating in his ears every circumstance of the action, that Abraham might forecast with himself whether the infirmity of his nature were able to brook it: for it is written there, that God did prove Abraham. The proof was thus; Abraham, take 1 thy son, 2 thine only son, 3 Isaac thy son, 4 whom thou lovest; take him 5 thyself, take him 6 now presently; 7 get thee into the land of Moriah; 8 there offer him, offer him 9 for a burned offering upon one of the mountains which I shall show thee. The weight of every word is enough to bruise him in pieces, and make him since down under the burden of that charge: 1. Take thy son, not thy bondman, nor beast, nor any common thing, that belongeth unto thee: 2. thine only son, the only begotten of the free woman: 3. not Ishmael, but Isaac thy son, to whom thy promises are established: 4. Isaac whom thou lovest, as tender and dear unto thee, as the bowels of thine own breast: 5. take him in thine own person, even thou, the father of the child, turn not over the execution to any other man: 6. take him without delay, I give thee no time to deliberate, nor day nor hour to confer with thyself. and to comfort thy broken heart about the loss of thy beloved: 7. Get thee into the land of Moriah, which will ask the travel of three days, so long will I hold and suspend thy soul in bitterness: 8. leave not thy son in Moriah as an Orphan without his father, to sojourn in a strange country, offer him in sacrifice, commit slaughter upon his flesh: 9 lastly, when thou hast slain him, thou shalt burn him in the fire, and consume him to ashes; thou shalt not spare thy son for my sake, neither, quick nor dead. So likewise when he sent Ezechiel to the rebels of Israel, he gave him this provision: Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel. What are they? I will not dissemble with thee, Chap. 2. they are a rebellious nation, they and their fathers before them unto this day, children hard of face and stiff hearted: Thou shalt say unto them, thus saith the Lord God; but surely they will not hear, neither will they cease, for they are rebels and thorns and scorpions: I have now unfolded the conditions of thy charge; If thou findest thy courage sufficient: to endure the gainsaying of rebels, the pricking and rending of thorns, tearing the ears with contumely, and the name of thy maker with blasphemous speech, the hissing and stinging of pestilent scorpions; then go to the children of Israel: if not, thou art unmeet for this business. As if a prophet of our days should be sent to Constantinople, and have his instruction given him at his setting forth, that it is a portly and insolent city, the seat of the great Turk, the heart of the Empire, a cage of all uncleaneness, an enemy to the name of Christians, warring continually against the saints, a scorner of our crucified Redeemer, a worshipper of the false prophet Mahomet, with other such like cold encouragements, feeling his pulses as it were, and examining his spirit, whether it hath a power to fight with these dangers. It was some comfort no doubt, amongst the discomfortes to come, that our saviour lessonned his Disciples before their going abroad, Behold I send you as lambs among Wolves. Math. 12. They will deliver you up to the Councils, and scourge you in their synagogues, and you shall be brought to the governors and King's for my sake, in witness to them and to the Gentiles. In the 16. of john he plainly professeth his meaning, in these kinds of predictions: these things have I said unto you, that ye should not be offended; They shall xcommunicate you, yea the time shall come, that whosoever killeth you shall think that he doth God service. But these things have I told you, that when the hour shall come, you may remember that I told you of them. The foreknowledge of dangers ensuing, gave invincible constancy and resolution to Paul, as appeareth in his excellent oration made at Miletum: Act. 12. behold I go bound in the spirit to jerusalem, & know not what things shall come unto me there, save that the holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bands and afflictions stay for me. Hereupon he composeth his heart to patience, and calleth all his forces home to himself, to resist those afflictions: But I pass not at all, neither is my life dear unto me, etc. And when Agabus at Caesarea had taken the girdle of Paul, Act. 21. and bound his own hands and feet, saying from the mouth of the holy Ghost, So shall the jews at jerusalem bind the man, that oweth this girdle; when his friends would have held him back from going to jerusalem, he answered boldly and said, what do ye weeping and breaking mine heart? For I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at jerusalem for the name of the Lord jesus. Peter persuadeth the dispersed saints dwelling here and there to patience in troubles, by an argument drawn from the knowledge and experience thereof before had. dearly beloved (saith he) think it not strange concerning the fiery trial, 1. Pet. 4. which is amongst you to prove you, as though some new thing were come unto you: as if he had said, this fire is ancient and well known, you have long seen the smoke thereof, and therefore the breaking forth of the flames should not so greatly astonish you. His own practice was not inferior to his advice. For upon that praesage which his master gave in the last of john, when thou art old, thou shalt stretch forth thine hands, and an other shall gird thee etc. he took his occasion to use more diligence in his calling, knowing (as himself speaketh) that the time was at hand, when he must lay down his tabernacle even as the Lord jesus Christ had showed him. Thus much on the behalf of jonas; 2. Pet. 1. that if the greatness of the city were any terror unto him, he might not complain that he was taken at unawares, suddenly called, and improvidently thrust forth, but with alacrity of mind set his shoulder to the work, and settle his confidence in the greatness of that God, from whom he was commanded. It is a direction to us all, whatsoever our service be, wherein God shall employ us, whether in Church, or in common wealth, whether we sit upon the thrones of David for execution of judgement, or in the chair of Moses for exposition of the law, which are the combersomst charges upon the earth, the very heat and burden of the day (if I may so term them,) not to remit our labours, and with the sons of Ephraim, being armed and bearing bows to turn our backs in the day of battle; but though we be crossed with a thousand afflictions, and have just cause to cry out, as Moses in his government, why hast thou vexed thy servant? Num. 1●. yet to persist and go forward in our pains, addressing our souls to contentment and quietness; this was I called unto, I cannot plead ignorance, neither had I reason to expect less: travel, vexation, anguish of spirit, were given me for my lot and my portion to drink, when I first entered into these affairs. 2 Touching the place, when we hear it commended for a great city, shall we infer hereupon, Therefore privileged to carelessness, haughtiness, oppression, wickedness, which are the worms and moths for the most part, that breed of greatness? therefore may Niniveh sin with impunity, and say I am the Queen of the earth, who shall control me? therefore must sins set up a monarchy also in Niniveh? must Prophets go to Bethel, and prophecy in out-corners, because Niniveh is the King's Court and cannot bear the words of Prophets? can the mightiness of her state, singularity of her government, climbing of her walls, aspiring of her towers, multitude of her people make her secure against the wrath of the Lord of hosts? or can the bars of her gates keep out his judgements? Alas, what is the greatness of Niniveh compared with the greatness of the Lord? The lands of Alcibiades in the map of the whole world, were less than a centre, and small title, they could not be espied; all the islands of the sea are as a little dust, in the sight of the almighty, and the nations as the drop of a well bucket, Esai. 40. what is the number and the height of thy proud turrets? though they hold the earth in awe, they cannot threaten heaven, and the closer they press to the seat of God, the nearer they lie to his lightning. The challenge of God to the self same city, is notably set down in the prophecy of Nahum: Art thou better then No, Chap. 3. which was full of people, that lay in the rivers and had the waters round about it, whose ditch was the sea, and her wall was from the sea? Aethiopia, and Egypt were her strength, and there was no end. Put, and Lubim were her helpers, yet was she carried away, and went into captivity; her young children were broken in pieces at the head of all the streets; and they cast lots for her noble men, and all her mighty men were bound in chains. The reason holdeth by equality: the strength and puissance of No was abased, and thy might shallbe cast down. It was afterward accomplished upon Niniveh, Ibid. because she was full of blood, full of lies and robbery, a masters of witchcrafts, her multitude was slain, and the dead bodies were many, there was no end of her carcases, and they even stumbled as they went, upon her corpses. Mercurius Trismegistus sometime spoke to Asclepius of Egypt after this sort; August. 8. d● civi dei, 23. Art thou ignorant, O Asclepius, that Egypt is the image of heaven? etc. And if we shall speak more truly, our land is the temple of the whole world; and yet the time shall come, when Egypt shall be forsaken, and that land which was the seat of the Godhead, shallbe deprived of religion, and left destitute of the presence of the Gods. It is written of Tyrus in the three and twentieth of Esay that she was rich with the seed of Nilus that brought her abundance, the harvest of the river were her revenues, and she was a mart of the nations etc. Yet the Lord triumpheth and maketh disport at her overthrow; Is this that glorious city of yours, whose antiquity is of ancient days? etc.: who hath decreed this against Tyrus? she that crowned men, whose merchants are princes, and her chapmen the nobles of the world? the Lord of hosts hath decreed it, to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring to contempt all the honourable in the earth. It is fallen, it is fallen (saith the Angel in the Revelation) Babylon the great city (having the same title of greatness that Niniveh hath in this place) and is become the habitation of divelles, Chap. 18. and the hole of all fowl spirits, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird, though she had said in her heart, I sit as a Queen, I am no widow, and shall see no mourning. Vrb● aeterna. That everlasting city of Rome, (as Ammianus Marcellinus called her) shall see the day when the eternity of her name, and the immortality of her soul wherewith she is quickened, I mean the supremacy of her prelate's above Emperors and princes, shallbe taken from her; and as Babylon before mentioned, hath left her the inheritance of her name, so it shall leave her the inheritance of her destruction also, and she shall become as other presumptuous cities, a dwelling for hedgehogs, an habitation for owls and vultures; thorns shall grow in her palaces, and nettles in her strong holds. The lamentations of jeremy touching the ruin of jerusalem, sometimes the perfection of beauty, Lament. 2. and the joy of the whole earth, as near unto God as the signet upon his right hand, yet afterwards destroyed as a lodge in a garden, that is made but for one night, if they can pass by the ears of any man and leave not lamentation and passion behind them, I will say that his heart is harder than the nether millstone. How were her gates sunk to the ground, her bars broken, the stones of her sanctuary scattered in the corners of every street, her mountain of Zion so desolate, that the very foxes run upon it, whose strength was such before, that the Kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the world would never have believed that the enemy should have entered into the gates of jerusalem? Ibid. 4. I now conclude: Greatness of sins will shake the foundations of the greatest cities upon the earth; if their heads stood amongst the stars, iniquity would bring them down into dust and rubble. Multitude of offences will minish and consume multitudes of men, that although the streets were sown with the seed of man, yet they shall be so scarce that a child may tell them: yea the desolation shallbe so great, that none shall remain to say to his friend, jerem. 49. leave thy fatherless children behind thee, and I will preserve them alive, and let thy widows trust in me. The days can speak, and the multitude of years can teach wisdom: ask your fathers and they can report unto you, In their great plague. that grass hath grown in the streets of your cities for want of passengers, and a man hath been as precious as the gold of Ophir, as rare almost to be found, as if the ground of your city had been the moors and wastes where no man dwelleth. One would have wished a friend more than the treasures of the East, to have kept him company, relieved his necessity, to have taken some pains with his widow and Orphans, to have closed his eyes at the time of his death, to have seen him laid forth for burial, and his bones but brought to the grave in peace. The arm of the Lord is not shortened, he that smote you once, can smite you the second time; he can visit the sons as well as the fathers; he is a God, both in the mountains and in the valleys, in the former & later ages; he is able again to measure the ground of your city with a line of vanity, pull down your houses into the dust of the earth, and turn the glory of your dwellings into ploughed fields: only the fear of his name is your safest refuge, righteousness shallbe a stronger bulwark unto you, then if you were walled with bras, mercy, and judgement, and truth, and sobriety, and sanctimony of life shall stand with your enemies in the gate, & repel the vengeance of God in the highest strength thereof. And so I come to the 2▪ general part, wherein we are to consider what jonas was to do at Niniveh: it is manifested in the words following, Cr●e against it: Say not thine hand upon thy mouth, 2 What jonas is to do at Niniveh neither draw in thy breath to thyself, when the cause of thy master must be dealt in. Silence can never break the dead sleep of Niniveh: Softness of voice cannot pierce her heavy ears: Ordinary speaking hath no proportion with extraordinary transgression: Speak, and speak to be heard, that when she heareth of her fall, she may be wounded with it. It was not now convenient that jonas should go to Niniveh, 1 King. 19 as God came to Elias, in a still and soft voice, but rather as a mighty strong wind rending the mountains, and breaking the rocks, abasing the highest looks in Niniveh, and tearing the hardest heart in pieces; as an earthquake and fire, consuming all her dross, and making her quake with the fear of the judgements of God, as the trees of the forest. jericho must be overthrown with trumpets and a shout; and Niniveh will not yield, but to a vehement outcry. A prophet must arm himself, I say not, with the spear, but with the zeal of Phinees, when sin is impudent and cannot blush: God cannot endure dallying and trifling in weighty matters. The gentle spirit of Eli, is not sufficient to amend children past grace; & a prophet like Mitio, doth but bolster a sinner in his froward ways. He chargeth his messenger otherwise in the prohecie of Esay; Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, show my people their transgressions and to the house of jacob their sins. Chap. 58. Much less can he abide flattery and guilefullnes in his business: jer. 48 for cursed be he that doth the work of the Lord negligently, or rather. as the word importeth, with deceit. Ezech. 13. Woe unto them that sow pillows under men's armholes, when it is more time to prick them up with goads, that sell the cause of the Lord for handfuls of barley, and pieces of bread, for favour, for fear, for lucre, or any the like worldly respects; and when the people committed unto them, shall say unto their seers see not, and to their prophets, Esay. 30. prophecy not right things, loquimini placentia, speak pleasings and leasings unto us, prophecy errors, are easily drawn to betray the will of their Lord and to satisfy their humours. God hath disclosed his mind in this treachery; Behold, I will come against the prophets that steal my word from their neighbours: jer. 23. behold, I will come against the prophets that have sweet tongues, that cause my people to err by their lies and flatteries. For than is the word of the Lord stolen and purloined from our brethren, when we justify the wicked, and give life to the souls that should not live; when we heal the hurts of Israel with sweet words; when we anoint the heads of sinners with precious baulmes, whose hearts we should rather break with sharp corrosives; when we put honey into the sacrifice in steed of salt; when we should frame our song of judgement, and we turn it into a song of mercy; when we should mourn to make men lament, and we pipe to make them dance, putting the evil day far from them, and hunting for their praise and acceptation of us with pleasing discourses, affected eloquence, histrionical jests, rather than grave and divine sentences. Lachrymae auditorum, laudes tuae sint. Toleramus illas & tremimus inter illas. Hierome gave an other exhortation to Nepotian; Let the tears of thy auditors be thy praises. And Augustine had a stranger opinion of these applauses and acclamations of men; These praises of yours (saith he to his hearers) do rather offend and endanger me; we suffer them indeed, but we tremble when we hear them. We cannot promise you such deceitful handling and battering of the word of God: for whether you hear or hear not the prophecy that is brought unto you, yet you shall know that there have been prophets amongst you: we will not suffer your sins to sleep quietly in your bosoms, as jonas slept in the sides of the ship, but we will rouse them up; if we see your pride, your usury, your adulteries, your oppressions, we will not only cry them, but cry against them, lest they cry against us; we will set up a banner in the name of the Lord of Hosts, and proclaim them in your hearing: and if our cry will not help, we will leave you to that cry at midnight, when your bodies that sleep in the dust of the earth, and your sins that sleep with your bodies, both shall be awaked, and receive their meed at God's hands: we will charm your deafness with the greatest cunning we have; if our charming cannot move you, we will send you to the judgement seat of God with this writing upon your foreheads, Noluerunt incantari, They would not be charmed. The reason of his crying against Niniveh, is this, The 3. general part. For their wickedness is come up before me. They that are skilful in the original, observe that the name of wickedness here used, importeth the greatest extremity that can be, and is not restrained to this, or that sin, one of a thousand, but is a most absolute and all-sufficient term, for three transgressions, and for four, (as it is in Amos,) tha● is, for seven, that is, for infinite corruption. Whatsoever exceedeth modesty, and is most contrary to the will of God, beyond all right or reason, settled into dregs, frozen like y●e, given over, sold to the will of Satan, is here meant; where every person in the common wealth is degenerated: There is none good, no, not one: and every part in the body & soul of man doth his part to lift up the head of sin, Psal. 14. the throat an open sepulchre, the tongue used to deceit, the poison of Asps under the lips, the mouth full of cursing and bitterness, the feet swift to shed blood, destruction & calamity in all their ways, no knowledge of the way of peace, no fear of God before their eyes. And whether the word hath that power yea or no, it skilleth not much to dispute: for the words adjoined in the text make it plain without further amplification. First it is wickedmesse; Secondly it ascendeth; Thirdly into the presence of God himself. Whereby you may perceive, that the wickedness of Niniveh was not base and shamefast, fearful to advance itself, but an high kind of wickedness, swelling like jordan above his banks. It lay not close in the bottom of the sea, nor in the holes of rocks, nor in the covert and secrecy of private chambers; it had an whorish forehead, and could not be ashamed; they declared their sins as Sodom, they hide them not, and as a fountain casteth out waters, so they their malice. 1 The phrase here used noteth a great aggravation of the thing intended. So in the sixth of Genesis it is said, that the earth was corrupt before the Lord: and in the tenth of that book, Nimrod was a mighty hunter before the Lord, that is, the corruptions of the world, and the violence of Nimrod were so gross, that the Lord could not choose but take knowledge of them. So it is here said, Their wickedness is come up before me; It knoweth no end, it climbeth like the sun in the morning, and passeth the bounds of all moderation: it is not enough that the bruit and fame thereof is blown into the ears of men, but it hath filled the earth, possesseth the air, lifteth itself above the stars amongst the angels of God, offereth her filthiness and impurity before the throne of his majesty, and if there were farther to go (such is her boldness and shamelessness) she would forbear no place. A doubt answered. What? are there seasons and times when the Lord beholdeth sin, and wickedness, and when he beholdeth it not? he that made the eye doth he not see? doth He slumber or sleep that keepeth Israel? or hath he not torches and cresset light at all times to descry the deeds of Babylon? or is he subject to that scoff which Elias gave Baal, It may be he sleepeth, and must be awaked? or what else is the meaning of that phrase, 1. King. 18. Their wickedness is come up before me? As if there were some wickedness which came not to his notice. Surely, besides the increase and propagation of their wickedness (for there is difference betwixt creeping and climbing) it noteth some order in the actions of God. He saw their sins in the book of eternity, before their hearts did ever conceive them: he saw them in their breasts, before their hands committed them: he saw their infancy and their full strength, their thirst and drunkenness, their beginning and proceeding. But then he saw them indeed and to purpose; when he saw them perfected and fulfilled▪ and having winked as it were before, and in patience forborn them, now beheld them with fiery eyes, and his heart unremovably bend to take vengeance. The wild ass used to the wilderness, snuffeth up wind at her pleasure. who can turn her back? they that seek after her, jer. 2. will not weary themselves, but will find her in her month, GOD seethe and observeth at all times, the untamed madness of the wicked, wearying themselves like the wild ass, or the dromedary, in a race of abominations: but he will take them in their month, and turn them back when their sins are ripe and his wrath thoroughly incensed. 2 Their wickedness is come up before me. The phrase doth minister a further instruction unto us. Sin, in the eyes of some man seemeth not sin. Lactantius writeth of those who were not ashamed of their faults, but rather sought out patronage and defence for them, that at the least they might seem to sin honestly. Vt hones●● peccare videantur. Chap. 6. jeremy speaketh of the jews in the same manner: were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay they were not ashamed, neither could they have shame. He smiteth them afterward in the 11. of his Prophecy, with a sharper reproof, that when they did evil, they rejoiced at it. And it is the fashion of us all, to bolster and bear out the vices of our friends, changing sour into sweet, and evil into good, even for their friendship's sake. Alceus took a mole in the body, for a grace; yet was it a blemish? One mule rubbeth another; Naevus in articulo pu●ri. an hypocrite liketh an hypocrite because he is like unto him; a drunkard, a drunkard; an usurer, him that is practised in the same trade; he that transformed himself into an Angel of light, being a fiend of darkness, hath taught an harlot to clothe herself like an honest matron, and vices to disguise themselves under the habit of virtues. But howsoever the the eyes of men are blinded with partiality, yet the eyelids of the Lord shall try the children of men; his righteous and flaming countenance shall soundly examine their actions, uncover the faces of their iniquities, and call them rightly and truly by their proper names. 3 But whatsoever we find else in the riches & store of these words, this we may gather from the nature of them, that there are some sins winged, of an high elevation, ascending above the top of Carmel, aspiring & pressing before the majesty of Gods own throne. The speech is but altered in other scriptures, the substance and signification all one, where it is said that some sins cry in the ears of God: that which is the wings or chariot unto them in this place, to make them mount so high, is their cry in those others, I mean, their outrage and enormity. cain's sin cried unto the Lord. Gen. 4. And in the 18. of Gen. Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, (which is expounded in the next words) & because their sin is exceeding grievous, I will now go down, saith the Lord, and see whether they have done altogether according to that cry which is come up unto me. Behold the hire of the labourers, which have reaped the fields which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth, and the cries of them which have reaped, are entered into the ears of the Lord of hosts, jam. 5. in the Epistle of James. Answerable to that part of job his Apology, which he presenteth unto his judge, in the 31. of his book, If my land cry against me, or if the furrows of my field complain, etc. Let thistles grow in steed of wheat, and cockle in steed of barley. Oppression is threatened by the like terms, in the second of Abacuch, The stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it, woe unto him that buildeth a town with blood, and erecteth a city with iniquity. All which sentences of scripture, expressing the loudness and vocality of sin, are of the same force, as before I said, with those that declare the sublimity and reach of it. God speaketh to Senacharib in an other manner of speech, but the matter and purpose is not different from this; Because thou ragest against me, 2. King. 19 and thy tumult is come up to mine ears, I will put my hook in thy nostrils, etc. Likewise the prophet telleth the children of Israel in the second of Chronicles, 2. Chro. 28. that because the Lord God was wroth with judah, he had delivered them into the Israelits hands, and they had slain them in a rage, that reached up to heaven. By these and the like conferences, a man may determine the nature, and set down a catalogue in some sort of crying sins. Bloudeshedde is a crying sin, (I say not all kind of bloodshed,) for the speech of God to Cain, hath bloods, not blood; which noteth an unsatiable appetite wherewith he was so dry, that if his brother had possessed a 1000 times as much blood, he would have spilled it all: and though he took away his life, yet he took not leave of his own malicious thirst of blood. Blasphemy and rage against God, is a crying sin, oppression, extortion, fraud, against poor labourers, against right owners is a crying sin; and sin with outrageousness and impudency any way, public, infamous, enormous sin, Voluptatum monstra non species Cypr. in prolog. de Cardin. open. Christi. contemning the judgement of GOD and censures of men, committed with greediness drawn, with cartropes, gloried in, where men even sell themselves to work wickedness, is a crying sin. Which immoderate and proud humour of viciousness, is notably expressed in the sixth of Genesis, where it is alleged, that when the Lord saw the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, and all the imaginations of the thoughts of his heart were only evil continually, than it repent the Lord, that he had made man and he was sorry in his heart. 1. It was wickedness; 2. great; 3. evident, for the Lord saw it; 4. their hearts were evil; 5. every thought of their heart; 6. every imagination of thought; 7. only evil; 8. continually, or day by day, there was no hope of amendment. Equal hereunto is that general and unbridled corruption, which David setteth down in the 14. Psalm, where they begin with a most damnable principle of Atheism, the gate and highway into all iniquity, The fool saith in his heart, there is no God; Then is the sink or channel opened to all dissolution of life, They are corrupted and do abominably, there is none that doth good. The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that would understand & seek after God, but they are all gone out of the way, etc. When this canker of impiety hath so overspread and eaten into the manners of people, then is fulfilled that which Esay putteth down for a sound position, Let mercy be showed to the wicked, yet he will not learn rigtheousnesse: Chap. 26. in the land of uprightness will he do wickedly, and will not behold the majesty of the Lord. If neither the mercy nor the majesty of God, nor the company of the righteous can reform him, then is his bettering despaired and past hope. I need no farther examine this part. The cause why jonas cried against Niniveh, was the cry of their sins, their regions were white to harvest, their iniquities ripe, and looked for a sickle from heaven to cut them down. The sufficiency of which cause to derive the judgements of GOD upon us, jeremy layeth down in his prophecy; Many nations shall pass by the city, jer. 22. (meaning of jerusalem) and shall say every man to his neighbour; wherefore hath the LORD done this to this great city? then shall they answer. Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their GOD, etc. For the judgement of the Lord, pronounced by David, shall stand longer than the stars in the firmament, Him that loveth iniquity, Psal. 2●. doth his soul hate. Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire, and brimstone, and stormy tempests, this is the portion of their cup. And in the first Psalm, it is a singular opposition that is made between the just and the wicked; Vt immobiliter credas, firmitatem negatimis iterando monstrat. Cassiod. Non sic impij, non sic; the wicked are not so: that thou mayest unmoveably believe, how unmoveably God is bend to deny the wicked his grace, he strengtheneth the negative by doubling it. Therefore the wicked shall not stand in judgement, for they are fallen before their judgement cometh. What? shall they not rise again? Surely yes; but not in judgement, saith Jerome, for they are already judged. The wickedness of our land, what it is, and in what elevation of height, whether modest or impudent, private or public, whether it speaketh or crieth, standeth or goeth, lieth like an asp in her hole, or flieth like a fiery serpent into the presence of God, yourselves be judges: write my words in tables, that they may be monuments for latter days; for when your children's children shall hear them hereafter, they will skarselye believe them. The year of the Lord 1593. and 1594. The months of the year have not yet gone about, wherein the Lord hath bowed the heavens, and come down amongst us with more tokens and earnests of his wrath intended, than the agedst man of our land is able to recount of so small a time. For say, if ever the winds, since they blew one against the other, have been more common, and more tempestuous, as if the four ends of heaven had conspired to turn the foundations of the earth upside down; thunders and lightnings neither seasonable for the time, and withal most terrible, with such effects brought forth, that the child unborn shall speak of it. The anger of the clouds hath been powered down upon our heads, both with abundance and (saving to those that felt it) with incredible violence; the air threatened our miseries with a blazing star; the pillars of the earth tottered in many whole countries and tracts of our Island; the arrows of a woeful pestilence have been cast abroad at large in all the quarters of our realm, even to the emptying and dispeopling of some parts thereof; treasons against our Queen and country we have known many and mighty, monstrous to be imagined, from a number of lions whelps, lurking in their dens and watching their hour, to undo us; our expectation and comfort so failed us in France, as if our right arms had been pulled from our shoulders. We have not altered the colour of the hair of our heads, nor added one inch to our stature since all these things have been accomplished amongst us. Consider then well, and think it the highest time to forsake your highest wickedness, I call it highest wickedness: for if we knew how to add any thing in our several veins and dispositions, to those idols of sin which we serve, some to our covetousness, some to our pride, some to our unchasteness, some to our malice, and such like, we would break our sleep, nay we would compass sea and land to increase it. Yet howsoever it fareth with the multitude, let there be a seed and remnant among us left to entreat for peace. Ten righteous persons would have saved Sodom; & it may so stand with the goodness of God, that a few innocent fools, job. 22. shall preserve: the island, as job speaketh. Let us thankfully embrace the long sufferance of our God forepast, leading us as by a hand of friendship to repentance. and let us redeem with newness of life, our days and years formerly misspent; lest by impenitent transgressing against the law of our maker, we fall upon his sentence of wrath, irrevocably passed, and resolved by him, I have thought it and will not repent, jerem. 4. neither will I turn back from it. THE THIRD LECTURE. Chap. 1. ver. 3. But jonas arose up to fly unto Tharsish from the presence of the Lord: and he went down to japho, etc. THe commission given to jonas, we have already weighed: it followeth that we handle his recusancy & disobedience therein committed. This verse now in hand delivereth the whole body thereof, 1 He arose. 2 To fly. 3 Unto Tharsis. 4 From the presence, etc. 5 He went down, etc. The disobedience of jonas. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. 2. Thes. 3. Non agit sed satagis. with every member belonging unto it 1. his preparation is set down in that he arose. 2. his speed, to fly. 3. the end and period of his journey, to Tharsis. 4. his end and purpose why to Tharsis, to escape the presence of the Lord. 5. the opportunities, helps and furtherances to his travel, are exactly put down. 1. he went down to japho an haven-towne. 2. he found a ship going to Tharsis. 3. he paid the fare thereof. 4. he went down into it. 5. lastly his reason of flying to Tharsis, is again specified, with a regression in the end of the verse, that he might go from the presence of the Lord. A notable pattern of man's disposition. 1. the Lord biddeth him arise, & he ariseth; who if he had sitten still, till his flesh had cloven to the pavement, or if he had stretched himself upon his bed, and folded his arms to sleep he had done a service more acceptable to God 2. he is bidden to go, but not content with going, he doth more than so, he flieth, he hath the feet of an hind, and the wings of a dove to do that he should not, who had reaped more thanks, if he had crept but like a snail in his right course. 3. He is bidden to go to Niniveh, he goeth to japho and Tharsis: Non nihil agit, sed male, sed aliud. he is not idle, but he doth ill, he doth that which he was not charged with: & like one of those Lords in jeremy, jer. 2, who told God to his face, we are Lords, we will no more come at thee, so doth he flatly cross & overthwart that direction which God had set him. 4. He heareth of a great city, of a wearisome perambulation, ask the travel of 3. whole days; but he saveth the labour of his feet, goeth into a little vessel, & traveleth by sea, a far easier journey 5. He is bidden to cry, but he is so far from making any noise, that all the clamour and noise of the mariners could not awake him & stir him up. 6. He heareth, that the wickedness of Niniveh is come up before the presence of the Lord; notwithstanding he feareth not to mock and abuse the presence of the same Lord, neither despaireth he to avoid it. There is nothing in all these, but stubbornness and rebellion, which is as kindly to man, as the flesh and bones that he beareth about him. Amongst the other plants in the garden of Eden, not far from the goodliest trees of life & knowledge, grew the bitter root of disobedience, which our forefathers no sooner had tasted, but it infected their blood, and the corrupt nutriment thereof converted itself into the whole body of their succeeding lineage. The breasts of Eve gave no other milk than perverseness to her children, and Adam left it for a patrimony and inheritance unto all his posterity. Though God had precisely said, Of the tree of knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat, for in the day that t●ou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death; Genes. 2. though there were no comparison between their maker and a murderer from the beginning, the father of truth, and the father of lies, a God and a devil, and the one had forbidden but one tree, and fenced it as it were with a double hedge, of a twofold death: yet when the serpent came to the woman with a mere contradiction to the voice of God, ye shall not die the death, how credulous and forward was she to entertain his suggestion? Genes. 3. Moses proved to the children of Israel in the 9 of Deuteronomy by a perfect induction, that there was nothing but rebellion in them; Remember and forget not, saith he, how thou provokedst the Lord thy God to anger in the wilderness, also in Horeb, afterwards in Taberah and in Massah, and at the graves of lust; likewise when the Lord sent you from Cadesh Barnea, etc. At length he concludeth, ye gave been rebellious unto the Lord since the day that I knew you. And God pronounceth of the same people in the fourth of Num. that though they had seen his glory, and the miracles which he did in Egypt, and in the wilderness, yet they had tempted him ten times, and had not obeyed his voice. In the 17. of the same book, the Lord gave commandment unto Moses that Aaron's rod, which budded for the house of Levi when the other rods budded not, should be kept in the ark for a monument of their murmurings & rebellions forepast. To forbear infinite other testimonies, the whole world may be the ark to keep the monuments of their and our disobedience; it is so common to us both, when we are willed to ask for the old way, which is the good way, to answer, we will not walk therein; when the watchmen cry unto us, take heed to the sound of the trumpet, to answer, we will not take heed; jerem. 6. when wisdom crieth abroad and uttereth her voice in the streets, O ye foolish, how long will ye learn foolishness, etc. to despise her counsel, Prou. 1. and to make a Scorn of her correction. What work of our hands bewrayeth not this malice? what word of our mouths speaketh not perverse things? almost, what thought of our hearts kicketh not against the pricks of God's sacred commandments, and desperately adventureth herself upon the point of his sharp curse? O that our ways were made so direct, that we might keep his statutes! then should we never be confounded, whilst we had respect unto all his commandments. It is a question made by some, (though I make no question of it) whether this detraction and refusal of jonas were a fault, yea or no? Dionysius Carthusianus upon this place, doth partly excuse it. I think it far from excuse: for doubtless, the voice of GOD is the first ru●e and rudiments of all Christian instruction, the first stone to be laid in the whole building, that cloud by day, that pillar of fire by night, whereby all our actions are to be guided. Paul in his marvelous conversion desired no other light, and lodestar to be governed by, but the will and word of his Saviour, Lord what wilt thou have me do? The very Prophet of Moab would not depart from this standard: Acts. 9 for when Balaac by his messengers sent him word that he would promote him, and God did but keep him back from honour, he made this answer unto him, If Balaac would give me this house full of silver and gold, I cannot pass the commandment of the LORD, to do either good or bad of mine own mind; Numb. 25. what the Lord shall command, that same will I speak. He had said before to the king in person, Lo i am come unto thee, and can I now say any thing at all? the word that GOD putteth in my mouth, that shall I speak. Numb. 2●. The words of Samuel to Saul determine the doubt, and make it as plain as the light at noon day, that the fact of jonas here committed was an unexcusable offence: Behold, saith he, to obey is better than sacrifice; and to hearken is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and transgression is wickedness and idolatry. It followeth in the next words, Because thou hast cast away the word of the Lord▪ therefore he hath cast away thee from being King. You hear the nature of these two contraries, Obedience, and Disobedience kindly deciphered? the one to be better than sacrifice, for he that offereth a sacrifice, offereth the flesh of a beast, but he that obeyeth, offereth his own will as a quick and a reasonable sacrifice (which is all in all) the other to be as witchcraft and idolatry; for what is disobedience, but when the Lord hath imposed some duty upon us, we confer with our own hearts, as Saul consulted with the woman of Endor, or Ahaziah King of Samaria with the God of Eckron Belzebub, 1. Sam. 15. 1. Sam. 28. whether the word of the Lord shallbe hearkened to, yea or no? Thus we set up an idol within our own breasts against the God of heaven, & forsaking his testimonies, we follow the voice and persuasion of our own devises. Bernard alluding to this place before recited, writeth thus; The children of disobedience make their will their Idol. He addeth for further explication, Filij● inobedientiae sua voluptas ido lum est, etc. tract. de precept. & dispens. that it is one thing not to obey, an other thing to purpose and prepense disobedience. Neither is it the simple transgression of God's commandment, but the proud wilful contempt of his will, which is reputed the sin of idolatry. And surely I see no reason they have to conceal the infirmity of jonas herein, when jonas himself (if I mistake not the meaning of the whole sentence) doth amply disclose it. 1. But jonas. jonas was the author & writer of this history, yet jonas reporteth the fault in himself, as if some stranger & person without his skin, had committed it. He forgetteth as it were his own people and his father's house, and setting affection aside to his own credit, maketh a simple and plain declaration namely & singularly of the transgression of jonas. A wise man, by the rule of Solomon, in the beginning of his speech will accuse himself: Prov. 18. in the vulgar. so doth jonas, not shrouding his head, nor running into a bush, as Adam did, but writing his fault in his brow, and pointing with his finger at the very transgressor under his proper and individual name, he bringeth the accusation; Then jonas arose; the party not long since mentioned, even the son of Amittai, he that immediately before received the word of the Lord to go to Niniveh, let his name be registered, and his fault be published to the whole world: jonas arose. 2. Arose. Will you now see his readiness in an evil cause? no sooner called but he arose forthwith. He might have excused himself, as Moses did in the 3. and 4. chapters of Exodus, when he was called to his burdensome office, who am I that I should go to Pharaoh & bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? again, O Lord send by the hands of him whom thou shouldest send. It hath been the use of God's servants when they have found their ability unmeet to undergo the duties of their provinces allotted them, in modesty & humility to withdraw themselves: So did Gedeon in the 6. of judges; For when the Lord had encouraged him, Go in thy might, thou shalt save Israel out of the hands of the Midianites, he answered again, Ah my my Lord, whereby shall I save Israel? Behold, my father is poor in Manasses, and I the least in my father's house. Likewise when Samuel asked Saul, On whom is all the desire of Israel set? Is it not upon thee, 1. Sam. ●. and all thy father's house? he returned this answer unto him, Am not I the son of jemini, of the smallest tribe of Israel, etc. wherefore then speakest thou so to me? But jonas hath no such excuse, nor that he is the son of Amittai, nor of the least tribe, nor of the poorest family, nor himself the unfittest of all the rest to be sent to Niniveh, but at the first call and summons of the Lord he ariseth up. 3. To fly, When he is up, he flieth; his driving is as the driving of jehu the son of Nimshi (saith the watchman in the second book of the Kings and the ninth chap.) for he driveth as if he were mad; So driveth jonas as if he had received that posting commission which the Apostles received, Salute no man by the way: or rather as if he had vowed a fast with himself neither to eat nor drink till he had frustrated God's commandment. Cyprian wrote to Cornelius of five schismatics that had taken shipping and sailed to Rome with their mart of lies, Li. 1. epist 3 Quasi veritas post eos navigare non posset. as if the Lord of heaven who rideth upon the Cherubins could not overtake them. 4. To Tharsis. If he had fled to the right place, the hast he made, had added much to the commendation of his painfulness. God loveth cheerfulness & alacrity in his work; excuses dislike him much. The delay that Elizeus made, let me go kiss my father; and those shifts in the gospel, let me go bury my father, or take my leave of my friends, are not admitted in his business. Paul witnesseth of himself in the 1. to the Galathians, that when he was called by the grace of God to preach his son amongst the Gentiles, immediately he communed not with flesh and blood, neither came he again to jerusalem, but went into Arabia, and so forwards, for the execution of that message. That which he did: he did presently, and his haste is praise worthy, because he followed the will of the Lord, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. rather than the motions of flesh and blood. In this sense it is true that the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, Psalm. 119. and the violente catch it away. A man can never run too fast that runneth in these ways; I will run the ways of thy commandements, Augustine. saith David, when thou hast set my heart at liberty: Otherwise to run the way of our own devises, is cursus celerrimus praeter viam, a swift race besides the way. 1. Cor. 9 So run, saith the Apostle, that ye may obtain: run wisely, run aright, run by the level and rule of God's statutes. Philosophers hold, that if the inferior spheres were not governed and stayed by the highest, the swiftness of their motion would quickly fire the world: And if the affections of men were not moderated by the guidance of God's holy spirit, it could not be chosen, but this little image of the world would soon be overthrown. Hast in jonas was not amiss, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. but there was more haste then good speed in his travel, because he went to the wrong place. This is to go, I grant, but not with a right foot, as the Apostle speaketh in the second to the Galathians. The wicked have their ways, but they are crooked and circular endless ways, as it is noted of them in the 12. Psalm, Impij in circuitu ambulant, they walk by compass, they walk not towards the mark, the price that is set before them, and therefore lose both their pains and their recompense; they follow their father the Devil in these walks, who testifieth of himself in the first of job, that he had compassed the whole earth. These crooked ways are ever applied by the judgement of Cassiodore to evil manners. Tortuosae viae malis semper mori bus applicantur. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. They shall never come to the rest of the eight day, that thus go wheeling about, to no purpose; like the turning of sampson's mill, which when it hath laboured the whole day long, is found at night in the self same place, where it first began. Thus the wicked have their compassing ways, & the devil hath his outweighs and byways; but happy is that man that ordereth his feet in the paths of God's commandments. What Tharsis. Now, whether the place here mentioned signify the sea, as the Chaldaik paraphrast, and Jerome, and others, according to the Hebrew name so importing, expound it; (whose reason is not much amiss, that being amazed, and at his wit's end, more confused in his mind then the winds and waves that drove him, he cared not whether he went, so he walked not with God, as Henoch did; taking his mark at large, and putting himself unto the sea to fall by adventure upon any country:) or whether Tharsis were that famous haven-towne of Africa, of which we read Ezech. 27. They of Tharsis were thy merchants, for the multitude of all riches, for silver, iron, tin, and lead which they brought to the fairs; the riches whereof may be esteemed by that report which is made in the 2. of the Chronicles, that silver was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon; Chap. 9 for the king's ships went to Tharsis, with the servants of Hiram, every three years once came the ships of Tharsis, and brought gold and silver, yvorye, apes, and peacocks: or whether it signify Carthage which Dido sometime built, and is now called Tunes, which is the opinion of Theodoret, and others: or whether Tartessus a town in Spain: or whether that city in Cilicia nearer to Syria, whence Paul reporteth himself to have been, in the 21. of the Acts, I am a citizen in Tharsis a famous city in Cilicia: or whether the whole country of Cilicia, because in ancient times (if josephus deceive us not) all Cilicia was called Tharsis, by the name of the chief city: or whether it name unto us any other place not yet agreed upon, partly by curious, partly by industrious authors, it skilleth not greatly to discourse; I leave you for your satisfaction therein, to more ample commentaries. But certain I am, whether his mind bear him to land or to sea, to Asia, or afric, country or city, nearer or farther of; at Niniveh he cometh not, which was the place of God's appointment. Many dispute many things, why jonas forsook Niniveh, Why to Tharsis. and fled to Tharsis. 1. The infirmity of the flesh, some say, was the cause, pusillanimity of mind, want of courage, being terrified with the greatness of the city. 2. Or there was no hope (say others) of the dry, when the green was so barren. The children of Israel had so hardened his heart with the hardness of theirs, that he could not imagine the children of Ashur would ever have fallen to repentance, 3. Or the strangeness of the charge dismayed him; for when all other Prophets were sent to Israel, he reasoneth with himself, why should I be sent to Niniveh? Act. 10. it was as uncouth unto him as when Peter was willed to arise, kill and eat unclean beasts, and he answered in plain terms, not so Lord. 4. Or it might be zeal to his country, because the conversion of the Gentiles, he saw, would be the eversion of the jews. And surely this is a great tentation to the mind of man, the disadvantage and hindrance of brethren. For this cause Moses interposed himself in the quarrel between the Hebrew and the Egyptian, and slew the Egyptian: Exod. 2. and in the behalf of all Israel he afterwards prayed unto the Lord against his own soul, If thou wilt pardon their sin, thy mercy shall appear; Exod. 3. but if thou wilt not, I pray thee raze me out of the book of life which thou hast written: 5. Or it might be he was afraid to be accounted a false prophet, if the sequel of his prophecy fell not out, which reason is afterward expressed by him in the fourth chapter, I pray thee Lord, was not this my saying when I was in mine own country? etc. As I said of the place before, so of the reasons that moved him (for this present, till fit occasions be offered;) whatsoever it were that drew him away, whether weakness of spirit, or despair of success, or insolency of charge, or jealousy over the Israelites, or fear of discredit, sure I am that he cometh not to Niniveh, but resolveth in his heart to reject a manifest commandment. I make no question but in every circumstance forehandled he uncovereth his own nakedness, and layeth himself open to the censure and crimination of all men. As who would say; will you know the person without dissembling his name? It was jonas: his readiness without deliberation? he ariseth: his haste without intermission? he flieth: the place far distant from the which God had appointed? Tharsis. And if all these will not serve to prove the disobedience of jonas a a fault by his own confession, then hearken unto the next word; if other were but candles to discover it, this is a blazing lamp to lay it forth to all men's sight. 5 From the presence of the Lord. He flieth into Tharsis, from the presence of the Lord: how can that be, if it be true which David wisheth in the 27. Psalm, Blessed be his glorious name for ever, and let all the earth be filled with his glory? But in the hundredth thirty and eighth Psalm, wonderful are the testimonies that the prophet there bringeth, to amplify Gods illimited presence, O Lord thou hast tried me, and known me, thou knowest my sitting and my rising, thou understandest my thoughts a far of, etc. For not to stay your ears with commemoration of all those arguments; this I gather in sum, that there is neither heaven nor hell, nor the outermost part of the sea, neither day nor night, light nor darkness, that can hide us from his face. Our sitting, rising, lying down, the thoughts of our hearts, words of our tongues, ways of our feet, nay our rains, our bones, our mother's wombs, wherein we lay in our first informitye and imperfection, are so well known unto him. If this were his purpose, to think that the presence of God might be avoided, who sitteth upon the circle of heaven, and beholdeth the inhabitants of the earth as grasshoppers, whose throne is the heaven of heavens, and the earth his footstool; and his ways are in the great deep: I must then needs say with jeremy, doubtless every man is a beast by his own knowledge: jerem. 10. Prophet or no prophet, If the spirit of God instruct him not, he is a beast; worse than Melitides that natural fool, of whom Histories speak, that he could not define, whether his father or his mother brought him forth. But I cannot suppose such palpable and gross ignorance in a prophet, who knowing that God was well known in jury, and his name great in Israel, could not be ignorant, that God was the same God, and the presence of his Godhead no less in Tharsis, and all other countries. What then is the meaning of this phrase, He fled from the presence of the Lord? 1. Some expound it thus: He left the whole border and ground of Israel, where the presence of the Lord though it were not more then in other places, yet it was more evident, by the manifestations of his favours & graces towards them. There was the Ark of the covenant, and the sanctuary, and the Lord gave them answer by dreams & oracles, and other more special arguments of his abode there. Moses spoke truth in the 4. of Deut. of this privilege of Israel, what nation is so great, unto whom their Gods come so near unto them as the Lord is near unto us in all that we call upon him for? David's acclamation Psalm. 147. goeth hand in hand with it, He hath not dealt so with other nations, neither have the heathen knowledge of his judgements. But I rather conceive it thus, (which maketh much for the confirmation of my matter now in hand) He fled from the presence of the Lord, when he turned his back upon him, shook of his yoke, and wilfully renounced his commandment. It is a sign of obedience that servantes bear unto their Lords and masters, when they stand before their face, attending their pleasure, and ready to receive and execute their imposed hests. You have the phrase in the first of job: On a day, when the children of God came and stood before the Lord, Satan came also and stood amongst them. And Psal. 123. Behold, as the eyes of servantes look unto the hands of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hands of her mistress; So our eyes wait upon the LORD our GOD, until he have mercy upon us. In the 18. of Matthew, our Saviour adviseth his disciples not to despise one of those little ones: the reason is this, For I say unto you, that in heaven, there Angels always behold the face of my father which is in heaven. The like manner of speech did Elizaeus use to Naaman the Syrian when he offered him a reward: As the Lord liveth before whom I stand, 2. King. 3. a witness to my actions, the searcher of my heart, whose honour & service I tender more than my game, I will not receive it. By these may we see what the phrase intendeth, of fleeing from the presence of the Lord. It letteth us understand, that jonas, as a fugitive and refractory servant, ran from the Lord, as Onesimus from his master Philemon breaking his bonds of duty, and making no conscience or care to do service unto him. Some have presumed by conjecture upon his going to Tharsis, and fleeing from the face of the Lord, that not only he reneged his obedience in this particular action, but changed the whole trade of his life, and leaving the office of a Prophet, became a Marchante adventurer. A worldly dangerous profession, not only for the hazard of life, and for wrack of goods, but for wrack of conscience also, which is the worst shipwreck: which wracks notwithstanding are taken not only in your ships abroad, but in your shops and warehouses at home, when you fall either upon the Syrteses and quicksands of lying, which is a present and quick kind of sin, always at the tongues end; or upon the rocks of perjury which is a more obstinate and indurate transgression. I will not be so strict in this point as Chrysostome was, who counseled Christians to avoid marketting, that neither they suffered nor offered guileful dealing: Tu qui Christianus et, fuge forum, ut neque patiaris neque faciat fraudem. I know they are lawful and profitable callings in common wealth, if lawfully handled. The state of the world cannot stand without buying, selling, traffic, transportation. Non omnis fert omnia tellus, No country yieldeth all kind of commodity. There must be a path from Egypt to Assur, and from Assur to Egypt again to make a mutual supply of their several wants. Mesech the king of Moab was a Lord of sheep; Hiram had store of timber and workmen; Ophir was famous for gold; Chittim for ivory; Basan for oaks; Lebanon for cedars; Saba for frankincense etc. But this I must tell you that live upon buying and selling, you walk upon coals and carry fire in your bosoms: gain is a busy tentation, and there is neither stone nor Ephah, measure nor balance you use, but Satan is at hand to do some office. It is nought, it is nought, saith the buyer, in the twentieth of the Proverbes, and when he is gone apart, he boasteth. Now on the other side, It is good and very good, saith that seller, and when he hath sold his wares, he boasteth indeed, because he hath given dross for silver, and water for wine, Esay. 1. I say no more; but take heed that the treasures of wickedness be not found in your houses, neither a scant measure, Mich. 6. which is an abomination unto the Lord. Shall I justify, saith God, the wicked balances, and the bag of deceitful weights? His meaning is, that they shall never be justified; much less a wicked and deceitful conscience. I will not enforce this collection upon you, because is is not plainly expressed in the text, and without such foreign and unnecessary helps, if I may so term them, the bare letter of the words doth notoriously evict the disobedience of jonas, wherein he was so fixed and confirmed, that neither respite of time, neither danger of voyage, nor expense of money could change his purpose. Examine the particulars. 1. He goeth down to japho, or joppes, (jaffa, at this day) a city of Palestine, an haven town and road for shipping; it spent some travel and time, no doubt, before he came to japho. 2. He findeth a ship going to Tharsis: I am sure he was not presently acquainted with the key, neither did he find that ship without some enquiry. 3. He payeth the fare: what? incontinently? it is not unlikely but they staid one tide at the least. 4. And it standeth with the order of the text, that he paid the fare aforehand, and in haste, before he needed. 5 Some of the Rabbins add, that he paid the fare of the whole ship for the rest of the passengers that were bound for Tharsis. 6. Lastly when he had paid, he goeth down into the ship, not remembering the danger he entered into, Quanta spissitudo navium? 4 digitorum. Anach. Neptunum procul à terra. to put his life within 4. inches of death; and what safety it is, in comparison, to see the raging of the waters form the sea banks. Is was one of the three things that Cato repent; travel by sea, when by land he might have gone: and a charge that antigonus gave his sons, when they were tossed with a tempest; Remember, my sons, and warn your posterity of it, that they never hazard themselves upon such adventures. What needed the recital of these particular, and (one would think) trifling circumstances, as that he went to the haven, found a ship, paid the fare, descended into it, which might have been spoken at once, He went to Tharsis? But to express thus much; that though there were many occurrences, that met and stopped him in the way of disobedience, as the Angel met Balaam; many messengers, as it were sent from God to call him back again; many spaces of ground, many interruptions of time, many occasions of better advice and consultation: yet, as Agrippa came into the world with his heels forward, so jonas holdeth on his untoward course, whether his feet would bear him, having little reason, and less grace to direct him. The conclusion. The sum of all that hath been spoken hitherto, (for I will leave a remnant behind at the least to make a connexion between this and the next sentence) is, strong and incredible disobedience, I say not conceived alone, but brought forth, perfited, persisted in, without remorse; not against father, mother, magistrate, any superior, but against God himself; not in the tail of the people (to use the words of a Prophet) but in the chiefest and honourablest part. Esa. 42. The complaint of God is now revived again, who so blind as my servant? or so deaf, as he whom I have sent? jonas a servant in the highest room, a vessel of the greatest honour in the great house, a Prophet, one of a principal spirit, and (as their usual name was, for unusual gifts) a man of GOD, having received a mandate from his Lord, is blind, deaf, senseless to perform it; or rather he goeth, hasteneth, flieth, saileth with the wings of the wind from the execution thereof. Paul upbraideth the jew Rom. 2. on this wise: Thou art called a jew, and restest in the law, and gloriest in God, and knowest his will, and allowest the things that are excellent, in that thou art instructed in the law, and persuadest thyself that thou art a guide to the blind, a light to them which are in darkness, an instructor of them which lack discretion etc. Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, doest thou steal? thou that sayest, a man should not commit adultery, doest thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, committest thou sacrilege? thou that gloriest in the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God? The coals of this scripture may be heaped upon jonas his head. Thou art a Prophet, a familiar friend with God, thou hast seen visions and dreamt dreams, and always standest in the presence of the Lord to know his counsels; thou art a seer to the blind, a teacher of the ignorant, a watchman over those that are a sleep; thou therefore that teachest Israel, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest obedience to jeroboam, art thou disobedient? thou that beginnest thy message, Hear the word of the Lord, dost thou reject it? What shall we say then, but that which Daniel yieldeth unto in the 9 of his Prophecy? O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us appertaineth open shame, to our Kings, to our Princes, to our Fathers, (we may further say) to our Prophets, to our Priests, because we have all sinned against thee. Rom. 3. There is no difference, saith the Apostle (he meaneth neither of jew nor Gentile) for all have sinned, and are deprived of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ jesus. Galat. 3. And the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith in Christ jesus, Galat. 5. should be given to those that believe. I show you your sin and the propitiation, your sickness and the remedy to cure it; think not of the other remedies. If you deem, that either Tharsis, or any other region beyond seas; that a cabin in a ship, or a couch in a chamber; that the clouds of the day, or darkness of the night; the top of the mountains, or the bottom of the sea; a secret friend, or more secret conscience; heaven or hell, or any the like evasion, can hide it from the eyes of God: you are deceived. His seven eyes go through the whole world. Zach. 4. Augustine. You may interpret them 7. thousand, thousand of eyes, for he is totus oculus: altogether eye. Therefore let us not flatter ourselves, with those that pluck out the eyes of knowledge itself in the tenth Psalm, Tush, who seethe us? God hath forgotten, he hideth away his face and will never see; but rather, let us acknowledge with jacob, all places to be filled with the majesty of God, The Lord was in this place, Genes. 2●. and I was not aware of it: how fearful is this place? This is the house of God, and the gate of heaven; this, and that, and the other within the compass of the round world, all are alike. Let us reclaim ourselves in time from sinning, (which jonas could not do) and in a serious cogitation, before we go too far, ask one the other, what have we done? If we forget it in Israel, let us remember it in japho. Let either house or field, land or sea, youth or full strength, put us in mind of our duty neglected. Let us not follow our sensuality too far, nor buy voluptuousness with a price, but rather say with the Athenian Orator, when we hear how chargeable pleasure is, Non ema● tanti poenitere, I will not buy my repentance at so high a rare. Or if we have paid the fare of pleasure, let us withdraw our feet, before we descend into the bottom and sink of it; let not the sides and entrails of the ship bury us, nor a careless profound sleep bereave us of all sense; Let not the waters go over our heads; nor a flood of iniquity overwhelm us, lest, (that which is the wages of sin, and presently overtook jonas in his transgression,) we endanger both body and soul to the justice of God. THE FOURTH LECTURE. Chap. 1. ver. 4. But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea etc. THe recusancy of jonas was the abridgement of the whole third verse; whereof 1. he accuseth himself by name; 2. he noteth his readiness in arising; 3. his speed in flying; 4. his perverseness, because to Tharsis; 5. open rebellion in going from the face of the Lord to renounce his service; 6. his confirmation therein, that having such stops & remembrances laid in his way, as namely, 1. to reach the haven not near at hand; 2. to find a ship not without inquiry, and to stay the leisure thereof; 3. to be at charge; 4. therein to be more liberal or more hasty than cause was; 5. to commit himself to so manifest a danger, as the travel by the sea bringeth with it: yet he swalloweth and digesteth all these hooks, and is not revoked by any means to perform his obedience. For all this he did: to what end? That he might go to Tharsis from the presence of the Lord. Once again he repeateth the cause, and by a retire to his former speech, maketh the publication of his crime both α and ω, the first and the last of the sentence: thus he beginneth, and thus he endeth, That he might flee etc. With them. To this you may add, as the conclusion of all the rest, the company he made choice of, that he might go with them. Who were they? by accord of all opinions, men of sundry nations, languages, conditions, and, as is evident in the fift verse, idolators. Thus he mingleth himself in the ecstasy of his wilfulness, as fire and water, Hyena with dogs, an Israelite with gentiles, the circumcised with the uncircumcised, a prophet with profaners of sound religion, and one that feareth the God of the Hebrews with those that worship stran he Gods. The parable in Matthew maketh mention of a man that had 2. sons; Chap. 21. the one he biddeth go to his vinyeard, and he answered, I will not; yet afterwards repent himself, and went: the other said, I will go, yet went not. The one is the image of the penitent, the other of the hypocrire: the one a deed without show, the other a show without deed. jonas may stand in a third branch, who neither saith that he will not and doth, nor that he will and doth not; neither in truth, nor in colour obedient, but having cleared and dissolved all objections of travel, charge, peril, company, is shipped, as you see, and under sail to go to Tharsis. But the Lord sent out a great wind, etc. Fugiebat fugam, & Dei iram non sagiebat. Chrysost. homil. 5. ad pop.. Periclitatur navis quae periclitantem exceperat. 2. Sam. 14. Behold a pursuivant dispatched from heaven to attach him, vengeance is shipped in a whirlwind, and saileth aloft in the air, to overtake him. There is no counsel (as Jerome here noteth) against the Lord. In a calm cometh a tempest; the ship is endangered, which harboureth a dangerful passenger; there is nothing peaceable, where the Lord is an enemy. Whom the voice of the Lord could not move, a storm soliciteth him, (as when Absolom could not draw joab unto him by entreaty, and fair means, he fi●eth his barley fields to make him come;) and whom a still spirit could not charm, the turbulent spirit of a raging wind, Severior Magister, a rougher instructor to deal withal, enforceth to hearken. Eccle. 39 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 show forth their power, and accomplish the wrath of him that made them. Fire, and hail, and famine, and death, all these are created for vengeance: the teeth of wild beasts, and the scorpions, & the serpents, and the sword execute judgement for the destruction of the wicked: Nay the principal things for the whole use of man's life, as water, fire, and iron, and salt, and meal, wheat and honey, and milk, and the blood of the grape, & oil, & clothing, all these things are for good to the godly, but to the sinners they are turned to evil. To these you may add the wind, Anima 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. which being a meteor whereby we live in some sort, (for our life is a breath) a fan in the hands of God to purge the air that it be not corrupted, as the lungs lie by the heart to do it good, is here converted to be a plague unto them: that as David was afflicted by the son of his own bowels, who should have been the staff of his age; Samson by the wife of his bosom who should have been his helper; the children of Israel by Manna stinking and full of worms, and by quails coming out of their nostrils; and the children of the prophets by a bitter herb in the pottage, which were appointed for their sustenance and food: so these mariners for the sin of jonas, are scourged with a wind, a principal furtherance and benefit at other times required to sailing. Obedience hath her praise both with God and men: the offspring of the righteous is obedience & love. The Rechabites shall never want a testimony of their obedience, unless the book of jeremy the Prophet be again cut with a penknife, & burnt upon an hearth, as in the days of Zedekias. jonadab their father commanded them to drink no wine, and they would not drink it for that commandment sake, they, nor their wives, their sons, nor their daughters. Christ prophesieth of himself, Esay. 50. The Lord hath opened mine ear, and it was not rebellious; neither turned I back. Psal. 40. It was written of him in the book, that he should do 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, Phil. 2. he offered himself, Lo I come. He was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. And though he were the son, Heb. 5. Bernard. yet learned he obedience by the things he suffered: qui ne perderet obedientiam, perdidit vitam: though he slept a woeful and heavy sleep to flesh and blood, yet he slept in peace. Disobedience, on the other side, hath never escaped the hands of almighty God. It cast jonas out of the ship; and the angels, before jonas, out of heaven; Adam and Eve out of paradise; Lot's wife out of her life and nature to; Saul out of his kingdom; the children of Israel out of their native soil, and further, their natural root that bore them. For no other reason is given but this, jeremy. 35. I spoke, & they would not hear; I cried, & they would not answer. To leave foreign examples, the justice of God now presently manifesting itself against disobedience cometh in a storm, the vehemency and fury whereof appeareth, 1. By the author, God sent it. Who although he be the author of all winds & weathers, and bringeth them out of his treasures, yet when it is singularly noted of God that he was the cause, it carrieth a likelihood not of his general providence alone, but of some special and extraordinary purpose. 2. By the instrument which is a wind, and neither thunders nor rains to help it. 3. By the epithet & apposition of the instrument, a great wind. 4. By the nature of the word here used: it was sent; nay rather thrown & sent headlong, as the lightning is shot from heaven. It was cast from God as the mariners cast their ladings into the sea, for the same word is originally used in both places. A wind so sudden & furious, that they could guess at other tempests before they fell, they had no signs whereby to prognosticate this. 5. By the place that receiveth it, the sea; a champain & plain channel, an open flore where there was neither hill, nor forest, nor any other impediment to break the force of it. 6. By the explication added, there was a tempest upon it, even a mighty tempest. 7. By the effects that ensued in 4. & 5. verses, marvelously described. 1. The breaking of the ship, a strong & an able ship, by conjecture, because so lately set forth to sea: & the danger is the more to be considered, that it fell not upon rocks or shelves, but by the power of the only wind was almost split. the Hebrew phrase is very significant, the ship thought to be broken, as if it had soul and sense to feel the hazard it was in. 2 The fear that followed upon the whole company of the passengers. 3 The fear of the mariners, men accustomed & enured to the like adventures; of whom it is truly spoken, ●llis robur & aes triplex, Horat. etc. their hearts are of brass and oak to encounter dangers. 4 Their prayers, nay their vociferations & outcries upon their Gods, as the priests of Baal cried upon their idol. 5 The casting out of their ladings, the necessary instruments & utensils for their intended voyage. All which, & whatsoever besides is set down to the end of the 5. ver. may be reduced to 3. persons, with their actions & administrations belonging unto them: the 1. is the Lord; the 2. the mariners; the 3. jonas. Of the first it is said, that he sent out a great wind. It was the error of the Paynims, 1 The Lord to divide the world amongst sundry Gods, with every several region, city, family, & almost chamber, & chimney therein; with heaven & hell, land & sea, woods & rivers, wine & corn, fruits of the ground, all things whatsoever. Amongst the rest, the winds in the air they ascribed to Aeolus, whom they imagined to have them closely mewed up & housed in a lodge, and to have sent them abroad either for calms or tempests at his discretion. Horace commended Virgil his friend going towards Athens, to the mighty goddess of Cyprus, & the two brethren of Helen, & the father of the winds, that is, to Venus, & the two twins Castor & Pollux, Obstrictis alijs praeter Japyga. & Aeolus; wishing for his better speed, that all the winds might be bound up, besides japyx a quiet western wind; with many the like fables not unknown to grammar schools. The blowing of the winds more or less we impute not to Aeolus, nor any the like devised God of the gentiles: we honour the Lord of hosts alone, in the power of this creature, who sitteth upon the circle of heaven, and causeth both the sun to shine, and the rains to fall, and the winds to blow in their seasons, and at this time appointed this wind to a singular service. It is he that flieth upon the wings of the wind. Psal. 18. The channels of the waters have been seen, and the foundations of the earth discovered at his rebuking, and at the blasting of the breath of his nostrils. Chap. 37. You see it is called the breath of the Lord, as also in the book of job, not that substantial breath of his, whereof we read in the 1. of Gen. the spirit of God moved upon the waters; but a created breath, extracted, and engendered out of other creatures. The wind that came from the wilderness and overthrew the corners of the house wherein the children of job were feasting, that saint acknowledgeth to have come from heavenly disposition; job. 1. The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away. Wind & fire & bands of robbers, he assigneth not to any idol of the heathen, nor to the malice of men, nor to the hazard of fortune, which others made a gods; but to the almightiness & sovereignty of him who ruleth all things. And as his dominion is undoubted in the air, so doth the sea submit itself likewise to his governance, who sitteth upon the water-floods, and is a king for evermore, job. 38. as the Psalm speaketh. For who but he hath shut up the sea with doors, when it issued and came forth as out of the womb? who established his commandment upon it, when he set bars & gates, & said, hitherto shalt thou come and no further; here will I stay the proud waves? Who else divided the red sea into two parts, that the children of Israel passed through on dry foot? But as for Pharaoh and his host, the horse and the rider, they were overthrown therein. Who else turned the stream of jordan the contrary way, whereof the Prophet demandeth with admiration, what aileth thee O jordan that thou goest back? who else turned the waters into blood? and drieth up the rivers, that the fishes rot for want of moisture. Tell me his name, (to use the words of job) if thou knowest it; and what is his sons name? It is he and his son, who in the gospel of Mark, Chap, 4. rebuked the winds, and said unto the sea, peace and be still; and the wind ceased, and there was a great calm, and they could not be satisfied about it, but asked who it was that both the winds & the sea should thus obey him? All kinds of weather by land or sea, thunders and lightning, even the coals of fire that were never blown hailstones & stormy tempests, they come by his assignment, who cleaveth the rocks asunder with his voice, and shooteth forth his thunderbolts, job. 38. as arrows at a mark; who biddeth his lightnings walk, and they say, lo here we are, and devideth the spouts in the air, to yield their moisture to the ground, more or less, at the will of their maker. And we utterly renounce herein, not only the palpable idolatry of the Gentiles, who gave the glory of the most high to ●heir base and inglorious abominations, but the foolish ignorance of others nearer home, who in the working of these creatures, never look up to the seat of majesty, that ordereth all things; but whatsoever befalleth them by fall of fire, blast of wind, inundation of waters, or the like, they term it chance. Alas, chance is nothing; for nothing is done in the whole world, without an order from above: and it was wisely noted by a learned man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, nature bringeth forth that, jul. Scal. Exerc. 188. which we wrongfully call chance, because it cometh unexpected I read of a certain people in Africa, who being troubled with the Northwind, driving heaps of sands upon their fields & dwelling places, they gathered an army of men to fight against it; but with so evil success, that themselves were also buried under hills of sands. Xerxes' the Persian Monarch, Herodo●. having received a loss by the rage of Hellespontus, himself more mad than the sea, caused fetters and manacles to be cast into the waters thereof, as if he would make it his prisoner, & bind it with links of iron at his pleasure. * Some say. Cyrus. Darius did the like upon the river Gind, who, because it had drowned him a white horse, threatened the river to divide it into so many streams, & so to weaken the strength of it, that a woman great with child should go over it dry-shod. It is not unlike the madness of our days, who must not be crossed either with wet or dry, winds or rains, fair or fowl, but we fall to repining, murmuring, banning, blaspheming, & all kind of cursed either speaking or wishing at least. But as God asketh Senacherib, whom hast thou railed upon, or whom hast thou blasphemed? 2. King. 19 so I ask these men, whom are you angry with? who hath displeased you? are you angry with the saw, or with him that lifteth it? do the winds and seas move your impatience? they are but servantes unto that Lord, who saith unto them, smite, and they do it; favour, & they are obedient. Rabsakeh speaketh to the nobles of jerusalem, Esay. 36. Am I come hither without the Lord? The Lord said unto me, Go up against this land to destroy it. So it is in the force of these creatures, when either they drown, or blast, or parch to much, it is not done without the Lord; the Lord saith unto them, do thus or otherwise. Besides the impieties above named, it is an error of our times heathenish enough, to give the honour of God in these and the like accidents, to witches & conjurers. For if ever tempest arise, more than common experience hath enured us unto, especially with the havoc and loss either of life or limb in our selves, or of our cattle, or howsings, forthwith the judgement is given (as if the God of heaven & earth were fallen a sleep, & minded nothing) there is some conjuring. Be it so. August. 2. de doct. Christ. What is conjuring? a pestilent commistion, convention, stipulation, betwixt men & devils. Men & devils? what are they? look upon the sorcerers of Egypt for the one; 3 de Trin. 7. Magorum potestas (saith Augustine) defecit in muscis, they cried in the smallest plague that was sent, and past their cunning to remove, this is the figure of the Lord; Exod. 8. their power is limited therefore. Look upon the martyring of job for the other: for though the circuit of Satan be very large (even to the compassing of the whole earth to & fro, job. 1. ) yet he hath his days assigned him to stand before the presence of the Lord for the renewing of his commission: And besides, Oviculam unam auferre non potuit etc. he could not take one poor sheep from job, till the Lord had given him leave, put forth thine hand; nor enter into the heard of swine, Mat. 8. without Christ's permission. And so, to conclude; whether men or devilles be ministerial workers in these actions, all cometh from him, as from the higher supreme cause, whose judgements executed thereby, no man can either fully comprehend, or reprehend justly. God professeth no less of himself, Esay. 45. I form the light, and create darkness, I make peace, and create evil, I the Lord do all these things. And in the 54. of the same prophecy, Behold I have created the smith that ●loweth the coals in the fire, and him that bringeth fo●th an instrument for his work, & I have created the destroyer to destroy: destruction cometh from the instrument, the instrument from the smith, the smith and all from God. In the 10▪ of the same book, Asshur is called the rod of his wrath, and the staff in his hands was the Lord's indignation. And the prophet prayeth in the 17. Psalm to the same effect, up Lord, disappoint him, cast him down, deliver my soul from the wicked, which is a sword of thine. We need not farther instructions in this point, but whatsoever it is that outwardly troubleth us, let us learn to fear him therein, from whose secret disposition it proceedeth: who hath a voice to allay the winds & the seas; a finger to confound sorcerers & conjurers; an hook for the nostrils of Senacharib; & a chain for the devil himself, the prince of darkness. In the 2. person, which were the mariners, we are directed by the hand of the scripture, 2 The Mariners. to consider three effects, which the horror of the tempest wrought upon them. For 1. they were afraid; 2. they cried up on their Gods; 3. they cast out their wares: the 1. an affection of nature; the 2. an action of religion; the 3. a work of necessity. Some of the Rabbins held, that the mariners in this ship had more cause to be astonished and perplexed, than all that travailed in these seas besides: for when other ships were safe and had a prosperous voyage, theirs only, as the mark whereat the vengeance of God aimed, was endangered. But because it appeareth not in the book, I let this pass, with many other unwritten collections; as namely, that they were near the shore, & laboured with all their force to tough their ships to land, but could not do it: which happily may be true, and as likely otherwise, & therefore I leave it indifferent, & am content to see no more than the eye of my text hath descried for me. But this I am sure of: Affliction beginneth to school them, August. de correctione Donatis. & drive them to a better haven than they erst found. It evet worketh good for the most part; and although the better sort of men are corrected by love, yet the greater are directed by fear. As the wind the seas, so the fear of the wrath of God, in this imminent danger of shipwreck appearing, shaketh & perturbeth their hearts, though they had hardened them by use against all casualties by sea, like the hardest adamantes. All the works of the Lord to a considerate mind are very wonderful: his mercy reacheth to the heavens, and his faithfulness is above the clouds; his wisdom goeth from end to end; his righteousness is as the highest mountains, & his judgements like a great deep, & whatsoever proceedeth from him, Habet iust● venerationem quicquid excellit. Tull. August. de Trin l. 3. c. 2▪ epist. ad Volus. Tull. Psal. 139· because that artificer excelleth, is must needs be excellent. But it is as true a position; perseverantia consuetudinis amisit admirationem; the assiduity & continuance of things bringeth them into contempt. Quam multa usitata calcan tur, quae considerata stupentur? how many things doth custom make vile which consideration would make admirable? because the nature of man is such, to be carried away rather with new then with great things. The creation of man, who maketh account of, because it is common? But would we ponder in our hearts, as David did, that we are wonderfully & fearfully made, & that our bones were not hid from the Lord, though they were shaped in a secret place, and fashioned beneath in the earth; that he possessed our rains in our generation, & covered us in our mother's wombs; that his eyes did see us when we were yet unperfect, & all things were written in his book, when before they were not; it would enforce us to give acclamation to the workmanship of our maker, as the sweet singer of Israel there did, marvelous are thy works, o Lord, & that my soul knoweth right well. A tempest to mariners is nothing, because they have seen, and felt, and overlived so many tempests. As David, because he had killed a lion, and a bear at his fold, persuaded himself that he also could kill Goliath; So these having passed already so many dreadful occurrents, begin to entertain a credulous persuasion of security, no evil shall approach us. They make their hearts as fat as brawn, to withstand mishaps. It fareth with them as with soldiers beaten to the field: they have seen hundreds fall at their right hand, and thousands at their left, and therefore are not moved; and though they bear their lives in their hands, they fear not death: whereupon grew that judgement of the world upon them; Armatis, divum nullus pudor, Sil. Ita●●●. soldiers (the greater part) fear not God himself. Undoubtedly our seamen drink down & digest their dangers with as much facility & felicity to, as some their wine in bowls; yet notwithstanding the mariners here spoken of, even the master of the ship with the vulgar sort, having such iron sinews in their breasts, giants by sea, and (if I may term them so) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, men that fight with God, being in their proper element, the region and ground where their art lieth, having fought with the waves and winds a thousand times before, they are all stricken with fear, and their hearts fall asunder within them, like drops of water. David Psal. 107. setteth down four kinds of men, which are most indebted to God, for deliverance from perils: the first of those that have escaped a dearth; the second, prisoners enlarged; the third, such as are freed from a mortal sickness; the last, seafaring men, of whom he writeth thus; They that go down into the sea in ships, and occupy their merchandise by great waters, they see the work of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep. For he commandeth and raiseth up the stormy wind, and it lifteth up the waves thereof, they mount up to the heaven, and descend again to the deep, so that their soul melteth for trouble. They are tossed too and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and all their cunning is gone. A lively image of their uncertain and variable lives; and, if you harken to the comparison, it is next to famine, imprisonment, a deadly disease to be a seaman. Sailors & adventurors are neither amongst the living, Navigantes neque inter vivos, neque inter mortuo●. Pittac. nor amongst the dead: they hang between both, ready to offer up their souls to every flaw of wind, and billow of water where with they are assaulted. Yet these are the men, and such the instruments and means whereby your wealth cometh in, that live by Merchandise; you eat, and drink, and wear upon your backs, you traffic and spend the blood of your sons and servantes. So David called the water of the well of Bethlehem, blood, because it was brought through the army of the Philistines with the hazard of men's lives. 1. Chro. 11. You own much unto God for the preservation of their lives, your ships and commodities; & are bound to rehearse unto your soul's day and night that verse of thanksgiving which David repeateth in the Psalm before named, as the burden and amoeb●um to those songs of deliverance. Let us therefore confess before the Lord his loving kindness, and his wonderful works before the sons of men: let us exalt him in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders. And as you fear his majesty yourselves, who turneth the floods into a wilderness, and a wilderness into springes of water, who breaketh the ships of the sea with an Eastwind; Psalm. 48. so see that your factors beyond the seas, with all the officers and ministers belonging to your company, be men of the like affection. It is not the tallenes of your ships, nor their swiftness, manning, and munition, that can protect them against God's vengeance. You call them Lions, Leopards, Bears, and scorning the names of beasts, you term them Angels, archangels: but remember when all is done, that as Themistocles called the Navy of Athens wooden walls, so yours are but wooden Beasts, and wooden Angels; And woe be to him that saith to a stone, thou art my father; and to a piece of wood, thou art my helper. They have good fortune written upon their beaks, saith Plutarch, but many misfortunes in the success of their labours. Horace spoke to as proud a ship (it should seem) as any those times knew; Though Pontus pines thy frame, 1. Car. odd▪ 14 Quamvis pontica pinu● Syluae filia nobilis etc. A forest fair thy dame, Proud be thy stock, And worthless name: The winds will mock, To see thy shame. Take heed. The navy of Tyrus (if the prophet describe it aright) was the noblest navy that ever the seas were furrowed with; the builders thereof made it of perfect beauty, the boards of the fir trers of Shenir, Ezech. 27. the masts of the cedars of Lebanon, the oars of the Oaks of Basan, the banks of the ivory of Chittim, the sails of the fine embroidered linen of Egypt, the coveringes blue silk and purple of the Isles of Elisha; They of Sidon and Arvad, were her mariners, the wisest in tire her pilottes, the ancients of Gebal her calkers, they of Persia, and Lud, and Phut, her soldiers, the Gammadins were in her towers, and hung their shields upon the walls round about, and the King of tire said in the haughtiness of his heart, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God in the midst of the sea: yet see the end in the same place; her rowers brought her into great waters, and the east-wind broke her in the midst of the sea; her riches together with mariners, pilottes, and calkers, merchants, and men of war, all were overthrown, and came to a fearful ruin. The fear of the Lord will be in steed of all these provisions; fear him, and both floods and rocks shall fear you, and all winds shall blow you happiness, and shipwracks shall avoid the place where your foot treadeth, and as the apples of Gods own eyes, so shall they reverence you, and not dare to approach the channel where your way lieth: hills shall fall down, and mountains shall be cast into the sea, but those that fear the Lord shall never miscarry: the fear of the Lord shall both land your ships in an happy haven, and after your travels upon the earth, harbour your souls in his everlasting kingdom. They were afraid. I will not examine what kind of fear it was which surprised these mariners. There is a fear that accompanieth the nature of man, and the son of God himself was not free from it: Marc. 14. It is written of him that he began to be afraid; which fear of his, and other the like unpleasant affections, he took upon him (our Divines say) as he took our flesh, Non humanae conditionis necessitate, sed miserationis voluntare. Sentem. 3 dist. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. & undertook death rather in pity, then of necessity. And Jerome upon the place of the Evangelist before cited noteth, that the fear of our blessed saviour was not a passion which overbare his mind, but a propassion, which he seemeth to collect from the word itself; He began to be afraid. 2 There is besides a fond and superstitious fear, when men are afraid of their shadows, as Pisander was afraid of meeting his own soul; and Antenor would never go forth of the doors, but either in a coach closed upon all sides, or with a target borne over his head, fearing (I guess) lest the sky should fall down upon it, according to that in the Psalm, Psal. 13. Vulg. They fear where no fear is. The disciples were abashed at the sight of their master after his resurrection, supposing they had seen a spirit, when neither had they seen a spirit at any time to move that conceit, neither is it possible that a spiritual substance can sensibly be perceived. We may easily acquit this company from such foolish fear; it hath so apparent a reason to be grounded upon. 3 There is an other fear, the object whereof is only God; which, by the prayer and cry that followeth in the next words, seemeth to be the fear meant (though ignorantly misplaced:) and this in some is a servile fear, full of hatred, malice, contumely, reproach, if they durst bewray it, Epist. 87. ad Oger. tristis, inutilis, crudelis, qui quia veniam non quaerit, non consequitur, saith Bernard; it flieth & abhorreth the Lord, because he is Deus percutiens, a God of vengeance: in other it is filial, such as the child honoureth his father with, perfectly good, wherein there is nothing but love, Psal. 51. reverence, purity, ingenuity, borne of a free spirit; the spirit of bondage & slavery wholly abandoned; so near in affinity to love, that you can hardly discern them: Gillibert. in Cant. 3. ser. 19 Pene illa est, & pene non est; It is almost love, and almost not love; so little difference is: it never beholdeth God, but in the gracious light of his countenance; There is mercy with thee O Lord, therefore shalt thou be feared, howsoever the clouds of displeasure seem sometimes to hide that grace away. The fear of these men I cannot decide, whether it were mixed with hope, or altogether desperate, and it skilleth not greatly to inquire, because they apply it not to the true and living GOD. But let this be observed as a matter, (saith the Psalm) of deep understanding, and one of the secrets within the sanctuary of the Lord, that seabeaten Mariners, barbarians by country, and men as barbarous for the most part for their conditions, fearing neither God nor man, of sundry nations some, and most of sundry religions, it may be Epicures, but, as my text bewrayeth them, idolators; they all know that there is a God, whom they know not; they fear a supreme majesty, which they cannot comprehend; they reverence, invocate, and cry upon a nature above the nature of man and all inferior things; potent, benevolent, apt to help, whereof they never attained unto any special revelation. This man adoreth the God of his country, that man some other God, and jonas is raised up to call upon his God; but all have some one God or other, to whom they make supplication, and bemoan their danger. If jonas had preached the living and immortal God unto them, the God of the Hebrews, the God of Abraham, Isaac, & jacob, the holy one of Israel, I would have imputed their devotion to the preaching of jonas. Or had there been any other soul in the ship, belonging to the covenant, & born within the house (as the prophet speaketh) that might have informed them in this behalf. There was not one: who then instructeth them? Nature. Hieron. Nautae intellexèrunt aliquid esse venerandum sub errore religionis; the mariners understood even in the falsehood of that religion which they held, that something was to be worshipped. It is not denied by any sort of divines, ancient or recent, but that by nature itself, a man may conceive there is a God. Nulla est gens tam fera. etc. Tul. Acts 17. There is no nation so wild and barbarous, which is not seasoned with some opinion touching God. The Athenians set up an alter Ignoto Deo, to an unknown God. Act. 17. The Gentiles not having the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, and are a law unto themselves, and show the effect of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness, and their thoughts accusing one another or excusing; the second to the Romans. For the invisible things of him that is, his eternal power and Godhead, are seen by the creation of the world, being considered in his works, to the intent that they should be without excuse. Rom. 1. These are common impressions and notions sealed up in the mind of every man, a remnant of integrity after the fall of Adam, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. a substance or blessing in the dead Elm, sparkles of fire raked up under the ashes, which cannot die whilst the soul liveth. Nature within man, and nature without man, which Jerome calleth Naturam & facturam, nature and the creature; our invisible consents, and Gods visible works; an inward motion in the one, and an outward motion of the other; if there were no further helps, show, that there is a God, & leave us without excuse. Protagoras Abderites, Tul. Acaden. quaest. because he began his book with doubt, de dijs, neque ut sint, neque ut non sint, habeo dicere, I have nothing to say of the Gods, either that they be, or that they be not; by the commandment of the Athenians was banished their city & country, & his books publicly & solemnly burnt to ashes. I may call it a light that shineth in darkness, (though the purity and beams thereof be mightily defaced,) which some corrupt & abuse, & so become superstitious & vanish away in their vain cogitations; & others extinguish, & so become mere Atheists. For so it is, as if we took the lights in the house, and put them out, to have the more liberty in the works of darkness. Thus do the Atheists of our time: the light of the scripture principally, & the light of the creature, and the light of nature they exinguish within the chambers of their hearts, & with resolute, dissolute persuasions, threape upon their souls against reason & conscience, that there is no God, least by the sight of his justice, their race of impiety should be stopped. I trust I may safely speak it, There are no Atheists amongst you, though many happily such as Ag●ippa was, but almost christians; I would to God you were not only almost, Acts. ●. 6. but altogether such as you seem to profess. But there are in our land that trouble us, with virulent, pestilent, miscreant positions; I would they were cut of, the children of hell, by as proper right, as the devil himself; the savour of whose madness stinketh, from the centre of the earth to the highest heavens. Let them be confuted with arguments drawn from out the skabberds of Magistrates, arguments without reply, that may bo●h stop the mouth, & choke the breath of this execrable impiety: & as the angel cursed Meroz. 5. judg. so cursed be the man (& let the curse cleave to his children) that cometh not forth to help the Lord in this cause. It is fit to dispute by reason, whether there be a God or no? which heaven, earth, angels, men & devils, all ages of the world, all languages; & in the atheist himself (who bindeth a napkin to the eyes of his knowledge,) shame, fear, and 1000 witnesses like gnawing worms within his breast, did ever heretofore, & to the end of the world shall acknowledge? Let us leave such questions, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, incredible, inglorious, infamous questions to the tribunal & trial of the highest judge, Aul. Gel. if there be no throne upon the earth that will determine them; & for our own safety, & the freeing of our souls, let us hate the very air that the Atheist draweth as john eschewed the bath wherein Cerinthus was▪ & let their damned spitits having received damnation in themselves, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. ripen and be rotten to perdition: let them sleep their everlasting sleep in filthiness not to be revoked: & when death hath gnawn upon them like sheep for a taste before hand, let them rise again from the sides of the pit, maugre their stout gain saying, at the judgement of the great day to receive a deeper portion. As for ourselves (my brethren) which know and profess that one and only God for ever to be blessed, let us be zealous of good works, according to the measure of our knowledge which we have received. Let us fear him (without fear) as his adopted sons, and serve him without the spirit of bondage in righteousness, all the days of our lives; that at the coming of the son of God to judge the ends of the eatth, we may be found faithful fervants; and as we have dealt truly in a little, we may be made rulers over much through the riches of his grace, who hath freely and formerly beloved us not for our own sakes, but because himself is love, Amat quia amat. Bern. and taketh delight in his own goodness. THE FIFT LECTURE. Cap. 1. ver. 5. And cried every man upon his God, and cast the wares in the ship into the sea to lighten it of them. I showed before, that by the instinct of nature itself, the mariners might conceive there was a God. here it appeareth by the multitude they worship, every man his God, that nature alone sufficeth not without further revelation. Nature may teach that there is a God; but what in substance & propriety, & how to be worshipped, must elsewhere be learned. Nature without grace is, judg. 16. as Sampson without his guide, when his eyes were out, without whose direction he could not find the pillars of the house; nor the natural man any pillar or principle of faith without the spirit of God guiding his steps unto it: or as Barach without Deborah, who would not go against Sisera, unless the prophetess went with him. jud. 4. Such is the faintness of nature, except it be strengthened with a better aid. Vae soli: if nature be single, woe to it, she falleth down, & there is not another to help her up. Therefore our Saviour maketh a plain distinction betwixt these two: Blessed art thou Simon the son of jonas, for flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee; the affirmative part followeth, Mat. 16. but my father which is in heaven: when he made that notable & fundamental confession. Afterwards, Ibid. when he had dehorted his master, with carnal persuasions, sir, pity thyself, he biddeth him avaunt, not by the name of Peter, nor the son of jonas, nor Cephas, but of Satan himself. Nature was then alone, and the heavenly light had withdrawn her influence from him. No man living had ever greater endowments, and blessings of nature, than the Apostle Saint Paul. First he was a man that was a jew (as great a comfort unto him, Act. 22. no doubt, as it was to Plato to be borne at Athens, rather than in Barbary;) and although borne at Tarsus in Cilicia, yet brought up in the city of jerusalem at the feet of Gamaliell, and instructed according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and zealous towards God. You have his birth, education, master, learning, and devotion already set down: we may add his sect and profession, out of the same history; For after the strictest sect of the jewish religion, he lived a Pharisee. In his epistle to the Philippians, he concludeth from the whole heap of his prerogatives, Chap. 26. Chap. 3. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof to trust in the flesh, much more I: circumcised the 8. day, of the kindred of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews, by profession a Pharisee. Concerning zeal, I persecute the church, touching righteousness in the law, I was unrebukable; so he persecuted the church, you see out of that place: and he verily thought in himself, that he ought to do many things contrary to the name of jesus of Nazareth, Act. 26. which thing he also did in jerusalem. Thus notwithstanding he had received the sign of the covenant circumcision, not as the manner of proselytes was at the time of their conversion, sometimes old, sometimes young; but 2. according to the law, the eight day; and 3. his kindred and descent were from Israel, not from Esau which lost the inheritance; 4. his tribe, such as never fell to idolatry, but continued in the service of God; and 5. his antiquity in that line not inferior to the ancientest, being as able to show his great, and great grandfathers, from the first root of the Hebrews, as any man; besides those personal advantages of profession, emulation, conversation; yet till there shined a clearer light from heaven, not only upon his face, but upon his heart, and he was thrown to the ground, both from his horse, and from his confidence in the flesh, and heard a voice speaking unto him, Act. 9 Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? and was instructed who it was that spoke unto him, I am jesus of Nazareth etc. and received direction for his life to come, Arise and go to Damascus; Qualem non repperit unum etc. all the knowledge he had before, was but dung, and loss, and not worth the reckoning. Socrates was a man excellent for human wisdom the like to whom could not be found among many thousands of men: of whom notwithstanding Lactantius writeth thus; ut aliorum argueret inscientiam, qui se aliquid tenere arbitrabantur, De ira Dei▪ ait se nihil scire, nisi unum quòd nihil sciret: to convince the ignorance of others, who thought they knew something, he professed to know nothing but this one, that he knew nothing. He further testified openly, and in a place of judgement, that there was no wisdom of man; and the learning, whereof the philosophers then gloried, he so contemned, scorned, renounced, Contempsit. derisit, abi●cit. Lact. de origine erroris. 2. that he professed it his greatest learning, to have learned nothing. It is not unknown what Cicero said: utinam tam facilè vera inven●re possem, quam falsa convincere: I would I were as able to find out truth, as to refute falsehood: the most renowned orator that ever Rome, or the earth bare. Daniel saw more in the secrets and counsels of God, than all the wizards of Babylon besides. The enchanters and the Astrologians, and the sorcerers and Chaldeans, as they are numbered in the second of Daniel, they confess plainly before the king, concerning his dream, there is none other that can declare it before the king, except God, whose dwelling is not with flesh; yet they are called in the same prophecy, the kings wise men. But by the judgement of the Queen, Cap. 5. wife of Balthasar, Daniel exceedeth them all in wisdom; there is a man in the kingdom, saith she, in whom is the spirit of the holy Gods, and in the days of thy father, light, and understanding, and wisdom like the wisdom of the Gods, was found in him. Pharaoh made no less report of joseph in the ears of all his servants, Genesis the one and fortieth: Can we find such a man as this, in whom is the spirit of God? It was wisdom in them, that they were able in some sort to discern such spirits, and to give them their proper names, though secretly condemning themselves thereby, to have but the spirits of men or beasts, when Daniel and joseph were inspired far otherwise. (The little flock of Christ exempted only, to whom it is given to know mysteries,) we may seek the whole world besides with cresset light, and inquire as the Apostle did, Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not GOD made the wisdom of this world foolishness? 1. Cor. 1. To what other end is that confession or thanksgiving of our Saviour in the eleventh of Matthew? I give thee thanks O Father, Math. 1●. Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise, and men of understanding, and hast opened them unto babes: wise, and yet fools, men of understanding, yet they understand nothing? How are wisdom and folly bound up together in one heart? or what agreement between light & darkness in one eye? No marvel if we ask of it, for the Lord himself calleth it a marvellous work, Even a marvelous work, Esa. 19 & a wonder. For the wisdom of the wise men shall perish, & the understanding of the prudent men shall be hid. Before, he bade them stay themselves & wonder, that men should be drunken but not with wine; & stagger, but not with strong drink: The cause followeth, the Lord had covered them with a spirit of slumber, and shut their eyes. There are many and mighty nations at this day; their soil most happy, their air sweetly disposed; people, for flesh and blood, as towardly as the ground carrieth, most provident to forecast most ingenious to invent, most able & active to perform, of whom you would say, if you tried them, Surely this is a wise people, and of great understanding. To whom notwithstanding if Christ should speak in person, as he spoke to Saul before his illumination, why persecutest thou me? why do you stumble at my gospel, and are offended at my name, and account the preaching of my cross foolishness? they would ask as he did, who art thou? or what is thy gospel, name, and cross, that thou tellest us of? So blind they are to behold our dayspring, so ignorant and untaught touching jesus of Nazareth. Or if we should ask them of the holy ghost, Act. 19 have you received the holy ghost since you believed? nay do you believe that there is an holy ghost? they would answer as the Ephesians did to Paul, we have not so much as heard whether there be an holy ghost, What new doctrine is this? they seem to be setters forth of new Gods, and though they acknowledge some God, which nature itself obtrudeth unto their thoughts, yet they know not the God of Sydrach, Misach, & Abednego, whom Nabuchodonosor with that difference confessed, Dan. 3. after his understanding was restored unto him; Dan. 6. nor the God of Daniel, whom Darius by that name magnified, after he saw the deliverance of his prophet from the lion's den; nor the God of Abraham, Isaac, & jacob, to whom the promises were made; nor the Lord God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land here specified. Is it not a wonder, think you, that the people of the Turks, the hammer of the world, (as sometimes Babylon) the rod of christendom, able to say (as the Psalm spoke of Gilead and Manasses, etc.) Asia is mine, Africa is mine, over Europe have I cast my shoe, a warlike, politic, stately, magnificent nation, should more be carried away by the enchantmentes of their lewd Prophet Mahomet, then by the celestial doctrine of the everlasting son of GOD, who shed his blood, and gave his soul a ransom for the sin of mankind? what is the reason hereof? want they nature? or an arm of flesh? are they not cut from the same rock? are they not tempered of the same mould? are not th●ir heads upward toward heaven, as the heads of other men? have they not reasonable souls, capable and judicious? What want they then? It is rectus spiritus, a right spirit, whereof they are destitute: Psal. 51. they have a spirit (I grant) to enlive their bodies, but not rectified, sanctified, regenerated, renewed, to quicken their souls. They have an heart to conceive, but it is a froward heart, a slow heart, a stony heart, a vain and foolish heart, a scornful, contemptuous, insolent, incredulous heart, against him that framed it. Now if Egypt be so dark that the darkness thereof may be felt, and it is a wonder in our eyes, to see such mists in other places; yet let Goshen rejoice that it standeth illightened still. And those that have seen an happy star in the East to lead them to Christ, which Herode and his princes, the Turk and his Bassaws never saw, let them come and worship, and bring presents unto the king of glory: not of gold, myrrh, and frankincense, but of the finest metal, purest odours, frankest offering of thankful hearts: And let them not think, but where more is received, more will be required; and that they must answer to the Lord of these talents, not only for nature, but for a special inspiration besides, wherewith they are endued. And so to end this point; Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears▪ for they hear, (I will not say) that which many Prophets and righteous men have desired; but to change the speech a little, that which many mighty Empires and large Continentes, and not small cantons or corners, but whole quarters of the world, never attained unto, and will bitterly rue the time, and wish to redeem with the loss of both their eyes, that they have not heard and seen as much as you have done. To come now to my purpose; these mariners fear, 2. They cried every man upon God. but where no fear is; they fear nothing, because they fear but idols and fancies, the suppositions of their own brains. And as they fear, so they pray, which was the second action; and (their error therein being pardoned) a natural, necessary service belonging to every mortal man: & their prayer is consequent to their fear. For upon the reverence they carried towards their imaginary Gods, they betook themselves to this submissive and suppliant service. Statius. Primus in orb Deos fecit timor: Unless we feared, we could not think that there were a God. But this action of theirs, hath something good in it, something to be reproved. 1 In that they pray, it showeth the debility and weakness of the nature of man, if it be not helped: and commendeth the necessity and use of prayer in all sorts of men. 2 In that they pray with crying & vehemency, it noteth that their hearts were fixed & earnestly longed for that which their lips craved. 3 In that they cry to their Gods, it proveth it a tribute due unto God alone by the practice of heathen men. 4 In that they pray every man, as if in a common cause, (though they had not a common religion) yet they had one soul, heart, and tongue common to them all, it noteth the communion and fellowship of mankind. Thus far the observations hold good. Their praying showeth the misery of mortal men: crying in prayer, their earnest desire to obtain: praying to Gods, the majesty of the immortal power: praying together, that bond of humanity and brotherhood, wherewith we are coupled. 5 Their error is a part of their object, in the number of the Gods which they invocate, that every person in the ship hath a proper and peculiar God whom he calleth upon. The Gods of the nations have been multiplied as the sands of the sea; Every man upon his God. Exigua thuris impe●sa. Curt. Rom. 1. what have they not deified? it cost but a little frankincense, to give the godhead where it pleased them: they have turned the glory of the immortal God into the similitude of the image of corruptible man, and of birds, and four footed beasts, and of creeping things. Besides the sun and moon, and the whole host of heaven, they have consecrated for Gods, the sons of men, whose breath is a vapour in their nostrils, who shall be consumed before the unprofitable moths; of which foolish idolatry, one of their own sophists sometime spoke in derision, Theocri●u● in Cle. Alex protrep. Bono estote animo, quando Dij moriuntur ante homines, Be of good courage, since Gods die before men. And not only men have they thus hallowed, but their qualities and virtues, justice, Prudence, & the like: yea their affections & perturbations, Fear, Hope, Love, with the rest, whereof Lactantius writeth, Audax consilium Graeciae, De fall relig lib. 1. cap. 10 quòd Cupidinem & Amorem consecrant, Greece was very bold in making Love a God. Shall I add moreover, the defects & infirmities of men? Dea Muta, Ibid. they had their dumb Goddess; by Lactantius a thing most ridiculously taxed in them: Quid praestare colenti potest, quae loqui non potest? what good can she do to her suitors, that cannot speak? They are not yet filthy enough, unless they erect altars and shrines to these vices, to Impudency, and Contumelye, Clem. Ale● in protrep● as Epimenides did at Athens; and to those plagues which their sins deserved, as to Furies, and Fiends, Revenge, and the like mischiefs. Tullus Hostilius put Fear & Paleness in the number of his Gods; It is pity (saith Lactantius) that ever his Gods should go from him. Pavorem, palloremque▪ And the people of Rome held Rust, and the Ague in no less account. The fruits of the ground as Corn and Wine, the very land marks in the fields, Terminus. Stercutiu●. rude & unshapen stones, were not debarred of this honour. They had their God for dunging their land, and (the basest thing that could be imagined) a goddess for their draught-houses. Cloacina, Bacchus. Venus. Lavern●. And not to disquiet any longer Christian ears with their hethnish absurdities; drunkards harlots and the eves, were not left without their patrons. A Poet of their own inveighed against their multitude of Gods in a Satire long since, Nec turba deorum Talis ut est hody, contentáque sydera paucis Numinibus, juvenal. miserum urgebant Atlanta minore Pondere. There were not wont to be so many Gods as now a days, the heavens were content with a smaller number of them, & laid less burden upon the shoulders of poor Atlas. We read in the history of the sacred book, that Astaroth was the idol of Zidon, Melchon of Ammon, Chemosh of Moab, Beelzebub of Ekron; & for every nation that came out of Asshur to inhabit Samaria, who were therefore destroyed by lions, 2. King. 1● (because they knew not that manner of worship which the God of the country required,) a several God was found out; for the men of Babel, Succoth-Benoth; for the men of Cuth, Nergal; for Hamath, Ashima; Nibhaz & Tirtak for the Avims; for Shepharvaim, Adramelech & Anammelech, to which they burned their children in the fire. Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum, So much mischief could their very religion persuade unto them. Lactantius setteth down the cause of this vainness, Jnstitut. 〈◊〉. 3. cap. 10. in the thoughts, and darkness in the hearts of men, that wherein they profess themselves to be most wise, therein they become most fools. Men are therefore deceived, because either they take upon them religion without wisdom, or study wisdom without religion; so they fall to many religions, but therefore false, because they have forsaken wisdom, which could teach them that there cannot be many Gods: or they bestow their pains in wisdom, but therefore false, because they have let slip the religion of the highest God, which might instruct them in the knowledge of truth. To show the absurdities, wherewith this opinion floweth, of devising many God's Cyprian proveth that the majesty and sublimity of the godhead cannot admit an equal. De vanintate idolorum. tract 4. Quando un. quam aut cum fide caepi●, aut sine ●ruore des●●? Sic ●hebanorum gormanitas rup●a. Let us borrow an example from the earth, saith he: when did you ever know society & communion in a kingdom, either begin with fidelity, or end without bloodshed? Thus was germanity and brotherhood broken betwixt the Thebans, (Eteocles and Polynices.) One kingdom could not hold those brethren of Rome (Romulus & Remus) though the harbour of one womb contained them. Pompey & Cesar, though so nearly allied, yet they could not endure, Caesarué priorem. Pompeiusué parem— either Caesar his better, or Pompey his peer. Neither marvel (saith he) to see it thus in man, when all nature doth consent therein. The bees have but one king; flocks and herds but one leader; Rex unus est apibus etc. much more hath the world but one governor. That which was spoken to this effect in general, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉▪ That the kingdom of many governors is not good; Caesar applied to his own name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in exception to the multitude of Caesar's or Emperors. The college of Bishops in Rome answered Marcellus, when he would have built but one temple both to Honour and virtue, una cella du obus diis non rectè dic●da Val Max▪ One chapel or chancel cannot well be dedicated to two Gods. I often allege Lactantius in these matters, a man that hath notably deserved of the gospel of Christ, against the vanities of Gentility, who being as it were a stream issuing from the eloquence of Tully (as Jerome commanded him) converted all the force o● his eloquence to assault, Quasi qui dam fluvius eloquentiae Tullianae. beat down, vanquish, triumph over the enemies of true religion. Thomas Beacon a country man of ours in an epistle to D. Nowell (Cherubin to Cherubin,) giveth him this commendation to close up his appetite amongst many others before uttered; Caelius Lactantius Firmianus. I cannot but cry out. O Celius, a man truly celestial and divine: O Lactantius, an author sweeter than any milk, and honey: O Firmianus, a champion in defending Christian verity, most firm, faithful and constant: Behold the man, etc. alluding to his happy names which he rightly fitted by answerable good conditions. This Lactantius presseth his arguments nearer to the mark: De fals●elig lib. 1. cap. 3 Minute habebunt singuli ●er 〈◊〉▪ If there be more Gods then one, then singly and apart they must needs have less strength; for so much shall be wanting to every one, as the rest h●ue gleaned from him: and the nature of goodness cannot be perfit and absolute, but where the whole, not where a little portion of the whole is. It they shall say, that as there are sundry offices to be looked unto, Virtutis perfecta naturae etc. At officia multi parti. ta sunt. so they are divided amongst many officers, all cometh to the same end. For their several jurisdictions cannot exceed their bounds, because they are crossed & kept in by others, as two contrary winds cannot blow together in one place. For if they have equal force, one hindereth the other; if unequal, the weaker of the two must perforce yield. Again, if offices be shared amongst them, besides that the care of every God will go no farther than his own charge and province, they must of necessity often fall out, as they did in Homer, where the cou●t is divided into two fact●ons, some alleging for Troy, that it should be defended; otheir against it, that it should be sacked. If in an army of men, there should be as many generals, as there are regiments, bands and companies, neither could they well array, nor easily govern and hold in their soldiers. And to say that the world is ruled by the disposition of many Gods, is such a kind of speech, as if a man should affirm, there were many minds in one body, because the members thereof have divers ministries, every sense to have a peculiar mind set over it; which who so saith, * Ne ipsam quidem quae una est habere videatur. proveth himself destitute of that which is but one in every man. But amongst the rest there is some one principal supereminent, as Antisthenes sometime said that there were many * Multi dit populares▪ unus naturalis. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Nec opus est proprio vocabulo, nisi cum nomen exigit multitudo. S●●om. 5. Non ut nomen eius proferentes dicimus▪ sed propter rei in●ffa●ilis ampli●●udinē Exod 3. Ego sum existens, se ipsum non existentibus opponem. popular Gods, having tuition of the div●rs nations and people of the world (perhaps he meant vulgar and trivial Gods;) and but one natural, by whom the whole creature was form; then are the rest not Gods, (Lactantius inferreth) but servantes and attendants. He addeth to his former conf●tations, the testimony of the Sibelles, that there is but one only God; and the reason which Mercurius Trismegistus bringeth why God is without name, is because he is but one, and one hath no need of any name: for there is no use of a proper name for distinction from the rest, but where there are more of the same kind to enforce it. Clemens Alexandrinus frameth the like discourse; that which is one, is not subject to division: wherefore it is infinite and wanteth both difference and name. For though we call him unproperly sometimes, either one, or good, or that that is, or father, or God, or maker, or Lord, we do not this to declare his name, but to show the ampleness of an unexplicable substance. To conclude; God termeth himself, Iam●, opposing his being and existence to things that are not, as justine Martyr collecteth in his oration to the Greeks: and as it appeareth by the same father, there was no difference in describing the nature of the godhead betwixt Moses (if I may so speak) a Plato amongst the Hebrews, and Plato a Moses amongst the Athenians, but a little varying the article; for where the one writeth he that is, the other writeth that that is, both tending to the same scope, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. that the everlasting being of one only God, might be averred. He furthermore witnesseth, that Plato took delight, and spent much contemplation in the brevity of that speech, consisting but of one participle (we may say, particle) as one perceiving therein, that, when God had a purpose to reveal his eternity to Moses, he chose to do it by a word; which being but one syllable amongst the Greeks, doth notwithstanding signify and contain 3. times, that which is past, that which is present, & that which is to come: all which are indistinct in God, because he is not changed, but is yesterday, today, and the same for evermore. I have showed you the error of the Gentiles, together with the unprobabilitye and absurdity thereof, in forging to themselves, and consequently fearing, adoring, honouring many Gods. In regard of ourselves, I grant, an impertinent speech; (for though there be that are called Gods, whether in heaven or in in earth, as there be Gods many, and Lords many, yet to us there is but one God; and we know, that an idol is nothing in the world;) but because every man hath not knowledge (as the Apostle continueth his speech,) and some men have not conscience; the infidel through ignorance, on the one side, mistaking; and the Atheist through maliciousness, on the other side, denying and defying; and the papist in a third crew, through heresy, in manner dividing that one only God, by giving his glory as great as himself, to angels and Saints, the works of his fingers; it is not amiss to be stored with all kind of proofs on this behalf, that some may be instructed, others convinced, silenced, utterly confounded. 3 And cast forth their wares. The third action specified in these mariners, is the casting forth of their wares to lighten their ship: which some ascribe in part to religion, as if their intent were to make some satisfaction, and to pacify their Gods, if by piracy, or other unlawful means they had taken aught before. Others impute it to necessity alone, and, me thinketh, the text speaketh for them, To lighten it. For it is no unusual practice in peril of shipwreck, to disburden the ship. So did Paul and his company in the 17. of the Acts, by reason of that jeopardy wherein they stood: one day they cast out wares, the next day with their own hands, they cast away their tackle: for in such extremities they must conclude as the Philosopher once did, I had perished if I had not perished, Perier●m nisi periissen we lose our lives, unless we lose our goods. The order and proceeding they hold, is very good, and which the children of the light need not scorn to imitate. First they try their Gods by supplication; then they consult of their means, and likelihoods, for the preservation of themselves. Which order others pervert, using God but for a shift, and at second hand, if happily by other devise we are not able to withstand a mischief: Ne● Deus oratur, nisi dignus vindice nodus Inciderit; we never use the aid of God, but when the knot is so hard, that ourselves cannot undo it. We are all reasonable creatures, and God will use us for the most part in matters appertaining to our good, as living and reasonable instruments. What else was the reason that Naaman the Syrian Lord, was willed to go and wash himself seven times in jordan, when there was a God in Israel, 2. King. 5. that could have restored his flesh, as he first form it, with a word of his mouth, as the Centurion spoke in the gospel, Say but the word Lord? Esa. 3● and that they were bidden to take a lump of dry figs, and lay upon the boil of Ezekias, and he should recover his sickness, when the Lord had before told him, I have heard thy prayer, and seen thy tears; behold, I will add unto thy days 15. years? john. 9 and that the blind man in the gospel, was sent to wash his eyes in Siloam, and he went, and returned seeing, when our saviour had made a plaster of spittle and clay, and applied to the part affected? what else is the meaning hereof, but that we must not eschew such ordinary and honest helps as God hath designed? The sluggard lusteth, Chap. 13. as it is in the Proverbs, but his soul hath nothing; Doubtless, because he doth but lust and will not follow it; Ibid. 19 For he hideth his hand in his bosom, and it grieveth him to put it to his mouth. He that will feed such slow bellies, and slack hands, deserveth to want himself. The desires of the slothful slay him, for his hands refuse to work: Ibid. 21. you hear the right properties of a sluggard; he is wholly made of desires, lusts, appetites, wish, long, but it is death unto him to thrust forth a finger, for the achievement of any thing. They had an evasion to the like effect, to colour their idleness withal, in ancient times, which the Philosophers called the idle reason. For thus they disputed: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Ignavaratio. If it be thy destiny to recover of such a sickness, whether thou shalt use a Physician or not use him, thou shalt recover etc. I would have such patrons of idleness used, as Zeno used his servant, who being taken with theft and alleging for himself that it was his destiny to steal, his master answered, Eruson. And thy destiny to be beaten; and accordingly rewarded him. If these mariners had so disputed, or sitten upon the hatches of their ship, their arms folden together, and their hearts only desiring to escape, their sorrows had there presently been ended; but neither their hearts nor hands were unoccupied. And therefore, as in the curing of bodily diseases, though of the most high cometh healing, Eccle. 38. yet the physician must be honoured with that honour that belongeth unto him, and the apothecary maketh the confection: as in the wars of Israel against M●dia, the sword of the Lord and of Gedeon went together, jud. 7. and the cry of the people was not left out; and, as in preventing this shipwreck, spirits and bodies, prayer and labour, heaven and earth (If I may so say,) were conjoined: so in all the affairs and appertenances of our lives, we must beware of tempting God. We must not lie in a ditch sullen, and negligent of ourselves, and look to be drawn out by others; nor think to be fed as the young ravens, without sowing; neither to be clothed as lilies of the field, without spinning and labouring: health cometh not from the clouds without seeking, nor wealth from the clods without digging. We must cast our care upon God, that yet we be not careless, and dissolute in our own salvation: O di homines ignauâ operâ, philosophâ sententiâ; I hate men that happily have good and provident thoughts, Pacuvius. but they will take no pains. That which Metellus sometime spoke by number, I hold a truth in him that is without number, unus & (si dici debet,) vnissimu●. Ber. ad Eugen. Our one and one-most God: ijsdem deos propitios esse aequum est, qui sibi adversarij non sunt: It is meet that God favour them, who are not enemies and hinderers to themselves. But to leave this point, there is a time, I perceive, when the riches of this world are not worth the keeping, especially compared with the life of man. Their wares, adventures and commodities, and not only the ballast of the ship, but the necessary implements, furniture, (for the original word, though signifying a vessel in particular, is a general name for all such requisite provision,) their victual, munitions, and whatsoever was of burden besides, are they conveyed & landed by boat, or any way thought upon to be saved? nay, they are thrown into the sea, to lighten their ship, without ever hope of recovery. It ●s a proverb justified by truth, though the father of lies spoke it, job. 2. Skin for skin, and all that a man hath, will he give for his life. And it is a rule in nature allowed, Ephes. 5. No man ever hated his own flesh, nay rather he will nourish and cherish his life, as the Lord his Church. Is not the life more worth than meat, and thy body then raiment? Math. 6. Prover. 16. Tam vita vivit quam angelus. will not a man give his riches for the ransom of his life? The poorest worm in the earth, which hath a life, (saith Austin) as well as the Angel in heaven, will not forego that life without resisting. If either horns or hooves, or tusks, or talents, or beaks, or stings of beasts, birds, flies, unreasonable creatures may withstand, they will not spare to use their armour and weapons of nature to defend themselves withal. Is the life of the body (my beloved brethren) so dear, and is not the life of the soul more precious? is the life present so tender, and the life to come so much inferior? will you unload a ship to save it? will you burden and surcharge a soul to destroy it? shall the necessary instruments of the one be thrown out, and shall not the accessary ornaments, superfluous, sumptuous, riotous delights of the other be departed with? or, are not souls better than bodies? and incorruptible lives hereafter, better than these present, subject to corruption? or, are not riches a burden to your souls? Ho, he that increaseth that which is not his own, Abbac. 2. and he that ladeth himself with thick clay: how long? Are not riches a load? or what doubt you of? I know your answer, we increase but our own. Your own? who entitled you thereto? Is not the earth the Lords, and the fullness thereof? are you Coloni or Domini; Lords of the earth, or tilers, manurers, dressers, dispensers? Jerome writeth of Abraham, Senec. and other rich patriarchs of former age, that they were rather to be termed the bailiffs of the Lord, then rich men. Dispensa●●res magi● Dei quam divites appellandi. But were it your own; hath the sea bars or doors to keep it in, and is your appetite without all moderation? How long? is there no end of increasing? The widow in the 2. of the Kings, that had her liberty given to borrow as many vessels for oil to pay her debts, as her neighbours could spare her, had as large a scope, I am sure, and with better authority than ever was proposed to you: yet there was a time when she said to her son, give me yet a vessel, & he answered, there are no more vessels; and the oil ceased▪ and I doubt not, but with the oil, her desire ceased to. It may be, you have filled your vessels with oil, your own and your neighbours, your garners, your coffers, your bags, your warehouses, your fields, your farms, your children are full. I ask again with the prophet; How long? do you ever think to fill your hearts? The barren womb, unmerciful grave, unsatiable death will sooner be satisfied. It is a bottomless purse: the more it hath the more it coveteth. See an image hereof. Alcmaeon being willed by Croesus to go into his treasurehouse, & take as much gold as he could carry away with him, provided for that business a long hanging garment, down to his ankles, and great boots, and filled them both; nay he stuffed his mouth, and tied wedges of gold to the locks of his head; I think, but for hurting his brain, he would have ferst the skull of his head, and the bowels within his breast, if he could have spared them. Here is an heart set upon riches, & riches set upon an heart; heaps of wealth like the hills that wants cast up: Cumuli, tumuli, every hill is a grave, every heap a tomb to bury himself in. Is this to dispense? Is this to exercise bayliwickes? Is this to show fidelity in your masters house? In few words I exhort you, if the ship be too full, unlade it; cast your goods into the sea, lest they cast yourselves; cast your bread upon the waters, distribute your mercies to the needy, where you look for no recompense. It is not certain, it is not likely, and so it may fall out, that it is not possible for those that are rich, to enter into the kingdom of heaven. You can dissolve that riddle, I know: our saviour, you say, meant of such as trust in riches: & do not you trust in them? Do you not say to the wedge of gold, in the applause that yourselves give to it, Thou art my confidence? Do you not plant, build, purchase, add house to house, join field to field, put to use, grind, eat, tear, rack, extort to the outermost? what meaneth such costliness in your houses, delicacy at your tables, stately habiliments upon your wives and daughters, insolent neighbourhood against your brethren, like the malignant aspect of unlucky planets upon them, discountenancings, disturbing, dispossessings of them, but that you trust in riches? Where is your trust in the living God mean time, richness in good works, readiness to distribute and communicate, ● Tim. 6. which the Apostle preached to Timothy, and willed him to give in charge, (because such hard doctrine must be driven in with hard hammers) to those that are rich in this present world, lest they be deprived of those incorruptible riches which God hath stored up? where are your morsels of bread to feed the hungry, your fleeces of will to warm the loins of the naked, hospitality in your halls, bounty at your gates, liberality in your hands? I think, you keep the rule of the gospel, that the right hand knoweth not what the left doth, because neither right nor left doth any thing. I like the advice of an heathen well: Concin● 〈◊〉, magis p●obo quam l●ngam. Use thy wealth, as thou wouldst use thy coat; let it be rather fit than too long. A little may be a burden, 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 jerusalem, there is good gold indeed, gold tried in the fire, in the third of the revelation, where neither moth nor rust can corrupt, nor thief purloin it: gold of more worth, than all the mines of the earth can send up. O thirst after this gold, if you must needs thirst; be covetous after durable riches: Lay up treasures for yourselves in heaven, and of your unrighteous Mammon, (neither well gained perhaps, and ill kept, and worse laid out) make friends in time, that they may receive you into the heavenly tabernacles: save your ships, if it may be, and save your lives; but save your souls, though you lose your wares, your ships, and your lives to. THE sixth LECTURE. Chap. 1. ver. 5. But jonas was gone down into the sides of the ship, and he lay down, and was fast a sleep. THE mariners had thrown out their wares, The third person jonas. but the greatest burden was behind, the sin of jonas; for wickedness is as a talon of lead, Zach. 5. the weight whereof cannot be expressed. Salt and sand, Eccle. 32. and a lump of iron is easier to bear, than an unwise, foolish, & ungodly man. We see by the proof of this example, that the sin of one private person is likely to sink a ship in the midst of the sea; and Peter thought it of force to overturn more than one, Luke 5. For when the two ships were so fraught with fish, that they were ready to sink, he fell down at the knees of jesus, and said, go from me Lord, for I am a sinful man; thinking that his sin had so endangered them. They say, Elementum in loco suo non ponderat. no element is ponderous in the proper place of the element; we feel not the weight of the air, though we live in the circle of it; the water of the sea, as much as the whole chamnel holdeth, if we lay in the nethermost bottom thereof, would not offend us with burden, though annoy us otherwise: so is it in the estimation of sin; it seemeth not a burden in the will of man, wherein the region and element of sin is, because of that lust and appetite the will hath to commit sin: but bring it from the house and home where it dwelleth, convent it before reason, examine it with judgement and understanding, consider what an infinite majesty it offendeth, and what infinite plagues it bringeth forth, then shall we know the weight of sin. No sooner had jonas entered the ship, but the sea, which was at rest before, feeling a burden more than common, came forth like a bridegroom out of his chamber and channel, to ease itself, and to shake his bones with an ague that troubled the quiet thereof: Homil. 5. add pop.. that we may learn, (saith Chrysost.) ubi peccatum, ibi procella, where sin is, there will also be a storm; and if we will save ourselves, we must drown sin as they drowned▪ jonas. The sleep of jonas is as strange, prodigious, and brutis● kind of sleep, as ever I heard of. The winds rage, the sea roareth, the ship tottereth and groaneth, the mariners fear, and pray, and cry, every soul in the ship, so many persons upon so many Gods, (it was as the howling of Baal's Priests, or as the yelling of wolves) they run to and fro, they ransack all the corners of the ship, unbowell her in most celles, throw out commodities, rend and rape down tackles, sails, all implements; jonas in the mean time, as a man possessed with the deaf Devil, Mark 7. or as one that had lost his soul, as they writ of Hermotimus, that his soul would departed from the body at times and come home again, sleepeth. If a thief should come to rob, would he not steal till he had enough? If grape-gatherers should come to a vine, would they not leave some grapes? Obadiah 5. Behold, the customer of the life of man, who taxeth half our days to his own use, A●rocissimus vitae humanae publicanus, somnus. cometh upon jonas, and is not content with ordinary, moderate fees, but bereaveth him of all sense. And no orator in the world, could better have described this drowsiness, to the disgrace of jonas, than jonas himself. jonas was gone down. 1 He descended. He stayed not upon the hatches, to visit the light of heaven, to behold the waves of the sea, his persecutors, but removed as far from God and his anger, as his heart could devise; showing that his works were evil, because he buried himself in darkness. A sinner ever descendeth till he cometh to the lowest that may be; his affections are downwards, and, I am sure, his inheritance and hope is not above; but as we bury dead flesh under the ground, so it is not unlikely of dead souls; and as the heaviest bodies draw to the centre of the earth, so the saddest and heaviest spirits, which the mercy of God hath forsaken. 2 He descended not into the bosom & through fare of the ship, Into the sides or thighs. where the passage of the mariners up and down might have disturbed him, but into the sides or thighs of it. 3 He descended into the sides of the keel, Of the keel, catinae. the veriest bottom that the vessel had. I think, if there had been a vault in the ship as deep as hell and destruction itself, he would have entered thereinto. 4 He descended into the ship, He lay down. not to bestow time in any serviceable employment, for the furtherance of the voyage, but to lie down. 5 Not for the ease of his body alone to give it some short repose, And slept. but to sleep. 6 Nay he slept and slept, Endymion's sleep, Somno sopitus est, Was fast a sleep. it was an heavy, stupid, deadly sleep. The best inducement to sleep, you know, where the body is aptly framed unto it, is stillness and quietness; Ovid. 11. Metamor. and therefore the Poet describeth the place of sleep to be in a vault of the earth, where the light of the sun never cometh; a long gallery or porch leading unto it to remove it from the assembly of people; no door to the house, lest the turning of the hinges should disquiet his ease; and neither dog, nor cock, nor goose, nor any wakeful creature, to break silence, nor tree to make a noise: thus is he lodged upon a bed of down, in a bedstead of ebony, free from the annoyance of any thing. This was the reason that the Sybarites, a sleepy, lascivious, riotous nation of men (who would lodge themselves for pleasure, in beds of violets,) the better to take their ease, banished cocks from their cities, and all kinds of trades, wherein hammerings or noise might be used. jonas hath nothing in the world, neither without nor within to invite sleep: clamours, and commotions, and cursitations one way; vexation and trouble of heart an other way; these were his helps. Admit he were weary with travel from the city to the haven, as jacob was weary when he went to Haram, and lay down by the way, and slept upon a pillow of stone: what? so weary that neither the voice of men, nor God, nor conscience, nor the voice of the ship, which as before I noted, yearned in her inward spirit, and thought to be rend, could awake him? Gen. 2. The sleep of Adam was an heavy sleep, so the text termeth it, when God took a rib from his side, and closed up the flesh again, and he felt it not: But the reason is there given, God cast him into it; it was a matter devised and composed before hand. The sleep of Sisera judg. 4. was an heavy sleep, when a nail was driven into the temples of his head: But he had run one foot from the battle, and was wearied with hot pursuit. The sleep of Isboseth 2. Sam. 4. an heavy sleep, when his two captains slew him at noon, upon his bed: But the heat of the day procured that sleep. The sleep of Samson judg. 16. an heavy sleep, when the 7. locks of his head were shaved off: But the charms and enticements of Delilah caused him to sleep upon her knees. The sleep of Eutyches, Act. 20, an heavy sleep, when he fell from the third loft, and was taken up dead: But the night, which was the time of rest, was far spent; that reason Scipio giveth, and it holdeth in nature, Quia ad multam noctem vigilassem, arctior me somnus complexus est: Because I had watched long till a great part of the night was spent, I fell into a deeper sleep. It was a marvelous sleep which Lot was surprised with, when his two daughters abused themselves with him, and he neither perceived when they lay down, nor when they rose up: But the text noteth their shameless policy, They gave him wine to make him sleep. The seven sleepers in the time of Decius the Emperor, (if the history deceive us not) slept in an hill, by a miracle; Epimenides the Cretian slept fourscore years in a cave, (they that say fewer, say enough,) beyond a miracle, and I nothing doubt but beyond the truth. Surely the sleep of jonas, though neither so fabulous as some, nor so miraculous as others, and more unprobable than the most, is, for the time, not inferior to any before mentioned, and no right cause can be rendered of it. For what can we say? was it because he was vexed, and troubled in his spirit? as the disciples of Christ, Matthew the 26. and in the number of the disciples, the choice, Peter, john, and james, to whom our Saviour came and said; could ye not watch with me one hour? and a second time in the same manner? But they are there excused in part by the weakness of nature, For their eyes were heavy: and surely the heaviness of their eyes came from the heaviness of their spirits. Or was it not rather the hardness and resolution of his heart, the dregs of sin frozen and congealed within him, sin beyond measure sinful, and beyond measure dull, that so oppressed him? Undoubtedly there is a time and state in sin (let it be heard attentively, that the enchantments thereof get not to deep a possession,) there is a time and state in sin, when the heart is as fat as grease, the conscience feared as with hot irons: and, as they writ of Dionysius Heracleote, though they thrust needles into his belly to let out his fat, by reason of his grossness he felt them not; so wound, and extimulate, and grieve this headstrong iniquity never so much, it careth not, stoutly bearing itself against God and man; and as it hath no hope, so having in a manner no desperation. Such was the case of Catiline, when he had fired the city of Rome with his conspiracies, he had no better comfort than this, Incendium meum ruina extinguam: Sallust. I will quench the fire I have kindled with a final ruin; I will add worse to evil, thirst to drunkenness, and leave the success of my mischievous and ungracious actions, to the extremest adventures, Lib. ep. 22 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Nazian. Et malit meis velutē iam propriis & vernaculis adfavebam. Lib. 1. Cyprian writeth of himself, who had sometime been a great persecutor, and afterwards proved a glorious Martyr, that being entangled in the errors of his former life, past hope of getting out, he even gave over himself to his adherent vices, and favoured his sins as now become proper unto him, borne as it were in his own home, and incorporate into his flesh and bones, by long acquaintance. And Bernard in his books of consideration to Eugenius, doth notably describe an hard heart: what it is? (saith he) It is that which is not cut with compunction, (a razor will sooner cut a whetstone) not softened with love, not moved with entreaty, yieldeth not to threatenings, with scourges is hardened, unthankful for benefits, unfaithful in counsels, unmerciful in judgements, shameless in dishonesty, reckless in dangers, in things appertaining to men, void of humanity; in matters concerning God, full of temerity; unmindful of what is past, negligent of what is present, improvident of what to come. This might be the cogitation of jonas: I have run too far in rebellion to return, I know the worst that can befall me; but be it as it may, from henceforth sleep my soul, and take thy ease, bury thyself in security, and digest thy sorrow with carelessness. Or was it a spirit of slumber sent from God? was he brought into this drowsiness for some end unknown unto him? were his eyes held of purpose (as the eyes of the two Disciples that went to Emaus) his senses bound up that some extraordinary work of GOD might afterwards be manifested? There is a conflict and repugnancy herein, which I know not how to reconcile, a man so troubled in conscience, that he descendeth into the sides of the ship, flying the face of God, the face of men, the face of his own person, the face of the light of heaven, not able to endure the face of the winds and seas, that were up in arms against him, yet sleepeth. It is against all reason. For sleep departeth from the eyes of fearful men, If they lay them down, job. 7. they say, when shall I rise? they measure the hours of the night, they are full of tossing to and fro, until the dawning of the day. When they say, my couch shall relieve me, and my bed shall bring comfort in my meditation, then are they feared with dreams, and astonished with visions. Ovid. Therefore the Poet called one of the sons of sleep, Phobetor, a terrifier of men, presenting himself unto their fantasy in the likeness of beasts, Fit fera, fit volucris, sit toto corpere serpens. of birds, of serpents, of any thing that may affright the wicked. I never would have thought that conscience could have slept till this time: she is so marked and observed by her own eye, though no other eye perceive her; so followed and chased by her own foot, though nothing else in heaven or earth pursue her. She flieth when no man followeth; and hath a thousand witnesses within her own breast, when she is free from the whole world besides. The worm that ever gnaweth, the fire that ever burneth, is the remembrance of her forepast iniquities. And though we escape the hands of the living God, we shall find it fearful enough to fall into the hands of a living and yet dying conscience. But nothing in the world, I think, save either a dullness of sin incredible, and the next degree to a reprobate sense, or else a purpose of God, to show the perfection of his power in the imperfection and weakness of his prophet, could have wrought this effect. The end of all is this. He neither slumbereth nor sleepeth that keepeth Israel, he waketh in heaven that hath an eye and care of jonas in his profound sleeping. Though smitten into the place of Dragons, or whales, and covered with the shadow of death, he cometh to light again; Psal. 68 though he lieth amongst the pots, as an other Psalm speaketh, in a filthy, fuliginous corner, as one forgotten, forsaken, forlorn; he becometh as a Dove, whose wings are of silver, and her feathers of yellow gold, purified as it were by the finer of his soul, and restored to that beauty and perfection wherewith before he shone. Though he dwelleth in the land of forgetfulness, Psal. 88 and is laid in the lowest pit, & in the deep of displeasure, as a man without strength, free among the dead, and exiled from the living, and as the slain in the grave, whom God remembreth no more, (for such was the cabin of security which jonas was entered into,) yet he is quickened with life, and brought up to heaven, to be an example of mercy to those that were then unborn. Of judgement and mercy may be our song; judgement in the revenge, mercy in the deliverance of jonas; judgement in his flight and running from God, mercy in his retreat; judgement in his sleeping, mercy in his rising up. If God had not watched to preserve jonas, (as when we all sleep, Omnium somnos illiu● vigilanti● defendit. Psal. 76. jer. 51. he waketh for us all.) jonas might have slept his sleep, (to use the phrase of the Psalm) and (as jeremy expoundeth it) his everlasting sleep; not that sweet sleep of the body, wherewith nature is refreshed, but of the soul in sin, and of the body and soul in immortal perdition. If God should have said unto him touching the spirit of slumber now fallen upon the spirit of jonas, as our saviour said to his disciples, touching the sleep of their bodies, from henceforth sleep and take thy rest, till thy eyes sink into the holes of thy head, I will neither come nor send to call thee up again; the night had compassed him in with darkness, and the pit had shut her mouth upon him for ever. Look not my brethren for favour at the hands of God, so singular as jonas found; make not the watchfulness of God an occasion to your sluggishness, neither sleep you in sin, because he sleepeth not in his providence and protection. Look not that the sun shall stand still any more, as it did to josuah; or go back again, as to Ezechias; or that jordan shall flee from his place, the sea divide itself, and stand up like walls, as to the children of Israel; nor that a voice shall be heard from heaven, or a light seen, besides the ordinary light of the firmament, as when Paul was converted. Do ye complain that the arm of the Lord is shortened in your days, because ye see not the like signs? or will ye not be saved without miracles? are your eyes evil, because God hath a larger hand towards other men? or is not his hand full enough toward us, if we knew our happiness? unless the course of the world be altered for our sakes, the pillars of the earth moved, the channels of the waters discovered, unless we see tokens in the sun and the moon, and one rise from the dead, to give us warning, will we not be warned? The jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom, we preach Christ crucified: 1. Cor. 1. and woe to the world, if the open face of the Gospel cannot move us without a sign, nor the simplicity of Christ jesus persuade us without other wisdom. jonas was suffered to run his race of disobedience, and when he had wearied and spent himself in perverse ways, mightily brought back: thou sayest, why not I? I dispute not. God will measure his graces at his pleasure; and though they run over to some, they are plentiful enough to us all, as it is in the tenth to the Romans. He that is Lord o-over all, is rich unto all that call unto him. That answer which he gave to Paul in an other case, Rom. 10. 2. Cor. 12. Sufficit tibi gratia mea, my grace sufficeth thee, may suffice all sutours. But if they will not return to God, till they have tempted his justice, as far as jonas did; and be cast into a bed of sin, as jesabel into a bed of fornication; and rocked a sleep in the deepest security that can be imagined, till they have lain like brands in the fire wasted to the stump; Zach. 3. Amos. 3. or as a sheep in the mouth of the Lion, consumed to an ear or a leg, as the prophets spoke: in this case, if God give them over also, and leave them to perish in the fire, and in the lions mouth, and in that bed of rest which their hearts have coveted, their destruction is of themselves, for putting back that accepted time, were it more or less, which God had offered them. But jonas findeth more favour with God, as appeareth by a message sent unto him. So the shipmaister came unto him, & said unto him, what meanest thou O sleeper? etc. Verse 6. Text. The shipmaster, or the master of the cable, the cordage, and tackle, cometh unto jonas, and biddeth him arise. I will not say what a shame it is to jonas, that he which was appointed a watchman unto others, Maior est poena à damnato damnari. Cypr. de sing. cler. should himself be awaked; nor how much the greater reproach to be condemned by an heathen, who himself was condemned by the sentence of the Hebrews, for an uncircumcised common and unclean person. But me thinketh I see an image in the shipmaster of a good governor, who is not content alone himself to take pains, Chap. 3. (which was the complaint of Nehemias, that the great men of the Tekoites put not their neck to the work) but so ordereth the rest of his company, (as the head and heart copartners in the kingdom, or one the king, the other the viceroy, the members of the body) that there is not a man amongst them suffered to sit at rest, and do nothing. The care of a governor over his charge is no way better expressed, then by the phrases which the scripture hath used. For therefore is he said to go in and out before the people, to note not only the priority of his place, but the prudency of virtue every way, & to lead them as a shepherd his sheep, on whom their dependence standeth, both for the safeguard of their lives, and estate, and their provision otherwise. To forbear other proofs herein; Moses nameth both at once in that serious request of his, which, after the knowledge of his death given, Num. 27. he made to the Lord for substitution of some other in his room: Let the Lord God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation, who may go in and out before them: and both lead them forth, and bring them home again, and that the congregation of the Lord be not as sheep without a shepherd. It appeareth by a former speech by him uttered, that he was not only charged with them as a leader with his followers, or a shepherd with his sheep, but as a father, mother, or nurse with his children and sucking babes. Else, why did he ask his maker in terms of most natural reference, have I conceived all this people? Num. 11. or have I begotten them? that thou shouldest say unto me, carry them in thy bosom, as a nurse beareth her sucking child? Let masters and magistrates learn by this speech, that when they are put in authority, they receive as it were a role from the Lord, like the role of Ezechiell, wherein their duties are abridged, and summed up in this short sentence, carry them in thy bosom. For as a writing received immediately from the mouth of God, so doth Moses set it down, or as if there had passed some interlocution betwixt God and him; as much as to say; let them be tender and dear unto thine affection, let them be under thine eye, and near thine heart, that they perish not; pity their miseries, redress their wrongs, relieve their wants, reform their errors, prevent their mishaps, procure their welfare and peace by all good means. It is an art of arts, and science of sciences, to rule man; Ar● artium, disciplina disciplinarum regere hominem. Nazianz. Superiores sunt, qui superiores esse sciunt. Ber. ser. 23. in cant. Civium non servitus trae dita sed 〈◊〉 tela. Nec resp. tu● sed tu reip. Senec. de ●le, Strom. 5.2. de consid, ad Eugen. and they are magistrates indeed which have the knowledge and skill that belongeth to magistrates; which have oculum cum sceptro, by which Emblem the Egyptians figured their governments, a sceptre for jurisdiction and power, an eye for watchfulness, and discretion. For if they interpret their callings aright, they have not the bondage & service of the people, so much as the tutage of them. Neither is the common wealth theirs to use as they list, but they the common wealths. What meant Clem. Alexandrinus in his fiction that he citeth out of Plato, that the former of all things, hath mingled gold with the complexion and temperature of princes; of their subordinate helpers and assessors, silver; but in the constitutions of husbandmen and artificers, brass and iron; but that the excellentest rooms should be furnished with the excellentest gifts, and as for meaner callings, they were sufficiently sped, if they had common and ordinary qualities? Sedes prima & vita ima, saith Bernard, the highest place, and basest life agree not: and the ancient proverb agreeth here unto, Rex fatuus in solio, simia in tecto, a foolish king in a throne, is an ape upon the house top, highly parched, but absurdly conditioned. The example of good governors (we know) is of great force to draw the hearts of the people after them; Nec si● inflectere sensus etc. their proclamations and edicts are not so available to persuade, as their manners. Confessor papa, Confessor populus, saith Cyprian to Cornelius Bishop of Rome: where the prelate or pastor is confessor of the name of Christ, his people will confess it also. When Shemaiah counseled Nehemias to fly into the temple, and shut the doors, because his enemies would that night come to slay him, he drew an argument of courage and magnanimity from the pre-eminence of his office, and withstood his persuasion; Should such a man as I slay? Nehem. 6. who is he, that being as I am, would go into the temple to live? I will not go in. Where an heart leadeth the army, though it consist wholly of lions, he maketh them all hearts: but where a lion is captain over hearts, he turneth them all into lions. The fear of Nehemias▪ being their prince and commander, had been enough to have weakened the hands and hearts of all his flock: for thus they would have reasoned against themselves: Our leader is discomforted, under whose shadow we said, we shall be safe. What a mischief it is to a common wealth, Lam. 4. to be encumbered with a foolish, untemperate ruler, the wisest preacher of the earth next the son of God, hath sound defined in these words, Eccle. 10. Woe to thee O land, where thy king is a child, and thy princes eat in the morning; when they have not wisdom to govern, and rather follow those pleasures which accompany the honour and royalty of Princes, than the pains which their magistracy requireth. Whereas on the other side, the government of an honourable and temperate magistrate bringeth singular blessings with it; Ibid. Blessed art thou O land, when thy king is the son of Nobles, and thy princes eat in time, for strength, and not for drunkenness. What are the stays and strengths of jerusalem and judah, cities and nations, all public and politic bodies? Esay. 3 Are not the strong man and the man of war, the judge and the prophet, the prudent and the aged, the captain over fifty, the honourable and the counsellor, and so forth? And are not their joints loosed, and their sinews taken away, when that judgement of God is fulfilled upon them, I will appoint children to be their princes, Ibid. and babes shall rule over them? Amongst those dreadful curses which the prophet calleth from heaven, against his malicious, unthankful adversaries, leaving no part unexamined, but running like oil into every joint, and bone of them, smiting themselves, wives, children, posterity, goods, good names, and memories that they leave behind them, the first that leadeth them all the race, as judas led that cursed band of soldiers, is this, set thou a wicked man to be ruler over him. Psal. 100 I have hitherto commended the person of the shipmaster, &, under this pattern or sampler, showed the duty of all magistrates, who in the proportion and extent of their government, be it more or less, must care for the whole body of their subjects, and show a part of their diligence herein, that none of their company neglect the duties which to them appertain. Now for the nature and use of government both by land and sea, The necessity of government. De legib. 3. in houses and cities, in regions, in all mankind, whole nature, and the universal world (as the orator writeth,) how necessary and requisite it is, I also observe in this, that the Master of the ship, having authority in his hands, rather than any of the inferiors, cometh unto him to raise him up, what meanest thou sleeper? Others might have asked him, Quid tibi est? what meanest thou? and he have made answer again, Quid vobis est? what mean you to trouble me? as they asked Moses, who made thee a man of authority and a judge over us? Exod. 1. There must be a mastery and dominion in every order of men specially designed, besides private persuasion or reproof, to say unto sleepers, why sleep you? and to other offensive and disordered persons either in Church, or in common wealth, why do ye thus? Hoc puto non justum est, illud male, rectius istud: Persius' 〈◊〉. 4. Spiritu● vitalis. This is not right, that is evil, and the other is better. This is the band whereby the common wealth hangeth together, the life-breath which these many thousand creatures draw, likely of themselves to prove nothing, save a burden to themselves, Si mens illa imperii subtrahatur. Senec. Arist. 1. Pol. and a booty to their enemies, if the spirit and soul of government be taken from them. For to rule and to be ruled, is not only in number of things necessary, but convenient and commodious also. I will invert it: besides the commodiousness it bringeth, it is of necessity; and cannot be miss. In the beginning, when heaven and earth were first made, God established a superiority and rule both in other creatures before, after their kinds, and afterwards in man, Genesis 1. He made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. Not long after when he had created man, he invested him presently into imperial authority, to subdue the earth, and to rule over the fishes of the sea, and over the fowls of heaven, and over every beast that moveth upon the earth: and why is it called the host of heaven, in the 2. of Genesis, but because there are orders and degrees therein, which being withdrawn from an army, it hath no good composition? And howsoever it may be true, that the government of man over man came from sin, (for God gave sovereignty to Adam over fishes and birds etc. not over reasonable creatures, made to his own likeness: and the first righteous men we read of, were rather shepherds and herdsmen over beasts, Pastors pecorum, ma●gis quàm reges gentium. Genes. 9 Li. 9 de civ. Dei. cap. 9 than kings over nations: and the name of servant was never imposed in scripture, till Noah bestowed it upon his accursed son; Cursed be Canaan, servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren; whereupon Augustine gathereth, Nomen itaque illud culpa meruit, & non natura, That name was purchased by transgression not by nature:) yet the nature of mandind standing as it doth, corrupted so far, that without the head of authority we could not live and converse together, God hath devised the means for the repressing of our mutual violences and injuries, which before we were subject unto. Irenee in his fift book against Heresies, giveth the reason why God appointed kingdoms; Because man forsaking God, was waxen so fierce, that he thought those of his kind and blood to be his enemies, and in all restlessness, murder, and covetousness, bore himself without fear; God put upon him the fear of man, (for he knew not the fear of the Lord) that fearing human Laws they should not devour and consume one the other, Cuius jussu homines nas 〈◊〉, eius & jussu reges▪ constituuntur. Rex instituitur à Deo, constituitur à populo. Datur illi regn● à Deo, traditur à populo. Regnat rex à Deo. per et propter populum. Eligitur rex à Deo, con●firmatur electus â populo. Vindic. tyrant. qu. 3. as the manner of fishes is. He addeth; by whose commandment men are created, by his commandment kings also are ordained, some for the profit and amendment of their subjects, and the preservation of justice, some for fear, and punishment, & reproof, some for illusion, contumely, insolency, as those that rather disgrace authority, despite their people, and shame themselves, than otherwise. By this that hath been alleged, we may easily confute the maisterles and lawless Anabaptist, who striketh at the head of government in general, and would frame a body of men, like the body of Polyphemus without his eye; or like the confused Chaos of old time, when height and depth, light and darkness were mingled together: As also those turbulent, either people or states, who ●evell at magistrates in particular; allowing authority, I grant, but such as pleaseth themselves; whose nice distinctions, like so many paring-knives, if we shall admit, that the king hath his institution from God, constitution from the people; and that his kingdom is given him from God, delivered from the people; that he reigneth from God through and for the people; is elected of God, but his election confirmed by the people: by this liberty which they take unto themselves, in the installment of princes into their states, you shall see them oftentimes, not only pruning away the superfluous boughs of misgovernment & tyranny in their superiors, but cutting up the very root of lawful and profitable government. Let them be coupled with the Anabaptists & rebels before named, who taking the power of two sword unto them before it be given, and bearing more crowns by three upon their heads then they ought to do, cry in the church of Rome against the Gods and Christ's of the earth, as they did sometimes amongst the heathen, against God's anointed son, Psal. 2. Let us break their bands a sunder, and cast their cords from us. For assuming this to themselves, that Schismatical and erroneous princes may be deposed by the Church, they will interpret ears to be horns, departure from a church extremely corrupted, and corrupting others, schism the service of the true God, and in a true manner, heresy lawful and lineal suceession in the throne, both by blood and assent, without authorizement and confirmation from them, unjustifiable intrusion. Of all these we may say, that as they are very lose, luxate, Nullus est horum qui non conscensa iurri, semet in mar● precipitaturus sit, s● iussero. Plu●ar▪ jos. 1. and palsey-shaking members in the body that will not move by the appointment and direction of the head, so the unruliest and disorderliest people, that will not submit their necks and souls to the yoke of their natural sovereigns: whom I will not ●ende to learn obedience and subjection of the soldiers of Scip●o, who had never a man in his army (by his own report) that would not for a word of his mouth have gone up unto a tower, and cast himselefe headlong into the sea; but to the children of Israel tendering their service to josuah with more moderation; All that thou hast commanded us, we will do; and whethersoever thou sendest us we will go: as we obeyed Moses in all things, so will we obey thee; And those that rebel against thy commandment, let them die the death. The volume of the whole book, I am sure, both the precepts and practices of all the servants of God, harpeth upon this string. Yea the Master of the house by his own example, taught those of his household how to behave themselves in this case. For as he obeyed his father even unto the death of the cross, his parents in the flesh in following their instructions, the law in following all righteousness; so the Emperor of Rome to, though he a stranger, and himself freeborn, in paying tribute unto him. Mat. 17. Though we are defamed and slandered, concerning the emperors majesty, yet Christians could never be found to be either Albinians, or Nigrians, or Cassians, that is, rebels to their liege Lords and masters, as Tertullian, in the name and cause of all christianity, wrote to Scapula; The Christian is no man's enemy, much less the Emperors. Rom. 13. But the matter is safe enough. There is no power but of God, & he that resisteth the powers, that be, resisteth Gods ordinances. And the Lord is king, be the earth never so impatient. Promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south, but from the Lord of hosts. By him are kingdoms disposed, princes inaugurated, crowns of gold set upon their heads, sceptres & states established, people mollified, and subdued; & by him were Corah & his confederates swallowed quick into the earth, Zimry burnt in his palace, Absalon hanged by his hairy scalp, Achitophel in a halter, for denying their feaulty to God's lieutenants. Conclusion. As the master of the ship came to jonas, and called him up, what meanest thou sleeper? etc. So let masters and governors within this place, who sit at the sterns of an other kind of shipping, and have rudders of city and country in their hands, let them awake themselves, that they may awake and rouse up other sleepers, all careless, dissolute, indisposed persons, who love the thresholds of their private doors upon the sabbaths of the Lord, and their benches in ale-boothes, better than the courts of the lords house; and neither in calms nor storms, when the ship groaneth, the whole land mourneth, all the creatures sigh and lament, will either fast, or pray, or sorrow, or do any thing with the rest of their brethren. Awake these drowsy christians, awake them with eager reprehension, what mean you? If reprehension will not serve, prick them with the sword, and raise them up with severe punishment. How long shall the drunkard sleep within your gates in the puddle and sink of his bowzing, and lose both honesty and wit, without controlment? the adulterer in chambering and wantonness upon his lascivious bed of pleasure, decked with the laces and carpets of Egypt? the idolator and superstitious, upon the knees, and in the bosom of the whore of Babylon? profaners of our sanctified sabbaths, in the sabbath, and rest, and jubilee of their lewd pastimes? the usurer and oppressor of others, whose jaws are as knives, and his teeth of iron, in his bed of mischief, as the Psalm calleth it, At mihi plaudo ipse domi, Horat. and in the contemplation and solace of his ill gotten goods? the swearer, in the habit and custom of abominable oaths (for these be the faults of your city, as common as the stones in your streets?) how long shall they sleep and snort herein without reprehension? it is your part to reform it, who are the ministers of God, not only for wealth, but for wrath also, unless you bear the sword in vain: you are the vocal laws of the land, and justice in life to punish with rigour, where it is convenient. Leges loquentes. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. We also of the ministry, have a place of preferment in the ship, and own a duty to God, though in an other kind. We have a sword in our mouths too, as you in your hands, whose edge is of more than steel, and cutteth deeper than into flesh and blood: yet such are the earthly spirits of men, fallen a sleep amongst us, that the sword of the spirit, without the sword of the magistrate, cannot stir them up. How long have we called, and lifted up our voices on high, to those that sleep in drunkenness, and lie in their vomit worse than dogs; Awake drunkards, weep and howl, your wine shall be pulled from your mouths; and they awoke not, but to follow drunkenness again, and to join the morning and the evening together, till the wine have inflamed them? How long to those that sleep in fornication; Awake adulterers and unclean persons, else God shall throw you into a bed of shame, and uncover your nakedness, and make you a reproach and scorn so far as your name is spread; yet they open not their eyes but to await for the twilight, and to lie at their neighbour's door for wife or daughter? to those that are at rest, and nestled in idolatry in the service of strange Gods; Awake idolators, you that say to the wood and stone, awake, help us; awake and rise up yourselves, else God is a jealous God, and will visit your sins with rods, and your offences with scourges? to all other sleepers in sin, sabbath breakers, swearers, liars, extortioners, usurers, what mean you sleepers? It is now time that you should arise from sleep, yea the time is almost past, Ephes. 5. Now is salvation nearer than when you first believed, and now is damnation nearer than when you were first threatened. The night is passed of blindness and ignorance forepast, the bright morning star hath risen, Rom. 13. and hid himself again within the clouds of heaven. The glorious sun of righteousness hath illuminated the whole sphere of the world, from the east to the west; and though his body be above, the light of his beams is still amongst us, and we may truly say, the day is come, yea the day is well nigh spent. The natural sun of the firmament runneth his race with speed, like a Giant refreshed with wine, to make an end of his course; and to finish all times. You are now brought to the eleventh hour of the day; there is but a twelfth, a few minutes of time between you and judgement: what mean you sleepers? Will you go away in a sleep, and shall your life pass from you like a dream? Came you naked of goodness from your mother's womb, and will you back naked? brought you nothing into the world with you of the best and blessedst riches, and will you carry nothing out? Or do you tarry to be started with the shrillest trumpet that ever blue, & the fearfullest voice to sleepers that ever sounded, arise ye dead? what mean you sleepers? The night is coming wherein no man can work: yea the day is coming wherein none shall work Acceptable to God, profitable to man, behoveful to himself, he neither can nor shall work any thing. That working that is, shall be the everlasting throbbings and throws of his heart for his endless miseries, the eyes labouring for tears which shall ever run down, and the teeth grinding one the other without ceasing. THE SEVENTH LECTURE. Chap. 1, vers. 6. Arise, call upon thy God, etc. BEfore, I have showed and commended the diligence of the shipmaster, and proved that there must be some power and superiority, to restrain inferiors by fear, to reprove sleepers and all kinds of offenders. The praise of this governor farther appeareth, that he doth not only reprehend jonas, what meanest thou sleeper? but urgeth and prosecuteth him, Arise; and instructeth him what he ought to do, Call upon thy God; and openeth the uncertainty and hazard wherinto they were fallen, If so be that God will think of us; & that the imminent danger toucheth not their goods alone, but their lives also, as appeareth by the end of his speech, That we perish not. Thus he is not content to pull him as it were by the ear, with checking him, but he shaketh him by the arm to, to set him on his feet; he entereth into his conscience, with wise and godly advice, & pricketh the inwardest vein of his heart, with commemoration of their danger, if God stay it not. He hath laid his hand upon a plough, & his eye goeth not from it; he sticketh not in the beginnings of his calling, but groweth onward by degrees, till he cometh to the full stature of a good magistrate. Give me a shepherd thus zealous of his flock, and I will say he is better than seven other shepherds, & a man of principality so careful of this duty, more than eight principal men that neglect theirs. 1. Sam. 2. It was not enough for Eli, you know, to chide his sons, why do you such things, for of all this people I hear evil reports of you, Do no more so, It is not a good report that I hear of you; because he did no more but so, and proceeded not in the chastisement and reformation of them, God chargeth him in plain terms, that he honoured his children above him and threateneth to cut of his arm, and the arm of his father's house. Chap. 3. Afterwards he telleth Samuel that he will do a thing in Israel, that whosoever heard of, his two ears should tingle. He would judge the house of Eli for ever, because his sons ran into slander, and he stayed them not; And the wickedness of his house should not be purged with sacrifice, and with offering whiles the world stood. And if you hearken for the sequel of all this, his two sons Hophni and Phinees died both in one day; and himself receiving a tidings worse than death, broke his neck. All this we hear of, fathers, and masters, and magistrates, and ministers, and yet our ears tingle not; we suffer our sons, our servantes, our people, our ●●ocks, to run into slander themselves, to redouble that slander upon our own heads, to multiply it against God, his gospel, his church, and we stay them not. The rest of our tongues within their walls and wards, and the rust of the sword within the skabbard, the admonition of the one winking with both the eyes, and the correction of the other fast a sleep, show, how unworthy we are to be trusted in our places, and how unlike the master of the ship here spoken of. Behold I have sought one by one, to match this example of gentility, and I have found one man of a thousand that may contend with him. The government of Nehemias throughout the whole book, is a singular precedent to all rulers. 1 In the building of the walls of jerusalem, he would not be checked by Sanballat and his mates, when they dispightfully asked him, what do you? will you rebel against the king? He then answered, Nehem. ●. The God of heaven will prosper us, and we will rise up and build: but as for you, ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial in Jerusalem. 2 When they determined by conspiracy to fight against Jerusalem and slay the builders of the walls, he placed them with spears and bows, and gave them this encouragement, Be not afraid of them, Chap. 4. but remember the great Lord and fearful, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, & your houses. So they did the work of the Lord with one hand, and held the sword with the other, wrought by day, and watched by night, yea they were so careful in their watch, he, and his servantes, and his brethren, and the men of the ward which followed him, that no man put of his clothes, save that they put them of for washing. 3 When the people were oppressed by their brethren, their lands, houses, vineyards, gauged for corn, their sons and daughters brought to subjection, Chap. 5. he rebuked the princes and rulers; Ye lay burdens every one upon his brethren, we have redeemed them from the heathen, and ye will sell them again; that which ye do, is not good, restore them their lands, olives, vineyards, houses, remit the hundredth part of the silver, corn, wine, oil, that ye exact of them. Yea he called the Priests, and caused them to swear to do it. Moreover he shook his lap, and said, Thus let the Lord shake out every man that performeth not his promise, even thus let him be shaken out and emptied. 4 When the sabbath was profaned amongst them, (for some in judaea trod winepresses, and brought in sheaves, and laded asses with wine, grapes, and figs, and other of tire brought fish, and all wares, Chap. 13. and sold them on the sabbaths in jerusalem) he not only rebuked their rulers, what evil is this that ye do? and showed them the danger, This did our fathers, and God plagued the city; but he caused the gates of the city to be shut before the sabbath, and set servants of his at the gates, and the chapmen remained without the walls at night, and he protested unto them, that if they tarried again about the wall, he would lay hands upon them. 5 When some of the jews married their wives, from Asdod, Ammon, and Moab, and their children spoke half in the speech of Asdod, and could not speak in the jews language, first he reproved them; Ibid: secondly, cursed them; thirdly, smote certain of them; four, pulled of their hair, for a further reproach unto them; and lastly, took an oath of them by God, ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, neither shall ye take of their daughters for yours sons nor for yourselves. 6 Eliashib the Priest, kinsman to Tobiah in the absence of Nehemie from jerusalem, having the oversight of the chamber of the house of the Lord, (where the offering and incense, vessels and tithes, for the provision of Levites, singers, and porters, and the offerings of Priests were wont to be laid) he made a chamber thereof for his kinsman, Tobias the Horonite. The order that Nehemias took for the amendment of this abuse, is thoroughly pursued: 1. it grieved him sore: 2. he cast out the vessels of Tobiah out of the chamber, and then caused the chambers to be cleansed, and the vessels of the house of God to be brought thither again: 3. because the portions of the Levites and singers had not been given to them, and every one was fled to his land, he reproved the rulers, Why is the house of God forsaken? 4. he caused the tithes to be restored, brought the Levites together to their place again, and appointed faithful officers and treasurers to distribute unto them. The petition that he maketh unto the righteous Lord, who will not forget our labours, at the foot of every of those services, is framed to this effect; Remember me, O my God, in goodness, and wipe not out my kindness concerning this, and pardon me according to thy great mercies. Thus Nehemias, you see▪ was not unmindful of the Lord, that the Lord might be mindful of him again, Neither in the building, nor in the warding of the walls of jerusalem, nor in relieving the burdens of his brethren, nor in sanctifying the sabbath, nor in purging the people from commixtion with strangers, nor in replenishing the chambers of God's house, with maintenance for his ministers. All which he zealously undertook, and constantly followed to the end, fastening his reproofs like nails that are driven in a sure place, and showing himself a careful Magistrate both in war and peace, in civil & religious affairs, towards the children of the land, and towards strangers that trafficked within the borders thereof. Undoubtedly your charge is great whom the Lord hath marked out to places of government; and if ever you hope, as Nehemias wished, that God shall remember you concerning this or that kindness showed in his business, remember you whose image you carry, whose person you present, whose cause you undertake, whose judgements you execute upon earth. And though ye are not troubled with building and warding the walls of your country, because peace is the walls, and the strength of God our bulwarks and fortresses; and mine eyes would fail with expectation of that day, when the chambers of the lords house, which Tobiah the Horonite hath seized into his hands, should be restored to their ancient institution for the maintenance of Levites and singers: yet in the oppressions of your brethren, whose vineyards, fields, houses, liberty, living are wrung from them, and their sons and daughters undone, if you do not in all respects, as Nehemias did, lend them money & corn, Chap. 5. he and his servants of their own, and bestow the fees of your places, towards their relief, (for he ate not the bread of the governor in twelve years, and an hundred and fifty he maintained daily at his board with sufficient allowance) yet such as oppress too much, exhort ' reprove, cause them to respite, cause them to remit, tie them by promise to do it, bind them by oath, and if that will not serve, (unless you be loath to throw a stone against an adulterer, or to shake your lap against an oppressor, because you are guilty in your hearts of the like trespasses) shake the laps of your garments against them, and with an unfeigned spirit beseech the just judge, that such as will not restore, may so be shaken out and emptied from all his mercies. Likewise for the sabbath of the Lord, the sanctified day of his rest, help to bring it to rest, it is shamefully troubled and disquieted; the common days in the week are happier in their seasons, than the Lords sabbaths. Then are the manuary crafts exercised, every man in his shop applying his honest and lawful business; the sabbath is reserved as the unprofitablest day of the seven▪ for idleness, sleeping, walking, rioting, tippling, bowling, dancing, and what not? I speak what I know; upon a principal sabbath (for if the resurrection of Christ deserve to alter the sabbath from day to day, I see no cause but the coming down of the holy ghost should add honour and ornament unto it) I say, upon a principal sabbath, not only those of jerusalem and judah sold their wares, but those of tire also which came from abroad, brought in their commodities, and neither your gates shut, nor foreigners kept out, nor citizens reproved, nor any thing done, whereby God's name and day might be honoured. Go now and ask if you can for blushing, as Nehemias did, O Lord remember us concerning this kindness. It is not enough for you to bear the place of pre-eminence in the ship, but you must reprove, as the master here did; nor enough barely to reprove, but you must go forwards in hunting security from her couch, by urging how hard it is to appease the anger of God, if it be thoroughly inflamed, how dangerous against the life and soul, if it be not prevented. It is the fervency of the spirit, even of a double spirit, as Elizeus sometime wished, the spirit of magistrates, which are more than single persons, perfect hatred to sin, crushing both the egg & the cockatrice, courage in the cause of the Lord, zeal to his house both kindling and consuming your hearts, a good beginning, and a good ending, which the Lord requireth. Will you safeguard the ship in the Ocean sea, and break her within a league of the haven? will you put your hand to the plough of the best husbandry, and thriving in the world, and then look back? will you lay the foundation of the house, rear up the walls, and not seek to cover it? you know the parable, This man began to build. It had been better not to have known the way of truth, than not to persist in it, nor to have set your shoulders to the work of the Lord, unless ye hold out. The leaf of a righteous man never fadeth: whereupon the gloss noteth, that the fall of the leaves, Psal 1. Lapsus foliorum, mortificatio arborum. is the dying and decaying of the trees. When it repenteth a man to have begun well, it is a sinful repentance, and much to be repent of. The fire upon the altar of the Lord must always burn, never go out, and the sedulity of God's lieutenants upon the earth must ever be working, never wearied. All virtues run in the race, one only receiveth the garland, the image of most happy eternity, happy continuance. I told you before that nature directed the Mariners to the acknowledgement of a God: it is here further ratified, Call upon thy God. with many other principles of nature, if they were needful to be examined; as 1. that God only is to be invocated and called upon; 1 Call upon thy God. 2 If so be God etc. 3 Will shine upon us. 4 That we perish not. Call upon thy God 2. the unity of the godhead is avowed. For the shipmaster forgetting the multitude of Gods, nameth one singly without other associates; If so be God. 3. That the felicity of mankind, dependeth upon the serenity, gracious & favourable aspect of God, as I gather by the phrase here used; if God will shine upon us. 4. It is implied that our life & death are in God's hands; That we perish not. But let those pass a while. The matter we are now to examine, is the liberty and freedom which the shipmaster gave unto jonas, to call upon his proper God, not tying him to that which himself adored. We say, Rel●gio religat, Religion toeth every man to some one God, whom either by heavenly revelation, or by their fantasy & conceit they have made choice of. And therefore the Lord asketh with admiration, jer. 2. Hath any nation changed their Gods? which yet are no Gods. And Mal. 3. Will a man spoil his gods? nay they are so fond & doting in affection upon them, that they will spare no cost to honour them. If they worship but a golden calf, they will strip their wives and daughters of their richest jewels, to show their devotion. When Phidias told the Athenians, that it was better to make Minerva of marble than ivory, because the beauty thereof would longer continue, Valer. Ma●. li. 1. thus far they endured him; but when he added, And it is better cheap, they enjoined him silence. Alexander was so frank in bestowing frankincense upon his Gods, that his officers blamed him for it. Micheas, judg. 18. accounted the loss of his Gods, which the children of Dan took from him, above all losses; What had I more to lose? jud. 18. How did Senacherib and Rabsakeh deride all the Gods of the nations in emulation to their own Gods, as appeareth by their insolent speeches? where is the God of Hamath, Es● 3●. and 37. & of Arphad? where is the God of Sepharvaim? who is he amongst all the Gods of these lands, that hath delivered their countries out of my hands? Nay they forbear not to speak blasphemy against the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, which dwelleth between the Cherubins, and is very God alone over all the kingdoms of the earth: Go say to Ezechias, let not thy God deceive thee whom thou trustest. Therefore when Darius had conceived an opinion of the God of heaven, he made a decree, that in all the dominions of his kingdom, men should tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for he is the living God, Dan. 6. and remaineth for ever, and his kingdom shall not perish, and his dominion shall be everlasting. Nabuchodonosor made the like decree before, when he saw the deliverance of the three children, that whosoever spoke any blasphemy against their God, Dan. 3. should be drawn in pieces, and his house made a jakes, because there was no God that could deliver after that sort. Hence came it, that David so much disgraced and discountenaunced the Gods of the heathen; Psal. 135. I know that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is above all Gods, etc. As for the idols of the heathen, they are but silver and gold even the work of men's hands: they have a mouth and speak not, they have eyes and see not, they have ears and hear not, neither is there any breath in their mouths. And for the same cause did Elias scoff at Baal, 1. King. 18. when he cried unto his prophets, cry aloud, for he is a God▪ either he talketh, or pursueth his enemies, or is in his journey, or perhaps sleepeth, and must be awaked. When Ahaziah sent for help of his sickness to Beelzebub the God of Eckron, an angel of the Lord met his messengers, 2. King. 1. and said unto them, Is it not because there is no God in Israel, that ye go to inquire of Beelzebub the God of Eckron? Thus all the servants of God, Angels & men, are zealously and unmoveably bend for the advauncement of his name above all other Gods, which idolators hang upon. Which maketh me the more to marvel, that the master of the ship can permit jonas to call upon his own God. Diversity of religions. It hath been a question sometimes disputed, whether divers religions at once may be borne with, in one kingdom. Which whether the remediless condition of the time and place have enforced, or the negligence of the magistrate dissembled, or the indifferent, lukewarm affection of a policy over-politique suffered to steal in, I know not; but sure I am, that some countries & commonweals of christendom, stand upon feet partly of iron, partly of clay, that is, there are both jews & Christians, Arrians & Anabaptists, Papists & Protestants, and such a confusion of religions, as there was in Babel of languages. To give you my judgement in few words, I wholly mislike it. For if in our private houses, we would not endure a man that had his affection alienated and estranged from ourselves, our wives, our children, or any friend of ours; shall we admit them in the common wealth, which bear a foreign and unnatural conceit, touching the God we serve, the Prince we obey, the country we are nursed in? The first of those ten words which God spoke in Sinai, standing at the entrance of all his moral precepts, like the Cherubins at the gates of paradise, crieth unto the house of Israel, and all other people, thou shalt have none other Gods besides me. Those other prohibitions in the law, Thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed, Thou shalt not plough with an Ox and an Ass together; Levit. 19 Deuter. 22. A garment of divers stuffs as of linen and woollen, shall not come upon thee; what do they intend? I may ask as the Apostle did of another sentence in the law, Hath God care of Oxen & Asses, garments, and grains? Haec ad literam videntur esse ridicula. And the Ordinary gloss upon Leviticus, saith, that these things taken after the letter, seem ridiculous. The abuses they strike at, is an heart, and an heart, doubling in the worship of God, blending of judaisme, and christianity; gospel, and ceremonies; sound, and heretical doctrines; truth, and falsehood in our church. Such mes●en seed light upon that ground which I wish no prosperity unto, and such medley garments sit upon the backs of our enemies. As for this realm of ours, Rev. 2. & 3. be it far and far from such corruption. For he that threatened Loadicaea, because she was neither hot nor cold, to spew her out of his mouth, commended Ephesus for hating the Nicolaitans, reproved Smyrna for maintaining them, and the doctrine of Baalam, blamed Thyatira for suffering jesabel to teach and deceive his servantes, to make them commit fornication, and to eat meat sacrificed to idols; how can we think, that he will not as strictly examine and search out the complexions of other lands, whether they be hot or cold, zealous or remiss in his service? The gospel of Christ, Gal. 4. being planted in the Church of Galatia, might not abide, you know, the copartnershippe of jewish ceremonies, not their observation of days and months; which being nothing in comparison of an adversary, shouldering religion, are termed by one, who thought he had the spirit of God, impotent and beggarly elements; yet they had been elements in their time, and God had used them before as the first letters of the book, to school his people with. But their office was ended. That fullness of time, which brought Christ into the world, & fullness of knowledge & grace which Christ brought with him, was their diminution. Therefore besides an Anathema again & again ingeminated to those that preached otherwise, & foolishness heaped upon their heads like burning coals, that were bewitched with such preachings, he protesteth unto them not hiding his face, nor dissembling his name, Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. If he could not sustain a little leaven in the lump, (as there he calleth it) what would he have said of poison? I mean of an impious, blasphemous, sacrilegious manner of worship, when this was rather curious, frivolous, and ceremonious? When Moses and Christ together, were so offensive unto him, he would never have heard of a reconciliation, between Christ and Belial, light & darkness, righteousness & unrighteousness, believers & infidels, the temple of God & idols, the cup of the Lord and the cup of Devils, the table of the Lord & the table of Devils; in the communion whereof he noteth an impossibility, in both his epistles to the Corinthians. I will not stand to dispute how unpossible it is for any, either person or state, to serve two masters, the one not subordinate to the other, but flatly repugnant; say for example, God and Mammon, or Melchom, or Baal, or any the like abomination. Must they not use a balance & a balance, a conscience & a conscience, that do so? & go after two ways? But what danger ensueth upon such confected religions, & halting consciences (as Elias named them,) they may best learn both by word and deed, from that zealous God, who hath taken express order against strange Gods, & executed his fierce wrath upon those that have offered but strange fire, and ordained his law strictly to be kept, without declining to the right hand or to the left, and himself will be served alone without corrivals of his glory, with all our heart, Ephes. 4. soul, and strength, as he hath often enjoined. There is but one Lord, one mediator, one spirit, one baptism, one supper, one faith: all in unity. The body and state is then strongest, when the multitude of believers have but one heart, Acts. 4. & one soul, amongst them all: & shall one people within the same land, and under the same government, sunder & distract themselves into many religions? In Monodia. Quos circa pl●res observant populi, vi centrum circulus circumscriptus Or can the Lord be at unity with that people, where immunity is given, to deal in the manner or matter of his service, otherwise than he hath prescribed? Nazianzen writeth, that many people lying round about them, as a circle about the centre, did much observe & marvel at the Cappadocians, not only for their sound faith, but for the gift of concord, which God bestowed upon them. For because they thought aright of the Trinity, & defended it jointly (against the Arrians) they were defended by the Trinity themselves. Multa bona eveniant Scytharum regi etc. J● p●otreps. Clemens Alexandrinus wisheth much happiness to the king of the Scythians, whosoever that Anachatsis were, who took a citizen of his, & for imitating some Greekish effeminate sacrifices offered to the mother of the Gods, hung him up by the neck, & shot him through with arrows, because he had both corrupted himself amongst the Grecians, & infected others with the like disease. The counsel which Maecenas gave to Augustus the Emperor, In Dion. Cas. is very sage, & the reasons by him alleged, such, as touch the quickest urine of the question in hand. Put his words into the mouth of some other man, whose lips an Angel hath touched with a coal from the altar of the Lord, & the holy ghost sanctified, they are then right worthy to be accounted of. Thus he exhorteth. The divine godhead see that thou reverence thyself, according to the laws of thy country, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 etc. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 etc. & cause others to do the like. And those that change any thing in matters appertaining thereunto, hate, & correct, not only in behalf of the Gods, whom whosoever neglecteth, he will never regard ought else; but because such as bring in new Gods, draw others also to alteration & change. And hence come conspiracies, seditions, conventicles, things not expedient to a government. Religion is the truest band betwixt man and man, the knot of all communion & consociation. Now what conjunction of minds can there be? 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Plutar. advers. Colot. what atonement of judgements, what inward peace, sincere charity, hearty god-speed, in that disparity of religions, where one house hath Jews, an other Samaritans, some calling upon God, some upon Angels & Saints, creeping to crosses, bowing to images; so burning in emulation for their several services, as fire and water shall sooner agree, than their judgements & affections? Let our laws be grounded upon the law of God, & it will be the greatest safety of our land, to enact, as the Athenians sometimes did, that whosoever should speak one word of their God, joseph. count Ap. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. beside their laws, should be punished unmercifully for it. It hath been a favourable compromission of men more partial than wise, that the questions betwixt Rome and the reformed churches, might easily be accorded. I find it not. And I will be bold to say, as Tully sometimes of the Stoics & Academics, That the contention between us, is not for bounds, Non de terminis sed do tota possessione contentio. Academic. quaest▪ but for the whole possession & inheritance, whether God, or man; grace, or nature; the blood of Christ, or the merits of saints; written verity, or unwritten vanities; the ordinance of the most high in authorizing princes, or the Bulls of Popes in deposing them, shall take place. We have altar against altar, liturgy against liturgy, prayers against prayers, doctrine against doctrine, potentate against potentate, Pope against Prince, Religion against Religion, subjection against subjection, faith against faith, so diametrally opposed, as the Northern and Southern poles shall sooner meet together, than our opinions (standing as they do) can be reconciled. Look upon France, and nether Germany, for the proof hereof; The effusion of so much Christian blood, the eversion & dissipation of so many noble houses, the commotions and tumults of so many years, whence have they sprung? The reason or pretence at least of those murders, massacres, wastes, tragedies, hath been contrary religions. If this be the fruit then, shall every subject in a realm be privileged in his house, to have a God to himself? a priest to himself? a worship to himself, as Micah had in Ephraim? shall he believe, and pray, and obey, shall he both fear God, & honour his king, as himself listeth? But what will ye do in this case? Their minds are as free as the Emperors. Every man is a king in his own house, as Telemachus said, Nihil tam voluntarium quàm religio. L●ctant. Cala●us an Indian Philosopher to Alexander. Mon●do magis quam minando, Aug. ●p. 65. Fides suadenda non impo●enda Bern ser. 66. in cant. Ad Vincen●ium. Numquid ideo negligenda est medicina quia nonnullorum est insanabilis pestilen●ia. Lib. 9 cont. Crescou. c. 51 his conscience is his castle, and fortress; nothing is so voluntary as religion, wherein if the mind be averse, it is now no religion. We may shift the bodies of men from place to place, we cannot change their minds. We shall sooner enforce stocks and stones to speak unto us. Advise will do more than threatening, and faith cometh rather by persuasion, then by compulsion, I grant it. Therefore first speak to the conscience by good counsel; but if the ear of the conscience be stopped with wax, shake the whole house about her, and raise her up, speak to the ears of the body, inheritance, liberty; let the body tell the conscience, I am afflicted; the inheritance, I am diminished; liberty, I am restrained for thy sake. These are arguments & persuasions that have done good, as Augustine affirmeth of the Donatists and Circumcellions in Africa, that being terrified by pains, they began to enter into consideration with themselves, whether they suffered for justice, or for obstinacy and presumption. But you will say that some men are not bettered hereby. Shall we therefore, saith Augustine reject the physic, because the sickness of some is incurable? For of such it is written, I have smitten your children in vain, they receive no correction. And for the better managing of the whole cause, he addeth this judgement; If they were terrified, and not taught, it would seem tyranny; again if taught & not terrified, it would harden them in an inveterate custom, & make them more sluggish to receive their salvation. As for that objection of liberty of conscience, he answereth it in an other place. It is in vain that thou sayest, leave me to my free will; for why proclaimest thou not liberty in homicides, and whoredoms aswell? GOD hath given indeed free will unto man (free from coaction) but it was not his will, mean time, Sed neque bonam esse v●luit infructuosam, neque malam impunitam. Adver. Gnostic. that either the good will of man should be without fruit, or his evil will without punishment. Tertullian is of the same mind with Augustine, that it is meet, that heretics should be compelled to do their duty, not alured: I say, compelled, if allurement will not serve, for they must not always be prayed and entreated. He that hath a frenzy, must be bound; ●nd he that hath a lethargy, must be pricked up; and he that hath strengthened himself in heresy, whether he keep it privately to himself, or diffuse it amongst others, must violently be pulled from it. These persons hath Augustine distinguished; Turbulent● audacia. Vetusta socordia, seu veternosa consuetudo. Ad Vincent. Conditores. Assectatoresde bapt. cont▪ Donat: l. 6. c. 44. Haeretici, haeresiarchae. disseminatores. Erasmu● declare. ad cens. Paris. tit. 23 Suffundere malis sangui●em, quam effunder● Tertul. in apolog. jud. 9 For there are some heretics troublesomely audacious, others anciently sluggish, and taken with a sleepy disease, neither of these may in wisdom be forborn. There are some makers, others but followers, proselytes, disciples in heresies, & these are either weak, or indurate. So then first counsel, and afterwards compel them, if that will not serve to bring them to the service of God, according to that form, which the laws of our country have set down (though I wish not one hair of their heads diminished, but when they strike at our head; and had rather power blood into their veins, then let it out, but when the atrocity of their acts can no longer be tolerated;) yet were I worthy to give advise, I would have a writer go with his inkhorn from man to man, and mark them in the foreheads that mourn for the welfare of our realm, and as bondmen to their brethren they should hue wood and draw water to the host of Israel, as josuah used the Gibeonites for their guile. Who will pity the charmer that is stung by the serpent? because it was the folly of the charmer to go to near; or who will favour that man that nourisheth a gangrene within his body, and seeketh not help to remove it? We nurse up lions whelps for our own overthrow, as Amilcar brought up his sons for the ruin of Rome; we play too boldly at the holes of asps; we embolden the faces, encourage the hearts, strengthen the hands of them that keep an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a daily record of all our actions, and have taken to use whatsoever hath been spoken or done against them these many Halcyon years of ours, meaning to exchange it, ten for one, if ever they see the day of their long expected alteration. But the cause is the Lords. Whatsoever they look for, let us vindicate his dishonour, who hath made this country of ours a sanctuary for true religion, a refuge and shade in the heat of the day, for persecuted professors, who have been chased like bees from their own hives, a temple for himself to dwell in. Let us not make that temple a stews, a common receipt for all comers; that both Atheists, Papists, Anabaptists, and all sorts of sectaries may hold what conscience they will, and serve such God as like themseles. THE EIGHT LECTURE. Chap. 1. verse, 6. Call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not. I Have noted before out of these words, both the carefulness of the Shipmaster continued towards his charge, and the liberty, or rather licence he gave unto jonas, to serve his peculiar God. Touching which indulgence of his, I showed my opinion, whether it be expedient; that a governor should tolerate a distraction of his subjects into divers religions. Me thinketh, there are two things more implied in this member, Call upon thy God, carrying the reasons why he called upon jonas after this sort. Two reasons moved the shipmaster to call upon jonas. For either he affected the person of jonas, supposing perhaps that some merit and grace in the man might more prevail by prayer, than the rest; or else he affianced the God of jonas, and as one weary or distrustful of his own, hoped there might be an other God more able to deliver them. I will not enter into conjectures too far; 1 Reason. but surely it is likely enough, that either by the looks, or speech, or attire, or behaviour, or some forepast devotion, or other the like notice, the master conceived a good opinion of jonas. The forehead sometime showeth the man, as the widow of Shunem by the very usage, countenance, & speech of Elizeus, was able to tell her husband, Behold, I know now that this is an holy man of God, 2 King 4. that passeth by us continually. If this were his reason, it was not greatly amiss, because there is great difference between man and man. For neither the priority of birth, which Esau had of jacob; Gen. 25. nor the height of stature, which Eliab had of David; 1. Sam, 16. nor the pomp and honour of the world, which Haman had of Mardochai; Esther 3. nor all the wisdom of Chaldea, which the Astrologers had of Daniel; nor the antiquity of days, which many daughters of Zion had of the blessed Virgin; nor the prerogative of calling, which the Scribes and Pharises had of poor fishermen; nor the country, which Annas and Caiaphas had of Cornelius; nor eloquence of speech, which Tertullus had of Paul; nor any the like respect, is able to commend a man in such sort, but that his inferiors in that kind, for more virtuous conditions may be magnified above him. It may be, the master of the ship was so persuaded of jonas, that though he were but one to a multitude, a stranger amongst strangers, a scholar and puny amongst merchants, and soldiers, whose state and carriage was every way beyond his; yet he might have a spirit, blessing, and wisdom beyond all theirs, and therefore repaireth unto him, Arise, call upon thy God. How only and incomparable was the favour which Abraham the great father of many people found in the eyes of God, Gen. 18. who being but dust and ashes, as himself confessed, pleaded with his maker as one would reason with his neighbour in the behalf of Sodom, with six sundry replies, from fifty to ten righteous persons, which number if it had been found, Sodom had escaped? Gen. 19 How dear was the soul of Lot, in that fearful destruction, on whom the Lord bestowed his life, and the life of his wife and children, & the safety of Zoar a little city not far of, because he had entreated for it? the Angel plucked him into the house from the fury of the Sodomites, and not less than plucked him out of the city, (who made but slow haste) bidding him flee to Zoar to save his life, Gen. 6. for he could do nothing till he was come thither. Noah and his little family, the remnant of the earth, as the son of Syrach termeth them, the only buds of the world that were to seed seed for a new generation of men, at the time of the flood were more precious unto the Lord, than all the people under heaven besides, which had the breath of l●fe within them. How often did he gratify Moses, the beloved of God and men, with the lives of the children of Israel, when his anger was so hot, that he entreated his servant to let him alone, Exod. 32. that he might consume them: yet contented in the end, to be entreated by him, and to pleasure him with their pardon, Numb. 14. I have forgiven it according to thy request? O what a let is a righteous man to the justice of GOD, and even as manacles upon his hands, that he cannot smite, when he is driven to cry unto one, Let me alone; and to another, till thou art gone, I can do nothing? And did he not grace the person of job more than his three friends, when he bade Eliphaz with the other two, to go and offer a burnt offering for themselves, and his servant job should pray for them, job. 4●. and he would accept him? And is it not an argument past gainsaying, that Moses and Samuel were according to his own heart, when he reviveth their names, as from their ashes, and blesseth their memory to jeremy his prophet, jer. 15. with so favourable account? Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet could not my affection be toward this people? The like whereof we find in Ezechiel, Though these three men Noah, Ezech. 14. Daniel, and job; were amongst them, they should save neither sons nor daughters, but deliver their own souls by their righteousness. Eden was chosen to be the garden of the Lord, when all the ground of the earth besides, was paled out; Noah's ark floated upon the waters, when all other ships and boats of the sea were overwhelmed; Aaron's rod budded, and brought forth almonds, when all the rods for the other tribes remained dry and withered. One sheaf hath stood upright, and one star hath sparkled, when eleven others have lain upon the ground, and been obscured. The apple of the eye is dearer unto a man then the whole frame and circle of the eye about it; the signet upon the right hand in more regard, either for the matter, or for the form, or for the use whereto it serveth, than all his other ornaments; a writing in the palms of his hands, more carefully preserved then all his other papers and records. Doubtless there are some amongst the rest of their brethrens, whom God doth tender as the apple of his eye, wear as a signet upon his finger, engrave as a writing in the palms of his hands, and with whom is the secret of the Lord, and his hidden treasures, though his open and ordinary blessings be upon all flesh. Moses hath asked meat in a famine, and water in a drought, for the children of Israel, when their bowels might have piped within them like shawms, and their tongues cloven to the roof of their mouths, if he had not spoken. Elias hath called for rain, when the earth might have gasped for thirst, and discovered her lowest foundations, if he had been silent. Phinees hath stayed a plague, which would not have ceased, till it had devoured man and beast, if such a man had not stood up. Paul, in the 27. of the Acts, obtained by the mercy of God, the lives of all his companions that sailed with him towards Rome, Eccle. 50. in that desperate voyage. As a morning star in the midst of the cloud, and as the moon when it is full; as the flower of the roses in the spring of the year, and as lilies by the springes of waters, and as the branches of the frankincense in the time of summer; as a vessel of massy gold, set with all manner of precious stones, and as the fat that is taken from the peace offerings: so is one Henoch that walketh with God, when others walk from him; one Rahab in jericho; one Elias that boweth not his knees to Baal; one David in Mesek; one Hester in Shushan; one judith in Bethulia; one joseph in the council of the jews; one Gamaliell in the council of the pharisees; one innocent and righteous man in the midst of a froward and crooked generation. The prayer of the righteous availeth much, if it be fervent, jac. 5. the prayer of faith shall save the sick, for the Lord shall raise him up: and if he hath committed sin, it shallbe forgiven him. It may minister occasion to the wicked, to reverence and embrace the righteous, even for policy's sake; For the innocent shall deliver the island, job. 22. and it shall be preserved by the pureness of his hands. Many a time there may be, when as stout a king, and as obstinate a sinner, as ever Pharaoh was, shall call for Moses and Aaron, and beseech them, pray to the Lord for me. In pestilences, dearthes' and droughtes, wars, sicknesses, and shipwracks, or any other calamities, it lieth in the holiness of some few, the friends and favourites of God, to stand in the gap betwixt him and their brethren, to entreat his majesty for the rest, and to turn a curse into a blessing, as joseph brought a blessing to all that Putiphar had, Genesis 39 This than may be a reason of the speech here used, Call upon thy God; a likelihood presumed by the governor, that they might speed the better for jonas his sake. Another reason I take it, was, that he disinherited his own God, 2. Reason. and the Gods of his whole society, and might be induced to hope better of that God which jonas served. For what taste is there in the white of an egg? or what pleasure to a man, that cometh to a river of water to quench his thirst, and findeth the channel dried up? What stay is there in a staff of reed, or in a broken staff, the splinters whereof to recompense his hope, run into the hands of a man and wound him? What trust in broken cisterns which can hold no water? This comparison God himself maketh with great indignity, in the second of jeremy, My people hath committed two evils: they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and have digged them pits even broken pits that can hold no water. The change is very unequal, worse than the change of Glaucus, who gave his armour of gold for armour of brass; and the loss unsupportable. For what equality between a natural fountain, which ever floweth, because it is ever fed in the chambers of the earth, and artificial cisterns, or pits fashioned by the hands of man? cisterns that are broken and cannot hold, I say not, water of life and perennity, but no water at all? But when they saw their folly herein, as a thief is ashamed (saith God) when he is found, so was the house of Israel ashamed, they and their kings, their Princes, their Priests, and their Prophets, because they had said to a tree, Thou art my father, and to a stone, Thou hast begotten me. He yet proceedeth against them, They have turned their back to me, and not their face, but in their time of trouble they will say, Arise, and help us. You see the fits and pangs of idolators. First they dig broken pits, afterward they are ashamed; first they fly to the tree & stone for succour, but when they are vexed, they seek after the help of the true God. Clemens Alexandrinus marvelleth why Diagoras and Nicanor with others, should be surnamed Atheists, who had a sharper sight in discerning the false Gods, them their fellows. Amongst whom, In protrept Qus errorem hu●● de diis falsi▪ acriù ceteris perspe●erunt. Adora quod inceadisti. incende quod adorasti. Chap. 10. Diagoras having something to boil, took his Hercules carved of wood, & thus spoke unto him, It is now time O Hercules, that as thou hast served Euristheus in twelve labours, so thou shouldest serve me in the thirteenth, & so threw him into the fire as a piece of wood. A practice not unlike the counsel, which I have read given to Clodoveus the French king. Worship that which thou hast burnt incense unto, & burn that which thou hast worshipped. The children of Israel in the book of judges, finding their error & folly in idolatry, made a recantation of it; for whilst they served the Lord, he delivered them from the Egyptians, and Ammorites, & children of Ammon, & Philistines, Sidonians, Malachites, Mahonites; they cried unto the Lord, & he saved them out of their hands. But when they worshipped strange Gods, they were no more delivered, nay they were vexed, oppressed, & sore tormented? then the Lord upbraided them, Go & cry unto your Gods which you have chosen, let them save you in the time of your tribulation. And to that exprobration they yielded, saying, we have sinned against thee, because we have forsaken our own God, & have served Baalam: do thou unto us whatsoever pleaseth thee, only deliver us this day. The like irrision he used before in jeremy, to those that honoured stocks and stones; but where are thy Gods which thou hast made thee? let them arise, if they can help thee in the time of thy misery. A forcible admonition to those, whom a truth cannot draw from a doctrine of lies, from the work of their own hands, & worship of their own fantasies: whom Clemens Alexandrinus not unfitly matched with those Barbarian tyrants, who bond the bodies of the living to the bodies of the dead, till they rotten together; so these being living souls, are coupled and joined with dead images vanishing in the blindness of their minds, & perishing in the inventions of their own brains. And as the natural pigeons, were beguiled by the counterfeit, and flew unto pigeons that were shaped in the painter's shop; so stones, saith he, flock unto stones, stocks unto stocks, men unto pictures, as senseless of heart, as stocks & stones that are carved. But when they have tired themselves in their supposed imaginary Gods, whom do they worship? Praxiteles made Venus to the likeness of Cratina, whom he loved. All the Painters of Thebes painted her after the image of Phrine, a beautiful, but a notorious harlot. All the carvers in Athens cut Mercury to the imitation of their Alcibiades. It may be, the pictures of Christ, & the blessed Virgin, & the saints which they have placed in their windows & upon the walls of their houses, & fastened to their beds, and carry privily in their bosoms, as Rahel hide her father's idols in the camels straw, are but Pygmalion's pictures, works of their own devising, or draughts of their lovers & friends, as unlike the originals, as Alcibiades was to Mercury, Phrine & Cratina to Venus. Lactantius scattereth the objections made for images in his times, & reneved in ours, like foam. Lib. 2. the ●rig. error i● adver. Gen●, For when it was alleged that they worshipped not the images themselves, but those to whose likeness & similitude they were form; I am sure, saith he, your reason is, because you think them to be in heaven, else they were not Gods. Why then cast you not your eyes into heaven? why forgetting the feature of your bodies which are made upright, that your minds may imitate them, & not answering the reason of your name, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. poor ye down upon the earth, & bow yourselves to inferior things as if it repeated you, Non quadrupedes esse natos, that you were not borne four footed beasts? Again, images were devised to be the memorial & representations, either of the absent, or of the dead. Whether of these two do you think your Gods? if dead, who so foolish as to worship them? if absent, as little they deserve such honour, because they neither see our actions, nor hear the prayers which we power before them. When they further replied, that they afforded their presence no where so soon, (or not at all) as at their images, he answereth; it is just as the common people deemeth, that the spirits & ghosts of the dead walk at their graves & relics, & are most conversant in churchyards. I pass his further infectation, how senseless a thing it is, to fear that which itself feareth falling, firing, stealing away, which being in timber, was in the power of a contemptible artificer to be made some thing or nothing; when no man feareth the workman himself, which must of force be greater than his work; when the birds of the air are not afraid of them, because they roost and build, and leave their filthiness upon them; and the figments themselves, if they had any sense or motion, would run to thank & worship the carver, who, when they were rude and unpolished stones, gave them their being. When Saint Augustine heard them say in his days, that they took not the idol for a God, ●er. 6. de ver 〈◊〉▪ apud. ●ath. he asketh them, what doth the altar there, and the bowing of the knee, and holding up the hands, and such like gesticulations? They seemed in their own conceits, to be of a finery religion, (such are the pruners and purifiers of popery, the cleanly Jesuits of these times, which were able to distinguish, I worship not the corporal image, only I behold the portraiture of that which I ought to worship,) but he stoppeth their mouths with the Apostles sentence, and showeth what damnation will light upon them, which turn the truth of God into a lie, and worship the creature more than the creator, which is to be blessed for ever. For, to return where I first began; besides the folly of the thing, the mischief is behind: Go cry unto your Gods which you have chosen, and let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation. What a woeful discharge and dismission were this, to be left unto such Gods, whose heads the hands of a carver hath polished, and if their eyes be full of dust, and their clothes eaten upon their backs with moths, Barnes. 6. they cannot help it? the beasts are in better case than they, for they can ge● them under a covert, or shadow, to do themselves good. Then they may cry as the Apostles did upon the motion of the like departure, Lord? whether shall I go? for as Christ there had the words, so hath the blessed Trinity alone the power and donation of eternal life. joh. 6. When Senacherib and Rabsakeh bragged that both the kings, and the Gods of the nations were destroyed by them, Ez●chias answered the objection, Truth it is, Lord, that the kings of Assur have destroyed their nations, and their lands, and have set fire on their Gods, for they were no Gods, but the work of men's hands, even wood and stone; therefore they destroyed them: now therefore O Lord our God, 2. King. 19 save thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know, that thou O Lord art only God. This argument Moses tried upon the golden calf, whereof Israel had said, Behold thy Gods O Israel; Exod. 32. to show that it was no God, he burned it in the fire, ground it to powder; strawed it upon the water, and then caused the people to drink it. To conclude the point▪ It is most true which the Prophet resteth upon, Psalm 86. Amongst the Gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord, and there is none that can do like thy works. And as there is but one truth, encountered with as many falshods, as there were gobbets and shreds of dismembered Pentheus: so is there but one true God, opposed by as many false, as happily there are falsehoods. It may be the master of the ship finding a defect, & miscarriage of their former labours, that there was no succour to be had where they sought comfort, that though they had all prayed, they are not released, standeth in a wavering touching the Gods which they called upon, and thinketh there may be a God of more might whom they know not: so as in effect, when he thus spoke unto jonas, he set up an altar, and tendered honour unto an unknown God. As if he had said; I am ignorant whom thou servest, but such a one he may be, as is pronest to do us good, and best able to save our ship. For as an idol is nothing in the world, and there is no time in the world, wherein that nothing can do good: so there are many times, when idolaters, that most dote upon them, as jeremy speaketh, are brought to perceive it. Esay, in the second of his prophecy, speaketh of a day, when men shall not only relinquish, but cast away their idols of silver and gold, which they have made to themselves to worship, unto the moles and bats, children of darkness, fit for those that are either blear eyed, or that have no eyes to see withal, then for men of understanding; & go into the holes of the earth, and tops of cragged rocks, from the fear of the Lord, and glory of his majesty, when he shall arise to judge the earth. You see the fruit of idolaters, that as they have loved darkness more than the light, so they leave their Gods to the darkness, and themselves enter into darkness, a taste and assay before hand of that everlasting and utter darkness that is provided for them. If so be God will think upon us. Text. Now that this was the mind of the master of the ship, to distrust his Gods, I gather by this which followeth, wherein the uncertainty of his faith is bewrayed, and his hope hangeth (as the crow on the ark betwixt heaven and earth, finding no rest) without resolution of any comfort. Si forte, if so be, is not a phrase fit to proceed from the mouth of faith, Si fortè. it is meeter to come from Babylon, whereof the Prophet writeth, Bring balm for her sore, si fortè sanetur, if happily she may be healed; jer. 51. her wounds were so desperate and unlikely to be cured. It is meeter to be applied to the sores of Simon Magus, whom Peter counseled to repent him of his wickedness, and pray unto God, Acts 8. Si forte remittatur, if so be the thought of his heart might be forgiven him. The nature and language of faith is much different; it nesteth itself in the wounds of Christ, as Doves in the clefts of rocks that cannot be assaulted; it standeth as firm and steadfast as mount Zion that cannot be removed; it casteth an anchor in the knowledge of the true God; and because he is a true God, it doubteth not of might and mercy, or rather mercy and might (as the heathens call their jupiter, Optimus maximus, first by the name of his goodness, and then of his greatness.) His mercies it doubteth not of, because they are passed by promise, indenture, covenant, oath, before unmovable witnesses, the best in heaven, and the best in earth. His promises are no less ascertained, because they are signed with the singer of the holy Ghost, and sealed with the blood of his anointed and beloved. By faith ye stand, saith the Apostle to the Corinthians: it is the root that beareth us, 2. Cor. 1. the legs, and supporters, and strong men that hold us up. If we listen to the prophet Abacuk, we may yet say more, Abba●. 2. For by faith we live: it is the soul and spirit of the new man; we have a name that we live, but indeed are dead to Godward, if we believe not. For if any withdraw himself therehence, the soul of God will take no pleasure in him. Woe unto him that hath a double heart, and to the wicked lips, and faint hands, and to the sinner that goeth two manner of ways; Eccle. 2. woe unto him that is faint hearted, for he believeth not, therefore shall he not be defended. It is not the manner of faith to be shaken, and waver like a reed to and fro, nor of a faithful man, to be tossed of every wind, as a wave of the sea that is ever rolling. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Heb. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Heb. 10. Ibid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. ●am. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. 1. Pet. 1. job. 7. Ephes. 6. And therefore we are willed to come to the throne of grace, with boldness; and to draw near with a true heart, in assurance of faith; and not to cast away that confidence, which hath great recompense of reward; and when we ask, to ask in faith, without reasoning, or doubting; and to trust perfectly in that grace which is brought unto us by the revelation of jesus Christ. Our life is a warfare upon earth; a tried and expert warrior, one that bore in his body the scars of his faithful service, keeping the terms of his own art, so named it: and we are not to wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, and powers, and worldly governors, the princes of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickednesses which are in high places. Our enemies, you see, are furnished as enemies should be, with strength in their hands, and malice in their hearts, besides all other gainful advantages; as that they are spirit against flesh privy and secret, against that, that is open high against that, that is low, and far beneath them. Now in this combat of our souls, our faith is not only our prize, exercise, and masteries which we are to prove, (as it is called) the good fight▪ of faith, but a part of our armour which we are to wear, 1. Tim. 6. our target to defend the place where the heart lieth, Ephe. 6. our breastplate, 1. Thes. 5. and more than so; 1. joh. 5. For it is our victory and conquest against the world of enemies. So faith is all in all unto us. Blessed be the Lord, for he hath showed his marvelous kindness towards us, in a strong city. He hath set us in a fortress and bulwark of faith, so impregnable for strength, that neither height, nor depth, life nor death, things present nor things to come, nor all the gates, & devils of hell, nor the whole kingdom of darkness can prevail against it. I grant there are many times, when this bulwark is assaulted, Occupation. & driven at with the fiery darts of the devil, when the conscience of our own infirmity, is greater than the view of God's mercy, when the eye of faith is dim, & the eye of flesh and blood too much open, when the Lord seemeth to stand far of, & to hide himself in the needful time of trouble, To be deaf and not to answer a word, To hold his hand in his bosom, & not to pull it out: when this may be the bitter moan that we make unto him; My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? and this our doleful song which we sing to our souls in the night season; will the Lord absent himself for ever? & will he show no more favour? is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore? hath God forgotten to be gracious? doth he shut up his mercies in displeasure? Lord, how long wilt thou hide thyself? Psal. 89. for ever? and shall thy wrath burn like fire? These be the dangerous conflicts, which the captains of the lords armies, and the most chosen children of his right hand sometimes endure. The lions themselves sometimes roar with such passions, how shall the lambs but tremble? if the souls of the perfit, which have been fed with the marrow of fatness, and drunk of the fullness of the cup, have sometimes fainted in themselves for want of such relief, much more unperfit and weak consciences, which have tasted but in part how gracious the Lord is. I answer in a word. The faithful fear for a time, but they gather their spirits again, and recover warmth at the sunshine of God's mercies; their feet are almost gone, and their steps well near slipped, but not altogether; they find in the sanctuary of the Lord, a prop to keep them up; at length they confess against themselves, This is my infirmity; they curb and reprove themselves for their diffidence, and whatsoever they say in their haste, that all men are liars, and perhaps God himself not true, yet by leisure they repent it. 2. Cor. 4. Haesitantes, sed non pr●●sus haerēte● Ar. M●nt. The Apostle doth pithily express my meaning, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, staggering, but not wholly sticking. Again, they fear the particular, they distrust not the general; it may be victory on their sides, it may be overthrow; it may be shipwreck, it may be escape; it may be life, it may be death, whether of these two, they know not, & for both they are somewhat indifferent. As when Shemei cursed David, the speech that the king used for his comfort, 2. Sam. 16. was this, It may be the Lord will look upon my tears, and do me good for his cursing this day: As who would say, if otherwise, the care is taken, I refer it to his wisdom. Amos hath the like speech, It may be the Lord God of Israel will be merciful to the remnant of joseph; Amos 5. Si f●rtè. he meaneth in preventing their captivity: But whether captivity or deliverance, they are at peace, as persuading themselves, that if the mercy of God fail them in one thing, it may embrace them otherwise; for they know that all things work together for the best, Rom. 8. to them that love God, as the Apostle writeth. Though such be the hope of sons and daughters, yet the case of strangers is otherwise. For they are secure neither in particular, nor in general; they measure all things by their sense, and as the manner of brute beasts is, consider but that which is before their feet, and having not faith, they want the evidence and demonstration of things that are not. And therefore the master of the ship, as I conceive it, knowing that life alone which belongeth to the earthly man, & perhaps not kenning the immortality of the soul, or if he thought it immortal by the light of reason, in some sort, (as the blind man recovered, saw men like trees, with a shadowed and misty light) yet not knowing the state of the blessed, setteth all the adventure upon this one success, and maketh it the scope of all their prayers and pains, Ne percamus, That we perish not. That we perish not. For such is the condition of heathen men; they know not what death the righteous die, as Balaam plainly distinguished it; they are not translated like other men, nor dissolved, nor taken away, nor gathered to their fathers and people, nor fallen a sleep, which are the mild phrases of scripture, whereby the rigour of death is tempered; their life is not hid for a time, to be found out again, but when they are dead in body, they are dead in body and soul too; their death is a perishing indeed, they are lost and miscarried, they come to nothing, Donati vitae non commodati. Senec. Jnte●igeres illum non emori sed emigrare. Ad Heliod 3. Prof●ctic est quam putas mortem. De patien. their life, their thoughts, their hope, all is gone: and when others depart this life in peace, as Simeon did, and go as ripely, and readily from this vale of misery, as apples fall from the tree, with good contentation of heart, and no way disquieted; these, as if they were given, not lent to their lives, must be drawn and pulled away from them, as beasts from their dens with violence. Hierome reporteth of Nepotians quiet and peaceable departure from his life, Thou wouldst think that he did not die, but walk forth. And Tertullian hath the like sentence; It is but the taking of a journey which thou deemest to be death. Whereas the Emperor of Rome for want of better learning, ignorant of the life to come, sang a lamentable farewell to his best beloved, Aelius Adr●anus. nor long before they were sundered: My fleeting fond poor darling, Body's guest and equal, Anïmula vagula bla● dula▪ etc. Where now must be thy lodging? Pale and stark and stripped of all, And put from wont sporting Compare with these wretched creatures, some plainly denying the immortality of their souls, others disputing, doubting, & knowing nothing to purpose, till their knowledge cometh to late, others objecting themselves to death rather in a vainglorious ostentation, then upon sound reason; I say, compare with them one the other side christian consciences, neither loving their lives more than a good cause, and yet without good cause not leaving them, and ask them what they think of this temporal life: they will answer both by speech and action, that they regard not how long or how short it is, but how well conditioned, (I borrow his words; Non quanta sed qualis, Senec. of whom I may say concerning his precepts and judgements for moral life, that he was a Gentile-christian, or as Paul to Agrippa, almost a christian) as in the acting of a comedy it skilleth not what length it had, Non quam diu sed quam bene sit acta, refert. id. Esth. 4. but how well it was played. Consider their magnanimous, but withal wise resolutions, such I mean as should turn them to greater advantage. Esther knew, that her service in hand, was honourable before God and man, and her hope not vain, therefore maketh her reckoning of the cost, before the work begun; If I perish I perish: her meaning assuredly was, If I perish, I perish not; though I lose my life, yet I shall save it. If there were not hope after death, job. 13. job would never have said▪ lo, though he kill me, yet will I trust in him. And what availeth it him to know that his redeemer lived, job. 19 but that he consequently knew the means whereby his life should be redeemed? If the presence of God did not illighten darkness, and his life quicken death itself, David would never have taken such heart unto him, Though I should walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I would fear no evil, Psal. 23. for thou art with me, and thy rod, and thy staff comfort me. If his shepherds staff had failed him against the Lion and the Bear which he slew at the sheepe-foulde, or his sling against Goliath, that he had fallen into their hands; yet this staff and strength of the Lord could have restored his losses. The sentence that all these bare in their mouths and hearts, and kept as their watchword, was this; Death is mine advantage. Phil. 1. 2. Cor. 4. The Apostle taketh their persons upon him and speaketh for them all, Therefore we faint not, because we know, that if our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed daily: God buildeth as fast as nature and violence can destroy. 2. Cor. 5. We know again, that if our earthly house of this tabernacle be destroyed, we have a building given of God, that is, an house not made with hands, but eternal in the heavens. Upon the assurance of this house, not made of lime and sand, nor yet of flesh and blood, but of glory and immortality, he desireth to be dissolved, and to be with Christ, and by his rejoicing that he hath, be dieth daily, though not in the passion of his body, yet in the forwardness and propension of his mind; and and he received the sentence of death in himself, as a man that cast the worst, before the judge pronounced it. I may say for conclusion in some sort, as Socrates did; Non vivit, cui nihil est in mente nisi ut vivat, He liveth not, who mindeth nothing but this life: or as the Roman orator well interpreteth it, cui nihil est in vitâ iucundius vitâ, who holdeth nothing in his life dearer than life itself. For is this a life? where the house is but clay the breath a vapour or smoke, the body a body of death, our garment corruption, the moth and the worm our portion, that as the womb of the earth bred us, so the womb of the earth must again receive us; and as the Lord of our spirits said unto us, receive the breath of life for a time, so he will say hereafter, return ye sons of Adam, and go to destruction? By this time you may make the connexion of my text. The master of the ship and his company, 1. worship and pray unto false Gods, that is, build the house of the spider for their refuge: 2. Because they are false, they have them in jealousy, and suspicion, call upon thy God: 3. because in suspicion, they make question of their assistance, if so be: 4. because question of better things to come, they are content to hold that which already they have in possession, and therefore say, that we perish not. With us it fareth otherwise. Because our faith is steadfast, and cannot deceive us, in the corruption of our bodies, vexation of our spirits, orbity of our wives and children, casualty of goods, wrack of ships and lives, we are not removed from our patience, we leave it to the wisdom of God, to amend all our mishaps, we conclude with joab to Abishai, The Lord do that which is good in his eyes; 2. Sam. 10. honour and dishonour, good report and evil report, in one sense are alike unto us: and though we be unknown, 2. Cor. 6. yet we are known; though sorrowing, yet we rejoice; though having nothing, yet we possess all things; though we be chastened, yet are we not killed; nay, though we die, yet we live, and are not dead; we gather by scattering, we win by losing, we live by dying, & we perish not by that which men call perishing. In this heavenly meditation, let me leave you for this time, of that blessed inheritance in your father's house, the penny, nay the pounds, the invaluable weight and mass; of gold? 2. Cor. 4. nay of glory after your labours ended in the vineyard, meat & drink at the table of the Lord, sight of his excellent goodness face to face, pleasures at his right hand, and fullness of joy in his presence for evermore. Let us then say with the Psalmist, my soul is a thirst for the living God: oh when shall I come to appear in the presence of our God? For what is a prison to a palace, tents & booths to an abiding city, the region of death to the land of the living, the life of men to the life of angels, a body of humility to a body of glory, the valley of tears to that holy and heavenly mount Zion whereon the lamb standeth, gathering his saints about him to the participation of those joys which himself enjoyeth, and by his holy intescession purchaseth for his members? THE NINTH LECTURE. Cap. 1. ver. 7. And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, etc. AS the manner of sick men is in an hot ague or the like disease, to pant within themselves, and by groaning to testify their pangs to others, to throw of their clothes, and to toss from side to side in the bed, for mitigation of their pains; which whether they do, or do not, their sickness still remaineth, till the nature thereof be more nearly examined; and albeit they change their place, they change not their weakness: so do these Mariners, sick of the anger of God, as the other of a fever, disquieted in all their affections & fearing, as the other pant; praying, as the other groan; casting out their wares, as the other of their clothes; and removing from action to action, from fear to prayer, from prayer to ejection of their wares, from thence to the excitation of jonas; in all which they find no success, till they inquire more narrowly into the cause of their miseries, and therefore they betake themselves to a new devise of casting lots. For when there is no other remedy in all their fore passed means, they begin to suspect some higher point of sacrilege against the majesty of the godhead, which cannot be expiated & purged by their goods alone, but by some man's life amongst them. Wherein you have another principle of nature to consider of, that sins are the causes of our calamities, in that the tempest here raised, is imputed to the wickedness of some in the ship, not to be quieted and stilled again, unless the mouth of the waves may be stopped with that impious person that hath committed it. Go then and say with the Priests in Malachi, Mal. 2. Every one that doth evil, is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth in him: whereas nature itself, lying more close to a man, than the marrow to his bones, informeth the hearts of these mariners, that the mother and original of all their woe, is some notorious wickedness. Let the censure of an heathen philosopher be added hereunto; Hoc ipso primùm sceleratus est. What wicked man soever thinketh he pleaseth God in his wickedness, he is chief & notoriously wicked for that very opinion, because he esteemeth the Gods either to be foolish, or unrighteous. The verse now in hand, openeth their means used for the detection of the transgressor, & layeth before our eyes in order these four points. 1 Their consultation, They said every man to his fellow, Come. 2 Their resolution, Let us cast lots. 3 The reason of their counsel held and resolved, That we mai● know for whose cause this evil is done. 4 The issue or success which their deliberation took, The lot fell upon jonas. 1 Consultation. In the consultation, by occasion of the phrase, Every one to his fellow, I observe the unity & consent that was amongst them▪ for they proceed to their business, Vir ad collegam. 1. Chron. 1. In cord non duplici. In cord perfecto. In cord v▪ no. Lib. 8. as the tribes of Israel brought David to Hebron, with a single heart, with a perfit heart, with one heart; yea they are joined & composed together as jerusalem was built; not like the foxes of Samson▪ back to back, every man fancying a course to himself; nor as the manner of a disordered army is, which Curtius describeth thus, Alius iungere ac●em, alius dividere, stare quidam; et nonnulli circumvehi, Some will have the army joined, others disjoined, some will stand, others ride about; but with such conjunction of souls, as if they grew together upon one stock, they consult, resolve, execute the best means to help themselves. One common cause, one common fear (which for the most part is the master of disorder & disturbance) hath so concorporated & linked these men together, though they are not the sons of one nation, that as the angels of the mercy seat did turn face to face, so they applied & fitted invention to invention, opinion to opinion, verdict to verdict, as if the blssing of God, Ezec. 37. had lighted upon them, the wood of judah, & the wood of joseph shallbe joined in one tree, & they shallbe no more 2. peoples, nor divided henceforth into 2 kingdoms. Application These being strangers & foreigners one to the other, can hold agreement. We in a common danger (say for example, A Spanish invasion) though we be threatened before hand, as Benadad threatened Ahab, thy silver & thy gold is mine; 1. King. ●0. also thy women, & thy fair children are mine, etc. though our land, our substance, our sons & daughters, our crown & kingdom, were to be forfeited, alienated, passed unto strangers; though whips provided for our torture, and knives for our slaughter; how do we consult? Vir ad amicum suum? or vir ad collegan? A man with his friend or companion? with mutual aspect in our faces? or mutual assent in our hearts? Not so; But rather as if the curse of the almighty were fallen amongst us, Zac. 11. I will break my staff of bands, & dissolve brotherhood, a man with his rival, evil-willer, enemy, one jealous & suspicious of the other, one seeking the peace of the land, another wishing in his heart that it might be overrun. In such distraction and variance of minds, if our state were as strong as the kingdom of Satan, as it is but a kingdom of flesh & blood, and of mortal men, it would fall to ruin. Our Saviour, you know, giveth the rule in the gospel, & the devils keep it, as the surest principle and maxim in their policy, not to sever their forces. Seven could agree together in Mary Magdalene, a whole legion in an other man; whereas amongst us, in one people, & in one family, there is not consent between seven persons. There is a day, when Herod & Pilate are made friends, and cleave together in their devises against Christ, as the scales of Leviathan; (perhaps they fear the dissolution of their authorities & dominions, if Christ be not overthrown.) Curtius writeth in his history, of certain barbarous people, Quo● alias bellare inter se solitos, tunc periculi societas iunx● erat. lib 9 that though they were ever banding in arms before, & one provoking the other, yet when Alexander the great came upon them, the equality of the danger, wherein they were joined, joined also their hearts and forces together. If there were nothing else to move our country men to the ensuing of peace; yet the equality, me thinks, of the danger, common to both parts, should invite them thereunto. For howsoever they discontent themselves with the government which God hath appointed, & cry with the children of Israel, Give us a king, Give us a king; & not Samuel, nor all the samuel's in the world, can dissuade them with the tyranny which the king shall practise upon them, their wives and children, vineyards, fields, servantes, asses, sheep, but they still cry, Nay, but there shall be a king over us; yet it may be, when they have their wish, the fable willbe moralised, and verified upon them; A stork was given them and then they would see in how much better case they lived before, than now under the king of the Persians, Quanto mitiore sort, quàm sub rege Persarum. Curt. 8. 2. King. 10. as Alexander told his soldier. And though we are now divided into two companies, like Laban's sheep and goats, some black, and some speckled, some Papists, some Protestants; it may be their goods willbe taken for Protestants, their houses and inheritance for Protestants, their heads for Protestants, and both theirs and ours laid, as the heads of the sons of Ahab by jehu, upon two heaps. Come, let us cast lots. As many other things, so this fact of theirs doth express the force of a most unusual tempest: 2. Resolution. for there had been tempests upon the sea, when there were no ships; & both tempests & ships, when there were no lots cast, a thousand times; & many a ship perhaps upon the sea at this present, that felt the wrath of the storm, & yet entered not into any the like consultation. But God, the disposer of all things, having his fugitive Prophet in chase, putteth it into the hearts of the mariners, 1. that there is some man whose iniquity hath brought their lives in question, 2. that there must be some means for his deprehension. Now what should they do in a matter of fact? there were no witnesses to detect, & neither the conscience of the offender, nor happily his countenance, nor any the like presumption to disclose it; and if an oath had been ministered, which is the end of controversy, perchance it might have been falsified, Pu●ri talis, viri sacramentis. as Lysander sometimes spoke; Children must be deceived by dice and blanks, men by oaths: therefore they put it to lots, as indifferent umpires and arbitratours for all parts; as who would say, Because art faileth, we will go by chance, and in a matter of secrecy, Sort iri nihil est aliud quàm spectare temeritatem & casum, etc. 2. de divin. Li. 1. cap. 1. let God be judge, and give sentence. For so doth Tully define Sortition, that it is nothing else but haphazard, where neither reason, nor counsel can take place. It was a custom amongst the Gentiles to do many things by lots. Valerius Maximus writeth of the Romans, that, by an ancient ordinance amongst them, if they commended any thing to their Gods, it was by prayer; if they desired or craved, it was by vow; if they rendered or repaid, by thanksgiving; if they inquired, by the inward part of beasts, or lots; if they did any thing solemnly, by sacrifice. He further reporteth, that it befell Lucius Paulus their Consul, by lot to fight against Perses, king of Macedon; and that going from the court to his own house, and finding Tertia his young 〈◊〉 very sad, Cap. 5. he kissed her, and asked her what she ailed; she● au●swered, that Persa (her little whelp,) was dead: which saying of ●ers, he took as a token of good luck, (for the affinity of the names) to encourage him the rather against Perses. The Greeks at the siege of Troy, cast lots who should ●ight with Hector, and the lot fell upon ajax, Sortemque meam vevistis. as appeareth by a part of his own oration unto them. In the third of joel, the Lord complaineth against the nations, that they had cast lots upon his people: in the prophecy of Obadiah, against Esau, that when strangers entered in the gates, and cast lots upon jerusalem, he was as one of them: in the Evangelist S. Matthew, the soldiers divide the garments of Christ by lo●s. But without further testimony, it is here apparent, that it was in use amongst most nations, because the whole company of the ship, being of divers languages, all agree upon the same course; Come, let us cast lots. 22. qu. 95. ar. 3. Schedulae scriptae, vel non scriptae. Festucae inaequales. Taxillorum proiectio. Libri apertio. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Glebulae, fabae, globuli Aquinas setteth down some forms of lots used amongst them; that either they had tickets of paper, (some of which were written, some blank,) wherein they considered who had the one, who the other; or else festawes & cuts, wherein they observed, who drew the greater, who the lesser; or they threw dice & hucklebones, wherein he that threw most, was victorer; or else they opened a book, & by that which a man first lighted upon, they decided the strife; answerable whereunto are the tables & books of fortune, in our times. Others allege more sorts of them; as little stones, scores, & tales o● wood, signed with letters & characters, stamps of clay, beans, pellets, & many the like varieties. In the using of all which instruments, their manner was, first to hide them out of sight; as in Homer, they hide their lots in Agamemnon's helmet; then to shake them together confusedly, & afterwards to draw them forth, & to receive as their lots specified. The Hebrews writ, that when the land of Canaan was divided amongst the children of Israel, they had 12. skroles of paper, signed with the names of 12. tribes, & 12. other signed with 12. portions of land: all which being put into a pitcher, & mingled together, the Princes for their several tribes, drew two a piece, and together with their names received their inheritances. It is a question amongst Divines, whether it be lawful in christianity to use lots, yea or no? Whither lawful to use lots. For the solution whereof, we must both distinguish the kinds, and set limits & bounds, which must not be exceeded. Touching the kinds, most of the Schoolmen, summists, and other Divines do thus number them; that either they are of consultation, The kinds of lottery. wherein they inquire of somewhat that must be done; or of division, wherein the question is, Consultoria, query quid agendum. Divisoria, quid cuique dividendum. Divinato●ia. quid fu●urum. Levit. 16. Numb. 33. jos. 7. 1. Sam. 10. Acts 1. Comment. in act. Epist. 180. what shallbe shared to every man; or of divination, and prediction, wherein they are curious to search out future accidents. Of the former two they make no great scruple, because they are justified and approved to us by many examples of scriptures; as in choosing one goat for the sacrifice, the other for the escape goat; in dividing the land of promise; in finding out Achan with the accursed thing; in taking Saul to the kingdom; in preferring Mathias to the Apostleship, (though Beda seementh to mislike the like imitation in our times, because the election than held, was before Pentecost, when they had not received such full measure of the holy ghost; which afterwards obtained, they chose the s●ven deacons not by lot, but by common consent of all the Disciples.) August. in an epistle to Honoratus, putteth this case; that if in a time of persecution, the ministers of the gospel should vary amongst them, who should abide the heat of the fire, that all fled not; and who should fly, lest if the whole brotherhood were made away, the church might be forsaken: if otherwise they could not end their variance, he holdeth it the best course to try by lot, who should remain behind, Quantum mi●i videtur, qui mane●t & qui fugiant, sort legendi sunt. who depart; and he addeth for the proof of his opinion, the judgement of Solomon, Prov. 18. The lot causeth contentions to cease: affirming moreover, that in such doubts, God is able to judge better than men, whether it be his pleasure, to call the better able unto their martyrdom, and to spare the weaker; or to enable these weaker, for the endurance of troubles, and to withdraw them from this life, who cannot by their lives be so profitable to the Church of God, as the others. He proposeth the like case in his books of Christian learning, the question standing between two needy persons, whether of the two shallbe relieved, when both cannot. Lib. 1. c. 28· I find many other cases, both observed by antiquity, and some by the civil laws allowed, wherein the use of lots hath been admitted; See Wolph upon the 9 of Nehem. comment. lib. 3. As in creation of magistrates, in contracting marriages, in undertaking provinces and lieutenantships, in leading colonies, that is, new inhabitants to replenish foreign parts; in entering upon inheritances; and if in a suit of law it cannot be agreed upon between the parties contending, who the plaintiff, who the defendant is, Thence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Vlpi●n. both seeking for judgement; in the manumission & freeing of some few in a multitude, when all crave the benefit; in singling out one of many heirs that cannot agree for the keeping of the deeds and conveyances. But to bridle our licentiousness herein, who must live by laws, not by examples, and ought not to turn particular facts into general practices, it shall not be amiss, (as God set marks about the mount,) to propose a few conditions carefully to be observed. First, we must never fall to lottery, 6. Conditions in lottery. but when necessity enforceth us; all other lawful means first assayed, and the wisdom of man unable to proceed, unless a more excellent wisdom from heaven, help the defect of it. For he that is taken by lot, Qui sort eligitur, human● judicio non comprehenditur. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Cyprian. must be past the comprehension of human judgement, as Ambrose noteth upon the first of Luke, touching the ministery of Zachary in his course to burn incense. Secondly, we must use great reverence and religiousness in the action: Sancta sanctè, holy things must be done in an holy manner. Beda calleth for this in his commentaries upon the first of the Acts, handling the election of Mathias. If any think that in a time of necessity (else not) the mind of God must be known by lots, according to the example of the Apostles, Non nisi collecto frairum coetu, & precibu●a● Deum ●usi●. let them remember that the Apostles meddled not therewith, but the brethren being first assembled, and their prayers powered forth unto God. Thirdly, we must avoid impiety and idolatry therein, ascribing the event of our wishes, neither to the stars, nor to any other celestial body, which cannot want the ingestion and intermeddling of divelles; neither to fortune, which is vanity at the least, (though Aquinas make that the most) neither to divelles, nor to any other the like spiritual cause, which savoureth of mere idolatry, but only unto him, of whom Solomon testifieth, The lot is cast into the lap, Prov. 16. but the whole disposition thereof is of the Lord. Fourthly, we must not apply the oracles of God in his sacred scriptures, to our earthly, temporal, transitory losses; Ad negoti● saecularia & vitae huius vanitatem▪ divina oracula convertere. Aug. add inquisit. jan. Epist. 119. cap. 20. see more there Scriptum est. Paul we know. wherein they intolerably offend, that for every trifle stolen from them, or casually gone, are strongly conceited, by reciting the verse of the Psalm, when thou saweth a thief, thou runnest with him, and using an hollow key, or by using a ●i●e and a pair of shears, not without blasphemous invocation of the names of some saints, to make themselves savours again. Doubtless the devil, whom they gratify in this sorcery, who also produced scriptures, and the names of Saints to as good purpose as they do, hath sifted these men to the bran, and left not a grain of good Christianity in them. Augustins judgement (me seemeth) is over favourable unto them, who though he rather wished they should take their lots from the leaves of the gospel, then run to inquire of divelles, yet he misliked that custom, that the oracles of God should be converted to secular affairs, Tamen ista mihi displicet consuetudo. and the vanities of this life. We may justly control them from the same Psalm, What hast thou to do, to take my covenant within thy mouth, seeing thou hatest to be directed by it? thou givest thy mind to evil, and with thy tongue thou forgest deceit: thou sittest and imaginest against thy brother, and slaunderest thy mother's son. Thus indeed they do: for he is the thief whom e●ther they in their jealousy think upon, or the devil and father of lies in his malignity offereth unto them. 5. The ends of our lots must be respected: the honour of God, as the moderator of all such ambiguities; the furnishing of his Church, if two or more be fit, with the fit; the preserving of justice; the avoidance of greater mischiefs, otherwise in the reason of man unevitable, as envies, suspicions, tumults, factions, seditions, arising without such competent and equal judges. Lastly, we must eschew all fraud and deceit, in permitting our causes to heavenly arbitrement; lest we procure at least the reproof that Ananias bore, How hath Satan filled your hearts, that you should lie unto the holy Ghost? Acts 5. You have not lied unto men, but unto God: undoubtedly he hath a girdle of truth about his reins, that will heavily repay it. In Messenicis. Therefore the fact of Temon the Priest recorded by Pausanias, can never be pardoned amongst religious ears, who in a controversy for land between Cresphon, and the issue of Aristodemus, to be tried by lottery, in favour of Cresphon, who had bribed him, beguiled the right heirs. The lots were of clay, to be cast into a pot of water, wherein as they sooner or later resolved, so the matter should be ended. But Cresphons being hardened in the fire, the other but against the sun, it is not hard to say whether longer endured. Within these borders must our lots be held: Sors non est aliqùid mali, sed res in humana dubitatione divinam indicans voluntatem. Glos. in Psal. 30: 〈◊〉 August. Te facimus fortuna D●am, etc. and then there is little question, but as in nature they are things indifferent, so being bettered by such conditions, they may rightfully be borne with. Concerning cards and dice, as usual pastimes to some, as the fields to walk in, dividing to men the wager or stake pawned down betwixt them, if any have pronounced with so much severity as to comprise them within the number and train of unlawful lots, & utterly to abandon them, for mine own part I hinder them not, let them proceed to their judgements. Yet amongst sober and discreet companions, who use them to no bad end, and neither are so gross on the one side to make fortune their goddess, in assigning good or evil luck unto her, nor so saucy on the other, to call the majesty of God from heaven to determine their doubts, (for they look not so high in such frivolous & gamesome quarrels, but as they carelessly undertake them, so they further them as lightly, and as merrily end them, with no other purpose of heart, save only to pass 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 from serious occupations) I think it, under correction, no great offence. Which temperate excuse of mine notwithstanding far be it of, that it should be racked to the patronaging of Temo's cozenage; those studied frauds, & fallacies, I mean, which the world useth in packing of cards, shifting and helping of dice (they term it) to the hurting of others estate, and their own consciences. Neither do I allow them for a trade or vocation of life. To erect dicing and carding houses, or commonly to haunt such, as places to thrive by, is to set up temples to fortune a new, rather to devilles, & to lay a foundation which deserveth no milder a curse then the re-edifying of jericho. A young man reproved by Plato for playing at dice, Parvum est alea ludere. A● non parvum ossuescere. answered him, it is a small thing to play at dice; but the Philosopher replied, it is no small fault to make it an habit. The last thing that I mislike in them, is that, that Alexander the great, both blamed and amerced in his friends▪ that when they played at dice, they played not but riotously wasted and consumed their whole ability. In which profusion of substance, when the matter engaged ieopardeth the stock and state of a man, his passions must needs be stirred, and a troop of wretched sins commonly ensueth; swearing, forswearing, banning, defying, hart-burning, fight, spilling of blood, unsupportable sorrows of heart, cursed desperation, weeds able to disgrace the lawfullest recreation wheresoever they are found, as the Harpies defiled the cleanest meats. The third sort of lots serving to divination, Divinatory lots. the law of God in a thousand express prohibitions & comminations, & the laws of men both civil & canon mainly impugn, as by their edicts, penances, anathemas hath been published to the world. They had many sorts of predictions, presensions, foreseeings, & none of them all, but either with the manifest invocation of devils, or with their secret insinuation at the least. In conjuring, & witchery, it is too open; but in their necromancy, & such like prophesyings by signs & characters in the fire; are, water, ground, entrales of beasts, flying, crying, feeding of birds, See. Aret. in probls. loc. 6●. lineaments of the hand, proper names, numbers, verses, lead, wax, ashes, sage-leaves, and the rest, it is somewhat more secret, but no less certain. The artificers and masters of which faculty, are most to be excused, that used least earnest; Cato. at whom a wise man marveiled, that they laughed not one upon the other when they met, as being privy to themselves of enriching the ears of the world with fables, Aures divicant alienas, sua● ut auro locupletent domos. to enrich their own houses with treasure. But how scrupulous and fearful others were, how deeply enthralled to the collusions of Satan, is most ridiculous to consider: as that Pub. Claudius should be condemned by full parliament, because, in the first Carthaginian war, being in sight by sea, and ask how the birds fared, to take his good speed there hence, upon knowledge given him that they would not come out of their coop to feed, he answered so irreligiously as it was taken, Quia esse nolunt, bibant & in malum abeant. Val. lib. 1. cap. 4. Behold, they will no● eat, let them drink, and go with a mischief, and so cast them all into the sea. Who would ever have thought that C. Marius being condemned by the Senate of Rome, seeing an ass to forsake his provendour, and go to the water to drink, should take occasion thereby, to forego the land, and betake himself to sea for safety of his life? Cap. 5. Yet was the accident imputed both to the providence of his Gods that directed him, and to the skill that himself had in interpreting religion. Augustin writeth, that one came to Cato, 2. De do●t▪ Christ 19 and told him in great sooth, that a rat had gnawn his hose: Cato answered him, it was no marvel; but much more, if his hose had gnawn the rat. Fabius Maximus refused his dictatorship, because he heard a rat but squeak. If a man should forsake but his meat, or bed for the squeaking of many rats, or a scholar his books, because a rat had eaten the leaves thereof in our times, who would not laugh at their folly? This was their misery and servility, who went from the living to the dead, from the mouth of the Lord, to the mouths of enchanters, birds, beasts, devilles, from the law and the testimony to those lawless, curious, idolatrous, pernicious, magical devises. The manner of our charmers is not much behind these in impurity & profaneness. Wherein what reason can be given of applying holy writ to unholy actions, of uttering unsignificant words which carry no sense, of drawing unproportionate figures, of tying to foolish and unnecessary conditions, but a very secret operation, whereby the devil doth infuse himself into such workings? For curing the toothache, or the like disease, a writing must be red or kept, but great regard to be had, whether it be written in paper or parchment, in sheep or in goat skin, with the right or the left hand whether by a Virgin or common person. Sometimes Christ himself is abused and his sacred word, with apocryphal, imaginary, false allegations; as that jesus spoke to his wife, when he was never married, and such like blasphemies. You will say, they use good prayers in their chambers. I answer with Augustine, Si magicae, non vult tales; si licitae, non vult per tales. li. 8. de civ. Dei. c. 19 Miracula non sacitis, quae si faceretis, tamen in vobis caveremus. li. 13. they are either magical or lawful: If magical, God will none of such prayers; if lawful, yet not by such orators. I deny not but a good event hath sometimes ensued, thy loss recovered, thy teeth cured: what then? dost thou not know the power of Satan, that he transformeth himself into an Angel of light, worketh by strong delusions, lying wonders, that, if it were possible, the very elect should be seduced? Augustin wrote to Faustus the Manichee; you work no miracles, which if you did, yet in you we would beware your very miracles. It is the deserved judgement of God upon those that have recourse to these unlawful helps (wherein though they understand not themselves sometimes, what they writ or speak, the Devil understandeth well enough) to leave them to the God of this world, the prince of darkness, who ruleth in the children of disobedience, because they fly from the revealed will of God, to prestigiatory and fraudulent impieties. The Lord demandeth in the 1. of Kings, who shall entice, Chap. 22. that is, persuade & deceive Ahab, that he may go and fall at Ramoth in Gilead? one said thus, an other thus: Then there came forth a spirit and said, I will entice him: wherewith? I will go & be a false spirit in the mouth of all his Prophets. Then the L. said, thou shalt entice him, & shalt prevail▪ go forth and do so. Such is the counsel that the Lord holdeth in heaven, to bring to confusion all those whom the load-star of his written word cannot lead, but they will take to themselves crooked and perverse ways, which go down to the chambers of death. I now conclude all these with that memorable saying of Augustin, Talibus sacris mortem quaerat aeterna●. That we may know for whose cause. Text. He that desireth neither to live happily hereafter, nor godly in this present world, let him purchase eternal death by such rites. Thus much of the course resolved upon, Come let us cast lots. The reason why they resolved upon lottery, was, that they might know for whose sake the evil was upon them. Who are they that inquire this? vir ad amicum suum, every one in the ship; no doubt jonas amongst the rest, as quick to dissemble his fault, as he that was most innocent. Look from the crown of the head to the soul of the foot, from the master of the ship to the ship-boy, they had all deserved this tempest; full of idolatry, impurity of life, fit, for their wickedness, whom the jaws of hell than the waves of the sea should swallow up. Yet as if they were free from stain, they will try by lots, for whose cause the evil is upon them. So is the nature of man wedded to itself, leaving her eyes at home in a box, in discerning her own infirmities, Pupula duplex fulmin●t, Ovid. but in the faults of others, as quick sighted as eagles. Then every eye hath a double ball to see with, and they stand without the head (which is the worst kind of eye) nearer to other men then to themselves. jonas, I grant, was the man, whom the anger of God, as an arrow from a bow, leveled at; yet did not the others know so much, and therefore had little reason to think, that there was not matter enough each man in himself to deserve the punishment. This translation of faults from ourselves to others, was a lesson learned in paradise, when the first rudiments and catechism of all rebellions was delivered to the children of men. For Adam being charged with the crime of disobedience, he put it to the woman, the woman to the serpent, as if both the former had not been touched. 1. Sam. 14. When Saul caused lots to be cast between him and jonathan on the one side, and all Israel on the other, to find out the man who, contrary to their vow, had eaten any thing before night, he saith not unto God, declare the offender, which he should have done; but by an arrogant speech in favour of his own integrity, Cedo integrum, show me the innocent person. jonathan, I confess, 2. Sam. 16. was guilty in this one offence, if it were an offence; yet was the innocency of Saul discredited in many others. Shemei a dead dog, as Abishai termed him, forgetteth his own people, I mean, the sins of his own bosom, and raileth at David with a tongue as virulent as asps, Come forth, Come forth, thou man of blood, thou man of Beliall; thou art taken in thy wickedness, because thou art a murderer. How did the friends of job break a bruised reed, and add affliction to the afflicted, making their whole conference with him an invective against his wickedness, and conveying in withal a secret apology & purgation of their own justice? Luke 13. It appeareth by our Saviour's answer, in the gospel of Luke, that there were some amongst the people, which supposed those Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices, greater sinners than the rest; and those eighteen, upon whom the tower of Siloam fell, and slay them, sinners above all men that dwelled in jerusalem. Our Saviour answereth them by occupation, I tell you, Nay; but except you amend your lives, you shall likewise perish. When the Barbarians of Malta saw the viper hanging upon Paul's hand, they inferred presently, (men more viperous and pestilent themselves) this man surely is a murderer, Acts 28. whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance doth not suffer to live. It was the usual manner of the Scribes and Pharisees, to sow pillows of self-liking under their own armholes, and to take no knowledge of beams in their own eyes, but evermore to except against their brethren▪ as men not worthy the earth they trod upon: Why eateth your master with Publicans and sinners? This man is a friend to sinners. Again, if this man were a Prophet, he would surely have known, who, and what woman this is that toucheth him; for she is a sinner: (when the woman with a box of spike-nard anointed his feet.) Such doctrine preached the Pharisee that went into the temple to justify himself, (a lying prophet against his own soul,) I thank God I am not as other men, Luke 1●. nor as this Publican. He spoke like Caiaphas, truer than he was ware of: he was not as the Publican, in confession of his misdeeds; nor the Publican as he, in arrogation of justice. Thus Diogenes treadeth down the pride of Plato, but with greater pride; and the Pharisee reproveth the sin of a Publican, but with greater sin. Mala mens, malus animus; An evil mind in itself is an evil mind towards all others. You see the disease of mankind, worthy to be searched and seared with severe reprehension, how strange we are to our own, how domestical and inward to other men's offences; how blind in ourselves, how censorius and lynce-eied against our brethren; how willing to smooth our own pates with the balm of assentation & self-pleasing, how loath to acknowledge that which we brought from the womb, I am a sinful man; 1. Tim. 1. but to go further with Paul, Ego primus, I am chief, to be greatest in the kingdom of heaven, we will scarcely do it. Well, it is a sentence of eternity, hanging as in a table over the judgement seat of God, and his eyes are never removed from it, He that commendeth himself is not allowed, 2. Cor. 10. but he whom the Lord commendeth: and this other is not unlike unto it. He that condemneth another man, is not his judge, but God hath appointed a judge both for small and great. Who art thou, saith james, jacob. 4. that judgest another? If he be, alter, unto thee, an other from thyself, and without thy skin, judge him not. He that judgeth his brother, judgeth the law, (whose office it is to judge) and offereth injury to the lawgiver himself. For there is one lawgiver which is able to save, and to destroy. Rom. 14. Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? he standeth or falleth unto his own master (not unto thee,) yea contrary to thy thought & will, he shallbe established, for God is able to make him stand. But why dost thou judge thy brother? he is not thy servant, but thy brother; your condition is alike. We shall all appear before the judgement seat of Christ▪ judge nothing therefore before the time, 1. Cor. 4. until the Lord come, who will lighten things that are hid in darkness, & make the counsels of the heart manifest, & then shall every man have praise of God. First then, because he is another, 2. because he serveth his own Lord, 3. because he is thy brother, 4. because the lawgiver hath power of life & death in his hands, & his law must judge, 5. because the time of judgement is not yet come; for all these reasons and persuasions, judge not another man. judge him by law, if thou be a magistrate; judge him by charity and discretion, if a private christian; and be not only an eye to observe, and a tongue to condemn, but an hand to support him: yet rather, if I may counsel thee, judge thyself, J●r. 24. Vol● vul●●●●rae iudica●us praesentari, non iudicandus. 1. Cor. 11. that thou be not judged with the world. Say with Bernarde upon the Canticles, I will present myself before the countenance of God's wrath already judged, not to be judged. For if we would judge ourselves, (the Apostle telleth us) we might escape judgement. Call thy soul to daily account of thine own misdeeds, Thus did Sextius, when the day was ended and the night come, wherein he should take his rest, he would ask his mind, what evil hast thou healed this day? Quod malum hody sanasti● Senec. de ira lib. 3. joh. 21. 1. Chr. 17. Luke 18. what vice hast thou stood against? in what part art thou bettered? Say not, as Peter did of john, Hic autem quid? what shall he do? as one careful of other men's estates; but, Domine, quis ego sum? Lord, who am I, that thou shouldest regard me with such favour? Domine, miserere mei peccatoris, O Lord, be merciful unto me a sinner. Thus knock at the breast of thine own conscience, break up those iron and heavy gates, which bar up thine own sins. Look not into the coffers and corners of other men's infirmities. Otherwise thy dissembled sins which thou hoardest up within thy bones, and art afraid to set before thine eyes, shall be written in the brow of thy face, brought to light, and blown abroad with the sound of trumpets, that all the world may say, Lo, this is the man that justified himself in his life time, and would not confess his sin. THE TENTH LECTURE. Cap. 1. ver. 7. And the lot fell upon jonas. OF the four parts before specified & collected out of this verse, the last only remaineth to be examined, to wit, the success of the lots; The success of the lots. which the last member thereof doth plainly open unto us. Let me once again remember the proverb unto you: The lots are cast into the lap, but the whole disposition thereof is of the Lord. In a matter merely casual, for aught the wisdom of man can judge, (as Tully sometimes said to a man who spoke rashly and unadvisedly, 2. Acad. qu. Hoc non est considerare, sed quasi sortiri quid loquare, this is not to speak with discretion, but as it were by lot, and haphazard,) the trial standing hereupon, who threw more, who less; who drew black, who white; & so forth; the choice of the whole bunch lying before him, & his own hands, his carvers & ministers in the action, each man feigning that hope to himself for his evasion, which the son of Sirach mentioneth: Eccle. 16. In populo magno non agnoscar; quae est anima mea in tam immensâ creaturâ? I cannot be known in so great a multitude; & what is my one soul amongst a 100? yet doth the finger of the lot directly & faithfully point him out, for whose cause the storm was sent. The strong persuasion that these men had, that their lot would not err in the verdict thereof, Voluntati● propositum operatur omnia. 1. de nat. De. giveth a singular testimony & approbation to the providence of the godhead, as being an universal, imperial art, which all the affairs in the world are subject unto, that in the greatest & smallest things, in matters of both choice & chance, as they seem to us, the wisdom & knowledge of God is at hand to manage them, according to the Apostles speech, Ephe. 1. He worketh all things after the counsel & purpose of his will: so first, he hath a will; secondly, a counsel to go before his will; thirdly, an effect & accomplishment to succeed it; lastly, as general & patent a subject, as the world hath. There are Philosophers, & have been, which thought that the Gods had no regard of human affairs: whose opinion (saith Tully) if it be true, what piety can there be, what sanctity, what religion? Others, though they went not so far as to exempt all things, yet they withdrew the smaller from the heavenly providence. For it was thought most injurious to bring down the majesty of God so low, as * Vsque ad apium formicarunque perfectionem. 2. Acad. qu. Minutorum operum fabricator. He made a chariot, that was covered under the wing of a gnat, and a ship under a bees wing. to the husbanding of bees & pismires, as if in the number of Gods there were sun Myrmecides to carve & procure the smaller works. Elsewhere he also reciteth their improvident speeches to the same purpose: as, for the smaller things, Neque agelios singulorum, nec viticulas persequuntur. 3. De nat. De. Ea cura quietor solicitas? that Gods neglect them; they go not so far as to take view of every parcel of ground, and little vine that every one hath, neither if blasting or hail hath endamaged any man, doth jupiter observe it; nay they make a scorn, that those who are quiet & at ease in heaven, should trouble themselves about petty occasions. The Peripatetics, an other sect & college of philosophers, housed that providence above the moon, and thought it had no descent beneath the circle thereof, to intend inferior businesses. What do the Epicures in job say less, job. 22. (Eliphas at least in their names?) How should God know? can he judge through the dark clouds? the clouds hide him that he cannot see, and he walketh in the circle of heaven. A verroës surnamed the Commenter, a Spanish physician, that he may seem to be mad with reason, by reason fortifieth the former judgements. For he thinketh that the knowledge and understanding of God would become vile, Vilesceret Dei intellectus. if it were abased to these inferior and infirmer objects. As if a glass were deformed, because it presenteth deformities; or the beams of the sun defiled, because they fall upon muddy places; or the providence of God vilified, who though he hath his dwelling on high, Psal. 113. yet he abaseth himself to behold things in heaven and in earth. As he spoke the word and all things were created; so he sustaineth and beareth up all things by the power of his word. Hebr. 1. His creation was as the mother to bring them forth, his providence the nurse to bring them up; his creation a short providence, his providence a perpetual creation; the one setting up the frame of the house, the other looking to the standing and reparation thereof. I cannot determine this point in terms more grave and significant, then Tully hath used against the Atheists and Epicures of that age. 1. De na. De He is, Curiosus & plenus nego●ij Deus; a curious God, exquisite in all things, full of business. He is not a reckless, careless, improvident God, or a God to halves, & in part, above & not beneath the moon, or, as the Syrians deemed, upon the mountains, and not in the valleys, in the greater and not in the lesser employments; he is very precise, & inquisitive, having a thousand eyes, and as many hands, yea all eye, all hand, both to observe, and to dispatch withal; examining the least moments & titles in the world that can be imagined, to an handful of meal, and a cruse of oil in a poor widows house; the calving of hinds, the feeding of ●ong Lions and ravens, the f●lling of sparrows to the ground, clothing of lilies, and grass of the field, numbering of hairs, and (to return to that from which I first digressed) the success of lots. I cannot conceive how the land of Canaan could be divided, Numb. 26. and 33. as it was, between many and few, (for so was the order by God set, that many should have the more, & few the lesser inheritance) unless the hand of the Lord had been in the lap to reach unto every tribe & family, what was convenient & proportionate: otherwise, the fewer might have had the more, and the more the less inheritance. And was it not much (think you) that when Samuel had anointed Saul king over Israel, he would afterwards go from his right, leave a certainty, & put it to the hazard of lots, whether Saul should be king or no, but that he assured himself, 1. Sam. 10. the providence of the Lord would never forsake his intendment? Therefore of all the tribes of Israel, Benjamin; of all the families of Benjamin, Matri; of all the kindred of Matri, the house of Cis; and of all the house of Cis, Saul was chosen to the kingdom. In the book of Esther, the day and the month were by lot appointed, when all the people of the jews, old and young, women and children, Chap. 3. within the city of Shusan, & throughout all the provinces of the kingdom, should be destroyed. But did the Almighty sleep at this wicked and bloody designment? or was his eye held & blindfolded that he could not see it? No: that powerful and dreadful God, who holdeth the bal of the world in his hand, and keepeth a perfit calendar of all times & seasons, had so inverted the course of things for his chosens sake, that the month & day before prefined, became most dismal to those that intended mischief. Without further allegations, this may suffice as touching the success of the lots, and consequently, the providence of God in the moderation thereof. It is now a question meet to be discussed, the offender being found, A multitude punished for one man's offence. Prov 30. whether it stand with the justice of God to scourge a multitude, because one in the company hath transgressed? For though I condemned their arrogancy before, in that, not knowing who the offender was, they wiped their mouths (each man in the ship) with the harlot in the Proverbs, & asked in their hearts, Is it I? yet when the oracle of God hath now dissolved the doubt, and set as it were his mark upon the trouble & plague of the whole ship, they had some reason to think, that it was not a righteous part to lay the faults of the guilty upon the harmless & innocent. This was the cause that they complained of old, that the whole fleet of the Argives was overthrown, unius ob noxam & furias Aiacis Oilei, for one man's offence. Nay they were not content there to rest, but they charged the justice of God with an accusation of more weight, Plerunque nocen●es Praeterit, examinatque indignos, inque nocentes, Lucr●●. as though oftentimes he freed the nocent, and laid the burden of woes upon such as deserved them not. It appeareth in Ezechiell, that the children of Israel had taken up as ungracious a byword amongst them, Ezech. 18. jer. 31. the fathers have eaten the sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge: and they conclude therehence; the ways of God are not equal. It was an exception that Bion took against the Gods, that the father's smart was devolved to their posterity; and thus he scornfully matched it, Plut. de serâ num. vin. as if a physician, for the grandfathers or father's disease, should minister physic to their sons or nephews. They spoke evil of Alexander the great, for razing the city of the Branchides, because their ancestors had pulled down the temple of Miletum. They mocked the Thracians for beating their wives at that day, because their forerunners had killed Orpheus. And Agathocles escaped not blame for wasting the island Corcyra, because in ancienter times it gave entertainment to Ulysses. Nay Abraham himself the father of the faithful, heir of the promises, friend of God, disputeth with the Lord about Sodom, to the like effect: Gen. 18. Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Again, Be it far from thee for doing this thing, to slay the righteous with the unrighteous, and that the just should be as the unjust, this be far from thee: shall not the judge of all the world do right? Numb. 16. In the book of Numbers, when God willed Moses & Aaron to separate themselves from the congregation that he might at once destroy them, they fell upon their faces, & said, O God, the God of the spirits of every creature, hath not one man only sinned, & wilt thou be wroth with all the congregation? ●. Chr. 21. In the first of Chronicles, when for the offence of David in numbering his people, the plague fell upon them, & slew seventy thousand of them, the king with the elders fell down, & cried unto the Lord, Is it not I, that commanded to number the people? It is even I that have sinned and committed this evil: but these sheep what have they done? O Lord my God, I beseech thee, let thine hand be upon me, and upon my father's house, and not on thy people for their destruction. I answer this heinous crimination & grievance against the righteousness of God, in few words, from the authorities of Ezechiel, & jeremy, before alleged: Behold, all souls are mine (saith the Lord) both the soul of the father, & also of the son are mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die. O ye house of Israel, is not my way equal? or are not your ways unequal? If it were a truth which the poet sang to his friend, Hora●. Delicta maiorum immeritus lues, Roman. thou shalt bear the faults of thy forefathers without thine own deservings, the question were more difficult. But who is able to say, my heart is clean, though I came from an unclean seed? though I were borne of a Morian, I have not his skin; though an Ammorite were my father, and my mother an Hittite, I have not their nature; I have touched pitch, & am not defiled; I can wash mine hands in innocency, & say with a clear conscience, I have not sinned? But if this be the case of us all, that there is not a soul in the whole cluster of mankind, that hath not offended, though not as principal touching the fact presently inquired of, as Achan in taking the accursed thing, Corah in rebelling, David in numbering the people, yet an accessary in consenting & concealing; if neither principal nor accessary in that one sin, yet culpable in a thousand others, committed in our life time, (perhaps not open to the world, but in the eyes of God as bright as the sun in the firmament, for the scorpion hath a sting, though he hath not thrust it forth to wound us, & man hath malice, though he hath not outwardly showed it;) it may be, some sins to come, which God forseeth, & some already past, which he recounteth: shall we stand in argument with God, as man would plead with man, & charge the judge of the quick & dead with injurious exactions, I have paid the things that I never took, I have borne the price of sin which I never committed? You hear the ground of mine answer. We have all sinned, father and son, rush & branch, & deservedly are to expect that wages, from the hands of God, which to our sin appertaineth: & touching this present company, I nothing doubt but they might particularly be touched for their proper & private iniquities, though they had miss of jonas. Bias to a like fare of passengers, shaken with an horrible tempest as these were, and crying to their Gods for succour, answered not without some jest in that earnest, hold your peace, Silete, nevo● hac illi navigare sentiant. Bri●son. lest the God's hap to hear that you pass this way: noting their lewdness to be such, as might justly draw down a greater vengeance. Besides, it cannot be denied, but those things which we seyer & part in our conceits, by reason that distance of time & place hath sundered them, some being done of old, some of late, some in one quarter of the world, some in an other; those doth the God of knowledge unite, and vieweth them at once, as if they were done together. Say, that being young thou wert riotous, gluttonous, libidinous, given to drinking & surfeiting, giving thy strength to harlots; shall not thine old age rue it? art thou not one & the sane person both in thy younger & older years? in the waxing & in the waning of thy days? shall the difference and change of times exempt thee from the gout, dropsy, & the like distemperature? Thy grandfather, & 2. or 3. degrees beyond, thy father, and thyself, Et natinatorum, & qui nascentur ab illis, thy children's children, & nephews to come, you are all but one house, (Aeacidae from Aeacus) springing from one root, the head of the family, in his sight & account, who esteemeth a 1000 generations but as one day. Plutarch himself was wise enough to answer the argument. There is not the like comparison betwixt father & son, as betwixt a workman & his work, neither can they alike be separated: for that which is borne or begotten, Cùmex ipso, non ab ipso genitum est, velut pars quaedam. De ser. num. ●ind. is not only from the father, but of him, as a part belonging unto him. The Castilions' blood in France spilled at the massacre, may rightfully be required of the Guisian race, in the 4. or 5. generation to come. This is the cause that David curseth the wicked on both sides; both in their descent, let their children be vagabonds & beg their bread; and in their ascent, let the iniquity of his father be had in remembrance, & let not the sin of his mother be done away. The like is daily practised in the community and fellowship of divers parts within the same body; as in a matter of felony, the hand only hath taken and borne away, but the feet are clapped in iron, the belly pinched with penury, the bones lie hard, & the best joint is endangered for it. Sundry parts, though distinguished both in place and office, feel the punishment, which, they may fond say, the hand only deserved. Yea, the eye may be sore, and a vein pricked in the arm to cure it; the hoof tender and weak, and the top of the ho●ne anointed for remedy thereof; even so, in the body of a city, the body of an army, the body of a church, the body of a ship, though happily few offend, yet their iniquity is brought upon the head of a whole multitude. The kings are mad, the Greeks are plagued; Hesiod. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the whole city oftentimes reapeth the fruit of one wicked man amongst them. What injury is done therein? is it more than one city? & is not that citizen a member of their body? Is not Socrates' one and the same man at the head, & at the foot? is not England one and the same land, at Berwick, and at the Mount? is not London one and the same city, at Ludgate, & at Aldgate? These may be the reasons, why the whole number of passengers is plagued both in the loss of their wares, & in the hazard of their lives, for the principal transgression of jonas. 1. they were wicked themselves, because they were idolatrous, & what other corruptions they had, the Lord knoweth: 2. they were all but one body, under the same discipline and government, tied together by orders & laws for sea, as by joints, by reason they had entertained, and consorted themselves with disobedient jonas. Other causes there may be secret unto God, which I dare not search out. Why should I climb into paradise, or p●ie into the ark, to behold his counsels? when he hath set darkness & clouds about his pavilion, why should I labour to remove them? We know not the reasons of many a thing belonging to our common life, how it cometh that our clothes are warm about our backs, when the earth is quiet through the southwind; job. 37. & shall we reach after hidden knowledge? A plague begun in Aethiopia, filled Athens, Plutar. killed Pericles, vexed Thucy dides: or to match the example; a plague beginneth in France, taketh shipping at Newhaven, landeth in England with Englishmen, harboureth itself in London, & never departeth therehence again. Will you know the reason hereof? It may be, that the works of God may be made manifest, as Christ spoke of the blind man; joh. 9 or to show his power that he hath over his clay; to exercise his justice; to practise & prove our patience, whether we will curse him to his face, as (it may be) the devil hath informed against us; or to apply the continual physic of affliction & chastisement unto us, that we run not into desperate maladies. For there are 4. kinds of men which by 4. kinds of means come to heaven: 1. some buy it at a price, which bestow all their temporal goods for the better compassing thereof: 2. sun catch it by violence, they forsake fathers, mothers, land, living, life, all that they have, for that kingdoms sake: Mercantur▪ Rapiunt. ●urantur. Compelluntur. Bonavent▪ in Luc 3. some steal it, they do their good deeds secretly, & they are openly rewarded: 4. others are enforced to take it, & by continual afflictions made to fall into the liking thereof. Or whatsoever else be the cause, which the sanctuary of heaven hath reserved to itself, & buried in light that may not be approached unto, this I am sure of, that the challenge of the Apostle shall stand like a wall of brass against all the objections in the world, Numquid iniquitas apud Deum? Is there any unrighteousness with God? And so far was it of, that these mariners received loss by their loss, Rom 9 that it was their occasion to bring them to the knowledge and fear of the true God, as hereafter shall appear unto you in the tendering of their vows, and other the like religious duties. Then said they unto him, tell us for whose cause this evil is upon us, etc. Having presumed that the lots could not lie, The eight verse. Then said they unto him, tell us for etc. being governed and guided by the wisdom of God, they gather themselves together like bees, & all make a common incursion upon jonas. For, by likelihood of their demands, (because they are many in number, & many to the same effect, as some supposed) it is not unprobable, that their whole troop assaulted him, & each one had a pull after his fashion; & as they had sundry heads & mouths, so they had sundry speeches to express one & the same thing: & therefore one asked, unde venis? whence comest thou? another, quae terra tua? what is thy country? a third, ex quo populo? of what people art thou? when his people, country, & dwelling place differ not in substance. And certainly I cannot blame them, if in such peril of their lives, when the first borne of death, the next & immediatest death to sight, was upon them, they all make an head, & open their mouths without order or course, against the worker of their woes. When Achan was brought to the valley of Anchor to be executed, he, his sons, daughters, asses, sheep, the silver, garment, wedge of gold, his tent, all that he had, there produced, jos. 7. it is said, that all Israel threw stones at him, and burned them with fire, and stoned them with stones, as being the very cause that Israel could not stand against their enemies. In the conspiracy at Rome, against julius Caesar, there were not fewer (by report) then 24. daggers stabbed into his body, because he was taken by the nobility of Rome to be the perturber of their common wealth, and an enemy to the common liberty. An oath of association was taken in many places of this land (I know not if in the whole) within these few years, for the pursuit and extirpation of those persons, together with their confederates and, as I remember, their families, who by treacherous machination should violate the life and crown of our gracious Sovereign. Was it not grounded upon this presumption, that the authors of common calamities, and subverters of states, can never be persecuted with too much violence? Traitors executed at Tyburn, of late, were sent, D. Lopu● and his fellows. I say not to their graves, but to their ends, such as they were, too too merciful for traitors, with such a shout of the people, to s●ale their affections and assents, as if they had gained an harvest, or were dividing a spoil; and I doubt not, but the Angels in heaven reio●ce, when they see such deliverances. Others distinguish the questions, and make them imply several things; Five demands. as if they inquired of five sundry matters. 1. his fact; Indica cuius causâ, tell us, not for whom, but for what, this evil is upon us? 2. his calling and course of life, his art, profession; quae opera tua? 3. his travel and journey, and the company and society he last came from; unde venis? 4. his region; quae terra tua? 5. his dwelling city; ex quo populo? which last may be referred to the notifying of his service and religion, whereof it was easy to guess by the city he came from. In the general course of all which particulars, we have a singular document and instruction of justice, Just judgement. from barbarous nations. jonas had been detected by the suffrage of God himself, speaking in the lot, and doubtless by these men, held and reputed the principal malefactor in the ship. The lot fell upon jonas; what needeth more conviction? how should their eyes now spare, or their hands longer forbear him? me thinketh, they should now cry out against him, as the men of jobs tabernacle, job. 31. jer. 37. who will give us his flesh to eat? or as the Priests and false prophets against jeremy, the judgement of death belongeth to this man: Away with him, away with him from the earth, he is not worthy to live. They do not thus; but in the extremest peril of their lives, having no time to bethink themselves, driven to take counsel without counsel, Consilium in arenâ. as fencers in the sand, who defend themselves but as the blow falleth out: yet they deliberate in the cause, they evolue all circumstances for the manifestation of his fact, and by a most exquisite inquisition they proceed in judgement, what is thy fact? thy trade? thy travel? thy country? thy people? Tully affirmeth, that a kind of justice there is amongst robbers and pirates in dividing their booties, and maintaining their fraternities: such a justice, as Ananias the high priest was a judge, who sat to judge Paul according to the law, Acts 23. and caused him to be smitten contrary to the law: a painted judge, and a painted justice. But it serveth me thus far to collect, that even in the tents of Mesech, in the societies of the most wicked, there is a counterfeit justice, an image and imitation of that virtue, without the which, jupiter himself (saith Plutarch) cannot reign in heaven; much less can amity be maintained betwixt man and man. The empress wisely admonished her husband, when sitting at play, and minding his game more than the prisoners, he pronounced sentence upon them; The life of man is not as a game at tables, where a wooden man is taken up by a blot, and thrown aside, and the loss is not great. Non est hominum vitae ludus talorum. Aelianu●. And whether it be life or land, there is no great difference in the account of God: for the bread of the poor man is his life, and he that oppresseth the poor, eateth him like bread. Whether therefore it be in the life or in the living of man, the office of justice is not to wade to the ankles, but up to the chin, to sound the bottom and depth of the cause, carefully to confer all presumptions and inducements, prudently to deliberate, to enucleate all difficulties, and though the case be dangerous, as this was, and great preiudices against the examinate, yet by a curious indagation to have the proof of the fact clearly laid forth. We have a precedent hereof in God himself: Who though he be nearer to offenders, than the bark to the tree, by the presence of his godhead, which filleth heaven and earth, yet when the cry of Sodom and Gomorre was great, (to leave an example of justice to the sons of men, Gen. 18. ) I will now go down▪ (saith he) & see, whether they have done altogether according to that cry; & if not, that I may know. This descension of God to see and to know, what is it else, but the delivery of his justice by rule, by number, and by balance, that first he will weigh and ponder the cause, afterwards measure out his judgements? Now to the particulars. 1. Cuius causâ. In the first of these demands which is of the fact, (the other but conjectures tending to the proof of it,) they are not content with the sentence of the lot, but they require further the confession of his own mouth, Indica nobis, Tell us for what cause. The like did josuah to Achan. My son give the glory to God, & tell me what thou hast done, hide it not. It is a part of the glory of God, to justify him & his judgements, to yield to the victory of truth, when he hath put a spirit as it were into lots and laws, to guess aright, not to dissemble the force thereof. Now if any shall infer hereupon, that, by the examples of josuah proceeding against Achan, the mariners against jonas, the tr●all of life, lands, good name should be brought from the laws of the country, and put to the decision of lots: besides the rule of Jerome upon this place, Privilegia singulorum non faciunt legem communem, that the privileges of singular men make not a common law; and the general rule in all examples, that none is further to be followed than the law abetteth and maketh it good, Exempla conveniant cum lege communi. Cùm signa flagitantur, non ad salutem, sed ad experienti●m desiderata, Deus tentatur. Aug. otherwise they are to be admired rather then imitated; & it is the tempting of God to seek signs when they are not for profit, but only for experience; & we ought to be very circumspect in executing judgement, and to leave no lawful means unattempted, lest we justify the wicked, and condemn the innocent; I say, besides all these reasons it appeareth from both the examples before specified, that neither josuah, nor the mariners rested in the designation of the lots, but desired further to be asserteined from their own confessions, Tell us. Whereunto we may add, that the lottery against Achan was both occasioned by an unexpected overthrow taken at Ai, & by the direction of God himself in the whole manner thereof prescribed; and as for jonas, he was a figure of Christ, whose vesture was to be parted by lots, and therefore the deprehension of his offence not to be brought into ordinary practice. 2. Quae opera tua? What is thine occupation? If jonas had confessed and opened his fact, other likelihoods & helps to find it out, had been needless; but it seemeth that before he could shape his answer to the 1. question, they thrust an other upon him, & without intermission a third, & yet more▪ like a peal of ordinance thundering about his ears, that by the united strength of so many probabilities, wound together like a fourfold cord, jonas may be entangled. This first of the four probabilities is of great moment to skan the life of man. What is thine occupation? thy art? thy calling? for 1. some have no art or trade at all; 2. some wicked & unlawful arts; 3. others such arts as have an easy provocation to injustice and ungodliness. Those that have no art, are errand, vagabond, wandering persons, as the planets in the Zodiac, never keeping a fixed place, 1. No art● & rather using their feet then their hands; or whether they slit abroad or gad at home, their calling & art is idleness: for Otium negotium, Idleness is a business. They are more troubled, I doubt not, how to spend the day, than these that have a trade wherein to be exercised: they live by the sweat of other men's brows, & will not disquiet the temples of their own heads. Let me freely speak without the offence of governors; there are a number in this city, numerus tantum, a number only, very artificial in this idle art (those that can plead their age, impotency, & necessary necessities, I am their advocate. I speak of pure and voluntary beggars,) who if they would work & have it not, it is pity that you have your wealth, that your talon is not taken from you, & given to others who would better use it to God's behoof: (they should be Ditis examen domu●, the bees that swarm in rich men's houses, much more in opulent and wealthy cities; Horat. many inferior towns are superior unto you in the provision thereof:) but if they have work, and will not undergo it, why are they suffered? spontanea lassitudo, a willing & proffered laziness in the body of a man, is an introduction and argument of greater diseases; & these willing or wilful rogues are not unapt, if ever occasion be ministered, to pilfer your goods, cut your throats, & fire your city, for their better advantage of maintenance. When jephtah was cast out of the house by his brethren, because he was the son of a strange woman, he fled and dwelt in the land of Tob: and there gathered idle fellows unto him, & they went out with him. Ind. 11. Acts 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. The unbelieving jews, in the Acts, took unto them a company of wandering companions, such as stand idle in the market place, wicked men, and gathered a multitude, & made an uproar in the whole city, and came to the house of jason to fetch out Paul and Silas. You see, how ready they are to serve such turn, to raise a tumult, to make a conspiracy or rebellion, to associate themselves to any that will but lead them. It were your wisest part to deal with such lewd and unordinate walkers, standers, sitters in the ways of idleness, as Philippe of Macedon dealt with 2. of his subjects, Alterum è Macedoniâ fugere, alterum perse●● jussit. in whom there was little hope of grace: he made one of them run out of the country, and the other drive him. So his people was rid of both. Now there be other arts utterly unlawful to be followed; the very naming whereof doth condemn them, 2. Unlawful arts. Mendici, mi mae. etc. as Conjurers, charmers, moone-prophets, tellers of fortune, (our english Egyptians) robbers by land, pirates by sea, cosenours, harlots, bawds, usurers, which presently censure a man, as soon as they are but heard of, to be wickedly disposed. 3. Slippery arts. There are many besides, which though they have use lawful enough in a common wealth, yet there is but a narrow path betwixt fire and water, as Esdras speaketh, and one may easily miss to do his duty there. You look perhaps, that I should rehearse them. Though some are become more odious by reason of grosser abuses in them, yet I will cover their face, and keep them from the light (as they covered the face of Haman to keep him from the eyes of men) because there is too much abuse to be espied in all our arts. Money hath marred them all: they are all set to sale, as jugurthe spoke of Rome, and want but a chapman. Divines sell the liberty of a good conscience, for favour and preferment: Lawyers sell not only their labours, but the laws and justice itself: Physicians sell ignorance, unskilfulness, words, unsufficient drugs: All men of all kinds of trades for the most part, sell honesty, truth, conscience, oaths, souls for money. Our arts are arts indeed, that is, cozenages, impostures, frauds, circumventions. Our English tongue doth well express the nature of the word: we call them crafts, and those that profess them craftesmen; we may as well term them foxes, as Christ termed Herode; they are so bend to deceit. Others not content with so vulgar a name, call them mysteries: indeed the mystery of iniquity is in them: misty, obscure, dark handling, which God shall bring to light in due time. Call we these callings? sure they are such, whereof the sentence shallbe verified, Many are called unto them, but few elected, to partake the mercies of God. O hearken to the counsel which the Apostle giveth, that ye may justify and warrant your vocations before God and man. Let every one abide in the same calling, wherein he was called; and to make it significant, 1. Cor. 7. let every one, wherein he was called, therein abide with God. Let him not stay l●ke a passenger for a night, but continue and hold himself not only in the name, but in the nature and use of his calling, that is, let him walk worthy of it, as in the sight of God, who is a witness and judge to all his proceedings. Let him not add unto the challinges and constitutions of God, the callings of the Devil, as simony, bribery, forgery, hypocrisy, perjuries, (for these are the Devilles challinges;) and let not those arts and professions, which were given for the ornaments and helps of our life, be turned into snares and gins to entrap our brethren. In the audite of our Lord and master, so far shall we be from giving the accounts of faithful servants, Lord, thy piece hath gained other ten, Luke 19 M●na tua, etc. (which we have so falsified and defaced with the sleights of Satan;) that we cannot discharge ourselves as the unfaithful reprobate servant did, Behold, thou hast thine own: Mat. 25. Our lawful and honest vocations, wherein we were first placed, we have so disguised with our own corrupt additions. THE XI. LECTURE. Chap. 1. verse 8. Whence comest thou? which is thy country, and of what people art thou? THese three questions now rehearsed, though in seeming not much different, yet I distinguished a part; making the first to inquire of his journey and travail, (for confirmation whereof, some a little change the stile, quo vadis? whither goest thou? asking not the place from which he set forth, but to which he was bound,) or of the society wherewith he had combined himself; the second of his native country; the third of his dwelling place. For the country and city may differre; in the one we may be borne, and live in the other; as for example, a man may be borne in scotlan, dwell in England, or borne at Bristol, dwell at York. unam naturae, alteram civitatis. Alteram loci patriam, alteram juris. Whence comest thou? Whither goest thou. Wherein that of Tully in his books of laws taketh place, I verily think that both Cato and all free denizens have two countries, the one of nativity, the other of habitation: as Cato being borne at Tusculum, was received into the people of the city of Rome. Therefore being a Tusculan by birth, by city a Roman, he had one country by place, another by law. For we term that our country, where we were borne, and whereinto we are admitted. So there is some odds between the two latter questions. There was great reason to demand both from whence he came, and whither he would▪ because the travels of men are not always to good ends. For the Scribes and Pharises travail far, if not by their bodily pases, yet by the affections of their hearts they compass sea and land; to an evil purpose, to make proselytes, children of death worse than themselves. As the Pope and the king of Spain send into India, (they pretend to save souls) indeed to destroy the breed of that people, as Pharaoh the males of the Hebrews, and to waste their countries. They walk that walk in the counsel of the ungodly, and in the ways of sinners; but destruction and unhappiness is in all their ways. They walk that walk in the ways of an harlot, Prov. 2. but her house tendeth to death, and her paths to the dead; they that go unto her, return not again, neither take hold of the ways of life. thieves have their ranges and walks: Surgunt de nocte latrones, they rise in the night time, they go or ride far from home, that they may be far from suspicion, but their feet are swift to shed blood, and they bestow their pains to work a mischief. Alexander journeyed so far in the conquest of the world, that a * Caenu● in Curt. 9 soldier told him, we have done as much as mortality was capable of: thou preparest to go into an other world, and thou seekest for an India, unknown to the Indians themselves, that thou mayest illustrate more regions by thy conquest, than the sun ever saw. To what other end I know not, but to feed his ambition, to enlarge his desire as hell, and to add more titles to his tomb. Titulum sepulchre. They have their travails and peregrinations, that walk on their bare feet, with a staff in their hand, and a scrip about their neck, to Saint james of Compostella, our Lady of Loretto, the dust of the holy land. What to do? the dead to visit the dead; to honour stocks, and to come home stocks; to change the air, and to retain their former behaviour; to do penance for sin, and to return laden with a greater sin of most irreligious superstition, meeter to be repent, if they knew their sin. Of such I may say, as Socrates sometime answered one, who marveiled that he reaped so little profit by his travel: Thou art well enough served, saith he, because thou diddest travel by thyself; for it is not mountains and seas, but the conference of wisemen that giveth wisdom: neither can monuments and graves, but the spirit of the Lord, which goeth not with those gadders, put holiness into them. They have their walks and excursions which go from their native country to Rome, (the first time to see nought, the second to be nought, the third to die nought; was the old proverb.) The first & last now a days are not much different: they go to learn nought, they drink up poison there like a restorative, which they keep in their stomachs along Italy, France, other nations, not minding to disgorge it, till they come to their mother's house, where they seek to unlade it in her bosom, & to end her happy days. jonas, for aught these knew, might have come from his country, a robber, murderer, traitor, or any the like transgressor, & therefore have run from thence, as Onesimus from his master Philemon, to escape justice; whereupon they ask him, whence comest thou? that they may learn both the occasion & scope of his journey. And if you observe it well, there is not one question here moved, (though questions only conjectural) but setteth his conscience upon the rack, and woundeth him at the heart by every circumstance, whereby his crime might be aggravated. Such is the wisdom that God inspireth into the hearts of men, for the trial of his truth, & in the honour of justice, to fit their demands to the conscience of the transgressors in such sort, that they shall even feel themselves to be touched, and so closely rounded in the ear, as they cannot deny their offence. There are divers administrations yet but one spirit: Warriors have a spirit of courage to fight, counsellors to direct & prevent, magistrates to govern, judges to discern, examine, convince, and to do right unto all people. For the questions here propounded, were in effect as if they had told him, thou dishonourest thy calling, thou breakest thy commission, thou shamest thy country, thou condemnest thy people, in that thou hast committed this evil. They ask him first, What is thine art? that bethinking himself to be a prophet, & not a mariner, as these were, not a master in the ship, but a master in Israel, set over kingdoms & Empires, to build & pull down, plant & root up, he might remember himself, and call his soul to account, Wretched man that I am, how ingloriously have I neglected my vocation? They ask him next, whence comest thou? that it might be as goads & prickles at his breasts, to recount in his mind, I was called on land, I am escaped to sea; I was sent to Assyria, I am going to Cilicia; I was directed to Niniveh, I am bending my face towards Tharsis, that is, I am flying from the presence of my Lord, & following mine own crooked ways. Thirdly they ask him of his country; that he might say to himself, What? are the deeds of Babylon better than the deeds of Zion? was I borne & brought up, instructed & an instructor in the land of jury, in the garden of the world, the roiallest, peculiarest nation that the Lord hath, and have I not grace to keep his commandment? Lastly they inquire of his people; a people that had all things but flexible & fleshy hearts; the law, promises, covenant, service of God, temple of Solomon, chair of Moses, thrones of David, patriarchs, Prophets, Messiah yet one of this people, in the midst of such prerogatives, as a cedar-tree amidst her branches, hath lived so long amongst them, that a barbarous tongue is set to accuse him. What is thy country, & of what people art thou? Terra bona, gens mala. Ar. Mont. These two questions following, (that I may join them both together,) seem to inquire, the one more generally, the other more in particular; the one of the place, the other of the people & inhabitants. There may be a good country & an evil people, or contrariwise, an evil country & a good people. Touching the place I will not dispute, whether they thought that the anger of their Gods, as they reputed them, did principally persecute and infest some certain countries; that albeit he committed no harm for his own part, yet he should suffer for the countries sake, and bear the smart of that inveterate hatred, wherewith the place itself was maligned. This I know, that both in the dwelling place where a man reposeth himself, in regard of the influence of heaven; and in the inhabitants, for the disposition of their minds, there is as great diversity ', as betwixt North and South for change of weathers. Erasmus in the preface to S. Augustine's epistles, giveth this judgement of that learned father; that if it had been his lot to have been borne, Rudis era● Africa, voluptatum avida, studiorum inimica, etc. or but to have lived in Italy, or France, that wit would have yielded more abundant fruits unto us. But Africa was rude, greedy of pleasure, an enemy to study, desirous of curious devises. Plato rejoiced that he was borne at Athens, rather than in another place. Themistocles was upbraided by one of Seriphus, that the commendation and fame he gate, was for his country's sake, because he was borne an Athenian: though Themistocles answered, that neither had himself been worse, if he had been borne in Seriphus, Quis tumidum guttur etc. nor the other better, if he at Athens. Who marveileth to see swellings in the throat, in cold places where the snow continually lieth? It is the nature and site of the place that bringeth them. They made small reckoning heretofore to lie in Crete, to forswear in Carthage, to gormandize and surfeit in Capua or Semiplacentia, to lust unnaturally in Sodom, and to be proud at this day in Spain, to poison in Italy, to over-drinke in Germany; it is, they say, the custom & fashion of those countries: & then is easily verified that which Seneca wrote; we thrust one another into vices, Epist. 82. Esse inter nocentes innoxium crimen est. Cypr. epist. 2. and how then can they be reclaimed to good, whom no man stayeth, and the whole people driveth forward? In such places it is a fault to be innocent and honest amongst offenders. Seneca giveth the reason, Necesse est aut imiteris, aut oderis; one of the 2▪ must needs be done, either thou must imitate or hate; Epist. 7. both which are to be avoided, lest either thou become like the evil, because they are many; or an enemy to many, because they are unlike thee. Canst thou walk upon coals, or take fire in thy bosom & not burn? canst thou be a brother to dragons, and a companion to ostriges, without savouring of their wildness? live with the froward, & not learn frowardness? dwell amongst thieves, & not run with them? converse with idolators, & not eat of such things as please them? The daughters of men marred the sons of God: & the daughters of Heth brought much woe to Rebecca, no doubt, for the lewdness of their behaviour. When the disciple in the gospel asked leave of his master to go & bury his father, it was denied him: some give the reason, lest his unbelieving kindred, which were likely enough to be at the funeral, as eagles flock to the carcase, should contaminate him again; therefore he was answered, let the dead bury the dead, do thou follow me, because I am life, tarry & live with me, & let the dead alone, least happily thou die with them. Though there were many wicked kings in Israel, yet there was none like Ahab, 1. King. 21. who did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord. Why? the reason is there given. jezebel his wife provoked him. For it was a light thing for him to walk in the sins of jeroboam, except he took jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of Zidon to wife, 1. King. 16. by whom he was brought to idolatry. No marvel if jehoram king of judah did afterwards evil in the sight of the Lord; for the daughter of Ahab was his wife: 2. King. 8. Ibid. & Ahaziah after him no better; for he was the son in law of the house of Ahab. All these were in an error: they looked to gather grapes of thorns, and figs of thistles, whereas on the other side, Amicitiae pares aut faciunt aut quaerunt, Friendship either maketh or seeketh like in conditions. And so is the nature of things, that when a good man is joined with a bad, Rerum natura sic est, ut quoties bonus mal● coniungitur, non ex bono malus melioretur, sed ex malo bonus contam● netur. Chrysost. Text. Verse 9 the evil is not bettered by the good, but the good corrupted by the evil. Thus far of the demands: the answer is annexed in the ninth verse, I am an Hebrew, and I fear the Lord God of heaven, which hath made the sea & the dry land. What is this to the matter? was it a fault to be an Hebrew, & to fear the Lord God of heaven? Not so. but it appeareth in the next verse by a clause thereof, that he confessed the whole crime, because he had told them. He might yet have concealed his fault, & covered his iniquity with some defence, as Adam his nakedness with fig-leaves, & amongst bushes, by pleading the unlawfulness of his accusers, the uncertainty of lots, as governed rather by chance then by divine providence: he doth it not; but maketh an immediate confession of his sin, so inexcusably against himself, that if malice itself had spoken against him, it could not have added much to the accusation. For it was the least part of his ingenuity, simply to relate the rebellion, (which is but named in the verse following, as it were at the second hand, and brought in by a parenthesis;) but his art to be observed indeed, are those ornaments and garnishes of speech, which he bringeth against himself, to decipher his disobedience. I am an Hebrew: if a Cilician, or of any country in the earth besides, my fault were the less: 2. And I do not only know & acknowledge (which is wanting in others) but I fear, reverence, stand in awe of, 3. not an idol, nor a devil, nor the work of man's hands, but the Lord of hosts: 4. who though he sitteth in heaven, as in his palace of greatest state, where he is best glorified by his creatures, and his best creatures shall be glorified by him; yet is he not housed within the circles of heaven: For the sea and the land also are his by creation; the sea wherein I am tossed, and the dry land from whence I flitted. I am an Hebrew. I fear. Of heaven. 1 My country is not heathenish, rude, & barbarous, I am an Hebrew. 2. My religion not lose and dissolute, I fear, and bear a reverend estimation: 3. I am not carried away to dumb idols, I fear the Lord God: 4. who is not a God in heaven alone, as your jupiter; nor in the sea alone, as your Neptune; nor alone in the earth, as your Pluto; but alone is the God of heaven: Who hath made. and doth not hold by tenure, but 5. himself hath made the sea and the dry land; not only the land of Israel, wherein he principally dwelleth, and which I relinquished, but the land of Tharsis also, & the continent, & dry ground belonging to the whole world: & not the land alone, The dry land. The sea. but all the waters of the main sea, which I took for my refuge and sanctuary. I am an Hebrew. From the beginning of the world to the time of Christ, Hebraeus sum. are numbered four propagations or generations: the first from Adam to No; the second from Noah to Abraham; the third from Abraham to David; Carol. Sigon. de rep. Hebr. the fourth from David to Christ. In the second generation was the name of the Hebrews received: in the third, of the Israelites, from jacob, surnamed Israel, whose grandfather Abraham was: in the fourth, of the jews, after that juda and Benjamin (which for the unity of minds were as it were one tribe, following Rehoboam the son of Solomon of the tribe of juda) made the kingdom of juda; the other ten betaking them to jeroboam of the tribe of Ephraim, set up the kingdom of the Ephraimites, or of Israel. One and the same people thrice changed their names. Touching the first of these names, there are sundry opinions brought, whence it arose. Aug. l. 1. qu. super Gen. 1. Some think they were called Hebrews of Abraham, with the alteration of a few letters; Hebraei quasi Abrahaei: 2. some derive them from Heber, Hieron. in Genes. & Aug. 2. retract. & 16. de civ. De. 3. Aret. in ep. ad Hebr. who was the fourth from Noah. 3. the grammarians fetch them from an Hebrew word which signifieth over or beyond, because the posterity of Sen went over the river Tigris, & abode in Caldaea. This surname you shall first find given to Abraham, Gen. 14. where it is said, that he which brought news that Lot was carried out of Sodom with the rest of the booty, told it to Abraham the Hebrew; because forsaking Vr of the Chaldees, and passing over Euphrates, he came into the land of Canaan, therefore was he named of that country people Ibreus, that is, one that passed over. So there is no doubt made but of Abraham they are called Hebrews, because he hearkened to the word of the Lord, and went beyond Euphrates. Some have gathered here-hence, that in calling himself an Hebrew, he maketh confession of his fault: that as the children of Sem, & Abraham passed over rivers, so (by a borrowed speech) he had passed over the commandment of the Lord. For what is sin but transgression? transitio linearum, Tull. the going beyond those lines & limits that are prefined us? Other observe that he implieth the condition of man's life herein, as having no abiding city, but a travail upon the face of the earth to pass from place to place, as it is written of Israel in the Psalm, they went from nation to nation, Psal. 105. & from one kingdom to an other people: and David confesseth no less; I am a stranger and sojourner upon the earth, as all my fathers were. Non dixit, judaeus, nomen ex dicissione regni factum; sed Hebraeus i. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, transitor. Hierome would have us note, that he termeth not himself a jew, which name came from the rending of the kingdom: but an Hebrew, that is, a passenger. I take the letter of the text without deeper constructions, that his purpose simply was to answer their last question, which was yet fresh in his ears, touching the people from whence he came; and by naming his nation, to make an argument against himself of higher amplification; that lying in that corner of the world, which was the diamond of the ring, and as it were the apple of the eye, heart of the body; being sprung of that root whereof it was said, Deut. 4. Only this people is wise, and of understanding, and a great nation; (for what nation is so great to whom the Gods come so near, as the Lord is near unto us in all that we call unto him for? or what nation so great that hath ordinances and laws so righteous as we have?) it might be his greater offence, to be sown good and come up evil, to be richly planted in the goodliest vine, and basely degenerated into a sour grape. As it were a greater shame not to be knit indissolublie to the worship of God in England, than any other country almost, it lying in Europe, as gedeon's fleece in the flore, exempted from the plagues of her neighbours, and specially signed with the favour of GOD: Hungary and Boheme busied with the Turks, Italy poisoned with the local seat of Antichrist, Spain held in awe with a bloody Inquisition, nether Germany disquieted with a foreign foe, France molested with an intestine enemy, Ireland troubled with the incivility of the place, Scotland with her fatal infelicity, England amongst all the rest having peaceable days and nights, and not knowing any other bane but too much quietness, which she hath taken from God with the left hand, and used as the fountain of all her licentiousness. I fear. After his country he placeth his religion. I fear the Lord God of heaven, which is here put for the general worship and service that belongeth to God. For that which God saith, Esay 29. their fear is taught by the precepts of men; Christ interpreteth, Math▪ 15. by the name of worship, In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the precepts of men▪ Fear and worship in these scriptures are both one. Come children, (saith the Psalmist) harken unto me, I will teach you the fear of the Lord. And it is a notable phrase that the Hebrews use to this purpose; as in the speech of jacob to Laban, Gen. 31. Except the God of my father, the God of Abr●ham, and the ●eare of Isaac had been with me, surely thou hadst sent me away empty: Abstractum pro concreto & subiecto. where it is further to be marked, that when Laban swore by the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac, that is, by that God which his father feared, that is, worshipped and served. It implieth thus much; that the strength of Israel is a dreadful God, clothed with unspeakable majesty as with a garment, & the glory of his face shining brighter than all the lights of heaven in their beauty, yea the beholding of his countenance to a mortal man present death; the Angels tremble, the heavens melt, the mountains smoke, the sea slieth back, the rivers are dried up, the fish rot, the earth fainteth at the sight thereof: & therefore we ought not approach his ground with our shoes on our feet, with sensual & base cogitations; nor sit at his feast, when the bread of his fearful word is broken, without our wedding garment; nor enter his house of prayer with the sacrifice of fools; nor come to his holy mysteries with unwashed hands or hearts, not discerning the body & blood of the Lord; nor offer the calves of our lips with lips unsanctified; nor tender any duty unto him, without falling low upon our faces, and bowing the knees of our hearts, in token of our reverence. It is a question moved, how jonas could truly say, I fear the Lord; being so stubborn and refractory against his express commandment. How jonas feared God. For answer whereof, we must fly to that city of refuge which David had recourse unto, I mean, the riches of God's mercy: If thou shalt mark, Lord, what is done amiss, Lord, who shall stand? Psal. 130. but there is pardon with thee that thou mayest be feared. If the abundant goodness of God did not gloriously interpret our service, and fit by his justice, as the steward in the gospel sat at his accounts, when the debt is an hundredth, to set down but fifty, to cancel a thousand bills of our trespasses, to remove our sins, in multitude as the sand upon the sea shore, from the presence of our maker, as far as the east is from the west, to drown them by heaps & bundles in the bottom of the sea, to die purple & scarlet into white, that is, to turn sin into no sin, & even to justify the wicked, &, in a word, to draw the books, & blot out our offences as if they were not: if all the life of jonas unto this day had been as free from sin as the first fruits of Adam; yet this were enough, this only one transgression, to have stained his former innocency, to have razed out the memory of all his forepast fear towards God, & made him guilty of the whole law. It fareth with a faithful man oftentimes, as it did with Eurychus. Act. 20. of whom Paul said, Trouble not yourselves, for his life is in him, though he seemed dead: there is a substance in an elm or in an oak, when they have cast their leaves, Esay 6. when we would think by the bareness of the boughs, & dryness of the bark, they are quite withered. There is wine found in an unlikely cluster, & one saith, destroy it not, for there is a blessing in it, Esay 65. such are the trances & sownings of faith at some times, drawing the breath of life so inwardly to itself, that no man can perceive it; & unless the goodness of God did embrace it, as Paul embraced Eutychus, it could never recover strength again. David lay in such a trance of adultery, Solomon in the trance of idolatry, Peter in the trance of apostasy, & jonas in the trance of recusancy for the season, when they passed over their transgressions as in a sleep, & never felt them. doubtless God hath a purpose herein, profitable both to those, who are taken with such spiritual apoplexies, & to others also. As August▪ wrote of Cyprian, erring in the doctrine of rebaptisation; There was something which he saw not, Proptere● non vidit a. liquid, ut a. liquid super▪ eminentius videret. 1. de bapt. con. Donat. 18. Iren. lib 4. cap. 45. that he might see somewhat more excellent. But in respect of us there are 3. reasons given by Irenee, why the infirmities of the saints are chronicled in the book of God. 1. To let us understand that both they & we have one God, who was ever offended with sin, how great & glorious soever the person were that wrought it. 2. To teach us to abstain from sin: for if the ancient patriarchs who went before us both in time & in the graces of God, & for whom the son of God had not yet suffered, bore such reproach among their posterity, by reason their corruptions are registered, what shall they sustain, who live in the later & brighter▪ ages of the world, & have continued beyond the coming of the Lord jesus? 3. To give us warning & instruction, that for them there was a cure behind, the sacrifice of the Lamb which was not then slain; but for such as now shall sin, Christ dieth no more, but his next coming shallbe in the glory of his father. Aug. upon the 51. Psal. handling the fall of David, maketh this enarration upon it; Commissum atque conscriptum est, It is done & written: for thine imitation? no: that were an argument of too much violence, to draw on sin with the cartropes of examples, & to take advantage at the ruins of God's saints: David committed murder & adultery, I may do the like; it were a mark of a far more unrighteous soul, than that which thou seekest to imitate: Ind anima iniquior, quae cùm propterea fecerit, quia David fecit, ideo peius quam David fecit, Thence becometh the soul more unrighteous, which taking occasion to do evil, because David did so, doth therefore worse than David did: but to inform thee thus much, that if thou takest the wings of the morning, & fliest from one end of the earth to the other, thou canst not find a soul so pure, which hath not sinned; & if thou wilt make them thy precedents, thou must follow the steps not of their falling down, but of their rising again by repentance. jehovah. Whom did jonas fear? jehovah; the honourablest title that he could bestow upon him, to make a difference betwixt him and idols: Nomen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a name but of four letters, in the Hebrew tongue, but some of the jews were so superstitious therein, that they called it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a name which might not be pronounced, neither durst they assume it into their mouths. And howsoever the word be articulate enough, and every syllable and letter therein easy to be sounded, yet the nature which it containeth, is beyond all comprehension. Quod ad electionem spectat, salus; quod ad se, ipse novit. lib▪ 5. Psal. 11. What is God? (saith Bernard in his books of consideration to Eugenius:) concerning his election, he is saving health; but concerning himself, he best knoweth. The Rabbins observe, that all the letters in the name, are literae quiescentes, letters of rest; and they gather therout a mystery, that the rest, repose, & tranquillity of all the creatures in the world, is in God alone. The prophet signifieth as much; In the Lord put I my trust, how say ye then unto my soul, that she should fly as a bird & c? having built her nest & habitation in the bosom of rest itself. I will not much contend for this invention of theirs; but sure there is some secret in this name, which many have eagerly spent their labour upon, as is plain in Exod. 6. where God himself saith, that he appeared unto Abrahaam, Isaac, and jacob, by the name of a strong God, omnipotent: but by his name jehovah, he was not known unto them. It importeth, first the eternity of God's essence in himself, that he is yesterday, to day, and the same for evermore; which was, which is, and which is to come: and next, the existence and perfection of all things in him, as from whom all other creatures in the world, have their life, motion, & being. I may say, that God is the being of all other creatures, Sanè esse omnium dixerim deum● non quòd illae sunt quod est i●●e, sed quia ex ipso etc. Bern. in cā●. ser. 4. not that they are the same that he is, but because, of him, and by him, and in him are all things. Undoubtedly it was the purpose of jonas to weigh his words, & to powder the whole speech delivered, with as much honour towards the Lord, as his heart could devise. I fear, 1. jehovah, a God in essence & being; yours in supposition: 2. the God of heaven; yours not the Gods of the poorest hanlets in the earth: 3. which hath made the sea & the dry land, as a little monument of his surpassing art and strength; yours not the garments of their own backs. The prophet keepeth the order of nature; placing 1. the heaven, than the sea, afterwards the dry land, as the principal parts whereof the whole consisteth: for heaven is in nature & position above the sea, the sea above the dry land, heaven as the roof of that beautiful house wherein man was placed, the sea & the dry land as the two floors or foundations unto it. But did not God make the heavens aswell as the sea, & the dry land? doubtless yes. It is plainly expressed Gen. 2. In the beginning God made heaven & earth. The beginning of the world is from the beginning of all things: Principium à principio rerum omnium. Basil. Nomen authoris & sigillum imponitur. whereto the name of the author is first set as the seal, God; and under the names of the two extremities & borders, heaven & earth, all the rest is comprised, quicquid medium, cum ipsis finibus exortum est, whatsoever lieth middle betwixt the ends, with the ends themselves. Neither did the Lord only cause & ordain these creatures to be form, but as the potter shapeth his vessels, so he fashioned and wrought them with his own hands: Totum coelum, totamque tellurem, ipsam (inquam) essentiam, materiam simul cum forma: non enim figurarum inventor est Deus▪ sed ipsius naturae creator; the whole heaven & the whole earth, I say, the matter with the form: for God is not the deviser of shapes and features alone, but the maker of nature itself. And that God that hath made the heaven, can fold it up like a book again, & role it together like a skin of parchment: he that hath made the sea, & at this time set the waves thereof in a rage, & caused it to boil like a pot of ointment, can say to the floods, be ye dried up: he that made the dry land, can cover it with waters as with a breastplate, or rock it to & fro upon her foundations, as a drunken man reeleth from place to place. He can cloth the sun & the moon in sackcloth, and command the stars to fall down to the earth, and the mountains of the land to remove into the sea, and it shallbe fulfilled. They all shall perish, but the Lord their maker shall endure: they all shall wax old as doth a garment, Psal 102. as a vesture shall he change them, and they shallbe changed; but he is the same God for ever and ever, and his years shall not fail. The scope of the whole confession is briefly this, the more to dilate his fall, Conclusion. by how much the less he was able to plead ignorance; as having the help of religion, the knowledge of the true subsistent God, & able to give a reckoning of every parcel of his creation. Excusatio omnis tollitur ubi mandatum non ignoratur. Acts 3. All excuse is taken away, where the commandment is not unknown. Peter lent the buckler of ignorance to the jews, therewith in part to defend themselves against the weapons of God's wrath, even in the bloodiest fact that ever the sun saw attempted: I know that through ignorance you did it, (that is killed the Lord of life) as did also your governors. But lest they should lean upon the staff of ignorance too much, he biddeth them repent and reverte, that their sins might be done away. This was the cloak that Paul cast over his blasphemies, his tyrannies▪ his unmerciful persecutions of the Church; 1. Tim. 1. I was received to mercy, because I did it ignorantly through unbelief: So as ignorance in that place, you see, hath need of mercy to forgive it. And if ignorance have a tongue to plead her own innocency, why did the blood of Christ cry to the father upon the cross, father, forgive them, they know not what they do. Luke 23. Is ignorance of the will of God sure to be beaten with rods? & shall not contempt of his will, a careless unprofitable knowledge of his hests & ordinances, be scourged with scorpions? Shall tire and Syd on burn like stubble in hell fire, and the smoke of their torment ascend for evermore, wherein there was never virtue done that might have reclaimed them? & shall Corazin & Bethsaida go quit, and not drink down the dregs of destruction itself, whose streets have been sown with the miracles of Christ, and fatted with his doctrine? Barbary shall wring her hands, that she hath known so little; & Christendom rend her heart, that she hath known so much to no better purpose. It is no marvel to see the wilderness lie waste & desert: but if a ground well husbanded & manured yield not profit, it deserveth cursing. Lactantius saith, that all the learning of philosophers, was without an head, because they knew not God: therefore when they see, they are blind; De vero cultu. Omnis doctrina philosophorum sine capite etc. & when they hear, they are deaf; & when they speak, they are speechless; the sensens are in the head, the eyes, ears, & tongue. We want not an head for senses because when we see, we perceive; & when we hear, we understand; and when we speak, we can give a reason; we want a heart only for obedience. And as our Saviour spoke of the Scribes and Pharisees;; dicunt & non faciunt, they say and do not: so it is true in us, we see, and hear, and say, and know, but do not; as idle and idol Christians, as those idol Gods in the Psalm, to our greater both shame and condemnation. So the Apostle enforceth it against the Galathians; Now seeing you know God, or rather are known of God, Galat. 4. how turn you again to impotent and beggarly rudiments? To the like effect he schooleth the Ephesians, ye have not so learned Christ. Ephes. 4. The nurture and discipline of this school is not like the institution of Gentility, with whom it is usual to walk in the vanity of their minds, and in dark cogitations, to be strangers from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, and being past feeling, to give over themselves unto wantonness to work all uncleanness, even with greediness. But if ye have heard Christ, and if ye have been taught by him, as the truth is in jesus, (not corrupting the text with cursed glosses, nor perverting the scriptures to your own overthrow) then with your new learning you must leave your old conversation, as the eagle casteth her bill; and know, that the kingdom of God cometh not by observation, but by practice; nor that practice is available with ease, but with violence, and that the hottest and most laborious spirit is fittest to catch it away. 2 Peter. 2. It had been better for us, never to have known the way of righteousness, then after we have known it, to turn from the holy commandment given unto us. For where as the end is the perfection of every thing, the end of the relapsed Christians is worse than their beginning. There is scientia contristans, a sorrowful and woeful knowledge, Bern. ser. 36, in Cantic. as Bernarde gathered out of the first of Ecclesiastes, He that increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow. It is truest in this sense, when we are able and willing to say with the Pharisee, are we also blind? and yet with our eyes open we run into destruction. The time shall come, when many shall say (that you may know it is the case of a multitude to be swallowed into this gulf,) Lord, we have heard thee in our streets etc. and yet their knowledge of Christ shall not gain his knowledge of them, but as strangers and reprobates they shallbe sent from him. Our knowledge shall then be weighed to the smallest grain; but if our holiness of life, put in the other plate of the balance, be found to light, and unanswerable unto it, our sorrows shall make it up. Therefore unless we be still sick of Adames disease, that we had rather eat of the tree of knowledge, then of the tree of life, let us be careful of knowledge, not only to sobriety, but with profit also, that the fruit of a good life, bringing eternity of days to come, may wait upon it. Blessed are those souls, wherein the tree of sincere knowledge is rooted, and the worm of security or contempt hath not eaten up the fruit; the Lord shall water them with the dew of heaven in this life, and translate them hereafter, as glorious renowned plants into his heavenly garden. THE XII. LECTURE. Chap. 1. ver. 10. Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, why hast thou done this? (For the men knew, that he had fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them) BEcause the confession in the ninth verse, is not so absolute, as to answer all the questions which were propounded, therefore the supply and perfection thereof must be brought from this tenth: wherein we understand, that the whole order & sum of his disobedience was related, albeit not described at large; that being a prophet, and sent with a message to Niniveh, he fled from the presence of the Lord, that is, cast his commandments behind his back. The connexion then betwixt these two verses, is this; I am an Hebrew, of the happiest people and country under heaven; I am not ignorant of true religion, For I fear the Lord etc. All which is by way of preface, for amplifications sake, the more to extend the fault mentioned in the words following; yet am I fled from the presence of the Lord, I have taken a froward and unadvised course to frustrate his business. With this addition you may shape an answer directly to every question, 1. What is thine office? shunning the face of God, running from his presence, contempt of his voice; 2. What is thine occupation? not manuary and illiberal, not fraudulent & deceitful, but a calling immediate from God; I stand in his sight as the Angels of heaven do, to hear my charge, and when he giveth me an errand, my office is to perform it; 3. Whence comest thou? from the presence of the Lord, from whose lips I received my late commission; 4. What is thy country? I am an Hebrew; Ingeniosa simplicitas ●ille tergiversationibus cautior. 5. Of what people? the most scient & skilful in the service of God. Thus have you his whole confession. Now he beginneth to be wise, and with a prudent simplicity more worth than a thousand tergiversations, to return unto him, by confessing his fault, from whom he was fled by disobedience; to recover his lost justice, by accusing himself; to cast forth the impostumated matter of a dissembling conscience, which being concealed, had been present death; to honour the righteous Lord, whom he had grossly dishonoured; and by opening his lips into an humble confession, to shut the mouth of hell, which began to open upon him. My son, jos. 7. (saith josuah to Achan) I beseech thee give glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession unto him, and show me now what thou hast done, hide it not from me. It is a part of the glory of God, to shame ourselves, I mean, to confess our sins, (which in modesty and shamefastness we strive to keep close,) not only unto God, against whom only we have sinned, and to whom only it appertaineth to say, I have pardoned, job 34. I will not destroy; but unto men also: either to the magistrate, who hath authority to examine; either to the minister, who hath power to bind and lose; either to our brethren generally, that the common rule of charity, one in supporting the others infirmities, may be kept in practice. And it is, on the other side, an injury to God, not to justify his judgements, nor to acknowledge the conquest of his truth, when it hath prevailed, but in a sullen and melancholy passion to strangle it within our bones, and never to yield the victory thereunto, till, as the sun from out the clouds, so truth hath made her a way by main force from out our dissimulations. The first degree of felicity is, not to offend; the second, Cyprian. Somnium narrare, vigilantis est▪ & vitia confiteri, sanitatis indicit●. Senec. Vulnera clausa plus cruciant. Gregor. Si non confessus lates, inconfessus damnaberis, August. Text. For the men knew. to know and acknowledge offences. And as men dream in their sleep, but tell their dreams waking: so howsoever we may sin by carelessness, yet it is an argument of health and recovery, to confess our sins. For what shall we gain by dissembling them? Wounds, the closer they are kept, the greater torture they bring; & sins, not confessed, will bring condemnation upon us without confession. What followeth? When jonas had confessed his fault, 1. They knew it, for his own mouth hath condemned him. They had a presumptuous knowledge before, by the eviction of the lots, but now they are out of doubt by his own declaration. So the text speaketh; The men knew, that he had fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. 2. Their knowledge wrought a fear in them; Then were the men exceedingly afraid. 3. Their fear broke forth, either into an increpation, or a wonder at the least, They said, why hast thou done this? Their knowledge was consequent (of force) to his confession, they could not but be privy thereunto, because he powered not his speech into the air, but into their ears, that they might apprehend it. But this knowledge of theirs was not a curious and idle knowledge, such as those men have, Quidam scire volunt ut sciant. Bern. who know only to know; but a pragmatical knowledge, full of labour and business: it went from their ears to their hearts, and made as great a tempest in their consciences, as the wind in the seas; it mingled and confounded all their cogitations, it kindled a fear within them, that sundered their souls and spirits. And though their fear before was vehement enough in the fifth verse, when neither their tongues were at rest for crying, nor their wares had peace from being cast out, yet this was a fear beyond that, Reasons of their fear. as may appear by the epithet, Timnerunt timore magno, They were exceedingly afraid. Now why they feared, I cannot so well explicate: It may be in regard they bore to the person of jonas, Jntelligunt sanctum & sanctae gentis virum· Non audent ●radere, coelare non possunt. Magnus est qui fugit, sed maior qui quaerit. knowing what he was, not knowing how to release him. They understand him to be an holy man, and of an holy nation, therefore were they brought into straits; they have not heart to deliver him, they have not means to conceal him: he is great that flieth, he is greater that seeketh after him. That is Hieromes conjecture upon their fear. It may be in regard of their sins. For if a prophet of God, and a righteous soul (to theirs) were so persecuted; they could not for their own parts but fear a much sorer punishment. For if judgement began at the house of God, what shallbe the end of them which obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous shall scarce be saved, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear? 1. Pet. 4. The Apostle maketh the comparison, but it is as sensible and easy to the eye of nature to see so much, as the high way is ready to the passenger. God speaketh to the heathen nations with a zealous and disdainful contention betwixt them and his people, jer. 25. Lo, I begin to plague the city, wherein my name was called upon: and shall you go free? It may be the majesty of God's name did astonish them, and bruise them as a maul of iron, having been used but to puppets and skar-crowes before, Grandes pupae. in comparison. They were not acquainted with Gods of that nature and power till this time; they never had dreamt that there was a Lord, whose name was jehovah, whose throne was the heaven of heavens, and the sea his floor to walk in, and the earth his footstool to tread upon, who hath a chair in the conscience, and sitteth in the heart of man, possessing his secret reins, dividing betwixt his skin and his flesh, and shaking his inmost powers, as the thunder shaketh the wilderness of Cades. It is a testimony to that which I say, that when the Ark was brought into the camp of Israel, and the people gave a shout, the Philistines were afraid at it, and said, God is come into the host; therefore they cried, woe, woe unto us, for it hath not been so heretofore, 1. Sam. 4. woe be unto us: who shall deliver us out of the hands of these mighty Gods? These are the Gods which smote the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness. Wherein it is a wondered thing to consider, that the sight of the tempest drinking up their substance before their eyes, and opening as it were a throat to swallow their lives up, did not so much astonish them, as to hear but the Majesty of God delivered by relation. Alas, what did they hear to that which he is indeed? It was the least part of his ways, to hear of his creation of heaven, and the sea, and the dry land; he is infinite, and incomprehensible besides; Quid est Deus? totum hoc quod vides, & totum hoc quod non vides. Senec. all that thou seest, and all that thou seest not, that, in some sort, God is. And it is not a thing to be omitted, that the speech of the prophet made a deeper penetration and entrance into them, than if a number besides, not having the tongue of the learned, had spent their words. For consider the case. The winds were murmuring about their ears, the waters roaring, the soul of their ship sobbing, their commodities floating, the hope of their lives hanging upon a small twine; yet though their fear were great, it was not so great as when a prophet preached & declared unto them the almightiness of the sacred godhead. They have not only words, but sword, even two edged sword in their mouths, whom God hath armed to his service; they are able to cut an heart as hard as adamant, they rest not in the joints of the body, nor in the marrow of the bones, but pierce the very soul and the spirit, and part the very thoughts and intentions of the heart, that are most secret. 2. Cor. 10. The weapons of their warfare wherewith they fight, are not carnal, but mighty through God, to cast down holds and munitions, and destroying imaginations, disceptations, reasonings, and every sublimity that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and captivating every thought to the obedience of Christ. So there is neither munition for strength, nor disputation for subtlety, nor height for superiority, nor thought in the mind for secrecy, that can hold their estate against the armour of God's prophets. Have they not chains in their tongues for the kings of the earth? and fetters of iron for their nobles? did not Pharaoh often entreat Moses and Aaron, to pray to the Lord for him? did not the charm of Elias so sink into the ears of Ahab, that he rend his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, fasted, and lay in sack-cloth, and went softly? Did not john Baptist so hue the ears of the jews, with the axe of God's judgements, that they asked him, as the physician of their diseased souls, by several companies, and in their several callings; the people, though as brutish for the most part as the beasts of the field, What shall we do then? Luke 3. Publicani, publici peccatores. the publicans, though the hatred of the world, and public notorious sinners, And what shall we do? the soldiers, though they had the law in their sword points, And what shall we do? Hath not Peter preached at jerusalem, to an audience of every nation under heaven, (of what number, you may guess in part, when those that were gained to the Church of Christ, were not fewer than three thousand souls,) and was not the point of his sword so deeply impressed into them, that they were pricked in their hearts, and asked (as john Baptists auditors before) Viri fratres, quid faciemus? Acts 2. men and brethren, what shall we do? It is not a word alone, the vehemency and sound whereof cometh from the loins and sides, that is able to do this; but a puissant and powerful word, strengthened with the arm of God, a word with authority, as they witnessed of Christ, a word with evidence and demonstration of the Spirit, smiting upon the conscience, more than the hammers of the smith upon his stithy, a word that drove a fear into Herodes heart, (for he feared john Baptist both alive & dead,) that bet the breath of Ananias and Saphira from out their bodies, stroke Elymas ' the sorcerer into a blindness, and sent an extraordinary terror into the hearts of these mariners. So then, the reason of their fear, as I suppose, was a narration of the majesty of God, so much the more increased, because it was handled by the tongue of a prophet, who hath a special grace to quicken and enlive his speech, whose soul was as a well of understanding; and every sentence that sprang from thence, as a quick stream to beat them down. And that this was the reason of their fear, I rather persuade myself, because it is said for the further confirmation of this judgement, The men feared. that the men feared, and the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, who in the whole course of the scripture unto this place, were not termed by the name of men, but Mariners. For when is a better time for man to be laid forth in the colours of his infirmity and frailty, them when God hath been declared in the brightness of his glory? whether it be viri or homines, the sex or the generation, men, as they are distinguished from women, or men, as they are distinguished from other creatures, we need not curiously inquire. The original word lieth to both. Viri. The former of these two names, whereby the male kind is notified, Lactantius thus deduceth: Vir itaque nominatus est, quòd maior in eo vis est, quàm in foemina: & hinc virtus nomen accepit, The man is called Vir in the Latin, because there is greater strength in him, than in the woman: and here-hence virtue or virility took the name. Whereas the woman on the other side, by Varro's interpretation, is called Mulier quasi mollier, à mollity. of niceness and tenderness, one letter being changed, another taken away. But what is the stoutest courage of man, mascula virtus, the manliest prowess upon the earth, when it hath girded up her loins with strength, and decked itself with greatest glory, where the fortitude of God is set against it? How is it possible, that pitchers should not break and fall asunder, being fashioned of clay, if ever they come to encounter the brass of his unspeakable majesty? Amos. 3. The lion hath roared; (saith the Prophet) shall not the beasts of the forest be afraid? The Lord hath thundered in the height, the fame of his wonderful works hath sounded abroad, shall not man hide himself? if the latter name be meant by the word, the whole kind and generation including male and female both; Hominis. then is the glory of man much more stained, and his aspiring affections brought down to the dust of the earth. For as the same Lactantius deriveth it, Homo nuncupatus est, quod sit factus ex humo; he is therefore called man with the Latins, because the ground under his feet, was his foundation: According to the sentence of the Psalm, He knoweth whereof we be made, he remembreth that we are but dust. The scriptures, acquainted with the pride and haughtiness of mandinde, hang even talents of lead at the heels thereof, to hold it down, lest it should climb into the sides of the North, and set a throne by the most high God. In the eighth Psalm (which is a circular Psalm, ending as it did begin, O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the world? that whithersoever we turn our eyes, upwards, or downwards, we may see ourselves beset with his glory round about) how doth the prophet abase, and discountenance the nature and whole race of man; As may appear by his disdeignefull, and derogatory interrogation, what is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou regardest him? In the ninth Psalm, Rise Lord, let not man have the upper hand, let the nations be judged in thy sight, put them in fear O Lord, that the heathen may know themselves to be but men. Further in the tenth Psalm, Thou judgest the fatherless, and the poor, that the man of the earth do no more violence. The Psalms as they go in order, so, me thinks, they grow in strength, & each hath a weightier force, to throw down our presumption: 1. we are men, & the sons of men, to show our descent & propagation; 2. men in our own knowledge, to show, that conscience & experience of infirmity doth convict us; 3. men of the earth, to show our original matter, whereof we are framed in the 22. Psal. he addeth more disgrace: for either in his own name, regarding the misery and contempt wherein he was held; or in the person of Christ, whose figure he was, as if it were a robbery for him, to take upon him the nature of man, he falleth he falleth to a lower stile, At ●go sum vermis, & non vir▪ But I am a worm, and no man. For as corruption is the father of all flesh, so are the worms his brethren and sisters; according to the old verse, Post hominem vermis etc. Petr. de soto First man, next worms, then stinch and loathsomeness: Thus man, to no man alter's by chandges. Abraham the father of the faithful, Gen. 18. sifteth himself into the coarsest bran that can be, and resolveth his nature into the elements, whereof it first rose; Behold, I have begun to speak to my Lord, being dust and ashes. And if any of the children of Abraham, who succeed him in the faith, or any of the children of Adam, who succeed him in the flesh, thinketh otherwise; let him know, that there is a threefold cord, twisted by the finger of God, that shall tie him to his first original, though he contend till his heart break. O earth, jer. 2 2. earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord; that is, earth by creation, earth by continuance, earth by resolution. Thou camest earth, thou remainest earth, and to earth thou must return. Thus they are rightly matched (I mean not for equality, but for opposition,) the eternity of God, and the mutability of man; the terror of God, and the fearfulness of man; the name of God, and the name of man; having at no other time so just an occasion to remember himself to be but man, as when the honour of the most high is laid before him. The warning serveth for us all, to consider what we are both by name and nature; unable to resist God; For who will set the briars and the thorns in contention against him? Who ever hardened himself against the Lord, and hath prospered? Bernard in his books of consideration to Eugenius, adviseth him to consider no less; Away with thy mantles and cover, Tolle perizomata etc. & nudum nudè consideres etc. ●ib. 2. pull of thy apron of fig-leaves, wipe out the parget of thy flitting honours, and take a naked view of thy naked self, how naked thou camest from thy mother's womb. Which was in effect that which Simonides sang to Pausanias, and a page every morning to Philip of Macedon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, remember that thou art a man; For in remembering this, thou remember'st all wretchedness. And they said unto him, why hast thou done this? Text. Jerome thinketh it no increpation, but a simple interrogation, of men desirous to know, 1. Non increpant sed interrogā● etc. why a servant would attempt to run from his Lord, a man from God. What is the mystery of this dealing? what sense hadst thou to forsake thine own country, and seek foreign nations? Others take it to be rather an admiration, than an interrogation, 2. Admirant●● oratio mag●s quàm interrogāti●. that such a man as jonas, knowing that God is omnipotent, all eye to behold him, all foot to follow him, all hand to smite him in all places, should offer notwithstanding to fly from his presence. Others are out of doubt, that it is a reproof and reprehension; Why hast thou transgressed, and not obeyed the voice of the Lord whom thou acknowledgest? A recompense worthy of his disobedience, that as he ploughed contumacy, and sowed rebellion, so he might reap shame. As if God had set the mark of Cain upon him, the mark of a fugitive and vagabond, and written his fault in his brows, that the basest persons of the earth might control him, why hast thou done this? Thus justice proclaimeth from above, Art thou not subject to God? thou shalt be subject to men. Dost thou contemn the Lord? servantes shall contemn thee; their eyes shall observe thy ways, and their tongues shall walk through thy actions; children in the street shall cry after thee, There, there; passengers shall wag their heads and say, Fie upon thee, fie upon thee, Et declamatio fies, and thou shalt be made the byword of as many as meet thee. Reprehension of men, for their offences committed, is of 2. sorts. 2. kinds of reprehension. The former hath no other end, but to reprehend, to fasten a tooth upon every occasion that is offered; borne of the cursed seed of Chan, delighting in nothing so much as to uncover the nakedness of fathers, brethren, all sorts; or rather borne of the Devil himself, whose name is Diabolus, an accuser, because he accuseth the brethren day and night. He that reproveth in this sort, and he that approveth and fostereth such reproofs, the one hath the Devil in his tongue, the other in his ears. Non corrector sed tra●ditor. Aug. de ver. dom. in Math. 8. Non correptores sed corrosores. Berinthia▪ epist▪ 78. Augustine and Bernarde fit them with their proper names, that such are not correctors, but traitors, willing to lay open the offences of other men; not reprovers, but gnawers, because they had rather bite, than amend aught amiss. There is no mercy, nor compassion in this kind of reprehenders. If the flax smoke, they will quench it; if the reed be bruised, they will break it quite; if a soul be falling, they will thrust at it, & if it be fallen, they will tread upon it. The mercy and kindness of their lips, is, as if asps should vomit, That which perisheth let it perish. Plautus. Istic thesaurus stultis est in lingua situs, this is all the treasure and goodness, that they bear in their tongues; contumelies, slanders, defamations, opprobrious detractions, uncourteous upbraid, supercilious, in●olent, uncharitable accusations rather to verit their malice, which would burst their hearts within them, then to reform the defects of their brethren. Such an one was Philocles, who had to name, choler & brine; and Diogenes, called the dog, Bilis & salsugo. Canis & tuba convitiorum. Flagellum AEneidos. Inter Divos nullos non carpit Mo●us etc. and the trumpet of reproaches; Carpilius Pictor, who put forth a libel termed the scourge of Virgil's works; Herennius who collected together his faults, Faustinus his thefts. The epigram doth well beseem them, which Cornelius Agrippa wrote of himself, (I think not seriously purposing to undertake it) Momus, amongst the Gods, carpeth all things; amongst the worthies, Hercules plagueth all monsters; amongst the devils of hell, Pluto is angry with all the ghosts; amongst Philosophers, Democritus laugheth at all; Heraclitus contrariwise weary for all; Pirrhias is ignorant of all; Aristotle thinketh he knoweth all; and Diogenes contemneth all: Agrippa in this book, spareth not any, be contemneth, knoweth, knoweth not, bewaileth, laugheth at, is offended with, pursueth, carpeth all things, himself a Philosopher, a devil, a worthy, a God, & all things. The best is, we may answer all such uncharitable reprehenders, as S. August. answered Petili●n, who had accused him to be a Manichee, speaking from the conscience and information of other men: I say (saith Augustine) I am no Manichee, speaking of mine own knowledge, Li. 3. de bapt cont. Donat. cap. 10. eligite cu● credatis, choose whether of the two ye will believe. He addeth afterwards, I am a man appertaining to the floor of Christ, if evil, then am I chaff; ●f good, good corn; Petilians tongue is not the fan of this floor; Non est hu●u● areae vē●ilabrum lingua Peti liani. ca 12. the more he accuseth my fault (do it with what mind he will) the more I commend my physician that hath healed it. There is an other kind of reprehension, that handleth the sores of other men, as if they were their own, with christian and apostolic compassion, (such as we read of, who is weak and I burn not?) bringing pity in their eyes & hearts, when they chance to behold their infirmities. It is a duty that we own in community, one to have feeling & care of an others offences. Rabanus noteth upon the 18. of Matt. that it is as great an offence, S●imu● quia similis paena facientes manet & consentientes. ser. in nata●al. lo. Bapt. not to reprove our brother falling into trespass, as not to forgive him, when he asketh forgiveness▪ for he that said unto thee, if thy brother trespass against thee, forgive him; said before, if he trespass against thee, reprove him. We know, saith Bernard, that the same punishment abideth both the committers of sin, & consenters unto it: therefore let no man smooth sins, let no man dissemble offences, let no man say of his brother, what? am I his keeper? The words of the wise, are called goads, & nails. Greg. in his homilies upon the gospels giveth this reason, For that they neglect not the faults of transgressors, but prick them. All which agreeth with that wise & wary distinction, which Bernard maketh in the handling of offences: There must be the oil of admonition, & the wine of compunction; the oil of meekness, Quiaculpas delinquentium nesciunt calcare sed pungere. Oleum monitorum, vinum compunctionis. Oleum mansuetudinis, vinum Zel●. ser. 44 in Cantic. Galat. 6. & the wine of zeal & earnestness: And with the Apostles rule, Brethren, if a man be preoccupate with a fault, (that is, first taken & snared, when yourselves are not,) you that are spiritual, instruct him in the spirit of gentleness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted: 1. the very insinuation he doth use, were enough to persuade them, because we are all brethren: 2. there is no difference between them & us, but in time; they may prevent us offending, but we shall follow them: 3. because flesh & blood is haughty & insolent, therefore the Apostle distinctly maketh choice of the persons exhorted; you that are spiritual, that have been softened with the unction of the spirit of God: 4. the medicine is set down, which we must apply; Instruct him, show him the nature & measure of his fault, & how to amend it: 5. the ingredients of the reeeite are prescribed; instruct him with the spirit of meekness: 6. we are bound thereunto by equality of condition; considering thyself: 7. it is worth the noting, that where he spoke before to a multitude 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, now, by a kind of solecism, he maketh it the case of each man a part; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Such a construction made a holy father of the fall of his brother, For he wept bitterly, using these words, Ille hody, & ego cras, He hath fallen this day, and I not unlikely to fall to morrow. Thus much of the kinds of reprehension, occasioned by the person of the mariners, their speech to jonas. Bern. de resurrect. dom. serm. 2. Now touching the person of jonas himself, what a discredit was it unto him, that babarous men should reprove an Hebrew; idolaters, one that feared God; those that worshipped the host of heaven, & creatures both in the sea, & in the land, a man that ascribed the creation of all these to the true substantial God; infidels, a child of Abraham; bondmen & strangers, one that was borne in the free woman's house? But this is a part of the judgements of God, the mean time, to clothe us with our shame as with a garment, when we commit such follies, as the barbarous themselves are ashamed of. For what greater confusion before men, than that an infidel should say to an Israelite, a Turk or a Moor to a Christian, a babe to an aged man, an idiot to a prophet, the ignorant to him that should instruct him, Why hast thou done this? That which our Saviour spoke of the Centurion in the Gospel, is much to the praise of the captain, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. and no less to the shame of Israel, I have not found so great faith, no not in Israel. And what meant he in the tenth of Luke, by the parable of the man wounded, betwixt Hiericho and jerusalem, but, under the person of a Samaritane, to condemn a priest and a Levite, men of more knowledge than the other had? yet though they served and lived at the altar, they had not an offering of mercy to bestow upon the poor man, when there was nothing but mercy found in the Samaritane. Why are the dogs mentioned at the gates of the rich man, but that, for licking the sores of Lazarus, and giving an alms in their kind, they are made to condemn the unmerciful bowels of their master, who extended no compassion? Luke 16. Our Saviour wondereth in the sevententh of the same Evangelist, that, when ten lepers were cleansed, one only returned to give him thanks, and he was a stranger. So he had but the tithe, and that from a person of whom he least expected it. Balaam was reproved by his ass, as the rich man before by his dogs, Numb. 22. and as he proceeded in frowardness, so the ass proceeded in reprehensions: 1. she went aside, 2. dashed his foot, 3. lay down with him, 4. opened her mouth, and asked him, why he 〈◊〉 smitten her? Israel, in the first of Esay, a reasonable and royal people, is more ignorant of their Lord, than the Ox of his owner, the Ass of his masters crib. The complaint is afterwards renewed again, though the terms somewhat varied: Even the stork in the air knoweth her appointed time, and the turtle, and the crane, and the swallow observe the season of their coming; jer. 8. but my people know not the judgement of the Lord. The confession of Saint Augustine, unless we be shameless and senseless, cannot be denied of our unproficient days: Surgunt indocti & rapiunt coelum etc. 8. Confess. The unlearned arise and catch heaven, and we with our learning, behold we wallow in flesh and blood. We are made to ●udge the Angels, but Angels and men, infidels, barbarians publicans, harlots, nay beasts, and stones shall be our judges; because when we ask in our daily prayers, that the will of God may be done in earth, as it is in heaven, we are so far off from matching that proportion, that there is not the poorest creature in the air, in the earth, in the deep, but in their kinds and generations go beyond us. Of beasts and unreasonable creatures, Ser. 35. in Cantic. Quando quae priùs bestiis aequabatur, nunc & postponitur. Bernard giveth a sage admonition. Let the reasonable soul know, that though it hath the beasts her companions in enjoying the fruits of the earth, they shall not accompany her in suffering the torments of hell: therefore her end shall be worse than her first beginning, because, wherein she matched them before, she now cometh behind them. To this purpose, with some little inversion of the words, he bringeth the sentence which Christ pronounced of judas, Id had been good for that m●n, if he had never been borne: Not if he had not been borne at all, Non utìque si natus non fuisset omn●no, sed si nae. tui non fuisset homo, sed aut pecu● etc. but if he had not been borne a man, but either a beast, or some meaner creature, which, because they have not judgement, come not to judgement, and therefore not to punishment. But amongst reasonable souls there must be a difference kept. As the ground is mo●e, or less manured, so it must yield in fruit accordingly, some an hundred, some thirty, some sixty fold. Five talents must gain other five, two must return two, and one shall satisfy with a less proportion. A child may think, and do, and speak as befitteth a child; a man must think, and do, and speak as becometh a man; an Hebrew must live as an Hebrew, not as an Egyptian; a prophet as a prophet, not as an husbandman; a believer as a believer, not as an infidel; a professor of the gospel of Christ, as a professor, not as an atheist, Epicure, Libertine, Anabaptist, Papist, or any the like, either hellhounde, or heretic; lest we fall, and be bruised to pieces at that fearful sentence, The first shall be last, that whom we went before in knowledge and other graces, those we are brought behind in the hope of our recompense. It shall little avail us at the retribution of just men, to plead with our judge, as it is exemplified unto us in the seventh of Matthew, Lord Lord, have we not prophesied by thy name? unless we have prophesied to ourselves, and lived like Prophets: or that by the name we have cast out devils out of others; if we have kept and retained Devils within our own breasts: or that we have eaten and drunken in thy presence, & thou hast taught in our streets; when neither the example of his life, nor the doctrine of his lips hath any way amended us. THE XIII. LECTURE. Chap. 1. ver. 11. Then said they unto him, what shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? (For the sea wrought, and was troublous.) YOu have before heard, first the conviction of jonas by lot, which was in effect by the oracle and answer of God himself: therewith they are not content, but they will secondly know his fault, what hast thou done? & his trade, Clavis sapientiae, frequens interrogati●. what is thine occupation? etc. Wherein I observed their justice and uprightness in judicial proceeding against him. They have thirdly, con●itentem reum, the confession of his own lips against himself, so as there needed no more to do; as David spoke to the young men that brought news of the death of Saul, Os tuum contra te locutum est, thine own mouth hath spoken against thee; and the rulers, of the son of God, What need we any more witnesses? for we have heard it of his own moutb. They are not yet satisfied, but four, instead of resolution, they are exceedingly afraid, they punish and afflict themselves more than they punish jonas, and in steed of execution they begin to expostulate with him, why hast thou done this? and though they have not time to breath almost, yet they find a time to hear a long narration and tale of all his diobedience. Is there yet an end? No: but fiftly, in a matter already judged, they go to deliberate, nay, against the order and course of all justice, he that is judged must judge, and the transgressor determine, what shall be done unto him. Put it to a murderer, a thief, or any the like malefactor, when the fact is notorious, convicted, and confessed, to make choice for himself, what shall we do unto thee? what were he likely to answer, but to this effect, let me live? I have a further conjecture of their meaning at this time. For jonas presented unto them a double person: a sinner, a fugitive servant, a rebel against the Lord; but withal, a prophet, one that is seen and skilled in the counsels of the Almighty. They know themselves ignorant and barbarous men: for howsoever they might be otherwise learned in the wisdom of Egypt and other Gentile knowledge, yet they wanted that knowledge whereof the prophet speaketh, they shall all be taught of God: and they plainly perceived by that unaccustomed narration that jonas delivered, of a most sovereign and dreadful Lord, that there was some more excellent way, which they were not acquainted with. Upon the persuasion hereof, they refer themselves to the wisdom and integrity of jonas. Much like as the captains of the host dealt with jeremy: The Lord be a witness of truth and faithfulness betwixt us, if we do not accordingly to all things, jer. 42. for which the Lord thy GOD shall send thee unto us: whether it be good or evil, we will obey thy voice. What shall we do unto thee? Exposuisti causam morbi, indica sanitatis; Hiero● Interfici●mus? Culto● Dei es. Servabimus● Deum fugi● Id. thou hast showed the cause of thy malady, show the means to cure it: what shall we do unto thee? shall we kill thee? thou fearest God; shall we save thee? thou fliest from God; shall we set thee to land again? shall we make supplications? shall we offer sacrifice? we appoint thee our leader and guide in the whole disposition of this business. And surely it is an admirable moderation of mind in a people so immoderate, whom neither their country could soften, because they were barbarous; & the seas could not choose but harden, because they were mariners; and the imminent danger had reason to indurate & congeal more than both these: yet notwithstanding in an action so perplex, &, howsoever it fall out, likely to prove perilous, they like to do nothing with tumult, with popular confusion, with raging and heady affections, swelling in choler, and boiling in rancour against the author of their miseries, but they will know from the mouth of the prophet, what the mind and pleasure of the Lord is. In ancient times God gave his answer for decision of doubts, and difficulties, after divers manners. He answered Moses face to face, others by angels, some by lots, some by urim and THUMMIM, others by visions and dreams, & the event of their matters hath been happy & prosperous, where the mouth of the Lord was hearkened unto. What was the reason that they erred so much in receiving the Gibeonites to mercy, pretending a far country, old bottles, old brea●e, old garments, old shoes? but because they accepted their tale concerning their victuals, jos. 9 and counseled not with the mouth of the Lord. In the prophecy of Esaie, God pronounceth a peremptory woe against his rebellious, stubborn children, that take counsel, but not at him; and seek the protection and defence, but not of his spirit; Es. 30. and make haste to go into Egypt to strengthen themselves with the strength of Pharaoh, but have not asked at his mouth. It is noted of the religion of the Turks, that it is a false, but a well ordered religion. Falsa sed ordinata Turcarum religio etc. A professor of their law proclaimeth, before they attempt any thing, that nothing be done against religion. All the lawgivers of the nations, famous in their lives and generations, bore their people in hand, that they received their instructions from some Godhead. Numa in Rome alleged conference with AEgeria, Solon in Athens with Minerva, Lycurgus in Lacedaemon with Apollo, Minos in Crete with jupiter, Charondas in Carthage with Saturn, Osiris in Egypt with Mercury, Zamolxis in Scythia with Vesta: their wisdom and policy therein was this, that they knew their people would sooner yield to the voice of God than man. Moses in truth and verity received tables of ordinances upon the Mount, written with the finger of God, and he presumed thereupon that all the people about them would think, surely this is a great nation etc. We are taught here-hence, that in our weightiest affairs, either of war or peace, religion or policy, whether we take to mercy, as josua did; or enter league with foreigners, as the jews with the Egyptians; either of life or death, as is specified in that question touching jonas; we decree nothing without the mouth of the Lord, or at the least without the mouths that speak from that mouth, such as Moses had, I will be with thy mouth; and the disciples of Christ, It is not you that speak, but the spirit of my father within you: these must inform us by the lantern and light of his holy word, what way is best to be followed. It is a testimony, without any exception to be made unto it, and a confident assurance to our souls, when we are able to say Adlegem & testimonium ivimus, We went to the law and testimony of Almighty GOD, and these we chose to conduct us. There is yet a further matter to be considered, which both the order of things precedent, and the circumstances of the text now in hand, move me to observe. For there are distinct persons here named. First the person of jonas, what shall we do veto thee? secondly of the mariners, that the sea may be calm unto us; thirdly of the sea, for the sea went, and was troublous. 1. jonas is guilty, 2. the mariners are in jeopardy, 3. the sea is angry. And both the anger of the sea, and their own instant dangers, are mighty and impulsive arguments to incense them against jonas. A proverb they have in friendship, that the thigh is nearer to a man than his knee: no man dearer to any man than himself; or, at the most, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, friendship is no more than an equality; and if a friend be alter idem, a second self, it is as much as in reason he can look for. We are not bound either by the law of nature, written in the heart, or by the law of God, written in tables, to love an other more than ourselves. Bernarde maketh a note upon the order of our Saviour's words to the women of jerusalem, weep not for me, but for yourselves and your children: 1. for yourselves; 2. for your children. And though in friendship they set a law of community, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, all things must be parted amongst friends, yet to departed from the life, is no common thing. Rom. 5. A man will scarcely die for the righteous; but for a good man, and one that is profitable, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: See how warily the Apostle treadeth in this sentence, peradventure some man dareth die; so it may be, when it is not; and he dareth, though he will not do it; and but some one perhaps amongst a thousand. Life to a natural man, who thinketh he liveth but whilst he liveth, is sweet upon any conditions, as may appear in the example of the Gibeonites before produced, who did that they did, for fear of their lives. And though they were cursed for their wily dealing, and none of them ever afterwards freed from being a bondman, but made hewers of wood, and drawers of water for the congregation of the Lord for ever, yet they were content to escape with their lives, and to endure any thing, so the people might not slay them; Behold, we are now in thine hands, do as it seemeth good in thine eyes to do unto us. So true it is, De falsa sapien. 12. which Lactantius writeth of this transitory life, that although it be full of vexations, yet is it desired and wished for, of all men: Old and Young▪ Kings and mean persons, wise and foolish desire it alike. He addeth the sentence of Anaxagoras, Tanti est contemplatio coeli ac lucis ipsius, ut quascunque miserias libeat sustinere, The very beholding of heaven and the light itself, is so much worth, that we are content to endure any wretchedness for it. Now these mariners having an eye to their private estates, to pacify the anger of God, Hoc nempe ab homine exigitur, ut prosit hominibus, si fieri p●test, multis; si minùs, paucis; si minùs, proximis; si minùs sibi. Senec. de vitâ Beat●●▪ and quiet the sea for their own delivery, standing upon the loss and miscarriage, not now of their substance, which was already gone, and might in time be supplied, but of their lives, which never could be ransomed, I marvel that they make delays, and take not the speediest way for the ridding of jonas, and safegarding of their endangered lives. There is no more required of man but this, to do good to men, if it may be, to many; if not, to few; if not, to those that are nearest him, if not, to himself: and therefore, the sa●ing of jonas being plainly despaired, me thinketh the care of their own welfare should presently and eagerly have been intended. The other argument to spur them forwards, was the impatience of the sea; the sea wrought, nay the sea went, & was tempestuous, An excellent phrase of speech. The sea went, it had a charge for jonas, as jonas had for Niniveh; The sea went. for as God said to the one, Arise, go to Niniveh, so to the other, Arise, go after jonas. Doth the sea sit still (as Elias sat under the juniper tree, and cried, it is enough?) or settle her waters upon her slime and gravel, and not fulfil the commandment of him that made it? No: but as a Giant refreshed with wine, so it reneweth and redoubleth her wont force, feeleth not the labour imposed, but doth the work of the Lord with all possible diligence. The Lord saith, go, and it goeth, and it goeth with a witness, as jehu marched, of whom the watchman gave warning, he marcheth like a mad man: so doth the sea go furiously, with an unquiet, hasty, turbulent spirit, full of impatience and zeal, till God have avenged himself against his disobedient servant. Thus all the creatures in the world have arms and legs as it were, and all the members of living things, and a spirit of life in some sort to quicken them, and activity to use them, and courage with wisdom to direct them aright, and convert them to the overthrow of those, that with contemptuous security departed from God's ways. Do we then think that the will of God can ever be frustrated? The Lord of hosts hath (worn; surely as I have purposed, so shall it come to pass; and as I have consulted, so shall it stand, Who can make straight that which he hath made crooked? Es. 14. Eccle. 7. Prov. 21. There is no wisdom, no understanding, no counsel against the Lord. He hath determined; who shall disannul it? his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it away? See an experiment hereof. Whilst the mariners were knitting and devising a chain of delays, adding protraction to protraction, wherewith to spend the time, desirous either to save or to reprieve the guilty person, and with a number of shifts labouring to evade that counsel which God had enacted, how vain and unprofitable are all their consultations? If all the Senates and sessions in the world had joined their wisdom together, to acquit the offend our, it had been as bootless, as to have run their heads against a wall of brass to cast it down. Unless they can see & corrupt the heavens with all that therein is, the earth with all that therein is, the sea with all that therein is, to keep silence, to wink at the faults of men, and to favour their devises, it cannot be. For whilst these men are in counsel & conference, the sea is in action; they are backward to punish, the sea goeth forward with his service; they lose time, & the sea will admit no dilation: and to teach them more wit and obedience, the sea is in arms against the mariners themselves, and persecuteth them, as consenters and abetters to the sin, because the Lord had elected them ministers of his judgements, and they neglect their office. The will of God must either be done by us, or upon us; as it befell jerusalem, Aut à nobis aut de nobis. How often would I etc. thou wouldst not: Because it was not done by jerusalem, It was done upon jerusalem. They would have said afterwards in jerusalem, when the blessings were all gone, and whole rivers of tears could not have regained them, Vae oppositi● voluntatibus etc. Quid tam poenale quam semper vell● quod nunquam erit, & semper nolle quod nunquam non erit● in aeternum non obtinebi● quod vult, & quod non vu●t in aeternum s●stinebit. Deut. 32. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. And therefore I conclude with Bernard; Woe to all crossing and thwarting wills, gaining nothing but punishment for their gainsaying. What is so miserable, as ever to intend that which never shall be, and ever to be against that, which shall never but be? they shall never attain what they would, and evermore sustain what they would not. And take this for a further warning out of this phrase, the sea went, and was troublous, whereby is declared the travel & pains it took to take vengeance; that when the anger of the Lord is once thoroughly fired, all the waters in the South cannot quench it. It lieth happily in a smother and smoke a long time before it breaketh out, but when it is once ascended, & hath gotten height, incandescit eundo, it increaseth by going, & gathereth more strength. It burneth to the bottom of hell, before it giveth over, consuming the earth with her increase, & setting on fire the foundations of the mountains. It followeth in the same scripture, I lift up mine hand to heaven, & say, I live for ever: (a solemn & venerable protestation:) If I whet my glittering sword, & my hand take hold on vengeance, I will execute my judgement upon mine enemies, & reward them that hate me. Mine arrows shallbe drunk with their blood, & my sword shall eat their flesh. There is a time, I perceive, when his sword is dull, & rusteth in the scabbard of his long sufferance, & his hands are so fraught with mercy, that judgement is laid aside, & hath not room to be spamned in them. But if he once whet his glittering sword, & his hand take hold of judgement, then will he do it. The justice of God goeth slowly and orderly, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Tarditatem supplicij gravitate compensat· but for the most part it recompenseth the slackness of judgement, with the heaviness thereof. It is long before he cometh, but but when he cometh, he cometh indeed, he cometh in the clouds, he cometh in a chariot of whirlwind, swifter than the flight of an eagle, he cometh to begin and to make an end, he cometh not to give a second wound, for he will fasten the first so sure, that there shall be no need of a latter punishment. There never lived unrighteous man upon the face of the whole earth, that had a sin in his breast, but he had vengeance attending at his back, waiting perhaps by leisure, and following with woollen feet, but smiting with an arm of iron, when the sin was ripe. It was not enough for God to bring jonas into reproach with strangers, and to make him subject to the check of uncircumcised lips, wondering and howting at him, as at a bird of divers colours, but his justice yet crieth, give, give, and will not be satisfied with the morsel before thrown▪ but jonas himself must also be cast out. The Lord would never have said in the book of Leviticus, that the land should spew out her inhabitants, but that the wicked, are as it were the oppression of nature, the surcharge and surfeit of the stomach; without the avoidaunce of whom, she shall never be eased. I come now to the purpose of my speech. The danger was imminent, and called upon the mariners, Yield jonas, or yield yourselves; the sea importunate, and would not be answered. Two irrefragable arguments: the one fight against the nature and being of man, with whom it is no easy thing to forego his interest of life, before he needs must; the other expressing the justice above to be unexorable, unless it be satisfied. They have these arguments before their eyes, they ponder and peruse them in their hearts; yet behold their compassion, their tender regard to the life of man: they are not so hasty as the sea, but put it to his conscience, What shall we do with thee? it standeth not with nature and humanity, to make thee away. Their commendation briefly is; that the life of a stranger to them all, a stranger of that land which was most hateful unto them, the life of an open and convicted malefactor, the only matter of their woe, is so precious unto them. Surely man was made unto man, as Moses was to Aaron, in some sense, a God (for succour and comfort) according to the ancient exiled proverb, Homo homini Deus, Man unto man is, or should be a God. It is now varied, Homo homini lupus, Man unto man is a wolf. The first that was created after Adam (which was the woman) was given him for his helper, because the life and welfare of man cannot consist without association; Epist. 52. Homo sum, humani nihil à m● alienum puto. Ita omnium affectum naturaliter attigit. but the next that ever was borne by natural and kindly generation, both of father and mother became a destroyer. Saint Augustin reporteth of that sentence in the comedy, I am a man, I think no part of humanity impertinent unto me, that the whole theatre being full of idiots, and vulgar persons, gave applause unto it, it did so naturally touch the affections of them all. When Vedius Pollio a Roman, at a supper provided for Augustus the Emperor, would have thrown his servant into his fishpond where he kept his lampryes, because he had broken a cup of crystal, the Emperor withheld, and controlled him with these words▪ A man of what condition soever he be, Homo ●uius●unque conditionis. Plut. if for no other cause, yet because he is a man, is more to be valued than all the cups and fishpools in the world. How is mankind become so degenerate and wild, in that which nature shaped it unto? how is our gold become so dim, our blood so stained? for now we may rightly complain, with that noble and virtuous Frenchman, Phil. Mo●●▪ de ver. ch●. reli●. cap. 16 whom double honour waiteth upon, What is more rare amongst men, than to find a man? that is, as he interpreteth it, amongst men, how many beasts are there, for want of using reason; and for not using it well, how many Devilles? lions fight not against lions: serpents bite not serpents: Pliny. but sooth the most mischief that man sustaineth, cometh from man. Thou art deceived, saith Seneca, if thou givest credit to the looks of those that meet thee: they have the faces of men, the minds of wild beasts. Surely we have justified the madness of the most savage and untractable beasts, and steeled our affections with more cruelty and barbarity, than ever lions and serpents could learn in the wilderness. And therefore I blame not David, who having his choice of plagues presented unto him, made a present exception to his own nature and kind, let me not fall into the hands of man. 1. Chr. 2●. Barbarous and uncivil Christendom (we may say) in comparison of these barbarous men, (many whole regions and tracts thereof, but singular persons in her best composed parts, without number) whose hearts are so bound & confirmed with sinews of iron, that they are no more moved with the life of a man, than if a dog had fallen before them. Why should they think that the life of an other as fearful made, as ever their own was, as dearly redeemed, as tenderly cherished by the providence of God, as serviceably framed for Church or common wealth, as carefully nursed in the mother's womb, and by father and mother as painfully brought up and maintained many years together, now to be spilled and ruinated in a minute of time; why should they think that it beareth not as high a price both with God and man, as their own lives? Yet such is the nature of some, so fallen from their kind, as if rocks had fathered them, and they had sucked the dragons in the desert, rather than the daughters of men; their delight is in nothing so much, as in the slaughter of their brethren, and the stile of that ancient murderer, whose children they show themselves to be, is ever in their mouths, Vre, seca, occîde, burn, cut, kill, poison, crucify, take no pity; strangers, known persons, old, young, men, women, brethren, sisters, whosoever doth but cross them with a mistaken word, or wry countenance, non in compendium, sed occidendi causà occîdunt, Senec. 2. the clem. they will murder upon every occasion, and though they gain not by their death, yet they will kill, because they take pleasure in killing: whereas the care and charge, I say not of Christian, but of civil and well natured people should be, parce ●ivium sanguini, spare the blood of citizens, or rather spare the blood of men, because they are all kinsmen & brethren in the flesh. I am amazed to think how wanton and luxurious we are in destroying the life one of an other, not content alone to wish the death of an enemy, as they cried in the Psalm, When shall he die, and his name perish? but we will be actors with our own hands, and approovers with our own eyes and hearts, deserving thereby a more blood-red commendation, Valer. Max. lib. 9 cap. 11 than he in the history, bis parricida, consilio priùs, iterum spectaculo, twice a murderer, first in counseling, afterwards in beholding the fact: for we are thrice murderers, 1. for invention and devise, afterwards for act, lastly for taking pleasure either to view or to record the same. Murder with the favorablest terms (unless it be plentifully washed away with a flood of tears, from a bleeding and broken heart, and died into an other colour, by the blood of Christ) is likely to have ruth enough. There is not a drop of blood spilled upon the earth, from the days of righteous Abel to this present hour, but swelling as big as the Ocean sea in the eyes of God: and neither heat of the sun, nor drought of the ground shall ever drink it up, till it be revenged. But murder with pride, delight, triumph, with affectation of glory thereby, as if it were manhood and credit to have been in the field and slain a man, to make it an occupation as some do, when they have once committed it, to be so far from remorse, that they are the readier to commit it again, till blood toucheth blood; Woe worth it: it is the unnaturalest nature under the heavens, I would term it by a name, if there were any to express it. Caligula the Roman Emperor, whom for his filthy and sanguinary conditions, I may term as they termed his predecessor, Lutum sanguine maceratum. dirt soaken with blood, wished, that the people of Rome had all but one neck, that at one blow he might cut them of. Who would ever imagine, that a man of one heart, should so much multiply his cruelties by conceit against a multitude? Seneca writeth, that Messala Proconsul of Asia beeheaded three hundred in one day, and when he had made an end of his tyranny, as if he had done some noble exploit, walked with his arms behind him, & cried, O royal act. Lucius Sylla, at one proscription having slain 4700. men, caused it be entered of record, ne memoria tam praeclarae rei dilueretur, Lib. 9 cap. ●. lest the memory of so honourable a thing should be worn away. Valerius setting down the rest of his truculent murders, confesseth against himself, I am scarcely persuaded that I write probably: he killed a gentleman of Rome without stirring of his foot, for not enduring the sight of one murdered before his face: Novus punitor misericordiae, never was it seen before, that pity itself should be punished; and that it should be held as capital an offence, to behold a murder with grief, as if himself had done it. Notwithstanding, saith he, the envy of Marius did mitigate the cruelties of Sylla: whose name shall be striked with the blackest coal of infamy in all the ages of the world, when they shall but hear that an innocent citizen drank a draft of burning coals, to escape his tyrannous tortures. Sabellicus thinketh, Lib 9▪ cap. ●. that the factious cities of Italy, in his and his forefathers days, were stored with more pregnant examples of cruelty than all these. When the princes of the factions falling into the hands of their enemies, some were burnt alive, their children killed in their crad●lles, the mothers with child their bellies ripped up, themselves and their fruit both destroyed, some thrown down headlong, some had their garbage pulled out, their hearts to their further disgrace hung up and beaten with stripes. You may easily guess (sayeth he) what butchery there was, when hanging and beheading were accounted clemency. Endless are the histories which report the cruelties that have been committed by man upon man. But of all that ever I red or heard, the most uncredible to mine ears, are those that were practised by the Spanish nation upon the West Indians: of whom it fs thought, they have slain at times, more millions of men, than all the countries of the East are able to furnish again. You may judge of the Lion by his claws. In one of their Islands called Hispaniola, of twenty hundredth thousands, when the people stood untouched, Benzo in his Indi● story. the author did not think at the penning of his history, that there were an hundred and fifty souls left. He had reason to exclaim as he did, O quot Neronis, quot Domitiani, quot Commod●, quot Bassiani, quot immites Dyonisij eas terras p●ragravêre? O how many nero's, how many Domitian's, with other the like egregious, infamous tyrants, have harrowed those countries? justus Lipsius justifieth the complaint: Lib. 2. the constant. ca 22. The marginal note is, Indorum strages, imò excidium. that no age in the world could match some examples by him alleged, but only our own, howbeit in an other world. A few Spanish (saith he) about fourscore years since, sailing into these west and new found lands, (good God) what murders and slaughters committed they? I reason not of the causes or right of their war, but only of the eventes. I see that huge space of ground, which to have seen, (I say not to have vanquished) had been a great matter, overrun by twenty or thirty soldiers and those naked flocks every where laid along, as corn by a sickle. What is become of thee, O Cuba, the greatest of Islands? of thee, Hayti? of you, the jukatans'? which sometimes stored and environed with five or six hundredth thousands of men, have scarcely retained fifteen in some places, to raise up issue again? Stand forth thou region of Peru, a little show thyself; and thou of Mexico. O wonderful and lamentable face of things. That unmeasurable tract, and in truth, another world, is wasted and worn away, as if it had perished by fire from heaven. One of their kings in the province of jukatan spoke to Montegius the lieutenant governor, Benzo. after this manner. I remember, when I was young, we had a plague or mortality amongst us, so sore and unaccustomed, that infinite numbers of worms issued out of our bodies. Moreover we had two battles with the inhabitants of Mexico, wherein were slain an hundredth and fifty thousand men. But these things are trifles, in comparison of those intolerable examples of cruelty and oppression, which thou and thy company have used amongst us. They had named themselves for credit and authority, the sons of God: but when the people saw their vile behaviour, they gave this judgement upon them; Qualis, malum, Deus iste est, qu● tam impuros ex se filios & sceleratos genuit? si pater filiorum similis, minimè profectò bonum esse oportet; What kind of GOD, with a mischief, is this, that hath begotten such impure and wicked sons? if the fathers be like the children, there can be no goodness in him. Extremities of tyranny practised in such measure, that nothing could be added thereunto by the wit of man, wrung out great liberty and and a city of speech from them. For when Didacus' the deputy told the Cacique of Veragua, that, if he brought not in gold enough, he would cast his flesh to the dogs, the infidel made h●m this answer; I marvel how the earth can foster and sustain such savage beasts. Indeed their impotent outrages were such, as the wretched souls would sooner die, than endure them. Therefore they chose rather to starve, and drown, and hang themselves, if they wanted halters, by the hairs of the head, and one to swinge the other upon a tree, till their breath were expelled; they cut and mangled their own flesh, for want of knives, with sharp flintstones; the women with child, destroyed their babes in their wombs, because they would not bear slaves to the Spaniards▪ many times they would fire their houses, and kill their children, using this persuasion unto themselves, that it were better to die once, than miserably to spend their days under tyrants. The carrying of their silly vassals by companies, linked and fettered together, like herds of beasts, from the continent land wherein they dwelt, to the mines in the Islands, together with branding a letter of slavery in their arms and faces, are not cruelties but mercies in them; for thus long they lived, though they dearly bought their lives. They had not their fill of blood, unless they slew them in sport, to exercise their arms, and to try wagers, and threw their carcases to their dogs; unless they put them to draw their carriages from place to place; and if they failed by the way, (which how could they hinder, except their strength had been as the strength of stones?) pulled out their eyes, cut of their noses, strake of their heads; unless they lodged them like bruit beasts under the planks of their ships, where all the filth and ordure was bestowed, till their flesh rotten from their backs. The poor Nigrite their slave, after his toil the whole day undergone, in steed of his meal at night, if he came short in any parcel of his task enjoined, they stripte of all his clothing, bound him hand and foot, tied him cross to a post, bet him with wire and whip cord, till his body distilled with gore blood, they powered either molten pitch or scalding oil into his sores to supple them, washed him with pepper and salt, and so left him upon a board till he might recover himself again: this, they said, was their law of Baion. If tigers should make laws, could they exceed these men in savageness? I now wonder the less of the people of Caribana, & others thereabout, being accustomed to eat the flesh of man, would notwithstanding refrain the flesh of a Spaniard, when they had caught one, fearing lest such pestilent nutriment would breed some contagion within them. If I do them injury by repetition of their furiousness against the life of man, let them blame the history, not me. I was very well content to note thus much unto you, under the warrant and protection of mine author, both the matter of my text leading me to a commendation of humanity, even towards a stranger, (the praise whereof these are as far from, as a she-bear rob of her whelps) and because they are the men, whom some of our own nation have desired to be Lords and rulers over them. But if ever they make trial of their temperate government, they will find the least finger of their hands heavier unto them, than an others loins, whom they would cast off: and how much happier it had been for them still to have felt the sweetness of the olive, or fig tree, under which they have sitten, and shadowed themselves, than that the prickles of a briar should have torn them. For, lest they should err in their ground of such a change, the cause of religion pretended, is the least thing regarded by them: and that, these barbarous people right well perceived, having bought their knowledge with a long and lasting experience, of many their houses, cities, country's, sacked, ransacked, turned upside down, and the dust of all their ground most narrowly sifted and searched; that a wedge of gold was Deus Christianorum, the God of the Christians; and this they would hold aloft, and make proclamation amongst themselves, En Deus Christianorum, Behold the God of the Christians; propter hoc è Castilia in terras nostras venêre, for this they came from Castille into our land, (not to convert infidels;) for this they spoil us, and are at war within themselves; this is the cause of their dicing, cursing, blaspheming, ●avishing one the others wives, and committing all kind of abominations. Insomuch that a king of Nicaragua asked Benzo himself, the penner of this story, christian, quid enim sunt Christians? Christian, what are Christians? and thus he answered himself by defining them; They desire spice, honey, silk, a Spanish Cape, an Indian woman to lie with, gold and silver they seek for: Christians will not work, they are scoffers, dicers, blasphemers, slanderers, fighters, and finally, to conclude, Omnes mali sunt, they are all nought. Thus was the honour of God, th● name of Christianity by their lewd behaviour derided, defamed, reproached, by those that were without, infidels and Paynims. I say no more for determining this unsavoury discourse touching that uncivil, ungentle nation, but, Happy are we, if other men's harms can make us beware, if, when we have seen the firing of their houses, by these incendiaries and robbers, we look carefully to our own, and make our fortunate examples of their unfortunate and unrecoverable subversions. When some smart, (saith Cyprian) all are admonished, Magna providentiae compenaia. de s●ng. cl●ri●▪ The Assizes. and God in his providence hath taken an easy course, by the terror of a few, to deliver a multitude from the like mischief. What shall we do unto thee? The time is near at hand when inquisition must be made for blood. You that are magistrates, and sit in the seat of God, let not your eyes or hearts pity that man that hath spilled blood. Quanto non nasci melius fuit, Seneca. quàm numerari inter publico malo natos? how much better were it not to be borne, than to be borne to do hurt? we cannot prevent the birth of such, but it is not amiss to hinder and shorten their life, that they work not more mischiefs. If you bear once, you must bear perhaps a second time. GOD hath pronounced against Mount Se●● long since, I will prepare thee to blood, Ezech. ●●. and blood shall pursue thee; unless thou do hate blood, blood shall pursue thee: and although Mount Seir be long since desolated, yet the judgement of that righteous judge shall stand like Mount Zion, and never be altered. They that commit, Qui n● vetat peccatum etc. Tot occidimus quot ad mortem ire quotidie tepi●i & tacente● videmus. Gre●. super Ezech Clementia & misericordia Senator Misericordia & miseratio. Lips. and they that conceal murder, they that love to shed blood, and they that hate it not, principals, accessaries, abettors, favourers, patrons of bloodshed, they are all in fearful case. You will say, I am cruel myself, and forget to apply my text, whilst I speak against cruelty. Nothing less. I would not that justice should thrust mercy out of place; but mercy and pity differ as much, as religion and superstition: the one honoureth, the other dishonoureth God; the one is an ornament to man, the other reproacheth him. Be compassionate to the life of man, and spare it, as discretion shall require, but rather be compassionate to the life of the common wealth: for be ye assured, that the punishment of bloud-shedde is, not to shed but to save more blood. Melius est ut pereat unus quam unitas, It is better that one should die by law, than numbers without law. The dog that liveth in the shambles, hath commonly a bloody mouth▪ and he that hath been fleshed upon the blood of man, will not easily leave it. I leave the answer of jonas to the next place. ●et v● beseech our merciful God, the preserver of m●n, as job calleth him, that he would vouchsafe to preserve unto us, this virtue of humanity, without which we are not men; putting softness and tenderness in them that are cruel, justice into those that must bridle the rage of cruelty, kindness and compassion into us all, that, whatsoever we are to deal in with any sort of men, we may carefully cast before ●ande, as these mariners did, what we should do unto them; setting their rule of friendship and brotherhood before our eyes, not to do wrong or violence, in oppressing the state or life, either of brethren or strangers, but to measure unto them all such duties of nature and charity, as we wish should be measured again to our own souls. THE XIIII. LECTURE. Chap. 1. verse 12. And he said unto them, Take me, and cast me into the sea, so shall the sea be calm unto you: For I know that for my sake etc. THE order I kept in the verse going before, was this. Three persons were proposed unto you▪ 1. the person of jonas, standing upon his delivery; 2. the person of the mariners, being in jeopardy; 3. the person of the sea, continuing troublesome and unquiet unto them. The two latter whereof, the furiousness of the waters, and their own peril, were mighty arguments to incense them against jonas. In this verse he answereth their whole demand: 1. touching myself, you ask, what you shall do unto me? Take me, cast me into the sea. By this means, 2. the sea shall be quieted, 3. towards you, against whom it is now enraged. This for the order and coherence. Now for the matter itself, it is divided into three branches: 1. the resolution, decree and sentence of jonas upon himself, Take me, cast me into the sea; 2. the end, and it may be, the motive to hearten them, So shall the sea be quiet unto you; 3. the reason, warrant, or justification of their fact, For I know that for my sake etc. The verse riseth by degrees. You ask, what you shall do with me? Cast me into the sea. What is that for our safety? Yes, the sea shall be quiet unto you. But how may we purchase our peace with so unjustifiable an action? Right well: For I know that for my sake the tempest is upon you. 1. The decree. Rabbi ezra, and some of our later expositors following his opinion, think, that he maketh this offer unto them, upon an obstinate, obfirmed mind against the commandment of God, that rather than he would be held in life to go to Niniveh, to gain a foreign uncircumcised nation, he would die the death. And they guess moreover, that he would never have given that liberty unto them against his life, but that he heard them say, unless he went to Niniveh, they would cast him forth. There is not a syllable in the text, to justify this judgement. For jonas had made a reverend confession of God; a singular testimony of a mind recalling itself. And as for the mariners, what kindness they showed him, both before, and after, the letter of the scripture plainly demonstrateth. I rather take it to be a doom of most prophetical and resolute magnanimity, wrestling with the terrors of death, as Israel with God, and prevailing against them. As if he had said, you shall not lose an hair of your heads for mine offence, I will not add murder to rebellion, and the wrack of so many souls to my former disobedience, Take me. Take me. Not as if you feared to touch me; ●ollite me, take me on high▪ take me with force and validity of arms, take me with violence, lift and hoist me up: when you have so done, use no gentleness towards me, let me not down with ropes, neither suffer me to ●ake my choice, how, or where I may pitch, Cast me, at adventures, as you threw forth your wares. Cast me. And though the sea hath no mercy at all, threatening both heaven and hell with the billows thereof at this ti●e, and bearing a countenance of nothing but destruction, and it had been a blessing unto me, to have died one the land in some better sort, or to have gained the favour of a more merciful death, yet cast me into the sea, In to the sea. and let the barbarous creature glut itself. jonas might have stood longer upon terms. I have committed a fault, I am descried by the lots, I confess my misdeed, the sea is in wrath, your lives in hazard, what then? will it work your peace to destroy me? Say, I were gone, and perished; is your deliverance nearer than before it was? But without cunctation and stay, possessing his soul in patience, and as quiet in the midst of the sea, as if he beheld it on firm ground, making no difference between life and death, animated with a valiant and invincible spirit, triumphing over dread and danger, charitable towards his companions, faithful and bold as a Lion within himself, and yielding to nothing in the world, save God alone; he giveth not only leave and permission unto them, do what you will, I can not resist a multitude, you may try a conclusion by the loss of a man; but with a confident intention, as willing to leave his life, as ever he was to keep it, and as ready to go from the presence of men, as before he went from the presence of GOD, First he putteth them in right and possession of his person, Take me; Secondly he prescribeth them the manner and form of handling him, Cast me into the sea; Thirdly driveth them by agreements thereunto, not of conjecture and probability, It may be thus, and thus, but of certain event, the sea shall be calm unto you; and of undoubted persuasion, I known that for my sake etc. Whether a man may offer violence to himself? It is a question not unmeet to be considered in this place, (which many have handled from the first age of the world, not only with their tongues, but with their hands, and instead of sharpness of wit, have used the sharpness of knives, and other bloody instruments to decide it) whether a man may use violence in any case against himself? Noluit Deus ut sese proijceret, sed id nau●arum ministerio fieri voluit. Higher 2. Sam. 1. I find it noted upon these words; God would not let jonas cast forth himself, but would have it done by the ministery of the mariners. But the odds is not great in effect, if you observe what is mentioned. For jonas setteth on the mariners, and not only counseleth, but in a sort compelleth them to cast him forth. Saul was not dead by the wounds which he gave himself, till an An alekite came and dispatched him: yet was Saul an homicide against his own person, and the other that made an end of him, filius mortis, the child of death. Surely GOD hath given a commandment in express terms against this horrible practice, August. 1. de civ▪ Dei, 20. Non occîdes, Thou shalt not kill; praesertim, quia non addidit, Proximum tuum, especially, because he added not, Thy neighbour, thou mayest the rather understand thyself: as in the other commandment, when he forb●d false witness, he said, Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. Although if the law had spoken more fully, Thou shalt not kill thy neighbour, thou hadst not been freed thereby, quomam regulam diligendi proximum à semetipso delector accipit, because he that loveth, Ibid. taketh the rule of loving his neighbour, first from himself. And the conclusion holdeth good: Non occîdes; non alterum, ergo nec te: Nec enim qui se occîdit, altum quàm hominem occîdit, Thou shalt not kill; no other man, therefore not thyself: for he that killeth himself, killeth no other but a man. I will require your blood (saith the Lord,) at the hands of beasts, at the hands of man himself, Genes. 9 at the hands of every brother will I require it. Will he require blood at the hands of beasts, in whom there is no understanding, and at the hands of every brother (which conjunction of brotherhood is the effectual cause why we should spare one the others life,) and will he be slack to require it at thine own hands, who art nearer to thyself than thy brother is? Tho. Aquinas giveth three reasons to condemn the unlawfulness of these bloody designments: 1. They are evil in nature, because repugnant to that charity, wherewith a man should love himself. And death, we all know, is an enemy in nature, and life is a blessing of God, in the fifth commandment. 2. Each man is a part of the communion and fellowship of mankind, and therefore he doth injury to the common wealth, that taketh away a subject and member thereof. 3. Life is the gift of God, and to his only power subdued, who hath said, I kill and I give life. Therefore Jerome writing to Marcell of blesilla's death, in the person of God abandoneth such souls, Non recipio tales animas, quae, me nolente, exierunt è corpore, I receive not such souls, which, against my will, have gone out of their bodies. And he calleth the Philosophers that so died, Martyrs stultae philosophiae, Martyrs of foolish philosophy. There were two vile kinds of deaths, wherewith of old (it seemeth) they were wont to finish their unhappy days, Laqueus & praecipitium: either they hung themselves, August. cō●liter. Petili. ani, l. 2. c. 49 or broke their necks from some steep place. Petilian, an enemy to the catholic church, had thus reproachfully spoken against the sound believers, The traitor judas died by an halter, and the halter he bequeathed to such as himself was (meaning the orthodox Christians) No, saith Augustine, this belongeth not to us, for we do not honour those by the name of Martyrs, who halter their own necks. How much more do we say against you, Quid enim● nisi inimici Christi, amici Diaboli▪ discipuli seductoris, ●ōdiscipuli traditoris? spontaneas enim mor●e● ab uno magistro utrique didicerunt▪ ille laqueum, isti praecipitium. Lib. 1. de ciu Dei cap. 17. Licèt propter scelu● suum, alio scelere suo occisus es●. that the Devil the master of that traitor, would have persuaded Christ to have fallen down from the pinnacle of the temple, and took repulse? then what are they to be termed, whom he hath both counseled so to do, and prevailed with? truly what else, but the enemies of Christ, the friends of the Devil, the disciples of the seducer, fellow disciples with the traitor? for both from one master have learned voluntary deaths, the one by strangling himself, the other by falling down headlong. The same father bringeth these murderers into straits, and holdeth them in so closely on both sides, that there is no escaping from them: When thou killest thyself, either thou killest an innocent, whereby thou becomest guilty of innocent blood; or an offender, which is as unlawful to do, because thou art neither thine own judge, and thou cuttest of space of repentance. judas when he slew himself, he slew a wicked man; notwithstanding he is culpable, both for the blood of Christ, and for his own blood, because though for his wickedness, yet was he slain by an other wickedness. Some have offered themselves unto these voluntary deaths, to leave a testimony of courage and undaunted resolution behind them: Animi magnitudine for ●asse mirandi, non sapien tiae sanitate laudandi sunt. lib 1. cap. 22. Qui vitam aerumnosam magis potest ferre quàm fugere. of whom Saint Augustine speaketh; Perhaps they are to be admired for stoutness of mind, but not to be commended for soundness of wisdom. Albeit, if reason may be judge, we cannot rightly call it magnanimity, for it is a far greater mind, which can rather endure than eschew a miserable life. I am sure the Patriarches, the Prophets, the Apostles never did thus: and though they were p●nched in their reins, and their souls heavy unto the death, as Christ's was, insomuch that they cried out, take my life from me, my soul chooseth to be strangled, oh that my spirit were stifled within my bones, and wretch that I am, who shall deliver me? yet they never paid their debt of nature, till their creditor called upon them: which time they would never have stayed, if, in a moment of an hour, the service of their own hands might justly have released them. Cleombrotus Ambraciote, having red Plato his books of the immortality of the soul, threw himself headlong from a wall, and broke his neck, that he might the sooner attain to immortality. He had another reason than the former; It was rather a great then a good act. Magnè potiù● factum quàm bene. Plato would have done so himself, or at least have advised it, but that in that learning, wherewith he saw the immortality of the soul, he also saw such means to attain it, utterly unlawful. Some, to avoid a mischief to come, have fallen into the greatest mischief. As virgins and honest matrons in a time of war, to avoid the rapes and constuprations of enemies. In two words; do they consent to that filthiness, or do they not consent? if they consent not, let them live, because they are innocent. Non inquinatur corpus, nisi de consensu mentis, The body is not defiled, Aquin. 2 a. 2 ae. quae. 64. ar. 5. Nonné satius est incertum de futuro adulterium, quàm certum de praesenti homicidium● l. 1. de civ. De cap. 25▪ 2. Mac. 14. but when the mind agreeth▪ If they consent, yet let them live too, that they may repent it. Whether is better, adultery to come, yet not certain; or a certain murder, presently wrought? Is it not better to commit an offence, which may be healed by repentance, than such a sin, wherein no place is left for contrition? O rather let them live, who sin, that they may recover themselves before they go● hence, and be no more seen. It is a reason sufficient to raze the history of the Maccabees out of the canon of the scriptures, that the author thereof commendeth the fact of Razis; who being beset by Nicanor ●ounde about; and having no means to escape, fell on his own sword, and missing his stroke, ran to a wall to break his neck; and yet his life being whole within him, ran through the people, and gate to the top of a rock, and when his blood was spent, (gushing out from him like a fountain) he took out his bowels with both his hands, and threw them upon the people, calling upon the Lord of life and spirit, that he would restore them again unto him, and so he died. This the story commendeth for a manful and valiant act. Aquinas thinketh otherwise. There are some, saith he, that have killed themselves to avoid troubles and vexations; Mala poenalia. Estimantes se fortiter agere. Quaedam mollities animi. (of which number was Razis) thinking they do manfully; which notwithstanding is not true fortitude, but rather a certain effo●minatenesse of mind not able to endure their crosses. I will pronounce nothing rashly. The mercy of God may come, inter pontem & fontem, as the proverb is, between the bridge and the brook, inter gladium & iugulum, between the sword and a man's throat; and the last words of Razis testify his petition to the father of life and spirit, that his bowels might be restored him. But, excepting that conclusion, what difference, I pray you, between him and Cato? Lib. 3. ep. 24 of whom Seneca writeth at large, that the last night he lived, he red Plato his books, (as Cleombrotus did,) and taking his sword in his hand, said; fortune, thou hast done nothing in withstanding all my endeavours, I have not hitherto fought for mine own liberty, but for the liberty of my country, neither have I dealt so unmoveably, to live free myself, Non ut liber sed inter Liberos. but that I might live amongst free men; now, because the affairs of mankind are irrecoverable, let Cato be horn to rest; so he stabbed his body, and when his wound was bound up by the physicians, having less blood, Minus sanguinis idem animi. less strength than before, yet the same courage, and now not angry against Caesar alone, but against his own person, he tumbleth his hands in his wound, and sendeth not forth by leisure so properly, as by violence eiecteth his generous spirit, scorning and disdaining that any higher power should command him. Both these, you hear, betake themselves to a desperate refuge, the point of the sword; Razis to avoid Nicanor, Cato Caesar: both allege the good of their country, not their private estates; both are impatient of the misery to come, the reproach and disgrace that captivity might bring upon them; both miss their fatal strokes; both are implacably bend to proceed in their voluntary homicides; both toss and imbrue their hands in their own bowels; and as the one reposeth himself upon God's goodness, so the other was not without hope of rest, when he cried, Cato deducatur in tutum, let Cato go to a quiet place; both are commended for their valiant death. But it is certain that Cato died through impatience of mind, Occîdit enim se, ne diceretur, Caesar me servavit, For he killed himself, that it might not be said, Caesar hath saved me and Seneca affirmeth as much, that it might not be happy to any other man, either to kill or to preserve Cato. Valerius Maximus reporteth the words of Caesar when he found him dead; Cato, I envy thy glory, for thou enviedst mine. It was a candle before the dead, and as messes of meat set upon a grave, but a truth, which an other told him, thou shouldest have red and understood Plato otherwise. Scripta Platonis, Non ita erant animo perci pienda tuo. Maiori supplicio afficiendus desertor vitae, quàm desertor militiae. Ludou. Viu. in lib. 1. de civ. Dei, cap. 22. If thou hadst well considered what Plato written, thou mightest have found reasons sufficient to have stayed so unnatural a fact, 1. that God is angry with such, as a Lord with his bondmen that slay themselves; 2. that the relinquisher of his own life is more to be punished, than a reneger of his service in war. And therefore there is no doubt, but the fact of Razis also must have very favourable interpretation, if it be any way excused. Albeit Seneca in the place before alleged, commended the dying of Cato in some sort, yet it is not amiss to consider, with what golden sentences he endeth that Epistle; It is a ridiculous thing, through wearisomeness of life, to run to death, when by the kind of life thou hast so handled the matter, that thou art driven to run unto it. Again, so great is the folly, or rather the madness of men, that some, for the fear of death, are enforced to death. He addeth singular precepts; A wise and a valiant man must not fly, Timore mortis coguntur ad mortem. Non fugere debet è vitâ sed exire. Libido mori endi. Non cum procursu capiendus est impetus. but go from life; and above all things that affection must be shunned, which hath taken hold upon many, a longing and lustfulness of dying. He would have us prepared both ways, neither to love, nor to hate this life too much, and some times to finish it, when reason calleth us forth, but not with a feeze, and impotent forwardness. His counsel certainly agreeth with divinity. For our Saviour exhorted his disciples, If they persecute you in one city, fly into another. Notwithstanding he had warned them; whosoever will find his life, and not forsake it when the time and cause require him to lay it down, that man should lose it. Which law and precept of Christ, by the judgement of Gregory Nazianzene, In Monod. compelleth no man to offer himself wilfully to death, or to yield his throat to him that seeketh it, least through a desire we have to please GOD, in pouring forth our blood, we either compel our neighbour to break that commandment, Thou shalt not kill; or seek to purchase and procure our own deaths: but when the time calleth us to the combat, than we must cheerfully stand forth, So saith Jerome upon these words of jonas: Non est nostrûm mortem arripere, sed illatam ab alijs libenter excipere, It is not for us to catch after death, but, when it is offered by others, then willingly to receive it. Seneca in his eighth book of controversies, setteth down a law against fellones of themselves, and debateth it both ways. The law is, whosoever murdereth himself, Homicida in se, insepultus abiiciatur. The like was in Athens, forbidding burial in agr● Attice Irascere interfectori, miserere interfecti. Non ut gloriosum, sed ut tutum sit mori. let him be cast forth without burial. The declaration on the one side, in defence of the fellow, is made to say something for fashion sake; Be angry with the murderer, but pity him that is murdered: I ask not that it may be honour for him thus to die, but that no danger. They are as cruel, that hinder those that are willing to die, as others that kill them, when they are willing to live. But on the other part, what vehemency and eagerness doth he use? It is a shameful part that any hands should be found to bury him, whom his own hands have slain. He would have attempted any thing, that could find in his heart to kill himself. No doubt he had great crimes in his conscience, that drove him so speedily to his end: and this amongst the rest is one, that we cannot proceed against him (as against other malefactors) by course of judgement. But order is taken against such offenders, that, because they fear not death, they should fear something after death. So said the Poet, who saw no further into these things, than the glass of nature gave him light, They that have wrought themselves a causeless death, Qui sibi lethum Jnsonter peperere man●● etc. And hating light above, thrown out their breath; How would they joy to be alive again, Though put to penury and bitterest pain? And me thinketh the reason of that law, to debar them from honest burial, can never be disproved. Qui sibijpsi non parcit, quomodo parcet alijs? He that spareth not his own person, h●we will he spare other men? There is but one example in the whole book of God, wherein there is any colour of patronage for this prodigious and treacherour sin against their own bodies: Spiritus latenter hoc iusserat. The example of Samson burying himself, and the Philistines with the fall of an house, which is not otherwise excused by ●●●ustine, but that a secret spirit willed him so to do. For it appeareth in the book of judges, where the history is written, that his strength was renewed, and he called upon the Lord at the instant of his death. And in the eleventh to the Hebrews, he is well reported of, in that cloud of righteous men, by the spirit of God. I have held you long in disputing this question, which many a one hath disputed to himself without reply, when the malignant spirit hath once but whispered it into his cares, easily drawn to make a conclusion against body and soul, without longer deliberation. Such have been the direful tragoedies which oft have been presented upon the face of the ●arth, carrying always a note of a most distrustful mind, either suspecting itself, that it is unable to bear the burdens of calamity imminent, or hating and abhorring itself for some iniquity committed. Now what shall we think the affection of jonas was in this case, giving, and not less than thrusting upon them, full power of his person? Take me, and cast me into the sea. judas, we know, upon the sting of his guilty conscience, hung himself upon an alder-tree, and burst in the midst. Achitophel did the like, because his counsels were defeated. Saul fell upon his sword, that he might not come into the hands of the Philistines. Domitius Nero, fearing the approach of Galba, and hearing that a sentence of the Senate was passed against him, to stand in the pillory, and to be beaten with rods to death, for his outrageous both tyrannies and impurities of life, finding no man to strike him, and exclaiming against them all; what? have I neither friend nor foe? I have lived dishonourably, let me die shamefully; strake himself through with his own sword, his trembling hand directed thereunto by a beastly Eunuch. Others through other impatience, angry with heaven and earth, GOD and man, have desperately departed, with ajax in the tragedy, It doth me good to have vanquished heaven, the GOD'S, the lightning, Iuv●● vi●isse coelum etc. the sea, all oppositions. Thus in effect did Cato triumph, Nihil egist●, fortuna, fortune, thou haste not sped. Thus might jonas cast with himself: Is there a God in heaven? winds in the air? and waves in the sea that cross my intent? I will have my will, though I die for it; Sic, sic iuvat ire sub umbras, So, even so it easeth my stomach to take my leave of this life. But never shall it enter into my heart, thus to conceive of a righteous and repentant prophet, who rat●●●●umbleth his soul under the hands of GOD, framing these, of the like persuasions to himself: I see the purpose of the most High cannot be changed, I kick against the pricks, heaven hath proclaimed me a traitor, the winds and the seas have heard it, and whiles there is breath in the one, and water in the other, I shall not go unpunished: the word of the Lord is good that he hath spoken, the wisdom of the Lord is wiser than the foolishness of men, and the strength of the Lord stronger than the weakness of man; the Lord do that that is good in his sight. Cast me therefore into the sea; throw me into the mouth of justice, let the hunger and thirst of it be satisfied, for I have deserved no less. Surely there is not a word in this whole speech, but full of virtuous, charitable, and mystical obedience. We are now come to the end of his resolution. Wherein we have two things to bear away: 2. The end. So shall the sea be calm. first his charity to his companions, wherewith he tendered the safeguard of their lives; secondly the figure he bore: For he was a type of that undefiled Lamb, by whom the nations of the world should be redeemed. His charity appeareth in plain terms, that the sea may be calm unto you. His chari●● It is no pleasure unto him, to have the lives of others brought in question for his sake, he is not of the nature of some men, neither profitable in their life time, and, at their deaths, of most ungracious, desolatory, hateful affections, who make it their ease and comfort in some sort, to have their miseries accompanied; and, so they be not alone in destruction, they are less grieved. The Poets express the uncompassionate style of these Catilinarie dispositions; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Vt specimen Troiae ardentis videret. When I am dead (saith one of them) let the earth be mixed with fire. Medea crieth in the tragedy; It were the only felicity to see all things ruinated, when I go myself. Domitius Nero, of whom I spoke before, caused Rome to be fired in twelve places togitheir, that he might see a pattern how Troy burnt, himself the mean while singing verses out of Homer. What were their prizes and combats in the theatre of Rome, Pium principem oportet non tantum regnare sed etiam spectare clementer. but the slaughteringes of men, to move pleasure and delight? When the people desired Theodosius the Emperor to grant them those sports, he answered them; A mild prince must temper himself both from cruel government, and from cruel spectacles. The same matter falling into debate at Athens, Demonax gave judgement, that if they will publicly receive so great atroci●ye, and cruelty amongst them, they should first overthrow the altar of mercy: His meaning was, that mercy hath no place, where there is admission of such heathenish cruelties. Cyprian in his second book of Epistles, making mention of this custom, showeth their manner thereof, Epist. 2. Cariùs. Clariùs. Chariùs. Peritia est, usus est, ars est. Scelu● non tantùm geritt●r, sed docetur. that their bodies were fed before hand, and dieted with strong meats to fill them with juice and blood, that being fatted to punishment, they might die with more cost, (it may be, glory) but with less contentation. He much inveigheth against it, that man should be killed to delight man, and that an art, science, or skill thereof, should be practised; & not only wickedness wrought, but taught by precept. They had a custom besides, to enter combat with wild beasts; men of a sound age, lusty, able, well-favoured persons, well appareled, went to a voluntary death, and fought with the beasts, not for any offence committed, Non crimine, sed furore. Id. ibid. but in a mad mood. And as the actors themselves gloried in their miseries, so their parents were well pleased to behold their sons: the brother was within the rails or bars, the sister near at hand, the mother present at her sorrows; and though beholding such ungodly sports, they never thought, that at the least for looking on, Oculis pari●idae. they were parricides. You see the humours and affections that some men have, how lightly they are conceited of the life of their brethren, whereas brotherhood indeed requireth at their hands, utinam possem multos ab inferis excitare. that they should rather wish with Marcus Antonius, to raise up many from the dead, than to destroy more; or with Moses in the sacred volume, rather himself to be razed from the book of life, than that his people should perish▪ 2. The figure. This former reason is expressed in my text; the latter is implied and conceived, that he made this poffer unto them, as being the figure and type of the most loving son of God. The explication whereof, though it stand chief in the article of his resurrection, whereof himself speaketh in the gospel, they seek a sign, but there shall no sign be given them, but the sign of the prophet jonas; yet there are many comparisons besides, wherein they are resembled. jonas was a prophet; and Christ that person, of whom Moses spoke, Prophetam excitabit Deus, God shall raise up a prophet unto you. jonas was sent upon a message unto Niniveh; and Christ was Angelus magni consilij, The angel of the great counsel of God, Legatus foederis, The ambassador of the covenant. Much inquiry was made of jonas; whence art thou? what is thy calling, country, people? why hast thou done thus? Much questioning with, and about Christ; Art thou the king of the jews? Art thou the son of the living God? Who is this that the winds and the seas obey him? Is not this the Carpenter's son? Whence hath he this wisdom? jonas was taunted and checked by the master of the ship, What meanest thou sleeper? Christ by the masters of Israel, the rulers of the people and synagogues, as a Samaritane, as one that had a Devil, and by the finger of Beelzebub cast out Devilles, a glutton, a wine-bibber, a blasphemer of the la of Moses. Both came under the trial of lots; the one for his life, the other for his vesture▪ Both had a favourable deliberation passed upon them; jonas that he might be saved. Christ that he might be delivered, and Barrabas executed. Both had a care of their brethren, more than of themselves: jonas crieth, the sea shall be quiet unto you; Christ answereth him, If ye seek me, let these depart: and of those that thou gavest unto me, have I not lost one. The one saith, Tollite me, Take me and cast me into the sea. The other saith, when the son of man is lift up, he shall draw all things to himself. Finally both are sacrificed, the one in the water, the other in the air; both are buried, the one in the bowels of the whale, the other of the earth; both allay a tempest, the one of the anger of GOD present, and particular, the other of that wrath, which from the beginning to the end of the world, all flesh had incurred. The difference betwixt them is this: that jonas died for his own offence, Christ for the sins of others. jonas might have said unto them; Though I see the goodness of your natures, yet who amongst you is able to acquit me from my sin? Christ made a challenge to malice itself, he might have justified it at the tribunal of highest justice, who is able to reprove me of any sin? jonas made no doubt, but for that his latest misdeed of flying from the presence of the Lord, he was cast out. Christ had done many good works amongst them, and none but good; and therefore asked upon confidence of his innocency, For which of these works do ye stone me? Our innocent Abel persecuted by cruel Cain; (I am deceived, for as his blood speaketh better things than the blood of Abel, so it is blood of better and purer substance:) our innocent jacob hunted by unmerciful Laban, although he might truly say, Genesis the one and twentieth. What have I trespassed? Gen. 31. how have I offended that thou hast pursued after me? I might add, our innocent joseph, sold and betrayed by his despiteful brethren, and little less than murdered, though he went from his father, and wandered the fields gladly to seek and see how they did; our innocent David chased by unrighteous Saul, though by jonathans' just apology, wherefore should he die? what had he done? or who so faithful amongst all the servants of Saul, as David was? or if from the state of innocency to this present hour, I should reckon all the innocentes of the earth, and put in Angels of heaven, yet all not innocent and holy enough to be weighed with him; and therefore to call him by his own names, our sun of righteousness, branch of righteousness, the LORD our righteousness; he that was borne of a Virgin, that holy thing, Luke 1. the undefiled lamb, our holy, harmless, blameless highpriest, separate from sinners, our jesus the just; he that had the shape of a serpent in the wilderness, but not the poison, the similitude of sinful flesh in the world, but not the corruption; he that knew no sin, (and much less was borne sin:) yet was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him; he had the wages of sin, though he never deserved it, Esay 53. and made his grave with the wicked, though he had done no wickedness, neither was their any deceit in his mouth: he was wounded for our transgressions, and broken for our iniquities, and the chastisement of our peace was upon his shoulders: all we, like sheep, had gone astray, and the LORD his father hath laid upon him the iniquities of us all. But was he compelled thereunto? that were to go from the figure, and to show less humanity to mankind, than jonas to his companions. For what hand could cut this stone from those heavenly mountains? The Apostle telleth us otherwise, Philippians the second, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, he emptied himself, and took the form of a servant: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, he humbled himself, and bec●me obedient unto death, even the death of the cross: Hebrews the ninth, he offered himself to purge our consciences from dead works: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Esay. 53. Galatians the second. He gave himself. The Prophet telleth us otherwise, Oblatus est, quia ipse voluit, He was offered, because he would himself; and he hath powered out his soul unto death, which noteth a liberal and voluntary dispensation. When sacrifice and oblation God would not have, and somewhat must be had, what sayeth the scripture of him? Hugo Card. Jd. Then said I: Dixi facto, quod annunciaveram per prophetas, I said it indeed, for I had passed my word before in the prophets, Behold I come: venio voluntariè, non coactus adducor, I come of mine own accord, I am not brought by coaction. It is written in the book that I should do thy will: I am content to do it, O my God▪ it is as deepelye written in mine own will, and thy law is in the midst, not in a corner of my heart. Non in angulo, sed in medio cordis. You see his willingness: being called, he answered; being sent, went; with as cheerful a spirit, as every any servant the Centurion kept: his ear was opened with attention, as it were with the awl of the law; his desires accommodated no other way; and not an angle, but the heart of his heart, and the inmost concavity, Exod. 21. which, they say, is made to contain vital breath, was filled up with subjection to his father's pleasure. Incredulous soldiers, if ye believe not this, open his side with a spear, and pierce his heart to the centre of it, and tell me, if he written not with streams of blood, as sometimes he written in the dust, perfit obedience toward his father, uncredible loving kindness towards our ungrateful generation. Look into the Ark, ye curious Bethshemites, examine the secrets of it, and tell me what ye find. Bring hither your fingers, and thrust your nails into the prints of his wounds, and sound the bottom, if you can, of his willing and hearty disposition. Was he not dumb before the shearer? or did he ever (abuse?) nay, open his mouth before the slaughterer? though they took both fleece and flesh from him, his cloak and his coat to, did he ever repine? was his voice heard in the streets, though the very stones in the streets could have found in their hearts to have spoken and cried in his cause? Augustine applieth to his passion, the words of the Psalm, I will lay me down in peace, and take my rest. Ego, cum pondere pronunciandum est, Psalm 4. we must pronounce (I) with weight; to show that he suffered death with his free assent. And Bernarde noteth upon the second of the Canticles, Behold, hec cometh leaping by the mountains, and skipping over the hills; Ser. 54. that being nimble of spirit, fervent in love, zealous in piety, he overcame all others, in the alacrity of his ministration, as he whom GOD had anointed with the oil of gladness above all his fellows; he outleapte Gabriel the Archangel, sayeth he, and came to the Virgin before him, by the testimony of the Angel himself, Hail Marry full of grace, Dominus tecum, The Lord is with thee. Behold thou leftest him in heaven, and findest him in the womb. How can this be? volavit, & praevolavit, super pennas ventorum, He flew and overflewe thee upon the wings of the wind, and he that sent thee before, is come before thee. If you will know his other leaps, Gregory setteth them down, that as he leapt from heaven into the womb, so from the womb into the manger, from the manger to the cross, from the cross to the grave, from the grave into heaven again, and thence we look for his second coming. I know, that for my sake this great tempest is upon you. 3. The warrant. jonas knew the cause of their danger, partly by prophetical revelation, (which manner of knowledge was private to jonas with but few other men;) partly by touch of conscience, which, he liveth not upon the earth, that can escape. Tempests you have had in your days, without number: but first, grandis tempest as haec, This great and unwonted tempest, which is not only come upon me, but secondly, super vos, 1. This great tempest. 2. Upon you. 3. I know. 4. Is for my sake. upon you also; thirdly, I know, and am without doubt, that it is raised, four, for my sake. Though it mingle the nocent and innocent, unrighteous and righteous together, as the nets in the gospel mingle the good and bad fish, yet am I the springe of it, and thereof I am as certain, as that I know my right hand. I know that for my sake. jonas was very forward before, in Confession; he told them the whole progress of his disobedience, but never proceeded thus far. For yet he might have pleaded; I grant I am a sinner, it may be, you as deeply as myself; but when he seethe the siege of the anger of God lie so hot & close to the walls of his conscience, that it will not be removed, then, Novi quia propter me, I know that it is for my sake. Many are strangers to themselves for a space, and will seem to be ignorant of their own doings: charge them with sin, they will say, and swear, and bind it with cursing, I know it not; in the same terms that Peter denied his master, Non novi hominem, I know not the man. But when Christ looketh back, I mean, when they find themselves narrowly eyed, and remembered, than I know that for my sake it is, that he looketh back. When our saviour told his people as he sat at supper with them, One of you shall betray me, do you think the traitor would bewray himself? no, though they were all sorrowful, Math. 26. and asked one after one, Is it I? yet is he as forward as the rest to ask that question also, Is it I, master? albeit he knew it as perfectly as his own name. Being but one amongst twelve, and eleven more in company to bear a part of the burden, he thought he was safe enough. Seneca by his own confession and preface to his tale, Rem incredibilem narro, sed v●ram. reporteth a strange but a true thing, of Harpastes a fool, and, and, with age, a blind beldame. She knoweth not that she is blind, and often entreateth her guide to go forth of doors, because the house is dark: Neither is there any, saith he, amongst us, that knoweth his faults. Every man flattereth himself, Non ego ambitiosus sum, I am not ambitious, 2. Sam. 12. nor covetous, nor luxurious, nor given to this or that vice. David knew not the man, that Nathan spoke of; he pronounced of a person unknown unto him, The man that hath done this, is the child of death. This is but mufling of the conscience for a time (as Thamar muffled her face to take a short pleasure:) but Thamar shall be discovered, and all hearts shall be opened; the cockatrice, that hath lain in her hole, will come to warm herself against the heat of the sun; Adam will be brought from his bushes, and Sarah from behind the door, and a man shall say to his conscience, as Ahab said to Elias, Plutar. de ser. num. vindict. Haste thou found me, O mine enemy? The Delphians made no scruple, to murder Aesop amongst them; but when they were plagued with death and mortality thereupon, they walked up and down in all the public assemblies of Greece, and caused it to be proclaimed by noise of criers, that whosoever would, should be avenged upon them for the death of Aesop; they knew that for their sakes the plagues came. The accusers of the adulteress in the Gospel, how skilful and busy were they, in detecting and following her fact? 1. they had taken her; 2. in the act; 3. they set her in the midst; 4. they urged the law, Moses commanded that she should be stoned. joh. 8. How ignorant were they, and forgetful of themselves, till Christ advertised them? Then they went out (saith the gospel) one by one, from the eldest to the last, being accused by their own conscience; then there was none left to give evidence against her, but our Saviour asked, woman, where be thy accusers? or rather, their own accusers? they knew that for their sakes Christ spoke, and they found that writing which he drew in the dust, engraven so deep in their own hearts with a pen of iron, that it could not be dissembled. This is the case of all those that cover their sins, Quorum si mentes recludantur, Tacitu●. possint adspici laniatus & ictus, Whose minds, if they could be opened, we should see their rents and stripes within. sins may be without danger for a time, Tuta esse scelera, secura non possunt. Fructus & utilitas sciendi in mod● sciendi. Berinthia▪ but never without fear. Happy are they that know as they should know: (for this Novi, whereof I speak, belongeth to us all) whose knowledge is not contristans scientia, a sad, unpeaceable, sorrowing knowledge, (the knowledge of devils, who know there is an hell for them, and albeit they know much, yet they know not the way to salvation:) but fruitful, comfortable, joyful knowledge, who know to amendment of life, who know to run to the remedy of their sins, to lay a plaster of the blood and wounds of Christ to the wounds and hurts of their soul, who know that their Redeemer liveth, as job did, know Christ crucified not only for the world, but for themselves also, Philip. 3. 1. Cor. 1. 1. Cor. 13. and account all things but loss and dung in comparison of that excellent knowledge. This is to be rich in knowledge, as the Apostle speaketh, and without this, if we knew all sorts, and all knowledge besides, we might be poor, beggarly, miserable, ignorant, reprobate, as bad as devilles. THE XV. LECTURE. Chap. 1. ver. 13. Nevertheless the men rowed to bring it to land, but could not, etc. IN the former verse there are pregnant causes laid down, why the Mariners should have eased themselves of jonas: 1. the liberty and leave he gave them to cast him forth: 2. the good that should ensue by the pacification of the sea: 3. their warrant; 1. the tempest was upon them, 2. a tempest for his sake, 3. himself upon knowledge avowed it. Nevertheless, though they see the danger, & the causes of the danger, & the remedy thereof plainly & assuredly demonstrated, they row to bring it to land. It seemeth very strange unto me, that they take not the first occasion & offer, to unwind themselves from the peril they were in: & that neither the master of the ship in his wisdom, nor the multitude of the mariners in their tumultuous & heady violence, nor any one person amongst them, forward for the common cause, taketh the benefit of all these opportunities, to save themselves. It giveth us a memorable instruction, that in singular and extraordinary facts, Sibi solu● pereat. Sufficit malo malitia ipsius. which either the law of God, or the law of nature repugneth, & is plainly against, we be not too eager & quick in expedition thereof, until it be out of doubt by some special warrant from heaven, that they may be attempted. Touching this present enterprise, there is no question, but though they had not learned the letter of the law of God. Thou shalt not kill, yet the law of nature tied them by secret bonds to deal with jonas, as they wished to be dealt with, themselves. Then why should they drown him? because the lots had convinced him? the lots might err at a time: or, if they spoke a truth, must these men be his judges? or if judges, of his life and death? there might some lesser punishment be devised. Again, what though he offered himself to be thrown into the sea, for their safety? must they take him at his first word? Can not their hurts be cured, but by so desperate a medicine, as nature cannot brook? When Constantine the Emperor (if the history be true) heard that there was no means to cure his leprosy, but by bathing his body in the blood of infants, his heart abhorred it, Malo semper aegrotare, quàm tali remedio convalesce●e. I had rather be sick whilst I have my being, than recover by such a medicine. Again, the warrant he gave them, I know that for my sake, might perhaps be without warrant. A man might speak in the bitterness of his soul, what else he would not; weary of his life, not able to bear his crosses, and therefore, as the manner of many distressed is, seeking for death more than for treasures. Whatsoever they did or might conceive, this I am sure of, they had great reason to be very circumspect and scrupulous, to bear their heart in their hands, to walk with advice and chariness, before they did any thing in an action so unusual, and that which nature itself forbade them. Cap. 2●. Augustine in the first book of the city of God, handling Abraham's parricide intended upon his own son, (a fact both against nature, for no man ever hated his own flesh, and against the written precept, Sed non ide● sin● sceler● facit etc. I will require the blood of man,) speaketh thus; It doth not excuse another from impiety, that shall purpose to offer his son, because Abraham did so, even with commendation. For a soldier also, when, for obedience sake to that power under which he is lawfully ordained he shall kill a man, Jmò nisi fece●it, reus est imperij deserti. Itaque und● punitur si fecerit iniussus, inde punitur nisi fecerit iussus. he is not chargeable with murder by any law of the city, nay, he shall be guilty of contempt to his governor, if he do it not; which had he committed by his own accord and authority, he had fallen into question of spilling man's blood: therefore by what reason he is punished, if he shall do it without commandment, by the same he is punished, if being commanded, he do it not. Quod si ita est, iubente imperatore, quanto magis iubente creatore? If it be thus for the bidding of the Emperor, much rather for the bidding of the creator. He adjoineth the example of certain virgins (Pelagia with her mother and sisters) who threw themselves into a river, rather than they would be defiled by a villainous soldier. In excuse of whom he demandeth: what if they did it, not deceived by human persuasion, but commanded by GOD? not of error, but through obedience? as in sampson's departure from his life, it is not lawful for us to think otherwise. Only let him beware that killeth himself, or his child, and fully be satisfied, Tantummodo videat utrùm divinae iussio nullo nu●et incerto. that the commandment of God hath no uncertainty in it. It is the judgement of sound divinity, that some facts which the scripture recordeth, are singular, and died with the persons that did them, enforcing no imitation at our hands, without the like special direction and dispensation from almighty GOD that he gave to them, as namely Abraham's obedience in offering his son, Phinees his zeal in killing the adulterers, sampson's magnanimity in destroying himself, and the Philistines with the fall of the house, the Israelites policy in spoiling the Egyptians of their jewels and ornaments. All which and the like singularities, Cum Deus jubet, seque jubere sine ullis ambagibus intimat, quis obedientiam in crimen vocet? Aug. ibid.▪ When God commandeth them, and maketh it a clear case, without any perplexities, that so his pleasure is, who can accuse thy obedience? But before be assured in thy conscience, that God hath commanded them; tie and untie a thousand knots, and both make and remove as many objections as thy heart can devise. joh. Sleidan. in comment. The anabaptists in Germany framed and feigned an imagination to themselves, that by the will of God, the ancient magistracy must be quite rooted from the earth; they said (and happily believed) that they had speech with God, and that he enjoined them to kill all the wicked in the land, and to constitute a new world, consisting only of the innocent. Who persuaded them? he that spoke with GOD, concerning Ahab, I willbe a lying spirit in the mouths of all his Prophets, to deceive Ahab; a spirit of error and falsehood, a spirit borne and bread within their own brain. The conceit was extraordinary, that private men by violence and force of arms should not only displace, but destroy their rulers and magistrates. What slaughter and havoc it caused, what profusion of blood between the nobles and the commons, Germany then felt and smarted for; histories and monuments of time will relate to all posterity, and the precedent thereof, may make the world take heed, how they be drawn by fanatical spirits into these or such like unaccustomed and unprobable courses. What disputing & scanning was there of late within this realm of ours, by conference in private, by brokers and coursers up and down, by books and ballads in print, whether there were not in these days extraordinary callings? Upon the persuasion hereof, what hasty, headlong, heathenish endeavours to reform a church, to dissolve government, to unjointe order, to compel a prince, and not to tarry her leisure, if she presently agreed not? each man having a forge in his own hand, to make & mar, to turn square into round, white into black, church into no church, ministry into no ministry, sacraments into no sacraments, this man coining himself a prophet, that man a Christ, others they knew not what? thus travailing and toiling themselves in the fire of their own fancies, till they lost themselves, their wits, their grace, and some their lives? What shall we say hereof? but that it was a singular enterprise, proceeding from the singular spirits of singular persons, and, if GOD had not wrought for us in mercy, the sequel must needs have been singular unhappiness. My conclusion is, that by the example of these mariners, fearful and nice to deal in so dangerous a matter, we follow the common rule (as the kings beaten way) which the law of nature engrafted, and of the will of God revealed, hath prescribed unto us: and if ever we meet with actions, which have not agreement with these two, to examine all ambiguities therein, and to be certain of the will of God, before we enterprise any thing. That this was the purpose of the mariners, They rowed. is plainly to be gathered both by the whole context and body of the history hitherto continued, (when, though they had many provocations to free themselves and their ship, they withheld their hands,) and by a phrase of their further pains most effectually significant, wherein, as they contended with their oars to bring their ship to land, so writers have contended with their wits, how to express their labours. Our English hath simply, and in a word, the men rowed, truly, but not sufficiently. The latin saith no more but remigabant, which is as much as our English. The 70. Interpreters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, they offered violence to the sea: and Jerome with an excellent circumlocution, rerum naturam vincere cupiebant, they desired to exceed nature, and to do more than they could do. The original tongue saith, they digged, and delved, Foderun● remis. and furrowed the sea with their oars, as a man the ground with coulters and shares, & aquae fundum investigabant, they searched and sounded the bottom of the waters, as men that would turn them upside down, rather than miss the success of their charitable intention. Solon could do no more for Athens than he did, when Pisistratus had taken it: he afterwards hung up his spear and target at the court gates, with this protestation; O my country, O patria tibi & dictis & factis opitulatus sum, quicksands quid mortalitas capere poterat, implevimus. I have aided thee both with word and deed; so betaking himself to his own house to take his rest. Alexander's soldiers told him, when (as they thought) he prepared to go into an other world, and to seek an India, unknown to the Indians themselves, we have done as much as men might undergo. These men here mentioned, to their uttermost power stood and fought for jonas, against the rage of the tempest. Qui amat, aut non laborat, aut ipsum amat laborem; He that loveth, either laboureth not, or at least he loveth and taketh pleasure in his labours, (As the pains of hunters, hawkers, and fishers seem not grievous unto them:) and it is the property of love, to transform and alter a man into that he loveth. Amor transanimat in ren amatam. These men think of jonas (I take it) as of themselves, make it their own case, thus speaking in themselves; why should we cast away a man, if there be any means to deliver him? See what a bond they plot of reciprocal kindness one to the other: jonas to the mariners in the former verse, willing to forego his life for preservation of theirs, Take me and cast me into the sea, that it may be quiet to you; and these as earnestly labouring with hazard of themselves, if it be possible, to save jonas. It is such an image (me thinketh) of that sociable and mutual amity, that turning and winding, and retaling of courtesy, which ought to pass between man and man, as is worthy to leave behind it an heedful observation. For what were the life of man, without this harmony and consent of friendship? where there is not date & dabitur, giving and taking, lending and borrowing, gratifying and regratifying, (as it were light for light) changing of offices and good turns, what were it, but the life of beasts, which as they are sundry in kinds, so there is no communion betwixt them in fellowlike duties? Nolo nunc in hominis inhumani●atem declamare. Id unum quod omnes sciant non tam dicam quàm mihi habeam etc. Jul. Scalig. ●xerc. 33. I will not now declaim against the inhumanity of men: that one thing which all men know, I will not so much utter to others, as hold to myself; that by the biting of a serpent we lose our lives, but by the biting, barking, breathing of a man, together with life, all that we have, perisheth. The Prophet once cried, O ye heavens drop down righteousness, when righteousness was taken up into the clouds, and the earth void of it: we may cry for lack of love amongst us, O ye heavens drop down kindness and charity into our times, that the uncourteous and churlish Nabals of this present generation, which are not willing to redeem the lives of their brethren (shall I say with the hazard of their own lives?) no, nor with the loss of their shoe-latchets, with the hazard I mean of transitory and fading commodities, which never are touched with the afflictions of joseph, and, though a number be grieved and pinched, as if they belonged to a foreign body, never vouchsafe to partake the smart with them, with whom it is a common speech, Zach. 11. that, that dieth, let it die; that they may know at length, they were not borne to sing or say, laugh or joy to themselves, not to eat and drink, thrive or live to their private families, but that others, which stand in need, by very prerogative of mankind, have also an interest in their succour and service. I noted the humanity of the mariners by occasion of some circumstances before past, and I would now have spared you in the repetition of the same argument, but that my text spareth you not. I were worthy of much blame, if, when my guide showed me the way, I would purposedly forsake it; neither can I justly make mine excuse, if, when the scripture taketh me by the hand, & biddeth me commend humanity once again, I then neglect it. You may perceive how well they affected jonas, both by the continuance, and by the excess of their pains. I make it a further proof, that it is said in the text, The men rowed: The men rowed. as if he had said; they were mere strangers unto me; I cannot say, they are Grecians, or Cilicians, I know not their countries or dwelling places, I know not their private generations and kindreds, much less their proper names and conditions. I know them no more then to be men, after the name commonly belonging to all mankind. It is an usual manner amongst us, when we know not men by their other differences and proprieties, to term them by that general appellation which appertaineth equally to us all. When Paul was disposed to conceal his person, as touching the visions and revelations which were sent unto him, I know, saith he, a man in Christ, 2▪ Cor. 12. whether in the body or out of the body etc. I say not, that he was an Hebrew, I name no Apostle, I name not Paul, I know a man, of such a man I will rejoice, of myself I will not, except it be of mine infirmities. They asked the young man whose sight was restored, john 6. How his eyes were opened? who because he knew not Christ in the propriety either of his nature or office, to be the son of God, or the Messiah that should come, he answered thus for himself; The man that is called jesus, made clay, and anointed mine eyes. Concerning whom he afterwards bewrayeth his ignorance; whether a sinner or no, I cannot tell; but one thing I know, that I was blind, and now I see. Is it not, think you, a wonderful blemish and maim to Christianity, that those who were but men, even strangers unto jonas, aliens in country, aliens in religion, (but that they began a little to be seasoned with the knowledge of the true God) should thus be minded unto him: we that are joined and built together, not only in the frame of our common kind, but in a new building that came from heaven, we that are men, and more than men, men of an other birth than we took from Adam, men of a better family than our father's house, regenerate, sanctified, sealed by the spirit of God against the day of redemption, men that are concorporate under one head jesus Christ, knit and united by nature, grace, by flesh, faith, humanity, Christianity, should be estranged in affection, Christians towards Christians, protestants towards protestants, more than ever were jews and Samaritans, of whom we read in the gospel, that they might not converse? Doubtless there are many things that have an attractive virtue to win and gain the opinions of men unto them. The unestimable wisdom of Solomon, drew a woman, a Queen, from a far country, that she might but hear, and question with him. The admirable learning of Origen caused ungracious and wicked Porphyry to go from his native land ●o the city of Alexandria, to see him, and Mammaea the Empress to send for him into her presence. Vinc●. Lirin. It never wanteth honour, that is excellent. The voice of friendship, where it is firmly plight, Offic. 3. is this, as Ambrose observeth in his offices, Tuus sum totus, I am wholly thine. What difference was there betwixt Alexander & Hephestion? Marriage, by the ordinance of God, knoweth no other method but composition: of two it maketh one, as God of one before made two by resolution. The first day of marriage solemnized amongst the heathens, the bride challenged of the bridegroom, Vbi tu Caius, ego Caia, Plutarc. where you are master, I will be mistress. But the only loadstone & attractive upon the earth, to draw heaven and earth, men & angels, East & West, jews & Barbarians, sea and land, lands and Islands together, and to make one of two, of thousands, of all, is religion: by which they are coupled and compacted under the government of one Lord, tied and conglutinate by the sinews of one faith, washed from their sins by the same la●er of new birth, nourished by the milk of the same word, feasted at the supper of the same Lamb, and assumed by the same spirit of adoption, to the undoubted inheritance of one and the same kingdom. And I cannot mislike their judgement, who think that the little knowledge of God, & but elementary learning which jonas preached, when he made his grave confession of the true God, laid the foundation of all this kindness, which proceeded from these mariners. How hath religion been a band unto Christendom? the discords & dissensions whereof, (like a fire in the midst of the house, consuming both timber & stones) have laid more countries to the dition of the Turk, than ever his bow & shield could have purchased. We may truly say, as they in Athens sometimes, we of Athens ourselves have amplified & strengthened Philip our enemy. Auximu● Philippum nos ipsi Athenienses. It was prudently espied by Cortugal one of the Turkish princes, in his oration persuasive to his Lord to besiege Rhodes; Christianus occasus discordijs intestinis corroboratur, the fall of Christendom is set forward by civil disagreement. In the days of Mahomet the second, they had gleaned out of Christendom (I mean those polluted Saracens) like scattered ears of corn neglected by the owners, 200. cities, 12. kingdoms, & 2. empires. What an harvest they have reaped since that time, or rather we reaped for them, who knoweth not? & yet the canker runneth on, fretting and eating into Christendom, because the whole neglecteth the parts, & seeketh not to preserve them. Who is not moved with that lamentable description which AEneas Silvius maketh of Greece, in his oration against the Turks, for the composing and attoneing of Christened kingdoms? O noble Greece, behold now thine end, thou art dead and buried. If we seek for thy walls, we find but rubbel; nay we find not the ground wherein thy walls have stood, we look for Greece in Greece: we search for her cities, and find nothing save their carcases, and ruinated fragments. It is a paradox in common reason, hardly to be proved, but that experience findeth it true; Brethren, kinsmen, or friends, when they fall to enmity, their hatred is greater than betwixt mortal foes; according to the prophecy of Christ, Inimici viri domestici eius, a man's enemies indeed, and to purpose, to work him most harm, shall be they of his own house. Of all the vials of the wrath of God powered down upon sinners, it is one of the sorest, Es. 49. when a man is fed with his own flesh, and drunken with his own blood, as with sweet wine, that is, taketh pleasure in nothing more than in the overthrow and extirpation of his own seed: Non nisi quaesitum cognatâ caede cruorem, Illicitumque bibit; careth not for any blood, Annal. ●. but that which is drawn from the sides of his brethren and kinsmen. Tacitus noteth no less than I speak of, between Segestes and Ariminius; the one the father, the other the son in law, both hatefully and hostilely bend. That which bound them together in love, Quae apud concordes vincula charitatis, incitamenta irarum apud infēso● sunt. whilst they were at concord, put them further at variance, being once enemies. What more eager and bitter contention hath ever been between Christian and Saracen, than between Christian and Christian? we are brethren, I confess, one to the other, fratres uterini, brethren from the womb, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, having one father in heaven, and one mother upon earth: but it is fallen out upon us, which jacob pronounced upon Simeon and Levi, we are brethren in evil: they in their wrath slew a man, and in their self-will digged down a wall, and therefore their rage was accursed. Can we escape a curse, that have slain a man and a man, digged down a wall and a wall, betrayed a kingdom & a kingdom, laid open the vineyard for the wild boar, given the soul of the turtle to the beast, resigned up many sanctified dominions, wherein the sceptre of Christ was acknowledged, to capital and deadly enemies, by our mutual intestine seditions? I can better show you the malignity of the disease, than prescribe the remedy. But where brethren, kinsmen, confederates contend together, what part gaineth? Victi victorésque in lachrymas ●usi▪ the vanquished and the victors may both beshrew themselves. They may fight, and imbrue their hands in blood, Bella geri placuit, nul●os habitura triumphos. Cadmaea victoria. Frangenda ●●alma est. and get the honour of the day, but they will have little list to triumph at night. jocasta told her two sons (rather her firebrands, as Hecuba foresaw of Paris) agreeing together like fire & water, that whosoever conquered the other, he would neither make show, nor bear sign of the conquest. O pray for the peace of jerusalem: they shall prosper, and speed right happily, that wish her prosperity. Pray not for the peace of Edom, whilst it is Edom; pray not for the peace of Babylon, whilst it continueth Babylon; so long as they cry against Zion, down with it, down with it, even to the ground, the Lord return it sevenfolde into their bosom. But pray to the prince of peace, whose blessing and gift peace is, that, if ever we fight by moving either hand or pen, we may fight against Edom, & Babylon, Ammon, & Aram, (as joab and Abisai did) those that are without, but evermore desire, procure, & ensue the peace of jerusalem. Thus far of the kindness showed by the mariners unto jonas; who though they were but men, strange & unknown unto him, yet upon that knowledge of God, which he had instilled into their minds by his preaching, they endeavoured what they could, to save his life. How sped their labours? They could not. But they could not, for the sea wrought etc. I remit you for instruction her-hence, to the 11. ver. where you have most of these very words. It shall stand more durable than the firmament of heaven, which the king of Babylon testified of God, Daniel 4. According to his will he worketh in the army of heaven, & in the inhabitants of the earth, & no man can stay his hand, or say unto him, what dost thou? he pronounceth as much of himself, Esay 46. My counsel shall stand, & I will do whatsoever I will. The earnestness, & improbity of man's labour, nothing availeth, if God be against it. It is but the labour of Sisyphus, labouring in the fire, & ploughing upon the rocks, (as the mouth of God speaketh) according to his word in Malachy, They shall build, but I will pull down. The vigour of the words once again giveth this counsel unto us, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, not to contend or wrestle with the power of God, which is, as if a fly should oppose her force against a bulwark. They preach doctrine of sufferance & patience at the will of God; Quod ferendum est, feras, that which thou must bear of necessity, Malus est miles qui imperatorem gemens sequitur. Sene. bear with good contentment of mind. He is an unmeet soldier that followeth his general with groaning. Thou canst not strive with thy maker, thou canst not add to the stature of thy body, nor change one hair of thy head from the colour which God gave it. It is not thy rising early, that can make thee rich; nor barring the gates of thy city, that can make thee safe: much less canst thou ransom thy life, nor the life of thy brother from the hand of God, thou must perforce let that alone for ever. A league with all the elements of the world, with the beasts of the field, stones in the street, with death & hell themselves, is unable to secure thee. Therefore whatsoever befall thee in thy body, goods, children, or beasts, enter into thy chamber, be secret & still, & let the right hand of the Lord of hosts have the pre-eminence. This was the reason, I conceive, that after those last words, cast me into the sea, though the men strove with their oars, & cried to the Lord in the next verse, yet there is no mention made either of deed, or word, added by jonas. For what should he do, when the countenance of the Lord was against him, but run the race set before his eyes with patience, & fall to another meditation, than before he had, that, although he were thrown into the sea, yet God was the Lord both of the land & the waters, & whether he sunk or swum, lived or died, he was that Lords? Impatientiae natales in ipso diabolo deprehendo, I find that impatience was borne of the devil, saith Tertullian: to him let us leave this plant, which the hand of the Lord never planted, & to his malcontented imps, with whom there is nothing so rife, as banning, blaspheming, bitter and swelling speech against the highest power of heaven, if ever they be crossed or wrung with the least tribulation. They never learned how the links of that heavenvly chain are fastened one to the other: that tribulation bringeth patience, patience experience, experience hope, and hope will never suffer them to be ashamed or dismayed. They break the chain at the first link; troubled they are against their wills, but, that which is voluntary, as patience, experience, hope, they will not add, that both in body & soul they may be confounded. We on the other side hang upon the chain, & trust to climb to heaven by it (through the merits of Christ's death and passion) whereof the last link consisteth; and we suffer none of those comfortable persuasions to fall to the ground, without use, that if we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him; and through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of heaven: we regard not so much, Non quam poenam in flagello, sed quem locum in testamento. August. what part we have in the whip, but what place in the testament: we know, who hath sequestered for us, (to use the word of Tertullian) Idoneus patientiae sequester Deus, God will truly account for all our sufferings: If we commit our wrongs unto him, he will revenge them; our losses, he will restore them; our lives, he will raise them up again. THE XV. LECTURE. Chap. 1. ver. 14. Then they cried unto the Lord, and said, we beseech thee O Lord, we beseech thee. THE sea is angry, you have heard, for the Lord of hosts sake, and will have a sacrifice. They gave it space and respite enough to see if time could make it forget the injury that was offered: they entered consultation with jonas himself of some milder handling him: they spared not their painfullest contention of arms and oars, to reduce him to land again. But when delay wrought no better success, and neither the prophet himself could by advise prescribe, nor they effect by labour and strength, the release of GOD'S vengeance, what should they do, but make ready the sacrifice, and bind it to the horns of the altar, bestowing a few words of blessing and dedication (if I speak rightly) before the offering thereof? jonas is sacrificed in the next verse, So they took up jonas; But the consecration and hallowing of the sacrifice goeth before in these words, wherefore they cried etc. It is the catastrophe of the whole act, now it draweth to an issue and accomplishment; their fear, prayer, projection of their wares, sortilege, examination of jonas, consultation, and other machinations and assays whatsoever, were but prefaces and introductions to this that followeth. The sea hath made a vow, and will surely perform it; I will not give my waters any rest, nor lie down upon my couch, till jonas be cast forth. Wherefore or then. It implieth an illation from the former speeches. When neither head nor hands, counsel nor force could provide a remedy, they make it their last refuge to commend both themselves and jonas to God, by supplication t jonas, by a touch, and in secret, in that they call his blood innocent blood, as who would say, he never did us hurt; themselves, of purpose, and by profession, that having to deal in a matter so ambiguous, the mercy and pardon of God might be their surest fortress. The substance and soul of the whole sentence is prayer: a late, but a safe experiment, and if the worst should fall out, that there were imperfection or blame in their action now intended, prayer the soveraignest restorative under heaven to make it sound again. For thus in effect they think. It may be we shall be guilty of the life of a Prophet, we address ourselves to the effusion of harm less blood, we must adventure the fact, and whether we be right or wrong, we know not; but whatsoever betid, we beg remission at thine hands, be gracious and merciful unto our ignorances, require not soul for soul, blood for blood, neither lay our iniquities unto our charge. Prayer hath asked pardon, & prayer (I doubt not) hath obtained pardon for some of that bloody generation which slew the very son & heir of the kingdom; which offered an unrighteous sacrifice of a more righteous soul, than ever jonas was. Else, why did he open his mouth at his death, & power forth his groanings for those that opened his side and powered forth his blood, father forgive them? Before, they had handled the oars of their trade and occupation, but prevailed not; (for bodily exercise profiteth nothing:) now they betake them to the oars of the spirit, invocations, intercessions to the everliving God, that, if the banks of the land, which they hoped to recover, should fail them, they might be received to an harbour and road of the mercies of God. These are the oars (my brethren) which shall row the ship through all the storms and insurrections of the waves of the seas, I mean the Ark of God's Church universal, and these vessels of ours, our bodies & souls in particular, through all the dangers of the world, and land them in the haven of eternal redemption. This world is a sea, as I find it compared, swelling with pride; & vainglory the wind to heave it up; blue & livid with envy, boiling with wrath, deep with covetousness, foaming with luxuriousness, swallowing & drinking in all by oppression, dangerfull for the rocks of presumption and desperation, rising with the waves of passions & perturbations, ebbing & flowing with inconstancy, brinish and salt with iniquity, and finally Mare amarum, a bitter and unsavoury sea with all kind of misery. What should we do then in such a sea of temptations, where the arm of flesh is too weak to bear us out, & if our strength were brass, it could not help us; where we have reason to carry a suspicion of all our ways, and he that is most righteous in the cluster of mankind, falleth in his happiest day seven times, and though we were privy to nothing in ourselves, yet were we not justified thereby, but had need to crave, Cleanse us, O Lord, from our secret faults; where we are taught to say, father forgive our debts: and if the sum of our sins at our lives end be ten thousand talents, then whether we speak or think, wake or sleep, or whatsoever we do, we add a debt; when all offend in many things, & many in all, and he that offendeth in one jot of the law, breaketh the whole: what should we do, I say, but as the Apostles exhortation is pray continually, 1. Thes. 5. and think neither place, nor time, nor business unmeet to so holy and necessary an exercise? that whether we begin the day, we may say with Abraham's servant, O Lord send me good speed this day: Genes. 24. or whither we be covered with the shadows of the night, we may beg with that sweet singer of Israel, Psal. 13. Lighten mine eyes that I sleep not in death: or whatsoever we attempt in either of these two seasons, we may prevent it with the blessing of that other Psalm, Psal. 90. Hieron. Prosper the work of our hands upon us, oh prosper thou our handy works. Egredientes de hospitio armet oratio, regredientibus de plataea occurrat oratio, when thou goest out of thine house, let prayer arm thee; when thou comest home to thine house, let prayer meet thee. Receive not thy meat without thanksgiving, take not thy cup without blessing, pray for the sin of thine own soul, and offer a sacrifice for thy sons and daughters: when thou liest down, couch thyself in the mercies of GOD; when thou arisest up, walk with the staff of his providence. 1. They. In this prayer of the Mariners, there are many notable specialties: First, it is common; the work of the whole multitude. In the fift verse there was mention of prayers, I grant, but there it is said, Invocârunt quisque Deum suum, though all prayed, yet all apart, 2. Cried. to their proper Gods. Secondly, fervent; they cried in their prayer. It is not a formal service; the sound of their lips, and the sighs of their souls are se●t with an earnest message to the ears of God. 3. Unto the Lord. Thirdly, discreet; they pray not to their idols, as before, but to the Lord of hosts. Fourthly, vocal and public; there was a form and tenor of supplication which their lips pronounced, 4. And said. they said. 5. We beseech thee. Fiftly▪ humble; they come with the term & phrase of obsecration, we beseech thee O Lord. Sixtly, importunate; as appeareth by their ingemination, 6. We beseech thee, we beseech thee. we beseech thee, we beseech thee. Seventhly, seasonable and pertinent; applied to the thing then in hand to be executed, bring not upon us innocent blood. Eightly reasonable and just, standing upon a good ground, 7. Let us not perish. fitted to the will and pleasure of the Almighty, for thou Lord hast done as it pleased thee. 8. For thou hast done etc. We are willed Matthew the sixth, to enter into our chambers, and shut the doors, and pray to our father in secret; and our father that seethe in secret, shall openly reward it; because it was the fashion of hypocrites, to stand and pray in the synagogues, 1. Common. and in the corners of the streets, to be seen of men. Our Saviour never meant thereby to condemn prayers in synagogues, either standing or kneeling, or prayers in the corners of the streets, or in the height of the market places, or upon the house tops, in the sight both of men and Angels, but only to exclude the affected ostentation of men-pleasing hypocrites, who prayed to a wicked end, not to obtain, but only to be seen of men. Enter into thy chamber and pray, go into the temple and pray, common with thine own heart, common with the multitude, both are good. And that we may know that we are not stinted in our prayers, only to ourselves and our private families (as the Athenians would offer sacrifice but only for their own city and the●r neighbours of Chios) our Saviour hath taught us the contrary, in that absolute form of his, willing us to say, Our father which art in heaven: as if we all came from one womb, and whosoever spoke, pleaded the cause of the rest of his brethren. Not that we may not say a sunder and in private, My father, as Thomas said, my God and my Lord; 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 policy, Vis unita fo●tior, Strength united receiveth more strength: it holdeth likewise in divinity. If the prayer of one righteous person availeth much, the prayer of many righteous shall avail more. If the Syrophoenician obtained for her daughter the suit she made, much more shall the Church and congregation of Christ obtain for her children. If, where two or three be gathered together in his name, he is in the midst of them, much rather in the midst of a people, in the midst of thousands, in whom there is anima una, cor unum, one soul, one heart, one tongue, as if they were all but one man. Lord heal the sores of our land in this point: and as it is thy work alone, that those who dwell together in one house, shall be of one mind, so magnify this work amongst us, that the children of this Realm which fly from our Churches and oratory's, as john from the bathe wherein Cerinthus was, rending and tearing the soul of this country into two pieces, dividing the voice and language thereof in their prayers to GOD, Elias and his company praying in one place, and with one stile, O Lord GOD of Abraham, and they in an other O Baal hear us, (for so they do in effect, when they pray to such as hear 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 Queen of this land, and some for the life of jabin the king of Spain; thus mingling and confounding the ears of the Lord with opposite petitions, from crossing & contrary affections; that at length they may consider from whence they are fallen and severed, both from the unity of this public body of ours, wherein they have their maintenance, and, if they take not heed, of that mystical body of their Lord and Redeemer, Christ jesus. 2. Fervent. 2. They cried. It is a condition which james requireth, the prayer of the just, if it be fervent. Else even the prayers of the just, if they be perfunctory and cold, rather of custom than of devotion and piety, they profit not, but to condemnation. Cursed be he that doth the work of the Lord negligently: prayer is a work of his. The LORD is near unto all them that call upon him faithfully, not formally. He giveth both aquam & sitim, the benefit, and the grace to desire & thirst after it. Gregor. We hear not our own prayers (I mean not for want of sound, and much babbling, but for want of inward desire,) the voice of our spirit is soft and submiss, Chrysost. and dieth in the air before it ascendeth into the presence of GOD; and shall we think that GOD will hear us? Our bodies happily in the Church, our minds without; our tongue uttereth prayers, our heart thinketh on usuries: we bow the knees of our flesh, but not the knees of our hearts. He that knew in his soul, that prayer from feinedlippes and a fase heart would return empty into his bosom that sent it up, but a broken and contrite spirit the Lord would not despise, never pressed into the courts of his GOD, but the inwardest and deepest affections of his mind were given in sacrifice. Every night washed he his bed, and watered his couch with tears: he in the night time, when others slept and took their natural recreation; yea there was not a night that escaped without task; and it washed not his plants alone, but the very p●llet and couch which he lodged upon. So richly was his soul watered with the dew of heaven, that it ministered continually both fountains to his eyes, and a fluent expedition to his tongue to commend his prayers. We may learn to be zealous in our prayers, even of those wooden priests, 1. King. 18. of whom it is written that they called upon the name of Baal from morning till noon, and when they had no answer, they cried loud, nay, they cut themselves with knives and lancers, till the blood flowed out: so they prayed not only in tears, but in blood, that they might be heard. I would the children of the light were as zealous in their generations. But rather let them receive their light and directions for the framing of this holy exercise, from the sun of righteousness, of whom the Apostle witnesseth, that in the days of his flesh, he offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears, Heb. 5. unto him that was able to help him. And the gospel further declareth, not only that he kneeled (at the naming of whose name all knees have bowed, both in heaven and earth, and under the earth) but that he fell upon the ground, the footstool of his own majesty, and lay upon his face, which never Angel beheld without reverence, and when he had prayed before, he prayed more earnestly (as the scripture recordeth,) he once prayed, and departed; and a second time, & departed; and yet a third time, and departed; evermore using the same petition: his prayer ascended by degrees, like incense and perfume, and not only his lips went, but his agony and contention within was so vehement, that an angel was sent from heaven to comfort him: and whereas the Priests of Baal used art to make them bleed, cutting their flesh with lancers and knives to that purpose, he with the trouble of his soul sweat a natural or rather unnatural sweat, like drops of blood trickling down to the earth. We, when we go to prayer, as if our souls and tongues were strangers, the one not weeting what the other doth, the lips babbling without, and the heart not pricked with any inward compunction, honouring GOD with our mouths, and our spirits far from him, deserve to be answered as he answered the jews, Esay 1. When you stretch forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you, and though you make many prayers, I will not hear you. The reason is there, your hinds are full of blood: the reason to us may be, your hearts bleed not: you call me Lord Lord, but mean it not: the altar is without fire, prayer without heat, words without intention, gesture of the body without the consent of the inward man. They cried unto the Lord. It is not less than a miracle, 3. Discreet that men so newly endued with the knowledge of God, can so presently renounce their ancient idols which they had ever served, and within but few minutes of time most religiously adored: they call upon jehovah; that hidden and fearful name, which erst they had not known: and neither the accustomed manner of their countries, nor colour of antiquity, nor want of experience in another Lord, nor the simple narration of one singular prophet, nor any the like motions can hold them in awe of their former imaginary GOD'S, and keep them from invocation of the Lord of hosts. No reason can be yielded but this, The wind bloweth where it lifteth, and the spirit breatheth where it will, and the mercy of God softeneth where his pleasure is. It is a gift from him alone, who giveth the new heart, and putteth the new spirit within a man; Ezech. 3. who taketh the stony heart from him, and giveth him an heart of flesh in steed thereof; who of the stones by the banks of jordan (saith john Baptist) is able to raise up children to Abraham, & daily doth raise up children to himself, to do him worship and service, of those that were hardened in idolatry before, like flintes in the streets. Turn us, O Lord, and we shall be turned; wash us with clean water, and we shall be cleansed; renew us (as the eagle her days) and we shall be renewed; gather thy chosen flock from the mountains and deserts whe●n they stray, to fulfil thy fold, and we shall be gathered; say, thou wilt sweep thy house, and find thy groat, and we shall be found. Nature cannot make a new birth: entering into our mother's womb again, is unable to work it: the gold of Sheba and Seba cannot purchase it. No man cometh to the son, unless the father draw him, and if the father have once given him into his hands, all the devils in hell cannot pull him out again. I make it the wisdom of him that prayeth, to level his heart and affections at the very right centre and mark of prayer, which is God alone; he is the sanctuary, to whom we must fly; the period and scope in whom our requests must end. Prayer and faith (if the Apostle deceive us not) must kiss each other; Rom. 10. Psal. 116. how shall they call on him, in whom they have not believed? faith is the ground of prayer: First we believe, and then speak; so was the order of David. Do we (my brethren) believe in Angels? for that is the Apostles phrase, how shall they call on him, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in whom, or upon whom they have not believed? We believe that there are Angels, Angelos. which the Sadduces denied. And if an Angel should come from heaven unto us with a message from God, Angelis. In Angelos. as he came to Mary and others, we would believe Angels, that is, give credence unto them, as they did. But if we believe in Angels, we forget their place of ministration which they are appointed unto▪ and make them our Gods. Much less believe we in the sons of men, which are less than Angels. Therefore the gleaning of these Mariners is more worth than the whole vintage of Rome, who in a moment of time have gathered more knowledge how to inform their prayers aright, than they in the decourse of many continued generations. These pray to jehovah, the true subsisting God; they not only to God, but to Angels, and men, and stocks, and stones, and metals, and papers, and I know not what. It may be a challenge sufficient unto them all (to say no more) that in so many prayers of both ancient and righteous patriarchs, prophets, judges, kings, registered in the book of GOD, and in an hundredth and fifty Psalms, an hundredth whereof at least are prayers and supplications, and in all the devout requests that the Apostles of Christ, and other his disciples sent into heaven, (if they take the pen of a writer, and note from the beginning of Genesis to the end of the Revelation) they cannot find one directed to Cherub or Seraphin, Gabriel or Raphael, Abraham or Moses, or john Baptist after his death, or any other creature in heaven or earth▪ save only to the Lord and his anointed. Have these all erred? Even so will we; and more sweet shall our error be unto us, with these, of whom we make no question, but that they are bound up in the bundle of life with the congregation of first-born, than a new and recent devise of prayer, obtruded unto us by those, who falsely suppose themselves to be the pillars and stays of Gods militant church. The 86. Psal. (to give you a little portion of food to ruminate upon) as some conceive, was not a Psalm composed for any particular use, but left to the church of God, as a general rule and prescription to fit the condition of every man. Wherein there are first some reasons in our own behalf, wherewith we insinuate ourselves into the favour of God, that he may hear us. 1. Bow down thine ●are unto me, O Lord. Why? I am poor and needy: the exigence of my distressful affairs requireth thy help. 2. Preserve thou my soul. Why? I am merciful: I ask not mercy at thy throne, but as I show mercy again to my brethren. 3. Save thou thy servant, my God. Why? because he putteth his trust in thee; he hath no other rock to cleave unto. 4. Be merciful unto me, O Lord. Why? I cry upon thee continually: I have constantly decreed with myself not to give over the hope of thy comfort. 5. Rejoice the soul of thy servant. Why? for to thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul: the best and chosenest member I have, shall do thee service. His misery, mercy, faithfulness, constancy, sincerity, speak for audience. Now on behalf of God there are other inducementes recited from the 5. verse, why we resort to the wings of his favour, when we are distressed. 1. from his mercy and kindness to all that call upon him; for thou, Lord, art good and gracious, and of great compassion: therefore give ear to my prayer, and hearken unto the voice of my supplication. 2. from experience and trial; In the day of my trouble will I call upon thee, for thou hearest me. 3. from comparison and greatness of his works; Amongst the Gods there is none like unto thee, and who can do like thy works? 4. from consent of the world; All nations whom thou hast made, shall come and worship before thee, O Lord, and shall glorify thy name. 5. from the soleness and singularity of his godhead, which is the chief; for thou art great and dost wondrous things, and art God alone. 1. His general exhibition of mercy to all, 2. particular and personal application to some, 3. the rareness and majesty of his works, 4. the consent of nature and nations, 5. the singularity of godhead, these are motions and persuasions to call forth our prayers; and these, if they can be verified either of Angels or men, I refuse not to give them a part with God in this our sacred oblation. 4▪ Vocal. They cried and said. Their prayers were also vocal & expressed. The groanings of the spirit undoubtedly, though Z●chary be dumb and cannot speak a word, shall never be refused. He made the heart and the tongue, that understandeth the language of both alike, he is as near to our reins, as to our lips; and the voice of the one is not more audible to him that heareth without ears, than the others intention. Bernard. In Dei auribus desiderium vehemens clamor magnus est; remissa intentio, vox submissa, In the ears of God a vehement desire is a great cry, a remiss and careless intention is a submiss and still voice. Anna, ●. Sam. 1. a type of the church, spoke in her heart, her lips did only move, and her voice was not heard. Yea the gestures of her body through the grief of her soul were such, that ●●li reproved her of drunkenness. Indeed she was drunk, not with the wine of grapes, but with the wine of devotion, which ran from the winepress of a troubled spirit, and the Lord remembered her petition, though she prayed with her heart alone, and her tongue stirred not. What then? hath the tongue immunity thereby from doing that homage unto the Lord which he hath enjoined it? shall not the calves of our lips be required, because we have tendered the calves of our hearts? must not both the heart believe, and the mouth make confession? and as the one is the cistetne within thyself to contain the honour of God, so must not the other be the pipe to convey it to thy brethren? surely yes. Ask both body and soul, and every part of them both, whose image and inscription they bear? they will tell thee, Gods: then pay the tribute of both, and glorify God with thy body and spirit, for both are his. And as thou liftest up thy soul with David in the 86. Psal. so lift up thy hands also with Moses, lift up thine eyes with Steven, lift up thy voice with Deborah, and with all the children of God, whose pleasure and joy it is to hear God praised in the great congregation. If there be priests to pray for the people, which must weep between the porch and the altar, even in the body and navel of the church, where the sound of his voice may best be heard, and say, joel. 2. spare thy people O Lord etc. if there be temples and churches which the prophet hath termed, and Christ ratified to be the houses of prayer; if there be seldom and set times appointed for these duties to be done in; if there be forms and patterns devised even from the son of God, how our prayers should be conceived; then is there no question, but we must open our lips in the service of God, and our mouths must be willing to show forth his praise. We beseech thee O Lord. 5. Humble. They use the properest terms of submission that may be. They come not to brag, we are worthy O Lord, whom thou shouldest do for, (as the princes of the people spoke for the Centurion in the gospel;) they come not to indent and bargain If thou wilt be our God etc. they know they stand upon grace, not desert, and that the Lord must be entreated, or they cannot live. Humility is both a grace itself, and a vessel to comprehend other graces; and this is the nature of it, the more it receiveth of the blessings of God, the more it may. For it ever emptieth itself, by a modest estimation of her own gifts, that God may always fill it; it wrestleth and striveth with God, according to the policy of jacob, that is, winneth by yielding; and the lower it stoopeth towards the ground, the more advantage it getteth to obtain the blessing. August in confess. O quàm excelsus es, domine, & humiles cord sunt domus tuae; O Lord, how high and sovereign art thou, and the humble of heart are thine houses to dwell in? where is that house that ye will build unto me, and where is that place of my rest? Esay. 6●. To him will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contri●e spirit, and trembleth at my words. Plutarch writeth of some who sailed to Athens for philosophy sake, that first they were called sophistae, wise men; afterwards, Philosophi, but lovers of wisdom; next; rhetores, only reasoners and discoursers; last of all, idiotae, simple, unlettered men. The more they profited in learning, the less they acknowledged it. Thus in spiritual graces we should study to be great, but not know it; as the stars in the firmament, though they be bigger than the earth, yet they seem much less. In alto non altum sapere▪ not to be highminded in high deserts, is the way to preferment. Dav●d asketh, Quis ego sum, domine, O Lord who am I? He was taken from that lowliness of conceit to be the king of Israel. jacob protesteth, Minor sum, I am less than the least of thy mercies; he was preferred before his elder brother, and made the father of the twelve tribes. Peter crieth, exi à me domine, homo peccator sum, Go out from me, Lord, I am a sinful man; he heard, fear not, I will henceforth make thee a fisher of men▪ john Baptist soundeth, Non sum diguus, I am not worthy to lose the latchet of his shoe; he was found worthy to lay his hands upon the head of Christ. The Centurion treadeth in the same footsteps Non sum dignus, I am not worthy, under the roof of whose house thou shouldest come; his commendation was rare, I have not found so great faith, no not in Israel. Paul departeth not from the same words, Non sum dignus, I am not worthy to be called an apostle; he obtained mercy to the example of those that were afterwards to come. The blessed Virgin in her answer to the Angel showeth, that the salutation no way lifted up her heart, ecce ancilla Domini, behold the handemaide of the LORD; she obtaineth that, for which all the generations of the world should call her blessed. This base and inglorious style of the most glorious Saints of God, Non sum dignus, and the like, shall get us the honour of saints, shall raise us from the dust, and set us upon thrones, take us from amongst beasts, and place us with Angels. What was it in the blessed Virgin, the mother of God's first-born, the glory and flower of womenkind, that God regarded so much? She telleth you in her song of thanksgiving, He hath regarded the lowliness of his handmaid; yea the blood and juice of that whole song is in praise of humility: He hath scattered the proud in the imaginations of their heart, he hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble and meek. O that the women of our age could sing Magnificat with that humbleness of spirit, that mary did, My soul doth magnify the Lord: that recompense would be theirs which followeth; he that is mighty hath magnified me again, and holy is his name. But they magnify themselves too much with peddlers ware (what shall I term it?) unprofitable garments, which the moth shall fret, and time itself rot upon their backs, but they never think in their hearts, how God may be magnified. It is not without some mystery, that the Angels told the shepherds, Luke 2. this shall be a sign unto you, you shall find the infant wrapped in swaddling clothes. Bern ser. de verb. Angel. In signum positi sunt panni tui, O bone jesus, sed in signum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, A sign that is spoken against, a sign that is done against; we cannot abide thy clouts, thy rags (O Lord jesus) nor any part of thy humility. His nativity was by his ordinance first preached to shepherds; he contended with his forerunner, who should be the lowlier of the two; he took fishermen to be his disciples, embraced young children, paid tribute to his inferiors, fled away that he might not be made a king, washed the feet of his apostles, charged the leper not to tell any man, road upon an ass, sought his father's glory, not his own, to whom he was obedient to the death, even to the death of the cross. In all which he doth not less than proclaim unto us, learn of me to be humble and meek, and you shall find rest for your souls. I say but this. The master is worthy your hearing, the lesson your learning, the recompense your receiving. In this be● of humility let me rest your souls for this time, and let us beseech the God of majesty, who is higher than the highest in the earth, who will resist the proud, and give his graces to the humble and meek; that whether we ask, we may ask in humility; or whether we have received, we may use it without vainglory; that all our words and works may be powdered with that salt in the Psalm, which shall eat out all ostentation, Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give the honour and praise. Amen. THE XVII. LECTURE. Chap. 1. ver. 14. We beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man's life. THe prayer of the mariners beginneth not, till you come to these words: the other were the words of the history, reporting what they did; these now propounded, are their own, or at least the sum and effect of them. We may reduce them to two heads: first a Petition; and therein a preface, We beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee, comprising the manner and form of praying; and the matter or substance of the petition, let us not perish for this man's life etc. 2. the reason, For thou, Lord, hast done as it pleased thee. So as in the words of the history, signifying how they behaved themselves, together with the petition, and the reason of the same, we find eight conditions requisite to the nature of prayer. Five whereof we have already dealt in: the sixth we are to proceed unto▪ The Importunity they use, implied in the doubling and iterating of their suppliant terms, We beseech thee, O Lord, 6. Importunate. we beseech thee. Woe be to him that is alone, who when he hath spoken once, speaketh no more, as if he were weary of well-doing, and repent himself that he had begun. If his former request be weak and infirm, fainting in the way to the mercy of God, he hath not a friend to help it, nor a brother to say unto it, Be strong. This double supplication of theirs, falleth as the showers of the first and latter rain: if the one faileth of watering the earth sufficiently, the other fulfilleth the appetite and thirst thereof. So should our prayers be be●t; that as the kine of the Philistines, which bore the Ark, though they were milk, and had calves at home, 1. Sam. ●. yet they kept the strait way to ●ethshemesh, and held one path, and lowed as they went, and turned neither to the right hand nor the left, neither ever stood still, till they came into the field of josuah, where he was reaping his harvest: so the affection of our souls bearing the Ark and coffer of our suits, though it hath worldly allurements to draw it back, as the kine had calves, yet keepeth on the way to the house of God, as they to Bethshemesh, holding one path of perseverance, lowing with zeal, turning neither to the right nor to the left hand with wandering cogitations, till it cometh into the field and garden of God, where her harvest groweth. We beseech thee, we beseech thee. This ingemination of speech noteth an unmovable and constant affection to the thing we affect, as if the tongue and heart were willing to dwell thereupon. O Absalon, O my son Absalon, O Absalon my son, my son, was the mourning of David, when he heard of the death of Absalon, as if his soul had been tied to the name and memory of his son, and his tongue had forgotten all other speech save only to pronounce Absalon. It showeth what love our Saviour bare to the holy city, in that he repeated his sorrows over it, O jerusalem, jerusalem, as if he had made a vow with David, If I forget jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning, or rather my tongue her moving. I cannot leave thee at the first naming, thou art deeper in my heart, therefore I say, jerusalem, and again jerusalem, I ever regarded thy welfare with undoubted compassion. The mariners import no less, in repeating their request, we beseech thee O Lord, and once again, we beseech thee, pardon our importunate outcries, our hearts are fixed, yea our hearts are fixed, our souls are athirst for thy loving kindness, we will give thee no rest, till thou receivest our prayers. The longer Abraham talked with God, Gen. 18. the more he gained. He brought him from the whole number to fifty, and from fifty to ten, before he left him. Behold I have begun to speak unto my Lord, and am but dust and ashes; let not my Lord be angry, and I will speak again: and once more, I have begun to speak; and once more, let not my Lord be offended. Once more, and again, you see, are able to send away clouds of fire and brimstone. And so far was it of, that God was angry with his instant request, that he gave him both a patiented ear, and a gracious answer, If ten be found there, I will not destroy it. It pleaseth the ears of his majesty right well, to be long entreated, his nature is never so truly aimed at, as when we persuade ourselves, that our impatience in prayer can never offend his patience He that hath twice and ten times together ingeminated the riches of his mercy, as Exod. 34. The Lord, the Lord, is merciful, gracious, slow to anger, abundant in goodness, & truth, reserving mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, & sin, & transgression; What did he mean thereby, but that twice and ten times together we should cry for his mercy? We beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee. A woman of Canaan in the gospel, calleth upon our Saviour, Have mercy upon me, O Lord, Math. 15. thou son of David, my daughter is miserably vexed with a devil; he answered her not one word. It appeareth that she called still, because his disciples said, Send her away, for she crieth after us: Then, he was not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel: yet she came and worshipped him, saying, Lord help me: he answereth, It is not meet to take the children's bread and cast it to whelps: She replied upon him, Truth, Lord, but the whelps eat of the crumbs, that fall from their master's table. Then jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith. She fastened upon Christ with her prayers, as the woman of Shunem upon Elisha with her hands. She caught him by the feet, and said unto him, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, 2. King 4. I will not leave thee. Consider what discouragements her poor soul digested, 1. she was not answered by Christ, 2. she had backe-friends of his disciples, 3. she was none of the lost sheep, 4. she was a whelp; yet in the end she obtained both a cure for her daughter's infirmity, and a commendation for her own faith. She wrought a miracle by the force of her prayers, she made both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak, she cried to the ears and tongue of her redeemer, Ephata, Be ye opened, hear and answer my petition, fulfil my request. August. de verb. Apost. Non importunus nec impudenses▪ etc. It is not a saucy nor shameless part in thee, to ask remission of thy sins at God's hands, without ceasing; thou givest him occasion to do a memorable act, convenient to his nature, glorious to his holy name. That which man giveth, he looseth, and dispossesseth himself of, it is not so with God; thou art not the better, God the worse, thou the richer, God the poorer, for his gifts: Open thy mouth wide, and he will fill it, enlarge thy belly, Non tu accipiendo proficis, & Deus in dando deficit. and he will satisfy thee. Fons vincit Sitientem, The fountain and source of his goodness is above the desire and thirst of thy necessities. If you observed it in the last history, The disciples of ●hrist thought it an impudent part, that the Syrophoenissian cried after them, Send her away. Did Christ so account it, or would he dismiss her? Doubtless it joyed his heart, to suspend her des●res in expectation, and consequently to extend them, to hold her long in his company; he said to himself, I am well pleased that she crieth after me, it delighted his ears to hear her redoubled obsecrations, more than the instruments of David could have done, it gave him matter to work upon, it tried a faith, it wan a soul, it occasioned a miracle. Bernard to this purpose noteth of the spouse in the Canticles, beginning her suit, and wooing of Christ so rudely as she doth, let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth; Ser●● 7. in Cantic. though to entreat a great favour of a great Lord, she useth no flattery unto him, she seeketh no means, she goeth not about by drifts and circumlocutions, she maketh no preamble, she worketh no benevolence, but from the abundance of her heart suddenly breaketh forth, Nudè frontesque satis, Barely, and boldly enough, let him kiss me with a kiss of his lips. The parables in Saint Luke, Luke 11. and 18. the one of a friend called up at midnight, the other of a wicked judge, instruct us thus much, that unless we hold a meaner opinion of God, than of a common, vulgar friend, which were too base to conceive, or a more unrighteous judgement of him, than of the most unrighteous judge, (than which, what can be thought more blasphemous?) we should not distrust the success of our prayers, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. but that improbity and importunity at the least would draw him to audience. It was midnight with these mariners▪ when they called at the gates of God, (the friend and lover of the souls of men) the unseasonablest and deadest time, in the judgement of human reason: They called for more than loaves, the relief and succour of their lives, more dear unto them than any sustenance: Their friend? Nay their enemy was at hand, and the last enemy of mankind: The gates seemed to be shut, all hope of deliverance well nigh passed; the children were in bed a sleep, vain was the help of man, their arm was weak, and their oars unprofitable, Angels and Saints could not help them: yet they knocked at the gates of their friend once, We beseech thee O Lord; and, because he denied them the first time, they knocked again, We beseech thee O Lord, and I doubt not but they continued knocking, till in the end he arose, and granted them their hearts requests. The next condition of their prayer, was, that it was properly and pertinently applied to their present fear; 7. Convenient▪ seasonable. Let us not perish for this man's life etc. It was written in their hearts, which others might have red in the Psalms of David. Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm. They thought that Prophets were jewels and pearls unto God, and that the marring of one such, would severely be required. Hence come their tears, this is the thorn that pricketh them, fear to offend in hurting an harmless man, together with that sting and venom, which sin leaveth behind it; they know it will call for vengeance, and though it pass the hand, and the eye, speeding itself in the seeming of him that doth it, into the land of forgetfulness, as it should never be thought upon, yet the Lord will fetch it back again, and set it before the face of the sinner, and lay it as freshly to his charge, Let not v● Perish. Lay not to our charge. as if he were then in the act and perpetration thereof. These be the sores wherewith they smart, danger of their own lives, if they assault the life of jonas; and watchfulness of the justice of GOD, in taking account of forepast sins. To these they apply the medicines. We know the order of thy Court and judgement seat, to exact life for life, therefore let not us perish for this man's life: we know that no sin can escape thy dreadful hand, therefore if we hap to offend in spilling innocent blood, lay not our iniquity upon us, blot it out of thy book, let it pass as a morning dew before the sun, and not be imputed. In disposing our prayers to God, we must, as the Scribe in the gospel, bring forth of our treasures, things old and new. For the blessings of God in general, there may be general thankes-givings; for sins in general, general confessions; ancient and usual forms of prayer, for ancient and usual occurrences. We may take unto us words, (as the Prophet speaketh) and say unto the Lord (at all times) Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously, Hosee 14. so will we render the calves of our lips. But as the matter of God's judgements, and our dangers, is varied, so must we accordingly vary our prayers. In the time of a plague, we must make of our prayers a particular Mithridate against the plague, acknowledging the hand of God, that inflicted it, knowing that the cause and original thereof is not so much infection in the air, as rottenness and corruption within our own bones, beseeching his majesty, as Phinees did, that the plague may cease, and that he will visit no longer with that kind of judgement. If the land be smitten with leanness, and skarcity, so that the children thereof cry for bread, and sown as they go in the streets, for want of food, we must pray in another stile, that the LORD will vouchsafe to hear the heavens again, Hosee 2. the heavens may hear the earth, the earth the corn, the vine, and the oil, and these Israel, or other his distressed people, and that he will visit no longer with this kind of judgement. If the enemy shall say against us, Come, we will devour, we will devour, the name of Zion shall be no more had in remembrance, we must turn unto the Lord with another form of supplication; Spare thy people O Lord, and give not thine heritage into reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: joel ●. wherefore should they say amongst the people, where is now their God? O cease to visit thy servants with this kind of judgement. If the heavens be brass above us, and drop no moisture upon our fruits, or if the spouts, which God hath divided in the air, power down too much upon our heads, (sometime he roareth so fearfully with his voice of thunders, as who may abide it? his lightnings give shine to the earth, and our eyes are dazzled thereat, he raineth down tempests and storms upon us, hailstones and coals of fire, this is our portion sometimes to drink:) still as his plagues are new, so let us come before him with new songs, new intercessions, meekly kneeling before the Lord our maker, and falling low at his footstool, that his hand may be turned back in these kinds of judgements. Thus did Solomon dedicate and bless the temple, 2. Chro. 6. beseeching the Lord, that when the people should pray unto him, according to their sundry needs, whether they were troubled with the assault of their enemy, or with want of rain, with famine, or mildew, or with captivity, he would then hear them in heaven, and be merciful unto them. The sickness which these mariners suspect, is an issue of blood, which being once opened, will ever run, and keep a course, if it be not staunched with the mercy of God, and therefore they call upon him, as that present occasion enforceth them, O let us not perish for this man's life, and bring not upon us innocent blood. Besides which purpose of theirs, in laying their finger upon the sore, that is, in suiting of their prayer with the present danger, for the fuller explication of the words themselves, it may please you to take knowledge of two things. 1. The proceeding of God in the case of bloodshed, life for life, delivered in the former clause; Let us not perish for the soul of this man. 2. How the blood of jonas in the latter may be called innocent blood. The law is general touching the former, Exod. 21. life for life, eye for eye, 1. Blood for blood. tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. It is added Leviticus 24. Breath for breath, blemish for blemish. Gen. 9 I will require your bold wherein your lives are; (that is one reason:) in the next words, who so sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God hath he made man; That is an other reason. Our Saviour reciteth the law in the gospel Math. 26. who so taketh the sword, shall perish with the sword, And that we may know this law was never repealed, we find it in the last book, Revelation. 13. If any lead into captivity, he shall go into captivity; if any man kill with a sword, he must be killed with a a sword. here is the patience and the faith of saints, that is, this they believe, and this they verily expect to be performed upon their enemies. So the ordinary rule, without question, is this; He that taketh away the life of man, himself shall likewise perish. Notwithstanding the maker of the law may, and doth sometimes, dispense with his own law. Many a one, I confess, hath killed his neighbour, himself not ending his days in the like manner. Be it so; yet first he is slain with a sword of his own, as Goliath was, he dieth daily with the stabbing and lancing of his own heart; and, as in that first plague wherewith Pharaoh was smitten, all the waters of Egypt in their rivers, their streams, their ponds, their pools, their vessels of wood▪ and their vessels of stone, were changed into blood: so in the mind and conscience of a murderer, there shall always remain a plague of blood, his eyes shall behold no other colour but sanguine, as if the air were died into it, the visions of his head in the night time shall cast a bowl of blood in his face, Plutarch. all the cogitations and thoughts of his heart shall overflow with the remembrance of that blood which he hath effused. Again, if he that hath killed a man, dieth in his bed, or otherwise by the hands of God, without the irrogation of this judgement upon him, to be killed or executed by the hands of men; yet let him know, that he is dead by the law already, the sword of the spirit of God hath fallen upon him, the word and sentence of the law hath condemned him, and that he is reserved to the judgement of the great day, where the sword of eternal damnation, the double and triple edge whereof can never be rebated, shall feed upon his flesh, and be drunken with his blood without ceasing. Or lastly, if he escape the dint of all these sword, temporal in this life, internal in the conscience, eternal in the world to come, let him thank his crucified redeemer, whose stripes have healed him, the wounding and bleeding of whose precious body, hath made intercession with his father in heaven, that the wounds and bloodshed which he was worker of, are not thought upon. Secondly, we inquired, how the blood of jonas, Innocent blood. might be termed innocent; a man that fled from the face of God, whom the winds and the sea hated with a perfit hatred, even unto death, an an whom the Mariners themselves rebuked, and now by the instant voice of God are ready to cast forth, how is he innocent? I answer, In part, not wholly; with respect, not absolutely; innocent towards these men, whom he never injuried, not with relation to God, whom he had hainouslye offended. The Pelagians of our time, magnifying the arm of flesh, and the nature of mankind, more than reason admitteth, by a sophistical and deceitful conclusion, have sought to obscure the truth, and to overreach the world in this point▪ For, because they find in the scriptures often mention of the innocency, justice, perfection of the children of God, they dissembling, or not wisely weighing the drift of the place, simply infer thereupon, that the law of GOD may be kept and fulfilled in this life. Their paralogism is easily discovered and disproved by the rule of Augustine; Cùm dicitur cuiusque perfectio, quâin re dicatur videndum est. 2. de pe. mer. & rem. 15. Perfectus ●a pientiae audi ●or, non perf. doctor etc. When the perfection of any man is named, we must consider wherein it is named. A man may be a perfit hearer of wisdom, not a perfit teacher: (Thus is he perfit and unperfit) a perfit knower of righteousness, not a perfit doer, perfit in this that he loveth all men, and yet unperfit in the love itself. It were absurdly concluded, jonas was innocent towards the Mariners, therefore innocent towards the Israelites; innocent towards man, therefore innocent towards God; innocent in this present behaviour, therefore innocent in the whole conversation of his life. As it hath no just consecution, David was innocent towards Saul, therefore innocent towards Urias. A man may be righteous, Optimus ille est. Qui mini. mis urgetur. Horat. Quâ maior pars vitae atque iugenii stetit. Asin. Pollio. Secundun in. ●entionē non secundum per. ventionem. In Psal. 38. Aliter hîc non po●es esse perfectus, nisi scias hic te non esse posse perfectum. Secundum istius vitae modum ●ont. epist. Parm. both in comparison of others, for he is the best, which hath the fewest faults; and in comparison of himself, for we must judge of a man by that, whereto the greater part of his life and disposition hath been inclined. And because there was no father in the church, who had greater reason to ventilate this argument unto the bottom, than Augustine had, himself in that ambitious age being sifted and proved by so many adversaries to the grace and righteousness of God, I will give you a short taste of his answers and satisfactions to the question, as I find them in his writings. Touching perfection, he writeth thus by occasion of the Apostles words, Philippians the third: Let us, as many as be perfidy, be thus minded. Yet in the twelfth verse before it is contraried, Not as though I had already attained it, or that I were already perfit. How may these stand together? perfit, and unperfit. If we take perfection in intention and purpose, not in pervention, and obtaining the purpose, in contention, endeavour, inchoation, that is, in imperfection, and not otherwise; thou canst not otherwise be perfit in this life, unless thou know, that in this life thou canst not be perfit. There is a certain perfection according to the measure and proportion of this life, and to that perfection this is also deputed, If a man know that yet he is not perfit. So as it is not the least part of our perfection, to know and confess our imperfections. Bernarde upon the former words to the Philippians, Serm. 49. in Cant. Perfecti viatores. perfecti possessores. 2. de pec. mer. & remis. 13. Per prolepsin. Quid est hoc, sumus & non sumus? nisi quia sumu● inspe, & erim●s in re. Pro consortio societati● humanae. Pro huius. vitae capacitate. Pro sta●●● viatoris. Pro huius vitae modulo. Ad Boni l. 3. Omnium in carne justorum imperfecta perfectio. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epist. 95. Heb. 5. De great. chr. count Pelag. & Coelest. 1▪ 48. Secundum quandam inter homines probabilem conversationem. atque laudabilem. Absoluta sententia, expositore non indiget. (that I may insert his judgement also by the way) beateth down the arrogancy of all high minded flesh; Magnum electionis vas, profectum abnuit, perfectum fatetur. The great vessel of election denieth perfection to himself, confesseth his profection and going forward; I endeavour myself to that which is before. I proceed with Augustine: We may be perfit travelers in righteousness before, hereafter we shall ●ee perfit owners and possessors of righteousness; we may be perfit by anticipation, carrying the name of the thing, before we have attained unto it, as we are said already to be glorified, though our glorification shall be consummate in time to come. We are the sons of God, saith the Apostle, and yet it appeareth not what we shall be. What meaneth this, we are and we shall be? but that we are in hope, and shall be indeed? Finally, he alloweth a certain perfection sufficient to converse and hold society with mankind, a perfection for the model and capacity of this life, for the state of passengers and way faring men, and whatsoever he alloweth more in this kind, I am sure he concludeth, that the perfection of all righteous men, while they are in the flesh, is imperfect. This of perfection. Of righteousness and justice thus he affirmeth in other places. The Evangelist saint Luke reporteth of Zacharie and Elizabeth his wife, that they were both righteous before God, that is, without hypocrisy, walking in the commandments of God, (Now because they walked, it is an argument, that they were not yet come to the mark) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in all the commauddementes and justifications of the Lord. The testimony is already very large, but yet he addeth more, They walked in them all without reproof. How without reproof? Augustine interpreteth it to Innocentius; Sine querelâ, non sine peccato, Not without sin, but without grievance, quarrel, just complaint, or exception to be made against them. Nay, he proveth out of the same scripture, that because Zacharie was a Priest, therefore a sinner, for he was bound to offer for sins, aswell for his own part, as for the people's. In another place speaking of their righteousness, he limiteth it thus; They were righteous after a probable and laudable conversation amongst men. He often distinguisheth between these two, Peccatum, & querela, Peccatum & cri●●en; the one, sin in general, which no man is freed from, (for it is an absolute sentence, and needeth no exposition, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, we are but blown bladders;) the other, some great offences, (as David calleth it) malicious wickedness, Sanctorum hominum vitam inveniri posse dicimu● sine crimine. ca 13. Non quali●●●c●que vox ●lla sed verè sanctorum. l. 14. cap. 9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. S●tis benè vivitur, si sine crimine· Non id agit 〈◊〉 pecatum non habeat, sed ut veniam non acespiat. Fo●asse secundum quoddam peccatum dixit, non secundum omne peccatum. Cert●̄ quoddam peccatum. trac. 5. Quamvis inquantum ex Deonati sumus non peccemus, in est ●amē adhuc etiam quod ex Adamnati sumus. lib. 2. cap. 7. Ceneratio coelestis servat eum, id est, eterna praedestinatio. Pulchrèquidem pulchran non omnimodè, sed inter mulieres dicit. Bern. ser. 38. Inter mulieres, id est, animas carnales, non angelicas perfectiones. Ibid. some heinous, notorious, scandalous sin, culpable in the eyes of men, and worthy of censure and crimination. We say, (in his Enchiridion to Laurentius) that the life of holy men may be found, though not without fault, yet without an offensive fault. Again in his books of the city of God, It is not the speech of vulgar and common men, but of those that are rightly Saints, If we say that we sin not, etc. then shall this liberty and immunity from passions be, when there shall be no sin in men; now we live well enough, if without scandal; but he that thinketh he liveth without sin, he doth not thereby free himself from sinning, but from receiving remission of sins. In the first epistle of john, the third chapter, the Apostle seemeth to favour the opinion of absolute righteousness in man; He that is borne of GOD, sinneth not. Peradventure, saith Augustine, he meaneth some certain sin, not all sin. Understand hereby a definite special sin, which he that is borne of GOD, cannot commit. It may be the want of love, Dilectionis carentia, It may be the great sin of infidelity, which our Saviour noteth in the jews, john the fifteenth; If I had not come and spoken unto them, they should not have had sin. the sin wherein all other sins are held, the sin unto death, the sin not to be repent of, and therefore not to be pardoned. Against Parmenian he answereth it thus; Although we sin not so far forth as we are borne of GOD, yet there remaineth in us some part of our birth from Adam. Bernarde upon the Canticles, giveth the reason why he sinneth not; The heavenly generation preserveth him, that is, the everlasting predestination. Which reason the Apostle himself seemeth to accord unto; for his ●eede remaineth in him. Surely there is no man that sinneth not; Solomon precisely affirmeth it, in the dedication of the temple. GOD hath concluded all under sin; Omnes odit qui malos odit, He that hateth evil men, hateth all men; because there is none that doth good, no not one. Noah may be a righteous man in his time and generation, compared with tho●e amongst whom he lived; Thamar may be more righteous than Iud●h, yet Thamar sinful enough; the Publican may go to his house more justified than the Pharisee, yet not simply justified thereby; The spouse in the Canticles, may be fair amongst women, yet her beauty not such, but that she justly complaineth of her blackness. Though she exceedeth the souls of men, whilst they live in the body, yet she is short of angelical perfection. Jnter nato●mulierum, non autem inter choros caelestium spirit●●m. Ibid. En●hir. cap. 71. De sanct. virgini● ca 50. In Ps. 12●. Mendici justitiae. justitia in hàc vità tanta est, ut potiús consict remissione peccatorum, quam perfectione virtutum. Li. 19 the ci● Dei, cap. 26. 1 Cor 6. Rom. 10 john Baptist had not a greater amongst the sons of women, but whosoever was least in the kingdom of GOD, and all the celestial spirits are far beyond him. The best that live upon the earth, have brevia, leviaque peccata, short and light sins, yet sins; quamvis pauca, quamvis parva, non tamen nulla, Though few in number, small in measure, yet sins in nature. Therefore we may conclude with the same father, whose shield I have hitherto used against the enemies to the grace of God, Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness. We must know our poverty, and become su●ters and b●ggers for justice, if we mean to speed. Our righteousness in this life is such, as ●ather consisteth in the remission of our sins, than in the perfection of our virtues. And to speak the truth, in the whole question of justification betwixt the Papists and us, our justice is not justice in proper and direct terms, but mercy. For that righteousness that we have, is merely of mercy, not active, but passive, not that which we work ourselves, but GOD worketh it for us. Abluta estis, justificati estis, you have washed or justified yourselves? No, you are washed and justified. And therefore it is called the righteousness of GOD, because it cometh from abroad, not inherent in ourselves, but from God derived, and by him imputed. And 1. Corinthians 1. Christ is made unto us of God, wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. First, wisdom in preaching and instruction; Secondly, righteousness in the forgiveness of our sins; Thirdly, sanctification in the holiness of our lives; Fourthly, redemption in his mighty deliverance from all our enemies; that as it is written, he that rejoiceth may rejoice in the Lord, and know, that neither of all these is of himself. God objected to the king of Tyrus, in derision, Ezechiell the twenty eighth, Thou art wiser than Daniel; I ask of the children of Babylon, what they think of themselves; whether they go beyond Daniel, in holiness and integrity of life. He in the ninth of his prophecy confesseth sin and iniquity, and rebellion in all the men of judah, and inhabitants of jerusalem, and the whole people of Israel, far, or near, kings, princes, fathers, and that righteousness is with GOD alone, and with them confusion of face; he utterly disclaimeth their own justice, we come not to pray before thee for any righteousness in ourselves; and appealeth unto the righteousness of the Lord, O Lord according unto all thy righteousness, let thine anger be turned away, ver. 16. For the Lords sake, that is, thy Christ, thine anointed, verse 17. For thy great tender mercies, verse 18. Finally, for thine own sake, ver. 19 This was the spirit of Daniel; and they that come in the confidence of their own pure spirits, neither shall their own prayers avail, and the prayers of Daniel, and Noah, and all the righteous saints in heaven, which they hang upon shall not help them. You see our innocency, justice and perfection; not that our sins are not, but that they are remitted, but that they are covered by the mercy of God, but that they are not imputed, which is the chief blessedness of man, as we read in the 32. Psalm. I could have noted so much unto you by a phrase, which my text affordeth. Lay not upon us innocent blood. For then are we clear in the sight of God, when the sins, whereof we are guilty, are not laid to our charges, nor remembered. Blessed are all those who are thus discharged of their unsupportable soul's burden, that though they have many sins, they are bound up in a bundle, and drawn into a narrow room; though insolent, climbing, aspiring sins, yet they are cast into the bottom of the sea; though they are as red as crimson and scarlet, yet their hue is changed, they are made as white as wool, or snow, by the blood of Christ; though they fill all the corners of heaven, from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof, yet they are driven from the face of God, as far as the East & West are sundered; lastly, though they are libelled and entered into his court, by the accusation of the devil, and by his most righteous justice registered, yet the books are defaced, and all those writings against us, na●e● to the cross of Christ, by whom we are redeemed. THE XVIII. LECTURE. Chap. 1. ver. 14. Lay not unto our charge innocent blood, for thou Lord hast done as it pleased thee. THe prayer of the Mariners, without longer repetition, was common, fervent, discreet, vocal, humble, importunate, pertinent to the time & occasion, well grounded. ●n the 7th. of these, wherein I observed how rightly they applied themselves to the deprecation of their present dangers, I examined, besides their general intent in ask pardon for bloodshed, 2. particulars arising naturally from the words: 1. the proceeding of God in case of murder, life for life: 2. in what respect the blood of jonas might be termed innocent; not that the life of jonas could no way be touched with sin, but that it was freed in his present and particular behaviour towards this company with whom he sailed. I would further have demanded, but that the time intercepted me, how jonas could be held innocent towards the Mariners, whom he had actually wronged in the loss of their temporal commodities, (for he only was the cause of that general detriment,) and the hazard was as great, that he might have eased them of their better treasure, I mean their lives, if God had not stayed it: these, though having sense of the one, fear of the other, yet call his blood innocent blood. The answer briefly is. They wrote that in the waters, which others write in marble, Injuries. Though their voyage were lost by this means, their business disappointed, the season of their mart diverted, their merchandise wracked, their provision wasted, (it may be) to some, their wives and children undone, their estate sunk by it, yet they forgive and forget the damages, and with a mantle of charity cover all his wrongs. The persuasion holdeth by comparison, that if nature so newly reform, having tasted but the milk of the knowledge of God, have so quick a digestion of forepast wrongs, much more is required of us, who have been dieted with the strongest meat, & to whom the precepts of charity have in most ample manner been revealed. The commendation shall ever live which Ambrose giveth to Theodosius the Emperor being dead; Theodosius of happy memory, thought he received a benefit, as often as he was entreated to forgive: Beneficium se p●●●abat accepisse augustae memoriae Theodosius▪ quoting rogabat, ignosce optabatur in eo, quod timebatur in aliis ●ut iras. ceretur. De obitu Theo. Serm. 6 in vigil. natal. Dom. Phil. 3· Math. 18. De verb. Dom ser. 15. that was wished in him, which in others was feared, that he would be angry. Tully reporteth the like of a far unlike Emperor, that Caesar forgot nothing but injuries. There is a learned, skilful, & virtuous kind of forgetfulness. It is good to forget some things. All Manasses went not over ●orden, part stayed behind. Now Manasses had his name of forgetfulness, and Bernard illuding thereunto saith, It is good to forget Babylon, to remember jerusalem; to forget the fleshpots and 〈◊〉 of Egypt, to remember the milk and honey of Canaan; to forget our own 〈◊〉 and our father's house, and to remember heaven & heavenly things. So Paul forgot that which was behind; his former defects & delinquishments: and it shall be happy for us all to do the like, not in the mercies either of God, or man, but in the crosses and grievances which we have sustained. Peter asked his master in the gospel, how of the should forgive his brother offending against him, whether to 7. times? It is added, Luke 17. how often in a day? our Saviour telleth him, unto 70. times 7. times, that is, as Jerome accounteth it, 490. times; so often in a day, as is not possible for thy brother oftener to trespass against thee. Augustine in effect hath the same note; Why doth our Saviour say seventy times seven times, and not an hundredth times eight times? he answereth; from Adam to Christ were seventy generations; therefore as Christ forgave all the transgressions of whole mankind, parted and diffused into so many generations; so also we should remit as many offences, as in the term and compass of our life are committed against us. Examine (shall I say, one day?) nay all the days of our life, if all might go for one, have we forgiven? have we forborn? that were one degree less: have we not persecuted? Turks, Infidels, vessels of dishonour? nay, our own brethren: 7. yea, and 70. times 7. times, without number or measure, the sun rising and the sun going down upon our wrath, our ways being the ways of destruction, our beds the beds of mischief, as the Psalm calleth them, days & nights, openly, privately, meditating, talking, practising how to avenge ourselves of the least discontentmentes. It were as ●are a matter in our age, as to see the sun go back, to hear of any amongst us patiented of injuries, as that patriarch sometimes of jerusalem was, of whom the proverb of those times went, Nihil utilius quàm Alexandro malefacere, Nothing can more profit a man, than to hurt Alexander. Yet he kept but that rule, which they that kept not, are no part of the Israel of God, Not to resist evil, To give cheek after cheek, cloak after coat, to take all that was offered, whether upon or without the body, as that precept implieth: nay rather to return good for evil, Veterem ferendo iniuriam invitas novam Multis minatur qui uni sacit iniuriam. Rom. 12, love for enmity, blessing for cursing, good deeds for hatred, prayers for persecutions, Math. 5. We rather embrace the instigations of gentility, and such as the nature of man easily propendeth unto, bear one injury and bear more; he that wrongeth one, threateneth all; and such like provocations▪ I will end with the exhortation of our Lord, Luke 6. so give a●d you shalbe● forgiven Or rather with that which Mat. 6. is more peremptory, If you forgive him not you shall not be forgiven. He indenteth for that by mercy▪ which he might exact of duty and equity▪ and he that shall be our judge▪ almost against the nature and right of his office, showeth us the way to escape his judgements. The conditions betwixt God and man in this exchange are very unequal▪ 1. thine enemy was created by God, as thyself wert; God hath an enemy of thee, whom he hath created 2. thou pardonest thy fellow servant; God, merely his servant. 3 thou pardonest & standest in need of pardon again; God hath no need to be pardoned. 4. thou forgivest a definite sum; God an infinite debt, requiring the proscription of thyself, wife, and children, and all that thou hast, body & soul, if thou shouldest defray it. Chrysost. Incredibili me sericordia nos ad certam veniam vocat, By uncredible compassion he draweth us to a limited & bounded pity: the extension whereof maketh us the children of our father which is in heaven; but the straightening of our bowels of compassion, as it taketh from us the name and privilege of sons, so it marketh us for servantes of the worst condition, naughty & ungracious servants, for whom is justly reserved the wages of Balaam, I mean, the repayment & stipend of everlasting destruction. The last commendation in the prayer of the mariners is, 8. Reasonable, rightly grounded. their grounding thereof upon the pleasure of God, for thou Lord hast done as it pleased thee; which soundeth thus. We ask thy favour in this respect, that we have not departed from the rule of thy will, but followed as near as we could, the verdict & answer of thy heavenvly oracle. The lot hath informed us, the mouth of the prophet himself confirmed unto us, the constant indignation of the sea maketh it past question, that thou in thy counsel hast decreed, that jonas shallbe cast forth. It was a sanctified judgement in them, both to acknowledge the finger of God in so casual an accident, thou Lord hast done it; & withal to assent in secret, that the will & pleasure of God is the exactest rule of equity that can be imagined, as it pleased thee. They gather thus in effect; we do but the will of the Lord, therefore more justly to be pardoned. The wisdom of God itself, in whom the deity dwelled bodily, was content to forsake his wisdom & to be ordered & rectified by this squire of his father's will, father, not my will, but thine be fulfilled. I know the measure of thy will is strait; shall I be crooked & perverse in my ways? I will not. Bernard demandeth upon that submission of Christ. O Lord, the will whereof thou speakest▪ (Not my will be done) if it were not a good will, how was it thine? if good, why relinquished & forsaken? he answereth, Non oportebat propria prae●●d●care communibus, Private affairs must not hinder public: it was both the will of Christ, & it was a good will, whereby he said If it be possible let this cup pass; but that whereby he spoke otherwise, thy will ●e do●e▪ was better, because it was common not only to the father which gave his son, Communis erat non solùm patris, sed & Christi & nostrae. Ser. 3. de res. Dom. but to the son himself, who was offered because he would▪ and to us who heartily desired it. The will of a righteous man may miss o● the will of God sometimes, and yet be justified & approved before God. A child may wish the life of his father, whom God hath visited with sicknesses▪ and mindeth not to spare▪ Here have you the will of a man against the will of God in some sort. Doth he offend herein? nay rather should he not offend, if, nature and duty forgotten, he wished otherwise? for whatsoever the secret will of God hath decreed, yet by his open and revealed will, parents must be honoured, and their life and well-doing by prayer commended to the goodness of God. It is the will of GOD permanent and unchangeable, that jonas be cast forth; It is the will of the mariners to save jonas, if it may be. Do they displease God hereby? rather they should displease, if laying apart humanity, they bore not compassion to the life of jonas. For howsoever his secret will hath determined, yet by his open and revealed will, the life of man must be tendered. Who hath ascended into heaven to know the counsels of the Lord? Therefore it is ever safe, to cast the anchors of all our purposes, and to stay our wills upon the will of God, before we see the event of things, to say as our Saviour willed us, Thy will be done; and when it is clearly decided what his pleasure was, to join with these mariners, thou Lord haste done as it pleased thee: we acknowledge thy supreme authority, thou sittest upon the circles of heaven, thou holdest the sceptre and ball of the world in thy right hand, thou art the king and commander of the earth be it never so unquiet, the hearts of kings and subjects are in thine hand. Thou woundest, healest, killest, quickenest, where thou thinkest good, and whatsoever man purposeth, thou disposest as thy pleasure is. Others confess no less of the will of GOD, than these mariners do, Thou Lord haste done as it hath pleased thee; but with another construction. For as they confess the efficacy and power thereof, so they deny the equity; as if he held a tyranny, and governed the world not by law but by lust, drawing it to obedience not by reason and justice, but by the violent chain of his unchangeable purpose, so making his will in the moderating of the world, as immoderate, as the wills of inordinate princes, who having the rains of dominion given into their hands, if they proclaim not outright with Nero, My authority giveth me licence to do all things; He is a fool that knoweth not what he may do; Fortuna nosira cuncta permitti● mihi. Iner●is est nescire quid licea● sibi. Dan. 3. yet they say to themselves, I am a king, who dareth call me to account, and ask me, what dost thou? yea what is that God that can deliver out of my hands? This kind of impetuous and masterless will, the servantes of the servants of God (mistearmed) have challenged to their chair at Rome. For howsoever they behaved themselves, no man might say unto them, Cur ita facis? why dost thou so? whatsoever they enacted, Sic volo sic jubeo, their will and commandment was warrant enough. Franciscus Zabarella complaineth of those that drew them into such arrogant error; They have persuaded the Popes that they can do all things, even whatsoever pleased them, things unlawful too, and that they are more than God. Silvester the first, Plus quam Deus. Quia scriptum est, non est 〈◊〉 etc. Lib. 2. de bapt. count Dona●. c. 10▪ in the first council of Rome proved it by scripture; The highest bishop is not judged of any, because it written, the disciple is not above his master. And shall the saw boast itself against him that moveth it? Esay the tenth. Therefore let no man judge the Po●e. So was the speech of the Donatists (as Augustine remembreth it,) when they had nothing to answer, sic volumus. Why? For who are thou that judgest another man's servant? The Pope giveth another re●son. Thou art a servant, a disciple, who art thou that judgest thy Lord? Saint Augustine's answer shall fit them both, both the Donatists of Africa, and the great Donatist of Rome; what else do all flagitious and lewd men, riotous, drunkards, adulterers, shameless and dishonest persons, thieves, extortioners, murderers, robbers, sorcerers, idolaters, what else do they answer the word of truth and righteousness, when it reproveth them, but this, hoc volo, hoc me delectat, thus I will do, this delighteth me? Now it is most true that the will of God is an absolute, predominant, sovereign will: where he will he taketh mercy, and where he will, he hardeneth. The ground of their complaint is good, though they miss-applie it, Rom. 9 who hath resisted his will? and if we go to far to inquire and examine, we are met in the way, and willed as it were to stand back, O homo, tu quis es qui disputas? O man, who art thou that disputest? and preassest so boldly into the secrets of God? But it is as true which the Apostle demandeth on the behalf of the Lord, Is there any iniquity with God? far be it. Therefore they sin a sin, which the darkest darkness in hell is too easy to requite, who, when they have spilled the blood of the innocent, like water upon the ground, defiled their neighbour's bed, troubled the earth, and provoked heaven, with many pernicious, infamous mischiefs, rapes, robberies, proditions, burnings, spoilings, depopulations etc. spew out a blasphemy against righteousness itself, countenancing their sins by authority of him who hateth sin, and pleading that they have done but the will of God in doing such outrages. I know that the will of God, though they had staves of iron in their hands, and hearts to resist, shall be done. Ungracious, unwilling, and unbelieving instruments shall do that service to God which they dream not of. When God saith, kill not, and they contradict, we will kill, even then, though they violate the law of God, yet is his will accomplished. He hath hooks for the nostrils, and bridles for the chaws of the wicked, which they suppose not. I will add more; judge ye what I say, and the Lord give you understanding in all things. He hath spurs for their flanks and sides, which they never imagined. Senacharib found a bridle to stay him, and an hook to turn him back; Pharaoh had a spur to drive him forward, I will harden the heart of Pharaoh, Exod. 4. and in many other places. Let him alone, let him take his pleasure and pastime, Exod. 8. but when he hath hardened his own heart by malice, then will I also harden it by justice. Thus the will of God is one way renounced, and as sure as he liveth and reigneth in heaven, shall at the same time, and in the same action some other way be performed. And yet are the men wicked, though they do that which God would, & God most holy & just, though he would that which the wicked do. They beguile themselves herein by a fallacy, they are taken in their own nets, which they lay for an other purpose. For thus they presume. He that doth the will of God sinneth not; true: keep the commandments, honour God, obey the Prince, love thy neighbour as thyself, this is voluntas signi, his will recorded in holy writ, published abroad, signified to all flesh, and as it were proclaimed at a standard, by precept, threatenings, promises, terror, reward, earnestly and openly required. Now the murderer assumeth upon the former ground, I do the will of God; For had it not stood with his will, my power had failed, my heart had not been able to conceive a thought within me, and my hand had withered and shrunk together, before I had given the stroke; true likewise. But this i● an other will, a secret will of God, his will at the second hand, if I may so call is, and by an accident, a will against a will, that because he did not that which God had publicly enjoined, he should do another thing which he had privately determined. De corrept & great. cap. 14. Miro & ineffabili modo non fit praeter ●ius voluntatem, quod etiam fit con●ra eius voluntatem. Enchirid. ca 109. Caetera quidem nescio illud sci●, quod odere curiosos. Augustine delivereth it in wise and pithy terms; De hijs qui faciunt quae non vult, facit ipse quae vult, Of those which do what God would not, he doth what he would: and by a marvelous uneffable means it cometh to pass, that it is not done without (or besides) his will, which is even done against his wil Euclid to one that never rested to inquire of the Gods, answered deservedly: Other things I know not, this I know, that they hate curious and busy inquisitors, Adam was driven out of paradise, for affecting too much knowledge. Israel had died the death Exod. 19 if they had past their bounds, to climb up unto the mount, and to gaze upon the Lord. The men of Bethshemesh were slain to the number of fifty thousand, for prying into the Ark, 1. Sam. 6. The question is as high as the highest heavens, & dwelleth in light as unsearchable as God himself, covered with a curtain of sacred secrecy, which shall never be drawn aside till that day come, wherein we shall know as we are known, and then but in measure and proportion. Who is able to decide, that dwelleth with mortal flesh, how far the counsel of the Lord goeth in ordering and disposing sinful actions? This I am bold to say, because I am loath to lead you farther into a bottomless sea, than where the lamb may wade without danger of miscarrying, and if there be aught behind which is not opened unto you, let this be your comfort, Deus revelabit, GOD will one day reveal it; but in this present question, there is an error (I suppose) in two extremities, either to think that God is the author of sin, which sensual and fantastic Libertines, rubbing their filthiness upon his purity, have imputed unto him; or that GOD doth only but suffer and permit sin, sitting in heaven to behold the stratagems of the wicked, without intermeddling, as if his Godhead were bound like sampson's arms, half of his power and liberty restrained, a greater part of the world and the manners thereof running upon wheels, and the cursed children of Beliall hasting like dromedaries to fulfil the lusts of their own godless hearts, without the government and moderation of the highest Lord. Either of these opinions (me thinks) denieth the Godhead. For howsoever in words both may admit it, they deny it in opinion. They receive it at the gates, and exclude it at the postern. The one destroyeth the justice & goodness of the deity, in that they charge GOD to be the author of sin; the other his omnipotency and providence, in that they bereave him of a great part of his business. The latter of these two positions (that God doth permit sin,) is sound and catholic enough, if more be added unto it, (for God doth more than permit;) the former is filled to the brim, with most monstrous impiety. God not the author of sin. If the devilles in hell may be heard to speak for themselves and against God, what could they say to deprave him more than this, Indeed we have sinned and forsaken our faith, but God caused us? It is a most damnable and reprobate thought, Plat. in Th▪ Quae causa diis benefaciendi? Natura. Nec accipere iniu riam queunt nec fac●re. Hii nec habent nec dant malu●▪ that any vessel of clay should so conceive of his former, who in the creation of all things made all things good, and passed not a work from his fingers, without the approbation of his most prudent judgement, Behold it was good, very good, & God saw it. Ask but the masters of human wisdom, they will inform you in this behalf; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; God by no means is unjust, but as righteous as possible maybe. Seneca asketh the cause, why the Gods do good? he answereth, their nature is the cause. They can neither take nor do wrong, they neither give nor have mischief in them. You have the same doctrine, james 1. Let no man when he is tempted, say that he is tempted by God: for God is not tempted with evil, and he himself tempteth no man. Therefore I blame not edmund Campian, if he hold it in his eighth reason of his pamphlet cast forth, a paradox, that is, an insolent, unwonted, uncredible position, to make God the author of sin. But to charge our reformed churches with the conception and birth of so vile a monster, is as unrighteous a calumniation against us, as God, whose justice we maintain, is most righteous. Duo maledici essemus. Lib. 3. cap. 1. If I should answer slander by slander, we should prove two slanderers; as Augustine sometimes answered Petilian. These are Convicta convicia, ancient reproaches, dead and rotten long since. We never said it. Our church hath been justified by her children a thousand times in this point. This we have said, that in a sinful action there are two things; the act, and the defect; essence and privation; the material and the formal part; the substance and the quality. The latter whereof, is that deformity or irregularity, as they call it, unlawfulness, transgression, pravity, that in every such action is contained. 1, 2 ae. quae. 71. art. 6. conclus. Lib. 2. c. 27. unum ad substantiam actus, alterii ad rationem mali. Quaest 79. artic. 2. concls. Aquinas observeth it in the definition of sin, which Augustine gave against Faustus the Manichee; Sin is any thing spoken, coveted, or done against the everlasting law. One thing (saith he) in this defin●oion belongeth to the substance of the act, the other to the nature of the evil that is therein. God is the author of the act, because all motion cometh from him, but not of the act as it hath defect in it. He bringeth the example of a lame leg, wherein are two qualities, ability to go, but unability to go upright. The going and stirring it hath, is from the virtue that moveth it, (as when a rider driveth his horse;) the lameness and debility belongeth to an other cause, distortion, or crookedness, or some other impotency in the leg itself. The like is, in the striking of a jarring and vntuned harp, Just. Lips. d● Con▪ l 1. c. 20. the fingering is thine, the jarring and discord is in the instrument. The earth giveth fatness and juice to all kind of plants; some of those plants yield pestilent and noisome fruits: where is the fault? in the nourishment of the ground, or in the nature of the herbs, which by their native corruption, decoct the goodness of the ground into venom and poison? The goodness and moisture is from the earth, the venom from the herb; the sounding from the hand, the jarring from the instrument; the motion from the rider, the lameness from the leg; so the action or motion is from God, the evil in the action, from the impure fountain of thine own heart. How could the mind of Cain ever have thought of the death of Abel, his eyes have seen any offensive thing in his accepted sacrifice, his heart have prosecuted with desire, and his hand executed with power, so unnatural a fact, more than a stone in the wall, which if it be not stirred, forsaketh not his place, if God had not given him strength and activity, to have used the service of all these faculties? To think, to see, to desire, to move the parts of the body, were the good creatures of God, (therein consisteth the action:) but to turn these gifts of God to so vile a purpose, was the sin of Cain, the fault of the action, proper and singular to his own person. It is scarce credible to report how Campian goeth forward against us, that as the calling of Paul, so the adultery of David, and the treason of judas, by our doctrine, were the proper works of God, all alike: as if we mingled iron and clay together, and the spirit of God had given us no wisdom to discern things, in nature and quality most repugnant. I again borrow Saint Augustine's words; Petilianus dicit, ego nego, eligite cui credatis, Petilian affirmeth it, Lib. 3. con●. tit. Petil, ca, 10. I deny it, choose whether you will believe. The conversion of Paul, was the regeneration and new birth of one that was a stranger to the covenauntes of God; the adultery of David, the fall and escape of a Saint; the treason of judas, the damned apostasy of a reprobate. The conversion of Paul was the proper work of God, whom Satan had held in darkness and in the shadow of death whilst the world had stood, if God had not cast him into a trance, blinding the eyes, and killing the senses of his body for a time, but illuminating his mind, changing his heart, creating a new spirit within him, and speaking both to his ears and conscience with an effectual calling. Finally he found no will in him fit for his mercies, but wrought both the will and the work to. In the adultery of David, and the treason of judas, he found the will eagerly prepared to iniquity; God doth but use that will: they run of themselves, God stayeth not behind, but runneth with them, though to an other end; they to the satisfaction of their naughty lusts, God to the declaration of his righteous and wise judgements. And although he loveth not their sins, yet he loveth and is delighted with the execution of his admirable justice hanging thereupon. And albeit neither the adultery of David, nor the treason of judas be his proper works; yet God hath his proper working in both their works. For as from unhonest actions may come good creatures; Anselm. de caesu Diab. cap. 91. (as when a child is borne in adultery, the commixtion of adulterers is wicked, the creature good:) so from the lewdest and corruptest wills, God can produce good effects. Not unlike the wisdom of Physicians in using the poison of serpents; for how harmful a nature soever the poison hath, the Physician tempereth it by degree, and healeth his patient thereby: the poison itself notwithstanding hurtful, the skill of the Physician commendable, the effect profitable. Thus we have ever distinguished, not only the works which we know are indifferent, but in one and the same action the diversity of agentes, and dealers, both in this manner of working, and in their ends. In the afflicting of job (for example sake) Satan hath leave to lay his hand upon job: his servants are slain, his oxen, asses, and camels taken and driven away by Sabaeans and Chaldaeans. Slaughter and spoil without mercy. For if a grape-gatherer should come to a vine, would he not leave some grapes? here neither camel nor beast is left, nor any servant, save one alone to bring news. Yet job confesseth after all this; The Lord hath given, and the Lord hath taken. Here are three sundry agents. A man might imagine, that either Satan and the Sabaeans shallbe excused, for having society in this action with God; or God brought into question, for having society with them. Neither of both: The difference of their intentions setteth them as far asunder, as heaven is from the earth at her lowest centre. God hath a purpose to try the patience & constancy of job, to reform the opinion of his own innocency, to make him know that he was but man, and to find an occasion of pouring greater blessings upon him; Satan to show his envy, and malice to mankind, to drive him to desperation; the Sabaeans to store up treasures of wickedness, and to show that stolen bread is sweet unto them. The envy and malignity of Satan, whence is it? of God? No. God borroweth and useth his service, I grant, but Satan first proffered it: so the malice is his own, who was a murderer from the beginning, he only adding government and moderation thereunto. The furious and bloody rapines of the other, whence are they? from God? no. They lay in the cisterns of their own hearts, Satan drew them forth by instigation, themselves let lose the stream, and when it was once on float, the Lord directed and disposed the course by his wisdom. For this present I end. God is of pure eyes, and can behold no wickedness, Conclusion. he hath 〈◊〉 righteousness to the rule, and weighed his justice in a balance, his soul hateth and abhorreth sin, I have served with your iniquities. It is a labour, service & thraldom unto him, more than Israel endured under their grievous taskmasters; his law to this day curseth and condemneth sin, his hands have smitten & scrouged sin, he hath thrown down angels, plagued men, overturned cities, ruinated nations, and not spared his own bowels whilst he appeared in the similitude of sinful flesh; he hath drowned the world with a flood of waters, & shall burn the world with a flood of fire, because of sin. The sentence shall stand unmovable, as long as heaven and earth endureth, tribulation & anguish upon every soul that doth evil, jew or Gentile. All adulterers, murderers, idolaters, sacrilegious, blasphemous, covetous wretches, liars, swearers, forswearers, & whom the Apostle calleth dogs, barking at the justice of God, & making a causeless complaint against him, as if he were cause of their sins, shall one day see the folly, and feel the price of their unrighteous insectation. Let God therefore be true, and let all men be liars; let God be just, and all men sinners; let God be justified in all his judgements, and let all his accusers vanish and consume in the madness of their hearts, as the foam upon the waters. THE XIX. LECTURE. 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 work of God in the casting forth of jonas; Thou, Lord, hast done it: 2. the ground of his works, his own will; as it pleased thee. A third thing is acknowledged by implication, the equity & justice of that will, as the warrant for their deed (for thou Lord, etc.) their meaning is not therein, either to charge him with a tyrannous will, quod libet licet, as the manner of grievous princes is to think that lawful whatsoever pleaseth them; either to insimulate and accuse him of injustice, to make him actor or patron of any their sins, who dealeth in the actions of men, sometimes with open, sometimes with secret, but always with a righteous judgement. Therefore I noted their corruption, who think themselves excused in their most enormous and execrable sins, because they fulfil 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, threatenings, exhortations, dehortations, and such like, whereunto they stand strictly bound, but a secret and hidden will, written in another book, wrapped up in the counsels of his own breast, which neither they intended when they did their misdeeds, neither were they ever charged therewith from God's lips. Deut 29. August. en. chir. c. 100 Secreta Domino, revelata nobis & filijs nostris; Secret things belong to the Lord, revealed to us & our children. 1. Quantum ad ipsos, fecerunt quod Deus noluit; touching their own purpose and intendment, they have done that which God would not, they have transgressed his law with contentation of heart, perhaps with gladness, it may be, with greediness, 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 custom, 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 omnipotency of God, they were never able to do it; he sitteth in heaven that laugheth them to scorn, he besiegeth them round about, and his hand is upon them. They are not able to departed from his will, more than if a ship were going from joppes to Tharsis (as this ship was) from West to East, and one by walking upon the hatches a contrary course, as if he would go from East to West, from Tharsis towards joppes again, might stay the motion or flight of the ship; he doth his endeavour to hinder it, by bending both his face and his pace backward, but the ship is too well winged, and of too huge a burden to be resisted: so those others show their will, to frustrate and fail the will of God by committing sin prohibited, but yet they shall do a will of his, or rather his will shallbe done upon them, maugre their malicious and sworn contradictions. De hijs qui faciunt quae non vult, facit ipse quae vult, Of those that do what he would not, he doth what he would; and as he commanded light to shine out of darkness, so he can command good out of evil, treasure from out the midst of dross, and commodity from the very heart of deepest wickedness: at least he will execute his justice upon offenders, as he professeth. Exod. 14. I will get me honour upon Pharaoh and all his host: for this cause he set him up, to show 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 (wherein as I then protested the wariness of my proceeding, so now I again protest the subjection of my spirit to the spirits of prophets; God forbidden that I should not be readier to learn than to teach,) I say, to reduce it to heads, I proposed unto you the errors of some in 2. 〈◊〉 of extremities: some going too far, in that they make God the 〈◊〉 of sin; others coming a● short, that God doth only permit 〈◊〉. The former an error 〈◊〉 for devils than men▪ the latter an error of humanity, offending of simplicity rather than malice, speaking▪ truth of God, when they acknowledge his permission of sin, but 〈…〉 wholetruth, because they think God only permitteth it both deny the godhead in effect, the one destroying the goodness and 〈◊〉, the other impairing the omnipotency, providence, government thereof, in that they restrain it from some things. The former of these two opinions, that God is the author of sin, most prodigious to conceive, though engendered in the brain, I know not whether of men or devils, yet is taken by Ed. Campion our charitable countryman, & laid at the doors of our Church, yea brought into the streets of our Universities, as if we were the fathers and patrons of it. We never said it I say once again) & to redeem a thousand deaths, if more were due to our sins, we would not affirm it. This we say, whatsoever hath substance, & being, & perfection in the action of sin, God is the author of it, because it is good; Ipsum quantumcunque esse, bonum est; the least essence in the world is good: Aug. de ver▪ rel. cap 34. Inquam●u● sunt, intantum bona sun● Id. ●n qu●st, 83.21. Jd ad artic. 〈◊〉▪ impoes▪ ad 5. but not of the fault and defection therein. I must once more repeat; sin hath a positive & privative part, a subject and the quality of the subject, nature & corruption: Prorsus ab illo est, quicquid pertinet ad naturam, & prorsus ab illo non est, quicquid est contrae naturam; Whatsoever belongeth to nature, is wholly from him, & whtsoeve● is against nature, is in no respect from him. Now death, and whatsoever belongeth to the train of death, sin, and the like, are against nature. In him we live and move, and have our being▪ there is the pillar of our truth; a Poet of the Gentiles delivered it, but an Apostle sanctified and ratified it, and every creature in heaven, in earth, in the deep, crieth Amen to it. And as that gentility and heathnishnesse of that unbelieving Poet could not mar God's truth, so the corruption & depravation in the quality either of man or action, cannot hurt the substance. Life is his, whether we live to him, as we ought to do, or to the lusts of our own flesh, or after the pleasure of the God of this world, the prince of darkness. Motion is his, whether we lift up our hands to prayer, or whether to murder. 1. Neque 〈◊〉 institutione prima naturae. Essence is his: the nature, being, & substance of men, of serpents, of reprobate Angels, are from him, & his good creatures. He made not death, he gave charge to the waters and earth to bring forth creatures that had the soul of life in them, 2. Neque secund●● causam. id est, peccatum. and when he made man he breathed in his face the breath of life▪ & made him a living soul: he made not darkness, he created the light; neither was the author of sterility and barrenness, 3. Non fecit, non acc●rsivit, no● enim nobis. he made the bud of the earth which should seed seed, & the fruitful tree. And to speak a truth in proper terms, these privations, corruptions, and defects in nature, as death, darkness, sterility, blindness, silence, and the like, have rather deficient than efficient causes. For, by the removing of the things themselves which these destroy, they of their own accord succeed & take their places. Abandon the light of the sun whereby our air is brightened and illuminated, you need not carefully inquire or painfully labour how to come by darkness, the deficiency and failing of the light, is a cause sufficient to bring in darkness. If the instrument of sight be decayed, the strings and spirits which serve for the eye, inwardly wasted & corrupted, there is no more to be done, to purchase blindness to the eye; the very orbity and want of seeing, putteth blindness forthwith in possession. If there were no speech, or noise in this church, what would there be but silence and stillness? will you ask me the cause hereof? It hath rightly none. I can render the cause of speech, there are instruments in man to form it, and there is an air to receive it from his mouth, & bear it to their ears that should partake it: upon the ceasing whereof, silence hath a course to supply, without the service and aid of any creature in the world to produce it. And these things we know, and are acquainted with, not by the use of them, (for who can use that which is nothing?) We know what light is, by the use thereof, because we behold it; but who ever saw darkness? if the apples of his eye were as broad as the circle of the sun and the moon, waking and wide open, how could he see darkness? We know what speech is, by the use thereof, because we receive it by the ear; but who ever heard silence? Only we know them, not by fruition of themselves, but by want of their opposites, which erst we enjoined and now are deprived of. I speak the more that I might speak plainly. We were to inquire the efficient cause of sin; it hath none properly: it hath a deficient cause. Adam and Eve forsook as it were the guide of their youth, the word of God and his grace forsook them. Nature is now corrupted, the soundness, integrity of all the faculties therein diseased, the image of God wholly defaced. Upon the decay and departure whereof, sin like a strong man entereth the house, the body and soul are taken up with a mass of injustice, the understanding is filled with darkness, the will with frowardness, the senses with vanities, Corpu● 〈◊〉 hilominu● Deus fecit▪ morbum no● fecit, & an●mum similiter fecit, no● autem peccatum Nimis indoctus est qu● vitium naturae non discernit ab a●thore naturae. Artic. 3. ad artic. falsò imp. Sicut naturarum bonarum optimu● creator est, 〈◊〉 malaru●● volun●atu●● iustiss imu● ordinator. We cùm malè illae utun●●● naturis bonis, ipse ben● utatur etiam volūtatibu● malis. De correp. & great. cap. 14. Lips. lib. 2. de. Constā●, cap 20. Sciente & sinente: quadam etia● sententia, vclen●e▪ In marg. God doth more than permit sin and every part both of outward and inward man becometh a servant to unrighteousness. Basill in a sermon upon this argument now in hand, willeth those that inquire of the author of sin, likewise to answer, whence sickness and orbities in the body come: for they are not (saith he) the work of God. Living creatures were at the first well created, having a proportion convenient to them: but they fell into diseases and distemperatures, when they fell from healthiness, either by evil diet, or by some other cause; notwithstanding, GOD made the body, he made not sickness, and he likewise made the soul, but not the sinfulness thereof. Jerome upon the second of Abacuk, giveth the like judgement; Et si anima vitio suo efficitur hospitium Ch●ldaeorum, naturâ tamen suà est tabernaculum Dei: though the soul by her own fault is made an habitation or lodge for the Chaldaeans, strangers to dwell in, yet by hernature she is the tabernacle of God. Therefore he should show himself too ignorant, that could not discern between the corruption of nature and the author of nature. And because we further were charged, that we made the conversion of Paul, the adultery of David, and the treason of judas, the one the uprising of a sinner, the other the falling down of a saint, the last final revolt of a reprobate, the works, and the proper works of God, all alike; I proved the contrary. The first I acknowledged his proper and entire work, he opened the understanding, changed the will, did all therein. In the other two he took the wrll as he found it, and without alteration thereof, applied it to some ends which he had secretly purposed▪ and though neither the adultery of David, nor the improbity of judas, were his proper works, yet God had his proper works in them both. for as he is a most holy creator of good natures, so he is a most righteous disposer of evil wills: that whereas those evil wills do ill use good natures, he on the other side may well use the evil wills themselves. To conclude; he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a worker in the works of all sorts of men. Communiter author, (fateor) sed non nisi boni fautor; Commonly and indifferently (I grant) an author in a common and large signification, but a favourer only of good. Dost thou address thyself to virtue? it is done both by the privity and assistance of GOD. To vice? with his privity and permission (not with his help) some think (saith Lipsius') with his will too. It is most true that GOD doth suffer sin: there is nothing visibly and sensibly done, which is not either commanded or tolerated, from that invisible, intelligible court of the highest Emperor. August. 58. senten. for it could not be done if God did not suffer it. Nec utique no len● 〈◊〉 sed vole●· Nec sineret bonus fieri malè, nisi om nipotens etiam de malo facer● posset benè. Cap. 15 In his Enchirid to Laurent. 100 it followeth: and truly he doth not suffer it against, but with his will: and being good, as he is▪ he would never suffer any thing to be ill done, but that being also almighty, he can do well of that which is evil. Undoubtedly he doth not suffer against his will, for that would be with grief, and must needs argue a power greater than himself: then if he willingly suffer, Permissio est quoddam genus voluntatis, his sufferance is a certain kind of will. In his book of predestination and grace, he compareth Nabuchodonosor and Pharaoh together, both which had the same plaster of chastisement laid unto them; though converted in the one to his soul's health, in the other to his destruction. Touching nature, they were both men; for honour, both kings; concerning the cause of correction, both held the people of GOD in captivity; and lastly for their punishment, both were admonished by the scourges of GOD. Yet the ends of their punishment were diverse; for the one fought against God, the other by repentance obtained mercy. Now what objections soever a man may frame-here hence against the equity of God, Intelligat ista tamen vel adiuvante Domino perfici, vel deserente permit, ut noverit tamen nolente Domino nihil prorsus admitti: Let him understand that all these things are either brought to pass, God aiding them; or suffered, God forsaking them; so that he know withal, that nothing in the world can be done, An objection answered. if God be unwilling. If then I sin by the will of God, how can I help it? and why doth he yet complain? as Paul objecteth, Romans the ninth. I will remove this stone of offence, and then return to my purpose. My will, I say, is borne by a stream of the will of GOD, or it is my destiny to sin, the stars have fore-signed my going awry, Mars committed the murder, Venus the adultery, thus was I borne and marked, the fault is not mine, I sin by compulsion. I put them all together, because it is the fashion of some to set up a judgement seat in their erroneous fantasies, and thereat to arraign God of injustice, sive per transennam, sive per cannam longam, sive per proximum, either by the casement, or through a long cane, obliquely, or farther of, and some hard at hand and directly, some by destiny, some by stars ohers reaching immediately at God himself, Deus hoc voluit, & si nollet Deus, non facerem, God would have it thus, if God would not, I could not have done it. One in a monastery being reproved, that he did some things not to be done, & omitted others which he should have done, answered those that rebuked him; what kind of man soever now I am, Qualiscu● que nunc sim, talis ero, qualem me deus praescivis esse futurii. Qui profectò & verum dicebat, & hoc vero non proficiebat in bonum. Aug. 2. de ●ono persever. 15. E●odius objected the like. 3. de lib. arbit. 3. Non vide● quomodo sibi non adversentur haec duo, praescientia, & leberias arbitrii. Augustine answered; Deus est praescius voluntatis nostrae, & cuius est praescius, ipsa ●rit. Praedestinatio vel est. Al ligationis & potentiae. vel Conditioni● & justitiae This later is with God, even in evil actions. Non vule malum, vul● hoc ipsum, ●ieri malum. Zanch. Deus quasdam voluntates sua● utique bonas, implet per malor●● hominum voluntates mala●. Aug. enchir. c. 101. I shallbe such as God hath foreseen I should be. Who therein (saith Augustine) both spoke a truth, and yet was no whit bettered to amendment of life by that truth. O damned absurdity, rooting her wickedness in heaven, as if the prescience and will of God were the cause of our sinning, whereas his prescience is but the antecedent to our sins going before them, (for, because we sin, therefore they are foreknown; not, because they are foreknown, therefore we sin:) and his will is but the consequent, following upon them. I say again, God hath a will and purpose in the sins of unrighteous men; not that he liketh the sins, but he ordereth & governeth them in wise manner, & turneth them to some end that well pleaseth him. And though he willeth not the evil itself, yet the doing of the evil doth in some respects content him. And that will in God is consequent to our will. For albeit it were before ours in time (because his will is as ancient as himself, even from everlasting) yet in order and course of things, it cometh behind it, and he that fulfilleth the will of God, in this manner (or rather the will of God is fulfilled upon him) shall hang in hell for his service; so little thanks is he likely to reap at God's hands. For there is no question, but God doth fulfil good purposes of his own, by the ill purposes of ill men. judas was not yet form, nor any member of his body set together or fashioned, when they were all written in the book of God. He saw his treason in the glass of his foreknowledge, and understood his thoughts a far off. There was not a word in his tongue but God was long since acquainted with it. He knew that his will was bend to mischief, from before the world was established. Now God hath a will upon and after the will of judas, and thus he bethinketh himself. judas hath a will to betray his master, I will not stop his will, but convert it to some good use▪ I will draw a preservative against poison from the very poison of a serpent, I will declare my power & skill thereby. The world shall know that of the unnaturallest treason that ever the sun beheld, I can work a good effect. I will show my judgements amongst all nations upon judas and his complices; & by the fruits of that bitter root, the vilest treachery that ever hell cast up, I will save mankind. judas himself never intended therein either to magnify the power of God, or to manifest his justice, or to deliver any of his brethren, who, I dare say, never conceived therein how his own singular soul might be saved. So then, judas committed a treason, and God foresaw a treason, whose knowledge is as great as himself, and the works of a thousand generations to come as present unto him as that which is done at the present time. Aug. lib. 6. hypognost. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Dam. What of that? praescivit, non praedestinavit vel fecit; he only foreknew it, he neither predestinated it nor committed it. For this is the rule: Mala tantùm praescit, & non praedestinat; bona verò & praescit & praedestinat: Evil things he only foreknoweth, good he both foreknoweth and praedestinateth, that is, appointeth and taketh order for them before hand. He also foretold the infidelity, malice, mischievousness of the jews in complotting the same villainy against the son of God. Aug tract. 53. in joan Fecerunt peccatum Judaei, quod eos non compulit facere, cui peccatum non place●, sed facturos esse praedixit, quem nihil latet. Jbid. ●. de con 20. What of that? praedixit, non fecit; he only foretold and not wrought it. Ipsorum praescivit peccata, non sua; He foresaw their sins, not his own. The jews committed a sin which he compelled them not to do, who is displeased with sin, but only foretold that they would do it, because nothing is hid from him. justus Lipsius as acutely as any man; vidit ab aeterno; sed vidit non coëgit; scivit non sanxit; praedixit non praescripsit: he saw it from all eternity, but he saw it, enforced it not; knew it, decreed it not; foretold it, prescribed, ordained it not. For tell me, ye adulterers, murderers, usurers, drunkards, traitors, and the rest of this accursed seed, when you commit such things whereof you are now ashamed, and seek unlawful helps to be rid of them, whether you do them against your wills, whether you find any force offered unto you, whether you are drawn unto them with, lines, or rather draw not them unto you with cartropes? when the devil prompteth and suggesteth iniquity unto you, whether you yield not your necks to his yoke with easiness; if the least object of pleasure allure not, pull not your senses after it; if ever your meat and drink were sweeter to your palate and throat, than these sins to your souls; if there be any christian resistance in you, Quod nolo malum, hoc facio, that evil which I would not, that do I; if you set not windows and doors open, that the strong man, who carrieth the minds of men captive, may enter in? Have you not will in all these? or is it a possible thing that will can be constrained? It is as proper to will to keep a liberty, I mean from coaction, as for fire to burn. Else it were not voluntas, but noluntas as, not will, but no will, if violence could be offered unto it. I desire to open my meaning. The foreknowledge of God is unto him (if shallow and deep may be compared together) as memory is to us: as memory presenteth unto us things that are past, so prescience unto God things which are to come. Memory is our book wherein we read the one, and prescience his book wherein he readeth the other: and as memory in us is not the cause why things past were done, but only recounteth; so God's prescience is not the cause why future things shallbe done, but only foreknoweth them: & as we remember some things which we do, but do not all things which we remember; so God forseeth all things whereof he is author, but is not author of all things which he forseeth: lastly, we remember & God forseeth the doing of every thing in the nature & kind thereof: we remember a stone thrown wherewith a man was slain; by violence? no, by chance; so God foresaw it: we remember since a vineyard was planted, In Psal 32. Si peccavi, ego peccavi, non fatum, non fortuna, non Diabolus. Adversus me pronunc● abo non adversus Dom●num. Bern. ser. 76. in Cantic. in illud Psal. 117. Impulsus sum u● caderem. Quaeris, quis ille impulsor? non est unu●. Impulsor Diabolus, impulsor mundus, impulsor homo▪ quis ist● homosit, quae ris? quisque sui▪ Vsque adeo homo impulsor sibi est, & suime● precipitator, ut non sit quod ab altero impulsor● formides, si ipse à te proprias contineas manus. and the trees thereof brought forth grapes; by violence? no, by nature; so God foresaw it: we remember a thief which lay in wait for blood, and committed a murder by the high way side; by violence? no, by will; so God foresaw it. Thus all things are done according to the foreknowledge & will of almighty God; necessary things of necessity, contingent by contingency and hap, as we call it, natural by kindly course, voluntary with election and choice, their natures neither changed, nor any way enforced by the foresaid means. I conclude with Saint Augustin, God created me with free will (he speaketh of freedom from coaction,) If I have sinned, It was I that sinned; it was neither destiny, nor fortune, nor the devil. I will pronounce against myself, not against the Lord. I know I sin of necessity in one sense, because the corruption of nature hath removed that original integrity wherein man was first created; but I sin not violently, because mine own will is reserved unto me. For, as it was true of man in the state of innocency, Potest non peccare, he may, if he will, not sin, because God left him in the hand of his own counsels, and gave him liberty both ways; so it is now as true in the state of corruption, Non potest non peccare, he cannot choose but sin, the whole lump of his nature being soured with that ancient leaven; neither shall he ever be delivered from the corruption whereunto he is subject, till he attain to the state of glorification, wherein it shall as certainly be verified, non potest peccare, he cannot sin though he would, corruption having put on incorruption both in body and spirit. Which necessity of sinning the mean time is not in any external cause, either creator or creatures, but in the decayed nature of man, upon the fall whereof cometh vanity in the mind, and a frowardness in the will to departed from the living God. Now I return to my former assertion, that nothing is done without the will of God, & yet the will of man thereby no way corrupted or compelled. And surely the very tenor and sound of the scripture phrase, bewrayeth a degree of some forwarder disposition from God in the actions of unrighteous men, than his bare toleration. For, why was it said, not only in the 3. of Exod: I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go but by strong hand, which is referred to the prescience of God, foreseeing what would come to pass; and in the 7. chapter, the heart of Pharaoh was heavy and dull, which is referred to his own obstinate hardening of it; but I will harden the heart of Pharaoh, and he shall not let the people go, Exod. 4. and Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you? Exod. 7. For when Pharaoh hardened his own heart, both against the people of Israel, give them no straw, get you to your burdens, Exod. 5. and in the same chapter against the Lord himself, who is the Lord that I should hear his voice? then did God permit all this to be done, and held his peace, as the Psalm speaketh, gave him the hearing and the looking on: but afterwards when he putteth as it were iron to iron, adamant to adamant, I will harden his heart, it cannot reasonably be supposed, but that besides his sufferance, there was an accession of some work of his. When the sons of Zerviah would have taken Shemei his head from him, because he railed at the king, throwing stones at him, and calling him a murderer, the son of Beliall etc. 2. Sam. 16. David stayed them with strange and unexpected speech, what have I to do with you, ye sons of Zerviah? for he curseth me, because the Lord hath bidden him curse David. And further, as if the railer were safe under the wings of God's authority, who then dare say, wherefore hast thou done so? and once more, suffer him to curse, for the Lord hath bidden him. Nathan the prophet had told him before, that for his murder and adultery the Lord had thus decreed against him: Chap. 12. I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and will take thy wives before thy face, and give them to thy neighbour, & he shall lie with thy wives on the sight of the sun; for thou didst it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun. Micheas told Ahab, The Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all thy prophets, ●. king. 22. and the Lord hath appointed evil against thee. jeremy to the face of GOD chargeth him, jer. 4. Surely thou hast deceived this people and jerusalem, saying, you shall have peac●, and behold a sword. And the Lord in plainer terms taketh it upon him, Ezech. 14. If the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the Lord have deceived him. God gave the Gentiles up (Rom. 1.) to the desires of their hearts, to uncleanness, to defile their bodies between themselves etc. into vile affections, (affections of dishonour, dishonesty, contumely, shame,) to do against nature itself, into a reprobate mind. julian interpreted all these speeches by Permittere, as if then God did it, when he suffered it to be done: (so did many ancient writers, by words of the like importance, Passus est, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉:) Augustine answered him, that God doth not only permit then, but declare his wrath & power therein. julian replied, that they were phrases hyperbolical, that is, in some sort exceeding truth. Augustine answered, they were proper. julian replied, what needed God deliver them to these lusts wherein they were before? it was sufficient to let them stick fast therein. Augustine answered, Aliud est haebere, aliud tradi: traduntur impii non modò ut habeant, sed u● ab iis habeantur. It is one thing to have them, an other to be given over unto them the wicked are given over to their lusts, not only to have them, but to be had, that is, held and possessed of them. We have the like specified, 2. Thess. 2. God shall send them operation of deceit, that they may believe lies. I omit a hundredth places of no less significance. Can there be mightier sins committed, nay conceived, and comprehended in the mind of man, than those I have named? than hardness of heart, the only rock to build all iniquity upon, when one neither is nor can be ashamed? than cursed and slanderous speech, railing at the Gods of the earth, than adulteries, constuprations, open, shameless, even in the sight of the sun, lying, deceiving, sins of Sodom, unnatural lusts in men, women, not to be spoken of, reprobate sense, mighty illusions, and such like? All which notwithstanding, the spirit of the counsels of GOD, of whom it is most true that wisdom shall live and die with him, who neither deceaveth any man, neither can be deceived, hath not forborn largely to speak of, and to derive them in some sort from the throne of GOD, where justice itself is seated; GOD did thus and thus. To turn this night into day, and to make it appear unto you, how God shallbe just still, and yet both nature and the workers of such things abhorred, and abominated before him to the bottom of hell, consider, I beseech you, attentively these two things. First that in all the scriptures to-fore alleged, 1 August. ad artic falsò impoes. ad 14 Deus induravit per justum iudiciu● Pharaonem, & ipse se Pharao per liberum arbitrium. A●. de great. & ● arbit 23. there is mention made of some precedent iniquity, in those ungracious persons whom God so dealeth with, deserving and procuring the hand of God thus heavily upon them. Recessurum non deserit antequam deserat; God never forsaketh a man that will departed from him, before he forsaketh God: & plerumque facit ne deserat; and often times he worketh so that he shall not forsake him. Hath God hardened Pharaoh? Pharaoh hardened himself before. God hardened Pharaoh by his just judgement, Pharaoh himself by his free will. Bad he Shemei curse David? gave he his wives to be defiled by his own son? David had deserved both, for touching both the wife and life of Vriah. Willed he a lying spirit to seduce Ahab? Ahab would not give credit to the right spirit, and he had sold himself to work all manner of wickedness in the sight of the Lord. Did he seduce both people and prophets the leaders of the people? they had before set up idols in their hearts, and put a stumbling block of iniquity before their faces. Did he give over nations, to lusts, uncleanness, dishonest affections, actions against nature, Rom. 1. reprobate senses? the Apostle answereth in God's behalf; it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a recompense of their former errors, because they changed the truth of God into a lie, & worshipped the creature more than the creator, & turned the glory of an incorruptible God, into the image of corruptible men, birds, fourfooted beasts, creeping things. And wherefore were they misled with strong illusions, ●. Thess. ●. but because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved? Now where sin is plagued with sin, as in the policy of God wherewith he governeth the world, you shall find it 1000 times, then is not peccatum, peccatum, but judicium, though sin in nature, yet in respect of God not sin but judgement: it changeth the name, cometh in another nature, presenteth itself with another face & countenance; sin of itself, I must confess, but as it cometh from God, justice: for it is the repayment & retaliation of some former sin: jussisti Domine, & verè sic est, ut omne peccatum sit poena peccantis, O Lord, Iustiu● invidiâ nihil est. thou hast commanded, & indeed so it is, that all sin shall be a punishment to him that committeth it. Envy hath much justice in it, though a malicious, unjust quality in itself: for it eateth up the heart and marrow of her master, as he desireth to eat up another. When David gave charge for Shemei, let him alone, was it to justify Shemei in his wickedness? No. He acknowledged the scourge of God for his sins in the tongue of Shemei, bound together not of whip-chord, but of the venomous reproaches which Shemei cast forth. He looked to the judge from whom it was justice, not to the instrument & rod in the hand of the judge from whom it was malice, & therefore said; It may be the Lord will look upon my tears, & do me good for his cursing this day, knowing that by the wisdom of God these bitter waters could easily be made sweet. Things that are evil in nature, Poorest Deu● prav● non prauè face●e. God can handle not in evil manner. Hemlock of itself is a pestilent and noxious herb. Yet the magistrates of Athens pronounce in judgement, that Socrates shall drink a bowl of hemlock. What? is judgement turned into wormwood, justice in to hemlock? is there poisoning & destroying of men at a judgement seat? yea, and good enough. An action evil simply in itself may be good by a circumstance; the poison is in the herb, not in the magistrate; he commandeth it to be drunken, though as a bane to the malefactor, to shorten his life, yet a preservative of the common wealth, & for the terror of others, a punishment to him that hath poisoned and annoyed the welfare thereof: & as it proceedeth from the magistrate, so leaveth it as it were the name & nature of poison, & is called judgement. The next thing which I wish to be hearkened unto, is this, 2. that whatsoever God doth in the hardening of Pharaohs heart, or irrogating any the like judgement, that he doth, non impartiendo malitiam, not by infusing any wickedness, as the magistrate putteth no venom into the herb; sed non impartiendo misericordiam, but by not imparting his mercy, or auferendo spiritum, by withdrawing his holy spirit: as when ye withdraw the pillars or props of the house, which Samson did, the house falleth to ruin, with the very weight of the building that is laid thereupon; or if a country he waste and unpeopled, it becometh a desert of itself, &, for lack of better inhabitants, it is covered with nettles & briars, & satires, shrich-owles & hedgehogs take it up: so when the aid & assistance of God's grace forsaketh a man, whose body & soul were appointed to have been the temples of the Lord of hosts to dwell in, presently wildness & barbarousness succeed, and that which by the mercies of God might have been as his garden & pleasant paradise, through the absence thereof becometh an habitation for fowl & unclean spirits. Causa deficiens, sive removens. For as the removing of the sun from these upper parts of the earth where we live, into the other hemisphere, bringeth darkness upon us, not that the body of the sun is not altogether lightsome, & his natural office to lighten, but because he is gone & departed further of: so the departure of God, himself most righteous, from an unrighteous soul, by the only remove of his gracious presence, leaveth it to itself in an habit of injustice never to be recovered. Wherein notwithstanding the case is not so hard against God, as some imagine it; that it is all one to thrust an old man down, and to take away his staff, the only stay to keep his feet from falling, for his help being gone, he can no longer stand, as if in God, the withdrawing of his grace, (which is his rod or staff to sustain us) were effectually no less than to thrust us into wickedness: for thus they should rather propose it; that as when an old man wilfully casteth away his staff, and no man restoreth it to him again, he falleth through his own folly, not by another's instigation; so when the wicked despisers of the world, not only neglect, but contemn & defy, that saving grace whereby they stand, through their own stubbornness & perversity they run a wearisome race of wretchedness, the Lord not lending them his helping hand to bring them back again. And therefore, as they that purposedly abandon the light of the sun, to go into a darksome cave of the ground, where the sun never shone, have no reason to complain that the sun would not follow them: so they that wittingly and stiffly renounce the acceptable visitation of God, whereby he would have led them into the ways of peace, let them blame their own impenitency, that they are not afterwards attended upon by the like compassion. Or, to match these incomparable things with Irenee; Lib. 4. count▪ haeres. c 49. as the sun which is the creature of God, blindeth the eyes of such as for the infirmity of sight cannot behold his beams; so God the creator of the sun, hardeneth the hearts of such, as for the hardness of belief will not receive his goodness. For whom he foresaw undisposed to believe, those he delivered to their infidelity, and turned away his face from them, Relinquens eos in e'en bris, quas sibi elegerunt. August. de great & prae. dost. 8. Non vult emollire▪ the former negative. The latter affirmative leaving them in darkness which they chose to themselves. What is it then to harden the heart of Pharaoh, and others? nolle emollire; this, that he will not soften it. What is it to make blind? this, that he will not illuminate: what to reject, or to cast of? this, that he will not call; (which is meant not of his general calling, but of that which is effectual, and belongeth to the chosen:) & yet, me thinks, there is more ●n it. For not only he is unwilling to soften, illuminate, call the impenitent, but he hath further a will, not to do it. For there is great difference betwixt these two speeches, he will not, and he hath a will not do it: the former arguing but an indifferent and milder alienation of the mind, and rather a careless neglect, than a purposed and prounded hatred; the latter a bent and resolved decree. As when a poor man asketh an alms, some are unwilling to relieve him, not weighing his necessity, and bidding him go in peace etc. others have a will not to relieve him, it is determined in their hearts not to afford him comfort, either because they are unmerciful towards all the poor, or for that they are out of liking with the manners or person of this man. Augustine in three words decideth this whole question against Faustus the Manichee, Lib. 1. ad Simplician. quaest 2. Sed cùm facit, per mise ricordiam facit; cùm autem non facit▪ per judicium non facit, Enchi▪ cap. 97. touching the hardening of hearts, and the like judgements: Diabolus suggerit, homo consentit, Deus deserit; The devil worketh it by suggestion, man by consenting, GOD by forsaking, by suffering an hard heart to wax as fat as brawn, by giving success to ●ll purposes which he could have stopped, by not communicating the help of his blessed spirit; ut non ab illo irr●getur aliquid, quo sit homo deterior, sed tantùm, quo sit melior, non erogetur. God were able, I confess, to soften the hardest heart, open the blindest eyes, when, and in whom, and where he listed; But when he doth so, he doth it by mercy; and when he doth it not, he doth it not by judgement. Meanwhile let this be held for a constant and unfallible rule, that although there be many whom God lifteth not up, Ad ●rtic. fall. imp●art. 14. Multi, ne laberentur, de●en●i; mulli, ut laberentur, impul●i. yet there is none whom properly he throweth down. Ab illo est quòd statur, non est ab illo quòd ruitur, From him it cometh that we all stand, but not from him that any falleth: and many have been held that they fell not, no man pushed at to cause him to fall. Only he casteth them down by a consequence, because he giveth not his grace which might have sustained them: as if a nurse lend not her hand to support her child, the child will fall, I grant, but the cause of the falling is the weakness and debility of the child, the nurse no further the cause thereof, then that she did not hinder it. Which though it be a fault amongst us, because we are members one of the other, and tied together by the bond of charity, yet it is no fault in God, who having power over his clay, may work at his pleasure either in judgement, to make it a vessel of dishonour, or of honour in mercy. For manifestation of this latter point, that God instilleth not malice into the offenders, in this execution of his judgements by punishing sin by sin, but finding these vessels of iniquity full fraught of themselves, leaveth them with the season of their own liquor, and only apply them by his wisdom to some good service of his; though I were able to open it unto you in all the examples before alleged, yet I will rest, in the seducement and fall of Ahab. Wherein it may seem, that God doth not only permit the false spirit, 1. King. 22. Thou shalt seduce Ahab, but giveth encouragement also, thou shalt prevail, and addeth a commandment, go forth, and alloweth of the form of dealing in the matter, do so. Now that you may know how innocent the Lord is in an action of such prejudice, observe the circumstances of the place well. 1. The thing intended is, that Ahab might fall at Ramoth Gilead. Which purpose of God once set, is so unchangeable, that if heaven and earth were confederate, they can not save the life of Ahab. God shall send forth a spirit, the spirit deceive prophets, prophets entice Ahab, Ahab change his apparel, and though jehoshaphat be the fairer mark, yet jehoshaphat shall escape, and one shall draw an arrow by chance, and smite Ahab betwixt his brigandine, and he shall die at evening; he did so. Therefore touching the end of this business, it is no injustice in God, to execute judgement and wrath upon a famous adversary. 2. Concerning the means, inquiry was made who should entice Ahab, because in the nature of God himself it was not to entice him. 3. That which he doth, he doth by a spirit, not by himself: 4. by an evil spirit, De propriis loquitur. of his band & retinue, who stood before God 1. job. 5. The spirit cometh furnished of his own, for when one said thus, another otherwise, he proffered his service to to entice him. 6. When God demanded of the means, he invented the practice, by being a false spirit in the mouth of his prophets. 7. What were those prophets of Ahab? men that were faithless of themselves, whose guise it was, either for rewards, or for favour of the king, to say they had dreamt▪ when they had not, and the Lord hath said, when he never said it. So there is both malice in the spirit, and falsehood in the prophets, before God setteth either hand or heart to the business. Therefore what doth the Lord therein? he fitteth upon the throne as the judge & moderator of the whole action, he commandeth the attendance of all the army of heaven on the right hand and on the left, clean and unclean spirits are in subjection to him, he giveth leave to them who without his leave are unable to do any thing, thou shalt entice; he giveth the success, which all the kingdom of darkness could not effect, if he would hinder it, thou shalt prevail; he biddeth go, and they go, run, and they run, to show that all the creatures of the world serve him; he disposeth the course, Do so, that is, do so and no more than so; as much as to say, Since thou hast malice to bestow, extend it upon Ahab rather than jehoshaphat; and falsehood to infuse, power it forth upon the 400. prophets of Ahab rather than upon Michaeas or any prophet of mine; and let the fall of Ahab be at Ramoth Gilead rather than in another place, and in this battle with the king of Aram, rather than at another time. Thus when the matter is their own, God giveth the fashioning and ordering thereof in some sort, touching the persons, time, place, and other the like particulars. But why is it further said, that God put a lying spirit into the mouth of these prophets of Ahab? 1. he did it by way of a punishment, to be avenged of that custom of lying, which they were enured unto aforetime: 2. he did it by his instrument, Instrumentum animatum. having both life, and will to do hurt, not by himself: 3. he did it in this sense, that he stayed not the wicked purpose, by interposing the aid of his good spirit. By this time, I think, it appeareth, that in the actions and passions of unrighteous men, there is more to be deemed of God than his bare permission. For doubtless he hath his will therein, neither in alluring, neither in counseling, and much less in compelling thereunto, but in ordering and governing them, in applying them to better ends than the oftendours are aware of, and in ordaining his just judgements consequently thereupon. Therefore when I say he hath his will therein, mistake me not. He hath not a will in such sort as if he approved sin, chose or desired sin, as if he bare appetite & liking thereto. It is rather voluntas than volitio, if I may so speak, a will than a willingness; it is his will by obliquity, a side-will, unproper, Zanch. undirect, and in respect not to the sin itself, but some other good adjoined unto it: as when a man is put to have his arm or leg cut off for a further benefit, he beareth, and beareth it with his will, not that he liketh of the dismembering of his body, or losing of a joint, but that he desireth some other good, which he forseeth may ensue thereby. Thus he permitted, and (more) he decreed the treason of judas, and iniquity of the jew against his anointed son, as you have it confessed by the Apostles, Acts the fourth; that Herode and Pilate with the Gentiles and people of Israel gathered themselves together against the holy son of GOD jesus, to do whatsoever his hand and his counsel had determined before to be done. God had determined it before, not in the favour of their sin, but of our redemption. Origen. in Num. 22. Take away the wickedness of the prodition of judas, thou shalt also take away the cross and passion of Christ; if the death of Christ had not been, than neither his resurrection, nor any first begotten from the dead, nor any hope of our resurrection. Take away the malice of the brethren of joseph, Tolle malitiam fra●ū Josephi, simul perimes dispensationem Dei. thou shalt together kill the dispensation of GOD; a fault never to be excused, the more unnatural because it came from brethren, the more unreasonable because of envy without just cause, the more unsufferable because they added lying, and bound two sins together, and it was, in likelihood, the hastening of their father's death. Yet joseph told his brethren when they came into Egypt, Gen. 45. Grieve not yourselves that ye sold me hither, for God sent me hither for your preservation (this they never foresaw, neither was it the end of their despiteful dealing:) you sent me not hither but God, who hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and Lord of his house, and ruler throughout all Egypt, when you repined that I was a brother amongst you, and left me no footing in mine own father's house. Afterwards when his brethren fell down at his feet, & confessed their sin, he answered them, fear not, am I in steed of God, set to execute judgement? When you thought evil against me, God disposed it to good, that he might work, as it is come to pass this day, and save much people alive. All the wits in the world cannot better set down the state of the question. They thought evil, God disposed it to good▪ they to ungorge themselves of that venomous malice which the prosperity of joseph conceived from his dreams, instilled into their hearts; God, to preserve them in a famine to come, and to save much people alive: they sent him away to remove their eyesore; God, to be a steward both for Egypt and Israel. Nay God sent him thither, and they sent him not: the incomprehensible reaches of God were so far above theirs, and his wisdom in the good handling of a bad cause doth so much obscure and discountenance their malice, that it seemeth not to be at all, and the ministers in the action as it were cast aside, the highest dispenser and moderator thereof only is remembered, you sent me not hither but God; the purposes of your hearts were nothing in comparison of that everlasting decree, which the immortal and only wise God made to himself. See what a race and pedigree of blessings Origen bringeth down from the rotten stock of that ungracious practice. If joseph he not sold, pharao's dreams are not expounded, none maketh provision of corn, Egypt and the country about Egypt, and Israel sterveth in the time of dearth, the seed of Israel goeth not into Egypt to seek bread, neither returneth out of Egypt with miracles, no wonders are wrought by Moses and Aaron, no passing through the red sea, no Manna from heaven, no water from the rock, no law from Sinai, no going into the land of Canaan, etc. These are the blessings and commodities which the envy of the patriarchs bringeth forth by Gods most mighty and wise dispensation. So that we may truly say, Particular mischiefs are common commodities. The life of the Lion is maintained by the death of the Lamb, Privatae mala, publica bona. Sanguis Martyrum, semen Ecclesiae. Ench. c. 27. the cruelty of tyrants giveth Martyrs their glory and crown, And the blood of Martyrs becometh the seed and propagation of the church. If any demand whether this good might not better have been procured by good means, I answer with Augustine, Melius iudicavit Deus de malis benefacere, quàm mala nulla esse permittere; It seemed better to the wisdom of God, to work good out of evil, than to suffer no evil at all. Conclusion. I now conclude the point. As in the statutes & laws of our common wealth, there are many things contained more than the laws either commit or allow, as treasons, felonies, heresies, and the like, which notwithstanding the laws order & dispose of; so in the will of God, within the compass and pale of his arbitrement, much more is contained, than either by action or autorizement from him could ever be defended, and yet is that will of his, judge and disposer of all those particulars. And whether joseph be sold into Egypt, or jonas thrown into the sea, or the son of God himself nailed upon a cross, we may safely & universally say with the Mariners in this prophesy, Thou, Lord, haste done as it pleased thee. Surely there is not an evil in th● city, nor upon the face of the earth but God hath some use of it. Those sins within our land that take all from men, as covetousness, extortion, oppression, usury, they take not that from God which his wisdom maketh of them, I mean the profit & use of most unnatural vices. Happily they take the substance of their brethren, and by taking such snares away, save their souls; or, if they take their lives, they ease & unlade them of a great burden of their sins to come. The drunkard drinketh himself a sleep, not God, and bringeth his own senses and wits into a trance, but provoketh & quickeneth the righteous Lord to do a work of justice. The adulterer wrappeth himself within the arms of his harlot, and thinketh he is safe, and not perceived, but never shall be able to unwrap himself from the arms of God's government. The murderer that spoileth the life of his mortal brethren, if every wish of his heart were a two edged sword, shall never kill the life of God's immortal providence. He shall say to the hardest heart, at which the preaching of prophets and denunciation of judgements hath often recoiled, open thy doors that I may enter into thee to declare my justice; and to the reprobatest mind that ever hath been dulled and benumbed with sin, though thou feelest not my grace, thou shalt feel my vengeance. Envy cannot hinder his benignity, nor the hottest malice under heaven dry up this spring of his goodness. What shall we say then? Because God maketh use of thy sins, art thou excused? Is not thine evil, evil, because he picketh good out of it? deceive not thyself therein. When thou hast done such service to thy master and maker, though seven and seven years, as jacob did to Laban, thou shalt lose thy wages, and thy thanks to. O well were thou if thou didst but lose, for thou shalt also gain a sorrowful advantage. It is unprofitable, nay miserable service which thou hast thus bestowed. Babylon shall be the hammer of the Lord a long time to bruise the nations, himself afterwards bruised. Assur his rod to scourge his people, but Assur shall be more scourged. These hammers, rods, axes, saws, other instruments, when they have done their offices, which they never meant, shallbe thrown themselves into the fire, and burnt to ashes. Satan did service to God, it cannot be denied, in the afflicting of job, winnowing of Peter, buffeting of Paul, executing of judas, and God did a work in all these, either to prove patience, or to confirm faith, or to try strength, or to commend justice; yet is Satan reserved in chains, under darkness, to the retribution of the great day. judas did service to God, in getting honour to his blessed name for the redemption of mankind, whilst the world endureth: Yet was his wages an alder-tree to hang himself upon, and, which is worse, he hangeth in hell for eternal generations. He had his wages, and lost his wages. That which the priest gave him, he lost, and lost his Apostleship, but gained the recompense of everlasting unhappiness, and lieth in the lowest lake, for the worm and death to gnaw upon without ceasing. Will you hear the end of all? Fear God, and keep his commandments, For this is the whole duty of man. This is the will of God, wherewith we are highly charged, and he will strictly require it. The book that is clasped up, let us leave to the Lamb and to the blessed Trinity. Those of Moses, the Prophets, the Psalms, of Christ and his blessed Apostles, wherein we may run and read the ordinances of the most High, belong to us, and our seed after us. These let us carefully search, and meditate in them day and night; let them wake and sleep, walk & rest, live and die with us: and whatsoever he hath secretly decreed, whether by our weakness or strength, sickness or health, falling or standing, which in his hidden counsels is locked up, and cannot be opened, but by the key of David, let us beseech him for Christ's sake, to turn it to our good, that his name may be glorified, his arm made known, his wisdom, justice, and mercy more and more magnified, and our sinful souls by the abundant riches of his grace finally saved. Amen. THE XX. LECTURE. Chap. 1. ver. 15. So they took up jonas, and cast him into the sea, and the sea ceased form her raging. ver. 16. Then the men feared the Lord, etc. IN the former verse, was the dedication of the sacrifice, wherein they sanctified themselves by prayer, & commended their action to God's good favour; in this is the offering of the sacrifice: before the attempting whereof, being their final doom, & animadversion upon the life of jonas, a judgement without redemption, they observe the charitablest & wariest principle in exercising discipline, that may be held; that is, not to try an extremity, till they have tried all means, and then, if the wound be uncurable and past hope, Cuncta priùs tentanda. to apply the fire or the sword to it. They dealt with jonas in this course, as a skilful surgeon with his patient, a part of whose body being putrefied, and eating on by degrees, threateneth the loss of the whole, if it be not stayed, as the transgression of jonas being but a member in the ship, went forward like a canker, and was at hand to have invaded the whole company. The professor will first inquire the cause of the malady, how cometh it? what hath thy diet, thine exercise been? as these ask jonas, what haste thou done? what is thine occupation? etc. and when he is answered by his patient, I have eaten and drank intemperately, exceeded the strength of my body, incontinently lived, (as jonas reported how far he had disobeyed,) perhaps he may chide him, as these chide jonas, Why haste thou done this? a man of thy years, education, discretion? as these imply to jonas, a man of thy knowledge, calling, and commission? yet he will do more than expostulate, (for that were to afflict the afflicted, and to heap grief upon grief) he will advise with the patient himself, as these with jonas, who best knoweth the state of his body, as jonas the counsels of God, What shall we do unto thee? And though he be answered, there is no help but one, mine arm must be cut, or my leg sawed of, and then the rest of my body may be saved, as jonas answered, Cast me into the sea, and the sea shall be calm unto you: yet he will prove his skill otherwise, as they their endeavours by rowing, to save the joint, if possibly it may be done. But when there is no other help, the sore retaining his anger, as the sea her impatience, both fretting on still, and crying for a desperate remedy, then will the one use his corrosives, and sharpest instruments, commending the success of the cure unto God, as these, after prayer, took up jonas, and cast him forth. In the two next verses ensuing we may observe, 1. their proceeding (as it were by steps) to the action; They took up jonas: 2. the accomplishment thereof; They cast him into sea: 3. the event; The sea ceased from her raging: 4. the demeanour of the mariners, after their release, both in their inward affection, Then they feared the Lord exceedingly; & in the open testification thereof, 1. by sacrifices, witnesses of their present thankfulness; and 2. vows, pledges, and earnests of their duty to come. Eleazar, an ancient interpreter of the Bible, 1. They took up. thinketh that the sentence is here perfited, They took up jonas, and by a period or full point severed from that which followeth, They cast him into the sea. Thereupon he collecteth, that the Mariners assayed five experiments, to acquit themselves from danger. 1. The private invocation of every man upon his own God; 2. the throwing forth of their wares; 3. their casting of lots; 4. their common supplication; 5. their letting down of jonas into the sea, up to the neck, and pulling him back again, that it might appear unto them, that jonas was the Man, whom the sea desired, because whilst his body was in the waters, the sea stood; when taken back, it boiled again. There is no warrant in my text for this opinion, therefore I charge you not with it. For as there is no reason, to lose one word of the writings of God (not the least fragment of the broken meat,) so on the other side, to add unto them, is an injury, and a plague will follow it. Only this I observe as the complement of all their former humanity, specified in many particulars before, that though they could not cast him forth, but they must first take him up amongst them, yet seeing the history might have concluded both in one, the latter implying the former, and rather doth it by noting the order and distinction of two sundry actions, and by making a space between them▪ First they took him up, etc. then they cast him forth; it argueth a treatable, deliberate, gentle proceeding in them, that, that which they did, they did by leisure, and without violent or turbulent invasion. Hierome, with others, comment upon the words, Tulerunt, non arripuerunt, non invaserunt, They took him, they haled him not, they caught him not up in a rage, they set not hastily upon him, but bore him in their arms, Quasi cum obsequio portantes. as it were with honour & due estimation. Because it was the funerals and exequys of a prophet of the Lord, their last service unto him, they did it with reverence. And in truth there needed no invasion or force to be used against him. He was brought to his end, tanquam ovis (which was the Emblem of the son of God) as a lamb that is dumb before the shearer, so opened he not his mouth. Tulerunt non repugnantem, They took him without resistance. For what should resistance have done? Prudent. Ducunt volentem fata, nolentem traehunt; (I will not say, The destinies, as the Poet doth) but the will and power of God (for these are the right destinies, and he that so understandeth them with Saint Augustine, Lib. 5. de civ. Dei▪ cap. 1. Teneat sententiam, corriga● linguam, Let him keep the opinion, only amending his tongue:) But the will and power of God lead him that is willing to go, and pull him that is unwilling. I never red, that Moses opposed himself by the least thought of his heart, to the ordinance of God, when he said unto him, Behold, the days are come that thou must die, though Moses might have lived many years. For in the last of Deuteronomy, his eyes were not dim, nor his natural force abated▪ Rather he spoke unto the people with cheerfulness & alacrity of heart, embracing the tidings of his death, I am an hundred and twenty years old this day, I can no more go out and in, also the Lord hath said unto me, Thou shalt not go over this jordan. Young men amongst us think they are privileged, because they are in their full strength; old men though they have a foot in the grave, think they may be long old: There is none so stricken in years, Nemo est 〈◊〉 senex qui non annum se putet posse ●ivere. but thinketh he may live a year more. Be we young, or old, if ever the message of God be sent unto us, as to Ezechias, Put thy house in order, dispatch thy worldly affairs, for thou must die, and not live, though we turn our faces to the wall, & pray, & weep, & mourn like a dove, & beg for life, as he did, yet if the purpose of God be fixed, let us patiently entertain it. Cur quod necesse est, non voluntas occupat? Prudentius a Christian & prudent Poet spoke it, That that must be, shall be; blessed be the name of God, let us not refuse it. Let a beast be pulled from his den by force, but let a Christian be taken from his life with patience. For it is not inheritance but debt, and he that is the Lord of the spirits of all flesh, will as gloriously restore, as he will certainly require it. jonas is now at length executed; if this had been done before, 2. They cast forth jonas. the sea had been quiet: but the Lord loveth to hold & suspend an action, for he hath many works in one, & this amongst the rest, that man may know, that howsoever he be favoured by the intercession & respite of time, and by other helps, he cannot strive with a mightier, nor go to law with his maker, but his reckonings and accounts must be made when all is done. Adam may run into thickets, and spend the time a while, and cover himself with leaves, and think to beguile God's eye, but Adam shall be called forth of his bushes, & stripped of his garments as thin as spider's webs, and cast out of paradise, and have a sentence of death pronounced, and performed to upon him, and his whole lineage. Doth Sisera think by running away, to run from the judgements of the Lord? though there be peace between jabin his master, and the house of Heber the Kenite, yet that peace shallbe turned into war, he shall come into the tent of jahel the wife of Heber, and find the hand of the Lord as ready to encounter him there, as if he had fallen upon the host of Barake; a draft of milk, which he beggeth for his comfort, shall be his last & deadliest draft, and instead of rest to the temples of his head, a nail shall be driven into his temples to dispatch his life. The jews may say in the Prophet, they will ride upon horses, they will fly away upon the swiftest, but their persecutors shall be swifter than they. Others may go to the mountains and rocks, and say they will lie in the closest, but mountains shallbe made as valleys, & rocks shall yield at the pleasure of God, as wax before the sun, to open and disclose his enemies. jonas shall have his leave to run away on foot with Sisera, to ride upon the swiftest with the jews, to ship himself in a vessel, & lie as close in the shrouds thereof, as the ribs will give him leave, he shall one while sleep, another draw lots, a third discourse, now be chid, & then examined, & afterwards consulted with, & fairly entreated; he shall see the loss of all their wares, & think his life may be saved by that loss, & behold millians of waves broken against the side of the ship, and hope that millians more shall pass, & not touch him; he shall have what friendship & help the whole company of mariners may afford him, either by their prayers, or by their advice, or by the handling of their oars, yet the end shallbe, jonas must be cast forth. This is the wages of sin, & this is the way of all sinful flesh. When we have stood long, and fought with the dangers of the world, both by land & sea; when thousands have fallen at our right hand▪ & ten thousands at our left, & we have not fallen; when we are compassed with friends so far forth, that we may say with the woman of Shunen, I need not speaking for me, either to the king, or to the captain of the host, ●. King. 4. I dwell amongst mine own people, where I may command; when we have walked in the light of the sun, our prosperity, I mean, waxed so great, that we have wanted nothing; when we think that we are in league with death, & in covenant with the grave, and promise ourselves, that we shall multiply our days as the sands by the sea side, even when we have sails and oars at pleasure, that we may say with Antiochus, (I will not sail in the sea with jonas) but I will sail upon the mountains, and walk upon the seas as upon dry land; yet there must be a time, when all these helps shallbe frustrated, and jonas shallbe cast forth. Though we escape the pit, we shallbe taken in the snare, jerom. 48. we shall fly from a Lion, and a bear shall meet us, or lean our hand upon a wall, and a serpent shall bite us, Amos 5. we may be delivered in six troubles, and the seventh shall dispatch us; him that escapeth from the sword of Haz●ell, shall jehuslaie, and him that escapeth from the sword of jehu, shall Elisa slay, 1. Kings 19 As one that shooteth at a mark, sometimes is gone, and sometimes is short, sometimes lighteth on the right hand, sometimes on the left, at length hitteth the mark; so death shooteth at noble men beyond us, at mean men short of us, on the right hand at our friends, at our enemies on the left, at length hitteth ourselves; & the longer her hand is practised, the more certain it is. She was aiming at Adam 900. & 30. years, at last smote him; at Methusaleh 969. years, in the end overthrew him; now she striketh within the compass of threescore years or threescore & ten, or fourscore at the most, & sometimes at the first stroke, even in the day of our birth. C●st them out of my sight (saith God to his prophets) and let them departed, some to captivity, some to the sword, jer. 1●. some to pestilence, some to the water, as Pharaoh, and the Princes of Egypt; sun to the fire, as the king of Edom, whose bones were burnt to lime; sun to the bowels & ●awes of the earth, as the congregation of Abirà, Haman to the gallows, jesabel to the dogs, Herode to worms, the disobedient Prophet to a lion, the sons & daughters of job to the fall of an house, the mothers & infants of jerusalem to a famine; some to a plague, some to the edge of the sword, some to a sickness by the hand of God; one crieth my head, my head, as the Sunamites son; another, my bowels my bowels, as Antiochus; another, my feet, my feet, as Asa; one complaineth of a palsy, another of a burning fever, a third of an issue of blood: but whatsoever the means be, the ordinance of God in the end is this, jonas must be cast forth, the ship eased, the world emptied by degrees, & new generations successively take place. If this were remembered by us, that as jonas slept in the sides of the ship, & we in security, so we must both sleep in the dust of the earth; & as the lot fell upon jonas in his time, so the lot must fall upon us in ours; & as neither counsel, nor strength could deliver jonas, so neither counsel nor strength can deliver us; & as it was the will of God to drown jonas, so it is the will of God some way or other to dissolve us; & whether the time is limited, within 10. or 100 or 1000 years, there is no defence against the hand of the grave; the very remembrance hereof would be as comfortable, and as fortunate a staff unto us, to walk the pilgrimage of our few & evil days, as the staff that jacob had to go over jordan with. O look unto your end, as the wise men looked unto the star, which stood over Bethlehem; it shall happily guide you to heaven, as that guided them to Bethlehem, where the king of the jews now sitteth & reigneth at his father's right hand; it shall lead you from the East to the West, as that led them from the rising of the sun, I mean the state and time where your life begun, to the going down of the same. But it is a death unto us, to remember death. I will say with the son of Sirach, whilst we are able but to receive meat, Eccle. 43. whilst there is any strength & livelihood in us & but appetite to our food, it is a death to remember death; & though we dwell in ruinous & rotten houses, built uponn sand & ashes, which the wind & rain of infinite daily casualties shake about our ears, yet we walk in this brittle & earthenhouse, as Nabuchodonosor in his galleries, and ask, Is not this great Babel? Is not this my house a strong house? is not my body in good plight? have I not blood in my veins? fatness in my bones? health in my joints? am I not likely to live these many years, and see the succession of my sons and nephews? what will be the end of all this? Ducunt in bonis dies sues, & in puncto descendunt in infernum, They pass their days with pleasure, and in an instant of time go down into hell. Therefore they are deceived, which think it an easy matter, speedily to return unto God, when they have long been straying from him; that are gone with the prodigal child, in longin quam regionem, into a far country, far from the thought of death, and consequently far from the fear of God, yet promise themselves a quick return again. Do they not know, that it will ask as long a time (if not a longer) to find God, as to lose God? joseph and Mary left their son at jerusalem, and went but one days journey from him, but they sought up and down three whole days before they could find him; these going from the ways of the Lord, a journey of forty or fifty years, hope in a moment of time to recover his mercies. I would never wish so desperate an adventure to be made by any man, that the sins of his soul, and the end of his life should come so near together, as the trespass of jonas, and his casting forth. For think with yourselves how fearful his thoughts were, being at the best, to be rocked & tossed to and fro in a dangerfull ship, the bones whereof ached with the violence of every surge that assailed it, the anchors, cables, and rudders, either thrown away, or torn in pieces; having more friendship proffered him, than he had hap to make use of; at length to be cast into the sea, a merciless and unplacable sea, roaring for the life and carcase of jonas, more than ever the lion roared for his prey, the bottom whereof seemed as low unto him as the bottomless destruction, and no hope left to escape either by ship boat, or by a broken piece of board, or to be cast to land; and besides all these, the anger of GOD burning against his sins like a whole river of brimstone. This is the case of us all in any extreme and peremptory sickness, or to speak more largely, in the whole course of our lives, for our lives are nothing but uncertainty, as Ezechias sang in his song, Esa. 38. From day to night thou wilt make an end of me. We are tumbled and tossed in a vessel as frail as the ship was, which every stream of calamity is ready to break in shivers, where neither anchor nor rudder is left, neither head, nor hand, nor stomach is in case to give us comfort, where though we have the kindness of wife and friends, the duty of children, the advice and pains of the Physicians to wish us well, we cannot use their service; where we have a grave before our eyes, greedy, inexorable, reaching to the gates of hell, opening her mouth to receive us, and shutting her mouth when she hath received us, never to return us back again, till the worms and creepers of the earth have devoured us. There is terror enough in these things to the strongest man; Etiam 〈◊〉 m●tu percelleris, sicu● vulgus? Aristippus feareth death as well as the common people. But if the anger of God for our former iniquities accompany them, thrice woe unto us; our heavy and melancholic cogitations will exclude all thought of mercy, and our souls shall sleep in death, clogged with a burden of sins, which were never repent of. Therefore if we desire to die the death of the righteous, as Balaam wished, let us first live the life of the righteous; and as we gird our harness about us before the battle is joined, so let us think of repentance before death cometh, and the ordinance of God be fully accomplished, that we must be cast forth. And the sea ceased from her raging. As the rising of the sea was miraculous, so it is not a less miracle, 3. The event. that her impatience was so suddenly pacified. Heat but a pot with thorns, and withdraw the fire from it, can you appease the boiling thereof at your pleasure? Here the huge body, and heap of waters raised by a mighty wind in the air, or rather the wind and breath of God's anger, (what shall I say?) remitteth it the force of her rage by degrees? falleth it by number and measure? giveth it but tokens and hope of deliverance unto them? nay at the first sinking of jonas, it standeth as unmovable as a stone, as dead as the dead sea, having fretted itself before with the greatest indignation and wrath that might be conceived; as if he that bounded the sea at the first creation, Hitherto shalt thou come, and no further, had spoken unto it at this time, Thus long shalt thou rage's, & no longer. Let me observe unto you thus much from the phrase. If the commotion of the sea, Ab indignatione. even in the greatest and vehementest pangs thereof, (as greater than these could not be) by a translation of speech, for likeness of natures, be termed her indignation and rage; then by as good a reason on the contrary side, the anger of man throughly kindled, may be matched with the commotion of the most unquiet sea. And how unseemly a thing it is, that the heart of man should reak with any passion, as that vast and untamed element foameth with rage, yourselves be judges. I have found this perturbation diversely compared: by Chrysostome, though not to the sea, yet to that confused noise which seamen sometimes make, when their heads are most busied, with whom there is nothing but tumult, much running too and fro, large & liberal outcries, but no place left for philosophy, that is, wisdom and reason have no leave to speak, Fr●tus similis navi d●currenti in mare, & damonem hab●nti gubernatorem. Non sic acu●a Ingemina●t Corybantes aera. De ira Dei▪ cap. 5. or to give their judgement; By Evagrius, to a ship sent into the sea, where the devil is pilot; By the Poets, to a troubled springe, wherein if you look, and think to behold the image of a man, you see no part of his right composition; or to that clamorous and disordered behaviour, which the Priests of Cybele used in Crete, ringing their basons, and playing upon timbrels all the day long, and by incomposed gestures in the open streets showing themselves to be nothing less than reasonable creatures. When anger, saith Lactantius, is fallen into the mind of man, like a sore tempest, it raiseth such waves, that it changeth the very state of the mind, the eyes wax fiery, the mouth trembleth, the tongue faltereth, the teeth gnash, & the whole countenance is by course stained, sometimes with redness, sometimes with paleness. But it was never more rightly fitted than by the spirit of God in this place, where it is likened to the fury and rage of the sea. I may speak it to the shame of men, In the rage and fury of the sea there is more mercy. The sea is contented and pacified, when jonas is cast forth; we in the lightest displeasure done unto us, never satisfied with the punishment, the damage, the dishonour, no nor the death of our adversaries, hate the quick, pursue the dead, as if we had made that unchristian and heathenish vow, Nec mor● mihi finiet iras etc. Mine anger with my body shall not die; But with thy ghost my ghost shall battle try. Whereas the rule of Lactantius rather should moderate us, Ira mortalium debet esse mortalis, The anger of mortal men, should be mortal like themselves. Valerius Maximus reporteth Sylla to have been such a one, Ibid. ca 21. Lib. 9 cap. 3. In dubio est Sylláne prior, an iracum. dia Syllae si● extincta. of whom it was doubted, whether himself or his anger were first extinguished. These turbulent perturbations of anger, hatred, and malice, as they are never without the torment of him that useth them, they boil his heart into brine, & eat the moisture out of his flesh so there is great presumption, that the spirit of God resteth not in a soul possessed therewith. When God appeared to Elias, 1. King. 19 lying in the cave of mount Horeb, first there passed by him a mighty strong wind, which rend the mountains, & tore the rocks, but the Lord was not in the wind; after the wind came an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; after the earthquake came fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; after the fire came a still & soft voice, therein the Lord was, & spoke, & Elias came forth and answered. Think with yourselves, that these winds, earthquakes, & fires, are our boisterous affections which the presence & favour of God avoideth, better beseeming bruit beasts, in whom there is no understanding, & the unsensible sea, which God hath restrained with bars & doors, them the children of men endued with reason. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly. I noted in this verse, 4. Their be●haviour. the behaviour of the mariners towards God, occasioned by the event that fell out. Surely the rightest use of God's mighty wonders, is, when we take them for wonders; when we tremble at the sight of them, & fear that almighty God, whose hands have wrought them. Such are the acclamations in the Psalms, This is the Lords doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. The gracious Lord hath made his wonderful works to be had in remembrance. O Lord, how gracious are thy works, and thy thoughts are very deep? an unwise man knoweth it not, and a fool doth not under stand this. God doth not miracula propter miracula, miracles for their own sakes, but for ours; not caring so much himself to do them, as that we should consider and bear them away. Wherein I will show our negligence by a familiar example of our latest days. Samuel biddeth the people stand and see a great thing which the Lord would do before their eyes. Is it not now wheat harvest? I will call unto the Lord, 1. Sam. 12. & he shall send thunder and rain, that ye may perceive and see, how that your wickedness is great which you have done in the sight of the Lord, in ask a king. The thunder and rain were sent, and all the people feared the Lord, and Samuel exceedingly. Apply this scripture to yourselves. Is it not now wheat harvest? hath not the Lord sent thunder and rain amongst you? so unseasonable a season, that the fruits of the earth wherewith your fields were so fair before, that they laughed & sang, mourning upon the ground that bore them, & the husbandman was ashamed, & sighed to himself to see his hope so deceived? was not every cloud in the air, a cloud of wrath upon your fields to destroy your labours? were ye not near the curse of the prophecy, you have sown much, & bring in little? What was the reason of so sudden an alteration, Hagg. 1. but that our wickedness was great, as theirs was? & what other end of this work, but that we might say in our hearts let us fear the Lord our God, which giveth us rain both early & late in due season, & reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest▪ jer. 5. thus the mariners applied this extraordinary work of God, & the inference of the text speaketh no less. Then they feared. The dutiful behaviour of the mariners consists 1. in their inward affection, They feared; & ●. in outward observances, They sacrificed & made vows. Their inward affection is explicated by many stances. 1. They feared. 1. By the nature and kind of the passion, They feared. Others have seen the signs and wonders of God, rather to admire them, than to be touched with them; as it is often noted of the jews in the gospel, when they beheld the works of Christ, they were astonished, and said amongst themselves, We never saw it on this wise, The like was never done in Israel. Thus Herod was desirous to have seen Christ, hoping that some miracle might have been done by him. But this was more than admiration and astonishment, for they are afraid, 2. They feared & feared. when they see the waters stilled. 2. By doubling their passion, which in the use of the Hebrew tongue, doth increase the signification, Timuerunt timore, They feared, and feared. 3. By the attribute, 3. Exceedingly. Timore magno, Their fear was not ordinary, but a great and exceeding fear. 4. By the object or matter of the fear, They feared jehovah. 4. The Lord. If ye will learn the effects of fear, when it is great indeed, where can you better learn them than at the sacking of Niniveh, in the second of Nahum? For there the heart melteth, (that is, the leader and the captain faileth,) the knees smite together, sorrow is in the loins, and the face gathereth blackness. But I leave to discuss the nature of fear, because I have handled it twice before. This only I observe in the mariners, out of these words, that they go from strength to strength; the longer the leaven lieth in the meal, the more it leaveneth, & the longer they retain in their hearts the knowledge of the true God, the more they increase in knowledge. If you compare the 5. and 10. and this 16. verses together, you shall find, that in the first, they only feared; in the second, they feared exceedingly; in the third, they feared the Lord exceedingly. The first declareth no more than the affection; the second addeth the measure; the third the object. The first was the fear of nature; the second of grace, in the prime and first sprouting thereof; the third of grace, in a further perfection. At the first they fear as men, next as novices, lastly as converts. First they see a tempest, and because it threateneth destruction unto them, they are afraid, which is incident to all men; secondly they hear a confession of the true Lord, a relation of an offence done, a declaration of the justice of God, than they are afraid more than before; now lastly they see the event and proof of all things the truth of a Prophets' words, the importunity of judgement, the excecution of vengeance, at this they fear as much as before, but their idols wholly relinquished, they fear whom they should fear, the dreadful Lord of hosts, and, to publish that fear to the whole world, they offer sacrifices and make vows. Thus is the kingdom of God described, Math. 13. it is as a grain of mustard seed at the first, the least of all seeds; but when a man hath sown it in his field, it becometh first an herb, secondly the greatest of herbs, thirdly a tree, four the birds make arbours and shades in the boughs thereof: So do the mariners pass from one fear as the seed, to an other fear as the herb, and to a great fear as a great herb, and yet to a greater fear, the fear of the Lord as to a tree, and the boughs thereof are so large, that birds may build nests in them, that is, their works and fruits so apparent, that others may be drawn by the sight and example of them. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Math. 13. There is small hope & comfort to be had of that man, who though he hear the word of God, and receiveth it, and forthwith receiveth it, and furthermore with joy, yet serveth but the time, applying his religion & conscience to the present condition of things. Examine yourselves by these notes, whether you are sown in the field of the Lord, to take root, and to grow to perfection, yea, or no; whether ye hear the law, to keep the law; whether you hold that which you have, as Philadelphia is counseled; and not only hold at a stay, but strengthen and confirm the remnant (that which is left, Revel. 3. ) that your works may be fulfilled before the Lord, as Sardi is wished to do; whether you run not only to place the ground, to make up the number of runners, to weary your bodies, to spend your breaths, but to obtain also, for that is the Apostles exhortation, So run, that ye may obtain. There is no time of standing in this life, we must still forwards, 1. Cor. 9 and think that every blessing of God bestowed upon us, is a further calling and provocation of God, as were his callings upon Elias; when he found him a days journey in the wilderness sitting and sleeping under a juniper tree, he calleth upon him, up, and eat; and when he found him a second time, up, thou hast a great journey to go; and when he had travailed forty days, and was lodged in a cave, what dost thou here, Elias? and when he had brought him forth to the mount, what dost thou hear, Elias? Go and return unto the wilderness by Damascus, and do thus, and thus. So whether we be entered into our way, or have proceeded in it, whether we be babes in Christ, or strong men, whether carnal, or spiritual, we must up, and eat, and strengthen ourselves, first with milk, and then with stronger meat; we have still a greater journey to go, we must walk from grace to grace, from virtue to virtue, from knowledge to knowledge, and always think that we hear a voice that calleth us forward, Thou hast yet a greater journey to go, what dost thou hear, Elias? Our Saviour telleth his disciples, john 14 that in his father's house are the mansions, they are not in the wilderness, nor in Horeb, not upon the mount where Peter would have had the tabernacles built, nor in any part of this life; therefore let no man sing a requiem to his soul, Anima quiesce, Soul take thy ease, or, body take thy rest, till he cometh to that place where his rest is. Christ observed this course himself, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Revel. 2. Luke 13. Go tell that fox, Behold I cast out devilles; and do cures, this day, and to morrow, and the third day I shallbe perfited. The church of Thyatira in the Revelation, is thus commended, I know thy works, and thy love, and thy faith, etc. and that thy last works are more than the first. And the conclusion or posy of the Epistle written to that church, and of all the other Epistles is this, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Not he that draweth his sword, nor he that fighteth the battles of the Lord, nor he that spendeth his blood, much less he that fainteth or flieth, but he that overcometh, shall eat of the tree of life, and receive those other blessings. To conclude; It is a grave and serious exhortation, which the Apostle maketh to the Hebrews; leaving the doctrine of the beginning of Christ, Hebr. 6. let us be led forward to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and faith towards God, etc. The earth which drinketh in the rain which cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing of God: but that which beareth thorns and briars, is reproved, and is near unto cursing, whose end is to be burned. You see how the plagues arise, 1. reproof, 2. a curse, 3. burning; and therefore it is as requisite that we increase in our fruitfulness. He addeth a modest and kind qualification of his former speech; But we are persuaded better things of you, and such as are ●eere to salvation, though we thus speak. If we should thus speak of our corrupt and unprofitable times, we are persuaded better things. our persuasion must be stronger than our proof and experience. For our ground hath drunk this rain, whereof he wrote, and often drank it, not distilled from the clouds of the air, but from an higher region of Gods most gracious favour. Where are the herbs fit for the use of the husbandman that dressed it? I see but briars and thorns; or if there be any herbs, they are buried & choked with weeds, that no man can see them. There are a number within these walls, to whom if a man would say, I will walk in the spirit of falsehood and flattery another while, I will lie unto you, I will leave this sour and unplausible vein of reprehension, & call you to the tabret and harp, and put you in mind of Sabothes and new moons, and festival days, I will prophesy unto you of wine and strong drink, oh, this were a prophet fit for this people, Mich. 2. they are the words of Micheas. But I rather say, for my part, as Samuel to the people of Israel, God forbidden, that I should sin against the Lord, and cease praying for you, but I will show you the good and the right way: That is; 1. Sam. 1. He that heareth, let him hear, and he that leaveth of, let him leave of, Ezech. 3. He that is unrighteous, let him be more unrighteous, and he that is filthy, let him be more filthy: but he that is righteous, let him be righteous still, and he that is holy, let him be holy still, Revel. 22. For that was the purpose of my note, that as God hath continued a chain of his graces, 1. by predestinating, 2. by calling, 3. by justifying, 4. by glorifying us; so we should continue a chain of our graces towards him, that there may be grace for grace, by giving all diligence to join virtue with faith, and with virtue knowledge, and with knowledge temperance, & not to leave joining the other links of the chain there added, till our own bodies and souls come to be disjoined. THE XXI. LECTURE. Chap. 1. ver. 16. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered asacrifice to the Lord, and made vows. Upon the event of their fact, in casting jonas forth, I mean the stillness of the sea, I noted before, the behaviour of the mariners, first in their inward affection, (the nature whereof was fear; the measure, great fear; the matter or object, the Lord of hosts;) then in the outward declaration of their minds, partly by sacrifices, in agnition of their present service, partly by vows, as an obligation of duty for time to come. The beginning to the rest is fear. For, as Lactantius wisely reasoneth, without it, there can be no religion. That, De ira dei. ca 8 11.23. Quod non metuitur, contemnitur, quod contemnitur, utique non colitur. Malac. 1. that is not feared, is contemned; if contemned, it cannot be worshipped. For which cause it cometh to pass, that religion, majesty, and honour must needs consist by fear. For even the kingdoms of the earth would be dissolved, unless this prop held them up. Therefore the zealous Lord calleth for his tribute and due, belonging to his excellency: If I be amaister, where is my fear? But of this heretofore. They offered a sacrifice. The first Mercury or messenger to publish a broad their fear, is their offering of a sacrifice. Which whither they presently did at the sea, of the remainder of such things, as were left unto them; or whither upon their landing; R. Ab. Ezra. or whither their purpose and promise to offer a sacrifice, were taken for a performance, according to the mind of the Caldaieke paraphrast and others, who interpret the words thus; They offered a sacrifice, that, is they had an intent, and gave their word to do it; Dixerunt se sacrificium ●acturos. or whither be meant an inward and spiritual sacrifice, of praise, and thanksgiving, and a contrite heart, as Jerome conjectureth; it is unnecessary to dispute, seeing the text defineth it not. Again, what were the profit of my labour to go about Zion, and to tell her turrets; to enter the large field of sacrifices, and to number all the kinds of them, Which either the book of God, or other authors have put down? it were to compel the scripture, when it offereth her company a mile, to go twain with me, and to stretch it beyond the line which the holy ghost hath laid forth. If any desire to know the causes of sacrifices, and to call them by their names, Lib. 4. ca 2 let him resort to Carolus Sigonius, in his Hebrew common wealth, who from the authority of Philo the jew, handleth this matter at large. The material points indeed to be considered in this worship of theirs, are two; 1. the antiquity, 2. the life & soul of a sacrifice. It cannot be denied, but from the ancientest age of the world, & in all the nations wherewith it hath been replenished, before there was any precept of God expressly to require such form of devotion, there hath been offering of sacrifices, as voluntary & religious acts, & a kind of sensible homage, to testify the power of some nature superior, able to avenge itself of dishonour and contempt done, and not unable on the other side to regratifie them with kindness, that sought unto it. Cleo the flattering Sicilian, in behalf of Alexander the great, whom he laboured with vehment persuasions to make a God, Curt. lib. 8. craved no more of his fellows, but exiguam thuris impensan, the bestowing of a little frankincense, as an essential mark to notify his Godhead. Chap. 12. The angel bad Manoah in the book of judges, when he requested him to stay the dressing of a kid, if he purposed therewith to make a burnt offering, to offer it to the Lord: where it is added immediately, that Manoah knew not that it was an angel of the Lord; a person (was meant) of meaner condition, than to whom a sacrifice belonged. 2. 2ae. q. 85. 〈◊〉. 1. ad 1. Aquinas resolveth us thus, that howsoever the determination of the kinds of sacrifices, together with the circumstances of persons, time, and place, be by the positive law; yet the common received acknowledgement, that sacrifice must be offered, is by the law of nature For what reason can be given of so uniform a consent of sacrificing in so many sundry languages and manners of men, but that every one groweth after the seed which nature hath sowed in him? Naturae se● quitur semina quisque suae. And therefore in effect they say with the headstrong kings in the Psalm, Let us break the cords of nature a sunder, and cast her yoke from us, who, as if the service of GOD were inventum humanum, the devise of man, when they could not avail by reason, Vt quos ra●●● non posset, eos ad officium religi● duceret. Tull. Atheists▪ to master them by religion, think it as cheap an offence to contemn the majesty of God, as human authority, & to deny the rights of the godhead, (which they vainly imagine, is but imagined) as their fealty & allegiance to earthly princes. Tell such of the judgements of God, and the torments of hell, you tell them a tale of Cocytus & Phlegeton, & other fabulous inventions of licentious poets. Urge them with the verdict of the scriptures; you may better urdge the history of Herodotus, or Lucian's true narrations. A degenerate generation of men, monstrously misshapen in the powers of the soul, and transformed from the use of reason; whose judgement is already past, john 3. because they believe not, or rather, because they root up those maxims and principles of reason, which the hand of nature itself had planted in them. I take but a little piece of their garment at this time (as David caught from Saul) only for a token, and note them as I pass by the way, who, if they were kindly used, should be pronounced by the priest, and by the prince proclaimed, the uncleanest lepers that ever sore ran upon; not only to be excluded the host, and to have their habitation alone, but to be exiled the land, and extermined nature itself, which they so unnaturally strive to annihilate. Their usage of parricides in Rome, were over favourable for them, whom they sowed into a male of leather, & threw into the sea, that yet the water of the sea could not soak through, nor other element of nature, earth, air, or fire approach unto them. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: Her●●▪ Atheism is the main disease of the soul; not only of that private man in whom 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 mean time, that are sick of it, as the leper was, that the people might be wise to eschew them. Levit. 13. As the one had his clothes rend, his head bare, his lips covered, & was enjoined to cry, where he passed, I am unclean, I am unclean: so I would the other had either a rent, or a writing upon their clothes, & a brand in their foreheads, that all that beheld them might say, an Atheist, an Atheist. 2 The second collection in offering a sacrifice, is, that the sensible and ceremonial handling thereof, Nunquam in odoribus sacrificiori●̄ delectatus est dominu●, nisi in fide & desiderio offerentis. August. without the inward oblation of the heart, which the other doth but signify, was never approved. I might repeat the proofs hereof, from the elements and beginnings of the world, the sacrifices of Abel and Cain, the first that ever I find to have been made; (although I make no question of Adam himself, who nurtured his sons in religious discipline:) from thence I might come down through all the complaints, that even the soul of the Lord, grieved with abuse and mockery, hath plentifully sent forth against his people of the jews; showing therein, that not only he refused, Es. 1. but heartily condemned, loathed, abhorred their offerings, and denying with pertinacy, that ever he required them, whereas in truth they were the ordinances of his own lips. But when he ordained them, he made male and female, and joined two in one, he created a body and a soul, an outward and an inward part, the aspectable sign and the invisible affection: for want of which latter (the better of the two) he renounceth the other, as that which he never appointed. In the first of Esay, forgetting his people to be the children of jacob, because they forgot his sacrifices to be the sacrifices of a God, whom they rather used like a scarecrow in the garden of cucumbers, than the Lord of knowledge, he calleth them princes of Sodom, and people of Gomorah, ask them in jealousy as hot as fire, What have I to do with the multitude of your sacrifices? I am full of burnt offerings of rams, and the fattte of fed beasts, I desire not the blood of bullocks, nor of lambs, nor of goats. When you come to appear before me, Who required it at his hands? Bring no more oblations in vain, incense is an abomination unto me. I cannot suffer your new moons, and Sabbaths, my soul hateth your appointed feasts, they are a burden unto me, and I am weary to bear them. Of the outward countenance, and lineaments of their sacrificing, you hear more than enough: Rams, and fed beasts, bullocks, lambs, and goats, incense, sabbaths, new moons, festival days, solemn assemblies, together with stretching out the hands, M●ns cuius. 〈◊〉 is est qu●s●u●. and making of many prayers. But I may say, that, as the mind of a man is the man, so the mind and intention of the sacrifice, is the sacrifice; which the searcher of the heart & reins looking for, & finding a carcase of religion without a quickening spirit, protesteth, that he hath nothing to do with them; that he is full and overfull, & that they are an hatred, burden, & abomination unto him. If they will redeem his grace, with a sweet smelling sacrifice, they must cease to do evil, and learn to do well, seek judgement, relieve the oppressed, With such like. Chap. 66. The beginning & ending of the prophecy is in one tune. For afterwards it is denounced in the name of the Lord: he that killeth a bullock, is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a sheep, as if he ●atte of a dogs neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine's blood; he that remembreth incense, as if he blessed an idol; the reason of this misconstrued devotion of theirs is; They have chosen their own ways, and their soul (which should have been the principal agent) delighteth in their abominations. The correction of that error and the erection both of the temple & the sacrifices, which the Lord chooseth, are in the next words before; To him will I look, Os. 5. even to him that is poor, and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my words. If this wine be wanting to those bottles, this substance to those shadows, we shall go with our bullocks and sheep (as it is in Osee) to seek the Lord, but shall not find him; because we go with these alone. Nay, these we may leave behind us, as unprofitable carriage, in comparison of the others, so we want not those. Psal. 50. I will not reprove thee (saith God) for thy sacrifices, and because of thy burnt offerings, that they are not commonly before me. I will take no bullock out of thine house, nor goats out of thy folds; for all the cattle of the forest are mine, and the beasts upon a thousand mountains. I know all the fowls upon the hills, and all the wild beasts 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 eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? Thus the external part, and as it were the letter of the sacrifice, is not much less than canceled and abrogated, that the spririt may take place: offer unto God praise, and pay thy vows to the most high, and call upon me in the day of trouble, so will I deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. This was it, that Samuel answered Saul, 1. Sam. 1● when he pretended the saving of oxen and sheep, and the best of the spoil to offer to the Lord in Gilgal: hath the Lord as great pleasure in burnt offerings & sacrifices, as when his voice is obeyed? to obey i● better than sacrifice, and to hearken is better than the fat of rams. This did our Saviour imply to the Scribes and Pha●ises, who did so inwardly stick to the outward keeping of the Sabbath, Math. 12 Go learn what this meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice. This did the learned Scribe (whose praise is in the gospel, Mar. 12. that he answered discreetly, and was not far from the kingdom of GOD) rejoine to the son of GOD, when he instructed him in the greatest and the next commandments; Well, master, thou hast said the truth, that there is one God, and there is none but he, and to love him with all the heart, etc. and his neighbour as himself, is more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices. And so far is it of, that the slaying of unreasonable beasts, were they in number equal to those millions of bullocks and sheep, which Solomon offered at the dedication of the temple, 2. Chro. 7 Mich. 6. Jbid. Sacrificium & oblationem noluisti. Ps 40. Intelli gendum est non qu●d noluit simpliciter, se● secundariò. Nō●olui● ut res▪ sed ut signa Jtem noa voluit ipsa sacrificia sed voluit devotionem offerentium. Hieron. Pers. sat. 2. In templo quid facit aurum? Compositum ius fasque animi etc. Hoc cedo ut admoveam templis, & far litabo. Dii magis curant tacitam horum obtestationem, non ambitiosam, quám vestram pon pam. 1. De vero cultu, ca 24. Hominis ac vitae and adding a million of rivers of oil, to glad the altars of GOD, shall be acceptable unto him; that the giving of our first-born for our transgression, and the fruit of our bodies for the sin of our souls, shall be an unfruitful present, without serious, hearty obedience to his counsels. He that showed thee, O man what is good, and what he requireth of thee: Surely to do justly, and to love mercy, to humble thyself, and to walk with thy God. The ends of the jewish sacrifices, if I mistake not, were these. First, to acknowledge therein, that death is the stipend of sin, which though it were due to him & those that sacrificed, yet was it translated & laid upon the beast that offended not. Secondly, to figure before hand, the kill of the lamb of God, which all the faithful expected. Thirdly, to testify the submission of the heart, which in these visible samplers, shone as a light before the whole world. So spoiling the sacrifice of the last of these ends, they make it in manner a lying sign, & leave it as void of life & breath, as the beasts which they immolate. The Poet complaineth in his satire, of the costliness used in their churches, & asketh the priests, what gold did there? willing them rather, to bring that, which Messalas ungracious son, from all his superfluities could not bring, to wit, justice, piety, holy cogitations, an honest heart: Grant me but these, saith he, & I will sacrifice with salt and meal only. It agreeth with the answer which jupiter Hammon gave to the Athenians, inquiring the cause of their often unprosperous successes in battle against the Lacedæmonians, seeing they offered the choicest things they could get which their enemies did not; The Gods are better pleased with their inward supplication, lacking ambition, than with all your pomp. Lactantius handling the true worship of God against the Gentiles, giveth them their lesson in few & sententious words: that God desireth not the sacrifice either of a dumb beast, or of death & bloodshed, but the sacrifice of man, and life: wherein there is no need either of garlands of vervin, or of fillets of beasts, or of sods of the earth, but such things alone as proceed from the inward man. The altar for such offerings, he maketh the heart, whereon righteousness, patience, faith, innocency, chastity, abstinence, must be laid and tendered to the Lord. For than is GOD truly worshipped by man, when he taketh the pledges of his heart, and putteth them upon the altar of God. The sacrifices evangelical, Pignoram●tis. In epit. ca 9 which the giver of the new law requireth of us, are a broken spirit, obedience to his word, love towards God and man, judgement, justice, mercy, prayer, and praise, which are the calves of the lips, Hebr. 13. Rom. 12. alms deeds to the poor (for with such sacrifices is the Lord pleased) our bodies and souls, not to be slain upon the altar, for it must be a quick sacrifice; not to be macerated and brought under even to death, for it must be our reasonable service; and finally our lives, if need be, Phil. 2. for the testimony of the truth. All which sacrifices of Christianity, without a faithful heart, which is their josuah and captain to go in and out before them, (to speak but lightly with Origen in the like case) are nutus tantùm & opus mutum, a bare ceremony, and a dumb show; In Luc. Acts 8. but I may call them sorceries of Simon Magus, whose heart was not right in the sight of God; and not sacrifices but sacrileges, with Lactant●us, robbing God of the better part; and as jeremy named those idle repetitions of the jews, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, jer. 7. this is the temple of the Lord, verba mendacij, lying words, so these opera mendacij, lying works, so fraudulently handled, that, if it were possible, God himself should be deceived. O how hath Satan filled their hearts that they should lie unto the holy Ghost? in making a show that they bring the whole price of their possession, Acts 5. and lay it down at the feet of God, when they withheld the dearer part from him. They have not ●ied unto men (though that were fault enough) but unto God, who will truly require the least untruths between man and man; but falsehoods and fallacies committed between the porch and the altar, within the courts of his own house, and in the professions of his proper service, by casting up the eyes or hands, bowing the knee, knocking upon the breast or thigh, making sad the countenance, moving the lips, uncovering, or hanging down the head like a bulrush, grovelling upon the earth, sighing, sobbing, praying, fasting, communicating, distributing, crying LORD, LORD, seeking to abuse the fleshly eyes of men, and the fiery eyes of omniscience itself, he will right sorely revenge, as a dishonour immediately and directly done to his own sacred person. Galienus the Emperor, gave this judgement of one who sold his wife glass for pearls; imposturam fecit & passus est, he cozened and was cozened. But this for the good of the cozener. For when he was brought upon the stage, and a Lion expected by the people to have torn him piece-meal, a capon was sent up to assault him. The same sentence standeth firm in heaven, against the deceitful marchandizers of true religion, who offer to the highest emperor clothed with essential maistye, as the other with purple, and to his spouse the church, glass for pearls, copper for gold, coals for treasure, shows for substances, seeming for being, fancy for conscience; Imposturam faciunt & patientur, They mock and they shallbe mocked; but in an other kind than the former was: for whereas they look for the thanks and recompense of their forepast labours, lo, they are like the dreamer in the Prophet, who eateth by imagination in the night time, and when he awaketh from sleep, his soul hath nothing. Vows. And made vows. The matter of their vows is as unceraine as of their sacrifices. What it was they promised to the Lord, and by obligation bound themselves to perform, neither ancient nor recent, jewish nor Christian expositor is able to determine. By conjectural presumption, they leave us to the choice of these four specialties. That either they vowed a voyage to jerusalem, where the lately received jehovah was best known; or to beautify the temple of the Lord with some rich donaries; or to give alms to the poor; or thenceforth to become proselytes in the religion of the jews, and, as Jerome explaineth it, never to departed from the living God, whom they had begun to serve. The conditions of a lawful vow are principally these two. Two conditions of a law full vow. First that the matter thereof be consonant to the word and will of God; otherwise (as Jerome noteth upon the 11. of ●udges) it is folly to plight, and impiety to perform it: secondly, the end must be to witness our thankfulness to our maker and protector. In vovenilo stultus. in reddendo impius. For albeit we are bought with a price, and both our bodies and spirits are the Lords, not our own to dispose of, and we ought to do that unvowed, which our vow hath tied us unto, because we have no better gift than ourselves (as he sometimes said to Socrates his master) to give even ourselves to our bounteous God, and, as it were by bargain and sale, to mancipate our wills to his obedience; yet the making of a vow, and entering into bonds with God, to pay him some special debt, is a more open mark, and professed badge of a thankful soul. Besides, it confirmeth the mind of a man in virtue, and setteth a tutor and overseer over his will, to keep it within the bounds of promised dutifulness. Epist 45. Faelix necessitas est quae in melìora compellit. Whereupon Saint Augustine writeth in his epistle to Armentarius and Paulina, It is an happy necessity, that compelleth a man to do better than he would do. And surely if we well regard it, the mother cause of a vow, is an engrafted opinion in the minds of most men, of returning kindness for kindness, which is the readiest way both to conciliate and preserve friendship, according to that old proverb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: friendship, and the life of man, Epicharmus. and nature itself, consisteth in taking and giving. And although God hath no need of our gifts (for can our goodness extend to him, who hath the riches of all goodness? psal. 16. or can he increase by less than a drop of rain, who is more than the main sea of all abundance?) yet it giveth him to understand, that at least his glory is sought, though not his utility and of that a man hath, not of that he hath not, there is a purpose and desire to do him worship. Benignus exactor est & non egenus, & qui non crescat ex reditis, sed in se cres cere faciat redditores. Quod ●i rectditur, reddenti additur▪ Chap. 29. The sum is this; the honour is Gods, the profit ours. He is our liberal creditor, (saith Augustine in the same epistle) and hath not want of our paiusent. Neither groweth he greater by repaying, but the pay-maisters by him. And whatsoever is restored or recompensed in am of any his benefits, is added to him that returned it Thence it cometh, that David and the princes give thanks unto the LORD, in the first of Chronicles, when they had offered unto him silver, gold, brass, iron, precious stones, after this manner▪ Now therefore our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name. But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer willingly in this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own hand we have given thee. It is said before, that the people rejoiced when they offered willingly, and David the king also rejoiced with great joy. To return to the head of my speech, the vows of these mariners, in any of the four kinds, before aimed at, are iustificable by both the properties of a vow. For of their end I make no doubt, the snares of destruction being so newelye broken before their eyes, and they escaped: and what fault can we find in the matter? whither their purpose were to leave their own countries, and to go to the city of God, for better instructions in his law, as the Queen of the South came from her native dominion, to hear the wisdom of Solomon, such pilgrimage is not amiss: or to adorn the temple of jerusalem, where the honour of God dwelled, with voluntary gifts and presents, as David, and his nobles before, and as the wisemen of the East, carried the gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the son of God; or to distribute their goods to the needy, as Zacheus did, and to cast their bread upon the waters for the Lords sake, where they look to receive again neither thanks nor recompense; or lastly to devote themselves to the redeemer of their lives, and with an indissoluble covenant, to become his faithful servants: the last of which is indeed the substance and centre of all vows. There are two things (saith Lactantius) that must be offered unto God, De cultu dei, cap. 25. donum & sacrificium, a gift and a sacrifice, the one perpetual, the other temporal. The one, as silver, and gold, and purple, and silk, the other a beast slain, or whatsoever is burnt upon the altar. But God hath use of neither of these, because himself is incorrupt, Quia & ipse incoruptus, & illud ●otum corruptibile. Virumque incorporale of fe●endū est. Serm. 7. de Tempore. Hoc quod redemit ipsum offer. and they subject to corruption. Therefore we must offer both, in a spiritual and unbodily manner, that God may have use of them. Our gift must be the uprightness of mind; our sacrifice, praise & thanksgiving. Some vow one thing, and some an other (saith the author of those sermons of the time) some oil, some abstinence from wine, some fasting: This is not the best, nor the perfectest kind of vowing. I show you a more excellent way; God careth not for thine oil, nor thy fasts, but that, that the Lord hath redeemed, that offer, I mean thy soul. And if thou demandest, how my soul? I answer, by holy manners, chaste cogitations, fruitful works. I will not strictly examine upon this occasion, the vows prescribed and practised in the church of Rome, somewhat to the imitation of these, that are presumed of the mariners. romish Vows. These vowed perhaps a voyage to jerusalem, they to Compostella or Walsingham▪ these to beautify the temple of the Lord, they the monuments and shrines of Saints; these to bestow their goods upon the poor, they to profess wilful beggary; these to be proselytes, and to cleave to the service of God, they to renounce the world, to abandon the society of men, to abjure the company of women, and to bury themselves in monasteries and cloisters, for their better opportunity thereunto. Shall I say in a word? the matter of all their vows unneedefull, in some unlawful, in some unpossible, in others, idolatrous, impious, diabolical: and the end for the most part, not to be thankful to God, but to arrogate a kind of perfection, and to build merit thereupon. But tell me ye sons of Balaam, you that exalt your synagogue so much by reason of your vows, if in any part of the world there be more slothful and sinful desidiousnesse, than in the resty cloisters and dormitories of that church, wherein such wearisome peregrinations, and tiring of the legs is enjoined. If in any part of the world, such royal, Pontifical, Persian magnificence, as in your priests and Nazarites, the votaries of that church, where poverty is pretended. If in any part of the world, such adulterous, incestuous, Sodomitical defiling of women, men, children, not only by stealth, but in the sight of the sun, in brothell-houses and stews, erected, maintained, rent, justified, as in the streets of that mother-city, where chastity is imposed? So the harlot allegeth for herself in the Proverbes▪ I have paid my vows, yet she calleth a young man to dalliance and filthiness. In an epistle they wrote to the Lords of the counsel (from their Cacus den,) prefixed before the libel of Persecution in England, they plead for the vows of their church, as a custom standing with good policy, & making for the establishment of commonweals. They fetch it in by consequence: that because a vow made unto God must be fulfilled, therefore our promise to our neighbour, which is also a kind of vow, must not be violated. We (they say) on the other side, by affirming that vows may be broken to God, make no doubt of our breach with man; whereupon it ensueth, that there is no trust nor faithfulness in our dealing. Philo, me thinketh, d'ye confusio●ne lingu. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉▪ Cap. 17. Cap. 18. 1. Cor. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉▪ Indies difici● in agris agri cola, etc. Cypr contra Demetr. 2. Tim. 3. rightly expressed the qualities of these Saturnine, solleine, discontented men; They are always complaining of the policy of their country, and framing an indictment against the laws of it. With as much right as the vagabonds in the Acts, complained of jason & the brethren in his house. These are they which have subverted the state of the whole world, & here they are. Surely I confess, there is a decay and declination, as of the state and strength of the world, so of all goodness. The refuse and dross of mankind, we are, on whom not the end, but the ends, nor of the world, but of the worlds and ages forepast, are not only come, but met together by conjunction. The alacrity and vigour of the whole creature is worn away. justice draweth her breath faintly. The charity of many is waxed cold, and when the son of man cometh, though he burn cresset-light shall he find faith? There is a daily defection of the husbandman in the fields, the mariner at the sea, innocency in the court, justice in judgement, concord in friendship, workmanship in arts, discipline in manners. How should the scriptures else be true, that in the latter days there should be perilous times, such as the golden age never knew: that men should be lovers of themselves, covetous▪ boasters, unnatural, truce-breakers etc. which they might find, if they would clear their eyes with the eie-salve of plain dealing quocunque sub axe, amongst Papists as much as protestants, without whetting their tongue or pen against our innocent religion. But when I hear them hunting for the praise of God & man, by such means, I call to mind an ancient history of vows vied & revied between the citizens of Croto, Alexan. ab Alex. lib. 3. cap. 22. and Lochus or great Greece in Italy. They were at hot strife, and ready to discern their variance by dint of sword. And the former vowed unto their Gods, to give them the tenth part of the spoil, if they won the field; the others (to go a foot before them) promised the ninth, so they might obtain the conquest. Let these admirers of Italy, follow the steps of their Italian predecessors. Notwithstanding I doubt not, for all their ambitious ostentation, but though they go before us in making vows, we shall not come behind them in keeping promises: Quid dignum ta●to feret hic ●romissor hi●tu? what need they gape so wide in telling of their vows and performances, when it is not unknown as far as the world is christened, that they have verified the old proverb, in straining at gnats, and swallowing down camm●lles? Admit their keeping of promise for mint and anise seed, & the smaller things of the law; Read the story of john Hus. Hebr. 6. yet they will break a promise in a matter more capital touching the life of a man, though in a general Council, and in the face of Christendom plighted unto him. And whereas an oath for confirmation, is the end of strife, and it is not only a shameful thing to be justly charged, as only of the king's seed in Ezechiell, he hath despised the oath, Chap. 17. and broken the covenant, yet lo, eee had given his hand; but it evermore pulleth down the judgement of God, for, as I live, saith the Lord, I will surely bring mine oath which he hath despised, & my covenant which he hath broken, upon his own head: yet will these men take an oath, not to the king of Babel, a stranger, as he did, but to their sovereign lady the Queen of England, At the taking of their degrees etc. to be true to her crown and dominions, even with ceremony and solemnity; and as Abraham's servant put his hand under his master's thigh, taking an oath by him who should come from the thighs of Abraham so these lay their hand upon their masters book, wishing a curse ●o their own souls, in the sight of God & angels above, & a whole University beneath, if they perform not fidelity; yet they will break that sacrament, with as easy a dispensation, or rather (as Bernard termeth it) a dissipation granted by themselves, as if they had but tied a knot in a ●ushe, to be undone again at their pleasures. I may truly say with the Apostle Saint john, That which I have heard, and seen, and mine eyes have looked upon, and I have handled with mine hands, that declare I unto you. These be their holy sanctions, their politic and religious undevoute vows, this the event, these the fruits of them. In the number whereof, I might insert an other accursed vow, not unlike to that of the jews against Paul, Acts 23. that they would neither eat, nor drink, till they had killed him. Surely they have taken an oath, these runagates of Ephraim, which run from the chosen of the Lord to Saules son, and fly to a foreign nest after the partridge hath bred them, to do a mischief with Herode, and to accomplish as much as the Herodias of Rome shall require of them. Whereto they have bound themselves, not to the half of a kingdom, which they have not, but to the loss of their heads, which thy daily come in question of. If nothing will please Herodias, but the head of john Baptist, the greatest amongst the sons of women, it shall be given her; if nothing this other strumpet, but the head of a Queen, the greatest amongst the daughters of men, they will do their best endeavour to make it good. When I first began to handle this prophesy, I told you, that the argument of it was nothing more than mercy: Conclu●●. and that from the whole contents thereof, knit up in four chapters, as the sheet of Peter at the four corners, proceeded a most lively demonstration of the gracious favour of God, 1. towards the Mariners, 2. towards jonas, 3. towards the Ninivites, lastly in generality, not so much by personal and practical experience, as by strife and contention of argument, to justify his goodness which jonas murmured against. The first corner of the sheet hath been untied unto you, (for some make an end of the first chapter, where I now left) that is, the mercy of God, embracing the mariners in their extremity of danger, hath been opened, after that little portion of grace, which the spirit of God hath divided unto me. This mercy is evident in two singular, and almost despaired deliverances first of their bodies from a raging and roaring sea; a benefit not to be contemned, for even the Apostles of Christ● cried in the like kind of distress upon the waters, help Lord, we perish: secondly of their souls, from that idolatrous blindness wherein they were drowned and stifled; a destruction equal to the former, and indeed far exceeding. The horror of this destruction was never more faithfully laid out in colours, than in the eighth of Amos. Where, after repetition of sorrows enough (if they were not burnt with hot irons, past sense) as that the songs of the temple should be turned into howlings, feasts into mourning, laughter into lamentation, that there should be many dead bodies in every place, even the number so great that they should cast them forth in silence (without obsequies) the sun going down at noon, and the earth darkened in the clear day, that is, their greatest woe in the greatest prosperity: yet he threateneth a scourge beyond all these. Behold, saith the Lord, (I have not yet made your eyes dazzle, nor your ears tingle with my judgements, though your eyes have beheld sufficient misery to make them fail, yet behold more) The days come, (I give you warning of unhappier times, the plagues you have endured already, are but the beginnings of sorrow) the days come, that I will send a famine in the land: if the mouth of the Lord had here stayed, famem immittam, I will send a famine, had it not sufficed? Can a greater cross, think you, be imagined, than when a woeful mother of her woeful children, 1. King. 17. shall be driven to say, As the Lord liveth, I have but a little meal left in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse, and behold, I am gathering two sticks to go in and dress it for me and my son, 2. King. 6. that we may eat and die? and much rather, if it come to that extremity, that an other mother felt, when she cried unto the king, Help, my Lord, O King: This woman said unto me, give thy son that we may eat him to day, and we will eat my son to morrow: so we sodde my son, and did eat him etc. yet he addeth to the former by a correction, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst of water, but of hearing the word of God: and they shall wonder (not as the sons of jacob, who went but out of Israel into Egypt,) but from sea to sea, and from the North to the East, shall they run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it. This was the case of these men, before a prophet spoke unto them, and the wonders of the law were showed amongst them. And this was the case of our country, when either it fared with us, as with the church of jerusalem, signa non videmus, non est ampliùs propheta, Psalm. 74. Chap. 22. we see no tokens, there is no prophet left; or if we had prophets, they were such as Ezechiell nameth, they saw vanities, and divined lies; and the book of the law of the Lord, though it were not hid in a corner, as in the reign of josias, nor cut with a penknife, and cast into the fire, 2 King 22. jerem. 36. as in the days of jehoiakim, yet the comfortable use of it was interdicted the people of God, when either they could not read, because it was sealed up in an unknown tongue, or under the pain of a curse they might not: and such as hungered and thirsted after the righteousness of jesus Christ, were driven into Germany, and other countries of Europe, to inquire after it. But blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he hath long since visited and redeemed us his people. If our many deliverances besides, either by sea, from the invasion of the grand pirate of Christendom, or from other rebellions and conspiracies by land, had been in nummber as the dust of our ground, this one deliverance of our souls, from the kingdom and power of darkness, the very shadow and borders of death, wherein we sat before the sending of prophets amongst us, to prophecy right things, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord, and the tidings of salvation, had far surpassed them. Let us therefore with these mariners, sing a song of thanksgiving, not only with our spirits, (My soul, bless thou the Lord, and all that is within me, Psa. 103. praise his holy name) but with sacrifices and vows also, as audible sermons and proclamations to the world, let us make it known, that great is the mercy of jehovah to our little nation. THE XXII. LECTURE. The last verse of the 1. Chap. Or, after some, the first of the second Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up jonas, and jonas was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. WE are now come to the second section of the prophesy, wherein the mercy of God towards jonas is illustrated. It beginneth at my text, and parteth itself into three members. 1. The absorption or burial, 2. the song, 3. the delivery of the Prophet. Isiodore in three words summeth the contents of it: De patrib. vet. tesiam. Cetus obiectum, voratum, orantem revomuit: The whale cast up jonas, first cast forth, then devoured, afterwards making his move to God. jonas is swallowed in this present sentence. The justice and mercy of God run together in this history, as those that run for the mastery in a race. And it is hard a long time for jonas to discern, Gen. 25. whither his justice will overcome his mercy, or his mercy triumph over justice. They labour in contention, as the twins in Rebecca's womb. And although Esau be first borne, red, and hairy all over like a rough garment, yet jacob holdeth him by the heel, and is not far behind him. I mean, though the judgement of God against jonas, bearing a rigorous and bloody countenance, and satiate with nothing (in likelihood) but his death, & that most strange & unaccustomed, seemeth to have the first place, yet mercy speedeth herself to the rescue; and in the end is fulfilled that which God prophesied of the other pair, The elder shall serve the younger. For when justice had her course, and borne the pre-eminence a great space, mercy at length putteth in, and getteth the upper hand. To us that have seen and perused the history, who have as it were the table of it before our eyes, and know both the first and the last of it, it is apparent that I say; that although he were tossed in the ship, & cast forth into the sea, & devoured, yet God had a purpose prevised herein, to work the glory of his name, & the others miraculous preservation. But jonas himself, who all the while was the patiented, and set as a mark, for the arrows of heavenly displeasure to be spent at, and knew no more what the end would be, than a child his right hand from the left, what could he th●●ke, but that heaven and earth, land and sea, life and death, & all 〈◊〉 in the world had sworn and conspired his immortal misery? First he was driven to forego his native country, the land of his father's sepulchres, and take the sea. When he had shipped himself, the vessel that bore him, stackered like a drunken man to and fro, & never was at rest till she had cast forth her burden. Being cast forth, the sea, that did a kind of favour to Pharaoh and his host, in giving them a speedy death, is but in manner of a jailor to jonas, to deliver him up to a further torture. Thus from his mother's house, and lap, wherein he dwelled in safety, to a ship, to seek a foreign country▪ from the ship into the sea; and from the sea into a monster's belly▪ (incomposi●um navigium, an incomposed, misshapen ship;) therein, shall I say, to his death? Chrysost. that had been his happiness: he would have wished for death, as others wished for treasure. job▪ 3. There are the prisoners at rest, and hear not the voice of the oppressor; there are the small and the great, and the servant is free from his master. So then, there is a comfort in death to a comfortless soul, if he could achieve it. But jonas cannot die; the sea that swalloweth down volumes of slime and sands, is not grave enough to bury him; he may rather persuade himself, that he is reserved for a thousand deaths, whom the waters of the Ocean refuse to drown, giving over their prey to an other creature. My thoughts are not your thoughts, (saith the LORD by his prophet Esaye) neither are your ways my ways. ●sa. 55. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts. It is most true. When we think one thing, GOD thinketh an other: he safety, and deliverance, when, in the reason of man, there is inevitable destruction. We must not therefore judge the actions of the Lord, till we see the last act of them. We must not say in our haste, all men are liars; Psal. 11● the pen of the scribes is vain; the books false, the promises uncertain; Moses, and Samuel, prophets and apostles, are like rivers dried up, & have deceived us. We must tarry the end, and know that the vision is for an appointed time, Abac. 2. but at the last it shall speak (according to the wishes of our own hearts) and shall not lie. Though our souls faint for his salvation, yet must, Ps. 119. Verse ●1. we wait for his word. Though our eyes fail for his promise, saying, O, when wilt thou comfort us? and we are as bottles in the smoke (the sap of our hope dried up) yet we must not forget his statutes. When we see the fortunate succeeding of things, we shall sing with the righteous prophet, We know, O Lord, that thy judgements are right, (though deep & secret) and that thou of very faithfulness hast caused v● to be tried: that howsoever our troubles seemed to be without either number or end, yet thy faithfulness higher than the highest heavens, failed us not. To set come order in the sentence propounded, The division. I commend these circumstances unto you. First, the disposer and ruler of the action, the Lord. Secondly, the manner of doing it, he provided or prepared, Thirdly, the instrument, a fish, together with the praise and exornation of the instrument, a great fish Fourthly, the end, to swallow up jonas. Lastly, the state of jonas, and how it fared with him after he was swallowed up. And first, 1▪ The author. that you may see the difference betwixt inspired spirits, and the conceits of profane men, who, as if the nature of things bore them to their end without further disposition, as when the cloud is full (they say) it giveth her rain, and going no higher than to second and subordinate causes, never consider that high hand that wrought them; it may please you to observe, that through the whole body of this prophecy, whatsoever befell jonas, rare and infrequent, is lifted above the spheres of inferior things, and ascribed to the Lord himself. A great wind was sent into the sea, to raise a tempest. It is not disputed there, what the wind is by nature (a dry exhalation drawn up from the earth, and carried between it and the middle region of the air aslant, fit to engender a tempest,) but the LORD sent it. jonas was afterwards cast into the sea. It is not then considered so much, who took him in their arms, and were the ministers of that execution, but thou, LORD, hast done as it pleased thee. jonas is here devoured by a fish. It is not related that the greediness and appetite of the fish brought him to his pray, but the LORD prepared him. jonas again is delivered from the belly of the fish. It might be alleged in reason perhaps, that the fish was not able to concoct him; but it is said, the Lord spoke to the fish, and it cast him up. Towards the end of the prophecy, jonas maketh him a booth abroad, and sitteth under the shadow of a gourd; the Lord provided it. A worm came, and consumed the gourd that it perished; the Lord provided it. The sun arose, and a fervent east-wind bet upon the head of jonas? the Lord also provided it. Lament. 3. Who is he then that saith, and it cometh to pass, if the Lord command it not? Out of the mouth of the most high cometh there not evil and good? Jbid. Thus whensoever we find in any of the creatures of God, either man or beast, from the greatest whale to the smallest worm, or in the unsensible things, the sun, the winds, the waters, the plants of the earth, either pleasure or hurt to us, the Lord is the worker and disposer of both these conditions. ●. The manner. The Lord prepared. That ye may know it came not by chance, brought thither by the tide of the sea, but by especial providence. For it is not said, that God created, but that he ordained and provided the fish for such a purpose. There is nothing in the works of God, but admirable art and skilfulness. Psal. 104. O Lord (saith David) how manifold are thy works? in wisdom hast thou made them all. Solomon giveth a rule well beseeming the rashness and unadvisedness of man, who without deliberate forecast entereth upon actions, first to prepare the work without, Prov. 24. and to make all things ready in the field, and after to build the house. God keepeth the order himself, having his spirit of counsel and provision always at hand to prepare, as it were, the way before his face, to make his paths strait, and to remove all impediments, to level mountains, to exalt valleys, to turn waters into dry ground, and dry ground into water-pooles, and to change the whole nature of things, rather than any work of his shallbe interrupted. He had a purpose in his heart not to destroy jonas; yet jonas was thrown into the mouth of destruction. A man would have thought, that the counsel of God (if ever) should now have been frustrated, & that salvation itself could not have saved jonas: Put from the succour of the ship, from the friendship of his associates, having no rock to cleave unto, far from the shore, and neither able perhaps, nor desirous to escape by swimming, yielding himself to death, and to a living grave, with as mortified an affection, as if lumps of lead had been cast down; yet God had prepared a means to preserve the life of jonas. Even the bowels of a cruel fish, are as a chariot unto him to bear him in safety through those unsearchable depths. O how many wonders in how● few words? how many riddles and dark speeches to the reason of man? he will scarcely believe, when they shall be told unto him. 1. That so huge a fish should be so ready to answer at the call of the Lord, & to save his prophet. 2. So able to devour a man at a morsel, without comminution or bruise offered to any one bone of his. 3. That a man could live the space of 3. days and nights in a fishes belly. But so it was. The Lord doth but use a preamble to finish his work intended. He suffereth not the ship to carry him forthright to the city, but so ordereth the matter, that the Mariners deliver him to the sea, Chrys. Homi. 5. ad pop. Antioch. the sea to the whale, the whale to the Lord, and the Lord to Niniveh. That we may learn thereby, when our sins hang fast upon us, the harbour of a warm ship cannot be beneficial: but when we have shaken them of, the sea shall make a truce, and the ungentlest beasts be in league with us. The demand of the earthly man in these unprobable works, hath ever been, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, how can this be? Though an angel from heaven shall tell Sarah of a son, after hath ceased to be with her after the manner of women, she will 〈◊〉 within herself, and say: What? after I am waxed old, Gen. 1●. and my Lord 〈◊〉 But what saith the Angel unto her? Shall any thing be hard to the ●orde? When the children of Israel wanted flesh to eat, and cried in the ears of the Lord, quis dabit? Num. 11. Who shall give us flesh to eat? God promised it for a month together, until it should come out of their nostrils: And Moses said, six hundredth thousand footmen are there among the people, of whom I am, and thou sayest, I will give them flesh to eat a month long. Shall the sheep and the beefs be slain for them to find them, either shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them to suffice them? But the Lord answered him, is the Lords hand shortened? Thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto thee, or no. Elizeus prophesied in that woeful famine of Samaria, when they bought an Asses head, and Doves dung, at an unreasonable rate, 2▪ King. ●. To morrow by this time, a measure of fine flower shall be sold for a shekel, etc. Then a prince, on whose hand the king leaned, answered the man of GOD, Though the Lord would make windows in heaven, can this thing come to pass? the prophet answered him, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof. Tota rati● facti▪ potentia facienti●. Considera authorem, tolle dubi●●tionem▪ Saint Augustine in his third epistle to Volusian, and elsewhere, giveth the rules to satisfy these distrustful reasonings. We must grant that GOD is able to do some thing, which we are not able to find out in such works: the whole reason of the doing, is the power of the doer. It is GOD that hath done them. Consider the author, and all doubts will cease. Therefore if Marie receiving a message of unexpected & unwonted conception, shall say at the first, how shall this thing be? yet, when the angel shall say unto her, that it is the work of the holy ghost, and the might of the most high, & that her cozen Elizabeth hath also conceived in her old age, though she had purchased the name of barren by her barrenness, because with God, saith the angel, Luke 1. nothing is unpossible, then let Marie lay her hand upon her heart, and say, Behold the handmaid of the Lord, that is, without further disceptation I submit myself to the power of God. But if that former reason of his all-sufficient might, be not of strength enough to resolve either pagans abroad, or atheists at home, touching the likelihood and probability of such unlikely acts, but the innocency of the sacred Scriptures wherein they are written, must be arraigned, and condemned by their carnal reason, and our whole religion derided, because we justify them; I will say no more unto them, but as Augustine doth in his books of the city of God, Quicquid mirabile fit, Lib. 10. c. 11. in hoc mundo, profectò minus est quàm totus hic mundus; The very creation of the world, (which being the book of nature they run and read, and can deny no part of it, though they deny & deprave the book of scripture,) showeth them a greater miracle in the world itself, than whatsoever in these or the like singularities seemeth most incredible. The instrument A great fish. Some of the rabbins think, that the fish was created at that moment when jonas was to be swallowed. Others, that he had lasted from the sixth day of the world. A third sort, that it was a whale that first devoured jonas, & that afterwards the Lord beckoned unto him, & then he cast him into the mouth of a female which was full of young, where being straightened of his wont room, he fell to prayer. Fabulous inventions, & fruit according to the trees that bore it. Whither t●e fish were created at that instant or before, sooner or later, I list not inquire. Neither will I further engage myself herein, than the spirit of God giveth me direction. Only, that which the prophet setteth down in 2. words, by a circumlocution, a great fish, it shall not be amiss to note, that the evangelists abridge, & name more distinctly in one, showing the kind of the fish: therefore Matthew calleth it the belly of a whale. Math. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. So do the 70. interpreters, from whom it is not unlikely, the expositor of Matthew took his warrant. I never found any mention of this goodly creature, but the wisdom of God the creator was willing to commend it in some sort. In the first of Genes. God said, Let the waters bring forth in abundance every creeping thing that hath the soul of life: howbeit in all that abundance there is nothing specified but the whale, as being the prince of the rest, and, to use the speech of job, the king of all the children of pride, job 41. wherein the workmanship of the maker is most admired: for so it is said, Then God created the whales: and not singly whales, Genes. 1. but with the same additament that this prophet useth, the great whales. So doth the Poet term them also immania caete, the huge whales, as being the stateliest creature that moveth in the waters. Likewise in the Psalm: The earth is full of thy riches, so is the great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable both small and great beasts. Psal. 100L There go the ships, (the artificiallest wonder that ever was framed) and there goeth that Leviathan (the wonder of that nature) whom thou hast made to play therein. In the book of job, Chap. 40. & 4●. two arguments are produced to amplify the incomparable power of God; Behemoth by land, Leviathan by sea: and for the power and persuasion of words, I do not think that ever more was used, than where the power of those 2. creatures is expressed. Of the latter of these it is professed in open terms: I will not keep silence concerning his parts, nor his power, nor his comely proportion. Indeed they are all worthily described, job 41. by the tongue of the learned, even the learnedst tongue that the holy ghost had. Never were there rivers & floods of eloquence, neither in the orators of Athens & Rome, nor in the Seraphins of heaven, equal to those that are powered forth in that narration. Augustine somewhere noteth, that all men marveled at Tully's tongue, but not his invention. Tulli linguam omne● mirantur▪ pec●us non aequè. Aristotelis pectus omnes▪ linguam non ●què. Plato. vis pectus & lingua● aqué▪ Ep. ad Pavin. Annare insulas pute● etc. Plin. lib. 9 cap. 2. In mari ta● lu● supine At Aristotle's invention all men, but not his tongue. At Plato's invention & tongue both. But for a tongue & wisdom to, not to be uttered by the tongue, nor to be comprehended by the wisdom of mortal man, I remit you to those chapters. Jerome writeth of the whole book, Singulain eo verba plena sunt sensibus, Every word of it is very sententious. But no where through the whole, more sense, more substance, grace, and majesty spent, than where the meaning and intent was, that the majesty of the most high God should fully be illustrated. To cast mine eyes back again from whence I am digressed, it is written of the whale, that when he swimmeth & showeth himself upon the floods, you would think that islands swum towards you, and that very high hills did aspire to heaven itself with their tops. Pliny giveth the reason, why many beasts in the sea are bigger than those upon land: Causa evidens, humoris luxuria; The evident cause, saith he, is superfluity of moisture. Howbeit, it holdeth not in birds (whose offspring is from the waters to) quibus vita pendentibus, because they live hanging, as it were, & hover or wa●ting in the air. But in the open champain sea, being of a soft & fruitful increase, semperque pariente naturâ, & of a nature that is ever breeding and bringing forth, monsters are often engendered. Cap 3. He writeth of Balae●a, the whirlpool, or we may english i● also a whale, (so doth Tremelius interpret the name of Leviathan in job & the Psalm:) that in the Indian sea, there are some found, to the largeness of four acres of ground, Quaternûm inge●um Cap. 6. & that they are laden & surcharged with their own weight. Likewise he reporteth of other beasts in the sea, that the doors of houses were made of their jaws, and the rafters of their bones, some of which bones were 40. cubits in length, and that the skins of some were broad enough to cover habitable houses. Superficies. Quicquid nascitur in part naturae vila, & in mari esse, praeterque mul●a quae nusquam a. libi. Plin. Suasor. 2. Quod grandia omnia probaret nihil volebat nisi grandes dicere. Servos habere nolebat nisi grand, argentea vasa non nisi Grandia, calceos maiores sumpfit etc. Galerius Pontifex Max. Thebaiicus Max. Sarmaticus Max. Quinquies Parsarum Max etc. Psal. 29. Genes. 30. Psal 36 Io●. 3. So true is the opinion of the people commonly received, that whatsoever is bred in any part of nature▪ is in the sea, & many creatures besides, which are no where else. And therefore the less marvel may it seem, even to a natural man, by the course of nature itself his lady & mistress, that God should prepare a fish great enough to swallow up jonas. For the attribute is not adjoined for nought, A great fish. Seneca the philosopher writeth of one Senetio surnamed Grandio: (others have been called Magni for the greatness of their virtues, Alexander in Greece, Pompey in Rome, Arsaces in Parthia, Charles amongst the Emperors the great, and Gregory the great amongst the Popes: but Senetio had to name the grand, or the great, for his great vanity.) He liked of nothing that was not great. He would not speak but what was great. He kept no servants but great. Used no plate but great. The shoes he ware, were over great. The figs he ate, were great outlandish figs And he had a wife besides of a great stature. But whosoever is greatest upon the face of the earth, though his stile be as great as that emperors, of whom Eusebius writeth, whose titles were summed together in a long catalogue, The greatest bishop, greatest in Thebes, greatest in Sarmatia, in Persia five times the greatest, greatest in Germany, greatest in Egypt, yet I will say unto him, as the Psalm to the princes of that time, Give unto the Lord ye sons of the mighty, give unto the Lord glory and strength, give unto the Lord the honour due unto his name. That greatness belongeth unto the Lord alone, we are taught by an excellent phrase of speech proper to the Hebrews. The striving of Ra●ell with her sister Leah, about the bearing of children, because it was very great, is called the wrestling of God. The mountains of the earth wherewith the righteousness of God is compared, because they were very great, are called the mountains of God The city of Niniveh, because very great, & of 3. days journey, is called the city of God. In all which singular idiotismes, the letter itself directeth us rightly, where to bestow all greatness. Undoubtedly it was the great God of heaven and earth, that prepared great lights in the firmament, great fishes in the sea, great men, great beasts upon the dry land, & magnitudinis eius non est finis, and there is no end, Psal. 105. no limits of his greatness. To swallow up jonas. They have an history in profane reading, 4. The end. that Arion the Lesbian, a famous physician, being embarked with some, who for the gain of his money would have cast him into the sea, he craved a little respite of them before his casting forth; & taking his harp in hand, & playing a while thereon, at length himself leapt into the waters, & was carried upon the back of a dolphin to the landing place intended, before the Mariners could possibly arrive there. In Herodotus the father of history, saith Tully, Apud Heredotum pa●r● historiae innumerabiles fabulaes. there are innumerable fables; & happily this amongst the rest. But I allege it to this end, that if God had prepared a whale to have borne jonas upon his back, & to have held him above the waters, where he might have beheld the light of heaven, & drawn the comfort of the air, as other living souls, there had been no fear of miscarriage. It is quite contrary: for the Lord prepared a fish to swallow up jonas. Whereof one spoke, Res inaudita. Venture Cetes domicilum hominis. a thing not heard of before; the belly of a fish, is the habitation of a man. If of a man dismembered & dissolved piecemeal, I would never have doubted. The crocodiles of Nilus in Egypt, Gangs in India, & other rivers of Mexico & Peru, will devour not only men, but whole herds of cattle. P. Plancius A beast With a woman's face, and horse● feet. And a physician of our latter times hath written (Calvin not sparing to testify the seem) that in the bowels of a Lamia, hath been found a whole armed man. But jonas is taken in alive, through ranges and armies of teeth on both sides, without the collision or crushing of any limb in his body; and entereth the straits of his throat where he had greater reason to cry, than the children in the prophet, the place is to narrow for me; and liveth in the entrails of the fish, a prison or cave of extreme darkness, where he found nothing but horror, and stinch, and loathsome excrements. What shall we say hereunto, but as Jerome did upon the place; Vbi putabaetur in●●ritus ibi custodiae. where there was nothing looked for but death, there was a custody, in a double sense, first to imprison, and yet withal to preserve jonas. Thus far you have heard, first that a fish, and for his exornation great fish, secondly was prepared, thirdly by the Lord, four to swallow up his prophet. Now lastly if you will learn what tidings of jonas, after his entering in the monster's maw, 5. His state in the fish it is published in the next words, And jonas was in the belly of the fish, three days and three nights. Therein I distinguish these particularities. First the person, jonas; not the body of jonas forsaken of the soul, as the body of Christ lay in the grave; but the whole and entire person of jonas, compounded of body and soul, living, moving, feeling, meditating, not ground with the teeth, not digested in the stomach, not converted into the substance of the fish, and neither vital nor integral part diminished in jonas. Secondly, the place where he was, in the remotest and lowest parts, the bowels of the fish, as jeremy was in the bottom of the dungeon where there was no water, where what nutriment he had amidst those purgamentes & superfluities, the Lord knoweth; but man liveth not by bread alone: or what respiration and breathing, being out of his element, amongst those stifling evaporations which the belly of the whale reaked forth: but we may as truly say, man liveth not by breath alone. Thirdly, the time, how long he continued there, three days & three nights: when, if the course of nature were examined, it is not possible to be conceived, that a man could live so one moment of time, and his spirit not be strangled within him. Physicians give advise, Levin. Lem. lib. 2. cap. 3. that such as are troubled with apoplexies, & falling sicknesses, or the like diseases, should not be buried till the expiration of 72. hours, that is, three days and three nights: In which space of time, they say, the humours begin to stop & give over their motion, by reason the moon hath gone through a sign the more in the Zodiac. For this cause it was that our Saviour undertook not the raising of Lazarus from the dead, till he had lain 4. days in the grave, lest the jews might have slandered the miracle, if he had done it in haste, and said, that Lazarus had but swooned. The like he experienced in himself, (besides the opening of his heart) that if falsehood would open her mouth into slander, it might be her greater sin, because he was fully dead. Who would ever have supposed, that jonas fulfilling this time in so deadly and pestilent a grave, should have revived again? But the foundation of the Lord standeth sure, and this sentence he hath written for the generations to come, My strength is permitted in infirmity, when the danger is most felt, then is my helping arm most welcome. We on the one side, when our case seemeth distresseful, are very importunate with God, crying upon him for help; It is time that the Lord have mercy upon Zion, yea the time is come: & if in the instant he answer not our cry, Psal. 102. Periit spes nostra. we are ready to reply against him, The time is past, and our hope clean withered. But he sitteth above, in his provident watch-tower, who is far wiser than men, & thinketh with himself, you are deceived, the time is not yet come. They meet the ruler of the synagogue in the 5. of Mark, & tell him, thy daughter is dead, why diseasest thou thy master any further? assoon as jesus heard that word (a word that he lingered and waited for) he said unto the ruler of the Synagogue, be not afraid, only believe. And as Alexander the great, solaced and cheered himself with the greatness of his peril in India, when he was to fight both with men and beasts, their huge Elephants, at length I see a danger answerable to my mind; Tandem 〈◊〉 animo meo periculu● vide▪ so fareth it with our absolute & true monarch of the world, who hath a bridle for the lips of every disease, and an hook for the nostrils of death, to turn them back the same way they came; it is the joy of his heart to protract the time a while, till he seethe the height & maturity of the danger, that so he may get him the more honour. Martha telleth him in the 11. of john, when her brother had been long dead, & lain in the grave till he stank, past hope of recovery, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not been dead. And what if absent? was he not the same God? Yet he told his disciples not long before, Lazarus is dead, and I am glad for your sakes, that I was not there, that you might believe. You see the difference. Martha is sorry, and Christ is glad that he was not there. Chap. 1●. Martha thinketh the cure cometh to late, and Christ thinketh the sore was never ripe till now. In the book of Exodus, when Israel had pitched their tents by the red sea, Pharaoh and host marching apace, and ready to surprise them, they were sore afraid, and cried unto the Lord, and murmured against Moses; hast thou brought us, to die in the wilderness, because there were no graves in Egypt? wherefore hast thou served us thus, to carry us out of Egypt? etc. Moses, the meekest man upon the earth, quieted them thus, Fear ye not, stand still, and behold the salvation of the Lord which he will show to you this day. For the Egyptians whom ye have seen this day, ye shall never see them again. The Lord shall fight for you, therefore hold you your peace. Neither did Moses feed them with wind, & prophesy the surmises of his own brain: for the Lord made it good▪ as followeth in the next verse, wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward. Thus, when the wound was most desperate, & they might have pledged even their souls upon it, we cannot escape; when their legs trembled under them that they could not stand still, & their hearts fainted that they could not hope, the waters roaring before their face, & the wheels of the enemy rattling behind their backs, they are willed to stand still, not on their legs alone, but in their disturbed passions, to settle their shivering spirits, to pacify their unquiet tongues, and to go forwards, though every step they trod, seemed to bear them into the mouth of death. The state of the danger you see. jonas is in the belly of the fish, three days and three nights. Long enough to have altered his nature, to have boiled him into nourishment, and to have incorporated his flesh into an other substance. Yet jonas liveth. But if the LORD had not been on my side, (might jonas now say) if the LORD had not been on my side, when the beast rose up against me, he had swallowed me up quick, when his wrath was so sore inflamed. But praised be the LORD which hath not given me over a prey to his teeth. Psal. 124. My soul is escaped, even as a bird out of the snare of the fowler. The snare is broken, and I am delivered. Let all those whom the LORD hath redeemed from the hand of the oppressor, from fire, or water, or from the peril of death, take that song of thanksgiving into their lips, and sing it to his blessed name in remembrance of his holiness. O thou the hope of all the ends of the earth, Psal. 65. (sayeth that other Psalm) and of them that are far of in the sea, show us but the light of thy countenance, and we shall be safe: give us but the comfort of thy mercies, and we will not fear, though the earth be moved, and the mountains fall down into the mids of the sea, and the sea, and the waters thereof rage's fearfully, though Leviathan open his mouth, we will not quake at it, yea though the Leviathan of the bottomless pit, open the throat of hell never so wide to devour us, we will not be disquieted. We know that there is mercy with the LORD, and that with him there is plentiful redemption, I mean redemption a thousand ways, by nature and against nature, by hope and against hope, by things that are and things that are not. He that hath saved his people, by gathering the waters in heaps like walls, and making a path in the red sea; he that hath kept his children in the midst of a fiery oven, when, if art could add any thing to the nature of fire, they should have been burnt seven times for one, because it was seven times hot; and delivered his prophet in a den of lions, though dieted and prepared for their prey before hand, yet shutting their mouths so close, and restrayninge their appetite, that they forbear their appointed food; and committed this servant of his to the belly of a fish, as if he had committed him to his mother's womb, to be kept from harm; he is the same GOD both in might and mercy to preserve us, no time unseasonable, no place unmeet, no danger uncouth and unaccustomed to his strong designments. Our only help therefore, psal. 124. standeth in the name of the LORD that hath made heaven and earth; blessed, and thrice blessed be that name of the Lord, from this time forth for evermore. Amen. THE XXIII. LECTURE. Chap. 2. vers. 1. Then jonas prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fishes belly, and said. THIS second section or division of the prophecy, Orantis locus, modus exitus, wherein the mercy of God towards jonas is expressed, I parted before into three branches. 1. That he was devoured, 2. prayed, 3. was delivered. The terms that Lyra giveth, are these, the place, the manner, the success of his prayer. The marvailes that I have already noted unto you, were, 1. that so huge a creature, was suddeinely provided by the providence of God: 2. that a whole man passed through his throat: 3. that he lived in his bowels, three days & three nights. Now whither he fulfilled that time exactly, yea or no, three natural days complete, consisting of twenty four hours, neither can I affirm, neither is it material over-busily to examine. Our Saviour, you know, in the gospel, applieth this figure of jonas to his burial. As jonas was in the belly of the whale, three days and three nights, so shall the son of man be in the heart of the narth. Math. 12. But if you confer the shadow and the body together, you shall find in all the evangelists, Math 27. Mark 16. that the Lord of life was crucified the 6. hour of the preparation of the sabbath, and the ninth gave up the ghost; that late in the evening, his body was taken down from the cross, and buried, that he rested in the grave the night that belongeth to the sabbath, together with the day, and night next ensuing after it; and that in the morning of the first day of the week, he rose again. So as indeed the body of Christ was not in the heart of the earth more than 36. hours, to weet two nights and a day, which is but the half space of 72. hours. Some, to supply this defect of time, account the light before the passion of Christ, and the darkness till the 9 hour, one day and a night, because, they say, there was both light and darkness. Lyr●. And then the light that followed from the 9 hour, and the succeeding night, a second day & night, likewise the third, till the time he rose again. 〈◊〉. Others expound it by a mystery thus: 36. hours, they say, to 72. which is the absolute measure of 3. days & 3. nights, is but simplum ad duplum, one to two, or the half of the whole. Now ours was a double death, both in soul by sin, & in body by pain; Christ's was but single, only in the body, because concerning his soul he was free from sin; therefore they infer, that the moiety of time might suffice him. Hugo Cardin. hath an other conceit, that from the creation of the world till the resurrection of Christ, the day was evermore numbered before the night, both in the literal and in the mystical understanding; first there was light, than darkness: but from the resurrection of Christ forwards, the night is first reckoned: (for which cause he thought, the vigiles were appointed for sabbaths & other festival days, that we might be prepared with more devotion to solemnize them:) here-hence he concludeth, that the night which followed the sabbath of the jews, was the angular night (& must twice be repeated, Angularis est. as the corner of a square serveth indifferently for either side which it lieth betwixt:) for both it belonged (saith he) to the sabbath preceding, & must be ascribed again unto the Christian sabbath, or Lords day, whereon the son of God rose from death. And he thinketh there is great reason of his invention: Et merito: quia Christus simplâ nocte suâ duplam nostram abstutis. Divinatores & vates, non interprete. Senec. Tull. in Aca. because Christ by one night of his, took away two of ours. So they are not content to be sober interpreters of the mind of God, but they will guess and divine at that which he never meant. They think their cunning abased, if they go not beyond the moon to fetch an exposition. What needeth such curious learning, to appoint every egg to the right hen that laid it, as some did in Delos, so these to think their labour unprofitable in the church of God, unless they can make the devises of their own heads reach home to the letter of the book in all respects? Our soundest divines agree, that the triduan rest of Christ in the grave, must be understood by the figure synecdoche, a part put for the whole. And thus they make their account: the first day of his passion & interment (which was the preparation of the jewish sabbath) must have the former night set to it. The second was fully & exactly run out. The third had the night complete, and only a piece of the first day of the week, which by the figure before named, is to be helped & supplied. Now I go forwards to explicate the behaviour of jonas in the belly of the fish. Therein we are to consider, 1. what the history speaketh of jonas, 2. what he speaketh himself. The words of the history testifying his demeanour, are those in the head of the chapter, which you have already heard, Then jonas prayed unto the LORD his GOD out of the belly of the fish, and said. Wherein, besides the person of jonas, needless to be recited any more, we are stored with a cluster of many singular meditations. 1. The connexion or consecution after his former misery; or, if you will, you may note it under the circumstance of time; Then. 2. What he did, Then. He prayed how he exercised and bestowed himself; He prayed. 3. To whom he prayed and tendered his moan; To the Lord. 4. Upon what right, interest, To the L. His God. Out of etc. And said. or acquaintance with that Lord; because he was his God. 5. From whence he directed his supplications; Out of the belly of the fish. 6. The tenor or manner of the song and request he offered unto him; And said. Thus far the history useth her own tongue: the words that follow, jonas himself indited. Many things have been mentioned before, 1. Then. whereof we may use the speech of Moses: Inquire of the ancient days which are before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and from one end of heaven to the other, if ever there were the like thing done: as that a man should breathe and live so long a time, not only in the bowels of the waters (for there jonas also was) but in the bowels of a fish within those waters; a prison with a double ward, deeper than the prison of jeremy, wherein, by his own pitiful relation, he stack fast in mire, jer. 38. and was ready to perish through hunger, and when he was pluck from thence, it was the labour of thirty men to draw him up with ropes, putting rags under his arms between the ropes and his flesh, Acts 12. for fear of hurting him: closer than the prison of Peter, who was committed to four quaternions of soldiers to be kept, and the night before his death intended, slept betwixt two soldiers, bound with two chains, and the keepers before the door: yea stricter than the prison of Daniel, the mouth whereof was closed with a stone, Dan ●. and sealed with the signet of the king, and the signet of his princes, and the keepers of the ward, by nature harder to be entreated than ten times 4. quaternions of soldiers. Name me a prison under heaven, except that lake of fire & brimstone, which is the second death, comparable unto this wherein jonas was concluded. Yet jonas there liveth not for a moment of time, but for that continuance of days, which the great shepherd of Israel afterwards took, & thought a term sufficient whereby the certain & undoubted eviction of his death might be published to the whole world. But this is the wonder of wonders, that not only the body of jonas is preserved in life & livelihood (where if he received any food, it was more loathsome to nature than the gall of asps, or if he drew any air for breath, it was more unpleasant than the vapours of sulphur) but his soul also and inward man was not destroyed, and stifled under the pressure of so unspeakable a tribulation. For so it is: he lieth in the belly of the fish, as if he had entered into his bedchamber, & cast himself upon his couch, recounting his former sins, present miseries, praying, believing, hoping, preaching unto himself the deliveraunces of God, with as free a spirit as ever he preached to the children of Israel upon dry land. Vigilat in ceto, qui stertebat in navi. Mira res. Zeno ep. Veronens. lib. 2. ser. 38. 2. Cor. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. He is awake in the whale, that snorted in the ship. What a strange thing was this? O the exceeding riches of the goodness of God, the height and depth whereof can never be measured, that in the distresses of this kind (to use the apostles phrases,) above measure and beyond the strength of man, wherein we doubt whether we live or no, and receive the sentence of death within ourselves, that if you should ask our own opinion, we cannot say but that in nature and reason we are dead men: yet God leaveth not only a soul to the body, whereby it moveth, but a soul to the soul, whereby it pondereth and meditateth within itself Gods everlasting compassions. Doubtless there are some afflictions that are a very death; else the Apostle in the place aforesaid, would never have spoken as he did: Ibid. We trust in God who raiseth up the dead, and hath delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver us, and in him we hope that yet he will deliver us. hearken to this, ye faint spirits, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. and lend a patiented ear to a thrice most happy deliverance, be strengthened ye weak hands, and feeble knees receive comfort: he hath, he doth, and yet he will deliver us, not only from the death of our bodies, when worms and rottenness have made their long and last pray upon them, but from the death of our minds too, when the spirit is buried under sorrows, and there is no creature found in heaven or earth to give it comfort. The next thing we are to inquire, is, what jonas did. He prayed All things pass, ● He prayed. Nihil novi video, nihil novi facio. lib. 3. ep. 2.4. Eccles. 3. sayeth Seneca, to return again. I see no new thing, I do no new. A wise man of our own to the same effect: That that hath been, is, and that that shallbe, hath been. I have before handled the nature and use of prayer, with as many requisite conditions to commend it, as there were chosen souls in the ark of Noah. You will now ask me, quousque eadem? how often shall we hear the same matter? I would there were no need of repetition. But it is true which Elihu speaketh in job, Chap. 33. Eccle. 22. God speaketh once and twice, and man seethe it not. There is much seed sown that miscarieth, some by the highway side, some amongst thorns, some otherwise; many exhortations spent as upon men that are a sleep, and when the tale is told, they ask what is the matter? Therefore I answer your demand, Jgnoscant scientes, 〈◊〉 offendant●● nescientes. Satius est enim offerre habenti, quae differre non habentens. 2. de. bapt. ●● Donat. 1. as Augustine sometimes the Donatists, when he was enforced to some iteration. Let those that know it already pardon me, lest I offend those that are ignorant. For it is better to give him that hath, than to turn him away that hath not. And if it were truth of Homer, or may be truth of any man that is form of clay, unus Homerus satietatem omnium effugit, One Homer never cloyed any man that read him, much more it is truth, that one and only jesus Christ, the precepts and ordinances of his law, his mysteries of faith, have been often preached, often heard, & yet never wearied, never satisfied those that hungered and thirsted after his saving health. I go back to my purpose. jonas, you hear, prayed. This is the life of the soul which before I spoke of: when being perplexed with such grief of heart, as neither wine, (according to the advice of Solomon) nor strong drink could bring ease unto; her tongue cleaving to the roof of her mouth, and her spirit melting like wax in the midst of her bowels; when it is day, calling for the night again, and when it is night, saying to herself, when shall it be morning? finding no comfort at all●, either in light or darkness, kinsfolks or friends, pleasures or riches, and wishing as often as she openeth her lips, and draweth in her breath unto her, if God were so hasty to hear those wishes, job 1● Oh that thou wouldst hide me in the grave, and keep me secret, until thy wrath were passed: yet than she taketh unto her the wings of a dove, the motion and agility▪ I mean) of the spirit of God, she flieth by the strength of her prayers into the bosom of God's mercies, and there is at rest. Is any afflicted amongst you? Let him pray. Afflicted or not afflicted, (under correction of apostolic judgement) let him pray. For what shall he else do? Shall he follow the ways of the wicked, which the prophet describeth? the wicked is so proud that he seeketh not after God; Psal. 10 he saith evermore in his heart, there is no God; he boasteth of his own hearts desires, he blesseth himself and contemneth the Lord; the judgements of God are high above his sight, therefore he snuffeth at his enemies, and saith to himself, I shall never be moved, nor come in danger? I can name you a man that in his prosperity said even as they did; I shall never be moved: Psa. 30. thou Lord of thy goodness hast made my hill so strong. But see the change. Thou didst but hide thy face, and I was troubled. Then cried I unto Lord, and prayed unto my God, saying, what profit is there in my blood etc. Or shall he with those unrighteous priests in Malachi, use big words against the LORD, It is in vain that I have served him, Mal. 3. and what profit is it that I have kept his commandments, and walked in humility before him? joh 21. O, the counsel of the wicked be far from me, saith job: their candle shall often be put out, and the sorrow of the fathers shallbe laid up for their children, and they shall even drink the wrath of the Almighty. And all such as fear the Lord speak otherwise every one to his neighbour, Malach. 3. and the Lord hearkeneth and heareth it, and a book of remembrance is written for them that fear him, and think upon his name. Or shall he on the other side, when his sorrows are multiplied upon him, say, as it is in the Psalm, who will show me any good thing? Let him answer the distrust of his mind in the next words: Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon me. Psal. 4. Thou shalt put more joy thereby into mine heart, than the plentifullest increase of corn, wine, and oil can bring to others. Or lastly, what shall he do? shall he add grief unto grief, and welcome his woes unto him? shall he drink down pensiveness, as Behemoth drinketh down jordan into his mouth? shall he bury himself alive, and drown his soul in a gulf of desperation? shall he live the life of Cain, or die the death of judas? shall he spend his wretched time in ban and execrations, cursing the night that kept counsel to his conception, cursing the day that brought tidings of his bringing forth, cursing the earth that beareth him, the air that inspireth him, the light that shineth upon him? shall he curse God and die, or perhaps, curse God and not die? or shall he keep his anguish to himself, & let his heart burst like new bottelles that are full of wine, for want of venting? or shall he howl and yell into the air, like the wolves in the wilderness, and as the manner of the heathen is▪ not knowing where or how to make their moan, feeling a wound, but not knowing how to cure it? or what shall he do when he findeth himself in misery, his ways hedged up with thorns, that hem cannot stir to deliver himself there-hence, In fine scent. what should he do but pray? Bernard, under a fiction, proposeth a table well worthy our beholding; therein the Kings of Babylon and jerusalem, signifying the state of the world and the church, always warring together. In which encounter, at length it fell out, that one of the soldiers of jerusalem was fled to the castle of justice. Siege laid to the castle, and a multitude of enemies entrenched round about it. Fear gave over all hope, but prudence ministered her comfort. Dost thou not know, saith she, that our king is the king of glory? the Lord strong and mighty, even the Lord mighty in battle? let us therefore dispatch a messenger, that may inform him of our necessities. Fear replieth, but who is able to break through? Darkness is upon the face of the earth, and our walls are begirt with a watchful troop of armed men, & we utterly unexpert of the way into so far a country▪ where upon justice is consulted. Be of good cheer, saith justice; I have a messenger of especial trust, well known to the king and his court, Prayer by name, who knoweth to address herself by ways unknown, in the stillest silence of the night, till she cometh to the secrets and chamber of the king himself. Forthwith she goeth and finding the gates shut, knocketh amain, Open ye gates of righteousness, and be ye opened ye everlasting doors, that I may come in and tell the king of jerusalem how our case standeth. Doubtless the trustiest and efectuallest messenger we have to send, is Prayer. If we send up merits, the stars in heaven will disdain it, that we which dwell at the footstool of God dare to presume so far, when the purest creatures in heaven are impure in his sight. If we send up fear and distrustfulness, the length of the way will tyre them out. They are as heavy and lumpish as gads of iron, they will sink to the ground, before they come half way to the throne of salvation. If we send up blasphemies and curses, all the creatures betwixt heaven and earth will band themselves against us. The sun and the moon will rain down blood, the fire hot burning coals, the air thunderbolts upon our heads. Prayer, I say again, is the surest ambassador which neither the tediousness of the way, nor difficulties of the passage can hinder from her Purpose; quick of speed, faithful for trustiness, happy for success, able to mount above the eagles of the sky, into the heaven of heavens, and as a chariot of fire bearing us aloft into the presence of God, to seek his assistance. And jonas prayed unto the Lord. I handled also this point before more largely then at this present I intend. 3. Unto the Lord. I noted therein their wisdom and choice, who take their mark aright, and direct their petions to their true and proper period. I will briefly say, Non minus est Deum fingere quam negare. Hil in ps.. 1. Psal. 11. It is as great an offence, to make a new, as to deny the true GOD. in the Lord put I my trust, bow then say ye unto my soul (ye seducers of souls) that she should fly unto the mountains as a bird; to seek unnecessary and foreign helps, as if the LORD alone were not sufficient? The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, Psal. 18. and he that delivereth me, my GOD, and my strength; in him will I trust: my shield, the horn also of my salvation, and my refuge: I will call upon the Lord which is worthy to be praised, so shall I be safe from mine enemies; whom have I in heaven but thee, amongst those thousands of angels and Saints, what Michael or Gabriel, what Moses or Samuel, what Peter what Paul? Psal. 146. and there is none in earth that I desire in comparison of thee. Put not your trust in Princes (which are the ablest upon the earth) nor in the son of man for there is no help in him. His breath departeth, and he returneth to his earth, and then all his thoughts perish. But blessed is the man that hath the GOD of jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his GOD. In that lamentable siege and famine of Samaria, a woman cry●d to the king as he passed by, help my Lord O king. 2. King. 6. The king answered, seeing the Lord doth not secure thee, how should I help thee with the barn or the winepress? The king concluded sound, that if the LORD withdraw his helping hand it lieth not in any prince of the earth to afford it, GOD hath spoken once, Psal. 62. and I have heard it twice, that power belongeth unto GOD, and thine O LORD is salvation; even thine alone. As much as to say, God is very constant in the asseveration of this doctrine. Semel & bis. i. non semel. saepius, aeternali●ter. penitus, inconcusse. To drive it into our conceits he hath spoken it once and twice, that is not once, but many times, he hath spoken it eternally, unmoveably, effectually, without retractation. Once in the law and a second time in the gospel. Both the breasts of the church give this milk. Moses and Christ, prophets and Evangelistes run upon this point. Surely they forsake their first & better husband, and go after lovers, whose company they will dearly repent, Osea 2. (for they will see an alteration, and be driven to confess, It was better with me at that time, then now) which think that their bread and water, wool, and flax, and oil, and drink are not the blessings of God, much more the gifts and virtues of the soul, inward and spiritual graces; that cry for deliverance where there is none, that lay out their silver and not for bread, Es. 55. bestow their labour and are not satisfied, spend and consume their prayers and are not heard. Or (as Irenee maketh the comparison) they are not unlike Aesop's dog, Lib. 2. ca 12. who having meat in his mouth, caught at the shadow which he saw in the waters, and lost the substance. Is not the gleaning of Ephraim of more worth than all the vintage of Abiathar? Is not the staff of the Lord of more strength (whereof David spoke) thy staff and thy rod comforted me; then all the staves of Assur and Egypt, staves of reeds, staves of flesh and blood? is not the least finger of his right hand of more puissance than the whole arm either of flesh, or any spirit besides, yea then the whole loins, whole bodies, whole substances of angels, men, silver, gold, silk, purple, all other creatures? Olympias the mother of Alexander the great, wrote to her son, when he called himself the son of jupiter, not to do it; for sear of procuring unto her the envy and displeasure of juno. The angels and Saints in heaven, are much displeased, I dare affirm, to have such dangerous honour thrust upon them, that bringeth them into emulation with their fearful Lord, whose presence they tremble at: and if it were possible for them to hear such unlawful prayers of men, they would, I doubt not, with a contrary sound of words, labour to purge themselves before the Lord of hosts. Not unto us, Lord, not unto us: it belongeth not to thy servants to receive such sacrifice. They that refused a far smaller offer upon the earth, the only bowing of the knee unto them, See thou do it not, when the knees of the heart shall stoop, and prayers be powered unto them, they will much more be discontented. I conclude out of Saint Bernard, Sperent in alijs alij; Let others put their trust in other things. Some in the knowledge of letters, some in the wiliness of this world. Some in nobility, some in preferment, or in any the like vanity, and let him that listeth trust in uncertain riches. But it is good for me to hold me fast by the Lord, and to put my hope in God. Who ever hoped in the Lord and was confounded? The Lion's lack and suffer hurger, but they that fear the Lord, shall want no manner of thing that good is. The specialty whereupon he took encouragement to pray unto the Lord; 4. His God. he had a particular feeling of the love of God towards him, and knew him to be his God. He had not only heard and seen in others, but tasted in himself how sweet the LORD was: some little experience of deliverance he had already made, because the waters chokte him not, and albeit he were swallowed into the belly of the fish, yet his life remained in him, and there is no other likelihood but he lived in hope of a far greater salvation. The former circumstance, is as the alabaster box of spikenard, that contained precious ointment in it, but kept it close and uncommunicated: this latter breaketh the box and poureth out the ointment, that the savour of the perfume may fill the whole house, and comfort both the body and soul of him that will use it. The former at large delivereth the arguments of the might and mercy of God, telleth us▪ there is a Lord above, whom all the ends of the world have a portion in, whose name is jehovah, and his aid most requisite to be sought unto. This latter bringeth him home as it were, under the roof of our private houses, and giveth him entertainment in our particular consciences. The former giveth counsel, and showeth the way, the latter putteth in execution; Dicit fides, parata sunt bona inexplicabilia etc. Dicit spes, mihi illa servantur. Nam charitas etc. Bern ser. 10. super qui habitat. Nempe germana fidei speique cognatio est. Vtque illa futurum credit, haec sibi incipiat sperare futurum. Super inane. Cap. 8. See Mart. Luther upon the 5. to the Galathians. Aliquid creditur quod non speratur, nihil speratur quod non creditur. Fides est malarum rerum & bonarum, & praeteritarum, & praesenti●m & futurarum, & su●rum rerum & alienarum. Spes est bonarum rerū●antū & su●●rarum & nostrarum. ●. Paedag 6. the one teacheth knowledge the other application; the one what to believe, the other what to hope, the one to pray unto the Lord, the other to pray unto the Lord our God. Dicit fides, parata sunt bona, etc. faith saith, there are good things, which cannot be told, prepared for believers; hope saith, they are kept for me. Charity, which is the third sister, saith, I run and endeavour to attain unto them. Before he had said, that there was a near affinity between faith and hope. For that which the one believeth shall be, the other beginneth to hope shall be for her. The prophet breaketh not the order of these two virtues: first he believeth, then hopeth. For faith is the substance of things hoped for: and no more can a man hope after that, which he believeth not, than a painter paint in the air or upon emptiness. Augustine in his enchiridion to Laurentius, allegeth many differences betwixt faith and hope. Namely these, that more is believed then is hoped for; as the pains of hell; but nothing is hoped, which is not believed. Again, faith apprehendeth both good and evil; reward and punishment; things past, things present, and things to come, as the death of Christ for the first, for the second his sitting at the right hand of God, for the last, his coming to judgement. Moreover faith hath to do in matters both concerning ourselves and others; for we also believe that, that appertaineth to Angels. But hope is the expectation only of good things, & such as are to come, & are proper to ourselves. So faith is evermore ampler than hope, and hope is in a manner a contracted & abridged faith. Clem. Alex. faith, that hope is the blood of faith. And when hope hath given up the ghost, it is as if the blood of faith had flowed out, & all her vital power were exhausted. The devils both know & obey God. job 1. & they acknowledge his son jesus Christ, not only in the substance of his deity to be the son of God, but in his office of mediation, Thou art that Christ, Marc. 1. and they profess & publish that knowledge of theirs, for Christ rebuketh them for it, Luc. 4. neither are they ignorant of his commission, that all power is granted unto him both in heaven & earth. And that he is ordained the judge of the quick & the dead. Therefore they ask, why art thou come to vex us before the time? Math. 8. Yea they fall down and worship him, Mark. 5. they fear & tremble and believe 2. jac. and they pray unto him. For the Legion instantly besought him 4. Mark▪ not to send them away out of the coasts of the Gadaren●. ●o there is in the devils, you see, 1. knowledge, and that very deep and profound, 2. confession, 3. worship, 4. fear, 5. belief, 6. prayer and supplication; what want they? that which if christians want, they have a name that they live, but indeed are dead. They want a particular confident faith, the application of mercy, which is the life of Christians, and the defect whereof maketh devils. For not to believe assuredly that God is rich in mercy to all that call upon him in faithfulness and truth, to have his loving kindness in jealousy, to distrust his promises which are yea and Amen, to falsify his word more stable than the pillars of the earth, to make him a liar what in us lieth, & to evacuate the testimony of his spirit speaking to our spirits that we are the sons of God, & as it were to pull off the seal whereby we are sealed against the redemption of the just, is that damnable & desperate infidelity which turneth men into devils, and of the household of faith maketh them a family for the prince of darkness. And not to speak more of this beautiful damsel, as highly favoured of the king of kings as ever was Esther of the king of the Medes & Persians, not contenting herself to stay without at the gate, Ester. 4. but with an humble presumption approaching into the inner court, & finding the golden sceptre of favour ever ready to be held out unto her; be ye assured in your souls, and write it in the tables of your hearts with the point of a Diamond, with the persuasion of God's holy spirit, that the writings of adversaries may never raze it out again, that if you err not in the nature of a true faith, if you take not shadows of mountains for men, a fancy and shadow of faith for the body itself, if it be sound & substantial, rightly informed, properly qualified, you may say unto it, go in peace; it shall walk through life & death without controlment. jud. 9 If it find angels, principalities, powers, things present, things to come, any other creature in the world, stopping her passage, & rebuking her forwardness, she shall clear her way notwithstanding with the strength of her hope, and climb into the presence of her God; where if she crave to sit at his right or left hand in his everlasting kingdom, her suit shall be granted. He prayed unto the Lord his God out of the belly of the fish; 5. The place. where he had as little comfort of life, as blind Tobias had: what joy can I have, said he, that sit in darkness and behold not the light of heaven? Tob. 5. jonas might truly say in a double sense de profundis clamavi, & abyssus abyssum invocat, out of the deep have I cried, & one depth calleth upon an other, who lay both in the bottom of a monster, & in the lowest gulf of affliction that ever soul was plunged in. Might he have had the liberty of the sons of God, to have entered into the house of the Lord, the house of prayer, as the prophet calleth it, the place where his honour dwelled, there to have humbled himself & powered out his soul to him that made it, I would less have marveled to hear this duty performed. Anna the daughter of Phanuell hath spent her days in the temple of God, serving the Lord with fastings and prayers night and day, Luc. 2. and she departed not thence. David desired but one thing of the Lord, and that he would require, that he might dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, Psal. 72. and to visit his temple. But in the belly of the fish there was no beauty to invite unto devotion; in this darksome and desert house, no company or fellowship to draw him on, Ibimus in domum domini, Psal. 122. Come we will go into the house of Lord: Our feet shall stand in thy gates O jerusalem. No, not so much as swallows and sparrows, which David envied, because they had leave to build their nests by the altars of God; yea, if vultures and shrich-owles had but dwelt thereby, it had been some comfort. Yet in this desolate and solitary house, voider of haunt then the ransacked sanctuary of jerusalem, the paths whereof foxes for want of passengers ran up & down upon, wherein he lay as forlorn in a manner, as he that made his abode amongst the tombs of the dead and frequented the company neither of men nor beasts, Marc. 5. even in this hateful cage of filth & uncleanness, he setteth himself on work, humbling his soul in prayer lower than his body was humbled in the water, talking with God on high, mourning and lamenting his wretchedness, not in a cave of Horeb as Elias did, not in a cave of Adullam as David, but in the ugliest, uncomfortablest vault (setting hell apart) that ever was entered. O Lord, where shall thy spirit forsake thy chosen ones? if we climb into heaven, there it is as apparent to the world as the sun in his brightness. If we be driven into the wilderness, there it will attend on us. If we lie down in the bottom of the sea, if in the bowels of a whale within that bottom of the sea, there will it also embrace us. To conclude all in one for this time, there was never contemplation or study in the world so holy and heavenly in the sight of God, so faithful and sociable to him that useth it, Peregrinatur, perno●tat. as prayer is. It travaileth by day it awaketh by night with us; it forsaketh us not by land, by water, in weal, in woe, living nor dying. It is our last friend an● indissolublest companion: therefore we must pray. There was never name so worthy to be called upon, in heaven or earth, so mighty for deliverance, so sure for protection, so gainful for success, so compendious to cut of unnecessary labours, as the name of jehovah our merciful father, and the image of his countenance, jesus Christ. Therefore to the Lord. There was never city of refuge so free for transgressors, never holes in the rocks so open for doves; never lap of the mother so open to her babes, as the bowels of God's compassions are open to believers. Therefore we must pray in that stile of propriety which Thomas used, when he looked upon Christ, my Lord and my God. last there was never affliction so great, but the hand of the Lord hath been able to master it: therefore if we walk in the shadow of death (as where was the shadow of death if these bowels of the whale were not?) we must not take discomfort at it. The Lord sitteth above the water floods; the Lord commandeth the sea and all that therein is. He that hath hidden jonas in the belly of a fish, as a chosen shaft in the quiver of his merciful providence, and made destruction itself a tabernacle and hiding place to preserve him from destruction, blessed be his holy name, and let the might of his majesty receive honour for evermore) he will never forsake his sons and daughters, neither in health nor sickness, light nor darkness, in the land of the living, nor in the land of forgetfulness. And therefore as David cursed the mountains of Gilboah, 2. Sam. 1. that neither dew nor rain might fall upon them, because the shield of the mighty was there cast down; so cursed be all faithless and faint hearted passions, that throw away the shield of faith, and open the way for the fiery darts of the devil to work their purpose. But blessed be the mountains of Armenia, for there the 〈◊〉 found rest. Blessed be the power and mercy of our God, for these are the mountains whereupon the ark resteth: these are the holy hills whereon the Zion and church of the Lord hath her everlasting foundations. The Lord liveth, and blessed be our strength, even the God of our salvation for ever and ever be exalted. Amen. THE XXIIII. LECTURE. Chap. 2. ver. 2. And said, I eryed in mine affliction to the Lord and he heard me, out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardst my voice. IN the words of the history, before we come to jonas speaking from his own person, I noted 1. his action during the time of his imprisonment, prayer, 2. the object of his prayer, the Lord, 3. the application, his God, 4. his house of prayer, the belly of the fish, & 5. the specification of it, he said; which particle only remaineth to be adjoined to the former, before we proceed to to prayer itself. And said. It beareth one sense thus: I will not only acquaint you that jonas prayed, but I will also express unto you what that prayer was; this was the sum and substance of it: the matter he framed and compiled to his God, was to this effect. He prayed and said, that is, these were the very words, this was the tenor and text of his song indicted. But if the word be better looked into, it may yield a further construction. For in the three principal tongues Hebrew, Greek & Latin, there hath ever been held a difference between speaking & saying: Awl Gel. 1. noct. At. 15. Satis loquē●lae, sapientiae parùm. Salui. the former being more general & unperfit, belonging to as many as use the instruments of speech. Thersites spoke though he spoke like a jay, & they speak of whom the proverb is verified, little wisdom, much prating. Eupolis noted them in the greek verse, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, they are excellent to talk, but very unable to say. The later is more special, & noteth a wise & deliberated speech, grave & sententious, weighed in the balance as it is in the words of Syrach, & uttered to good purpose. Tully in his rhetorickes giveth the difference, Eccle. 21. in that he ascribeth saying to orators alone, Solius est oratoris dicere, loqui autem communis vulgi. speaking to the common people; & that the one cometh from nature, the other from art. Such was the handling of that argument in the 45. Psalm, whereof the author witnesseth before hand, My heart is inditing a good matter; & his tongue was but the pen of a ready writer. It was sermo natus in pectore, a matter bred in the breast not at the tongues end. And such was the song of jonas in this place. It was drawn as deep as the water from the well of jacob, the sentences whereof were advisedly penned & the words themselves set upon feet, and placed in equal proportions. A skilful and artificial song, as if it should have fitted an instrument, composed in number & measure, to the honour of his name who giveth the argument of a song in the night season: job. 35. who in the heaviest and solitariest times, when nature calleth for rest, quickeneth up the spirit of a man, and giveth him wisdom & grace to meditate within himself his unspeakable mercies. I do not think that the prayer of jonas was thus metrically digested within the belly of the fish as now it standeth. But such were the thoughts and cogitations, wherein his soul was occupied, which after his landing again, perhaps he repolished, & brought into order & fashion▪ as a memorial & monument of the goodness of God that had enlarged him. It ministereth this instruction unto us all, that when we sing or say any thing unto the Lord we keep the rule of the Psalm, Sing ye praises with understanding: Psal. 47. that as john Baptist went before Christ to prepare his ways, so our hearts may ever go before our tongues to prepare their speeches; that first we speak within ourselves as the woman with the bloody issue did (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for she said within herself, Math. 9 if I may but touch the hem of his garment) afterwards to others; first in our hearts with David in the Psalm, Psal. 39 Dix● Custodiam etc. I said, I will keep my ways, then with our lips; that first we hue the stones and make them fit for the building of the temple before we place them in the walls, lest by our hammering and confusion at the present time we disorder all things; finally that whither we pray or preach, we come not wildly and unadvisedly to those sacred works, beating the air with empty words, and seeking our matter up and down as Saul his father's asses, but furnished and prepared to our business with sufficient meditation. I never shall persuade myself that the exactest industry which either tongue or pen can take in the handling of his works can displease God. And they that think the contrary, seek but a cloak for themselves (the greater part) to cover their ignorance withal, as it was noted of Honorius the third, when he forbade the clergy the study of both laws, the fox dispraiseth the grapes which himself cannot reach. Exod. 31. When the Tabernacle should be made with the ark of testimony, and the mercy seat, and all other instruments belonging thereunto, GOD called Bezeleel by name, and filled him with his spirit, in wisdom, and in understanding, in knowledge, and in all workmanship, and joined Aholiab with him, and as many as were wise of heart besides, God put cunning into them. As Bezeleel and his fellows were fit for these works, than others unfurnished, so had they been very unworthy of these graces of God, if being bestowed to such an end, they had not used them to the uttermost. I ask in the like manner. Who made the mouth and the heart of man? whose are learning and arts, invention and eloquence? what womb hath engendered them? are they not Gods blessings? shall we dissemble the author? shall we obscure the gifts? shall we wrap them up in a napkin, & hide them in the ground, and not express them to the honour of his name by whom they were given? Erasmus in his preface upon the works of Cyprian, giveth this testimony & applause to that glorious martyr of Christ. Talem ecclesiae doctorem etc. such a doctor of the church, such a champain of Christian religion, did the school of rhetoricians bring forth unto us; Ne quis sibi stolidè placeat, quod nihil rhetorices atti▪ ●●●rit▪ lest any man foolishly should flatter himself, that he never meddled with rhetoric. It is not unknown to all that peruse the holy writ that Moses was learned in all the wisdom of Egypt, Daniel of Chaldee, job not unexpert in astronomy, jeremy in the common laws of his time, David in music, Paul in Poetry, and in all the knowledge both of jews & Gentiles; and those that delight in the histories of the church, shall find Cyprian, Optatus, Hilary, Lactantius and others, laden out of Egypte with the treasures and spoils of the Egyptians, instructed for the better service of GOD with the helps of profane writers. Sero. 1. et 5. ●polog. c. 45. They require but their own, for these other were but thieves (saith Clem. Alex.) and rob Moses and the prophets; and likewise in the judgement of Tertullian harping upon the same string, what poet or sophister hath there ever been, that drank not at the well of the prophets? or if there be any thing in them besides, let them be enforced to confess with julian, proprijs pennis consigimur, we are stricken thorough with our own ●uilles, Si turpe est bonas literas colere, malle● agnoscere culpam quam deprecari. The words of jonas himself. that is wounded and disadvantaged, by our own learning. And therefore I end with the saying of Picus Mirandula, if it be an opprobrious thing to embrace good letters, I had rather acknowledge my fault then ask pardon for it. Hitherto went the words of the history, now let us see what jonas himself saith. I cried in mine affliction unto the Lord, etc. I remember what Eschines spoke of Demosthenes at Rhodes, when he read the defence that Demosthenes had framed to his accusation, the people wondering at the strength and validity of it, quid si ipsum audissetis? what would ye have thought, if you had heard him pronouncing with his own mouth? I think no less betwixt jonas & jonas, when I find what odds there is betwixt him and himself, as he speaketh in the name of the history which he writeth, and as in his own person. His pen wrote nothing so effectually as his heart felt, and being the scribe and orator only, he is not so fluent and copious, as when he is the patiented. job demandeth in the sixth of his book; will ye give the words of him that is afflicted to the wind? as if he had said, when affliction itself and the inmost sorrows of my heart tell my tale, will you not regard it? job. 16. Oh that your souls were in my soul's steed, that you felt as much as I am grieved with: I could then keep your company, and could shake mine head at you. job. 7. Loquor in angustia mea, queror in amaritudine animae meae; I speak that that I speak from a world of trouble, I make my complaint in the bitterness of my soul. So jerusalem crieth in the Lamentations of the prophet, Chap. 1. O all ye that pass by, stay and consider if ever there were sorrow like unto that wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me. For they that past by, considered it not, but jerusalem felt it at the heart. The style of the history before if you observed it, was simple and plain, in as usual, naked, and vulgar terms as might be: jonas prayed unto the Lord his God out of the belly of the fish: what one word therein lofty and magnificent, and lifted above the common course of speech? But the style of jonas himself speaking from a sense and impression of his woes, is full of ornament and majesty, full of translated and varied phrases, as if a sentence of ordinary terms were not sufficient to express his miseries. It is not now said that he prayed, but that he cried, praying is turned into crying, not from the belly of the fish, but from the belly of hell, a marvelous transformation; & the trouble he speaketh of is not properly trouble, but narrowness & straits, & the hearing of the Lord is not naturally hearing, but answering, a degree beyond. Again the stile of the history was single and brief, and not a word bestowed therein more than was needful to explain the matter intended. Clamavi▪ vociferatu● sum. Exaudivit, exaudivisti, Angustia, venture inferni. Aul. Gel. 13.23. Jbid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. But the stile of jonas himself in every part is doubled and iterated. For where it was said before at once, jonas prayed, now, he cried and cried. And the Lord heard and heard. And the belly of the fish there mentioned, is now, both pressure and tribulation, and the belly of hell to. Euripides charged Eschylus in the comedy for unnecessary repetition of words. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Wise Eschylus hath one thing twice repeated In that, I come, and come, again is used, When coming, there, and coming is not changed. But in the two members of this present verse, though there be near affinity, and they seem to import but the same meaning, yet we may not take them for an idle repetition: the later of the two rising in degree in some sort, & giving elucidation to that which went before it. And as nature in the body of man hath doubled his eyes, his ears and other parts, that if the one should fail in his office & charge, the other might supply the defect; so in the body of this sentence the wisdom of the prophet hath doubled every word, that if those of the former rank, fail in their office and message whereunto they are sent, the other in the later might help them out. For thus me thinketh they found. Is any man desirous to understand my case? I was in affliction: and that affliction so great, as if I had been pinched and thronged in some narrow room; Ex angustias. Lam. 3. as if the Lord had hedged about me that I should not get forth, and mured me up within hewn stone, they are the words of jeremy, to show the nature of extreme tribulation. Clamavi. If you will know my refuge, I went unto the Lord, not with a cold & careless devotion, nor with a dumb spirit, but with as earnest & impatient a voice as the affections of my heart could send forth. Exaudivit. If you will also learn the success, what comfort & speed my crying had, the Lord gave ear and answer unto it. Now in the second clause of my text, Eventre inferni. though neither the order of the parts, nor the substance of the words disagreeth, yet their virtue and power is much more significant. For that which he called before tribulation and anguish is now the belly of hell. Vociferatus sum. And the cry that he used before is now vociferation, an other kind of cry. And whereas he said before, the Lord hath heard me, as one that were farther removed from him, now by changing the person, Tu Domine. he cometh nearer to his throne of grace, & delivereth his tale as it were in the ears, & under the eyes of the author of his deliverance; Thou Lord hast answered me. From this difference of styles, that when he speaketh from himself, he useth greater force of words, than when the history speaketh of him, I make this brief collection: that jonas interpreted aright, the afflictions sent of God, & mistook not the end why he was chastened. For what was the cause of them, but to put a sensible & lively feeling into the soul of jonas, that he might see and say in himself, I am sick indeed, and that his soul refusing all other comfort, he might run to the succours of God there to be refreshed. God did justly complain against Israel in the second of jeremy. I have smitten their children in vain, they received no correction. The prophet in the 5. chap. findeth the same fault, Thou hast stricken them, but they have not sorrowed: thou hast consumed them, but they refuse to be corrected: they have made their faces harder than a stone and refuse to return. But what will be the end of this stupidity & blockishness in apprehending the chastisements of God? the same which is spoken of Ezec. 16. recessit zelus meus à te, Solo auditu contremisco. Vides quia tunc magis irascitur Deus cum non irascitur. Misericordiam, hanc ego nolo. Super omnem iram miseratio ista. Ser. 42. super Cant. my wrath is departed from thee, & I will cease, & be no more angry. Whereupon sweet S. Barnard. I tremble at the very hearing of it. Now thou perceivest that God is then more angry, when he is not angry. God keep me from such mercy: this pity is beyond all wrath. Let them consider this well that take the afflictions of God brought upon them as an horse or mule taketh the branding of an hot iron which they presently forge●: who when they are smitten with sorrow, sickness, infamy, losses or such like temptations, are no more moved therewith, than when they see the wether or wind in the air changed. O Lord, they will not behold thine high hand, but they shall see it. If they will not apply it to amendment of life, they shall receive it to their further judgement. The parts severally to be handled in the present words are these▪ Division of the text. 1. the gravity of his afflictions declared by two metaphors, straightness, & the belly of hell, & what effect those afflictions drew from him, prayer, 2. the vehemency of that prayer▪ expressed both by the ingemination & increment of 2. words, crying & vociferation or out●crying. 3. the success of his prayer, in two other words laid down and amplified by changing the person, he heard & thou heardest. The first metaphor or translation bewraying his misery unto us, Out of my anguish. is angustia, narrowness, strictness of room, & as it were, a little-ease, whence I suppose, we derive our english name anguish. The reason of this metaphor in afflictions, is because the heart & countenance at such times endure a kind of compression & coartation, a shrinking together, & are drawn as it were into a lesser room, the spirits not diffusing themselves so freely, as when there is occasion of mirth & cheerfulness. For it is not unknown in common experience, that laughter dilateth & spreadeth the face abroad, which sorrow contracteth; therefore God promiseth in the 60. of Esay, that the heart of the church shallbe enlarged, Dilatabitur cor ecclesiae. that is, filled with joy. Or this may be an other cause, that in a narrow & close room (say for example the prison of john Baptist, or the grate wherein Tamburlaine kept the great Turk) there is not that scope and freedom of passage, there is not that plenty and variety of necessary helps, as in a larger place. Therefore David giveth thanks in the Psalm at his first coming to the kingdom, Psal. 18. that after he had been chased like a fly from country to country, first to Samuel in Ramah, then to Abimelech in Nob, afterwards to Achis in Gath, sometimes into a cave, sometimes into a wilderness, at length the Lord had delivered him and set his feet in a large room. The afflictions of job, you all know, how vehment they were, & he never more kindly expressed than then by this translation, in the 7. of his book. Am I a sea, or a whale fish that thou keepest me in ward? afterwards he expoundeth his meaning: that God did try him every moment, that he would never departed from him, nor let him alone till he might swallow his spittle down, such were the straights he was hemmed in. The like manner of speech he used in the 11. Ex angustiâ mihi. He hath put my feet in the stocks & looketh narrowly to all my ways. There were enough in this former borrowed term to show the affliction of jonas, which by the grace that is used in the words, seemeth to have sitten as close to his soul as a garment to his skin, or as the entrails of the fish lay to his body, wherein as the spaces of ground which he used to walk were stinted & abridged him, so the pleasure & feeedome of his mind, solace of his friends, & comfort of the light of heaven were taken from him: Out of the belly of hell. but the other without comparison, let the world be sought through from the utmost circle to the centre of it, is the absolutest pattern of misery that ever sank into human invention. For as nothing is more direful and unsufferable than hell, so nothing more fit in the nature of things, whereunto the hugest tribulation may be compared. The word in the Hebrew carrieth itself indifferently either for hell or the grave, for they are both always craving Bring in; and thence they have their name, the grave is never satisfied with the corpses of the dead, nor hell with the souls of the damned that descend into it. I rather take it to signify hell in this place, one saith because of the horror, an other for the darkness, some for the depth, some for the hugeness of the belly of the fish Hieron. Venture inferni alvus caeti, tanti magnitudini● ut instar obtineat inferni: The belly of hell is the belly of the fish, so large and capable that it may go insteeede of hell. The belly of the fish, saith an other, alter mihi infernus erat, was an other hell unto me. Mercer. David useth the same phrase with jonas, the pains of hell compassed me about, and the snares of death overtook me. But in an other Psalm more distinctly. Thou hast delivered my soul from the ●●thermost hell. What? did jonas or David ever descend into that f●ery lake, to know the torments thereof? Or as Pythagoras guest at the stature and pitch of Hercules by the length of his foot, which was but one part of his body, so by a taste of bitterness incident to this present life, have these conceived what sorrow and vexation is reserved to the wicked for times to come? Undoubtedly the grief of heart hath been infinite, and as much as mortality could ever admit. The mournings of Hannah, job, David, jeremy, jerusalem such, as his heart must needs be harder than the stithy which the smith beateth upon, that readeth the catalogues of their woes and is not moved at them. But if all those foresaid agonies, and as many besides as ever wrung and wrested the spirit of man, since the breath of life was breathed into him, were put together to part the torments of hell among them, part after part, as if they would empty the storehouses, and break the stream of it, yet hath the hand of hell an unmeasurable portion behind to distribute to her children, an endless patrimony, of howling, wring, and gnashing which all the forepast mischiefs and maims in this life, have scarce been shadows and counterfeits of. The belly of hell, you hear, but in a type or figure, where the word is mistaken and abused, and brought from his proper sense, though it be fearful enough, and the extremity of pain hath so beguiled and besotted some (I speak it with sobriety) in the judgements of their minds, that they have thought it very hell indeed, yet woe be to them ten thousand times more, and more than can be imagined, by any heart as deep as a flood, whom the belly of very hell hath swallowed and closed up. It is not possible to be spoken, it is more unpossible to be endured (yet it must be endured) what the terrors and tortures of hell are. Take him, saith the gospel, bind him hand and foot, Mat. 22. & ●. is it no more but so? I ●ictor liga manus: go seargeant bind his hands? yes: cast him into utter darkness: outward to those inward wherein they delighted before, blindness of mind and understanding; outward, because the whole man, body and soul shallbe folded and comprehended therein; outward because in extremity, without the limits and borders of any favour of God to be extended. Where neither the light of the sun, moon and stars, and much less the sight of God's glorious face shall ever shine: There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, there is, there shallbe, no time set. It standeth for all eternity, no myriad of years shall ever determine it. There the eyes shall distil like fountains, and the teeth clatter like armed men, and all the parts of the body relinquish their natural uses, and spend their cursed time in wretchedness and confusion. These are the straights indeed, not like to those which before I mentioned, when hands and feet are so bound, body and soul so hampered and snared, not with cords and withes as sampson's were, but with the unexplicable bands of long night, that not a part of either of the two shall have any power or activity left to gratify their owner with; neither the mind to contemplate more than endless infelicity, nor the memory to recount more than ancient and thrice most hateful sins, nor the fantasy to present more than fearful visions, nor the eyes to behold more than legions of unclean spirits, nor the ears to hear more than the roar of finds, nor the nostrils to smell more than the smoke of brimstone, nor the hands to catch hold of more than flames of fire, nor the feet to walk further, than their gives and chains will give them leave. Torments invented and inflicted by tyrants, have been most hideous; the teeth of wild beasts, hot glowing ovens and furnaces, cauldrons of boiling oil, fiery brazen bulls, powning to death in motters, rolling in barrels of nails, roasting upon spits, boaring with angers, parting the nails and fingers-endes with needles, nipping the flesh with pincers, racking and rending a sunder the joints with wild horses, no pity no remorse taken, whilst there was either flesh, or blood, or sinew or bone, Cyprian. Saevitum est in vulnera. Non mihi si centum etc. Bern. or I say not member, but wound in the body to work upon. But the torments of hell are in greater variety; Had I an hundred tongues and mouths to hold them, A voice of iron, yet could I not unfold them: and in an other kind, or rather indeed without kind. Ibi ordo nullus, horror sempiternus: where there is no order but everlasting horror. For who can define either by speech or understanding a thing so infinite? so monstrously compact of natures most disparate and repugnant? an end not ending, a death not dying, unquenchable fire, yet a darkness withal to accompany it more palpable than the fogs of Egypt, and blacker than blackness itself; everlastingly burning, yet not consuming. So much more unsufferable than any torments of tortures upon earth, as the inventions of devilles can better devise then man, and the malice of devilles better put in execution. Psal. 60. Psal. 40. This this is the cup of the deadliest wine that ever was tasted of; these these are those deep graves in the Psalm from whence there is no rising again. Cap. 8. Cap. 38. This is the fire that goeth not out, the worm that never leaveth gnawing in the last of Esaie. These are those waters of gall in jeremy, those fearful things wherewith the Lord shall plead against the unrighteous of the earth as he pleaded sometimes against Gog and Magog in Ezechiell, pestilence and blood, and sore rain, and huge hailstones, and fire and brimstone: not such as fell upon the sisters Sodom and Gomorrhe, the witnesses whereof for many succeeding ages were heaps of ashes and clouds of pitch; but fire and brimstone from a bottomless mine, which burneth in the lake of death, and shall never cease from burning. Lastly, this is that great winepress of the wrath of God, Revel. 14. Revel. 16. where the smoke of torment ascendeth for evermore, and there is no rest day nor night, those endless and unmerciful plagues which the angels power out of their vials, when men have given them blood to drink, and boil in heat, and gnaw their tongues for sorrow. And yet are these but shadows and semblances which the scripture hath used, therein to exemplify in some sort the calamities to come: fearful enough, if there were no more, to make the heart of the strongest melt and fall asunder within him, as the ice against the summer's sun: but that as the joys of heaven are unmeasurable for their part, so concerning the pains of hell, the eye hath never seen, the ear not heard, the tongue not uttered, the heart not conceived them sufficiently in their nature and perfection. That accursed glutton in the gospel, who could speak by experience of his unestimable discruciations, as Aeneas did of the troubles of Troy, Et quorum pars una fut, what I have felt and borne a part of, he giveth a warning to all his brethren in the flesh, not to account so lightly as they do, of the torments of that place. The flames & fervour whereof were so importunate to exact their due of him, that he craved with more streams of tears, than ever Esau sought his blessing. but one drop of water to cool his tongue with, & could not obtain it. And what if all the rivers in the South, if all the waters in the Ocean sea had been granted him? his tongue notwithstanding would have smarted and withered with heat still, & he would have cried in the language of hell, It is not enough. Or what if his tongue had been eased? his heart, his liver, his lungs, his bowels, his arms, his legs would have fried stil. O bitter day when not the least finger, I say not of God, whose hand is wholly medicinal, but not of the poorest saint in heaven, nor the skantest drop, I say not from the waters of life, but not of the waters of the brook, shallbe spared to a soul to give it comfort. Which if the latest day of all the running generations of men, if the great year which Plato dreamt of, might ever end, the ease were somewhat for hopes sake. But it is appointed for a time & times, & no time even when time shall be no more, then shall it continue. The gates are kept from egress, Revel. 10. as the gates of paradise were warded from entrance, not by the Cherubins with the blade of a sword but by the angels of Satan with all the instruments of death; and the seal of God's eternal decree set thereunto, as the seal of the high priests and rulers were set upon the tomb-stone of Christ. The covenant of day and night shall one day be changed. The stars shall finish their race, the elements melt with heat, heaven and earth be renewed, summer and winter have an end, but the plagues of the prisoners in hell shall never be released. If you ask the cause why I enter so large and ungrateful a discourse of hell upon so small an offer in my text, as some may conceive, I will not dissemble it. Some may be deceived by the translation, impropriety, and abuse of words. For because they hear the name of hell alleged and applied to the present tribulations of this life, they are induced thereby to think that there is no other hell, nor sorer vexations elsewhere to be sustained: as some on the other side hearing the rest of God to be called by name of jerusalem that is above, the walls & foundations whereof are sapphires & carbuncles, etc. take it to be no more than jerusalem in Palestina, or Venice in Italy, or any the like glorious and sumptuous city upon the face of the earth, and therefore dispose themselves with so much the colder affection to the attainment of it. Some have taught and commanded their tongues to speak a lie, & to say that there is no hell, (for I cannot think, that ever they shall command their hearts to deny it,) & as Tully spoke of Metrodorus an atheist of his time, Nec quemquam vi●i qui ma●g●s ea time re● quae timenda esse negaret, mortem dico, & deos. Affirmant tibi non sibi. Jnterdiu non noctu. I never saw any man that more feared those ●hings, which he said were not to be feared, I mean, death & the gods, so I will never persuade myself but the atheists of our times, heartily fear that which they are content to say, they fear not. Now lest these sleepy adders should pass their time in a dream, or rather in a lethargy, no man awaking them up from their careless & supine opinions wherewith they enchant their souls, & infect others; Let not the watchman hold his peace, lest they die in their sins for want of warning, let the trumpet of judgement often be blown unto them, let it be published in their ears 7· times, as the rams-horns 7▪ times sounded about the walls of jericho, that their ruin & downfall is at hand, that hell gapeth for them▪ & that God hath ordained long since, their impious & blasphemous spirits to immortal malediction. Of others that is true, which God complaineth in Esay. Let mercy be showed to the wicked, yet he will not learn righteousness. Chap. 26. Preach honour, & glory, & peace, a garland of righteousness, an uncorruptible crown, fruit of the tree of life, sight of the face of God, following the lamb, fellowship with angels & saints & the congregation of first-born, new names, and white garments, pleasures at the right hand of God, and fullness of joy in his presence for evermore; they are as obstinately bend & unmovably settled against these blessings of God, as Daniel against the hire of Balthasar, Danel 5. keep thy rewards to thyself, and give thy gifts to an other. They are not won nor enarmoured with the expectation of good things: and the revelation of the sons of God, which the whole creature longeth & groaneth for, savoureth no more unto them, than a box of putrefied ointment. What? is there no way to quicken & put life into them? Deut. 27. yes. If the blessings of six Levites upon mount Garizzim will not move them, let them hear the cursing of six others upon mount Ebal: if they take no pleasure in the beauty of Zion, let the thundering & lightning of Sinai, & fire to the midst of heaven, & mists, & clouds, & smoke ascending like the smoke of a furnace, & the exceeding loud sound of a trumpet, put them in fear, & make them believe that there is a God of judgement: if the spirit of gentleness take no place, shake the rod over them, as the Apostle speaketh. Give them mourning for joy ashes for beauty, the spirit of heaviness for the oil of gladness, a rent instead of a girdle, & tear, I say not their garments, but their hearts a sunder, pull their body's souls & spirits one from the other; lastly, if the offer of peace be refused, sound wars & rumours of wars at their gates, & such tribulation besides, as the like hath never been since the beginning of the creation which God created unto that time, neither shallbe again. Who knoweth if they will be softened, if not for the love of virtue, nor for the recompense that springeth therehence, yet for the other cause, Formidin● poenae▪ for fear of the wrath of God, which they hear denounced? It may be, feeding a while upon the food of judgement, as Ezechiel calleth it, will breed good blood in them & the consideration of such misery, will work the 〈◊〉 effect in them, that the sense of adversity wrought in jonas, I mean, to shake of their burden of sin, & to turn unto the Lord their God wi●h unfeigned conversion: which was the 2. thing that I propounded unto you in the afflictions of the prophet, what effect they produced from him. I cried in mine affliction. Bind Manasses with chains, I cried. load him with irons, bow down his neck and his back with bonds, & he will know himself. Pull the king of Babylon from his throne, lay his honour & insolency in the dust, hunt him from the company of men banish him from his palace, wherein he ●erted like a monarch indeed, turn him into the field to eat grass like an ox, to be wet with the dew of heaven, & you shall find a miracle quickly done, an ox to have more understanding than a man: he will then learn to praise the king of heaven whose; tower is an everlasting power & his kingdō● from generation to generation. The idolatrous jews in the 2. of jer. that being called to the true God, spoke desperately, & stiffly, No, but we have loved strangers, & those wi● we follow, in their trouble notwithstanding they will cry to the right God, arise thou & help us. In their affliction they will seek him diligently, Osee 5. Osee 6. & will take sound words into their lips. Come, and let us return to the Lord, for he hath spoiled, & he will heal us, he hath wounded, & he will bind us up. Let Moab settle itself upon her lees, & not be emptied from vessel to vessel, jerem. 48. & her scent will remain in her: Doth the wild ass bray when he hath grass, job 6. or the ox low when he hath fodder? But take away the grass from the wild ass, & he will be tame●, & fodder from the ox, & you shall hear him roar. There must be a whirlwind raised, & a fiery chariot prepared to carry Elias into heaven: there must be heresies to try the approved: there must be a furnace to purge the silver & gold: Petr. Chrysolog. Ser. 3. indivit. avaro. there must be a fire to fine the sons of Levi: there must be an angel of Satan to keep Paul from pride. A pilot must be tried by a tempest (saith Basile) a runner by a race, a captain by a battle, a christian by calamity, tentation, provocation, & misery. Wherein, if poisons become preservatives, & from the venom of serpents the wisdom of God can extract an antidote against the venom of serpents, if all things shall work together to the best for those that are Christ's, if evil by nature shall be made good by his powerful art, if the waters of a flood overspreading the whole globe of the earth be so far from drowning the Ark, that they shall lift it higher, and bring it nearer to the presence of God, if afflictions I mean by the good handling of our gracious God, be not afflictions but medicines, & the more they increase upon us, the nearer they land us to the haven of his blessings; how truly may we say & acknowledge with Barnard, Totus mundus fideli divitiarum est, Serm. 15. su●er Qui habitat. Epist. 87. the whole world is riches to a faithful man (even when it seemeth to be poverty) & with Augustine, that nothing happeneth to man from the Lord our God, but cometh in the nature of mercy, when tribulation itself is such a benefit? For both prosperity is his gift comforting, and adversity his gift admonishing us. Jnsipidum, amarum granum sinapi●, sed ingens fructus. A very unlikely seed to yield such fruit, as bitter as mustard seed▪ but give it leave to grow, & the fruit shall be very pleasant. The wicked understand not this, & the unwise have not knowledge of his ways. She crieth in the comedy, & she presenteth the person of them all, that are her companions; In Rudente. Hanccine ego partem capio ob pietatem praecipuam? Tum hoc mihi indecorè iniquè, immodestè datis dij: Nam quid habebunt sibi igitur impij post hac? etc. Is this my portion & guerdon for my especial piety? then do the gods reward me very unseemly, unjustly & unreasonably. For how shall the wicked hereafter be dealt with, if the godly be thus honoured amongst you? Augustine in his preface upon the 25. Psalm, layeth down the like complaints of some, O Deus Deus, Haecciné est justitia tua? O God God, is this thy justice? & the Lord answereth them again, haecciné est fides tua? is this thy faith? hast thou so learned Christ? is this the best instruction thou hast found in my law, to murmur against my discipline? possess thy soul therefore in patience, whosoever thou art, leave the ordering of these things to the wisdom of God, with whom it is alike to sweeten the pot of the prophets with meal, & the waters of jericho with salt, to cure the eyes of Tobias with a gall, & to strengthen the sight of jonathan with an honeycomb. Some he healeth by honey, some by gall, some by salt, some by meal, some by sour, some by sweet, some by piping, ●e●e punge●●●●●ōpung●ris. Bern Si peccator, ut corrigatur, si vero ●n●us, ut e●u●iatur. Hugo Card. sun by dancing, some by prosperity, some by affliction, but all by some means or other, that have a longing & desire to the ways of happiness. Now then again I say, if it be a good thing sometimes to be humbled of the Lord, for till we are humbled, commonly we go astray, if it be an happy pricking of the body that maketh a pricking in the heart, if expedient for all sorts of men that the hand of the Lord should now and then take hold on them, because a sinner is amended, the righteous is instructed thereby, because gold is proved, 〈…〉, p●ove●ur Si ferr●●●, 〈…〉. mittat. Gr●● Hebr. 12. iron is scoured by this means; if when the outward man is corrupted, the innardss i● renewed daily, 2. Cor. 4. and there is honour in dishonour, riches in poverty, life in ●eath possessing all things in having nothing; 2. Cor. 6. if when the fathe●s of our flesh chasten us for their pleasures, the father of our spirits correcteth us for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness, & though ●o chastisement seem joyous for the time yet it bringeth the quiet fruit of righteousness to those that are exercised thereby; if when the body of I●nas was in thrall beneath, the soul of jonas triumphed aloft, and when the tongue of his flesh could not speak perhaps a word▪ scarce mu●ter to itself, the tongue of his spirit cried & cried aloud; if when he lay in the belly of hell, even than he climbed above the stars of the firmament & though he saw nothing with his bodily eyes▪ he saw heaven opened unto him with the eyes of his understanding: them let us not be dismayed, my brethren, if tribulation come, let us not think it any strange thing: yea rather if tribulation come, let us not think it an unprofitable & unwelcome thing, let us receive it with thanks, keep it with patience, digest it in hope, apply it with wisdom, bury it in meditation, & it shall end unto us no doubt in glory and peace more than can be spoken. THE XXV. LECTURE. Chap. 2. ver. 2. I cried in mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me, out of the belly of hell cried I, etc. IN the two members of this second verse, signifying almost the same thing, I observed first the measure of his afflictions, explicated by two metaphors together with the effect they brought forth; secondly the force & zealousnes of his prayers declared likewise by two words; and thirdly the audience which ensued upon his praying. The force of his prayer, wherein I am to proceed, 2. Clamavi, vociferatur sum. is interpreted by 2. phrases, though not distinguished in our English translations, yet in the Hebrew, Greek, & Latin of Tremelius somewhat varied: as if he had said, I called & cried, or I cried & outcried. Which Jerome expoundeth vel aquis cedentibus, either the waters yielding him away, & making passage, vel toto cordis affectu, or with the whole intention of his heart, The former is not likely; I rather take it to have been the vehemency of spirit, such as is usually meant in the scriptures under these or the like words: as in the 119. Psalm expressly; I have cried with my whole heart. Galath. 4. God hath sent the spirit of his son into our hearts crying, Abba, that is, father, though it be in the heart alone, yet it is called crying. It ever not●th, whither in propriety or by translation, an earnest, loud, importunate desire, 1. King. 18 1. Sam ●. Tolerare & odisse, non est virtus mansuetudinis, sed velamen●tum fur●●is Homil. 2. in Ezech▪ Murmura dum s●cum & rabiose silentia rodunt. Persius. loath to lose audience for want of speaking out, and impatient of repulse, when it hath spoken. Therefore Elias bade the priests of Baal, cry with a loud voice: and he in the comedy, mervailing at overmuch patience, showeth what should be done; Eho, non clamas? non irasceris? What? dost thou not cry? art thou not angry? Annah in a part of her song telleth us what the manner of the wicked sometimes is, Impij in tenebris tacent: when they are afflicted, they lay their hands upon their mouths, and hearts too, they fret with indignation, & repine to themselves, letting neither voice nor groan come forth, nor any other token of submission to him that hath cast them down. Of whom I may say with Gregory, To suffer so despitefully and maliciously, is not the true virtue of patience, but a covered or concealed madness. Now jonas is many degrees beyond these. 1. He is not silent, which, as you heard, is sometimes a mark of impiety. 2. He doth not mutter to himself, as the philosophers in the Poet, humming within themselves, and uttering a kind of unsensible and unarticulate silence. 3. He doth more than speak: for that might argue the heart of a man but indifferently disposed to obtain. 4. He speaketh with most endeavoured contention, he crieth unto the Lord, & when he hath once cried, crieth again, & with an other kind of crying. For as if the former word were not enough, a latter is added, to signify either a different kind, or if the same, in a more intensive and forcible affection. This ingemination, either of one and the same word again repeated, or of sundry bearing the same sense, giveth as it were a double strength to the declaration of that which is delivered. As Phavorinus gave his judgement of the verse in Homer, wherein Idaeus laboureth by persuasion to pacify the contention betwixt A●ax and Hector, Au. Goe noct A●. 13.23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, War not any longer, beloved young men, neither fight together; that the addition of the second word, (though adding nothing in signification to the former) is not to make up the verse, but as they continued in their strife, so duplex eadem compellatio admonitionem facit intentiorem, his twice speaking unto them in the same manner of speech, maketh his advice the more earnest. And if they were the same words, yet one might very well think them to be others, quia aures & animum saepiùs feriunt, because they beat the ears and the mind of a man often. These often and fierce inclamations within the spirit of jonas, Jbid. speaking to the Lord, as it were with a doubled and cloven tongue, and sending up his Prayers into heaven, as incense casteth up smoke without intermission, condemn the dissolute and perfunctory prayings of our days both in churches & chambers, who utter a form of words, as the manner of hypocrites or the Gentiles was, or as the parrot of Ascanius recited the creed, rather of custom than zeal flattering God with our mouths, Psal. 7● and dissembling with him with our tongues, leaving our spirits as it were in a slumber the mean time, or if we call them up to prayer, leaving them again, as Christ his disciples before we have thoroughly awaked them; as if the offering of the halt and the lame, body without soul, or soul without devotion, voice without spirit, or spirit without clamour and vociferation could please him. The prayers of David (I am sure) had an other edge upon them. In the 55 Psalm, Plango▪ pers●●epo, 〈◊〉. Rugio prae●● 〈◊〉. I mourn in my prayer & make a noise. Evening and morning and at noon will I pray, and make a noise, and he will hear my voice. In the 38. before, I roar for the very grief of mine heart. Lord mine whole desire is before thee, and my sighing is not h●d from thee. Cor meum palpitat, my heart panteth, or runneth too and fro, I have no rest, no quietness within me. Such was the pang and palpitation of Jobs heart. My groaning cometh before I eat, Chap. 3. & effunduntur velut aquae rugitus mei, and my roar are powered forth and wave like waters: not groanings, nor cry, but plain roar, with a continual inundation, velut unda impellitur undâ, as one water driveth on an other. ●hese are wonderful passions. The Lion in the forest never roared so much for his prey, nor the heart after the water-brookes, as the souls of the faithful after God's goodness. Yea, the Lion indeed hath roared, Am. 3. who will not fear? the Lord God hath spoken, who can but prophecy? The mighty Lion of the tribe of judah hath roared in his supplications, and his righteous spirit been vexed and disquieted within him: and shall not we be moved? of him it is witnessed in the 11. of john▪ that at the raising of Lazarus, he not only wept, but groaned or yearned in his spirit, and troubled himself about it. It was trouble indeed, Tartarus hath his name from such troubles. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. He roared then for Lazarus whom he loved, and for Martha's sake, and for other of the jews that were there abouts. But afterwards in his own cause, when not only his soul was vexed unto death, and vexation held it in on every side, but when he cried with a great voice, My God, my God, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 why hast thou forsaken me? and crying again with a great voice, gave up the ghost. Math. 28. Therefore the Apostle speaking of the days of his flesh, and that fruit of his lips and spirit which we are now in hand with, thought it not sufficient to make mention of his prayers and supplications, Heb. 5. nor of his tears, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Rom. 8. which watered his blessed plants, nor of a cry alone weakly sent forth, but of a strong cry, which if heaven were brass, were able to break through it. So it is said of the spirit of God, who helpeth our infirmities, that because we know not ourselves what to ask as we ought to do, he maketh request in our names, with groans not to be expressed. Ipse inducitur gemens qui gementes facit, he that putteth groninge into us, Bern ser. 59 in 〈◊〉 2. Cantic is brought in groninge himself. The voice of the 〈◊〉 is heard in our land: the groninge of this turtle dove, is heard within our bosom. Vox quid●m gementinon ca●enti similis, a voice in truth, as of one that mourneth, and that si●geth not. Thus the example of the glorious Lord of life, who mourned unspeakably, not for the sins of his own person, but of the sons and daughters of jerusalem, who led the way before us in water and blood, not in water alone, but in water and blood both, who with his bleeding tears, showed us the right form of faithful supplications, this very example biddeth us cry in our prayers. The help and assistance of the blessed spirit of God groaning as unmeasurably on the other side, not for his own necessities, but for ours his wretched creatures and clientes, not of infirmity in himself, but of compassion towards us, whom we continually grieve, and no way so much as for want of our grief and repentance, biddeth us cry. The dreadful majesty of the sacred LORD of hosts whom we stand before, the royalty of his nature, sublimity of his place, dominion over men and angels, who with the spirit of his mouth is able to consume ou● both bodies and spirits, biddeth us cry. The view of our wretched mortality (as Adam and Eve when they saw their nakedness, fled, Miriam when her leprousy, she was ashamed) after mortality exceedingly mortal, the view of our sin exceedingly sinful, that we are not worthy to cast up our eyes towards the seat of God, and after our sin, our misery exceedingly miserable, that the prophet was amazed in himself to see either man or the son of man so kindly visited, biddeth us cry. lastly the hope and expectation of success, (unless we will sow and not reap, plant vines and not drink the wine thereof, power out many prayers and not be heard: (the delicacy and tenderness of the ears of God, which must be wisely entreated, and the precious favour of his countenance, which must be carefully sought, bid us cry. Let us not think, that the sound and noise of our lips, as the ringing of basons, or vocal modulation, without cordial and inward meditation, can procure us audience. Valentiores voces apud secretissimas dei aures ●on faciunt verba, Greg. seddesi●●ria. The most effectual speech in the secret ears of God, cometh not from words, but from desires. He that hea●eth without ears, can interpret our prayers without our tongues. He that saw and fancied Nathaniel under the figtree before he was called, saw and sanctified john Baptist in his mother's womb, before he came forth, he seethe and blesseth our prayers fervently conceived in the bosom of our conscience, before they be uttered: but if they want devotion, they shall be answered by God, Ezech. ●. as the prayers of those idolators in Ezech. though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them. And he heard me. The Hebrew saith, he answered me; 3. Success. which doth better express the mercy of God towards jonas, than if it had been barely pronounced that he heard jonas. For a man may hear when he doth not answer, as Christ heard the false witnesses, & when the priests asked him, answerest thou nothing? t●cuit, he held his peace. Mark 14. And likewise he heard Pilate, when upon the accusation of the priests he asked him, answerest thou nothing? yet he answered not; Mark ●●. so as Pilate mervailed at his silence. David in the 18. Psal. confesseth of his enemies, that they cried, but there was none to save them, even unto the Lord, but he answered them not. Now this answer of God, whereof he speaketh, is not a verbal answer sharped of words, but a real, substantial satisfaction and grant, directly & fitly applied, as answers should be to questions, so this to fulfil the mind & desire of jonas. For as be heard the heavens Osee 2. (not that the heavens spoke, or he listened) & the heavens the earth, the earth the corn, oil, & wine; & the corn, oil, & wine, Israel; not by speech, but by actual performance of some thing which they wanted; he the heavens by giving virtuous disposition unto them, they the earth by their happy influence, the earth her fruits by yielding them juice, & these Israel by ministering their abundance: so doth he answer jonas here by granting his petition. For as to answer a question is not to render speech for spe●h alone, but if there be scruple or uncerteinty in the matter proposed, to resolve it; so to answer a suit, is to ease the heart & satisfy the expectation of him that tendered it. In this case Pub. Piso a rhetorician in Rome was abused by his servant: who, to avoid molestation, had given his servants a charge, to answer his demands briefly & directly without any further additions. It fell out that he provided a supper for Clodius the general, whom he long looked & often sent for at the hour▪ & ●et Clodius came not. At length he asked his man; didst thou bid Clodius? I bade him. Why cometh he not? he refused. Plutare. de garrul▪ How chanceth thou toldst me not so much? because you demanded it not. Plutarch in the same book, where he reporteth that tale, maketh three sorts of answerers. For some give an answer of necessity, some of humanity, others of superfluity. The first, if you ask whether Socrates be within, telleth you faintly and unwillingly, he is not within: perhaps he answereth by a Laconism, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, not. The second with more courtesy, and to the sufficient measure of the demand, willing to instruct the ignorant; he is not within but in such a place, at the exchange. The third running over with loquacity, knoweth no end of speaking; he is not within, but at the exchange waiting for strangers out of jonia, in whose behalf Alcibiades hath written from Miletum etc. The answers of God are neither so sparing and restrict as the first, leaving the soul in manner as doubtful and perplexed as he found it by granting to little, nor so idle and superfluous as the last, to bring a loathing to men by surcharge of his benefits, but they are in the middle sort, tempered with good moderation, full of humanity, kindness, and grace, giving enough, and happily more than was asked, and sending away the heart joyful for that which it hath obtained; According to the phrase of the Psalm, d●lata os tuum & implebo illud, Psal. 81. ask largely, boldly, bountifully, I will not deny thee. Our saviour promiseth as frankly in the gospel, Ask and it shallbe given you, seek and you shall find, knock and it shallbe opened unto you, Perhaps he meaneth of disciples alone: No, but whosoever asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shallbe opened. Give but thy prayer a voice to ask with, for it must not be dumb nor tounge-tide; give it an eye to seek, for it must not be careless; give it an hand to knock with, for it must not fear to molest and disquiet: and not only the doors, but all the treasures and jewels of the kingdom of heaven shallbe open unto it. You know what labour is made to the princes and states of the earth by travel of body, expense of purse, mediation of friends, suppliancy of gesture and speech, intervention of time, to obtain but temporary and frivolous suits. A widow of Macedon had a long suit to Philippe the king, wherein she was persuaded the equity of her cause called for judgement. At length he answered her, non est mihi otium (which is the manner of most magistrates) I am not at leisure; she boldly replieth unto him, Ergo ne sis Rex, then be not King any longer. No marvel if such an answer be given by a King or a judge, when a private and familiar friend in a small request for 3. loaves, shall answer his friend. Trouble me not, my doors are shut my children in bed etc. Bathsheba cometh to Solomon her son in behalf of Adoniah, 1. King. 2. about a matter of no great moment, as she interpreted it. The King encourageth her, Ask on, my mother, for I will not say thee nay. A son to his own mother, and one whom he bowed unto, and set her at his right hand. 1. she requested it; 2. a small thing; 2. desired him not to say her nay. Yet when she had opened it, then go ask the kingdom too, said he, and he swore in her presence that Adoniah had asked it against his life, and forth with gave order that he might be executed. Howefearefull was Nehemias, though he held the cup to the king, to make a request unto him? At last, with some invitation from his Lord, Chap. 2. why is thy countenance sad? this is but sorrow of heart; not without lowly salutation, God save the king for ever, and prayers to the God of heaven, he disclosed it: the gladdest man alive that his suit was heard. It was the danger of esther's life to come before the king unless she were called for. For it was their law, Esth, 4. that whosoever man or woman came into the inner court, which was not called, should die, unless the King held forth his golden rod. But the sceptre of the Lord our God, I mean not that iron sceptre of his justice, but the golden of his grace, is ever held forth to man, woman, child, bond and free, stranger or citizen, whether they be called or not called, they may safely approach, I name neither outward nor inward court, but even to the throne where the King himself sitteth, and if they shall crave of him, I say not to the half of his kingdom, as the Persian Monarch said, but to the whole, to divide the inheritance with the principal heir Christ jesus, to eat and drink at his table, to sit upon a throne and judge the angels of heaven, it shall not be denied them. Zedekias spoke it in folly, and in a servile, popular affection that he bore to the princes of his land, when they required the life of jeremy; jer. 38. but God speaketh it of the abundance of his heart and riches of mercies, The King can deny you nothing. Surely they do injury to his grace, who talk of warders, and porters, and masters of requests, Angels and Saints, to admit us into presence, and to bring us to speech with God. Services not unmeet for the governors of the earth, whose life is the life of the country and their people with whom they live; as jeremy in the 4. of Lament▪ calleth their King the breath of their nostrils. And therefore it is very necessary that their persons should be carefully guarded and attended upon. Caesar thought, that to be an Emperor, was safeguard enough against danger, when a little ship or boat, & a great tempest being committed together (a very unequal match) & the master himself doubting the 〈◊〉, flare not, saith he, thou carriest Caesar. Caesare●i v●. his. He might have been deceived, & afterwards was, in a safer place. Maximilian had some like conceit, when he told his soldiers dropping away at his heels, with the sho● of their enemies: You must not adventure as far as I do, habent enim principes peculiarem quandam fortunam suam; for princes have a luck of their own. I am sure they must have a peculiar regard and guard to their bodies, or they may soon fall into dangers. Again it is true of the princes of this world, which jethro told Moses, when he sat from morning to evening to hea●e the causes of the people, Exod. 18. Thou both weariest thyself and the people that is with thee, the thing is to heavy for thee, thou art not able to do it thyself alone: and therefore infinite suits, besides the distraction of many other businesses, requiring larger audience than the ears of any one mortal man can afford, drive them of necessity to the deputation of subordinate officers, both to receive and commence the requests of their inferiors. But is there either danger in the person of God, who rideth upon the Cherubins, and maketh his enemies his foot stool? Or defect in his hearing, whose ears are open to the prayers of the poor destitute, and his eye lids soundly try and examine the children of men? He that boweth the heavens, and himself cometh down with his omniscient knowledge, hath he need of intelligenciers and informers to give him knowledge of earthly things? He that planted the ear, doth he not hear? He that standeth and knocketh at our doors, and calleth for entrance, when we stand and knock at his, will he not grant entrance? Is he not near and next of all to all such as call upon him with faithfulness? We dream of outward and inward courts, doors and gates, porters and mediators, impediments and stops, I grant, in earthly Courts. But the Lord is porter himself at these heavenly gates. Chap. 11. For when the friend knocked in the parable of Luke at midnight, the deadest hour of the night, who was nearest the gate, first awoke, if yet he slept at all, and first answered? O quam dare vult etc. O how willing is he to grant that is so wiling to be disquieted? Petr. Raven. How glad to hear thy knock, that hath placed his bed so near the gate? O quam non ad●anuam tantum, sed ipsa ianua dominus fuit? etc. And how truly may we say, that he was not only near the gate, but the Lord himself the very gate; who, when his children were a sleep, Primus & solus. the ears of Angels and saints shut up, first and at the first call, nay only amongst the rest, made answer unto it? The Lord is always nearer to us than we to him; he heareth the desires of the poor in the tenth Psalm, he first prepareth the heart, and setteth it on work to pray, and when he hath so done, bendeth his ear unto them. Claudi● Casari● libertus Aut manu. a●t 〈◊〉, aut si res longior, scripto; scilices ne vocis dignitatem iis impertiret. If now they can otherwise demonstrate that as Pallas the emperors libertine, would never speak to any servant about him (forgetting his own late servile estate) but either by pointing and signifying with the fingers, as the wiseman calleth it, or becking, or if the business vere long, by writing; because forsooth he was loath to bestow the honour of speaking upon them; and as the rulers of the earth in a kind of majesty not unfitting to their place, answer by mediation of others; so the Lord above heareth not suitors but by the preferment and procurement of Angels and other glorified spirits, than it cannot be hindered, but other advocates and spokesmen must be allowed of. But this is likewise cleared in the 102. Psal. where it is said, that he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary, out of the heaven did the LORD behold the earth; to what other end? but that he might hear the mourning of the prisoner, and deliver the children appointed unto death. And this moreover I am sure of, that the LORD hath often and expressly enjoined us, Call upon me: and if the book were searched throughout with cresset-light, never would it be proved, that he gave any charge to call upon others. Neither was ever the shadow of any thing so faithful to the body, to follow and wait upon it, as the success of good speed hath been consequent to a prayer faithfully made. For, as if their souls were knit together, like the souls of David and jonathan, you shall ever see them joined. So in the fourth Psalm, I called upon the LORD, and he heard me at large: and an hundredth the like might be alleged for confirmation. And therefore if we err in this point of doctrine, we may say truly with jeremy, Thou hast deceived us LORD, when we were deceived, that is, when we were willed to call upon thee alone, thine was the blame, if we do amiss, and we may comfort ourselves that we err by warrant and authority from him, that must pardon errors. Therefore I conclude from the two and twentieth Psalm; Praise the Lord ye that fear him, magnify him all the seed of jacob, and fear him all ye the seed of Israel. For he hath not despised the low estate of the poor, nor hid himself from him, but when he called, he hearkened unto him. Let the house of Esau use the liberty of the wide world, and the feed of Babylon call upon other helps as they have done, and those that fear not the Lord, use their discretion. Our example leadeth us otherwise. jonas was this poor man, and his low estate, the belly of the fish, he called upon his God, and he hearkened unto him. Thou heardest my voice. The varying of the person, in that before he spoke of God, now to God, giveth us variety of instruction, and helpeth to confirm the doctrine before delivered. For since we have immediate access to the Lord, to speak to his majesty as it were face to face, and mouth to mouth, it were to shamefast and senseless a part in us to make other means. And it is besides, a singular testification of his thankful mind; who receiveth not the favour of God as the nine lepers in the gospel received their cleansing, not returning again to give thanks to him that cured them, but first reporteth to himself, and as many as shall read or hear this song what God hath done for him, I called upon the Lord, and he heard me, (which is somewhat further of;) and then with a nearer approach joining his soul as closely to the ears of God, as Philip joined himself to the chariot of the Eunuch, relateth the blessing of his prayer to the author himself of all blessings, And thou Lord hardest my voice; thus rendering unto him grace for grace, a kind and dutiful rememoration, for the mercies bestowed upon him. Some take the comforts of God, as the beasts in the field take their meat, not looking up to heaven from whence they come. Nay the Ox will know his owner, and cast an eye to his hand, and the ass his masters crib, but my people know not me, saith the Lord: Some acknowledge the Author, and forget him presently, even whilst the meat is between their teeth, as Israel did. Some remember sufficiently, but accept them as due debt, as if they had God in bands to perform them. They serve not God for nought, which was the objection of Satan. Some are ready to kiss their own hands▪ for every blessing that cometh upon them, and to ascribe them to their strength or wit, whereof Bernard spoke, Vti datis tanquam innatis, maxima s●perbia, It is the greatest pride, to use God's gifts, Idem. as if they were bred in us. Others there are that give thanks ex usu magis quàm sensu, rather of custom than devotion, as cymbals sound from their emptiness; for even Saul will be a prophet amongst prophets, and an hypocrite take good words into his mouth amongst hearty professors. jonas, I nothing doubt, from the ground of his heart, telleth forth the deliverance of the Lord, which in the spirit of a prophet he forseeth and presumeth before it cometh, not only to himself and us, but as the rivers of the Land send back their waters to the sea, in a thankful remembrance and remuneration, that they took them thence; so jonas returneth this mercy to the Lord himself that was the giver of the mercy, And thou Lord heardest my voice: as if he had concluded and agreed to himself, that neither God, nor man, nor his own conscience should ever be able to accuse him of unthankfulness. I will both preach it to myself privately, and publicly to the world, that the Lord hath heard me: And thou Lord shalt also understand from mine own lips, that I make acknowledgement and profession to have received my safety from thine only goodness, Thou Lord hast heard my voice. I will so meditate upon thy benignities within mine own heart, and leave a chronicle of them to all posterity to come, that I will not meanwhile forget to look up to the mountains from whence my help was. It is the part of an honest & ingenious mind, Plin. prolog. nat. histor. Deprehendi, in fur to ma● le quàm mu●tuum red, re. to confess who they are by whom thou hast profited; but on the other side, the mark of a most ungracious and unhappy nature, rather to be taken in the theft, than to return like for like. And what do they else but steal and embezzle the graces of God, which either dissembling their author, assume them to themselves, or confessing the author, extenuate their worth, as if they were not meet to be accounted for? These are the thieves & robbers indeed, capital malefactors, sure to be cut of on the right hand and on the left, zach. 5. 1 Cor. 6. Prov. 6. and not to inherit the kingdom of God, as the Apostle threateneth. The stealing of temporal things may be acquitted again, either with single, or double, fourfold, or sevenfolde resolution. But the filching and purloming of the glory of God can never be answered. Others steal of necessity to satisfy their souls, because they are hungry, and but equal from equal, man from man. But these of pleasure and pride break through heaven; which though it be free from violent thieves, yet these by a wile and insidiation enter into it, and steal away the honour of God which is most precious unto him. When john Baptist was borne, Luc. 1. the neighbours and cousins upon the eighth day at the circumcising of the child, called him Zacharias after the name of his father. Elizabeth answered them, not so, but he shallbe called john, though it were a marvel to them all, and none of his kindred were so named; and Zachary wrote in his tables, that john should be his name. They knew that he was the gift of God, which his mother in her old age and in the state of her barrenness had conceived, and therefore called him john, that is, the gift of God, in remembrance of nature's unfuitfulnesse, and their undeserved son, whom neither father, nor mother, nor kindred, I mean not ordinary and carnal generation could have given unto them such are the children of our wombs (a gift that cometh from the Lord.) And such are our children and fruit otherwise, whatsoever we possess, outward or inward, we hold it in Capite, even in the Lord of Lords, who is the giver of every good perfect gift, Val. Max. li. 5. cap. 3. Exanguem & moritu●●am. as james writeth. Scipio Africanus the elder had made the city of Rome, being in a consumption, and ready to give up the ghost, Lady of Africa. At length being banished into a base country town, his will was that his tomb should have this inscription upon it, Ingrata patria, ne ossa quidem mea habes; unthankful country, thou hast not so much as my bones. Many and mighty deliverances have risen from the Lord to this land of ours to make provocation of our thankfulness. For not to go by a calendar, but to speak in 2. words, we have lain in ignorance as in the belly of the whale, or rather the belly of hell (for blindness of heart is the very brim and introduction into the hell of the damned;) the Lord hath pulled us thence. We have also lain in the heart of our enemies as in the belly of the fish; Gebal, and Ammon, and Amelek, and the Philistines with those of tire, have combined themselves, and cried a confoederacy, a confoederacy against us; the Lord hath also delivered us, to make some proof of our grateful spirits. For this a rule in beneficence, Ingratus est adversus unum beneficium? Senec. is a man unthankful for one benefit? for a second he will not. Hath he forgotten two? the third will reduce to his memory, those that are slipped thence. God hath liberally tried us, with one, and an other, and a third, and yet ceaseth not. But what becometh of our gratitude? It hath been our manner for the time, to have pamphlets and forms of thanksgiving in our churches, our hearts have burnt within us for the present, as of the two disciples that went to Emaus, to assemble ourselves at prayers, preachings breaking of bread, and to give an hour or two more than usual from our worldly affairs, as a recompense of God's goodness. Our mouths have been filled with laughter, and our tongues with joy, and we have been content to say, the Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we rejoice. But how quickly forget we all again? Ingrata Anglia, ne ossa quidam habes; Ungrateful England thou hast not so much as the bones of thy patron and deliverer; thou hast exiled him from thy thoughts, buried him in oblivion, there is not one remnant or footeprint left, to witness to the world, that thou hast been protected. What others have testified in former times, by building of altars, pitching of huge stones, raising of pillars, dedication of feasts, writing of books, that their children's children might ask a reason, and be instructed in GOD'S ancient mercies; thou haste not left to thy race to come by one stone, one turf, one post, one paper or schrole of continuance, in remembrance unto them of thy ampler benefits. It deserveth the protestation of GOD 1. Esay, (Hear O men? and hearken O Angels? no.) A greater auditory is required. Hear o heavens, and hearken o earth, I have brought up, preferred, and exalted sons, and they have despised me. If servants and bondmen, the sons of Agar, of whom it was said, Cast out the bondman, it might less have been marvayled at: but sons of mine own education, adopted by special grace, these have despised me. They had an action in Athens against unthankful persons: The more their blame, Val Max. Qui cum aequissima iura, sed iniquissima haberent ingenia, moribus suis quàm legibus uti maluerunt; who having good laws, ill natures, had rather use their manners than their laws. For if some of those excellent men, which Athens despitefully and basely required, Theseus who was buried in a rock, Miltiades who died in prison, and the son of Miltiades who inherited nothing amongst them but his father's bands, Solon, Aristides, Photion, who lived in banishment, should bring their action against Athens in the court of some other city, were it able to answer their just exprobrations? O Athens, thy walls, thy people, thy trophies, and triumphs far and near, by land and sea are thus and thus multiplied. Horum authores ubi vixerint, ubi iaceant, respond. But put in thine answer, and show, where the authors of those things lived, and where they are buried. God hath an action of ingratitude against his sons, and bringeth them into law, not before city or nation, but (to note the horror of the vice) before heaven and earth, that all the corners and creatures of the world may both know and detest it. And surely it was well marked by a learned man; No man wondereth at dogs, or wolves, because they are common: but centaurs, and satires, & such monsters of nature all gaze upon. It may be, drunkenness, & adultery, and other faults, having either nature or custom on their side, are less odious to men, though not less heinous in their kinds. But name an ungrateful person, and without naming any more, we all detest him as a prodigious, unnatural novelty, Jngratum si dixeris. Psal. 92. violating the communion and nature of mankind. I conclude. It is a good thing to praise the Lord, & to sing unto the name of the most high, to declare his loving kindness in the morning and his truth in the night season. It is good touching the action itself. For it is better to bless than to curse, and to give thanks, then to give out a voice of grudge. It is good in respect of the matter and object; that so glorious & renowned a God vouchsafeth to be magnified by our polluted lips, the honour returneth upon ourselves. It is good because of the retribution. For Cessa● decursus gratiarum, ubi non fuerit recursus; the course and descent of the graces of God ceaseth, and the spring is dried up, where there is not a recourse and tide of our thankfulness. Wherefore let not so good an exercise be a burden and grief to good souls. Let the unrighteous vanish away in their graceless ingratitude, and become as the dung of the earth. Let them forget the God of heaven, that the God of heaven may also forget them. But let the righteous always rejoice in the Lord, for it becometh well the just to be thankful. Early and late let us bless his holy name, though not with Lutes and haps and instruments of ten strings, yet with the best members and instruments we have, bodies and spirits, which the fingers of God have harmonically composed and joined together, and the joy of the holy ghost, hath melodiously tuned for this purpose. Let us never turn our backs to the temple of the Lord, Ezech. 8. nor our faces from the mercy-seat. Let us not take without giving, as unprofitable ground drinketh & devoureth seed without restoring. Let us neither eat nor drink, nay I will more say, let us neither hunger nor thirst, without this condiment to it, The Lord be praised. Let the frontlets between our eyes, the bracelets upon our arms, the guards upon our garments, be thanks. Whatsoever, we receive to use or enjoy, let us write that posy and epiphoneme of Zachary upon it. Zach. 4. Grace, grace unto it, for all is grace. Let us learn the song of the blessed before hand, that hereafter we may be able to sing it with more perfection; Praise, honour, and glory, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb. Paul is ours, Apollos is ours, Cephas is ours, the world ours; children, friends, fields, vineyards, health, wealth, all things ours, but we are Christ's, and Christ Gods; there is the fountain, thence they come all, thither they all return. He is α and ω, first and last, author and finisher, giver and receiver, his holy name be blessed for ever and ever. Amen. THE XXVI. LECTURE. Chap. 2. verse 3. and 4. For thou hadst cast me into the bottom, in the midst of the sea, and the floods compassed me about; all thy surges and all thy waves passed over me. Then I said, I am cast away out of thy sight: etc. IMAGINE the song of jonas to consist of three parts, a proposition, narration, and a conclusion; and the proposition already to be passed in the second verse, summarily abridging the beginning, proceeding and ending of the matter in hand, that is the peril, prayer, and deliverance of jonas. The narration now followeth to the eighth and ninth, wherein he concludeth: so that all that lieth between the second and those, maketh but for exornation; for both his danger is more amply described, and his prayers often mentioned, and a frequent hope of his deliverance ingested. And it is well worthy your considering, that as music consisteth of acutum and grave, high and low, sharp and flat, so this song of Zion which jonas singeth in a strange land, with a far heavier heart than ever Israel sang by the rivers of Babylon, is mixed and compounded of two kinds of sounds. For on the one side, are dangers, terrors, desperations and deiections of mind often heard, but on the other, the sweetest comforts and joys of the holy Ghost that could be conceived. First in the third verse, Thou hadst cast me into the bottom of the sea, with many exaggerations to declare his fear. But in the fourth, Yet will I look again to thy holy temple. Again in the fifth, The waters compassed me about unto the soul, etc. But in the sixth, Yet haste thou brought up my life from the pit, O LORD my God. last in the seventh, My soul fainted within me, yet I remembered the LORD, and my prayer came unto thee into thine holy temple. Invicem cedunt dolour & voluptas: sower and sweet, mourning and joy, trouble and peace come by courses and successions. There is no weeding up of these tars, no removing of these griefs and annoyances from the life of man. This is the state and condition of our present pilgrimage, as of a field, wherein there is wheat and darnel, they must of necessity grow together till the harvest, when it shall be said, priora transierunt, the former things are past, sorrow and sickness, dread and death have now their end. The evening and the morning are but one day. barnard's allusion to that place of Genesis is the interpretation of the Psalm, heaviness may be in the evening, but joy cometh in the morning. We bear forth our seed with tears, we shall bring home the sheaves in our bosom with joy. The Son of GOD hath been entertained in this life, at one time with Benedictus, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the LORD; at an other, with crucifige, crucify him. john Baptist at one time is reverenced and heard gladly, at an other beheaded. Not to speak of the head or members apart, Cantic. 1. the whole body crieth in the Canticles, I am black, O ye daughters of jerusalem, but comely. Nigra vestro, formosa divino Angelicó que judicio, Bern. ser 25. in Cantic. black in the judgement of men, fair in the sight of GOD and Angels; nigra foris, sed intùs formosa, black without, by reason of the miseries and deformities of this life, but inwardelye beautiful, with a godly presumption and hope of my bliss to come. One generation passeth and an other succeed, saith Ecclesiastes, Eccles. 1. the sun goweth down, and the sun draweth to the place of his rising again, the wind goeth to the South, and compasseth towards the North, Hoc unum aequale habet om●ium temporum inaequalitas quod vicissi●udo in omnibus reperitur. Nazian. and returneth by the same circuit: and though all times differ, yet they differ not in this, that they are all subject to var●atitions. And as a discord in music giveth a grace and commendation to the song, so these discords and jars in our life keeping their alternation, make our pleasures more welcome when they come. That Christians should well digest them, there is some better cause, by reason of their faith. For they think not how bitter the potion is in taste, but what health cometh after it. Nor are they ignorant, that these crosses and disturbances, are as it were the firstfruits of the spirit, the earnest penny of our father's inheritance, Primitiae spiritus, arrha paternae haereditatis, praelibatio gloriae. Corpus & anima minu●a duo. a prelibation of glory to come: that if we bestow all that we have as the poor widow did, our 2. mites, body and soul (as one compareth them) upon the service and at the pleasure of our God, we leave but simpla pro centuplis, one for an hundredth fold, which shall afterwards be restored. But you shall find that the Gentiles themselves, who were without the covenant of God, & consequently the hope of better things, were loath to surbet of pleasure, and took it as an introduction to worse to come, if ever they received too much even of good fortune. When tidings was brought to Philip of Macedon, that Parmenio got the victory over his enemies, Alexander his son was borne, and his chariots won the prize at Olympus, all in one day, Fortun● o●●nipotem & ineluctabil● fatum. Levi me a●fice infort●nio. he called upon fortune (reputed a goddess in those days) to do him some little hurt, and to spice as it were his joys, with bitterness, that they made him not forget himself. It was the reason that the king of Egypte blest himself from having any thing to do with Polycrates king of Samos, because he was over-fortunate. For having thrown a massy and rich ring into the sea to try an experiment in despite of fortune, he found it again at his table in the belly of a fish which was brought for a present unto him. They many times wished good luck, Hostium ●iliis continga● in delicii● viver●. and pleasurable days to the veriest enemies they had. In the books of job and the Psalms, the thriving of the wicked, wanteth not a learned orator to set it forth at large. Their bullock gendereth and faileth not, their cow calveth and casteth not her calf. They send forth their children like sheep, and their sons dance. job. 21. They take the tabret and harp and rejoice in the sound of the organs. Thus far it were good, you would think, to be no good man. Psal 7●. For they come into no misfortune like other men. What? no misfortune? Even the greatest in this, that they have so large an indulgence. Surely it were good for us not to be acquainted with such engrossers of prosperity, and much less to have to do with their unhappy happiness. For as in the burning of a candle, when it hath long given light, extremum occupat fumus & caligo, the end is in smoke and caliginousnesse, so fareth it, when the candle of the wicked is put out (for so job compareth their felicity.) Their end is worse than their beginning, as the beginning of Saints worse than their end. In puncto descendunt in infernum; in the stirring of an eye, they go down into hell. Where if there be not, fumus & caligo, and much worse, there is no hell. He that saw the wicked flourishing like a green bay tree, which winter defaceth not, & it never withereth till it be plucked from the earth, looked at an other time for their place, (I say not the trees but their place) and they were no more found. O how suddenly are they destroyed, perish, Psalm. 37. and come to a fearful end? as a dream when one awaketh? Lord, when thou raisest us up, thou shalt make their image despised. Suddenly, Psal 73. and fearfully and contemptibly; measure enough, themselves vanishing, perishing, consumed, when others arise whom they thought not of. He that at one time said of himself, I have cleansed my heart in vain, because he could not judge aright of the prosperity of the wicked, Ibid. at an other time said to the foolish, Be not so foolish, and to the wicked, lift not up the horn, Psal▪ 75. lift not up your horn on high, neither speak with a stiff neck. For in the ●ande of the Lord is a cup, and the wine is of the colour of blood, it is fully tempered, and he poureth out the same, and all the wicked of the earth shall surely wring out and drink the dregs thereof. What pleasure is there now in the cups of Balthasar and his concubines, the cups of the whore of Babylon, golden and sugared cups, and wine in ●oules as the prophet speaketh, when at the end of the banquet to close up the stomach, they must take this cup from the hand of the Lord, and drink their fatal draft? Thus of the one side, you shall ever find the happiness of the wicked in primis, it cometh at the first, and falleth like a dry thistle flower. Son, thou hadst thy pleasure: it is now past. jerom. 30. But if you will learn what becometh of the righteous, in novissimis intelligetis, you shall understand it in the last days. Mark the upright man, Psalm. 37. V● eadem Catena custodem & militem copulat, sic sp●s & metus c●●ūcta. 1▪ ep. 6. and behold the just, for the end of that man is peace. Seneca writeth that as the same chain coupleth the keeper and prisoner together, so hope and fear are ever conjoined, and fear followeth hope. For where our wishes and desires are bend, we cannot choose but doubt of our good speed. These two are coupled together in the song of jonas, but their order inverted. For fear goeth before, like the keeper and jailor of jonas, and hope cometh ever behind, to give him comfort of enlargement. Fear seemeth to have the greater scope, and to triumph over hope, as may appear, in that so many words, even four whole members of the two next verses, are spent in the amplification of it, when as but a short clause, & snatching look of the eye is added in the end to express his hope. But how little leaven of hope seasoneth the whole lump of the danger before mentioned? The division of the text. 1. Thou hadst cast me. 2. Into the bottom. 3. The floods compassed me etc. 4. Then I said. The parts are according to the number of the verses, two. First, his danger, secondly, the hope of recovery. The danger enlarged, first by the author, Thou hadst cast me, which noteth not only a violence, but a neglect, as if the Lord had thrown him aside never to be remembered more: secondly by the place, into the bottom in the midst of the sea: thirdly by the accessaries to the place, the floods compassed me, all thy surges and all thy waves passed over me: four by the infirmity and distrust of his own heart, the effect of the rest, and his conclusion upon the precedent proofs, Then I said, 2. yet will I look again. I am cast away out of thy sight. But in the second place, one cast and motion of his eye towards the temple of the LORD, maketh satisfaction and amends for all those former discomfortes. 1. The author. 1 Thou hadst cast me. The author is not his equal; (a briar contending with a thorn, an earthen vessel with an earthen vessel, wherein there is some proportionate comparison: The children of Israel & sons of Anak▪ David and Goliath, were not equally matched, yet man to man; Wherein if either part be the weaker, it may be redressed in time, either by themselves, or by their a bettours, Or if never redressed, the body alone beareth the smart, the soul no whit endangered.) But the worker of this woe, is the most mighty LORD, whose face is burning and his lips full of indignation; whose wrath he liveth not upon the earth that can abide, Psalm. 1●. when the foundations of the mountains move and sbake because he is angry; whose anger hath a further extent, not upon the body alone, but upon the soul too, not only to kill, but to cast them both away for ever into hell fire. Behold, he breaketh down and it cannot be built, job. 1●. he shutteth up a man and he cannot be loosed. Woe, woe be unto us, cried the uncircumcised Philistines, though they stood in battle array, 1. Sam. 4. who shall deliver us out of the hands of these mighty Gods? erring in the number, but not in the power of the glorious deity? The men of Bethshemesh, being afterwards smitten, because they had pried into the ark of Covenant, accounted themselves but dead men before him, Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God? The very pillars of heaven, saith job, 1. Sam. 6. tremble and quake at his reproof. At his rebuke he drieth up the sea, and maketh the floods desert; job. 26. their fish rot for want of water and die for▪ thirst. He clotheth the heavens with darkness, & maketh a sack their covering in the prophecy of Esay. Chap. 50. How fearful a thing shall it then be, to a sinful man, whose foundation is but dust, and not like those of the mountains, and the pillars of his body but flesh and blood, far inferior to the pillars of heaven, all the moisture of whose substance shall sooner be exacted than that of the floods & rivers, to fall into the hands of the living God, who liveth for all eternity beyond the days of heaven, and therefore is more able to avenge any injury done unto him? The anger of a prince, though it seemeth as dreadful as the messengers of death unto us, may be pacified; if not, his anger is mortal like himself, his breath is in his nostrils, and promiseth to those that fear, an end of his life and wrath together. The hostility of a deadly foe may beeresisted by hostility again, though his quiver be an open sepulchre, and they all very strong; jerem. 5. if not, he can but eat up our harvest and bread, eat up our sons and daughters, our sheep and our bullocks, our vines and figtrees, and destroy our cities. But if the anger of the Lord of hosts be kindled, who can put it out? if he be an enemy, let heaven and earth join hand in hand to work our safety, it should not help. If he begin he will make an end, 1. Sam. 3. in the first of Samuel, or rather not an end, in the fourth of jeremy. Consider the vision. I have looked upon the earth, saith the Prophet, and lo it was without for me and void; and to the heavens and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and lo they trembled, and all the hills shook. I beheld, and lo there was no man, and all the birds of the air were departed. I beheld, and lo the fr●●tfull place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD and by his fierce wrath. For thus hath the Lord said, the whole land shall be desolate, yet will I not make a full end. Behold now an end and no end. Now if the Lord had so cast jonas as he cast the Angels out of heaven, without repentance and revocation of his fact, jonas must have lain below as the gravel and slime of the sea never to have risen up. But he cast him in mercy not in fury, as he cast Adam out of Paradise to till the ground, Nabuchodonosor from his kingdom to eat with the beasts of the field, job from h●s house and home to lie upon the dunghill, to do them greater honour and favour in time to come. 2. The place. In profundum. The place hath three amplifications, 1. He was cast into the bottom of the sea; wherehence in likelihood, there was no recovery. Else, what meant Micheas by the phrase in the seventh of his book, that God will cast our sins into the bottom of the sea, but that he will lay them so low, and heap such a burden and weight up▪ on them, that they shall never rise up again? And our Saviour by the same in the gospel, that he who should offend one of his little ones, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and he thrown into the bottom of the sea? Math. 18. Implying therein so desperate a danger to the body, as would never be restored. So they sing of Pharaoh and his host in the fifteenth of Exodus: Abyssi operuerunt e●s, & descenderunt in profundum velut lapis, and afterwards, profunda pe●ierunt ut plumbum. The bottomless depths covered them, and they sunk to the bottom as a stone; and as lead they were swallowed in the waters. Some write, that the sea at the deepest is forty furlongs. I cannot censure their estimation. But this I am sure of, it is very deep, and our Saviour meant to signify no less when he called it not (mare) the sea by itself, Math. 18. but Pelagus maris, the bottom of the sea. So job speaketh of Leviathan, he maketh the deep to boil like a pot of ointment. Yea, job. 41. thou wouldst think that the bottomless depth had an hoary head. Where it is compared for depth with that which the legion of Devils in the eighth of Luke, Abyssus. desired they might not be thrown into. Now one furlong or fathom of waters had been deep enough to have taken away the life of jonas; much more was he in jeopardy, when he was cast into the bottom of the sea. 2. he was not only in the sea, but in the midst, the heart, the inwardst secrets and celles of it, as the heart of a living thing is mid-most, and inwardst unto it. In cord●. Whereupon Christ is said to have lain in Cord terrae, in the heart of the earth Math. 12▪ and the depths to have stood up together in Cord maris, in the heart of the sea Exodus the fifteenth. This was the next augmentation of the danger, that the whale bore him farthest from the shore, and kept his way in the deepest channel or trade, so that all hope of ever coming to land again seemed to have forsaken him. 3. he was not only in the heart of the sea, but of the seas. There is but one universal and main sea, which is the girdle to the dry land, Marium▪ but many particulars which take their several names from the places they lie next unto. Now the voyage of jonas was not limited and bounded within the compass of the Syriac sea, whereinto he was first received. But if it be true which josephus hath, that he was cast up to land upon the shore of the Euxine sea, then must he needs be carried through divers seas, before his arrival to that place. He had a purpose at first perhaps to go no further then to Tarsus in Cilicia, which was hard at hand, and the Cilician sea, the first he passed by. But jonas is borne from the Cilician to the Aegean, from thence to Propontis, and so to the road where his landing was. A just judgement of God upon him, that because he would fly from the presence of the Lord, he should be made to fly indeed. God threateneth Sobna the treasurer, Esaie the 22. that he would carry him into captivity, and toss him as a ball in a large country, that he would drive him from his station, and destroy him from out his dwelling place. So is jonas carried into captivity, a prisoner to a whale, and tossed as a bal in a large country, from sea to sea, driven from his station where he mente to have settled himself, and destroyed from out his dwelling place, & from the land of the living, & as Cain was a runagate upon the land, so is jonas upon the waters, and till the Lord give a charge for his discharge & manumission, no land dareth receive him. The floods compassed me about, etc. His third peril is from the accidents of the sea. For being in the bottom, 3. The accidents. and in the midst of the bottom, not of the sea, but of the seas, is he at rest there? No. There is no agony, nor passion of the sea but jonas feeleth it. The disquietmentes of that element, are either the meeting of the fresh and salt waters together, or the ebbing and flowing of it; or the waves and surges that arise, either by winds in the air, or by flaws and expirations from the caverns of the earth; with all these is jonas acquainted. Eccles. 1. There is no question, but all rivers run into the sea, according to the proverb, Qui nescit viam ad mare, quaerat sibi amnem, comitem, he that knoweth not the way to the sea, let him get some river to be his guide. Now it must needs breed a vexation and tumult, when these contrary waters meet: there is a fight and contention held betwixt them for the time. It is an other disturbance, which the continual agitation, the flux and reflux of the waters maketh. Cymothoe●●a regna vagae. Sil. Ital. For when the course of that mighty body of waters is turned back again, whither by the moon, as they hold in Philosophy, or by other disposition, which all the instruments and engines in the world cannot bring to pass, we cannot imagine that so reciprocal a motion is done in peace, but that the whole heap of the sea is molested thereby. There be the floods which encircle him and compass him about, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. which either the confluence of the waters diversely qualified, or the ebbing and flowing of the sea procured unto him. As who should say, I lay not in a calm, but look where the waters were most unpeaceable and unquiet, even there was I compassed about and had no way to pass forth. The sea is otherwise disquieted, when either the winds in the air, or flaws from the vaults and breaches of the ground, raise up the waves thereof. For the earth hath air oftentimes imprisoned in the hollowness of it, which being inwardly choked, and labouring to get out, sometimes shaketh the joints of the land with earthquakes, sometimes setteth the people of the sea in a rage, and bringeth a furious commotion upon the face of the waters. Wherefore jonas being carried through the Midland sea, having the land on both sides of it, must needs be troubled the more, by reason the waters have not so free a passage as in the patent Ocean, & therefore make a way with sorer impatience. Give them stream at will, and there is less danger of travail, but straighten their course, and they break a passage by force, and show what indignation they can against the bars that hinder them. By common experience at home in locks and mill-dammes we see what catarrhactes and downe-falles there are by the rage of the water, what hast it maketh to pass, how unpatiently it roareth because her liberty is denied her. But those that ever passed the Magellan straights, or entered the mouth of the Gaditan sea betwixt Europe and Africa, where Spain and Barbary is divided, to make a voyage into Barbary, or any other coast within the Midland sea, know it to be most true, not by easy experience alone, but by the adventure both of their vessels and their lives also. So as, you see, the very nature of these seas, where the propinquity & enclosure of the continent did so much annoy them on every side, partly by breathing upon them out of many holes and ruptures thereof, partly by lessening their channel, besides the ordinary winds which raised up their billows, and the extraordinary providence of God which dealt more strongly than all these, did the more afflict jonas. The words are very significant. Omnes fluctus & gurgite●●ui. All thy surges and all thy waves passed over me. 1. They are not simply waves (as all confess) but waves with irruption and violent assault. Our English well interpreteth them surges, which is the meeting and breaking of waters in such sort, that the one encountereth the other as if they were at war. The Poet notably expresseth them in the shipwreck of Caeix: Metam. 11. that they played upon the ship, as engines and brakes of war play upon castles, and as a Lion runneth with all his might upon the weapons of man, or as in the siege and scaling of a wall, though many have assailed it before, yet one of a thousand at length surpriseth it; so when many volumes of waves had before beaten and tried themselves upon the sides of the ship, Inter mill● viros murum tamen occupat unus. Vastiùs insurgens decimae ruit impetus undae. yet the tenth wave cometh further and fiercer than all the rest. They were not inferior to those that shook and battered the ship of jonas, when the sides thereof groaned, and it thought to be rend in pieces. 2. They are not the surges of the dead and senlesse sea, such as the wind and wether only might excite, but they are the waves of God, chosen and appointed by him to be his ministers to execute wrath against disobedient jonas; Thy waves. 3. Their number is so infinite and past comprehension, that he speaketh in the largest number, All thy waves, as if they had been levied from the ends of the sea, and had assembled their forces into one place. 4. They lay not about him as the floods before mentioned, but they pass quite over him; and are a burden to his head to keep him under still: they are on his right hand and on his left, upwards and downwards, forwards and backwardly, and leave 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 whole together, and you shall find them beyond exception. 1. He is in the bottom, the lowest and basest part, far from the top of the waters. 2. in the heart and entrails, far from the shore: 3. not of one singular sea, which had some limits, but of a continual tract and course of seas. 4. Not where the waters were placide and still, but where the floods were ever fight together. 5. Those floods lie as a circle about him, and keep him in like armed men. 6. Not only the floods annoy him, the tides of the sea, and the decourse of land rivers, but he is also troubled with waves. 7. They are not simply waves, but surges, waves of the vehementest collision and insultation. 8. And not simply surges, but such as are strengthened by the arm and animation of God, his waves. 9 As if there were no more in the world, but they had all forsaken their proper places (as they came to the siege of T●oy) to turmoil this one sea, he termeth them in genelity, all thy waves. Lastly, they were not about him as before, but lay like a pressure upon his body to keep it down. There is yet a sting in the tail of the Scorpion, a danger behind, worse than the former; which as it is reserved to the last place, so hath it more venom in it then all the rest. Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight, which containeth the weakness and distrust of his fearful conscience. 4. Infirmity of heart. See what a dangerous conclusion he maketh against his soul; not rashly apprehended, but with leisure and deliberation conceived. I said: that because the Lord had cast him into the bottom of the sea from the sight of men, and the floods and surges were over and about him, therefore he should think, he is cast from the sight of God, that is, that the light of his face, brightness of his countenance, aspect of his mercy & compassion had everlastingly forsaken him. jonas, thou art deceived. Thou speakest more to thyself, than ever the Lord said. He that cast thee into the sea, or caused the mariners to do it, never said, that he cast thee out of his sight; & if thou hadst asked the seas and the floods wherein thou wert overwhelmed, they would never have said it. They know that the Lord can say unto the earth, give, and to the sea, restore, keep not those my sons & daughters back whom I call for. It is the voice of the serpent that speaketh this damnable sentence within thee. Beware of his sophistry, admit it not, his reasoning is not good, that because thou art persecuted & driven to the bottom of the sea, therefore thou art wholly cast out. It is the pestilentest bait that ever Satan laid to infect souls with. Who being himself the son of perdition, compasseth sea and land to make others his proselytes, the children of hell, as deeply as himself is: & the cords wherewith he draweth them into his own inheritance of destruction, are to make the grievousness of their sins, & the sense of their present & but momentany afflictions, marks of their final dereliction, and that the favour of God is utterly departed from them. This was the snare that he set for the soul of job in the mouths of his three friends pronouncing him a reprobate, and hypocrite, because he was afflicted by God. The like for the soul of David, in the lips of his insolent enemies, when they upbraided him, where is now thy God? he trusted in God, let God deliver him, if he will have him. Behold I show you a sea indeed, of a bottomless depth, the ground whereof can no more be founded than the lowest hell. He that is thrown into this sea, is always falling and descending, and never findeth an end. It hath no midst in it, as the sea hath, because it is unmeasurable and infinite: I mean a desperate conscience, distrusting the mercies of God, relinquished of itself; the floods and surges whereof, restless, turbulent, unplacable cogitations can never be quieted, and the fightings therein, as betwixt waters and waters in the sea, between affirmations & negations (it is and it is not) cannot be reconciled. Let all the rivers and streams of fresh water which glad the city of God, and comfort the souls of the faithful, run into it, they are resisted and driven back. There is no entrance (I mean) for any persuasion of the graciousness & kindness of the Lord, though it be preached a thousand times. The salt, unsavoury, bitter quality in the soul, wherewith it is baned before, hath no communion with so sweet a nature. Which sin of desperation as the nature of man hath just cause to detest, because it breaketh that league of kindness which we own to our own flesh, & many a bloody instrument hath it put into the hands of man to destroy himself, (which execution being done against the laws of nature, a worse ever ensueth from the judgement fear of God) so for that injury & indignity which it ostreth to the Lord of heaven, sooner shall he forgive the apostasy of his reprobate angels, than this damned sin. Jerome observeth upon the Psalms, that judas offended more in despairing of pardon, and hanging himself, In Psa 108. than in betraying his innocent master to death. Isiodore giveth a kind of reason for it. Because to commit an offence is the death of the soul, but to cast of hope of forgiveness is to descend into hell. Perpetrare flagitium est mor● animae Sed veniam desperare est ad infernum descendere. 2. the sum b●. What can ever be done more derogatory and injurious to that righteous nature of his, than to change his truth into a lie, and the lies of Satan into truth, and to justify Satan more than God? that when as the Lord shall speak on the one side & bind by promise, confirm by oath and seal with the blood of his only begotten son, touching his goodness towards all true penitent sinners, that although he have made a wound, he will heal it, though broken he will bind up, though killed he will give life, yet he is not believed? But when the Devil contrariwise shall suggest for his part that the justice of GOD will never be satisfied, the heinousness of our sins never pardoned, as if he had left his name of being the father of lies any longer, he is hearkened unto? What else is this, but to turn falsehood into truth, darkness into light, and GOD for ever to be magnified into the Devil himself? jonas went not so far as I now speak of. For though it were a dangerous pang which he was fallen into, and there wanted but age and strength to make it up, yet he persisted not therein; his feet had well nigh slippeth, but he recovered them, and he spoke unadvisedlye with his lips, 2. His hope. but he recalled it again. Yet will I look towards thine holy temple, I will not so much explicate the words at large, as urge their consequence. This was the difference between judas and jonas. judas went out, and never looked back more. The LORD cast him forth, and the devil bore him away to a tree, whence he returned not till he had hung himself. jonas is cast out, with an hope and mind to return. He forgetteth not the temple of the LORD, and the place where his honour dwelled, though he were far removed from it. judas hath nothing but millstones about his neck (the neck of his guilty conscience,) to weigh him down; jonas hath wings and cork to bear him up. judas like a carcase wherein there is no life, falleth down as the Lacedaemonian said of a dead man, whom he could not set upright upon his feet oportet aliquid intus esse, there must be somewhat within: jonas hath that within, a spirit of comfort to quicken and support him. He hath an eye in his head, discovering those hidden ways which the eye of the eag●e and kite never found out, to look to the temple of the LORD. Wither he meant the temple at jerusalem, or whither his temple in heaven, Psa. 11. whereof the Psalm speaketh, the LORD is in his holy palace, the lords throne is in the heavens, I inquire not: but thrice blessed were those eyes that did him this service. If his sentence and resolution had ended in those former words. I am cast out, and there had been the period and full point, all his joys had ended. When the jews said in the Prophet, Fortuna innocenten deserit saepe, at spes bona nunquàm. Senec. perijt spes nostra, our hope is gone, they might aswell have added, perijt salus nostra, our salvation is gone, a man without hope is without his best advocate. Good success may often for sake the innocent, but never good hope. And therefore he changed his stile in good time, veruntamen, yet notwithstanding, I have anointed mine eyes with the eye salve of hope, and through all those obstacles of sea and seas, floods and surges, I am able to look to the place of thy rest. It standeth as the rudder in the sentence, and turneth it quite an other way. It was running apace upon dangerous shelves, and had set up the full sails of deadliest discomfortes, but a breath of faith cometh in and stoppeth that wretched course. Notwithstanding: Now doth jonas begin to neese, with the child that the prophet called to life; now is his first uprising from the dead; he had utterly fainted when he was in the belly whither of the whale or of hell, but that he believed verily to see the goodness of the Lord in his holy temple. Epaminondas being stricken thorough with a spear, and his blood failing him, asked, if his target were safe, and whither the enemy were put to flight: and understanding all to be answerable to his hearts desire, said, my fellows in arms, Valer. Max. lib. 3. cap. 2. it is not an end of my life that is now come, but a better beginning. The loss of the body is not great. We sow it in dishonour, we shall reap it in honour. And conscience may be wounded and daunted sometimes in the best that liveth. But if jonas had lost his shield of faith, and his helmet of hope, the principal armour of defence, the one for the head wherein the brain, the other for the breast wherein the heart lieth, and if the enemies of his soul, these desperate agonies had gotten the upper hand, and not been vanquished by him, where had his glory, where had his safety been? But his shield, you hear, is whole, Notwithstanding I will look towards thine only temple. With a little difference, you have the same speeches in the Psalms which jonas here useth. As in the 31. Psalm. I said in mine haste, I am cast out of thy ●ight. Likewise in 42. All thy waves and thy floods are gone over me. I repeat no more. But they make it an argument, that jonas had diligently red the Psalms, and kept them by heart, and applied them as need served, to his particular occasions. Est certe non magnus, Tul. verùm aureolus, & ad verbum ediscendus libellus. As he spoke of crantor's book. Surely the book of the Psalms is not great, but golden, Nunquam de manibus recedat. Discatur psalterium ad verbu●. and thoroughly to be learned. Jerome advised Rusticus that the book of the Psalms should never departed from his handling and reading. Let every word of the Psalter be conned without book. I will say shortly, sayeth he, It is a common treasury of all good learning. It appeareth in the gospel that Christ and his disciples were very conversant in that book; because in their sayings & writings not fewer than threescore authorities are procured from above forty of those several Psalms. But my meaning is not so much to commend the book at this time as your use of it. For it is never so well red or heard, as when the harp of David and the ditty of our heart, the scripture of the Psalm, and the sense of our present occasion go together. Quid prosunt lecta & intellecta, Bern. ●is● teipsum legas & intelligas? reading and understanding without application, is nothing. Neither is it to purpose to sing Psalms, unless we make them accord to our present miseries, when we are in misery; when we are delivered, to our deliverances; & other the like variations. Thus did jonas. But to come back to David himself; though he spoke so dangerously as you have heard, I am cast of: yet he confesseth, he spoke it in his haste, and he correcteth that hasty speech with a veruntamen (a particle of better grace, as jonas did) yet thou heardest the voice of my prayer, when I cried unto thee. And he exhorteth all those that trust in the LORD to be strong, and he will establish their hearts. Likewise in former words: these amongst the restiarring very unpleasantly, and striking out of tune, I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind, I am like a broken vessel. But I trusted in thee O Lord, I said, thou art my God. But for (nisi and veruntamen) but and notwithstanding, notes as it were of a better sound, our hearts might quake, to see such passions in the Saints of God. The beloved son of God, was not without this convulsion of spirit, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? not feared and suspected, but felt and presently endured: why hast thou done it? yet he commendeth his spirit into the hands of that Lord, who seemed to have forsaken him. Psal. 68 Thus ever the Lord sendeth a gracious rain upon his inheritance to refresh it when it is weary: and it is true which Osee saith, though we look for a day or two, as if we were dead and forlorn, yet after those two days he will revive us, and the third he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Osee 6. I will now proclaim from an other Psalm. Hear this all ye people, give ear all that dwell in the world; low and high, rich and poor, one with an other. My mouth shall speak of wisdom, and the meditation of my heart is of knowledge. Psal. 49. I will incline mine ear to a parable, and utter a grave matter upon mine harp. Surely it is wisdom, and knowledge, and a grave matter indeed, and blessed are they that conceive it. If it be hid, it is hid to those that perish, it is a parable to Cain, and Saul and judas, and such like castaways. If I had the doubled spirit of Elias, and wisdom like the angels of GOD. I would spend it wholly in the commendation of this grave and serious sentence. Wherhfore should I fear in the evil days, when inquiry shall compass me about as at mine heels? when it shall press and urge me so closely with the judgements of God, that I am always in danger to be supplanted? now what are the pillars of this heavenly security? can riches, or wisdom, or houses and lands after our names, or honour sustain us? these are but rotten foundations to build eternity upon. But, GOD shall deliver my soul from the power of the grave, for he will receive me. I draw to an end. GOD is faithful that hath promised: heaven and earth shall pass away, but not a jot of his blessed word. As the hills were about jerusalem, and as these floods were about jonas; so is the LORD about all those that fear him. He hath made a decree in heaven, it belongeth to the new testament, confirmed by the death of the testator, witnessed by three in heaven, and as many in earth, and never shall it be altered, That at what time soever, a sinner (whatsoever) shall repent him of his wickedness (whatsoever) from the bottom of his heart, the Lord will forgive and forget it. O heaven before heaven. And the contrary persuasions, hell before hell, damnation before the time. I say again, if he repent of his wickedness, it is not the misery of this wretched life, nor terror of conscience, nor malice of foes, let them be men or devilles, let them be seven in one, a legion in another, all the principalities and powers of darkness in the third, that shall hinder forgiveness. Behold the lamb of GOD, you that are lions in your house, as the proverb speaketh, worst towards yourselves; you that are ready to tear and devour your own souls with grief and fear of heart, behold the Lamb of GOD that taketh awy the sins of the world. Hath his death put sense into rocks and stones, and can it not persuade you? shall that blood of the lamb cleanse you from your guiltiness, and will you in a mad and impatient mood throw your blood into the air with julian, or spill it upon the ground with Saul, or sacrifice it upon an alder with judas, and not use the medicine that should ease their maladies? shall he open heaven, and will you shut it? he nail the writings to his cross, and you renew them? he pull you from the fire, and you run into it again? Is this his thanks? this the recompense of his labours? this the wages ye give him for bearing the heat and burden of the day in your persons? this the harvest for the seed he sowed in tears? this the wine he shall drink for treading the winepress? in steed of a cup of salvation, which you ought to take in your hands, and call upon the name of the LORD, that is, as he hath drunk unto you in a bitter cup of passion, so you should pledge him in a pleasant draft of thanksgiving, will you take a cup of death and desperation, blaspheme his name, evacuate his cross, tread the blood of his testament under you ●eete, and die past hope? God forbidden, and the earnest prayers and sobs of your own souls heartily forbid it. januas aeternae foelicitatis desparatio claudit, spes aperit: Desperation shutteth up, hope openeth the doors of eternal felicity. And therefore, he that hath least and nothing at all to hope, yet let him despair of nothing: Qui nil potest s●erare, desperet nihil. it was the advice of an heathen, let it be the practice of a Christian. Let him hope against hope, though the baseness of his condition, horror of sin, weight of tribulation, envy of Satan, rigour of the law, justice of the upright judge, seem to overthwart him. THE XXVII. LECTURE. Chap. 2. ver. 5.6. The waters compassed me about unto the soul, etc. Yet hast thou brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God. IN the third and fourth verses before I handled first the danger or fear of jonas, illustrated 1. from the person that cast him into it, 2. from the place with the accessaries thereunto, the depth, the heart, the multitude of seas, 3. from the passions of the sea, which were either floods compassing him about, or waves overwhelming him, & those waves in nature surges, touching the author, God's surges; touching the number, all his surges: 4. from the infirmity of his own conscience, wherein, 1. advisedly he pronounceth and saith; 2. that as an unprofitable thing he is cast out; 3. from the sight, that is, the favour and grace of his merciful Lord. secondly I added thereunto his hope and confidence, as a piece of sweet wood cast into the waters of Marah to take away their bitterness, so this to relish and sweeten his soul again, and to make some amends for all his former discouragementes. In these two contrary affections, fear and hope, I told you the whole song was consumed to the end of the seventh verse. First you shall hear his danger displayed in sundry and forcible members, (for his words swam not in his lips, but were drawn from the deep well of a troubled conscience) and then at the end some sentence of comfort added, as a counter-verse to allay the rigour of the other parts, and to uphold his fainting soul. This was the order that David took with his soul in the 42. and 43. Psalms, Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Hope in the Lord, for I will yet give him thanks for the help of his presence. Likewise in the 80. Psalm, Turn us again, O God of hosts, cause thy face to shine, and we shall be safe. They come (〈◊〉 seemeth) as so many breathe to a man wearied with a tedious race, or rather as so many lines and recollections of spirits after swoonings. Now, unless I will leave my text, as jonas left the way to Niniveh which God had appointed him to walk in, I must again entertain your ears with the same discourse which before I held: I hope without offence to any man. For the hearing of these admirable words and works of God is not, or should not be as the drinking of wine, wherein they say, Primum po●●cultum necessi●atis, secundum voluptatis, tertium ebriet●tis & c· Chap. 24. Eccles. 1. Cytharaedu● ridetur. the first draft is of necessity, the second for pleasure, the third for sleep, & so ever more worse; but here it is true which the son of Syrach wrote of wisdom (for this is the pure and holy wisdom,) They that eat her shall have the more hunger, and they that drink her shall thirst the more. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear with hearing such things. And albeit it be a fault in music, evermore to strike upon the same string, yet jonas (I doubt not) shall easily be excused and find favour in your ears, in handling this song of his, though he bring nothing for a time but the repetition of the same matters. For first he gave you the ground and plainsong, which I called the proposition in the second verse. The rest to the end of the 7. though it be spent upon the same argument, yet is it with such descant and variety to grace the plainsong, the phrase so delectably altered, and the sense of the words so mightily augmented, as I cannot feign to myself, how the description of his troubles could have been furnished with better lights of speech. I have heard the descriptions both of ancient Poets, and of those in our latter days, Tassus, Ariostus, and the like so highly extolled, as if wisdom had lived and died with them alone. And it may be the sin of samaria, Angelus Politian preferred Pindarus his Odes before the Psalms of David. the sin of this land and age of ours (perhaps the mother of our atheism) to commit idolatry with such books, that instead of the writings of Moses and the prophets, and Evangelistes, which were wont to lie in our windows as the principal ornaments, & to sit in the uppermost rooms as the best guests in our houses, now we have Arcadia, & the Fairy Queen, and Orlando Furioso, with such like frivolous stories: when if the wanton students of our time (for all are students, both men and women in this idle learning) would as carefully read and as studiously observe the eloquent narrations and discourses contained in the Psalms of David and other sacred books, they would find than to be such, as best deserved the name & commendation of the best Poets. So rightly did Jerome pronounce of David to Paulmus, that he is our Simonides, Pindarus, Alceus, Flaccus, Catullus, Serenus, & in steed of all others. For the warrant of my sayings, consider but this scripture now in hand. The danger of jonas (one might have thought) was so handled before, as if he had powered forth his whole spirit at once. He told you of the deepest, and of the midst, and of the number of the seas, with as many perturbations (for aught I know) as the sea is subject unto, the confluge of repugnant waters, ebbing & flowing, and breaking of the surges. Yet is he still as full as the moon, and as if he were freshly to begin, entereth again with an other stile, & much more abundance into the same narration. Text. Now he acquainteth you how far the waters came. He was in the waters and waves before; but within the bowels of the fish as it were in a crystal cage: here it is otherwise, for the waters compass him add animan usque, even unto the soul; he was now in the presentest danger of his life, there was not an hairs breadth betwixt him and death, his soul lay even at the gates of his body ready to pass forth. He told you of a bottom before, but now of a depth without a bottom; there profundum, here abyssus: and he addeth to his former encumbrances weeds about his head, mountains, and promontories, and rocks, & the bars of the earth wherewith he was imprisoned. The son of Syrach speaketh of wisdom, Eccles. 24. that she is set up like a cedar in Libanus, and as a cypress tree upon the mountains of Hermon, exalted like a palm-tree in Cades, and as a rose-plant in jericho, & as a fair olive-tree in a pleasant field, and as a planetree by the waters; as a terebinth so she stretcheth out her branches and her boughs are the boughs of honour and grace. Her root is so rich and so full of sap, that an heart endued therewith, never lacketh matter or words whereby to persuade. It is written of Solomon, one of the offspring of wisdom, that God gave him prudence and understanding exceeding much, and a large heart, even as the sand that is upon the seashore, and that his wisdom exceeded the wisdom of all the children of the East, and all the wisdom of Egypt. That he was able to speak of trees from the cedar of Lebanon, to the hyssop that springeth out of the wall, he also spoke of beasts, and fowls, and creeping things, and of fishes. 1. King. 4. Compare the heart of jonas a little with the heart of Solomon▪ You see how large it is. Larger, I am sure, if it be wisely weighed, than of all the people of the East, and children of Egypt before mentioned. He speaketh of all his troubles by sea, from the greatest to the least, even to the weed and bulrush that lieth in the basest part of it. We say, where the grief is, there commonly the finger It is not an easy matter for those that are pint●ht with grief indeed, hastily to depart either from the sense or report of it. A man must speak sometimes to take breath. jeremy wrote a whole book of Lamentations, and in the person of the people of the jews, as if all the afflictions under heaven had been stored up for that one generation, proclaimed, Ego vir ille sum, I am that man that have had experience of infirmities; that one and only singular man. This is the manner of all that are afflicted: as jonas before, all thy surges and all thy waves passed over me; Etiam innocentes cogit mentiri dolour. Valer. Max. lib. 7. cap. 2. they think their miseries to be alone, and that no other in the world hath any part with them. Contrary to the judgement of Solon the wise Athenian, who thought that if men were to lay their griefs upon one common heap, and thence to take out an equal portion with their fellows▪ they would rather carry their own home again, and bear their burden apart, than divide at the stock, where they should find their wretchedness much more increased. David in many Psalms declameth at large of his miseries. In the 69. by the same words, which jonas here useth, & happily borrowed from that ancienter prophet. The waters are entered in unto my soul, and I stick fast in the deep mire where no stay is. I am come into deep waters, & the streams run over me. I am weary of crying, my throa●e 〈◊〉 d●ie▪ and mine eyes fail whilst I wait for my GOD. It is thought that the 102. Psalm was a prayer written by Daniel, or some other prophet, for the children of Israel whilst they were at Babylon in captivity. My days are consumed like smoke, my bones are burnt up like an hearth. Mine heart is smitten and withered like grass, I forget to eat my bread, for the voice of my groaning my bones do cleave to my skin; I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping. These were persuaded, that the sun was no where overcast so much as where they were, and that it would be happy for them to exchange their woes with any other living creatures. How often did our Saviour, the head corner stone of the building, tell his disciples before hand of his perils to come at jerusalem? The emperor Otho thought it a part of dastardy to speak too much of death: Plura de extremis loqui part ignaviae est. Taci●. the emperor over Otho thought otherwise. If you search the Evangelistes, you shall find his arraignment and death often repeated from his own mouth. Matth. the 17. as they abode in Galilee. The twentieth of that Evangelist, he took them apart in the way as they were going to jerusalem. Luke the ninth, he biddeth them mark his words diligently, and put them into their ears, (for he would not they should be committed to the waste air, which lay so deep in his own heart,) The son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men. In the 18. he reckoneth up all the particulars, the delivering of him to Gentiles, mocking, reviling, spitting, scourging, putting him to death. That elect vessel of his, 2. Cor. 11. as if he gloried in his infirmities, and made them his triumphs, recapitulateth with a breath as many dangers as ever he had endured either at home or abroad, his labours his stripes, his stonings, his deaths, his scourge, his shipwrecks, by land, by sea, by thieves, by false brethren, by his countrymen, by strangers, his hunger, thirst, fasting, cold, nakedness, besides outward things. It was truly spoken by a learned man, Sapiens miser, plu● miser est quam rusticus miser. Scit enim exaggerare causas dolendi, quas rusticus miser ignorat. A wise man in misery is more miserable, than one that is simple, because he knoweth how to amplify the causes of his sorrow, which the other doth not. I take it to have been no small token of wisdom in jonas, jeremy, David, Paul, & in wisdom himself, not only that they felt the bitterness of the cup when they drank it, but were able to discern what ingredients it had, and particularly to recount whereof it was tempered. The Stoic philosophers, of whom we read, Acts 17. that they disputed with Paul, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. and called him a sour of words, and a setter out of strange Gods (and it shall not be impertinent a while to dispute with them, and to confute their strange learning) they held many opinions incredible to the world, amongst the rest, that grief was a matter of nothing. Orat pro L. Muraena. & in Paradox. Tully reciteth some of their paradoxes, that their wiseman, whom they rather supposed than ever could find in nature▪ (as Xenophon imagined a king, Tully an orator, Aristotle felicity more perfect than ever that world was so happy to attain unto,) though he were most deformed, was most and only beautiful, rich though beggarly, a king though the servant of servantes like cursed Canaan: that all sin: were alike, and he offended as much that killed a cock when there was no need, as if he had cut the throat of his father: that their wise man, was never moved with pity, never entreated, never went by guess or opinion, never was deceived, never repent any thing, never changed his mind, Thence it was that Chrysippus, Porticum Sto●●●rum 〈◊〉 dicebatur. who was said to prop up the gallery of the Stoics, offered that strict and tetrical division to the world, Aut mentem aut restim comparandam, either to get them minds (constant and unmovable) or to hang themselves. Mentis quam mortis meta tenenda prior Tyrtae●●▪ Now all other men that were not in the compass of this their fantastical and Platonical notion of wisdom, they condemned for fools, frantics, exiles, fugitives and the like. Amongst the rest of their admirable positions, one was, that their wise man could not be enforced, and that sorrow, painfulness, and grief, were neither good nor evil, but indifferent at least. And surely I must needs say, they were very prodigal of thei● lives; and little would they seem to regard extremity of tortures. One told Theodorus, that he would hang him: Threaten that, saith he, Minitare purpuratie tuis▪ Senec. Tull▪ Noct. Atti● lib. 12. ca 5. Psal 119. Bern. ser. 66. in Cant. Nonné plus est sibimet hominem iniicere manus▪ quàm id libenter ab alio sustinere? Verun est veron martyrs aequo animo subiis●e dolores. Neque hoc facit stupor sed amor. Submittitur enim sensus non amittitur, nec deest dolor sed superatur, sed contemnitur. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. to your carpet-knightes. It is all one to me whether I rot in the air or in the ground: & when you have all done, Cantherides, a little kind of worms can do as much as you. When they were upon the rack, they would cry, O quám suave, O what pleasure is there in racking? Aulus Cellius writeth of a fenser at the games of Cesar, that when his wounds were lanced by the Surgeons, he used to laugh at it. The Donatists and Circumcellions were not much behind them in this madness. But the reason of their insensibility is that (saith Barnard) that the Psalm giveth; Their heart is as fat as grease. And that which piety worketh in others, hardness of heart worketh in them. Some marveled (he saith) that heretics did not only suffer death, but they underwent it with joy. But they little considered what power the devil hath, not only upon the bodies, but upon the hearts also which he possesseth. Is it not more for a man to lay violent hands upon himself, than to endure it at the hands of another? yet that the devil hath thus far prevailed with many, we know by frequent experience. He addeth. It is true that the true Martyrs are very well content to suffer death Which proceedeth not from studipity, but from love; neither is there an amission or losing, but a submission of sense in them: not that pain is away, but for the love of Christ, they vanquish and contemn it. The Apostle doth rightly express the cause of their wonderful patience. In all these (he doth not say, we are more than men) but we are more than conquerors. I return to the Stoics. It fell out that one of that sect was sick at Lebadia. His disease was a fever, wherewith he was so afflicted, that he groaned deeply and inwardly to himself, yet would scarcely seem to do it. Taurus' willing to excuse him (a philosopher of a divers profession) you have seen a sight, saith he not pleasant, yet profitable to be known; a philosopher and pain wrestling and combating together. Faciebat vis illa & natura morbi ꝙ erat suum etc. The force and nature of the sickness did her office, in causing a distraction and vexation of the bodily parts. On the other side, reason, and the nature of the mind, did that to them appertained, in repressing the violence of grief, and suffering no howl or unseemly outcries to be heard. One that was present, replied, Why groaneth he against his will, if pain have no compulsion in it? Taurus answered, that the Stoic was best able to defend himself; Inter ea quae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. but withal, that it was one of the principles in nature, to rejoice in that which is good, and to shun the contrary; and that some of the Stoics themselves did never allow their indolency, or lack of passion; and lastly that fortitude was not a monster to strive against nature, and to delight in stupidity and immanity, but a knowledge and skill to discern what was meet to be suffered, what not. And therefore because this opinion of the Stoics is not only against nature, but the practice of the son, and all the sons of GOD, I thought it labour well bestowed to overthrow these sowers of words (as they called Paul) by their own practice, and by the judgement of other natural Philosophers. Of whom we may truly say, as Plutarckes servant sometimes said of his master; Non est ita ut Plutarchus dicit: It is not as my master saith His opinion is that it is a shame for a Philosopher to be angry, and he hath often reasoned of the mischiefs that come thereby, and he hath written a book Of not being angry; Et ìpse mihi irascitur, and yet is he angry with me. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. So these affirm in speech that sorrow is nothing, useth no violence against a wiseman, yet when it cometh upon them, they are no more able to endure the gripings of it, than other fools. As Taurus spoke of the Stoics ague, so may I of the misery of jonas. The force and nature of his misery did her part; reason and the nature of saith on the other side, were not idle in their offices. jonas behaved not himself as the deaf ro●kes of the sea, which the waves beating, and breaking upon, yet they feel nothing; dolere inter dolores nesciens, not knowing how to be grieved amidst his griefs, but according to the measure and quality of his sorrows, so was his sense, and so was the purpose of God, by whom they were inflicted, To descend now to particulars. The matter of his fear, or the danger intended against him, arose from two mighty adversaries, the sea and the land. His danger from the sea, is tripled in the fifth verse, according to the number of the clauses therein. First the waters compassed him about unto the soul. To have been in the waters, had not been so much: nor much to be compassed and entrenched, as those that are held in siege. But that they come unto his soul, the meaning is, that his spirit, whereof the quickening and life of his body consisted, was at hand to depart from him, and to yield itself prisoner to the waters that assaulted it: there was the danger. Secondly, The depth closed him round about. Abyssus. The depth, or rather no depth. Some measure of water, where the bottom might have been reached, would also have kept his fear within a measure. But to be closed about with a bottomless water, maketh a bottomless grief whereof there is no end. 3. the weeds were wrapped about his head, the sedge, the flags, the bul-rushes, and other the like trash, the very scorn and contempt of the sea, dangerous impediments, to those that by swimming put themselves upon the mercy of the merciless waters, they were not now fluent and lose, but tied and entangled, not about the arms or the legs alone, but about the head of jonas, the principal spire of his body, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the highest tower and as it were capitolle to the city, the leader and captain to all his other parts. Now whether his head were bound about with weeds, when he was first swallowed up, and so they remained about it still; or whither the head of the whale be here the head of jonas, because he is now incorporate into the whale, and liveth within him as a part of the whale, I examine not: but this was the mind of jonas to omit no word, not so much as of the excrements and superfluities of the sea, whereby his inextricable peril might be described. His danger by land is likewise expressed in two members of the 6. verse. First he was descended to the bottoms, or ends, or roots, Verse. 6. or cutings of, of the mountains; for where a thing is cut of, there it endeth. Man by nature and stature was made to ascend. God gave him his head upwards. But jonas was descended, which is the state of the dead, according to the phrase of the scripture, Descendam lugens etc. I shall go down sorrowing to my grave. Neither was he descended into the sides, or some shallow cave and vault of the mountains▪ but as if he were numbered with those forlorn souls, who call upon whole mountains, fall on us, and upon whole hills, cover us, so was he descended ad radices & praecisa montium, Osee 10. to the roots and crags of them, lodged in so low a cabin, that all those heaps and swellings of the earth lay upon him. 2. The earth with her bars was about him for ever. What is the strength of a city or house but the bars of it? as we read in the Psalm; Praise the Lord, O jerusalem, praise thy God O Zion: Psal. ●4●. for he hath made the bars of thy gates strong, and blessed thy children within thee. So then the bars of the earth, that is, the strongest muniments and fences it hath, are the promontories and rocks, which God hath placed in the frontiers to withstand the force of the waters. These are the bars and gates in job, which God hath appointed to the sea, saying unto it, Hitherto shalt thou pass, job 38. here will I stay thy proud waves,; and if you will these also are the pillars of the earth, which god hath fixed in such sort that it cannot be moved. The meaning of the prophet was, that he was locked and warded within the strength of the earth, never looking to be set at liberty again. I told you before, that the nature of the sea, wherein jonas travailed, besides the overnaturall working of God, did add much more trouble unto him, than if he had passed through the Ocean, where he had gained more sea room, and the continent being farther of, would have yielded a liberal current, and less have endangered him. Now he hath land round about him, by reason whereof, the sea is more narrow, rocky, and hilly, apt to storms, skanter of roads for safety, and subject to a number of other incommodities. The course of the seas, through which he passed, was this. First he took shipping at japho, and was carried through the Syriack sea; thence through Archipelago, or the Aegean; thence through Hellespont betwixt Sestus and Abydus, where Asia and Europe are divided not by more than seven furlongs, others say but five; afterwards through Propontis, where the sea is patent again, & hath his forth; from thence through Bosphorus Thracius, betwixt Constantinople and Anatolia, where the passage is so narrow that an ox may swim over; and lastly to the Euxine sea, where, they hold, he was set to land. Thus was he often encumbered with straights, and never had cause to complain of overmuch liberty, where he was most favoured, till he came to the dry ground. Thus far of the dangers both by sea and land. The first extended his rage, not to the chin or lips of the prophet, but to his soul; and threatened him with a depth bottomless and unmeasurable, and came not against his life with limpid and pure waters alone, but with other impediments, the unprofitable pelf and corruption of the waters. The later gave him not rest upon a plain floor of the earth, but clasped him under the crags of ro●kes, and held him close prisoner under the strongest bars and bounders it had. But as in the former staff of the song, so also in this, there is a touch of a distrustful conscience: but there it was openly expressed, and here it is closely conveyed in. The earth with her bars was about me for ever. For ever. For what meaneth, in seculum, for ever, but that he was cast away from the saving health & help of the Lord, without all hope of redemption? Did he not know, that although his life were taken from him for a time, it should be restored unto him at the resurrection of just men? what then, if the waters were come up ev●n unto his soul? Or could he persuade himself that any depth of waters could overreach the judgements and counsels of the Lord in preserving his Saints? Are not they also abyssus magna, as great and a greater deep than ever sea had? what then, if the depth closed him about? did he not know that weeds should rot and fall away from his head, and in steed of weeds the head should be crowned with mercy and compassion, and clothed with glory as with the sunbeams? what then, though the weeds were bound about his head? was he to learn, that the Lord should one day say to all the prisoners of hope, (though Ossa and Pindus, the graves of those Giants had buried their bodies,) stand up and show yourselves, and that the gates of hell, much less the bars of the earth are not of force to resist his ordinances? what then, though he were descended to the bottoms of the mountains? etc. What if his head and heart also, body and soul, the whole composition and frame of jonas, had sustained a dissolution temporal, which the law of mortality, and the common condition of all flesh had made him subject unto? is there not a time of refreshing, when both the substance and beauty of all these shallbe renewed again? Then again, I say, what needeth in seculum? so deep a suspicion of the goodness of the Lord, as if it had for ever relinquished him? it is an effect, which for the most part a vehement grief worketh in all sorts of men, except some of a Stoical disposition, and others of a worse, that have seared their hearts with hot irons, and can feel nothing. So we read in the Lamentations, Lam· 3. My strength and my hope is perished from the Lord. And for a space of time there is little difference either in speech or thought betwixt precious and reprobate spirits. But whereas the nature of desperation is this, obligatur consuetudine, obseratur ingratitudine, impenitudine obfirmatur; custom bindeth, ingratitude locketh, impenitency barreth it up; there is not that custom, ingratitude, impenitency in Gods chosen once, but though they lay down their hope, they take it up again, and though they give over the field to the enemy, and seem to fly away, yet they fly to return and to fight with more courage and upon better advantage. The hope of a Christian man is very nicely and fearfully placed, betwixt two extremities, as Susanna in the midst of two adulterers. Ista duo occidunt animal, aut desperatio aut perversa spes. Desperation and presumption are two infamous gulfs, and here as ill, as ever Scylla & Charybdis did, for the wrack & overthrow of in my poor souls. For as it is not good on the one side to have too bold & head strong an hope, that howsoever we live, whither swearing or fearing an oath, we shall be saved (eáspe freti, sperando pereunt; they that so hope, perish by so hoping, Jnfidelis fiducia. Bern. job 8. & 11. it is the hope of the hypocrite, & shall come to nought, it is as the house of a spider that shall soon be overturned:) so on the other it is not safe to have our jealous god always in jealousy, & still to diffide, whither he be our merciful father yea or not. For hope is ever accompanied with 2. sisters, which never depart from her sides & society, faith & love; faith the guide to keep us from desperation, love the rule to keep us from presumption. For he that hath faith can never distrust of the mercies of God, because he believeth the promises in jesus Christ, & he that hath charity will never presume of a sinful and licentious life, because he is taught by love to keep the commandements of the most High. jonas made some trial of both these extremities. For when he went fiirst from the face of the Lord, and refused a plain injunction, what was it else but presumption in him? Now to distrust of the mercies of God, and stiffly to affirm that his miseries shall never be released, is a spice of desperation. But his wisdom was, that at their first invasion he treadeth uponn the heads of both these serpents; assoon as he feeleth them sting, he presently armeth himself with the grace of God to escape from them. Otherwise, if as the speech of jonas was in seculum, so the thoughts of his heart had continued in seculum, without revocation, than had he also taken up his place amongst those whom God had set on his left hand, and made the mirrors to the world of his irrevocable damnation. For this were insanabilis plaga, as jeremy speaketh, a wound that never can be cured, to despair of the aid of God; as if a surgeon should promise help to a sore, and the patient should thrust his nails into it, and answer him, nay, but it shall not be healed. It is the just state of the damned; for when all the people upon the earth besides, live by hope, (for he that soweth, soweth in hope, and he that reapeth, reapeth in hope, he that liveth, liveth in hope, and he that dieth, dieth in hope, yea the whole creature groaneth under hope, and waiteth for that time with a fervent desire when the sons of God shall be revealed, and itself restored,) these only are past hope. One compareth desperation to the beast in Daniel that hath no name given to it. The first of the four was a lion the second a bear, the third a leopard; Dan. 7. but this without distinguishing the kind, was very fearful, and terrible, and strong, and had great iron teeth, destroyed, and broke in pieces, and stamped under his feet, and had horns enough to push at God with blasphemy, at his brethren with injury, and at the soul within his own bosom with distrust of mercy. Other our sins are fearful enough, and have as it were the rage of lions and leopards and bears, to spoil & make desolate the soul of man, but the final decay indeed, which can never be recovered, whilst there standeth a seat of justice in heaven, is desperation. The greatest sins (they say) are these, Th. Aquin. 2.2. qu. 20. art. 3. which are opposed to the theological virtues, faith, hope, & charity; infidelity to faith, desperation to hope, hatred to charity: amongst the which, infidelity & hatred, the one not believing, the other hating God, are in themselves worse, but in regard of him that sinneth, desperation far exceedeth them both in the danger annexed to it. For what can be more miserable, Quid miserius misero non miserant seipsum? August. than a wretch not pitying himself? But to acquit the prophet of the Lord from so damned a sin; as in the former verses, after his deadly downfall (one would have thought) when his judgement came from his own mouth, I said I am cast out, etc. he arose again & set up a standard of comfort to all the distressed of the world, yet will I look again towards thy holy temple; so in this 2. fight and fit of his soul, when he is well-nigh spent, and it is a question whether his faith be quick or dead, there cometh an other veruntamen like a shower of the later rain in the drought of summer, to water his fainting spirit,, yet hast thou brought up my life from the pit, O LORD my GOD. The readings are divers. The Hebrews s●y, thou hast brought up my life, or caused it to ascend. The septu●ginte, my life hath ascended. Jerome, Thou shalt lift up. Some say from the pit, Fovea. Interitus Sepulchrum. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. August. ad Dardan. In aeternis idem est posse & esse. Nemò potest valde dolere & diu. Epist. 97. Aut toler●. bilem aut brevem. some the grave, some from death, some from corruption. There is no odds. For whither of the two times be put, the matter is not great, Thou hast or thou shalt. For the nature of hope is this, futura facta dicit; Things that are to come, it pronounceth of as already accomplished. In the eight to the Romans, we are saved by hope, though we are not yet saved. And whom God hath justified, those he hath also glorified, though not yet glorified. Ephesians the second, we are raised from the dead, though our resurrection hereafter to be fulfilled. But I stay not upon this. It is a rule in Seneca, that by the benefit of nature, it is not possible for any man to be grieved much and long together. For in her love she beareth unto us, she hath so ordered our pains, as that she hath made them either sufferable or short. that which Seneca imputed to nature, Heb. 6. I to hope, grounded in the promises of God, immutable things, the safe and sure anchor of the soul of man. The sorrow of jonas was wonderfully vehement, but soon allayed. Whence had he that speedy mitigation? from nature? nothing less. Here what the voice of nature is. When the people of Israel crieth upon Moses for flesh, Numb. 11. what is his cry to God? I am not able to bear this people. If I have found favour in thine eyes, kill me that I behold not this misery. When jezabel threateneth to make Elias like one of the dead prophets, 1. King. 19 he hasteth into the wilderness, and breaketh out into impatience and irksomeness of life, O Lord, it is sufficient, (either he had lived, or he had been plagued long enough) take away my soul from me. The woman in the 2. of Esdras having lost her son (be it a figure or otherwise, it is true in both) ariseth in the night season, goeth into the field, decreeth with herself neither to eat nor drink, but there to remain fasting and weeping till she were dead. Esdras counseleth her, foolish woman, do not so, return into the city, go to thine husband etc. she answereth, I will not, I will not go into the city, but here will I die. You hear how nature speaketh. Was jonas thus relieved? no. The sense of his own strength or rather his weakness, would have sent him headlong, as the devils the heard of swine, into the lake of desperation. Thou hast brought up my life, my Lord & my God. Bern. It is the Lord his God, whose name is tempered according to the riddle of Samson, both of strong and sweet, who is for●●ter suavis & suaviter fortis, strong in sweetness, and sweet in strength; fortis pro me, suavis mihi, strong for me, and sweet to me, that hath done this deed. Behold, my brethren, there is ho●ie in the lion, there is mercy in the fearful God of heaven. He is not only a Lord over jonas, to note his majesty & fear, but the Lord his God, to show the kindness of a father. It is the Lord his God, to whom he repaireth by particular application & with the disciple of Christ leaneth as it were in his masters bosom, that delivered his life from the pit, & his soul from fainting. Before he lay in the depths, & was descended to the ends of the mountains etc. All that is answered in one word, eduxisti, thou hast brought me up from the pit wherein I was buried. Before, the waters were come even unto his soul, ready to drink it in, and to turn him to corruption: but now God hath delivered that soul from the corruption it was falling into. What shall we then say? the sea hath no mercy, the weeds no mercy, the earth with her promontaries and bars no mercy, the whale no mercy, the Lord alone hath mercy. It fared with jonas as with a forerunner of his when his spirit was confused & folden up within him, Psal. 142 when he looked upon his right hand, and behold, there was none that would know him (much less at his left;) when all refuge failed, and none cared for his soul; then cried he unto the Lord his God and said, Thou art my hope and my portion in the land of the living, O hearken unto my cry, for I am brought very low, (even as low as the earth is founded) and bring my soul out of prison, (this pit wherein I lie) that I may praise thy name. O let not life nor death (I name no more, for death is the last and worst enemy that shallbe subdued) be able to take your hope from you. When your heart in thinking, or tongue in speaking hath gone too far, correct yourselves with this wholesome and timely veruntamen, yet notwithstanding, I will go to the Lord my God, and trust in his name. The nails that were driven into the hands and feet of our Saviour, were neither so grievous nor so contumelious unto him, as that reproach that was offered in speech, he trusted in the Lord, let him deliver him. This was the root that preserved job, and job preserved it: when his friends became foes, job. 13. and added affliction unto him, he willed them to hold their tongues, that he might speak, not caring what came of it. Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth (saith he (and put my soul in my hand? that is, why should I fret and consume myself with impatience? If he should kill me, would I not trust in him? so far is it of, that I despair of the mercies of God, that my life shall sooner leave me, than my assurance of his graces. This was the deep and inward matter he meant in the 19 of his book, from the abundance whereof he made that prophetical and heavenly protestation. O that my words were written, written in a book, Revel. ●. and graven with an iron pen in lead or stone for ever: I know that my redeemer liveth. Worms & rottenness shall consume me to nothing, but my redeemer is alive, & behold he liveth for evermore, & hath the keys of hell and of death. The grave shallbe my house, and I shall make my bed in darkness, but I shall rise again to behold the brightness of his countenance. These eyes of nature shall sink into the holes of my head, but I shall receive them again to behold that glorious object. And though many ages of the world shall run on betwixt the day of my falling, & his long expected visitation, yet he shal● stand the last day upon the earth, himself α and ω, the first and the last of all the creatures of God, to recapitulate former times, & to make full restitution of my ancient losses. What needed writings in a book & graving in lead or stone, but that he was careful of posterity, that the scripture & sculpture of his own conscience ' might be a monument in time to come for other afflicted souls? Ps. 42. & 43. The counsel which David giveth his troubled soul, again & again repeated, because his sorrows were again and often multiplied, shallbe my last for this time; O my soul, why art thou cast down, and why art thou disquieted within me? I will not forget to note unto you, that one of the greatest temptations he then felt, and that which fed him with his tears day and night, in steed of meat, was the daily upbraiding of his persecutors, where is now thy God? If they could have battered the fortress of his hope, they had utterly spoiled him. Yet he encourageth that persecuted and downe-trodden soul, with hearty incitations, Why art thou cast down etc. trust in the Lord, for I will yet and yet give him thanks for the help of his presence. Hope is never put to silence; never abasheth nor shameth the man that joineth her unto him: Adhuc. Rom. 5. the sweetest and plesantest companion that ever travailed with the sojourners upon earth. She carrieth them along through all the difficulties and crosses of the way that lie to interrupt them. Though they have passed through fire and water, she saith, be not discomforted, we shall yet give him thanks for the help of his presence. Though through a life so replenished with misery, that they bless the dead more than the living, and count them happier than both, that have never been, she saith, be of good cheer, we shall yet give him thanks, and there is time and matter enough wherein to show his goodness. Yea though they walk into the chambers of death, and shut the doors after them, and see not the light of heaven, still she biddeth them be bold, for they that sleep in the dust, shall arise and sing, the dew of their dry bones shallbe as fresh as the dew of the herbs, and we shall yet give him thanks for the help of his presence. Cynaegerus. I remember that valiant and thrice renowned Athenian (when I speak of the tenure and pertinacy of hope) who, when othermeanes failed, grasped the ships of the enemy with his hands, to hold them to fight, and when his hands were stricken of, stayed them with his teeth, till he lost his life. Hope can never be put from her holdfast. her voice is according to her nature, adhuc confitebor I will yet give thanks, in the winter and deadest time of calamities she springeth, and cannot die, nay she crieth within herself, whether I live or die, I will not lose my patience; for I shall see the day, when the Lord shall know me by my name again, right my wrongs, finish my sorrows, wipe the tears from my cheeks, tread down my enemies, fulfil me with the oil of joy, and I shall yet and for ever give thanks for the help of his presence. THE XXVIII. LECTURE. Chap. 2. vers. 7. When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came unto thee into thine holy temple. THE two last verses, if you remember, were but a varied repetition of that which two others had handled before. The general parts of all which, were the fear and the hope, danger and comfort of the prophet; which two affections or conditions (you have often heard) the whole song spendeth itself upon. His fear and danger in the last place was, that neither water nor earth spared him. The waters, touching their pride and exaltation, came unto his soul; touching their measure, promised him no bottom; touching their train and confederates, bound their weeds about his head. The earth neither lodged him in a smooth and easy floor, but under the roots and rags of mountains, nor in an haven, or any the like accessible place, but within her bars. Notwithstanding, the head of the serpent, with all his subtle devises against the life of the prophet, is bruised at the heel of the speech, where one little particle of hope, wipeth out all the former discomfortes: Yet haste thou brought up, etc. Once again, as heretofore I dissembled not with you, I must enter into the selfsame matter of discourse and explication. The soul of jonas may faint within him (as my text telleth us) the sun and moon may fail in their motions, day & night may fail in their courses, the earth may fail and totter upon her props, the sea and rivers may fail and be emptied of their waters, but the word of the Lord shall never fail neither in truth, nor in the riches and plenty thereof, to minister an everlasting argument to him that dispenseth it. Time, and speech, and audience shall fail, but matter can never want, when that abundant treasure cometh to be opened. It was well said by Chrysostome, that in a thousand talents of worldly words, a man shall hardly find an hundredth pence of spiritual and heavenly wisdom, scarcely ten halfpence. But infinite are the talents of wisdom, that are hid in the words of God, even when they seem in the judgement of man to be most exhausted. The Apostles exhortation to the Colossians is, Colos. 3. that the word of the Lord should devil plentifully among them. Surely the word of GOD, in one of the deepest and weightiest points of knowledged, touching our hope, how to be used and where to be founded, hath once and a second time already offered itself unto you. Wither as yet it hath gotten houseroume and dwelling among you, I cannot tell. Perhaps it did but sojourn in your hearts, and was in nature of a passenger to tarry for a night or an hour. Or happily as the Levite that came to G●beah, in the nineteenth of judges, it hath sitten in the streets and no man hath received it into house. Or if it hath gotten entrance and admission, it was perforce, as those that let down the sick man by the tiles of the house, the doors being pestered and thronged with multitude that they could not have entrance otherwise; it may be the gates of your hearts being stopped with multitudes of popular and worldly affairs, it took some little fastening against your wills. But that it may devil in your consciences, never to depart from them, and not in a narrow corner thereof, sparingly, and with discontentment, but in such plentiful manner as the Apostle spoke of, to enjoy her full liberty, all other inmates and associates put apart, all distrustful cogitations either from the wiles of Satan, or weakness of our flesh removed, the providence of GOD hath so ordered it, that after twice navigation, as the proverb is, there should be a third iteration of the same doctrine, that your hearts for ever might be established. When the vision of the sheet was sent unto Peter, in the tenth of the Acts, the voice was uttered unto him three times Arise Peter, kill and eat. And the first time he denied it plainly, Not so Lord. Afterwards he was better advised, and hearkened to the voice of the Lord. When the angel of Satan was sent to buffet Paul, lest his visions should lift him up too high, he besought the Lord thrice, ●. Cor. 12. that it might depart; and then the Lord answered him, My grace is sufficient for thee. It may be according to the sign which God gave Ezechias, that the first year, he should eat of such things as came up of themselves; Es. 37. the second, such as sprang again without sowing; the third, they should sow and reap, and plant vineyards, etc. So for the first and second time, that we hear the doctrine of salvation, we hear without profit, we breed no cogitations within us but such as grow of themselves, natural, worldly, corrupt, and such as accompany flesh and blood, fit to cast us down, than to help us up; but at the third time, when the words of God with often falling shall have pierced our hearts, as rain the marble-stones, we then apply our minds to a more industrious and profitable meditation of such heavenly comforts. Let it not grieve you then, if I speak unto you again the same things; and as Paul disputed at Thessalonica three sabbath days of the passion and resurrection of Christ, Acts. 17. so I three sabbath days amongst you of our hope in Christ. Let it be true of vanities and pleasures, that the less they are used, Voluptates commenda● rarior vsu●▪ the more commendable: but in the most accepted and blessed things that belong to our happiest peace, be it fair otherwise. Our daily bread, though it be daily received, we are as ready to crave still: neither can the perpetual use of it ever offend us. The light of the sun, would displease no body but some lover of darkness, if it never went down in our coasts. The nature of such things for their necessary use, must needs be welcome unto us, though they never should forsake us. And can the doctrine of saith and affiance in the mercies of God, the light of our dim eyes, the staff of our infirmities, our soul's restorative when it lieth sick to death, and as Chrysostome well compared it, a chain let down from heaven which he that taketh hold on, is presently pulled up from the hand of destruction, and set in a large place to enjoy the peace of conscience, can it ever displease us? we were content to hear it once, and I do not doubt, but it will be as welcome being repeated ten times. I make no question, but as when Paul had preached at Antioch in the synagogue of the jews one day, Et placida seme● etc. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Acts 7. the gentiles besought him that he would preach the same words to them again the next sabbath; so though it were the last work that I did amongst you, to cut the throat of desperation, which hath cut the throat of many a wretched man and woman, to set the pillar of hope under all fainting and declining consciences, yet because it is our last refuge in adversity, and standeth unmovable like the Northern pole, when our souls are most distracted with doubts, and fullest of scruples, to give us aim and direction whither to bend our course, if I shall once again repeat unto you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the selfsame words that before, in substance and sense, though not in syllables, I trust I shall find your acceptance as good as when I first began it. The words propounded are the last of the whole narration, and draw into a narrower compass of speech all that hath been said before. For whatsoever you have heard, of the bottom of the sea, floods, and surges, with all those other disturbances already reckoned up, they are now concluded in a little room, My soul fainted. The parts the same which I have observed before: for I need not to acquaint you again, that he hangeth and devideth the whole song, between fear and hope. And as the feet to that image in Daniel, Spemque metumque inter. were part of iron, part of clay, which the prophet expoundeth, partly strong, partly broken; so are the feet, if I may so call them, which jonas through all this travail goeth upon, the one of clay, weak, impotent, always shivering, and sinking downward, I mean his fear and distrust; the other of iron, strong, stable, and firm, keeping him upright, his hope and confidence in the mercies of God. His fear is in the former member of the sentence, When my soul fainted within me: Division. his hope in the next, I remembered the Lord, etc. Wherein to show that it was not in vain for him to remember the Lord, and withal how he remembered him, he telleth us, that his prayer came unto him into his holy temple. Concerning his fear, My soul. 2. Fainted. 3. In me. we have to consider, first, what person or part he notifieth to have been assaulted, his soul. Secondly, the plight or perturbation of his soul, it fainted. Thirdly, the application of the place, within himself. The danger is much augmented, from that which before it was. Then, the waters but came to his soul: here, they had fought against him so long, that his soul plainly fainted. Then, the peril but imminent and hard at hand: My soul. here, it had taken handfast. Then, was he but threatened or beaten by the waters: here he seems to be vanquished. All that went before, might concern the body alone, and the loss of his temporal life whereof he was yet in possession. As when he pronounced against himself, I am cast away out of thy sight, it might be no more in effect than what Ezechiell spoke, Es. 38. I said, I shall not see the LORD, even the LORD in the land of the living: I shall see man no more amongst the inhabitants of the world: mine habitation is departed and removed from me like a shepherds tent, and as a weaver cutteth of his thread, so is my life ended. But here he confesseth in open terms, that his very soul, that inward, immortal, heavenly substance, which when the body fainteth, is sometimes most in health, and liveth when the body dieth, that this part faileth him, and leaveth no hope of better things. Saint Augustine very well defineth the soul to be the whole inward man, wherewith this mass of clay is quickened, governed, and held together, changing her names according to the sundry offices, which she beareth in the body. For when she quickeneth the body, she is called the soul; when she hath appetite or desire to any thing, the will; for knowledge, the mind; for recordation, memory; for judging and discerning, reason; for giving breath, Dum vivificat, animal dum vult, animus; dum scit, men● est▪ dum recolit memoria▪ d● judicat, ratio, dum spirat, spiritu●: dum sentit, sensus. Aug. de Ecclesi● Dogmatic. Cap. 34. spirit; lastly for apprehending or perceiving outwardly, sense: so as the fainting of the soul is the decay of all these faculties. Now if the light that is in us be dark, how great is the darkness? if the life be death, how great is the death? if the soul faint, how great the defections? The infirmities and disablementes of his body, I know, were very great, in the whole service and ministry thereof. For what use had he either of his hands, to help himself withal, more than jeroboam had when his hand was withered? or of his eyes, to behold the light of heaven, more than if the eagles of the valley had picked them out? or of his ears, to hear any sentence of comfort, more than if they had never been planted? The grinders within his head, what did they for him, unless they ground and whetted themselves? His tongue what tasted it, except his own spittle? He might truly say with the prophet Esay, Es. 1. that from the crown of the head to the sole of his foot, there was no part that did the duties of it. But all those former defects, and impotencies are nothing to that he now speaketh of: When my soul fainted within me. For as the soul is of more worth and excellency than the body; so the languishmentes of the soul more grievous, and the death of the soul more remediless, than those of the body: and therefore as the hazard exceedeth, so the health of the soul is more dearly to be tendered. In the greatest distemperatures and disorders of the body, when the bones are smitten asunder, and the loins filled with a sore disease, when the wounds are putrefied and stink, the marrow and moisture quite dried up, yea though it be brought and dissolved into the dust of death, yet the soul may be safe and sound notwithstanding, and in far better case, than when she lived in her house of clay. But if the soul be sick, can the body have any comfort? May we not then infer with him in the comedy, My heart is sick, my rains sick, my spleen sick, Cor dole●, renes dolent. etc. Plaut. Serm. parv. Bonun casteilum custodit qui custodi● corpus suum. No●a▪ non sic, sed sterquilinium vile etc. my liver sick, and all my other parts are out of frame? Out of this comparison between the body and soul, let me make my persuasion unto you. The men of the world were w●nt to say, saith Bernarde, that he that keepeth his body, keepeth a good castle. A castle? how long to continue? this is the error of worldly men, to call their tabernacle▪ which was made to be removed, and pulled down upon every light occasion, a castle. We say not so, but he that keepeth his body, keepeth a base dunghill. He that had seen the body of righteous job, ulcerated, botched, and blained, sitting upon the dunghill, would he not have thought that a dunghill had sitten upon a dunghill? But he that keepeth his soul, Qui a● animam custodit, etc. Quid aliud voces animum quam Deum in corpore humano hospitantem▪ Sen. Nullus extremus idiota, nulla abiecta muliercula, non credit ani●mae immortalitatem. Non sic hody filii hominum, non sic. Bern. in declamat. he keepeth a good castle indeed, borne to eternity, he keepeth a heaven in comparison, the sun and moon, and stars whereof, are understanding, faith, and hope, with other Christian graces, and the Lord of hosts himself hath his dwelling therein. There is no man so simple, no man so vile, but taketh this to be a castle of honour and strength because they believe it to be immortal. Our saviour manifested this difference, both by the end of his coming in the flesh, which was principally for our souls, after for our bodies, first to take away the sins of the world, which are spiritual diseases, then to remove corporal infirmities; and by the behaviour of his own person amongst us, who though he suffered his body to be tried with all kinds of ignominious and accursed vexations, with spittings, whip, buffet, and the bitterest death of the cross, yet was it ever his care to preserve his soul free from stains and corruptions. It is not thus with the sons of men now a days. They neglect the care and culture of their souls, but the lusts of the flesh they make provision for with all possible diligence. They have learned from the school of Hypocrates the physician, and Epicurus the swine, to physic and diet their bodies, but the sickness and death of the soul, which are their sins, they never account of, till they see they must be punished. O ye sons of men, foolish and slow of heart to conceive the rightest things, how long will ye love such vanities, and seek after leasing? These times are allotted to the soul, not to the body. Now is the time of salvation, not of pleasure and pastime. Let the flesh alone a while, more than nature and necessity require, let it not be favoured, either in food or raiment, or any the like transitory and fading benefit. And when it is weary of walking upon the face of the earth, let it go down in peace, and rest in hope, till he that came for your souls before, shall also come to raise and reform it. In the fainting of our souls, there is a gross difference betwixt jonas and us. His soul fainted within him through pain, ours through pleasure, and that pleasure the mother and nurse of a worse pain. Our flesh is too insolent against the spirit, and keepeth it under with a strong hand. Hagar despiseth Sara, the servant setteth her foot in the neck of her mistress. The flesh is clothed like the rainbow, with colours of all sorts, we go into the bowels of the earth, we go into the bowels of the sea, as far and as low as ever jonas went, to seek pearls and the riches of the sea to adorn it. We forget ourselves shamefully in such unnecessary travail. It is the Queen that should be clothed in a vesture of needle work, wrought with divers colours; but the Queen is strippeth of her jewels, the soul rob of her ornaments and rich attire, and the body is the thief that deceiveth it. The flesh is daintily fed with the finest flower of the wheat, and the reddest blood of the grape, we care not what it costeth; the unworthiest member we have, is deified and made our God, Nunquam animo praetijs obstantibus. Whose belly is their God. (a sin beyond the sin of the Pagans, shameful and beastly idolatry) they made them Gods of silver and gold and marble, we of our bellies; what is done with the soul, the mean time? behold she is pined and famished, the bread of life is not bought nor sought for to strengthen her withal, she is kept from the gospel of peace and from the body and blood, Cibus animae inconsumptibilis. Cyprian. Sursum animum vocant initia sua Senec. (that inconsumptible meat) of her holy redeemer. She that was borne from above, to eat the hidden Manna, the food of Angels, and to be nourished with the tree of life, whose beginnings call her home again, is less regarded than a lump of earth. O consider, that he who looseth the life of a body may find it again. The time shall come when they that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the son of GOD. But the loss of a soul is unrecoverable. If it die in sin, it shall also die in perdition. Rather it shall not die, for it is not as the soul of the beast that endeth with the body. O living and everliving death. Let them take heed, that have ears to hear with. Their price hath been once paid, which if the riches of Solomon, treasures of Ezechias, all the silver and gold within the globe of the earth could have satisfied God would willingly have spared his own blood. Acts 2●. Let them not look for more Christ's, or more passions; if they will go into captivity again, let them go, but they shall not return; if they sell themselves to the will of their enemy, let them never hope for a second ransom. When my soul fainted. In the second circumstance of the first branch, wherein is noted the affection of his soul, I will rather mark the efficacy of the word here brought, than make discourse upon it. The very noting of the word is discourse enough. The words that the holy ghost useth, are not vain words, such as are used by men to deceive with, Ephes. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. the examination & search whereof yieldeth no profit; but he that will weigh them aright, must not only view the outward face of the whole sentence at large, but suck out the juice and blood of every several word therein contained. The extremity of the soul of jonas seemeth to be very great, because there is no little trouble and care how to express it. The Septuagints render it an eclipse, or if you will a dereliction and death of the soul; Calvin a convolution or folding up together; Tremelius an overwhelming; Jerome a straightening or compacting into a close room; Pomeran a despairing. Whatsoever it is, Rabbi Kimhi affirmeth that the word is never used but of great misery, happily such, as shall accompany the last times, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Luke 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. when men shall be at their wits ends for fear, and their hearts shall fail them because of troubles. Now whither you say that his soul forsook him as if it were, and there was deliquium animae, a disparition of it for a time as if it were not, like the state of Eutychus in the Acts, who was taken up for dead, though his life remained in him: or whither it were wrapped and wound within itself, that her own house was a prison unto her, and she had no power to go forth, no list to think of heaven, no mind to ask the counsel of GOD or man, as when a bird is snared, the more it laboureth the harder it toeth itself, and though it use the legs or the wings, it useth them to a further hindrance; so all the thoughts that the soul of jonas thought, were not to ease the heart, but more to perplex it, and all fell back again upon himself: or whither the soul were overwhelmed within him with her own weight, as one that should gather stones for his own grave: or that it was pinched and pressed within a narrow place, that all those former impediments, promontories and bars of the earth, did not imprison him so close as his own fear: or whatsoever it were besides, what was it else but either the messenger and forerunner, or a near companion, to that unnatural and ungracious sin, which we have often already smitten at with the sword of God's spirit, accursed desperation? How is the gold become dross? how is the soul of man turned into a carcase? The change is marvelous. That that was given to quicken the body, and to put life into it, is most dull and lifeless itself. Serm. 48. in parvis. Animae rationalis duo loca: inferior quem regis, Corpus, superior inquo requiescit, Deus. That that was given, to give liberty, explication, motion, agility, and art to every part of the body, is now the greatest burden that the body hath. If I shall give the reason hereof, it is that which Bernarde allegeth in a Sermon. The reasonable soul of man, hath two places, an inferior which it governeth, the body; a superior wherein it resteth, GOD: which is the same in substance, that Augustine had before delivered in his nineteenth treatise upon Saint john, it quickeneth, and itself is quickened. Wherhfore if that better life which is from above, Vivificat, vivificatur. Melius ipsa quàm corpus, melius quàm ipsa est Deus. Id. relinquish the soul, with the comforts and aides of GOD'S blessed spirit, how is it possible but that the soul should also relinquish her body, with the offices of her life. This is the reason then that the soul faineteth▪ she first dieth upwards, than downwards and inwardly to herself. She forgetteth her maker and preserver, and he likewise striketh her with amazement and confusion in all her powers, that she lieth as it were in a trance, and knoweth not how to apply them to their several and proper functions. Now therefore, if the floods and waves of the sea, wherewith he was embraced on every side, had been as kind unto him as ever were his mother's arms, and those ragged ends of the mountains, like pillows of down under his bones, if the promontories and bars of the earth had unbarred themselves unto him of their own accord, like those doors of the prison in the Acts, to let him out, yet if the soul within him did remain thus fettered and gived with the chains of her own confusion, and all the devises and counsels of her heart were rather hindrances than helps unto her, and her greatest enmity, or at least her least friendship came from her own house, that either she thought nothing, or all that she thought was but the imagination of a vain thing, I would not wish her greater harm. He wanteth no other misery, that is plagued with a fainting soul. Ask not the malice of the sea, the malice of the land, the malice of hell against him, whom the untowardenesse and distrust of his own soul hath beaten down. The third circumstance maketh mention of the subject or place wherein his soul fainted, that you may know, 3. Within me. there is no power in man to undo such implicit cords, and to lose the bands of sorrow and death, unless some virtue from without set too an helping hand. The sense is very plain, that in himself his soul fainted, that is, there was no domestical, earthly, natural help that could release him; but when his father, mother, friends, land, sea, his soul, all had forsaken him, the Lord took him up, and gave him better hope? For who should restore to liberty a soul confounded as this was, and redeliver it to her former abilities, teach her to understand aright, prudently to deliberate, assuredly to hope? who reconcile a man fallen out with himself, and make peace within his borders, or rather revive and recover a man fallen from himself, but he who is said to order a good man's going, and to be a GOD of order, not of confusion. When the earth was without form, and void, and darkness upon the deep, and neither heaven nor earth, land nor water, day nor night distinguished, who fashioned the parts of that unshapen Chaos, separated light from darkness, and brought the creature into a comely proportion, but even the same LORD who finding this wasteness and informity in the soul of jonas, made it perfect again? It is evident in the next words. For mark the connexion. I remembered the Lord. Sabellicus reporteth so of Joannes Scotus. Thesaurus, Custos. When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord. How is it possible? for did his soul faint, and was it in manner no soul unto him, (as it fareth with some who seem for a space to be dead and their spirits to have forsaken them) was all the strength thereof consumed, stifled, choked, given over within him, and had he a memory left, the cofferer and treasurer of the soul, to remember the Lord with? how came this gift of memory to a soul so taken and possessed, that as Orbilius a Grammarian in Rome forgot not only the letters of the book but his own name, so this is even dead and buried under itself, and hath forgotten to think a thought, and laid aside all her accustomed heavenly meditations? jonas, without question, had never remembered the Lord, unless the Lord had first remembered him. Bernarde upon the words of the Canticles (I sought him in the night season.) Every soul amongst you, saith he, that seeks the Lord, that it turn not a great blessing into a great mischief, let her know that she is prevented by the Lord, and that she is first sought, Noverit se praeventam & ante quaefitam quàm quarentem. Ser. 84 in Cantic. Vtinuar donis tanquam non datis. Dilexit non diligentes ipsum Et non existente●, addoctiam resistentes. Psal. 119. before she can seek. For then are our greatest felicities changed into our greatest woes, when being made glorious by the graces of God, we use his gifts as if they were not given, and ascribe not the glory of them to his holy name. Who hath first loved him? Give me a man that ever loved GOD, and was not first beloved, and enabled thereunto, it shallbe highly recompensed unto him. But it is most certain, that he loved us when we were his enemies, and when we had not existence or being. I say more, when we made resistance to his kindness. We can promise no more, in this heavenlesse race and exercise of Christianity, than the Prophet doth in the Psalm, I will run the ways of thy commandments, when thou hast set my heart at liberty. Wilt thou run with thy feet, before thy heart be prepared? or canst thou run with thy heart, before God hath enlarged it? or canst thou run the way without the way, which is jesus Christ? a way that thou canst not see, till thine eyes be opened and enlightened? or wilt thou run the way of God's commandments, when thou canst not discern the commandments of God from the motions and fancies of thine own mind? not so. But when the Lord shall have set thine heart at liberty, then run, when the LORD hath quickened and rubbed up thy memory, then remember him. Otherwise without that help, we lie lame and impotent, as the cripple at the pool of Bethesda, all the days and years of our life are spent, like his, without ease of our infirmities, and the virtue of the waters of life, as of those in the pool, are by others caught from us. Jerome translateth the words with some little difference from others. I remembered the Lord, Recordatu● sum, ut pervenias. That my prayer might come into his holy temple. So his prayer came unto the Lord, by means of his prayer: for that remembering of the Lord was his prayer. But whence came that former prayer, that made way for the later? Fulgentius in an epistle to Theodorus a senator, Epist. 6. laying a sure foundation and axiom to the rest of his speech, would have all that we do, or enjoy, ascribed to the grace of God. Next, that the help and assistance of that grace must be craved of God. Thirdly, that the craving of his grace, is also itself the work of grace. Vt desideremus adiutorium gratiae hoc ipsum quoque opus est gratiae. Ipsa incipi● infundi, ut incipiat posci. etc. For first it beginneth to be powered into us, that it may afterwards begin to be begged by us. As unless the light of the air first go into our eyes, our eyes though made to see, yet see nothing. Fourthly, we cannot ask (he saith) unless we have a will to ask, and what will is there, if God work it not? Lastly, he counseleth all men diligently to converse in the scriptures, wherein they shall find the grace of God, both preventing them in such sort, that when they are down they may rise up, and accompanying them, to hold them in their right course, and following them till they come to these heavenly beatitudes. And as he accounteth it a detestable pride of the heart of man, to do that which God in man condemneth (he meaneth sinning;) so much more detestable that, when a man doth attribute to himself the gifts of God. Thus much by the just occasion of my text, because he said, when his soul fainted within him, yet he remembered the LORD, which I say again he could never have done, his reason, knowledge, will, memory, all being past, except the Lord had first remembered him. After his fear again his hope. 2. His hope. I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came unto thee into thine holy temple. The particulars are quickly had: after that fainting and fit of his soul, 1. what he did: he remembered. 2. whom he remembered: the Lord. All the rest serveth for explication. As namely 3. how he remembered him, by prayer. For it seemeth that not only his memory, but all the faculties and affections of his soul were set on work by him. 4. How his prayer sped. It was not stopped by the way, but came unto the Lord, and did the part of a trusty ambassador. 5. It is not amiss to know, that every soul is the Lords, the soul of the father, and the soul of the child are his, Nec ad multos multus, nec ad pauci●atem carus. Sic uni intentus, ut non detentus: sic pluribus, ut non distētu●. Bern. ser. 69. in Cant. and that the promises are made not only to Abraham but to his seed after him, and to all of that seed in particular, for he is neither multiplied with multitudes, nor scanted with paucities; so caring for one, that he omitteth not the care of many; so for many, that he ceaseth not to care for one: and therefore the prayer here sent was peculiarly his own, as of a person accepted & chosen unto the Lord, my prayer. 6. The faithful conjunction of his soul with God, which the Apostrophe, and sudden change of the speech causeth me to note. For now he speaketh not to us, or to his own spirit as before, I remembered the Lord, but unto the Lord himself, laying his mouth to those pure & undefiled ears, my prayer came unto thee. 7. The place wherein it was presented unto him, into thine holy temple, which either he meaneth of heaven, the palace and basilicke of the great king, or of the temple of jerusalem, which all the children of God in those days had respect unto. Dan. 6. So Daniel though he prayed in Babylon, yet opened he the windows of his chamber towards jerusalem. And Solomon made request at the dedication of the temple, that if ever his people, in the time of famine, battle, captivity, or any the like tribulation, 2. Sam. 6. should pray towards that city, and towards that house of prayer, the Lord that sat in heaven would vouchsafe to hear them. Though not sure of the place yet this I am sure of, that whither soever of the two be spoken of, the holy Lord hath dedicated it to holiness, and called it by the name of an holy temple, setting thereby a bar about it, as he did about the mount, to keep out beasts and brutish men. For as his temple upon the earth none should, so that other, more sacred and secret that is in heaven, none shall ever enter into, that is unholy and unclean. To draw these scattered branches home to their root again, the general substance of them all together is this; that jonas received hope by remembering the Lord for his part, and that the Lord on the other side accepted his prayer and gave success to it. As jeremy spoke in the Lamentations; so might jonas say, It is the mercy of the LORD that I am not consumed. Lam. 2. The reason is, For his compassions fail not. The danger seemed uncurable, because it lighted upon the soul, not to the crazing and distempering alone, but the utter overwhelming of it: and no hope left in himself to heal the hurt. I remembered What doth he then? he betaketh himself to the glass of memory, to see what succour he can find there: and as it is placed in the hinder part of the head, so he reserveth it for the hinder part of his miseries, & maketh it his latest refuge to ease his heart. I have red of memories in some men almost incredible. Seneca writeth of himself, that he had a very flourishing memory, Pro●●m. Cursor. Codices superva●u●s fecerat. not only for use, but to deserve admiratiom. He was able to recite by heart 2000 names, in the same order wherein they were first digested, Portius Latro in the same author, wrote that in his mind which other in note-bookes. A man most cunning in histories. If you had named a captain unto him, he would have run through his acts presently. Cyneas being sent from Pyrrhus in an embassage to Rome, the next day after he came thither, saluted all the Senators by their names, and the people round about them. A singular gift from God, in those that have attained thereto, howsoever it be used. But yet as the object, which memory apprehendeth is more principal, so the gift more commendable: As Tully comparing Lucullus and Hortensius together, both being of a wonderful memory, yet preferreth Lucullus before Hortensius, because he remembered matter, this but words. Now the excellentest object of all others, either for the memory to account, or for any other part of the soul to conceive, is the Lord. For he that remembreth the Lord as the Lord hath remembered him, that nameth his blessings by their names as God the stars, and calleth them to mind in that number & order that God hath bestowed them upon him, if not to remember them in particular, which are more than the hairs of his head, yet to take their view in gross, and to fold them up in a general sum, as David did, what shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits? though he forget his own people and his father's house, though the wife of his bosom, and the fruit of his own loins, yea though he forget to eat his bread, it skilleth not, he remembreth all in all, and his memory hath done him service enough in reaching that object. And for your better encouragement to make this use of memory, understand that it is a principal means to avoid desperation, only to call to mind the goodness of the Lord forepast either to ourselves or others. Think with yourselves, that as it was he that took you from your mother's wombs, and hath been your hope ever since you hung at the breasts, and hath opened his hands from time to time to fill you with his goodness, so he is as able to bless you still. Compare and lay together the times as David did, that because he had slain a lion and a bear at the fold, therefore GOD would also enable him to prevail against Goliath: So if the mercies of the Lord have been so bountiful towards you in former times, to create you of the slime of the ground, and to put y a living and reasonable soul into you, to nurse you up in a civil and well-mannered country, to redeem you with the blood of his begotten son, to visit you with the light of his gospel, to justify you with the power of his free gratuitall grace, to fill your garners with store and your baskets with increase▪ and to give you sons and daughters to the defying of your enemies in the gates; say to yourselves, his arm is not shortened, h●● is the same to day that yesterday, he will never forsake us wit● his loving kindness. This is the course that David taketh in t●e Psalms, a captain never more skilful to lead in the wars, though the Lord had taught his fingers to fight, than to conduct the desolate in the battles of conscience. Psalm. 25. Call to remembrance thy tender mercies, O Lord, which have been ever of old. This was the song that he sang to himself in the night season, in the closet and choir of his own breast, when he communed with his private heart, and searched out his spirits diligently. Psalm 77. Hath the LORD forgotten to be gracious? he hath then left his old wont. No, David forgot that the Lord was gracious, and afterwards confessed his fault of forgetfulness, stirred up his decayed memory, and said, But I will remember the years of the right hand of the most high. Not the moments, nor hours, nor days, of a few moment any afflictions, which he hath dealt forth unto me with his left hand, but the years of his right hand, his wonders and acts that have been ever of old. So likewise in an other Psalm. Psalm. 22. Our fathers have trusted in thee, O Lord, Our fathers have trusted in thee, and were not confounded. What is that to us? yes, we are the children of those fathers, sons of the same hope, and heirs of the same promises. When the disciples of Christ mistook the meaning of their master touching the leaven of the Pharisees, supposing he had said so, Math. 16. because they had brought no bread, he reproved them for lack of memory: O ye of little faith, why think you thus in yourselves? do ye not remember the five loaves, when there were five thousand men, and how many baskets full ye took up? neither the seven loaves when there were four thousand men, and how many baskets ye took up? thus we should remember indeed how few loaves, and how many thousands of men have been fed with them, and what reversions and remnants of mercy the Lord hath in store for other times. Serm. 22. in Cantic. O good jesus (saith Barnarde upon the Canticles) We run after the smell of thine ointments, the perfume and sweet savour of thy fat mercies. We have heard that thou never despisest the poor afflicted. Thou didst not abhor the thief upon the cross confessing unto thee, nor Matthew sitting at receipt of custom, nor the woman that washed thy feet with her tears, nor the woman of Canaan that begged for her daughter, nor the woman taken in adultery, nor the Publican standing a far of, nor the disciple that denied thee, nor the disciple that persecuted thee and thine, nor the wicked that crucified thee, therefore we run after the smell of thine ointments, and hope to be refreshed with the like sent of grace. Many have written precepts of memory, and made a memorative art, appointing places and their furniture, for the help of such as are unexperienced. I will also give you some helps. When your soul beginneth to faint, as this prophets did, remember what the Lord is by name. jehovah a God not in show, Psalm. 9 Ephes. 2. but in substance and performance. For they that know thy name will trust in thee. Remember what by nature, rich in mercy, as others are rich in treasure. His justice, wisdom, and power, and whatsoever he hath or rather is besides, are also infinite riches, God hath scarcity of nothing. But as his mercy is above all his works, so the riches of his grace, a-above all his other riches. Remember what he is by promise. 2. Tim. 1. The Lord is faithful. I know whom I have believed, and I am sure he is able to keep that which I have committed unto you. His truth shallbe thy shield and thy buckler, O Lord, be mindful of thy word, Psalm. 91. Psalm. 119. wherein thou hast caused thy servant to put his trust. If God be God, follow him, believe him, build upon his word, his fidelity is a thousand times alleged, that it may be past doubt. Remember what he is by covenaunte, made unto Abraham and his whole seed, not in the blood of bulls and goats, but in the blood of the seed of Abraham. O my people, Mich. 6. saith God by his prophet Micheas, remember what Balak King of Moab had devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, that ye may know the righteousness of the Lord. He crieth unto us all at this day, O my people, remember what the prince of darkness had devised against you, and how jesus Christ the son of the living God hath answered him, and stopped his mouth with a voice of blood, and nailed his accusations to a crosle, that ye may know the righteousness of the Lord, how assured it is to those that believe it, This, this is the sure foundation, which he that buildeth upon, Esay 28. shall never fall. This is the stone that was laid in Zion: as for the bow of steel, the wedge of gold, the strength of an horse, the promise of a man lighter upon the balance than vanity itself, the righteousness of the law, merits of Saints, they are the stones of Babylon. This hath been tried to the proof, precious above all the merchandise of tire: and standeth in the head of the corner. He that believeth in this stone, let him not haste, saith the Prophet. Let him not yield too soon to the frailty of his flesh, nor be over-credulous to the suggestions of Satan, nor suffer his hope to be quelled at the first or second assault; let him stay the leisure of the Lord, for he will certainly visit him. I have showed you some helps and directions for memory. I know no better hiding place from the wind, no surer refuge from the tempest, as Esay speaketh, no safer harbours and receptacles wherein to repose your wearied souls, than those I have spoken of. What better secret or shadow hath the most High? what closer wings, ' warmer feathers to keep you from the snare of the hunter (I mean not Nimrod or Esau, mighty, hairy, and wild, making but temporal prays either of men or beasts) but the hunter of your souls, than when you are distressed, and compassed with troubles round about, and sins, which are the sorest troubles of all other, have taken such hold upon you that you dare not look up, when the soul fainteth, as this prophets did, wisdom hath hid itself, and understanding is gone aside into a secret chamber, that you know not what to advise, nor where to fetch a thought that may minister comfort; then to remember the Lord of hosts, his name, how strong a tower of defence it is; his nature, how sweet and amiable; his promises, how faithful; his covenant, how precious in his eyes; that the Lord may remember you again in his holy kingdom? THE XXIX. LECTURE. Chap. 2. ver. 8, & 9 They that wait upon lying vanities, for sake their own mercy. But I will sacrifice unto thee, etc., THe narration is ended. We are now to annex the conclusion of the song, wherein the prophet betaketh himself to a thankful acknowledgement, and as his tenuity will give him leave, a remuneration & requital of the goodness of the Lord, which his heart had presumed before. The parts are three. 1. A confutation and reproof of all kinds of idolators, who as they call upon false Gods, so they are likely to be sped but with false deliveraunces; They that wait upon lying vanities, forsake their own mercy. 2. An affirmative or positive determination, and as it were bond that he taketh of himself, to render kindness to his merciful and faithful Lord; But I will sacrifice etc. and will pay that that I have vowed. 3. A sentence of acclamation, the aphorism and juice of the whole song, the conclusion of the conclusion, the comprehension of sacrifices, vows, prayers, thanksgivings, all things, Salvation is the Lords, or the Lord. They that wait upon lying vanities, forsake their own mercy. 1. Confutation. What communion is there between darkness and light, falsehood and truth, the table of devils and the table of the Lord, idolatry and the right ●ervice of the righteous God? This is the cause, that jonas beginneth with confutation. Before he will plant the vineyard, he will remove stones, and briars, and all other obstacles that may hurt the growth of the vines. Before he buildeth his house, he will first pull down a ruinous and rotten foundation. So is the duty of a prophet in the first of jeremy: This day have I set thee over nations and kingdoms, first, to pluck up, to root out, destroy, throw down; secondly, to plant, and build, and set up again. And so is the duty of an Evangelist also, who hath received the administration of the gospel of Christ: first to prepare the way, as it were, and to make strait paths before the face of Christ; that is, first to reprove and then to teach concerning doctrine, 2. Tim. 2. first to correct and afterwards to inform touching conversation. john Baptist, you know, a middle man between the law and the gospel, a prophet and more than a prophet, because he both foresaw, and visibly saw the Lord of life, both prophesied and pointed with his finger, turning his face, like their janus in Rome, both ways; he first made ready the houses and hearts of the people before the king of Zion came, cast down hills, lifted up valleys, etc. that the gospel of the kingdom might have the freer admission. He began his preachings with reprehension of their vicious lives, O ye generation of vipers; and convulsion of their false grounds, Say not within yourselves, we have Abraham to our father, etc. No man setteth a new piece to an old garment: he maketh the rent but worse. No man putteth new wine into old bottles: for he than marreth both. It is to little purpose to offer truth, and the tidings of peace, the news of the new testament, to the old man, whose ancient corruptions hang upon him, and his wedded conscience is thoroughly seized and possessed with inveterate errors. There is but one truth, oppugned by falsehoods without number, like the arms of the sea. But the nature and courage of that one truth is, wheresoever she findeth falsehood, not to dissemble her quarrel and emulation to her enemy, but to play the part of truth, that is, simply, ingenuously, apparently, to defy her adversary, and to withstand her to the teeth. Fulgentius in his first book to Thrasymunde king of vandals, giveth the reason of this orderly proceeding. It is almost all one, to deny the faith, Pene id esse fidem nolle asserere, quod negare. uno eodemque silentio firmat errorem, qui terrore setu ●epore possessus silendo non astruit veritatem. and not to maintain it. He bringeth the reason of that also. Because, by one and the same silence he strengtheneth error, who through fear or negligence holding his peace, affirmeth not the truth. As a sleepy Centenar betrayeth the tents of the king, not that he hath a will perhaps to betray them, but because he keepeth not the watch as he ought, nor describeth the enemy, which cometh to assault them. One heaven holdeth not Michael and the Dragon in peace, nor one house the Ark and Dagon, nor one womb jacob and Esau, nor one temple prayer and merchandizing, nor one camp the clean & the leprous, nor one bath john and Cerinthus, nor one heart God and Mammon, nor one tongue God and Milchom, nor one conscience truth and falsehood; religion and superstition. This, I suppose, was the reason, why jonas beginneth his speech with a triumph against idolators, & being to magnify the strong arm of the Lord, doth it with disdain and contempt of all those that seek unprofitable means. Thus much generally touching his order of proceeding. The confutation divided. The refutation devideth itself into two parts, an antecedent and consequent, a position and privation, what they do, whom he taxeth by his speech, and what they lose by so doing. If they observe lying vanities, which is the former, they are sure to forsake their own mercy, which is the latter. In both these joined together the parts are so disposed, that there is a matching of three with three. On the one side, 1. They are said to love, to be intentive and fond upon: 2. that which they love is vanity, emptiness, nothing: 3. that vanity is lying, fraudulent, deceitful unto them. On the other, whereas they loved before, now first, they leave, abandon, give over: secondly, that which they leave, instead of vanity, is mercy; which might do them good: 3. that mercy is their own, as proper and peculiar unto them, if they would use it, as ever any thing in their rightful possession. Do ye not see the change that worldlings make? corn for acorns? a state of innocency, immortality, incorruption, for an apple? the prerogative of birthright with the blessing that belongeth unto it, for a mess of pottage, belly cheer, as Esau did? a kingdom upon earth, and the kingdom of heaven also, for oxen, and asses, and sheep, as Saul did? Christ, his gospel, his miracles, his salvation, for an heard of swine with the Gadarens? God for idols, mercy for vanity, the comfortablest nature that ever was created, for that which profiteth not? It is thought by some, that the speech here used, is by a concession or insultation against idolaters, and as it were a farewell and defiance unto them, Let them forsake their own mercy; Derelin. quant. Pereat, perdat, profundat. Psal. 6●. if they like the change so well, and will not receive warning▪ as he in the comedy; let him sink, & waste, and consume all that he hath, I will never speak word unto him more, Against sinners past grace, you shall often find renouncements unto them. Lay iniquity to their iniquity, and never let them come into thy righteousness. When they have ●o●de themselves to sin, and hate to be reform, this is the mercy that befit●eth them. reprove not suborner saith Solomon, lest he h●●e thee. Prov. 9 If there be any amongst us with whom the mercy of God is so vile, and contemptible, that it is 〈◊〉 of force to oversway lying vanity, but vanity is the stronger 〈◊〉, and keepeth the house against mercy, let them go on in van●●y still, and as Christ gave over the Scribes, let them fulfil the ●●asure of their wretched choice. But let them know withal, Math· 23. that as the prodigal son forsook his father's house for a strange country, his father's favour and inheritance for a bag of money, father, and kindred, and friends, for unhonest and uncourteous harlots, and the bread in his father's house, for the husks of beans which the swine abroad fed upon, & his soul desired; so they forsake God for this present world, heaven for earth, the pleasure of sin for a season, for everlasting pleasures at Gods right hand, and finally their own mercy, as faithful and true unto them as ever was their soul to their body, for whorish and foreign vanities, which live and die in an instant of time, and leave no substance behind them. O how happy were our lives, think we, if these two might stand together, vanity for a while, till we had satisfied ourselves therewith, & afterwards mercy with a wish? Let me first go kiss my father, and take my leave of friendly delights, let me not suffer the flower of mine age to pass without garlands of rose-buddes and sweet ointments, than I will come and follow thee. It must not be. The Lion and the bullock, leopard and kid may feed and lie together, but vanity waited upon, as my text speaketh (serviceably pursued, officiously & diligently embraced, and drawn with cords, as an other prophet hath) and the mercy of God, have no agreement. In the former and positive member of the refutation, we are directed to three particulars. First, their habit and affection of whom he speaketh, who are not content to think of, or sometimes to commit a vanity, but they love, observe, attend upon it. They keep it, and make much thereof, saith Jerome, as if they had found a treasure. Quasi invenerint thesaurum, Mordicùs retinent. Lyra noteth perseveraunce, Mercer pertinacy, as of a thing, that in no case they can be persuaded to forego. Secondly, the nature of that which their affections are set upon: vanity, that which is not; as Narcissus loved the shadow that the water cast up. Nay, vanities. The singular is not enough to express their folly. They run through all the classies and ranks of unity, the kennel and sink of as much as their hearts can devise. Thirdly, the quality of these vanities, that which must needs accompany them, unless they could cease to be vanities, that they are lying, and unprofitable, having no solidity in them. The first noteth their superstition, in that they are so diligent and observant. The second their folly & indiscretion, in making so bad a choice. The third their confusion, 1. The habit. that they trust and are tied to that wherein no substance, no succour is. Nulla res efficaciùs multitudinem movet quám superstitio Cu●t. Superstitio ne qui est imbutus, quietus esse nunquam potest. They that love lying vanities. I know not so well the reason, but I find that conclusion every where proved, which our Saviour layeth down in the gospel, The children of this world are wiser in their generation, than the children of light. First there is nothing that winneth the common people (mark it when you will) more than superstition. Add the judgement of the Roman Orator in the second place. A man that is won to superstition can never be quiet in mind. Which, whither it be our pride that we are all in love, as Pygmaleon with his picture, so we with the works of our hands, & devises of our heads, and therefore the true service of God we are not so soon alured with, because it cometh by precept, as with the inventions of our own brain, because we are the authors of them ourselves, (Philo implieth so much, writing of religions, that every man; a part seemeth best unto him, because they judge not by reason, Suae cuique optima. but by affection;) or whither it be the care and vigilancy of the devil, whom he hath gotten prisoners, those to load with the more irons, and to keep them in safe custody, and if it be possible, to make them love their captivity; or whatsoever the cause else be, this I know (to begin at the head) that Satan will spare no pains in compassing the whole earth to gain a soul, a Scribe or Pharisee will travail sea and land to win a proselyte, an idolatrous ●ewe will freely bestow his jewels and earrings to make a golden calf, an Ammonite will not spare his son or daughter from the fire to sacrifice to Moloch a Priest of Baal will cut and lance his own flesh to demerit his idol, a false prophet will wear a garment of hair next his skin to deceive with, a friar will whip himself till the blood run down his shoulders, the fathers and children of Babylon, will rise early and late, to keep Canonical hours, observe fasts, walk pilgrimages, run over their beads, and rather lose a limb of their bodies than a ceremony of their church, and in every act of their councils, and third line of their writings, Anathema to men and angels that hold otherwise. Let it be their commendation, jer. 9 that they take such pains to do wickedly. A thief is more watchful to break through the house, than the goodman to guard it. The traitors that Cesar feared in Rome were not those that were fat & well in proof, but macilenti & pallidi Cassius & Brutus, that were lean and pale, spending the sap of their flesh, with travailing, watching, plotting devises. What is it they love and labour upon so much? Vanities. Is it not of the Lord of hosts, that men shall labour in the fi●e (to burn and consume themselves) and the people shall even weary themselves for very vanity? 2. The matter of their love. Abbac. 2. They that plough wickedness (a toilsome occupation) do they not reap iniquity and eat the fruit of lies, because they trust in their own ways? Osee 10. Es. 55. A man may ask them with the prophet, wherefore bestow you your labour and are not satisfied? Or with the Apostle, when he seethe their labour lost, Rom. 6. what profit had ye in those things whereof you are now ashamed? The vanities, he nameth, are not only the idols of the heathen, which have neither sight in their eyes▪ nor hearing in their ears, nor breath in their nostreiles, nor help in their hands, to wipe away the dust from their own faces; but whatsoever the world hath, visible or invisible, outward or inward besides, displacing God of his right, and bearing our heart and hope after it, it is our idol in some sort, and one of those lying vanities that is here mentioned. jonas committed idolatry, in leaving the mandate of God, and bending his journey after the lusts of his own heart. That unprobable cogitation which he fancied to himself of escaping the presence of God, by taking a contrary way, was the idol he served and waited upon, and the lying vanity wherewith he was beguiled. The God of heaven called unto him, Arise, go to Niniveh; the God of his own making, the devise of his brain, commanded otherwise, Arise, fly to Tharsus. The covetous man is called an idolator in plain terms, Ephes. 5. job expresseth the right form of their canonisation, whereby they make gold a God: They say to there wedge, thou are my confidence. As treason and rebellion putteth up a new king (Absalon for David;) so covetousness a new God, Mammon for jehovah. Ex superfluo. Chrysost. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. You cannot serve God and Mammon. Dispute not superfluously and idly that you can do it, for God hath pronounced the contrary. God crieth, lend, give, scatter, cast upon the waters, feed, cloth, visit, harbour, and is not obeyed: Mammon crieth on the other side, take, gather, extort, strip, starve, spoil, and is hearkened unto. Whether of these two is now the God? another idolatry as mentioned by Abbacuk in the first of his Prophecy, of those that sacrifice to their nets, and burn incense to their flewes: who because their portion is increased, and their meat plenteous by these instruments and helps which they use in their trades of fishing or the like, they forget the right author of their thrift, and arrogate all to themselves and their serviceable means. Some make an idol of their own brain, as the king of tire did: who thought that by his wisdom and understanding he had gotten riches into his treasury; Ezech. 28. and his heart was so highly exalted with that conceit, that he could not forbear that most blasphemous and Luciferian presumption, I am a GOD. Such are the statesmen (as they love to be held) the Politicians and Machiavellistes of our sinful age, plotters of kingdoms and commonweals, who think themselves wiser than Daniel, as the king of tire did, and that Moses and the prophets are not so able to instruct them, as they themselves. Some make an idol of the strength of their arms, as Zenacharib did, By the multitude of my chariots have I done thus and thus: but touching the true Lord of hosts, Es. 37. as if he were less than nothing, and had lost the strength of his mighty arm, he vaunteth to the king of judah, let not thy GOD deceive thee. The end of all is this. Idolum nihil est. An idol is so far from being more than vanity, that it is mere nothing I know, in an idol of silver or gold, or brass, there is both matter and fashion. Gold is gold, and the thoughts of our hearts, thoughts, our wisdom, beauty, and strength are qualities that have their being. And if we make either belly or back our God, they are both creatures that God hath made; but they are nothing of that wh●ch we suppose them to be. We make them our honour, our hope, our confidence, such they are not. For yet a little while, and the moth, the worm, rottenness, rust, and consumption shall inherit them all. The righteous shall behold it and fear, and laugh them to scorn that have been so mad after vanitieis ecce homo, behold the man which hath not made God his helper, Psal. 52. but trusted in riches, or other like transitory things. Wherefore I exhort you all, Acts 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. as Paul his auditors at Lystra, that ye turn from these vain hopes, from these foolsh and paltry idols, (whether you are fallen in liking with yourselves or other creatures) to serve the living God, which made the heavens the earth, the sea, and all that therein is. The prophet might have called them by other names, to note that iniquity, filthiness, abomination, that is found in them; but (setting the Lord and his kingdom aside) he taxeth the whole world and whatsoever is therein contained, with the general censure of Solomon; vanity of vanities, all is vanity. He that filled the earth with his wisdom as with a flood, filled it also with vanity as with a flood, he smiteth on both cheeks, vanity and vanity again, and to show that he did not repent him of his speech, pronounceth a third time, All is vanity: that you may know, whatsoever you cleave unto, besides the true subsisting Lord, it hath not that substance and certainty which you first imagined. Therefore is the attibute set unto it in the next place, lying vanity: because there is nothing but deceit in them. 3. lying vanites, the quality. In the 4 of Gen. when Eve had brought forth her first begotten son, she called him Cain▪ a man purchased or obtained of the Lord. Some say more: I have obtained the man that is the Lord. Thinking undoubtedly, that she had been the mother of that blessed seed, Virum acquisivi Jehovam. which should bruise the head of the serpent. But finding herself deceived, & overweening in a corrupt, cruel man, she named her second son Abel, that is vanity, to note that her former hope was altogether frustrated. The Epithit is very fitly adjoined to vanity, and in effect signifieth the same that vanity doth: for what is vanity but lying and deceavinge? Au●us Gellius writeth of a vain Grammatian, that made himself most skilful in Salustes words. Apollinaris, Lib 18. ●oct. A●tic. cap. 4. 〈◊〉 esset an va●ior. Priscorun ego verborum etc. to try his skill, met him on a day and asked him, what Sallust meant (if he were so cunning in the blood and marrow of his history, as he professed) by saying of C. Lentulus, that it was a question, whether he were more foolish or vain. The interpreter answered him; the knowledge I take upon me, is in ancient words, not these that are common and worn by daily use. For he is more foolish and vain than was that Lentulus, who knoweth not that both these words note but the same weakness. Apollinaris not satisfied with this answer, & to satisfy others that desired to be better instructed by him, at length resolved; that they were properly termed vain men, not as the common people held, who were dullards, witless, and fools, but in the opinion of the most ancient learned, Mendaces & infi●i etc. such as were given to lying and faithlessness, who gave lightness for weight, and emptiness for that that hath true substance. Now as in an idol in propriety, there are sundry reasons that make it to be a lying vanity; for first, the author and suggestour was the father of lies; secondly, the former of it lied to himself, in thinking that it was the pleasure of God that idols should be fashioned; thirdly, he that trusteth therein, lieth, for he saith to wood or stone, thou art my helper; 4. the whole substance of the idol lieth, Substantia to ta mentitu●. in promising help, where none is, and seeming to be that which is not: so on the other side, those other idols, which I named, are lying vanities, and shall as little profit us, when we crave their truth, as grass the mower, that groweth upon the house tops. If we trust unto them, let us look for no better aid and comfort therein, than those others in the prophet, who confessed too late, we have made falsehood our refuge, and under vanity are we hid. I conclude the first member. Trust not in oppression or robbery If riches increase, Esa. 28. set not your heart upon them; man disquieteth himself in vain, saith the Psalm, heapeth up riches not knowing who shall gather them. An horse is but a vain thing to save a man, neither is it his bow that can deliver him. A man is but a vain thing to save a man, if you weigh him upon the balance, you shall find him lighter than vanity. Wisdom is as vain, and shall become as foolish, as of the beasts that perish. Strength is as vain, and shall become as weak as water spilled. Beauty is as vain, and shallbe changed into loathsomeness more than the sores of Lazarus. All these are vanities, and vain vanities, lying vanities, as empty as the wind, as ●leetinge as the mist in the air; God only is true, and his promise just, his faithfulness is above the clouds, and his righteousness exceedeth as the greatest mountains. The consequent or private part of the refutation, The privantive part. Derelinqunt, non derelinquuntur, Deus prior in amore posterior inodio 1. They leave. Luke 16. is in the words following, They forsake their own mercy. Mercy forsaketh not them, but they mercy. God is ever foremost in love, never hateth till he is first hated. It is not only to hazard, and put in adventure, nor to extenuate and diminish the mercy of God, but wholly to renounce it, and to send a farewell to God, to embrace vanities. It is a brickwall of partition, betwixt us and grace: I had almost said, it is as the great gulf, that was betwixt Abraham and the rich man. Surely it shall stand as the faithful witness in heaven, that neither idolator, nor adulterer, nor covetous persons, (both which with many other offenders, are idolators in an other kind) shall ever inherit the kingdom of God. You see how the consequence holdeth. Love they the one? they certainly leave the other. There is no haultinge betwixt two opinions. If God be God, they must follow him alone, there is no mingling of Baal with him. Our God is a jealous God, and suffereth no copartner or competitor in any part of that honour that belongeth unto him. But in leaving mercy, 2. Mercy▪ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Luke 3. Psal. 103. so sweet and amiable a nature in him that is love itself, unwise and unhappy wretches, what do they leave? more, than all the worldly solaces shall be able to supply unto them▪ They leave even the bowels of mercy, as Zacharye sang in the gospel of Luke. For as a father pittyeth his children, (and more by a thousand degrees) so hath the LORD compassion toward all them that fear him. And a mother may forget the fruit of her womb, but the LORD shall never forget his children of election. These bowels and inwards of mercy they leave, (mercy, so deep and affectionate, that the seat of affections in man sufficeth not to express it) that relinquish GOD'S mercy. It had been more ease and happiness unto them, if their own bowels had fallen from their bodies, as the bowels of judas. They leave not handfuls of barley and pieces of bread, temporal and trifling commodities, parcels of that bounty and goodness which God hath bestowed upon them, but the universal mercy of God, as great in quantity as the spaces of the whole world (for look how high the heaven is above the earth, so great is his mercy towards them that fear him;) nay, the world may be measured and spanned, but of his goodness there is no end. They leave that mercy that is better than their life. Psal. 63. For what is life without mercy? Mercy gave it unto them at the first, mercy preserveth it, mercy shall exchange it hereafter, & mercy restore it at the last day: without this life of mercy to their mortal lives, they live, or rather die, in everlasting misery. Peter told his master in the gospel, to show how willing they were to make Christ their only advantage; Behold, we have left all. He might as truly have said, behold, we have found all. They left their fathers, mothers, kinsfolks, houses, nets, vanities. They found the mercy of God, which made a full amends. These other were the things that were made to be left, Linquenda tellus, & domus, & placens, Vxor. We must leave lands, Horat. and houses, wives, and children, with their temporal commodities. But the change of the apostles of Christ was no unprofitable change to have left all, for him that is above all. But woe unto them, Non inutilis commutatio est▪ pro eo qui est super omnia▪ omnia reliquisse. Bern. who after their term of vanity expired, and vanities left, have not miserere in store, a groan and sob in their souls to call for mercy, and a favourable propension in the ears of their Lord, to ha●ken to their cry. Lastly it is their own mercy which they forsake, that embrace vanity. I mean not active mercy in themselves, 3. Their own. inhabiting their own hearts, but the mercy of almighty God, tendered and exhibited to each man in particular, whither he be bond or free, jew or Gentile. For his mercy is not only from generation to generation, but from man to man. And in this sense it is true which God spoke by Ezechiell, Every soul is mine: the soul of the father is mine, and the soul of the son is mine also. Therefore it is not said in my text, that they leave the mercy of God, but their own mercy, the patrimony of their father in heaven, a portion whereof was allotted to every child. For the inheritance of the Lord is not diminished by the multitude of possessors, Haereditas domini non minuitur multitudine possesso●um, tanta ●ingulis, quanta universis. August. it is as large to every heir a part, as to the whole number put together. This poor man cried (saith the Psalm, naming a singular person, but leaving an universal precedent to the whole church) and the Lord heard him. And that poor man crieth, and the Lord will also hear him. Iste pauper & ille pauper: you may make up a perfect induction and enumeration. For if all the poor and destitute in the world cry unto him, he will hear them all. The refutation is now ended, and giveth place to the assertion or affirmation what himself will do: not as before he did, 2. The affirmation. walking after the lust●s of his own eye and heart: nor as the manner of the heathen is, embracing lying vanities: but acknowledging his life and liberty to come alone from the Lord of mercy; But I will sacrifice unto thee etc. I will sacrif. Pay vows. Which I have made To him only will he pay the tribute that is due unto him, not deriving his safety from any other imaginary helps. He will offer sacrifice which the law required, and he will first make and afterwards pay the vows which the law required not, the one an offering (in manner) of necessity, the other of a free heart. With thanksgiving. The voice of thanksgiving. He will not offer with cakes or wafers, and oil (and yet perhaps not without these) but with thanksgiving, an inward and spiritual sacrifice, and that thanksgiving shall have a voice to publish it to the whole world, that others may witness it. Sacrifices and vows I handled once before. Let it now suffice by way of short repetition to let you understand, that he offereth the best sacrifice who offereth himself, body and soul, all the members of the one, affections of the other to serve the Lord. It shall please him much better, and cast a sweeter smell into his nostrils, than a bullock that hath horns and hooves. And he maketh the best vow, who voweth himself, I say not in the world a virgin, but a virgin to Christ, that whither he marry or marry not, he hath not defiled himself with women; (for he that shall say, hath not coupled or matched himself with women, in an holy covenant, misseth the whole scope of that scripture:) that voweth himself, I say not in the world a pilgrim, to gad from place to place, but a pilgrim to Christ, that though he lie beneath in a barren and thirsty ground where no water is, yet he walketh into heaven with his desires, and in affection of spirit liveth above where his master and head is: that voweth himself, I say not not in the world a beggar, but a beggar to Christ, that though he possess riches, yet he is not by riches possessed, and albe it he leaveth not his riches, yet he leaveth his will and desire to be rich. For it was well observed by a learned father, Faci●ius sa●cus contemnitur quàm voluntas. The bag is more easily contemned than the will. And if you will, you may relinquish all, though you keep all. This, I say, is the richest sacrifice, and rightest vow, to give thyself, and vow thy service and adherence to almighty God, Si vultis, etiam retinendo relinquitis. Psal. 63. as we read that Peter did (but to perform it with more fidelity) though all forsake thee, I will not. And what, I beseech you, are these sacrifices and vows but pensions of our duty, arguments and seals of thankful minds; which is as marrow and fatness to the bones of a righteous man, to praise the Lord with joyful lips, to remember him on his bed, and to think on him in the night watches; that is, both early and late, season and not season, to be telling of all his merciful works, and recounting to himself his manifold loving kindnesses? ●. The acclamation. The last thing I proposed, is the sentence or Epiphoneme, concluding the conclusion: or it may be the reason of his former promises. I will offer sacrifices, etc. Why? because Salvation is the Lords. I am sure, it is the sum of the whole discourse; one word for all, the very moral of the history. Shall I say more? it is the argument of the whole prophesy, and might have concluded every chapter therein. The mariners might have written upon their ship, in steed of Castor & Pollux, or the like devise, Salvation is the Lords. The Ninivites in the next chapter, might have written upon their gates, Salvation is the Lords. And whole mankind, whose cause is pitied and pleaded by God, against the hardness of jonas his heart, in the last, might have written in the palms of their hands, Salvation is the Lords. It is the argument of both the testaments, the staff and supportation of heaven and earth. They would both sink, and all their joints be severed, if the salvation of the Lord were not. The birds in the air sing no other note, the beasts in the field give no other voice than Salus jehovae, salvation is the Lords. The walls and fortresses to our country, gates to our cities and towns, bars to our houses, a surer cover to our heads than an helmet of steel, a better receit to our bodies than the confection of Apothecaries, a better receit to our souls than the pardons of Rome, is Salus jehovae, the salvation of the Lord. The salvation of the Lord, blesseth, preserveth, upholdeth all that we have; our basket and our store, the oil in our cruises, our presses, the sheep in our folds, our stalls, the children in the womb, at our tables, the corn in our fields, our stores, our garners; it is not the virtue of the stars, nor nature of the things themselves, that giveth being & continuance to any of these blessings. And what shall I more say? as the apostle asked Hebr. 11. when he had spoken much, and there was much more behind, but that time failed him. Rather, what should I not say? for the world is my theatre at this time; and I neither think, nor can feign to myself any thing, that hath not dependence upon this acclamation, Salvation is the Lords. Plutarcke writeth, that the Amphictyones in Greece, a famous counsel assembled of twelve sundry people, wrote upon the temple of Apollo Pythius, in steed of the Iliads of Homer, or songs of Pindarus (large and tiring discourses) short sentences and memoratives, as Know thyself, Use moderation, Beware of suretishippe, and the like. And doubtless though every creature in the world, whereof we have use, be a treatise and narration unto us of the goodness of God, and we might weary our flesh, and spend our days in writing books of that unexplicable subject, yet this short apopthegme of jonas comprehendeth all the rest, and standeth at the end of the song, as the altars and stones that the patriarchs set up at the parting of the ways, to give knowledge to the afterworld, by what means he was delivered. I would it were daily preached in our temples, sung in our streets, written upon our dore-postes, painted upon our walls, or rather cut with an admant claw upon the tables of our hearts, that we might never forget, Salvation to be the Lords▪ we have need of such remembrances to keep us in practice of revolving the mercies of God. For nothing decayeth sooner than love. Nihil facilius quam am●● putrescit Sene●▪ Memoria delicata, tenera, fragilis, in quam primùm senectus incurri●. Primùm senescit beneficium Diog Jni●. regn. Elizabet. 2. King. 7. And of all the powers of the soul, memory is most delicate, tender and brittle, and first waxeth old; and of all the apprehensions of memory, first a benefit. To seek no further for the proof and manifestation of this sentence within our coasts, I may say, as our Saviour in the nineteenth of Luke to Zacheus, This day is salvation come unto this house. Even this day, my brethren, came the salvation of the LORD to this house of David, to the house of this Kingdom, to the houses of Israel and Aaron, people and priesthood, church and common wealth. I held it an especial part of my duty, amongst the rest, the day inviting, and your expectation calling me thereunto, and no text of mercy and salvation impertinent to that purpose, to correct and stir up myself, with those four lepers that came to the spoil of the Syrian tents. I do not well, this day is a day of good tidings, and should I hold my peace? let the leprosy of those men clea●e unto my skin, if it be not as joyful a thing unto me to speak of the honour of this day, as ever it was to them to carry the happy news of the flight of Aram. It is the birthday of our country. It was dead before, and the very soul of it quite departed. Sound religion, which is the life of a kingdom, was abandoned, faith exiled, the gospel of Christ driven into corners, and hunted beyond the seas. All these fell, with the fall of an honourable and renowned plant; which, as the first flower of the figtree, Hunc tani●● terris fata ostendere. in the prime and blooming of his age was translated into heaven: they rose again, with the rising and advancement of our gracious Lady and Sovereign. Were I as able as willing to procure solemnity to the day, I would take the course that David did. I would begin at heaven, Psal. 1.48. and call the Angels and armie● thereof, the sun, moon, and stars, I would descend by the air, and call the fire, hail and snow, vapours and stormy winds, I would enter into the sea, and call for dragons and all deeps, I would end in the earth, and call for the mountains and hills, fruitful trees and cedars, beasts and all cattle, creeping things and feathered fowls, Kings of the earth and all people, Princes, & judges, young men and maidens, old men and children, to lend their harmony and accord unto us, to praise the name of the Lord, to accompany and adorn the triumph of our land, and to shout into heaven with no other cry than this, salus jehovae, salvation is only from the Lord, by whom the horn of this people hath so mightily been exalted. Bona silva ●ôrint Angli. O happy English, if we knew our good; if that royal vessel of gold, wherein the salvation of the Lord hath been sent unto us, were as precious and dear in our account, as it rightly deserveth. Her particular commendations, common to her sacred person not with many princes, I examine not. Let it be one amongst a thousand, which Bernard gave to a widow Queen of jerusalem, and serveth more justly to the maiden Queen of England: that it was no less glory unto her to live a widow (having the world at will, and being to sway a kingdom, which required the help of an husband) than a Queen. Illud successionis est, hoc virtutis▪ illud tibi ex genere, istud ex munere Dei, illud foeliciter nata es istud viriliter nacta es. 2. honour, alter secundum seculum, alter secundum Deum, uterque à Deo. Bern. in epist. Pers· Potestas omnis debet esse ornata The one, saith he, Came to thee by succession, the other by virtue; the one by descent of blood, th● other by the gift of God; the one it was thy happiness to be borne, the other thy manliness to have attained unto: a double honour, the one towards the world, the other towards God, both from God. Her wisdom as the wisdom of an Angel of the Lord (so spoke the widow sometimes to David) fit for an Angel than myself to speak of, her knowledge in the tongues and liberal learning in all the liberal sciences (that in a famous University amongst the learnedest men, she hath been able, not only to hear and understand (which were something,) but to speak, persuade, decide, like a graduate, orator, professor; and in the highest court of parliament, hath not only sitten amongst the peers of her realm, and delivered her mind, maiestate manus, by some bodily gesture in sign of assent, but given her counsel and judgement not inferior to any; and herself by herself hath answered the ambassadors of several nations in their several languages;) with other excellent graces beseeming the state of a prince, though they best know, on whose hand she leaveth, and that are nearest in attendance and observance about her majesty, yet if any man be ignorant of, let him ask of strangers abroad, into whose ears fame hath bruited and blown her virtues, and done no more but right, in giving such gifts unto her, as never were more rare in the rarest Queen, and in the sex of womanhode carry admiration. Why do I say womanhode? Virtue is tied neither to revenue nor kind. Nec censum nec sexum exigi● virtus. Senec. Basil. ser. de julit a mart. julita a woman & one that witnessed a good confession for the name of Christ, as she was going to the stake to be burnt, exhorted women, that they should not complain of the weakness of nature: because first, they were made of the same matter, whereof man was finished; Secondly, to the image of the same God; Thirdly, as fit and as capable to receive any goodness; Fourthly, invested into the like honour. Why not? saith she. Seeing we are kinned unto men in all respects. For not their flesh alone was taken for the creation of women, but we are bones of their bones: for which cause we are indebted to God, for courage, patience, virility, aswell as men. Sine excustione sexus ite obviam pietati. And Basile addeth his own advice, that setting excuse of their sex aside, they should set upon piety, and see whither nature hath debarred them of any thing, that was common to men. I note it the rather, because I know it greeveth Abimelech at the heart, that a woman should cast down a millstone upon his head to kill him; and therefore he calleth his page to thrust him thorough, that men might not say, A woman slew him. It greeveth Abimelech of Rome, jud. ●. and his whole faction, that the church of England, and the whole estate of our land under the government of a woman, should be better able to defend itself against his tyranny, than any country in Christendom. Their hearts break with envy hereat, their tongues and pens dissemble not their grudge at the feminine primacy▪ that a woman should be the head (under Christ) of the church of England. But as Chrisostome sometimes spoke of Herodias and john Baptist, so (by a contrary application of their manners) may I, Sir de decoll. joan. Bapt. of two as unlike (as ever fire and water) the one to Herodias, the other to john Baptist; Mulier totius mundi ca●ut truncavit, A woman hath beheaded (within her realms and dominions) the falsely usurping and surmised head of the whole world. Her father and brother of most famous memory, had broken his legs before, as they broke the legs of the thieves upon the cross; the one his right leg of rents, and revenues, the milk and honey of our land; the other his left leg of idolatrous worships, the doctrine of men, false and erroneous opinions, wherewith the children of this realm had been poisoned a long time. Queen Elizabeth hath bruised his head, (for though his legs were broken, he began to gather strength again.) He now commandeth not, liveth not within our land (saving in a few disordered and luxate members, which as the parts of an adder cut a sunder, retain some life for a time, but never I trust, shall grow into a body again) neither ever is he likely to revive amongst us, unless the Lord shall raise him up, for a plague to our unthankfulness. Fecit virtutibus sui● ne haec civitas poenitentia ageres etc. And therefore as they said of Tarqvinius Priscus in Rome, a Corinthian borne, and a stranger to their city, he hath well deserved by his virtues, that our city shall never repent it of choosing a stranger to the king; so by her gracious and religious government amongst us, hath her most excellent Majesty worthily purchased, that England shall never be sorry, that a woman was the Queen thereof. When she came to her crown, she found the country (as Augustus the city of Rome) of brick, Jnveni lateritiam, reli qui marmo ●eam. she turned it into marble. She found it in the sands, she set it upon a rock, the foundation of prophets and apostles: she found it a land of images, ignorances, corruptions, vanities, lies, she hath hitherto preserved it, and I hope shall leave it to posterity, a land possessed of the truth, and seasoned with the gospel of Christ crucified. This this is the savingest salvation, that the Lord hath, this the blessing and happiness that we enjoy under her gracious government, (besides our peace, such as our fathers never presumed to hope for, plenty, prosperity, corporal benefits, in that we lend and borrow not, not only our milk, but our blood, money, and men too, to those that want, and when we ring our bells for joy, and give ear to the noise of tyrants and tabrets, others are frighted with other kinds of sounds, the neighing of horses, roaring of great ordinance, howling of women and children, to see their orbities and miseries before their eyes) I say, this is the blessing we reap, that the gospel is free by her procurement, our consciences not enthralled to the ordinances of men, our zeal rectified by knowledge, and our religion reform by the statutes of the highest God. Now as we have great reason to sing merrily unto the Lord and with a good courage, Salvation is the Lords, for these graces, so what was the cause of her own so many, miraculous deliverances, both before and since she sat upon the seat of her fathers, but the same Salvation, that by saving her, saved us? I am sure she was in danger either of wolfs or of butchers, when her righteous soul cried, Tanquam ovis, Suspecta multa, pro●a●a nulla. and as a sheep was she led to the slaughter, or not far from it. When her innocency could not be her shield, but though she were free from crime, and God and man might justly have cleared her, yet she was not free from suspicion. When she feared that the scaffold of the Lady jane stood for an other tragedy, wherein herself should have played the woefullest part. Since which almost despaired escapes, (but that her time, as David spoke, and her soul was in the hands of that Lord who deposeth and setteth up Princes) how it hath fared with her, both at home and abroad, we all know: partly from traitorous and falsehearted Achitophel's, which have served her with an heart and an heart; partly from the bloody bishops of Rome, and their pernicious seminaries, as full of mischief to Christendom, as ever the Trojan horse to the inhabitants of Troy; partly from the king of Spain, whose study long hath been to be the Monarch of Europe, of whom it is true, that they spoke of another Philippe of Macedon, that he bought the more part of Greece, Antè Philippus maiore ex part● mercator Graeciae, quàm victor Val. Max. before he conquered it, so he buyeth countries before he winneth them, and would do that by his Indian gold, which will be little ease for him to do by men. They have long maliced her, and I trust long shall; and malice shall do the nature of malice, that is, drink out the marrow and moisture of those that foster it, and bring their devises upon their own heads, as Nadab and Abihu were consumed with the fire of their own censors. So long as Salus jehovae endureth, which is as long as Iehov●h himself, our hope shall not perish. He hath even sworn by his holiness, as he did to David his servant, not to fail Queen Elizabeth. Psalm. 21. Jdoneum & compar tibi regnum fili invenias, quoniam Macedonia tui capa●s non est. He that prevented her with liberal blessings, before she took the sceptre into her hands, and set a crown of pure gold upon her head, will maintain his own doings, perfect his good work begun and continued a long time, glorify his blessed name by advancing her to glory, increase his kingdom by hers, subdue her people unto her, confound her enemies, and when the kingdom of England is no longer capable of her, (as Philip spoke to Alexander his son) he will establish her in a kingdom of a far more happy condition. Amen. THE XXX. LECTURE. Chap. 2. ver. 10. And the Lord spoke unto the fish, and it cast out jonas upon the dry land. jonas hath ended his song of Zion in a strange land, which was the second part of the chapter now insisted upon. He hath brooked the seas with patience, and digested his perils with hope, and is now arrived at the haven of happy deliverance. Lament. 4. The inhabitants of the earth would never have believed that the enemy could have entered within the gates of jerusalem, nor that the prophet of the Lord could have had egress from the gates and bars of this monstrous fish. But so was it done by the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes. Act. 12. And as the chains fell from the hands of Peter, the very night before Herode intended to bring him forth to his trial, and he passed through the first and second watches without interruption, and the iron gate opened by it own accord unto him, though he were delivered to four quaternions of soldiers to be kept, and that night slept between two, bound with two chains, and the keepers before the doors of the jail; so after seventy two hours, which is the judicial hour of many dangerous diseases, happily the timeliest time wherein jonas, if ever, was to look for liberty again, and the Whale might begin to plead to himself everlasting possession of his prey so long retained, though his head were wrappeth about with weeds, as Peter's hands bound with chains, and he were delivered both to floods and depths, promontories and rocks, as he to four quaternions, and at this instant of his delivery lay between the bars of earth and sea, as Peter slept between two soldiers, besides the throat and jaws of the fish (his loathsome prison) which sat as keepers before the doors, yet all these encumbraunces and lets fell from the body of jonas, and he passed through the first and second watches, I mean, the entrails of the Whale, and that iron gate, of his strong armed teeth, and was cast up upon dry ground, as Peter was restored to his friends house. In miracles and mysteries must I spend my discourse at this time. The miracles are not news unto you, Miraculis 〈◊〉 mysterij●●●nia plena. through out the whole decourse of these histories. Wherein the Lord hath the principal part, qui facit mirabilia solus, who only worketh wonders and only wonders, what have you seen else? jonas was swallowed by a miracle, by a miracle was preserved, lived, and sang, and by a miracle is cast up. Who was the author of the miracle? The Lord. What were his means? The Lord. Spoke. To the fish. He cast him up. Upon dry land. His word or commandment? Who the minister? the fish. The manner what? by vomiting or disgorging himself. Lastly, the terminus ad quem, or place that received him; The dry land. In these particulars doth the sentence of my text empty itself. 1 The Lord spoke. One and the same hand both wounded and recured him. 1. una eademque manus vulnus opemque tulit. job. 40. Who else was of might to have encountered this fearful beast? For canst thou draw out Leviathan with an hook, or pierce his jaws with an angle? Will he make many prayers unto thee, or speak thee fair? Lay but thine hand upon him, and thou shalt have cause to remember the battle, and to do no more so. Behold, thine hope is in vain, if thou thinkest to match him, for shall not one perish even at the sight of him? much less canst thou draw him to the shore, and cast a line into his bowels, to draw out a prophet or any spoil there-hence. They said of David in the Psalm, now he is down, he shall rise no more. Psalm. 41. If thou hadst asked both land and sea, when jonas was fallen into the depths of them, they would have answered thee, now he is down, he shall rise no more. Even his own most familiar friend, whom he best trusted, with whom he had taken his sweetest counsel, the heart within his breast, told him many a time, Thou shalt rise no more, thou art cast out of the sight of the Lord and company of men for ever. But he knew whom he trusted, and who was best able to restore the pawn committed unto him, though he walked in the belly of the fish, as in the valley of death. Yet the LORD was on his side, what then could hurt him? The Lord liveth, Vivit Dominu●. Dicis Dominu●. Dominus nomen eius. the LORD hath spoken, the Lord is his name, and such like preambles to many sentences of scripture, are most effectual motives of persuasion, and give us unquestionable assurance of whatsoever therein set down. The Angel appeared unto Gedeon, judges the sixth, and said unto him, The Lord is with thee thou valiant man. What cause had Gedeon, when he heard but that preface, Dominus tecum, the LORD is with thee, to speak of their miseries, and to call for wont miracles, and to think that God had forsaken them? The weakest and feeblest soul in the world, assist●●● with the valiancy of the most valiant Lord, cannot be endangered. And therefore he bade Gedeon, Go in this thy might, In hâc tuâ. and thou shalt save Israel out of the hands of Madian. Not in the might of thine own arm, for who hath enabled thee? but in this thy might, this that I speak of, the presence of my majesty, mine by right, thine by use and receit; mine by possession, thine by communication; mine originally, thine instrumentally: for have not I sent thee? and I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite Madian as one man. The like was the greeting of the angel to the mother of the Lord, Dominus tecum, The Lord is with thee. I have said enough: I need not give reasons of my message. Ask no questions, make no doubt of thine overnaturall and unkindly conception, when thou shalt but hear that the Lord is with thee, and the power of the most high shall overshadow thee. 2 The means or instrument. and The Lord spoke to the fish. The instrument that the LORD used in the delivery of his Prophet, is that Delphian sword, or universal instrument which he used in forming the world, and all the creatures thereof. 3 The minister. Genes. 1. Hebr. 1. Dixit, id est, perfecit. Alchym. Posuit, ut celeritatem & facilitatem operis Dei ostendere●. He said, let there be light, let there be a firmament, let the waters be gathered into one place, let the dry land appear etc. and it was fulfilled. And at this hour the everliving word of GOD, beareth up and supporteth all things by his word. What is his word then, but his mere and effectual commandment, and the giving of effect to that which his heart hath intended? Who as he goeth without feet, seethe without eyes, and reacheth without hands, so there is no question but he speaketh without a tongue, and such instruments of speech as are ordinary with the sons of men. For what ears had the light, the firmament, and other his works, to hear and observe his words if he had pronounced them? or what capacity and intelligence had the fish in this place? Dicere est praecipere. Occolampad. Quia coactus est facere voluntatem Dei. R. Kimhi. Ad bonitatem piscem adigit. Naturâ ●olent pisces grandes salo se defendere. Plin. But as the office of speech in man, is to be the messenger and interpreter of his heart; and to signify his conceits inwardly and secretly purposed: so somewhat the LORD doth, whereby he imparteth a knowledge, even unto insensible creatures what his mind and pleasure is. Therefore it is said, that the LORD spoke to the fish, when he commanded that service of him, and compelled him to execute his will, when he moved him to more mercy than nature had shaped him unto, and brought him to the shore, whom the hugeness of his body naturally enforced to keep the depths of the sea. It showeth what divinity there is (if I may so term it) in the word of God, how imperious to command, how easy to obtain when it hath commanded. One fiat, is of power to make that which was never made before, and had lain in everlasting informity, if GOD had spared to speak; to establish nature when it is not, and to change nature when it is; to create angels, men, birds, beasts, fishes; to store heaven, earth, and the deep with innumerable armies of creatures; and to make them bow their knees to their maker, and render unlimited obedience to all his decrees. When God was manifested in the flesh, and went about doing good, Math. 8. as the Evangelist writeth, a believing Centurion in a suit that dearly affected him, desired not the travail of his feet, nor any receit of physic to heal his servant, no not so much as the laying on his hand, which some had requested, nor coming within the roof of his house, but only a word from his lips; Speak but the word, LORD, and my servant shall be healed. Man liveth not by bread, neither recovereth by physic only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. A leper had told him in the next words before, Lord, if thou wilt thou canst make me clean. Voluntas tua, opus est, Thy will is thy work: Origen. And he said, I will, be thou made clean. As if with the breath of his mouth he had spoken to his leprosy, be gone, as he afterwards spoke to the Devilles, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, be packing into the heard of swine, Ibid. and they went the next way over the rocks and cle●ues, as if a whirlwind had borne them. He rebuketh the winds and the sea in the same place, with more authority than ever Peter rebuked Ananias and Saphira, and with the like success, for he smote the breath from the winds, and motion from the sea, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. The voice of his thunders. and a great concussion of waters became a great calm. Who is this, that the winds and the sea obey him? For they not only hear him, but hear him with effect, they go, and run, and stand still, like servants of their master, and as it were, live and die at his commandment. The prophet in the twenty nine Psalm, speaketh of one voice that the Lord hath, a mighty and glorious voice, (a voice that hath a sensible sound indeed, and smiteth the ears both of man and beast sometimes with tingling and astonishment) that it breaketh the cedars, even the cedars of Libanus, and shaketh the wilderness, even the wilderness of Cadesh, that it divideth the flames of fire, maketh the Hinds to cast their calves, and discovereth the forests. But this voice, whereof I speak, maketh the cedars, even the cedars of Libanus, and createth the wilderness, even the wilderness of Cadesh, formeth the flames of fire, fashioneth the Hinds and their young ones, and planteth the forests. And this was the word that spoke to the fish to cast up jonas. Behold, at the voice of the Lord Leviathan casteth his young, and aborteth a prophet before he is willing. So true it is by absolute experience, which the spirit of God testifieth Heb. 4. That the word of God is lively and mighty in operation, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and entereth through even unto the dividing of the soul and the spirit, and of the joints and the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and the intentes of the heart. Neither is there any creature which is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and open unto his eyes, with whom we have to do. You hear how far it entered, in the words of my text. It went into the bowels of a Whale lying in the bowels of the seas, and as narrowly searched all his entrails as Laban jacob's stuff, it divided between his teeth and their strength that they could not chew, and went between his stomach & the appetite thereof that it durst not concoct, it drew him as an angle and hook to the land, ransacked his maw, and opened the straits of his throat that the prophet of the Lord might come forth. He cast up jonas. The manner of his coming forth seemeth to have been without ease and pleasure to the Whale. 4. The manner. For as a stomach overcharged, or offended with meat that it hath received, is not at rest till it hath unloaden itself: so the Whale feeling a morsel within him, which he cannot turn into nutriment, what should he do, for his own quiet, but by the rifting and reachings of his stomach send it forth? Thus it is said of the hypocrite, job the twentieth, Who hath undone many, and spoiled houses which he never builded, whose wickedness was sweet in his mouth, as perhaps jonas in the mouth of the fish, and he hid it under his tongue, etc. That his meat in his bowels was turned, and that the gall of asps was in the midst of him; that he had devoured substance, and should vomit it up, for GOD would draw it out of his belly; that he should restore the labour, and devour no more; that ●ee should feel no quietness in his body, neither reserve any thing of that which he desired. There you hear at large what the nature of a surfitte is. And doubtless ill gotten goods, when a man snatcheth at the right hand, and catcheth at the left, without being satisfied, and eateth up the people of the land as bread, is a spiritual surfitte, and not a kindly or wholesome maintenance to him that hath coveted it. So is pleasure, and sweetness in sinning, when one favoureth it (as Zophar there speaketh) and will not forsake it, but keepeth it close in his mouth, though it dwell in darkness as dark as night, and say to the soul and reins, hide me safe, yet it is a surfitte too, and when the belly hath been filled with abundance thereof, it shall be in pain, (to continue the phrase of that book) and GOD shall send upon it his fierce wrath. The angel of the Laodicaean Church, Ibid. Revelation the third, was unto GOD as raw and undigested meat which his heart could not brook. His lukenesse and neutrality of dealing in his service did so much offend him, that although he had been received into some inward favour as sustenance is taken into the stomach, yet he is threatened to be spewed up again. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. The phrase is somewhat infrequent and rare in the scripture, yet is it no where used, but it deserveth wisely and waightily to be considered. In this place, to conclude, the meaning is, that jonas was not descended into the belly of the fish to become a prey unto him, but to dwell in a desert and solitary house for a time, as jeremy wished him a cottage in the wilderness, and as it were to go aside, and hide himself from the anger of the Lord, till the storm might be overpast. The words of Micheas do rightelye express my mind herein. I will bear the wrath of the LORD because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, Chap. 7. and execute judgement for me. Then will he bring me forth to the light, and I shall see his righteousness. When thou that art mine enemy shalt look upon it, and shame shall cover thee, which sayest unto me, where is the LORD thy God? lastly the place which received jonas, was the dry land. 5. The place. Which noteth a quality of the earth commodious and fit for habitation. He felt the ground before, when he went down to the bottom of the mounetaines, and the earth was about him with her bars, but he felt not the dry ground. He walked not then upon the face of the earth, which is the manner of living souls, but was under the roots of the mounetaines, where he had not liberty nor power to breath, but by special providence. In the beginning of the creation, the waters were above the earth, till the LORD said, Genes. 1. Let the waters under the heaven be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear, and it was so. According to the words of the Psalms; He hath founded it upon the seas, Psalm. 24. and established it upon the floods. And again, He hath stretched out the earth upon the waters, for his mercy endureth for ever. Psalm. 136. A strange kind of building, when others lay the foundations upon rocks, the LORD upon the waters. Psalm. 104. Cum te p●udēti reputas insistere terrae: Nonné vel hinc clarè conspicis esse Deum? Locus alius Naturalis, alius Fatalis & miraculosus. And yet he hath so set the earth upon those pillars, that it shall never move. When thou callest to mind, that thou treadest upon the earth hanging (like a ball) in the air, and floating in the waters, is it not evident enough unto thee, even by this one argument, that there is a God? By the confession of all, the natural place of the waters is above the earth. This at the first they enjoyed, and after repeated and recovered again, in the overwhelming of the world, when the LORD for a time delivered them as it were from their bands, and gave them their voluntary and natural passage. And at this day, there is no doubt, but the sea, which is the collection of waters, lieth higher than the land, as seafaring men gather by sensible experiments, and therefore the Psalm saith, Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment. For as a vesture in the proper use of it, is above the body that is clothed therewith; so is the sea above the land: and such a garment would it have been unto the earth, but for the providence of GOD towards us, as the shirt that was made for the muthering of Agamemnon, where the head had no issue out. Therefore the Psalm addeth immediately, The waters would stand above the mounetaines, but at thy rebuke they flee, at the voice of thy thunder they haste away. And the mounetaines ascend, and the valleys descend to the place which thou haste established for them. But thou haste set them a bound, which they shall not pass; neither shall they return to cover the earth. job 38. The like in the book of job; where the phrases are, that the LORD hath established his commandment upon the sea (though a wild and untamed creature) and set bars and do●es about it, and said, Hitherto shalt thou come and no further, Ecaenaculis. here will I stay thy proud waves. What from the chambers that are above, and from the fountains and sluices that lie beneath, how easy a matter were it for the former of all things to set open his windows and dams, Genes. 7. and every hour of our life to overrun us with a new deluge? Nay, he hath water enough to drown us within our own bodies. He ca●●e there command a full sea of distempered and redundant humours, Heraclius the Emperor died of a dropsy. V●●a●err. to take our breath from us. We little bethink ourselves how daily and continually we stand beholding to the goodness of GOD for sparing our lives. Who though he with hold the forces of those outward elements, water, and fire, and the rest, that they do us no harm, yet we have elements within, whereof we are framed and composed, we have heat and cold, moisture and drought, which he can use at his pleasure to our own destruction. Let these brethren of one house, but withal the fathers and founders as it were of our nature, fall at variance within us, and they will rend our lives a sunder like wild boars. How many have been buried alive in the graves of their earthly and melancholic imaginations? How many burned in the flames of pestilent and hot diseases? Their bowels set on fire like an oven, their blood dried up, their inwards withered and wasted with the violence thereof? The vapours and fumes of their own vicious stomach, as a contagious air, how many have they poisoned and choked up? finally, how many have been glutted and overcharged with waters between their own skin and bones? And therefore we must conclude and cry with the Prophet, It is the mercy of the LORD, that we are not consumed, both from without and from within, Lamen. 3, because his compassions fail not. Hitherto of the miracles, the former part of my promise, and the second experiment of the ever-flowing mercy of GOD continued towards jonas his servant. O living and large fountain of grace, always drawn, yet never dried up, because it runneth from the breast, and is fed with the good pleasure of an infinite and immortal GOD. For what better reason can be given, of his loving affection towards us, than that which Micheas hath in the end of his prophecy, Because mercy pleaseth him? Mich. 7. What other cause hath induced him, (not to remove in haste from the sweet song of that Prophet) to take away iniquity, and pass by the transgressions of his heritage, not to retain his anger for ever, though for ever deserved, but to return and have compassion upon us, to subdue our unrighteousness, and cast all our sins into the bottom of a sea, deeper and farther from his sight than were these seas of jonas, to perform his truth to jacob, and kindness to Abraham according to his oath in ancient time, but because mercy pleaseth him? For who hath first loved, or first given, or any way deserved, and it shallbe restored unto him a thousand fold? Blessings and thankesgivinges for evermore be heaped upon his holy name, in whom the treasures of mercy and loving kindness dwell bodily, who of his own benevolent disposition hath both pleased himself and pleasured his poor people with so gracious a quality. Even so LORD, for that good pleasure and purpose sake, deal with the rest of thy people as thou hast dealt with jonas and the mariners, take away those iniquities of ours, that take away thy favour and blessing from us, and as a stranger that knoweth them not, pass by our transgressions, retain not thine anger for ever, though we retain our sins the cause of thine anger, but return to us by grace, who return not to thee by repentance, and have compassion upon us, who have not compassion upon our own souls, subdue our reigning and raging unrighteousness, and drown our offences in the bottom of the sea, which else will drown us in the bottom of perdition. 2. Mysteries. The mysteries buried under this type of the casting up of jonas, the second principal consideration wherein I bounded myself, are collected by some, 1. The preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles not before the passion and resurrection of Christ, because jonas went not to Niniveh, till after his sinking and rising again; 2. A lantern of comfort to all that sit in the darkness of affliction and in the shadow of death, held out in the enlargement of jonas, who though he were swallowed down into the bowels of an unmerciful beast, yet by the hand of the Lord he was again▪ cast our. These are somewhat enforced. But the only counterpane indeed to match this original, is the resurrection of the blessed son of God from death to life, figured in the restitution of the prophet to his former estate of livelyhode, and by him applied in the gospel to this body of truth, who is very and substantial truth. For so he telleth the Scribes and Pharisees twice in one Evangelist, Math. 12. & 16. An evil and adulterous generation, (degenerated from the faith and works of their father Abraham, wherein standeth the right descent of his children) asketh a sign, but no sign shall be given unto it, save the sign of the Prophet jonas. For as jonas was three days and three nights in the whales belly so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. His meaning was, that if this so unlikely, and in nature so uncredible a sign could not move them, all the tokens in heaven and earth would not take effect. That Christ is risen again, there is no question. The books are open, and he that runneth may read enough to persuade him. He that told them of the sign before mentioned, signified the same work under the name and shadow of the temple of jerusalem, a little to obscure his meaning, (and that he termed a sign also,) Destroy this temple, and I will build it again in three days. He meant not the temple of Solomon, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. john 2. Ibid. as they mistook, but the temple of his body, more costly and glorious than ever that admired temple of theirs, the building whereof in the counsel of his father was more than forty and six years, even from the first age of the world, and every stone therein, angular, precious, and tried, cut out of a mountain without hands, Daniel. 2. ordained from the highest heavens without human furtherance; and such whereof he affirmed long before in the mouth of his Prophet, who could justify his saying, Psalm. 16. Thou shalt not suffer thine holy one to see corruption; though of the other temple he prophesied, and it was performed, Math. 24. there shall not a stone be left standing upon a stone that shall not be cast down. Praedixit, & revixit. He gave warning before that it should so be, and he fulfilled it. Bern. ser. 1. in pasch. The earthquake at the very time of his resurrection, Math. 28. the testimony and rebuke of Angels, why seek ye the living amongst the dead? he is risen, he is not here, his manifestation to one, to two, to twelve, Luke 24. to more than five hundredth at once, once and again, his breaking of bread amongst them; the prints of his hands and side, their very fingers and nails for evidence sake thrust into them, Qui altè dubitat, altiùs credit. Petr. Chrysolog. de Thoma. together with so many predictions that thus it must be, and so many sermons and exhortations that so it was, are able to resolve any spirit, that setteth not itself of purpose to resist the holy Ghost. Or if there be any of so audacious impiety as to deny the scriptures, (the warrant whereof is so strong, that Paul in the Acts of the Apostles, not tarrying the answer of king Agrippa, by his own mouth speaketh in his name by a reasonable and undoubted concession, I know thou believest them, Act. 26. and he thought it afterwards firm enough to prove any article of the faith without other force according to the scriptures;) let them listen a while to that learned disputation that GREAT ATHANASIUS held concerning this point. 1 Cor. 15. Quo vivē●● res Christiana mirificè 46. annis sustentata est. Platina in Siricio. Lib. de humil. verb. & corporaei●● advent●. He proveth that the son of God could not choose but die, having taken unto him a body of death; and that he could not but live again, because that body of his was vitae sacrarium, The vestry or chapel wherein life was conserved. And he holdeth it a senseless thing, that a dead man should have the power so to extimulate and prick the minds of the living, that the Grecian and Pagan was brought to forsake his ancient, national idolatries, and worship the Saviour of the world: that a man forsaken of life, and able to do nothing, should so hinder the actions of active and lives-men, that by the preaching of jesus of Nazareth, an adulterer leaveth his adulteries, a murderer his blood sheades, and at the naming of his dreadful name, the very devilles depart from their oracles and oratory's. He urgeth yet further. How can the carcase of a dead man prevail so much with the living, that upon the confidence of life therein contained, they have endured the loss of liberty, country, wife, children, goods, good name, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. and life itself, with such Christian magnanimity, that the Arrians espying it, began to receive it as a ruled and resolved case not to be doubted of, there is no Christian living that feareth death. As for the slander of his sworn enemies the jews, whose malice cannot end but in the end of the world, who contrary to common humanity belied him in his grave, and gave not leave to his bones to rest in peace, saying and hiring men to say, and with a great sum purchasing that untruth, as the chief captain did his burgesshippe, Acts the two and twentieth. His disciples came by night, Math. 28. and stole him away while we slept: let it sleep in the dust with them, till the time come, When every eye shall see him, even those that pierced him upon the cross, and those that watched him in his grave also, and then they shall say too late, we and our money are both perished. Why have we taken or given the accursed wages of unrighteousness to speak falsehood? But how could it be the mean time, that you may know they showed themselves starkest fools, where they professed greatest wisdom? Was there not caution and provision enough before hand? Sir, we remember, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. this deceiver said thus? was not a great stone rolled to the mouth of the grave? and their seal set upon the stone? and a watch appointed to attend the sepulchre? Standeth it with reason, that a few disciples, their eyes yet streaming, and their hearts aching with their late loss, bruised reeds, the staff of their comforts being taken from them, the children of the bride-chamber mourning for the absence of the bridegroom, lambs amongst ravenous and blood sucking woules, should dare to attempt an act so dangerous to be undertaken, and so unpossible to be compassed? But they did attempt it by stealth; when there was need of engines to remove the stone, and it could not be done without most tumultuous heaving and shouldering. And the soldiers slept, they say; as if sleepers could truly report that which they knew not. But why do I fight against a disarmed and unworthy falsehood? If angels, men, women, disciples, strangers, friends, foes, a cloud of sufficient witnesses, if the emptying of the sepulchre, and leaving of the linen clothes, which those that had eyes to see with, might behold, if the amazement of the watch, news of the soldiers, subornation of highpriestes and elders, the letter of Pilate to the Emperor to signify no less, if his own walking, talking, eating, drinking, conversing, visible ascending, if preaching, believing, and both living and dying in that belief, be enough to move credit, Christ is risen from the dead, and now he dieth not again, Rom. 6. neither hath death any more dominion over him. Rather he hath dominion over death. For he is alive but was dead: And behold, he is alive for evermore, Amen. Revel. 1. And he hath the keys of hell and of death. For who was worthy, nay who was able of all the host in heaven and earth, to open this last seal of death and destruction, but the Lamb that was killed, or rather the Lion that was raised by the power of his own might? And therefore it is right well observed by Bernarde, In die pasch. ser. 1. that all those resurrections which we read of in former times, of the Shunamites son and others, were istius praeambulae, not only forerunners and leaders to this, but surely they were wrought in the finger and virtue thereof. And these were the differences betwixt those and this later, that then they came forth of their graves or were recovered to life mortui, sed iterum morituri, dead I confess, but withal they were to die again: Christ dieth no more. That Elizaeus restored a child, sed alterum non seipsum, an other not himself: Christ himself. Caeteros dicimus quidem resuscitator; Christum resurrexisse. And they were rather raised, than did rise themselves, for they were but patientes whilst the act was done upon them: Christ arose by his own strength. But to return to the head of the race where we first began, we have found the sign and the thing signified thus far fitted together, that as jonas the third day was cast up out of the belly of the fish, so our holy redeemer arose from the heart of the earth. Shall we here rest? Or shall it suffice us to know what the body to that shadow is, and not to suck there-hence the sweetness and juice which that body yieldeth us? The jews asked a sign, and this sign was given them. And when they saw it fulfilled, either they spoke against, or they did but wonder at it. To us it shall be more than a sign, even dearer to our souls than our souls are to us. It shall have wonder and wonder enough▪ but withal we will not lose our fruit and our part therein for a worlds ransom. Our hope would vanish like smoke, and our hearts within us whither away as grass upon the house tops, death would sting us to death indeed, & the grave shut the mouth upon us, & hell make her full triumph, but for this grain of faith, that Christ is risen from the dead, and is become the first fruits of those that sleep. And, 1. Cor. 2●. he is the head of the body of the church (not an head to himself without respect to his member) the beginning and first begotten of the dead (not without brethren and sisters in the same kind of generation) that he in all things might have the pre-eminence. Golos. 1. What other restorative had the fainting and dying soul of job to comfort itself with, what other blessing and sap in the vine, in that deadest winter of affliction, what other couch to lodge his distressed and diseased bones upon, what helper, when his wife molested him, what friend, when his friends forsook him, but this only meditation which was in steed of friends, wife, bed, board, all things unto him, I know my redeemer liveth? that is: The life of my life can never be destroyed, and for the enrollement of this happy argument, he called for books of the longest continuance, and pens of the hardest points, that the latest liver of all after worlds might learn by it. Hence came it, that the blessed vessel of election made that free challenged to all the actors and pleaders that condemnation had, fearing neither the district justice of God, nor the malice of his own heart, nor the uncessant accusation of Satan day and night; Who shall condemn; It is Christ which is dead, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Rom. 8. yea, or rather, which is risen again: Who is also at the right hand of God, and maketh request likewise for us. So that the sinews & strength of his confidence is not so much in the death, as in the resurrection of the son of God, not to a weak and contemptible life, as before time, but to a full possession of glory, nor for himself alone, but for his orphan members upon the earth, for whom he maketh continual intercession. And upon this stock he seemeth to plant the whole body of Christianity in his former Epistle to the Corinthians. Chap. 15. For if Christ be not risen, then is preaching vain, and faith vain, and the living are yet in their sins, and those that are fallen a sleep are perished, and we were of all men most wretched. As much as to say, pull down temples and synagogues, burn the writings of Prophets and Apostles, stop your ●ares at the voice of charmers, praise the dead more than the living, and rather than them both, those that have never been, commend the wisdom of the Epicure, who taketh his portion in this life, and suffereth not the flower of his youth to pass without pleasure; If Christ be not risen again. But I bring you other tidings. Bernard. Our Phoenix is revived, the seed that was mortified in the ground, is come up again with abundance of fruit: and the beautiful flower of the root of jesse, though withered and defaced for a while in his passion, hath so reflourished by raising himself, that in him is the blooming and springing of all that love his name. This is that which Paul in his answer before Agrippa, called the hope of the fathers; and this I may as properly term, Act. 26. Revel. 13. Virtus agendi, spe● futuri. Tolle spem resurrectionis, & resoluta est observantia omnis pietatis, Chrysost. The faith and patience of the Saints. For as in every action, the virtue that moveth the agent to undertake it, is the hope of good to come, (for he that soweth, soweth to reap, and he that fighteth, fighteth to get the victory:) so take away the hope of resurrection, and all the conscience or care of godliness will fall to the ground. Gregory upon these words of the last of Sain● Matthew, But some doubted, (Whereupon he elsewhere woteth, that it was the especial providence of God, that Thomas should be away, and afterwards come and hear, hear and doubt, doubt and handle, handle and believe, that so he might become a witness of the true resurrection; and that it was not so much a touch of infirmity in them, as a confirmation to us, Non tam in●irmitas illorum, quàm nostra firmitas fuit. In integrum de corrup●o etc. de resur. Carnis. J●sorum temporum propria gula. Cr●s sperando moriuntur, & hody bibendo sepeliuntur▪ Mor●●um quo● mortuum. Vive dum vivis. Nihil esse post mortem Epicuri scho la est etc. Quid enim mundus quotidie nisi resurrectionem nostram in elementis suis imi●●●ur▪ who by that means have the resurrection proved by so many the more arguments) there are many, saith he, who considering the departure of the spirit from the flesh, the going of that flesh into rottenness, that rottenness into dust, that dust into the elements thereof, so small, that the eye of man cannot perceive them, deny and despair of the resurrection, and think it unpossible that ever the withered bones should be clothed with flesh and wax green again. Tertullian frameth their objections more at large. Can that body ever be sound again that hath been corrupted, whole that hath been maimed, full that hath been emptied, or have any being at all, that hath been altogether turned into nothing? Or shall the fire, and water, the bowels of wild beasts, gordges of birds, entrails of fishes, yea the very throat that belongeth to the times themselves, ever be able to restore and redeliver it to the former services thereof? Hereupon they inferred, who had no longing after life, nor desire to see good days, let us eat and drink, for to morrow we shall die; that is, they will not die before to morrow, but in drunkenness and excess they will bury themselves to day. And live whilst thou mayest live. And it is better to be a living dog then a dead lion. And there is nothing after death, no not death 〈◊〉 self. Who if they held not, saith Gregory, the faith, of the resurrection, by submitting themselves to the word of God, surely they should have held it upon the verdict of reason. For what doth the world daily, in the elements and creatures thereof, but imitate our resurrection? We see by degrees of time, the withering and falling of the leaves from the trees, the intermission of their fruits etc. And behold upon the sudden, as it were from a dry and dead tree, by a kind of resurrection, the leaves break forth again, the fruits wax big and ripe, and the whole tree is apparrailed with a fresh beauty. Consider we the little seed, whereout the tree ariseth, and let us comprehend if we can, in that smallnesse of seed, how so mighty a tree and where it was couched. Where was the wood, the bark, the glory of the leaves, the plenty of the fruit, when we first sowed it? when we threw it into the ground, was any of these apparent? what marvel is it then, if of the thinnest dust, resolved into the first elements, and removed from the apprehension of our eyes, God at his pleasure reform a man, when from the smallest seeds he is able to produce so huge trees? The Apostle useth this similitude of the seed, 1. Cor. 15. and the body that springeth from it. Thou fool, that which thou sowest, is not quickened except it die. And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but the naked and simple seed, whereof the blade and the ear with the rest of the burden and increase ariseth. And Tertullian much wondereth, that the earth is so kind unto us, De fraud●●rice fi● servatrix. Vt custodia●, perdit. Jni●riâ, usurâ: damno, lucro etc. to return our corn with such abundance: of a deceaver she becometh a preserver. And before she preserveth she first destroyeth. First by injury, then by usury. First by loss, then by gain. This is the manner of her dealing. He addeth to give more light even from the star of nature, the revolutions of winters, summers, autumns, springes, as it were so many deaths and so many resurrections; the dying of the day daily into night, and uprising to the world again, as freshly be-decked with honour and bravery, as if it had never died. So true it is which Arnobius wrote against the Gentiles, Behold, how the whole creature doth write a commentary to give us comfort in this point. If we shall show this book to the Atheists and Epicures of these days, Vide adeò quàm in solatium nostrum omnis creatura meditetur. li. 8. Observa orbem rerum in se remeantium. Senec. joel 1. Esa. 26. and bid them read therein the resurrection of the flesh, lively discoursed, and they answer us again, either that they cannot read it, because the book is sealed and not plain unto them, or will not because their hearts are seared, I say no more but this, at Paul of the hiding of the Gospel to the like nighte-birdes, I am sure, they are seared and sealed to them that perish. So let them rest, their bodies rotting in the ground, as the seed under the clods, which God blesseth not; the grave shutting her mouth, and destruction closing her jaws upon them; and when others awake to sing, themselves awaking to howling and everlasting lamentation. For our own parts we rest assured in the author and finisher of our faith, that if the spirit of him who raised up jonas and jesus from the dead dwell in us, he that raised up them, 1 The author. Rom. 8. shall also quicken our mortal bodies. And as he spoke to the fish and it cast up jonas, spoke to the earth and it cast up jesus (for upon the truth of his father's word did his flesh rest in hope:) so the time shall come, 2 The in●strument. Act. 2. joh. 5. when all ●hat are in the graves shall hear the voice of the son of God; when he shall speak to the earth give, and to the sea restore my sons and daughters, to all the creatures in the world keep not back mine inheritance, and finally to the prisoners of hope, lodging a while in the chambers of the ground, Stand forth and show yourselves. And as jonas was cast up against the will of the fish, his bowels not able to hold him longer than the pleasure of God was, 3 Manne● and Christ returned to life with a song of triumph in his mouth, Evomuit: emphat●cū, quod eximi● mortis vitalibu● vict●ix vita processerit. Hieron. 1. Cor. 15. Act. 2. Es 26. 1. Cor. 15. O grave where is thy conquest? because it was unpossible that he should be ho●den of it; so when that hour cometh: the earth shall disclose her blood and shall no longer hide her slain; And the sea shall find no rest, till the drowned be brought forth▪ nor any creature of the world be able to steal one bone that hath been committed unto it: but all kinds of deaths shall be swallowed up into a general victory, and in his name that hath won the field for us, we shall joyfully sing, thanks be unto God that hath given us victory through our Lord jesus Christ. And as jonas was cast up upon the dry ground, the land of the living, where he might walk and breath and repose himself without danger of miscarrying, and Christ restored to life and immortality, 4 Terminus ad quem. and exalted to a glorious estate at his father's right hand: so the Lord shall also show us the paths of life, & fill us with the joy of his countenance for evermore. Our corruptible shall put on incorruption, our mortal immortality, & we shall live with the lamb that was slain, in eternal glory Other shall rise to shame & perpetual contempt, Dan. 12. Non addamus inquirere quod ille non addidit dicere Et de compendio finata sit omni● quaestio. August. Quicquid futurum est decebit quiae non futurum est si non decebit. And to the resurrection of condemnation, joh. 5. Saddu●es, Saturnians, Basilidians, Epicures, Atheists, which have trodden this precious pearl of doctrine under their swinish feet, & have not believed that they might be saved; but we to the length of days in the hands of God, & to the sight of his holy face, which is most blessed blessedness. Other particulars of stature, age, & the like, we cease to inquire of, because God hath forborn to deliver them. We will not lose that by our curiosity, which Christ hath bought with his blood, and is gone to possess in the body of his flesh that we may also possess it. I am sure, there shall be all well, for else it should not be. There shall be a dry ground, for this valley of tears and sea of miseries. A land of the living for this desert of the dead. A commodious and settled habitation for this tossing to and fro. There shall be no monsters of land or sea to make us afraid any more, no sorrow to disquiet, no sickness to distemper, no death to dissolve us, no sin to object us to the wrath of God and to bring us in danger of losing his grace. THE XXXI. LECTURE. Chap. 3. ver. 2. And the word of the Lord came unto jonas the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Niniveh, that great city, etc. THe sum of the whole prophecy, and of every part therein, I have often told you, is in variety of examples, the mercy of God towards his poor creatures. The bounds whereof, if any desire to learn how large they are, let him consider that in this present history it is exhibited, both to jews & Gentiles: an example of the former was jonas, of the later the Mariners & the Ninivites; both to prophets and others of meaner and mechanical callings, both to Prince and people, aged and infants, men and beasts; that no man may think either himself, or his seed, or any the silliest worm that moveth upon the earth, excluded therehence. Paul in his first to Timothy glorieth in the mercy of jesus Christ which he had showed upon him, Chap. 1. to the ensample of such as should believe in time to come. But here are four examples at once, and as it were four gospels, preaching to every country and language, age, and condition, and sex, the hope of better things. Blessed be the Lord God, which hath written a whole book of remembrances, and filled it with arguments to so good a purpose. Malac. 3. This third chapter, which by the will of God we are entered upon, treateth in general of the mercy of God towards Niniveh, and sheddeth itself orderly into four parts. 1. The calling or commission of jonas renewed. 2. The performance of his message. 3. The repentance of Niniveh. 4. Their delivery. jonas is called and put in charge again in the two former verses. Wherein (besides the author, and other particulars heretofore extracted from the same words) we will rest ourselves especially upon these three points. 1. The repetition of his warrant; The word of the Lord came the second time. 2. Wither he is willed to go; To Niniveh. 3. What he is to do there: 1. touching the matter, he must preach the preaching that God shall bid them; 2. touching the manner, he must do it by proclamation. And the word of the Lord came unto jonas the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Niniveh, that great city. jonas being become a new man, The commission re●newed. Hebr. 5. Quid teipsum super candelabrum ponis, qui teipsum non accendis? Bern. ser. 17. in Cantic. jer. 17. after his baptism & regeneration in the water of the sea, receiveth a new commission, his former being forfeited by disobedience. First it is not lawful, we know, for any man to take that honour unto him without calling; nor to set himself upon a candlestick, who hath no power to burn unless God kindle him. I have not thrust in myself for a pastor after thee, neither have I desired the day of misery. Then, because jonas had disannulled his first commission, it stood as void unto him and of none effect, till it was repeated the second time. Peter denying his master three times, and not less than losing thereby his legatine & Apostolic authority, repaireth his broken credit by three confessions, and is newly invested into his former office. If I fall now and then into the same points, which I have already handled in the first chapter, you may easily pardon me. For first the words are the same or not much altered; & happily as the first commission of jonas took shipwreck in the Syriac sea, so the first notes I gave are perished in your memories, and therefore there may be need or repetition of such doctrines, no less than of his charge. There is no material difference between the two verses, The second time. wherein the mandate is given unto him, but in the addition of one particle; The second time. Which carrieth a double force: first of propension in the nature of a man to fall away from God, unless it be daily and continually renewed. Quot iterum parturio. Gal. 4. The Apostle was feign to travail in birth, and to do it again with his little children the Galathians, till Christ were form in them: for as the ripening and perfiting of a child in his mother's womb asketh the time of nine months at least, so the breeding of Christ in the consciences of men, and begetting or preserving of children to God, cannot be done without often and careful endeavour bestowed therein. Secondly of the merciful clememcie of God towards jonas in restoring him to his former dignity. For he not only gave him his life which was despaired, but the honour and place of a prophet. He might have lived still, and seen long life, and many days a stranger to his own home, an alien to his mother's sons, an exile from the Israelites, a byworde of reproach, for losing his wont pre-eminence, and as they wondered, when they heard that Saul prophesied What? is Saul become one of the prophets▪ so it might have given as just a cause of admiration, that jonas was become none of the prophets. But jonas abideth a prophet still, and is as highly credited, as if he had not broken his former faith. I know the patience of GOD is very abundante. He is merciful and gracious, long suffering, and of great goodness. He crieth unto the fools (and such we are all) Prove●bes 1. O ye foolish, how long will ye lo●● foolishness? he dealeth with sinners as David dealt with Saul, who took away his spear, and his waterpot, and sometimes a piece of his cloak, as it were snatches and remembrances, to let us understand, that we are in his hands, and if we take not warning, he will further punish us. He dresseth his vinyeard, Esay the fifth, with the best and kindliest husbandry that his heart could invent; afterwards he looked (required not the first hour, but tarrying the full time) he looked that it should bring forth grapes, in the autumn and vintage season. He waiteth for the fruit of his fig tree three years, Luke the thirteenth, and is content to be entreated, that digging and dounging, and expectation a fourth year may be bestowed upon it. They say that moralise the parable, that he stayed for the synagogue of the jews, the first year of the patriarchs, the second of the judges, the third of the kings, and that the fourth of the prophets it was cut down. Likewise that he hath waited for the church of Christianity, three years, that is three revolutions and periods of ages, thrice five hundredth years from the passion of Christ; or if we further repeat it, that he hath tarried the leisure of the whole world, one year under nature, an other under the law, a third under grace: The fourth is now in passing, werein it is not unlikely that both these fi●ge-trees shall be cut down. Whatsoever judgements are pronounced (Amos the first and second) against Damascus and judah and the rest, are for three transgressions & for four: so long he endured their iniquities. He was able to charged them in the fourteenth of Numbers, that they had seen his glory and yet provoked him ten times. jerusalems' provocation in the gospel, and such care in her loving Saviour to have gathered her children under his wings of salvation, as the hen her chickens, seemeth to be without number, Math. 23. as appeareth by this interrogation, O jerusalem jerusalem how often? Notwithstanding these precedents and presumptions of his mercy, the safest way shall be to rise at his first call, and not to differre our obedience till the second, for fear of prevention: lest the Lord have just cause given by us to excuse himself, I called and you have not answered. And albeit at some times and to some sinners, Esa. 65. the Lord be pleased to iterate his sufferance, yet far be it of that we take incitement thereat to iterate our misdeeds. He punished his angels in heaven for one breach, Achan for one sacrilege, Miriam for one slander, Moses for one unbelief, Ananias and Saphira for one lie; he may be as speedy and quick in avendging himself upon our offences. But if we neglect the first and second time also, then let us know that danger is not far of. Jude had some reason & meaning in noting the corrupt trees, that were twice dead. For if they twice die, it is likely enough that custom will prevail against them, and that they will die the third time, and not give over death, till they be finally rooted up. Two reasons against careless sinning There are two reasons that may justly deter us from this carelessness and security in offending, which I labour to dissuade. 1. the strength that sin gathereth by growing and going forwards. It creepeth like a canker, or some other contagious disease in the body of man; and because it is not timely espied and medicined, threateneth no small hazard unto it. It fareth therewith as with a tempest upon the seas, in which there are first, Leves undae, little waves, afterwards maiora volumi●a, greater volumes of waters, & then perhaps ignei globi, balls of fire, & fluctus ad coelum, and surges mounting up as high as heaven. Esay describeth in some such manner the breeds of serpents: first an egg, Altera natura. Affabricat● natura. Benè consuetos pudebi● dissuescere. Senec. Cum in profundum veniunt, negligunt. Vt malâ consuetudine delectem●●. Valer. Ma● lib. 7. cap. 2. next a cockatrice, than a serpent, & afterwards a fiery flying serpent. Custom, they hold, is an other nature, and a nature fashioned and wrought by art: And as men that are well enured are ashamed to give over, so others of an ill habit are as loath to departed from it. The curse that the men of Crete used against their enemies, was not a sword at their hearts, nor fire upon their houses, but that which would bring on these in time and much worse, that they might take pleasure in an evil custom. Hugo the Cardinal noteth the proceeding of sin upon the words of the seventh Psalm, If I have done this thing, if there be any wickedness in my hands, etc. then let mine enemy persecute my soul by suggestion, and take it by consent, let him tread my life upon the earth, by action, and lay mine honour in the dust, by custom and pleasure therein. For custom in sinning is not only a grave to bury the soul in, but a great stone rolled to the mouth of it to keep it down. Ebrietas 1 Vi●●i 2 oblivionis 3 Libidinis peccandi. And as there is one kind of drunkenness in excess of wine, an other of forgetfulness, so there is a third that cometh by lust and desire of sinning. 2. Now if the custom of sin be seconded with the judgement of God, adding an other weight unto it, blinding our eyes and hardening our hearts, that we may neither see nor understand, lest we should be saved, and because we do not those good things which we know, Quia non faciunt bona quae cognoscunt, non cognoscent mala quae faciunt August 2. pet. 2. Math. 12. therefore we shall not know those evil things which we do, but as men bereft of heart, run on a senseless and endless race of iniquity, till the days of gracious visitation be out of date, it will not be hard to determine, what the end will be. Peter saith, worse than the first beginning. Matthew showeth by how many degrees worse. For whereas at the first we were possessed but by one devil, now he cometh associated with seven others, all worse than himself, and there they intend for ever to inhabit. Therefore it shall not be amiss for us to break of wickedness betimes, and to follow the counsel that Chrysostome giveth, alluding to the policy of the wise men in returning to their country an other way. Math. 2 Hast thou come, saith he, by the way of adultery? go back by the way of chastity. Camest thou by the way of covetousness? Venisti per viam fornicationis? etc. Go back by the way of mercy. But if thou return the same way thou camest, thou art still under the kingdom of Herode. For as the sicknesses of the body, so of the soul there are critical days, secret to ourselves, but well known to God, whereby he doth guess, whether we be in likelihood to recover health, and to hearken to the wholesome counsels of his law or not. If then he take his time to give us over to ourselves and the malignity of our diseases, we may say too late as sometime Christ of jerusalem, O that we had known the things that belong to our peace, but now they are hid from our eyes. 2 Arise, go unto Niniveh. Arise, is but a word of preface or preparation, and noteth, as I said before, that forwardness that ought to be in the prophets of the Lord. Lying down for the most part is a sign that both the body and mind are at rest. Sitting betokeneth the body at ease, ●ubatio sig num quieti & corporis & animi, etc. but the mind may be occupied. Rising most commonly is an argument that both are disposed to undertake some work. Now as it is both shame and sin for any sorts of men to trifle in their calling, (for we shall all rise in our order, but those unordinate walkers, saith Bernard, in what order shall they rise, who keep not that order and rank which GOD hath assigned them unto?) so especially for those that are sent about the message. Christ told his disciples in the nineteenth of Matthew, that when the son of man sat, they should also sit. But I beseech you (saith Bernard) when sat he in this world? where rested he? or what place had he to lay his head upon? rather he rejoiced, as a Giant refreshed with wine, to run his race, and he went about doing good, as it is witnessed in the Acts of the Apostles: birds had their nests and foxes their holes, but Christ had no resting place till his work being finished, he had dearly earned and deserved to have his leave warranted unto him, when the Lord said to our Lord, sit at my right hand. Thomas Becket an evil man, and in an evil cause, but with words not impertinent to his place if he had well applied them, answered one, who advised him to deal more moderately towards the king: Sat I at the stern, Clavium ●●neo, & ad somnum me v●cas? and would you wish me to sleep? Our Saviour to the like effect, when he found his disciples a sleep, why sleep you? and to Peter by name: Sleepest thou Peter? is judas waking? are the high-priests consulting? the soldiers banding? the son of man near his betraying? the envious man sowing his tars, marring the field, hindering the good seed, and the gospel of the kingdom, and will not you awake? Rise, let us walk, and consider the regions far and wide, that they are not only white to the harvest, but dry to the fire, if they be neglected. Albae ad mes sem; Siccae ad ign●m. Bern. They must be labourers that are sent into that harvest, and to show what a blessing it is that such be sent, the Lord of the harvest, must be earnestly prayed unto. Such a labourer was he, who though he were borne out of due time, yet he omitted no due time of working, and though the least of all the apostles, in some honours of that calling, yet in the burdens and tasks that belonged unto it, 1. Cor. 15. Malo mihi malè esse quàm molliter. Satis est mihi vigilare des●isse▪ Aliquando m● dormisse scio● aliquand● suspicor. Epist. 33. Carn●ades. Praxagora● Go to Niniveh. he attributed it to the special grace of God, that he laboured more abundantly than all they. Seneca was so far at odds with idleness, that he professed he had rather be sick than out of business. I sleep very little, saith he, It is enough for me that I have but left watching. Sometimes I know I have slept, sometimes I do but suspect it. The examples of heathen men so studiously addicted to their work, that they forgot to take their ordinary food, and tied the hair of their heads to the beams of their chambers, lest sleep should beguile them in their intended labours, are almost incredible, but to the open disgrace of us, who having a mark set before our eyes, and running to the price which they knew not, are so slack in our duties. But as before, so again I demand, why to Niniveh? we have already conjectured four reasons: Let us add a fifth. The force of example, we all know, and very great to induce likeness of manners, and to verify the the proverb in the prophet. Like people, like priest; Esay 24. like servant, like master; like maid, like mistress; like buyer like seller; like lender, like borrower; like giver, like taker to usury. And the greater the example is, the greater authority it hath to draw to similitude. Facile transitur ad plures. we are easily moved to go after a multitude. I may add, facile transitur ad maiores. It is no hard labour, S●n●e. to make us imitate great authorities, be our patterns good or bad. Evil behaviour in Princes, prophets, and higher degrees whatsoever, corrupteth as it were the air round about, and maketh the people with whom they live, as like unto them in naughtiness as, they say, bees to bees. God telleth jerusalem in the 16. of Ezec. that all that used proverbes, should use this amongst the rest against her, As is the mother, so is the daughter. Thou art the daughter of thy mother, that hath cast of her husband and her children: and thou art the sister of thy sisters, which forsook their husbands and their children. You see how evenly they tread in the steps of the same sins. Your mother is an Hitt●te, and your father an Ammorite. Did the daughter degenerate from her kind? Her elder sister at her left hand was Samaria, and her daughters. And the younger at her right, Sodom and her daughters. Father and mother, daughter and sisters, the whole brood was alike infected. jeroboam the son of Nebat is never mentioned in the writings of Israel, but he draweth a tail after him like a blazing star. Who sinned and made Israel to sin. A sick head disordered all the other parts, and a dark eye, made a dark body. A fearful instruction to those that fear God, to make them beware of binding two sins together, that is of sinning themselves, and sinning before others, to put a stumbling block before their feet of falling into the like offence, especially when the credit, and countenance, and priority of their places, Tutum est peccare authoribus il. 〈◊〉. maketh others the bolder to sin, because they sin with such authors. Such bitter roots shall answer for themselves & their corrupted branches. Such poisoned fountains shall not escape with single judgement, because they have polluted the whole course of waters. Such leprous and contagious souls, as they heap sin upon sin, so by numbers and heaps they shall receive their plagues, and account to the justice of God, not only for the pollution of their own persons, but of many thousands more whom by the warrant of their precedency, they have pulled unto wickedness. The great city. And for this cause I take it, amongst others, Niniveh is crowned in the next words with the honourable title of her greatness, to let her know, that the more eminent in dignity, the nearer she lay to danger, and as she gave to the inferior cities of the land an example of sinning, so she should also be an example of desolation unto them. Go to Niniveh that great city: that is, preach repentance to the mother, and the daughters will draw their instructions from her breasts. Win the Lady and princess, and her handmaids will soon be brought to obedience. Speak to the haughty monarch of the world, knock at the gates of his proud palace, beat the ears of those insolent and wealthy merchants, shake them from the settled lees of their long continued abominations▪ and thou shalt end many labours in one, thou shalt do a cure upon the heart of the principal city, the benefit whereof shall spread itself into the parts of the whole country. But if Niniveh be so great in wealth, and so deeply rooted in pride▪ that she will not be reform, tell h●r, she hath climbed so high to have the lower downfall, & though her children should die in their sins, yet their blood, for example given, shall especially be required at her hands. Many goodly cities were there in Asia (Babylon so big, that Aristotle called it a country not a city, and Niniveh greater than Babylon, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Colume● pollentis Asiae. Lucan. and Troy less than them both, but in her flourishing days the pillar of that part of the world) of which and many their companions we may now truly say. O, iam periere ruinae, the very ruins of them are gone to ruin. The king of the Goths when he saw Constantinople, pronounced that the Emperor there was an earthly God. They writ of Quinsay at this day, that it is an hundredth miles about, P. Ven●●. and furnished with 12000. bridges of marble. Let not jerusalem lose her honour amongst the rest. Though her honour and happiness were laid in the dust long since. They that were alive when jerusalem lived, to have numbered her towers, considered her walls, and marked her bulwarckes, and to have told their posterity of it▪ might have made a report scarcely to have been believed. I am sure, Psal. 48. when the Kings of the earth were gathered together and saw it, they marveled, they were astonished, and suddenly driven back. Let me add the renowned cities of Italy by some never sufficiently magnified, Rich Venice, Dites Venetiae. Jngen● Mediolanum etc. Sabellie▪ Great Milan, Ancient Ravenna, Fruitful Bononia, Noble Naples, with all their glorious sisters and confederates, and her that hath stolen the birthright from the rest, and saith she is ancientest, and the mother to them all, which only is a city in the judgement of Quintilian, and others are but towns were they all cities, great and walled up to heaven, Deut. 3. as those of the Anakins, were they regions, as he spoke of Babylon, and every one a world in itself, yet time shall wear them away, sin shall dissolve and undo their composition, and he that is great over all the kingdoms of the earth, can cover them with brambles, sow them with salt, and turn them upside down as if they had never been. When the Emperor Constantius came in triumph to Rome, and beheld the companies that entertained him, he repeated a saying of Cyneas the Epirot, T●● se vidis se reges quot cives Vt eo vix aspicere oculus humanus posset. Naturam vires o●nes in unau urben effudisse. Stabulum quoque tale conda● op●r●es, sivoles equum talem succedere. Jd tantium sibi placere respondi●▪ quod didi cisses ibi quoque homine● mori. platin. in vita foelic. 2. that he had seen so many Kings as Citizens. But viewing the buildings of the city, the stately arches of the gates, the turrets, tombs, temples, theaters, baths and some of the works like Babel, so high that the eye of man could scarcely reach unto them, he was amazed and said, that nature had emptied all her strength upon that one city. He spoke to Hormi●da, master of his works, to erect him a brazen horse in Constantinople, like unto that of trajan the Emperor, which he there saw. Hormisda answered him, that if he desired the like horse, he must also provide him the like stable. All this & much more in the honour of Rome. At length he asked Horsmida, what he thought of the city. Who told him, that he took not pleasure in any thing, but in learning one lesson, which was, that men also died in Rome. This was the end of those kingly men, which Constantius so termed, and the end of that lady city, the mirror and mistress of the world, will be the same that hath befallen her predecessors. And as nature emptied herself upon it; so she must empty herself into nature again, if she be so happy to fulfil the number of her days, and come to a perfect age: but such may be the judgement of God, upon her notorious and uncurable witchcrafts, that as an untimely fruit she may perish, & reap the meed of the bloodsucker in the Psalm, not to live out half her days. Preach unto it the preaching which I bid thee. Or proclaim against it the proclamation which I enjoin thee. So that first the matter must be received from the Lord, secondly the manner must be by proclamation, and out-crying, which requireth not only the lowdenesse of voice, but the vehemency and fervency of courage to excecute his makers will. In Esay they are both joined together. For first the Prophet is willed to cry. Esay 40. And secondly, because he was loath to trust the invention of his own spirit, he taketh his text from the mouth of the Lord, What shall I cry? that all flesh is grass etc. john Baptist in the gospel, is but a voice (himself not the author nor speaker) but only the voice of one that cried in the wilderness, prepare the ways of the Lord. And whether he spoke as loud as the will of that Crier was, I report me to the Scribes and Pharisees, Publicans, soldiers, Herode and Herodias, whose ears he clave in two, with denouncing his masters judgements. The preaching which I bid thee. 1. The mattor. How dangerous it is for any messenger of the Lord to exceed the bounds of his commission by adding his own devises thereunto, and taking words into his mouth which were never ministered unto him, or to come short of it, by keeping back the counsels of his master which he hath disclosed to be made known, let that fearful protestation in the end of the book, summing and sealing up all the curses and woes that went before, Revel. 22. testify to the world. I protest unto every man that beareth the words of the prophecy of this book, (and of all those other books that the finger of God hath written) If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. And if any man shall diminish of the words of the book of this Prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from those things which are written in this book. The protestation hath weight enough without help, to make it sink into the dullest ears of those who dare adventure at such a price to set their sacrilegious hands to those nice and religious points. Let them beware, that preach themselves, and in their own names, and say, the Lord hath said, when he never said, that abuse the world with old wives tales, & old men's dreams, traditions of Elders, constitutions of Popes, precepts of men, unwritten truths, untrue writings, or that sell the word of the Lord for gain, 2. Cor. 2. and merchandise that pearl, which the wise merchant will buy with all the treasure he hath, that hold the truth of God in unreghteousnesse, and dare not free their souls for fear of men, and deal in the work of the Lord as adulterers in their filthiness: for as these esteem not issue but lust, so the others not the glory of God, nor profit of their hearts, but their own wantonness. Chap. 23. jud. 1. Some have too many fingers upon their hands, like the Giant in the second of Samuel. And some too few like those whom Adonibezek maimed: some offend in excess, some in defect, some add, some diminish. But he that hath power to add plagues, whilst the world standeth, that is, to multiply and continue them in such sort, that they shall ever increase to an hundredth hundredth fold, and never see an end, and to diminish blessings so low, that not the least dram of them shall remain; he shall retale their doings into their bosoms, and give them their reward in the same manner and kind wherein they have deserved it. The Apostle walked wisely in this calling, and stinted himself with that measure which God had divided unto him. Quod accepi á domino tradidi: What I have received of the Lord, that I have delivered unto you. ●. Cor. 11. neither more nor less, but just weight. And being jealous over Timothy with a godly jealousy, for fear he might err concerning the faith as others had done before him, he adjureth him in the sight of GOD who quickeneth all things, and before jesus Christ who under Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession, to keep the commandment given unto him without spot and unrebukable, 1. Tim. 6. until the appearing of our Lord jesus Christ. And in that prescience he had of times to come, and love he bore to his scholar, Exclamatio ista & prescientiae est & charitatis. Vincent. Lirin. adu. profane. novat. Ecclesia, prae positi, sacerdos▪ tractator, doctor. Quod tibi creditum, non quod à te inventum etc. Non author debes esse sed custos, non in stitutor sed sectator, non ducens sed sequent. Vt cum dicas nouè non dicas nova. he calleth unto him with intensive inclamation. O Timotheus keep that pledge or gage that is committed unto thee. Who is that Timotheus in our times? The church, the Priests, the doctors, the pastors, the treaters of the word of God whatsoever. Keep it because of thieves, because of enemies, which watch to sow their tars. That that is committed unto thee, not that thou hast invented; that thou haste received, not devised; a matter not of thine own wit, but of thy learning; not priva●lie caught up, but publicly taught; wherein thou must not be an author but a keeper; nor a master but a scholar; nor a guide but a follower. The Talon of the universal faith, wherewith thou art credited, keep unviolated; thou hast received gold, return gold, give not lead, or brass▪ or copper in steed of gold. The precious jewels of heavenly doctrine, cut and adorn, give beauty, grace, and comeliness unto them, but suborn them not. Illustrate that which was obscure, and let posterity gratulate itself for understanding that, which before they reverently esteeemed being not understood. But ever be sure that thou teach the same things which thou hast learned, & though thou bring unto them a new fashion, let the matter and substance be all one. Much more, & in fit terms doth Vincentius utter to the same purpose. Preach or proclaim unto it. The office of a faithful prophet, when he hath received his message from the Lord, is as faithfully to deliver it. 2. The manner. Chap. 20. jeremy saw what ensued upon his simple and plain dealing, in not dissembling the faults of the world, but setting them in order before the faces of men Since I spoke, I cried out of wrong, and proclaimed desolation, therefore the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and had in derision daily: And he heard the railing of many, and fear on every side, and thought to give over speaking in the name of the Lord: but his word was as fire within his bones, and he was weary of forbearing and could not do it. He afterwards cursed the day of his birth, Ibid. and the man that brought news to his father, saying, a man child is borne, and wished the messenger in case of one of those cities which God overturned without repenting him, because he had not slain him from the womb, that his mother might have been his grave, and his belly his everlasting conception that he might not have come forth to see labour and sorrow, and to have consumed his days with shame; he went not into corners to smother the will of him that sent him, but in terms of defiance, and personal application to the stoutest that bore an head, And thou Palshur etc. roundly disclosed it. He had showed the preciseness of his calling, that he must not spare either small or great, though it pulled the whole world upon him, not long before, and with words of no less heaviness. Chap. 15. Woe is me my mother that thou hast borne me a contentious man, and a man that striveth with the whole earth. I have neither lente in usury, nor men have lent unto me, that is I deal not in these affairs which for the most part breed quarrels and heart-burninges, yet every one doth curse me. We are the children of those prophets that have lived in former days. We were borne to contend & strive with the whole earth, we are despised, despighted, hated, cursed of every man, because we preach the preachings, that the Lord hath bidden us, & proclaim his vengeance against sinners, our hand against every man & every man's hand against us, our tongue against every vice, and every tongue walketh & rangeth at liberty through our actions. We are thought to clamorous against the disorders of common life, to busy & severe in making Philippics and declamations against every offence. Forgive us this fault. A necessity is laid upon us. And as it is our woe, that our mothers have bred us to so quarrelsome a vocation, so it is an other and our greater woe if we preach not the Gospel, if not also the law; if not the tidings of joy to those that rejoice in our message, if not also the terrors of judgement to those that contemn it; if not liberty to captives, if not also captivity to libertines, if we pipe not to those that will dance after us, and sound not a trumpet of war to those that resist: if we build not an ark to those that willbe saved, and pour not out a flood of curses against those that will perish; Lastly, if we open not the doors to those that knock and are penitent, and stand not at the gates with a flaming sword in our mouths against those that are obstinate. What? Lib. 1. epist. 3 ad Cornel. Ecclesia cede● Capitolio? Maiorae furentium scelera, quàm sacerdorum judicia? Vident, non videns, praeco mu●u●. Shall the invincible tents of Christ (saith Cyprian) defended with the strength of the Lord, give place to the terrors & threatenings of men? shall the Church yield to the Capitol? shall the outrages of mad men be greater than the judgements and censures of ministers? It must not be. If we be the light of the world, we must esp●e faults? and if voices of john Baptist, we must cry against them. If we be the seers of the Lord we must not be blind; and if his criers, we must not be dumb or tongue-tied. I know▪ the preaching of mercy is more acceptable unto you. O how beautiful are the feet, & how sweet the tongues of those that declare peace? and publish good things? and how unwelcome of those that proclaim wars & publish woes. If every congregation we came into, we would cry peace to to this place, & to this auditory, and would sing upon earth as the Angels sang from heaven▪ glory be to God, and peace to men, than no men better pleasing. But you will not suffer us to think the thoughts of peace. When we say, we will meditate of mercy, we are presently interrupted & called to a song of judgement. These latter and last days, full of the ripest and last sins, Non habet ulterius quod nostris moribus adda●. Posterita●. which no posterity shallbe able to add unto, so drunken and drowned in viciousness, that as in a plague, we marvel not so much at those that die, as at those that escape, so in this general infection of sin, not at the vileness of the most, but that any almost is innocent, give us no rest from bitter speakings. And to give you one reason for many, we are fearfully afraid, if we take not that wise advertisement that the Apostle gave in the Epistle to the Coloss. Chap. 4. Say to Archippus, take heed to the ministry that thou hast received in the Lord that thou fulfil it. Paul wrote it to the Collossians, and the Collossians must do it by word of mouth to Archippus, and they all to us all (as many as are in the office of Archippus, writ, speak, proclaim, and lest it might be forgotten, set it in the end of many precepts, and advise it by way of postscript, ▪ Take heed, look unto it, give good and careful regard, have your eyes in your heads▪ and your hearts in your eye lids, it is a work not a play, a burden nor an honour, a service not a vacancy; and you have received it in him that will require it, talon & use, principal and interest, & give you the fullness of wrath, if you do it▪ to halves, and not perfitly fulfil it. THE XXXII. LECTURE. Chap. 3. vers. 3. So jonas arose and went to Niniveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Niniveh was a great and excellent city of three days journey. THE first part of the Chapter, wherein the commission of jonas is renewed unto him, we have already absolved, and are now to proceed to the execution thereof, which was the 2. general branch. Wherein he so warily behaveth himself, having bought his experience with cost, that he departeth not an hairs breadth from his directions perfined. Being bidden to arise, he ariseth; to go, he goeth;) not now to Tharsis, as before, but to Niniveh) to proclaim, he proclaimeth; not the fancies or supposalles of his own head, but the preaching no doubt which the Lord bade him, because it is said, according to the word of the Lord. As for that which is added, or rather interposed, and by a parenthesis conveyed into the rest, of the greatness of Niniveh, it maketh the rather for the commendation of his duty, that failed not in so large a province, and the faith of that people, who were so presently reform. I will follow the card that jonas doth. As he went to Niniveh, and preached according to the word of the Lord, so because the same word of the Lord again repeated in my text toeth me to a rememoration of the same particulars, which erst I have delivered, let it not offend your ears, that I pass not by them without some further explication. The present occurrents are, 1. his readiness and speed to obey the calling of the Lord; So jonas arose: 2. his running to the mark proposed, not out of the way; and went to Niniveh: 3. his walking by line and level; according to the word of the Lord: 4. a caution or watchword cast forth by the holy ghost concerning the greatness of of the city, as if it were plainly said; Be careful not to forget the compass of Niniveh. If you think on that in the course of this story, you will easily grant, that the service of my prophet was the more laudable in persisting, 1. jonas arose. and the conversion of the inhabitants in taking so short a time▪ They spoke of the Lacedæmonians in former times, Turpe est cuilibe● vir● fugere; Laconi etiam deliberâsse▪ a people in defence of their right most prodigal of their lives, and quick to encounter any danger, That it was a shame for any man to fly from the battle; but for a Lacedaemonian, even to pause and deliberate upon it. jonas being willed to Arise and go to Niniveh, is now so far from flying the face of the Lord, that as if his ear were pulled, and his soul goaded with that word, he taketh the first handsel of time, to begin his work. So truly was it said by Esaie in the 40. of his prophecy, They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall lift up their wings as the Eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint. jonas was quick enough before, when he highed himself to Tharsis with more haste then good speed (as the wicked and disobedient have wings upon their heels to bear them to destruction, Alacrius currunt ad mortem quàm nos ad vitam Bern. their feet are swift to shed blood, and they run with more alacrity to death, than others to life) but he wanted that encouragement which Esay speaketh of, he waited not upon the will of the Lord, neither had he the testimony of a good conscience, and therefore was soon weary of that unhappy race. Now he ariseth with a better will, and feeleth agility put into his bones which before he was not acquainted with, The word implieth many times such haste as admitteth no dalliance, The jews in the 2. of Nehemias having heard of the goodness of their God upon them, and the words of the king for the repairing of jerusalem, presently made answer to the speech of Nehemias let us rise and build. Let us not lose so good an opportunity nor give advantage to our enemies by protraction of time. And it followeth immediately upon that accord of theirs: So they strengthened their hand to good. The latter expoundeth the former Let us rise and build, that is let us strengthen our hands, and heartily address selues to dispatch this business. Afterwards when their adversaries reproached them and charged them with rebelling against the king, Nehemias answered, the God of heaven will prosper us and under the warrant of his protections we his servantes will rise and build, that is, we will not be removed from our work with all your threatenings and discountenancing. Then arose Eliashib the high priest with his brethren the priests & they built the sheep-gate etc. Chap. 3. And surely if you consider the order and manner of their building how they flanked one the other in the work, some setting themselves to the sheepgate, some to the fishport, some to the gate of the old fish-pool, others to the valley gate, these next unto those, and all in their appointed wards and stations, and I doubt not but every man (except the great ones of the Tekoites who put not their necks to the work) as earnest as Baruch was, of whom it is said that he killed and fired himself in the doing of his task, Jbid. A●●●ndis se. (for they watched in the night time, Chap. 4. and put not of their clothes save only for the washing:) you will easily confess, that their meaning was, when they first said let us rise and build, to do their work at once, and to busy themselves about nothing else, not to give rest to their bodies, Hoc age. more than nature did necessarily and importunately call for, nor vacation to their minds, till their work were at an end. Thus jonas arose (for I am as willing in these our lazy and loitering days to build upon the word, as those upon the fragments and ruins of jerusalem) that is, he strengthened, and armed, and inflamed himself to run with his errand to Niniveh, his legs are as pillars of marble, and his feet as the feet of an Unicorn to undertake the travail. He knew that as vinegar is to the teeth, and as smoke to the eyes of a man, so is a slothful messenger to him that sendeth them: Prover. 10. but much more a slothful prophet, would grievously offend so high a LORD as he was now to deal with. So jonas arose. The example riseth with full strength against idlnesse, a sin as idly and carelessly neglected in this place, as carelessly committed. I will speak with your good leave. Your collections for the poor (by hearsay) are not over-spating. (The Lord increase not only your oil and meal, in your vessels, but your mercy within your bowels, The lower you draw forth these wells of charity, the clearer will your waters flow unto you.) But where are corrections for the slowthful the mean time? an alms as necessary as the former, and a work of mercy not to be slippeth in a well-ordered commonwealth. The faithless steward in the gospel being warned to make his account and give over the stewarde-shippe, Luc. 16. amidst his perplexed thoughts what he should do for times to come, said within himself, I cannot dig, and to beg I am ashamed. These more faithless in their callings then that unrighteous steward, are not ashamed to beg, though they are able enough to dig, and sustain the burden of other labours, but will not; as unprofitable to the earth as Margites in the Poet, of whom it was said, that he neither ploughed, Neque, arasse neque, ●odis●e etc. nor delved, nor did any thing his life throughout, that might tend to good. Will you know the cause that Aegysthus became an adulterer? we need not call for Oedipus or any cunning interpreter to render a reason of his lewd living. Slowthfulnesse was the bane that poisoned him. In prompts causa est. And if you will know the cause of so many robberies in the fields, riottes in your streets, disorders in common life, we may shortly and in a word derive them from idlnesse: it is so rank a sink (sayeth Bernarde) of all lustful and lawless temptations. Lib. 11. cap· 5. etc. Propè ex umbrâ minimi animalis. Jncomparabile quiadā. Nullus cum per coelum licuit otio perit dies. ca 6. Cap. 10. More castiorum. Gemino aut triplici bombo ut buccino aliquo. Mane ruu●t portis, nusquam mora▪ Virgil. Neque enim separatim vescuntur. cap. 10. Mita observatio operis. ibid. Cessantium inertiam notant & puniunt morte. ibid. Verarum apum seruitia cap. 11. It is not less than a wonder in nature, that Pliny in his natural history reporteth of the bees: their industry and painfulness to be such, and so hardly to be matched in the world, that almost of the shadow, saith he, (rather than substance) of a very small living creature, nature hath made an incomparable thing. They never lose a day from labour, if the air will give them leave to work. And when the weather is lowering and troublesome, they cleanse their hives, and carry out the filth of those that laboured within doors. The manner of their working is this. In the day time they keep watch and ward at the gates, as they do in camps. In the night they take their rest, and when the day is sprung, they have an officer to call them up with humming twice or thrice, as with the sound of a trumpet. The younger go abroad to fetch in work, the elder stay at home, some bring burdens, other unload them. Some build, other polish, some supply them with stuff for the work, other take care for their victuals, for they take not their diet apart, that they may be equal in all things. Moreover they are very observant and strict in exacting the labours of every one, and such as are idle they note and chasten with death. Finally, the drones, which are the servantes of the right bees, they are content to give house-room unto, in fruitful years, but they rule them as their slaves, and put them foremost to the labours, and if they be slack; punish them without pity, and when the honey is ripe, they drive them from their dwellings, and many falling upon one spoil them of their lives. Go to the bees O sluggard, consider their ways and be wise, they are but small amongst fowls, yet doth their fruit exceed in sweetness, saith the son of Sirach, & their labour in greatness. And go to the bees ye magistrates of the earth, and learn from that little kingdom of theirs to use the vigour and sharpness of discipline against our unserviceable drones, who like paralyticke members in the body of man, lose and unbound in the joints of obedience, say to the head command us not, for we will not stir at thine appointment. I will add to the former example what the same history speaketh of the pismires, a people not strong, yet prepare they their meat in summer. Pro. 6. & 30. Sed illae faciunt cibos, hae condunt. Plin. lib. 11. cap. 30. Humeris obnixae. They labour likewise as the bees. But these make, the other horde up meat. Their bodies and the burdens they bear have no comparison. But such as are overgreat for their strength, they set their shoulders unto and with their hinder legs draw them backward. And because they fetch their provision from sundry places, the one not knowing which way the other goeth, therefore they ordain certain days of mart, wherein they meet and confer, and take a general account each of others labour. We see, saith he, Certi dies ad recognitionem mutuam nundinisdantur. ibid. Ne quis dubitet qualibet in re quid possi●, quantulacunque assiduitas. Prov. 6. that the very flintes are worn, and paths trodden out with their journeying, lest any might doubt, in every creature of the world how available it is to use never so little diligence. I say again, Go to the pismires O sluggard, consider their ways and be wise. For they having no guide, governor, nor ruler, provide their meat in summer, and gather their food in harvest. We having our rulers and guides of many sorts, soul to govern our bodies, reason our souls, God our reason; nature to show us the way as it did these creatures, law to hold us therein, and grace to further us; and not labouring for the food of this transitory life alone, but for that meat that perisheth not, and for the rest from our labours; yet are content as it were to languish alive, and to linger out our little time in a continual weariness of well-doing, as if the law had never been given to the sons of Adam, to labour, nor to the daughters of Eve to pass through affliction; and when (I say not pismires and bees and the little worms of the ground) but the angels of heaven are evermore attending upon their businesses, for thousand thousands stand before him, and ten thousand thousands minister unto him; yet we will sit down and hold ourselves bound to no ministration: nay when the Lord himself sanctified not his rest, before he had first laboured and finished the work of six days, we are ever in our Sabbathes and rests, and suffer our days of work to slide without remembrance. But as verily as the God of heaven hath sanctified both labour and rest in his own person, so truly shall it be fulfilled, that if we rest in the time of labour, 2. To the mark. we shall labour in the time of rest. jonas arose, And went to Niniveh. The first-born of idleness, is to do nothing, Pro vitando otio, otiosa sectari, ridiculum est. 1. Tim. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Curiosum genus ad cognoscendam vitam alienam, desidiosum ad corrigendam svam. Aug 10. conf▪ the next issue she hath, is to do that that appertaineth not unto us. For to follow unnecessary business to keep ourselves in exercise, is little praise, and most commonly it falleth out that there is a fellowship and affinity between these two, as Paul writeth of the wanton young widows, that they learned nothing in their idleness, but to go about from house to house: and that they were not only idle, and did nothing, but were also prattlers, and busi-bodies, and given to utter uncomely speech a curious kind of people to know the lives and affairs of other men, desidious and negligent to amend their own. The corruption is natural to us all, & anciently descended. Adam in that richest & roiallest liberty of his, over all the works of God's hands, had more desire to know and to do that that was forbidden him then all the rest, and the very commandment of God which should have restrained him, gave occasion to his will to become more wilful. From thence it cometh, that we his unwise and ungracious children, are Physicians to other men rather than ourselves, & statesmen in foreign commonwealths, rather than our own, & meddlers in any calling of life rather than that which God hath enjoined us. Aliud plectrum aeliud s●●ptrum S●olam Aaronis omnes assumimus. Su●or ultra ●repidam. Tuum est pulmenta Caesari praeparare, non evangelium exponere. Basil. Esay 1. 2. Cor. 12. Harpers will deal with the sceptres of princes and tell them how to rule. The people will put on Aaron's robes and teach him how to teach. The cobbler will find fault with the thigh of the picture, though his art go no higher than the foot. The emperors steward will pervert scriptures to strengthen the Arrian heresy; though fit to be a market man, or to command broth for the Emperor in the kitchen. Vzzah will bear up the ark, though he overthrow himself by it; and Nadab and Abihu offer strange fire though they burn in the flames of it. God will surely require of us all for doing more than we should, or that which we ought not, as he did of the jews for doing less, Quis ista à vobis requisivit? Who hath required these things at your hands? There are diversities of gifts, and diversities of administrations, and diversities of operations, though the spirit be but one, and God the same that worketh all in all. Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all doers of miracles? have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret? Or hath not God divided these graces to sundry men, that every one might know and do what belongeth to his calling? The members in the body of man, are not the same, nor ordained to the same function. If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? or if the whole were an ear where were the smelling? Roman. 12. Seeing then that we have gifts that are divers, according to the grace that is given unto us, whither we have prophesy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith: or whither an office, let us wait on the office; he that teacheth, on teaching; he that exhorteth on exhortation; he that distributeth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness. Let every man, as he hath received the gift, minister the same (and not his brothers or companions) as good disposers of the manifold grace of God. 1. Pet. 4. One and the same spirit, which is the author of order not of confusion, see how constant he is, and like himself in the mouths of sundry Apostles, to teach this ambitious and idly busy age (bringing into nature the like deformed informity of things by mingling all together, wherein the world sometimes was, and whilst it doth all things, doing nothing worthy of thanks) neither to be wise in matters appertaining to God or man, more than may stand with sobriety, and having a charge of their own properly distinguished, Spartam nactus es han● ornae. Praefat. in l. de ar●e rhetor. ad An. dream Naugerium. not to trouble their heads, with alien, and unnecessary affairs. It was a worthy epigram, that Aldus Manutius wrote upon the door of his chamber to avoid such wearisome guests. Their cause of troubling him (a man carefully bend to enlarge the bounds of good learning) was, negotij inopia, want of business: for then their agreement was, Eamus ad Aldum, come let us go to Aldus. At length to prevent them, he set an unmannerly watchman at his door, which could not blush, and whose entertainment was on this manner. Quisquise●, rogat te Aldu● etiam atque etiam, ut si quid est quod à se velis▪ perpaucis agas, deinde actutum abeas: nisi tan. quam Hercules defesso Atlanti veneris suppositurus humeros. Semper enim erit quod & tu agas, & quotquot huc attule. rint pedes. Psalm 119. Pedes eorum ped●s recti. Ezech. 1. Whosoever thou art, Aldus doth hearty beseech thee, if thou have aunt bunesse with him, briefly to dispatch it, and presently be gone: unless thou comest as Hercules did, when Atla● was weary, to put his shoulders under the burden. For neither thyself canst want work of thine own at any time, nor any of those that repair to this place. To conclude the note, jonas arose and hasted before at his first call, there wanted not speed to his travail, he went like the lightning as Ezechiell speaketh of the four beasts: and spared neither the pains of his body, nor the benefit of wind and sails to bear him forwards. But he lost the approbation and reward of his labour, b●cause he mistook Tharsis for Niniveh, and bended his course to a wrong place. Now he hath learned the song of David, I will not only run, but I will run the way of thy commandments. And as the feet of the beasts before mentioned (which in the tenth of Ezechiell are interpreted to be Cherubins) were strait feet, so are the feet of jonas straightened towards Niniveh, and like an arrow that flieth to the mark, so setteth he his face and heart upon the place commanded. According to the word of the Lord. The most absolute, constant, infallible rule that ever was devised; and as many as walk according to this rule, they shall not fail to be blessed. It was deservedly wished and longed for in the Psalm, O that my ways were made so direct that I might keep thy statutes, so should I not be confounded, 3 His rule. Psalm 119. Secundum o● Jehovae. whilst I had respect unto thy commandments. It is said of the children of Israel, Numbers the ninth, that at the mouth of the Lord they journeyed, and at the mouth of the LORD they pitched or lay still. They knew his mind by the cloud that was over the tabernacle. For if it abode upon the tabernacle two days, or a month, or a year, they also abode, but if it were taken up, Ex praestituto Jehovae. than they went forward. Again it is added in the same place, and as it were with a breath, to praise their obedience, At the commandment of the Lord they pitched, and at the commandment of the Lord they iournyed, Ibid. and at the commandment of the Lord, they kept the lords watch, by the hand of Moses. O happy and heavenly sound of words, where the lusts of their own eyes, and counsels of their own hearts were displaced, and the commandment of the Lord in all things for going and tarrying, from a day to a month, and so to a year, was only observed. That which David demanded in behalf of a young man, we may ask of young and old and all sorts of men. Psalm. 119. In quo corriget, & c? Wherewithal shall a young man amend his ways? or an old man his? or theirs, the Prince, subject, noble, unnoble, Priest, prophet, for we are all crooked, and have need to be rectified. joh. 6. But wherewithal? even by ruling ourselves after thy word. Whither shall we else go? as Peter ached his master in the gospel. Thou hast the words of eternal life, not only the words of authority to command and bind the conscience, nor the words of wisdom to direct, nor the words of power to convert, nor the words of grace to comfort and uphold, but the words of eternal life to make us perfitly blessed. Ezech. 13. And therefore woe to the foolish prophets that follow their own spirits, and prophecy out of their own hearts: so likewise woe to the foolish people that follow their own spirits, & walk by the dim and deceitful light of their own devises. I may say unto such as jeremy to their like in the eighth of his prophecy: How do ye say, we are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us? for he answereth them with wonder and demonstration to the world, that they were to senseless to build upon so false a ground. Lo, they have rejected the word of the Lord, and what wisdom is in them? The messenger that went to Micheas, to fetch him before Ahab and jehosaphat, might sooner have craved his head and obtained it, than one word from his mouth contratying the word of the Lord. He spoke him very fair, in a fowl matter. 1. King. 22. Behold now, the words of the prophets declare good unto the king with one accord. Let thy word therefore I pray thee, he like the word of one of them, and speak thou good. But the prophet wisely answered him, knowing that the best speech is that, not which pleaseth the humours of men, but the mind of GOD, As the Lord liveth (though I die for it myself,) whatsoever the Lord saith unto me that will I speak. So like wise, whatsoever the Lord saith unto us, that let us do, and let us learn how dangerous it is to swerver from his will, I say not by open rebellion as jonas did, but in the least commandment, by the smart of Moses and Aaron; who being willed in the twentieth of Numbers, only to speak unto the rock, and to use no other means save the word of their mouths, and it should give water unto them▪ because they smote it with the rod, and smote it twice, both to show their distrust of the promise of God, and to utter their impatience, they were also smitten with the rod of his lips, and had a judgement denounced against them, that they should not bring the people into the land which he had promised unto them. (Now Niniveh was a great and an excellent city of three days journey. 4. The greatness of Niniveh. Vers. 2. (Now Niniveh etc.) Great and excellent. Of 3. days journey. ) We have heard of the greatness of Niniveh twice before, once so late that a man would think it were needless so presently to repeat it. Howbeit, we shall hear it again, and this third time, in an other manner then before, forcibly brought in as it were, and breaking the hedge of the sentence, and with greater pomp of words, and every place of her ground exactly measured unto us. jonas was going apace to Niniveh. The history was running onwards as fast, and keeping her course. And it may be, the minds of those that hear or read the history, pass too quickly & lightly over the sequel thereof. They hear of the greatness of Niniveh as that Queen did of the greatness of Solomon, but they will not believe how great it is, unless they may see it with their eyes, and have a table or map thereof laid before them at large. By a paren●thesis. This is the reason that first the wisdom of God interrupteth the sentence, and maketh an hole as it were in the midst thereof, as God in the side of Adam, and closeth not up the flesh again, till the greatness of Niniveh be thoroughly known. Now Niniveh, etc. That is, I must tell you by the way once again for fear of forgetting, I will rather hinder the history a while than not put you in mind of a matter worthy your gravest attnetion, That Niniveh was a great city, yea very great, Magnae▪ Deo. a city though lent to men, yet better beseeming the majesty of God, so stately and excellent, that we find not in earth wherewith to match it: and somewhat to say in particular, not filling your eres alone with general terms, the very walk of their borders, Itinere tridui. will ask the travail of three days. A great and excellent cytty, or exceedingly great. The mother tongue wherein the history was written, hath it thus, a cytty great to God. Perquam maxima. The like manner of speech is used by Rachel Gen. 30. When Bilha her maid had the second time borne a son to jacob, & Leah ceased to be fruitful, with the wrestle of God have I wrestled with my sister, Excellent wrestle. and gotten the upperhand, that is, with wrestle, above the nature and reach of man. I take the meaning of the phrase to be this (if life finite and infinite have any proportion) Either that Niniveh was as great for a city, as God is great for a God; or that it surpassed so far the nature of created and inferior things, that nothing but the most excellent himself must be named with it; or happily as Troy was feigned to be the building of the Gods, Coeli●ū eager gius labour. so no workman in heaven or earth was worthy to be credited with the building of Niniveh, but the chief of all. Others do otherwise interpret it, I know. That therefore it is called a city to GOD, Vrbs Deo. because there was no idol in it, but it was truly and properly dedicated to the service of one only God; whereas the contrary is manifest, both by the multitude of her fornications mentioned in the third of Nahum, and by Nisroch their false God which Senacharib was worshipping in the temple of Niniveh, 2. King. 19 when his two sons slew him; or because it was in especial regard with GOD, in that he sent a prophet to reclaim it, and to pluck it forth of the fire of his intended judgement; whereas Bethleem the least amongst the thousands of judah, and but an handful to Niniveh, and Bethania the town of Marie and Martha, joan. 11. though more tender in the eyes of GOD, for the birth, doctrine, and miracles of more than a prophet, were never so called. Undoubtedly the reason is, whatsoever in nature or art is most perfit and exquisite, and hath as it were a kind of divinity in it, that to ascribe to GOD, for these foote-printes, and that imitation sake which it hath of his perfection. Ordinary mounetaines, cedars, or cities, have their fellows and equals upon earth wherewith to be sorted. But such as excel in greatness, and refuse the copartnershippe of all in that kind, because it were an injury and disparagement unto them to match them with their inferiors, they are claimed by GOD himself as his especial rights Non est parvus in parvis. Aug. ad. volus ep. 3. Per diverticula & flexiones, lente & pedeten●im. Cum pagis. Cum suburbijs. Vrbis appellatio muris, Romae autem continentibus aedificijs finitur. Not to exempt the smaller from his care and providence, (who is as great a GOD in the least, as in the greatest, and hath given more wisdom to the little ants and bees, then to asses and camels) but to teach the unwise world, to esteem his majesty as it is, not to serve him with lame or lean, base and unperfit offerings, and to think there is nothing in the whole godhead, but is most rarely and incomparably excellent. Of three days journey. Some say, if you walk the streets, a soft and leisurely pace, with all the lanes and allies that are therein. Some, if you join the villages round about, the dition, liberties, and marches that appertained to Niniveh. Others, if you take it with the suburbs alone. For though the name of the city, be limited within the walls, yet the name of Rome or Niniveh, includeth also the continent buildings. Lastly others expound it, of the very ambite of their walls and turrets. And by the judgement of the civil law, which defineth a days journey, by twenty miles, Niniveh might justly spend the labour of three days. I apply these testimonies of her largeness to that which followeth. Niniveh was a great city (whither you take the people or their dwellings:) jonas not more than an ordinary man. Civitas magna. Vrbs magn●. Niniveh was very great, jonas very little, and in comparison but as a locust among them; Niniveh a city of three days journey, jonas had newly begun to enter his voyage of the first day; and yet this great, Vers. 4. and spacious city, is presently reform, by the preaching of an ordinary, common, and contemptible Prophet. I will not reap the harvest of the next words, but only view them in haste to make my connexion. They are all, if you mark them, stinted and diminished by the holy Ghost. jonas began, had not finished; to enter into the city, had not gone over it; the journey of one day, the second and third were behind: yet Niniveh in these beginnings; did not only begin, but almost end and consummate her repentance. And as jonas cried, yet forty days, and Niniveh shall be destroyed, so Niniveh cried unto him again, yet not forty hours, and thou shalt see Niniveh wholly changed. Our Saviour in the eight of Matthew, telleth his disciples, that the people had endured him now three days having nothing to eat (for he held their stomachs and appetites, that they might not hunger, as he held the disciples eyes that were walking towards Emaus that they might not see, and when he had fed them sufficiently with the bread of life, than he restored them to nature again, and gave them leave to hunger and thirst after corporal relief.) The people of Niniveh as commendable in an other kind, never weary of the preaching of jonas, and willing to endure him more than three days without eating or drinking, they weary not him so much, as to put him to the toil of the second and third day, neither suffer they the next mornings sun to arise upon their former days iniquity. But as if every soul in the city had been summoned as Lot was, Escape for thy life, make haste and save thyself, Genes. 29. so these address themselves with all possible speed to escape the wrath of GOD, and the morning and the evening were the first day of their repentance. At the beginnings of the preaching of john Baptist, they went out by flocks unto him, jerusalem, and all judea, and all the regions about jordan, (as if the cities and towns had emptied themselves to fill the wilderness, and to lead new Colonies into desert and unhabitable places) and they were baptized of him in jordan confessing their sins, and many of the Pharisees and Sadduces also went to his baptism. Math. 3. At one sermon of Peter Acts the second, the principal and final application whereof was, Save yourselves from this froward generation, there were added unto the church about three thousand souls, which was as great a nuber as a man may imagine at one time to have been capable of the speakers voice. The LORD hath not dealt so sparingly with our nation. Abbac. 2. The vision hath spoken a long time, and we nor waited for it, but it for us, and he that hath begun a good work in us, hath endeavoured to make it perfitie. Our king hath followed the parable Matthew the two and twentieth. He hath sent forth his servants to call us away, not to the house of mourning as he did Niniveh; But to the marriage feast of his only son (which what honour it is to sit and eat at the king's table, let Haman report to his wife and friends, Esther. 5. ) Again he hath sent forth other servants, to tell us what provision he hath made, and to invite us with the hope of most bountiful entertainment. But we, as these unworthy guests, rather esteeming the dinners of this world, than the supper of the Lamb, which is the last meal of the day, and whereof who so tasteth, shall never hunger again; And thinking the garlic and onions of Egypt to have a better relish, than the milk and honey in the land of promise, make light of his often biddings, and not much less than enforce him, to pronounce against our unthankfulness, and to commune with his servants of furnishing his house with worthier guests. All the day long hath he stretched out his hands unto us, jos. 10. Es. 38. and made as long a day as ever he did to josuah, and as long hours of the day, as ever were shadowed upon the dial of Ahaz, to provoke our repentance; for the twelve hours of the day, he hath given us thrice twelve years, under the happy and peaceable government of our godly josias. Yet as Paul asked them of Ephesus, Wither they had received the holy ghost, and they answered him, We have not so much as heard whither there be an holy Ghost; Act. 19 so such strangers are we to the work and fruits of repentance, that scarcely we understand what repentance meaneth. And so far is it off that we are become true Israelites, joh. 1. Act. 26. In agro Nar niensi sicci●ate lutum fieri (ex Plinio) imbre pulverem. with Nathaniel, or but almost Christians with Agrippa, that we are rather proved fully Atheists. And that which Tully reporteth amongst his wonders in nature that in one country, Drought causeth dirt, and rain stirreth up dust, may be truly applied unto us, that abundance of grace hath brought forth in us abundance of sin, and as sin took occasion by the law to wax more sinful, so iniquity had never been so rife amongst us, but through the rifen●sse of the gospel. Surely the men of Niniveh shall rise in judgement against us, for they repent at the preaching of jonas newly begun amongst them: the men of jerusalem and judea and the regions about jordan, and some of that serpentine brood of the Pharisees and Sadducees shall rise in judgement against us, for they confessed their sins, and were baptised at the first preaching of john Baptist; The Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and of every nation under the heaven some, shall rise in judgement against us, for they were pricked to their hearts, and be thought them what to do, at one sermon of Peter, and were added to the Church: and low we are still in our sins, and as men without feeling have given ourselves to wantonness, to work all uncleanness even with greediness, Eph. 4. though we have learned Christ a longer time than Christ lived amongst us, and Prophets have early risen, and late continued, to win us to repentance. The sins of Niniveh are not specified by jonas. They are said in the first chapter to ascend into the presence of God, and to stand like Satan amongst his children before his face; job. 5. surely ours are as impudent and saucy as ever were theirs. And if theirs cried into heaven, ours are not tongue-tied. In the prophecy of Nahum, she is described a bloody city, and full of lies, and robbery, and one from whom the prey departeth not, Nah. 3. Ibid. 2. she is famous for the lions dens, and the pasture of the Lion's whelps. We reach home to them with our wickedness, I would to God our repentance were as theirs. Our houses, hands, and hearts are full of blood. Our words and works full of lying. The lion teareth in pieces for his young ones, and worieth for his lioness, and his hole is full of spoils. We all climb up to honour and might (as jonathan and his armour-bearer to the garrison of the Philistines by the raggedness of the rocks) so we by the ruins and desolations of the country about us. 1. Sam. 14. Blessed is the man in this vain and ambitious age of building, wherein the Lord doth even scorn them from heaven (what do these weak builders? will they fortify themselves? Neh. 4. will they establish their seed for ever? will they dwell in houses of Brick and hewn stone for all eternity?) I say blessed is the man, the timber of whose beams, and stone from whose walls and foundations, crieth not a woe against him. Behold the days come, when you shall be bruised yourselves, O ye bruisers of the people, and the pray shall be pulled from your teeth, ye lions and lions whelps, and your holes emptied of your hidden treasures. How long have we cried against such oppressions? And smitten the oppressors with the rod of God's vengeance, as Moses smote the rock? And yet what one drop of remorse have we ever wrung from their stony hearts? how long have we clapped our hands at the shameless usury of this place? If usury be to stiff to be moved, yet we must free our our souls, and if it were possible, we would also free them that are wrapped in her snares. If they little esteem the warning of the fifteenth Psalm, that give their money upon usury, let them at least take heed that receive it. Plutarch. de usura. Let them not try to bear an Ox upon their shoulders, when they are unable to bear a goat. That is, if poverty be burden enough unto them, let them not add the burden of usury. They ask, what they shall do? Dost thou ask? saith Plutarch. Thou hast a tongue, beg. Thou hast hands, work. Thou haste feet, walk. Thou hast an heart, think. Naviga, renaviga, sail forward and backward, Nihil tam mole●●um quàm reddere. take any pains, rather than to fall into the mercy of an usurer. There is nothing so bitter as to restore. Our adulteries are like Absalon's, even upon the house tops: open to the world, we know their faults as we know their faces that commit them: and such in some, 1. Cor. 5. as are not named amongst the Gentiles. I scarcely persuade myself that Sodom lieth in ashes for a greater offence than hath been found amongst us within these few days. Pride, it seemeth, Pater filiam. is proud that she is so much talked of. She loveth to be noted, though it be with a coal. Woe be unto her. We have spit in her face seven times, and yet she blusheth not. I have seen drunkenness drunk till it thirsted, Vidi ebriosorum sitim & vomentium samem. Sen. and gluttony vomit till it hungered again. Go too drunkards, and hear what your doom is, from his mouth who hath threatened to pull the cup from your mouths. Drink, and be drunken, and spew, and fall, and rise no more. These are the links which held the chain of your plagues together, and wherewith you shall as certainly be bound, as ever your flesh was tied together with sinews. Of the contempt of the word of God, his sabbaths, & sacraments, & whole service I speak not. I know there are a few names in Sardis, which have not given themselves to the company of those wicked. God grant, I be not deceived in them. For though I see them come to the wells of salvation, as Christ came to the well of jacob, perhaps they have not pitchers to draw with, that ●s, they have left their minds and meditations behind them, where with these waters should be received. But as the disciples of Christ spoke of the few loves amongst so many thousands, so may I of so few souls amongst such a multitude of inhabitants, what are these amongst such a number? I would humbly beseech the magistrate, because he serveth God in a double place, to have care not only of his own soul, but of the souls of others. And as Paul Rom. 9 had so fervent a love towards his brethren that he wished to be made an anathema, that is to be separated from the love of God for their sakes; so let him also become an anathema for the time, and separate himself. I say not from the favour of God, but from the assemblies of the brethren, for their brethren's sake; let him go forth into the highways with those servantes of the king, and walk the streets, and ransack the idle and irreligious corners of the city, and compel them to come into the house of the Lord, that the rooms may be filled. It shall be a crown unto his own head, a recompense of our labour, a sweet smelling sacrifice to the Lord, the joy of Angels, a blessing to the city, the saving of souls, and revocation of such from destruction, who are speedily falling thereinto, by their obstinate contempt. THE XXXIII. LECTURE. Chap. 3. ver. 4. And jonas began to enter into the city a days journey etc. WHAT we have heard already in the former verse, was but a preparative and an introduction to this that follows. As that: 1. he arose, who before time had been slack and undisposed: 2. went to Niniveh, who else when had diverted to Tharsis, 3. according to the word of the Lord, which erst he had disobeyed. Thus far we understood whither he went; now we are to learn what he did in Niniveh, namely: 1. for the time, He beginneth his message presently at the gates 2. for the place, he had entered but a third part of the city, so much as might be measured by the travail of one day: 3. for the manner of his preaching, he cried: 4. for the matter or contents; Yet forty days and Niniveh shall be destroyed. I have tasted nothing of this present verse, but what might make a connexion with the former. For the greatness of Niniveh repeated in the latter end thereof, served to this purpose, partly to commend the faith of the Ninivites, who at the first sound of the trumpet changed their lives, partly to give testimony ito the diligence & constancy of the Prophet who was not dismayed by so mighty a charged. 1 The time and 2 The place And jonas began to enter into the city: All the words are spoken by diminution. jonas began, had not made an end, to enter the city, had not gone through. A days journey which was but the third part of his way. Not that jonas began to enter the city a days journey and then gave over his walk, for he spent a day and days amongst them in redressing of their crooked ways; But Niniveh did not tarry the time, nor defer their conversion till his embassage was accomplished amongst them, which is so much the more marvelous, for that he came unto them a messenger of evil and unwelcome tidings: it is rather a wonder unto me that they scorned him not, that they threw not dust into the air, ran upon him with violence, stopped his mouth, threw stones at him with cursing and with bitter speaking as Shemei did at David, 1. King. 18. & as Ahab burdened Elias with troubling Israel; so that they had not challenged jonas for troubling Niniveh, because he brought such tidings as might set an uproar and tumult amongst all the inhabitants. That wicked king of Israel whom I named before, hated Micheas unto the death for no other cause, 1. King. 22. but that he never prophesied good unto him. A man that ever did evil and no good, could not endure to hear of evil. And for the same cause did Amaziah the priest of bethel banish Amos from the land, for preaching the death of jeroboam and the captivity of Israel, Amos 7. therefore the Lord was not able to bear his words, and he had his passport sealed, O thou the seer, go flee thou away into the land of judah and there eat thy bread, and prophecy there, but prophecy no more at Bethel, for this is the kings chapel, and this is the kings court: so I would rather have thought that they should have entertained jonas in the like manner, because he came with fire and sword in his mouth against them; the city is not able to bear thy words, we cannot endure to hear of the death of our king, and the universal overthrow of our people and buildings. O thou the seer, get thee into the land of judah, and return to thy city of jerusalem, and there eat thy bread and prophecy there, but prophecy no more at Niniveh▪ for this is the king's chapel, nay this is the court of the mighty Monarch of Assyria. But Niniveh hath a milder spirit, and a softer speech and behaviour in receiving the lords prophet. Now on the other side, if you set together the greatness of Niniveh and the present onset which the prophet gave upon it, that immediately upon his charged, without drawing breath, he betook him to his hard province, it maketh no less to the commendation of his faithfulness, than their obedience. For when he came to Niniveh, did he deliberate what to do? examine the nature of the people whether they were tractable or no? inquire out the convenientest place wherein to do his message, and where it might best stand with the safeguard of his person? did he stay till he came to the market place, or burse, or the king's palace, where there was greatest frequency and audience? No; but where the buildings of the city began, jonas began. To enter. there he began to build his prophecy. And even at the entrance of the gates, he opened his lips and smote them with a terror of most ungrateful news. Again, he entered their city, not to gaze upon their walls, not to number their turrets, nor to feed his eyes with their high aspiring buildings, much less to take up his Inn, and there to ease himself; but to travail up and down, to weary out his strong men, not for an hour or two, but from morning till night, A days journey. even as long as the light of the day will give him leave to work. I depart not from my text, for as you hear, 1. jonas began, protracted not, 2. to enter, not staying till he had proceeded, 3. to travail, not to be idle, 4. the whole day, not giving any rest or recreation to his body. If we will further extend and stretch the meaning of this sentence, we may apply it thus. It is good for a man to begin betimes, and to bear the yoke of the Lord from his childhood (as Goliath is reported to have been a warrior from his youth) to enter in the vineyard the first hour of the day, and to hold out till the twelfth, to begin at the gates of his life to serve God, and even from the womb of his mother to give his body and soul, as Anna gave her Samuel, Nazarites unto the Lord, that his age, and wisdom and grace may grow up together as Christ's did: And that as john Baptist was sanctified in his mother's womb, Solomon was a witty child, Daniel and his young companions were well nurtured in the fear of the Lord, and David wiser than his ancients; so all the parts & degrees of his life from the first fashioning of his tender limbs, may savour of some mercy of God which it hath received. That whether he be soon dead, they may say of him, he fulfilled much time; 4 Wised. or whither he carry his grey hairs with him down into the grave, Psalm. 119. Detur aet●t● aggrieved. Non est mihi crede vitium adolesc. etc., he may say in his conscience as David did, Thy statutes have ever been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage. As for the devil's dispensation, youth must be borne with, and as that unwise tutor sometimes spoke, It is not trust me, a fault in a young man to follow harlots, to drink wine in bowls, to dance to the tabret, to wear fleeces of vanity about his ears, and to leave some token of his pleasure in every place; so giving him license to build the frame of his life upon a lascivious and riotous foundation of long practised wantonness: it was never written in the book of God, prophets and Apostles never dreamed of it, the lawgiver never delivered it, he●l only invented it of policy, to the overthrow of that age which God hath most enabled to do him best service. And as it was the wisdom of the king of Babylon, to take the young children of Israel whom they might teach the learning and tongue of Chaldaea, Dan. 1. rather than their old men, so it is the wisdom of the Devil to season these green vessels with the liquor of his corruption that they may keep the taste thereof while life remaineth. job. 20. But their bones are filled with the sin of their youth, and it lieth down with them in the dust, and when their bodies shall arise, then shall also their sin, to receive judgement. So sayeth the wise preacher giving them the rains in some sort, but knowing that the end of their race will be bitterness. Rejoice O young man, Eccle. 11. and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, walk in the ways of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes, but know, that for all these things, God will bring thee to judgement. Let the examples of Elie his sons whom he tenderly brought up to bring down his house, and whole stock to the ground, and the boys that mocked Elizaeus, be a warning to this unguided age, that the LORD will not pardon iniquity neither in young nor old; and that not only the bulls and kine of Basan but the wanton and untamed heighfers, and the calves that play in the grass shall bear their transgressions. It is the song of the young men, Wisdom the second. Let not the flower of our life pass from us etc. and it is the cry of the young men in the fifth of the same book what hath pride profited us? For whilst they take their pleasures upon earth, the Lord writeth bitter things against them in heaven, job. 13. and shall make them possess the iniquities of their youth. 3. Manner of preaching And he cried. His manner of preaching was by proclamation, loud and audible, that it might reach to the ears of the people, he hide not the judgements of God in his heart, as Mary the words of her Saviour, to make them his proper and private meditations, but as ever the manner of God was, that his prophets should denounce his mind, lest they might say, we never heard of it, so did jonas accordingly fulfil it. Esay. 53. jer. 2. & 50. Thus Esaye was willed to cry, and to lift up his voice like a trumpet; jeremy to cry in the ears of jerusalem, to declare amongst the nations, and even to set up a standard and proclaim the fall of Babylon. And Ezechiell had a like commandment, Clama & ulula fili hominis, Ezech. 21. Cry and howl son of man, for this shall come unto my people, and it shall light upon all the princes of Israel. Our Saviour likewise bad the Apostles what they heard in the ear, that to preach upon the house tops. Math 10. They did so. For being rebuked for their message and forbidden to speak any more in the name of jesus, they answered boldly in the face of that wicked consistory, whether it be fit to obey God or man judge ye. Wisdom herself Proverbs the first, Acts 4. crieth not in her closet and the secret chambers of her house, but without in the streets, neither in the wilderness and infrequent places; but in the height of the streets, and among the press, and in the enterings of the gates, that the sound of her voice may be blown into all parts. If john Baptist were the voice of a crier in the wilderness, Math. 3. than was Christ the crier, and john Baptist but the voice. Surely it wanted not much that the very stones in the streets should have cried the honour and power of God, for even stones would have found their tongues, Luc. 19 if men had held theirs. The commandment then and practise of God himself is to cry, to leave the world without excuse: the nature of the word biddeth us cry, for it is a fire, and if it flame not forth, it will burn his bowels & hearts that smothereth it. I thought I would have kept my mouth bridled, saith the prophet, Psal. 3●. Whilst the wicked was in my sight; I was dumb and spoke nothing, I kept silence even from good, but my sorrow was the more increased. My heart was hot within me, and while I was musing, the fire kindled, and I spoke with my tongue: lastly, the nature of the people with whom we have to deal requireth crying. Deaf adders will not be charmed with whispering, nor deaf and dumb spirits, which neither hear nor answer God, cast forth without much prayer and fasting, nor sleepy and careless sinners, possessed with a spirit of slumber, and cast into a heavy sleep, as Adam was when he lost his rib, so these not feeling the manes that are made in their souls by Satan, awaked without crying. Sleepers and sinners must be cried unto, again and again, (for sin is a sleep) What? can you not watch one hour? And dead men and sinners must be cried unto, for sin is a death, and asketh as many groan and outcries as ever Christ bestowed upon Lazarus, Exiforas Lazare, Lazarus come forth, joh. 11. and leave thy rotten and stinking sins, wherein thou hast lain too many days. Happy were this age of ours, if all the cry in the day time could awake us. For I am sure that the cry at midnight shall fetch us up; but if the mean time we shall refuse to hearken, and pull away the shoulder, and stop our ears that they should not hear, and make our hearts as an adamant stone that the words of the Lord cannot sink into them; Zach. 7. it shall come to pass, that as he hath cried unto us and we would not hear; so we shall cry unto him again, and he will not answer. And said, yet forty days, and Niniveh shall be overthrown. The matter of the prophet's sermon is altogether of judgement. 4 The matter. For the execution whereof 1. the time prefined is but forty days: 2. the measure or quantity of the judgement, an overthrow, 3. the subject of the overthrow, Niniveh, together with an implication of the long sufferance of almighty God, specified in a particle of remainder and longer adiourment in the fourth place yet forty days, as much as to say, I have spared you long enough before, but I will spare you thus much longer. The only matter of question herein, is how it may stand with the constancy and truth of the aeternal God, to pronounce a judgement against a place, which taketh not effect within an hundred years. For either he was ignorant of his own time, which we cannot imagine of an omniscient God, or his mind was altered, which is unprobable to suspect. For is the strength of Israel as man that he should lie? Numb. 23. or as the son of man that he should repent? is he not yesterday and to day and the same for ever? Heb 13. Revel. 1. that was, that is, and that is to come? I mean not only in substance, but in will and intention, doth he use lightness? are the words that he speaketh yea and nay? Doth he both affirm and deny to? are not all his promises, 2. Cor. 1. are not all his threatenings, are not all his mercies, are not all his judgements, are not all his words, are not all the titles and iotes of his words yea and amen? so firmly ratified that they cannot be broken? doubtless it shall stand immutable when the heaven and earth shall be changed, and wax old like a garment, Ego Deus, Malac. 3. & non mutor, I am a GOD that am not changed. The schoolemennes in this respect have a wise distinction; it is one thing to change the will, Aliud mutare voluntatem. Aliud velle mutationem. Aquin. 1. qu. 19 art. 7. another to will a change, or to be willing that a change should be. God will have the law and the ceremonies at one time, Gospel without ceremonies at another. this was his will from everlasting, constant and unmovable, that in their several courses both should be. Though there be a change in the matter and subject, there is not a change in him that disposeth it. Our will is, in winter to use the fire, in summer a cold and an open air, the thing is changed according to the season, but our will whereby we have decreed and determined in ourselves so to do, remaineth the same. 2 Sometimes the decrees and purposes of God consist of two parts, the one whereof, God revealeth at the first, and the other he concealeth a while and keepeth in his own knowledge; as in the action enjoined to Abram, the purpose of God was twofold. 1. to try his obedience, 2. to save the child. A man may impute it to inconstancy, to bid, and unbid; but that the will of the Lord was not plenarily understood in the first part. This is it which Gregory expresseth in apt terms, Mutat sententiam 〈◊〉 mutat consilium. lib 20. Mor. cap. 23 God changeth his sentence pronounced sometimes, but never his counsel intended. Sometimes things are decreed & spoken of according to the inferior cause, which by the highest and overruling cause are otherwise disposed of. One might have said, and said truly both ways, Lazarus shall rise again, and Lazarus shall not rise: if we esteem it by the power and finger of God, it shallbe; but if we leave it to nature, & to the arm of flesh it shall never be. The prophet Esay told Ezechias the king, Es. 38. put thy house in order for thou shalt die, considering the weakness of his body, and the extremity of his disease, he had reason to warrant the same; but if he had told him contrariwise, according to that which came to pass, thou shalt not die, looking to the might & mercy of God who received the prayers of the king, he had said as truly. But the best definition is, that in most of these threatenings, there is a condition annexed unto them, either expressed, or understood; Which, is as the hinges to the door, & turneth forwards or backwards the whole matter. In jeremy it is expressed, jer. 18. I will speak suddenly against a nation or against a kingdom to pluck it up, to root it out, and to destroy it; but if this nation against whom I have pronounced, turn from their wickedness, I will repent of the plague which I thought to bring upon them. So likewise for his mercy, Ibid. I will speak suddenly concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom to build it, and to plant it; but if it do evil in my sight, and hear not my voice, I will repent of the good I thought to do for them. Gen. 20. it is suppressed; where God telleth Abimelech withholding Abraham's wife, thou art a dead man because of the woman which thou hast taken: the event fell out otherwise, and Abimelech purged himself with God, with an upright mind & innocent hands have I done this. There is no question but God enclosed a condition within his speech, thou art but a dead man, if thou restore not the woman without touching her body, and dishonouring her husband. Thus we may answer the scruple by all these ways. 1. Yet forty days and Niniveh shall be overthrown, and yet forty and forty years, and Niniveh shall not be overthrown. Why? because Niniveh is changed, and the unchangeable will of God ever was, that if Niniveh showed a change it should be spared. 2. There were two parts of God's purpose, the one disclosed touching the subversion of Niniveh, the other of her conversion, kept within the heart of God. Whereupon he changed the sentence pronounced, but not the counsel whereto the sentence was referred. 3. If you consider Niniveh in the inferior cause, that is, in the deservings of Niniveh, it shall fall to the ground; but if you take it in the superior cause, in the goodness and clemency of almighty God; Niniveh shall escape. Lastly the judgement was pronounced with a condition, reserved in the mind of the judge. Niniveh shall be overthrown if it repent not. Now he that speaketh with condition may change his mind without suspicion of lightness. As Paul promised the Corinthians to come by them in his way towards Macedonia and did it not; 2. Cor. 1. for he evermore added in his soul that condition which no man must exclude, if it stand with the pleasure of God, jam. 4. and he hinder me not. Philip threatened the Lacedæmonians, that if he invaded their country he would utterly extinguish them▪ they wrote him none other answer but this, If, meaning, that it was a condition well put in, because he was never likely to come amongst them. The old verse is. Si nesi non esset, prefectum quiàlibet esset. If it were not for conditions and exceptions, every thing would be perfect. But nothing more unperfect than Niniveh, if this secret condition of the goodness of God at the second hand, had not been. Arias Montanus hath an exposition by himself, yet forty days, & Niniveh shall be turned, Et Niniveh versa, non eversa. not overturned, that is, Niniveh shall be changed either to the better or to the worse, Niniveh shall either amend her ways, or see an end of her happiness. Niniveh in such extremity cannot stand at a stay, no more than the sicknesses of the body when they are come to the highest degree. But to leave his singular opinion, we have specially to mark in this fearful sentence & doom of Niniveh, that the thoughts of God were rather for peace & reconciliation then to overthrow it. Here are Esau's hands, but jacob's voice; hard speech, rough countenance, a strong tempest of words, but an hidden spirit of tenderness & loving kindness: who knew rightwell that unless they were touched to the quick, till their blood were drawn out they would not be moved. Else what did he mean, (if he meant not mercy) to send a prophet unto them, who might have sent his angel from heaven as against the host of Senacherib presently to have destroyed them? Or why prefixed he a time, and gave them a respite of forty days, who in the motion of an eye could have laid them in the dust, and slain them with the least breath of his angry lips? But come we to the particulars. The time that was lent them before their overthrow, is forty days: 1. The time neither too long, lest they might presume, and put of from day to day; neither too short, lest they might despair of mercy, by thinking themselves overmuch straightened. Pro. 30. But as Solomon bounded his estate in a middle and convenient sort, between poverty and ririches little and much, least ●f he were too full, he might deny his maker, and ask who is the Lord? or if he were too empty he might steal, and take the name of God in vain; so is the time of this people, temperately measured unto them, between long and short, that neither abundance of days may make them forget GOD, nor scarcity drive them from the hope of their wished salvation. Ancient wounds (saith Jerome) are not cured in haste, Tan antiqua Vulnera di● apposito emplastro curanda erant. in hunc loc. the plaster must long lie upon them, and the old festared sins of Niniveh could not be done away with a days repentance. The measure and quantity of their judgement is an overthrow. Niniveh shall be destroyed. She might have been plagued many ways and yet have stood upon her pillars and foundations; plagued with the want of rain, as Samaria in the days of Ahab; 2. The measure of the judgement. with scarcity of bread, with pestilence, with siege of enemies, with the tyranny and exaction of her own kings and governors; but these are all too light in the eyes of God, and nothing will satisfy his justice▪ but her final subversion. jer. 49. If the grape-gatherers come to a vine (saith jeremy) will they not leave some grapes? if thieves come by night, they will but steal till they have enough; but Niniveh must be gathered, and prayed upon by the unsatiable judgement of God, till it hath left her nothing. Some of the Hebrews think that Niniveh should have been destroyed by fire from heaven as Sodom and Gomorrhe were. Others suppose by the sword of a foreign enemy. If by the former of these two, what a fearful thing was it, that in steed of the fatness of the clouds, the greater and the smaller rain, the sweet dews of heaven, comfortable showers, which God hath engendered in the air, and divided by pipes to fall upon the earth in their seasons; their ground should be (watered?) nay withered, and the fruits of the earth (cherished?) nay consumed; their temples and buildings resolved into cinders, yea their very skins and bones melted from their backs with the heat of God's vengeance? The other in effect is not much behind, though in manner and kind different, when so forcible and fierce an enemy cometh, Nah. 1. that destructions shall not need to arise up the second time, where neither the aged hath reverence for his grey hair, nor the suckling release for the innocency of his age; where neither matron, nor virgin, priest, nor Senator shall be privileged from slaughter. When mourning shall be in their streets, and they shall say in all their high ways, Amos 5. alas, alas; or as it is in the fourth of jeremy, Woe is me, for my soul fainteth because of the murders: when there shall be no man left to carry news to the next city, none to say to his friend, leave thy fatherless children to me and I will preserve them alive, and let thy widows trust in me. finally, when the blood of men shall be powered out as dust, jer. 49. and their flesh as dung, and all the beasts of the field, together with the fowls of the air, shall be called to a sacrifice of dead corpses. Zoph. 1. 3 The subject. The subject of that overthrow is Niniveh; Niniveh in state and magnificence as the stars of God; Niniveh that excellent city, which had her name from God himself. Niniveh of such antiquity that from the flood of Noah she had stood upright; Civitas Deo Niniveh that overawed Babylon, destroyed Samaria, brought jerusalem under tribute, and was the rod of God's anger to smite the nations with; Niniveh that glorious city which dwelled in confidence and said in her heart, I am, & there is none besides me, Niniveh must be subverted. Niniveh built with so much labour and ambition by infinite numbers of men, exquisite artificers, unmeasurable charges, Niniveh with her walls 400. miles about, their height and their breadth wondered at, with her thousand & five hundred turrets, so glorious to the eye, Niniveh must be subverted. Her wealthy, insolent, imperious inhabitants, not only those of Assiria, but the choice of all the countries round about, father, son, nephew, old & young, all must be destroyed. It is not the loss of their king alone that is here threatened, nor decay of merchants & men of war, nor the rooting out of the noblest families in Niniveh, nor the funerals of private houses. It is the fall & overthrow without restraint of the whole city. Thus pride, when it cometh to the highest, I say not in the sons of men and women, but in the very son of the morning, and the angels of heaven, and not only in common and singular persons, but in societies, cities, kingdoms, monarchies, shall be brought down. Notwithstanding write it in tables, and let it be a monument for the last day, how gracious the Lord is towards ungracious sinners. Niniveh is threatened to be overthrown, and hath yet forty days stinted to repent her in: but who can number the years which Niniveh hath enjoyed aforetime? 4 Gods patience. yet God is content to sustain the loss and profusion of all those, and as he added in mercy 15. years to the life of Ezechias; so to the life and being of Niniveh 40. days. The particle of remainder yet 40. days doth wonderfully set forth the bounty of God; that albeit ten generations had passed before, and ten more succeeded without fruit; yet he would spare them thus much longer to try their amendment. The people of the jews endured sufficiently in the wilderness, when he protested in the Psalm, Psal. 95. forty years long was I grieved with this generation: not only provoked, offended, discontented but grieved at his very soul, who could have grieved all the veins of their hearts, and taught them the price of angering so dreadful a majesty as his is. In the prophecy of jeremy, he repeateth their disobedience from farther antiquity. The children of Israel, jer. 32. and the children of judah have surely done evil before me from their youth; and this city hath been unto me a provocation of anger from the day that they first built it. But I need not labour to prove the patience of God, when the worst servant in his house confesseth it. Math. 24. My master is gone into a far country, and will not return in haste, yea when the Atheist and scorner himself acknowledgeth no less. For if they were not acquainted with his patience and long sufferance, they would never have called it slackness, nor asked in derision, 2. Pet. 3. for the promise of his coming, nor taken advantage of impiety, because all things had stood in their state from the days of their fathers, nor put the evil day far from them, and slandered the footsteps of God's anointed son. Conclus. Tempus vitae tempus poenitentiae. The time of this life is as the forty days of Niniveh, a time of repentance, to some it is forty years, as it was to Israel in the desert, to some not hours, to others not minutes; but their spirit departeth from them, as jacob went from Laban, and the Israelites from the land of Egypt without leave taking, carrying away their jewels and treasures, and whatsoever in this life is most dear unto them. O happy are they to whom this favour is lente which was showed to Niniveh, yet forty days for thy repentance. But thrice most wretched on the other side whom the Angel of God hath answered, time shall be no more unto thee, the night is come wherein thou canst not work, the vision is ended, the prophecy fulfilled, the doors shut up, thy gracious visitation passed; who in the closing of an eye are pulled from the land of the living, & their place is no more known. Let me tell you for conclusion, that which was spoken to Niniveh in this place under condition, was afterwards simply pronounced by Nahum, & Niniveh was destroyed indeed. Tobias before his death heard of the fall of Niniveh, Tob. 14. & the monarchy that said within itself here will I dwell, was translated into Babylon. He that endured jerusalem so long, was afterward so obstinate against it, that if Moses and Samuel had stood before him to ask her pardon, he would not have been entreated; he that forbore that froward and stubborn generation forty years long, afterwards swore in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest. And as he hath spared, and spared, and spared, so he will overturn, and overturn, and overturn, Ezech, 31. and as he hath added yet more hours, and yet more years, and yet forty days, so he will add yet more plagues, and yet more punishments, and yet more vengeance. According to his fearful commination Levit. 26. I will yet plague you seven times more, & yet seven times more, & still with further repetition, as there is no end of our sins, so there is no end of his anger. This were the preaching fit for these times: blessings must sleep a while, mercy go aside, peace return to the God of peace & not be spoken of. That reverend, religious, honest estimation which was of God, in former times, there is mercy with thee o Lord, and therefore shalt thou be feared, is now abandoned and put to flight. This rather must be our doctrine, there is judgement with thee o Lord, with thee o Lord there is ruin and subversion, with thee are plagues o Lord, with thee there is battle and famine and snares and captivity & storm & tempest. there is fire & brimstone with thee O Lord, therefore thou shalt be feared. Happy are we if either love or fear will draw us to repentance, if our marble and flinti hearts willbe softened with any rain that falleth, if our stiff and yron-sinued necks will bow with any yoke, either the sweet yoke of the gospel of Christ, or the heavy & unsupportable yoke of the law and judgement. But if Niniveh continue as it hath begun, Niniveh shall be overthrown. I am not a prophet, nor the son of a prophet to set the time, either of forty or fifty, days or years more or less; he sitteth above to whom it is best known, and is coming in the clouds to determine that question. But mercy and justice I know are two sisters, and as the one hath had her day so the other shall not miss hers; and the Lord hath two arms, two cups, two recompenses, and doubtless there is a reward for the righteous and doubtless there is also a plague for obstinate and impoenitent sinners. THE XXXIIII. LECTURE. Chap. 3. vers. 5. So the people of Niniveh believed God and proclaimed a fast etc. THE third part of the four, whereinto the Chapter divideth itself containeth the repentance of Niniveh, continued without interruption from the beginning of the fifth verse to the end of the ninth, where it is joyfully embraced by the mercy and pardon of God towards her, which was the last part. The first of these five, which we are presently to deal with, is the general table & contents, of that which the other four diduce into special branches. as Ezechiel first portrayed the siege of jerusalem upon a brick, Ezech. 4. to give the people of the jews an image of that misery, which afterwards they should find distinctly and at large accomplished: For whatsoever we hear in the lineal succession of all the rest, touching their faith, fasts, sackcloth, proclamations, without respect of person or age, we have broached unto us, in this prooemiall sentence. Their ordering and disposing of this weighty business of repentance, with every office and service belonging unto it, is so comely, convenient, and with such art, as if David were to appoint the Levites and priests of the temple their courses again, and to settle the singers and porters in their several ministrations he could not have showed more wisdom and skilfulness. For such are the duties tendered to God by this people of Niniveh, as were these officers of the temple. Some principal, others accessary; some moral, others ceremonial; some for substance, others rather for show, and to set out the work; some to the soul belonging, others to the body and outward man. And in all these, the first have the first places, the second and inferior, such as are fit for them. Faith goeth before works, & in work fasting goeth before sackcloth & in the persons the greatest goeth before the less, & in the doing of all this, the proclamation of the king and counsel goeth before the excecution of the people. The army that Solomon spoke of, was never better set, Cantic. 6. nor almost the stars of heaven better ordered, than this conversion of Niniveh. First they believed God. For the Apostles rule admitteth no exception. Without faith it is unpossible to please God. For he that cometh to God must believe that God is, and not only his being, Heb. 6. but in his nature and property, that he is also a rewarder of them that seek him. This is the first stone of their building, the first round of the ladder of jacob, whereby they climb to the presence of God. From faith which is an action of the mind, they go to the works of the body. Fasting and sackcloth. For faith cried within them, as Rachel cried to jacob, give me children or I die. Faith is hardly received and credited to be faith unless it be testified. For that is the touchstone that the Apostle trieth us by, Show me thy faith by thy works. So first they quicken the soul, (for faith is the life of it) and then they kill the body by taking away the food thereof, wherein the life of the body consisted, and burying it in a shroud of sackcloth. In their works they begin with fasting as it were the greater things of the law, and end with sackcloth as the less. For as Jerome noteth, fasting is rather to be chosen without sackcloth, then sackcloth without fasting; therefore is fasting put before sackcloth. Jeiunium magis eligendum absque sacco, quam saccus sine jeiunio, ideo iciunium ante saccum. But if we shall adjoin from the 8. verse their turning from their evil ways, and from the wickedness of their hands (which some expound of restitution) we shall see that they went from fasting and sackcloth to that which was more then both. The persons are as rightly placed. For they humble themselves from the greatest of them to the least of them, which declareth not only an universal consent, that there was but one heart, one soul, one faith, one f●st, one attire amongst them all, but that the king began, the people were led by him, and that old men gave example to the young, parents to their children. Lastly according to the words of the Psalm, Maior aetas incipit, ad minorem pervenit▪ Hier. I believed, therefore have I spoken, no sooner had they hold of faith in their hearts, but their tongues are presently exercised, nay their pens set one work, not only to speak, but to speak publicly, to speak upon the house tops, by open proclamation, that all might understand; and it is probable enough from the 7. verse, that ill the proclamation was heard, for order and obedience sake, they did nothing. More particularly, They believed. 2. God. 3. ●asted & wore the saeke. From greatest. etc. 5 Proclaimed a fast. 1. King. 14. 1. the radical and fundamental action wherewith they begin is faith, 2. the object of that faith God, 3. the effects and fruits of their faith, abstinence from two vices, the slander and reproach whereof Asia was famously subject unto: 4. their generality in that abstinence: 5. their warrant and commission for so doing by the edict of the King, I reserve to an other place. So the people of Niniveh believed God. When Ahiiah the prophet told jeroboam, that God should raise up a king in Israel to destroy his house, not to leave him in hope that the time was far off removed, he correcteth himself, with sudden and quick demand, and maketh the answer unto it: What? yea even now. Did I say he should? nay, it is already done. So soon as the word was gone from the mouth of jonas, Quid adten? eiam nunc. yet 40. days and Niniveh shall be destroyed, without pausing and resting upon the matter, they believed God. What? yea, even now. It was so speedily done that almost it was less than imagination. It is very strange that a Gentile nation, which were ever aliens from the common wealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, should so soon be caught within these nets. For when prophets preach the mercies or judgements of God, so fat are the ears and uncapable the hearts of the incredulous world, (much more when God is a stranger amongst them) that they may preach amongst the rest as Esay did, Es. 23. who hath believed our report? or to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? either the gospel which is his power to salvation to them that believe, or the law which is his rod of iron to crush them in pieces that transgress it? Rather, as it is in Habbaccuk, Hab. 1. they will behold amongst the heathen, and regard, and wonder, and marvel they will lend their eyes to gaze, & their tongues to talk, but with all they will despise and lightly esteem all that is said unto them. Behold ye despisers and wonder at your unbelief, you that wonder so much & yet despise. For I will work a work in your days, saith the Lord, ye will not believe it, though it be told you. The Lord will work it, prophets declare it, and yet the people believe not. Nay, their manner of deriding, and insulting at the judgements of God is, let him make speed, let him hasten his work that we may see it, Es. 5. and let the counsel of the holy one draw near and come that we may know it. And sometimes, they plainly deny the Lord, and all his judgements, saying, It is not he, neither shall the plague come upon us, jer. 5. neither shall we see sword or famine. And as for his prophets they are but wind and the word is not in them. Exod. 5. Moses and Aaron preached unto Pharo, not only in the name of the Lord, and with kind exhortations, let my people go, nor only by threats and sentences of judgement, but by apparent plagues, the effectuallest preachers that might be, by the tongues of frogs, lice, flies, grasshoppers, of murrain, botches, darkness, hailstones, blood, and death itself; could not all these move him? Exod. 7. Exod. 8. Jbid. No, but the first time he returned into his house, and hardened his heart; and the second, When he saw he had rest, he hardened his heart again; and the third time: his heart remained obstinate, and likewise the fourth, though Moses gave him warning, let not Pharaoh from henceforth deceive me any more, and so he continued to his dying day, building up hardness of heart as high as ever Babel was intended, even up into heaven, by denying and defying the God thereof, till he quite overthrew him in the red sea. What shall we say to this, but as the apostle doth? All men have not faith. 1. Thes. 3. God sent his patriarches in the ancienter ages of the world, and found not faith; sent his prophets in a later generation and found not faith. Last of all sent his son, a man approved to the world, and approving his doctrine with great works, and wonders, and signs, and found not faith: and when the son of man cometh again, Act. 2. Luc. 18. shall he find faith on the earth? So contrary it is to the nature of man to believe any thing, that custom and experience hath not enured him with, or may be comprehended by discourse of reason. Yet this people of Niniveh having received, you hear, but one prophet, and from that one prophet, one sentence, and but in one part of the city scattered and sown amongst them, presently believed, as if the Lord from heaven, had thrust his fingers into their ears and hearts, and by a miracle set them open. It rather seemeth to have been faith of credulity, which is here mentioned, yielding assent to the truth of the prophecy, than faith of affiance & confidence, taking hold of mercy. That is, they first apprehend God in the faithfulness of his word, Fides fiduciae they know him to be a God that cannot lie, Titus 1. they suspect not the prophet, distrust not the message, assuring themselves as certainly as that they live, that the judgement shall fall upon them, without the judges dispensation. Notwithstanding there to have stayed, without tasting some sweetness of the mercy of God, had been little to their heart's ease. The devils believe, jac 2. Epist. Jude. and tremble. They are reserved to the judgement of the great day, and they keep a calendar that they are reserved. For they neither see, nor hear of jesus of Nazareth, the judge of the quick and dead, Angels and men, death and hell, but they are inwardly afflicted, and ask why he is come to vex them before the time. And surely to believe the truth of God in his justice, without aspect and application of mercy to temper it, & to consider nothing in that infinite supreme majesty, but that he is fortis ultor dominus, the Lord a strong revenger, & reddens retribuet, he that recompenseth, jer. 51. will surely recompense, and to take hold of no word from his mouth, but Niniveh shall be destroyed; this were enough to make them desperate, una salut nullam sperare salutem. to cause them to stone his Prophet, to set their city on fire as Zimri did the palace, and to die cursing and blaspheming the name of the Lord of hostes But there is no question, but either by the preaching of jonas, who might mingle a little sweet with their sower, or by the goodness of God by delivering jonas, which many of the Rabbins think they had heard of, or by the light of nature, some particles and sparkles whereof, might yet remain in them, because they came from Assur, Assur from Sem, and Sem had the knowledge of God, or by some other means (the spirit of God especially having a work to work, and ready to help their infirmities) they conceived some hope, of the bounty and graciousness of the LORD, and thereupon, humbled themselves in fasting and prayer upon trust to receive it. They believed GOD not jonas, 2. The object. although in meaning it is all one, they believed GOD as the author, jonas as the minister. God in jonas, or jonas from GOD, and for God's sake; therefore Rabbi Esdras saith, they believed GOD, that is, the word of GOD, which GOD sent, jonas pronounced. As it is said of the Israelits Exodus the fourteenth, joining both together that they believed God and his servant Moses. And 2. Cor. 5. there is a like saving: Now therefore are we ambassadors for Christ, As if GOD did beseech you through us etc. We for Christ and GOD through us. Therefore to show that the contempt of the servant redoundeth to the Lord, God telleth Samuel. 1. Sam. 8. They have not cast thee away, but they have cast me away: and Christ his disciples Luc. 10. he that heareth you, heareth me, and he that despiseth you, despiseth me, and him that sent me, and he that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet, and a disciple in the name of a disciple, Math. 10. (not in the name of an Israelite or Samaritan, brother or stranger, But under that relation) shall not lose his reward. An admirable and gracious dispensation from God, to speak unto man, not in his own person, and by the voice, of his thunders, and lightnings, or with the sound of a trumpet exceeding loud, as he did upon the mount; Exod. 20. (for then we should run away, and cry unto Moses or any other servant of God talk thou with us, and we will hear thee, but let not God talk with us, lest we die,) but by prophets and disciples of our own nature, flesh of our flesh, and bones of our bones, and as the Scripture witnesseth of Elias, men subject to the same passions, jam. 5. whereto we are, according to the word of Moses, Deuter. 18. A prophet will the Lord thy God raise up unto thee, like unto me, from amongst you, even of thy brethren, bringing neither shape nor languadge other then I have done. And that prophet, shall raise up others of the like condition, for the perfiting of his Saints ●●ll the worlds end. In which borrowing and using of the tongues of men, Jmperans' non mendicans hoc facit. Jndulgentia est non indigentia· Non efficatiam quaerit sed congruentiam. Bern. ser. 5. in cant. Act. 14. he doth not beg but command; nor wanteth himself, but benefiteth us; nor seeketh strength to his own word, but congruence and proportion to our infirmities; for we were not able to bear the glory of that majesty, if it did not hide in some sort and temper itself under these earthly instruments. But now we may say (renouncing their idolatry) as they did in Lystra of Paul and Barnabas when we take the counsels of God from the lips of our brethren, God is come down amongst us in the likeness of men. It is he that speaketh from above, and blesseth and curseth, bindeth and looseth, exhorteth and dehorteth by the mouth of man. And surely for this respect, and relations sake between God and his ministers, whom it hath pleased of his mercy to dignify in some sort, with the representation of his own person upon earth, the world hath ever held them in very reverend estimation. Insomuch that Paul told the Galathians, although he preached the Gospel unto them through infirmity of the flesh, Galat. 4. without the honour, ostentation, and pomp of the world, rather as one that studied to bring his person into contempt, yet so far was it off that they despised or abhorred his infirmities, that they rather received him as an Angel of God, yea as Christ jesus. And he bore them record, that if it had been possible (nature and the law of God not forbidding) they would have plucked out their eyes to have bestowed upon him. Chrysostome upon the second to Timothy thinketh no recompense equal to their dangers: Homil 2. Quantumlibet obsequil deferas etc. and that it is not more then deserved, if they should lay down their lives for their pastors sake, because they do it daily for them, although not in this life for lack of persecution to try it, yet by exposing their souls to the peril of eternal death, I bear you record (to use the Apostles words) that in former times, when you had ligneos sacerdotes, wooden priests, priests of Babylon to be your leaders and guides, and not only Balaam the Prophet of Moab, balaam's asses, who never opened their mouths, but it was a miracle to hear them▪ you gave them the honour of angels & of Christ jesus himself. You then bestowed your earings and frontlets (as Israel did upon a golden calf) upon those leaden calves, I mean your lands and revenues, to maintain the covents of Monks, cages of ignorant and unlearned buzzards. Then you committed idolatry with stocks and stones, & to every Friar that drew you aside, were ready to submit yourselves, pater meus es tu, you are my father. Then religion ate up policy, the Church devoured the common wealth, cloisters were fuller of treasures than kings courts, all the wealth and fatness of the land was swallowed down into the bellies of Friaries and Nonneries. And as the king of Persia continued his feast to his princes and servantes an hundredth and fourscore days, Esther. 1. so if these had continued their eating and drinking the substance of the world to this day, their appetite would have lasted. Then had you priests without learning, Zeal without knowledge, devotion without discretion, and liberality without moderation. But there is a time to win and a time to lose, a time to gather and a time to scatter, a time to eat and a time to cast up. For now policy hath eaten up religion, the common wealth the Church, and men spoil their Gods, as God expostulateth Malac. 3. against all equity and conscience. His tithes and offerings are translated to strangers; they eat the material bread of the Prophets, who never give them spiritual food, and they that serve not at the altar, live by it, when they that serve indeed cannot live. Antigonus asked Cleanthes a learned Philosopher, and painful student at his book, Cleanthes dost thou yet grind? I grind, saith he, and that for sustenance sake. Molis adhu● cleanthe? molo idque vit●e sustentandae causa. Quibus ille manib etc.▪ Plutarch▪ Wherein they noted a great indignity, that those hands should be used at the mill wherewith he wrote of the sun and stars. It grieveth me to speak what shifts they are driven unto, who are able to labour in the word & to do the work of right good evangelists, idque vitae sustentandae causa, not to grow rich thereby, but to put meat into their mouths and the mouths of their families. I conclude with the exhortation of the Apostle, 1. Thes. 5. Now we beseech you brethren, that you know them which labour amongst you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. that ye have them in singular, or abundant, or more than abundant love for their works sake. From an abundant spirit he craveth abundant abundance of love, empting his soul of words, that if it were possible, he might stir their hearts. In this sparingly sparing generation of ours, what words might serve to warm their frozen devotion, whom neither painfulness in labouring, nor pre-eminence in overseeing, nor vigilancy in admonishing, can cause to know and discern? no nor keep from contemning; or so exceedingly to love? no, nor withdraw from exceedingly hating, these labourers, rulers, watchmen of theirs, but even for their works sake, because they are ministers, most debase and despite them? They knew Christ among the jews, to be the carpenters son, and such to be his brethren and sisters: So these they are content to know, not in the worthiness of their calling, giving countenance to their place, and maintenaace to their service, but in the baseness of their birth and kindred, poorness of their livings & pensions, and whatsoever may make to add unto them further disgrace, 3 the effect of faith. And proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth. Fasting and sackcloth, saith Jerome, are the armour of repentance. She cometh not to God with a full belly and meat between the teeth, Arma penitentiae saccus & ieiunium· Jnanis venture & luct●osus habitus ambitiosiùs Deum depre●antur. Hieron. Moeroris in signia. Tull. nor in gorgeous attire of silver and gold or of needle work, but with the thinnest face, and coarsest apparel that she can provide. She is so much the apt to apply her suit, and to entreat GOD. Not that the emptiness of the stomach, or roughness of the garment do so much content him: which are but outward signs of an inward cause from whence they proceed. For when the soul is touched indeed, and feeleth the smart of her sins, because it hungereth and thirsteth after the righteousness of God, therefore it cannot think on feeding the outward man, but commandeth it abstinence for a time even from necssary eating: and because it longeth to be clothed with the salvation of God, therefore it chargeth her flesh and blood, not to take care for wont attiring, but to change their accustomed ornaments into sackcloth and ashes. Meantime the pleasure that God hath is in the sorrow of the heart and in the humility of the mind which the humiliation of the body giveth him assurance of. The practice of David Psalm. 35, is, me thinketh a very good pattern, both to show the order of repentance, & to assign the place that fasting & sackcloth have therein, When they were sick, I clothed myself with sackcloth, & humbled my soul with fasting, and my prayer was turned upon my bosom. I behaved myself as to my friend or brother, and made lamentation as one that bewaileth his mother. 1. There must be some misery, as the sickness of friends, maladies of our own souls, or the public sores of the whole land. 2. Upon that misery, ensueth an inward & hearty compassion, as in a case that dearly affecteth us. 3. upon that compassion, grief, which mercy is never sundered from. 4. upon that grief, a neglect of bodily duties, & neither leisure to fill it with meats & drinks, nor care to trim it with ornaments. 5. upon the neglect of the body, do the exercises of the soul prayer & the like offer themselves, & 6. prayer with her other companions at length come laden home with the sheaves of comfort & bliss from the plentifullest fields. So that sack-cloth and sasting, as they are the witnesses of sorrow or some like passion, so are they helps also & occasions to more acceptable works than they are themselves, neither lie they next to the favour of God, but they thrust prayer & faith between them and home to beg remission. I mean not to prevent my text, by showing the nature, original, kinds, and use of fasting amongst both heathens & Christians, which some later verses of this chapter do challenged to themselves. Only I observe for this present, that both those sins, wherewith the people of Asia did most especially abound, and these in Niniveh perhaps more especially than the rest, they laboured forthwith to reform, that is, the delicacy of meats & drinks, & intemperancy in clothing. Luke 16. The rich man in the gospel is noted for both these, as handmaids that waited upon his riches. And Niniveh the richest lady under heaven was not clear from them. To rid themselves of these baits & allurements, 1. they fast, from meat, drink, sleep, ointments, delights & recreations of all sorts. For that is truly to fast; not only to forsake & forget ordinary food, Non solum ab escis sed à cunctis illecebris abstinere. Hieron. but to imprison & shut up the body from all the pleasures of life, to pull down the strength and pride thereof, & for neighbour-hoods sake to afflict the soul with it, & in effect to give it strait commandment, touch not, taste not, handle not any thing wherein thy wont joys consisted. 2. They proclaim a fast, they leave it not indifferent and arbitrary to the will of every private citizen to do what he best fancied. They bind them by a law and decree to do as the rest did, lest there might have been some in the city, carrying their Epicurism and looseness of life to their grave, Let us eat and drink for within forty days we shall die. 3. They put on sack-cloth. Perhaps not sackcloth in kind, which all the shops in Niniveh could not supply them with, but the vilest and simplest weeds that they might devise. Their purple and princelike furniture, wherein they esteemed not warmth, Non calor sed colour. Be●. Pretium affectatur in vestibus non necessitas. Id. but the colour and die, and ware them for their price more than necessity; their wanton, disdainful, superfluous sails of pride and vainglory they lay aside, and, but for open uncivilitie, they would strip themselves to the bare skin, and repent naked. 4. from the greatest to the least. They spare no calling, Prince nor peer, noble nor vulgar person. They spare no age, old nor young. The aged that went with his staff, and the suckling that drew the breast, are all charged alike, even those who for bodily infirmities, were unable enough to bear it. The two daughters of the horseleech which suck the blood of our land, The conclusion. wasting the substance and commodity thereof in vain, in some the effects of their wealth, in others the efficientes of their beggary, are the vices of these Assyrians which directly and purposedly they cross in this work of repentance. For what hath undone both gentlemen & mean men in our country so much, & brought some to shame, as their back & belly, pride and profusion? What means shall we use to crush these vipers amongst you? declaiming will not serve. Denouncing of the judgements of God we have found unprofitable by overlong experience. Have we not beaten your ears? (I mistake, the air & the wind) a thousand times with faithful & earnest detection of these monsters, pride & prodigality, strangeness of apparel, excess of meats & drinks, and have we not gained thereby, as if we had preached but fables? Niniveh is fallen long since, because she returned to that wallowing which here she repent her of. But Niniveh shall rise again and stand upright against us, and condemn us face to face, for she repent in hunger and thirst, we in satiety, gluttony, surfeiting, drunkenness; for either we never repent at all, or these are the stomachs which we bring in repentance: And Niniveh repent in sackcloth and ashes, stuff of the coarsest woof and workmanship, and of the simplest fashion that their wits could invent, we in our silks and velvets, of French, Italian, jewish, Turkish, Barbarian, hellish devises: for either we never repent at all, or these are the guises and shows we bring in repentance. These, these are the stomachs we go with, I say not to our beds, to stretch ourselves, and to take our ease, till we have gotten our appetites again, and these are the weeds we carry, I say not to the theaters to be stared upon, nor to the king's court where soft raiment is more tolerable to be worn; But with these stomachs and these weeds, we go to the temple of the Lord, his house of praying and preaching, and as boldly present ourselves therewith, as if the favour of God were soonest won by such intemperancies. Wither we be a people defiled and corrupted as these in Niniveh were, we are not so shameless to dissemble; and whither prophets have been amongst us, as jonas was in Niniveh, let their wearied tongues and sorrowful souls for their lost labour, witness an other day; & whither the judgements of God, some we have already felt, and some we have cause to fear, though not so grievous as they did, we need none other messengers to report, than our eyes standing in our heads, and beholding some part of them accomplished; And lastly, we would think it a great wrong unto us to be charged with unbelief. We say we believe God as frankly and confidently, as ever the men of Niniveh did. Thus far we will be equal with Niniveh▪ But show me your faith by your works as they did in Niniveh. If your sins have deserved a judgement, and judgement hath been sounded by prophets, besides the preaching of experience; and prophets, you say, are believed, because you receive them as those that speak in the name of the Lord: I say again, show me your faith by your works, as that city did. When did you fast, I name not bread and water, but from superfluous sustenance? When did you pull one dish from your tables, or one morsel from your bowels? Nay, do you not daily add, and invent for pleasure, even till the creatures of God, which die for your lives, cry out upon you; we desire not to be spared, but not to be abused; we refuse not to serve your necessity, but your riot; kill to eat, Necessitatem haud deprecor sed iniuriam. Necessitati subservire haud recuso sed luxu●, ut vescuris iugula, ut lautiùs & iucundiùs vescaris haud iugulae. Plut. de es● carn. but to eat deliciously and intemperately kill us not? Or when did you change one suit or thread of your raiment, in sign of suppliant and contrite spirits? shall I say by proclamation? no, nor by the secret and single decree of any private heart. Or from the greatest to the least? No. For greatness will not stoop but at greater judgements. The Lord doth bruise but the heel of the body, when the poor are smitten, unless he reach the head, the rich and mighty amongst us feel it not. Brethren there must be some end of these things, our eating and drinking not to live, but as if we would die with fullness, and wearing of pride like a chain to our necks, and a mantle to our whole bodies; or if Moses and Samuel were amongst us, they would be weary of their preaching. Yea there must be some end, or if Moses and Samuel withal the angels in heaven were amongst us; to bestow both their preachings and prayers that we might be saved, they should save but their own souls, and neither us, nor our sons and daughters. This is an year of temptation whereof I may say as Moses did in Deuteronomie of a strange prophet, Deut. 13. T●ntat vos dominus vester, The LORD your God proveth you whither you love him or no, whither you can be content for his sake to leave superfluities a while and to lay aside vanity, and convert your hearts and hands to the works of mercy. In the timeliest time of your harvest he covered the heavens with a sack, to teach you the way to sack-cloth, and sent leanness upon the earth, to teach you frugality and thriftiness in the use of his blessings. Many the poorer of our land would be glad with the disciples of Christ to rub an ear of corn between their hands, for relief of their hunger, if they could come by it. Their bowels sound like shaumes for want of food, and their teeth are clean, when your barns and garners are filled to the top, your presses run over, and your bellies are satisfied with more than the flower of wheat. O take somewhat from your bellies and backs, if you have any love to that hidden Manna, the meat that perisheth not, the fruits of the tree of life in the midst of the paradise of God; if any desire to those white garments washed in the blood of Christ, and rather to shine hereafter as the stars in the firmament, then as glow-worms upon the earth in this present life; take from your bellies and backs, both in regard of your own souls, to witness humility and sobriety before God and man, and for your poor brethren sake, that they may be fed and clothed. It is Christ that hungereth, and Christ that must satisfy you. Christ that craveth, and Christ that must give unto you. Christ that lieth at your gates, and Christ that must advance you to glory. He is the advocate to the poor, and the judge of the rich, he hath the sentence of blessing and cursing in his mouth, and to those that are plentiful givers, he shall render a plentiful recompense. THE XXXV. LECTURE. Chap. 3. ver. 6. For word came unto the king of Niniveh and he rose from his throne, etc. THE first of those five verses wherein the repentance of Niniveh is laid down, is nothing else, I told you, but a general comprehension of that which is afterward repeated and repolished with more particular declaration. Therein they lay their foundation low and sure: for the first stone of their building that beareth up all the rest, is faith, plainly and expressly mentioned: which if it had been suppressed by silence, as one that seethe the branches and fruits of a tree, knoweth there is a root that carrieth them, though it be buried in the mould of the ground; or the members of the body of man, stirring and moving themselves to their several functions, knoweth there is a heart that ruleth them, though it dwell secretly within the bosom: so though the name of faith had not here been heard of, he that had seen such branches and members of religious devotion and humiliation in the people of Niniveh, might easily have guessed that there was a root and heart of faith from whence they proceeded. To this they adjoin fasting and sack-cloth, not only as arguments and outward professions of their inward contrition or grief: but as adminicles, helps, & commendations besides to that effectual prayer of theirs which afterwards they powered forth. The belly, they say, hath no ears, and we may as truly say, Venture no● habet aures▪ Vexilium superbiae nidusque luxu●riae. August. it hath no tongue or spirit to call upon God; and sumptuous garments are either the banner of pride and nest of riotousness, as the Emperor of Rome termed them, or tokens at least of a mind at rest and no way disquieted, therefore they cry in the second of Wisdom, Let us fill ourselves with costly wine and ointments, and let us crown ourselves with rose buds. And Amos complaineth of them in the sixth of his prophecy, that put the evil day far from them, and approach to the seat of iniquity, that they eat the lambs of the flock, and the calves out of the stall, drink their wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments, but no man is sorry for the affliction of joseph. For it is not likely that the affliction of others should move their hearts, who are so occupied and possessed before with fullness of pleasures. For the better explication hereof, it shall not be impertinent to consider and apply the behaviour of Benadab 1. Kings. 20. he had received an overthrow of the children of Israel, one year in the mountains, the next at Aphek. An hundred thousand footmen were slain in the field in one day, seven and twenty thousand perished with the fall of a wall in the city, besides the danger of the king, who is afraid of his own life, and runneth from chamber to chamber to hide himself. Upon this misery wherewith they were touched, one danger being past, another imminent, his servants come unto him with these words: Behold now, we have heard say, that the kings of Israel are merciful kings: we pray thee therefore, let us put sack-cloth about our loins and ropes about our heads, and go out to the king of Israel, it may be that he will save thy life. They did so, and came to the king, and said, thy servant Benadab saith, I pray thee let me live. Benadab of late a puissant king, having two and thirty kings in his army, is now content with the name of a servant. First than you see, there is a persuasion of mercy in the kings of Israel: so there must be a persuasion of mercy in the God of heaven, which the Ninivites were not void of. Secondly that persuasion was unperfect, mingled with fear, standing upon terms of doubt, it may be he will save thy life: so likewise said the king of Niniveh, who knoweth if the Lord will repent? thirdly, upon this persuasion, such as it is, the Syrians go and entreat the king of Israel: upon the like do the inhabitants of Niniveh cry unto God: Lastly, to testify their humility, and to move him to pity, they put sack-cloth about their loins, and ropes about their heads; so do the people of Niniveh sit in sack-cloth and ashes, to bewray their contrite spirits. Now as Aram put ropes about their heads, to show that for their own parts they had deserved nothing, but their lives and deaths were in the king's hands, either to save, or hang them; so to fast, or wear sack-cloth, with any intention to merit, or satisfy the anger of God, is to abuse the ends of both these services. 22. Quaest 147. art. 1. Conc●us. Sine Baccho et Cerere friget Venus. applied by Jerome. Cibum rerum desiderabilium non comederam. Aquinas reciteth three ends of a fast: First to repress and subdue the insolency of the flesh; he proveth it from the second to the Corinthians the sixth, where the Apostle joineth fasting and chastity together: the one the cause, the other the effect that followeth it. Secondly, to elevate the mind, and make it more capable of heavenly revelation: as Daniel in the tenth of his prophecy, after his fasting three weeks from pleasant bread, flesh and wine, beheld a vision. thirdly, to satisfy and appease the anger of God for sins: which we can in no case admit: the proof he bringeth is from the second of joel, where we are willed to turn unto the Lord with all our heart, with fasting and mourning and weeping, to rend our hearts and not our garments, etc. What then? It is the manner and usage, we grant, of suppliant petitioners to abstain from meats, and to tear their garments from their backs, not with purpose to satisfy the wrath of GOD, but rather to execute wrath and vengeance upon themselves, and by macerating their bodies, and stripping them of their best ornaments to show, how unworthy they are of the blessings of God, whom by their heinous iniquities they have so offended. For it is not fasting and sack-cloth that pleaseth him so much, nor rending the garments, nor looking under the brow, nor hanging down the head like a bulrush, nor shaving the head and the beard, nor casting dust upon the face, nor sitting in ashes, nor filling the air with howlings and outcries: but inward and hearty conversion to God, acknowledgement of our grievous provocations, confession of our own unworthiness by these outward castigations, unfeigned repentance, vacation to prayer, & a faithful apprehension of his ancient and accustomed mercies. Therefore it followeth in joel, For the Lord is gracious and merciful▪ slow to anger, & of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. As much as to say, when you have sorrowed sufficiently for your sins, and signified that sorrow with abstinence and tears, take comfort at the length again, not in your own satisfactions, but in the remembrance and view of God's everlasting mercies. For word came unto the king of Niniveh. Some think, that the matter herein contained is distinguished from that which went before in the fift verse: and that the rulers and warders of the several parts of the city which jonas had passed through, had proclaimed a fast to the people, before the preaching of the prophet came to the king's ears. Hereupon they infer, that in matters appertaining to God, we must not tarry the leisure of Princes their licence be obtained, for Princes (they say) are slowest to believe, and farthest from humbling themselves before the majesty of God when his anger is kindled. I take it to be otherwise, and I am not left alone in that opinion: for most agree, that the former verse is but an index or table to that that followeth. Wherein the repentance of Niniveh is first rough hewn, and afterwards revised and gone over again with more special explication. For thus it hangeth together. If you will know what the people of Niniveh did upon this strange and unexpected news, they doubted nothing either of the word, or of his calling that brought it: but from the greatest to the least, old and young, princes and inferiors, all orders and states of men, they both believed the report, and became spectacles to God, and men, and angels of admirable contrition, condemning themselves in those two things especially whereof the whole world might justly have condemned them, luxuriousness of meats, and drinks, and costliness of garments: But if you will know their order of proceeding more particularly, thus it was: 1. word came unto the king, Prover. 15. as to the most excellent power and authority amongst them: 2. the king calleth a council, of the princes and peers, as being the pillars of his government: for where there are many counsellors, there is strength. 3. the king and his counsel make an act, touching fasting and prayer, and renouncement of sin, 4. they cause it to be proclaimed in manner and form as afterward followeth: 5. for encouragement and example to the rest, the King is the first man that humbleth himself. So that in truth, their sovereign and liege-Lord is first made privy to their service intended; wherein, for mine own part (simply to speak my mind, as one that must give account what I have built upon my masters foundation, whether gold, silver, hay, stubble or the like, for both my works and my words must be tried by fire) though I make no question, if the prince should be backward and careless in the worship of God, but God must be served, and so I would wish it: yet in a common cause, concerning the weal and welfare of the whole common wealth, where it lieth upon all sorts of men alike, to do some extraordinary worship to God (as the case of Niniveh here required) I hold it a point of disorder and confusion, that the foot should run without the head, the people or inferiors do any thing in public, whereunto the knowledge and authorizement of the prince is not first had. Give unto Caesar the things that belong to Caesar, and give him this for one amongst the rest, if Caesar be willing and ready to join with thee in the honour of God, leave him not out. I would not open this gate of liberty, to any subject or people in the world with whom Christ and his kingdom are harboured, that in a common danger of a country when God is to be pacified, and the land purdged in general, the private members thereof may enter into the action, without the warrant of the prince both to command and direct the same. If such were the king as Darius was, Daniel, 6. and such his rulers and officers as would make a decree to defraud God of his worship, that whosoever should make a petition to any, either God or man, ●n thirty days, save only to the king, should be cast into the den of the Lions, then be thou also as Daniel was, enter into thine house, and open thy windows towards jerusalem and pray, or enter into the house of God, and set open the doors and pray, or go into the corners of the streets, or into the market place, or climb up to the house tops and pray, stay not till the king or his council release thee thereto, and if every hair of thy head were a life, redeem thy duty to God with adventure and loss thereof, rather than neglect it: and if thou hap to be alone in that action as Elias was, yet forego it not. But if such be the king as josias was, or the like, and such his Princes and officers as make decrees for the worship of God, and are more wise than thyself, to know the dandger of the state, and as zealous to prevent it: whatsoever thou dost in private betwixt thyself and thine own spirit, thyself and thine own household, yet gather no open assembly, sanctify no public fast, call not to sack-cloth and mourning before the magistrate have decreed it. It may be a presumption of thine own zeal, an affectation of singularity, a commending and preaching of thyself unto the people, but sure I am, it is a censure by consequence, and a judgement under hand, against the rest of thy brethren, that they are overcolde in religion, a prejudice against the magistrate, that he is to slack, a breach of obedience to the powers that God hath ordained, and the mother of Anarchy and confusion which within a christian common wealth must carefully be shunned. In many the dangers of our land both at home and abroad, many the members and subjects thereof, as if our country had no more orators, and there were none to stand in the gap but themselves, have assembled together, either in towns, or in hamlets, and sometimes in a private house to fast and pray before the Lord. Their humbling of themselves in such sort, confessing of sins, offering of their hearts in devout supplication, singing of Psalms, prophesying in course from morning till evening, as they are plausible exercises in the sight of men, so I will not say the contrary but full of Godliness and Christianity. But (under correction of better knowledge and judgement) I think, that obedience and love, had been better than all this sacrifice, and that thus to minish the authority of the magistrate, by preventing his decree, and controlling as it were his government, and to give sentence against all the children of the land besides of negligence and unmindefulnesse in God's affairs, may more offend, than their service or devotion can do good otherwise. Much more seemly it were, that as the Apostle exhorteth the Corinthians, not the one to prevent the other, when they come to the supper of the Lord, ●. Cor. 11. which is a sacrament of communion and fellowship; so in a calamity of the realm, when all the joints thereof are disquieted, and have need to be salved and helped by the saving-health of GOD, that all might concur and agree for seeking that remedy: that the people might stay for the magistrates, magistrates lead the people, the prophets preach and denounce, the king and his counsel enact, and all put in practice: that a whole burnt offering might be made unto the Lord, from the highest to the lowest, a solemn dedication of every person and state that the land hath. And as jerusalem was commended for her building, so we for our praying and fasting, a people at unity within ourselves, where neither the greatest nor the least are excluded. But of the nature of a public fast hereafter. Meanwhile, the dangerous conclusions, that have, and might have ensued out of this maxim, to weet, that in matters belonging to God, we are not bound to expect or respect the magistrate, make me the more wary and scrupulous in handling this point. For I like not in any case, that the least advantage and scope in the earth be given to the people, against his lawful and Christian governor. It is as fire to flax, an easy and welcome persuasion to busy and catching natures. The least exception once taken against their want of religion, piety, justice or the like, is so far followed, that not only the prince, in the end, but the whole people ruth it. The Anabaptist in Germany, no sooner entertained this fancy in his brain, that a godless magistrate may be made away, but forthwith he granteth to himself, that all the magistrates of Germany are of that kind: and casteth in his head how he may lay his hands upon the Lords anointed. He beareth the world in hand, that God hath had speech with him, and given him a charged to destroy the wicked, and to constitute a new world, consisting of righteous and innocent. The ordinary preachings of Muncer were these, God hath warranted me face to face, he that cannot he hath commanded me, Joan. Sleid. Com. 5. Jpsemet mihi coràm promisis etc. to attempt the change by these means, even by killing the magistrates. Phifer his lewd companion, did but dream in the night time, of the kill of many mice, and presently expounded his dream of murdering the nobles. So likewise, let a papist from Rome or Rheims give forth, that a prince which is an Apostata, or excommunicate by the Church, for heresy or Schism, and openly denounced to be such, may be deposed from his seat, seignories, title to the crown, claim of subjects allegiance, how many traitorous hearts, slanderous and mutinous books, libels, speeches, declamations, defamations, rebellious, violent, hostile conspiracies, hath it brought forth? how ready hath the Lion been, to take cares for horns? that is, a prejudicate opinion, of men maliciously bend, to interpret the service of God heresy, and departing out of Babylon, schism; and falling away from Antichrist, flat Apostasy? The Brownist in England of late, imagining to himself, that in the disorders of the Church, reformation may be made without the leisure and leave of the Prince, if God had not slaked that heat, would have followed his conceit per saxa, perignes, through all the dangers and difficulties that are, would have trodden order, obedience, conscience, religion, duty to God and man under his feet, rather than have miss his purpose. Schismatici semper inter initia sua fervent, incrementa verò habere non possunt. 4. epist. 2. But the mercy of God assisting us, we have found it true which Cyprian some times observed, that schismatics are ever hottest in their first beginnings, but cannot take increase. To conclude, this fact of the people of Niniveh in this their religious intendment of public repentance and conversion to God, even for that order and obedience sake, which they hold towards their king, is the rather to be commended; & may be an image to all other kingdoms and Churches on the earth, how to demean themselves in the like businesses; not to neglect their rulers and governors, not to suspect them of carelessness in their charges, not to impair their credit and dignity in the opinions of men, with uncharitable and hasty surmises, not to usurp their authority, in the practice or publication of unusual acts: But to give them this prerogative, not only for policy but even for conscience sake, that as they are the heads of the body, and set over the rest; so in all such weighty affairs as this whereof I speak, they think their knowledge, advise, and association most fit to be required. And word came to the king of Niniveh. If we consider the words in particular, we shall find them to have marvelous force: 1. word came, not only the bruit, fame, 1. word came. report, tidings or hear say of it; but a word of a far different kind, a burden, a judgement, a powerful, terrifying, threatening word, a dreadful alarm of the wrath of God, a word that hath a deed in it and is not only pronounced, but done, or not far from doing. Such a word as we read of in the second of Luke, when the shepherds said one to another, Verbum hoc quod factum est. let us go into Bethlehem, and see this word that is done, this singular, miraculous, extraordinary word, the like whereof, we never heard uttered. 2. to the king of Niniveh, not to a viceroy, 2. To the king of Niniveh. appetite and tributary king, a king of a molehill, or of a little isle, a king under awe and subjection to some higher kingdom; but to the king of Niniveh, the successor of Nimrod, the Monarch of the 〈◊〉, the terror and scourge of the world far and near, the mightiest, maiesticallest, proudest king that the sun at that day looked upon. For what is the reason that the history having mentioned Niniveh so often before (go to Niniveh, and he went to Niniveh, and Niniveh shall be overthrown, and the men of Niniveh believe God,) doth yet, add the name of the city, as if without this addition it could not be understood what king were meant, but that the mind of the holy Ghost therein was, to note the unlikeliest king, to strike sails, and to yield his sceptre to the king of kings of all the countries and kingdoms that the world had. Yet this potent and insolent king of Niniveh, though he had built his nest as the eagles of the sky, for earthly provision and pre-eminence, assoon as he heard the tidings of this word, 3. He arose. what did he? 3. he arose, as if he had felt his seat shaken under him, and tossed with an earthquake, so he raiseth himself, starteth from his ease and tranquillity, thinketh it no time to sit and deliberate, and ask questions, to examine circumstances, to convent the disturber of Niniveh before him, and to take an account of his preaching, but if ever he hasted, and bestirred his joints, and called his senses and wits, his princes and people together to work a work, now to do it. 4. he rose from his throne, not from his bed, 4. From his throne. Whereon he took his ease; nor from his board, whereat he ate and drank; but from his seat of honour and principality, his royal, magnificent, monarchical throne; where he sat as king, and commanded, and took state upon him. From thence he arose, to do his obeisance to the Lord of all Lords, whose throne is the heaven of heavens, and all the thrones of the earth but his footstools. 5. Cast of his rob. 5 More than this, as if the rob of majesty, his vesture of purple and gold, his kingly attire, had been a burden to his back, and as unseemly to be worn as ever the botch or scab was to the Egyptians, he doth not only despise or refuse, and not reckon of it; but he putteth it off, nay he casteth it off, & throweth it down, and biddeth it farewell for ever as not becoming him: as if he had rated and reproved it in this manner: have I 〈◊〉 thee for pomp and pride, and given countenance unto my beggarly and base weeds in comparison of him who is clothed with zeal as with a cloak, and with righteousness as with an habergeon? lie aside, I mistook thy nature, thou art but the painting of a grave, or whiting of a rotten wall, the cover and case to a lump of mortal flesh; vain and unprofitable ornament, I am weary of thy service, thou haste made me honourable in the sight of men, thou canst work me no reverence or estimation before the Lord of hosts: 6. It had been enough to have proceeded thus far, 6 Covered himself with sack-cloth. to have strippeth him into his weekly and ordinary attire: to have gone like a common man, as Ahab in the first of Kings, changed his apparel that his enemies might not know him: first, the king of Niniveh doth not so; but he that had silver and gold as the dust in the street, and precious stones as the gravel in the river Tigris, to have wrapped his body in, and to have glistered against the rays of the sun, as Herode in his shining gown, forgetteth the wardrobe of the Empire, and goeth to the beggars press, humbleth himself like a bondman, one that had ground at the mill could not have taken a garment of base condition, he putteth on sack-cloth, nay he covereth himself with sack-cloth, sack-cloth is all the apparel he weareth, sack-cloth is the diadem to his head, sack-cloth the mantel to his back, from the crown of the head to the plant of his foot there is nothing but sack-cloth. The king hath wound his body in sackcloth as a corpse made ready for the burial, and fit to lie in the ground, then to live and breath upon the face of the earth. Lastly, when he hath all done, he lieth not on an heap of violets & roses, as the Sibarites were wont to do; 7 Sat in ashes. nor upon a couch beautified & decked with the tapestry of Egypt; neither goeth he into the temple of Niniveh, to cleave to the dust of the pavement, nor shutteth himself into his closet, to grovel upon the flore thereof; but he sitteth, dwelleth, abideth in an heap of ashes, sack-cloth was the ground, ashes is the garnish, lace, and welt to all his garments. A wonderful alteration, from a king of the earth, to a worm of the earth, from a rob to sack-cloth, from a throne to a dunghill, from sitting in estate, to lying in ashes, from the pomp of a monarch, to the image of a caitiff: he whom all the reverence of the world attended upon, to whom the knee was bowed, the head vncovered, the body prostrated, who had as many salutations as the firmament stars, God save the king, long live the Emperor; throweth away his crown, his sceptre, his majesty, with all the signs and solemnities thereto belonging: and in effect rebuketh himself, Why art thou proud O earth and ashes? Humble thy spirit, see thy mortality, tremble before the presence of that God, who sendeth terror into the hearts, and confusion into the faces of all earthly potentates. Conclusion. To make an end (for I have ever for the most part, against my meaning and purpose offended you with prolixity of speech) I have briefly two instructions to commend unto you: the one to the magistrates in particular, that they serve God as beseemeth magistrates. It is not the sword, sceptre, and rob, nor the highest room, and other pre-eminence, that maketh a magistrate: but as he doth make laws, so he must take laws (contrary to the mind of lawless Caracalla) and be a rule both to others and himself: as the king of Niniveh in this present example, Imperatores leges dare non accipere. is first and foremost in the service of God. The other in general to all sorts of men; The king of Niniveh, you hear, for whom the silver and gold and riches of the earth are provided, for who should enjoy these rather than princes? goeth from his throne and putteth on sack-cloth about him, as one that must give account to the highest God, like those of the meanest condition: Psal. 82. (I have said ye are GOD'S, but ye shall die like vulgar men:) and sitteth in ashes, as one not forgetting his first foundation, that as he was bred of the ashes, so to ashes he must return. My brethren, let not the pomp of the world deceive you, whither it stand in authority, or opulency, or voluptuousness of life, I say let it not deceive you. As the fresh rivers run into the salt sea; so shall all the honours of the world end in baseness, all the pleasures of the world end in bitterness, all the treasures of the world in emptiness, all the garments of the world in nakedness, and finally, all the viands and delicates of the world in loathsomeness and rottenness. Throw away your robes and costly comparisons, you Kings and Queens of the earth, (you that are such not by the ordinance of God, but by your own usurpation, that take such honour upon you not being called thereto, but bear the bravery of princes, the royalty of Solomon upon your backs) throw away your robes: lest he give you a rent that gave you a garment, and clothe you with worse than leprosy, that hath hitherto clothed you with honour and beauty. But why do I spend my time in so impertinent and unprofitable exhortation? fashion brought them in (these disguisementes I mean) and fashion must bear them out, or nothing will do it. Fashion is the best preacher and orator of our age. I would to God our preaching were in fashion to, for than I am sure it would win both men and women, we use all the fashions therein that our commission can extend unto, we preach season and not season, we bring forth old and new, we give milk and strong meat, we come in a spirit of gentleness, and with a rod, we entreat, we threaten, we preach mercy, we preach judgement, all these fashions we use, and yet without success. But the fashion of the world preacheth and persuadeth with more effect. Fashion brought in silks and velvelts at one time, and fashion brought in russets and gra●es at another; fashion brought in deep ruffs, and shallow ruffs, thick ruffs, and thin ruffs, double ruffs, and no ruffs, fashion brought in the verdingale, and carried out the verdingale, and hath again revived the verdingale from death, and placed it behind, like a rudder or stern to the body, in some so big that the vessel is scarce able to bear it. Thus whilst we fashion ourselves after this world, and every garish devise therein; or rather after the devil himself (for these are Satanae ingenia, the inventions of sathan, not of man:) It is to be feared, Terull. that when God shall come to judge the quick and the dead, he will not know those, who have so defaced and multiplied that simple fashion which he created, Opus hoc meum non est, nec haec imago mea, this is not my workmanship, nor this the similitude I first made. The Lord is king, Cyprian. let all the kings of the earth ascribe glory unto him: he rideth upon the cherubins, let all their chariots and chairs of estate stoop before him: he hath put on glorious apparel, let all their glistering and counterfeit ornaments be ashamed at his presence. O let us all from the highest to the lowest fall down and kneel before the Lord our maker, let us lie low before the footstool of his excellency, and withal submission both of body and spirit, acknowledge his hand & power over us. He is our God, and will thus be served; our Lord, and will thus be honoured; our father, and will thus be followed; our judge and dreadful revenger, and will thus be feared. THE XXXVI. LECTURE. Chap. 3. vers. 7. And he proclaimed, and said through Niniveh by the counsel of his king and nobles, saying, let neither man etc. IN the particular explication of the repentance of Niniveh, begun in the sixth verse, I observed principally both the order of their dealing, that without the knowledge and warrant of their king, they attempt nothing in private; and the example, or precedency of the king therein for his own part: which was, as if he had thus pronounced against himself; a judgement is come forth against all the sinners of Niniveh, Ego primu●▪ Scilicet in vulgus manā● exempla regentum. and I am first, and the only way to mitigate the anger of God is repentance, and I will be first therein also. The repentance of the king, was in effect the repentance of the whole city: as it is noted of the ruler: joh. 4. when he heard the words of comfort, Go thy ways thy son liveth, he first believed himself, afterwards when he better knew the time, and other circumstances, than he believed and his whole household. You have heard already in what life the repentance of the king is described: for whatsoever he had, making, for honour and princelyhood, that he forsook; and whatsoever there was on the other side, to degrade and discountenaunce himself in the eyes of his subjects, that he admitted and endured: he rose from his throne, and threw of his rob, as much as to say, he laid down all his authority, state, excellency, and forgot himself to be a king, and the monarch of the country, and more than that, covered himself with sack-cloth, and sat in ashes, so far from being a king, that he seemed in his own sight to be less than nothing. The throne and the rob with other royal pre-eminences, as the sceptre, the crown, and gorgeous attire in difference from other men, have ever preferred unto the eyes of the world, an image of that glory and honour, wherewith the kings of the earth are invested. It appeareth in the book of Genesis, what majesty the Egyptian kings had, by that second degree of honour which Pharaoh awarded unto joseph, he put a ring upon his finger, Genes. 41. and arrayed him in garments of fine linen, and hung a golden chain about his neck, & placed him upon the best chariot save one, & they cried Abrech before him: he only reserved unto himself the King's throne, Likewise we may read what honour belonged unto the kings of Chaldaea, and of the Medes and Persians in the books of Esther and Daniel: and of the throne of Solomon, with all his other port and prosperity, wondered at so much by the Queen of Saba, ChaP. 10. in the first of kings, and other places. And there is no question, but the kings of Niniveh, being grown and swollen in pride, were not far behind these. The stranger it is unto me, that this golden cup of honour & authority, made him not drunk, and drove him from all sense of his earthlines and mortality: it is so usual an intoxication to the rulers beneath, making them forget that God which sitteth above them. We have seen what the king of Niniveh hath done in his own person: now we must also attend what he did with the multitude and in common: for he is not content to mourn, or pray, or fast, or repent alone, or alone to be freed and delivered from the curse of God hanging over them: but he is careful of his people too, by giving the best example he can, he is both carbo and lampas, Gregor. in Ezec. hom. 1. a coal burning unto himself, and a lamp shining unto other men. The ointment runneth down from the head by the beard, to the border of the garment: repentance I mean descendeth from the king, by the counsel and nobility, to the meanest soul of the city. First, Division. he calleth his counsel together: secondly, they make an act: thirdly they cause it to be published, four, that act was only for repentance, and the service of God▪ Who ever heard the like, I say not in Israel, where prophets, and Apostles, and Christ himself preached: but even in paradise, the garden of the Lord, who ever heard the like, to this that was done in Niniveh? The Lord had but one pair of men in paradise, and preached but one word unto them, himself by his own mouth, and they obeyed him not: but in the city of Niniveh, barbarous, wild, and barren Niniveh, where all the plants were unnatural, and it could not be hoped that the fruit should be other then sour and unsavoury to him that gathered it, they are all turned saints, at the preaching of one jonas. As one reported at Rome, after his long voyage, that he had seen in England a goodly king, in France a goodly kingdom, in Spain a goodly counsel; so behold all these together in Niniveh; Pul●●am regem, pulchrum regnum. palchrum senatum. a good king, a good counsel, a good nobility, a good people, the whole city good. The king commandeth, the prince's consent, the people obey, all jointly excecute, as if all Niniveh were but a single man, and had but one head, and one heart amongst them. It was undoubtedly the unction of God's spirit, and not their natural gift, that caused such tractable and tender hearts: prophets may preach long enough, as the drops of rain fall upon marble stones, but if the God of peace and unity, join not two in one; and tie the tongue of the preacher to the ears and conscience of his hearer, not by a chain of iron or brass; but by the bond of his holy spirit, and wrap a blessing and power in his words, to subdue the soul of man, and bring it in subjection to the will of God; it can never be effected. By the order and course of the things themselves, though not of the words; the first thing that the king did, was the assembling of his princes and counsellors, 1. Counsel called. as appeareth manifestly by the parenthesis that followeth (by the counsailr of the king and his nobles.) Thus the king doth nothing without his counsel, nor the counsel without the king, but both together. No man is ignorant that the greatest offices have need of the greatest supportation: and that a king must have many eyes, Exod. 18. Si satis norint homines quàm molestum sit tantarum rerum tam numero sas epistolas, tantum legere aut scribere, diadema abiectum nemo acciperet. Si solus sit sapiens: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Hesiod. AEquius est ut ego tot taliu● que ami●corum consilium sequar, quam tot talesque amici meam unius vo●unta●em ears and hands▪ as Xenophon wrote in his institution of Cyrus; that is, many subordinate counsellors, ministers, and assistants, by whom to discharge the burden of his place. When jethro saw Moses his son in law, sitting himself alone and judging the people, from morning unto even, he did not less then reprove him for it: What is this that thou dost to the people? why sittest thou thyself alone? the thing which thou dost is not well: thou both weariest thyself greatly, and thy people that is with thee: and he caused him to appoint rulers cover thousands, rulers over hundreds, rulers over fifties, and rulers over tens, to judge the people at all seasons in their smaller causes. Moses confessed as much Deuteronomy the first, as jethro complained of, I am not able to bear you myself alone. It was a saying of Seleucus one of the kings of Syria, that if men did considerately know how troublesome it were only to read and write so many letters of so weighty affairs, if the crown were thrown at their foot, they would not take it up. Anacharsis, one of the Sages of Greece, thought it the only felicity of a king to be only wise, and not to need the help of other men, but who was ever so wise to attain to that happiness? I will not deny, but he that can counsel himself in all things, is very absolutely wise: but it is a second degree of wisdom not to reject such counsels and directions as are given unto him. And therefore worthily was it spoken by Antonius the Emperor: with much more reason it standeth that I should be ruled by the advice of so many and such my friends, then that such and so many should yield to my will alone. We read that Assuerus the king of the Persians, Esther the first, did nothing in the remove of Vashtie the Queen, without the advice of the seven Princes which saw the king's face, and sat first in the kingdom. Solomon 1. Kings. 10. had his ancient counsel, it was senatus indeed, because it consisted of grave and old men, Consilia senum hasiae iuvenum sunt. Jbid. according to the proverb, spears are fit to be handled by young men counsels by the aged. But Roboam his young son, provideth counsellors like himself; young in years, and young in discretion: which howsoever they were friends to Roaboam, they were not friends to the king, though happily they loved his person well, they were enemies to his kingdom. As it is meet that the king should have peers to consult with: 2. An act made. so it is a blessed combination and knot, when all their consultations and acts are referred 1. to the glory of God (for that is the first and great commandment) then, to the peace & safety of the weal public For as the law of God (saith Cyprian) is the stern that must guide all counsels, and be of counsel unto them; Consiliorum gubernacul● lex diuna. so if it be not also the haven where all their counsels arrive, and both the beginning and ending of their decrees, their success will be according. The qualities of those whom the superior magistrate should associate to himself, in administering his government, are numbered in the 18. of Exodus, and 1. of Deut. to be these seven. 1. they must be men of courage. 2. fearing God. 3. men of truth. 4· hating filthy lucre. 5. the chief of the tribes. 6. wise. Lastly, known men: such as had experience of the people, and the people of them. Without these conditions and respects, they were very unfit helpers. For what were a magistrate without courage, but a lion without his heart? or courage without the fear of God, but armed injustice? or what fear of the true God, where his truth is neglected? or how can truth consist with aucupation of filthy gain? or if their persons & parentage be in contempt, how shall the people regard them? or if they have not wisdom to rule, what are they else but an eye without seeing, or as if the day & the night should be governed without sun & moon? Lastly, as arts are made by experiments, so they must be tried and approved before hand by the sight of their virtues. Otherwise to meet at any time, & to lay their heads together for the dishonouring of God, & defacing of his religion, and so to intend policy, that his worship is not cared for, and his fear lieth at the threshold of their counsaile-house, not admitted amongst them; is to make themselves such counsellors as Allecto called in Claudian, Concilium deform vocat, glomerantui in unum Inumerae pests Erebi: Untoward and unfashioned counsellors, so far from being the pillars & props of the common wealth, that they are rather mischiefs and plagues which hell hath cast up. Now as it is meet, that the king & his nobles should come together, 3. The act Proclaimed. to decree wholesome constitutions; so it is as meet to publish them abroad, that the subjects may know what their duty is. The statutes of a kingdom must not be locked up in coffers, as the books of the Sibyls in Rome, nor as the sentences of Pythagoras which no man might write, be kept from the knowledge of the vulgar sort. In the 1. of Sam. 14. Saul had charged his people by oath not to taste any thing till night: upon an eager intention he had to pursue the Philistines. jonathan his son heard not of it and as he went through a wood, being faint with hunger, reached forth the end of his rod and d●pt it in an honey comb, and put it to his mouth: you know what danger it brought him unto: I tasted a little honey with the end of my rod and lo I must die. Therefore it is not amiss to publish such decrees, if for no other cause, yet to safeguard the people from that danger which by their ignorance they might incur. Besides, the glory of God is proclaimed by such proclamations; as Nabuchodonosor, Dan. 3. made a decree that every people, nation, and language that spoke any blasphemy against the God of Syrach Misach and Abeduego should be drawn in pieces: and that it might be known abroad, he caused it to be published. Nabuchodonosor king, unto all people, nations and languages that dwell in all the world, etc. The like did Darius in the sixth of that book, first he made an act that all should tremble before the GOD of Daniel in the dominions of his kingdoms, and afterwards for the promulgation of it, written to all people, nations, and languages in the wordle what the act was. Let neither man nor beast, etc. The matter enacted and proclaimed is in one word repentance wherein they were blest from heaven with as great a measure of wisdom as the sons of men were capable of: 4. The act itself. when they were to bethink themselves, & to beat their brains wherewith to wrestle with the judgement of god, that they made their choice of repentance. Repentance an act of all acts; if they had spent their days in consulting, this one in steed of infinite thousands to save their lives. An enemy did approach unto them, a spiritual enemy, from the higher places, justice I mean from the throne of GOD, whose forces were invisible, and could not be repelled with sword and target. What gate or fortress should they then use to shut out justice, but only repentance? their city had been laid in the dust, their candle put out, their monarchy translated, their carcases had rotten in dung, their souls been drowned in perdition without repentance. The ground and provocation of this their repentance is in the ninth verse. Who knoweth if God will turn and repent, & c? Faith in the mercies of God: this is the star that goeth before the face of repentance, the pillar of fire that guideth it in the night of her sorrows, and giveth her light, and telleth her how to walk, that she stumble not. For who would ever repent indeed, if he had not hope that his sins might be pardoned? In Luc. l. 10▪ cap. 22. and therefore Ambrose noteth, alluding unto Peter's den●al●es, that men do never truly repent, but when Christ looketh back upon them. For Peter denied the first time and wept not, because Christ looked not back: denied a second time, and wept not, because Christ looked not backed: but denied a third time and wept bitterly, because his master looked back upon him. And he looked not back so much with his outward and bodily eye, Non oculo exteriore, sed oculo clementiae. as with the eye of his clemency. The substantial parts of repentance are in the latter part of the eight verse; turning from their evil ways, and from the wickedness that was in their hands; their diet and preparation to repentance, fasting; the habit and livery weerein they come, sackcloth, the libel or petition which they offer, prayer and strong cry. You see the members of their decree, first, the ground of repentance, faith: secondly, the substance of repentance, newness of life; thirdly, the body or countenance of repentance, spare & thin; four, the garments of repentance, penitential and base, fifthly, the voice of repentance, suppl●●nt & lamentable. More generally, it hath two parts, the one by negation, denying something to the people of Niniveh, in this 7. verse: the other by affirmation, prescribing & enjoining what they should do in the eight. The negative and former part containeth only a fast, let neither man nor beast, bullock nor sheep taste any thing: jeiunij canitiem diligenter perseru●are. Homini primo coaevum. the antiquity whereof maketh it venerable, and the perpetuity unto this day, and to the end of the world, highly graceth it; it is no new invention; some have derived it from paradise, and made it as ancient as the first man: for the forbidding of the tree of knowledge, they say, was a law of abstinence. The exercise of nature, the law, the gospel of Christ, the practice of gentility itself, if I name but Niniveh alone, it were sufficient to prove it; but the stories of gentility make it more plain. Ceres had her fast, jupiter his; and Priamus in Homer bewaileth the death of Hector with fasting & in dust. patriarchs used it, prophets forsook it not, Christ & his disciples departed not from it: & the true children of the bride-chamber continue it at this day: they mourn because the bridegroom is taken from them, & till his return in the clouds of the air, they shall ever mourn. But there are fasts of divers kinds: 1. there is a spiritual fast from sin, unproper an translated, but that which especially pleaseth God. It is mentioned Esay, 58. and Zach. 7. Magnum et generale jeiunium. This is the great general fast, and a Lent of abstinence which we must all keep consisting in the holiness of our lives. Niniveh fasted this fast, but it fasted also otherwise. There is a corporal fast, from eating and drinking, and such other refections as nature taketh pleasure in: In hoc seculo quasi quadrag●simam abstinentiae celebramus dum bené vivim us, August. and this is either natural, prescribed by physic for healths sake; or above nature, and miraculous such as the fast of Moses, and Elias and the son of God for forty days or civil and politic, as the prohibition of Saul, mentioned before, which jonathan was angry with, because the people uwaxed faint; and Saul had no religious respect therein, but an earnest purpose of heart of sparing no time from chase the Philistines. It is sometimes a fast of necessity, which we cannot avoid, as in the time of dearth. Aquinas calleth it ●eiunium ie●unii, a fast of a fast, 1. Sam 14 because the earth forbeareth her fruits, we forbear our food, and would eat if we had it: and in this sense Basill calleth fasting, the companion to poor men, the other is ●eiunium ieiunantis, the fast of him that fasteth: that is, a voluntary and free fast. Lastly, there is a christian and religious fast, Pauperum conviva et Contubernalis jeiunium. either common and ordinary, using frugality in meats and drinks at all times, according to the warning of our Saviour, See that your hearts be not overcome at any time with surfeiting and drunkenness, Or special and extraordinary, Luc. 21. above the custom, but not beyond the nature of man: for then the la of fasts is broken; let the flesh be tamed (saith Jerome) and not killed. Dometur caro sed non in terimatur. holocaustum de rapina offered. For he offereth an offering of robbery, and bereaveth both GOD and man of his due, who afflicteth his body overmuch with immoderate subtraction either of food, or rest. Now the latter of these two is either private to one, or few, as to David, and the friends of job, or public, as this of the people of Niniveh: for it is said first to have been proclaimed, secondly, through out Niniveh. In this fast of the Ninivites, there are many things to be considered: first, it was timely, secondly orderly, thirdly universal, four exact, fifthly not hypocritical. 1 The time which they took for fasting (I mean not time in the common acception and sense thereof, consisting of space and motion; as when they began to fast, and how long they endured, what days of the month or week they made choice of, this my text expresseth not,) I mean the season of the time, the fitness and opportunity for such an action, was in a sudden terror of utter destruction. Austin in an Epistle to Hesychius, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Epist. ●8. distinguisheth these two: times, and seasons: so doth the Apostle in the first to the Thes●alonians and fift, which the Latins have rendered tempora, & momenta, times, and moments of times: wherein there is weight and worth not to be omitted. The former signifieth but space or leisure alone, which passeth to fools and wisemen alike: the latter, convenience or inconvenience for the doing of any thing. So long as there shall be a sun in the firmament which hath his course, there shall be a time for the handling of our actions, but perhaps not a season. As a man that gathereth his grapes at the first knotting thereof, gathereth them in time, but if he tarry the vintage than he gathereth them in season. Now the fittest and convenientest time for a fast, if you consider the fact of the Ninivites, and peruse all the examples that are written in the book of God, is ever some extremity, when the anger of God is thoroughly kindled, and threateneth a wound to the whole body. Me thinketh it should be in these public fasts, as the schoolmen writ of their solemn penance: Differt à publica & fit cum po●pa. lib. 4. distin. 14. which is seldom granted by Origen, and by the canonists but once; The reason is given by the master of the sentences: Ne medicina vilesceret, lest the medicine should grow in contempt by the common use of it. I have heard of a nation of men (I will not say that their neighbourhoode hath a little infected England) who when their king hath intended a feast, for the honour of his country, and entertainment of foreign Ambassadors, they on the other side have proclaimed a fast, as if God had sent them an Embassage of the last judgement; I cannot deny them time, but surely they took not a season for so doing. I will prove the matter in hand in the next circumstance, and join them both together: wherein I observed, Secondly, that it was an orderly fast, because the king and his counsel had first decreed it. I touched it a little by occasion of the former sentence, the words directly leading 〈◊〉 thereunto. If any remain as yet unsatisfied, first for mine own purgation, know ye, that I speak not as the Lord of your faith, but as one that had obtained mercy to be faithful in my calling, I showed you mine opinion and judgement: 2. for the thing itself, search the scriptures, for they bear witness of the truth, whither these public, religious, extraordinary fasts had not always their authority & emanation from public persons In the 20. of the book of judges, the chosen soldiers of Israel, which were taken by lot out of all their tribes, to fight against Benjamin, in the quarrel of the levite, whose wife was shamefully abused and murdered; they held a public fast from morning until evening; vers. 26. the cause was, a slaughter which they had receved of forty thousand men, and a conscience they made of fight against Benjamin their brethren. vers. 2. The authors of the fast, Anguli vel extremitates populi. ve●s. 6. ibid. are the rulers of the people, who in the Original are called▪ the corners and heads of the people. In the 1. of Sam. 7. they fast publicly, they drew water saith the text, even rivers of tears, & powered them out before the Lord; the appointment is from Samuel, who judged Israel in Mispah; and the cause, their idolatry committed to strange Gods, & the absence of the ark from them full twenty years. verse. 2 & 3. verse. 3. In the 2. Chronic. 20. there is a fast proclaimed throughout all judah, jehosophat the king proclaimed it; the cause was, the sudden coming of a great multitude, from Ammon and Moab and Aram, verse. 1 & 2. to invade his kingdom. Esdr. 8. there is likewise a public fast summoned in their return towards jerusalem: vers. 21. 7. Esd. 5. Esdras the high priest ordaineth it; the reason is, that God would direct them in their way and preserve themselves, their children and goods in safety. vers. 16. Another, Esther 4. which Esther gave Mordecay in charge for: now Mordecay was the man on whom the hearts of all the jews in Shusan depended at that time. The cause that God would assist Esther, who with the hazard of her head, when her people were near their utter extirpation, adventured herself to speak to the king in his inner court, being not called before him. Another, jeremy 36. verse▪ 9 In the days of wicked jehoikim, who cut the book of the Lord with a penknife▪ and caused it to be burnt. It was certainly proclaimed by order from some that might command. For who else could assemble together, all the people in jerusalem, and all the rest that came from the cities of judah without special authority? yea Iez●bell herself, 2. King. 21.8 though the daughter of Belial, was not ignorant what the manner of those times was. She proclaimed a fast in jezrael where N●both dwelled, to rob him of his vineyard, and to betray his life; but first she sent letters in the kings name, and secondly sealed them with the kings seal, and lastly directed them to the elders and nobles of jezrael, that they might put them in execution. But the Phrases used in joel do sufficiently determine the nature of this action, Blow a trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the people, sanctify the congregation, gather the elders, and all the inhabitants of the land: assemble the children, and those that suck the breasts, let the bridegroom and the bride go forth of their chamber. Sanctificatum ieiuni●● quod publicè indicitur per deum, vel per magistratum, episcopum, prophetam. P. Mart jonathan sanctificare vertit per decernere. Now what is a sanctified fast, but that which is publicly called and established either by God himself, Levit. 23. or by the magistrate, Bishop, or prophet? or who hath authority to draw the people from their work, to gather the aged and sucklings, and all the inhabitants of the country together, to appoint an holy day unto the Lord, to be spent in prayers & sacrifices, but only these governors? As in a receipt of Physic, the ingredients may all be good, yet is it not so warrantable unto us, neither are we willing to meddle therewith, unless a professor of Physic by his art and authority prescribe it: so in a public fast, privately convented, I said before that all the exercises were christian & religious, their prayer, preaching, singing, and distributing to the poor; but as our saviour told the rich young man in the gospel, there is one thing wanting unto thee, if thou wil● be perfect, sell all that thou hast etc. So there is one thing wanting unto these, Med●cina est jeiunium. sed medicina licet millies utilissit; per vtentie imperitiam fit inutilis Homil 3. ad Pop. Ant. Nosseoporte● et tempus. etc. Jnter ieiunij laborem â ieiunii coronà excidemus. Jbid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Can 66. Ap. Non bene succedi● quicquid fit ●assim. de singular Cl●ri●. and to give them their full perfection, we must suffer the rulers of the common wealth to appoint them. Chrisostome calleth fasting a kind of Physic; but Physic may be profitable a thousand times, & yet be hurtful at a time, for want of skill to use it: therefore he would never have it done but congrua cum l●ge, with all the laws that agree unto it: and every circumstance of time, quantity, state of the body, with the like, precisely observed. He apply the Apostles similitude: No man striving for a mastery is crowned, unless he strive lawfully, & so it may fall out, that amidst the pains and afflictions of fasting, we may lose the crown of it. Zonara's hath a rule to the same purpose, treating likewise of fasts, Good is never good, except it be done in good sort. And Cyprian in like manner, It proveth not well, which is done of headiness and without order. The third thing in the fast of Niniveh, is the universalitye of it: for it was not only public and open, but included almost whatsoever breathed amongst them. It concerned first men (which is here indefinitely put) signifying the whole kind, from the man of greyest hairs, to the tenderest infant: and as you heard before, from the greatest to the smallest: secondly, Beasts▪ yea all sorts of beasts, great and small, oxen, horses, sheep, goats, and whatsoever cattle they had of any service. Fourthly, it was very strict, for they are forbidden to feed, I say not to glut themselves, but they might not so much as taste; perhaps not delicate meats; no nor any thing: it had been enough to have kept them from eating, but neither might they drink I say not wines, and curious electuaries, but not so much as water, which their rivers and wells afforded them. Fiftelye it was serious and unfeigned, not false and sophistical as the manner of hypocrites is. It appeareth by that that followeth in returning from their evil ways, and forsaking that wickedness which was in their hands. So that, by this their behaviour, they seem to intend thus much; we acknowledge before thy majesty (Lord of hosts) we thy unworthiest creatures that ever thy hands have form, viler than the sackcloth we wear; (for if there had been base stuff in the world, we would not have refused it) & fowler in thy fight, than the ashes we are besprent with; we acknowledge before thy majesty, our king, princes, and senators, our sons and daughters, old and young, even from the ground of our heart, that thou art a righteous Lord, and we an unrighteous nation, not worthy our meat, drink, clothing, or any other thy benefits, yea worthy to fall upon the sharpest edge of thy severest judgements; we have endangered ourselves, wives and children, infants and dumb beasts, life and goods, city and people, to thy heaviest ire? and in acknowledgement thereof and sign of our humble subjection, as guilty within ourselves, and condemned in our own consciences, whatsoever thou hast given us to enjoy, outward or inward, nearer or further of, for comfort, for pleasure, for service, or any other use, either in our families at home, or in our folds and stalls abroad, we resign into thy hands, as having no right unto it, we lay it down at the feet of thy justice, Why not beasts? 1. To provoke repentance. 2. To amplify the misery. 3. To move men to pity. 4. To draw God to commiseration. and beseech thee for thine own names sake to take mercy upon us. Let neither man nor beast etc. But what mean the king and council of Niniveh by so mad a decree? have they a purpose to regain favour of God, and think they to do it by trifles and vanities? are they so simple and unsensible, to put unsensible beasts to repentance? hath God care of bullocks and sheep? or have bullocks and sheep care of God? do they not live and die? (without repentance shall I say?) yea, without religion, and without reason also? did they fear? nay did they ever know God that they should be threatened? have they ever sinned, or shall they ever come to judgement that they are taught here to humble themselves and to be Godly as it were, and to join with the people of Niniveh in their public repentance; O pardon repentance agreater absurdity than this: her unspeakable griefs and compunctions within, known unto God, and to no mortal creatures besides that feeleth them not, send forth unreasonable actions sometimes, to common judgement. Her spirit is so dull and lumpish with sorrow, that she cannot abide the recreation of any creature when she is in heaviness, she wisheth and endevoreth by her uttermost provocations, that not only men but beasts, nay trees and stones might mourn with her, And that the light of heaven would accompany her in her doleful passions. She thinketh that no sun should shine, because she taketh no pleasure in the brightness thereof; that the lilies of the field should be clothed in black, because she is so appareled; that the infant should not draw the breast, nor the beast take his food, because she hath no appetite: neither doth she do this of an envious affection (that be far from the meaning of humble and meek repentance) but feeling the weight of sin, and always chewing the cud, that God is offended with it, she runneth from all pleasure of the world as from a serpent, she panteth and sobbeth day and night she weareth her hands with wring, and her breast with smiting upon it; the pavement is the cabin that pleaseth her best, anguish her bread, her drink salt tears, till she get some comfort from the God of peace. And fearing withal a decay and declination within herself, that she shall be weary too soon of well doing, that her sorrows will end, and her tears be dried up▪ before they have washed her sufficiently, except they be nourished; she saith within herself, O that the world would mourn with me, to keep me in practice of mourning; If I but saw others weep, mine eyes would ever run, If I but heard the suckling cry for milk, and beasts roar for food, because they want it; how would it cause me to send up my cries for the favour of God, because I have it not? This is one reason of their decree, let neither man nor beast taste any thing. For these outward, but grievous objects, sights and sounds of misery in others, carry word to our souls, how general the misery is, and move our inward affections to continue in repentance. Chrisostome addeth some other reasons; that they made their beasts to fast, Homil. 3. add pop. Antioch as at the funerals of rich men, not only the friends and servantes of the deceased, but their very horses are clad in black, and led in the train with them, both to note the greatness of their loss, & to move the lookers on to take compassion. He hath yet a further conceit, that they did therein as the prophets were wont to do, who seeing a scourge come from the Lord, Et calamitatis magni●udinem oftentante● & omnes ad misericordiam all licientes. jer. 14. & finding no confidence in themselves nor way to excuse their iniquities, not knowing whither to fly for patronage, nor daring for very shame in their own names to crave pardon for their sins, betake them to the brute beasts, & tell God of their woeful plight, as if by the commemoration of their miseries he would sooner be persuaded. Thus did jeremy in his prophecy, the hind calved in the field, & forsook it because there was no grass And thus did joel in his, how did the beasts mourn? the herds of cartel pined awa●e because they had no pasture, and the flocks of sheep were destroyed. And for this cause also they put their infants to fast, joel. 1. that the innocent age might speak unto God in be half of the riper sinners. I now conclude. The repentance of Niniveh made them hard hearted, Conclusion unmerciful & uncompassionate to themselves and to their beasts, harmless & innocent creatures, to debar them of their meat & drink, and because they understood not the anger of God by preaching, Non licet brutis sermone iram Dei discere, discant fame Chrysost. ut supra. to make them understand it by famine. Where is the repentance of our times? Whither is 〈◊〉 fled? or where hath it hid herself? ●ur land and our sea may say, repentance is not in me. Repentance the gift of God, the joy of angels, the salve of sins, the haven of sinners, I say again, what is become of it? It is not for the angels of heaven to repent, because they sin not: nor for the devils of hell, for their judgement is sealed: it is only for the sons of men, and we only know it not. The people of Niniveh sinned and would not eat, sinned and would not drink, sinned and would not be clothed, nay sinned and would not give leave to their beasts to feed. We sin, and yet we eat, nay we sin in eating: we do not only taste, and feed, which are here forbidden, but we taste and feed deliciously, we are wanto with the gifts of God, & abuse them to surfeit. We sin, and yet we drink, nay we drink and sin in drinking: for we drink intemperately; I say not water, which is here forbidden, but wine, and wine in excess, & wine withal the helps that may be to make us more exceed. And we sin and clothe ourselves, rather we cloth ourselves, & sin by clothing us: for we clothe ourselves superfluously, I say not with sackcloth, but with that which might beseem Solomon if he were now king in jerusalem. And we feed not only ourselves but our oxen in our meadows & stalls, to feed our unprofitable carcases, & our horses in the stables to bear our unprofitable carcases, when the poor in our streets, and at our gates, feed upon empty air for lack of sustenance. I ask again, in the height of our sins, what is become of repentance? Repentance, which God preached in paradise; for he showed our forefathers their sin, & gave them the promise. Which Noah proclaimed to the old world; Let to Sodom; Moses to Egypt; Prophets in their sundry generations to Israel and judah; john Baptist, the daystar & morning of the Gospel, Christ the son of righteousness, and all his Apostles the shining lamps of the new world, what else did they preach to the people that then was? of faith & repentance were their sermons. Repent & believe the gospel. Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. These & such like were their texts, and these shallbe our preachings, and themes till we see some number, & measure of our unruly transgressions. If we believe not we are already judged. And if we repent not the kingdom of God is coming upon us But the sceptre will be changed & the government wholly altered. Then was the kingdom of grace, now of glory & justice. Then was the saving, now the judging of souls; then came it in the tongues of men, now in the trumpet of an archangel; then with tidings of great joy to the whole world, now with terror and amazement to all the kindreds thereof. Then with glory to God on high, and peace upon the earth; now with, vae, vae, vae, habitatoribus terrae, thrice woe to them that dwell upon the earth. Then to gather the lost sheep of Israel into the sheepfold, now to sever the goats from the sheep; then to embrace both jew & Gentile, now to divide between servant and servant at the same mil; between man and wife in the same bed; between jacob and Esau in the same womb, and to pronounce the one of them blessed, the other accursed. Repent therefore, for this kingdom of God is at hand, to deface all kingdoms, to root up the nations, to consume the earth with her works, and her people with their sins, and to feed them with the food of judgement and water of gall, who eat and drink up iniquity like their daielye repast. It belongeth to us all to repent. We were all conceived in sin, and in iniquity have our mothers brought us forth. Concupiscence hath been the nurse whose milk we have drawn from time to time, and as we have grown in years ourselves, so hath corruption grown with us. What remaineth, but to repent? to change our Morions skins, to put off our stained coats, and to wash our feet from their filthiness as job spoke, and not only our feet, but our heads also as Peter spoke in the gospel, to renew both bodies and souls, and to serve him in holiness and righteousness, who long time hath served himself under the burden of our sins. So God shall answer repentance with repentance. He shall be sorry in his heart, that ever he passed that sentence against us. It repenteth me to have made man: And if he have thought upon any plagues to smite us withal, it shall also repent him that ever he devised them. THE XXXVII. LECTURE. Chap, 3. vers. 8. But let man and beast put on sackcloth etc. OF the two general parts wherein the repentance of Niniveh stood, the negative being ended in the former verse, containing the diet of repentance, we are now to proceed to the affirmative, delivered the most part in this eighth, wherein 1. the habit & attire of repentance, sackcloth. 2. the tenor of her speech, mighty crying▪ 3. her very substance and soul, the change of life are expressed. We moved a question why beasts should be called to communion of fasting, and those other afflictions exercised by the Ninivites. Some think they are put by tanslation of speech, so that the distribution of man and beast, signifieth not two disparate kinds of creatures, but in the same kind, men of sundry condtions; wise and unwise, prudent and simple, reasonable and unreasonable, so doth Jerome expound them. Prudentes & simplices, rationabiles & irrationab. How be it there is no question, but the most foolish are also men, and therefore included in the former member of the division. Of withholding food from the beasts there is less doubt, but that they should clothe them in sackcloth, and place them in the number of those that cry mightily unto the Lord, seemeth more unsensible: for they have neither understanding, nor speech, and their bodies are wet with the dew of heaven, as Nabuchodonozor's was, Dan. 4. and their hides are those natural indumentes which God hath provided for them. 1. Sackcloth. Touching the sackcloth, it is not necessary to inquire whether they were all covered with it yea or no: happily but their horses and mules, which were in greatest price, and wherein they most gloried, whose manner aforetime was▪ to be clothed in sumptuous trappings; of such it is likely enough that their ornaments were changed, and it may be their whole herds and flocks, to make the greater spectacle and solemnite of dolefulness. For it is no more unprofitable in these funerals of their city when she was going as it were to her grave, that these beasts should also accompany her in mourning steeds with the rest of her people and children, then that at the funerals of noble men not only their kinsmen and friends, nor their houses and hearses alone, but their horses which they used for service, should also be drawn into the fellowship of their sorrowing. And we read, judith. 4. when the approach of Holofernes was feared, that the children of Israel cried every man to God with great fervency, and their souls with great affection; and that both they, and their wives, and their children, and their cattle, and every stranger and hireling, and their bought servantes put sackcloth upon their loins. And to make the greater show of sorrow, they sprinkled ashes upon their heads, and spread out their sackcloth before the face of the Lord, and they put sackcloth also about their altar. Their crying, Lyra expoundeth to have been after their kind; 2. Crying. they roared and brayed for want of food, Clamaban● suo more. Deficiente pastu mug●eban●. Qui mugi●●s dicebatur ad Deum clamare. which natural moan of theirs was their crying, It is said, Psalm. 147. that God giveth food to the beasts, and to the young ravens that call upon him, Likewise, job. 39 Who prepareth meat for the crows, when their young cry unto the Lord for it? By these, and by the like scriptures, you may know what the cry of the beasts was. That which David speaketh of the heavens and firmament day and night, Psalm. 19 that they declare the glory of God and show forth his handy works; lest any should mistake he explaineth in the third verse, They have neither speech nor language, yet without these is their voice heard: so we may say of these beasts, that though they cried not unto the Lord, as the men did, yet they cried after their usage. R. jarhi hath a conceit that they tied their dams and their fools asunder and said, before the Lord of the world, Dixerunt coram domino mundi, nisi tu nostri misereare nos horum non mis●rebim●● unless thou take pity on us we will not pity these. I will not think them so unwise to have conditioned with God, but I will easily admit, that they might part the old and the young, and do all that was to be done, to fill the air with lamentable outcrying. To acquit the king and his counsel, from folly or distraction of their wits, in this so unusual and unreasonable an act, I showed you the manner and nature of sorrow before; how gladly it seeketh companions, Est aliquid, socios habuisse doloris. It is no little comfort in discomforts not to be left alone in lamenting, and to see all things turned into mourning, that are near about us. For as we desire nothing more than heaviness of spirit in such a case, and the cheerfulness of any thing is as welcome unto us, as prickels to our eyes; so we bless that creature, whatsoever it is, that will help to feed us in our melancholic humours. We wish fountains of water in the heads both of men and beasts, to be a pattern for our imitation, and to draw us forward in our wellpleasing pensiveness. And as in the contrary affection, when the name of God was highly to be magnified, and there was just cause to exult and triumph, David cont●●ted not himself with the secret of his own spirit, or with awe king his lute and harp to praise the Lord; but he desired the harm●●ny of heaven and earth to be added unto it; (so did the child●●● of Babylon in their song. O all ye works of the Lord bless ye 〈◊〉 Lord, praise him and magnify him for ever; So did the Prophet● in their writings, Psal. 148 Esa. 44. Rejoice O heavens, shout ye lower parts of the earth, burst forth into praises ye mountains, ye forests and every tree therein:) Even so is the nature of grief never so well pleased, as when all the pleasures of the world are exiled, She calleth heaven above too weep, the earth beneath to lament, beasts to pine away, rocks to cleave in twain, the mountains to give none other Echo but lamentations, the rivers to run with tears, and all the fruits of the earth to be changed into wormwood and bitterness. And as it moveth the affection, so it instructeth our understanding also: it putteth us in mind of the hugeness and horror of sin, how dangerous the contagion thereof is, to touch not only ourselves, but all the creatures of God that belong unto us. It is for our sins sake that the whole creature Rom. 8. is subject under vanity: that is, a flitting and unstable condition; and not only under vanity, but under corruption, yea under a bondage and thraldom of corruption; not of itself, but for him that hath subjecteth it, (which is either God offended with sin, or man that provoked him,) and it groaneth with us, and travaileth together in birth, and putteth out the head to look and watch for the revelation of the son of God, because that is the time when her service shall be ended. Genesis 3. besides the curse of the serpent, the curse of Eve, the curse of Adam in his own person, In the sweat of thy face, thou shalt eat thy bread, that is all callings of life shall be laborious and painful unto thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field, common and waste, not the fruits of the garden as thou didst before, and thistles and briars shall the earth bring forth unto thee, though thou spend thy labour to the contrary; it is added in the same place, maledicta esto terra propter te, the earth which thou treadest upon, and which is free from deserving the curse, the earth which was made before thee, and thou made of the earth, cursed be that earth for thy sake. Likewise, Genesis the sixth, when the Lord ●aw the wickedness of man, how greatly it was increased, than it repent the LORD that ever he had made man, and he was sorry in his heart; therefore he said, I will destroy from of the earth the man whom I have created, (he stayeth not there,) but from man to beast, from creeping thing to the soul of the heaven, for I repent that I have made them, not only the man, but these that were created for man's use. Behold the ungraciousness of sinful man. We were made the Lords and rulers of the earth, both of the fruits, and of the people and living creatures thereof; we have dominion over all the works of GOD'S hands, Psalm. 8. all things are put in subjection under our feet, all sheep and oxen, yea and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and fishes of the sea, and whatsoever walketh through the paths of the sea; but we have changed our government into tyranny, and are not content with the rule, unless we seek the spoil, nor with the use and commodity, unless we work the ruin and wrack of our poor bond-servantes. Quid meruistis oves? (saith Pythagoras in the Poet) what have our harmless sheep and oxen deserved at our hands, thus to be misused? But we, the nocent wretches of the world, workers of all iniquity, deserving not rods but scorpions, cause innocency itself to be scourged for our transgressions. But that the providence of God restraineth them, it is a marvel that they break not their league, and shake of their yoke of obedience towards us, and with their horns and hooves, and other natural artillery, make war upon us as their unrighteous Lords, whom it sufficeth not to have used their service alone, unless we plunge them besides into such undeserved vengeance. Again, the punishing of their beasts was to add something to their own punishment: Cum haec i●menta sint homini dat● in adiutorium, corum afflictio in homine● r●dund●●. for when these are not fed and nourished, and kept in heart▪ not only the beast, but the owner himself smarteth for it. Undoubtedly, it is a blessing to men, that their oxen are strong to labour, their horses swift to the race, their asses and camels meet for their burdens, that their bullock engendereth without failing, their cow calveth without casting, their sheep bring forth thousands and ten thousands in their streets: and it is a curse on the other side, to be bereft of these commodities, as in the fift plague of Egypt. Now then, a part of the wealth and substance of Niniveh consisting in these beasts, by reason of the service they enjoyed, and profit they reaped thereby, doth not the afflicting of them redound to their masters? and do they not lose themselves, by weakening the bodies of their cattle through lack of food, whereby not only their labour, but also their fruit and increase is hindered? Lastly, some took a pride in some kind of beasts, namely their horses which I mentioned before, and not only fed them with the best, to keep them fat and shining, but clothed them with the richest. We read of Nero the Emperor of Rome, that he shod his mules with silver; and of Poppaea Sabina, that she her horses with gold. Non sic Petru● etc. De Consid. Bernard telleth Eugenius the Pope, that Peter road not upon a white warlike horse, clad in trappings of gold. And it is not unlikely but the kings of Niniveh did offend in the sumptuousness of their horses, as much as the Emperors or Popes of Rome. In these it was not amiss that their glory and pomp should be abated, howsoever it fared with the rest; and that their bellies should be pinched with hunger, which were pampered before; and their backs clothed with sackcloth, which were wont to be magnified with such costly furniture. These and such other reasons of their act as might be alleged, I let pass, and come to the handling of the words themselves. Sackcloth. But let man and beast put on sack-cloth. The first member commandeth the habit that their repentance must be clothed with. It was the manner of those times, especially in the East parts, if either they lost a friend or child by death (as jacob his son Gen. 37.) but rather for the loss of the favour of God, and commonly when they repent their sins, and sometimes when they prayed, not only to refuse their best garments, as the children of Israel, Exod. 33. When the Lord told them that he would not go himself, but send an angel with them, they sorrowed exceedingly, and no man put on his best raiment; & sometimes to cut their clothes, as josu. 7. sometimes to rend them from their backs, as joel. 2. but instead thereof to take unto themselves the uncomfortablest weeds and fashions that might be devised. For besides their wearing of sack-cloth, they would sit upon the ground and in ashes, as the friends of job; job. 2. and not only sit, but wallow in dust and ashes, as the daughter of jerusalem is willed to do, jerem. 6. and clasp the hands upon the head, and sprinkle ashes upon it, as Tamar did, 2. Sam. 12. and their hair, as their man's is described, Amos 8. and finally, take up an howling, and make an exquisite lamentation, jer. 6. as one that should mourn for her only son. In all which and such like outward observaunces, I like the judgement of a learned Divine, that they are neither commanded by God, nor by GOD forbidden, and are not so properly works, as passions; not sought, or affected, or studied for, but such as in sorrow, or fear, or the like perturbations offer themselves, Non tamopera quàm passi●●●●. Pomera●▪ and are consequent of their own accords as helps to express unto the world our inward dispositions. So when we pray unto God, we bow the knees of our bodies, lie upon our faces, cast up our eyes to heaven, smite upon our breasts, with the like ceremonies. In all which, prayer is the substance and work intended, and these, though we think not of them, come as a kind of furniture and formality (if I may so speak) to set it forth. The ●●●nesse of the spirit draweth the whole body into participation of the grief, making it careless of the food, and negligent in the attire that belongeth unto it. And if ever they be alone (these shadows and dumb shows, I mean of sack-cloth and mourning) without their body of toward contrition, (as they fasted in Esay from meat, and were proud of their fast, Esa. 58. Zach. 13. Why have we fasted and thou regardest it not? but not from strife and oppression; and the prophets in Zachary ware a rough garment, but it was to deceive with:) then is our thanks with God, the same that he gave to Israel in the place before mentioned, Is this the fast that I have chosen, that a man should afflict his soul for a day, and ●owe down his head like a bulrush, and lie in sackcloth and ashes? wilt thou call this a fasting, or an acceptable day unto the Lord? or is not this rather the fasting that I have chosen, instead of forsaking thy meat, to deal thy bread to the hungry, and for sack-cloth about thy loins, to cover thy naked brethren, and not to hide thine eyes from thine own flesh? And as of sack-cloth and fasting, so we may like wise say of crying which was the voice of repentance. And ●rie mightily. For was it the neighing of horses, lowing of oxen and bullocks, lamentation of men, eiulation of women and children, mingling heaven and earth together with a confusion of outcries, that could enforce the LORD above to give them audience? doubtless no. For the prayer of this people (a shield against the judgement of GOD, which nature itself thrust into the hands of the mariners before, and here of the Ninivites, yea that obstinate king of Egypt, which set his face against heaven, and confronted the GOD thereof, was glad to fly unto it, Exod. 8. Pray unto the LORD for me and my people, that this plague may depart; and Simon the sorcerer, who deceived the world with his enchantments, thought it the only charm whereby the mercy of God might be procured; Act▪ 8. ) though it be reported of by as special notes as prayer may be honoured with, 1. for the manner of it, that it was vehement and forcible, They cried; 2. for the ground, inward and intentional, They cried mightily, and from the bottom of their hearts; 3. for the object, right and substantial, They cried upon GOD; yet if their words and works, purpose and performance had not kissed each other, if with their lips alone they had honoured God without their hearts, or with their hearts alone without their hands, as we have to consider in the next words, they had soon been answered, as a people better favoured than themselves were, Esay the first, Though you stretch out your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you, and though you make many prayers, I will not hear you. The Gentiles, Matthew the sixth, used long speech and much babbling, and thought to be heard for that cause, but they lived as Gentiles. The Scribes and the Pharisees in the same place, prayed also, not as the Gentiles to unknown GOD'S, but to the God of the Hebrews, they cried Lord, Lord, with often inclamation, yea they stood and prayed, not only in their houses, but in the synagogues and corners of the streets to appear to men, and no doubt to be heard of men, and they used likewise long prayers, Luke the twentieth as the Gentiles did, yet they were but hypocrites, and the portion of hypocrites was reserved for them. And this is your meed (look for it, hypocrites, as you look for summer when you see the blooming of the figtree) when you pray as if you dreamt without your senses, your lips walking, and your eyes aspiring into heaven without devotion, you, whose heart lieth within your bosom as a secret thief, calling to your tongue and hands and bodily members, and saying, give me credit in the eyes of men, make some show of piety at the least, recite the prayers of the Church though you pray not, and use the gestures of the Saints of CHRIST though you mean them not, your part is with those hypocrites, and with Simon Magus, your lying tongues the LORD shall root out of their tabernacles, your deceitful eyes shall sink into the holes of your heads, the sacrifices of your forged and faithless consciences stink in his nostrils, your prayers are an abomination unto him, and, that ever you have taken his fearful name within your lips, shall turn to your sorer condemnation. The complement and perfection of all that went before, the soul of their corporal fasting, sackcloth, crying, which is their spiritual fast from sin, and instead of putting on sackcloth, putting on the new man, followeth to be examined in the next part of the mandate: wherein the substantial parts of repentance are contained. Yea let every man turn from his evil way, etc. For what is repentance in effect, but a returning to that integrity and uprightness of life from whence thou art departed? Therefore saith the edict, let every man return. There is terminus à quo, Revertitor quisque. and terminus ad quem, in this sanctified motion; somewhat which we must forsake and relinquish, somewhat which we must recover, and procure again. There must be a death to sin, and a resurrection to justice: for as Eusebius calleth repentance a type of the resurrection, so may we the resurrection a type of repentance. There must be an aversion from sin, and a conversion to God; a mortification of old Adam with all his concupiscences, and a vivification of the new man. joel expresseth both these parts. First, joel 2. rend your hearts. What? shall we smooth them? anoint them? flatter them? bind them up? No. We must pull them in pieces, rack them upon tenterhooks, tear them with gripes and convulsions; we must not suffer sin to hide itself in any corner thereof, which is not produced to light and thoroughly examined: and then turn unto the Lord your God, etc. GOD by his prophet Esay giveth likewise his people a charged concerning both these, wash you, Es. 1. make you clean, take away the evil of your works from before mine eyes, cease to do evil; afterward followeth the second, learn to do well, seek judgement, relieve the oppressed, with other effects of a new life. And who was ever a better expounder of repentance, than he, who went before the face of the Lord, and both preached the doctrine with his lips, and with his hands administered the baptism of repentance? Albeit the text that he used unto them were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which signifieth a change of the mind, and the inward powers thereof, yet he added by way explication, Math. 3. Bring forth fruits worthy of amendment of life. And when the people asked him, Luke the third, What shall we do then? he answered them, he that hath two coats, let him part with him that hath none, and he that hath meat, let him do likewise. Thus much in effect. The repentance that I preach unto you, doth not only forbid cruelty, in pulling clothes from the back, and meat from the teeth of others, but it also enjoineth the works of mercy. Chrysostome in his third Homily to the people of Antioch demanding what it was that preserved the Ninivites from the inevitable wrath of GOD, thus reasoneth with himself; was it their fasting and sack-cloth alone? we cannot say it, but the change of their whole life. How know we? 〈◊〉. 10. by the very words of the prophet. And God saw their works. What kind of works? That they fasted and ware sack-cloth? neither of both. For the Prophet suppressing all this, inferreth, that they returned from their evil ways. I speak not this (saith he) to bring fasting into contempt, but rather to honour it: for the honour of a fast, is not abstinence from meats, but avoidaunce of sin. Honour ieiunij▪ non ciborum abstinentia, sed peccatorum fuga. And he that defineth a fast, by the only forbearing of food, is the man that most disgraceth it. Dost thou fast? show me thy fasting by thy works? Thou wilt ask, what kind of works? if thou seest a poor man, take mercy on him. If thine enemy, reconcile thyself. If thy friend deserving praise, envy him not. If a beautiful woman, make a covenaunte with thine eyes not to be taken in her beauty: and let not only thy mouth and thy bowels fast, but thine eyes, thine ears, thy feet, thy hands, and all thy bodily members. Let thy hands fast from robbery, thy feet from bearing thee to unlawful spectacles, thine ears from sucking in slanderous tales, thine eyes from receiving in wantonness. For what availeth it to abstain from eating and drinking, if mean time we eat and devour up our brethren? 1. Let every man. The matter of this edict is very notable, and in so few words as much as wisdom and religion might contain: first, it requireth of every man a change of life. For the word is a particle of distribution and excepteth neither the age, sex, nor estate of any person. Maximilian the Emperor comparing himself and the kings of Spain and France together, had a witty and pleasant saying that there were but three kings in the time wherein he lived. Rex hominum, rex asinorum, rex regum. The Spanish, a king of men: because he used them ingenuously and liberally as men: The French, of asses; for the immoderate exactions which he took of them: Himself, a king of kings; for they would do no more than their own pleasure was. But the king of Niniveh is a king of subjects. Behold a general decree enacted for repentance, and there is not one soul in Niniveh that starteth back. Secondly, it requireth of every man not only to go from his wickedness, 2. Return. but to return to that justice from whence he was fallen and to renew the image of holiness decayed in him. It is a good degree of repentance to bewail those sins which we have committed, and not to commit those sins which we have bewailed. But it is not enough in repentance; for he that is not a gatherer with Christ is a scatterer, Plangere comussa. Plagenda non commitere. and as great displeasure we reap in the omission of duty, as in commission of iniquity. john Baptist did not tell them in his sermon of repentance, that every tree which brought forth evil fruit should be hewn down, (though that were implied) but if it brought not forth good fruit, it was in danger of the same judgement. Neither did our saviour tell his disciples, that except their injustice were less than the injustice of the Scribes and Pharises, they should not enter into the kingdom of heaven: but except their justice were more. He that buried his talon in the ground had a purpose not to offend. But he had no purpose of doing good. This then is the meaning and sentence of the decree: we are fallen from labour to idleness, from meekness to pride, from temperance to riot, from mercy to oppression, from justice to violence; let us not only leave and forego these vices, but let us return to their contrary virtues. thirdly, It requireth of every man to return from his evil ways, 3. From hi● evil ways. his ancient and accustomed sins wherein he had travailed and traded himself, and made it his walk a long time. Therein they imply this secret confession. We are not fallen by ignorance and mischance as those that labour to rise again, neither hath our foot slipped alone by the frailty and infirmity of our flesh, but we have wilfully and wittingly brought ourselves into an habit of viciousness. We are not sinners of yesterday, and novices in the school of Satan, but we have long trodden the paths of unjustice, and wearied ourselves in the ways of wickedness. Fourthly, it requireth of every man to return from the wickedness that is in his hands, 4 From the wickedness in his hands. not in his heart alone; that is, not only from his proper sins, which harmed no more than his own conscience, but from his violence, rapine, extortion, which were his open transgressions, noisome and hurtful unto other men. For there are some sins private and domestical, the sting and smarting whereof for the most part dieth within the soul, and plagueth but the person of him that committeth it. We commonly say of a prodigal man, that he is no man's foe but his own, and envy eateth but the marrow of his bones that envieth, not his that is envied▪ And pride is but thine own vanity, and sloth an ignominy belonging to thyself. But some, their nature is such, that wheresoever they have their dwelling, they are the hammers and mallets to the whole country that lieth about them. These are the unrighteousnesses which before I specified in part, and ●re therefore called the wickedness of the hands, though other parts of the soul and body are not innocent, because the hand is the chief instrument and weapon whereby they are wrought. Curtius writeth of the Elephant that he taketh an armed man with his hand, Lib 4 Ma●● 〈◊〉 virosque corri●it. and delivereth him to his master that sitteth upon him. He meaneth the boss of the Elephante which he useth, as men their hands, to do that service. And Achilles asked Palamedes going to the battle of Troy, why he went without a servant. Palamedes showed his his hands, and asked him again, whether he thought not those in steed of servants. It is the strength, Nonné hae illorum vi●e sunt? Manus organum organo●um. agility, serviceableness of the hands by reason of the aptness they have to so many and sundry offices, which chardgeth them with unrighteousness common to other parts. But the chief thing to be considered, and wherewith I will conclude, is the especial hold that the king and the counsel taketh, omitting other sins, namely of this forcible and hande-stronge violence. Other things we leave to your own consciences, common with your hearts about them, and purge yourselves. We are not the searchers of the heart and reins, we know not the faults that lie in darkness; but that which is open to the world, for which we are hateful to GOD and man, the worm that hath bred of our greatness and wealthiness, the daughter of the monarchy, a familiar to kings courts, and not a stranger to the burse of merchants, fraudulency and forgery in contracts, bribery in justice, cruelty in common life, overbearing of right by might, grinding the poor like corn between the millstones of oppression, and eating them up like bread, pushing at the weak sheep with side and shoulder, and leaving neither flesh nor arm, vinyeard nor house free from invasion, this we namely forbid, and precisely give in charged that it be amended. I would our usurers would mark this, that of all those grievous offences whereof Niniveh had laboured a long time, the rest are held a sleep, and their names spared, as not worthy in comparison to come in speech with their far superior iniquity; Namque meos nec equos mihi nec rapuere i●venc●s. ●lutar. de vit●ndo▪ ere alieno. only the wickedness of their hands, which is not least in biting the poor, is remembered and reported in special words. Spoke I of usurers? There are none: neither is there a sun in the sky. For mine own part, I know them not. For they have taken neither horse nor bullock of me. But for my brethren sake both in the city and country, I wish that their bellies and bonds were all heaped together in the market place, and set on fire, as they were sometimes at Athens, that we might all joy and say, as Alcibiades then did, we never saw a clearer fire. Nunquam vidi ignem puriorem. But because we cannot ease our hearts so soon of them, nor by such means, I will tell them for their own comfort what they shall trust too amongst other things: E●si vorsurâ suâ ignem assiduè nutriant. that although they labour in the fire, to get riches, yet the time shall come, when there shall nothing remain unto them but this, that they shall be able to know and recount with themselves, how many debtor they have quite undone. Quot debitore● pessum dedere. De malè quaesitis etc. As for their treasures of iniquity, let them plainly understand that they put them into a bottomless bag which could hold nothing. Ill gotten goods never descend to the third heir. Perhaps, nor to the second, nor first, nor to benefit himself, who thinketh he hath most handfast. Mich. 1. She gathered it of the hire of an harlot, and it shall return to the wages of an harlot. They gathered their wealth by usury, and usury or somewhat else shall consume it. Gnipho the usurer, as Lucian reporteth. lieth in hell, bemoaning his hard estate, that Rhodochares an incestuous unthrift should waste his goods: so may these. But I leave their judgement to GOD, to whom it belongeth. For vengeance is his, and he will surely repay. Yet dare I give sentence against them▪ as far as the laws of the ancient Romans did: wherein because a thief was bound to make restitution of double, the usurer of fourfold, their meaning is plain enough, that they esteemed usury a double theft, and that at the least is my judgement. And therefore as Alexander Severus made an act, that none should salute the Emperor, who knew himself to be a thief; so let our usurers take themselves warned and discharged (so long as their hearts accuse them of their double and triple theft) from saluting Christians, and much more from eating, drinking, conversing, most of all from praying, fasting, communicating with Christians. This city of all other parts of the province, is not otherwise unfit to receive dehortation from this wickedness of the hands. here are the thrones of David, the seats of judgement in both kinds of laws. Ecclesiastes said of the one, Chap. 3. I have seen under the sun the place of judgement where was wickedness, and the place of justice where was iniquity. And Bernarde to Eugenius of the other, A great abuse, No man looketh to the mouth of the judge, all to his hands. These are they that do all the Pope's business. Omne Papale negotium illae agunt. 4. De consid. Manus sermo gentium. You see how active and stirring the hands are. Surely as Anaxagoras thought man to be the wisest of all creatures because he only had hands, whereby he is able to speak, if need be, and to express all signs: so I do think him the wickedest of all creatures, because he only hath hands; and no Tiger or vulture under heaven more hurtful with his claws or talents, than man with his excellent member, when he is disposed to use it to bad purposes. But to return from those wicked hands the Pope's factors, As Paul, albeit he knew nothing by himself, yet was he not justified thereby; so though I know nothing by either of those two places, which I speak of, yet have I not freed my soul, nor discharged my duty, unless I admonish them both of that which may be. I trust they will pardon my charitable jealousy over them, 2. Micah. J● qui tignum rapuit & construend● magn● arci adhibuit, totam arcem subvertere debet, et ●ignum domino suo restituere. Abb. 2. Epist. 54. Si res aliena propter quam peccatu● est, reddi potest & non redditur, paenitentia non agitur sed simulatur. Si autem veraciter agitur, non dimi●t●tur peccatum, nisi restituatur ablatu●●, Sed ut dixi, cum resti●●i poorest. the same reasons of mightiness and authority agreeing to them, which were found in Niniveh. For what is the reason that men first imagine iniquity, and afterwards contrive wickedness in their beds, and when the morning is light, put it in practice, but because their hand hath power? First they covet fields and then take them by violence; and houses, and take them away▪ so they oppress a man and and his house, even a man and his heritage. When a malicious will, and a mighty hand, concupiscence and violence meet, you see how a family and posterity is overthrown by it. Whatsoever either violence or fraud be meant by the wickedness of the hands, the Hebrews agree, that the meaning of the king and his counsel was to call for restitution. In the observation whereof, as R. Kimhi affirmeth, their forefathers of godly memory were so carefully careful not to offend, that they made this decree; If any had wrongfully taken a beam or rafter, and used it in the building of a great tower, he was to pluck down the whole tower again, and restore that piece to his owner. Habacuk doth not much dissent from them. For the stone shall cry out of the brickwall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it, woe unto him that buildeth a town in blood, and erecteth a city with iniquity. It shall be better for them to pull down towers, and towns, and cities, and countries to the ground, rather than to suffer such sk●ich-owles of woe to sing in the chambers thereof. Saint Augustine to Macedonius, is as peremptory in terms as ever the oppressor was in his violence. That if the goods of an other man, the taking away whereof was unjust, may be restored and is not; repentance is never truly done, but counterfeited. But where it is truly done, the sin shall never be pardrned till the spoil be restored. But as I said before, when it may he restored. Wherein thou mayest deceive thyself. For though thou canst not restore in identity the same for the same, yet thou mayest restore in equality so much for so much, which was the meaning of Augustine. Fulgentius noteth upon the words of Matthew, Every tree which bringeth not good fruit etc. If barrenness shall be cast into the fire, what doth rapine and robbery deserve? If judgement shall be without mercy to him that showeth not mercy, Si sterilita● in ignem ●ittitur, rapacitas quid m●retur? etc. Quid recipiet qui ali●●a ●uli●, si semper ard●bit qui sua non dedit● what judgement shall be to him, that doth also show cruelty? And Rabanus noteth no less upon that complaint of Christ Matthew twenty five, I was hungry, and thou gavest me no bread. What shall he receive for taking away other men's, who shall ever burn in hell fire for not giving his own? I was hungry and thou gavest me no bread. Nay, I was hungry, and that little bread that I had, thou tookest from me. I was naked and thou gavest me no clothing. Nay that simple coat and cloak that I had, thou spoiledst me of. I had but one vinyeard, and thou deceavedst me of it. These in their judgements and conclusions went not so far touching the necessity of restitution, but Nehemias avowed it as deeply by actual demonstration; for he shook the lap of his garment, and wished that the Lord would even so shake out all those that restored not. But if so excellent a governor in so different a case, the houses and lands of the people being laid to gauge by themselves and money received upon them, were so angry in his mind for the cry of the poor, that he rebuked the princes and rulers for their sakes, and set a great assembly against them, and put them to silence, telling them that for the reproach of the heathen, they ought to have walked in the fear of the Lord (Which now they did not) and praying them to give back the pledges again and to remit some part also of the debt, and not content with their word, binding them by oath before the priests to perform it; nor with their oath, but sealing it for more assurance with that fearful sacrament of emptying his garment, himself cursing them to their faces▪ if they broke promise, and all the congregation crying Amen: what shall we then say of them, or with what reasons shall we urdge them, or what bonds shall we take for their restitution, who have taken the houses and fields and of their brethren, not as pledges but praies; not voluntarily yielded, but violently wrung ou●, without either money or recompense to those whom they have displaced? If they lose the accepted time, they will come and restore hereafter, as judas did. He brought the thirty pieces of silver again, but it was too late. Luke 19 Let them rather learn of famous Zacheus, whose praise is in the gospel, and the singularity of whose fact maketh it almost a miracle. He was the chief receiver of the tribute, and he was rich withal, and if the country belied him not, a man of a sinful life. I will not say that his office made him rich, and his riches an evil man: (but officers that grow rich in haste, hardly escape that gradation;) howsoever it were, little Zacheus, but as great in example as ever we read of, a chief receiver and a chief restorer, rich in substance and rich in good works, and in the midst of his sinful life, a renouncer of his sinfulness, no sooner he received Christ into his house, and much more into his conscience, but as if he had lain in his dregs of extortion before, he now stood up; and not caring to be heard of men, nor hunting after earthly commendation, spoke unto the LORD, 1. He stood and said. 2. Lord. 3. Behold. 4. Halfe. 5. My goods Dona non spolia. 6. I give. 7. To the poor. 8. If I have defrauded. 9 Any man 10. Of any thing. 11. I restore 12. Fourefolde. Behold Lord, with a ready and cheerful heart, (offering his service and sacrifice before the face of his Saviour;) not the crumbs of my table, nor morsels of my meat, but half of my goods, a frank and bountiful present, and I take them to be mine own, honestly and lawfully gotten; I give with as free a mind, as ever thou gavest to me; not to my friends and kindred, or to the rich of the world, who are able to make me recompense, but to the poor; and if ever I defrauded, much more if ever I defeated by might any man, stranger or home-born; I say not of his main estate, but of any his smallest portion, nor by open detected wrong, but by secret concealed cavillation; I restore it, principal and damage; for I restore it fourfold. What followed, but that he emptied his house of the transitory treasures of this world, and instead thereof let in salvation unto it. This day is salvation come to this house, not only to the private soul, but to the house of Zacheus through his means. I scarcely think that these ravenous and greedy times can yield a man so innocent, as to say with Samuel, whose ox or ass have I taken? or whom have I wronged? At the least let him say with Zacheus, I say not in the former part of his speech, half of my goods I give to the poor, (for that were heresy to be held, and false doctrine to be preached in this illiberal age) but in the latter clause, if I have injuried an●e man, though I restore not fourfold, yet I restore him his own. Otherwise our houses and consciences will be so full, of houses, fields, vineyards, olives, silver, gold, unrighteous pledges, that there will be no room for the peace and consolation of GOD to dwell with them. Therefore wash your hands and hearts from this leprosy, my brethren, that you may be received into the host of the Lord, and dwell with his first-born: and either forsake your violence, or convert it an other way. Let the kingdoms & commodities of the earth alone, and learn that the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and must be won by force. Math. 11. See if you can extort this spoil from him that keepeth it. Spare no invention of wit, intention of will, contention of sinews, strength of hands to get this kingdom. Beg it, buy it, steal it, assault it, use any means. This, this is the only oppression and violence that we can allow you, and in this only thing. Be not modest and courteous towards any man in this heavenly price. Hither if you bring not tooth and nail, and resisting unto blood, and hating your lives unto the death, you are not worthy of it. It suffereth violence itself (it is so proposed & conditioned) and they are men of violence, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. that by violence must attain unto it. Therefore wrestle for this blessing, though you lame your bodies, and strive for this kingdom, though you lose your lives. THE XXXVIII. LECTURE. Chap. 3. vers. 9 Who can tell if God will turn and repent? etc. THE last thing in the repentance of the Ninivites, by the order of the words, though in purpose and intention first; and that which presently giveth place to the repentance of God, their expected deliverance in the next sentence, is the foundation whereupon they ground, a knowledge and apprehension, such as it is, of the goodness of God, and some likely hope to escape his vengeance intended. There may be some part of repentance without faith; contrition, anguish, vexation for sin, till not only the heart acheth, but the conscience also is quite swallowed & drowned in the gulf of it. As there is no question, after that horrible fact of judas, but his spirit was as full of grief, as before of treachery and covetousness. Let the world witness with him, how deeply he rued his malice, when he pledged body and soul for it, and gave over the one to the tree, the other to hell fire. For it there had been a penalty to have taken of himself worse than death and damnation, he would not I think, have shunned it. Cain was also as sorry for his bloody fact as ever greedy before to commit it. He felt even a talon of lead upon his soul, never to be removed; and therefore uttered a blasphemy against the grace of GOD never to be pardoned: My sin is greater than can be forgiven. Genes. 4. This is the reason that he had a mark set upon him, that no man should kill Cain, who with a thousand daily wounds killed himself; and that ●ee ran from place to place, not so much in his body, as in his mind, tossed like a wave of the sea, and finding no place for rest, because the mercy of God shone not unto him: Behold, thou haste cast me this day from the face of the earth; is that all? And I shall be hid from thy face, driven from thy presence, banished from the light and favour of thy gracious countenance. This is the dart that woundeth him to death. For, this received into the mind, that we are hid from the face of GOD, that we are so far in contempt and hatred with his majesty, that he will not vouchsafe to give us the looking on; if all the clouds in the air reigned love and compassion, we could not be persuaded that any of the least drops thereof should fall upon our ground. Wherhfore there must be a belief to conceive, and an hope to expect our reconciliation and and atonement with God, and GOD'S with us; or it will be an unprofitable and unpossible attempt, to endeavour a true repentance. For either it will follow that we become desperate, and give over care of ourselves, it is in vain to serve GOD, and what profit shall we reap to humble ourselves before him, seeing his mercy is clean gone from us for ever, and he hath bend his soul to do us mischief? And as it is written of julius the Pope, that having received an overthrow by the French at Ravenna, which he looked not for, he set his face and mouth against the God of heaven, and thus spoke unto him, So, henceforth become French, in the name of all the devils of hell, holy Swisser pray for us; Sic, esto nunc Gallicus: in nomine omnium diabolo●um S. S●i●er●●ra pro 〈…〉▪ In col. 〈…〉 Lu. 〈…〉. so we betake us to new Saints, or rather to new divelles, flying to hardness of heart, carelessness of salvation, contempt of God; or else we repent but after the manner of hypocrites, we make some proffer and likelihood of returning to God▪ but cannot do it. Such I think was the repentance of the Philistines, the first of Samuel the fift and sixth, when they had taken the ark of the Lord, and placed it first in Ashdod, and there were punished with Emeralds and with death; afterwards in Gath, and Eckron, and there they could not endure it, It is said of them, not only that they were troubled, and conferred of carrying home the ark again, but that they cried, and their cry went up to heaven, and they sent it back with a present unto the Lord, and with sin offerings: nay their priests and soothsayers said unto them, wherefore should you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened theirs? Such the repentance of Saul, 1. Sam. 15. who having received a message by the prophet, that as he had cast of the word of the Lord, so the Lord had cast him of from being a king, and that his kingdom was given to his neighbour better than himself, though at the first he denied his crime, yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord; yet afterwards he confessed, I have sinned in transgressing his commandment, and he desired Samuel to take away his sin, and to return with him that he might worship the Lord; which when Samuel refused, he then altered his speech; yet turn with me I pray thee, and honour me before the elders of my people, and before Israel. So that his principal care was not the service of GOD, but honour and estimation in the sight of men. Such the repentance of Ahab, 1. King. 21. who having heard the words of Elias thundering the judgements of God against him and his house, he rend his clothes and put sack-cloth upon him, and fasted, and lay in sack-cloth, and went softly; but how temporary and feigned his repentance was, may appear in the next Chapter by his despiteful dealing with Micheas. Such is the repentance of those who are not rightly persuaded of the pardon of their sins: fitter for Philistines and reprobates than Christians, and to be used in Ashdod or Ascalon, than at jerusalem. The conjunction of faith and repentance is so close, that some have thought it to be a part of repentance. I rather take it to be the beginner and leader thereof. As the body and soul, though they are joined together in the same man, yet is not the body a part of the soul, nor the soul of the body, but both distinct: so faith, hope, and charity, if they be true, they are narrowly linked one to the other, yet naturally and essentially severed. For final resolution whereof, you may best satisfy yourselves by proof from this place. For although this sentence which I have in hand, be the last of the mandate, in order and disposition of words, yet is it first in proposal. For if they had asked in Niniveh a reason of the king and his counsel, why they should bid them fast, and wear sack-cloth about their flesh, sparing neither beast nor sucklings, why they should add affliction, and misery to misery, as if it were not sufficient to be plagued by the hands of God, at the time prefixed, but they must plague themselves and their cattle forty days before hand, having but a handful of days (in comparison) to enjoy their lives, and to take their pleasure in earthly commodities, or why they should cry unto the Lord, and not be heard, and forsake their wickedness, and not be pardoned; the reason of all this is alleged in this Epilogue, who can tell if the Lord will turn and repent? It cannot lightly be worse, it may be better with us; the doing of these duties to God, will not put us nearer to our judgement, it may send us farther of; we are sure to be overthrown if we repent not, we may repent, and happily escape it; it is but the leaving of our meat and drink for a time, who must leave both belly and meat too; the missing of our better garments, who must miss our skins and our flesh from our backs; if we use our tongues in crying, we lose nothing by it; and if we wash our hands, and cleanse our consciences from iniquity, we shall go the lighter to our judgement. Who can tell? it is the nature and property of God to show pity unto the whole world, and although Niniveh be the sink of the earth, why not to Niniveh? Some change the reading, and instead of quis novit, who knoweth they put qui novit, Chald. raph.. Ar. Mon●. Rabbini nonnull●. Qui scit. convertatur qui sibi conscius est admis●i facinoris etc. quisquis penes se existerepe●cata agnovit. Jra est Dei non intelligere peccata ne sequatur poeniten●ia. Cypr. Luke 15. he that knoweth; connecting the sense with that which went before, in this manner: let every man turn from his evil way, and from the wickedness that is in their hands, qui novit, who knoweth so to do, and is not ignorant what belongeth to such a change, or thus; he that is privy in his heart of any wickedness committed against God or 〈◊〉 an, public or private, let him amend it. The instruction from so translating it, is good, though the translation itself be mistaken; that knowledge must ever go before the face of repentance. Knowledge I mean, not only in kind, to distinguish sin from sin, and to call them all by their proper names, but by number and weight, how many, how grievous they are, how far they extend to the annoyance of the earth, provocation of heaven, breach of christian charity▪ and striking at the majesty of God himself. Thus he acknowledged his sin in the gospel, who spoke in his heart before he did it, and therefore was not ignorant what he went about; I will go to my father, and say, I have sinned, yea but not a simple sin, I have sinned a mighty and manifold transgression, I have sinned against heaven, I have also sinned against thee; against the father of my spirit, against the father of my flesh, against him that gave me his law, against thee that gavest me my nature; both the tables have I broken by my misdeeds, and whatsoever duties I had to perform, those have I violated by mine unnatural disobedience. If you observe the order of all the repentances in the book of GOD, whither in Moabite, Edomite, Egyptian, or in the people of God, they ever began with the knowledge of their sins: that as the first argument of life which the widows son of Naim gave, was this, he began to speak▪ so in this spiritual resuscitation from the death of the soul, the first token of their recovery, was the acknowledgement and confession of their misdoing. The voice of Pharaoh, Exod. 10. was, I have sinned against the Lord your God. The voice of Balaam, Num. 22. when he saw the Angel in his way, I have sinned. The voice of Saul to Samuel, 1. Sam. 15. I have sinned: and 1. Sam. 26. when he saw the kindness of David towards him, I have sinned. The voice of David to Nathan, 2. Sam. 12. I have sinned: & 2. Sam. 24. to God, after the numbering of the people, I have sinned. Nay, valde peccavi, I have exceedingly sinned in that I have done. And it is further added, that his heart smote him when he had done it. And when afterwards he felt the smiting of the Lord, with plainer demonstration, and with clearing the whole land besides, Ego sum qui peccavi, & ego sum qui iniquè egi, It is I, and only I, which have done wickedly. The voice of job in the seventh of his book, I have sinned. The voice of Daniel in behalf of himself, their kings, princes, fathers, of every man of judah, and the inhabitants of jerusalem, and of all Israel both near and far of, was, we have sinned, and committed iniquity, and done wickedly, and rebelled, and departed from thy precepts, and not obeyed thy servants the prophets, and nothing save open shame appertaineth unto us. We hear no end of accusation; iniquity upon sin, wickedness upon iniquity, rebellion upon wickedness, and still a further proceeding in the testification of their unrighteousness. When Ezra heard that the people of the captivity were mingled with the heathen, he rent his clothes, and plucked of the hair of his head and beard, Ez. ●. ●. and sat astonished until the evening sacrifice, at what time he arose again, and fell upon his knees, and spread out his hands unto the Lord his God, and said, O my God, I am confounded, and ashamed to lift mine eyes unto thee, my God; for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up into the heaven. As the manner of ancienter times was, when heaviness and trouble was upon them, to call for women and others that were most skilful in mourning; so they that will learn to repent, and are not cunning in the art thereof, let them repair to Esdras and such like, who were most skilful in repenting. O how available, saith Ambrose, are three syllables? peccav●, is but three syllables, but the flame of an hearty sacrifice ascendeth therein into heaven, Lib. 2. de penitent. Quantum valent tres syllaba? and fetcheth down three thousand blessings. Christ came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Sinners? then all, even the greatest Princes and rulers of the jews; for they the greatest sinners: No. but sinners in sense and conscience, sinners in action and plea against themselves, sinners in judgement from their own mouths and against their own heads, these are they to whom Christ hath designed the medicine and restorative of his saving health. According to his courteous invitation, Mat. 11. Come unto me all ye that travail and labour, not you that loiter with your sins, and trifle with my judgements, you that bear your iniquities like straws or cork, seek you other pardoners; come you that are weary, and are loaden with the burden thereof, & I will refresh you. The poor Publican, Luk 18. was one of those patients that tasted of such mercies: he stood a far of, not daring to approach unto God, Non aude● appropinquare, ut Deu● ad ipsum appro. pinquet. Bed. Poenas de se exigit, ut Deus par●as. Gloss. that God might approach unto him; nor to lift up his eyes unto heaven, which he had moved to anger against him: but smiting upon his sinful breast, as the ark of all iniquity, and punishing himself with stripes that the Lord might forbear to punish him, with a fearful heart, and trembling tongue called upon his Saviour, O Lord, be merciful unto me a sinner. I say not thy creature, or servant, or child, but only a sinner: my whole composition is sin, whatsoever I am in body or soul, so far as my manhood and humanity goeth, a sinner: and not only by mine office & calling, because I am a Publican; but even by nature and kind itself, a sinner. So did Mary Magdelen in the seventh of the same Evangelist, of whom there is no more reported, but that she was a sinner, as if the spirit of God had forgotten her other names: when she heard that jesus was come into a Pharisees house, 1. She stood at his feet, 2. behind him, 3. weeping 4 she began to wash, as if she durst not go on, but did often retract and pull back her hands, 5. the lowest part of his body, his feet, 6. with her tears, though the water of the brook had been humanity enough, 7. did wipe them, not with the lap of her coat, but with the hairs of her head, 8. kissed them, and lastly, anointed them with a box of ointment. O how precious an ointment flowed from her heart & eyes? how odoriferous & well-pleasing unto Christ, who made her apology, not only against the Pharisee, in preferring her kindness before the entertainment of his house, but against Satan, and the power of hell, in forgiving her many sins? Math. 9 The like submissive behaviour we read of the woman which had the issue of blood, for she also came behind Christ, as Mary Magdelen did, avoiding the sharpness and piercing of his eagle's eye, and touched the hem of his garment; for she said in herself, I dare not be so rude and unmannerly to press him, as the multitudes did; if I may but touch (not embrace) him? nay his garment; the very hem of his garment, no upper or honourable part thereof, I shall be whole, In all these, humble, and skilful repentances, as of those who knew their sins by heart, & were able to set down their full catalogue, what success do we find? That virtue went out from Christ to this woman, and many sins were remitted to the other; the Publican went home to his house justified, the children of the captivity were delivered, the last days of job were blest more than the first, David at one time had his sin translated, at another the punishment mitigated, Foelix conscientia in qu● misericordia & veritas obviaverune sibi, In meditate. the Lord himself crying unto his Angel, It now sufficeth, hold thy hand: yea Balaam and Pharaoh themselves fared the better for the false fire, and but blazing of repentance. Happy therefore is that conscience, to conclude with the saying of Bernard, wherein truth and mercy meet together. The truth of him that confesseth his sins, and the mercy of God that pardoneth them. For mercy can never be wanting unto that soul, which truly knoweth itself. Fieri potest forsan. Ambiguum ponitur, ut dum de salute dubitant homines, fortius agā● paenitentiam Hiero. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Ne forsitan magnitudo clementiae nos facere● negligente●. Multos impedis â firmētate praesumptio firmitatis. Others, in a far greater number, & with far better reason express it by an interrogation, who knoweth? and make it a sentence absolute and complete in itself, without referring it to the former words Than they make this construction of it: it may be the Lord will turn, or peradventure have mercy upon us. They put it with ambiguity, that while men doubt of salvation, they may be the more earnest in repentance, and seek the better means to provoke God to mercy. And surely, as doubting is the mother (they say) of inquiring, (for a man that doubteth not, will never ask) so some kind of doubtfulness is the mother, or at leastwis the nurse of repentance. Jerome, whose note the former was, writing upon the second of joel, who knoweth of the Lord will return and leave a blessing behind him? expoundeth the prophet, least happily the greatness of the clemency of God should make us negligent, therefore the prophet subjoineth, who knoweth? So that it seemeth, those terms of uncertainty, are not in any sort to admit or allow of doubting of salvation, but rather to keep us from presumption. We all know the mischief of that heady sin. Many are hindered (saith Augustine, from their strength, by presuming on their strength. The collection that Pomeran maketh upon these words, is, rather to justify than to condemn the Ninivites. Tantum ab●st ut confiderent etc. So far was it of, that they had any confidence in their works, that they rather doubted of the mercy of God; and they were saved by faith, who, if they had rested upon their own merits, must needs have despaired. And he removeth all diffidence from the king and his nobles, as if they included not themselves in the speech who knoweth if the Lord will return? but only spoke it unto the people, in this sense: In these dreadful frights and perplexities, being encountered with 3. sore mischiefs at once, atrocity of your sins, shortness of time, greatness of destruction, none of you knoweth of the mercy of God, as we do, and therefore we preach it unto you that you may take knowledge. And for this cause do the septuaginte add in the end of the former verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that is, saying; as if it were the voice of the people that is now in question, and not of the king & his princes. An objection answered. But how can it any way stand with the nature of repentance, either in prince or people, to doubt, seeing that faith is the principal prop wherewith repentance is borne up, & we cannot acknowledge this to be a true faith, which hangeth and wavereth between such uncertainties? Rather it savoreth of infidelity and desperation to cast forth such demands. It might be answered, that albeit they doubted of the event of this sentence, yet not of the favour of God towards them: for what if their city had been overthrown as the tower of Siloe, & their bodies had perished? had that been an argument that his mercies had forsaken them? No more, than it was to Moses who died for angering the Lord before he went into the land of promise: or than it was to Paul, who said that the Lord had delivered him out of the mouth of the Lion, 2. Tim. 4. and would also deliver him from every evil work, and preserve him unto his heavenly kingdom, though afterward he was slain by Nero, Certè infidelitas dixisse● negatiuè. Desperatio ad deum non clamaret, nec tale serium praetend●ret. Luther. Dubitatio affirmationem quandam in se continet. Mercer. who was the Lion he there meant. But I rather answer, that infidelity would have spoken by a flat negation, God will not return: and desperation would not have cried upon God at all, nor have pretended so much earnest. This speech of the Ninivites, at the most hath but doubting, and doubting containeth in it a kind of affirmation. As Mardochey spoke to Esther in the fourth of that book, if thou holdest thy peace at this time, breathing and deliverance shall arise to the jews out of an other place, but thou and thy father's house shall perish: and who knoweth whither thou art come to the kingdom for such a time? That is, I little doubt, but the providence of GOD hath advanced thee thus high, to do this service. I find noted upon the same phrase, joel the second, Vox aptissima poenitentis utrumque in se continet sensum peccati, et spem liberationis. that is the fittest speech the penitent may use: for it includeth both these, a sense of sin, & hope of deliverance. The leper cometh to Christ, Mar. 1. and telleth him, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean: I cannot say that either thou wilt, or thou wilt not, I leave it to thine own wisdom. For mine own part I have deserved no grace at thy hands, I see nothing in myself either in body or soul, but leprosy and uncleanness: but in thee there is power and mercy, if it shall please thee to extend them towards me. In the ninth of the same Evangelist, our Saviour answered the father of the child that had a dumb spirit, requesting him if he could do any thing, to help them, If thou canst do any thing help us & to have compassion upon them; this if thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. The father cried with tears, Lord, I believe, help mine unbelief. That is, I believe and scarce believe: I would feign, but I feel a fainting in myself: and therefore he that craved but lately a cure for his sons infirmity, now craveth help for his own unbelief. So then I make no doubt, but these are the words of faith: who knoweth if the Lord will return? albeit an infirm, and unsettled faith. Jgnorati● negationis. For as between knowledge and mere or negative ignorance, opinion lieth; so between a perfect and ripe faith, and plain infidelity or distrustfulness, a weak and middling faith. For there are degrees in faith: it hath a beginning, increase, and consummation, The disciples are rebuked, Mar. 9 by the name of a faithlesses generation: O faithless generation, how long shall I now be with you? etc. Peter, O thou of little faith why doubtest thou? Mat. 14. for a little and doubting faith. Paul, 2. Cor. 10. speaketh of an increasing faith; but Colossians the first and second, of a faith wherein they are rooted, built, and established. Yea the strongest faith that ever was, is it not mixed with doubtfulness? overcast with clouds? shaken with storms? beaten with winds and rains? winnowed by sathan, that, if it were possible, it might be turned into chaff and bran? What else meant that wary advertisement, given to Peter by his master, Luke 22. and his vigilant care over him, Simon, Simon, listen to my speech; Behold, look well to thy footsteps, have an eye to thy soul; Satan hath desired you, it is the care of his heart, it is the mark that he shooteth at, he watcheth walketh, roareth, transformeth him into all shapes, yea into an angel of light to have his purpose; to sift you, ex. a'mine you; as wheat, grain after grain, person after person, that, if it be possible, you may be reproved. And surely we need the prayers of our own spirits, and of the spirit of GOD that groaneth with groan which cannot he expressed; and of the son of God himself, who si●teth at his father's right hand, and maketh request for us, that our faith fail not. For what think we of ourselves? are we pillars of brass? or as the deaf rocks of the sea? or as mount Zion on that can never be removed? Our shield and breastplate of faith, (for so it is called) is it not beaten and driven at with darts? fiery darts? Ephes. 6. yea all the fiery darts? I say not of the wicked that are in our flesh, Atheists, Arrians, jews, Paynims, deriders, blasphemers of our faith, but of him that is pricinpally wicked and Leader of the dance, Satan himself? This made him triumph so much when he saw the field ended, and his tabernacle at hand to be pulled up, that he had fought a good fight, though his enemies were increased against him as the hairs of his head; 2. Tim. 4. that he had run his race, though he had many stumbling blocks and snares laid in his way, openly to detain, secretly to undermine him; and finally, which was the chief glory of a christian soldier, that he had kept the faith, and not lost his target, though he had borne in his body the marks of Christ jesus, and felt in his soul many a buffet and wound given by Satan and his confederates. The issue is this: the faith of a christian is sometimes in fight and conflict, in agony, passion, sweeting, bleeding, as Christ was in the garden, resisting (unto blood shall I say) nay even unto hell itself They knew it by experience, who said, thou bringest down to hell. It is as the last and least sparkle of fire, almost extinguished, as a little grain of seed, which the birds, nay the devils of the air seek to pick from us, and as the last gasp and pant of the soul, ready to fly out: at length it getteth the victory again, according to that joh. 1.5. this is the victory that overcometh the world even your faith. Such as I speak of, was the faith of these Ninivites, doubting, I confess, but not despairing. And as Aquinas, to acquit the blessed Virgin from sin, maketh a double kind of dubitation, Dubitatio infidelitati●. Dubitatio admirationis seu discussionis. 3. Quae. 27. 4. ad. 2. In quaest. vet. & no●. ●●stam. 73. one of infidelity, another of admiration and discussion, how can this thing be? (for it is not doubted by any man, but the Virgin there doubted, and Augustine so expoundeth the sword that should pierce through her soul, Luke the second) so may I with better reason make a double kind of infidelity, one of abnegation, denial, renouncement, the other of wrestling, combat, contention, which hath not yet subdued the adversary force, nor gotten the upper hand. I never knew the soul of any man, no not of the son of man, or rather of the son of woman, though anointed with the oil of gladness and spiritual comfort above all his fellows, I never knew the soul so happily guarded with the strength and munition of God, that it could escape these fights and terrors of conscience whereof I speak. Look upon Abraham the father of the faithful, distrusting the providence of God, as unable to defend him & his wife from Pharaoh and Abimelech, unless he committed an untruth; upon Moses, when he was called from Egypt; Gedeon, when the Angel appeared unto him at the threshing floor; Samuel, when he was willed to anoint David, and he feared the malice of Saul; Elias, when he hid himself, and needs would have died in haste, because of the threatenings of jezabel; upon Mary and Zachary, who asked as doubtful a question as the Ninivites here did, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; upon all the Apostles of Christ, whom he often vpbraied with little faith, and no faith; and Christ the head of his Apostles, when he died upon the cross, with such passionate outcrying, as if all the mercies of God had died with him. And this is the lot of all the members of Christ, thus they totter and and reel in their souls, though the foundation of the Lord standeth sure, 2. Tim. 2. Certainty of salvation. Flac. Jlly. de. Controvers. relig pp. Certum posse fieri hominem certitudine, quae licet non sit aequalis fidei catholicae, est tamen vera fides. Idque lege communi, nempe testimonio illo etc. Non videri quaestionem hanc satis discussam ad decisionem. Et ipsam synodum bi● declarâsse etc. and hath this seal upon it, the Lord knoweth who are his. I will more say, they are the happiest souls and dearest unto God, that are so tried they are as the best gold which hath been purified in the fire seven times, and the LORD will heap comforts and joys sevenfolde into their bosoms. The certainty of election and grace, and our special assurance of the mercy of God, is mightily oppugned by the adversaries. I will say for this time no more than what note Catharinus gave of the decree made against it, by the last Council of Trent: he was Archbishop of Minoria, inward with the Popes of Rome, and himself in person present at that Council. Besides his own private opinion, declared at large against Dominicus of Soto confessor to Charles the fift, that a man may be certain of his salvation by that assurance which although it be not equal to to the catholic faith, yet it is true faith; and that by the common law, namely by that testimony which the spirit giveth unto our spirits that we are the sons of GOD; he further telleth us that both the Presidents of that Synod (one of them afterward julius the third) did protest that the question did not seem unto them sufficiently discussed, to decide any thing: and that the Synod itself twice declared, that the definition thereof was to be omitted and put of to another time: lastly, that the title thereof did abundantly manifest as much; the tenor whereof was against the vain confidence of heretics not against the certainty of salvation in sound and sober believers. Contra inanem haereticorum fiduciam. Sess. 6. Cap 9 Vain confidence of heretics? Vain, without probability? And in heretics, not holding the truth of doctrine? Who ever allowed it? But, is it vain confidence which is grounded upon the promises of God, watered by the blood of Christ, sealed by sacraments, testified by the spirit, and ascertained by the fruits of charity and obedience? that vain confidence, where, and in whom soever we find, In 8. Rom. &. 1. Cor. 9 we call by no milder names, than the Rhemist commenters do, damnable, false illusion, unhappy security, presumption, faithless persuasion, and not the faith of Apostles, but the faith of devilles. Against such, we shut up the bowels of charity, the bosom of the church, the communion of her treasure, and dowry, which are the merits of Christ, and, as far forth as the keys are committed unto us, the gates of everlasting life. Against such, we say not with the Psalm, Psal. 2. Rejoice and tremble, but tremble without rejoicing: nor with the Apostle, 2. Philip. Work out your salvation with fear & trembling, but tremble and fear without any hope of salvation. We use nothing but fretters and corrosives against such, to make them smart, be not high minded, but fear: and he that seemeth to stand, in his own conceit, Rom. 11. 1. Cor. 10. let him take heed that he fall not. We will sooner cast pearls to swine, and bread to whelps, than salvation to such men, who, howsoever they live, having no testimony of a good conscience, vaunting of hope without the love of God, despighting the good spirit of grace, treading the blood of the new testament under their feet, turning grace into wantonness, and using the liberty of the gospel for a cloak of maliciousness; yet say, they are sure to be saved by the mercy of God. Thus far we both agree, but from the assurance of salvation wisely and substantially held, neither the learning of our adversaries, nor the cunning of devilles shall ever be able to draw us. We will say with Antonius Marinarius in the Counsel before alleged, If heaven fall, if the earth vanish away, Si coelum ru at etc. Domi 〈…〉 if the whole world run headlong, I will look to the goodness of God, and stand upright: and if an Angel from heaven shall labour to persuade me otherwise, I will say Anathema unto him. O happy confidence of a christian heart. If an honest & virtuous man, saith Cyprian, should promise thee any thing, thou wouldst give credit unto him: now when God speaketh with thee, & promiseth thee immortality, dost thou waver in thy mind? 〈◊〉 thou so faithless to distrust him? this is not to know God at all: this is to offend Christ the master of believers with the sin of unbelief. This is to be planted in the church, that is, in the house of faith without faith. Steven saw the heavens open unto him, Hoc est in Ecclesiâ constitutum in domo fidei fidem non habere Vbi tuta firmaque infirmis sceuritas nisi in vulnerib. servatoris etc. Berinthia ser. 61. in Cant. Quid tam ad mortem quod non morte Christi sanetur? Jbid. Revel. 2. & commended his spirit unto God, though as his body was overwhelmed with stones, so were his ears with contumelies; & as many stones of temptation were cast by the devil against his conscience. For where should the weak have safety and security, but in the wounds of their saviour? the mightier he is to save me, the more careless I dwell there; the world rageth, the body overbeareth, the devil lieth in wait, yet I fall not, because I am founded upon a sure rock. I have sinned a huge sin, my conscience is troubled, but it shall not be dismayed, for I will remember the wounds of the Lord. What is so deadly thaes may not be cured by the death of Christ? therefore if I call but to mind how sovereign and effectual a medicine his death is, I cannot be daunted by the malignity of any disease. Wherhfore, as Christ admonished the church of Thyatira, so I in the name of Christ exhort you, that which you have already, hold fast till he come. Let not your hope and consolations in the mercies of GOD be taken from you, let others for their pleasure, and for want of better grounds because they lean upon a staff of reed, masses, merits, indulgences, & the like, make shipwreck of this sweet article, and be carved away, as the winds and seas of their own opinions shall drive them, till they find some other haven to rest in. But shall ever reign and bear the sceptre in our consciences, as an article of that price, without the which our lives are not dear unto us The sun may be under a cloud at times, but fear not, it will shine again: the may fire be buried under ashes, but it will break forth: the ark may be taken by the Philistines, but it shall be restored to Israel: and these heavenly persuasions may sometimes be assaulted, and battered, but they shall eftsoons return unto us. I dare affirm, that there was never elect soul upon the earth, redeemed by the blood, and sanctified by the spirit of God, but hath drunk largely of these comforts whereof I speak: and then their largest draft, when they have most thirsted after it: that howsoever their life hath been tempered of good & bad days and good again, as those that are held with agues, of honour and dishonour, health and sickness, war and peace, joy and heaviness; yet the betrer of these two conditions hath ever had the later and the upper hand: and to have ended their lives, I say not in their beds, but under a shower of stones, as Steven did, or by the sword of a tyrant, or amongst the teeth of wild beasts, hath been no more unto them, than if a ripe fig had been pluck from the tree which it grew upon. For they have gone away with a sentence of peace in their lips, as the dove came back to the ark with an olive branch, Christ is my life, death mine advantage. Thus much of the Phrase, who knoweth if God will return? The matter which they hope for (in a word, and to conclude) is the mercy of God. In the explication whereof they use an order of words, 1. Return. 1. that God must return: as if he were now absent and had withdrawn himself from them; 2. Repent. 2. that God must repent, not by changing his mind, but by calling in the decree which was gone forth; 3. Turn from his fierce wrath. 3. that the fury of his wrath must be pacified, Lastly, to this end, that destruction may be averted from them: as much as to say; if God vouchsafe not his presence unto us, or if he hold his former intendment, or if the heat of his fierce wrath be not quenched, 4. That we perish no●. we are sure to perish. And so it fareth with us all, that except the Lord do illighten us with his favourable and gracious countenance; except he apply himself with his whole heart and with all his soul, (as it is in jeremy) to do us good; and unless the fire of his anger be drowned in the bowels of compassion, jer. 32. and his rage burning down to hell, be swallowed up into pity above the clouds, what else can follow, but the wrack of our bodies and souls, the eversion of our houses and families, and utter desolation to towns, cities, and entire countries? Therefore let us beseech God that he ever vouchsafe to dwell with us, as he sometimes dwelled in the bush; to change his cursing into blessings; & to quench his deserved wrath, kindled like a whole river of brimstone, with his streams of grace, that it may be well with us, and our children, & our whole land, and our last end may be that, which is the end and conclusion of the king's edict, that we perish not. THE XXXIX. LECTURE. Chap. 3. vers. 10. And God saw their works that they turned from their evil ways. THE ground which the people of Niniveh took for repentance, was faith: which although it appeareth by their manner of speech having scruple & uncerteinty in it, to have been an unperfect faith, not thoroughly strengthened, and fight as yet against the horror of their own sins, and terror of God's judgements, yet an unperfect faith is faith, more or less, and the best that ever were, have not escaped such distractions and disquietinges of their souls, and when they have wrestled a time against the adversary powers, they have returned with the victory, and have set up their banners of triumph in the name and virtue of the Lord of hosts: their foundations are in the holy hills, not in the valleys of their own infirmities, for than they must despair; but in the might and mercy of almighty God which stand for ever. The matter of their faith, consisting of four members, (three of them appertaining to God, his return, repentance, and leaving of his fierce wrath, the fourth and last to themselves) I went over in haste, and will briefly repeat unto you. 1. They believed that God might return, and vouchsafe them his presence and company again; taken from the manner of men, who in their anger and displeasure forsake the very place where their eyesore lieth: and being reconciled, use it for an argument of their revived friendship to return to those houses which they had forsaken. So saith God, Ose● 5. I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their faults and seek me. In their affliction they will seek me diligently, and say, come, let us return unto the Lord. So they depart from God, and God from them. They withdraw their obedience, he his blessings: and although he be in the midst of them, nearer than their flesh to their spirits, yet by any demonstration of love, they cannot perceive his presence. God was ever in Niniveh, no doubt, by his essence, his power, his overlooking providence, for in him they lived, moved, and always had their being; but he was not in Niniveh by grace, by the guiding and government of his holy spirit, neither by special favour & assistance: he had fotsaken their city and consciences, as thorny, unprofitable ground fit for idols and abominations, than for himself to dwell in. 2. They believed that God might repent; which is also borrowed from the affections of men, whose manner is, to be sorry in their hearts, for their former displeasure conceived, and to wish it had never been, and as much as possible they may, to revoke whatsoever in the heat thereof they had determined. The 3. is consequent to the former: for if he return and repent, his anger must needs be removed. All these motions either of the body, in going from place to place, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or of the soul, in altering her passions, are attributed unto us truly, but unto God in no other manner than may stand with the nature and honour of his unmovable majesty. Now lastly, where God is departed, and the light of his countenance, the life of his compassions taken away, his wrath kindled, nay his fierce and furious wrath, the length and breadth whereof, no more than of his mercies, can be measured, there ensueth an abundance of misery, with a diligent train of all kinds of plagues, having an open field to range in, because there is no will in God to resist them. Therefore they believed in the fourth place, that if his presence were recovered, his decree changed, and his wrath stopped, they should be freed from the danger threatened unto them: assuring themselves otherwise, that the buildings of their city should sink down, stone after stone, and that the children thereof should all be buried and entombed together in one common destruction. Therefore miserable is their estate, who live within the vapour and heat of God's displeasure. We are all by nature the children of wrath, borne to inherit it, as we inherit our father's lands, but Christ hath purchased us favour by his blood, & we confirm it to ourselves in some sort by making conscience to offend, & walking warily in the fear of the Lord. But such as run on their wicked race without turning, & draw their unhappy breath without repenting, heaping anger upon anger, and not caring to pacify the force thereof, their end is the end of the sentence, that they are sure to perish: not in themselves alone, but in all that appertaineth unto them; their tabernacles, children, posteriey, memortials; nor only in the life of their bodies, but in the life and eternity of their souls; nor for an age and generation of time, but whilst God reigneth in heaven able to do justice. To avoid this danger, it shall be safe for us all to quench the anger of God in time, to take the blood of the Lamb, and cast upon the flames thereof, and through the riches of his merits, to seek the acceptance, and to hold acquaintance & friendship with our God, that we perish not. And God saw their works etc. The deliverance of Niniveh. We are now come to the fourth part of the chapter, the mercy of God towards Niniveh, greater than both the former, because it is not exhibited to one, as unto jonas; nor unto a few, as unto the mariners; but unto a whole city, plentifully peopled and stored with inhabitants. Even so it is; whither one or more many or few, man, woman, child, cities, kingdoms, Empires, worlds, all generations, past, present, and those that are to come, we draw out waters of joy and comfort out of this well of salvation. 1. God saw their works There is a degree also in the words of this sentence. For 1. God approoveth their works, and conceaveth a liking of their service done: if you will know what works, you have it by explication made plain, their conversion from their evil ways that is their whole course of repentance. Secondly, 2. God repent of the evil. upon that approbation, he repent him of the evil which he said he would bring upon them. Thirdly, upon that repentance and change of mind, he doth it not. The words are not greatly obscure, 3. He did i● not. a little explanation may serve to unfold them. God saw. Why? was he a stranger till that time in Niniveh? or did he but then begin to open his eyes, & to take the knowledge of their works? or is there any thing in heaven, or earth, or in the deep, that he seethe not with his eyes ten thousand times brighter than the sun? yea though it were hid, I say not within the reins & hearts of our bodies, but in the reins and heart of the lowest destruction? Some interpret it thus: he saw, that is, he made themselves to see, or the world to see, 1. Vidit. i. videre fecit▪ 2. Vidit. i. approbavit. that he was well pleased with their works: others more simply and truly, he saw their works, that is, himself approved them, as Gen. 1. he saw that the light was good, that is, he allowed it by his judgement: so here he showed by his fact & event that followed, that the repentance of Niniveh highly contented him. Likewise, Gen. 4. God looked unto the gift of Abel, but not unto the gift of Cain; he saw them both with his eye of knowledge, but not of liking & good affection. Or to say further, God saw that in the works of the Ninivites, which if jonas, or the whole world had presumed to have seen, they had deceived themselves: he saw their hearts, from whence those works proceeded, how truly & sincerely they were done without dissimulation. In this sense we say that the church is invisible, & as we are taught in our Creed, we rather believe that it is, than with our eyes can behold it: not that we turn men into spirits, not having flesh & bones, or into transparent substances, such as the air is, which we cannot see; but because, although we behold the body & the outward appearance, we cannot search into their spirits, neither are able to discern them in that, whereby they are Christians, and of the household of faith. We think they are myrtles, when they are but nettles; lambs when they are but wolves; and citizens of jerusalem, when they are but jebusites. Conditio a ●ictatis. Their works. Not only their works of ceremony, order, and discipline, as fasting, sackcloth, crying, which are not godliness itself, but gestures and behaviours setting it forth; nor only their moral works, of charity towards God and man, in forsaking their wicked ways, and making restitution of ill gotten goods; (for these are most of them outward works,) but he saw the works also of the inward man, and, as it is expounded in the next words, he saw their perfect and full conversion; which consisted not in fasting and sackcloth alone, or in formal professions, but in the change and alteration of all their powers. Thus to acknowledge the true and immortal God, is a work, but a work of the spirit, both because the spirit of God is the author, and because the spirit of man is the actor and administer thereof. To believe, is also a work of the spirit; for when they asked, joh 6. What shall we do that we might work the works of God? jesus answered them, this is the work of God, that ye believe in him whom he hath sent. GOD saw all these works in them, what they thought, how they believed, which way the purposes of their hearts were bent; he saw their faith: as well as their ceremonies, their justice evangelical, aswell as their Legal; he saw their whole body of repentance, wherein there was knowledge, desire, judgement, affection, faith, hope, and whatsoever else was requisite to be used in that work. And God repent. We had the word before, who knoweth if God will repent? But can this be? Repentance hath ever some grief annexed unto it, and an accusation of ourselves, of something done amiss, which we would gladly retract: both these are far from God, who sitteth in heaven, having all sufficiency of pleasure and contentment in himself; and for his works abroad, they are so exactly done by rule, that we cannot suspect any error therein committed. The answer is this: he that dwelleth in such brightness of light, as never eye of mortality could approach unto, the sight of whole face, to an earthly man is unsufferable, and the knowledge of those invisible things in the Godhead, unpossible; yet to give some aim and conjecture unto us what he is, he appeareth as it were transfigured into the likeness of our nature; and in our own familiar terms, not departing from our accustomed manners, speaketh to our carnal senses: and that man may know him in some measure, he will be known as man, by eyes, ears, hands, feet, other bodily members; by anger, sorrow, repentance, jealousy, with the like spiritual affections. By which he would signify unto us not that which is so indeed, but that which is needful on our behalf, so to be uttered and expressed. Quibus significare illud quod itae non essit, sed quod ita dici opus esset. August. li 1. de Tim. 1. ca For because we are not ignorant of the use, office, effect, of these daily and natural things in ourselves, therefore when we hear them ascribed to God by translation, we are able partly to guess what is meant by them. The rule which Bernard giveth in his 4. Sermon upon the Canticles, is catholic, and universally serveth to the opening of these figures. Haec habet omnia Deus per effectum, non per naturam; All these hath God, not by nature, but by effect. Now what is the effect of anger? revenge. For a man that is angered is desirous to be satisfied, and to wreak himself upon him that hath provoked him: the passion of anger is not in the nature of God, but the effect is: Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. What is the effect of repentance? The change or abrogation of some thing formerly done, or at least determined. Non implevit quod fuerat comminatus. vers. 8. Malum culpae, Malum poenae. Quo quis malé feci● quoque mali perpessus est. August. de li▪ arb. Malum naturâ. Malum secundum sensum. Basil. serm. An deus si● author mali● Against the merit of works▪ Repentance is not in God, the effect of repentance is; the recalling or fresh of a work, which in the judgement of the world, was like to have continued. Thus he repent the making of man, Gen. 6. and the advancing of Saul to the kingdom, 1. Sam. 15. not that his heart was grieved, but his hands, that is, his justice and power undid it: and thus he repent his judgement against Niniveh, by slaying the sequel and fall thereof. So that the easiest exposition indeed of the repentance of God, is in the third member of the verse: for therefore he repent him, because he did it not. The evil which is here mentioned, is different from that which went before, where their evil ways are spoken of: for that was culpable, this but penal; that defileth a man, this but chas●eneth & afflicteth him; that was evil in doing, this but in suffering; that in nature, this but in feeling: the latter proceedeth from the justice of God, the other he is most free from. And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil ways. When I first took in hand to declare the repentance of Niniveh, I desired you to bear in mind, that the first and principal gate whereby they entered into that service towards God, was faith. The Prophet, who compiled the history, noted no less, as appeareth by his placing of it in the head of the book, that is in the beginning of the whole narration; They believed God, they took him to be a God of truth, Crediderunt deo. and made no question but his word in the mouth of his servant should be established. And I as little doubt, Crediderunt in deum but they also believed God; not only assenting to the truth of the message, but entertaining in their hearts a persuasion of deliverance: in the ninth verse it is very plain, where the hope of his mercy is that which induceth them to all these works of piety. here it is said, that God saw their works, and consequently repent him of the judgement, and did it not. The place hath been abused and a weapon drawn there hence to fight against God's grace: that these afflictions of the Ninivites, macerating themselves with fasting and sackcloth, prepared them aforehand to the easier attainment of their pardon. Such are the pillars which they build their works of preparation upon; that before a man is justified, his works may deserve that favour of God: not of condignity, (they say) worth for worth, but of of congruity; as if it stood not with reason and conscience that their works should be forgotten. If the prophet had trusted our simplicity herein, and concealed the name of faith, weich here he placeth with her open face, as the leader and forerunner to all their other actions, could we ever have imagined that they would have humbled themselves by repentance, and prayed unto God on whom they had not first believed? and whosoever he be that spendeth his wretched days in the wilderness of this world, a wilderness of sin, as the children of Israel in that waist and roaring wilderness of SIN, Exod. 16. without this cloud by day, and pillar by night, to guide him the way to his rest, he walketh he knoweth not how, he strayeth, stumbleth, falleth, because he hath not light, he liveth and dieth in darkness, his soul is as a field untilled, or as a vineyard grown wild, which though it have store of grapes, they are but sour grapes, his worship of God, and works of common civility, what glass soever they bear, of honesty and commodity in the eyes of men, they are both unfruitful to himself, and before the face of God, full of sin and reprobation. There are two things in the whole course of this history, whereunto I will limit my speech: the one what the Ninivites did; they believed, proclaimed a fast, repent: the other what God; What the Ninivites did. he saw their works, and was satisfied. In the person of the Ninivites, faith goeth foremost, works follow it. This is the nature of a true and a living faith, it ever worketh by love, Gal. 5. and by works it is made perfect, jam. 2. & faith without these is as an alms of the rich man to the poor, depart in peace, warm thyself, fill thy belly; but he giveth him nothing. Or as the body without the spirit, wherein the life & motion thereof consisteth. For even the thief upon the cross, that little time which he had, he bestowed in good works: In reproof of his fellow, condemnation of themselves, justification of Christ, invocation of his name, and a true confession that he was the king of Israel. And this, although we speak, & write, & imprint, & preach in all our assemblies, & even the pillars of our churches can bear witness unto us, that faith is an idle, unperfect, verbal, & dead faith, where is not sanctity of life to attend it; and we both receive it ourselves, as a faithful saying, & confirm it to others, that such as have believed God, must also be careful to excel in good works; yet, Tit. 3. if the pens & presses of the Roman faction might pass without controlment, we should be traduced as far as the world is christian (for preaching only faith in the justification of a sinful man) that our gospel is a gospel of liberty, epicurism, sensuality, that we pluck up good works as weeds by the roots, and cast them forth of the doors, as the children of the bondwoman, not worthy to inherit with the freeborn. We never said that faith without works (barren and empty of her fruits) justified an unrighteous soul: but that faith so qualified, doth notwithstanding justify without those works, this we maintain against men and angels: so we remove not works from faith, but works from justifying. Still they follow their mistress, but in remission of sins, and clothing the sinner with the justice of God, therein they give her the place, and put the burden of that work upon her shoulders. Let Bilha the handmaid supply the defects of Rahell, and bear children unto jacob, but let her ever remember that Rahel is above her, and singular in some respect. And let not joseph forget, though he ride in the second chariot of Egypt, & be the next man to the king, yet that the king hath reserved the throne to himself. Shall I yet teach you by a more sensible and familiar demonstration? Bethulia is in danger of Holofernes, the terror of the East, as we of the justice of God: jud. 13. and as the strength of Bethulia was thought too weak to encounter him, so all our obedience to the law of God is weak and unsufficient to defend us. judith undertaketh for the people of her city; faith for us: judith goeth accompanied with her handmaids; faith with her works: and though the eyes of her handmaid were ever towards her Lady, to carry the scrip, etc. yet, in performing that act of deliverance, judith is alone, her maid standing and waiting at the door, and not so much as setting her foot within the chamber: So although our love and obedience be as attendant to faith as ever that servant was to judith, yet in performing this mighty act of deliverance, acquitting the conscience from the curse of the law, pacifying the anger of God, and presenting us blameless before his holy eyes, all which standeth in the apprehension of the merits of Christ, and a steadfast persuasion that he hath assumed for us, faith is wholly and solely alone, our works not claiming any part in that sacred action. Therefore we conclude, saith the Apostle, Rom. 3. that a man is justified by faith without the works of the law. An objection dissolved. Therefore you see, saith james in the second of his Epistle, that of works a man is justified, and not of faith only. He is, and he is not? doth the one conclude the former, and doth the other infer also by way of conclusion that he hath proved the latter? What shall we say? is God divided? or is there dissension in the spirit of unity? or is there more than one truth? Apostle against Apostle, james against Paul, in one and the same question deriving a contrary conclusion? Not so. But as the striking of two flintes together, beateth out fire; so the comparing of these their two opinions, will make the truth more manifest. Surely by faith we are justified, & without the works of the law. Mean it of ceremonies as some do, mean it of moral commandments, the position is both ways true. This rock we must cleave unto, this rock must be published abroad rocks & stones will publish this rock if we conceal it. To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness: Rom. 4. to him that worketh not. I will not say that he worketh not at all, but he worketh not in this action, nor with any intent, either to prepare or further his justification before the face of God: his works are not reckoned at that time, nay they withdraw their presence, and hang down their heads, and are abashed to offer themselves in that service. But here is the point. As I am justified by faith without the works of the law, so by the works of the law must my faith be justified, Exercitatio vel consummatio justitiae: res enim tum dicitur fieri, quando perficitur vel innotes●it▪ that is, avouched, made good, and testified both to God and man, with effectual proof and demonstration that it is not a naked, fruitless, hypocritical faith, but soundly and substantially conditioned. So james meant it. And Thomas Aquinas writing upon that Epistle, confirmeth that meaning, that the justification whereof he spoke, is the exercising or accomplishing of justice: for a thing is then said to be done, either when it is perfected, or when it is made known. So then, there is one righteousness imputed, favoured, and cast upon us, though it be not ours; there is another righteousness exercised, or declared; there is one justice of justification, there is another justice of testification; there is one that acquitteth before God, another that approveth especially before man; the one without us and lent, the other within us, inhabitant and inherent; the one in Christ, and from him communicated to us, the other in ourselves, and to him in some sort recompensed. For such is the nature of faith and love, as the ancients described their graces: the one is in taking and apprehension, the other is in giving and remuneration. First, we receive by our faith, and then by our charity we return something. Paul speaketh of the former of these justifications, james of the latter: Paul delivered simply the doctrine, james answered an objection against those that gloried in the name and shadow of faith: Paul instructed the understanding, james informed the life: Paul as a Doctor and in the schools lecturing, james as a pastor, and in the pulpit applying; the one handling justification properly, the other (to speak as properly) sanctification; the one establishing a real, christian, justifying faith, the other confuting a verbal, devilish, falsifying faith. There is now then but one Lord, one spirit, one truth, one gospel, one tongue, one soul in both these Apostles. Consider the state of the question in this present example of the Ninivites. You know what they were, not only aliens and strangers f●om the covenant and hope of God, but of aliens & strangers such, whose iniquity streamed into the highest heaven, and called down vengeance upon them. What should they now do to redeem their peace? For if they had fasted till their knees had bowed under them, if they had put sack-cloth about their loins, till the hair and wale thereof had entered even into their souls, if they had spent the day in crying and the night in wailing, and if they had lived besides as justly to the world, as Aristides did in Athens, who was banished the city for overmuch justice, and had not withal believed, I will not say, but God might have spared to have made them notorious examples of his justice to the world, but surely they had remained as aforetime, children of darkness still, and sons of perdition, and the ways of peace they had never known. Therefore to conclude on their part, they are justified by their faith, This is it that investeth them into the friendship and love of God: their very believing of him is imputed unto them for righteousness, as it was to Abraham: and to testify that faith to man, to make it perfect before God, to seal it up to their own conscience, they are abundant also in good works: which is that other justification whereof james disputeth. For as in the temple of jerusalem, there were 3. distinctions of rooms: the entry or porch where the beasts were killed; the altar where they were sacrificed; & the holiest place of all, whither the high priest entered once every year: so in this repentance of Niniveh, there are 3. sorts of righteousness: the first of ceremony, in wearing sack-cloth, and fasting; the second of morality in restitution; the third the justice of faith, Osee. 2. and as it were the door of hope whereby they first enter into the kingdom of heaven. 2. What God did. We have heard what the Ninivites did for their parts, let us now consider, what God for his It is said that he saw their works, and repent him of the plague intended, and brought it not. Nay it is said, that God saw their works, Vidit deus. Poeni●ui● deum. & God repent him of the plague, with repetition of that blessed name, to let the world understand, that the mischief was not turned away for the value and virtue of their works, but for the acceptance of his own good pleasure; nor for the repentance of the city, but for the repentance of his own heart, a gracious inclination & propension that he took to deliver them. No marvel it was, if when God saw their works, he bethought him of their deliverance. For when the person is once approved, & received to grace (which their faith procured them) his blemishes are not then looked upon, his infirmities covered, his unperfect obedience taken in good part, nay commended, honoured, rewarded, & daily provoked with promises & invitations of greater blessedness to come. So a father allureth his son; the servant doth ten times more; yet is the recompense of the son ten times greater: for the father respecteth not so much the works of his child, but because he is a father, tendereth & followeth him with fatherly affection, whereas the hired servant on the other side, is but a stranger unto him. Why then were the works of Niniveh acceptable unto God? not of themselves, but for their sakes that wrought them, & they for their faith: for this is the root that beareth them al. In that great cloud of witnesses, Heb. 11. what was the reason that they pleased God (besides the honour of the world, vers. 6. that they were well reported of) and obtained the promises, which was the garland they ran for, (besides their suffering of adversities, subduing of kingdoms, working of righteousness, vers. 33. with many other famous exploits there ascribed unto them) what was the reason I say, but their faith, which is the whole burden of the song in that memorable bead-role? By faith did Abel thus, Enoch thus, and others otherwise. But why not their works of themselves? For is not charity more than faith? these three remain, faith, hope and love, but the greater of these three is love. 1. Cor. 13. In continuance. And the first and the great commandment is this, Thou shalt love the Lord thy GOD, etc. Math. the two and twentieth. And, the end of the commandment is love, 1. Tim. 1. And, love is the fulfilling of the law, Romans the thirteenth. I grant all this if thou be able to perform it. Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, etc. and thy neighbour as thyself, and there is nothing wanting unto thee, thou hast kept the commandment, thou hast fulfilled the law, thou needest not the passion of thy redeemer, thou mayest catch the crown of life by rightful desert. But this thou art not able to perform, were thou as righteous as Noah, as obedient as Abraham, as holy as job, as faithful as David, as clear as the sun and moon, as pure as the stars in heaven, yet thou must sing and sigh with a better soul than thine own, who saw and sighed for the impurity of all living flesh, Enter not into judgement, with thy servant, O Lord, for no flesh living can be justified in thy sight. God hath concluded thee and thy fathers before thee, and the fruit of thy body to the last generation of the world, under sin, and because under sin, therefore under wrath, and malediction, and death, if thou fly not into the sanctuary to hide and safeguard thyself. But blessed be the name of Christ, the days are come, wherein this song is sung in the land of judah, and through all the Israel of God far and near, we have a strong city, Esay 26. salvation hath God set for walls and bulwarks about it. Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation, which keepeth faith, may enter in. Which is that righteous nation that shall enter into the city of God thus walled and fortressed, but that which keepeth faith, or rather faiths, as the Hebrew hath? that is, Fide●. all faith, not ceasing to believe till their lives end. They that believe thus, adding faith unto faith, the Lord will return them as great a measure of his blessing, even peace upon peace, in the next words, because they trust in him. We need no better expositor. Pacem p●cem. The righteous man is he that believeth, and the believing man is he that worketh righteousness, for these two shall never be sundered; and the only key that openeth unto us the gates of the city, is our faith So then when we see good works, we must know that they are but fruits, and seek out the root of them, and when we have the root, we must also have regard to the moisture and juice whereby it is nourished. For as the fruits of the earth grow from their root, & that root liveth not by itself, but is fed and preserved by the fatness of the soil, warmth of the sun, & benefit of the air under which it standeth; so good works grow from faith, and that faith liveth in the object, the merits and obedience of jesus Christ, feeding and strengthening itself by the sweet influence and sap of these heavenly conceits, that he came into the world to save sinners, and that he died for her sin, and rose to life for her justification. For as we esteem the worth of a ring of gold not so much in itself as in the gem that it carrieth; so are we justified & magnified also in the sight of God by faith in Christ, not for this quality of believing, which is as unperfit as our works, but for the object of this quality, Christ our mediator, which is the diamond and jewel borne therein. The hand of a leper, though never so bloody and unclean, yet it may do the office of an hand, in taking and holding fast the alms that is given. The giver may be liberal enough, and the gift sufficient to relieve, though the hand that received it, full of impurity. So it is not the weakness of our faith, in apprehending and applying the passion of Christ, that can prejudice the bounty of our GOD, and those rich benefits of his grace which his beloved son hath purchased for us. Secundum omnem justitiam tuam. ver. 16. Propter dominum. 17. Propter miseratione●●uas amplissi mas. 18. Propter ●e. 19 Non enim propter ullas iustitias nostras. I now conclude. GOD saw the works of the Ninivites, and in those works, not only their outward countenance, but their inward and unfeigned affection, and faith the root from whence they sprang: and as the fruits of their faith, so he accepted them; not for the worth and account of the works, which they dare not themselves rely upon, but through the riches and abundance of his own loving kindness. This is the plea that Daniel held in the ninth of his Prophecy, a man of as righteous a spirit as ever the Lateran palace of Rome held, according to all thy righteousness; for the lords sake; for thy great tender mercies; for thine own sake; and with direct exception to their inherent justice, for we do not present our supplications before thee for our own righteousness. This plea we must all stick unto, God's mercy in his own gracious disposition, God's righteousness in his promises, God's goodness in the Lord, his anointed, his Christ, his Messiah. And this shall be a blessed testimony unto us at the last day, that we have stood and fought for the seed of the woman, and for the preciousness of his blood and passion, against the seed of the serpent, that we never gave place, no not for an instant, to Pharisee, jew, Pelagian, Papist, Libertine, to diminish or discredit the power thereof. Give me that soul that breatheth upon the earth in plight as the souls of these Ninivites were, now called to a reckoning of their fore passed lives, their consciences accusing them of hideous and monstrous iniquities, the law pleading, the anger of GOD flaming against them, the throat of hell gaping wide and ready to swallow them down, when they were to take their leave of one world, and to enter another of endless punishment, unless they could find the means to appease the fury of their maker and judge; Give me the soul, that dareth for the price of a soul stand in contention with the justice of GOD upon the trial of good works, either to be justified the meantime, or hereafter to be glorified and live by them. O sweet and comfortable name, nature, operation of grace, (grace and only grace) blessed be the womb that bore thee, and the bowels that engendered thee. When it cometh to this question, iustificemur simul, Let us be judged together, Esay 43. if thou haste aught to say for thyself, bring it forth, O happy, heavenly and only grace, that bearest thy children safe in thy bosom, and settest them with confidence and joy before the seat of God; when the clients & followers of their own righteousness, be it what it may be; with the least flash of lightning that fleeth from the face of God, shall tremble and quake as the popler in the forest. O the Ocean & main sea of overflowing grace, and we drink at puddles! We sit in our cells and comment, we come into the schools and dispute about the merit of good works, without trouble. But lie we upon out beds of sickness, feel we a troubled & perplexed conscience, we shall be glad to cry, grace and grace alone, Christ and Christ alone, the blood of Abel, and Peter, and Thomas, and Paul shall be forgotten, and the blood of the Lamb shallbe had in price, & as for the merits of our unprofitable service, we shallbe best at ease when we talk least of them. The only one & fiftieth Psalm, Have mercy upon me O Lord etc. (his memory be blessed that gave the note) hath saved many distressed souls, and opened the kingdom of heaven unto them, who if they had stood upon riches and sufficiency in themselves, as the church of Laodicea did, they had lost the kingdom. Revel. 3. It is usually given to our selo●s for their neck-verse, when the law is disposed to favour them. We are all felons and transgressors against the law of God; let it be our soules-verse, and God will seclude the rigour of his law and take mercy upon us. Some of the words of that Psalm were the last that Bernarde uttered even in the pangs of death. Let them also be the last of ours, a broken & contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Finally, the choice is briefly proposed, and as quickly made: if grace, not works: if works, not grace: if this be the choice, let us humbly beseech God to illighten our eyes, to open our understandings, to direct our affections, and to reach forth our hands to the better part which shall never be taken from us: that leaving our works to his favourable interpretation, either to follow us, or to stay behind, and either to be something or nothing in his sight, his mercy may only triumph, and his covenant in the blood of Christ jesus may ever be advanced, that we may sing in our jerusalem, as they sing in the courts of heaven, worthy is the Lamb that was killed, to receive the glory, and honour and praise, and to bear the name of our whole salvation. THE XL. LECTURE. Chap. 4. vers. 1. Therefore it displeased jonas exceedingly, & he was angry. THE whole prophecy of jonas (again to repeat that, which ought not to be forgotten) is the preaching of mercy. An history written to the world, and as a public evidence & instrument from God delivered unto us, in every page & line whereof, his goodness towards mankind is mervailously expressed. And as the 4. beasts in Ezechiel, were joined one to the other by their wings, so the 4. Chapters of this book hang together by a continuation and succession of God's loving kindness. Open this book, as our Saviour opened the book of the prophecy of Esaias, by chance, and read at your pleasure from the first of it to the last, you shall never want a text or example of comfort, whereby a distressed conscience may be relieved. The mariners are delivered from the fury of the elements, jonas both from those and from the belly of a cruel fish, the Ninivites God knoweth from what, whither from fire and brimstone, or from sinking into the ground, or any such like weapons of wrath, which in his armoury of justice in heaven are stored up and reserved for the day of the wicked; but all are delivered. Notwithstanding which rare examples of mercy, as Christ spoke in the gospel, behold, more than jonas is here, so though the prophet did his part before in penning those discourses, yet in handling this last he is more than himself, & though the mercy of God abounded before, yet here it excelleth. Then was mercy practised I confess, but here it is pleaded, maintained, proved by arguments, apologies, parables, the equity and reasonableness thereof upheld, and means made unto jonas in some sort, that if God be gracious to Niniveh, he will be pleased favourably to interpret it. The distribution of the Chapter is into three parts. 1. The affection of jonas upon the deliverance of Niniveh, whither revealed, and by a prophetical spirit discovered before the term of 40. days, or to the expiration of them differred, I cannot say. 2. The reprehension & rebuke which God useth against him for that affection; both by speech, dost thou well to be angry? and by fact, in confuting him by a real similitude, of a gourd soon sprung up & as easily withered. And as jonas repeateth his impatience, so God walketh with an even pace by him, & repeateth his reproofs. 3. The conclusion or scope which God referred himself unto. Not the forbearing of the city, which was already past, but the justification of his goodness therein. For first he did it of fact (as they say,) and then defended the right of it. The affection of jonas is generally recited in the first verse, and more particularly displayed in the rest, touching his speech, gesture, & carriage of himself in all points. So it displeased jonas exceedingly. What displeased him? The affection of jonas. Malum videbatur apud Jonam, malum magnum. Turn back your eyes to the epilogue of the former Chapter. God repent him of the evil, he did it not. This is it, that so much disquieteth jonas, that seemeth so evil, & very evil (as the Hebrew hath,) in his unmerciful eyes: rather this was evil & very evil in the heart of jonas. For why is jonas so exceedingly displeased, that God hath spared Niniveh? It had been fault enough in jonas, not to have blessed and embraced the mercy of God towards Niniveh, & to have given testimony unto it. But to go so far from renowming it, that he condemneth it in his judgement, & so far in condemneth it, that he is grieved at the heart, and so far in grieving that he holdeth no measure & stint therein, but doth exceedingly vex himself, this was a sore offence. Had jonas received mercy himself, and doth jonas envy mercy to others? Did he know by experience in his own person, what it was to be driven from the land of the living, to be cast into the mouth of destruction, to lose the favour of God, and hath he no sparkle of charity left, Calamitas sine ratione, quid miser angeris, nihil duri passus? no grain of compassion to weigh with himself the destruction of this great city? Avexation, saith Bas●l, without all reason. Unhappy man, why art thou troubled so, having felt no harm? I would rather have thought if need had been, that jonas would have stood for Niniveh, being a prophet, and so lately plucked from the fire himself, as Abraham did for Sodom: If there shallbe ten righteous men found in Niniveh destroy it not. For what else is the joy & crown of a Prophet, Apostle, any messenger of Christ in this service emploide, but the winning & saving of souls, converting men unto righteousness, translating them from darkness into light, a blessing from God upon his labours, an increase upon the seed he hath sown, which others would spend their days, & consume their bodies, & jeopard their lives to obtain, when jonas obtained it with ease, & in the compass of a short time? The parable of the Lord & the labourers which wrought in the vineyard, thus far accordeth to jonas. Take that which thine is. I do thee no wrong, Math. 20. is it not lawful for me to do with mine own as it pleaseth me? Is thine eye evil, because I am good? I will give to this last, as much as to the first: to this least, as much as to the greatest; to a Gentile, as much as to an Israelite; to Niniveh, as much as to thyself. You see the nature of envy: the honour, prosperity, wealth, and whatsoever is good in an other, sometimes life itself, it repineth at; fruitful increase, & full udders in the fields and beasts of any man, it pineth with. it filleth men to the eyes, and in the eyes it sitteth, and by those windows looketh forth, and wheresoever it seethe a blessing, it is sickness and death unto it, if God curse it not. And it is true that Basile noteth of envy. A Scythian seldom maliceth an Egyptian. Aegyptio Scytha non invidet. They spend their despite for the most part within the same country, same kindred, same profession, same benefit: as jonas envieth Niniveh, for communicating with him in the mercy of the Lord. According to that wisdom which God gave to man to call things by their right names, so is the name of envy: Invidia, vel non videt, vel nimis intuetur. Cypr. Gen. 4. either because it will not see at all, that which in the blessings of God is to be seen, or because it prieth too deep into them. It was the first vemine which the devil powered forth against mankind. Hince perijt primus & per didit; By this he first perished himself & destroyed others. What else was the cause that Cain lifted up his hand against his brother Abel, & rob himself almost of his only comfort in that new-born world? But that the gift of his brother was accepted to God, his own rejected? upon this he was very wroth, & his countenance fell down, as not able to endure the sight of his brother, & his anger was not satisfied with blood. Did the brethren of joseph go home to their old father jacob, and bring him into an error that a wicked beast had devoured the child, Gen. 37. and that joseph was surely torn in pieces? A wicked beast had devoured him indeed, and joseph was torn in pieces by the envy of his brethren. Israel looved joseph more than all his other sons, therefore they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him. And joseph dreamt a dream, and told it to his brethren, therefore they hated him so much the more. This was the wicked beast that cast him into the pit, where their meaning was to have sterved him to death, and to have kept his blood secret, as appeareth by the speech of judah, and but that Reuben persuaded the contrary, with their own hands they had taken his life from him. Because the women sang in the streets, Saul hath slain his thousand, 1. Sam. 18. David his ten thousand, therefore was Saul exceedingly wroth, and it is said, that Saul had an eye to David from that day forward. It was a venomous, mischievous eye, such as the burning eyes of witches, or the Basilisk, Vrentes sculi. Pers. or Gorgon, that he cast towards him. The elder brother, Luke 15. when he heard melody and dancing in his father's house, and knew what it meant, and that his father had killed the fat calf, to welcome home his lost son, he was angry at the matter, and would not go in, but that his father went out and entreated him. He omitted no argument of exprobration, his service for many years, without breach of any commandment, and not the gift of a kid by way of recompense, he saith not, wastefully to spend, but to make merry amongst his friends: when the other, that had devoured his goods with harlots, must be entertained with the fat calf. Examine the reason why innocency itself was hunted and followed to death, with crucify him, crucify him, he is not worthy to live, and Barrabas set at liberty; and let Pilate be the judge to pronounce sentence against them: he knew (besides the knowledge of their own consciences) that for envy they had delivered him. Do we look that envy should favour the honour and welfare, Math. 27. when it favoureth not the life; or the life of man, when the Lord of life himself is vile before it? Poison, they say, is life to a serpent, death to a man, and that which is life to a man, his spittle and natural humidity, is death to a serpent. I have found it thus applied: virtue and felicity, which is life to a good man, is death to the envious; and that which the envious liveth by, is the misery and death of a good man. For envy endeavoureth either that he may not live at all, as all the former examples declare (for even the prodigal son was also dead, and it grieved his brother, Luke 15. that he was brought back to life) or that he may live such a life, as for the discomfortes thereof, he may call it happiness, to have ended. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Therefore amongst other the fruits of a reprobate mind, Rom. 1. those two are joined together, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, envy, and murder: and likewise amongst the works of the flesh, Galathians the fift, with the same combination, as if they were twins growing in one body, and could not be put asunder. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. It is not namely expressed in the former member of the verse, what perturbation it was wherewith jonas was so overborne. But by the effects it showed in him, 1. Cor. 13. Miserico●diae cor miserum. In quâ multa sunt mala unum tantùm utile, quod authori incommoda. Basil. Carpitque & carpitur unà Suppliciumque suum est. Metam. 2. Vt AEtna seipsam. Sic se non alio● invidus igne coquit. Metamor. 2, Ira optimo loco est donum dei, et magna est ars irasci verbi● praemeditatis et tempore ●oportuno. M. Luth. Si deui● irascitur nobis, remedium esse potest, etc. Val Max. lib. 9 cap. 3. Jlla procursu celerio●, nocendi cupidine hoc pertin●ciu● uterque consternatio●is plenus affectus, acnun quam sine▪ tormento sui violentus etc. in seeking so hearty the overthrow of Niniveh, and wishing to die himself, because the Ninivites lived (besides the bidding of open battle to charity, one of whose properties is, that she envieth not, & setting pity at nought, which hath ever a miserable heart when it seethe the wretched) we may reasonably suppose it to have been envy. The nature whereof is this, that God in his justice hath appointed it to be a plague to itself, and amongst many mischiefs it hath furnished it with one only profitable quality, that the owner thereof taketh most hurt. He biteth & is bitten again, & becometh his own punishment. And as Aetna consumed itself, so the malicious man is burnt with the fire of his own heart. And therefore the Poet did notably describe her to have a pale face without blood, a lean body without any juice in it, squint eyes, black teeth, an heart full of gall, a tongue tipped with poison, never laughing but when others weep, never sleeping, because she studieth and thinketh on mischief. It displeaseth jonas exceedingly. But the vexation which he took, hurt himself more than Niniveh. And jonas was angry. We have not ended the affections of jonas. We have an other companion to add to envy, which for the most part is coupled with it. For so we read, Genes. 4. Cain was exceedingly wrath. And, 1. Sam. 18. Saul was wrath at the song of the women. And, Luke 15. the elder brother was angry, either with the father, or the younger son. Ange● in a fit place is the gift of God, and there is great cunning in being angry, with advised speech, and in a seasonable time. But of that hereafter. Meanwhile, the time, and cause, and measure of this anger in jonas, I think, are worthy to be blamed. For with whom is he angry? It seemeth, with himself: Take away my life from me. Or rather with God; who if he had taken him at his word, the sun had gone down upon his anger, I mean, his life had ended in a froward and furious passion. If God be angry with us, there may be some remedy, because God is merciful. But if we be angry with him, there is no help for it. Quis populo Romano irasci sapienter potest? What man of wisdom can be angry with the people of Rome? much less with God. And that you may know how righteous the Lord is, in this affection of anger, as before of envy, when we are unruly and lawless therein, Valerius Maximus comparing anger and hatred together (the one, at the first setting forth, the quicker, the other, in desire of revenge, the more obstinate) saith, that both those passions are full of consternation and amazement, and never use violence without torment to themselves; for where their purpose is to offer wrong, they rather suffer it: as shall better appear unto us hereafter in the behaviour of jonas. I have in part described unto you the nature and enormity of these perturbations, from the mouth of natural & worldly wisdom. What judgement belongeth unto them, when they break their bounds, I learn in a better school▪ Math. 5. Whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause, shallbe culpable of judgement. And they are numbered amongst the works of the flesh, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Gal. 5. whereof the Apostle gave them double warning, that they which did such things should not inherit the kingdom of God. Notwithstanding the viciousness hereof hath been both opened and condemned by those, who though they had not the law of God by peculiar assignment, as the jews had, written in books or in tables of stone, yet the effect of that law was written in their hearts, Rom. 2. & they were a law to themselves, their thoughts accusing or excusing them in most of their doings. Precepts of moral conversation they have as sound delivered, & some as strictly observed, as if Moses had taught and lived among them. The Apostles precept is, Rom. 12. Give place to wrath & Ephes. 4. Be angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. They had the same precepts in Gentility, who saw no less herein by their light of nature, & therefore devised laws to repress anger: That an angry man should not set hand or heart to any thing till he had recited the Greek alphabet, for by that time, the heart of choler would be alaide; and that he should sing to his passion, as nurses to their babes, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, hast not, cry not, & anon I will content thee. Occidissemte nisi iratu● essem. And the practice of Plato was according to these rules: for his servant offending him, he said he could have killed him, but that he was moved, & therefore desired a friend to punish him in his steed. Likewise reprehensions of all sorts of vices, and commendations of their contrary virtues, they have both wisely conceived, faithfully penned, & earnestly persuaded. And although they were ignorant of the joys of heaven and hell fire, yet in their Gentile learning the saw reason sufficient, that the embracers of these contrary qualities, should be contrariwise recompensed. In arundin● sterili atque arida vel alligata sole● unapendere. De bapt. count Donat. lib. 6. cap▪ 1. Therefore I am not of opinion with those men who think that all secular and profane learning should be abandoned from the lips of the preacher, and whither he teach or exhort, he is of necessity to tie himself to the sentence and phrase of only scripture. Good is good wheresoever I find it. Upon a withered and fruitless stalk, saith Augustine, a grape sometimes may hang. Shall I refuse the grape because the stalk is fruitless and withered? There is not any knowledge of learning to be despised, Non ulla dispiciend● disciplinae cognitio▪ cùm de genere bonorum scientia si● omnis: quin potiùs ipsam spernentes et rusticos & planè ignavios existima re debemus etc. Greg: Nazian. in monod. seeing that all science whatsoever, is in the nature and kind of good things. Rather those that despite it, we must repute rude and unprofitable altogether, who would be glad that all men were ignorant, that their own ignorance lying in the common heap might not be espied. If Philosophy should therefore not be set by, because some have erred through Philosophy, no more should the sun and the moon, because some have made them their Gods, and committed idolatry with them. It seemeth by the preface of M. Luther upon the Epistle to the Galathians that the anabaptists condemned the graces and works of God, for the indignity of the persons and subjects in whom they were found. Luther retorted upon them. Then belike matrimony, authority, liberty etc. are not the works of God, because the men who use them, are some of them wicked. Wicked men have the use of the sun, the moon, the earth, the air, the water, and other creatures of God. Therefore is not the sun the sun, and do the others lose their goodness because they are so used? The anabaptists themselves, when as yet they were not rebaptised, had notwithstanding bodies and souls; now because they were not rebaptized, were not their bodies true bodies, and their souls right souls? Say, that their parents also had a time when they were not rebaptized. Were they not therefore truly married? If not, it will follow thereupon, that the parents were adulterers, their children bastards, and not meet to inherit their father's lands. Likewise truth is truth wheresoever I find it. Wither we search in Philosophy, or in the histories of the Gentiles▪ or in Canonical scriptures, there is but one truth. If Peter, if the Sibylles, if the devilles shall say, that Christ is the son of the living GOD, it is not in one a truth, a lie in the other; but though the persons, motives, and ends be different, the substance of the confession is in all, the same. It was true which Menander the Poet spoke, before the Apostle ever wrote it to the Church of Corinth; Evil words corrupt good manners. And because it was a truth in Menander, therefore the Apostle alleged it, which else he would not. The difference between them is, Sic bona sententia man▪ sit, turpis a●●thor muta●us est. avi. Gell. Noc. Att. lib. 18. cap. 3. that as in Lacedaemon sometimes, when in a weighty consultation, an eloquent but an evil man, had set down a good decree, which they could not amend, they caused it to be pronounced by one of honest name and conversation, and in such simplicity of words as he was able presently to light upon, by that means neither crediting the bad author so much as to take a judgement from his mouth, nor rejecting the good sentence: so that which was a truth in the lips of Menander, is not more true, uttered by an Apostles tongue, but it hath gotten a more approved and sanctified author. And surely as in the tilling of the ground, the coulter and share are the instruments that break the clods, and carry the burden of the work, yet the other parts of the plough are not unnecessary to further it: so for the first breaking up of the fallow ground of men's hearts, and killing the weeds and brambles that are therein of Adam's ancient corruption, or for preaching the great mystery of piety, and comfortable spe●king to Zion touching the points of salvation, the only word of God, sharper than coulter or share or two edged sword, is only and absolutely sufficient. But a man must daily build upon the former foundation, and not only teach, but explicate by discoursing, illustrate by examples, exemplify by parables and similitudes, by arguments confirm, shame the gainesaiers, convince the adversaries, fashion the life to the doctrine, plant judgement and justice instead of unrighteousness, stir up the affections, 2. Tim. 2. and show himself every way a workman not to be ashamed, and rightly dividing the word of truth: from whom if you take his knife, that is, his art and cunning, he shall rather tear it with his teeth, and pull it asunder with his nails, than rightly divide it. But you appeal to the consciences of believers, and desire to know, whither their first conversion to the faith, were by reading or hearing of Gentile stories? No. For who ever required that service of profane learning? which, whatsoever the instrument or means be, is principally and almost wholly the work of the holy Ghost; and wherein is fulfilled upon every convert that cometh to the knowledge of the truth, that which Samuel comforted Saul with; The spirit of the Lord shall come upon thee, and thou shalt be turned into an other man. Who else taketh the stony heart out of their bodies, 1. Sam. 10. Ezech. 3●. and giveth them an heart of flesh? And we know besides, that the conversions of men to the faith, have not been all after one sort: in some, by the preaching of Christ crucified, as in those that were added to the Church by the sermon of Peter: in some, Act. 2. by a word from the mouth of Christ, Follow me: in some, by visions and voices from heaven, as Paul, Act. 9 was thrown from his horse, and smitten with blindness, and a voice came down from the clouds, saying, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? and Saint Augustine reporteth, Confess. 8.12. that by a voice from heaven, saying, Take up and read, To●le, lege. take up and read, he was directed to that sentence Rom. 13. Not in chambering and wantonness etc. justine Martyr witnesseth of himself in his Apology to Antoninus, Euseb. 4.8. that when he saw the innocent Christians, after their slanderous and false traducementes, carried to their deaths, patiented and joyful, that they were thought worthy to suffer for the name of Christ, it occasioned his change of religion. Socra. 4.15. Sozom. 7.15. Socrates and Sozomene writ that many of Alexandria, when the great temple of Serapis was repurdged and made serviceable for the use of the Christians, finding some mystical letters or cyphers therein, Literae Hieroglyphicae. whereby the form of a cross was figured, and signification long before given, that the temple should have an end, thought it warning enough to forsake their heathenish superstitions, and to embrace the gospel of Christ jesus. Many other Egyptians, being terrified by the strange inundation of Nilus, Sozom. lib. 7. cap. 20. higher than the wont manner thereof was, immediately condemned their ancient idolatry, and applied themselves to the worship of the living God. Clodoveus the French King, after many persuasions of Crotildis his lady, a religious Burgundian, vainly spent upon him, having at length received a great discomfiture and slaughter in a battle against the Almannes, and finding himself forsaken of all earthly aid, An. Do. 496. vid. joan. Pappum histor. de. conver. gen●ium. cast up his eyes into heaven, and vowed to become a Christian, upon condition that God would give him the victory over his enemies; which he faithfully performed. Now it holdeth not in reason, that because men are converted to the faith by miracles, martyrdoms, visions, inundations, hieroglyphics, & such means, therefore they should always be confirmed by the same; or that those who are converted by the word of faith, should no otherwise be confirmed and strengthened than by that only word. For our own parts, we cannot work wonders, we cannot call down lights & visions from heaven, we must use such means as God hath enabled us unto. And therein, tell me also by experience, If as in former times the Gentiles were confuted by the writings of the Gentiles (which is either a part or at least a preparative to conversion, for we must first remove the preiudices conceived against the truth,) by the philosophy of Plato, Trismegistus, and others, which julian a wise but wicked Emperor saw, Proprij● pennis consigimur. Theodoret. tripart. histor. lib. 6. cap. 17. behold we are wounded with our own quills, out of our books they take armour which in fight they use against us, and therefore made a law that the children of the Galilaeans should not read philosophers nor Poets; and as the jews in later years by the Talmud of the jews (for proof whereof I send you to the trueness of Christian religion, written both in Latin & French, & put into English by as honourable a translator as the author was, So in the winning & reclaiming of Papists at this day, it be not an ordinary way, to root up their errors, besides the scriptures of God, not only by consent of Fathers, decisions of Counsels, but even by principles of philosophy, by reason & outward sense, from the verdict whereof, in many questions amongst them, they are wholly departed. Hoc quod oculi renunciant etc. In Transubstantiation, by name, do we not shake & convince their in extricable absurdities by evidence of sense, by that which our hands handle, & our eye declareth unto us, by natural dimensions which a natural body is subject unto, by circumscription of place, & collocation in one place at once, & how unsensible a thing it is, to have accidents without their subject, roundness, whiteness, & the relish of bread without bread, even as the Lord himself proved the truth of his body, by a truth of philosophy, when they took him for a spirit, touch me, handle me, Luke 24. Lucre●. see me, Tangere enim & tangi nisi corpus nulla potest res, for nothing can touch or be touched but a true body? Is it enough in this conflict to tell a Papist, that Christ is ascended into heaven, & there must sit till all things be restored? doth he not drive thee from thine hold, & put thee to a further replication? So do they also in many other questions; wherein if we rest upon scripture alone, we shall send them away unsatisfied, because they admit not this judge without other copartners, to sit & give sentence alone in the ending of our controversies. And therefore they must be vanquished, as Basilides & Saturninus were in Eusebius, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, both by written demonstrations, and by unwritten redargutions. Lib. 4. cap. 7. bistor. eccles. Is this now to make the pulpit a philosopher's school or rather the philosopher's school a footstool to the pulpit, and to use it as a servant to Divinity that it may the better proceed in the necessary work? The histories of the Heathen (as lightly as we reckon of them) of Moab and Ammon and all the countries of Canaan in former times, of the Medes & Persians, ancient Romans & Grecians; & at this day of the Moors, Moscovites, Turks, and Tartarians, their religion, sacrifices, manners, laws, leagues, wars, stratagems, and even the wars of Hamniball and Scipio, wherein the providence of God mightily wrought and the policy of men carefully bestirred itself; have they nothing in them fit for the use of the temple & for the building of God's house? Then why do we train up our children, in poets, orators, histories, Greekc & Latin, old & new, & not presently set them to the testaments, & everlastingly keep them in the reading & cunning of only catechisms, if all that elementary learning (for so I confess with Seneca, rudimenta sunt, non opera, they are rudiments & beginnings, not works) must be wholly forgotten and laid aside in the exercising of an higher calling? Or is it a point of wisdom, think we, to season these new vessels, when their taste of life to come is especially to be framed, with such unprofitable liquor, whereof there is no good use to be made in riper years, and at sounder discretion? If such were the vanity, and no better fruits of these younger studies, when an elder profession, and a more settled judgement hath them in handling, let Licinius be cleared of that infamous speech of▪ his in terming good Letters, Vir●●● reip. the poison of a commonwealth; & let all our books be heaped together & burnt in the marketplace, as those books of curious arts, Act. 19▪ & let their barbarous opinion who cry to pull down schools & universities, find favour & good speed in the wish of all men. But I ever retained, & till I am better informed, will endeavour to maintainea more honourable opinion of learning; & such poor friendship as I am able to lend to the defence of it, I will ever be ready to show as jonatha did to David, not only in the field, where no man seethe it, but even to the face of those by whom it is most discredited. Because I have ever found by my little & simple experience, that neither the use of Grammar in the proprieties of words, nor of Logic in distinguishing ambiguities, nor Rhetoric in following precepts & rules of speech, nor Philosophy in scamning causes & their effects, nor history in calculating times, nor of any of these in many other uses and services▪ could at any time be missing to the mistress & Queen of all these arts I mean to the handling of Divinity, which is the science of sciences. S. Austin writing against Petilian, telleth us, that his adversary sometimes with open mouth and full breath would accuse him for a Logician, & bring Logic itself to her trial before the people, as the mistress of forgery & lying: Lib. 3. co●s. Petil. ca 16. Anhelis pulmonibus, tan quam dialecticum criminatur, etc. Jbid. ●a. 21. & because he showed some Rhetoric, would note him by the name of Tertullus the orator, & charge him with the damnable wit of Carneades the Academic: but you must know the reason, Cum ad interrogatum respondere non posset, when he was not able to answer the question propounded. No doubt, it was some great disgrace to that learned father, to be blamed for good arts, and to bear an objection and reproach for too much scholarship. Thus let ignorance ever be able to object to the champions of the true church and propugners of the faith of Christ. The testimonies of the 〈…〉. And because I am fallen into the testimony of S. Austin let me further acquaint you what he writeth of this very argument, in his 2. book of christian learning. His judgement is ample & plain, that if the philosophers, so called, especially the Platonics, Cap. 40. Tanquam ab iniusti● possessoribu●. had spoken any truth consonant to our faith, we should be so far of, from fearing it, that we should bereave them thereof, as unjust owners, and possessioners, & apply it to our own use. For as the Egyptians had not only idols & burdens which Israel detested, but vessels and ornaments of silver, & gold, & store of raiment, Non solúm idolae e● onera etc. which Israel not by their own authority, but by God's commandment borrowed, & Egypt ignorantly lent, not knowing how to use them as they ought: So all the learning of the Gentiles, besides their superstitious & abominable figments, hath also liberal arts, serviceable to the truth, & profitable precepts of civility, & somewhat unreprovable of the worship of the true God, which is as it were their silver & gold, not which themselves found out, but took it from the mines of Gods heavenly providence, universally infused into the minds of all men living. Likewise the institutions of men, as it were apparel fit for human society, which the life of man cannot want. He also numbereth the Israelites that went out of Egypt, Suffarcinati. laden with those spoils, Cyprian, Lactantius, Victorinus, Optatus, Hilary; & besides those who were then living, an innumerable sight of Grecians; & before all these, the most faithful servant of the Lord, Moses, of whom it is written that he was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. Finally he there concludeth, not prejudicing any other either his equal or superior, that would otherwise understand it, that the policy of the children of Israel in robbing the Egyptians, did undoubtedly prefigurate this our spoiling of the Gentiles. I will not conceal withal, his retraction touching this point, Quod multum tribu● disciplini● liberalib. quas multisancti multum nesciunt quidam autem qui sciune eas sancti non sunt. 1. Retrac. 3. In Cantic. ser. 9 Lib. 1. epist. 82. Si praepare●● ingenium▪ non detin●an●. in that he had much ascribed to liberal sciences, which many holy men are much ignorant of, and some that know them, are not holy. Therefore in his first book of order, he bringeth himself into an order & measure therein, that the learning of these liberal sciences must be modesta atque succincta, modest & short. Otherwise it is vinum inebrians, as Bernard calleth it, wine that maketh a man drunk, implens non nutriens, inf●ans non aedificans, rather glutting than nourishing, and puffing him up than edifiying him. Therefore Seneca, though he knew not the sovereign knowledge which we do, and that which is life everlasting unto us, concerning the father of lights; and him whom he hath sent, Christ jesus, yet in comparison of other more profitable studies and meditations, he ascribeth utility no farther unto these, than that they prepare the wit, rather than fasten & seize upon it. Non enim discere debemus ista, sed didicisse. For we must not ever be learning these, but have learned them. Jerome, (or whither it were Valerius) in an epistle to Ruffinus writeth thus: Dost thou marvel, Tom. 4. or art thou displeased, that I send thee to the imitation of Gentiles? a Christian of idolators? a lamb of whelps? the good of the evil? I would have thee like the witty discoursing Bee, which from a nettle gathereth honey. So do thou suck honey from the rock, Volo sis api argumentosae similis etc. Omnis crea●ura dei habet aliquod exemplar honesti. Crassam illi rusticitatem solùm pro sanctitate habent. Ne vescentium dentibus edentulus in vide at, & oculos capra rum talpa contemnat Epist. 84. Deut. 21. and oil from the hardest stone. I know the superstition of the Gentiles, but every creature of God hath some precedent of goodness in it. Many things they do perversely, but some things which have died with themselves, have caused fruit to abound in us. And in his 102. epistle to Marcelia, he taxeth some, who held gross & palpable rusticity, (ignorance, lack of learning) for only sanctity, and bragged that they were disciples of fishermen, as if they were therefore holy, because they knew nothing. And elsewhere he wrote to Romanus, that he should admonish Calphurnius, if he wanted teeth himself, not to be envious against others who were able to eat, nor to contemn the eyes of goats, himself being a want and stark blind. To this purpose he allegeth and apply the law of the beautiful captive woman taken in war, whereunto if a man had a mind, he must cause her head to be shaved, her nails pared, and the garments, wherein she was taken, put of, and then he might marry her. What marvel is it then, saith he, if I take the wisdom of the world, for the grace of speech and comeliness of parts that I find therein, and of a captive make it an Israelitish woman, and whatsoever it hath dead, idolatrous voluptuous, erroneous or the like either I cut it away or shave it, and bring forth lawful children to the Lord of hosts? Thus O see took him a wife of fornications, Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, who bore him a son, Ose. 1. and he called him Izreel, that is, the seed of God. And towards the end of that epistle, as if he had been exercised with the objections of our times, he would not have him mistake, as if it were not lawful so to do, save only in disputations against the Gentiles; for almost there is no book written by any man, excepting Epicurus and his followers, In aliis dispu●ationibus dissimulandum. but is very full of learning. Basilius the Great, in a large treatise to his nephews of this very argument, counseleth them, not to cast the anchors of their shipping, nor to fasten their opinions & affections upon such men, but only to pick out those things that were profitable. To life everlasting he doubteth not but they may be sufficiently furnished out of the sacred volumes. Those other writings: which were not altogether discrepant from the books of God might serve as shadows & glimpses before hand to prepare the sight, and for trial of wit, as those that practise a while in the sense-schoole, before they profess their better skill, and as fullers lay some ground colour, before they die purple. He addeth, that as to trees laden with fruit, the leaves give some ornament & grace; so when the excellentest truth is appareled and compassed with this outward wisdom of the world, it becometh thereby the more delightful & pleasant. Notwithstanding, he wisheth them not to take their choice at random, & to esteem all alike. But as in plucking roses, they are careful to avoid the prickles; so they give heed to that only which is good, and eschew the noisome & pestilent. And although he leaveth obscene and wanton Poets to the stage, yet he encourageth them to the better sort, upon the iudegment of a grave man, & well skilled in the Poets, of whom he had heard, Omnis Homeri poes● virtutis laus. Prolegons' in Genes. that Homer's whole poetry, was but a praise of virtue. David Chytraeus a little to break the rank of the fathers, speaketh as highly in the commendation of philosophers & orators: that all their writings of manners are as it were a certain commentary, upon the 5. former commandments of the later table. The knowledge of the former he confesseth, was overobscure unto them, and of the last of all touching concupiscence, almost extinguished. And he honoureth histories no less, the common and universal argument of all which he affirmeth to be that which an Heathen spoke, Discite justitiam moniti, & non temnere divos; Ye Princes & people of the world, take your warning, to do justice & to fear God. For this cause, to return back to the fathers, S. Agustine in one place cleareth philosophy, and philosophers, and telleth his mother that the divine scriptures, which she embraced so earnestly, did not condemn philosophers simply, but the philosophers of this world. 1. De ord. vlt. Colos. 2. And if any man thought that all philosophy was to be shunned▪ his meaning was none other thein, than not to have us love wisdom. In an other he speaketh for eloquence, & thinketh it no reason, that because some bear arms against their country, others should be debarred of armour to defend it; or that physicians instruments should be denied to the skilful, Advers. Crescon. li. 1. Cap 1. Quae utinam mihi prodesiderio provenisse●. Ibid. cap. ●. because the unlearned have used them to kill with. Eloquence, he saith, is not evil (which for the uttering of his mind, he wisheth had fallen unto him to his heart's desire) but a sophistical, malignant professions, proposing to itself, not is it meaneth but either of contention, or for commodity sake, to speak for all things and against all things. What were more profitable than the eloquence of Donatus, Parmenian, and others of your sect, if it ran with as free a stream for the peace, unity, truth, and love of Christ, as it floweth against it? for else it is venenata fafacundia, a venomous eloquence, Si noxium, ibi damnatu●, si utile, ibi in venitur. etc. Aug. 2 de doct Chr. 42. August. Ibid Covasrubdom. 1. advent. ser. 6. Quaecunque apud omnes recté dicta sunt, nostra Christianorum sunt. justin. Mart orat. ad Gentil. & Sen. Rom. Progymnasmata. Tert. in Apol 1. & 5. storm joan Langus praefat. in justin. Mare ad Gent. justin. Mart adver Graec. Praesumpsio ne● in iis, in nobi● summae scientiae. Petrus Blesent. Non refert quâ terrâ nata, ●uius hortulani curâ creverit herba, modò sanet. 2. Sam. 12. Joan. de Bro●●ardo Eyes igitur exemplo & ●u●ilio etc. as Cyprian wrote of the eloquence of Novatus in his epistle to Cornelius▪ I know there is much amiss both in the matter & in the use of profane learning. But this we are sure of, that if we bring it to the touchstone of scripture, whatsoever we read in foreign authors, if it be vicious, it is there condemned; if wholesome, we sh●ll there find it, and many things besides which we have found no where else. For it shall never be denied, but that here are the riches and treasures of wisdom; and that the knowledge collected out of the books of the Gentiles with this of the book of God compared, is no more, than the treasure carried out of Egypt, which to the riches of jerusalem, especially when Solomon was the king there, was in a manner as nothing. For as the wine that cometh from the vines of the mountains, is both finer and pleasanter, than that of the valleys; so the heavenly knowledge which descendeth from the highest hills, & from the throne of God, must needs be sweeter to our taste, than the sour & unsavoury knowledge of the world, which groweth in the valley of tears. To conclude, what things soever, & in what authors soever, were well spoken, they are ours, I mean the christians; & we may take our own where we find it. Plato is sometimes altar Moses, & Moses Atticus, an other Moses, and Moses at Athens: wheresoever therefore he speaketh as Moses did, that is ours. Orpheus and Sibylla have delivered certain introductions or assays of prophetical learning; those are ours. What Poet, what Philosopher is there, that hath not drunk at the well of the Prophets? that is ours. Clemens Alexandrimus calleth them thieves, & chargeth them to have stolen their best opinions from holy writers; those are ours also. Many things they speak at unawares, & tanquam per recantationem, at a fit, as it were recanting their errors, many things ingratis, compelled and against their wills, which in them are but guesses and presumptions, in us grounded knowledge; these are ours likewise. It skilleth not in what ground the herb grew, nor what gardener sowed it, or brought it up, so it heal. And what matter is it though the crown were the kings of Ammon, so it be meet for the king of jerusalem to take away, and to set upon his own head? A countryman of our own, though an obscure author, wrote not obscurely touching this controversy. For in the prologue of his tripartite work, he giveth a reason why he induceth the laws of the Heathen. The wisdom of God▪ saith he, hath brought the stork, and the kite, and the swallow to witness against sinners. Wherhfore by his example and assistance, who hath brought an honeycomb out of the mouth a lion, and abundance of water from an asses jawbones, and who is able of stones to raise up children to Abraham, I have endeavoured of the laws of Pagans, to make children's bread, fit for the information and instruction of a christian life. I have long troubled you with the opinions of the ancient Fathers, & some later Divines, touching these Gentile and external helps. But where shall I seek patrons, if need be, for these fatherless and friendless Fathers themselves? for these we also account to be spots in our sermons, & our labours seem the worse, if the names of Augustine, Jerome, & other reverend Doctors do but sound therein. Surely according to that image of the world, which I have found pictured with the feet upwards, to note that all things are turned upside down, we the Punies & proselytes of good learning, control and correct our fathers: and although in many of us, there be very small cause, yet we presume to say with David, not speaking from the humble spirit of God, but from a strong conceit of our own weakness, and a weaker judgement of the strength of others, I am wiser than my teachers, Psal. 159. I have more understanding than the ancient ever had. Howsoever we account of them, it is most true, that they have laboured for us, and we are entered upon their labours. The fruits whereof if we reap without acknowledgement, we are unthankful; or if we pass them over with contempt and disdain, and think it the losing of good hours, to peruse their books, we are too fond of our own learning. Other men as they list. Let them esteem the light of antiquity no better worth than to be hid under a bushel, and quite suppressed, that they may set their own upon a candlestick, Senec. lib. 8. Epist. 65. and cause it to blaze to the view of the whole house: Ego vero illos veneror, & tantis nominibus semper assurgo, But for mine own part, I have them in great reverence, and honour their very names; and I say of their works in general, as Theotimus a Bishop amongst the Scythians spoke of the works of Origen, when Theophilus and Epiphanius urged him to join in the condemnation of them: I will neither discredit him, Vt reprobem quae maiores nostri non reprobarunt▪ Socrat. lib. 6. Cap. 12. who is long since happily fallen a sleep in the LORD: neither dare I attempt so blasphemous a thing, as to reprove those writings which our forefathers have not reproved. They carried memorable names in former ages. Cyprian called Tertullian his master. Vincentius Lirinensis saith of him, that his arguments were as the lightnings to beat down heretics. The testimonies that Augustine giveth unto Cyprian, are very large, Inter raro● & pauco● excellentiss. gra●ae viros L●. 6 de bapt con●. Donatist. cap 2. Erasm. praefa●. in opera Cypriani▪ Haeretico. rum malleus Orbis terrarunt oculus. Magnus Athanasius. and this amongst the rest, that the Mother Church reputed him in the number of a very few of most excellent condition, But who can study to spend more honour upon him, than he who said, Loquitur a●serta, sed magis fo●●ia quam diserta, neque tam loquitur fortia quam vivit; His speech is eloquent, yet hath more strength in it than eloquence, and his life more strength th●n his speech. Augustine they termed not unworthily the hammer of heretics. Athanasius called Ambrose the eye of the world. Athanasius himself was surnamed the Great, for his invincible courage in defending the Church. Nazianzen writeth of Basile, that between him & his followers, there is no more comparison than between pillars & their shadows. I omit the rest. But such are our unequal judgements, of those whose equals we shall hardly be, that if we were willed to speak what we thought of Basile, we would reckon him but a shadow and counterfeit to ourselves, and great Athanasius as one of the least amongst us, and thrust out the eyes of Ambrose, and term him a crow and a chough as the Pie of Mirandula did, & Cyprian should have a letter of his name changed as sometimes it was, Corvum & corniculam. Cyprianus. Caprianus Lactant. and be but Caprian unto us, one that wrote of trifles and vanities. I omit the rest, the classical and principal Doctors of the church (next the Apostles of Christ, and their next succeeders) the stars and ornaments of learning, the pillars of religion and Christianity in their time, who put their bodies and souls betwixt Christ and his adversaries, who spoke, and written, and lived, and died in defence of his truth, whose labours were then renowned, and GOD in his providence hath reserved their books to this day, monuments to us of their infatigable pains, and helps to our studies, if we be not enemies to ourselves. I could be content to say much for them; because I use them much. For I never could be bold to offer mine own inventions and conceits to the world when I have found them such in S. Augustine, and others, as might not be amended. I would not wish the learned of any sort, that hath but borne a book, to dispraise learning. She hath enemies enough abroad, Oportet sapientiam ab insipientibus feriri Diogen▪ though she be justified by her children. It is fit that wisdom be beaten by fools, than by wisemen:, and that Barbary disgrace arts, rather than Athens the mother and nurse of them. But above all other places, a blow given in the pulpit, leaveth a scar in the face of learning, which cannot easily be removed. It preiudiceth the teaching of others, as if they fed the people with acorns & husks in steed of bred; & because they gather the members of truth together, dispersed through orators, philosophers, poets, fathers, scriptures, & make one body of them all which God is the author of, they are thought in a manner to preach falsehood. Or at least, it is vanity, in those that preach, & itching in those that hear, & in neither of both to be allowed. I also condemn it, when it is so. Vain & vain glorious invention let it whither at the brain that sent it forth. And let itching ears fret & consume away with the malignity of their humours. Where we find them itching after pleansure, it is good to make them smart with the acrimony of severe reprehension. But where it is otherwise, let not a rash conclusion without proof, be admitted against good learning. If Asclepiodorus will draw with a coal, or chawke alone, I judge him not; if others will paint with colours, neither let them be judged. If some will barely teach, and others prove; if some affect to speak with simplicity, and others with variety illustrate; If some confer with men of yester day, others with antiquity, some bind themselves precisely to the words of God, others not refrain the words of men, using them as the words of God; If some stand narrowly upon the terms and sentences of faith, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. Pet. 4. others not departed from the proportion of faith nor bring in any thing dissonant and disagreeing to the uniformity thereof; both may do well, but the latter, in mine opinion, do far the better. That which concerneth you, in this little dissent of judgements, the sheep of his pasture, by whom we are set in his house to give you your portion in due time, is this that you be not dismayed hereat. For we preach not ourselves in such kind of preachings, but Christ jesus the Lord, not to commend our gifts, but to edify your consciences. And to this end, I may say, with some alteration of words, as the Apostle to the Corinthians, All things are yours, whither it be Paul, or Apollo's, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, 1. Cor. ● or things to come: so all things are yours in our preaching, whither it be scripture, or nature, or art, all is yours. Yours are Philosophers, Orators, Historigraphers, Poets, jews, Gentiles, Grecians, Barbarians, Fathers, new-writers, men, angels, that you may be saved; this only is the end, where unto our knowledge & learning of what kind soever is directed. To return to jonas discontented, and withal to conclude; The conclusion. you see the fall, nay you see the relapse of a chosen prophet, a sickness recovered, and a recidivation into the same or a worse sickness. Before he had sinned, and recanted his sin, and washed his disobedience away with the water of the sea, but now is returned to the mire again: mire indeed, wherein his heart as a troubled & muddy spring is so disordered, that he discerneth nothing a right, neither in faith to God, nor charity to man, nor love to himself; accusing the most righteous Lord, envying his innocent brethren, and carried away headlong with a kind of detestation towards his own person; once angry, and angry again, and not only conceiving, but defending anger; angry with the worm in the earth, angry with the sun in the sky, angry with the wind in the air, angry with the former and governor of all these, who could have ended his passion with the least breath of his angry lips. A dangerous and grievous wound in a Saint, If I would thrust my fingers into it, and thoroughly handle it. But I leave it to the order of my text, worthy of another sea, and of another whale, and once more of the belly of hell, even of hell indeed, if God would exactly stand to repay it, Improbe Neptunum accusat, qui iterum naufragium facit; He hath no reason to accuse Neptune, that so presently after a late danger, will hazard himself to take shipwreck again. God is admirable in his Saints, not only in their risings, but in their fall also. The best amongst them have fallen. And I love to report their falls, not that I take any pleasure with ungracious Chain to uncover the nakedness of my fathers, but because that mantel and cloak of charity, which God casteth over their sins, to cover their weaknesses with, is the comfortablest reading and learning that the world hath. S. Augustine spoke wisely of the error of Cyprian: Lib. 1. de baptis, cont. Donat. cap. 18. Propterea non vidit aliquid, ut aliquid per eum supereminentius videretur; There was something which he saw not, that he might gain the knowledge of some more excellent thing, That which he lost in faith, he got in charity. So there is somewhat that jonas doth not, to make way to the doing of some better work. For if he gained nothing else, the mercy of God might by this means be the more commended in the forgiveness of his trespass, and that which he looseth in charity, he getteth in faith, that is in the assurance and ratification of the love of God towards him. Commissum atque conscriptum est: saith Augustine upon the 51. Psalm. of the adultery and murder of David. So is this fault of jonas both done and written by one of whom I am sure that his witness is true, because he accuseth himself: and it is written for our learning, that those who yet stand, fall not; and those that are fallen, may rise again. Trust not your arms of flesh, trust not your hearts of ashes, trust not your purest and uprightest spirits, whilst they have their dwelling in houses of clay, and there is a law in the members striving against them to get the victory. If you have stood a time, yet trust not your legs, you may slide again; or if you have slipped and recovered, trust not that recovery, for fear of backsliding. Trust not the prerogative of your calling; Prophets have fallen, patriarchs have fallen, Apostles have fallen, stars have fallen, Angels have fallen; trust notly your strength, it is infirmity; trust not wisdom, it is folly; trust not the friendship of the world, it is enmity with God; trust not the authority thereof, it is contemptible in his sight; trust not the purity of nature, it is defiled; trust not the righteousness of your works, it is unperfit: trust in the mercy of God, for that only is absolute; and in the merits of his beloved son, for they are all-sufficient. It is I, it is even I, Es. 43. which for mine own sake put away thine iniquities. It is not I, nor thou, nor Abraham, nor Moses, nor Peter at Rome, not Paul at jerusalem, that can do this cure: Hear thy Physician; It is I, even I. Not with the preparation of thine own nature, nor with the liberty of thine own will, nor with the cooperation of thine own justice: hear him once again; It is I, even I, which for mine own sake. If thou thinketh to hire him, thou losest him. He standeth not upon thy desert, but upon his own most holy name, his own most righteous promise, and the obedience of his own and most only begotten son, the Lord Christ jesus. An admonition to the readers. IT may seem strange, that I have used so large and impertinent a digression in behalf of good learning. As after a long oration spent in the praise of Hercules, one asked, quis vituperavit? Who dispraised Hercules? So you may desire to know, who dispraised learning. Let it suffice you to understand, that one of my fellowlabourers in this work of the Lord, whom neither I judge in the freedom of his conscience for speaking what he thought, neither can free from the community of erring with myself and others, because we are all unperfit in knowledge, upon the best day of the seven, in the best place, and before not the meanest assembly, handling the words of the Apostle, 1. Cor. 16.13. watch ye, stand fast in the faith; took occasion thereupon, to stand for the only word of faith in sermons, with vehement exception against the histories of the Gentiles, Orators, Poets, & other profane knowledge. Wherein, let it be his commendation, that according to the warning of his text, he was diligent in his watch, and being jealous for the truth, suspected those for enemies which were not, and showed his fidelity to the faith, though he went a little too far, & miss in the just measure of applying it. For mine own part, I would have spared mine answer, especially in public, but that I perceived the speech to be bend to some mark of a few that laboured in that calling, and the ears of the people drank it in with earnest attention, because it was hearty spoken, and some were perplexed, others offended therewith, and learning was wounded, which not to have salved had been a wrong, and the arrow flew from her side, & glanced upon us all without exception in that church, who in our manner of teaching held no other course. THE XLI. LECTURE. Chap. 4. ver. 2. And he prayed unto the Lord, and said; I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying when I was yet in my country? etc. THe first part of this chapter is spent in declaring the fault of jonas, his unmerciful affection towards this poor people freed from the wrath of God, to whom he should have wished well if they had been enemies, as now they were friends & reconciled by apparent repentance, & rather than have miss this success which fell out, not only have doubled and trebled his pains, but even have pulled out his eyes, & laid down his life to have saved their lives. jonas in lieu hereof, envieth their mercy received, and is angry against God, the dispenser & carver of that mercy, & angry against himself, that he liveth to behold his expectation so contraried. A wound in a prophet so much the more intolerable, that it was but green after his late recovery. For being newly raised up from falling, he dasheth his foot presently against the same stone; rebelling before against the express commandment of God, and now, repining, fretting, expostulating, & not much less than rebelling again. One would have thought that the salt sea should have purged and washed away all his choleric distemperatures, and that his danger so newly endured and eschewed, farther than his hope could see into, should wholly have transformed him into a man of mercy. But you see it is otherwise. For the goodness of God displeaseth jonas exceedingly, and he is angry. The impatience of jonas consisting of envy implied, and probably conjectured, (it displeased jonas) & of anger openly expressed, we have in general laid down in the first verse, & are particularly to pursue in those that follow. Then were named the affections only, now we come to the effects of those affections, with what gesture & speech he came before God. Surely the effects are such, that they deserve to be smitten with the censure of the wise man; A stone is heavy, & the sand weighty, but yet a fools heart is heavier than them both. Prov. 27. Balance the justice of God in his righteous dealing with the penitent city of Niniveh, against the anger of jonas fired & enraged, doth not jonas impeach it? as if the Lord had done some injury, for which he were justly to be taunted & brought into question? O I beseech thee, was not this my saying? etc. Ponder his own offence, which if Saul, or some other alien had committed, he should have borne his trespass, doth he not justify it? therefore I prevented it, that is, I did not amiss to fly unto Tharsis. The state of this mighty city to be desolate & overthrown he regardeth no more, than to see a grass in the field mown down. For I knew thee to be a merciful God; that which I feared is fallen upon me, the exhibition of thy grace to Niniveh. Yea the price of his own life is but vile in his own eyes, so he may wreak his anger, & satisfy his discontented mind, by any either lawful or unlawful means: Now therefore, I pray thee, take my life from me etc. Neither did he only conceive anger in his mind, but he followeth, feedeth, maintaineth it, that we have just cause to strike him again with another sentence of the same wise man, Be not thou of an hasty spirit to be angry for anger resteth in the bosom of fools. Eccles. 7. Lib. 2. cap. 16. de fide orthod. Damascen maketh three degrees; of anger, bilem, iracund●ā, infensionem, Choler, wrath, & heavy displeasure. The one he sayeth, hath beginning & motion, but presently ceaseth; the other taketh deeper hold in the memory; the third desisteth not without revenge. Gregory Nyssen keeping the same number, calleth the 1. anger, the ●. lightness of the brain, Iram, maniom, furorem. Comment. in Damas. 4 Ethic. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. the 3. stark staring madness. Clichtoveus compareth the first to fire in stubble, which is soon kindled, & soon put out; the second, to fire in iron, which hardly taketh & longer abideth; the third, to fire that is hid & never bewrayeth itself, but with the ruin & waste of that matter wherein it hath caught. Some are sharp, saith Aristotle, others are bitter, a 3. kind is implacable. The anger of jonas may seem to have been in the third place; it cannot be mitigated. He desireth nothing so much as that Niniveh may be overthrown. He complaineth, persisteth, replieth, and by no persuasions can be brought from showing his displeasure both against God, and against his own life. To come to my purpose; the particulars to be examined, for the better searching out of his fault, are, 1. that he prayed unto the Lord: 2. what he prayed: and therein both the substance of his petiton in the 3. verse, therefore I beseech thee take my life from me; and the causes that moved him so to pray, for that, the mercy of God had disappointed him, I knew that thou art a gracious God etc. together with an exprobration, that he suspected so much when he was at home. 1 That he prayed. And he prayed unto the Lord. That jonas prayed, or that he prayed unto the Lord, I dislike not. Happy is that man who either in the midst of anger, or of any other offence can pray. He ever obtaineth either that which he prayeth for, Aut hoc quod orat. aut quod melius est, ●ut quod sufficit. or that which is better, or that which is sufficient, If jonas had restinguished and choked the fervour of his wrath, with the fervency of the spirit, he had done beyond exception: but it is well that he remembreth himself any way to be a prophet, and doth not quite forget God and his whole duty towards him. For anger hath a company of most pestilent daughters; Aquin. 2.2. quae. 158. tumour men●is. swelling of the mind, so high and so full, that there is no room for any good motion to dwell by it: contumely, towards men; blasphemy, towards God; indignation of heart, impatience and clamour of speech; violence of hands, with other savage and monstrous demeanour, as far forth as strength will give it leave. Prover. 27. Anger is cruel, (saith the Proverb) and wrath is raging, but who can stand before Envy? I know that the effects of anger have been such as I named before. Genes. 49. They were such in Simeon and Levi, whom jacob their father upon his deathbed, when all displeasure should have died with him, detested in his very soul, and instead of blessing, cursed them. They were such in Saul against jonathan his own flesh, for excusing the absence of David, and making no more than a just defence of his innocency, wherefore shall he die? 1 Sam. 20. What hath he done? When he took up a iaveling in his hand, and would have nailed him to the wall, if his mark had not shunned him It appeareth by that which followeth, that if it had been possible for jonas to have commanded fire from heaven, as the disciples would have done, Luke 9 against a town of Samaria, he would not have spared it. But anger exerciseth the arms of the strong, this tongue of the weak. Therefore, Jra forti producit lacertos, imbelli linguam. Scaliger. sithence he hath not power over the thunders and lightnings of God, he occupieth but his tongue, but whatsoever may be done by the intemperatnes thereof, he dissembleth it not. It is no great commendation to jonas that he prayed, because he prayed in choler, with a spirit troubled and disordered, measuring all things, not by the will of God, but by the fancies thereof; because with such distraction of mind, the fountain of his heart pouring forth sweet and sour together; the words of his lips directed unto God, but his inward cogitations altogether bestowed in purging himself, wishing revenge, accusing God, and other such like foreign and improper intentions. It might have been said to jonas, bending himself to prayer in this sort, as the prophet spoke to jerusalem, wash thy heart from malice, jerem. 4. Mat. 9 how long shall thy wicked thoughts remain within thee? Or as it was said to the Scribes in the gospel, why think ye evil in your hearts? Our saviour counseled his disciples, Mat. 6. when they prayed, not to be as the hypocrites, standing at the heads of the streets, but to enter into their chambers, and shut the doors unto them, and to pray to their father in secret, that he might openly reward them. Now to what purpose is it, to remove the body from the eyes of men, to close it up in a private chamber, within walls and doors, Molesta intus familia. Senec. Turbam intus sustinet. Gregor. if the soul have a troublesome and unquiet company within, anger, impatience, envy to disturb her meditations with noise? for these must also be put forth as Christ put forth the minstrels and mourners, all the affections of the heart must be repressed, the whole strength and might of the soul kept nearly together, without wandering abroad, that by their forces united in one, the goodness of the Lord may the sooner be obtained. The oracle gave answer to a man desirous to know what art he should use in praying, thou must give the half moon, the whole sun, and the anger of a dog, that is, cor, Da media● lunam, solemn simul, & canis iram. thy whole heart, with every affection belonging unto it. In that introduction of prayer, which our Saviour setteth down in the gospel, though there be sundry branches of requests to God, as the sanctifying of his name, the enlardginge of his kingdom, or whatsoever else is meet, either for the body or the soul of man, yet all the rest are passed over with their only first reciting, and the only exposition which he leaveth unto us, is upon the fift petition, wherein we desire pardon of our own debts, as we pardon others. Math. ●. For there our Saviour addeth, culling this one from amidst all the rest, and setting his special mark upon it, if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you; if not, look accordingly to be dealt with. His meaning, no doubt, was, that when we bring our gift to the altar, the oblation of our lips and hearts, and come not in charity, whatsoever we make request for, is returned back again, and our whole offeringirefused, as an unsavoury thing which the Lord hath no pleasure in. 1. Cor. 13. Though I speak with the tongues of men & angels, and have not charity, I am as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal: & though I had the gift of prophecy, and knew all secrets and knowledge, yea, if I had all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and had not charity, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; before I was little, I was but a sound, now I am nothing, What can we less pronounce of the prayer of jonas? though one that spoke with the tongue of a man, & in comparison of other men, the tongue of an angel, a tongue of the learned, a tongue refined like silver, though one that had the gift of prophecy, and knew as many mysteries of knowledge as was expedient for flesh and blood to be acquainted with, one that had faith enough to save him in the bottom of the seas, the bottom of the mountains, the bottom & belly of a monstrous fish, but that the want of love was sufficient to have lost the blessing & grace of all his hearts desires? 2. What he prayed. And said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying etc. Consider now I beseech you what he prayed, and therein, how long it is before he cometh to the matter intended, a foolish and unnecessary discourse interposed of his own praise, but his subjection to the will of God not thought upon. For what is the substance of his prayer? that which is inferred, after a long preface, therefore I pray thee, take away my life from me; he strengtheneth it by reason, for it is better for me to die than to live. Why better? the cause of this commodiousness and convenience are contained in the prolocution, in those frivolous & vain speeches that are first laid down, I beseech thee, was not this my saying etc. as much as to say, I was thrust forth into a charge, which from the first hour I had never liking unto, & wherein I thought, & said, and resolved to myself from the very beginning, that I should be deceived. Admit all this. Say thou foresawest it, and that the end would be other than thou lookedest for, oughtest thou therefore to have refused thy message? a necessity was laid upon thee, and thou mightest well assure thyself, that woes would have lighted upon thee as many as the hairs of thy head, if thou didst it not. Leave the event to God, let him use his floor at his pleasure, whither he gather into the barn, or scatter as the dust of the earth, do thou the office of a prophet. Again, thou sentest me to denounce a judgement, & thou meantest nothing but well unto them; I preached righteousness and severity, & thou art a gracious God, and full of pity; I made their accounts perfect and strait, that destruction should fall upon them at the end of forty days, thou takest a pen of thy mercy, and dashest thy former writing, & writest them a longer day, years and generations to come, I know not how many. Upon this he concludeth, therefore now O Lord, take away my life etc. But we will weigh the conclusion when we come to it. Meantime, we must rip up his former speeches, which were of preparation, making the way to his suit before hand. Peruse them who will, he shall find them fuller of affections than words: and such a bundle of errors wrapped together, as one would hardly have imagined in a prophet. Wherein by a blind self-liking, & love to his own wit & judgement, he is carried from reason, truth, obedience, & from that reverend estimation which he should have had of God. For how often in so short a space doth he challenged wisdom to himself? I beseech thee, O Lord, I appeal to thine own conscience, speak but truth, & be not partial in thine own cause, was not this my saying? I am able to allege particulars, I can remember the time and the place when I was yet in my country; therefore I prevented it: If I had had mine own will, I had stopped this inconvenience, for I was not to learn that thou waste a gracious God, there was no point of foresight wherein I mistook. Thus his saying, his providence, his prevention, his knowledge, these are the things that he standeth to much and to long upon. Thy saying, jonas, or my saying, or the saying of any mortal man? what are the words of our lips, or the imaginations of our hearts, but naughty, foolish, perverse from our youth up, if God direct them not? or what thy prevention and forecast, or of all thy companions, prophets, or prophet's children in the world, to know what to morrow will bring upon you, or the closing up of the present day, unless some wisdom from heaven cast beams into your minds to ●llighten them? 2. King. 13. As Elizeus directed the hand of joash the king of Israel to shoot, and the arrow of God's deliverance followed upon it, and so often as he smote the ground, by the appointment of the prophet, so often, and no longer, he had likelihood of good success: so the Lord must direct our tongues & hearts in all that proceedeth from them; and where his holy Spirit ceaseth to guide us, there it will be verified that the prophet hath, Surely, every man is a beast by his own knowledge. Therefore the advice of Solomon is good; Prover. 3. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thy wisdom: in all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes, and fear the Lord, and depart from evil, so shall health be to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones. You have heard the counsel of the wise: now join unto it for conclusion, the judgement of the most righteous, Esay 5. W●e unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight. Wisdom presumed, you see, and drawn from the cistern of our own brain, is, in the reputation of God, as the sins of covetousness, oppression, drunkenness, and such like, and standeth in the crew of those damned and wretched iniquities which God accurseth. Querelam temporat, quòd iniustitiae quodam modo Deum arguat. I pray thee. I like the note that Jerome giveth upon this place, he tempereth his complaint, because in some sort he accuseth God of injustice. For this cause he sweeteneth the accusation with fair & flattering speech. For, to have challenged God, in gross & blunt terms, had been to apparent; therefore he cometh with a plausible & glozing insinuation unto him, I pray thee, O Lord; for, remembering that fearful name of his, jehovah, wherein he saw nothing but majesty & dreadfulness, could he do less than entreat him? if he had spoken but to the king of Niniveh, in whose dominions he was, or to jeroboam the second, who reigned in his own native country, the very regard of their persons and place would have enforced him so much. It was the counsel that AEsop gave to Solon, inquiring what speech he should use before Croesus, A●t quàm minima aut quàm dulcissima. Pro. 25. & 15. Osser●m. Qu●so jehovah. Pauper cum obse●ratio. nibus loquit●r. Pr. 18. job. 21. either very little, or very sweet. For a prince is pacified with courtesy, and a soft answer turneth away wrath, & a gentle tongue breaketh a man of bones, that is, of the hardest and toughest disposition that can be. If such than be our usage before the princes of the earth, who are but smoke and vanity, much more doth the presence of the most high God require it. I pray thee. The form of speech, I have elsewhere noted, befitteth suitors, The poor speaketh with prayers, but the rich speaketh roughly: for those that are rich, are full and sufficient, as they think, in themselves, and therefore they say unto God, in the vain trust of their own abundance, who is the Almighty that we should serve him? and what profit shall we have, if we pray unto him? The jews, Esas 58. were so filled & blown up with the opinion of their own merits, that they thought perhaps God was little able to stand them in steed, and therefore they come not unto him, we beseech thee, but upbraiding, challendging, provoking, wherefore have we fasted, and punished ourselves, and thou regardest it not? As if God were bound unto them to hear them for their service sake. Such were the Scribes and the Pharisees in the Gospel; why eateth your master with Publicans and sinners? and, this man is a friend to Publicans and sinners; and, if this man were a prophet, he would have known who had touched him, for she is a sinner. Themselves, what were they in this eyeing and pointing at sinners so much? Angels, or men? Saints, or sinners? One of that school, though he went into the temple to pray, yet he prayed not as if he found want, but rather gave thanks for that which he had received: and gloried in himself before all other men, & especially with scornful demonstration, before that Publican. Luke 18. Let them swell with their full conceits till they break, and let their eyes stand out with fatness, let them bear the collopes of presumption and disdain in their flanks: but the voice of the gospel of Christ, which is the rod of our comfort, The poor receive the gospel, and, Blessed are the poor in spirit, is smally to the comfort of these stately and stout guests. I came not to call the righteous, but the sinners to repentance; This is the spar of the gate; if ever thy think to enter into the supper of the Lamb, their righteousness falsely supposed keepeth them out. They have purchased a farm of righteousness, they think their dwellings safe enough without the house of God, and therefore they desire to be excused; they plough with the oxen of their own imagined righteousness, and have married themselves unto it as unto a wife, and therefore they cannot come. To him that is full, honey is unpleasant, but emptiness and sinfulness lieth at his gates who is rich in mercy, as Lazarus at the gates of the Rich man, with all her ulcers and sores laid open, all her infirmities detected, craving, begging, beseeching to be refreshed with the crumbs that fall from his board, even with the smallest pittance of mercy that God is author of. Therefore he saith, I pray thee, Lord. In the prayer of the Mariners before, I commended their humility, upon occasion of the like term, Chap. 1. in that they used the right form of supplication: it shall not be amiss to commend humility unto you, & you unto it once again, there is so hard getting, harder keeping of it. We have all haughty, & pharisaical kickshaws, whether we talk with God or man: & as all vices are against humility, either openly or privately; so especially pride of heart is a sworn, & professed enemy unto it in the open field. Yea all virtues are against humility; for we are proud of giving alms, tithing, fasting, praying, learning, wisdom, Saepe ●tiam homo de ipso vanae gloriae contemp●s vanus gloriatur. knowledge, and love to be seen of men. To say further; humility hath an hand against humility, against her own person, & by an unnatural prodigious birth, bringeth forth pride: For the humble sometimes is as proud of his lowliness, as Digones of his rags. Even for that difficulty sake, we are to desire the teacher & actor of humility, who both delivered it by precept, Math. 11. and declared it by the example of his whole life, when we send our prayers into heaven, not only to bow▪ the knees of our bodies, but the knees of our hearts; yea even to humble and bow the very phrase of our words, that we may utter them, as if the smallest grasshopper of the earth were to speak with fear & reverence before that dreadful Majesty, I beseech thee, Lord; without upbraiding, challendging, covenanting, for any our highest service that hath been, or shallbe done. If we well examine ourselves, we shall find somewhat without us to teach us humility, Extra nos. not only the better virtues of other men, who have more deserved, and received less at God's hands, but even their falls in the midst of those virtues; Jnfra nos. somewhat beneath us, the obedience of beasts and birds, who in their kinds glorify their maker, & God hath enabled them with strength & comeliness of nature more than ourselves; somewhat within us, Intra nos. the conscience of our own unworthiness, & deformity of sin wherewith we are spotted; Supra nos. somewhat above us, the majesty, justice & vengeance of an angry God; finally, somewhat against us, enemies of all sorts, Contra nos. outward, inward, carnal, spiritual, many, mighty, deadly, both in heavenly and in earthly places. Boughs of trees, the more they are laden with fruit, the nearer they hang to the earth: the best gold goeth down in the balance, the lighter stayeth above: good corn lieth in the bottom of the heap, the chaff keepeth on high: so the more fruitful, precious, & virtuous the soul is, the more it abaseth & vilifieth itself; that he who hath chosen the weak to confound the mighty, may the more exalt it. Was not this my saying? jonas began well, if he had continued it: but he stumbleth at the threshold; and in the first entry of his speech starteth back. I should have thought, by the hope which he gave in the greeting and salutation of GOD in his foremost words, I pray thee, LORD; that he would have proceeded to an humble recapitulation and recital of his rash both speeches and actions before past: pardon, O Lord, mine unadvised words which I used in mine own country, forgive my purpose of preventing thy will, bury my flying to Tharsis and all my transgressions in the bottom of the sea, where thou buriedst me; thus he should have done: but he in a different mood, as if he had gotten a victory against God, beginneth gloriously to triumph, little esteeming to set his foot upon the neck of justice itself, so the credit of his doings and sayings may be justified: Lo Lord, this, this was the cause why I played the fugitive: was not this my word? had I not reason to do as I did? to run unto Tharsis? did I not say thus much before? Eià domine, illud verò▪ illud erat cur fierem tran●fug●. Luth. Verbum. was I not wise to presage the event that would fall out? if my counsel had been followed, all these inconveniences of falsifying my message, of bringing thy truth into question, had been avoided. Was not this my word? his word? that is, his thought, the word that his soul spoke: for the tongue is but servant and messenger from the soul in this action. When jesus healed the man sick of the palsy, Mat. 9 willing him to be of good comfort, and adding moreover, that his sins were forgiven him: Behold, certain of the Scribes, not thought, but said within themselves, this man blasphemeth. They thought there were no witnesses present to their speech: but when jesus saw their thoughts, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. he said, wherefore think ye evil things in your hearts? That which the Gospel sayeth they said, Christ calleth thoughts: because the tongue is but the instrument, it is the soul that speaketh: and Christ is as near to the speech of the one, as the voice of the other. I touch it in a word. The thoughts of our hearts (we think, as the Scribes did) are close and private to ourselves; but the Lord hath spies and watchmen over them. The birds of the air shall bewray the counsels and conspiracies of thy bedchamber, but the God of heaven beholdeth thy thoughts in the midst of thy bosom. Say not within thyself, I did it not, I spoke it not, I only thought it in my heart, and what more free than thought? mistake not. Thy thoughts are not only thoughts, they give their sound without, they go for words and actions to, in the sight of God. The speech of jonas in every part thereof, Anon. savoureth of much presumption. 1. He demandeth, was not this my saying? which is the manner of checking and controlling for the most part, Art thou a master in Israel, and knowest not these things? answerest thou the high Priest thus? knowest thou not that I have power to kill thee, and power to let thee go? thou sittest to judge according to the law, and smitest thou me contrary to the law? I spare the rest. My meaning is but to let you understand, that it had been a milder manner of speech thus to have delivered it, this was my saying, etc. 2 He magnifieth his word, as if there were more than wind in it. Verbum meum. Was not this my word? What is the word of jonas, or of any mortal man? what virtue? what power? what truth? what edge? what authority? what spirit? what life hath it in it? By the word of GOD the heavens were form, and they are reserved for fire by the power of the same word. By the word of God is man turned to destruction, & by the power of the same word is it commanded, return ye sons of Adam. By the word of God Niniveh is warned, and Niniveh is spared by the power of the same word: Num. 22. but as touching the word of jonas, unless he observe the rule that Balaam did, the word that God putteth into my mouth, that shall I speak, it is as weak as water, and as easy to be dispersed as the mist in the air. Dum in patriâ me●. In terr● meâ. 3 He bringeth in a calendar of the time and place, amplifying his complaint against God by singular circumstances: when I was in my country, I told thee this. He saith not in jury, but in mine own country: as who should say; what needed my travail and pains into Assyria, a country unknown unto me, the going from mine own home where I was best at ease, and the compassing of seas and lands, to lose the fruits of my labours? 4 When I was yet in judaea; if I had spoken to late, I had spent my speech in vain: Ad huc. but I spoke in season, when I was first called, before ever I stirred my foot, when all these troubles & mishaps might have been eschewed. Jdcirc●. Therefore: as if he had won the field, and evicted it by plain argument and proof. Thus he insolently disputeth, and concludeth against God, job 9 Ante verteram. Tharsum fugiendo. as if he reasoned with his neighbour: yet God is not as man that we should answer him. And he doth not only resist, but prevent, as if the wisdom and providence of the most High were inferior to his; and not by staying in Israel, but by going to Tharsis, nay by flying to Tharsis: as one that meant to leave the Lord behind him by the swiftness of his pace. If this be not sin and sins, presumptuous, high minded, high speaking sins, I know not what sin is: and those that labour to assoil the Prophet from sin in this his disobedience, what do they else, but cover a naked body with fig leaves, which either the heat of the day will whither, or the least blast of wind pull from it? If we wash his fault with snow-water, and purge his hands and his heart never so clean by our charitable defence of him, yet he hath plunged himself in the pit, and his own clothes, his own words have laid open his imperfections unto us. The remembrance of his native country, I doubt not, was sweet unto him. The Application. Gen. ●0. It was one of jacob's conditions in his vow to God, when he was sent to Haran, that if God would be with him in journey which he went, and give him bread to eat, and clothes to put on, so that he came again to his father's house in safety, then should the LORD be his God. It was also a great probation and trial of Abraham's obedience, Gen. 12. when God sent him word to go from his own country, and from his father's house. And it seemeth unto me by this speech of jonas, that he had some longing after the land of Israel, and thus spoke to himself; O that I were as in the months past, when I stood upon mine own ground; that corner of the world best pleased me; Jlle terrarum mihi praeter omnes, Angulus ridet. there I was in the midst of my friends and companions; here I am a stranger to strangers, with men of a foreign tongue, and foreign condititions. But he remembreth that with pride and ostentation of himself, and to justify a fault, which without grief of heart, and shame of face, and stammering of tongue he should not have remembered. Were those thy words in thine own country? the more thy sin, and thy shame to; thou spakest against thy life, if God had not favoured thee, if his mercy had not held the bridle of thy tongue when it was in motion, instead of speaking folly, thou wouldst have proceeded to mere blasphemy. Canst thou remember the time and the place without blushing? without smiting thyself upon thy thigh, and ask forgiveness wretched man that I am, what have I done? thou shouldest rather have cursed the ground in thine heart, which thou then stoodst upon, than remembered it with vaunting, and bitterly condemned thy tongue for sending out such words of folly and indiscretion. But so ●s the manner of us all: we sin as we breath, sin as we eat and drink, as daily, and with as much delight. We commit sin with greediness, we are drunk with sin, and again thirst after it: yet we will justify ourselves, whether God be justified, yea or no; we will double sin, and bind two together, by hiding, excusing, translating sin: if there be any means in the world, and bush in paradise to fly unto, we will shroud ourselves. If we can put it to the woman, or rather by rebound to God, the woman, not of mine own choosing, but which thou gavest me, whereas ●ndeed it was a woman of his own choosing, even the concupiscence of his heart, or if we can lay it upon the serpent; if we can cover it with lying as Gehazi did, thy servant went no whither; or colour it with pretence, as Saul did, I kept the best for the sacrifice; if there be good intention, I meant well, or happy event, it succeeded well; 2. King. 5. or any other thing to be alleged, we will not omit it. Brethren, forsake these▪ ways, of dissembling, diminishing, self-liking, and set your desires wholly upon that which our Saviour prayed for, joh. 12. father, glorify thy name. His own name he would not say, that had a name above all names; & shall we seek to glorify & set forth ours? Wither we seek the glory of his name or not, the voice that came from heaven at that time, shallbe fulfilled, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. God is true, the unfaithfulness of man shall never be able to diminish his truth; his justice shallbe justified in heaven and earth, and his name shallbe sanctified, even when we study most to blaspheme it. Therefore let us conclude with that general discharged and manumission that the bless Prophet giveth to the whole honour of mankind: Psal. 115. Not unto us, O Lord, but unto thy name give the glory: not we to our own earthly, corrupt, rotten names. And let it not repent us once to have given it away from ourselves, but again, and for evermore, Not unto us, not unto us. And rather than thou shalt lose any part of thy glory, loss of credit and reputation be to all our doings and sayings, loss to our goods and good names, lands and lives, and whatsoever in this world is more dear unto us. This is the way to be justified, to justify God in his words and works, & to condemn ourselves; to cast away our righteousness as stained clouts, to renounce our wisdom as foolishness, our strength as weakness, our knowledge as ignorance, and to ascribe all unto him, who is all in all, righteousness, wisdom, sanctification, glory, and peace unto us. THE XLII. LECTURE. Chap. 4. vers. 2. Therefore I prevented it to flee unto Tharsis: For I knew that thou art a gracious God. IN distributing the matter in hand, I have already acquainted you, both that jonas prayed, and what he prayed. In the latter of these two, 1. the substance of his petition, together with the reason subjoined; 2. the causes impulsive, that moved him to make it. In those impulsives we weighed every moment: 1. his smooth insinuation, I pray thee, O Lord: wherein, I doubt no●, was hid some secret murmuring and repining; but all the rest bewray a manifest imperfection: 2. his speaking by demand, which is the manner of upbraiders: 3. the advancing of his own word & thought: 4. his fight against God with circumstances of time and place: 5. his malapert concluding, as if he had overthrown God by plain argument, 6. his endeavour to prevent, as if he had been able to do it: & lastly not by going, but by flying to Tharsis, as if by the swiftness of his feet he could have outrun him, who rideth upon the wings of the Cherubins. That which angered & discontented jonas so much, was the mercy of God, which jonas knew, and upon that knowledge concluded with himself, that he was to decline the commandment, howsoever it fared the meantime, either with his own safety, or with the honour & will of him that sent him. But admit that the Lord was a merciful God, and would deal with the Ninivites otherwise than jonas had preached: what then? was this a just cause to refuse the errand? surely it seemeth so: for thereupon jonas inferreth, Therefore I prevented etc. There are two reasons brought why jonas assayed to prevent this business. 1. Because he was loath to be accounted a false prophet, Idcir●o. 1. Reason of refusal. to have his credit impaired, to have his name called into question, as if he had run not being sent, and to be mistrusted in whatsoever he should afterwards speak. The cause, I confess, is vehement & weighty. For the least suspicion of heresy and falsehood, if any thing in the world, maketh a man impatient; & he that dissembleth or putteth up one note of heresy without clearing himself, is not a Christian. Suspicio haereseos impatientem facit. unam notam haereseos qui dissimulat, non est Christianus. Zach. 13. It is required of a dispenser that he be found faithful, 2. Cor. 4. and the master of the house Luk. 12. asketh for a faithful servant whom he may set over his household. The law of God is strict against false prophets, Deut. 13. & 18. his father and mother that begat him, shall say unto him, thou shalt not live: for thou speakest lies in the name of the Lord: yea his father and mother that begat him, shall thrust him through, when he thus prophesieth. One shall say unto him, what are these wounds in thine hands? then he shall answer, thus was I wounded in the house of my friends. The admonitions of Christ in the gospel, and his disciples, are frequent against false prophets, false Apostles, false Christ's, wolves in sheeps clothing, lying spirits, Antichrist's, mockers, seducers. How careful was Samuel towards the end of his life, to approve his innocency both to God and man, through the whole course of his forepast administration? first in the integrity of his life, whom have I ever wronged? 1. Sam. 12. afterwards in the sincerity of his office, God forbidden that I should sin unto the Lord, and cease praying for you; but I will show you the good and the right way. When jeremy saw that the word of the Lord was in reproach & derision, & that every man mocked him, his familiar friends watching for his halting, & saying, It may be he is deceived, so shall we prevail against him, jer. 20. you know what perplexities it drove him unto. First, he would not make mention of the Lord, nor speak any more in his name; afterward, he curseth the day of his birth & the messenger that carried word of it. It is a memorable apology which Paul maketh in the Acts, Act. 20. for himself and his Apostleship unto the clergy of Asia: appealing to their own knowledge, that he had taught both jews and Grecians, openly, and throughout every house, and that he had kept nothing back which was profitable, but showed them all the counsels of GOD: he careth not for bonds, afflictions, death itself, so he may fulfil his course with joy, and the ministration which he had received of the Lord jesus. Consonant hereunto was that which he did in other Churches: 2. Cor. 2. We are not as many, who make merchandise of the word of God, but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ. 2. Cor. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Again, we walk not in craftiness, neither handle we the word of God deceitfully, but in the declaration of the truth, we approve ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. Nay to every conscience of men, that is, be the conscience good or bad, light, or darkness, they shall have no just cause against us. What needeth longer discourse? the son of God himself, joh. 18. confesseth before Pilate, For this cause am I borne, and for this cause came I into the world, that I might bear witness unto the truth. For when the truth of God is wronged, than the advise of Cyprian taketh place: Tacere non oportes ne iam non verecundiae sed dissidentiae incipiat esse quod tacemus etc. Trac contra Demetr. Jncompara biliter pulchrior est veritas christianorum quam Helena Graecorum. Aug. ad Hyeron. 1. King. ●. 2. we must not hold our peace, lest it begin to savour not of modesty and shamefastness, but distrust of our cause, that we keep silence: And whilst we are careless to refute false criminations, we seem to acknowledge the crime. The truth of Christians is comparably fairer than that Helen of the Greeks, and the Martyrs of our Church have fought more constantly in her quarrel against Sodom, than ever those nobles and Princes for Helen against the Trojans. There was never prophet, true nor false, in Israel nor Canaan, but took it a great reproach and stain unto them, to be touched with falsehood. Micheas, whom neither the courtlike persuasions of the Eunuch that went for him, nor the consent of four hundred prophets, nor the favour of two kings, nor danger of his own head, could draw from the word of God, standeth firmly in defence of the truth; Zedechias the false prophet, (in seeming) as earnestly for the truth likewise: yet these as contrary one to the other, as Hyena and the dog: the one saith, go to Ramoth Gilead and prosper; the other saith, if thou return in safety, the LORD hath not sent me. The one, to express it in life, and by a visible sign maketh horns of iron, and telleth Ahab, with these thou shalt push at Aram till thou haste destroyed him: the other hath also an Image, and a vision whereby to describe it, I saw all Israel scattered upon the mountains like sheep that had no shepherd. Yet both for the truth. jeremy and Hanany, agreeing like fire and water, jer. 28. the one bidding the king to go unto Babylon, the other advising the contrary, the one sending fetters to the king and the nobles, the other, pulling the yoke from the neck of jeremy, and saying, thus shall the yoke of Babel be broken; the one affirming, the other denying, yet both are champions for the truth. The devil a liar, and the father of lies, who abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him, who when he speaketh a lie, speaketh of his own, that is, his natural and mother tongue is lying, joh. 8. yet he transformeth himself into an Angel of light: therefore it is no great thing, sayeth the Apostle, 2. Cor. 11. though his ministers transform themselves, as though they were the ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works. Christ is truth indeed, Antichrist truth pretended. Veritas Chr●●stus: simulata veritas Antichristus. Origen. Sacrorum librorum traditores. Non convicti sed cōfict● traditores. 2. de bapt. con●. Donat 6. Ego defendo dogmata S. pairun etc. Non obiter nec in transcursu. Novatianus simiarum more arripi● sibi authoritatem ecclesiae. August. li. 2. cap. 16. de morib. M●nich. The daily exclamations of the Donatists in Africa against the Orthodox and sound believers, was, that they were traitors against the holy books and themselves the propugners of them. Augustine answereth, traitors, not by conviction, but by confiction and false accusation of their enemies. Dioscorus crieth out, himself an heretic, in the Council of Chalcedon. I defend the opinions of the holy fathers, I have their testimonies, not by snatches, or at the second hand, but uttered in their own books, I am cast out with the holy fathers; as if truth itself had been condemned in the condemnation of Dioscorus. So is it at this day; the Prophets of Babylon, though they have received the mark of the beast in their foreheads, that all the world may know them to be such, yet as Cyprian in his Epistle to jubaianus wrote of the Novatian heretic, that after an apish manner he taketh unto him the authority of the Church, so these, by the like imitation, take unto them the Church, truth, Scriptures, Fathers, all antiquity, consent, perpetuity unto the end of the world, and rather than the world shall think that they deal not truly in defence of truth, they spend both conscience, and sometime life upon it. O quantum tegmen est falsitatis? O how great a show doth falsehood make? For our own parts, who by the grace of God are that we are, put in charged for the gathering together of God's Saints, if we be harmed in our goods, or good names, or in the carriage of our lives, or in our wives and children, as sometimes the manner is, we account them our private wrongs, and easily may digest them. It hath been done in the green, in all the times that have been ever of old, much more in the dry: they have called the master of the house, Belzebub, much more those of the household. We preach not ourselves, but Christ jesus the Lord, 1. Cor. 4. and ourselves your servants for jesus sake, and for his sake we will endure it. We are fools for Christ's sake, and you are wise, we are weak and you are strong, 1. Cor. 4. you are honourable and we despised. Be it so. But we will never abide that the honour of Christ jesus himself shall be wounded through our loins, that the rebukes which fall upon us, shall redound to his disgrace, that his gospel and truth shall be defamed, the doctrine which we preach, discredited our calling reproached, which, though in vessels of earth, yet he hath sanctified and blessed to such a work, (I mean the saving of souls) as by the policy of man, & all forcible engines, could never have been compassed. How usual a thing it is, upon every light surmise not only to charged us for false prophets, but because we are prophets at all to contemn us, & to disdain us for that, wherein we are most to be 〈◊〉, I report me to that common phrase of speech, when if men will shoo●●oor●h arrows against us with poisoned heads, even bitter & sharp wor●es, they think it the greatest ignominy, to call us Priests or Ministers. Herein if the zeal of god's house & his holy ordinance consume us, if the maintenance of his cause & our calling bear us away, & make us forget the spirit of gentleness for a time, let no man blame us. For is our office dishonoured amongst you? We tell them whosoever they be, as David told Michol, who scorned him for dancing before the Ark, it was before the Lord which chose me rather than thy father and all his house, ●. Sam. ●. & commanded me to be ruler over the people. And therefore I will play before the Lord, and I will yet be more vile than thus, and will be low in mine own sight. It is before the Lord that we are Priests and Ministers, to serve in his house and at his table, who hath chosen us rather than their fathers and whole stock to serve in this office. And therefore we will yet be more vile and low in our own eyes, and rather than these names shall die and be out of use, we will wear them upon our garments, and if you were sparing to yield them unto us, we would desire you for Christ's sake, and as you tender our credit, not to term us otherwise. The jews, who thought they mocked Christ, when they bowed their knees, and cried, Hail king of the jews, they knew not what they did, they did him an honour and favour against their wills, for he was king of the jews and of the Gentiles also: whatsoever their meaning is, who think to nicke-name us by objecting these names, (which we will leave to the censuring of the righteous judge in heaven) we embrace them, honour them, and hearty thank God for them, and desire that they may be read and published in the ears of the world, as the most glorious titles of our commission. The Angels of God are ministering spirits, Heb. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 etc. Math. 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. O praeclarum ministerium! quo non id gloriosius magistratus Bern. ad Eugen. 2. Cor. 10. and sent forth to minister for the elects sake. Christ jesus himself came to minister, not to be ministered unto. We will therefore say as the Apostle said, 2. Cor. 11. Ministri sunt? plus ego. Are Christ, and his Angels, and all the Apostles of Christ, ministers? we speak like fools in the deeming of the world, we also will be ministers of the gospel, and if it were possible, we would be more than ministers. O honourable ministery! what government, rule, and dominion is it not superior unto? I conclude with the same Apostle, though I should boast somewhat more of our authority which is given unto us for edification and not for destruction, I should have no shame. By this discourse it may appear unto you, if this were a motive in the mind of jonas, as some both jews and Christians conceive, how grievous it seemed unto him to be held in jealousy, for deceit in his calling, that any in the world should be able justly to tax him for a false prophet, and one that prophesied lies in the name of GOD. Notwithstanding, the matter is quickly answered: For whatsoever the event had been, the voice of the Lord was in reason to have been obeyed. 1. It was no new thing to be so accounted of: it was the portion of Moses, and Samuel, and Elias before him, and thenceforth as many as ever spoke, unto the days of john Baptist which came with the spirit of Elias, they have drunk of the same cup: and not only the servants, but the son and heir hath been dealt with in like manner. A Prophet is not without honour save in his own country. jonas might have said to himself, as Elias in another case, I am no better than my fathers. Thus were we borne and ordained to approve ourselves in all kind of patience, by honour and dishonour, by good report and evil report, as deceavers, and yet behold, 2. Cor. 6. we are true, and deceive not. The world was never more fortunate for prophets than thus to reward them: flatterers may break the heads of men with their smooth oils, but the wounds that prophets give, have never escaped the hardest judgements. 2. Why should jonas fear the opinion of men? his duty being done, the very conscience of his fact, simply and truly performed, would have been a tower of defence and a castle unto him. It is a very small thing for me to be judged of you, or of man's judgement, for I know nothing by myself etc. 1. Cor. 4. Non ait, pr● nihilo est, sed pro minimo. 2. Cor. 1. He doth not say, It is nothing unto me, but it is a very small thing: I esteem my name somewhat, but I stand more upon my conscience. This is our rejoicing, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and purity we have been conversant in the world, When the princes had given sentence upon jeremy, this man is worthy to die, jer. 26. he answered them, the Lord hath sent me to prophesy against this house, therefore amend your ways, that the Lord may repent him of the plague which he hath pronounced against you: as for me, behold, I am in your hands, do with me as you please, but know ye for certainty, that if you put me to death, you shall bring innocent blood upon yourselves; for of a truth the Lord hath sent me unto you to speak all these words in your ears. This is the brazen wall, the soundness of the cause, and the assurance of the conscience, which all the malignant tongues cannot pierce through. Let the world be offended with us in these latest and sinnefullest times, because the tenor of our message is either to sharp or to sweet, to hot or to cold, for it can hardly be such as may please this wayward wotld; let Satan accuse us before God and man day and night; yet if we can say for ourselves, as the Apostle did, Rom. 9 We speak the truth in Christ, we lie not, our consciences bearing us witness in the holy Ghost, who is not only the witness, but the guide and inspirer of our consciences; it is a greater recompense, than if all the kingdoms of the earth were given unto us. 3. He could not be ignorant that the truth of God might stand, though the event followed not, because many of the judgements of God, as I have elsewhere said, are denounced with condition. In the place of jeremy before mentioned, when the priests and people so greedily thirsted after his death, some of the elders stood up and spoke to the assembly in this sort: Chap. 26. Micah the Morashite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of juda, saying, thus saith the Lord of hosts, Zion shallbe ploughed like a field etc. Did Hezekiah put him to death? did he not rather fear the Lord, and prayed before the Lord, and the Lord repent him of the plague? thus we might procure great evil against ourselves. You know the collection those elders make; that the judgement was conditional, and upon their unfeigned repentance might be otherwise interpreted. Thus much jonas was not to learn: for why did he know that God was a merciful God, but to show the effects of mercy? and the Ninivites themselves had an happy presumption thereof, as appeareth by their former speech. 4. He was not to stay long in Assyria, if he had suspected their suspicions. Lastly, there was no such thing to be feared: for by that public act of conversion which all the orders and states of the city agreed upon, it is manifest that they received the preaching of jonas as the oracle of almighty God: they believed God, and his Prophet, as the children of Israel 1. Sam. 12. feared the Lord and Samuel exceedingly. For what greater argument touching their good and reverente opinion of jonas could they give, than their speedy and hearty repentance? whereby they assured him that they esteemed not his word as a fable, or as a jesting song; but as a man sent from God, and fallen down from heaven, bringing a two edged sword in his lips, either to kill or to save, so they received him. And surely I rather think, that they blessed jonas in their hearts, and that the dust of his feet was welcome and precious unto them, who by his travail and pains had taught them to fly from the anger of God that was now falling. Others conceive the reason here implied, The second reason of refusal. therefore I prevented, to be this. He saw that the conversion of the Gentiles was by consequence an introduction of the overthrow and casting out of the jews: and that it would be fulfilled upon them which is written in Deuteronomy. They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God, they have provoked me to anger with their vanities, Deut. 3●. and I move them to jealousy with those which are no people, I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation. That is, if we will interpret it by this present subject, Niniveh shall repent, and condemn Israel the more, for not hearkening to the voice of so many Prophets. Jerome briefly thus; It grieveth him, not that the Gentiles are saved, but that Israel perisheth. Our Saviour (we all know) would not give the bread of children to dogs: Dolet quòd pereat Israel, non quòd Gentes serventur. and he was not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel: and he wept over jerusalem, which he never did over tire and Sidon: and the prerogative of the jews was, either only or principally, that repentance and remission of sins should be preached unto them. I remit you to the 10. of the Acts, to see what labour was made to draw Peter to the Gentiles, whom he called common and unclean things. And in the 11. of the same book, they of the circumcision contended with him about it, saying, thou wentest in unto the uncircumcised, and hast eaten with them. It might be his further grief, that he only amongst so many Prophets, should be singled out to declare the ruin of his people by the uprising of strangers; to bear the envy of the fact, and to be the messenger of the unwelcomest news that ever Israll received. For he is the first that must bring judaisme in contempt, and make it manifest to the world, that his countrymen at home are unfruitfully occupied, and troubled about many things, sacrifices, sacraments, washings, cleansings, and the like, when others abroad, observing that one thing that is necessary, with less labour and business came to be saved. Luther, comparing the times wherein jonas and himself lived, openeth the case by familiar explication thus. The jews accounted themselves by a constant opinion and claim, the peculiar people of God; the Romish themselves the only Catholics: they thought there could be no salvation without observing the law of Moses, and the rites of the jewish Synagogue; nor these without observing the ordinances and ceremonies of the Romish Church: they cried, power out thy wrath upon the nations and upon the people that have not called upon thy name; these held them for heretics, not worthy the air they drew, that joined not themselves unto them. Now lastly, as it was an odious office in these latter days to preach unto any nation or city under heaven, that the foolishness of preaching, and only Christ crucified was able to save souls, without creeping to crosses, kneeling, knocking, kissing, sprinkling, censing, ringing, fasting, gadding, with such like toys, and the conversion of any part of Christendom with less circumstance, could not but be a shame, prejudice, and condemnation unto Rome in some sort, that having greater helps and furtherances to God, went further from him: so the reclaiming of Niniveh, by one, when jury had many prophets; by the denouncement of one, when jury had many prophecies; by a single and short commination, when jury had the whole law and testimonies; by a compendious course of repentance, when they fasted, and tithed, and sacrificed, and cried, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, and I know not what; could not less be than a reproach to the people which was so backward, and an exception to their whole form of religion wherein they no better profited. It had been no marvel, if, when jonas returned into Israel, the hand of his own father and mother had been first against him, for doing that wrong to his people, as they adjudged their bodies to the fire, and their souls they delivered to Satan, who opened their mouth against the church of Rome. Whatsoever his reasons were, whither the care of his credit, or whither affection to his countrymen drew him away to that recusancy, (both which are but particular and partial respects, when God commandeth otherwise) his fault is no way excusable by reason, but that God of his grace, is ready to give pardon and relaxation to all kind of sin. Therefore I prevented. Thy ground is unstable, jonas▪ thy argument unsound, thou usest but a fallacy to deceive thyself, thou hadst no reason so to do, the will of the Lord of hosts, which is absolute righteousness, a reason beyond all reasons withstood it. Thou thoughtest to prevent the Lord, thou couldst not: the winds saw thy haste & stayed thee, the sea held thee back, the fish made resistance against thee, the bars of the earth shut thee up, & if these had failed in their mysteries, the wisdom of God would have invented other stays. He could have stopped thee in thy course, as he stopped Paul in his journey, by dazzling thine eyes that thou shouldest not have found thy way; or as he stopped Lot's wife in her way, by making thee a pillar of salt, or some other rock of stone, a monument of contradiction to the latest age of the world. He could have dried up thy hands, tied up thy feet in iron? no, but in the bands of death, never to have stirred again. Let all the wisdom of man beware of the like prevention; lest it prevent itself thereby of all the blessings of God, use of native country, comfort of kinsmen & friends, life of body, happiness of soul, as jonas might have done, if the mercies of God had not favoured him. When we are ignorant of the will of God, let us lay our hands upon our mouths, & upon our hearts too, till God grant wisdom, that we may descry it: when we are doubtful, let us inquire, deliberate, ask counsel, of the law & testimony of God: but when it is clearley revealed by open and express commandment, let us not then pause upon the matter, & much less resist, & least of all prevent, unless by making a proof & experiment of our own wit as jonas did, we will hazard that loss which the gain of the whole world shall never be able to recompense. For I knew that thou art a gracious God and merciful slow to anger, The ground of his petition. and of great kindness and repentest thee of the evil jonas proceedeth to that which was the ground & inducement to his rebellion. For the order of the scripture is this: God is a merciful God for many respects: & one part of office of that mercy is to repent him of the evil, that is, to change his sentence, in the last words of the sentence; this jonas knew, he saith, and upon that knowledge resolved long since, upon his resolution, laboured to prevent it. We are now come to that which if jonas had rightly conceived of, it would never have grieved him to see the bowels of pity opened & enlarged towards his poor brethren. Did jonas know, that God was gracious, merciful, slow to anger, of great goodness, repenting him of the evil? (I will render these variations in as many words more) did jonas know, Benignu● affectis, misericors effectu, etc. Glossa in Joel. 2. that God was gracious in affection, merciful in effect, long suffering in waiting for the conversion of sinners, of great kindness in striking short of their sins, repenting him of the evil, in vouchsafing mercy to sinners, and remitting their misdeeds? Did jonas know, that God was graciois, in himself by nature; merciful, towards his creatures by communication; long suffering, before he inflicteth vengeance; of great goodness, in the number & measure of his stripes, penitent, in the stay & intermission thereof; & is it so strange & offensive unto him, that God should spare Niniveh, a thing, which his nature & manner was so enured unto? The words, though different in sound, & the power & signification of them not all one, yet in the principal they all agree, & knit their souls together in the commendation of God's mercy. The 1. importeth a liberal disposition, frankness of heart, Gracious. gratuitall, undeserved benevolence, not hired, and much less constrained, but voluntarily, and freely bestowed. The 2. a commiseration over other men's miseries, Merciful. motherly bowels, tender compassion towards those that suffer affliction: Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? We have not a high Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; I would not the death of a sinner. It goeth to his heart when he is driven and enforced to take punishment. Long suffering. Of great goodness. The 3. bewrayeth a nature, hard to conceive & not willing to retain wrath; and when it seemeth to be angry, not angry indeed, & using rather a fatherly scourge of correction, than a rod of revenge. The 4. declareth that there is no end of his goodness; & although he is somewhat in all things, nay all in all, yet he is much more in mercy & more than in other his properties: Maior est propretas bonitatis, quant proprietas ultionis. Hebraeorum sapientes·s Repenting him of the evil. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Act. ●7. for his mercy is over all his works, to the good, evil, friends, enemies; & that when he giveth, he giveth with an open hand, not sparingly, more than our tongues have asked; or our hearts ever thought of. Lastly, he repenteth him of the evil, that is, altereth the word that is gone out of his lips, & showeth how easy he is to be entreated, that the rod may be pulled forth of his hands even when he is smiting us. Paul in his voyage towards Rome, speaketh of a certain place which was called the fair havens. We are now arrived at the fair havens; they are in number many, & for the harbour and road of a wearied, seabeaten conscience, which hath long been tossed in a sea of wretchedness, more comfortable and safe, than ever was the bosom of a mother to her young infant. Happy is the soul that landeth at these havens: and blessed be the God of heaven which hath given us a card of direction, to lead us there unto, the witness of his holy word, written and sealed, that can never deceive us. For these are the words of the ignorant, but he that knew them, bare record, and his witness is true: they are the words of a prophet, who spoke not by his private motion, but as he was moved by the holy Ghost. Nay, they are not the words of one, but of many prophets, that in the mouths of sufficient witnesses they might be confirmed. jonas reciteth them in this place. joel repeateth them in the second of his prophecy. David hath the same thrice in his Psalms, either all, or the most part of them. Psal. 86.103. & 145. Moses in the 14. of Num. bringeth in their perfect catalogue. Nay they are not the words either of Moses, or David, or the prophets, but of God himself. The fountain and wellhead from whence they have all drawn them, as Moses there confesseth, Num. 14. is the proclamation which God made, Exod. 34. when he descended in the cloud▪ & delivered his name in this manner: the Lord, the Lord, strong, merciful, and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in goodness, in truth; reserving mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquities, transgression, and sin. Ho▪ all ye that thirst, come to the waters of comfort. Hear are wells enough to be drawn at: drink at the first fountain, the Lord is gracious; and if your appetite be not there quenched, go to the second, the Lord is merciful; & if you be yet thirsty, go to the third, the Lord is slow to anger; & thence to the fourth and fifth, bibite, & inebriamin●, drink, till your souls are more than satisfied. Do you not read 1. Sam. 17, of five smooth stones which David chose out of a brook to fling at Goliath? here is the brook (my brethren) the history of this prophet, and these are the five smooth stones, which are now proposed. Let them not lie in the brook unhandled, & unoccupied, but put them in your scrip as David did bear them in your minds, lay them up in your hearts, apply them to your consciences, that they may be ready at hand against the face of the Philistine, against the force of Satan, if ever he step forth to de●●e the Lord of hosts, or any Israelite in his camp. We find but 3. temptations Mat. 4. that Satan bend against the son of God, differing both in the place, & in their strength. The 1. was upon the ground, of turning stones into bread; the 2. upon the pinnacle of the temple, of casting his body down; the 3. upon an exceeding high mountain, of committing idolatry. The 1. concerned his power, the 2. his life, the 3. his conscience. And our Saviour refeled him in all these with 3. several answers. But here we have matter & answer enough for more than 3. temptations: for if Satan object unto us lower & upon the ground as it were, that God is a righteous judge, full of indignation & impatience, & not making the wicked innocent, answer him, that withal he is a gracious God, & cannot deny himself If he climb higher in temptation, as it were to the pinnacle of the temple, & reply upon thee, but thou art unworthy of that grace because thou art full of iniquity & unrighteousness, answer him, that withal he is a merciful God and showeth greatest pity where there is most need of it. If he assault thee a third time, & think to overthrow thee as it were upon the top of a mountain, by telling thee that thou hast long continued in thy sins, that thou broughtest them from the womb, and they have dwelled with thee to thy grey hairs, answer him that God is as much commended for his long sufferance. If yet his mouth be not stopped, but he maintain a further plea against thee, that thy sins are as the sins of Manasses, more than the sands of the sea in number, and their burden such that they are gone over thine head, like mighty waters, answer him that the goodness of the Lord is as much, & that there is no comprehension of his loving kinds. If lastly he object, that judgement hath begun at thine house, &, to put thee out of doubt that thou art not in the favour of God, he hath smitten thy body with sore diseases, thy soul with agonies, thy family with orbities & privations, tell him for full conclusion, that he can also repent him of the evil, and cease to punish, and leave as many blessings behind him when his pleasure is. It was never the meaning of God that these words should be spoken in the winds, & blown away like empty bladders. They were spoken & written no doubt for the use of sinners. This is the name which God hath proclaimed to the world, and whereby he would be known to men, that if ever we came before him, we might speak our minds in the confidence & trust of that amiable name. Thus Moses understood it. For assoon as the Lord had ended his speech, Moses applied it to the present purpose, for he bowed to the earth, and worshipped God and said, O Lord, I beseech thee, pardon our iniquities and sins; Exod. 34. and take us for thine inheritance, Likewise in the 14. of Num. And now I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great according as thou hast spoken, saying, The Lord is slow to anger, etc. referring himself to the speech and proclamation which God had used upon the mount. We are the children of our father which is in heaven. If therefore it be an honour unto us to be reputed his sons, let us follow our father's steps, & bear some part of his heavenly image. Let us not seek to be like unto him in the arm of his strength, nor in the brain of his wisdom, nor in the finger of his miracles, but in his bowels of pi●●y & tender compassion. Let Lions and Bears and Tigers in the forest be 〈◊〉 towards their companions, let them bi●e & be bitten, devour & be devoured again; let dogs grin, let Unicorns push with their horns, let Scythians and Cannibals because they know not GOD, (not know what belongeth to humanity and gentleness; but let Christians love their brethren even as God hath loved them, and remit one the other their offences, as Christ hath freely forgiven the sins of his church. Let those reprobate-minded, Rom. 1. carry to their graves with them and to the bottom of hell, where all hatred must end, that mark which the holy Ghost hath scored upon their brows, that they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, without natural affection, not fit for society, void of pity; but let the example of the most holy Trinity, the God of peace, the prince of peace, the spirit of peace, that one God of all consolation, rich in mercies, be ever before our eyes, that as we have received freely, so we may freely return grace, mercy, long-suffering, abundance of kindness, revocation of our wrongs and injuries begun, to all our brethren in the flesh, but especially to Christ's chosen and peculiar members. THE XLIII. LECTURE. Chap. 4. vers. 3. Therefore now, O Lord, take I beseech thee my life, etc. THat jonas prayed, & how he prayed, in what sort expostulating with God, justifying his offence, and abusing his knowledge of the mercy of God to utter the malice and cruelty of his own heart, we have already seen, & considered the reasons which are supposed to have moved him to that undutiful & uncharitable course. Either the care of his own credit, which he should not have stood upon to the derogation of the honour of God, when the angels of heaven sing glory unto him; or affection to his country, which persuasion was as weak to have drawn him to obedience, seeing that the Israel of God might have been in Niniveh aswell as in jury, because there are Jews inwardly and in the spirit as truly as outwardly and in the letter, and those that hear the word of Christ are more kindly his brethren and sisters, than those that are affined unto him in the flesh, Upon these premises, be they strong or weak, is inferred the conclusion, including his request to God, Therefore now O Lord, etc. A man so contraried & crossed in mine expectation, how can I ever satisfy my discontented mind, but by ending my life? and he addeth a reason or confirmation drawn from utility, and amplified by comparison, It is not only good for me to die, but better to die than to live. The force of anger we have in part declared before. It rageth not only against men made of the same mould, but against God. Let the blood of julian thrown up into the air, and together with his blood, blasphemy against the son of God, witness it. Nor only against those that have sense and understanding, but against unreasonable & unsensible creatures. As Xerxes wrote a defying letter to Athos a mountain of Thrace; Mischievous Athos, lifted up to heaven, make thy quarries and veins of stone passable to my travail, Plutarc de ●ohiben. irac. or I will cut thee down and cast thee into the midst of the sea. Nor only against those things which are without us, but against ourselves. As in this place, the anger of jonas beginneth to take fire against the Ninivites, Proceedeth as far as it dareth against God, and endeth in itself. In one word, that which jonas requesteth, though spoken by circumlocution, Auf●r animam meam and more words than one, is, that he may die. Take away my soul from me. For what is life, but, as the philosopher defineth it, the composition and colligation of the soul to the body? In the 2. of Gen. the Lord form man of the dust of the ground; there is his matter: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Arist and breathed in his face the breath of life, and the man was a living soul; there is his form and perfection. And what is death on the other side, but the dissociation, and severing of these two parts? or the taking of the soul from the body, according to the form of words in this place? God telleth the rich man in the gospel, who was talking of lardger buildings, when the building within him was near pulling down, and thought he had goods enough for his soul to delight in, when he had not soul enough to delight in his goods, Thou fool, this night 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, do they require, and redemand thy soul that is, this night thou must die. Elias, in the first of Kings and nineteenth, useth the same phrase in the wildarnesse, It sufficeth Lord, take away my soul from me. Let me not longer live to see the misery that jezabel hath threatened unto me. As when you take away structure and fashion from an house, temple, or tabernacle, there remaineth none of all these, but a confused and disordered heap of stones, timber, iron, mortar, and the like; so when the soul is taken from the body either of man or beast, there remaineth but a carcase. Therefore the Apostle calleth death the dissolution or pulling down of our earthly house; 2 Cor. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. 2 Pe● 1. ●ohn 2. Peter the deposition or laying along of a tabernacle. And our saviour bade the jews, speaking of his bodily death, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will rear it up again. There are many phrases throughout the scripture abroad, whereby the terror of death is lenified and tempered unto us, and the very nature thereof wholly changed. For whereas the nature of death is to kill, and to spoil the being of living things, by these we may gather, that touching the elect, death itself is slain, and deprived of it own being. God telleth Abraham, Gen. 15. that his seed should be a stranger in a land that was not theirs, but himself should go to his fathers in peace. What is that? shall he travail again, as he did to Chanaan, or Egypt? no, but he shall be buried in a good age, not prevented by umtimely death, nor carried into captivity, but laid in the grave amongst his ancient friends and acquaintance. A thing, which a man would desire with much suit if he were held from it. To Moses his servant he altereth the phrase. For, Numb. 27. he shall be gathered to his people, as one that were scattered and strayed from the rest of the flock; and Deut. 31. he must sleep with his fathers, and take a comfortable rest wi●h others that have laboured in their times. David beginning as it were where Moses leaveth, calleth it the rest of the flesh in hope, Psalm the sixteenth. Esay addeth the place, and noteth where that rest shall be; They shall enter into their chambers, and shut the doors unto them, Es. 26. and hide themselves for a time. But in the fifty and seventh of his prophecy, more perfitly, speaking of the deliverance of the righteous, they rest in their beds. So first they go to their fathers, as men left behind to the company of strangers; after their going, they are gathered unto them, that as there was but one fold of the living, so there may be but one fold and condition of the dead; after their gathering unto them, they sleep and take their rest, the visions of their heads not making them afraid, nor breaking their quiet, as in their life time; not upon a stone, as jacob did, nor in the tent of an enemy, as Sisera but in their chambers and upon their beds, the doors being close about them, and their bones delivered from former disturbances. But all these concern the body alone. The sweetest and joyfullest of them all (I mean to the lords inheritance) is the surrendering of the soul into the lords custody and protection, and the resigning up of the spirit to him that is the LORD of the spirit of all flesh, Numbers the sixteenth. So was the prayer, or rather bequest of David, Psalm 31. leaving his crown to Solomon, his body to worms and rottenness, or to their lodging in darkness, as job called it; Lord, into thy hands I lay down or pawn my spirit. And CHRIST of the seed of David, D●pon● commended his spirit to none other keeper nor in other terms, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Luke 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. And that you may know, how uniform & like itself the Spirit of God is, the blessed Apostle keepeth the same stile, 2. Tim. 1. These things I suffer, but I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have trusted, & I am persuaded that he is able to keep my pledge, that I have committed unto him against that day. To those that must die, more surely than they live (for josuah calleth it the way & custom of the whole earth) can there be a greater comfort than this, jos. 23. that when the dust shall return to the earth as it was, & yet in fullness of time to be form into a new Adam as that first original dust, Eccles. 12. the spirit returneth to God that gave it? & that we may as boldly go to our maker, as ever Paul went to Carpus at Troas to leave his cloak & books & parchments in his hands, so we to commend the richest jewels we have unto his fidelity, & to say with his holy martyr, Lord jesus receive our spirtes? Act. 7. But to cease from farther discussion of the phrase, we may a little inquire, whither it were lawfulll for jonas to wish for death. Many I grant, oppressed with misery, and not able or willing to bear their cross, do little les●e than call to mountains and rocks to fall upon them, and to end their wretched days. I am sure they complain that light should be given unto those men, whom God hath hedged in, and they rejoice for gladness when they can find the grave. job 3 For then, they say, we should have lain and been in quiet, we should have slept then and been at rest. Mors mise●●rū portus. Caesar▪ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Theophrast. Ephes. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. 2. The●. 3. Parum etsi multos anno●. Infant's sumu● & senes videmur Mars. As if they had been borne with any other condition them to walk a pilgrimage of few & evil days: or as if the evil day which the Apostle warneth us of, were not the whole course of our life, partly through him who is principally evil, breathing out his malice against us, partly through evil men infesting and disturbing our peace but rather through the evil of sin procuring wrath and the evil of adversity ensuing thereupon. In consideration of which troubles of life it was, that Simonides being asked, as jacob was by Pharaoh, how long he had lived, made answer, but a little, though many years. For if we remember, how much of our better and vital life, goeth away in agues, and feebleness, and other the like annoyances, we may seem perhaps old men, and are indeed but children. It was a worthy answer that Artabanus gave to Xerexes the mighty Emperor of Persia, when viewing his huge army of at least a thousand thousand men, drinking whole rivers dry as they went, and commanding both hills and seas to give way unto them, he wept, because it came to his mind, that within the space of an hundredth years not one of that goodly company should be found alive: I would that were the worst, saith he. For we endure much more sorrow by retaining life. Neither is there any one of these, nor of all men living besides, so happy upon the earth, that he doth not once, and often cast in his mind, how much more pleasure there were in dying than in living. As our life is replenished with all kind of misery, so death by nature is an enemy to life: which both man and beast fly from. All things desire being. And God never created death amongst his good works. It came partly through the envy of the devil, who lied unto man, saying, ye shall not die; partly through the transgression of Adam, and partly through the anger of God rendering the right stipend due to sin. Wherhfore he threatened it as a punishment, Genesis the second, The day wherein thou shalt eat of the forbiedden fruit, thou shalt die the death. Afterwards when the Law had been given. Moses in the name of GOD protesteth unto them by heaven and earth, that he had set before them life and death, and wisheth them to choose life, that they might live, they and their seed. Death is called an enemy in open terms, 1. Cor. 15, The last enemy that shall be subdued, is death. Deut. 30. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. De verb. apost ser. 33. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Act 2. 1. King. 19 But who loveth an enemy simply and for his own sake? And amongst orher blessings betrothed to the elect of God, one is, that Death shallbe no more, Revelation 21. And to reason with Augustine, Si nulla esset mortis amaritudo, non esset magna matyrum fortitudo; If there were no bitterness and discontentment in death, the constancy of martyrs were not great. Therefore when Elias heard the word of jezabel, The Gods do so and much more unto me, if to morrow by this time I make not thy life as the life of one of those whom thou hast slain, it is said, that he arose, and went for his life to Beer-sheba. How did David plead for his life. Psalm. 30. What profit is there in my blood, when? I go down into the pit? shall the dust give thanks unto thee? or shall it declare thy truth? as if he would move the Lord for his own good and glory sake, not to cut him of: but afterwards with respect to himself, Stay thine anger a while, that I may recover my strength, before I go hence and am no more seen, And being assured elsewhere of that request granted him, he sang joyfully to his soul within▪ Return unto thy rest, Psal. 39, O my soul, the LORD hath been merciful or beneficial unto thee. Because thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, Psal. 116, Esa. 38, and my feet from falling; and I shall walk before the Lord in the land of the living. I speak not of the moan that Ezechias made, how he turned his face to the was, after the Prophet gave him warning of his death, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore, and like a crane or a swallow so did he chatter, and mourn like a dove, and lifting his eyes up on high, said, O Lord, it hath oppressed me, comfort me; and after his life was freed from the pit of corruption, as it were leapt for joy; the living, the living he shall confess thee, as I do this day: when the beloved and blessed son of God, he that had power to lay down his life, and to take it up again, against that time, began to be very sad and grievously vexed; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Mat. 26. and in the presence of Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, let not to disclose his passion, My soul is wonderfully heavy unto death. And but that the will of his father was in the midst of his bowels, and his obedience stronger than death, he would have begged three times more, that the cup might have passed from his lips. Likewise joh. 12. when Andrew and Philip told him of certain Greeks that were desirous to see him, he seeing an image of his death before his eyes, witnessed unto them, saying. Now is my soul troubled: And what shall I say? father save me from this hour: and but that an other respect called him back, therefore I came and father glorify thy name, he would still have continued in that praier· Quis enim vult mori? prorsus nemo; & ita memo etc. For who is willing simply to die? surely no man. And so undoubtedly no man, that it was said to blessed Peter, August. de verb. apost. ser. 33. John. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Salve crux. Veniat ignis. An other shall guide thee and lead thee to the place whither thou wouldst not go. Peter would not unless he were carried. But what then was the reason that the Apostle desired to be dissolved and to be with Christ, which he said, was best of all? Philip▪ 1. & that the Saints which were racked, Heb. 11. cared not to be delivered, that they might obtain a better resurrection? that Peter and Andrew welcomed their crosses, as they were wont their dearest friends, & embraced them in their arms, & saluted them with kisses of peace? that Ignatius called for fire & sword and the teeth of wild beasts? and other martyrs of Christ went to their deaths with cheerfulness rejoicing and singing, and not less than ran to the stake, as if they had run for a garland? We may easily answer, partly from the former authorities; that they might be with christ, and that they might obtain a better resurrection. But the Apostle in excellent terms decideth the question in the 2. to the Corinthians, 2. Cor. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, We will not be unclothed and strippeth of our lives, we take no pleasure or joy therein; but we would be clothed upon: we have no other means to get that better clothing, than by putting of this, or that upon this, that mortality may be swallowed up of life, and corruption of incorruption. So that their thoughts subsist not in death, but have a further reach, because they know it to be the high way which must bring them to felicity. And it is no small persuasion unto them, when they think that by the ending of their lives they make an end of sinning. For whilst they are in the flesh, they see a law in their members striving against the law of their mind, and subjecting them to the law of sin. Therefore they cry, as he did, Wretched man that I am, Rom. 7. who shall deliver me from the body of this death? In which postulations notwithstanding they evermore submit themselves to the straigtest and equalest rule of the will of God, desiring no otherwise to have their wishes accomplished, than with that safe and wary condition, Si dominus volet, If the Lord be pleased with them. jam. 4. And as they regard their own good therein, so because the blood of Martyrs is the seed of the Church, and that which is fire to their flesh & bones, is water to the gospel to make it flourish, 1. Tim. 6. & a good confession witnessed before the wicked tyrants of the world, doth good service to the truth, Philip. 1. in this respect also they are not sparing of themselves, that Christ may be magnified in their bodies, whither it be by their life or death. Now jonas hath more of all these forenamed ends to allege for himself, why he desireth to die, neither the glory of God, nor the good of his brethren, nor profit of his own soul; but in a peevish and froward mood, because his mind is not satisfied, and to avoid some little shame, or to rid himself from the grievances of life, which are not reasons sufficient, he will needs die, and follow the stream of his foolish appetite, with some such like affection, as Dido at her departure expresseth. Sic sic iuvat ire sub umbras, Thus I am disposed to die & not otherwise. But to leave generalities, let us look a while into the parts of his wish. 1. It is his great fault, as joab offered his treachery to Abner under the pretence of a friendly and peaceable parley, and judas his treason to Christ under the colour of a kiss, so to tender his impatient fits unto the Lord, the searcher of his heart & reins, under the nature and form of prayer. His anger at an other time, and in another action, Tolle quaeso. when he had sequestered his soul from the king of heaven and heavenly things, had been more sufferable. But then to pray, when he was thus angry, or then to be angry when he came to pray, and not to slake the heat thereof, but still to heap on outrageous words, as hot as juniper coals, can no way be excused. Yet thus he doth. The fire is kindled in his heart, and the sparkles fly forth of the chimney, as Solomon spoke undutiful speeches towards the majesty of God, and most unnatural against his own life. Surely the wrath of man doth not accomplish the righteousness of God; jam. 1. it is very far form it. 2 Consider his haste, how headlong he goeth in his rash and unadvised request. For as if the case required some such speed, as the prophet had in charged for the anointing of jehu, power the box upon his head, and say, thus saith the Lord, and then open the door, and flee without tarrying, 2 King. 9 no sooner hath he opened his lips, or conceived his suit in his mind, but the Lord must presently and without delay effect it. It appeareth in that he urdgeth the matter so closely at God's hands. Nune erg●. Now therefore, since I have proved it, and I am not able to bear the burden of my grief, nor longer endure the tediousness of my life, do it without protraction of time. It was a goodly and sober oration that judith made to her people of Bethulia, touching their oath to deliver the city to the enemy within five days unless the LORD sent help, Jud. 8. And now who are you that have tempted God this day, and set yourselves in the place of GOD among the children of men? Nay my brethren, provoke not the Lord our God to anger. For if he will not help us within these five days, he hath power to defend us when he will, even every day, or to destroy us before our enemies. Do not you therefore bind the counsels of the LORD. for God is not as man that he may be threatened, neither as the son of man that he may be called to judgement. Therefore let us wait for salvation of him, and call upon him to help us, and he will hear our voice if it please him. Thus we should teach and exhort ourselves in all our prayers; not to set him a time, as the disciples did about the kingdom of Israel, when LORD? or as jonas doth in this place, now Lord; or than Lord; but when it pleaseth him And as the Psalm adviseth us, O tarry the lords leisure, hope in the Lord, Psal. 17. and be strong: and he shall comfort thine heart, when he thinketh good. There are many reasons why God differreth to grant our petitions: 1. to prove our faith, whither we will seek unlawful means, by gadding to the woman of Endor, or the idol of Ekron, Desideria nostra dilati one extenduntur. Desiderata di● dulcius obtinentur. or such like heathenish devises: 2. to make us thoroughly privy to our own infirmities and disabilities, that we may the more hearty embrace his strength: 3. to strengthen and confirm our devotion towards him; for delay extendeth our desires: 4. to make his gifts the more welcome and acceptable to us: or 5. it is not expedient for us to have them granted too soon: Or lastly, there is some other cause which God hath reserved to his own knowledge. Now this petition which jonas is so forward & hasty in, is contrary to all reason. For are not the days of man determined? job. 14. is not the number of his months with the Lord? and hath not the Lord set him bounds which he cannot pass? Doth not an other say; My times are in thine hands O Lord? Psalm. 31. why then doth jonas so greedily desire to shorten his race, Aufer. & to abridge that number of time which his Creator hath set him? 3. We commonly pray that it will please the Lord to give, not to take away, & to bestow something upon us, not to bereave us of any blessing of his. Solomon 1. Kin. 3. beseecheth him for wisdom, Give unto thy servant an understanding heart: &, Psal. 119. da mihi intellectum, give me understanding, was the usual request of his father David. We say in our daily prayer, give us this day our daily bread, & forgive us our trespasses, that is, give us remission of all our sins. That that is said to descend from above, from the father of lights, is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, giving and gift, not taking away. jam. 1. For God hath a bountiful nature, and as liberal an hand: he openeth it at large, and filleth every living thing with his blessing. He asketh of every creature in the world, what hast thou, that thou hast not received? and of us that have received the first fruits of his spirit, and to whom he hath given his son▪ what is there in the world that you may not receive? But jonas is earnest with God, against the accustomed manner of prayer, and the course of God's mercies, to take something from him. 4. But what? Aufer-opprobrium? take from me shame and rebuke, whereof I am afraid? as David besought. Animam. Psal. 119. 1. Chro. 21. Vanitatem & verba mendacia longè fac à me? vanity and lying words put far from me? Aufer iniquitatem servi tui? take away the sin of thy servant, when he had numbered the people? Or as job prayed, job 9 Aufer at à me virgam suam, let him take away his rod from me? Or as Pharaoh requested Moses and Aaron to pray to the Lord for him, to take away the frogs? Exod 8. Exod. 10. Vir fortis etiam cum moritur dole●. and afterwards when the grasshoppers were sent, to take away frow him that one death only? No, his life. His darling that lived and lay within his bosom. Which because it is the blessing of God, good in nature, and fit● for the exercise of goodness, the strongest man living is loath to departed from. The other which I spoke of, were plagues to the land, banes to the conscience, hindrances ●o salvation, and therefore it was no marvel, if God were humbly entreated to remove them. But Pharaoh in his right wits, nor scarcely Orestes being mad, would ever have desired that his life should be taken from him. Who ever became a suitor to GOD, to take away the life of his ox or ass? because they were given him for labour. Much less of his wife, which was made an helper unto him; or his child, a comforter. Or who ever hath entreated him to give him evil for good, a scorpion for a fish, a serpent for an egg, stones for bread? jonas is found thus senseless, scant worthy of that soul which he setteth so light by. He should have desired God to have taken away the stony heart out of the midst of him, and not scelus de terra, Ezech. 23. or spiritum immundum de terrâ, Ezech. 36. Zach. 13. wickedness out of the land, or an unclean spirit from the earth, but a wicked and unclean spirit from out his own breast, whereby he was driven to so frantic a passion. 5. He will also prove (which is the reason annexed to the petition) that it is better for him to die than to live, 5 Praestat mori. and he proveth it by comparing two opposites, death and life, the horror of one of which he should rather have commended the sweetness, and comfort of the other. Thales on a time giving forth incredibly and strangely enough, that there was no difference between life and death, one presently closed upon him, Cur ergo non moreris? why then di●st thou not? because, saith he, there is no difference. Albeit, it appeareth sufficiently that he showed a difference by refusing it▪ But the paradox which jonas hear allegeth, addeth much to that of Thales. For he affirmeth in peremptory terms, having them laid before his eyes to compare together, and to make his choice, Death is better than life. Howbeit, he saith not simply, it is better to die than to live, Melius mihi mori. but better for me. One as wise as ever jonas was, who had been taken up into the third heavens, & seen revelations, in this very question between life and death, gave no other answer or solution unto it, but per hoc verbum Nescio, by this word I know not; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, & what to choose I know not. And he confessed that he was straightened or pinched between these two, Philip. 1. whither it were better for him, to abide in the flesh, or to be with Christ. No doubt, simply to be with Christ. For that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, but only better, but much and very much better: but to abide in the flesh, was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, more needful and profitable for the Church. For we were not borne to ourselves, but for the good of our parents, country, kindred, and friends, said Plato, and much more for the flock of Christ which he hath purchased with his blood, whither they be jews or Gentiles, weak or strong, Israelites or Ninivites, to further their faith, and to help them to salvation: for thus we are debtor to all men. The speeches of Caesar were wont to be, that he had lived long enough▪ whither he respected nature or honour. Tully answered him, Naturae fortassi● & gloriae; a●, quod maximum est▪ patriae cerié parum Sed tum id audirem, si tibi soli viveres etc. It may be for honour and nature long enough, but that which is chiefest of all, not for the common wealth. Again, I have heard thee say, that thou hast lived long enough to thyself. I believe it. But then I would also hear, If thou livedst to thyself alone, or to thyself alone wert borne. We are all placed and pitched in our stations, and have our watches and services appointed us. Let us not offer to departed thence, till it be the pleasure of our God to dismiss us. Unless we have learned that undutiful lesson, which the messenger used at the doors of Elizeus 2. of Kings and the 6. Behold, this evil cometh of the Lord, should I attend on the Lord any longer? Si consilium vis, Permite ipsis expendere numinibus etc. juvenal Nam pro iucundis aptissima etc. Valeria max. lib. 7. cap. 2. Quia qui iribuere bona ex facili solemn, etiam eligere aptissima possunt It is better for me to die than to live. Say not so, for how knowest thou? If thou wilt hearken to counsel, leave it to the wisdom of God to judge what is best for thee: for he will not give that which is most pleasant, but most convenient: Charior est illis homo quam sibi, A man is dearer to God than to himself. Socrates in Alcibiades, would not have any man ask aught at God's hands in particular, but in generality, to give him good things. Because he knew what was most behooveful for each one, whereas ourselves crave many things, which not to have obtained had been greater ease. At length he concludeth. For he that is want to give good things so easily, is also able to choose the fittest. The promises in the gospel, I grant, are very large; Whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do. joh. 14: And, Ask, and it shall be given you, Math. 7. For every one that asketh receiveth. How cometh it to pass then that the sons of Zebedee ask and receive not? We would that thou shouldest do for us, that that we desire, Mark 10. The reason is given there by our Saviour▪ Nescitis quid petatis You know not what you ask. This is also the cause that jonas receiveth not his ask: he knoweth not what he asketh. You have not, because you ask not, jam. 4. that is one cause. Yea but you ask and have not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Because you ask amiss; both concerning the end to consume it on your lusts; and touching the manner, because without faith; and for the matter it itself, because it is hurtful unto you. And if you observe it, Mat. 7. you shall espy a condition conveyed into the promise of Christ; If you being evil, give good things to your children, how much more shall your father in heaven give good things to them that ask him? 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 good things▪ not such as may do you hurt. Another evangelist faith for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the holy or good Spirit. Which is all in all, able & ready to rectify your minds, order your affections, & set you to crave more wholesome and profitable gifts. For if we ask the contrary, (except when the Lord is pleased to lay a curse upon our prayers) though we call never so loud and impatiently in his ears Vsque quó domine clamabo & non exau●ies? Hab. 1. O Lord how long shall I cry unto thee, and thou wilt not hear me? he answereth, at least by his silence and denial, even as long as a man in a burning ague shall say to his Physician, usque quó, how long shall I cry for cold water? I burn, I am vexed, I am tormented, I am almost out of breath; and he answereth again, Voluntas tua contra te p●●it Hieron. in Habbac. Non misereor modo, I cannot yet pity thee. Such mercy were cruelty, and thine own will and wish is dangerously bend against thee. This is the cause, to conclude, that jonas his suit speedeth not. jonas thinketh it better to die. It is only better in seeming, as a distasted palate is soon pleased with the worst meat. God thinketh the contrary. Nay jonas thinketh, God knoweth, that he dieth indeed if he die out of charity, and that if he should give his body to the fire, or again to the water, or a thousand deaths more, without love, it could not profit him. Therefore he is not suffered to die when he would, but by another mercy of God, not inferior to that in his former delivery, is reserved to an other repentance, and to more peaceable days. Saint Augustine upon the words of the Evangelist, If thou wilt enter into life, Math. 19 keep the commandments, (where he proveth that there is no true life, but that which is blessed, nor blessed but that which is eternal) noteth the manner of men to be in their miseries, to call for death rather than life. Deus mitte mihi mortem, accelera dies meos, O LORD send death unto me, shorten my days. And sometimes sickness cometh indeed, but then there is coursing to and fro, Physicians are brought, money and gifts are promised▪ and death itself perhaps speaketh unto them, Ecce adsum, behold here am I; Thou called'st for me: thou desiredest the LORD not long since to send me. Wherhfore dost thou fly me now? I have found thee a deceaver, Invenite falsatorem. and a lover of this wretched life, notwithstanding thy show to the contrary. It is the use of us all, with the like form of petition, rather o● banning and imprecation, to wish for death: yea strange and accursed kinds of death, wherein God showeth a judgement. Let me sink as I stand, let the earth open unto me, let me never speak word more; And every cross and vexation of life, make it irksome and unsavoury unto us, would God I were dead. If God should then answer us, Ex ●re tuo, out of your own mouths, I grant your requests, Be it unto you according to your words, how miserable and desperate were our case? But as old Chremes in the Comedy, told Clitipho his son, a young man, and without discretion, who because he could not wring from his father ten pounds, to bestow upon Bacchis his lover, had none other speech in his mouth, but Em●ricupio, Priùi queso disce quid sit vivere, tum etc. I desire to die: First know, I pray thee, what it is to live▪ when thou haste learned that, then if thy life displease thee, use these words; so first know, my brethren, you that are so hasty to pronounce the sentence of death against yourselves, what belongeth to the life of a Christian, Quid sumu● & quidnam victuri gignimus▪ Pers. why it was given you by the LORD of life, to what ends he hath made you living souls, what duties and offices he requireth at your hands; these things rightly weighed, if you think good, call for death; for by that time, I think, you will learn more wisdom than to do it. It is good for you to see to the whole course and transaction of your lives, they should be prelusions and preparations for a better life to come. Begin not then to live, Quidam incipiunt vivere cum desinendum est: quidam ant● desierunt quàm inceperint. when you must give over, which is the folly of most men: or rather take heed, that you give not over life, before you have begun it. As one hair shall not fall from your heads without GOD'S providence, so nor the least hair and minute of time from your years without his account taken. But especially remember your end, look to the falling of the tree, consider how the sun goeth down upon you: Now, if ever before, cast your accounts, you build for heaven; now, if ever before, bring forth your armies, you fight for a kingdom. Lay not more burden of sin upon your souls at their going forth. Let the last of your way be rest, and the closing up of the day a sweet and quiet sleep unto you. My meaning is, wish not for death, before you be very ready for it. Nay rather desire GOD to spare you a time, that you may recover, I say not your strength, and bodily ability, but his favour and grace, before he pluck you away and you be no more seen. It is not comfort enough unto you, to say, Vixi▪ & quem dederat cursum natura, peregi, I have lived indeed, and finished some time upon the earth; unless you can also add, your consciences bearing you witness, and ministering joy to the end of your days, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the second to Timothy and 4. chapter; I have finished my race, I have not only brought it to an end, but to a perfection; though I have died soon, yet I have fulfilled much time, my life hath been profitable to my country and to the Church of God, and now I depart in his peace. THE XLIIII. LECTURE. Chap. 4. ver. 4. Then said the Lord, Dost thou well to be angry? The first of those 3. parts wherinto this chapter was divided, touching the impatience & discontentment of jonas, we have in part discovered out of the former verses: reserving a remnant thereof to be handled afterwards. The reprehension of God, which was the 2. beginneth at these words, and is repeated again in the 9 verse, upon the like occasion given by jonas. The mercy of God towards his prophet, manifesteth itself in this fatherly obiurgation many ways. 1. That the Potter vouchsafeth & humbleth himself to dispute with his Clay: 2. that he is ready to give a reason of all his actions, as a righteous Lord, who doth not enforce any thing by his absolute and mere authority, but dealeth reasonably and justly; much more, that the Lord speaketh unto him who spoke & fretted against the Lord, & giveth an account unto him why he spared Niniveh, of whom no man wisely durst to have demanded, what dost thou? that he that dwelleth in light unapproachable, & his counsels are so high in the clouds as who can find them out? placeth them notwithstanding in the eyes of the world, to be examined & sifted by the reason of man; But most of all, that he ministereth a word in season unto jonas, & when the stream of his anger was so violent, that it bore him into an hearty desire & longing after death, then, that the Lord intercepteth him, & answereth in his course as Elihu answered job, job 32. Behold, I have waited upon thy words, and hearkened unto thy speech, whilst thou soughtest out reasons, I will now speak in my turn, & show thee mine opinion, Dost thou well to be angry? It is the singular wisdom of God, & without which policy, it were hard for any flesh living to be saved, that when we are running on in our sins, & wearying ourselves in the ways of wickedness, amongst other his retentives & stops, he hath the hook of reprehension to thrust into our noses, & pull us back again. Our iniquities would wander with out measure, & become rottenness in our bones, our wounds would dwell for ever in our bowels, and fester to the day of judgement, with out this medicine. So wisdom began her lore, Pro. 1. O ye foolish, how long will ye love foolishness? & the scorner take pleasure in scorning? & the fools hate knowledge? She giveth us our right names, according to our corrupt natures; for wisdom is able to judge of fools, & knoweth that without her instruction we are wedded to our follies, therefore she addeth, turn ye at my correction, lo, I will power out my mind unto you, & make you understand my words. In pro●rept. Clemens Alexandrinus compareth our Saviour to an expert physician, such, as Terpander or Capito never were, for he singeth new songs, & hath sundry kinds of moods and varieties to work the salvation of man. Sometimes he hath spoken by a burning bush unto him, sometimes by a cloud of water, sometimes by a pillar of fire, that is, he hath been light to those that were obedient, & fire to those that rebelled; and because flesh is more precious than either bushes, or fire, or water, therefore he hath spoken unto him by flesh: it was he that spoke in Esaias, in Elias, and in all the prophets, and at length, though he were equal to the Father in majesty, yet he was found in the shape of a servant, and spoke with his own lips. This gracious instrument of almighty God, to show the chandges of his notes, both pitieth and chasteneth, entreateth and threateneth, and by threatening best admonisheth, and by speaking roughly, soon converteth. He that called Adam out of the thicker, (which was the first elements of this learning whereof I speak) he hath produced the same through all the ages of the world; he sent Angels to Sodom, Noah to the old world, Nathan to David, Samuel to Saul, Elias to Ahab, prophets to judah and jerusalem, john Baptist to the Scribes and Pharisees; he reproved the elder and Princes with many taunting parables, corrected Peter with looking back, retracted Paul with a vision from heaven, advertised the seven Churches with epistles sent unto them. Leprosy, unto Miryam was a writing and skrolle upon her flesh, engraven in her skin to teach her obedience; dumbness, unto Zachary was not a dumb instructor, it taught him faith against another time; blindness, sent upon Paul, took away his blindness, and opened the eyes of his mind, making him to see more in the ways of life, than all his learning gathered at the feet of Gamaliell could have revealed unto him. Such are the admonitions that God sometimes useth, to mollify our hard hearts, lest we should freeze too long in the dregs of our sins, and because we proceed with impunity, and freedom, claim them for inheritance. Behold therefore, as Eliphaz comforted job, Blessed is the man whom the Lord correcteth; therefore refuse not the chastising of the Almighty, for he maketh the wound, job. 5. and bindeth it up, he smiteth and his hand maketh it whole, he shall deliver thee in six troubles, and in the seventh the evil shall not touch thee. Nay he findeth a wound, and bindeth it up, he espieth a blow, and his hands heal it, he letteth thee alone in six iniquities, but in the seventh he will pull thee by the garment, & thou shalt no more offend. On the other side, wretched is the man, whom the Lord correcteth not; whose first messenger and monitioner is the first borne of death: that is, his life is taken from him before he seethe his sins. This were (as Augustine calleth it) lenity full of horror, and sparing cruelty; Ye●ribilis lenitas, crudelita● parcens. such precious balms, break the head, nay wound the conscience, when bitter and biting corrosives were more wholesome for us. This is also one part of our duty, who are to gather the sheep into the sheep fold of Christ, we must not only teach, but reprove for otherwise (as Origen noteth upon Exodus) we offerred, but not scarlet: the colour and die of our preaching goeth not deep enough: Obtulisti coccu●, sed non bis tinctum, non duplicatum. Jgnis noster illumina●, non accendit. 1. The manner of reprehension. our fire giveth light and shining, but kindleth not: we lead men the right way unto knowledge, but we bring them not to the practic and better part of divinity, to feel a pricking in their consciences, and to be driven to say, men and brethren what shall we do? In the reprehension which God here useth, 2. things come to be handled. The manner thereof, which is mild, courteous, and peaceable; and the matter, which altogether concerneth his anger. The manner is as kind and familiar, and with as much indulgence, as if Eli, or the kindest father in the world were to deal with his child whom he most favoured; no anger or gall uttered in the reproving of his anger, no unpleasant expostulation, and neither bitterness nor length of spe●ch, but as few and as friendly words as lenity itself might devise. Dost thou will to be angry? I should have looked for burning from his lips, and coals of fire from his nostrils, that one who dwelled at his footstool should dare to assault heaven with his indignation, and cross the doings of his dreadful judge: but that the thoughts of the LORD are peace, and of an other disposition than the thoughts of man. Doubtless, if one of his brethren, the prophets of Israel, out of his own tribe and family, had taken the cause in hand, I cannot conceive how he should have used him with so favourable and sparing an increpation, Dost thou well to be angry? If there be any amongst you that taketh advantage heereat▪ to say in your hearts, what mean our prophets and preachers to make such bitter invectives, declamations, outcries, against the sins of our age? their salt is too quick, and we are overmuch seasoned with it, our ears are not able to bear their words; we cannot offend in the wearing of a garment, in the use of our money, in eating our bread, and drinking our drink, but the pulpits must presently ring, our ears tingle, and the world wonder at it. God never taught them such roughness of speech; it had been an happier thing for us to have lived and sinned in former times, and then to have been an adulterer, than a drunkard or extortioner, when God spoke himself, who knew how to temper his words, and to shape his reprehensions in milder sort. He would have said but thus, Dost thou well to be angry? well to be proud, well to be covetous, well to give thy money upon usury? he would not have threatened & stormed as the manner of our preachers is. Surely (my brethren) God is the master of his own, both speeches & actions: his wisdom is as the great deep, I cannot find it out; it may be he saw amendment in the heart & reins of jonas, which we cannot do: or he was able by his power to create his spirit a new, & to change his heart, that it should be rectified in an instant, as well by one word, as if he had tired, and torn his ears with ten thousand; and he dealt with a prophet, an anointed servant of his, one that was dear in his eyes: or he kept him for another time, when his anger should be passed, and his heart more capable of discipline and correction: or he qualified his speech, to school and scourdge him the more with actions. Behold then, and rest satisfied with us: our tongues should be still enough, if we had worms to command to eat up your plants and fruits, or if we could charged the sun in the sky, or the east wind in the air to beat upon your heads, and to grieve your souls, as God grieved jonas; he spareth him in words, but he payeth him in fact, and though he vex not his ears, as we do, he vexeth his head by taking away his shelter, the only temporal comfort which he then enjoyed. I would we might see those days wherein our speech might never exceed this compass, Do you well to do thus? It is no pleasure to us, to sharpen our tongues like razors against you, to speak by the pound or talon, Gravissimus nodus in ligno non potest expelli nisi gravissimo oppressorio. Ambros. mighty and fearful words, if softer might suffice. But if we be briers in your coats and flesh, it is because we dwell with briers; if we be perverse, it is because we dwell in the midst of a perverse generation. An hard knot in the timber cannot be driven out, without heavy blows: sundry diseases require sundry kinds of cures, & as the dispositions of men are varied, Hic lavacra mollia, ille ferrum quaerit ad vulnera. Cassiod. Raban. in Matth. 9 so must we vary our teachings: one must be washed with gentle baths, another must have his wounds cut with lancers: and as the damsel, Matth. 9 was raised up in her father's house, the widows son of Naim without his mother's gates, Lazarus before a great multitude of all sorts; so some must be handled privately, others openly, a third kind publicly: some must be held for weak, Varium poscit remedium diversa qualitas passionum. Subesse debet iracundia, non praeesse. Non ut dominando praeveniat, sed simulando subsequatur. others accounted Publicans unto us; some, their infirmities supported, others delivered unto Satan; some chastised with a rod, others warned in the spirit of meekness; some pulled out of the fire, others left to be burnt; some saved by fear, others by love; some must be used as our own bowels, others as rotten members, whose cure is despaired, cut of from the body, that they do no more hurt. In all which reprehensions, (except where all hope is passed) that singular precept of Gregory taketh place. In the controlling of faults, there must be some anger, rather to attend upon reprehension, than to command it; so that in the execution of this charitable and merciful justice, it bear not a sway by going before, but rather make a show by coming after. And Leo hath the like counsel, that it must be used, non saevientis animo, sed medentis, not with the mind of a tyrant or persecutor, Gala●. 6. 2. The matter reproved. Num quid benefacit ira tibi? Oecolamp. Num putas quòd justè irasceris? An factum bene, i. rationabiliter? Lyra. An valdè irasceris R. Kimhi. Jonathan verti●, admodum. Nonné vehemens est ira tibi? Optimè. Deut. 9 but of an helper. Considering thyself (saith the Apostle) lest thou also be tempted. For a man may once, and often in his life time, say to him that reproveth another, as Eliphaz did to job. Behold, thou haste taught many, and strengthened the weary hands, thy words have confirmed him that was falling, and thou haste upheld the weak knees; but now, it is come upon thee, and thou art grieved, it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled. The matter reproved by God is anger, Dost thou well to be angry? or, as some render it, doth anger help thee? or, art thou angry justly? and upon reasonable cause? or, as some of the Hebrews expound it, art thou very angry? is not thy wrath vehement? interpreting been by valdè, as Moses did Deut. 9 when he told the children of Israel that he took the sin, the calf which they had made, & ground it very well, that is, sufficiently; till he had brought it to the smallest dust. So some interpret well, in this place, by the quality, & goodness of anger, whether it may be justified; others by the quantity and greatness, noting the excess and immoderation thereof. They come both to one: for whether God ask of the quality, he seemeth to imply a secret subjection, it is not well done of thee, thou hast no just cause to be angry; or whether of the quantity, he thinketh that there is as little reason that the sparing of penitent sinners, should move such stomach in jonas. The question is disputed throughout the whole chapter, between God & the prophet, God the opposer, jonas the defender, whether he do well to be angry; God confuteth him both by word & deed, & jonas contendeth for it to the death. I will not trouble you with the answering of the question till we come to the ninth verse, where the Lord doth demand again in the same words, and jonas, though he be silent in this place, yet there dissembleth not his mind, for he answereth, I do well to be angry, and addeth measure sufficient, even unto death. Meanwhile, because this is the time, wherein a general forgetting of wrongs, and laying malice a sleep, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. is professed, so far as the world is christened, partly the Canons of the church, & partly devotion itself, leading us all to a thankful commemoration of the death and resurrection of Christ, and to the communion of his body & blood, which is a badge of our Christian love & fellowship; the time inviting me thereunto, which S. Austen calleth the solemnity of solemnities, & the uncurteousnes of these our times, requiring no less; give me leave in few words to convert my speech unto that which the celebration of the feast itself doth easily exhort you unto. The blessed Apostle, thought not that any more effectual persuasion to charity could be gathered, than from the example of the son of God himself, whose dying & rising again is now solemnized. For so he frameth his exhortation to the Colossians: Now therefore, Coloss. 3. as the elect of God, holy & beloved, as you have any part in these graces, election, sanctification, & the love of God, if you have any argument & seal to your own consciences, that you are a part of his inheritance, (for they are not marked for his chosen which are without these marks) put on the bowels of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long suffering, forbearing one another, & forgiving one another, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. let these be your robes and cover, wear them as you wear your garments, & let them be as tender & inward unto you as your own principal & most vital parts: even as Christ freely & bountifully forgave you, even so do ye. How that was, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. I need not recite. The Apostle Rom. 5. collecteth sundry arguments to show how far forth that substantial & saving grace of God hath gratified us. 1. We were weak, 2. godless, 3. sinners, 4. enemies; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. 1. Pet. 3. we had neither strength to endeavour, neither piety to procure, nor righteousness to satisfy, nor acquaintance and friendship to deserve in the fight of God; yet, notwithstanding all these impediments and deficiencies, Christ died for us. So the other Apostle speaketh; Christ suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. The cause most odious, the persons most unequal, the end most absolute. How then can I better exhort you, Philip. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. to an imitation of the love of Christ, than as S. Paul exhorteth the Philippians; If there be any consolation in Christ, so we may tender it, or if there be any advocation in Christ, (as all the consolation and advocation that we look for, must 〈◊〉 drawn from that fountain) If any comfort of love, (as who feeleth not the use of love that hath not been nursed up with the tigers of the wilderness?) If any communion of the spirit, by whom we are all knit together in the body of Christ, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 etc. lastly, if any bowels of mercy; surely he meaneth that there is or should be much of all this, much consolation in Christ, much comfort of love etc. But if there be any remnant and seed left, if all be not spent & exhausted to satisfy your rancorous malice, fulfil my joy, and your own joy, and the joy of the angels in heaven, and the joy of the bride and bridegroom, to whom it is a good and pleasant thing to see brethren dwelling together in unity, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. minding the same thing, not the like, but the same, and having the same love, not equal but the same, and having the same souls, growing together like twins, concorporate, coanimate, and being of one judgement. Lastly, he forgetteth not the most exquisite pattern of all loving kindnesses, let the same mind be in you that was in Christ jesus. The same mind? I am out of hope of it; his love was as strong as death, water could not quench it, yea water and blood could not put it out. He cried upon his cross for the jews, when he hung upon the top of a mountain, in the open face of heaven, God, and angels, and men beholding, hearing, wondering at it, Luke 23. father, forgive them, they know not what they do. Let not that mind be in you which is in lions and leopards; and good enough. I have heard of such peaceable times prophesied, that sword should be turned into fishes, and spears into mattocks, but never of so warlike & furious, wherein the tongues of men should be turned into swords, and their hearts into wounding and slaying instruments: yet, though this were never prophesied, we have fulfilled it. To make an end, the best remedy against injuries, is forgetfulness: Marcus Cato on a time, being smitten in the bath, to him that had done the wrong, & was desirous to make him amends, Non memini me percussum. answered, I remember not that I was smitten. Shall Cato be wiser and patienter in his generation than we in ours? If we cannot forget the time wherein we have been smitten, or otherwise injuried, at least let us follow the counsel of the Psalm, to be angry without sinning: that is, if we do that which is natural and usual, and can hardly be stayed, let us avoid the other which can never be justified. Psalm. 4. Or if we sin in our anger, (as who in the world is angry and sinneth not?) let the monition of the spirit of God in another place, quickly temper our heat, & let us beware that the sun go not down upon it. Ephes. 4. It was one part of the epitaph written upon Sylla his tomb, Nemo me inimicus inferendâ iniuriâ superavit; I never had enemy that went beyond me in doing wrong. Let not our lives or deaths be testified unto the world by such monuments. It was an honour fit for Sylla of Rome, an heathen & a tyrant, who died the channels of the streets with blood, than for any Christian. I will, by your patience, enter a little way into the next verse, & send as it were a spy to view at least the borders thereof, before I proceed to examine the whole contents. So jonas went out of the city. vers. 5. It is thought by some that he offended no less in going forth, than when he first refused to come thither. For he should have continued amongst them to have given them more warning. The reason why jonas went out, I cannot rightly set down. Some conjecture, and it is not unlikely, to avoid the company of wicked men, for so he accounted the Ninivites, and he was afraid to bear a part of their plagues. The rule is good, for can a man take coals in his bosom, and not be burnt? or handle pitch and not be defiled? or fly with the Ostriches and pelicans, and not grow wild? or dwell in the tents of wickedness, and not learn to be wicked? or if Rahab abide still in jericho, Lot and his kindred in Sodom, Noah and his family in the waste world, Israel in Babylon, shall those execrable places and people be punished by the hand of God, and these not partake the punishment? One place for many, josh. 23. If ye cleave unto these nations, & make marriages with them, & go unto them, & they unto you, the Lord will no more cast them out, but they shallbe a snare and destruction unto you, & a whip on your sides, & thorns in your eyes, until ye perish out of this good land which the Lord your God hath given you: but his error was in the application of the rule; for if the Ninivites were so penitent as before we heard, the worst man (for aught I know) was within his own bosom. And sat on the East side of the city. His purpose in choosing his ground cannot certainly be perceived. Ar. Mont. giveth this guess, Why on the eastside. that he thought if any plague were sent from God, it was likely to come from West and South, because judaea in respect of Niniveh was so placed; & therefore, because God was only known in judaea, & seemed to dwell nowhere else, he would surely punish them out of those quarters: for this cause, as if he had decreed with himself, if a scourge come from God, it shall not come near me, he taketh up his lodging in that part of the city which was most safe. Others make this supposition; they say Tigris the river ran on the west side of Niniveh, where by reason of their haven there was daily concourse of merchants and passengers to and fro. This frequency jonas avoided, and betook himself to that part where the walks were most solitaire, and his heart might least be troubled. Others think that he shunned the heat of the sun, which in those countries is far more fervent than in ours; and because in the mourning, it is more remiss than at the height of the day when it is in the south, or between the height and the declination when it draweth to the west; therefore he seated himself on the east side of the city where he might be freest from it. Happily he went unto that side by adventure, quòpes tulit, as his mind and feet bore him, and it had been indifferent unto him to have applied his body to any other side. Or it may be he was thither brought by the especial commandment and providence of almighty God. As when Elias had prophesied of the drought for three years, he was willed to go towards the East, where he should find a brook to drink of, 1. King 17. and the ravens were appointed to feed him. It is not unlawful for me to add my surmise amongst other men. In the East, because of the sun-rising, there seemeth to be greatest comfort; and I nothing doubt but in this banishment of his, jonas sought out all the comforts he might. The garden in Eden, which the Lord God planted for man, Genes. 2. was planted Eastward. Some say Eastward in respect of the place where Moses wrote the story, that is, of the wilderness where Israel then was. Others with more probability, in the Eastern part of Eden; the whole tract whereof was not taken in for the garden, but the choicest and fruitfullest part, which was to the East. It is true in nature, which some applied to policy, and to the state of kingdoms and families; That more worship the sun in his rising than at his going down. Pl●res orientem solem quàm occidentem adorant. I saw all men living, saith the Preacher, joining themselves with the second child which shall stand up in the place of the other. Our Saviour, who was evermore prophesied to be the light of the Gentiles, is by none other name figured Malach. 4, than of the sun rising; Unto you that fear my name, shall the sun of righteousness arise: and in the song of Zachary, Luke 1. he is called the day spring from an high. Many religious actions we rather do towards the East, than any other point of heaven. We bury our dead commonly, as the Athenians did, their faces laid and as it were looking Eastward. And for the most part, especially in our temples, we pray Eastward. So did the idolators Ezech. 8. turning their backs to the temple of the Lord, and their faces to the East. Will you have the reason hereof? Why was Aaron willed, Levitic. 16. to take the blood of the bullock, and to sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy-seat Eastward? It was the pleasure of God so to have it. And unless nature direct us to these observations, whereof I have spoken, I know not how we are moved. The rising of our sun, whose resurrection we now celebrate, the true and only begotten son of God, was in the Morning. Matthew saith, in the dawning of the day; Mark, very early, Math. 18. Mar. 16. joh. 20. when the sun was risen, not that he had yet appeared in their hemisphere, but his light he sent before him: john saith, when there was yet darkness, that is, the body of the sun was not yet come forth. And Thomas Aquinas thinketh it probable enough, that our resurrection shallbe very early in the morning, the sun being in the East, In Supplem▪ quaest. 77. 〈◊〉 2. and the moon in the West, because, saith he, in these opposite points▪ they were first created. You may happily marvel what the event of my speech will be. I have seldom times carried you away from the simplicity of the prophecy which I entreat of, by allegories and enforced collections. Yet I am not ignorant, that many men's interpretations in that kind, are of many men gladly and plausibly received. Easter day. I hope it shall be no great offence in me to fit and honour this feast of the resurrection of the Lord of life, with one allegory. We are now walking into the West, as the sun in his course doth; Behold, we are entering into the way of the whole world. And as the sun goeth down & is taken from our sight by the interposition of the earth, so into the body of the earth shall we likewise descend, jos. 23. and be taken from the company of the living. Christ our Saviour, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Revel. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. joh. 11. who was both the living and life itself, and had the keys of hell & of death, & whose manner of protestation is Vivo in saecula, I live for ever and ever, yet touching his human nature, when he sojourned upon the face of the earth, had his setting and going down. In this sense we might ask the Spouse in the Canticles, O thou fairest amongst women, what is thy wellbeloved more than other men? And though she answer, Cantic. 5. my well-beloved is white, and ruddy, the chiefest of ten thousand, yet in this condition of mortal and natural descent, he is equal unto his brethren. This passover we must all keep, and therefore let us truss up our loins, and take our staves in our hands, that we may walk forwards towards the West: in steed of other precious ointments, let us anoint our bodies to their burial, and for costly garments, let us lay forth shrouds for our flesh, and napkins to bind about our heads; that is, let us remember our end, and the evening of our lives, & we shall offend the less. The death of the Son of God if ever any man's, was ratified and assured as far forth, as either the justice of his Father, or the malice of men might devise. If his body had been quickend with seven souls, and they had all ministered life unto it in their courses, yet such was the anger of GOD against sin, and the cruelty of man against that just one, that they would all have failed him. And his burial and descension into the lower parts of the ground, was as certainly confirmed For you know what caution the providence of GOD took therein to prevent all suspicion of the contrary. For his body being taken down from the cross, was not only embalmed, and wrapped in a linen cloth, but laid in a new sepulchre, where never corpse had lain before, lest they might have said, that the body of some other man was risen; and in a sepulchre of stone, because the dust and softer matter of the earth might easily have been digged into; and in a sepulchre of rock or one entire stone, lest if there had been seams and fissures therein, they might that way have used some cavil against his resurrection. Besides a stone at the mouth of that stone, and a seal, and a watch, and as sufficient provision besides, as the wisdom of wordlye and ill-minded men could think upon. Notwithstanding, as the brute of his death was universally spread and believed, for the very air range with this sound, Magnus' Pan mortuus est, The great and principal shepherd is dead, and the sun in the sky set, or did more, at his setting, and the graves opened and sent forth their dead to receive him; so the news of his resurrection was as plentifully and clearly witnessed, by Angels, men, women, disciples, adversaries, and by such sensible conversation upon earth, as that not only their eyes but their fingers and nails were satisfied. Behold then once again the sun of righteousness is risen unto us and the day-sprin from an high, or rather from below hath visited us; for then when Zachary prophesied he was to descend from the highest heavens, but now he ascended from the heart of the earth. Once again, we have seen our bright morning star, which was obscured and darkened by death, shining in the east with so glorious a countenance of majesty and power, as shall never more be defaced. Even so, the days shall come, when after our vanishing and disparition for a time under the globe of the earth, we shall arise again, and the LORD shall bring us out of darkness into the light of his countenance. Our night wherein we sleep a while, shallbe changed into a morning, and after obscurity in the pit of forgetfulness, we shall appear and shine as the stars of GOD in their happiest season. We shall go out of Niniveh as jonas did, a Gentile and strange city, a place where we are not known, a land where all things are forgotten (for whither we be in the flesh, we are strangers from GOD, or whither in our graves, we are not with our best acquaintance, both these are a Niniveh to right Israelites) and we shall fit in the East, that is, we shall meet our Saviour in the clouds, and be received up with him into glory, and dwell in everlasting day, where we shall never know the West more, because all parts are beautiful alike, nor fear the decay of our bodies, because corruption hath put on incorruption, and neither feel the horror of darkness, nor miss the comfort of the sun, because the presence of eternal and substantial light illighteneth all places. My purpose was not upon so easy an occasion, to prove the resurrection either of Christ (which I have elsewhere assayed to do) or of his members that belong unto him. For as it rejoiced Paul that he was to speak before king Agrippa, Act. ●● who had knowledge of all the customs and questions amongst the jew, so it is the happier for me, that I speak to those who are not unskilled in the questions of Christianity, and neither are Sadducees, nor Atheists, nor Epicures, to deny the faith of these lively mysteries. Only my meaning was, upon the lords day, whereon he rose to life, and changed the long continued sabbath of the jews, and sanctified a new day of rest unto us, to leave some little comfort amongst you, answerable to the feast which we now celebrate. Surely the angelical spirits above, keep these paschal solemnities, Agunt in coelestibus haec paschalia gaudia ipsi angeli●● spiritus etc. Cyprian. Delectantum in eo quod forma serva reversa fit in formam De● Jd. this Easter with great joy. They wonder at the glory of that most victorious Lion who hath triumphed over death and hell. It doth them good, that the shape of a servant is again returned into the shape of GOD. They never thought▪ to have seen that star in the East, with so fresh and beautiful a hew, which was so low declined to the West, and past hope of getting up. We also rejoice in the memory, and are most blessed for the benefit and fruit of this day, the sabbath of the new world, our passover from everlasting death to life, our true jubilee, the first day of our week, and chief in our calendar to be accounted of, whereon our Phoenix rose from his ashes, our eagle renewed his bill, the first fruits of sleepers awoke, the first begotten of the dead was borne from the womb of the earth, and made a blessed world, in that it was able to say, The manchild is brought forth; the seed of Abraham which seemed to have perished under the clods, fructified, not by proportions of thirty, or sixty, or an hundredth, but with infinite measure of glory, both to himself, & to all those that live in his root. Him we look for shortly in the clouds of heaven, to raise our bodies of humility out of the dust, & to fashion them like to his own, to perform his promise, to finish faith upon the earth, to perfit our glory, and to draw us up to himself, where he reigneth in the heaven of heavens, our blessed redeemer and advocate. THE XLV. LECTURE. Chap. 4: vers. 5. And there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow. BEfore, the Lord hath begun to reprehend jonas in words, now he addresseth himself to reprove him also by a sensible sign; and because his ears were uncapable, speaketh unto his eyes, and showeth him a life glass, wherein he may see himself and his blemishes, Words are oftentimes received as riddles, and precept upon precept hath not prevailed, when a familiar and actual demonstration hath done good. So Ah●iah the Prophet rend the new garment of jeroboam the king in twelve pieces, and bade him reserve ten to himself, in sign, that the kingdom was rend out of the hands of Solomon, 1. King. 11. Es. 20. jer. 27. and ten tribes given to jeroboam. So Esay, by going barefoot, teacheth Egypte and AEthiopia that they shall also go into captivity in the like sort. jeremy, by wearing yokes about his neck, and sending yokes, and gives, to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, tire, Sydon, judah, giveth them a visible sacrament, and representation of their captivity in Babylon. Thus Ezechiell portrayed the siege of jerusalem upon a brick; Ezech. 4. Act. 21. thus Agabus taketh the girdle of Paul, and bindeth himself hands and feet, and saith, so shall the man be bound that oweth this girdle. And thus doth the Lord admonish jonas by a real apothegm, a lively subjection to his eyes, what it is that he hath just cause to dislike in him. But before we come to the very point and winding of the matter, wherein we may see the mind of God, there are many Antecedents and preparatives before hand to be viewed. 1. That jonas goeth out of the city, 2. buildeth him a booth, 3. that God provideth him a gourd, 4. sendeth a worm to consume it, 5. that the sun and the wind bet upon the head of jonas till he fainted. All this, is but the Protasis, an only proposition; so far we perceive not whitherto the purpose of God tendeth: then followeth the narration, the anger of jonas once again, and once again God's increpation, first touching the type or image, which was the gourd, (for the gourd standing and flourishing, was an image of Niniveh in her prime and prosperity, the gourd withered, of Niniveh overthowen) then touching the truth represented by that figure; which was the city itself. For the meaning of God was, to lay open the iniquity of jonas before his face, in that he was angry for the withering of an herb, and had no pity in his heart, upon a mighty and populous city. The order of the words from this present verse to the end of the prophecy, is this: in this fifth, jonas buildeth for himself, in the 6. GOD planteth for him, in the 7. he destroyeth his planting, in the 8. jonas is vexed and angry to the death, in the 9 God reproveth him in the figure, in the 10. and 11. in the truth, by that figure exemplified. Of the Antecedentes, I have already tasted two members, 1. his going out of the city, to shun their company who did not so well like him; 2. his sitting on the eastside of the city; either to be farther from the judgement of God, which was likely to come Westward, because jerusalem stood that way; or to be out of the trade and thoroughfare of the people, which was likeliest to be at their key, for the river lay also upon the Westside; or to be freer from the heat and parching of the sun, which in the morning, and towards the East, is less fervent; or lastly, I told you, to take the comfort and benefit of the sun rising. Now the 3. in the number of those Antecedentes is, that he maketh himself a booth. Made him a booth. Wherein I might observe unto you, that a Prophet is enforced to labour with his hands for the provision of necessaries. And surely, if it were not worthy the noting, the Apostle would never have said, Act. 20. You know that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to those that were with me. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, these very hands that break the bread of the Lord, these hands that baptise, and that are laid upon the heads of God's servants, these have ministered unto my necessities. Likeweise the first to the Corinthians and fourth We labour, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. 1. Thes. 2. & 2▪ 3. working with our own bands. And in his Epistles to the Thessalonians, twice he maketh mention of his labour and travail day and night. But I rather charged you at this time with these particulars: 1. what jonas made, a booth; 2. for what use, to sit under the shadow of it; 3. how long to continue, till he might see what was done in the city. The 1. and the 2. show unto us, the one the nature, ●. The nature of houses. Esa. 1. job 8. & 27. the other the use of all buildings. By nature, they are but booths and tabernacles, and such as the Prophet reporteth of Zion, that she should remain as a cottage in a vinyeard, and like a lodge in a garden of cucumbers. Or as job speaketh in the 27. of his book, like a lodge that the watchman maketh, no longer to abide than till that service is ended. I would be loath to term them the houses of spiders and moths, as job doth, but compared with eternity, such they are. The patriarchs and people of ancienter times dwelled but in tents, easily pight, and as easily removed; and as many other things in antiquity▪ so this amongst the rest, was a figure to all the ages of the world to come, that so long as they dwell upon the earth, they have but a temporal and transitory habitation. The earth which we dwell upon, is but our place of sojourning, and wherein we are strangers, as God told Abraham, Gen. 17. In the 47 of the same book, Pharaoh asked jacob how many were the days of the years of his life: jacob, to express our condition of travailing and flitting upon the earth to and fro, answered the king, the whole time, not of my life, but of my pilgrimage or rather pilgrimages (by reason of often removes) is an hundredth and thirty years. Few and evil have the days of my life been, and I have not attained unto the years of the life of my fathers, in the days of their pilgrimages. David, 1. Chron. 29. giveth thanks unto the Lord in behalf of himself and his people, that they were able to offer so willingly towards the building of the temple, because all things came of him, and from his own hand or liberality they had given unto him. For (saith he) we are strangers before thee and sojourners like all our fathers: our days are as the shadow upon the earth, and there is none abiding. Thus jacob and his fathers, David and his Princes and his people, and their fathers all were pilgrims. Let us see now, what use the Apostle maketh hereof. He saith of Abel, Hebr. 11. Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, and the rest, that all these died in faith, and received not the promises, but saw them a far of, and believed them, and received them thankfully, and confessed, that they were strangers & pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things, declare plainly that they seek a country. It may be, their own, from whence they were exiled; the Apostle answereth, no. For if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they had leisure to have returned. But now they desire a better, that is, an heavenly▪ Wherefore God is not ashamed of them to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city. Likewise he exhorteth us, Heb. 13. As jesus, to sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate, so that we should go forth of the camp, bearing his reproach, for here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come. And our Saviour told his disciples, joh. 4. that in his father's house there were many mansions, or settled dwellings, for here we have but tabernacles. Houses, I confess, we have, as foxes have thtir holes, & birds their nests, and bees their hives, to be chased and driven from them: but till the promise be fulfil, which is mentioned, Deut. 2. Revel. 21. that the tabernacle of God shallbe with men, that is, men shallbe with the tabernacle of God; and God dwell with us, and we with him in heavenly jerusalem; we must trust to that other prophecy, Mich. 2. surgite, & ite, arise, and departed, for this is not your rest. The use of buildings is, that we may sit under the shadow thereof. 2. The use. The posterity of Noah, Gen. 11. having found out a place in the planie of Sinar, said go to, let us build us a city & tower to get us a name. Was that the end of buildings? Nabuchodonosor, Dan. 4. built them a palace for the house of his kingdom, and for the honour of his majesty, to vaunt of the mightiness of his power, and to forget the God of heaven. Was that the end of building? It seemeth by the words of Solomon, Eccles. 2. that he made him great work, and built him houses, to prove his heart with joy, and to take pleasure in pleasant things. Or was that the end of building? Some build wonders of the world, as the walls of Babylon set up by Semiramis, the house of Cyrus, the tomb of M●usolus. All which buildings, whither they be summer-parlours, as Eglons, jud. 3. or winter-canhbers, houses in the city, or Tusculan farms in the country, were they as stately for height, as the spires of Egypt, or as the temple of the great Diana of the Ephesians, which as they were wondered at for their buildings, so for their ruin & dissipation; or were they as sumptuous for cost, as that palace of king Alcinous, the walls whereof were of brass, the gates of gold, the entries of silver; they are all but vanity, and when we have all done, there is none other use of building, than to sit, and shadow ourselves, and to defend our bodies from the violence of the weather, and other foreign injuries. Martial. Dum tamen adifice● quidlibet il● fancy▪ It is a sickness that some men have, to spend their time in building, as the Epigram noted Gellius, Gellius aedificat semper, Gellius is always building, or repairing, or changing, or doing somewhat, to keep his hand in. If a friend come to borrow money of him, unum illud verbum Gellius, ●difico. Gellius hath no other word in his mouth, but I am in building. Alas to what purpose are these large and spacious houses without inhabitants? chimneys without smoke, windows, not for prospect but for martin's to breed, and owls to sing in? Such are the tenants, instead of families heretofore kept, & hospitality maintained, now hedgehogs lying under the walls, & wesels dwelling in the parlours, jeremy doth notably tax the vanity of a great builder. He saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers; jer. 22. so he will make himself great windows, and seel them with Cedar, & paint them with Vemi●ton. But shalt thou reign, (saith the prophet) because thou closest thyself in Cedar? did not thy father, & thy grandfather eat, and drink, and prosper, when they executed judgement and justice, kept houses & relieved the poor? but thine eyes & thy heart are but only for covetousness & oppression, & for vainglory, & to command and overlook the country round about, and to leave a name behind thee, even to do this, and according to the ends thou proposest herein, so shall the Lord visit thee. Till he might see what should be done in the city. But the proof hereof may seem to have been already past, 3. How long. & the forty days fully accomplished. Rabbini putant die. 36. vel 37. Some think that jonas went out of the city, some 3. or 4. days before that term expired, & there waited the event, & that he was not displeased with God, till after the time fulfilled. Which seemeth not probable unto me, that jonas so lately & seriously, with so much danger of his life, admonished of his duty neglected before, would now again forsake the Ninivites, & give over his preaching, before the accomplishment of those days which God hath numbered unto him. Others are of judgement that the time was fully elasped, & that jonas knew well enough that God was minded to spare Niniveh, touching their final & utter overthrow; yet not to pardon them altogether, without the irrogation of some lighter punishment upon them. As he dealt with Israel, Exod. 23. when they worshipped the melted calf, saying, these be thy gods, O Israel etc. He threatened to consume them, yet afterwards, though by the intercession of Moses he changed his mind from the evil which he threatened unto them; yet he forgave them not wholly, but punished them by the slaughter of three thousand men. Lastly it is thought by a third company that jonas saw by revelarion the sparing of Niniveh. In such variety of opinions, I abridge not your liberty to take which best liketh you. But howsoever you take it, jonas, (you see) hath the thirstiest nature after the destruction of Niniveh, that might be. If jonas had been armed with power (for in this respect he wanted not the spirit and wish of Elias) to have commanded fire against the Ninivites, as Elias did against the captains and their bands, 2. King. 1. Niniveh had lain in ashes at the end of forty days, for nothing can please jonas, unless somewhat be done against the people of that place. Vsque dur● But his message being ended, why returneth he not towards Israel again? No: he will take an homely, & comfortless habitation, he will labour with his hands, & put them to base service, he will lie abroad in the field, bearing the heat and burden of the day, & wet with the dew of the night, and happily not fed in that solitary place, but with the waters from the brook, and fruits of the earth of his own provision and dressing, only to stay the time, and not to miss that opportunity when God should plague Niniveh, Videre● Qui andiunt audita referunt; qui vident, plane sciunt. the bruit and report whereof might not content, but he will see with his eyes his desire upon his enemies. for they that hear, are able to speak but of hearsay; they that see, are out of doubt. There was some reason that Moses was so sharply bend against an Egyptian, offering wrong to one of his countrymen, Phinees against adulterers, Peter against Malchus, a servant to his master's enemies. Paul against Elymas a sorcerer, other Apostles against a village of Samaria, for refusing to entertain Christ: but jonas, upon small reason, a prophet of the Lord, & but lately his orator & bead-man in a capital danger of his own, you hear how his heart & eyes are fixed in a merciless affection against penitent and reformed men. And the Lord God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over jonas. vers. 6. It seemeth that the booth was withered, being built but of boughs or reeds, or some other stuff which the heat of the sun did easily work upon. For when the gourd was afterward smitten, the sun and the wind beat upon the head of jonas, which argueth that his booth was defaced. Before, you have heard of the building of jonas, now God buildeth; the one by art, the other by nature; the one a tabernacle of boughs, the other an arbour or bower of a living or growing tree, which the fatness of the earth nourished, having seed & bud in it according to the kind thereof; the one withereth, because it is but propped up, having no juice in it, the other spreadeth her roots and strings in the ground, having whereby to increase. I need not say how unprofitable and barren the labour of man is, being left to itself, without the favour of God to supply the imperfections thereof. This very place doth sufficiently justify that of the Psalm, Psal 127. Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it. The fruits of the body, fruits of the field, fruits of cattle, increase of kine, flocks of sheep, the basket, & the store in the basket, Deuter. 28. they make a number & show of goodly commodities: but unless you give them their blessing which is their annexed, benedict us fructus ventris, blessed shallbe the fruit of thy body, and blessed all the rest mourn as Esau did when jacob had prevented him of the blessing, & as the grass upon the house tops which no man taketh in his hand or blesseth in his heart, so do they languish, pine away, & come to nothing. The Lord must command his blessings to be with us in our storehouses, Jbid. & in all that we set our hand unto, as it is there added, or our labour dieth between on● fingers. Zophar, job 20. speaketh many things of the joy of an hypocrite, his excellency mounting unto heaven & his head reaching up unto the clouds; yet he shall perish (saith Zophar) like the dung, & they that have seen him shall say, where is he? he shall flee away as a dream● & pass away as a vision of the night; there is nothing left of his meat, and no man shall hope for his good: yea when he shall have filled his belly, God shall send down his fierce wrath, & rain even upon his meat. You see there is nothing prospereth with him, because he is an hypocrite, and when he went to his work, the blessing of the Lord was commanded to stay behind. The blessing of the Lord must be upon the building of our houses, watching of our cities, tilling of our ground, filling of our bellies, training up of our children, or whatsoever pains we bestow in all these, falleth into emptiness. This was it that seconded & supplied the labour of jonas: he built him a booth which withered, but God prepared him a gourd, an house of a better foundation, because it lived by the moisture of the earth, which the other was destitute of. There is a great question & contention between writers, touching the plant that was here provided, what it was by kind, & how to be termed. The wisdom which God gave unto Adam, Gen. 2. was yery great in the morning of all those creatures that God brought before him But concerning the herb or tree here mentioned, the most learned & wise amongst the Hebrews, Grecians, Latins, Spanish, French, Germans, Etrurians, have laboured & beaten their brains to give it a nanc, but hitherto have not found it: and unless there be some second Adam to speak his mind, or an other Solomon, who was able to speak of the trees from the Cedar to the Hyssop, I think the controversy will never be ended. Notwithstanding, as the best wine is that which is farthest brought, for the more it is shaken in carriage, the more it is fined and made fit for use; so there is both pleasure & profit to hear any point of learning▪ sifted & moved to & fro by the divers judgements of learned men. If I were as skilful in simpling as some are, I would give you my simple opinion. But now I must speak from mine authors. R. Esdras saith, that the wise of Spain called it Cucurbita, or cucumber, which is in English a gourd or cucumber: but withal he addeth, ratio iniri non potest, ut sciatur quid sit, we cannot find out the means to know what it was. The Latin vular translation calleth it Hedera, which in our English signifieth Ivy, Jerome disprooveth that, even against himself, & saith that the Latins have no name for it: for Ivy and gourds, and cucumbers (he saith) creep upon the ground, & have need of tendrils & props to bear them up; but this tree sustained herself with her own trunk, & had broad leaves like a vine, & the shadow which it cast was very thick. Some called it Bryonia, bryony or wild nep & the white vine which groweth in the hedges with red berries, & blistereth his skin that handleth it. Sun, rapun silvester, the wild rape root. The Hebrews & the Chaldees name it Kikaion: the Grecians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: the Arabians Elkerva, whereof ye have the oil of kerva in the Apothecary's shops. Sometimes they call it Cataputia mayor, great spourdge, & Pendactylum, for the similitude which it hath with the 5. fingers of the hand Whereupon the French, by reason of the joints & knots which are in the leaves thereof. name it Palm de Christ, that is to say, Christ's hand. The Etrurians call it Phaseolum, faselles, or long pease, a kind of pulse, rising so high, that it served them for arbours. Lastly, the Germans, for the admirable height of it call it wonder boome, that is the wondered tree. Thus every nation, as it could get any tree, which in their imagination came nearest unto it, so they lent it a name. But we may conclude with Oecolampadius, according to that of Esdras before, Incertum qualis frutex vel arbour, It is not known what bush or tree it was. Animal c●nibus infestum. Similem ficul sed minorem, folia h●●bētem simil●lima platano sed maiora etc. Lib. 15. na●. hist▪ cap. 7· ●●clnium. Croton, ●rix▪ i●, sesamum silvestre. etc. Pla●anu● 〈◊〉 At length the Latins, the latest, and in my judgement the skilfullest amongst them, have all agreed to call it ricinus, which in propriety of speech signifieth a tike, a creature noisome to dogs; & for the likeness of the seed or grain that it beareth, is applied to this tree. Dioscorides calleth it arborosum fruticem, a bush, yet a tree; like unto a figtree but less; with leaves like to a plane, but greater, soft, & blackish, and bearing seed like unto tikes. We may read of it in Pliny and of the oil that cometh therehence; together with the variety of names that are given unto it. But all with one consent agree, that it suddenly springeth to the height of an Olive, & diffuseth itself like Ivy, & that it hath scattering boughs, & broad leaves, like the plane tree wherunder they were wont to feast, & most commodious to give a shadow. For which cause, R. Kimhi noteth, they used to place it before tavern doors. Wither we have lighted upon the name or not, it sufficeth for the history to understand, that God provided a tree, wonderfully tall, plentifully stored with boughs & leaves, & such as was most convenient to give comfort unto jonas. O how admirable are the works of God, the least whereof may challenge so many commentaries & expositions to be spent upon it? what shall we then think of all nature, if the whole table & book thereof were set before our eyes to be viewed & considered, when one plant of the ground findeth not learning enough, amongst jews, Barbarians, nor Christians to unfold it? When we behold the heavens, Presentem que refert quaelibet ●erba Deum. the works of his fingers, the moon and the stars which he hath ordained, I say not then as the Psalmist doth Lord, what is man or the son of man that thou shouldest so visit him? but what is man, or the son of man, that he should judge, or give sentence of the? and we may both begin, & end that Psalm, as the prophet doth, O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the world, & in the great buildings & treasures thereof, when one small creature, & parcel of thy works breedeth such confusion in the wits of man? Much more deeply might the Lord oppose us, as he did his servant job, with the greater wonders of nature, when we strain at gnats, & cannot conceive of little things; job 38. hast thou entered into the bottoms of the sea, or walked to seek out the depth? have the gates of death ben opened unto thee? or hast thou seen the gates of the shadow of death? hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth? tell if thou knowest all this; & where is the way that light dwelleth? & where is the place of darkness? Anaxagoras being asked why man was made, answered▪ to behold the heavens, & to magnify God in his creatures. Surely, as our Saviour commended the small mites which the widow cast into the treasury, so there is not the least work that God doth, but deserveth the greatest admiration that our hearts can comprehend. And therefore the enchanters of Pharaoh, when they were come to try their cunning in louse, the basest & contemptiblest creatures, they were enforced to cry out, Exod. 8. this is the finger of God. To conclude, as Christ made the comparison between the lilies & his servants, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is standing, Math. 6. & to morrow is cast into the oven, how much more shall he do unto you, O ye of little faith? so may we say; if God be so glorious in a mean plant of the field, which in a night came up, & in a night perished again; much more are his mightier works highly to be marveled at. But in this 6. verse, (to bring it into order) there are two parts 1. the creation of the gourd, by the hands of God, 2. the acceptation of jonas. The former hath 4. joints & divisions, in it: 1. the gourd was prepared by the Lord God, for who else was able to create? some have gone about to imitate the works of creation, as to make thunders and lightnings, and to fly in the air, but they have paid the price of saying in their foolish hearts, I will be like the most high. 2. It was made to ascend; 3. to be a shadow over the head of jonas; 4. to deliver him from his grief. The preparing of the gourd had little pleasured jonas, unless it had ascended to some height; nor the ascending on high, unless it had been flexible, and bowed itself over his head; nor the hanging over his head, without such quantity of boughs and leaves as were sufficient to shadow it: all these grow and ascend in my text higher & higher as the tree itself doth; that we may know how wisely the works of God are done, and they never miss the end, whereunto they were addressed. Two of these four members, to weet, the springing and climbing of the gourd, that in a moment of time it was over the head of jonas, show the omnipotent power and providence of the Almighty, who contrary to the rule of the philosophers, that nothing is made of nothing, ● gigni. De nibil● nihil. without some matter pre-existent, causeth a tree to arise, without either seed or stock to produce it; & hasteneth the work in such sort, that whereas other plants require the chandges and seasons of the year to make them sprout, & yield their increase, not without the kindness of the ground, dropping of the air, influence of the sun and stars, & other natural 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, & therefore jonas applied himself to that place, and there erected his booth, when the judgements of so many learned, and the letter of the text, Pullulare f●cit eo momento. R. Kimhi. Repent a●cto frutice. Ar. Mont. Nocte extitit. 10. verse. is flatly against them. Besides the word of preparing that is here and elsewhere used (for who but the same Lord God, prepared the fish before, or who the worm and the east-wind hereafter?) noteth a quick & speedy expedition in the working of God, when his pleasure is, & that all things in the world great & small, the winds in the air, the fishes in the water, the plants in the earth, and under the earth worms and creeping things are subjecteth to his mighty providence. The latter two declare the goodness of God towards jonas in his application of the gourd to so acceptable an end. For by that means his body was shadowed, and his soul eased. I know there is misery enough in nature, and that judgement sometimes beginneth at the house of GOD, jer. 49. and they drink deeply of the cup to whom it was not meant. And the grief which jonas here feeleth, is but a portion of that grief, which corruption and mortality hath addicted us unto. And the farther we go from GOD, the nearer we ever approach to misery: for neither land, nor sea, nor city, nor field, nor air, nor earth, nor any worm of the earth shall favour us, no more than they favoured jonas. I am not ignorant on the other side, that all nature is provided for the comfort of Gods elect. And nature shall even be changed, and made to run faster than her manner is, to do them good. The Lord shall not only do it, but do it with speed, when we have little reason to look after it, sometimes by rule, & sometimes at liberty, sometimes by law, & sometimes by privilege and above his law, sometimes by nature, and sometimes by miracle, but do it he will, rather than his help shall fail. Who thought of the ram in the bush, when Isaac lay upon the faggots? the good will of him that dwelled in the burning bush, sent it. He came not upon his feet, but was brought by special providence. Who dreamt that an Eastwind should have filled the camp of Israel with quails? It had blown often before, and sometimes hurtful and unprosperous blasts, but never quails. Who looked for Manna from heaven, when they wanted bread in the wilderness? Many a dew and frost had they seen upon the ground, but never with such effect. Who durst presume to think, that jordan would run back, or the red sea divide itself, till they saw it fulfilled? Or would not have sworn that the lions would have rend Daniel in pieces, and bruised every bone, and the fire of that oven in Babylon, have burned those three Salamanders to powder, till they saw it otherwise? But these things have been done, we know, and done on the sudden; the LORD hath risen early to do them, that is, hastened his act, and set wheel as it were to his power and goodness, to make them speed. And thus was this gourd provided, to the growing whereof were required a spring and summer at the least, but to such augmentation and largeness, the space of many years. These two companions, the might and mercy of God, between which, as before I said, those 4. members of my text divide themselves, are his two wings, under the shadow whereof we shall be safe. And as the disciples of Christ were sent into the world two and two before his face, to preach the gospel, and to heal diseases; so these two hath the Lord joined together, and they go before his face as far as the earth is bounded, to assist his chosen in all their griefs. And rather than any temptation shall wax too strong for them, and put them in hazard, he will be Adonai, Adonai, twice a God as it were, and double his spirit strong and, strong, merciful and merciful: and as his goodness is infinite, so it shall draw forwards his infinite power to some extraordinary and untimely work, which nature without leisure and tract of time could not have produced. THE XLVI. LECTURE. Chap. 4. vers. 6. So jonas was exceeding glad of the gourd. IN the building of God, after the building of jonas withered and defaced, I noted, 1. the provision that the Lord made for him, 2. his own acceptation. The former with the branches thereto belonging, namely the creation and propagation of the gourd, wherein the power of God was manifested, together with the shadow, and end of the shadow wherein his goodness showed itself, we have already treated of; and are now to consider the acceptance and applause that jonas gave unto it. It offereth unto us these two things: 1. jonas was glad. 1. his affection, joy; 2. the measure of that affection, The cause of his joy. exceeding great joy. Many things there were which might provoke the rejoicing of jonas. 1. The famning of the leaves, which was a great comfort to a man that sat in the sun, and was parched with the heat, as a cake in the hearth; for the sun is a marvelous instrument, as the son of Syrach speaketh, Eccles. 43. it burneth the mountains three times more than one that keepeth a furnace, it casteth out fiery vapours, and with shining beams blindeth the eyes: & we know that burning heat is in the number of the plagues threatened, Deut. 28. & Revel. 16. Ardour & aestus. The fourth Angel powered out his vial upon the sun, and it was given him to torment men with heat of fire, and men boiled in great heat, and blasphemed the name of God for it. This was the grief wherewith it is said before that jonas was perplexed; for it is not a mean plague to lie open to the skorching of the sun without shadow and protection: so much the rather, if (as the Rabbins imagine) the skin of jonas were waxen more tender, since his enclosure in the bowels of the fish than before. 2. The gourd saved him the continual renewing of his booth: for it was likely enough that his natural house, built by the hands of God, should longer have continued, than that artificial tabernacle which himself had erected of such slender stuff. 3. It is thought that the colour of his arbour being green and fresh, pleased well his eyes. 4. That the sent of the leaves was not unwelcome to his nostrils. Paulus de Palatio addeth other reasons of his joy. 1. He thinketh that jonas was sick through grief of heart▪ and that it much revived his soul, to see the care which God had over him. 2. He imagineth that jonas persuaded himself even for this miracles sake, that the people of Niniveh would not esteem him as a false prophet. Lastly he accordeth to Saint Jerome, and supposeth this tree to have been common in judaea, and therefore it much delighted jonas to behold a tree of his own country. They add moreover the suddenness of the miracle, and that the gourd was so much the more grateful unto jonas, because it came unlooked for. But the most of these before alleged, are but sensible pleasures: and there is no question but that which most affecteth him, was the presence and favour of God, so miraculously, and extraordinarily showed. For that argument which Gedeon asked of God, if God be with us, where are his miracles? judg. 6. to seal up his mercies towards him; the same doth the Lord bring in this place for the confirmation of jonas. That jonas rejoiced for the gourd, I cannot dislike: it argueth that he weighed and esteemed the blessings of God as they deserved. Many, though they fall upon their heads, as the dew of heaven upon their ground, yet are more senseless in them: and as they meet the motes in the sunbeams, so they entertain the gifts of God, as if they came by chance, scarcely lending a thought to consider them. Others are joyful enough of that which they are possessed of; sometimes insolent and proud, their looks and their gate have majesty and disdain in them against those who are not so plentifully visited; but they little regard the author of those benefits, who hath sent this ticket or remembrance to every man, upon the face of the earth, what hast thou, that thou hast not received? Let Naball be the person and parable in whom I report (only chandging the name,) the history of all worldly men, who having the riches of the earth, take them as inheritance or due debt, and spend them like Lords, to fulfil their lusts; meanwhile, not minding either sacrifice to God, or relief to the poor, or any way applying themselves to those ends for which they were enriched. Naball, 1. Sam. 25. had riches enough, and mirth enough, he made a feast after his shearing like a king, and his heart was merry within him; the reason was, for he was very drunken: there is the use of his riches. Besides, the opinion of his mightiness and wealth, made him as drunk otherwise. For the usage of himself in the dispensation of his riches, was so base every way, that neither servant, nor wife, nor stranger gave good report of him. The servant uttereth his complaint, he is so wicked that a man cannot speak unto him: the wife concealeth not hers, let not my Lord regard this wicked man, for as his name is so is he; Naball is his name, and folly is with him. David oftentimes fretteth at his churlishness, he hath requited me evil for good, who would not bestow a little portion of his substance, to refresh the servants of David, that walked at the feet of their Lord, though they were a wall unto him, by day, and by night, and safegarded all that he had in the wilderness. But his end was answerable to his deserving; for it is said in the text, the Lord smote him within ten days that he died, and before that death of his body, his heart died within him, and he was like a stone. The best instruction is, as we rejoice in these temporal blessings of God, so to use them, that they may be our joy (for to some they are snares and destructions) to receive them with thanksgiving, embrace them in measure, and dispense them with wisdom, to the honour of our bountiful God, relief of afflicted joseph, and a furtherance unto us to discharged those Christian duties whereunto we are bound. Besides the acknowledging of the author, the pleasure which jonas took in the gourd, was a sign that he felt the sweetnsse and use of the benefit, which (if you observe) is a blessing upon a blessing: for as the wise Preacher noted, Riches, & power to use them Eccles. 5. to every man to whom God hath given riches and treasure, and giveth him power to eat thereof, and to take his part, and to enjoy his labour, this is the gift of God: the other are his gifts, but this is a double gift. Surely he will not much remember the days of his life, because God answereth to the joy of his heart: Without which joy and comfort of heart, he will remember, not only the days, but the hours and minutes of his life; and every one is more bitter than other unto him: all the meat that he eateth, seemeth to be mingled with gall, and his drink spiced with wormwood; his clothes sit to strait upon his body, his body is a prison to his soul, and his soul a burden & clog to itself. Therefore the Preacher addeth, there is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is much amongst men, Eccles. 6. a man to whom God hath given riches, and treasure, and honour, and he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that it desireth, but God giveth him not power to eat thereof, but a stranger shall eat it up: this is a vanity, and this is an evil sickness. jonas was not sick of this disease: for he both enjoyed the gourd, & perceived those comforts and pleasures for which it was provided. Exceeding glad. Dum vitant stulti vitia, in contraria ●urrunt. Norat. in. Sat. Quicquid agit valdé agit. Maguum est hominem agere: de aliquo quem vid isti heri. merino po●●est diei, hic quic est? ●anta muta●tio est iram Colligit et poni● tem ere etc. Horat. in ar. poet. Es. 8. Vitae disconvenit ordine toto. Hor. in Epist Ibid. But what meaneth the immoderate and excessive joy that jonas took therein? for I come now to the measure of his affection. It is true oftentimes which the Poet hath, So foolish are we, that while we avoid one fault, we fall into the contrary. jonas is quickly angry, and quickly pleased, and very angry, and very well pleased. Whatsoever he is, or doth, he putteth full strength unto it. It is a great mastery, saith Seneca, to play a man kindly. Of one whom thou sawest but yesterday, thou mayst ask the next, who is this? he is so much changed. Would a man know jonas to be jonas, that had seen him before in his exceeding wrath, and now should find him so exceedingly well pleased? This were enough for a child, whose limber and inconstant passions are every hour altered. Yet jonas bewrayeth his weakness in the like mutability of manners: sometimes boiling like a sea, or like the river in Esay, mighty and great, with abundance of choler, sometimes as strongly overborne with a contrary affection; constant in nothing but in his inconstancy, and never moderating himself with a mild and sober carriage, as those waters of Shiloah, that ran softly. Peter Martyr writing of the affections of man, sorrow, joy, hope, fear, anger, and the rest, compared them to the winds wherewith a ship is driven: they may be helps to the ship, and they may overthrew it. The passions, I think, wherewith jonas was driven too and fro, were more vehement than that wind, which raised the former tempest. For when he is angry, he is sore grieved; when he is glad, he is overmuch apaid; and when he is angry again, he is angry to the death. So he is not only variable in his affection, as Proteus was in his shapes, wrought like wax upon a sudden, but he is also as intemperate in them, not able to contain himself within the lists of any moderation. That you may know what vessels they are which GOD doth use in the mninistration of his holiest work, in bearing his name before the world, and preaching the gospel of Christ the richest treasure that ever the earth received: they are earthly vessels, made of clay, and shaped of the selfsame mould, whereof all mankind is fashioned. Prophets they are, but as Moses spoke, like unto their brethren, not only in similitude of flesh, as CHRIST only was, but in similitude of sinful and infirm flesh; Apostles they are, and CHRIST chose twelve of them, but judas was a devil incarnate, and Peter was a Satan in his kind, and none were Angels; they are also the men of God, yet men; or if they be Angels by a more honourable style than their nature can bear, Revel. 1 behold, he hath not found steadfastness in his Angels, job. 4. or if they be stars, in the same vision, behold the stars are not pure in his sight, job. 25. From both which places of job, is inferred by way of comparison; much less they that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, and they are consumed before the moth: much less man that is but rottenness, and the son of man that is a worm. He scarcely beareth a tongue in these days, that frameth not this, or such like objections against us. They say, and do not: Physician, first heal thyself: Math. 23. you that preach that a man should keep the law, by breaking the law dishonour you God? what then? if we be not worse in your opinions than the Scribes, and Pharisees, do you the part of dutiful auditors; all that we shall bid you observe, that observe and do: so long as we sit in the chair of Moses, and Christ, and his Apostles, and teach you no other doctrine and precepts than they have delivered, you need not fear us. If we live well, it is our own, I mean not only our praise, Si been vi●● erimus, nostrum est. Si bene dixerimus, vestrum etc. but our crown also: if we teach well, it is yours; take you the portion which belongeth unto you, and leave the other to ourselves. If we be careless of our own sores, when your wounds are healed and bound up by us; if we, as unprofitable salt, good for nothing but to be thrown to the dunghill, be thrown out indeed, and you seasoned; if we be cast into darkness, and you illuminated by our light; if when we have preached unto you, ourselves become reprobates; if when we have shone like lamps and candles in the house, ourselves go out in smoke; if when we have built you an ark, ourselves be drowned; if when we have guided you into the land of promise, ourselves die short of it; if when we have served in the temple of the Lord, as that plate of silver and gold, ourselves be carried captive into Babylon, or some stranger land; if when we have sowed you fields we reap them not; and planted you vineyards, we drink not of the wine; and when we had preached salvation unto you, we taste not of the fruits thereof; be it unto us as we have deserved. Be not you our judges▪ leave us to stand or fall to our own Lord; only, use you the benefit of our labour and travail as God hath appointed it, jonas (to apply my speech) when he rebelled, he rebelled without measure, & when he slept▪ he slept without measure, his anger before, Nil fuit 〈◊〉 quam. Sic impa● sibi. 〈◊〉 and afterwards, is without measure, & his joy in this place as much without measure. There was never any thing so unlike itself. Behold (as the gospel spoke) more than jonas is here. I mean, worse than jonas is amongst us, if you come to examine the lives of ministers. We transgress the commandment of God more than ever jonas did, and we are more sleepy than he was, in the hazard of the ship, that is, in the danger of Christ's Church: and our passions of anger, envy, and joy, bear us away with more violence. If any be offended with us for such infirmity and frailty graffed in our flesh, let them ask the reason of the Potter, quare fecisti sic? why hast thou done it thus, and not rather appointed that the perfitting of our salvation should have been wrought by stronger instruments? But I turn to my matter in hand. How exceeding and unmeasurable the joy of jonas was, appeareth, 1. by doubling the affection, laetabatur laetitiâ, he rejoiced with joy; 2. by adding an attribute, magnâ, laetitiâ, with great joy: so it was joy, and joy, and great joy. Such as Esay describeth in the 9 of his prophecy, according to the joy of harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide a spoil: or as one that cometh with a pipe, to go unto the mount of the Lord. The nature of joy, as also of love and liking to any thing, Esa. 30. is, to dilate and stretch out the heart; for when it taketh pleasure in the object, it openeth itself as a friend his bosom and arms to embrace a friend, so this, the chambers and rooms thereof to welcome that pleasure which is come unto it. So doth Esaye prophecy unto jerusalem of the joy that shallbe unto her for the coming of the Gentiles, thine heart shallbe astonished and enlardged, because the multitude of the sea shallbe converted unto thee etc. Esa. 60· The Apostle useth the same kind of speech to the Corinthians, 2. Cor. 6. O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is made large, you are not kept straight in us, but you are kept straight in your own bowels: now, for a recompense (I speak as to my children) be you also enlardged. That is, as I have opened all the affections of my soul to receive you; so be you as willing and joyful on the other side to receive me again. And afterwards, receive us, for I have said that ye are in our hearts to die and to live together: 2. Cor. 7. I rejoice greatly in you, I am filled with comfort, and am exceeding joyous in all our tribulation. In effabile gaudium mente concipirur, quod ne● abscondi poorest, nec sermonib. aperiri. etc. Lib. Moral. 24. Such is the force of joy, it so possesseth & replenisheth the heart, that while a man liveth, he cannot forsake the thing which he is fond of. I leave it to Physicians to examine the cause, but if histories deceive us not, some have died through immoderate joy, as Diagoras of Rhodes in the arms of his three sons, returning victors from the games of Olympus. The highest degree of joy, is that which they call jubilee, described by Gregory thus, when an unspeakable gladness is conceived in the mind, which neither can be hid, nor speech uttered; and although it be not expressed by any proprieties, yet it is signified by some kinds of gesture: Or when the abundance of the heart is not answered by sufficiency of words, Cum cordis laetitia oris efficaci â non exple●ur etc. Ibid. 28. but he which rejoiceth is neither able to rule his joy, nor to fulfil it. I think the joy of jonas was a jubilee, he is so ravished and overcome with the pleasure of the gourd, that he knoweth not how to contain himself. Alas, a gourd was not worth thus much, Mensurae laetitiae de magnitudine nuntii veniat. Cassiod. epist, Lib. 1. if the rule be true, that the measure of our joy should be according to the news that is brought, & the cheerfulness of the mind no more than is the thing which we rejoice for. If jonas had received tidings of deliverance from the belly of the fish, or of redemption from eternal death; if a Prophet had sung unto him, as he did unto Zion, rejoice, and be glad jonas, behold thy King cometh; or Angels had brought him word, as they did the shepherds, behold, we bring thee news of great joy that shallbe to all people; what could jonas more have done? For these, and such like are the things wherein our greatest joy should be placed: and there can be no intemperancy of rejoicing, where these are affected. So witnessed one Apostle, God forbidden that I should rejoice in any thing but in the cross of Christ: Gal. 6. 1. Pet. 1. illud est verum gaudium quod non de creaturâ sed de Creatore concipintur etc. Bern. and the other agreeth unto him, in whom, though you see him not, yet do you believe, and rejoice with joy unspeakable and glorious. For that is the true and principal joy which is conceived not from the creature, but from the Creator: which when thou hast received, no man can take from thee: wherewith compare what pleasure soever, it is grief; all sweet, is sour unto it, and there is nothing that may delight, but seemeth troublesome, and offensive. There are many that say, who will show us any good? they are answered by the prophet in one word, Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us: open but our eyes, that they may behold thy merices, For thou hast given me more joy of heart by the light of thy face, than wordlings have felt when their wheat and their wine hath most abounded. And therefore blessed is the man whose strength is in thee, Psal. 4. Psal. 84. whose heart is in thy ways, who going through the vale of this world, make wells therein: that is, use such commodities as this valley of tears affordeth them to relieve their present wants, but stay themselves upon the hope and expectation of better things to come. The Scripture doth every where call us to higher pleasures: so doth wisdom Prov. 8. with me are durable riches, the riches of this world are variable. So doth Esay in the 55. of his prophecy, why lay you out your money, and not for bread, but bestow it upon acorns and bran that cannot feed? So doth the son of God, Mat. 6. Lay up treasures for yourselves in heaven. And joh. ● labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for the meat which endureth unto everlasting life. So likewise he adviseth the Church of Laodicaea, Revel. 3. I counsel thee to buy gold of me, that thou mayest be made rich, and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed, and that thy filthiness appear not. As for the mutable and transitory either pleasures or profits of this life, which are ever coming & going, A●e● tanquam osurus. it shallbe good for a man so to love them▪ as that he may find in his heart to leave them, when need requireth. And as Fabricius told Pyrrhus, who one day tempted him with gold, another day terrified him with an Elephant, which he had never seen before, yesterday I was not moved with thy money, nor to day with thy beast; so whether we were tempted with the gain, or terrified with the loss of these worldly commodities, we do not trouble ou● selves either way, because they were given us but for use, and not everlastingly to enjoy. 〈◊〉 mundo frui●ur Deo. August. Eccles. 9 No man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before him: for all things come alike to all, & the same condition (I mean in these outward things) is both to the just and the wicked. And therefore, happy are we if therein we can compose ourselves to that indifferent resolution, that David had when he fled from Absalon his son, touching his coming or not coming back again to jerusalem to take his former comforts, behold, here am I, let him do to me as it seemeth good in his eyes. 2. Sam. 15. But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smo●e the gourd that it withered. ver. 7 The pleasure of jonas is quite dashed, he little thought of so speedy an alteration; who seemed to say in his heart not long before, I shall never be grieved; but the Lord hath given, and the Lord hath taken away: and he that hath power over the blessings, hath power also over the plagues, Rev. 6, And as every good gift cometh down from above, so there is not an evil in the city, nor in the world, that the Lord doth not. And his providence is as mighty in using the service of a worm as of Leviathan. I need not trouble you either with the author, 1. The Lord whom I have often mentioned before; 2. Prepared or with his manner of working▪ for he doth not only create all things▪ but he ordereth and fitteth them in such sort, that they are ready at all times to work his will. There is nothing sudden, or new, or unprovided unto him, but all his creatures, both great and small, as if they watched their turns, stand forth to give their attendance. 3 〈◊〉 worm. The instrument that God useth to afflict jonas with, is very vile & contemptible: he that could have sent a wind, to have turned th● gourd upside down, or lightning to have blasted it, or an whole army of worms & caterpillars to have devoured it, or withered it with his word, as Christ did the figtree, never bear leaves henceforth, prepareth a worm, & but one worm to execute that business. The scripture no where speaketh of worms, but with a kind of contempt, as of a base and silly creature: as Psa. 22. but I am a worm, & no man, the reproach of men, & the scorn of people; where the later expoundeth the former: & Esay 41. fear not, worm jacob, though thou art the least amongst the nations, & all the people of the earth set themselves against thee. In ijs quae sun● minora granohordei▪ The Hebrews have an opinion, that enchanters cannot show their skill in little things, if they be less, they say, than a barley corn, & therefore the sorcerers of Egypt failed in producing lice. But our God is as cunning and artificial in the smallest creature of the world, as in the greatest: the organical body of a little Ant, is no less to be wondered at, than the huge body of Behemoth. And as Vulcan is commended in the Poet, for beating out chains & nets so thin, that the eye could not see them, Quae lumina fallere possint. Non illud opus ten●issima vincū● Stamina. smaller than the smallest thread, or than the web of the spider: so the smaller the creature is, the more is the workmanship of God to be admired, both in the shaping & in the using thereof. We all know, that God hath scourged the mightiest tyrant in the earth, as much with worms, as if he had sent out whole armies against him. As he plagued Zenacharib with an Angel from heaven, the Sodomites with fire & brimstone, Corah & his conspirators with the opening of the earth: so, he destroyed Herode with worms, Antiochus with worms, & against many other bloody persecutors of his church used none other executioners. And be it spoken to the daunting of all flesh, to pull down the pride thereof, that the day shall come, when worms shall cover them, & they shall say to the worms, you are our brethren & sisters; & to the confusion of all the wicked & damned of the earth, that their worm dieth not; whereby though an infinite torment be meant, yet the gnawing of a poor worm is made to express it. The time which God chose for smiting the gourd, 4. When the morning rose. was, in the rising of the morning; a little before the sun can forth of his chamber, when the shadow of the gourd should most have pleasured him; for in the night season, the air was cold enough, & jonas passed it with sleep, so that the covering of the boughs was superfluous for that time. But when the morning arose, the rightest hour that the cross could have fallen upon jonas, the worm is sent. They say in Esay, Esa. 5. let the counsel of the holy one come: what need they call for it? it shall not only come, but come in a time which God hath appointed fittest for their smart. All the judgements of the Lord are number & measure, he reckoneth the hour and the minute of the hour when it is most convenient to inflict them. Sisera shall not die in an army, nor by the hands of a man, nor any bow bend, nor sword drawn against him, the Lord hath reserved him to a tent, & to a tenpenny nail to be driven in to his head by the hands of a feeble woman. This was the time, & these the means which the Lord made choice of to punish him. Zenacherib shall not be slain in the field, nor by the Angel of the Lord▪ which smote a great part of his army, but at home, in his own city, and in the temple of his idol, and by the hands of his sons that sprang from his bowels. This is the time, and these the means that the Lord hath kept him unto, to show his justice. Therefore the day of vengeance and destruction, is evermore called the day of the Lord; not that the rest are not his, but these he hath specially marked out, and allotted to exercise his judgements in. jerem. 51. There is a time to plant, and a time to root up that that hath been planted. Babylon is as a threshing floor, saith the prophet, the time of her threshing is come, yet a little while and her harvest is come: so Babylon (you see) hath a time for her threshing. Our Saviour Revel. 3. speaketh of an hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. And in the fourteenth of the same book, the Angel flieth in the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, fear God, & give glory to him, for the hour of his judgement is come. And another Angel cried unto him that sat upon the cloud, thrust in thy sickle, and reap the harvest of the earth, for the time is come to reap it. God suffered the gourd in the night time, when jonas had little benefit by it; but when the morning arose, and when his soul most desired the comfort thereof, than it withered. Rich men shall have riches when they have least use of them, but when the evil day cometh, they shall cast them away to the moles of the earth: and Epicures shall have their pleasures for a time, but when they shall say unto pleasures, stand up and help us, they shall fly away from them. 5. The next day. And as he chose the unhappiest time for the plaguing of jonas, so he made speed to plague him: for how short a time did jonas enjoy the pleasure of the gourd? God prepared a worm the very next day to smite it. Where are those greedy dogs that never have enough of pleasure? Who say, come, we will bring wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink, and to morrow shall be as this day, Esa. 56. and much more abundant. What else is this drunkenness of yours, unius hor● hilaris insania. jam. ●. in wine & strong drink, and fulfil of pleasures, but the merry madness of one hour to be recompensed with sorrow for ever and ever? Go to, you that say to day, and to morrow we will do this and that, and yet ye cannot tell what shall be to morrow: for what is your life? or what is your pleasure intended? It is even a vapour that appeareth for a little time, and afterward vanisheth away. Boast not thyself of to morrow, Prover. 7. ●. for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth! Nescis quid serus vesper ferat, thou knowest not what a change the next evening may make. 1. King. 16. Did Elah the king of Israel think, when he was feasting in his stewards house, that his time had been so short? and that a captain of his own should have slain him? Did the sons and daughters of job, when they were banqueting in their eldest brothers house, dream of the wind that came from the wilderness, & smote the four corners of the house that it overwhelmed them? Did Babylon, job 1. which was called tender and delicate, and the Lady of kingdoms, Esay 47. which assumed to herself, I am, and there is none else; I shall not ●it a widow, nor know the loss of children; she that trusted in her wickedness, and said, none seethe me; did she imagine how near they were that came with a contrary news, Advenit finis tuus, Thine end is come? jer. 51. Dumah calleth to the prophet in scorn, Esa. 21. watchman, what is in the night? watchman, what is in the night? The watchman answereth, The morning cometh and also the night; that is, thou hast had a time of light, and delights, thou shalt also have a time of darkness. Thus the Edomites and Epicures of our days mock their prophets, and watchmen. You speak of a night, ye watchmen, and of a day of judgement▪ but when cometh that night? or where is the promise of his coming? We tell you again, The morning cometh, and also the night. If ye will ask, ask to amendment of life, ask not to scoff us and to deceive yourselves; inquire, return, and come, that is, continue not still in your former abominations. The time is very short, it is but manè and vesperè which is the measure of one day. Yet a very little while, and he that cometh, cometh: 1. Thess. 5. Psalm. 73. sudden destruction shall come upon the wicked, as fear upon a woman that travaileth with child. How suddenly are they destroyed, perish, 6. It smote the gourd. and come to a fearful end? The service that God put the worm unto, was to smite the gourd: as a messenger sent from heaven, like his Angel to nabuchodonosor's tree, with this commission, Hue down the tree. The little worm with his teeth, or rather no teeth, but such feeble grinders as nature had armed it with, smiteth the gourd, and giveth it a mortal stroke, as if a workman had come of purpose to lay an axe to the root of it. Consider, I beseech you, the miraculous working of God, as in the planting of this creature, so in the overthrow of it. It dieth not with age, or continuance of time, as annosa quercus, the long lasting oak, or for lack of soil and mould to the root, or because the spouts of the air restrained their dew from it: but a little and base messenger with weapons of no power, but that it was strengthened by the will and might of God, giveth it a blow, and taketh the vegetation and life from it. 7. It withered. For the effect of all is, that it withered. So the author of all is God; the readiness of his working, preparation, as of one never unstored; the minister, a worm; the time, the morning; the speed, the next day; the work, smiting the gourd; the effect, withering. Thus is the life of man tempered, as the condition of jonas was without the walls of Niniveh, like a garment pieced together of old and new cloth, so this of sour and sweet, and there are many and sore rents in it. Sometimes pleasure assuageth pain, but most commonly pain killeth pleasure. If our days were distinguished, the good with white, the evil with blackestones, at the end of our lives we should find more black than white. Take a pattern from jonas, and see how the blessings and scourges of God kiss one the other, in this his banishment; and rather the scourdges exceed. He buildeth a tabernacle, but it falleth; is provided of a gourd, but it withereth. And instead of that little momentany joy which he took therein, cometh a worm, and the sun, and a fervent wind, and fainting in his body, and in his mind most intolerable languishment. Behold this image of alteration in the state of jonas, especially this of the gourd, and tell me if all the pleasures of our life are not fitly exemplified by it. The pleasure in the days of Noah, their eating, drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage, what was it but a gourd? and came there not a worm from God that smote it, Math. 24. a flowed that took them all away? The mirth of the Philistines, judges the sixteenth, when Samson was their laughing stock, and must be called in to make them pastime, was it more than a gourd, wherewith their hearts were merry for a while, and they exceedingly rejoiced? And how quickly came a worm that smote it, when the pillars of the house were shaken, and fell upon the Princes and all the people that were therein? The peaceable days of the wicked, job the one and twentieth, their freedom from the rod of God, their dancing to the tabret and harp, all is but a gourd: in an instant of time they go down to hell; there is the worm that smiteth it. But in the four and twentieth of job, they shallbe brokèn like a tree: they come nearer to the smiting of the gourd here spoken of. And in the fifteenth before, their branches shall not be green, but they shall be cut of before their day: God shall destroy them as the vine her sour grape, and shall cast them of as the Olive doth her flower: there are the right gourds and their worms expressed. The youngman hath his gourd to rejoice in, Eccles. 11. The days of his youth, the cheerfulness of his heart, the lusts of his own eyes; but let him remember the worm of judgement, that shall smite that gourd. The rich man hath his gourd, Luke 16. purple and fine linen, and delicious far every day, and he rejoiceth unmeasurably in this gourd, for he knoweth not what the grief of Lazarus meaneth; but he hath a worm that smiteth his gourd: his pleasure withereth with himself, he dieth, and lieth in the grave, and crieth in hell, for one drop of rain to cherish his decayed gourd, but he is answered by Abraham, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, thou hadst thy gourd in thy life time, now it is dead and can never be revived. The goodly tabernacle of King Assuerus, Esther. 1. in the garden of his palace, under an hanging of white, green, and blue clothes, fastened with cords of silk and purple, in silver rings and pillars of marble, the beds of gold and silver upon a pavement of porphyre, and marble, and alabaster, and blue colour, was but a tabernacle like the tabernable of jonas. His hundredth and seven and twenty provinces, and his princes and captains thereof, his throne in the palace of Sushan, his feasting according to the power of a king, and to show the glory of his kingdom, his abundance of royal wine, and chandges of vessels of gold, & the beauty of Vasht● his Queen, all these were but a gourd, and had their worm to consume them. The treasures of Ezechias, his silver, and gold, and spices, and precious ointment, and armoury, and all the store of his house, which he and his fathers had laid up; the soldiers of David, Esa. 39 1. Chro. 21. a million and half of fight men; Balthasar his thousand Princes, wives and concubines; Assuerus his hundredth, and seven and twenty provinces, etc. O what glorious shadows do they cast over the heads of men, with their hundreths, and thousands, and millians of branches to give comfort unto them? how willingly do they say within themselves, under the covert of these gourds we will sit and be at rest? But they forget the worm, some messenger from the Lord, either sickness, or bands, or death to smite these gourds; Medio de font leporum Surgit amari aliquid. From the fullest fountain of worldly joys, floweth some bitterness. Adam wanted not a serpent in the garden of God, nor jonas a worm on the East side of the city, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Tit. 3. where he rathest delighted. hearken unto it, ye that are bondeslaves to the sundry pleasures of this world, you that suffer the good seed of admonition and instruction to be choked with these thorns, the pleasures of this life, Luke 8. for this is one of the thorns there spoken against; you who esteem to be called the sons of Pharaohs daughter, to be the darlings of the pleasure of Egypt, and be set upon the knees of the Delilah of this world, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. 2. Tim. 3. and to enjoy the rejoicing of sin for a season, or rather as the Apostle in the spirit of prophecy long since●noted you, you that are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, lovers of pleasure more than of God, or if you love it no more, than that it maketh you to forget God, in whose presence is the fullness of joy, and at his right hand pleasure for evermore, Psa. 16. and who giveth us drink out of a whole river of pleasures, Psalm 36. contemn these transitory gourds, and reserve yourselves for a better building in heaven, where is neither sun nor wind to beat upon your heads, nor worm to alter your happiness: Where your joy shall ever be present, yet can you not be filled, rather you shall be filled, but cannot be satisfied. Or if I say, that you cannot be satisfied, August. homil. 3. in joa. then there is hunger; or that you may, then there is loathing. I know not what to say; Deus habet quod exhibeat, God hath somewhat both to reveal and to bestow upon you, which I know not; but 〈◊〉 beata vita in ●onte, there is blessedness at the head of the spring, not in cisterns, or brooks, that I am sure of. Were you able to drink up the pleasures of the world in as plentiful manner as Cleopatra drank the riches, (the value of fifty thousand pound at a draft,) yet remember that it is but a draft, and quickly down the throat. The length of the throat (saith Bernard) is but two or three inches at the most: or if it were as long as a crane's neck, which Philoxenus the Epicure wished, that the sweetness of his meats and drinks might the longer abide with him, the matter were not much. But when they are drunk and digested, than what becometh of them, more than of your meats and drinks, to be cast out into the draft, so these to perish with their use, & not without shame and sorrow of heart to be thrown away as unhappy superfluities? whereas the pleasures of eternity, before the face of God, deserve that commendation which Booz gave to Ruth, (and with his words we may bless it) blessed art thou my daughter, Ruth 3. for thou haste showed me more goodness in the latter e●de, than at the beginning. To conclude, the blessedst tree is in the midst of the paradise of God, neither on the East nor on the West side of Niniveh, nor any other city of the world. And the leaves of the tree are not only for shadow, as these of the gourd, but to heal the nations with, Revel. 22. and it hath both leaves and fruits to satisfy our hunger, and twelve manner of fruits, every month brought forth, to satisfy our pleasure. And it groweth by a river side, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God, that it cannot possibly whither. For it, let us keep our better appetites, and let us beseech him who hath planted it with his own right hand, that we may live to taste, how wholesome and pleasant that tree is. THE XLVII. LECTURE. Chap. 4. ver. 1. And when the sun did arise, God also prepared a fervent east-wind, and the sun beat upon the head of jonas, etc. THe temporary joy which jonas entertained for the gou●d, is as quite forgotten as if it had never been; and buried under an heap of succeeding griefs as the fruitful years Gen. 41. were buried under the years of famine; for so said joseph, the famine shall be so great, that the years of plenty shall not be thought upon. It followeth in the line of those afflictions which God stretched out upon the head of jonas, that when the sun did arise, God prepared also a fervent east-wind, etc. For it did not suffice him to have sent a worm which smote the gourd; but he adjoineth new corrosives and calamities to afflict the soul of jonas. For as his blessings, when he watcheth to do us good, (as the prophet speaketh) the foot of the one shall ever be treading upon the heel of the other; so also in his castisements and corrections, he doth not desist to inflict them, till he have left an inward sense in those who are his patients. Thus he dealt in the scourdging of job, though a servant dearly beloved, as appeareth by his complaints: how long will it be ere thou depart from me? job 7. thou wilt not let me alone while I may swallow my spittle. Again, thou renewest thy witnesses, that is, thy plagues, job 10. Vices & exercitus. witnesses of thy displeasure against me; changes, & armies of sorrow are against me. Surely God is wiser in handling our sins, than any Physician in dealing with sicknesses: therefore he best knoweth both what medicine is fittest, & how long to be applied. 1 The sun ariseth, as a giant refreshed with wine to run his race; 1. When the sun arose. or rather as an enemy prepared to the battle: the only enemy which jonas had cause to fear, his fortress & castle of boughs being taken from him. 2, After the sun, a wind; and that fight under the banner of the sun, & confaederate with him, an east-wind: & for the quality of it, a fervent east-wind. 3. The sun is not sent to shine, & to cast forth his beams, but to beat. 4. Not any inferior part, but that which was highest & next to heaven, the head of jonas. 5. The effects that follow all these, are, 1. his fainting in his body; 2. in his soul, wishing to die; 3. professing it with his tongue; it is better for me to die than to live. And when the sun did arise. The arising of the sun, noteth no more than the opportunity of time which God taketh to punish jonas. He beginneth with the beginning of the day; the shadows of the night are gone, the fresh dews of the morning soon dispersed, and the sun at his first discovery hath a charged from God to assault the head of jonas: no part of the day (& as it seemeth) not the coolness & temperature of the morning are friendly unto him. He rather wished in his heart, ●ob 3. as job did, let the day be darkness still, and let not God regard it from above, nor the light shine upon it; but let darkness & clouds & the shadow of death stain it; that is, let there be an everlasting night, rather than the beams of the sun should come forth to do me this violence: & as the sun did once go back in the days of Hezekias upon the dial of Ahaz; 2. King. 20. so it would have rejoiced him, if it had gone back again to the North; or stood unmovable in a place, that the earth might have been as a pillar between him and the heat thereof. 2. God prepared also a wind. God prepared also a fervent Eastwind. I should but roll the same stone once again & too often, to speak of the author of this whole business, & his speedy expedition therein▪ which I have told you before is noted in the word of preparation: whose mighty & over▪ spreading providence is as the soul of the world, as inward & familiar to all the actions therein, great & small, as the spirit to our reins; & better may a body live without breath, than any counsel or work under heaven proceed without it. But I leave those repetitions. The sun & the wind (we see) rise together, Esay 7. & set themselves against jonas; as the two smoking firebrands, Rezin & Pekah against jerusalem: combining, & binding themselves not to give over till they have both done their part in the vexing of the prophet. The wind here mentioned, is described by 2. attributes; the one of the quarter or coast from whence it blew, an Eastwind: the other of the quality which it had, 3. An East winde. a fervent Eastwind. The cardinal & principal winds, as appeareth both in many places of the scripture, and in foreign authors, are but 4. breathing from the 4. quarters or divisions of heaven: Pliny. as in the 37. of Ezechi, come from the 4. winds O breath. And Math. 24. God shall gather his elect from the four winds. Afterwards they added 4. more, which they call collateral or side-windes, subordinate to the principal: & thence proceeded to the number of 12. In these days we distinguish 32. Between every two cardinal winds, seven inferior. We may read Act. 27. that Paul was very skilful of the sea-card, used in those days: for, describing his voiadge to Rome, he maketh mention, not only of East, & West, & South, but of southwest & by West, & of Northwest & by West, as the Western wind blew either nearer or further of. But not to trouble you with these things, the wind that is here spoken of, some take to be Eurus, or Vulturnus, which is the Southeast & by East, & followeth the sun in his winter rising; others, to be the principal & high east-wind, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Subsolanu●▪ Serenator. following the sun when he riseth in the Equinoctial. Now the nature of an Eastwind in any point thereof is to be hot & dry, & for the most part a clearer of the air: but this of all the rest, being so serviceable to the sun going forth so right with it, & walking in the same path which the sun walketh in, must needs be an hotter wind than if it had crossed or sided the sun any way. 2. Touching the quality or the effect which it wrought, 4. Fervent▪ it is called a fervent Eastwind; some turn it vehement, not for the sound and noise that it maketh, but for the excessive heat. For no doubt it is distinguished from Caecias, northeast & by East, which is a more sounding & blustering wind, & not so fit for the purpose of God in this place. Of that ye have mention Exod. 14. where it is said, that the Lord made the sea run back with a strong East▪ wind all the night, & made it dry land. Some translate it silent & quiet, to put a difference betwixt this & the former Eastwind: albeit others give the reason because it maketh men silent & deaf with the sound that it hath: others, Silentes & surdon homines facit obstrependo. Silere facit reliquos ventos a conspectu suo. because it maketh the rest of the winds silent & quiet when itself bloweth. Howsoever they vary otherwise, they all agree in the heat; for it is a gentle & soft wind; which when the air is inflamed by the sun, is so far from correcting the extremity thereof, that it rather helpeth it forward, & becometh as a wagon to carry the beams of the sun forthright. It is manifest by many places of scripture, that it is an eastern wind which burneth with his heat, not only the fruits, but the people of the earth. The 7. thin ears of corn, Gen. 41. were burnt with an east-wind; so are the fruits withered Ezek. 19 so is the fountain dried up, Ose 13. The vulgar edition doth evermore translate it, urentem ventum, by the name of a burning wind: and wheresoever it is mentioned in the book of God the property of it is to exiccate and dry up. Columella writeth that at some time of the year, & especially in the dog-days, Vento vru●tur velut halitu flammeo. men are so parched with the East wind, that unless they shade themselves under vines, it burneth them like the reeking of flames of fire. I have now showed you both the nature and the quarter of this wind, that albeit it were a wind, yet you may know it was not prepared to refrigerate, but to afflict the head of jonas. When the sun and the wind are up, what do they? the sun (not without the help of the wind, which was in manner of a sling or other instrument to cast the beams of the sun more violently upon them) although created for another end, 5. The sun bet. Gen. 1. to govern the day, and to separate it from the night, and to give light in the earth, yet here receiveth a new commandment, 6. Upon the head. and is sent to beat, (all other inferior parts omitted) even the head of jonas: wherein is the government of the whole creature, In quo reginem totius animalis. Vbi sedes mentis. Totius divini operis qua si culmen. Lactant. de opi●ic. dei. Caput, quòd hin● capiant initium sensu● & n●rvi. Varro. the seat of the mind, the top of God's workmanship, from whence the senses and nerves take their beginning. In this assault of the principal part, the danger was no less to the body of jonas, than if an enemy had besieged the Capitol of Rome, or the Mount Zion, and Anthony's tower in jerusalem. But we shall the better conceive the vexation of jonas, if we join the effects which these two enemies drove him unto. 1. It is said he fainted; I marvel not: for the force of heat is untolerable when the pleasure of God is to use that rod. So he telleth them, Amos 4. Percussi vos uredine, I have smitten you with blasting or burning, and you returned not. On the other side, it is numbered amongst the blessings of God which Christ shall bring unto his people, Esay 49. they shall not be hungry, neither shall they thirst, neither shall the heat smite them, nor the sun: which is spoken (I grant) by translation, 7. He fainted. & 2. Aggai. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. but that from whence it is transferred, in the natural sense, must needs be very commodious, because it is applied to the highest mercies. So likewise in the 3. of Act. the state of everlasting life is called the times of refreshing or respiration. 8. Wished in his heart etc. 2. He wished in his heart to die: my text saith not so in terms, though in effect; but he desired his soul, or he made petition and suit to his soul to die, Expetivit animam svam mori. Petivi● animae suae mortem. Allocutus est animam suam. that is, to relinquish and give over his body; or he desired death to his soul, as a man forlorn and forsaken, having no friend to make his moan unto, he uttereth his grief to his private spirit; speaking thereunto, that if it were possible, some remedy might be had. 3. Though the ear of jealousy, which heareth all things, heard the wishes and desires of his heart; yet he is not content with secret rebellion, unless his tongue also proclaim it: for he saith, it is better for me to die than to live. I showed the madness of jonas before in this very wish; 9 And said, it is better etc. It was not better for jonas to die than to live, nor for any other in his case: a millstone about their necks to have drowned them in the bottom of the sea, had been less unhappiness. When they die, let them pray to the Lord of life to close up their eyes and to take them to his mercy in peace, let them agree with their adversary in the way, much more be at one with God, that neither their hearts nor tongues murmur at his judgements. Death (I confess) is an advantage to some men▪ but such as with an obstinate heart, and sinews in their forehead, strive against the Lord their maker, and go to law with one mightier than themselves, not caring to make an end in time, of the controversies between them, their death is a death indeed, and little profit or ease to be found in it. The purpose of this verse in hand, was none other than to set forth unto us the afflictions of jonas: and undoubtedly they are very great. For as Nahomi answered her people in the first of Ruth, when they asked, is not this Nahomis? call me not Nahomi, that is, beautiful or pleasant, but call me Marah, for the Almighty hath given me much bitterness; I went out full, and the Lord hath caused me to return empty; why then call ye me Nahomi, seeing the Lord hath humbled me, and the Almighty hath brought me to adversity? So jonas might have answered to those that had asked, is not this jonas? call me not jonas, a dove, but call me a Pelican, or owl in the desert; I was full of pleasure and amaenity, and my heart replenished with exceeding joy, but the Lord hath emptied me. Many things there are in our lives for which we may change our names, (as Nahomi did) from beauty or pleasure to bitterness. But if we remember withal, that it is the work of the Lord to humble us, and the hand of the Almighty that bringeth us to adversity, that one cogitation will suffice to teach us patience. For to whom do we rather own the quietness and subjection of our spirits, than unto him, who, as Theodorite somewhere excellently spoke, both giveth his benefits unto us, to teach us how easily he can bestow them, and taketh them away, that we may know how little we deserve them. Thus have the children of God evermore begun their consultations in their days of temptation, and as it were beckoned to themselves for silence, Dominus est, it is the Lord, take heed of repining at his judgements; it is not mine enemy, for than I would have hid myself; it is not the son of man, for than I would have resisted him; it is not any creature of God, I would then have devised some means to redress my grief: it is the Lord himself, who hath more right to my soul, than that he may be contraried: for both he hath been beneficial unto me here-tofore, & may again hereafter. Ille operar●●us victoria●rum dei▪ Tertull. Patience was the shield wherewith that notable achiever of the victories of God repelled all those venomous darts which either in the death of his children, or in the loss of his substance, or in the run & sores of his body, or in the cursed persuasions of his wife, miserable comforts of his friends, malicious & importunate accusations of Satan, were thrown against him. Oqual● vexillum tulit etc. Terrul. O what a glorious banner set he up against the enemy both of God and man, when for every calamity that was cast upon him, there came nothing from his mouth, but thanks be unto God? Satan expected that he should have accursed God; and his wife, another Satan in his bosom, so persuaded him: but the witness is true, which is there given, non peccavit labijs suis, he offended not with his lips. I conclude therefore with Tertullian, totum licet seculum pereat, dum patientiam lucrifaciam, I care not though all the world perish unto me, so I may gain patience. Vers. 9 And God said to jonas, dost thou well to be angry for the gourd? etc. The gourd prepared by God, had a double use: the one natural and open, to cast a shadow over the head of jonas: the other typical and secret, to demonstrate the iniquity of his judgement, which use we are now coming unto. In this actual reprehension, which God is framing against him, there were many antecedents (I told you) which made the way thereunto: all which we have already examined. Now we are descended to that end whereunto God disposed them. The words here spoken by God, Dost thou well to be angry? are the same which were used in the former insimulation: and the same provocation of the words, to weet, the anger of jonas. Who would not have thought but one reprehension might have served one kind of sin? but so is sin to the soul of man, in some part of comparison, as jacob was unto Esau, Gen. 27. of whom Esau complained, was he not rightly called jacob? For he hath deceived me these two times, first he took my birthright from me, and lo now hath he taken my blessing. And surely sin will supplant us twice and ten times together, unless God preserve us. jonas offendeth once more in the same perturbation, and the Lord reproveth him once more in the same form of reprehension. What else shall I say hereof, but as joseph said to Pharaoh touching his two dreams, the one of the kine, the other of the ears of corn, both Pharaohs dreams are one; therefore the dream is doubled to Pharaoh the second time, Gen. 41. because the thing is established by God, and God hasteth to perform it? So, both God's reprehensions are one, and therefore is the reprehension doubled unto jonas the second time, that jonas might beware to offend in the like transgression. Nehemias told the merchants that abode about the walls of the city, why do you stay here, all night? Nehem. 31. si iter●m feceritis, inijciam in vos manus; if you shall do it again, I I will lay hands upon you. It is marvel, that God laid not hands upon jonas, nor at leastwise corrected him with some sharper castigation, whom he had taken and warned before for the same offence. To that which heretofore I have said of reprehension, Vbi reso●●● utrimque modestia, dulce est colloquium, ubi vel ex part alterâ, utile, ubi ex neutrâ, p●rniciosum, ubi hinc inde duritia sonat, iurgium etc. Cedenti insistere, cedere resistenti. I will add no more than the rule & practise of Bernard, as I find it mentioned in his life. His rule or observation is this. Where there resoundeth on both sides, between the reprover, & him that is reproved, modesty, & mildness of speech, it is a sweet conference; where it is held on the one side only, it is profitable; where both parts lay it aside, it is pernicious; but where there is hardness & bitterness from them both, iurgium est, non correctio, nec disciplina, sedrixa, it is not correction & instruction, but chiding & brawling: & (to adjoin the words of Anselme,) tunc non veritas quaeritur, sed animositas fatigatur, them is not the truth sought for, but men exercise & weary their stouts hearts. Therefore the manner of S. Bernard, because he would be sure to retain this modesty on the one side, was, to be very urgent upon him that yielded, & as yielding another time to him that resisted. Albeit, jonas behave himself very unmodestly & undutifully towards God, yet God is otherwise affected towards jonas; & rather than the strife between than shall vanish without profit, showeth more mildness than jonas had deserved. His kindness appeareth in 3. things. 1. In reproving, & repressing his rage; for which cause David blessed Abigaill, blessed be the Lord God of Israel which sent thee this day to meet me, 1. Sam. 25. and blessed be thy counsel, & blessed be thou which haste kept me this day from coming to shed blood. 2. In reproving him twice for own thing; who with one angry word of his lips could so have abated his passion at the first, that there should have been no place for a second; as Abisai spoke to David of smiting Saul, let me smite him once to the earth with a spear, 1. Sam. 26. and I will not smite him again. 3. In reproving him so friendly. I am sure, servants with their fellow servantes have dealt otherwise. john Baptist with the Pharises, Peter with Ananias and Saphira, and with Simon Magus, Paul with Elimas, and Ananias the High Priest, Steven with the rulers of the jews, O ye of hard necks, and uncircumcised hearts; yet God the Creator of all things, with his sinful creature, or more properly, as David termed himself before Saul, with a dead fly, demeaneth himself with favourable speeches. Dost thou well to be angry for a gourd? The interrogation ariseth by degrees, and accuseth jonas in many oversightes. 1. Art thou angry, jonas? thou shouldest rather humble thyself, acknowledge thine ignorance and weakness, presume the judgements of thy judge to be righteous; thou shouldest rather bless, and pray, and give thanks, (for this is the manner of Prophets) and art thou angry? what is anger, Appetitue ultionis propter contemptionem. Arist. & Aquin. Bene. but a desire of revendge for contempt or wrong done? and whom desirest thou to be revendged of? the worm? or the sun? or God that hath sent them? 2. Art thou not only angry, but art thou very angry? For if (well) do note the measure of his anger, the exprobration is the greater; because passions offend not commonly, but in excesses and extremities: or if the quality, Dost thou well and justly to be angry? wilt thou defend and patronage thy wrath? it is then a greater fault than the former. Absit à servo Christi ●●le in quinamentum, ut patientia maiorib. praeparata in frivolis ex●idat. Tertul. 3. And art thou angry for a gourd? so small a matter? far be such corruption from the servant of Christ, that his patience prepared for greater things, should fall away in trifles. Thou hast lost but a poor gourd, a little plant of the earth; what if thou hadst lost a vinyeard full of trees, as Naboth did, of far greater value than a gourd? or thy life, more dear than a vineyard? what if thine one and only sheep, as Urias did, the wife of thy bosom? or thy life, more precious than thy wife? Art thou angry for a gourd? jonas answered▪ I do well to be angry unto the death. Thou hadst done better if thou hadst held thy peace, if (as before) thou hadst passed the demand of God without answer. Was Balaam fit to speak unto an Angel of the Lord, being so blinded and overcast with the clouds of wrath, that he saw not so much as the dumb ass under him? is jonas fit to speak unto the Lord, himself? rather as Plato said to his servant, I would have killed thee but that I am angry; so he should have said unto the Lord, I would have answered thee, but that my passions have set me besides myself. Qui peccare senescit, corrigi non vult. Epicurus. He that knoweth not his fault, will never be amended. There is little hope that the speech of God can do good upon jonas, who rather becometh a patron of his sin, than a suitor for pardon. The answer justly followeth the steps of the interrogation, and indeed over-runneth it. Art thou angry? I am angry, I dissemble not, I blush not to confess it, though I concealed it before, at thy first ask, Causa pa●ro cinio non bona peior erit. Quoties instantia facta est deterior causis suis? Tertulli. Pro. 9 yet now be it known unto thee, I am angry. Art thou very angry? yea, I put not a counterfeit person upon me, I am on fire with my wrath, I burn like re●in or pitch that cannot be quenched. Dost thou well to be angry? I do well to be angry. It doth not repent me, and more than before thou ever hast demanded, I do well to be angry unto death. Thus an evil cause is made much worse by evil handling: and the defence of the fault, waxeth more unpardonable than the fault itself. Give admonition to the wise, and he will be the wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning: but he that reproveth a scorner, purchaseth unto himself shame: and he that rebuketh an angry man, Perver 〈◊〉 corripere, est stimulare insanum, & oleum camin● adhibere. Petr. Raven. Nihil impatientiâ susceptum, sine impetu transigi novit quicquid impetu fit, aut offendit, aut corruit aut praeceps. abiit. Tert. Whether lawful to be angry. heapeth more coals of anger upon him. To admonish the froward, is to set goads to one that is mad enough already, and to power oil into the chimney. Nothing undertaken with impatience, can be done without violence: and whatsoever is violently done, either miscarrieth, or falleth, or flieth headlong away. Hitherto I have deferred to handle a question which this whole contention between God and jonas leadeth me unto, whither it be lawful to be angry? For answer whereof, we must know, that anger is in the number of those affections which God hath engrafted in nature, and given them their seats in man, and fitted them with their instruments, and both ministered their matter from whence they proceed, and provided them humour's wherewith they are nourished. They were ordained to be spurs unto us for the prosecution of virtue; and as the body hath his nerves, so hath the soul hers, whereby she is moved, either with a slower, or speedier carriage. The Stoic Philosophers hold a vacuity of affections, and condemn them all as vicious: why? Because they drive us to disorder, and exceed their compass. I grant it. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. But this is not the nature of the affections themselves, but the affection of our corrupt natures. Christ himself was not without affections; he was angry, when he cast the merchants out of the temple; pitiful, Jra eos fortitudinis. Nervus animae quidam, & cav● veluti ferro duram efficiens. Basil. serm. de Jra. Jrasci est hominis. Epist. ad Salin. Nec doctrinae proficiunt. nec judicia stant etc. Homil. 11. in Math. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Paulus & 70. interpr●. when he saw the people scattered like sheep without a shepherd; sorrowful, when he shed tears over jerusalem: and we know, that anger, repentance, mercy, hatred, and the like, are attributed to GOD in the Scriptures; which, if they were simply and by nature evil, should never have been ascribed unto him. Touching anger in particular, the Philosopher said truly, that anger is the whetstone unto fortitude: and Basill called it a nerve or tendon of the soul, giving it courage and constancy, and that which is remiss and tender otherwise, hardening it as it were with iron and steel, to make it go thorough with her business. To be angry (saith Jerome) is the part of a man. And if anger were not (by the suffrage of Chrysostome) neither would teaching avail, nor judgements stand, neither could sins be repressed. Wherefore the counsel of David in the 4. Psalm (and of the Apostle to the Ephesians) is, be angry, but sin not. Whereupon the gloss noted, Be angry, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. ex Hieron. Infirmitates non iniquitates, ex Ambro. Jrascimini primi●●●otibus & ne ducati● ad actum. Quod est consuetudinis permisit, quod culpae prohibuit. Respectio 1. appetibili● 2. Modi. Aquin. 2.2. quaest. 158. artic. 2. Ira tyrannicus affectus. Chrysost. Jrae & insa niae nihil medium. Irati non magis compescuntur quàm demoniaci. Servatur ira tam diu in vase & suavitas vindictae. donec acescat. In Math. homil. ●1. op. imperf. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Non irarum dia sed judicium, simplex motus voluntatis ex praescripto rationis etc. Aquin. 2.2. quae. 158. art. 8. Conclus. as touching the first motions, (which they accounted not sins, because they were rather propassions and entrances into passion than passions, rather infirmities than iniquities) but bring them not to action. As much as to say, I know that the motion of anger is not in your power, but take heed of consenting unto it. Cassiodore expoundeth it thus: the blessed Prophet permitted that which is usual and accustomable unto man, (which is to be angry) but forbade that which in anger is sinful. Others are of opinion, that he rather counseled that which is natural, (allowing it to be good) than permitted that which is usual. Surely to be angry, is not sin, but in the circumstance we may offend; either in regard of the object, which is revendge; as if we desire revendge against him who hath not deserved it, or more than he hath deserved, or not holding a lawful course therein, or not observing the right end; that is, if we bend not ourselves to the preservation of justice, and the correction of offences, but to execute our malice: either in regard of the measure, when we are angry overmuch. For anger is a tyrannical affection, if it be not stayed with laws; and there is little odds between it and madness. And as hardly are they ordered and pacified, that are thoroughly possessed with a fit thereof, as men possessed with devils. To the measure of affection we may also add the length of time. For anger and a sweet conceit of revendge may so long be kept in the vessels of our hearts, till it wax eager and sour, and be turned into malice. For anger and malice differ but in age, as new and old wine. Chrysostome concludeth upon the words of our Saviour Math. 5. Whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause etc. Qui cum causâ non irascitur, peccat. Therefore he that is not angry, when there is just cause, sinneth; for unreasonable and supine patience, soweth vice, nourisheth negligence, and inviteth not only the bad and ill disposed, but the good to naughtiness. The justest cause is the cause of God, rather than of man, public rather than private, when the gospel of Christ is dishonoured, justice trodden under foot, falsehood extolled, not when our proper injuries are pursued. For as anger in the former place conceived, is not anger but judgement, and a simple or advised motion of the will, in the upper part of the soul arising by the prescript and rule of reason, not a sudden and troublesome passion of the sensitive and lower part: so, apprehended in the later place for private and personal grudges, whither unjustly, or upon desert, it never findeth toleration in the sight of God. Cain was angry with Abel undeservedly, and sinned: Esau with jacob upon the receipt of injury, & yet sinned. Vterque punietur, & in iusté irascens, quia in iusté, & iustà, Chrysost. quia iniuriarum memor, Both shallbe punished, the one for being angry without cause, because without; the other for cause given, because he remembreth wrongs. Wherefore the schoolmen and divines, Cum mandato Dei. Contra mandatum. Wellerus. Ira per zeli●● Ira per uttium. Gregor. & Aquin. Ira private Jra officii. Bucer. Genes. 4. to keep us within our marks, have distinguished anger into two sorts. The one agreeing with the commandment of GOD and lawful, the other flatly against wis will, The former, zealous, officious, grounded upon cause, having both radicem bonam & finem bonum, as Bucer requireth, a good root and a good end, such as the anger of Moses was, Exodus the two and thirtieth, for the golden calf that was made, when he avendged the quarrel of GOD upon a few, and spared the multitude to show that he hated the sin, loved their persons: The other vicious, affectionate, private, lightly accepted, forgetting injuries done to God, and proposing to please itself as Lamech did, Truly Lamech shall be avendged seventy times sevenfolde; and not regarding so much the offence, as desirous that the offender himself may be rooted not. The former of these two a little troubleth the eye of reason, as eye-salve at the first causeth smarting. and hindereth sight, but afterwards the eye is cleared and amended thereby; the other putteth it quite out. By this short discourse, Turbat ●●●lum. Excaecat. Hugo card. in Psal. 4. you perceive what kind of anger is not only allowable, but necessary and requisite, in those that are zealously zealous for the LORD of hosts, as Elias was, and cannot abide that his name and honour should take harm; what kind utterly condemned, the original whereof is in the sands, that is, for trifles and gourds; the proceeding restless, till a moat becometh a beam, which difference Augustine noteth between anger and hatred; the mark, the person not the crime; and the end, not to amend but to destroy him. Conclusion. Serm. de ira▪ Alius qui instigat. Alius qui instigatur. Ambros. 〈◊〉 office I conclude therefore with Saint Basile, if you will be angry without sinning, and show forth the right use of this natural and lawful affection, know that one is alured to sin, another allureth him. convert your anger against the latter of these two, a murderer of the brethren, and the father of lies, malign not the other. Irascimui ubi est culpa cui irasci debetatis, Be angry where there is a fault that may bear anger. Which cannot be private displeasure; but a fault openly tending to the profanation of God's fearful name, pollution of his service and sacraments, a public, scandalous, enormous, incorrigible, and unsufferable fault, whereby his Christ is dishonoured, his good Spirit of grace despighted, and the whole congregation or family that is named in heaven and earth, wounded, blasphemed. Be angry with those that are angry with God upon every light occasion; for every cross wherewith they are tried, ready to go back & to walk no longer with him: or if their mouths be not filled with laughter and pleasure to their hearts desire, or their bellies with garlic and onions, and fleshpots, as in the days of darkness, breaking forth into terms of highest undutifulness, what profit have we by him? Be angry with those that are angry with the prophets for prophesying right things unto them, and freeing their souls. Be angry with jonas and your prophets, if they go out of the city, to sit and shadow themselves under bowers, and preach not; and be angry with the city, if it repent not at the preaching of her prophets, rather when they have pronounced the threatenings and judgements of the most High, take them to be but fables, and like the sayings and doings of the mad man, Prov. 26. who casteth firebrands, arrows, and mortal things, and then saith, Am I not in sport? Be angry with dogs, who return continually to their vomit, though they have been purdged ten times. And finally, to knit up all in one with the words of Ludolphus upon the fourth Psalm, irascimini vitijs, diabolo, vanit atibur, mendacijs, vobis ipsis etc. Be ye angry with sins, the devil, vanities, lies, yourselves: with hearty repentance for your former misdeeds, and zealous indignation, that ever you have fallen into so base and beastly corruption: & nolite peccare ulteriùs, and take heed that you fall not the second time, as jonas did, into the same faults. THE XLVIII. LECTURE. Cham 4. ve. 10.11. Then said the Lord thou hast had pity on the gourd etc. WE are at length come to the last part of the Chapter, which was the scope whereunto all the sayings & doings of God were referred, comprehended in these 2. last verses, & containing generally an earnest contention & plea, for the justification of his goodness in sparing Niniveh. For what other purpose had God in the whole course of his speeches & actions, by the words of his mouth once & again iterated, & by the sensible image of the gourd, objected to the eyes of jonas, than by irrefragable demonstration, & by the concession of the adversary himself, to clear & deliver his mercy from just reproof? God first drew him by demands, & as it were by captious, Socratical interrogations, whither he would; & when he had him in snares, them inferreth upon him, which no man could deny, that were not too prefract and obstinate, thou hast had pity on the gourd etc. & shall not I spare Niniveh? thou on a light, temporary plant which was not thine, wherein there was neither value, nor continuance, nor any propriety belonging unto thee, & shall not I much more spare Niniveth? etc. The argument standeth in comparison from the less to the greater, & both the members thereof compared, are so strengthened & set forth, that he must needs show himself forsaken of common sense, that doth not assent unto it. jonas hath not now to deal with Chrysippus, who was able to speak probably of any thing brought in question, but with the most expert schoolman that ever spoke with tongue, with the God of heaven, who bindeth with arguments as with chains of iron, & leaveth no evasion. For unless jonas would except against the reasoning of God, as those whom Tully scoffeth at, who when they were brought to an inconvenience in disputation, Hoc extremem eorum est; postulan● ut excipian●ur haec in explicabilia. Tribunum aliquem, censeo, ade●n● etc. In Academic. had no other refuge but to crave that those inexplicable arguments might be left out; & Tully answered them again that then they must go to an officer, for they should never obtain that exception at his hands: what should he do to rid himself of this strong opposition? Before, you have heard, 1. of the affliction of jonas, the sun, & the east-wind following the sun the same tract, pace by pace, confederate with him, working his woe, a fervent east-wind, beating, upon his back & sides? no, but upon his head, the most dainty & dangerous place by reason of the senses; his fainting & wishing in his soul to die, & professing in open terms that it was better for him so to than to live: 2. of the reproof of God in controlling that impatience: 3. of his obfirmed & heretical maintaining of it, Nullum malum punicum in quo non granum aliquod putrescie. Culpam deprehensam pertinaciter ●ueri culpa altera est. Mitior poena debetur verecundiae. Errare humanum, perseverare in errore belluinum. Bi● pecca● qui peccanti obsequium accommodat Hebr. 2. which was his greater offence; for there is no man that falleth not, as there is no pomegranate wherein there is not some kernel amiss: but when a fault is espied & convicted, then to defend it with pertinacy, is another fault. And the milder punishment is evermore due to modesty. It is the fact of men to err, but of beasts to persist & persevere in error. Then said the Lord, by way of conclusion, inferred upon the answer & grant of jonas, vouchsafing to reply upon him, whose answer before was more worthy of stripes than speech; & by continued remembrances as by bands of love, pulling his prophet out of the fire, who had burnt to ashes in the coals of his indignation, if God had not stayed him: even that merciful and patiented Lord, who when he beginneth to love, loveth to the end; who spoke within himself, though he have often refused my word, and dealt unfaithfully with my commandment, yet once more will I shake the heavens and speak unto him, I will not lose a soul for want of admonition. It is true in men, that he twice sinneth who is over-indulgent & favourable to a sinner. God is a debtor to no man, yet of his grace and benignity he doth often admonish us. Then the Lord said. The dignity of the person addeth great authority to the speech: the Apostle urdgeth the credit of the speaker strongly in his epistle to the Hebrews, If the word spoken by Angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation? which at the first began to be preached by the Lord, and afterwards was confirmed unto us by them that heard him, God bearing witness thereunto by signs etc. Again, see that you despise not him that speaketh, for if they escaped not which refused him that spoke on earth, Ibid. 12. shall we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven? Therefore do the prophets, Haback aub Zacharie, beckon with the hand as it were to the whole earth, and to all flesh to give ear when the Lord speaketh, the Lord is in his holy temple, let all the oerth keep silence before him: and let all flesh be still before the LORD, Habb. ●. Zech. 2. for he is raised up out of his holy place. Thou hast had pity, tu parcis, thou favourest, or desirest that it may be preserved, Conversari cupis. tu doles, thou art grieved, all which constructions are included in the demand that went before, Dost thou well to be angry? For whereas other affections are simple, anger is compounded and mixed of divers; partly of grief, for the injury received, partly of commiseration of the thing injured, partly of desire and pleasure to revendge the wrongs. But I stick not in the words. I I proceed rather to the argument which is so mightily & invincibly shaped, that jonas frameth no answer unto it. It must needs be, Necesse est ut lancem in libra ponderibus impositi● deprimi sic animum perspicuis cedere. Tull. in Academ, Geomesrae se profiten●● non persuadere sed cogere. The text divided. that as the plate sinketh down in the balance, when weight is put into it; so the mind must yield itself captive unto the truth, when things are evidently & perspicuously proved. Geometricians profess, that their art standeth not upon persuasion, but upon coaction & enforcement, their principles & theorems are so firmly grounded. But let all arts give place, all actions bow, all Logic submit itself unto him who is admirable in counsel, excellent in his works, incomparable for his wisdom. The manner of speech which God useth, being not plain & affirmative, I will spare Niniveh as thou pitiest the gourd, but by interrogation & negation shall not I spare Niniveh? showeth what indignity is offered unto him, as if sun right of his were kept back. To set some order in my speech, the comparison here form, consisteth of 2. parts the antecedent or that which goeth before, the lesser, inferior & weaker part in the 10. verse; & the consequent or stronger in the 11. The persons balanced together, thou & I, thou art moved; & shall not I pity? The things weighted one against the other, are for their substance a gourd, & Niniveh. For their accidents, 1. of the gourd, jonas had not laboured for it, jonas had not brought it up, it was neither of his making nor of his cherishing, jonas had not right in it, it was not his work; besides, the continuance was so small, that he had no reason to be fond of it; for it came up in a night, and in a night perished. 2. for Niniveh, it was not a bush or a tree, but a city, and not a little, but a great city; and had not only those of riper years, but infants, and not a few, but six score thousand infants, and as they were in age to be pitied, so for their innocency, because they know not their right hand from their left, and not only men, but cattle, and not in a sparing quantity, but much cattle: all which, both in nature and use are better than the gourd for which thou contendest. These things considered, be thou the judge, whither it be not lawful & reasonable for me me in a far greater matter to take upon me that right, & to put on me that affection which thou challengest unto thyself in a much less. The members of the comparison must be matched together as I go▪ to give the more light one to the other; for being severed, we shall not so well perceive the force of them. Thou & I, as different as heaven & earth, light & darkness, thou a man, 1 The person●. I a God, thou flesh, I spirit, thou dust & ashes, I the Lord of hosts, thou a creature, I thy maker, thou the clay, I the potter, thou sitting at my footstool, I inhabiting eternity, thou creeping as a worm upon the circle of the earth, I spanning heaven & earth in my fist, weighing the mountains & hills in a balance, finally & especially, thou an unmerciful man, cruel, hardhearted, without natural affection, whose kindness to mine is not so much as a gravel stone to the whole sea-sand, nor as a minute of time to the days everlasting; yet thou takest pity, & shall not I much more be moved, whom thou hast both preached & known to be a merciful, gracious, long-suffering God? The inequality of the persons is very emphatical & forcible: thou sparest & shall not I spare, who have more wisdom in my purposes, more liberty in my actions, more goodness in my nature than all the sons of Adam? so doth our Saviour reason Mat. 7. from this disparity of persons, if you which are evil can give to your children good gifts, how much more shall your father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? So did the famous Orator reason against Catiline; Did Pu. Scipio, a private man, kill Tib. Gracchus, but lightly weakening the state of the common weal; and shall we that are Consuls let Catiline alone, desirous to lay waste the world with slaughtering and fierings? So did juno reason in the Poet; Can Pallas burn the navy of the Grecians, but I that am the Queen of the GOD'S, Pallasne exurere classem. Asi ego quae diuûm incedo regina etc. the sister and wife of jupiter, shall I be able to do nothing against mine enemies? So likewise it holdeth strongly on the other side, from the greater to the less; as Luke 11. If I through Belzebub cast out devilles, by whom do your children cast them out? they are far inferior to me in righteousness & innocency. But in the 18 of Mat. beyond all exception, O thou evil servant, I forgave thee all that debt because thou prayest me; a Lord my servant, not mine equal, I did not respite & give time for, but forgive a greater debt, yea all that debt upon thine own entreaty: Oughtest not thou then to have had pity on thy fellow even as I head on thee? 2 The same affection. Secondly these persons are compared, as the nature of comparisons requireth in some third thing common to them both: thou sparest, shall not I spare? Petimusque da●usque vi●issim. A●quum est pe●cati● ve●ium poscen 〈◊〉 etc. I depart not from thine own affection▪ the law is equal to us both; if we take leave, we must also give leave, and it is meet that he that craveth pardon for a fault, should also yield pardon for the same fault. If thou hadst favoured, & I maliced, thou pitied▪ & I hated, thy complaint perhaps had carried some colour of justice: but both our dispositions are alike, & thou accusest me of that whereof thyself art not free, thine own deeds, & thine own mouth witness against thee. T●●rius ma●e● rectâ in●cae. Is it a fault in me to pity? begin at thine own house, & there correct it first, go thou upright before thou accuse me of going crooked. But this is the fashion of us all: in f●r● v●x decimus quisque est qui s●ipsum noverit, scarcely every tenth man amongst us knoweth himself. And we have need of censurers to make us more careful of our own doings who are so privy & severe to others men's, as Diogenes sometimes was to the Gramatians, whom he much laughed at, for taking diligent pains in searching after the faults of Ulysses, & not seeing their own. Thirdly, 3. More agreeable to God. sparing was more agreeable to the nature of God than of jonas: & therefore he might better contend for it. Never was it more lively expressed than when David made his choice of a third plague, which came immediately from the hands of God, man not working therein: O let me not fall into the hands of man. 2. Sam. 24. He prayeth to be delivered from his own kind, more than from lioness and shee-beares. A man may play at the hole of an Asp, and handle a Cockatrice with more safety than fall into the danger of his own brother. The finger of God hath signed it, the Apostle hath concluded it, of us all, jews & Gentiles, there is none righteous, no not one; Rom. 3. their throat is an open sepulchre, they have used their tongues to deceit, the poison of Asps is under their lips, their mouth is full of cursing & bitterness, their feet are swift to shed blood, calamity & destruction are in their ways, & the way of peace they have not known. This is the glass wherein we may all behold our natures. If there were need of proof, I would ask the generations both past and present, and they should make report unto you, that neither the master hath been safe from the servant of his own tabernacle, nor the king from the subject that hath lived by the salt of the palace, nor the father from the son of his own loins, nor the brother from his brother of the same womb, nor the husband from the wife of his own bosom; and that not only nature hath been dissolved and unknit in private families, by treacheries, poison, slaughtering, and such like Scythian kindness; but policy, and community of life cut a sunder, torn, and dismembered by sacking of towns and cities, depopulations and wastes of whole countries, through the untractable and unpeaceable nature that man is fallen into. But on the other side the mercy of GOD is so infinite, that no affection in nature, no dimention or proportion in the whole creature hath been fit to express it. The height of heaven above the earth, the distance of the East from the West, the love of fathers towards their sons, of mothers towards the latest fruit of their wombs, of nurses towards their sucking babes, Eagles towards their young ones, hens towards their chickens, have been shadows and kennings in some sort, but not sufficient measures to scan it by. It is well observed by Cassiodore upon the 51. Psalm, that the beginning thereof, Have mercy upon me O Lord, is the only voice, quae nunquam discutitur, sed tranquille semper auditur, which is never examined, suspended, delayed, deliberated upon, but evermore heard with peace and tranquillity from God. And in the Psalm 136. you shall find his mercy, both the mother that bread, and the nurse that to this day feedeth, and to the end of the world shall cherish and maintain all the works of God. For his mercy endureth for ever. It standeth there like a pillar or bounder at the end of every verse, an endless and durable mercy, not only to beautify the Psalm, but to note that the whole frame of the world, and every content thereof in particular, touching both creation and government, oweth not only their being, but their preservation and sustenance to God's goodness. 4. The things 4. To leave the persons, and to examine the things themselves, what was a gourd? a matter of nothing, and in nature but a vulgar & ordinary plant: for there is a difference in trees, as Deut. 20. there is a law made that in besieging a city, they shall not destroy the trees thereof by smiting an axe into them: the reason is, for thou mayest eat of them, therefore thou shalt not cut them down. For the tree of the field is man's life. Only those trees which thou knowest are not for meat, those thou shalt destroy, and make forts against the city Now of this tree there was none other use, either for meat, or for aught besides that he knew, save only for shadow. From this difference of things, our Saviour argueth Luke 14. when he healed the man sick of the dropsy, upon the sabbath day, which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not strait way pull him our on the sabbath day? For if they tendered the welfare of their beasts, much more might he regard the life of man, which was far more precious. And it is there said, that they were not able to answer him again in those things, they were so plainly evicted. 5. Touching the accidents of this gourd, if jonas had planted & nursed it up, 3. The accidents of the gourd. which he did not, he should have regarded it none otherwise than as a gourd; he should not have doted upon it, as Xerxes is reported to have loved a planetree in Lydia, and he could hardly be drawn away from it, and Passienus Crispus, twice Consul of Rome, a mulberry tree; they seem to have been some notable bowers which they fell so in love with. The nature of man is to love the works of his own hands. The Poet describeth it in the fable of Pygmalion, arte suâ miratur, he is surprised with the liking of his own art. Who planteth a vineyard, saith the Apostle, 1. Cor. 9 and eateth not of the fruit thereof? For this is the end why he planted it. It is confessed, Eccles. 2. to be the hand of God that we eat and drink, and delight our souls with the profit of our labours. Nabuchadonozor, Dan. 4. boasteth of his great palace, not which his fathers and progenitors had left unto him, but himself had built for the honour of his kingdom. The Apostle telleth the Corinthians that he had laid the foundation amongst them: and that others did but build upon his beginnings: 1. Cor. 3. and that although they had ten thousand masters in Christ, yet had they not many fathers, for in Christ jesus he had begotten them through the gospel. Wherefore he requireth them in equity, to be followers of him, because they were his building and children, and he had a right in their consciences, which other men could not challenged. Now this was a tree wherein jonas bestowed no labour, nec arans, nec serens, nec rigans, neither in preparing the ground, nor in setting, nor in dressing, it was not his work, whereas the Ninivites were God's creatures; neither belonged that to his tuition or charged, to see it preserved, whereas that people had evermore lived under God's providence, 6. If the continuance and diuturnity of time had bred any liking in jonas towards the gourd, 6 It quickly perished (because we commonly love those things wherewith we are acquainted) his passion might the better have been tolerated. Nathan doth the rather amplify the fault of David, in taking away the poor man's sheep, because he had had bought it, and nourished it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. Length of time commendeth many things. It commendeth wine, 2. Sam. 1●. Consila senum has●ae iuvenum sū● Proverb. 22 Prover. 27. Eccle. 9· we say, the old is better. It commendeth wisdom, Counsel must be handled by the aged, spears by the young. It commendeth truth, Id verius quod prius, The first is truest. It commendeth custom, thou shalt not remove the aunc●ent bounds which thy fathers have set. It commendeth friendship, thine own friend, and thy father's friend forsake thou not: forsake not an old friend, for a new will not be like unto him. It commendeth service in the field, dost thou despise the soldiers of thy father Philippe? saith Clitus to Alexander; Nisi hic Atharia● senex. Curt. and hast thou forgotten that unless this old Atharias had called back the young men when they refused to fight; we had yet stuck at Halicarnassus? Lastly, it commendeth our dwelling places & possessions. Barzillai telleth David who would feign have drawn him along with him; I am foureskore years old, 2. Sam. 1●. let me return to mine own city, and be buried in the grave of my father and mother. 1. King. 21. And Nabo●h telleth Ahab, the Lord keep me from giving the inheritance of my father unto thee. It would somewhat more have commended the gourd, if jonas had long enjoyed the use thereof, which he did not: it was but the child of a night, both in rising and falling; Filiu● nocti●. suddenly sprung up, and suddenly dead again. So there is neither price in it, because it is but a gourd; nor propriety, because he had not laboured for it; nor prescription of long acquaintance because it was soon dead. Now, that which is set against the gourd on the other side, is by name, 7. Niniveh. Niniveh; by form, a city; by quantity, a great city; and shall not I spare Niniveh that great city? Niniveh. A City. Vrb● ab urvo. Vel ab orb. Niniveh, at this time the head of Assiria, the fame and bruit whereof filleth the world, and holdeth the people in awe by reason of her sovereign government? Niniveh, no villadge or hamlet of the East, but a city that had walls & gates: for so is the nature of a city described, we have a strong city salvation shall God set for our walls and bulwarks, Esay 26. and the people whereof are enclosed within orders and laws, A great City. as the buildings within fences? Niniveh, no small city in Assiria, as Bethlehem was in judah, or as the little city of Zoar which Lot fled into; but a large and spacious city, in circuit of ground, but for the number of inhabitants most populous and abundant? Now the greater the place is, the more matter is ministered for pity to work upon. jerusalem was more laboured and applied by Christ in the days of his flesh, than either Bethania a country town, or any other city of judah or Samaria less than jerusalem. Agesilaus a renowned Lacedaemonian was grieved in his heart, when he had slain ten thousand of his enemies; and when many of the rest that were left alive had withdrawn themselves within the city of Corinth, his friends advising him to lay siege unto it, he answered, that it was not fit for him so to do, for he was a man which would compel offenders to do their duty, Se ●um esse qui ad officium peccatore● cogeret, non qui urbes vastares. Non missura ●●tem etc. but not pull down cities. The ruinating and overthrowing of cities, are miserable either spectacles or histories to those that with any humanity shall consider them. Nero may sing and triumph when Rome is on fire, a bloody horseleech, feeding upon the spoils of men and towns; but Abraham will pray for Sodom, though the sink of the earth; and not only jeremy will lament. & writ lamentations, but Christ will mourn for the downfall of jerusalem. And Titus whilst he lieth in siege, when he shall see such slaughter of the jews, will throw up his hands to heaven, and lay the massacre upon God to clear himself. That Sodom whereof I ●pake, consider but the rain that fell upon it, Genes. 19 brimstone and fire from the Lord in heaven, itself overthrown with her sisters, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the city, and all that grew upon the earth turned into ashes; and whatsoever came up afterwards from that ground, unwholesome and unprofitable fruit, pestilent vines, & bitter clusters, Deuter. 32. Esdr. 2. jude. the whole land mingled with clouds of pitch and heaps of ashes, the people suffering the vengeance of eternal fire, and notwithstanding all this, itself made a byword to all ages that came after it, as we read in Esay 1. and Rom. 9 unless the Lord had left us a seed, we should have been as Sodom I say, consider but these things, and pity her ruin and desolation though she be Sodom, josuah. 6. because she was a city. Though jericho were jericho, a city of the uncircumcised, idolatrous in the worship of God, and hostile towards his people, can it sink into your ears without pitying and bemoaning the gate thereof, to hear that her walls fell flat, and all that was therein, was utterly destroyed, both man and woman, young and old, ox and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword, and the city burnt with fire, & all that was in the city, except some silver and gold that was reserved? Though jericho be sunk so low that it shall never rise again, to stand long (for it is sealed with a curse to his person that should adventure to re-edify jericho, & with the blood of his eldest and youngest son) yet say to yourselves when you read that lamentable narration, alas for jericho, because it was a city sometimes, girded with walls, fortified with bulwarks, stored with treasure and wealth, peopled with men, and furnished with other such abilities, as the very name of a city presently implieth. But that jerusalem whereof I also spoke, jerusalem, the sanctified city, and the city of the everlasting God, jerusalem, built in unity, jerusalem, the Queen and Empress of the provinces, so defaced and leveled with the ground that not a stone was left standing upon a stone, neither in their houses, walls, bulwarks, turrets, no nor in the altars, sanctuary, temple of jerusalem, the old and young, matrons, virgins, mothers, infants, princes, priests, prophets, Nazarites▪ all slain, famished, fettered, scattered abroad, utterly consumed; If it come into the mind of any man, either by reading or hearing, without commiseration, I say that his heart is more barbarous and rude than the very fragments and rubbel wherein jerusalem is lodged. Who can express those havockes, by speech, Quis funerā findo Explice● etc. Lam. 4. or find tears enough to equal their miseries? For this cause I weep, faith the Prophet, mine eye, even mine eye casteth out water, which it draweth up from the fountain of my overflowing heart; and he calleth to the daughter of Zion, to let tears run down, like a river, day & night, to take no rest, neither to suffer the apple of her eye to cease, to arise & cry in the night, Lament. ●. in the beginning of the watches, to power out her heart like water before the Lord. Aeneas Silvius in his oration (of the spoil of Constantinople) against the Turk, with great compassion relateth the murdering of their children before the faces of their parents, the noble men slaughtered like beasts, the Priests torn in pieces, the religious flayed; the holy virgins incestuously defiled, the mothers & their daughters despitefully used, & at length he crieth out: O miseram urbis faciem, O the miserable face of that city O unhappy people, O wicked Mahomet. Who is able to report such things without tears? there was nothing to be seen, Qui● talia fand● Tempere● á lachrymis? Namque animus meminisse horrid etc. but full of mourning, murder, bloodshed, dead carcases. At last converting himself to Greece, (his mind even quaking & starting back with sorrow) he thus bewaileth it. O famous & renowned Greece, behold now thy end, now thou art dead, alas, how many mighty & wealthy cities have heretofore been extinguished? what is become of Thebes? of Athens? of Micene? of Larissa? of Lacedaemon? of Corinth? of other memorable towns? whose walls if thou seekest for thou canst not find so much as their ruins: no man can show the ground werein they are are laid along, our men do oftentimes look for Greece in Greece itself; only Constantinople is no remaining of the carcases of so many cities. Such & so lamentabl hath ever been the devastation of cities to men of any affection, Sola ex t●t c●d●veribus civiratum etc. & such it seemed to God in this place, shall not I spare Niniveh that great city? jonas could have found in his heart to have seen it in the dust, & corn fields ploughed up where the walls & building stood, or rather an heap of nettles and salt-pits in the place thereof; the smoke of the fire waving in the air, & hiding away the light of the sun, & the flames spiring up into heaven the king & his senators, merchants & people, those that walked with staves for age, & those that were nourished at the breasts for weakness, their flocks of sheep & herds of cattle, all wasted and consumed in the sane pile, if God would have yielded to the madness of his cruel appetite. But he answereth with more clemency, shall not I spare Niniveh that great city? Hitherto were but titles & names, the proof followeth. Wherein are six thousand persons that cannot discern etc. It may easily be guessed, Hieron. ●▪ many. quantus sit numerus alteriu● aetatis, cúm tantus sit parvul●rū, how great the number of other ages, when there were so many infants. The prophecy was here fulfilled which was given to Israel & judah, jer. 31. Behold, the days come, that I will sow the house of Israel, & the house of judah, with the seed of man, and the seed of beast. So was the house of Niniveh sown, for her inhabitants were multiplied as the grasshoppers, her merchants as the stars of heaven, her princes and captains as the locusts, Nah. 3. Shall not I spare Niniveh, 2 Infants wherein there is such a multitude? Or if thou art not moved with a multitude, doth not the age of infants and suckelings touch thy heart? that cannot speak, cannot stand, cannot help themselves, that stick to their mothers as apples to their trees & if thou pluck them away before their time, they perish? Is this thy welcome of babes into the world? is this the milk thou wilt feed them with? Is this thy stilling and pacifying of them to quiet them with death? Is this thy nursing of their tender & ungrown limbs? to wrap them up in flames of fire as in swath-bandes, & to rock them a sleep with pitiless destruction? can thine ears endure that lamentable & confused harmony of so many young musicans singing in their kind, & as nature hath taught them, crying up together into heaven, & wilt not thou cry for company, & say, O Lord stay thine hand & forbear them? or can thine eyes behold the shrinking of their soft members at every pull of grief, their sprawling upon the ground, their flesh scorched with heat as a scroll of parchment, & not be moved? I stay not upon this point: but the age of young infants hath evermore been pitied. The midwives of Egypt, Ex. 1. though strangers and charged with the king's commandment, yet would not slay the children of the Hebrews. Even the daughter of Pharaoh himself Exo. 2. finding Moses hid in the bulrushes, had compassion on the babe, for it was a goodly child, & wept. One of the properties of an impudent, barbarous, cruel nation, described Deut. 28. is, it shall not regard the person of the old, nor have compassion upon the young. There is a notable place to this purpose 2. King. 8. where it is said that Elizaeus looked upon Hazael a servant and messenger unto him from Benhadad the king, till he was ashamed, & the man of God wept, & Hazael demanding why weary my Lord? he answered, because I know the evil that thou shalt do unto the children of Israel: for their strong cities shalt thou set on fire, and their young men shalt thou slay with the sword, and shalt dash their infants against the stones, and rend in pieces the women with child: then Hazaell said, what? is thy servant a dog, that I should do this great thing? So brutish a part he held it, to do such villainy upon the mothers, and their infants. Or if thou regardest not their age, doth not their innocency affect thee? say that the elder sort have sinned, 3. Innocent because they have judgement and election in them: but what have these infants done, who know not their right hand from their left? nor have attainned to their years of discretion, nor able to distinguish between strait and crooked, good and evil, but are altogether innocent? It is a circumlocution of their ignorance & simplicity: the like whereof we have, Esay 8. before the child shall have knowledge to cry my father or my mother: that is, before he can speak, or discern the one from the other▪ Which was no more than went before in the 7. of the same prophecy, before the child shall have knowledge to eschew the evil and choose the good. Eccle. 10. The son of Syrach speaketh of a fool in the same manner, he knoweth not the way into the city, that is, ordinary and common things which every man knoweth. We shall read that God hath evermore had a special regard to the infant, because of his harmlessness and innocency: he commanded Deut. 21. that they should be spared in war: and the women, and the cattle: excepting those of the Ammonites in the same place, and of those cities which were altogether execrable in the sight of God, as of jericho. josh. ●. and of Edom and Babylon, Psalm 137. Their innocency is every where proposed as a pattern for the riper ages to imitate: Our Saviour told his disciples Mat. 18, having first placed a little child in the midst of them, except ye be converted and become as this little child ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. And in the 19 of the same Evangelist, suffer little children to come unto me, for to such as these are belongeth the kingdom of God. The Apostles of Christ framed their exhortations from the same precedents: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. brethren, be not children in your minds, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, But in malice be you infants; 1. Cor. 14. 1. Pet. 2. and as new borne babes, desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby. But if thou hatest the children, together with their parents, as we destroy the whelps of wolves even for their kind sake, & because the fathers have eaten the sour grape, the children's teeth must needs be set on edge, and the infant's smart for their offences, 4. cattle. shall I not spare Niniveh wherein there is much cattle? What have the dumb beasts deserved, that they should also perish? Solomon in the 12. of the Proverbs showeth what the practice of the just is even in this case, A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast, but the mercies of the wicked are cruel. And his rule agreeth with that practice Prov. 27. Be diligent to kn●w the state of thy flocks, and take heed to thy herds. Genes. 33. jacob hath pity upon the children, and upon the ewes, and the kire with young which were under his hand, for he said to his brother Esau if I should over-drive them one day, all the flock would die. The errand that he sent joseph in, Genes. 37. was, go see whether it be well with thy brethren, and how the flocks prosper. David 1. Sam. 17. objecteth his life unto a Lion, afterwards to a bear rather than on sheep should miscarry. Howsoever Philip complained, cuiusmodt est vita nostra, cum ad as●llorum occasiionem videndum est? how basely is our life conditioned, when we must live to make provision for asses? (to one in his army, who told him that there wanted food for their beasts) yet it is true, that some part of our care & forecast must this way be employed. We also know that the la of God favoureth them, Deut. 25· Thou shalt not muzzle up the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn; and the Sabbath, though made for man, yet it extended to the resting of the beast. And either nature or profit, or something else moved the hard hearted jews, if their ox or ass were fallen into a pit, even upon the sabbath day to pull him out. Moses kept lethroes sheep, jacob Laban's, the patriarchs his sons were all shepherds, David followed the ewes, Saul sought asses, Amos was taken from the herds, that you may know the care of these unreasonable creatures not to have been small in former times. The last branch of amplification which God useth against jonas, 5. Much cattle. was the store of the cattle; the respect whereof did somewhat move him to withdraw his judgement. And surely the abundance of cattle, is no mean blessing of God. He promiseth it unto Israel, Behold, I will multiply upon you man and beast, & they shall increase & bring forth. Abraham and Lot were very rich in cattle Gen. 13. so were jacob and Esau, Ezech. 36 Gen. 36. the land could not bear them both together because of their flocks. So was Vzzah the king, 2. Chr. 26. he built towers in the wilderness, and digged many cisterns, for he had much cattle both in the valleys and plains. The substance of job, in the first of that book, was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand cammelles, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hunered shee-asses, & towards the end of his days, all these were doubled unto him. You see then what reasons the Lord hath used in this second member of the comparison, for the sparing Niniveh. 1. It was populous with all kind of men, 2. there were infants in it, 3. six score thousands, 4. they were innocent, 5. there was cattle, 6▪ much cattle. I do not find that jonas ever answered this argument; but yielding the victory to God and his blessed truth, he leaveth a testimony of his silence and submission to the whole world in this writing which he afterward compiled. Such honour did Turnus give to Aeneas when he vanquished him, vicisti, & victum tendere palmas, Ausonii videre: thou hast overcome me, and the people can bear witness that I acknowledge thy victory. With this most sweet and victorious sentence doth jonas conclude, or rather break of his prophecy, as if he had said, great is thy truth, and prevaileth. Thy mercy triumpheth against justice, much more shall it triumph against dust and ashes. Let the corrupt affections of man, give place to thy righteous judgements, let both great and small, the infant, and dumb beast sing of thy loving kindness, and let every thing that hath breath, say, the Lord be praised. And let this be the end of my labours for this time, The meditation of that mercy of God, wherein this prophcy is ended, & let the labours of my whole life know non other end. Thus let me end the day & begin the night, end the night and begin the day again; whither I read or write, think or speak, or whatsoever else I do, let me do it all with this conclusion; & when I have run out the race of my sinful days let me rest at that happy mark, wherein the Lord doth give over his argument, I these pains. I have at lengrh finished, by the grace of God & your patiented audience, my simple expositions upon the prophecy of jonas: an argument & narration, you see, of only mercy: the 4. Chapters whereof, as those 4. beasts in the Revelation, Revel. 4. full of eyes both before and behind, I mean in every part opening and discovering unto us the invisible God in the sweetest propriety of his nature, that is, in the abundance of his love, cease not day and night, & for all eternity to sing, gracious gracious, gracious Lord God almighty, which was, which is & which is to come, thy mercy is over all thy works, & thy faithfulness endureth from generation to generation: but the last of the 4. is the flying Eagle to all the rest, as the fourth beast there, having an higher reach, & loftier demonstration than the other had. For where the mercy of God was then but exemplified in fact, 1. to the mariners, 2. to jonas, 3. to Niniveh in the 3. first chapters, here it is pleaded, maintained, propugned touching the right & reasonableness thereof, with arguments so strong, as that, I say not the tongue of man, but not the gates of the nethermost hell shall ever be able to prevail against it. Whilst there is a difference betwixt day and night, & when the covenant of day and night shall be broken, this indifferency betwixt God and man shall stand in force, shalt thou spare, and shall not I spare? or rather this difference, if thou sparest not, yet will I spare. Though man can be content to see multitudes of his own kind to be murdered like tatter or mice, pitying neither infant in age, neither innocent in conditions, nor the harmless beast, yet GOD the Creator of all will cast a merciful eye over all his creatures, and both man and beast, aged and suckling, maugre the malice of Satan and opposition of his own flesh, shall find grace in his eyes. If I have profited any man by putting Gods talent to use in this exercise, and been, as my hearty wish was, a sweet smelling sacrifice and a savour of life unto him, let God have the honour, the father and giver of all good and perfit gifts, there shall none of his glory cleave to my fingers. I take nothing to myself but weakness and shame; who though I have broken my masters bread unto you with mine earthly and unworthy hands, yet was I but the instrument, the blessing and power his alone, who giveth both seed to the sower, and bread to him that eateth. That I have been chardgeable unto any man, it repenteth me; it is more blessed to give than to take; and although it standeth with the liberty and leave of the gospel so to do; (For who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? And if we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great matter if we reap your carnal?) yet I will modestly confess, it hardly stood with the liberty and freedom of mine own disposition; and I am able to affirm it from a pure conscience as Paul did in the twentieth of the Acts, though I received some thing, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, yet I have not coveted the silver, or gold, or apparel of any man. I speak not in any sort (my witnesses are in heaven and in mine own bosom) to diminish the credit of your benevolence towards me. The LORD requite it unto you seven fold. I hate ingratitude as witchcraft, my mouth were worthy to be muzzelled up, if I would not freely and fully profess your kindness: for you were unto me as the house of Stephanas was unto Paul and his company, the first fruits of Achaia, (he meant the first of that region that gave themselves to minister unto the Saints) so you, 1. Cor. 26. the first fruits of England that have given me any maintenance by voluntary contribution. I hope your cruse shall the more abound, & your cup be the fuller for it. Yet, let me say with patience, whatsoever hath be done in this behalf, I was rather sought & motioned thereunto, than myself ever sought it. And during the greater time of my continuance therein, if I had not rather desired to satisfy others than mine own heart, feeling more burden in my pains, than sweetness in my recompense, I had long since eased both myself of my labour, and you of your charges. Though some are ignorant, & others will not know, & some are loath to feel it; I have both known and felt what to read a lecture is. For if to read alecture, be not only to read (as the name soundeth) or only to speak by an hour glass, Declama●e ad clepsydram. and to spend the time; if more than to talk and confer with some single commentary; and not only to search translations as the brooks, but to examine the original as the wellspring; & both to peruse and compare the expositions of the learned (for the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets; and we all prophecy one by one in several ages, that we all may have comfort one by another's labours,) and not as drones to live by the honey which Bees have gathered, Nam illi quoque non inventa▪ sed quaerenda nobis reliquerunt. Faciamus amp●iora quae accepimus. but ourselves to make honey, and to add to the travail of others, for the building and perfecting of God's church; (for as they have found out many things, so they have left many to be sought by us) and to play the parts of thrifty and good husbands in making our patrimony lardger which we have received from our fathers; together with studious meditation, discreet application to the time, persons, and place, endless succession of pains after pains: then I am sure, that to read a lecture is a greater labour than some in opinion will conceive, others demonstrate and make proof of by practice. There be that run away with a lecture, as horses with an empty cart; I cannot do it. It is but a moat with them to read thrice in a week, and twice in a day sometimes. I will not dissemble my wants, It was a beam to my back to make it my weekly exercise. For if ever my hands were manacled, and my feet bound up before, I say not from taking pleasure, which I little regard, but from following the course of my necessary and gravest studies, than did I purchase that bondage unto myself, when I offered my neck to this yoke. How often have I said within myself. Beatus ille qui procul negotijs Paterna rura bobus exercet suis, as Horace commended a country life; how happy is that man in comparison (if to live in ease be any part of happiness) who hath a rural charged? That I leave no man to succeed me as Moses left josuah, Elias Elizaeus, and such like, though it be my grief, yet I cannot remedy it. It is threatened for a curse in jeremy, there shall be none to say, leave thy fatherless children unto me. jer. 49. Tull. de amiciria. Mihi non minori curae est qualis Respublica post mortem meam futura sit, quàm qualis body, My care is as great for your church when I am departed, as whilst I am present. For I hate the improvident and importunate nature of Heliogabalus, who wished to be heir to himself, and to see an ending and dying of all things with his own person. But your benevolence is your own, and I cannot commend it as inheritance to any otherman. Only my comfort is, Gen. 21. that which Abraham gave to Isaac when he saw not the sacrifice, Deus providebit; God will provide for you, if you be not wanting to yourselves. For let me say with your favourable construction; there are many within these walls, that know not their right hands from the left, children in understanding, and much cattle, take them in that sense that Peter and Jude mean them, 2. Pet. 2 beasts without reason, men without humanity, as bad as the horse and the mule in whom is none understanding. For these, there are not preachers enough, or rather to say the truth, authority hath not edge and vigour enough to compel them to come in, that the house of God may be filled. They walk in the fields, in the streets at their pleasure, they lie at their doors, upon their beds, they sit down to eat & drink and to be drunken, and rise up to play. They may do worse than all this, in chambering, in wantonness, in untolerable filthiness, even upon the best days, and in the best hours of the day, and who such unto them, what do ye? They have lived a part by themselves a long time, and sung with their own muses, whom I would have besought now lastly even in the bowels of Christ, and for conscience towards God, to have redressed this blot to their city. But so they have lived and dwelled, as if jordan had lain between them and us, that they could not come at us. I mislike not their absence, for they are provided of their own; and as the women said in Esay, we will eat our own bread, and wear our own garments, so may they justly excuse themselves, we have a peculiar vineyard, and a labourer of our own to see it kept and manured. I say so, but if there were more than this, (forgive my Christian jealousy) that some of purpose would not, and others might not come because of offence, God forgive it. I never offended them, unless I committed that fault which the Apostle speaketh of, 2. Cor. 12. that I was not chardgeable, or burdensome unto them. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, he desired them to forgive him that wrong: and if mine be the same trespass, I ask the same pardon. I preached not Christ of envy, I preached not Christ for glory. I preached not Christ for gain, and neither to please, nor justly to offend any man. I preached Christ in uprightness and simplicity of heart, and walked with the evenest foot that I could, by all means labouring if it were possible to save some. Which if I have obtained, though it be my great joy, and a crown unto me, yet I glory in him that hath enabled me thereunto, and cast my crown at his feet by whom I had grace to perform it. lastly, it is my comfort, and ever may it be, to see such an happy and friendly aspect, The Lord Archbish L. Lieutenant. L. Warden. of so many principal planets together in one place: I hope they shall ever be found in that mutual correspondence wherein I now leave them. For whilst I live, I shall pray for the peace of our jerusalem. Which peace of our jerusalem, if either prayers to God, or petitions to men, if travail of body, or contention of mind, if shedding of tears, or spending of blood may purchase to our Church or commonwealth, it is not dearly bought. Division had well-nigh broken of late the heartstrings of religion amongst us. O let the head and the heart with other the sovereign parts evermore accord, that the inferior members may be the better governed. Finally, my brethren far ye well; (It is the Apostles farewell to the Corinthians, ●. Cor. 16. ) be perfit; stick not always in the rudiments and first beginnings. Be of good comfort; you know who hath overcome the world. Be of one mind, and live in peace, and the God of love and peace shall be with you. And so I leave you to the mercy of God, neither greater nor less, than this prophecy doth record: beseeching the God both of Israel and Niniveh, and all the ends of the earth, that his blessings may be powered down in as abundant measure upon you all, your city and people, aged, infants, and cattle, and whatsoever is within your gates or possession, as my faithful purpose hath been, truly and effectually to preach his mercy, according to the matter and scope of this present history. To him that is able to keep you that you fall not, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with joy, that is, to God only wise and our saviour, Ind. be glory, and majesty, and dominion, and power, both now and for ever, Amen. A SERMON PREACHED AT THE FUNERALS OF THE MOST REVEREND FATHER, JOHN, LATE archbishop of York, Novem. the 17. in the year of our Lord, 1494. Printed at Oxford by joseph Barnes. 1599 Psalm 146. Trust not i● Princes, nor in any son of man, for there is no help in him; his breath departeth, and he returneth to his earth, than his thoughts perish. THat precept of the son of Syrach (though I never were willing to neglect) I would most gladly have observed at this time: Eccle. 38. thou that art young, speak if need be, and yet scarcely when thou art twice asked. For that which Euripides in Hecuba, Eadem oratio aequa non aequè val●●, Enn. spoke of a noble and unnoble man, I hold to be true of an old and young man, delivering the same speech; though it be all one in words, it is not so in force and authority. The rule I am sure is ever for the most part against the younger. No man when he hath tasted old wine, desireth new, Magnum futurum si senescere●. Bo● lassus fortiùs figi● pedem▪ for he saith, the old is better. Antigonus gave his judgement of Pyrrhus, that he would prove to be some great man if he lived to be old. The weary ox treadeth surer, a proverb which Jerome used against Augustine being short of his years. Omnia ferte aetas, animum quoque, Age bringeth all things, and with all things wisdom. Surely for mine own part I never thought it convenient, that the gravity of this present business should not be answered with gravity both of person and speech: and my witnesses are both in heaven and earth, how justly I can excuse myself, as Elihu did, job 32 Behold, I did wait upon the words of the ancient, and hearkened for their knowledge; I stayed the time till some elder and riper judgement might have acquitted me from this presumption. For as I wished all honour, bounded within sobriety, to the name of my living master; so this to his memory being dead, that these last accomplishments of our christian humanity towards him, might have been honoured both with the presence and pains of some honourable person. And that amongst other his felicities, it might have been one more which Alexander pronounced at the tomb of Achilles, when he put a garland about his statue, or pillar, O te foelicem, cui mortuo talis praeco contigerit, O happy Achilles, who being dead haste gotten thee such a trumpeter of thy praises as Homer was. Howbeit, under that name and nature where in it cometh unto me, being imposed, not sought, and rather a burden than either suit or desire of mine, & as an end of my service, which for that virtuous spirits sake, that sometimes dwelled in it, I own to the dead corpse; I have adventured the charged, that whatsoever my wants otherwise be, no man might say I wanted duty. And as one besides, not unwilling to take this advantage, though of a most unhappy and unwelcome time, to seal up my former affections, and to publish to the world what my loss is. It was said of old time, and in some case it may be true, Animo dolent●, nihil oportet credere, that a man should never believe a grieved or troubled mind. I think the contrary: animo dolenti magis oportet credere, a man should rather believe a mind in the grief thereof. And it is the best excuse for my bold endeavours at this time, that being no stranger either to his death, the eyes of whose body (and under God of mine own hope) I holp to close up▪ either to that sorrow which his death hath divided amongst us his scattered flock, I am able to say that by my hearing, which others but by hearsay, and with a tongue fired at the altar of my heart, quickened and enlived, I mean, from the sense of that inward sorrow which I have conceived. I have laid the foundation of my speech from the words of the Psalm; Put not your trust in Princes, nor in any son of man, for there is no help in him etc. 1 Princes are an honourable calling, but they are the sons of men. 2 The sons of men are creatures not far inferior to Angels, but there is no help in them. 3 There is no help in them, because not only their puissance and strength, but also the very breath of their nostrils departeth. 4 When their breath is departed, they are not placed amongst the stars, but return to their earth. 5 Their devises are not canonised and kept for eternity, for their thoughts perish. You see the first and the last, highest and lowest of all the sons of Adam. They may be made honourable, Princes, but they are borne sinful, the sons of men, borne weak, there is no help in them, borne mortal, their breath departeth, borne corruptible, they return to their earth, and lastly, th●t mortality and corruption is not only in their flesh, but in some part or remnant of their spirits, for their thoughts perish. The Prophet (if you mark it) climbeth up by degrees to the disabling of the best men amongst us, and in them of all the rest. For if Princes deserve not confidence, the argument must needs hold by comparison, much less meaner men. The order of the words is so set, that the members following are evermore either the reason or some confirmation to that that went before. Trust not in Princes, Why? because they are the sons of men. Why not in the sons of men? because there is no help in them. Why is there no help in them? because when their breath goeth forth, they turn again to their earth. What if their flesh be corrupted? Nay their thoughts also come to nothing. For first, Trust not in princes. this first order and rank which the Prophet hath here placed, the Princes and GOD'S of the earth, are, by birth men; secondly weak men, and such in whom no help is; thirdly, not only weak, but dying, their breath goeth out; fourthly, not only dying, but subject to dissolution, they turn to the earth; fiftelye, if only their bodies were dissolved, and their intendmentes or acts might stand, there were less cause to distrust them; but their thoughts are as transitory as their bodies. Chrysostome deriveth it thus. Trust not in Princes, either because they are men, or because helpless, or because mortal, or because corruptible, both in the frames of their bodies, and in the cogitations of their hearts, or lastly, Si dicendum est aliquid mirabile, if a man may speak that which the world may justly wonder at, Trust not in Princes even for this very cause because they are Princes, and in least safety themselves. Mihi crediti mori malem quam imp●●re. Oath. O happy governors (sayeth one) if they knew their miseries, more unhappy if they know them not. Tam ille timere cogitat quàm timeri, it was Cyprians judgement of one in government, that he hath as great cause to fear as to be feared. The authority or pre-eminence of Princes amongst men is great: if the king say kill, they kill; if spare, they spare: and, but that it is the ordinance of GOD, a thing which his own right hand hath planted, not possible to stand: for they may all say, It is thou that subduest my people under me; and their promotion cometh neither from the East, nor from the West, Psal. 144. nor from the suffrages of the people, nor from the line of their ancient progenitors, nor from the conquest of their sword, but from the Lord of hosts. GOD telleth Cyrus, Esay the five and fortieth, his servant, his anointed, to whom he had opened the doors of the kingdom, and whose hand he held, I have called thee by thy name, and surnamed thee▪ though thou hast not known me. I find it noted upon that place, that his name was Spaco before, which by the testimony of Herodotus and justine, in the language of the Medes signifieth a dog: but God changed that name, and called him Coresch, or Cirus, which in the Persian language soundeth a Lord. job in his own person describeth the state of Princes and rulers: job. 29. That when he went out of the gate, to the seat of judgement, the young men saw him and hid themselves, the aged arose and stood up, the princes stayed their talk, and laid their hands upon their mouths; when the ear heard him, it blessed him, and when the eye saw him, it gave witness unto him: after his words they replied not, and his talk dropped upon them, and they waited for him as for the rain: neither did they suffer the light of his countenance to fall to the ground. This is the reason that men are so willing to seek the face of the ruler: for, being in the highest places, they are able to gratify their followers with highest pleasures. They that have power are called benefactors, Luke 22. Elizaeus asked the woman of Shunem, 2. Kings 4. in whose house he had lodged, what he might do for her is there any thing for thee to be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the host? as the greatest remuneration that his heart could then think upon. Now, as their port and presence is very glorious upon the earth, so neither is it permanent, and whilst it hath being, it is daily assaulted both with domestical and foreign dangers. He that created great lights, a greater to rule the day and a less the night, he hath also created great rulers on the earth, some to be Emperors, some kings, some subordinate governors, some in Continents, some in islands, some in provinces etc. And as he shall change the glory of the former, that the sun shall be darkened and lose his shining, and the moon shall be turned into blood; so he shall stain the beauty of the latter, and lay their honour in the dust, and those that have been clothed in purple, may hap to embrace the dunghill. He saith in the Psalm, Psalm. 82. I have said that ye are Gods, and the children of the most High, but ye shall die like men▪ and f●ll like the rest of the princes▪ It is a prerogative that God hath▪ to call things that are not as if they were: but if they themselves shall take upon them to be Gods when they are but men, the Lord will quickly abase them. Zenacharib is in his ruff for a time, Esa. 37. where is the King of H●math? and the King of Arpad? (Kings which he had destroyed) and have the Gods of the nations delivered their clients and orators out of my hands? and Hezechias, let not thy God deceive thee: proud challendges. But a man might soon have asked him, where is the King of Assur? and hath Nisroch the God of Assyria delivered Zenacharib himself out of the hands of God? and Zenacharib, let not thy God deceive thee; nay take heed that thine own sons deceive thee not: thy bowels, thy flesh and bones shall murder thee, where thou art most devout. Herod is content at the first to admit the persuasion of the people, the ●oice of God, not of man: Act. 1●. but as he received his glory and pride in a theatre, so his shame and downfall in a theatre; the people shouted not so fast in his ears, but another people sent from God, gnaweth as fast within his bowels, and maketh him alter the stile of his oration; I that but lately was called a God, Qui modò immortalis vocabar etc. Euseb. and thought to be immortal by you, am now going to my death. But take them in their happiest and fortunatest courses, both kings and kingdoms; as they have their beginnings and their full strength, so they have their climacterical & dangerous years, (as he spoke of France) so also their periods and determinations. La nove. And these are the lots they must all draw in their courses, as I have found them recited, regnabo, regno, regnavi, sum sine regno, I shall reign, I do reign, I have reigned, I have now done reigning. Surely, those that are good princes indeed, whose thrones are established with mercy & judgement, they have need daily & hourly to be commended unto God; Good luck have ye with your honour, we wish you prosperity: O Lord give thy judgements unto the King, and thy righteousness unto the King's son: send them help from thy sanctuary, and strengthen them out of Zion; for their honour is dearly bought, they drink wormwood in a cup of gold, they lie in a bed of Ivory, Timeo incustoditos aditus, timeo ipso● custodet Tiber●us. trimmed with carpets of Egypt, but over their heads hangeth a naked sword, the point down ward, by a small horse-hair threatening their continual slaughter. They might all pronounce, but that they are strengthened with the arm of God, of their honourablest rob, and ensign of their majesty, O nobilem magis quàm foelicem pannum, Stob. ser. 47. O rather noble than happy garment; if men did thoroughly know, how many disquietments, dangers, and miseries it is replenished with, if it lay upon the ground before their face, they would hardly take it up. That which seemeth high to others, is steep and headlong to them. Quae alii● excelsa videnter, ips●● praeruptae sunt. Sen●●. Isboseth never wanteth a man in his own camp, nor Elah a servant in his own house, nor David a son from his own loins, besides Doegs', and Shemeis, and Achitophel's, wicked counsellors, blasphemous railers, traitorous spies, to do them mischief. To conclude therefore, our duty to princes is not confidence and faith in them, but faithfulness and obedience towards them. Give unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, give him tribute, custom, honour, fear, serve him with your fields and vineyards for his maintenance, with your lives, and the lives of your sons for his defence; & pray for the life of Nabuchodonozor or the king of Babylon, Baruch. and of Balthasar his son, that their days may be as the days of heaven upon the earth. This the Apostle requireth of us, 1. Tim. ●. that prayers and supplications be made for all men, namely & especially for kings, and all that are in authority: and that we be subject, one saith, to the creature or constitution of man, another saith, to the ordinance of God, 1. Pet. 2. Rom. 13. Ibid. because God hath ordained it by the hands of man; whither it be to the king or his officer, higher or lower; One saith, for conscience sake, another, for the lords sake, because conscience is then assured, when it goeth after his direction. This is their right: but that confidence which my text speaketh of, belongeth only to the hope of Israel, & to him is fully reserved. Will you know a farther reason to exclude both princes and all others who have their dwellings with mortal flesh, Not in any son of man. Augustine. from this affiance of ours? they are the sons of men. I except but one: in uno filio hominis salus, in one, and that only son of man there was salvation: not because he was merely the son of man, but the son of God also. Amongst those that were begotten of women, there never arose a greater than john Baptist: yet he told his disciples that clave unto him, Non sum. I am not he, and sent them away unto a greater, and pointed at him with his finger, Behold the lamb of God. When Cornelius fell down at the feet of Peter to worship him, Acts the tenth, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Act. 1●. Peter took him up and answered, I myself am also a man. When the priest of jupiter brought bulls and garlands to sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas, it set them in a passion, they rend their clothes, and ran in amongst the people, crying and saying, O men, why do ye these things, for we are also men subject to the like passions that ye be. They might have added for further explication sake, that which is written Esay the second, Cease from the man whose breath is in his nostrils, for wherein is he to be esteemed? and in the 51. of the same prophecy, Who art thou that thou shouldest fear a mortal man, and the son of man that shall be made like grass? and a little before. The moth shall devour him like a garment, and the worm devour him like will, Jbid. but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation. A man of what condition so ever he be (saith Lactantius) Si sibi credit, hoc est, fi homini credit, if he trust himself, Lib. 3. cap. 3. that is, if he trust man, besides his folly in not seeing his error, he is very arrogant and audicious to challenged that unto himself, which the nature of man is not capable of▪ when the Israelites, Esay 31. waited upon the help of Egypt, trusting in their chariotes because they were many, and their horses because they were strong, God gave them none other answer than this, the Egyptians are men and not God, their horse's flesh and not spirit, and therefore when the Lord shall stretch out his hand, the help shall fall, and he that is helped, and both shall fail together. The nature of man at the first creation, before that lump was soured with the leaven of sin, was full of glory and grace: as God expostulated with David, 2. Sam. ●●. I made thee king over Israel, and if that had been too little, I would have done much more; so man was made king, and put in Lordlike dominion and possession, not over cantons and corners of the world, but over the air, the sea, the earth, and every beast and fish, and feathered foul therein created. All things were made for us: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. 2. Physic. Propter hominem homo deus factus est. for in a manner we are the end and perfection of all things. And if this be to little, God hath yet done more for us. For our sakes were the heavens created, and for our sakes were the heavens bowed, and God was made man to pleasure man: so that all is ours, and we are Christ's, and Christ is Gods. The wise men of the world, who never looked so far into the honours of man as we do, yet evermore advanced that creature above all others. One called him a little world, the world a great man; another a mortal God, God an immortal man; another, all things; because he partaketh the nature of plants, of beasts, and of spiritual creatures. Phavorinus mervailed at nothing in the world besides man, at nothing in man besides his mind. Abdala the Saracen, being asked what he most wondered at upon the stage of this world, answered, man; and Saint Augustine saith that man is a greater miracle than all the miracles that ever have been wrought amongst men. Whatsoever our prerogatives are (as they have been greater in times past, fuimus Troes, we have been Trotanes, and it hath been an happy thing to be borne man,) we cannot now forego our nature, our generation is known to the world, our foundation is in the dust; we were fashioned beneath in the earth, we were brought together to be flesh in our mother's wombs in ten months, Wisd. 7. and when we were borne, we received no more than the common air, and fell upon the earth, which is of like nature. Our father is proved to be an Ammorite, neither Angel nor God, and our mother an Hittite, and we the unclean children of an unclean seed. Let Alexander persuade himself that he was the son of jupiter Hammon, till he see his blood; let Sapor the king of Persia writ himself king of kings, brother to the sun and moon, Rex regum, frater solis et lunae▪ particeps syderum. Nec deus est nec homo. partner with the stars; let the canonists of Rome make a new canon to transfigure their Pope into a new nature, writing him neither God, nor man, but somewhat between both; let Antiochus think to sail upon the mountains, Zenacharib to dry up the rivers with the plant of his foot; let Edom exalt himself like an Eagle, and build his nest amongst the stars, and say in the swelling of his heart, who shall bring me down to the ground? yet, when they have all done, Obadiah. let them look back to their tribe, & their father's poor house, and the pit from whence they were hewn, let them examine their pedigree and descent, and they shall find that they are but the sons of men: and that the Lord hath laid this judgement upon them, man that is borne of a woman hath want of days and store of miseries, I end with that excellent admonition of Scaliger to Cardan: I would ever have thee remember that thou, Exerc. 148. and I, and others, are but men, for if thou knowest what man is, thou wilt easily understand thyself to be nothing. For mine own part, I am not wont to say that we are so much as men, but pieces of man: of all which put together, Parts hominis. Penè minus quàm nihil. There is no help in them. something may be made, not great, but of each of them sundered, almost less than nothing. If you will now learn the reason why you must not trust in the sons of men, there is no help in them: that is not so; for Eve was made an helper to the man: but there is no salvation in them; or salvation there may be, such as it is, for a moment of time, not final, as josuah was a Saviour unto Israel; and salvation of the body, but not of the soul, whereas the salvation of the Lord is never but salvation; for he is the same God, and his years fail not: and it reacheth to all parts, for his arm is not shortened. Pliny observeth in his natural history, Lib. 7. that nature hath given armour and covering to all other living things; shells, crusts, hides, prickles, hairs, feathers, fleeces, scales, Chrysostome addeth, talents, tusks, horns; only man upon his birth day she doth cast forth naked, Hominem ●antùm nudum & nudâ humo na●ali die abiicit ad vagi●um. Hominem solùm sic disposui● ut vir●us ipsius sit deus ipse. and upon the naked ground to weeping and howling. Chrysostome giveth the reason, God hath so disposed of man, that himself might be his only protection. He confessed in the person of all mankind, who saw it experienced in his own, naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I shall return thither again. We hear their beginning and their ending. But say, that in the course of his life, man shall have girded himself with strength, and decked him with majesty, what is he then more than a vain man? For what did it help the children of Canaan that the sons of Anak, Giants of the earth, dwelled amongst them? of whom the children of Israel said, we have seen the sons of Anak there. They were all destroyed by josuah, they and their cities, Deut. 1. josu. 11. Deut. 3. and not one Anakim left in the mountains of Israel and judah. We read of Og the King of Basan, the only remnant of those Giants, that his bed was a bed of iron, the length of it 9 cubits, the breadth 4. after the cubit of a man: yet how often doth the Psalmist sing, he hath slain mighty kings, Sehon king of the Amorites, and Og the king of Basan? What did it profit the Philistines, that the monster Goliath was amongst them? 1. Sam. 17. or the monster himself, that his stature was so huge, his helmet, his greves, his corselet, his shield, all of brass? the staff of his spear like a weaver's beam? he was smitten by a child in comparison, who came with a shepherds staff, and sling in his hand, & a few smooth stones in his skrippe; but (that which was the safest munition of all others) in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel whom he had railed upon. These and the like experiments made him so bold afterwards, that he defied all men, I will not fear what man can do unto me; Psalm. 56. Psalm. 3. Psalm. 27. Psalm. 118. I will not fear for ten thousands of people that shall beset me round about; though an host were pitched against me, my heart should not be afraid; all nations compassed me about, but in the name of the Lord will I destroy them. They have compassed me about, I say, they have compassed me about, but in the name of the Lord shall I destroy them. They came aebout me like Bees, and are extinct even as a fire of thorns, for in the name of the Lord shall I destroy them. The reason is, for thou Lord hast helped me, thou art my strength and my song, thou haste been my deliverance. Exod. 15. Deut. 26. The Lord is a man of war, his name is jehovah: the eternal God is thy refuge, and under his arms thou art for ever, he shall cast out the enemy before thee, and will say, destroy them. The one was the song of Moses after the drowning of Pharaoh and his host; the other a part of his blessing given to the tribes of Israel not long before his death. It was not the sword of Gedeon that overthrew the Madianites, judg. 7. but the sword of the Lord and Gedeon; and therefore he chose rather to give that overthrow by few, than by many, lest Israel might make their vaunt against him and say, my hand hath saved me. Afterwards, when they said to Gedeon, reign thou over us, both thou and thy son, and thy sons son, for thou haste delivered us out the hand of Madian; he answered them, I will not reign over you, neither shall my child reign over you, but the Lord shall reign over you. You hear what our strength is. And for other helps, seek them far and near, they are so weak, that they are not able to change the colour of one hair to our bodies, nor add one cubit to our stature, nor one minute of time to those days which God hath assigned us. Why then do we flatter ourselves that we shall multiply our days as the sand? or what treacle is there at Gilead, what Physician there, that can cure the gout in Asa his legs, or lay a right plaster to the boil of Ezechias, or ease the king of the head which the Shunamites child complained of, or heal a fever, a dropsy, an issue of blood, or any one of a thousand diseases more wherewith the body of man is oppugned, if the Lord instruct and assist him not? I read that Socrates never needed physician in his life time; that Pompey a poet, and a noble man borne, was so sound that he never belched; Anthonia the wife of Drusus never spit, ut perhibent qui de magnis maior a loquuntur, as they say who of great matters use greater words: their times belike were more temperate, and therefore less rheumatic than ours. We desire to have strong bodies, able to do us service in our old age, sed prohibent grandes patinae, but we eat and drink so much that it cannot be. Asclepiades a Physician indented with fortune that if ever he should happen to fall sick, he would no longer be a Physician: E● quid opus Cratero, magnos promittere montes? what need Asclepiades (who with a sudden fall of a ladder prevented sickness, and ended his days,) or Craterus, or any other Physician promise such mountains to himself or others? A Physician is to be honoured with that honour that is due unto him, but of the most High cometh healing; his knowledge lifteth up the head, Eccles. 38. he receiveth gifts of the king, and in the sight of great men he shall be had in admiration, but the Lord hath created the medicines of the earth; the Apothecary maketh a confection, and yet he cannot finish his own work. Let the Physician do his part with an upright and faithful mind, in the sight of God who hath created him, let him not lie to his patiented and thrall, nor draw him into error, as Abraham did Abemelech in saying that Sara was but his sister, when she was his wife; he had well-nigh caused him to sin by that false suggestion: so these may deceive their patientes, and make them the more careless, by telling them that their disease is further of in degree, when it is incorporate into them, and lieth so near to their body (even like a wife) that it may not be severed, when the sick man and his sickness are duo in carne unà, as it were two in one flesh. Some are unskilful in their profession, such as Pliny speaketh of, experimenta per mortes agunt: they kill men to gain experience. And Seneca noteth the like, officiosissimè multos occîdunt, they are very busy to cast many men away. Others are unfaithful, & these in my judgement) are more to be eschewed than the former; evil counsellors, healing the hurts of the people with sweet words, crying peace, peace, all is well, when behold, Annibal is at the gates, death is entered in at the windows and at the doors, and hath taken the fort of the body into her hands. Such are very unlikely to make found bodies, because they come with unsound hearts; and of these is the proverb verified, tituli pharmaca habent, pyxides venena, all their titles, pretences, and promises, are health, health, but their drugs and receits are poison; I mean not so much to the bodies as the souls of men. Trust not in man therefore, neither in his strength, nor in his skill, & fidelity, for there is no help in him. Why no help? His spirit departeth; not only his strength, his health, his agility, His breath departeth, etc. his livelihood; but his breath. I will join the residue of my thxt all in one; nor only his breath, but his flesh, blood, bones, marrow, sinews, arteries, all must go. There is a resolution of his whole substance, his last garment, which is his skin, shallbe pulled of: he hath here no abiding place, Destrahetu● novissimum velamentum cutis. Ad terram suam. nor any state of perpetuity, but returneth; not immediately to heaven, but to the earth; nor to the earth as a stranger unto him, or an unknown place, but to his earth, as his familiar friend & of old acquaintance. Neither is there only an end of these material parts, but part of his inward man also perisheth, so far as his carnal and worldly designments went, which he fancied to himself in his life time. Here is the end of all flesh; they sojourn upon the face of the earth, And then his thoughts perish & their spirit also sojourneth within their bodies. It cometh & returneth as a ttavailer by the way, & stayeth perhaps for an hour, a day, a year, a decade of years, more or less, & then exit spiritus, our breath departeth from us. And God called Abraham, ●xi de terra tua, go out of thy country wherein thou wert borne & bred; so he calleth to our spirits come out of your houses wherein you have long dwelled. There is but one manner of entering into the world, unus in●roitus inumeri exitus. but many ways of going out: we are full of holes, we take water at a thousand breaches; one dieth young, another in a good age, some in their full strength when their breasts are full of milk, some by the hand of God, some by sickness & infirmity, some by violence. The infants of Bethelem are slain in their cradles, Eglon in his parlour, Saul in the field, Isboseth upon his bed, Zenacharib in the temple, joab at the very altar; some die by famine as the cildrens of jerusalem, some by saturity and surfeiting as the children of Sodom, some by bears as the boys that mocked Elizeus, some by lions as the disobedient prophet, some by worms as Herod, some by dogs as Euripides, but Lucian better deserved that death and he also sustained it: The sons and daughters of job, in the midst of their leasting with the fall of an house, Chore & his complices with the opening of the art, the captains and their fifties with fire from heaven, the coals whereof were never blown, Zimri with fire from earth which himself kindled; eosdem penates hahuit & regiam, & rogum, & sepulchrum, as Val. Maximus writeth of Tullus Hostilius who was smitten with lightning, the same house was both his palace, & pile; & grave to be buried in. I add that which is more admirable: Homer died of grief, because he could not answer a riddle which fishermen proposed unto him, Plutar. Sophocles with joy, because in a prize of learning, after long expectation, he got the victory of his adversary, but by one voice. Behold ye despisers' & wonder at the hand of God: you that are in league with death, & make a truce with the grave, you that say to your souls, take thine ease & be at rest for many years, & to morrow shallbe as this day & much better with whom there is nothing but as in the days of Noah, eat drink, marry, until the flood cometh; Seeing that both sorrow & joy are able to kill you, and your life hangeth upon so small a thread, that the least gnat in the air can choke you as it choked a Pope of Rome, a little hair in your milk strangle you as it did a counsellor in Rome, a stone of a raisin stop your breath as it did the breath of Anacreon; put not the evil day far from you, which the ordinance of God hath put so near; remember your Creator in time before the day come wherein you shall say we have no pleasure in them; walk not always with your faces to the East, sometimes have an eye to the West, where the sun goeth down; sit not ever in the prow of the ship, sometimes go to the stern; stand in your watch-towres as the creature doth Rom. 8. and wait for the hour of your deliverance; provide your armies before that dreadful king cometh to fight against you with his greater forces; order your houses before you die, that is, dispose of your bodies and souls, and all the implements of them both; let not your eyes be gadding after pleasure, nor your ear itching after rumours, nor your minds wandering in the fields, when death is in your houses; your bodies are not brass, no● your strength the strength of stones, your life none inheritance, your breath no more than as the vapour and smoke of the chimney within your nostrils, or as a stranger within your gates, coming & going again, not to return any more till the day of final redemption. It is a wonder that there should be need of any such exhortation after so long experience. If we were as Adam was, who never saw the example of any precedent death, Cyprian. de sing. Cleric. we might the more justly be excused: for as Christ spoke in the gospel, of the virtues done in Chorazin & Bethsaida, if the virtues wrought amongst you had been wrought elsewhere etc. So if those innumerable deaths which have been showed amongst us, had been showed in the days of Adam before his fall, he would never have run into that contempt. We know that we must die, and as Calvus spoke againg Vatinius, Factum esse ambitum scitis, et ho● vo● scire omnes sciun● you know that he hath practised ambition, and there is no man but knoweth that you know so much; so we know the certainty of our death, as we know our names, and the joints of our fingers, and yet we regard it not. What are all the cities and towns of the earth, so far as the line thereof is stretched, but humanarum cladium miseranda consepta, Valer. Max. the lamentable pinfoldes of the deaths of men? O pray that the flight & departure of this spirit which must departed, be not upon the sabbath day, in the rest and tranquillity of your sins, nor in the winter and frost of your hard hearts, nor in the midnight of your security when you least look for it. Woe worth the man whom the Lord when he cometh shall find sleeping. I say the untimely fruit is better than that man, & it had been good for that man if he had never been borne: the thieves shall break through his house, the dangerous thieves of the soul, Satan & his Angels, spiritual wickedness shall rob not his coffers, but his conscience of a treasure which he had, but lost with carelessness. The bridegroom shall come by with a noise, but behold, his light is out, his oil spent, that is, both his matter & opportunity of well-doing is gone, & he cannot supply either by borrowing or by by buying, though he would give his heart blood for it. What shall become of him, but that he shall knock at the gates of heaven while those gates are standing, & cry upon the Lord while he hath his being, to no purpose? The instruction serveth us all. For the prophet was willed to cry, Esa. 40 that those which were farthest of from hearing the sound and believing the report of the voice, might be made partakers of it, All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof as the flower of the field. And to show how strange it seemed unto him, that any should be ignorant of their mortal condition, and strangers in jerusalem (as the disciple spoke to Christ, Luke 24.) or rather in the world, not knowing the things which ordinarily come to pass, from the first creation, till time shall be no more▪ he continueth his cry: Know ye nothing? have ye not heard it? hath it not been told you from the beginning? Have ye not learned it from the foundations of the earth? That it is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants in comparison of him are but grasshoppers? That he maketh the Princes of the earth as nothing and the judges as vanity? as though they were never planted never sown, and their stock had taken no root upon the earth? For he doth but blow upon them, and they whither, and the whirlwind taketh them away like straw. Statutum est omnibus semel mori, Hebr. 9 It is appointed unto all men once to die, nay twice to die; (Moriendo mortar is, God threatened Adam, that he should die the the death,) so the Apostle here saith, first death, and afterwards judgement, If we look into it. But the statute touching the former branch shall never be repealed, till destruction be thrown into the lake of fire, and it be fulfilled which the Apostle hath revealed unto him, Mors non erit ultra, death shall be no more. Let us take heed therefore, Revel. 21. lest whilst we are careful to do all other things in time, to set our trees, ●ow our fields, gather our fruits, we lose or lay up in the napkin of security, and bury in the earth of forgetfulness, the most precious talon of time committed unto us, in the ordering and framing of our lives to salvation, as if nothing were viler unto us than ourselves. Let us beware to offer the dregs of our life, to him that inspired it, lest we drink the dregs of his anger. If we wish with Balaam, that our latter ends may be like the ends of the righteous, let us not be negligent to fashion our beginnings & middles like theirs. Vita brevi● ar● l●nga. Let us 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 trodden in a short time. Astronomers say, that the space between heaven & earth if one should climb unto it by ladders, is nine hundredth thousand miles: but the distance whereof I speak, between corruption and incorruption, mortality and immortality, wretchedness and glory; can by no measure be comprehended He returneth to the earth Deut. 28. Let the proud by name remember that they must turn to the earth which now they set their feet upon. Rather those tender and dainty women, that never adventure to set the soul of their foot upon the ground, but as if the face of the earth were not provided for the daughters of men, they must be always carried like the fowls of the air between heaven and earth; Let them remember, that the earth shall set her foot upon their heads, and their lips shall kiss the dust of the ground, and the very gravel and slime of the grave shall dwell between their haughty eyelids. Why do they kill the prophets ●nd build up tombs? kill their souls and garnish their bodies? Do they forethink what shall become of them? when after all their labour & cost bestowed, in whiting & painting the outward walls, there remaineth nothing but putidum & putridum cadaver, ● stinking and rotten carcase? when; though now they say to their sisters in the flesh, Touch me not, I am of purer mould than thou art, yet the bones of Agamemnon and Thersites, shallbe mingled together, of Vashti the most beautiful Queen, and the blackest Egyptian bondwoman, shall not be found asunder? I have not leisure to say much unto our proud dust and ashes. But if purple and fine linen were an opprobrious note (for lack of an inward clothing) to the rich man in the gospel, if that parable were to be written in these days, purple & fine linen, were nothing. And what the burdens & carriages of pride in the age of Clemens Alexandrinus were, I know not: but if it were a wonder to him, that they killed not themselves under those burdens, Mihi mirabi●e fi● quòd non enec●ntur, cum t●ntum onus b●iulent. 2 Paedag▪ I am sure, if the measure were then full, it is now heaped upon the highest, and shaken together and pressed down again. We are mad to forget nature. Adam hath wisdom to call all the beasts of the field by their proper names, but he forgetteth his own name, that he was called Adam, & that there is an affinity between the earth and him. For he shall return to the earth, his earth. He was not made of that substance whereof the Angels and stars, His earth. no not of that matter whereof the air and the water, inferior creatures. The earth was the womb that bred him, and the earth the womb that must receive him again. For let him play the Alchemist while he will, and strive to turn earth into silver and gold and pearls, by making show to the world, under his glorious adornations, that he is of some better substance, yet the time is not far of, that the earth shall challenged him for her natural child, and say, he is my bowels. Neither can his rich apparel so disguise him in his life time, nor fear-clothes, spices and balms, so preserve him after his death, nor immuring stone or lead, hide him so close, but that his original mother will both know him again, and take him into her possession. Let the covetous also remember this. Nature shall as narrowly examine them, at their going out, as at their first entering. Excutit redeunt●m naturae, sicu● intrantem▪ Senec. They brought nothing with them into this world, but skin over their teeth, and over the other parts of their body, and it is as certain, they shall carry away nothing. They join house to house, field to field, by disjoining the companies and societies of men, they will dwell alone upon the earth, & leave the inheritance of the world to their babes after them. And as they were happy commonweals heretofore, wherein these speeches Mine & Thine were lest heard, so are we fallen into these unhappy and unrighteous days, wherein there is small care taken, what communities be overthrown, and dispersed, so all may accrue to a few Lords. Socrates' carried Alcibiades, bragging of his lands, to a map of the world, and bade him demonstrate where his land lay. He could not espy it, for Athens itself, was but a small thing. I will not deal so sparingly with you, ye rich men of this world; (for the Apostle distinguisheth you, to show that there are both riches, and a world to come:) I will tell you where your land lieth, Nonné telluris ●res tan●ùm cubiti te expectant? Basil. and what is truly mine and thine, and belonging to every man. So much measure of ground, to the length and breadth of your bodies as may serve to bury them in, or so many handfuls of dust as your bodies go into after their consumption. This is terra mea, & terra sua, & terra vestra, my earth, and his earth, and your earth, & more than this we cannot claim. Therefore as the son of Sirach asked the proud, Quid superbis terra & c●●is? so I the covetous, quid concupiscis terra & cinis? Why dost thou covet, earth and ashes? when if it were possible for thee, to possess as much ground as ever the devil showed unto the son of GOD from that high mountain, yet in the end thou shalt be driven from all this, as the people of Canaan were driven from that land, which they thought their everlasting inheritance, and thou must betake thyself to thine own earth, to that little quantity and rod of ground which nature hath proportioned unto thee. Ecce vix totam Hercules Implevit uruam, Behold, great and victorious Hercules, the subduer of the monsters of the world, when he was dead, and his body resolved into ashes, scarcely filled an earthen pitcher. Amongst other thy purchases, forget not to buy a field (as Abraham did) to bury thy dead in; a potter's field, such as they had at jerusalem, bought with the price of blood wherein thy bones and the bones of thy sons and nephews may be bestowed His thoughte● perish. Now the thoughts of man are endless. Above all things, man hath an unfaithful heart, saith the Prophet, as deep as the sea, who can find it out? I leave it to the searcher of all hearts to examine. The ambitious hath his thoughts, as large as hell, such as Pyrrhus had, from Macedon to Greece, from Greece to Italy etc. The voluptuous his thoughts, let us eat and drink. Better is a living dog than a dead lion. The malicious his thoughts, who will give me of his flesh to eat? jam. 4. The covetous his thoughts; soul, take thy rest: to day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and there continue a year, and buy and sell, and gain. Such are the purposes and supposals of men minding earthly things. But the Lord knoweth the thoughts of men that they are but vanity. I would they were not gross impiety. And they imagine such counsels as they are not able to bring to pass, Psal. 94. Psal. 19 Cyprian. for their thoughts perish. Plus proficitur cum in rem praesentem venitur, there is more good done by one example than by many precepts. Perhaps I have told you a tale as to men a sleep, and now I have done, you ask me what is the matter? This is the matter, if there were none other explication, the present spectacle before your eyes is the example of this precept, the life of this letter; & this precept the sentence or moral of this spectacle. For if you will ask me of the person proposed to your view what he was, surely he was a Prince, & a great state of the land, and I may say of him as David said of Abner, hoa●e princeps cecidit in Israele, this day is there a chief man fallen in England. If you demand further what he was by generation, I answer, one of the sons of men. If, what by impotency and imperfection; unable to help either himself or others, there is no salvation in him▪ If, whither he were mortal or no; yea. for his spirit is departed from him. If, what becometh of his body; you see▪ we have brought it to the earth, and thither 〈◊〉 must return. If, what of his mind; his thoughts are also gone. Lastly, if you will know the use, & take an advice and counsel out of all these, put not your trust in him, nor in any the like frail & mutable creatures. Blessed is the man whose help is in the Lord, Non ●lle homo, aut ille homo, non ille angelus, aut ille ange●u, not this man, or that man, Augustine. not this Angel nor that Angel, but the God of jacob the Lord of hosts which made heaven & earth, the sea and all that therein is, and keepeth his promise for ever. He that not long since, was a glorious tree amongst us, like the Cedar of Libanus, & his boughs were a shadow to these North parts, hath had the message of the Lord by his angel accomplished upon him, hue down the tree; and there is but a stump left, a remnant of that substance now to be hid and buried in the earth, till the daie-spring from an high, the light of God's countenance shall again visit it. Do you doubt of the fall of Princes? handle, & see his body that here lieth, examine his nostrils if there be any breath in them his eyes, if they have any sight, his cheeks, if any colour, his veins, if any warm blood; and then believe (as the Samaritans did) not because of my word, but because yourselves are witnesses unto it. And as his body in life hath given you many an instruction; so let his dead & breathless corpse, add one more unto you of common & unevitable mortality. It hath been the manner of ancient times to commend their dead; rather to testify their good affection, & bemoan their loss, & to hold out the lamp of their virtuous lives to others left alive, than to gratify the deceased. 2. Sam. 1. 2 Sam. 3. 2. King. 2. In Monod. Thus David commended Saul and Abner; Elizaeus Elias; the Apostles those Saints whom the world was not worthy of; Nazianzen Basil, making his followers, in comparison with him for his excellent parts, no more than an Echo to the true voice. Thus Bernard lamented Malachy, complaining that his very bowels were pulled from him, S●r. de transi●u Malach. and he could not but feel the wound. Our Saviour praised the living, john Baptist, the Centurion, Nathanael. Though wisdom itself could not err in judgement, yet it is safer for us to praise the dead than the living, the complement and period of whose days we have seen expired; quando nec laudantem adulatio movet, August. nec laudatum tentat elatio, when neither he that praiseth is moved with flattery, nor he that is praised can be tempted or swell with vain glory. Praise a seaman when he is come to the haven, and praise a warrior when he is brought to his triumph, Lauda navigantem cum perveneri● ad por ●um. Testimonium veritati non amicitiae. ●ern. not before. Such are the dead: whom we should favour generally, if there were none other cause, tantùm quia praecesserunt, only because they have led the way unto us; but those who have been honourable in their life time, we must follow with our amplest testimonies, not of friendship and affection, but of truth, and fulfil the blessing of God upon them, what in us lieth, that the righteous may be had in everlasting remembrance. For mine own part, I come not at this time to give titles to any man either living or dead, contrary to desert, nor to pronounce a sentence with my lips which mine heart gainesaith. I know that the nature of praise is not benigna hominum verba sed judicia, the courteous speech of men but their sound judgements; and the seat of subject thereof, is not the praiser (for then the credit of the just must stand to the mercy of flatterers) but he that is praised: as Pindarus answered one, who told him that he deserved thanks for commending him, Efficio ut vera dicas, the cause is in me not in thyself, that thou speakest truth. According therefore to these rules, I have thought it my duty to break a box of spikenard amongst you, & to fill the house with some part of that sweet perfume, which his good name & memory hath left behind him. In few words, this honourable shadow, presented upon this stage of mortality, and now concluding his last act upon the face of the earth, as he was not great by parentage, so it was his greater commendation that he became great by virtues. Stemmata quid faciunt? Meungenus à me incipit, tuum i● te desinit. ●phicrates. Ancient and noble pedigrees are of little worth, where the line of well-doing continueth not. And it is much more glory to a man to begin the honour of his house, than either to end or not to increase it. What did it profit Cham that he was the son of Noah? or hurt. Chrysost. in illud Math. Pat●em habemus Abrah. Abraham that Thara his father worshipped Gods of clay? or disparaged Timothee, that he was borne in Gentilitye? Ingenuitas non recepit contumeliam, honesty and virtuousness, how base soever the birth be, is free from disgrace. It was no prejudice to Socrates, that his father wrought in Marble, and that his mother was a midwife; to Demosthenes, that his father was a cutler; or Euripides, that his mother sold garden herbs. Tullus Hostilius spent his infancy in a cottage, his youth in keeping sheep, his man's estate in governing the kingdom of Rome, Incunabula Tulli hostilij agreste tugurium cepit. etc. but his old age was so beautified with most excellent gifts, that it reached to the top of highest majesty. Moses though he were hid in a basket of flags, and cast a side amongst bulrushes, yet became a terror to Princes. joseph the son of jacob, who kept sheep for wives, was exalted to be the second ruler of Egypt. Saul sought asses, and David followed the ewes great with young, yet the Lord hath lifted them both out of the dust, and set them amongst the Kings of the earth. It leaveth an encouradgement to those that are left behind, Summos posse viros & magna exempla daturos etc. juvenal. Potest vi● magnu● è casa exir●. that most rare men, and able to bequeath to the world great examples, both of virtue and learning, may be borne of mean parents. For the rest of his life, as Cesar in three words abridged that service of his, veni, vidi, vici, I came, I viewed, I vanquished; so three other words shall sum and comprehend the whole course of it, Academta, Aula, Ecclesia, the University, the Court, and the Church of God. The University tried his learning, The Court his manners, the Church his wisdom. Touching the first as Petrus Chrysologus said, that if in this present life there be any where a paradise, it is either in a Cloister, or in the school: so if there be any where a probation of learning, it is amongst scholars. For popular judgement is very sufficient, satis pauci, satis unus, satis nullus, A few are enough, one enough, none enough, to hear and determine of such matters. Therein how well he proved, let the transplanting of him from college to college, not by chance, or suit of friends, but advised choice, and not only his sittieg at the feet of Gamalael to hear, but his sitting in a chair to teach, be arguments unto us. Bonos recipere magis quàm facer● cons●u●vi●. The manner of a court is rather to take, than to make goodmen. Therefore Bernard admonished Eugenius the Pope, to choose men unto him already approved, V●r●s probaet●s ●portere deligi, non proband●s 4. de Consid. not to be approved after they were come. I will not censure the court of England. The Lord prosper both the root and branches of it, and cause the light of his countenance to shine upon the sun and stars of that firmament. But I am sure, in that Court whilst he lived therein, non fuit unus é multis, he was not a common man for his deserts, and yet for his pains, fuit unus é multis, he made himself a common man, in keeping as orderly and ordinary a course of preaching, as whosoever was most bound to do that service. And as he had an office therein besides to wait upon, so he discharged it with fidelity, not bearing the bag like a thief, but with such uprightness of conscience, that in the sight of GOD and men he might justly purge himself, witness against me if you can, Whom have I ever defrauded? Lastly, the Church had a long experience of his government. He was thrice a Dean, and because he was faithful ●n a little, he was made a ruler over much; for he was thrice also Bishop In the managing of which weighty charges, malice itself spared him. Even that malice which blotted and blemished the names of most of the lights of this land, never accused him. But I call this the least credit of a thousand. One told Menedemus that Alex●us praised him, (an evil man; Plutar. de vitios. veres ) Mendemus answered, but I will never be brought to praise Alexius. Concerning his last service in these his ecclesiastical prefectures, As Paul told the elders of Ephesus Act. 20. You all know from the first hour that I came into Asia etc. so from the first hour that he came into this province, you know his behaviour amongst you at all seasons, how he kept nothing back that was profitable, but taught you openly and throughout every Church, witnessing both to jews and Grecians, Protestants and Papists repentance towards God, & faith towards jesus Christ. Shall I yet draw my speech into a narrower compass? As Paul witnesseth of himself 2. Cor. 12. so he both spent and was spent amongst you. You cannot truly say of him, Ditavimus Abrahamum, we have made Abraham rich, he hath not a shoe-thread, more than he brought at his first coming. He spent. Nihi● ex eâ quod meum diceretur praeter cognomen retuli. Val. Max. P. Scipio being called by the Senate to give an account of his administration in Af●icke, made answer thus for himself. Whereas I have subdued all Afrique to your government, I have brought away nothing therehence, that may be called mine, but only a surname. What hath this reverend Prelate gained and carried away with him by continuing amongst you these many years, save only the name of an archbishop? In the consideration of whose estate, I cannot but remember a speech that Cato used in A. Gellius; I have neither house, nor plate, nor any garment of price in mine hands. If I have any thing I use it; Si quid est quo v●ar, utor: si non ego sum, Vitio vertunt quiae multis 〈◊〉 & ego illis quia neque●unt egere. Lib. 13. Cap. 22. Hieron. if not, I know who I am. The world blameth me for wanting many things; and I them, that they know not how to want. I need not apply the speech. But will you have the reason of all this? Nepotianus noster aurum calcans, schedulas consectatur; Our Nepotian contemned gold and wholly gave himself to follow his study. And I am sure the commendation is that which Bernard gave to Martin in his 4. of consideration: Nun alterius sec●res est transire per terram auri sine auro? Is it not an heavenly disposition, and fit for the other world, to live in a country where a man may be rich, and not gather riches; Now touching the other member of my speech, his travail and pains in his function, he dealt both the gospel of Christ and himself amongst you, whose saying ever was, that which he also took from a famous light of this land, One that was julium sydus, a jewel of his age, where should a preacher die but in the pulpit? Oporte● imperator●m in acie stantem mori, a General must die in the field upon his feet; and surely he thoroughly performed it. For when the infirmity of his body was such, that the least moving and stirring thereof by travail, drew his blood from him, even than he drew out his breasts, and fed you with the milk of Gods most holy word, whereas the Dragons of the wilderness are cruel in their best health, and regard not their young ones. Lastly (which is the last of all, because the end is both trial and perfection, and in this sense, unus dies par omni, One day is as much as all the rest, for it is aterninatalis; the birth day of eternity: and as the tree falleth, Qua●●● exi●ris e● hàc vità. talis redde●● illi vitae. so it lieth, and as we go out of this life, so we shallbe restored to that other) that you may not think he did, as the manner of feasts is, at the beginning set forth good wine, and then that which is worse; or that he kept one hoof back from the full sacrifice, I will shortly repeat unto you, what his end was. Wherein I must use that protestation before, that Seneca somewhere used; Semper citra veritatem & minor est similitudo. Nunquam par fuit imitator authori, There is no equality betwixt one that imitateth and the author himself: and a thing done by way of repetition and rememoration, must needs come short of the truth. Notwithstanding, this I can constantly affirm in general, that all other cares and consultations, which the world might have drawn him unto, laid aside, and not so much as named, he only applied himself to make some profession & promulgation of his faith. Which he rathest chose to do, as the Apostle speaketh Act. 10. not to all the people, but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to us witnesses. then Chaplains in his house, chosen of God, to the same dispensation of the faith, wherein himself had been. His speech was to this effect. I have sent for you, to this end, that before my departure, I might give some testimony of that faith wherein I have hitherto lived, and am now to die. What I have received of the Lord, that I have ever delivered. I have red much, written much, often disputed, preached often, yet never could I find in the book of God any ground for Popery: neither have I known any point of doctrine received in the church of England, that is not consonant unto the word of God. Wherhfore he exhorted me (my colleague being then absent) to continue in that building, wherein I had already laid my foundation; and because I was now his ghostly father (which was the unworthy name, a father bestowed upon me a child in comparison) required that I would not neglect to repair unto him twice or thrice before his ending. I told him, that having often in his life ministered so good comforts to others, he could not want comfort to himself. He granted it; but because omnis homo mendax, (wherein we took his meaning to be, that a man might flatter and beguile himself) therefore he a gain required my resort unto him. I replied, that I thought it the best, and I feared would be the last service, that ever I should do unto him. Howbeit, the comforts which I had to give, I could but power into the outward ears; and that it must be the spirit of God, which inwardly comforteth the conscience. To this his answer was, The spirit of God doth assure my spirit that I am the child of God. I yet proceeded. You have seen long peace, and many good days in Israel, I hope also, shall departed in peace, and leave peace behind you; Neither know I any thing in the world, wherewith your conscience should be troubled. He finally concluded, I die in perfit peace of conscience both with God and man. So he licenced me to departed, not willing (he said) to trouble me any more at that time. Indeed it was the last trouble, that ever in breath he put me unto. For the next entrance I made, was justly to receive his last and deepest gasp. Of whom, what concerneth mine own private estate, I say no more, but as Philip said of Hipparchus being gone; He died in good time for himself, but to me to soon. Sibi maturè, a● mi●i citò. Thus he that was ever honourable in the whole race of his life, was not without honour at his death. For, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. as Sophocles commended Philoctetes, at what time he was killed himself, he killed others gloriously. He fought a good fight both in defence of the faith, and in expugnation of heresies, schisms, seditions, which infested the Church. I call that labour of his, because he made none other at that time, his last will and testament. Wherein the particular legacies which he bequeathed were these. 1. To myself (which I hold more precious than the finest gold) fatherly exhortation to go forward in planting the gospel of Christ which I had begun. 2. To the Papists wholesome admonition to relinquish their errors having no ground in the scriptures. And let them well advise themselves, that at such a time, when there is no cause to suspect favour and partiality to the religion established, no place left to dissemble with God or man, Tanti meriti, tanti pectoris, tanti oris, tantae virtutis episcopu. (as Augustine spoke of Cyprian) so worthy, so wise, so well spoken, so virtuous, so learned a Byshope, gave such counsel unto them. 3. To all the members of the Church of England, unity of soul and heart, to embrace the doctrine authorized. And lastly to himself, peace and rest in the assured mercies of God. This peace he hath plentiful fruition of with the God of peace. For though he seemeth in the eyes of the foolish to be dead, yet is he in peace. And like a true Hebrew, he hath eaten his last passover amongst us, and it is passed from death to life, where with unspeakable joy of heart, he recompteth between himself and his soul, Sicut audivimus, sic et vidimus, As I have heard, so now have I seen and felt in the city of our God; and with the blessed Angels of heaven, and all the congregation of first borne, singeth the song of Moses, a song of victory and thanksgiving, rendering all blessing, honour, glory, & power to him that sitteth upon the throne, and the Lamb that was killed, and that undefiled Spirit which proceedeth from them both, by whom he was sealed up at his death to his everlasting redemption. A SERMON PREACHED IN YORK THE SEVENTEENTH DAY OF NOVEMBER IN THE YEAR OF our Lord 1595. being the Queen's day. Printed at Oxford by joseph Barnes. 1599 2. King. 23, 25. Like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, etc. THE remembrance of josias is like the perfume that is made by the art of the Apothecary, Eccles. 40. it is sweet as honey in all mouths, and as music at a banquet of wine: he behaved himself uprightly in the reformation of the people, and took away all abominations of iniquity: he directed his heart unto the Lord, and in the time of the ungodly he established religion: which to have done in a better season, the zeal of the people, and favour of the time advauntaging him, had been less praise: The land was sown with none other seed save idolatry and iniquity, when he came unto it. For by that which is written of him we may know what he reform. All idolatrous both Priests and monuments, whether Chemarims or black friars, Priests of Baal, of the sun, moon, or planets, though founded and authorized by both ancient and late kings before him; namely in these records, by Solomon, Ahaz, Manasses, jeroboam, together with their high places or valleys, their groves, altars, vessels, wheresoever he found them, either in jerusalem, or judah, in Samaria, or Bethel, in the temple, or in the courts of the temple, upon the gates, or in the king's chambers, not sparing the bones of the Priests either living or dead, but raking them out of their graves, besides the impure Sodomites and their houses, soothsayers and men of familiar spirits; he destroyed, defiled, cut down, burnt to ashes, bet to powder, threw into the brook, and left no sign of them. He followed both a good rule and a good example. His rule is here specified, 2. King's ●3. according to all the law of Moses: his example in the chapter before, he did uprightly in the sight of the Lord, an● walked in all the ways of David his father, and bowed neither to the right hand nor to the left. He was prophesied of three hundred years & upward, before his birth: a rare & singular honour, that both his name should be memorable after his death, as here we find it, and written in the book of GOD before ever his parts were fashioned. His acts are exactelye set down in this and the former Chapters: and in the second of Chronicles and four and thirtieth, upon the recital whereof is this speech brought in by way of an Epiphoneme or acclamation, advancing josias above all other kings, and setting his head amongst the stars of God. The testimony is very ample which is here given unto him, that for the space almost of five hundred years, from the first erection of the kingdom to the captivity of Babylon under the government of 40. kings of judah and Israel, there was not one found who either gave or took the like example of perfection. In the catalogue of which kings, though there were some, not many virtuous and religious, (David, Solomon, Asa, jehosaphat, jehu, joash, Amasia, jothan, Hezekias) yet they have all their stains, & their names are not mentioned without some touch. The wisdom, honour, riches, happiness of Solomon every way, were so great, 1. King. 10. that the Queen of Saba worthily pronounced of him, Blessed be the Lord thy God which loved thee etc. Will you know his blemish? but Solomon loved many outlandish women, and they brought him to the love of many outlandish Gods: so he is noted both for his corporal & spiritual whoredoms. Asa, the son of Abiam did right in the eyes of the Lord as did David his father 1. King. 15. his heart was upright with the Lord all his days, he put down Maachah his mother for idolatry? The bitter herb that marreth all this, is, but he put not down the high places. jehosaphat did well, he walked in all the ways of Asa his father, & declined not therfrom, but did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, 1. Kin. 22. nevertheless the high places were not taken away. jehu did well, God gave him this testimony 2. King. 10. because thou haste diligently executed that which was right in mine eyes, therefore shall thy sons unto the fourth generation sit on the seat of Israel: but jehu regarded not to walk in the ways of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart. Amafiah did well, he did uprightly in the sight of the Lord, 2. King. 14. yet not like David his father. David himself so much renowned as the principal pattern of that royal line to be imitated by them; yet hath a scar upon his memory, he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and turned from nothing that he commanded him all the days of his life, 1. King. 15. thus far good, save only in the matter of Vriah the Hittire. Only josias is without spot or wrinkle, like unto him was there no king. And as in the number of bad kings, Rehoboam did ill, jeroboam worse; for he sinned and made Israel to sin: but Omri worse than all that went before him, 1. King. 16. & yet Ahab worse than all before him in the same place; so in the number of the good, though Solomon did well, & jehosaphat perhaps better, & David best of all, yet josias is beyond the whole company which either went before or came after him. Like unto him was there no king. It had been a great praise to josias, to have had none better than himself: to have matched the virtues and godliness of his progenitors; but he is better than they all, though they all were equal in dignity and authority, and had power in their hands, and counsel by their sides; yet were they inferior unto him in the care of God's service. To have compared him with Manasses his grandfather, or Amon his father who went next before him, and whose steps he declined, contrary to the manner of children, (for who would have thought when Manasses did ill, and worse than the Amorites, and Amon no better, that josias would not have followed them?) or to have matched him with a few, & given him pre-eminence within some limited time, say for an age, or two, or three, had sufficiently magnified him. But all times examined, chronicles and records sought out, the lives and doings of kings narrowly repeated, josias hath the garland from them all, the paragon to all that went before him, and a prejudice to as many as came after him. The reason is, Who turned because he turned. His father & grandfather went awry, they ran like Dromedaries in the ways of idolatry, but josias pulled back his foot. David turned to his armed men & strength of soldiers, To the Lord. Solomon to the daughters of Pharaoh & Moab, Rehoboan to his young counsellors, jeroboam to his golden calves, Ezechias to the treasures of his house, (contrary to the word of the Lord, Deut. 17. he shall not provide him many horses, neither shall he take him many wives, neither shall he gather him much silver and gold:) Some had even sold themselves to work wickedness, & had so turned after the lusts of their own hearts, that they asked who is the Lord? but josias turned to the Lord, the only strength of Israel, as to the Cynosure and lodestar of his life, as that which is defective & maimed to his end & perfection, as to his chiefest good, as to the soul of his soul, as to his centre and proper place to rest in. They said like harlots, we will go after our lovers that give us bread and water, & wool & flax; but josias as a chaste and advised wife, Osee 2. I will go and return to my first husband. The manner & measure of his turning to the Lord was with all his heart, & withal his soul etc. With all his heart etc. You seem to tell me of an Angel of heaven, not of a man that hath his dwelling with mortal flesh: and that which God spoke in derision of the king of Tyrus, is true in josias, thou art that anointed Cherub; for what fault is there in josias? Ezech. 28. or how is he guilty in the breach of any the least commandment of the law, which requireth no more than is here performed? Lest you may think josias immaculate and without spot, which is the only privilege of the son of GOD, know that he died for sin, because he consulted not with the mouth of the Lord, he was therefore slain at Megiddo by the king of Egypt. But that which was possible for flesh & blood to do, in an unperfect perfection, & rather in habit than act, endeavour than accomplishment, or compared with his forerunners & followers, & not in his private carriage so much as in his public administration, in governing his people, and reforming religion, all terrors & difficulties in so weighty a cause as the change of religion is (for change itself bringeth a mischief) all reference to his forefathers, enmity of the world, love to his quiet set apart, he turneth to the Lord with all his heart etc. So doth the law of love require: God is a jealous God, & cannot endure rivals; he admitteth no division and par●ing between himself & Baal, himself & Mammon, himself and Melchon, his Christ & Beliall, his table, & the table of devils, his righteousness & the world's unrighteousness, his light and hellish darkness. I say more, he that forsaketh not, I say not Baal & Mammon, & Melchom, & Beliall, but father, mother, wife, brethren, sisters, lands, life, for his sake, loveth not sufficiently. For as God himself ought to be the cause why we love God, so the measure of our love ought to be without measure: Causa diligendi deum, deus est, modus, sine modo diligere. Bern. tract. de dilig. Deo. Min●● te amat qui tecum aliquid amat. Aug. in solil●q. For he loveth him less than he should, who loveth any thing with him. What? not our wives, children, friends, neighbours, yea and enemies to? Yes, but in a kind of obliquity; our friends, and the necessaries of this life in God as his blessings, our enemies for god as his creatures so that whatsoever we love besides God, may be carried in the stream of his love; our love to him going in a right line, and as a direct sunbeam bend to a certain scope, our love to other, either persons or things, coming as broken & reflexed beams from our love to God. You see the integrity of josias in every respect, a perfect anatomy of the whole man; every part he had consenting to honour God: and that which the Apostle wished to the Thessalonians, 1. Thes. 5. that they might be sanctified throughout, and that their whole spirit, soul and body might be kept blameless unto the coming of jesus Christ, their spirit as the reasonable and abstract part, their soul as the sensual, their body as the ministerial and organical, is no way wanting in josias. For whatsoever was in the heart of josias, which ●yra upon the sixth of Deut. & S. Augustine in his first book of Christian Learning expound the will, because as the heart moveth the members of the body, so the will inclineth the parts of the soul; whatsoever in his soul, understanding, & sense, which Mat. 22. is helped with another word, for there is soul & mind both; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. whatsoever in his strength for outward attempt & performance, all the affection of his heart, all the election of his soul, all the administration of his body, the judgement & understanding of the soul as the Lady to the rest, prosecution of his will, excecution of his strength; he wholly converteth it to show his service and obedience to almighty God. Bernard in a sermon of Loving God, & in his 20. upon the Canticles, expoundeth those words of the law thus, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, that is, kindly, & affectionately; Dulciter. affectuos●. ●r●denter▪ fortiter, constanter, etc. with all thy soul, that is, wisely & discreetly; with all thy might, that is, steadfastly & constantly. Let the love of thy heart inflame thy zeal towards 〈◊〉, let the knowledge of thy soul guide it, let the constancy of thy might conform it. Let it be fervent, let it be circumspect, let it be invincible. Lastly, the rule which he fasteneth his eye upon, was the law of Moses, According to all the law. and the whole law of Moses; other rules are crooked and 〈◊〉, this only is strait: & as many as mind to please God, must 〈◊〉 themselves wholly to be directed thereby, not turning either to the right hand or to the left. This history considered, I pray you what hindereth the commandment & government of the king both in causes and over persons of the church? For 1. in the building of the temple, See the 2. of King. 22. & 23. and the 2. of Chron. 34. and 35. josias giveth direction both to Shaphan & Hilkiah what should be done: 2. the book of the law is presented unto him; he commandeth both the priests & princes to inquire of Huldah the prophetess about it; he weary, & rendeth his clothes as the principal person whom that danger & care doth principally concern: 3. he assembleth all the people both in judah & jerusalem, the Chronicles add jerusalem & Benjamin & all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel, throughout his whole dominion, both small & great, elders, priests, prophets, levites, both laity & Clergy: 4. he readeth the law in the house of the Lord: 5. he maketh a covenant himself: 6. taketh a covenant of the people to keep it: 7. he causeth all to stand unto it, 2. Ch. 34. & compelleth all in Israel to serve the Lord: 8. he ordaineth & holdeth a passover, the like whereof was never seen since the day of the judges, nor in all the days of the Kings of Israel, & the kings of judah, & he appointeth the priests to their charges 2. Chr. 35. & chandgeth the office of the levites, that they should not bear the ark any more; so the priests stood in their places, also the levites in their orders, juxta regis imperium, according to the commaundemnt of the king: 9 in the purdging of Idolatry, & removing those swarms of idolatrous priests, with all their abominable service, he commandeth Hilkith the high priest, & the priests of the second order to do thus or thus. Mean while, the levite, the priest, the prophet, are not wronged by the king in their callings. The king doth the office of a king in commanding, and they their offices in administering. He readeth the book of the covenant, (doubtless in person) and in the house of the Lord, but he standeth not on a pulpit of wood made for preaching, to give the sense of the law, and to cause the people to understand it: for that belongeth to Ezra the Priest & to the Levites, Neh. 8. Again, he causeth a passover to be held, but he neither killeth the passover, nor prepareth the people, nor sprinkleth the blood, nor flayeth the breast, nor offereth burnt offerings: for all this he leaveth to the sons of Aaron, yet is nothing done but juxta praeceptum regis josiae, according to the commandment of king josias. Moreover, the book of the Lord was his counsellor and instructor in all this reformation. For so is the will of God, Deuteronomie the seventeenth, that a book of the law should be written to lie by the king, to read therein all the days of his life, that he might learn to fear the Lord his God, and to keep all his laws. And in a matter of scruple he sendeth to Huldah the prophetess to be resolved by her: and she doth the part of a prophetess, though to her king & liege Lord, tell the man that sent you unto me, thus saith the Lord, behold, I will bring evil upon this place, 2. King. 22. By this it is easy to define, if the spirit of peace be not quite gone from us, a question unnecessary to be moved, dangerous and costly to Christendom, (the trial whereof hath not lain in the ends of men's tongues, but in the points of sword; and happy were these Western parts of the world, if so much blood already effused, so many Emperors, Kings, Princes defeated, deprived, their lives by poison, by treason, and other undutiful means under-mined, their state deturbed & overthrown, might yet have purchased an end thereof; but the question still standeth, and threateneth more tragedies to the earth,) Wither the king may use his authority in ecclesiastical causes & persons? Who doubteth it, that hath an ear to hear the doings of josias? He is the first in all this business; his art, faculty, profession, authority, immediate & next unto God, held from him in capite: not derived from beneath, is architectonical, supreme, Queen & commander of all other functions & vocations; not reaching so far as to decree against the decrees of God, to make laws contrary to his law, to erect sacraments or service fight with his orders, nor to ●surpe priestly & prophetical offices, nor to stop the mouths of prophets, and to say unto them prophecy not right things: but having the book of the law to direct him, himself to direct others by that rule, and as the Priests instruct, the prophets admonish him in his place, so himself to appoint and command them in their doings. What should I trouble you? josias as their Lord, master and king 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, assembleth, commandeth, causeth, compelleth, buildeth, pulleth down, planteth, rooteth up, killeth, burneth, destroyeth. What doth Hilkiah in all this but obey? though higher than all the priests because he was the high priest, yet lower than I●sias. Or what doth Huldah the prophetess, but pronounce the word of the Lord, her person, possessions, family, liberty, life, all that she had, being otherwise at the king's commandment? So let Samuel tell Saul of his faults, Nathan tell David of his, Ahia jeroboam, Elias & Micheas Ahab, Elizeus jehoram, jeremy Zedekias, john Baptist Herod, Ambrose Theodosius, and all Christian Bishops and priests their princes offenders. The state of the question (me seemeth) is very significantly laid down in that speech of Constantine the Emperor to his Bishops, you are Bishops within the church, and I a Bishop without the church. Vo● intra ecclesiam episcopi, ego extra ecclesia. Euseb. de vita Const. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Heb. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. 1. Thess. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. They in the proper and internal offices, of the word, sacraments, ecclesiastical censures, & he for outward authority and presidence; they as over seers of the flock of Christ, he an overseer of overseers; they as pastors and fathers, he as a master and Lord to command their service; they rulers and superiors in their kind, but it is rather in the Lord, than that they are Lords over God's inheritance; and their rule is limited to the soul, not to the body, and consisteth in preaching the word, not in bearing the sword: but he the most excellent, having more to do than any man. Lastly, to them is due obedience and submission rather offered by their charges than enforced; to the other a subjection compelling & ordering the people whither they will or no. I will draw the substance of mine intended speech to these two heads: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. 1. That the greatest honour and happiness to kings is to uphold religion: 2. That the greatest dishonour and harm to religion is to pull down kings. The former I need not stand to prove: they are happy realms in the midst whereof standeth not the capitol, The honour of kings is to uphold religion. but the temple of the Lord. If this lie waste, unfurnished, unregarded, and men be willing to cry, the time is not yet come, that the house of the Lord should be built or beautified, the plagues that ensue are without number: heaven shall give no dew, earth no fruit, drought shallbe upon mountains & valleys, much shall be sown, little brought in, Hagg. ●. and that little shall be blown upon and brought to nothing. But where the prophecy is fulfilled kings shall be thy nursing fathers and Queens thy nurses, in the nine & fortieth of Esay, there, as the Queen of Saba blessed both the people of Solomon and the king himself, so, happy is the church for drawing her milk and sustenance from such heroical breasts, and happy are those breasts that foster and nurse up the Church of Christ. They give milk and receive milk, they maintain the Church and the Church maintaineth them, they bestow favour, honour, patronage, protection, they are favoured, honoured, patronaged and protected again. I will not stay to allege the fortunate and happy governments of well disposed kings. The decrees of the king of Persia and Babylon for repairing the temple, worshipping the God of the three children, or the God of Daniel, brought more honour unto them than all their other laws. The piety of Antonius Prus is very commendable for his gracious decree, that none should accuse a christian because he was a christian. Constantius the father of Constatifie the great, Si quis christiano quia christi. ●nus &▪ c made more reckoning (he said) of those that professed christianity, then full treasures. jovianus after julian, refused to be Emperor, albeit elected and sought to the Empire, unless he might govern christians. Great Coustantine and Charles the great, had their names of greatness not so much for authority as for godliness. But on the other side, the books are full of the miserable falls ofirreligious princes, their seed, posterity, whole race and Image for their sakes overturned and wiped from the earth, at one would wipe a dish, 2. Mach 9 and turn it upside-down. The name of Antiochus the tyrant stinketh upon the earth as his boweles sometimes stunk; and as then the worms devoured his loathsome carcase, so his other worm yet liveth and ceaseth not, crying to all the persecutors under heaven, take heed. He thought to have made the holy city a burying place, but when he saw his misery, than he would set it at liberty. The jews whom he thought not worthy to be buried, he would make like the citizens of Athens, and the temple which he spoilt before, he would garnish with great gifts. Likewise Galerius lying sick of a wretched disease, crieth to have the Christians spared, and that temples and oratory's should be allowed them, that they might pray for the life of the Emperor. The unripe, unseasonabl, unnatural deaths, of men more unnatural in their lives, the monsters and curses of the earth they trod upon, the bane of the air they drew, the rulers of the jew and Romans, high Priests, Princes, Emperors, and their deputies, that murdered the Lord of the vineyard, the son and the servantes in the time of Christ and his Apostles, and by the space of three hundred years, the workers of the ten persecutions, no means plagues to the Christian faith than those ten plagues were to Egypt, or rather ten times ten persecutions, for they were multiplied like Hydra's heads, proclaimed to the Princes of succeeding ages, not to heave at jerusalem, it is to heavy a stone, lapis comminuens, a stone that where it falleth will bruise to pieces; nor to war against the Saints, to band themselves against the Lords anointed, and against his anointed, the Church, unless they take pleasure to buy it with the same price wherewith others have done before them, to have their flesh stink▪ upon their backs, and rot from their bodies, to be eaten up with louse and worms, to be slain, strangled, or burnt, some by their own hands, some of their servantes, children, and wives, as is most easy to prove in the race of 40. Emperors, the Lord getting honour upon them, as he did upon Pharaoh by some unwonted and infamous destruction. Heliogabalus thought by the policy of his head, to have prevented the extraordinary hand of God, providing him ropes of silk, sword of gold, poison in jacinthes, a turtet plated with gold, and bordered with precious stones: thinking by one of these to have ended his life. Notwithstanding he died that death which the Lord had appointed. The 2. thing which I limited myself unto, The dishonour of religion is to pull down Kings. that it is the greatest dishonour to religion to pull down princes, is as easy to be declared. A thing which neither Moses in the old, nor Christ in the new testament▪ & neither Priest high nor low, nor Levite, Prophet, Evangelist, Apostle, christian Bishop, ever hath taught, counseled, & much less practised, I say not against lawful magistrates, but not against heathenish, infidel, idolatrous, tyrannous rulers, though by the manifest and express sentence of God reprobated & cast of. Samuel offered it not to Saul, a castaway, he lived and died a king; after the sentence pronounced against him of an higher excommunication, than ever came from Rome▪ Samuel both honoured & mourned for him. 1. Sam. 15. Baruch. ●. The captive jews in Babylon wrote to their brethren at jerusalem to pray for the life of Nabuchodonozor; answerable to that advice which jeremy giveth the captives in the 29. of his prophecy, though in words somewhat different, seek the prosperity of the city, whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, & pray unto the Lord for it, for in the peace thereof shall you have peace. Daniel never spoke to the king of Babylon, but his speech savoured of most perfect obedience: my Lord, the dream be to them that hate thee, and the interpretation thereof to thine enemies: Dan. 4● his words had none other season to Darius, though having cast him into the lions den, O King, live for ever. Dan. ●● I never could suspect that in the commission of Christ given to his disciples, there is one word of encouragement to these lawless attempts; go into the world, preach, baptise, lose, retain, remit, feed, take the keys, receive the holy Ghost, what one syllable soundeth that way? unless to go into the world be to go and overrun the world, to shake the pillars and foundations thereof with mutinies and seditions, to replenish it with more than Catilanary conspiracies, to make one Diocese, or rather one dominion & monarchy subject to the Bishop of Rome; unless preaching may be interpreted proclaiming of war and hostility, sending out bulls, thundering and lightning against Caesar and other states; unless to baptise be to wash the people of the world in their own blood; unless binding and losing be meant of fetters and shackles; retaining and remitting of prisons and wards; unless the feeding of lambs and sheep be fleecing flaying, murdering the king and the subject, old and young; taking the keys, be taking of crowns and sceptres; and receiving the holy Ghost, be receiving that fiery and trubulent spirit which our Saviour liked not. Yea let them answer that saying (these priests and successors of Romulus, Giants of the earth, incendiaries of the Christian world) you shall be brought before governors and king's, and skouraged in their Councils, if ever our Saviour had meaning, governors & king's shallbe brought before you, Emperors shall kiss your feet, wait at your gates in frost and cold, resign their crowns into your hands, and take their crowns I say not at your hands but at your feet, & to your feet submit their necks, and hold your stirrups, or that Princes should eat bread under your tables like dogs. I shame almost to report, that a scarecrow in an hedge should thus terrify Eagles. Where was then the effect of that prayer which David made in the Psalm, O Lord give thy judgement unto the king, when the kings of the earth were so bewitched and enchanted with that cup of fornication? Christ, though the judge of the quick and dead, refused to be a judge in a private inheritance, who made me a judge or divider over you? Luke 12. these willbe judges and disposers of Kingdoms, Empires, Dukedoms, and put Rodolph for Henry, Pipin for Childericke, one for another at their pleasures. And when they have so done no man must judge of their actions: why? because the disciple is not above his master. Let not a priest give an accusation against a Bishop, not a Deacon against a priest, Mass●nut in vitâ S●lve. stri. ●. not a subdeacon against a Deacon, not an acolyte against a subdeacon, not an exorcist against an acolyte, but as for the highest prelate he shallbe judged by no man, because it is written, non est discipulus etc. So did the Devil apply the scriptures. Rom. 13. The Apostles all concur in one manner of teaching; let every soul be subject to the higher powers: he meaneth of temporal powers, because they bear the sword, & require tribute: & Chrysostome expoundeth it of all sorts of souls, both secular & religious. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man, fear God, honour the king: 1. Pet. 1. 1. Tim. 2. let prayer and supplication be made for all men, for kings & those that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life under them. This is the sum of their doctrine. Now either the Bishop of Rome hath not a soul to be subject, or he is a power above all powers, and must command others. And so in deed he usurpeth; abusing that place of the Psalm, Omnia subiecisti sub pedibus eius, thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet, all sheep and oxen, yea and the beasts of the field. Where by oxen are meant jews and heretics, An●oninus▪ by beast of the field Pagans and infidels, by sheep Christian both kings and subjects, by birds of the air, Angels in heaven, by fishes in the sea, souls in purgatory. I do wrong to your sober ears to fill them with such fables; but subjection I am sure they deny, if the whole world should be filled with books legal & evangelical to admonish them. Nay they will take both the law and gospel, and make them speak vanity, blasphemy, mere contradiction, rather than want authorities to uphold their kingdom. Thus when Adrian set his foot in the neck of the Emperor, he alleged the words of the Psalm, thou shalt tread upon the adder & the basilisk etc. The Emperor highly sinned that he had not a sting to thrust forth against him, and to tame his pride. john the 22. perverted the words of Christ to this purpose, behold, I have set theeover kingdoms etc. Innocentius the 3. fetcheth a prophecy of his usurped Hierachie from the first creation: God created two light in the firmament of heaven; so in the firmament of the earth two rulers; a greater light, and a lesser light, that is, the Pope and the Emperor; the one to govern the day, the other the night, that is, the Pope to govern the Clergy, the Emperor the laity: & for this cause, they say, to show the difference, the Pope hath his unction on the head, the Emperor but on his arms To leave their glosses and devises, let us hearken to their practice. What a strange commandment was that which Gregory the 7. sent forth? we command, that no man of what condition soever he be, Mandanus· ne quisqua●● Audeat. Platina i● his life. either king or Archbishop, Bishop, Duke, Earl, Marques, or Knight be so hardly to resist our legates: if any man do it, we bind him with the bond of a curse, not only in his spirit, but in his body and all his goods. In excommunicating the Emperor then being, Imperatoris administratione, regia ● deiicio etc. he used this form, Henry the king, son of Henry late Emperor, I throw down from all both imperial and royal administration: and I absolve from their oath of obedience all christians subject to his authority: and being requested to use more mildness in proceeding to excommunicate him, answered for himself, when Christ committed his church to Peter, and said, feed my sheep, did he exempt kings? afterward he calleth upon Peter & Paul, Excipitu● eges? & saith unto them, go to now, & so use the matter, that all men may understand, if yourselves have power to bind & lose in heaven, that we may have also power on earth, both to take away and to give, Empires, kingdoms, principalities, and whatsoever mortal men may have. Et quic quid habere mor●ale● possunt. Tyraenu● sacerdotum. Regum ter●●●. Boniface the 8. whom Benevenutus called the tyrant over Priests. Petrarch the terror of kings, n●m●d himself the Lord not only of France, but of the whole world, Philip surnamed the fair, them king of France advised him not to use that kind of speech to the overthrow of his kingdom. Hence grew all those stirs and tumults between them. It is a notable admonition which Massonus there giveth in the knitting up of his life, I would wish the Bishops of the city not to make kings their enemies, who are willing to be their friends; for let them not think that they are sent from GOD as bridles unto kings, Velu● equos ●●tractatos. Minari, terrefacere. arm● ciere, episcopos non decked. to master them at their pleasure as wild and unbroken horses; let them admonish and pray them and there hearty prayers shall be instead of commanding: but to threaten, terrify, raise up arms, is not beseeming Bishops. Platina concludeth him almost to the same effect; thus dieth Boniface, whose endeavours evermore were, rather to bring in terror than religion upon Emperors, kings, princes, nations, and peoples. This Platina was a professed catholic, living within a college at Rome, that you may the less think the author willing to slander them. On a time, when Paul the second went about to pull down that college, he besought the Pope that the matter might first be heard before the masters of the rowels or other like judges: In vitâ Pauli 2. itané, a●t? nos ad judices revocas? What? Is it come to this, saith he? dost thou call us back unto judges? dost thou not knows that all the laws are placed in the shrine of my breast? Innocentius the sixth sendeth Carilas a Spanish Cardinal, but withal a cardinal warrior, into Italy to recover Saint Peter's parrimonie if prayers were unavaileable, Arma son● po●●●ificum pe●fug●a, cum p●●eés non servi●nt. Massonut. by force of arms: for arms are the succours of Popes, when prayers will not serve. Innocentius the seventh had a meeker spirit, of whom Bap●ista Fulgosus wrireth, that such idle hours as he had, he bestowed in pruning his orchard, and wisheth that other Popes had done the like, who were better pleased with making war; for it is fit for the bishops of Rome to prune orchards than men. julius the 2. who from julianus turned his name to julius, Hort●s enim putare non homines epi, Rom. decet. Vt referret Julium. Jndignum Levitas servire etc. Summus pontifex Julius belligeratur, vin cit, triumphant, etplanè julium agit. Si Caesaer potiùs quàm Pont. Max. fuisset. Massonus. Summi pontificatus arcem rego. Solebant primi ex hoc statu ad martyrium peti etc. Brevis est hominum vita, regum brevior, pontificum brevissima. that he might somewhat match himself with julius Caesar, was wont to say, It is a base thing that the Levites should serve and be in subjection, who rather are meet to govern other men, Erasmus being at Bonony in his time, thus writeth to his friend; At this present, studies are very cold in Italy, wars very hot: julius the highest Bishop, fighteth, vanquisheth, triumpheth, and playeth the part of julius indeed. Worthy of immortal fame (saith the author of the history) if he had been the Emperor, rather than the Pope of Rome. To conclude, I will but add what Petrarch an Italian, and countryman of their own, and one whom Innocentius would feign have had to have been his secretary, writeth of the Pope by way of dialogue. Pope. I hold the tower or sway the honour of the highest prelacy. Petrarke. The first were wont to be taken from this estate to Martyrdom, now they think they are called to pleasure, therefore they strive so much for the place. Pope. I am the Pope of Rome. Petr. Thou art called the servant of servants, take heed thou make not thyself the Lord of Lords, remember thy profession, remember thy debt, remember thy Lord, who justly is angry with none more than with his Vicar or deputy: With many other free and friendly exhortations of the like force. Now if their spirits be so mighty and untamed, let them exercise them at home, with mutual insidiations, contentions, depositions, murtheringes, poisonings, and other unpriestly and violent supplantations amongst themselves. And if ever that judgement were true which Petrarch gave, that the life of men is short, of kings shorter, of Pope's shortest of all, let it be true still; yea let all Babylon fall and let the seat of Antichrist be razed to the ground; but God for his own glory, and for his gospel and Church's sake, establish the thrones, strengthen the hands, lengthen the days, preserve the lives, honour the faces of all religious and virtuous Princes. Because my text standeth wholly in comparison betwixt josias and other kings, give me leave, I beseech you, in few words, for the advauncement of God's blessed name, whose goodness we are highly bound to acknowledge, a testimony of mine own dutiful heart, and a further animation, to you my brethren, and the children of this land to continue your obedience and faith, to make some little comparison, betwixt good king josias, and gracious Queen Elizabeth. 1. They both interpret their names, in rendering and expressing by action the force thereof. josias, of the fire of the Lord, with whose zeal he was inflamed, Elizabeth of his rest, both because she reposeth herself in his strength, and for that the quiet & tranquillity of this Land was by her happy government restored. 2. josias was prophesied of long before his birth, 1. Kings 13. O altar altar etc. Behold, a child shallbe borne to the house of David, josias by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places etc. and undoubtedly they presaged much of the abolishing of altars and priests, under the reign of Queen Elizabeth, who laboured to prevent her government by such manifold practices. 3. josias at the age of 16. years sought the God of his father David: I never red or heard to the contrary, but that the childhood and prime of our sovereign Lady, and that glorious blossom her brother of blessed memory, were dedicated to true religion. 4. josias forsaketh the idolatry of Amon and Manasses that went next before him, and returneth back to the faith of David: Elizabeth declineth the path which her sister Mary had trodden, the footsteps whereof were yet very fresh, and reneweth the ways of her father and brother almost worn out. 5. josias had a good priest, a good prophet, a good chancellor, a good nobility, faithful workmen. The king commanded that no account should be taken of them for they did their work faithfully. It had not been possible to have repaired the ruins of defaced religion within this land, without the advice and assistance of as faithful a Counsel, and as zealous Priests: of which though many were cast out for a time from their native country, into Germany and other foreign parts, as a distempered stomach cannot endure to keep wholesome meats in it, yet they were brought home again with honour as banished jeptha was, and deservedly preferred to the highest dignities of our Church. Such Nobles and priests, as she then had, Centum administrant negotia reipsed vix. 5. aut 8. promovent, caeteri impediunt. the Lord for ever bless her with; lest it be said of this kingdom, as sometimes of the Court of Maximilian, An hundredth have to deal in the affairs of the common wealth, but scarcely five or but eight at the most help them forwards, all the rest are hinderers. 6. josias pulled down altars, priests, groves, high places, houses of Sodomites: Queen Elizabeth left neither college nor cloister, nor any other cage of Idolatrous birds, and neither Monk nor Friar to feed her people with errors. 7. josias found & restored the book of the law hidden in obscurity: Queen Elizabeth delivered from darkness and banishment the testaments of her God, not only hidden and buried in an unknown tongue, but in corners and holes laid up, and forbidden the light of heaven; restoring both the letter of the book to a vulgar language, & her people to freedom of conscience, who might not read before, but privily an● by stealth, as men eat stolen bread. Finally, josias was directed in al●●is ways by the book of the law: and no other star guided the heart of our gracious Esther. josias caused the book of the law to be openly red: she the everlasting gospel to be preached throughout all her realms and dominions. josias maketh a covenant himself, and taketh a covenant of his people to observe it: she also bindeth her people by statutes and laws, to the true worship of God, herself not second to any in rendering her vows. josias holdeth a famous passover, the like whereof, from the days of the judges & throughout all the days of the kings, had never been seen: And her Majesty hath purdged the sacraments of Christ, & reduced them to their right form, which I say not from the time of the Conqueror, but almost since the days of the Apostles, they were never happy enough to obtain. And as josias turned to the Lord, with all his heart etc. So whither her beautiful feet have not taken a contrary course to that wherein others had walked before her, & turned like the waters of jordan, when Israel went over it, not only the people of this land, but almost of whole Christendom swimming away apace in a full flood of Popish superstition; and whither to the Lord alone, Angels and Saints omitted, who in the consciences and opinions of men had set their seats by the seat of Almighty God, & said, we will be like unto him in worship; and whither with all her heart and with all her soul, and with all her might etc. whom neither the curses of Popes, nor the banding of the Princes of the earth crying a confederarcie, a confedeacie against her, nor practices without her realm, nor rebellions within, nor the dissoialtie of malcontented subjects, nor treachery within her Court and almost in her bosom, did ever affright, at least not shake from her first love, as they have done other princes, and cause to deal unfaithfullye with the covenants of God; let all the people of the earth so far as the fame of her constancy might be blown, witness with me. Now there are also some differences, heaping more honour and favour upon the head of our Sovereign Lady, than befell josias. For albeit josias began to reign sooner, yet she hath longer continued. And where josias reigned but 31. years, she hath accomplished the full number of 37. within few months of her father's time. And whereas josias but in the eighthy ear of his reign, began to seek the God of his father David, in the twelfth to purge jerusalem, and in the eighteenth to repair the house of the Lord; this chosen handmaid of the most High, ●ith the first beginning of her kingdom began to set up the kingdom of God, and so incontinently proceeded to a full reformation. Lastly, josias was slain in battle for not hearkening to the words of the Lord out of the mouth of Necho the king of Egypt. 2. Chro. 35.22. But long and long may it be before Her eyes wax dim in her head, 〈◊〉 her natural force be abated. And when she is gathered to her fathers, (the burden and woe whereof, if the will of God be, fall upon an other age) let her go to rest with greater tokens of his favour, than ever to have fallen into the hands of the king of Spain, or any the like enemy, as josias fell into the hands of the king of Egypt. But when that day shall come, which God hath decreed, and nature his faithful minister written down in her book justly to observe; then (to go back again to an other member of comparison as josias was mourned for by all judah and jerusalem, 2. Chro. 35. and jeremy mourned for josias, and all singing men and singing women mourned for josias in their lamentations to this day, and made the same lamentations an ordinance in Israel, and they were also written in their lamentations, and became a common word amongst them: for whensoever afterwards, there was taken up any great lamentation, it was sampled and matched with that of Hadadrimmon, Zach. 12. in the field of Megiddo: so look for mourning from all the ends of our land, complaining in the streets of every city, and crying in the chambers of every house, alas for the day of the Lord; it is come, it is come; then shall the kindred of the house of David, Ibid. and their wives mourn apart by themselves. The kindred of the houses of Nathan and Levi and their wives apart by themselves. Then shall all the orders and companies of this Realm from the honourable counsellor to him that draweth water to the camp, from the man of grey hairs to the young child, that knoweth but the right hand from the left, plentifully water their cheeks, and give as just an occasion of Chronicles and Proverbes to future times, as the mourning for josias. For to fold up all other comparisons in one, and to draw them home to my text, not only betwixt her & josias, but other her noble progenitors and Lords of this Island▪ Like unto her, was there no King or Queen before her. And those that shall write hereafter in the generations to come, shall be able as justly to supply the other part, Neither arose there after her, any that was like unto her. And I verily persuade myself, that as the Lord was angry with judah and jerusalem, and threatened to bring evil upon them, yet differred to execute that judgement, in the days of josias, with promise of a peaceable burial, and that his eyes should not see that evil; so he spareth our country for his anointed sake, and reserveth his just and determinate plagues against us to the days of some of her successors, and when he hath shut up her eyes in peace, then will begin to open our judgements. I will not put you in fear with the fatal period of kingdoms, which many both Philosophers and Divines more than imagine▪ conceiving by reason, that as in the bodies of men and other living creatures, so these politic bodies of Monarchies, Empires, kingdoms and other states, there is a beginning and a strong age, a declination and full point; and by many experiments bearing themselves in hand, that their alterations have commonly fallen out not much over or under 500 years. From the erecting of the kingdom of Israel under the hand of Saul, to their going into Babylon, they say, were four hundredth and nineteen years. The Consuls of Rome continued 462. the Monarchy flourished 454. Constantinople was the seat of the Roman Emperor 489. La Nove when he wrote his military and politic discourses observed the like number of time in their kingdom of France from the days of Hugh Capetz. The stay of the Saxons in England is esteemed there abouts. And since the time of the Norman conquest the seventy and seven weeks of Daniel, that is, 70. times 7. years are fulfilled, and God hath added thereunto, as the fifteen years of Ezechias, and as the surplusage of his love, only the happy reign of our liege Lady and Mistress that now ruleth. But as the Apostle spoke in his Revelation, here is wisdom, If any man may have wisdom enough, let him account the number of kingdoms in this sort. For it may be the number of God himself, and he hath reserved it to his own knowledge. But in open and simple terms, I will show you what the periods and stops of kingdoms are. Propter peccata populi erunt multi principes, For the sins of the people the prince shall often be changed; Prov. 28. and in likelihood the people itself for the same cause. The Lord hath tied himself no farther to the kings sons and seed after him, than with this reasonable and dutiful condition, if they shall keep my testimonies. And he often threatened his people, if they provoked him with strange Gods, to provoke them again with a strange people and to drive them out of the good land, whither he sent them to dwell, as he had driven out others. All those removes and chandges that we read of in the book of God, and in other histories, the emptying of the land of Canaan from her natural inhabitants, deposing of one state and setting up an other, dividing the tribes, raising kingdom against kingdom, the untimely deaths & deprivations of princes, the disinheriting and displacing of the eight line, leading into captivity from country to country as it were pouring from vessel to vessel, sometimes no king at all, sometimes many, sometimes wicked, sometimes a babe, sometimes a stranger of a fierce countenance and unknown language, all the commo●ions and perturbations of kingdoms, invasions of kings one upon the others dominions, rebellions of subjects, and so much of Christendom at this day buried in the very bowels of turcism and infidelity, yea, the extirpation of the jews, and planting of the Gentiles upon their stock, and hereafter the casting out of the Gentiles, and filling of the jews again, they are all rightly and orderly derived from the former cause. For the sins of the people, the princes, the people themselves, the government, the policy, the religion, the peace, the plenty of the land shall often be changed. We have long and faithfully preached against your sins, the dissolvers, you see, of kingdoms & common weals, that if it were possible, we might bring them also to their period, and set some number and end of them. Will you not be made clean? when shall it once be? But if our preachings cannot move you, he that in times passed at sundry times and in sundry manners spoke unto our fathers, hath also sundry voices, and sundry kinds of preachers to speak unto you. You hear, that the change of a Prince is one of his Preachers. It shall preach more sorrow unto you, more wring of your hands & rending of your hearts, than ever erst you were acquainted with. Remember the vision that Michaeas saw, all Israel scattered like sheep, because their king was taken from them; and think how woeful a day it will be, when this faithful shepherd of ours, which hath fed her jacob with a true heart; Formosi pecoris Custos form●sior ipsa, an happy Queen of an happy people (the Lord yet saving both her & us with the healthful power of his right hand) shall be pulled from us. We have hitherto lived in peace, equal to that in the days of Augustus, such, as our fathers never saw the like, and when we shall tell our children's children to come thereof, they will not believe it. We have sitten at ease under the shadow of our vines: nay, under the shadow of this vine we have shaded & solaced ourselves, and lived by her sweetness. But it may fall out, that as when the Emperor Pertinax was dead, they cried with redoubled shouts into the air, till they were able to cry no longer, while Pertinax lived and governed, Vsque ad defectum. Pertina●e Jmperante securi viximus▪ neminem timuimus. Aurelius' Victor. we lived in safety, and feared no man; so we may send our late and helpless complaints into heaven, O well were we in the days of Queen Elizabeth, when perfit peace was the walls of our country, and the malice of the enemy prevailed not against us. The sword of a foreign foe, bands, and captivity is an other of his preachers. Will you not feel the warnings of God's wrath, till the iron have entered into your souls and drawn blood after it? you know who it is that hangeth over your heads; of whom and other princes I may say as they said in Athens of Demades and Demosthenes their orators, Demosthenes is meet for Athens, Demosthene● par Atheni● Demades maior. justly assized and fitted to the city, Demades overgreat; so when other kings hold themselves contended with their kingdoms, he is too great for Spain, and many other kingdoms and Dukedoms cannot suffice him, but he yet devoureth in hope all the dominions of Christendom, and drinketh down with unsatiable thirst the conceit of a Monarch: and for this cause there is a busy spirit gone forth in the mouths of all his Prophets, unus Deus, unus Papa, unus rex Christianismi, Magnus rex Catholicus, & universalis: There is but one God, one Po●e, one King of Christendom, the great and Catholic and universal King. He hath once already buckled his harness unto him with joy, and assured presumption of victory. But they that pulled it of (by outstretched arm of one more mighty than himself) more rejoiced. God grant that they be not found in England, who have said upon that happy and miraculous event in discomfiting his forces, we will trust in our bows, and our sword and spears shall hereafter deliver us. There touching of late in Cornewale, the utmost skirt of our land, no doubt, was some little warning from God. But it was no more unto us▪ than if the skirt of our cloak had been cut away, as it was to Saul; we say our skin is not yet razed. The commotion in Ireland, though a quicker and more sensible admonition, is but a dagger held to our side, and till the point thereof stick in our heart, till there be firing of our towns, ransacking of our houses, dashing of our infants against the stones in the streets, we will not regard. O cease to incense the jealous God of heaven. Turn not his grace and mercy into wantonness. Let not his strength be an occasion unto you to make you vainly confident; nor his peace, licentiously secure, nor the abundance of his goodness, abundant and intolerable in transgressing his laws. And if there were no other reason to make you tremble before his face, yet do it for your own politic good (because you are threatened by a deadly enemy, 1. Chr. 25. who accounteth himself the cedar, and us but the thistle in Libanon, and whose power is not contemptible, though God hath often cast him down) Neveviant Romani & auferant regnum à nobis, at least that the Romans and Spaniards, for they are brethren in this case, come not upon us by the righteous sufferance of our God, and take away our kingdom. Surely our sins call for a skourdge, and they shall receive one. For they even whip and torment the patience of God. The arrows of death are prepared against us, and they shall shine with our gall, if with humble repentance we prevent them not. Our pride calleth for humiliation, she is ascended on high, and asketh, who shall fetch me down? yet I have red of those whose wimples, and calls, and perewigges have been turned into nakedness and baldness, and they have run too and fro, smiting their breasts, and tearing the hair of their heads, suffering it to be blown about their ears with the wind, and not regarding to bind it up so much as with an hairlace. Our clocks are not well kept, Horologium bene ordinatum, camini boni. nor our chimneys good (which I have heard to be two signs of a well ordered common wealth,) that is, our hours are misspent, our callings not followed, and the breathing of the chimneys is choked up, hospitality and relief to the poor almost banished. The poorer have had their plagues already, scarcity of bread within these few years often renewed. Their teeth have been clean and white through want of food, when yours have been furred with excess of meats and drinks. But rich men & gentlemen, look also for your draft in the cup of the Lord, either some mortal sickness to your bodies to eat up your flesh, as you have eaten others, and then whose shall these things be, which with so much sweat of your brows, carefulness of heart, wrack of conscience, breach of charity, wrong to human societies, you have laid together ●or some barbarous and unmerciful soldier, to lay open your hedges, reap your fields, rifle your coffers, Barbarus has segetes. level your houses with the ground, and empty you and yours out of all your possessions, as you have emptied your poor neighbours. Your merciless money exactions, you the infamous usurers of the North of England, you the jews & judases of our land that would sell Christ for money if he were amongst you, you the engrossers of grain in this time of death, and withal the engrossers of your own woes, on whom the curse of the poor lighteth, ratified in heaven, for not bringing forth your corn, you that add affliction to affliction, and strengthen the hand of penury amongst us, use the talents of the Lord not your own pounds, to the honourable advantage of your master and the durable gain of your souls, lest ye become the usurers of his vengeance, and receive the wages of your unfaithfulness, an hundreth-fold. The land mourneth because of other, and they shall mourn that cause her heaviness. Contempt of God, will take away our Gods of the earth, atheism & anarchy, confusion of all estates, mingling of head and foot, will go together. O pray for the peace of jerusalem. Pray for the peace of England. Let prayers and supplications be made for all people, especially for Christian kings, most especially for our sovereign Lady and Mistress. Let us fear God, and all the enemies of the world, even the kingdom of darkness, shall fear us. Let not our sins reign, and our Queen shall long reign over us. Buy the length of her life with your silver and gold, you that are rich in this world, rich in this land, distribute to the poor, scatter for God's sake, & God that seethe from above, will be mindful of your good deeds, and prolong her majesties days. Humble yourselves in time you highminded, and high-lookt, that her horn may be exalted, and her root flourish amongst us, yet many years. Traitors, forbear at length to plot your treasons, which have long bred, never brought forth. The Lord is king, and his handmaid is Queen, be the earth never so impatient. Time-serving hypocrites, lay down your dissimulations. How long will you halt between Rome and England? Rebels, forsake and resign your unlawful arms. Say not, as those seditious did, what part have we in the son of David? the son of David shall prevail, & the daughter of King Henry prosper in all her ways, when your heads shall lie low enough, and your sword shall have drunk their fill of your own flesh. Let it suffice, you the untamed brood of our land, to have blotted your memories with none other censure, than that which is written in the book of God, that a band of soldiers followed Saul whose hearts the Lord had touched, 1. Sam. 10. but they were wicked that cried, how shall he save us? And you, my beloved brethren, and the true children of England, knit your souls and tongues together, as if you were one man, & say with a strong united cry, & a perfit heart, that God may regard it from above, O Lord preserve Queen Elizabeth▪ And let AMEN even the faithful witness of heaven, the word & truth of his father say Amen unto it. Even so Lord jesus, Amen, Amen, hearken to the prayers of they servants that go not our from feigned lips; let her ever be as neam unto thee as the signet upon thy finger, as dear as the apple of thine eye, as tender as thine own bowels, water her with them dew of heaven as the goodliest plant that ever our country bare, hide her like a chosen shaft in the quiver of thy carefullest providence, and give her a long life ever for ever and ever, Amen.