Sermons on Jonah, Lecture 3
THE III. LECTVRE.
The chiefe points. 2. The punishment of the Prophet may well fright other from sinne. 4. All tempests depend of God. 6. Yet Satan and his instruments, by Gods permission hauehave sometimes a finger in them. 10. How the sinne of one bringeth punishment vponupon manie. 13. Bad companie is to be auoided. 14. The description of the tempest. 16. Life is dearer then goods. 18. Affliction driueth to deuotion.
IONAH. 1.4.5
But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there vvas a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken. Then the mariners were afrayd and cried eueryevery man vntounto his God, and cast the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them.
OVr Prophet as a man who would verie gladly be rid of his maister, hath gotten him to the sea; the land cannot hold him: but his maister not so willing to part with his seruant, sendeth such a message after him, as will bring him back againe, or make him do farre worse. He would not hauehave his messenger run so to his owne ruine, and lie obdurate in his sinne; he wold not hauehave his purpose of preaching at Niniue, be vtterly relinquished; but rather because it hath so long bin deferred, he by whom the stay hath bin made, shall heare of it with a witnesse. Here followeth such a tempest, to bid him welcome to the sea, that if such should be common, it needed not be noted to be the speech of a wise man,Cato. that he wondred that anie one wold come twise at the sea: hauing seene the perill of it, wold come at it againe; for euerie wise man wold so say. The wind doth now so blow, the waues do so beate, the sea doth so worke, the ship is so endangered, the sea-men are so afraid, Ionas so by a lot is singled out to death, that drowning was the least that could befall vntounto him. We neede make no doubt, but all this was done for Ionas his sake. For the question is here true,Habac 3 8. which a Prophet elsewhere asketh: Was the Lord angry against the riuers? or was thine anger against the flouds? or was thy vvrath against the sea? No, it was against the sinne of Ionas, that all this came as vengeance, and that God so sent his messengers of wrath and of displeasure.
2 He desireth that his Prophet should be warned, for all the dayes that he was to liue in the world, to play no more such parts: for what end should the next hauehave, if he sped so ill with this? And he would hauehave other men to take example by him, that they run not, no not with his owne seruants, to grosse notorious crimes, least they smart for it with his seruants. For if the greene wood so burne,Luc. 23.31. what shall become of the drie? if a leader do such penance, what shall a common man? if a Prophet do so pay for it, how shall a meane bodie escape? By this example the presumptuous heart of such is broken, as when they hauehave sinned wilfully, in steed of asking pardon by confession and repentance, can sooth themselues in their follies, saying that the best men hauehave offended; and whie should it be strange for them to go astray, since Gods Saints hauehave done worse? Not onelyonly Ionas here forsaketh his vocation,Gen. 9.21. Chap. 19.33. 2. Sam. 11 4. 1. Reg. 11.1. but Noe offendeth in drunkennesse, and Lot in worse, euen in incest, and Dauid in adulterie, and Salomon that wise king in marying manie infidels. The grosse falles of all which men, are not proposed vntounto vsus in the holy booke of God, to incourage vsus to transgression: (for that were a Spiders propertie to sucke such poison from them) but rather,Augustin. de Doct. Christ. lib. 3. as S. Austen teacheth vsus, to put vsus in minde of that warning of the Apostle, that he who standeth should take heed least he fall: to humble vsus to obedience, not to puffe vsus vp to pride. But withall if they could remember, that although the Lord did couer the infirmities of his children, with the skirts of his Sonnes merciemercy, least they should finally perish; yet to shew how he hateth sinne, euen in the best of his people, he sendeth them in this world, whipping with temporall rods enough: they may verie well find, that there is small reason why they should be in louelove with the bargaine.Gen. 9.25. For was there not a Cham to deride his father, & so farre to moue the patience of that righteous preacher Noe, as in bitternesse to curse him? Was there not an Absolon readie so with all kind of contumelie to scourge offending Dauid,2. Sam. 16.22. as to abuse his fathers concubines, and to seeke his fathers life?1. Reg. 11.14.23.26. Chap. 12.20. Here was a Hadad, and there a Rezon, and a Ieroboam in the third place, to vexe wife-doting Salomon, that he could not rest in his old age: and afterward his sonne Roboam did lose ten tribes of twelue.
3 And as for the Prophet here, he bestoweth on himselfe a whole Chapter, to shew the fruite of his fall, that other might forbeare to offend, by the example of that grieuous punishmēt which he sustained. If he had bene as nimble to hauehave excused his fault, as these be in our dayes, he might hauehave made some Apologie for himselfe, or at least hauehave concealed his penance which befel him▪ that when no man had bene frighted by his case, other might hauehave walked in his steps; and the commonnesse of the fault might hauehave excused the crime.Socrat. Hist. Eccles. l. 4.26. Caesar Baronius hoc falsò proditum à Socrate dicit. Annal. Eccles. Tomo 4. Anno Domini 370. For when multitudes do as we do, we thinke that they do ease our burthen, as the Emperour Valentinian imagined, (if Socrates report truth of him) when hauing one wife of his owne called Seuera, whom he was vnwilling to leaue, he was in louelove also with another virgin called Iustina, and he maried her too. And least this fault should seeme most grosse, if he alone were noted for so scandalous behauiour, by a law of purpose made, he giueth leaue to all that would to marrie two wiues a peece: thinking that when manie transgressed he should be more free from blame. Our Ionas is so charitable as to take another course, not to induce men to the like by himselfe, but to terrifie them much rather, by recording how he sped. To fall, because the Patriarkes and Prophets hauehave oft fallen,Diogen. Laertius. lib. 2. Plato in Phaedone. is as much as willingly to tast of poyson, because Socrates once drunke poyson, which were but a foolish triall. His poyson was his death: And so had sinne bene death, to the holiest, if God had not giuen repentaunce, to expell the force of iniquitie. But what man is he who can promise to himselfe repentaunce, or rising when he is fallen? Manie hope for it but few hauehave it;Augustin. in Psalm. 51. Non cadendi exemplum propositum est, sed si cecideruresurgendi. Attende ne cadas. manie speake of it, but few vse it, which maketh that worthie saying of S. Austen to be true, Manie will fall vvith Dauid, but they will not arise with Dauid. No example of falling is in him proposed to thee, but of rising if thou hauehave fallen. Take heed thou go not downe. Let not the slip of the greater, be the delight of the lesser; but let the fall of the greater, be the trembling of the lesser. Thus that holie father speaketh. If the greatest fall thou mayest fall, therefore do not presume: but if the greatest be punished, then feare Gods righteous iudgement. You shall heare how Ionas sped.
The Lord sent out a vvind.
4 It is well said by Dauid,Psal. 11.6. that God rayneth on the wicked fire and brimstone and stormy tempest. But more fitlie to my purpose, that fire and haile, Psal. 148.8.and snow, and vapours, and stormie vvind do execute his word. For these and other meteors, are his creatures made by him: his subiects that liue vnderunder him: his messengers sent from him to punish or to helpe, to execute his will. The voyce of the Lord is vponupon the vvaters, Psal. 29.3.the God of glorie maketh it to thunder. If it do haile in Egypt, where it raineth verie few times,Exod. 9.23. Deut. 11.10. Exod. 10.13.19. God sendeth that haile on Pharao. If an East wind bring in grashoppers, and a West wind driue them out, Moses telleth vsus in Exodus, that both come from the Lord. The wind and the tempest depend not on chaunce, or anie blind fortune, but on the soueraigne power of the Almightie Creatour. If nature be here vsed, or the ordinarie course of Sunne, and Moone, and starres, to attract ought or beate it backe againe, these are but Gods hand-maidens,Flauius Vopiscus in vita Cari. to worke his designements. If Carus the Emperor be blasted to death with lightening, it is the Lords doing. If Theodosius hauehave the skie to warre against his enemies, and the winds as his sworne seruants to helpe forward his victorie, some Claudian must sing,Claudian. de 3. consolatu Honorij. O nimium dilecte Deo cui militat aether. Et cōiurati vemunt ad classica venti. Anno. 1588. that he or his sonne Honorius who was then present with him, is much beloued of God, O ninimium dilecte Deo. If our Spaniards when they are beyond Scotland, be brought backe againe by Ireland, and when men looke not after them, winds and waues do pursue them in miraculous sort (in which I feare lest we offend, that we speake not of it oftener, & parents tell it not vntounto their childrē) if we would do as we should do, we must sing with S. Ambrose, Te Deum laudamus. We praise thee ô God. Who so walketh by the land, or passeth by the sea, if winds promote his businesse, or hinder his purpose, and disquiet him in his enterprise, let him assigne it to his prouidence who ruleth all with power, who sent that tempest here to Ionas; for from him they do all come.
5 Those Ethnickes who knew little or nothing of true pietie, did yet ayme at this euen by the verie light of nature; when by the glimsing sight of reason, they layd it downe that a diuine substaunce did gouerne these creatures, (although they missed much of his maiestie) when Neptune for the sea was Lord of the waues, and Aeolus for the aire was maister of the winds. People ruder then the Greekes and more barbarous then the Romanes, hauehave gessed at such a thing, and had such a like conceit; I meane the Westerne Indians,Petrus Martyr Decade. 3.2. the dull people of America, who thought that thunder and lightning & tempest were sent by the Sunne, whom they reputed for a God as Peter Martyr letteth vsus know. The more absurde the while, were the Thurij in my iudgement, a people of Italie where both learning and ciuilitie did grow.Aelian. Hist. lib. 12.61. For as Aelian writeth of them, when Dionysius the tyrant of Sicilia came vp against them with three hundreth sayle of ships, intending to destroy them, they being almost oppressed with his violēce, yet had this good hap befallen vntounto them, that a great Northrē wind blew, & so wracked those ships, that they were spilled almost all. In remēbrance whereof, they by a cōmon consent made this North-wind a God, admitted him into their Citie, incorporated him among them, appointed him an house and goods of his owne, and euerie yeare besides did sacrifice vntounto him. These men looked too low: they were too too much base minded, when they made the wind a God, whom nature and reason had taught other Gentiles to be but a Gods seruant. The wind obeyeth, and ruleth not: it is not at pleasure to do what it would, if there were a will in it: it hath a maister; not Aeolus, but one that fitteth farre higher.
6 Yet the question is here offred,De hac quaestione vide Nicolaú Remigium Daemonolatriae. lib. 1.25. whether that inferiour creatures do not sometimes stirre vp tempests, as wind, or rayne or thunder, for I put them in one degree, and consider them as being of like nature, concerning this point. Whether Satan by him selfe, or the ministers of Satan, enchaunters or witches, or necromancers and coniurers, cannot stirre vp such things? and if they can, how they then are said to be wrought by Gods finger? That learned man Seneca did thinke it so plaine that nothing could be plainer,Sen…c. Nat. Quaest li. 4 7 Rudis adl…uc antiquitas credebat. Quorum nihil posse fieri tam palam est. Wierus de praestigi…s Daemonū, in Apologetico Cōc. Brētij. Impiorū est opinio, diabolū maleficas & lamias grandinemciere. Iustin, Mart. quaest. 31. ad orthodoxos incredibile dicit, posse imbres per incātamēta prouenire. that tēpests could not be raised by any inchauntments, when he speaketh on this sort, Antiquitie being yet rude, did beleeue both that rayne could be brought and driuen away too by charmes; of vvhichwhich things that neither can be done, it is so manifest, that for this matters sake no schoole of any Philosopher is euer to be entred. No doubt, there be many also of the Christians, and those very learned men who are altogether of that opinion. In that booke which Wierus hath written De Praestigijs Demonum, is a sermon which Brentius made by occasion of a great hayle, that fell in some parts of Germanie and did much hurt to the corne and vineyards. And therein are these words, It is the opinion of vvicked men, that the diuell and vvitches and sorceresses do stirre vp hayle, and therewith do hurt and destroy vvine and corne. To these may be added more. And yet on the other side, that such gracelesse people do chalenge to themselues a power in these cases; that they attempt to stirre vp thunders; that they trie to raise vp winds, to crosse things at sea, or to effect things at land; and that they affirme that they can do thus, may be well knowne to anie, who either in experience shall conferre with such offenders, or else reade such matters as are written of them. To say nothing of the one, that is, what they assume; but to speake to the other, I am satisfied that in Poetrie that speech is too much,
Virgil. Egloga 8.Carmina de caelo possunt deducere Lunam.
Charmes and inchantments can fetch the verie Moone downe out of heauen, and other like in that place: for that is a thing impossible, and onelyonly deliuered from an old imagination or rather boasting of the Thessalian women, who were much addicted to that wickednesse. But the saying of Medea in one of the Tragedies of the younger Seneca hath some more reason to confirme it.Seneca in Medea.
Et euocaui nubibus siccis aquas.
I hauehave forced rayne out of the cloudes vvhichwhich before vvere drie. The soothsayers of Hetruria,Sozom. Eccl. Hist. lib. 9 6. as Sozomen doth write, would hauehave made men beleeue, that they could raise vp thunderbolts to driue away their enemies. The storie is notable which Dion hath of Sidius Geta a Romane leader.Dion Histor. lib. 60. This Captaine, saith he, pursuing the Moores in the hote countrie of Affrike, had both himselfe and his armie almost perished for want of water. One of the confederate Moores, commeth in this extremitie vntounto Sidius, and wisheth him that by Art Magike he would procure down some raine, or at least suffer it so to be, professing that him selfe had oftentimes made triall thereof, and had neuer failed in his attempt. This was done, and immediatly such store of rayne did folow thereupon, as both releeued his men and frighted his enemies, as if heauen it selfe had now conspired against them. I might adde more examples of graue and learned writers, who thinke that such meteors come oftentimes by such meanes.
Iouianus Pōtanus lib. 5. Rerum suo tempore gestarum.7 Iouianus Pontanus in the fifth booke of the Actes of his time, hath a Narration to this purpose, but a iudgement to the contrarie. In that mightie quarrell betweene the kings of Arragon, and the house of Aniou in Fraunce for the kingdome of Naples, Ferdinandus king of Arragon did besiege Mont-dragon a towne and castle in old Campania, where because the towne stood high on the top of a rocke, and the season was exceeding dry, he hoped that ere lōg, for want of water he should winne it to his pleasure. Now the inhabitants thereof being almost dead for thirst, being aduised therunto by certaine Priests, most wicked and vngodly persons, did trie this conclusion, then the which there hauehave bene few more irreligious or impious. Stealing downe in the darke of the night, through the watch which was set by the enemie, they crept along the rockes euen to the sea side, and all the way drew with them a Crucifixe (the resemblance of Christ crucified, and hanging on the crosse) which first they cursed and banned, with manie inchanted speeches, but afterward with most execrable wordes they threw it into the sea, vsing imprecations against the heauen, and earth, and water, so to wring from them a tempest. In the meane time the Priests being as wicked men as liued, to satisfie the souldiers who set them on worke, brought an Asse to the church doore, and sung a Dirge to him as to a man now dying; then they put into his mouth, their Sacrament of the Altar, & so with funerall hymnes, did burie the Asse aliue before the church doore. This vngodly solemnitie was scant ended, but the aire was full of clouds, the sea was stirred with the wind, the heauen did roare with thunder, the earth did flash with lightening, trees were plucked vp by the rootes, the stones did rent in peeces, & there fell such abundance of raine, that from the top of the rock whole streames did runne of water. So the king missed of his purpose. The Author which writeth this, confessing the whole matter, and describing it as I hauehave done, doth thinke that their Magicke did not cause the raine, but that it came naturally, so much wet falling after so long a drowth. His reason is, that for such villany and blasphemie as was then vsed toward himselfe, God would not send a benefite vntounto men to helpe them at their need, but would rather suffer them to fall into destruction.
8 But that reason is not sufficient: for God oftentimes doth suffer the reprobate to hauehave worldly things at their pleasure, to harden them the more, and that the delusions of Satan, may be so much the stronger in them, to their finall confusion. It is therefore most probable, that their wickednesse did so extraordinarily stirre vp that raine. For when Satan hath libertie frō the Lord to do things, either to blind the reprobate, or to chastise the elect being fallen into sinne, or to trie the faith of the best, he imparteth his power with his ministers, speciall instruments of his glorie, these necromancers & coniurers, and other such like. The sorcerers who shewed such sights to Pharao in Egypt, do proue both these grounds to be true, first that Satan oftentimes yeeldeth his power vntounto his seruaunts, and secondlie that God suffereth the wicked to hauehave their desire in many things, to their greater ouerthrow. To turne a rod into a serpent, and riuers into bloud,Exod 7. & cap. 8. cap. 7.22. and to make the fish to dye, (for that may be collected, because the text saith that the enchaunters did likewise) so, to bring vp frogs on the sodaine, were these in truth or in shew, do shew the great power of Satan, which he to delude the wicked, cōmunicateth with his folowers. He who had leaue for the one, may somtimes hauehave leaue for the other. In the 2. to the Ephesiās, Satan by the Apostle is called the prince that now ruleth in the ayre, Ephes. 2.2.which name although it may note to vsus some other thing besides, yet it doth also intēd (as all that write of this argumēt do vse to expound that place) that in winds, & raine, and thunder he beareth sway in the aire, whē God will giuegive him licence. But for the point of the question, this is put out of controuersie, by that which we reade in Iob,Iob. 1.16.19. where it is set downe, that by the hand of Satan (whether by witch or no, I stand not to dispute, for the text doth not reueale it) Gods leaue going before, a fire fell out of the ayre, and burnt vp Iobs sheepe and seruaunts, and such a wind came from the wildernesse,Gregor. Moral. Lib. 2.9. Satan à Domino semel accepta potestate, ad vsum suae nequitiae etiā elemēta concutere praeualet. Gregor. Moral. lib. 32.19. Greges abstulit, ignē de coelo deposuit, perturbato aere ventos excitauit, domū concutiēs s…bruit. as at one time striking all the corners of the house, destroyed Iobs sonnes and daughters. He hath not read the chapter, or litle hath considered it, who maketh doubt whether Satan there did such things or no. Gregorie vponupon that place positiuelie layeth it down, that the deuill hauing once receiued power of the Lord, that is, leaue being giuen him, to the bringing about of his naughtinesse is able to stirre the elements, by which word he meaneth the mouing of the fire, or disturbing of the ayre. And elsewhere interpreting that Behemoth spokē of in Iob to be Satan, he hath these words, This Behemoth who is the beginning of the waies of God, whē he had leaue to tempt that holie man meaning Iob, stirred vp people against him, tooke away his heards of cattell, fetched downe fire from heauen, troubling the ayre stirred vp vvinds, shaking the house ouerthrew it. And that is the iudgemēt of Saint Austen writing on these wordes of the seuentie and eight Psalme,Psal. 78.49. August. in eū Psalm. Brentius in concione apud Wierū. Suprà dictum est, Deū grandinis authorē administratorémque esse, & vt grandinem euocet, diabolo propter peccata nostra permitti Petrus Mart. Decad. 1.4. Bēzo in noua noui orbis historia. Lib. 1.10. He cast vponupon them the fiercenesse of his anger, indignation, and vvrath, and vexation by the sending out of euill Angels. He there saith, that Satan was he who sent downe the fire on Iobs cattell, and more generallie telleth vsus, that both good and euill Angels, by the permission of God, may vse these visible elements to their purposes. Yea Brentius himselfe in the Sermon which I named before, yeeldeth such things to be done by the Diuell, saying that God is the authour and gouernour of the haile, and yet that for our sins, it is permitted to the diuell that he may raise haile. What he did in former times, and especiallie to Iob, he can do now also if he hauehave commission for it.
9 When Columbus and the Christians with him, arriued first in the Westerne Indies, and began to plant themselues in Hispaniola and the Ilands, (as the authours do agree, Peter Martyr, Benzo and other) there arose such mightie and incredible tempests, as that the like were neuer seene or heard of in that countrey. There may be some other reason hereof, (for such things are secret to all, but onelyonly to God) yet it is no sin to suppose fitly to this present questiō (as some thē did cōceiue) that foule spirits stirred them vp, to shew their detestation to the name of Christ, grieuing that to those brutish creatures, who had long liued in ignorāce, he should in some sort be preached (although not yet so well as he ought) that the Gospell of the kingdome might be taught through all the world. Matth. 24 14If it were thus, yet neither doth this exāple, nor that forenamed in Iob, impeach our first cōcluded doctrine, that God doth send the thunder, that he is Lord of the winds, that he sendeth down the haile and raine; for he doth these things of his absolute power; by the singlenesse of his own will; by the sufficiencie of his nature, without reference to any other: But Satan and his factours worke their exploits by limitation and by leaue, for they depend on the Lord, and as if they were tyed in a chaine, they cannot exceede one hairebredth of that which is graunted vntounto them. And therefore we are not to thinke, that so oftentimes as men will report it, such tempests are caused by meanes of ill members in any common wealth, for then it should be verie often, (our common sort herein erre, and are verie credulous, or light of beleefe) but sometimes this is done by them, both at sea & at land, not vniuersally but in such special places, and causes too, as the Lord wil permit. And some learned men say,Vide Daemonologiā per I. R. Scoticè editam. lib. 2. cap. 5. that these stormes of their raising, may be easily distinguished from naturall tempests arising frō meteors, both because they begin most sodainly and violently, & because they endure but a verie litle time. Againe we are not to imagine that these things fall out so often, as the diuell and his agents do desire, for they are wondrous ful of mischief; but thē they are, whē it pleaseth God, in some measure to graunt the dispensation of them, either to crosse the godly, as to vexe them in their bodies, or disquiet them in their minds, or afflict them in their substance, but neuer to touch their soules, for that is not within their compasse; or else to plague the reprobates, and the infidels in their bodies & their soules, to their euerlasting perditiō. He that wold see more exāples of the working of sorcerers in this kind,Olaus Magnus. lib. 1.1. & lib. 3.14. let him reade some places of Olaus Magnus. And so I leaue this questiō.
10 Not Satan in this place, but God sendeth the storme on Ionas; & the circumstances afterward, do make proofe to the ful, that it was a verie great one. It is termed a mighty tempest, the ship was almost broken: the mariners are afrayd: they cry euerie man to his God, they throw the wares into the sea, which I shall touch more largely anon. In the meane time the note here is, that Ionas is the sinner, but all the ship smarteth for it: the mariners & the maister, who were not at all accessarie to this foule deede of the Prophet, yet are pursued as well as he. What had these poore men sinned, who after the custome of their trade, did let him in for his money as a passenger, but medled not with his message: they vnderstood not of his prophecying; yea it may be that they had neuer so much as heard of Niniue. Shall many smart thus for one? the mariners for a straunger? Here is now another question. But learne here Gods hate to sin: learne here his deepe and endlesse wisedome. His wisedome shineth in this, that oftentimes with one man he striketh a many, for reasons which in themselues are very different, being euermore wel knowne to his Maiestie, but secret vntounto vsus. The partie principall he doth punish; to the next he doth teach obedience; the patience of the third he will hauehave to be tried, and so forward in the rest: in all he seeketh his glorie; his honor in the wicked, his true feare in the good. If all these be whipped at once, he doth no wrong to anie. He that hath not sinned with Ionas, yet hath sinned in somewhat else. For what man is he that drinketh not in iniquitie as the water, and is not found so to do, if he be once brought to his triall before God? All the difference then is this, that their faults hauehave seuerall places, but their punishment shall hauehave one. Theeues are brought out of diuerse quarters, & at sundrie times they hauehave trespassed, and in causes ver…e contrarie; yet they are imprisoned in one iayle, and punished in one day, and suffer all on one tree. I doubt not for these sea-men, but if all of them had bene drowned, they had sufficiently deserued it, although they had neuer heard of Ionas. God neede not be vniust in his punishments toward man: he need not seeke occasion, or picke a quarrell against him.
11 Piso one of the Romane Generals,Senec. de Ira lib. 1.16. (as Seneca De ira writeth) to shew the bloudie humour which was in him, commanded that a souldier should be put to death, for returning without his fellow, with whom he went from the campe, saying that he had killed him. The Captaine who had the charge to execute this poore souldier, when he saw his fellow coming, which had bene missed before, did spare the first mans life. VponUpon this Piso found matter to take away the liues of all three. Heare his worthie reason for it. You are a man condemned saith he vntounto the first, my sentence was passed on you, and therefore you shall die. Then turning him to the second, You were the cause quoth he, wherefore your fellow was condemned vntounto death, & therfore you must die. And to the third, You Centurion, because you hauehave not learned to obey the voice of your Generall, for companie shall die also.Excogitauerat quemadmodū tria crimina faceret, quiae nullum inuenerat. He deuised saith Seneca how he might make three faults, because he found not one. The iust iudge of the skie need not deale so with vsus, neither needed he with these sea-men. No beating of his braines to inuent an accusation: our thoughts, and words, and deedes, do yeeld him cause enough. His wisedome it is to strike many for many ends. In one place, and with some one who is notorious for a crime, to punish those whose faults hauehave bin in diuerse places. His iustice goeth with his wisdome; for he neuer doth wrong to any, althogh our dul eyes do not see it. For the saying is verie true, that Gods iudgements, although many times they be secret, yet euermore they are iust.
12 And here appeareth his hatred vntounto a grieuous sinne. Sometimes for one mans fault who is harboured by another, or carelesly entertained without iust inquisition, without due examination, God calleth the sinnes of other to an apparant reckening, to a sensible remembrance, which before he seemed to forget. Let Achan be the man who serueth here for an example. He alone was deprehended in the excommunicate thing:Iosua. 7.1.21. he alone did steale the gold: he alone had touched the siluer and Babylonish garment. Yet for the wicked fact of Achan, there were sixe and thirtie of the Israelites slaine by the men of Ai. These did perish in their owne sinne, although they perished with his fault. His crime stirred vp a vengeance, which they had deserued before, but receiued now in his companie. Afterward his sonnes and daughters, his oxen and his asses, were burnt or stoned to death. This is no example for the Magistrate to follow, to punish one for another: this was Gods owne immediate deed, who himself is perfect iustice, and therfore cannot erre. But obserue withall his hatred to iniquity, which is so farre off from sparing the man grosly offending, that he destroyeth all that are neare him, because they will keepe companie with so stained a person.Num. 16.26. Many of the Israelites had felt this another time, if they had not fled from the tents of Dathan and Abiron. The companions of Ionas were sure that they tasted of it. And it seemeth that either by the light of nature, or by some sea-obseruation, they thought that they had one or other, whose roome might be far better then his cōpany was vntounto them, when they fell to casting lots,Ionah. 1.7. to see for whose sake it was, that all this came vponupon thē. That such things are thought on at sea, and that by natural men, let Horace be my witnesse, who can say this for himselfe
Horat. carm. Lib. 3. Od. 2.Vetabo qui Cereris sacrum
Vulgarit arcanae, sub …sdem
Sit trabibus, fragilémque mecum
Soluat Phaselum.
I will forbid that man vvho hath reuealed the mysteries of the Goddesse Ceres which heathen men thought to be a very hainous sinne, to come vnderunder the same beames, or saile in the same ship with me. The speech of Iuno in another Poet doth giuegive some light hereunto.
Pallásne exurere classemVirgil. Aeneid. 1.
Argirûm, atque ipsos potuit submergere ponto,
Vniu… ob noxam & furias Aiacis Oilei?
Could Pallas bur… a whole fleete of the Greekes, and drowne the men in the sea, and that for one mans fault, and the furie of Aiax Oileus? The infidels and Ethnickes hauehave thought these things at sea, either noting them by experience, or borowing them by tradition frō the Iewes, as they did many other matters, which hereafter I may obserue. He that would see more of this, let him reade what Tully hath written of that Atheist Diagoras.Tull. de Nat. Deorū. lib. 3.
13 This matter is true at land, as well as it is at sea. Our God is Lord of both. Thereupon it is a good warning to all, that they looke with whom they sort. For as the pestilent person doth send forth infected poison to such as do come neare him, to the killing of their bodies, so doth a grieuous sinner bring wrath on his companions, to the ruine of their soules. A good lesson for yong gentlemen, that they flie a blasphemous swearer. A good lesson for all Christians, that they auoyd an infamous hereticke. When Cerinthus came into the bath, Iohn the Euangelist got him out,Euseb. Hist. Eccles. 4.13. and called to his fellowes, that they should come away with hast, frō the company of the heretick, left the house should fall vponupon them. He thought that house might be guiltie, which receiued a man that was guiltie: and that the place was in danger, which receiued a man in perill. Here let them looke about them, who not onelyonly without all care, do sort them selues with all comers, not fearing the faults of others, but when they do know their wickednesse, they are glad that they hauehave such companions,Psal. 50.18. and do assent to their euils, if they see a thiefe, they run vvith him, and are partakers with the adulterers. If anie man teach a tricke of fraud, they will learne that of him: if anie vse vncleane speech, that filthinesse is for them. If to be with the naught bee naught, what is it then to bee naught? If companie do bring daunger, as you see it did by Ionas, how fearefull is consent? It is better to feare too much, then to presume but a litle. Our God is of fearefull maiestie. You shall discouer that by the tempest, which he sendeth vponupon the Prophet, and those which be in the ship.
There was a mightie tempest.
Vide Caesaris reditum in Italiam. Lucan. lib. 5.14 To such as vse nauigation it is a veritie vndoubted, that there be at sea many tokens and prognosticates of great tēpests, gathered from the Sunne and Moone, and waues and windes and clouds, and other things, the vse whereof our Sauiour Christ himselfe disliketh not, so that men go not too farre, or be not too peremptorie in them.Matth. 16.2. When it is euening, you say, faire weather: for the skie is red. And in the morning you say, To day shall be a tempest, for the skie is red and lowring. Such tokens of the weather are not hastily bred, neither do they breake in a moment. The cloud which appeared to Elias his seruant,1. Reg. 18.44. was first but as a mans hand, yet afterward there followed much raine. My text telleth of no token, that appeared here to the mariners: it commeth vponupon the sodaine, and therfore this storme is supernaturall; besides it commeth with such violence, that it seemeth, that they had seene few like it. The Prophet spareth no words, to describe the rod which now did beate him. The Lord sent foorth a wind, not a litle one,Virgil. Aeneid. 1. but a great one. Vnà Eurúsque Notúsque ruunt. The East and South wind blow together, as it is in the Poet. A tempest followeth after, which he calleth a mightie tempest. As men that liue in the middle of a great continent, scant know whether there be anie Ocean, as learned men do obserue, so we that liue still at land, scant conceiue their stormes at sea. They mount vp to the heauen and descend to the deepe, Psal. 107.26.so that their soule melteth for trouble. They are tossed to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and all their cunning is gone. The ship was almost broken. The keele be it neuer so strong, the ribs be they neuer so stiffe, the cleets and clamps of iron, be they neuer so fast set on, are like to flie in peeces. If a ioint cracke, all is hazarded: if a planke shoot vp, all is gone. This maketh the mariners quake, who are not moued with a litle: now they stand for their liues; now they are readie for that choise, either to sinke or swimme. But alas, what swinning was there in such a storme? The ship shaketh at euerie blast, as if it would into shiuers; euerie waue doth so affright them, as if still they were dying. It maketh them fall to praying, who in likelihood prayed not often. It maketh them thinke of their Gods, for there was no helpe now frō men: helpe heauen, for sea and winds, and waues, are all against vsus. Yea more, because their hands should go as fast as their tongues, they will not lye still and crie, but the cariage of the ship shall out into the water; the wares are cast into the sea, to lighten the ship withall. Her burthen might make her sinke, and therefore ease her of it. In what a case were these poore men for harbouring such a guest? As the host who hath lodged a traitor, and because he seemed a man of faire conditions, hath vsed him very kindly, doth not know what he hath done, til the Sheriffe come & seaze his guest, and himselfe to the Princes merciemercy, so was it here with these mariners. These men had money of Ionas, to let him come into their vessel,Ionah. 1.3. but by this time I think they could hauehave wished, that they had giuen him money to keepe him farther of. Ionas, thou mightest hauehave gone to thy Niniue, and saued them from this paine, and thy selfe too from this hazard.
15 You see the words are not manie; three or foure lines at the most: but what more can be said of a tempest, then is here said in the text? The sea-men are afraid, a stiffer kind of men then other people are, and who do not regard a small thing: they had borne many brunts before, and of likelihood escaped many dangers: they were acquainted with the working of the sea, and the egernesse of the wind: An hote storme and away: after a tempest cometh a calme. A man who were new come thither, and perhaps at first were sea-sicke, might be agast at a litle, his heart might be in his mouth, to feele but a litle rocking. But that this trembling feare should take these old beaten souldiers, it doth import a vehement daunger. The passengers must needs quake, when the mariners did so dread. If Ouid had bene there, he wold once againe hauehave said that his Elege quite to the end,Ouid. Trist. lib. 1.2. Dijmaris & coeli, quid enim nisi vota supersunt? Surely effeminate Ouid would hauehave betaken him to his deuotions, when these forgetfull mariners, who thinke not oft of their maker, did fall so fast to their prayers. It were to be wished that our Christians in all their nauigations, would more remember true godlinesse, pray oftener, & play lesse, vse better rule at their going out, and fewer sinnes at their landing. Doubtlesse, they which feare God are carefull; but an ill name goeth of manie of them.
16 I should here touch that circumstaunce, that these idolatrous persons cried euerie man on his God, but in the next verse folowing the text yeeldeth that againe, and I do deferre it thither. I will ad the other argument of the greatnesse of the tempest, that is, the throwing out of the wares. This is neuer attēpted, but when there is daunger indeed. As it seemed vntounto mans reason, there was no way but one, whē the mariners amōg whō Paule was,Act. 27 18.19 did first throw out their cariage, then the tackling of the ship. For how farre are men driuen, when with their owne hands, they must robbe themselues of their helpes, of their comfort, & of their wealth? Many had as willingly dye, as be put frō that which they hauehave. As good to lose life as liuing. A speech which is often vsed, but verie few times performed. A man will giuegive much for his life, which Satan knew well inough, when he could say in Iobs case,Iob. 2.4. Skin for skin, and all that euer a man hath wil he giuegive for his life. For money may be recouered, by industry or Gods blessing, or by some other meanes, but so can life be neuer: for now we looke not for miracles. This maketh so manie ransomes, to redeeme frō death with money, yea to giuegive incredible sūmes, to the impouerishing of the parties, & of their frēds, nay sometimes of a whole State,Gul. Neubringēs. 4 35. Memoires du Bellay. lib. 3. Guicciardin. Hist. lib. 16. Q. Curtius. lib. 4. as Richard the first of England once knew wel, in his returne frō the holy land, & so did Frāces the Great that king of Frāce, whē after his captiuitie, he was rā somed frō Charles the 5. then Emperor. Here the felowes of Ionas being put to very hard shifts, do chuse the lesse of two euils; their liues rather without wares, thē to lose both wares & liues. Whē Alexāders soldiers were to passe the swift riuer Tigris, by the violence of the streame many of thē lost their packes; & striuing there for their fardels, to take them vp again, they were almost drowned in the water. The king who saw their follie, bid thē looke to their liues, to hold their armor fast, & let the rest go, he himself wold make thē recōpence. The wise captaine thought it far better, to lose the Accidēt then the substance. That which nature teacheth all men, these mariners did here practise.
17 But that the text doth giuegive a reason, that it was to lighten the ship, it might be thought, that their casting of the wares into the sea, was in this desperate moode to make some kind of satisfaction, for that which they had gotten by fraude, or piracie, or deceit in bargaining, as being now most vnwilling in this extremitie, to hauehave in their possession such things, as were by ill meanes obtained. For oftentimes when death doth draw nigh, the conscience of men is pricked, to go from that which before hath both vniustly bene obtained, and most stoutly maintained. As Lewes the eleuenth,Nebrissens. Decad. 2. lib. 3.1. king of France, did in his death-bed restore two Counties to the heires of Iohn the king of Arragon, to the which in all his life time before, he would neuer condescend. Yet thē his consciēce so wrought with him. Or else it may be supposed, that it might hauehave bin for some vow, whereof seamen are not sparing,Erasmus in Colloquijs. when they do feare a wrack, as Erasmus in his Naufragium doth wittily let vsus know. They vow much and pay nothing; but these idolaters here throw out much and vow nothing, vnlesse it be afterward, as it is in the end of the chapter. Or else it might be imagined, that they threw in their most precious substance, as a raunsome for their liues to their idolatrous Gods; as men in our time vse to throw in rings, or iewels, or chains, or other things of price, to buy their liues with their substance, that they may seeme to God to be willing to part with somwhat, & that of moment also. So that life may be saued, not to go away but with losse. Now although the expositours do mētiō these things, & it is not amisse to obserue thē, yet the spirit of God doth say, that necessitie made them drown their wares; euen that hard dart of necessitie,Ingens telum necessitas. which will plucke frō men any thing that doth not immediatly cōcerne their being, rather then all shal run to ruine.Plutarch. in Dione. Idem in Pō peio. 1. Cor. 11.14. Caesar de bello. ciuili. li. 3. Apparell, & wealth, & brauerie, & house, & land, & bewty shall away if need require. Dionysius leaueth his kingdome. Pōpey forsaketh his coūtry, being vrged both by necessitie. Although nature do teach the cōtrary, as Paule writeth to the Corinthiās: yet rather thē the citisens of Salonae will yeeld to Octauius, the haire of their womens heads shall be cut of, to helpe make engins for them,Iosephi vita per ipsum conscripta. and deuises in the warres. Iosephus telleth of one Clitus an eminent malefactor, that being in feare lest he should be put to death, or at least lose both his hands, did at the first word willingly cut off his owne left hand, that he might preserue the other. Iudge now at length for this tempest, whether it were not a sound one, when it put such men as these, vntounto such shiftes as these: men that aduentured their liues for money, to part from wares which would yeeld them mony: men bold, to be stricken with such feare: men carelesse, to be driuen to such deuotion, and praying vntounto their Gods. Ionas thou canst not say, but thou art followed for thy sinne, not as with a furie from hell, but with iustice from aboue. But of that may be more hereafter.
18 But here I may not forget this, in these idolatrous persons (because it doth yeeld vntounto vsus, the best of all these instructions) that these Ethnicks who here are actors, did neuer fall to their calling vponupon their heathenish Gods, till that daunger did grow vponupon them. Their mind did run at randon, till affliction as a spurre did quicken their strong obliuion. Sea-daungers hauehave that force aboue all other daungers, to make men crie with earnestnesse, when nothing is to be seene, but heauen aboue and water below,Virgil Aeneid. 3. Psal. 107.28. Coelum vndique & vndique pontus. Dauid did wel note this, when after the description of a storme, he addeth this for a conclusion, Then they cry vntounto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresse. There is trouble, and distresse, and crying to the Lord. Violent motions of the aire generally cause a feare.Psal. 29.8. In them the voice of the Lord maketh the wildernesse to tremble: the renting of the clouds, the cracking of the aire,Philo Iudaeus de legatione ad Caium. Suetonius in Calig. cap. 51 Senec. de ita. lib. 1.16. do much affright the wicked. Caligula the Romane Emperour, would needs be reputed for a God, and there was no measure of follie with him; yet if he had but heard a clap of thunder, he wold winke or hide his head, or run perhaps vnderunder a bed. Now feare in all men who hauehave sence, doth enforce vntounto religion, or at least to superstition. As long as Gods hand is ouer vsus, we feare, and so by a consequent are carefull. If we were as dull as that Asse,Num. 22.22. whereon Balaam vsed to ride, yet if an Angell hold out a sword, it will make vsus stagger at it. But as soone as the sword is sheathed, so soone we will forget it. It is the crosse of Christ, which maketh a man a true Christian, it keepeth vsus in obedience, & howsoeuer the flesh repineth, the spirit is bettered by it. Sicknesse, or plague, or famine, or war, or any great iudgement, maketh more prayers in a day, more seeking to God, and that feelingly & hartily, then otherwise are ordinary in a weeke.
19 I do find in Agathias,Agathias Hist. lib. 5. that when on a time, the Citie of Constantinople was shaken with a verie terrible earthquake, many houses were ouerthrowne, and with the fall thereof great store of people perished. Herewith the whole Citie was so frighted, and euerie man so remembred to thinke on God, that solemne supplicatiōs and publike prayers were had, the Churches euerie day were full, and all men for a while were much amended. The poore folkes were releeued: iustice was well administred: there was no fraude thē in bargaining: yea it was become a verie holie place. But whē God once held his hād, they also held their prayers; when his rod ceased, then ceased their pietie too. That which he did obserue concerning Constantinople, may be noted of other places. Yea Historians do obserue it. In the first late ciuill warre in Fraunce, which arose now more then thirtie yeares agone,Edictum Ianuarij. Anno 1561. after the putting foorth of that Edict, which is commonly called the Edict of Ianuarie; and in like sort in the second & third of those warres, such as were of the Religion, then groning vnderunder the crosse of pouertie,Cōmentarij Reli. & Reip. in Gal. lib. 10. Tanta erat Religiosorum taediosa curiosita… & tam t…pidus zelus, vt vix ordinariae doctrinae sermonē quasi minùs eloquētem, nec satis aulicum plurimi Religiosi iā minimè tolerarent. Anno. 1572. of oppression and warre, were verie deuout toward God, verie carefull toward to the world, glad to heare any preach the word, glad to receiue the Sacramēt: but whē the third peace was concluded, which seemed a verie sound peace, and the rod was now thought to be remoued farre of, such carelesnesse and securitie did ouergrow the harts of all, and in the Protestants there was so cold a zeale, nay rather such a tedious curiositie (as a French man termeth it) and that within lesse thē two yeres space, that a Sermō soūdly made, with good groūds of diuinitie, was not thought to be worth the hearing, vnlesse it were spiced with eloquēce, or flourished with daintie phrases, such as were fit for the Court. But immediatly afterward, this contempt of theirs was pursued with that great massacre, that bloudie and horrible massacre, like to which the Sunne scant euer did see any thing; and then the mariners in the ship with Ionas, did not cry more hotely on their Gods, then the Frēch men our neighbors, did cry vntounto the true Lord of heauen.
20 Might it please our God, that we by their example could learne to be thankfull in prosperitie, as well as to be crying when miserie hangeth on vsus. In Queenes Mariesdayes, when the fire deuoured the flesh of Gods saints, what prayers were then made, for the faithfull congregation, by many within the land and without? Coldnesse hath since benummed some hote ones of that time. The Spaniard threatned warre not manie yeares agone;Anno. 1588. the pietie of our land exceeded for that time, yoūg and old then came together into the courts of the Lord: the Sabaothes were then sanctified: the weeke dayes were well spent: we had prayers extraordinarie, & lectures twise a weeke, as this place doth well know. But with the cold of the winter our holinesse waxed cold, and manie monethes had not passed, but as in few things we were better, so in some things we were worse. Good God, that thy great merciemercy, should make thee to be loued the lesse. One yeare is not passed ouer, since (besides manie other quarters) the chiefe Citie of our kingdome,Anno. 1593. being visited by Gods messenger the pestilence, which destroyeth as well by night as by day,Psal. 91.6. did hang downe her head for sorrow. I hauehave heard that since that time, it is verie much forgotten in buying and in selling, in bargaining and deceiuing. God sent vsus here a warning,Pestis in vna aut altera domo, in ipso Oxonij vmbili…. Anno. 1593. and then another warning in the verie hart of our Citie. I thinke that we, and other, did in that time more thinke of deuotion toward the Lord, of purging of our soules, of true mortification, of preparing our soules to Christ, then we hauehave done manie times since. It is not well, if it be so. It is a reproch to some, no penie, no Pater noster; It is a reproch to vsus, no plague, no Pater noster, no punishment, and no prayers. Let it not be noted of vsus that we are like to those Gentiles, who only when the tempest raged, did cry vntounto their Gods. Let vsus feare the Lord for his louelove, and louelove him for his merciemercy: let vsus not prouoke him to strike vsus, because otherwise he cannot awake vsus: but let vsus watch to him, that his anger may sleepe to vsus.
21 If our Ionas hauehave offended by wilfull disobedience, let vsus dread to do the like: if he were punished for that, then let not vsus presume to sinne by his example: if God sent a tempest against him, he can vse his rods against vsus: if Satan be sometimes the instrument of Gods iustice, let vsus feare to come in his fingers: if the Lord so hateth iniquitie, that the companions of the wicked are oft punished for their sakes, let vsus hate sinne as a serpent, and flie from the profane: if heathen men preferre their liues before their wares, let not vsus aduenture our soules, to get temporall trash on earth: if idolaters serue their Gods once, when they be in daunger, let vsus serue our God euer, to keepe vsus free from daunger: if they pray when they hauehave neede, let vsus pray euerie day, because euerie day we neede. Lord guide vsus still with thy grace, and bring vsus vntounto thy kingdome. To thy name be prayse for euer.