Sermons on Jonah, Lecture 1
The chiefe points in the first Lecture.
2. Ionas was not the sonne of the widow of Sareptha, 5 Neither had a Prophet to his father. 6 The taking away of the word is a grieuous plague. 10 Gods word must be a direction to the Minister: who is not to gad vp and downe. 11 Diuines of the Vniuersity may preach in parishes adioyning. 13. Niniue a great Citie. 17. Why crying is vsed in Scripture. 18 The Easterne curious artes likely to be in Niniue. 19 But certainly robberie and oppression.
IONAH 1.1.2.
The word of the Lord came also vntounto Ionah the sonne of Amittai saying, Arise, and go to Niniueh that great Citie, and crie against it, for their wickednesse is come vp before me.
THat which Hierome said to Paulinus concerning the seuen Catholike or Generall Epistles (for so they are called) of Iames,Hieron. ad Paulinum. Breues pariter & longas: breues in verbis, longas in sententijs. and Peter, and Iohn and Iude, that they are long and they are short, short in words, long in substance; may I thinke be wel spoken of this Prophecy of Ionas, that it is long, & it is short: short if we respect the smalnesse of the volume, but long if we regard the copious varietie of excellent obseruations, which are therein to be found. As, the horriblenesse of sin, which was able within fortie dayes to plucke downe an vtter desolation, on so famous a citie as Niniue was. Gods louelove in forewarning them who dwelt in that place, that they might be spared: the Prophets foule fall, and his strange punishment for it: his of-wardnesse from God, and Gods fauourable inclination euermore to him: the regard which the King of Niniue and his people did beare to Gods iudgements when they were denounced: the free pardon of the Lord, and his remitting of their sinne vponupon their earnest repentance. The subordinate circūstances do yeeld as good doctrine as the maine storie it selfe, and from them both, this thing of note is collected, that our Sauiour Christ in two seueral matters, doth take occasion to draw his similitudes or comparisons from this Prophecie; which is not obserued of farre greater bookes.Luk. 11.32. The one of them is in the 11. of Luke, The men of Niniuy shall rise in iudgement with this generation, & shall condemne it, for they repented at the preaching of Ionas, and behold a greater then Ionas is here. The other is in the twelfth of Mathew, As Ionas was three dayes and three nights in the whales belly,Math. 12.40. so shall the sonne of man be three dayes and three nights in the heart of the earth. Here our Prophet was a figure of the Redeemer of the world, and in that did liuely expresse him. And some thinke that another thing in him, did as liuely paint out a second matter in our Sauiour Christ, that as Ionas preaching long to the people of Israel, and doing litle good there, by reason of the stubburnnesse of that nation, was sent vntounto Niniue a citie in Assyria, to men strangers from the couenant; so Christ by himselfe and by his Apostles, laying open to the Iewes the will of his father, and finding nothing but vnthankfulnesse to be the frute of his paines, should turne away his louelove and affection from them, and bestow it on the Gentiles. Now as this may agree with the analogie of faith, & may be deduced not vnfitly out of the text, so to thinke that all the prophecie may allegorically be applied vntounto Christ, (wherein some of the old fathers were too too much credulous) were to straine the storie too farre, and indeed it may not be, as Hierome hath well noted on the third verse of this Chapter.Hieron. in Ion. 1.3. Ionas propheta non absque periculo interpretantis, totus referri ad Dominum poterit. And therefore in that proceeding which God shall send vntounto me in the opening of this Prophecie, my purpose is to follow the letter of the text, and to lay downe the doctrine of it with conuenient application, but without allegories Origenicall or wrestings at all.
2 The time wherein our Prophet did liue, should seeme to be soone after the death of Elizeus, in as much as he did prophecie of Ieroboam the later, the sonne of Ioas, that he should restore, or recouer againe the coasts of Israel which were lost. Ieroboam restored the coast of Israel, 2. Reg. 14.25.from the entring of Hamath to the sea of the wildernesse, according to the word of the Lord God of Israel which he spake by his seruant Ionah the sonne of Amittai, the Prophet which was of Gath Hepher. From which words, a foolish tradition that is among the Iewes, may wel be refuted: for the Rabbins of that people, who with their Talmudicall vanities, and Cabalisticall subtilties hauehave peruerted much of the Scriptures, do teach, and hauehave long so taught, that this Ionas was the sonne of the widow of Sareptha,1. Reg. 17.17. whom Elias did raise vp from death to life. Which opinion hath gone so currant, that among our Christians also, some of the new writers hauehave accepted it for a truth,Lyra in Ion. 1. Isidor. in 7. Etimolog. Epiphan. de vitis Prophe. Hieron. in Praefat. in lib. Ion. but among the old farre more, as Lyra vponupon this place, and Isidore in the seuenth of his Etimologies. Nay those who were verie auncient, and verie learned withall, hauehave rehearsed it vncontrolled, as Epiphanius, and S. Hierome in his Preface to this Prophecie. Thus an opinion once begun, doth go from hand to hand, receiued without discussing, and from error in one man groweth error in another.
3 For if there were no more but that God himself hath cō cealed it, not naming any such matter in the Scripture, (where notwithstanding is oftentimes speech of Ionas) it were a probable argument against that their assertion. For when the maister is silent, why should the seruant speake? When God saith no such matter, why should any man affirme it? especially since to vtter it, had bene for a solemne remembrance of Gods glorie, and it might hauehave procured to Ionas, farre greater obseruance among the people, to whom he was to preach, that he should be knowne to be sonne to that woman, who was picked out by the Lord himselfe, to be a nurce to that reuerend man Elias, in the time of bitter famine, and that this preacher should be the selfe same person, who was raised from death to life. But in my iudgement the point is fully answered, when he is said to be of Gath Hepher, and not of Sareptha. For Gath Hepher, or as it is in the Hebrew,In vulgata editione. Iosuah. 19.13. Gittah Hepher, which to S. Hierome are both one, was a citie in the land of Israel, in the tribe of Zabulon, as we may read in Iosuah. But Sareptha was not in Israel, as Christ himselfe verie euidently doth signifie in S. Luke,Luk. 4.25.27. Many widowes were in Israel in the dayes of Elias, but vntounto none of them was Elias sent, saue into Sareptha a citie of Sidon, vntounto a certaine widow. Also many leapers were in Israel in the time of Elizeus the Prophet, yet none of them was made cleane, sauing Naaman the Syrian. As if he should say, that in those places strangers were preferred before the children. Nay he addeth more, to Sareptha of Sidon, 1. Reg. 17 9. Ioseph. Anti. lib. 8.9.or a citie of Sidon. And Iosephus also telleth vsus, in the 8. of his Antiquities, that Sareptha is a citie betweene Tyre and Sidon: where speaking of Elias, of the widow, and her son, he hath not a word of Ionas. And left it may be thought that Gath Hepher did stand neare to this city of Sareptha, and so that our Prophet for the nearenesse of the places, may be sayd to be of both, it was the tribe of Asser, and not the tribe of Zabulon which was nearest vntounto Sidon.Iosua. 19 28. Then our Ionas being takē from the tribe of Zabulon, and therefore being an Israelite, he was fit to preach to the Israelites, as to his owne countrimen. Which course the Lord did take commonly in sending of his owne to those which were his owne, as Iewes to the tribe of Iuda, and Israelites to the other ten tribes; which he had not here obserued, if Ionas had bene sonne to the widow of Sareptha.
4 I hauehave opened this error, as principally occasioned by the person of our Prophet, with whom I am here to deale; so secondly to shew the boldnesse of the Iewes, who dare on naked coniectures grounded on weake foundations, (as is this, that because his mother who was raised vp by Elias,1. Reg. 17.24. foreign Vide Hieron. in Proaemio commētarij in Ionam. vsed a word in Hebrew like to the name of Amittai, therefore Ionas the sonne of Amittai must of necessitie be her sonne) giuegive out assertions boldly; boldly I say, but falsly, and that in their owne Prophets, and that in their owne Scriptures. Verie endlesse is their follie which they vse in this behalf, & it is not to be wondred at by vsus, who know their malice in denying of Christ Iesus to be the true Messias; in peruerting of such scriptures as in their owne bookes are written of him;Epiphanius Haeresi. 29. in cursing of the Christians daily in their assemblies, vnderunder the name of Nazarites; in vilefying the new Testament, but in magnifying their Talmud that irreligious booke, with such celestiall praises,Lodou. Viues de Veritate fidei. lib. 3. that as Viues writeth of it, they hold this for an opinion, that God himselfe bestoweth the first foure houres of eueryevery day, in reading of that booke, like a scholer at his task. Nay more, that when the Temple at Ierusalē was destroyed by Titus the Romane, that then the Lord did sit reading vponupon that booke within three or foure cubits of the place; belike so busie at that, that he could not hauehave any leisure to thinke on the ouerthrow of the Temple, which you know was but a trifle. Let all men take heed of their errours; and let vsus that be Preachers of the word, especially take heed, how we credulously reach any thing, that vnaduisedly commeth from them.
5 The widow of Sareptha was not Ionas his mother, but himselfe doth let vsus know that Amittai was his father; where also another fable may iustly be reproued,Lyra in Ion. 1. which Lyra writing vponupon this place, reporteth to be broched by the self same Iewes; to wit, that our Prophet was sonne vntounto another Prophet, because his fathers name is here mentioned, for so (say they) are all the Prophets, whose fathers are named in the Scripture. Marke their worthy reason for it.Amos. 7.14. Amos saith of himself, that he was no Prophet, nor the sonne of a Prophet, and if you will looke in his book, you shal see that his father is not mētioned. A reason most inconsequent, and not worthy to be refuted. Amos was not the son of a Prophet, & his father is not named, Ergò they whose fathers are named,Hosea. 1.1. Ioel. 1.1. had Prophets to their fathers. Hosea was the son of Beeri, and Ioel the son of Pethuel; but no signification is there in their writings, that their fathers were also Prophets. Zephaniah was the son of Chuzi, Zephan. 1.1.who was the son of Gedaliah, who was the son of Amariah, who was the son of Hizkiah. If this their reason were good, there should here thē be no lesse, thē a whole generation of Prophets. But I rather approue of the reasons of Arias Montanus,Arias Mont. in prolegom. in minores Prophetas. Luk. 2 36. who saith that they are named, either because their fathers were men famous, & wel knowne in their times; or else for distinctions sake, to make them differ frō some other of that name. The new Testament doth yeeld vsus examples of both in other persons; as when aged Anna is sayd to be the daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Aser, it may probably be imagined that Phanuel when he liued, was a man of reputation, well knowne to very many. But in the Epistle of Iude, the title which is there giuen vntounto the Apostle, not from his father, but from his brother, Iudas the seruant of Christ, Iud. 1.and brother of Iames, was to make him differ from Iudas Iscariot, who did betray Christ. And hauing thus touched the person of our Prophet, and the time wherein he liued, let vsus come a litle neare vntounto the words of the text. Not forgetting notwithstanding, that this whole booke by many is diuided many wayes, but I shall vse no curious partition of it, and therefore do only note, that the foure Chapters herein do containe seuerall arguments. In the first is the fall of Ionas, and his suffering for it. In the second, his repentance, which is vttered in a prayer. In the third, the fruite of his preaching, that is, the conuersion of the Niniuites. In the fourth, his anger against the Lords proceeding, and Gods answer thereunto. Now to the first in the first place.
The word of the Lord came also. Also.
6 Tremelius and Iunius do expound the Coniunctiue Hebrew particle,foreign Quum fuisset verbū Iehouae. which is vsed in the beginning of this booke, by the time when. The Septuagint and all other whom hitherto I can find, both Translators and Expositors, do reade and or againe or also, and therby do intend, that when Ionas before had preached in Israel, and done litle good there, the word of the Lord came a second time to him, to send him elsewhere, to the Citie of Niniue. Wherein Gods purpose was, to take away his word together with his Prophet, from those who long had it, & brought forth no fruites accordingly, and to giuegive it vntounto other who were aliens from the couenant, and strangers from the promise. And if that these Niniuites should hauehave that grace, as by hearing a message, to fructifie in great abundance, they might then exprobrate ingratitude and grieuous rebellion, to the people of Israel, because these being but once preached vntounto, did apparantly repent, but the other hearing often, did still increase their sinne. This is a fearfull iudgement, when God remoueth his word or ministers from a nation, & giueth them to other. For where there is no vision, Pro. 29.18. 2. Chro. 15.3.where prophecy ceasseth, the people decay. Azariah the man of God could tell the people of Iuda, that for a long season they had bene without the true God, without priest to teach, and without the Law, as signifying that these curses do iointly go together, that where is neither Priest nor Law, there also is not God. It is threatned as a plague to the people of Hierusalem,Ezech. 3.26. that the Lord would make the tong of the Prophet to cleane to the roofe of his mouth, that he should not exhort thē, that he should not reproue them.Apoc. 2.5. Except thou amend saith Christ the sonne of man to the Angell of Ephesus, I will remoue thy candlesticke out of his place, I will take away thy ministerie. It is a fearefull sentence from the mouth of Christ him selfe, The kingdome of God shall be taken from you, Matth. 21.43.and shall be giuen to a nation which shall bring forth the fruites thereof.
7 The miseries which follow this, are vnspeakable discomforts to such as are able aright to conceiue them. To be blind, and hauehave no guide, and yet to walke there, where treading awry is the tumbling into hell: to be hungry and to famish: to sucke, but on dry breasts: to be pined, & not perceiue it, which is an euill of all euils. For there is no truer miserie, then not to know a mans own want, or if he do know it, not to be of power to helpe it,Amos 8.12. but to wander from sea to sea, and from the North euen to the East, to run to and fro, and not be able to amend it. But when Ionas like a Doue (for so his name doth signifie) must flie or must go from Samaria to Niniue, when what the Iew must lose, that the Gentile must winne, when the elder is disinherited and the yonger made the heire, no maruell then if griefe possesse the very soule.Gen. 27.34. What maruell if Esau a naturall man, did grudge and would not ceasse, did weepe and could not hold, when he saw that what he lost his brother Iacob should gaine; that the falling of the one was the rising of the other, the seruice of the elder was the raigning of the yonger? The children of Abraham did contemne the whole world, in respect of their prerogatiue in the sanctified seede: they could hauehave bene contented, that the very crummes from the table, should not hauehave fallen to the Gentiles. If the Prophet had bene sent from the ten tribes to the two, or contrariwise from the two vntounto the ten, from Iuda to Israel, or from Israel to Iuda, the matter had bene lesse: but must Ionas go to Niniue? We can conceiue no otherwise,1. Sam. 18.29. but that it was a great griefe to Saul, that himselfe must lose the kingdome; but that Dauid must hauehave it, his subiect who liued vnderunder him, his seruant that attended him, was a mightie vexation, euen a griefe to the death. There Gods anger was the greater, who preferred the seruant before the maister: here his displeasure was the hoter, that the Prophet must leaue his countrey,1. Sam. 4.18. & go to callhome other strangers. When old Eli did heare that the Arke of the Lord, the presence of his grace, was first gone from the Israelites, and then taken by the Philistins, his whole strength was gone; his heart did faint and die.
8 The kingdomes & nations who hauehave tasted of the Gospell, may bethinke themselues here. The benefit is inestimable which God hath affoorded them, in giuing them the bread of life, and his stewards to breake it, his ministers to teach it. Now if in recompence thereof,Isa. 5.2. in steed of grapes they should bring foorth wild grapes; if for figges they should yeeld thistles; if their iustice should be but gall, & their iudgement but wormewood; if his word should be neglected, and his ministers be despised, let them feare least that befall them, which hath happened vntounto others.Rom. 11.24. Those which were but wilde branches and are now graffed into the Oliue, can they be dearer vntounto God, then those branches which by nature appertained to that tree? If he spared not his own, which by a peculiar calling were appropriated to him, for so the Iewes were in comparison, will he spare those which in a second place, and but onelyonly for default of the former, were adopted by him? Saint Paule doth let vsus know,21. that without doubt he will not. The light was great which Gods Churches once had in Asia the lesser, when Iohn the Euangelist, and Polycarpus and other scholers to the Apostles, did liue and die there. The same may be sayd of the Cities of Graecia, which did heare Saint Paule preaching, did reade Saint Paule writing. For some hundreds of yeares after him, many excellent lampes did burne in those partes, which gaue light to their neighbours. But for the sinnes of the inhabitants, is not their candlesticke since remoued into the West? are not their lampes extinguished? Yes, their Ionasses are dead, or sent to other nations. Their temples are now made a cage of vncleane birdes:Apoc. 18.2. filthie spirites do possesse them. The Turke with his Curaam, and Mahomet with his Alcoran are Lords of those places. The Citie Rome was once the eye of the West, the sanctuarie of religion, the anchor of true pietie. This continued many yeares after that Paule had sayd in his time, that their faith vvas published throughout the vvhole vvorld. Rom. 1.8.But when Rome once proued Babylon, the holy City an harlot, when idolatry & securitie had once poisoned her heart, her light was remoued into the Northern parts, & among them vntounto vsus: where God graunt that it may continue, till his Sonne do come to iudgment,Exod. 10.21. that the horrible and palpable darknesse of Egypt, may neither come on vsus, nor our seed, nor our seeds seed after vsus. It were a fearfull curse, if Gods glorious Gospel should be taken from vsus, & giuen to the Tartarians, a wild people in the North, or vntounto the Moores, profane men in the South. Our fathers in their times had experience of the like; for after the free passage of Gods word, in the dayes of king Edward of blessed memory (whose soule doth rest with the Lord) for the sins of our natiō, & the careles abusing of so gracious a benefit, there came such a time as that Ionas might not stay in Israelit he would: either Ionas must fly, or Ionas must dy. Then Geneua, or Basile, or Franckford, or some other parts of Germany, were thought fitter places to receiue the Lords Prophets, then our Englād was.
9 That short time of mercy which God had shewed before, had but a short time of chastisement succeeding it. Since those dayes God hath shewed longer louelove, and powred it on vsus more plentifully. If in steed of long lent graces, we will not pluck vponupon vsus long plagues, and grieuous punishments, let vsus esteeme his word as a iewel of price; let vsus esteeme his messengers, as the ministers of God,Heb. 13.17. weake men, but in great trust, who do watch for their soules to whom they do preach, and would be glad to see men prease vntounto Christ with chearfulnesse. It were a thing to be lamented bitterly, if by wanting we should know, what it were to want that,Plutarch. in Demosth. which by enioying we know not. Demosthenes perceiuing the true danger of that case, could remember the Atheniens, that if the dogs were gone, by a composition with the wolues, the sheep wold soone pay for it; the cruel wolues wold rage at pleasure. If the Orators were once yeelded, Athens wold soone to wrack.Zachar. 13.7. If the shepheard be once striken, ye know what followeth after, the sheepe will be soone scattered. If the Preachers be remoued, mens soules will run to ruine. The walles of Hiericho could not be ouerthrowne (as Origen saith writing on the booke of Iosua) but by the trumpets of the Priests.Origen in Ios. Homil. 7. So the fortresses of Satan, of iniquitie and sinne, cannot be layd along, but by the teaching of the Priest, the preaching of the Minister. Therefore make much of your Ionasses, whosoeuer you be, and keepe them while you hauehave them.
10 But in Israel at this time it might not be so. There cometh a message to the Prophet, a commanding iniunction, & giueth him other instructions. The word of the Lord came vntounto Ionah. This is it whereupon the Prophets should euermore depend, for their sitting or for their rising, for their mouing or their resting. They are not to run vponupon a fantacie or humour of their owne, and speake they know not what, neither care they to whom, but for their message which they vtter, they are rather to take it then to make it.Exod 3.11. Ier. 1.6.9. Moses wold not go to Pharao, till he had learned his lesson perfectly. Ieremy is but a child, and knoweth not how to speake, till God stretcheth forth his hand, & putteth his word in his mouth.Ezech. 3.17. The Lord doth tell Ezechiel, that he should heare the word at Gods mouth, and giuegive the people warning from him. Nay the true Prophets all in general remembred this well enough, when so often they end their sentences with these words, Thus saith the Lord. Saint Paule writing to the Corinthians doth take this course in the matter of the Sacramēt, I receiued of the Lord that which I also deliuered vntounto you. 1. Cor. 11.23.Otherwise, as he is a traytour to his Prince, who taketh on him to coyne money out of base mettall, yea although in the stampe he for a shew doth put the image of the Prince; so he that shall broch any doctrine that commeth not from the Lord, whatsoeuer he say for it, or what glosse soeuer he set vponupon it he is a traitor vntounto God, yea in truth a cursed traitor, although he were an Angell from heauen,Galat. 1.8. as Saint Paule telleth the Galathians. Earthly kings are offended, if their subiects shall do from them, or in their names, such messages as they send not; or if their Ambassadours being limited by aduertisements what they shall do and what not, should entreate of contrarie causes. Then should the Minister be carefull in a verie high degree, that he speake not but according to his commission, least he offend a Lord of more dreadfull maiestie, who is more iealous of his glorie, and more able to punish. The visions are now ceassed; reuelations are all ended; such dreames are past and gone, as did informe in old time: Now it is Gods written word which must be to vsus, as the threed of Ariadne, to leade vsus through all laberinths. The Law of the Lord is perfect, Psal. 19.7.conuerting the soule, the testimony of the Lord is sure, and giueth wisedome to the simple, saith Dauid. Tertullian could say of the written word, I do adore the fulnesse of the Scripture. Tertul. cont. Hermogenē Adoro Scripturae plenitudinem. Vinc. Ly…in. contra haeres. cap. 27. Depositum custodi. Quod tibi creditum est, non quod à te inuentum, quod accepisti non quod excogitasti, rem non ingenij sed doctrina. Ita doce, vt cū dicas nou è non dicas noua.This full Scripture, this perfect Law of God, is it which must be the guide, and as the loade-starre vntounto vsus. Vincentius Lyrinensis in his litle booke against heresies speaketh elegantly to this: O Timothy, do thou keepe fast thy charge. What is it that is thy charge? That which thou hast receiued, not that which thou hast deuised: that which is cō mitted to thee, not vvhat is inuented by thee: a matter not of thy wit, but rather of thy learning, wherein thou art no author, but onelyonly a keeper, not a leader, but a follower. And a litle after, Do thou so teach, that vvhen thou speakest after a newe maner, yet thou do not speake new matter. Thy order may be new, thy method may be newe, but the substance of that which thou speakest must be old. This is an argument very copious to be handled: and thereunto may be ioyned the iust reprehension of some fantasticall Anabaptistes, who hauehave taken on them in our time, to crosse this written word, by illuminations and reuelations of their owne. But I leaue the one and the other, till God send further grace to wade more into this Prophecie. That which I rather gather here is this; that if Ionas would not go from one place to another, without the expresse commaundement of God, who is Lord ouer heauen and earth, and ruleth all at his pleasure, and that also the other Prophets did euermore obserue this rule, that then in the examples of Gods auncient seruants, there is no protection or warrant for such men, who sometimes in our Church, do flit from place to place, without staying in any. It is one thing to be sent, and for a man then to go; another thing to runne first, and not at all to be sent. Feede the flocke saith Peter,1. Pet. 5.2. but it followeth in the text, which doth depend vponupon you, Hier. gregem qui in vobis est. foreign.or which is committed to you, for so the best translate it, although to the letter it be, the flocke which is among you. The Apostles indeede did go throughout all the world,Mat. 28.19. but they had their passe-port for it: Go ye and teach all nations. But besides that, the immediate presence of Gods Spirit did still attend them, and told them what they should do, and againe what they should not do; so that they were not at their owne libertie.Acts. 13.4. chap. 16.7. When they were let go by the Spirit, they came vntounto Seleucia. And, they would hauehave gone to Bithynia, but the Spirit would not suffer them. These men of whom I speake are not Apostles: that dispensation is ceassed, as all Gods Church doth know. It were rather to be wished, that they did not come much nearer to the name of Apostataes, for reuolting from the approued rule of the Christian faith, while they vse that profession which is sacred in it selfe, but as pretenced pietie, to couer vnhappie shifting, yea sometimes an vngodly life. I do not speake of all: among bad may be some good: and circumstances oftentimes do make whole causes differ. But for many of them, I could wish that experience had not taught vsus, to the slaunder of the Gospell, that such fond admiration as they procure in the pulpit, among the ignorat multitude (who are easily deceiued) is quitted with some infamy, which from town to towne doth follow them, and from countrey vntounto countrey, or with some actuall cosinage, or with lustfull carnalitie, or one bad tricke or other.
11 Their calling in the meane time is not warranted in the word, although Ionas went to Niniue. Ours is a stable profession, it is no gadding ministerie. And yet I doubt not, but that we who are children of the Prophets, and hauehave a home in this place, and therefore are different from them, to exercise our selues against such time as God shall send vsus charges, or especially to win men to Christ, may sometimes in this towne, and sometimes in the villages which are here about adioyning, euen with a free-will offering bestow our litle talents.Scribendo disces scribere. By writing we learne to write: by singing men learne to sing: by skirmishing we shall learne to fight the Lords great battels. The people in the meane time are wonne to Iesus Christ: the faithfull are increased: ignorance is well expelled: idolatry is defaced; Satan and sinne are conquered. The very crummes of our tables, would keepe many soules from staruing: the lost houres of our idlenesse, would helpe many poore to heauen. God graunt that the burying of those talents in the ground, which he in his great louelove hath giuen vntounto vsus, be not layd to our charge, in that dreadfull and terrible day. If ignorance, or idolatrie, or iniquitie did not rage, if the enemies of the Gospell to hold vp their Romish Antichrist were not busie to peruert, we might keepe our selues in our cloisters, but if all these do fret, and dayly consume like a canker, let vsus sometimes looke about vsus. Theodoret reporteth in his Ecclesiasticall storie,Theodoret. Hist. Eccles. lib. 4.24. that when Valens the Emperour with his Arrian opinions, had bee-postered much of the world, & by that meanes the flocke of Christ stood in great danger, Aphraates a Monke, a holy man of that time, contrary to his order and vsuall profession, came foorth out of his Monasterie, to helpe to keepe vp the truth. And being asked by the Emperour who was offended at him, what he did out of his cell? I would (saith he) hauehave kept it, and did keepe it so long as Christes sheepe were in quiet; but now that tempestes do come on, and stormes bring them in danger, eueryevery stone is to be turned, eueryevery means is to be sought, to free them from this perill. He goeth on: If I were daughter to any man whatsoeuer, and according to my sexe as decency would require, were kept vp in a closet, or in some secret chamber, and inner part of the house, yet if my fathers dwelling were on fire, should I not be verie carelesse, if I wold not then come forth to helpe to quench the fire, or giuegive direction for it? So if now I should not helpe to teach true faith in Christ, by coming out of my Monastery, I should do much amisse. Let vsus remember the like, in these most perillous times: so we shall discharge our consciences, we shall disburden our soules, and God himselfe will reward it, by one meanes or another, although men do not requite it: for do not looke for that: if you do, they will deceiue you. And thus hauing shewed the reason why Ionas went from Israel, I come to the second verse.
Arise.
12 It should seeme that our Prophet hauing long preached to his country-men, and litle preuailed, had now discouraged himselfe, and euen set him downe, which case doth oft befall the Minister, through that weaknesse and frailtie which is in humane nature. For the preuenting whereof in his seruant Ezechiel, God himselfe doth foretell him, that he sendeth him to such as are a rebellious house, Ezech. 3.9.and will not heare his voyce. Notwithstanding the Prophet is enforced to do his dutie, and leaue the successe to God. That is it whereunto the Minister should looke, performe all which the Lord requireth, and leaue the euent to him. For we are not in Gods place, to alter & change, and mollifie mens hearts;1. Cor. 3 6. Paule planteth, and Apollos watereth, but God giueth the increase. In the meane time, the labour of the faithfull Minister, whether it speed or misse, is accepted of the Lord.August. contra Crescon. Grammaticum, lib. 1. For as he (sayth Saint Austen) who perswadeth to euill, (as to heresie or treason) is punished accordingly, although he do not preuaile, yet because he intended it, because he did labour it; so he that doth his best to winne men to heauen, although he effecteth not what he desired, findeth his reward with God. And he addeth in the same booke, that when Christ did lament ouer his owne Citie Hierusalem,Matth 23.37 and said that he would hauehave gathered the Iewes together, as the hen gathereth, or clucketh her yong ones vnderunder her wings, and they would not; that perhaps he did encourage vsus by his own example, that if we should not obtaine when we hauehave spent our labour, yet we should not dismay our selues, because no more befalleth vsus,Matth. 10.24 then did betide Christ. And the disciple as we know, is not greater then his maister. If such a drowsinesse or sleepinesse were now vponupon Ionas, after his small successe in preaching to Israel, God biddeth it be shaken off, when he willeth him to Arise, that is, pluck vp his spirits, and rouze vp himself, and make speed in his message.
And go to Niniueh that great Citie.
13 Although God in ordinarie did tye himselfe to his people of Israel, yet at this time (for so was his good pleasure) he sheweth that himselfe is Lord ouer all the earth, and taketh care of all and punisheth all who do sinne against him; in as much as he did send his Prophet to Niniue, which was a Citie in Assyria, and the Metropolis of that countrey, and iustly in this place sayd to be a great Citie. By that which is written of it, it may be iudged, that Niniue was then the greatest Citie that was vponupon the earth. When Moses doth mention it, he giueth that testimonie of it,Gen. 10.12. Ion. 3.3. This is that great Citie. In the third chapter of this present Prophesie it is sayd to be a great and excellent Citie of three dayes iourney. That in those dayes this was no strange thing, in the Easterne countreys, to hauehave som places verie huge, we may somewhat iudge by Babylon,Aristoteles politicorum. lib. …. which Aristotle setteth downe to hauehave bin so big, as that when some part of it had bene taken by the enemy, some other quarters of it, did not heare of any such newes, till within three dayes after. But for Niniue thus much more: In the last chapter of this Prophecie it is put for the conclusion of the booke,Ion. 4.11. that there were in it sixe score thousand persons that could not discerne betweene their right hand and their left hand: which importeth that they were children of small age and vnderstanding.
14 This City by profane writers is called Ninus,Herod. lib. 1. Strabo. lib. 16 Plin. lib. 6.13. Tacit. Annal. lib. 12. as by Herodotus in his Clio, by Strabo in the sixteenth of his Geography, by Plinie in the sixth of his Naturall historie, by Tacitus in the twelfth of his Annales. And by some of them it was supposed to be builded by Ninus the great Monarch of Assyria, and husbànd to Semiramis,Aug. de Ciu. Dei. lib. 16.3. which is also the opinion of Saint Austen, in his bookes De ciuitate Dei. Some argument why we should beleeue it to be so, may be gathered from the name, being termed of Ninus the king, Ninus, & Niniueh in the Scripture. But see whether that in this case,Augustinus Epist. 19. Gal. 2.13. a man may not say as Austen sayd to Hierome (about that great controuersie betweene Paule and Peter; whether Peter sinned or sinned not, and dissembled with the Iewes in deed, or but in shew) that although Hierome had more witnesses in nūber to proue his assertion, thē Austen could bring, yet that S. Paule who had Gods Spirit, and thereby did write, was in steed of all the rest, nay in truth aboue all: So although both Heathen and Christians, and among them S. Austen do say, that this Citie was built by Ninus, yet see whether Moses who had the immediate Spirit of God, be not in steed of all,Gen. 10.11. or rather beyond all. And he doth tell vsus that this Citie was built by Assur. Neither doth the Hebrew name import ought to the contrary, if it be as some suppose, not Niniueh of Ninus, but Niniueh of Nauah the Hebrew word,foreign & so signifying beautiful or goodly, or faire, or fit to be inhabited. But this controuersie may be ended,Munsterus Cosmograp. lib 5. if that opinion be true which Munster doth deliuer vntounto vsus, that some thinke that both Assur and Ninus are one man, called by diuerse names in diuerse languages. He doth not specifie in that place, who they be that so reconcile this doubt; neither yet hauehave I found any that be of that minde.
Diodorus Siculus Antiq. lib. 3.1. Plin. Hist. natur. 6.3. Herod. lib. 1.15 But to let that go, this Citie is described by Diodorus Siculus (in the second of his Antiquities as Stephanus will hauehave it, as some other in the third) to stand vponupon Euphrates, I thinke he meaneth Tigris, for so all consent hath it, and Babylon on Euphrates: to be built with foure sides, but not equall or square, for the two longer sides had each of them one hundred and fiftie furlongs, the two shorter sides had each of them ninetie, which arising in the whole number to foure hundred and foure score furlongs, the compasse of the Citie did amount to thirtie French leagues, or threescore Italian miles. The walles sayth Diodorus were in height an hundred foote, the bredth of the walles, that three cartes might go together: the towers which were about it, were one thousand and fiue hundred, the height of the towers was two hundred foote in each. This Citie being built, to shew the magnificence and royalty of the founder, was without doubt populous for the proportion; the country yeelding food to sustaine so great a multitude, and they hauing water at wil by the nearenesse of the riuer. The fertilitie of the soile was such in old time about this place, although not for other things in like measure, yet for corne, that Herodotus writing of it doth speake of his owne knowledge, that the ordinary fields did returne the seed sowne in them two hundred fold, the better places three hundred: three hundred bushels for one, or at least three hundred graines of one corne.
Seneca in consolatione ad Narciam. cap. 16. Tiberiū Gracchū & Caium qui bonos viros negauerit, magnos fatebitur.16 Our Ionas is to go by Gods commandement to this Citie, which if any will denie to be good, yet he must confesse to be great, as once it was said of the Gracchi in Rome. He needed not to find fault that he had nothing to do, who had Niniue for his charge, and whose businesse was to preach to such an auditorie where were so many and so mightie. If he stood vponupon his credit, as it seemeth that he did too much, (which hereafter may be shewed) here was a place of reputation for him, if any were vponupon earth. Tullie was no great warriour, for ought that I can reade,Tull… Epist. lib. 2. Ep. 10. ad Caelium. Vt mihi ad summam gloriam nihil de…it nisi nomen oppidi. and I thinke that himselfe thought so; yet in one of his Epistles, he telleth that he did besiege a litle towne, Pindinessus he calleth it, with such egernesse, that there was nothing wanting to him of the top and height of glory, for his good seruice there, but the name of the towne. His towne did want a name. He meaneth that it was but base, and not knowne to men in Rome. Our Prophet in his preaching need find no such fault: his charge hath a name: it is Niniue that great Citie, which ruled ouer the earth, the seat of the Empire, the Ladie of the East, the Queene of nations, the riches of the world, where more people did inhabit, then are now in some one kingdome.Sene. in Suasoriar. 2. Ingenij confus… & turbulenti qui cupiebat grandia dicere. Credatis mihi velim non iocanti, eò peruenit insania eius, vt calceos quoque maiores sumerit, ficus nō esset nisi mariscas. Concubinā ingentis staturae habebat. I do reade in Seneca, that there was once a man of a turbulēt wit, called Senecio, who wold speake none but great words, wold hauehave none but great things. His seruants were all great, his siluer vessels & plate were great. Nay, beleeue me (saith Seneca) his folly grew so great, that his shoes were still too big for him, he would not eate figs, but Mariscas, a kind of grosse great figs. He had a concubine of a huge and mighty stature. He had all things so bigge, that the sirname, cognomen, or rather cognomentum as Messala did terme it, was set vponupon him of Senecio Grandio. If this Grandio had bene sent on such a message as Ionas was, it may be supposed that he wold hauehave bene a proud man. But our Prophet was not so, as in the next verse hereafter we shall find.
17 Well, God goeth forward with him, Arise and cry against it. The Lord telleth him all the circumstances, which must be done in this message, least he should be to seeke, and so do somewhat amisse: and againe to make him more carefull in performing of that, wherin God himself was so desirous to informe him in particular. He must crie against Niniue, not whisper in the eare as if it were to one; not speake softly as to a few: but cry as vntounto all: this is a general proclamation. This word Cry is vsed in Scripture when men are fast asleepe and lulled in their sinnes, and awake not with a litle, so that as Eliah sayd to the Baalites, that they were to cry alowd, 1. Reg. 18.22.because Baal might be sleeping, and must be awaked, so the Minister must crie aloud, that men may be raised from their drowsinesse in sinne. When the iniquities of Israel, & transgressions of Iacob began to grow great, the Prophet Esay is called vponupon to crie alowd and not to spare, Isa. 58.1.yea to lift vp his voyce as if it were a trumpet. In like maner, when, as it should seeme men being drowned in securitie did forget their owne mortalitie,Chap. 40 6. A voyce sayd Cry: The Prophet asketh what shall I cry? All flesh is grasse, and the beauty thereof as the floure of the field. So the voyce of Iohn the Baptist who bad men repent, because the kingdome of heauen was neare, is called the voyce of a cryer. Matth. 3.3.Againe this word Cry is some other time vsed, when some thing else crieth first, and maketh such a noise in the eares of the Lord, that it calleth for vengeance of him; and in the eares of the committers, that they cannot heare any thing vnlesse it be lowd. In such cases men are not moued at all with low words, as the whistling of the winde is not perceiued at all, in the blowing of trumpets or the ringing of belles. Those things which are violent, must be driuen foorth with such other things as are violent. It is sayd of bloud that it cannot be satisfied but with bloud. It is knowne of louelove, that it cannot be recompenced or requited but with louelove. Euen so the crie of sinne cannot be stopped, but by crying out against sinne, and condemning it openly. But that sins do crie we reade oft in the Scripture. Abels bloud did crie,Gen. 4.10. Chap. 18.20. Deut. 24.15. Iac. 5.4. that is indeed, the murther of Cain did call to God for vengeance. The crie of Sodome and Gomorrha was great. The detaining of wages from the laborer & hired seruant, doth yeeld foorth a crie. And here in this place the wickednesse of Niniue cometh vp before God: & with what but with a cry? As if he shold say, that it was now grown so great, that the earth was no longer able to hold it, but both the aire and the heauen too, did ring of the same. Exceeding force of sin, which wil thus call for vengeance.Gen. 19.13. This was it which once plucked downe fire and brimstone from heauen vponupon Sodome and Gomorrha. This was it which caused that vniuersall floud in the dayes of Noe.Chap. 6.12. Num. 16.1. This made Corah and his company to be swallowed vp by the earth & go down quick into the graue. This brought an incredible destruction vponupon Ierusalē, which somtimes was Gods own Citie. Nay this very place Niniue, although now it were spared vponupon their apparāt repentance, yet when afterward they returned to their malice, as a dog to his vomit, it was destroyed, as Nahum the Prophet had foretold.Nahum. 3.1. Those other Monarchies of the old Babylonians, of the Medes & the Persians, of the Greeks and Romanes did speed after like sort. Their sinne ascending vpward, rebounded againe vponupon them, with a fearefull desolation. But what now may we imagine that those sinnes were, which are sayd in this place to lye so grieuously vponupon them.
18 It is likely that such generall sinnes were in Niniue, as are sayd by Ezechiel to hauehave bene in Sodome,Ezech. 16.49 that is, Pride and fulnesse of bread, and abundance of idlenesse, & that she did not strēgthen the hand of the poore and needy; but I thinke that in particular some falts may be picked out, which were great in that place. As first, witchcraft and inchantment, and sorcery & necromancie, and diuination by the starres, which were exercised beyond measure, in all the Easterne parts where Niniue stood. When the true wisdome of Salomō,1. Reg. 4.30. is in the scripture compared with mens counterfeit wisdome, it is said that his wisdome excelled all the wisdome of the children of the East, that is, their Philosphers and Diuiners,Matth. 2.1. foreign. and all of that sort. There came to adore Christ, wise men as they are called, Magi, Diuiners or Soothsayers, and it is sayd in the text, that they came out of the East. In the second of Daniel, what a rabble of such are reckened vp to be in Babylon, a citie not far from Niniue,Dan. 2.2. Inchanters, Astrologians, Chaldeans and Sorcerers? & how doth God himself deride, & scoffe at thē by his Prophet Esay,Isa. 47.9. for entertaining of such, & for retaining of so many? In one word, the censure that is set on the Chaldaeans, men not far frō Niniue,Tull. de Diuinat. lib. 2. Tacitus Hist. lib. 1. Annaliū li. 6. Tiberius sciē tiâ Chaldaeorū artu. Herodot. li. 5. by Tully in the second of his Diuination, and by Cornelius Tacitus in the first of his History, (where that by his Mathematicians he meaneth Chaldaeans, or the scholers of them, may be wel gathered from that which elsewhere he hath of Tiberius, who as he saith was skilled in their Arts) together with the Narration of the Magi in Herodotus, who would hauehave had the kingdom after the death of Cābyses, do make this most plaine, that in the East country these Arts were vsed much, and therfore likely so in Niniue. But how odious these sins are in the sight of God, whosoeuer doth reade the Scriptures, can not be ignorant. In the tenth of Ieremy the least of these faults are called the way or customes of the heathen, Ierem. 10.2. Num. 23.23.and therefore are they vnfit for Gods people. Balaam could say, there is no sorcery in Iacob, nor soothsaying in Israel. God himselfe doth giuegive charge that among his people should be none that vseth witchcraft or a regarder of time, Deut. 18.10.or a marker of the flying of foules, or a sorcerer, or a charmer, or that counselleth with spirits, or a soothsayer, or that asketh counsell at the dead, and the reason is there assigned, because all that do such things are an abomination to the Lord. Nay, God doth so hate these, as that all such who seeke to them, are odious to him,1. Sam. 28.7. 2. Reg. 1.1. 1. Chro. 10.13 as by Saule and Ahaziah may most plainly appeare, who for seeking vntounto such, lost their kingdomes and their liues. The audaciousnesse of men who are acquainted with these arts, may be seene by those enchanters of whom we reade in Exodus,Exod. 7.11. Plinius Hist. Nat. lib. 26.4. Regulus auspiciae curauit, & captus est. Mancinus religionē tenuit, & sub iugum missus est. Pullos edaces habuit Paulus Cyprian de Idolorum vanitate. Zozom. Hist. Eccles. 2.22. Theod Hist. eccles. li 3.21 Mulierculam capillo suspensam, m…mbus exte…sis, cuius ventre dissecto. who at Pharaos intreatie, did dare not only to braue, but to resist God and his seruant Moses. Plinie himself although he were but a heathen man, doth laugh at and deride the vanities of such. S. Cyprian doth describe their vnfruitful superstitiō: Regulus saith he, obserued the flying of birds, and yet he was taken by the Carthaginians. Mancinus kept their religion, yet was he sent vnderunder the gallowes, sub iugum, a token of disgrace to him selfe and his armie. Paulus had the birds eating lustily, which they held as a signe of good lucke, yet was he slaine at the battell of Cannae. But the execrable custome of some who be of this kind may partly be learned by that, wherwith Athanasius sometimes (although falsely) was charged, that he in his Magicke should vse the hand of a dead man, which by experience in our time hath bene declared to be a practise, of some who vse those trades. And partly by the example of Iulian the Apostata, who not long before his death, going to warre in Persia, did cause a woman to be hanged vp by the haire of the head, to hauehave her hands stretched abroad, her belly to be ripped open, that, as the author iesteth at it, her liuer perhaps being cut vp, he might thereby diuine what should be the end of that his voyage, and whether that he should safely returne againe. As it may seeme he him selfe was ashamed of that deede,Non obserari solum sedetiā obsignari. for he caused the church or chappell wherein this fact was done, not onelyonly to bee locked, but to be sealed vp also, and watchmen continually toward there, that no man might come in. Yet afterward it was discouered, when report came of his death. No maruell if such sinnes did come vp vntounto the Lord, or any other which draw in this line,Basil in Hexae mero. Homil. 1. Astrologia indiciaria negotiosissima vanitas. if they were to be found in Niniue. Let Christians still take heed of these most filthy crimes, yea and of all curious arts, and among them of that too, which, whatsoeuer be sayd for it by many who are young, and delight in experiments, is truly sayd by Basil, to be nothing else but a busie tickle vanitie.
19 A second sin in Niniue was robbery and oppression. That in some sort may be gathered from their large and mightie gouernement, which could not be maintained but by somewhat, & indeed was vp-held and born out, with the spoiles of other. But the Prophet Nahum doth put the case beyond question, when he calleth it a bloudy citie, Nahum. 3.1.full of lyes and robbery, from whence the pray departeth not. They had then conquered a great part of the inhabited world. The tributes and exactions which they had of them whom they conquered, could not chuse but be great. And for the beautifying of that their City, which for a thousand yeares and more, was mistresse of the world, and chiefe seate of the Empire, it may well be supposed, that they tooke the selfe same course, which afterward was taken vp by the Romanes, who to garnish and adorne Rome, did take away from all places, whither their authority and soueraignty did stretch, not onelyonly gold and siluer, but images and pictures, and painted tables, and hangings of tapistrie, and plate, and armour, yea whatsoeuer else was precious in their eyes.Liuius lib. 25 So did that great Marcellus at the sacking of Syracusa, and other in other places; who feared not to spoile many townes, to make one trim & glorious. Now God who loueth iustice, and in iustice hateth oppression, and the robbing of other men, can not like of this. How sped Pharao with his people, for dealing hard with the Israelites? If he shall be cast into the fire saith Saint Austen,Augustin. de Sanctis, Sermone 38. Putas vbi mittendus est qui tulit ali…num? being moued as it seemeth by that place of the 25. of Matthew, who did not giuegive his bread to the hungry, where thinke you shall he be put, who hath taken away the bread of other men? If he shall be throwne into the fire who clothed not the naked, whither shall he be cast who hath vnclothed the clothed? If he be condemned with the Diuell who hath not affoorded his house to strangers, where do you think is he to be put, which taketh away that house which in right is another mans? All which things oppressors do. Here let those men take heed, who grind the face of the poore, of the fatherlesse, and the widow, if this sinne yeeld foorth a crie, not onelyonly in this world but in another also.Theatre du monde. lib. 2. It was a spitefull tricke and in no sort to be commended, but much lesse to be imitated; and it was a saying much abused out of Athanasius his Creed: but yet the meaning was very shrewd, when the people of Sicilia did write vponupon the tombe of a dead Viceroy of theirs, who was a great oppressor, and cruell ouer that countrey
Qui propter nos homines
Et nostram salutem
Descendit ad inferos.
Athanasius in Symbolo.Who for vsus men
And for our better safetie
Is gone downe into hell.
They meant that this polling and exacting gouernour was lodged in hell.
20 If all things which are written, be written for our learning, then let the crie of Niniue be a warning vntounto vsus, and to all men in generall, that we flie from their crueltie. And remembring that of the Prophet,Habac. 2.11. The stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beame out of the timber shall aunswer it, Wo vntounto him that buildeth a towne with bloud, and erecteth a City by iniquitie, let vsus be warie in our Colledges, that it be not truly sayd of vsus, that robbery and oppression, and bribery and extortion, go not out of their streets. The keeping backe of the poore, for the speeding of the rich to gaine friends to our selues, or to be enriched with money, cometh neare within this compasse. Friendship which is so gotten, is not friendship with the Lord, nor friendship for the Lord, but friendship against the Lord. Money which is so had, as it is cursedly gotten, so it is often spent leudly. It is put as the Prophet speaketh,Agg 1.6. into a broken bagge; the Lord doth blow vponupon it; & yet we will not see so much. A reckening must be made, as how we spend our money, so much more how we get it. If such sinnes should be among vsus, they may be accounted farre greater, then they could be in Niniue, because we hauehave had many Ionasses, who hauehave long cried out against them. That God who is slow to anger, will strike so much the heauier, when he is forced to strike. That wrath which is deferred will in the end proue most grieuous. Thus you see what Ionas was, and againe what he was not, and who sent him from Israel, and who bid him go to Niniue, and that Niniue was a great Citie, but a Citie of great sinne. It followeth in the next place how he did discharge this dutie: but that must be deferred vntounto some other time. In the meane while God send vsus vnderstanding in all things. To this God be praise for euer.