Sermons on Jonah, Lecture 4
THE IIII. LECTVRE.
The chiefe points. 1. The drowsinesse of Ionas in his daunger. 2 Sinne breedeth sinne. 4 Satan is desirous to make vsus secure. 6 A superuising diligence should be in all that hauehave charge. 10 The ship-maister teacheth the Prophet. 11 Idolaters had many Gods, and their vsage toward them. 14 One man is more acceptable to God thē another. 15 Danger of praying to many Gods. 16 Heathē men know there is a God. 17 In crosses it is good to suspect that there is some sin. 18 The vse of lots, and diuerse circumstances in them. 23 Sinne will be discouered.
IONAH. 1.5.6.7.
But Ionah was gone down into the sides of the ship, & he lay down and was fast a sleepe. So the ship-maister came vntounto him, and said vntounto him, what meanest thou ô sleeper? Arise, call vponupon thy God, if so be that God vvill thinke vponupon vsus, that vve perish not. And they said eueryevery man to his felow, Come & let vsus cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this euill is vponupon vsus. So they cast lots, and the lot fell vponupon Ionah.
WHen Alexander the Great,Seneca de Beneficijs. Lib. 7.3. with his happy temeritie as a Philosopher doth call it, but by the prouidence of God,F…ix tem…ritas. Daniel. 8 5. Q Curtius. lib 4. Plutarch in Alexandro, & Arrianus. lib 6. appellant Gaugamela. as Daniel doth describe it, had proceeded so farre, as that after one great ouerthrow giuen to Darius in person, in the straights of Cilicia, he was now a second time in the fields neare Arbela (or as the best writers hauehave, in the fields neare Gaugamela) to ioyne battell against him: whereas many things should hauehave inforced him to looke about him, as the smalnesse of his armie, the strength of his aduersarie, the widenesse of the field, where he had none aduauntage, his distaunce from his owne home, and no place to flie vntounto: yet when it was farre day, that verie morning when the battell was to be tried, and by that time his armie should hauehave bene ordered and raunged into aray, the enemie comming forward, the Generall Alexander who otherwise did stirre with the formost was fast asleepe in his tent. Parmenio and his Nobles, who for no cause of their owne, but for his sake and his honour, there aduentured their liues, were troubled aboue measure; they were in a sea of cares, and scant knew which way to turne them: onelyonly he whom all concerned, and whose making or marring, depended on that dayes triall, and for whom and whose sole sake they endured all things which they were then to sustaine, as a man that knew not of it, or one that tooke no care which end went forward, lay in his bed soundly sleeping. The Prophet in this place, shall be no whit behind him, but rather much beyond him. He hath listes to enter with the verie wrath of God: his life doth lye vponupon it, and his soule too, if his God should not deale kindly with him: the ayre is now disturbed, and yeeldeth a mightie tempest; the waues they froath and roare; the windes they beate and blow; the sea is moued exceedingly; the ship is almost broken; the seamen are afrayde; happie man that can pray fastest: the burthen of the ship, be it costly or be it necessarie, it must out into the water, and all for Ionahs sake; his cake it is that is baking; the euent concerneth him onelyonly: and he alone as the man who of all other did know least, and was a straunger to the action, doth seeke a secret corner, the inner sides of the ship, where he may lye & rest. Oh Ionas, thou who shouldst be a mā beyond a many, euen the Prophet of the highest, thou art now short of a mā, thou art now below thy selfe, sleeping & snorting then, when all the powers of thy spirits, were too few to looke about thee.
2 If the man had not liked of Niniue,Suprā in versu 3. for reasons which once I named, but yet wold still hauehave kept his calling, and wold hauehave held on his preaching, his sin had weighed the lighter: he might hauehave bestowed his talent at Tarshish when he came there, and done some good on the marchants; & by the way going thither, he might hauehave giuen exhortatiō to his fellow trauellers, to serue the true God of Israel. If he had not had so many auditours as were in Niniue,Act. 2.41. or so many as S. Peter had, when at one sermon he won three thousand soules to Christ, yet he should hauehave had some hearers: if it had bene but one Plato to hauehave attended Socrates,Iacob. 5.20. he had not vtterly lost his labour: he who hath conuerted one sinner from going astray out of his way, shall saue a soule from death, and shall hide a multitude of sinnes, which either the conuerted, or conuerter hath committed. But it is not for this cause that our Ionas goeth to the sea: his preaching is turned to sleeping. Let the world go how it wil: he is got away from his maister, & will thinke no more of the matter. See what the best man on earth is, if God withdraw his Spirit, & eclipse his grace but a moment. We are desperate to all wickednesse, but beetles and blocks to goodnesse. Here is an obdurate sinner: a hard brawne is ouer his heart; a thicke skin and insensible: let the sea roare, and the mariners crie, and tumble out their packs; our Ionas taketh a nap in verie supine securitie, and maketh no more of it. Oh the stubburnnesse of iniquitie, and mans auersenesse from his maker. But when we hauehave once passed the lines of duty & obedience, and grosse sinnes hauehave taken hold vponupon vsus; then we must iustifie our actions: we will run we care not whither: from the shoes vp to the shoulders, yea sometimes ouer head and eares.
3 Sin stealeth on vsus by degrees, but cōmonly the last step is the deepest.2. Sam. 11.2. Dauid being idle had spied out Bethsabe: there, idlenesse was the beginning: then did his eye as the window of his mind, let in concupiscence into his hart. Of idlenesse cometh cō cupiscence. Therof foloweth adultery. Marke how these sins do multiply, and one ingendreth another. Murther maketh vp the measure. And when all this put together wold hauehave troubled the strongest hart in the world, yet without remorse of conscience, without iote of cōpunction, Dauid swaloweth it and deuoureth it, and for the better part of a yeare, neuer considereth of it. How farre is the conscience of the reprobate and malignant seared, if Gods children do thus fal? No maruel if a Pharao adde drunkē nesse vntounto thirst,Matt. 2.3.16. that is, heape sin on sin; or Herod do ioyne to his ambitiō, a cruel massacring mind; or Nero aboūd in wickednes, & linke villany vntounto mischiefe. When the bowels of Gods elect shalbe so filled and possessed with carelesnes, what shal refraine the wicked, frō prouing to be some Iudas or some Iulian? Afflictions, threatnings, counsels, & the holiest exhortations, (as S. Austen in another case doth make comparison) are but as a blast of winde,Augustin. Epist. 22.5. which in a vehement fire doth keepe downe the flame for a puffe, but it riseth againe so much the stronger. Or as a draught of cold water, to a mā in a burning feuer, which easeth him for an instāt, but he is the worse for it afterward. There is no measure with the wicked, when the best sin in so great measure.
4 It is old Satans pollicie, so farre as lyeth in him, to bewitch the hearts of Gods children, that when they are filled with iniquity, they may be drowned in security, euen as a man who hath fed in gluttonie, is ouertaken by some drowsie sleepe. And then it fareth with the sinner, as it doth with the Crocodile, when his belly is stuffed with some pray.Plinius Hist. nat. lib. 8.25. For then as Plinie writeth, doth he yeeld himselfe ouer to sleepe, and leaueth his mouth open, of purpose that a litle bird called Trochylus, may picke his teeth and make them cleane. But thereupon doth the Ichneumon a kinde of serpent take occasion, to creepe into the belly of the Crocodile, and being once in, he neuer ceasseth there to gnaw, till he hath eaten through his panch. Thus doth Satan deale with vsus; for amidst our idlenesse, and forgetfulnesse of that horror of euill which hangeth vponupon vsus, he taketh possession of our soules, and if a stronger then himselfe do not driue him from the same, he will eate them out to damnation. As therfore by the counsell of the Wise man,Syrac. 25.27. we should giuegive the water no passage, no not a litle, so we should giuegive as smal entrance vntounto Satan, as possibly we may. But let vsus not so prostitute vntounto him, the whole sense of our soule, that like to a frentike person, when we be at worst, we imagine our selues to be in a most happie estate. He who wil not start in daunger, is in case to suffer any thing; but he that will sleepe in daunger, when easily he may be awaked, forgetteth himselfe beyond measure. When our Sauiour Christ was now ready to be taken, and Iudas was at hand, so that the shepheard was to be stricken, and the sheepe thereupon to be scattered, Peter and Iames and Iohn, were iustly reproued for their sleeping, What? Matth. 26.40, 45.could ye not vvatch vvith me one houre? And afterward, sleepe henceforth and take your rest, meaning that it would not belong, but they should throughly be awaked.
5 They slept when the perill was to their maister, and them selues had lesse cause to feare; but our Prophet doth take his rest, when he alone was to smart, and the ruing of other men was only for his sake.Tullius Philippica. 13. O miser cum re tum hoc ipso quòd non sentis quàm miser sis. O wretced man saith Tullie against Anthonie, as in deed, so in this also, that thou doest not vnderstand how wretched a man thou art. Here is one far exceeding Anthonie. Gods immediate wrath doth follow him, & he doth not conceiue it: he is in the midst of euill, & doth not vnderstand it. Here is euidently seene the great heauinesse of our nature, who neglect those maynest matters,Lod. Viues de tradendis disciplinis. lib. 4. which nearest of all do presse vsus. Viues that worthy learned man, doth wonder at some Phisitians, that they could possibly be couetous & greedy vpō the world, in as much as both in their speculatiue study, and their practise, they behold euerie day how tickle a thing life is; how soone the breath is gone; how the strōgest dye in a moment, & the yongest fall on the sodaine, and by a consequent that the vse of riches is so vncertaine, so transitorie & so short. I would to God that our Phisitians of the soule, were not sick of this disease. We who know that flesh is grasse,Isay. 40.6. and the grace of it but a flowre, that our breath is but a vapour,Iacob. 4.14. and our life but as a bubble, who speake much of mortality, and preach other mens funerall Sermons, yet in the midst of our studies of contemning the world, we are in louelove with the world, and too much embrace this Mammon. Thus we are like to the fishes of the sea, who liuing in salt water, yet are most fresh. And as Ionas in the midst of daunger, we sleepe in it & passe by it; we say it, and do not see it. The stormes by right should hauehave stirred vp Ionas, and his conscience should hauehave quickened him: so our knowledge should rowze vsus vp, and the fraude of the world should awake vsus. Thus far you hauehave heard of a most carelesse man; now harkē to another person of a cleane contrarie disposition, who looketh well to his charge, & for his part amendeth that fault which is found in the former.
So the ship-maister came to him.
6 As by occasion of the tēpest, it lay vponupon the gouernour of the ship to bestir him, so it well seemeth that he was not idle. He is somtimes aboue the boord, & somtimes vnderneath, he cometh down vnderunder the hatches.Caesar de bello ciuili. Lib. 2. & 3. Cesar did neuer more lay about him, in his great fights against Pompey, where somtimes he playeth the captaine, & other sometimes the souldier, here he speaketh, there he striketh, & goeth from one ranke to another; then the maister doth in this place. He looketh whether any planke were rift or splint in two. And perhaps with his vigilancie and care, doing his best, & seeing all to be but in vaine, he is glad to speake with any other, to see if there might be helpe in him, or any good word of comfort.Hieron. in Ionae. 1. Naturale est vnumquenque in suo periculo de alio plus sperare. For as Hierome noteth on this place, it is naturall vntounto eueryevery man, in extremitie of danger, to hope better of another, thē he doth hope of himself, & therfore in such cases men do meete, and as the brutish cattell, runne together. This maister knew his fellowes to be as bad as himselfe, yea perhaps a great deale worse, and therefore he goeth to this straunger. Saint Hierome doth intimate this to be the reason; but indeede because he so rebuketh Ionas, and ratleth him for his drowsinesse, I rather impute his going to the corners of the ship (for the Prophet lay in one of those places) to his diligence & carefulnesse, to see the charge which was committed to him, that like a circumspect gouernour, his eyes might see those things, his eyes might see those persons, which were now vnderunder him.
7 This heathen man giueth instruction better then Ionas did, to those which are housholders, (for a ship is like to a house, many cricks and corners in it) to tutors ouer scholers, to gouernors ouer Colledges, to Magistrates ouer others, that they looke to those which are vnderunder thē, & trust not the eys of other: the blind swalloweth many a flie: he that knoweth his charge but only by relatiō, doth swallow many a gogeon. Sons dare to do what they should not; & she who lyeth in the bosom, is incroching & vsurping on the authoritie of her husband: watching is when there should be sleeping: taking where should be none: open doores when they ought to be shut; ill deeds when it should be otherwise. A iust and watchfull guide, though he cannot hinder all, yet he crusheth many a sinne. But where is a wilful winking in many things that are grosse, as it is but too too oft, that can not excuse it selfe, that beareth a heauie burthen with it. For when we will not see faults, it is all one, as if we did see & suffer them.Tullius pro S. Roscio Amerino. Tully could say in excuse of Silla, that it was a thing impossible, but that he who had a great familie, should hauehave some bad seruants in it. He who had so much businesse on him, as that he could scant breath freely, should hauehave some retaining to him, who would so watch their time, that if their maister looked but aside, they would dare to misuse one or other. Who knoweth not this to be true? But if Silla should vnderstand, that his seruant Chrysogonus did deale in filthie actions, and wold not take notice of it, but passe by it, as if there were no such matter, then Silla must beare the burthen. Or if Silla will not remit some of his ambitious humor, to looke down vnderunder hatches, or to see to that which cōcerneth him, he shal beare the maine fault of Chrysogonus; God and men will lay it on him. Here that hath place which Dion once said of the Emperour Galba, whose attendants did vse many verie badly, but the blame was layd on him: Although it be enough for a priuate man,Dion lib 64. Principē prouidere oportet ne caeteri faciant. Nihil interest eorum qui iniuriam patiuntur à quo …am acceperint. that he do no wrong to any, yet a Prince ought to take order, that other men do no iniury. For those who fuffer the wrong do not stand much on that, from whom they do receiue it. If from anie, it is too much, but they looke who it is that should hinder it.
8 Then as it is the eye of the maister, which feedeth the horse, so it is that also which keepeth good order. The like may be said of the magistrate. If Miphiboseth cannot stirre, because he is lame in his feete, and Dauid hauehave other businesse, then to examine things to the full,2. Sam. 16.1. Ziba will play his part, he will abuse his Prince; he will defraud his maister. It is a remembrance to noble men, and magistrates in great places, that they looke on such as attend them, and suffer not their approches to be ill spoken of, for the behauiour of other men. This ship-maister wold see eueryevery one who was in the ship about him. Dauid knew his houshold people,Psal. 101.4.5. whē he said that none but the righteous shold be with him as his seruāt; that no deceiptful person should dwel with him in his familie. This is a good lesson for all Princes, who sit as at the sterne of kingdomes & common-wealths, that they do as Dauid did; that they do as our Maister here, that as their hands be long, so their eyes be quicke of sight, to looke on that which concerneth them. By occasion that Augustus a man seuere enough, did not know the exceeding wantonnesse of Iulia his own daughter, & her open audacious boldnesse, it is noted in the storie of his life,Dion. lib. 55. Principes omnia faciliùs qaom sua cognoscunt, neque clam suos qui… quam agunt. that Princes for the most part do best know those things which are farthest from them, and not that which nearest belongeth to them: that they do nothing but their family vnderstandeth it well enough; but the deeds of their own houshold are concealed from them. It is a blessed case for Church and commonwealth, where these things are not so. Lōg may she liue and raigne happily, vntounto our farther comfort, who in this exceedeth her selfe, and goeth beyond her sexe, which loueth to hauehave a hand in matters of importāce; hauehave an eye who be her Bishops, hauehave a care who be her Iudges: remember them of their duties before they go to their countries, prouide euermore for peace, yet thinke somtimes of warre, regard the ends of her kingdome, yea take a personall notice of such things as be fit.
Plutarch. An seni sit gerē da Resp.9 Plutarch writeth of one Attalus, who was a king in Asia the lesse, that his studie was onelyonly to be idle, & to intend to nothing that appertained to his gouernment. In the meane time, Philopaemen one of his pretended friends, did fat & cram him vp, to make him dul & heauy, that himself might rule the rost. Some of the Romanes who perceiued it,Réxne apud Philopaemenem aliquid posset? tooke it vp as a iest, to aske of such as came out of Asia, whether the king were in any grace with Philopaemen or no? whether he could obtaine any thing of him? The Lord be praised for it, our neighbors iest not so at vsus; but another maner of care is had, God make vsus thankfull for it. Then by the example of our betters, or of this Ethnicke here, let eueryevery man looke about him, and see ouer whom he hath charge, that he take not good for euill, and euill sometimes for good, & a slander for a truth, and a flatterer for a friend, and a person which is pernicious, to be a right sound member: that he may praise as it deserueth, and rebuke where needeth rebuke, as this ship-gouernor doth here. As followeth now in the next circumstance.
What meanest thou ô sleeper? Arise call vponupon thy God.
10 If the man had bene full of choler (as daunger soone stirreth vp choler) here had bin a good occasion, to warme himself ouer with chiding. To see a man lye so carelesly, whē such fright was among them, & neither with the cries of one, nor the tumbling of packs by another, to raise himselfe from his rest. If Ionas himself who fretted so testily & so egerly, when God destroyed his gourd,Ionah. 4.9. had bin in place of this mariner, I think he wold hauehave come ouer him, with many an angry word. But it being before intended by his prouident circūspection, that the man was wise in his kind,Eccles. 2.14. (& as Salomon doth tel vsus, it is the part of a wise man to hauehave his eyes in his head, to see what is conuenient to be spokē, and what is not fit to be vttered) he rouzeth him with no more, then O sleeper what doest thou meane? thou sleepie drowsie fellow, what doest thou thinke vponupon? what, doest thou not regard that thy self & we all do perish? He doth very iustly cal him sleeper, for it seemeth that he slept with a witnesse: and if his eyes were open, yet it seemeth that he stil slept, like the drunken man mentioned in the writings of a certaine Orator (but S. Hierome doth not name him) who could not sleepe because he was stirred, Hieron. in 5. ad Galatas. Pulchrè quidā non ignobilis Orator, cum ebriū de somno describeret excitatum, ait Nec dormire excitatus, nec vigilare ebrius poterat.and could not awake because he was drunken. I meane his soule did sleepe, so that when his eyes were open, he stared, he did not awake. For what else doth this declare, when he must be put in mind by a simple infidel, who knew not the God of Israell, that he must fal to his prayers, Arise call vpō thy God. Here the world is turned vpside downe. Ionas should teach them their dutie, & they must teach him his: the Prophet is now an auditor, and the ship-maister is the Prophet. Here the sheepe leadeth the sheepheard, the patient cureth the Phisitiō, the scholer doth teach the master. Al maketh against thee Ionas, that this heathē man shold be more deuout in his superstition, then thou in thy true religiō; that thou shouldst forget that which an Ethnick could remēber. I pray God the old Gentils, Aristides, Plato, Socrates condemne not vsus in that great & terrible day, because they thought of many things whereof we make no reckening. Despise the wordes of none, although thou be a Prophet, since a mariner may teach a Preacher. If thou be not come so far as to be a Prophet, then do thou lesse refuse the words of any, for the prouerbe is most true,
Saepe etiam est olitor verba opportuna locutus.
The gardiner or herbe-seller oftentimes hath spoken a vvord in due season.
11 This man doth giuegive good counsel, although as one in the darke, he seeth not what he doth, Call vponupon thy God, if so be that God will thinke vponupon vsus, Ionah. 1.5.that we perish not. The Gentiles and idolaters did dreame of more Gods then one, as these did in the fifth verse. Many Gods for many matters; Minerua she was for learning, and Venus she was for louelove, and Aeolus for the wind, and Bacchus for the wine, either diuels reputed Gods by men, or men esteemed as Gods, for some benefits done to mankind. And as these were Gods at large, so many seueral countries had Protectors for themselues. The fire was the God of the Persiās, whom the Sunne did represent; so Hercules was for the Tyrians, and Dagon for the Philistines,1. Reg. 11.5. and Astaroth for the Sidonians, & Milcom for the Ammonites, & Chemosh for the Moabites. Yea they had Gods for their cities,Semidei. Penates. Tutelaria numina. Augustin de Ciuitate Dei lib. 4.8. & demi-gods for them selues, houshold Saints and tutelar powers, to whom they cried in distresses. Yea superstitiō was so endles, as Austen doth obserue, that they had a God for eueryevery thing, yea many oftentimes for one thing. As, for their corne Segetius, and Proserpina, & Volutina, and Tutelina and other; one for it vnderunder the ground, another when it was sprong vp: this when it was in the blade, that when it was in the eare, another for the barne. The place in Saint Austen is worth the reading. The Iewes folowed this prety wel, when they offered their incense vnderunder eueryevery greene tree;Ierem. 11.13. when the number of their Gods was to the number of their cities; whē there was in euerie streete, an altar to sacrifice to their idols. The Church of Rome thinketh scorne,Vide Zachariā Lippeloo de rebus gestis martyrū. for idolatrie to come short of either of them, when for euerie day in the yeare, they hauehave an he Saint or a she Saint, as appeareth in the common Kalender, for their swine a Saint, and another for their horses, for Spaine a Saint as Saint Iames, for vsus a Saint as Saint George; yea speciall men,Campian. in quadā Epist. speciall Patrones; manie women Iohn the Euangelist, M. Campian Iohn the Baptist.
12 So wretchedlie do men run without the word of God: such amased blindnesse is in the eyes of idolaters, yea such tickle vncertaine giddinesse, is in the life of their vnderstanding. The vilest of Gods creatures, shall be to them for Gods. The Aegyptians as Origene writeth,Orig. contra Celsum. lib. 3. did adore their dogs, & goates, & apes, and Crocodiles. No doubt S. Paule did allude to them, when speaking of the vnbeleeuers,Roman. 1.23. he said that they turned the glorie of the vncorruptible God to the similitude of the image of a corruptible man, and of birds and foure footed beasts, and of creeping things. Diodor. Siculus. lib. 2.4.Yea they made such account of cats, as I find in Diodorus Siculus, that when once a Romane had killed one of them against his will, the people could not be stayed, either with the feare of the Romane souldiers, or with reuerence to their king, from running on him to kill him. This is the lesse to be wondred at in them, when we shal compare it with the testimony, which Olaus Magnus giueth,Olaus Magnus. lib. 3.2. of some Northren people at this day. Those are the Barbarians in Lapland and Scricfinnia, and the parts adioyning, whose maners he might the better know, for that he was a neighbour, not verie farre distant from them. But of these he reporteth,Pro numine fideliter adorare. that it is their custome to vvorship faithfullie for a God, vntill the euening of the same day, vvhatsoeuer liuing-thing, in the ayre or earth or water doth in the breaking of each day appeare vntounto them, be it bird or beast, or fish, yea verie serpents and vvormes. Nay besides those base but yet liuing things, what should I say, that among idolaters the quicke do bend vntounto the dead, and do adore the workes of their owne hands, as the Israelites once did, saying to the golden calfe, These are thy Gods ô Israell, Exod 32.8.which hauehave brought thee out of the land of Egypt? What, that they make of their Gods, some helpers and some hurters,Gel. Noct. Attic. lib. 5. 12. Arnob. lib. 5. cōtra Gent. Plutarch. in Numa. Laeua Numina, hurting powers, as Gellius noteth out of Virgil? What, that some of their holyest and most religious men, did deride their greatest God? For as Arnobius writeth, and Plutarch hath the verie same, Numa the first authour of the Romane deuotions, asking of Iupiter, by what meanes some places might be purged, which were blasted not long before with lightning,Respondit Iupiter capite… tū Numa caepitio. Ru…sus Iupiter, humano… respondit rex, sed capillo. …mo Deus contra, animâ: subiecit Pompilius, piscu. receiued this answer, that it must be with a head, meaning the head of a mā; but Numa giueth him the head of an onion. That which I would hauehave saith Iupiter must belong vntounto a mā. Yea saith Numa, but it shall then be the haire; nay quoth Iupiter I do require a life; the other answered, then it must be of a fish. Thus durst he whom they accounted for the founder of all their ceremonies, deride their high God Iupiter. But to leaue these things thus in generall.
13 Our mariners in this place with a cōceipt fit for idolaters, thought one God to be stronger, or better thē another, or more willing, or more at leysure, and now they would trie the best. Crie thou man to thy God, & I will crie to mine, & he shall crie to his: among many, one may regard vsus. If none should harken to these suppliants, then it might fall out that he who made him, may marre him too for his Godhead. Perhaps grow to cursing of him for his neglect,Surius in commentar. Anno. 1535. as if Surius do say true, Barbarossa did, a Generall of the Turkes being ouercome in battell by Charles the fifth in Africke, where he often reuiled his Mahomet, and in exceeding bitternesse did curse him. Perhaps shuffle out that God, and chuse some other in for him,Euseb. de vita Constant. lib. 2.15. Plutarch. in Silla. as Licinius did in his battels, when he was ouercome by Constantine. When his old Gods in whom he put his trust had deceiued him, he sought out new ones to worship. At least take it vnkindlie, as Silla did at the hands of his Apollo. For whereas his custome was, as often as he went into anie battell, euermore to beare in his bosome, a little image of gold representing that God, being on a time in daunger of an ouerthrow, he drew it out and kissed it, and vsed these wordes vntounto it, How now Apollo Pythius, wilt thou who hast prospered and aduaunced that happie man Cornelius Silla, in so manie foughten battels, now destroy him and his fellow citisens, euē at the gates of Rome? Thus when men make Gods to themselues, or do single out each man one, they are the bolder with them. An action of vnkindnesse may be easilie entred against them; perhaps there shall be a reuiling of them, it may be, a plaine renouncing.
14 The companie of our Prophet is not yet come so far. As you see they will fall to their prayers. Who knoweth whether this mans God be a greater God then ours is? whether that this sleepy felow, be more accepted of him? for it was an opiniō entertained euē by heathē mē, that one person was more loued by their Gods thē another was: that the prayers of some were better accepted, as of their Priests, or their Prophets, a Helenus or a Calchas; and these knew not, whether Ionas might in such sort be more gracious with his God, or no. The truth is, that he might hauehave beene, if he were not, if he had but kept his owne. For we finde in true diuinitie, that the prayers of a few holie and sanctified mē, are at al times more acceptable to the euerlasting Lord, then the requests of ten thousand sinners. In so much that he bestoweth vponupon such, their owne liues, and the liues of others. It seemeth that God in former time did vse to heare Ieremie,Ierem. 11.14. whē once so precisely he forbad him, to intreat for the people. There were giuen vntounto Lot,Genes. 19, 12. his wife and his daughters: and his sonnes in law, if they would, might hauehave had their portion in that fauour. How much did the Lord louelove and tender Abraham,Chap. 18.32. when hee yeelded to his prayer, that for ten iust mens sakes, hee would spare the Citie Sodome? But vntounto my purpose this is most agreeable, that when there was great daunger of a wreck, that time that S. Paule was sayling toward Rome,Act. 23.23.24. the Angell of God did stand by the Apostle in a vision, and told him that the Lord had bestowed vponupon him, all that were in the ship (who were to the number of two hundred and …euentie and fiue) that not one of all these should perish, for Paules sake his good seruaunt. But alas the case is otherwise in this ship, then it was in the other where the Apostle sayled, for here he that should hauehave helped all, hurted all: the Prophet now is become a runagate, not a preacher but a sleeper: he alone is pursued with vengeance, and the other poore folkes are free.
15 Yet call vponupon thy God, if so be that God will thinke vponupon vsus, that we perish not. Looke what ignorance on the one side, and necessitie on the other, could enforce them to do. It might hauehave bin a harme vntounto them, to pray to so many Gods. For whē such a number should be sought to, and yet some other should be left out (as it was impossible for them to thinke on all) some one maister God who was of the better sort might be angrie, and drowne them all, in despite that he should be omitted, and not be had in account. I should thinke that our simple Romanists, the simpler sort I say, who hauehave little in their owne knowledge, should stumble much at this stoue; least while they are creeping and crooching to some one Saint, some other should take it in dudgeō, that any should be preferred, or sought to before themselues. But I thinke that to amend the matter, their Church hath taken the paines,Festum omniū ▪ sanctorum. Festum omniū Animarum. to put All the Saints in one day together, to keepe them quiet, and All the soules in another, least the first should not be sufficient. Gods grace is more vponupon vsus, since he hath let vsus know, that one Lord, and onelyonly he is to be worshipped; that Christ is our mediatour, and diligent intercessour, and not any other creature; that prayer is a sacrifice peculiar vntounto him, and that the Saints in heauen are to be imitated of vsus, for their faith and good example, and not to be called vponupon. And yet God hath dealt better with those Romanists, and better with these sea-men, then with some lewd ones in our time, who being in all their actions and conuersation most profane, are so farre from praying with the heathen to many Gods, that they rather say there is none. These idolaters vnderunder errour of religion or deuotion, know that something is to be adored; the light of nature hath taught them that; but these deuils come not so far. I giuegive that name vntounto them, because in this although not in all things,Iacob. 2.19. they are worse then deuils, for the deuils beleeue that there is a God, albeit they quake and tremble at it. What other name should I giuegive them? fooles? nay these exceede the foole,Psal. 53.1. for the foole hath said in his hart, there is no God, as we may reade in Dauid. But these go one degree beyond Dauids foole, for they say it too with their mouthes.
Aug. Tract. 2. in Iohan. Sic est quasi videat quisquā de longinqu… patriā, & mare interiaceat: videat quò eat sed non videat quà eat16 These poore soules neuer cōming where pietie or goodnesse grew, conceiue by a generall apprehension, that there was a power, or powers who ruled all things, though they knew not what it was. They were as men in darknesse, like those of whom S. Austen speaketh, who know that they hauehave a countrey, but the sea doth lye betweene: they willingly would go to it, but they do not know the meanes; whither they would go they gesse, but which way they cannot tell. They know that there is something, but they know not how to conceiue what it should be; they cannot tell how to yeeld it his right reuerēce; or whether it be one or manie. But all coasts and all countreys accord, that there is somewhat. The West Indians had certaine spirits, whom they named their Zemes, & accounted them their Gods, euermore in extremities crying and calling to them. But what should I name any particulars,Tullius de legibus. lib. 1. when Tullie can say for all, that there is no nation so barbarous, no people so rude, but knoweth that there is a God; although they cānot tell who. Tullie, it shall be easier for thee in the day of iudgement, and for thee Plato, & for thee Seneca, then for many who liue not in Ethnicisme or Barbarisme, but in a ciuill nation, in the cleare light of the Gospell, in a countrey of good learning, & yet do make dispute of the being of their Creator. But I leaue these wicked Atheists, and returne to our idolaters, who did not stay at these prayers, but went yet one step farther. They fall to casting lots.
And they said eueryevery man to his fellow, come & let vsus cast lots.
17 They see that there was some thing in it, beyond the cō mon course of nature. The sodainnesse of the tempest, and the violence of the storme, shewed some God to be angrie. It may be that other ships which were at sea, did go quietly, or the wind did beate and strike most of all vponupon this ship. But without doubt they saw it to be extraordinarie, and thereupon their hearts by and by did giuegive them, that in all likelyhood it was for sin, they knew not what nor in whom, but for sinne they were well assured. Which may be a memoriall to vsus Christians, that if anie crosse do come straungely, or if anie noted thing do befall vsus (whereof our owne hearts may best of all be iudges) that straightway with feare and trembling we examine our selues, & enter into our consciences, and sift them in sinceritie, as in the sight of God, whether sinne do not plucke that on vsus. It troubled the Israelites much,Iudic. 20.26. when going in a good cause, to take vengeaunce vponupon the Beniamites, for the abuse of the Leuites concubine, there perished of them in two dayes no lesse then fortie thousand. They went and wept before the Lord, and fasted till the euening, to know what the cause was. But whē they who came before presuming vponupon their multitude, had learned to humble themselues, they obtained that which they desired. If any thing should happen straungely, as while we be in this mortalitie, we may verie well expect, we can take no better course, then with these ship-men presently to feare, least iniquitie be the authour of it. But we must not alwayes follow their meanes; for they fell to casting lots.
18 The vse of lots is anciēt, wherin the custome was in causes of great importāce, to take stickes, or stones, or shels, or to write names in a paper, or to draw strawes or cuts, so to determine that, which otherwise without strife could not be accorded, or to put that vntounto God which mē could not decide.Augustin. in Psalm. 30. So S. Austen doth describe it, A lot is such a thing as in the doubts of men doth shew the will of God. So whē men knew not who it was, that had taken the excommunicate thing,Iosuah. 7.18. the lot shewed it to be Achan: for so the most do expound it. So when no man could tell Saule, that Ionathas was the man,1. Sam. 14.42 who so contrarie to the rash oath of Saule, had tasted of the honie, it was found by lot who it was. Least strife should arise,Act. 1.26. and parts be taken, about Ioseph and Mathias, which of them should be admitted into the roome of Iudas,Homer. Iliad. 7. the Apostles made the triall by a lot. So Homer doth report that Nestor gaue the counsell, that it should be determined by a lot, which of the nine worthiest of the Greekes, should fight in combat with Hector. Each man marked his lot, and put it into the helmet of Agamemnon. The first turne fell to Aiax. But whereas according to the rules of diuinitie, these lots should be vsed but in speciall causes, and that with great iudgement and meditation, (because it is a trying of God in a kinde of sentence, and we are not to tempt him rashly) in some men superstition, in some other a hope of gaine, and a sort of deceiuing fraude, hauehave wrought great abuses in them. Proude Haman in the booke of Hester,Ester. 3.7. made lots to be drawne before him, from the first monethmonth to the twefth, to see what monethmonth or day should be fortunate, to attempt the mouing of his great matter, the murther of all the Iewes. O Haman, in that thy lot, thou wast blind as well as bloudie.Caesar. Com…ient. lib. 1. Caesar telleth in his Commentaries, that the women among the Germanes, did vse to diuine by lots, what dayes were good to fight on, or to begin a battell. This is heathenish superstition. Some casting lots to get money, hauehave made a profession of it, as the counterfeit Aegyptians in telling of fortunes. The lawes contra sortilegos were made by worthie Princes, against such kinde of men, and other of much like qualitie. God sometimes doth suffer these in verie truth to hit, that themselues and such as follow them, attending to strong delusion, may make vp their owne dānation. These abuses hauehave made some to thinke all lots vnlawfull, and not to be vsed at all.Hieron. in Ion. 1. Nec statim debemus sub hoc exēplo sortibus credere. Priuilegia singulo…ū nō possunt legēfacere communem. Prou. 16.33. Cap. 18.18. Augustin. in Psalm. 30. De Genesi ad literam. lib. 10. Epistol. 180. Yea Hierome speaketh somewhat doubtfully of them, who vponupon this place saith, that this deede of the mariners should not be drawne to an example, of attributing any thing to lots, neither should any in holy Scriptures, because they were speciall motions and euents, giuen by God to speciall men, and not by other to be attempted or put in practise.
19 But the Scripture is not so straight; the lot is cast into the lap, but the whole dispositiō therof is of the Lord. And elsewhere it is commended. The lot causeth contentions to cease, and maketh a partion among the mightie. So S. Austen doth teach, that there is no euill in the lot. And in another place, Those things vvhichwhich are giuen by lot, are giuen vntounto vsus by God. And in his hundreth and eightith Epistle, disputing that question of the flying of a Minister in the time of persecution, and supposing that there be diuerse pastours in one congregation, whereof some are to depart for a time, and some to stay; if it cannot be agreed, saith he, who shall do the one, and who shall do the other,Epistol. 119. let it be decided by a lot. Indeede he doth not like that lots should be made of euerie thing, as of the leaues of the Gospell, (which it seemed that some in his time vsed to do) because he thought it not to be fit, that diuine matters should by a superstitious custome, be applied to profane vses. There the abuse is in the manner of doing, not in the thing. But the question which ariseth from this difference of iudgement, may easily be resolued, by considering the seuerall sortes of lots, which are found to be three. For there are either lots appointed to diuide, Sortes diuisionis, consultationis, diuinationis.or intended to consult, or vsed of purpose to diuine. The first of these three is, lawfull; that is, to diuide lands or goods, or any like thing, when otherwise contention would arise,Prou. 18.18. Iosuah. 16.1. as Salomon doth import in the place which I named before. In this kind did Iosuah part out the land of Canaan by lot, to the people of Israell. The second is not vnlawfull, that is, to consult what shalbe done, when matters stand in an equalitie of reason: so that there be no offending in the circūstances: And of this may be vnderstood that other place of Salomon.Prou. 16.33. By this, choise may be made of persons to be sent, or of things to be accomplished, where otherwise by diuersitie of opinions there would be no agreement. But to diuine is vtterly vnlawfull, as if a man should take a white lot, and a blacke lot, and if I draw the white lot, then I may well go this day, if the blacke, I will not go: I shall hauehave an vnhappie iourney. That of Haman before spoken of, doth come within this compasse. We hold this for a great abuse.
20 Here the lot is consultatorie. They tooke it a thing granted, that one or other amōg them had committed some wicked offence, and because they could not tell, who it was that had done the deede, they will put it to their Gods. This sheweth the mightie feare which did possesse their soules. Men can hardly like it in other of their acquaintaunce, that they should be culled out to be murthered; but that any should consent to throw the dice on himselfe, to endaunger his owne life by it, is a matter which is not common. This is like one of those cases among the Romanes, which would make the hearts of all the beholders to quake; That was, when after some cowardly fearefulnesse, or mutinous sedition, or stubburne rebellion in the armie, the Generall for punishment thereof, would tith his souldiers, euerie tenth man to the blocke,Liuius. lib. 2. as Appius dealt with his legiōs. Or as if in some grieuous famine, cuts should be drawne, who among a company should be slaine to releeue his fellowes. In what a state was Iosephus,Ioseph. de bello Iudaico. lib. 3.14. when his fellowes in a desperate moode, enforced him to yeeld to the throwing of lots, so to know which of them should be first killed, and which of them last? but all of them must be slaine. Necessitie hath no law; it must be done in this place. The onelyonly comfort is, that euerie mā hath this hope, that it wilt rather fall to another then happen to himselfe. We can sooth our selues of our selues, either in foolish presumption that we are not the worst of all, some are more bad then we be; or in a weening fancie that we may escape in a multitude; we are but one of a manie: but so betweene both, we wil hope the best for our owne parts,Corn. Tacit. in vita Iulij Agricolae. Imquissima haec bellorum conditio est: prospera omnes sibi vendicant: aduersa vni imputantur. & let the lots go on other. As Tacitus saith of warre, This is the miserie of it: if any thing fall out well, eueryevery one chalengeth that to himselfe: but if it fall out ill, eueryevery one slippeth his necke out of the collar, the blame shall be layd vpō one, so in such cases as these, happie man he that is farthest off; but if the lot be to be drawne for any good thing, the better legge shall be set before. Why should not we hope to speed, as well as the best amongst vsus?
21 But the lot here is to take one, who must die for all his fellowes. Why one for all, ye mariners? what man is there among you, that had not deserued to die? This is a branch of that roote of hypocrisie, which possesseth the hearts of all the sonnes of Adam.Gen. 3.12. 1. Sam. 15.21. It was not Adam but the woman, who had touched the forbidden fruite. When the best of the cattell of the Amalekites was saued, it was the people, saith Saule, which spared thē. So here I warrant you, the most part of those which were in the ship, were so cleane from any such grosse crime as now was in question, that there could be but one sinner. Dauid was in another mind,Psal. 130.3. If thou ô Lord straightly markest iniquities, ô Lord who shall stand? All these had deserued death, and merited to be serued as Ionas was: but the Lord indeed vponupon a present occasion, had singled one out to this strange punishment; because as in part he would teach his companions, by his example, so especially he meant to make that one man know, how highly he had offended. God expected much more of him, then he did of ordinarie persons. To whom the most is committed, of him most is required. Ionas had bene inspired with a Propheticall spirit: he had visions and reuelations from his God: he should hauehave bene a light to other. But the simple sea-faring men, neuer came to any such height of knowledge. He was singular in comparison of them: he was as a white garment; and therefore a litle spot in him, would cause a great deformitie. But when he did take this precious vesture, and with lying downe in it, did soile it euerie whit, God in his iustice cannot endure that in him.
22 The lots therefore are cast, and the daunger falleth vponupon Ionas. That Lord who ruleth ouer all his creatures, great and small, so disposed it, that the sinner should be deprehended, and the more innocent should go free.Iosuah. 7.18. His state was like to Achan: he cannot escape the iudgement, which is coming toward him. The lot fell surely on him. It is not vnlikely, but that they threw it diuerse times, and still it proued that he was the man. For they who were so carefull not to drowne him, after that they had discouered him,Iona. 1.13.14. would not hastily be induced, to single out a straunger, who neuer immediatly had offended them, to make him die for all. Being drawne then once or often, it fell vndoubtedly vponupon Ionas. It was not possible for him to escape, where such a one had the handling of it, as is Lord both of heauen and earth.Tullius lib. 2. in Verrem. Tully doth tell of Verres, sometimes deputie for the Romanes in Sicilia, that as otherwise he was excellent to bring about to his purpose, all things which might yeeld credit or commoditie, so verie earnestly desiring, to hauehave his friend Theomnastus, to be chosen Iupiters priest, an office of some moment in that countrey, he wrought a pretie feate for him. For whereas by the order of the election, three men should be named to the place, and three seuerall lots be appointed, with the names of the three competitors, written vponupon the lots, and he whose lot should be first drawne, should hauehave the priesthood: Verres to make sure worke, made three lots indeed to be appointed, but he wrote vponupon euerie one of them, the name of his friend Theomnastus, and so being sure to hit, he sped his man of the priesthood; for it could not be otherwise. This was a tricke of fraud, and fit for such a deceiuer, as Verres shewed himselfe in Sicilia. He that would hauehave Ionas taken, needeth not to vse anie such leger-demaine: his creatures be at commandement: they do as himselfe inioyneth. So Ionas did finde it here: so the wicked shall find it euer.
23 An instruction hence may be gathered for all persons, that they looke vntounto their wayes, and plunge not into vngodlinesse, vnderunder hope not to be disclosed. For nothing is so secret but it shall be opened.Eccles… 10.20 He that curseth the king, although it be in his most priuate chamber, shall be discouered by the fowles of heauen, and one dead thing or other shall declare it. Some letter perhaps or writing. The adulterer who doth thinke himselfe safely concealed, in the darke, or by the close and hidden walles, yet cannot escape his sight, whose eyes are said to be ten thousand times brighter then the Sunne. He that wisheth ill to his brother, is well knowne to that maiestie, which trieth the hearts and reines. In one word what can escape him, who hath such prerogatiue of power,Apoc. 20.11. as to sit so vponupon a throne, that heauen and earth flie before him, the graues giuegive vp their dead, and the sea doth yeeld vp hers; that the bookes shall be layed open, and mens consciences be detected, and the mountaines cannot couer them, nor the rockes cannot keepe them from him. It is a good meditation,Heb. 10.31. to feare his angrie iudgement. It is a fearefull thing to fall into the hands of the liuing God. If we serue him he will louelove vsus, if we fall from him, he will find vsus. Lord direct vsus so with thy Spirit, that if we should fall with Ionas, we sleepe not in sinne with Ionas, but as the carefull ship-maister, looking in all sinceritie through the corners of our hearts, we may raise vp our selues, and call to thee the true God, to helpe vsus in all extremities, to stand by vsus in all temptations, that the lot fall not on vsus, to be cast away from thy fauour: but that we may raigne with thee, in thy most blessed kingdome, to the which bring vsus ô good father, for thine owne sonne Christ his sake, to whom with thee and thy Spirit, be glorie for euermore.