Sermons on Jonah, Lecture 9
THE IX. LECTVRE.
The chiefe poynts. 1. All creatures are at Gods becke: 3. either to punish the wicked, 4. or to preserue the good. 6. Of the greatnesse of fishes. 8. That Ionas might liue in the belly of the whale. 12. How the three dayes and three nights are to be taken in the lying of Christ in the graue. 13. Christ rose againe. 14. And so shall all other men. 16. Some deny the Resurrection. 17. Reasons and examples proouing it. 21. That we should prepare our selues against the time of Resurrection.
Ionah. 1.17.
Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow vp Ionah: and Ionah was in the belly of the fish three dayes and three nights.
BY this time you may see a very great difference of the seuerall estates,This Sermon was preached at Easter. wherein our Prophet hath bene: for first he was at land, and there he could not keep him: afterward he was on shipboord, and there he might not keepe him: but now he is in the sea, in the belly of a fish, and there he shall not chuse but keepe him, vntill that himselfe be most weary of it. God hath a certaine fish in a readinesse for to receiue him, which for the space of one three dayes must lodge him. In discoursing whereof, I thinke it not necessary to dispute that question,Ribera in hunc locum. which hath bene mooued in this argument by very learned men, that is, whether that the preparing of this fish for the Prophet, were the new creating of that which was not before; which must intend, that at the same instant of time, a creature of purpose should be made, to swallow him and deuoure him. There needed no such matter: for there were in the sea fishes inough to serue the turne, and the Lord had one of those at hand, to fulfill his designement. Much rather the power of the Creator is here to be noted, whose authority ouer his creatures is such and so absolute, that in a moment of time he hath them very readily attending, wheresoeuer he pleaseth. It is he who alone may say,Iob. 41.2. Psal. 115.3. as he doth speake in Iob, All vnderunder heauen is mine. The people say of him truly, Our God is in heauen: he doth whatsoeuer he will. There is not any creature in the heauen, or earth, or sea, be it body, or be it spirit, which is not at his deuotion and waiteth not at his becke. The greatest do him homage, the smallest do him seruice. For he is greater then the mightiest, by whole millions of degrees: and his ouer-seeing prouidence taketh knowledge of the meanest.Matth. 10.29. Not a sparow which lighteth on the ground; not an haire which falleth from the head, but he is interested in it.
2 What is greater then the heauen? yet if Iosuah pray vntounto him,Iosuah. 10.12. for one whole day this euer-wheeling body shal cease his swift diurnall motion. The Sunne shall stand still in Gibeon, and the Moone in the vale of Aialon. That which commeth forth as a Giant,Psal. 19.5. and reioyceth to runne his course, yet to satisfie Ezechias, and to confirme his faith, shall flye backe as a coward for ten degrees at once,2. Reg. 20.11. as then it appeared by the diall of Ahaz. What is ruder, or more vnfit to be dealt with, then the earth? Yet at his pleasure he shaketh both earth and sea.Agg. 2.7. What is more excellent, or of a more pure and single nature then the Angels? Yet he hath bound vp foure of them in the riuer Euphrates:Apoc. 9 14. and although they be prepared at an houre, and at a day, and at a monethmonth, & at a yere, to slay the third part of men, yet these Angels cannot stirre, vntill that they be loosed by his precise commandement. And such is his soueraigne power, that when he findeth occasion, they are freed all in a moment. In like sort, to effect his purposes he needeth not the posts of Persia,Ester. 3.15. whō Haman sometimes vsed, nor the dromedaries of Egypt, nor the swift runners of other nations, to go from place to place, and giuegive notice of his will: but in the very instant, he either doth touch the mind of him who is to be the doer, or he raiseth vp some thing else which shall declare his meaning. God sendeth forth his commandement: and his word runneth very swiftly. Psal 147.15.The day is his and the night, the open place and the secret: fish and birdes, and beastes and all: the very wings of the wind to cary his precept on them. Vnconceiuable is his Maiesty, vnestimable is his power: the highest things and the lowest, the greatest and the weakest, are euer at his commandement:Apoc. 1.18. he hath the keyes of heauen; nay of hell and of death. This his power so vncontrollable, most eminently appeareth in punishing the wicked, and preseruing his owne children.
3 Ammianus Marcellinus reporteth,Ammianus Marcellinus lib. 18. that in Mesopotamia among the reedes and bushes growing neare to the riuer Euphrates, are euermore great store of Lions, which vse to remaine there, being much delighted with the great calmenes…e and pleasure of that climate. The danger arising from these, both vntounto men and beasts, would be perpetuall, but that God hath prouided a remedy to slacke the fury of them; and that is in admirable maner. There are alwayes in that coast infinite swarmes of gnats, which gather much about those Lions, and to nothing in them so desirously as to their eyes, whom we know to be bright and shining members. But sitting fast on the eye-lids, they do so pricke and sting them, that the raging Lions are forced to scratch with their nailes, as if they would remooue the gnats; but indeede they claw out their owne eyes, so that many of them by this meanes growing blind, do drowne themselues in the great riuers, or otherwise become lesse terrible. This is an argument of Gods wisedome, who delighteth in such variety of these inferiour bodies. And yet withall, it is an argument of his puissance, who by so weake a matter can ouerthrow such a great one: a Lion by a gnat: and hath those little ones so attendant, as that eueryevery man may see that they are prepared by their maker, to ouer-rule the other; to chase them and pursue them, and vexe them vntounto destruction. The tyrants of the earth are …earefull vntounto the poore, as the Lion is to the lambe. Their might giueth them abilitie, and their minde doth yeeld them will to treade downe their inferiours. Now for the punishment of these bitter ones, God hath prepared as small things as the gnats, to maister them in their fury. Let Pharao be one man, and Herod be another who shall demonstrate this. The violence of the former and his cruell oppression toward the sonnes of God, was insolent and outragious. But how doth the graund ruler of the heauen trample vponupon him, and make him cry peccaui, with the basest of those bodies which mankind euer seeth?Exod. 8.6. The hand of his seruant Aaron was but stretched out on the waters, and frogs came in such store, as made him loath himselfe, and eueryevery thing about him.24. So the swarmes of flies did force him to be humbled for a time.Exod. 10.13. What hostes were there of grashoppers, and of deuouring caterpillers, which came forth at one call, as if they had bene reserued before by the Lord, to shew his mighty hand, and his power which is not limited? Nay to testifie Gods owne finger,Cap. 8.17. there was an army of lice, then whom nothing is more vile; yet prepared they were at an instant, to plague where the Lord commanded.Act. 12.23. The other, that proud Herod who vponupon a glosing flattering speech of the people, assumed to himselfe that glory, which of right appertained to his maker, was stricken with Gods Angell, and so died consumed with wormes. In such manner hath the Almighty eueryevery creature for his messenger, and executing seruant, close standing at his elbow, to vexe and plague, and torture the enemies of his Maiesty, or the oppugners of his glory.
4 And is he strong to hurt, and is he not so to helpe? To defend and to offend, are they not alike vntounto him? protection and correction? His sweete mercy triumpheth ouer his bitter iustice: and his power attendeth his mercy, and the world attendeth his power, and so doth eueryevery thing which is in it. In the twelfth of the Reuelation this is well shadowed to vsus.Apoc. 12 13. The woman which is the Church here militant vponupon earth, is followed hard by the Dragon: there are found two Egles wings, by the which she doth escape. Behold, there is one deliuerance, and one not looked for remedy. The Dragon yet doth not leaue her, but since he cannot come, he thinketh to send home after her: he casteth out of his mouth a water like to a riuer, thinking thereby to drowne her. See another helpe in a moment. The earth openeth herselfe, and swalloweth vp that water which the Dragon had cast forth. To the same effect with this parable or vision, were the Israelites reskued by the red sea,Exod. 14.22. the waters flying a sunder, and yeelding them dry footing, as if it had bene on the land, when they were so pursued and made after, by the chariots and horsemen of the Egyptians. How fitly vntounto my purpose, was the daughter of king Pharao brought forth,Exod. 2.5. and put in mind to pity poore drowning Moses? How was the iaw-bone of the asse made ready,Iudic. 15.15.19. to be as a sword for Samson, wherewith he slue so many Philistines? and how was one of the teeth thereof prepared, to yeeld him drinke when he fainted? So admirable is the Lord, in the assistance of his Saints, that one thing or another, shall be borne to do them good in their bitter extremitie, as if it were made onelyonly for that purpose. There be few, which hauehave liued many yeares, and in Christian meditation contemplated in themselues on the kindnesse of their God, who know not this ouer and ouer. Such comforts and such stayes arising by such meanes, as themselues could not conceiue of, vntill they see things done. Oh the louelove of God inestimable, oh his straunge wayes for our good. The wicked on the one side may feare his hand, who can raise such meanes to perplexe them: and the faithfull on the other side may embrace his mercy, who hath such helpes at need: and both of them may stand amased, and wonder at his power, who hath his instruments euermore so ready.
5 I know not whether in our Prophet, is more to be respected, Gods punishment or his protection. If we thinke vponupon his drowning, he doth fauour him, since he had at hand a great fish to receiue him, so that he did not perish. If we thinke of the time and place, where he lay, and how long, that is, in the dungeon of that fishes belly, for three dayes and three nights, it doth double and often multiply Gods angry wrath vponupon him. The euent doth giuegive this testimony, that since Ionas (howsoeuer at the first he fell) was appointed, and predestinated to good and not to euill, his deliuerance was as readie, as his chastisement was for him: one hand to cast him downe, another to helpe him vp: when the ship might not any longer containe him, the fishes bellie was in steede of a sea-vessell, to bring him on toward Niniue. But in the meane while his lying was such, in so many dreades and horrours, and anguishes for his life, nay for doubte of the life eternall, (because wrath was vponupon him, which endangered his best part, euen his inward man and his soule) that many deaths had bene easier then a languishing in that prison, where now he had his best repose. So sowre a thing is sinne, and disobedience to the Lord. It may be sweete in the mouth, but it is bitter in the belly, like a cup of deadly poyson. Certainely it is a daughter of those Locustes,Apoc. 9.7.10. which hauehave faces faire as men, but killing stings in their tailes. It is pleasure with too much paine: sweete meate with too sharpe sauce. And therefore it may well be likened to that herbe Sardonia in Sardinia,Solinus cap. 10. of the which Solinus writeth, that it maketh the eaters thereof, to looke as if they laughed, but in their laughing they dye. Thus Ionas is preserued; but to testifie Gods displeasure, in the meanes of his preseruation he endureth full many sorowes. Let vsus now see if you please, what that was, whereby God so wrought for him.
The Lord prepared a great fish to swallow
foreign6 In the Hebrew it is a great fish, but it is not added of what kinde, or species this fish was. Our Sauiour Christ doth briefly touch this storie,Matth 12.40. and there the Euangelist in the Greeke, doth vse the word Ketos, foreign.which although sometimes (like to the Latine Cete) it be applied to diuerse sorts of great fishes, yet properly it noteth that one, who is the king of fishes, and ruler of the sea, Balaena the great whale: and it is euermore so Englished in that text. A fish which in diuerse seas, is of seuerall shapes and fashions, as in the Indian Oceane, in the red sea neare Arabia, in the Northren waters toward Island, and in our English Oceane: but eueryevery where verie huge, and eueryevery where very mighty. And so this had neede to be, who had so wide a mouth, as to receiue the Prophet: who had so large a throate, as to swallow him and not hurt him: who had so vaste a paunch, as to lodge him there and not stifle him. A matter to some men incredible, that among all liuing creatures should be any so capacious; but so vndoubtedly a knowne truth, to men that liue neare the sea, or that hauehave trauelled much by ship; and a verity so confirmed, so consented vponupon by all, who hauehave read the writers either olde or new vponupon that argument, that he were a man much absurde, who would make question of it. They all agree that at sea there are fishes, farre exceeding the greatest beast on land. And thereof particularly Olaus Magnus doth assigne these reasons,Olaus Magnus. lib. 21.8. the abundance of the moysture which is fit to dilate and increase any liuing creature, and the very great depth, vvhere is both store of foode, and safe meanes to escape such other fishes, as are ready to hurt them. They farther adde, that the Elephant is but little, when he is compared with these water-monsters. That the bellies and mouthes, and throtes of some fishes are so spacious, that a man may well be receiued in by them. Gulielmus Rondeletius who hath taken great paines, in displaying the proportions and qualities of fishes, as appeareth in that excellent worke of Gesner De Aquatilibus (for those two are oft ioyned together) reporteth of a little small fish (in comparison of a whale) which he calleth by the name of Lamia,Gesnerus lib. 4. de Aquatilibus. that in the Mediterrane sea, some of those hauehave oftentimes bene found, hauing a whole man swallowed into each of their bellies. Yea he telleth that neare vntounto Marseilles, an auncient city o… Fraunce, there hauehave bene found of them, which hauehave had within them virum loricatum, a man in some kind of armour. So huge-bellied is this fish, which commeth not neare to the great ones.
7 But for the whale it selfe, if any list to reade of the bignesse of it,Plinius. lib 9.3. Natural. Histor. lib. 32.1. and should esteeme that too much, Pliny speaketh positiuely, that in the Indian seas there are some of two hundred cubites in length: and the same Pliny out of the bookes of Iuba, that in the seas neare Arabia, hauehave bene seene some of foure hundred cubites (for so much is sixe hundred feete) which also Munster deliuereth to vsus,Munster. Cosmograp. lib. 5. Dion. lib. 54. in the fifth of his Cosmography; then let him heare what Dion a good Historien, doth lay downe of certainty in his fifty and fourth booke, and that is, that in the dayes of Augustus sometimes Emperour of Rome, a whale leaped to the land, out of the Germane Ocean, full twenty foote in breadth, and threescore foote in length. This was so bigge a body, as might well receiue the Prophet.Gesner. lib. 4. But adde to this what I find in Gesner, taken out of an Epistle, which was written to Polydore Virgil, and is auouched there as most true, that in the yeare of our Lord 1532, in the Northren coastes of our owne land, not farre from Tinmouth hauen, was a mighty whale cast on land, who was ninety foote in length, which ariseth to thirty English yeards. The very breadth of his mouth, was sixe yeards and a halfe, and the belly so vaste in compasse, that one standing on the fish, of purpose to cut a ribbe off from him, and slipping into his bellie, was very likely there to be drowned, with the moysture then remaining. The hollownesse of this paunch, might containe much more then Ionas; such a mouth might well receiue him, and such a throte might well swallow him. The stories and the Chronicles of our owne land let vsus know, that quantities like to these, among fishes are not to be held for miracles. This question concerning our Prophet lying in the belly of the whale,Augustin Epistola. 49. was once proposed to Saint Austen. In aunswer whereunto, he maketh no doubt, but that a whale is great inough, to receiue a farre bigger matter into his belly. He appealeth vntounto certaine ribbes, which at Carthage were hanged vp, for eueryevery man to behold: and from the compasse of their hugenesse, which were taken from a whale, he biddeth them imagine, how mighty that mouth was, which was but as a dore or gate, to that caue or vile dungeon, intending the fishes belly. But he concludeth it to be neither impossible, nor yet vnlikely, that a whale might swallow Ionas. If any should be desirous, to heare or see more concerning this matter, let him reade in Iob,Iob. 40. &. 41. Gods owne testimony of Leuiathan, which intendeth the great whale.
8 But there is another and that a greater difficulty, in that place proposed to Austen, by the meanes of a pagane person: how the Prophet could be able, for the space of three dayes and three nights, to endure the concocting vapor, & strong heate of that belly, which digesteth and resolueth some substances of strong quality. The infidels of that time, did hold this to be very ridiculous, and as fabulous a thing as might be: and he that wrote to Saint Austen, seemeth to make doubt of this matter, although otherwise he were a Christian.Epistol. 49. The learned father making aunswere, doth not labour to satisfie the scoffes and scornes of any Paganes, because they do contemne the Scriptures, and all grounds of Christianity, and do call into question not onelyonly this, but many other matters. Yet he sayth, that they would hauehave beleeued this, which they iudge so straunge in our Prophet Ionas,Vide Apuleium de Asino aureo. Et Philostrat. de vita Apollon. if it had bene reported by their owne fond Apuleius, or Apollonius Tyaneus, two notable Magicians. But he speaketh home, vntounto those who professe the name of Christ Iesus. Why should they, who do beleeue other miracles of Gods booke, make scruple of this matter? It is not so that one part of the Scripture is true, and another otherwise; but all is of vndoubted verity. Could the belly of the whale be hoter to the Prophet, then the fiery fornace was to the three children in Daniel?Daniel. 3.25. God saued them in the one, and he saued him in the other. Is it more to bring a liuing man, after three daies from a fish, then it was to raise a dead man, after foure dayes from his graue? Yet we beleeue that this was done to Lazarus.Iohan. 11.44. In like sort Christ Iesus being dead for so long time, as Ionas lay in this fish, did come aliue from his sepulcher, which miracle sayth Saint Austen, vve should not beleeue, if the faith of the Christians, did feare the scornes and taunts of the Paganes. For we know that they do deride that. Thus Saint Austen doth resolue it, acknowledging it to be a miracle, wrought by the hand of the Almightie. Saint Hierome in his Commentary, which he wrote on the Prophet Ionas,Hieronym. in Ionae. 1. doth iumpe in the selfe same iudgement. Those who make question here, sayth he, are either faithfull, or infidels, Christians or vnbeleeuers. If Christians, then the truth of that word which is inspired by God, must preuaile here, as well as elsewhere, and this by faith must be embraced, as much as other things which are written. If infidels, then no maruell, for they deny both the Old and New Testament. Yet they would beleeue any fable in Ouids Metamorphosis,Ouid Metamorphos. lib. 1. as that Daphne was turned into a bay-tree, or some other thing of that forging. So he resteth himselfe, on the power of God all-disposing.
9 These answers may suffice, for all those who feare God in our time; that he who out of nothing, did make the heauen and the earth, and the armies of them both, and spread the one in circumference,Genes. 1.1. and layd fast the other as the center, which hangeth vponupon nothing:Cap. 7.17. Daniel. 6.22. 2. Reg. 13.21. who drowned the whole world with water: who in the midst of the Lions, preserued his seruant Daniel: who by the bones of Elizaeus, restored a dead man to life:Act. 5.15. who graunted to the Apostles, that their shadowes healed many,Cap. 19.12. and so did clothes brought from their bodies; could as easily, and with as ready a facility, maintaine one longer, or lesse while, within a fishes belly. For graunt him to be Almighty; lay that once downe for a ground, and eueryevery thing will follow, which he shall be pleased to will. This is the faith of the Christians: this belongeth to all Gods children. But the Atheists of our age, who are risen out of the ashes of Libanius the great Sophister, or of that scorning Porphiry, or of that derider Lucian, or of Iulian the Apostata, do insult ouer this position, of the omnipotency of God, with impiety more then monstrous. They iest at the name of faith, as a toye made to delude men: and Reason onelyonly must cary it. This may liuely be notified, by that one of their Axiomes, which I once did find written, in the beginning of a new Testament, Ratio suadet, O vox impia.fides fallit: Credere quàm fidere prudens mallet. Almightinesse they approoue not, and miracles they allow not, and holy writte they regard not. But bring reason or experience, from the bowels of very nature, and then we go with you while you will. And who is he that by these shall be euer able to iustifie, first that a fish could liue for three dayes and three nights, with such a one in his bellye, with his clothes and apparell on (for that must be imagined) and this fish should neither be choaked with his cariage, nor killed with the moouing, and tumbling of him within; and secondly that for so long a time, a man liuing and not hurt, should be lodged in such a prison. For how could he endure the vapour of a stomake so hote-boyling? Where should he hauehave breath to feede him, and aire to liue vponupon? Thus with an audacious fore-head, they call him to a reason, who doth things beyond reason, and will not tye himselfe to that sifting and that scanning, which the thinnesse, and the basenesse of mans wit can affoord him. He sheweth this very plainly,Isay. 7.14. when he will hauehave a virgin to become a mother, a sonne without mans seede, mortall and yet immortall, a creator and yet a creature, most infinite and yet finite, euer liuing and yet once dying.
10 Notwithstanding euen for this purpose, in his wisedome he doth not leaue himselfe without a witnesse: for as impossible things as these, are done eueryevery day amongst vsus. This perhaps may seeme a paradoxe, and not to be beleeued: but I say it againe, as impossible things as this is, are done eueryevery day amongst vsus: but that our custome is to contemne, and passe by the strangest matter, if it once grow common among vsus; yea when it is so straunge, that our vnderstanding is able to yeeld no reason of it. Such actions do mooue vsus most, which are most rare, and fewest times do fall out. It is no maruell to see the Sunne, and the starres in their daily order, because dayly we may do it, but to see a new starre appearing, as not long since there was one in the signe Cassiopaea,Anno. 1572. is a matter to mooue amazednesse: whereas any other starre might raise as much admiration, if we would but call to mind, that it had bene new in the creation, although in these dayes it be old. Heare Seneca speaking to this:Seneca Naturalium quaestion. lib. 7.1. Sol spectatorem nisi cum deficit non habet. Nemo obseruat Lunam nisil aborantem. Adeò naturale est magis noua quam magna mirari. Athen. Dipnosophist. lib. 8.7. The vvhole company of those starres vvherevvith the beauty of the huge heauen is distinguished, neuer calleth people together to gaze vponupon them. But vvhen any thing is chaunged from ordinary, then eueryevery mans eyes be on heauen. The Sunne hath not any to looke at him, vnlesse he be in the Eclipse. No man marketh the Moone, but vvhen she hath lost her light. He concludeth: So naturall it is to vsus rather to wonder at nevv things, then at great things. To speake then to these disputers: I will not say of them, as I find in Athenaeus, that Stratonicus a mad fellow sayd of Satyrus a bad Sophister, that he reputed it for a miracle, how his mother should euer be able to beare him in her wombe, for ten whole monethes together, whom no Citie could beare, that is, endure but ten whole dayes together: so bad was he and vntoward. I will take that pro concesso, that they were borne of their mothers, yea perhaps of vertuous mothers; who louelove God with their soule, and tremble at his iudgements; and withall, do much grieue to see their children to degenerate, in such sort from their mothers, or rather from their maker. Yet this I may adde concerning them, that so farre they are like that Sophister, that if they had their demerites, no reformed place, or Citie, no Christian common-wealth, should beare them and retaine them, who are monsters and not men, being of impudent hearts and faces.
11 Let that then be agreed betweene vsus (because it cannot be denied) that they were borne of their mothers, and after the course of common children. Then they cannot vtterly be ignorant what belongeth to a little infant. It abideth for some whole moneths together, in the wombe of the mother, vnformed and vnperfect,Luc. 1.41. but yet a liuing creature. When Mary came to Elizabeth, that child which was afterward Iohn the Baptist, is sayd to spring in her wombe. This example and common experience which cannot be denied, doth argue life to be in the little ones. Now then tell me thou wicked Atheist, how can this be maintained? If there be no breath, how a life? If breath, whence doth he draw it? Thou art taken in thine owne net: the scruples of this question, cannot be resolued by thee. Thou art proud in thine owne conceipt, and presumest much of thy wit; but yet in the knowledge of naturall effects, thou art much inferior vntounto Dauid, as thou must needs confesse, if thou wilt reade his Psalmes aduisedly. But he can say for himselfe, in discoursing of his owne generation,Psal. 139.14. that fearefully and vvonderfully he was created by God, and that there were miracles in his making. Nay hauing before protested,5.6. that Gods knowledge was too wonderfull, and excellent for him, and that he could not attaine vntounto it, 13.he exemplifieth that skill of the Lord, in the curious frame of himselfe in his mothers wombe. Pardon me thou proud disputer, if I thinke that thy wit doth come much short of the Prophet. If then thou wilt not be wilfull, thou must aunswer for the infant, that it is done which hath bene spoken off, but the manner how thou knowest not. Confesse Gods finger there, and confesse Gods finger here; who can do that to a man, which he doth so oft to children, who can do that by sea, which he doth so oft at land; who can do that in a fish, which he doth in eueryevery mother; who can do that in one age, which he doth eueryevery day. This is his power but for once onelyonly, the other is his power alwaies. Then reason no farther reasons, but set open the doore of faith giuegive assent to the word of life, and striue not against thy maker.Act. 9.5. Thou doest kicke against the pricke: thou impugnest him, against whome thou neuer shalt preuaile. Not the least iot of Gods booke, can euer be tainted by thee: the Author is vnstainable, vntouchable, vncontrollable. That is indeed peculiar vntounto him, and proper to his word, which one falsely fathereth vponupon Virgil,Macrob. Saturnal. 124. Haec est Maronis gloria, vt nullius laudibus crescat, nullius vituperatione minuatur. that the praise of no man doth adde vntounto him; nor the dispraise of any man doth take from him. Since then we hauehave the warrant of this writer, let vsus rest our selues on this, that our Prophet was three daies and three nights aliue, shut vp in a fishes belly.
12 The precise accompt of which time, (being nothing else but a figure, of the lying of Christ Iesus, in the bowels of the earth, and being appointed for that cause, (as Gods owne Son doth witnesse) doth mooue me to suppose, that those daies & nights, wherein our Prophet was shut vp in the whale, were not entirely completed thrise foure and twentie houres.Matth. 12.40 For if it were otherwise in Christ who was the bodie, then very likely that it was otherwise in him who was but the shadow: that the signe and the thing signified, the figure and the truth, might hauehave a due proportion. But the lying of Christ in the graue, concerning the circumstance of three daies, was in some measure Tropicall, and not to be taken literally: for by the figure Synecdoche, part of the day is reckened for the whole: and because the light and the darknesse, for foure and twentie houres, make but one naturall day, part of the day shall enclose the night which was gone before, so that a peece of the artificiall day, shall be accounted for a day naturall. To make this the more euident: the Iewes did account their day to begin at the Sunne setting, which is to be vnderstood, of one of their naturall dayes; but their day artificiall, was commonly reputed to beginne at sixe of the clocke in the morning, especially about the time of the Aequinoctium, when it is apparant that our Sauiour did suffer. Christ then dyed at the ninth houre,Matth. 27.46. that is at three of the clock after noone, on a friday as we call it; and before that the euening was in, on the day of the Preparation, which was that selfe same Friday his body was layd in graue. That little time before euening,Synecdoches vna species est, cum pars pro toto capitur. is by the figure Synecdoche, (which taketh a part for the whole) reputed for a whole day and a night, that is, the day and night before going. The night then which did follow the setting of the Sunne, and the day which was their Easter, (but by vsus is called Saterday) is reckened for the second. And indeed this was complete, both for the day and the night. Then followeth the next night,Matth. 28.1. Marc. 16.1. wherein Iesus arose very earely in the morning, at or before the dawning of the day, and the opening of the light, and this is to be numbred for the third both day and night, the part taken for the whole by the figure as before. This kind of computation, as with ease it may be gathered from the narration of the Euangelistes,Augustin. Epist. 49. Beza in Ioh. 18. so Saint Austen doth approoue it, and the late Diuines so accept it. And it should not seeme strange, since in other things we do vse it. The Phisitians call that feauer, a Tertian or third Ague, which skippeth but one day onelyonly. The Termes of our Vniuersitie are reckened in that manner. The last day of a Terme is reputed for a Terme, and the first day of another is taken for another Terme; so that according to our vse in some cases, one Terme and two daies are taken for three Termes. Thus was Christ in his graue, by the space of three daies and three nights, either in part or in whole; like to which it is very probable, that the staying of the Prophet in the whale, was abridged and abbreuiated, for some part of the time, that there might be a full resemblance betweene the one and the other, the seruant and the maister. But herein I will not be contentious.
Concerning the Resurrection.
13 But to say no more thereof, the maine note from this place requireth full vnderstanding, because there is hence deduced a mysterie of our faith, I meane the Resurrection, which Christ Iesus himselfe expoundeth, to be here very liuely signified.Matth. 12.40 Ionas was in the fishes belly, for three daies & there nights: so shall the Sonne of man be for that time in the graue. It must follow thereupon by a necessarie consequent: But as Ionas was then deliuered, so shall the Sonne of man then come forth, with a sensible resurrection. Christ foretold that he would do this, Do you destroy this temple, Ioh. 2.19.intending thereby his body, and in three daies I will raise it, and set it vp againe. This was also foretold by Dauid,Psal. 16.11. Act. 2.31. although in the person of our Sauiour: Thou wilt not leaue my soule in hell, nor suffer thy holy one to see corruption, which text Saint Peter citeth, to aduouch Christs resurrection. That he did rise againe, the Euangelists all do cry: the Apostles all do confirme it. How plentifull is Saint Paule in discoursing this argument,1. Cor. 15.5. that he did appeare oftentimes, one while but to a few, another while to the Twelue, but afterward to more then fiue hundred brethen at once? By the vertue of his Godhead, Christ had a soueraigne power to loose himselfe from death: it was a thing vnpossible that he should be holden of it.Act. 2.24. If his life had bene taken from him vnwillingly, and by violence, then very likely it is, that the selfe same violence might hauehave still detained him prisoner.Ioh. 19.30. But his dying was voluntarie: he yeelded vp the Ghost, and being contented to put himselfe amidst those anguishes and horrours, he abode there at his pleasure, on the crosse and in the graue; and from death he returned with the selfe same pleasure, as hauing conquered all, and triumphing in great glorie. And then he who came from heauen, to disquiet himselfe on earth, so to purchase mans redemption, left death and graue and earth,Ephes. 4.8. and with captiuitie captiue, ascended againe to heauen, where he …ate him downe in his maiestie on the right hand of his Father.
14 And by his resurrection our hope is to be saued: herein doth rest the anchor of our happinesse and true blessednesse. For in vaine had bene his debasing, and in vaine his incarnation, if he had not liued amongst vsus. And in vaine had bene his life, and in vaine had bene his preaching, if his death had not followed after. For his life was giuen for our raunsome: his bloud it was which did wash vsus: his death it was which did quicken vsus. But in vaine had bene his death also, if he had not shaken off mortalitie from him, and borne vp his graue before him, and thereby winning his prizes, had not maistered all which resisted. So that we apprehend his resurrection, as the stay and substance of our saluation; as the vp-shot of our blessednesse; from the which if we should fall, we do plunge into vtter ruine. Therefore in the Articles of our faith,In Symbolo Apostolorū. this is put for one, that dying, he rose againe the third day from the dead. Not that onelyonly he died, for the Iewes beleeue so much, and the Gentiles beleeue so farre; but that he was quickened againe.Augustin. contra Faustum Manichaeum. l. 16. For, as Saint Austen hath obserued, the Paganes do admit this for a truth, that Christ did dye: but that he rose againe, is the proper faith of the Christians, and imparted to no other. Now we hold Christ for the head, and our selues to be the members: what he hath done before, we trust that we shall do afterward. So that by his rising againe, is inferred the resurrection of other, and that of all, as well the iust as the vniust, and the vniust as the iust: the one sort to raigne with their Sauiour, on whome they hauehave beleeued, the other to suffer torments, because they hauehave contemned.2. Cor. 5.10. So that both great and small, shall stand vponupon their feete, in the generall day of iudgement; and appearing before the throne, shall then receiue their last doome of miserie or of merciemercy. And if we did not expect this, the followers of Christ Iesus were most wretched men of all other,1. Cor. 15.19 who for this hope sealed vntounto them, do endure such strong vexations, such grieuances and perplexities. All the Martyrs were most foolish, who loose their liues in this world, for the maintenance of Christs glorie,Chrysost. in Matth. Homil. 5. which were absurd stupiditie (as Chrysostome hath well noted) if they held not themselues assured, that he were come from the dead: neuer dye for him who liueth not: and againe if they beleeued not, that in recompence of their sufferings they should see a better life, and receiue a firme inheritance in the day of last proceeding.
15 Their warrant is sealed vntounto them, by him who cannot lye, both that their holy seruice shall be rewarded by him, who shall pronounce that comfort, Come you blessed of my Father, inherite eternall life;Matth. 25.34 and that there shall be a day, wherein they shall heare that sentence, and that is in the resurrection. There were in former times many figures of that matter, euen before the light of the Gospell, as when Enoch and Elias were assumed vp into heauen,Genes. 5.24. 2. Reg. 2.11. and translated to immortalitie, to shew that other after them, should hauehave the same vncorruptnesse, although by another change: and to make proofe of a life,Ezech. 37.1.5 which is elsewhere for our bodies, but shall not be reuealed, vntill that generall rising. In like sort, when there were shewed vntounto the Prophet Ezechiel great heapes of scattered bones: which the Lord yet put together, and laid sinewes vponupon them, and made flesh grow thereon, and then couered both with skinne, and afterward breathed life into them. In Iob is an euident testimonie,Iob. 19.25. I am sure that my Redeemer liueth, and he shall stand the last on the earth. And although after my skinne the wormes destroy this bodie, yet shall I see God in my flesh. So in the end of Daniel,Dan. 12.2. Many of them that sleepe in the dust of the earth shall avvake, some to euerlasting life, and some to shame and perpetuall contempt. Matth. 25 31But how euident is this in the new Testament? When the Sonne of man commeth in his glorie, and all the holy Angels with him, then shall he sit vponupon the throne of his glorie. And before him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepheard separateth the sheepe from the goates. And in the second to the Corinthians, that vve must all appeare before the iudgement seate of Christ, that euerie man may receiue the things done in his bodie according as he hath done, vvhether it be good or euill. But most manifest of all other is that of Iohn in his Reuelation:Apoc. 20.11. I saw a great white throne, and one that sate on it, from whose face fled away both the earth and heauen, and their place vvas no more found. And I saw the dead both great and small stand before God, and the bookes vvere opened. Then foorthwith, And the sea gaue vp her dead which vvere in her, and death and hell deliuered vp the dead which vvere in them. So oftentimes and so plainely, doth God foretell vntounto vsus this generall resurrection. In so much that it is as certaine, as that the Lord sitteth in heauen, that this shall one day bee.
16 As there is in all the faithful an assenting to this doctrine, & the like might be in very Ethnicks, sauing that their eies are closed, & therfore they cānot see, as a sound to a deaf eare is nothing, which yet is discerned by another man, so the miscreants of all ages, belly-gods, and beast-like men can in no sort endure it. Indeede they hauehave little reason, for that the portion is very small, which shall then be allowed vntounto them. Such were those swinish Epicures, falsely termed Philosophers, who luxuriating in voluptuousnesse, and thinking that to be felicitie, to bath themselues in delight, did enioy the present with the Asse, but vtterly denied the immortalitie of the soule, and by a consequent, that the bodie shall euer be repaired. Like to them was Sardanapalus, who had this Epitaph on his graue,Athenaeus Dipnosoph. lib. 8.4. Bibe, lude, mortalis est vita. Drinke and play, our life is mortall, and our time is short vponupon earth, but our death is euerlasting if a man once be come to it. Pliny the elder was a man most worthy praise, for his labours which were inestimable: yet that speech of his was impious, and vnbeseeming those good partes which were otherwise in Plinie.Plin. Natu. Hist. l. 7.55. Omnibus à s… prema die eadem quae ante primam: nec magis à morte sensus vllus aut corpori aut animae quàm ante natalem. Matth 22.23 1. Cor. 15.32 To all men from their last day, is the same state as was before their first day, neither is there after death any more feeling in the bodie or the soule, then was before the birthday. Certainely the Saduces were in this beleefe, of whom the Euangelist witnesseth, that they denied the resurrection. And you may put them in this number, who in Saint Paules time did vse this by-word, Let vsus eate and drinke, for to morrow we shall dye, as intending that in death should be a finall end, and we should be no more heard of. The persecuting Gentiles were plainely of this opinion, of some of whom in Fraunce Eusebius witnesseth, that they in scorne of the resurrection, which the Christians do beleeue, did burne many of the Martyrs, and afterward threw their ashes into the riuer Rhodanus, with this foolish exprobration, Let vsus see now if their God be able to reuiue them. In a word, most of the Pagans in all ages of the world, and all Atheists among Christians, (a thing in our time too well knowne) do oppugne this truth beyond measure. At whose liues I do not maruell, if they be like their profession, that is, such (some few ciuill respects excepted) as are fit for those men, who feare neither God nor Diuell. I could wish, that since it must needes be, that Gods wrath is oftentimes by these plucked downe vponupon our land, the sword of the ciuill magistrate, would with seueritie prouide some remedie for them, that there might not be in Israel a man, who should once dare to blaspheme the name of the Lord. I remember it is recorded of the Atheniens, that in the respect which they caried to their false and fained Gods,Diodor. Sic. Bibl. lib. 13. they so detested Diagoras, for talking against their heathenish religion, that he standing in feare of his life, was glad to flye the countrie. But herewith the other not contented, did put foorth a proclamation, that whosoeuer it were that would kill that Diagoras, should hauehave an honourable reward, that was, a talent of siluer for his labour.
17 But to leaue these lawes vntounto the Christian magistrate, and to proceed as a Minister, the arguments of all these, and a thousand more of that sute, are but vanitie of all vanities, when they come once to be weighed in the ballāce of the Sanctuary, and are counterpoised onelyonly with the high Gods omnipotencie. For why should we tye his power vntounto our foolish wit? Suppose that there be dying vponupon dying, and deuouring vponupon deuouring; that a man be slaine, and his members consumed, some by birdes, some by beastes, some by fishes; and imagine that those creatures be taken, and eaten againe by men, and those men be then burnt, and their ashes throwne into the water, and if we can go farther, let there be as many mutations more, what is all this to plunge his abilitie, who can do euerie thing, whatsoeuer himselfe shall please? He can do eueryevery thing, and therefore raise this man. If nature cannot conceiue it, learne to looke a little higher, to grace and faith beyond nature. Plato an heathen man did much reprooue Anaxagoras,Plutarch. de defectu oraculorum. because tying himselfe too farre, to naturall causes and reasons, he omitted to thinke on the efficient cause of all things, which is surely God the first moouer. This is a monstrous errour of vsus also. But will we allow that to God, the like wherof we do allow vntounto men? If an image should be made of lead,Lombard. Sentent. lib. 4. Dist. 44. to the proportion of a man, and the workman which did make it remaining still aliue, should retaine the mould, or remember the fashion of it with his best obseruation; although this image were now broken into peeces, and some of the lead thereof did perchance in a wall, ioyne some stones vntounto other, or iron to stones in windows, or if some were framed into bullets, or put to other vses, be they neuer so different, yet afterward the artificer hauing these fragments brought together, can refound them, and renew the image in that resemblance, wherein they were before. That which man can do in his trade, can mans maker do much more, in new framing man himselfe.
18 I hauehave borowed this reason from the maister of the Sentences: whereunto if anie reply, that the comparison is much different, because here the substance remaineth, in the selfe same nature as before, whereas it is oftentimes altered in the corruption of the flesh and bones in man, I might answere, that it is recompenced by the greatnesse and the power, and the skilfulnesse of this framer, which so farre doth exceede the abilitie of all workers.Tertullian. in Apolog. cap. 45. Recogita quid fueris antequā esse… ▪ vtique nihil. meminisses enim si quid fuisses. Gregor. Moral. lib 6.7. Cum proculdubio omnibus cō stet, quià plus sit creari quod non erat, quàm reparari quod erat. But I rather will strengthen it, with that argumēt of Tertullian who speaketh to this purpose. We were alreadie once made of nothing, when our matter went not before: and is it not as easie, that we should be againe made, when we hauehave bene before? If after our corruption our substance should be little, yea very nothing at all, yet can we thinke it lesse, then it was before our breeding? The authour of the first, can as well do the latter. This reason seemed strong vntounto Gregory the great, where he speaketh in this sort, If a man who hath bene dead shold be raised vp, all men breake foorth into admiration, and yet daily is man borne who neuer was before, and no man wondreth at that: whereas without doubt it may appeare vntounto all men, that it is a greater worke when that is made which neuer was, then when that shall be but repaired and new made which was before. To follow this a little farther, which of vsus doth remember what we were, before that we were borne: where was our forme or our matter? Yet we are growne to this quantitie, and come vp to this fashion. If we will speake as Philosophers, the sonne is said to be in potentia of the father: so of the grandfather and great grandfather, although much more remooued. If we will speake as the Spirite of God doth speake,Hebr. 7.20. Leui the sonne of Iacob, who was the sonne of Isaac, who was the heire of Abraham, is said to be in the loines of Abraham his great grandfather. The line by this proportiō, may be reached a great deale higher. Now how many alterations, corruptions, dissolutions, in nutriment and in food, within men and without, of necessitie must there be, within ten generations, before that he be produced who is the tenth successor? Where shall we say was the seed, or what shall we thinke was the matter, from whence he was deriued? Yet God hath so disposed, that by order of propagation, it should be so and no otherwise: and a thousand alterations cannot hinder the course thereof; and a million of corruptions shall not crosse his purpose afterward, but that from earth and sea, and stones, and rockes, and ashes, chaunged ouer and ouer againe, he can rowze vsus and reuiue vsus. The perpetuated order of his actions here among vsus, doth shew that he can doe things, which are as farre vnlikely. To adde somewhat more of man, of how small a thing doth he make him,Iustin. Martyr. Apol. 2. euen that which hath no proportion? how doth he bring out the limmes, and members of the infant? where were his bones and his sinewes, his arteryes and his veynes? where was his head and his feete, his countenance and his visage? how were these things distinguished in his first generation?August. Epistola. 49. We may hauehave the same consideration, of the kernell of any fruite, which being small in quantitie, and in resemblance very different, from that whereunto it spreadeth, is put into the ground. From this there groweth a roote with many things sprowting from it;Gregor. Moralium. 6.8. from thence a stemme ariseth; a barke percase without, a pith perhaps within, here a branch and there a bough, here a blossome and there a fruit.August. de Consolat. mortuorū 2. 1. Cor. 15.36 A graine of wheat is put by the husbandman into the ground; and then it is but a small thing, and in respect as nothing. Yet from thence commeth roote, and blade, and stalke, and eare, and corne, yea when the originall of all was dead and euen dissolued. From these things God each day doth raise such sensible matters, and maketh the earth and raine, whereof much commeth from the sea, to depart with their owne nature, and to be turned into them. Why then should it be impossible, or why should it be straunge, that he should bring this to passe in man, the best of his creatures, that is, to fetch him out of the dust, or from the middest of the water? Why not one daye that in generall, when this in speciall eueryevery daye? why not all, which to each? Reuolue these things aduisedly, and ioyne faith with thy sence, and thy externall feeling, and we shall hauehave a resurrection.
Gregor. Moral. li. 14 28.19 Remember how that euerie winter, the glorie of the trees, and all woods is decayed: their leaues lye in the dust, their cheerefull greene is but blacknesse: the sap and life is hid in the roote within the ground: all the tree doth seeme as dead. But when the Sunne commeth forward, with his warming aspect, they resume their former beautie. So it is with the medowes, so it is with the floures, and most delightfull gardens. Their winter is as our death, their spring like our resurrection. The putting of our clothes off,Lodo▪ Viues in Genethliaco Iesu Christi. should remember vsus of mortalitie, that we must put our flesh off, and yeeld it to corruption. When we put them on in the morning, and go forth as before, we represent to our selues, the receiuing of our flesh againe in the day of iudgement. What is our bed but a graue?Epiphanius Haeresi. 64. Athenagoras de resurrectione mortuorum. what is our sleepe but a death, wherein we are to our selues as if we had neuer bene, without sence and in darknesse? what is our hastie awaking, at the sound of bell or other noise, but as our starting vp, at the sound of the last trumpet, to appeare before Christs throne? Herein indeed is the difference, that the graue doth hold vsus longer, the bed a lesser while. Thus hath the Lord eueryevery way, put remembrancers in our actions, & daily obseruations, that certainly we shall dy, & certainly rise againe, & certainly be then iudged. The veritie of which matter, euen by the light of nature hath appeared vntounto some, who neuer did know the Lord. The heathen man Zoroastres did fore-prophecie of a time wherein there should be a rising of all that euer had liued.Aeneas Gazaeus in Theophrasto. They were not farre from this, who beleeued an immortalitie of our souls after death. So did Plato aboue all other of the auncient Philosophers, who both saith that the soule liueth separated from the bodie,Plato Epist. 7 Idem de Legibus 12. and that it commeth to an account, and if it hauehave so deserued, suffereth punishment and great torment: yea he mentioneth such a iudgement,Dialog. 10. de republ. as wherein the good are set on the right hand, and the euill on the left, as if he had perused the bookes of the sacred Bible. The French Prophets those Druides, as Pomponius Mela noteth,Pomponius. Mela lib. 3. did both beleeue, and teach the immortalitie of the soule, which was a good inducement to inferre the resurrection. For when they held this vndoubtedly, that the better part doth not die, and by a consequent, that the soules of them which had done well, for their good life in this place, should come vntounto felicitie, they might hauehave easily bene perswaded, that by a good congruitie, the instrument and copartner and sister of the soule, I meane this flesh of ours, being ioyned in all actions, should in vprightnesse of iustice, be ioyned in the reward, whether it be good or euill.
20 How much to blame are the Atheists and Epicures of our time, who come not so farre as this; but as they depriue our bodies of all future reuiuing, so they teach that our soules, in nothing are different from the beasts: but that in the dissolution, the spirit shall be dissolued, as well as the exteriour man: in which thoughts they shew thēselues, to be worse then many Ethnicks. They little conceiue the dignity, and simplicity of that spirit, the single in compoundnesse of that self-moouing soule, for so I may well call it,Chrysost. in Matth. Homil. 35. in comparison of the flesh. For as Chrysostome maketh his argument, If the soule can giuegive such life and beautie vntounto the bodie, with what a life and fairenesse doth it liue in it selfe? And if it can hold together the bodie, which is so stinking and so deformed a carcasse, as appeareth euidently after death, how much more shall it conserue, and preserue it selfe in his owne being? So pregnant is this reason, that an infidell may conceiue it, and very well apprehend it: but we which are Christian men may remember a farther lesson. That our Sauiour hath dyed for vsus, and payed a price very great, his owne most precious bloud. For whom or what was this? for our body which liueth and dieth, and rotteth and neuer returneth againe? for our soule which is here this day, and too morrow spilt and corrupted? How vnworthy were this of him, to endure so much for so little? Shall we thinke him so vnwise, or repute him so vnaduised? No, he knew that this soule of ours must stand before his throne; and this rottennesse must come foorth, by a fearefull resurrection. And if this should not be so, if there should be no accompt, no recompence for ill deedes, no retribution for the good, to what end should men serue the Lord, or what difference should there be betweene the iust and the vniust, the holy and the profane? nay betweene man the best creature that mooueth vponupon the ground, and the basest and vilest beast, which hath little sence and no reason? Because it were impiety to think this of our iust Lord, that so slenderly he disposeth things, let vsus with an assured faith, conceiue our immortality, and the hope of a resurrection.
21 As this hath bene deduced from the example of our Prophet, by this or the like sort, Ionas was in the fishes belly, so was Christ in the graue: Ionas came forth from thence, so did Christ rise againe, his rising doth bring our rising, his resurrection, ours, because he was the first fruits of all those that do sleep.1. Cor. 15.20 So to cō clude this doctrine, by making vse of it very briefly: if this be determined ouer vsus, & the houre shal one day come, that all that is in the graue, shall arise & heare Gods voice, & neither the mountains nor the rocks,Apoc. 6.16. can couer vsus frō the presence of the Lambe, what ones then & how perfect shold we study to be? how shold we prepare our selues against that day of reckning, that our iudg may acknowledge vsus to be his friends & his brethren vnspotted & vndefiled, that so we might not trēble to see him, & heare his iudgement? But alas how far are we from it, & indeed frō thinking of it? For as Chrysostome speaketh, some do say that they beleeue, Chrysost. in Genes. Homil. 22.that there shal be a resurrectiō, & a recōpēce to come. But I listen not to thy words, but rather to that which is done eueryevery day. For if thou expect the resurrectiō, & a recōpence, why art thou so giuē to the glory of this present life? why doest thou daily vexe thy self, gathering more mony then the sand? I may go a little farther applying it to our time: why do we bath our selues in folly as in the water? why do we drinke in iniquitie, & bitternesse in such measure? why hunt we after gifts, and thirst after rewards? why seeke we more to please men, then labour to please the Lord? Briefly, why doth security in inward sort so possesse vsus, as if with Hyminaeus & Philetus,2. Tim. 2.17. Bernard. de interiori domo. we did think the resurrection past? Why do we as that man, of whome Saint Bernard speaketh, that is, eate and drinke and sleepe carelesse, as if we had now escaped the day of death and iudgement, and the very torments of hell. So play and laugh and delight, as if we had passed the pikes and vvere now in Gods kingdome? Who seeth not this to be so, although he could wish it to be farre otherwise?
22 The remembrance of this accompt, should be as a snaffle to vsus, or as a bridle to keepe vsus backward from profanenesse & enormitie. And in these euils let them take their portiō, who are incredulous and vnbeleeuers, of whome it is no maruell, that they do hotely embrace them, and egerly follow after them. For take away an opinion of rising vntounto iudgement, and all obseruance of pietie falleth presently to the ground, and men will striue to be filthie,Hebr. 9.27. in impietie and in sinne. But because we professe Christ Iesus, and the hope of immortalitie, let vsus liue as men that expect it.Genes. 27.2. And since that it is appointed, that all men shall die once, and after it commeth the iudgement; and since the day of death is as vncertaine to vsus,Matth. 25.1. as it euer was to Isaac, let vsus furnish our selues before hand, that with the oyle of faith, and of good life, in our lampes, we may go to meete the bridegroome. If Christ as our head be risen from the dead, let vsus arise from the vanities and follies of this earth, which are not worth the comparing with eternitie in the heauens. If he as the chiefe of his Church, be ascended and gone before, let vsus who wish to be members, wrestle to follow after him. Let it be enough, that hitherto with Ionas we hauehave fled from our dutie, which we owe to our maker, and that we hauehave lyen not dayes but yeares, oft three times and three ouer, not in the fishes belly, but in the belly of sin. And let vsus beseech the Lord, that since Sathan is more desirous to swallow vsus into hell, then the whale was to deuour the Prophet, that he will free vsus from that enemie, and bring vsus into his kingdome, there to raigne with his owne Sonne, to both whome and the holy Spirite, be laud and praise immortall. Amen