The harmonie of Holie Scriptures vvith the seuerall sentences of sundry learned and vvorthy vvriters : collected for the comfort of all such as are desirous to seeke after theyr soules health / by I.B.

§. 5.

Moreouer; the Lorde our God is so full of pitty and compassion, that (as Gueuara* 1.1 saith) hee neuer sendeth downe his wrath vpon any people, as a punishment for their

offences, but hee first seeketh, rather by admonishment, to bring them to his mercy and fauour, through their true humilitie, and vnfained repentance.

And, many also are the testimonies which we finde in holie Scripture, concer∣ning the great kindnesse and compassion of Almighty God to the penitent: but a∣mong sundry other, I suppose (for breui∣ties sake) that this one example following may sufficiently serue to instruct vs.

Ionas beeing sent of God to preach and* 1.2 denounce his iudgements against Niniuie, the cheefest Citty of the Assyrians, entred into the same a dayes iourney, (saith the Text) and he cryed, and sayd; Yet fortie dayes, and Niniuie shall be ouerthrowne.

Whereupon, the King beleeuing the speech of the Prophet▪ descended from his princely throne, and speedily caused thys Proclamation to be made, that neither man nor beast should taste any foode, nor drink any water, but let man & beast (quoth he) put on sackcloth, and cry mightilie vnto God: yea, let euery man turne from his e∣uill wayes, and from the wickednesse that is in their hands. And, * when the Almigh∣tie* 1.3 saw theyr workes, that they repented, &

turned from theyr euill waies, hee repented himselfe of the euill that hee had saide hee would doe vnto them, and he did it not.

Which thing, (as the Text saith) displea∣sed Ionas exceedingly, and hee was angry. Notwithstanding, he prayed vnto the lord, and said: I pray thee, ô Lord, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my countrey? Therefore I preuented it, and fledde vnto Tarshish, for I knew, sayth hee, that thou art a gracious God, and mercifull, slowe to anger, and of great kindnesse: repenting thee of the euill. &c.

After this, Ionas went out of the Cittie,* 1.4 and sate him downe vnder the East side thereof, expecting what should bee doone vnto the same. And the Lord in one night, caused a Gourde to spring vp ouer Ionas, that it might be a shadow ouer his head, & a defence for him against the heate of the Sunne: but the next morning, hee prepa∣red a Worme also, which smote the Gourd and it withered.

Then Ionas perceiuing himselfe bereft* 1.5 of this succour, and wexing faint through the extreame heate of the Sunne, wished in his hart to die, and sayd; It is better for me to die, then to liue.

But the Lord God called vnto him, and said: Ionas, doost thou well to be angrie? Thou hast pitty on the Gourde, for which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it to grow, which came vp in a night and pe∣rished in a night: and should not I, (sayth the most merciful) spare Niniuie that great Cittie, wherein are six-score thousand per∣sons, that cannot discerne betweene theyr right hand and their left, and also much cattle?

By the which speech of the Almightie, and example of his clemencie, most plain∣lie it is approued, that the Lord our God, as S. Iames saith, * is very pittifull & mer∣cifull.* 1.6

And that (as Ieremie saith,) * hee dooth* 1.7 not punish willingly.

Nay more; so prone is the Almighty to pardon, and so much inclined to mercie, that although (through mans vnrighteous∣nesse) he be highly prouoked to anger, and euen ready (as it were) to execute his fierce wrath vpon the vngodly: yet notwithstan∣ding, it sometimes pleaseth him to spare a great company of wicked offenders, by reason that some fewe righteous persons haue theyr habitation among them.

As may for example be seene in the eigh∣teene of Genesis, where we finde, that (ac∣cording to the sixe seuerall peticions of the Patriarch Abraham) hee was content to graunt, first, that if fiftie; secondly, that if fortie-fiue; thirdly, that if fortie; fourthly,* 1.8 that if thirtie; fiftly, that if twentie; lastlie, that if but tenne righteous men coulde bee founde in all Sodome, the whole Cittie shoulde bee spared for those tenne mens sake.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Anth. Gue∣uara.
• * 1.2

  Ionas. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, &c.
• * 1.3

  verse, 10.
• * 1.4

  Ionas, 4, 1, 2.
• * 1.5

  Ionas, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, &c.
• * 1.6

  Iames, 5, 11,
• * 1.7

  Lam, 3, 33.
• * 1.8

  Gene. 18.