The men of Ninive shall rise, &c.

IT is obvious to every one within These Walls, I that the Son of God made this terrible Commination not only to strike a Terror into his Auditors, but also to raise in them a wholesom Confusion; not only to reproach their Stupidity, but also to ani­mate them to a generous Emulation; pro­testing, that if the Ninivites could not be an Example to provoke their Repentance, they should one day become their invinci­ble Accusers. And to what end do's our Holy Mother the Church yearly repeat this Passage of the Gospel, and daily inculcate the Sense of it, but to invite her Children to an Imitation, as the only Plea remain­ing, as the only Defence we can make against such a cloud of witnesses, who will certainly bear us down, and convict us at the Day of Judgment, if they prove not our Instruction in this Day of Salvation.

Ninive, the Capital City of the Assyrian Monarchy, was the Babylon of those Times, Emasculated with a long Peace, Effeminate [Page 7]with Ease, dissolv'd in Luxury, Banquet­ting, and Wantonness, under the Reign of a Sensual Prince, a Sardanapalus, whose Life, says the Historian, was more soft and infamous, then his Name; turpior vitâ, quam nomine; and whose Example had so cor­rupted the Manners, and stifled the War­like Genius of his People, that they were no longer formidable, but for their horrible Excesses; no longer Masters of the World, but by drawing others into an imitation of their Crimes; no longer the Brave Assyri­ans, but for defying Heaven, and assailing the Throne of God, not as their Prede­cessors with the Tower of Babel, which they could not finish; but with the height and enormity of their Sins, which they brought to a point; Jon. 1.2. Ascendit malitia ejus coram me; Their wickedness is come up before me; and reaches to Heaven. Now it was high time for Justice and Mercy to enter into deliberation, whether this Seduced People, and Seducer of Nations, should out of hand be converted or destroy'd; but while the one was preparing its Thunder [Page 8]and Lightning, its Showrs of Fire and Brimstone, the other dispatches a Herald to warn them of their approaching Ruine. But the Prophet Jonas, the Man pitch'd upon to carry the unpleasant Message, out of a Humane Prudence, and too warm a Zeal, declines the Office. He was unwil­ling to expose his Master's Honor, and his own Person, among a People where he was like to be so little consider'd, that the God was as unknown as the Prophet. But if possible they should own his Character, and take the Subject of his Embassie into con­sideration, That yet forty days and Ninive shall be destroy'd, probably they might re­pent, and more then probably God would pardon them if they did so, and Ninive would not be destroy'd, and by necessary consequence Jonas must bear the Ignomi­ny, if a false Prophet; which once dete­cted, as it must be if the Judgment fol­low not the Sentence, the very Motive of their Conversion would prove a dangerous Temptation to return to their former Im­piety. Wherefore the Prophet finding no [Page 9]other way to avoid the Points of this Di­lemma, not only flies from the Employ­ment, Jon. 1.3. but also hopes to escape from the face of God; he puts to Sea, makes all the Sail he can, and steers his Course as wide from the Coast of Assyria, as the Wind and his Fear could bear off. When behold, the Storm he would not prognosticate to others, was gather'd over his own Head! Besides his own Guilt, the Divine Hand points him out as the Occasion of it; yet he chuses rather to be cast over-board, then to tack about and make for Ninive; and tho' a Whale was ready to receive him to that end, yet his Will and his Prayers ran so strong the other way, it was three Days be­fore she could unload her miraculous Bur­then upon the detested Shore.

But he was no sooner out of the Whales Belly, then he enters into himself; and terrified with the Idea of the Dangers he had passed, admiring his own no less won­derful Stupidity, and revolving his strange Deliverance, incredible almost to himself, [Page 10]he joyfully embraces the Employment he had so obstinately refus'd, and abating both of his Zeal and Apprehension, he was con­tented Ninive should falsifie his Prediction, and by a timely Repentance prevent the Destruction he was going to denounce.

He enters the vast City, and stopping in one of the most frequented Places, he summons the Inhabitants, Adhuc quadra­ginta dies & Ninive subvertetur; Yet forty days and Ninive shall be no more. The no­velty of the Thing, the strange Figure of the Man, his Mien, as if he had newly risen from the Dead; the particularity of his Habit, as if he came out of another World; the brokenness of his Dialect, soon drew the Herd about him, to listen and gaze a while, and then to laugh; and without doubt the Wits and Libertines to rally him, and some in Office to threaten him. But the Preacher go's on as insensible to their Affronts, as they were at first to his Do­ctrine; he follows his Text, and they him, till at last, as Laughing and Crying are per­form'd [Page 11]with the same Muscles of the Eyes and Face, so the same Words which at first provok'd their Laughter, now spread Sorrow, Fear, and Amazement upon their Countenances, and fetch Tears out of their Eyes, but could not work a thoro' Refor­mation in their Hearts; till the Voice of this Ʋnknown penetrated thro' the Town into the Court, and reach'd the Ears of the King, Pervenit verbum ad Regem Ninive.

This King had as little reason as any of his Subjects to be satisfi'd with his own Life, and more reason to apprehend the verity of Jonas's Prediction, being consci­ous to himself into how dreadful a Preci­pice his ill Example had drawn a People, never so Complying, never so Obedient to the Prince as in his Vices. In fine, he be­lieves the threatned Judgment so much more probable, as he knew it was too much deserved. He rises therefore from his Throne, lays by the Ensigns of Majesty, puts himself in the state and posture of a Cri­minal, Preaches and Enjoyns the Pennance [Page 12]that he Practises; Fasting and Sackcloth become the Mode, the Court and Town are presently in it, and follow it with so much eagerness, vigour and perseve­rance, that the Storm which was ready to break upon their Heads, disperses of it self, the Heavens clear up, the Anger of God is disarm'd, and as the Prophet foresaw, he draws in the menacing Hand.

Let us make a stand here, Christians, and rest a while in Contemplation of a History as Instructive as it is Astonishing; a Record of what pass'd in Ninive, an Account of the present State of most Cities in the World, and I hope a Prophecy of our Repentan­ces. It is like a good Picture, which seems to fix the Eye upon every one that regards it. I promis'd not to offend your Ears with any rude Comparison, or to apply Cau­sticks, to use a burning Iron where a Bal­sam, a gentle Remedy may work the Cure. Yet I beg leave to put you in mind, that Ninive is still threatned, but is not yet de­stroy'd; that it survives in every City [Page 13]whose Impieties, whose Irreligion, whose Extortion, whose insatiable Avarice, and detestable Luxuries, cry to Heaven for Ven­geance, and to avert whose total Overthrow a Jonas is dispatch'd. Et plus quam Jonas hîc. And how far we are short of Ninive, how little we want of equalling their Crimes, and filling up the number of our Sins, he only can tell who is more then Jonas, who numbers the Sands of the Sea.

Ninive a Pagan Town, the Centre and Fountain of Superstition and Idolatry, buried for so many Ages in the darkness of Gentilism, where the Sun of Justice never shone, the saving Faith never shed a Beam; amidst an infinity of Deities without the Knowledge of God, labouring under a double Night, of Infidelity and of the blackest Crimes.

But Ninive at the Preaching of a Jonas, a meer Stranger, without any thing to make himself Considerable; a Man never heard of before, a Man contemptible for his Per­son, [Page 14]with Distraction and Amazement in his Countenance, still frothy and reeking from the Belly of the Whale; without any Credentials or Proof of his Mission, with­out any Miracle to back his Doctrine, or other Testimony to support it, then what he gave himself; and this to a People so little prepar'd to receive it, that in all like­lihood, he might as well have Preach'd to the Rocks and Waves, from the Entrails of the Leviathan. Yet this Ʋnknown Preacheth, these Infidels Believe, these wicked Men, these Monsters of Nature, even Sardana­palus is Converted: Sardanapalus sheds manly Tears, Sardanapalus do's Pennance; such exemplar Pennance, that the Holy Ghost thought it material to transmit each Circumstance to Posterity; Surrexit de So­lio, says the Text, He rises from his Throne, he detests that unfortunate Power which enabled him to sin without controll: Abjecit vestimentum, he casts the Purple from his Shoulders, which he had not only stain'd, but even drench'd with his repeated Crimes: Indutus est Sacco, he changes it for [Page 15]Sackcloth, to chastise that Flesh he had so pamper'd and indulg'd: Et sedit in cinere, and is not contented till his Mortification is accompanied with the profoundest Humility; and therefore he prostrates and rowls himself in Ashes. Res admiratione digna, &c. (cries St. John Chrysostom) O what a Spectacle! delightful and new to the Heavens, and worthy the Admira­tion of the whole Earth! Sackcloth and Haircloth imperiously invade and banish the Purple; Ashes and Dust tarnish the lustre of the Crown. He had Sinn'd, and he Repents like a King. He resolves the Example, which had been such an Incentive to Vice, should be no less ex­citing to Repentance. He deposes the Marks, but not the Power of a King. His Obedience to the Voice of God, do's not abate of his Authority with his People: While he lies prostrate as a Criminal, he Enacts Laws, and Enjoyns a solemn Fast thro' all his Dominions; Homines & ju­menta non gustent quicquam. And when did he issue forth this Proclamation? after he [Page 16]had call'd a Board to debate it, after he had taken the thing into Deliberation, or Advis'd with his Council and Sages? No, says the Text, Et pervenit Verbum, as soon as this Word came to his Ear, without ballancing, without hesitation, Motu proprio, immediately at the very in­stant he falls to work: He was already doing Pennance while he was command­ing it; binding his People to comply first by Example, and then by Precept.

But where is it that I speak? Is it not to a Christian Assembly, to a Christian Town, an ancient Theatre of Religion, and once the Metropolis of this Kingdom as well in Piety as in Grandeur and Commerce? Is it not to a Court once Peopled with Saints, once a Nursery of Heaven, illustra­strated with the Morning-brightness of the Gospel, and reflecting its Light thro' the whole World? Is it not before the Successor of St. Lucius, the first Christian King, and to the first Christian Kingdom of the Western World? Is it not to a Peo­ple [Page 17]early Born into, and long Edu­cated in the Bosom of the Church, having Kings for Nursing Fathers, and Queens for Nursing Mothers, nou­rish'd with the Bread of Heaven, and the Fat of the Earth? and yet amidst such an overflow of Divine Blessings, such infallible Helps, such efficacious Sacraments, such moving Exhortati­ons, we remain unshaken to the Me­naces, insensible to the Promises, re­bellious to the Light, and deaf to the Voice, not of a Jonas, but of a JESƲS. One unknown Preacher Converted the most Heathenish, the most corrupted, the most populous City of the World, at one Sermon; while we who speak your own Language, nay even your own Sence; Preach what you believe, and Menace what you apprehend; speak what you know to be just and reasonable; We, whose Mission you acknowledge, whose Character you re­verence, whose Authority you do not dispute, Think it a great Victory if we [Page 18]Convert the meanest of this crouded Auditory, after a hundred Sermons. And do you wonder that the Ninivites shall rise in the day of Judgment against this more Criminal, (I must say it) because more Obdurate Generation; which amidst so much knowledge of its Duty, amidst such pressing Motives, such strong Convictions, such cogent Arguments, such illustrious Examples, puts off its Repentance from day to day? But to press this is my Second Point.

It was a notable Advice, II and becom­ing its Author, Eccles. 5.8. the wisest of Men, Non tardes converti; Do not slacken to be converted to our Lord, nor put it off from day to day. For one of the most crafty Slights of the Devil to keep an unhap­py Soul in his possession, one of the falsest Steps we make, one of the most dangerous Errors we slide into, is the deferring our Repentance from time to time, till it be past time. An Error not [Page 19]only most pernicious, because in the highest Concern, but also the most wicked, as proceeding not from Sur­prise, Weakness, Inadvertence, or Ig­norance, (the Heads whence other Mi­stakes arise) but springing from the most affected Wilfulness, and down­right Malice. People will not believe daily Experience, will not credit their common Sense, will not hearken to their own Reason and Conviction; but in despite of Sense, Reason, Con­science, and Experience, will still per­sist in a vain and groundless Presumpti­on, That after forty days their Ninive shall not be destroy'd; that they shall have a much longer time to repent in. Yet you see Funerals pass every day under your Windows, you meet them in the Streets; you behold your Friends, your Children, your Husbands and your Wives expiring under your Roofs, gi­ving up the Ghost in your Arms; you see them die, who had as much reason to promise themselves a longer Date of [Page 20]Life; you see them die, you see Ni­nive fall, (for when one dies, all the World dies to him) you see them die unprepar'd, one without any sense of a future Life, another in Despair; one is suddenly cut off, another falls in a Du­el, in Drink, in Adultery: And these are dreadful, but late and almost daily Examples. You see them die impeni­tent, and hear them bid you beware of the same Presumption, which brought them to their eternal Ruine; and yet you are deaf to all Persuasions. And if you will be so, who can help it? But then you must not wonder that the Ninivites shall rise at the Day of Judg­ment against you; for they repented at the Preaching, at the first Sermon of Jonas. Besides, they had forty days al­low'd them to prevent their Ruine; but you hear Truth it self protesting, that you neither do, nor shall know, not only a certain Period of days to prepare your selves in, but not so much as one day, Matth. 25.13. no not an hour; Nescitis diem neque [Page 21]horam. You hear the Judge menacing that Death, that Judgment shall steal upon you like a thief in the night, Apoc. 16.15. that is, when you rest securely, and dream of no such thing; when you are dis­solv'd in your Pleasures, when you are intoxicated with Wine, when you are extended in Wantonness, that even this Night perhaps your Soul shall be ra­vish'd from you, Stulte hâc nocte, &c. Luc. 12.20. and yet in the sound of this dreadful Alarm, in sight of the threatning Hand which is writing your Sentence upon the Wall of your Chamber, upon the brink of this frightful Precipice you lie as supinely, as unconcern'd, as if you had the Works of the Just, or rather as if you were already dead, and asleep, Aug. not in your Beds, but in your Graves, Ad tan­tum tonitruum qui non evigilat, non dor­mit, sed mortuus est.

This Stupidity, this affected Insen­sibility of ours, provok'd our Blessed Saviour to such a Degree, that, con­trary [Page 22]to his usual Meekness, he calls such People Fools, Stultos, insensate, stu­pid, brutish, and irrational, beyond all that can be imagin'd. Your God is your Accuser, and the Ninivites are your Judges; but you pronounce the Sentence upon your selves; all the other Actions of your Life are your Condemnation. For who of you all is so senseless as to trust the smallest Temporal Concern to so great a ha­zard, as to expose your Life and your Estate, when you may easily secure and enjoy both the one and the other, and to run the risque of losing all, for want of a little Care, of Compounding for a small Fine, a little Trouble, a well­tim'd Sigh, or a seasonable Tear? Should your House take Fire, and your Friends and Neighbors run in to give you no­tice of it, before the spreading Flame has taken hold of the main Timber; would you phlegmatickly reply, There is no haste in the Business, it will be time enough to bring the Engines [Page 23]when the Fire has reached the Founda­tions? Would a Man need a great Stock of Philosophy to convince you that you are a Fool, or a Madman, which is all one, since Madness is but a raging Folly? Why, your Soul is all in a Flame with a long Habit of Sin; Ignis in os­sibus; you are burnt up with unlawful and lawless Desires, with Passions more raging and more destroying then Fire. The Preacher comes as a Friend to ad­vertise you of it, bids you make haste to stop the Conflagration, lest it swal­low you up in unquenchable Flames. You bid him not trouble you with that yet a while, Thirty or Forty years hence perhaps you may give him a hearing, that is to say, speaking your Sense in the other Circumstance, Let me alone till the Fire has insinuated it self into the very Heart of the Building, till it has taken such hold upon me, that it will be impossible to lay it, impossible to rescue me from the devouring Ele­ment, beyond hopes of your Assistance, [Page 24]or Power to help my self, when Hor­ror reigns without, and Confusion within, till I know not where I am, what to do, which way to turn me, which way to go about to draw Tears out of my parched Eyes, or press Sor­row out of my petrified Heart, which is the only Water can quench the Cri­minal Flame.

Stulte! Foolish and insensate Man! Should you find your self overcharg'd with a heavy Burthen, which even grows upon your Shoulders, and which you are oblig'd to carry, or sink; would you refuse to stir a Step while you are in the Flower of your Age, in the height of your Strength? Would you tell such as advise you to work while it is yet day, John 9.4. before night come upon you, to get to your Journeys end as soon as you can, That it is time enough, you will begin when you grow Old? that is to say, you will begin when you should end, when your Nature is de­cay'd, [Page 25]your Spirits exhausted, your Nerves debilitated, and have more need of being carried your self. Sinner, your Crimes are a great Load: Psal. 37.5. Sicut onus grave gravata sunt super me; Even your God, the Strong one of Israel, groans un­der the Weight, he can bear them no longer; he gives you warning that he is just ready to withdraw the Hand of his long-suffering patience, and leave you to your self; Gal. 6.5. Ʋnusquisque onus su­um portabit. 'Tis in your own choice whether you will, now you have strength and opportunity, work them off, and lay them down at the foot of the Cross, by embracing a Penitential Life, or sweat under them till they sink you into Hell. And do you still deliberate upon the Point? Is the Matter so difficult, is the Case so perplex'd, that you can­not tell which Party to take? or rather, is not the Necessity so evident, so pres­sing, so irresistible, that to demur one Day upon it, is to renounce as well your Senses as your Faith, as well your [Page 26] Reason as Religion? You promise your selves late Years to repent in, when you have not the assurance of one Day; Is not this as great a Shock to Reason, as it is an Affront to Religion? Is it not to invade the Prerogative of God, by pla­cing the times and moments in your own power and disposition? And certainly those Purposes of Repentance you so much relie on, those Resolutions you so often break and so often renew, those Promises which have so often deceiv'd both your self and your Confessor, can­not be true, real and unfeigned, if the Term you assign be false and imagina­ry. But there is no such thing as Forty years hence, there is no such thing as Twenty years hence, there is no such thing as To morrow: Procrastinated Repen­tance is nothing, but a present Impeni­tency.

Now go and complain you are hard­ly dealt with, you have not time allow'd you to repent, because you have not [Page 27]more Years allow'd you to offend: Com­plain that the Ninivites had more fa­vour shew'd them then you have, be­cause they had Forty days, and you have had Forty years. Quarrel with the Di­vine Providence, because they were call'd, and repented the first day; you were call'd the first, and think much to repent on the last. Be very angry at the Preacher for discomposing you, and stopping you short in the career of your Sins, with a Whisper in your Ear, That the Term is just expiring, that the Sword is unsheath'd over your Head, and the Hand of Vengeance is lifted up to give you the fatal Blow: Tell him he is trou­blesom and impertinent, because he does you the best Office in the World, and bid him go Preach to Ninive.

He has done, and is ready to leave the Chair; but assure your selves, the Men of Ninive will immediately suc­ceed in his Place; you shall not be able to impose Silence upon them, their [Page 28]Voice shall ring in your Ears, either till their Preaching convert, or their Sen­tence burst your Hearts. They shall follow you thro' all the windings and mazes of Sin, they shall meet you in every crooked path which themselves traced out, and you follow; They know your Haunts, which themselves fre­quented; They shall meet you at the Theatre, at the Masquerade, at the Rendezvouz, at the Gaming house, at the Tavern; They shall insinuate them­selves in your Cabinets, and your most studied Recesses shall not exclude them. Clamabunt etenim & non silebunt; Their Sackcloth shall confound your Niceness and Gallantry; Their Ashes shall con­demn your Pride and Vanity; Their Fasting shall upbraid your Gluttony and Drunkenness; Their Humiliation shall check your Ambition; Their Sighs shall play the Ground to your Musick and Merriment in this time of Sorrow; Their ready Obedience to the Voice of the Preacher, shall ex­probrate [Page 29]the insensibility of your seared Hearts; And their Examples shall give the Lye to all your Excuses. In fine, those lamentable Cries of Men, Wo­men, Children, and Animals, suing to the Throne of Mercy to prevent the Overthrow of that City, shall cry Ven­geance against this, and eccho it thro' the whole World, that God desires not the Damnation of Christians, who was so Merciful to Heathens; That you deserve indeed not so much warning, because your whole Life has been one continued Advertisement; That be­cause they offended against the Law of Nature, they deserv'd an Eternity of Suffering, and to pass out of one Dark­ness into another: But because you have openly resisted the Holy Ghost, Rebelles lumini, Miserable, not for want of Light, but Impious because you rebell'd against it, you have merited the Outward darkness, the Nether hell. Yet to shew that God wills not the death of a Sinner, but rather that he should be con­verted [Page 30]and live; Extendit terminos tuos, He suspends the Sentence of your Con­demnation till the remainder of this Forty days, this Penitential Season is elapsed; and sends his Prophets, the Interpreters of his Word, to acquaint you with the peremptory Term.

And now to sum up this Discourse, as Moses did all his Remonstrance to the People of Israel, Deut. 30.19. Testes invoco bodie coelum & terram, quod proposuerim vobis vitam & mortem, &c. I take heaven and earth to witness, that I have proposed to you life and death, and set the Blessings and the Judgments of God before your Eyes, and within your reach, to stretch out your Hand to which you please; The Heavens, which are Peopled with Saints, who desir'd to see those things which you see, Mat. 13.17. and did not see them; to hear those things which you hear, and did not hear them; who were destitute of the many Advan­tages which you enjoy; The Earth, a great part of whose Inhabitants is still [Page 31]cover'd with Egyptian Darkness, and in­volv'd in the Sins of Ninive, yet at the first Sermon would repent in Sackcloth and Ashes. And I call even Hell to witness, which is Throng'd with so many justly Con­demn'd for Crimes incomparably less then you daily commit; That God has not been wanting on his part, that the Bow­els of his Mercy are as fruitful, that his Arms are as much extended, that his Heart is as open, that his Call is as vigorous, that his Hand is as powerful and as ready to save this Generation, as when he pardon'd the Ninivites, whom we Copy in our Vices, and who sit to us as a perfect Model of a hearty, of an exemplar, and of a speedy Re­pentance,

Which God of his infinite Mercy, &c.