here on the earth he hath carried them with the same bodie vp into heauen and as hee remembred vs vpon the Crosse so doth hee not forget vs when he is now in his kingdome Hee is not like Pharoahs Butler that forgat Ioseph who was so kinde to him in prison when hee came to his preferment but Christ hee remembred the petition of the thefe thou now remembrest vs because thou art in the same passion with vs subiect to the same death but when this passion is past when thou coÌ„mest into thy kingdome ô God remember me then So doth Christ remember vs now when hee is come into heauen to the right hand of God hee remembers vs as hee did remember vs when hee was dying and shed his precious blood for vs on the Crosse Wherefore did he take humane affection vpon him but that hee might expresse this loue vnto vs The affection of loue is noted to be most vehement in women as Dauid doth expresse 2. Sam 1 26. speaking of Ionathan Thy loue to me was wonderfull passing the loue of women And because the affections of that sexe are naturall so should be most tender therefore our Sauiour when hee came to bee incarnated and to take our flesh vpon him he was made of a woman Gal 4. 4. and yet because sinne doth naturally harden the heart and dull the affection therefore he tooke them from a pure Virgin and that they might yet bee more tender he did free them and purge them from all sinne and these affections hath he in his bodie taken vp with him into heauen and set them at the right hand of God his Father and therefore I may be bold to say hee hath set vs as a seale vpon his heart and as a signet vpon his arme and with his stretched-out arme he hath mightily defended vs and preserued his poore Church from time to time from all enemies Thus the petition is easily heard and granted therefore I will not stand long vpon it that which happily you are more loth to heare yet that which is more needfull for mee to speake is the dutie reflecting vpon it if we take that sense or the very literall sense it selfe that Christ doth exhort vs that we set him on our hearts as a seale and weare him as a signet on our arme And of this dutie here be many branches notably expressed in these two metaphors For first there 's a heart there we must euer begin It is a maxime in Diuinitie that which the heart doth not is not done at all before God for whatsoeuer is done is but formally done it is not effectually done vnlesse the heart be affected with it the heart it is the first that liues by nature so it is the first that must liue againe in our regeneration and new birth It is the first that God doth challenge in the first Commandment of the first Table Thou shalt haue no other gods before me that is in my presence or before mee in thine owne affection but thou shalt loue me with all thine heart and with all thy soule c. It is the last Commandment of the second Table Thou shalt not couet in thy heart God in his Table begins with the heart first because in all our actions the first thing that God beholds is the heart but in the second Table which is for continuall duties amongst men it is in the last place because the last that a man can see is to see into the heart so then to take all ten Commandments together the heart you see it is the Alpha Omega the first and the last of all and so in truth it is all in all for giue God the heart and all the rest will follow a heart therfore hee doth claime at our hands in this exhortation in the first place and this heart it must be wrought like wax that it may receiue the impression of a seale for so saith Christ here to his Church set me as a seale vpon thy hart You know the matter that is disposed for to receiue an impression it must neither be too hard nor too soft for if it bee ouer hard it will not take it and if ouer fluxible it will not hold it therfore the heart must bee of a good temper to receiue the impression of the seale of Christ As a braine if it be too dry it will not be apprehensiue and if too moist it will not be retentiue it must be a well tempered brain that shall receiue both in apprehension and memorie So the heart that receiueth Christ and his righteousnes must be of a good temper some hearts are too hard that will take no impression at all like the hearts of the Cheifetaines among the Iewes that nothing could mollifie them nothing would moue them nothing would perswade them to haue pitty and compassion on our Sauiour Christ Pilat himselfe when hee had made furrowes on his backe with scourging him and crowned his head with thornes he brought him out before them to see if they would haue pitty and compassion on him to say it is enough but their hearts they were hardned they would receiue no impression at all On the other side the hearts of the people they were soft and vnstable and vnconstant ready to cry Hosanna one day Blessed is hee that commeth in the name of the Lord and shortly after Crucifige Crucifige the hearts of men do offend in these two extremities somtime they are too hard to receiue any impression and somtimes they are againe too inconstant they will not hold it there be as a Diuine speaketh not onely Sabbatarians that were heretikes but Sunday-Christians also that haply vpon the Sabbath will take some impression some certaine qualme of religion haply may come ouer their consciences but it is quickly gone againe they serue God vpon the Sabbath and serue themselues and the Deuill all the weeke after they are resembled vnto that goodly Idoll Dagon in the 5. chap of the 1. booke of Samuel the 4. verse who so long as he stood in his place in the temple was a goodly Idol to looke vpon but the next morning when they came they found his hands and his head at the threshold of his temple so as the text saith there was nothing left but the very stumpe of an Idol so is it with many of vs who comming into the house of God to heare a Sermon and it may be with great shew of deuotion also to receiue the Sacrament but at the Church doâ—e there lies their hands and affections nothing remaineth but a very stumpe of religion they haue neither hands to doe a good deed nor happily tongues to speake a good word all the weeke after these be Sabbath day Christians But if we will fruitfully receiue the ingraffed word of Christ which is able to saue our soules as the Apostle speaketh Iam 1 21 We must haue a heart fit to receiue and retaine that his impression set me
you will giue no more and by a fraudulent deuise vnder hand thus you conueigh the matter we will pay part of the rent by bond and the rest by lease so wee will sweare and sweare truly that we pay no more rent Or in the same lease I will pay part in the name of a fine For I haue learned a prettie distinction betweene Fine and rent in that kinde so I will swear and sweare truely that I paid no more rent And wilt thou sweare this oh collusion worse then Iesuitisme Beloued you had better equiuocate for all the clothes in your shops for all your goods by sea land then in this case It is Gods cause and God is not mocked whatsoeuer a man soweth in this kinde he shall bee sure to reape the same Remember Ananias and Saphirah for this is done not vnto men but vnto God did you sell your possession for so much yea for so much saith Ananias and iust for so much saith Saphirah they said so but they did not sweare so yet you see what a haruest they did reape presently by not obeying Gods will I would to God wee were worthy to moue that high Court of Parliament in this one mischiefe If wee haue too much let them giue vs lesse onely let there bee plaine dealing in Gods cause let them not suffer men to run their soules and consciences vpon the pikes of periury vpon these nice equiuocations which shall pierce them through vnto eternall death I am sure I haue wearied your patience but one word more and I will remooue my finger from this sore Shall I tell you what is the cause of all this besides that roote of all euill couetousnesse which rootes vp all pietie and dutie that concernes the purse beside that pride of heart that makes euery one almost to thinke himselfe wiser then his Teacher and that they are able of themselues to prescribe Lawes vnto their owne consciences there is one especiall cause of the transgression of this my text The very same which was the occasion that moued the Apostle Paul to write this text Doe you know what Corban meanes it is in the seuenth of Saint Markes Gospell at the 11. verse it is when as voluntarie oblations doe dispense with necessarie duties Bring your offrings to vs say the Pharises and then for the rest it is no matter Corban such Pharises did bewitch the Galathians against whom the Apostle writeth this Epistle who as they did withdraw them from the truth so withall they did withdraw the maintenance from their true Teachers And our Apostle may seeme by the spirit of prophecie to haue directed this worthy Epistle against our Priests and Iesuits who crie Corban vnto their Disciples telling them that they are their ghostly fathers it is no matter for their Ministers neglect them as Hereticall and I pray God that Micah that is the Courtier Iudg. 17. 10. and the Church-robbing Patron haue not taught his Leuite and trencher Chaplaine also who sits at his table and serues in his house to say Corban that his stipendarie pension which hee begrudgeth him out of his benefice is rather a beneuolence then a dutie Be not offended Beloued because I haue told you the truth I haue of purpose abstained from any thing that is questionable the truth as I haue conceiued it I haue tould you plainly and briefly as I haue discharged my conscience in this point so I doe humbly and heartily pray vnto the God of heauen that al of vs may both in this and all the rest discharge our consciences in obeying the truth that wee may so dispose of our selues as nether the profits nor the pleasures of this world any way hinder vs from this truth that wee may place our hearts soules on the certainety and the generalty of the same that as a man soweth so shall hee also reape either the same in kinde or in proportion Whatsoeuer it be be it good or euill sowne to the flesh or to the spirit be it in pietie or Charitie bee it more or lesse he shall be sure to reape the same partly in this world but most fully in the world to come Let vs now desire of Almighty God our gracious Lord for a shower of grace for this that in some weake measure hath bin sowed amongst vs at this time that it may fructifie and be couered and receiued into our hearts so as Satan do neuer steale it away but that it may take deepe roote in our hearts and bring foorth fruite to our endlesse comfort through Iesus Christ our LORD Amen A SERMON PREACHED AT Mercers chapell in LENT 1614. BY ROGER FENTON D. in Diuinitie LONDON Printed for William Aspley 1616. CANTIC 8. 6. Set mee as a seale on thine heart and as a signet vpon thine arme for Loue is strong as death Iealousie is cruell as the graue THE sodaine change of the person in this kinde of SCRIPTVRE which is penned Dialogue-wise is the cause of the greater difficultie of it but for the vnderstanding of these wordes which now I haue read vnto you they do concerne the Speaker whose words they be whether the words of the Bridegrome vnto his spouse or the wordes of the spouse vnto her Bridegrome whether Christ speaketh them vnto his Church or the Church of Christ vnto him And it makes little difference whether that Christ our Sauiour do exhort vs to set him as a seale vpon our hearts and to weare him as a signet vpon our arme or whether that the Church do desire Christ to set her as a seale vpon his heart or to set her as a signet vpon his arme the difference is no more then the counterpane betweene one and the same lease for here the same things are deliuered vp betweene Christ and his Church enterchangeably so hath Almighty God in his wisedome euer prouided throughout the whole doctrine of Christianity as Saint Austine noteth that those places which are of most difficulty there is in them the least danger of mistaking and those points that are most necessarie to be knowne vnto saluation they are most plainly of all other expressed in the booke of God If yee conceiue them to bee the wordes of the Church vnto Christ then they deuide themselues into a petition and a reason of the petition if you conceiue them to be the words of Christ vnto his Church then they diuide themselues into an exhortation and a motiue each of them twofold for the word of this affection of loue neuer vseth to come single for hee that loues loues for to dwell vpon it for to repeate and to reiterate the petition or the exhortation which is the first part which is expressed by a seale on the hart and againe by a signet placed vpon the arme the reasons or the motiues being also double it taketh hold of two affections the affection of loue and feare the two hands of the soule as Saint Austin calleth them by which the
saith Christ as a seale vpon thy heart the image of Christ and the superscription of Christ must be both vpon our hearts our Sauiour Christ saith in the 17 of Mathew when they brought him a peece of money Whose image and superscription is this they said it was Caesars why then giue vnto Caesar that which is Caesars and giue vnto God that which is Gods the image that must bee vpon our hand it must not be the marke of the beast Apoc. 13. 16. in token that wee subscribe to the doctrine of Antichrist but it must be the image of Christ and the superscription written about it must be the gospell of Christ If in our liues and conuersations we conforme our selues to the image of Christ in righteousnesse and true holinesse Ephes 4. 24. walking not after the flesh but after the spirit Rom 8. 1. and if only to the gospell of Christ which is his true stampe and superscription then we are Christs For Christ will make a-like difference of men at the last day as he did of the money-coines amongst the Iewes hee looks vpon the heart and tries the reines and will then aske Whose superscription haue yee on your hearts which must either be the print of Christ or the Deuills stampe those which are Christs shall be giuen to him and that which is the Deuils shall bee rendred to him to bee tormented for euer It behoueth vs therefore to looke vnto this maine point aboue all the rest that we receiue the right stampe of our Sauiour Christ and be obedient vnto the superscription of his gospell and then shall wee be sure to giue vnto him a hand and a heart but that 's not all we must haue an arme of prompt execution to an heart of sincere religion You know that the heart is the seate of affection and the hand it is the instrument of action and if Christ be imprinted in our affections then certainly wee will shew Christ in our actions They be the two parts of the sacred Law of God The first table as our Sauiour Christ teacheth it was thus thou shouldâ— loue the Lord thy God with all thine heart there is the seale on the heart and with all thy strength there is the seale on the arme for that is the instrument of strength Againe an heart without an arme you know it is impotent it would faine but cannot and an arme without an hart is lame and maimed therfore both these must goe together wee must haue an heart to receiue the impression of Christian religion and wee must haue an arme also to defend it Religion must haue a soule and a body againe the loue that is in the heart is secret to our selues so is all affection the seale vpon the heart is within but the seale vpon the arme is apparant to the world so that if we weare Christ in our hearts inwardly certainely wee will shew him in our actions outwardly as thou wearest Christ vpon the heart that is as a priuy seale betweene God and thee but if thou wearest Christ as a signet on the arme that is as the publique great seale before the world Secondly how must we weare him on the arme as a signet saith the Text that is as an ornament so farre we must bee from being ashamed of the Gospell of Christ that we must glory in it and say with the Apostle God forbid that I should glorie in any thing but in the crosse of Christ Galat. 6. 14. As the Prophet Ieremy saith Can a maide forget her ornaments or a bride her attire yet my people haue forgotten me dayes without number saith the Lord. God would haue vs to make account of him as of that which we most esteeme as an ornament on thine arme But what ornaments are signets a signet is that which makes an impression on another thing as you vse to weare your rings on your thumbs not onely for ornament but ro seale letters withall so a signet was worne on the arme to make an impression and seale in like manner would Christ be worne of Christians not onely to reioyce and glory in him publikely and by an expression of him in their outward actions but so to set him out as they make an impression of their religion of Christ in the hearts of others In the 12. of Dan. the 3. those that are wise shall shine as the brightnesse of the firmament and they that turn many to righteousnesse shall shine as the starres in the firmament for as the starres are the brightest parts of their orbes so those that are truely wise not to themselues onely carrying the light of their knowledge reseruedly in their own harts but so shew it and communicate it as that they conuert others they shall shine in an higher degree of glory in heauen then others and this is a point that doth especially concern those that are in any place of authority whatsoeuer according to that talent of gouernment that God hath entrusted them withall and tied as a bracelet about their armes that they should in their Christian and religious carriage make an impression of vertue and deuotion in those that are vnder them And this is to weare Christ not only as an ornament to themselues but as a seale to imprint him in others It is a point that the schoole Diuines haue determined vpon good and probable ground that as those who are religious in their places and haue power to doe much good in this world they shall shine more gloriously in heauen so like wise they that are in place of authoritie and by their bad examples draw others from God they shall be cast as deep into hell Potentes potenter tormenta patientur mighty men shall bee mightily punished Wisd 6. 5. 8. therefore it is said Es 30. 33. that Tophet is prepared for great personages that are wicked ones and by their euil examples draw multitudes after them What moued the rich glutton in hel to become solicitor for his brethren at home that they should conuert and repent was it any charitie or loue towards them No his conscience told him that he had shewed them bad examples while he liued and if they were damned his torment should bee the greater for it This is the exhortation that Christ makes to his Church that wee would set him as a seale vpon our hearts and set him as a signet on our arme The motiues to stirre vs vp to this dutie follow for loue is strong as death and ielousie cruell as the graue But whose loue and whose ielousie doth my text here speake of of the ielousie of the Church vnto Christ or of CHRIST vnto the Church It is the ielousie of Christ without question for God he is ielous of vs but we cannot bee ielous of God and to speake after the manner of men we conceiue ielousie if it bee true and vnfained to be nothing else but an affection of loue tending vnto hatred vpon suspition
reward therefore now Abraham might depart in peace when God and hee were so reconciled Now Abraham may cheerefully go to his Fathers After that old Simeon had embraced his Sauiour and had gotten Christ in his armes Then he sings Lord now lettest thou thy seruant depart in peace for mine eies haue seene thy saluation Therefore seasonable was the death of Abraham both in that it did preuent the euill to come that he should not see it and also because it was after the couenant that passed betweene God him and there must needes follow in the next place a most blessed death expressed well in the phrase of going to his Fathers which must not bee vnderstood of his bodily buriall for Abraham was buried in the field of Ephron the 25. of this booke the 10. verse where none of his Fathers were buried and so the like phrase is vsed in the 32. of Deuter the 50. verse where it is said that Moses was gathered to his Fathers and yet it is said likewise in the 34. of Deut. the Sepulcher was not knowne therefore of necessitie this phrase must onely haue relation to the soule and spirit of Abraham that that was gathered to the societie and company of those holy Fathers that went before thou shalt goe vnto thy Fathers for there is a companie and society of Saints Indeede when men are taken out of companie here on earth in this world they goe to a better companie and societie of blessed soules and spirits in heauen a companie where there is no distraction or diuision no ambition or emulation no strife nor contention but where there is peace ioy and pleasure for euermore vnto this companie and societie of blessed spirits did the spirit of Abraham goe and what a comfort is it Beloued vnto a faithfull soule to consider what companie and society it is going vnto when it departeth out of this life if it bee within the couenant if the couenant haue passed betweene God and vs then when wee die wee shall goe vnto this place when wee go to our Fathers to the society and fellowshippe of the Saints of God that wee are at rest with Abraham where we shall inioy the companie and societie of all the Saints of God that euer haue beene departed from the beginning of the world to this present time and hereafter of all those that shall come vnto the same place to the end of the world Where Eliah shall knowe Moses and Moses Eliah and conferre together as on mount Tabour although they did liue in seuerall ages of the world Peter the Apostle of our Sauiour Christ when hee did see but the least glimpes of this comfort when hee see but two of the Saints Moses and Eliah on mount Tabour hee was so rauished with ioy that he cries out Let vs build three Tabernacles And it is indeede to bee obserued that the two chiefest Apostles of our Sauiour Christ that is Peter and Paul God did afford them this priuiledge that they had both a tast of the ioyes of heauen liuing in this life to the end they might more effectually perswade men to lift vp their affections to that comfortable society in the world to come Paul was rapt vp into the third heauen and so rauished with ioy that hee knew not whether hee had his bodie about him or no and methinkes after hee comes downe againe out of heauen he writes and esteemes of these worldly things as of dung such a contemptible respect hee hath of any thing vnder the Sunne after hee had tasted once of the sweetnesse of Paradise For imagine it were possible for a man to bee lifted vp in his body whither Paul was to the third heauen that he might be admitted but to looke into paradise to the blessed society of blessed Angells and Saints and looke but downe againe and see this earth hanging like a Clodde beneath and see so many millions of men busied about nothing like Ants in a mole-hill methinkes afterward hee should neuer esteeme of this world being rauished with this companie of the Saints in heauen And beside Peter and Paul except it were onely Iude that writes but one short Chapter I thinke there was not any of the Apostles of our Sauiour Christ that hath vsed exexhortations to the Church of God in their Epistles but they themselues of purpose did taste some part of this glorie to the end they might the more powerfully eleuate the hearts of men Paul in the third heauen and Peter Iames and Iohn on mount Tabour all of them see a glimpes of this glorie Go vnto thy fathers so did Abraham in Spirit he went vnto his Fathers that were dead before him and his sonnes after they came vnto him Then the manner and the passage vnto this place is expressed in the text Thou shalt goe vnto thy Fathers in peace Now you must vnderstand whosoeuer dieth in peace must die in Christ for there is no true peace without Christ Abraham died many hundred yeeres before Christ was borne and yet our Sauiour Christ saith of Abraham in the eight of Iohn the 58. verse that Abraham saw his daies and reioyced hee saw him then in the eyes of faith Hee died therefore in the faith of Christ and so died in peace for Christ is the Prince of peace that conferreth true peace vpon all his Saints hee is the Oliue tree of peace whereon peace groweth the eleuenth to the Romans the twentie-four Like that doue with the Oliue branch in her mouth hee euer brought peace with him it was his ordinary salutation when hee was on the earth peace be vnto you it was his legacie left with his Church when he went out of the world my peace I leaue with you Therefore Abraham dying in the peace of Christ must needes die in peace of conscience and as in peace of conscience so likewise in a most peaceable maner In the 25. of Genes the eight verse it is said Abraham did yeeld vp his spirit his spirit was not taken from him by violence but hee did most willingly yeeld vp his spirit into the hands of God Oh how fearefull is the remembrance of death to those that are not in Christ that fearefull rending of the soule and bodie a sunder is most terrible vnto them but the death of Abraham it was like that sleepe which was spoken of before this verse that signified his death a heauie sleep fell vpon Abraham for so likewise fell death vpon him euen as if nature should haue falne a sleepe quietly meekely peaceably and this is for his soule Then it followeth in the next place concerning his bodie that that also should bee buried in a good age Euen for to bee buried it is a blessing and a blessing that euery man doth not enioy No Iehoiakim himselfe though hee were a King in the 22. of Ieremy the 19 verse shall bee buried like an asse drawne and cast forth on a dunghill as Iosephus also writes of him