Christ in the 3. of Gen vers 15. to strike at sinne in vs so soone as euer it begins to put out the head If wee dash these Babylonish Brats against the stones whiles they bee young Psalm 137. 9. for sinne is a nettle it must not be dallied withall or tenderly handled for then will it stinge vs if wee doe labour I say to weede out these sinnes that grow in vs then God is mercifull to passe them ouer for if thou Lord shouldest marke what is done amisse who should be able to abide it we should reap then nothing but gall and bitternesse if we do that which we would not do then it is not we saith the Apostle but sinne that dwelleth in vs sinne that is present with vs sin that growes in vs naturally without any sowing But on the other side if wee plow and sow iniquity if we doe imagine mischiefe vpon our beds as Dauid saith if we do studie to bee naught and take great paines to doe wickedly as Ieremie speaketh cap. 9. 5. if we break vp the fallowes and furrowes of our hearts vnto sinne and make our eies Brokers vnto the heart of iniquity if we go and buy strange seedes at the Theater and I tremble to speake it fetch home new fashions from the house of God if we doe delight to bee merrie in impiety and to animate and stir vp one another as the Prophet Isaiah speaketh the 56. chap. the last vers Come I will bring wine and wee will fill our selues with strong drinke to morrow shall be as this day and much more aboundant then what is this but to plow and sow and water wickednesse and then shall wee be sure to reape a most ranke haruest If it bee good seede that wee sow we shall be sure to reape the same at the hand of God whatsoeuer it be whether it bee beneuolence vnto men or deuotion vnto God be it sowne neuer so secretly the closer the better thy father which seeth thee in secret shall reward thee openly Whatsoeuer a man soweth there is an other difference in respect of God For God doth sowe much good seede amongst vs and he reapes little or nothing at all When his son Christ did sow his seed himselfe with a most skilful hand some fell by the way side and wanting good mold to couer it it was quickly taken away that is the people would presse and throng one another in the gates and flocke vnto his Sermons but it was out of curiositie or for formalitie like these times a solemn hearing and a solemne forgetting Some fell in stonie ground and was well bladed but not well rooted therefore quickly faded that is so long as the loaues lasted so long as the Ministers of Christ did fill their bellies they heard the word with cheerefulnes and alacritie but when the Sunne of persecution arose they withered when the crosse came they fled Some fell amongst thornes which choaked his good seede yea and persecuted the Sonne of God the seed-man of the word with great sharpenesse bitternes Now if the sonne himselfe had no better successe no maruell though his seruants haue great cause to complain with the three great Prophets of God with Esay in the 49. the 4. verse I haue laboured in vaine and for nothing our iudgement is with the Lord and my workes with my God with Ezechiel the 33. and 32. verse whose Sermons were like the songs of one that could sing well and had a pleasant voice for they heard him but they did not vnderstand as if we were called vnto these places only to tickle and fill your eares with a tickling phrase or plausible eloquence With the Prophet Ieremie the 6. chap. the 29. verse who complaines that his bellowes are burned that the lead is consumed and the fire hath melted in vaine it seemes hee had gotten the consumption of the lungs amongst them he had burnt a hole in his bellowes had spent his Spirit and laboured in vaine Thus I say God doth plow and sow and call to his people by his sonne by the Prophets by his ministers he looked for fruit and behold hedge fruite such as the heathens bring foorth scarce so good he waited for grapes and behold labrâ—sâ—ae wild grapes But now whatsoeuer good thing a man shall sow vnto God he shall bee sure to reap the same at Gods hand whatsoeuer it bee be it sowne in pietie or sowne in charitie in pietie to the mainetenance of Gods seruants or in charity to our brethren whether it be giuen to a Prophet in the name of a Prophet or to the poore in the name of Christ it shall haue a Prophets reward to prepare his soule in this life and a kingdome for to crowne him in the life to come that 's for the qualitie So likewise for the quantitie whatsoeuer a man soweth be it little or much the 9. of the 2. Corinth the 6. verse He that soweth sparingly shall reape sparingly hee that soweth bountifully shall also reape bountifully both shal be Reapers according to the quantity be it little or much whatsoeuer is sowne if it be sowne with the right hand if it begiuen in the right name be it more or lesse hee shall reape the same at Gods hands from a cup of cold water vnto the erecting of Hospitalls from a crumme of bread giuen to poore Lazarus at your gates vnto the continuall feeding and cloathing of such as these littly-great friends well purchased by Mammon If ye will listen to the aduice of our Sauiour Christ who is wisedome it selfe he tells you that you cannot make better vse of your wealth nor make a better purchase then to purchase such friends as these Then by his aduice let vs bee strong in well doing and encouraged by the example of others for whom wee are to praise God blesse his name for sending downe his gracious Spirit and mouing the hearts of many in this kind as you heard the last day These and others present themselues at this time like Lazarus in Abrahams bosome a most heauenly ornament vnto this City and they shal rise likwise at the last day not to condemne but to commend and by their publike testimony before men and Angells to receiue their good Benefactors into those euerlasting Tabernacles This shall be the thankefulnes these friends shall return if you will make the purchase Let vs therefore bee moued by the wise counsell of our blessed Sauiour and so vse these temporall blessings that God hath bestowed vpon vs as wee may still liue in hope of that blessed sentence at the last day Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the kingdome prepared for you Why because yee haue clothed the naked and fed the hungrie doing it vnto them is as vnto my selfe And let vs be assured of the truth of this my text that whatsoeuer wee doe sowe little or much we shall be sure to reape the same Here right honourable right worshipfull and
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
that loue is abused Now when wee doe ascribe any humane affection vnto God we must separate from it all imperfections whatsoeuer if there be a ielousie not grounded in loue it is faultie or if it be a ielousie without cause it is blame worthy neither of these faults are in the ielousie that we ascribe vnto GOD and vnto CHRIST hee is a ielous God but his ielousie proceeds of loue though it tend vnto hate vpon suspition that loue is abused and not without cause so God may be ielous of vs but wee cannot be ielous of God the reason is because he that is ielous is ielous of a partner in loue I would to God saith S. Paul to Agrippa Act. 26. 29. I would that all that heare me this day were both almost and altogether such as I am S. Paul cares not how many partners hee hath in the loue of Christ the reason of the difference is that the loue of God towards vs is infinite but our loue vnto Christ it is so straight and so narrow that if so be he haue any partners with him it is to be feared he shall not haue his due so that hee hath cause to be ielous Wherefore without all question wee must take this motiue to be spoken of Christ and of his ielousie Loue is strong as death Ielousie is cruell as the graue to shew the strength of Christs loue vnto vs the Holy Ghost hath made a fit comparison For what is stronger than death that deuoureth all Surely the loue of Christ vnto man Marke then what is the generall effect of death yee know it is the separation of the soule and the body taking the soule out of the body and leauing it wan pale and gastly And that is likewise the effect of the extremitie of loue especially of Christs loue towards vs. For this pure chast and diuine loue wherewith Christ loued vs it made him to emptie himself that he might fill vs to go out of himselfe that he might dwell in vs to die once in himselfe that wee might liue for euermore Wherein did death euer shew his greatest power Verily in seasing vpon the Sonne of God our Sauiour himselfe then was showne the greatest power that euer death exercised Yet let me tell you herein the loue of Christ was farre stronger than death Death seazed on Christ when hee was become man vpon the earth but the loue of Christ to vs pulled him out of heauen when hee was in the bosome of his Father and humbled him and made him so weake that hee might become a fit Redeemer for vs. What ailed thee thou great strong Sampson of heauen saith Chrysostome thou that bindest Kings in chaines what meanes this surely it was the loue of Christ to our trecherous nature that delt so vntruly and so falsly with him that pulled this Sampson out of heauen and made him as weake as one of vs. To speake properly when death did seaze on christ in his weaknes it was not the power of death but the power of loue Christ tels vs so plainly in the 10. of Iohn the 18 vers I lay downe my life no man taketh it from me So then take death at the strongest still the loue of Christ vnto vs is stronger than death Wee haue heard sufficiently of the loue of Christ vnto vs if this will not draw from vs loue againe vnto Christ what will True loue is of the nature of a Loade-stone it drawes loue vnto it Magnes amoris amor but such is our ingratitude though we loue to heare of the loue of Christ yet wee care not to shew our loue to him againe This vnthankfulnes of vs ingratefull wretches is the the cause that wee are euer so loth to be drawn vnto him Dauid in the 118. Psalme the 27. vers speaking of the sacrifice that was offred when he reckons vp the loue of God towards vs he speaketh sodenly in regard of our retribution of loue backe to him againe binde the sacrifice with cords yea euen to the hornes of the Altar It is a saying amongst the Hebrewes that the beasts that were offered in sacrifice they were the struglingst Procul extensum petulaÌ„s quatit hâ—stia funem Juven Satyr 12. beasts of all the rest such is the nature of vs vnthankfull beasts when wee should loue God againe we are readier for to runne away from him wee must bee tyed to the Altar with cords to draw from vs loue or feare Though it bee true that forced loue is no loue Non extor quebis amari His loue is strong as death but if we abuse his loue by our vnthankfulnesse then marke what followes out of his loue hee growes ielous and that ielousie growes cruell cruel euen as the graue Ielousie saith Salomon it is the raging of a man it will not be pacified Prou 6. 34 35. Remember the Law and the sacrifice that was appointed for ielous persons in the 5. of Num the 15. verse there was neither oyle to make it gracious nor incense to giue place of atonement or reconciliation For intire loue it will not be adulterated nor yet suffer it selfe to be wronged such is the nature of mans ielousie Our God he is a ielous God and our blessed Sauiour out of the vehemencie of his loue he is a louing Sauiour and ielous too but the ground of this ielousie it is loue and if his loue be abused it tends vnto hate vpon iust suspition of a iust cause Then to summe vp all in a word it is the primarie nature of our good God blessed Sauiour to bee most louing and gracious vnto vs so is it the nature of that loue if there bee iust cause to grow ielous and it is the nature of that ielousie to be cruell cruell as the graue if so be before the graue we do not appease it and be reconciled to our husband Christ by true repentance For we may assure our selues that if our Sauior Christ finde any impression in the heart deeper than this set vpon it or any ornament aboue true religion faith in Christ hee will presently grow ielous and that ielousie will grow cruell In the 22 of Genesis when as Abraham seemed for to bee fond of his sonne Isaack God tryeth Abraham what he would doe for his sake yea he tries him whether hee loued him truly and indeed or no Therefore saith he to Abraham go and take thy sonne thy onely son Isaack and offer him vp for a sacrifice Abraham showes there though he loued his sonne Isaack very dearely and tenderly yet notwithstanding it was not to be compared with his loue to God In the Decalogue of the Law God hee is so iealous he wil not set any creature in the same table of the Law with himselfe there shal stand neither Father nor Mother King nor Caesar Saint nor Angell none in the same table with God he is a iealous God if there be cause And Beloued there is none of vs