soule is pulled and mooued to and fro either vnto good or vnto bad actions Here is Loue stronge loue stronge as death and affection that will mooue vs if not here is feare of Iealousie that growes cruell Iealousie cruell as the graue if loue will moue vs wee shall bee knit vnto Christ that way if not if feare will moue vs wee shall bee drawne vnto Christ that way and if neither of these single will moue vs if both together will moue vs here is feare that growes out of loue grounded vpon loue loue is strong as death but if abused she growes iealous and that Iealousie growes cruell But if neither loue nor feare nor both these grafted together will drawe vs then is our case most desperate this I conceiue to bee the resolution of the text the branches whereof you haue heard in my text Set mee as a seale on thine heart and as a signet vpon thine arme that is the petition of the Church or the euidence of Christ his two metaphors which doe most liuely expresse and set foorth vnto vs. The neere coniunction betweene Christ and his Church in the 22. of Ieremie the 24. verse as I liue saith the Lord though Coniah the sonne of Iehoiakim king of Iudah were the signet of my right arme that is as neere to mee as neere possiblie could be yet I would cast him off The personall vnion of the sonne of God vnto our nature it is the first great mysterie of godlinesse for without controuersie great is the mysterie of godlinesse the 1. of Tim. the 3. chap. the last vers God manifested in the flesh Yet notwithstanding you may be bold to say that this vnion wherof Salomon doth here speake it is aboue that and a neerer vnion and coniunction vnto vs in two respects first that hypostaticall vnion it was the coniunction of God and mans nature in generall but this comes neerer doth incorporate our particular persons into one bodie with Christ Howsoeuer the other in his owne nature bee great betweene the things themselues vnited yet notwithstanding this is vnto vs more comfortable because it brings with it a particular application to euery one that wee may say and pray with Dauid in the 35. Psalme the 3. verse Say vnto my soule I am thy saluation not onely vnto all in generall but vnto thy soule and my soule in particular which is more comfortable Therefore God hee hath for this purpose not only ordained the preaching of the Gospell in publike to declare the loue of God in Christ Iesus to mankind in generall but hee hath also instituted sacraments which are ministred vnto euery ones persons in particular that as Gods loue is vnto all so he confirmeth the same loue to euery one in particular that is capable of the same Secondly this coniunction which this metaphor expresseth it exceedeth the other in this that though Christ did take our nature vpon him and our nature with all humane infirmities yet hee did take it cleane voide of all sinne but in this misticall vnion betweene Christ and his members though we be full of sinne and infirmities as well in soule as body yet he vouchsafed to knit vs vnto himselfe as being one bodie Iesus Christ ties vs as in an vnseparable knot which vnity is most comfortably in the Scripture set forth by two Metaphors both which come short of these meraphors in my text It is expressed by the head and the members and by man and wife but Nero or some Tyrant may chop the head from the members and death doth make a separation between man and wife but of this vnion saith the Apostle Paul I am perswaded neither death nor life principalities nor powers shall be able to separate vs from Christ and in the 8. of the Epistle to the Bomanes the 28. also we know that all things worke together for the best vnto them that loue God euen to them that are called of his purpose But the two metaphors of my text are more emphaticall for the heart it is the fountaine of life it is the first that liueth and the last that dieth and the arme is the instrument of power if Christ haue set vs as a seale vpon his heart and as a signet vpon his arme let vs see what principalities or power what life or death is able to make a separation betweene vs except he can be ouercome who is omnipotent God himselfe this signet shall neuer bee plucked from his arme and vnlesse he can die againe who is life it selfe the Lord of life this seale which is imprinted in his heart shall neuer be blotted out this admirable coniunction betweene Christ and vs it is here declared in this place and propounded by way of a petition whereof we may be bold to make a position and say indeede that Christ hath set vs as a seale vpon his heart and that he hath worne vs as a signet vpon his arme For that which was the wish the prayer desire of the Church in Salomons time when this song was sung that is now inioyed by the Church of Christ their wish is our Article their prayer our creede wee doe beleeue it because Christ hath manifested it since the Son of God did take vnto him an heart and an arme that is to say a humane soule within and a naturall bodie without hee hath in that soule and body fully granted the petition to the Church and set vs as a seale vpon his heart For were not we deepely imprinted in his heart when he suffered his hart to bee deuided by the point of the speare when he shed out water his heart bloud in loue vnto vs when he was in a manner forsaken of his owne Father rather then his father should forsake vs. That Euangelicall Prophet Isaiah in the 49. cha ver 16. saith in the person of God vnto Zion I haue ingrauen thee in the palmes of my hands were we not deepely ingrauen in the palme of Christs hands when hee suffered both hands and feete to bee pierced vpon the crosse it was a deep impression and Christ would neuer haue suffered it vnlesse this seale had bin deeply printed in his hands showing them after his resurrection this print still in the 24. of Luke Behold my hands and feet It is a question amongst Diuines whether those scarres in the hands and in the sides of our blessed Sauiour which remained in his bodie after his death resurrection to the end that hee might shew himself vnto a few doe not yet remaine in his glorious body being in heauen that he may shew them at the last day of his resurrection that they might looke vpon him whom they had pierced and this is without all question the impression spoken of in this place remayning still on his hands and heart and Iesus Christ doth euen weare vs and makes as precious account of vs as the signet of his right hand for the same affections hee had
her but because her heart followed her eye backe againe into Sodome therefore was this punishment vpon her as a dreadfull document to answer all turne-backs vnto sinne that they shall not haue Gods grace to step one foote forward to the seruice of God Nay the seruants of God who haue obtained pardon vpon their true repentance God doth notwithstanding proportion his temporal punishments vnto their sinnes to teach vs that none of vs shall euer be any gainers by sinning Was not Dauids adultery wel rewarded in Absolons folly with his Fathers Concubines And for his murder of Vriah the sword was not to depart from his house all the daies of his life And because his sonne Salomon diuided Gods kingdome and religion betweene God and Idols therfore God diuided his kingdome between Rehoboam and Ieroboam And because his sonne Rehoboam would neede be a yokemaker to oppresse Israel so as his little finger should be bigger than his fathers loynes therefore God brought it about that his loynes were no bigger than his fathers finger by cutting off of ten Tribes at one blow So I haue giuen you a taste and but a taste of this truth in the roote in the tree and in the branches in nations in persons that be reprobrate in the true seruāts of God but these are but temporall iudgmēts God tempers all his iudgments they be like our quarter Sessions here and there some are adiudged in this world for examples sake and as Dauid saith in the 58. Psalme the last verse that men may say doubtlesse there is a God that iudgeth in the earth For as S. Austin hath well obserued if all sinners should bee punished in this world wee should feare no farther iudgement and if none at all wee should doubt of Gods prouidence in the first booke de Ciuitate Dei the 8. Therefore there shall come a day when this my text shall be fulfilled in plenitudine in weight number and measure in a most exact proportion when the deniall of a crum of bread vnto poore Lazarus shall bee requited with a deniall of a drop of water in hell fire When the vialls of Gods vengance shall bee powred out in full measure vpon damned spirits When infinite torments shall bee inflicted vpon sinners for their sins which as the haires of their heads are innumerable and infinite so shall the punishment bee vpon obstinate sinners against that diuine maiestie which is infinite And vpon impenitent sinners for frustrating and making voide that price of their redemption which is infinite And vpon those vngratefull wretches who haue made so little reckoning of the graces and blessings of God towards mankinde which are infinite And as infinite torments shall be inflicted proportionable vnto their infinite sins committed against God so likewise the omission of our manifold duties shall there be punished with an vtter depriuation of all comfort there shall be vtter darknes and no mitigation of torments no not for a moment Where the tormentors are spirits and cannot be weary where the worme shall euer gnaw and neuer dye where the fire shall bee vnquenchable neuer going out where the breath of the Lord like a stream of brimston doth kindle it Esay 30. 33. there shall bee no hope of deliuerance and yet were it not for hope the heart would burst no there shall be no hope yet the heart must hold a roote of immortalitie continually feeding both soule and body vnto eternall death What remedy then but patience Nay no patience neither who can dwell with euerlasting burning where shall bee weeping and gnashing of teeth and not lose his patience seing that gnashing of teeth is an effect of an impatient furie But alas replies the vnfaithfull sinner what proportion is here Shall I be punished with eternall torments for my momentanie sins euerlasting burning for a few yeares sinning what proportion Verily a most exact proportion for hee that doth delight in sinne doth desire that those delights of his might continue if it were possible for euer now saith St Bernard the very desire of sinning is sinne it selfe before God therefore an infinite desire shall be eternally punished Besides that of S. Gregorie I take it is well grounded he that dyeth without repentance iustice doth presuppose that if that man could haue liued for euer hee would haue sinned for euer if thou then wilt offend thy God in aeternitudine that is so long as thou liuest then God will iustly punish thee in aeterno that is so long as God himselfe liueth for euer and euer For those that will sinne against God so long as they haue any being in this world without repentance they shal be punished by God so long as they shall haue any being in the world to come without mercy The contrary doth illustrate and proue both whosoeuer continueth to the end he shall be saued saith the text By what proportion Because God in mercy doth presuppose that that man if he had liued for euer would haue continued for euer in well doing Therefore as God in his iust mercy doth crowne our perseuerance with immortalitie so likewise in his most iust iudgment shall he punish finally all impenitencie with eternall vengeance iust as a man soweth so shall hee also reape in most exact proportion And let this serue for the truth of this proposition Now followeth the generall to bee examined whatsoeuer a man soweth that shall hee also reape Whatsoeuer be it good or bad be it sowen to the flesh or to the spirit which is the Apostles distribution in the verse following If to the flesh then is it generall without exception that whatsoeuer is sowen turneth to corruption and to our confusion as Hosea saith cap 8. 7. they sow the winde and shall reape the whirlewinde Their roote is rottennesse and their bud dust Esay 5. 24. But marke the phrase Quicquid seminaverit homo Whatsoeuer a man shall sow For there are some weeds which grow of themselues naturally without sowing others about which wee take paines and imploy our selues with all industrie and are of our owne sowing As S. Bernard amongst his sentences like wise expoundeth semine tuo i. e. operibus tuis calling the deeds which wee doe the seede which wee sow And Ioh. 8. 44. our Sauiour saith that when the Deuill speaketh a lye de suo loquitur hee speaketh that which is as it were of his owne sowing and growing 1. As for those weeds which grow vp in vs with out our sowing if so be that they displease vs as they did the Apostle in the 7. to the Romans verse 24 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O wretched man that I am who shall deliuer me from the bodie of this death if we finde in our selues a loathing of our sinnes or of our selues for sinne If we be vexed at the soule for our owne sinnes as the Cananitish womans daughter was Matth. 15. 22. for her diuell if wee labour to suppresse them and learne of our Captaine
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