blacknesse of our nature the sacred Vnion and Sacramentall coalition of God and man Christ his Church in the cords of loue and the bands of mercie for there is no similitude able to reach the depth hereof shee will euer be in his sight he will euer be in her thoughts shee will be engrauened in the palmes of his hands he will be placed as the signet of her arme Shall I tell you the claime of this interest it is Loue for that was strong as death and cruell as the graue he spared not his life vnto death but gaue it as a ransome for the sinnes of many and sealed it with his bloud crying to her as Galba to his souldiers Ego vester vos mihi I am wholly deuoted vnto you you are wholly deuoted vnto me therefore will hee bee as a seale on her heart and as a signet on her arme 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Put me as a seale on thy heart and as a signet on thy arme The words of the Text are as a sacred armorie where you haue a shield for the hand and a couer for the heart or as an heauenly wardrobe where me thinkes I see the cloake and the ring which Iudah left with Tamar the ratification and assurance of spirituall grace and euerlasting holinesse they hold some Analogie with the offices of state the seale and the signet here is a seale a broad seale for the largenesse of our hearts Put me as a seale on thy heart here is a signet a little signet for the roundnesse of our armes As a signet on thine arme Pauca at salutaria expedita at sancta as we reade in Saluianus short and holy few and wholesome breefe in words and precept but in sence durable and permanent That which I shall punctually distinguish vnto you is first the habit and ornament of the Church that is Christ and his righteousnesse implyed in the affixe of my Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Put me or set me Secondly the Part and the Subiect to be adorned that is the heart and the arme Put me on thy heart and on thine arme Thirdly the figure and semblance that is a seale or a signet Put me as a seale on thy heart and as a signet on thy arme Last of all the superinduction with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Originall which is vpon or the circumposition with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Septuagint which is about Put me as a seale on thy heart and a signet about thine arme All this is gathered and recapitulated in that of Paul to the Romans Put ye on Christ Iesus and take no care for the flesh to satisfie the lusts thereof But more perfectly in the same Apostle to his Corinthians Ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your bodies and in your soules for they are his He will be on thy heart by Faith and Truth and inward sanctification he will be on thy arme by loue and holinesse and outward manifestation He will be here and he will be there as a seale or a signet that bearing the markes of Christ Iesus in our bodies wee may be like those thousands of Israel who were sealed in their fore-heads sealed and selected vnto the Lord against the day of our redemption Put him on thy heart for he is the wisedome of God Put him on thy arme for he is the power of God Put him on thy heart for he is the life of thy soule Put him on thy arme for he is the strength of thy flesh Put him on thy heart for he is the onely begotten Sonne of God who liueth in the bosome of his Father Put him on thy arme for he is the mighty Redeemer of the world that sitteth on the right hand of God in the glorie of the Father Put him on thy arme that he may direct thine actions Put him on thy heart that he may settle thy affections Put him as a seale and signet on both that he may know thee for his owne and bind thee to himselfe with an euerlasting couenant Quid enim prodest si Deum gestamus in fronte vitia in animo recondamus as Saint Augustine hath obserued What auailes it to haue God in the fore-head so we treasure vp wickednesse in the conscience If he be on thy heart by studie and meditation he will learne thee knowledge and make thee vnderstand the mysteries of his crosse and the righteousnesse of his kingdome If he be on thine arme for practice and imitation he will order thy goings and make thee delight in the way of truth and the custodie of his precepts If he be as a seale on the doore of thy heart and the posts of thy arme thou shalt not onely escape the punishment of the destroying Angell but exalt thy horne and triumph with the Lord and reioyce exceedingly in the power and glorie of his saluation Thus doth God call vpon vs but it is for our good and comfort There is much pleasure in that we loue though sometime absent but then is our ioy full and there is life in it when that we loue is at hand and present Therefore will he be in oculis in osculis as the signet of our arme for sight and presence as the seale of our hearts for delight and remembrance Put me as a seale on thy heart and as a signet on thine arme Hitherto wee haue lookt vpon the words of the Text as so many coynes of gold siluer I shall now put them in the ballance of the Sanctuarie and take their seuerall value that so I may proceed to my first obseruation Christ and his righteousnesse implyed in the affixe of my Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Put me or set me Some play the Criticks and would haue the Church to speake vnto Christ not Christ to the Church because the affixe is not masculine but of the seminine gender indeed if points and vowels had bene equall with the Originall and not inuented after by the Iewish Rabbins they might deserue hearing but since it is otherwise our safest course is to run with the Fathers I meane Theodoret and the rest who make Christ the spokesman and that for himselfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Put me and set me Great and wonderfull is the beautie of the creature such as might bewitch the heart of man with the inchanting cup of deceitfull vanitie but whether yee looke vpon the brightnesse of the starres whether ye behold the glorie of the Angels whether ye consider the treasures of the deepe whether ye admire the power of the elements from the center of the earth to the circle of the heauens there is nothing ought to be as a crowne to vs saue that gracious light which shined to Moses in the bush and sate in the Tabernacle amidst the golden Cherubins It is the word of Christ must be as the iewell of our eares it is the yoke of Christ must be as the chaine of our necks
the foundation of that spirituall building that new Ierusalem which came downe from heauen and is like vnto a Citie that is at vnitie within it selfe Thus you see there is much ground for a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Put me and that we should rather forsake nets ship with Iames Andrew yea the whole world our selues to boote then not to cleaue to him that is aeternum gaudium the fountaine of life the author of blessednesse the glorie of his Church the honour of Paradise the euerlasting ioy and great reward of men and of Angels that when the Prince of this world shall come we may take vp the words of our Sauiour Venit sed nihil inuenit Indeed he came but he found nothing in me Iohn 14. 30. Yet there be that do more affect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Nicephorous writeth in historie The image of Caesar more then of Christ That which theeues may steale and the moathes eate and the rust consume more then him that abides for euer Others like the Gergasens driue him out of their coasts and will not abide he should come neare their houses if once they see him in his distrest members whether blind or lame or sicke or naked they cry with those Diuels in the Gospell Quid tibi nobis fili Dauid What haue we to do with thee ô thou Sonne of Dauid dost thou come to vexe vs and trouble vs before the time Yet there he is and makes profession of it Esuriui it is I that was an hungrie and ye gaue me no meate it is I that was athirst and ye gaue me no drinke it is I that was naked and ye did not cloath me it is I that was in prison and ye did not visit me Here might I knocke at the consciences of many examine what it is they lay to heart Hath not pride shut Christ out of the heart of the vaineglorious Hath not pleasure shut Christ out of the heart of the voluptuous Hath not profit shut Christ out of the heart of the couetous Hath not strife and enuie and contention and diuision quite shut him out of the heart of the turbulent and seditious These are thy Gods ô Israel which lead thee backe into the darknesse of Aegypt Lares Penates those Idol gods that set vp altars in thy heart and rule in the temple of thy body So that Christ may stand at the doore and knocke till his head be full of dew and his lockes with the drops of the night there be few will let him enter crying as he doth in my Text or rather in the Gospell Volucres nidos vulpes foueas the birds haue their nests and the foxes their holes but the Sonne of man hath not whereon to lay his head Yet is there a double place due to him the one without the other within the one on the heart the other on the arme And so I passe from the ornament to the subiect from Christ Iesus the Bishop of our soules to our hearts the sea and palace of his residence Put me on thy heart and put me on thy arme 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Nyssen writes in the life of Moses heart and arme are emblematicall the one of contemplation the other of action Both due to God and his seruice but first hee calls for the heart like wisedome in the Prouerbs My sonne giue me thy heart If our heart be the seate of loue what is God but loue If our heart be the keepers of our treasure What is God but our treasure he lay in the heart of the earth three dayes when he was abased but now he is exalted let him rest in the earth of our hearts from day to day and from generation to generation Though he be Lord of all and command euery part yet there would he set vp his throne and place the septer of his dominion as in the Metropolis of his Kingdome It is fitly resembled to a Castle which being taken and surprized the whole Citie is forced to yeeld the vnderstanding her intelligence the affections her counfellours the sences her watchmen the members her seruants Yet if the Lord do not keepe the Citie it is all in vaine and therefore saith the Euangelist Intrauit Iesus in Castellum The Lord went into the Castle or intrabit Iesus in Castellum the Lord shall go into the Castle that saluation may be our walls and praise our gates For if Satan get but footing all is lost Ierusalem will be as a heape of stones and the abomination of desolation will light vpon our Citie It was a controuersie betweene Plato and Galen whether the heart or the braine were the seat of life and motion but the Church resolueth determinately that our heart is the receptacle of heauenly grace and spirituall inspiration In the naturall man it liues first and dyes last in the spirituall man it liues first and dyes last Let the eye be darke how great is that darknesse let the heart be dead how great is that deadnesse a goodman bringeth forth good things out of the treasure of his heart an euill man bringeth forth euill things out of the treasure of his heart For as there is life in the heart so out of the heart proceedeth thefts and murders fornications and adulteries the 15. and the 19. of Mathew Be aduised then who it is you place there If Christ knocke let him not stay he alone is that fire which is able to soften thy heart though hard as iron or impenetrable as the adamant and make it like melting waxe in the midst of thy bowels He alone is that bread which is able to fill thy heart the seuerall Angels of that capacious Trigonum with the immensitie of his presence O let him not stand onely in thy forehead by show and profession but call him into thy heart by faith and prayer and deuout acknowledgement and religious inuocation else are ye like those that go into the Sunne not for heate or warmth but to be seene and to be admired shall he cry to these Vulnerasti cor meum thou hast wounded my heart thou hast wounded my heart with one of thine eyes and wilt not thou make answer Paratum est cor meum my heart is readie ô God my heart is ready O the true Isaac and beloued of his Father this is that deare and onely beloued sonne which he will haue thee offer Almes mercie repentance charitie instruction prophesie contrition humiliation or whatsoeuer we can performe without a heart is but as an offering without salt and makes but an hatefull and prodigious sacrifice If the Psalmists reioyce it is in the innocencie of heart If the Apostle exhort it is to simplicitie of heart If the Lord be pleased it is with vprightnesse of heart If the Law be ended and the Gospell established it is in loue from a pure heart and a good conscience The end of the Law is loue from a
it is the faith of Christ must be as the girdle of our loynes it is the iustice of Christ must be as the clothing of our nakednesse his crosse our standard and his bloud our colours What is the glorie and boasting of Christians but in him that died for vs in that name which is aboue euery name in that name in that name whereunto wee are baptized and wherein we are blest O thou Lord of hoasts and King of Israel we adore thy maiestie we honour thy mercie the sacrifice of thy flesh the oblation on the crosse the price of our redemption the riches of thy saluation whereby thou hast paid our debt and reconciled vs to the Father Therefore saith that chosen vessell God forbid I should glorie in any thing but in the crosse of our Lord Iesus Christ whereby the world is crucified to me and I vnto the world If any man preach other then yee haue receiued let him be accurst If any man receiue other then we haue preacht let him be accurst Saint Bernard giues the reason Alijs rebus non tam ornati quà m onerati sumus Other things are more cumbersome then profitable it is well if they prooue not hurtfull and pernicious like that fatall habit which the Turkish Emperors vsed to cast on those whom they meant to execute famously knowne by the name of deaths mantle in their stories What meaneth that of Christ for himselfe Without me yee can do nothing but in me ye haue life eternall Or that of Paul against himselfe Was Paul crucified for you or were ye baptized into the name of Paul But that wee should be wholly fixt on this obiect and drawne from the loue and the seruice and the foolish admiration of euery creature No man likes his friend should loue his gift better then himselfe and shall the Lord be pleased with such that care more for his blessing then for his goodnesse I will not say but that he is most readie to loose the bands of Orion and to power downe the sweete influence of the Pleiades as so many golden showers in the bosomes of his seruants yet is it his pleasure wee should set more by his person then by his fauours Aurum in arca Deus in conscientia saith that learned Father Austin God in the heart is like gold in the coffer Health to thy nauell marrow to thy bones cheere on thy table musicke in thy feasts sweetnesse in thy pleasures securitie in thy honours store in thy garners plentie in thy vineyards increase and fulnesse of all thy soule doth loue or imagine Yet may we delight in the temporall benefits of our spirituall Isaac the fatnesse of the earth and the dew of heauen so it be with relation to his glorie Non ad corruptionem sed ad consolationem non ad illigandum sed vtendum as Saint Austin hath distinguished it not to corruption but to consolation not to be entangled with their vanitie but to be refresht with the lawfull vse of their supply and vertue It is not said he that loueth father and mother is vnworthy of me But he that loueth father or mother or brother or sister more then me is vnworthy of me Neither is it a positiue vse but a comparatiue that is here restrained Well may the seede of Abraham embrace riches and honour and iurisdiction and power and due obseruance as it were from the sheaues of their brethren together with the sweet encrease of the Sunne and the sweet encrease of the Moone as a reward of pietie or the smell of a field which the Lord hath blest but if it be more then him they are vnworthy of him or if it be not for him they are vnworthy of him and therefore saith Ambrose In omnibus istis fragret odor Christi In all this let the sauour of Christ be fragrant and his loue abound Yea let it be predominant and supereminent as oyle on the top of water that our water may be turned into wine the rainy delights of watry pleasures into the sweet wine of true ioy and spirituall gladnesse It was the pride of Seneca and he boasted much Vbicunque ago Demetrium circumfero that wheresoeuer he went he bare Demetrius with him O that we could say the like of God! Vbicunque ago Deum circumfero Wheresoeuer I go I beare Christ Iesus with me the secret of my bosome is as the house of Zacheus where he was receiued with chearefulnesse and alacritie it is not a materiall crucifixe or a visible picture wrought in gold or framed in siluer but the sweet remembrance of my blessed Sauiour that is euer with me the print of his loue the example of his vertue the image of his goodnesse the record of his mercie all the miracles that he wrought for my conuersion all the precepts that he gaue for my instruction all the miseries and indignities that he endured and sustained for my libertie and saluation the power of his death the triumph of his crosse the glorie of his rising the comfort of his appearing is that which I bind as signes vpon my arme and lay as Camphire betweene my breasts Vbicunque ago Deum circumfero Wheresoeuer I go I beare Christ Iesus with me as the lot of mine inheritance as the crowne of my felicitie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Alexandrinus the friend of my bosome the companion of my studie It is the light of thy countenance that was stampt vpon vs and it is the light of thy countenance that must shine within vs if euer wee be as the Moone faire and beautifull Whence shall the image of God deriue her beautie but from God Whence shall the Spouse of Christ take the ornaments of grace and comelinesse but from the treasure of his righteousnesse Adultera anima saith Austin that soule is wicked and adulterous guiltie of spirituall fornication which embraceth the creature and leaueth the Creator There is no helpe for vs but in that fountaine which our Fathers thirsted in the wildernesse It is with the heart of man as with the hand of Moses when he pluckt it out of his bosome it was foule and leprous when he put it in it was faire and comely Christ is our bosome and the cure of our leprosie the refuge of his Sanctuarie without him we are foule and leprous with him honorable and glorious sanctified and purged from the leprosie of sinne and the filth of iniquities We reade in the Stories of the Church that when Antioch was troubled with a lamentable earthquake Euphremion the Bishop receiued an Oracle that euery one should write Christus nohiscum Christ be with vs vpon the doores of their houses which being done the earthquake stayed and the inhabitants were comforted I know not how true that was sure I am if the faith of Christ be written vpon the doores of our hearts it will not onely stay the feares and the earth-quakes of our weake flesh and ruinous habitations but make strong our bars and stablish
ioy their works are the acts of ioy their thoughts are the springs of ioy their language is the voice of ioy whilst they sing and cry Ioy within the gates of Hierusalem and peace bee on Sion One day in thy Courts is better then a thousand I had rather bee a doore-keeper in the house of the Lord then to liue at ease in the tents of vngodlinesse Can there bee a feast or a bankquet without ioy there shall be the supper of the great King Can there bee a wedding or nuptials without ioy There shall bee the marriage of the Lambe where the Lord shall worke a greater miracle then euer he did in Cana and conuert the teares of outward heuinesse into the wine of inward gladnesse till wee bee drunke with the sweetnesse of his loue and the pleasures of his kingdome hauing as Nyssen writes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A sober kind of drunkennesse for if ioy be an act of loue and the effect of charitie as the Schooles haue determined there must needs bee great ioy where there is so great loue perfect ioy where there is perfect charitie ioy in our owne saluation ioy in the felicitie of our brethren whom wee shall loue as our owne soules by the vnitie of the Spirit But we may not thinke to find out the springs of Nilus or the seuerall grounds of these infinite reioycings O that I had a pitcher large enough to draw the well is deepe and my heart is not able to containe much lesse to present you with the ioyes of that heauenly kingdome Helpe mee with your prayers raise mee with your spirits let not the cry of Rome drowne the cry of Ierusalem the one calls to paine and torment the other calls to ioy and comfort the one calls to a Limbus Patrum the other calls to the garden of Eden The one calls to the fire of Purgatory the other calls to the life of glory the one calls to the triall of your workes in imaginary flames the other calls to the crowne of your workes in reall blessednesse and that by the example of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ Intra in gaudium Domini tui Enter into thy masters ioy Here then is one key more to raise our ioy a little higher and that is a relatiue terme Domini gaudium our masters ioy It skils much who is ioyned with vs in the partaking of any good Some had rather die with their friends then liue with their enemies and the poore Indians chose rather to go to hell with their ancestors then to heauen with the Spaniards If then it bee sweet and comfortable to be in ioy what is it to be with our Lord and Gouernour To enter his ioy to eate and drinke with our master at his table and in his kingdome or rather to make him our meate and drinke that is the bread of life and the well-spring of saluation Yet thus doth God intreate his seruants and there is nothing so deare to him but they shall haue part with him His owne ioy his owne secret his owne sweetnesse his owne comfort his owne robe his owne iustice his owne clothing his owne righteousnesse nay his very life and spirit shall be giuen to them as a seale and pledge of extraordinary grace and speciall fauour Much like that of Cyrus though humane resemblances come short of diuine presidents who neuer liked any dish but he sent part to his friends Semesos anseres semesos panes saith my Author sometime the bread himselfe did eate sometime the meate himselfe did tast from his trencher with this kind and friendly salutation Cyrus tibi ista quod ipsi fuerint iucundissima The King sends you this because he likes it best himselfe and holds it choise and daintie It is a small thing for the Saints of God to reioyce vnlesse it bee in the Lord. The ioy of the creature is transient the ioy of the Creator permanent They must partake of their masters ioy and reioyce in that where his soule delighteth Quo gaudet quod praestat the ioy hee giues and the ioy hee takes the ioy he loues and the ioy he is Whereupon saith Bernard Non aurum pollicetur Dominus the Lord doth not promise gold nor siluer or pretious stones but himselfe He will be our ioy and hee will be our comfort our substantiall ioy our euerlasting comfort our solid ioy our euerlasting glorie and the very crowne of our ioycing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Nyssen speakes the giuer of the crowne and the crowne that is giuen the disposer of the treasure and the treasure that is disposed the merchant that sells the pearle and the pearle that is sold by the merchant from whose golden beames and smiling rayes all the creatures in heauen and earth receiue beauty and perfection The reason is taken from that diuine master of humane knowledge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the chiefest good is most pleasant and voluptuous in himselfe because most good most blessed most absolute most perfect and as hee reioyceth in himselfe so wee must reioyce in him The vision of his nature the contemplation of his Dietie where there is fulnesse of ioy and pleasure for euermore It is his brightnesse must clarifie our vnderstanding his goodnesse must sanctifie our affections his fulnesse possesse our hearts and satisfie the vastnesse of our greatest spirits What though Adam were affraid at the voyce of God walking in the garden we shall triumph at the sight of God riding in the heauens Gauâ—isi discipuli viso Domino saith the Euangelist The disciples reioyced when they saw the Lord but the whole world shall be rauished with ioy when they looke vpon Christ not as hee is in his works but as he is in himselfe his Essence his diuinitie with the cleare eyes of loue and knowledge like those creatures in the Apocalyps Which are full of eyes about the throne and amidst the throne about the throne in the sight and comprehension as it were of diuine greatnesse amidst the throne in the tast and fruition of diuine goodnesse O thou bright Sonne of eternall glory that dost create the Saints exhilarate the Elders diaper the heauens serene the elements inspire the Cherubins inflame the Seraphins enlighten the temple of Ierusalem and make glad the Citie of our God thy loue is our ioy thy peace our ioy thine eyes our ioy thy lookes our ioy If thou wert like a bundle of my the in thy sufferings thou art as a heape of Camphire in thy blessings Thou dost cheare vs now but it is imperfectly and as it were by a proxie the proxie of thy creatures the proxie of thy seruants Sometimes the fatnesse of the earth and the dew of heauen sometimes by the comfort of friends and the abundance of thy treasure at most by the pretious influence of thy inuisible graces but thou shalt one day cheere vs by thy selfe the maiestie of thy presence the fruition of thy company the vision of thy person the