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
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
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
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