these words it is first to belieue to acknowledge and to professe the same not to denie the power of them in their liues and conuersations no not to denie them in that extremity wherein Iob now lies These three I take to containe the full sense of these words For it is not sufficient by the Leuiticall Law whose ground is morall to chew the cudde but also to deuide the hoofe our feete must bee cleane as well as our mouthes though our lips be neuer so holy yet notwithstanding if our waies be vncleane wee are as abominable vnto almighty God as those that haue all vncleane All is one to the beast in the 13. of the Reuelat. the 16. whether we haue his marke in the forehead or in the right hand all is one to Satan many there be that haue very smothe foreheads and carrie a goodly profession of religion yet notwithstanding their hands are full of iniquity Iob was as well in life and profession an vpright iust man one that feared God and eschewed euill an vpright man first as God saith of him a iust man towards others in distributing vertues and all this out of conscience and religion one that feared God and though as the Apostle saith euill is alwaies with mee yet he laboureth to eschew euill so that hee denied not the power of that he professed he performed the power of the word of God in life and conuersation and that not only in prosperitie but in his extremity in sickenesse and miserie It is an easie matter not to denie the word of God so long as the Lord pleaseth vs in prosperity but Iob would say the Lord hath giuen and the Lord hath taken yet notwithstanding blessed bee the name of the Lord so wee see for the clearenes of his conscience in the 6. chapter the 25. ver how he challenges his accusers Can any of you iustly accuse me this cleare conscience wrought in him true magnanimitie and it is that makes a man strong as a Lyon as Salomon saith As Christ is said to sleepe in the shippe in the tempest so this is the onely pillow whereon a man must rest when his conscience tells him hee is vpright though through infirmitie yet hee hath done his poore indeauor to keepe the wordes of the holy one indeed without this cleare conscience let neuer any man presume of faith for it is but a counterfet faith the wordes of the holy one being first sowne as wee see in the heart that seed knit vnto the roote of faith that roote brings out a tree of Charitie that tree beares the fruite of good workes so as it is true indeed we are our selues iustified before God onely by faith but our faith is iustified to our owne conscience by charity and our charitie must bee iustified before the world by our fruites of charity and by our godly liues and conuersations Faith it is an illumination it is hard to distinguish betweene the illumination of the true spirit and the illusion of the false therefore it hath pleased Almightie God with that heauenly faith to ioyne another vertue of Charitie that a mans owne conscience may testifie whether his faith be counterfet or no and because the world cannot see into the heart therefore that Charitie must bee iustified by workes and a good conscience ioynes all these together this is the ground of the resolution of that holy man Iob wherfore he doth desire to be out of this world You haue heard briefly the commendable miserie of this holy man of God Iob which as you see doth remaine vpon record not so much for his commendations as for our instruction yet for both Shall I commend beloued this our Brother here departed vnto you he hears it not his friends desire it not I haue not receiued any information concerning him of any because hee affected it not what then a mans name is like his shadow the faster hee runnes away the faster it followes the memoriall of the righteous shall bee blessed reputed hee was for an vpright and iust man in all his dealings let me vse the plaine dialect of the world I like the phrase well hee was an honest man which ciuill honesty did grow out of conscience and the feare of God in him for that is the holy salt that must season all without which there is no sacrifice that can bee acceptable vnto him In religion he was not factious if he had had occasion to speake of any that were of other opinions if hee conceiued them to be honest men he would speake of them so charitably as if he did euer remember the Apostles rule the 3. to the Philip. the 15 verse those that are perfect be thus minded and those that are otherwise minded God shall reueale it vnto thee also The marke of Iesus Christ I make no question was in his hand as well as in his forehead his workes were answerable to his profession In his owne familie I haue obserued that he was neither a sheepe nor a Lyon but a painefull and a watchfull Shepheard labouring by all meanes diligence to bring his seruants to good to worke in their thoughts true religion to examine and catechise them such a comfortable Guide both for soule and body that I thinke hee might haue giuen example in that kinde to the best To his friends and acquaintance most louing kinde and true hearted I dare say they that had occasion to trie him would testifie no lesse In this Parish hee hath not beene of many yeeres growth and so scarce incorporated but a man might easily perceue him to be both of that Spirit if the cause did require and withall of that wisedome to temper his Spirit as I may iustly say we haue lost a worthy member in the Church of Christ hee was a true liuing stone manifesting his liuely faith as by his religious conuersation in generall so by his forwardnesse in any good worke whatsoeuer and hee would doe it in that fashion as the left hand should not know what the right hand did his heart delighted in the word of God and hearing of the same hee did flourish in the house of our God his wife and family friends and kindred neighbours and acquaintance of the place wherein hee did most reside I suppose can testifie more then I say grounded hee was in a true Christian faith and had learned Iobs grace of Dominus abstulit he was a true Eagle hee looked through a thicke cloude of a long and tedious sicknesse vnto the happy issue and end of all during which time of sicknesse hee shewed such a Christian resolution that when many had thought hee himselfe had stood most in neede of comfort then was hee most comfortable vnto others I euer found him like himselfe from the beginning of his sicknes to the end hee burned in sorrow God loued him and yet spared him not and now no doubt hee doth rest in God blessed be the name of God for that
A SERMON PREACHED AT St MARY SPITTLE on Easter Tuesday 1613. BY ROGER FENTON D. in Diuinitie LONDON Printed for William Aspley 1616. GALAT. 6. 7. Be not deceiued God is not mocked for whatsoeuer a man soweth that shall he also reape THE words as I haue read them are a generall instruction absolute in it selfe springing or growing of a particular precept in the former verse and againe diuiding it selfe into seuerall heads in the verses following Let me consider it a part by it selfe for intire then if I dare I will tell you how it growes In this place a preface to moue your attention I shall neede to vse none for my text it selfe is but a preface and a proposition the preface doth prepare the heart with faith and reuerence to receiue the sentence be not deceiued God is not mocked and you shall finde this that followeth to bee most true that whatsoeuer a man soweth that shall he also reape A saying whereupon the Holy Ghost hath reposed more than ordinarie It is but a plaine sentence yea see it presents it selfe in the country method of sowing and reaping but it is a sentence of that note as is not marked with a common ecce but set in the forehead with a double sentence be not deceiued The preface then and the proposition make the two parts of my text the preface importeth thus much that not to imbrace the truth of this saying is a dangerous error dangerous in two respects First because it doth not deceiue others but our selues yea our owne soules Secondly it is a fallacie so much affected so wilfull an errour as is reported to bee the deluding of God himselfe who will not be mocked Then followeth the sentence and it followes vpon this preface First as an vndoubted truth that as a man soweth so he shall reape and secondly as a generall truth without exception that whatsoeuer a man soweth that shall hee also reape Of which and of the branches in the ordering of my text I will speake by Gods holy assistance your honorable christian patience so farre as the time will consent or the poore strength of my spirit shall be able to subsist In those many seuerall places in the Epistles where this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is vsed for the error of the minde it is no where taken for any common errour but for that which is a damnable and fundamentall error seducing the soule vnto eternall perdition and so I would desire you to take it in this place that you may take it to heart Neither doth the Apostle speake these words vnto those that are without but vnto Christians such as had bin catechised as it is in the former verse and brought vp in the bosome of the true Church as you all are this day How were they deceiued so grosely and dangerously Euen by those false teachers that tooke to themselues a libertie boldnes to prescribe vnto their brethren a secret forme of religion that so long as they kept within compas of the generall faith so long as they did beleeue and profes the true faith of Christ though they had certaine reseruations by the way which were not alowable yet that they might be saued notwithstanding Dealing and dallying with God Almighty as Naaman the Assyrian did God be 2. King 5. 18. mercifull vnto thy seruant in this point in this darling sinne in that reserued affection herein God bee mercifull vnto thy seruant The fallacie it selfe I finde in those other places which shall serue for a sit commentarie and doth fall directly vpon this text The first in the 6. chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians vers 9. Be not deceiued neither fornicators nor Idolaters nor adulterers nor wantons nor abusers of themselues with mankind nor theeues nor drunkards nor raylers nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdome of God the parallel with the 5. to the Ephes the 5 6 verses This you know that neither whoremonger nor vncleane person nor couetous person which is an Idolater hath any inheritance in the kingdome of Christ and of God Let no man deceiue you with vaine words for for such things commeth the wrath of God vpon the children of disobedience It seemes there were some in the Church of Corinth that were of Herods religion who thought that so long as he heard Iohn Baptist in many things gladly hee might commit incest with his brothers wife and there were some in the Church of Ephesus who were seduced by vaine teachers that sowed pillowes vnder their elbowes and drew the curtaines to lull them asleepe and perswaded men out of the Stoikes Paradox that all sinnes were equall alike mortall and all alike veniall putting little difference betweene sinnes Confounding infirmities with sinnes of presumption and saith the Apostle for such things commeth the wrath of God vpon the children of disobedience and to the Corinthians he saith Such as these som of you were before you were in Christ but now yee are washed but now yee are sanctified but now yee are iustified in the name of the Lord for such as these cannot be actually true and naturall members of Christ they may crowde in amongst vs but they are not of vs they may carry the name and weare the liuery but they haue not the soules of true Christians who while they are in the flesh all are sinners but yet not so grosse sinners as these subiect they are to manifold infirmities but not to presumptuous sinnes sinne will dwell in them it will liue in them and sometime it will tyrannize ouer them as in the first to the Rom. 7. 20. but it shall not raigne in their mortal bodies they wil not yeeld the Scepter vnto it and become voluntary subiects thereunto Rom. 6. 12. bad weeds wil grow in them but they will not plow and sow iniquity as in the 22. of the Prouerbes verse 8. The world will catch holde of them to make them with the Prophets wife to desire one vessell more when all is full as in 2. King 4. 6. but euery couetous desire to haue more doth not exclude a man from heauen but that couetousnesse which is idolatry which preferres a mans gaine before his God which dares make ship-wracke of conscience rather then part with his golde Such haue no inheritance in the kingdome of Christ nor of God they that wil be rich fall into temptations in 1. Tim 6. 9. not they that would be rich if it pleased God by good meanes but they that will be rich by hooke or by crooke by Hophnies 1. Sam. 2 13. Abac. 1. 16. flesh-hooke or the net Habacuck speaketh of they shall fall into noysome lusts that drowne men in perdition The Apostle Iames hath yet an other maner of speech in the first of his Epistle the 13. verse Let no man say when he is tempted that he is tempted of God as if these seedes of temptation were of Gods sowing and not of our owne growing
Preacher the 6. verse the seedes of vertue in the morning of his youth the young gallant is not disposed he is no fit auditour of that doctrine he hopes for to liue many yeeres and in them all to reioyce as it is at the 8. verse And therefore if wee come to vrge his conscience so soone hee thinkes of vs as the Diuell sayd to Christ that we are come to torment him before his time But Salomon telles him that though he liue many yeeres yet they are but vanity and they come to the end of darknesse he cannot preuaile with his many yeeres marke what followeth at the 9. verse saith GOD by Salomon Reioyce oh youngman in thy youth let thy heart cheere thee in thy yoong dayes so God sayth but hee doth but mocke him for if God laugh it is time for the young man to weep for there followeth a most fearefull Catastraphe for know and bee thou sure that for all these things GOD shall bring thee to iudgement But most excellently and fit for this purpose is that that wisdom herselfe deliuereth or rather GOD who is wisdome it selfe in the first of the Prouerbes at the 20. verse shee calleth without she vttereth her voyce in the streets shee stretcheth out her hands in the high street among the presse of the people and vttereth her words in the city the 21. verse as if he had sayd in your Churches at the Crosse or in these places and The Spittle what be her words because I haue called and you refused because I haue stretched out mine hand and none would regard yea despised my counsels would none of my corrections at the 24. verse Therefore I will laugh at your destruction when feare commeth like sudden desolation and your misery and destruction like a whirle-winde when affliction and anguish shall come vpon you then shall they call but I will not answer they shall seeke me earely but they shall not find me Marke these that mocke God how God mockes them againe For they reape the same in kinde they would not heare him when hee preached vnto them in their health therefore God will not heare them when they shall pray to him in their sickenesse they heard God preaching by his word out of the pulpet but they would not obey therefore God shall heare them cry from their death-beds but hee will not answer them they shall seek him early but shall not finde him and as they sowed so shall they reape the same in kinde if not the like in proportion as you may reade the quality of the sinne in the nature of Gods punishments be it temporall or bee it eternall if temporall looke vpon the roote was not Adams temporal punishmēt well fitted to his fal He did eat in wantonnes hee shall now eat in sorrow in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the dayes of thy life The shame of his soule it was the sin of his soule it was expressed in the nakednesse of his body His aspiring minde in affecting to bee aboue a man was pulled downe so low that he was beholding to the poore beasts for a couering and we his sonnes if our coats be of wooll the sheepe wore them first if of silke the poore silke-worme may pull downe our pride The hardnesse of Adams fore-head in excusing and defending his sinne so obstinately before God face to face was well dissolued into the sweat of his browes his brow also remaining the seate of shame That extraordinary delight the woman tooke in the forbidden fruit multiplied her sorrowes Oh it was pleasing vnto the eye in the 3. of Genesis the 6 therefore the eye is the catarract and floud-gate of sorrow sorrow shall remaine in her eyes more than ordinarie She had a longing desire to that fruit oh the fruit in the middest of the garden worth all the rest and what else is the reason that so many quames and vnnaturall longings are yet in that sexe Shee so abused her liberty in ouer-ruling her husband to whom before shee was sweetly subordinat without renitencie therefore now will shee nill shee shee must be subiect and hee must rule ouer her Looke vpon the tree that springeth out of this root A deluge of sinne ouerflowed the old world which brought a deluge of water to wash the same and that which the water cannot wash the fire shall purge Behold the builders of Babels Tower conspired against heauen therefore were they scattred vpon the earth By that conspiracie they had thought to haue gotten them a name therefore God makes them so ridiculous that one man knowes not an others language and all this in the very tongue which is the very instrument and trumpet of fame And that burning lust of the Sodomites was fitly punished with fire from heauen that vnnaturall lust with vnnaturall fire and brimstone from heauen that now it remaineth a monument of that their filthy abomination vntill this day I could hold you too long in the proportion of Gods iudgements vnto the sinnes of Countries and Nations As of the Egyptians the Edomites the Cananites the Iewes themselues for killing the Lord of life whose bloud according vnto their owne imprecation is remayning vpon their children vnto this day But that which is personall is more sensible to euery one of vs and commeth home to my text that as a man soweth so shall he also reap either the same in person or he shall reape the same in kinde an eye for eye a tooth for a tooth a toe for a toe 70 Kings saith Adonibezek with their thumbs and toes cut off haue eaten meat vnder my table iust as I delt with them so hath God delt with me the 1 of Iudges the 7. If not the same in kinde yet in exact proportion as Abels bloud cryed for vengance against his vnnaturall brother Nature was offended nature will be reuenged as in the 4. of Genesis at the 2. verse Thou shalt till the ground and hence-forth shee shall not yeeld thee her naturall strength Because Cain would not afford an abiding place for Abel vpon the earth therefore the earth would not afford an abiding place for Cain a vagabond and a runnagate shalt thou be vpon the earth That wicked Cham the spot of nature who against naturall reuerence dishonoured his father Noah was accursed in his owne sonne whose graceles posteritie the Cananites for Cham was the father of Canaan Gen 9. 18 giuen ouer to all vnnaturall vice became natures vomit in the 18 of Leuiticus the land spued them out v. 28 For a remembrance of that vnfaithful soule that would beleeue no more of Gods iudgments than shee saw with her eyes there stands a pillar of salt depriued of all sense for abusing her sense in looking backe for an euerlasting monument for an example of Gods iudgment to salt and season all posterities to take heede of back sliding into sinne She might pretend that shee looked backe to encourage her two daughters that followed
beloued in our Sauiour Christ I would very gladly haue made an end but as I haue viewed my text a part by it selfe so is it my part to set it in frame as I found it and then I must of necessitie fall vpon a point which I may not touch without a preface I haue broken the rule of method in making that an Appendix which should haue beene an exordium and entrance vnto my speech because I thought that if the time would haue cut of any thing it should cut of that if I should balke it or wilfully omit it Here be many Schollers and Diuines present that would say I came not close home to my text And when I am come to it my conscience tells me that true preaching is to carrie the text home to your consciences Let me ingenuously confes vnto you that when I first pitched my meditation vpon this sentence I did not at all thinke of the wordes immediately going before which now I must needes read vnto you for they are the very key that open my text let him that is taught in the word make him that hath taught him partaker of all his goods Be not deceiued God is not mocked for whatsoeuer a man soweth that shall hee also reape The words are plaine enough without a commentary let him that is taught in the word be he whatsoeuer so hee be taught in the word let him make him not them though them also as occasion shall require for the Galathians no doubt had many Teachers as wee also haue but make him especially who hath the cure and charge of thy soule Partaker of all thy goods This is the Apostles precept But if thou seekest shifts and deuices to defraud him thou thinkest thou deceiuest him but thou deceiuest thy selfe Be not deceiued for though thou be yet thou canst not deceiue God it is his portion it is set a part for the maintenance of his seruice and God will not bee mocked whatsoeuer thou sowest in this kinde thou shalt also reape You see beloued how this Scripture falls and I am afraid it falls heauie vpon many in this City Be not deceiued first in confounding beneuolence and duty there is a suttle fallacie in these tearmes and in these our times Beneuolance is like their free-will offrings of olde and duties as their ordinarie oblation Beneuolence doth remit the quantity of the gift and the comfort of the person to whom it is giuen vnto the liberality of the Benifactors But duties they doe prescribe and limit cut by a thread For the first this place where now we are assembled is to bee commended and this will reckon and renowne you amongst the vertuous of this City but this is not the point of my text The Apostle speaketh of an other kinde Wee praise God for this and blesse him for the beneuolence of many vnto diuers But as a dutie of all vnto all those whom God in his prouidence hath set ouer their soules is that whereof the Apostle speaketh This appeareth in the 9. of the first to the Corinthians vers 4. Haue wee not power that is haue we not right as a dutie belonging vnto vs that milke that the flock doth owe to the Feeder that fruit that the vine giues to the planter is in that place that portion which God takes to himselfe if it be withheld from him he counts it a mocking of him Let those Beloued who haue not in this kinde vrged the purses of any nor hope that they euer shall let them haue leaue something more freely to discharge their consciences herein What is the part then the Apostle meanes or alludeth vnto in this place is it that portion which God alotted vnto the Leuites vnder the law No by no meanes that were too much for the Leuites had besides their tithes and offrings beside their first fruits sacrifices and vowes they had 48. walled Cities with large Suburbs for their cattle large glebes to plant and sowe in when as their whole land was not so bigge as the third part of England what then is it precisely the tenth part which God doth challendge to himselfe in mount Sina the 27. of Leuit. the 32. almost 430 yeares before the Leuits had any part no by no meanes that were too much how then is it any part at all of all thy goods Verily thus much is agreed vpon of all sides for now I must touch no controuersies this I say is agreed vpon vnder the Gospell that the Church of Christ after that it was once erected did in her continuall practise according to the very letter of Saint Paules text in this place determine a portion be it what it will be a portion I say in all thy goods the reason was that the Pastor and the people might stand and fall together that hee might haue compassion of thy losse as well as comfort in thy encrease both alike depending vpon the prouidence of God that he might pray as affectionately in a storme as the Marchant and praise God in time of safety also Why so hee should doe howsoeuer yet because we are men and not Angels the wisdome of God thought it meet to encourage them by allotting a portion both in towne and countrie out of all thy goods So saith Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Yea but ye will say put out that same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and wee will compound with you by house-rent so shall you be at a certaine exchange is no Church-robery the Law hath determined it true and in great wisedome for the law must of necessity to preuent many mischifes it must I say leaue many things vnto the liberty of thy conscience for to bee answered in a higher Court. Wilt thou performe no more duties to God nor men then the Law of man can extort from thee if wee should preach vnto you no more Saboth dayes in a yeere then the Law doth exact at our hands you would thinke wee scarce discharged our consciences But to the point what rent do you meane that which is in true valew or that for which it may be or hath beene lately let No by no meanes that were too much then our Pastors would bee so proud that their owne sheepe should not be able to rule them they would tell vs too plainely of our faults looke ouer seriously into our actions How then it shall be after the old rent but so old that a new rate of all things are since that time increased fourefold and our families by permission of marriage are manifold Is this a fit proportion when a Citizen shall pay but in proportion but a fifth of the tithe to that that the countrie labouring man doth pay When a man shall giue a Comissarie so much towards the poore mans boxe for a licence to eate flesh in Lent as he giues to his Pastor for feeding of his soule all the yeere long Is that a good proportion howsoeuer it falls more or lesse better or worse
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
but wee haue giuen him iust cause many times and therefore he must needes be iealous but yet his ielousie is not cruell it is not cruell as the graue if so be that before hand in time we doe preuent this wrath and cruelty if so be we humble our selues and be reconciled vnto God by true repentance God is a ielous God and visits the sinnes of the fathers vpon the children We haue often prouoked our Husband-Christ to ielousie Oh that now we would preuent his wrath while there is time of grace now is there time of reconciliation if so be wee will labour and seeke for it if we will humble our selues by prayer and humility by fasting and repentance acknowledging our faults vnto God and vnto our blessed Sauiour with teares and resoluing neuer to giue him the like cause again and as at all times this dutie is seasonable so especially at these times when as it should be generall to the end that the more hearts meete in this disposition it may be so much the more acceptable a sacrifice to God Prayer and Humilitie is required of vs at all times before God praier and fasting is required of vs vpon occasion for euery mans particular sinnes present to God and himselfe is a sufficient occasion of priuate prayer and fasting but publike calamitie is an occasion of publike fastings There be as a Father calls them when he complaines of the time certaine sinnes of Church and Common-wealth which cannot bee imputed to particular persons when sinne is growne so common and generall that it is not in the power of any person or persons to reforme the same The remedie against such an Epidemicall disease is the publicke supplications of the Church when we muster vp our praiers as an armie not onely to beseech God but to besiege him too when we doe all agree and consent together by repentance and true humiliation to preuent the wrath of God vpon Church common-wealth which we haue deserued preuent I say that that ielousie doe not turne into wrath for if it doe and be not preuented it will burne into the very bottome of hel Deut. 32. 22. Therefore let vs humble our selues before almightie God and intreat his glorious Maiestie that notwithstanding our priuate sinnes wee may be set as a seale vpon his heart so deepely imprinted that neither height nor depth nor principalities nor powers be able to separate vs from him Rom. 8. 38. And that we may bee still as a signet vpon that arme that hath defended this Church and common-wealth so long That his righteousnesse may be imprinted in our hearts and his glorie an ornament to vs and his word pretious among vs which we beg for his owne sake that gaue himselfe for vs that wee may lay aside all ingratitude and bee truely thankefull vnto him through Iesus Christ our Sauiour to whom with the Father and the holy Ghost be all honour glory for euer Amen A SERMON PREACHED AT the Funerall of Mr. Iohn Stâ—kele Citizen and Machant-Taylor of LONDON at St. Steuens in Walbrooke 1613. BY ROGER FENTON D. in Diuinitie LONDON Printed for William Aspley 1616. IOB 6. 10. Then shall I yet haue comfort though I burne with sorrow let him not spare because I haue not denied the words of the holy one THat of the Apostle S. Paul the 4. chapt of the 2. Epistle to Timoth. at the 2. verse preach the word bee instant in season and out of season I vnderstand thus that we should not onely keep our ordinary course as Moses was preached in the Synagogue euery Sabboth day but that we should take all fit occasions to teach and instruct Gods people though at extraordinarie times as it were out of season amongst the which the occasion of this our meeting is one and as I take it none of the least for the Prophet Isaiah chapt 57. and the 1. v maketh it a matter of iust reproofe when righteous and mercifull men are taken away from amongst vs and no man doth consider it therefore it is fit that wee be put in minde of it Wee haue both a righteous and a mercifull man taken from amongst vs Therefore haue wee iust occasion to take it into consideration as the occasion then doth fit vs so that wee also might fit the occasion I haue made choyse of a righteous and mercifull man in his sicknesse for hee was an vpright and a iust man one that feared God and eschewed euill by Gods owne testimonie in the second chapt and the third verse who deliuered the words that now I haue read vnto you For Iob was wearied spent with a grieuous and tedious sickenesse in so much as he complains in the 7. chap at the third verse that hee had for an inheritance the monethes of vanitie and painefull nights were appointed vnto him These be the words of Iob and it was the very case of this our brother now departed Monthe after monthe was he tormented and yet still put vs in hope of his recouerie but all in vaine they were as Iob termes them monthes of vanitie and painefull nights were appointed vnto him wherupon the holy man Iob expresseth a longing desire hee had in the premises and the reason of this his desire in the words of my text Oh that I might haue the thing I desire and that God would grant me that which I long for what was that sure nothing else but that hee might depart out of this world which he hath expressed by three phrases in the verse immediately before my text that God would destroy him that he would let his hand go and that hee would cut him off The first is a phrase according to the words directly because in the sight of the world outwardly the righteous may seeme to perish and bee destroyed But the second phrase is more diuine that God would let his hand go as if with one hand his heauie hand of sicknesse he had beate him downe and yet notwithstanding hee had holden him vp and with the other hand supported him now he desires that God would take away that suporting hand that he might die me thinkes he speakes of almighty God as if hee were a kinde of Nurse that vseth when men are drawing on towardes death to lift them vp for if they take away the pillow presently they giue vp the Ghost so Iob desires God that hee would but take away the other hand that he might depart out of this world because his ordinarie glasse was not yet runne hee might liue many yeeres by the course of nature hee addes a third phrase that God would cut him off But Iob liued much longer after hee had this sickenesse as you may see in the last chapt the 16 verse And this our Brother departed by the course of nature might haue liued much longer if it had pleased God Now the reason of this his longing desire is deliuered in this my text in three points First in
his faith and his full expectation of comfort after this life in these words then shall I yet haue comfort In the second place there is inserted a parenthesis which sets downe the encouragement of that faith a godly magnanimitie and resolution though I burne with sorrow let him not spare And thirdly and lastly here is both the ground of that resolution and the onely touchstone of his faith in that his conscience tells him hee hath not denied the words of the holy one Of these three first and then of the occasion to which they are fitted of both briefly For then shall I yet haue comfort though I burne with sorrow let him not spare because I haue not denied the words of the holy one For the first death is terrible to nature and therefore is called the King of feare Iob. 18. 14. most terrible yet notwithstanding it is but as a cloude and hee that hath an Eagles eye of faith to looke through the cloude hee may discerne that glorious comfortable light and such an Eagle was the seruant of God Iob for being inuironed with so many miseries and infirmities as he was at this time yet notwithstanding hee doth pierce through the cloude by the eyes of faith espying his euerlasting consolation When our Sauiour Christ is described that hee shall appeare in the cloudes in the last day it pleased him to compare himselfe to a slaine beast for indeed he was the lambe of God slaine from the beginning therefore Luke the 17. and the last verse hee saith Wheresoeuer the bodie is thither will all the Eagles resort nay such is the sagacity of that creature as we read that by the resort of Eagles in Africa the Inhabitants foresee their should bee warre and bloud-shedde in that place and such an Eagle was Iob who liuing so many hundred yeeres before the incarnation foresawe his Redeemer chap. the 19. 25. verse 27. I know that my Redeemer liueth a visible Redeemer and so Abraham sawe Christs daies Iohn the 8. By this faith did Iob receiue comfort beyond the cloude of death And Salomon describeth our Sauiour Christ in the second of the Canticles the 9. verse that he standeth behinde the Wall and looketh through a grate aluding to the manner of Nurses and Mothers that runne behinde a wall that their children may seek them with a greater desire so doth God in sickenesse he goes behinde the wall and if we haue an eye to spie him through the grate there is our comfort as that was Simeons ground Lord now lettest thou thy seruant depart in peace for mine eies haue seene their saluation after he had gotten Christ in his armes that hee had seene his saluation hee thought he was in prison till he departed and the word signifieth for to be loosed out of prisonne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and you know that it was that S. Paul speaketh I desire to bee dissolued because hee would bee with Christ No maruell if Iob when hee discerned this comfort desired to bee taken out of the world this eie of faith of his begets a godly magnanimitie resoluing with all patience to vndergoe and not doubting to ouercome whatsoeuer is or can possiblie bee laid vpon him here 's the phraise and a gradation though I burne with sorrow though mine ague bee neuer so terrible the fit neuer so fearefull my miseries neuer so many nay as hee saith further in the 13. chap. the 15. verse Though he kill me yet will I trust in him the word in the originall for sorrow is taken from the root chus that signifies the sorrow of a woman in trauell that cries to God in her paine such paines will compell a man for to pray and to pray vnto God most earnestly it seemes by the Prophet that a woman in trauell will crie out vnto God though shee sildome thinke of him at other times if euer she be in a good minde it is then and such were the paines that Iob was in at this time though I burne with sorrow it was a conflict and a great conflict that Iob was now in and hee wrestles as it were with Iacob and though some speeches of impatience passe from Iob yet notwithstanding hee recouers himselfe and in the end his hope patience was crowned though I burne with sorrow nay let him not spare Let almighty God lay as much vpon me as it pleaseth him so that I may at the last inherit that which is my hope and comfort Mee thinkes hee speaketh as though hee would challenge almighty God for these temporall afflictions to doe his worst so hee might take him out of the world I haue obserued three strange phraises in Scripture which doe amplifie that power of faith that power of prayer and that power of patience which it pleaseth God to giue his Saints he speakes of faith in the 92. Psalme at the 9. verse as if a faithfull man were able to point Almighty God to a thing to come So the Prophet Dauid speaketh of faith Lo thine enemies shall perish as if faith did apprehend it so clearely that it pointed God to it a strange phrase And ye know of prayer in the 32. of Exod. the 10. vers hee speaketh of praier as though prayer were able to binde the hands of Almighty God Let mee alone that my wrath may waxe hot against them and so in this place the holy Ghost speaketh as though the holy man in miserie would leaue Almighty God to doe his worst though I burne with sorrow Lastly the ground of this magnanimitie the onely touchstone of this faith of Iob that his conscience testified vnto him that hee had not denied the wordes of the holy Ghost What are those wordes of the holy Ghost and what it is to denie them bee the two points By the words of the holy one in this place considering the time wherein Iob liued which is supposed for to be in the time of nature I doe not onely vnderstand those edicts of nature which the Apostle speaketh of in the 2. to the Rom. the 15. verse the effect of the morall law written in their hearts I meane those common rules of honestie which wee haue receiued by the light of nature and reason the heauens declare the glorie of God as in the 19. Psalme I say I doe not onely vnderstand by the words of the holy one in this place that light of nature but those Reuelations also by which God reuealed himselfe more especially to the very Saints of God and my reason is because hee giues God the name of the holy one in this place for wee know the nature of holinesse is to separate a thing from that which is common therefore hee doth not meane in this place the words of God onely as God is the God of nature but as he is the Authour of grace and as he hath reuealed vnto mee his will by reuelation from God and so is God promised vnto his saints Secondly not to denie