Clavis mystica a key opening divers difficult and mysterious texts of Holy Scripture; handled in seventy sermons, preached at solemn and most celebrious assemblies, upon speciall occasions, in England and France. By Daniel Featley, D.D.

ABRAHAM HIS PURCHASE. A Sermon preached at the Consecration of the Church-yard inclosed within the new wall at Lambeth. THE LXII. SERMON.

ACTS 7.16.

And were carried over into Sechem, and laid in the sepulchre that Abra∣ham bought for a summe of mony of the sons of Emor, of Sechem.

UPon the hearing of my Text read, I suppose many looke for a Funerall Sermon, and have already so christened my future discourse in their preconceits. For here is the carrying of the dead, and the interring, together with a place for buriall,a 1.1 pur∣chased by Abraham for him and his heires for ever. But as Isaac said to his father Abraham, Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the Lambe for a burnt offering? so they may reason with themselves, Behold the bearers, and a sepulchre, and the ground, but where is the corps to be laid in it? My answer hereunto must be a thanksgiving to God, whose mer∣cy hath altered the case with us, because his compassions faile not. It stood lately thus with us, when the waies of Sion mourned, because none walked in them; and the gates of the Sanctuary lamented, because almost none, specially of the better ranke, who left us desolate, entred at them. Wee saw with weeping eyes and bleeding hearts a presse as it were of dead corpses, and many suing for a reversion of a void roome in our dormitory; but now (God be blessed) we have a place given for buriall, and no corpses at this present to take reall and corporall possession thereof. Howbeit, because what hath be fallen us heretofore, may also hereafter, and if death should strike any at this present without a writ of removall, which cannot bee sued out of any court for ought I know against the dead, wee know not where to bestow

them: wee could doe no lesse in Christian charity and providence, than procure the bounds of our Golgotha to be enlarged. For though other houses and tenements stand void with us, the grave shall never want guests, nor the Church-yard and vaults under ground tenants against their will. All men and women are flowers, and all flowers will fall, and when they are ready to fall, we shall have slips (I feare) but too many to plant this parcell of ground which wee have gained in by the gift of the father of this Si∣chem.

But hereof hereafter, when I shall have opened my Text, and the sepul∣chre in it, and who were interred there, and how they came thither. If in any Text almost of the whole Scripture, surely in this the coherence need∣eth to be handled. For at the first sight this relation of the buriall of the Pa∣triarchs seemeth to have no affinity at all with Saint Stephens apologie for himselfe against the Jewes, who charged him with blasphemy against Mo∣ses, and against the Law. Now as in a shooting match a stander by can hardly discerne the flight of an arrow, unlesse he marke the Archers aime, and observe the flight-shaft as soon as it is delivered out of the bow; so un∣lesse ye marke Saint Stephens aime, and observe how he entereth into this story of the Old Testament, ye can hardly discerne how direct it is to his maine scope and purpose. But so it is, that as he that shooteth farre draw∣eth his arrow backward up to the head; and as hee that leapeth forward fetcheth his feeze a great way backe: so doth Saint Stephen here seem to give ground, and recoile a great way backward; but it is to come on with more force, and powerfully to confound the Jewes, who began not now to persecute the Saints of God, and Witnesses of Jesus Christ, but in all ages had done the like. Fabius Maximus (asb 1.2 Livie writeth) kept aloofe off from the Carthaginian army upon a high hill, till hee saw that Hannibal had foiled Minutius in the plaine; but then hee falleth upon him, and routs all his troupes: whereupon Hannibal uttered that memorable speech, I ever feared that the cloud which hovered so long upon the hills would in the end powre downe, and give us a sad showre. Saint Stephen like Fabius for a great while keepeth aloof off from the Jewes, and his discourse resembleth a darke cloud hovering on the top of a hill, which on the sudden in the end rained downe upon them, and caused a bitter storme, for killing first all the servants sent to them by the Master of the Vineyard, and last of all his Sonne. The Jewes bragged much of their fathers; Saint Stephen by epitomizing the story of the Old Testament, sheweth unto them that they ought ra∣ther to be ashamed of them, in whose wicked steps notwithstanding they trod, and were now (as their fathers ever had bin) a stiffe-necked people, of un∣circumcised eares and hearts, resisting the spirit of God, and cruelly persecu∣ting those to death, who shewed before of the comming of the just One, of whom (saith he) ye have been now the betrayers and murderers: who have received the Law by the disposition of Angels, and have not kept it.

The accusers of Saint Stephen articled against him, that hee had uttered blasphemy against the Law of Moses, and against the Temple, because hee taught that the ceremonies of the Law were fulfilled in Christ, and that the shadow ought to vanish, the body being come in place. Saint Stephen an∣swereth for himselfe, that the doctrine of the Gospel was ancienter than

the Law or the Temple, and that all the furniture of the Temple and Arke were made according to the patterne in the Mount, and had a reference to heavenly and spirituall things revealed in the Gospel: that God was now to be worshipped in spirit and truth, by faith in Christ now come, as hee had been by the fathers before the Law in Christ to come, who by faith gave charge that their bones should be carried out of Egypt, and buried in the land of Canaan, beleeving that God would certainly performe his promise made unto their posterity, first of the reall possession of the earthly, & after that of the heavenly inheritance by the seed of Abraham, in whom all Nati∣ons are blessed, Christ Jesus, that should be born in that land. What they gave in charge was accordingly performed, as ye heare in the words of my Text, So Jacob went into Egypt and dyed, he and our fathers, and were car∣ried over into Sichem, and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought, &c.

Ye see the coherence, but ye cannot yet discerne the truth of the relati∣on, because there is a mist on the words, which hath caused many to misse their way; and it cannot bee otherwise dispelled, than by cleering this whole relation of Saint Stephen, and comparing it with the narration of Moses.

1. It is evident out of Genes. 23.16, 20. that Abraham for foure hundreds shekels of silver bought the field of Ephron the Hittite, which was in Machpelah, and therein a cave to bury the dead.

2. It is evident out of Genes. 33.19. that Jacob bought a parcell of a field where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor Sechems father, for a hundred peeces of mony.

3. It is evident likewise out of Genes. 50.13. that Jacobs sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field in Mach∣pelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a possession of a burying place of Ephron the Hittite before Mamre.

4. It is evident out of Jos. 24.32. that the children of Israel brought the bones of Joseph out of Egypt, and buried them in Sechem in a parcell of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Sechem for a hundred peeces of silver, and it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph.

Now the points of difficulty are three:

1. Whether all the Patriarchs were buried in Sechem, or only Joseph. For in the booke of Josuah there is mention made of none buried there but Joseph; yet Saint Stephen here speaketh in the plurall number, Our fathers dyed, and were carried over into Sechem. And Saint Jerome, who lived in those parts writeth, that in his time the sepulchre of the twelve Patriarchs was to be seen in Sechem.

2. Whether Abraham or Jacob bought this field wherein they were buried. For both bought ground for buriall, but not at the same rate, nor in the same place, nor from the same Landlords. For Abraham paid for his purchase foure hundred peeces of silver, Jacob an hundred: Abrahams lay in the country of Heth, Jacobs of Sechem: Abraham bought it of Ephron the Hittite, Jacob of Hamor the Sechemite. If the Patriarchs were laid in a se∣pulchre at Sechem, it could not be that which Abraham bought: for that was not in the tenure and occupation of the Sechemites, but of the Hittites.

3. Whether Hamor were the father or sonne of Sechem. For in Genesis we reade, that he was the father of Sechem: but in the Acts many translate 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the son of Sechem.

1. The first doubt may be thus cleared. Joseph alone was buried in Se∣chem, and rested there: but the other Patriarchs were at the first buried at Sechem, but afterwards removed from thence to Ephron, and were buried all in Abrahams vault or cave: thus Josephus & S. Jerome are easily reconci∣led. For though the bones of them all lay in Ephron, yet at Sechem there might be some monument of them remaining, as empty tombes with some inscription.

2. The second difficulty is much more intricate, and those who have stroven to get out of it have more intangled themselves and others in it. Calvins answer is somewhat too peremptory, that there is an errour in all our copies of the New Testament, and ought to be corrected: and though Beza goe about to excuse the matter by a semblance of some like misno∣mer in the Gospel, yet this his observation, unlesse he could produce some ancient copies, wherein such mistakes were not to be found, openeth a dan∣gerous gap to Infidels and Heretickes, who hereby will be apt to take oc∣casion to question the infallible truth of the holy Writ. Canus in going a∣bout to take out the blot, maketh it bigger, saying, that Saint Luke erred not in relating Saint Stephens speech, but that Saint Stephens memory fai∣led him, and that through errour or inadvertency hee confounded Jacobs purchase with Abrahams. This answer commeth neere to blasphemy: for no man doubteth but that Saint Stephen in his speech spake as hee was inspired by the holy Ghost. Therefore Lyranus, Lorinus, and many others, think to salve all by putting two names upon the same man, whom they will have sometimes to be called Ephron, sometimes Hamor: but they bring no good proofe out of Scripture for it; and though they could make Ephron and Hamor the same man, yet they can never make the cave in the land of the Hittites, and that in the land of the Sechemites to be one and the same parcell of ground.

With submission to more learned judgements (quia hic Delio opus est na∣tatore) I take it that either 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 should be rendred by, & joyned to the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, and a comma at 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, and so the sense is, That the Patriarchs were translated into Sechem by the Sechemites, and laid in Abrahams sepulchre which he bought for mony: or 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 to be understood, and then the meaning will be this, That some of the Patriarchs were laid in Abrahams sepul∣chre, some in the field that Jacob bought. Thus then (according to the originall) wee may render this verse, And they were carried over into Se∣chem, and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought, besides that which Ja∣cob bought of Hamor, that is: Jacob dyed, and our fathers, and some of them were bestowed in Sechem in the cave which Jacob bought, and some of them in that which Abraham bought.

3. The third doubt is easily resolved. For Hamor was the father of Se∣chem, as we reade Genes. 33.19. neither doth S. Stephen gain-say it: for his words are 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, of Sechem, which should have been translated the father of Sechem, as Herodotus in Clio saith, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, and in Thalia, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,* 1.3 and Saint Mark, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Adrastus of Mydas, to wit, the fa∣ther

of Mydas; Cyrus of Cambyses, that is, the father of Cambyses; Mary of James, that is, Mary the mother of James.

The mist being thus dispelled, we may cleerly see our way, and readily follow the Patriarchs in the funerall procession from Egypt, first to Se∣chem, and afterwards to Ephron.

And they were carried over, &c. This transportation offereth to our re∣ligious thoughts two acts:

• 1. Of Piety,
• 2. Of Charity.

both significative and mysticall. For the carrying the Patriarchs bones from Egypt to Canaan, shadoweth our removall after death from Egyptian dark∣nesse to the inheritance of Saints in light; and the laying them by the bones of Abraham may represent unto us how the soules of all the faithfull im∣mediately after they were severed from their bodies, are carried by Angels into the bosome of Abraham. The first I call an act of piety or religion, be∣cause the Patriarchs before their death by faith gave charge of their bones; and their posterity executed their last Will in this point, to professe their faith in Gods promise, which was to give the land of Canaan to their seed for an inheritance, and accordingly by their dead bodies they tooke a kind of reall possession thereof.

And they. As by a Synecdoche the soule is put for the man, Anima cu∣jusque is est quisque; so by the same figure the corpses of the Patriarchs are called the Patriarchs. Poole elegantly called his dead body his deposi∣tum: Scaliger his relique: Saint Paul the tent-maker agreeable to his pro∣fession, called it an earthly tabernacle. And although indeed it bee but the casket which containes in it the precious ring, our immortall spirit, yet in regard of the union of it to the soule, and because it concurreth with the soule to the physicall constitution of a man, it may by a figure be called a man.

Yea, but had the Patriarchs no priviledge, but must they goe the way of all flesh? They must: for earth is in their composition, and into the earth must be their resolution. As the world is a circle, so all things in the world in this are like a circle, that they end where, or as they began. The vapours that are drawne up from the earth, fall downe againe upon the earth in rain. The fire that descended at the first from the region of fire in theg 1.4 hollow of the Moone, ascends up thither againe. The waters that flow from the sea returne backe to the sea: in like manner the soule of man, which was infu∣sed by God, returneth to God that gave it; but the body, which was made of red earth, returneth to dust as it was. We need not inquire of Scripture where reason speaketh so plaine, nor interrogate reason where sense giveth daily testimony to the truth. Every passing bell rings this lesson in our eares: Omnis loculus locus est; every coffin is a topicke to prove it: every grave layes it open to us: every speechlesse man on his death-bed cries out to us, Memento mori, quod tueris eris.

Were carried over into Sechem. The life of man is a double pilgri∣mage:

• 1. Of the outward man.
• 2. Of the inward man.

The outward travelleth from the cradle to the coffin, the inward from earth to heaven. Of all creatures man only is properly a pilgrim on earth; because he alone is borne, and liveth all his time here out of his own coun∣try: of all men the Patriarchs were the greatest pilgrims, both in life and death; for they spent all their life in wearisome and dangerous peregrina∣tions, and after their death their bodies went as it were in pilgrimage, and there visited first Sechem, and then Machpelah, where they tooke up their rest. It is the usuall wish and proverbiall speech of men, Though I toile and moile here, yet I hope one day I shall rest in my grave. No man can promise himselfe so much: for not only the bodies of men accursed of God have been digged out of their graves, to teach us, that there is no sanctuary for a wicked person living or dying; but even Gods servants have been often∣times removed out of their earthly beds, some in honour to them, and o∣thers out of malice again•• ••••em, to dishonour and disgrace them. The bodies of Gervasius and Protasius, Martyrs, were translated from a blind and obscure place in Millaine where they lay, to a more celebrious and il∣lustrous Church, to doe them the greater honour: on the contrary, Euse∣bius writeth, that divers Martyrs in France were by the Gentiles plucked out of their graves, and burnt to ashes, and their ashes cast into the river Roan: and the Papists, as if they would make it knowne to the world that no Painims or Gentiles should out-do them, in wreaking their malice against the professors of the truth, both digged up Wickliffes and Peter Martyrs wives, and Paulus Fagius their bones after they had been long interred:

Nec livor post fata quievit.

The Tombe-stone is said to be the bound of malice, and death a supersedeas for envie and all uncharitable proceedings: yet blind zeale in persecuting the members of Christ Jesus exceeds these bounds, and all termes of com∣mon humanity. O unheard of cruelty, saith the blessed Martyr Sainth 1.5 Cy∣prian, Their rage falleth upon the stripes of Gods servants, and they now tor∣ture not so much their members as their wounds. We may goe on further, because Popish cruelty hath gone on further, and say: Saevitum est in ca∣davera, saevitum est in ossa, saevitum est in cineres, saevitum est in manes: the rage and malice of Papists against Protestants is not satisfied with their bloud, nor expireth with their life; they fall like savage Jackals upon their carkasses, they digge up their graves, they rifle their coffins, they burne their bones, they persecute their ghosts; and this is their charity which they so much bragge of. But I leave them, and come to the sepulchre which A∣braham bought, where the Patriarchs were laid.

And were laid in the sepulchre. Though it little import the soules of Gods Saints in heaven what becommeth of their dead corpse on earth, no more than it concerneth a newly elected King, when hee hath his Princely robes on him, what becomes of his old cast suits of apparrell: in which regard Sainti 1.6 Monica told her sonne at her death, that shee tooke no care where shee was interred; yeelding this for a reason, It is no∣thing to mee (saith shee) whether I lye farre from home, or from any Church; I am sure nothing is farre from God: neither doe I feare but that hee will find mee at the last day, and raise up my corpse wheresoever it lies. Yet because the bodies of Gods Saints were temples of the holy Ghost, and

served as instruments in the performance of all duties of piety and chari∣ty; our piety and charity in some respect extendeth to them: piety I say, not to worship them, for that is idolatrie; not to pray to them, for that at the best is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, will-worship, and unwarrantable devotion; not to pray for them, for that is superstition: but to give God thankes for them, and to expect their and our joyfull resurrection: charity to preserve their good name alive, and to bury their dead corpses, although I grant with Saintk 1.7 Austine, that the care of funeralls, and pompe of herses, and rites of buriall are rather comforts of the living, than helpes of the dead: yet with the same Austine I cannot but acknowledge that the bodies of our parents or friends may challenge more affection and respect to them, than the appar∣rell ring, or jewell they wore, which yet wee make great account of, and carefully keep for their sake. Doth not Nature her selfe teach us this worke of mercy to the dead? Doe not some birds that are loving to man, if they spy a dead corpse in the wood, cover it over with leaves? Doth the young Phenix (asl 1.8 Tacitus writeth) as soone as ever it hath life, take care of burying the parent, carrying his corpse with a quantity of Myrrhe, and laying it in the Temple of the Sunne? and shall not men endued with reason and understanding doe the like not onely to their parents and friends, but even to strangers and their very enemies, especially if there bee worth in them? Alexander the great opening Cyrus Tombe, set a crowne upon his Herse, and carefully shut it a∣gaine. Hannibal gave Marcellus the Romane Consull an honourable buriall, put his ashes in a silver pot, and crowned it with a crowne of gold, and sent it to his sonne to interre it. (To speake nothing of Cannibals, man-eaters, and other savages) all civill people in the world bury their dead, though in a different manner, and with severall rites. The Jewes washed, the Egyptians embalmed the corpse, the Ro∣manes burnt them with sweet perfumes, and kept the ashes in an urne or pot: the Ethiopians curiously paint them, and lay them in a gla∣zed coffin: the most common and most agreeable to Scripture is inter∣ring the corpse. Moses alludeth to it:m 1.9 Dust thou art, and to dust shalt thou returne: and Solomon,n 1.10 Then shall the dust returne to the earth as it was: and David,o 1.11 What profit is there then in my bloud when I goe downe to the pit? shall the dust praise thee? or shall it declare thy truth? The Greekes for the most part, and other Nations also, excepting those above named, interred their dead: and thereforep 1.12 Pliny calleth the earth our tender mother, which receiveth us into her bosome, when wee are excluded as it were out of the world, and covereth our nakednesse and shame, and guardeth us from beasts and fowles, that they offer no in∣dignity to our carkasses.

Now because it is to small purpose to bestow the dead in roomes un∣der ground, if they may not keep them, Abraham wisely provided for this: for hee laid downe a valuable consideration for the field where the cave was.

Were laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought for a summe of money. As Abraham here bought a field out-right, and thereby assured the pos∣session thereof to his posterity; so by his example the Synagogue un∣der

the Law, and the Catholike Church under the Gospel, especially in dayes of peace, secured certaine places for the buriall of the dead, either purchased for money, or received by deed of gift: and after they were possessed of them, sequestred them from all other, and appropiated them to this use onely; by which sequestration and appropriation all such parcells of ground became holy, in such sort that none might otherwise use or imploy them, than for the buriall of the dead, without sacriledge or profanation. As the holy oyle ran from Aarons head to his body, and the skirts of his garments, so holinesse stayeth not in the Chancell as the head, but descendeth to the whole body of the Church and the Church-yard as the skirt thereof.

Mistake mee not, brethren, I say not that one clod of earth is holier than another, or any one place or day absolutely, but relatively only. For as it is superstition to attribute formall or inherent holinesse to times, places, parcells of ground, fruits of the earth, vessell, or vestments; so it is pro∣fanenesse to deny them some kind of relative sanctity, which the holy Ghost attributeth unto them in Scripture, where wee reade expresly of holy ground, holy daies, holy oyle, and the like. To cleare the point wee are to distinguish of holinesse yet more particularly, which belongeth

• 1. To God the Father, Sonne, and Spirit by essence.
• 2. To Angels and men by participation of the divine nature or grace.
• 3. To the Word and Oracles of God by inspiration.
• 4. To types, figures, sacraments, rites and ceremonies by divine institution.
• 5. To places, lands, and fruits of the earth, as also sacred utensils, by use and dedication: as
  • 1. Temples with their furniture consecrated to the ser∣vice of God.
  • 2. Tithes and glebe lands to the maintenance of the Priests.
  • 3. Church-yards to the buriall of the dead.

Others come off shorter, and dichotomize holy things, which say they are

• 1. Sanctified, because they are holy, as God his name and attri∣butes, &c.
• 2. Holy, because they are sanctified,
  • 1. Either by God to man, as the Word and Sacraments.
  • 2. Or by man to God, as Priests, Temples, Altars, Ta∣bles, &c.

Of this last kind of holy things by dedication, some are dedicated to him

• 1. Immediately, as all things used in his service.
• 2. Mediately, as all such things without which his service cannot be conveniently done; and here come in Church-yards, without which, some religious workes of charity cannot be done with such conveniency or decency as they ought.

The Church is as Gods house, and the yard is as the court before his doore: how then dare any defile it, or alienate it, or imploy it to any secu∣lar use for profit or pleasure?

To conclude, all Church-yards by the Ancients are termed 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, dormitories, or dortories, wherein they lye that sleep in Jesus. Now it is most uncivill to presse into, or any way abuse the bed-chamber of the li∣ving, and much more of the dead. What are graves in this dormitory but sacred vestries, wherein we lay up our old garments for a time, and after take them out, and resume them new dressed and trimmed, and gloriously adorned, and made shining, ands 1.13 exceeding white as snow (so as no Ful∣ler on earth can white them?) These shining raiments God be∣stow upon us all at the last day, for the merits of the death and buriall of our Lord and Saviour. Cui, &c.

Notes

• a 1.1

  Gen. 22.7.
• b 1.2

  Liv. dec. 3. l. 2.
• * 1.3

  Mar. 15.40.
• g 1.4

  Pickolom. Phys.
• h 1.5

  Cyp. de laps. Saevitum est in plagas, & jam in servis Dei non tor∣quebantur membra, sed vulnera.
• i 1.6

  Aug. confes. l. 9. c. 11. Nihil longé est à Deo, nec ti∣mendum mihi ille ne ag∣noscat in fine saeculi unde resuscitet.
• k 1.7

  Lib. 1. de ci¦vit. Dei, c. 12. Omnia ista curatio funeris, conditio se∣pultu••ae pom∣pa exequia∣••um m••gis sun•• solatia vivorum quàm subsidia mor∣tuorum. Et c. 13. Si enim paterna vestis & annulus tan∣tò charior est posteris, quan∣tò erga paren∣tes major est affectus, nullo modo spernan∣da sunt corpo∣ra, quae utique multo familia∣rius atque con∣junctius quàm quaelibet indu∣menta gesta∣mus.
• l 1.8

  Annal. l. 10. Phoenici cura primo sepeli∣endi patris, sublato myr∣rhae pondere subit patrium corpus, & in Solis templum perfert.
• m 1.9

  Gen 3.19.
• n 1.10

  Eccles. 12.7.
• o 1.11

  Psal. 30.9.
• p 1.12

  Plin nat. hist. l. 2. c. 63. Haec nascentes exci∣pit, natos alit novissimè complexa gre∣mio jam reli∣quà naturà ab∣dicatos, tum maximé ut mater operi∣ens, nomen prorogat ti••u∣lis, &c.
• s 1.13

  Mar. 9.3.