the second Covenant That Text is very full and worthy to be wrot on our hearts in letters of gold and as with the pen of a diamond Gal. 2.16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by the faith of Jesus Christ even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the Law for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified 3. The ultimate or compleating act of this justifying faith whereby it becometh such is a fiducial resting or relying upon Christ for righteousness and acceptation with the Lord and for all the spiritual benefits that follow thereupon That which I aim at is this That justifying faith is not absolved and compleated by a bare assent of the understanding but it doth evidently include an act of the heart With the heart man believeth unto righteousness Rom. 10.10 If thou believest with all thine heart Acts 8.37 And the special act of the heart is a reliance upon Christ leaving a mans soul in his hands upon the articles of the Covenant of grace leaning upon his merits for acceptance with God receiving him as he is offered to sinners in the Gospel and trusting in him for acceptance and salvation Thus we have it explained Eph. 1.12 13. That we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ In whom also ye trusted after that ye heard the word of truth the Gospel of your salvation in whom also after that ye believed ye were sealed with that holy spirit of promise This is the faith both of Jew and Gentiles We first believed unto whom the word of salvation was first spoken and afterwards ye also believed in Christ What is this believing Why it is a trusting in Christ First the soul heareth the word of salvation promised in Christ and assenteth to the truth of that word and thereupon is perswaded to make his actual application unto Christ and trusteth in him for salvation Psal 2.12 Kiss the Son lest he be angry and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little blessed are all they that put their trust in him q. d. There is no way of avoiding destruction from Christ but by believing in him resting upon him they are the blessed of the Lord that put their trust in him * Sed multum inter est utruns â—â—isque credat ipsum esse Christum utrum credat in Christum Nam ipsum esse Christum daemones crediderunt Ille enim credit in Christum qui sperat in Christum diligit Christum Aug. Indeed there are many acts of the soul required unto this faith and comprized therein If a man believe in Christ he must have some competent knowledge of the nature of Christ and his mediatory office and satisfaction there must be a firm and lively assent to the truth of the Gospel a sense of the evil of sin and the inability of all other means besides the righteousness of Christ to recover the sinner out of his lost condition But now a fiducial reliance upon Christ for salvation is the last compleating act For when the sinner being driven from all other refuges whatsoever doth not only hunger and thirst after the righteousness of Christ but actually renounceth every thing for him and embraceth him as his Saviour casting his soul and all his spiritual concernments into Christ's hands and resting upon him alone for salvation as he is offered in the Gospel this is a justifying and saving faith As a self-justiciary relieth upon his own righteousness so a true believer râ—steth upon Christ's righteousness This is set forth by coming unto Christ Mat. 11.28 Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest Come unto me that is believe in me place your hope and confidence in my righteousness The Lord Jesus in the Gospel is set forth as a propitiation he was sent to be the Redeemer of lost sinners Now when a person being affected with his lost estate sensible of the wrath of God and the insupportableness of it and labouring under the burden of sin doth come unto Christ as such and make use of him to that end namely to be his Redeemer and doth rest upon him to make atonement for his soul this is to believe with a justifying faith Joh. 6.35 He that cometh unto me shall never hunger and he that believeth in me shall never thirst It is a looking unto Christ alone for redemption and deliverance upon his account As the brazen Serpent was an eminent type of the Lord Jesus Num. 21.8 9. so the Israelites looking up thereunto did signifie our faith in Jesus by whom our diseases are healed When a poor sinner is stung in his conscience with the fiery Serpent of the guilt of sin and being filled with dread in apprehension of the sad consequents of it doth look up unto Christ as held forth upon the pole of the Gospel to be a Saviour and doth rest upon him expecting redemption only through his blood here are the workings of a justifying faith Joh. 3.14 15. As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the wilderness even so must the Son of man be lifted up by dying on the Cross or by the publication and tender of his death and righteousness in the Gospel That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life This is the third particular which I intended to commend to you for opening the nature of faith which is the bond of our union with Jesus Christ 4. Wherever and in what soul soever there is this fiducial reliance upon Christ and his righteousness in a saving way there is also as a necessary companion thereof an universal subjection to the will of Christ and a ready submission to his government This I add in the last place to prevent if it be possible the abuse of this doctrine by carnal hearts and to stop the mouth of those clamours which are raised by some against it and the aspersions which they cast upon this evangelical truth as if it were not a doctrine according to godliness Will such be ready to say This doctrine will imbolden sinners in their presumption and vain confidence If to believe savingly on Christ be to rest on him for salvation who will not think that be doth believe What carnal wretch will not say that he doth rely upon Christ But mind it Sirs it is not a thinking or saying he doth rely upon Christ will give a man an interest in him but when he doth rest upon him indeed as he is propounded for a Saviour in the Gospel And such a faith will purifie the heart and cause the person believing to bring forth fruits of holiness in the conversation Else it will be an evidence that he doth but pretend thereunto and doth not rest upon Christ in truth For although it be not the work
Lord Jesus is for the intimacy and closeness of it one of the deep things of God p. 20 This needful to be premised on a fourfold account p. 21 Concl. 2. Although the Vnion of a Believer with the Lord Jesus is in it self a Mystery not easie to be attained as to right apprehensions of it yet it is a point of great concernment to be studied p. 24 And that for three Reasons p. 25 Concl. 3. Instead of curiously prying into this Mystery and the manner of this Vnion further than is revealed in the Scriptures our principal design should be to secure it to our selves that we are sharers therein p. 28 This Conclusion backt with three Arguments p. 29 CHAP. III. Vnion with Christ distinguished into that which is By way of 1. External Adherence only 2. Spiritual Implantation p. 31 The first member of this Distinction opened in four Positions p. 32 Pos 1. The principal Bonds or Ligaments whereby this Union with Christ by way of outward Adhaesion is wrought are four 1. An approbation and acknowledgment of the doctrines of Christianity p. 34 2. A professed subjection to the Ordinances of Christ p. 35 3. Some common workings on the heart p. 36 4. A measure of reformation in the Life p. 37 Pos 2. It is a great priviledge and mercy considered in it self for a man or woman to be taken thus neer unto Christ and in this sense to be in him by way of external adhaerence p. 38 The advantage of it discovered in four things p. 39 Pos 3. When persons are thus only in Christ by external adhaerence though they may abide with him for a time yet at last there will be made a separation betwixt them and this Union will be dissolved p. 42 Three special wayes how this sort of Union is dissolved p. 43 Pos 4. The state and condition of such as are thus only in Christ by outward adhaesion and do not improve this priviledge that they may be indeed what they profess to be is a wretched and miserable estate p. 46 The misery of their estate set forth in four things p. 47 CHAP. IV. Vnion with Christ by way of spiritual ingrafture described and the branches of the description explained p. 55 1. Branch The general nature of the grace of Union it is a persons relation to Jesus Christ p. 56 Under this head three things to be observed p. 57 2. Br. A note of difference whereby it is distinguished from other relations It is the special relation which Christians have to the Son as Mediator of the Covenant of Reconciliation p. 61 A threefold Relation betwixt Christ and the children of men p. 62 3. Br. The Subâ—ects of this Union to whom it doth appertain viz. Believers And that on a fourfold account p. 66 4. Br. The foundation of this Vnion on which it is bottomed On a Believers intimate conjunction with Christ p. 69 5. Bâ— The blessed effects or consequents that flow from this Union 1. Hereupon they are accounted as one with Christ p. 70 This appeareth in four respects p. 71 2. Hereby their spiritual estate is fundamentally changed p. 73 This doctrine of the change of a mans spiritual state of great concernment to be studied For three Reasons p. 74 This point opened under six Heads p. 78 3. The third consequent of Union is An effectual application of all the Benefits of Redemption p. 87 A threefold Application of those benefits 1. External p. 89 2. Internal but conditional p. 90 3. Effectual and saving p. 92 CHAP. V. The manner how Christ and a Believer are united in eight gradual Propositions Prop. 1. The children of men by nature are separated from Christ and strangers unto him p. 94 Prop. 2. Over and above their separation from Christ they are actually joyned to such objects as are utterly inconsistent with their Union with the Son of God p. 95 They are 1. In convenant with sin p. 96 2. Contracted to the Law as a covenant of life p. 98 Prop. 3. The first work that is wrought upon the soul of a man in order to his conjunction and oneness with Jesus Christ is the withdrawment of the soul from those objects to which it hath been joyned in opposition to Christ p. 99 Prop. 4. The divorce and separation of a person from sin that he may be united to Christ is principally accomplished by a fourfold work p. 101 1. Conviction p. 102 2. Consideration p. 105 3. Compunction p. 106 4. The grace of Repentance p. 108 Prop. 5. To deaden a sinner to the Law and to take him off from seeking justification thereby that he may be united to Christ God is pleased to make use of a twofold special means 1. The Law it self 2. The body of Christ p. 109 1. The Law it self doth deaden a sinner to the Law by ministring knowledge p. 110 Of 1. The terms of justification by the Law p. 111 2. The spiritualness of the Law p. 112 3. The rigour and severity of the Law p. 114 2. The sufferings of Christ in his body deaden a sinner to the Law by making a threefold discovery p. 117 1. Of the sinfulness and damnableness of sin p. 118 2. Of the inexorableness of Gods justice p. 119 3. That there is no other way to make reconciliation p. 120 Prop. 6. The way of actual conjunction betwixt Christ and his people when they are thus divorced from sin and deadned to the Law is to be conceived thus 1. The Lord Christ by his Spirit taketh possession of them and dwelleth in them 2. Believers through faith take hold of Christ and get into him And so they are knit together and become one p. 121 From hence ariseth a twofold union 1. Natural 2. Legal CHAP. VI. 1. The Natural Union betwixt Christ and Believers The bond whereof is the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them p. 123 This Natural Vnion opened in five particulars p. 124 Four Reasons why the Spirit of Regeneration is called Christ in us p. 132 2. A legal conjunction and oneness thereupon whereof justifying faith is the bond Opened in four particulars p. 134 1. The Scripture mentions a fourfold faith 1. Historical p. 136 2. Temporary p. 138 3. Of miracles p. 140 4. Justâ—fying p. 141 2. Justifying faith hath Christ himself for the special Object upon which it is exercised p. 142 3. The ultimate compleating act of justifying faith is a fiducial reliance upon Christ p. 143 4. Wheresoever there is this fiducial reliance upon Christ in a saving way there is also as a necessary concomitant thereof an universal subjection to the will of Christ p. 146 Pâ—op 7. From the Mystical Union of a Believer with Christ doth flow another sert of Vnion betwixt them whereof love is the Bond and is commonly called A Moral Union p. 148. That this Moral Union may be improved as an evidence of the former our love to Christ must have four properties It must be 1. Sincere p. 153 2.
brought to light wherein the way is revealed for restoring fallen sinners to their primitive happiness or conducting souls to everlasting bliss God hath graciously pleased to declare this way by the Scriptures and to leave it upon record in the Word of the Gospel and here we have the substance or summary of that Record viz. That God is the giver of eternal Life and that this life is in his Son c. If you examine the connexion or dependance which the words of the Text have with and upon the foregoing passages of the Chapter You will evidently find our Apostle is herein giving a succinct account of the great foundation-truths which are proposed to be the object of a Christians Faith by closing with which we do eminently and signaly advance the glory of God and by disbelieving whereof we are said to make him a lyar Our faith is to be built upon the word of the Lord to be bottomed upon the Record which God hath given concerning his Son And this saith the Apostle is the Record That God hath given us eternal Life c. The better to clear this coherence and so the genuine import and scope of these words let us a little cast our eyes back upon the context or the verse immediately preceding the Text wherein we may note two things 1. The nature and excellency of the grace of faith or believing on Christ ver 10. former part He that believeth on the Son hath the witness in himself 1. For the nature of Faith it is a believing on the Son so it is usually set forth in the dialect of the Holy Ghost Act. 16.31 Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thine house Joh. 3.36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life This is the saving act of Faith which will bring a soul to Heaven a believing on the Son And therefore I might touch by the way on that common distinction as useful to be considered that there is a threefold act of Faith or three waies of Believing in reference unto Christ There is a believing 1. That Jesus is the Christ Credere Christum Christo. In Christum 2. Jesus Christ 3. On the Lord Jesus Christ 1. There is a believing that Jesus is the Christ an assent unto the truth of this principle that he who was born of the Virgin Mary is the true Messiah and Mediator sent of God to be the Saviour of Mankind So the very Devils believe As they know there is one God so they acknowledg this principle that Jesus is the Son of God and the only Redeemer of lost sinners Hence it is that they are so unwearied in their endeavors to hinder poor souls in closing with Christ and that they labour by all manner of false suggestions to draw their affections from the Lord Jesus Mark 1.24 The unclean spirit cried out Let us alone thou Jesus of Nazareth I know thee who thou art the Holy one of God And that herein the Father of lies spake the very truth you will find by the testimony of the Spirit of God himself v. 34. He cast out many Devils and suffered not the Devils to speak because they knew him 2. There is a Believing Jesus Christ i.e. a subscribing to the truth of the Doctrines that he delivered which are contained in the Scriptures the Word of Christ and Preached by Ministers of the Gospel in his name Thus a Simon Magus may believe he may own the verity of Christs Word though in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity Acts 8.12 13. When they believed Philip Preaching the things concerning the Kingdom of God and the Name of Jesus Christ then Simon himself believed also Thus Nicodemus believed before he was instructed in the necessity or acquainted with the grace of regeneration he was convinced by the Miracles wrought by Christ that he was a teacher sent of God and consequently that the Doctrines which he taught were the truths of God Joh. 3.2 As a carnal person who never tasted of saving grace may have much knowledg in his understanding of the will of Christ so he may be under such convictions upon his judgment as in a sort to approve the Word of Christ Rom 2.17.18 3. But lastly there is a believing on the Lord Jesus When a man is so powerfully convinced of the evil of sin and his own obnoxiousness to the wrath of God and the heart so fully perswaded of the excellency of Christ and the sufficiency of his Righteousness together with the utter insufficiency of all other wayes of deliverance that thereupon he doth actually close with Christ upon Gospel terms and make application to him casting himself upon the Son of God for Salvation and renouncing all things for the enjoyment of him Although believing on Christ doth not alwayes signify a saving faith as see Joh. 2.23 yet for the most part it doth and so may fitly be made use of by way of distinction It being observed by some that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a phrase peculiar to the Holy Ghost and not used by prophane Authors This is the saving act of Faith A believing on or in the Son Joh. 11.25 26. He that believeth in me though he were dead yet he shall live and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never dye For mark it Sirs that assent of the Judgment unto the great truths of the Gospel which is required of the Lord and is well pleasing in his sight is not a bare naked lifeless assent but a compounded and operative assent such as doth ingage the heart to comply with those truths and brings the whole Soul in subjection unto them Rom. 10.10 With the heart man believeth unto righteousness That 's for the nature of Faith It is a believing on the Son 2. For the excellency and preciousness of thus believing He that doth so hath the witness in himself i.e. in his own Soul and Spirit and Conscience He hath it graven upon the very tables of his heart But what is this witness which a Believer hath in himself Answ You may understand it either of these three waies 1. In relation to his spiritual state He hath a fundamental evidence that he is a child of God and in covenant with him here is sufficient matter if rightly improved whereupon to raise a testimony of this thing It is faith which brings a man under the favor of God and the act of believing is a sure token that the person is endowed with the grace or habit of Faith Spiritual actions as they must proceed from a Divine principle so they are evidences of that principle from whence they do proceed 1 Joh. 5.1 Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ not with a bare assent of the Judgment but he that believeth it with the heart as before * When a particular duty is produced as an evidence of a state of Salvation or hath a promise of grace and
humanam divinam prout nititur testimonio vel humano vel divino Ames de fid divin verit If it be built upon Education or Custom the Opinions of Learned men or the Traditions of our Fathers and of the Church and the like humane evidence then it cannot amount no higher than to an humane faith And it is to befeared that the faith of the generality of people called Christians is of this sort onely They believe the Christian Religion to be the true Religion and the Bible to contain the word of God Why Because all their forefathers were of that Religion and they were bred and brought up in that way such Ministers have told them so and they see many wise men are of that minde They have the same grounds for their belief as Mahometans and other Idolaters have for theirs And as one well observeth these are Christians rather by chance than by choice If their lot had fallen amongst Heathens and worshippers of stocks and stones for the same reasons they would have been of their Religion they would have opposed the Gospel upon the very same grounds that now they embrace it Divine truths may be believed by a meer humane faith if the testimony be humane upon which they are believed * It being an impossibility that the assent to the matters of faith should rise higher or stand firmer than the assent to the testimony upon which those things are believed My assent to the object believed is according to my assent to the medium on which I believe it Stillingf Rational account p. 112. A divine faith must be built upon a divinetestimony when a man doth believe the word of God from those divine Marks and Characters which are stamped upon it from that mighty and supernatural efficacy which it hath whereby God doth bear witness unto his word Thus the Apostle observeth touching the Thessalonians that they received divine truths upon divine testimony they received it as the â—ord of God for it came to them not in word onely but in power and in the holy Ghost and in much assurance 1 Thes 1.5 i. e. It had such a powerful influence upon their hearts and consciences that thereby they were assured it was of God 2. There is a Temporary faith which goeth a step further than the former When the judgement is not onely convinced of the divine original and authority of the Scriptures but those convictions work in some measure upon the affections that they are taken with the goodness and excellency of them When the heart is carryed out in a kinde of love and liking to the Person revealing and the Doctrines revealed and there are some degrees of inclination towards a closure with those Doctrines onely they are raised in them but for a fit whist they are in a good mood as we say and it endureth but for a time it cannot abide the trial when any great difficulties attend their obedience unto the word then they cast it off And for this reason it is called a temporary faith Such a faith you meet with in some of the followers of Christ whom yet he durst not trust for he knew they were but hypocrites though now they followed him yet shortly they would set against him when the Scene was altered they would betray him and of false friends become his professed enemies John 2.23 24. Many believed in his name when they saw the Miracles which he did Jesus did not commit himself unto them because he knew all men Such was the faith of those others mentioned as his Disciples John 6.66 From that time many of his Disciples went back and walked no more with him And therefore it is observable what our Saviour spake to the Jews that believed on him John 8.31 If ye continue in my word then are ye â—â—y Disciples indeed Then are ye my Disciples that is then it will be evident that you are then you will give undeniable proof * â—es tum demum dicuntâ—â— fieri cum inci piunt patefieri that your faith is of the right kind else you may gracious habits the Lord Jesus taketh hold on their souls and by putting forth this habit into act and exercise they receive and take hold of the Lord Jesus Col. 2.6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk in him i. e. as you have believed on him and imbraced or received him by believing That is the first thing I would commend unto you viz. this Scripture distinction of the sorts of faith 2. This justifying faith hath the Lord Jesut Christ himself for the special immediate object with whom it closeth and upon whom it is exercised It is Christ himself who is primarily tendered in the offers of the Gospel and therefore true faith of this fort goeth forth unto him The special consideration under which a Believer goeth forth to Christ in the actings of faith for justification it is as dying and satisfying the justice of God and therefore usually called faith in his blood and the great incouragement whereupon a Believer is emboldened to act his faith is the tender of the Gospel and the promises thereof but it is Christ himself which is the special immediate object upon which faith as justifying is acted and with whom it closeth The sinner being incouraged by the promise doth embrace Christ in the promise Hence it is commonly stiled faith in Christ and a believing on the Lord Jesus Christ Acts 20.21 I have kept back nothing that was profitable unto you c. testifying both to the Jews and also the Greeks repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ. Mark it as repentance hath God for its ultimate object it is a turning from sin and returning unto God even unto him so faith hath Christ for its special object The great fundamental act of faith whereupon finners are justified is conversant about Christ Act. 26.18 That they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance amongst them that are sanctified by faith that is in me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by faith that is acted upon me upon Jesus for they are his words It is by faith exerted and acted upon him that forgiveness of sins is conveyed Unto that it seemeth to relate and the other words to come in as a parenthesis as if it had been that they may receive forgiveness of sins by faith that is in me and also an inheritance amongst them that are sanctified It hath sometimes appeared as strange to me to meet with descriptions of the nature of justifying faith without so much as the mention of Jesus Christ the object upon whom it is acted See the process of the workings of the heart of S. Paul in believing and how he taught in the Churches of Christ First he was deadned as to expectation of life from the Law the first Covenant and then he addresseth himself for justification unto Christ by believing on him who is the only Mediator of
faith or faith as it is a spiritual act and work not the works of faith that justifie a sinner in the sight of God yet that faith which giveth him a title to the righteousness of the Mediator by whom alone he can be justified must be an operative and working faith such as purgeth the conscience from dead works and bringeth the soul into subjection unto Christ's Laws and Government To this purpose the words of the Apostle James are observable Cap. 2.14 What doth it profit my brethren if a man say he hath faith and have not works can faith save him It is not said though he have faith and have not works for where there is faith in the heart there will be new obedience in the life but if he say that he hath it if he be a pretender to it can such a dead lifeless pretended faith save him Christ is held forth in the Gospel not only as a Redeemer but as a Lord and a Law-giver and these are inseparably connected and knit together He that presumeth to divide between what God hath joyned together that will accept of Jesus as a Saviour but not as a Soveraign doth not indeed receive the Christ of God but an idol stamed by his own heart Whom he doth save he will rule and govern Heb. 5.9 He became the Anthor of eternal salvation unto all them that obeyed him I shall not need to trouble you with controversal points as whether faith quà justifying under that very notion or consideration doth receive Christ as a Lord This is acknowledged on both hands that the faith which justifieth doth receive Christ in al his offices as a Prophet to instruct and guide us in the ways of God as a King to exercise rule and dominion over us and as a Priest to reconciâ—e and make intercession for us If we come to Christ for salvation we must take his yoke upon us Mat. 11.28 29. For a dividing faith is a false hypocritical faith to whom Christ giveth remission of sins he giveth repentance also He saveth us by the washing of Regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost So that if we receive him as a Saviour we must have him as a Sanctifier for he saveth by sanctifying and conducteth sinners to eternal peace by guiding their feet in the ways of peace Thus I have ended together the mystical union betwixt believers and the Lord Jesus which I mainly drove at and intend when I shall speak of it afterwards as the foundation of our communion with Christ and receivings from him as also the sixth Proposition laid down to open the manner of the Conjunction between Christ and his people and their oneness thereupon There are two Propositions more yet behinde which I come now to insist upon that I may finish my answer to the third General Head 7. Propos 7. From this mystical union of a Believer with Christ or being ingraffed into Christ there doth flow another sort of union between them whereof love is the bond which may be well improved as an evidence of the former and it is usually called a moral union Such an oneness as there is between the dearest friends whose hearts are linked together in the bond of amity and mutual affection We say sometimes of intimate friends they are so nearly conjoyned as if they were but one as if the same soul did animate both in their bodies * Amor non est desiderium aut appetitus ut ab omnibus bactenus traditum Nam cum potimur amatâ re non manet appetitus Est igitur affectus quo cum re amatá aut animur aut unionem perpetuamus Scalig. Exerc. 301. Anima est ubi amat potiùs quam ubi animat Deut. 13.6 Thy friend which is as thine own soul So are the Lord Jesus and his peculiar people knit together He hath a very dear and inflamed affection to them He loves them that love him Prov. 8.17 His delights are with the sons of men Prov. 8.31 And on the other hand he is in their hearts so as to live and die together It is the greatest pleasure believers have in the world to be contemplating the excellencies of Christ and conversing with him it is that which doth yield them the most solid content and satisfaction and they are still hungry and thirsting after the further enjoyment of him as if they could never have enough of fellowship and society with him John 21.17 Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time lovest thou me And he said unto him Lord thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee He could hardly bear it to have his love to Christ called in question This union is notably set forth in the Song of Solomon You have many passages for it I will transcribe a few of them See the workings of their hearts towards Christ Cap. 2.3 4 5.6 7. As the apple-tree amongst the trees of the Wood so is my belâ—ved amongst the sons I sate under his shadow with great delight and his fruit was sweet to my taste He brought me to the banquetting house and his banner over me was love Stay me with flagons comfort me with apples for I am sick of love His left hand is under my head and his right hand doth embrace me I charge you O ye Daughters of Jerusalem by the Roes and by the Hinds of the field that ye stir not up nor awake my love till he please as if the Church had said O take heed of displeasing the Lord Jesus there is nothing will cut me so deeply to the heart as if you despise him and sin against him He is the life of my life and the strength of my soul it is acquaintance with him that putteth sweetness into all my accommodations they would be comfortless comforts were it not for Christ I am never better then when I am in communion with him Again cap. 3.1 2 3 4. By night on my bed I sought him when my soul loveth I sought him but I found him not I will rise now and go about the City in the streets and in the broad wayes I will seek him whom my soul loveth I sought him but I found him not The watchmen that go about the City found me to whom I said saw ye him whom my soul loveth It was but a little that I passed from them but I found him whom my soul loveth I held him and would not let him go till I had brought him into my Mothers house and into the Chamber of her that conceived me as if the soul of a believer should say how much doth my Spirit long after Christ My thoughts are not onely upon him by day but my meditation is concerning him in the night season And if he doth hide his face I have no rest in my Spirit I make use of all means to recover the light of his countenance I pray and seek and cry and watch I converse with this Christian