Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	age_n	church_n	time_n	1,732	5	3.5963	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26545	A paraphrase on the canticles, or, Song of Solomon by the late learned and pious Protestant, Thomas Ager.	Ager, Thomas.	1680 (1680)	Wing A760; ESTC R6006	180,518	449

obtain Christs love it would utterly be contemned that is of Christ Now by substance of the House he meaneth all works done in the flesh none of all which can procure the love of God to a Soul but are all utterly contemned and despised the assurance there of being attained unto by faith alone These words therefore must utterly confound all opinion of works within us and destroy all confidence in the flesh and it being the Gospel it must teach us also so to expound all those Texts of Scripture that seem to attribute something to works in attaining to the love of Christ that the sense may be agreeable to what is here writen VERSE VIII We have a little Sister and she hath 〈◊〉 breasts What shall we do for our Sister in the day when she shall be spoken for THese are the words of the Church wherein she bemoaneth her little Sister when the day comes that she is even ready for marriage what shall we do for her in the day when she shall be spoken for We are not to understand by the little Sister only the Gentiles as the most do which then when Solomon wrote this Book were without the word for then how shall it be understood now seeing the Gentiles are called Therefore seeing this bemoaning of the little Sister is the voice of the Church in all ages such a sense must be found as will agree to all times Understand then by the little Sister all those that are unlearned in the Doctrine of the Gospel whither they be Jews or Gentiles within the Pale of the Church or without all that belong to the Election of grace and are yet uncall'd All these are comprehended under the Title of the little Sister which first or last shall be spoken for Little she is not in number but in regard of knowledg of the way to Life and Salvation A Sister she is yet not of whole blood she is Sister by the Father but not by the Mother For as Abraham had two Sons which were brethren by the Father but not by the Mother So hath God Almighty two sorts of people in the world and but two which are brethren by generation but not by regenertion They are brethern by the Father as proceeding all from Adam but not brethren by the Mother being not yet new born in the Church And therefore she says she hath yet no breasts that is she hath not breasts of the true Mother being not yet born This little Sister she bewaileth and bemoaneth not so much for the time present as she doth in thinking on the day when she shall be spoken for What shall we do for our little Sister in that day Which bemoaning is always among the Godly in the Church and will be to the end of the world What shall I do for my Husband my Wife my Son my Daughter my Friend But what is meant here by the day when she shall be spoken for Quest I answer Ans the spouseman is the Lord Jesus Christ himself and the day when the little Sister is spoken for is when she feeleth her condemnation by the Law They and all they that feel their condemnation by the Law they and all they are spoken for by the Lord Jesus Christ Now she bemoaneth her little Sister in this condition what shall we do for her that she may be married to Christ And in that she doth so bewail her and make it her principal care to help her it giveth us to understand this That the principal care of the true Church of God for her little Sister is that as soon as she perceiveth her to be spoken for or condemned by the Law to make dilligent enquiry how to give her in marriage to the Lord Jesus Christ And the Reason is first because to Solemnize the Marriage between Christ and the Soul is a work of the greatest difficulty that ever was therefore the Church may well say what shall we do for our little Sister in that day And also it is the most destructive to Satans Kingdom of all things and therefore the marriage is most strongly opposed by the Devil and his Angels But chiefly because unless the Soul be married to Christ the compound between the Conscience and the Law can never be dissolved or untied but the same bargain or Covenant that was made with man at first remains in force which bindeth all men to the penalty which is to endure the wrath of God for ever This informeth us that there are but a very few that pertain to the true Church of God because there are so few that make it their principal care to comfort their little Sister in the day of her distress When she is afflicted with her sin and feeleth her condemnation by the Law and is much broken and distressed by reason of great tribulations and by these things is spoken for by the Lord Jesus Christ that she might be matched to himself instead of making it the principal care to give her in Marriage to the Son of God by faith alone they endeavour with great earnestness to present her to Christ by the works of the Law Instead of dissolving the compound and making void the Covenant that was made with man at first and matching the Soul to Christ in an Everlasting Covenant that the guilt of her sin might be removed and that she might be justified in the sight of God they endeavour in the first place as the only thing needful to Solemnize the contract between her Conscience and the Law Which is according to St. Rom. 7. Pauls Allegory but to present her an Adultress before God for which sin seeing she is separated thereby from the true God she is bound in captivity under the guilt of sin and is in bondage to Satan and the wrath of God for evermore All people therefore must learn from hence to imitate the true Church of God which is to lay down the true grounds of consolation for their little Sister to rest on in the day of her distress that as soon as she is spoken for and feeleth her condemnation by the Law and that she hath no breasts of her own to nourish her in her misery then to become instrumental to marry her to the Lord Jesus Christ by faith alone Now that the match may be made and that she may be wedded to the Son of God she must acknowledg her death by the Law and aske forgiveness for her sins with a believing heart Rom. 7. then is she free according to St. Paul from her first Husband the Law being dead unto it through faith in the Son of God For in that she feeleth and confesseth her death by the Law the Law is also become dead having lost its power and dominion Then may are assure her that the compound made with man at first is dissolved between the Conscience and the Law and may also Solemnize the contract between Christ and the Soul This is the duty we