Selected quad for the lemma: city_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
city_n	abode_n	place_n	zion_n	21	3	8.9377	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A69777	The intercourses of divine love betwixt Christ and his Church, or, The particular believing soul metaphorically expressed by Solomon in the first chapter of the Canticles, or song of songs : opened and applied in several sermons, upon that whole chapter : in which the excellencies of Christ, the yernings of his gospels towards believers, under various circumstances, the workings of their hearts towards, and in, communion with him, with many other gospel propositions of great import to souls, are handles / by John Collinges ...	Collinges, John, 1623-1690.	1683 (1683)	Wing C5324; ESTC R16693	839,627	984

in Pharaoh 's Chariots The Text affords us two Propositions 1 Prop. The Believing Soul is Christ's Associate or Companion his intimate Friend 2 Prop. That Christ hath likened such a Soul to a company of Horses in Pharaoh's Chariots I shall begin with the first of these The Believing Soul is Christ's Love his Friend his Fellow or intimate Associate The word signifieth all these There is a great deariness and friendly fellowship betwixt the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spouse whether by the Spouse we understand the Believing Soul or the Church which is made up of such Souls The word almost in this Form from the same root is translated fellow Judg. 11. 37. I and my fellows Psal 45. 14. The Virgins her Companions He had before called her the fairest amongst Women v. 8. to shew his value and estimate of her he here calls her his Love his Friend his Fellow or Companion It is a very sweet meditation a pleasant voice surely to hear him whom God calleth his fellow and who thought it no robbery to be equal with the Father stooping to Dust and Ashes and to the Worms of the Earth and calling them his Love his Friends his Fellows Surely it is good for us to stand here a little and understand the significancy and meaning of this expression inquiring 1. How Christ approveth himself his Spouses Companion and Fellow 2. How he who knoweth not how to complement like vain man by his influence upon and by his Communion with his Church and with the Believer declares her to be indeed his Love and himself to be her near and most intimate friend 1. Christ hath made himself our Fellow by his taking of our Nature upon him He was from all Eternity God the Father's Fellow God himself calleth him so Zech. 13. 7. Awake O Shepherd Awake O Sword against the Shepherd and against the man that is my Fellow Christ applieth that Text to himself Mat. 26. 31. The wise man telleth us Prov. 8. 30. that from Eternity He was by him as one brought up with him and was daily his delight And the Apostle tells us he thought it no robbery to be equal with the Father By his Incarnation he made himself our Fellow Heb. 2. 14. Forasmuch as the Children were partakers of flesh and blood he also took part with them And v. 11. Both he who sanctifieth and those who are sanctified are all of one wherefore he is not ashamed to call them Brethren But I shall not insist on this which amounteth to no more than a Fellowship in one and the same common Nature and thus though there be this peculiar in it that it was for the Spouse's sake that he took upon him Humane Nature for I take that to be a Romantick Fancy for which there is neither any Scripture or found Reason That if the World had not been to have been Redeemed yet God would have sent his Son to be Incarnate yet in this sense he is in a sense a Fellow to all the Sons and Daughters of Men. I shall therefore pass over this and come to shew you how Christ approveth himself as a Fellow or Companion to all those who are true Believers You read in holy Writ of Fellow-Citizens and Fellow-Heirs Eph. 2. 19. Eph. 3. 6. of Fellow-helpers and fellow-labourers 2 Cor. 8. 23. 1 Thes 3. 2. of fellow prisoners and fellow souldiers Col. 4. 10. Philemon 23. Phil. 2. 25. I think under one of these Heads I may reduce whatsoever I need say for the opening of this Notion 1. Christ is with his Saints a Fellow-Citizen in the City of their God The City of God signifieth either the Church of God or Heaven Take it in either Notion Christ is our Fellow-Citizen he is the Head of the Church Believers are the Members The Head of the Body and the other Members make up but one Body they are fellow-members of the same Body The Mayor of your City thô the most dignified Citizen yet is a Fellow-Citizen The Saints are all Fellow-Citizens Eph. 3. 6. Christ though their Head is their Fellow-Citizen he calls them Brethren Heb. 2. 11 12. saying I will declare thy Name unto my Brethren in the midst of the Church I will sing praise unto thee Do Fellow-Citizens dwell in a City compacted together Christ dwells in his Church He walks in the midst of the Golden Candlesticks He dwelleth in the Believing Soul his dwelling-dwelling-place is in Zion in his holy Mountain Zech. 2. 11. I will dwell in the midst of thee He saith He will make his abode with the Soul that loveth him and keepeth his Commandments I in you and you in me saith he Joh. 15. He dwelleth in their hearts by Faith Eph. 3. 17. His Spirit dwells in them Rom. 8. 9. But the Notion of a Fellow-Citizen speaketh more than Cohabitation A Partnership in the same Rights and Priviledges So doth a Co-heirship speak a Partnership in the same Enjoyments Thus Christ is their Fellow-Citizen their Fellow-Heir they are Partners with Christ in the same Priviledges in the same Enjoyments Of his fulness they receive grace for grace And for the New Jerusalem the City of God which is above he hath willed them a Partnership with him in his glory Joh. 17. 22. And the glory which thou hast given me I have given them that they may be one even as we are one Only there is this observable difference Fellow-Citizens and Fellow-Heirs amongst men are Notions which denote an equality in Priviledges and Enjoyments but not so between Christ and us They are Heirs of the same Grace with Christ 1 Joh. 16. Of his fulness they receive grace for grace But with this difference the People of God have the Spirit given by measure to them To him the Spirit is not given by measure Joh. 3. 34. The People of God have different measures they have different measures of Faith Rom. 12. 3. There is a measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ Eph. 4. 13. This they ought to aim at but none in this life attains it they are Heirs of the same glory with Christ Joh. 17. 22. but not of the same degrees of glory His glory shall be the glory of the Sun their 's but as the glory of the Stars they shall be where he is they shall Reign with him but in the Throne he shall be greater than they are his glory shall be an excelling glory The Apostle calls them Heirs and Co-heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 8. 17. In this sense the Lord approveth himself their Companion their Fellow 2. Christ and his Spouse are fellow-servants fellows in the same work What is the work of Believers but to glorifie God This is their great business Whether saith the Apostle you eat or drink or whatsoever you do let all be done to the glory of God What was the work of Christ while he was upon the Earth Joh. 17. 4. I have glorified thee on the Earth I have finished the

former Proposition where I told you it signified a powerful gracious influence of the Holy Spirit upon the Soul persuading alluring and commanding the Soul's Obedience It is an act both sweet and powerful Sweet for God draws with the Cords of Love as he speaks Jer. 31. 3. yet powerful for the Soul is made willing the will is not forced but melted renewed and changed and contrariwise inclined to what was before its inclination So as my meaning is that when God hath once by the sweet and powerful influence of his Spirit upon the Soul of a man allured persuaded and commanded the Soul to its duty then it will run after him The only question to be spoken to is what is meant by Running When I opened the Text I told you of several things imported by this term I shall now more largely discourse them 1. Running implieth willingness to the motion It implieth motion and so is opposed to lying or si●ting still It is a saying of Augustine Certum est nos velle quum volumus agere quum agimur It is saith he certain that we will when we are made willing that we act when we are acted sed ille facit ut velimus it is God that maketh us to be willing He giveth to will and to do Men may run that are not originally willing it is a mischief that they fear which makes them run but yet even then they move willingly though it be a danger imminent upon them which maketh them so willing But this motion is a much sweeter motion they are made willing first and then they move out of choice willingly until the Soul be renewed and changed it moveth not at all toward God it may move to natural actions from that principle of natural life of which it is possessed It may move to moral actions from that principle of life which every reasonable Soul is possessed of But it moveth not to any truly spiritual actions because it wanteth a principle of Spiritual life But this being infused in regeneration to will being given unto it it moveth in the ways of God and that from a principle within itself You saith the Apostle Eph. 2. 1. hath he quickned who were dead in trespasses and sins It moveth not as a meer Machine or Instrument from the power and force of a forreign agent but as a living creature from itself and a principle within itself Yet not without a divine influence look as it is in natural motions though they flow from a a principle of life in a man yet they are not without an influence of more ordinary common providence upholding our natural faculties hence the Apostle saith of God in him we live move and have our being So it is as to our Spiritual motions the Soul moveth from the principles of Spiritual life infused into it from the principles of the new creature but yet not without the influence of the Spirit of Grace upon it upholding those habits of Grace which are infused into the Soul and exciting it to and assisting of it in Spiritual actions Without me saith Christ you can do nothing he doth not say without me you cannot do much or you cannot do great things but you can do nothing But yet to will is present with the Soul yea and to do though it hath no strength to do what it would And as the Soul hath need of a daily influence of Grace in its ordinary course of Spiritual action so it hath need of more special and powerful influences when it meets with a work more difficult for saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 3. 5. We are not sufficient to think one good thought as of our selves for now our sufficiency is from God This is now Gratia co-operans co-operating Grace in the exercises of which we are not mcerly passive as in the reception of the first Grace as it was with the Israelites in their journey towards Canaan Numb 9. 17. 18. c. They kept pace with the Cloud and with the Pillar of fire when the Cloud moved they moved when the Cloud stood still they stood still At the Commandment of the Lord they journied and at the Commandment of the Lord they pitched as long as the Cloud abode upon the Tabernacle they rested in their Tents And when the Cloud tarried long upon the Tabernacle many days then they journied not So it is with such as are Israelites indeed in their spiritual motions toward the new Hierusalem the City of God If the Grace of God assists not they move not and according to the degree of its influence they move more or less But yet they move and willingly move though not without the co-operating and assisting Grace of God 2. Secondly Running implyeth strength in the motion thus it is opposed to creeping or walking saintly The weak man may creep and go slowly but he cannot run When the Lord draweth the Soul will not only move towards God and that freely and willingly but it will move strongly it will find strength against sin and strength unto duties Job 17. 9. The righteous man will hold on in his way and he that is of clean hanas shall grow stronger and stronger God commandeth that we should love h m with all our strength Luk. 10. 27. When the Lord draweth the Soul then it runneth with all its strength loveth God with a love that is stronger than the Grave then it believeth with a strong saith and obeyeth with a perfect heart While God was present with Sampson though they tied his Hair to a Beam and shut up the Gates of the City he could carry away Beam and Gates though he had no more then the jaw-bone of an Ass he could with it slay a thousand men when God was departed from him he could not get out of his Enemies hands though he had no such opposition when a Soul finds the power and presence of Divine Grace though it hath strong corruptions and meet with strong Temptations yet they are all nothing to it it easily over all becomes more than Conqueror Peter at one time at the command of Christ walks to him upon the Sea at another time wanting the same special assistance is overcome by a silly Maid in the High Priests Hall the opposite Temptation was much the same in both cases viz. from the sear of his life which was in as apparent danger from the Sea as from the Enemies in the Hall of the High Priest 3. Running argues speed so it is opposed to walking a foot-pace or step by step When the Soul is by God drawn unto him and wants not his co-operating Grace drawing him after him it will not only move towards God and that with strength and courage but it will move with nimbleness and readiness As it is with the body sometimes though it hath its usual strength and be able to work as usually yet it is seized with a torpor and laziness there is a dulness and inactivity upon it So it

c. or he shall stay as others chuse to read it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Between my Breasts this term hath no difficulty The Metaphor is either drawn from Lovers which delight to lodge in each others Arms or else as our own Annotations from Mothers giving suck to their Infants who use to give them their Breasts and to lodge them betwixt their Breasts or from Women who use to wear Posies and sweet smelling things upon or betwixt their Breasts for the words all night are not in the Heb. but put in by our Interpreters The meaning is Christ shall have of me what he pleaseth I will do what I can to get him to stay and make his abode with me Some lay some stress upon the term night as if her sense should be in the time of persecution I will keep my communion with the Lord Jesus Christ close But in regard the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not necessarily import the abode of a night only but a stay for some time I cannot lay any stress upon it Some by the breasts understand the heart Whose place is under the left breast The Hebrews understand by the Spouses breasts the two bars of the Ark or the 2 Cherubims Others the 2 Testaments But in Mammis amoris signum There is nothing else meant then that the Spouse would entertain her beloved with the most cordial affectionate expressions and demonstrations of Love that she might keep him the longer with her Mercer observes That the Spouse had before commended her Spikenard for a sweet smell but she here riseth up higher Though saith she my grace be sweet yet my Christ is more sweet for he is as a bundle of Myrrh c. You have by the Apostle Peter a succinct and plain exposition of this Text To you therefore who believe he is precious The Propositions of the Text are plainly these 1. Prop. That the Lord Jesus Christ is the Church's and the believing Souls beloved 2. Prop. That the Lord Jesus Christ is to his Spouse a hundle of Myrrh 3. Prop. That the Spouse of Christ will be very covetons that Christ shall abide with her 4. Prop. That in order to Christs abiding with the gracious Soul it will allow him a Room betwixt its breasts 1. Prop. That the Lord Jesus Christ is the beloved of the believing Soul I do not intend to dwell upon this Proposition because I spake to what must be the substance of this discourse when I opened the 7th verse where the Spouse had spake the same thing though by another term There she called him O thou whom my Soul loveth Here she calleth him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My beloved I will only note to you two or three things about this term which learned Interpteters have observed before me 1. That the same letters in the Heb. make up David My David Davids name signifieth beloved and Christ himself was Davids Antitype He was the Son of David Matth. 13. 2. David was a type of Christ 3. Christ is called David Hos 3. 5 c. 2. As the word it self is a term of Love so the Affix makes it to be Vox Fidei the Language of Faith My Beloved The believing Soul fiducially applies Christ and cries with Thomas My Lord My God The natural man upon the common Illumination of the Gospel may discern Christ a lovely Object but the Believer only can call him My Beloved Faith only gives an Interest in Christ 3. I noted to you that the word also signifies a near natural Relation as that of an Uncle or Aunt c. Christ is near akin to the believing Soul he is flesh of their flesh and bone of their bone he took flesh that he might take part with them he loves them as natural Relations but by nature he is not akin to them he is the Well-beloved of God they are Children of wrath but by the Grace of Redemption they are of kin The Kindred arose from the Marriage of the Divine Nature to the Humane Nature and from their marriage to him in Justification Both he that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all one wherefore he is not ashamed to call them Brethren But I shall conclude all I shall say to this Proposition with that of the Apostle If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha I proceed to the second Prop. 2. That the Lord Jesus Christ is to his Spouse a bundle of Myrrh I shall speak to this Proposition 1. By Explication of the term and Confirmation 2. By Application Qu. 1. In what sense is Christ to his Spouse a bundle of Myrrh I noted to you four things concerning Myrrh and two concerning a bundle of Myrrh I shall pursue them alittle and by them give you the sense of the Proposition 1. I told you Myrrh true Myrrh was an exceeding scarce thing and therefore very precious and of great value it grows but in some Countries few have it it is the best thing of the Country a Present for a Prince I proved this Christ is of great value to a poor Soul 1. Not easily procured 2. When procured of inflnite worth He is the Gist of God and God giveth as a King No man comes to the Son but he whom the Father draws In the Country where Myrrh grew but few got it In a Country where Christ is Preached but few get a portion in him One of a City and two of a Tribe God brings to Sion Judas sate under the Myrrh-tree and yet got no Myrrh Many are called but few are chosen If they did not make their Incision into the Myrrh-tree and that in a seasonable time of the year too even the inhabitants of Arabia got no Myrrh Even those that live where Christ is preacht without laying hold upon him and receiving the drops of his blood and that in a seasonable time too in the acceptable time as the Holy Ghost terms it while he may be sound as the Prophet Isaiah speaketh they get no part in Christ The foolish Virgins may come when the Door is shut And our Saviour saith Many shall seek and shall not enter 2. Myrrh when procured was of high value Especially a great quantity a bundle of Myrrh So is Christ Witness the Apostle who counts all things dross and dung that he may win Christ who desires to have nothing but Christ to know nothing but Christ to be nothing but interested in Christ Nay let the Evidence of the thing witness By his name alone we can be saved Acts 4. 12. By him we have remission of sins justification peace with God indeed all spiritual blessings Eph. 1. 3. He is All in all Thus you see in the first sense he is a bundle of Myrrh 2. I told you Myrrh was very medicinal of this the Scripture speaks nothing but Dioscorides and Pliny and other Naturalists tell us large stories of its usefulness They tell us