to and in your soul to inable you further to perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord. 3. After the beatifical visions of God in another life Learn hence the great difference there is betwixt earthly and spiritual objects of our desires and delights The worlds Crums are little valuable tho some are fond of its Loaves The good things of the world derive much of their value from the quantity of them that it throws into our laps The minimum quod sic the least portions of the pleasures profits or honours of it have little of value in them but the least of Christ is exceeding precious the things of the world affect not the Soul or or its necessities they are not certain pledges of greater measures they will go but a little way to fill the creatures emptinesses but it is otherwise with Spiritual blessings in and through Christ Thirdly You may from hence observe the difference betwixt the Hypocrites and the Saints desires after Christ An Hypocrite may pretend some desires after Christ nay he may really desire something of his love consider Christ as a Saviour as one that brings the Soul to life and immortality so he must necessarily be the object of the desire of every man that hath any view of his own mortality and that Eternal State to which man is ordained Even Balaam saith Oh that I might dye the death of the Righteous that my latter end might he like his But mark ye these are the fullest manifestations of Divine Love these are more than the kisses of his Mouth but for those tokens of love which are below these for such manifestations of the love of Christ as tend to the inabling of the Soul to serve and glorify God by the subduing of Mans will to the will of God the mortification of lusts and corrupt affections these are not at all valuable to a sensual man not indeed to any but to the changed and renewed Soul I do not know any one thing from which a Man may take better measure of himself and a good Christian may better distinguish himself from one that walketh in a vain shew and meerly glorifieth in appearance than this To a good Christian the least of Christs distinguisâ—iâ—g love is exceeding precious and more precious than the greatest portions of the worlds goods The workings of the Spirit of Christ within and upon the Soul subduing the will of Man to the will of God mortifying our Members and the deeds of the Body Taking the affections off the Earth and Earthly things and fixing them on more sublime and spiritual objects the giving of the Soul a good hope through grace these are things which we usually count some of the least tokens of special and distinguishing love Really they are great things nothing of Christ is little but we judge ordinarily according to sense we ordinarily esteem a sense or assurance or full persuasion of the love of God a much greater thing than these But now for a Soul to set an high price and value upon these to be more satisfied more to triumph and rejoice in the conquest of a lust the victory over a temptation than in the conquest of all our Enemies More to desire that our hearts may be filled with love to God desires after God delight in God than to have our Barns filled with Corn or our Purses with Gold and Silver this I take to be such a difference between a Christian indeed and a Christian in a meer Name Title and outward Profession as a Christian may rest in when he is inquiring into his Soul for evidences of the truth of grace Other manifestations of the love of God may be desired for our selves and with a respect only to our selves and the quiet relief and peace of our own Spirits a Christian can desire these only for the glory of God Try your selves therefore Christians by this Touchstone An Hypocrite may desire to know that his Sins are forgiven and that God would not impute Sin to his Soul or that he would impute a righteousness without works an Hypocrite may desire to live with God in glory but these lesser tokens of love he valueth not But alas even the best of Gods People must I fear be here reproved not for their no valuing of these kisses of Christ that is incompetent with a Child of God but for their not enough valuing of them and being too passionate and unsatisfied for want of the comforting manifestations of Divine Love I have before told you that these sensible manifestations of Divine Love are exceedingly desirable and there is no Child of God but is concerned to wish to pray to labour for them But we must take heed that we be not like our little Children whom we shall sometimes see too much slighting and undervaluing and ready to throw away what good things they have because they want some particular thing which they have a mind to which it may be we that are their Parents do not see so proper for them especially under their present circumstances It was lawful for Rachel to wish for to pray for Children but she sinned in saying to her Husband give me Children or else I die Hannah was much in the same error 1 Sam. 1. 8. weeping not eating and vexing her self because she had no Child and in the mean time forgetting that God had given her an Husband who was better to her than ten Sons So it is lawful nay the duty of a good Christian to pray to endeavour for the sweetest and fullest manifestations of Gods love But I have often thought that though these be good things of a Spiritual nature and so vastly differing from the good things of this life yet in this they agree with them that they must be asked with submission to the will of God because they are not de necessariis ad salutem things that are necessary to life and eternal Salvation but such which a Soul may want without any breach of Gods Covenant with the Soul 2. But for a Soul not only too passionately to desire these things which speaketh its not submitting to the will of God in his not dispensing them to it but to over-look deny or undervalue all the tokens for good which it hath received from God meerly because it hath not these and to conclude that it hath nothing of Christs love this is certainly what doth no become a Christian Certainly a Christian ought as much to value himself upon those emanations of grace by which he is inabled to serve and honour God as upon those by which his Soul is rendred more at ease more refreshed and comforted Every kiss of Christ every measure of special distinguishing love is and ought to be precious to a believing Soul Let me in the last place bottom upon this discourse a double word of exhortation The first respecting the Men of the world those I would persuade to leave off their pursuit of
there praying to be delivered from those that are unreasonable upon many accounts but eminently in this that they hate do all the despight mischief they can to him who is full of Loves to them We shall sometimes find in men and women a strange aversion from such as truly Love them they cannot get up their hearts to love a man or woman that Loves them but it is very brutish very unreasonable for any of us to hate and malign and to seek to destroy one that Loves us Such brutes are all those that are Enemies to Christ and his Gospel Christ hath Loves for us these Loves are declared in his Gospel that declareth God in Christ reconciling the world to himself not imputing their sins the publication of the Gospel is a great act of this Love the faithful Ministers of the Gospel are the Messengers to publish this Love what an unreasonable thing it is now for men to make them the But of their malice I remember when the Jews cryed out concerning Christ Crucify him Crucify him and Pilate asked them why What evil hath he done They like a company of unreasonable bruits could give him no answer but still they cryed out the more Crucify him Crucify him Doth not the same brutish cry hold up even at this day in some wretches mouths They can give no reasonable account why they should oppose the publication of the Love of Christ to poor lost Sinners yet they do it with a rage reaching up to Heaven This is now to be unreasonable men why should you persecute him who loveth you Yet verily as St. Paul said of himself The more he loved the Galathians the less he was beloved of them So it feareth with Christ and all that hath relation to him the more faithful the Minister of Christ is in preaching the Gospel the more diligent and zealous he is to gain Souls to Christ the most hated he is and the reason is because it thus fared with Christ Joh. 15. 18. If the world hateth you you know it hated me before it hated you But Oh let this reconcile your hearts unto Christ That he hath Loves No ingenuous man but will repay Love for Love He who repayeth hatred for Love is of the Devil eminently he doth Evil without a provocation because he Loves to do Evil. Secondly What an Invitation doth this Notion afford to the most miserable forlorn Souls to Kiss the Son to receive and close with the Lord Jesus Christ Whilest our Lord was upon the Earth he told the people That when he was lifted up he should draw all men after him Alas that this word All in that Text must be englished by Many Christ is lifted up upon the Cross and therein he hath shewed us that he hath Loves Infinite Loves For Greater Love than this hath no man shewn than that a man lay down his Life for his Friends Yet this is greater Love while we were Enemies he dyed for us Yet how few are drawn after him How few can be persuaded to accept him as their Lord and Saviour What is the reason one man is drawn after his sensual Appetites after his Lusts and those draw quite from Christ Men cannot be his Disciples except they deny themselves mortify their Members Others are drawn after the World and are not at leasure to come to Christ and besides the friendship of the World is enmity with God! Others have some thoughts of coming to Christ but they are afraid Christ should not receive them I shall have occasion to Speak to the 2 d sort when I come to the next Proposition to shew you that Christs Loves are better then Wine Indeed both to the first and Second I might Speak as Saul once to his Courtyers will the Son of Jesse give you Vine-Yards c. Can the World can your Lusts give you Peace of Conscience and joy in the holy Ghost Will they bring you to the favour of God and to eternal Life But they are onely the 3 d Sort whom I would here Speak to Is there a Soul here that is almost persuaded to be a Christian A Christian not in Name but in Deed and is afraid Christ should not be willing to receive it Hear what God saith 2 Cor. 6. 17. Come out from amongst them and be you separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you Observe what I have bin discoursing Christ hath Loves an Inclination and Propension to do good to the Sons of Men He hath declared it in a variety of gracious Acts from before the Foundation of the World It encouraged the Servants of Benhadad to go to Ahab to beg their Masters Life that they had heard that the Kings of Israel were merciful Kings Let this be an incouragement to you to come to Christ to hear that Christ is a merciful High Priest who casteth away none that cometh unto him Certainly it would incourage the greatest malefactor to go to a Prince to beg his pardon and to thâ—oâ— himself into the arms of his grace and mercy if he could but be persuaded that the Prince were full of Love and had a particular propension and inclination of kindness to the family from which he derived This you have heard particularly made good to you concerning Christ You that have been the greatest trangressors the oldest Sinners yet return and come I remember when Isaac told Esau that Jacob had come before him and got the blessing he replyed Father thou hast many blessings bless me also It may be you may be thinking so in your hearts such and such persons they have obtained the blessing they had not been so vile so prosane as I have been O but yet remember the Lord Jesus Christ hath many blessings not Love but Loves come unto him and he shall bless thee also When thy thoughts are overwhelm'd in the thoughts of thy sins sink them again into the thoughts of Christs Loves thou wilt find that is as great a depth as the other is Yea thou will find the same difference as betwixt the Shore and the main Sea Near the Shore the Mariner may find it several fathom water enough to drown a man But off at Sea he finds himself out of the soundings all the lines he hath will find no bottom So a Soul in the thoughts of his sins may find himself beyond his depth he is drowned in the thoughts of them Ah but yet there is a Sounding his Sins are not Infinite so there is a sounding but if he lancheth his thoughts into the depths of Gods grace and Christs Loves there is no soundings let therefore no Soul be discouraged from coming unto Christ Fourthly Hath Christ Loves How sutable a Saviour hath God provided for poor sinful creatures The Apostle to the Hebrews Heb. 7. 26. having said of Christ v. 25. That he is able to the uttermost to Save them that come unto God by him addeth For such an
seen Secondly The Soul receiveth the savour of these good Ointments By Experience it hath tasted how good the Lord is What it bath heard of God in his Word it hath seen in the communications of his Grace There is no knowledge like to this and there is no Spiritual Virgin but hath had less or more some experience of the Lord 's good Ointments But I come to the Application In the first place this may inform us of the Excellency of the Lord Jesus Christ what an adequate Object he is for every Soul to take a delight and pleasure in It may be worth your observation how the Language of the Scripture concerning Christ is such as seems to court the humour of every Soul to a seeking after a propriety and interest in him by shewing him to have something in him suitable to it that so it might take our hearts off beguiling Objects Every Sinner naturally saith Who will shew us any good Good is the common Mistress of the World Every one courts it They only differ in their fancies and apprehensions of what is so and court shadows and Chimera's One saith Who will shew us any good That is some way to get a penny How shall we heap up Silver as the Dust and Riches as the Sand and joyn house to house and field to field until there be no room left in the Earth Come unto me saith Christ I will give you the Riches of Grace the Riches of Glory Rev. 3. 18. I counsel thee to buy of me Gold tryed in the fire that thou mayest be rich and white Rayment that thou mayest be clothed and the shame of thy nakedness may not appear What shall it profit thee saith he to gain the whole world and lose thy own Soul Another man he cares not for money but for his necessary uses but he hunts after honour that is his good he would be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some great person in the World he would be led about the Streets and hear men cry out Thus shall it be done to the man whom the King delighteth to honour This man now looks upon Silver and Gold but as white and yellow Earth and Sand Idolized a little by a relative value some put upon it He snuffs up the Air and desires no more than a great Name in the world Christ to take them off this pitiful pursuit of the Wind and Chaff of the Air the empty Air of Court Favour or popular Applause tells them he hath honour for them To as many as receive him he gave a p wer to become the Sons of God And if Sons then Heirs Joynt-Heirs with Christ They shall Reign with him They shall judge the World They shall be Kings and Priests to the most High God c. There is a third sort that crys Who will shew us any good Their good is the tickling of their Senses delicious Fare and Drink for their tast fine Rayment for their touch sweet Odours for their smells Musick for their Ears c. Give them but enough of Wine and Strong Drink and Dancings and dainty Food costly Apparel Perfumes sweet Ointments for their Hair c. and a few such trifling vanities which perish with the using and they have enough let who will take Silver and Gold and Honours c. Now that the Lord might draw off these sensual Hearts he proponndeth himself as the object of Pleasure he at whose right hand is pleasure a fulness of pleasure for evermore one who hath Oils and sweet Ointments Wine c. Thus he allureth the appetite of every sinner propounding himself as an object proportioned to it In the second place This Notion will afford every one of us a Note by which we may try our interest in and acquaintance with the Lord Jesus Christ The Note is this If thou beest a Spouse of Christ thou hast a savour of his good Ointments Do the excelling graces of Christ make him appear pretions to thy Soul 1 Pet. 2. 7. To you that believe he is pretious To an unbeliever Christ is vile every unbeliever doth not speak vilely of Christ but he hath a vile estimate of him he judgeth vilely concerning Christ he hath no esteem for him he seeth no excellency in him for which he is to be desired he can understand the value of any Gold but that which Christ calleth Gold tried in the fire Rev. 3. 18. He can fancy the value of any honour except that of being called the Sons of God he can tast any pleasure but that which ariseth from a Souls Vnion and communion with Christ By this we may try our selves what relation we have to Christ In the last place this Notion of Christs good Ointments offers me a fair opportunity to persuade Men and Women of pleasure Vain Christless careless Souls to endeavour an acquaintance with Christ There is a generation in the world whom pleasure enticeth from God and his ways their temptation lies not in their Chests they value not riches if they have mony they throw it away as dirt it lies not in honours they have no itch after great places no but it lies in the cravings of their external senses Their senses itch they must scratch them this is their undoing must be so so long as the practice of Religion lies in self-denyal and a mortification of our members They must drink Wine in Bowls and stretch themselves upon their couches of Ivory and anoint themselves with chief Ointments and chant to the sound of the Viol and invent to themselves instruments of Musick Give them but a few glasses of brisk and generous Wine and a lesson or two upon some instrument of Musick with a foolish wanton Song Give them but gay cloths and a powdered Perriwig a few patches or a little paint for their faces they regard not whether they have a peny in their Purses yea or no and verily Pleasure is the undoing of many a Soul the Woman saith the Apostle it is as true of the man that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth As there are pleasures the meer use of which is sinful so there is scarce any kind of pleasures I mean such gratifications of the outward senses as come under the name of Voluptates but expose Souls to temptations to greater sins and indispose the Soul to the greatest duties they are Snares in which the Devil catcheth many a poor Soul Now how shall these poor Souls be drawn off from this that it may not dance itself into Hell fire Certainly by no means so effectual as the discovering to it that as these pleasures are pernicious and dangerous to the Soul so there are far greater pleasures to be found with Christ Perfumes often are but like paint to a Sepulcher the body the cloaths by a little art smell sweet the mind and Soul the more noble part of man stinks it may be through sordid conditions but most certainly in the Nostrils of God
Name I will mention but three things First His Word is his Name The Gospel of Christ is his Name that expresseth to us what Christ is Christ saith that he had manifested his Father's Name unto the men whom he had given him out of the world Joh. 17. 6. that is his Fathers Truths the Doctrine of his Gospel The Lord Jesus is made known by his Gospel That doth the same thing for Christ that our Name doth for us it lets the World know whose Son Christ is what he is what he hath done and suffered for Sinners and this is to the Soul exceeding sweet as an Oil that is poured forth Secondly His Mercy is his Name All those declarations of his love and good will towards his Peoples Souls of which his Gospel is full All the Emanations of his Love When the Lord telleth Moses his Name he thus proclaimeth it The Lord The Lord merciful slow to anger As God gets him a great Name upon Pharaoh and the wicked of the Earth by executing Justice and Judgment so he gets himself a great Name amongst his Saints by shewing meâ—cy His Name is I even I am he that blotteth out transgressions for my own Names sake I will heal your backslidings and love you freely Lastly His Truth is his Name By Truth I mean his Faithfulness in fulfilling his Word Thy Truth reacheth unto the Clouds saith David Psal 108. 4. David Psal 138. 2. resolveth to praise God's Name for his Loving-kindness and for his Truth Jesus Christ is much known to us by his Truth and Faithfulness to his Promises making good to his Peoples Souls what he hath said hence he is called the Amen the Faithful and the true Witness Rev. 3. 14. Pareus upon that Text saith that Christ is called the Amen for that reason which the Apostle giveth 2 Cor. 1. 19 20. because he is not Yea and Nay but he is Yea and because all the Promises of God in him are Yea and Amen Thus I have opened to you what that Name of Christ is which the Spouse compareth to an Oil or to an Ointment poured forth 2 Qu. But why to an Oil poured forth Certainly for the usefulness of it under that circumstance Ointment in the Box Oil inclosed and kept up in the Vessel is no way so useful as when it is poured out If we use it for food it must be poured out if for Medicine if for Ornament which way soever we use Oil or Ointment it must be poured out then it becomes useful to us But that which I take to be what is principally intended is Thy Name is exceedingly infinitely sweet Oil is sweet in the Vessel where it is kept it is sweet if but dropped out by drops But saith the Spouse of Christ Thy Name is as an Oil or Ointment poured forth Thou hast not only a sweetness and excellency in thy self but all the grace and mercy in thee is communicated and that not in drops or little measures but as Oil poured forth that hath scope of Air enough to diffuse it self in and by If Christ had No Name by which he could be made known to us yet there would be in him as God blessed for ever infinite goodness as well as Majesty and Glory the fulness of the God-Head would be in him he would be full of Grace and Truth but now his Name makes him to be as an Oil poured forth by that we behold his glory the glory as of the begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth Joh. 1. 14. When the invisible incomprehensible excellency love and grace of Christ is made known unto us either by the Gospel or by the emanations of his grace and mercy or the demonstrations of his truth and faithfulness by any of his personal names or names of Office wâ—ich are given to him then like Oil or Ointment poured out he appears to the Soul transcendently incomparably sweet This now appears both from Scripture and from experience 1. From Scripture how sweet are thy words unto my tast faith David Psal 119. 103. More to be desired are they than gold yea than much fine gold sweeter also than Honey and the Hony-comb Psal 19. 10. In his name shall the Gentiles trust Mat. 12. 21. Adam had a little of Christ made known unto him One promise we read of no more The Seed of the Woman shall break the Serpents head Gen. 3. 15. It was like Oil poured forth and kept him from a deliquium in the sense of the first sin and his being turned out of Paradise Abraham heard a little of Christs name it was to him like Oil poured forth he saw my day and rejoiced saith Christ John 8. he saw the day star arise afar off he saw but the morning the dawning of the morning too of Christs day and at a great distance how sweet was it to him He saw my day saith Christ and he rejoiced I might give you very many instances of the sweetness which the Saints of God perceived upon the several discoveries of Christ made to them But what needs any further demonstration than what ariseth from the consideration of the thing and from the experience of any Child of God to whom Christ is or hath been made known how sweet must rest be to one that is weary ease to one that is heavy laden both these are promised from Christ Mat. 11. 29. how sweet must the name of a Saviour be to one that is lost and undone the name of Redeemeâ— to one that is a Captive The name of a Mediator to one that hath offended a potent adversary able to crush him every moment 2. I appeal further to the experience of every Child of God even every Soul who hath tasted any thing of Christ and who hath heard any thing of his Name when a Soul is troubled to think how often how heinously it hath offended God how sweet is the name of a Mediator when it is brought to a sense of its sin and apprehends itself lost and undone how sweet is it to remember the name of Jesus given unto Christ because he was to save his People from their sins when a Soul considereth that without Blood without a Sacrifice there is no remission of Sin how sweet then is the name of an High Priest over the House of God who offered up himself once for our Sins and having done so ascended up into Heaven and ever sitteth at the Right Hand of God to make intercession for the Sins of his People How sweet to the Soul that is afraid lest its lusts should have dominion over him is the name of Christ as a King given unto him because he is to rule in the hearts of those who are once subjected and subdued unto him How sweet are his mercy his truth his promises when at any time the latter are applied to the Soul and the former any way made known in the Soul Doth any one ask whence it is that the name of
treated in Gods Chambers 2. But Secondly There being no merit in any thing we do or suffer at Gods command why should we think God obliged thus to reward the highest degrees of faith or holiness What if God will hear one believers prayers sooner then anothers what if he will give one such Soul more peace then another who shall say unto him what doest thou or why am I thus and others are otherwise we certainly ought to allow the freest and most sovereign agent what priviledge we every one claim for our selves with reference to our Children Servants Friends whiles every of us receives more then we deserve what reason have we to repine because others have more then we 4. I beseech you consider whether this fruit floweth not from a root of Pride Why should my Eye be evil because anothers is good Why should I repine because God is kinder as I think to another Soul then to me if I did not secretly think that I had deserved as much and as well as those if not better The humble Soul looks upon itself as meriting nothing and therefore prizeth every influence of Divine love The Dogs eat the crums said the poor Woman I am not worthy that thou shouldst come under my roof saith the Centurion therefore speak the word only Now if this be thy root of thy complaint be assured there is not a more bitter one in all the wilderness of nature There is no Soul at further distance from obtaining at the hand of God then that Soul that challengeth God as a debtor to his Creature if thy Soul saith as Haman to whom should the King more delight to honour then me thou art like enough to meet with as great disappointment as he did God sets himself to pull down the Soul that exalts itself above measure God will keep Souls swell'd with this tumor with Thorns in their flesh for their buffetings it is enough if they find his grace sufficient for them 5. If it doth not argue this yet it speaketh a discontent at and dissatisfaction with Gods methods in the conduct and government of thy Soul in order to that end to which he hath appointed thee This frame of spirit is sinful enough it is indeed a branch that groweth out of the root of pride Gods general promise is that he will with-hold no good thing from them that live uprightly and that all things shall work together for the good of them that love God but we must leave the judgment of good to the wisdom of God who knoweth what is good for us while we repine at Gods dispensations we either shew our distrust and unbelief in these promises or assume the judgment of good to our selves paramount to the judgment of God No sin more provokes God then this of murmuring and repining It was the great sin of the Israelites which at last provoked God to swear in his wrath they should never enter into his rest Let us therefore learn thankfully to acknowledge what grace we have received and with silence and patience to wait for what further manifestations of it we desire and judge our Souls to stand in need of 2. Hath the King of glory whom we serve Chambers wherein he treateth the Souls of his Subjects not only Mansions but Chambers further degrees of gracious influxes manifestations Let us then learn from hence That no man serves God in any degrees of service for nothing some indeed shall have greater degrees of reward then others none shall serve him for nothing there is a reward for every righteous Soul He that serveth God in truth and sincerity though with a great deal of weakness and imperfection though he comes into his Service at the last hour yet he shall have his penny he shall have Heaven and Glory If any will come in to Gods Service in the morning and work in the heat of the day and labour for God more abundantly he shall not lose his reward nay he shall be rewarded according to his work as there are degrees of active working Grace so there are degrees of manifestative love and this by the way 1. It is a great encouragement to those that are young to turn into the ways of the Lord betimes Josiah and Timothy and Enoch were all of them such as began early to walk with God Of Josiah it is said Chron. 2. 34. That when he was but eight years old he began to seek after the God of David his Father what special favour he had from God his story will tell you he was early taken into the Chambers of glory and while he was upon the Earth God treated him in his Chambers he would not in his days bring the intended evil upon Judah Enoch walked with God the Text saith he was not for God took him Timothy was a great Favourite used as a great instrument for God and doubtless these three and so those others who have early given up themselves to God and continued to the end will hereafter be found in some degrees of glory above others 2. It is a great incouragement to men and women to put out themselves mightily for God to love the Lord according to the tenour of the first and great Commandment with all their Soul and all their strength all their might God hath degrees of love to reward degrees of holiness service though possibly there may be some rare instances wherein the wisdom of God as unsearchable is to be adored and not to be found out and we may see some who appear to us more exemplary in holiness then others yet clouded under darker dispensations walking in the dark and seeing no light yet ordinarily it is otherwise those who walk most in the light of holiness have more of the light of Gods countenance enjoy most peace and have most manifestations of Gods special love and this now lets us see what a difference there is betwixt the service of God and the service of the Devil or the service of the world many a one serves the world and gets little and those that make themselves least drudges to it get most of it he that serves the Devil in serving corruption the more he toils in that service the more torment he hath But the more a man serves God the more peace the more inward rest and sweetness he hath 3. This discourse may give some relief to such Christians whose hearts are right with God but yet their attainments are not proportionable to others The King hath not brought them into his Chambers indeed the fault of this may be in our selves and where it is so we have reason to blame our selves and to sit down in silence and endeavour for the time to come to mend our pace in the ways of holiness there are Stairs by which Christians usually ascend into these Chambers come up I mean into this near degree of communion with God if we will not do what in us lies to
presently after his death and troubled the Church for 300 years together the root of them was doubtless the worlds hatred this our Saviour hath learned us and in some measure armed his people against it John 15. 8. If the world hate you you know it hated me before it hated you If you were of the world the world would love his own But because you are not of the world but I have chosen you out of the world therefore the world hateth you God hath put an enmity betwixt the Seed of the Woman and the Seed of the Serpent Christ and his Seed the Devil and his Children but in regard we must not so understand that Text Gen. 3. 15. as if God infused those evil habits of malice and envy and hatred of God and goodness but only that God would infuse such Spiritual gracious habits into the Souls of his People as through that native malice envy and corruption which is in the hearts of such as God pleaseth not to change by his special grace would provoke such an enmity in them we must inquire into the root and grounds of that hatred which produceth this enmity and hostility and that is 1. Their natural aversion to all piety and goodness And 2. That Pride which is in their hearts which suffereth them not to be patient of the preference of godly men in the favour of God nor of being excelled by them before men in such a conversation as their lusts will not suffer them to lead much less to be condemned by their Doctrines and reproofs hence they both hate such as will reprove them either in the Gate or from the Pulpit and because the Ministers of Christ are those to whose Office especially the latter belongeth hence they have in all times been made the buts and objects of their fury But though these afflictions come immediately and proximately from men yet they are also the appointments of God the counsels of God executed by his permissive Providence not restraining the malice and lusts of wicked mens hearts but suffering them to exert and put it forth the same account must be given of this sort as of other sorts of Gods afflictive dispensations 1. The punishment of his peoples sins 2. The trial exercise and manifestations of his peoples graces 1. The punishment of his peoples sins and this is for the most part evident in such Persecutions as fall upon whole Churches I say for the most part it is rare that God lets loose Enemies upon a setled Church to disturb its quiet till it hath losts its first love and admitted sinful mixtures Thus it fell out to the famous Churches of Asia to whom the Epistles were written in the Revelations and it may be the obvious decays of Religion in the Primitive Churches were no small cause of the Persecutions which vexed and destroyed them for three hundred years together 2. The trial exercise and manifestation of his peoples graces was also another cause this we are often told in the Epistles of the Apostles nor did the Church of Christ receive a small augmentation and increase by the courage and constancy the faith and patience of the Martyrs 3. Lastly God also by this means obtaineth another end viz. Wicked mens filling up the measures of their iniquities That upon them might come as our Saviour speaks all the righteous blood that hath been shed by their Fore-fathers But all this is a digression from the principal thing in the Proposition which is to shew you how these blacken the Spouse of Christ That is either 1. Really by drawing out corruption Or 2. Appearingly in the Eyes of the world 1. Afflictions often really blacken the Spouse of Christ as they draw out that latent Corruption which is in their Hearts This is true both concerning the Church and concerning the particular Soul 1. As to the Church which is by our Saviour compared to a Field of Wheat in which are Tares as well as Wheat and to a Net which within the swallow of it hath bad as well as good fish Now Persecution makes a great discovery of Hypocrites they that received the Seed into stony ground having no root in themselves fall away enduring but a while and when Tribulation or Persecution ariseth for the Word are immediately offended the Dragons Tail Revel 12. 4. drew down the third part of the Stars of Heaven and did cast them down to the Earth Thus it is seen in all Persecutions they alwaies discover a great number of Hypocrites false Brethren yea and often many of Gods People at first shrink and fall under the greatness of the temptation so you know it sell out as to Peter in the High Priests Hall and so it hath been with many of such as have at last dyed in the testimony of the truths of God These things make the Church black when the Sun looketh upon it though in the issue the melting of the Church proveth the purifying of it and making it exceeding white as you know it is with many things purified by fire though the fire maketh them at last more bright and pure yet at first till their dross be cleansed they look more black so it is with the Church of God in the day of its fiery trial So it is also as to Particular Christians Tribulation in them at last worketh Patience and Patience Experience and Experience Hope Even such an hope as will not make ashamed but this is after some excercise therein Hence saith the Apostle Heb. 12. 11. Now no chastening for the present seeâ—oth to be joyous but grievous Nevertheless afterwards it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of Righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby How black did holy Job look Chap. 3. When he Cursed the day of his birth Who afterward being exercised with a long affliction came out white Till by Tribulation the Soul cometh to be humbled and tamed to the will of God and to have his will melted into a resignation to the will of God till his faith and patience come to be both tryed and to have their perfect work Tribulation and Persecution maketh the Spouse really black like the Person that hath taken Physick to purge out some ill humours so long as his Physick is working and strugling with the peccant humours he is sicker and appeareth worse then before he took it 2. But secondly Tho Persecution and Tribulation may at first make the Spouse really black yet they make her appear much more black then she is in the Eyes of the world and the generality of men and women in it of which a various account may be given I will instance but in two or three things 1. The first is the impressions which the calumnies and slanders of Enemies thrown upon the Church and upon believers have upon many people There is nothing more ordinary then when the Enemies of God are in their highest rage against his People to have their mouths fullest of obloquy and slander
the faileurs of some sincerer 〈◊〉 of God 〈◊〉 too far to the corruptions of others too many instances of which we have had The opposition which Christians have met with having been a continual dropping upon them and overpowered them to do many things against the dictates of their own consciences thus losing their beauty it is no great wonder if they appear black Indeed from hence almost are all those things which render Christians and Churches black I now come to the application Let not then Christians think it strange if their habits of grace find opposition from within and the actings of their grace meet with opposition from without There is no Child of God but findeth upon experience that his Mothers Children are angry with him his flesh is many times lusting against the Spirit and he findeth a War in his Members As Rebekah was troubled because she found Twins strugling together in her Womb so is many a good Christian when as indeed there is no greater note of Grace then this Combate of the Flesh and the Spirit if thou hadst not two parties within there would be none of these conflicts the unregenerate man hath nothing of them he hath motions to sin but no contrary habits to oppose no lustings of the Spirit against the Flesh such a man may indeed from natural light and the obligation under which the law of nature layeth him sometimes resist motions to more gross and flagitious sins but this combate is rare and in very rare cases and those such where the law of nature is offended or his honour and reputation and profit and advantage is concerned as to his avoiding of them nor is the Battel ever very hot The true Christian hath a double principle the one natural this inclineth and moveth him to sin the other supernatural and infused Both these principles are active and operative and these spiritual conflicts must be expected the discovery of the truth of Grace in thy Soul doth much depend upon thy behaviour in the Spiritual Fight and thy managery of it if thou findest this conflict if thou maintainest it with thy might if thou criest unto God for help and strength if ordinarily thou beest a conquerour Thy opposition is so far from being an evidence against thee that it is a great evidence for thee Nor let good Christians wonder if the exercise of their grace meets with opposition from without and that from their Mothers Children too As there are two parties in every gracious heart so there are and ever were two Parties in the Church of God There were some and those the greater number on whose behalf Paul saith he could wish himself accursed from Christ they were his Brethren and not only his Kinsmen according to the Flesh but Israelites to whom belonged the Adoption and the Glory and the Covenants and the giving of the Law and the Service of God and the promises yet Rom. 9. 6. they were not Israel though they were of Israel neither were they all Children because they were the Seed of Abraham v. 8. They which are the Children of the flesh are not the Children of the promise God in one place promiseth to make his Seed as the Stars of Heaven Gen 22. 17. in another place Gen. 13. 16. As the Dust of the Earth He had a Starry Seed these were a great number for he was the Father of the Faithful the Father of Believers the Father of all Holy Men that do the works of Abraham He had also a dusty Seed this was greater thus it is said he should be the Father of many Nations and he was the Father of the whole Jewish Nation the oâ—â—y visible Church God had for many years upon the Earth but these saith the Apostle are not all Children T is the same case with the Church under the New Testament it is made up partly of presumptive equivocal Members partly of real univocal Members such as glory not in appearance only but in reality that are not as Jews only outwardly nor of that circumcision which is outward in the flesh but they are Jews inwardly Christians indeed and that circumcision which is of the heart in the Spirit and not in the letter whose praise is not of Men but of God There is a Baptism in the name of Christ and a Baptism into Christ a Baptism with Water and a Baptism with the Holy Ghost and with Fire all that are Baptized with a Ministerial Baptism with Water are not Baptized with the Spiritual Baptism of Regeneration These two parties in the Church never did never will agree there is in them a different Seed they are acted from different principles and they act to quite different ends Let not therefore good Christians wonder and think it strange if they find still that their Mothers Children are angry with them it is no more then ever was the lot of the true Spouse of Christ and will be her lot until Christ shall come and with his Fan throughly purge his floor Nor do you wonder if these things make you appear b ack The Papists think they make us appear very black when they can tell us of Errors and Heresies Factions Divisions and Schisms amongst us and indeed it is a reproach to us they are spots and blemishes in the Assemblies of Protestants But 1. Are they then so well agreed amongst themselves what mean then the differences betwixt their Dominicans and Franciscans to say nothing of their other Orders What means their Secular Priests and Jesuits so bespattering one another in their Books Though it is very probable that if Protestants could dispense with their consciences to with-hold from the People the sight and knowledge of the Holy Scriptures the rule both of their faith and life so as they know no more to differ about then their Priests tell them or to set up a Judge of all controversies that should be infallible and from whose decrees none must vary And finally to set up an Inquisition to force all mens Obedience to the decrees of that infallible Judge under pain of death I say could Protestants in these things dispense with their consciences to take such methods for unity they might probably arrive at as great if not a greater unity then they can glory in who have been so far from it that themselves reckon 30 or 32 Schisms and those of that nature as according to their principles destroy all unity for so many times some of which lasted a great many years too they have been at a loss for to find the true visible head of the Church We know that the Apostolical and purest Churches that ever Christ had upon the Earth had some that were indeed Mothers Children Members of the visible Church but no Children of our Heavenly Father and that these have constantly been angry with and given opposition to those that have been the true and sincere Members of the Church and have brought in Errors and caused Schisms and
mouths they shew much love but their heart goeth after their covetousness Christ in the Parable of the Sower compareth some hearers of the Word to the ground that received the Seed amongst Thorns the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choked the Word and made it become unfruitful It is a great blackness of a Christian not to have his heart with God in Religious Services so as the Lord as the Prophet expresseth it is nigh in his mouth and far from his reins and it is a blackness that will cover the face of every man and woman that converseth too much with the world Paul therefore rightly adviseth the Corinthians that they should use the world in a careless manner that those that rejoyced in the affluences of it should be as if they rejoyced not and those that bought as if they possessed not and those that used the world as not abusing it But saith he I would have you without carefulness 1 Cor. 7. 30 31 32. 4. Worldly imployments have often an ill influence upon Christians to intice and allure them to sin not only by omissions of duty but by the commissions of things which are contrary to their duty there is a sensible sweetness in worldly enjoyments and those are the product of worldly business and imployment The Devil baiteth all his Hooks with some piece of the World or other Some with the sensibly sweet part of it some with the gay and splendid part of it some with the richer and more profitable part of it It is an hard thing for Christians to keep Vineyards and not drink some of that intoxicating Wine which is the fruit of them When Samuel gave up his account as a Judge in 1 Sam. 12. 3. Behold saith he here I am witness against me before the Lord whose Ox have I taken or whose Ass have I taken or whom have I defrauded whom have I oppressed or of whose hand have I received any bribe Paul in like manner thus acquitteth himself to the Church of Ephesus Acts 20. 33. I have coveted no Mans Silver or Gold or Apparel But shew me the Man or Woman that hath been much incumbred with worldly affairs and can say I have coveted no Mans House or Land or Silver or Gold or that can say To whom have I told a lie for my gain or said it hath cost me so much when indeed it did not Or whom have I done injustice to in a bargain Commonly the best of the Market which such Christians have is that of Zacheus Luke 19. If I have taken any thing from any man by unjust dealings I restore him fourfold 5. Lastly A too great incumbrance with the world leaves a blot upon Christians in the common repute of the world if they escape real blots from it Holy Men in the Greek are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is men who are not Earthly and the world expects it of such as profess to Religion and Godliness that they should be persons looking for better Houses then those made of Clay even an House in the Heavens not made with hands and for a better Country and a more induring substance Hence a too great pursuit of the world becometh a greater blot to Persons professing to an heavenly conversation then unto others Our conversation is in Heaven saith the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our trading and business is in Heaven I shall only add two or three words for application of this discourse This in the first place giveth us all an opportunity to bewail the disadvantage we have all received from the fall of Adam It was a curse which upon the fall fell upon all the Posterity of Adam Gen. 3. 19. In the sweat of thy face thou shalt eat thy Bread till thou return to the ground I do not think that if man had continued in innocency he should have lived idly but Mercers opinion is very probable his labour should rather have been for delight then for necessity or rather his labour should not have been so great as now it is the Thorns and Thistles which the ground now naturally brings forth and in the prevention and extirpation of which the labour of the Husbandman is so much were clearly the effect of the curse upon the Earth Gen. 3. 18. a lively-hood for the Sons of Men had doubtless been got at a cheaper rate with lesser labour and man had been at a great deal more liberty and leisure for a communion with God and have had more time for his immortal Soul then his worldly occasions will now permit or allow This may be a profitable meditation for the poorer sort of Christians whom the need of Bread for themselves and the want of a just provision for their Families restrain from spending so much time in communion with God as they would to sit down and think of the woful effect and fruit of the sin of Adam that first sin of man which reduced the Sons and Daughters of men to these miserable necessities Secondly Observe from hence what an advantage those have whom the liberal hand of Divine Providence hath delivered from such a miserable servitude to secular affairs If they will make themselves slaves and drudges to the World they may but the Providence of God hath not put them upon any necessity so to do God hath given them Estates to live upon Servants to toil for them I will but offer two things to the consideration of these 1. How inexcusable will you be if you do not keep your own Vineyards well Your own Vineyards are your Souls those immortal Substances ordained to an Eternity ennobled with Reason and many gifts and faculties by which if you will you may bring forth much fruit to the honour and glory of God if now you be not found mighty in the Scriptures much in reading hearing prayer close in your walking with God c. You cannot plead that you want leisure A morning and evening Service God under the Law required and in the same proportion doubtless under the Gospel though not by way of Sacrifice properly so called I observe of David and Daniel that they prayed thrice in a day Psal 55. 17. Evening and morning and at noon will I pray and cry aloud saith David Of Daniel we read Dan. 6. 10. that he kneeled three times a day and prayed and gave thanks unto God as he did before-time They were both great men and at more leisure than ordinary Jews they considered this and as God had doubled their portions so they thought it reasonable in some measure to proportion their duties to their circumstances 2. Secondly Consider how little you will have to say if you so far intangle your selves in the world as it becometh a snare to your Souls Who pitieth him that is burned who for meer wantonness puts his finger in the fire Hath God given us food and rayment Jacob begged no more The Apostle commandeth us if we have so
profits honour c. as well as with the supply of our necessities We live in and converse with the world which is full of objects that gratifie our sensitive appetite in these things these are continual temptations to us to remit at least the care of our own souls to neglect our own Vineyards The Church also while it is militant here on Earth considered as Visible hath in it a great mixture of the world though not of the Pagen world there must be a profession of Christ in all the Members of the Visible Church yet of that world which lyeth in wickedness and it is this mixture of Hypocrites with such as are the sincere Servants of God that causeth the Church's neglect of its Vineyard All the remissness in a Church of its care as to the Doctrine Worship and Discipline of Christ proceedeth from this mixture of persons who are no more than Visible with such as are sincere and true Members of the Church of Christ 4. A fourth cause of this neglect is mens foolish presumptions that they are well enough The work of every particular Person in keeping the Vineyard of his own Soul is so contrary to the grain of flesh and blood that not only the natural man but even the Sanctified man in regard of that corruption which is yet in him is ready to take up with short measures of it and to think his Vineyard is well enough kept when indeed it is not men are loth to be righteous over much and are very apt to think that a little is enough We are very apt to think that we do enough duty and consider not the mark which we are to press after the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ It is something natural to us to think we may not only do but over-do what God requireth of us when alas when we have done all we can we are unprofitable servants servants so that what we do is but our duty unprofitable servants so that what we do cometh much short of our duty Perfection is what we are all bound to aim at and strive after but withal it is what no man attaineth not as though I had already attained or were already perfect saith the Apostle You know in works that are not naturally pleasing to us we are well pleased to think we have done enough Thus it is in the business of Religion and holiness they are things which please not flesh and blood so as we are well pleased when we can Satisfy our selves and think that we need do no more nor go any further and as it is with particular Christians so it is with Churches all which have not Pastors and Governours according to Gods own heart nor are all the members of them members of Christ Now those who are not so are no great lovers of nor zealous for the perfection of purity but can take up with measures short of those which Christ hath made and given Hence is that neglect of the keeping their own Vineyards which is but too obvious in all Churches and hence are those obvious declinations in that duty which men owe to God and in the purity of Churches every Age is still declining and growing worse then the former whiles a party in the Church still studyeth more and more to wriggle their neck out of the yoke of Christ and to get rid of some ingrateful things to flesh and blood which a former Age retained For as no particular Person at first runs up to the highest degree of wickedness so seldom doth any Church at first Apostatize to that degree but gradually declineth None shall need to enquire whence it is that this Neglect of our own Vineyards maketh us to appear thus black who but considereth that this Neglect is contrary to the Divine rule which obligeth us to keep our hearts with all diligence Prov. 423. to strive after perfection and to go on unto it and also obligeth all Churches to keep that which is committed to their trust to keep the Lords Word c. There is no medium in this case betwixt black and white The Whiteness beauty and glory of a Christian lyeth in his holding fast of his profession both of faith and holiness his keeping close to the divine rule and here in also lyeth the whiteness and beauty of those assemblyes of Christians which we call Churches and the more or less both of a Christians and of a Churches beauty and whiteness lyeth in his or their more or less conformity to the divine rule which being granted their neglect of this must necessarily render them black and make them to appear so to others This discourse may in the first place let us see the weakness of our faith in our different apprehensions of our worldly and spiritual concernments Certainly had we the same persuasions that we have Souls as that we have Bodies as quick apprehensions of the danger of our Souls miscarriage as we have of our bodily dangers had we but a firm persuasion of the excellency of our Souls above our Bodies we should have an equal if not a greater care to keep this Vineyard of our immortal Soul as we have to keep our Bodies but have we so It is true there are some in the World that are lazy and slothful as to their outward concerns they will rather steal or beg then work but these are but few in comparison of others God hath given men a body to look after with what diligence doth he keep that he riseth up early lyeth down late and eateth the bread of carefulness and all this for the keeping of his body but for this Vineyard of the Soul of man how few are they that look after it how little is the diligence that is used in keeping of that who attendeth the health of his Soul with that diligence that he attendeth his bodily health or the maintenance and food of his Soul with the same diligence that he attendeth his bodily food and sustenance or the adorning of his Soul with the same care and diligence that he attendeth the adorning of his body What doth this argue doth it not speak either that men have no great opinion that they have immortal Souls or that they have no great opinion of the price and value of them or that they do not think there is so much care necessary for the keeping of them We may observe from hence upon what the blackness of particular Souls and Churches is principally to be charged There may be some blame to be laid upon forrein causes Temptations from the World and the Devil but the greatest blame must be laid upon our selves Did we keep our watch so strictly as we might keep it Temptations could have no such power upon us as they have the Devil and the world can do no more then strike fire the tinder that receiveth it must be in our own box when the Prince of the World came to Christ
and they will find at last that God will give men for them and People for their lives Possibly some will say to us but how shall we know these whom Christ calls the fairest amongst women if we knew them we should give a a due respect to them It is true the Apostle saith The world knoweth us not Nor can they perfectly know them for the Kings Daughter is glorious within saith the Psalmist But yet our Saviour tells you Math. 7. 16. By their fruits you shall know them do men gather grapes of Thorns or Figs of Thistles even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit Will you know what is good fruit see Gal. 5. 22. The fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace long suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance against these there is no law No law of God Add to this Phil. 3. 3. We are the circumcision which Worship God in the Spirit and rejoice in Jesus Christ and have no confidence in the flesh these are the true Jews that are such inwardly in the heart and in the Spirit and not in the letter whose praise is not of men but of God See you therefore any man or woman or any party of men and women in the World who disclaiming any confidence in the flesh any priviledges of birth or Church-state or the merits of any works they have done or can do place their hope for Salvation in Jesus Christ alone trust in him rejoyce in him and Worship God in the Spirit tho it may be not with those external rites and Ceremonies that you do nor under the same circumstances yet heartily Worship God according to the rules which God hath given them that Love God and have a love to all men though more especially to those that fear God and desire to live in Peace as much as in them lyes with all men that are gentle and meek not giving way to rude and boisterous Passions that are good in their behaviours temperate no drunkards no unclean Persons but squaring their lives by the rule of reason because it is also the law of God Let me tell you that against these there is no law No law of God which is the regula regulans the rule by which all the rules and laws of men must be guided or they are nullities and no rules at all These are those whom that God whom you own as your Creator and the great Lord of Heaven and Earth that Christ whom you call your Redeemer your Saviour and who most certainly shall be your Judge and give unto you at the last according to what you have done in the flesh calls the fairest amongst women the most beautiful and lovely Souls in the whole creation judge you whether you ought not so also to call so to account them so to deal with them These are the best men and women in your Cities Parishes c. Take â—reed of using hard Speeches concerning them God will for them execute Judgment as well as for ungodly deeds much more take heed of any hard actions against them he that toucheth them toucheth the apple of Gods Eye Zech. 2. 8. Deut. 32. 10. They have prayed with David Psal 17. 8. Keep me as the apple of thine Eye God hath said concerning them Zech. 2. 8. He that toucheth them toucheth the apple of his Eye Be wise now therefore O ye Princes be instructed O you men of the Earth whether great or small be assured Christ will revenge his Spouses quarrels even the quarrels of all those whom he judgeth the fairest amongst women Let none think to cover their malice against Religion and Godliness under pretences of executing humane Laws the Apostle saith against such is no law no law that will be justified by the law of God no law that will justify either the lawgivers in making it or the Executors in execution of it 1 Tim 1. 9. The law is not made for a righteous man but for the lawless and disobedient for the ungodly and for sinners for unholy and profane for Murderers of Fathers and Murderers of Mothers for Whoremongers for those who defile themselves with mankind for Man-Stealers for Lyars for perjured Persons and other things contrary to sound Doctrine The law that is the law of God is not made for them that is to punish afflict torment them it is made for them to live according to the rule of it It is made to protect them For rulers are not a terror to good works but the evil Rom. 13. 3. And all Magistrats ought to be Ministers of God to Christians for good Rom. 13. 4. Now all humane laws must be either in affirmance of the law of God and to force that or in civil things left to their power as they shall judge to be most for the publick Peace or necessary to uphold Nations and Polities O therefore take heed what you do lest you be found fighters against God Much less let any think to cover their malice with pretences that the Persons they run upon with such a rage are hypocrites Hypocrisy can be but in the heart when there is no contradiction in the conversation that man is no judge of But is it not possible to reconcile at least some part of the men of the World to those to whom the Lord Jesus Christ hath given such a Character Is he not a better Judge then men are Will you make your selves believe for a cloak for your rage that these men are not what they pretend to be I would ask you but one question are they not more righteous then you Are they not more in reading the Word Hearing Prayer Fasting and are not these things duties commanded in that Word which you own to be your rule and to be holy just and good are they not stricter in the observation of Sabbaths Which is so great a piece of Religion that the Prophet expresseth a great part of it under that notion Isa 56. 4 6. Into their hearts you cannot look but their Words are audible do not they fear an Oath more Do they swear and curse and Blaspheme like you or many others do they exceed Heathens Dii omnes deaeque te perdant by their Dammees do they rail and revile and lye like other men Do they drink and whore steal and murder gripe and oppress is not the contrary to this the beauty of a Soul in the Eye of humane reason You have therefore no reason to judge them none of those whom Christ calls the fairest amongst women you must own they are fairer then you or any of your converse and stamp You must find some in the World that are better then your selves or they must be the most comely and beautiful Souls Sirs I beseech you consider how much it becometh a man as a man to judge according to truth And what can be a better standard then the judgment of Christ O let not the People of
God be vile in your Eyes who are so highly esteemed by him who is your Lord and Master and by whom you pretend to hope to be saved But to shut up this discourse You that will not conform your judgment to the Judgment of Christ concerning such People and behave your selves towards them accordingly shall certainly be forced to submit to his Judgment spoken of Jude 14. and 15. 2d Branch I would willingly improve this notion a little further not onely to reconcile your judgments to the judgment of Christ concerning the People of God but to reconcile you also to the Lord Jesus Christ and to the ways of God The effecting of the former if I could do it though it might produce some more quiet and peace in the World and reduce men to the rule of reason yet as to your own Souls if that be all all the effect it would have would be to save you from a deeper place in Hell It is not a good opinion of Gods People or a peaceable or kind behaviour to them will bring any man to Heaven I could wish that all who hear me this day to use Saint Paul's words to Agrippa were as the People of God are excepting that reproach and obloquy which they suffer those bonds and imprisonments to which they are exposed that they also would come into the number of those whom the Lord judgeth the best Souls in the World the fairest amongst women 1. Is it nothing to you to come into this reputation Leud profane debaucht Persons let their quality in the World be what it will in Scripture come under the notions of Children of Belial Vain Persons What an object of desire doth corporeal beauty appear to the World What will not a vain woman do to get it to preserve it to dissemble it what time what mony she spends to set it out What care she takes if as to it she be under any defects to hide them to correct them c. Quantum est in rebus inane All this it may be is spent in painting a Sepulcher a rotten post Possibly look into this Masquerade there 's nothing but what is rational filthiness and deformity An understanding void of any valuable knowledge A Perverse and stubborn will against what is rationally good beastly affections her Soul it may be is full of lasciviousness Pride Malice Envy All unlovely things Turbulent Passions Is Spiritual beauty worth nothing Shall Heathens judge a Soul that is knowing subdued to the rule of reason chast good just sober meek modest beautiful and worth a thousand Souls otherwise disposed and qualified and shall Christians judge otherwise shall they think Soul-beauty not valuable Or shall they not judge it worth any thing to be comely with Christs comeliness and in the Eyes of an all seeing heart searching God to be without spot or wrinkle consider Sirs how much this is beneath the name or profession of Christians how we are condemned by wanton gallants desiring corporeal beauty and Heathens valuing the rational beauty of the mind which commends it self to all rational minds before they be debauched 2. Consider what it is to have the King of Kings to desire and to predicate our beauty Psal 45. 11. So shall the King greatly desire thy beauty The King this King is God whose throne is for ever and ever and whose Scepter is a righteous Scepter v. 6. Beauty is in it self attractive but who is there that will not covet a beauty that a King should desire But what are all the Kings of the Earth compared with him who is the King of glory So shall the King saith the Psalmist desire thy beauty How great a thing is this for the great God to have a desire to the Sons of men and a delight in them And further for this King to predicate our beauty as the Lord doth in the Text and did concerning Job Job 2. v. 3. And the Lord said unto Satan hast thou considered my Servant Job that there is none like him in all the Earth a perfect and an upright man one that feareth God and escheweth evil and still he holdeth fast his integrity though thou movedst me against him to destroy him without cause For this great King to desire a Souls beauty signifieth to be the Spouse of Christ to be in favour with God in this life and it promiseth an eternal communion with God in glory in the life which is to come when the Marriage of the Lamb shall be consummate and the Bride the Lambs Wife shal follow him wheresoever he goes 3. Lastly consider The consequent of not being of the number of those whom Christ here calleth the fairest amongst Women Amongst men their is a medium betwixt mens looking upon a woman as the fairest and such a one whose beauty they desire and being abominable and odious in their Eyes But as to Christ there is no medium betwixt these two The unbelieving and the abominable are put together Rev. 21. 8. A man may not love a woman so well as to make her his Wife and yet have a kindness for her not hate and abhor her The case is not so betwixt God and the Soul He or she whose beauty the Lord doth not desire is by God hated and abhorred that Soul is abominable in his fight The abominable Rev. 21. 8. shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the Second death These arguments are enough to those who believe there is an Heaven and an Hell who believe there is a God and a Christ and that all mankind are under the favour or disfavour of this great and terrible God To persuade them to get into the number of these whom God judgeth the fairest amongst women Will any say to me but what can we contribute towards it Love is a free thing It is true Love is free and the Love of none amongst the creatures is or can be so free as the Love of God who is the freest Agent but yet hearken to the direction of the Psalmist who doubtless is an infallible guide in this matter Psal 45. v. 10. Hearken O Daughter and consider and incline thine Ear forget also thine own People and thy Fathers house So shall the King greatly desire thy beauty What is our Fathers house but the house of old Adam What are our own People but our own sinful courses our old sinful company How shall we forget them but by hearkening to the Counsels of God considering our state and condition what we are Whither we are hastening what will become of us in the latter end Giving and inclining our Ears to what To the reproofs corrections admonitions instructions of Gods Word to the knocking 's and motions of his blessed Spirit so shall the Lord Jesus Christ the King of Kings the Lord of Lords desire and greatly desire your beauty To those who what ever they are called and go for in the World are Atheists in heart and
at Peace with God All that can be said to relieve the Child of God under this complaint to ease him under this burden is this That this misery which befalleth him is but what is common to the very best of men it is a priviledge reserved for the Saints in glory to live in a not interrupted communion with God To be ever with the Lord beholding his face to live in the sense of such a constant communion with Christ as doth afford the Soul a perfect Satisfaction The sublunary Saint is often crying out Tell me O thou whom my Soul loveth where tho u feedest This dispensation indeed will speak thee sensibly miserable and sad but it will not speak thee to have no relation to Christ I shall shut up this discourse with a Word or two of exhortation Pleading with you to do what in you lies to avoid such a state and to keep your selves within the knowledg where Christ feedeth where he makes his flocks to rest at noon 1. Consider first That as the Spiritual life of any Soul lyes in its union and communion with Christ So the comfort of his life lyeth in his sense of this communion and knowledge how at all times and in all conditions to Support and to maintain it Our Saviour tells us that As the branch cannot bring forth fruit unless it abide in the Vine so neither can we except we abide in him John 15. 4. That Soul which hath no communion with Christ is as certainly dead as the body is that hath no communion with the head or the branch that hath no communion with the stock Now it is true Sense is not necessary to Spiritual life We live saith the Apostle by faith not by sight But the comfort of the Soul doth depend upon sense and knowledge it is true as to a Christians comfort not to live and not to know that we live are much the same thing as to its happiness it is not but I say as to his comfort it is What quiet can a Christian have in his breast what Peace in his conscience What joy in the Holy Ghost that feeleth no intercourses is sensible of no inward communion betwixt his Soul and Christ 2. Hence consider Secondly That to the waky Christian there is no greater misery upon the Earth then what ariseth from his apprehensions of his having no communion with Christ All the enjoyments of the World will be nothing of Satisfaction to such a Soul it is an evil Nullis medicabilis herbis I say with a waky soul it will be thus some Souls are in a profound sleep they never think of Eternity never consider their latter end they are ignorant and know not the relation that Christ hath to a State of Eternal happiness that as Eternal life is the gift of God so it is through Christ for that the Father hath given into his hands the Power of Eternal life and he giveth it to whomsoever he pleaseth Now these Souls though they have no fellowship no communion at all yet they have no misery no grief from it But I say to the Soul that is awake to consider the Grave the Eternity to which he is hastening 't is the greatest burden imaginable to lye under apprehensions that his fellowship is not with the Father and with the Son Jesus Christ 3. Thirdly consider that of all evils those lye heaviest and most sadly upon the Soul concerning which the man or woman is conscious that he himself hath been accessary to them and a cause of them Let a good Christian be at loss for his communion with God let the cause of it be what it will he is sad enough but if his heart smites him that he himself hath been the cause of it Oh! insupportable burden of that reflection he cannot bear the thoughts of his destroying his Soul by his own hands of this you may make an easy judgment by considering the frame of your Spirit under such accidents though of a much lighter nature it is sad enough for a man to lose his estate for a Mother to lose her Child but for the man to think that he lost his estate through his own supine negligence or for a Mother to think she hath been the death of her Child These are wounds healed usually with great difficulty So for a Soul to think it hath lost its communion with its dear Lord by its own supine negligence or any voluntary act of its own which it might have avoided This maketh a deep wound in the Soul But will some say what should what can we do to uphold our communion with Christ and to maintain a sense of it Let me here speak two words The first to such as have their beloved in view and do yet injoy desired communion with him 2. To such as have lost this view in order to their recovery of it To the first I say 1. Be much with him whom your Soul loveth What the Prophet said of Gods presence of Providence is as true concerning the presence of God in gracious influences 2. Chron. 15. 2. The Lord is with you while you are with him if you seek him he will be found of you Souls that are much with God seldom lose their sight of him ordinarily the Souls of men and women first withdraw the communications of themselves unto him through levity and wantonness then Christ withdraweth both in justice to punish in them that levity and in wisdom to make them to seek after him Hos 5. 15. I will go and return to my place until they acknowledge their offence and seek my face in their affliction they will seek me early That Soul is seldom or never at a loss to know where Christ feedeth his flocks that keepeth a constant correspondence with him Be much in Prayer especially secret Prayer much in Heavenly meditation and contemplation when the Spouse after her loss Cant. 3. 1 2 had found her beloved I held him saith she and would not let him go How doth the Soul hold Christ so as she will not let him go but by faith and constant and frequent acts of fellowship and communion with him 2. Secondly Take heed of grieving the holy Spirit It is the Apostles Counsel Eph. 4. 30. Grieve not the holy Spirit by which you are sealed to the day of Redemption We maintain our fellowship with Christ by the Spirit That takes of Christs and giveth to us and again it takes of ours and giveth to Christ by the Spirit we Pray by its assistance we exercise faith Love c. Christ by his Spirit communicateth himself to us and we by the Spirit do communicate our Souls to him Take heed therefore you grieve not this Spirit either by any presumptuous sinnings or by quenching its motions or resisting its operations Let every Knock every motion and impulse every impression of the holy Spirit be very valuable to and regardable in the Eyes of your Souls 3. Thirdly Maintain in
many that bend their bows for lies Papists are full of courage and mettal for an idolatrous worship wicked men are full of malice courage to accuse inform against and to destroy the People of God but who is on the Lords side Who Where is the courage of Christians for the truths the waies the Ordinances of God They dare not appear for God but seek all waies to hide and cover themselves and to withdraw themselves from the Lords battels They are not like the warlike horse God speaketh of to Job that saith amongst the Trumpets Ha Ha that mocketh at fear is not affrighted and turneth not his back from the Sword It is time for some to shew themselves valiant for God for the truths and Ordinances of God We are afraid that true Religion is almost at its last Gaspe in our times Where is the Spirit of the Lord God of Elijah The Spirit of those Antient Worthies that noble Army of Martyrs that loved not their lives unto Death but witnessed a good confession they transmitted the true Religion to us sealed with their blood the Spirits of Christians do not appear as if we were like to add many such seals to it and pass it also under our Seal to the generation which is like to succeed us Let this a little move us 2. Consider how necessary a grace it is for the times in which we live The whole Life of a Christian upon the Earth is such a warfare such a warring with Principalities and Powers and the Rulers of the Darkness of this World against spiritual wickedness in high places that he had need be called to at all times to put on the whole Armour of God that he may be able to stand against the Wiles of the Devil to withstand and when he hath done all to stand But the times wherein we live seem to have a particular malignity against Religion and Godliness above the times we have seen or the daies of our Forefathers The Devil is come down with a great rage we had need of courage and of patience The Casuists trouble their Readers with many Questions in order to the Solution of this one Question When a Christian is obliged to make an explicit Confession of his Faith and to declare what he is and what he will stand to and abide by They agree generally that he is bound to do it where the glory of God is eminently concerned 2. Or where the good of others is in eminent hazard There are certainly two times when the glory of God is eminently concerned in Christians appearing for him 1. When his Truths and Ordinances are like to be trodden under foot 2. When the Name and Things of God are eminently blasphemed I beseech you consider whether these be not times of great reproach and blasphemy were ever the Truths of God more opposed was ever the holy Name of God to that degree blasphemed was there ever a greater rage against Religion and Godliness Is it not now time for Christians to buckle on their Armour to quit themselves like men to arm themselves with courage to shew themselves like a company of Horses in Pharaoh's Chariots Horses that will not be afraid like Grashoppers Horses that paw in the Valley and rejoyce in their strength and go on to meet the armed men 3. Consider That Christ hath made you like the Horses in Pharaoh 's Chariots I will open this in two things 1. He hath put of his strength into you The wise man saith The Horse is prepared for the day of Battel he is prepared by Nature by a great natural Spirit which God hath given him and he is prepared by Art and Managery God hath prepared every Christian for this Spiritual battel by giving him a New Nature We use to say That if the Horse knew its own strength it would be too hard for the Rider God in mercy to man hath hidden the Horses strength from him God in judgment hath hidden Christians strength from them in these sinful times The Church hath a strength in it such a strength as the Gates of Hell cannot prevail against Believers have a strength in and with them if they would but put it forth prisons torments fires in former times could not prevail against them How hath God in these sinful times hidden the wisdom of the wise and the prudence of the prudent and the strength of the strong men from them What a strength was there in Luther when Melancthon was afraid they should perish in their appearing for the Cause of God and he made answer Esto ruamus ruet Christus una Christus magnus ille regnator mundi mallem cum Christo ruere quam cum Caesare stare Be it so saith he Let us perish Christ must perish with us Christ that great Ruler of the World I had rather fall with Christ than stand with Caesar The Horse is not afraid of an Army of armed men he goeth on to meet the armed men he mocketh at fear he is not affrighted he turneth not his back from the Sword he feareth not the rattling of the Quiver nor the glittering of the Spear and the Shield he swalloweth up the ground with fierceness and rage neither believeth he that it is the sound of the Trumpet Christ hath made his People like to these Horses only the strength of the Horse is natural the Believers strength is spiritual Why are we afraid 2. The Horses in Pharaoh's Chariots had doubtless some Armour to protect them and preserve them However he that governed the Chariot took a care of them Thus also were the Horses prepared for the Battel by Art as well as by Nature Thus are Christians also prepared there is an Armour of God prepared for them which they are to put on And Christ who governeth his own Chariot his Church will take care of them Psal 46 5. God is in the midst of the Church therefore it shall not fall Isa 27. 3. I the Lord do keep it I will water it every moment last any hurt it I will keep it night and day Psal 125. 2. As the Mountains are round about Hierusalem so the Lord is round about his People He will create a defence upon their glory a cloud and a smoak and a flaming fire upon her Assemblies a Tabernacle a place of Refuge a cover from the storm and from Rain Isa 4. 4 5. 4. And lastly Christ expecteth this from you Thus much methinks is signified to us by the phrase I have compared thee to a company of Horses in Pharaoh 's Chariots The Prince expects that his War-horses should serve him in the day of Battel that they should not be afraid of armed men of Drums or Trumpets c. It is the service we have to do for Christ in the use of the habits of his grace bestowed upon us and in thankfulness for all the goodness he hath shewed us in more calm and quiet times That Christian ill requiteth the Lord for
it is wholesome against insection helpeth women in travel cureth consumptions quickeneth the appetite c. I shall not dwell upon this because I do not think it chiefly intended But Christ in this sense is to the believing Soul a bundle of Myrrh healing all the Soul's diseases Ps 103. 3. He is that tree Rev. 22. 2. Whose leaves are for the healing of the Nations He healâ—th the broken in heart Psal 147. 3. What he did while he was upon the Earth by his miraculous power as to mens bodies Mat. 4. 23. Healing all manner of Sickness that he doth now in Heaven for the Soul by his saving efficacy 3. Myrrh is as I told you a great preservative against putresaction Which was the cause of their using of it about dead bodies either putting it into the body after the Egyptian Method or outwardly anointing or embalming the body with it after the Jewish Method Christ is the same to the Soul where he dwells he preserveth the Soul against the putrifaction of lusts and corruptions The Apostle speaks this Rom. 6. 3. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein Where he argues that the Souls Interest in Christ arising from its justification preserveth the Soul against putrifying lusts that sin cannot have dominion over it because it is not under the law but under grace But I hasten to the 4th which in the Judgment of Interpreters is chiefly intended here 4. Myrrh whether in the Herb Spice or Gum is exceeding sweet Hence you read of beds and garments persumed with Myrrh Now the greater quantity there is the stronger the odour must be Christ is a heap of sweets exceeding sweet to the Soul his mouth is most sweet Cant. 5. 16. his Cheeks are as sweet Flowers his lips drop sweet smelling Myrrh Cant. 5. 13. Sweetness to the nostrils is nothing else but a smell that arising from some hidden quality in the thing that emits it and conveyed to the nostrils by the air gratifies that outward sense There is a sweetness that is mental too A Notion is as sweet to the Scholar as a perfume is to a Lady Prov. 13. 19. Desire accomplished is sweet to the Soul Christs sweetness is mental sweetness he is sweetness not to the nostrils but to the Soul and so he is a bundle of sweets Let me unty this bundle of Myrrh a little And shew you how Christ is sweet I will open it to you in three things 1. He is exceeding sweet in his actions as our Redeemer As to these he is a bundle of Myrrh there were many of them His Vniting of the Divine nature to the Humane nature in his Incarnation his fulfilling the law his death upon the cross His resurrection ascending sitting at his Fathers right hand making intercession for us The Soul smells of all these by Meditation and faith and the smell is like that of a bundle of Myrrh shall I shew you how 1. For his Incarnation with the manner of it he united the divine and humane nature by an hypostatical union was conceived by the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost in the womb of a Virgin without the help of man Mr. Ainsworth and others think this Text hath a special referenee to this this is Christ now considered as wrapt in swadling clothes and laid in a manger The Soul smells of this by a firm and stedfast divine faith believing the thing because God hath said it in his word though it cannot see it by the evidence of reason and sense And the Souls smells of it continually by meditation And O how sweet it is to a believing Soul Then saith the Soul first he that Sanctifieth and I that am Sanctified are both one I see Christ is not ashamed to call me Brother 2. Then faith the Soul I see I have a merciful high-Priest that knoweth how to pity a poor piece of flesh hungring and thirsting and full of infirmities 3. Again here 's comfort saith the poor Soul to me I was born a leper under the imputed guilt of Adams sin I was conceived in sin and brought forth in iniquity But my Saviour was born without sin the vessel was made pure by the overshadowings of the Holy Ghost and no impure hand contributed to his conveyance into the World I was born a Child of wrath indebted to justice before I knew what I did but he was born a Child of Love He was born with a knowledge of humane infirmities to know how to pity me but without sinful infirmities That he might be in a capacity to save and help me Again saith the Soul Then I see a perfect and sufficient Saviour One meâ—rly God considering the justice of God that could give no remission without blood could not have saved me because he could not have died for me and so have destroyed him that had the power of death One meerly man could not have saved me for he could not have merited But a Person that was God and man God and man in one Person must needs be in a perfect capacity as man he died as God he merited nay the Person that was God-man both died and merited How sweet is this to the Soul torturing it self with thoughts for the filthiness of its nature troubled with humane infirmities perplexed with thoughts how Christ should be able to save it c. This is but one of his actions 2. He fulfilled the law for us I am not of their mind that think that Christs active obedience is not imputed I think the Apostle speaks plain enough to the contrary Rom. 8. 3 4. And if not he yet the Prophet By his knowledge he shall justifie many You read that he was made righteousness for us And doubtless whatever some may fancy the obedience of the Person which was God-man could not be an homage due from the humane nature of Christ which was indeed but a creature Christ fulfilling the Law is exceeding sweet to the gracicious Soul This poor Soul when renewed is but renewed in part in many things offendeth and the sense of its daily backslidings makes it tremble How sweet is it now to the Soul to be able to conclude thus to its self Though there be much guile found in my heart and in my mouth yet in his mouth there was no guile found though I have been an Absolom rebelling against my Heavenly Father from my youth upward yet he was an Adonijah a Son that never displeased his Father 3. Look upon him in the laying down of his life How sweet is the meditation of it to a poor Soul Christ crucified is a bundle of Myrrh indeed from hence the Soul draweth many pretious smells hence it is that the Soul smelis Spiritual life with all the consequences and dependencies upon it Hence it smells Spiritual liberty with all the sweet fruits of it I say from hence it smells Spiritual life to itself when it is almost suffocated with the apprehension of the
brought in thus speaking How beautiful is the glory of thy Holiness while thou dwellest amongst us and freely hearest our prayers whiles thou abidest in our beloved Bed our Children are multiplied upon the Earth we increase and multiply like a Tree planted by the Rivers of water whose Leaf is beautiful and its Fruit much But I have all along observed too great a fondness in that Reverend Interpreter to apply all spoken in this Song to the Jewish Synagogue because once she was the only Beloved of God not attending this as a Prophecy concerning also such as should be received into Divine favour when God should have said to his Antient People Loammi you are not my People We have therefore by the Spouse here all along understood the Church of God in all times and more particularly believing Souls which are here brought in thus speaking to Christ Behold thou art fair my Beloved yea pleasant Also our Bed is green The words in our English Translation are punctually translated Nor is there any considerable difference amongst Interpreters rendring them in their several Versions We shall therefore fall immediately to consider the sense of the words as they lie before us which are a Reply unto what Christ had said v. 15. He had told the believing Soul that she was fair she was was fair she had Doves Eyes She now replys in the words of the Text Behold thou art fair my Beloved yea pleasant also our Bed is green Where you have 1. Her usual friendly Compellation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My Beloved my Love my Nephew my Uncle my Kinsman I gave you an account of the significancy of that word before 2. A note of Attention or Admiration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold I shewed you in my Discourses on the 16th verse the usage of that particle in Scripture 3. A double Assertion 1. Thou art fair to which she adds yea pleasant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. The second in those words Our Bed is green He had told the Spouse v. 16. that she was fair she now replies Behold thou art fair my Beloved Pulchritudo ejus dilectio ejus saith Bernard His love to his Spouse is his beauty Et ideo major quia praeveniens which is so much the greater because it prevents us And saith he she therefore loves more because she discerns her self prevented and overcome in Love It is as much as if she had said Doth my dearest Saviour say I am fair who am by Birth an Ethiopian black with original corruption and upon whom the Sun hath lookt Nay My Beloved thou art much more fair Let the World be invited to behold thy Beauty Behold thou art fair my Love Observe Prop. 1. The Beauty of our Saviour doth infinitely transcend the Beauty of his Saints Prop. 2. The sense of the value which Christ puts upon his Saints will and ought to engage them to put an high value upon him Give me leave to speak something to the first of these Propositions before I pass on to the other words of the Text. I begin with the first Prop. 1. Christ's Beauty doth infinitely transcend the Beauty of his Saints The Saints are Stars and there is not the least Star but hath its lustre and glory but yet there is a difference of Stars in glory and the glory of the Sun of Righteousness of the Star that came out of Jacob is far more eminent than the Beauty of other Stars which are set in inferiour Orbs. Pulchritudo est qualitas per quam aliquid pulchrum est Beauty is a quality from which any thing is made beautiful That is beautiful which is lovely Pulcher quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or quod pollet charitate There is a corporeal Beauty and there is a mental Beauty the corporeal Beauty is nothing else besides a certain loveliness that ariseth from a due proportion of bodily parts and due temperament of humours and a comely bodily figure The mental Beauty is a loveliness which ariseth from a well tempered Soul adorned with good natural dispositions moral habits or spiritual infused habits of Graces When I speak of the Saints Beauty and of Christ's Beauty I understand it of a spiritual loveliness in them arising from that Grace which dwelled in Christ essentially as God and was poured out upon-him without measure as Mediator and is derived from him to all that truly believe in him Now I say this Beauty in Christ doth infinitely transcend that of the Saints I will shew it you in some few particulars which you may gather from what I said before concerning the Saints Beauty I shewed you that the Saints Beauty was not native and primitive but derivative not essential but accidental not perfect but imperfect I told you that it was indeed durable but yet the degrees of it might fade Let me now open to you the transcendent Excellencies of Christ's Beauty 1. And more generally It is a glorious incomprehensible and most incomparable Beauty When the Word was made flesh and came and dwelt amongst the Sons of men they beheld his glory as the glory of the only begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth Joh. 1. 14. In all created Beauties there is not equality There are some faces more beautiful and some minds more beautiful and lovely than others which yet have their loveliness too Beauty is a quality which is capable of degrees There is a glory in Christ's Beauty which is not to be found in the Beauty of any Saint The Apostle tells us that the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in him bodily And the Evangelist that his glory was like the glory of the only begotten Son of God he was full of Grace and Truth Now if you ask me what this glory is what Tongue is able to express it Every one sees a glory in the Sun 's Light excelling the glory of the Stars but wherein the Excellency is more than in the fulness of the Light none is able to determine Here it is true which the Vulgar Latine makes the sense of Prov. 25. 27. Qui scrutatur Majestatem opprimetur à gloria While the Soul sets it self to fathom the transcendent Divine Excellencies that are in Christ it is overcome with glory as the Eye is with the Light of the Sun that looks too wistly upon it as the Boy that appeared to the Auncient who had promised his People to open to them the Doctrine of the Trinity unlading water out of the Sea into a little hole with a Spoon and told him that he should sooner have done that work than he would have opened the Doctrine of the Trinity So I may say in this case Christ is every way wonderful The Prophet concerning his Birth cries out Who shall declare his Generation I may here cry out Who shall declare his glory Thus much we can say that his Beauty is extensively and intensively more than that of the most eminent Saint in the World that it