Christ himself Is 53. 3. But how far is this from the duty of Christians where is the scorners Brotherly love and compassion how doth he forget that himself also is in the body and may be tempted Affliction is what may befall the best of men and who can scorn and despise a Christian fallen through infirmity and temptation that considers how David and Peter fell and that himself standeth by Grace and that the reason of his standing is because God keepeth off from him the like temptations that others meet with 4. It is our duty not so to look upon the Spouse in the day of her blackness as because of it to be scared from her company to shun and avoid her and to withdraw our selves from her either from advising and counselling her in order to her cleansing or doing what in us lieth in order to it Solomon saith A friend loveth at all times and a Brother is born for adversity If there were no obligation upon us from any religious bond or relation yet our participation of the same common humane nature ought to oblige us to pity counsel advise and what we can to help Persons in distress but Religion lays yet an higher tie upon us as it obligeth more specially to love the Church and to love the Brethren and to be Friends to those that are Christs Friends now a Friend loveth at all times Our Saviour in the Parable of him that fell amongst Thieves Luke 20. 31. determines him no Neighbour that seeing the man stripped of his rayment and wounded and half dead came and only looked on him and passed on the other side much less can such a one call himself a friend God by Obadiah tells the Edomites v. 11. of their standing on the other side when the strangers carried the Jews away into captivity Nor are we only obliged to this in case of the Spouses blackness through affliction but through sin also and corruption and that both in the case of the particular Christian and of the Church of God let me a little inlarge upon this because I fear there is too much failing of Christians upon this account 1. In the case of the particular Christian It is true there may be such faileurs of particular persons as may oblige conscientious Christians to shun an intimacy with them I have written to you saith the Apostle 1. Cor 5. 11. not to keep company if any man be called a Brother be a fornicator or covetous or an Idolater or a railer or a drunkard or an extortioner with such a one no not to Eatâ— 2. Thessal 3. 14. If any man obey not our Word by this Epistle note that man and have no company with him that he may be ashamed But observe the next words yet count him not as an Enemy but admonish him as a Brother I ought not wholly to withdraw my self from that man who may have so fallen as it may be my sin to have an intimacy of fellowship and communion with him I ought not to count him as an Enemy whom yet I may not make my intimate and bosom friend but what I can do by counsel and advice by reproofs and admonitions in order to his recovery I am bound not to neglect so as I ought not wholly to withdraw my self from him 2. In the case of a Church black through corruption the admission of undue mixtures of members of erroneous doctrine Supâ—rstitious rites c. it is undoubtedly our duty not to defile our selves by communion with her in those things wherein her blackness appeareth But it is also our duty not so to withdraw from it as to lend it none of our help There is indeed a time when God saith of a Church Wherefore come out from amongst them and be you separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you and will be a father unto you and yoâ— shall be my Sons and daughters saith the Lord God Almighty God said so to the Jews when Jeroboam set up the Calves at Dan and Bethel The honest Priests and Levites resorted to Judah out of all their coasts leaving their suburbs and possessions and after them out of all the tribes of Israel such as set their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel came to Hierusalem to Sacrifice to the Lord God of their Fathers 2. Chron. 11. 16. But where God hath not said to a People you are not my People where Idolatry is not crept into the Worship of a Church nor such errors in Doctrine as destroy the foundations of faith and repentance tho it may be the duty of Christians not to be so blind as not to see manifest errors and corruptions and to mourn for them yet it is also their duty not so to look upon them as wholly to shun communion with such a Church so far as Christ owns it and to put themselves out of the obligations of charity and brotherly Love or to think themselves discharged from such obligations all the diseases and wounds of Churches are not incurable and we ought so far as we can to attend and indeavour the cure of them It is indeed a sad case when a Church is so far corrupted as to its officers and members as a Christian can see no hope of a reduction of it to the divine rule but certainly a great deal of waiting and patience in this case is our duty tho that a Christian can be obliged all the days of his life to keep in the communion of a Church in which he cannot injoy all the Ordinances of the Gospel according to the will of Christ is more then I know But it is one thing to Satisfy our own consciences as to the purity of acts of Worship and communion another thing wholly to reject cast off and condemn such Churches in which we cannot see such a purity It is apparent that in and after our Saviours time the Church of the Jews had wofull mixtures and were corrupted both in Doctrine and in Worship and in discipline indeed little in it was right The whole Ceremonial Worship was abolished by the death of Christ He pulled down that partition wall betwixt the Gentiles and the Jews and abolished the law contained in Ordinances yet observe the Apostles practice tho they kept their private meetings of the Christians yet they also went into the Temple and into the Synagogues and Acts 19. v. 8. When Paul came to Ephesus he went into the Jewish Synagogues and spake there for 3 Months disputing and perswading the things belonging to the Kingdom of God But when diverse were hardned and believed not but spake evil of that way before the multitude then indeed he departed from them and separated the disciples disputing daily in the School of one Tyrannus If the foundation Doctrines of the Gospel be any where denied or blasphemed the ways of God reproached in any Church and those that walk in them reviled and persecuted or Idolatry
from God and Heb. 9. 14. the Apostle tells us That the blood of Christ purgeth our Consciences from dead Works to serve the living God Hence the Apostle 1. Cor. 1. 30. Telleth us that Christ is made unto us Wisdom Sanctification and Redemption 5. The 5th great Want of the Soul which I mentioned was Hopes or Assurance of an happy Existence to all eternity This Want now accrueth from the Soul's Immortality The Consideration that God hath created us under an Ordination to an Eternal Existence and State Admitting this which indeed is the main thing that distinguisheth a reasonab'e Soul from the Soul of a brute Creature it is impossible that the Soul should be under any degree of Happiness that hath not some Hopes or Assurance of Glory That its Soul shall go to God when it leaveth the Body And that the Body shall rise again in a joyful Resurrection in which it shall be again united to the Soul that both may live with God for ever Now this is a Good which floweth unto the Soul from the Loves of Christ This needs no further proof than 1. That no Soul is born to this glorious and incorruptible Inheritance for we are by nature Children of Wrath and eternal life is the Gift of God as the Apostle tells us Rom. 6. The Gift of God is eternal Life and it is a gift which cometh from God to us by the Hands of Christ John 17. 2. As thou hast given him Power over all Flesh that he should give eternal Life to as many as thou hast given him And John 10. 28. Speaking of his sheep saith he I give unto them eternal Life and they shall never perish Now as their having a certain right to and their future possession of eternal Life is necessary for them in another Life when this transitory Life shall be determined so the hopes or full assurance of it is necessary for them to make them in any measures happy while they live here And this is in and from Christ also and therefore he is called our Hope 1 Tim. 1. 1. And the the Apostle Col. 1. 27. saith Christ in us is the Hopes of Glory That is all the Hopes we have of Glory are from Christ This is abundantly enough to evince that positive goodness that is in the Loves of Christ their high and sutable conveniencies to the necessities and wants of our Souls I shall in the next place shew you the transcendent Goodness and excellency that is in them that they are as the Text saith Better then Wine or as it is expressed in the Hebrew Idiome good before Wine Wine as I have before shewed you literally Signifies the Juice of the Grape Figuratively whatsoever is good sweet and excellent in the World Now take it in one or both Senses The Demonstration is very easy I shall make it in 3 particulars 1. First all the Goodness that is in Wine taken either litterally for the Juice of the Grape or Figuratively for all created comforts lies in a Sutableness of them and that but for a time neither to the more external wants of a Creature Three things must be yielded concerning all created Goods 1. None of them reach the wants of the Soul which is the best and noblest part of man What do Pleasures Riches Honours whatsoever this world affordeth signify as to the Souls wants It wants Pardon of sins Will any of these procure or purchase it It wants a Righteousness wherein to stand before God Will these procure it It wants Peace of Conscience Will those give it It wants Purity Will they cleanse it It naturally wants a Right and title to Glory and the Hopes or Assurance of it Can any of these help the Soul to it They indeed sute the more external wants of Man The wanton Sense wants grateful Objects They will Supply it The body wants Food and Rayment they will Supply it But for the more inward Spiritual Wants of the Soul they have no Sutableness to them no conveniency But as I have shewed you the Loves of Christ have nay they are not onely suted to the Souls greatest wants but to the Bodies also at least so far as the Soul hath influence on the Body upon the Happiness of which it undoubtedly hath for a good Conscience is a continual feast The Contentment which Grace filleth the Soul with the Mortification and Subduing of the Passions and stubborn Will of Man have a great Reflection upon the Health and chearfulness of the Body So that here is a double Argument to prove the Loves of Christ better than Wine 1. From their Sutableness to the necessities and wants of the Soul which are the wants of the noblest part of man 2. From their sutableness to the wants both of Soul and body by reason of the Reflection which the Souls good hath upon the outward Man even in this Life to say nothing of the joyful Resurrection of the Body and the Happiness both of Body and Soul reunited in the Enjoyment of God for ever 2. All created Comforts last but for a Season and that a little Season They only sute the wants of our Bodies in this Life Riches profit not in the day of Wrath Honours lie down with our Bodies in the dust Pleasures cease when our senses which they gratified are gone Nay very often the Sutableness or gratefulness of these created Goods extinguisheth before the determination of our natural Lives When Barzillai was Fourescore years old his Eye took no pleasure in seeing nor his Ear in hearing There are daies in this Life Eccles 12. 7. in which a man shall say he hath no pleasure in them What do Riches Honours Friends Pleasures signify in a day of Sickness 3. No created good suteth all our wants one suteth one want another fills up another Emptiness none suteth all But the Love of Christ as it suteth our Soul wants So it is Suted to all times and is certain and a Supply to all wants of Souls This is my first Argument to prove his Loves better then Wine 2. Secondly there is no need or want which Wine or created goods supplieth but the Love of Christ will supply and much more eminently and abundantly Let me open this in a few particulars 1. Wine in regard of the Subtile Spirituous nature of it hath a great vertue to exhilarate the Spirits and to raise up the Affection of Joy Hence you read of those who shout by reason of Wine Psal 78. 65. And the Psalmist saith VVine makes glad the heart of Man Psal 104. 15. and Ecc. 10. 19. Wine maketh merry But do not the Loves of Christ do this much more Eph. 5. 19. And be you not drunk with Wine wherein is Excess but be you filled with the Spirit speaking to your selves in Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs making Melody in your heart to the Lord. David Psal 4. cries out Lord lift thou up the light of thy Countenance upon me for thou thereby
so appear and the more goodness or sutableness to a Souls necessities is in any object and appears to the Soul the stronger must be the Souls motions to and towards it Now there is nothing in the World can possibly appear to a pious Soul to have that degree of goodness in it that an Vnion and communion with God hath they being things suited to the Souls highest wants Our communion with God is the great testimony of our union with him and that Soul that hath no evidence of a communion with God will find it self at as great a loss to evidence its union with him Besides good is generally valued and adjudged either by profit or pleasure The pious Soul knoweth that the more full or free and less interrupted its communion with God is the more sweet and pleasant it is duties are more our tasks and burdens then our delight and pleasure when the Soul hath but a broken interrupted and distracted communion with him And as to profit nothing can be more considerable to the Soul considering that the peace of the Soul and the increase of its grace are both much advantaged by it David cryeth out Psal 73. v. 25. Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon Earth that I desire besides thee The desire of God upon Earth mentioned by the Psalmist must be a desire of fellowship and communion with God which being in it self desirable the more the Soul hath of it the more full and free and less interrupted that communion is the more still it must be the object of every pious Souls desire This in the first place will shew us a certain difference betwixt the Child of God and an hypocrite The profane man despiseth communion with God and looks upon all discourses concerning union and communion with Christ as mere canting The hypocrite pretends to something of communion with God but any slight degrees of it any acts by which he can but fancy he hath any such communion serve his turn and satisfy him A formal hypocrite possibly cannot stop the mouth of his natural conscience nor save his reputation with the World without the performance of some duties which God hath instituted wherein the People of God have a communion with God he must sometimes pray and hear a Sermon but whether his heart be united to God in Prayer whether he attends to the Words of the Prayer whether he finds any fervency of Spirit or any freedom of Spirit to or in the duty whether his Soul performeth it with any exercise of faith in God these are things he looks not after neither are they the objects of his desires or indeavours Hence therefore conscientious Christians may take some just measures of themselves A Christian indeed is not to be judged from his praying or hearing but from his hungring and thirsting after a communion with God in the duties he performeth unto him and after such a communion with God as I have been describing unto you and if there be such desires in your Souls they will be evidenced 1. By the trouble of your Souls when you find you come short of it Desire not obtained as well as hope deferred will make the heart sick no true Christian but at some times will find his thoughts more wandring his Affections more cold his Spirit more straitned his Faith more languid to find this and not to be concerned for it or troubled at it is a very ill evidence against the Soul that it hath no such desires as I have been discoursing of 2. Secondly Such desires will be attended with indeavours to avoid whatsoever may hinder such a communion with God Real desires are always attended with proportionable indeavours He that desires a more free and full communion with his friend will go out of a croud of company where he knows he cannot injoy it He that desires such a communion with Christ will find some time to get out of the crouds of Worldly business and company where he knows he cannot have it 3. And Lastly The truth of such desires will be evidenced by the use of all probable means that may conduce to it He vainly pretends to desire a thing who will use no means within his reach and power to obtain it And that brings me in the last place to a Word of exhortation to the use of such means For though it must be by an influence a great influence of grace that any Soul comes up to this yet that is to be obtained by the use of due means on our part I shall briefly hint some probable means of this nature 1. Make Religion as much your business as you can I know it cannot be all our business while we are in the world But the more it is our business the more our communion with God will be When a Boy is first bound Apprentice he knoweth not how to keep his mind to his business it is much running after his idle diversions and recreations but when he hath once been habituated to his work by degrees he grows more serious and fixed So will the Soul as to its great business of communion with God 2. Prepare your hearts to seek the Lord by prayer by sequestring your selves sometime from your secular concerns There lyes much in this for want of it we are much accessary to our own distractions and that interrupted broken communion with God of which we complain 3. Vse your indeavours to lift up your hearts to God in duties and to keep off such things as would hinder it Frown upon your hinderances If a man frowns upon one that would come to disturb him in any serious discourse with his friend he must be very impudent that should continue such interruptions or repeat them 4. Lastly Beg of God to make up what thou canst not do Hitherto I have only discoursed a notion of my own as to the Sense of my Text. I told you that the generality of Interpreters take notice of the Noon as the hottest time of the day when the Sun emits its most direct beams so by it understand a time of Affliction and trial for which interpretation they have that of our Saviour Math. 13. 6. 21. This will afford us two notions the one more implyed the other more plainly expressed I shall speak something onely to the first of them at this time Prop. That Christ hath feeding and resting places and shades wherewith and wherein to refresh his Saints in the most scorching times of trial and affliction I shall onely open the Proposition by shewing you what these shades these feeding resting places are then shortly apply my discourse As to the first I shall instance only in three particulars David in his 23 Psal maketh use of this very Metaphor The Lord saith he is my Shepherd v. 2. He maketh me to lye down in green pastures he leadeth me besides the still Waters It is the work of a Shepherd to find out
green pastures for his flock in the day time and a secure fold for them at night yea and a fitting shadow for them at noon Christ doth so for his little flock to whom it 's his his Fathers and his will to give a Kingdom There shall be no want of those that fear him In the day time of their lives he feeds and protects them by his providence he nourisheth them by his ordinances and daily influences of grace In the night of death he folds their Bodies in the grave their Souls in Abrahams bosom It is the work of a Shepherd to provide and look out pasture for his sheep when that ordinary pasture is burnt up like a wilderness It is our great Shepherds work to provide feeding and resting places when either publick trials afflictions and persecutions debar them of their ordinary subsistence upon common providence or ordinary and more publick dispensations of publick ordinances and institutions the common food of their Souls But you will say to me what are these shadows from the heat these feeding and resting places which Christ hath provided wherein to feed and rest his flock at such a Noon 1. First he feedeth them upon the promises either more general or more specially suited to their particular trials Jeremiah saith Jer. 15. 16. I found thy words and did eat them and they were the joy and rejoicing of my heart Jeremy possibly there speaketh of the word of Prophecy which was as welcome to him as his meat But what was the word of Prophecy but the revelation of the will of God to him which when it was foretelling some judgment to come upon the People is more ordinarily called The Burden of the Lord The Believing Soul also in the Noon time of his Affliction and tryal finds the word of the Lord this he digesteth by faith and they become the joy and rejoycing of his heart By these things men live said Hezekiah some understand his affliction Others the promises of God made to him in the day of his Affliction The carnal heart understands not this food it is to him all one with feeding upon the air The promises are onely yea and Amen in Christ they are as shew bread of which none but the Royal Priest-hood can eat when the Child of God hath nothing else to eat he will yet feed upon a promise I had perisht saith David in my affliction if thy word had not been my delight Psal 119. v. 92. Latimer is said to have made his last meal upon that promise 1 Cor. 10. 13. Faithful is God who will not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able It is also reported of one Mr. Midgely a Minister in Yorkshire that being under horrid temptations to destroy himself and going once to the water side with design to do it carrying in his pocket the New Testament he paused a while to read a little and happily fell upon that text Mat. 1. 28. 29. Come unto me all you that are weary and heavy laden and I will ease you upon the reading of which he said to himself or to God rather sayest thou so I will not then drown my self yet The large field of the promises is one of those green pastures Where Christ at Noon feedeth his flock and maketh them to rest It is a feeding place which is at all times green the promises contain the Sure mercies of God He that liveth upon meer Sensible enjoyments feedeth but upon Grass and Flowers The Grass will wither and Flowers will fade But the word of the Lord abideth for Ever and there are some promises or others which sute the Soul in all its states and circumstances of Tryal and affliction 2. Secondly Christ sometimes feeds his flock at noon upon Special Providences And these are also of several sorts either of Protection from the Evil or Sustentation in and under trouble or deliverances out of trouble sometimes when thousands and ten thousands fall on their right and left hand The Plague shall not come nigh their dwellings according to the promise Psal 91. v. 7. In a time of famine Corn shall be fetched out of Egypt for Jacobs Family the Prophet shall be fed by a raven or the multiplying of the little meal in the widows barrel and the little Oyl in the cruse Sometimes they shall by some miraculous or at least inexpected waies and means be delivered out of trouble so were the three Children in the fiery fornace Daniel in the den of Lions of these there are multitudes of instances in Ecclesiastical History 3. Thirdly He sometimes feeds his People by Special influences either of strengthening or comforting grace In the multitude of my perplexing thoughts saith David thy comforts delight my Soul Psal 34. v. 19. As the sufferings of Christ abound in us saith the Apostle so our consolations abound by Christ 2 Corinth 1. 5. He will saith Job put strength into me Hence the Servants of God are inabled to rejoyce in tribulation under sicknesses have professed that they were never better and in great trials have rejoiced with a joy unspeakable Rejoycing in tribulation floweth not from the Tribulation For no affliction is joyous but grievous but from the influences of God upon the Soul in and under its tribulation Some one or other of these waies and means Christ feedeth his flock in a time of Trial and maketh them to rest in the Noon time of Trials and afflictions I proceed to the application of this discourse This in the first place commendeth the love of Christ to his little flock They say the Devil leaves the Witch when she is once in Gaol or upon trial for her life how true that is I cannot tell but certain it is that his Servants have no great help from him in an hour of straits and adversity this indeed speaks no love which never so much or so clearly shineth as through a Cloud of sad Providences Solomon tells us that a friend is made for an hour of adversity But herein is the Love of Christ manifested to those that have relation to him my Soul saith Mary Luk. 1. 4647. doth magnify the Lord and my spirit hath rejoyced in God my Saviour for he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden Christ regardeth the low estate of his People he leaveth them not when they are in distress Isaiah 43. 1 2. Fear not for I have redeemed thee I have called thee by thy name when thou passest through the waters I will be with thee and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burnt neither shall the flame kindle upon thee For I am the Lord thy God the holy one of Israel thy Saviour This lets us see the wonderful difference betwixt the state and condition of believers and unbelievers The world hath no places where to make their flocks to rest at Noon The Devil takes no care for his flock at
This saith he thou hast seen O God keep not silence O Lord be not thou far from me so Psal 38. 21 22. Psal 71. 12. Every Christians experience is a full proof of this so as the Proposition needeth no further proof only let me shew you the reason of it The great Reason is Because we are all of us more prone to live by sight then by faith The Apostle saith we live by faith not by sight He tells you what he himself and other Christians then did and what all good Christians should do The just saith the Prophet shall live by faith But through our infirmity we do live more by sight then we do by faith It is a lesson very hard to flesh and blood could we live more by faith there would be these two consequents to such a life 1. In the day of our sensible contentments we should live more upon the word and promises of God then upon any sensible comforts and enjoyments But it is hard for us to have a staff lent us and not to lean upon it so when it breaketh we come to see our errors and see more need of the influences of Divine Grace at such then at other times 2. We should see as much in God and in Christ to uphold and maintain our selves in an evil day as at any other times for the promises are the same and Christ in whom all the promises are yea and Amen is the same and Gods all-sufficiency is the same he is at all times the God that changeth not This being premised as the great and original cause we may conceive some further and more particular reasons 2. Because in this Noon all creature comforts fail yea and in some afflictions sensible spiritual comforts sometimes fail also In trials that are more external such as bodily afflictions persecutions c. outward comforts fail when the Sun shineth upon our Tabernacles and the rod of God is not upon us we are then ready to forget God when Jeshurun waxed fat he kicked up the heel when these outward consolations are taken away then the Soul beginneth to see that it stands in need of some other supports If the Affliction be some divine desertion then the sensible consolations of the Holy Spirit fail also what Daviá said in his prosperity Psal 30. 6. I shall never be moved we are all of us too prone to say in the day of our prosperity but as it fared him with v. 7. so it fareth with us when the Lord hideth his face we are troubled It is too natural even to the best of men not to know the God of our mercies in the day of our mercies It was Israels sin Hosea 2. 8. For she did not know that I gave her Corn and Wine and Oil. We do not so duly attend to that which we profess to know that our Soul strength and Soul comforts are from the Lord and hence it is that in the day when they are withdrawn we see a more special need of the presence and influence of Christ upon us It is the unhappiness and infirmity of humane nature that we seldom either understand our mercies or the Author and Fountain of them till we come to want them while we have health and peace and liberty while we have inward strength and quiet we neither understand the value of these mercies nor Eye God as we should do as the Author of them but in the noon time of our tryals and afflictions whether more immediately from God in bodily afflictions or divine desertions or more immediately from men then we both understand the value of our mercies and also what need we have of the presence of God with us and the influences of God upon us At other times we live very much upon our more sensible enjoyments now we have not them to live upon and so see a more need of a God and a Christ to live upon 3. Ordinarily at such a time Our lusts and corruptions move very impetuously A man never so well knows the lusts and corruptions of his own heart as in an evil day Natura vexata prodit Sâ—ipsam Anger a man we say and you will see his temper when God by his providence vexeth a poor creature as others will see something so he will see more what lusts and corruptions are in his heart The Devil knew this well enough when he replyed to God commending his servant Job Put forth now thine hand and touch him and he will eurse thee to thy face Now as every good Soul keepeth a watch upon his heart and observeth the motions of sin and lust in his Soul so he never seeth more of the need of the presence and influence of God upon his Soul then when Iniquities prevail against him When Paul cries out of the body of death he presently cries out O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me 4. Lastly His Grand Adversary the Devil is never more busy then at such a time Times of afflictions are not only times of divine temptations when God proveth and tryeth his People whether they will adhere and keep close to him but of Diabolical Suggestions and temptations also When the Devil is making tryal whether he can pluck a Soul out of Christs hand and out of his Fathers hand The Psalmist calls the Devil The fowler and he knows hard weather is the best time for his purpose he first gets a commission against Job to take away all that he had saving his life onely and then his Wife cometh and persuadeth him to curse God and dye and he followeth him with many other Suggestions and temptations This was the reason of Saint Pauls writing to the Church of Corinth to restore the incestuous Person who by his order was cast out of their communion lest saith he he should be swallowed up of too much grief and Satan should have advantage against him for we are not ignorant of his devices We are never so sensible what need we have of our friends as when our enemies appear most busy most strong and active Hence it is that although a believer seeth a need of the presence and influence of Christ at all times yet he never seeth so great a need of him as in a time of great and sharp trials and afflictions when trouble is hard at hand I shall shut up this discourse with a Word or two of exhortation shortly This should ingage all of us so to behave our selves towards our Lord in the morning of our prosperity that we may not want his presence and influence in the noon of our trials afflictions and adversity It is a mighty folly in any of us to live as we had no Prospect of the ordinary or necessary contingencies of humane life Prudence quasi providence Solomon saith The wise man hath his Eyes in his head And these Eyes are imployed in looking forward as well as round about him at the present It is a great folly in
a man to spend as if it were not possible he should ever come to want or to live as if he should never see death The wise man lives in a constant view of what may be or what is likely to be and in some kind of provision for it It were mighty madness for any in a morning though it be never so cool to conclude it would never be Noon or Night Man is born to trouble saith Job as the sparks flie upward Good men seem to be more particularly designed for it if not from the appointment of God who hath ordered their portion in another life yet from that hatred and enmity which the world hath to them and to the waies wherein they walk It is therefore an high point of wisdom in all men to have them in prospect and be preparing for them this can be done no better way than by taking heed to our conversations in times of health peace and liberty We must not think to abuse or to live in the neglect and contempt of a friend in the time of our prosperity and liberty and to have him at our beck ready to help us in the time of our straits and adversity God had often delievered the Jews in their distresses when they cryed unto him Judg. 10. 6. They did evilâ—again in the sight of the Lord and served Balaam and Ashtaroth the gods of Syria and Moab v. 7. God sold them into the hands of the Philistins and into the hands of the Children of Ammon V. 10. They again cryed unto the Lord observe what answer God gave them v. 11 12. Did not I deliver you from the Egyptians and from the Amorites from the Children of Ammon and from the Philistins The Zidonians also and the Amalekites and the Moabites did oppress you and you cried to me and I delivered you out of their hands yet you have forsaken me and served other gods Wherefore I will deliver you no more Go and cry unto the gods which you have chosen let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation If as we have a need of the presence and influence of Christ at all times so we shall have a more special apprehension of that need in any time of affliction and distress we stand highly concerned to take heed how we carry our selves to him in the time of our health peace liberty prosperity As we use him in the daies of our health peace and liberty so we shall find him in the daies of our sickness distress or other adversity So as considering our subjections to trials and afflictions here is a potent Argument to persuade our keeping close to the Laws of Christ while we are at liberty But I shall add no more to my discourse upon this Proposition and have done with the Spouse's Petition and come to that Argument by which she presseth this Petition For why should I be as one who turneth aside by the flocks of thy Companions When I opened the words I noted to you That the 70 Interpreters Montanus and some others translate the words as one that covereth her self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so the Dutch Annotators Junius and Tremellius as one that stretcheth out a Tent by the flocks of thy Companions The Syriack and the Ethiopick Versions and the Vulg. Lat. who is also followed by Pagnine translate it as one that wandreth or one that turneth aside The Radical word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which primarily signifieth to cover in a secondary sense to wander or turn aside I before noted that covering denoted three things amongst the Eastern Nations 1. Modesty Virgins therefore went vailed into the company of men especially 2. Shame Harlots therefore covered themselves as you read Gen. 38. 14. 3. Sorrow Ezek. 24. 17. So as the sense of the words seemeth to be this Why should I that am married to thee be taken for one not married to thee or for one that goeth on whoring from thee or for one that is a mourner through great grief and heaviness Or if you take it in the second sense she plainly hints her aptness to wander without the conduct and guidance of the Lord Jesus Christ and accordingly she deprecateth it By wandring or turning aside must be understood a deviation from the statutes and Commandments of God By that term the flocks of thy Companions I told you some understanding Idolaters some Hereticks the Idolater makes his Idol Christs Companion giving it the same worship that is due to him The heretick maketh some creature his leader Christs Companion taking his Instruction from him But I told you I should rather understand it of true Christians whom the Apostle saith Christ is not ashamed to call Brethren but yet the former sense being imbraced by grave and reverend Authors I shall not pass it over without a few words relating to it Observe then 1. Here are two things which the Spouse seemeth to fear and so deprecateth Sin and Scandal Sin especially those two great Sins of Idolatry and Heresie Scandal lest she should be any ways a reproach to the Gospel and give occasion to any to speak evil of the waies of God and to reproach the Gospel 2. The Spouse in this reason that she gives for her Petition doth suggest that without the influence and support of her Lord she should never be able in an hour of great temptation to make straight steps to her feet and to keep her self upright she should be ready to wander and turn aside 3. That which the Spouse expresseth is an earnest desire to be kept from sin and from scandal She doth therefore use this as an Argument to plead with her Lord for his presence and influence that she might not sin against the Lord nor being overcome with temptations or swallowed up with grief become a scandal to her Profession Here are two things which offer themselves as matter for my Discourse 1. The insufficiency of a. Soul to avoid sin and scandal without the presence and influence of Christ upon it This the Spouse owneth and acknowledgeth It is as much as if she should say Lord if thou doest not help and assist me in the Noon of my trials and afflictions if thou dost not shew me where at such times thou feedest thy flocks and makest them to rest at Noon I shall wander I shall turn aside by the flocks of those that are set up for thy Companions I shall go a whoring from thee and upon that account walk as one covered for shame amongst those who are thy People But this is a subject which I have before handled when I discoursed upon those words Draw me and we will run after thee 2. The second thing is The two great objects of a believing Soul's fear are sin and scandal Why should I wander or turn aside or walk as one covered for shame like an Harlot All these senses speak her fear of sin Or why should I walk as a mourner covered and dejected or as an
under further Metaphors expressing her sense of her Saviours company And she doth it in the Text 1. By an elegant Metaphor comparing her beloved to a bundle of Myrrh 2. By an affectionatt resolution to give up her self to him for an intertaintment He shall stay or he shall lodge all night betwixt my breasts I find Interpreters exceedingly well agreed in the rendring of the Heb. words according to their several Languages Only Montanus Pagnine and some others translate the verb He shall stay not he shall lodge all night as we do the word will bear both Let me therefore shortly run over the words My beloved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Septuagint and Arabick my Nephew the difference is slighty for it was usual in those Countries for Lovers to call each other by names of relation as it is not wholly out of use with us So in this Song chap. 8. 1 ch 4 9. The Heb. word in Scripture signifies 3 things 1. In the first and proper signification it signifies a friend a beloved an Vncle or Aunt Lev. 10. 4. the Vncle of Aaron Esth 2. 5. The Vncle of Mordecai and elsewhere it is used to express a friend or beloved not less then 30 times in this Song so also Isa 5. 1. and often to fignify Love it self as in the 2d v. Of this Chap and elsewhere it doth also in Scripture signify a Caldron and a Mandrake But those significations cannot be proper here Whether therefore we translate it My Beloved or My Friend or my Nephew or Kinsman the sense is still the same For My Beloved is that which is understood Is a bundle of Myrrh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Upon a survey of the several Texts of Scripture which make mention of Myrrh and the use of it and a consideration of what learned men say of it I do not think it easy to determine what it was If I mistake not the Scripture makes mention of Myrrh under a threefold Notion 1. Vnder the Notion of a Plant. So in the fourth chap. of this Song v. 14. Thy plants are Myrrh and Aloes and Pliny tells us of such a Plant that groweth in Arabia both wild and in Orchards about five Cubits high and reckons divers kinds of it 2. Under the notion of a Spice or dry perfume Prov. 7. 17. I have perfumed my bed with Myrrh It is reckoned amongst the principal Spices for the holy anointing Oil Exod. 30. 23. Thy garments smell of Myrrh Psal 45. So also Gen. 37. 25. Gen. 43. 11. Though indeed the word there used be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3. Under the Notion of an Oil or Gum or wet Perfume Cant. 5. 5. My hands dropped with Myrrh v. 13. His lips like Lillies dropping sweet smelling Myrrh Esth 2. 12. It was one of the Oils with which the Virgins were perfumed There are two other Texts in the Old Testament where there is mention of Myrrh Which may indifferently be understood of it as a Plant or Spice or Gum or Oil Cant. 4. 6. You read of the mountain of Myrrh And Cant. 3. 6. Who is this cometh up perfumed with Myrrh In the New Testament you find it mentioned in three Texts Mat. 2. 11. Where the three wise men offered to Christ Gold Frankincense and Myrrh So Mar. 15. 23. Joh. 19. 39. Where you read of Myrrh used in the burial of our Saviour I am not hard to believe that Myrrh is nothing else then a Plant which might bear the Spice as a fruit And whose Gum was that Oil of Myrrh or liquid Myrrh which we read of to which purpose Pliny tells us that they were wont to slit the rind of it at certain times of the year and from those slits dropped that which the Greks called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doubtless both the plant and fruit and Gum were all exceedingly sweet upon which account the Spouse here compareth Christ to Myrrh Grotius says the plant was good for little but for the smell and only grew in Arabia but Pliny reckons many other Physical qualities it had Nierembergius observes that it grows no where but in very Southern Countries It is granted on all hands that it was a great Enemy to putrefaction which was the cause that the Jews who some think learned it from the Egyptians used it to embalm their dead bodies Certain it is it was an exceeding precious commodity for Jacob calls it one of the best things of the land And it was one of the 3 Choice things which the wisemen coming from the East brought with them for a present to him whom they looked upon as the King of the Jews Those four things we have learned by this discourse of Myrrh 1. That it was exceeding sweet 2. That it was a great preservative against putresaction 3. That it was very medicinal 4. That it was exceeding pretious But the Spouse compares her beloved here not to Myrrh only but to a bundle of Myrrh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some question whether it were not properly translated a box of Myrrh supposing the Myrrh a Gum or a bag of Myrrh Supposing it a spice Others think a bundle or posy is well enough understanding it of the herb The truth is any of them all is well enough The word comes from the Heb. verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies to bind and it properly signifies any heap or quantity of things that are or may be bound up It is translated a bag Hag. 1. 6. Job 13. 17. a bundle you read of the bundle of lives 1 Sam. 25. 29. A bundle of money Gen. 42. 35. Gen. 40. 35. Once in Scripture it is translated a stone 2 Sam 17. 35. But it is to be meant of an heap of stones and once Corn Amos 9. 9. But meant of an heap of Corn. Christ is compared to a bundle of Myrrh 1. A bundle of Myrrh is more sweet then a single drop or grain Christ is an heap of sweets 2. Men tye up things in bundles or boxes for their better preservation Christ saith the Spouse is a bundle of Myrrh intimating that she would be very careful to preserve the sweet influences of grace But of this more anon It follows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To me I do not think this particle is redundant but exclusive Others have no value for my Beloved they have no sense of his sweetness But to me Christ is infinitely sweet a bundle of sweets 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he shall lie all night or he he shall stay The word in the Heb. signifies two things 1. Either to stay and lodge and spend nights in a place Or 2. To murmur and clamour and make a noise so 't is used Exod. 15. 25. The former must be the sense here and it is not material whether we translate it as in our Translation he shall lodge all night as it is often used in Scripture Gen. 19. 2