themselues vnto them yet are they no other indeed but the Chimeraes and Gorgons heads of ridiculous and fanaticall fopperie From out all these impious and impure routes of pretended purity and perfection the view of the sacred beauty of the true purity and perfection of Christ Iesus doth deliuer vs and teacheth vs that men are deceiued most with shewes and that the diuell when he meanes most mischiefe then doth he as Iezabel did paint and set out himselfe to shew Let vs therefore hence learne important considerations and wise iudgements and let vs trie the spirits whether they be of God or no for all is not gold that glittereth saith the old and true English Adage Is there one that can cunningly expound the Scriptures Do not suddenly beleeue him for so could the caytiffe Caiphas Is an other skilfull in all diuine and humane hearing so was Iulian yet an apostate Hath an other receiued gracious and principall gifts of Gods spirit So had Saule the reprobate Do others know the mysteries of faith of Moses and of the Prophets So knew King Agrippa yet his best was but almost a Christian. Can others foretell and presage things to come So could bawling Balaam being a base hireling Can they cite the Scriptures So could the damned diuel Are they readie in the Fathers of the Church and in the Councels so were the ancient hereticks Faustus Arrius Manichaeus Especially note them if they pretend holy and pure names as do the mahumeticall Saracens at this day boasting that they came of Sara the free woman when as indeed they are Agarens of Agar as Zosomen a thousand yeares agoe obserued And as the Iudaites did call themselues of Iudas the Gaulonite or Galilean who would not endure the name of Lord to be attributed to any creature They themselues being a rabble as the booke of God tells vs of desperate cutthroates Beware then of false prophets and be assured that as many as partake of this beauty are essentially sincere not in words onely but in deeds not in conceit or opinion but in vnderstanding and verity for whatsoeuer they beleeue it is either of nature grace or glory The things of nature they see touch and feele The blessings of grace they reade they perceiue they enioy and ioy in the certaine expectation of glory which euen now they haue a taste of and earnestly long after The things they hope for are not Absolons pillar set vp in the kings dale nor the flower of the poppie the hypocrites hypothesis But those beatitudes which they expect are sure certaine and euen in this life by faith euident The things they ought to do they acknowledge to be the mandates of the highest God Therefore to be performed They know they are iudgements not opinions therefore to be subscribed vnto They are statutes like these of the Medes and Persians therefore not to be repealed they are testimonies and therefore binde the consciences We pray therefore That this name may be sanctified by goodnesse not dishonored by seeming godlines That his will may be done in sincerity not neglected with pretence of purity and that his kingdome may come vnto vs in verity and not we put it from vs in deceitfull integrity For the life of an hypocrite is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a masked mummery not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a knowne veritie His faith is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of things imaginary not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of soliditie His memoriall as a post that hastneth by his good deeds as the trace of a ship in the waters no where to be seene and his glory as the waffing of a birds wings in the aire but her passage appeares not Let the Atheist then tremble hereat for he is indeed the diuels vizard Let the Libertines feare that arose frō Coppin and Quintan in the Low countries being the basery of basenesse Let the begetters and hatchers of new opinions be amazed who more trust their priuate spirit then the streame of iudgement who had rather be the head of a foxe then the taile of a lyon and choose rather with imperious Caesar to be the first and chiefe of meane and beggerly Tarentum then the second of imperiall and triumphant Rome And let vs men and brethren be rauished with the true and matchlesse beautie of our Lord Iesus Gods best beloued our welbeloued and let vs be Reals not Nominals onely knowing that we looke not for an imaginary heauen but for the heauen of heauens the coelum coelorum being alwaies mindfull of that of our Sauiour Vnlesse your righteousnes exceed the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisies that is of all hypocriticall and seeming professors you cannot enter into the kingdome of heauen Come then ye faithfull soules vnto this pure and bright fountaine of grace and his bloud shall purge you from all sinnes past present and to come Come to this pure fountaine for here is the cleane water that Ezechìel speakes of powred out vpon you to purifie you in Gods sight by the inuisible hand of the sacred Trinitie Call vpon God that he may wash you with hysope of grace here that you may be truly cleane as all his people are and that in the end he may present you beautifull and blamelesse in his displaied glory in the bright and white eminent robes of his owne righteousnesse in Christ our onely mediatour and perfecter And then doubtlesse our soules shall yet further see euen in this life another glimpse of this surpassing beautie for our beloued is not onely white but ruddie also white in purenesse ruddy in zealous loue towards vs both seraphicall and cherubicall herein both wholy passible and wholy amiable Let vs reuiew then this his zealous loue in the mystery of the colour prefiguring his passion and in the history of the substance performing the forespoken prophecies There is a threefold red 1. a skarlet red 2. a roseall red 3. a purple red all prefiguring this our welbeloued in his sufferings and really performed in him Who is this that cometh from Edome that is frō this cursed earth saith Esay with red-coloured clothes of Bozrah that is with trophies of victory and triumph c. There is skarlet red Esay 63. 1. I am the rose of the field and the lillie of the vallies saith Christ of himselfe there is roseall red Cant. 2. 1. And in the Gospel we reade that his enemies put a purple garment vpon him to portend his purple death This colour was also prefigured in the red sea that saued Israel in the red cowe in the sacrifices in the red cord in Reahabs window the secure hostage of warre in the red threed about Zarahs arme in his birth of whose pedegree Christ descended Oh our welbeloued is a violet in humilitie a lillie in puritie a rose in suauity You see the colour behold also the substance and performance of this zealous loue which to display vnto you I shall be bold to take vp
liue in his feare Taste then and see how gracious the Lord Iesus is and how plentifull is his goodnesse which he hath layed vp for them that feare him and prepared for them that trust in him euen before the sonnes of men He being the perfection of Priesthood and prophecie of sacrifice and sacrament so that now who so setteth his heart vpon any thing but vpon the Lord Iesus is liable to the extreme curse of Gods desertion Set not then your hearts on beautie beloued it is but a forward blossome soone nipt nor on pleasure it is but a bitter pill lapt in sugar nor on your belly it is but the pantrie for the draft house nor on riches they are but guiles and baites to insnare vs which while they are in getting wearie vs while they are possessed befoole vs and when we lose them they crucifie vs. Set not your hearts on the fauour of Princes or Potentates for they are but the sonnes of men nor on ambition it is but a feather tossed with the wind nor on gay apparell it is but rags nor on goodly houses they are but so many bonefiers against the day of doome nor on any thing vnder the sunne but only like and loue them in and for the Lord Iesus sake as they are either remedies for sin or directions in ordine ad Deum for our vsefull necessities and furtherances to further our future happinesse But as for those who despite the spirit of grace and trample the blessed bloud of the new Testament vnder their feete as do all sycophantizing Papists schismatizing Puritans neutralizing Atheists satanizing scorners of all godlinesse truth and honestie I will euer pray against their wickednesse Psal. 69. Let their table be their snare their eies dimmed their habitation voide their backes bowed downe let them heape vp iniquitie vpon iniquitie and let their names be razed out of the booke of life Let them be vnto vs as paganish Ethnicks and Publicans as vncleane leapers put out of the campe of Israel as rotten members cut off from the bodie of the Church as dead branches broken off from the true vine as vncleane dogges put out of the holy Citie and as those of the Concision of whom we must beware Phil. 3. 2. Yea let all that is about them be hatefull vnto vs. Let the goods of such be as the cursed things of Iericho their houses as odious as a iakes their possessions as direfull as Acheldama their gaines as vile as the Pharisies Corban their name as branded and as infamous as was Ieroboams their posteritie as obscure as the vntimely fruite of a woman which neuer seeth the sunne If they be honourable and do not honor Christ ô Lord lay their honor in the dust If noble let them be accompted base vnlesse they be ennobled in Iesus Christ. If learned let their learning be a by-word and a fable among the vulgar that studie not to be students in Christs schoole If they be a whole nation let their portion be as the men of Ashdod 1. Sam. 5. If a king let him be made as Nebuchadnezzar that he may know the Almightie If a Courtier let him be despised in the sight of the king yea let all them be deliuered ouer that loue not the Lord Iesus but despise him vnto Sathan by excommunication that confession at least may be wrested from them as it was from Simon Magus and Elimas the Bariesu who craued aide of the Church which formerly they desperatly despised that if it be the will of the Lord they may be saued by repentance in this day of grace before that fatall and finall diuorce from the Lord of their soules and bodies be denounced before the curses of separation Depart from me of indignation ye cursed of dolor into fire of desperatiō into hell fire of confusion prepared for the deuil and his angels be in the last iudgement awarded against them for their contempt of the Lord Iesus Christ. But to them that seeke the Lord Iesus mella fluant illis and all the beatitudes of mount Gerazim let their eares neuer heare the horrors of the vale of the children of Hinnon but let Sions rayes shine vpon them all their life and let the Lord Iesus appeare vnto them in his second coming to saluation who loue him and looke for him from heauen and long for him from the bottome of their hearts crying come Lord Iesu. Let them heare ô Lord thy perfect blessings of association Come of benediction ye blessed of inheritance possesse of glory the kingdome of election prepared for you before the foundations of the world were layed And God perswade Iaphet to dwell in the tents of blessed Sem. Euen so ô Lord be it Amen My welbeloued is white and ruddie the chiefest of ten thousand Cant. 5. 10. YOu may iustly demand of me blessed and beloued in the Lord Iesus as the daughters or faithfull people of Ierusalem do here of the spouse in the Canticles concerning her beloued saying What is thy beloued more then other beloued what is thy beloued more then another louer that thou dost so charge vs because of late I denounced from this place before you not against you for I am perswaded better things of you my brethren and such as accompanie saluation Paule his fearefull curse of Anathema Maranatha to wit If any man loue not the Lord Iesus let him be accursed when the Lord shall come And my reply vnto you must be my text which the spouse here maketh to the like demand that is My beloued is white and ruddie the chiefest of ten thousand The words are few the matter manifold Out of Sion saith Dauid hath God appeared in perfect beautie for what higher and more heauenly perfection can be imagined or was euer hard of then Sions sacred rayes which giue bright splendor and most glorious lustre to the whole Christian world The rigor of the law frō Sinay is satisfied in the righteousnesse of the Gospell from mount Sion If any thē be affectionate let him come hither here is loue and if he haue grace here is his welbeloued also and this commencement and commerce of sweet loue will be the whetstone of true perfect and perpetuall loue If any be curious here is amiable beautie white and ruddie white answering the purenesse he would haue and ruddie corresponding the zealous hartines he would craue And further if he shall be curious and be elegans formarum spectator here is choice euen the chiefest of ten thousand For here he may behold the spouse first shewing her deere affection then her true loues description her affection she vttereth by appellation of vnfained loue welbeloued and also by application thus My welbeloued she then describes him generally as thus is white and ruddie the chiefest of ten thousand And then particularly in his parts as in the verses following of this Chapter In her generall description she sets him downe in
euery where It remaineth that I onely acquaint you with a safe station while you are here to stand in and a powerfull supplication while wee are here to pray with Let your station be like that of Elias in mount Horeb who stood in the clifts of the rockes entrance vntill the strong wind the earthquake and the fire in all which God was not were passed by but when he heard a soft and still voice he came out and stood before the Lord so let vs be continually meditating the passion and rents of our rocke Christ Iesus and hiding our selues therein while the winds of wickednesse the earthquakes of changings and chances the fire of might and malice and while all the works of darkenesse wherein God is not passe by vntill we heare a soft and sweete voice of the Lord to call vs forth of our station to rest Then let vs go forth willingly vnto our welbeloued and loue him and liue with him for euer Let our prayers and supplications in the meane while be the words of the hard-hearted and misbeleeuing Iewes but not their spirit for they cried His bloud be vpon vs and vpon our children and it was and is so to their vtter ruine and desolation euen vntill this day as a iust iudgment of God for their crucifying the Lord of life But we will pray and say in the spirit of the faith of Iesus in whom we beleeue His holy bloud be vpon vs and vpon our children to our saluation according to Gods blessed promise made to the Patriarks Prophets and to all the faithfull For he is the chiefest of ten thousand c. or as some reade it the chiefest of twelue thousand where in wee may see the mystery of the number both of ten and twelue as also the excellency of the partie that he is the chiefest in heauen and the choicest on earth together with the perfection of both heauen and earth in himselfe and imparted to his chosen the Church of the redeemed The Papists imitating the Platonists are very superstitious in numbers the one putting a fatall necessity in them in the period of estates and kingdomes the other affirming a certaine secret efficacy to be in many numbers but in the septenary number especially Hence haue they their canonicall houres for prayer and sacrifice But Bodin in his booke de Repub. iustly taxeth Plato for that dreame And the schooles conclude against them both that Numeri qua numerus nulla vis nulla efficacia Wee therefore will content our selues with the holy and mysticall vse which the booke of God maketh of them The mysticall numbers of sacred text are these to wit three foure fiue sixe seauen eight ten twelue Ten and twelue meete vs in this text by variation of readings both signifying perfection Ten is the highest of simple numbers all nations after ten begin to number againe The tenths was consecrated to the Priests Gods seruants In the tenth moneth the waters of Noahs floud abated Sem a father of the faithfull seeth the tenth age Ten words for the Creation of the world and ten words for the gouernment thereof as the Talmudists obserue For twelue we reade of twelue Patriarches the sonnes of Iacob twelue stones set vp in Iordan twelue precious stones in the breast plate of Aaron At twelue yeares Salomon decideth the plea of the dead child Christ the true Salomon at twelue yeares disputeth with the Doctors Twelue Apostles are sent to perfect the kingdome of grace Twelue foundations twelue gates twelue Angels the porters a tree that beareth twelue manner of fruites medicinable all the twelue moneths of the yeare describe the perfection of the kingdome of glory in the celestiall Ierusalem Thus we see that the mysterie of the number sheweth onely the excellency of the perfection of the partie being the chiefest in heauen and earth so described by Iohn the Diuine Apoc. 5. A throne is seene in heauen one sitting theron hauing a booke in his hand written within and without sealed with seauen seales But none was found neither in heauen nor in earth nor vnder the earth worthie to open the booke no nor once to looke into it Then wept the Diuine because none was found worthie to open the booke or once to looke therein But one of the Elders said Weepe not Behold the Lion of the tribe of Iuda the stocke of Dauid hath so preuailed that he may open the booke and loose the seales thereof This booke is Gods will these seauen seales are loosed and made knowne vnto vs by the declaration of Iesus Christ. The first seale is his Natiuitie opened Mal. 4. 2. But vnto you that feare my name shall the Sunne of righteousnesse arise and health shall be vnder his wings and ye shall go forth and grow vp as fat calues The second his Baptisme Zach. 13. 1. In that day there shall be a fountaine opened to the house of Dauid and to the inhabitants of Ierusalem for sinne and for vncleannesse The third his Passion poutrayed by Esay 53. chap. throughout The fourth his Descent deciphered Hosh. 13. 14. I will redeeme them from the power of the graue I will deliuer them from death O death I will be thy death O graue I will be thy destruction The fift is his Resurrection recorded Psal. 16. 10. For thou wilt not leaue my soule in the graue neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption The sixt his Ascension described Psal. 68. 18. Thou art gone vp on high thou hast led captiuity captiue and receiued gifts for men yea euen the rebellious bast thou led that the Lord might dwell there The seauenth is the sending of the holy Ghost pointed out vnto vnto vs Ioel 2. 28. And afterward will I powre out my Spirit vpon all flesh and your sonnes and your daughters shall prophecie your old men shall dreame dreames and your yong men shall see visions By the opening of the first seale to wit his Natiuitie whereby he became flesh he hath redeemed vs from being worse then very brute beasts For man being in honor vnderstood it not and therefore was compared to the beasts that perish S. Augustine speaking of the grace of the new Testament comforteth vs thus saying Let no man despaire but conceiue hope vnspeakable for by participation of the word we become the sonnes of God seeing that Iesus Christ by incarnation is become the sonne of man Aske your forefathers saith Moses and the daies of old euen since the day that God created man vpon the earth and aske from the one end of heauen vnto the other if there come to passe such a great thing as this Did euer people heare the voice of God speaking out of the midst of a fire as thou hast heard and liued If Moses spake thus of the voice of an Angell for the law was giuen by the ministrie of Angels what may we say of the gracious words of eternall life vttered by the Lord of life Indeed