Therefore do the Virgins love 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This seemeth to be in our dialect an harsh sense and the connexion is not clear To help it therefore Piscator translateth it Quod attinet ad odorem c. As to what belongs to the savour of thy good Ointments c. The Tigurine Version make the middle words as a Parenthesis and translate it thus For the smell of thy good Ointments for thy name is as an Ointment poured out Therefore do the Virgins love thee The only question is whether the Spouses design in these words be to give a reason why her beloved had such an excellent name viz. because of the savour of his good Ointments Or to give a reason why the Virgins loved him or of both these together I think of both The words will bear it But let us come to enquire the import of the words more particularly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The thing spoken of is Ointments these are said to be 1. Good and 2. to have a Smell The Hebrew word from which the word here translated Ointments 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cometh signifies to be fat Deut. 32. 15. Jeshurun waxed fat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jer. 5. 4. This word properly signifieth fatness and usually signifieth Oil or Ointment because of the pinguid nature of those things so Prov. 21. 20. Hos 2. 5. The word signifieth any kind of fatness whether caused by Nature or Art But it is not here to be taken literally he needs no Oils nor sweet Ointments to make him sweet But you must know that those Eastern Countries abounded with plenty of Spices and other sweet ingredients of which several compounds were made Oils and Ointments which were exceedingly grateful to the outward senses of which they made both a Religious and a Civil use They made a Religious use of them 1. In Sacrifices 2. In Consecrations Oil was used in Sacrifices Especially in such as were Eucharistical Hence you read of the Oil of gladness for it testified joy and gladness The first use of it in this kind of which you read in Scripture was Gen 28. 18. When God had preserved Jacob in the Night in token of his thankfulness he took the stone upon which he had slept and set it up for a pillar and powred Oil upon it he did the like again Gen. 35. 14 whether it were done as a note of the consecration of the place to the service of God or an Eucharistical Sacrifice may possibly be questioned by some but the latter seemeth to me most probable considering the subsequent use of Oil under the law to this purpose of which you may read in Leviticus Ch. 2. v. 1. 3. 4. It was not lawful in offerings which were to bring iniquity to remembrance Numb 5. 15. No testimony of Joy might there be shewn It was also used in Consecrations of persons and that either to the Kingly Priestly or Prophetical Office Samuel used Oil in the anointing both of Saul David to the Kingly Office The same you read also in the anointing of Jehu 2 King 10. 3. Elisha the Prophet was anointed So was the High Priest You have a description of the Oil and a particular Precept and direction for the composition of it Exod. 30. 22. This was called the holy anointing Oil with which Aaron and his Sons were anointed The Tabernacle also and the Ark with all things belonging to them were to be anointed with it as you will find in that Chapter Besides this Sacred use of Oil there was also a civil and ordinary use of it Thus they used it either for bodily nourishment the widow 1 Kings 17. 12. Told the Prophet that she had but a little Oil in the cruse Or 2. For delight and pleasure as we now use our sweet powders our dry and liquid perfumes Joab chargeth the woman of Tekoah being to personate a mourner not to anoint her self with Oil. Esther and the other Maids that were to be brought before Ahashuerus were for 6 months to be perfumed with Oils Christ complains of Simon that he had not anointed his head with Oil. Mary anointed Christ with Oil or Ointment Joh. 11. 2. and the Woman poured out a Box of Ointment Spikenard upon his head Now from this civil and sacred use of Oil and the effects the terms of Oil and Ointment and Anointing are also used metaphâ—rically in Scripture Thus Oil and Ointments in Scripture signify the graces of Gods Spirit and Anointing signifies that gracious Divine Act by which we are made partakers of those graces To this sense the Psalmist speaketh God hath anointed thee with the Oil of Gladness above thy fellows Psal 45. 7. which the Apostle applieth to Christ Heb. 1. 9. and St. John expoundeth saying The Spirit was not given unto him by measure which is plainly expressed Acts 10. 38. God hath anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power And as the holy anointing Oil under the old Law wetted not Aarons head alone but ran down upon the Skirts of his Garment so this holy metaphorical Oil doth also Hence as David said Psal 92. 10. Thou hast anointed me with fresh Oil and the People of God then were called the Lords anointed So under the New Testament the Children of God are said to have an unction it is said that this Anointing abideth in them Thus that of St. John is made good Of his fulness we have received grace for grace By Christs Ointments we understand then the Grace that was poured out upon him and which dwelleth in him and in this sense I find the generality of sober Expositors agreed Now these Ointments are said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 good the signification of which term I opened to you before and when I come to the propositions of Doctrine I shall more particularly shew you the goodness of them in every notion of good But these Ointments are also said to cast a Savour At the savour of thy good Ointments A smell or savour is Qualitas olfactu sensibilis some quality of a thing which we discern by our external sense of smelling being conveyed to us by the mediation of the Air By the smell of Christs Graces we can understand nothing else than the Spiritual sense of the love of Christ which by the mediation and breathing of the holy Spirit of God is discerned by the Soul The word in the Hebrew signifies any perception of a thing it is used Is 11. v. 3. where it is said of Christ that the Spirit of the Lord resting upon him shall make him as we translate it of a quick understanding in the fear of the Lord the Hebrew is he shall be smelled in the fear of the Lord. And Judg. 16. 9. we translate it when it toucheth the fire the Hebrew word is the same when it smelleth the fire that is when the fire cometh to it when
shewed much love but their hearts went after their covetousness And v. 32. the Prophet was to them as a very lovely Song of one that had a pleasant voice and could play well on an Instrument they heard his words but they did not do them And in the time of the Propher Isaiah there was a generation that sought the Lord daily and delighted to know the Lord's waies as a Nation that forsook not the Ordinances of God and took delight in approaching to God Isa 58. 2. yet the Lord sent his Prophet to cry aloud against them not to spare to lift up his voice like a Trumpet to shew them their transgressions and the house of Jacob their sins And doubtless there is such a generation still as a generation of prophane persons that despise the Word and Ordinances of God and blaspheme God and his Word so another generation that must read and must go and hear and may take some delight in it They may delight in the stile and phrase and wit of the Preacher or in the Learning that is mixed up with the discourse or in the Notion of the Sermon and desire to hear especially some kind of Preachers upon these accounts or to furnish their minds with some notional knowledge of the things of God that may serve them as to their credit and reputation in the world or furnish their tongues with discourse in religious company all this will speak nothing to prove a man a Christian indeed one whose heart is changed and transformed into the likeness of the Word All this may be without any desire after the kisses of Christ's mouth but a desire after the feeling the power of the Word upon our hearts and a dissatisfaction of spirit until a man findeth something of this upon his Soul this will speak a man or woman not to rest in a form of godliness without the power of it yet even this dissatisfaction may be too much and this happeneth when it proceedeth from some mistake and misapprehension of Religious Souls This principally happeneth in two cases 1. The Soul 's judging it self from its sensible experiences not from its direct motions toward God and its desires The motions of our Souls towards God must be warily distinguished from the sensible returns of God upon our Soul The first will speak the Soul beloved The latter speaks it highly favoured 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 much graced by God A pious Soul is not to judge it self so much from God's returns to it in this particular as from God's workings in it kindling in it those holy desires which move it after what it may be it doth not yet seem meet to the wisdom of God that it should attain I have not told you that the Spouse of Christ doth at all times find that Christ hath kissed it with the kisses of his mouth but that such a Soul's desires will be steady and constant after such a thing and will not be satisfied with a meer bodily labour and external performance of a duty The 2d mistake may be from the Soul 's not considering the variety of those kisses by which our blessed Lord may kiss the Souls of Believers in and by the Word but keeping its Eye upon some particular influence of grace which it passionately desireth and not finding that God satisfieth it as to that it concludeth it hath had no influence from God at all As now supposing a Soul sad and troubled it is exceedingly desirous of comfort and satisfaction and saith Lord when wilt thou comfort me In expectation of meeting God in this way it goeth out to hear the Word and not meeting with that peace and comfort which it wanted it is ready to conclude that it hath met with nothing and hath had no near inward spiritual communion with God As to this the Soul must rectifie its mistake the profit of the Word is not limited to one thing it is saith the Apostle profitable for reproof and correction and instruction in righteousness There is a kiss of instruction in righteousness It may be thou canst not find that God by the Word which thou hast heard hath spoken or sealed peace to thy Soul but thou art still full of troubles and fears doubts and dejections well but if thou findest that God hath more sealed and confirmed some Truth to thee that he hath made thee to see further into the Mysteries of the Kingdom of God to see some Truths of concernment to thy Soul in a clearer and fuller light do not say that thou hast not met with God in the Ordinance The opening of the Eyes especially to discern the Mysteries of the Gospel is one of the kisses of Christ's mouth If thy love be not so far as thou canst see further influenced yet if thy Faith be promoved this is a great thing It may be thou camest to hear hoping for strength against the temptation God possibly hath met thee and hath given thee a further light to discern the temptation the methods and depth of Satan's subtilties in it this is a kiss There is an instruction in Duty as well as Doctrine which deserveth this name Thou comest to the Word hoping God will speak peace to thee and take the thorn out of thy flesh that buffeteth thee It seems not good to God to do this but thou goest home from hearing more submitting to the Will of God more resolved to wait upon God more convinced that it is thy duty to lie at the foot of God and to wait his will and good pleasure This also is a kiss of his mouth There is a kiss of Reproof and Correction When God by his Word reproves and corrects a Soul when he reproves the Soul and the Soul is reproved as is said of Abraham when the Pagan King reproved him this is a kiss of his mouth Reproof and correction are things for which God hath told us that his Word is profitable for and a Soul ought to look upon it self as having had a communion with God in his Word when a wise reproof hath met with an obedient Ear. In short if a Soul after hearing though it hath not the desired mercy yet findeth it self more prepared to want it more quieted in the present want of it more patient under the afflicting hand of God that the grace of God is more sufficient for it than it was this is an excellent kiss of Christ's mouth a certain token that God in the Word communicated himself to the Soul though it may be it hath not been just in that way and method and particular dispensation that the Soul expected I shall finish my Discourse upon this Proposition with a Word of Exhortation If this be the frame of one that is the Spouse of Christ let us labour to find our hearts in this frame I remember the words of Absolom What saith he do I at Hierusalem if I may not see the King's face Hierusalem is called the City of
Solemnities thither the Tribes went up the Tribes to the Testimony of Israel Hierusalem was as pleasant a place as any was at that time in the world and Absolom being the King's Son had undoubtedly accommodations as good as the City could afford But Absolom had displeased his Father and was sensible he was under his frown and it was not for the pleasantness of the City that he desired a liberty to return but that he might see the reconciled face of his Father and therefore he saith What should I do at Hierusalem if I may not see the King's face Without that Hierusalem was to him but as another place nay in this worse than another place because it was a place where others enjoyed that which he wanted Every Courtier every ordinary Servant of David's Family saw his face Absolom might not I do only allude to it In or near Hierusalem was Mount Zion called the Mountain of the House of the Lord because the Temple stood nigh to it It was prophesied Isa 2. 2. That in the last dâ—ies the Mountain of the Lord's House should be established in the top of the Mountains and should be exalted above the Hills and all Nations should flow unto it And many people should go and say Come you and let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord and to the House of the God of Jacob and he shall teach us of his waies and we will walk in his paths 'T is not the going up to the Mountain that pleaseth a gracious Soul unless it finds it self when there taught something of God's waies and inabled to walk in the Lord's paths I shall prets this Exhortation by some Arguments and offer you something of Advice in this case First For Arguments what I gave you for Reasons may serve Thus you shall shew your selves to be Christians indeed The Wise must see the face of an Husband though a little Child may be pleased with the Picture Take an Ordinance of it self it hath something of the impression of God upon it God is there as a man in a Picture but this can never satisfie a truly thirsty Soul after God he thirsts after God himself My Soul saith David thirsteth for thee David must see the power and glory of God in the Sanctuary An Hypocrite may have a fancy to go to Ordinances to hear Sermons c. that 's common to persons that shall perish with such as shall be saved There may be many ends which Hypocrites may have which that may serve well enough But herein as to this point stands a good Christian distinguished from all Hypocrites and Formalists in the world as to this particular Secondly Till your hearts be brought to this Duties will be nothing else but a continual task and a burden to your souls There will be no great pleasure arising to any Soul from a bare reading or hearing the Word of the Lord. The Formalists among the Jews that lookt at nothing but the bodily labour quickly came to prophane the Table of the Lord and to account the meat there contemptible and to say Behold what a weariness is it Mal. 1. 13. Amos tell us chap. 8. 5. that they said When will the New Moon be gone that we may sell Corn and the Sabbath that we may set forth VVheat Nothing will deliver the Soul from the burden of religious duties I mean the looking upon them as such but some Sweetness discerned in them or some Profit which it discerneth arising from them neither of which will be discerned by any Soul which tasteth nothing of God in them nor hath any Communion with him by and through them but these things I before touched upon as also the danger of a meer bodily labour in this religious Duty I shall therefore rather spend the Remainder of my time in directing you what to do that you may not only hear the words of Christs Mouth but be kissed with the Kisses of his Mouth Go out to hear the word of God as the word of God The Apostle blesseth God on the behalf of his Thessalonians 1 Thes 2. 13. That when they received the word of God they received it not as the word of men but as it was in truth the word of God which effectually worketh in them that believe I am afraid this is one thing which is much wanting in many Preachers more hearers the former do not go out to preach the word as the word of God The other do not go out to hear it under that notion as the word of God It is a Phrase hath a great deal in it and is comprehensive of all that previous preparation which is our duty with reference to an Institution of God and that to so great an End as the Salvation of the Soul is If I remember right Plutarch doth somwhere complain of the Heathen that they went to the Temples of the Gods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not as men do to a place to which they set out upon design and due deliberation considering whither they are going and what their business was there but as men who step in by the by into a place Whereas he saith they should come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prepared out of their Houses What wonder is it if God should not meet them in his Ordinance who come not out of any fixed design to meet him Your Friend hardly thanks you for making his House your Inn stepping out of your Road to see him when your main design is at anothers Journeys end But he thanks you that that is the main design of your Journey 1. That man goeth to hear the word of God as the word of God that aright fixeth his end before he goeth to hear Our Saviour seemeth to reflect upon the want of this in those that went to hear John the Baptist Matth. 11. 7. VVhat went ye out into the wilderness to see A Reed shaken with the wiâ—d But what went ye out for to see A man cloathed in soft Raiment Behold they that wear soft Raiment are in Kings houses But what went ye out for to see A Prophet yea I say unto you and more than a Prophet I would have every Man and Woman before he or she goes out to hear the word of God say to himself My Soul whom am I going to hear A man that shall speak to me smooth things and deliver himself in words that are proper to express what he saith But whom am I going to hear One that hath a pleasant Voice like one that singeth to or playeth well upon an Instrument such a one I may hear in the Schools of Rhetorick and Oratory But whom do I go out for to hear One that can discourse rationally upon an Argument I may hear such a one in the Schools of Aristotle and Plato Whom then do I go to Church for to hear A Prophet One that discourseth of the things of God yea and more than a Prophet I am going to hear God
a foundation for those scandals which arise in it and are thrown upon it from which it appeareth black Lastly You that are the sincerer part of the Church and have heard that you must expect that your Mothers Children should be angry with you that there should be some bad fish in the drag-net with the good some Tares in Christs Field of Wheat some that will be spots in your Assemblies and that these if they do not make you black yet will make you appear black what remaineth but that you take care that neither the lusts of your own hearts which are in a sense your Mothers Children make you black nor the opposition that you will meet with from such as are false Brethren make you appear more black then indeed you are This care of yours must be shewed 1. In a watchfulness against your motions to sin especially such sins as are your proper lusts the sins which do most easily beset you 2. In a mortifying of your Members 3. In a care that you be not unwarrantably disturbed and unduly disquieted because of the opposition which you find srom the law of your Members 4. In a maintaining the Spiritual Combate c. 5. In an innocent and inoffensive carriage in your stations that those who would speak evil of you as evil doers may see your good works and glorify your heavenly Father for so saith the Apostle 1 Pet. 2. 15. is the will of God that with well doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolishmen in avoiding unnecessary divisions and separations we ought to walk with all that own the name of Christ as far as the Shooes of the Gospel will carry us where we cannot walk with any who call themselves Christians and walk with Christ that is keep to the rule and law which he hath given us there we must part and the offence lieth on their parts who give the cause of it but otherwise we ought to keep Unity Finally in a peaceable and quiet departing from them with whom we cannot agree I know all this will not avoid the unreasonable anger of some of our Mothers Children but by doing this we shall remove the stumbling stone and rock of offence from our own doors they will be those by whom offences come and the woe pronounced by our Saviour will belong to them Sermon XXXIX Cant. 1. 6. They made me the Keeper of the Vineyards THE Spouse is yet apologizing for her Blackness of which she assigneth four Causes 1. Her afflictions The Sun saith she hath looked upon me 2. Her opposition both from within and without My mothers Children were angry with me These I have discoursed and come now to the third Cause assigned by her expressed in these words They made me the Keeper of the Vineyards They that is my Mothers Children before mentioned made me the Keeper of the Vineyards In my Explication of the Text I hinted a double sense of the words the one literal the other metaphorical In the former it signified her intanglement in secular affairs Keeping the Vineyards is a secular imployment a mean imployment and a laborious imployment Thence you read that the General of the Assyrian Army 2 King 25. 12. left of the poor of the Land to be the Dressers of the Vineyards and those in the Parable who had laboured in the Vineyard told their Lord that they had born the heat of the day Thus the sense is I have been too much intangled in secular affairs that hath been the cause of my blackness 2. Others understand the term Vineyard in a metaphorical sense God useth the term to signifie his Church Isa 5. 1 2 3. As God hath a Vineyard so Idolaters and superstitious persons had their Vineyards Most Heathen Nations having some notions of a God have had some Worship of a Deity and wanting the guidance of holy Writ grew vain in their own imaginations hence came Idolatry and Superstition the Israelites having lived many years in Egypt and in their passage through the Wilderness conversing with the Moabites and Midianites and not driving out all the Canaanites out of the promised Land by converse with them learned to know and to serve their gods as you shall read in their whole story in the Books of Kings and Chronicles there being a corrupt as well as a sincerer part in the Jewish Church the corrupter part imposed upon the whole the Idolatrous and Superstitious Worship and Rites of these Nations This is the sense into which the Chaldee Paraphrast interpreteth these words I am not apt to think this the sense but more incline to the former yetâ—â— shall not wholly pass it over partly because the Chaldee Paraphrast is a very antient Interpreter and partly because that sense carries a truth in it Hence arise two Propositions Prop. 1. That a submission to false Worship and Superstitious Rites in the Service of God will make the Spouse of Christ appear black Prop. 2. That great entanglements in secular affairs will make the Spouse of Christ black I shall speak shortly to the first and more largely to the second which I rather think to be the sense The Church of God hath three things committed to her trust the Doctrine of the Gospel the Ordinances of Worship The Rules of Discipline The admission of corruption in any of these maketh a Church black as it is a breach of trust and a deviation from the Divine Rule This is sufficiently proved by the message Christ sent to the seven Churches of Asia He let the Church of Ephesus know that he had something against her because she had left her first love Rev. 2. 4. v. 13. He reflecteth upon the Church of Pergamus because she had those in her who held the Doctrine of Balaam and of the Nicolaitans v. 20. He reflecteth on the Church of Thyatira for suffering the woman Jezabel to seduce the Servants of God to commit fornication and to eat things offered to Idols Nor is any thing plainer in the whole story of the Jewish Church than that the admission of corruption in the Worship and Order of that Church was that which made it black and defiled and look unlovely in the Eyes of God and was at last the cause of its ruine and destruction But because Christians may not so distinctly understand either wherein the Nature of Worship lies or wherein the difference lieth betwixt that which is true and false I shall in a few Conclusions lay down what I conceive to be truth in this case and then pass on to the handling of the Proposition arising from the other sense of the words 1. Worship is an homage performed to God immediately in consideration of his Excellency This is Aquinas's and other of the Schoolmens notion about Worship and it is a very good one 2. This homage is either the homage of the outward or inward man The homage of the inward man lieth in the exercises of our Faith Love Fear the exercise of
their own Child above any others The man of art takes most delight in his own workmanship God can do nothing but what is truly and highly good and he cannot but be most pleased in his own work 2. Secondly The beauty of the Child of God is Christs beauty and lyeth in the Souls assimilation or being made like unto Christ Is he justifyed It is by the imputation of his righteousness Is he regenerated It is through his Spirit and by his regeneration the image of God and Christ is renewed in him in Knowledge righteousness and holiness the like mind is in him that was in Christ Likeness is the Mother of Love and all Love floweth from some likeness or conceived likeness in the object beloved Christ cannot but love that Soul that is made partaker of the Divine nature renewed according to his image made like unto himself The believer was predestinated to be conform to the Image of the Son by Faith Regeneration he is made conform renewed according to the image of God according to the Apostles phrase If Jacob knew his sons coat again and the sight of it was enough to set the Fathers bowels on yerning Christ will doubtless know his own robes and cannot but account that Soul most beautiful that is adorned with dressed in them This in the first place may serve to convince us of the truth of what John tells us 1. John 5. 19. That the whole world lyeth in wickedness For these Souls whom Christ judgeth and calleth the fairest amongst Women The most lovely and beautiful Souls are those who in the Eyes of the generality in the world are counted the most unlovely despicable and contemptible Persons in nature in so much that Godly men and women may take up the words of the Apostle 1 Cor. 4. 9. concerning himself and those of his own order 1 Cor. 4. 9. We think that God hath set as forth as it were appointed unto death for we are made a spectacle to the world to angels and to men We are fools for Christs sake profane leud men they are wise we are weak they are strong they are honourable we are despised the People of God in the present age in all former ages are they who hunger and thirst who are naked and buffeted and have no certain dwelling place yet they labour working with their hands being reviled they bless being persecuted they suffer it being defamed they intreat yet are they made as the filth of the world as the off-scouring of all Nations even to this day Thus it was under the Old Testament the prophet complained in his time Isa 59. 15. That truth failed and he who departed from evil made himself a prey but he addeth and the Lord saw it and it displeased him that there was no judgment It was so under the New Testament who was more despised and rejected of men then Christ Who was more reviled contemned abused both in words and deeds then John the Baptist Christ and his blessed Apostles and all the Primitive Christians Christ foretold his disciples that the world should hate them that they should speak of them all manner of Evil persecute them turn them out of their Synagogues c. It is so in our times if there be in any places Persons fearing God and working righteousness Persons that make a conscience of their waies that fear an Oath that durst not drink and swear and curse and blaspheme the living God as others do that make conscience of their worshipping God and are a little more strict and frequent in it then others are These are the Persons against whom the world spits all their venom against whom their hands are lifted up men may meet together to drink and revel to hear leud and profane Songs and Plays but not to pray not to consider and exhort one another to love and to good works what is this an Evidence of but that the world lyeth in wickedness Christ judgeth pious Souls the fairest Souls these are they sor whom he died Whom he calls his Sister his Spouse the fairest Souls in the creation these are those Souls whom the World sets up as marks to shoot all their invenomed arrows bitter words against to offer all affronts and indignities unto Shall not the Lord visit for these things Shall he not be avenged on such a generation Shall a gallant in the World draw his Sword upon the man that affronts his Paramour or Mistress a wanton Woman that he hath espoused or to whom his heart cleaveth and shall the Lord bear these affronts these injuries offered to Souls that are more precious in the Eyes of their Lord then all the world is beside Hear what the Lord said by his prophet as to that antient People of his Isa 43. 2 3. I am the Lord thy God the holy one of Israel thy Saviour I gave Egypt for thy ransom Ethiopia and Seba for thee Since thou wert pretious in my sight thou hast been honourable and I have loved thee therefore will I give men for thee and People for thy life Was this spoken for the Jews only think we or did this concern the profane part of the Jews or those only that feared the Lord walked in his commandments and worshiped him in Spirit and in truth That it was not to be understood with reference to or upon the account of the leud and profane part of the Jewish Nation is evident by Gods declared detestation of them by the same prophet and by others of his Prophets If it were spoken with reference to such as feared God and walked in his commandments and kept close to the rule of Worship which he had given them it holds good still to all Souls that fall under that Character They are precious in Gods fight honourable he hath loved them the holy one of Israel is their Saviour and the worlds hatred of them profane mens reviling contemning abusing them is but a continued Evidence that the world knoweth them not and speaketh evil of and doth evil to things and Persons they know not Or that it lieth in wickedness in a vile and wicked Error of judgment judging those vile and base whom God judgeth precious and honourable and those worthy of hatred whom he loveth though the Lord may for a time suffer his good righteous Servants to be thus reviled thus treated thus abused by leud and ungodly men for the trial of their faith and for the exercise of their patience and that some of the blood of his Saints may be poured into the cup of wicked mens sins that the cup of their iniquities may be full and they may fill up their measures of sinning That upon them may come all the righteous blood of his People which hath been shed yet be assured the Lord will not suffer it alwaies but awake as one out of sleep plead the cause of his People and give Egypt for their ransom and Ethiopia and Seba
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
these two things 1. That there are but few in the World that can be allowed to be the Spouses of the Lord Jesus Christ 2. That those who indeed are so yet while they are here are in a very imperfect estate very short of what they ought to be In the first place we may learn That there are but very few in the World that can be allowed to be the Spouse of Christ but a few to whom he can say You have Doves Eyes This Notion will separate divers five or six sorts of persons more especially from having any relation to the Lord Jesus Christ 1. Such who have malicious wrathful Eyes sparkling with nothing but revenge and fury How many such Professors is this Age full of whose Eyes sparkle like a flaming fire they breathe out nothing but malice and revenge and cruelty Prov. 30. 14. There is a generation whose Teeth are Swords and their Jaw-teeth as Knives Psal 74. 19 20. the least they can talk is of doing unto others as they have done to them it may be seven times more O! how contrary is this to the Spouse of Christ Psal 74. 19 20. v. 19. The Church of Christ is called a Turtle Dove what are her Enemies v. 20. The dark places of the Earth are full of the habitations of cruelty There 's no reliques of cruelty in a Dove house if you go in there you will find no blood no limbs of Birds but if you find an Hawk's Nest 't is there you find the blood and limbs of other Birds better than it self The tender Christian hath not his hand in the blood and ruine of his Brethren you find not in his Habitations the Instruments of cruelty nor any prey taken from the Widow and Fatherless He hath Doves Eyes I know no more certain character of one that is a stranger to Christ than this Let me see one that is full of cruelty wanting tenderness of heart malice and revenge c. I shall easily conclude him to be one who never digested that Gospel Precept well Matth. 5. 44 45. The Whelps of the roaring Lion are continually crying for blood and rapine and plunder but the Spouse of Christ hath learned from him concerning her Enemies to say Father forgive them for they know not what they do 2. Set aside those also whose Eyes are never satisfied Prov. 27. v. 20. Covetous greedy worldlings these have Hawks Eyes and not Doves Eyes And ah how full is the World of these Birds of prey too those that are like the Grave and like to Hell that never say There is enough but their whole business is to look about for more still and to cry with the Horsleaches Daughter Give Give Prov. 30. 15 16 17. The Horsleach hath two Daughters crying Give Give Nor doth any thing come amiss to them they never consult Conscience in it whether they can enjoy their desires without sinning against God or doing injury to others or no. The Dove takes the meat which is thrown to it and is satisfied however it feeds not it self to the prejudice of any other Bird as the Hawk doth A good Christian hath learned in all estates to be content and is satisfied with the portion God allots to him he seeks nothing to the injury of another in his right he covets not what is his neighbours the World is a wide Sea he fisheth with his neighbour but he robs not his neighbours Net nor suffereth his heart to covet what he hath in it The covetous man is none of Christ's Spouse That 's the second 3. Hence also the Proud man is shut out from any true Relation to the Lord Jesus Christ Give me leave still to go on with the Wise man Prov. 30. 13. There is a generation Oh! how lofty are their Eyes and their Eye-lids are lifted up But what are they Are they the Spouse of Christ David saith Psal 131. 1. Lord mine Heart is not haughty nor my Eyes lofty They are such as God shall humble Isa 5. 15. Isa 2. 11. The Psalmist brings it in as an Evidence that men were corrupt because they spake loftily Psal 73. 8. The pride and haughtiness of many speaks it unto their faces that they have not Doves Eyes 4. Hence fourthly Unclean persons are shut out from the Kingdom of God Such as to use St. Peter's expression 1 Pet. 2. 14. have Eyes full of Adultery that have wanton Eyes as the Prophet Isaiah expresseth it Isa 3. 16. But I shall not need inlarge upon this 1 Cor. 6. 9 These continuing such are shut out of the Kingdom of God And every one who understandeth any thing of the mind of God will agree in this and even Reason it self will allow the Sentence 5. Hypocrites are also by this shut out of the number of those who are Spouses to Christ You have heard there is a great deal of simplicity in the Dove which discovers its self at the Eye The deceitful Eye is not the Eye of a Saint Such are those mentioned in the aforementioned Text of Prov. 30. 12. There is a generation tâ—at is pure in their own Eyes and yet is not washed from their filthiness It is said of Jacob Gen. 25. 27. that he was a plain man This is a great commendation of a Christian a true Christian is a plain man an Hypocrite lies in folts there is many an hole in an Hypocrite but that it is hid under plaits of seeming Sanctity but the Child of God hath no doublings in his heart he hath Doves Eyes 2. Br. But in the second place you may observe from what you have heard that even the Children of God in this life are very imperfect There is none of them but have something of a Doves Eye something of all these habits of graces which I have noted to you under this comparison yea and so much as may distinguish them from others but yet where 's the Soul that hath a perfect Doves Eye either for quickness or cleanness or circumspection But I had rather press these under the Notion of an use of Exhortation The Proposition in that latitude according to which I have expounded it indeed doth rather speak what every Child of God should be then what he is Every Child of God hath the habits of these graces but they are in all imperfect the things which we should press after although who can say he hath attained Give me leave therefore to press you all who hear me this day 1. Those of you if there be any such who are prejudiced against the waies of God to a good Opinion of the waies and People of God because the walkers therein have or should have Doves Eyes 2. Those of you who are entred into them to shew it forth in your conversation that you have Doves Eyes 1. In the first place Let me take the advantage of my Text to make an Apology for my Master and those who take upon them the
he is not pleasant to him because he wants that congruity of disposition which is necessary Christ is holy he is unholy But now the believer is made partaker of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. He is a partaker of Christ Heb. 3. 14. And indeed hence ariseth that particular pleasantness which the believing Soul doth above any other Soul discern in Christ even from that congruity 3. To make any one not only fair but pleasant there will be required of him a Freedom from those things which spoil all pleasantness in converse and a presence and exercise of those dispositions which are in themselves grateful to humane Nature I will instance in two on three and shew you how Christ is freed from the former and possessed of the latter 1. The pleasant man must not be reserved but Communicative A man that is of a reserved close temper may be a worthy Person and have much real worth in him but yet he is not pleasant it is the Communicative man who is the pleasant man Christ upon this account is pleasant he is not reserved from the Souls of his Saints Look now as it is with a man if he be one that hath real worth and abilities to do good to his friend and of a free temper that if his friend speaks to him he presently hears and answers if he asks him a question he presently resolves this man now is a pleasant man Christ is pleasant as he is furnished with a sufficiency of power and ability for the comforting resolving advantaging his Peoples Souls any way so he is not reserved from them How free was he with his disciples while he was upon the Earth how ready if they doubted to resolve them if they asked any thing of him to answer them if he saw them troubled to resolve them c. Christ hath removed the place of his residence but he hath not changed his disposition How free is Christ still with the Souls of his People How ordinarily doth he resolve their doubts speak peace to their Souls answer their Prayers Doth any Soul object against this in the words of David Psal 22. 3. I cry in the day time and thou hearest not and in the night time I am not silent That Soul should do well to inquire whether some reservedness found in it towards Christ hath not caused Christ's reservedness to it whether he doth not restrain Faith He should do well also to enquire whether he be not mistaken Christ oft-times gives Answers which we do not understand Finally Let him wait and he will see that Christ reserves himself only that he might hereafter be more pleasant to the Soul But this is enough to have spoken to this first particular 2. He that is pleasant is not morose but courteous a man may be communicative enough and yet not pleasant he that is of a churlish dogged temper morose in all his behaviour is never pleasant He that is of a gentle behaviour is pleasant Oh how gentle is the Lord Jesus Christ How tenderly he deals with his Peoples Souls A bruised Reed he will not break a smoaking Flax he will not quench Mat. 12. 20. It was prophesied of him of old Isa 40. v. 11. that he should gather the Lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom and gently lead those that are with young If he speaks to a poor laden sinner mark how tenderly he speaks Mat. 11. 29. Come unto me you that are weary and heavy laden and I will ease you I appeal to the Souls of you that fear God Hath not Christ dealt tenderly with you Hath he pleaded against you with his great Power Have you at any time found him churlish to your Souls Nay who is there amongst you but hath admired his expressions in his Word and the manner of his dispensations unto your Souls and can from experience say He is pleasant If any Soul from its own experience object against this Notion I shall only advise it to consider whether it hath not put a false interpretation upon Christ's dispensations to it Or secondly To distinguish betwixt Christ's ordinary dealings with the Souls of the People and his carriage to it upon some eminent provocations 3. A third thing which makes a man pleasant is humility The proud person is grateful to none no not to him who is as proud as himself but he who is full of humility of a condescending spirit c. is ordinarily pleasant to his Companion Upon this account also Christ is pleasant he condescendeth to us who are of low degree Nothing more indears a Person of Honour and makes him pleasant to his Companion than when there is discerned in him a readiness to stoop and be serviceable to those who are beneath him Oh how pleasant is Christ upon this score to every honest heart From the time that he Nothing'd himself and humbled himself to a death upon the Cross unto this day he hath been and still is thus pleasant to every gracious Soul Every dispensation of special grace makes him thus more and more pleasant to his Peoples Souls But I have spoken enough to the Doctrinal part I come now to the Application By way of inference in the first place let me conclude from hence That a Christian's Life must needs be a pleasant Life To me saith St. Paul to live is Christ Phil. 1. 21. And again Col. 3. 3. Our life is hid with Christ in God A Believer lives from Christ Eph. 2. v. 1. You hath he quickened and he lives in Christ and Christ lives in him Now Christ is pleasant Hearken to our Sponse in this Song chap. 2. 3. I sate down under his shadow with great delight and his fruit was sweet to my tast It is one great discouragement that keeps off men from following the Lord Jesus Christ They have taken up a fancy that Christ is an hard Master reaping where he hath not sown and gathering where he hath not strawed They fancy the life of a Christian a moping life burthened with cares troubled with sorrows c. and think all their friends good daies are gone when once they turn Puritanâ—s and begin to follow after God And in very deed then and not before do they begin to live and to understand what true contentment is Oh! let not this prejudice take hold of any of your Souls come but tast land see how good the Lord is Might but this prevail with any of you to embrace the offers of Christ and to fall in with the waies of God let my Soul go for yours if when once you have truly experienced the Contentment of a Christian's life you do not with David chuse to be a Door-keeper in the House of God rather than to dwell in the Tents of wickedness if you prefer not one day in the Lord's Courts before a thousand elsewhere Let not the deceitful pleasures of the World seduce you if the Earth affords any satisfaction that Soul
same numerical acts of Worship in one place we conceive it stands upon no such bottom that it deserves any pains in the confutation of it it may be a good Notion of a particular Church but not an exclusive of the Application of the term to more Now this Visible Church of God is that which is Christ's House The Invisible Church is so and the Visible Church is so He walketh in the midst of the golden Candlesticks 2. That this is Christ's House appears 1. From the letter of Scripture 1 Tim. 3. 15. That thou mayess know how thou oughtest to behave thy self in the House of God which is the Church of the living God Timothy's charge was not the Invisible Church but the Visible Church this is called the House of God Heb. 3. 6. Christ is said to be faithful as a Son over his own house whose house saith he we are c. I shall not here dispute the Question whether the hypocritical part of the Visible Church be aequivocal or univocal Members sure I am take those together with the sincere Professors and they make up but one Church which is his House But secondly Look which way you will upon the Church it is Christ's House he hath the dominion of it and he useth it as his House he hath bought it Act. 20. 28. he hath redeemed it with his own precious blood It is given him It is his House by right of donation The Members of it are given him by his Father The Stones of it are his the Saints are the lively Stones built up into this Spiritual House 1 Pet. 2. 5. and they are built upon the foundation of his Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief Corner Stone they are sanctified in and through Jesus Christ his blood is as the Mortar and Cement by that they are united to God and made one each with other The Builder is his Spirit Eph. 2. 22. Consider an House as to the use of it and upon that account they are also his House Is an House the place where a man abideth and dwelleth so is the Church to the Lord Jesus Christ that 's the place where he dwelleth He dwelt of old in Mount Zion Isa 8. 18. there he abideth Is the House a man's resting place so is Zion to God 2 Chron. 6. 41. Psal 132. 8 13 14. The Lord hath chosen Zion he hath desired it for his habitation This is my rest for ever here will I dwell for I have desired it Is the House a man's feeding place where he dineth and suppeth and feedeth so is the Church Cant. 2. 16. He feedeth amongst the Lillies When the Spouse desired to be informed where Christ fed her answer was Go thy way forth by the footsteps of the Flock Cant. 1. 7. Is that a man's House where he keeps his Wife his Children his Servants such is the Church there Christ keeps his Children his Servants his Spouse Is a man's House the place where he spends what he hath such is the Church there it is that Christ gives out grace and glory yea and every good thing Lastly Is a man's House the place where he is protected and defended such is the Church to Christ there he expeâ—â—s protection for his great Name his Ordinances c. But this is enough to have shewed you the propriety of the Metaphor But 3. The Church is not only Christ's House but it is the Believer's House too not the Believer's House as to dominion and title but as to use No man but Jesus Christ alone hath a dominion and Lordship over the Church of God even the Apostles themselves were but Ministers to it But yet I say The Church is the Believer's House it is the place where he dwells He chuseth rather to be a Door-keeper in the House of the Lord than to dwell in the Tents of wickedness Psal 84. 10. Hear David expressing himself Psal 27. 4. One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the House of the Lord all the daies of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his Temple A man cannot be a Believer but he must forthwith be a Member of the Church Invisible None is a true Believer but he immediately by his Profession of that Faith makes himself a Member of the Catholick Visible Church and he will desire to unite himself to the particular Assemblies which are parts of that Catholick Body No sooner were the three thousand converted at St. Peter's Sermon Act. 2. 41. But they added to the Church and there they dwell v. 42. They continue stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrine and Fellowship and in breaking of bread and prayers No sooner was Paul converted Act. 9. 26. but he assayeth to joyn himself unto the Disciples And v. 28. he was with them going out and coming in at Hierusalem But this is enough to have spoken to the Explication of the Point I come to the Application which shall be in four words This Notion speaks the Churches 1. Dignity 2. Duty 3. Security 4. Probability of Reformation In the first place This Notion speaks the Church's Dignity It is the Habitation of the King of Kings When Jacob in his Journey to Padan-Aram had had that notable Vision he breaketh out in the morning into this expression v. 17. How dreadful is this place This is none other but the House of God this is the Gate of Heaven I am not speaking of the Church in a local notion but of the true Church The number of true Believers or the number of Visible Professors let the World vilifie them as much as they please they are a Noble Society Those who have clean hands and pure hearts who have not lift up their Souls unto vanity nor sworn deceitfully they shall receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of their Salvation This is the generation of them that seek thy face O Jacob Psal 24. 4 5 6. Believers may have their infirmities and a Professing People may have their great failings the Lord be merciful to the Professors of England for theirs but yet take them notwithstanding all and they are the best People in the World they are the Lord's Habitation he hath pitched his Tents among them and manifests his presence with them Secondly As it speaks the Dignity of the Church so it speaks the Duty of those who are the Members of the Church Psal 93. 5. Holiness becomes thine House O Lord. The Wise man commands us to keep our feet when we go into the House of God Eccles 5. And God bid Moses put off the shoes from off his feet upon this account because he was upon holy ground he was near the burning Bush where God made himself a temporary Habitation Those that take upon them the Profession of Religion stand concerned to be holy and those that are entred into the Profession of it stand concerned