certainly a forbidden Relation Love not the world saith the Apostle nor the things of the world yet never were more to be found amongst such who are called Christians Thirdly Marriage doth not alwaies spoil Virginity as it signifies Chastity But an heart equally cleaving and inclining to two men will especially if byast to him who is not the Woman's Husband She that hath one true and proper Husband and yet loveth another equally with him or more than he hath lost her Virgin-heart Ah! how many of these are there amongst Professors they are married to Christ in the face of the Church they were baptized into his Name and are under Vows to be the Lord's But as God said of old concerning Ephraim Their heart is divided and therefore they must be found faulty Ah! How many are there that have divided hearts that halt between two Opinions and are not able to conclude with themselves whether Baal be God and they should serve him or God be God and they shall serve him Nay they halt between two Conversations something there is of Heaven in them but alas how much of the Earth how much of sin folly and vanity how much of contradiction to their Profession where 's a Christian Caleb to be found to walk with God fully Fourthly If we have some that are Virgins yet how few beautiful Virgins where 's the beauty the glory of Professors where 's their former shining out before men Ah! call your Children Ichabods call them Ichabods The Glory is departed in a great measure from England from the Professing Party of England Where 's the former sincerity love to God zeal for God plainness of heart sincerity of conversation brotherly love heavenly walking the World the vanities of the World have spoiled Professors beauty The Sun of a little outward prosperity hath shone upon them how are they tanned But in the next place this discourse offers us a fair opportunity to try our Relation to Christ whether we be the Lambs Wife who shall hereafter follow him whithersoever he goes 1. Are you Spiritual Virgins There are tokens of Spiritual as well as Natural Virginity 1. Purity and Chastity in heart as well as outward appearance Blessed are they saith our Saviour who are pure in heart for they shall see God is not thy heart defiled with sensual affections impetuous passions doth not thy Soul cleave to sin and lust 2. Dost thou live like a Virgin an hidden life doth not the world see all that thou hast of a Spiritual life dost thou not like the Pharisees love to pray standing in the Synagogues and in the corners of the Streets more than with thy doors shut about thee in thy closet livest thou any thing of that life which is hid with Christ in God is it thy only and greatest care to please thy heavenly Father and Christ thy great Lord and Master 3. Where 's thy modesty the Virgin blusheth presently when any thing is reflected upon her Art thou ashamed when thou committest iniquity and thy heart reflects it upon thee or hast thou a Whores fore-head that cannot blush I might instance in many particulars more but these are enough to try thy Spiritual Virginity 2. A second note of the Spouse of Christ arising from this Text is a love to Christ Love is a natural plant and groweth in every Soul but love to Christ is a plant from Heaven heavenly a plant sprung up from the seed of God in the Soul If Christ should from Heaven propo und the fame question to thee which while he was on Earth he propounded to Peter couldst thou answer with him Lord Thou that knowest all things knowest that I love thee This Grace of all others is most discernable for love is of an active nature and will hardly lie hid The pantings of thy heart after him the acquiescence complacency and delight of thy heart in him will easily discover it to thee if thou lookest narrowly The natural man cannot say that his Soul cleaveth to Christ or thirsteth after Christ or taketh any complacency in the Lord Christ Thirdly As God is the fountain of good and blessing to his Creatures and as Christ hath a fair inheritance of a Crown an Heaven an incomprehensible glory which is annexed to the fruition and enjoyment of him so the worst of men may have a kind of love for Christ or rather for what he bringeth along with himself unto the Soul Lastly Therefore Dost thou love Christ for the savour of his good Ointments because his name is an Oil or Ointment poured forth He that loveth Christ meerly for his Heaven and Glory is purely selfish in his love I deny not but Moses had an Eye to the recompence of reward and so hath every honest and gracious heart without doubt Christs beneficence and goodness unto us and the benefit which our Souls have and hope to have from Christ is and ought to be a very great attractive and to draw out our hearts more and more in love to Christ but herein is the purity of the Saints love he discovereth such an excellency in the Lord Jesus Christ that were he never to have an Heaven with him yet his heart would cleave to him infinitely delight in him if thou canst say that thou thus lovest the Lord Jesus it will indeed speak thee to be a Spiritual Virgin a Spouse to the Lord Jesus I shall conclude my discourse upon this verse with a threefold word of Exhortation 1. In the first place methinks from this metaphorical expression of Saints under the notion of Virgins I have here a fair opportunity to plead with Virgins to be Saints Virgins generally have the object of their love to seek Lo here a most deserving object for every young man every young woman that heareth me Methinks the holy Spirit points out this in the Metaphor Therefore do the Virgins love thee Christ here expresseth himself under the notion of some beautiful young man beautified and adorned with all the advantages both of nature and of art So that the Virgins must love him I noted to you before that some would have the term 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be rather a term of age then either signifying Sex or State oh that I could this day prevail with you who are young men and young women to love the Lord Jesus Christ Youth is an age a time of love full of love but it usually mispends its self upon vain and worthless objects the young man loves his lusts and his pleasures the young woman loveth dancings and foolish sports and vain company and gay and costly attire but how rare is it to find a young man or woman that sincerely loveth the Lord Jesus Christ truly amongst young or old there is hardly one of a thousand but of those that are in the height and heat of their youth hardly one of ten thousand It is too frequent for us to give our marrow to the Devil
there praying to be delivered from those that are unreasonable upon many accounts but eminently in this that they hate do all the despight mischief they can to him who is full of Loves to them We shall sometimes find in men and women a strange aversion from such as truly Love them they cannot get up their hearts to love a man or woman that Loves them but it is very brutish very unreasonable for any of us to hate and malign and to seek to destroy one that Loves us Such brutes are all those that are Enemies to Christ and his Gospel Christ hath Loves for us these Loves are declared in his Gospel that declareth God in Christ reconciling the world to himself not imputing their sins the publication of the Gospel is a great act of this Love the faithful Ministers of the Gospel are the Messengers to publish this Love what an unreasonable thing it is now for men to make them the But of their malice I remember when the Jews cryed out concerning Christ Crucify him Crucify him and Pilate asked them why What evil hath he done They like a company of unreasonable bruits could give him no answer but still they cryed out the more Crucify him Crucify him Doth not the same brutish cry hold up even at this day in some wretches mouths They can give no reasonable account why they should oppose the publication of the Love of Christ to poor lost Sinners yet they do it with a rage reaching up to Heaven This is now to be unreasonable men why should you persecute him who loveth you Yet verily as St. Paul said of himself The more he loved the Galathians the less he was beloved of them So it feareth with Christ and all that hath relation to him the more faithful the Minister of Christ is in preaching the Gospel the more diligent and zealous he is to gain Souls to Christ the most hated he is and the reason is because it thus fared with Christ Joh. 15. 18. If the world hateth you you know it hated me before it hated you But Oh let this reconcile your hearts unto Christ That he hath Loves No ingenuous man but will repay Love for Love He who repayeth hatred for Love is of the Devil eminently he doth Evil without a provocation because he Loves to do Evil. Secondly What an Invitation doth this Notion afford to the most miserable forlorn Souls to Kiss the Son to receive and close with the Lord Jesus Christ Whilest our Lord was upon the Earth he told the people That when he was lifted up he should draw all men after him Alas that this word All in that Text must be englished by Many Christ is lifted up upon the Cross and therein he hath shewed us that he hath Loves Infinite Loves For Greater Love than this hath no man shewn than that a man lay down his Life for his Friends Yet this is greater Love while we were Enemies he dyed for us Yet how few are drawn after him How few can be persuaded to accept him as their Lord and Saviour What is the reason one man is drawn after his sensual Appetites after his Lusts and those draw quite from Christ Men cannot be his Disciples except they deny themselves mortify their Members Others are drawn after the World and are not at leasure to come to Christ and besides the friendship of the World is enmity with God! Others have some thoughts of coming to Christ but they are afraid Christ should not receive them I shall have occasion to Speak to the 2 d sort when I come to the next Proposition to shew you that Christs Loves are better then Wine Indeed both to the first and Second I might Speak as Saul once to his Courtyers will the Son of Jesse give you Vine-Yards c. Can the World can your Lusts give you Peace of Conscience and joy in the holy Ghost Will they bring you to the favour of God and to eternal Life But they are onely the 3 d Sort whom I would here Speak to Is there a Soul here that is almost persuaded to be a Christian A Christian not in Name but in Deed and is afraid Christ should not be willing to receive it Hear what God saith 2 Cor. 6. 17. Come out from amongst them and be you separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you Observe what I have bin discoursing Christ hath Loves an Inclination and Propension to do good to the Sons of Men He hath declared it in a variety of gracious Acts from before the Foundation of the World It encouraged the Servants of Benhadad to go to Ahab to beg their Masters Life that they had heard that the Kings of Israel were merciful Kings Let this be an incouragement to you to come to Christ to hear that Christ is a merciful High Priest who casteth away none that cometh unto him Certainly it would incourage the greatest malefactor to go to a Prince to beg his pardon and to thâ—oâ— himself into the arms of his grace and mercy if he could but be persuaded that the Prince were full of Love and had a particular propension and inclination of kindness to the family from which he derived This you have heard particularly made good to you concerning Christ You that have been the greatest trangressors the oldest Sinners yet return and come I remember when Isaac told Esau that Jacob had come before him and got the blessing he replyed Father thou hast many blessings bless me also It may be you may be thinking so in your hearts such and such persons they have obtained the blessing they had not been so vile so prosane as I have been O but yet remember the Lord Jesus Christ hath many blessings not Love but Loves come unto him and he shall bless thee also When thy thoughts are overwhelm'd in the thoughts of thy sins sink them again into the thoughts of Christs Loves thou wilt find that is as great a depth as the other is Yea thou will find the same difference as betwixt the Shore and the main Sea Near the Shore the Mariner may find it several fathom water enough to drown a man But off at Sea he finds himself out of the soundings all the lines he hath will find no bottom So a Soul in the thoughts of his sins may find himself beyond his depth he is drowned in the thoughts of them Ah but yet there is a Sounding his Sins are not Infinite so there is a sounding but if he lancheth his thoughts into the depths of Gods grace and Christs Loves there is no soundings let therefore no Soul be discouraged from coming unto Christ Fourthly Hath Christ Loves How sutable a Saviour hath God provided for poor sinful creatures The Apostle to the Hebrews Heb. 7. 26. having said of Christ v. 25. That he is able to the uttermost to Save them that come unto God by him addeth For such an
now if we rise higher and enquire how some come to use common Grace better than others when all have an equal Natural power to do those acts of Moral discipline and of Religion also which extend no further then to a bodily labour how it comes to pass that some get leave of themselves of their Lusts and Passions to do them others do not We must say there is an influence of God's Spirit of Grace more upon the one than the other inclining them thereto but so long as others have a Natural power thus far which they do not use God is acquitted of their Blood and their Damnation is of themselves though his abounding grace be more seen as to others whom he doth further incline to a better use of common Grace and their natural abilities but of this I have spoken before and do now little more than repeat 2. The same account must be given of the uneven pace which is discernable in such as are Christians indeed The running of God's own People is not alike though they have all the same renewed Nature and inward principle of life To will is present with them all yet they have not all an equal strength to perform Nor an equal life liveliness freedom and chearfulness in their walkings with God there may be much blame to be laid upon themselves for not using the Grace of God as they ought to do not keeping their Watch as they ought to keep it but the Original cause is the want of Divine drawings which are sometimes with-held as a punishment to some loose and careless walking sometimes as the product of Divine Wisdom for the exercise of some habits of Grace which are not so well tryed and exercised under the full influences of divine grace upon them as under the partial withdrawings of it There might be other uses made of this point but they would be mostly such as were proper to the former Doctrine and there inlarged upon So as I shall proceed no further in Application of this Discourse Serman XXIII Canticles 1. 4. Draw me and We will run after thee YOu have heard the Spouses Petition opened what she means when she saith to her Beloved Draw me you have heard her Promise or Argument opened We will run after thee She prayeth for drawing she promiseth her running Drawing was the act of her beloved Running was her own Act though in force of his drawing But here is as I before observed an alteration of the Number She saith Draw me She addeth We will run She begs but for one she promiseth for more she prayeth for her self she promiseth for others How is this 1. I told you when I opened thé words that some by We understand The Spouse and the Spirit of God in conjunction I and thy Grace This is a Sense hinted by Genebrard and De Ponte upon the Text and it may seem to have some colour from that of Christ Without me you can do nothing and that of Paul Gal. 2. 20. I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the Flesh I live by the Faith of the Son of God It is a great truth that when ever the Soul runs after Christ the holy Spirit assists its motion but yet it is drawing that is Christ's and his Spirits work running is ours Grace works together with the Child of God but it worketh by drawing the Soul works by running it is not Christ or the Spirit of Christ that is in us that runneth the way of God's Commandments but it is the Soul of the Christian in and with the strength and power of Christ Grace is the Principle of our Spiritual life like the Spirit within Ezechiels Wheels without which the Wheels move not but they are the Wheels that move I cannot therefore agree this sence 2. Bernard hath another Notion She begs saith he The sowre part for her self the sweeter part for others but this is an interpretation which to me seemeth to have many faults 1. It maketh the drawing here prayed for to be a drawing by Afflictions which are indeed the Lord's Cords but such as he seldom draweth Souls to Christ by not are they the proper matter of our Prayer Secondly It turneth the Promise into a Prayer and makes the Sense to be to this purpose Lord for me Draw me with the Cords of Affliction Let others run after thee but I see no ground at all for such an Interpretation It is not others but We she includeth her self It is not let others run but we will run 3. Thirdly If by the Spouse we here understand the Church speaking The Church being many yet make but one Body So the Spouse prayeth for her whole Body which is but one and saith properly draw me and then promiseth for every part Rom. 12. 5. We being many are one Body She prayeth for Grace she promiseth not only action and obedience but unity in her obedience and action God's Kingdom is not divided against its self not different from it self especially in the Fundamentals of Faith and Holiness They are an Army in order and fighting together against the World the Flesh and the Devil but this still is more than I will run 4. I rather choose another sence of this Promise A promise of an endeavour to cause others to run after Christ or a Prophecy that others would run so as the sense should be this Lord draw me and I will endeavour to be a cause of more than my own running after thee others seeing or hearing of thy Grace and Goodness to me shall also by my example be provoked to run after thee In this sence I shall carry it The Proposition resulting from hence is this Prop. That God's sweet and powerful drawing of one Soul to or after himself will be a means of causing others also to run after him God's drawing of John 1 John 26. draweth first two other Disciples who when they heard him followed Jesus and Andrew drew Simon Peter v. 40 Christ's drawing of Philip was the occasion of Nathaniel 's running v. 45. Philip findeth Nathaniel and saith unto him We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and the Prophets did write Christ draweth the Woman of Samaria John 4. v. 28. She leaves her Water pot and goes her way into the City and saith to the men of the City Come see a Man which told me all things that I ever did is not this the Christ Then they went out of the City and came unto him and v. 41. Many more believed because of his own word There are two main grounds upon which the truth of this Proposition depends 1. The first is the alluring nature of Divine Grace 2. The Second is The exceeding Charity of every pious Soul I will alittle enlarge upon them 1. I say first Divine Grace in the effects of it is exceedingly attractive The love of God saith the Apostle constraineth nor doth it only constrain the
was in my blood live he hath fixed his Love upon me who was by birth an Ethiopian he hath hung a Chain about my neck I am black but I am comely I have met with a story of a Minister who going to visit and pray with a poor creatureâ— possessed by the Devil the Devil thought to have stopt his mouth by objecting to him some sins committed by him in his youth The holy man answered confessing the charge but Satan saith he upon my repentance Christ hath since that washed me with his blood Another story I have met with of a worthy Person who lying upon his sick bed and being alone one opens the door and comes in in the habit of a Scrivener with a Pen and Inkhorn and Paper andsetting himself down at the table in the Chapter called the sick man by name and told him he was sent from God to take account of him of all the sins he had done for which he must presently go and answer to God before his Judgment seat The good man rightly apprehending that it was the Devil had assumed an habit to tempt and distrub him bid him go on and write first Gen. 3. 15. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel Upon which the evil Spirit presently disappeared Speaking only from my memory I may forget some circumstances but this is the substance of the story What the Devil in these cases did by a more audible voice he doth yet every day by impressions made more secretly upon the Spirits of some or other that fear God For tho conscience will of it self often bring sin to remembrance and reflect sins upon the Soul committed long before yet they are some times reflected with such violence and degrees of terror and attended with such strong motions and sollicitations to despair of Divine mercy and to self murder that it is but reasonable to judge there is more in them then the ordinary workings of conscience In such a dark hour as this it will be a great relief to a Soul to think that the Spouse of Christ is black but comely Doth the Devil then object thy blackness whether by reason of past or present sins in bar to thy trust and confidence in God for the forgiveness of them through the blood of Christ Reply to him Satan I have been black I confess it I am black but I am comely also having my Garments washed and rouled in the blood of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the World I am as the Tents of Kedar they are black but I am also as the Curtains of Solomon they are exceeding beautiful 3. It also relieveth a Christian under Persecutions and afflictions and against the Worlds upbraidings because of them The Barbarians concluded Paul a Murtherer because they saw a Viper cleaving to his hand and the men of the World are very prone to judge and condemn the People of God for what happeneth to them in this life they see the blackness of Gods Peoples visages under affliction and persecution but the love of God in chastening them that they might not be condemned with the World the exercises of their faith and trial of it and its appearing more precious then that of Gold their patience its perfect worâ— hâ—se are things in which their comeliness appeareth in and under afflictions these are things which they do not see Gods People are also ready to conclude against themselves because of their tryals but there is no just reason for it afflictions are but a blackness of the skin the Child of God may notwithstanding them be within exceeding beautiful and comely The tents of Kedar though they had black and unlovely coverings and outsides yet within might be fill'd with Spices and Riches I shall shut up this discourse with some few words of exhortation to that duty which this notion of truth calls to us for 1. It calleth to all the People of God for humility a mean and low opinion of themselves beauty is often a great temptation to Pride whether it be natural or artificial The Daughters of Sion were haughty and walked with stretched forth Necks and wanton Eyes Isaiah 3. 16. Spiritual beauty gives no advantage to a Soul to think of it self above what it ought to think In all reason we should have been some cause to our selves of that whereof we glory we should have some propriety in it and there should be in it some perfection The comeliness of Gods People is neither natural nor any acquest of their own There are three things which may keep the most comely of Gods Children humble First The consideration of their former blackness Let but any of them look back to the rock out of which they are hewen and to the hole of the Pit out of which they were digged and they will see no reason to be exalted above measure their Father was a Syrian their birth was of the land of Canaan their Father was an Amorite their Mother an Hittite and in the day wherein they were born they were cast out to the loathing of their persons not salted not swadled at all Nor was this all there is none of them but had their conversation in times past according to the Prince of the power of the Air fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind Children of Wrath by nature c There is none of them but hath reason to pray that the Lord would not remember the sins of their youth against them and to beg of God that for them he would not write against them bitter things nor make them to possess their years of vanity None of them but before Christs comeliness was put upon them had been guilty of sin enough to make them to walk softly all the days of their lives Secondly The consideration of their present blackness is enough though they are comely yet they are black still they have a body of death a law of their members the lustings of the flesh against the Spirit sins that easily beset them weights that often press them down the beauty of the best of Gods People is but like the beauty of the Moon which is full of spots hath a dark part and often suffers great Eclipses and all whose light is borrowed He observeth not his own heart that doth not see enough in the imperfect and extravagant motions of it to keep him humble Thirdly The third is the consideration from whence he deriveth his beauty If men and women would but debate a little with their own reason they would see no reason to be proud of a comeliness arising from any external Ornament it is something beneath a Reasonable Being to be beholden to a Stone Jewels are no more or a little Earth such are Gold and Silver a Plant or a Fly or a Silkworm or a Sheep a little Wool or Flax for
a life according to the rule of the word To worship God according to the prescriptions of the Word in all things it calleth a man to the Law and to the Testimony It obligeth every man in his place to bear a testimony against whatsoever is contrary to the strict rule of the Word Now whoso considereth either the ignorance of the world which knoweth not the Son of God nor him that sent him nor what is the revealed will of God or the sensuality of the world how mad upon their lusts the most of Men and Women are Or the Pride of the world which maketh men impatient either of a verbal reproof by doctrine and admonitions or real reproof by a quite contrary conversation more pleasing to God acceptable to and beautiful in the sight of men Or the affectation of dominion over the conscience which a multitude are possest of and their impatience at good Christians not owning and submitting to their dictates and saying as they say and doing as they do can hardly imagine how those that will live godly in Christ Jesus should live any long time in the world without persecution Now the expectation of those searchings and Sun-burnings will have various good effects upon the Soul 1. It will put the Soul upon preparing for them He that liveth in the expectation of trials will be oft-times putting the case to himself if such a tryal should be what should I do My Soul wouldst thou stand to or desert the profession of thy faith wouldst thou keep close to God or depart from him we should be laying up something in store against an evil day 2. Expected tryals as I before told you are alwaies lighter and more tolerable and endured with more courage and patience We are not so frighted with evils which we see at distances and view in the approaches they make to us Nothing more weakneth a Soul in the bearing of an evil as a sudden surprisal like an Apoplexy to the body it at once stops those passages by which the Spirits should discover and exert themselves Secondly This Doctrine calls to Christians for patience and that both under Persecution and Afflictions and under the censures and obloquies of the world because of them Expectation of tryals is a previous duty in order to our preparation for them Patience is a present duty when the Christian is fallen under them It is indeed the work of the day that very grace which in the hour of tribulation should have its perfect work it lieth partly in a quiet submission to the good will and pleasure of God because he hath laid it upon us an holding our peace because it is the Lords doing partly in a quiet waiting for God in the fulfilling of his promises made to his People under such circumstances There are two things that call for our patience under afflictions 1. The smart of the Affliction for no affliction is joyous but grievous 2. The reproach of the world under it this often doubleth the affliction and maketh it more grievous and intolerable Now consider how many things have occurred in this discourse which may excite our patience under both these 1. This is the lot of the People of God There is none of them but the Sun at one time or other works upon The Apostle exhorteth the Thessalonians 1 Thes 3. 3. That no man should be moved by their Afflictions for faith he your selves know that we are appointed thereunto There is a great deal in that saying to quiet the Spirits of Christians under the burthens of tryals 1. God hath laid those burthens upon them I held my peace saith David because it was thy doing It is the Lord said that good man let him do what soever he pleaseth Perhaps saith David God hath bidden him curse It is a mighty thing to silence the Spirit of a Christian when he can see the hand of God in it 2. It is the Lords appointment What hath befallen us in pursuance of an eternal counsel this speaketh the tryal eventually necessary it speaketh it also good for his People for he hath not appointed us unto wrath nor to any means of that tendency Nor is it thy lot alone but the lot of all those who will live godlily in Christ Jesus The Apostles themselves were appointed thereunto and wherein are we better then our Fathers or our Brethren 2. You have likewise heard why God hath appointed our lot to be Trials and Afflictions for the punishment of our sins and for the tryal and exercise of our Graces this also calls for patience Why should a living man complain a man for the punishment of his iniquity We have much less reason to be disturbed at the trial and exercise of our graces 3. You have heard upon what mistakes it is that the World accounts the Christian black by reason of Afflictions because they judge of their complexions by a meer sensual Eye and from a meer erroneous judgment We have therefore no reason to be disquieted because of it But indeed the main use we should make of this point should be for Caution and that in two particulars 1. That afflictions may not blacken us 2. That we do not judge others black because of them 1. Will afflictions blacken the Spouse of Christ Let us take heed that they have not this ill influence upon us We have heard that they no otherwise make us black then as they are occasions to draw out our lusts and corruptions This is that which we are more especially to watch upon In afflictive providences God tryeth us and Satan and the world also try and tempt us God tryeth our faith our patience our submission to his will whether we will deny our selves and take up the Cross and follow him The Devil and the men of the World which are the Devils instruments try us whether we will desert our profession deny the Lord that bought us forsake the ways of God and imbrace a present World If upon Gods tryal his ends be obtained then are we by our afflictions purified and made white if the Devil and his instruments prevail upon us then are we by our afflictions made black This is the thing we are to take heed of Job 2. 3. after that God had taken away Jobs Estate and Children he saith to Satan Hast thou considered my Servant Job that there is none like him in all the Earth a perfect and an upright man one that feareth God and escheweth evil and still he holdeth fast his integrity although thou movest me against him to destroy him without a cause How white there did Job appear after his afflictions But I shall not inlarge my discourse to afflictions in the general but limit it to such afflictions as are more peculiar to the Spouse of Christ and which I have had a more special reference to in my former discourse viz. Persecutions or sufferings for our adherence to the truths of the Gospel and the good ways
of God Let us take heed that we be not made black by afflictions of this nature which we shall be if by them we be moved from our good opinion of the ways of God from our profession or practice of them there is no sinner more black then the Apostate See 2 Pet 2. 20. 21. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ they are again intangled therein and overcome the latter end is worse with them than the beginning For it is better sor them not to have known the way of righteousness then after they have known it to turn from the Holy Commandment delivered unto them Indeed failings in a time of Persecution are caused from a double cause Sometimes meerly from the fear of life or some great danger that will befall to men if they adhere to their former profession failings of this nature make a Soul look black but many such recover themselves and the Lord who can have compassion upon our insirmities pities them and recovers them out of the snare of the Devil this is a blackness we ought to avoid by putting on the whole Armour of God that we may be able to stand in the day of the Lords Battel But there is another defection which is occasioned by Persecutions and Afflictions of this nature That is when men out of a greater love to other ways in a time of tryal renounce the truths of God they have formerly owned and forsake the ways of God in which they have formerly walked to these now Persecutions and Afflictions of this nature are but a slight occasion of their defection and Apostacy and this eminent difference you will find betwixt the others and these The others though they may be prevailed withal to warp and start aside because of the greatness of the temptation it was Peters case in the High Priests Hall yet will never be prevailed with to speak evil of and to revile the truths of God which they have owned nor the ways of God in which they have formerly walked and others yet walk The others being prevailed upon to their Apostacy meerly from the lusts of their hearts and the greater love they have alwaies had tho like Hypocrites they have concealed it to looser principles and a looser way of living take themselves concerned to reproach their former ways and those who yet walk in them This is a dreadful blackness not a tincture upon the face only but a tincture of the heart which by occasion of Persecution for the Gospel breaketh out into the more exteriour conversation To enforce this caution I shall only mention three things 1. That this is the affection only of the stony ground Mat. 13. 6 21. It is a certain sign that those never received the Seed of the Word into honest and good hearts that they never had any root in themselves who when tribulation and persecution ariseth because of the word by and by they are offended He that receiveth the truth in the Love of it cannot so easily abandon the profession of it 1 John 2. 19. They went out from us they were not of us for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us The day of Persecution and tribulation for the Gospel sake is the day of the manifestation and discovery of hypocrites I do not think that all shrinking in a time of persecution is a note of hypocrisy there is a shrinking through fear in the time of great temptation so Peter shrank But for men to make a defection out of a principle of lust and greater Love to other ways and to reproach and speak Evil of the ways of God which by the way is a certain indication of such a defection this speaketh the man or woman to be no better then an hypocrite nor ever to have been other tho to serve his lusts he disguised himself with a mask of holiness and Religion 2. Secondly consider That no sinner so reproacheth the good and holy ways of God as such a sinner doth He tells the World that he hath tryed them that there is nothing in them that nothing but the ignorance prejudices of his education youth led him into them that the ways of sin profaneness of Formality and Superstition are better and therefore he is at last grown wiser then to take such pains to go to heaven If I would pick out a wretch out of the whole herd of sinners to reproach God to blaspheme the Gospel and the ways of holiness I would pick out onethat had been formerly a professor and had turned away from his profession this wretch pretendeth from experience to justify what others do but loosely discourse 3. Thirdly no sinners must expect a more dreadful Vengeance The reason is evident because none sin against more light There is no man who hath made a profession and lived in any practice of Religion but knows that there is no iniquity in it nothing but what suteth the common reason of mankind not debauched through lust and that those who in any measure live up to the profession of the Gospel are if sober heathens were to be judges the best of men with respect to all duty which the light of Nature teacheth toward the Divine Being and all good offices towards men I say there is none who hath made any profession but knows this and in all his Evil speaking of them doth not sin like an heathen nor like a profane man who speaketh ill of the things he knoweth not but speaketh contrary to the dictate of his own conscience I would not have this understood of those who are made black through these afflictions from the temporary prevailing of a strong temptation these with Pâ—ter tho they fall yet go out and weep bitterly and are recovered and made stronger by their fall but of those others before mentioned to whom Affliction and Persecution are but the externall occasions to draw out the lusts of their hearts which waited but for an opportunity to discover its self 2. Finally to shut up this discourse let this caution us from Judging the Spouse of Christ black because the Sun hath looked upon her You have heard that this is but the Worlds judgment not according to any measures of truth or righteousness To this End 1. Root your selves in this truth That none can judge of Gods Love or hatred from what happeneth to him in this life It is Solomons Maxime and a great truth God governeth the World according to the just Oeconomy of his Providence with respects unto his own wife Ends and no spiritual judgment can be made of the state of any from those administrations oft-times he maketh Princes to go on foot when servants ride on horse back and the wicked to devour those that are more righteous then they 2.
instructive Corollary from this discourse Secondly observe The Laws of Christ are both rows of Jewels and also Chains 1. They are Chains of Restraint As Chains about creatures necks restrain their natural Liberty and keep them in due obedience and subjection to their Governours So doth the Law of the Lord. Man is like an unâ—amed Heifer which would run wildly this and that way Christ therefore puts a Chain upon him when he intendeth any Soul for his use I will faith God write my Laws in their inward parts There now is the Chain about the Spouse's Neck Joseph had this Chain about his neck How shall I do this evil saith he and sin against God Do this and live saith he for I fear God and so durst not take any revenge upon you The Children of God have in them lust and corruption but it is chained The Law of God written in their hearts is a Chain upon their lusts and this may mind us to take heed how we abuse that sweet Notion of Christian Liberty Christians are free but they must take heed that they use not their Liberty for a Cloak to maliciousness 1 Pet. 2. 16. that being the Lord's Free-men they do not make themselves Servants of corraption It is not a Liberty to the Devil's Chains but from them not a Liberty to the Flesh but to serve the Lord without fear 2. As the Precepts of the Lord are Chains of Restraint so they are also Chains Indicative of the greatest liberty and honour they are Chains but they are Chains of Gold Chains of Pearl such Chains speak both the liberty and dignity of those that wear them The Law is spiritual and just and good saith Paul But further yet the Precepts of God are also Rows of Jewels It speaks two things 1. Rows of Jewels are things as to which a great Art is seen in the orderly disposing of them There is a strange orderliness to be observed in the Divine Precepts Could you imagine a Family a Church a Common-wealth any Society of men in which the several persons both in their single and relative capacities lived up to the strictness of the Divine Rule respecting them how orderly would they appear even in the Eye of humane Reason All the ugliness and disorder that we see in mens Lives in Families Churches Cities Kingdoms if you observe it arifeth from mens deviations from the Divine Rule through the impetuousness of unmortified passions Hence sinful walking is by the Apostle called properly disorderly walking 2 Thes 3. 6 7 11. And the holy man is called one who ordereth his conversation aright in the last verse of the 50th Psalm 2. Rows of Jewels are Ornaments There is something of beauty and comeliness resulteth from them and it resulteth much from the orderly setting and wearing of them There is a great comeliness in Holiness But of this more in the third Corollary Observe thirdly That Holiness is the only Ornament of a man or woman in the Eyes of Christ The World is at this day full of gawdry Rings and Jewels Bracelets and Necklaces of Pearl Patches and Paintings Solomon hath told us that favour is deceitful and beauty is vain But a woman that seareth the Lord she shall be praised As a Jewel saith he in a Swines Snout So is a fair woman without descretion Prov. 11. 21. Christ accounts holiness the only beauty of a man or woman Our acts of holiness are in his Eyes the only ropes of Pearl and Chains of gold and rows of Jewels We live in an age of great vanity as to Artificial beauty and it would make the heart of a Christian to bleed to see even to what excesses of this nature Persons professing to Religion and Godliness run Let me therefore close this discourse with a word or two of Exhortation 1. To neglect other beauty 2. To study this beauty more and more 3. Not to Satisfy your selves with mere pretences of inward purity whiles your more exteriour conversation gives no evidence to it 1. I say first to neglect other beauty whether natural though that be a great gift of God where it is found Or Artificial which is borrowed from Gold and Silver and Precious Stones and Jewels and fine Cloaths and Linnen c. 1. Consider This is not your beauty That 's our beauty which Commends us to our Husband Jesus Christ He regards not a fine face nor well proportioned limbs he regards not Jewels and Ornaments nor fine Clothes and Linnen They are in his Eyes poor vile things Leave these things to the men and women of the world that have nothing else to Commend them to the wantons of the world The beauty of a Christian lyeth not in these things nay they are his shame and deformity as I shall by and by shew you 2. Secondly let me urge the Precept of the Apostle 1 Tim. 2. 9 Let women saith he adorn themselves in modest apparel with shamefastness and sobriety not with broidered Hair or Gold or Pearls or costly aray but which becometh women professing Godliness with good works Mark that phrase which becometh women prosessing Godliness as if he should say these vanities of broidered Hair Gold Pearl costly aray may become men and women of the world and commend them to the world but they do not become men and Women professing Godliness they are not to approve themselves to the vain Persons of the World but to Christ alone these things Commend no Soul to Christ good works an holy life and conversation according to the rule of the Gospel that and nothing but that will Commend a Soul to God that is the only adorning which becometh women that profess to Godliness You have the like in Peter 1 Pet. 3. 3. Speaking of good women whose adorning saith he let it not be the outward adorning of playting the hair and of wearing Gold and putting on of apparel but let it be the hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible even the Ornament of a meek and quiet Spirit which before God is of great price for after this manner in the old time the holy women also who trusted in God adorned themselves I do know the Common Interpretation which some put upon these Texts as if the Apostle did not wholly forbid these Ornaments but only forbad Christians to look upon these things as their only Ornaments so as to neglect the adorning of the hidden man of the heart Nor indeed do I think these Texts to contain an absolute prohibition of these things to all women that are Christians and at all times I do know that our Saviour seemeth to allow sost rayment to those that are in Kings houses Reason alloweth an aray to Persons according to the Station and quality they take up and are in in the World Religion doth not contradict it But when I consider 1. What of men and womens estates which God hath given them to Cloth the naked to feed the hungry c.