Christ if in our acts of love to them we must forget the commands of Christ that either wee must not obey God in our places or wee must break with them and not be thought to love them in this sense they ought to bee forgotten yea to bee hated Christ in this case call'd Peter Sathan this is Christs command Luk. 14. 26. If our honours and glory in the world would lie in the way to keep us from stooping to Christs command and from thence our flesh it would fetch such conclusions as these It is not fit for so great a person as you to have such strictnesse in duties to be acquainted with such meane creatures as many Saints are to go to Church so often to be at private meetingt so much c. In this case we must forget them If our riches begin to stick to our heart and to tempt our heart from God that wee cannot enjoy them but our hearts will cleave to them In such a case a Christian shall bee a saver if as Crates threw his gold into sea that hee may study Philosophy hee also throw away his estate to study Jesus Christ If our pleasures be such as in the substance if such shadowes have any are sinfull or draw away the heart too much from God take up our Church-time or family duty-time or secret duty-time c. in such case they must bee forgot too 4. Comparatively they must be forgot God must be greater than they in the throne of our heart wee must not love father nor mother nor daughter nor wife nor child more than Christ So Mathew expounds that place Luk. 14. 26. in Matth. 10. 37. wee must not be lovers of any pleasures more than of Christ nor of house or lands or honour or any piece of vanity under the Sunne This is plaine for we must love Christ with all our heart and soule and though the second commandment bee thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy selfe yet it doth not say Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy Christ 5. Lastly In effect they must be forgot Christians must doe as if they had no relations they may rejoyce and buy and sell and purchase and use the world but marke how it is in a forgetting manner 1 Cor. 7. 30. they that rejoyce must be as if they rejoyced not and they that buy as if they possest not and they that use the world as if they used it not Christians may be called by their titles of Rabbi and my Lord and Madam but while they are so they must have a scornfull low slight esteeme of these swelling words of vanity not despising the meanest of Gods Saints but ready in honour to preferre them above themselves and accounting the title of Christian of a servant of God to be a greater title of honour than worldly dignities can invest them with And now I have finished my first taske in the explication of the doctrine in which I have shewed you what of our fathers house must be forgotten 2. How farre we must forget it The second thing I propounded was to shew you how that soule is beautifull with what beauty the soule is beautifull that thus forgets its owne people and its fathers house This I shall shew you 1. Negatively 2. Positively 1. Not with a corporall beauty this makes not the flesh beautifull It ads no lustre to flesh and blood possibly it may discolour that 2. Not by a native beauty no naturall beauty The beauty that will appeare in the soule upon this selfe deniall is not like the beauty of the face which appears after washing off dirt which clouded natures colours 3. Not in the eye of the vaine creature nor in its owne eyes Aske a vaine creature he will tell you that the leaving of vaine dresses and patches and plaitinge of the haire is the way to make the creature look like no body to make it despised in the world c. and such a one perhaps lothes and abhors it selfe as a vile creature Jo. 42. 6. Thus it shall not be beautifull and it is no matter whether it be or no. But secondly such a soule shall bee beautifull these three wayes 1. Imputatione By the beauty of Christ put upon it see for this that notable place Ezech. 16. 8 9 10 11 12 13 14. Then wast thou decked with silver and gold and thy rayment was of fine linnen and silke and broidered worke and thou wert exceeding beautifull And thy renowne went forth amongst the heathen for thy beauty for it was perfect through the comelinesse which I had put uppon thee saith the Lord God Christ makes the reflexion of his beauty to bee cast upon such a soule and it becomes beautifull through his comelinesse the soules doing these things doth not make it spiritually any more than corporally beautifull but they being done it becomes comely through Christs comelinesse comely through a comelinesse that is put upon it that 's the first way Secondly It is beautifull 2. Through Christs Aceeptation Of free grace Christ said to the young man in the 19 of Matth. Sell all thou hast c. and thou shalt have treasure in heaven not thou shalt earne it but thou shalt have it Christ accepts the soule as beautifull and accounts the soule as beautifull that for his sake will forget its owne people and its fathers house Cant. 4. 1. Behold thou art faire my love behold thou art faire thou hast doves eyes c. 3. Such a soule is beautifull though not in the worlds eyes yet in the Saints eyes The world will hate and despise them but the Saints will love and value them Cant. 6. 1. the Daughters of Hierusalem say unto the spouse whither is thy beloved gone O thou Fairest amongst women the daughters of Hierusalem the Saints account such a soule beautifull It may bee that shee may call her selfe black the greatest of sinners and the least of Saints yea and the world may so call her but those that are godly shall esteeme her comely and the King shall desire her beauty And that leads me to the last particular in the explication of the Doctrine 3. What is the meaning of that phrase The King shall desire thy beauty 1. Generally It is a speech according to the manner of men Gen. 4. 7. it is said of the husband toward the wise Vnto thee shall be his desire And wee meet with that phrase Deut. 21. 11. when thou seest amongst the Captives a beautifull woman and thy desire shall be towards her to make her thy wife 2. But more particularly I think the true meaning of the phrase may bee understood in these particulars First of all it implies That the Lord Jesus Christ shall discover and see an excellency in such a soule we can desire nothing but we shall first discover some excellency in it Now the Lord discovers an excellency in such a soule hee shall eye such a soule as an excelling soule as a lovely
soule worthy of him though not through its owne worthinesse and suitable for him 2. It implies That the Lord Jesus Christ shall love such a soule discovering in it a suitable excellency he shall love it his heart will be ravished with it Cant. 4. 9. Thou hast ravished my heart my sister my spouse thou hast ravished my heart Christs affections will be drawne out to a soule that so forgets it selfe his heart will bee melting towards it and on fire for it there must first bee a love in the soule to the object before the heart bee drawne forth to covet an union with it 3. It implies That the Lord Christ will in his heart preferre such a soule when a mans desire is towards a particular woman to make her his wife he preferres her above other women his desire is not to her sex but to her to her rather than ten thousand others The Lords desire shall bee towards such a soule As you have heard described to you that hee will preferre her above ten thousand of his creatures though the Lord sees thousands of his creatures hundreds in a congregation that the world dotes upon some for their faire faces and on others for their brave parts this Eliab and the other Shammah yet the Lord that sees all and can judge best lets Eliab and Shammah passe and fixeth his eye upon this selfe denying in the world despised creature and upon it hee fixeth his heart and prizeth such a soule above all the other trumperies and kickshawes of beauty The Lord culs out such a soule his desire is towards her shee is the Esther hee picks out and such a soul is more preferred in Christs eye than this witty man or woman or that gallant this Lord or that Lady Christ hath no desire to them but to this soule his desire is 4. It implies That Jesus Christ will indeavour and effect an union and enjoy such a soule what is the meaning of that phrase the man's desire shall be to his wife but he shall desire to be joyned in marriage to her that they may bee no longer twaine but one flesh and if his desire be towards her and it be a feasible thing he will effect it if shee consent and friends consent c. The Lords desire shall be to the soule that is the Lord Jesus Christ shall indeavour yea and unite himselfe to effect an union with such a soul he shall wooe it yea and shee shall yield for when hee works who can let him Christ will marry himselfe to such a soule make a marriage covenant and tie himselfe in a marriage bond to it for though in man desire may bee frustrated so that desire and enjoyment are two things yet it is necessarily to be understood in Christs desiring whose power is such that hee shall not need starve his desire longer than he pleaseth 5. It implies That the Lord Jesus Christ will court neare communion with such a soule mark how he speaks to the Spouse Cant 2. 14. O my Dove that art in the clefts of the rocks in the secret places of the staires let me heare thy voice for sweet is thy voice and thy countenance comely hee will not onely have communion but hee will covet communion with such a soule hee will desire to have it draw nigh and dwell in his presence to have it come neare him in a duty in an ordinance c. 6. Lastly Hee will love such a soule with a constant and inseparable love it is said The King shall desire thy beauty he shall desire it and never cease desiring of it hee shall for ever desire thy beauty And thus I have opened to you all the three termes now I come to the second taske As I have gone along in opening the generals in severall particulars I have proved the Doctrine that it is so But may some say what ground is there that the Lord Jesus Christ should desire this of every soule that hee will love and marry and have communion with that it should thus forsake its owne people and its fathers house why should Christ hold the soule to this hard meat I shal therefore in the next place shew you the reasons of it And there is a very great deale of Reason for it 1. Because it is the very law of marriage Gen. 2. 24. Therefore shall a man forsake father and mother and cleave to his wife The Lord Christ marries himselfe to the soule It is written I will betroth thee unto mee yea I will betroth thee unto mee for this cause the soule shall forsake its owne people and its fathers house and shall cleave to its Christ for this cause because the soule is married or about to marry to the Lord Jesus Christ and therefore must look to doe as married persons use to doe leave all for their husband 2. A second reason is because while the soule lives at home with its owne people and at its fathers house it cannot be beautifull nor desirable Our owne people are a filthie people our fathers house a nastie house the soule while it hath left that cannot be beautifull nor desirable The most beautifull creature you know if shee bee brought up by sluttish people as wee say and goes in a filthy habit there is a cloud cast over her beauty So it is with a soule while it hath left its sins and vaine company and pride and ambition and pleasures and riches and selfe-righteousnesse it cannot be beautifull in Christs eyes Now beauty is the attractive of the soule the soule must see a beauty in that which it lets out it selfe to in desiring let that be a second reason 3. Because there cannot bee a cleaving to Christ unlesse there be a parting with these Christ requires the highest love of our soules it is the first commandement you know with our Saviours glosse upon it Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and all thy soule Hence Christ tels us no man can serve two masters you cannot serve God and Mammon that soule that will hug sin must hate God that soule that will be a companion of Jesus Christ and a companion of Saints must not be a companion of sinners for what fellowship hath Christ with Belial righteousnesse with unrighteousnesse light with darknesse the temple of God with Idols and so the rest Your soule cannot love two thengs with an highest love 2. You cannot in heart truly cleave to two contraries There is a third reason especially if you consider 4. That God is a jealous God you meet with the phrase often and given as a reason why they should doe this or that For the Lord thy God is a jealous God Jealousie is a passion in the soule non patiens consortium in re amatà saith Aquinas that will not indure or that makes the soule that it will not indure any sharing in the object beloved The woman that hath a jealous husband must leave all her old
hee hath put upon you Secondly 2. Here 's comfort against all the dirt the world casts upon you all the uncomelinesse they conceit in you who so despicable creatures in the eyes of the world as those men and women whom the Lord delights to honour these are the despised ones upon the backs of these it is that the Plowers plow and make long furrowes they are the upright in heart that they privily bend their bow to shoot at against these are the puttings out of the fingers and the liftings up of the hands upon these are laid all the scoffes of the ungodly and through their weaknesse the barkings of these dogges sometimes trouble them But Christians hath not the King desired your beauty the beauty that these wretches are so blind they cannot see Hath not the King desired it Is it desireable in Christs eyes and despised in their eyes which is the best judge think you is it not enough for you that you please your husband 3. Here 's comfort for you not only against all their scoffes but against all their low esteeme of you David saith I am small and of no reputation Christ was accounted the least in the kingdome of Heaven hee was the stone which the builders refused A man of no fashion in the world who cared for him did any of the Pharisees believe on him The wife you know takes her honour from her husband and usually if hee be accounted one of no fashion shee is not valued at a very high rate Saints though they be indeed the worlds pillars yet in the vulgar estimate they are the worlds burthens and where ever they live they usually live at a low rate in worldlings desires if any of note before turne puritane hee loseth his rate in the worlds thoughts presently the Gentleman loseth his honour the Lady her repute but it is because their prizers have lost their wit and their eyes and it need not much trouble a Saint for Christ desires their beauty still They have put themselves out of the worlds reckoning and heightend themselves in Christ's esteem Despise on fooles the King hath desired these soules beauty Ah! but will a poore misdoubting Christian say I am afraid they have a true object of laughter in me I am afraid I have not that desireable beauty but am a painted sepulchre were I but convinced that I had indeed truly forgot my fathers house and that the Lord Christ had indeed desired my beauty I could naile their scoffes to my heeles and mourne over their gallant follies But I feare 1 Obj. Alas I am going home to my fathers house ever and anon I am ready to yield to temptations ready to fall into sinne yea and the Lord pardon mee I fall seven times a day If I had forgot my fathers house should I have such inclinations to goe home would my heart draw so hard for vanity as it doth sometimes should I sinne so often c. I answ 1. Which way stands your affection your heart you say bends that way but which way stands your affection doe you take pleasure in such inclinations have you a good mind to sinne if you durst to returne to your old vanities if you durst only you durst not that 's an ill signe But upon such inclinations doth there presently arise a loathing in your soules doe you say Get thee behind mee Sathan that 's a good signe that though you be invited by a temptation of vaine company or the Devill c. yet you have truly forgotten your fathers house 2. You goe home sometimes you say it may be you fall into some of your former vaine courses and are with some of your vaine companions But I pray What doe you when you are in your fathers house are you pleased with your vanities or with the vanities of your friends or doe you spend your time in chiding It may be your heart sometimes declines to some vanity or you are sometimes in converse with vain persons Are you one with vanity one with sinners or doe your spirits rise against your selves and against the vanities of those with whom you are What indignation is wrought if any you may have forgot your fathers house for all this going home 3. You goe home sometimes you say But I pray How long doe you stay there Is sinne your trade Doe you live in knowne sinnes this indeed will argue your profession but hypocrisie But on the contrary though you fall through weaknesse yet doe you rise through grace though you sinne sometimes yet is sinne as Davids concupiscence call'd a stranger in the Parable Thus the best Saints have sinn'd yea and may sinne not of wilfulnesse but of weaknesse not trading in sinne nor lying in it but falling into it and rising by repentance 2. Obj. Ah! but will another Christian say I cannot deny my selfe in the company of my fathers house wretch that I am I got acquaintance when I was young with vaine persons or I am related to such and I dare not say but I love their company and oft times leave better for them neither can I deny my selfe in my relations My heart is excessively let out after them 1. Thou saiest thou art oft times yet a companion of vaine persons but consider Christian are they thy invited ghests or accidentall meerly are they intruders or are they the welcome crmpanions of thy life are they thy pickt company or no thy intimates or meerly companions in respect of thy trade and converse with the world If thou delightest not in them they indeed are sometimes thy companions but thou art not theirs 2. Art thou a companion with them in sinne or onely in civill actions or for discourse c. sometimes if the first indeed it is a signe thou hast not left thy fathers house but if the latter onely it is no such signe thou keepest thy course they come to thee and it may be disturbe thee but thou doest not goe to them 3. Thou sayest thou lovest them But it would be considered Whether thy love be meerly naturall or more It may be thou lovest them because they are witty people or of ingenuous dispositions Thus Christ loved the young man Matth. 19. and thus thou mayest love them It is an ill signe if thou lovest them because they will drinke or sweare or bee vain and wanton in their discourse or carriages 4. Thou sayest thou lovest thy relations and thou canst not deny thy selfe in them thy heart is so glued to them c. and God forbid but thou shouldst love them 1. with a naturall affection it s a signe of a wretch Rom. 1. 31. to be without naturall affection and 2. with a providentiall love and care hee that provides not for his family saith the Apostle is worse than an infidell But 1. Suppose Christ should call thee to suffer for him and thou hadst a good mind to it and they should plead hard for thee to spare thy selfe wouldst thou with
conversation an answer of those old prayers newly returned to your Ladiships Noble Parent That the Lord may have glory your soule peace and hee the dayly answer of his prayers who truely is Madam Your Honours most humbly obliged servant in the Lord Jesus John Collings Chaplyfield house Aug 21. 1649. A LESSON OF Self-Denyall Psal 45. 10 11. Hearken O daughter and consider and encline thine eare Forget also thy own people and thy Fathers house so shall the King desire thy beauty IT is agreed almost amongst all Expositors that this Psalme is a Marriage-Song and principally relating to the spirituall marriage between Jesus Christ and the beleeving soule or between Christ and his Church But there is a little question amongst them whether the spirituall sense of it be couched under a type or an Allegory Some thinke that the Holy Ghost here treates of that spirituall marriage under the type of Solomons marriage to Pharaohs daughter of which wee read 1 King 3. 11. Of this opinion saith D. Rivet are D. Rivet Pref. in hunc Psalmum the Hebrew Interpreters and most others as Calvin Bucer Junius Jansenius c. yet these grant that there are some things in the Psalme not capable of that literall sense Others are against this partly because as they say that marriage of Solomons was wicked and against Gods Law Deut. 7. and partly because it is probable that Solomon having before that time as 1 King 3. 3. the feare of the Lord in his heart it is not probable he would have contracted that marriage had not she first contracted to have forsaken her fathers house which the Hebrewes also say was one of the marriage-Articles But it is probable that that marriage gave occasion to the writing of this Psalme and for the reason against it Rivet answers by a Rule of S. Hieroms Homines mali in re non bona sanctissimarum rerum imo ipsius Dei â—ypi esse possunt That In Scripture evill men and that in wicked actions are oft-times types of holy actions and that of Gods owne too oft times Ishmael was a type of the old Testament according to the Apostle an many other instances might bee given Whether it be a Type or an Allegory is not much materiall nor worth the disputing Rivet thinks neither sense improbable but conceives it might be both nor do I see any thing of value against it In the Psalme observe 1. The Preface verse 1. Wherein he Psalmist declares the readinesse of his heart and instinct of the spirit putting him upon the Composure of it 2. The narrative part of the Psalm from the 2 verse to the last 3. The Conclusion of it verse ult In the narrative part is something 1. Relating to the Bridegroom 2. Relating to the Bride The Bridegroome is commended from his Beauty v. 2. Thou art fairer than the children of men 2. From his Eloquence v. 2. Grace is powred into thy lips 3. From the blessing of God upon him God hath blessed thee for ever 4. From his Glory and Majesty v. 3. 5. From his successe v. 4. 6. From his Temper and Disposition verse 4. 7. From his Valour verse 4 5 6. 8. From the nature of his Kingdome v. 6. 9. From his love to Justice v. 7. 10. From the perfume of his Garments v. 8. 11. From his choice in his Queene and his Attendants v. 9. So farre it relates to the Bridegroome The other part relates to the Bride and in it is a Lesson of Instruction and Exhortation read to her prest from severall Motives The Exhortation is in the two verses in which my Text lyes And it is foure-fold prest from severall Arguments In the Text then you may consider 1. An Exhortation enforced upon the former Description 2. Severall Motives to presse this Exhortation 1. In the first consider 1. The person exhorted set out by the name of Daughter O Daughter 2. The Exhortation which is five-fold 1. Hearken 2. Consider 3. Incline thin eare 4. Forget thy people and thy fa ther 's house 5. Worship him 3. The Motives inforcing it which are 1. The former description of him now thou art married to such an husband hearken c. 2. The Relation of Daughter Children should harken to their Parents 3. Shee should bee beautifull 4. Her beauty should be desireable 5. The King should desire it yea greatly desire her beauty Let me a little open the words and then proceed O Daughter Quae consentit viro in matrimonium est viro in loco filiae saith Rivet The woman that consents to her Husband in marriage is to him in stead of a Daughter So saith the Parable 2 Sam 12. 3. The Ewe-lambe which signified the wife laid in the poore mans bosome and was unto him as a daughter Jer. 3. 4. Wilt thou not from hence forth crie unto me Thou art my Father the guide of my youth the guide of her youth that is an Husband and yet her Father God can marry his Daughter and yet the marriage not be incestuous Yea hee first marryes the soule and then makes it his Daughter according to that 2 Cor. 6. 18. Wherefore come out from amongst them and be yee separate saith the Lord and I will be a Father unto â—ou and you shal be to me Sonnes and Daughters saith the Lord Daughters by Adoption Gal. 4. 6. Nor in vaine called a Daughter It is a courteous compellation as both Rivet and Mollerus note by which the Lord will let his Saints know that he will extend towards them the care of a father as well as the love of an Husband he will love them like an husband and protect them like a father Hearke Christians Saints are Sons and Daughters as wel as Spouses to Christ If he be a father where is his honour If an husband where his love But to proceed Hearken O Daughter Audi filia What should shee heare Shee should heare her husband There was a voice from heaven Matth. 17. 5. This is my well-beloved Son heare him Christs Sheep are eare-marked John 10. 11. The good sheep are thus markt They hear his voice Faith comes by hearing yea and it growes up by hearing too they are over-growne Saints that are growne past Ordinances I am afraid they are growne out of Christs knowledge it is the deafe adder stops her eare Davids eare was opened Psal 40. They that are too proud to heare Christs Voice on Earth I am afraid will be thought too vile ever to see his face in heaven Hearken therefore O Daughter Gods way to the Heart lies through the Eare that 's his ordinary way if he at any time comes another way I am afraid it is not when wee have wilfully blockt that up but when himselfe hath stopt it Hearken O Daughter and Consider or see vide First heare then see There is a seeing of Faith Faith is the daughter of hearing the Eare must open before the soule Doe not onely heare but
also see Hearing is not enough He that beleeveth not is damned already Seeing may bee of experience As wee have heard so have we seene in the City of our God The soule that heares well shall see Iohn 1. 50. Because I said unto thee I saw thee under the Fig-tree beleevest thou thou shalt see greater things than these Faith must goe before Sight but Sight shall succeed faith yet Faith is a Sight though not of experience And incline thine eare Expositors make this Phrase to containe three things 1. A Repetition of the first Branch Hearken It is a difficult duty the word is doubled that it may bee inforced the Psalmist speaks twice considering our deafnesse yet he speaks louder in this than in the other phrase Secondly therefore To incline the eare is more than to heare it doth argue a notable stirring of Attention Hee that inclines his eare affert alâ—quem animi motum propensionem quickens up his minde and brings with him to the duty a readinesse of Spirit and an intentnesse of minde 3. Inclining the Eare say some is Nota demissionis a Note of that subjection and obedience which should bee found in the Spouse of the Lord Jesus Christ toward him It followeth in the Text And forget thine owne people and thy Fathers house Here are two things to be enquired into 1. What is meant by her owne People and her Fathers House 2. What is meant by forgetting of them For the first we must be guided by the Knowledge of the Spouse to whom these words are spoken if you look upon 1. The Church of the Jewes as the Spouse meant here to be married to Christ without question it is meant of the Jewish Worship the Ceremoniall Law and Worship and their Traditions they were to bee forgotten and the Gospell-worship to be embraced the worship of Christs Institution consonant to that of Christ to the Woman of Samarta John 4. 21 22 23. 2. If you understond by the Spouse the Church of the Gentiles then the Fathers house is all the Gentile worship and Paganish Idolatry which must all be left upon their turning to Christ 3. If you understand by the Spouse the particular beleeving soule the Fathers house is old Adams house all sinnne and wickednesse all traditionall worshipping Renounce the Per patris domum intelligo quicquid corruptionis ex utero afferimus aut quaecunque ex prava institutione nobis adhaerent quasi ad nos haereditario jure aut educatione transfusa Rivet ad loc World saith Deodate and cleave to Christ It is a Lesson of Selfe-Denyall consonant to that of Christ Matth. 10. 37. By Fathers house saith Doctor Rivet wee may understand whatever corruption wee either brought out of the wombe with us or have contracted by ill education or custome so that they cleave to us as our inheritance And by People saith he I understand ea quae ex mala consuetudine conversatione cum impiis acquisita nos a Deo abducunt quae omnia nobis sunt deponenda all those Corruptions and whatever they be which we have contracted by ill acquaintance and conversing amongst the wicked which estrange us from God these must all bee laid downe Luke 9. 23. Luke 14. 26. I shall anon in the opening of the Doctrine open this tearm more fully I now proceed So shall the King desire thy Beauty Some read it Quia concupivit because the King hath desired thy beauty making it a motive to induce her to forget her fathers house So August Cyprian c. Others read it according to our Translation The King The King of Glory the King of Peace Christ that King I have set my King upon my holy Hill of Zion Hee is the King Greatly desire Out of his love to thee his great love to thee he shall desire it not onely love thee but desire thee yea not onely desire thee but greatly desire thee He speaks after the manner of men whose desire is to the women they love Gen. 4. 7. Vnto thee shall be his desire And so Deut. 21. 11. If thou seest amongst the Captives a beautifull woman and thou hast a desire to her to make her thy wife Christs Love is such to the soule that he hath a desire to her yea not a desire barely but a passionate desire he shall greatly desire he shall be in love with the soule He shall greatly desire thy Beauty What Beauty Pulchritudo est in mente credentium saith Musculus it is meant not of a face Beauty but an heart Beauty Decor Ecclesiae saith Mollerus est in fide obedientia dilectione In the graces of the soule it is a Beauty that the Lord Christ puts upon the soule it is not a Beauty of nature but of grace that is the Saints Beauty Sanctitas Ecclesiae est pulchritudo Ecclesia saith Piscator the holinesse of the Church is the Churches beauty and so the holines of the soul is the souls beauty This is the fairenes this the Beauty that is meant in those places of Solomons Song Cant. 1. 10 11. Cant. 4. 1. Cant. 6. 1. Cant. 7. 1. This is the Beauty that the Lord Jesus Christ the great King shall so desire in the soule this is the comelinesse that shall make any poore soule desireable in the eyes of the Lord Jesus Christ This is the Beauty which will make the King of Glory rest and content himselfe in his Love to the soule that hath it and make him bee delighted with the acquaintance of the soule and in conversing and having Communion with the soule This is it that which where it is found will so ravish Christs heart that he will never part from the soule as Mollerus expounds that phrase greatly desire Thus as shortly as I could dispatch it you have the sense of the Text. Now in it there lyes these truths 1. That the gracious soule by marriage to Jesus Christ becomes his Daughter as well as his Spouse Hee will not onely love her as a Wife but care for her as a Daughter 2 Cor. 6. 16. 2 That it is a great piece of the Daughters worke to hearken to Christ in his Word It is no height of Saintship to be beyond Ordinances if wee be out of Heaven It is a note of a Reprobate being once enlightned to fall back but it is a new degree of Saintship they are deafe Adders that have lived thus long no Saints Children of the Devill not of God his Daughters must hearken Hearken O Daughter 3. Christs Daughter must and shall see as well as heare Hearing is not enough the soule must be open to receive Christ as well as the eare to heare his voice and if they will heare they shall see Hearken O Daughter and see 4. Christs Daughters must incline their eare as well as heare and see Obedience must bee joyn'd to Faith and Worship Inward affection and intention of minde must bee joyned with outward hearing 5. Which is the
the way those that glory in riches and worldly greatnesse are out of the way the carelesse daughters of Sion that stretch out their necks and mince it as they goe are out of the way the selfe-righteous men are out of the way Ah Lord who are in it Heaven is a difficult journey it is an hard way to find it is hard to flesh and blood to doe these things It was the Martyrs speech that the crosse way was the way to heaven The way to heaven is astrait way no dancing way dancers must have the elbowroome of hell-road they that will walke in this strait way must croud they must not thinke to walk thither in state no they must croud and never bee afraid of wrimpling a neat handkerchiefe or cuffe it is not opus pulvinaris said one but pulveris you shall be sure to meet with all the opposition that nature can make all the forces of flesh and bloud and all the forces the devill can adde who then shall be saved even those that God hath appointed to life those to whom the Lord shall give such an heart as I have told you strait is the way and few there be that find If you will have a broader way you may Mat. 7. 13 14. but then you must not look for the same journies end The Lord give you hearts to consider it and feare to tremble at it 3. And from hence thirdly you may bee instructed that it must bee something more than nature that must make a poore soule beautifull and desirably beautifull in Jesus Christs eyes It must neither bee naturall beauty will doe it nor yet naturall parts no nor natures glory nor the best of nature naturall righteousnesse Matth. 5. 20. It must be something more than flesh and bloud yea something more than flesh and bloud can helpe us with But I passe over this 4. From hence fourthly you may be instructed What an infinit love the Lord Jesus Christ hath loved his Saints with 1 Joh. 3. 1. Behold saith the Apostle with what manner of love the father hath loved you with that you should be call'd the sonnes of God Here hee sayes hearken O Daughter the Daughter of a King is honourable but the daughter of the King of Kings is much more honourable But if I may say it here seemes to be a degree of love beyond it the Kings wife is more honourable than the Kings daughter Behold therefore O yee upright in heart with what manner of love the Lord Jesus Christ hath loved you that hee should desire your beauty not only love you but if uncomely poor wretches make you beautifull according to that Ezech. 16. 13 14. nay not only so but desire your beauty not onely like it but desire it O love infinit love when David sent his servants to let Abigail know that hee desired her beauty marke how she admires at it 1 Sam. 25. 41. shee arose and bowed her selfe on the earth and said Behold let thine handmaid bee a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my Lord Doe you heare this newes O yee daughters of men doe you heare this newes that the King of glory the Lord Jesus Christ that hath no need of you that is infinitly above you hath sent me this day to tell you that hee desires your beauty Rise up O yee Saints bow your selves and say Let us be servants to wash his feet c. Let us bee the doore-keepers of his house his meanest servants No Christians you shall be his sons and daughters Nay hearken O daughters here 's more for you The King desires your beauty Spell this love at leisure and now wâ—sh your soules follow after Jesus Christ study it with your most serious thoughts live to it with strictest lives What conversation becommeth the gospell what manner of persons should you be Follow on make haste and rise and follow him singing crying as you goe O the heighth and depth the incomprehensible heighth the unfadomable depth of love wherewith the Lord Jesus Christ hath loved sinners before the beginning of the world c. And lastly 5. Can you learn a lesse result from hence than this that Saints selfe-denying despised Saints are happy creatures Terque quaterque beati blessed againe and againe Surely you have not heard mee all this while but you are preventing me in the words of the Psalmist Happy are the people that are in such a case yea blessed are the people that have the Lord for their God we may say of them O nimium dilectis Deo creatures strangely beloved of their God strangely happy in this that the King should desire their beauty Let the world scorne one let them put out the finger and barke at the moone let them mock puritanisme let the way of holinesse be every where spoken against pro hominum arbitrio let them talke so long as you gaine you dance before the ark though Michal mock out at the window You shall be more beautifull the more vile they think you it is for the Kings sake that hath desired your beauty and scornd theirs for the Kings sake that hath chosen you to obtaine everlasting life through Jesus Christ but hath ordained them to wrath and neglected their beauty One would not think now that these creatures that ravish Christs heart should offend worldlings eyes so much surely Christ should have no judgement if these were the contemptible ones of the earth the unlovely creatures Well well Christians let them mocke on after the way which they call simplicity and foolery moping c. worship thou the God of thy fathers thou shalt have thy pleasures when they shall have torments thou shalt have thy crowne and honour when the pride of their glory shall bee stained and that shall lie in the dust These children of vanity forget what Abraham though something too late to doe him good advised their brother to remember Luk. 16. 25. That in their life time they received good things and those precious Lazarus'es evill things but yet a little while and you shall be comforted and they tormented yet a little while and you shall be honoured and they shall be cursing the wombe that bare them and the paps that gave them suck cursing the honour that ruin'd them the pleasures that damned them the worldly glory which hath made them inglorious for ever yet a little while and instead of their sweet smels they shall have the stinkes of fire and brimstone and instead of their girdles rentings of heart for ever instead of their well-set haire they shall have baldnesse they shall spend more time in rending and tearing their haire than ever they did in curling or powdring it Yet a little while and instead of their stomachers they shall have girdings with sackcloth everlasting burnings instead of their present beauty But blessed shall you bee for you shall shine like the Sun in the firmament of the father for the King hath desired your beauty
Hierom shake off thy father and mother and children and runne to Christ this would bee a signe thou hadst for-got them Though thou lovest them 2. Notwithstanding that thou lovest them wouldst thou favour them in any sinne against God and onely luke-warmely reprove them like old Elie It is not well done of you O my sons because thou lovest them wilt thou rather let them dishonour God damn their owne soules doe any thing rather than reprove or smite them this love indeed is a reall hatred and will argue little love to God in thy soule But on the contrary though thou lovest them with the tenderest love wilt provide for them with the most providential care yet is thy love so truly tempered that it shall not in the least hinder thee from doing thy duty to Christ no nor yet from doing thy duty to them from reproving sharply admonishing severely is thy love such that it shall not blind thy eyes so as thou wilt wink at the least neglect of duty in them not at the least sin-in them Love them then as wel as thou canst it shall be no sad evidence against thy soule otherwise Parents look to it your children will curse you another day for your love to them you have heard of killing with kindnesse let the kind of death be never so sweet yet the death will be bitter Take heed not of killing the bodies alas that were nothing but of damning your childrens soules and your owne too with miscalled kindnesse 3 Obj. But wil another Christian say I have not forgot my honour and glory I am not low enough I feare to get in at heavens gate I answer first 1. This is like the melancholy conceit of her that a Divine of our owne speaks of of a woman that conceited she was so fat shee could not get to heaven it is the lownesse of mind that God looks at Lords and Ladies if their hearts be not as high as their titles may sit in heaven as well as meaner persons I doe not say they shall have chaires of state set for them but they may have a roome there it may be one or two may sit above them if there bee degrees in glory that gave them place here but as Master Rutherford sayes the least place in Heaven is Heaven though it bee behind the doore But secondly 2. Is not thy outward Pompe and glory that which thou affectest and delightest in it and huntest after Does not thy title tickle thy eare nor swell thy heart if not it can doe thee no hurt all the feare of those swelling things is lest they should breed tympanies in the soule 3. Doe you look upon the title of the servant of Jesus Christ the title of Christian as the farre more honourable title Are you of Theodosius his temper which would you rather chuse to be call'd my Lord or Madam or to be called the servant of Christ which doe you preferre if the latter it is a signe you have forgot the former though you retaine it 4. Is your outward greatnesse and pompe no snare to your soule in the wayes of God Great persons are too ready to think they are above prayers above hearing above meane Saints should such ones as they pray in their families no let their boy do it should they pray in secret and runne up and downe to lectures O no forsooth it is a dishononour to them Heaven was made I confesse for the most part for people of lesser quality 1 Cor. 1. 26 27. James 2. 5. should such as they go to private meetings no better go to a taverne there they shall only foule their soules but keep their clothes cleane But now hath the Lord given thee another spirit it is true thou art great but thy greatnesse is no such snare to thy soule thou canst pray for all thy greatnesse and heare sermons and kneele in a duty for all thy silk stockings and entertain communion with the meanest Saint yea and for a need preferre a lether dublet in honour before thy selfe Though thou beest great it seemes thou hast forgot it 4 Obj. Ah but will a Christian say I am so addicted to mirth and pleasure I must have my vagary and tickle my sense sometimes c. 1 Answ Christian dost thou love thy pleasures more than thy God that indeed were something art thou more pleased with hearing a song than hearing a sermon this sounds high But love God best and for ought I know thy eye for thy recreation may bee delighted in seeing and thy eare with hearing too 2 Answ Wilt thou baulk an opportunity of communion with Christ or with his Saints for a vaine pleasure Wilt thou bee a loser in thy heart to gaine a little pleasure for thine eye or eare or any sense wilt thou misse a family duty an opportunity of hearing Gods word privatly or publiquely thy time of secret duty a time of communion with the Saints to wait upon thy pleasure In such a case I would have thee suspect thy heart otherwise thou mayest recreate thy selfe with them and yet have forgotten them 3 Answ Suppose thy pleasures have been such and are such as are in themselves sinfull as wantonnesse drunkennesse c. Dost thou love them so that thou wilt have them whether God will or no thou wilt break with God to enjoy thy lust this is an ill and a very ill signe But possibly thy pleasures are such as God allowes thee temperately used if such thou mayest so use them and yet the King desire thy beauty I have finished this branch of application I have but one word more to adde It shall be of Use 4 Exhortation Let mee now perswade with you Christians And oh that the Lord would help mee to perswade 1. with you who have not at all yet forgate your fathers house and so consequently your beauty is not at all desirable to Christ 2. With you that have begun to doe well I have a word to both sorts 1 Br. Is there alas is there any poore soule before me this day whose heart smites him and tells him that his soule is not at all yet desirable in the eyes of Jesus Christ is there any poore creature so sadly miserable possibly the world dotes on you for beauty wit parts behaviour c. but in the meane time doe your soules tell you in plaine English that you are despised in Christs eyes As though God did beseech you by mee I pray you in Christs stead be reconciled to God Ah poore soule wouldst thou be desired of Jesus Christ Hearken then O daughter and consider and incline your care forget thy owne people and thy fathers house I know I am pleading with you for an hard thing especially for you that have all the world at will But I beseech you by the love you bear to your precious soules which shall last for ever doe it ah doe it I had need now have the Rhethorick of an Angell yea if I
is the Almighty that wee should serve him and what profit is there that we should pray unto him v. 15. Their fiddles must be laid in the water of true repentance and contrition The daughters of pleasure must undresse if they will be beautifull in Christs eyes they must lay aside their paintings and dressings their curlings and perfumings of the haire where as hee wittily sayes the powder doth forget the dust their ornament must not be the outward adorning of plaiting the haire and of wearing gold and putting on of apparell but the hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit which is in the sight of God of great price 1 Pet. 3. 3 4. The daughters of pleasure must undresse I say for the Lord as he threatned hee would doe in the day of judgement Is 3. 18 19 20. so in the day of mercy to the soule of the vaine creature hee will also take away the bravery of tâ—eir tinckling ornaments about their feet and their cauls and their round tyres like the moone the chaines and the bracelets and the mufflers the bonnets and the ornaments of the legs and the head-bands and the tablets and the eare-rings and the rings and the nose jewels the changeable suits of apparell and the mantles and the wimples and the crisping pinnes and the glasses and the fine linnen and the hoods and the vailes and instead of these send in mercy a girding with sackcloth a rent heart and a weeping eye and a serious soule It was a sure rule that a Divine once gave to another enquiring of him why he did not perswade a Gentlewoman with whom hee was acquainted to leave off some vaine dresses shee wore Saith hee I will first perswade her to get Christ into her heart and then shee will leave these of her selfe The soul that hath Christ in his heart need not to be perswaded to leave its fidling and dancing and love songs and vaine dresses and paintings and revellings and naked breasts it knowes these will not make its beauty desirable in Christs eyes and it is lost labour to perswade others to it When Solomon forsooke God then he ran to pleasures and vanities and sought every thing that should please his carnall eye and tickle his vaine fancy but he no sooner returnes to Christ but hee sayes of mirth it is madnesse and of laughter what doth it Christians you must forget these or Christ will overlook you Tertullian call'd the unvailed virgins of Tetull in lib. de velandis virginibus his time Capita Nundinalitia and Pudor ostentatitiae Virginitatis Phrases I will not English You must forget the pleasures and vanities of your fathers house that is the fourth I will instance but in one thing more Fiftly and lastly You must forget the Religion and Righteousnesse of your fathers house Indeed there is not much there it may quickly bee all forgotten but what there is must all bee forgotten There is a conceited Religion at least a selfe-righteousnesse which is naturall to all the sons of Adam Master Hooker gives this reason for it because our first father Adam was worth so much hee could have gone to Heaven upon his own legs Now as it is with a young spenthrift though hee hath spent all his fathers estate and be not worth a groat yet hee cannot abide to think hee should bee a worse man than his father so it is with the sons of Adam because hee could once have done enough for heaven wee that are his children though he lost all his power before hee died yet we cannot endure to think our selves worse than our father and are ready to think heaven may be erned still and we may doe something for our selves The young man Mat. 19. was at it Master what good thing should I doe to inherit everlasting life and so the converts at Peters Sermon Acts 2. and the Jaylour Acts 16. What shall we doe to bee saved hence is Morality and Civility taken up by some and formality in duties taken up by others and man pitcheth his staffe in himselfe and resolves there to rest but this must bee forgotten if ever we would be desirably beautifull in Jesus Christs eyes for all our Righteousnesses are as menstruous clothes and as a filthie ragge in the sight of God Is 64. 6. and againe Matth. 5. 20. Except your righteousnesse exceed the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisees you shall never enter into the Kingdom of God Civility rested in saith a Divine of our owne is but a beautifull abomination it is but a smooth way to hell It is true in the world a civill man is valued at an high rate because the world is full of grosse profanenesse and outrageous wickednesse but Civility is like the Cab of 2 Kin. 6. 25 Doves dung or the asses head the latter was worth fourscore pieces of silver and the fourth part of the first valued at five pieces of silver but it was because there was a famine in Samaria This is that makes Civility rated so high in the world but in it selfe it is worth nothing and Formality in duties as little though it amounts to as much as the Pharisees fasting twice a week and praying thrice a day and paying tythe of all that hee hath Notwithstanding all this all God I thank thee I am not c. yet the poor wretch is poore and miserable and blind and naked All this must bee left and another righteousnesse sought and found before the soule comes up to a desirable beauty And thus I have shewed what of our fathers house and our own people must be forgot Let me come in the next place to shew you how and how farre these things must be left and forgot To that I answer 1. Some of these must be absolutely forgot The manners of our fathers house all sinne and wickednesse must be so forgot Is 55. 7. Let the wicked man forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts Hos 14. 8. Ephraim shall say what have I to do with Idols There must bee no willing purposed practice of any sinne how dear soever how accustomed soever however acquired how long soever lived in the wicked man must forsake his way the evill of our doings must be put away evill must bee eschewed so must sinfull company too 2. The rest of them must bee secundum quid forgotten in a great measure Our relations must not be doted upon our honours and worldly glory not hunted after nor must our hearts be taken with them wee must not be lovers of pleasure wee must not rest in our righteousnesse not dote upon it our heat of affection to these things the running out of our hearts to them the fixing of our hearts upon them this must be forgotten c. 3. Conditionally they must bee forgotten If they clash with Christs commands if our Relations would draw us from Christ or retard our way to