what have wee poore miserable soules that may move Him to set His love or affection upon I can see no reason of His Love but His love it selfe Stat pro ratione voluntas His meere good will is the onely cause and all Hee lookes for againe is our good will Nec is aliud quaerit nec illa aliud habet Neither Bamard doth hee seeke for any thing else neither have wee any thing else to give Him It was answered by one of the old Philosophers in Laertius being asked when a young man should marry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not as yet when an old man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not at all But let us contrarywise learne to remember our Creatour in the dayes of our youth old or young let us know it is now time yea and high time to give consent upon so reasonable conditions Yea it is now a case of necessitie Si non sponte vi pares coactus either we must yeeld to be espoused to Christ who doth dearely love us or else wee must be contracted to the Devill who doth deadly loath us Let us now judge whether it be better to be beloved of a friend or loathed of a fiend Iustin saith That this our Antagonist the Devill is Dei Simia Gods Ape and indeed this word Ape doth very well agree with him in this respect Even as the Ape by kindnesse kills her whelpe with too much love and lulling in her armes So will not Sathan then denie us helpe when as his help may yeeld us greater harmes Amando occidit his love is their death whoever they are hee once commeth to hug or imbrace not much unlike to Ammon who after he had once deflowred his sister Tamar he hated her ever after And wee shall find that what show of love soever this our Enemie hath made to us before Yet his hatred after will be farre greater Dionisius the elder noted very well when seeing his mother very old and overstriken in yeeres desirous to marry a young stripling that althogh it were in her power to violate the Lawes of Syracusa yet not to violate the law of Nature So let me tell you That although it may seeme easie in your conceit to violate the lawes of men yet shall it not be easie to violate the lawes of God by whose edict it stands decreed That either wee must be His Spouse or the Devills harlot with the one wee shall find Treasure incomparable with the other trouble intollerable of the one wee shall find a pretious treasure of the other a pernitious traytor Wee can desire no more then the first if wee refuse the last and wee can deserue no lesse then the last if wee refuse the first I believe not that wee can justly tax Olimpias the mother of Alexander for banishing a noble woman of Macedonia from her Court because shee preferred wealth before vertue in marrying a rich foole No more can we taxe God of injustice if He bannish us from His princely pallace where wee should have beene crowned if wee had espoused him the King of heaven if wee neglecting him become harlots to that old spirituall fornicatour the Devill before mentioned My Love and faire one c. Hence let us take notice that wee are His and no others My beloved is mine and I am His Verse 16. Yea if wee rightly consider it wee are more His then our owne and therefore wee should haue alwayes a greater care to please Him then to please our selues Hence also may we obserue the happinesse of true believers above others They alone shall participate of this His extraordinary Love whereas others shall be excluded this heavenly Paradice as Harlots not worthy to be received but rather to receive their portion with the Devill and his Angels for ever My Love c. Here wee see Hee pleaseth to speake in the singular number to let us understand that He hath but one Love but one true Church as therefore hee will admit of no other no more ought wee There shall bee but one Sheepherd and one sheep-fold Wee read of none but wicked Lamech before the flood that had more wives then one and him Iovinnian called a Monster because he made two ribs of one Yea and another obserueth that the name of his second wife did signifie a shadow because that shee was not a wife but the shadow of a wife So in like manner there is but one Catholike Church the Roman some thinke no better then Lamech's second wife but the shadow of a wife but admit her Christs spouse yet shee hath many foule faults in her much levitie and wantonnesse which God amend But because this will deprive me of my intended discourse I therefore leave it and come againe to the same words before handled My Love and faire one c. Here is both a likely portion and a lovely proportion she is both lovely beautifull Here is His love expressed to his church in many more words then his Anger which lasteth but a while but this His love shall endure for ever She is not now his sister only but His Spouse also not onely His Spouse but also His Love and not His Love alone but His Faire-one Faire first in respect of Her Beauty secondly in respect of her Order Cant. 4. 1. Behold thou art faire my Love behold thou art faire First in respect of Her Beauty The inward gifts of Grace doe shine more brightly in Her Her jmage which was before by nature defaced is now againe revived Christ in Her doth now behold her former perfection and therefore when He had reckoned Her beautifull parts in particular as Thine That is Zeale and Knowledg Iun Eyes are like the Doves c. * They two Breasts are as two yong Roes that are twinnes feeding among the Lillies He concludes in the 7th vers of the 4th Chap. Thou are all faire my Love and there is no spot in Thee Secondly in respect of Order which is the Beauty of every thing for where no Order is there is deformity and where Order is observed there is comelines If you heare but an eloquent Oration will ye not judge the beauty the beauty thereof rather to consist in the curious composing or knitting together of those Rhetoricall flowers thē in the flowers or sentences thēselves It is so in every Society An Army mixed together is a confused multitude but in their Order a beautifull company It is reported of the Queene of Sheba that came so far to see Solomon that when she beheld the sitting of his servants and the attendance of his Ministers and their apparell and his Cup-bearers c. There was no more spirit in her 1 King 10. 4 5. She was ravished here with the very Order and decency of him that was but a type of Christ and his Church then whose Order nothing is more beautifull Wherein every one affecteth not Supremacy but some bare one Office and some another some Apostles some Prophets some workers of Miracles some Heare some reade some Preach some Pray every one do something in their Order Thus having mixt her Beauty with order you see in what a beautifull order the Church remaines Lastly invitavit cum A solitudine seculi ad solicitudinem Caeli immutatione Come away wee ought not now to tarry when God calls Si deserveris coronaberis si manseris laniaberis It is the king of heaven that calleth us who are ready to run into the mouth of the devouring Lyon Let us therefore run hastily towards Him and cry Him mercy that wee have beene so long disobedient and have so long stopped our eares at His call let us now run and cary with us Gemitum in pectore Singulttm in gutture Fletum in facie Groanes in our brest Sighes in our throats Teares in our eyes let there no lōger be need for Him to cry How long would I but ye would not But let us now hast to meet Him who comes not to leade us out of prison to the place of execution but to a place of joy inexpressible to the promised Paradise which as he is willing so also is hee able to bestow upon us There are but three kingdomes Heaven Earth and Hell and he is Lord and Master of them all First He is Lord of Heaven ad donandum to reward us with Secondly He is Lord of Earth ad dominandum to rule and gouerne it and thirdly He is Lord of Hell ad domandum to vanquish it And this is that Lordly Bridegroome betwixt whom and us the Covenants were drawne in Baptisme and have oft since bin sealed and confirmed in the Lords Supper Let us therfore hasten with this our princely Bridgeroome unto our coronation which although it cannot bee comepleately finished till our Soules shall have forsaken these earthly Tabernacles Yet then shal we without molestation enjoy that united peace with God in piety and with our selves in security although we shal neuermore injoy the communion of His affliction yer shall we evermore injoy the union of His affection In the meane time let us labour and indeavour since he hath been so loving to us daily to increase our love againe towards Him This our love to Him must be expressed 1. Corde 2. Corpore First in the heart there true Love out to be founded that it may endure so long as the heart doeth which is primum vivens but ultimum moriens Secondly Corpore By the body is heere meant all outward respect and reverence wee have given Him our soules and shall we deny Him our bodies He hath given Himselfe both to us and for us and shall we keepe backe any thing from Him He hath not onely promised us a crowne hereafter but hath crowned us heere Ezech. 16. 12. He hath set a Iewell on our Fore-head and eare-rings in thine eares and a beautifull Crowne upon thy Head In time of Peace a Crowne of White-roses of Innocency In Persecution a crowne composed of the Re-roses of Martyrdome Now wee are crowned heere if wee desire to bee crowned hereafter Wee must arise out of this Haven of misery and arive at the Heaven of Mercy And then shall there not bee neede for this our Lordly Bridegroome to call againe the third time Arise my Love my faire one and come away FINIS
Father and by our inuentions plucked His wrath upon our heads Yet hee will undertake to satisfie His Iustice appease this His wrath and avert His ire Although by our depraved nature wee have deprived our selues of His presence Yet Hee will pleade so well for us that wee shall againe be admitted into His presence as in times past It was the speech of an Emperour as I take it upon his death-bed That hee had Severus had all things and now would give all things to be found in Christ Now wee have on the contrary Christ freely offering Himselfe and using all meanes possible to win us vnto Himselfe inuiting us to the participation of His treasures And because wee shall know that wee are not Friends in the meanest ranke or degree of Friendship Hee is pleased not onely to distinguish but also to dignifie us by a more neere deere and familiar title as His sister His spouse Cantic 5. 1. Such as without whom He will neither eate or drinke but if Hee hath eaten they must doe so too I have eaten my Hony-combe with my Hony I have drunk my Wine with my milke eate O Friends yea drinke aboundantly O beloved Cantic 5. 1. Yea to say more wee are such friends as without whom Hee will not live but because Hee liveth wee shall live also Iohn 14. 19. No maruell then if He doth so often inuite us since wee are so neerely contracted to rise up out of this Dungeon of Miserie and to lie downe with Him in His Pallace of Mercie No lesse then twice in this one chapter are wee invited by Himselfe First in the Tenth Verse My beloved spake and said unto me Rise up my Love my faire one and come away And againe in this Thirteenth Verse Arise my Love my faire one and come away Which words are the words of that wise and Lovely King Solomon inuiting his new Spouse to come with him from the place shee then did reside in to His Princely Pallace in Ierusalem but in the Misterie behold a greater a wiser and farre more lovely then Solomon is heere Non minus amans quam amor Saith Saint Bernard No lesse loving then Love it selfe Heere is Christ the true Bridegroome curteously inuiting His Spouse the Church that is every true beleever Vos estis Templum Dei saith Saint Paul To forsake the World and the Flesh which as Aquin. saith fitly may bee termed Cubilia Leonum and Montes Pardorum The hellish dennes of devilish Lyons and mighty Mōntaines of bloody Leopards Canti 4. 5. These would Christ have his Spouse to forsake and come and live with Him in His heavenly Ierusalem or abide with Him on His Holy Mountaine Psal 15. 1. In the words there are these parts Text. 1. A Taxation 2. A Compellation 3. An Inuitation 1. Taxavit cum vexatione 2. Appellavit cum appropriatione 3. Inuitavit cum immutatione First A Taxation Arise Heere may some couzening conceited Opinonist begin to cavell in this sort Will CHRIST allow His Church no ease To which I answere Hee will and doth solemely charge those that have to doe with the Church not to disturbe the quietnesse thereof as Cantic 2. 7. I charge you Oh Daughters of Ierusalem by the Roes and by the Hindes of the fields that yee stirre not up nor waken my Love untill shee please But yet Hee will not allow her to take her ease in wickednesse nor yet to bee lulled in the silken cradle of securitie but when Hee seeth this then He calls to her to arise and come away Arise my love my faire one c. Heere can I not give Anger its proper definition because I cannot terme it a passion in Him who is not subject to any but it is rather heer A calme resolution in God to punish or prevent sin in us It is not with God as it is with divers of us who after we are once angry will scarce ever bee pleased againe but in Him is rather compleately fulfilled that ancient and true Miner apud Eurip. laudat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Proverbe Quo major eo placabilior By how much the greater by so much the sooner pleased For wee are never so soone sorrowful for offending Him But He is assoone mercifull to forgive us But because the Anger of God is heere expressed in one word I dare not stay to spend many in the exposition of the same but onely let us hence obserue That although His anger is contained in one word Yet His Love is not fully expressed but in many My Love my faire one c. Although His anger lasteth but a while yet His Love endureth for ever My Love my Faire one c. Let us here take notice how God is pleased to dignifie his Church and honor her with those familiar titles and termes of Love and Faire-One Shee 's lovely and faire because Shee 's His Many are the pledges of his sincere affection towards Her by which Shee becomes lovely and faire Venerunt mihi pariter omnia bona cum illa wisd 7. Love Tokens 11. These the pledges of his love or affection are of three sorts 1. Either Dona naturae Hugo de S. vici 2. Or Dona gratiae 3. Or Dona gloriae The gifts of Nature are Memory Reason and Will wherewith we excell brute beasts The gifts of Grace are Faith Hope and Charity with which we overcome the Devill The gifts of Glory eternall and trve Happinesse Dr. Rawlinson happy and eternall Trueth trve and happy Eternity whereby we are made equall with the Angels or as the same Author saith in another place in token of His love He giveth her Monile in Pectore Annulum in Digito Dotem in jure Hereditario 1. A Brooch upon her Breast 2. A Ring upon her finger 3. A royall dowrie for her inheritance 1. In pectore ratio 2. In manu operatio 3. In dote utriusque remuneratio The Brooch saith he is Reason the mother of Discourse The Ring to grace her hand is Good-workes and the recompence of both is her inheritance of a Kingdome These things I beleeve Objection he doth and will bestow on those whom He pleaseth thus to vnite unto Himselfe but how can I which am but a finite Creature be thus united to an infinite Creator I answere out of Baudwins words Accepit naturaem communicavit gratiam that is When Christ became incarnate then thou becamest incorporate that is When Christ took upon Him thy humane nature then did He impart unto thee his Divine Seeing then that Vse God is thus pleased to unite and appropriate us unto Himselfe let not us proove false or disloyall unto him by running a whoring after strange gods and so be led away by our owne inventions This we doe when we preferre the pleasures of the world before the Love of God and therefore it pleaseth the Holy-Ghost in Scripture to call us Adulterers when we thus set our Affections upon the world
or any thing therein Yee Adulterers and Adulteresses Iames 4. know yee not that the amity of this world is enmity with God Let us know we must not set up our rest here Sunt pennae volucres Roet de con lib. 4. metr 1 mihi Quas sibi cum velox mens induit Terras perosa despicit If wee enter with our selues into serious contemplation wee shall find this to prove but a place of desolation and therfore wee ought to be more sensible and carefull of our owne elevat on Discite in hoc mundo Ambrose lib. de virg supra mundum esse Et si corpus geritis volitat in vobis ales interior quid ergo te in terram deijcis Since thou hast the libertie of wings why dost thou clog thy selfe with the cares of this world what is there in the world that should thus delude us If wee bee to day in as high promotion as Haman was with King Ahasuerus may wee not have as suddaine a fall if wee have great store of wealth Riches have wings and flie away Haud vllas portabis opes Acharontis ad vndas inopem me copia fecit saith the Poet And on the contrary If we have Christ with Him wee shall have all things Omnia habemus Ambrose Christs omnia in nobis Christus Love not therfore this world 1 Ioh. 2. 15 nor the things that are in this world Wee count it not a slight fault for a Woman to set her love and affection upon another man when shee is contracted or married to a Husband yea wee count it an indignitie and dishonour and the reason is because God hath so dignified and pleased so to honour that estate in which they are united and yet this is but a type of the union betwixt Christ and His Church In these respects hath God pleased to honour that estate 1. Authoritate instituentis Paeraldus sum virturum 2. Loco in quo institutum est 3. Tempore in quo homo nondum pec caverat 4. Antiquitate I. It was God Himselfe Authoritate that first did institute it Gen. 2. 28. there it is evident that God himselfe brought them first together Secondly It was instituted in Paradise Loco and it is worthy our observation and it maketh greatly to the honour of marriage to consider that this alone was instituted in Paradise for from hence may we note the happines of those that marry in the Lord for they are not only married one to another but Christ is married unto them Thirdly it was in Tempore the time of mans innocencie the happiest time that ever man enjoyed or lived in when God with all the rest of his Creatures were at peace with him before there needed any reconciliation because there was never any disagreement Fourthly it was the first order that God Antiquitate did institute after mans Creation and as it was the first that God the Father did institute So did Christ God the Sonne please to grace and dignifie it with the first miracle that ever he wrought on earth which was at a marriage in Cana of Galile where he turned the water into Wine Iohn 2. 6. Thus highly doth God please to esteeme of the contract which passeth betwixt man and woman as thus to dignifie it where He Himselfe was but a guest and shall we thinke he will lesse esteem of that contract where He Himselfe is Bridegroome Since it hath pleased him out of his love Vse so to honour us let not us be wanting in our love and respect again towards Him Let not the consideration of this His infinite love to us cause us to slacke our love to Him because it comes so farre short of His for He knowes what we are able to doe and expects no more affectum non effectum requirit Deus Ambrose God lookes that willingnesse should vsher in all our obedience Non intuetur Deus quantum quis valeat sed quantum velit quic-quid vis non potes factum computat Let us therefore willingly love Him againe because he hath loved us first It was one of the plagues and tortures wherewith that cruell Tyrant Mezentius did use to murther men Mortua quinetiaÌ„ iungebat corpora vivis Componens manibusque manus at que oribus ora To tye the living and dead together and cast them both into a dungeon there to continue till they were both in one case By this cruell tyranisme is figured unto us those matches or marriages where love is wanting which often happeneth by these occasions First when marriage is without the consent of either of the parties requisite and therefore essentiale quiddam in matrimonio est consensus for as Catullus saith Virginitas non tota tua est ex parte parentum est Altera pars patri data pars est altera matri Tertia sola tua est Secondly when the quod subito exâ—â—itur fluâ—â—â—at subito parties are too hasty and so rashly adventure before affection on both sides is setled we have an old saying which is very certaine deliberandum est diu quod statuendum est semel for this affected dispatch is one of the most dangerous enemies to serious busines that can be It is like to that which the Phisicians call Praedigestion Homer quem versum M. Tullius itae convertie turda sera nimis sed fama laude perennis or hasty digestion which is sure to fill the body full of Crudities and secret seeds of diseases 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Is it not reason that quo significatur ea quae sero contingunt magnifica plerunque diuturna esse solere we should negotium suscipere cunctanter when we must in suscepto permanere constanter Thirdly when the Dowrie is rather married then the Wife with a huic habeo non tibi I have thee for this thing and not for thy selfe Now in this spirituall Marriage none of these consents are wanting First heere is the consent of God the Father who gave His onely begotten Sonne c. Hee was willing that Christ who so intirely loved us should unite us unto Himselfe Secondly there is the consent of Christ our Bridegroome who gave Himselfe c. Now there wanteth none but our consent which if wee respect our owne good wee cannot denie I remember Palingenius concluding upon necessitie Ergo vxor ducenda est gives this advice Prius tamen aspice quae sit Precipue matris mores aduerte patrisque Nam Qualis quaeque arbos tales solet edere fructus Now I have already shewed you the linage of this our Spirituall Bridegroome that Hee is the onely begotten Sonne of God Secondly heere is not in Him an ovet-hastie rashnesse for although Hee loveth us rather then his life as sufficiently Hee hath witnessed by his death yet Hee mooveth our affection towards himselfe by degrees Thirdly Hee sues not for the Dowrie for alasse