common-wealth florished Iansenius in hunc locum Mat. 1. that the parties to be maried were by promise and oath bound each to the other as we reade that Ioseph and Mary were betrothed and the Mariage at more convenient time to be solemnized which was done most in the night the fittest time for mirth and banketting as St. Paule saith Rom. 13.12.13 Now while the Bridegrome was at hand the Bryde with a company of virgins met him with lamps torches who all entred into the mariage-house with the Bride Brydgrome Whē David prophesieth of the mariage betweene Christ and his Church he describeth it in the foresaid manner saying Psal 45.14.15 The Bryde shall be brought unto the King in rayment of needle worke the Virgins that follow after her and her companions shall be brought unto thee with joy gladnes shall they be brought and shall enter into the Kings Pallace Thus much for Historie In which we are to consider the Bridgrome the Virgins their lampes their oyle their going out and meeting the Bridgrome of which particulars some appertaine to the second part of the Parable But for the comparison obserue that Christ saith it shall be likened In Math 22.2 he saith it is like unto a wedding where servants were sent out to invite guests in this Parable he saith It shà ll be so likened in this there is no diversitie Gods Kingdome according to diverse states and times may have severall comparisons in this life God is preparing these things for vs This life is only for preparing our selves and by his word and servants inviting vs vnto this Mariage but in the life to come it shall be like unto another comparison to a mariage in the solemnizing that is all time and meanes of preparation shall be past that they who lose this day of Salvation shall be as foolish virgins and said unto that the Lord knowes them not The Bridgrome and Virgins Who is the Bridgrome SAint Iohn Baptist sheweth vs who is the Brydgrome in these words He is the Brydgrome that hath the Bryde the friend of the Bridgrome is he who heareth his voyce Iohn 3.29 and rejoyceth greatly But who is this that hath the Bride St. Paul tells the Corinthians 2 Cor. 11.2 I have betrothed you to one man to present you a pure virgine unto Christ. And by the other marke Christ is the Bridegrome for all his servants shall rejoyce to heare his voyce at the great day at which Iohn 5.28 Who is the Bride the dead shall come out of their graves The Bride must bee these Virgins that go out to meete him Observe by the way that where certaine virgins did present themselves in one company to the Bridgrome that mariage is then most honorable in the fight of God and men When is mariage truely honourable when it is of such as have beene Virgins that is to say have for their actions ben honest Heb. 13.4 for their cariage modest and shamefast Paul saith that mariage is honourable among all and the bed undefiled but whooremongers and adulterers God will judge besides the weight of this judgement of God the mariage is greatly dishonoured when it is of shamelesse unhonest persons And although mariage be a preventing from sinnes of that kinde to come therefore in that case is honourable among all yet it is not a pardon for wickednes past before mariage but as Iacob said of his sonne Reuben for this fault so doth God esteeme of others that fall in the like Gen. 49.4 that their dignitie and excellencie is gone because they darken the honour of their mariage-day The Divell who is a lyar from the beginning hath blinded the eyes of many young persons to esteeme these trickes of their youth which by God are condemned and by all civill and honest men abhorred and it hath so prevailed that the men cannot be securely received into mariage who have not approved their abilitie in begetting Bastards Whooremongers and adulterers God will judge O when God shall either judge or punish this no Crosse can prevent it no Priests Commission absolve it nor holy water is able to wash it away Remember Christs Spouse is a Virgin If you demand why these that are to meete Christ are called Virgins I answer because this is a comparison of Marriage in which onely Virgins chosen and appointed went out to meet the Bridegroome But if you aske which of all them that shall meete Christ is his Spouse I answer Who is the Spouse of Christ Every soule that hath in this life washed himselfe from sinne by repentance and calling on the name of the Lord and prepared himselfe with a confidence in the sweete love and mercy of God shall be the spouse of Iesus Christ But to speake as the Scripture doth all the Elect servants of God who agree in unity of one faith and love to Iesus Christ are his one and undivided Spouse from which notwithstanding we may not conceive an equality of dignity and love to be in the Church to be worthy the uniting unto the glorious God who for worth is Lord of heaven and earth and of love beyond all comparison Ioh 15 13. for no man can shew greater love for his friend than to give his life for him Christ shewed greater Rom. 5.10 in giving his life for his enemies And though all the faithfull cannot bee sufficiently meet for to be his Spouse yet are they counted worthy Philip. 3 9. when they are considered as joyned to Christ and one with him and are seene of God not with their owne righteousnesse but cloathed and overshadowed with the worth and righteousnesse of Christ We are to observe two things 1 Christs servants called Virgins that the faithfull soule is called a Virgin Christ a Virgin the Sonne of a Virgin will have a Virgin to his Spouse But what kinde of Virgin Hieron in Epist Virginis definitio est sanctam esse corpore mente A Virgin is one that is holy both in minde and body in minde because the Lord doth in this Parable condemne the corrupted mindes of the foolish Virgins whose bodies were not corrupted in body 1 Cor 6.15.19 because an uncleane body cannot be the Temple of the holy Ghost nor member of Christ But if wee consider why Gods Church was called a Virgin wee shall the better understand what is here meant by a Virgin God from the beginning ever shewed himselfe unto the people that were his as if he had beene their husband or spouse unto the Iewes he shewed himselfe as a husband unto the Christian Church he shewed himselfe a spouse the Iewes he tooke to him when their fathers were Idolaters Iosh 24.2 and themselves too hee married himselfe to them who by Idolatry had lost their Virginity who notwithstanding after they came to serve God fell to Idolatry many times againe provoked him to wrath
or friendship of all others are onely as salves for necessitie and to be despised in comparison of this bond betweene man and wife True it is that there is no bond of love but the Lord hath by example of it expressed his love unto us Christ called his Disciples servants Iohn 15.13 14 15. in respect that they knew not their Masters will but considering his love to them he calleth them friends and yet with such a bond of friendship on his part that was rare to be seene that he should give his life for his friends Also by the example of parents who are nearest of our kindred saying Psal 103 13. As the father loveth and hath compassion on his sonne so hath the Lord on those that feare him The Lord thinketh the love great which the mother hath to the childe asking if she can forsake it Esay 49 15. though many both fathers and mothers have fulfilled the prophecy of the last time 2 Tim 3 3. Psal 27.10 in being without naturall affection and though father and mother may forsake the childe yet the Lord will take up his owne But above all Christ compareth the bond betweene him and us to love betweene the husband and the wife for as the highest of his honour is shewed by being head of the Church Ephes 1 22. Chap 5 23 30 31. which is his body so the inexpressible love betweene him and us is set out unto us by the example of the love of husband and wife in respect of which we must forsake if need require the friendship of father mother or any friends whatsoever In this life we love the Lord but in the great meeting and marriage our love shall increase to such a height which now passeth our understanding Such as our knowledge is such is our love here we know in part and therefore our love is the lesse 1 Cor. 13 12. but when we shall know as we are knowne what mortall man is able to imagine how dearely wee shall love the Lord And then shall wee understand how dearely the Lord hath loved us and comprehend that for which wee are comprehended of Christ Philip 3 11. The manifestation hereof doth better befit the solemnity of our spirituall marriage for as the personall meeting of lovers increaseth love and the aptest time that their love should shew itselfe to the beholders so in our meeting of Christ our love shall be greatly increased and it is the fittest time in which the mutuall love of Christ and his members shall be declared which love how great it is now on Christs and shall be then on our part is not possible to be understood because love cannot bee understood but in such measure as it is felt Thirdly our remaining with Christ in glory is compared to a mariage solemnitie to teach us that the joyes of heaven are communicate and many made partakers of them In Mariages all the friends and guests are partakers of the same intertainment with the Bridegroome and commonly honoured with his service partakers of showes made to delight the eye of voyces and melodious harmonies for the eare with other delights that are knowne to give most pleasure and content for such loving societies but aboue all the particular love they have unto the Bridegroome whose voyce they rejoyce to heare and whom they both honour and delight to see advanced to that solemne honour and publick respect In like manner after the great judgement we shall goe into eternall joy and all be partakers of the same glory and to reach the similitude further Christ saith to them that he shall find ready with their Lampes Luke 12 37. Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when he commeth shall finde waking verily I say unto you he will gird himselfe about and make them sit downe at table and will come forth and serue them And to the end that his Disciples might reiect the ambitious conceites of worldly honour Luk 22 27. he saith unto them Who is greater he that sitteth at table And I am among you as he that serveth 28. and ye are they which have continued with me in my tentations therefore I appoynt unto you a Kingdome 29.30 as my Father hath appointed to me that ye may eate and drinke at my table in my kingdome No delight shall be wanting either to soule or body God shall be all in all 1 Cor. 15.28 Psal 16.11 in whose presence is fulnes of joy for evermore But aboue all the love we shall have to our Lord and Saviour and the unspeakable glory he is in shall be as a heaven of joyes to every glorified soule which he himselfe saith shall bee our chiefe happinesse that we may be where he is and behold his glory he said not that they may enjoy my glory but see my glory Iohn 17.24 Homini enim maximâ— requies videre filium Dei Theophil and David said the same Psal 17.15 2 Cor. 3.18 and indeed as S. Paul saith by seeing the Lords glory wee are changed into the same image by the Spirit of the Lord as is evident by the shining of Moses face before he was freed from his corruptible body Fourthly by this comparison is shewed the eternitie of those joyes which we shall possesse in this spirituall Mariage The Lord hath made a hedge to inviron defend his ordinance of Mariage against all debate of policie Math 19.6 that no man put asunder those whom God hath coupled together So that whatsoever devideth man and wife must be the enemy of God or man if sinne doe it yet sin not being imputed becommeth as no sinne so though adultery is one of the enemyes of Mariage yet if be not imputed it causeth not a separation but the last enemy of man which is death is only the unremediable breaker of Wedlocke and freeth the one from the law of the other Of all our comforts and pleasures in this life the gall and bitternesse is inclosed in death the remembrance of it before it approach neare is bitter unto us Ecclesiasticus 41.1 the comming terrible no fence is able to holde it out so long as the gappes of sinne attend to receive it when it commeth it divideth us from friends goods acquaintance pleasures and so maketh a separation betweene man and wife yea betweene soule and body body and life But while they both live the law hath dominion of both saith the Apostle meaning that death onely doth make separation Rom. 7.1 2. without hope of dwelling together any more as husband and wife So in our spirituall marriage whilest it receiveth this name it sheweth our state to remaine immutable for ever because there shal neither be sin nor death to annoy us or threaten to separate us from him and seeing all the enemies of our salvation are not able to separate us from the love of God in Iesus Christ what then can hurt us Rom 8 35.
therefore he in the Prophets complaineth that they had committed adultery against him in stead of the living and true God they bowed kissed and offered sacrifice to Idols consecrated to the honour of Divels or damned men so they who before wanted spirituall Virginity fell from matrimonial chastity Christs Spouse to be free from Idolatry The Christians hath hee betrothed unto himselfe for his Spouse as Virgins because hee tooke no notice of the olde Gentiles Idolatry as Saint Paul tolde the Athenians of their Idolatry Acts 17.30 that the time of that ignorance God regarded not Therefore are they all Virgins because they worship God in truth Another condition is required of the spirituall Virgin And free from pride Esay 66.2 that he be humble Vpon whom will I looke saith the Lord Even upon the lowly in heart This the blessed Virgin knew wel when she said that God looked upon the lowlinesse of his handmaid Luke 1. Ser. 1. super Missus est Respexit humilitatem potiùs quà m virginitatem saith Bernard He beheld her humility rather than virginity By which every soule may examine himselfe if he be a spirituall Virgin or no. Secondly we have to observe that the faithfull soule is espoused or betrothed to Christ Iesus St. Paul saith Eph. 5 23. that as the husband is to the wife so is Christ to his Church that is he is husband it is true in effect The faithfull soule is betrothed to Christ But if wee consider what is to come our great Marriage which beginneth to be solemnized at the day when our soules goe to glory and consummate when both soules and body goe thither and our dwelling for ever in his house we are but espoused or betrothed unto him Ioh. 14.2 for as yet he is gone before us to prepare a place for us This the name of Spouse doth declare Bern. in Locum for Sponsus is à spondendo from promising that either shall keepe themselves for other Finally as Christ did to the faithfull Corinthians so he doth to all other his faithfull servants whom by the ministery of St. Paul he betrothed to himselfe 2 Cor. 11.2 The use of this doctrine may be knowne That hee may love and long for Christ the more by the use of betrothing that a certaine time sometimes more sometimes lesse being set betweene it and the Marriage day the love of both might be increased by the earnest desire of their meeting Cupienti animae nihil satis festinatur Salust Nothing can hasten enough to a longing soule Institutum est ut iam pacta spousae non tradantur statim ne vilem habeat maritus datam quam non suspira verit sponsus dilatam Aug. Confess lib 8. cap. 3. sect 3. and this was that which made Iacob love Rachell the better who for seven yeares together after betrothing was sometimes faint with extreme worke now burnt with the Sunne another time frozen with colde most time pined with scarsity all times tormented betweene love to Rachell and feare of Labans subtleties So is it between Christ and us we are by faith in espousage joyned unto him to the end that our desire and love unto him may more earnestly wish for the full enjoying of him This longing in love David felt Psal 84.2 when hee said Phil. 1.23 My soule longeth and fainteth for the Courts of the Lord and Saint Paul when he wished to be dissolved and be with Christ Blessed were wee if this desire were in us Bern in Locum ex Poeta and if we sighed and groaned because we are absent from our Lord Palleat omnis amans Prov. 13.12 Every true lover hath for signes in him palenesse and leannesse for when hope is deferred it maketh the heart to faint that no pleasure can make thee body well liking Are these signes in thee of thy love to Christ Away with delicate and dainty meates the desire of wines the pleasures of worldly riches and honour the love of these better fit him that never lookes for any comfort by Christ If thou sigh and be pale and leane for desire of that blessed day he shall send to thee his comforting Spirit and afterward hasten his comming Happie is this desire for though the deferring of our meeting with Christ is a sorrow in the soule yet is the hope of enjoying it aboue al pleasure the world can yeeld both which may bee seene in this saying of David I should haue fainted Psal 27.13 except I had beleeved to see the goodnesse of the Lord in the Land of the living Ten Virgins went out to meete the Bridegroome As for the number of the Virgins ten we are not to trouble our selves to enquyre The curiositie of some have given a reason though very fruitlesse because there are ten Commandements to be observed by Gods servants I thinke hee understood according to sobriety and edification who sayd Non est curiosé serutandum quare decem sunt Virgines Euthym. in locum etc That we are not to search curiously why there are ten Virgins c. But in Parables some things are set to for framing the comparison some for expressing the intended purpose whereof this number ten is to continue an apt similitude of the Iewes Mariages wherein eight nyne or ten were appoynted attendants according as was fit for the estate and degree of the parties to be maried Went out c. We goe out to meete Christ when leaving Nature Sinne and Sathan What it is to meet Christ and denying and disclaiming them wee professe our selves to attend the service of Iesus Christ Abraham was called out to meete his Master by this charge Get thee out of thy Countrey Gen. 12.1 from thy kindred and from thy Fathers house Likewise Lot was called out of Sodome Gen. 19. and charged not to looke backe The Spouse of Christ is called out Psal 45.10 Esa 52 11. Forget thy owne people and fathers house Depart ye depart ye touch no uncleane thing yea Christians are called out from the love of father mother and friends or else they cannot be worthy of Christ Mat 16.24 yea from their owne will that they may submit themselves unto the will of God If we either stay in our naturall state Wee cannot meete Christ untill we goe out of Nature or in our selves we cannot meet Christ in our dwelling of nature remaineth the anger of God bent against the inclinations of the soule that even in birth Saint Paul calls us Children of wrath Eph. 2.2 In our common naturall state we have Satans craftinesse encompassing against us with secret suggestions and occasions of sinne our friends and neighbours with their practise to teach and countenance it we have the deceits of the world upon our right hand to seduce us from the love of God the miseries and terrours of this world to draw us from the onely fearing of God that