Selected quad for the lemma: soul_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A64978
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Christ the best husband: or An invitation of young women unto Christ Delivered in a sermon to young women. By Thomas Vincent, minister sometime of Maudlins Milkstreet, London.
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Vincent, Thomas, 1634-1678.
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1672
(1672)
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Wing V428; ESTC R219230
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16,515
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32
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are indeed some spots in Christs Spouse but there is beauty too and they are growing on farther and farther towards perfection of beauty and hereafter they shall be made perfect in holiness and here they are perfect in their Head they have a covering for their spots I mean the perfect righteousness of Christ through which they are reputed by God as perfectly beautiful 5. That the Lord Jesus Christ doth exceedingly desire the beauty of such as are espoused unto him He greatly desireth to see it and enjoy it in his fellowship with them See this desire after his Spouses beauty Cant. 2. 14. O my dove thou art in the clefts of the rock in the secret places of the stairs let me see thy countenance let me hear thy voice for sweet is thy voice and thy countenance is comely See farther how he admireth the beauty of his Spouse chap. 4. 1. Behold thou art fair my love behold thou art fair He calleth his Spouse his Love being the dear object of his love and he admireth her loveliness he repeats it twice Thou art fair Thou art fair and that with a note of admiration Behold thou art fair and again Behold thou art fair and so he goeth on in the description of her beauty and in the 7th verse he telleth her Thou art all fair my love there is no spot in thee Through his own comliness which he had put upon her he saw nothing but beauty and no spot in her and in the 9th verse we have a wonderful expression of Christ to his Spouse Thou hast ravished my heart my Sister my Spouse thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes with one chain of thy neck The Original word signifieth thou hast un-hearted me or taken away my heart from me the Spouse had got away Christs heart with one of her eyes with her looks and glances of love upon him and he was excedingly taken with the chain of faith and other graces linked together about the neck of her Soul The Lord Jesus doth marvellously delight in the internal beauty of his people and he greatly desireth to see and enjoy it which he doth when they are brought near into the most intimate communion with him The APPLICATION Use 1. For Examination DOth the Lord Jesus Christ the King of Glory invite all the children of men and particularly the daughters of men to be his Spouse and is he so greatly desirous of the beauty of such as are joyned unto him This then should put all of you upon the enquiry whether you are espoused unto Jesus Christ You have been called hereunto have you hearkened You have had great proffers made to you have you considered You have been invited again and again and many arguments have been used with you to prevail with you to come and joyn your selves to the Lord Jesus but have you inclined Have you been perswaded Is the match indeed made up between Christ and your souls If you are espoused unto Christ then 1. You are disjoyned from sin Is the cursed league broken which is naturally between sin and your hearts Before you come to be espoused unto Christ you are as it were espoused and married to sin sin is your Husband and you are tied in its bonds sin doth inhabit with you and dwell in the embracements of your dearest love and delight you care for the things of sin how you may please your flesh and gratifie your inordinate desires and whilst this husband and beloved of your hearts liveth you are not at liberty to be espoused and married unto Jesus Christ and sin liveth in the affections whilst it doth possess the most prevailing liking affections and so long you are knit and linked unto sin examine whether sin hath yet received it's deaths wound in your hearts whether ever the false mask of sin hath been plncked off and the odiousness of it hath been made manifest unto you whether your hearts have been brought to a loathing and detestation of it and so sin killed in your affections and the knot unlosed which hath tyed your hearts unto it Do you indeed hate sin with the greatest and most implacable hatred Is sin mortified and subdued as to its reigning power if sin be dead you are at liberty to be espoused and it is a good evidence that you are espoused unto Jesus Christ. 2. If you be espoused unto Christ then you have been drawn to him by the spirit Ioh. 6. 44. No man can come unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him and the Father draweth by the Spirit You have had external calls of the Word to come unto Christ have you been called effectually and drawn powerfully irresistably and yet most sweetly by the Spirit unto Jesus Christ Have you had a discovery by the Spirit not only of your necessity of and lost estate without an interest in Christ but also of Christs beauty and transcendent loveliness His excellency and great willingness to give entertainment unto you in this relation and have you been moved and drawn hereby unto him 3. If you be espoused unto Christ then you have laid hold upon him by faith the spirit doth draw unto Christ by working the Grace of Faith and enabling persons to believe in him by Faith Christ is received Ioh. 1. 12. To as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name By believing on Christs name persons do receive Christ in this relation Faith is the hand of the Soul which layeth hold on Christ and by this joyning of the hand with Christ the knot is tyed and the Soul is united to Christ in the relation of a Spouse have you this Grace of Faith wrought in you with power have you received and applied Christ unto your selves have you received him upon his own termes and do you by Faith draw quickning and strengthning influences from him 4. If you be espoused unto Christ then you do embrace him in the arms of your dearest love then you love the Lord Jesus in sincerity and you love him with the supremacy of your love If you love father or mother houses or lands riches or honours delights or pleasures or any thing in the world more than Christ you have no true love to Christ and be sure are not espoused to him but if Christ be chiefly beloved it is an evidence that you are joyned in this relation unto him 5. If you are espoused unto Christ you have acquaintance and converse with Christ and you like his company best and you highly value and diligently attend upon all those Ordinances which are the means of bringing you and Christ together and this is the great thing which you desire and seek after in Hearing and Prayer and at the Table of the Lord that you may have a sight of your Beloved and a taste of his Love and more intimate communion with Him And is acquaintance begun with
conversion sinners are divorced from sin and are married unto the Lord Jesus The Lord by his Word in the mouth of his Ministers doth make a general invitation unto all the children of men and particularly all the Daughters of men are invited to be Christs Spouse Hearken O Daughter and consider incline thine ear c. Such as are elder are invited but especially those that are younger whether married or unmarried of higher degree or of the meanest quality even the poorest servants are as welcome to be Christ's Spouse as those that are rich He regardeth not the rich more than the poor He chose a mean Virgin espoused to a Carpenter to be his Mother and he chuseth and calleth any such and those which are lower than such to be his Spouse 3. That such who would be espoused unto Jesus Christ must hearken consider and incline to his invitation and forget their people and fathers house 1. Such as would be espoused unto Christ must Hearken Hearken O Daughter Some yea most of the children of men shut their eyes as fast as they can against the light of the Word and they shut their ears as fast as they can against the calls of the Word like the deaf Adder which will not hearken to the voice of the Charmer charmes he never so wisely so they will not hearken to the invitations of Christ by his Ministers let them invite never so pathetically It was by the ear that the temptation to sin was received at first by man when he departed from God and by the ear the invitation to be Christ's Spouse is first received whereby any are restored unto Gods favour the ear must be first opened to receive Christs invitation before the heart will be opened to receive Jesus Christ in this conjugal relation Isa. 55. 3. Hear and thy soul shall live 2. Such as would be espoused unto Christ must not only hearken but consider Christs invitation Hearken O daughter and consider It is not a slight or bare hearing of Christs invitation which will make up the match between Christ and the Soul but there must be a considering a pondering of it in the mind there must be a considering of the proffer it self what it is the reality of the thing the necessity of the thing the attainableness of it the greatness of it the freeness of it the sweetness of it the advantage of it the difference between Christs invitations and the Devils temptations or any of the worlds proffers and by such considering and weighing the one with the other the Soul will come to understand and fully be perswaded that Christs invitations are most reasonable and eligible 3. Such as would be espoused unto Christ must incline unto Christs invitation Hearken O daughter and consider incline thine ear I suppose by the inclining of the ear is not meant the hearkning of which before but it includeth the inclining of the heart to accept of Christs invitation there must be a consent of the Will and a ready compliance with Christ's motion a closing of the heart with it this doth shew it self when the Soul is not only sued unto to accept of Christ but it putteth forth desires after Christ and sueth to him that it may be accepted into this relation As David did incline unto the invitation of the Lord to seek his face Psal. 27. 8. When thou saidest Seek ye my face my heart said unto thee Thy face Lord will I seek So the children of men incline to Christs invitation to be his Spouse when their hearts say Lord Let us be thy Spouse and be thou our beloved 4. Such as would be espoused unto Jesus Christ must forget their people and fathers house Hearken O daughter and consider forget thy own people and thy fathers house not as if by espousing themselves unto Christ they were to cast off all affections unto natural relations but they must so forget all relations as to be ready to forgoe all their favour where it standeth in competition with Christ they must be ready to displease any rather than to displease Christ and suffer the loss of any thing rather than to lose his favours they must forget their own people and fathers house that is they must forget all their evil customes which they have learn'd in their fathers house and forsake their vain conversation received by tradition from their fathers which Christ hath redeemed them from 1 Pet. 1. 18. Some think the words literally are an invitation of Pharaohs daughter to come out of Egypt and forget her people and fathers house there that she might be espoused unto King Solomon and so hereby the Lord in calling upon people to be espoused to him would have them come forth from the Egypt of sin and forget and forsake all their former sinful courses and conversation and truly such who are in Egyptian bondage to sin have a Father the Devil and their companions in sin may be called their own people these they must forget and forsake and come out from amongst if not in regard of place at least in regard of course if they would be espoused unto the Lord Jesus 4. That such as are espoused unto the Lord Jesus Christ are very beautiful I don't mean in regard of their bodies they may have less of external comeliness than others and yet in regard of their bodies however mean and vile however crooked and decrepid some of them now may be even their bodies shall be form'd and fashioned into an exact beauty and put on a marvellous comliness on the day when the Nuptials shall be solemnized I mean the day of Christs second appearance and their resurrection then their vile bodies shall be made like to Christs most glorious body Philip. 3. 21. their bodies then shall have a most sparkling beauty and lustre when they are transformed into the likeness of their Lords most beautiful and glorious body whereby they will become very amiable both unto Christ and one to another But I now speak of the beauty which here such have who are espoused unto Christ they are very beautiful not externally but internally not in regard of their bodies but in regard of their souls not so much in the eyes of men as in the eyes of God as verse 13. of this Psalm The Kings daughter is all-glorious within They have a glorious inside which is so far glorious as it is gracious their souls are in some measure restored unto their primitive beauty they have the most beautiful Image of God engraven upon them and so far as they are like unto God in knowledge righteousness and holiness so far they are marvellously beautiful They are comparatively very beautiful none in the world besides them have the least spark of spiritual beauty such as are not espoused to Christ are unrenewed and such as are unrenewed are exceedingly bespotted and defiled with sin they have monstrous natures and hearts most ugly deformed spirits in the sight of God There