or despise me for it it is no native blackness it is but accidental to me it is not internal but external that which makes me thus black in your Eyes is those Affl ctions persecutions which I have met with in and from the world The exceeding heat of that sornace of affliction into which the Providence of God hath cast me hath scorched me and that is it which maketh me appear so black in your Eyes It followeth My Mothers Children were angry with me The Chaldee Paraphrast all along taking the Church of the Jews to be the Spouse here mentioned by Mothers Children here understands the Heathen who were the Children of her mother Eve tempting and seducing them to their Idolatryes The thing is true of that Church very often by the Heathen seduced to their Idolatrys but I find amongst Interpreters two other senses much more large and probable 1. Some by Mothers Children understand those lâ—sts and Corruptions which lye in the womb of our Souls Together with the habits of grace Thus Paul complaineth of the flesh lusting against the Spirit and of a law in his mâ—mbers rebelling against the law of his mind 2. others more probably understand such as are presumptive members of the same visible Church The true members of the Church can be no others then such as are ordained unto Life such as are truly Sanctified through the Sanctification of the Spirit But there are many others who from their external profession are presumptive members of it so may be called our Mothers Children tho not the Children of our Heavenly Father such are all false brethren all hypocrites glorying in an External profession and meer outward appearance Such as these are ordinarily angry with such as are the true Spouse of Christ David complained long since that he was become a stranger to his brethren an alien to his Mothers Children the Apostle Acts 20. 30. foretelleth to the Elders of the Church of Ephesus that there should arise of themselves men speaking perverse things to draw many disciples after them you may read at large in the Epistles to the Romans Corinthians Galatians how the primitive Churches of Christ were troubled with them and Paul in his Epistles to Timothy foretells that latter times should be more troubled with such as should resist the truth as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses It was Bernards Observation long since more lately noted by Genebrard upon my text that she doth not call them Brethren but only her Mothers Children not her Fathers for they were of their Father the Devil his works they did Many such there now are will be in the Church to the End of the World who have only a titular relation to Christ no real relation This now is a Second cause which the Spouse assigneth of her blackness There were many false brethren in her communion who had falsely represented and reported her and made her appear far more unlovely in the sight of others than indeed she was this I take to be the most proper sense of this phrase They made me the keeper of the Vineyards The Chaldee Paraphrast by the Vineyards here understands the Idolatry and Superstition of the Heathen to which the true members of the Jewish Church were tempted by the Heathen their Neighbours and the false brethren they had amongst themselves Hypocrites and formal professors are very prone to admit the Superstitions of men in the Worship of God The Pharisees in our Saviours time laid heavy burdens of humane traditions upon others Mat. 23. 4. Into this sense Mercer and Ainsworth interpret the text observing that it is their Vineyards their Vineyards opposed to her own Vineyard seems to imply the false Worship Rites and Ceremonies of dâ—bauched and apostatized Churches There is yet another sense of the words hinted by Delrio and Genebrard It is this They intangled me in secular affairs so made me neglect the things which were Spiritual and of much higher concernment to me This now is a third cause which the Spouse assigneth of her blackness 1. She had before told us she was Scorched with afflictions and persecutions The Sun had looked upon her 2. She had been betrayed by her own lusts and by false brethren and seduced her to intertain their corruptions to keep their Vineyards now she tells us That her secular diversions did also much contribute to her darkness she had been made to serve in the brick-kilns of the world Keeping of Vineyards was a great deal of the labour of those Countrys a painful and laborious imployment therefore you read 2 Kings 25. 12. upon the King of Babylons conquest of Judea that the Captain of the guard left of the poor of the land to be Vine-dressers husbandmen those who in the parable had been labouring in the Vineyard tell the Lord of the Vineyard they had born the burden and heat of the day My own Vineyard I have not kept Here now the Spouse assigneth a fourth cause of her blackness The question here is what is meant by her own Vineyard It is manifestly to be understood of something which the Lord had committed to her to keep considering the Church as the Spouse The Oracles of God were committed to the Church of the Jews as the Apostle telleth us Rom. 3. 2. and the Church is called The pillar and ground of Truth 1 Tim. 3. 15. Paul tell us 1 Tim. 1. 11. that the glorious Gospel of the blessed God was committed to his trust and telleth Timothy the Ministry was committed to his trust St. Paul calls it his Gospel upon this account Rom. 26. 25. and saith they were put in trust with the Gospel that is the Custody and Ministration of it And St. Paul commandeth Timothy to commit the things which he had heard of him amongst many witnesses to faithful men who should be able to teach others That general term of the Gospel signifieth both the Propositions of the Truth and Doctrine of Faith contained in the new Testament and also those excellent rules which are to be found in it relating both to the Worship of God and the Government of the Church of Christ the dispensation and administration of it This Gospel as to the Ministration of it was by Christ committed first to the Apostles to be by them transmitted to faithful and able men as to the keeping of it to the whole Church The Church of Sardis Rev. 3. 8. is commended for keeping Christs word and not denying his name This undoubtedly is the Churches Vineyard The Province which God hath betrusted to her to keep But every particular Soul hath a Vineyard too And what is its Vineyard but its immortal Soul and the particular trust which God hath committed to it with relation both to its self and others What is the keeping of this Vineyard but a Christians observance of the duties incumbent upon him with reference to his more general or more particular calling So that understanding by the
Spouse the particular Christian she complaineth here of her own voluntary neglect and carelessness as to her own Soul suffering the weeds of lusts and corruptions to grow up and to prevail according to that of Solomon I passed by the Vineyard of him who was vaid of understanding and to it was overgrown with thorns Nettles had covered the face thereof and the stone-wall thereof was broken down Prov. 24. 30 31. This now is the fourth cause which the Spouse here assigneth of her blackness thus I have given you the best account I have been able of the sense of these words which if you take them as the words of the Church the collective Spouse of Christ sound thus O you that are my Brethren members of other Churches you that are my Neighbours the men of the World I must confess I am something black yet not wholly black not inwardly black not without some comeliness I may be a little black yet let not me be the object of your contempt despight or scorn let not my blackness make you decline be afraid or ashamed of the ways of God let it not cause you to err as I have erred I have been under great temptations long and sharp trials of persecution these have a little tanned me and made me to look something unlovely I have had some Neighbours and false Brethren who have allured intiâ—ed and betrayed me my Enemies have imposed upon me a superstitious Worship superstâ—tious Rites and Ceremonies and have prevailed with me something to comply with them Nor am I as to my self to be wholly excused I must own that through my own voluntary omission and neglect I have not kept the Truths and Ordinances of Worship nor any of the Laws of God concerning me so as I ought to have done or might have done If we take the words as the words of the particular believing Soul they sound thus O my Brethren I am I confess black but let not my blackness cause you to trâ—umph over me nor yet for my sake to decline the holy ways of God I have been under many sore and great temptations in great heats of affliction the Sun hath looked upon me others have too much seduced me and I have been misled by them I have been too much intangled in secular concerns so as I have been too negligent as to the concerns of my own Soul From the words thus opened several Propositions may be raised of which I shall discourse in their order I shall only name them at this time That even the Spouse of Christ on this side of Heaven hath her blacknesses which will expose her to the reproach and obloquy of her Brethren and the men of the world Though the Spouse of Christ be black yet she is also comely As the Spouse of Christ ought to know that she is black so she also ought to understand she is comely As the Spouse of Christ ought to own and acknowledge her infirmity and desormities so it is also her duty at sometimes to own and acknowledge her beauty and graces and to justify her self against those who would upbraid her for her blackness It is our duty to take heed how we look upon the Spouses blackness Affliction and persecution from the world will make the Church and people of God look black especially in the Eyes of the men of the world Corruptions within and false Brethren in the bosom of the Church will make both the Church and the particular Soul appear black Great intanglements in worldly affairs will make Gods people look black The yieldings of a Church or of particular Souls to impositions of false and corrupt worship are a great cause of their appearing blackness Nothing makes a Church or particular Soul so black as their own neglect in keeping their own Vineyards the trust which God hath betrusted them with I shall speak something to all or the most of these in their order hereafter Sermon XXXII Cant. 1. 5. I am black but comely O you Daughters of Hierusalem as the Tents of Kedar as the Curtains of Solomon I Shall now begin a larger discourse upon those Propositions which I did but name the last time after my explication of this and the next verses I will join the two first and handle them severally then apply them jointly The Spouse of Christ on this side of Heaven hath her blackness exposing her to the reproach and obloquy of others but she is also comely and therefore ought not to be looked upon because she is black My business in the handling of this Proposition will chiefly lie in these two things 1. First Shewing you wherein lies the Spouses blackness exposing her to the obloquy of others 2. Secondly Shewing you wherein her comeliness lieth The confirmation I shall mix with the explication By the Spouse here I have all along understood the believing Soul the Church of Christ which is a body made up of these as its Members they have both their blackness for which they are exposed to the obloquy of others 1. First Sins and Corruptions make them black The best of men are but as white Swans with black feet they have in them a body of death a law in their members rebelling against the law of their mind the flesh lusting against the Spirit and they are many times brought into a captivity to the law of their members and though these motions to sin be ordinarily suppressed yet they sometimes break out The Pride of one and the ssionate anger and wrath of another and other lusts in others often break out unseemly and make even the best of Gods People appear black the habituated Sinner is all black there is in him no whiteness no comeliness at all The glorified Saint is all white there is in him no blackness at all The militant Saint is partly white and in part black All sin is black Christ therefore in justification makes the Soul white through his blood Rev. 7. 14. They are made white in the blood of the Lamb. In regeneration they are made white cleansed through the washing of water Eph. 5. 21. Hence Christ tells his Disciples except I wash you you can never be made clean they are clean but yet had need wash their seet John 13. 10. If there be in us any thing of faith yet there is also much of unbelief who liveth and sinneth not the righteous man falleth seven times in a day and who can tell how often he offendeth and though indeed the lust and corruption that is in a good mans heart doth not commonly break out into scandalous acts which standers by take notice of yet sometimes they do Lot and Noah were both overtaken with Wine David was overcoâ—e by the stranger that came to his House Peter denied his Master Solomon Asa Jehosaphat all the good Kings of Judah had their great Errors which are as black spots upon their memories to this day And
but from that faith in the Precepts Promises and Threatnings of the Word from that love fear and obedience to God which ought to have principled those acts and if they had been so would have made those acts more intense certain steddy and uniform if these be wanting the Life-colours are wanting to the Picture Other things make but up the Skeleton of the duty and are but as a draught of the lines of the Face without the Life-colours which seldom have much beauty in them and the Soul notwithstanding all this fair and splendid outside is in his eyes but as a painted Sepulcher within which is nothing but a stench and rottenness and the bones of dead men So that no Soul that is without Faith without the fear and love of God and that acteth not out of obedience to Christ in what it doth but is black wholly black in the Lords eyes how fair soever in its own eyes or the eyes of the men of the world and what Augustine said of old of the best and most vertuous actions of the Heathens is true of the best actions of these titular Christians they are but Splendida Peccata Splendid Sinnings Thus now I say the true Christian standeth distinguished from unbelievers of all sizes whatsoever none of them are comely but wholly black in the eyes of Christ because they have none of his comeliness put upon them The glorified Saint is altogether whitehe hath not onely washed his garments in the Blood of the Lamb but he is also delivered from the infirmities of humane nature from the Sin that easily besetts him the weight that presseth him down the war in his members from the lustings of the flesh against the Spirit the law of his members so often rebelling against the law of his mind and bringing him into a captivity oft times to the law of Sin and is now presented before Christ without spot or wrinkle This is the felicity of his State The Apostle saith that we are now the Sons of God but it doth not yet appear what we shall be Sin here maketh us black affliction and sorrow make us appear more black then we are the translated Soul neither sinneth nor yet suffereth or sorroweth any more the state of the Child of God differeth from these because he is black it differeth from the state of the unbeliever in this life because he is not onely black but also comely hence you may understand the error of those who dream of a state of perfection which the People of God may and do attain in this life some go very high in blasphemy telleng us that we are Christed and Godded and that the believer is as spotless as Christ c. The Apostle indeed tells us we are made partakers of the Divine Nature but it is one thing to be made partakers of another thing to be transformed into the Divine Nature Christ is the chief of ten thousand altogether desires there is no spot no blemish in him The best of Gods people is black as well as comely black through inherent corruption and unrighteousness tho comely in respect of imputed righteousness and inherent habits of grace and holiness The Apostle tells us that by one mans disobedience many were made Sinners and that we are all by nature children of wrath Eph. 2. 3. Those who would have Christ to die for every man being pinched with that question What did Christ then purchase for those that shall never be saved some of them answer he purchased for all a totall freedom from Adams Sin I know no line in Scripture to justify that it was after Christ had dyed that the Apostle tells us we are all by nature children of wrath but he that can fancy that he liveth and sinneth not against God and so is not black through actual sin doth yet more foully deceive himself certainly he must not look into the perfect law of God or else is not able to distinguish white from black If he looked into the divine law he would quickly with Saint Paul see that the law is Holy and Spiritual and Just and Good and that the best of men is but carnal sold under Sin Let not then any glory in a fancyed perfection it is but a glorying in appearance not in reality All that the Spouse gloryeth in is that she was not altogether black It is a true saying of Mr. Calvin that it is the greatest piece of our perfection to be sensible of our imperfections As vain is the glorying also of them who glory in an exemption from afflictions that this Sun hath not lookt upon them afflictions have not scorched them as they have scorched others the Apostle tells us that if we be without chastening then are we Bastards and not Sons It is not our glory to be free from them but to indure them not to be wholly exempted from them but under them to exercise our faith and patience and to glorify God in the Fires The motto of a Child of God is Black but Comely black through remaining lusts and coruptions comely through imputed righteousness and inherent habits of grace and holiness Black through Affliction and Persecution Comely in and under them glorifying God in the Fires by the exercises of Faith and Patience From hence every inquisitive Christian may take just measures of himself he is not to judg of himself by his blackness whether it be the blackness of renewing sin and corruption or the blackness of Affliction and Worldly Opposition and Persecutions Let him examine himself 1. Whether he hath not a mixture of grace with corruption Sin in dominion is not indeed consistent with grace but Sin in being is there are Twins which struggle one with another in every good Soul Every Christian will find he hath a flesh to be crucified members to be mortified and a law in his members some impetuous motions of lust at some times but let him examine whether he doth not find also a Spiritual part and a law in his mind the flesh indeed lusteth against the Spirit that is a Christians blackness but doest thou not also find the Spirit lusting against thy flesh that is thy comliness A true Christian is not to judge himself from the freedom of his Soul from sin but from the war and combate of his Soul with sin He in the Gospel that said I believe Lord help my unbelief expressed the lively Image of every true Christian So doth St. Paul more largely Rom. 7. 18 19 20. For I know in me that is in my flesh there dwelleth no good thing for to will is present with me but kow to perform that which is good I find not For the good that I would I do not but the evil which I would not that I do now if I do that which I would not it is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me I find then a law that when I would do good evil is present with me
and Christ himself speaking to me him of whom God hath said This is my well beloved Son hear ye him For though it be a man that speaketh yet it is a man sent of God cloathed with the Authority of Jesus Christ and speaking to me his Words and in his Name nor am I to regard any thing I hear but what agreeth with what he hath spoken or his holy Prophets and Apostles who were immediately inspired by him The setting right of a Persons first end design and intention gives a mighty conduct to his Actions And as I before said it is very unreasonable to expect Gods presence and Blessing with and upon us where the Heart is not set right with reference to its Intention and Design It is true as to the first Grace God is found of those that seek him not and of those who do not enquire after him No Soul would ever be converted and brought home to God if God did not meet it in his Word before it had thus rightly fixed its design and intention in coming to hear the word of God but what God may do and sometimes doth out of his abounding and preventing Grace is one thing what a Soul may expect from God upon the account of any promise is another thing the Archer may possibly hit the mark though he hath never by his Eye levelled his Arrow at it but he cannot promise himself that good hap No Soul that setteth not his heart aright to seek God in any Ordinance particularly this of hearing his word who doth not before he go set his Face towards Jerusalem set this as a mark in his Eye as the thing which he proposeth to himself Secondly It doth not only comprehend the end of Intention and Design but also the manner and certainly none can pretend to hear the word as the word of God but he must go to it without any levity and with all manner of Seriousness and composure of Spirit No Reverence and Submission of Spirit can be imagined too much for the great Majesty of Heaven We ought not to go to hear the word as if we were going to hear an Oration much less as if we were going to a Play Thirdly We cannot be thought to hear it as the word of God without some previous lookings up to God for a Blessing upon it We go for the Teachings of the Spirit Our Saviour tells us Luk. 11. 14. He gives his holy Spirit to them that ask him Christ first begg'd the Spirit for us John 14. 16. I will pray the Father and he shall send you another Comforter That comforting Spirit is the Teaching Spirit v. 26. The Comforter which the Father shall send in my Name shall teach you all things As Christ at first prayed to the Father to send the Comforter the Spirit that should teach us all things So he expecteth that we should pray for him for our selves The holy Spirit is given to those that ask him this is a piece of our Houshold Preparation Attend particularly to those Impulses which at some times thou mayest have to hear A Christian shall sometimes find some particular impulses upon him to hear I would not be hear I would not be here mistaken I know there is a dangerous Opinion imbibed and promoved by some Enthusiasts that Christians should never go to perform a Duty whether praying or hearing but upon some particular Impulse or Motion I call this a dangerous Principle because it is the first step to casting off all Duties and Ordinances But yet let no Christian neglect such special Impulses Impulses to Actions that are contrary to our Duty in the revealed Will of God ought to be rejected contemned and abhorred they must come from the boilings of corruption in our own hearts or from the evil Spirit Impulses to Actions which are not expresly commanded nor yet forbidden must be considered and we ought to obey or not obey them as Circumstances pro hic nunc at this or that time may determine it lawful or not lawful expedient or not expedient with Reference to the General rules which God in his word hath given us to guide all our Actions by Impulses to the Performance of our Duty under due Circumstances ought never to be neglected It may be well presumed that God hath something to say to the Soul in particular at such a time when he gives it a special item and monition to go to hear Thirdly be sure thou goest to hear with an humble Heart and with as much of a poor broken and contrite Spirit as thou canst There is a Promise Psal 25. 9. The humble he will teach and another Isa 57. v. 15. Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth Eternity and whose name is Holy I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble Spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the hearts of the contrite ones And Isa 66. v. 2. To the man will I look even to him that is of a poor and contrite Spirit and that trembleth at my word God sendeth the proud Soul empty away take heed of going to hear with a proud Heart self-opinionated as to Knowledge or self-conceited God teacheth the humble dwelleth with the humble looketh upon the humble The Rain that dasheth off and runneth down the Mountains resteth in the Valleys the Instructions Reproofs Convictions of the word which fall upon Men of proud and high Conceits and Opinions of themselves rest and are drunk in by low and humble Souls The broken and contrite Heart is like the plowed ground which is in itself more apt to receive and drink in the word than that ground where the surface is not at all broken but there is besides particular Promises made to Broken Hearts The word you know is compared to Seed in the Parable of the Sower Matth. 13. and in several other Texts the Husbandman useth not to sow his Seed in the whole but in the broken ground Fourthly Be sure you go to hear with unprejudised Hearts willing and desirous to learn Prejudice naturally barreth the Ear to Instruction Ahab's prejudice against Micajah stopt his Ears against the word of the Lord to him and proved his fatal Ruine and Destruction I should never advise Christians to sit under the Ministry of any person they are prejudised against it much contributeth to a prejudice against the word of the Lord spoken by them if therefore in that case I could not remove my Prejudice I would chuse another Preacher but I further added that you should go with Hearts willing and desirous to know the Will of God It is the chapt thirsty ground that most drinks in the Rain and is made most fruitful by it it is the Soul that hungers and thirsteth after the word that profiteth by it and hath a communion with God in it though the Word be Gods and he breatheth upon the Soul according to his own
Prisoners which God heareth and accepteth Sermon XXI Cant. 1. 4. Draw me and we will run after thee IT is a great point that I am upon from the Petition of the Text Draw me viz. That the Soul must be drawn before it will move toward Christ either by coming to him in its first conversion or by running after him I have been some time upon it I shall now shut up my discourse with some few words of exhortation which shall respect all Men and Women 1. Those that are yet without Christ not come unto him 2. Such as are come unto him yet are under obligations to run after him 1. To the first I would speak two things 1. Never think either of coming to Christ or running after him in your own natural strength It is a rock which many Souls dash and are eternally spilt upon They say not there is no hope they have found the life of their hands therefore they are not grieved It is one of the most dangerous deceits of a mans heart for him to say he hath his Spiritual life in his own hands to think that he hath a power within himself and can turn to Christ when he pleaseth or to bless himself as in a good condition when indeed his condition is very bad Let me a little shew you the mischief of this errour 1. If I could say no more than that it is a false persuasion yet that were enough to defame it to every reasonable Soul the Soul instead of having its life hath no more than a lie in its right hand the object of our understanding is truth falshood is what it ought naturally to reject and abhor Men are but in an ill condition when they are forced to make lies their refuge and to hide themselves under falshood Is 28. 15. What a sad state is that Soul in that is put to make a lie its refuge and to hide itself from the reflections of its conscience under falshood His conscience tells him he perisheth for ever if he abideth in the State he is in what relieves him he thinks he can repent and believe and turn to God when he listeth and so goeth on in his sinful courses stoppeth his Ears against the voice of the Lords Charmers Here is now a lie made the refuge of the Soul 2. But Secondly a further mischief lies here That whereas the drawings of Divine Grace do usually follow some means and endeavours to be used on our part and that in time this false persuasion takes us off the timely use of such means and endeavours upon the use of which God ordinarily comes in with the further power of his Grace Admit a thing necessary to be done and so allowed by us yet if it be laborious painful or any way ingrateful as to the means to be used in the doing of it and it be a thing which we know or believe we can do when we will we are never hasty to do it but very apt to defer and put it off from time to time and to omit those means the use of which is not pleasing to our sense whereas if we be convinced that the thing is not in our own power but requires the assistance of another if we apprehend it necessary for us tho the means be unpleasing yet we will not neglect the use of them For example admit a man sick of some dangerous disease and he apprehendeth that without the use of some skilful Physitian he cannot live though he cannot come at this Physician without a laborious journey and knows the Physick will not please his pallat yet a man will not lose his opportunity nor neglect taking Physick according to the Physicians prescription whereas if he apprehends his distemper such as he knows at any time how to remove by some means in his own power he is very prone to put off the use of means from time to time until possibly it be too late This is the case of a Soul persuaded that it hath its life in its own hands a power in itself when it pleaseth to repent believe and turn to God these things being not pleasing to flesh and blood the Soul is very prone to slight and neglect the means with which God useth to concur giving the Soul a power to do these things above what it hath in itself but now admit a Soul possessed of the necessity of faith repentance and new obedience in order to its eternal happiness and also to know that it cannot do these things without a powerful influence of Divine Grace which God useth not to give out in the neglect but in the use of those means of Grace which he hath appointed especially if it knows that the Spirit of God shall not alwaies strive with man it will neglect no time no use of means but in the morning sow its Seed and not suffer its hand in the Evening to be â—lack because it knoweth not which shall prosper this or that with what means or at what time God will concur Isaiah 57. 10. Thou saidst that thou hadst thy life in thy hands therefore thou wert not grieved The Jews had used all means to make piece and leagues with other Nations and had at length obtained it and thence concluded they had their life in their hands they were well enough and safe enough and therefore they were not at all grieved for their sins against God which was a means in order to their true security It is even thus with the Soul did it lie under the powerful conviction of this truth That of itself it hath no power to repent believe or turn to God it would then be troubled for its sad and miserable estate and look out for Salvation in and by Christ waiting upon him in ordinances and by prayer crying to him to draw it unto himself but so long as it is possest of an opinion of sufficiency in itself it neglecteth the timely use of such means as must be used in order to eternal Salvation by and from Christ upon this score I conceive it was that Christ told the Pharisees Mat. 21. 32. That Publicans and Harlots should enter into the Kingdom of Heaven before them The Pharisees said they had their life in their hands they could save themselves they were Lords and therefore they would not come to Christ the Apostle telleth us that the Jews going about to establish their own righteousness submitted not themselves to the righteousness of God Rom. 10. 3. 3. May it not be doubted whether God will ever draw that Soul that faneieth that it stands in no need of his drawing It is said of God that he resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble What is Pride but an high and undue opinion of our selves Whether it be upon the account of some gifts of common Providence such as Riches Honours c. or common gifts of the Spirit such as knowledge the gift of prayer or prophecying or which indeed is
besides the blot which these eruptions of corruption leave upon the particular Souls they leave also a blackness in the Church which is made up of them Besides that there is no Church but hath in it some of unsanctified hearts who as Jude tells us are spots in our feasts of charity and where they prevail in number they bring in also another blackness upon the Church by admission of corruptions in Doctrine Worship and Discipline c. 2. Particular Souls are also black through acts of mortification The people of God live a dying life I die daily saith Paul they keep under their Bodies that they may keep them in subjection to their Spirits Now though there is nothing makes a Soul to look more white and beautiful in the Eyes of God yet nothing makes them appear more black and unlovely in the Eyes of the world The world looks upon Christians chastising themselves with fasting and tears in their dejections and humiliations as very black but this is indeed no real but an appearing blackness to such as understand no loveliness in any thing but sensuality 3. The People of God are often black through afflictions Job speaking of affliction saith Job 30. 30. My skin is black upon me and my bones are burnt with heat Hence the afflicted faces are said to gather blackness Joel 1. 6. Nahum 2. 10. The skin of the Church in the hour of her affliction is said to have been as black as a Raven Lam. 5. 10. and it is said of the afflicted Nazarites Lam. 4. 8. That their visage was more black then a Coal So that you see Affliction is every where in Scripture called Blackness Now there is no Child of God in this life exempted from afflictions such as are from the hand of God immediately of which nature are desertions terrors and Soul troubles of several sorts bodily distempers c. or from Satan more immediately of which nature are temptations Or from the world in persecutions and injuries by it done unto them and the Spouse seemeth to have a particular respect to these for she adds my Mothers Children were angry with me And as the particular Soul is subject to these blacknesses so is the Church 1. Through a mixture of ill members such as to use Judes phrase are spots in the Churches feasts of charity Such no Church of God hath been free from in any age some that are corrupt in their tenets and principles others that are so in their conversations God denominates his Church from the sincere and better part of it but the world alwaies denominates it from the worser part and cries Crimine ab uno disce omnes they are all alike hence there is no man causeth the name of God to be so reproached and evil spoken of as persons professing to religion and membership in Churches and living loosely oâ—growing corrupt in their Doctrines and Principles 2. The Church becomes black Through the admission of corruption in Doctrine Worship or Discipline All deviation from the Divine Rule where it is a sufficient rule in the case is the blackness of any Church it is a wonderful thing to observe how prone the heart of man is to this Though the Church of the Jews had a more infallible rule and more plain in this case then any other Church can pretend to Yet I cannot find that ever the Worship of God continued in it in purity fourscore years The longest was the time of David and Solomon who each of them reigned forty years but in the latter part of Solomons time it admitted of much corruption there was a great toleration of Idolatry as you read in the story and you shall observe in the whole History of that Church in how few Kings Reigns the high places and the groves were taken away and when they were taken away in one Kings Reign how soon they grew in fashion again in the next though there were no sins for which the Jews so severely smarted nor against which the wrath of God was more severely declared by the Prophets God sent amongst them If in the New Testament you look over the Epistles wrote to the Church of Corinth and Galatia and the seven Churches of Asia you will again find the same thing it is true every deviation from truth or from the purity of Worship or discipline will not unchurch a Church the Lord hateth putting away concerning Idolatry I know not what to say that is a Spiritual Adultery and every where in Scripture is call'd Whoredom and going a Whoring and as divorce was lawful in case of carnal adultery so possibly it may be presumed as to spiritual adultery that God hath said to a People Lo-ammi you are not my people who are lapsed to idolatry but for other failings tho the Lord liketh them not but hath something against every Church that admits any corruptions of this nature yet they are but spots and blemishes and how far a separation from such a Church may be lawful or is sinful is a great question I think a total separation is not But that is not my task at present to discourse 3. The Church also may be black through persecutions The afflicted state of the Church is called a lying amongst the pots Psal 68. 13. Probably there may be a time towards the end of the World when the true Church of Christ may enioy some tranquillity and enjoy a more serene quiet and fixed state then it hath yet enjoyed or doth at this day enjoy when it shall not be so incumbred by the Cross and those tribulations by which Christians have hitherto entred into the Kingdom of God there have been some both more ancient and modern Divines who have inclined to think that yet before the end of the World Christ shall reign upon the Earth a thousand years but whether that time which we call the day of Judgment shall last so long or those thousand years shall be a space of time preceding the last judgment whether those Scriptures which are usually interpreted in favour of that opinion signifying Christs being heve in Person or only a quiet and more tranquil estate of the Church are questions which I shall not undertake to determine But as the history of the Gospel Church hitherto justifieth that it hath been a state of affliction and blackness so most Divines are pretty well agreed that we are not to expect any other until those thousand years do begin so as in this respect we must look to see the Church of Christ black however white she be upon other accounts Now thus the Spouse is black not in Gods Eyes who judgeth not according to outward appearance but according to the heart and in his judgment of men counteth none the worse for what happeneth to them from the World or from the Devil and though he cannot look upon iniquity in the best so as to approve of it yet doth he not judge of them according to their failings but
of Spiritual Life so he must be led by the Spirit If God did not excite the Grace bestowed on him it would be choaked by that body of death that lust and corruption which is in the best mens hearts What can the creature do when the Holy Spirit hath quickened his habits of Grace he cannot act and exercise them and put forth spiritual acts but doth he no more need the Influence of the Holy Spirit yes without Christ he can do nothing he must still have the Grace of God with him 1 Cor. 15. 10. Not I saith Paul but the Grace of God which was with me This is now cooperative and assisting Grace He cannot make the Wheel which must carry him in the waies of God working Grace must do that when it is made he cannot set it upon motion Exciting Grace must oil it Assisting Grace must keep it up move with it or he will never come to issue any good action A Believer indeed acteth for the habits of Grace from which he acteth are inherent in him he is not moved like a Machine or dead Engine but yet he is acted that is assisted and helped in his action He is nothing but what he hath received he doth nothing but while he is receiving Let not then the Natural man glory in the power and good inclinations of his own will he neither hath nor can have any power to do that which in a spiritual sense is good until it be given him from above Let not the renewed man glory in his infused habits of Grace for as he did not merit it nor any way purchase them so of himself he cannot use or exercise them But let him who glorieth glory in this that to him Christ is all in all that he liveth he acteth and bringeth a good action to an issue but yet not he but Christ that liveth in him acteth with him and worketh in him what he accepteth from him It is Christ who layeth the foundation-stone and then layeth the corner-stone who is both the Author and Finisher of our Faith we have nothing to do but to cry Grace Grace when we see the work done In the mean time nothing hindereth but that the Soul may rejoyce and boast in the Lord while it walketh humbly with God mourning over the infirmity of its lapsed Nature for certainly man did not come out of God's hands in the day of Creation in this impotent state Let no man therefore despise those that labour under greater degrees of this impotency than he possibly doth but let him bless the Lord who hath further excited strengthened and assisted him to the operations of his Spiritual Life I shall shut up this discourse with a word or two of Exhortation to every Child of God to use his utmost diligence to keep the King sitting at his Table I mean to keep the presence of Christ as much as he can in and with his Soul that so his Spikenard may send forth the smell thereof I shall urge this by one argument and then offer you my advice in the case and so shâ—â— up this discourse 1. My argument shall be drawn from the high concerns of the Soul in its Spikenard sending forth its smell every Soul is concerned in it three ways 1. In point of duty as God thereby is glorifyed 2. In point of comfort as it will evidence its Spikenard to be such indeed 3. In point of honour as it brings the Soul to a repute in the World 1. I say first in point of duty as God is thereby glorifyed For this cause we are born for this cause is every man come into the World that he may bring honour and glory to his great Creator Herein saith our Saviour John 15. Is my Father glorifyed if you bring forth mach fruit and as the Lord is glorifyed by the vigorous exercise of its grace So is he also honoured by the predication of his grace by the sweet smell which our habits and exercises of grace have in the World That they may see your good works saith our Saviour Matth. 5. And glorify your Father which is in Heaven That they may see your good works saith the Apostle and glorify God in the day of their visitation no man so glorifyeth God as he who vigorously exerciseth his habits of grace The barren field is not that field which crediteth the husbandman the barren and unfruitful Soul is not that Soul which bringeth honour and glory to God It is the fruitful Soul whose smell is like the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed that bringeth honour to God and so eminently serveth the great end of his Creation 2. The Soul is not only concerned in it in point of duty but also as to its peace and comfort Indeed it cannot be but that comfort should result from the Souls performance of its duty for the fruit of righteousness shall be peace but yet first as he or she that hath a box of Spikenard or any other odoriferous unguent or perfume which casteth out a sweet savour to delight or refresh others doth first partake of it him or her self so it is with the Spouses Spikenard ordinarily its fruits of righteousness do not only affect others but first affect the Soul in which they are found hereby saith St. John we know that we are traâ—slated from death to life because we love the brethren Hezâ—kiah upon a message of death sent by God to him was refreshed with the smell of his own Spikenard 2 Kings 20. 3. I beseech thee O Lord saith he remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done what is right in thy fight When a Christian comes to lye upon a sick bed or a death-bed it will be no grief of heart unto him but a great pleasure and Satisfaction to consider that he hath with his Spirit served God and indeavoured by holiness in all manner of conversation to shew forth the grace of God bestowed on him not to have been received in vain 3. Lastly a Christian is concerned in point of honour A true Christian is an honourable Person born of God and he is bound to consult his honour and repute in the World It is the smell of a Christians grace that giveth him a name and honour a repute before men The World taketh no notice of our habits of grace while they lye dormant in the Soul but when they shew themselves in our conversations in the exercises of faith humility patience meekness obedience then hath a Christian honour before men Thus you see how a Christian is concerned to have his Spikenard send forth the smell thereof Now seeing so much dependeth upon this that a Christian should keep this glorious King sitting at his Table it followeth that this is of high concernment to every Soul But you will say what can we do toward it is not the Spirit of Christ free as the wind which bloweth where
own inbred enemies those of our own house our innate lusts and Corruptions I mean are as still as our grand Adversary The very waters of Marah themselves turned sweet when this Tree of life is in them Our hearts lose much of their bitterness by the presence of Christ in them it is when the Sun is down that the Frogs and Toads croak and the Dors and Bats fly It is in the night when the Thief steals The time of Christs withdrawings from the Soul is the time when Sathan molests and lusts are most busy 2. The Souls Spikenard then sends forth its pleasant smell You had it in the former verse I shewed you there what dependence the exercise of our grace hath upon Christs presence with us both in respect of his exciting and assisting influence Christ speaks it plain in that excellent parable of the vine and the branches Joh. 15. 5. He that abidath in me and I in him the same bringeth forth fruit for without me you can do nothing v. 6. The same bringeth forth much fruit Otherwise the Soul withereth v. 6. Naturalists say that in those Countries which abounded with Myrrh they were wont to bind bundles of it to the heart or to anoint it with the Gum the use of it was to strengthen the heart against what was noxious and unto a due discharge of its natural operations It is Gregories observation or similitude rather that the Soul that applies Christ to its heart and which findeth his influence will find it like a bundle or an anointing of Myrrh strengthening the Soul against the prevailings of corruptions and filling it with a Spiritual heat and fitness for Heavenly operations And thus I have shewed you just reason why the lodgings or abidings of Christ with a gracious Soul are so desirable to it Obj. But will some poor Soul say Can Christ not abide with that Soul which he hath once owned is his love mutable is he not the God that changeth not but loveth to the end whom he once loveth I answer The Love of Christ is an abiding love he is not yea and nay with the Soul upon which he hath once fixed his heart whom he loveth he loveth to the end 1. His union with the Soul abideth Christ once in us and ever in us is a truth to which we must adhere that corruption which could not at first prevent it shall never he of force to dissolve it but the sense of this union may fail The indwelling Spirit shall not be disseised but the Spirit as a comforter may fail the Souls of the Saints When wilt thou comfort me saith the man after Gods own heart Besides that our state of justification is to be maintained by the performance of our Spiritual duty and there can be no justified Soul that doth not earnestly desire its own continuance in that state 2. His necessary influences upon the Soul abide too The promise must stand good I will never leave thee nor forsake thee nor can it be imagined that so noble and vertual an head as the Lord Jesus Christ can be united to any member of his Spiritual body without a proportionable influence upon it or that the seed of God in the Soul should be wholly inactive But Spiritual desires are also the sacred means which God hath appointed for the preservation of these 3. But Gradual abidings of Christ in the Soul may fail He may not abide with the Soul in such proportions of Spiritual influence at all times Now the degrees of Spiritual influence from Christ are highly desirable to a gracious Soul But I have spake enough to the explication and confirmation of the point I come now to the Application In the first place Let us from this try our selves whether we indeed be the true Spouses of the Lord Jesus Christ and he our beloved yea or no Can we say and say it cordially he shall lodge betwixt our breasts 1. There are many that say he shall sit upon my tongue I will talk to Christ and take his name into my mouth concerning whom we may say as the Prophet sometimes said of the Jews The Lord was nigh in their mouths and far from their reins the woman dandles many a Child in her arms that never lodgeth betwixt her breasts in the night she talks of many a man in the day time whom she will not allow to lodg in her bosom at night there 's many a wretch that talks of Christ that yet will not let him come â—igh his heart 2. There are many that say they shall lodg to eternity betwixt his breasts that yet cannot will not say this going to Heaven is grown market talk and every one is a pretender to that journeys end that yet will not set one foot before another in the way Balaam wisheth vainly and many a one concludeth as vainly that he shall dye the death of the righteous and his latter end shall be like his those mentioned Mat. 7. 24. said they should lodge the long night of eternity betwixt Christs breasts but he saith unto them depart from me I know you not there are too many that build Castles in the air and houses upon the sand and dream of golden mountains but every one is not wife to another that saith she shall one day have him nor is every Soul a Spouse to Christ that promiseth to it self eternal content in him 3. A man may say Oh that Christ would come betwixt my breasts that yet is not the Spouse of Christ There 's scarce a wretch living but at one time or other wisheth Christ would speak to his Soul pardon and peace 't is one thing for a woman to desire the Physitian may make applications to her breasts when full of pain that yet will not say he shall lodge betwixt her breasts you see there may be a great many mistakes in this point but plainly let me ask you two or three questions 1. Are you willing to open the secrets of your Souls to Jesus Christ There 's many a one is willing that Christ should come so near him as his Ear but not into his heart canst thou say that thy Soul cleaveth to the Lord Jesus Christ that thou desirest he should enter into its secrets not only to tip thy tongue regulate thy Countenance but to Command in thy heart 2. Art thou willing that Christ should lodge all night with thy Soul Not serve thee only by fits to cure thy heart akings but that he should lodge and dwell with thee make an abode with thy Soul 3. Art thou willing that a perfect Christ should lodge with thee Not only Christ as an High-Priest to expiate for thee and make an atonement for thy sins but as a Prophet to guide instruct thee as a King to rule over thee and govern thee The Wife desires not an Husband only as her Companion but as her head By this O Christian I shalt thou know if indeed thou beest the Spouse