them lies in its ability to will them This is from the Lord yea and from the Lord in a way of special providence too The God of Nature hath put into the creature a prolisick vertue that supposing the particular concurrence of Ordinary Providence the woman brings forth the fruit of the Body in a Natural course And so concerning the plants of the field supposing the concurrence of Ordinary Providence the plant brings forth fruit in its kind But it is not thus with men and women as to the fruit of grace and of holiness It was thus indeed with Adam Adam in the day of his creation as to the fruit of holiness was like the plant of the field indued with a prolifick vertue he had not only Natural faculties understanding will c. but he had a power and disposition in these faculties to that which was good this was connatural to him in the day of his creation but as it is with the woman created at first with this prolifick vertue yet by accident this or that particular woman may want it and so is barren So it is with all the Children of Adam though in him created in statu integro with a posse velle a power to will that which is well pleasing in the sight of God yet by that sad accident of the first mans transgression we are all become barren and without any power to will that which is good A will indeed is left to us but an indisposition in that will unto that which is good we are reprobate unto every good work And that not only by wicked works as men are by them hardened in sin and accustomed to Evil and custom we say is a second Nature but even by Nature we are so Now it is from Christ that the Soul hath its first power and ability so much as to move to a good action 2 Cor. 3. 5. We are not of our selves sufficient to think one good thought Eph. 2. 5. When we were dead in sin he hath quickened us together by Christ Life is the Principle of all operation we are by Nature dead it is the Lord that quickeneth us Look as the Child moves not till it be quickened so neither doth the Soul move unto any thing that is good until grace at first quickeneth it 2. As Christ gives the prolifick vertue to the Soul so it is he also that doth excite this vertue to act God hath given unto the plant a prolifick vertue from whence it is that it brings forth fruit God hath given Bread-Corn a Power and faculty to nourish the Body and it is from hence that it nourisheth but withal God by a daily Providence doth both uphold the faculties of the plant and of the bread and excite them to their exercise otherwise neither would the bread nourish nor the plant bring forth its fruit in its season So it is with the Soul Supposing the Soul possessed of a power to will that which is good the will being renewed through grace yet it is God that excites this power Phil. 2. 13. He giveth to do Not only to will but also to do And indeed this must be granted or else grace shall have the least share in any good action that is done by us for the Act is more Noble then a meer Power It is Christ that gives a Power to will and it is Christ that gives the Act of willing disposing and quickening the Soul to the exercise of the Power which himself hath bestowed upon it For let us consider whence it should come The Lord in the change of the heart doth not change the Nature of man but man hath a liberty in his will I mean a liberty opposed to coaction his will is not compelled to that which is good he hath indeed a power but not compelling him now when the will of man is in that state that he can will that which is good or that which is evil tell me what is it which inclineth him to the one rather then the other save only the influence of Divine grace 3. Nay Thirdly It is Christ that must assist in every good action not only excite to it but assist in it or it will never be persected Even in natural productions besides the prolifick vertue which the fruitful woman must have and must be supposed to her conception of a Child in her womb and besides the influence of Providence which must be supposed to excite this vertue which first causeth the conception as to the Divine causation there must also be a daily influence and concurse of Providence preserving and upholding the womans natural faculties c. or she miscarrieth and the fruit of her body thriveth not and as it is with a Plant notwithstanding its prolifick vertue and the influence of Providence exciting this vertue in the Spring time to put forth it self there must be a daily influence of Providence upholding the natural vertues of the Plant and assisting them to the perfecting of the fruit and without this though the Plant hath such a vertue and hath put it out yet the fruit dwindleth away and comes to nothing So it is with a Soul Supposing the Soul quickened born again disposed unto that which is good and supposing it to have begun a good action yet without the continuance of the same grace with the Soul and in the Soul it brings nothing to perfection Hence Heb. 12. 2. Christ is faid to be the Author and Finisher of our Faith Hence saith St. Paul Gal. 2. 20. I live but yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the Faith of the Son of God And 1 Cor. 15. 10. Saint Paul saith He laboured yet not he but the grace of God which was with me To be short then To a particular Soul's fruitfulness in good works there is required 1. The Grace of God upon the Soul giving it a power to act 2. The Grace of God in the Soul exciting it to its spiritual operations 3. The Grace of God with the Soul assisting it in its operations This not supposed the Soul either wants a power to will or wants a power to move to do c. The Reason of this lies not only in that general necessary influx upon the creature which is necessary to all its motions and actions and which God hath reserved to himself to grant or withhold as he pleaseth But in this that through the Fall of Adam the Nature of Man is so lapsed that it requireth a more particular eminent influx of Providence upon it to inable it unto that which is spiritually good it s spiritually prolifick vertue being by the fall quite extinct and the Soul of every man and woman dead in crespasses and sins But thus much shall serve for the first I come to the second to prove it 2. Concerning the Church That neither can it be fruitful without conjuuction with Christ I told you that
little into the Nature of the Believing Soul's Beauty Then I shall give you some Reasons of it and lastly Make some Application 1. It is not a corporeal visible Beauty but spiritual and invisible When we speak of Beauty we ordinarily understand a symmetry of bodily parts with a due mixture of the colours of flesh and blood commending it self to the carnal Eye This is that of which Solomon saith Favour is deceitful Beauty is vain but none I hope will have so gross a conception of the Soul's Beauty in the Eyes of Christ who seeth not as man seeth and judgeth not from any outward appearance The King's Daughter is all glorious within Psal 45. 13. This Beauty lieth in the Soul's symmetry to and with the Divine Law in a due proportion of virtues and gracious habits in the Soul's conformity to God the pattern of Perfection The Heathens by the Light of Nature could see that the inward Beauty was the true Beauty It is reported of Diogenes that meeting with a young man who was exceeding comely but very vitious he cried out O quam bona domus malus hospes What a brave house is here and how bad an inhabitant it hath It is what may be said of a great many comely men and women in the world O what brave houses hath the God of Nature made but what ill Tenants hath the Devil thrust into them Within there dwells nothing but Pride Ignorance Lust Vanity and other Inmates of corruption Our Saviour hath fitted them with a name they are Painted Sepulchres The Spouse's Beauty is spiritual her Ornaments are the hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible as the Apostle speaketh 1 Pet. 3. 4. And as corporeal Beauty lieth in the due proportion of the parts of the body one to another yet this alone will not make a Beauty without a due proportion of colours and a good Air of the countenance So this Spiritual Beauty lieth in the proportion of the Soul and its several powers and faculties to the Divine Rule its Symmetry with the Divine Nature yet this will not do without the grace of Justification that grace which doth gratum facere render the Soul acceptable in the sight of God Hence this Beauty is not obvious to our senses The World saith the Apostle knoweth us not It is a Spiritual Beauty so as flesh and blood discerneth it not whereas we see things by the Eye of Sense Reason or Revelation Corporeal Beauty is discerned by a carnal Eye the object beareth a due proportion to the Organ Yea there is an inward Beauty which even the Eye of a natural man may discern it lieth in the proportion which the mind of the man or woman beareth to the Rule of Virtue and the Principles of Reason Thus a man may see more Beauty and Loveliness in one that is Learned and knowing than in one that is ignorant in one that is just chast sober temperate than in a beastly Drunkard a sottish unclean Adulterer an unjust and unrighteous man c. But the Beauty of a Child of God lieth deeper and more remote from a carnal mans apprehension in the Souls Symmetry with the pure and holy nature of God the proportions of his Soul to the pattern of a disciple of Christ as his lineaments are drawn in holy Writ This the natural Eye seeth not the Spiritual man alone discerneth nor doth he at all times discern it in ano ther Eli could not see Hannahs beauty but thought it had been only a little colour which too much wine had brought into her face The Subject of this beauty is the heart Christ seeth and knoweth that hence though a Child of God doth appear fair to his Brother yet to Christ more fair even the fairest amongst Women 2. Secondly It is not a Native but an adventitious beauty you saith the Apostle hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins Eph. 2. 1. Children of wrath by nature even as others v. 3. By nature there is none righteous no not one none that understandeth nor seeketh after God the Philosopher spake like a Philosopher when he determined the Soul to be naturally as white Paper or tabula rasa The Divine must speak otherwise there is in man a want justitiae debitae inesse a want of that image of God in which lies the Souls beauty He was created in honour but he is become like the Beast that perisheth he hath lost the image of the heavenly Behold saith David Psal 51. I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my Mother bring me forth What can be clean saith Job that is born of a Woman Or how can that which is clean come forth from that which is unclean The vitious inclinations of Children is matter of demonstration till they be in some measure corrected by the precepts and instructions and government of those that are set over them and by moral discipline which yet doth not cultivate and adorn them sufficiently to render them beautiful in the Eyes of Christ 3. Thirdly it is not an Artificial but created beauty The beauty of the Civil person that either from the precepts or examples of his governours or his ingenuous education hath imbibed Principles of Moral Discipline is indeed no native beauty but it is an artificial beauty as to which God hath had no hand but that of his common Providence but the Spouse's beauty is a created beauty wholly Gods work in the Soul creating faith in it uniting it to Christ changing its heart giving it new habits new qualities and inclinations Thou were comely saith God Ezech. 16. 14. through my comeliness put upon thee Corporteal beauty is the work of God in nature and it is hardly in the power of man to contribute any thing towards that The Painter dissembleth a beauty but giveth no real beauty the Taylor dissembleth a Symmetry of parts but cannot give it But Spiritual beauty is much more the gift of God that is a Gift of Special grace Art may make a woman that is not beautiful appear so but it cannot make one to be beautiful that is not so Good works do little more to the Saints beauty in the Eyes of Christ then hansome cloaths or linnen doth towards the beauty of the body If the body be comely and beautiful hansome fashioned cloaths or linnen may indeed set it off but if the body hath no true symmetry of parts all that good cloaths do is to hide deformity and to make the body that is not comely yet appear so unto others If the Soul of a man or woman be truly beautiful through an imputed righteousness and inherent grace good works much set forth this beauty to the world and are also acceptable unto God But works only Morally good that is such things as God hath commanded can never make a Spiritual Ethiopian fair nor the Soul that is naturally crooked straight The Romish Taylors and Painters labour in vain to make
Therefore do the Virgins love 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This seemeth to be in our dialect an harsh sense and the connexion is not clear To help it therefore Piscator translateth it Quod attinet ad odorem c. As to what belongs to the savour of thy good Ointments c. The Tigurine Version make the middle words as a Parenthesis and translate it thus For the smell of thy good Ointments for thy name is as an Ointment poured out Therefore do the Virgins love thee The only question is whether the Spouses design in these words be to give a reason why her beloved had such an excellent name viz. because of the savour of his good Ointments Or to give a reason why the Virgins loved him or of both these together I think of both The words will bear it But let us come to enquire the import of the words more particularly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The thing spoken of is Ointments these are said to be 1. Good and 2. to have a Smell The Hebrew word from which the word here translated Ointments 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cometh signifies to be fat Deut. 32. 15. Jeshurun waxed fat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jer. 5. 4. This word properly signifieth fatness and usually signifieth Oil or Ointment because of the pinguid nature of those things so Prov. 21. 20. Hos 2. 5. The word signifieth any kind of fatness whether caused by Nature or Art But it is not here to be taken literally he needs no Oils nor sweet Ointments to make him sweet But you must know that those Eastern Countries abounded with plenty of Spices and other sweet ingredients of which several compounds were made Oils and Ointments which were exceedingly grateful to the outward senses of which they made both a Religious and a Civil use They made a Religious use of them 1. In Sacrifices 2. In Consecrations Oil was used in Sacrifices Especially in such as were Eucharistical Hence you read of the Oil of gladness for it testified joy and gladness The first use of it in this kind of which you read in Scripture was Gen 28. 18. When God had preserved Jacob in the Night in token of his thankfulness he took the stone upon which he had slept and set it up for a pillar and powred Oil upon it he did the like again Gen. 35. 14 whether it were done as a note of the consecration of the place to the service of God or an Eucharistical Sacrifice may possibly be questioned by some but the latter seemeth to me most probable considering the subsequent use of Oil under the law to this purpose of which you may read in Leviticus Ch. 2. v. 1. 3. 4. It was not lawful in offerings which were to bring iniquity to remembrance Numb 5. 15. No testimony of Joy might there be shewn It was also used in Consecrations of persons and that either to the Kingly Priestly or Prophetical Office Samuel used Oil in the anointing both of Saul David to the Kingly Office The same you read also in the anointing of Jehu 2 King 10. 3. Elisha the Prophet was anointed So was the High Priest You have a description of the Oil and a particular Precept and direction for the composition of it Exod. 30. 22. This was called the holy anointing Oil with which Aaron and his Sons were anointed The Tabernacle also and the Ark with all things belonging to them were to be anointed with it as you will find in that Chapter Besides this Sacred use of Oil there was also a civil and ordinary use of it Thus they used it either for bodily nourishment the widow 1 Kings 17. 12. Told the Prophet that she had but a little Oil in the cruse Or 2. For delight and pleasure as we now use our sweet powders our dry and liquid perfumes Joab chargeth the woman of Tekoah being to personate a mourner not to anoint her self with Oil. Esther and the other Maids that were to be brought before Ahashuerus were for 6 months to be perfumed with Oils Christ complains of Simon that he had not anointed his head with Oil. Mary anointed Christ with Oil or Ointment Joh. 11. 2. and the Woman poured out a Box of Ointment Spikenard upon his head Now from this civil and sacred use of Oil and the effects the terms of Oil and Ointment and Anointing are also used metaphâ—rically in Scripture Thus Oil and Ointments in Scripture signify the graces of Gods Spirit and Anointing signifies that gracious Divine Act by which we are made partakers of those graces To this sense the Psalmist speaketh God hath anointed thee with the Oil of Gladness above thy fellows Psal 45. 7. which the Apostle applieth to Christ Heb. 1. 9. and St. John expoundeth saying The Spirit was not given unto him by measure which is plainly expressed Acts 10. 38. God hath anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power And as the holy anointing Oil under the old Law wetted not Aarons head alone but ran down upon the Skirts of his Garment so this holy metaphorical Oil doth also Hence as David said Psal 92. 10. Thou hast anointed me with fresh Oil and the People of God then were called the Lords anointed So under the New Testament the Children of God are said to have an unction it is said that this Anointing abideth in them Thus that of St. John is made good Of his fulness we have received grace for grace By Christs Ointments we understand then the Grace that was poured out upon him and which dwelleth in him and in this sense I find the generality of sober Expositors agreed Now these Ointments are said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 good the signification of which term I opened to you before and when I come to the propositions of Doctrine I shall more particularly shew you the goodness of them in every notion of good But these Ointments are also said to cast a Savour At the savour of thy good Ointments A smell or savour is Qualitas olfactu sensibilis some quality of a thing which we discern by our external sense of smelling being conveyed to us by the mediation of the Air By the smell of Christs Graces we can understand nothing else than the Spiritual sense of the love of Christ which by the mediation and breathing of the holy Spirit of God is discerned by the Soul The word in the Hebrew signifies any perception of a thing it is used Is 11. v. 3. where it is said of Christ that the Spirit of the Lord resting upon him shall make him as we translate it of a quick understanding in the fear of the Lord the Hebrew is he shall be smelled in the fear of the Lord. And Judg. 16. 9. we translate it when it toucheth the fire the Hebrew word is the same when it smelleth the fire that is when the fire cometh to it when
motions of the Affections as it is said Sechem's heart clave to Dinah But I extend it further to all overt Acts by which this inward Affection may be discovered in the same sense as we say to our Friends I will stick to you or I will stand by you Christ performs his part he sticks he cleaves to the Believers in all its Spiritual Combates and Dangers with or from the World the Flesh and the Devil Thus must we cleave to him Fourthly 'T is a piece of Conjugal Communion That the Wife does nothing but she will first acquaint her Husband with it ask his Counsel take his Direction The Husband also imparts much of his Counsel to his Wife 'T is a piece of our Communion true Communion with Christ to do nothing without taking Counsel of him in his Word without asking his Directions in Prayer in every difficulty where we have not a clear direction in the Word of God to fly to him by Prayer and Supplications Are your Souls willing to entertain such a Communion with Christ as this is Are you desirous of it Do you pray for it This speakâ—eth well for the Union betwixt Christ and your Souls nothing less than this will This Discourse may be further useful to some Souls that it may be cannot satisfie themselves in that Communion which they have with the Lord Jesus they would willingly that Christ should impart more of his Loving-kindness and of his Power to their Souls and they are troubled that they can no more freely no more fully give up themselves to him their Hearts are not united enough to love and fear God and indeed the best Souls are seldom satisfied in the Reception of Grace or in the Actings of it Now such Souls as are overmuch troubled in this case troubled to that degree as for want of degrees to suspect all the truth of Grace in their Souls This may be some satisfaction to hear that it speaks a Soul to be the Spouse of Christ to be truly willing sincerely desirous much in Prayer for those degrees of nearest Communion with Christ which it stands in need of In Earthly Marriages three things are required 1. Consent of Parties 2. Consent of Parents 3. Publication of it to the World The first alone is essential to the Union The second to make it a perfectly lawful Act. The third only to avoid Scandal and to keep up Civil Order in the World In the Spiritual Marriage the Consent of Parties makes the Union Christs Consent to be united to thy Soul is evidenced in his Word declared by us who are his Proxies to espouse you to this Husband If thy Soul also truly consents if thou truly desirest this Union and that Communion which followeth and ought to follow it the Match is made thou art joined to the Lord though it may be there be not a Publication of it to thy own Soul much less to the World I shall conclude with a Word of Exhortation To labour for this evidence of Grace That you may be truly willing to truly desirous of such a Communion with Christ as I have been describing You that are yet strangers to it labour for the beginnings of it You that find any thing of it labour to uphold it and labour for the Perfection of it To the first by way of Counsel I would only speak a few things 1. Labour to be convinced of your sad condition till Grace hath brought you into this better State Christ told the Woman of Samaria she had had many Husbands and he whom she then enjoyed was not her Husband Unregenerate Men have many Paramours for there is no Soul but cleaveth to somthing one mans Heart cleaveth to his Pleasures another to his Profits but all these are not the reasonable Souls Husbands the Soul cannot feed upon these things Let a Woman be married to a Man and run away from him she may have another Paramour but he is not her Husband It is Mans Case he was in Creation united to God he is run away from God and followeth many Lovers but none of these are the Souls Husbands O therefore return to your first Husband what can you imagine God should do for any of your Souls more than any one of you would do for a Wife that had run away from you and clave to another man 2. Look as the Woman that wanteth her Husband hath none that so naturally careth for her none that will be a covering to her Head or a Light to her Eyes so neither hath the Soul in its state of disunion with God any that will care for it as to its Spiritual and Eternal Concerns I might add the infinite advantages of this Union and Communion I remember the Argument used by Hamor and Sechem to persuade their People into a Willingness to be circumcised that Sechem might be married into Jacob's Family Shall not say they their Cattle and Substance and all that they have be ours only consent to them Shall not the Grace and Glory and Kingdom of Christ be yours only consent to him and be willing to a Communion with him But it is the Lord that must persuade Japhet to come and to dwell in the Tents of Shem. No man comes to the Son but he whom the Father draweth and while there is a spiritual Union it is unreasonable to think there should be any Willingness in a Soul to any near Communion with Christ We may use Arguments with Souls estranged from God to reconcile them to him and it is our Duty so to do till God concurreth with the work of his Spirit they will be of no force Let me therefore turn to such with whom this mystical Union is made Nor shall I need use words with any such to persuade them to a consent or willingness to or desire of this near Communion with Christ which I have been discoursing there is no such Soul but must be willing must be desirous of it But there is none of them which hath attained there 's no such Soul but hath attained somthing nor any that hath attained to Perfection none but may receive from Christ more than it hath received none but desireth his Heart might be more in subjection to Christ than it is The way further to attain is Prayer rightly ordered Prayer It is the Spouse that speaketh in the Text she had attained she was already united to her Spiritual Bridegroom but yet she finds her Soul in a continuing need of his Influences and further Tokens for good to be shewed unto her for these she useth Prayer as an apposite means Only we may ask and not receive because we ask amiss Let us look over the form of the Spouses Petition and see what we may learn from thence to guide our Souls in our Applications to God First The word in the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the future Tense which is often used for the 〈◊〉 Mood in the Hebrew and may indifferently
so far from opposing or hindering the drawings of Divine Grace as to do what in them lies in order to the obtaining of them you will say unto me what is that what can we do either as to the hindering or obtaining them 1. First As you may hinder these influences by omitting your attendance upon hearing the word so you may by your conscientious attendance upon it do something in order to the obtaining of it I observe that the blind men in the Gospel observed and placed themselves in Christs walks the way wherein he was to go He that conscientiously waiteth upon the preaching of the Word placeth himself in the way wherein Christ useth to go He that walks to the Ale-house or to his worldly business or abideth in his House when he should walk to a Sermon is out of Christs walk and as this is in his own power to avoid so by not avoiding he hindereth divine drawings The Preaching of the Word is the ordinance of God for the Salvation of the Elect when Christ was lifted up he by this drew all those Gentiles that were converted to the faith of Christ you know in the drawing of a thing by a Cord there is necessary a Cord to draw with which must de fastned to the thing we would draw when it is fastned he that draweth must put to his strength it is not the Cord that draweth but the power and strength of the mans arm that useth the Cord. That which is drawn here is the Soul of man a poor dead Soul that hath in it no principle of Spiritual life and of itself cannot come to Christ He that draweth is God the holy Spirit of God and that by the power of an everlasting arm but now the Cord is the word of God so God hath ordained either some terrible word of threatning or some comfortable word of promise some word of God is by the holy Spirit fastned upon the Soul by this the Soul is drawn yet not by the force of the Word but by the power of the Spirit making use of the Word now he who neglects the reading or hearing of the word hinders his own drawing he rejecteth and refuseth the Cord which though alone it would not draw the Soul yet is the mean the Cord in the hand of the Spirit by which ordinarily Souls are drawn that do come to Christ On the other side those Souls that are diligent and careful to read and hear the Word of God where it is interpreted and applied with most tendency to the conversion of Souls though he doth nothing ultimately and efficiently yet he doth much in a way of means in order to his drawing unto Christ This is the first way 2. As a man may hinder the drawings of God by quenching the motions of the holy Spirit and giving a deaf ear to the knocks of it or delaying its obedience to them suffering vain company or worldly cares to choke the motions of the Spirit and wear out the impressions of the word so he may further them by favouring them retaining such impressions and whetting the word upon his heart There is scarce any person who is a constant attender upon the Preaching of the word but at some time ot other will find some discourse more than ordinarily affecting him and making some more than ordinary impressions upon him now if when a man findeth this he endeavoureth to stifle this conviction or wear off this impression and to work his Soul out of the trouble of it he hereby opposeth and resisteth the drawings of Divine Grace 〈…〉 the other side if he withdraws himself fits alone meditateth upon what he hath heard searcheth the Scriptures to see if it be according to what is revealed there and when worldly business would put it out of his thoughts if he endeavours again to bring it to his remembrance and setcheth it again into his thoughts desiring it may have its perfect work This man now doth what in him lieth to promove divine drawings Thirdly As a man or woman may hinder God's drawings by walking contrary to his or her Light So they may promove them by walking up to their Light and Power The Soul that is drawn to Christ is alive and yet dead Alive as a natural rational Soul dead as to God and Goodness And this answereth an obvious and ordinary Objection viz. What can a dead Soul do The Answer is easie it can do nothing so far as it is dead but though the natural man be spiritually dead yet considered as a man a rational creature he is alive and though he can do nothing that is spiritually good because he is dead in sin yet he may do something that is morally and rationally good because he is rationally alive and under the power and conduct of reason in a great measure He hath some Natural Light he hath a further revealed Light by and in the Gospel and though he hath not a power to live up to all the Light which the Gospel shews him yet he hath a power to sin against that Light to which he might walk up and of which â—he might make a better improvement It is very possible and too too ordinary for men when God draws one way to suffer their passions their vile affections and lusts to draw another and in doing it to triumph over their reason This is highly provocative of God There is a great question about the power and freedom of man's will by nature Sober Divines say the unregenerate man hath no power no freedom to what is truly and spiritually good If any power or freedom may be allowed to the unrenewed will certainly it is most proper to assert it at such a time when the Holy Spirit moveth most strongly by its impulses and convictions The unregenerate man at such a time more than another hath in his power to resist his lusts and motions to sin and give up himself to God if he will now resist this Light and not to his power use this help he thereby hindereth God's drawings Suppose a man in a Pir and weak and not able to get out some strength he hath while he lies still to hold back but none to raise himself upward to get out When a Cord is fastened about him if instead of yielding himself he holds back what he can this man now hinders the charitable drawing that others more strong would lend him Fourthly and lastly Pray to God that he would draw you out of the horrible Pit and miry Clay It is the Holy Spirit that draweth and Christ tells us that he giveth the Holy Spirit to those that ask him But I shall turn my discourse to the Children of God and shew them what is their duty upon the consideration of this truth That no Soul unless drawn by God either comes to or runneth after Christ I shall open it in several particulars First This Doctrine calleth to all who apprehend themselves to be come to Christ
makes of Christ hath a great influence upon others If a Physicians Name be up if but two or three Neighbours make a report what wonderful Cures he hath done in and for them all in like Circumstances will be running to him See what David saith Psal 34. 2. My Soul shall make her boast in the Lord the humble shall hear thereof and be glad v. 6. This poor Man cryed and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his Troubles When a gracious Soul makes its boast in the Lord relates with joy and thankfulness what God hath done for it The humble that is those that are in poor afflicted conditions they hear of it and are glad and are encouraged to go to God They say Here 's a poor Soul that cried and the Lord heard it and saved it out of all its troubles This is the first way by which Souls once drawn are a means to make others run by making a good report of God unto them But this is not all 2. Secondly Such a Souls Charity extendeth further viz. To an exciting exhorting and quickening of others to labour to be made partakers of the same grace Come saith the Woman of Samaria and see the Man that hath told me all things that I ever did Is not this the Christ Come saith the Soul and taste of that love which hath so refreshed me my Soul was as sad as yours God hath comforted me as dead as yours The Lord hath quickned me I had once as much prejudice against the ways of God as you I once thought them as difficult I now delight in them I find now the Yoke of Christ is casis his burden is light Come let us go up together to the Mountain of the Lora's House he will teach us his ways and we will walk in his paths I will shew you in two or three words from whence it is that a Soul that hath tasted the special grace of God will be so busie with others to bring them into the same circumstances with it self 1. It knoweth that it shall lose nothing by others running Nature makes us all in the first place to secure our own Interest but that being first secured good nature obligeth all Men to wish the best they can to others and the Moralists give it us for a Rule That those kindnesses ought to be denied to none which we can do them without any prejudice to our selves There is no Soul that hath received any thing of the special grace of God but knoweth somthing of the value of it and that no so great kindness can be done for another as to be an Instrument to bring men and Women acquainted with that grace of God which bringeth Salvation Acts 26. 29. I would to God saith Paul to Agrippa that not only thou but also all that hear me this day were both almost and altogether such as I am except these Bonds This Soul knoweth that it should be never the poorer if all others were inriched with the riches of Grace All Envy which maketh us pine at the good of others is taken out of the heart of a Child of God it is one of those lusts that are mortified in it 2. Nay further It knows that the more Souls it can be a means to bring to Heaven the more welcome it self shall be Those who win Souls are wise and those who win many to Righteousness shall shine as the Stars for ever and ever Dan. 12. 3. It was Christs work to bring many Sons unto Glory It was David's Language and he spoke in the Person of Christ I will declare thy Name unto my Brethren in the midst of the Congregation I will praise thee The Propagation of its Species is one of the most perfect acts of the Creature It is a great piece of the perfection of a Christian to propagate his Species The Romans designed rewards for the Father of such a number of Children God hath prepared great rewards for those that are co-workers with him in bringing Souls unto Christ 3. Lastly Such a Soul knows the Price of a Soul and the sad condition of those who want Christ either in the first or further influences of his special grace and so doth it out of mere pity and commiseration None knows the misery of a Christless Soul so well as that Soul that hath been lost and is now found hath been dead and is now alive None so well knows the misery of that poor Creature whose Conscience is upon a Rack or whose Soul is under a Divine desertion crying out Where is my God become We never well understand the misery of others nor throughly pity them under any misery till our selves have felt it Nor on the other side do we ever understand the riches of Grace the consolations of the Spirit or the Soul satisfaction which a Christian hath in God and in his ways till we have in some measures had experience of them Hence it is that a natural man is so unconcerned in the natural state of his Relations it is because his own Eyes are not open he wants Faith he doth not see the misery of a Soul that is without Christ nor doth he believe what God hath in his Word revealed as to the state of such Souls But the Spiritual Man whose Eyes God hath opened knowing God's terrors persuades with others to get out of the horrible Pit the believing Soul giving a firm and steady assent to what God hath revealed in his Word about the Eternal State of Souls and the only way to happiness cannot but Night and Day persuade with others those especially in whom it is most nearly concerned that they would be reconciled to God and flee from that Wrath which is to come In the first place This puts an argument into our Mouths to use with God whâ—n we go unto him for any influences of special grace Say unto God Draw me and we will run after thee Tell him that his drawing thy Soul will-not only ingage thee but be a means also to make others to run after God It was David's argument Psal 51. 12 13. Restore unto me the joy of thy Salvation and uphold me with thy free Spirit then will I teach Transgressors thy way and Sinners shall be converted unto thee An Argument which he often made use of The humble shall hear thereof and be glad Psal 34. 2. An Argument whose force lyeth in the concern of Gods glory The glory of God is the great end of all his actions he doth all that he doth for his own glory and he useth a great argument with God that tells him that if he doth such a thing for him there will a great deal of glory by it accrue to his holy Name God is glorified by nothing more than by our and others running after him Secondly This discourse will let us see a difference between one who is a Christian indeed and one who is only a Christian in name An
meat the Flock shall be cut off from the sold and there shall be no Herd in the stalls yet I will rejoyce in the Lord and I will joy in the God of my Salvation The believing Soul can rejoyce in nothing without Christ and it can rejoyce in Christ when it hath nothing more to rejoyce in Let a gracious Soul have but the sense of God's Love in Christ to his Soul he can say to all the world as Esau though not upon such a consideration said to his Brother Jacob I have enough my Brother I have enough keep what thou haft unto thy self Am I justified and regenerated have I peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ have I the pardon of my sin and a righteousness wherein I can stand before God it is enough If the Lord will not give me Bread to eat nor Children to continue my name if I die Childless so I do not die Christless it is enough If I have not Raggs to cloth me nor an Estate to leave Portions to six and also to seven yet I have said to the Lord Thou art my Portion it is enough Hence ariseth a good Christian's contentment in all Estates I have learned saith Paul in all estates to be content content to want content to abound content to have little or much as the Lord pleaseth If the Lord will take away such a man's Children Estate c. he saith with Job The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken blessed be the Name of the Lord. If I have my part in Christ saith he I have yet enough Omnia mea mecum porto I have my All as the Philosopher is reported to have said when his City was on fire and his Neighbours reflected on him going out and carrying nothing along with him nor concerning himself for the share of Estate he had in it If the Believer considereth his body he seeth a crazy constitution diseases growing upon him if he looks into his Family and seeth it empty of Children if into his Grounds and seeth them bring forth nothing but Weeds and Thistles if into his Stalls and seeth them empty of Cattel yet if he looks into his Soul and finds any evidences of the Love of Christ he can rejoyce in them this must be understood when he seeth himself stript naked not by his own wicked hands but as Job was by the effective Providence of God for the loss of the things of this life the good things of the common Providence of God caused by our own sinful hands and miscarriages oft-times hinder this Joy as they make it difficult to us to see the Love of God in and under them 4. And lastly This Soul rejoyceth in Christ Primarily Emphatically Supremely The Child of God is a parta ker of flesh and blood and hath a sensitive appetite which when gratified necessarily causeth a joy proportionate to the good which it receiveth hence he rejoyceth in the good things of common Providence as well as another man but not as much as another man not upon the same account that another man doth Christ is the Believer's chief Joy and as his title to the good things of this life differs from the title of another so his joy in them differeth from the joy of another All men may have a natural legal title to the good things of this life Dominion and Title is not founded in grace but it is mended by grace Another man derives from God as the Lord of the whole Earth who by his common Providence distributeth portions to the Sons of men as he pleaseth but the believer doth not only derive from God as the supreme Lord but from Christ all is yours and you are Christs and Christ is Gods saith the Apostle so that while he rejoiceth in the gifts of common Providence he rejoiceth in Christ because he rejoyceth in these things as coming from the hand of a Father reconciled to him by the blood of Christ he rejoiceth in the good things of this life as the loving Wife reioiceth in some present made her by her Husband not so much in the fineness or costliness of it though that may also please her humor as in the kindness and love of her Husband shewed in giving it her So the believer more rejoyceth in the goodness of God shewen to him in any dispensation of Providence then in the thing which God hath given him or her and he supremely rejoiceth in Christ whiles he rejoiceth in a lower comfort Let me shew you this in the instance of Hannah whose story you have 1 Sam. ch 1 2. She was the Wife of Elkanah she had no Children and was passionately desirous of the blessing of Children an affection common to all of that sex especially and for which there was some more special reason in that Age and Nation partly because of the promise of a numerous issue to Abraham so as the Women that were Barren lookt upon themselves as hardly the genuine Children of Abraham at least not sharers in his blessing partly because they knew the Messias was to be born of a Jewish Woman and every Child-bearing Woman might have an expectation to be his Mother Under this great affliction she applies her self to God by prayer the Key of the Womb is one of those Keys which the Jewish Doctors say God keepeth in his hand God hears her prayer she conceiveth and brings forth Samuel as in the first Chapter she names him Samuel to testify her joy in receiving him as an answer of her Prayer upon which she dedicates him to the Lord 1 Sam. 1. 28. So in the second Chapter she sings a Song of praise mark the phrase of it 1 Sam. 2. 1. Mine heart rejoyceth in the Lord my Horn is exalted in the Lord. Her Child was the next object of her joy but how doth she rejoice in him the primary object of her joy was the Lord her great joy in Samuel was as God by giving him to her shewed her his love and that he had not shut out her supplications from him She rejoyced in God Supremely in Samuel Subordinately in God Emphatically in her Child more remissly Thus doth a good Christian rejoice in Christ thus is he the singular object of a believers joy David calleth God the gladness of his joy we translate it his exceeding joy Psal 43. 4. The Prophet Isaiah faith Isaiah 29. 19. The meek shall encrease their joy in the Lord and the poor amongst men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel Yet the proximate cause was v. 20 Because the terrible one was brought to nought and the scorner consumed and all those that watched for iniquity cut off Hence Christ commandeth his Disciples not to rejoice in this that the Devils were subject to them but that their names were written in the Book of Life Doubtless the subjection of Devils to them was true matter of joy ah but it was no primary object no supreme object of their joy no
vertue to vertue knowledge and to knowledge temperance and to our temperance patience and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to our brotherly kindness charity for if these things be in us and abound they will make us that we shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ I may add If these things be in us and abound our gracious Lord will be still adding to us making for us Borders of Gold and Studs of Silver I have now finished my Discourse upon this Text and all I have to say upon the return which this blessed Lover makes to his Spouse's Petitions It now comes to her turn to speak which she doth in the next words While the King sitteth at his Table my Spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof But of these words hereafter Sermon LI. Cant. 1. 12. While the King sitteth at his Table my Spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof IN the close of my last Discourse I told you I had finished what I intended to speak upon Christ's Answer to the Petitions of his Spouse We are now to attend to her Reply to him which is contained in v. 12 13 14. While the King sitteth at his Table my Spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof A bundle of Myrrh is my Beloved unto me he shall lie all night betwixt my Breasts My Beloved is unto me as a cluster of Camphire in the Vineyards of Engedi I begin with the first of these Let us first inquire into the sense of the words Concerning the Grammatical sense there is little difference amongst Interpreters We read it While the King some read it So long as the King sitteth at his Table The sense is the same and the Hebrew particle signifieth both In the next word which we translate the King there is something extraordinary the Hebr. is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There are two praefixes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before the word which alone signifieth The King I find Interpreters taking little or no notice of them but I am willing to allow as few redundancies in holy Writ as may be I find the same prefix Psal 146. 5. There it is prefixed to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God Ar. Mont. translateth it The God of whom Others Because the God of Jacob is his help If we may be allowed to interpret it so here it runs thus whiles and because the King sitteth at his Table and learns us that our Spikenards smell dependeth upon Christ's presence with us The King 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is demonstrative or emphatical I should judge it so here As much as That King Christ is a King above all Kings he is that King The King of Kings the most noble the most excellent King The Spouse in these three verses giveth her Beloved two Names she calls him King in this verse her Beloved twice v. 13 14. Christ's familiarity with the Souls which he loveth and the freedom and boldness which he alloweth them with himself ought not to breed in them low and mean thoughts of him He is a King and that King whiles he is the poor Soul 's Beloved Sitteth at his Table The Dutch and French translate it at his Round Table Arias Montanus in circuitu suo in his Round The LXX Interpreters who are followed by the Syriack the Vulgar Lat. and Tremellius in his Lying down That we may the better judge which is the rightest we must know the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comes from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth he hath compassed about Thence comes the Noun 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth a circuit a compassing about and that is the word here used and except in this Text I can find it but four times in Scripture 1 King 6. 29. He carved all the walls of the House round about 2 King 23. 5. The places round about Job 37. 12. It is turned round about by his Counsels Psal 140. 9. Those that compass me about So as the most literal Translation is While the King is in his Round whiles the King is round about But by those that are Criticks in the Hebrew Language it is observed that it is a word which signifieth the form of their sitting or rather lying down to eat meat for so was the fashion of those Countries The use of Tables and Stools was not then known but they were wont to sit or lie down leaning upon their Elbows and so to eat their meat Samuel 1 Sam. 16. 11. speaking of their sitting down to eat saith We will not sit down until he come that is David's Jesse's youngest Son In the Hebrew it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we will not round it Their meat was set on the ground and their manner in eating was to lie down round about their meat and so eat leaning on their Elbows with their hand raising their head from the ground The word only denotes to us their fashion of sitting or lying in a round figure when they did eat as we now sit about Tables Hence our Translation is good enough to express the sense While the King sitteth at his Table and the Dutch and French yet a little better at his round Table And the Translation of those who translate it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 accubitu recubitu circuitu is also proper because those words signifie the posture in which they did eat in those Countries But there 's no foundation for their Translation who understand it of a lying in Bed it doubtless signifies While the King sitteth or lyeth at meat It followeth My Spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof The word translated Spikenard is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from whence comes the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lat. Nardus and our Spikenard In holy Writ it signifieth two things 1. A Plant Cant. 4. 13. 14. The Plants are an Orchard of Pomegrantes with pleasant fruits Camphire with Spikenard Spikenard and Saffron Calamus and Cinnamon with all trees of Frankincense c. 2. An Ointment made in a great part at least of that herb and plant and made liquid that it might be poured out Mary used it to anoint the feet of Jesus John 12. 3. And the Woman Mar. 14. 3. The Ointment is probably meant in this place It may easily be gathered from those two Texts in the Gospel which mention it that in those Countries it was a piece of their entertainment of their friends to bring sweet Oil and to anoint their friends with it Thence Christ checked Simon Luke 7. v. 46. Mine head with Oyl thou didst not anoint but this woman hath anointed my feet with Ointment This expression plainly alludeth to that usage I shall not trouble you with the various fancies of Naturalists or their various stories about this herb or Ointment My Spikenard gives it smell Smells you know are of two sorts either more grateful or more ingrateful which we call stenches The Jewish
followers of Paul been to despise the followers of Cephas and those that followed Apollo to despise those that followed Paul How subject have we been to contemn those not of our own form though possibly better Scholars in Christs School then we for Scholarship in Religion is not to be judged by forms in the Church Certainly it had been much better for those self conceited Christians that looking upon their own beauty have so scorned others as low legal Christians to have thought with themselves Ah! but what is my Beauty to Christs Beauty And why do I despise who my self have not attained 2. A 2d sort of professors have erred by thinking of themselves above the measure of faith given to them I know nothing hath contributed so much to the miserable distempers of our Church as this that our professors have looked their faces in a multitiplying glass there they have beheld their parts above what indeed they were yea and their graces too But alas Friends Suppose them what you would have them there is no cause of glorying for if thou hast received it why doest thou glory as if thou hadst not received And let the parts and graces that make thee beautiful be what they will certainly they are short of Christs still who is thy great Example 3. But most abominable are those who dream that they are as holy as Christ as perfect as he is yea that they are Christed and Godded They may be Devilled and Sathanized with pride and self conceit but certainly when the Saint is grown to the highest pitch Christ must be higher by the head and shoulders Did these poor worms ever drink of that cup of which he drank Or were they ever baptized with the Baptism wherewith he was baptized If not how come they to sit at his right hand were they the onely begotten Sons of God full of grace and truth How then come they if they were not so to be sharers with him in his glory Away then with this blasphemous pride and if thou O thou worm of the Earth knowest not how to difference Christs Beauty from thine go to the Sun and Moon and Stars and consider if the imperfect twinkling light of the latter bear any Proportion to the triumphing light of the former go and learn how the heat of thy hand made hot by the Fire can possibly be proportionable to the heat of the Fire which gave thy hand what heat it hath But no more of this It is a thing not fit to be named amongst Christians This is the first Use In the 2d place Let this Caution you against that which the Apostle Jude complains of Jude 16. Having mens persons in admiration Under the former branch of Application I took notice of one great cause of the sad miscarriages of professors in our age I shall here touch upon another It is This having mens persons in admiration Christians have had such a one in their Eye whom they have looked upon as an holy and eminent person full of Spiritual Beauty and him they have followed over hedge and ditch never looking at Christ all the way It is good to behold the workings of Grace upon those who are made the subjects of it but to what end What that we might admire them and follow them no but that we might admire God in them and that Grace of Christ by which they are so holy so humble so meek so eminent in any Grace I am afraid many have made another use of Professors seeming Beauty in these times and the Lord hath let them see that their Beauty was vain and their appearing Favour deceitful Certainly Brethren if that which you have heard be true Christ alone is to be admired by you he is the chiefest of ten thousand Do you hear any one saying such a Minister such a Christian is fair O! he or she is fair they have Doves Eyes look thou up to Heaven and say Nay my dear Saviour thou art fair these are derivative Beauties thine is a primitive Beauty the Beauty of these is but an accidental adventitious Beauty thine is an essential substantial Beauty these are mixed Beauties thine is a perfect Beauty We have hearts that are exceeding carnal Men are very prone to admire their fellows rather for Outward Advantages than for Spiritual Perfections more for outward parts than for Grace and when they take notice of Grace in any to admire them rather than Christ for the Grace of God bestowed upon them The Woman Luk. 11. 27. was guilty of the first that hearing Christ speak lift up her voice and said Blessed is the Womb that bare thee and the Paps which thou hast sucked Christ reforms her wish v. 28. yea rather Blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it The Corinthians were guilty of the second who much admired those amongst them that had parts and extraordinary gifts The Apostle endeavours to reform that 1 Cor. 12. 31. I shew unto you a more excellent way that was Grace Grace is better than all the gifts in the World Christians are also subject to a third Errour where they see or at least think they see eminent Grace in any they are prone to admire them and follow them But Christians I shew unto you a more excellent object do you see eminent grace in any admire Christ in them and the eminency of Grace in Christ who hath given them such a proportion But let Christ still be greater in the Throne than the greatest Saint upon the Earth admire him and follow him But that will be a third branch of Application What you have heard methinks should send you all away filled with the admiration of Christ panting with desires after Christ and filled with the love of him 1. I say first Filled with the admiration of Christ Have you at any time seen an eminent Christian abounding with love to God zeal for him clothed with humility buried in self-denial adorned with any Graces which have made him acceptable to all with whom he hath conversed and have you admired such a one how he could abridge himself of the sweets and contentments of this life and satisfie himself with being any thing or nothing so he might but attain to the Resurrection of the Dead win Christ be found in him and win others to him and will you not admire that Fountain from whence all these streams are derived Is he a reasonable creature that gazeth upon a twinkling Star and admires the lustre of it and looks upon the Sun without any admiration at all Oh! admire Christ to whom all created Perfections are no more than so many drops of Water to the Ocean so many grains of Sand to a Mountain so many slender Beams to the body of Light in the Sun 2. Shall not this send you away panting after Union and the seal of Union with Christ Man as a sensual creature desires corporeal Beauty and 't is hard for him to see it
up in him to study him more to converse with him more to keep to closer communion with Christ you yet know not the pleasantness that is in him there is a breadth of sweetness you have not measured and a depth of pleasure which you have not fathomed In the last place Is Christ not only fair but pleasant not only beautiful through Grace but pleasant lovely gentle sweet in his converse with the Souls of his Saints Let this commend pleasantness to every true Christian Labour not only to be gracious but to be pleasant I will name but two Arguments in the case 1. Consider Thus you shall be like unto the Lord Jesus Christ 2. Thus shall you honour your Profession An unpleasant Conversation in a Christian dishonours the Lord Christ it makes men think that he is an hard Master that Christianity is an odd thing which metamorphoseth men and women into strange kind of creatures unfit any longer for converse with the World Take off this scandal from the Gospel You may be pleasant yet not profane your conversation toward the World may be winning though you do not give your selves up to such a liberty as to hazard the ruine and loss of your own Souls It was a piece of Paul's pleasantness He became all things to all men that he might win some 1 Cor. 9. v. 22. 2 Cor. 10. 33. Sermon LX. Canticles 1. 16. Our Bed is Green I Am come to the Second Proposition of the Text in those words Our bed is Green The Chaldee Paraphrast making the Congregation of Israel the Spouse in this Song thus glosseth upon these words In the time when thou dwellest in our Beloved Bed our Children are many and multiplyed upon the Earth we grow and multiply like a Tree planted by the Rivers of Waters whose leaf is beautiful and whose fruit is much Possibly that antient Interpretation hath led the generality of Interpreters to expound the Text concerning the flourishing condition of the Soul and of the Church while it is in Spiritual conjunction with the Lord Jesus Christ it is not My Bed but Our Bed is Green and flourishing for so the word may be translated So that not to enlarge in further discourses about the Exposition of the Text taking it for granted that the Holy Ghost in this Text respecteth the Bed as it is the place for procreation or as it was the place where they did eat their meat in those Countries we may from it observe this plain Proposition Prop. That the fruitfulness of the Soul and of the Church doth depend upon Christs conjunction with them I shall speak to this Proposition by way of Explication confirmation and Application By way of Explication we will only enquire what is the gracious Souls fruitfulness or the Gospel Churches fruitfulness 1. The particular Souls fruitfulness lyes in its bringing forth of good works You read in Scripture of the fruit of the Body Deut. 28. 4. And of the fruit of the Land Deut. 7. 13. The Children of God are said to be Married unto Christ And as the fruit of the Womb is the consequent of carnall Marriage so the fruit of holiness is the consequent of Spiritual Marriage Rom. 7. 4. You are become dead to the law by the Body of Christ that you should be married to another even to him who is raised from the dead that we should bring forth fruit unto God This fruit unto God is called fruit unto holiness Rom. 6. 22. Christ is also compared unto a vine John 15. 2. We are the Branches and therefore purged that we may bring forth fruit ib. 5. 16. Whether therefore the gracious Soul be looked upon as the Spouse of Christ and Married to him by faith its fruit is holiness or whether it be looked upon as a branch in Christ still its fruit is holiness our works considering us as men are our fruit Now look as several Plants according to their different natures bring forth different fruit some bring forth pleasant some bitter fruit some wholsom some again noxious fruit so it is with men and women who are the Plants of the World by Nature they are all wild Plants and are corrupt and bring forth corrupt fruit called by the Apostle the fruit of sin unto death But having a new Nature given them by God they bring forth fruit unto life the fruits of righteousness which are also called the fruits of the Spirit Eph. 5. 9. Gal. 5. 22. the fruit of righteousness to shew the species or kind of them fruit unto life shewing the consequent of them the fruit of the Spirit shewing the more external cause of them Now as these fruits more or less abound in the Soul the Soul is more or less fruitful This is the particular Saints fruit 2. The Churches fruitfulness is its bringing forth many Sons unto God Children are the fruit of the body caused by generation Gods Children are the fruit of the Church caused by Regeneration Conversion is called a begetting 2 Pet. 1. 3. We are said to be begotten of God 1 Job 5. 1. God is our Father but the Church is our Mother It is the Church which bears us which travels and brings forth Children unto God And the Saints are called the Churches Children Isa 54. 13. All thy Children shall be taught of the Lord and great shall be the peace of thy Children The thriving of the Church lies in this when many Souls are in it converted and brought home unto God This is the Souls fruitfulness and thriving and this is also the Churches fruitfulness and thriving This is that which my Doctrine speaketh of and saith that i t dependeth upon Christs conjuncton with the Soul and with the Church Look as the fruitfulness of the Woman depends upon the conjunction of her Husband with her as the fruitfulness of the plant depends upon its conjunction with the Earth as the thriving of the Body by its meat dependeth upon the blessing of God Man liveth not by bread only but by every word that cometh out of the mouth of God And as the thriving of the plant dependeth upon the influence of the Heavens the shinings of the Sun and the distillations of the Clouds so yea much more then so doth the thriving of a Church and of a Soul depend upon the influence of Christs grace I will prove it first concerning the particular Soul 2. Concerning the Church 1. Concerning the particular Soul 1. It is Christ that giveth the Soul a prolifick vertue The fruitful Woman must have a prolifick vertue so must the plant of the field otherwise the Woman is barren and the plant is barren That power which is in any Soul to bring forth the fruit of holiness that is its prolifick vertue and this is from the Lord this is that which the Apostle calleth to will in Philip 2. 13. The will is the root of all humane actions and the power in the Soul to do
the word of God ariseth from two things 1. The first is that sweet joy and peace which God Ordinarily brings into the Soul from them God will speak peace to his People saith the Psalmist and he creates the fruit of the lips peace peace saith the Prophet this joy is indeed of different degrees there is the rejoicing of hope for hope growing from a true Root bringeth forth some fruit of joy in the Soul though it indeed be not so fair and pleasant a fruit as that joy which is the fruit of assurance because the Union which hope gives the Soul with its beloved object is of the lowest fort But yet even this joy hath a great deal of sweetness but Oh! How great is that sweetness which is the riper fruit of assurance that peace which passeth all understanding A sweetness which oft times overcomes the Soul and is too great for it to bear Both which the Soul reaps from the word of God and from the Ordinances of God 2. But secondly this sweetness in the Word and Ordinances of God ariseth not from this alone but from other usefulness of them to the Soul That is not only sweet but that also which is profitable David saies that the Law of the Lord doth convert the Soul makes wise the simple enlightens the Eyes that they are useful to warn us and that in keeping them there is great reward By the word and the Ordinances of God the Soul hath wherewithal to answer the tempter in that it finds arguments to help it in repelling a secret motion to sin c. This makes the Word and Ordinances of God exceeding sweet to gracious Souls as they are those things by which the Soul is profited 3. But thirdly there is a further sweetness that the Word and Ordinances of God have to a gracious Soul as they are pure and holy Psal 119. v. 140. Thy word is very pure therefore doth thy servant love it The heart of man naturally doth not love purity but the Spiritual heart that is conformed to the image of God loves it It is turned into the likeness of the word and made to love whatsoever is holy and Spiritual and pure This makes the Rafters and beams of the Church to the true Christian to be like Cedar and Fir sweet smelling because of that purity and holiness which cleaveth to them 4. A fourth thing which the Proposition predicateth of the Word and Ordinances of God is their duration they are of an incorruptible Nature as Cedar and Fir or Pine Not subject to corruption and putrefaction as other sorts of wood are Isa 40. v. 8. The grass withereth and the flower fadeth but the Word of God shall stand for ever Our Saviour speaketh to this purpose Heaven and Earth shall pass away but one jot or tittle of the Law shall not pass away until all these be fulfilled I will open this a little 1. The Ordinances of the Gospel endure for ever Herein the excellency of the Gospel dispensation appeareth above the legal dispensation The Law brought nothing to perfection faith the Apostle to the Hâ—brews the Ordinances of worship under the Law were but shadows and types which ceased when Christ who was the substance of those shadows and the Antitype to those types once appeared in the World or at least when he dyed but the Ordinances which are as the beams and Rafters of the Gospel Church are durable and do not pass away The Jewish Priesthood ceased But the Gospel Ministry continues Christ hath promised to be with them to the End of the World God hath given Apastles Prophets Evangelists Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints until we all come in the Unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ The passover was but for a time until the Messiah who was the true paschal Lamb should he slain for the sins of his People but the Ordinance of the Lords Supper which comes instead of this is an Ordinance by which we shew the death of Christ until his coming again 1 Cor. 11. 2. The word of God in particular indureth for ever I will open this in two things 1. The Propositions of the word indure for ever They are Propositions of Eternal truth whether they be Dogmatical Propositions which assert the truth of God concerning the Nature or will of God or concerning the state of man or any thing relating to his duty or whether they be such as are promisory they are of an immortal Nature the reason is because God is a God that changeth not he is not Yea and Nay but Yea and Amen a God that cannot lye to his People nor repent of what he hath said unto them The truth of the word abideth for ever 2. The vertue of the word abideth and is immortal The same vertue which the word of God ever had in it to convince convert to enlighten quicken support comfort the same is in it still and indeed the proof of this dependeth partly upon the former for the vertue of the word whether it be the word of precept or the word of promise doth much depend upon the truth of it Now the truth of it being perpetual the vertue of it must also be so supposing the same concurrence of that holy Spirit which must be to make the Word of any use or vertue at any time I have spoken enough to the Explication of the point I come now to the Application of it which I shall dispatch by drawing some speculative and practical Inferences from what you have heard Hence in the first place you may observe a great difference betwixt the Legal and the Gospel Ministry And consequently the excellency of the latter above the former The Apostle to the Hebrews insisteth much upon this and by this argument proves the excellency of the Gospel above the Law The Beams and Rafters of the Church under the law they were not of Cedar they lasted no longer then until the timeof reformation The Evangelist St. John saith The law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ Two things commend the Gospel above the law Grace came by it truth came by it The law brought wrath the Doctrine of it tended to curse men and women and to conclude all under wrath but the Doctrine of the Gospel brought grace the news of the free pardon and remission of sins through the blood of Christ the acceptance of the Soul upon the account of his merits Truth also came by Christ Whether you take Truth for Substance and Realities opposed to types and shadows that came by Christ who was the End of the Law Or whether you take Trutâ— for Certainty and that which hath in it porpetuity and durâ—bleness that also came by Christ who put an end to the Ceâ—emonial law which consisted of temporary Ordinances for worship