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
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
and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 desideravit he hath desired Love is nothing else but a willing of good to the object beloved and desire is the eldest Daughter and first fruit of love For the particles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therefore they shew the cause of the believers loving of the Lord Jesus Christ because of the savour of his good Ointments The excellencies of grace which are in him of which it hath a spiritual sense This whole verse comprehends a second Argument by which the Spouse inforceth her first petition The first was drawn from that high esteem which her soul had of the love and grace of Christ 2. This is drawn from that particular affection which she had for him common to all spiritual Virgins which she shews was not brutish and irrational no it was because he was full of grace which was more precious than the most excellent Ointments and she had received the savour of this grace for his discovery of himself to the world as a Saviour and more specially to her soul as her Saviour was as an Ointment poured forth You may now take the substance of these two verses and so of the Spouses first and great petition thus Oh! That it might please my dearly beloved Saviour who is my Spiritual Bridegroom to shew me some token of special love and to multiply those tokens to me more specially in and by the words of his Mouth in Gospel Doctrines to speak unto my Soul which doth really prefer the tokens of his love and influences of his grace before the most choice of all creature comforts My beloved is full of grace and love which is sweet like good Ointment every discovery of himself is as sweet as Ointment poured forth therefore doth my Soul love him and not my Soul only but the Souls of all those who are not deflowered by the world and by lusts From the words thus opened several propositions of truth may be observed The mercies which the believing Soul thirsts after are spiritual distinguishing mercies The least of Christ a kiss is exceeding precious to a gracious Soul Though the least influences of grace be precious to believers yet they will not be satisfied without the fullest dispensations of grace and most frequent repetitions of it Believers have special thirstings after the Word of God The kisses of his Mouth The thirst of a true believer will not be satisfied without a Spiritual inward communion with Christ in his Ordinances The kisses of his Mouth A gracious Soul will be very bold and earnest with God for this spiritual communion with him The Lord Jesus Christ hath Loves A variety of Grace The Loves of Christ are better than Wine than all created comforts whatsoever The believing Souls knowledge of the Excellencies which are in Christ is the ground of its earnest desire of fellowship and communion with him It is an excellent Argument for a Soul to use with God for the obtaining of favours from him if it can truly say that it preferreth his favour before all created goods The Lord Jesus Christ hath good Ointments which cast a savour The name of Christ is as an Ointment poured forth Virgin Souls love the Lord Jesus Christ for those excelling graces which they discern in him Sermon II. Canticles 1. v. 1. 2 3. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his Mouth for his loves are better then Wine Because of the savour c. I Have in my former Exercises opened the Text and named those propositions of Doctrine which are couched in the words or rationally to be deduced from them I come now to the particular handling of them beginning with the first The thirst of a believing Soul is after Spiritual distinguishing mercies Nature teacheth every one to say who will shew us any good Good is a thing that all the creation is enamoured upon God is the fountain of all goodness Every good and perfect gift cometh from above from him who is the father of lights Who being not a debtor to the creature must needs dispense it out freely Hence that goodness of God which is his goodness of Beneficence not only dwelling in him as a piece of his divine perfection But flowing from him as a stream from the fountain of his liberality is properly called Mercy whether it be good to us in respect of its sutableness to our outward and bodily wants or to our more inward and Spiritual necessities Hence the Mercies and savours of God are either Bodily respecting out outward Man or Spiritual respecting our inward man The former such now as life health peace and prosperity riches c. are such as God gives to his Enemies as well as to his Friends he maketh his Sun to rise upon the evil and the good And sendeth rain on the just and unjust Math. 5. 45. Spiritual good things again are either Gifts of common or of Special Grace Gifts of common grace such as knowledge invention memory utterance c. These are indeed Spiritual gifts so called by the Apostle 1 Cor. 12. 1. ch 14. 1. because given out by the Spirit of God and tending to innoble the Spiritual part and they are also called the best gifts 1 Cor. 12. 31. They are so in their kind better than those which only concern the outward man but St. Paul himself mentioneth better than these in the very same Text I shew you a more excellent way Neither are these distinguishing favours but given in common to wicked as well as to good men But now there are Spiritual mercies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so called Not only because they come from the Spirit of Grace and innoble the Spiritual part of man but because they are suted to the greatest necessities of our inward man Such are the grace of Justification Union to and reconciliation with God pardon of Sin and the Senses of that pardon together with all the fruits of the Spirit of regeneration and Sanctification These are the distinguishing favours of God which difference the Child of God from him that is not Now I say these are those favours which the believing Soul thirsteth after and longeth for expressed here under the Metaphor of kisses And properly expressed under that notion Men and women use not to kiss such as they hate but such as they have an affection for It is a civil usage amongst us so to salute strangers indeed but frequency of kisses speaks a distinguishing love and some intimacy of Affection and are not ordinary unless amongst very intimate Friends such as is the Husband and Wife Brethren and Sisters c. But yet a little further When Isay the thirstings of gracious Souls are after such distinguishing tokens of divine love I understand it not Exclusively The Children of God are made up of flesh and blood as well as any others and subject to the same necessities and infirmities
sweet but these are sweeter than the Hony and the Hony-comb No portions of Scripture are like these to the believer Every verse in the book of God is a Star but as Stars differ one from another in glory so do the Revelations of the will of God in our apprehensionsa s more suited to our necessities For the proof of the proposition There is so much reason for it that were it not that it is fit your Faith for the help of which the Ministry is ordained should not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God I might for bear the use of any Scripture texts in the case The World was many hundred years old before there was any written Word of God of which we have any record The first that we read of was the Book of the Law which the King of Israel was commanded to have alwayes before him and to read therein all the daies of his life Saul was the first King of Israel he was a wicked man and regarded not the divine Law The next was David the man according to Gods own heart See his Affection to the word Superlatively exprest Psal 19. 7 8 9 10. 11. The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul the Testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple the Statutes of the Lord are right rejoicing the heart the Commandment of the Lord is pure enlightening the Eyes The Judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether more to be desired are they than gold yea than much fine gold sweeter also than the hony and the Hony-comb Psal 119. 14 15 16. I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies as much as in all riches I will meditate in thy precepts and have respect unto thy ways I will delight my self in thy statutes v. 97. Oh! how I love thy law it is my meditation night and day Read over that excellent Psalm at your leisure you will find in it a strange variety of expressions setting out David's value of and thirst after the Word of the Lord. I had saith he in one passage perished in my affliction if thy Word had not been my delight For the Word of God as delivered by Ministers you shall all along the History of the Scripture observe you read not of one good King of Judah and Israel but they were very desircus in all cases of consulting with the Prophets of the Lord and no doubt but the reading the Law and the Exposition of it in the Sanctuary was the reason why David Psal 42. Psal 63. and Psal 84 so passionately bewailed his being banished from it In short look through all the New Testament you shall find no company of Believers but by some Expressions or other declaring their Zeal for and fondness of the Word of God And the same Spirit continued in gracious Souls after the times that the Scripture makes mention of I remember Hierom tells us of a good woman whom he saith he could never find without a Bible in her hand aud Mr. Fox in his Martyrology tells us a story of Three Maids in Lincolnshire if I remember right who sold their Estates in a time of Persecution to buy a few Leaves of the Bible It were infinite to tell you the instances we have in Ecclesiastical History of the great thirst after and delight in the Word of God which good people have expressed What need we any further Instance than what the Experience of our own Age doâ—h afford How naturally do Souls born again as new born Babes desire the sincere Milk of the Word of God It is true some Hypocrites especially in times when Religion is in credit and reputation may lay hold of the Skirts of a Jew and say We will go with you I mean may shew some fondness of hearing and reading the Word but no Child of God no regenerate man but is indeed thirsty of it So that as it was said of Paul as soon as he was converted Behold he prayeth so it may be said of every man and woman let them before have been never so loose and vain and careless as to reading and hearing the Word Behold he readeth or Behold he heareth Nor indeed is it possible it should be otherwise If we consider first That this is the Will of God concerning every Soul The Soul is unchanged till it be in some degree willing and obed ent So as what St. Paul spake more openly he saith to God though more privately Lord what wilt thou have me to do Now this is one of the first things that God calleth such a Soul to do Hear saith God and your Souls shall live As God said to Paul Go into the City and it shall be told thee what thou shouldst do So God saith unto the changed Soul Go to Church and hear my Word and go and read in my Word and there it shall be told thee what thou shouldst do Augustin tells us a story that being in a great Agony of Spirit and not knowing what to do he heard a voice as out of an inward Room saying Tolle lege Take up and read The Soul in this doth but conform himself to an impression that is made by the Spirit upon his heart and is coaevous to the hour of his New Birth and this you shall see exemplified not in this or that particular Soul but in every Soul born of God The Infant is not more naturally disposed to suck the breasts of the Mother or Nurse than such a Soul is disposed to read and hear the Word of God from the impression of the holy Spirit of God upon it in the first hour of its Conversion Nor is any thing more reasonable than such an impression if we consider God's Ordination of his Word as the pabulum animae the food and nourishment of the new born Soul 1 Pet. 2. 2. As new born Babes desire the sincere Milk of the Word that you may grow thereby And for this very reason this thirst after and delight in the Word of God never goeth out of a sanctified heart for the Word is the proper nourishment of the Soul in all states it is not only Milk for Babes but Meat for stronger ones By these things men live saith Hezekiah The just shall live by Faith saith the Prophet The Word is the object of this Faith You shall observe that the God of Nature hath planted in most sensitive creatures a knowledge of their proper food and an appetite or desire to it The God of Grace hath given the renewed Soul a knowledge of its proper food too and created in it an appetite to it so as no soul is born again without a knowledge of the Word as that by which it is to live or an appetite to it Nay it is not only necessary to uphold the Spiritual Being of the the Soul but to all the purposes of its well-being Such a Soul findeth the Word an inexhaustible Fountain a large
case the experience of every Soul maketh it good it is natural to every man 1. Because in all answers of Prayer there must be a soul satisfaction upon some union with the object which it desired Joy is nothing else but the triumph of the Soul upon its union with the object which it desired Prayer is nothing else but the Souls desire expressed with its voice The answer of Prayers must be the Souls satisfaction in the obtaining of its desires this satisfaction ariseth from its union with its object upon which joy is but a proper and natural result and consequent 2. In all answers of Prayer there is an owning of the Soul by God As the Soul by Prayer owneth God acknowledging him the Fountain of that goodness which it beggeth so God in answering Prayer acknowledgeth the Soul Joh. 9. 31. We know that God heareth not sinners but if any man be a Worshipper of God and doth his will him he heareth All giving in of things prayed for doth not speak the answer of prayers God may hear and relieve the cry of the miserable when he doth noṫ answer the prayer of the righteous I have before hinted to you that there is an answer of our cries which floweth from Gods common providence as he is a God of pity and tender compassions and there is an answer of Prayers which comes from God as a God of truth and faithfulness how to distinguish these two I may possibly shew you in the application in some measure it is the latter answer not the former which is Gods owning and acknowledgment of the Soul as one for whom he hath a favour 3. There is yet one thing more in the answer of prayers last mentioned which to every thinking Christian is matter of great joy That it is that which speaketh the Soul to be beloved of God in Christ and to have Christ for his Advocate and Intercessor at the Throne of Grace It is in him that all the promises are Yea and Amen It is in his name that the believer asketh and it is he that doth the thing desired according to the promise John 14. 13. Whatsoever you shall ask that I will do that the Father may be glorified in the Son and because the thing is confirmed the promise is doubled v. 14. If you shall ask any thing in my name I will do it I shall add no more to the Doctrinal part of my discourse This notion in the first place distinguisheth the Child of God from all Men and Women in the World He is the only man that is glad and rejoiceth in Christ the only person that can say of Christ he is his chief joy 1. There are many that rejoice in their sensual satisfactions There is a man that shouteâ—h by reason of Wine Psal 78. 65. their Vivere est Bibere the pleasing of their Senses their Palate and Eyes and Ears is the greatest good they know after this their Souls move by desires and in the satisfaction of them they rejoice their mirth is madness and their laughter what doth it this of all other is the most sordid joy a rejoycing in iniquity yet this is the chief joy of many poor creatures 2. To others the World is their chief joy Their heart rejoyceth in their labour as the wise man speaketh Eccl. 2. 10. they look on all the work that their hands have wrought and on the labour they have laboured to do and they rejoice the gladness of their heart ariseth from the increase of their Corn and Wine and Oil and they know no better things to rejoice in For this rejoycing in Christ in the sense of his love and the pardon of their sins and the hopes of the glory of God alas how few understand any thing of it I have often had occasion to tell you that the spiritual state of a man or woman is not so much to be determined from his understanding and the notions there men and women may have great degrees of knowledge and yet have unsanctified hearts nor from their external actions An hypocrite may do many things and the best of Gods people in many things offend as from the motions of his will and affections He chuseth the things that please God To will is present with me saith Paul and consequent to this are the workings of the offections Thus a Christian is known by the objects of his love and hatred his hope and fear his desire and jâ—y The last is what I have to do with in this place Joy is one of the fruits one of the fairest fruits of the holy Spirit Gal. 5. 22. will any say to me how shall I know my state by the workings of this affection the answer is in the Text the believer rejâ—yceth in Christ the Apostle tells us that those that are the true circumcâ—sion worship God in the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus Phil. 3 3. A believer is not a Stoick as to the things of the World he lives in it and hath need of the things of it but Christ is his chief joy or the head of his joy as David saith of Hierusalem Psal 137. v. 6. But you will say how shall we know this whether Christ be our chief joy I answer 1. Thou wilt not thou canst not rejoice in any course of sin which is contrary unto Christ St. Paul tells us That he delighted in the law of God after the inward man he could not glory in a total freedom from sin he complaineth that he was sometime brought into Captivity to the law of his Members Rom. 7. 22. But he did not rejoyce in iniquity Wicked men sport themselves against God Against whom do you sport your selves Isa 57. 4 Solomon tells us That it is a sport to a fool to do mischief tells us of one who deceiveth his Neighbour and saith am I not in sport his joy is either in the satisfaction of his concupiscible appetite thus St. Peter tells us of some That they count it pleasure to riot in the day time 2 Pet. 2. 13. or in the satisfaction of his irascible appetite thus some sport themselves in doing or beholding mischief they rejoice at the destruction of him that hateth them which was a thing Job purgeth himself from Job 31. 29. or at the destruction of those that they hate they rejoice to do evil Prov. 2. 15. Yea and to see evil done as Edom rejoyced when the Jews were carried into captivity But now the Child of God can be a sharer in none of those joys These joys are incompetent with a rejoycing in Jesus Christ these men rejoyce in those things which crucified Christ I cannot say but a good man under some great temptation mâ—y feel some tickling pleasure in sin and the satisfaction of his appetite through ignorance or passion but he can have no fixed joy in any thing of that nature As a wicked man may have some fit of sorrow for sin so a good man may
promises The only thing that I can fancy why a Christian should make a doubt here is because they may be consequent to the removal of some bodily distempers whose influence upon the mind might cause those troubles that weakness or dulness such as Melancholy c. But hath God no hand in bringing or removing such bodily causes if he hath as certainly there is no evil in our bodies more than in our Cities which he hath not done why may not God both afflict us as to our spirits by sending such distempers upon our bodies and also remove the former which are the effect by the removal of the latter which he hath made to be the cause So that admit these things consequent to the removal of some bodily distemper yet they are the effect of God and may be and ought to be looked upon as the answer of our prayers 3. The greatest difficulty of judgment in this case is as to those things which are but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the things which concern this life which God giveth to the righteous as well as the wicked to the sinner crying unto him as well as unto his Children How a Christian shall discern that God when he gives him in these mercies gives them in as a God of Truth and Faithfulness remembring his promise to his Servants nor indeed is this Judgment very easie to the most discerning Christian Something I shall say in the case whether what will be satisfactory or no I cannot tell 1. If they have been given in after prayer made with a Spirit indifferent not too importunate I mean for the receiving of them we may hope well We may observe in Scripture that sometimes common good things have been wrung out of the hands of God by too much impatience and importunity which have never proved blessings Such were the Quails Num. 11. 31 32 33. the Text saith while the flesh was yet between their teeth e're it was chewed the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the People Such was the first King given to the Israelites even Saul the Prophet saith Hosea 13. 11. I gave thee a King in mine anger But when a Christian begs of God any good thing without too much impatience and importunity with an indifferency of Spirit resigning up himself to the will of God as to the receiving of it and God after such a prayer gives in the mercy I know not why we should not conclude it an answer of prayer This I think was the case of Hannah 1 Sam. 1. She was indeed grieved and troubled because God had denied to her the blessing of a Child in this trouble she prays in a solemn manner we read not of any anger in her Spirit against God any impatience or sinful importunity but she prays as a Woman of a troubled Spirit the Lord gives her a Child it was but a mercy of a common nature wicked Women have Children as well as others but it is given in after a solemn prayer she looks upon the Child as begged of God For this Child saith she I prayed and the Lord hath given me my Petition which I asked of him 2. I shall add but one thing more viz. When together with the good thing there is an heart given to the person to improve and make use of it for the honour and glory of God James lets us know that God never gives us in mercies in answer to our prayers and as evidences of his love and faithfulness that we might consume them upon our lusts when he tells those to whom he wrote James 4 5. You ask and receive not because you ask amiss that you may consume it upon your lusts when God giveth us in an outward mercy if he giveth it us in performance of his promise and in token of his love and favour he together with it gives in an heart inclined and ready to make use of it for the honour and glory of his name This is also exemplified in the case of Hannah in the text before-mentioned 1 Sam. 1. 27 28. For this Child saith she I prayed the Lord hath given me my Petition which I asked of him therefore also I have lent him to the Lord as long as he liveth he shall be lent unto the Lord. In the margent of your larger Bibles you will see it may be read He whom I have obtained by Petition shall be returned to the Lord. You have another no less famous instance of it in David Psal 116. v. 1. I love the Lord because he hath heard my voice and supplications The Lord hath heard his voice v. 1. He had inclined his ear unto him v. 2. The Lord had dealt graciously with him v. 7. He had delivered his Soul from death his Eyes from tears and his feet from falling Now mark the product of this He loved the Lord because of it v. 2. He resolveth to call upon the Lord so long as he lived v. 9. To walk before the Lord in the land of the living v. 13. To take the cup of salvation and to call upon the name of the Lord. v. 14. To pay his vows v. 16. To be the Lords Servant v. 17. To offer the Sacrifice of Thanksgiving c. Now where upon prayer for a more common mercy suppose life health riches success in business we find that the Lord hath given us both the thing which we asked of God and an heart to honour God with it and to make a due improvement of it we have there no reason to doubt but that it is given us in answer to our prayers and in testification of his faithfulness and love towards us This now is of great concern to us in order to our gladness and joy in him upon the receiving an answer of our prayers for how shall we rejoice in him upon any such occasion unless we discern our good things coming from him This I think is enough to have spoken to this question and upon this whole argument I shall now proceed as God gives me opportunity to the other effect this mercy had upon the Spouse We will remember thy loves more than Wine But of this hereafter Sermon XXIX Cant. 1. 4. We will remember thy Loves more than Wine YOU heard in my last discourse the first effect that the Beloveds favour shewed to his Spouse in the quick return he made to her prayers and the royal favour he had bestowed upon her in bringing her into his Chambers admitting her to some more special and intimate degrees of communion with himself had upon her it put gladness into her heart and brought her up to an exulting and rejoycing in him Joy is but a passion cito fit cito perit that doth not last alwaies it is like a Land-flood that is sometimes up but will in a short time abate Ordinary Joys do so But the Spouse resolves to keep up here and to this end she saith She will remember the Loves of Christ and give them a
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
God be vile in your Eyes who are so highly esteemed by him who is your Lord and Master and by whom you pretend to hope to be saved But to shut up this discourse You that will not conform your judgment to the Judgment of Christ concerning such People and behave your selves towards them accordingly shall certainly be forced to submit to his Judgment spoken of Jude 14. and 15. 2d Branch I would willingly improve this notion a little further not onely to reconcile your judgments to the judgment of Christ concerning the People of God but to reconcile you also to the Lord Jesus Christ and to the ways of God The effecting of the former if I could do it though it might produce some more quiet and peace in the World and reduce men to the rule of reason yet as to your own Souls if that be all all the effect it would have would be to save you from a deeper place in Hell It is not a good opinion of Gods People or a peaceable or kind behaviour to them will bring any man to Heaven I could wish that all who hear me this day to use Saint Paul's words to Agrippa were as the People of God are excepting that reproach and obloquy which they suffer those bonds and imprisonments to which they are exposed that they also would come into the number of those whom the Lord judgeth the best Souls in the World the fairest amongst women 1. Is it nothing to you to come into this reputation Leud profane debaucht Persons let their quality in the World be what it will in Scripture come under the notions of Children of Belial Vain Persons What an object of desire doth corporeal beauty appear to the World What will not a vain woman do to get it to preserve it to dissemble it what time what mony she spends to set it out What care she takes if as to it she be under any defects to hide them to correct them c. Quantum est in rebus inane All this it may be is spent in painting a Sepulcher a rotten post Possibly look into this Masquerade there 's nothing but what is rational filthiness and deformity An understanding void of any valuable knowledge A Perverse and stubborn will against what is rationally good beastly affections her Soul it may be is full of lasciviousness Pride Malice Envy All unlovely things Turbulent Passions Is Spiritual beauty worth nothing Shall Heathens judge a Soul that is knowing subdued to the rule of reason chast good just sober meek modest beautiful and worth a thousand Souls otherwise disposed and qualified and shall Christians judge otherwise shall they think Soul-beauty not valuable Or shall they not judge it worth any thing to be comely with Christs comeliness and in the Eyes of an all seeing heart searching God to be without spot or wrinkle consider Sirs how much this is beneath the name or profession of Christians how we are condemned by wanton gallants desiring corporeal beauty and Heathens valuing the rational beauty of the mind which commends it self to all rational minds before they be debauched 2. Consider what it is to have the King of Kings to desire and to predicate our beauty Psal 45. 11. So shall the King greatly desire thy beauty The King this King is God whose throne is for ever and ever and whose Scepter is a righteous Scepter v. 6. Beauty is in it self attractive but who is there that will not covet a beauty that a King should desire But what are all the Kings of the Earth compared with him who is the King of glory So shall the King saith the Psalmist desire thy beauty How great a thing is this for the great God to have a desire to the Sons of men and a delight in them And further for this King to predicate our beauty as the Lord doth in the Text and did concerning Job Job 2. v. 3. And the Lord said unto Satan hast thou considered my Servant Job that there is none like him in all the Earth a perfect and an upright man one that feareth God and escheweth evil and still he holdeth fast his integrity though thou movedst me against him to destroy him without cause For this great King to desire a Souls beauty signifieth to be the Spouse of Christ to be in favour with God in this life and it promiseth an eternal communion with God in glory in the life which is to come when the Marriage of the Lamb shall be consummate and the Bride the Lambs Wife shal follow him wheresoever he goes 3. Lastly consider The consequent of not being of the number of those whom Christ here calleth the fairest amongst Women Amongst men their is a medium betwixt mens looking upon a woman as the fairest and such a one whose beauty they desire and being abominable and odious in their Eyes But as to Christ there is no medium betwixt these two The unbelieving and the abominable are put together Rev. 21. 8. A man may not love a woman so well as to make her his Wife and yet have a kindness for her not hate and abhor her The case is not so betwixt God and the Soul He or she whose beauty the Lord doth not desire is by God hated and abhorred that Soul is abominable in his fight The abominable Rev. 21. 8. shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the Second death These arguments are enough to those who believe there is an Heaven and an Hell who believe there is a God and a Christ and that all mankind are under the favour or disfavour of this great and terrible God To persuade them to get into the number of these whom God judgeth the fairest amongst women Will any say to me but what can we contribute towards it Love is a free thing It is true Love is free and the Love of none amongst the creatures is or can be so free as the Love of God who is the freest Agent but yet hearken to the direction of the Psalmist who doubtless is an infallible guide in this matter Psal 45. v. 10. Hearken O Daughter and consider and incline thine Ear forget also thine own People and thy Fathers house So shall the King greatly desire thy beauty What is our Fathers house but the house of old Adam What are our own People but our own sinful courses our old sinful company How shall we forget them but by hearkening to the Counsels of God considering our state and condition what we are Whither we are hastening what will become of us in the latter end Giving and inclining our Ears to what To the reproofs corrections admonitions instructions of Gods Word to the knocking 's and motions of his blessed Spirit so shall the Lord Jesus Christ the King of Kings the Lord of Lords desire and greatly desire your beauty To those who what ever they are called and go for in the World are Atheists in heart and
believe nothing which the Scripture saith of Heaven or Hell and a World to come nothing of God or Christ nothing that I or any other can say will be enough God must persuade Japhet to come dwell in the tents of Sem. 3d Branch I shall shut up this discourse with two or three Words of Exhortation to such as this blessed Bridegroom dignifieth with this honourable compellation of the fairest amongst women 1. First let every such Soul be in some measure reconciled to itself There is a great difference betwixt Christs apprehension of many a pious Soul and its own apprehension of it self There is none so high in the Eyes of Christ none oft times so low in its own Eyes as the believing Soul is Paul calls himself the greatest of sinners and the least of Saints David calls himself a worm and no man Psal 22. Yea and I shall by and by shew you that low and mean apprehensions of our selves are a great part of our duty much of our beauty Yet there may be an extream in these apprehensions If these apprehensions hinder our faith in Christ our chearfull and comfortable walking before God our chearful looking up to God and calling him Father and coming with boldness to the throne of grace they are so far from a Christians duty that they are his sinful failings It is too ordinary amongst Christians to take so much shame to themselves that they know not how to give glory to God the glory of their being what they are to use Saint Pauls phrase Thou hast Christian many failings and infirmities thou seest much naughtiness and corruption in thine heart What then though thou beest not the fairest amongst the glorious Angels and glorified Saints Yet thou mayest be one of the fairest amongst women the glorified Saints have no spot in their garments no ill lineaments in their faces thou hast some but so have all that are on this side of the blessed mansions Thy spots may be no more then the spots of Gods Children and if they be not thou mayest be one of the fairest amongst women 2. Let every believing Soul learn hence to be humble That they are the fairest some of the fairest amongst Souls yet on this side Heaven this indeed is matter of glorying and rejoicing But then to consider that this is not their native complexion but an adventitious beauty that it is not an artificial but a created beauty This though it doth not take away all glorying all boasting from them yet it restâ—â—â—ineth them in their boasting and glorying to make their boast and to glory onely in the Lord if they look to the rock out of which they were hewed to the hole of the Pit from which they were digged they will find they derived not their beauty from thence they were in the quarry as unlovely rude stones as any others it is the Lord that hath hewed them out that hath polished them and of grace hath superinduced that beauty upon them wherein they glory and if they have received their beauty they have no reason to glory as if they had not received it I say he that considereth this and that now at the best he is not without spots his beauty is not perfect at least that part of his beauty which is inherent in him is not perfect this will shew a thinking Christian eternal cause to walk softly towards men and humbly as well as thankfully toward God Grace leaves no room for giveth no advantage unto pride hence though a believer most excelleth all other Souls yet he ordinarily least excelleth them in his own apprehensions 3. Let this engage every believer to high admiring thoughts of the Lord Jesus Christ Christ in this Text calls his Spouse the fairest amongst women you will find she requiteth him Chap. 5. 10. My beloved is white and ruddy the chiefest amongst ten thousand And certainly we have all the reason imaginable constraining us to this admiration of Christ we were by birth Ethiopians Our Father was a Syrian consider us in our selves as separate from Christs comeliness put upon us We are altogether black he is all glory all beauty altogether desires as the Spouse expresseth it Christ is to be admired of all them that believe we should never think of Christ but with admiring thoughts never solemnly discourse of him but in forms of admiration If Christ can see so much beauty in us who are poor creatures poor worms of the Earth who have no beauty but what he hath put upon us and into us certainly we must be very blind if we can see no beauty no loveliness nothing to be desired in him who is the bright Image of his Fathers glory and the express Image of his Person whom all the Angels adore and admire and in whom the Soul of the everlasting Father resteth and is well pleased and who is his great delight 4. Lastly Hath Christ stiled the believing Soul the fairest amongst women How do all such Souls stand concern'd to preserve their beauty Your beauty is your holiness the favour of God your acceptableness to him and his love towards you The state of Justification indeed cannot be lost the seed of God doth and shall abide in the Soul But yet your luster may be lost his manifestative love to you may be withdrawn your honour in the World may be lost You may walk like one covered besides the flocks of those who are the companions of Christ Is the vain woman so curiously careful to preserve her beauty that she will spare any time any mony for it will she avoid any thing that may be a stain in it How shall she rise up in Judgment against the loose careless and negligent Christian that doth not through the Spirit mortify the deeds of the body that doth not wash himself continually in the tears of repentance and beg the daily imputation of Christs righteousness to cover his new appearing nakedness That in his converse with the World doth not set a strict watch over his heart at the doors of his lips upon all his converse with men left he should receive any impression from the dirty World in which he lives which may be a blot upon his beauty in the Eyes of an holy God or in the Eyes of holy men But I have spoken enough to this Proposition raised from the compellation O thou fairest amongst women Sermon XLV Cant. 1. 8. If thou knowest not O thou fairest amongst Women Go thy way forth by the footsteps of the Flock and feed thy Kids by the Shepherds Tents MY business in my last exercise was to shew you the nature of her beauty whom the blessed lover here calls the fairest amongst Women I shall at this time shew you a Spot in her beauty from the Supposition in the Text If thou knowest not It is true that Suppositions neither in holy Writ nor in our Idiom do not alwaies contain positions of undoubted truth Sometimes things that are impossible or
reputation and reason which were the principles of the Roman valour but these which I have shewed you 2. As to the Acts of it They are all lawful resistances of sin He will resist unto blood but it still is in striving against sin Heb. 1. 2. 4. And this he doth by a lawful resistance This in the description I called a governing himself according to the rules of Gods Word 2 Tim. 2 5. If a man strive for masteries yet is he not crowned except he strive lawfully All sin is a transgression of the law of God No Christian fortitude can be shewen either in the encountring of a danger for not doing what he ought to do Or for the encountring of a danger rather then doing what God hath given him a freedom and liberty to do As to the first a man is not Gods Martyr but the Devils As to the Second he cannot be a Martyr for God but for his own humour God hath left him a liberty he need not suffer unless he will But now there may be several actions as to which a good man doth not see his liberty but lyeth under apprehensions that they are unlawful The Question is what a Christian is to do as to them And whether a Christian can shew any Christian fortitude in incountring dangers rather then doing them To which I shortly answer 1. That it is the duty of every good man as to such actions to use all the means he can as to a true information of his own conscience Reading the holy Scriptures and other good Books interpreting the Scriptures which may rightly inform him Keeping his ear open to all arguments on both sides to all instructions 2. If by no means he can receive Satisfaction as to the lawfulness of such actions the doing of them would be sin to him and he is bound to incounter any danger rather then do them and this is a piece of Christian fortitude The proximate Rule of our actions must be our own Conscience by which I mean our own practical judgment of the lawfulness or unlawfulness of things to be done according to the best information we have or can get concerning the will of God in his word the persuasions commands dictates or practice of others is no rule to us We must resist what our own Consciences tell us is sin and contrary to the will of God But it must be lawfully It must be such a resistance only as Gods Word doth allow us A private Person in the resistance of sin must not resist the power which is the Ordinance of God Rom. 13. 2. It is one thing to do what such powers command another thing by Arms to resist God hath not given the Sword into any private hand and such a Person drawing it shall perish with it we must strive against sin but we must strive lawfully not by ill Language or boisterous actions but by meek and patient Suffering 3. Lastly The End of Christian fortitude must be 1. The glory of God 2. The Salvation of our own Souls 'T is no Christian valour to be valiant for any thing but the truth the honour and glory of God the cause and concern of God in the World and in a matter where the Eternal Salvation of his own Soul is concerned Thus far I have opened to you the nature of this Christian courage and fortitude which I am calling to you for Let me in the next place offer something to you which may promove this excellent habit in your Souls A Natural courage cannot be given where any thing of a Moral fortitude may be promoved by rational arguments education and a due digestion of moral Principles But there must be some good natural foundation of courage for the Moralist in the managery of his disciple to build upon but it is not so as to this Christian fortitude Persons of the weakest sex of the lowest meanest weakest Spirits by nature have been made valiant as to the Spiritual fight from the dread of God the Love of God by saith in the Word of God and in the Lord Jesus Christ Now in order to this excellent habit and so necessary for these times 1. The first thing which I shall commend unto you in order to it is a Sound knowledge of the revealed will of God both concerning sin and concerning duty Knowledge is the foundation of saith It is that which giveth boldness to a man both in speaking and in acting A poor ignorant Person may be valiant but he cannot expect to be so he is Sometimes made valiant in an extraordinary manner by some special instinct and impression of God upon him as that Woman which told her Judges She could not dispute but she could dye for Christ A just knowledge of what I may or may not do of the Nature of God his promises and threatnings is most necessary to a true Christian courage and fortitude He fighteth more like a madman then a Christian that is not first fully Satisfyed in the goodness and justice of his cause 2. A knowing man may be cowardly if he be not rooted and grounded in the faith heartily and firmly believing what he hath the notion of Faith is the only shield that keepeth off the fiery darts of the wicked Now this is the gift of God and the way to obtain it is Prayer Beg of God his Spiritual armour and to make you valiant in the Spiritual fight Math. 26. 41. Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation 3. Set as loose to the World and all your concerns and Relations in it as you can It is observed of great Cities that they seldom hold out long against an Enemy Their Riches their Wives and Children make them Cowards That Man or Woman that hath not learned to deny himself in all his worldly contentments can never be valiant 4. Lastly look unto Jesus the Author and the finisher of your saith who for the joy that was set before him indured the cross despised the shame and is set down on the throne of God consider him who indured such contradiction of sinners in himself lest you be wearied and saint in your minds It is the Apostles advice Heb. 12. 3. The valour and courage of a General oft times puts mettal and courage into his Souldiers retrieveth a day of battel when it is upon the point lost The eying of Christ who is the author and finisher of our faith is of mighty use to us to ingage us to go on to the Spiritual fight without fear or dread Let me press this upon you by a few arguments 1. The first shall be from the ton general decay of this gracious habit in the Spirits of Christians God of 'old complained by his Prophet Jer. 9. 3. That there was a generation of them who bent their tongues like bows for lies but there wâ—â— none valiant for the truth upon the Earth How few are there this day that are valiant for the truth There are
incision into the tree 2. They set something to receive it The incision is made already The Souldiers made that when they pierced thy Saviours side There is nothing left for thee to do but to open thy heart to receive those influences of grace which freely drop from a crucified Christ yea God must do that too The truth is thou hast nothing to do more then to go up to the mountain of Myrrh to wait upon God in his Ordinances to sit under Gospel dispensations and to look up to Heaven for further grace Only remember the full Soul loaths the Hony-Comb the full dish receives not the most precious liquor and while thy Soul is full of the love of the World and love of lusts it receives no Myrrh while it is full of the love of pleasures wantonness froth and idleness it is like the riven dish that holds nothing But to come to a conclusion Is Christ to the Believers as a bundle of Myrrh Then hear me O you Children of the most high I will urge but two things upon you as an improvement of this Notion 1. Vse him as a bundle of Myrrh I will press this in three things 1. Be often taking the savour of him The woman that hath a rare smelling flower or perfume wears it in her bosom she suffers not the first to dye in her Garden nor the latter to evaporate in her cabinet but she is often smelling of it Oh that the Children of God would make as much use of Christ that they would not let his sweetness in a Gospel ordinance evaporate into the Air nor the sweetness of his mediatory actions revealed in the Gospel die in sheets of Paper but that they would study the Scriptures meditate on the Word think over Gospel Sermons when they have heard them Oh that they would wear the remembrance of Christs actions upon their hearts every day how sweet would it be to their Souls How pleasant to their thoughts the lazy student loseth the sweetness of those thousand notions that are in his Books because he never reads his Books nor spends time in studying them The negligent Christian loseth much of that infinite sweetness that his Soul might have by reflecting upon the Gospel story and Gospel truths for want of meditating upon them 2. Be exceeding careful to preserve the influences of Christ upon your Souls and your experiences of his love Shall the woman bind up her sweet flowers in a posy and the Lady carefully tye up her perfumes in bags and glasses that they might not lose their scent and she the sweetness of them And shall a Christian possessed of the sweet influences of grace possessed of the presence of Jesus Christ do nothing to preserve it Say with the Spouse here he shall lodge all night betwixt my breasts do as the Spouse Cant. 3. When she had found him whom her Soul loved she held him she would not let him go till she had carried him to her Mothers house to the house of her that conceived her Bind up your experiences of the Love of Christ in so many bundles and do what in you lyes to preserve his influences in the Vigour of them would you know how you might preserve them There is no better way then for you to keep up in your Souls an high value and esteem of them it is ordinarily for want of love that the Beloved withdraws himself 3. You are communicative of your sweet perfumes The Lady cannot wear her strong perfumes but others whom she cometh near will partake of her sweetness It is of the Nature of the perfume to season the whole Air. She will hardly have a perfume bat out of a desire to have it taken notice of she will be holding it to the Nostrils of others Oh that you who are possessed of the Lord Jesus Christ this bundle of Myrrh would be as communicative of that also That you would be commending Christ as the Woman of Samaria did John 4. to your Neighbours Kindred Children Friends Acquaintance that they also might follow after him in the savour of his precious ointments This is a piece of Christians duty When thou art converted saith our Saviour to Peter strengthen thy Brethren Thus to do good and to distribute forget not for with such service God is well pleased But to come to a conclusion 2. Is Christ to the believers a bundle of Myrrh Let not them be as bundles of Nettles to him The Bundle of Myrrh gives a pleasant smell cheereth the senses The bundle of Nettles Pricketh and offendeth and grieveth the Nostrils It is the Apostles exhortation Eph. 4. 30. Grieve not the holy Spirit by which you are sealed to the day of redemption The Exhortation is to holiness of Conversation The Argument is from the love of Christ to you The love of God constraineth saith the Apostle There are many arguments to press holiness from none so ingenuous none so constraining to an ingenuous Soul as the sweetness of Jesus Christ to it It breaks the heart of an ingenuous Child to remember its frowardness to an indulgent Father and a tender Mother Love worketh much upon a good Nature Study this Argument and the force of it upon your Souls to make you perfect holiness in the Lords fear Sermon LV. Cant. 1. 13. He shall lye all night betwixt my Breasts I Have united the bundle of Myrrh in my Text that I might give you the fuller smell thereof Christ is the Posie of his Saints we must now find him a convenient place the Text assigns him a Posies place about or betwixt the breasts not upon her shoulders as if he were her burthen nor behind her back where she could not view him but in her breast where she may be alwaies pleasing her senses with him The Psalmist Psal 16. 8. says I have set the Lord alwaies before me he is at my right hand therefore I shall not be moved De Ponte notes that the believing Soul in the time of spiritual Combate setteth Christ at her right hand but in the time of Peace she lodgeth him betwixt her breasts It was an old usage saith Atheneus to anoint the breast with Myrrh because of its vertue to strengthen the heart here our Spouse placeth her bundle of Myrrh Not to trouble you with the strained fancies of Interpreters concerning the Spouse's breasts In mammis signum amoris the place betwixt the breasts is near to the heart and the seat of the beloved Object it is the beloved Husband and the Beloved Babe that is allowed to lodge betwixt the breasts She might have said he shall lodge near my heart but she rather chuseth to say betwixt my breasts which are an outward part nigh to the heart intimating that she would not only bear Christ upon her heart but express her love by living to Christ in her outward conversation But not to overstrain the Metaphor she doth not say he shall come but he shall lodge or lodge all
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