23. 4. Though I walk through the shadow of death I shall fear none evill for thou art with me thy Rod and thy Staff comfort me 2. That done a Christian's next work is to look out the Promises which God hath made either such as are more general and respect his People under any Trial or such as are more special and relate to the People under any Trial or such as are more special and relate to the People of God under such particular pressures of Affliction that they lie under The Book of holy Scriptures is a great Store-house there is scarce any condition of Christians to which some Promises are not suited It is of great use for a Christian to know and understand and be acquainted with the Promises They are as the Jointure to the Wife all that she hath to live upon only with this difference the Woman liveth not upon the Jointure which her earthly Husband hath made her till he be dead Christ died once he dieth no more but ever lives but the Promises are what the Soul liveth upon when God seems as dead withdrawing himself from the support and protection of his People A good Christian ought not therefore to be a stranger to them 3. It is the duty of a Christian to betake himself to these shades to eye the Promises to commit himself unto them to hope in them these are acts and exercises of Faith Come my People saith God by his Prophet Isaiah Enter into the Chambers and hide thy self for a little time till the indignation be overpast Our coming is by Faith committing our selves unto God and trusting in him 1 Pet. 4. 19. Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their Souls unto him in well doing as unto a faithful Creator Christ is the primary object of our Faith the Promises are the proximate objects In such a time therefore let every good Christian call the Promises to his mind whet them upon his Soul offer his Soul to them call upon it to trust in them 4. It is the duty of a Christian at such a time to wait upon God with patience God ought to be trusted in regard of his Truth and Faithfulness his Power and Goodness He ought to be waited upon in regard of his Majesty and Greatness and Wisdom The Promises are oft-times made in general for help deliverance strength and the like without specifying the particular way and method which God will use and without limitations of time He that believeth maketh not hast 5. There must be a close walking with God though we be sore broken in the place of Dragons and covered with the shadow of death yet we must not forget the Name of our God our heart must not turn back from him we must not deal falsly in our Covenant with him nor suffer our steps to decline from his way Psal 44. The Promise Psal 37. 4. that we shall dwell in the Land and be certainly fed is prefaced with a Precept to trust in the Lord and to do good And the advice of the Apostle Peter is to commit our Souls in well doing unto God as to a faithful Creator 6. Lastly Prayer must be added the promises are Gods bonds by which he hath made himself a Debtor to his Creature Prayer is an action of ours by which we put these bonds in suit Sermon XLIII Cant. 1. 7. Tell me O thou whom my Soul loveth where thou feedest where thou makest thy flocks to rest at Noon for why should I be like one of them that turneth aside by the flocks of thy Companions I Am still upon the Spouses third Petition to her Beloved Tell me O thou whom my Soul loveth where thou feedest where thou makest thy flocks to rest at noon Methinks I could say with Peter when he was with his Master upon the Mount of Transfiguration It is good for us to be here let us build here two Tabernacles one for the Spouse another for her Beloved What she would have in this Petition clouded with Metaphors I have more fully before opened either a more full communion with Christ most free from interruptions Or his more special influence upon her in her hours of affliction and persecution I have spake something already to it in both these senses I have but one thing to add before I come to the words which are the reason of her Petition that is from the form of the words considered as a prayer so expressive both of her wants and desires a supply The Proposition I shall shortly speak to is this Prop. That though a Believer at all times fees a need of the presence and influence of the grace of Christ yet more especially in the time of afflictions and tryals Return unto me for I am married unto you saith the Lord was Gods language of old to his ancient Spouse the People of the Jews The Apostle largely pursueth the same metaphor Eph. 5. 32. This is a great mystery I speak concerning Christ and the Church so he concludeth his discourse the Wife desireth her Husbands presence at all times God hath made the Woman the weaker sex and the Wife stands in daily need of her Husband whom God hath made her head to guide and conduct her she is not only as a Vine for fruitfulness but for weakness and dependency also so is every believing Soul it hath alwaies need of that promise I will never leave you nor forsake you But as the Wife hath more especial need of the Influence and assistance of her Husband in times and matters of difficulty and distress so hath the believing Soul so that he at all times prayeth with David Psal 27. 9. Hide not thy face from me put not away thy Servant in anger thou hast been my help leave me not neither forsake me O God of my Salvation The Child of God knoweth what will follow at any time if the Sun of Righteousness doth not shine upon him all his protection strength life healing is in the shadow of his Wings But yet I say he or she seeth a more especial need of his presence and influence in the noon of sharp Trials and Afflictions Hence you shall observe that though the Servants of God have kept their daily courses of prayer yet at such times they have used themselves to more solemn addresses and applications to God of which you have plentiful instances in Scriptures in the solemn fasts and prayers put up to God in such times and their more special Petitions put up with reference to such times and dispensations of Providence Hence David cryeth out Psal 22. 11. Be not far from me for trouble is near for there is none to help me and again v. 19. Be not thou far from me O God make hast to help me so again Psal 35. 22. It was a time of great outward straights with David as you may see by reading all the former part of that Psalm v. 22.
so it is a creature of a great spirit and courage He rusheth into the Battel and is not afraid Jer. 8. 6. God speaking to Job concerning the Horse giveth an excellent and elegant description of him Job 39. 19 20. where God asketh Job Hast thou clothed his neck with Thunder Canst thou make him afraid at a Grashopper The glory of his Nostrils is terrible He paweth in the Valley and rejoyceth in his strength He goeth on to meet the armed man he mocketh at fear and is not affrighted neither turneth he back from the Sword The Quiverrattleth against him the glittering Spear and the Shield he swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage neither believeth he that it is the sound of the Trumpet He saith amongst the Trumpets Ha Ha and he smelleth the Battel afar off the Thunder of the Captains and the shoutings With respect of this Quality of the Horse I conceive it is that the Spouse is here compared to Horses War-like Horses full of spirit and courage I have likened thee to a company of Horses That is I have made thee bold couragious full of resolution to make a spiritual resistance to thy Enemies to bid a defiance to them no more to regard the reproaches and revilings the threats and rage and violences of wicked men that oppose thee and cause thy trouble than the Horse regardeth the ratlings of the Quiver or the sound of the Trumpet or the glittering Spear or Shield Fear not the rage and madness of thy Enemies I have made thee like to the Horses in Pharaoh's Chariots which are so bred and so spirited that they mock at fear and the more their Enemies rage and make a noise the more couragiously and with the more mettle they go on This I take to be the most proper and likely sense of the Metaphor in this Text accordingly I shall handle it 2. But it is not said To an Horse only but to a company of Horses Why to a company of Horses The term company denotes Multitude and Unity 1. It denotes Multitude The Church of Christ consists of many Individual Believers who in respect of their Innocency and feeding in the same Pastures are compared sometimes to a Flock of Sheep here in respect of that spirit of valour courage and fortitude which animates them all to a company of Horses 2. It is a term which denotes Unity not a numerical Unity but an Unity in some common work and in some accidents common to them all Thus the Apostle saith We being many are one body There is saith the Apostle Eph. 4. 4 5. one Body one Spirit they are called in one Hope of their Calling they have one Lord one Faith one Baptism they have one God and Father of all The Spouse is not compared to a company of Horses in a field or in the streets but to a company of Horses in a Chariot where they draw together run together upon the Enemy Every Believer also hath a Company within himself the several powers and faculties of his Soul armed with the whole Armour of God These are like a company of Horses in Pharaoh 's Chariots 3. But why in Pharaoh's Chariots Pharaoh was a common name to the Kings of Egypt and a company of Horses in Pharaoh 's Chariots signifieth no more than a company of the best Egyptian Horses-Egypt at that time was one of the most famous places for Horses in the world Hence you read that Solomon had Horses brought out of Egypt 1 King 10. 28. And the King of Judah sent his Embassadors into Egypt that they might give him Horses Ezek. 17. 15. So Isa 31. 1. Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help and stay on Horses v. 3. Their Horses are flesh and not spirit So as I think they have but a feeble support from this Text who would make advantage of this Text to justify their notion that this Divine portion of holy Writ is no more but a Love-song betwixt Solomon and Pharaohs Daughter To all this I might add one thing more that the Horse by reason of those excellent qualities which the God of nature hath endued it with hath in all ages been in a very high esteem with men The vanity of some Persons in the expression of this hath been very great Historians tell us the Persians made solemn funerals for their Horses in other places they builded Pyramids over their Sepulchers Alexander the great built a City to the memory of his Horse Julius Caesar set up his Horse a marble effigies The Emperour Commodus would have his Horse buried in the Vatican Our age is more rational then to allow these vanities but yet it is vain enough many a man takes more care for the mangery of his Horse then for the Education of his Child and alloweth his Horses more attendance then his wife Which lets us see what a value men yet put upon this creature So as this sense may be put upon the Words of this Text thou art as dear to me and in as high esteem with me as the Horses in Pharaohs Chariots are to and with him The Proposition then of the Text amounteth to this Prop. That the Church of Christ and every particular believer in it is in Christs Eyes exceeding lovely and highly esteemed of by him and knowing that she is in the midst of Enemies he hath cloathed her with strength for the victory sufficient if she will make use of it he hath made her like to a Company of Horses in Pharaohs Charrots The proof of the Proposition then lyeth in the proof of these two things 1. That the Spouse of Christ is in his Eyes exceeding goodly and beautiful and highly esteemed of by him 2. That she is cloathed with sufficient strength and might to overcome her Enemies For the proof of the former I shall not insist upon it for besides the large discourse I have already spent upon that when I handled that phrase O thou fairest amongst women The expressions of Scripture are so obvious to every Eye where Christ setteth out his Love to and esteem of his Church and every particular believer that I need not spend time in giving you an account of them The latter is no less plain Immediately upon the fall God gave out this promise Gen. 3. 15. The seed of the woman shall break thine head and thou shalt bruise his heel The seed of the woman was Christ and his seed those that believe in him Conformable to this is that promise Rom. 16. 20. God shall bruise Sathan under your feet shortly It was an ancient promise made to Abraham and in him to all that walk in the steps of his faith Thy seed shall possess the gates of its Enemies God saith Zech. 10. 3. That he made his flock as a goodly Horse in the day of battel v. 5. And they shall be as mighty men which tread down the Enemies as mire in the streets in the battel they shall fight because the Lord
universally agreed and that he wrote it by a divine inspiration can be as little questioned by him who understands aright the Jewish reverence of it and ranking it equally with other Books of the Canon Besides that the Churches constant possession of it requires some force of argument before it can be rejected and this hath not yet appeared Several witnesses indeed have come against it but either they have not been agreed or they have spake nothing Cogent in the cause Whereas some object the many amatorious expressions throughout the Song It signifies little to those who have so far observed the Scriptures as to take notice that as the Apostle makes use of the Ordinance of Marriage to represent the mystical Union between Christ and the Church Eph. 5. 32. So Christ is expresly called a Bridegroom his Church and the believing Soul in particular the Bride Joh 3. 29. And that his preparing the Soul for and uniting the Soul to himself is called a Betrothing Hos 2. 14 15. and the Church is called the Lambs Wife Rev. 22. and a pure Virgin 2 Cor. 11. Yea so far is this from being an argument against the Divine Authority of this sacred Book that the uncouthness of the same expressions is an argument that it is no meer Woman here intended for besides that which Mercer noteth out of Aben-Ezra that modesty would not have allowed Solomon to have left such expressions had they been to have been carnally interpreted upon publick record to posterity Nor was it lawful to the Jews to make their Sisters their Spouses yet is it a phrase often used in this Song My Sister my Spouse besides what I noted before of the strange comparisons used if they were carnally to be interpreted Whereas it is objected by others that the name of God is not once mentioned throughout the Book They might as well upon this account quarrel at the Book of Ecclesiastes out of the Canon or if not that yet the Book of Esther which are both subject to the same charge if any will tell us that though the name Jehovah be not found in Ecclesiastes yet other names of God are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Besides that neither those names are peculiar to God nor yet to be found in the Book of Esther We also say with Mercer That there is hardly a verse in this Song wherein mention is not made of God and Christ according to that metaphorical way of expression in which it pleased the Holy Ghost to dictate this Sacred Song to Solomon nor was their need of any further mentioning of God in a discourse composed in this form than under the notion of a Beloved c. in which notion he is frequently mentioned And certainly had this objection been of any value the superstitious Reverence which the Jews had of the name Jehovah would have engaged them first to have pickt this quarrel which yet it did not But Bernard gives another reason and with him I find Sixtus Senensis Delrio and others agreeing which I confess pleaseth me Amor loquitur qui Dominum nescit c. God is not indeed made known to us in this Song under the names of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all which speak Power Lordship Soveraignty Sufficiency c. It is love here speaks Quando vult timeri dominum quando vult honorari patrem quando amari sponsum se nominat Dominus Solomons design in this Book is to set out God in Christ reconciled to his Church and to the souls of his People imbracing them in the arms of loving kindness Those other names of God Jehovah Elohim c. spake the power and greatness of God which well suited the first dispensation of the Covenant of Grace which was more hard and rigorous than the latter dispensation of it So that the not naming of God under those fore-mentioned notions through out this book only speaks it a more evangelical portion of Scripture than some other Books of Holy Writ are Solomons design in this Book was to set out God in Christ reconciled to the Soul imbracing it in the sweetest arms of loving kindness and tender mercies The wisdom of the Holy Ghost therefore directeth Solomon to speak in a dialect proper to the matter he writeth nor is there any thing more usual in Scripture than for Gods people going to him for mercies to give him names expressive of that sufficiency which is in him and of that suitableness in him to the necessitous state of his people and readiness to help him David praying for Divine Protection calleth God his Rock his Shield his Buckler his strong Tower and Christ hath taught Gods Children to say unto him Our Father Nor thirdly Is their quarrel against this Sacred Book considerable who have this to object against it That no place of it is quoted in the New Testament for besides that by the same allegation they may blot out the Book of Judges Ruth 2 Sam. 2 Chron. Ecclesiastes and divers of the small Prophets out of the Canon of Scripture I say besides this there are some phrases in the New Testament which in the Judgment of Beza and others seem to be borrowed out of this Sacred Song such as those Joh. 6. 44 No man cometh to the Son but he whom the Father draweth compared with Can. 1. 4. Saint Paul tells his Corinthians that his desire was to present them to Christ as a Chast Virgin which corresponds with Chap. 5. v. 2. of this Song where Christ calls his Spouse Undefiled From what hath been said appeareth that although the Penman of this Book was Solomon yet a greater than Solomon was the Author of it Solomon an holy Man spake in it as he was inspired by God I proceed to the 2d Proposition 2. Prop. That this Book is a Song This argues it a piece of Hebrew Poetry wrote originally in Meeter upon which account it differs from most of the other Books of Holy Writ But more particularly I shall open this in 4 or 5 particulars 1. It is I say a Song one of those which the Apostle Eph. 5. calls Spiritual Songs it may be too hard a task for me to determine why it pleased the Holy Penman of this Scripture to write it in this rather than in any other form I shall by and by shew you that it was a Song of Love and possibly the holy Penmans design being to discourse the Souls Communion with Christ here under that Metaphor might be one cause Marriage-Songs being very ancient 2. To this I shall only add the observation which some have made of that singular vertue which the composing and singing of Songs hath had to excite and inflame the affections I remember our Divine Poet tells us That he was most with God while he was exercised in his Divine Poetry Besides the suitableness that a Song hath unto the natures of others the same Author observes That a verse may hit him
treated in Gods Chambers 2. But Secondly There being no merit in any thing we do or suffer at Gods command why should we think God obliged thus to reward the highest degrees of faith or holiness What if God will hear one believers prayers sooner then anothers what if he will give one such Soul more peace then another who shall say unto him what doest thou or why am I thus and others are otherwise we certainly ought to allow the freest and most sovereign agent what priviledge we every one claim for our selves with reference to our Children Servants Friends whiles every of us receives more then we deserve what reason have we to repine because others have more then we 4. I beseech you consider whether this fruit floweth not from a root of Pride Why should my Eye be evil because anothers is good Why should I repine because God is kinder as I think to another Soul then to me if I did not secretly think that I had deserved as much and as well as those if not better The humble Soul looks upon itself as meriting nothing and therefore prizeth every influence of Divine love The Dogs eat the crums said the poor Woman I am not worthy that thou shouldst come under my roof saith the Centurion therefore speak the word only Now if this be thy root of thy complaint be assured there is not a more bitter one in all the wilderness of nature There is no Soul at further distance from obtaining at the hand of God then that Soul that challengeth God as a debtor to his Creature if thy Soul saith as Haman to whom should the King more delight to honour then me thou art like enough to meet with as great disappointment as he did God sets himself to pull down the Soul that exalts itself above measure God will keep Souls swell'd with this tumor with Thorns in their flesh for their buffetings it is enough if they find his grace sufficient for them 5. If it doth not argue this yet it speaketh a discontent at and dissatisfaction with Gods methods in the conduct and government of thy Soul in order to that end to which he hath appointed thee This frame of spirit is sinful enough it is indeed a branch that groweth out of the root of pride Gods general promise is that he will with-hold no good thing from them that live uprightly and that all things shall work together for the good of them that love God but we must leave the judgment of good to the wisdom of God who knoweth what is good for us while we repine at Gods dispensations we either shew our distrust and unbelief in these promises or assume the judgment of good to our selves paramount to the judgment of God No sin more provokes God then this of murmuring and repining It was the great sin of the Israelites which at last provoked God to swear in his wrath they should never enter into his rest Let us therefore learn thankfully to acknowledge what grace we have received and with silence and patience to wait for what further manifestations of it we desire and judge our Souls to stand in need of 2. Hath the King of glory whom we serve Chambers wherein he treateth the Souls of his Subjects not only Mansions but Chambers further degrees of gracious influxes manifestations Let us then learn from hence That no man serves God in any degrees of service for nothing some indeed shall have greater degrees of reward then others none shall serve him for nothing there is a reward for every righteous Soul He that serveth God in truth and sincerity though with a great deal of weakness and imperfection though he comes into his Service at the last hour yet he shall have his penny he shall have Heaven and Glory If any will come in to Gods Service in the morning and work in the heat of the day and labour for God more abundantly he shall not lose his reward nay he shall be rewarded according to his work as there are degrees of active working Grace so there are degrees of manifestative love and this by the way 1. It is a great encouragement to those that are young to turn into the ways of the Lord betimes Josiah and Timothy and Enoch were all of them such as began early to walk with God Of Josiah it is said Chron. 2. 34. That when he was but eight years old he began to seek after the God of David his Father what special favour he had from God his story will tell you he was early taken into the Chambers of glory and while he was upon the Earth God treated him in his Chambers he would not in his days bring the intended evil upon Judah Enoch walked with God the Text saith he was not for God took him Timothy was a great Favourite used as a great instrument for God and doubtless these three and so those others who have early given up themselves to God and continued to the end will hereafter be found in some degrees of glory above others 2. It is a great incouragement to men and women to put out themselves mightily for God to love the Lord according to the tenour of the first and great Commandment with all their Soul and all their strength all their might God hath degrees of love to reward degrees of holiness service though possibly there may be some rare instances wherein the wisdom of God as unsearchable is to be adored and not to be found out and we may see some who appear to us more exemplary in holiness then others yet clouded under darker dispensations walking in the dark and seeing no light yet ordinarily it is otherwise those who walk most in the light of holiness have more of the light of Gods countenance enjoy most peace and have most manifestations of Gods special love and this now lets us see what a difference there is betwixt the service of God and the service of the Devil or the service of the world many a one serves the world and gets little and those that make themselves least drudges to it get most of it he that serves the Devil in serving corruption the more he toils in that service the more torment he hath But the more a man serves God the more peace the more inward rest and sweetness he hath 3. This discourse may give some relief to such Christians whose hearts are right with God but yet their attainments are not proportionable to others The King hath not brought them into his Chambers indeed the fault of this may be in our selves and where it is so we have reason to blame our selves and to sit down in silence and endeavour for the time to come to mend our pace in the ways of holiness there are Stairs by which Christians usually ascend into these Chambers come up I mean into this near degree of communion with God if we will not do what in us lies to
a foundation for those scandals which arise in it and are thrown upon it from which it appeareth black Lastly You that are the sincerer part of the Church and have heard that you must expect that your Mothers Children should be angry with you that there should be some bad fish in the drag-net with the good some Tares in Christs Field of Wheat some that will be spots in your Assemblies and that these if they do not make you black yet will make you appear black what remaineth but that you take care that neither the lusts of your own hearts which are in a sense your Mothers Children make you black nor the opposition that you will meet with from such as are false Brethren make you appear more black then indeed you are This care of yours must be shewed 1. In a watchfulness against your motions to sin especially such sins as are your proper lusts the sins which do most easily beset you 2. In a mortifying of your Members 3. In a care that you be not unwarrantably disturbed and unduly disquieted because of the opposition which you find srom the law of your Members 4. In a maintaining the Spiritual Combate c. 5. In an innocent and inoffensive carriage in your stations that those who would speak evil of you as evil doers may see your good works and glorify your heavenly Father for so saith the Apostle 1 Pet. 2. 15. is the will of God that with well doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolishmen in avoiding unnecessary divisions and separations we ought to walk with all that own the name of Christ as far as the Shooes of the Gospel will carry us where we cannot walk with any who call themselves Christians and walk with Christ that is keep to the rule and law which he hath given us there we must part and the offence lieth on their parts who give the cause of it but otherwise we ought to keep Unity Finally in a peaceable and quiet departing from them with whom we cannot agree I know all this will not avoid the unreasonable anger of some of our Mothers Children but by doing this we shall remove the stumbling stone and rock of offence from our own doors they will be those by whom offences come and the woe pronounced by our Saviour will belong to them Sermon XXXIX Cant. 1. 6. They made me the Keeper of the Vineyards THE Spouse is yet apologizing for her Blackness of which she assigneth four Causes 1. Her afflictions The Sun saith she hath looked upon me 2. Her opposition both from within and without My mothers Children were angry with me These I have discoursed and come now to the third Cause assigned by her expressed in these words They made me the Keeper of the Vineyards They that is my Mothers Children before mentioned made me the Keeper of the Vineyards In my Explication of the Text I hinted a double sense of the words the one literal the other metaphorical In the former it signified her intanglement in secular affairs Keeping the Vineyards is a secular imployment a mean imployment and a laborious imployment Thence you read that the General of the Assyrian Army 2 King 25. 12. left of the poor of the Land to be the Dressers of the Vineyards and those in the Parable who had laboured in the Vineyard told their Lord that they had born the heat of the day Thus the sense is I have been too much intangled in secular affairs that hath been the cause of my blackness 2. Others understand the term Vineyard in a metaphorical sense God useth the term to signifie his Church Isa 5. 1 2 3. As God hath a Vineyard so Idolaters and superstitious persons had their Vineyards Most Heathen Nations having some notions of a God have had some Worship of a Deity and wanting the guidance of holy Writ grew vain in their own imaginations hence came Idolatry and Superstition the Israelites having lived many years in Egypt and in their passage through the Wilderness conversing with the Moabites and Midianites and not driving out all the Canaanites out of the promised Land by converse with them learned to know and to serve their gods as you shall read in their whole story in the Books of Kings and Chronicles there being a corrupt as well as a sincerer part in the Jewish Church the corrupter part imposed upon the whole the Idolatrous and Superstitious Worship and Rites of these Nations This is the sense into which the Chaldee Paraphrast interpreteth these words I am not apt to think this the sense but more incline to the former yetâ—â— shall not wholly pass it over partly because the Chaldee Paraphrast is a very antient Interpreter and partly because that sense carries a truth in it Hence arise two Propositions Prop. 1. That a submission to false Worship and Superstitious Rites in the Service of God will make the Spouse of Christ appear black Prop. 2. That great entanglements in secular affairs will make the Spouse of Christ black I shall speak shortly to the first and more largely to the second which I rather think to be the sense The Church of God hath three things committed to her trust the Doctrine of the Gospel the Ordinances of Worship The Rules of Discipline The admission of corruption in any of these maketh a Church black as it is a breach of trust and a deviation from the Divine Rule This is sufficiently proved by the message Christ sent to the seven Churches of Asia He let the Church of Ephesus know that he had something against her because she had left her first love Rev. 2. 4. v. 13. He reflecteth upon the Church of Pergamus because she had those in her who held the Doctrine of Balaam and of the Nicolaitans v. 20. He reflecteth on the Church of Thyatira for suffering the woman Jezabel to seduce the Servants of God to commit fornication and to eat things offered to Idols Nor is any thing plainer in the whole story of the Jewish Church than that the admission of corruption in the Worship and Order of that Church was that which made it black and defiled and look unlovely in the Eyes of God and was at last the cause of its ruine and destruction But because Christians may not so distinctly understand either wherein the Nature of Worship lies or wherein the difference lieth betwixt that which is true and false I shall in a few Conclusions lay down what I conceive to be truth in this case and then pass on to the handling of the Proposition arising from the other sense of the words 1. Worship is an homage performed to God immediately in consideration of his Excellency This is Aquinas's and other of the Schoolmens notion about Worship and it is a very good one 2. This homage is either the homage of the outward or inward man The homage of the inward man lieth in the exercises of our Faith Love Fear the exercise of
mouths they shew much love but their heart goeth after their covetousness Christ in the Parable of the Sower compareth some hearers of the Word to the ground that received the Seed amongst Thorns the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choked the Word and made it become unfruitful It is a great blackness of a Christian not to have his heart with God in Religious Services so as the Lord as the Prophet expresseth it is nigh in his mouth and far from his reins and it is a blackness that will cover the face of every man and woman that converseth too much with the world Paul therefore rightly adviseth the Corinthians that they should use the world in a careless manner that those that rejoyced in the affluences of it should be as if they rejoyced not and those that bought as if they possessed not and those that used the world as not abusing it But saith he I would have you without carefulness 1 Cor. 7. 30 31 32. 4. Worldly imployments have often an ill influence upon Christians to intice and allure them to sin not only by omissions of duty but by the commissions of things which are contrary to their duty there is a sensible sweetness in worldly enjoyments and those are the product of worldly business and imployment The Devil baiteth all his Hooks with some piece of the World or other Some with the sensibly sweet part of it some with the gay and splendid part of it some with the richer and more profitable part of it It is an hard thing for Christians to keep Vineyards and not drink some of that intoxicating Wine which is the fruit of them When Samuel gave up his account as a Judge in 1 Sam. 12. 3. Behold saith he here I am witness against me before the Lord whose Ox have I taken or whose Ass have I taken or whom have I defrauded whom have I oppressed or of whose hand have I received any bribe Paul in like manner thus acquitteth himself to the Church of Ephesus Acts 20. 33. I have coveted no Mans Silver or Gold or Apparel But shew me the Man or Woman that hath been much incumbred with worldly affairs and can say I have coveted no Mans House or Land or Silver or Gold or that can say To whom have I told a lie for my gain or said it hath cost me so much when indeed it did not Or whom have I done injustice to in a bargain Commonly the best of the Market which such Christians have is that of Zacheus Luke 19. If I have taken any thing from any man by unjust dealings I restore him fourfold 5. Lastly A too great incumbrance with the world leaves a blot upon Christians in the common repute of the world if they escape real blots from it Holy Men in the Greek are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is men who are not Earthly and the world expects it of such as profess to Religion and Godliness that they should be persons looking for better Houses then those made of Clay even an House in the Heavens not made with hands and for a better Country and a more induring substance Hence a too great pursuit of the world becometh a greater blot to Persons professing to an heavenly conversation then unto others Our conversation is in Heaven saith the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our trading and business is in Heaven I shall only add two or three words for application of this discourse This in the first place giveth us all an opportunity to bewail the disadvantage we have all received from the fall of Adam It was a curse which upon the fall fell upon all the Posterity of Adam Gen. 3. 19. In the sweat of thy face thou shalt eat thy Bread till thou return to the ground I do not think that if man had continued in innocency he should have lived idly but Mercers opinion is very probable his labour should rather have been for delight then for necessity or rather his labour should not have been so great as now it is the Thorns and Thistles which the ground now naturally brings forth and in the prevention and extirpation of which the labour of the Husbandman is so much were clearly the effect of the curse upon the Earth Gen. 3. 18. a lively-hood for the Sons of Men had doubtless been got at a cheaper rate with lesser labour and man had been at a great deal more liberty and leisure for a communion with God and have had more time for his immortal Soul then his worldly occasions will now permit or allow This may be a profitable meditation for the poorer sort of Christians whom the need of Bread for themselves and the want of a just provision for their Families restrain from spending so much time in communion with God as they would to sit down and think of the woful effect and fruit of the sin of Adam that first sin of man which reduced the Sons and Daughters of men to these miserable necessities Secondly Observe from hence what an advantage those have whom the liberal hand of Divine Providence hath delivered from such a miserable servitude to secular affairs If they will make themselves slaves and drudges to the World they may but the Providence of God hath not put them upon any necessity so to do God hath given them Estates to live upon Servants to toil for them I will but offer two things to the consideration of these 1. How inexcusable will you be if you do not keep your own Vineyards well Your own Vineyards are your Souls those immortal Substances ordained to an Eternity ennobled with Reason and many gifts and faculties by which if you will you may bring forth much fruit to the honour and glory of God if now you be not found mighty in the Scriptures much in reading hearing prayer close in your walking with God c. You cannot plead that you want leisure A morning and evening Service God under the Law required and in the same proportion doubtless under the Gospel though not by way of Sacrifice properly so called I observe of David and Daniel that they prayed thrice in a day Psal 55. 17. Evening and morning and at noon will I pray and cry aloud saith David Of Daniel we read Dan. 6. 10. that he kneeled three times a day and prayed and gave thanks unto God as he did before-time They were both great men and at more leisure than ordinary Jews they considered this and as God had doubled their portions so they thought it reasonable in some measure to proportion their duties to their circumstances 2. Secondly Consider how little you will have to say if you so far intangle your selves in the world as it becometh a snare to your Souls Who pitieth him that is burned who for meer wantonness puts his finger in the fire Hath God given us food and rayment Jacob begged no more The Apostle commandeth us if we have so
the Harvest but then the Son of man shall send forth his Angels and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend and them which do iniquity and shall cast them into a furnace of fire where shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth Matth. 13. 40 41 42. Some telling them that there is no communion with Christ but by joining with the Prayers of the Church and receiving the Sacrament with the Church as if an external communion with Christ which Judas a Son of perdition had were all that men and women need look after These different notions and instructions sometimes puzzle the minds of Gods own People and make them to be at a great loss I now come to the Application This in the first Place lets us see what a perpetual use and need there will be of an able standing Gospel Ministry and the goodness of God in providing such an ordinance for his Church The interest of Souls lyeth in two things 1. In an union with Christ and reconciliation to God 2. In a fellowship and communion with him The Ministry of the Gospel is and will be useful to the end of the World on both these accounts 1. For procuring promoving Souls reconciliation to God and union with Christ 2 Cor. 5. 20. Now then we are Ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead be you reconciled to God So long as there are any sinners in the World any Souls in such a state as living and dying in it they cannot be saved So long will be need of Gospel Ministers and such too as are both able and faithful There are some in the World that think a Conversion to an opinion from Paganism to the outward profession of Christ is all the Conversion necessary and Baptism all the regeneration necessary according to whose Doctrine all Drunkards Whoremongers Men-stealers Lyers Thieves Extortioners Covetous Persons Sorcerers if Baptized must be saved directly contrary to what the Apostle affirms these indeed may think the Ministry of the Gospel needless Preaching needless amongst Christians and only of use amongst Heathens or count no more need of Ministers then of Philosophers from Athens to read men lectures of a good life and any Ministers any kind of Preaching will serve the turn A lecture out of Aristotle or Plato is as good a Sermon as they see any need of But those who will believe what Paul saith 1 Cor. 6. 9 10. That there are multitudes amongst Baptized Persons not reconciled to God and who shall never come into Heaven which is confirmed also by Saint John Rev. 21. 8. They must see a need of this Ordinance and acknowledge the great mercy in this gift to the Church 2. Nay indeed this Doctrine may convince you That if all within the Church were Christians not in name onely but indeed washed with the blood of Christ Justified and Sanctified yet there would be need of such an Ordinance For the best of Christians are oft times at loss how to uphold maintain their communion with Christ Here now lye th the work of the Ministry of the Gospel as the hand in the way to direct Christians which way to go that they may come to the journies end which they aim at the end of their hopes and the Salvation of their Souls This was the end of Christs institution of them Eph. 4. 12. For the perfecting of the Saints for the edifying the body of Christ If there be such a thing as Christians fellowship and communion with Christ if they may be and often are at loss how to maintain this communion they had need of some to be helpers of their faith and of their joy Which is the Notion of Ministers given by the Apostle 2 Cor. 1. 14. Yea and they had need be able Ministers too How various are the cases of Christians how different one from another This work is to be done publickly which indeed serveth for the most of Christians and privately also for those who cannot receive Satisfaction from publick instructions Alas who is sufficient for these things and how slighty a business is ordinarily made of the greatest work the most weighty imployment under Heaven How many watchmen are there that like those mentioned in the 3d Chapter of this Song When the Spouse of Christ comes to them complaining as v. 6. That her beloved hath withdrawn himself and is gone when their Souls fail when they come and tell them that they have sought their beloved and cannot find him they have called but he hath given them no answer instead of relieving of them they smite them wound them take away their vails from them they wound them with cruel and envenomed Words mock and jeer and revile them and know not how to speak a word to the weary indeed not understanding what a wearied Soul means the most they are able to say is what is thy beloved more then anothers beloved The Lord pity his flock and give them Pastors according to his own heart who can feed them with wisdom and understanding and will be faithful in doing of it men to whom the Lord God hath given the tongue of the learned that they may speak a Word in season to those that are weary as he promised Isaiah 50. 4. There are no more pestilent enemies to the People of God then those that would have the flock of Christ without Shepherds or which it may be is worse Supplied with Idol Shepherds as the Prophet calls them Zech. 11. 17. And indeed are like Idols that have Eyes and see not Ears and hear not the name of Shepherds but nothing of the skill and faithfulness required in such a place This Notion Secondly may give some relief to Souls whose condition this may be Here may be some before the Lord this day who are crying out where is my God become Lord when wilt thou strengthen me Quicken me Comfort me I confess the case of these Christians is sad communion with Christ is the life of a good Christians life All the comfort and Satisfaction of his life is bound up in this one thing let him want this he wants all if he be at a loss as to this he is quite lost this is that which differenceth the true Child of God from an Hypocrite the profane man lives without a God in the World all talk of communion with God is but canting the thing it self a Chimera The Hypocrites ends cannot be obtained by this course of life he taketh up with meer external acts of communion never regarding whether he hath any communion with God in and by those acts he can live without any presence of God without any influence of God upon his Soul A Child of God cannot if he wanteth communion with God he calls all into question doubteth of his union and whether he hath not been all this while mistaken whether his Soul be yet actually reconciled and
in Pharaoh 's Chariots The Text affords us two Propositions 1 Prop. The Believing Soul is Christ's Associate or Companion his intimate Friend 2 Prop. That Christ hath likened such a Soul to a company of Horses in Pharaoh's Chariots I shall begin with the first of these The Believing Soul is Christ's Love his Friend his Fellow or intimate Associate The word signifieth all these There is a great deariness and friendly fellowship betwixt the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spouse whether by the Spouse we understand the Believing Soul or the Church which is made up of such Souls The word almost in this Form from the same root is translated fellow Judg. 11. 37. I and my fellows Psal 45. 14. The Virgins her Companions He had before called her the fairest amongst Women v. 8. to shew his value and estimate of her he here calls her his Love his Friend his Fellow or Companion It is a very sweet meditation a pleasant voice surely to hear him whom God calleth his fellow and who thought it no robbery to be equal with the Father stooping to Dust and Ashes and to the Worms of the Earth and calling them his Love his Friends his Fellows Surely it is good for us to stand here a little and understand the significancy and meaning of this expression inquiring 1. How Christ approveth himself his Spouses Companion and Fellow 2. How he who knoweth not how to complement like vain man by his influence upon and by his Communion with his Church and with the Believer declares her to be indeed his Love and himself to be her near and most intimate friend 1. Christ hath made himself our Fellow by his taking of our Nature upon him He was from all Eternity God the Father's Fellow God himself calleth him so Zech. 13. 7. Awake O Shepherd Awake O Sword against the Shepherd and against the man that is my Fellow Christ applieth that Text to himself Mat. 26. 31. The wise man telleth us Prov. 8. 30. that from Eternity He was by him as one brought up with him and was daily his delight And the Apostle tells us he thought it no robbery to be equal with the Father By his Incarnation he made himself our Fellow Heb. 2. 14. Forasmuch as the Children were partakers of flesh and blood he also took part with them And v. 11. Both he who sanctifieth and those who are sanctified are all of one wherefore he is not ashamed to call them Brethren But I shall not insist on this which amounteth to no more than a Fellowship in one and the same common Nature and thus though there be this peculiar in it that it was for the Spouse's sake that he took upon him Humane Nature for I take that to be a Romantick Fancy for which there is neither any Scripture or found Reason That if the World had not been to have been Redeemed yet God would have sent his Son to be Incarnate yet in this sense he is in a sense a Fellow to all the Sons and Daughters of Men. I shall therefore pass over this and come to shew you how Christ approveth himself as a Fellow or Companion to all those who are true Believers You read in holy Writ of Fellow-Citizens and Fellow-Heirs Eph. 2. 19. Eph. 3. 6. of Fellow-helpers and fellow-labourers 2 Cor. 8. 23. 1 Thes 3. 2. of fellow prisoners and fellow souldiers Col. 4. 10. Philemon 23. Phil. 2. 25. I think under one of these Heads I may reduce whatsoever I need say for the opening of this Notion 1. Christ is with his Saints a Fellow-Citizen in the City of their God The City of God signifieth either the Church of God or Heaven Take it in either Notion Christ is our Fellow-Citizen he is the Head of the Church Believers are the Members The Head of the Body and the other Members make up but one Body they are fellow-members of the same Body The Mayor of your City thô the most dignified Citizen yet is a Fellow-Citizen The Saints are all Fellow-Citizens Eph. 3. 6. Christ though their Head is their Fellow-Citizen he calls them Brethren Heb. 2. 11 12. saying I will declare thy Name unto my Brethren in the midst of the Church I will sing praise unto thee Do Fellow-Citizens dwell in a City compacted together Christ dwells in his Church He walks in the midst of the Golden Candlesticks He dwelleth in the Believing Soul his dwelling-place is in Zion in his holy Mountain Zech. 2. 11. I will dwell in the midst of thee He saith He will make his abode with the Soul that loveth him and keepeth his Commandments I in you and you in me saith he Joh. 15. He dwelleth in their hearts by Faith Eph. 3. 17. His Spirit dwells in them Rom. 8. 9. But the Notion of a Fellow-Citizen speaketh more than Cohabitation A Partnership in the same Rights and Priviledges So doth a Co-heirship speak a Partnership in the same Enjoyments Thus Christ is their Fellow-Citizen their Fellow-Heir they are Partners with Christ in the same Priviledges in the same Enjoyments Of his fulness they receive grace for grace And for the New Jerusalem the City of God which is above he hath willed them a Partnership with him in his glory Joh. 17. 22. And the glory which thou hast given me I have given them that they may be one even as we are one Only there is this observable difference Fellow-Citizens and Fellow-Heirs amongst men are Notions which denote an equality in Priviledges and Enjoyments but not so between Christ and us They are Heirs of the same Grace with Christ 1 Joh. 16. Of his fulness they receive grace for grace But with this difference the People of God have the Spirit given by measure to them To him the Spirit is not given by measure Joh. 3. 34. The People of God have different measures they have different measures of Faith Rom. 12. 3. There is a measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ Eph. 4. 13. This they ought to aim at but none in this life attains it they are Heirs of the same glory with Christ Joh. 17. 22. but not of the same degrees of glory His glory shall be the glory of the Sun their 's but as the glory of the Stars they shall be where he is they shall Reign with him but in the Throne he shall be greater than they are his glory shall be an excelling glory The Apostle calls them Heirs and Co-heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 8. 17. In this sense the Lord approveth himself their Companion their Fellow 2. Christ and his Spouse are fellow-servants fellows in the same work What is the work of Believers but to glorifie God This is their great business Whether saith the Apostle you eat or drink or whatsoever you do let all be done to the glory of God What was the work of Christ while he was upon the Earth Joh. 17. 4. I have glorified thee on the Earth I have finished the
thee is to be understood 2. Why Christ hath likened his Spouse to Horses to a company of Horses and why to a company of Horses in Pharaoh 's Chariots As to the first the only question is Whether the sense be I have made thee like or I have fancied thee like the Radical word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth to be like or to assimilate I find it frequently in Scripture used in Pihel the very Conjugation in which it is used in this Text. From some of those Texts we may possibly gather the sense of it in this Text Numb 15. 35. I will do unto them as I thought to do unto them There it is translated I thought Isa 14. 24. As I have thought so have I brought it to pass Judg. 20. 5. The men of Gibeah thought to slay me Psal 48. 9. We have thought of thy loving kindness Hos 12. 10. I have used similitudes Lam. 2. 13. To what shall I liken thee The word is in Scripture often used to signifie the making Idea's and Representations of things in our minds No man does any action but he first makes the Idea and Platform of it in his thoughts Now this action of the mind informing the Idea or Platform of a thing is that which is expressed by this word In short the word may signifie either I have made thee like or I have in my mind fancied or conceived thee like so it either denotes a gracious act of Christ terminated in us or an action of Christ terminated in himself In the first sense it signifies Christ's induing of his Spouse with some noble and generous qualities bearing some proportion to those that are found in an Horse In the second sense it is rather expressive of some duty in the Spouse proceeding from such Endowments In the Text the latter must include the former For he who draweth the similitude is one who cannot err in his Judgment We may have Fancies that are vain and our minds may conceive of things otherwise than indeed they are He cannot conceive his Spouse like to a company of Horses if indeed she were not so He could not be deceived with a false Representation of any Object I think it no vain conjecture of some Interpreters of this Text that our Saviour addeth these words with some reference to the Spouse's Petition immediately preceding She had begg'd to to be directed how in the Noon of her afflicted state when the Sun of Tryals and Persecutions beated hot on her she might enjoy a free full Communion with him he had bidden her to go forth by the footsteps of the Flock to follow the steps of those who before had walked with God under the darker dispensations of his Providence Now lest she should shrink at the thoughts of Trials he goes on and tells her he had made her like and looked upon her as like to an Horse yea a company of Horses in Pharaoh 's Chariots But 1. Why doth our Saviour compare his Spouse to Horses We would in our Age think it a strange Complement for a man to use to the woman whom he loved But we must remember that a great deal is to be allowed in the different Dialect of several Nations in different Ages as we see is to Persons in the same Age living at an hundred years distance each from other There are many Phrases which an hundred or two years ago were good English and good sense which in our more Polite and Reformed Age we should now judge very ordinary course Language Elijah you know was called by the King of Israel The Chariots of Israel and the Horsemen thereof all that was meant was the honour and strength and defence of the Nation So Zech. 10. 3. It is said God had visited his Flock and made them like a goodly Horse in Battel And Rev. 19. 11 14. Christ is described as riding upon a white Horse and his Army on white Horses The Spouse is here compared to Horses a company of Horses only for some eminent quality or qualities in Horses Nor is our own Dialect free from such comparisons We say of a man without disparagement He is as strong as an Horse Nor is this similitude improper whether we consider 1. The generous qualities of that creature Or 2. The general repute and value which some of that Species have especially with some Persons The Hebrew Doctors reckon up seven Qualities of an Horse but they reckon good and bad Qualities together 1. It is a goodly creature 2. It is a docible creature easily to be taught several things 3. It is a martial valiant creature 4. It is a swift creature 5. It is a very laborious useful creature I do not think that all these are intended in this Text because it is not said I have likened thee to an Horse but to a company of Horses in Pharaoh 's Chariots There are two or three of them which may be intended and it is questionable which of them is principally intended 1. An Horse is a goodly creature You read of a goodly Horse Zech. 10. 3. We take a great delight to look upon some Horses whose Limbs are well proportioned and which have been well managed An Horse is very comely above a Swine or an Ox or any neat Cattel And usually Horses used in Coaches and Chariots especially Princes Chariots are of the most goodly and comely sort If we should take it in this sense it signifies Christ's high Opinion of his Church and every Believing Soul He had before called her The fairest amongst Women here he compareth her to goodly Horses This is Beza's and some other Learned Interpreters Notion of the Metaphor in the Text. The stature and talness of the Woman and just proportion of her Limbs one to another saith he addeth much unto her beauty Horses upon those accounts are very lovely beautiful creatures but besides that I have discoursed before the beauty and comeliness of the Spouse I must confess I incline with several other Interpreters rather to another sense of it in this Text. 2. An Horse is a very swift creature There are indeed other creatures in other Countries that are more swift of foot than an Horse but none of ordinary use that are swifter of foot Deodate thus interprets the Metaphor and there is a truth in it God puts into his People a Spirit of life and activity so as they are swift to hear James 1. 19. ready to every good work We read in Scripture of Horses swifter than Leopards Hab. 1. 8. But I do not think this principally intended in this place and it seemeth too much a straining of the Metaphor 3. And lastly Therefore the Horse is a strong and valiant creature God himself propoundeth the Horse as a pattern of strength Job 32. 19. Hast thou given unto the Horse his strength And it is said of God that he delighteth not in the strength of an Horse Psal 147. 10. And as the Horse is a creature of strength
derives from the radical Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in its Original and primary signification signifieth to make a diligent search and inquiry Thence the Noun 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth a search or the order of a search We translate it estate 1. Chron. 17. 16. David saith thou hast regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree That is according to the rank or order of one that is of an high degree It is used to express the order in which the Maidens came in to King Ahâ—shuerus Esther 2. 12 15. Pagnin translateth the Noun 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is used both here and in the next verse series ordo ratio dispositio forma and saith this signification ariseth out of the other and that it signifieth such a search or inquiry as is in and according to order The Word also signifieth a Turtle So it is used Levit. 12. 6. Gen. 15. 9. Cant. 2. 12 Psal 74. 19. Levit. 14. 22. Levit. 1. 14. But it is hard to put that sense of it upon this Text though the Septuagint and those that follow them do it For what sense can we make of this Thy Cheeks are comely with Turtles But some of the Hebrew Doctors tell us that the word signifieth also a kind of Womens Ornaments and Pagnin tells us that R. David saith it signifieth Pearls or Jewels set in order some think it was an Ornament that had something of the figure of the Turtle They say the Turtle hath this name from the mournful noise which it maketh sounding in our Ears like this Word Others think the French word Tour which we have now made English signifying an Ornament of the head and the English word Attire both derive from this Hebrew word From this discourse you may gather that the penury of words in the Hebrew tongue constraining them to signify several things by the same word is the reason of the difference of Interpreters in the translation of the Hebrew Text both in this and many other Texts It is most probable that Women had some Ornaments in those Countries which they expressed by this name and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek also did express it though our Lexicographers give us no such account of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The learned Mercer observes that those Interpreters who translate the words as the Turtle are mistaken both in the affix which is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in the number which is Plural It must be thy Cheeks are comely in the Turtles which it would be hard to make sense of if we should interpret the word of the Turtle doves I conclude therefore that it is a very difficult Text to give a certain Interpretation of and that the sense our Interpreters have put upon it bids as fair as any other and therefore I shall adhere to that The word certainly signifieth some Ornaments in those times used by Women to adorn their heads with called by this name because of the order and exceeding neatness of them or because of their figure and fashion Our Interpreters have thought fit to Interpret the word concerning those Ornaments though we do not exactly know their fashion So then the sense must be Thy Cheeks are comely or beautiful in oâ— between the Ornaments of thy head It followeth Thy Neck with Chains of Gold or Pearls Two or three things I shall observe to you 1. Some Interpreters make a question whether in this expression our Saviour hath not a respect to the former comparison he had there compared to his Spouse to a company of Horses in Pharaohs Chariots it is you see a fashion with us to deck up Horses which we value with Ribbands c. It might be a custom in those richer places of the World to deck them with Jewels and Chains of Gold Mercer and other learned Interpreters think it more probable that he passed on to a new similitude comparing his Church or the particular believing Soul to a Beautiful Woman in her Ornaments 2. This blessed Lover had before commended her for her internal worth and beauty For strength and courage she was like to the Horses in Pharaohs Chariots Here he commendeth her from her external Beauty Her Cheeks were comely with Rows of Jewels her Neck with Chains of Gold or Pearls Let me now pass from the explication of terms to the understanding of things I shall only turn the words of the Text into a Proposition Prop. The Spouse of Christ hath her Cheeks comely with Ornaments and her Neck adorned with Chains The Proposition will call to us principally for Explication and Application In the Explication we will inquire 1. What is here to be understood by the Spouses Neck and Cheeks 2. What are those Rows and Chains with which the Spouse of Christ is and must be adorned As to the first of these I shall not trouble you with the several fancies of Interpreters of Luxuriant fancies but only insist upon what I conceive most proper and shew you the grounds of it 1. They are both exteriour parts and ordinarily exposed to the view of others Other parts are covered and not so exposed Mercer noteth that amongst Women if these parts have their just proportion and beauty concerning others there useth to be no inquiry their Symmetry and comeliness is judged from these So as doubtless these terms note the Spouses conversation before the World in her outward visible appearance The Spouse of Christ is as the Psalmist expresseth it all glorious within Her chief Ornament is what the Apostle Peter adviseth Women professing Godliness the hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible 1 Pet. 3. 4. But that is not all her Beauty her light also shineth before men that they see her good works and glorify her Father which is in Heaven Mat. 5. The Cheeks are the path upon which the penitential tears run her tears are on her Cheeks Lam. 1 2â— Her tears of affliction also run down there Her Cheeks are those parts which are exposed to the violence and injuries of others Isaiah 50. 6. I gave my Cheeks to them that plucked off the hair Lam. 3. 30. He giveth his Cheek to him that smiteth him Micaiah you know was smote on the Cheek by the false Prophet These Cheeks of the Spouse exposed to the smiters bedewed with tears either because of sin or sharp sufferings are in Christ's Eyes very lovely Thus the words afford us two notions 1. That the Spouse of Christ is very beautiful not only within but in her more external conversation 2. That even the suffering parts of the Spouse are in the Eyes of Christ very beautiful It is reported of Constantine the great that he would often kiss the hole of Puphnutius his Eye that was out for the profession of the Gospel Christ commendeth the Cheeks of his Saints bedewed with tears and given to the smiters for
according to the imagination of my heart c. But now take a believing Soul and he is very dull of hearing words of peace Tell him news of the wrath of God revealing against the Children of disobedience he easily believes it and tells you he feels it in his Conscience he is one of them designed to this wrath The terrors of God have been upon his Soul and like an affrighted man he is very prone to shake at any representation of what he hath found so terrible to him But let a Minister of Christ tell him thy iniquities are pardoned Christ is at the door of thy Soul it is Such improbable news to his affrighted Soul such a strange thing that he should be pardoned and such a sinner received to mercy that he is like the Christians met Acts 12. to pray for Peter when the Maid brought in word that Peter was at the gate they say unto her thou art mad And when she stands to her word they will believe no more then that it was his Angel A gracious Soul especially when it comes first to believe is ready to say to it self Surely I am mad to think that Christ should account me fair pardon my sins c. Now Christ in repeating peace consulteth this infirmity in us as I remember he did with Manoah Jud. 12. Manoah's Wife had been barren God sends an Angel to her to tell her she should conceive a Son c. v. 6 7. Manoah's Wife tells her Husband you must think there was nothing in the World these two desired more then a Son But it seemed too good news to be true and therefore v. 6. Manoah goes and Prays O Lord let the man of God which thou didst send to us come again to us indeed the reason of his desire which he assigns is to direct him how to order his Son but certainly Manoah thought the news too good to be true and God so far yeilds to Manoah's infirmity as to send his Angel the second time 2. As the believing Soul is dull of hearing Christ at first speaking peace to it and is like to Samuel when Eli called and cannot apprehend Gods voice So it is also very prone to forget the words of peace which God speaketh to it Of all the joys which we are in this life capable of these are the greatest and none so soon lost as these are so incertain is the state of the Children of God In many things we offend and even the righteous man sinneth seven times in a day and who can tell how often he offendeth Now every sin in its own nature is a breach of our peace with God and gives the watchful Soul occasion of doubting whether it did not at first mistake the voice of God or whether God hath not changed his mind towards it and hence in the second place God highly consults our infirmities in doubling his words of peace upon us and repeating them unto us Christ had told Peter Thou art Peter and upon this rock will I build my Church but when Peter had denied his Master Christ easily foreseeing that Peters thoughts would be much troubled and that he would be ready to forget all his former evidences of his favour orders his Angel Mar. 16. 7. To bid the woman go tell his disciples and Peter that he went before them into Gaâ—ilee and there they should see him But secondly As the Lord Jesus Christ doth by it consult his Peoples infirmity so he also highly consulteth his own Glory Reiterations of Divine Love to the Soul command reduplications of duty Love is of an obliging nature and there is no Soul that puts on so lively for God as that Soul that hath the most fresh and frequent manifestations of Divine Love to it David's Instance in the 118 Psalm is a full Evidence of this And this is the account that may be given why it pleaseth the Lord Jesus Christ to repeat his Love so frequently unto the Souls of Believers Obj. But I hear some gracious Souls saying Blessed are they that are in such a case who hear God speaking Love to their Souls and often repeating his Love to them But alas we are so far from this that we could never yet hear Christ speaking any such thing to our Souls we could never yet hear Christ so much asonce saying Behold thou art fair my Love c. What will you say to us Shall we hope that we are the Spouses of Christ who never yet could obtain one good look from him I answer Sol. 1. As it is not the Husband 's fond and affectionate expressions to his Wife which make or alone evidence her to be his Wife but the Marriage-covenant is that which doth it her consent to have him to be her wedded Husband and his consent to have her to be his Wife So it is not a word of peace sealed to the Soul which maketh the Soul or which alone evidenceth the Soul to be the Spouse of Christ No it is the Marriage-covenant it is the Soul's consent to have Christ for its Saviour for its Husband Though Christ hath not said it in thy hearing Thou art fair my Love thou art fair yet if the Soul can say and say it in truth that it hath accepted Christ as its Saviour and consented to Christ as its Husband there 's no cause of despondency 2 Cor. 5. 7. We walk by faith not by sight 2. Though the Lord be pleased thus to speak his Love in the hearing of some Souls and again to repeat it to them yet he is pleased to reserve himself more from some who are equally dear to him It may be the indulgent Father loves every Child he hath with a dear and tender love and doth design to give them all due proportions of his Estate yet he may carry himself more strangely and reservedly to some than unto others Possibly he may do it out of prudence as knowing it the best way in order to their good Possibly no other account can be given of it than a meer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a meer delight that he takes in one more than another which he exerciseth by Prerogative It may be God out of a depth of Wisdom shines not upon thy Soul so clearly as upon anothers Possibly no other account can be given of it but because he will do it 3. Take heed thy loose walking with God be not the cause of it When ever Christ speaks to the Soul he will speak truth if thou beest all foul and spotted he will not say to the behold thou art fair my Love behold thou art fair The Soul may have many failings many spots upon its face and yet be fair in the Eyes of Christ fair as to its Justification But Christ will not say to such a Soul Behold thou art fair The Father or prudent Mother may dearly love a disingenuous and rebellious Child But their prudence will keep them from commending such a Child and
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
then Persons yet here again they are divided some understanding by the Beams and Rafters The Word and Ordinances of God Thus the Dutch Annotat. By the Beams is understood the Doctrine of the Prophets Apostles 2. Others understand the grace of the holy Spirit of God There are other particular fancies But I shall chuse to follow those who interpret the Rafters and Beams to be the Word and Ordinances of God for these like the Beams of an house keep up the Church and are as it were the Common Soul that running through the whole Church keeps it together and indeed makes it one and so much shall serve for the second question the third follows 3. Qu. Why the Spouse here compares the Word and Ordinances to Cedar and Fir or Cypress or Brutine There are four or five things which these trees and sorts of wood are more famous for viz. 1. Duration 2. Beauty 3. strength 4. Talness 5. Smell 1. It is observed of the Cedar that it is a beautiful goodly tree I shall add the 4th Talness indeed its talness is a great part of its beauty hence you read of the goodly Cedar Ezech. 17. 23. Psal 80. 10. and the tall Cedar Isa 37. 24. 2. As these are tall trees so they are strong and therefore ordinarily used in buildings strong and yet light Hence when the Holy Ghost sometimes would express the great power of God he expresseth it under this Notion The voice of the Lord breaketh the Cedars in Lebanon Psal 29. v. 5. Firs and Cedars are apt to bear great weights and yet without any great loading of the building 3. It is observed of them that they are very durable Naturalists say that they are not as other wood subject to worms nor so soon to rottenness and decay as other wood is Pliny saith that it is commonly thought they will never decay and gives an instance of the Temple of Diana whose Beams Rafters and Spars were made of Cedar The leaves and doors of Cypress And after 400 years they not only continued sound but the doors especially shining and as it were polished They report of the Temple of Apollo whose Beams and main pieces were made of Numidian Cedars that it continued entire and sound 1188 years How true these stories are I cannot assert but certain it is these sorts of wood were very durable 4. A 4th thing observed of the Cedar and Cypress trees is their odoriferous smell According to this interpretation of the Text the scope of it is to Commend unto us the Word of God and the Gospel Ordinances 1. For their Beauty 2. Continuance 3. Power and and Efficacy 4. And lastly For their exceeding sweetness From the Text thus far opened you may observe three Propositions 1. Prop. That the Church of God is the house of God 2. Prop. That the word and Ordinances of God are the Beams and Rafters of this house 3. Prop. That there is a Beauty sweetness power and efficacy and an incorruptible nature in the Word of God and Ordinances of the Gospel I begin with these in their order 1. Prop. The Church of God is Jesus Christ's and the believers house Our house saith the Text. We will first enquire 1. What is meant by the Church 2. How it appears that the Church is the house of the Lord Jesus Christ 3. How it is the believers house 4. What may be inferred from hence for our profit in matter of knowledge and holiness 1. Qu. What is meant by the Church This hath in this latter age of the World been found an hard matter to agree amongst Persons of different Notions That the term Church is a name of multitude and that a Church must be an aggregate body is generally agreed that it is a body of People called by God out of the World is also as freely consented to But whether only called by a general call outwardly accepted by them so far at least that they do own the Doctrine of the Gospel or by a more special and effectual calling not only out of the Pagan World but also out of the unbelieving World These things have been matters of great dispute amongst us yet all acknowledge the distribution of the Church into that which is Triumphant and that which is militant The Triumphant part of the Church is that part of it who God having in the time of their life called them out of the Paganish and unbelieving World and they afterward finished their course are called also by God out of this sensible sinful elementary World to the enjoyment of himself in glory These are thrice called 1. Out of the Pagan World to the acknowledgment of the Doctrine of the Gospel 2. Out of the unbelieving World to partake of the Lord Jesus Christ and his Grace by true and lively Faith 3. Out of the sensible sinful World to the Inheritance of glory The other part of the Church is that which is usually called Militant and is the whole number of those whom God hath called out of the Paganish World to the acknowledgment of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Doctrine of the Gospel This is again distinguished into that which is Invisible and that which is Visible The Invisible part is that whole number of men and women in the World which the Lord by his Gospel hath called out of darkness into marvelous light out of a state of Nature into a state of Grace The Matter of this Church are men and women the Form their Union in and with the Lord Jesus Christ The Visible Church is that about which the great quarrels have been Some agreeing it to be the whole number of People over the face of the whole Earth called out from a state of Paganism to the embracing of the Doctrine of the Gospel The Matter of it are men and women professing to Christ Jesus the Form is their Union in the same Profession acknowledgment of the same Truth and Waies and Means of Worship Now as the Sea is but one though as it passeth by several Coasts it receives several denominations as the Irish Sea the English Sea the Mediterranean Sea the Baltick Sea c. so as this great body is divided into several Countries it receives several denominations as The Church of England Scotland France c. And as again in a particular Nation suppose England it is impossible that the whole body of Professors should meet in one place and therefore there are several places of Publick Worship and several Precincts of People who meet together in several places to worship God yet all agreeing in the same Doctrine of Faith and order of serving God so there are in the World thousands of such Bodies which are called particular Churches and are under the inspection of several Officers all which yet together make but one Church of God For their Notion who think that the Church of God must needs be such an even number as can meet together in the
particular Soul is But God himself supplieth that place Now The Word and Ordinances of the Gospel though they be not Anima Mundi the Soul of the World Yet they are Anima Eâ—clesiae as it were the Soul of the Church of God without which the Church would be no such thing as the Church of the Living God They are those things which make the Church to be a Church and the whole Church to be but one Church Let this therefore engage every Christian to prize the Word and to prize the Ordinances of the Gospel That 's the first Branch Hence in the second place you may observe what is a sad Symptom of a decaying Church and by this you may also discern a lame and imperfect Church Look as in a Building there are some more principal Beams and pieces of Timber without which there can be no House no Building Others that are integral parts without which the Building is not compleat yet the House may be an House though lame and imperfect So it is in this case without the Doctrine of Faith and some Ordinances of Worship the Church is no Church If any part of the Doctrine of Faith be wanting or corrupted in a Church the Church is however true yet lame and imperfect Suppose a Church wholly want some Ordinances as some do the Ordinances of Ecclesiastical Censures yet they are not by this made no Church if they have the Doctrine of Faith and some Ordinances of Worship much less ought a Church to be so censured for the temporary want or suspension of the Exercise of some Ordinances which was the case of the Jewish Church in the Wilderness as to Circumcision but yet the Church that wanteth such Ordinances is imperfect and lame And again I say this is a sad Symptom of a decaying Church when either the Doctrine of Faith or Ordinances of Worship are denied or corrupted in it for these are the Beams and Rafters of the House and every one grants that House to be a decaying declining House where the Beams and Rafters are rotten We need no further Evidence of this than what we have in God's Epistles to the seven Churches of Asia recorded by St. John in the second and third Chapters of the Revelation The Church of Smyrna was a decaying Church The Doctrine of Balaam and of the Nicolaitans was holden in it The Church of Thyatira was a decaying Church for the Woman Jezebel taught and seduced the Servants of God in it And but a while after these Rafters and Beams being decayed these Houses of God fell and to this very day lie in their rubbish From that time that Jeroboam set up the Calves at Dan and Bethel and the Kings of Judah set up Altars in Groves the Church of the Jews was a declining decaying Church and the Rulers of it and Members of it having no heart timely to repair and reform it the House fell It is true God raised it again after the Captivity but it decaying the second time fell and lies buried in its Ruines this day Thirdly From this Notion may be drawn a great argument both for unity and uniformity Vnity in matters of faith Vniformity in matters of practice The Doctrine of unity in the Church of the Gospel is exceedingly pressed in Scripture scarce is there any one of the Epistles of the Apostles in which it is not again and again pressed Be of one mind there is a double union which is our duty to labour after The first is unit as fidei the unity of faith as to the understanding The second is unit as Charit at is quoad affectum the unity of Love and Charity as to the affections The latter of these hath been highly pleaded for in these sinful and wofully divided times and indeed never more need of it but it hath not been duly considered that considering the corrupt state of man The former union must be the Mother of the latter For as all love is founded in some similitude so this love and affection where it hath any where grown up to its due heighth we shall find hath been founded in the similitude of understanding and de facto it is evident that amongst Christians of different persuasions in the things of God there hath seldom been an intireness of cordial affection Indeed these things ought not to be therefore I do not Commend them nor yet blame the exhortation of brethren of divided Principles to an union in affection forbearing one another where all things have not been alike revealed to all but such is the corruption of our natures that this is rather optandum then sperandum to be wished for rather than hoped for if there could be unity in Judgment and uniformity in practice which the Apostle calls a thinking and a speaking the same things the other union of affection would follow more readily O let us labour for this There is but one truth but one true rule of Worship This Doctrine these rules are contained in the Word of God these are the Beams and Rafters of the Church and if the same Beams and Rafters run through the whole Church and be upon every part of the roof we may expect that the building should be strong and durable on the other side the difference of these Beams and Rafters whiles one Church holds one thing in maâ—ter of faith another Church holdeth another thing nay whiles one particular Christian believes one thing another Christian believes another thing whiles this Church or this Christian Worships God after one way and order another Church or other Christians they Worship God after another way though indeed it is possible their differences may not be so great but they may yet agree in one and the same head the Lord Jesus Christ and so both parties differing may at lest be saved yea it may be their differences are not so great but there may be a just forbearing one of another provided all Christians were of equal understandings or that they rightly understood each other yet doubtless this breach of unity as to matters of Judgment in things relating to the Doctrine of Faith and breach of Vniformity as to matters of practice is a great weakening of the Church of God and much spoileth the beauty and glory of it O therefore study unity and study uniformity you strengthen the building by both these you weaken it by dividing or disagreeing at least to open notice It is to me very remarkable that St. Paul almost in every Epistle presseth these things and Phil. 4. 2. when but two women dissented he thought it worthy of his pains to persuade them to it I beseech Euodias and I beseech Syntyche that they be of the same mind in the Lord. Doest thou therefore O Christian differ from other Christians amongst whom thou livest in any matter of faith or in any matter of practice as to fellowship in Ordinances sit not down Satisfied but labour for this unity for