Hierom shake off thy father and mother and children and runne to Christ this would bee a signe thou hadst for-got them Though thou lovest them 2. Notwithstanding that thou lovest them wouldst thou favour them in any sinne against God and onely luke-warmely reprove them like old Elie It is not well done of you O my sons because thou lovest them wilt thou rather let them dishonour God damn their owne soules doe any thing rather than reprove or smite them this love indeed is a reall hatred and will argue little love to God in thy soule But on the contrary though thou lovest them with the tenderest love wilt provide for them with the most providential care yet is thy love so truly tempered that it shall not in the least hinder thee from doing thy duty to Christ no nor yet from doing thy duty to them from reproving sharply admonishing severely is thy love such that it shall not blind thy eyes so as thou wilt wink at the least neglect of duty in them not at the least sin-in them Love them then as wel as thou canst it shall be no sad evidence against thy soule otherwise Parents look to it your children will curse you another day for your love to them you have heard of killing with kindnesse let the kind of death be never so sweet yet the death will be bitter Take heed not of killing the bodies alas that were nothing but of damning your childrens soules and your owne too with miscalled kindnesse 3 Obj. But wil another Christian say I have not forgot my honour and glory I am not low enough I feare to get in at heavens gate I answer first 1. This is like the melancholy conceit of her that a Divine of our owne speaks of of a woman that conceited she was so fat shee could not get to heaven it is the lownesse of mind that God looks at Lords and Ladies if their hearts be not as high as their titles may sit in heaven as well as meaner persons I doe not say they shall have chaires of state set for them but they may have a roome there it may be one or two may sit above them if there bee degrees in glory that gave them place here but as Master Rutherford sayes the least place in Heaven is Heaven though it bee behind the doore But secondly 2. Is not thy outward Pompe and glory that which thou affectest and delightest in it and huntest after Does not thy title tickle thy eare nor swell thy heart if not it can doe thee no hurt all the feare of those swelling things is lest they should breed tympanies in the soule 3. Doe you look upon the title of the servant of Jesus Christ the title of Christian as the farre more honourable title Are you of Theodosius his temper which would you rather chuse to be call'd my Lord or Madam or to be called the servant of Christ which doe you preferre if the latter it is a signe you have forgot the former though you retaine it 4. Is your outward greatnesse and pompe no snare to your soule in the wayes of God Great persons are too ready to think they are above prayers above hearing above meane Saints should such ones as they pray in their families no let their boy do it should they pray in secret and runne up and downe to lectures O no forsooth it is a dishononour to them Heaven was made I confesse for the most part for people of lesser quality 1 Cor. 1. 26 27. James 2. 5. should such as they go to private meetings no better go to a taverne there they shall only foule their soules but keep their clothes cleane But now hath the Lord given thee another spirit it is true thou art great but thy greatnesse is no such snare to thy soule thou canst pray for all thy greatnesse and heare sermons and kneele in a duty for all thy silk stockings and entertain communion with the meanest Saint yea and for a need preferre a lether dublet in honour before thy selfe Though thou beest great it seemes thou hast forgot it 4 Obj. Ah but will a Christian say I am so addicted to mirth and pleasure I must have my vagary and tickle my sense sometimes c. 1 Answ Christian dost thou love thy pleasures more than thy God that indeed were something art thou more pleased with hearing a song than hearing a sermon this sounds high But love God best and for ought I know thy eye for thy recreation may bee delighted in seeing and thy eare with hearing too 2 Answ Wilt thou baulk an opportunity of communion with Christ or with his Saints for a vaine pleasure Wilt thou bee a loser in thy heart to gaine a little pleasure for thine eye or eare or any sense wilt thou misse a family duty an opportunity of hearing Gods word privatly or publiquely thy time of secret duty a time of communion with the Saints to wait upon thy pleasure In such a case I would have thee suspect thy heart otherwise thou mayest recreate thy selfe with them and yet have forgotten them 3 Answ Suppose thy pleasures have been such and are such as are in themselves sinfull as wantonnesse drunkennesse c. Dost thou love them so that thou wilt have them whether God will or no thou wilt break with God to enjoy thy lust this is an ill and a very ill signe But possibly thy pleasures are such as God allowes thee temperately used if such thou mayest so use them and yet the King desire thy beauty I have finished this branch of application I have but one word more to adde It shall be of Use 4 Exhortation Let mee now perswade with you Christians And oh that the Lord would help mee to perswade 1. with you who have not at all yet forgate your fathers house and so consequently your beauty is not at all desirable to Christ 2. With you that have begun to doe well I have a word to both sorts 1 Br. Is there alas is there any poore soule before me this day whose heart smites him and tells him that his soule is not at all yet desirable in the eyes of Jesus Christ is there any poore creature so sadly miserable possibly the world dotes on you for beauty wit parts behaviour c. but in the meane time doe your soules tell you in plaine English that you are despised in Christs eyes As though God did beseech you by mee I pray you in Christs stead be reconciled to God Ah poore soule wouldst thou be desired of Jesus Christ Hearken then O daughter and consider and incline your care forget thy owne people and thy fathers house I know I am pleading with you for an hard thing especially for you that have all the world at will But I beseech you by the love you bear to your precious soules which shall last for ever doe it ah doe it I had need now have the Rhethorick of an Angell yea if I
also see Hearing is not enough He that beleeveth not is damned already Seeing may bee of experience As wee have heard so have we seene in the City of our God The soule that heares well shall see Iohn 1. 50. Because I said unto thee I saw thee under the Fig-tree beleevest thou thou shalt see greater things than these Faith must goe before Sight but Sight shall succeed faith yet Faith is a Sight though not of experience And incline thine eare Expositors make this Phrase to containe three things 1. A Repetition of the first Branch Hearken It is a difficult duty the word is doubled that it may bee inforced the Psalmist speaks twice considering our deafnesse yet he speaks louder in this than in the other phrase Secondly therefore To incline the eare is more than to heare it doth argue a notable stirring of Attention Hee that inclines his eare affert alâ—quem animi motum propensionem quickens up his minde and brings with him to the duty a readinesse of Spirit and an intentnesse of minde 3. Inclining the Eare say some is Nota demissionis a Note of that subjection and obedience which should bee found in the Spouse of the Lord Jesus Christ toward him It followeth in the Text And forget thine owne people and thy Fathers house Here are two things to be enquired into 1. What is meant by her owne People and her Fathers House 2. What is meant by forgetting of them For the first we must be guided by the Knowledge of the Spouse to whom these words are spoken if you look upon 1. The Church of the Jewes as the Spouse meant here to be married to Christ without question it is meant of the Jewish Worship the Ceremoniall Law and Worship and their Traditions they were to bee forgotten and the Gospell-worship to be embraced the worship of Christs Institution consonant to that of Christ to the Woman of Samarta John 4. 21 22 23. 2. If you understond by the Spouse the Church of the Gentiles then the Fathers house is all the Gentile worship and Paganish Idolatry which must all be left upon their turning to Christ 3. If you understand by the Spouse the particular beleeving soule the Fathers house is old Adams house all sinnne and wickednesse all traditionall worshipping Renounce the Per patris domum intelligo quicquid corruptionis ex utero afferimus aut quaecunque ex prava institutione nobis adhaerent quasi ad nos haereditario jure aut educatione transfusa Rivet ad loc World saith Deodate and cleave to Christ It is a Lesson of Selfe-Denyall consonant to that of Christ Matth. 10. 37. By Fathers house saith Doctor Rivet wee may understand whatever corruption wee either brought out of the wombe with us or have contracted by ill education or custome so that they cleave to us as our inheritance And by People saith he I understand ea quae ex mala consuetudine conversatione cum impiis acquisita nos a Deo abducunt quae omnia nobis sunt deponenda all those Corruptions and whatever they be which we have contracted by ill acquaintance and conversing amongst the wicked which estrange us from God these must all bee laid downe Luke 9. 23. Luke 14. 26. I shall anon in the opening of the Doctrine open this tearm more fully I now proceed So shall the King desire thy Beauty Some read it Quia concupivit because the King hath desired thy beauty making it a motive to induce her to forget her fathers house So August Cyprian c. Others read it according to our Translation The King The King of Glory the King of Peace Christ that King I have set my King upon my holy Hill of Zion Hee is the King Greatly desire Out of his love to thee his great love to thee he shall desire it not onely love thee but desire thee yea not onely desire thee but greatly desire thee He speaks after the manner of men whose desire is to the women they love Gen. 4. 7. Vnto thee shall be his desire And so Deut. 21. 11. If thou seest amongst the Captives a beautifull woman and thou hast a desire to her to make her thy wife Christs Love is such to the soule that he hath a desire to her yea not a desire barely but a passionate desire he shall greatly desire he shall be in love with the soule He shall greatly desire thy Beauty What Beauty Pulchritudo est in mente credentium saith Musculus it is meant not of a face Beauty but an heart Beauty Decor Ecclesiae saith Mollerus est in fide obedientia dilectione In the graces of the soule it is a Beauty that the Lord Christ puts upon the soule it is not a Beauty of nature but of grace that is the Saints Beauty Sanctitas Ecclesiae est pulchritudo Ecclesia saith Piscator the holinesse of the Church is the Churches beauty and so the holines of the soul is the souls beauty This is the fairenes this the Beauty that is meant in those places of Solomons Song Cant. 1. 10 11. Cant. 4. 1. Cant. 6. 1. Cant. 7. 1. This is the Beauty that the Lord Jesus Christ the great King shall so desire in the soule this is the comelinesse that shall make any poore soule desireable in the eyes of the Lord Jesus Christ This is the Beauty which will make the King of Glory rest and content himselfe in his Love to the soule that hath it and make him bee delighted with the acquaintance of the soule and in conversing and having Communion with the soule This is it that which where it is found will so ravish Christs heart that he will never part from the soule as Mollerus expounds that phrase greatly desire Thus as shortly as I could dispatch it you have the sense of the Text. Now in it there lyes these truths 1. That the gracious soule by marriage to Jesus Christ becomes his Daughter as well as his Spouse Hee will not onely love her as a Wife but care for her as a Daughter 2 Cor. 6. 16. 2 That it is a great piece of the Daughters worke to hearken to Christ in his Word It is no height of Saintship to be beyond Ordinances if wee be out of Heaven It is a note of a Reprobate being once enlightned to fall back but it is a new degree of Saintship they are deafe Adders that have lived thus long no Saints Children of the Devill not of God his Daughters must hearken Hearken O Daughter 3. Christs Daughter must and shall see as well as heare Hearing is not enough the soule must be open to receive Christ as well as the eare to heare his voice and if they will heare they shall see Hearken O Daughter and see 4. Christs Daughters must incline their eare as well as heare and see Obedience must bee joyn'd to Faith and Worship Inward affection and intention of minde must bee joyned with outward hearing 5. Which is the
is the Almighty that wee should serve him and what profit is there that we should pray unto him v. 15. Their fiddles must be laid in the water of true repentance and contrition The daughters of pleasure must undresse if they will be beautifull in Christs eyes they must lay aside their paintings and dressings their curlings and perfumings of the haire where as hee wittily sayes the powder doth forget the dust their ornament must not be the outward adorning of plaiting the haire and of wearing gold and putting on of apparell but the hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit which is in the sight of God of great price 1 Pet. 3. 3 4. The daughters of pleasure must undresse I say for the Lord as he threatned hee would doe in the day of judgement Is 3. 18 19 20. so in the day of mercy to the soule of the vaine creature hee will also take away the bravery of tâ—eir tinckling ornaments about their feet and their cauls and their round tyres like the moone the chaines and the bracelets and the mufflers the bonnets and the ornaments of the legs and the head-bands and the tablets and the eare-rings and the rings and the nose jewels the changeable suits of apparell and the mantles and the wimples and the crisping pinnes and the glasses and the fine linnen and the hoods and the vailes and instead of these send in mercy a girding with sackcloth a rent heart and a weeping eye and a serious soule It was a sure rule that a Divine once gave to another enquiring of him why he did not perswade a Gentlewoman with whom hee was acquainted to leave off some vaine dresses shee wore Saith hee I will first perswade her to get Christ into her heart and then shee will leave these of her selfe The soul that hath Christ in his heart need not to be perswaded to leave its fidling and dancing and love songs and vaine dresses and paintings and revellings and naked breasts it knowes these will not make its beauty desirable in Christs eyes and it is lost labour to perswade others to it When Solomon forsooke God then he ran to pleasures and vanities and sought every thing that should please his carnall eye and tickle his vaine fancy but he no sooner returnes to Christ but hee sayes of mirth it is madnesse and of laughter what doth it Christians you must forget these or Christ will overlook you Tertullian call'd the unvailed virgins of Tetull in lib. de velandis virginibus his time Capita Nundinalitia and Pudor ostentatitiae Virginitatis Phrases I will not English You must forget the pleasures and vanities of your fathers house that is the fourth I will instance but in one thing more Fiftly and lastly You must forget the Religion and Righteousnesse of your fathers house Indeed there is not much there it may quickly bee all forgotten but what there is must all bee forgotten There is a conceited Religion at least a selfe-righteousnesse which is naturall to all the sons of Adam Master Hooker gives this reason for it because our first father Adam was worth so much hee could have gone to Heaven upon his own legs Now as it is with a young spenthrift though hee hath spent all his fathers estate and be not worth a groat yet hee cannot abide to think hee should bee a worse man than his father so it is with the sons of Adam because hee could once have done enough for heaven wee that are his children though he lost all his power before hee died yet we cannot endure to think our selves worse than our father and are ready to think heaven may be erned still and we may doe something for our selves The young man Mat. 19. was at it Master what good thing should I doe to inherit everlasting life and so the converts at Peters Sermon Acts 2. and the Jaylour Acts 16. What shall we doe to bee saved hence is Morality and Civility taken up by some and formality in duties taken up by others and man pitcheth his staffe in himselfe and resolves there to rest but this must bee forgotten if ever we would be desirably beautifull in Jesus Christs eyes for all our Righteousnesses are as menstruous clothes and as a filthie ragge in the sight of God Is 64. 6. and againe Matth. 5. 20. Except your righteousnesse exceed the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisees you shall never enter into the Kingdom of God Civility rested in saith a Divine of our owne is but a beautifull abomination it is but a smooth way to hell It is true in the world a civill man is valued at an high rate because the world is full of grosse profanenesse and outrageous wickednesse but Civility is like the Cab of 2 Kin. 6. 25 Doves dung or the asses head the latter was worth fourscore pieces of silver and the fourth part of the first valued at five pieces of silver but it was because there was a famine in Samaria This is that makes Civility rated so high in the world but in it selfe it is worth nothing and Formality in duties as little though it amounts to as much as the Pharisees fasting twice a week and praying thrice a day and paying tythe of all that hee hath Notwithstanding all this all God I thank thee I am not c. yet the poor wretch is poore and miserable and blind and naked All this must bee left and another righteousnesse sought and found before the soule comes up to a desirable beauty And thus I have shewed what of our fathers house and our own people must be forgot Let me come in the next place to shew you how and how farre these things must be left and forgot To that I answer 1. Some of these must be absolutely forgot The manners of our fathers house all sinne and wickednesse must be so forgot Is 55. 7. Let the wicked man forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts Hos 14. 8. Ephraim shall say what have I to do with Idols There must bee no willing purposed practice of any sinne how dear soever how accustomed soever however acquired how long soever lived in the wicked man must forsake his way the evill of our doings must be put away evill must bee eschewed so must sinfull company too 2. The rest of them must bee secundum quid forgotten in a great measure Our relations must not be doted upon our honours and worldly glory not hunted after nor must our hearts be taken with them wee must not be lovers of pleasure wee must not rest in our righteousnesse not dote upon it our heat of affection to these things the running out of our hearts to them the fixing of our hearts upon them this must be forgotten c. 3. Conditionally they must bee forgotten If they clash with Christs commands if our Relations would draw us from Christ or retard our way to
soule worthy of him though not through its owne worthinesse and suitable for him 2. It implies That the Lord Jesus Christ shall love such a soule discovering in it a suitable excellency he shall love it his heart will be ravished with it Cant. 4. 9. Thou hast ravished my heart my sister my spouse thou hast ravished my heart Christs affections will be drawne out to a soule that so forgets it selfe his heart will bee melting towards it and on fire for it there must first bee a love in the soule to the object before the heart bee drawne forth to covet an union with it 3. It implies That the Lord Christ will in his heart preferre such a soule when a mans desire is towards a particular woman to make her his wife he preferres her above other women his desire is not to her sex but to her to her rather than ten thousand others The Lords desire shall bee towards such a soule As you have heard described to you that hee will preferre her above ten thousand of his creatures though the Lord sees thousands of his creatures hundreds in a congregation that the world dotes upon some for their faire faces and on others for their brave parts this Eliab and the other Shammah yet the Lord that sees all and can judge best lets Eliab and Shammah passe and fixeth his eye upon this selfe denying in the world despised creature and upon it hee fixeth his heart and prizeth such a soule above all the other trumperies and kickshawes of beauty The Lord culs out such a soule his desire is towards her shee is the Esther hee picks out and such a soul is more preferred in Christs eye than this witty man or woman or that gallant this Lord or that Lady Christ hath no desire to them but to this soule his desire is 4. It implies That Jesus Christ will indeavour and effect an union and enjoy such a soule what is the meaning of that phrase the man's desire shall be to his wife but he shall desire to be joyned in marriage to her that they may bee no longer twaine but one flesh and if his desire be towards her and it be a feasible thing he will effect it if shee consent and friends consent c. The Lords desire shall be to the soule that is the Lord Jesus Christ shall indeavour yea and unite himselfe to effect an union with such a soul he shall wooe it yea and shee shall yield for when hee works who can let him Christ will marry himselfe to such a soule make a marriage covenant and tie himselfe in a marriage bond to it for though in man desire may bee frustrated so that desire and enjoyment are two things yet it is necessarily to be understood in Christs desiring whose power is such that hee shall not need starve his desire longer than he pleaseth 5. It implies That the Lord Jesus Christ will court neare communion with such a soule mark how he speaks to the Spouse Cant 2. 14. O my Dove that art in the clefts of the rocks in the secret places of the staires let me heare thy voice for sweet is thy voice and thy countenance comely hee will not onely have communion but hee will covet communion with such a soule hee will desire to have it draw nigh and dwell in his presence to have it come neare him in a duty in an ordinance c. 6. Lastly Hee will love such a soule with a constant and inseparable love it is said The King shall desire thy beauty he shall desire it and never cease desiring of it hee shall for ever desire thy beauty And thus I have opened to you all the three termes now I come to the second taske As I have gone along in opening the generals in severall particulars I have proved the Doctrine that it is so But may some say what ground is there that the Lord Jesus Christ should desire this of every soule that hee will love and marry and have communion with that it should thus forsake its owne people and its fathers house why should Christ hold the soule to this hard meat I shal therefore in the next place shew you the reasons of it And there is a very great deale of Reason for it 1. Because it is the very law of marriage Gen. 2. 24. Therefore shall a man forsake father and mother and cleave to his wife The Lord Christ marries himselfe to the soule It is written I will betroth thee unto mee yea I will betroth thee unto mee for this cause the soule shall forsake its owne people and its fathers house and shall cleave to its Christ for this cause because the soule is married or about to marry to the Lord Jesus Christ and therefore must look to doe as married persons use to doe leave all for their husband 2. A second reason is because while the soule lives at home with its owne people and at its fathers house it cannot be beautifull nor desirable Our owne people are a filthie people our fathers house a nastie house the soule while it hath left that cannot be beautifull nor desirable The most beautifull creature you know if shee bee brought up by sluttish people as wee say and goes in a filthy habit there is a cloud cast over her beauty So it is with a soule while it hath left its sins and vaine company and pride and ambition and pleasures and riches and selfe-righteousnesse it cannot be beautifull in Christs eyes Now beauty is the attractive of the soule the soule must see a beauty in that which it lets out it selfe to in desiring let that be a second reason 3. Because there cannot bee a cleaving to Christ unlesse there be a parting with these Christ requires the highest love of our soules it is the first commandement you know with our Saviours glosse upon it Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and all thy soule Hence Christ tels us no man can serve two masters you cannot serve God and Mammon that soule that will hug sin must hate God that soule that will be a companion of Jesus Christ and a companion of Saints must not be a companion of sinners for what fellowship hath Christ with Belial righteousnesse with unrighteousnesse light with darknesse the temple of God with Idols and so the rest Your soule cannot love two thengs with an highest love 2. You cannot in heart truly cleave to two contraries There is a third reason especially if you consider 4. That God is a jealous God you meet with the phrase often and given as a reason why they should doe this or that For the Lord thy God is a jealous God Jealousie is a passion in the soule non patiens consortium in re amatà saith Aquinas that will not indure or that makes the soule that it will not indure any sharing in the object beloved The woman that hath a jealous husband must leave all her old
had yet God must perswade Japhet to come and dwell in the tents of Shem. Let mee offer but a few considerations and venture at a perswading of you and leave the issue with God 1. Consider How will you live when your fathers house failes you for the present it is a full house and you live as wee say as well as a carnall heart would wish you have pleasures and honours and riches even what you would aske the colour is in your cheeks and the marow in your bones But will this last alwayes doth not the fashion of this world passe away and will not the fashion of your bodies passe away what will you doe in that day of your visitation These things may last a while till God comes to keep a Court in your Conscience or hee summons you to a particular judgement or layes you upon your back in a bed of affliction or comes to his last judgement But in any of these dayes poore creature what wilt thou doe when thy perfumed body shall come to stinke in the nostrils of men thy soule shall be more loathed of God a future livelihood would be thought of This will perswade a virgin to marry sometimes But besides 2. Christian Dost thou know the joyes of a married life to Christ dost thou put no difference betwixt being a bondslave to hell and one free in Jesus Christ betwixt the enjoying the communion of the children of the Devill and enjoying the communion of Saints no difference betwixt enjoying the commun on of devils in everlasting torments and the communion of God Angells and Saints in the highest Heavens where eye hath not seen nor hath eare heard nor can it enter into the heart of man to conceive what things God hath prepared for them that love him now if thy conscience bee not seared thou hast ever and anon some flashes of hell in thy face The merriest sinner of you all I believe is not alwayes free Is there no difference betwixt that condition think you and a peace of conscience and joy in the Holy Ghost Now you never lie downe in your beds but if you dare look back and consider how you have spent the day your soule is stricken with terrour and there is a dart almost struck through your liver and you dare not let your soules feed upon the thoughts but are glad to shuffle it over for feare you runne madde but if your soules would but forget these vanities ah how sweetly would you sleep and when you had spent a day in duties of hearing or praying how sweetly would your soules look back upon it Now if you were not rock't into a sleep of damnation you would scarce lie downe to sleep but you would feare lest you should wake in the morning with hell flames about your eares nor walke in the day but like the selfe-accused murtherer your eye would be over your shoulder for feare the devill should be laying hold of you then you would lie downe in peace and rise up in peace and nothing would make you afraid Is this world nothing Christian ah that the Lord would perswade you of this Besides 3. Consider Christian there is nothing in your fathers house but you shall find in Christ by a way of eminency Must you forsake your sinnes you shall be filled with the graces of the spirit of God Must you forsake a little idle vaine company you shall have the communion of Saints yea a fellowship with the father and the sonne the Lord Jesus Christ 1 Joh. 1. 3. Must you forget your pompe and glory c. you shall bee called the sonnes and daughters of God heires coheires with Christ Rom. 8. Must you forget worldly riches you shall have the riches of grace Must you forget a few vaine pleasures you shall have a fulnesse of pleasures at Christs right hand and that for evermore Psal 16. 11. Must you forget your owne righteousnesse you shall bee clothed with the righteousnesse of Jesus Christ what 's lost by the exchange Christian 4. Consider againe Christ forgot his fathers house for you and yet it was worth many of yours hee forgot the glory the company the pleasures of his fathers house for you he was content for you to be a companion of fishermen yea of sinners yea of theeves when he died upon the crosse for you this he did freely he made himselfe of no reputation hee nothinged himselfe for you Hark what the Apostle sayes 2 Cor. 8. 9. you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ who though he was rich yet for your sake hee became poore that you through his poverty might be made rich Let that melting love winne you Besides 5. It is the way to be beautifull what abundance of paines poor vaine wretches take to be beautifull surely this must move Beauty is a desirable thing the vaine creatures of the earth would never else set nature with the heeles upward doe any thing to obtaine it wee should never else have so much precious time lost and so many precious soules undone with paintings and trimmings patchings and perfumings and a thousand such apish tricks but beauty is the idoll of the world to which the very soule shall be offered up in sacrifice and when all this is done the soule is amisse and the way to adorne that is to undresse all againe Hark you that desire beauty here 's the way of beauty which you have not known it is to deny your selves in all these things and whatsoever else is contrary to the law of Christ or short of him yea and this 6. Shall make you desirably beauteous that Christ shall desire you and the Saints shall desire you this is the way to ravish his heart But no more by way of motive God must doe all I know when I have spake my utmost I might tell you who it is will desire your beauty It is the King of heaven of glory and peace the King shall desire your beauty If this all this will not doe the Lord open your eyes and then I am sure it will But this is an hard work and young ones especially had need of a great deale of helpe to it and truly nature affords none all is laid up in Christ onely In order to the getting of it from Christ let me advise you Dir. 1 First With a serious eye to look upon your fathers house and see what there is in it desirable that should so bewitch one that hath not outlawed his or her reason to it Look seriously upon your sinnes will you not see a filthinesse in them Look upon your vaine company bee they what they will will you not discerne some sordidnesse or basenesse in their actions upon your honours and greatnesse will they not appeare bubbles upon your pleasures will they not appeare shaddowes You look upon these things as pictures side-wayes or at a distance that makes you admire them and runne after them come neerer to them will they not look