how lamentable is it Thirdly the principles as they are sure so are they exceeding sweet David had more joy in Gods testimonies then in all riches All the contentment Ranters have in their carnall pleasures are but as swyn in a dunghill their glasse goes soon out an hours communion with God though in a prison yea the reproach of Christ as counted by Moses who was learned in all the wisdome of Aegypt is greater riches then the treasures of Egypt And Paul who was not a little learned in the Grecian wisdome counted all these dung for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the superlativenesse of the knowledge of Christ Thirdly It is yet the more lamentable that there is abundance of strength allowed to follow our principles if it were depended upon the rock followes us and the rock is Christ he is not only ready to do what we ask but above all we can ask or think he deals with us as Naaman with Gehazi when he run after him and prayed him to give him one talent I pray thee sayes Naaman take two It is indeed much to walk up to our principles but we baike beside meall we are able to do all things throw him that strengthens us and yet to contradict our principles is sad Lastly it makes it yet more lamentable that there are such excellent encouragements so great are ward abyding the walking according to them neither is it long to the time when he that soweth in the spirit shall of the spirit reap Immortality and life everlasting we are not threshing in the waters but sowing in a certain expectation of a harvest of glory and yet to contradict our principles All these laid together evidence how lamentable our contradicting our principles is I shall only adde 3. helps for walking up to our principles and so close 1. Consider often that there are many things we do out of obedience to the Law of God we abstain from murder adultery wait on ordinances think it necessary to be somewhat more circumspect about the time of a Sacrament how unreasonable is it then to contradict the lawes of the same God in other things no lesse peremptorly commanded under no lesse penalty God spake all these words saying is the preface to all the commands of the law If some of them had only proceeded from God and others from Baal or the God of Ammon we might easily dispute and dispense with our selves but God spake all these words 2. Keep up constant intercourse with Christ as the fountaine of sanctification do not with him as some do with the old cloak that they will take about them when their is a shoure and cast it off as soon as it becomes fair again Some in sicknesse seek their pardon as one would runne into a ruinous house when their is rain but would not dwell there If we were dwelling in him and abyding in him and walking in him it would be lightsome to walk by our principles the want of these influences exceedingly occasions our contradiction to them 3. Stand not upon reproaches that often lye in the way of following these principles These men are drunk with new wine said the multitude of the Apostles when the spirit descended on them no sayes Peter Acts 2.16 this is that which was spoken by the Prophet Joel if thou can produce a line of the Bible thou walkest by the Kings Law which ought to rule all the subjects reproaches then are the fruits of their distemper A SERMON On Eph. 5.25 Husbands love your wives even as Christ also loved his Church and gave himself for it THere is nothing more suitable to a feast of love then to treat of that love which gave a rise to the feast this is to handle the Gospell of the day often believers at such occasions are so much in tossing their fears and doubts that they forget obedience to that precept do this in remembrance of me My purpose therefor in this Sermon is to glance a little from the words read at the love of Christ manifested in the work of redemption The Apostle from 22. vers of this Chap. is leaving directions for the right ordering of relations among men shewing to each one the dutyes of their relation among the rest these words containe a rule for husbands And in the rule we have a precept and a pattern The precept Husbands love your wives the Parterne as Christ loved his Church and gave himself for it The note of similitude As which does knitt the precept and patterne together does not import any equality in degree that ought to be betwixt the love of the husband to his wife and the love of Christ to the Church but only some similitude in kinde For 1. This equality is simply impessible not only for the nature of man corrupted for so many things God hath commanded are impossible so all gracious qualityes are impossible but it is impossible for the nature of man even as it is created and pure Adam could not performe obedience of infinite value and merit as Christ hath done in loving his Church and giving himself for it Beside 2. God cannot in justice require of meer man obedience proceeding from a personal union of the divine and humane natures such as Christs love manifested in giving himself for his Church was Hence divines prove well that Christs obedience to the death was properly meritorious because it was actio indebita for tho Christ-man be tyed to obey yet not to performe so noble obedience in regard Christ as God can come under no law oblidging to obedience So that neither could God require such perfect love nor was it possible even for Adam to performe Therefore all imported in the note of similitude is some kinde of resemblance betwixt the Husbands love and Christs to his Church as is evident from severall other Scriptures where the same is used Gal. 4.14 Ye receaved me as an Angell of the Lord yea even as Christ this imports not an equality in degree betwixt the receaving of Paul and Christ but some similitude and resemblance Thy will be done in earth as it is in Heaven in that perfect patern of prayer and many such we might instance in the Scriptures But since in this Sermon I purpose not a particular handling of the words I shall not insist in a particular explication of them I shall only take one general observation from them and insist upon it at this time Observation That the love of Christ manifested in the work of redemption is matchless and may fitly be made a patern and copie to the love required in the most intimat relations In prosecuting this point which so Genuinly ariseth from this Scripture there are two things I shall premise for opening of it First my purpose is not to speak of the love of Christ in the full latitude of it as it comprehends the love of benevolence beneficence and is the root and fountaine whence issewes all the acts of
grace terminat to believers in time and eternity but only of the love manifested in the work of redemption this being proper to the Text He loved his Church and gave himself for it Neither 2dly can we speake of this love according as the nature of it requires since it is a mystery into which even the Angels desire to pry all that we can doe is to do as the painter who being defired to draw the Sunne did take a black coal to draw it with since he found it impossible for him to find any thing whereby to resemble it in the beauty and brightnesse thereof Only for opening the point a little we shall insist on these two we shall prove it and apply it For the proofe of it that it is matchless and may be a pattern for the love required in the most intimat relations we shall demonstrat this from Scripture and reason and first from Scripture there be five or six things in Scripture which all tend to prove it First the Scripture calls it the love of God 1. Joh. 3.16 hereby perceave we the love of God because he laid downe his life for us Every thing in God is matchless even these attributes which are called communicable there are but some shaddowes of resemblance of them in the creatures but there is a special reason why we should look on his love as such since it is not only tearmed the love of God but God himself He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God for God is love 1. Joh. 4.8 God is love not only loving but love it self Secondly the Scripture proclaims this love incomprehensible Eph. 3.19 there is bredth and length and depth and hight Philosophers will not admit of four dimensions but here the Apostle who was aboundantly learned ascribs foure to this as to a thing passing all dimension yea and immediatly on this subjoins an expression any would think one part of it inconsistant with an other and to know the love of Christ that passeth knowledge to know it and yet it passes knowledge in the perfection of it though a little of it may be known Thirdly the Scripture assimilats it to the love wherewith the Father loves the Sonne the love of a woman to her sucking child or Jonathan to David are unfit resemblances of this There is no love to resemble it by but one 15. John 9. as the Father hath loved me so have I loved you How great the Fathers love is to the Sonne is testified twice by an immediat voice from Heaven My beloved Sonne in whom I am well pleased The Prophet I saiah calls him the delight of his Fathers Soule Isa 42.1 and Christ himself Prov. 8. Testifies that er the foundations of the world were He was dayly his delight and yet as the Father hath loved me so I you Fourthly it is frequently in Scripture made the pattern and copie of love to all the creatures Not to multiplie instances ye find twice so in this same chapter v. 2. Walk in love as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us And here again in the verse read love your wives as Christ loved his Church and gave himself for it There are indeed some copies wherein a scholer may out-reach his master but here as in the first verse of the chap. we must be followers of God as dear Children Fifthly whensoever our love to him yea even of his choise Apostles are brought in competition with this love to us it is so farr undervalued that the name of love is denyed to it like the starres that disappear as if they were no lights when the Sunne ariseth 1. Joh. 4.10 Herein is love not that we loved him but that he loved us It is strange the Apostle gives our love the name of love through all the precepts of that Epistle where love is commanded But when it is set beside his becoming a propitiation for our sins the name of love is denyed to it not that we loved him Sixthly It is in the Scripture made the fountain and spring out of which issewes all his peoples love to him as the sun that is the fountain of all the light in the moon or starrs Our love yea of all his elect in all ages is but a ray reflecting back again on the sun whence it proceeded 1 John 4 19. We love him because he loved us first All these in the Scripture layd togither prove it to be such as it is delineat in the poynt In the second place to demonstrat yet further the truth of the poynt we shall consider his love manifested in the work of redemption in a fourfold referrence 1. Consider it with a respect to the person loveing 2dly With a respect to the persons loved 3dly In the properties of it 4thly In the effects that it hath produced And all the four will contribut to clear how matchless it is and how fitt to be a paterne to the love of the most intimat relations First Consider it with respect to the person loveing it is the love of a person who is both God and Man which adds a great deal of weight to it 1. It is the love of a person who is God Divyns say it renders the sacrifice of infinit value that it wes the blood of God Practick divyns say that the sympathie Christ hath with beleevers is of infinit excelencie because it is a Sympathie proceeding from a person that is God for so he can be affected with the evils they feel and the evils they feil not and why not an infinit value in his love because it is the love of God We read in histories of singular testimonies of love from parents to their children wives to their husbands and they reciprocally to them But no man can put more liquor in a quart bottel but an quart he wer mad that should attempt to put the Ocean in a cockil shell Secondly it was the love of a person who was man in his humane nature beside all the infinite habits that wherein him beyond what were in Adam he was anointed with the oyle of gladness above his fellowes Beside that I say he was content to learn by experience how to be compassionat He was tempted that he might be the more able to succour these that are tempted He knowes the heart of a stranger as the Lord spake of Israel Exod. 16. for he was once a stranger himself in the Land of Aegypt Now love proceeding from a person in whom both these natures are united cannot but be matchless Remarkable is that word of Bernard Dilexit nos Christus duleiter sapienter acfoeliciter Dulciter quia carnem induit sapienter quia culpam cavit fortiter quai Deus erat it is sweet and strong proceeding from one that is God and man Secondly consider with respect to these he loved and this also will prove it matchless Love usually is less singular if there be any thing in the object attractive of it as there
mariage relations Husbands love your wyves as Christ hath loved his Church and Wyves be subject to your husbands as the Church is subject unto Christ The love which is the summe of the husbands duty upon his part Eph. 3. Passeth knowledge thee can no love be found to resemble it but one John 15. as the Father hath loved me so have I loved you how lovingly speaks he to the Church throughout the song usually in such termes as these My love my dove my fair one and on the other part the Church is subject unto him she obeyes him even as Sarah obeyed Abraham and called him Lord That is true the obedience is imperfect and hath many craks into it yet she esteems all his commandments concerning every thing to be right and He graciously accepts of the will in stead of the dead Lastly There is in this mariage a reciprocal commutation of what belongs to the one party unto the other 1. Upon Christs part it is impossible to enumerat all the particular Jewels far less the high inheritance that is given the Church by Him we must rest upon that the Apostle hath 1 Cor. 3. towards the end all things are yours and ye are Christs all things present and things to come amongst the rest death is yours it is no longer your enemy but your servant for ye are Christs Now whatsoever may be comprehended under all things He communicats to his Church It is true the Church hath nothing to give him Let Pelagians talke of their preventing God and Papists of their merit and of their supererogating what they will beleevers know their goodness extends not unto him Only she gives herselfe and she gives her debt 1. She gives herself the Apostle commends this in the Macedonians that they gave themselves unto the Lord. And 2. their dept because his he payes it and discharges their debt the hand writting of ordinances which was against them and contrary to them by nailing it unto the Cross Thus we have briefly shewed wherein this mariage consists The 2d thing we proposed is how can such a mariage be possible especially considering the vast odds betwixt the parties For clearing this I shall briefly say only these things First Beleevers in their eternal election are given to Christ by his Father it is true we know but little of the manner and way of the eternal transactions betwixt the father and sone and some are too bold with Gods secrets in determining herein that is sufficient to our purpose to know that the father hath from all eternity made a gift of his elect unto Christ and in this is laid the first foundation of their mariage-union and communion All that the Father giveth me shall come to me and again of all that the Father hath given me I have lost none so that whatever they be in themselves yet since they are the fathers gift in their election there is in this a foundation laid for a mariage Secondly The love of Christ however it be high in regarde of the person loving yet withall it is very condescending in reference to the thing loved yea the more condescending it be and the less attracted by any excellency in the object the more of the nature of pure love there is into it amor purus said Bernard non est mercenarius His love then being altogither free hence it is stouping can and does very well condescend to bestow this highest love-relation upon basest wormes even so great a God to love with such a great love such as we Now from the love which is pure love proceeds this mariage and who can hinder his love Thirdly How low soever our naturs be in regard of creation being made a little lower then the Angels yet not a little advanced above the angelical nature by reason of the personal union of the humane nature with the divin in the person of the Mediator God-man haveing sit down at the right hand of the Father to which of the Angels said he at any tyme Sit thou down at my right hand Ahasuerus in his mariage with Esther did make her no more noble in blood then she was before But in this Brydegroom this is singular that he hes lifted up the nature of his Bryde in the union of the same nature with the divine it is nothing so strange then there be a mariage Lastly As for the moral distance betwixt Christ and his Bryde this is also removed by washing her in his own blood It is needless to debar whither our union with Christ or out justification preceed in order of natur since in order of tyme the odds cannot be great But we are all washen before our mariage-communion with Christ and as Esther perfumed with the incense of the righteousness of Jesus the Brydegroom Now lay these four togither and the mariage notwithstanding the wast odds betwixt the parties will not appear so strange But I go to the Application Application There is a threefold use we shall follow from this point Is there such a mariage betwixt Christ and beleevers Then let all admire and praise the Brydegroom for this admirable condescendency thy Maker is thy Husband are words of wonder there be these things that make the mariage truely admirable First The majesty and greatness of the Brydegroom The Apostle forbidds us to be unequaly yoked but how unequaly is he yoked the brightness of the Fathers glory the express image of his person he that thinks it no robbery to be equal with God the man that is his fellow whom all the Angels adore thus to condescend how admirable is it Especially if in the second place we consider the baseness of the Bryde Might not the Church say as Abigail said to David when he sent to take her in mariage 1 Sam. 24 4. Behold let thine Handmaid be a servant to wash the feet of the Servants of my Lord How base and polluted are we and yet admitted to such a mariage and taken into his bosome If thirdly We consider how earnestly he suited us and how many repulses he indured before he could gain our consent How oft he did stand at the door and knock till his locks were wet with the dew of the night How oft did he put in his hand at the hole of the door and his fingers dropped myrrhe How oft did he intreat beseech alure with promises and yet we greived his Spirit despised it quenched it How oft was he made to sit down and weep over us as he did over Jerusalem and say Oh! if that thou in this day had known the things that belong to thy peace How oft hes he pyped unto us and we have not danced and mourned unto us and we not lamented Fourthly Consider the admirable priviledges we are advanced to by this mariage the Church in the 2d of Hosea after she hes tryed all other lovers vers 7. I will go and return to my first husband for then it was better with
is when we love him but here nothing such if we consider whom he loved under a threfold notion 1. as base and ignoble 2dly as loathsome and filthy 3ly as not only in a State of enemity but fraughted with actual enemity against the person loving 1st as base and ignoble we have indeed some instances in history of love descending from noble to ignoble But to descend so low as to love that that is farther below him then the basest worme can be below us there being an infinite disparity which cannot be between meere creatures what histories can paralel this Beside baseness there is filthiness and loathsomness which being added to the former makes it admirable Ezek. 16. when thou was lying in thy blood that became a time of love We were as the word is Psal 14. altogether become filthy there was none that did good no not one and yet to love us But the 3d added that we were fraughted with enemity against him who loved us Augustus Cesar because he could not marry a mean woman who loved him commanded yet a vast soume to be given here to testify his respect to her love But Rom. 5. God commended his love to us that when we were yet enemies Christ dyed for us Thirdly take a view of the properties of this love and it will appear more matchless amongst many properties of it I only mention at present these four 1. it was altogether free there was no necessity of nature for he is admitted by a Covenant Isa 42. yea we find him offering himself to the work of redemption when mans case is seen to be desperat Psal 40. Sacrifices and offerings thou didst not desire and what could man do for reconciliation beyond sacrifices and offerings and when it is thus then said I behold I come 2dly It was also stronge and vehement it was indeed a love many watters could not quench God so loved the world that he gave his Sonne so loved there is a great emphasis in that so Amongst other things it imports the transcendent fervency of that love manifested in the worke of redemption 3dly It is a discriminating love to men and not to Angels The Prophet Malachie commends the love of Jacob from this that he hated Esaw though Esaw was Jacobs brother there was nothing in us to cast the ballance Angels were more excellent natures it is true some in the schools say 1. the sin of the divel was greater then mans because their natures were more perfect and they sinned without a tempter Yet even this they cannot deny but the price payed for lost man had been sufficient for their restauration had it been intended for them Beside even those say mans sinnes had several aggravations theirs wanted so that there was nothing antecedent in the objects to excite this love to the one and not to the other and O how great a difference makes it Lastly it is an everlasting love that his delight was with the sons of men Pro. 8. before the mountains were brought forth so it is to everlasting He cannot be budded to alter or change this love Balaam attempted it with one and twenty sacrifices to turn him from loving Israel and to curse them but it would not Esay 54.7 With an everlasting kindness will I have mercy on the sayes the Lord-thy Redeemer Fourthly If we considder this love in the fruits and effects of it and we shall like wayes herein find it matchless The Apostle to the Thessalonians speaks of a labor of love if ever there was love that might be called a labor of love it is here Amongst many things to manifest this consider only to what a low eb he was brought in giveing himself for his Church which is the Testimony of love the Apostle pitches on here and there be only two things to pitch upon to evidence this 1. The names that are given him 2. The sufferings that he did undergoe in testifying his love to his Church 1. The names that are given him he is called ane Angel which was far below him ane Apostle which was yet lower a man and the sone of man a Babe a messenger aservant a shepherd a worme and not a man a curse and if there can be any thing yet lower he became fin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him what a wonderful testimony of love is here He that thought it no robbery to be equal with God and was his fellow to become a curse and sin for us the Apost 1 Timothy 3. v. last counts it a wonderful Mystery that he was at all manifested in the Flesh But to be so manifested how wonderful is it But in the 2d place if we should take a view of his sufferings that he did undergoe in his humane nature in testifieing this love when he gave himself for his Church what reproach what torment what A gony in his Spirit it was strang to hear that come from Him my soul is heavy and what shall I say He was bruised or as the word imports in the first Language Baken for our infirmities Nether can Bellarmin nor any other Jesuit prove that he merited any thing to himself by his suffering but it was wholly intended for us This testimony of his love is that which we are come togither the day to commemorat and which is represented in the breaking of the bread and pouring out of the wyn Now let us lay all these togither and see if the poynt be not proven that his love is matchless and may be a copie for the most special and intimat love required in the nearest relations Application There is only one use of exhortation which I shall follow from this poynt thus opened and we shall divide it in two brances 1. It serves to exhort to admire and praise his love 2. To render love to him for love 1. First It serves to exhort to admire and praise his love Let men disput as they will whither Christ as Mediator be the object of divine worship we may saffly determine that his love manifested in the redemption of lost man is a fitt object of admiration praise Saul much admired it and commended it in David when he found him in the cave and did not kill him will a man find his Enemie said Saul and will he not kill him But how would Saul have spoken of this for a man to find his enemy willingly be killed for him May we not all sit downe at this table crying with David when he heard of the death of Jonathan O Jonathan Jonathan how wonderful was thy love to me It was beyond the love of women And that we may make the better progress in this work of admireing and praising his love I shall offer you some helps to it There are some confiderations and some practises whereby we may be furthered in it First Consider admiring and praising his love is the constant worke of these who are in glory John
in his Revelation tels us he often heard them crying Worthy is the Lambe who was stain This is the songe of Moses and the Lambe that is sung there and in conformity to this he breaks off the Revelation Rev. 1 v. 5. with these words Now to him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood to him be glory and dominion for ever If we would have a communion day resembling heaven this must be our worke also Secondly Consider this is the proper work of the day However beleivers be taken up with tossing their doubts and fears yet there may be something of a tentation in this to divert them from something more suitable to their present work it is ane unanswerable Argument some bring to prove that the primitive Church did not kneel in reception of the Sacrament because they did not kneel for some Centuries on the Sabbath at all looking upon it as a day of joy for Christs resurrection It is trew in this Sabboth we are met to commemorat a death and that the death of the most loveing husband that ever had a being Yet since it is the death of one who hath overcome death and who hath sent us word Revel 1 18. I am he that was dead and am alive our work ought to be praises and admiration Thirdly Consider there is nothing we can repay for all the love He hath manifested yea there is nothing else he requires but praises and admiration The deliverance from Egypt cost Israel many of their best and cheiffest catel there is nothing such here Offer to me the sacrifices of thanksgiving is all that is demanded and when will this sacrifice be offered if not upon such a day But this and many such considerations though they may convince the minde that the thing is rational yet not sufficiently help to it if these practises be not added First Labor to get the heart in frame for praises and admiring this love from what thou hast heard thou mayst perceave thou hast ane excellent song but if the instrument be out of tune it may be spilt as many a good tale is in the telling the 108 Psal begins well My heart is fixed Lord I will sing get thy heart fixed that is possibly like Israel in Eliahs tyme halting betwixt two then praise Secondly repel the tentations that would put thee by from praising and admireing this love say to them that which Felix said to Paul I will hear thee at a more convenient tyme shall thou come to a mariage-feast where thou art called to singing in thy mourning suit Or is Christs love in giveing himself any thing the less worthy that thy heart is ill But some will say this is easier said then done they are not tentations but well-grounded reasons that keep me back from admireing and praising this love Christian what are they 1. Some say let them praise and admire who are interested in it and advantadged by it but thou art not such a one but 1. thou commends many things thou art not much advantadged by The courage of Alexander the Policie of Hanibal the wisdome of Solon the bounty of Vespasian ar all much comended in Histories and yet the writters of all these Histories not much profited by any of them Christs love is admirable to mankind and praise worthy be it terminat to thee or not Beside many praise such as the glorified Angels that are not interested in it if thou shalt say He is to them a Mediator of Confirmation many great divyns say so indeed and others deny it and as it is not easy to prove from Scriptur so not easy to answer The objections brought against it However He was not to them a Mediator of redemption and yet they admire and praise him Thirdly thou mayst have interest in it and yet not descerne it Christ say practical divines hath delivered believers from all danger of vindictive wrath but not from all the fear of it till they come to glorie Thy fears then are no proof of thy danger But if all these will not doe get interest yet in it it is the scope of the work of the day to make an offer of it Imbrace his offer it is free and so praise Others say they cannot praise though they will not deny their interest in it yet they are under a present desertion and so cannot praise nor admire This objection Sion makes Isay 49. v. 14. The Lord calls on heaven and earth to sing because of the Covenant of redemption Sion sayes sing who will I will sing none Sion said I am forsaken my God hath cast me off It is true it is with us as the Marygold that opens and shuts or closses as the Sunne rises and goes down yet be doing it as thou may the Lord sometimes denyes assisting grace that his accepting grace may shine the brighter If he give the poor widdow but two mits to cast into the treasury it is all one if he Counts the two mits The purest obedience though I confess not the most comfortable is to doe duties under a desertion praise it then and admire it But I go to the second branche of the use If his love be so matchless render him love for love It is reported of holy Bredfoord that some tymes the tears would be running downe on his truncheor when sitting at his meat and when he was asked the reason of it he said because he could not get fervent enough love to Christ our obligation to Christ is such that the coldness of our love is wonderful especially the exercise of love is suitable to this feast Zenophon in his Cyroped tels of one Lygranes King of Armenia who was taken with his Queen captive by Cyrus on a tyme Cyrus asked him if he desyred his liberty and to have his Kingdome and his Wife restored to him Lygranes answered him For my liberty and my Kingdome I prayse them not much but if my heart blood could redeeme my Wyffe I would cheerfully give it afterward Cyrus haveing restored him all and he was comes home in his Kingdome he asked his Queen what a one she thought Cyrus was shee replyed she knew not my heart and my mynd said she was so much taken up with the man who would have given his blood for my ransome that I could think upon no other If a Heathen could say so much of one who made but ane offer of his blood for her ransome O how much more we of Him who hath gone far begond offers He hath loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood But since the exercise of love is so suitable a work to a feast of love and one great part of our communion with him in the sacrament herin I shall only give thir things to try the sincerity of our love and so close 1. Thou most take up a-right the nature of love many think they love him because they doe not hate him quid
castest off seare We have need to excite us to worship oftentimes the Argument the Apostle uses in the end of the 12. of the Hebr. Let us have grace sayeth He to serve Him with reverence for our God is a consumeing sire Secondly They were much keeped to their worship by this that they judged they had need of their Gods for every thing they enjoyed of corne or wyn or water or success in war or peace or childbirth or wisdome or what else and therefore had a God for each of them This impression would contribute much to helpe us in worship He hath told us himselfe that without Him me can do nothing and also He hath told us that a man can receave nothing except it be given him from above If we seriously beleeved that both our doing and our receaveing depended on him our addresses to him could not but be more frequent and fervent Thirdly They were much heartned in their worship by the responses they had from their Oracles It is true their responses were often dark and ambiguous so as whatever way the event fell out the response could be made to hint at it as Croesus found by sad experience yet Histories tell us that these responses cost the many dear and costly oblations Certainly were we noticeing the answers God gives to prayer we should have more delight in it and so more frequency and fervency in it we think our worship fruitless and so loses heart of it Verily he is a God that heareth prayer but usually we wait not for our answer nor stands not on our watch towre to hear what he will say but lyke unto a Post delivering a letter cares not what become of it if once he get it delivered Now if we could imitat them in these things that keeped them to their worship we might readily come to outstryp them I shall only add two things they omitted which being done makes our worship not only for the nature of it but for the manner of it farr beyond these which we are also to practise First Though they were diligent and intent upon their worship yet they never dreamed of any gratious qualification in the person that presented the worship Natur 's ledder was too low to scal the fort of a natural heart But if thou can reach a change of thy estate and to partake somewhat of the divyne nature and to be borne of water and of the Spirit it will give thy worship another luster by faith Abel offered a more acceptable Sacrifice then Cain Cains was the first fruits also as well as Abels was but Abels had the ingredient of faith that Cains wanted and so was more acceptable Secondly Though their sacrifices were numerous and some of them costly and cruel yet they never dreamed of a High priest who stood with incense in his hand which is the prayers of the Saints This is the great ground of a beleevers hope in Christ that he sitts a High-priest not only to make interessione for the iniquity of his holiness and to cover the imperfections of his worship but to present it and to second it before the Throne of God He knowes that broken words and groans and such-like sacrifices performed with the incense of righteousness of such a Mediator can have acceptation therefore to outstrype them put thy sacrifice ay in Christs hands pray in his name praise in his name and do all through Him and thus thy worship will be refined and prove eminent A SERMON On John 3 29. He that hath the Bryde is the Brydegroom IN these words and the following we have Johns last testimony concerning Christ the occasion of which was this some of Johns Disciples came to him and regrat that Christ was brought so much in credit that John and his baptisme was like to be deserted He say they to whom thou bearest testimony beyond Jordan behold he baptizeth and all men follow him Whereto John replyes to the end of the Chapter 1. What Christ did he did it by a warrand from Heaven A man can receave nothing except it be given him from above vers 27. Then 2dly He shewes some considerable differences betwixt Christ and himself among which one in the words read that Christ was the Brydegroom and Husband of the Church for himself his joy was fulfilled to be among the Friends of the Brydgroome who did stand by and hear his voice So that in the words there be these two parts First One difference betwixt Christ and John Christ is the Brydgroom of the Church which John was not Secondly An argument taken from a common known custome amongst men proveing this difference He that hath the Bryde is the Brydgroome The denomination of the Brydgroome being grounded in the haveing of the Bryde and the Church being only Christs none else could be the Brydgroome for none else had the Bryde There be two things in the words necessarly to be cleared 1. What is meant by the Brydgroome and Bryde and 2dly Why the relation is expressed in these termes and not of Husband and Wyffe For the First By Brydgroome is meant Christ as they that run may read for of him the discourse runs all alonge and by the Bryde the Church He that will usurpe the name of head of the Church which even Gregory the Great called seelestum illud vocabulum usurps Christs special prerogative Though John of all that was borne amongs women he was the greatest yet thinks fitt to disclaime it But why is the relation betwixt Christ and his Church expressed in these tearmes 1. Because that made best for Johns purpose which was to prove that Christ ought to have the preheminence above him in all things since nature and reason teach men to give this to a Brydegroome and not to his friends that stand by and are to attend him Secondly The tearmes of Brydegroom and Bryde suted well to express the nature of the relation betwixt Christ and the Church For 1. The mariage is not yet fully compleated At the great day Revel 4. the Bryde shall be made ready and she shall be brought into the Palace of the King Beside by this John shewes that Christ love and affection to his Church is still tender and fresh as of persons in their mariage-day But Thirdly And especially by this similitude is shewed the sweetness of the mariage-fellowship betwixt Christ and his Church which though it endure to all eternity is still as it were but beginning How sweet soever the mariage-fellowship betwix husband and wyffe be in the continuance of their mariage yet there is not alwayes such feasting and mirth as on the mariage-day but here the husband is stil in his mariage-robs and the Bryde in hers and the feast and mirth of the wedding-day still as they were but beginning and they are both still as Brydgroom and Bryde There be several pertinent observations to the present occasion arising out of these words but I shall only take one
general and follow it a little Observ That there is a mariage-relation betwixt Christ and beleevers He is the Brydegroom and they are the Bryde This point as it is clear here so it is frequently asserted in other Scriptures Psal 45. all throughout in a type of the mariage betwixt Solomon and Pharohs Daughter the same mariage is expressed there we have the Brydegroom in state all his garments smelled of mirrhe and aloes and cassia and the Bryde in rayment of needle-work brought unto the King Isai 54 5. The Lord comforts his afflicted people there with the representation of this mariage Thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth and no more remember the reproach of thy widdowhoode for thy maker is thy Husband the Lord of Hosts is his name The same we have the Apostle asserting Rom. 7 4. for for ye are maried unto another that ye may bring forth fruit unto God In prosecuting this point we shall follow this method 1. Inquire a little in this Allegory of a mariage betwixt Christ and beleevers 2dly Enquire how can there be such a mariage especially parties and 3dly Shall apply it For the 1. of these there is nothing more sutable for a mariage-feast then to be inquiring into the nature of the mariage neither do we stretch the allegory beyond its scope when we find these four betwixt Christ and beleevers implyed in this mariage betwixt Christ and his Church 1. A near and a firme union which in mariage hath not a paralel 2. Intimat fellowship and communion which results likewayes from mariage 3. The performing the several duties of their several stations in their maried relation Lastly A reciprocal communicating of what belongs unto the one party unto the other All these four are in a mariage and all four concurre in this mariage betwixt Christ and his Church First There is an union betwixt them which though it be mystical yet ceases not therefore to be real it is frequently expressed in Scripture by similitudes taken from the union of the head and members root and branches fundation and building but that which I am to evidence is that it is the nature of a mariage-union and there be two properties of it will evidence this 1. In the Scripture wee find the union of many relations joyned togither to express this union alone take one place for all Mark 3. v. last For whosoever shall do the will of God the same is my brother my sister and my mother How nearly are they united that are stated in all these relations as brother sister and mother He that doth the will of God is so to Christ Beside 2dly The union betwixt Christ and his Church is not only nearer then that which is betwixt him and standing Angels he haveing united the humane natur to the divine But it is nearer then that which was between God and Adam Divyns say that betwixt God and Adam there was soedus amicitiae but not foedus conjugale there ws such an union while he stood as is betwixt two who are intimatly friends But this is foedus conjugale where the union is so near that the Church is not only called the Bryde of Christ or the body of Christ which is nearer but sometimes gets the name of Christ himself 1 Cor. 12 12. For as the body is one and hath many members and all the members are one body so also is Christ A strange name to be given to the Church so also is Christ but so near is the union that the Church hath the very name Christ given to it Is not this then a mariage-union But if we shall in the 2d place add to this the firmeness of the union neither adultery nor death can dissolve it which usually loose the mariage-union Not adultery Jer. 3 1. Thou hast played the harlot with many lovers and yet in the 14. Turne backsliding Children for I am maried unto you the mariage not dissolved no not for adultery Yea death does not dissolve it The woman layeth the Apostle Rom. 7 2. is bound by the Law to her Husband while the Husband liveth but if the Husband be dead she is loosed but here death looseth not the law of the mariage Revel 14. Blessed are they that die in the Lord as they trusted in the Lord and walked in him and delighted in him so they die in him yea whither they live or die still they are the Lords so that the union is a mariage-union We come 2dly to shew the intimat fellowship and communion which concurs to make up this mariage and which is the 2d thing we proposed from the allegory It is true though the mariage-union be even in this life as firme and sure as ever it will or can be yet the mariage-communion is farr from the perfection it shall have there is notwithstanding real communion betwixt them Truely our fellowship is with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ 1 Joh. 1 3. Truely it is not then a fancy and that truly there is such a mariage-fellowship betwixt them is evident among many things from these two 1. Their neer conversing togither 2dly Familiar communication of secrets one to another 1. Their familiar conversing togither which in the Scripture is holden out in these such like expressions of walking with them of dwelling in them in comeing to them and supping with them they with him of rejoycing over them to do them good as the Brydegroom rejoyceth over the Bryde and if all these be too little to express it he putts them in his bosome Isai 40.11 the Lambs that are not able to walk he puts them in his bosome Doth not all these laid togither evince a free a familiar conversing togither But if we shall add to this the 2d the free and familiar commutation of secrets the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and the Spirit of the Lord. Christ can tell his Disciples John 15 I call you not Servants but Friends because he had put them so farr on his secrets which usually is not done to meer Servants I have told you all sayes he I have heard of my father Is there not here a commutation of secrets upon Christs pairt The like is also upon the Churchs David puts it in one of his Psalmes All my complaint is before thee and my groaning is not hid from thee My groaning there are many things wee groan for that we would tell none on earth But my groaning is not hide from thee Is there not then here a mutual commutation of secrets There be many other things wherein communion betwixt Christ and his Church consists but thir two tend most to prove a marriage-communion their familiar converse togither and their spiritual commutatione of secrets I go to the 3d. In the third place if we shall consider for constituting this marriage their mutual performing the duties of this relation we find them in Scripture proposed as paterns to all that are in