are indeed some spots in Christs Spouse but there is beauty too and they are growing on farther and farther towards perfection of beauty and hereafter they shall be made perfect in holiness and here they are perfect in their Head they have a covering for their spots I mean the perfect righteousness of Christ through which they are reputed by God as perfectly beautiful 5. That the Lord Jesus Christ doth exceedingly desire the beauty of such as are espoused unto him He greatly desireth to see it and enjoy it in his fellowship with them See this desire after his Spouses beauty Cant. 2. 14. O my dove thou art in the clefts of the rock in the secret places of the stairs let me see thy countenance let me hear thy voice for sweet is thy voice and thy countenance is comely See farther how he admireth the beauty of his Spouse chap. 4. 1. Behold thou art fair my love behold thou art fair He calleth his Spouse his Love being the dear object of his love and he admireth her loveliness he repeats it twice Thou art fair Thou art fair and that with a note of admiration Behold thou art fair and again Behold thou art fair and so he goeth on in the description of her beauty and in the 7th verse he telleth her Thou art all fair my love there is no spot in thee Through his own comliness which he had put upon her he saw nothing but beauty and no spot in her and in the 9th verse we have a wonderful expression of Christ to his Spouse Thou hast ravished my heart my Sister my Spouse thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes with one chain of thy neck The Original word signifieth thou hast un-hearted me or taken away my heart from me the Spouse had got away Christs heart with one of her eyes with her looks and glances of love upon him and he was excedingly taken with the chain of faith and other graces linked together about the neck of her Soul The Lord Jesus doth marvellously delight in the internal beauty of his people and he greatly desireth to see and enjoy it which he doth when they are brought near into the most intimate communion with him The APPLICATION Use 1. For Examination DOth the Lord Jesus Christ the King of Glory invite all the children of men and particularly the daughters of men to be his Spouse and is he so greatly desirous of the beauty of such as are joyned unto him This then should put all of you upon the enquiry whether you are espoused unto Jesus Christ You have been called hereunto have you hearkened You have had great proffers made to you have you considered You have been invited again and again and many arguments have been used with you to prevail with you to come and joyn your selves to the Lord Jesus but have you inclined Have you been perswaded Is the match indeed made up between Christ and your souls If you are espoused unto Christ then 1. You are disjoyned from sin Is the cursed league broken which is naturally between sin and your hearts Before you come to be espoused unto Christ you are as it were espoused and married to sin sin is your Husband and you are tied in its bonds sin doth inhabit with you and dwell in the embracements of your dearest love and delight you care for the things of sin how you may please your flesh and gratifie your inordinate desires and whilst this husband and beloved of your hearts liveth you are not at liberty to be espoused and married unto Jesus Christ and sin liveth in the affections whilst it doth possess the most prevailing liking affections and so long you are knit and linked unto sin examine whether sin hath yet received it's deaths wound in your hearts whether ever the false mask of sin hath been plncked off and the odiousness of it hath been made manifest unto you whether your hearts have been brought to a loathing and detestation of it and so sin killed in your affections and the knot unlosed which hath tyed your hearts unto it Do you indeed hate sin with the greatest and most implacable hatred Is sin mortified and subdued as to its reigning power if sin be dead you are at liberty to be espoused and it is a good evidence that you are espoused unto Jesus Christ. 2. If you be espoused unto Christ then you have been drawn to him by the spirit Ioh. 6. 44. No man can come unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him and the Father draweth by the Spirit You have had external calls of the Word to come unto Christ have you been called effectually and drawn powerfully irresistably and yet most sweetly by the Spirit unto Jesus Christ Have you had a discovery by the Spirit not only of your necessity of and lost estate without an interest in Christ but also of Christs beauty and transcendent loveliness His excellency and great willingness to give entertainment unto you in this relation and have you been moved and drawn hereby unto him 3. If you be espoused unto Christ then you have laid hold upon him by faith the spirit doth draw unto Christ by working the Grace of Faith and enabling persons to believe in him by Faith Christ is received Ioh. 1. 12. To as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name By believing on Christs name persons do receive Christ in this relation Faith is the hand of the Soul which layeth hold on Christ and by this joyning of the hand with Christ the knot is tyed and the Soul is united to Christ in the relation of a Spouse have you this Grace of Faith wrought in you with power have you received and applied Christ unto your selves have you received him upon his own termes and do you by Faith draw quickning and strengthning influences from him 4. If you be espoused unto Christ then you do embrace him in the arms of your dearest love then you love the Lord Jesus in sincerity and you love him with the supremacy of your love If you love father or mother houses or lands riches or honours delights or pleasures or any thing in the world more than Christ you have no true love to Christ and be sure are not espoused to him but if Christ be chiefly beloved it is an evidence that you are joyned in this relation unto him 5. If you are espoused unto Christ you have acquaintance and converse with Christ and you like his company best and you highly value and diligently attend upon all those Ordinances which are the means of bringing you and Christ together and this is the great thing which you desire and seek after in Hearing and Prayer and at the Table of the Lord that you may have a sight of your Beloved and a taste of his Love and more intimate communion with Him And is acquaintance begun with
great without any measure his love is constant without any change and his love is everlasting without any end It was the Love of Christ which brought him down from Heaven which vail'd his Divinity in a Humane Soul and Body which put upon him the form of a servant which expos'd him to contempt reproach and many indignities It was love which made him subject to hunger and thirst and sorrow and many humane infirmities which humbled him unto death even the painful and ignominious death of the Cross and when out of love he had finished the work of Redemption on earth as to what was needful by way of satisfaction it was his love which carried him back to heaven where he was before that he might make application of what he had purchased that there he might make Intercession for those whom he had redeemed and prepare a place for them even glorious mansions with himself in the house not made with hands which is eternal in the Heavens It is out of Love that he sendeth such tokens to his people from Heaven to Earth which he conveyeth through his Ordinances by his Spirit unto them and his love-tokens are infinitely beyond all other love-tokens in worth and excellency surely then none is so desirable as the Lord Jesus Christ for you to espouse your selves unto If you be espoused to Christ he is yours all that he is all that he hath you shall have his heart and share in the choicest expressions of his dearest Love And now put all together The Lord Jesus Christ being incomparable in dignity in riches in wisdome in power in goodness in loveliness and in love methinks you should need no other motive to perswade you unto willingness to espouse your selves unto him 2. Consider that you are invited unto this relation of a Spouse unto Christ Hearken O daughter and consider incline thine ear c. In those words the Lord Jesus doth woo you to be his Spouse we Ministers have a commission from our Lord to invite you in his name unto this thing and Christs invitations are 1. Real 2. General 3. Frequent 4. Earnest 5. Free 1. Christs invitations of you to be his Spouse are Real the thing is real that there ir an espousal between Christ and his people It is no fancy which hath no ground or foundation but in the fond mind and imagination of some fancy full men as some may deem it to be for there is a clear foundation for it in the Scriptures 2 Cor. 11. 1. I have espoused you unto one Husband that I may present you as a chaste Virgin unto Christ. 1 Cor. 6. 17. He that is joyned unto the Lord is one spirit And as the thing is real so you are really invited unto it the Lord doth not mock and dissemble with you as some pretending Lovers who dissemble love unto Virgins until they have gained their affections and then falsly and basely relinquith them never really intending either to espouse or marry them But the Lord doth really intend the thing in his invitations of you He is repulsed by many unto whom he maketh suit for their affections but he never did cast off any whose consent and affections he had gained 2. Christs invitations of you to be his Spouse are General All of you are invited and none of you excepted none are excluded but such of you as exclude your selves all sorts of persons are invited not only such who are of the highest quality of whom very few do hearken but also those who are of the meanest degree in the world the poor and the blind and the lame and the most despicable in the eyes of men as they are invited unto the marriage Supper Luk. 14. 21. so upon their coming they are received into the marriage relation unto Christ. All sorts of sinners are invited not only those who have kept their garments from grosser spots and escaped the greater pollutions which are in the world through Lust but also the most vile and abominable sinners such who have run with others unto the same excess of riot and wallowed like swine in the deepest mire of sin the most notorious transgressours are invited to be Christs Spouse and shall be as welcome as any unto the embracements of his Love 3. Christ's invitations of you to be his Spouse are Frequent Some will ask you once and twice but if they be denied they will ask no more especially if they be of superiour quality and it would be for your advancement to hearken and consent but the Lord Jesus Christ doth invite not once or twice but very frequently he stretcheth forth his hand all the day long and though you have been a gain-saying people he doth still invite you He hath been a Suiter unto some of you for many years together and he is still a suiter and though he be so much your superiour and you will be infinitely beholding to him to take you into this relation notwithstanding all repulses and unkindnesses he doth invite you again by me this day to be his Spouse 4. Christs invitations of you to be his Spouse are Earnest He is very importunate with you He doth not tacitly signifie his mind and willingness to accept of you which would have been an infinite condescention and sufficient encouragement for you to apply your selves unto him but he doth call upon you and not only call but he doth call carnestly yea he useth many arguments to perswade you and he addeth entreaties to his invitations He giveth us Ministers a commission to beseech you that you would be espoused unto him He is very loth to take any denial he is very unwilling to be put off He knocks and knocks hard at the door of your hearts for enrertainment and as earnestness and importunity in Prayer doth prevail with the Lord for audience and an answer so the Lords earnestness and importunity should prevail with you for acceptance of him in this desirable relation 5. Christs invitations of you to be his Spouse are Free He doth not expect a portion and dowry with you as many yea most great persons do in their applications to any upon this account they expect something answerable to their degree and estate but none have any thing answerable unto Christs degree neither doth he expect any thing he hath enough for you and him too and you must have nothing if you would be espoused unto him you must be poor and naked and empty and he will enrich and clotha and fill and supply you out of his treasury with all things needful to qualifie you and make you meet for himself 3. Consider if you be once espoused unto Christ you shall never be divorced if once joyned in this relation unto him you shall never be separated from him neither Men nor Devils shall be able to disjoyn you and when Death doth break all other conjugal bonds it shall not break the conjugal bonds between you and Christ but bring you
unto the most full and everlasting possession of your beloved And what do yon now say young women shall I have a grant for my Master or be sent away with a repulse and refusal Methinks by this time ye should begin to have a mind unto Jesus Christ You look as if you did desire you hearken as if you would consent what do you say shall the match be made up this day between Christ and your souls may I be instrumental to joyn your hands or rather your hearts together may I be instrumental to tye that knot which can never be untied Some marry in haste and repent at leisure but if you were once espoused unto Jesus Christ you would never repent nothing would grieve you but that you were joyned unto him no sooner and you would not be disjoyned again for all the world Shall this be the day of your espousals Some of you have stayed a long time and will you deferr any longer If you will not now it may be Christ will not another time if you refuse now Christ calleth and inviteth Christ may refuse when you call and intreat this may be the last time of asking and therefore it is dangerous to refuse Some of you are very young too young for other espousa's but none of you are too young for this espousal unto Jesus Christ in other espousals you must have the consent of Parents but in this you are at your own dispose you may give and ought to match your selves to Christ whether Parents do consent or no. Qu. But what shall we do that we may be espoused unto Jesus Christ Answ. 1. Be sensible of your need of Christ and this espousal unto him without which you are slaves unto sin and Sathan children of wrath hated by Godhere and in danger of eternal ruine in the other world and therefore that there is a necessity of this relation unto Christ that you may hereby be interested in his redemption and salvation 2. Labour for longing desires after this relation unto Christ he desires that you would be his Spouse and do you desire that you may be espoused to him desire it chiefly and desire it earnestly and for this end consider the motives which I have spread before you to excite your desires after Christ. 3. Diligently seek after this relation to Christ attend upon the Ordinances which God hath appointed to be the means of bringing and joyning you and Christ together such as hearing the word prayer c. seek after Christ in hearing and rest not in the outside of the duty and cry mightily to God in prayer that he would draw you and joyn you by his spirit unto his Son 4. Put off your filthy garments I do not speak of the garments about your bodies but of the filthy raggs of sin which are about your Souls you must lay aside all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness all pride and envy and malice and worldliness and inordinate affection and evil concupisence and every other defiling lust these are the old clothes of the old man which must be put off if you would be espoused unto Christ. 5. Put on the white raiment and clean garments and rich robes which Christ hath provided for you I mean the attire of grace the robes of his perfect righteousness in these garments you will be beautiful and accepted 6. Reach forth the hand of faith and lay hold on him consent that you will have him and receive him upon his own tearms and he is yours for ever 7. Devote your selves to him body and soul and all to be his for ever and then you may say My Beloved is mine and I am his and then happy happy you that ever you were born 2. To you that are espoused unto Jesus Christ 1. Admire and adore that rich and free grace which hath chosen and brought you into this relation say Not unto us not unto us but unto thy name be the praise Say O wonderful wonderful wonderful Love that we should be made the Spouse of Christ We that had no Beauty we that had no Dowry that we who embraced Dunghils should be taken into the embracements of the Lord O Infinite condescending kindness 2. See that you give reverence unto Christ to whom you are espoused He is your Lord and you must reverence and stand in awe of him take heed of pride passion discontent with your condition murmurings under affliction and every other sin which is displeasing to Christ and unbecoming the reverence which you owe to him 3. Be loving and faithful unto Christ receive not any creature in the world into the embracements of that dearest love which doth belong to your espoused Husband love him supremely and love him ardently and labour to increase in love to him daily 4. Be subject unto Christ and careful to please him in every thing be ready to yeild universal obedience unto whatsoever he shall reveal to you to be his will 5. Endeavour to mantain daily communion with him in his Ordinance desire not ordinances for themselves but for the sake of Christ grieve when he withdraws and is absent rejoyce when he draws near and manifesteth his presence 6. Look and long and prepare for Christs second appearance when the nuptials between you shall be solemnized and you taken to live with him for ever in mansions of everlasting joyes FINIS
CHRIST THE BEST HUSBAND Or an Invitation of YOUNG WOMEN UNTO CHRIST Delivered in a Sermon to YOUNG WOMEN By THOMAS VINCENT Minister sometime of Maudlins Milkstreet London LONDON Printed for George Calvert and Samuel Sprint and are to be sold at the Golden Ball in Duck Lane 1672. CHRIST THE BEST HUSBAND Psal. 45. 10 11. Hearken O daughter and consider and incline thine ear forget also thine own people and thy fathers house so shall the King greatly desire thy beauty for he is thy Lord and worship thou him THis Psalm is called a Song of Loves the most high pure and spiritual the most dear sweet and delightful Loves namely those which are between Christ the Beloved and his Church which is his Spouse wherein is set forth first the Lord Jesus Christ in regard of his Majesty Power and Divinity His truth meekness and equity and then the Spouse is set forth in regard of her ornaments companions attendants and posterity and both are set forth in regard of their loveliness and Beauty After a Description is given of Christ an invitation is made unto his Espousals and that of the children of men called by the name of Daughter and therefore particularly applicably unto the Daughters o men yet not so as excluding the sons of men any more than when God speaketh unto the sons of men he doth exclude the daughters and with reference chiefly unto the Daughters I shall now speak unto the words and from hence observe this Doctrine as comprehensive of the words as I can make it Doct. That the Lord Iesus Christ the King of Glory doth invite all the children of men particularly the Daughters of men to be his Spouse and is exceedingly desirous of their beauty who forgetting their people and fathers house do hearken consider and incline to his invitation and joyn themselves to him in this Relation In handling of this point I shall 1. speak concerning Christ's espousing himself unto the children of men 2. Show that Christ doth invite all the children of men and particularly the daughters of men to be his Spouse 3. That such who would be espoused unto Jesus Christ must hearken consider and incline to his invitation and forget their own people and fathers house 4. That such as are espoused unto Jesus Christ are very beautiful 5. That Jesus Christ doth greatly desire the beauty of such as are espoused unto him 6. And lastly Make some Application 1. Concerning Christs espousing himself unto the children of men Christ doth espouse and betroth people unto himself in this world the publick solemnization of the marriage is reserved until the last day when his Spouse shall be brought to him in white robes and raiment of perfect righteousness more rich and curious than any needle-work and the Marriage-feast will be kept in his Fathers house in Heaven where they shall be received into the nearest and closest embracements of his Love The espousal between them and marriage knot is tied here There are four things chiefly included in Christs espousal with the children of men 1. Mutual choice 2. Mutual affection 3. Mutual union 4. Mutual obligation 1. Mutual choice besides the eternal choice which is not only in Christ as Mediator but also by Christ as the eternal Son of God Christ doth in time actually chuse some of the children of men passing by others without the least respect to any worthiness or desirable qualification in them but freely of his mere grace to make them his Spouse and to bring them into the Marriage covenant and relation to himself and herein Christ doth begin he chuseth them first as he telleth his Disciples Ioh. 15. 16. Ye have not chosen me but I have chosen you and then they make choice of him above all to take him for their Lord and Husband Christ findeth them deformed defiled enslaved poor miserable wretched very despicable and loathsome by reason of sin and he maketh choice of them not because they have any beauty and sutable qualifications for this match but that he may put his beauty and comliness upon them and endow them himself with such qualifications as may make them meet for his embracements but in their making choice of Christ they are drawn to it by the most attractive and powerful motives of the transcendent beauty and superlative excellency which they see in him beyond all persons and things in the world 2. In this espousal there is mutual affection this doth accompany the choice on Christs part at first he doth bear a love of benevolence unto them whom he doth espouse and doth desire the nearest union and conjunction unto them and therefore doth make suit to them for their Love On their part their hearts are drawn forth in desires after Christ None but Christ none but Christ is the language of their hearts when they are made throughly sensible of their need of him and however his dowry at first is most desired yet afterwards as they get more acquaintance they are most taken with his person 3. In this espousal there is mutual Union and herein most properly doth the espousal lie in this union Christ and souls are contracted and the knot is tied so fast as no power can untie which union is by the Spirit on Christs part and by Faith on their part by the Spirit Christ doth lay hold on them and by Faith they lay hold upon Christ by the Spirit Christ doth draw them and knit them to himself and by Faith they come and joyn themselves unto him and so the match is made Christ becomes theirs his person portion and all his benefits theirs and they become Christs their persons their hearts and all that they have is resigned up unto him 4. In this espousal there is mutual obligation Christ obligeth himself to them to love them and never leave them to protect to provide for them to live with them here and at length to take them to live with him for ever and they engage themselves unto him to be loving loyal faithful obedient and with full purpose of heart to stick close to him as long as they live this is implied in the espousal it self 2. Christ doth invite all the children of men and particularly the Daughters of men to be his Spouse this is that which they are invited unto in the Text. It is upon this account that Christ doth send his Ministers to be his Embassadours to whom he giveth Commission in his Name to call the children of men unto this most near and sweet relation they do represent his person and are to invite and woe in his Name that people would come and joyn themselves unto him The Apostle Paul tells the Corinthians how successful his Embassage was amongst them upon this account 2 Cor. 11. 3. I have espoused you unto one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin unto Christ. And when any Ministers are instrumental in the conversion of any they do espouse them to Christ in