the despisers are said always to have resisted the holy Ghost Act. 14. 17. 17. 24-28 Prov. 1. 20-24 c. with chap. 8. 1-6 9. 1-6 Isai 65. 1 2. 45. 22. Rom. 1. 18 19-28 2. 4. 10. 18-21 Act. 7. 51. 3. That God not onely allowes it but wills approves and desires it in Christ that men through him might be saved that they might be redeemed and turned from darkness to light and so from under the power of Satan to God and so that therein they might be married to Christ he hath sworn he hath no pleasure at all in the death of the wicked that dieth though they persisting till the day be past he shall laugh at their calamity and mock when their fear cometh yet now he doth not so while yet though dying or in a perishing condition he is not wholly dead or as a tree twice dead and pluckt up by the roots while yet sin is not wholly finished he hath no pleasure at all that they should go on to finish it and bring destruction upon themselves for he would not that any should perish but that all should come to repentance and be saved Ezek. 18. 24 31. 33. 10 11. 2 Pet. 3. 9. Nor can there be a greater argument to evidence the truth of this then that unspeakable gift and prepatation for them in Christ and the provision in him for calling and drawing them in due time of which we have already spoken we may well argue with the wife of Manoah Judg. 13. 23. If the Lord were pleased to stay us saith she he would not have received an offering at our hands nor have sent his Angel to shew us such things as these so and much more may we say If the Lord had any pleasure at all to cut off men in their sins or that they should pine away in their iniquities he would never have himself found out and prepared such a sacrifice such a means for his banished that they might not be expelled and that when otherwise they must needs have dyed in the proper sence of death they must have perished for ever from him and were as water spilt on the ground dead in sins and trespasses neither did nor could seek mercy or reconciliation yea when they were enemies as 2. Sam. 14. 14. Rom. 5. 6-8 Nor would he have sent the Angel of his presence to shew us such things as these to assure us in the light and power of his Spirit that all things are ready and therewith powerfully to invite and call us to the wedding For God so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Son to be a ransome for all and a testimony in due time as foreshewed that whosoever through this grace believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved John 3. 16 17. Yea he hath declared his acceptation of it as mens kindness that they will accept of him and as that which grievâ—s his Spirit that they will none of him Oh infinite grace and condescention See Jer. 2. 2. Psal 81. 8-13 Isai 48. 17 18. 63. 10. Luk. 19. 41 42. 13. 34. with Matth. 23. 37. who can conceive such a blasphemous thought of the Father of lights in whom is no darkness at all that he should cover hatred with such pretences of love seeing also he abhors that in others Prov. 26. 23-26 See Prov. 8. 6 7 8. 4. That it is an honourable thing for men to be marryed to Christ this may be sufficiently seen in what is said already in the instructions from the nature of Marriage For is it not infinite favour and an unspeakable honour to a man that is a sinner vile dust and ashes and was an enemy and by nature a child of wrath even as others to be admitted and received into a covenant of Peace and reconciliation yea into friendship and familiarity with the Almighty and that by a sacrifice of his own finding out and preparing to be brought into the Kings presence in garments of his own making and preparing for us yea to be joyned to the Lord so as to be an heir together with him of the grace of life and to have all his riches and precious things become ours and all our wants his to supply infirmities and diseases his to heal our works his to work in us and for us the injuries done to us to be taken as done to him and he the Almighty to be ingaged with us and on our side as aforesaid and also to be owned and called by him the sons and friends of God and as if all this were too little to set before us the hope of a far more glorious injoyment of this marriage and the fruits thereof in time to come when he shall be glorified in his Saints and they be glorified together with him we may well say Behold what manner of love is this and whence is this to us as 1 Joh. 3. 1. 1 Chron. 17. 16 17. Luk 1. 43. And yet the honourableness of this state further appears in what is signified and resembled by the honourable ends of Marriage first mentioned as so say That it is the onely and certain means ordained of God for our bringing forth fruit to God that may be acceptable in his sight and remain before him even the fruits of his Spirit in the works of faith and love that may be remembred and rewarded in the day of Christ and spiritual seed or children that may appear on our account as our crown our glory and joy in that day Without me says our Saviour ye can do nothing nothing of this nature out of him or but in union and fellowship with him as is there signified by another resemblance John 15. 5 6. The soul being reconciled and joyned to the Lord by his word received and kept in the heart and abiding in him and walking and working together with him in the unity of the Spirit in what they do they shall bring forth much fruit and the Father shall be glorified by it and it shall remain and they shall ask what they will in his name and it shall be given them the want of this occasions the loss of much work the hasty withering of much fruit that may seem glorious at first and the hindrance of many prayers as in the resemblance 1 Pet. 3. 1-7 Likewise this being joyned to and having fellowship with the Lord resembled by Marriage and the bed undefiled is the onely and certain means ordained of God for avoiding spiritual fornication yea for keeping and cleansing our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit He that drinketh of the water that I shall give him saith our Saviour shall never thirst that is drinking still and drinking abundantly of that he shall have such fulness of satisfaction at home as shall preserve him from thirsting after any
of the world their bread shall be plentious and their waters sure Cloath and adorn them with the robe of his own righteousness in which he will make them acceptable before God and fill them with the fruits of it to manward which shall appear to praise at the day of Christ when he will beautifie the meek with salvation Guide them with his counsels and lead them into all truth and shew them things to come and direct their way and work in truth yea he will dwell in them and walk in them and have such spiritual fellowship with them as shall make them fruitful to the increase of the body and to the edifying it self in love and will own their children as his and be the God of them and their Seed and they shall be his sons and daughters And as a faithful Apostle and High Priest of their profession will manage them in it and be with them where-ever he lead them to uphold and strengthen them deliver them from all evil make all things work together for good to them plead their cause fight their battels perfect what concerns them and make their spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God before whom he will also confess their names and in due time receive them to glory 2. The subjection faithfulness and chastity of the Church to Christ unto which she is infinitely obliged by all this grace holiness and faithfulness of her Lord and husband is such as is resembled by that of the wife to her husband And surely it is such as in which she be holy as he is holy chastly devoted and set apart to him and for him as he for her sake hath sanctified himself that she might be sanctified through his truth and so partaker of his holiness that she be onely for him and for no other thing or person in his place that forgetting her own kindred and Fathers house she reverence and worship him as her onely Lord and husband and be subject to him in all things 1. Owning and acknowledging with thankfulness his name as put upon her and counting it her glory and honour to be known and called by it and bear the reproach of it and therefore confessing and not being ashamed of it before men yea commending it as the onely worthy name and not mentioning her own name or suffering her self to be known or called by that or by the name of any other person ordinance work or thing 2. Sitting down under his shaddow to rest satisfied with his fruit to rejoyce in him rest and stay upon him and that grace in him as a sufficient signe and witness of Gods love ground and foundation of faith and hope in God fountain of wisdom righteousness strength and of all things pertaining to life and goldliness for us and so as a sufficient and good rest and refreshing for us considering and feeding upon his flesh which he gave for the life of the world and drinking down his blood that was shed for the remission of our sins and for obtaining all fulness of Spirit and of grace and truth into him for us that so of his fulness we may receive and in such believing view and mindfulness of him and as his words are found discovering him in these things of him eating them and keeping them in our hearts so staying upon him and seeking rest and refreshing to our souls relinquishing for it all other signes witnesses or ways of seeking rest and so all confidence and rejoycing in the flesh and not following any desire of meat for our lust And so putting on and wearing his garments in seeking so to know him that through the knowledge of him we may be found in him our hearts and mindes stayed there and we cloathed with his righteousness before God to give us boldness and render us acceptable in his presence relinquishing for it that of our own and filled with the fruits of it to manward that may be to his praise and the adorning his Name and Doctrine and putting off for it the fruits and works of our own wisdom and desires the deeds of the old man 3. With purpose of heart cleaving and adhering to him as the onely Father of our spirits Lord and Master of our faith fear and worship towards God chief Bishop and Shepherd of our souls our Judge our Law-giver and our King to save us who onely is able to save and to destroy and having our eyes and hearts to him in his Testimony for all wisdom understanding counsel and strength and for all commandments and directions for walking before him and in his house and resting on his Name and the authority of his Testimonies for all O Lord other lords have had dominion over us but by thee onely will we make mention of thy Name and so being subject to him in all things 4. To acquaint ourselves with him seeking and entertaining fellowship with him by an exercise of faith in his Testimony of what he hath done is doing and will do that thence we may prove the effectual working of it in our own spirits reconciling and conforming to him according to the greatness of his power which worketh in them that believe that therein also it may be fitted to our lips and we constrained and directed by him to such an holding it forth in word and conversation as in which we may have his presence and fellowship of his Spirit making us fruitful even in the bringing forth children by him and for him 5. To give him our loves not onely in the yeelding up souls and bodies by his mercies as a living sacrifice to be employed by him and at his dispose whose we are and not our own being double bought or bought in a double or twofold sense yea twice bought with one price his precious bloud and so the sacrifice of his own body made perfect through it with that in presenting and offering it to God the Father in heaven he redeemed and bought us of him from under the curse of the Law to be at his dispose and so he hath bought even them that deny him having given himself a ransom for all And with the same price in his presenting it spiritually by the Gospel to our hearts he hath redeemed or bought us off ourselves and out of or from this present world and our vain conversation therein unto himself that we should be a peculiar people to him c. Therefore we are not our own but by these mercies infinitely obliged to yeeld up to his use and dispose both souls and bodies which are his And not onely so to give him our loves but in the return of all again to him that we have received from him both in the praise and glory of it Not unto us not unto us but to thy Name and to thy grace in Christ for of thy goodness and bounty and of the sufficiencie of that grace have we all our sufficiencie and also in the improvement of it using it to him employing it
such as are resembled 1. By the nature of the Marriage covenant 2. By its being honourable in all 3. By the comely and honourable behaviour in it or in the things pertaining to it as to say 1. In seeking or wooing a wife and in the womans listning to or accepting an husband 2. In betrothing and marrying in righteousness 3. In the demeanour of the married persons towards each other 1. Those I shall mention as resembled by the nature of the Marriage-covenant are 1. That as in the earthly marriage there is a mutual consent and agreement and solemn covenant made by both parties without which they are not joyned together according to Gods ordinance so in the spiritual marriage there is a mutual consent and agreement between Christ and the Church and so on the part of every member in particular without which they are not so joyned to the Lord as to be made of his Spouse his Body his true Sanctuary So much is signified in our types the whole house of Israel when he sware unto them and entred into covenant with them and they became his in the day that he brought them out of the land of Egypt their time was the time of love And he remembred the kindness of their youth the love of their espousals in which they went after him in the wilderness c. They had avouched him that day to be their God and he had avouched them to be his people See Ezek. 16. 8. with Jer. 2. 2. and Deut. 26. 17 18. So likewise those that are of the true Sanctuary of the Spouse and Church of Christ the peculiarly beloved of the Lord they are those that have made a covenant with him by sacrifice Psal 50. 5. even by the sacrifice which he hath first prepared for them and given to them for a witness of his love and for a covenant to the people and so they are said to be reconciled to God by Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 5. 18. with Isai 55. 3 4 5 6. Not onely his Word hath come unto them in power c. for so it doth to them that reject it and will none of him in the plain and faithful ministration of it he therefore that despiseth despiseth not man but God who hath given of his spirit to accompany such faithful ministration of his Word but they also were willing and obedient in the day of his power as he was working in them to will and to do they received his Word as the Word of God which effectually worketh in them that so receive it to the uniting an joyning them to the Lord so that they turned from idols to God to serve him and to wait for his Son from heaven See 1 Thess 1. 4 5 6 10. and 2. 13. True it is he is the first seeker and wooer of men to be reconciled to God and without his gracious and spiritual calling and drawing no man can come to him and therefore he prevents every man in due time with that yet though he do so and declare his readiness to accept yea and desire that they should come in his drawings and be reconciled and married to him in his Son except they come to him as to a living stone in the powerful drawing influences of him to them they are not as lively stones built up a spiritual house c. Ho every one therefore that thirsteth come to the waters come in the power of the call even to day while he is calling and stretching out his hand if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts Encline your ear and come unto me hear and your soul shall live and I will make an everlasting covenant with you c. He will not force thee against thy will nor own accept or chuse thee into peculiar favour and fellowship without thy will it is thy heart he desires My son give me thy heart for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness And because he knows thou hast neither heart nor power to will or chuse him nor light in thy understanding to perceive his preciousness that might draw thy soul after him therefore in and for that love of pitie and compassion he had to thee and desire after thee even when thou wast altogether dead in sins and trespasses in which love he gave himself a ransome for thee he becomes himself also a testimony in due time to thee and makes the testimony of himself powerful to open thine eyes so to turn thee from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God that in turning at the light and power of his gracious drawings and reproofs thou mayst receive the forgiveness of sins and inheritance through the word of his grace with his Saints Onely then rebel not thou against the Lord for consider how great things he hath done for thee but cease from thy own works to believe on him that justifies the ungodly as he is by his preventing grace working in thee the whole good pleasure of his goodness and the work of Faith with power and this shall be imputed to thee for righteousness accepted as thy act and making a Covenant with him by his own Sacrifice which he hath prepared and given for a covenant on both parts there is all his great and pretious promises confirmed and made sure for thee in and by that sacrifice of himself and with him given to thee and therein is thy faith and troth plighted to him in laying hold of his Covenant and drawing neer in the sweet allurements and incouragements thereof he will gratiously accept thee and make thee partaker of himself by his own Covenant and by vertue of his own Sacrifice by which he hath obliged and incouraged thee to give thy self to him 2. As in the earthly marriage he that is joyned to a woman is one body for two saith he shall be one flesh So he that is joyned to the Lord is one spirit he is therein baptized and made to drink into that one Spirit of Jesus the Lord by which he was raised from the dead and which immeasurably dwells in him for the fulness of the God-head dwells in him bodily and which comes forth from him in the name of the Father and testifies of him manifesting the glory of God in his face who is the image of God and being made to drink into this Spirit they are of the same minde with Christ and so reconciled in the spirit of their minde unto God for they have the minde of Christ having received his Word they have known surely and believed that he came forth from God and is a true and faithful witness of God and have so received him and are made partakers of him spiritually for through this knowledge of him that is true they are united and made one in and with him that is true even with his Son Jesus Christ and so with the Father in him 1 Cor. 6. 16 17. with chap. 2. 16. 12. 13. 1 John 5. 20. with