profession, so he dotli not go very far, but that he may have him again at night. If God hath the matins, he looks for the vigils, and thus he is content the day should be divided. Doth conscience press a reformation and change of the sinner's course, rather than fail, he will grant that also : yet as Pharaoh when he yielded they should go, he meant ' their little ones should stay behind as a pledge for those that went,' Exod. x. 11 ; so Satan must have some one sin that must be spared, and no matter though it be a little one. Now if ever you would get out of the de^^^s rule, make no composition with him. Christ will be king or no king. Not a hoof must be left behind, or anything which may make an errand for thee afterwai'ds to retm-n. Take therefore thy everlasting farewell of every sin, as to the sincere and fixed pui-pose of thy heart, or thou doest nothing. Pavil joins his faith and his pui-pose together, 2 Tim. iii. 10, not the one without the other. At the promulgation of the law in Sinai, God did, as it were, give Israel the oath of allegiance to him, then he told them what law he would rule them by, and they gave their consent : this was the ' espousal ' which God puts them in mind of, Jer. ii., in which they were solemnly married together, as king and subjects. Now mark, before God woidd do this, he will have them out of Egypt. They could not obey his laws, and Pharaoh's idolatrous customs also, and therefore he will have them out before he solemnly espouseth them to be a nation pecidiarly his. Thou must be a widow before Christ marry thee ; he will not lie by the side of another's wife. O that it were come to this ! then the match would soon be made between Christ and thee. Let me ask thee, poor soul, hast thou seriously considered who Christ is, and what his sweet government is ? And couldst thou find in thy heart, out of an inward abhorrency of sin and Satan, and a liking to Christ, to renounce sin and Satan and choose Christ for thy Lord? Doth thy soul say as Rebecca, ' I will go,' if I could tell how to get to him. But, alas! I am here a poor prisoner, I cannot shake off my fetters, and set myself at liberty to come imto Christ ? Well, poor soul, canst thou groan heartily under thy bondage ? Then for thy comfort know, thy deliverance is at the door ; He that heard the cry of Israel in Egypt will hear thine also, yea, come and save thee out of the hands of thy lusts. He will not, as some, who entangle thy affections by making love to thee, and then give over the suit, and come to thee no more. If Christ has won thy heart, he will be true for thee, and be at all the cost to bring thee out of thy prison-house also ; yea, take the pains to come to thee himself, and bring with him those wedding garments in which he will carry thee from thy prison to his Father's house with joy, where thou shalt live not only as a subject under his law, but as a bride in the bosom of his love. And what can be added to thy happiness more, when thy Prince is thy husband, and that such a prince to whom all other are vassals, even the prince of the world himself? and yet so gracious, that his majesty hinders not his familiar converse with thee, a poor creature, but adds to the condescent thereof; therefore God chooseth to mix names of greatness and relation together : the one to sweeten the other : ' Thy Maker is thy husband, thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel : The God of the whole earth shall he be called,' Isa. liv. 5 ; and to usher in those promises with titles of greatest dread and terror to the creature, that hold forth the greatest condescensions of love. How can God stoop lower than to come and dwell with a poor humble soul, which is more than if-he had said, such a one should dwell with him ? For a beggar to live at court, is not so much as the king to dwell with him in his cottage. Yet this promise is ushered in with the most magnificent titles : ' Thus saith the High and Lofty One, that inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy, I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit,' Isa. Ivii. 15. And why such titles but to take away the fears Avhich his saints are prone to take up from them. Will the High and Lofty One, saith the humble soul, look on me, a poor worm ? Will the holy God come near such an unclean creature ? saith the contrite one. Isaiah himself cried he was undone at the sight of God, and this attribute pro- claimed before him, Isa. vi. 5. Now God prefixeth these, that the creatm'e may know his majesty and holiness, which seem so terrible to us, are no prejudice to his love ; yea, so gracious a prince is thy husband, that he delights rather
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his saints should call him by the names of love, than state. ' Thou shalt call me Islii, and shall no more call me Baali,' Hos. ii. IG. That is, ni)- hus])and, not my lord.