VeR. 11,] SERMONS UPON JOHN XVII. 319
perform our homages, by alms and acts of charity we pay him tribute, and praise and obedience are the constant revenues of his crown. This is the first grant.
[2.] We are given to Christ as scholars of his school. He is the great prophet and doctor of his church ; certainly Christ loveth the honour of this chair. He hath also obtained this title, Acts iii. 22, ' A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up to you from among your brethren ; him shall ye hear,' Christ came out from the bosom of God to show us his heart and mind. So he is called, Heb. iii. 1, ' The apostle of our profession.' Christ doth so love a relation to his church, that you see he taketh the titles of own officers ; though he is Lord of the church, yet he is ' the apostle of our profession ;' he counteth it an honour to be a preacher of the gospel. The Son of God is first in the roll of gospel preachers ; he is God's legate a latere, an apostle : he laid the foundation of the gospel when he was upon the earth, and he teacheth us now he is in heaven : he doth not teach the ear, but the heart ; he doth not only set us our lesson, bat giveth us a heart to learn it ; the scripture is our book, and Christ our great master ; and when he openeth our eyes, we shall see wondrous things in his law. Other teachers teach for hire, but he bought this liberty of God, that he might open his school, and become a light to Jew and Gentile.
[3.] We are given to him to be children of his family. The only thing propounded to allure Christ to the work of redemption was, Isa. liii. 10, '■ He shall see his seed,' that he might have a numerous issue and progeny. He delighteth in us, though we are all Benonis, sons of sorrow. Though he died in the birth, yet he is wonderfully pleased with the fruitfulness of his death ; as a woman delivered after sharp and sore sorrow, forgetteth all her past sorrow for joy of the birth. At the last day this will be Christ's rejoicing and crown, to see the multitude of his little ones all brought together : Heb. ii. 13, ' Behold, I'and the children which thou hast given me.'' It is a goodly sight, when Christ shall rejoice in the midst of them, and go with them, as a glorious train, to the throne of God the Father. Jesus Christ is our brother and our father ; by regeneration and the merit of the cross he is our father ; but in the possession of heaven he is our brother, for we are co-heirs with him.
[4.] We are given to him as the spouse of his bosom. This is another of Christ's honours, to be the church's bridegoom. The epithalamium is in Canticles and Ps. xlv. There the nuptials are celebrated. Ministers, they are, as John Baptist was called, ' Friends of the bridegroom.' Look, as a father giveth her whom he hath begotten to another for a spouse and wife, so doth God give his elect to Christ. Indeed Christ hath bought the church at his Father's hands ; other wives bring a dowry, but Christ was to buy. As Saul gave his daughter to David, but first he was to kill Goliath, and to bring the foreskins of a hundred Philistines, 1 Sam, xvii. 25, and xviii. 25 ; so God gave Christ the church for a spouse, but Christ was to redeem her with his blood, the infernal Goliath was to be slain. Yea, ere Christ did obtain this honour, he gaineth our consent by the power of his Spirit, working with the entreaties of the word : Hosea ii. 14, ' I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak
320 SERMONS UPON JOHN XVIT. [SeR. XVJII.
comfortably unto her ;' and ver. 19, 20, ' I will betroth thee unto me forever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in iudf::ment, and in loving'-kindness, and in mercies ; I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness, and thou shalt know the Lord.' First I will allure, then betroth ; as David, after he had bought Michal with the danger of his life, yet was fain to take her away from Phaltiel, 2 Sam. iii. 13. The devil hath gotten Christ's spouse in his own arms ; he is fain to rescue her, and oblige her to loyalty by the entreaties of his Spirit. Hereafter is the day of espousals ; now the church is called the bride, then the Lamb's wife. Christ's honour, as well as our con- sent, is incomplete ; then he cometh to fetch her, and present her to God, Eph. V. 27, and bring her into his Father's house. Christ is decking her against that time ; we are to accomplish the months of our purijScation, and to have odours and garments out of the king's wardrobe, Esther i. 12.
[5.] We are given to him to be members of his body. Here is the nearest relation, and that which Christ most prizeth, next to the title of the Son of God, to be head of the church. Oh ! what an honour is this to poor creatures, that Christ will take us into his own mystical body, to quicken us and enliven us, and guide us by his grace ! To angels he is a head in point of sovereignty and power : Col. ii. 10, ' And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power.' But to the church he is a head by virtue of mystical union. Angels are his ministering spirits, but we his spouse ; they are not called his bride, nor the spouse of his bosom, nor the members of his body. In the Ephssians, the church is called ' his body,' the ' fulness of him that filleth all in all,' Eph. i. 23. Poor creatures are ifK.-))p(i>[jba XpiaTov ; he doth not count himself perfect without us, as if he were a maimed, imperfect Christ till all the church be where he is. He treateth his mystical body with the same respect that he doth his natural ; it is raised, ascended, glorified, so shall we. For the present there is some communion between us ; he is grieved in our miseries, and we are exalted in his glory. As there is a mutual passage of spirits between the head and the body, so there is a com- munion between Christ and us by donatives and duties.