Cant. V. 7.] * i chakge you, o daughters.' 123
' I charge you, 0 daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that ye tell him I am sick of love.'
She goes to the ' daughters of Jerusalem' for help. Whence we may learn,
That, {'/ ice find not comfort in one means, we must have recourse to another.
If we find not Christ present in one, seek him in another ; and perhaps we shall find him where we least thought of him. Sometimes there is more comfort in the society of poor Christians, than of the watchmen themselves.
' I charge you, 0 daughters of Jerusalem,' &c.
Where we have, 1. A charge given. ' I charge,' &c.
2. The parties charged, * the daughters of Jerusalem.'
3. The particular thing they are charged with, that is, if they find Christ, ' to tell him she is sick of love.'
The parties charged, are ' the daughters of Jerusalem,' the daughters of the church, which is called Jerusalem, from some resemblances between Jerusalem and the church. Some few shall be touched, to give hght to the point.
1. Jerusalem was a city compact in itself, as the Psahnist saith, Ps. exxii. 3, so is the chui'ch, the body of Christ.
2. Jerusalem was chosen from all places of the world, to be the seat of God ; so the chui-ch is the seat of Christ. He dwells there in the hearts of his children.
3. It is said of Jerusalem, they went up to Jerusalem, and down to Egypt, and other places : so the chui'ch is from above, Gal. iv. 26. ' The way of wisdom is on high,' Prov. xv. 24. Religion is upward. Grace, glor^^, and comfort come from above ; and di'aw our minds up to have our conversation and our desires above.
4. Jerusalem was.' the joy of the whole earth;' so the church of God, what were the world without it, but a company of incarnate devils ?
0. In Jerusalem, records were kept of the names of all the citizens there ; so all the true citizens of the chuix-h, their names are written in the book of life in heaven, Heb. xii. 23.
The daughters of Jenisalem therefore are the trae members of the church that are both bred and fed in the chm-ch, 1 Peter i. 20 ; 1 Peter ii. 2. Let us take a trial of om'selves, whether we be daughters of Jerusalem or no. That we may make this trial of oui'selves.
1. If ive find freedom in our conscience from te)Tors and fears. If we find spiritual Uberty and freedom to serve God, it is a sign that we are daughters of Jerusalem, because Jei'usalem was free, Gal. iv. 26.
2. Or if we mind things above, and things of the church. K we take to heart the cause of the trath, it is a sign we are true ' daughters of Jerusa- lem.' AVe know what the Psalmist saith, ' Let my right hand forget her cunning if I forget thee, O Jerusalem, if I do not prefer Jerasalem before my chief joy,' Ps. cxxxviii. 5, 6. If the cause of the church go to our hearts ; if we can joy in the church's joy, and mourn in the church's abase- ment and sufiering, it is a sign we ai-e true daughters of Jerusalem, and lively* members of the body of Christ. Otherwise, when we hear that the church goes down, and that the adverse part prevails, and we joy, it is a sign we are daughters of Babylon and not of Jerusalem.
Therefore let us ask our affections what we are, as Austin wi-ites excel- lently in his book l)e Civitate Dei. ' Ask thy heart of what city thou art.'
But what saith the church to the daughters of Jerusalem ? In the first place, ' I charge you.'
* That is, ' living.' — G.
124 ' BOWELS OPENED. [SeEMON XII.
It is a kind of admiration supplied thus : ' I charge you, as you love me your sister, as you love Christ, as you tender my case that am thus used, as you will make it good that you are daughters of Jerusalem and not of Babylon, ' tell my beloved, that I am sick of love.' It is a strong charge, a defective speech, which yields us this observation.
That true affections are serious in the things of God and of religion.
She lays a weight upon them, ' I charge you, 0 daughters of Jerusalem.' True impressions have stong expressions. Therefore are we cold in matters of religion in our discourses ; it is because we want these inward impres- sions. The church here was full, she could not contain herself, in re- gard of the largeness of her affections. ' I charge you, 0 daughters of Jerusalem,' &c.
We may find the truth of grace in the heart, by the discoveries and ex- pressions in the conversation in general.
* I charge you, 0 daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that ye tell him I am sick of love.'
The church here speaks to others meaner than herself. She would have the church tell Christ, by prayer, the surest intelligencer, how she was used, how she languished, and was sick for him, and cannot be without him.