This beauty of grace, whereby it makes tiie church so fair, springs from these grounds.
First. In that it is from a divine ■principle and original. It is not basely bred,
VOL. II. I
180 BOWELS OPENED. [SeEMON XIII.
hut from heaven. And therefore it raiseth the soul above nature, and makes the subjects wherein it is as far surpass all other men, as men do beasts.
Secondly. In regard of the continuance, it is everlasting, and makes us continue for ever. 'All flesh is grass, and as the flower of grass,' saith the prophet, Isa. xl. 6 ; and it is repeated in the New Testament in divers places. All worldly excellency is as the flower of grass. ' The grass withereth and the flower fadeth, but the word of the Lord (that is, the grace that is imprinted in the soul by the Spirit with the word), that abideth for ever,' 1 Pet. i. 24, and makes us abide likewise.
Use 1. From this fairness of the church, let us take occasion to contem- plate of the excellency of Christ that puts this lustre of beauty upon the church. Moses married a woman that was not beautiful, but could not alter the complexion and condition of his spouse. But Christ doth. He takes us wallowing in our blood, deformed and defiled. He is such a hus- band as can put into his church his ovra disposition, and transform her into his own proportion. He is such a head as can quicken his members ; such a root as instils life into all his branches ; such a foundation as makes us living stones. There is a virtue and power in this husband above all.
Ohj. But she is black.
Ans. She is so, indeed, and she confesseth herself to be so. * I am black, but comely,' Cant. i. 5. (1.) Black in regard of the afflictions and persecutions of others she meets with in this world.
(2.) Black, again, in regard of scandals ; for the devil hates the church more than all societies in the world. Therefore, in the society of the church there are often more scandals than in other people ; as the apostle tells the Corinthians there was incest amongst them, the like was not among the heathen, 1 Cor. v. 1.
(3.) She is black through the envy of the world, that looks more at the church's faults than virtues.
(4.) The church is black and unlovely, nothing differing from others, in regard of God's outward dealing. 'All falls alike to all,' Eccles. ix. 2. They are sick and deformed. They have all things outwardly whatsoever in common with others.
(5.) Lastly and principally, she is black, in respect of her infirmities and weaknesses ; subject to weakness and passions, as other men. The beauty of the church is inward, and im discerned to the carnal eye altogether. The Scribes and Pharisees see no virtue in Christ himself. It is said, ' that he came among his own, and his own could not discern of him : the dai'kness could not comprehend that light,' John i. 5, 11. Now, as it was with Christ, so it is much more with the church. Let this, then, be the use of it.
Use 2. Oppose this state of the church to the false judgment of the world. They see all black, and nothing else that is good. Christ sees that which is black, too ; but then his Spirit in them (together with the sight of their blackness) seeth their beauty, too. ' I am black, but comely,' &c. Be not discouraged, therefore, at the censure of the world. Blind men cannot judge of colours. It is said of Christ, ' he had no form or beauty in him, when we shall see him,' Isa. liii. 2. (1.) Not in outward glory, nor (2.) in the view of the world. If we be, therefore, thought to be black, we are no otherwise thought of than the church and Christ hath been before us.
Use 3. Again, let us make this use of it against Satan in the time of temptation. Doth Christ think us fair for the good we have ? Doth he not altogether value us by our ill ? and shall we believe Satan, who joins with the distempers of melancholy or weakness we are in (which he useth
Cant. V. 8, 9.] ' o thou faieest among women.' 131
as a weapon against the soul), to make us think otherwise ? ' Satan is not only a murderer, but a liar from the beginning,' John viii. 44. We must not believe an enemy and a liar withal. But consider how Christ and the church judgeth, that have better discerning. And let us beware we be not Satans* to om'selves ; for if there were no devil, yet in the time of temptation and desertion we are subject to discouragement, to give false witness against ourselves. We are apt to look on the dark side of the cloud. The cloud that went before the Israelites had a double aspect, one dark, the other light, Exod. xiv. 20. In temptation we look on the dark side of the soul, and are witty in pleading against ourselves. Oh, but consider what Christ judgeth of us, ' 0 ! thou fairest among women ;' and what those about us that are learned, who can read our evidences better than we ourselves, do judge of us. Let us trust the judgment of others in time of temptation more than our own.