OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 5S.
and delight themselves withal, with which they [may] hold commu- nion ; and there are two ways whereby men proceed in the pursuit of what they so aim at. Some set before them some certain end, — per- haps pleasure, profit, or, in religion itself, acceptance with God ; others seek after some end, but without any certainty, pleasing themselves now with one path, now with another, with various thoughts and ways, like them, Isa. Ivii. 10, — because something comes in by the life of the hand, they give not over though weary. In what condition soever you may be (either in greediness pursuing some certain end, be it secular or religious; or wandering away in your own imagina- tions, wearying yourselves in the largeness of your ways), compare a little what you aim at, or what you do, with what you have already heard of Jesus Christ : if any thing you design be like to him, if any thing you desire be equal to him, let him be rejected as one that hath neither form nor comeliness in him ; but if, indeed, all your ways be but vanity and vexation of spirit, m comparison of him, why do you spend your " money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which satisfieth not?"
Use. 1. You that are yet in the flower of your days, full of health and strength, and, with all the vigoiu" of your spirits, do pursue some one thing, some another, consider, I pray, what are all your beloveds to this Beloved? What have you gotten by them? Let us see the peace, quietness, assurance of everlasting blessedness that they have given you? Their paths are crooked paths, whoe'er goes in them shall not know peace. Behold here a fit object for your choicest affections, — one in whom you may find rest to your souls, — one in whom there is nothing will grieve and trouble you to eternity. Be- hold, he stands at the door of your souls, and knocks : O reject him not, lest you seek him and find him not! Pray study him a little; you love him not, because you know him not. Why doth one of you spend his time in idleness and folly, and wasting of precious time, — perhaps debauchedly? Why doth another associate and assemble himself "with them that scoff at relisnon and the thing's of God? Merely because you know not our dear Lord Jesus. Oh, when he shall reveal himself to you, and tell you he is Jesus whom you have slighted and refused, how will it break your hearts, and make you mourn like a dove, that you have neglected him ! and if you never come to know him, it had been better you had never been. Whilst it is called To-day, then, harden not your hearts.
Use 2. You that are, perhaps, seeking earnestly after a righteous- ness, and are religious j^crsons, consider a little Avith yourselves, — hath Christ his due place in your hearts? is he your all? does he dwell in your thoughts? do you know him in his excellency and desirableness? do you indeed account all things " loss and dung" for
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his exceeding excellency? or rather, do you prefer ahnost any thing in the world before it? But moi'e of these things afterward.
CHAPTER III.
Of the way and manner whei'eby the saints hold communion with the Lord Christ as to personal grace — The conjugal relation between Christ and the saints, Cant. ii. 16; Isa. liv. 5, etc.; Cant. iii. 11, opened — The way of communion in conjugal relation, Hos. iii. 3; Cant. i. 15 — On the part of Christ — On the part of the saints.
(2.) The next thing that comes under consideration is, the way whereby we hold communion with the Lord Christ, in respect of that personal grace whereof we have spoken. Now, this the Scripture manifests to be by the way of a conjugal relation. He is manied unto us, and we unto him ; which spiritual relation is attended with suitable conjugal affections. And this gives us fellowship mth him as to his personal excellencies.
This the spouse expresseth, Cant. ii. 1 6, " My Beloved is mine, and I am his;" — " He is mine, I possess him, I have interest in him, as my head and my husband ; and I am his, possessed of him, owned by him, given up unto him : and that as to my Beloved in a conjugal relation."
So Isa. liv. 5, " Thy Maker is thine husband ; the Loed of hosts is his name ; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel ; The God of the whole earth shall he be called." This is yielded as the reason why the church shall not be ashamed nor confounded, in the midst of her troubles and trials, — she is married unto her Maker, and her Re- deemer is her husband. And Isaiah, chap. Ixi. 10, setting out the mu- tual glory of Christ and his church in their walking together, he saith it is "as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with jewels." Such is theu- condition, because such is their relation ; which he also farther expresseth, chap. Ixii. 5, " As the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee." As it is with such persons in the day of their espousals, in the day of the gladness of their hearts, so is it witli Christ and his saints in this relation. He is a husband to them, providing that it may be with them according to the state and condition whereinto he hath taken them.