unto, — I WILL BE FOR THEE, AND THOU SHALT BE FOR ME, and not
for another.
1st. Christ gives himself to the soul, with all his excellencies, right- eousness, preciousness, graces, and eminencies, to be its Saviour, head, and husband, for ever to dwell with it in this holy relation. He looks upon the souls of his saints, likes them well, counts them fair and beautiful, because he hath made them so. Cant. i. 15, " Be- hold, thou art fair, my companion ; behold, thou art fair ; thou hast doves' eyes." Let others think Avhat they please, Christ redoubles it, that the souls of his saints are very beautiful, even perfect, through his comeliness, which he puts upon them, Ezek. xvi. 14, — " Behold, thou art fair, thou art fair:"^ particularly, that their spiritual light is very excellent and glorious; like the eyes of a dove, tender, discerning, clear, and shining. Therefore he adds that pathctical wish of the 1 " Rcpetit non citra -raios, en tu pulchra es." — Mercer.
OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 57
enjoyment of this his spouse, Cant. ii. 14, "O my dove," saith he, " that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice ; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely;" — " Do not hide thyself, as one that flies to the clefts of the rocks; be not dejected, as one that hides her- self behind the stairs, and is afraid to come forth to the company that inquires for her. Let not thy spirit be cast down at the weakness of thy supplications, let me yet hear thy sighs and groans, thy breath- ings and pantings to me ; they are very sweet, very delightful : and thy spiritual countenance, thy appearance in heavenly things, is comely and delightful unto me." Neither doth he leave her thus, but, chap. iv. 8, presseth her hard to a closer [union] with him in this conjugal bond : " Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, mth me from Lebanon : look from the top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, from the lions' dens, from the mountains of the leopards;" — " Thou art in a wandering condition (as the Israelites of old), among lions and leopards, sins and ti'oubles; come from thence unto me, and I will give thee refreshment," Matt. xi. 28. Upon this invitation, the spouse boldly concludes, Cant. vii. 10, that the desire of Christ is towards her ; that he doth indeed love her, and aim at taking her into this fellowship with himself So, in caixy- ing on this union, Christ freely bestoweth himself upon the soul. Pre- cious and excellent as he is, he becometh ours. He makes himself to be so ; and with him, all his gi'aces. Hence saith the spouse, " ' My Beloved is mine ;' in all that he is, he is mine." Because he is right- eousness,^ he is " The Lord our Righteousness," Jer. xxiii. 6. Because he is the wisdom of God, and the power of God, he is " made unto us wisdom," etc., 1 Cor. i. 30. Thus, " the branch of the Lord is beauti- ful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth is excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel," Isa. iv. 2. This is the first thing on the part of Christ, — the free donation and bestowing of himself upon us to be our Christ, our Beloved, as to all the ends and purposes of love, mercy, grace, and glory; whereunto in his mediation he is desicmed, in a mamasfe covenant never to be broken. This is the sum of what is intended ; — The Lord Jesus Christ, fitted and prepared, by the accomplishment and fuiTuture of his person as mediator, and the large purchase of gi'ace and glory which he hath made, to be a husband to his saints, his church, tenders himself in the promises of the gospel to them in all his desii'ableness ; convinces them of his good-will towards them, and his all-sufficiency for a supply of their wants; and upon their consent to accept of him, — Avhich is all he re- quires or expects at their hands, — he engageth himself in a marriage covenant to be theirs for ever.
' Isa. xlv. 24. 25.
58 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
2dly. Oil tlie part of the saints, it is ihciv free, willing consent to receive, embrace, and submit unto the Lord Jesus, as their husband, Lord, and Saviour, — to abide with him, subject their souls unto him, and to be ruled by him for ever.
Now, this in the soul is either initial, or the solemn consent at the first entrance of union ; or consequential, in renewed acts of consent all our days. I speak of it especially in tliis latter sense, wherein it is proper unto communion; not in the fonner, wherein it primarily intendeth union.
There are two things that complete this self-resignation of the soul : —
(\st) The liking of Christ, for his excellency, grace, and suitable- ness, far above all other beloveds whatever, preferring him in the judgment and mind above them all. In the place above mentioned, Cant. V. 9, the spouse being earnestly pressed, by professors at large, to give in her thoughts concerning the excellency of her Beloved in comparison of other endearments, answereth expressly, that he is "the chiefest often thousand, yea," verse 16, "altogether lovely," — in- finitely beyond comparison with the choicest created good or endear- ment imaginable. The soul takes a view of all that is in this world, " the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life," and sees it all to be vanity, — that " the world passeth away, and the lust thereof," 1 John ii. 16, 17. These beloveds are no way to b,e com- pared unto him. It vieAvs also legal righteousness, blamelessness before men, uprightness of conversation, duties upon conviction, and concludes of all as Paul doth, Phil. iii. 8, "Doubtless, I count all these things loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord." So, also, doth the church, Hos. xiv. 8, reject all appearing assistances whatever, — as goodly as Asshur, as promising as idols, — that God alone may be preferred. And this is the soul's en- trance into conjugal communion with Jesus Christ as to personal grace, — the constant prefeiTing him above all pretenders to its afiec- tions, counting all loss and dung in comparison of him. Beloved peace, beloved natural relations, beloved wisdom and learning, be- loved righteousness, beloved duties, [ai'e] all loss, compared with Christ.