You must likewise forget your father’s house. “Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and forget thy father’s house.” You are not here to cast off all affections unto natural relations; but you must forget all relations, so as to be ready to forego all their favour, when it standeth in competition with that of the LORD JESUS CHRIST; and do not let your carnal friends and relations hinder you from closing with, and espousing the LORD JESUS. I earnestly beseech you to suffer the loss of any thing, rather than to lose his favours; you must indeed forget your own people, that is, you must forget all your evil customs which you have learned in your father’s house, and forsake all your vain conversation, your reading of plays, novels, or romances; and you must keep from learning to sing the songs of the drunkard; for CHRIST, if you are his spouse, hath redeemed you.
Such of you, my dear sisters, as are espoused to the LORD JESUS CHRIST are very beautiful. I do not mean in respect of your bodies; you may have less of external comeliness than others, in respect of your bodies, but as to your souls you will exceed in beauty, not so much in the eyes of man, as in the eyes of GOD; such have the most beautiful image of GOD stamped upon them; none in the world, beside them, have the least spark of spiritual beauty. Such as are not married to CHRIST, are unregenerated, they are not born again, nor brought from sin unto GOD, which must be done before you be espoused to CHRIST.
And the LORD JESUS CHRIST desireth to see this beauty in his spouse, for he cries out, “O my dove, thou 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.” He calleth his spouse his love, being the dear object of his love; and he admireth her loveliness; he repeats it twice in one verse, “Behold thou art fair, my love, behold thou art fair.” Thus you see he describes their beauty. And then, my sisters, we have a wonderful expression of CHRIST to his spouse, “Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse, thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck.” Thus you see how pleased the LORD JESUS CHRIST is with his spouse; and will not you, therefore, be espoused unto the LORD JESUS? I offer JESUS CHRIST to all of you; if you have been never so notorious for sin, if you have been as great a harlot as _Mary Magdalen_ was, when once you are espoused to CHRIST, you shall be forgiven. Therefore be not discouraged, at whatever slights and contempts the world may pass upon you, but come and join yourselves to the LORD JESUS CHRIST, and all your sins shall be washed away in his blood; and when once you are espoused to JESUS, you are disjoined from sin, you are born again. You are now, as it were, espoused unto sin; sin is your husband, and you are too fond of it, but when once you are married to CHRIST, when you are born again, then you may be said to die unto sin; but till then, sin liveth in your affections; therefore, my sisters, give sin its death-wound in your hearts; you have been called by the word time after time, and it has had no effect upon you; but when you are espoused unto the LORD JESUS CHRIST, then you will be brought to him by his Spirit: You will then lay hold on him by faith, his Spirit will draw you unto himself; he will make you to be willing in the day of his power; he will give you faith in him. Faith is the hand of the soul which layeth hold on CHRIST; therefore, do not rest contented till you have this grace of faith wrought in you with power; do not be contented till you have received the LORD JESUS CHRIST.
Embrace CHRIST in the arms of your dearest love; then you love the LORD JESUS CHRIST with sincerity, when you love and esteem him before father, mother, or all the delights and pleasures of this life; but if you do delight in any thing that this world can produce, more than in the LORD JESUS CHRIST, you have no true love to him.
If you are espoused to CHRIST, you have acquaintance and converse with him; you will endeavour to promote his interest, and advance his name in the world; when others are going to the polite and fashionable diversions of life, you will be labouring to bring honour to the LORD JESUS CHRIST; you will commend your beloved above all other beloveds, and endeavour to bring others into love to him. Can you, my dear sisters, who are now assembled to worship GOD, shew such evidence of your espousals unto the LORD JESUS CHRIST? O! how joyful, how comfortable an estate is this! Surely this is a marriage worth seeking after; this is the only desirable marriage, and the LORD JESUS CHRIST is the only lover that is worth seeking after.