2. Those who profess to stand in the relation of his Spouse —
[Look forward for the period when he will come and take you to himself. The precise hour of his arrival is not known : but it will not be very long, at all events. In the mean time, let your preparation for him be diligent and unintermitted. Seek to be daily more and more " glorious within," and to have your clothing of wrought gold ever ready ; so that if his arrival be ever so sudden, he may not find you unprepared for his call. Be jealous over yourselves ; and forgive me if I also be jealous over you, in relation to this matter. You know how " the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety" even in Paradise : and you may be sure that he will use his utmost efforts to " corrupt you from the simplicity that is in Christ ''." Be on your guard therefore, lest either in principle or in prac- tice you turn aside from him. He has numberless instruments whom he employs as his agents to deceive the world; " deceit- ful workers, who can transform themselves into the Apostles of Christ ; as he himself also is not unfrequently transformed into an angel of lights." But entreat of God to keep you: beg of him to " hedge up your way with thorns, and even to
P 2 Cor. xi. 2. <i Cant. v. 9. ' Ps. xlv. 2.
« Cant. V. 10, 16. * Cant. v. 16. " Cant. ii. 4.
X 2 Cor. xi. 3. v 2 Cor. xi. 13, 14.
A a2