relation to himselfe. " To himself he betrothed her, in loving- kindness and tender mercies, and in unchanging faithfulness f:" and he assumed to himself the title and character of her Hus- band : " Thy Maker is thine Husband : the Lord of Hosts is his nameg." Yea, notwithstanding her unfaithfulness to him, he still acknowledges her as standing to him in the relation of a Wife : " Turn, O backsliding children! saith the Lord; for I am married unto youh." True, at present she is " forsaken and desolate :" but soon shall she be restored, agreeably to the prophetic declaration in my text : " As a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons (or, as Bishop Lowth translates it, thy Restorer) marry thee." If we retain our present trans- lation, we must remember, that persons, considered as born in the Church, are her "sons;" but, as uniting themselves to the Church, are her husband ; and consequently the appellation, which in one point of view would be incongruous, may be admitted in the other view, especially in the high flights of Eastern poetry \ If we take Bishop Lowth's translation, not only will the metaphor be more just, but the unity of the whole passage will be preserved ; God being the Bridegroom, who both takes the Church into union with himself, and rejoices over her as his Bride.
This event we look for at no distant period, when " those whom God has for a small moment repudiated, as a wife of youth, shall be gathered with great mercies, and be restored as in the days of oldk, and live in most endeared communion with him for evermore1.]
But the text may be fitly applied, also, to the Church of Christ —
[Christ is called the " Bridegroom," of his Church"1. To him has " every member of the Church been espoused as to a husband, and been presented as a chaste virgin". And so manifest is this relation between him and his people, that St. Paul, speaking expressly on the duties of husbands and wives, turns, and, with a most unlooked-for application of the subject, says, " This is a great mystery ; for I speak concern- ing Christ and his Church0." The same Apostle, in another of his Epistles, enters very particularly into the subject ; re- presenting us as formerly " married to the law ; but now, our
e Ezek. xvi. 4—8. f Hos. ii. 19, 20. s Isai. liv. 5.
h Jer. iii. 14.
' Such a confusion, or rather such a bold combination of meta- phors is not uncommon in the inspired writings. See Eph. ii. 19, 20. "fellow-citizens," " built."
k Isai. liv. 6 — 10. 1 Ezek. xxxvi. 24, 28. m John iii. 29.
» 2 Cor. xi. 2. ° Eph. v. 31, 32.
1009.] god's delight in his PEorLE. 585
former husband being dead, as united to another husband, even Christ ; in order that, by grace derived from him, we may bring forth fruit unto Godp." Even to all eternity will this relation to him be acknowledged : for to St. John an angel from heaven said, " Come hither, and I will shew thee the Bride, the Lamb's WifeV
Behold then, Brethren, what an honour is here held out to us, that we may aspire after it, and attain it ! What would a woman, in the lowest ranks of life, think of such a proposal coming to her from a king or prince ? Would it excite no feelings in her mind ? Would she pass it by, as a common thing, in which she had no interest ? Would it not rather be made a subject of deep and serious reflection ? Let us then, my Brethren, realize the idea that the offer is now made to us ; and that nothing but an obstinate refusal on our part can prevent the completion of this great object, a marriage-union with our God.]
In perfect accordance with this sublime mystery is that which is here added, respecting,