Truly, if it had not been so plainly revealed, we could not have dared to entertain such a thought in our minds. That sinners, so guilty, so polluted as we are, should be admitted into so near and so endearing a relation to our incarnate God : how wonderful ! how surpassing all knowledge, and all con- ception ! Yet so it is : and both the Church at large, and every member of the Church, is a partaker of this honour.]
Into this relation they are brought by the ministry of the Gospel —
[The Apostle says, " I have espoused you to one husband." Ministers may not unfitly be compared to Abraham's servant, who was sent forth to seek a wife for his master's son. They have received a commission from their Lord and Master : they make known to the children of men the excellencies of him in whose name they come : they look to God for the success of their labours : and by their means he works, " makino- persons willing in the day of his power." Sinners thus wrought upon agree to take the Lord Jesus Christ as their Husband ; and by their union with him they hope henceforth to " bring forth fruit unto God." In him they see all that they can possibly desire; and on him they rely for the communication of it to their souls: they take him as their " wisdom, their righteousness, their sanctification, and redemption;" and they glory in him, even in him alone. Having thus accepted Christ for their all, they make a covenant with him, " a perpetual covenant not to be forgotten <= ;" and they consecrate to him all that they are, and all that they have, to be disposed of from henceforth as his property according to his sovereign will and pleasure. They pledge themselves henceforth through grace to be entirely "for the Lord, and not for another^;" and never more to yield their affections to any but him. This surrender the Lord Jesus Christ accepts ; and to every one by whom it is made, he commissions his servants to proclaim in his name, " I will betroth thee unto me for ever ; yea, I will be- troth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving kindness, and in mercies ; I will even betrotli thee unto me in faithfulness : and thou shalt know the Lord^."]
But whilst on the one hand we contemplate their privileges, we must on the other hand consider,
II. The danger to which they are exposed —
It is not to be supposed that he who ruined their first parents in Paradise, will leave them in the quiet possession of this high honour: No; as he envied
e Jer. 1. 5. f Hos. iii. 3. g Hos. ii. 19, 20.