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Show There-is 4 CofljllgtJl Hltion, 4• H;, Vinu bne tmder Grape~; you have imperfetl habits of grace which without care may qutckly be dellroyed. 5· 'And Lillly. This will be a frrvice to Cbrift, as well as to your own Sonls: T•lt.,e '!ttbe Foxer •. All thefe ":'ig~t be enlarged ; but I have prevented my felf to the exphcauon : I !hall therefore add no more to my difcomfe upon thiS Subtect. Cant. 2. 16, •7· My Beloved it mine, and I am bit, He fmlfth among{f the L1Uiu,. until the day break a11tfthe fb•dvwt flee away. 'I urn "'Y B<loved, and be tbou llkt a Roe oryormg Hart upon the Mountainr c[Be1her. IT is the Spoufe that fpeaks, the Church, the beli~ving Soul; t!ut's agreed amongfl all Interpreters_, and as httle doubted but that Chrift ir the Beloved here mennoned ; for rl'hom hatb a bdiever ht H ·aven but him, whom 11pon the Earth to be compared witb himflif? Her Beloved had turned his back from her, that is plain fiom the 1 7· v. fhe faith, turn my Beloved, that i1_ retlm my Beloved for (he doubtlefs doth not bid him deplrt from her; yet he w;s but newly deputed, for but even now 01e hca~d him laying, Rift up my Love,myfairolfe,and come away 1 ~nd a gam, let me hear thy voice and foe thy countenance, for [t11eet u thyvwe, and thy.co!<ltten• nce it comely. A believer may live by Faith, when !he cann~t live by fl{.ht; {he may hear him [peak, when fhe doth not lee hos face; and this is an admirable nfe of the word.whm from 11 we can raifo cmolufiotu of Faith • . When, as M•noah't wife faid, If the Lord wo•IJ have k,jUed ur, be wo,/d not acctpted our Sacrifice: So the Soul can c<>nclude, If God would have carl me off_ for ever, If I -had been a r<probate, God would never have fpake fo kindly to me in his word, his word would never ha~e ~een ~o fweet unto my ta{le. Whether we have here the Soul tn Its tn· umph rapt into the third Heavens, whether in the body or out of rhe b~dy (he cannot tell, the words taken ~lone, f?uJ!d f9, my BtWved it· mine; or only in the thong "Cxemfe ofFallh and adherence I cannot tell; the words following feem to favour the latter,~~~~!~ hir; lmay name ~•!'i~'Honne;s:ion ofthefc w~~ hetween Chrijl and a believer ~ith the former. My belov~d, .there is no fear of the Foxes fpoil. ll~g me, ct.Jm admn:zntlf/0 dz/elfi,OJIU nodo Wtiri jHmJJf Itt VHfpecu/e di.ffolver~ non poffint;My Bdoved ts fo much mine,and my heart is fo much hts.,thar.the Foxes fhallnot feparate, no, if they be Abfolom; foxes w11h F~re-brands. betwixt thdr I ails, they (hall do no hurt: they may bark, they !hall not bite. . We have here, as fame thin!<, the Soul io an extafy of joy, not w~tl; the fool tha_t rqoyced ; he h~d goods bid up for many yea,, thos IS the worldlings JOY: Not wHh _the Pharifee,g!crying that he was nodebaucht perfon, nor )Ct as hts Neighb~ur, this is the Formaltils JOY ; Not hkc H.:mm, glorying in his titks of Honour and Princes fav our, this is the Courtiers joy, but glorying in this that the n..,tch n>.lf nude up bt tween Cbri/t and ber , My beloved if mme, an.J _I amhu : In the fe_nfe ofth~s Union that fhe could fay, my Btlovedu_,,,e, a~d. I am hu; glorying In her 7uftification, my Bdoved" mme, and tn her San[lijicatton, I am hit. This is the glorying that God commanded l"·9· 24. Let him th•t g/,rieto glory 111 th~<, that hr tmd,rflandrtb and k,.noi'Prtb me. Glorying ilt tbe !--ord! accord tug to the Apofiks Rule, 1 Cor, 1 . 31. This is thereJOyctng our Lord commended to his Difciplcs, That tbei• namn wm wrzttm m the Boo~{. of life, This is the Chriflhtns. glorying. But mark theord·er: Firfl, my Belov.di< mine then I am his·: ><. if he h1d not been tirfl hers, fhe could )lever ha~e been his. ' . In the Hebrew the Vrrb is ~anting, which hath given a little ]J. tttude to Interpreters according to the dilference of the Vrrb they nndedland: My beloved [to] or ~of) me & I [to J or [of] him; tlw's aU -in the He b. Indeed, it is in the Heb. '" T o me 1'7 To him,b~t it is Delrio'! note, that in the H:br. wh~n tkmini;n o; poffrffic• li IS lpoken of, Solrt DallVZH habere vim Genitivi; T he Dative cafe hath then the force of the Genitive. We tranflate it imine to which the Arabu'<_ verGon agreeth. The others read it te me' which j!;ivcs Eernard the ad vantage of underflanding the Verb in~ tmd11, my Beloved tntendt for me, and I intmd for him : And it may b~ the learned Mercer is. not fat fro~ this Interpretation ex· poundt~g thefe. words? Non 1Ue a/tam vel1t amicam,nec ego amicmn; utmrt• 111 altmUI acquufcztamore, & eo •ft contenllu: He will have no other wife, and I will have no other Husband ; we are refol. ved one for another, and are fatisfied each with the love of other. But I do not think this reacheth the full fenfe of 1hefe words : be-fides,, |
