linen,' and silk,' and ornaments," and bracelets,' and 'chains,' and 'jewels,' and 'crowns 2.'

b

And as it is his promise, so it ought to be our duty and endeavour to adorn the gospel of Christ, to be in his garden as a lily, and not as a nettle or bramble; to walk as becometh godliness; to let our light shine before men, that they may be won to admire the amiableness of the Lord's tabernacle, and glorify God in the hour of their visitation ; to be as lights in the midst of a crooked generation*, or as lilies amongst briars ;' to make it appear that spiritual wisdom causeth the face to shine,'-that holiness is indeed a most beautiful thing, which commendeth us to the eyes of God and angels: a robe worn by Christ the king of Saints, and by which we are made like unto him, who is the "fairest of ten thousand, and altogether lovely." We should take heed of any thing whereby our holy profession may be blemished, and the name of God defiled by our means: of such levity, as is inconsistent with the majesty of holiness; of such morosity, as is inconsistent with the meekness of holiness; of such drooping, as is inconsistent with the joy of holiness; of such stiffness and sourness, as is inconsistent with the lenity of holiness. In one word, we should labour by the innocency, purity, elegancy, fragrancy, fruitfulness,— by the winning ingenuity, the mild and humble condescension, the prudent insinuation, the meek, quiet, and graceful managing of a holy life,--to "show forth the praises of him that hath called us, and to put to silence the ignorance of foolish men ;" who, like blackmoors, despise beauty,like dogs, bark at the shining of the moon, and "speak evil of the things they know not."

SECT. 16. Secondly, He promiseth That his church should "cast out his roots as Lebanon:" though she should have the beauty of the lily, yet she should be freed from the infirmity of it, an aptness to fade and wither, beautiful today, and to-morrow cast into the oven. But she should have stability like the cedar, which is one of the strongest of trees, and least subject to putrefaction; and therefore the church is compared to it, and the temple is said to be built

2 Ezek. xvi. 8, 13. a Phil. ii. 15. viii. 1. d Folio-Edition, p. 569. Hist. Plant. 1. 3.

f Ezek. xvii. 22, 33.

b Cant. ii. 2. e Eccles. e Plin. lib. 16. cap. 40.-Theophrast.

of it; to signify the strength and duration of the church, against which the gates of hell should not prevail : (and we may by the way observe, that most of the things here mentioned by our prophet, are also noted to have been in the temple, or in the services thereof; lilies, 1 Kings vii. 19, 22, 26; olive-trees, 1 Kings vi. 23, 32, 33; spices for incense, wheat and oil for meat-offerings, wine for drinkofferings.) God furnisheth his people with these blessings, which may be most properly dedicated unto him. Teaching us as often as we receive any gifts from God, presently to enquire what relation they have to his temple: how his name may be honoured, how his church may be served, how his gospel may be furthered, how his people may be edified and comforted by them, how all our enjoyments may be divided as spoils unto Christ";-the power of great men i ;--the swords of mighty men ;-the wisdom of learned men';-the cunning of craftsmen ;-the wealth of rich men ". Abraham gave of the spoils to Melchizedec°; and Israel of all their wealth, to the tabernacle P; and David and his people of their treasure, to the temple ".

k

m

And as it is his promise, That the church should thus 'take root, so we should account it our duty, to be firm, stable, constant, unmovable in the truth and in the work of the Lord, as a 'house built upon a rock. To stand fast and be rooted in the truth,' that we may hold the profession thereof without wavering;' not being carried about with the wind of doctrine,' but knowing whom and what we have believed;-to stand fast and be rooted in the love of God, that we may be strengthened with might in his service, and may "with purpose of heart cleave unto him," being established by his grace'. In the civil law ", till a tree hath taken root, it doth not belong to the soil on which it is

g 1 Kings vi. 15, 16. κρεμόω ποτὶ νηὸν ̓Απόλλωνος suspendere antiqui moris erat. En. 7. i Isai. lx. 3.

1 1 Kings

1 Τεύχεα συλήσας, οἴσω ποτὶ Ἴλιον ἱρὴν, Καὶ ἑκάτοιο, Hom. Iliad. H. 82.-Spolia in Templis Cic. de Nat. Deor. lib. 2.-Liv. lib. 10.—Virgil. 1 Sam. xviii. 17, 25, 28. Judg. vii. 8 iii. 9, 28. m Exod. xxviii. 3. xxxi. 6. n Isai. xxiii. 18. Psalm xlv. 12. Isai. lx. 69. 1 Tim. vi. 17, 18, 19. P Exod. xxxv. 21. q 1 Chron. xxix. 2.

Prov. iii. 9. Heb. vii. 4.

2 Kings xix. 30. Jer. xvii. 8.

⚫ 1 Cor. xvi. 13. Ephes. iv.. 14. Col. ii. 7. Heb. x. 23. Col. i. 11. Heb. xii. 28. xiii. 9.

t Ephes. iii. 17.

u P. de adquirendo rerum dominio, 1.7.

Sect. 13. et Arborum furtim cæsarum, 1. 3. Sect. 3. Cod. de Re. vindicatione, 1. 11.

planted. It is not enough to be in the church,-except, like the cedar of Lebanon, we cast forth our roots, and are so planted that we flourish in the "courts of our God, and bring forth fruit in our old age *."

b

SECT. 17. Thirdly, He promised, That the church should 'spread forth' her branches, and fill the earth, and grow into a great compass and extent, and should send forth her "boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river;" --that his church should be a universal church over the whole world that as the whole world, in regard of sin, lieth in mischief, so the whole world should have Christ for its propitiation, through faith; "Totus in maligno propter zizania, Christus propitiatio propter triticum "." By one Spirit we all are baptized into one body; and that one body made up of all the churches of the saints, even of all nations, kindreds, people, tongues .-No difference of persons; "neither Greek nor Jew, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ all, and in all f;"-No difference of places; all that in every place call upon the name of the Lord Jesus, both theirs and ours ;-No difference of times: Christ "yesterday, and to-day, and the same for ever"."

And as this is the promise, so we should endeavour;

1. To grow ourselves in knowledge and grace; to let our profiting appear unto all men; to abound in the work of the Lord; to let our graces from the heart, like leaven from the middle of the lump, spread abroad, and find their way to all the parts and powers of soul and body, that the whole man. may be "filled with the fulness of God, and grow up unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ'." 2. To labour and endeavour the growth and progress of the gospel in others. This is the nature of Grace, to manifest itself, and, by that means, to allure and gather others to its own quality. It is set forth, in scripture, by the names of light, which shines abroad; of' ointment and perfume,' which cannot be hid; of 'leaven and salt,' which deriveth

its own nature and relish upon a whole lump. Therefore the Holy Ghost was given in "tongues, fiery tongues, and a rushing wind;" all which have a quality of self-manifestation, and notifying themselves unto others. There is an excellent place to this purpose in the apostle, Ephes. iv. 15, 16: "But, speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: from whom the whole body, fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love:"-where the apostle showeth the manner of spiritual increase in the mystical body of Christ, by the proportion of the growth of members in the natural body.

And, first, there must be a fellowship between the head and members, which in the mystical body here is twofold, eis autòv, and i auto; growing into him,' and receiving 'from him :-looking, in this work of growth, upon Christ first, as the end of that growth unto which it drives: secondly, as the fountain from whence it proceeds: that by growth we may have a more intimate and strong communion with him, by that virtue which we receive from him. So here are two necessary requisites unto this duty of endeavouring the increase of the body; to have Christ for our end unto which we work,-and for our fountain, out of which we derive our ability of working. Every true member of Christ is intent and vigilant upon the interest and honour of Christ; and it belongs unto the honour of Christ to have a perfect body. The church is his fulness; he esteems himself maimed and incomplete, if that should be finally deficient in any thing, requisite to the integral perfection of it': and hence it is that every true Christian puts forth the uttermost of his endeavours, in his place, to carry on the increase of his Master's body: as every true-hearted soldier that loves his general, is exceeding desirous, and to his power endeavours, that every company and regiment under his general's command may be, in all the offices and members of it, complete. Again; every member of Christ, being unto him united, doth from him receive of his fulness grace

Folio Edition,

P. 570.

Vid. Cameron. de Eccles. p. 84, 85, 86.

for grace,' and so worketh unto the same ends as the head doth. And as the water which first riseth out of the fountain, doth not stand still there wherein it began, but goeth forward till it grow into a great river; so those who are joined unto Christ as a fountain, do, by reason of that vital communion which they have with the fountain, carry on the growth of the whole body; and the more vigorous the life of Christ is in any part, the more actively doth that part work towards the edification of the whole.

SECT. 18.-2. Here is further required a fellowship and mutual communion of the members of the body, within and amongst themselves: unto which is first presupposed the organical and harmonious constitution and compacture of the body into one, out of which ariseth the form and beauty, the strength and firmness, the order and fitness that is in it unto those works that are proper to it,-intimated in those words, συναρμολογούμενον, and συμβιβαζόμενον, ftly joined together and compacted. It is a metaphor drawn from carpenters and other artificers, who by several joints do so coaptate and fit the parts of their work unto one another, that being put together and fastened, there may one whole structure or body grow out of them: and in that body this accurate fitness and intimateness of the parts one with another, produceth an excellent strength, a beautiful order, and a ready serviceableness of each part to the other, and of all to the whole. So Jerusalem is said to be a city 'compacted' within itself". The ark (a type of the church) had the ribs, and planks, and parts thereof so closely fastened into one another, that no water might get in to drown it. And in the tabernacle, all the curtains thereof were to be 'coupled together' into one another. Christ is all for unity, and joining things into one two natures united in one person, two parties reconciled by one mediator, two people concorporated into one church, one Father, one seed, one head, one faith, one hope, one love, one worship, one body, one spirit, one end and common salvation. 'Christ is not,' loves not to be, 'divided.' This is a fundamental requisite unto the growth of the body, the preservation of its unity P. The building must

Nulla multitudinis potentia nisi consentientis, id est, unum sentientis. Aug. de Vera Relig. cap. 25. n Psalm cxxii. 3. o Exod. xxvi. 3. p Possessionem bonitatis tanto latius, quanto concordius individua sociorum