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The Inward Glory of the true
Believer.

SERM. II.

PSALM xlv. 14.

The King's Daughter is all glorious within—

H

Owever this Pfalm might be compofed on the Occafion of King Solomon's Marriage with the Daughter of Pharoah, King of Egypt, yet the Scope and Intendment of it is fpiritual, pointing out to us the mystical Marriage between Chrift and his Church; and therefore if we mean to make a right Ufe and Improvement of this Portion of Scripture, we must lift up our Minds from earthly to heavenly Things, for a Greater than Solomon is bere.

The Scriptures are compared, by a Father of the Church, to the Manna that fell in the Wilderness, which is fuppofed to

have had a Taste accommodated to the Pa- SERM. II. late of the Eater: fo, the facred Writings afford fomething fuitable to the Tafte of every Reader.

The Hiftorian, the Orator,

the Critic, find each of them herein Matter for the Exercise of their respective Talents; the carnal Man readeth the Scriptures with a carnal Eye, and therefore only findeth in them a carnal Senfe. The Moralist there difcovers excellent Rules for the Conduct of the outward Life, but not having Eyes to fee farther, he difcerneth not the Wisdom of God in a Mystery; whilst the fpiritual Man eateth of the hidden Manna, and fearcheth out the deep Things of God, comparing fpiritual Things with fpiritual, for they are only fpiritually difcerned: To fuch a one the Scriptures are Meat indeed, and Drink indeed; and whilft others are detained below, in that Faith of the Letter that killeth, he ascendeth into the Presence Chamber of the moft High, by the Faith of the Spirit that giveth Life. To him the Pfalm, from whence the Text is taken, is like Jacob's Ladder, which reached from Earth to Heaven, on which he afcends from the Representation of an earthly Marriage to the Contemplation of that blessed Union

SERM. II. which fubfifts betwixt Chrift, the King of

Glory, and his Spouse the Church: And,
indeed, unless we allow that these Things
are an Allegory, neither the Pfalm before
us, nor the Song of Solomon, carry in them
any further Profit, or Improvement, to at
religious Reader, than a beautiful Ode or a
dramatic Poem, in the Subjects of which
we are no Ways concerned; nay, are rather
apt to excite Ideas ill fuiting with the Pu-
rity of a Christian Mind: But to the pure
all Things are pure. That the spiritual
Sense here mentioned does belong to these
divine Writings ftands confirmed by the
Judgment of holy Men, in all Ages of the
Church, who by fuch a Ufe and Applica-
tion of them in their Expofitions, Medita-
tions, and Prayers, have made them subser-
vient to the Purposes of an elevated Piety.
But not to detain you any longer from the
Text, I proceed to explain,

First, Who is meant by the King's
Daughter, and

Secondly, In what Senfe fhe is all glorious
within.

And First, By the King's Daughter is meant, the Church of Chrift; by which we

are

are not to understand any one particular out- S&RM. II. ward Church, according to the narrow and confined Notion of fome concerning that Word, but the whole collective Body of holy Souls, under whatever Difpenfation they have lived, or however difperfed over the Face of the whole Earth. Of this Multitude, gathered out of all Nations and Languages, which no Man can number, is compofed that Church, which Chrift fo loved that he gave himself for it, that he might fanctify and cleanse it, with the Washing of Water by the Word, that he might prefent it to himself a glorious Church, not having Spot or Wrinkle, or any fuch Thing, but that it should be Holy and without Blemish. This is the heavenly Jerufalem, whofe Foundation is on the holy Hills, and whofe Builder and Maker is God. Here are the Gates of Sion, which the Lord loveth more than all the Dwellings of Jacob.→ Such excellent Things are spoken of thee, Thou City of God! We profefs to believe in the Communion of Saints; now, this is the bleffed Fellowship here fpoken of, and is called the Bride, the Lamb's Wife. For the Saints in Heaven and the Saints on Earth conftitute but one Family, and one Body,

of

SERM. II. of which Chrift is not only the Political, but the influencing Head; they are Partakers of the fame Grace of divine Love, and will shortly partake together in the fame Glory. Nay the Faithful, whilft on Earth, are faid to be bleffed with spiritual Bleffings in heavenly Places in Chrift, for by their Union with him their Right and Title to these cannot fail them, for if Chrift is theirs, in Him they have all Things; and Nothing but this thin Partition of Mortality, hinders the Saints militant from joyning Society with their fellow Members, the Saints triumphant, who now wait in joyful Expectation of that Time, when God fhall accomplish the Number of his Elect, and haften his Kingdom; and when all the angelic Hoft fhall celebrate the happy Day, faying, Let us be glad and rejoyce, and give Honour to God, for the Marriage of the Lamb is come, and his Wife hath made berSelf ready.

It was to bring about this myftical Marriage, that the Son of God condefcended to take our Nature upon him; for it is not poffible there fhould be an Union betwixt Perfons or Things that fubfift not in one common Nature. Now in Order to Man's

Sal

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