Page:Best-match, or, The incomparable marriage between the Creator & the creature.pdf/4

( 4 ) thee his people, he will own thee as his ſpouſe, and act the part of an huſband to thee.

I shall defer any further introduſtion and expli cation, and alſo whatever might be laid concerning the external relation betwixt Chriſt and the viſible church, my chief deſign being, at this time, only to ſpeak a little to that internal ſpiritual marriage-re- lation betwixt Chriſt and the inviſible church, or Chriſt and the believer, as it is repreſented under the formality of a marriage: and what I would offer upon this ſubject, I lay before you in this doc- trinal proportion.

"That there is a marriage-relation betwixt Chriſt and believers wherein he ſupplies the place of a huſband unto them, and they the place of a bride and ſpouſe to him.”

In proſecuting whereof, I would do these things, I. Prove, That there is ſuch a marriage relation betwixt Chriſt and believers. II. Speak to the nature of this marriage. III. Give the reaſons, why Chriit comes under ſuch a relation to his people IV. Make ſome application of the ſubjeft.

I. We are to confirm the doftfine, that there is a marriage-relation betwixt Chriſt and believers. This will appear from theſe two conſiderations.

I. From the compellations given to Chriſt, with relation to believers. How frequently doth the ſpouſe call him her Huſband in the book of the Song? “As the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, ſo is my Beloved among the ſons —My Beloved is mine and I am his” Song ii 3 16. And, ſays the apostle 1 Cor. xi 1. "I have eſpouſed you to one huſband, that I may preſent you as a chaſle virgin unto Chriſt".