Page:Best-match, or, The incomparable marriage between the Creator & the creature.pdf/8

( 8 ) as it dropt out of his creating hands, but when palluted with the poiſon of the devil, the venom of the old ſerpent, that he ſhonld take her for a bride; “Thy Maker is thy Huſband." This is a wonder- ful conjunction! It a glorious angel ſhould be matched with a creeping worm, and a king with a beggar, it would nor be ſuch a wonder; but the Maker to join himſelf to the work of his hands, exceeds all! There cannot be a greater diſtance conceived be- twixt any two things, than betwixt a Creator and that which is brought out from the barren womb of nothing, a creature; and yet they are in a marr- iage-relation; “Thy Maker is thy Huſband!"

2. This marriage is very difficult and hard. It is true, there it nothing too hard for Omnipotency; yet the human nature of Chriſt had much to do with it: though he was ſupported by the divine nature, yet he behoved to ſwim through the river of his own blood before he could get his bride. He ſatisfied the juſtice of God, and eſtabliſhed a new covenant. All this was to be done, in order to his marriage. 3 This marriage is an indiſſolvable marriage. Death diſſolves other relations, but it increaſes this intimate union. Nothing ſhall ſeparate Chriſt and the believer: “I am perſuaded,” ſaith Paul, “that neither life nor death, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things preſent, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to ſeparate us from the love of God which is in Chriſt Jeſus our Lord,” Rom. viii. 38, 39.

4thly, What are the effects of this marriage?

1. The first and immediate effect is, a moſt cloſe union betwixt Chriſt and the believer. This union, although it be, in ſome reſpeſt, leſs than a perſonal union, yet it is more than a political union, more than a moral union; it is a very cloſe union. The Bridegroom, Chriſt, gives his bride his own Spirit;