Page:Last publick sermon, being a faithful and free one, preached by Mr. Hugh Mackaile ... upon the Sabbath immediately preceeding that 8th of September 1662, the day affixed for the removing of the ministers of Edinburgh from their kirks.pdf/6

( 6 ) the Marriage of the King's Son, wherein Solomon, accord- ing to the ſingular Prerogative of Wiſdom, where with he was privileged above all the reſt of the Children of Men, diveth deeply into that myſterious and admirable Con- junction betwixt Chriſt and his Church, which is called, Rev. xxi. 9. The Bride, the Lamb's Wife; wherein, under borrowed Terms, he giveth a vive Repreſentation of Be- lievers in their various Exigencies and Dependance on Chriſt in this world, and of his Diſpenſations towards them, in condeſcending to a gracious Supply. And in this Place the Church is held forth, under the Figure of a chaſte Virgin, ſtanding without, in a deſolate and forlorn Eſtate; in the ſcorching Beams of the Sun ſhining in his Strength, anxious where to find a ſatisfying Shelter, accounting it a miſcrable Thing to join herſelf to theſe who preſume to rival it with him whom her Soul loveth, whom ſhe there. fore ſcornfully calls his Companions ; and in this Strait ſhe crieth to him for a Shelter and Reſt. So likeways it often- times comes to paſs, that the Condition of the Church of God is darkened by Affliction, the Lord covering the Daugh- ter of Zion with a Cloud in his Anger, and caſting down from Heaven to Earth the Beauty of his Iſrael; and the Devil catcheth hold of this Occaſion to ſet at Work all his Inſtruments to ſet forward their. Deſtruction, if ſo by any Means he can engage his People to lay aſide their In- tegrity, to hearken to the Inſtruction that cauſeth to err from the Words of Knowledge, or to break forth into a Murmuring; Why ſhould I wait for the Lord any long- er? But they who have their Harts already diſengaged from the World, and engaged to Chriſt, will account it unreaſonable to hearken to any thing that may ſupport a Divorce from him; and therefore, when they are ſurround- ed with Difficulties, they turn in to that known Boforh where they have oft poured out the Complaints of their Soul; hence they ſeek Counſel and Strength to follow it. You