12. THE TWELFTH SERMON

THE TWELFTH SERMON The watchmen that went about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me: the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me.—Song of Solomon 5:7. THE watchmen, those that by their place and standing should be so, they smote the church. As Bernard complains, almost five hundred years ago, ’Alas, alas!’ saith he, ’those that do seek privileges in the church are the first in persecuting it;’ and as his fashion is to speak in a kind of rhetoric, ’they were not pastors, but impostors.’ There be two ordinances without which the world cannot stand.

1. Magistracy.

2. Ministry.

Magistrates are nursing fathers and nursing mothers to the church.

Ministers are watchmen by their place and standing.

Now, for shepherds to become wolves, for watchmen to become smiters, what a pitiful thing is it! But thus it is. The church hath been always persecuted with these men under pretence of religion, which is the sharpest persecution of all in the church. It is a grievous thing to suffer of an enemy, but worse of a countryman, worse then that of a friend, and worst of all, of the church. Notwithstanding, by the way, we must know that the persecuted cause is not always the best, as Austin was forced to speak in his time against the Donatists (j). Sarah was a type of the true, and Hagar of the false, church. Now, Sarah, she corrected Hagar. Therefore, it follows not that the suffering cause is alway the better. Therefore, we must judge of things in these kind of passages by the cause, and not by the outward carriage of things.

’They took away my veil.’

Quest. What shall we do in such cases, if we suffer any indignity, if the veil be taken off? That is, if our shame, infirmities, and weaknesses be laid open by false imputations.

Ans. In this case it is the ’innocency of the dove’ that is to be laboured for, and withal the wisdom of the serpent, Matthew 10:16. If innocency will not serve, labour for wisdom, as indeed it will not alone. The wicked would then labour for subtilty to disgrace righteous persons.

Obj. But what if that will not serve neither? Christ was wisdom itself, yet he suffered most.

Ans. When innocency and wisdom will not do it (because we must be conformable to our head), then we must labour for patience, knowing that one hair of our heads shall not fall to the ground without the providence of the Almighty.

Commend our case, as Christ did, by faith and prayer to God that judgeth.

’I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you see my beloved, that you tell him that I am sick of love,’ &c.

Here the church, after her ill usage of the watchmen, is forced to the society of other Christians not so well acquainted with Christ as herself. ’I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved,’ &c., ’tell him,’ &c. What shall they tell him?

’Tell him I am sick of love.’ The church is restless in her desire and pursuit after Christ till she find him. No opposition, you see, can take off her endeavour.

1. Christ seems to leave her inwardly.

2. Then she goeth to the watchmen. They ’smite and wound’ her.

3. Then she hath recourse to the daughters of Jerusalem for help.

Generally, before we come to the particulars, from the connection we may observe this, That love is a fire kindled from heaven.

Nothing in the world will quench this grace, Song of Solomon 8:7-8; no opposition; nay, opposition rather whets and kindles endeavour. The church was nothing discouraged by the ill usage of the watchmen, only she complains; she is not insensible. A Christian may without sin be sensible of indignities; only it must be the ’mourning of doves,’ Isaiah 38:14, and not the roaring of bears. It must not be murmuring and impatiency, but a humble complaining to God that he may take our case to heart, as the church doth here. But as sensible as she was, she was not a whit discouraged, but seeks after Christ still in other means. If she find him not in one, she will try in another. We see here the nature of love. If it be in any measure perfect, it casteth out all fear of discouragements.

And, indeed, it is the nature of true grace to grow up with difficulties. As the ark rose higher with the waters, so likewise the soul grows higher and higher, it mounts up as discouragements and oppositions grow. Nay, the soul takes vigour and strength from discouragements, as the wind increaseth the flame. So the grace of God, the more the winds and waves of affliction oppose it, with so much the more violence it breaks through all oppositions, until it attain the desired hope. To apply it: those therefore that are soon discouraged, that pull in their horns presently, it is a sign they are very cold, and have but little grace. For where there is any strength of holy affection, they will not be discouraged, nor their zeal be quenched and damped. Therefore they subordinate religion to their own ends, as your temporary believers. Where is any love to Christ, the love of Christ is of a violent nature. It sways in the heart, as the apostle speaks, ’The love of Christ constraineth us,’ 2 Corinthians 5:14.

If we find this unconquerable resolution in ourselves, notwithstanding all discouragements to go on in a good cause, let us acknowledge that fire to be from heaven; let us not lose such an argument of the state of grace, as suffering of afflictions with joy. The more we suffer, the more we should rejoice, if the cause be good, as the apostles rejoiced ’that they were accounted worthy to suffer any thing,’ Acts 5:41.

’I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that ye tell him I am sick of love.’

She goes to the ’daughters of Jerusalem’ for help. Whence we may learn, That, if we find not comfort in one means, we must have recourse to another.

If we find not Christ present in one, seek him in another; and perhaps we shall find him where we least thought of him. Sometimes there is more comfort in the society of poor Christians, than of the watchmen themselves.

’I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,’ &c. Where we have, 1. A charge given. ’I charge,’ &c.

2. The parties charged, ’the daughters of Jerusalem.’

3. The particular thing they are charged with, that is, if they find Christ, ’to tell him she is sick of love.’ The parties charged, are ’the daughters of Jerusalem,’ the daughters of the church, which is called Jerusalem, from some resemblances between Jerusalem and the church. Some few shall be touched, to give light to the point.

1. Jerusalem was a city compact in itself, as the Psalmist saith, Psalms 122:3, so is the church, the body of Christ.

2. Jerusalem was chosen from all places of the world, to be the seat of God; so the church is the seat of Christ. He dwells there in the hearts of his children.

3. It is said of Jerusalem, they went up to Jerusalem, and down to Egypt, and other places: so the church is from above, Galatians 4:26. ’The way of wisdom is on high,’ Proverbs 15:24. Religion is upward. Grace, glory, and comfort come from above; and draw our minds up to have our conversation and our desires above.

4. Jerusalem was ’the joy of the whole earth;’ so the church of God, what were the world without it, but a company of incarnate devils?

5. In Jerusalem, records were kept of the names of all the citizens there; so all the true citizens of the church, their names are written in the book of life in heaven, Hebrews 12:23. The daughters of Jerusalem therefore are the true members of the church that are both bred and fed in the church, 1 Peter 1:20; 1 Peter 2:2. Let us take a trial of ourselves, whether we be daughters of Jerusalem or no. That we may make this trial of ourselves.

1. If we find freedom in our conscience from terrors and fears. If we find spiritual liberty and freedom to serve God, it is a sign that we are daughters of Jerusalem, because Jerusalem was free, Galatians 4:26.

2. Or if we mind things above, and things of the church. If we take to heart the cause of the truth, it is a sign we are true ’daughters of Jerusalem.’ We know what the Psalmist saith, ’Let my right hand forget her cunning if I forget thee, O Jerusalem, if I do not prefer Jerusalem before my chief joy,’ Psalms 138:5-6. If the cause of the church go to our hearts; if we can joy in the church’s joy, and mourn in the church’s abasement and suffering, it is a sign we are true daughters of Jerusalem, and lively* members of the body of Christ. Otherwise, when we hear that the church goes down, and that the adverse part prevails, and we joy, it is a sign we are daughters of Babylon and not of Jerusalem.

Therefore let us ask our affections what we are, as Austin writes excellently in his book De Civitate Dei. ’Ask thy heart of what city thou art.’ But what saith the church to the daughters of Jerusalem? In the first place, ’I charge you.’

It is a kind of admiration supplied thus: ’I charge you, as you love me your sister, as you love Christ, as you tender my case that am thus used, as you will make it good that you are daughters of Jerusalem and not of Babylon, ’tell my beloved, that I am sick of love.’ It is a strong charge, a defective speech, which yields us this observation, That true affections are serious in the things of God and of religion.

She lays a weight upon them, ’I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem.’ True impressions have stong expressions. Therefore are we cold in matters of religion in our discourses; it is because we want these inward impressions. The church here was full, she could not contain herself, in regard of the largeness of her affections. ’I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,’ &c.

We may find the truth of grace in the heart, by the discoveries and expressions in the conversation in general.

’I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that ye tell him I am sick of love.’ The church here speaks to others meaner than herself. She would have the church tell Christ, by prayer, the surest intelligencer, how she was used, how she languished, and was sick for him, and cannot be without him.

Quest. Why did not the church tell Christ herself?

Ans. So she did as well as she could, but she desired the help of the church this way also. Sometimes it is so with the children of God that they cannot pray so well as they should, and as they would do; because the waters of the soul are so troubled, that they can do nothing but utter groans and sighs, especially in a state of desertion, as Hezekiah could but chatter, Isaiah 38:14; and Moses could not utter a word at the Red Sea, though he did strive in his spirit, Exodus 14:15. In such cases they must be beholden to the help of others.

Sometimes a man is in body sick, as James saith, ’If any man be sick, let him send for the elders, and let them pray,’ James 5:14. There may be such distemper of body and soul, that we are unfit to lay open our estate to our own content. It is oft so with the best of God’s children; not that God doth not respect those broken sighs and desires, but they give not content to the soul. The poor palsy man in the gospel, not able to go himself, was carried on the shoulders of others, and let through the house to Christ, Mark 2:2-3. Ofttimes we may be in such a palsy estate, that we cannot bring ourselves to Christ, but we must be content to be borne to him by others.

’I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that ye tell my beloved I am sick of love.’

Whence the point that I desire you would observe is, That at such times as we find not our spirits enlarged from any cause outward and inward, to comfort and joy, then is a time to desire the prayers and help of others.

It is good to have a stock going everywhere; and those thrive the best that have most prayers made for them; have a stock going in every country. This is the happiness of the saints. To enforce this instruction, to desire the prayers of others, we must discover, that there is a wondrous force in the prayers of Christians one for another. It is more than a compliment. Would it were so! The great apostle Paul, see how he desires the Romans, that they would strive and contend with God after a holy violence, by their joint prayers for him, Romans 15:30; so he desires the Thessalonians that they would pray for him, ’that he might be delivered from unreasonable men,’ 2 Thessalonians 3:2. It is usual with him to say, ’Pray, pray,’ and for us too; for such are gracious in the court of heaven. Despise none in this case. A true, downright, experienced Christian’s prayers are of much esteem with God. Our blessed Saviour himself, when he was to go into the garden, though his poor disciples were sleepy, and very untoward, yet he would have their society and prayers, Matthew 26:38 (k).

’I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that ye tell him I am sick of love.’ To speak a little of the matter of the charge, ’I am sick of love.’ I love him, because I have found former comfort, strength, and sweetness from him, that I cannot be without him. To be love-sick, then, in the presence of the church, is to have strong affections to Christ; from which comes wondrous disquietness of spirit in his absence. Here is somewhat good, and somewhat ill. This is first her virtue, that she did fervently love. This was her infirmity, that she was so much distempered with her present want. These two breed this sickness of love. Whence we observe, Where the thing loved is not present, answerable to the desires of the soul that loves, there follows disquiet and distemper of affections. That is here termined* sickness of love. The reason hereof is, natural contentment is in union with the thing loved. The more excellent the thing is that is loved, the more contentment there is in communion with it; and where it is in any degree or measure hindered, there is disquiet. Answerable to the contentment in enjoying, is the grief, sorrow, and sickness in parting. The happiness of the church consisting in society with Christ, therefore it is her misery and sickness to be deprived of him, not to enjoy him whom her soul so dearly loveth. There are few in the world sick of this disease. I would there were more sick of the love of Christ. There are many that surfeit rather of fulness, who think we have too much of this manna, of this preaching, of this gospel. There is too much of this knowledge of the ordinances. These are not sick of love.

Use. Make a use, therefore, of trial, whether we be in the state of the church or no, by valuing and prizing the presence of Christ in his ordinances, the word and sacraments.

There are many fond sicknesses in the world. There is Amnon’s sickness, that was sick of love for his sister Tamar, 2 Samuel 13:2; his countenance discovered it. And Ahab, he is sick in desiring his neighbour’s vineyard, 1 Kings 21:1, seq. You have many strange sicknesses. Many sick with fires kindled from the flesh, from hell, but few sick of this sickness here spoken of.

1. If we find ourselves carried to Christ, to run in that stream as strong as the affections of those that are distempered with sickness of the love of other things, it will discover to us whether we be truly love-sick or not.

2. Take a man that is sick for any earthly thing, whether of Ahab’s or Amnon’s sickness, or of anything, take it as you will, that which the soul is sick of in love, it thinks of daily. It dreams of it in the night. What do our souls therefore think of? What do our meditations run after? When we are in our advised and best thoughts, what do we most think of? If of Christ, of the state of the church here, of grace and glory, all is well. What makes us, in the midst of all worldly discontentments, to think all dung and dross in comparison of Christ, but this sickness of love to Christ. If our love be in such a degree as it makes us sick of it, it makes us not to hear what we hear, not to see what we see, not to regard what is present. The soul is in a kind of ecstasy; it is carried so strongly, and taken up with things of heaven. It is deaded to other things, when our eyes are no more led with vanity than if we had none, and the flesh is so mortified as if we were dead men, by reason of the strength of our affections that run another way, to better things which are above.

3. Thus we see it is in love. Talk with a man that is in any heat of affections, you talk with one that is not at home, you talk with one absent. The soul is more where it loves than where it dwells. Surely where love is in any strength it draws up the soul, so that a man ofttimes, in his calling and ordinary employments, doth not heed them, but passeth through the world as a man at random. He regards not the things of the world; for Christ is gotten into his heart, and draws all the affections to himself. Where the affection of love is strong, it cares not what it suffers for the party loved, nay, it glories in it. As it is said of the disciples, when they were whipped and scourged for preaching the gospel, it was a matter of glory to them, Acts 5:41. It is not labour, but favour. It is not labour and vexation, but favour that is taken, where love is to the party loved. Where the love of Christ is, which was here in the church, labour is no labour, suffering is no suffering, trouble is no trouble.

4. Again, it is the property of the party that is sick of this disease, to take little contentment in other things. Tell a covetous worldling that is in love with the world a discourse of learning, what cares he for learning? Tell him of a good bargain, of a matter of gain, and he will hearken to that. So it is with the soul that hath felt the love of Christ shed abroad in his heart. Tell him of the world, especially if he want* that which he desires, the peace and strength that he found from Christ in former times, he relisheth not your discourse.

Labour we, therefore, every day more and more to have larger and larger affections to Christ. The soul that loves Christ, the nearer to Christ the more joyful it is; when he thinks of those mutual embracings, when Christ and his soul shall meet together there. This happiness is there, where the soul enjoys the thing loved; but that is not here, but in heaven. Therefore, in the mean time, with joy he thankfully frequents the places where Christ is present in the word and sacrament. And, that we may come to have this affection, let us see what our souls are without him; mere dungeons of darkness and confusion, nothing coming from us that is good. This will breed love to the ordinances; and then we shall relish Christ both in the word and sacrament. For he is food for the hungry soul, and requires nothing of us but good appetites; and this will make us desire his love and presence.