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clefts of the rock, in the fecret places of the ftairs, let me fee. thy countenance, let me hear thy voice, for fweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely." He calleth his fpoufe his love, being the dear object of his love; and he admireth her loveliness; he repeats it twice in one verfe," Behold thou art fair, my love, behold thou art fair." Thus you fee he defcribes their beauty. And then, my fifters, we have a wonderful expreffion of CHRIST to his fpoufe, "Thou haft ravished my heart, my fifter, my spouse, thou haft ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck." Thus you fee how pleafed the LORD JESUS CHRIST is with his spouse; and will not you, therefore, be espoused unto the LORD JESUS? I offer JESUS CHRIST to all of you; if you have been never fo notorious for fin, if you have been as great a harlot as Mary Magdalen was, when once you are espoused to CHRIST, you fhall be forgiven. Therefore be not difcouraged, at whatever flights and contempts the world may pass upon you, but come and join yourselves to the LORD JESUS CHRIST, and all your fins fhall be washed away in his blood; and when once you are efpouled to JESUS, you are disjoined from fin, you are born again. You are now, as it were, efpoused unto fin; fin is your husband, and you are too fond of it, but when once you are married to CHRIST, when you are born again, then you may be faid to die unto fin ; but till then, fin liveth in your affections; therefore, my fifters, give fin its death-wound in your hearts; you have beencalled by the word time after time, and it has had no effect upon you; but when you are espoused unto the LORD JESUS CHRIST, then you will be brought to him by his Spirit: You will then lay hold on him by faith, his Spirit will draw you unto himself; he will make you to be willing in the day of his power; he will give you faith in him. Faith is the hand of the foul which layeth hold on CHRIST; therefore, do not rest contented till you have this grace of faith wrought in you with power; do not be contented till you have received the LORD JESUS CHRIST.

Embrace CHRIST in the arms of your deareft love; then you love the LORD JESUS CHRIST with fincerity, when you love and efteem him before father, mother, or all the delights and pleasures of this life; but if you do delight in any thing

that

that this world can produce, more than in the LORD JESUS CHRIST, you have no true love to him.

If you are espoused to CHRIST, you have acquaintance and converfe with him; you will endeavour to promote his intereft, and advance his name in the world; when others are going to the polite and fashionable diverfions of life, you will be labouring to bring honour to the LORD JESUS CHRIST; you will commend your beloved above all other beloveds, and endeavour to bring others into love to him. Can you, my dear fifters, who are now affembled to worship GOD, fhew fuch evidence of your espousals unto the LORD JESUS CHRIST? O! how joyful, how comfortable an estate is this!. Surely this is a marriage worth feeking after; this is the only desirable marriage, and the LORD JESUS CHRIST is the only lover that is worth feeking after.

Now, my dear fifters, I fhall speak a few words to those of you who have not yet espoused yourselves to the LORD JESUS. It is a great fin, and surely you highly affront the LORD that bought you. It is likewise your folly to refuse and neglect the gracious proffers of being the spouse of CHRIST; hereby you forfeit all that love which he would bestow upon you; hereby you chufe rags before robes, drofs before gold, pebbles before jewels, guilt before a pardon, wounds before healing, defilement before cleanfing, deformity before comeliness, trouble before peace, flavery before liberty, the fervice of the devil before the service of CHRIST. Hereby you chuse dishonour before a crown, death before life, hell before heaven, eternal mifery and torment before everlasting joy and glory. And need there a farther evidence of your folly and madness, in refufing and neglecting CHRIST to be your spouse.

My dear fifters, I fhould exceed the limits of your time, should I particularize all the advantages which you would obtain by being efpoufed to the LORD JESUS. This is your wisdom; they are foolish virgins who refuse; but you are the wife virgins who have accepted of the LORD JESUS CHRIST, and have difpofed of yourselves to him; you have made the wifeft choice; and however the blind world may deem you fools, and defpife you as being methodically mad, yet you are wife in the esteem of GOD, and will, one day, appear fo in the esteem of them that now defpife you. It is your glory E 4

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that you arev efpoufed unto the LORD JESUS; and therefore glory in your efpoufal; glory not in yourselves, but in the LORD who hath thus freely and graciously bestowed these -favours upon you. It is your fafety to be efpoufed unto the bLORD JESUS CHRIST, he will protect and defend you even o from fin and fatan, and eternal ruin; and therefore thus far you are safe; he hath a regard for you in times of danger from men, and these times of danger seem to be haftening; it is now arifing as a black cloud no bigger than a man's hand, and by and by it will overfpread the heavens, and when it is full it will burt; but if you are efpoufed to CHRIST, you are.fafe.

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Now, my dear fifters, I fhall conclude with an earnest exhortation to high and low, rich and poor, one with another, to be efpoused unto CHRIST.

Let me fpeak unto you, young women, who are not yet efpoufed unto CHRIST, in an efpecial manner. It may be to fatisfy your curiofity, has brought many of you here; though, perhaps, this may be the time when you fhall be brought home to embrace the LORD JESUS, and be efpoufed to him. And O, that I may perfuade you, by his Spirit,, to efpouse your felves unto the LORD of life.!!!.

And if you are but brought to clofe, with the LORD JESUS CHRIST, I fhall attain my end, and then both you and I fhall rejoice that I preached this fermon to you.

Come virgins, will you give me leave to be a fuitor unto you, not in my own name, but in the name of the LORD? O that I may prevail with you for your affections, and perfuade you to give them unto CHRIST! May I be inftrumental of bringing your fouls to CHRIST! May I be inftrumental to join you and CHRIST together this day!

Be not coy, as fome of you poffibly are in other loves : modesty and the virgin blufh may, very well become you, when proposals of another kind are made unto you; but here coyness is folly, and backwardness to accept of this motion, is fhame: you have ten thousand times more reason to blush at the refusal of CHRIST for your beloved, than at the acceptance; when otherwise the devil and fin would ravish your virgin affections. Never had you a better motion made to you; never was such a match proffered to you as this, of being matched and efpoufed unto the LORD JESUS CHRIST.

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»Confider who the LORD JESUS is, whom you are invited -to eípoule yourfelves unto; he is the beft hufband; there is none comparable to JESUS CHRist.

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Do you defire one that is great? He is of the highest dignity, he is the glory of heaven, the darling of eternity, admired by angels, dreaded by devils, and adored by faints. For you to be efpoufed to fo great a king, what honour will you have by this efpoufal?

Do you defire one that is rich? None is comparable to CHRIST, the fulness of the earth belongs to him: If you be efpoufed to CHRIST, you fhall fhare in his unfearchable riches; you fhall receive of his fulness, even grace for grace here, and you fhall hereafter be admitted to glory, and fhall live with this JESUS to all eternity.

Do you defire one that is wife? There is none comparable to CHRIST for wifdom. His knowledge is infinite, and his > wisdom is correfpondent thereto. And if you are espoused to CHRIST, he will guide and counsel you, and make you wife Punto falvation.`

Do you defire one that is potent, who may defend you against your enemies, and all the infults and reproaches of the Pharifees of this generation? There is none that can equal CHRIST in power; for the LORD JESUS CHRIST hath áll power.

Do you defire one that is good? There is none like unto CHRIST In this regard; others may have fome goodness, but It is imperfect; CHRIST's goodnefs is compleat and perfect, hé is full of goodness, and in him dwelleth no evil.

Do you defire one that is beautiful? His eyes are most fparkling, his looks and glances of love are ravifhing, his fmiles are most delightful and refreshing unto the foul: CHRIST is the most lovely person of all others in the world.

Do you defire one that can love you? None can love you like CHRIST: His love, my dear fifters, is incomprehenfible; his love paffeth all other loves: The love of the LORD JESUS is firft, without beginning; his love is free without any motive; his love is great without any measure; his love is conftant without any change, and his love is everlasting.

It was the love of the LORD JESUS CHRIST, my dear fifters, which brought him down from heaven; and which

veiled his divinity in a human foul and body; for he is GoD over all bleffed for ever: It was love that made him fubje& to hunger, thirst and forrow; he was humbled, even unto death for you; for you who are espoused to him, he underwent the painful, fhameful and ignominious death of the crofs and can you, my fifters, hear this, and not be concerned to think that the bleffed JESUS underwent all this for fuch finful creatures as you and I are? And when out of love he had finished the redemption on earth, as to what was needful for fatisfaction; it was his love that carried him back to heaven, where he was before, that he might make application of what he had purchased, that there he might make interceffion for those whom he had redeemed, and prepare a place for them, even glorious manfions with himself, in the house not made with hands, which is eternal in the heavens. It is" out of love that he fendeth fuch tokens to his people from heaven to earth, which he conveyeth through his ordinances, by his Spirit unto them. Surely then none is so deserving as the LORD JESUS CHRIST for you to espouse yourselves unto: if you be efpoufed unto CHRIST he is your's, all that he is, all that he hath; you fhall have his heart, and share in the choiceft expreffions of his dearest love.

The LORD JESUS CHRIST, my dear fifters, doth beseech you to be his fpoufe. We minifters have a commiffion from the LORD JESUS CHRIST to invite you, in his name, unto this very thing; and CHRIST's invitations are real; general; frequent; earnest; free.

CHRIST's invitations of you, to be his spouse, are real 9 and as the thing is real, fo you, my dear fifters, are really invited unto it. The LORD doth not mock and diffemble with you, as fome pretending lovers, who diffemble love unto virgins, until they have gained their affections, and then falfely and bafely relinquish them, never really intending either to espouse, or marry them: but the LORD doth really intend the thing, in his invitations of you; he never caft off any whofe confent and affections he had gained. Again,

CHRIST's invitations of you, my dear fifters, are general. All of you are invited, none of you are excluded; all forts of finners are invited; the moft vile and abominable finners, the most notorious tranfgreffors are invited to be CHRIST'S

spouse,

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