The Church’s Marriage To Her Sons, And To Her God
The Church’s Marriage To Her Sons, And To Her God
Isaiah 62:4, 5
Thy land shall be married. For as a
young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom
rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.
I. It is promised that she
should be married to her sons, or that her sons should marry her? “For
as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee.” Or, as the
words might have been more literally translated from the original: “As a young
man is married to a virgin, so shall thy sons be married to thee.” Some by
this understand a promise, that the posterity of the captivated Jews should
return again from Babylon to the land of Canaan, and should be, as it were,
married or wedded to their own land, i.e. they should be re-united to
their own land, and should have great comfort and joy in it, as a young man in a
virgin that he marries. But when it is said, “So shall thy sons marry thee,”
God does not direct his speech to the land itself, but to the church whose land
it was. The pronoun thee being applied to the same mystical person in
this former part of the verse, as in the words immediately following in the
latter part of the same sentence, “And as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the
bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.” It is the church, and not the
hills and valleys of the land of Canaan, that is God’s bride, or the Lamb’s
wife. It is also manifest that when God says, “So shall thy sons marry
thee,” he continues to speak to her to whom he had spoken in the three
preceding verses. But there it is not the land of Canaan, but the church, that
he speaks to when he says, “The Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all
kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the
Lord shall name. Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord,
and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. Thou shalt no more be termed
Forsaken,” etc. And to represent the land itself as a bride and the subject of
espousals and marriage, would be a figure of speech very unnatural, and not
known in Scripture. But for the church of God to be thus represented is very
usual from the beginning to the end of the Bible. And then it is manifest that
the return of the Jews to the land of Canaan from the Babylonish captivity, is
not the event mainly intended by the prophecy of which these words are a part.
That was not the time fulfilled in the 2nd verse of this chapter, “And the
Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be
called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name.” That was not
the time spoken of in the preceding chapters with which this chapter is one
continued prophecy. That was not the time spoken of in the last words of the
foregoing chapter when the Lord would cause righteousness and praise to spring
forth before all nations. Nor was it the time spoken of in the 5th, 6th, and 9th
verses of that chapter when “strangers should stand and feed the flocks of
God’s people, and the sons of the alien should be their ploughmen, and
vine-dressers; but they should be named the priests of the Lord, and men should
call them the ministers of God; when they should eat the riches of the Gentiles,
and in their glory boast themselves, and their seed should be known among the
Gentiles, and their offspring among the people; and all that should see them
should acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed.”
Nor was that the time spoken of in the chapter preceding that “when the
abundance of the sea should be converted unto the church; when the isles should
wait for God, and the ships of Tarshish to bring her sons from far, and their
silver and gold with them; when the forces of the Gentiles and their kings
should be brought; when the church should suck the milk of the Gentiles, and
suck the breast of kings; and when that nation and kingdom that would not serve
her should perish and be utterly wasted: and when the sun should be no more her
light by day, neither for brightness should the moon give light unto her, but
the Lord should be unto her an everlasting light, and her God her glory; and her
sun should no more go down, nor her moon withdraw itself, because the Lord
should be her everlasting light, and the days of her mourning should be
ended.” These things manifestly have respect to the Christian church in her
most perfect and glorious state on earth in the last ages of the world, when the
church should be so far from being confined to the land of Canaan, that she
should fill the whole earth, and all lands should be alike holy.
These words in the text,
“As a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee,” I choose
rather, with others, to understand as expressive of the church’s union with
her faithful pastors, and the great benefits she should receive from them.
God’s ministers, though they are set to be the instructors, guides, and
fathers of God’s people, yet are also the sons of the church. Amos 2:11, “I
raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites.”
Such as these, when faithful, are those precious sons of Zion comparable to fine
gold spoken of, Lam. 4:2, 7. “Her Nazarites were purer than show, they were
whiter than milk.” and as he that marries a young virgin becomes the guide of
her youth, so these sons of Zion are represented as taking her by the hand as
her guide. Isa. 51:18, “There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she
hath brought forth; neither is there any that taketh her by the hand of all the
sons that she hath brought up.” That by these sons of the church is meant
ministers of the gospel, is confirmed by the next verse to the text, “I have
set watchmen upon they walls, O Jerusalem.”
That the sons of the church
should be married to her as a young man to a virgin is a mystery not unlike many
others held forth in the Word of God concerning the relation between Christ and
his people, and their relation to him and to one another. Christ is David’s
Lord and yet his Son, and both the Root and Offspring of David. Christ is a Son
born and a Child given and yet the everlasting Father. The church is Christ’s
mother, Song 3:11 and 8:1, and yet his spouse, his sister, and his child.
Believers are Christ’s mother, and yet his sister and brother. Ministers are
the sons of the church, and yet are her fathers. The apostle speaks of himself,
as the father of the members of the church of Corinth, and also the mother of
the Gal., travailing in birth with them, Gal. 4:19.
II. The second and chief
fulfillment of the promise consists in the church being married to Christ.
“And as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over
thee.” Not that we are to understand that the church has many husbands, or
that Christ is one husband, and ministers are other husbands strictly speaking.
For though ministers are here spoken of as being married to the church, yet it
is not as his competitors, or as standing in a conjugal relation to his bride in
anywise parallel with his. For the church properly has but one husband. She is
not an adulteress, but a virgin who is devoted wholly to the Lamb and who
follows him whithersoever he goes. But ministers espouse the church entirely as
Christ’s ambassadors, as representing him and standing in his stead, being
sent forth by him to be married to her in his name, that by this means she may
be married to her in his name, that by this means she may be married to him. As
when a prince marries a foreign lady by proxy, the prince’s ambassador marries
her, but not in his own name, but in the name of his master, that he may be the
instrument of bringing her into a true conjugal relation to him. This is
agreeable to what the apostle says. 2 Cor. 11:2, “I am jealous over you with a
godly jealousy; for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you
as a chaste virgin to Christ.” Here the apostle represents himself as being,
as it were, the husband of the church of Corinth. For it is the husband that is
jealous when the wife commits adultery. And yet he speaks of himself as having
espoused them, not in his own name, but in that name of Christ, and for him, and
him only, and as his ambassador, sent forth to bring them home a chaste virgin
to him. Ministers are in the text represented as married to the church in the
same sense that elsewhere they are represented as fathers of the church. The
church has but one father, even God, and ministers are fathers as his
ambassadors. So the church has but one shepherd. John 10:16, “There shall be
one fold and one shepherd.” But yet ministers, as Christ’s ambassadors, are
often called the church’s shepherds or pastors. The church has but one Savior.
But yet ministers, as his ambassadors and instruments, are called her saviors. 1
Tim. 4:16, “In doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear
thee.” Oba. 21. “And saviours shall come upon mount Zion.” The church has
but one priest. But yet in Isa. 66:21, speaking of the ministers of the Gentile
nations, it is said, “I will take of them for priests and Levites.” The
church has but one Judge, for the Father has committed all judgment to the Son.
Yet Christ tells his apostles, that they shall sit on twelve thrones, judging
the twelve tribes of Israel.
When the text speaks first
of ministers marrying the church, and then of Christ’s rejoicing over her as
the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, the former is manifestly spoken of as
being in order to the latter, even in order to the joy and happiness that the
church shall have in her true bridegroom. The preaching of the gospel is in this
context spoken of three times successively, as the great means of bringing about
the prosperity and joy of the church. Once, in the first verse, “For Zion’s
sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until
the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a
lamp that burneth.” And then in the text and lastly in the two following
verses, “I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never
hold their peace day nor night. Ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not
silence; and give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a
praise in the earth.”
The text thus opened affords
these two propositions proper for our consideration on the solemn occasion of
this day.
I. The uniting of
faithful ministers with Christ’s people in the ministerial office, when done
in a due manner, is like a young man’s marrying a virgin.
II. This union of
ministers with the people of Christ is in order to their being brought to the
blessedness of a more glorious union, in which Christ shall rejoice over them,
as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride.
I. Prop. The
uniting of a faithful minister with Christ’s people in the ministerial office,
when done in a due manner, is like a young man’s marrying a virgin.
I say, the uniting
of a faithful minister with Christ’s people, and in a due manner, for we must
suppose that the promise God makes to the church in the text relates to such
ministers, and such a manner of union with the church; because this is promised
to the church as a part of her latter-day glory and as a benefit that should be
granted her by God as the fruit of his great love to her, and an instance of her
great spiritual prosperity and happiness in her purest and most excellent state
on earth. But it would be no such instance of God’s great favor and the
church’s happiness, to have unfaithful ministers entering into office in an
undue and improper manner. They are evidently faithful ministers that are spoken
of in the next verse, where the same are doubtless spoken of as in the text.
“I have set watchmen on thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their
peace day nor night.” And they are those that shall be introduced into the
ministry at a time of its extraordinary purity, order, and beauty, wherein (as
is said in the first, second, and third verses) her “righteousness should go
forth as brightness, and the Gentiles should see her righteousness, and all
kings her glory, and she should be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and
a royal diadem in the hand of her God.”
When I speak of the
uniting of a faithful minister with Christ’s people in a due manner, I do not
mean a due manner only with regard to external order. But its being truly done
in a holy manner, with sincere upright aims and intentions, with a right
disposition, and proper frames of mind in those that are concerned, and
particularly in the minister that takes office, and God’s people to whom he is
united, each exercising in this affair a proper regard to God and one another.
— Such an uniting of a faithful minister with the people of God in the
ministerial office is in some respects like a young man marrying a virgin.
First,
when a duly qualified person is properly invested with the ministerial
character, and does in a due manner take upon him the sacred work and office of
a minister of the gospel, he does, in some sense, espouse the church of Christ
in general. For though he [does] not properly stand in a pastoral relation to
the whole church of Christ through the earth, and is far from becoming an
universal pastor; yet thenceforward he has a different concern with the church
of Christ in general, and its interests and welfare, than other persons have
that are laymen, and should be regarded otherwise by all the members of the
Christian church. Wherever he is providentially called to preach the Word of God
or minister in holy things, he ought to be received as a minister of Christ, and
the messenger of the Lord of hosts to them. And every one that takes on him this
office as he ought to do, espouses the church of Christ, as he espouses the
interest of the church in a manner that is peculiar. He is under obligations, as
a minister of the Christian church, beyond other men, to love the church, as
Christ her true bridegroom has loved her, and to prefer Jerusalem above is chief
joy, and to imitate Christ, the great shepherd and bishop of souls and husband
of the church in his care and tender concern for her welfare, and earnest and
constant labors to promote it, as he has opportunity. And as he, in taking
office, devotes himself to the service of Christ in his church, so he gives
himself to the church, to be hers, in that love, tender care, constant endeavor,
and earnest labor for her provision, comfort, and welfare that is proper to his
office, as a minister of Providence, as long as he lies, as a young man gives
himself to a virgin when he marries her. And the church of Christ in general, as
constituted of true saints through the world (though they do not deliver up
themselves to any one particular minister, as universal pastor, yet), cleave to
and embrace the ministry of the church with endeared affection, high honor, and
esteem, for Christ’s sake. They joyfully commit and subject themselves to
them. They resolve to honor and help them, to be guided by them and obey them so
long as in the world, as the bride does in marriage deliver up herself to her
husband. And the ministry in general, or the whole number of faithful ministers,
being all united in the same work as fellow-laborers, and conspiring to the same
design as fellow-helpers, to the grace of God, may be considered as one mystical
person, that espouses the church as a young man espouses a virgin; as the many
elders of the church of Ephesus are represented as one mystical person, Rev. 2:1
and all called the angel of the church of Ephesus; and as the faithful ministers
of Christ in general, all over the world, seem to be represented as one mystical
person, and called an angel, Rev. 14:6. “And I saw another angel fly in the
midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell
upon the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.” —
But,
Second,
more especially is the uniting of a faithful minister with a particular
Christian people, as their pastor, when done in a due manner, like a young man
marrying a virgin. — It is so with respect to the union itself, the
concomitants of the union, and the fruits of it.
1. The union
itself is in several respects like that which is between a young man and a
virgin whom he marries.
It is so with
respect to mutual regard and affection. A faithful minister, that is in a
Christian manner united to a Christian people as their pastor, has his heart
united to them in the most ardent and tender affection. And they, on the other
hand, have their hearts united to him, esteeming him very highly in love for his
work’s sake, and receiving him with honor and reverence, and willingly
subjecting themselves to him, and committing themselves to his care, as being
under Christ their head and guide.
And such a pastor
and people are like a young man and virgin united in marriage, with respect to
the purity of their regard one to another. The young man gives himself to his
bride in purity, as undebauched by meretricious embraces. And she also presents
herself to him a chaste virgin. So in such an union of a minister and people as
we are speaking of, the parties united are pure and holy in their affection and
regard one to another. The minister’s heart is united to the people, not for
filthy lucre or any worldly advantage, but with a pure benevolence to them and
desire of their spiritual welfare and prosperity, and complacence in them as the
children of God and followers of Christ Jesus. And, on the other hand, they love
and honor him with a holy affection and esteem. And not merely as having their
admiration raised, and their carnal affection moved, by having their curiosity,
and other fleshly principles, gratified by a florid eloquence, and the
excellency of speech and man’s wisdom. But receiving him as the messenger of
the Lord of hosts, coming to them on a divine and infinitely important errand,
and with those holy qualifications that resemble the virtues of the Lamb of God.
And as the
bridegroom and bride give themselves to each other in covenant, so it is in that
union we are speaking of between a faithful pastor and a Christian people. The
minister, by solemn vows, devotes himself to the people, to improve his time and
strength, and spend and be spent for them, so long as God in his providence
shall continue the union. And they, on the other hand, in a holy covenant commit
the care of their souls, and subject themselves, to him.
2. The union
between a faithful minister and a Christian people is like that between a young
man and virgin in their marriage with respect to the concomitants of it.
When such a
minister and such a people are thus united, it is attended with great joy. The
minister joyfully devoting himself to the service of his Lord in the work of the
ministry, as a work that he delights in. And also joyfully uniting himself to
the society of the saints that he is set over, as having complacence in them,
for his dear Lord’s sake, whose people they are. And willingly and joyfully,
on Christ’s call, undertaking the labors and difficulties of the service of
their souls. And they, on the other hand, joyfully receiving him as a precious
gift of their ascended Redeemer. Thus a faithful minister and a Christian people
are each other’s joy. Rom. 15:32, “That I may come unto you with joy by the
will of God, and may with you be refreshed.” 2 Cor. 1:14, “As you have
acknowledged us in part, that we are your rejoicing, even as ye are ours.”
Another concomitant
of this union, wherein it resembles that which becomes a young man and virgin
united in marriage is mutual helpfulness and a constant care and endeavor to
promote each other’s good and comfort. The minister earnestly and continually
seeks the profit and comfort of the souls of his people, and to guard and defend
them from every thing that might annoy them, and studies and labors to promote
their spiritual peace and prosperity. They, on the other hand, make it their
constant care to promote his comfort, to make the burden of his difficult work
easy, to avoid those things that might add to the difficulty of it, and that
might justly be grievous to his heart. They do what in them lies to encourage
his heart, and strengthen his hands in his work, and are ready to say to him,
when called to exert himself in the more difficult parts of his work, as the
people of old to Ezra the priest, when they saw him bowed down under the burden
of a difficult affair. Ezra 10:4, “Arise, for this matter belongeth to thee:
we also will be with thee: be of good courage, and do it.” They spare no pains
nor cost to make their pastor’s outward circumstances easy and comfortable,
and free from pinching necessities and distracting cares, and to put him under
the best advantages to follow his great work fully and successfully.
Such a pastor and
people, as it is between a couple happily united in a conjugal relation, have a
mutual sympathy with each other, a fellow-feeling of each other’s burdens and
calamities, and a communion in each other’s prosperity and joy. When the
people suffer in their spiritual interests, the pastor suffers. He is afflicted
when he sees their souls in trouble and darkness. He feels their wounds. And he
looks on their prosperity and comfort as his own. 2 Cor. 11:29, “Who is weak,
and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?” 2 Cor. 7:13, “We were
comforted in your comfort.” And, on the other hand, the people feel their
pastor’s burdens, and rejoice in his prosperity and consolations; see Phil.
4:14 and 2 Cor. 2:3.
3. This union is
like that which is between a young man and a virgin in its fruits.
One fruit of it is
mutual benefit: they become meet helps one for another. The people receive great
benefit by the minister, as he is their teacher to communicate spiritual
instructions and counsels to them, and is set to watch over them to defend them
from those enemies and calamities they are liable to. And so is, under Christ,
to be both their guide and guard, as the husband is of the wife. And as the
husband provides the wife with food and clothing, so the pastor, as Christ’s
steward, makes provision for his people, and brings forth out of his treasure
things new and old, gives every one his portion of meat in due season, and is
made the instrument of spiritually clothing and adorning their souls. And, on
the other hand, the minister receives benefit from the people, as they minister
greatly to his spiritual good by that holy converse to which their union to him
as his flock leads them. The conjugal relation leads the persons united therein
to the most intimate acquaintance and conversation with each other. So the union
there is between a faithful pastor and a Christian people, leads them to
intimate conversation about things of a spiritual nature. It leads the people
most freely and fully to open the case of their souls to the pastor, and leads
him to deal most freely, closely, and thoroughly with them in things pertaining
thereto. And this conversation not only tends to their benefit, but also
greatly to his. And the pastor receives benefit from the people
outwardly, as they take care of and order his outward accommodations for his
support and comfort, and do as it were spread and serve his table for him.
Another fruit of
this union, wherein it resembles the conjugal, is a spiritual offspring. There
is wont to arise from the union of such a pastor and people a spiritual race of
children. These new-born children of God are in the Scripture represented both
as the children of ministers, as those who have begotten them through the
gospel, and also as the children of the church, who is represented as their
mother that has brought them forth, and at whose breasts they are nourished; as
in Isa. 54:1, and 66:11; Gal. 4:26; 1 Pet. 2:2 and many other places.
Having thus briefly
shown how the uniting of faithful ministers with Christ’s people in the
ministerial office, when done in a due manner, is like a young man marrying a
virgin, I proceed now to the
II. Prop. viz.
That this union of ministers with the people of Christ is in order to their
being brought to the blessedness of a more glorious union, in which Christ shall
rejoice over them as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride.
First,
the saints are, and shall be, the subjects of this blessedness. Of all the
various kinds of union of sensible and temporal things that are used in
Scripture to represent the relation there is between Christ and his church, that
which is between bridegroom and bride, or husband and wife, is much the most
frequently made use of both in the Old and New Testament. The Holy Ghost seems
to take a peculiar delight in this, as a similitude fit to represent the strict,
intimate, and blessed union that is between Christ and his saints. The apostle
intimates that one end why God appointed marriage and established so near a
relation as that between husband and wife was that it might be a type of the
union that is between Christ and his church. In Eph. 5:30, 31, 32. “For we are
members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man
leave his father and mother, and shall be joined to his wife; and they two shall
be one flesh.” — For this cause, i.e. because we are members of
Christ’s body, of his flesh, and of his bones, God appointed that man and wife
should be so joined together as to be one flesh, to represent this high and
blessed union between Christ and his church. The apostle explains himself in the
next words, “This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the
church.” This institution of marriage, making the man and his wife one flesh,
is a great mystery; i.e. there is a great and glorious mystery hid in the
design of it. And the apostle tells us what that glorious mystery is, “I speak
concerning Christ and the church,” as much as to say, the mystery I speak of,
is that blessed union that is between Christ and his church, which I spoke of
before.
This is a blessed
union indeed of which that between a faithful minister and a Christian people is
but a shadow. Ministers are not the proper husbands of the church, though their
union to God’s people, as Christ’s ambassadors, in several respects
resembles the conjugal relation. But Christ is the true husband of the church,
to whom the souls of the saints are espoused indeed, and to whom they are united
as his flesh and his bones, yea and one spirit; to whom they have given
themselves in an everlasting covenant, and whom alone they cleave to, love,
honor, obey, and trust in, as their spiritual husband, whom alone they reserve
themselves for as chaste virgins, and whom they follow whithersoever he goeth.
There are many ministers in the church of Christ, and there may be several
pastors of one particular church, but the church has but one husband, all others
are rejected and despised in comparison of him. He is among the sons as the
apple tree among the trees of the wood. They all are barren and worthless, he
only is the fruitful tree, and therefore, leaving all others, the church betakes
herself to him alone, and sits under his shadow with great delight, and his
fruit is sweet to her taste. She takes up her full and entire rest in him,
desiring no other. — The relation between a minister and people shall be
dissolved, and may be dissolved before death. But the union between Christ and
his church shall never be dissolved, neither before death nor by death, but
shall endure through all eternity. “The mountains shall part, and the hills be
removed; but Christ’s conjugal love and kindness shall not depart from his
church; neither shall the covenant of his peace, the marriage-covenant, be
removed,” Isa. 54:10 — The union between a faithful minister and a Christian
people is but a partial resemblance even of the marriage union, it is like
marriage only in some particulars. But with respect to the union between Christ
and his church, marriage is but a partial resemblance, yea, a faint shadow.
Every thing desirable and excellent in the union between an earthly bridegroom
and bride, is to be found in the union between Christ and his church. And that
in an infinitely greater perfection and more glorious manner. — There is
infinitely more to be found in it than ever was found between the happiest
couple in a conjugal relation, or could be found if the bride and bridegroom had
not only the innocence of Adam and Eve, but the perfection of angels.
Christ and his
saints, standing in such a relation as this one to another, the saints must
needs be unspeakably happy. Their mutual joy in each other is answerable to the
nearness of their relation and strictness of their union. Christ rejoices over
the church as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, and she rejoices in him as
the bride rejoices in the bridegroom. My text has respect to the mutual joy that
Christ and his church should have in each other. For though the joy of Christ
over his church only is mentioned, yet it is evident that this is here spoken of
and promised as the great happiness of the church, and therefore supposes her
joy in him.
The mutual joy of
Christ and his church is like that of bridegroom and bride, in that they rejoice
in each other, as those whom they have chosen above others, for their nearest,
most intimate, and everlasting friends and companions. The church is Christ’s
chosen. Isa. 41:9, “I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away.” Chap.
48:10, “I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.” How often are
God’s saints called his elect or chosen ones! He has chosen them, not to be
mere servants, but friends. John 15:15, “I call you not servants; but I have
called you friends.” And though Christ be the Lord of glory, infinitely above
men and angels, yet he has chosen the elect to be his companions, and has taken
upon him their nature, and so in some respect, as it were, leveled himself with
them, that he might be their brother and companion. Christ, as well as David,
calls the saints his brethren and companions. Psa. 122:8, “For my brethren and
companions’ sake I will now say, Peace be within thee.” So in the book of
Canticles, he calls his church his sister and spouse. Christ has loved and
chosen his church as his peculiar friend, above others. Psa. 135:4, “The Lord
hath chosen Jacob unto himself, and Israel for his peculiar treasure.” As the
bridegroom chooses the bride for his peculiar friend above all others in the
world, so Christ has chosen his church for a peculiar nearness to him, as his
flesh and his bone, and the high honor and dignity of espousals above all
others, rather than the fallen angels, yea, rather than the elect angels. For
verily in this respect, “he taketh not hold of angels, but he taketh hold of
the seed of Abraham;” as the words are in the original, Heb. 2:16. He has
chosen his church above the rest of mankind, above all the heathen nations, and
those that are without the visible church, and above all other professing
Christians. Song 6:9, “My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one
of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her.” Thus Christ
rejoices over his church, as obtaining in her that which he has chosen above all
the rest of the creation, and as sweetly resting in his choice, Psa. 132:13, 14,
“The Lord hath chosen Zion: he hath desired it. — This is my rest for
ever.”
On the other hand,
the church chooses Christ above all others. He is in her eyes the chief among
ten thousands, fairer than the sons of men. She rejects the suit of all his
rivals, for his sake. Her heart relinquishes the whole world. He is her pearl of
great price, for which she parts with all, and rejoices in him, as the choice
and rest of her soul.
Christ and his
church, like the bridegroom and bride, rejoice in each other, as having a
special propriety in each other. All things are Christ's, but he has a special
propriety in his church. There is nothing in heaven or earth, among all the
creatures, that is his, in that high and excellent manner that the church is
his. They are often called his portion and inheritance. They are said, Rev.
14:4, to be “the first-fruits to God and the Lamb.” As of old, the first
fruit was that part of the harvest that belonged to God, and was to be offered
to him. So the saints are the first fruits of God’s creatures, being that part
which is in a peculiar manner Christ’s portion, above all the rest of the
creation. Jam. 1:18, “Of his own will begat he us by the word of truth, that
we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures.” And Christ rejoices in
his church, as in that which is peculiarly his. Isa. 65:19, “I will rejoice in
Jerusalem, and joy in my people.” The church has also a peculiar propriety in
Christ: though other things are hers, yet nothing is hers in that manner that
her spiritual bridegroom is hers. Great and glorious as he is, yet he, with all
his dignity and glory, is wholly given to her, to be fully possessed and enjoyed
by her, to the utmost degree that she is capable of. Therefore we have her so
often saying in the language of exultation and triumph, “My beloved is mine,
and I am his.” Song 2:16, and 6:3, and 7:10.
Christ and his
church, like the bridegroom and bride, rejoice in each other as those that are
the objects of each other’s most tender and ardent love. The love of Christ to
his church is altogether unparalleled. The height and depth and length and
breadth of it pass knowledge, for he loved the church, and gave himself for it.
And his love to her proved stronger than death. And on the other hand, she loves
him with a supreme affection. Nothing stands in competition with him in her
heart. She loves him with all her heart. Her whole soul is offered up to him in
the flame of love. And Christ rejoices and has sweet rest and delight in his
love to the church. Zep. 3:17, “The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is
mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his
love, he will joy over thee with singing.” So the church, in the exercises of
her love to Christ, rejoices with unspeakable joy. 1 Pet. 1:7, 8, “Jesus
Christ: whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet
believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory.”
Christ and his
church rejoice in each other’s beauty. The church rejoices in Christ’s
divine beauty and glory. She, as it were, sweetly solaces herself in the light
of the glory of the Sun or righteousness. And the saints say one to another, as
in Isa. 2:5, “O house of Jacob, come ye, let us walk in the light of the
Lord.” The perfections and virtues of Christ are as a perfumed ointment to the
church that make his very name to be to her as ointment poured forth. Song 1:3,
“Because of the savour of they good ointments thy name is as ointment poured
forth, therefore do the virgins love thee.” And Christ delights and rejoices
in the beauty of the church, the beauty which he hat put upon her: her Christian
graces are ointments of great price in his sight, 1 Pet. 3:4. And he is spoken
of as greatly desiring her beauty, Psa. 45:11. Yea, he himself speaks of his
heart as ravished with her beauty, Song 4:9, “Thou has ravished my heart, my
sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine yes, with one
chain of thy neck.”
Christ and his
church, as the bridegroom and bride, rejoice in each other’s love. Wine is
spoken of, Psa. 104:15, as that which maketh glad man’s heart. But the church
of Christ is spoken of as rejoicing in the love of Christ, as that which is more
pleasant and refreshing than wine. Song 1:4, “The king hath brought me into
his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love
more than wine.” So on the other hand, Christ speaks of the church’s love as
far better to him than wine. Song 4:10, “How fair is thy love, my sister, my
spouse! how much better is thy love than wine!”
Christ and his
church rejoice in communion with each other, as in being united in their
happiness, and having fellowship and a joint participation in each other’s
good. As the bridegroom and bride rejoice together at the wedding-feast, and as
thenceforward they are joint partakers of each other’s comforts and joys. Rev
3:20, “If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and
sup with him, and he with me.” The church has fellowship with Christ in his
own happiness, and his divine entertainments. His joy is fulfilled in her, John
15:11, and 17:13. She sees light in his light. And she is made to drink at the
river of his own pleasures, Psa. 36:8, 9. And Christ brings her to eat and drink
at his own table, to take her fill of his own entertainments. Song 5:1, “Eat,
O friends, drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.” And he, on the other
hand, has fellowship with her. He feasts with her. Her joys are his. And he
rejoices in that entertainment that she provides for him. So Christ is said to
feed among the lilies, Song 2:16 and chap. 7:13. She speaks of all manner of
pleasant fruits, new and old, which she had laid up, and says to him chap. 4:16,
“Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.” And he
makes answer in the next verse, “I am come into my garden, my sister, my
spouse; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice, I have eaten my honey-comb with
my honey, I have drunk my wine with my milk.”
And lastly, Christ
and his church, as the bridegroom and bride, rejoice in conversing with each
other. The words of Christ by which he converses with his church, are most sweet
to her. And therefore she says of him, Song 5:16, “His mouth is most sweet.”
And on the other hand, he says of her, chapter 2:14, “Let me hear thy voice:
for sweet is thy voice.” And chapter 4:11, “Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as
the honey-comb; honey and milk are under they tongue.”
Christ rejoices
over his saints as the bridegroom over the bride at all times. But there are
some seasons wherein he does so more especially. Such a season is the time of
the soul’s conversion. When the good shepherd finds his lost sheep, then he
brings it home rejoicing, and calls together his friends and neighbors, saying,
Rejoice with me. The day of a sinner’s conversion is the day of Christ’s
espousals, and so is eminently the day of his rejoicing. Song 3:11, “Go forth,
O ye daughters of Zion, and behold king Solomon with the crown wherewith his
mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness
of his heart.” And it is oftentimes remarkably the day of the saints’
rejoicing in Christ. For then God turns again the captivity of his elect people
and, as it were, fills their mouth with laughter and their tongue with singing;
as in Psa. 126 at the beginning. We read of the jailer, that when he was
converted, “he rejoiced, believing in God, with all his house,” Acts 16:34.
— There are other seasons of special communion of the saints with Christ
wherein Christ does in a special manner rejoice over his saints, and as their
bridegroom brings them into his chambers, that they also may be glad and rejoice
in him, Song 1:4.
But this mutual
rejoicing of Christ and his saints will be in its perfection at the time of the
saints’ glorification with Christ in heaven. For that is the proper time of
the saints’ entering in with the bridegroom into the marriage, Mat. 25:10. The
saints’ conversion is rather like the betrothing of the intended bride to the
bridegroom before they come together. But at the time of the saints’
glorification that shall be fulfilled in Psa. 45:15. “With gladness and
rejoicing shall they be brought; they shall enter into the king’s palace.”
That is the time when those whom Christ loved, and for whom he gave himself —
that he might sanctify and cleanse them, as with the washing of water by the
word — shall be presented to him in glory, not having spot or wrinkle, or any
such thing. Then the church shall be brought to the full enjoyment of her
bridegroom, having all tears wiped away from her eyes. And there shall be no
more distance or absence. She shall then be brought to the entertainments of an
eternal wedding-feast, and to dwell forever with her bridegroom, yea, to dwell
eternally in his embraces. Then Christ will give her his loves. And she shall
drink her fill, yea, she shall swim in the ocean of his love.
And as there are
various seasons wherein Christ and particular saints do more especially rejoice
in each other, so there are also certain seasons wherein Christ does more
especially rejoice over his church collectively taken. Such a season is a time
of remarkable outpouring of the Spirit of God. It is a time of the espousals of
many souls to Christ, and so of the joy of espousals. It is a time wherein
Christ is wont more especially to visit his saints with his loving-kindness, and
to bring them near to himself, and especially to refresh their hearts with
divine communications. On which account, it becomes a time of great joy to the
church of Christ. So when the Spirit of God was so wonderfully poured out on the
city of Samaria, with the preaching of Philip, we read that “there was great
joy in that city,” Acts 8:8. And the time of that wonderful effusion of the
Spirit at Jerusalem, begun at the feast of Pentecost, was a time of holy
feasting and rejoicing, and a kind of a wedding-day to the church of Christ;
wherein “they continuing daily, with one accord, in the temple, and breaking
bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness, and singleness of
heart,” Acts 2:46.
But more especially
is the time of that great outpouring of the Spirit of God in the latter days, so
often foretold in the Scriptures, represented as the marriage of the Lamb, and
the rejoicing of Christ and his church in each other, as the bridegroom and the
bride. This is the time prophesied of in our text and context and foretold in
Isa. 65:19 “I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people; and the voice
of weeping shall no more be heard in her, not the voice of crying.” This is
the time spoken of Rev. 19:6, 7, 8, 9 where the apostle John tells us he
“heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many
waters, and as the voice of might thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord
God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for
the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.” And
adds, “To her was granted, that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and
white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me,
Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage-supper of the
Lamb.”
But above all, the
time of Christ’s last coming is that of the consummation of the church’s
marriage with the Lamb and of the complete and most perfect joy of the wedding.
In that resurrection-morning, when the sun of righteousness shall appear in our
heavens, shining in all his brightness and glory, he will come forth as a
bridegroom. He shall come in the glory of his Father, with all his holy angels.
And at that glorious appearing of the great God, and our Savior Jesus Christ,
shall the whole elect church, complete as to every individual member, and each
member with the whole man, both body and soul, and both in perfect glory, ascend
up to meet the Lord in the air, to be thenceforth forever with the Lord. That
will be indeed a joyful meeting of this glorious bridegroom and bride. Then the
bridegroom will appear in all his glory without any veil. And then the saints
shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father and at the right
hand of their Redeemer. And then the church will appear as the bride, the
Lamb’s wife. It is the state of the church after the resurrection that is
spoken of [in] Rev. 21:2, “And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming
down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” And
verse 9, “Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” Then
will come the time, when Christ will sweetly invite his spouse to enter in with
him into the palace of his glory, which he had been preparing for her from the
foundation of the world, and shall, as it were, take her by the hand, and lead
her in with him. And this glorious bridegroom and bride shall, with all their
shining ornaments, ascend up together into the heaven of heavens, the whole
multitude of glorious angels waiting upon them, and this son and daughter of God
shall, in their united glory and joy, present themselves together before the
Father; when Christ shall say, “Here am I, and the children which thou hast
given me.” And they both shall in that relation and union, together receive
the Father’s blessing. And shall thenceforward rejoice together in consummate,
uninterrupted, immutable, and everlasting glory, in the love and embraces of
each other, and joint enjoyment of the love of the Father.
Second,
that aforementioned union of faithful ministers with the people of Christ is in
order to this blessedness.
1. It is only with
reference to Christ, as the true bridegroom of his church, that there is any
union between a faithful minister and a Christian people, that is like that of a
bridegroom and bride.
As I observed
before, a faithful minister espouses a Christian people, not in his own name,
but as Christ’s ambassador. He espouses them that therein they may be espoused
to Christ. He loves her with a tender conjugal affection, as she is the spouse
of Christ, and as he, as the minister of Christ, has his heart under the
influence of the Spirit of Christ. As Abraham’s faithful servant, that was
sent to fetch a wife for his master’s son, was captivated with Rebekah’s
beauty and virtue; but not with reference to an union with himself, but with his
master Isaac. It was for his sake he loved her, and it was for him that he
desired her. He set his heart upon her, that she might be Isaac’s wife. And it
was for this that he greatly rejoiced over her, for this he wooed her, and for
this he obtained her, and she was for a season, in a sense, united to him. But
it was as a fellow-traveler, that by him she might be brought to Isaac in the
land of Canaan. For this he adorned her with ornaments of gold. It was to
prepare her for Isaac’s embraces. All that tender care which a faithful
minister takes of his people as a kind of spiritual husband — to provide for
them, to lead, and feed, and comfort them — is not as to his own bride, but
his master’s.
And on the other
hand, the people receive him, unite themselves to him in covenant, honor him,
subject themselves to him, and obey him, only for Christ’s sake, and as one
that represents him, and acts in his name towards them. All this love and honor
and submission is ultimately referred to Christ. Thus the apostle says, Gal.
4:14, “Ye received me as an angel, or messenger of God, even as Christ
Jesus.” And the children that are brought forth in consequence of the union of
the pastor and people are not properly the minister’s children, but the
children of Christ. They are not born of man, but of God.
2. The things that
appertain to that aforementioned union of a faithful minister and Christian
people are the principal appointed means of bringing the church to that
blessedness that has been spoken of. Abraham’s servant, and the part he acted
as Isaac’s agent towards Rebekah, were the principal means of his being
brought to enjoy the benefits of her conjugal relation to Isaac. Ministers are
sent to woo the souls of men for Christ. 2 Cor. 5:20, “We are then ambassadors
for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s
stead, be ye reconciled to God.” We read in Mat. 22 of a certain king that
made a marriage for his son and sent forth his servants to invite and bring in
the guests. These servants are ministers. The labors of faithful ministers are
the principal means God is wont to make use of for the conversion of the
children of the church, and so of their espousals unto Christ. I have espoused
you to one husband, says the apostle, 2 Cor. 11:2. The preaching of the gospel
by faithful ministers is the principal means that God uses for exhibiting
Christ, his love and benefits to his elect people, and the chief means of their
being sanctified, and so fitted to enjoy their spiritual bridegroom. Christ
loved the church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse
it, as by the washing of water by the word (i.e. by the preaching of the
gospel), and so might present it to himself, a glorious church. The labors of
faithful ministers are ordinarily the principal means of the joy of the saints
in Christ Jesus, in their fellowship with their spiritual bridegroom in this
world. 2 Cor. 1:24, “We are helpers of your joy.” They are God’s
instruments for bringing up the church, as it were, from her childhood, till she
is fit for her marriage with the Lord of glory as Mordecai brought up Hadassah,
or Esther, whereby she was fitted to be queen in Ahasuerus’s court. God
purifies the church under their hand, as Esther (to fit her for her marriage
with the king) was committed to the custody of Hegai, the keeper of the women,
to be purified six months with oil of myrrh and six months with sweet odors.
They are made the instruments of clothing the church in her wedding-garments,
that fine linen, clean and white, and adorning her for her husband; as
Abraham’s servant adorned Rebekah with golden ear-rings and bracelets.
Faithful ministers are made the instruments of leading the people of God in the
way to heaven, conducting them to the glorious presence of the bridegroom, to
the consummate joys of her marriage with the Lamb; as Abraham’s servant
conducted Rebekah from Padan-aram to Canaan, and presented her to Isaac, and
delivered her into his embraces. For it is the office of ministers, not only to
espouse the church to her husband, but to present her a chaste virgin to Christ.
I would now
conclude this discourse with some exhortations, agreeable to what has been said.
And,
I. The exhortation
may be to all that are called to the work of the gospel-ministry. — Let us who
are honored by the glorious bridegroom of the church, to be employed as his
ministers, to so high a purpose, as has been represented, be engaged and induced
by what has been observed, to faithfulness in our great work; that we may be and
act towards Christ’s people that are committed to our care, as those that are
united to them in holy espousals, for Christ’s sake, and in order to their
being brought to the unspeakable blessedness of that more glorious union with
the Lamb of God, in which he shall rejoice over them, as the bridegroom
rejoiceth over the bride. Let us see to it that our hearts are united to them,
as a young man to a virgin that he marries, in the most ardent and tender
affection. And that our regard to them be pure and uncorrupt, that it may be a
regard to them, and not to what they have, or any worldly advantages we hope to
gain of them. And let us behave ourselves as those that are devoted to their
good, being willing to spend and be spent for them, joyfully undertaking and
enduring the labor and self-denial that is requisite in order to a thorough
fulfilling the ministry that we have received. Let us continually and earnestly
endeavor to promote the prosperity and salvation of the souls committed to our
care, looking on their calamities and their prosperity as our own, feeling their
spiritual wounds and griefs, and refreshed with their consolations. And spending
our whole lives in diligent care and endeavor to provide for, nourish, and
instruct our people, as the intended spouse of Christ, yet in her minority, that
we may form her mind and behavior, and bring her up for him, and that we may
cleanse her, as with the washing of water by the word, and purify her as with
sweet odors, and clothed in such raiment as may become Christ’s bride. Let us
aim that when the appointed wedding day comes, we may have done our work as
Christ’s messengers and may then be ready to present Christ’s spouse to him,
a chaste virgin, properly educated and formed, and suitably adorned for her
marriage with the Lamb. That he may then present her to himself, a glorious
church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, and may receive her into
his eternal embraces, in perfect purity, beauty, and glory.
II. Here I would
mention three or four things tending to excite us to this fidelity.
First,
we ought to consider how much Christ has done to obtain that joy, wherein he
rejoices over his church, as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride.
The creation of the
world seems to have been especially for this end, that the eternal Son of God
might obtain a spouse towards whom he might fully exercise the infinite
benevolence of his nature, and to whom he might, as it were, open and pour forth
all that immense fountain of condescension, love, and grace that was in his
heart, and that in this way God might be glorified. Doubtless the work of
creation is subordinate to the work of redemption. The creation of the new
heavens and new earth is represented as so much more excellent that the old,
that, in comparison, it is not worthy to be mentioned or come into mind.
Christ has done
greater things than to create the world in order to obtain his bride and the joy
of his espousals with her. For he became man for this end, which was a greater
thing than his creating the world. For the Creator to make the creature
was a great thing. But for him to become a creature was a greater thing.
And he did a much greater thing still to obtain this joy; in that for this he
laid down his life, and suffered even the death of the cross. For this he poured
out his soul unto death. And he that is the Lord of the universe, God over all,
blessed forevermore, offered up himself a sacrifice, in both body and soul, in
the flames of divine wrath. Christ obtains his elect spouse by conquest. For she
was a captive in the hands of dreadful enemies. And her Redeemer came into the
world to conquer these enemies and rescue her out of their hands, that she might
be his bride. And he came and encountered these enemies in the greatest battle
that ever was beheld by men or angels. He fought with principalities and powers.
He fought alone with the powers of darkness and all the armies of hell. Yea, he
conflicted with the infinitely more dreadful wrath of God, and overcame in this
great battle. And thus he obtained his spouse. Let us consider at how great a
price Christ purchased his spouse. He did not redeem her with corruptible
things, as silver and gold, but with his own precious blood. Yea, he gave
himself for her. When he offered up himself to God in those extreme labors and
sufferings, this was the joy that was set before him, that made him cheerfully
to endure the cross, and despise the pain and shame in comparison of this joy;
even that rejoicing over his church, as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride
that the Father had promised him, and that he expected when he should present
her to himself in perfect beauty and blessedness.
The prospect of
this was what supported him in the midst of the dismal prospect of his
sufferings, at which his soul was troubled. John 12:27, “Now is my soul
troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this
cause came I unto this hour.” These words show the conflict and distress of
Christ’s holy soul in the view of his approaching sufferings. But in the midst
of his trouble, he was refreshed with the joyful prospect of the success of
those sufferings, in bringing home his elect church to himself, signified by a
voice from heaven, and promised by the Father. On which he says, in the language
of triumph, verse 31, 32, “Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the
prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men
unto me.”
And ministers of
the gospel are appointed to be the instruments of bringing this to pass, the
instruments of bringing home his elect spouse to him, and her becoming his
bride. And [they are] instruments of her sanctifying and cleansing by the word,
that she might be meet to be presented to him on the future glorious wedding
day. How great a motive then is here to induce us who are called to be these
instruments, to be faithful in our work, and most willingly labor and suffer,
that Christ may see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied! Shall Christ do
such great things, and go through such great labors and sufferings to obtain
this joy, and then honor us sinful worms, so as to employ us as his ministers
and instruments to bring this joy to pass. And shall we be loath to labor and
backward to deny ourselves for this end?
Second,
let us consider how much the manner in which Christ employs us in this great
business has to engage us to a faithful performance of it. We are sent forth as
his servants. But it is as highly dignified servants, as stewards of his
household, as Abraham’s servant, and as his ambassadors, to stand in his
stead, and in his name, and represent his person in so great an affair as that
of his espousals with the eternally beloved of his soul. Christ employs us not
as mere servants, but as friends of the bridegroom; agreeable to the style in
which John the Baptist speaks of himself, John 3:29; in which he probably
alludes to an ancient custom among the Jews at their nuptial solemnities, at
which one of the guests that was most honored and next in dignity to the
bridegroom, was styled the friend of the bridegroom.
There is not an
angel in heaven, of how high an order soever, but what looks on himself honored
by the Son of God and Lord of glory, in being employed by him as his minister in
the high affair of his espousals with his blessed bride. But such honor has
Christ put upon us, that his spouse should in some sort be ours. That we should
marry, as a young man marries a virgin, the same mystical person that he himself
will rejoice over as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride. That we should be
his ministers to treat and transact for him with his dear spouse, that he might
obtain this joy. And, in our treaty with her, to be married to her in his name,
and sustain an image of his own endearing relation to her. And that she should
receive us, in some sort, as himself, and her heart be united to us in esteem,
honor, and affection, as those that represent him. And that Christ’s and the
church’s children should be ours, and that the fruit of the travail of
Christ’s soul should be also the fruit of the travail of our souls, as the
apostle speaks of himself as travailing in birth with his hearers, Gal. 4:19.
The reason why Christ puts such honor on faithful ministers, even above the
angels themselves, is because they are of his beloved church, they are select
members of his dear spouse, and Christ esteems nothing too much, no honor too
great, for her. Therefore Jesus Christ, the King of angels and men, does as it
were cause it to be proclaimed concerning faithful ministers, as Ahasuerus did
concerning him that brought up Esther, his beloved queen; “Thus shall it be
done to the man that the king delights to honour.”
And seeing Christ
has so honored us, that our relation to his people resembles his, surely our
affection to them should imitate his, in seeking their salvation, spiritual
peace, and happiness. Our tender care, labors, self-denial, and readiness to
suffer for their happiness should imitate what has appeared in him, who has
purchased them with his own blood.
Third,
let it be considered that if we faithfully acquit ourselves in our office, in
the manner that has been represented, we shall surely hereafter be partakers of
the joy when the bridegroom and bride shall rejoice in each other in perfect and
eternal glory.
God once gave forth
a particular command, with special solemnity, that it should be written for the
notice of all professing Christians through all ages, that they are happy and
blessed indeed, who are called to the marriage-supper of the Lamb. Rev. 19:9,
“And he saith unto me, Write, blessed are they which are called unto the
marriage-supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of
God.” But if we are faithful in our work, we shall surely be the subjects of
that blessedness. We shall be partakers of the joy of the bridegroom and bride,
not merely as friends and neighbors that are invited to be occasional guests,
but as members of the one and the other. We shall be partakers with the church,
the blessed bride, in her joy in the bridegroom, not only as friends and
ministers to the church, but as members of principal dignity; as the eye, the
ear, the hand, are principal members of the body. Faithful ministers in the
church will hereafter be a part of the church that shall receive distinguished
glory at the resurrection of the just, which, above all other times, may be
looked on as the church’s wedding day. Dan. 12:2, 3, “Many of them that
sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life. And they
that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn
many to righteousness, as the stars for ever and ever.” They are elders who
are represented as that part of the church triumphant that sit next to the
throne of God. Rev. 4:4, “And round about the throne were four-and-twenty
seats: and upon the seats I saw four-and-twenty elders sitting, clothed in white
raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.”
And we shall also
be partakers of the joy of the bridegroom in his rejoicing over his bride. We,
as the special friends of the bridegroom, shall stand by, and hear him express
his joy on that day, and rejoice greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. As
John the Baptist said of himself, John 3:29, “He that hath the bride, is the
bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him,
rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice.” Christ, in reward for
our faithful service, in winning and espousing his bride to him, and bringing
her up from her minority, and adorning her for him, will then call us to partake
with him in the joy of his marriage. And she that will then be his joy, shall
also be our crown of rejoicing. 1 Thes. 2:19, “What is our hope, or joy, or
crown of rejoicing? Are not ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his
coming?” What a joyful meeting had Christ and his disciples together, when the
disciples returned to their master, after the faithful and successful
performance of their appointed service, when Christ sent them forth to preach
the gospel. Luke 10:17, “And the seventy returned with joy, saying, Lord, even
the devils are subject unto us through thy name.” Here we see how thy rejoice.
The next words show how Christ also rejoiced on that occasion: “And he said
unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.” And in the next
verse but two, we are told, that “in that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and
said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these
things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.” So if we
faithfully acquit ourselves, we shall another day return to him with joy. And we
shall rejoice with him and he with us. — Then will be the day when Christ, who
has sown in tears and in blood, and we who have reaped the fruits of his labors
and sufferings, shall rejoice together, agreeable to John 4:35-37. And that will
be a happy meeting indeed, when Christ and his lovely and blessed bride, and
faithful ministers who have been the instruments of wooing and winning her heart
to him, and adorning her for him, and presenting her to him, shall all rejoice
together.
Fourth,
further to stir us up to faithfulness in the great business that is appointed
us, in order to the mutual joy of this bridegroom and bride, let us consider
what reason we have to hope that the time is approaching when this joy shall be
to a glorious degree fulfilled on earth, far beyond whatever yet has been. I
mean the time of the church’s latter-day glory. This is what the words of our
text have a more direct respect to. And this is what is prophesied of in Hos.
2:19, 20. “And I will betroth thee unto me for ever, yea, I will betroth thee
unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving-kindness, and in
mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness, and thou shalt know
the Lord.” And this is what is especially intended by the marriage of the Lamb
in Rev. 19.
We are sure this
day will come. And we have many reasons to think that it is approaching. From
the fulfillment of almost everything that the prophecies speak of as preceding
it, and their having been fulfilled now a long time. And from the general
earnest expectations of the church of God, and the best of her ministers and
members, and the late extraordinary things that have appeared in the church of
God, and appertaining to the state of religion, and the present aspects of
divine Providence, which the time will not allow me largely to insist upon.
As the happiness of
that day will have a great resemblance of the glory and joy of the eternal
wedding day of the church after the resurrection of the just, so will the
privileges of faithful ministers at that time much resemble those they shall
enjoy with the bridegroom and bride, as to honor and happiness, in eternal
glory. This is the time especially intended in the text, wherein it is said,
“as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee.” And it is
after in the prophecies spoken of as a great part of the glory of that time,
that then the church should be so well supplied with faithful ministers. So in
the next verse to the text, “I have set watchmen on thy walls, O Jerusalem,
that shall never hold their peace, day nor night.” So, Isa. 30:20, 21, “Thy
teachers shall not be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see
thy teachers: and thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the
way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the
left.” Jer. 3:15, “And I will give you pastors according to mine heart,
which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.” And chap. 23:4, “And
I will set up shepherds over them, which shall feed them.” And the great
privilege and joy of faithful ministers at that day is foretold in Isa. 52:8,
“Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice, with the voice together shall the sing:
for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion.”
And as that day
must needs be approaching, and we ourselves have lately seen some things which
we have reason to hope are forerunners of it, certainly it should strongly
excite his to endeavor to be such pastors as God has promised to bless his
church with at that time. That if any of us should live to see the dawning of
that glorious day, we might share in the blessedness of it, and then be called,
as the friends of the bridegroom, to the marriage supper of the Lamb, and
partake of that joy in which heaven and earth, angels and saints, and Christ and
his church, shall be united at that time.
But here I would
apply the exhortation in a few words to that minister of Christ, who above all
others is concerned in the solemnity of this day, who is now to be united to and
set over this people as their pastor.
You have now heard,
Reverend Sir, the great importance and high ends of the office of an evangelical
pastor, and the glorious privileges of such as a faithful in this office,
imperfectly represented. may God grant that your union with this people, this
day, as their pastor, may be such, that God’s people here may have the great
promise God makes to his church in the text, now fulfilled unto them. May you
now, as one of the precious sons of Zion, take this part of Christ’s church by
the hand, in the name of your great Master the glorious bridegroom, with a heart
devoted unto him with true adoration and supreme affection, and for his sake
knit to this people, in a spiritual and pure love, and as it were a conjugal
tenderness, ardently desiring that great happiness for them, which you have now
heard Christ has chosen his church unto, and has shed his blood to obtain for
her, being yourself ready to spend and be spent for them, remembering the great
errand on which Christ sends you to them, viz. to woo and win their
hearts, and espouse their souls to him, and to bring up his elect spouse, and to
fit and adorn her for his embraces; that you may in due time present her a
chaste virgin to him, for him to rejoice over, as the bridegroom rejoiceth over
the bride. How honorable is this business that Christ employs you in! And how
joyfully should you perform it! When Abraham’s faithful servant was sent to
take a wife for his master’s son, how engaged was he in the business; and how
joyful was he when he succeeded! With what joy did he bow his head and worship,
and bless the Lord God of his master, for his mercy and his truth in making his
way prosperous! And what a joyful meeting may we conclude he had with Isaac,
when he met him in the field, by the well of Laharoi, and there presented his
beauteous Rebekah to him, and told him all things that he had done! But this was
but a shadow of that joy that you shall have, if you imitate his fidelity, in
the day when you shall meet your glorious Master, and present Christ’s church
in this place, as a chaste and beautiful virgin unto him.
We trust, dear Sir,
that you will esteem it a most blessed employment, to spend your time and skill
in adorning Christ’s bride for her marriage with the Lamb, and that it is work
which you will do with delight. And that you will take heed that the ornaments
you put upon her are of the right sort, what shall be indeed beautiful and
precious in the eyes of the bridegroom, that she may be all glorious within, and
her clothing of wrought gold, that on the wedding-day she may stand on the
king’s right hand in gold of Ophir.
The joyful day is
coming, when the spouse of Christ shall be led to the King in raiment of
needlework. And angels and faithful ministers will be the servants that shall
lead her in. And you, Sir, if you are faithful in the charge now to be committed
to you, shall be joined with glorious angels in that honorable and joyful
service. But with this difference, that you shall have the higher privilege.
Angels and faithful ministers shall be together in bringing in Christ’s bride
into his palace, and presenting her to him. But faithful ministers shall have a
much higher participation of the joy of that occasion. They shall have a greater
and more immediate participation with the bride in her joy; for they shall not
only be ministers to the church as the angels are, but parts of the church,
principal members of the bride. And as such, at the same time that angels do the
part of ministering spirits to the bride, when they conduct her to the
bridegroom, they shall also do the part of ministering spirits to faithful
ministers. And they shall also have a higher participation with the bridegroom
than the angels, in his rejoicing at that time. For they shall be nearer to him
than they. They are also his members, and are honored as the principal
instruments of espousing the saints to him, and fitting them for his enjoyment;
and therefore they will be more the crown of rejoicing of faithful ministers,
than of the angels of heaven.
So great, dear Sir,
is the honor and joy that is set before you, to engage you to faithfulness in
your pastoral care of this people; so glorious the prize that Christ has set up
to engage you to run the race that is set before you.
I would now
conclude with a few words to the people of this congregation, whose souls are
now to be committed to the care of that minister of Christ, whom they have
chosen as their pastor.
Let me take
occasion, dear brethren, from what has been said, to exhort you — not
forgetting the respect, honor, and reverence, that will ever be due from you to
your former pastor, who has served you so long in that work, but by reason of
age and growing infirmities, and the prospect of his place being so happily
supplied by a successor, has seen meet to relinquish the burden of the pastoral
charge over you — to perform the duties that belong to you, in your part of
that relation and union now to be established between you and your elect pastor.
Receive him as the messenger of the Lord of hosts, one that in his office
represents the glorious bridegroom of the church. Love and honor him, and
willingly submit yourselves to him, as a virgin when married to a husband.
Surely the feet of that messenger should be beautiful, that comes to you on such
a blessed errand as that which you have heard, to espouse you to the eternal Son
of God, and to fit you for and lead you to him as your bridegroom. Your chosen
pastor comes to you on this errand, and he comes in the name of the bridegroom,
so empowered by him, and representing him, that in receiving him, you will
receive Christ, and in rejecting him, you will reject Christ.
Be exhorted to
treat your pastor as the beautiful and virtuous Rebekah treated Abraham’s
servant. She most charitably and hospitably entertained him, provided lodging
and food for him and his company, and took care that he should be comfortably
entertained and supplied in all respects, while he continued in his embassy. And
that was the note or mark of distinction which God himself gave him, by which he
should know the true spouse of Isaac from all others of the daughters of the
city. Therefore in this respect approve yourselves as the true spouse of Christ,
by giving kind entertainment to your minister that comes to espouse you to the
antitype of Isaac. Provide for his outward subsistence and comfort, with the
like cheerfulness that Rebekah did for Abraham’s servant. You have an account
of her alacrity and liberality in supplying him, in Gen. 24:18 etc. say, as her
brother did, verse 31, “Come in, thou blessed of the Lord.”
Thus you should
entertain your pastor. But this is not that wherein your duty towards him
chiefly lies. The main thing is to comply with him in his great errand and to
yield to the suit that he makes to you in the name of Christ, to be his bride.
In this you should be like Rebekah. She was, from what she heard of Isaac and
God’s covenant with him and blessing upon him from the mouth of Abraham’s
servant, willing forever to forsake her own country and her father’s house to
go into a country she had never seen to be Isaac’s wife, whom also she never
saw. After she had heard what the servant had to say, and her old friends had a
mind she should put off the affair for the present — but it was insisted on
that she should go immediately — and she was asked ‘whether she would go
with this man,” she said, “I will go:” and she left her kindred, and
followed the man through all that long journey, till he had brought her unto
Isaac, and they three had that joyful meeting in Canaan. If you will this day
receive your pastor in that union that is now to be established between him and
you, it will be a joyful day in this place, and the joy will be like the joy of
espousals, as when a young man marries a virgin. And it will not only be a
joyful day in East Hampton, but it will doubtless be a joyful day in heaven on
your account. And your joy will be a faint resemblance, and a forerunner of that
future joy, when Christ shall rejoice over you as the bridegroom rejoiceth over
the bride in heavenly glory.