368 That ye may be able toflan& Bebeccah hadnot the Jewels and corny raiment till the was pro, mifed to become *mks wife, Gen, 24. 53. All the Promifes are Tea and Amen in (brill. If once thou receiveft Chrift,with him, thou receiveft them. He that owes the tree bath right to all the fruit that is on it. Now that thou may eft not huddle up a marriage between Chrift and thee, fo as to be difown'd of Chrift, and it prove a nullity at !aft ; it behooves thee to look to it, that therebe found in thee what Chrift expects in every foul that he efpoufeth. Firft, therefore confider whether thou canft heartily love the perfon of Chrift. Look wifhly on him again and again as he is fet forth in all his fpiritual excellencies, are they Inch as thy heart can clofe with ? doth his holy nature and all thofe heavenly graces with which he is beautified, ren- der him defirable to thee ? or couldeft thou like him better if he were not fo precife and exactly holy ? yea, is thy heart fo inflamed with a defireof him, that thou canft love him with a conjugal love. A woman may love one as a friend? whom the cannot love fo as tomake him her husband. A friendly love may nand with a love of force other equal to it, yea, Superiour; But a conjugal love is fuch as will bear neither: canft thou finde in thy heart to forfake all other, and cleave to Chrift? does thy heart fpeak thee ready, and prefent thee willing to go with thy fwcet Jefus, though he carry thee from father and fathers houfe? Is thy confidence fuch of his power to proteect thee from all thy enemies, fin, wrath and hell, that thou canft refolvedly put the life of thy foul into his hands, to be Paved by the hale ver- tue of his blood, and flrength of his omnipotent arme ; and of his care to provide for thee for this life and the other, that rhou canft acquiefce in what he promifeth to do for thee ? In a word, ifthou haft Chrift, thcu muff not only love him, but for his fake, all thy newKindred, which by thy marriage to him thou (halt be allied unto. How cana thou fadge to call the 1 Saints thy brethren ? canft thou love them heartily, and for- get all the old grudges thou haft had againft them ? force of them thou wilt finde poor and perfecuted, yet Chrift is not afha- med to call them brethren, neither muft thou. If thou findeft thy heart now in fuch a di fpofition as faits thee Interrogatories, I dare not deny the banes,yea, I dare not but pronounce Chrift and thee Husband and Wife. Gol, poor foul, (if I may call fe glorious
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