Englands sickness, comparatively conferred with Israels Divided into two sermons, by ThoEnglands sicknes, comparatively conferred with Israels Diuided into two sermons, by Tho

This may insinuate (intemeratam pulchritudinem Ecclesiae) the unpolluted beauty of the Church. So Christ testifieth of his elected Spouse, ¹Cant. 4. Tota pulchra es amica mea, Thou art all fair, my love, and there is no spot in thee. Now beauty consists in a sweet variety of colours and in a concinne disposition of different parts. So the foreign congregations call her, the fairest among women: ^bWhither is thy Beloved gone, oh thou fairest among women, that we may seek him with thee? For her simplicity she is called a Dove, for her fruitfulness a vine: Mount Zion for her steadfastness: for her royalty, she is called a Queen, for her brightness and eminence, an Ivory Tower: for her beauty, the fairest among women. As the Cedar in the for rest. the lily among the flowers of the valleys, Zion among the mountains, Jerusalem among the Cities; as Di•a among all the daughters of the land, so the daughter of Judah among her sisters. None so fair as the Shunamite to content king David, none else can plead that the Son of David takes delight in her beauty. But ^cthe kings daughter is all glorious within, Omnis decor ab intus. It consists not in outward face, but in inward grace. How comes she thus fair? Here her speak of her self? ^dI am black O ye daughters of Jerusalem, but comely as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. Black indeed by her own misery, white and fair by her Saviours mercy. Every soul is black by nature: originally soiled, actually spoiled. We have all primitivam & privatinum corruptionem, a pennary corruption, that deprives us of all habitual goodness. We are borne Moors, and have increased this swarthiness, by the continual tanning of unceased sins. We have no nitre of our own virtual, enough to whiten us. Job had no water of snow, nor David of Hyssop, nor had the pool of Bethesda, though stirred ⟨p. 10⟩with a thousand Angels, power to cleanse us. Let Nature do her best, we dwelt at the Sign of the Labour-in-vain. Only Christ hath washed […], that we might have part with him. A medicine of