N02580:32
The mystical marriage. A brief essay, on, the grace of the Redeemer espousing the…
The mystical marriage. A brief essay, on, the grace of the Redeemer espousing the soul of the believer. / By the late Reverend Dr. Cotton Mather. ; Approved by several pastors of our churches, as a present, proper to be offered unto our young people: and very particularly when the celebration of a marriage affords an agreeable occasion for it.
Boston N.E.: printed for N. Belknap, 1728
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Art thou willing ⟨p. 9⟩to Go and live with Him, and prize Him, and serve Him, and Be what he would have thee to be? That answer of Compliance, I will go, This will settle it; And His Holy SPIRIT will make a sweet Seizure on thee; and He will have thee and hold thee for His own forevermore. Is it possible to reject such a Motion!—
But then, in Complying with it, most certainly, it will not be possible to be any other than inexpressibly Surprised at it. All the Surprise that was expressed by the Lady unto whom David sent the Motion of her becoming his, must fall far short of thy Surprise, and Marvel, and Rapture, upon this motion from the Son and Lord of David.—What? The King of Glory Stoop at this rate! The King of King's take such an odious Leper into his Bosom, and one so full of putrefying Sores! The Infinite GOD, look with such an Eye, upon such a Worm of the Dust▪ The High and Lofty one who inhabits Eternity, Espouse unto Himself this poor, Humble, Contrite and self abhorring Soul. The Match between the Thistle and the Cedar in Lebanon, had no Disparity comparable unto this. One fetched from a Generation of Vipers, to be a Bride for the Lamb of GOD! He that is of purer Eyes than to behold evil and cannot look upon Iniquity, with such tender Eyes to behold one so full of Evil, and look so tenderly on one abounding with Iniquity! Lord, When thou feest me such a Loathsome wretch, cast out unto the loathing of my Person, as in the Day that I was born, is this the time of thy Love! Wilt thou now Enter into Covenant with me, and thoroughly wash me, and gird me about with thy Fine Linen, and adorn me with thy Jewels, and put thy Crown upon my Head, and make my Beauty perfect through' thy Comeliness which thou wilt put upon me! Is this the manner of Men, O Lord GOD!—I could never have believed it; ⟨p. 10⟩But, Thy Thoughts and Ways are not like ours. Now, Lord, I believe it, help thou my unbelief! But, O ye Heavens, be you forever filled with the Praises, the Praises, the High Praises of this peerless Grace. Let the whole Earth be filled with the Glory of it.