Page:Wedding-ring, fit for the finger, or, The salve of divinity on the sore of humanity (2).pdf/4

This page has been validated.

( 4 )

In the firſt, there is the worth of veracity. In the ſecond, there is the want of ſociety.—In the third, there is the work of divinity.

Of theſe in their order. And,

1. The ſovereignneſs of the expreſion— "And the Lord God ſaid, &c." Luke i. 70. "As he ſpake by the mouths of his prophets." In other ſcriptures he uſed their mouths, but in this he makes uſe of his own. They were the organs, and he the breath. They the ſtreams, and he the fountain. How he ſpake, it is hard to determine; whether eternally, internally, or externally. We are not to enquire into the manner of ſpeaking, but into the matter that is ſpoken; which leads me, like a directing ſtar from the ſuburbs to the city; from the porch to the palace, from the founder of the mine, to the treaſure that is in it: "It is not good," &c. In which we have two things:

1. The Subject 2. The Predicate. The Subject, "Man alone." The Predicate, "It is not good." &c.

1. The Subject "Man alone." Take this in two branches.

  1. As it is limited to one man.
  2. As it is lengthened to all men.

Firſt As it is limited to one man: And ſo it is taken particularly: Man for the firſt man.

When all other creatures had their mates, Adam wanted his, though he was the emperor of the earth, and the admiral of the ſeas yet in Paradiſe without a companion; though he

was