The Mystical Marriage, Title page – Preface
THE MYSTICALL MARRIAGE.
Experimentall Discoveries of the heavenly Marriage betweene a Soule and her Saviour.
By F. ROVS.
LONDON, Printed by William Iones, dwelling in Red-crosse-street. 1631.
TO THE BRIDE THE LAMBES WIFE.
A REASON OF THIS WORKE.
IF any man fearefull of waste doe ask, To what end serveth this labour? I answer, To the maine end, Gods glory by mans edification. And to this I thinke it conduceth many wayes.
First, by the fitnesse of it to all times and seasons, either of prosperity or adversity.
For if the times be joyfull, this subject brings the best joy with it, and enables us to rejoyce with them: Yea it rectifies, amends, and exalts our joyes; for upon an earthly it sets a crowne of heavenly joy. And indeede without this joy, we may say to joy, Thou art mad, and to laughter, What is it that thou doest?
But if the times prove sad and dangerous, by pestilence, famine, sword, or other calamities, this Doctrine brings strong consolation, even stronger than all sorrowes and discomforts. For our Communion with Christ is a fastning of the soule to a mighty and impregnable Rocke that makes her stedfast, even against the gates of hell. By this Communion we are made Temples of the holy Ghost, the very Comforter himselfe; and by him there is a Sanctuary made within us, into which the soule may fly for rest, safety and comfort amid all feares and dangers: For into this Sanctuary the Avenger may not enter. There is a chamber within us, and a bed of love in that chamber, wherein Christ meetes and rests with the soule, and the force of friends, or men, either dares not or cannot breake in, to disturbe the rest of Christ with the soule, nor of the soule with Christ. It is an undeniable Axiome, We are more than conquerours through him that loveth us. An omnipotent lover gives an excessively conquering, and unconquerable safety. And for this safety of us and our joy, we have also the immediate word of the lover himselfe; I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoyce, and your joy shall none take from you. No wonder then if the Disciple beloved of this Lover doe tell us, that writing of this communion, hee writes, that our joy may bee full:1 Ioh. 1. for in this communion stands the fulnesse of joy, both for soundnesse, measure, and safety.
And surely with these last times of the world it hath too great a fitnesse; For it hath beene foretold that in these times the love of many should waxe colde: and what fitter remedy is there for love when it hath taken cold, than to kindle a fire to it; even that spirituall fire, which issueth frō the spirit that baptiseth with fire?
A second advancement to edification is this, that that it presents to the view of the world some bunches of grapes brought from the land of promise, to shew that this land is not a meere imagination, but some have seene it, and have brought away parcels, pledges and earnests of it. In these appeares a world, above the world, a love that passeth human love, a peace that passeth naturall understanding, a joy unspeakable and glorious, a taste of the chiefe and soveraigne good.
Neither doth the benefit of it rest onelyonly in the conviction of the understanding, but, thirdly, it goes on to the will and affections. It warmes and drawes them, and by them the whole man to partake of the same pledges, and by the incouragement of these pledges to goe on laboriously and constantly to the possession of the whole. And that as by a borrowed sight men are provoked to come to tasting so by their owne tasting, they may come to a sight of their owne, which onelyonly tasting can teach them: But withall that by these foretastes they may be led on to that fulnesse, wherewith the soule shall eternally be satisfied.
Fourthly, it may provoke others of this Nation to bring forth more boxes of this precious oyntment, even of that mysticall louelove which droppeth downe from the Head Christ Iesus, into the soules of the Saints, living heere below. For so the house of God shall bee filled with the savour of his oyntments, and we know, that because of the savour of his oyntments, the Virgins love him. And loving him, they cry, Draw me, and I will runne after thee: So the more savour of this oyntment, the more love of Christ, & the more love, the more running after Christ. But if the number of those who have written on this subject, of mysticall and experimentall Divinity, be tolde, I thinke this worke will not be found supernumerary.