The First Corollary
How great then are the dignities and privileges of the churches of Jesus Christ, whom he has appropriated to himself, above all the people of the earth, to be his peculiar inheritance? The rest of the world is a waste wilderness; all other places, however pleasant, in respect of their natural amenity and delights, are truly enough called, the dark places of the earth; dismal, solitary cells, where Ziim and Iim, bitterns, cormorants, and every doleful creature dwells. But the church is the Paradise of the earth, a garden enclosed (Song of Solomon 4:12), in whose hedges the gospel-birds chirp and sing melodiously (Song of Solomon 2:12). Its beds, are beds of spices (Song of Solomon 6:2), and between its pleasant banks, a crystal river of living water runs (Revelation 22:1). The streams of which make glad the City of God; in the midst of it the Lord himself delights to walk. O Zion! with what pleasures do you abound! If Bernard were so ravished with the delights of his monastery, because of its green banks, and shady bowers, and herbs, and trees, and various objects to feed his eyes, and fragrant smells, and sweet and various tunes of birds, together with the opportunities of devout contemplation, that he cried out admiringly, Lord! what delights do you provide, even for the poor! How much more should we be ravished with Zion's glory? For beautiful for situation, is Mount Zion. Of whom it may much more truly be said, what a chronicler of our own once said of England, that it is the fortunate island, the Paradise of Pleasure, the garden of God, whose valleys are like Eden, whose hills are as Lebanon, whose springs are as Pisgah, whose rivers are as Jordan, whose wall is the ocean, and whose defense is the Lord Jehovah. Happy are you, O Israel, who is like you? Who can count the privileges with which Christ has invested his churches? O let it never seem a light thing in our eyes, that we grow within his blessed enclosure. How sweet a promise is that (Exodus 19:5), 'You shall be to me a peculiar treasure above all people; for all the earth is mine.'
