Now rife aloft 'bove banks of fin and hell,
And o'er the tops of mafly mountains fwell.
In ftreams of blood are tow'rs of guilt o'erflown,
Down with the rapid purple current thrown.
The bride now as her all can Jefus own,
And proftrate at his footstool cast her crown,
Difclaiming all her former groundless hope,
While in the dark her foul did weary grope.
Down tumble all the hills of felf-conceit,
In him alone fhe fees herself complete ;
Does his fair perfon with fond arms embrace,
And all her hopes on his full merit place;
Discard her former mate, and henceforth draw
No hope, no expectation from the law.
Tho' thus her new created nature foars,
And lives aloft on Jefus' heav'nly flores;
Yet, apt to ftray, her old adult'rous heart
Oft takes her old renounced husband's part:
A legal cov'nant is fo deep ingrain'd
Upon the human nature, laps'd and stain'd,
That, till her fpirit mount the purest clime,
She's never totally divorc'd in time.
Hid in her corrupt part's proud bofom lurks
Some hope of life ftill by the law of works.
Hence flow the following evils, more or lefs;
Preferring oft her partial holy drefs,
Before her Hufband's perfect righteousness.
Hence joying more in grace already giv'n,
Than in her Head and ftock that's all in heav'n.
Hence grieving more the want of frames and grace,
Than of himself the fpring of all folace.
Hence guilt her foul imprifons, lufts prevail,
While to the law her rents infolvent fail,
And yet her faithlefs heart rejects her Hufband's bail.
Hence foul diforders rife, and racking fears,
While doubtful of his clearing past arrears;
Vain dreaming, fince her own obedience, fails,
His likewife little for her help avails.
Hence duties are a task, while all in view
Is heavy yokes of laws, or old or new ;
Whereas, were once her legal biafs broke,
She'd find her Lord's commands an eafy yoke.
No galling precepts on her back he lays,
Nor any debt demands, fave what he pays
By promis'd aid, but, lo! the grievous law
Demanding brick, won't aid her with a firaw.
Hence alfo fretful, grudging, difcontent,
Crav'd by the law, finding her treasure spent,
And doubting if her Lord will pay the rent.
Hence pride of duties too does often fwell,
Prefuming the perform'd fo very well.
Hence pride of graces and inherent worth
Springs from her corrupt legal biafs forth;
And boasting more a prefent with'ring frame,
Than her exalted Lord's unfading name.
Hence many falls and plunges in the mire,
As many new converfions do require:
Because her faithlefs heart's fad follies breed.
Much lewd departure from her living Head,
Who to reprove her aggravated crimes,
Leaves her abandon'd to herself at times;
That, falling into frightful deeps, fhe may
From fad experience learn more stress to lay,
Not on her native efforts, but at length
On Chrift alone, her righteoufnefs and ftrength:
Conscious, while in her works fhe feeks repofe,
Her legal fpirit breeds her many woes.
Faith's victories over fin and Satan, thro' new and farther difcoveries of Chrift, making believers more fruitful in bolinefs than all other pretenders to works.
THE gofpel-path leads heav'nward; hence the fray,
Hell-pow'rs ftill pufh the bride the legal way.
So hot's the war, her life's a troubled flood,
A field of battle, and a scene of blood.
But he that once commenc'd the work in her,
Whole working fingers drop the fweetel myrrh,
Will ftill advance it by alluring force,
And, from her ancient mate, more clean divorce:
Since 'tis her antiquated fpoufe the law
The ftrength of fin and hell did on her draw.
Piece-meal fhe finds hell's mighty force abate,
By new recruits from her almighty Mate.
Fresh armour, fent from grace's magazine,
Makes her proclaim eternal war with fin.
The fhield of faith dipt in the Surety's blood,
Drowns fiery darts, as in a crimfon flood.
The Captain's ruddy banner, lifted high,
Makes hell retire, and all the furies fly.
Yea, of his glory ev'ry recent glance
Makes fin decay and holiness advance.
In kindness therefore does her heav'nly Lord
Renew'd difcov'ries of his love afford,
That her enamour'd foul may with the view
Be caft into his holy mould anew:
For when he manifefts his glorious grace,
The charming favour of his smiling face,
Into his image fair transforms her foul, *
And wafts her upward to the heav'nly pole,
From glory unto glory by degrees,
'Till vifion and fruition fhall fuffice.
And thus in holy beauty Jefus' bride
Shines far beyond the painted fons of pride.
Vain merit-vouchers, and their fubtile
apes,
In all their moft refin'd, delufive fhapes.
No lawful child is ere the marriage born;
Though therefore virtues feign'd their life adorn,
The fruit they bear is but a fpurious brood,
Before this happy marriage be made good.
And 'tis not ftrange, for from a corrupt tree
No fruit divinly good produc'd can be. †
But, lo! the bride, graft in the living root,
Brings forth mcft precious aromatic fruit.
When her new heart and her new Hufband meet,
Her fruitful womb is like a heap of wheat,
Befet with fragrant lilies round about, ‡
All divine graces in a comely root,
Burning within, and fhining bright without.
2 Cor. iii. 18. Matth. vii. 17, 18.
And thus the bride, as facred fcripture faith,
When dead unto the law through Jesus' death *,
And match'd with him, bears to her God and Lord
Accepted fruit, with incenfe pure decor'd.
Freed from law-debt, and blefs'd with gofpel-eafe,
Her work is now her deareft Lord to pleafe,
By living on him as her ample flock,
And leaning to him as her potent rock,
The fruit that each law-wedded mortal brings,
To felf accrefces, as from self it brings,
So bafe a rife muft have a base recourfe,
The spring can mount no higher than its fource.
But Jefus can his bride's sweet fruit commend,
As brought from him the root, to him the end.
She does by fuch an offspring him avow
To be her ALPHA and OMEGA too.
The work and warfare he begins, he crowns,
Though maugre various conflicts, ups and downs.
Thus through the darkfome vail the makes her way,
Until the morning dawn of glorious day.
True faving Faith magnifying the Law, both as a covenant and as a rule. Falfe faith unfruitful and ruining.
PROUD nature may reject this gofpel-theme,
And curfe it as an Antinomian fcheme.
Let flander bark, let envy grin and fight,
The curfe that is fo caufelefs fhall not light. †
If they that fain would make by holy force
"Twixt finners and the law a clean divorce,
And court the Lamb a virgin chalte to wife,
Be charg'd as foes to holiness of life,
Well may they fuffer gladly on this fcore,
Apostles great were fo malign'd before.
"Do we make void the law thro' faith? nay, why,
We do it more fulfil and magnify
Than fiery feraphs can with holieft flash;
Avaunt, vain legalists, unworthy trash.
* Rom. vii. 4. ↑ Prov. xxvi. 2.
When as a cov'nant ftern the law commands,
Faith puts her Lamb's obedience in its hands:
And when its threats hufh out a fiery flood,
Faith ftops the current with her victim's blood.
The law can crave no more, yet craves no lefs,
Than active, paffive, perfect righteoufnefs.
Yet here is all, yea, more than its demand,
All render'd to it by a divine hand.
Mankind is bound law-fervice ftill to pay,
Yea, angel-kind is alfo bound t'obey.
It may by human and angelic blaze
Have honour, but in finite partial ways.
These natures have its luftre once defac'd,
'Twill be by part of both for ay difgrac'd.
Yet, had they all obfequious flood and true,
They'd giv'n the law no more than homage due.
But faith gives't honour yet more great, more odd,
The high, the humble fervice of its God.
Again, to view the holy law's command,
As lodged in a Mediator's hand;
Faith gives it honour, as a rule of life,
And makes the bride the Lamb's obedient wife.
Due homage to the law thofe never did,
To whom th' obedience pure of faith is hid.
"Faith works by love*, and purifies the heart †,"
And truth advances in the inward part;
On carnal hearts impreffes divine ftamps,
And fully'd lives inverts to fhining lamps,
From Abram's feed, that are moft ftrong in faith,
The law molt honour, God moft glory hath.
But due refpect to neither can be found,
Where unbelief ne'er got a mortal wound,
To fill the virtue-vaunter's empty found.
Good works he boafts, a path he never trode,
Who is not yet the workmanship of God, +
In Jefus thereunto created new ;
Nois'd works that fpring not hence are but a few.
True faith, that's of a noble divine race,
1s ftill a holy, fanctifying grace;
+ Acts xv. 9. + Eph. ii. 9.
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