O'er most as on him in a Creature-way Men look they know not his Eternal Day And whilst Men think he is not to be known As surely now as when to Jew was shown Or that he is not now to us so near As when he did to them i' th' Flesh appear Such know him not as everlasting King Nor yet as in his Death and Suffering Christ is and ever has a Myst'ry been Which Vult'rous Eye as yet hath never seen Whoever finds and sees whom they profess He is their Mystery of Godliness He was and is their undefiled way In which could never walk a Beast of prey Christ in the Flesh was vailed to the Jew To know him but i' th' Flesh's a Vail to you That Christ shall once be seen the Jews presume And you aright believe that he did come But whilst you know him not t' appear within Both are alike concluded under Sin 'T is true in a good Sense what both assert And into one new Man God will convert These two as they breathe after Christ and then Shall know that he puts off the Vail in Men. For all those Acts which heretofore he did He doth in Spirit now tho' they are hid Him still the legal Christian doth despise For in the Flesh he 's still a Cross to th' Wise He in the Flesh a Suff'rer alway was Since his being slain in Man came first to pass Christ is the same he was in every Case Who this believes doth a grand Truth embrace 'T is an authentick Truth that Christ is Lord But who so calls him of their own accord Without the Holy Spirit cannot find The truth of what they utter in their Mind In what they say true Witness is not born Nor th' Vail yet off their Understanding torn Now that the Lord the Spirit is was told Unto the Jew and true to all doth hold In Spirit then we must know Christ his Day Before the Vail in us be put away But we mistake that Christ expect to know As Jesus e'er we understand his Law The Law of God appearing in the Heart Of his great Work in us hath the first part This the Schoolmaster is which us doth bring To witness Christ in us as Lord and King This Holy Law in us must take a place Before we truly know what 's Grace as Grace This is affirm'd by the Apostle Paul And is no doubt acknowledg'd true by all I was said he without the Law alive But when th' Commandment came Sin did revive And then I dy'd was that made Death to me That was ordain'd to Life No verily But that Sin might as Sin be understood Death was in me wrought by that which was good This was the Law i' th' Heart there is no doubt For th' Law in Stone he never was without Nay further still we do in Scripture find He names th' aforesaid Law that of his Mind Which whilst not com'd unto we may believe His Sense of Sin and Death did not perceive An outward Good was to the outward Jew A Figure to the Spiritual that is true The outward Jews with Slavery opprest Before they could it see must be releast That is they could not see the promis'd Land Whilst shackled by imperious Phar'oh's Hand But were till more opprest as to it dead Nor could they cry to be delivered Thus Man in Death doth never Trouble know He 's dead to God and also to his Law The Law 's as dead to him till God revive Or by his Spirit make the same alive But when by God restor'd to Life it hath That Pow'r in us to manifest his Wrath From Heav'n against our Sin and what is Evil Wrought in 's by our malignant Foe the Devil For God Division makes by Judgment sure Betwixt the Soul of Man and Satan's Pow'r And Man in that Division doth partake Of Sorrow truly for the Evil's sake This is the Way the Father doth us draw Unto his Son that we his Love may know No other way the Righteous yet have found That saving Grace might unto them abound And they that know not thus the Work begin Their Knowledge has but superficial been Such then do well themselves to prove and try If they him know on whom they can relie Our Way th' Apostle here doth personate And to the Life sets forth the troubled State Thus he exclaim'd I in my Members find A Law that wars against that of my Mind And takes me Captive sore against my Will By which am forc'd to do that which is ill To what is good I readily consent But finds no pow'r the evil to prevent O wretched Man who shall deliver me From this body of Death and Misery The Law brought Wrath the Trouble Christ did bring Into his Flesh there to condemn the Sin His Soul to save by which he did espy Grace without Works and could it magnifie The Law of God the Creature doth condemn But Christ the Grace condemns the Sin in them God makes his Law alive this breaks Death's reign And Life we do receive by being slain Tho' all God's Dealings with us be in love Yet all his Acts we do not so approve For he doth kill before he giveth Life And in that dying there is found great Strife And yet this killing is to make us live But who in dying can that Truth perceive He makes us live but still we live in pain Because the Death and Evil doth remain We 're sure we live because we do endure The Sense of Grief which makes our living sure Our Trouble now proceedeth from within The Cause of it's the Knowledge of our Sin And Knowledge of our Sin and servile Yoke Is from the Law which we have truly broke And from 't we find cannot relieved be In this springs up the sense of Misery That fits us for the Gospel which is free Now then it is that we a Saviour want And do for him as th' Hart for Water pant Now we prepared are and Christ begins As Jesus now to save us from our Sins Sin he condemns i' th' Flesh and Pow'r doth give To serve him that has made our Souls to live A Type of this God did in Israel shew When the Aegyptian Host he overthrew I' th' Red-Sea and by that stupendious Deed His People from their Fear and Bondage freed Now unto God could Israel sacrifice What Aegypt could not stop tho' might despise Now Israel did rejoice and not before That their Oppressors they should see no more For now was their Deliverance atchiev'd From ev'ry thing that had in Bondage griev'd By this they were set free from all they knew That hindred them God's Worship to pursue Yet still before they could the Land possess Met various Troubles in the Wilderness Too tedious here and numerous to relate Which did concern them in their Servant-State This was to fit them and to lay them low In their own Eyes that they might truly know From God it was that now they did
SOME REMAINS OF JOHN HOGG In Two Parts The First being An ANSWER to a LETTER writ to him by Tho. Markham The Second A CONTINUATION and more full Discourse of the Matters treated of in the said Answer c. Published by a Friend of the Author 's since his Death LONDON Printed in the Year 1698. THE EPISTLE TO THE READER BElieving these ensuing Lines may be of use and service to those that will read and impartially weigh and consider them I thought fit to commit them to the Press for the Benefit of such into whose Hands they may come The Author was my intimate Acquaintance many Years and as Opportunity offer'd I have been often edify'd by his private as well as publick Discourses to the opening of my Understanding in Things of a Religious Nature He was a Man of great Thinking acute in most things of a sound and discerning Judgment that any unprejudic'd Person not bigotted to Parties or seeming Religious Societies must have receiv'd Benefit by conversing with him He was a Religious-minded Man and good Christian yet without Affectation or making a Show of his being so I doubt not but he is entred into that Rest which he travell'd for and had a large Taste of whilst in that Body with which my self and others have so often conversed The following Papers will give the serious Reader a clearer Evidence of the soundness of his Judgment than I can pretend to as also the Reasons why he writ in Verse which was occasion'd by one of his quondam Friends writing so to him by way of Admonition as was pretended I many times lament his being taken away from us because of the sweet Enjoyment and Christian Fellowship that I with some others had with him He was universal in his Love and good Wishes to all Mankind and has often said He did not believe that any Religious Society of People was the only true Church of Christ exclusive of the rest but that Sincerity of Heart toward God and good Will to Men without respect to Parties was that which only could intitle any to be Members of that Church of which he believ'd Christ Jesus to be Head and further added that the highest Pretenders to Religion in all Christian Reformations have not yet in a General way tho' some Particulars might come to know the likeness of the Truth cast out but rather in their Differences contend for it than for the Truth it self betwixt which there is as much difference as betwixt a Substance and its Shadow and that he believed was the Ground of those Janglings and Enmity amongst them upon a Religious Account and which he found true amongst his Friends the People call'd Quakers with whom he was in outward Fellowship Because he could not believe or value as others did some outward Rules and Orders set up amongst them to be any more than the Outward Court or like the Forms of other Professions For this he was slighted by some of those that esteem themselves Elders and Leaders amongst that People Above Twenty Years ago in some publick Meetings in London he had a more than ordinary impulse upon his Spirit amongst other things warning them to beware of Formality least God shou'd cause it to be proclaim'd in their Ears that altho' they increased in Number as the Sand of the Sea-shore yet a Remnant should but be saved And such a Remnant as truly travell'd after the Truth and for the true Rest he had Unity with to his dying Day which was the 24th of the Month December 1696. A little before his Departure he said to some that were with him being of sound and perfect Memory to his last that what he had writ and said about the difference betwixt him and Friends he was satisfy'd in and could not have done otherwise to have had Peace with that Divine Being into whose Rest he was going to enter and that he had no Regret or Trouble on his Mind for what he had done on that Account And for his giving a publick Caution in Meetings as is before-mention'd and at other times shewing his Dislike of some Practices amongst Friends it occasion'd some high-opinionated Elders and a Party amongst them from that time to his dying Day to spread Snares and ill Reports in his Way and carry'd their Enmity so high against him that they endeavour'd to take the Meeting from his House under the pretence of his not being in Unity with Friends which to my Knowledge he ever was with such as were sincere but those that seemed so and were not how great soever he never valu'd and it was they that he believ'd were the Snarlers at him as appear'd by his Neighbourhood's belief of his Sincerity Honesty and Christian Deportment of which the Meeting he belong'd to were so well satisfy'd that the Stratagem used on that account was rejected and the Meeting continu'd at his House in Course to his Death He lamented much the loss of that Life and Power that attended their Meetings in former Days But for himself I with some others must needs say he was not awanting in his Ministry which had always something lively new and fresh in it and was very edifying to such as without Prejudice heard him Therefore I could do not less than contribute this Epistle in testimony of my Love and Respect to his Memory who tho' he be taken away from us and tho' dead yet liveth as an Epistle upon my Heart and speaketh by these following Lines to them that are alive and will seriously peruse them Altho' his Attainments were great yet such Christians as were purely simple and innocent in all Appearances humbly seeking after higher Discoveries of God in Christ Jesus were dearly lov'd and own'd by him As to Worldly Affairs tho' he had much Business and some Trouble in it yet his Mind was not hurt by it for it rather sought him than he it and tho' he had many Losses and Disappointments yet I never saw him repine at any but bore all things with such an Equality of Temper as I have not often seen And as I am informed by some that were with him when he dy'd he bore the last and great Conflict of Death with the like Patience resigning his Soul unto him that gave it Now Reader I refer thee to the following Verses which I hope may be of use and benefit to the honest-minded and so remains thine and all Mens Friend and Well-wisher T.D. SOME REMAINS OF JOHN HOGG PART I. My Friend T. Markam THINE without Date is safely com'd to Hand At which I was surpris'd and at a Stand To see thy Mind deliver'd there in Rhime Not knowing thou wast Poet till this time I also heard before I did it see That it an Answer unto mine should be But when perused I did nothing find That it was so intended or design'd But that 's not much the matter is not great If thou shouldst the like Disappointment meet Provided still thou wast but of
't is very plain He was intended to go home again Thus was he faithful till it came to pass That he deceived by a Prophet was Who yet prevail'd not till he let him know He was a Prophet and not only so But that th' Almighty by his Angel spake And bid go seek out and conduct him back Unto his House that he might with him stay To be refresh'd before he went away Thus far was Judah's Prophet faithful found Until this time he firmly kept his Ground But now he fail'd yet e're he was aware His rash Credulity drew on the Snare 'T is like he thought it was the Prophet's due To be believ'd all Prophets being true This show'd him young that small Experience had To think all Prophets good when some were bad That he a Prophet was none can deny He did not here mistake but in his Lye Thus do we find and are constrain'd to grant There may be Prophets true that Truth may want Hence it appears we ought not to depend On Prophets whatsoe're they may pretend Especially when they persuade us to What we believe we never ought to do Some right some wrong here is uncertainty If we depend upon them generally And what 's uncertain if we don't believe As certain Truth a Lye we do receive And what unto the whole cannot belong Of right belongeth not to any one Therefore when Prophets Credit greatly press Because themselves as Prophets they express At best from Truth they lead that so direct And them whene're they do 't we may suspect For Truth we know the Mind compleatly frees From ev'ry Doubt and all Uncertainties True Prophets therefore ever will direct Unto the Truth i' th' Mind to have respect So in the Mind there may no Doubt remain For those in Doubt are not in Truth 't is plain True Prophets do advise each one to know A certain Ground for what Men say and do Nor would have them on any so rely As to submit and know no reason why For Truth not being in 't there 's danger great Least such may be impos'd on by Deceit Or otherwise if their intent be true Such may mistake in what they do pursue And if the Blind led by the Blind shall be Neither the Danger of the Ditch can see Nor can intended Kindness justifie The doing ill that good may come thereby For if it could th' old Prophet an Excuse Of like import for his Deceit might use For tho' he ly'd it 's plain he did intend No less than Kindness to him as a Friend Nay his Design was unto him to shew Respect and Friendship as a Prophet true For he no sooner heard that he was slain By th' Lion which did by him yet remain But Love prevailing o'er the Terror led His friendly Heart to go take up the Dead To whom he kindly decent Burial gave As good as he himself desir'd to have For when he dy'd he did command his Sons To lay his Body by the Prophet's Bones And to his Honour said would come to pass All that by him at Beth-ell spoken was What Man can shew unto another more Respect than he to Judah's Prophet bore Both after Death had seiz'd him and before And yet in that he led him from the Way Which God on him as a Command did lay And by a Lye deceiv'd him it 's a Blot In After-Ages ne'er to be forgot Thus all his Kindness will not justifie His Fraud or wipe away his Infamy For our Instruction this was surely writ That we might truly caution'd be by it No Man against his Reason to persuade To acquiesce with us for as I said It is to him a Lye if he receives It for a Truth and otherwise believes Nor ought we to prefer at second Hand What Men are pleas'd to say is God's Command Contrary to what we believe his Will That we should value and keep to until It be perform'd or superseded by His Power that did on us that Service ly Nay if I should mistake had rather chuse Into God's Hands to fall than him abuse For Errors in this Case can rarely be But in such things as may with Truth agree And where I do believe there is an Awe Which as 't is true is as th' Almighty's Law To me and if to that as what I see Or do believe I shall contrary be As I transgress this Rule or it neglect God I dishonour and his Law reject But tho' I should mistake if but sincere God would at length the Truth unto me clear For where 's the Man that never yet has been Deceiv'd in what he'as thought he'as heard or seen Let him begin the first to censure this And when that 's done to prove it is amiss But Judah's Prophet in that he preferr'd Another's Sense before his own he err'd And for that Fault came into th' Lion's Pow'r Who did his Body kill tho' not devour For that was left that he might ever be A great Example to Posterity So that if we in this Affair transgress Our Fault is greater and Excuse is less If less can be because he could not know This grand Example which the Scriptures show Hence that blind Notion which so many git That Prophets unto Prophets should submit Is wrong if then it was as now in use We see 't corrected for a great Abuse Yea punished with great Severity Which shews it now as well as then a Lye Observe the Story and apply it well For with our Case it runneth parallel For had he only my last Letter meant Or with some Fact had bounded his intent His Words tho' hard might yet have been receiv'd As flowing from an Heart that 's only griev'd But not content that to condemn alone He will his Judgment fix on all I 've done In this he is too bold he soars too high His Judgment as unjust I must deny I must not fear his Threatning nor receive His seeming Kindness nor his Prayers believe For if he cordial be I truly find He shews to me but his mistaken Mind For God hath in this Matter said to me Go not to them let them return to thee And tho' you may this disregard and slight I know that in his Fear and Dread I write Whose Voice I must obey and Pow'r respect ' Gainst every one that shall the same reject In God's Command I must against him stand And all of his Opinion in the Land For I 'll affirm that God did me concern In truth by gen'ral Cautions to forewarn Friends of the danger of Formality Which he long since shew'd me approaching nigh The likeness of the Truth to be the thing That was instead of Truth like up to spring In this he shew'd me was the Mystery Of that which Scripture calls Iniquity On that Account Beware o' th' Form was mine Advice in Meetings where the Pow'r Divine Was wanting But the Words Beware o' th' Form Was the occasion that hath made you storm At me with