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
cens'ring and unseemly Words That neither Truth nor Righteousness affords For this you have been spreading in my Way The Snare of ill Report unto this Day And yet as if you were resolved still The Measure of this Mischief up to fill By publick ways according to your Pow'r My Name to injure and my Life devour Of which I must confess I 'm not afraid For all that can by you be done or said Yet for your good I would have you take heed That you in ill no further might proceed Lest in your Wills you make the Prophets die Whilst you their Tombs do seem to beautifie For in the Form that Truth appeareth in At last must be reveal'd the Man of Sin This must be either granted or deny'd If granted why are you dissatisfy'd With my kind Admonition to beware Of what you may be or in danger are If you deny 't it 's evident to me You in the Danger more intangled be To be in Danger and yet rest secure Makes Danger greater and the Snare more sure For those that of their Danger knowledge have Some means perhaps may use themselves to save But those that are in Peril not aware Before the Hazard's known they 'r caught i' th' Snare Still their Condition's worse who do reject Good Counsel given them and disrespect Their faithful Monitors yea them abuse For it as well as their Advice refuse And mostly this the Prophets true have found In every Generation to abound And as the Wise Man said There 's nothing new So in our Age this Case is found too true But to the Matter to return again If you deny the Danger it is plain You have not known the Man of Sin as yet I' th' Temple of God as a God to sit Nor have you known him out of Heaven cast Which is a Work that must be done at last For had you seen or scap'd the Danger here You 'd seen 't so great all might a Caution bear He 's first cast out as Evil this hath been In every Reformation truly seen At last like good he is forth to be cast No Reformation yet this Act hath past A Murderer to give up to be slain To a just Law no Mystery doth contain For 't is decreed he that takes Life away In Malice for that Fact his Life must pay All this is but according to the Law And 't is but just that we the same should do And 't is but just that we the same should do But when we offer up the Good 't is clear In this great Act a Mystery doth appear When God again requireth us to give That which we truly did from him receive As this is offer'd up to him again We Nothing are and he doth All remain When what we had is back unto him given That did bestow 't our Hope 's only in Heaven Our Conversation's there and then the Lord We may expect will graciously afford Whate'er we need that we may learn thereby Not on our selves but on him to relie When Isaac must be our free Sacrifice ' Ere we can be obedient true and wise In giving up or holding back the Hand Doth what is rightly call'd a Myst'ry stand If we give up we plainly come to see Christ both the bottom and the Top must be And that the pure in Heart only possess True Knowledge of the Myst'ry of Godliness Such also find what doth a Christian make Is that of which no other can partake As this perceived is such cease to strive For what can't make nor keep their Souls alive They now endeavour in each Mind to raise The love of Truth that such may truly praise The Works of God as he appears within To lead unto himself destroying Sin This Work can no Man for another do Nor can one Man God for another know Him I must know my self if known at all Me to redeem and bring out of the Fall Him I must fear or love if him I know Or be enabl'd his Commands to do For if I love him not I cannot keep The Precepts appertaining to his Sheep Nor if his Fear or Love 's not in me rais'd Can I perform an Act by which he 's prais'd But if in me his Fear or Love doth stand I shall obedient be to his Command This Holy Fear Man's Precept cannot teach No outward Rule this high Command can reach For God to know in Christ's Eternal Life It cometh not by Form nor stands in strife Particulars may this great Work have seen But in a gen'ral way 't hath never been Nor can be known until our Elders shall Cast down their Crowns and let them freely fall Nor can they throw them down until they 've known The offering up of Isaac as is shown Which cannot be till 't can be truly said That God is All and they as Nothing made Till this is known as it hath ever been Division will successively be seen For God will turn and overturn again Until He come whose right it is to reign But since we read and likewise often hear Of Sin there is a Myst'ry to appear We should not think it in what 's simply evil In that there is no Myst'ry of the Devil For into this he leads as to his own Here he is ill and this his ill is known In this there is no Myst'ry of Sin For 't plainly wicked is and so hath bin Herein he is not chang'd from Sins beginning Sin added unto Sin is still but sinning This he brings forth as he 's the Root of Evil And in this Work he 's properly a Devil But he can change his Blackness into White Appearing as an Angel of the Light And then like Truth he will direct unto Such Acts as God commanded we should do We several Presidents might here produce Of which we shall the most familiar chuse The Pharisees gave Alms the Act was good And it as a Command they understood Of God to help the Poor But they were found To give Alms chiefly from another ground Before they gave the Trumpet 's Sound was heard And this was done to purchase the Reward Of Praise herein they did not rightly do For th' Act being good prevented not the Woe Pronounc'd by him that was the Truth and knew Tho' th' Act was good their Spirit was not true In worship and religious Exercise In outward Points what seemed to suffice For giving God his due they did practise And did in making Converts most transcend For Sea and Land they compass'd for that End Thus seem'd they in external things exact And could not touched be for any Fact Yet as their chief Design was to appear Blameless in outward things they termed were By Christ Sepulchres fill'd with Rottenness Garnish'd and cover'd with the finest Dress In this they lookt like Good and not like Evil And yet by truth were found as of the Devil Their outside was not blam'd it was their Sin That they did not the Work i' th' Heart begin Nor
for the inside took such wholsome Care To make it like the outside clean and fair For had they wisely made their inside clean At first their outside would as fair have been And what was said to th' Pharisees of old Unto such like at all times may be told But if objected this was under th' Law And nought to them that do the Gospel know We answer 't is as much in this our Day As 't was in by-past Ages every way For when the Devil can no longer keep in Sin In likeness of the Truth he always creepeth in In ev'ry Age yea and in ev'ry Nation Where any thing of zealous Reformation Was well begun to be advanced on Against the evil Works that he had done 'T is true he this resists with all his Pow'r At first Appearance and would all devour That him withstand in his pernicious Way But when the Pow'rs too great for him to stay The Reformation nay it still proceeds Against his Force and Wrath and Evil Deeds Then there 's no hope for him to keep his Ground By doing that which still is evil found And doubtless if he had no other Way His Kingdom might have ended e'er this Day For he has often been cast forth as Evil By th' Pow'r of God in Christ which doth the Devil Destroy in th' Heart and Soul and cast him out Yea and as sinful treads him under Foot And when cast forth he must without remain Except by Craft he can return again For he can ne'er re-enter 't is confest In the same Hue wherein he 's dispossest For there the Mind is chang'd the House is swept His Goods are spoil'd and he hath nothing left Which he can call his own or come unto Therein his Hellish Wrath or Pow'r to show Here he 's dethron'd and now no Pow'r hath Man to molest or trouble in his Wrath. For with a Sword he'as got a deadly Wound And Marks thereof are on that Body found He as an Evil Spirit is cast out And like as such he rangeth round about In all dry places seeking after rest But none can find whilst he is disposest Therefore resolveth to return because If he abide without he surely knows That Torment which shall be his final Doom Before the time is like on him to come This to put off at present he 'll assay Not by an evil but a Truth-like way For as the House is cleansed he must hide His Filth and enter lik't or be descry'd But if prevailing he like Truth get in Their last State 's worse than when they did begin And of all Reformations ne'er was one But was by this Device prevail'd upon By which he has kept up his War and Strife For Forms and Rules that never could give Life He comes not now as with a rushing Sound But rather like one speaking out o' th' Ground Bespeaking Peace in the most humble wise That his Deceit and Cunning can devise Like Gibeonites appointed to be slain But by their Crast did still i' th' Land remain And tho' they were to servile Labours put Yet from God's Service were not wholly shut Thus to re-enter and regain his place He 'll change his Voice his Habit and his Face He 's still a Foe but looketh like a Friend That is advising unto some good end This way he Man beguil'd in the Beginning When he did teach him first the way of Sinning For having then in Man no place or part By Force he could not enter but by Art But by his Craft he enter'd in and then Of an upright he made a sinful Man Again he 'll celebrate the righteous Praise Of those he caus'd to fall in former Days Like as he taught the Jews to beautifie The Prophet's Tombs and make their Master die Again he 'll over-value every thing That 's outward and from Truth did seem to spring As they that did to th' Brazen Serpent give That undue Honour which we may perceive Was by th' inspir'd Penman on record Left that to us Instruction't might afford Here Forms of Worship he will magnifie And 'bove their Value will extol them high And this he doth that he may make a Snare Of what God may permit or did prepare For good to Man that he might fitted be To wait and hope for the great Mystery Of God in Christ which fully doth perfect All Laws and Forms added in that respect Of this we have a Figure in the Jew Whose Form and Law by God ordain'd were true Yet were they added only to abide Till Christ did come this cannot be deny'd For whom they should have waited in its use Then should they have committed no Abuse Against their Prophets nor against their Lord But them receiv'd and obey'd his Word But when their Form they valued too high Thro' subtle Workings of the Enemy They could not see it was to have an end So evil did whilst they did it defend By keeping it they did oppose his Will Who gave it and did come it to fulfill Thus the true Prophets they could not receive Nor in their Saviour when he came believe Thus that which was for a good End brought in Became to them a Vail a Snare and Ginn And as it was in this Form to the Jew It hath or may be in all Forms that 's true For ev'ry Form that 's true has the like use And may therefore meet with the like Abuse And Forms have all been true that did commence According to God's powerful Influence Upon the Minds of Men to Reformation In every Age and every Generation For since that Day and Time the outward Court Was left unmet there many might resort To worship God in various Forms or Ways As Truth appeared to them in their Days But all that found acceptance did agree In this one Point to wit Sincerity For ne'er was Form that could acceptance find Where there did want Sincerity i' th' Mind But where the Mind being right gives God his due Forms hinder not that morally are true Nay they may help and introduced were To stay the Mind and check Sin 's full career They can't perfect the Mind they may prepare In a right use to wait for Christ the Heir To perfect Man and into Heaven guide This only to the Seed can be apply'd Which unto Man of old was promised That he alone should bruise the Serpent's Head This Forms cannot for they did but begin Or added was when Man was found in Sin And what was not before Transgression shown Must be fulfill'd before its end is known Nor can they be fulfill'd but as we find Christ by his Spirit to conduct our Mind Thus as there 's divers Forms yet as they tend To Holiness they seem to have an end And therefore as they in this Case agree Men never should about them angry be Nor strive to wrath or envy which is best Or which should be preferr'd above the rest Of every one there may have been some use And of