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
the best there may be an Abuse If here as in the outward Court we stay The Gentile State can never pass away For th' outward Court is not tho' ne'er so true The resting-place of the believing Jew Thus as above so here they 'gree again That none by Forms Perfection can attain So whilst about them Men contend and strive The Devil doth his Kingdom keep alive That there are divers Forms it doth appear But which of them excels is not so clear Well if one better than another bee It is with Truth as th' later doth agree And since that Reformation is begun We should not rest until the Work be done For of Christ's Government there is no end To its increase then we should all attend Yet what Form's best to me may not be best Unless I see it better than the rest Thus what I judge is best is best to me Until I can that which is better see For how should I its Excellence confess Except I do perceive a betterness And if my Conscience can't be satisfy'd That it excels I 'm not t' observe it ty'd Should I observe what I do not believe I cannot please my God but may him grieve For if 't appear not right I do not find I can approve on 't with an upright Mind And where an Act doth want Sincerity With God that Act 's no better than a Lye 'T is true true Worship in the Truth doth stand In which no Form nor Likeness doth command But this I cannot know till it is shown To follow my Belief till that is known Unto the Truth in me is nearer much Than what I know not nor believe is such Provided I 'm sincere and waits to know What God is pleased further to bestow For must be faithful first to what we see Before from God more will revealed be For if not faithful to what we believe We are not fit what 's better to receive And if in things below we are not just With things above God never will us trust In this Case then what we believe as true We 're bound unto it something like the Jew To that great Form which at Mount Sina came Whose Law was spoke from an amazing Flame By God who did the Heart affect with Fear Thro' what the Eyes did see and Ears did hear But tho' this Form was usher'd in with Pow'r Like Forms that are it was not to endure And as th' Observers it could ne'er perfect They should have had for it a like respect They might have priz'd it as the best they knew And yet left room for better to ensue According to his Mind that gave that Law Which they obliged were t' observe and do As God's Command to them and that until The fulness of Time came i' th' Father's Will To send his Son who from his Bosom came It to accomplish and remove the same It was not to perfect but to prepare Like Forms that are to wait for the true Heir That was and is and also is to come Into Men's Hearts for whom they should make room And this fullness of time continues still To all that wait to know the Father's Will For Christ Heir to the Prophets and the Law And of all Good in Forms that Man can know For God unto him did this Witness bear That he was Heir and that all should him hear But such as think to serve God by an outward Law As yet the Voice of Christ they do not truly know For where th' Object o' th' Mind 's an outward Rule Such are not com'd into Christ Jesus School For all that hear and 's taught of him inherit The Substance by the Conduct of his Spirit As he to all whose Souls do truly live Entrance to God doth by one Spirit give Not by one outward Way or Form for then It should have been deliver'd to all Men. But no such Form appeareth to be given By our Redeemer tho' he came from Heaven That Form to end and further to make known A greater Good than had before been shown Which if intended by external Ways Instead of larger in our later Days Had lesser been than unto Israel was For theirs did all succeeding Forms surpass Such Certainty in Forms doth not appear Now to Mankind as we alass may hear By those Contentions in our Saviour's Mind What Form he did intend to leave behind For God to Israel did their Form afford Immediately from Heaven by his Word And this being sure for Scripture proves the same Is more than any modern Form can claim Yet as 't was given in peculiar wise To them it after gave a dismal Rise To that grand Hatred in their Separation Made betwixt them and every other Nation But as 't became thus a Partition-Wall God took it down to shew his Love to all Now if to shew that Love he had design'd One Form to have prescribed to Mankind That with one Sacred Form he might remove The ground of Strise and introduce true Love 'T was requisite that Form should handed be From Heaven with undoubted Certainty Like Israel's with that Majesty convey'd That ev'ry Man must have the same obey'd For sure we are if God did that intend His Pow'r was mighty to command the End But that he did not this is very plain From those great Diff'rences which yet remain Amongst Mankind about that outward Way Which God as a Command on Man did lay Now if the Whole receiv'd not such Command As we from certain Grounds do understand It 's against Truth for any to suppose That God a part of Men again has chose To whom he an undoubted Form might give By which all Mankind should be bound to live This to conclude to Man is the broad Way Which doth the Ground of greatest Errors lay First as to God his Love such narrow still Contrary unto his revealed Will Such also on his Wisdom do reflect As no good Builder or wise Architect To take a Building down because he found A fault in it or that it was not sound And yet a second like 't erects again In which that Fault or Weakness doth remain On Mankind also has as ill Effect For 't is the Ground of all the Disrespect They shew each other on Religion's score Besides the Evil that is shew'd before For our believing like unto the Jew There 's but one outward Form that can be true Gives ground for ev'ry People to conceive That is the Way which they themselves believe This is the Cause of Envy and of Pride As in the Jewish Worship hath been try'd God's Kingdom this doth shut and there in vain Many attempt an Entrance to obtain This Error doth i' th' Universe abound It is too much in all Religions found And this Mistake the Devil makes the Cause That in Religion Men on Men impose For Forms we daily see continue still To be the Ground of Hatred and Ill-will As Men about them strive and do contend Until their Peace
and Fellowship they rend Yea oft proceed in their litigious Jars Till Wrath exerts it self in open Wars And there they seek each others Blood to spill This contradicts our Blessed Saviour's Will Who came not to destroy but Peace to send And Good-will unto Men this was his End What then to be his Will be signify'd As Gospel to Mankind doth still abide But some one Form alone to re-ordain Which Men in strife about it should retain Was to re-build what he before took down As in the Scripture is expresly shown With Men such Buildings do sometimes agree But cannot with th' Eternal Deity With him all Wisdom and all Pow'r doth dwell He can Effects in all their Causes tell He doth foresee them e'er they come to pass So could not be deceived in this Case From hence we may believe he would not lay The Ground for Envy which to take away He came and Power had that to prevent To make it then could not be his Intent Now if he did no more one Form erect Unto all Forms he hath a like Respect As Forms directing unto what is Good In which Sense this is to be understood And this to us doth certain Truth appear Since only they 're accepted that 's sincere This Doctrine is not strange nor is it new For it hath been in ev'ry Age as true It 's not more Truth because it is more seen For what 's a Truth as true has always been Yea even in the Jewish State at height Their greater ne'er condemn'd a lesser Light For ev'ry Man that feared God and wrought True Righteousness in ev'ry Age throughout The World Acceptance gain'd as Peter taught But God with his own Form a Fault did find In that it never could perfect the Mind And as that Form could not the Mind perfect No other Form can do 't in that respect The taking down of that doth plainly show That all should wait a greater Truth to know For best of Forms could only regulate The outward Man they reach no higher State The Branch they may cut off as 't springeth out But have no pow'r to reach unto the Root And tho' thus far they may be termed Good As outward evil is by them withstood Yet must there a more sublime Way be known As by our Saviour's Words is plainly shown Who told us That except we 're born again We in the Kingdom can no Place obtain No outward Guides can e'er compleat this Work For under that an Hypocrite may lurk Like Truth the Devil did get into those Who had God's Form but did his Pow'r oppose For ne'er was Form tho' 't was exactly Good But hath at last the Pow'r of Truth withstood Not from their Nature nor from their true Use But from their Weakness and their blind Abuse Thus outward Rules as set up to serve God Tho' they may disser in their Form and Mode All in the Ground agree alike in kind As they are made a Guide unto the Mind The highest State such can but Legal find So then their proper Use in them 's to wait To know the Gospel and the Legal State Tho all God's Dealings we may Gospel call Which he doth use to bring Man out o' th' Fall For what God addeth Man for to restore That we may put upon the Gospel Score And thus the Law the Gospel did begin But Gospel is o' th' Law a finishing For those Distinctions are to us as true As they were unto Israel or the Jew Since what was done i' th' Jewish Dispensation As Figures unto us they have relation For what God did that was not to remain It is the Substance that such Acts contain Which we should look for and inquire it out To find how our Salvation's brought about It was the Seed of Abr'am that God chose According to the Flesh and unto those He gave his Form that from Mount Sinai came And Christ came in the Flesh to end the same For as that Form measur'd and stinted was It could not end until it came to pass The Son of God from Heaven did descend An higher way to shew that Form to end He came not to destroy it but fulfill For Righteousness that was and is his Will And as he did then he doth now supply The lower Rules with Rules that are more high His Government goes on and doth not cease From good to better he doth it increase Whoever finds this Truth and in him trust They bring forth in external things what 's just Things strictly honest such both speak and do Not by compulsion of an outward Law Nor by Constraint but by a ready Mind For such are now to Good by Love inclin'd This last Appearance doth the first contain For in the last the Substance doth remain God's Work with Man doth in Progression run From less to more until the Work is done And when the Summ's computed at the last It comprehends the whole of what is past This nobler way that by our Lord was shown Was to the Jew and Gentile to be one And all Mankind in their whole Multitude He did in Jew and Gentile then include And of those twain doth one new Body make As of his Law and Gospel they partake The Jew as to the Flesh he did reject That in the Spirit he might him elect And he did Abr'am's fleshly Seed refuse That after th' Spirit he his Seed might chuse Thus all vain-glorious Boasting's laid aside None may in the defective Flesh confide For by Gods Spirit must Man's Works be try'd There none can on external Things relie That he 'll to all as to the Jew deny The Jew now inward is and so 's his Law Yea and in Spirit must he Gospel know For Law the Gospel it doth yet precede That Men might Gospel-everlasting read God's Holy Law in th' Hearts of every one The Substance is of what was writ in Stone For Moses Law we may a Transcript call Copy'd in Stone from this Original Christ to the outward Jew i' th' Flesh has been But so hereafter will no more be seen By them he was in that appearance slain Tho' in himself he alway did remain As now he is of him we ought to have Knowledge if him we know as from the Grave He rose to know Christ only as the Jews Is t' hear of him yet the right Way refuse To see him only as they did of old Is him and not his Myst'ry to behold The outward Law was needful good and true But by misuse became a Vail to th' Jew Which to this Moment doth obscure their Mind Nor can't be rent away but keeps them blind 'Till they are turn'd to Christ and know thereby 'T was the Messias they did crucifie Christ came i' th' Flesh 't was absolutely good For without that could not be understood The Mystery hid from the World's Foundation In all Mankind in every Generation This coming also may a Veil be made Which unperceiv'd draws on a gloomy Shade