Here the a peremptory mind difplays,

That he do all the work, get all the praife.
And now she is which ne'er till now took place,
Content entirely to be fav'd by grace.

She owns that her damnation just would be,
And therefore her falvation must be free:
That nothing being her's but fin and thrall,
She must be debtor unto grace for all.

Hence comes fhe to him in her naked cafe,
To be invested with his righteousness.
She comes, as guilty, to a pardon free;
As vile and filthy, to a cleanfing fea :
As poor and empty, to the richest ftock;
As weak and feeble, to the strongest rock :
As perifhing, unto a fhield from thrall;
As worse than nothing, to an all in all.
She, as a blinded mole, an ign'rant fool,
Comes for inftruction to the Prophet's school.
She, with a hell deferving confcious breast,
Flies for atonement to the worthy Prieft.
She as a slave to fin and Satan, wings
Her flight for help unto the King of kings.
She all her maladies and plagues brings forth
To this Phyfician of eternal worth.

She spreads before his throne her filthy fore;
And lays her broken bones down at his door.
No mite she has to buy a crumb of blifs,
And therefore comes impov'rifh'd as she is.
But fin and Satan, of all good bereft,
Comes e'en as bare as they her foul have left.
To fenfe, as free of holinefs within,

As Chrift, the fpotlefs Lamb, was free of fin.
She comes by faith, true; but it fhews her want,
And brings her as a finner, not a faint;

A wretched finner, flying for her good

To juftifying, fanctifying blood.

Strong faith no ftrength, nor pow'r of acting, vaunts,
But acts in fense of weaknefs and of wants.

Drain'd now of ev'ry thing that men may call
Terms and conditions of relief from thrall;
Except this one, that Jefus be her all.

E

}

When to the bride he gives efpoufing faith,
It finds her under fin, and guilt, and wrath,
And makes her as a plagued wretch to fall
At Jefus' footstool for the cure of all.
Her whole falvation now in him she seeks,
And mufing thus perhaps in fecret speaks:
'Lo! all my burdens may in him be eas'd;
The juftice I offended he has pleas'd;
The blifs that I have forfeit he procur'd;
The curfe that I deserved he endur'd;
• The law that I have broken he obey'd;
The debt that I contracted he has paid:
And though a match unfit for him I be,
'I find him ev'ry way moft fit for me.

Sweet Lord, I think, would thou thyfelf impart, "I'd welcome thee with open hand and heart. • But thou that fav'ft by price, must fave by pow'r ; O fend thy Spirit in a fiery fhow'r,

This cold and frozen heart of mine to thaw, That nought, fave cords of burning love, can draw. O draw me, Lord, then will I run to thee, And glad into thy glowing bofom flee. 'I own myfelf a mass of fin and hell,

A brat that can do nothing but rebel : • But didst thou not, as facred pages fhew,* • When rising up to fpoil the hellish crew, That had by thousands, finners captive made, And hadft in conqu'ring chains them captive led, • Get donatives, not for thy proper gain, But royal bounties for rebellious men, Gifts, graces, and the Spirit without bounds, For God's new house with man on firmer grounds? O then let me a rebel now come speed, Thy holy Spirit is the gift I need.

His precious graces too, the glorious grant,
Thou kindly promis'd, and I greatly want.
• Thou art exalted to the highest place,
To give repentance forth, and ev'ry grace.†

O giver of fpiritual life and breath,

The author and the finifber of faith ;‡

• Thou husband-like must ev'ry thing provide, 'If e'er the like of me become thy bride.'

SECT. V. Faith's view of the Freedom of Grace, eordial renunciation of all its own ragged righteoufnefs, and formal acceptance of and clofing with the perfon of glorious Chrift.

THE bride with open eyes, that once were dim,
Sees now her whole falvation lies in him;
The Prince, who is not in difpenfing nice,
But freely gives without her pains or price.
This magnifies the wonder in her eye,
Who not a farthing has wherewith to buy ;
For now her humbled mind can difavow
Her boasted beauty and affuming brow;
With confcious eye difcern her emptinefs,
With candid lips her poverty confefs.

O glory to the Lord, that grace is free,
Elfe never would it light on guilty me.
'I nothing have with me to be its price,
• But hellish blackness, enmity, and vice.”
In former times fhe durft prefuming come
To grace's market with a petty fum
Of duties, prayers, tears, a boasted fet,
Expecting Heav'n would thus be in her debt.
These were the price; at least she did suppose
She'd be the welcomer because of thofe :
But now fhe fees the vileness of her vogue,
The dung that close doth ev'ry duty clog;
The fin that doth her holiness reprove,
The enmity that close attends her love;
The great heart hardness of her penitence,
The ftupid dulness of her vaunted sense;
The unbelief of former blazed faith,
The utter nothingness of all fhe hath.
The blackness of her beauty fhe can fee,
The pompous pride of strain'd humility,

Heb. xii. 2.

The naughtiness of all her tears and pray'rs,
And now renounces all as werthlefs wares;
And finding nothing to commend herself,
But what might damn her, her embezzled pelf:
At fov'reign Grace's feet doth proftrate fall,
Content to be in Jesus' debt for all.
Her noised virtues vanish out of sight,
As ftarry tapers at meridian light;

While fweetly, humbly, fhe beholds at length
Christ, as her only righteousness and strength.
He with the view throws down his loving dart,
Impreft with power into her tender heart.
The deeper that the law's fierce dart was thrown,
The deeper now the dart of love goes down:
Hence, fweetly pain'd, her cries to heav'n do flee ;
"O none but Jefus, none but Chrift for me:
"O glorious Christ, O beauty, beauty rare,
Ten thoufand thousand heavens are not fo fair.
• In him at once all beauties meet and thine,
The white and ruddy, human and divine.
'As in his low, he's in his high abode,
The brightest image of the unfeen God.*
How justly do the harpers fing above,
His doing, dying, rifing, reigning love!
How justly does he, when his work is done,
Poffefs the centre of his Father's throne?
How juftly does his awful throne before
Seraphic armies proftrate him adore,

That's both by nature and donation crown'd, With all the grandeur of the Godhead round? 'But wilt thou, Lord, in very deed come dwell 'With me, that was a burning brand of hell? 'With me so justly reckon'd worfe and lefs Than infect, mite, or atom can express? • Wilt thou debase thy high imperial form, To match with such a mortal, crawling worm? Yea, fure thine errand to our earthly coaft, Was in deep love to feck and fave the loft ;† 'And fince thou deign't the like of me to wed, Luke xix. 10.

* Heb. i. 3.

"O come and make my heart thy marriage bed.
Fair Jefus, wilt thou marry filthy me?
Amen, amen, amen; fo let it be.

CHAP. III.

The Fruits of the Believer's Marriage with Christ, particularly gospel holiness, and obedience to the law as a rule..

SECT. I. The feet folemnity of the Marriage now over, and the fad Effects of the remains of a legal Spirit.

THE match is made, with little din 'tis done,
But with great power, unequal prizes won.
The Lamb has fairly won his worthless bride;
She her great Lord, and all his store befide.
He made the poorest bargain, thou most wife;
And fhe, the fool, has won the worthy prize.

Deep floods of everlasting love and grace,
That under ground ran an eternal space,
Now rife aloft 'bove banks of fin and hell,
And o'er the tops of maffy mountains fwell.
In ftreams of blood are towers 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 caft 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 person with fond arms embrace,
And all her hopes on his full merit place;
Difcard her former mate, and henceforth draw
No hope, no expectation from the law.

Though thus her new created nature foars,
And lives aloft on Jefus' heavenly stores;
Yet apt to ftray, her old adult'rous heart
Oft takes her old renounced husband's part ::