So bafe a rife must have a bafe recourfe,
The ftream 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, up and downs.
Thus through the darkfome vale the makes her
Until the morning-dawn of glory's day.
True faving faith magnifying the law, both as a covenant, and as a rule. Falfe faith unfruitful and ruining.
ROUD nature may reject this gospel-theme, And curfe it as an Antinomian scheme. 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 chafte to wife, Be charg'd as foes to holinefs of lite, Well may they fuffer gladly on this fcore, Apostles great were fo malign'd before. Do we make void the law through faith? nay, We do it more fulfil and magnify
[why, Than fiery feraphs can with holiest flash; Avant, vain legalifts, unworthy traíh.
When as a cov'nant ftern the law commands, Faith puts her Lamb's obedience in its hands; And when its threats gufh out a fiery flood, Faith ftops the current with her victim's blood.
Prov. xxvi. 2. + Rom iii. 21.
The law can crave no more, yet craves no less,
Than active, paffive, perfect righteousness.
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.
Thefe 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
The high, the humble fervice of its God. [odd,
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 stamps,
And fully'd lives inverts to shining lamps.
From Abram's feed that are most strong in faith,
The law moft honour, God most glory hath.
But due respect to neither can be found,
Where unbelief ne'er got a mortal wound,
To ftill the virtue-vaunter's empty found.
Good works he boasts, a path he never trode,
Who is not yet the workmanship of God,
[fhew.
In Jefus thereunto created new ;
Nois'd works that spring not hence are but a
* Eph. ii. 10. + Gal. v. 9. + Eph. ii. 9.
True faith, that's of a noble divine race,
Is ftill a holy fanctifying grace:
And greater honour to the law does fhare,
Than boasters all that breathe the vital air.
Ev'n heathen morals vaftly may outshine
The works that flow not from a faith divine.
Pretenfions high to faith a number have,
But, ah! it is a faith that cannot fave;
We trust, fay they, in Chrift, we hope in God:
Nor blush to blaze their rotten faith abroad.
Nor try the truft of which they make a fhew,
If of a faving or a damning hue.
They own their fins are ill; true, but 'tis fad They never thought their faith and hope were bad.
How evident's their home-bred natʼral blaze,
Who dream they have believ'd well all their days;
Yet never felt their unbelief, nor knew
The need of pow'r their nature to rencw?
Blind fouls that boaft of faith, yet live in fin,
May hence conclude their faith is to begin;
Or know they fhall, by fuch an airy faith,
Believe themselves to everlasting wrath.
Faith that nor leads to good, nor keeps from ill;
Will never lead to heav'n, nor keep from hell,
The body without breath is dead*; no less
Is faith without the works of holinesst.
How rare is faving faith, when earth is cramm'd
With fuch as will believe, and yet be damn'd;
Believe the gofpel, yet with dread and awe
Have never truly firft believ'd the law?
That matters fhall be well, they hope too foon
Who never yet have feen they were undone.
Can of falvation their belief be true,
Who never yet believ'd damnation due?
Can these of endless life have folid faith,
Who never fear'd law-threats of endless death?
Nay, fail'd they ha'nt yet to the healing fhore,
Who never felt their finful, woful fore.
Imaginary faith is but a blind,
That bears no fruit but of a deadly kind:
Nor can from fuch a wild unwholesome root
The least production rise of living fruit.
But faving faith can fuch an offspring breed,
Her native product is a holy feed.
The fairest iffues of the vital breath
[faith; Spring from the fertile womb of heav'n-born Yet boasts fhe nothing of her own, but brings Auxiliaries from the King of kings,
Who graves his royal law in rocky hearts,
And gracious aid in foftening fhow'rs imparts:
This gives prolific virtue to the faith,
Inspir'd at firft by his almighty breath.
Hence, fetching all her fuccours from abroad,
She ftill employs this mighty pow'r of God.
Drain'd clean of native pow'rs and legal aims,
No strength but in and from JEHOVAH claims:
And thus her fervice to the law o'ertops
The tow'ring zeal of Pharifaic fops.
The Believer only, being married to Christ, is justified and fanctified: and the more gospel freedom from the law as a covenant, the more holy conformity to it as a rule.
THUS doth the Husband by his Father's will
Both for and in his bride the law fulfil:
For her, as 'tis a covenant; and then
In her, as 'tis a rule of life to men.
First, all law-debt he most completely pays,
'Then of law-duties all the charge defrays.
Does first affume her guilt, and loofe her chains,
And then with living water wash her ftains;
Her fund restore, and then her form repair,
And make his filthy bride a beauty fair;
His perfect righteousness most freely grant,
And then his holy image deep implant;
Into her heart his precious feed indrop,
Which in his time will yield a glorious crop.
But by alternate turns his plants he brings
Through robbing winters and repairing fprings.
Hence, pining oft, they suffer fad decays
By dint of fhady nights and stormy days.
But bleft with fap, and influence from above,
They live and grow anew in faith and love;
Until tranfplanted to the higher foil,
Where furies tread no more, nor foxes fpoil.
While Chrift the living root remains on high,
The noble plant of grace can never die ;
Nature decays, and fo will all the fruit
That merely rises on a mortal root.
Their works, however fplendid, are but dead,
That from a living fountain don't proceed;
Their faireft fruit is but a garnish'd shrine,
That are not grafted in the glorious Vine.
Devouteft hypocrites are rank'd in rolls
Of painted puppets, not of living fouls.
No offspring but of Chrift's fair bride is good,
This happy marriage has a holy brood.
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