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'In God the great Lawgiver's glorious name, I judge thy foul to everlafting fhame. No fefb can by the law be justified ; Yet dareft thou thy legal duties plead? As Paul appeal'd to Cefar, wilt thou fo, Unto the law? then to it fhalt thou go, And find it doom thee to eternal wo. What! would ye have us plung'd in deep defpair? Amen; yea, God himself would have you there. His will it is that you despair of life, And fafety by the law, or legal ftrife; That cleanly thence divorc'd at any rate, His faireft Son may have a faithful mate. 'Till this law-fentence pafs within your breast, You'll never wed the law-discharging Prieft. You prize not heav'n till he through hell you draw;

Nor love the gospel till you know the law.

Know then, the divine law moft perfect cares.
For none of thy imperfect legal wares;
Dooms thee to vengeance for thy finful state,
As well as finful actions finall or great.
If any fin can be accounted fmall,

To hell it dooms thy foul for one and all.
For fins of nature, practice, heart, and way,
Damnation-rent it fummons thee to pay.
Yea, not for fin alone, which is thy fhame,
But for thy boafted fervice too fo lame,
The law adjudges thee and hell to meet,
Because thy righteoufnefs is incomplete.
As tow'ring flames burn up the wither'd flags,
So will the fiery law thy filthy rags.

+ Rom. iii. 20.

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Direction given with reference to the right use of the means, that we reft not on these instead of CHRIST the glorious Husband, in whom our help lies.

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DAM, where art thou*? Soul, where art
thou now?

Oh! art thou faying, Sir, what fball I do †?
I dare not ufe that proud felf-raifing ftrain,
Go help yourfelf, and God will help you then.
Nay, rather know, O Ifr'el, that thou haft
Detroy'd thyself, and can'ft not in the leaft,
From fin nor wrath thyfelf the captive free,
Thy help (fays Jefus) only lies in me.
Heav'n's oracles direct to him alone;
Full help is laid upon this mighty One.

In him, in him complete falvation dwells;
He's God the helper, and there is none elfe§.
Fig-leaves wont hide thee from the fiery fhow'r,
'Tis he alone that faves by price and pow'r.

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Muft we do nothing then (will mockers fay) But reft in floth till Heav'n the help convey? Pray, ftop a little, finner, don't abuse

God's awful word, that charges thee to use
Means, ordinances, which he's pleas'd to place,
As precious channels of his pow'rful grace.
Reflefs improve all thefe, until from Heav'n
The whole falvation needful thus be giv'n.
Wait in this path, according to his call,
On him whofe pow'r alone effecteth all.
Would'ft thou him wed, in duties wait, I fay,
But marry not thy duties by the way.

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Thou'lt wofully come fhort of faving grace
If duties only be thy reiting place.

Nay, go a little further through them all,
To him whofe office is to fave from thrall.
Thus in a gofpel-manner hopeful wait,
Striving to enter by the narrow gate*:
So ftrait and narrow, that it won't-admit
The bunch upon thy back to enter it.
Not only bulky lufts may cease to press,
But ev'n the bunch of boafted righteousness.
Many, as in the facred page we fee,
Shall strive to enter but unable be† :
Because, miftaking this new way of life,
They push a legal, not a gofpel-ftrife:
As if their duties did JEHOVAH bind,
Because 'tis written, Seek, and ye fhall find §.
Perverted fcripture does their error fence,
They read the letter, but neglect the fenfe.
While to the word no gofpel-glofs they give,
Their feek and find's the fame with do and live,
Hence would they a connection native place,
Between their moral pains and faving grace:
Their nat❜ral poor effays they judge won't mifs
In juftice to infer eternal blifs.

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Thus commentaries on the word they make Which to their ruin are a grand mistake: For through the legal bias in their breaft, They fcripture to their own deftruction wreft. Why, if we feek we get, they gather hence:

Which is not truth, fave in the fcripture-fenfe..

There Jefus des with friends, and elsewhere

Thefe feekers only speed that afk in faith. [faith,

Song. iii. 1, 4.

+ Luke xiii. 24.

*Mat. vii. 13. 14.
Mat. vii. 7.
James i. 6.

The prayer of the wicked is abhorr❜d,
As an abomination to the Lord*.

Their fuits are fins, but their neglects no less,
Which can't their guilt diminish, but increase.
They ought, like beggars, lie in grace's way;
Hence Péter taught the forcerer to pray :
For though mere nat'ral mens addrefs or pray'r$
Can no acceptance gain as works of theirs,
Nor have, as their performance, any sway ;
Yet as a divine ordinance they may.
But fpotlefs truth hath bound itself to grant
The fuit none but the believing faint.
In Jefus, perfons once accepted, do
Acceptance find in him for duties.too.

For he, whofe Son they do in marriage take,
Is bound to hear them for their Husband's fake.
But let no Chriftlefs foul at pray'r appear,
As if JEHOVAH were oblig'd to hear:
But ufe the means, because a fov'reign God
May come with alms, in this his wonted road.
He wills thee to frequent kind wisdom's gate,
To read, hear, meditate, to pray and wait;
Thy fpirit then be on thefe duties bent,
As gofpel means, but not as legal rent.
From these don't thy falvation hope nor claim,
But from JEHOVAH in the use of them.
The beggar's fpirit never was fo dull,
While waiting at the gate call'd Beautiful,
To hope for fuccour from the temple-gate,
At which he did fo daily careful wait;
But from the rich and charitable fort,
Who to the temple daily made refort.
Means, ordinances, are the comely gate,
At which kind Heav'n has bid us conftant wait:
* Porv. xv 9. xxvii. 9. ‡ Acts viii. 22.

Not that from these we have our alms, but from
The lib'ral God, who there is wont to come.
If either we thefe means fhall dare neglect,
Or yet from these th' enriching blifs expect,
We from the glory of the King defaik,
Who in the galleries is wont to walk;
We move not regular in duties road,
But base, invert them to an idol-god.

Seek then, if gospel-means you would effay,
Through grace to use them in a gospel way:
Not deeming that your duties are the price
Of divine favour, or of paradife;

Nor that your beft efforts employ'd in these
Are fit exploits your awful judge to please.
Why, thus you bafely idolize your trash,
And make it with the blood of Jesus clash.
You'd buy the bleffing with your vile refuse,
And fo his precious righteoufness abuse.
What! buy his gifts with filthy lumber? nay;
Whoever offers this must hear him fay,
Thy money perish with thy foul for ay*.

Duties are means, which to the marriage-bed
Should chastely lead us like a chamber-maid;
But if with her instead of Chrift we match,
We not our fafety, but our ruin hatch.
To Cefar what is Cefar's fhould be giv'n,
But Cefar muft not have what's due to Heav'n;
So duties fhould have duties room, 'tis true,
But nothing of the glorious Hufband's due.
While means the debt of clofe attendance crave,
Our whole dependence God alone must have.
If duties, tears, our confcience pacify,
They with the blood of Christ presume to vie.

Acts viii. 20.

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