SECT. V. The Gofpel of Divine Grace the only means of converting Sinners, and fhould be preached therefore moft clearly, fully, and freely,

THEY ought, who royal grace's heralds be
To trumpet loud falvation, full and free:
Nor fafely can, to humour mortal pride,
In filence evangelic myft'ries hide.

;

What heav'n is pleas'd to give, dare we refuse
Or under ground conceal, left men abuse?
Supprefs the gofpel flow'r, upon pretence
That fome vile fpiders may fuck poison thence?
Chrift is a fumbling block,* fhall we neglect

To preach him, left the blind should break their neck?
That high he's for the fall of many fet

As well as for the rife, muft prove no let.
No grain of precious truth must be fuppreft,
Though reprobates should to their ruin wreft.
Shall heav'n's corufcant lamp be dimm'd, that pays
Its daily tribute down in golden rays,

Becaufe fome, blinded with the blazing gleams,
Share not the pleasure of the lightning beams:
Let thofe be hard'ned, petrify'd, and harm'd,
The reft are mollify'd and kindly warm'd.
A various favour, flowers in grace's field,
Of life to fome, of death to others yield.
Muft then the rofe be vail'd, the lily hid,
The fragrant favour stifled! God forbid.

The revelation of the gospel flower,
Is ftill the organ fam'd of faving power;
Moft juftly then are legal minds condemn'd,
That of the glorious gospel are asham'd:
For this the divine arm, and only this,
The power of God unto falvation is.

For therein is reveal'd, to fcreen from wrath,
The righteoufnefs of God from faith to faith.§

The happy change in guilty finners cafe
They owe to free difplays of fovereign grace;
Whofe joyful tidings of amazing love

The miniftration of the Spirit prove.

The glorious vent the gofpel news exprefs,
Of God's free grace, thro' Chrift's full righteoufnefs,
Is heaven's gay chariot where the Spirit bides,
And in his conquering power triumphant rides.
The gospel field is still the Spirit's foil,

The golden pipe that bears the holy oil;
The orb where he outfhines the radiant fun,
The filver channel where his graces run.
Within the gospel banks his flowing tide
Of light'ning, quick'ning motions, fweetly glide.
Received ye the Spirit, fcripture faith,*
By legal works, or by the word of faith?
If by the gospel only, then let none
Dare to be wifer than the wifeft One.

We muft, who freely get, as freely give
The vital word that makes the dead to live.
For even to finners dead within our reach
We in his living name may most fuccessful preach.
The Spirit and the fcripture both agree
Jointly, fays Chrift, To testify of me.†

The preacher then will from his text decline,
That fcorns to harmonize with this defign.
Prefs moral duties to the last degree;
Why not? but mind, left we fuccefslefs be,
No light, no hope, no ftrength for duties fpring,
Where Jefus is not Prophet, Prieft, and King.
No light to fee the way unless he teach,
No joyful hope, fave in his blood we reach,
Nor ftrength, unless his royal arm he stretch.
Then from our leading fcope how grofs we fall,
If, like his name, in every gofpel call,

We make not him the First, the Laft, the All!
Our office is to bear the radiant torch
Of gofpel light into the darken'd porch
Of human understandings, and display

* Gal. iii. 2.

† John xv. 26, v. 39.

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The joyful dawn of everlafting day;

To draw the golden chariot of free grace,

The darken'd fhades with fhining rays to chafe,

Till heaven's bright lamp on circling wheels be hurl'd,
With fparking grandeur round the dusky world;
And thus to bring in dying mortals fight,
New life and immortality to light.‡

;

We're charg'd to preach the gospel, unconfin'd,
To every creature of the human kind
To call, with tenders of falvation free,
All corners of the earth to come and fee:||
And every finner muft excuseless make,
By urging rich and poor to come and take.¶
Ho, every one that thirfts,* is grace's call
Direct to needy finners great and small;
Not meaning thofe alone, whofe holy thirst
Denominates their foul's already bleft.

If only thofe were call'd, then none but faints ;
Nor would the gospel fuit the finners wants.
But here the call does fignally import
Sinners and thirty fouls of every fort t;
And mainly to their door the meffage brings,
Who yet are thirsting after empty things;
Who spend their means no living bread to buy,
• And pains for that which cannot fatisfy.'
Such thirfty finners here invited are,

Who vainly spend their money, thought, and care,
On paffing fhades, vile lufts, and trash so base,
As yield immortal fouls no true folace.
The call directs them, as they would be bleft,
To chufe a purer object of their thirst.

All are invited by the joyful found

To drink who need, as does the parched ground, Whofe wide-mouth'd clefts speak to the brazen sky` ̧ Its paffive thirft, without an active cry.

The gofpel preacher then, with holy skill,

Muft offer Chrift to whomfoever will,

Ifa. xlv. 22. John i. 39, 46.

2 Tim. i. 10.
$ Mark xvi. 15.
Rev. xxii. 17.

* Ifa. lv. I, 20

To finners of all forts that can be nam'd;

The blind, the lame, the poor, the halt, the maim'd.*
Not daring to restrict the extensive call,

But opening wide the net to catch them all.
No foul must be excluded that will come.
Nor right of accefs be confin'd to fome.

Though none will come till confcious of their want,
Yet right they have to come by fovereign grant;
Such right to Chrift, his promise, and his grace,
That all are damn'd who hear and don't embrace.
So freely is the unbounded call difpens'd,
We therein find even finners unconvinc'd;
Who know not they are naked, blind, and poor,†
Counfell'd to buy or beg at Jefus door,

And take the glorious robe, eye-falve, & golden ftore.
This prize they are oblig'd by faith to win,
Elfe unbelief would never be their fin.
Yea, golpel offers but a sham we make,
If every finner has not right to take.
Be gofpel heralds fortify'd from this,
To trumpet grace, howe'er the ferpent hifs.
Did hell's malicious mouth in dreadful shape
'Gainft innocence itself malignant gape?
Then facred truth's.devoted vouchers may
For dire reproach their measures. constant lay.
With cruel calumny of old commenc'd,
This fect will every where be spoke against ;‡
While to and fro he runs the earth acrofs,
Whose name is ADELPHON KATEGOROS.§
In spite of hell be then our constant strife
To win the glorious Lamb a virgin wife..

* Luke xiv. 21. † Rev. iii. 17, 18.
§ Or, The accuser of the brethren.

Acts xxviii. 22.

G 2.

CHAP VI.

An Exhortation to all that are out of Chrift, in order to their clofing the match with him; containing alfo motives and directions.

READER, into thine hands thefe lines are given,
But not without the providence of Heaven;
Or to advance thy bliss, if thou art wise,
Or aggravate thy wo, if thou defpise.

For thee, for thee, perhaps th' omnifcient ken
Has form'd the counfel here, and led the pen.
The writer then does thy attention plead,
In his great name that gave thee eyes to read.

SECT. I. Conviction offered to Sinners, cfpecially fuch as are wedded frictly to the law, or felf-righteous, that they may fee the need of Chrift's righteousness.

Ir never yet thou didft fair Jefus wed,
Nor yield thy heart to be his marriage bed,
But hitherto art wedded to the law,

Which never could thy chain'd affections draw
From brutish lufts and fordid lover's charms;
Lo! thou art yet in Satan's folded arms.
Hell's power invisible thy foul retains
His captive flave, lock'd up in maffy chains.
O! finner then, as thou regard'st thy life,
Seek, feek, with ardent care and earnest strife,
To be the glorious Lamb's betrothed wife.
For bafe co-rivals never let him lofe
Thy heart, his bed of conjugal repose.
Wed Chrift alone, and with severe remorse
From other mates purfue a clean divorce;
For they thy ruin feek by fraud or force.
As lurking ferpents in the fhady bowers
Conceal their malice under fpreading flowers;

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