meat; by his delicate palate, "thy words were found, and I did eat them;" by his activity, " my spirit made diligent search;" by his affections, “ I delight in the law of God, after the inward man;" by the image that he bears, "created in righteousness and true holiness;" by his delight in worship, "for a day in thy courts is better than a thousand;" by his heavenly mindedness, "they shall dwell on high, and see the King in his beauty;" by the things that he enjoys, life and peace; by his tenderness and warm adherence to the cause of God," and of the rest durst no man join himself to them;" by the company that he keeps, my delights are with the excellent of the earth, Psalm xvi. 3; by his divine origin, born of God; by the matter of his conception, the incorruptible seed that lives and abides for ever; by the relation that he claims to God, crying Abba, Father; by his attachment to sovereign grace, " of his own will begat he us, by the word of truth;" by his superlative love to his Father, "being born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God;" by his glorifying his Creator; people have I formed for myself, they shall shew forth my praise;" by the fortitude he is equipped with, "strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man ;" by his spiritual fruits, "created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." "this The old Adam, or old man, may be known by his evil motions, "in my flesh dwelleth no good "Get thing;" by his attachment to the old cause, thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men;" by his cursed loyalty to the old usurper, adhering to the law in the members; by his infernal rebellion, the flesh lusting against the Spirit; by his unjustifiable war, "abstain from fleshly lusts that war against the soul;" by his false candour and Antinomian principles, he would have us cleave to the letter of the law, but wars against the law in the mind to bring us into captivity to the law of sin; by his assiduity in mischief, "when I would do good evil is present with me;" by the assistance that he gets from the devil to oppose the Spirit, "the things that I would not that do I;" by his doing despite to every thing that is good, "and these are contrary the one to the other; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would;" by his delight in wickedness, "with my flesh I love the law of sin; by his vile affection for the reprobate, "I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh;" by his desperate hatred to God, "the carnal mind is enmity against God, it is not subject to his law, neither indeed can be;" by his incredulity, "what sign shewest thou?" by his endeavouring to put us to shame in the Lord's work, " and I was with you in weakness and in fear, and in much trembling;" by his struggling to get from the cross, and his hatred to the mystery of it, by which he lost his life and power, as leader and ruler, "knowing this that our old man is crucified with him;" by his incapability of enjoying any covenant blessing, "flesh and blood cannot enter the kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption;" by the image that he bears, a fallen countenance and a hatred to the light; "Adam, where art thou?" By his loving to make a covering of every web, as Adam did of leaves; by his hypocrisy, the old man is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; by his indefatigable labours in opposing the new man, " if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me." These things make the Shulamite appear as it were the company of two armies; black, but comely; as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon; as earthen vessels with spiritual treasure; as broken pitchers with burning lamps; as a flock of sheep spotted and spangled; as poor, yet having great riches; as foolish, and yet made wise; as the offscouring of the earth, and yet the excellent of it; as base, and yet honourable; as well known, and yet unknown; as illiterate, yet taught of God; as dying, and behold we live; as persecuted, but not forsaken; as having nothing, yet possessing all things; as troublers of the people, yet the chariot and horsemen of the nations; as turners of the world upside down, yet the pillars of it; as pests to society, yet the salt of the earth. As troublesome inmates, and yet more excellent than their neighbours; as lilies among thorns; as lambs in the midst of wolves; as a chaste spouse in a posse of concubines; as shining lights in a crooked and perverse generation; as pilgrims in a strange country; as vessels of mercy in seas of affliction; blessed with grace, and burdened with corruption; endowed with faith, and plagued with unbelief; with joyful hope, and slavish fear; with love to God, and a lust to envy; with patience and peevishness; with submission and opposition; resignation and strong rebellion; meekness and hardness; fortitude and cowardice; a willing mind, and reluctant flesh; real obedience. and strong resistance. Persons who answer this complex character must expect their path to be as great a paradox as their persons. The way lies through crooked places made straight; rough places made plain; through darkness and through light; through fire and through water; through tribulation and ways of pleasantness; in deaths often, and alive always; by evil report and by good report; by the shadow of death, and by the path of life; through days of prosperity and days of adversity; with much sweetness and a deal of bitterness; heavy crosses and strong consolations; flourishing like a branch, withering like an herb; often refreshing and often parched; boasting of fatness, complaining of leanness; leaping for joy and sinking in grief; triumphing of victory, complaining of captivity; days of laughing and weeks of mourning; by the valley of vision, and the valley of Baca; by the mount of transfiguration, and by the mount of corruption; with the wings of a dove, and the body of death. Since I put my hand a second time to this work my pen has acted the part of a restive horse, which runs away with his rider; for I had no thoughts of making such an in-and-out round-about journey as this of it. But if it describes any part of the road you have come, or if it affords you any encouragement respecting the future part of your journey, or any direction concerning it, it is wholly owing to kind Providence that I met with you. You have read, I find, the few scraps of poetry that are addressed to me; the one part of which is a refutation of the other; it verifies the saying of the wise man, the fool while he holdeth his peace is counted wise, but if he open his mouth he shall have destruction: because the lips of a fool swallow up himself, Eccl. x. 12. I here present you with my skeleton of this learned and nerveless performance, and shall expect, according to the phrase of canters, your candid judgment on my dissection: I just receiv'd twopenny worth in rhyme, |