A treatise of faith divided into two parts. The first showing the nature, the…A treatise of faith diuided into two parts. The first shewing the nature, the…

Secondly, It delighteth greatly to behold the face of God •n his sanctuary.¹ When thou saidest, Seek ye my face, my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord will I seek. When shall I come and appear before God. O God, thou art my God, early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee, in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is: To see thy power & glory, so as I have seen thee in the Sanctuary. How amiable are thy tabernacles, ²O Lord of hosts? My soul longeth, yea even fainteth for the courts of the Lord: my heart, and my flesh crieth out for the living God. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house. The Levitical worship was as a glass more dim, in which they beheld the face of the Lord obscurely: the word and Sacraments are to Christians as a clear glass, in which as with open face we behold the glory of God in Christ.³ Christ is present with us, as long as we hold his public worship: he is found, when we recover it having been lost. Then doth the face of the Lord shine upon us, when he offers himself unto his people to be seen in his public worship, the pure and undefiled exercises of piety. And from hence springeth the willingness of the Saints,⁴ to wait continually at the posts of wisdoms gates, to hear her words, their earnest contention and study to preserve, maintain, uphold and set forward the pure worship of God, and to save, or free it from the dross of superstitious vanities, which obscure the clear light of the Lords countenance, and to restore it according to the pattern, if once it fall: and their diligent enquiry after Christ, if his face be hidden from them, or his worship be polluted with Idolatry.⁵ Tell me (O thou whom my soul loveth) where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that is veiled, amongst ⟨p. 417⟩the flocks of thy companions? Why should I be as a womn wasting her self with sorrow and grief, while I seke thy presence in thine ordinances.