A declaration of the true manner of knowing Christ crucified

Now then, considering this so weighty and special a point of religion is so much neglected, ⟨p. 29⟩O man or woman, high or low, young or old, if thou have been wanting this way, begin for very shame to learn and learning truly to know Christ crucified. And that thou mayest attain to this, behold him often, not in the wooden crucifix after the popish manner, but in the preaching of the Word, and in the Sacraments, in which thou shalt see him crucified before thine eyes, Galat. 3. 1. Desire not here upon earth to behold him with the bodily eye, but look upon him with the eye of true and lively faith, applying him and his merits to thy self as thine own, and that with a broken and bruised heart, as the poor Israelites stung with fiery serpents even to death, beheld the brazen serpent. Again, thou must look upon him first of all as a glass or spectacle, in which thou shalt see Gods glory greater in thy Redemption, then in thy creation. In the creation appeared Gods infinite wisdom, power, and goodness: in thy Redemption by the passion of Christ, his endless justice and mercy. In the creation thou art a member of the first Adam, and bearest his image: in thy Redemption thou art a member of the second Adam. In the first, thou art endued with natural life, in the second with spiritual. In the ⟨p. 30⟩first, thou hast in the person of Eve thy beginning of the rib of Adam: in the second, thou hast thy beginning as thou art borne of God, out of the blood of Christ. Lastly, in the first, god gave life by commanding that to be, which was not: in the second, he gives life not by life, but by death, even of his own son. This is the mystery into which the Angels themselves desire to look into, 1. Pet. 1. 12. Secondly, thou must behold him as the full price of thy Redemption, and perfect reconciliation with God; and pray earnestly to God, that he would seal up the same in thy very conscience by his holy spirit. Thirdly, thou must behold Christ as an example, to whom thou must conform thy self by regeneration. For this cause give diligence, that thou mayest by experience say, that thou art dead and crucified and buried with Christ, and that thou risest again with him, to newness of life: that he enlightens thy mind, and by degrees reforms thy will and affections, and give thee both the will and the deed in every good thing.