The mystical marriage. A brief essay, on, the grace of the Redeemer espousing the…

CAN such a Thing be heard without Astonishment! —Sing O Heavens, and be Joyful, O Earth, and break forth into Singing, O Mountains; For, Oh! how astonishing are the Comforts which the Glorious Lord has for his Chosen People.

Married unto a Glorious Christ, Raised from the Dead, and so taken up to, and sitting down on, the Throne of GOD. O Wonderful! O Wonderful! The Soul of a poor, Foolish, Filthy Creature; the Soul of a Miserable Sinner,—Married unto the Only Begotten Son of God, who has all the Angels in the Heavens forever Ordered by Him, and Adoring of Him! To be Commanded by Him, is a Dignity; To be Employed for Him, is an Advancement, beyond what we can desire. But then, to be Married unto Him!—Seemeth it a light matter unto you, O ⟨p. 2⟩Children of Men! Verily, tis a matter which cannot (be sufficiently wondered at! But it is a matter, which we now have in prosecution and in expectation.

Married unto a Glorious Christ, Raised from the Dead, and so taken up to, and sitting down on, the Throne of GOD. O Wonderful! O Wonderful! The Soul of a poor, Foolish, Filthy Creature; the Soul of a Miserable Sinner,—Married unto the Only Begotten Son of God, who has all the Angels in the Heavens forever Ordered by Him, and Adoring of Him! To be Commanded by Him, is a Dignity; To be Employed for Him, is an Advancement, beyond what we can desire. But then, to be Married unto Him!—Seemeth it a light matter unto you, O ⟨p. 2⟩Children of Men! Verily, tis a matter which cannot (be sufficiently wondred at! But it is a matter, which we now have in prosecution and in expectation.

Behold, an lllustrious Demonstration, That Believers on a Glorious Christ are delivered from the Dominion of Sin. The Evil principle which disposes us to Sin, is mortified and extinguished in Believers, to such a degree, that tho' the Continuance of it is an Intolerable Vexation unto them, yet it has not a Dominion over them. While we remain under the Covenant of Works, or the Covenant made with the First Adam, as the Head of his Natural Offspring, we are under a Law which requires a perfect Obedience from us, but at the same time it affords us no Strength for that Obedience: No; our Corrupt Nature is thereby irritated unto Rebellion rather than animated unto Obedience, and [the Evil Principle gains the Force of a Law upon us. The Law which in it self is Holy, and just and Good, in the Event is turned into, a Law of Sin and Death unto us. If we read a few Lines more, we cannot but stand amazed at the Blindness of them, who exclude the Moral Law of the Ten Commandments from the meaning of the Apostles, and expound it only for the Law of the Mosaical Ceremonies, when here we read of being Delivered from the Law. But now, our Blessed Jesus is a Second Adam. And by our being united unto HIM, we are brought into a Covenant of Grace. In that Covenant the Redeemer, to whom we are united, makes Atonement for our Trespasses, against the Law, answers the Demands of the Law in our stead, and conveys into us by his Good Spirit a principle of Life, which quickens us to endeavour a perfection of Obedience, and Strengthens us to make a Gradual Progress towards a perfection of Holiness in the Fear of GOD. Thus we become Dead unto the Law! Our Hopes of obtaining the Justification of Life by our own doing of the Works which the Law requires,