Members should goe on to Perfection through the same Path of Sufferings hence it is that the Apostle Paul makes this the Path through which he expected to attain that Perfection he so earnestly prest after Phil. 3.10 11 c. That I may know him and the fellowship of his Sufferings being made conformable unto his Death If by any means I might attain to the Resurrection of the Dead not as though I had already attained either were already Perfect c. So here in this Prophesy Jacob must take root and Israel must blossome and bud but that he may be thus Blessed the Lord will first Purge him from his Iniquity and take away his Sin and that by a Sore and Sharp Affliction a Smiting and Slaying Affliction I have Enumerated these Instances to hint these two things 1. The Agreement that there is between the Old and New Testament in holding forth to us the Manner of Gods proceeding with his People in order to fit them for his Salvation and so for that Work he hath to do by them 2. That God will not have his Work done with Defiled but with Pure hands according to that word Job 22.30 He shall deliliver the Island of the Innocent and it is delivered by the Pureness of thine hands or as it is in the Margent of some Bibles The Innocent shall Deliver the Islands Impure foul and dirty hands will so sully and Besmear the Work of God that it will appear more like Mans Work than Gods Work and so the Lord loses the Glory of his Works now because he will not lose this Glory nor suffer it to be given to Another he therefore comes to his People with Smarting and Bloody Strokes with Fire and with Sope to Purge and Cleanse them that they may do his Work so that it may Evidently appear to be Gods Work had not Mans. How far what hath been done and befaln us in our daies doth confirm this let the Seeing Eye and understanding Heart judge I shall give but one Instance more to confirm the Position and that is Num. 23.21 and 23. verses He hath not beheld Iniquity in Jacob neither hath he seen Perversness in Israel the Lord his God is with him and the shout of a King is among them Surely there is no inchantment against Jacob neither is there any Divination against Israel according to THIS TIME it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel What hath God wrought the Sinning rebellions of Jacob was Judged Died in the Wilderness but this Judgement of God upon him having Purged Jacob from his Iniquity and taken away his Sin that the Lord beholds not iniquty in Jacob neither sees perversness in Israel but they are brought into a Purified humble Obedient State According to THIS TIME it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel what hath God wrought This is the Time wherein they shall be Blessed with Blessings that men cannot reverse verse 20. and no Inchantment nor Divination shall prevail against them wherein God wil Bless him that Blesses them Curse him that Curses them Ch. 24.19 From this Time it is that such Blessings shall attend Jacob such great things the Lord will do for him and by him that those who believe the Works of God shall with great Admiration cry out What hath God wrought while Jacobs Sin was upon him he could not Possess the Promise but is Smitten by his Enemies But when the Corrections of the Lord upon him had Cleansed and Purged him from his Sin and taken away his Iniquity then the Promise was his Portion he entred the Good Land and none could hinder So it stands firm both upon Old and New-Testament grounds that the Cause that brings Correcting Afflictions upon Jacob is his Own Sins and his Own Iniquities and the End of the Lord in Afflicting and Correcting of him is to take his Iniquity away and to Purge him from his Sin 2. But the GREAT END of all this is that he may Cause them that come of Jacob to take Root and Israel to blossom and Bud and fill the face of the world with fruit The Lord Loves Jacob and all his waies towards him are pathes of Love Love is in the Bottom and End of all his Dealings with Jacob. If he Correct and Afflict him it 's in Love in Measure to Purge him from his Iniquity that he may become Precious in his sight and then in the same Love that he Corrects him he will give men for him and People for his Life Isa 43.4 God will deal in wrath with the Nations I will make a full End of all the Nations Jer. 46.28 but he loveth Jacob though he Frowns it 's in Love though he strike it 's in Love though he visits so sorely that the Rod even threatens the Destruction of Jacob yet it 's Still in Love for though Jacob provokes the Lord to Command his Enemies to go upon his Walls and Destroy yet this Love gives them a Check their Measure but make not a full End Jer. 5.10 yea though Jacob's Sins provoke the Lord to make a Desolation in the Land his Love will not suffer him to make a full End yet will I not make a full End saith Jacobs Father Jer. 4.27 No the Lord Loveth Jacob with an Everlasting Love If he Correct if he Smite and that to the drawing of his Blood yet it 's not to destroy but it 's only in Love to Save him from his Sin and so from that Destiuction his Sin would bring upon him If the Lord be Wrath so that he Hides his Face it 's not with Jacob but with his Sin The Lord Loveth Jacob still In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment but with Everlasting kindness will I have mercy upon thee saith the Lord thy Redeemer Isa 54.8 So that here 's the Great End of God in his Dealings with Jacob that he may Fit him for and so Bestow upon him Everlasting kindness Everlasting Mercy Though the Lord in a little wrath against our sins Afflict so Sorely Smite so Smartingly that he seems as if he watched over us to Pluck up and to Break down and to Throw down and to Destroy as he did his People of Old Jer. 31.28 yet it 's in Much Mercy Everlasting Love If that he may Cause them that come of Jacob to take Root Though he seems to Pluck us up by the Roots it 's but to Transplant us into a Better Soil To cause Jacob to take Root Hitherto Jacobs Seed have had little or no Rooting have only spread a little over the surface of the Earth but now when the Lord hath Purged and Cleansed Lopped and Pruned Jacobs Plant it shall take Root He will cause them that come of Jacob to take Root and such Root too as that all our Enemies shall never be able to Pluck us up any more for the Lord will watch over us to Root us and to Plant us The same Mighty Arme that hath
the glory of his high looks consuming his glory that they shall be as feeble and weak as when a Standard-bearer fainteth To prevent Objections that might arise I lay down this Position That this smiting and slaying of these two Seeds of each other hath relation not to several Generations Father and Son but shall have its performance to the full in the space of the time of one Generation And that upon these grounds 1. Because the Prophet throughout this large Discourse speaks of a particular day In that day and that day saith he and that in distinction from the VVorlds day This is a day wherein the Lord comes to empty the World to empty the Earth and this VVork of his upon Jacob is but in order to it 2. Because this Evil the Lord brings upon Jacob is altogether outward and temporal it relates not to Eternal matters it respects the Body not the Soul It 's like unto that Affliction the Lord laid upon the Children of Israel in the VVilderness that related to their Bodies deaâ—h in the VVilderness that deprived them of an earthly Canaan but it would be very uncharitable to say those that perished in the VVilderness because of that Judgement were excluded the Heavenly Canaan of which the Earthly was a Type 3. Because otherwise the Promise of restraining and measuring out the Affliction stopping it when it hath brought forth such an Effect would not nor could not yeeld such strong comfort and consolation to poor Jacob as it seems to me the Lord intends it should for what great comfort would it be for the Father to know that his Son his Child shall upon such and such conditions be delivered from the Evil that shall yet destroy him 4. If so be that this measuring out the Affliction here spoken of were only its ending in the destruction of the present Generation upon whom it falls then what difference is there between an Old Testament and a New Testament Measure The Measure of the Old Testament was the destruction of that Generation of rebellious Jacobs and saving their Children their little Ones whom their unbelief said would be destroyed together with themselves and if it be not otherwise now wherein doth Christ appear to be a better Mediator of a better Covenant established upon better Promises as is said Heb. 8.6 Lastly The Lord in this very Scripture it self doth clearly hint thus much by speaking in the Present tense Is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him that the SAME GENERATION of Jacobs Seed who are smitten and part of whom are slain by their Enemies shall get up again and slay them with a greater slaughter limiting it to a short space of time for performance of it 3. The CAUSE that brings this Sore Dreadful Dispensation upon the Seed of Jacob is their SIN This is strongly and closely implyed in the 9. Verse For if the taking away of Sin and Iniquity be the End of its coming then of necessity Sin is the Cause of its coming This is a People ROBBED and SPOILED they are all of them SNARED IN HOLES and they are hid in PRISON-HOUSES they are for a PREY and none delivereth for a SPOIL and none saith Restore VVho gave Jacob for a Spoyl and Israel to the Robbers did not the Lord He against whom we have SINNED FOR they would NOT VVALK IN HIS wAYES neither WERE THEY OBEDIENT uNTO HIS LAW Therefore he hath poured upon him the FuRY OF HIS ANGER and it hath set him on fire round about c. Isa 42.22 24 25. Ver. It 's Jacobs Sin that Causes the Lord to visit him in wayes of Affliction and Correction it 's his Sin that Causes the Lord to lay upon him his Fatherly Chastenings and Rebukes and that in Love that being cleansed from Sin he might be a partaker of his Holiness Consider Isa 59.1 2. Behold the Lords hand is not shortened that it cannot save neither his ear heavy that it cannot hear But YOUR INIQUITIES have separated between you and your God and YOuR SINS have hid his face from you that he will not hear How nearly this Scripture doth concern us will appear if we consider it doth not only speak of what God will do in the last dayes but to the Islands also V. 18. We see here the Lord in a posture ready to save and to hear his People His Hand is not shortened it 's ready prepared to save his Ear is not heavy it 's open to hear There 's no such thing as the Time being not come on the Lords part to hinder him from saving Jacob But it 's Jacob's Sin that Causes the Separation between him and his God It 's his Sin that Causes these Hidings of the face of his God from him It 's his Sin that retards his Salvation It 's not any thing in the Enemy it 's not to ripen his Sin that he may fill his Measure that so the Justice of God may fully seize upon him as some vainly conceit that is the reason why the Lord suffers this Affliction to befall his People No it 's Jacob's own Iniquities your Iniquities it's Jacob's own Sins your Sins that Causes God to separate himself and hide his face from him Was it think we for the Assyrians sake that the Lord might take an occasion against him to destroy him to be as a fire and a flame to him to burn him up Or for Sion's and Jerusalem's sake for the sake of that Work the Lord had to perform there that the Lord made him the Rod of his Anger against his People and by him sorely Afflicted him suffering him to be as Bryars and Thorns tearing and rending their flesh Surely it was for his Peoples sake Had not their Sins made a Work for the Lord to perform upon them by a Rod of Correction the Assyrian had never exalted himself over them No the Lord loves his People better than so if he Correct and Afflict them it 's for their own sake not for the sake of any other that through his Peoples Affliction he might destroy them The Lord loveth Jacob so that he will give men for him and People for his Life but we never find the Lord giving up his People for the sake of any other under Heaven either for their good or for their hurt Nothing can bring Affliction upon Jacob but his own Sin And Jacob's Sin brings Affliction and Sorrow upon him even then when the Lord is ready his hand is open prepared to bestow Salvation upon him when the Lords time is come to hear and save him yea even then when the Lord is waiting to be gratious Isa 30.18 Therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious unto you That the Prophet here speaks of the same Time and to the same People he speaks of and to in his 27. Chap. will clearly appear if the whole Chapter be seriously considered This waiting of God to be gratious is while Jacob
as those that he leaves as the subjects of his displeasure Therefore the Evil must lye some where else it must needs lye more secret and inward the Sin surely must lye in this in the hearts standng in and sitting close to these things And this seems to me to be clearly hinted to us by Christ while he commands us though we be but on the House top and our stuff in the House not to go down to it and though we be but in the field near home yet not to return to it He blames us not for having Houses and Stuff but commands us not to be so in Love with not to six our hearts so upon our Possessions in this World as to return to them and be solicitous in securing of them when he Comes to take us to call us from them to lead us in that Path and VVay to do that VVork he would have us to walk in and to do to enable us to walk in and to do which it 's absolutely necessary we forsake ALL of this World 3. Because of Christs severity against this Sin Remember Lots Wife Whosoever shall seek to save his Life shall lose it Our Lord is so severe against this Sin that that Love to the good things of this Life which the VVorld of Professors call a Vertue a Duty he warns us to flee from lest with Lots VVife he make us examples of his Justice It 's not dainty food not dilicious drinks but eating and drinking it 's not cozening and cheating but that which is at other times lawful buying and selling it 's not planting curious Gardens nor building glorious Structures but bare planting and building it 's not wheredom nor adultery but marrying of Wives the Lord instances in as the sinful state of the World in which when he Comes he shall find them to their sorrow So that it 's not enough that we can say we can part with our dainties things for delight but can we say we can part with forsake and love not our meat and drink that which maintains the very Being of our Bodies and with Elijah live upon the pure Providence of God for our Life and Being If not the Love of the Father is not in us but the love of the World And this Christ will not bear with in his People If at such a time as this when Christ is calling his People out of and from the World to his Work and Service there be but a dram of this Love a bare looking back towards a hankering after this Worlds good things but a little solicitousness after them a going but from the House-top a returning but back out of the field the back-side as it were into the House a going but a little out of the way Christ calls us into though it be but to save our Stuff yea our Life this will set us in the path of Judgement under his displeasure Remember Lot's Wife saith our Lord if when I come I find this temper in you as sure as she was so shall ye become a Monument of my severity A little love to this World but a looking back towards it hath turn'd and as little now but a returning back a little way towards it shall again turn Living Monuments of Mercy into Standing Monuments of Justice Secondly I fear upon a serious search it will be found that our Love to our Stuff the good things of this Life to keep and maintain our possession of these hath hurried us into such by-wayes such courses as have brought BLOOD upon us I shall only mention two Scriptures and leave it to a serious consideration 1. If Baasha execute Justice upon the House of Jeroboam according to the Word of the Lord and become like the House of Jeroboam in Sin and Wickedness that piece of justice becomes BLOOD-GUILTINESSE to him is imputed to him as Murder and he must dye for it 1 King 15.29 16.3 7. V. And it came to pass when he reigned that he smote all the House of Jeroboam he left not to Jeroboam any that breathed until he had destroyed him according unto the saying of the Lord which he spake by his Servant Ahijah the Shilonite Behold I will take away the Posterity of Baasha and the Posterity of his House and will make thy House like the House of Jeroboam the Son of Nebat And also by the hand of the Prophet Jehu the Son of Hanani came the Word of the Lord against Baasha and against his House even for all the Evil that he did in the sight of the Lord in provoking him to anger with the work of his hands in being like the House of Jeroboam and because he killed him That Blood which Baasha shed in Obedience to the Command of God by his Servant the Prophet in a way of Justice he walking in the same path of wickedness is required at his hand 2. If Jehu execute Justice upon the House of Ahab and do it so exactly too as that every piece of it is according to the Word of the Lord as the story mentions 2 King 9. 10. Chapters Notwithstanding this piece of Justice if done so exactly according to the Rule to the Word of the Lord yet Jehu through the Love of this World not departing from the Sins of Jeroboam but doing the Work of the Lord negligently by halves becomes GUILTY OF THIS BLOOD this act of Justice is imputed to him for Murder and the Blood is required at his hand Hos 1.4 Call his Name Jezreel for yet a little while and I will AVENGE THE BLOOD of Jezreel upon the House of Jehu I need not add further Thirdly Another Branch of the present Afflicting Sin that I would mention I conceive is PRIDE both NATURAL and SPIRITUAL PRIDE How contrary this is to the Lord in all Ages at al times I need not mention the Scriptures are full in expression of it Therefore much more at such a time as this when his design is to be ALONE exalted against which no Sin sets it self so much in opposition as this This Sin so extreamly unfits Jacob were he otherwise quallified for the Work of God that the Lord * Prov. 6.16 17. 13.10 Psal 10.2 86.14 Deut. 17.20 Prov. 16.18 Hos 5.5 hates it it 's Abominable to him This Sin is the source of wickedness by it comes contention which brings forth persecution and this proceeds to violence and causes Rulers in Israel to turn aside from the way of the Lord. Therefore this Sin must needs bring down a Correcting Judgement But Fourthly And the last I shall mention is CARNAL Mindedness Carnality of Spirit And this I would expatiate a little upon because it is the most Spiritual Evil and so needs the greatest battery gainst it The Carnal mind of the Natural man who is after the flesh is enmity against God for it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be Rom. 8.5 7. this brings Death to him v. 6. And
Son of Old Adam with all his fleshly and Dead Works Those Carnal uncleannesses under the Law several Diseases the Menstruous Corruptions of Nature the Dead Man c. which were then made unclean in that day as to that worship were Types of this This is clearly the scope of the Apostle 2 Cor. 6.14 15 16 17. be ye not unequally yoked with unbelievers for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness or what part hath he that believeth with an Infidell wherefore come out from among them and be ye seperate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing c. Believers and Unbelievers Believers and Infidels are not to unite together are not to be Cemented together in one building The Unbeliever the Natural man the Son of Old Adam is that unclean thing which the Believer the Spiritual man the Son of the New Adam Jesus Christ is to come out from to be separated from and not to touch with if he will be the Temple of the living God for him to Dwell in and walk in 3. IDOLS What agreement hath the Temple of God with Idols Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate c. Idols are a part of that unclean thing which those who will be the Temple of the living God must be separate from and not touch with Babylon and her Idols All will grant yea the Carnal fry of Christians will grant that they are to be separated from even while in the mean time they are hugging a more Refined sort of Idols in their hearts crying out against another as guilty of Idolatry and Wil-worship while yet they mind not the Idols in their own Hearts Dividing withdrawing communion from each other looking upon each other as not the Sheep of Christs Fold for their Opinion their waies-sake for the sake of those things wherein they Differ notwithstanding they all are by the mighty working of the Spirit of God planted in the true Foundation Jesus Christ putting their Opinions their Waies their Differences in the Room and Place of the Foundation Jesus Christ making them the Standard and Boundary of their Communion and Separation by which they become their Idols from which the Lord in his due time will separate them induing them with such a Spiritual frame of Spirit as should abolish their Idols the Idols he shall utterly abolish †See Tillinghurst upon this Scripture Isa 2.18 These things of a Religious Nature may be and too too often are as really the Heart Idols of Carnal Christians as the Silver and the Gold of this World are either unto such or unto the men of the World Of these Heart Idols the Lord expresses exstream detestation Ezek. 14.3 4 5. Son of man these men have set up their Idols in their Hearts and should I be inquired of at all by them Therefore speak unto them and say unto them thus saith the Lord God Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his Idols in his heart the Lord will answer him according to the multitude of his Idols And these Religious Heart Idols when we are joined to them make us so tenatious so obstinate so perverse that there is no dealing with us God himself thinks not fit to deal with us while in this Condition except in a way of Correction to scourge them out of us but saith Ephraim is joined to Idols let him alone Hosea 4.17 when men have Idolatrous hearts adoring either the Idols of this World the Silver and the Gold the good things of this Life or those more curious Idols those Religious things wherewith a world of Professors cheat their own poor Souls while they hug their Form for the Power while they make their Opinion and Way the Measure and Standard of their Religion there 's so little hope of them that saith God He is joined to Idols let him alone as Solomon saith of his Conceited man Pro. 26.12 Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit there is more hope of a Fool than of him So it 's as true there 's more hope of a meer Natural man that never knew what belongs to making a Profession of the Name and worship of God than of such a one whose Opinion or Way or Judgement are his Heart Idols Let him alone saith God I will answer him deal with him by my self and that so as ye shall know that I am the Lord Ezek. 14.7 8. None can deal with such but the Lord and he deals with such a People by terrible things utterly abolishing the Idols that the Lord alone may be exalted See Isa 2.17 18 19. verses 4. Covetousness which is Idolatry Col. 3.15 This is another part of the unclean thing which must be separated from and not touched with This Sin was then of such an unclean Nature that it caused the Lord who was among them and in the midst of them to withdraw from Israel upon which they fell before their Enemies neither would the Lord be with them till they had cleansed themselves by separating from it Joshua 7.1 and 12. verses It was Covetousness made Achan put forth his hand to the accursed thing and to steal from the Lord part of his due that he had consecrated to his use as appears by ver 11. compared with Chapter 6.18 And the same that the Lord Consecrated to himself in that day he hath said he will again consecrate to himself in these last daies when Sion shall arise and thresh and beat in pieces many People Mich. 4.13 and he will as little bear with it in his People now as then for this is One of Babylons Sins for which the Lord Judges her Jer. 51.13 and it 's for the Iniquity of our Covetousness that the Lord is wroth with us and smites us Isa 57.17 Now it 's worth our searching into whether Achans sin hath not been one great cause of that Stop put to the Work of God and of that great Affliction which is fallen and is yet falling upon poor sinning Jacob at this Day Instead of Consecrating the gain unto the Lord have we not taken it to our selves and put it among our own Stuff From this Sin will the Lord separate his People making them his Redeemed from the Earth Rev. 14.3 Notwithstanding this and that the Apostle tells us Eph. 5.3 that Covetousness ought not to be so mnch as named amongst us as becometh Saints Yet how partial have poor Carnal Christians been in this day a small difference an Opinion hath caused them to Divide to Separate and Flce from each other as from Monsters while in the mean time this pernitious Idolatrous Evil is not so much as taken notice of Nay looked on as a Vertue or at least past over as an Infirmity For this as well as for other Evils the Lord is Judging his People Let these things be Separated from and I think I may safely without presumption say the People of the Lord will quickly come into such an undesiled united
GOOD NEVVS OR Wine and Oyle Poured into the Wounds of SINNING and DISTRESSED JACOB In some Meditations on Isa 27.6 7 8 9 verses Directing to the Cause wherefore and the End for which The present Affliction is come upon him Hinting at the Means by which his Deliverance will be wrought And Comforting him against the Extremity of Affliction come and coming upon him By PAIN LuMLE A WELCH christian Jer. 30.7 Alas for that day is great so that none is like it it is even the time of Jacob's Trouble but he shall be saved out of it Lam. 2.1 3.18 21 22 31 32. How hath the Lord covered the Daughter of Sion with a Cloud in his Anger and cast down from Heaven unto the Earth the Beauty of Israel and remembred not his footstool in the day of his Anger I said My Strength and my Hope is perished from the Lord. It is of the Lord's Mercy 's that we are not consumed because his Compassions fail not â— for the Lord will not cast off for ever but though he cause grief yet will be have Compassion according to the multitude of his Mercies Isa 61.9 All that see them shall ACKNOWLEDGE THEM that they are the SEED which the Lord hath BLESSED London Printed in the Year 1661. TO Sinning and Distressed JACOB LEt not your Heart be troubled saith our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to his Disciples when they were going through the withdrawing of his blessed bodily Presence into a scattered persecuted desolate helpless Condition full of Sorrows Now with what doth he fortifie their Heart against Trouble With his Gracious Ends in going away from them which were first To Prepare a Place for them in his Father's House In my Father's House are many Mansions I go to prepare a Place for you there a better State and Condition than I can either fit you for or bring you into while I am present with you here on Earth and then I will come again and receive you unto my self that where I am there ye may be also And secondly after I am glorified I will pray the Father and he shall in the mean time give you another Comforter even the Spirit of Truth who will be a greater Comfort unto you than either I have been or can be or you can be able to receive I have yet many things to say unto you but ye cannot bear them now till I have carried your Nature the humane Nature which I have assumed into the Same Glory I had with the Father before the World was Therefore it is Expedient for you that I go away for if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you and he shall guide you into all Truth He shall receive of mine and shall shew it unto you and all things that the Father hath are mine Joh. 17.5 and 16.7 13 14 15. verses Strongly inculcating not only his Gracious Ends for their Eternal Good but the Necessity of his going away to accomplish those Ends which would not nor could not be effected except he withdrew from them Therefore Let not your Heart be Troubled but Believe in Me that I will do these things for you As the Lord Jesus had these Glorious Ends at Thâ—â— Time in his leaving and withdrawing from his Disciples So he hath Glorious Ends in all his Dealings with his Chosen to the End of the World the Consideration of which should fortifie the Hearts of the distressed and peeled People of Jacob against all Heart-trouble What 's the Meaning of all that Chequer-work between Christ and his Spouse in the Canticles a Prophecy that reaches through many various Dispensations to the coming of our Lord to work a Total Deliverance for his Chosen as is asserted by Persons of no mean repute in the Church of Christ for Piety and Learning Sometimes hiding himself from her making her sick of Love and sometimes in the strength of his affection towards his Spouse He is Leaping and Skipping towards her Sometimes he Hides himself behind the Wall and again shews himself forth at the Window discovers himself through the Latess Sometimes he quite withdraws himself and is gone yet at last after she had undergone very hard usage from the hands of men the Smitings and Woundings of the Watchmen and the Insulting Robberies of the Keepers of the Wall he meets her and comforts her in his Garden among the beds of Spices What is the Reason of these various Becloudings of his so often hiding and withdrawing himself from his Beloved Surely it's to No other End as the whole current of the Prophecy and the Advantages the Spouse gaines after every casting down will tell us it is but to carry her from Glory to Glory from one Degree of Glory unto another until she be fitted for such a Total Deliverance and Salvation as shall never be clouded more and then the cry is Who is this that cometh up from the Wilderness out of all her Trouble and Wilderness-straits leaning upon her Beloved And now at this time O thou Afflicted tossed with Tempests the fury of men and not yet comforted though the Cloud that is over thee grow darker and darker and this terrible Storm shake all the Pillars of thy fleshly Building yet let it not touch thy Heart with anxious trouble only Believe thy God is the same to thee that ever he was if he withdraw himself it is that he may come again and shew thee greater Mercy 's such as shall never be taken from thee if he hide his face from thee it is that he may fit thee for and shew thee more of his Glory than ever he did before if thine Enemy weaken thee it is that by waiting upon the Lord forsaking thy Idols thou mayest renew thy strength if he Imprison thee in Holes and Corners it is that the Lord may be glorified in fitting thee for it hearing thy Groanings if he appoint thee to Death it is that the Lord may be glorious at the appointed time in loosing those that are appointed to death Nay surely the Lord hath this Gracious End in Afflicting thee at this time viz. To fit thee for a Compleat Salvation that Manifestation of the Sons of God that Glorious Liberty of the Children of God which the Creature Earnestly Expects and the whole Creation Groaneth and Travelleth after yea which the Saints of God who have received the first fruits of the Spirit Groan within themselves for waiting for the Adoption to wit the Redemption of our Bodies Rom. 8.19 21 22 23 v. that being fitted for that Work the Lord hath purposed to do by thee thou mayest go forth to it thrive and prosper in it both in Soul and Body and grow up to a compleat preparation to meet Our Lord when he shall come again without Sin unto Salvation All God's Ends towards thee in all his Dispensations are full of Glory to himself and Salvation to thee Therefore
Lord will perform upon Sion and Jerusalem till which is performed he will not punish the stout heart of the King of Assyria nor burn the Rod with which he is scourging and correcting his People for their unchild-like carriage towards him their Father In which there is 1. A sore Affliction Verse 7. 2. A Cordial to bear up the heart of Jacob from sinking under the severity of the Rod V. 8. 3. The Cause of it Sin implyed in Ver. 9. 4. The End of this Affliction which is two-fold 1. To take this Sin away expressed Ver. 9. And as the proper effect of this 2. To cause Jacob to take root and Israel to blossom and bud Ver. 6. 1. It 's a sore and dreadful Dispensation not only smiting but smiting to blood not only drawing blood letting out a little bad blood but the very Life blood SLAYING Hath he SMITTEN him as he smote those that smote him Or is he SLAIN according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him It 's the same manner of smiting with which Jacob in former times smote his Enemies It 's the same manner of slaying as Jacob shall after he comes out of this cleansing Dispensation slay his Enemies withal For though the Prophet speaks here in the Present tense ARE SLAIN yet of necessity we must refer it to the future for we cannot rationally conceive slain men can slay men Therefore we must look upon this as one of those Scriptures wherein the Lord is pleased to call things that be not as though they were as the Apostle speaks and that out of a gracious design to strengthen our Faith signifying thereby the certainty of the thing that it 's as certain as if it were in present action Poor Jacob goes into by-wayes wayes of his own invention to save his Blood to save his Life and behold he loses it making good that saying of our Lord He that seeks to save his Life shall lose it Sinning Jacob in his Laodicean frame of Spirit cryes out with the sloathful person Prov. 26.13 A Lion is in the Way a Lion is in the Street the Lord would have me pass through and fleeing from this Lion a Bear meets him and tears him and rends him as Amos speaks But lest the drooping Spirits of feeble Jacob should sink and dye under this trying and rending Dispensation under these Bloody smitings his Sin hath brought upon him 2. Here 's a Soveraign Cordial ready to revive him to support him In measure when it shooteth forth thou wilt debate with it He stayeth his Rough wind in the day of the East wind The Lord hath measured out the Affliction of Jacob and meted it in the measure of Grace and Love The end of all is Grace and Love to Jacob that he may be purged from his Iniquity and his Sin taken away that he may be so far from being utterly destroyed as that he may fill the face of the World with Fruit. Yea this very Affliction these smitings and slayings that pass over him shall have the Love of a Father written upon it he shall be able to read a Fathers Love in and through all It shall not be beyond measure but in measure God will not suffer Jacob to be tempted beyond what he is able to bear as the Apostle speaks But fear thou not O my servant Jacob for I am with thee saith the Lord to save thee though I make a full end of all Nations yet will I not make a full end of thee but will correct thee in measure and will not leave thee altogether unpunished and in the LATTER DAYES ye shall consider it Jer. 30.10,11 24. V. When the Affliction hath shot forth to such a measure to such a degree to the working such an Effect which is humbling for and purging from Sin then will the Lord DEBATE with it When the Lord hath finished his whole Work upon Sion then will he Punish the stout heart of the King of Assyria when the Assyrian Rod would carry on the Affliction of Jacob farther than the Lord hath purposed it shall be then will he Debate with it How will he Debate with it He stayeth his Rough Wind in the day of the East Wind. By this Rough Wind I understand the same with the smitings and slayings before mentioned onely by this difference of expression the Lord would have us to understand the purging nature of the Affliction that the Lord will by this Wind by this Affliction as thorowly purge and cleanse his People from their Sin as the Husband-man cleanses his Corn from its Chaff by winnowing it in the Wind. And this Rough Wind these smitings and slayings this sore Affliction will the Lord stay put a stop to But when and how In the day of the East Wind. In that day in which the Lord hath appointed the East Wind to blow which is when the Rough VVind the smitings and slayings the Affliction hath done its work for which it was sent upon Jacob then in that day will the Lord stay this Rough VVind put a stop to these smitings and stayings take away this Affliction And that by The East VVind We shall see what VVind this is that taking place at its appointed time shall stay the preceding Rough VVind if we look into the Type Exod. 14.21 23. Moses stretched out his hand over the Sea and the Lord caused the Sea to go back by a strong East wind all that Night and made the Sea dry Land and the VVaters were divided and the Children of Israel went into the midst of the Sea upon dry Ground and the VVaters were a VVall unto them on their right hand and on their left This East VVind is that which Isaiah saith in his 51. Chapter dryed the Sea the Waters of the great Deep that made the depths of the Sea dividing it a VVay for the Ransomed to pass over and that when the VVaves thereof roared When the Rough VVind the smitings and slayings the present Affliction hath wrought its proper Effect upon Jacob then is the time come and a strong East VVind from the presence of the Lord shall blow and stop the breath of the Rough VVind The Lord will so deal with this Sea of Jacob's trouble the VVaves whereof are roaring upon poor Jacob as that a VVay through the Sea a VVay through the Rough VVind a VVay through the very smitings and slayings of the Enemy shall be made and found out for Jacob to escape And what then The Light of Israel shall be for a fire and his holy One for a flame and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his bryars that are scratching and tearing the flesh of distressed Jacob in one day Chap. 10.17 In ONE day A day known to the Lord even that day wherein he will staying his Rough Wind by his East Wind putting a stop to the Enemie's smiting and slaying of his Jacob healing his VVounds Punish the stout heart of the Assyrian and
is under sore rebuke and trouble as the preceding 17. Verse manifests The Lord waits that he may be gracious Heaven is ready to Save if Earth were but as ready to be Saved There 's no Obligation no tye upon God to shorten his hand to hinder it from Saving if Jacob were but prepared and ready to receive Salvation Therefore saith the Prophet will he be exalted that he may have mercy upon you How will the Lord exalt himself that he may have mercy In Judgement for the Lord is a God of Judgement The Lord will exalt himself and his Glory by his judging of Jacob and while this correcting Judgement is working its natural Effect by the help of the co-working of the mighty Spirit of God in the heart of Jacob he waits to be gracious waits to Save he waits the good hour wherein his Corrections having wrought the desired Effect he may be gracious his Grace may abound above Jacob's Sin in delivering him out of the hands of all his Enemies that he may serve him without fear in Holiness and Righteousness before him all his dayes Thus was it with Jacob in the Wilderness of Old The Lord was ready to give him the Promised Land the Time was come for him to possess it the Iniquity of the Amorites was full the Enemy was ripe for Judgement yea the Lord told him so by the mouth of his two faithful Witnesses Caleb and Joshua Num. 14.8 9. They are bread for us their defence is departed from them and the Lord is with us But Jacob was not ready to receive it his Sin hinders his Possession This is our Case It 's our own Sin and not anothers that hath hindered our Salvation and brought a sore Affliction upon us And that too at a Time when the Lord's hand was not nor is not shortened by any Consideration of a Time or any thing else on his part but is prepared ready to Save It 's only our own Sin that stands in the way of our Salvation it 's that that Causes the present Hidings of the face of our God from us by it we have as it were Caused God to go out of that path of Salvation he was graciously and wonderfully going on in and to steer another course that he may take away our Sin that which hinders his saving of us and to wait till this Let be taken out of the way that he may be gratious unto us and Save us Q. It may be asked What are those sins which have hindered our Salvation by which we have provoked the Lord our Father so severely to chastise us An. I had thoughts to have enlarged upon this Subject but lest I should grieve the Spirits of any and hoping that a word a hint may prove sufficient I shall do no more This SIN which hath brought Affliction upon us which hath provoked the Father of mercies to chastise us with bloody stripes to take it away is that which hath made us both unfit for God to use in and unable to do the Work the Lord hath appointed to be done by his People Any Sin less than such Sin the Lord would have born with and the Intercession of our Mediator would have prevailed for us as the Children of Israel of old in the Wilderness through the Intercession of their Mediator were many times born with and found favour and grace from God till they came to sin that Sin which unfitted them and put them out of a capacity to receive that great Gift of his Grace and favour he was in a readiness to bestow upon them and to do that Work the Lord had to do by them Now I would only Query whether some parts and parcels of this provoking Sin be not these First Love of this Old World This is a killing Sin most pernitious to Jacob's Happiness while this remains he cannot be a fit Instrument for the Lord to use and so not fit for Deliverance See what the Apostle John saith of it 1 Joh. 2.15 Love not the World neither the things that are in the World If any man love the World the Love of the Father is not in him The reason of this the Apostle James tells us Jam. 4.4 The friendship of this VVorld is enmity with God whosoever therefore will be a friend to the VVorld is the Enemy of God How much and how powerful this Sin hath prevailed amongst us and how far it hath hurried us into other provoking Evils every seeing eye and discerning spirit cannot but be sensible of The reasons why I put it upon the Query whether this hath not provoked the Lord to chastise us are 1. Because our Lord Christ doth so severely warn us to take heed of it Luke 21.34 Take heed to your selves lest at any time your hearts be over-charged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this Life and so that day come upon you unawares In these words he hath relation to the two extream conditions men are in in this World Full or Empty either in a full possession of it and so out of abundance of Love and Delight they have to it and take in it they drown themselves therein Or being Empty out of a Love to it they are carefully reaching after the possession of it This he equally warns us of and commands us to watch and pray against upon no less penalty than being not accounted worthy to escape the Judgements of God and to stand before the Son of man when he Comes for when he Comes he will neither have the surfeiting drunken Lover nor the careful Lover of this World to be his Follower This is clearly imployed in the 36. Verse 2. Because our Lord Jesus to express his hatred of this Sin sets forth the wickedness of the VVorld at that Day when he comes in Judgement to it by this Love of this VVorld Luke 17. from the 26. to the 30. V. As it was in the dayes of Noah so shall it be also in the dayes of the Son of man They did eat they drank they married VVives they were given in Marriage until the day that Noah entered into the Ark and the Flood came and destroyed them all Likewise also as it was in the dayes of Lot they did eat they drank they bought they sold they planted they builded but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from Heaven and destroyed them all The bare being exercised about these things Christ here reckons up as the sinful state of the World cannot be his meaning for all these things are either necessary to our Being as eating and drinking or else to our Well-Being in this Life They are such things as at his coming he finds also those exercising themselves about whom yet he takes to himself to follow him leaving the rest to Iudgement They were all eating and drinking and marrying and at the Mill and in the field together as well those that he takes to himself as his own Peculiars