engaged I have not long since met with a People that would eagerly make it their business to compare themselves and a Word together and see where their guilt was and get what light they could into their hearts this be confident of the God of Heaven is considering diligently Jesus Christ this Branch of which we are speaking is observing what is the Fruit of every Mercy as Deut. 32.15 But Jesurun waxed fat and kicked thou art grown thick thou art covered with fatness then he forsook God which made him and lightly esteemed the Rock of his Salvation when God had done much for him he considers how he had carried it but he found sad effects of all Jesurun waxed fat and kicked I would the goodness of God to us should have some more kindly reception and entertainment Now that which I shall do for the present shall not be to clear it up to you that Christ hath gotten ground upon you for as to that I shall refer you to what is spoken already but to lay some few things before you that may convince you if really you are short and wanting in this blessed issue af your Escape If really this effect be not wrought upon your hearts it will appear by these four or five things and I beg you to consider them seriously 1. If in the day when the Rod of God hung more eminently over your heads you were not considering and pondering what effect it should work and if the Spirit of God were not teaching and instructing your Souls that it was to produce a greater esteem of Christ in your hearts then I fear it is not done I fear Christ hath no more of you then he was wont to have You know this that God with his Correction is wont to give Instruction therefore saith the Psalmist Psal 94.12 Blessed is the man whom thou Chastenest and Teachest out of thy Law God is wont to tell the Soul where it is wanting what he calls for and what he would have wrought in the heart So Job 36 9 10. Then he sheweth them their Work and their Transgressions that they have exceeded he openeth also their Ears unto Discipline and commandeth that they return from iniquity He speaks here about a Day of Affliction and truly if the Lord hath not been teaching you and shewing you that you were wanting in your esteem of Christ it is much to be questioned he is not become glorious David Psal 119.67 said Before I was afflicted I went astray but now have I kept thy Word how came he to be brought in unto God to walk with him and keep his Word and his Way better then he was wont to do God had been shewing him that he was out of the way and where he should be and so brought him in again Commune with your own hearts my Friends faithfully have you sat like Stocks and Stones under the Visitations of God when his Rod was upon others and threatned you Had you any of the Visits of God Were your Souls exercising themselves at a spiritual rate Did God make any approaches unto you Or did you live in that time without God If you did I fear you are without him still 2. If your souls have not been pressing after Christ and longing for a better frame towards him longing for an higher esteem of him it is doubtful the esteem of him is not raised in your souls such an esteem of Christ is not a frame that useth to steal upon the heart it knows not how It is for the most part the issue of much care and pains and great diligence and if thy soul hath been wanting herein it is to be feared that the interest of Christ is not to any great degree promoted in thee Some souls find sin very apt to creep in do they what they can and that it is a work a hard work to keep it down nor is it less difficult to encrease in our esteem of Christ Phil. 3. Paul would know more of Christ and the power of his Resurrection what course did he take in order to it saith he I go forward and I press on to the mark for the price of the high Calling of God in Christ Jesus He set himself unto the work with great diligence How have you been exercising your selves have you been crying unto the Lord in secret wrestling and pleading with him that he would carry on the Love of his Son in you What was it you asked of the Lord was it meerly to be kept from the evil of the day or that the work of Christ might be promoted in you by your escape If your hearts have not been exercised this way I fear the Branch of the Lord is not become glorious unto you though you are escaped 3. If in your Escape your great care is how to repair and piece up those outward dammages that you have sustained by this Visitation the Interest of Christ I fear hath not much gained in you possibly many of you may be sensible you have sustained outward dammages by this day if your hearts are only contriving how you may make up those breaches made upon your outward concerns you are not where you should be I fear many this day will be like to the Seamen and Mariners who after a storm when a calm comes they are busie in patching up their tackling and repairing the dammages the Vessel hath sustained by the storm but not so carefull to consider who hath preserved them in the storm and brought them to a calm but this is a bad frame if thou beest gained upon by Christ thou wilt say What shall I render unto the Lord for all his kindness To which add 4. If thy heart in this time of thy Escape be not affected w th that unkind usage which Christ meets with from many escaping-ones I shall fear that thou thy self also dost not use him kindly nor prize him much the more though thou hast an Escape from his goodness doubtless Christ meets with much unkindness from some that have escaped How many in an Atheistical spirit this day live as if there were no after-state nor eternal judgment as they 1 Cor. 15. cry Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall dye they have learned to know that Death hangs over their heads therefore what will they do why serve their lusts as much as they can make use of their time as they call it though it be to abuse time and turn the grace of God into wantonness Now when thou hast heard things how is it with thee If Christ hath gotten ground within thee these things will pierce thine heart The evil of wicked men is a great grief unto the Saints therefore it is said 2 Pet. 2. Righteous Lot was vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked his righteous soul was vexed in hearing and seeing the dishonour that was done unto the Lord it was a burthen to him And so David saith Wo is me that I
from all your Idols will I cleanse you a new Heart also will I give you and a new Spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a Heart of flesh There are them who are really impure and grievously polluted and yet think all is well with them witness that known word Prov. 14.12 13. There is a Generation that is pure in their own eyes and yet is not washed from their filthiness There is a Generation O how lofty are their eyes and their eye-lids are lifted up There are some Souls greatly confident of their own purity and yet defiled wofully While they boast of their freedom and brag of their purity and are crying to others it may be Stand by thy self for I am holier then thou they become after this Servants to Corruption Others there are in whom a cleansing-work is really begun but because there are some remains of corruption in their Souls it fills their hearts so much with grief and blinds their eyes so much that they cannot see the cleansing that is begun To clear this therefore I must tell you That where there is really heart-purity there is much of the love of purity If thou hast not attained what of it thou wouldest yet thy heart is really in love with it Prov. 22.11 He that loveth pureness of Heart for the grace of his Lips the King shall be his Friend There are a People it may be have not attained to that pureness of heart they would do but yet pureness of heart they love and Grace is poured into their Lips to such the King will be a Friend they shall find a Friend of Christ and he will not be ashamed to own them in the day of his greatest Glory when the Crown shall be set upon his Head Not a Soul in whom purity is but he is pressing after it in greater measure though he has not attained it yet he does not sit down and cry There is no hope for me but he is going forward and pressing after more of the Image of God to be implanted in his Soul Now what is the answer of your Hearts Can you from hence conclude comfortably you are some of Gods Israel Are the lusts that boil up in your hearts fomented and cherished favoured and allowed served and pleased If so it is sad with you If you lie in the bosom of any Lust as in the lap of a Delilah if thou sayest of any sin in thy Soul as sometimes Lot said concerning his Zoar I cannot escape to the Mountains but there is a City near is it not a little one let me flee thither and I shall live All the Cities of the Plain were doomed to destruction at that day but Lot was earnest to prevail for the saving of one little City that he might delight himself in it There is not a lust in thy Soul but it is doomed to destruction and God requires it should be put to death but possibly thou sayest of it O spare it it is a little one Let me be faithful to thee and tell thee that that sin will be enough to race out thy name out of the Catalogue of the Israel of God and when others will stand with comfort that have escaped this day thou wilt be ashamed and confounded 3. Art thou of the Israel of God Then thou art one that hast learned in some measure to live upon God As it is the certain property of so it is a great excellency in the Israel of God that they live upon him and this was as eminently found in Jacob as ever in any one of the Servants of the Lord When he was going to Padan Aram not knowing what should befall him observe how he speaks Gen. 28.20 Jacob vowed a Vow saying If God will be with me and keep me in this way that I go and will give Bread to eat and Rayment to put on c. The great thing about which he was solicitous was that he might have the presence of God He had a little before in this Chapter a most glorious Vision of God and I must confess Visions of God are exceeding effectual to teach and work up the heart to a living upon God and what does Jacob now say If he might have but God to live upon a very little of other matters should content him Bread to eat somewhat that might support his nature and Rayment to put on enough to cover him and keep him warm he doth not say If I may have Varieties and Dainties to eat and may be decked in costly Apparel no but onely Bread to eat and Rayment to put on If I can have but God a little of the World will serve my turn This is the Spirit of Israel and that with which I doubt very few are acquainted I must crave leave to put this to all your Souls and ask you what is the answer of your hearts Can you say upon good grounds as the Church of God sometimes said The Lord is my Portion saith my Soul Lam. 3.24 Suppose should Satan take you as once he did Christ and set you upon a high Mountain and shew you the Kingdoms of the World and the Glory of them and tell you All these things you shall have if you will forgo and part with God What would the answer of your hearts be in that case Suppose Christ should come and say to you If you will have a part in me you must expect trouble you shall be hated of all men for my Names sake yea the Parents from whose Bowels ye sprang shall turn against you Can you say Amen so be it Let me have the Lord for my Portion and I can forgo all other things whatsoever This is Israel's Spirit and so far as it â—s thus with you it is right What excellency have you seen in the Lord at any time How have your hearts been taken with him What are the workings of your Souls toward him What are you labouring after Is it that you may know God and enjoy him What is it doth relieve you in the time of your straights Is it this that the Lord is yours It was David's comfort when all went against him when Ziklag was burnt his Wives and all were taken and the People spake of stoning him he then encouraged himself in the Lord his God What is it that sweetens all your enjoyments to you Is it this That you have a part in that which is better then all these that you have a part in the Lord and he is become your God and Father in Christ Happy yea thrice happy are you that can say as once David did The Lord hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure and this is my Salvation and this is all my Joy But O unhappy they who are not able to subsist without their Thousands and look upon themselves as undone for ever if worldly Interest runs but
and Aaron took as Moses commanded him and ran into the midst of the Congregation behold the plague was begun among the People and he put on Incense and made an atonement and stood between the dead and the living and the Plague was stayed Aaron he was the High Priest and in that Office a great Type of Christ and in this action a great Type of Christ also it is he by his intercession and mediation steps in between the Living and the Dead if thou art not fallen among them that fall it is because this Aaron hath stept in to thy help because he hath rescued thee and been a Preservation unto thee The 68th Psalm is a Psalm applicable to Christ witness that passage in the 18th verse Thou hast ascended up on high thou hast led captivity captive and received Gifts for men yea for the rebellious also that the Lord God might dwell among them This you know is spoken of and applied unto Christ by the Apostle in the Epistle to the Ephesians Chap. 4. mark now what follows in this 68th Psalm vers 26. He that is our God is the God of Salvation and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death This is also spoken of Christ unto him belong the issues from death so that if thou art spared and saved in a day of slaughter it is from the Lord thou must say thou hast had this issue from death That which I drive at is this that you may not lose my design Have you not cause great cause to see that the Branch of the Lord by your escape be rendered so much the more excellent and comely to you since what escape you have is through him if you are preserved it is by Christ unto whom you are beholding for your preservation 3. Further The escaping of slaughter should render the Lord beautiful and glorious to you seeing it is from him that thou hast not onely thy Escaping but the Good of thy Escape not onely the Thing it self but the Mercy with it by him it is blessed unto you if it be blessed Some there are and O unhappy they unto whom every thing is accursed Psal 69.22 Let their Table become a snare before them and that which should have been for their welfare let it become a trap Every enjoyment is a snare unto some The curse of the Lord is in the House of the Wicked Prov. 3.33 Some men though they have houses to hide their heads in and it may be many things in them that look like mercies they are yet curses to them possibly their houses are full of the things of this World Waters of a full Cup may be rung out unto them their Eyes may stand out with fatness and they may have more then Heart can wish they may have Basket and Store and yet be cursed both in the Basket and in the Store it may be their Houses are full of Children and the Substance they leave is left unto their Babes as is the Psalmists expression but they are cursed also in the fruit of their Womb it may be Health and Life are within their Walls not one sick not one dead all preserved and well but yet it is not well for this their preservation is not blessed Let me tell you that read these lines As God smites some in anger in anger also sometimes he forbears to smite therefore in Isa 1.5 Why should you be smitten any more It was a word of great displeasure The escaping of some may be cursed unto them but if thy escape be blessed unto thee and thou hast it and the mercy with it thou art beholding unto Christ for both Some are preserved in love sweet is that expression and happy they that can say so Isa 38.17 Behold for peace I had great bitterness but thou hast in love to my Soul delivered it from the pit of corruption He was not onely delivered from the pit of corruption but delivered in love unto his Soul in a way of mercy and special kindness happy they that can say Thou hast given me this escape in love to my Soul But how comes a Soul to have such a Deliverance and to have it in love too from that general word Gen. 22.18 there is the fountain-head from whence our mercies flow In thy Seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be bâ—essed in Abraham's Seed meaning Christ all the Blessings come that come upon the World Whatever comes to thee or me if it come as a Blessing it is through the Seed of Abraham and upon that score we are to place it Now if thou do'st escape and this Escape be sanctified unto thee and all this be but Fruit growing upon this Branch of the Lord should not thy Escape render the Lord Jesus the more amiable to thy Soul 4. Thou hast not onely the mercy of thy Escape from Christ but skill to walk under it becomingly Vain man would be wise though he is born as the wild Asses Colt untoward untractable good for nothing unruly and perverse and if there be any thing of Wisdom given him it is from this fountain 1 Cor. 1.30 it is Christ that is made of God unto us Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption it is in him are hid all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge and from him communicated and given down unto poor Creatures as Paul Phil. 4.12 13. saith I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need I can do all things through Christ that strengthneth me that is I can do all wisely I can use and manage every Providence rightly and how canst thou do this Paul Through Christ that strengthens me So to use Afflictions and Distresses Miseries and Mercies becomingly thy strength is in Christ and from him it must be communicated unto thee and therefore the sence of this should much endear Christ unto thy Soul that not only the Mercy of an Escape is from him but also Wisdom to use and rightly to manage it To which adde 5. That by Jesus Christ this Branch of the Lord we have not onely an Escape in time of common Calamity but greater and better things which by our Escape we may be led unto the consideration and meditation of Certain it is that through this Branch of the Lord we have salvations of more kinds then one in that 68th Psalm vers 20. where it is said He that is our God is the God of Salvation Junius renders it thus He is a God powerful to all kindes of Salvation or as the Hebrew is He is the God of Salvations in the plural number So is it with Souls that have really Grace and Mercy from Christ they have Salvations of divers sorts they have Salvation from Sin from that power and dominion that sin is wont to have in the Soul they are wonderfully by Christ delivered
make the fall of his Servants of greater use then their standing on Earth could have been be confident God resolveth to make the most of every one of his People they are precious unto him and shall not lightly fall to the Earth but if they do fall it shall be because he knows how to make their fall promote his glory as in Martyrdom the death of a Saint furthers the interest of Christ more then his living could do and so it is here God by this means vindicates his own Holiness when he lets a Saint fall in a Calamity he doth abundantly evidence his own Holiness to the World and let men see that if sin be found in his own he will punish it and that sharply even to a temporal death which is a high testimony of Gods purity and contrariety unto all sin A notable word you have Exod. 23.20 21. Behold I send an Angel before thee to keep thee in the way and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared beware of him and obey his voice provoke him not for he will not pardon your transgressions for my Name is in him Observe the Angel here is the Lord Jesus who hath the command of Life and Death he sometimes cuts off some of his own People because sin is found upon them he will not pardon but he will cut off and why The Name of the Lord is upon him he must vindicate Gods Honour his Holiness and for this end lets some of his People fall And truly this is use enough that God makes of his People if he pleaseth thus to deal with them This in answer to my first Objection Obj. 2. But how is the fall of Gods People in a common Calamity consistent with his Promise of special Preservation One such Promise you have in that famous place Psal 91.9 10. Because thou hast made the Lord which is my Refuge even the most High thy habitation there shall no evil befall thee nor shall any Plague come nigh thy dwelling and another such-like Promise you have Deut. 7.15 And the Lord will take away from thee all Sickness and will put none of the evil Diseases of Egypt which thou knowest upon thee but will lay them upon all them that hate thee How doth the Lords cutting off some of his People consist with these Promises Answ To that I answer These Promises are conditional as is evident and if we keep not the condition annexed to those Promises God is not bound to fulfil them in the Letter for that word in the 91st Psalm No Plague shall come nigh their dwelling I have hinted already that it may be taken otherwise then just according to the letter and where he saith No Plague it may be taken thus The Plague of the Plague shall not come nigh thy dwelling the Cause of it and wrath it shall not come into thy dwelling but take it as a Promise of special particular preservation and it is a Promise with a Condition the Condition is in the 9th vers Because thou hast made the Lord which is my Refuge even the most High thy habitation The Condition is abundance of Faith living in and living upon God and a little Unbelief one step awry in a way of Unbelief may forfeit thy interest in and good by this Promise and that is soon done It is a rare thing for a man to live in and upon the Lord to make him our Habitation at all times The Soul that doth not live up to the Condition may forfeit the Mercy promised As for that word Deut. 7. it is a Promise on Condition also the Condition of the Promise you find vers 12. Wherefore it shall come to pass if you hearken unto these Judgements and keep and do them that the Lord thy God shall keep unto thee the Covenant and the Mercy which he sware unto thy Fathers but now if any of the Lords People be found turning aside to crooked paths the Lord may lead them forth with the Workers of Iniquity to fall by the same stroke with them Obj. 3. If it be objected But these Dealings are not suitable unto the ancient Dealings of God with his own People for God hath sometimes been wont to cut down Sinners but spare his Saints Abraham hints so much in his pleading with God Gen. 18.23 24 25. Wilt thou also destroy the Righteous with the Wicked peradventure there be fifty Righteous within the City wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty Righteous that are therein that be far from thee to do after this manner to slay the Righteous with the Wicked and that the Righteous should be as the Wicked that be far from thee should not the Judge of all the Earth do right and also that Exod. 12.29 30. where God cuts off the first-born of Egypt from the first-born of Pharaoh that sat on his Throne unto the first-born of the Captive that was in the Dungeon but not a hair of the head fell from any in Israel and he cuts them off by the Plague Answ For answer to this plainly thus Let the Scriptures and Cases be rightly considered and you shall find the answer easie In that case Gen. 18. where Abraham pleads for Mercy for Sodom because of the Righteous he doth suppose though Sodom was a wicked place there might be many found in Sodom that did not fall in with the abominations of that place for which God was coming to destroy them and by Righteous Ones he may mean those that were free in agreat measure from the crying Abominations for which God was coming to punish Now if the People of God do stand clear from all those Abominations for which he contends with a People then truly God will hardly cut them off but if he find them committing the sins for which he punisheth he may then suffer them to fall among them that fall This was the case in Egypt God comes forth to execute Judgements upon the Oppressors of his People the guilt was not in them they were onely the Sufferers therefore being free from the Sin God exempts them from any part in the suffering Which may be enough for answer to that Objection Obj. 4. If it be said But Israels Fall hath disappointed the Faith of many of the Lords People have not many of the Saints verily believed that the Lords People should not have been touched but God would distinguish between them and others Answ To that I answer That the confidence and expectation of some may be made void but God will not fail the Faith of any God fails no mans Faith if his Faith do not fail There is a vast difference between Confidence Expectation and Faith Faith is a rare thing a choice Plant and I believe it doth not spring forth into act even in the Garden of the Saints themselves as we are apt to imagine we many times think a groundless Confidence real Faith You shall find the expectation of a