set up for these stand in opposition to each other it must be the fall of the one that must raise the other the Dispensations of God are directed unto the destruction of Sin in the hearts of his People if he correct it is a Rod to whip out the Folly bound up in their Hearts and he hath said that the fruit of such Providences should be the taking away of sin Isa 27.9 By this shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged and this is all the fruit to take away his Sin If he shew kindness it is to destroy sin to purge that out of the Heart Ezek. 36.25 26. Then will I sprinkle clean Water upon you and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness and 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 take away the stony heart and give you a heart of flesh It relates unto them that should escape publick Calamities which should be attended with the purging away of Sin and if you can say that sin is fallen in your love it is to be hoped Christ is raised It is between Sin and Christ as it was between the House of David and Saul 2 Sam. 3.1 There was long war between the House of Saul and the House of David but David waxed stronger and stronger and the House of Saul weaker and weaker as the House of Saul weakened so the House of David strengthened as Sin weakens in the Soul Christ getteth ground I may say of the lusts that are in the Soul as God sometimes said concerning Amalek 1 Sam. 15.3 Go and smite Amalek and utterly destroy all that they have and spare them not but slay both Man and Woman Infant and Suckling Camel and Ass the Lusts in the heart are destined unto utter destruction God would have them killed and not one spared not an Agag left alive I would put the question unto you the Lord help you to put it home to your Souls You that are escaped is all slain in your Souls that is wont to stand up against Christ is there not an Agag spared I wish if you say that Sin is killed the Lord may not say unto you as Samuel said to Saul vers 14. What then means the bleating of the Sheep and the lowing of the Oxen in mine ears What means that pride passion earthly-mindedness in the heart of the People of God if Sin be not brought down Christ is not exalted if Sin be where it was Christ is where he was the Branch of the Lord is not made beautiful and glorious though his kindness should have had that effect upon you 3. If you can say that are escaped That the Saints are become more precious unto you it is to be hoped that Christ is become so also Many Souls have had very precious thoughts of Saints great esteem of them much love for them Psal 16.1 My goodness extends not to thee but unto the Saints and to the Excellent in whom is all my delight Now love to Saints increaseth according as your love to Christ encreaseth thou canst not love a Saint until thou hast first loved Christ Col. 1.4 Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love that ye have to all Saints love to Saints followed faith in Christ I remember a good Soul that hath been lately telling me that this was his constant experience According as my Soul grows in love to Christ so it grows in love to Saints Even as when the Springs grow higher you may conclude a fulness of water in the place from whence they are fed so if the Saints are more precious then they were wont to be he that is the Fountain of all grace it is to be presumed hath let in more of himself into thy Soul Many of you that read these things possibly have been wont to be the Companions of them that fear the Lord and have met and conversed with them but how have they been in your hearts have they been dear have they lodged in your Bosom it may be some will complain Our Souls have not been so knit unto them as they should have been but can you say That fault is somewhat amended since the Lord hath shown you kindness and not onely mark'd you for but blest you with preserving-mercy 4. Thou mayst hope thy Soul is growing in its love unto Christ if thou canst say since thy Escape thy Soul hungers more after Communion with him then it was wont to do The natural issue of Love is to desire Enjoyment and according as thy desires of enjoyment of communion with Christ are so is thy love unto Christ of this thou mayst be confident Many Souls that go up and down from one Duty to another have not their hearts inflamed with holy desires to meet with Christ in ways of Duty and therefore it is said of some Their Oblations were vain that is because not directed unto their proper ends The Lord Isa 64.5 hath promised that he would meet with them that rejoyce and work Righteousness that remember Him in their ways They that would see the Lord meet with him and hold fellowship with him they shall be delighted in his Approaches unto them How is thy heart if the Branch of the Lord be more glorious unto thee thou wilt more desire and breathe after communion with God Says the Spouse I sought him whom my Soul loveth I hope I write to some that know what communion with Christ means it is that that all understand not it is a Riddle to many I fear to some professing Ones If thou art taught of God and Christ hath to do with thy spirit and thou art really a gainer by thy escape thou dost encrease in longings after communion with Christ 5. Hereby it will appear that the Branch of the Lord is become beautiful and glorious unto thee who art escaped in this day of Distress if there be a great care upon thy heart to be found living up unto every Duty which Christ requires and calls for at the hands of them that are escaped every Mercy is a Call to Duty lays an obligation upon the heart to some Duties or other so this eminent Mercy of Preservation in the midst of slaughtering-Providences hath a loud Call from Christ to live in an hearty respect unto some especial Duties that are enjoyned thee which are such as these 1. It is the requirement of Christ That after thou art escaped a Calamity thou consider seriously and seriously lay unto heart and mourn for whatever provocation might cause him to shake the Rod over thee this is certain that the time of our escape as well as our distress should make us seriously to consider and having considered to mourn over whatever abominations may have occasioned the Lord to come forth at such a rate Scripture hath more then a little to say for this Ezek. 36.31 Then shall you remember your
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
of that number But you will say How may I gather some comfortable grounded conclusions that I am one of the Israel of God I am an Escaped One this day and would not be willing that I should be stript of the blessing of this Blessing I would have the Mercy in mercy and therefore how may I come to some comfortable hope that I really am a Jew inwardly and partake of the circumcision that is of the Heart whose praise is not of man but of God I answer in a few things the Lord make them really effectual upon your Souls 1. If thou art one of Israel thou art one of another Spirit then the men of this world the Israel of God they are a distinct People separate from the rest of the Earth and separated in their Spirits eminently in another Spirit then the men of this world be What is said concerning Caleb Numb 14.24 is truly applicable to every one of Israel in some measure But my Servant Caleb because he had ANOTHER SPIRIT with him and hath followed me fully c. There were abundance of Israelites in the Camp at that day but few of them were in the frames they should be in Caleb was of another Spirit and such is every Saint The Searcher of all hearts knows that there is a difference between him and the world Not a Saint in the world but hath some ground to make an appeal to God as sometimes the Psalmist doth Search me and try me and know my thoughts and to appeal to the Lord as sometimes Jeremiah did Thou knowest my heart towards thee O Lord. Isaac had been begging Seed for his Rebecca because she had been long barren at length it is said There was strugling in her Womb she wondered what it should mean but see what answer the Spirit of God makes her Gen. 25.22 23. And the Lord said Two Nations are in thy Womb and two manner of People shall be separated from thy Bowels and the one People shall be stronger then the other People and the Elder shall serve the Younger The two manner of People were Jacob and Esau and I bring this to tell you that Jacob who was after named Israel and so all in the same Spirit with him they are another manner of People as it were another Nation another thing then the men of this world are there is an eminent difference and distinction between Esau and Israel they are of different Spirits and of a different language as several Nations differing one from another 1 Cor. 2.12 The Apostle tells us We have not received the Spirit of the World but the Spirit which is of God This he speaks concerning the Saints of God they have received not the Spirit of the World but another Spirit distinct and different from them Brethren I would put it to your Consciences and would ask you what the answer of your Souls is What ground have you to conclude that there is another Spirit in you then that which is in the World It may be your practices are somewhat other then the practices of the World are but grant it be so yet if you are not in another Spirit also if the inward frame and constitution of your Souls do not differ you will not be found among the Israel of God in the conclusion Ah my Friends possibly some of your Practices may not vary from the men of the World possibly you can be vain with them that are vain and prophane with them that are prophane if it be thus with you you must reckon your selves to be of the brood of Esau to this day Observe the words of the Apostle Rom. 12.2 And be not conformed to this World but be ye transformed by the renewing of your minds What say you Are you conformed to this World Do you drive the trade and take the course that the men of this World do Are you vain and frothy and foolish giving up your selves to serve divers lusts Youth is subject to be so and if it be thus with you you are not of Israel to this day But if you say We are not of this World we do not act as they do we do not live as they do then let me ask you Are you transformed It is well not to be conformed to this World but that is not enough you must be transformed and your Spirits renewed you must be of another Spirit then the men of this World I would beseech you to look well to your hearts and commune with your Souls and do it not slightly I know many and would wail over them that notwithstanding their profession for God and their talking much of him and being high in an external owning of God yet in their walking and therefore sure much more in their spirits they vary little from the men of this World If it be thus with you though you are escaped this day yet you cannot comfortably conclude you are of the Israel of God or that you shall bear a part in that mercy and good they shall enjoy when the Branch of the Lord shall be glorious 2. Are you Israel indeed then there is somewhat of Heart-cleanness in you there is somewhat of cleanness of Heart and purity of Soul in you Thus the Psalmist describes the Israel of God Psal 73.1 Truly God is good to Israel even to them that are of a clean Heart God is good to Israel he loves them they are exceeding dear to him and because they are dear to him therefore it is he is good to them But who are the Israel They are a certain sort of People that do not onely put on an external garb of Holiness a pretence for God and his work and service and glory but a People that have some inward conformity and likeness to God who have some cleanness of heart as well as of hands and face Man by nature is a very impure creature polluted grievously defiled all over all the Soul all the Powers and Faculties of it are stained and grievously polluted and therefore Sinners are in Scripture called the Impure and Saints by way of distinction from them are called Pure A sad account it is that the Apostle gives of Sinners Tit. 1.15 To the pure all things are pure but to the undefiled and unbelieving is nothing pure and their very consciences are defiled Jesus Christ describing the persons that shall see God to their comfort and joy he calls them the pure in heart Mat. 5.8 Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God Many there are that would pretend to this purity but it is peculiar and proper to the Israel of God onely it is the issue and fruit of a new work upon the heart it is the blessed effect of the Grace of God in and through the Covenant of Grace the making good of the Promise which he hath passed Ezek. 36.25 26. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and you shall be clean from all your filthiness and
dwells in me that I cannot think the Lord has been effectually at work upon my Soul That the work of the Gospel is to purifie the heart is plain from Joh. 17.17 Sanctifie them through thy Truth thy Word is truth so 1 Pet. 1.22 Seeing ye have purified your hearts in obeying the Truth thorow the Spirit unto unfained love to the Brethren The Gospel if it works it works to the purifying of the heart Answer As it is a work of the Gospel to cleanse and purifie the heart so it is not all the work it does nor is it the first work it doth nor the work that is first manifest upon the Soul The Law it humbles the sinner and makes him see his need of Christ the first work of the Gospel is to give the sinner hope that he may be delivered out of his undone condition and the next is to make him willing to subject to and accept of the Grace of God in the Gospel Psal 110.3 Thy People shall be willing in the day of thy Power Therefore Soul if thou dost make this Objection this I would say to thee Consider whether thou canst find that the Gospel hath done its first work upon thy heart hath made thee willing to accept of Grace in the Gospel-way and to bow and fall at the foot of Jesus Christ As to thy Holiness the holiness of thy heart will at first discover it self hardly by any other ways then by thy love to Holiness then by thy hatred of Sin and thy fighting against the Corruptions that be in thy Soul thy Conquest and Victory over Sin must be the work of time the fruit of much pains and long waiting many excellent Souls have not attained unto this Paul himself found impurity remaining and Corruption like to bear him down and therefore cries out O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this Body of Death But then Objection 3. The Soul objects and says But I have been but a little time under any Soul-Work and therefore I may soon be mistaken I may reckon I am an Israelite and may be but an Edomite still for it is but a little while that I have had any workings upon my heart I have gone indeed from Duty to Duty for a long time together but I have sat in and under them like a Stock or a Stone and moved not and therefore whether the Workings that are upon me are genuine or whether they be spurious and not of the right kind I know not Answer I answer therefore The work of Grace upon the heart is wrought in a little time a little time doth it there are indeed many preparations to it the Soul may fall under many convictions and many struglings may be in the heart of a poor creature before the new Creature is formed but Grace is infused into the heart in a moment at once It is the Devils design to oppose young Converts and puzzle them with endless questions about their state I would therefore that thou shouldst consult for thy satisfaction which way is the bent of thy Soul Canst thou say thy desire is for Communion with God for fellowship with Father Son and Spirit Thou wouldst fain see him who is invisible and fain wouldst know him whom to know is Eternal Life If the bent of thy heart be really for God it is bent and bowed though it hath not been long with God thou mayest conclude I think with some comfort the Lord hath been at work upon thy Soul and thou art one of the Israel of God though thou art but a little one of that Tribe But then Objection 4. Says the Soul Many of much longer standing and of much more raised confidence have afterwards miscarried and it has appeared that their Souls have not been right with God and therefore my heart trembles lest I should not be an Israelite indeed Answer To this I would answer That indeed it is so and it may be thought of with sorrow of heart that many Souls after long profession have been but empty Vines bringing forth fruit onely to themselves And happy is he that by other mens harms learns to beware A holy fear and jealousie over thy heart is very good and there is great cause for it considering the many and great miscarriages that are among Professors They say of Trees that are well rooted being shaken with the Wind they are made to root the better It may be thus may thy Temptations touching thy state be if thou art rooted in Christ thy Temptations may be for thy further setling in thy state But yet to be always perplexing thy self with questions about thy state may not onely marre thy comfort but may spoil thee in thy growth also and may prove a great hindrance to thee My poor thoughts are therefore these Be sure to make use enough of Christ see thy All in him that he is thy Righteousness for Justification and that from him is the work of thy Sanctification he must begin it and it is he also that must carry it on lie at his foot live upon him and let all thy expectations be from him and whoever may fall I think thou wilt stand and wilt be found one of the Israel of God that shall be made glorious in the day of Christs Glory I am perswaded if thou canst do as is hinted in Isa 45. ult see thy Righteousness in him and thy Strength in him and canst glory in Christ it is a good ground to thee to hope that thou art of the Israel of God with whom it is like for ever to go well Objection 5. The Soul may object and say further But alas I have had few Visions of God and that makes me fear Israel of old had many and he had sometimes very glorious Visions that did greatly comfort and strengthen and bear up his Soul Answer I answer That visions of God indeed are exceeding sweet very sweet but the dispensing and giving them forth is in the hand of God and he must do it how and when he pleaseth and it is good in his sight sometimes to let his own People sit in darkness and see no light Hast thou seen the face of God at any time If thou hast had but some Visions of him though not so many as thou wouldst yet it is ground of rejoycing to thee and thou oughtest from thence to conclude much to thy own comfort A little hint of Good Will is given in to be lived upon in after times However which way is it thy Soul does press Art thou waiting for the manifestation of the love of God in Christ Are these the things which thou art seeking of together with a Conformity to the mind and will of God If so thou hast cause of Thankfulness and Joy Briefly Watch against those devices of Satan whereby he labours to do thee hurt and put thee besides thy present proper work Thou art one of them that are escaped this day and God