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
from that bondage and Christ had therefore his Name Jesus Mat. 1.21 Because he shall save his People from their sins Though the Canaanites may dwell in the Land they shall become tributary they shall not sit at the Stern turning the Soul which way they please Christ brings Salvation from Hell he hath the Key of David that shuts and no man openeth and opens and no man shuts he delivereth from wrath to come 1 Thes 1.10 Salvation from sin and the most dismal issues and consequences thereof and from a temporal deliverance the Soul hath occasion to consider and think of these Salvations Psal 103. I suppose might be penn'd upon the occasion of some temporal deliverance for this reason because the Psalmist saith in the fourth verse The Lord did heal his diseases and redeemed his life from destruction what doth this make the Psalmist think of in vers 3. Who forgiveth all thine iniquities who healeth all thy diseases it made him think of pardoning Grace and greater Mercy that he was made partaker of through the Lords bounty and goodness Hezekiah from his temporal deliverance was raised to think of some higher pieces of kindness Isa 38.17 Thou hast in love to my Soul delivered it from the pit of corruption for thou hast cast all my sins behind my back Now if from this Branch of the Lord you have this fruit not onely of an Escape from temporal evil but freedom also from greater and the escape from temporal ones help to raise up the Soul to consider its interest in higher things then your Escape it self should render Christ more dear and precious to you then he hath been in times past This therefore may serve for the ground of the point why the Soul should from its Escape have higher Thoughts of Christ I come now to the second thing propounded for prosecution of this Doctrine When may a poor heart have some cause to conclude its Escape hath this effect attending it That it is accompanied with more precious thoughts of this Branch of the Lord I answer to it in five things 1. If in thy Escape thou findest thy heart more crucified unto the World that it is gotten out of thy heart beyond what it was it is to be hoped the Branch of the Lord grows in thy heart and flourisheth more then it did Methinks it is with the heart of a poor Creature with respect to Christ and the World as it is between the Sea and Land the Sea sometimes breaks out and overflows much of the Earth you can very hardly recover any Land out of the Sea and be able to fence it out or if you do it is at every turn ready to break in again and swallow up all that hath been recovered out of it this World breaks in like a Sea and swallows up the hearts of many poor Creatures it drinks up their Souls Eccles 3.11 Also he hath set the World in their Hearts the World is so rooted in them that it over-runs them Some are called in Scripture the men of this World Psal 17.14 From men of this World which have their portion in this life and they are called the Men of this World because there is nothing else they love and delight in How hard a thing is it for Christ to get ground upon the Heart so as to sence out this World witness that case Luk. 18. when one comes unto Christ and saith Good Master what shall I do to inherit eternal Life he bid him at last ver 22. Go sell all thou hast and distribute unto the Poor and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven and come and follow me and when he heard this he was very sorrowful for he was very rich Some of whom it is hoped sometimes are recovered out of the World and the World in some good measure fenced out of their hearts that one would think there were no great danger of its returning yet it again breaks in like a torrent and carries them away so that all their Profession comes to nothing This World is a Sea that drowns thousands thousands of Professors are by it born down headlong yet some through the power of Christ over-come the World 1 John 5.4 Who ever is born of God overcometh the world and this is the victory we have over the World even our Faith Then the World is said to be overcome when it is fallen in a mans esteem and love when a Soul is convinced what Idolatry it is for this World to rule in the heart for Covetousness is Idolatry when the Soul comes to see that all below is empty perishing and vain and that that fades in the very using then it is overcome in some good measure Now Soul if thou canst say that thy Escape in the day in which God frowned upon the World hath made thee see all to be vanity and vexation of Spirit and that thy heart is an entertainment for something more noble it is to be hoped that Christ hath gained upon thee Psal 45.10 11. Hearken O Daughter and consider and encline thine ear forget also thine own Kindred and thy Fathers House so shall the King greatly desire thy Beauty for he is thy Lord and worship thou him You must not worship the World then you worship it when it hath that place in the Heart that Christ should only possess but if the love of this World be rooted out it is to be hoped that the love unto Christ hath expelled it and the sight of Christ more excellent hath made thee trample upon these terrene objects It was Moses his ardent love unto Christ that made him esteem the reproaches of Christ greater riches then the treasures of Egypt Heb. 11.26 It was his value for Christ made him under-value these things I desire I might reach every of your Consciences that read these lines if God will own me so far I would urge it upon you We are yet escaped through infinite mercy hath your escaping had this effect to raise up in you higher thoughts of Christ than formerly Can you witness it by this evidence You are possibly some of you those that have had much to do in the World and concernments of it if you have not been entangled by it and found that it hath been very apt to get upon your hearts I must say Either you know not your hearts or you have sped much better then most in your capacity But can you say It is now turn'd out of doors that the leasure-time you have had hath helped you to look above this Earth to view things of a more excellent nature and Christs glory hath so ravished your Souls that you can say that there is nothing that your souls love above or equal with him Put it to your Consciences I charge it upon you as your duty from the Lord. And 2. If you can say Sin is out of your Heart more then it was it is to be hoped Christ is there if that be down Christ is
own evil ways and your doings that were not good and shall loath your selves in your own sight for your Iniquities and for your abominations The time intended here is the time when they should escape Calamities that were upon that People and God should have wrought graciously for them Then shall you remember your Own evil ways not others onely though you may remember others also you may warrantably look abroad consider the National sins and evils but be sure thou forget not thy own and having remembred to loath thy self for them to be offended with thy self that thou shouldst have any hand in the procuring of any Judgement from the Lord. There is a great mistake very common whether in Practice or Judgement I will not stand to determine we are not careful to mourn over our miscarriages but when the Rod is on our Backs like Children while the Rod is on their Backs they will cry and mourn but when the Father is pacified then forget wherefore he was contending The time of your escape is to be a time for enquiry into your ways and mourning over them look a text or two one you have Ezek. 6.9 And they that Escape of you shall remember me among the Nations whither they shall be carried captives because I am broken with their whorish heart which hath departed from me and with their eyes which go a whoring after their Idols and they shall loath themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations observe what Fruit it is the Lord expects from them that are escaped they shall remember me and remember themselves too their ways and doings and then shall loath themselves to which adde Ezek. 7.16 Escape they shall but being escaped there is a Duty lies upon them They should be upon the Mountains as the Doves of the Valleys every one mourning for his iniquity The Babylonish Captives after they escaped out of Captivity out-lived the distress that had buried many you find that at that time there was found a spirit of mourning upon them Ezra 9.3 is an evident testimony of it And when I heard this thing I rent my garment and my mantle and pluckt off the hair of my head and of my beard and sat down astonied thus did Ezra and thus should every one that escapeth the Day of Gods Controversie Now what is the frame of your hearts truly all our hearing and knowing of what frame we should be in will stand for little unless you compare your Spirits and the Word together and see whether it be with you accordingly This you may be confident of we have all had a hand in the provocation of this day and if so we should have also an eye to look into our hearts and mourn over our evil ways which must be done if we would have a proof unto our selves that this Branch of the Lord is become glorious to us after our escape 2. The Lord expects of them that escape That they should perform their Vows make good the Covenant and Promises which they made in the day when they were in trouble and fear it is very common with men in a day when distress is threatned to make large Promises and when the distress is over to be as backward in performing as before they were forward in promising this was the case of that people Jer. 2.20 For of old time I have broken thy Yoke and burst thy Bonds and thou saidest I will not transgress when upon every high Hill and under every green Tree thou wanderest playing the Harlot the meaning is when distress was upon them they cried if God would but take off that distress and remove the stroke they would be a people not transgressing a holy people but how did they keep the Promise whenas upon every high Hill and under every green Tree thou wanderest playing the Harlot falsified their word abominably that is a great evil that the Lord cannot well pass by that is a known Scripture Eccles 5.4 5. When thou vowest a Vow unto God defer not to pay it for he hath no pleasure in fools pay that which thou hast vowed better it is that thou shouldest not vow then that thou shouldest vow and not pay in this kind delays are dangerous defer not to pay thy Vows for he hath no pleasure in folly it is folly for a man to promise unto God what he means not to perform Better it is not to vow then having vowed not to pay the Devil hath a double design upon creatures in days of distress and our own hearts much deceive us in it First I am perswaded the Devil puts poor Creatures many times upon a great forwardness to make Promises and many times our hearts do exceedingly deceive us by feeding us with some secret hopes by our Promises to buy out an indulgence from the Lord that we may escape the evil we fear and the second design of the Devil is when he hath brought the Soul to bind it self unto the Lord in abundance of bonds then to cool the heart as fast as he can and make it forget its engagements and so wraps the Soul in abundance of guilt I have found that there is no guilt defiles the Soul at a greater rate then the breach of Covenant for God will not endure to be mocked and have the Promises made unto him falsified God will put your Bonds in suit against you and require of you what you have been free to engage for Deut. 23.21 When thou shalt vow a Vow unto the Lord thy God thou shalt not slack to pay it for the Lord thy God will surely require it of thee and it would be sin in thee it would be sin not to live up unto Engagements Examine your hearts what Engagements have you passed in the days of your distress it may be Visitations were near you you were in eminent hazard and your hearts troubled for fear did you not say Lord If thou wilt keep me this day if I may but out-live this distress never will I be so vain so earthly so carnal so slight in the Work of God as I have been Have you not past some such or the like promise to the great God Now Jesus Christ he is privy unto all that you have said and done though it were in secret he hath taken an account of all that you have engaged to be and do how do you perform you cannot comfortably conclude that Christ hath gotten ground in your hearts unless you have paid your Vows to the Lord. The Servants of God have been conscientious in the Case Psal 66.13 I will go into thy House with burnt-offerings I will pay thee my Vows which my lips have uttered and my mouth hath spoken when I was in trouble David had his troubles as well as other of his Neighbours and in his troubles he did sometimes make Promises unto God herein he was honest and faithful did conscientiously regard the performing the Promises he had past
and thus to do will be a proof of your love to and esteem of this Branch of the Lord as more excellent to you then he was wont to be Saith David Psal 116. I love the Lord because he hath heard my voice and my supplications that is I will love him better then ever I did if he had but a little he shall now have more and what proof doth he give of it vers 14. I will pay my Vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his People here was a proof it The Lord help us that have the Vows of God upon us to evidence that Christ is become glorious unto us by performing our Covenant God is known to be a Covenant-keeping-God and his People should be like their heavenly Father But again 3. A third thing required from them that escape a day of Calamity is this That Christ be owned in the Escape that he have the glory of it put it not upon your natural Fortitude and Courage your natural hardiness and boldness as some vaunting spirits are apt to do and to conclude thence was their preservation God doth not fear to strike the most fearless and sometimes the most fearless are in the greatest danger Put not thy escape upon the score of thy own Wisdom that thou hast acted thus and thus prudently for thy preservation if the Lord would he could easily have out-witted thee and if he had not been with thee in the acting the best of thy Wisdom would not have been useful take heed of boasting in Means if Means have been successful look up to that God that hath been pleased to bless them unto that end Psal 116.8 David puts the matter upon its proper Basis Thou hast delivered my Soul from death mine eyes from tears and my feet from falling Gracious hearts desire to cry as Moses and the Children of Israel did when they saw Pharoah and his Host sunk as Lead in the Sea and themselves preserved to their great amazement Exod. 15.2 The Lord is my Strength and my Song and He is become my Salvation He is my God and I will prepare him a Habitation my Fathers God and I will exalt him According to this time it shall be said said Balaam in his Prophecy What hath the Lord wrought This must you and I say What hath the Lord wrought The truth is Christ suffers much in the World and suffers much from his own People they rob him of his glory we are apt to give that honour that is due to him unto some one else but it should be our care to be found in the frame with them Jer. 50.28 The voice of them that flee and escape out of Babylon to declare in Sion the vengeance of the Lord our God the vengeance of his temple it is the work of escaping Ones to praise the Lord and declare his works Would you all have some token for good that the interest of Christ is promoted in you see whether it be your care to give Christ the glory of this Salvation of which you have been partakers 4. This is the requirement of Christ from them that are escaped That the sence of this Mercy should long rest upon our Spirits our goodness in every respect is apt to be like the morning-cloud and the early dew that soon passeth away and in this respect more then in many other things the sence of our deliverance is very apt to wear off the Soul but it is a frame that Christ much mislikes where he findes it an instance or two may serve to convince us of it Psal 78.10 11. They kept not the Covenant of God possibly by this may be intended the Covenants they made with God in distress they did not keep them why not it was because they forgot his Works and Wonders that he had shewed them and one sin draws many more after it oft times they forgot the Works of God and so their Covenant with God both are taken ill and the latter as ill as any that God should shew abundance of kindness to a People whilst they slight and dis-esteem and let the sence of that kindness slip out of their minds and therefore he complains of the same thing Psal 106.13 They soon forgat his Works they waited not for his Counsel They were the delivering-Works of God and all the wonders he had shewed them they soon forgot the sence thereof was crept out of their hearts in a little time All of us alive may say we have seen much of the goodness of God to us but if we should be of the number of them that soon forget his goodness we do very evilly requite the Lord. 5. This is the requirement of Christ from them that are escaped in the day of Calamity That we should be dedicated consecrated and given up to his Use and Service in our whole Course This is the obligation that Christ hath laid on our Souls by carrying us through the distresses of this day That the rest of the time we spend in the flesh should not be spent according to the will of the flesh but according to the will of God that the rest of the time of our sojourning here might be spent in fear It is a kind of a new life that every one of us have received and this new Life should have Newness of Life going along with it saith the Apostle I beseech you by the mercies of God that you give up your selves Body and Soul as a Sacrifice to God which is but your reasonable service and such a mercy as this doth call for it that your Souls should be for God and your Bodies for God the Body hath received a great deal of mercy at this time that is preserved and kept the Clay-Cottage kept from tumbling to dust and ashes now all the members of the Body as well as the powers of the Soul ought to be for the Lord this the Lord expects and it is but your reasonable service which in common Justice should be given unto Christ Psal 116.8 9. For thou hast delivered my Soul from death mine Eyes from tears and my Feet from falling I will walk before the Lord in the land of the Living that is I will walk as in his sight and presence I will look to maintain a good frame of Life and Conversation in the rest of the time I have to spend in the World And thus may you testifie unto your selves and others that Christ gains on you by your Escape this day if you be found in the discharge of those Duties which are expected from you And thus I have dispatched the Doctrinal part VSE I. If this be a proper effect of your Escaping in a day of slaughter to have the Branch of the Lord become lovely know this kindness hath been shewed us therefore it concerns us narrowly to see how this effect is wrought out Every Soul should turn his Eyes inward I would hope your Souls have been a little thus
are the glorious Perfections of this Branch of the Lord should we measure and guess at him according to the excellency found in any created being alas it would be infinitely short there is in Christ that Excellency that doth exceed and much out-do whatever glory is found upon any thing our eyes behold Shall I say As Solomon in his glory did out-shine the glory of all the Princes that were on earth in his time so and infinitely more doth the glory of Christ out-do whatever our eyes behold or whatever our hearts can conceive of and in our searching into his perfections we may come to do as the Queen of Sheba did when she beheld the glory of Solomon she gave this testimony What she had heard was true So may we give this testimony of Christ That what we have heard of his Perfections there is all in him nay the one half was not told us and if the Queen of Sheba was amazed at standing before Solomons glory how much more may we at Christs although we cannot see him in all his Perfections Thou canst not know him at present in this life according to all that Glory with which he is cloathed 2. If thou that art escaped art jealous that Christ is not become beautiful enough unto thee Remember that the highest pitch unto which the Soul can come in this life is to desire to see more of that beauty that is in him The highest pitch in any thing that is good in this life is to desire to be better The Desires of the Soul do out-go in this life any Acts that it is able to put forth David in the case of Holiness the highest pitch of his Holiness is expressed in his desire Psalm 119.5 O that my Ways were directed to keep thy Statutes he did keep them in some measure but the highest pitch unto which he got was to desire to keep them better so also Psal 68.11 Teach me thy ways O Lord I will walk in thy truth unite my heart to fear thy Name he was sensible that his heart did in some things wander from God he did not fear him as he should but the highest of his attainment lay in his desires Paul was a man very excellent in his day and doubtless did know and enjoy much of Christ yet the highest pitch he attained was largeness of heart and workings of desire exprest in Phil. 3.13 This one thing I do forgetting the things that are behind and reaching forth unto those things that are before I press towards the mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus the desires of his heart were large And so the Spouse hath an high esteem of Christ she expresses the value she hath of him at a great rate Cant. 2.3 4. As the Apple-Tree among the Trees of the Wood so is my Beloved among the Sons I sat down under his shaddow with great delight and his fruit was sweet unto my taste stay me with Flaggons comfort me with Apples for I am sick of love her heart was much taken with Christ seeing a great deal of Beauty in him but you shall see her desires did out-do any act she could put forth and therefore Cant. 4.16 she says Awake O North Wind and come thou South blow upon my Garden that the Spices thereof may flow out she would have her heart enlarged her Graces acted more strongly Now Soul take in this for thy comfort it is a good frame that thou desirest to prize Christ more and have this Branch of the Lord more glorious in thy account though thou canst not put forth such acts as thou wouldest Remember thou art in that frame that the best of Saints have been in 3. Consider this thou that art escaped and fearest that the Branch of the Lord is not become so glorious as it should be Remember that jealousie over thy heart is a good sign and gives some hope that Christ hath gotten some ground upon thee The wise man Prov. 14.15 saith The simple believeth every word but the prudent man looks well to his going Some are so simple to believe every good word their hearts speak if they find any thing that looks like good they are apt to conclude that all is right therefore the wise man Prov. 28.14 saith Happy is the man that feareth always I apply it unto this It is a good thing sometimes to bear a jealousie a constant jealousie over the heart lest it should not be wrought up to that pitch it ought The Author to the Hebrews gives us a warrant for holy jealousies and fears lest we should fall short They that have been most confident of the goodness of the frame of their spirits have sometimes been in none of the best Jehu cries Come see my Zeal for the Lord of Hosts when he had not one grain of true Zeal for the Lord of Hosts in him 4. Thou that wouldest have this Branch of the Lord glorious if thy heart work really this way Know this thou art accepted in this thy desire It will pass for a good improvement of this mercy of thy Escape I confess some things there are which I find the Lord is angry at He loves not to see souls sit down satisfied and pleased in ways of sin therefore he doth reflect upon them Psal 1.1 that sit in the seat of the scornful he is much angry with them that can contentedly take up in ways of sin and therefore you find him falling foul upon them that harden their hearts in ways of sin and also with those that content themselves with little measures of Grace when they have means to rise up unto greater He rebukes the Disciples Mat. 8.26 for the littleness of their Faith O ye of little Faith he upbraids them with the littleness of their Faith because he had long been with them himself as he doth hint unto them afterwards Have I been so long with thee and yet thou hast not known me But this observe also That where there is but a lesser measure of Grace if the heart be really working after more it is accepted and Christ receives it with good will The best instance I know in the whole Bible is that in Mark 9.23 24. where the Father of a Child possessed with a dumb Spirit comes unto Christ for cure Christ tells him All things are possible unto him that believeth and straightway he cried out and said with tears Lord I believe help my unbelief he had a little Faith and desired more therefore you find Christ doth not reject his little but hears him and calls unto the dumb Devil to come forth of his Child So if thou complainest that Christ is not exalted in thy heart to any great degree but thou longest he should be more believe it it shall be accepted as it is said in another case 2 Cor. 8.12 If there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man hath and not according to that he
in the midst of the years in the midst of the years make known in wrath remember mercy God came from Teman and the Holy One from Mount Paran his glory covered the Heavens that is God came forth to work the Exaltation of his Son and what course doth he take in order to it vers 5. Before him went the Pestilence and burning Coals went forth at his feet The Pestilence is here called a fore-runner of Christs Exaltation he sends it before him to make room and way for himself though we possibly and our capacities are too shallow to conceive how it should be brought about It is possible if God let us stand upon the Earth some few years we may be much more enlightened in this matter and may see that God was this day eminently working to that end And that is what I would say to that Head That Slaughter and slaughtering-Judgements work for and shall end in the making Christ glorious Thirdly What is that glory that shall be put on Christ in the issue and end of these things I answer in a few particulars 1. The Essential Glory of Christ in the day of his Glory shall be more abundantly seen and discovered then now it is and shall take more upon the hearts of all Persons Christ is as glorious in his Essential Glory as can be for he is infinitely glorious and more then infinite cannot be imagined but this Glory may be discover'd and manifested beyond what it is The Sun is always a glorious Body but you know the light of it is hid many times Clouds stand between and we cannot see it at some times as we can at others Christ is exceedingly glorious but little of his Glory hath been hitherto manifested to the Children of Men more Eyes shall see it and more Hearts be taken with it then at this day Something of Christs Glory is seen already by the Saints who have a spiritual Eye they see that that takes their Hearts and makes them cry out as the Spouse sometimes doth He is altogether lovely Some of the Saints see that in Christ which is more to them then all that is in this World they take more comfort and content in it more of joy and satisfaction to their Spirits When Christ came in the Flesh it is said John 1.14 The Word was made Flesh and dwelt amongst us and we saw his Glory the Glory as of the onely begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth That Glory that we do for the present behold in Christ and with which our hearts are taken it is rather for the most part that fulness of Grace that is in Christ for the good and benefit of Believers with that we are usually more taken then with his Essential Personal Perfections But the whole of Jesus Christs Glory shall yet shine forth so as it hath not done at any time therefore Psal 102.16 When the Lord shall build up Sion he shall appear in his Glory He is glorious now but he shall appear in his Glory hereafter beyond what he hath done at any time to this day suitable unto which is that Word Isa 33.17 Thine Eyes shall see the King in his Beauty they shall behold the Land that is very far off The best of Saints upon Earth if they see something in Christ that makes them in love with him in the day of his Glory there shall be abundantly more discovered that shall make them in love with him possibly more then ever they thought they should be for ever That is one part of that Glory shall come to this Branch of the Lord. 2. Christ shall in the end of this slaughter be made glorious in his Priestly Office as he is a Saviour he shall be made more glorious then ever It is the honour of Christ that he is a Saviour Act. 5.31 Him hath God exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour But it hath been greatly to the disparagement of Christ and his dishonour in this his Office that he hath been so lightly esteemed of among the Children of Men that so few have taken hold of him for Life and Salvation Those that have believed on Christ have been a small number compared with the rest of the world and of these few they have been chiefly the poor low and little ones of the World persons of little esteem and account therefore Christ saith Mat. 11.5 The Poor have the Gospel preached unto them he saith it is preached to them because it is received by them the poor inconsiderable ones of the World have generally hitherto been the persons that have received Christ It is true some of the Great Ones of the World have courted Christ and professed to own him but not one of many have given up themselves unto Christ as a Saviour But now this shall be the Glory upon the head of Christ that Souls shall abundantly flock in unto him Before Christ makes an end of his work in the World he will so break the Hearts of Men that they shall flow in unto him in great abundance Hag. 2.7 And I will shake all Nations and the Desire of all Nations shall come and I will fill this House with Glory saith the Lord of Hosts Christ by his Sword Pestilence and Famine is shaking the Nations that is his way and when he hath done shaking the Nations the Desire of all Nations shall come It is Christ is here intended and he is called the Desire of all Nations because the Nations of the World shall generally come unto him and imbrace him such shall be the confluence and flowing in to Christ This is intimated in that known place Isa 60.8 Who are these that fly as a Cloud and as the Doves unto their Windows It is spoken about the access of Souls unto Christ and mark the Saints that shall be alive at that day they cry with wonder and amazement Who are these that like Doves come to their Windows Doves you know fly in great flocks where they are plentiful and the meaning of this is multitudes shall subject themselves to Christ in truth and give up themselves to be saved by him Christ now doth sprinkle many Nations according to that Isa 52. here and there a few Souls in divers parts and places of the world but at length things shall be so ordered that even a Nation shall be born in a day and abundance of poor Hearts shall give up themselves unto the Lord Jesus This you have Numb 24.7 He shall pour the water out of his Buckets and his seed shall be in many waters and his King shall be higher then Agag And this is another part of the Glory that is to come unto Jesus Christ 3. Slaughter shall terminate in the Glory of Christ in this respect He shall be glorious in his Kingly Power he shall be owned as the Head and Lord and Law-giver the one onely Law-giver so shall he be owned Isa 33.22 For the Lord is our Judge the Lord
God to pour out a Spirit of Union which he hath promised to do The Lord shall be one and his Name one in all the Earth Zach. 4. and Jer. 32.39 I will give them one Heart and one Way to serve me When Christ shall be advanced our Divisions shall be broken and whatever the Devil and wicked Men have cast in as a snare and means to rend and divide shall be taken out of the way It is then that we shall be enlightened in the things wherein we vary one from another What is the ground of all our differences they are partly ignorance and partly pride our ignorance we cannot see into Truth one thinks one thing and another another and because we cannot see into every thing we disagree which is furthered by our Pride cleaving unto our own imaginations but this will be removed God will lay low the pride of men and we shall have more light we shall see that we never saw and be enlightened as we never were Isa 60.20 Thy Sun shall no more go down neither shall thy Moon withdraw it self for the Lord shall be thine everlasting Light and the days of thy mourning shall be ended The Lord shall at that day let us into the knowledge of much of his mind which yet we grope in the dark without light in and then there shall be a great Union among Saints Now to all these ends to the Glory of Christ and good of his People Christ is working by his slaughtering-Providences Those things that we wonder at and know not what they tend to it is to that end they subserve and shall be crowned with that issue And thus I have dispatched what I intend for the Doctrinal part I shall now proceed to the Application VSE I. IF this then be a Truth That the end of Slaughters shall be to make Christ glorious and his Glory shall be greatly for the advantage of the Israel of God that escape in times of slaughter It will then certainly be found a Truth very useful many ways and that which first is upon my heart to give forth to you is that which I hope will be also upon your hearts to put the question to your Souls Whether you are really the Israel of God or no. Escaped we are hitherto through Grace we stand alive in the presence of God but what state is it in which we stand Can you say Through Grace you have good hopes the Lord hath not onely spared you but also implanted you into the number of his own People and made you of the number of his own Israel The Mercy and the Good of an Escape is limited in the Text unto the Israel of God others may escape as well as they but in the conclusion it will be little to their comforts Israel had his name given to him from his wrestling with God in Prayer and prevailing and the Name is applied 1. To the natural Seed of Jacob the People of the Jews are often times in Scripture called Israel promiscuously one with another 2. It is applied unto the spiritual Ones among the natural Seed of Jacob those of the Jewish People that were really brought into a subjection unto and an acquaintance with the Lord they are by way of distinction from the rest of the Seed of Jacob called Israel 3. It is applied unto all both Jews and Gentiles that are really brought within the Bond of the Covenant Scripture dignifies them often with the title of Israel This is therefore the question that you and I are to put seriously to our Souls What testimony and witness have we that we are brought within the Bond of the Covenant and that our preservation is this day a Covenant-mercy to our Souls That is the question that must be asked Unbelief hath certainly proved the destruction of very many I mean the eternal destruction and Presumption hath been the slaughter of not a few and if I judge not amiss Presumption is oftentimes the root upon which Unbelief grows Many sitting under the Gospel of Christ and having some Form and Profession for God upon them do run away hastily concluding they are really of Gods Israel God Almighty give to you and me a greater Spirit of Wisdom that we may not upon slight grounds draw conclusisions that we are within the Covenant but may build our hope upon some good Foundation My Friends it stands you greatly in hand to be faithful and serious in this enquiry into your Spirits in this matter for if you should not be of the Israel of God it would not onely rob you of much mercy you might enjoy in this life it would not onely strip you of a part in the good that shall come to the Israel of God when the Branch of the Lord shall be glorious but what is more and what is worse it will cut you short of the glory that shall be put upon the head of the Saints in Eternity when Christ shall have given up the Kingdom to his Father and God shall be all in all Brethren upon many serious thoughts I may tell you that there is great ground why every Soul should be jealous over his own heart and should not hastily determine concerning its state Great are the mistakes false grounds and bottoms of hope upon which many poor creatures build and it concerns you to act curiously and warily lest you should be also mistaken To quicken you a little and to possess your Souls that there is need and great need for poor hearts to have a jealousie over themselves in this matter I would take leave to commend and open to you two Scriptures that I find in the Book of Truth one is in Rom. 9.6 7. Not as though the Word of God hath taken no effect for they are not all Israel which are of Israel neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all Children Look to the fourth vers and you will finde that there are great Priviledges reckoned up that did appertain to Israel Who are Israel to whom pertaineth the Adoption and the Glory and the Covenant and the giving of the Law and the Service of God and the Promises How might some of the Jews say do these things belong unto Israel why surely Israel are cut short of them for there is not one of many of them that have received Christ and so are cut short of these Priviledges of the Gospel To that the Apostle answereth vers 6 7. Not as though the Word of God hath taken no effect for they are not all Israel which are of Israel c. as if he should say You must not judge that these great things are entailed upon the Jewish People because they are Jews or the seed of Abraham but it is through Faith they come to an Interest in these great things And in these words the Apostle doth remove a double bad Foundation upon which many poor Creatures are apt to build a hope 1. They are not Israel
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
if you are the Lords People in truth you are much in the heart of God and your Good in the very next place to his own and his Sons Glory is designed however he deals with you If he lets loose men upon you it is not with a design to hurt you Psal 66.12 Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads we went through fire and water but thou hast brought us out into a wealthy place If he comes to thunder down Judgements upon the World it is with a design to do you good it is for your safety Isa 43.14 Thus saith the Lord your Redeemer the holy One of Israel For your sakes I have sent to Babylon and have brought down all their Nobles and the Caldeans whose cry is in the Ships Christ in all his Administrations and in all the Dispensations of his Kingly Power from first to last aims at the good of his People and it is for their benefit that he acts however we are apt through blindness and ignorance to interpret it If he cuts down his People it is to do them good if he spares them it is because he delights in them and will make them partake of sparing-mercy How admirable is the kindness of the Lord and what effect should it have But 1. To teach you to see the hand of Christ in all and to sing forth the praises of the Lord your preservation is through Christ When the Passeover was instituted of old God bid the Israelites to sprinkle the Blood of the Lamb upon the door posts and when the Angel passed by to slay the first-born of Egypt he would pass by their doors that were sprinkled If the destroying Angel hath passed by your Doors and hath not come in it is because your post was sprinkled with the Blood of Jesus the Blood of the Lamb It is to Christ that you own it and O that the praises of the Lord might be sounded forth by you in Psal 22.3 God is said to inhabit the Praises of Israel it is a remarkable expression O Thou that inhabitest the Praises of Israel our Fathers trusted in thee and were delivered Israel should be a praising People and God delights in their Praises He loves to be where his Praises are spoken forth O that your habitations might be the habitations where the Praises of God might dwell and where the goodness of God may be sounded forth 2. Sure your escaping should make 〈◊〉 to be Holiness unto the Lord Hath the Lord written you unto Life as the expression is in this 4th of Isaiah Are you by his appointment and counsel in the Land of the living O then see that you be a People walking with him He says in this 4th of Isaiah to them that do escape that they shall be a holy People vers 3. It shall come to pass that he that is left in Sion and he that remaineth in Jerusalem shall be called Holy even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem O that every one written among the living this day might also be called Holy that is might be so for God calls things as they are There be great engagements lie upon our Souls that we live up to this expectation of God 3. Surely your work is to help forward the glory of Christ and your own good by all ways you can Faith and Prayer are the great means by which you may be serviceable to this great end We are apt to be faithless and unbelieving when things succeed not according to our desire and expectation but the work of the Soul is to wait for the salvation of God and to believe for the accomplishment of all that the Lord hath spoken to beg earnestly that God would remember his Promise that he would do according to the Faith of his People Whatsoever God has engaged himself to his People that he will do for them he expects that they should enquire of him for it 4. How much ought it to be your care to be found in a spirit fit to meet Christ in his glory There is great talk in the World of what expectations are upon the hearts of the Saints O that we could see suitable preparations in every Soul putting off the works of darkness and pressing after a Spirit of Humility and Holiness that we might be crucified to the World and raised up to a spiritual frame the day of Christs glory will be exceedingly filled up with spiritual things and a carnal earthly spirit will be loathed and abominable O then shake off the filth of sin and the filth of this World and put on your beautiful Garments that so you may be prepared to meet the Lord in his glory 5. Do you much pity Sinners When Christ shall come in his glory with what shame and confusion will poor sinners stand every heart will tremble and the proudest spirit will then stoop O pity them now for then you will have no pity for them the Righteous shall rejoyce when he sees the vengeance they will then onely triumph in the righteous Dispensations of God O pity them now and mourn over them and pray for them and pray them into Christ if possible and walk so before them that thou maist make them in love with the ways of God This is your work the Salvation of Sinners should be much upon your hearts if you know the worth of your own Souls And the more there are brought into Christ the greater will the solemnity be and the glory of this glorious appearance To close all therefore It is a sad day for the present even with the Saints of God and though we are preserved yet we and all our mercies lie open to we know not how much misery we and our best Priviledges how they may be dealt with we cannot tell however of this be confident That all this time the Lord is at work graciously for his People As he says in this fourth of Isaiah when he had said in the Text The Branch of the Lord should be glorious for them that are escaped he addes vers 4. When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the Daughter of Zion In the â—ean time before this glory the Lord is waâ—â—ing away the filth of his People and purging out their dross that yet is among them that when his glorious appearing shall be you and all your Mercies will at once be delivered and as he says in the fifth verse The Lord will create upon every dwelling place in Mount Zion and upon her Assemblies a Cloud and Smoak by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night for upon all the Glory shall be a defence Now we have our Opportunities with hazard and little Communion with God in them but at that day there shall be upon the Assemblies of Mount Zion a Cloud The Cloud in the Temple was the token of Gods presence God will be among his People And upon their Glory shall be a defence They shall be safe from the fear of evil and God will bless his People with peace He will bless them out of Zion Laus Deo Opt. Max. FINIS
expects thy great work should be to give him the glory of that mercy to improve it to his praise Satan would possibly divert thee and cause thee to make it thy work to perplex thy self about thy state by raising infinite questions in thee whether thou art yet of the Israel of God or no. Be not easily thus deluded but if thou hast ought that may be really a solid ground of hope to thee do not easily cast away thy confidence but having got a little hold keep it that thou art spared in mercy and shalt find mercy when Christ shall appear glorious VSE V. THe Fifth Use will be to them that are the Israel of God to comfort their hearts and this Doctrine that is under consideration is exceeding comfortable unto such I may truly say to them I do bring them glad tidings of great Joy What! shall all the sad and dismal Slaughters made in the World work to such a blessed issue as the Exaltation of Christ And shall all his glory be for your good What can you wish for more When David had been speaking of the Kingdom of Christ and his Glory under the Person of Solomon in Psal 72. it is said The Prayers of David the Son of Jesse are ended The sum of all that a gracious heart can desire is That Christ may be glorified when that is done he knows not what more to pray for If you are Israel and your hearts are as they should be the great thing about which your Spirits are working is that Christ may be set upon his Throne and that his Name may be exalted If this work go forward and be in hand the work that is in hand and goes on is that which lies most upon your hearts and in which your Souls have greatest occasion to rejoyce Let the consideration of this comfort you 1. Against whatever Breaches may have been made upon you by this day of slaughter it will be strange if some of you have not lost Friends and Relations Remember all these Breaches made upon you onely serve to repair the interest of Christ and work for his glory and if your hearts be right what would you not part with so the work of God may be furthered If your hearts be right you will say Let all go and come what will if Christ may but be a Gainer I will be willing all things should be lost 2. Let it comfort you under those perplexities and troubles and dread that it may be hath been upon your Spirits in such a day Doubtless Times of slaughter are Times of great sorrow and grief of heart but who would not sustain a little grief for the working out of greater comfort The first sight that you shall have of Christ in his glory will wipe away these Tears and will suppress all those Fears it will make them be as if they had never been 3. Let it comfort you if you should see worse things then ever yet you have seen I do believe many Souls do this day think that nothing can be more terrible then what they have already seen and heard but if they should be mistaken and you should see things more dreadful be comforted Christs work is going forward his glory and Israel's mercy is upon the wheel It is not unusual in Scripture and experience that one Judgement goes not alone but it is followed by others closely at the heels Jer. 14.12 When they fast I will not hear their cry and when they offer Burnt-Offering an Oblation I will not accept them but I will consume them by the Sword and by the Famine and by the Pestilence Not one single Judgement onely but others were to go in hand along with it Christ says Luk. 21.25 26. That a little before the day of his glory there shall be distress of Nations and mens hearts shall fail them for fear for looking after those things that are coming on the Earth It is a very probable conjecture that as we have seen the distress of a City we may see the distress of Nations and troubles may over-spread the face of the whole Earth Yet if these things should be remember Christs Counsel to his own Disciples vers 28. Look up and lift up your heads for your Redemption draweth nigh Remember the words of the wise man Prov. 3.25 26. Be not afraid with sudden fear neither with the desolation of the Wicked when it comes for the Lord shall be thy confidence and shall keep thy foot from being taken 4. Be comforted though you cannot understand the method of God and are not able to conceive how these Dispensations of God should work for Christs glory and the good of his People We are apt to be perplexed because we cann't see into the depths of the proceedings of God and understand the reason of them all But remember he that hath the management of these things knows his own ends and can tell how to accomplish his own designs and he will be sure to do his own work when all men have done what they can Things may and shall work for the good of the Saints though we cannot understand them Remember the case of Jacob Gen. 42.36 Says Jacob Me ye have bereaved of my Children Joseph is not and Simeon is not and will you take away Benjamin also All these things are against me To his apprehension all this made against him when in truth and when the issue was seen it made so for him as nothing could do more And thus it is in the great amazing Dispensations of God with which we are startled though we understand not the mystery and reason of Gods proceedings yet they make for the good of his People and will work out his glory though we cry these things are against us often-times 5. And lastly It will comfort you if you are Israel though you should not see all accomplished immediately though the Branch of the Lord should not forthwith become glorious Remember Faith and Patience they serve to help us to wait and stay Gods time and leisure God always keeps his Ends upon his Heart and in his Eye and never acts in any inconsistency with them This is abundantly certain that he will accomplish every good thing for his People Wait therefore on the Lord and keep his Way and he will exalt you in due time Though he answers your desires and expectations for the present by terrible things yet it is in Righteousness and it is for the bringing about whatever mercy he promised to his People VSE VI. THe last Use would be for a Word of Counsel You that are escaped this day and are the Israel of God what mercy is this that you share in how amazing and distinguishing are the dispensations of God to you-ward How should the sence of it over-come your Souls To be preserved and preserved in mercy to great and glorious ends what can you desire more had you been put to make your own terms with God Believe it