Lords own People whom he hath ordained to be his Instrument by which he will do the great Work of his terrible Day that except this be done that cannot be done a Curse will come upon the Earth instead of a Blessing Quest What Curse is this the Earth must be Smitten with in case this Reconciliation between the Fathers and the Children be not wrought Answ It cannot be those Judgements of God which he will pour down upon the World by the hand of his People in this terrible day for though that day Begin with Jndgement it Ends with Blessing Now a Curse is pure Judgement without mixture of Blessing pure wrath without mixture of Mercy and this Curse being put in Opposition to those Blessings which these people reconciled shall obtain it 's as much as if the Lord had said If these Fathers and Children will be Reconciled and Turn their Hearts to each other I will Bless them to the enabling them to goe forth and grow up as Calves of the Stall in treading down the wicked that they shall be as Ashes under the Soals of their Feet But if not I will Smite all with a Curse not only the Wicked but they themselves too all shall be Cursed and Perish together as that Generation that Sinned against me in the Wilderness were Cursed and Perished Mount Ebal shall be their portion not Mount Garizim The Lord will Turn the Heart of the Fathers to the Children and the Heart of the Children to their Fathers As at the first he took away the Partition Wall between Jew and Gentile between those sheep of his Fold So now he will again take away the Partition-wall that Carnal Dividing Spirit that is among the Sheep of his Fold at this Day As then he made of Twain One New man so now of many he will make One Rev. 14.1 Ps 2.6 Isa 24.23 Mic. 4.7 Isa 18.7 8 18. 31.4 Obed. 17 21. Psal 48.2 Heb. 12 22. Hill One Mount for Christ to stand upon and sit on as King and Reign and that for ever this is the Place of the Name of the Lord of Hosts the Place where he dwells it 's when his People come into this state that the Lord will fight for them it 's upon the People of God in this state that Deliverance shall be upon this State upon Mount Sion shall come Saviours it's this state of Jacob that makes him the Joy of the whole Earth the Joy of the whole Earth is Mount Sion and this is that state the People of God in this Gospel Day are to come unto By this we see what fruit the Lord expects his present Afflicting hand upon us should bring forth in us what it is he expects from us before he will judge us fit for Deliverance and Bestow it upon us A forsaking our Carnal Envying and Striving and Dividing and the Turning of our Hearts to each other in a true sincere Love uniting upon the One True Foundation Jesus Christ Other than which no man can lay Abundance more might be said to prove this both from the Old and New Testament Pauls Epistles yield plentiful proof that this frame of Spirit is the Onely true Gospel frame But I forbear If it be objected That we are Commanded in several Scriptures in the Old and New Testament to be separate and not touch the unclean thing and to come out of Babylon upon the penalty of being partaker of her Sins and so of her Plagues therefore how can this union pleaded for be according to the mind of God I Answer It s a certain truth that touching the unclean thing and abiding in Babylon are inconfistant with this Union pleaded for A Holy Separation from the unclean thing and coming out of Babylon of necessity must precede this Union otherwise it cannot be for in a Defiled house the Lord will not dwell But yet we must be careful lest we call that unclean which the Lord doth not account so and so cast away that which the Lord will gather up as his and call that Babylon which the Lord looks upon as belonging to his Sion though weak and infirm Therefore it 's necessary to resolve this Case that we consider what is to be understood by this unclean thing and by coming out of Babylon 1. By coming out of Babylon we must of necessity understand coming out of whole Babylon her Civil Tyrannical State and her Religious Idolatrous State otherwise we shall neither be fit for nor can we come unto this Union To prove this a multitude of Arguments and Scriptures might be brought but taking it for granted I would onely caution this There are Tyrrannies and Idolatries which are not Properly her's for every thing that is like Babylon is not Babylon and we must be careful lest we mistake one for the other by which many Erring Inconveniences may follow 2. By the unclean thing I conceive we are to understand 1. What soever is inconsistant with the only true Foundation Jesus Christ laid by the Apostles That we must not touch with have any fellowship with or be united unto for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteonsness what concord hath Christ with Belial 2 Cor. 6.14 15. Now those Petty Differences I call them Petty because they cannot so much as move the Spiritual Man he sees them what they are and lives above them they are onely great and powerful to the disturbance onely of the Weak and Carnal Christian I say those Petty Differences that are among the People of God who are planted in and built upon this true Foundation are so far from being to be cast off as not agreeing with the Foundation as that they are not to be Judged Judge nothing before the time saith the Apostle but to be let alone to be born with till the Day declare of what sort they are The Apostle reckons up many several sorts Gold Silver Precious Stone Wood Hay Stubble 1 Cor. 3.12 the Carnal Christian looking upon these as very Heterogenious matter such an Impure mixture as is not to be suffered would burn up the Wood the Hay and the Stubble in the Fire of his own Spirit not considering that thereby he would rob the Gold and Silver and the Precious Stone of some part of their Glory by the smutting smoke of his wrathful Fire by this manifesting himself to be one Spirit with that combustible matter which yet he would destroy seeing he is so easily set on fire but saith the Apostle the Spiritual man Judge nothing before the time let them alone till the Day declares and tryes of what sort every mans work is till the Lord clearly manifests to the sincere in heart who are yet otherwise minded who yet Differ about and are not able to Distinguish between these things what he will have to Abide and what he will have to be Burnt 13. and 15. verses compared with Phil. 3.15 2. The meer Natural Man who hath never passed through the New Birth the
is under sore rebuke and trouble as the preceding 17. Verse manifests The Lord waits that he may be gracious Heaven is ready to Save if Earth were but as ready to be Saved There 's no Obligation no tye upon God to shorten his hand to hinder it from Saving if Jacob were but prepared and ready to receive Salvation Therefore saith the Prophet will he be exalted that he may have mercy upon you How will the Lord exalt himself that he may have mercy In Judgement for the Lord is a God of Judgement The Lord will exalt himself and his Glory by his judging of Jacob and while this correcting Judgement is working its natural Effect by the help of the co-working of the mighty Spirit of God in the heart of Jacob he waits to be gracious waits to Save he waits the good hour wherein his Corrections having wrought the desired Effect he may be gracious his Grace may abound above Jacob's Sin in delivering him out of the hands of all his Enemies that he may serve him without fear in Holiness and Righteousness before him all his dayes Thus was it with Jacob in the Wilderness of Old The Lord was ready to give him the Promised Land the Time was come for him to possess it the Iniquity of the Amorites was full the Enemy was ripe for Judgement yea the Lord told him so by the mouth of his two faithful Witnesses Caleb and Joshua Num. 14.8 9. They are bread for us their defence is departed from them and the Lord is with us But Jacob was not ready to receive it his Sin hinders his Possession This is our Case It 's our own Sin and not anothers that hath hindered our Salvation and brought a sore Affliction upon us And that too at a Time when the Lord's hand was not nor is not shortened by any Consideration of a Time or any thing else on his part but is prepared ready to Save It 's only our own Sin that stands in the way of our Salvation it 's that that Causes the present Hidings of the face of our God from us by it we have as it were Caused God to go out of that path of Salvation he was graciously and wonderfully going on in and to steer another course that he may take away our Sin that which hinders his saving of us and to wait till this Let be taken out of the way that he may be gratious unto us and Save us Q. It may be asked What are those sins which have hindered our Salvation by which we have provoked the Lord our Father so severely to chastise us An. I had thoughts to have enlarged upon this Subject but lest I should grieve the Spirits of any and hoping that a word a hint may prove sufficient I shall do no more This SIN which hath brought Affliction upon us which hath provoked the Father of mercies to chastise us with bloody stripes to take it away is that which hath made us both unfit for God to use in and unable to do the Work the Lord hath appointed to be done by his People Any Sin less than such Sin the Lord would have born with and the Intercession of our Mediator would have prevailed for us as the Children of Israel of old in the Wilderness through the Intercession of their Mediator were many times born with and found favour and grace from God till they came to sin that Sin which unfitted them and put them out of a capacity to receive that great Gift of his Grace and favour he was in a readiness to bestow upon them and to do that Work the Lord had to do by them Now I would only Query whether some parts and parcels of this provoking Sin be not these First Love of this Old World This is a killing Sin most pernitious to Jacob's Happiness while this remains he cannot be a fit Instrument for the Lord to use and so not fit for Deliverance See what the Apostle John saith of it 1 Joh. 2.15 Love not the World neither the things that are in the World If any man love the World the Love of the Father is not in him The reason of this the Apostle James tells us Jam. 4.4 The friendship of this VVorld is enmity with God whosoever therefore will be a friend to the VVorld is the Enemy of God How much and how powerful this Sin hath prevailed amongst us and how far it hath hurried us into other provoking Evils every seeing eye and discerning spirit cannot but be sensible of The reasons why I put it upon the Query whether this hath not provoked the Lord to chastise us are 1. Because our Lord Christ doth so severely warn us to take heed of it Luke 21.34 Take heed to your selves lest at any time your hearts be over-charged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this Life and so that day come upon you unawares In these words he hath relation to the two extream conditions men are in in this World Full or Empty either in a full possession of it and so out of abundance of Love and Delight they have to it and take in it they drown themselves therein Or being Empty out of a Love to it they are carefully reaching after the possession of it This he equally warns us of and commands us to watch and pray against upon no less penalty than being not accounted worthy to escape the Judgements of God and to stand before the Son of man when he Comes for when he Comes he will neither have the surfeiting drunken Lover nor the careful Lover of this World to be his Follower This is clearly imployed in the 36. Verse 2. Because our Lord Jesus to express his hatred of this Sin sets forth the wickedness of the VVorld at that Day when he comes in Judgement to it by this Love of this VVorld Luke 17. from the 26. to the 30. V. As it was in the dayes of Noah so shall it be also in the dayes of the Son of man They did eat they drank they married VVives they were given in Marriage until the day that Noah entered into the Ark and the Flood came and destroyed them all Likewise also as it was in the dayes of Lot they did eat they drank they bought they sold they planted they builded but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from Heaven and destroyed them all The bare being exercised about these things Christ here reckons up as the sinful state of the World cannot be his meaning for all these things are either necessary to our Being as eating and drinking or else to our Well-Being in this Life They are such things as at his coming he finds also those exercising themselves about whom yet he takes to himself to follow him leaving the rest to Iudgement They were all eating and drinking and marrying and at the Mill and in the field together as well those that he takes to himself as his own Peculiars
making a fair shew in the Flesh glorying in it how far we have been glorying in the Flesh our Gifts and Parts our Differences our Opinions waies of Worship wherein we Differ from our Brethren that yet are Planted upon the same Foundation of a crucified Jesus Carnally dividing from each other upon such Differences upon such things wherein we Differ from others as yet are but received and received from the same Fountain that gives to One as well as to the other what he hath even the Lord Jesus Christ Carnally envying of Striving against and Smiting each other Proudly exalting our selves above and Despising our Brethren Thrusting and Pushing the Lambs and Lean and Sick and Broken of the Flock to the scattering them abroad In these things walking like Men the Men of the World and not like the Children of the Heavenly Father whose Conversation as Pauls was is in Heaven above these things And how far we come short of the Spiritnal mind that was in the Apostle and those who were Perfect in that Day and the Lord expects should be in us at this day the reflection of but a Dim Eye will clearly Discern Now that this Evil is a peice of that Sin for which the Lord is Judging his People will appear plainly if we seriously consider what the Lord saith Mal. 4.5 6. Behold I will send you Elijah the Prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful Day of the Lord and he shall turn the heart of the Fathers to the Children and the heart of the Children to their Fathers lest I come and smite the Earth with a Curse What great and dreadful Day of the Lord is this here spoken of Surely it s none other than that Day of God's coming to his People the Day of the Lords Executing his Judgements and pouring out his Vengeance upon the wicked World wherein the wicked shall be burnt up leaving them neither root nor branch wherein this People shall tread down the wicked and they shall be as Ashes under the solas of their Feet 1 and 3. verses Before this Day come before the Lord will bring his People from under the †Mal. 3.1 2. Isai 10.5.12 and 27.7 Cant. 6.4.13 Isai 4.5 6. Zach. 9.14.15 Refiners fire and Fullers Sope Take the Assyrians Rod the Rod of his Anger from off their back deliver them from under the present smitings and slayings of their Enemies make them terrible as an Army with Banners as the Company of two Armies and create a defence upon them from the Heat Storm and Rain all the rage and malice of their Enemies that they may goe on with Might and irresistable Power as the Lightning in the work of the Lord devouring and subduing treading down the wicked as Ashes under their Feet slaying their enemies with a greater slaughter than ever they were able to slay them with so that neither Root nor Branch shall be left them Before this day of God comes the Lord Will send Elijah the Prophet Either by his Messengers or by his Providences or by both co-working together beget such a frame and temper of Spirit in his People as shall lead them to Horeb to the Mount of the Lord where God himself at first revealed his Will to his Chosen led them into that State and Condition wherein the Lord met with them and was with them and manisested himself unto them at the first in the Day of their Espousals that Day of Love in the glory of which the Lord so much delights that he remembers it and forgets it not Isaiah also strongly hints this whilst he tells us The remnant shall return even the remnant of Jacob unto the mighty God Chapt. 10.21 as they shall no more crouch and bend the knee to their Smiters for their favour so they shall no more run Carnally after Apollo nor Paul not Caephas after this or that Opinion or Way or Party or Man but they shall return from these things from being led Captive by the Pessions and Lusts such courses hurry them into to the Lord the Mightâ—y God alone to Jesus Christ the true Foundaton they shall come into such a Spiritual Christ-like frame of Spirit as shall Turn the Heart of the Fathers to the Children and the Heart of the Children to their Fathers Who are these Fathers and who are these Children that being at a distance need a Reconciler Surely these Fathers and Children are not only of the True Seed of Jacob but of that part of the True Seed too who shall be used in the Work of the great Day of God spoken of before the Stress the absolnte Necessity the Lord laies upon their reconciling and uniting strongly implies so much The Apostle John tells us there are little Children Fathers and young men in Christ 1 John 2.12 13 14. I write unto you little Children because your sins are forgiven you for his Name-sake I write unto you Fathers because ye have known him that is from the beginning I have written unto you young men because ye are strong and the Word of God abideth in you and ye have overcome the wicked one These are the strong and the weak Christians Christians of several measures of several Degrees of a several Pitch in Grace and Knowledge these through weakness and imperfection having strayed from the Simplicity that is in Christ run into Variance and Strife and Envyings and Divisions biting and devouring one another Walk like the Men of the World and not as the Children of one Father the Father of Mercies the Heavenly Father Now this unchild-like temper must be taken away by a Reconciliation wrought between these Fathers and Children turning the Hearts of these several sorts of Christians towards each other that they may walk as becomes the Children of one Father of such a Father as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is Turn the Heart of the Fathers to the Children c. They shall be of one Heart serve the Lord with one consent there shall be such a Heart-love begotten in them towards each other as that all Variance all Division all Distance shall be swallowed up there shall be no Thrusting nor Pushing nor Trampling upon nor despising one another being by a reconciling spiritual frame of Spirit brought to see themselves the Children of one Father they shall sit at one Table eat in one Pasture drink of the same Water together because the Lord provided the same for all his Children then we shall not hear them quarrelling with and judging of one another but then this shall be the voice Come all ye that love the Lord Jesus Christ Come feed in his good Pastures Come drink of his deep Waters that he hath provided for you all ye Children of our Heavenly Father who bear his Image upon you And this must be saith the Lord Lest I come and smite the Earth with a Curse There is such an absolute Necessity that this Reconciliation be wrought in and among the
Son of Old Adam with all his fleshly and Dead Works Those Carnal uncleannesses under the Law several Diseases the Menstruous Corruptions of Nature the Dead Man c. which were then made unclean in that day as to that worship were Types of this This is clearly the scope of the Apostle 2 Cor. 6.14 15 16 17. be ye not unequally yoked with unbelievers for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness or what part hath he that believeth with an Infidell wherefore come out from among them and be ye seperate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing c. Believers and Unbelievers Believers and Infidels are not to unite together are not to be Cemented together in one building The Unbeliever the Natural man the Son of Old Adam is that unclean thing which the Believer the Spiritual man the Son of the New Adam Jesus Christ is to come out from to be separated from and not to touch with if he will be the Temple of the living God for him to Dwell in and walk in 3. IDOLS What agreement hath the Temple of God with Idols Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate c. Idols are a part of that unclean thing which those who will be the Temple of the living God must be separate from and not touch with Babylon and her Idols All will grant yea the Carnal fry of Christians will grant that they are to be separated from even while in the mean time they are hugging a more Refined sort of Idols in their hearts crying out against another as guilty of Idolatry and Wil-worship while yet they mind not the Idols in their own Hearts Dividing withdrawing communion from each other looking upon each other as not the Sheep of Christs Fold for their Opinion their waies-sake for the sake of those things wherein they Differ notwithstanding they all are by the mighty working of the Spirit of God planted in the true Foundation Jesus Christ putting their Opinions their Waies their Differences in the Room and Place of the Foundation Jesus Christ making them the Standard and Boundary of their Communion and Separation by which they become their Idols from which the Lord in his due time will separate them induing them with such a Spiritual frame of Spirit as should abolish their Idols the Idols he shall utterly abolish †See Tillinghurst upon this Scripture Isa 2.18 These things of a Religious Nature may be and too too often are as really the Heart Idols of Carnal Christians as the Silver and the Gold of this World are either unto such or unto the men of the World Of these Heart Idols the Lord expresses exstream detestation Ezek. 14.3 4 5. Son of man these men have set up their Idols in their Hearts and should I be inquired of at all by them Therefore speak unto them and say unto them thus saith the Lord God Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his Idols in his heart the Lord will answer him according to the multitude of his Idols And these Religious Heart Idols when we are joined to them make us so tenatious so obstinate so perverse that there is no dealing with us God himself thinks not fit to deal with us while in this Condition except in a way of Correction to scourge them out of us but saith Ephraim is joined to Idols let him alone Hosea 4.17 when men have Idolatrous hearts adoring either the Idols of this World the Silver and the Gold the good things of this Life or those more curious Idols those Religious things wherewith a world of Professors cheat their own poor Souls while they hug their Form for the Power while they make their Opinion and Way the Measure and Standard of their Religion there 's so little hope of them that saith God He is joined to Idols let him alone as Solomon saith of his Conceited man Pro. 26.12 Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit there is more hope of a Fool than of him So it 's as true there 's more hope of a meer Natural man that never knew what belongs to making a Profession of the Name and worship of God than of such a one whose Opinion or Way or Judgement are his Heart Idols Let him alone saith God I will answer him deal with him by my self and that so as ye shall know that I am the Lord Ezek. 14.7 8. None can deal with such but the Lord and he deals with such a People by terrible things utterly abolishing the Idols that the Lord alone may be exalted See Isa 2.17 18 19. verses 4. Covetousness which is Idolatry Col. 3.15 This is another part of the unclean thing which must be separated from and not touched with This Sin was then of such an unclean Nature that it caused the Lord who was among them and in the midst of them to withdraw from Israel upon which they fell before their Enemies neither would the Lord be with them till they had cleansed themselves by separating from it Joshua 7.1 and 12. verses It was Covetousness made Achan put forth his hand to the accursed thing and to steal from the Lord part of his due that he had consecrated to his use as appears by ver 11. compared with Chapter 6.18 And the same that the Lord Consecrated to himself in that day he hath said he will again consecrate to himself in these last daies when Sion shall arise and thresh and beat in pieces many People Mich. 4.13 and he will as little bear with it in his People now as then for this is One of Babylons Sins for which the Lord Judges her Jer. 51.13 and it 's for the Iniquity of our Covetousness that the Lord is wroth with us and smites us Isa 57.17 Now it 's worth our searching into whether Achans sin hath not been one great cause of that Stop put to the Work of God and of that great Affliction which is fallen and is yet falling upon poor sinning Jacob at this Day Instead of Consecrating the gain unto the Lord have we not taken it to our selves and put it among our own Stuff From this Sin will the Lord separate his People making them his Redeemed from the Earth Rev. 14.3 Notwithstanding this and that the Apostle tells us Eph. 5.3 that Covetousness ought not to be so mnch as named amongst us as becometh Saints Yet how partial have poor Carnal Christians been in this day a small difference an Opinion hath caused them to Divide to Separate and Flce from each other as from Monsters while in the mean time this pernitious Idolatrous Evil is not so much as taken notice of Nay looked on as a Vertue or at least past over as an Infirmity For this as well as for other Evils the Lord is Judging his People Let these things be Separated from and I think I may safely without presumption say the People of the Lord will quickly come into such an undesiled united