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
gotten within their Walls This hath been the case of many if of any here it should strike deep upon the heart and make us sensible how much we owe unto Christ how glorious should He become unto us what defence was the security of a poor Creature in such a time it was not Walls it was not distance of place but the hand of Christ doubtless it hath been unto many something according to that word Luk. 7.34 c. There shall be two in one Bed the one shall be taken and the other left Two in one Family there have been it may be the one taken the other left yea possibly two in one Bed the one taken the other untouched this hath been a Case of rich Mercy and certainly should engage the Soul much to prize him Psal 107.14 15. O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness for his wonderful works to the children of men Doubtless such a Soul must say as David It was compassed about with the shadow of Death it was in a state of darkness an uncomfortable time to them whose Persons were possibly untouched and a wonderful work of God it was to keep one while others were cut down Now this should work up the heart to admire the Lord. VSE VIII But then in the eighth place If every escaping-One should see that Christ is become glorious unto him How should it be with those whose Houses were compassed possibly round about and Death very near them but yet the hand of God entered not into their Walls My Brethren it is promised as a peculiar favour Psal 91.10 No Plague shall come nigh thy dwelling It is something not to have it come unto thy person and not to have it come into thy dwelling that neither thy self nor any within thy Wall have a hair of their heads touched nay possibly thou hast been within the hearing of the cryings and groans of dying ones doubtless many have and when They have cried for a little longer time to be intrusted with a little more liberty in this World for Eternity and everlasting Concernments it hath been denied Them but granted unto Thee and Me and when the hand of God hath been round about it hath not come within thy Door Oh who hath been the Keeper of thy door and mine When many have been in the bitterness of their Souls bemoaning the loss of this and that Relation Parents of Children Children of Parents some Husbands and Wives wailing and lamenting for one another What mercy is it that a Soul can say It is well with me and mine that no evil hath come nigh them I tell thee Soul these are things that should exceedingly engage thy heart to Christ and should prevail much to the setting him up in thy Soul This should be the resolution of every one partaking in this mercy To use it for the exalting of Christ VSE IX A Use to those that Christ hath carried from place to place and so have been preserved Think not thy self the less indebted unto Christ for his kindness towards thee He is to be as glorious unto such as to any let it not lessen the mercy that thou hast not seen the dismal sight and heard the doleful cries of them into whose Windows Death hath entred I know we are apt not to be affected or at least very little with things that our eyes do not see and our ears hear but that is an evil frame and certainly though our abode may not have been in the time of this Distress in the heat of it in the midst of it yet we owe our preservation unto Christ as much as any and ought to see that it have influence upon us as much as any and that 1. Considering it doth not lessen but heighten the mercy that thou art not onely preserved from falling but from partaking in that bitterness and trouble of spirit that hath certainly born down many who have lived in the heat of this Distress Days of Slaughter and Calamity are days of heart-trouble to them that are preserved in the midst of them Jer. 30.5 6. For thus saith the Lord We have heard a voice of trembling of fear and not of peace ask ye now and see whether a man doth travel with Child wherefore now do I see every man with his hands on his loyns as a woman in travel and all faces are turned into paleness It is spoken with respect to some that lived in times and places when and where slaughtering-Judgements were abroad and they that were alive what was the horror perplexity of their spirits Do not think Soul but thou art the more engaged to Christ that he hath graciously carried thee out of the sight and noise of those direful out-cries Many can say We could hardly pass the Streets but meet with Coffins and hear the cries and complaints of Friends bereft of their Relations bless the Lord that he kept thee from the hearing of this Not but that Christ can make the hearing and seeing such things turn greatly to advantage but yet it is a piece of tenderness if Christ will do the Soul good at some cheaper rate 2. Consider thou couldst not have found shelter any where had not Christ led thee thither as it is not good to go without Christs leading us nor could we have gone any where if the Lord had not made our way for us Prov. 6.9 A mans heart deviseth his way but the Lord directeth his steps Many were considering whither to go and what to do and laid their designs but if the Lord did not order their steps they could do nothing You have a notable word Job 3.23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hid and whom God hath hedged in Job was incompassed with sad distresses and he would fain have gotten out of them but saith he My way is hid he knew not whither to fly I am hedged in I must stay by it This hath been the case of many their ways have been hedged in and he could have hedged in thee and me if so it had pleased him and therefore if you and I have been carried unto places where we have been preserved let us admire the goodness of the Lord Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord but he could not the Lord hindred him To which adde also 3. Christ could have found thee with the Sword wheresoever thou hadst gone therefore let not thy preservation at a distance rob Christ of his honour but see his hand in it and know that it hath been his work and see that he be thereby rendered more beautiful and comely in thine Eyes VSE X. A tenth Use may be to Sinners that are escaped You are preserved it 's true and Christ this Branch of the Lord should be glorious unto you If thou art yet in a state of sin I would say unto thee four or five things 1. Though thou art escap'd Christ is not become glorious unto
EBEN-EZER OR Profitable Truths after Pestilential Times Being some MEDITATIONS Upon ISAIAH 4.2 SHEWING The MERCY and the DUTY Of Those that have Escap'd the Slaughtering Pestilence As also That all Slaughter shall end in the Exaltation of CHRIST and the setting up of HIS KINGDOM Together with An Epistolary Preface To the Citizens of London Westminster By THOMAS BLAKE London Printed in the Year 1666. To the Citizens of LONDON and WESTMINSTER A few Things are humbly offered needful to be considered SIRS IN this day of the Lords Controversie a Cup of trembling hath been put into your hands and you have drank deep of it Such Slaughters rarely if ever have been within your Walls since their Foundations were first laid The memorable year of Twenty Five must not be compar'd with Sixty Five either for the number of the Slain the continuance of the Visitation or such unwonted reiterated Increases and Decreases And O that suitable to the dread of the Dispensation Effects might be wrought upon all your Hearts that the Lord may be pacified towards you and may not add to this Plague seven other and worse Plagues You are now comforting your Hearts with thoughts that the bitterness of Death is past your Trade will return and the Cloud that hath darkened your glory and splendor will vanish To which I heartily say Amen the Lord do so But if I thought it would be born and kindly received I would take leave to tell you I have my fears fears not bottom'd upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostles expression is 1 Tim. 4.7 profane and old Wives fables but upon Considerations as I judge more solid An account of which be pleased to take in a few words First Cities every way famous have had their Periods all worldly glory carrieth decaying Principles in its bowels It may as the Sun go forth in its beauty and strength until it climb to its Meridian and thenceforward it will decline until its lustre set in obscurity As they say of the World so of Cities they have their Youth and Manhood in which they are in their strength and vigour and after that Old Age until they return to the dust out of which they were raised Tyre a City of strength called the strong City Josh 19.29 an ancient and enriching City yet from the Lord went forth a Commandment to destroy it Isa 23.11 Babylon once the Metropolis of a mighty Empire and consequently stood upon suitable advantage-ground for its security yet could not bear up it self against that Sentence Isa 14.4 Thou shalt take up this Proverb against the King of Babylon and say How hath the Oppressor ceased the golden City ceased Ceased to be as well as to oppress It is the destiny of some that when they cease to oppress they must cease to be also Jerusalem the beloved City honour'd by the King of Heaven that Fountain of all true Honour against her cries the Prophet Isa 3.8 Jerusalem is ruined and Judah is fallen God commands and threatneth concerning Tyrus Ezek. 26.4 Break down her Towers I will also scrape her dust from her and leave her like the top of a Rock not so much as any Monument should remain Jamseges est ubi Troja fuit Others their memory is perished Psal 9.6 Thou hast destroyed Cities their memorial is perished with them Secondly Sins great Provocations have been precedaneous unto and the procuring Causes of the ruine of Cities God is known to be long-suffering to all among whom he is known he doth not strike much less destroy without a cause nor yet for every cause God can bear long yet will he not bear always Wickedness may in places of eminency as Diseases in the Body lurk up and down for a season till by continuance they grow strong seiz the Vitals and down goes the House of Clay Sin drowned the old World and burnt Sodom and Gomorrha and they are left upon record as Examples of Divine Vengeance to put a restraint upon the exorbitancies of sinful Cities Every publick sin of Cities as they are a Body and Community or the sin of them that are the visible owned authority in them acting as such is a stroke at their Foundations and many such may soon level them with the ground There are Prognosticks of decaies approaching Death not onely in the Natural but in Bodies Politick also The Death-Marks upon Cities of old have been such as these 1. Pride God resisteth the Proud is true concerning a Nation City or Man It it was Moabs height that laid him low We have heard of the pride of Moab he is exceeding proud therefore shall Moab howl for the foundations of Kirhareseth shall ye mourn Isa 16.6 Tyrus said I am of perfect Beauty Ezek. 27.3 thence was she defaced and brought to nothing Foelicissima Dicta foret si non sibi visa fuisset 2. Oppression especially oppression and cruelty towards the Lords own People Wo to the oppressing City Zeph. 3.1 Rev. 18.21 With violence shall that great City Babylon be thrown down and shall be found no more at all and why so that follows vers 24. In her was found the Blood of Prophets and of Saints and of all that were slain upon the Earth God will make inquisition for Blood especially for the Bloood of his Abels that will cry all that have had their hands in it call themselves by what name of distinction they will will be found to be Brats of Babylon and they and their Cities may fall thereby One of the great Sins that came up into remembrance against Tyre and Zidon was this The Children of Judah and the Children of Jerusalem have ye sold to the Grecians that ye might remove them far from their border Joel 3.6 3. Treachery and Unfaithfulness Amos 1.9 For three transgressions of Tyrus and for four I will not turn away the punishment thereof because they dilivered up the whole Captivity of Edom and remembred not the Brotherly Covenant 4. False-Worship Jer. 19.11 I will break this City as one breaketh a Potters Vessel that cannot be made whole again and they shall bury in Tophet till there be no place In Tophet they sinned in their corrupt Worship and there they must fall by this their iniquity Certainly wo to them who after Light received and solemn Covenants made dare to corrupt the Worship of God and defile the Sanctuary with their detestable things wo to them whether Persons or Places 5. The baseness of pretended spiritual men There is a wo against Jerusalem Zeph. 3.1 and why Her Prophets are light and treacherous Persons her Priests have polluted the Sanctuary they have done violence to the Law HER Prophets and Priests saith God not MINE some of their own making they do wickedly and would wrest the the Word and labor to make it speak for their abominations 6. Contempt of the Gospel This evidently was Jerusalems undoing They killed the Prophets and stoned them that were sent unto them and upon
a supposition and hope to preserve their worldly interest they set themselves against Christ himself Joh. 11.48 If we let him thus alone all men will believe on him and the Romans will come and take away our Place and Nation This their design proved abortive that which they intended for the promoting of their carnal ends let in the Enemy upon them like a flood to the utterruine of them and their City Never yet did any sell a Gospel to gain a Trade but ran an eminent hazard of selling themselves into ruine and misery 7. Incorrigibleness Jerusalems scum went not out of her as the Prophet complains A fire was kindled under her she was in distress but yet sin was not purged out She received not correction as it is expressed Zeph. 3.1 Judgments are Gods last Remedy if they do no good the Patient must die without a miracle of mercy Thirdly Sins have been the ruine of Cities by their turning God to be against them So long as a People or Place can say The LORD is with us they stand firm God is the Rock of Persons Cities and Nations if they sell or forfeit their Rock he will also sell them or give them into the hands of spoilers A People and Places that God has wrought for must not suppose the presence and care of God so entaild upon them that he will stand by them be it right or wrong If they turn their backs upon God cast off the thing that is good serve their lusts seek themselves scoff at Holiness tread his People in the dirt pervert all Equity and Right call evil good and good evil put darkness for light and light for darkness God will also turn himself against such and fight against them as an Enemy Wo to them that have God against them Wo unto them when I depart from them saith God Hos 9.12 Jerusalem's doom was Saith the Lord God behold I even I am against thee and will execute Judgements in the midst of thee It is a great vanity in some who when they have provoked God to his face and done evil even to the uttermost they can do imagine the breach may be repair'd with a little feigned Humiliation upon whom that Text looks very sadly Jer. 14.12 When they fast I will not hear their cry and when they offer Burnt Offering and an Oblation I will not accept them but I will consume them c. Sometimes God is so turned against Cities that he will not accept of the mediation of his People for them and this was the case in the Text but now cited v. 11. God saith to Jeremiah Pray not thou for this People God when turned against Jerusalem saith to Ezekiel Son of man wilt thou judge wilt thou judge the bloody City some render it An causam ageres an causam ageres Civitatis istius Wilt thou plead for that City No saith God thou shalt not set upon such lost labour Noah Daniel and Job can sometimes onely deliver their own Souls God Almighty keep his Noahs Daniels Jobs whatever may be the lot of others Fourthly There is no fence against Divine Displeasure nothing can be a security to that place against which God is turned Jerusalem was once supposed to be impregnable hence when David went to take it they set the blind and lame to keep it as a Guard conceived sufficient to defend it from all Assaults yet was it trodden down when God armed an Enemy against it Tyrus was wasted in the day of Gods displeasure although rich and strong in Shiping and what else might be accounted the strength of a place Fifthly God wants not ways to lay Cities low if his Mind be engaged against them He may possibly not do it all at once but he can do it gradatim by degrees He saith of Tyrus Bring it out piece by piece Ezek. 24.6 The remains after one Judgement he can take off by another What survives the Pestilence may fall by the Sword and Famine And great is the Equity of God in dealing thus with Cities and places of eminency They are the Heads from whence other places receive influence If sin abound in Cities it is from them proppagated thorow all places that have commerce with them or depend upon them It is said of Babylon Rev. 17.1 The Kings of the Earth and Inhabitants of the Earth have been made to drink of the wine of her fornication Should you now put the question to me that the People once did to Ezekiel Wilt thou tell us what these things are to us My Answer is Be you faithful to your selves and compare your selves with what I have laid before you and so may you come to inform your selves how far these things concern you What your sins are you know or may know You have been and yet are under the Rod. Under your Glory a burning is kindled I wish it may be extinct ere it consume both Root and Branch Three things there are that speak for you I wish they may out-cry your Provocations 1. There are many among you in whom the Lord takes pleasure however they are by some lightly esteemed 2. You have been a Refuge to the Needy in their distress What day you cease so to be you will augment my fears and perhaps your dangers also 3. Some among you have lately with chearfulness received the Gospel Certain it is your Rowers have brought you into Great Waters as the Prophet speaks Ezek. 27.26 God Almighty work you to a repenting broken frame that the Lord may repent him of the Evil. Nineveh had perished had they not put on their Sackcloth The Lord humble you for Crying Sins and give you New Spirits that you may not go on in ways of Provocation A part of what is your present Duty the following Treatise may possibly give you a little light into I have used freedom and plainness with you let it not be to me according to that Old Saying Obsequium Amicos veritas odium parit I am satisfied in what I have written having a witness in my self I desire not the woful day but am among the number of Your hearty Well-wishers Thomas Blake To the READER READER APologies for appearing in publick are so common and sometimes so full of vanity that they create suspitions of Pride and Vain-glory in the spirits of men rather then remove such stones of stumbling I shall therefore leave my integrity in this Vndertaking to Him whose prerogative it is to try the spirits Onely know Having upon some ground published something at the beginning of this Calamity I thought it not amiss to follow it with some suitable Word now we are as is hoped drawing towards a period of this sore slaughter Be assured I shall not any more for ever trouble the World with any thing in this way unless upon some special occasion and more then ordinary Call My design in the whole is to speak something that Saints may know their Duty being escaped and to bear up
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
engaged I have not long since met with a People that would eagerly make it their business to compare themselves and a Word together and see where their guilt was and get what light they could into their hearts this be confident of the God of Heaven is considering diligently Jesus Christ this Branch of which we are speaking is observing what is the Fruit of every Mercy as Deut. 32.15 But Jesurun waxed fat and kicked thou art grown thick thou art covered with fatness then he forsook God which made him and lightly esteemed the Rock of his Salvation when God had done much for him he considers how he had carried it but he found sad effects of all Jesurun waxed fat and kicked I would the goodness of God to us should have some more kindly reception and entertainment Now that which I shall do for the present shall not be to clear it up to you that Christ hath gotten ground upon you for as to that I shall refer you to what is spoken already but to lay some few things before you that may convince you if really you are short and wanting in this blessed issue af your Escape If really this effect be not wrought upon your hearts it will appear by these four or five things and I beg you to consider them seriously 1. If in the day when the Rod of God hung more eminently over your heads you were not considering and pondering what effect it should work and if the Spirit of God were not teaching and instructing your Souls that it was to produce a greater esteem of Christ in your hearts then I fear it is not done I fear Christ hath no more of you then he was wont to have You know this that God with his Correction is wont to give Instruction therefore saith the Psalmist Psal 94.12 Blessed is the man whom thou Chastenest and Teachest out of thy Law God is wont to tell the Soul where it is wanting what he calls for and what he would have wrought in the heart So Job 36 9 10. Then he sheweth them their Work and their Transgressions that they have exceeded he openeth also their Ears unto Discipline and commandeth that they return from iniquity He speaks here about a Day of Affliction and truly if the Lord hath not been teaching you and shewing you that you were wanting in your esteem of Christ it is much to be questioned he is not become glorious David Psal 119.67 said Before I was afflicted I went astray but now have I kept thy Word how came he to be brought in unto God to walk with him and keep his Word and his Way better then he was wont to do God had been shewing him that he was out of the way and where he should be and so brought him in again Commune with your own hearts my Friends faithfully have you sat like Stocks and Stones under the Visitations of God when his Rod was upon others and threatned you Had you any of the Visits of God Were your Souls exercising themselves at a spiritual rate Did God make any approaches unto you Or did you live in that time without God If you did I fear you are without him still 2. If your souls have not been pressing after Christ and longing for a better frame towards him longing for an higher esteem of him it is doubtful the esteem of him is not raised in your souls such an esteem of Christ is not a frame that useth to steal upon the heart it knows not how It is for the most part the issue of much care and pains and great diligence and if thy soul hath been wanting herein it is to be feared that the interest of Christ is not to any great degree promoted in thee Some souls find sin very apt to creep in do they what they can and that it is a work a hard work to keep it down nor is it less difficult to encrease in our esteem of Christ Phil. 3. Paul would know more of Christ and the power of his Resurrection what course did he take in order to it saith he I go forward and I press on to the mark for the price of the high Calling of God in Christ Jesus He set himself unto the work with great diligence How have you been exercising your selves have you been crying unto the Lord in secret wrestling and pleading with him that he would carry on the Love of his Son in you What was it you asked of the Lord was it meerly to be kept from the evil of the day or that the work of Christ might be promoted in you by your escape If your hearts have not been exercised this way I fear the Branch of the Lord is not become glorious unto you though you are escaped 3. If in your Escape your great care is how to repair and piece up those outward dammages that you have sustained by this Visitation the Interest of Christ I fear hath not much gained in you possibly many of you may be sensible you have sustained outward dammages by this day if your hearts are only contriving how you may make up those breaches made upon your outward concerns you are not where you should be I fear many this day will be like to the Seamen and Mariners who after a storm when a calm comes they are busie in patching up their tackling and repairing the dammages the Vessel hath sustained by the storm but not so carefull to consider who hath preserved them in the storm and brought them to a calm but this is a bad frame if thou beest gained upon by Christ thou wilt say What shall I render unto the Lord for all his kindness To which add 4. If thy heart in this time of thy Escape be not affected w th that unkind usage which Christ meets with from many escaping-ones I shall fear that thou thy self also dost not use him kindly nor prize him much the more though thou hast an Escape from his goodness doubtless Christ meets with much unkindness from some that have escaped How many in an Atheistical spirit this day live as if there were no after-state nor eternal judgment as they 1 Cor. 15. cry Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall dye they have learned to know that Death hangs over their heads therefore what will they do why serve their lusts as much as they can make use of their time as they call it though it be to abuse time and turn the grace of God into wantonness Now when thou hast heard things how is it with thee If Christ hath gotten ground within thee these things will pierce thine heart The evil of wicked men is a great grief unto the Saints therefore it is said 2 Pet. 2. Righteous Lot was vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked his righteous soul was vexed in hearing and seeing the dishonour that was done unto the Lord it was a burthen to him And so David saith Wo is me that I
hath not Thus if really thou wouldest have Christ become more glorious unto thee thou mayst be accepted in this which thou hast and it shall not be charged upon thee that thou art wanting in that which thou yet hadst not Under the Law when a Thank-Offering was to be returned and the Soul to admire the Lord in some kindness received he that could bring but two Turtle Doves and two young Pigeons if that were the most they had and the best they could bring it was accepted as well as those that brought the greatest Offerings their hearts were enlarged it is like to bring more So though thou hast but little if thou desirest more thy little will be accepted though but two Turtle Doves or two young Pigeons 5. Thou that wouldest prize Christ more know this That the Lord will increase that Grace in thee and thou shalt be able to prize him at a greater rate The Lord direct your hearts into the Love of God 2 Thes 3.5 it is the Lord that must direct thee into the Love of Christ and he will do it if thy heart be really working that way if thou dost prize him as much as thou canst he will help thee to prize him more Prov. 3.9 10. Honour the Lord with thy substance and with the first fruits of all thine increase so shall thy barns be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst with new Wine If thou dost with the first and best of thy strength endeavour to honour the Lord he will encrease thy strength and communicate unto thee abundantly And that is what I shall say to the fourth Use VSE V. To any such Soul as can say it is escaped and the Branch of the Lord is become glorious unto it I fear these Souls go into a little room there are but few of that sort yet here and there some I confidently believe there are I would all to whom this Book may come might say they find their Escaping-Mercy hath been seconded with such an effect In a word and but a word or two to this sort of persons Ah what is thy mercy O Soul an Escape and the good of it too this is Mercy indeed to be delivered from the pit of Corruption and to be delivered in love to thy Soul What is thy Duty Truly 1. To admire the faithfulness of the Lord in keeping Covenant with thee It is a special Blessing and Promise of the New Covenant That God will not shew his People kindness onely but will also give them the good of that kindness that he sheweth to them To be saved in a day of Distress and thy spirit bettered also look on it as a mercy more then Preservation without which thy Preservation might have been imbittered unto thee O celebrate his praises as a God that keeps Covenant and Mercy and will not alter the good word that he hath spoken to thee 2. Let this incourage thee to press after prizing Christ more as Paul speaking of the Corinthians You love the Lord Jesus see you abound yet more and more so say I O labour to abound more and more Let this goodness by which you are brought to prize him engage you to prize him more and more 3. Communicate thy Experience unto trembling Saints speak to them of his gracious dealings unto thee that their hearts may be incouraged to trust in him Come saith David and I will tell you what the Lord hath done for my Soul We have experience every one of us of what God hath done upon our Bodies O let us be careful to shew forth his praise That is what I shall say unto the fifth Use Again VSE VI. I might speak a word to another sort of persons If escaping a Day of Calamity should cause a Soul to see a greater Beauty in Christ what should it work upon them on whom the Calamity is fallen and yet are escaped There are many such if you that read what I have written meet with them and know them you may do well to give them a little account of what may be spoken in such a case How should that kindness be admired when poor Creatures have had Bodies full of pain Spirits full of fear looking the King of Terrours in the face every moment poor Creatures that it may be would have given had they had it all the world to have been assured they should have been raised from their Bed and set upon their Feet poor Creatures that it is like were sequester'd from company whose case was like that of David Psal 38.11 My Lovers and my Friends stand aloof from my sore and my Kinsmen stand afar off Now that the Lord should be with and look after them in such a time and raise them this should have such effects as such a mercy had once upon Hezekiah Isa 38.15 I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my Soul that is I shall retain a sence of the bitterness that was upon my Soul and in that sence I shall go softly the man that walks softly step by step he goes heedfully and carefully and mindes every step he takes so should such poor Souls walk that have been delivered from such hazard and bitterness of Soul they should walk warily the rest of their time To which two things may much engage 1. That certainly the Escape in such a case is thorow Christ I am satisfied in this That this Judgement of the Plague as other Diseases hath in it natural Causes and natural Means are helpful to deliver from it but as it is in other cases whatever natural Causes there are to further any Disease upon the Body of Man the Lord hath a hand in it and makes use of those natural Causes and so whatever Means are useful for recovery in any case the blessing and efficacy of it depends upon the Lord so it is in this case also very eminently that a Soul may say as it is said Isa 38.16 O Lord by these things men live and in all these things is the life of my Spirit some read the words They shall live for whom the Lord is which is a great variation from our Translation They shall live for whom the Lord is that is whose protection he is and whom he stands by 2. If Christ be not glorious to such a Soul he can bring a worse evil upon them John 5.14 Go away sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee God can bring a worse thing upon a Creature then the Plague he can make death to be chosen rather then life as you have it Jer. 8.3 And death shall be chosen rather then life by all the residue of them that remain of this evil family c. VSE VII Should a souls escaping publick Calamity render Christ the more glorious Surely it should have this effect upon those into whose Walls it came into whose House it entered and yet it may be their Persons not touched but have been preserved though Death was
thee a Soul in its natural condition seeth no Glory and Beauty in Christ it is the work of Faith that opens the Eyes to see Christs Glory and Excellency 1 Pet. 2.7 To you that believe he is precious Though it be thy Duty thou canst not live up to it thy Eyes are blind fast closed and the Glory of Christ is not discerned by thee this therefore is thy misery thou hast not answered the Lords expectation in this eminent preservation Sinners cry as they Isa 53.2 We see no form nor comliness in him nor Beauty for which we should desire him the Sinners Eyes are fast closed that though this be thy Duty thou canst not see it Nor 2ly Canst thou interpret thy Preservation to be out of good will to thee Rom. 8.28 All things shall work together for good unto them that love God but thou dost not love the Lord nor art thou the Called of the Lord thou art still in thy sin and for the present canst not interpret this dispensation to be in kindness what may be in the heart of God what secret purpose he may have how he may design hereafter to bring thee near unto himself thou canst not tell it is hidden for the present and yet thou canst not see there is any good intended thee in thy preservation and this is sad it exceedingly robs the Soul of the sweetness of such a dispensation when it cannot be took to be in kindness And 3ly If thou art a Sinner thou wilt use thy preservation to a wrong end Sinners if they ask mercy it is usually to wrong ends and if they receive mercies they improve them sinfully Psal 78.18 They tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust they asked a mercy but it was for their lust and they did as sadly improve it vers 28 29 30. And he let it fall in the midst of their Camp so they did eat and were well filled for he gave them their own desire they were not estranged from their lust but while their meat was yet in their mouths the wrath of God came upon them c. Thus it will be with thee Soul if thou art yet in thy Sin it is true thou art preserved but it will be to a farther misery thou hast asked it to sinful ends and wilt use it sinfully and so bring a curse upon thy self This is the misery of a poor Soul in sin he spoils his Mercies and brings down the wrath of God upon himself To which add 4ly If thou remainest in sin the time is coming when thou wilt certainly give a sad accompt of this mercy thou hast received and wilt really fall under a dispensarion much more sad then that from which thou art now delivered Christ will come in flaming fire and render vengeance unto them that know not God nor obey the Gospel of Christ the great intent of which is the exalting of Christ Now when by all means thou hast not been provoked to answer this end what will the result and issue of all be but the rendring vengeance unto thee and the wrapping thee up in eternal misery I would therefore say unto a Soul in sin What wilt thou do thou art a dying creature though thou hast escaped this storm and art in safety to day Eternity will soon come upon thee Ah what wilt thou do Soul thy great work lyeth in two things I will but even name them First Go unto the Lord that he would open thy eyes to see thy own misery and Christ in his glory that he would anoint thine Eyes with his Eye-salve that may cause the scales of ignorance to fall from them so as that thou mayst see thy self and Christ aright Secondly Beg that thou mayst have a heart to give up thy self to Christ that the glory thou seest in him may make thee restless until thou hast taken hold of him without which thou canst not walk comfortably though thou art preserved nor canst thou cheerfully look another time of trouble in the face and much less that time when thou shalt be going to thy long home USE XI One Use more Should the Branch of the Lord be glorious unto Escaping Ones It then adviseth all earnestly to press after such a Spirit I have two or three things to say by way of motive and so proceed to the second Note or Doctrine 1. Consider what a Preservation it is thou hast it is not thy Estate thy Liberty thy Name but thy Life and Skin for Skin and all that a man hath will he give for his Life If thou sayest as Job What is my life that I should hope If I live I may live in trouble Distress is like to attend the Servants of God therefore why should I make such reckoning of my life To that I say It is true distress may be the portion of the Lords People yet thy Life is a mercy thou mayst out-live or live above the distresses of the People of God or at least while thou hast life thou hast hope and time and an opportunity to get into more intimate acquaintance with Jesus Christ to be at work about thy everlasting concernments for which reason mainly life is to be valued It is thy Life that is given thee for a prey and this should make thee greatly to value and prize the Lord Jesus that gives thee such preservation 2. Consider how many of Spirits more excellent of Hearts more enlarged of greater use in their places that have been more serviceable unto Christ and his Interest then thou hast been have yet fallen and thou preserved Should not this mercy wonderfully affect thine heart Yea 3. Take this that the more thou seest of the Glory of Christ and the more he gains in esteem upon the Soul the more the Soul doth gain it is gain yea great gain great riches for the Soul to improve in its esteem of Christ Is not Christ the great thing the Gospel presents that every Soul should be seeking after Now the more thou hast of him in thy heart the more thou hast of true Treasure of Riches that are truly so called To which add 4. That if Christ do not become glorious unto us the time is hastening when he will be glorious in the esteem of others He will have glory no thanks unto us Certainly it is not long but Christ will make himself glorious and get himself a Name and Praise and all these slaughtering Providences they do but tend to that end Christ is at work though in the dark as to us and we cannot see his out-goings yet he is really working out his own advancement and will make all these end in his own glory Which leads me unto the second Doctrine from the Words The Second Doctrine That the Issue of all Slaughtering-Judgements shall be the making Christ glorious and that glory that shall be put upon the Head of Christ shall tend to the Good and Benefit of those of Israel that shall escape the
place the high place at Gibeon where the Plague was he knew that he had deserved death and therefore he could not go to Gibeon for he was afraid because of the Sword of the Angel of the Lord as you may see 1 Chron. 21.28 I may allude to that Ezek. 18.24 I know the words have another sense than that that is before me but I allude to them only and as he saith When the Righteous turneth away from his Righteousness and committeth Iniquity and doth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doth shall he live all his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned in his trespass that he hath trespassed and in his sin that he hath sinned shall he die So I may say when the Saints of God turn into wayes of sinners and act in like provocations with them in the sins they sin and the trespasses that they commit they may die and the hand of the Lord may break out against them to the slaughtering of them and cutting them down Obj. 1. If any shall object here and say If the Saints may be slaughtered by and fall in common Calamity what profit hath the Jew then and what advantage is there by Circumcision what advantage hath the Saint above and beyond the Sinner Answ To that I answer He hath advantage many wayes to name a few particulars 1. Though one of God's Israel may fall by a slaughtering Judgment yet he is in the least danger of any one he may fall as sinners do but he is in the least danger there is greater hope of his security than of those that know not God The Saints have the Spirit of God to lead them into his way and work and therefore are not so easily left to run into those sins that may provoke God to cut them off by such Judgments all the Sons of God are led by the Spirit of God Rom. 8.14 As many as are led by the Spirit of God are the Sons of God è contra a blessed Promise the Lord doth make in that 25th Psalm unto his own People touching the guidance they shall have ver 12. What man is he that feareth the Lord him shall he teach in the way that he shall chuse God here engageth himself not to leave his People to themselves to the ways and workings of their own hearts but to direct them into his way and when he hath them in his way what then ver 13. his soul shall dwell at ease or as Junius translates his soul shall dwell in good as if he should say when I guide my People into my ways than evil shall not easily overtake them but they shall dwel and rest in good and mercy shall compass them about if they step out of Gods way the Lord knows how to call them back again Isa 30.21 Thine ears shall hear a word behind thee saying This is the way walk ye in it If the Saints have provoked God there is a possibility for them to make their peace that the difference may not grow to any great height they may compound the difference and make up the breach by a spirit of mourning and humiliation they may lye at the foot of the Lord and abhor themselves in dust and ashes and so make up the breach and to this work they are fitted in some measure through Grace nay they have a Friend in Heaven that intercedeth for them and though they have provoked God the difference may be by him so mediated that God may be stopped from coming forth in his hot Displeasure I make no doubt but the Lord may say concerning many of his People as he doth of Israel of old in Psal 106.23 Therefore he said he would destroy them had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach Doubtless our Lord Jesus Christ that Moses he of whom Moses was a type and in this a great type doth oftentimes step in between the Lord and his People and make up the Breach and divert that Wrath that otherwise would come down in dreadful Judgments to the cutting them off the Earth 2. Though a Saint may fall into a calamity yet it is advantagious to be a Saint in such a day for such a one though he fall he shall be supported in his fall and the curse of the Judgment shall be taken off God may chasten his People with a Rod let loose the severest Judgments upon them He may cut them down but yet he must hold them by the hand by Covenant he stands bound to give them strength for every tryal and blessed Experiences there have been of this kind this day of those Servants of God that have gone to their eternity by thousands There are them that have left this Testimony That God was with them in that hour and though the Judgement in it self considered had much of bitterness in it yet God was pleased to sweeten it to them by an abundant sence of Divine Love it is said Psal 149.5 Let the Saints be joyful in glory let them sing aloud upon their bed Some Saints are not only joyfull in Glory now they are with God but have sung aloud upon their sick and death-beds on which they have been cast by this present Judgment of God and declared to the praise of his Grace that he did support and chear their inward man by the enjoyment of his blessed refreshing Presence in that needful hour and truly the curse and sting of such a Dispensation is taken away from the Saints Thus some interprâ—â— that word Psal 91.10 there shall no 〈◊〉 come nigh their dwelling that is say 〈◊〉 the Plague of the Plague shall not come nigh their dwelling the curse of it shall not come though the thing it self come God will take off the curse and that is the bitterness and sting of any affliction Death comes upon every man Saint and Sinner on the Wicked it comes with a sting in its tayl a curse with it it is an inlet for them into eternal misery falling under the everlasting Displeasure of the glorious God the Saint dyeth too but the curse is taken off from him in his Death his grave is his bed where he rests in peace and that stroke only opens a door unto him into his Father's presence Isa 57.2 They shall enter into peace they shall rest in their beds each one walking in his uprightness So 1 Cor. 15.55 saith the Apostle O Death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy Victory The curse of Death is taken away from the Saint So though the Saint fall in and under such a calamity the sting of it is so taken out that it is but a blessed passage unto him into Abraham's bosom 3. It is yet worth while to be of Gods Israel in a time of Slaughter though one should not escape the Slaughter for this reason That if a Soul go unto its Eternity by such a Slaughter God will yet thereby glorifie himself â—ore and
is said in vers 25. You shall serve the Lord your God and he shall bless thy bread and thy water and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee The Angel shall cut off the Canaanites but I shall take sickness away from thee And if you consider what God hath promised to do for his People in the time to come Psal 103.6 7. you find cause to believe that this is the way that God delights to take The Lord executeth Righteousness and Judgment for all that are oppressed he made known his wayes unto Moses and his acts unto the children of Israel Mark God saith he will act for his People he will free them from oppression from bonds and from troubles but how He made known his wayes unto Moses and his acts to the children of Israel But you will say How I will tell you and God hath told you long ago he told Moses and Israel not onely what he would do for them in their day but what he would do and how he would proceed for good unto his People in after-dayes In the dayes of Moses God wrought for his People and led them into much good by slaughter and this is the way that God still intends to take Psalm 72. entituled A Psalm for Solomon concerning the glory that was put upon Solomon in the person of Solomon Christ is eminently intended and his Glory and Government is eminently pointed at observe which way it is that Solomon and Christ shall come to their Glory and come to do good to his People He shall judge the Poor of his People he shall save the children of the Needy he shall break in pieces the Oppressors it is in a way of slaughter So Isa 30. with abundance of Scriptures more that I might name you shall find there what the Lord saith he will do There shall be upon every high hill rivers and streams of waters in the day of the great slaughter when the Towers shall fall Saith God there shall be a day of great slaughter What shall the slaughter do the Towers shall fall which are types and representations of the high great things of this World that seem to have great strength and to be almost impregnable But in the day of great slaughter the Towers shall fall And what will the effect thereof be it will be glory to Christ and good unto his People ver 26. it is in the dayes that the Lord bindeth up the breach of his People in which the light of the Moon shal be as the light of the Sun and the light of the Sun shall be seven-fold as the light of seven days Thus will Christ glorifie himself and do his People good by slaughter So Isa 34.6 he gives you an account of dreadful slaughter The Sword of the Lord is filled with Blood it is made fat with fatness and with the Blood of Lambs and Goats with the fat of the Kidneys of Rams for the Lord hath a Sacrifice in Bozrah and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea Here shall be great slaughter and what shall be the effect of it you shall see in the 12th vers They shall call the Nobles thereof unto the Kingdom but none shall be there and all her Princes shall be nothing that is the glory that shall come to Christ shall so out-shine and out-do the glory of all the great Ones of the World that they shall be look'd upon as if they were not his glory that shall come to him through the slaughter shall so surpass them in all their glory I might add Isa 33.10 c. The Earth mourneth and languisheth Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down Sharon is like a Wilderness and Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits Now will I arise saith the Lord now will I be exalted now will I lift up my self Now look what follows and you shall find the way by which he will be exalted it is through slaughter Ye shall conceive chaff ye shall bring forth stubble your breath as fire shall devour you and the People shall be as the burning of Lime as Thorns cut up they shall be burnt in fire Ah my Friends we may think our selves secure and out of danger because upon our feet but alas Christ that is to make himself glorious how easily is he able to pull down the pride of man and to lay low his lofty looks it is a notable word that you have Job 24.22 c. He draweth also the Mighty with his power when He riseth up mark that is to plead his Cause no man is sure of his life though it be given him to be in safety whereon he resteth yet his Eyes are upon their Ways Men may think themselves safe and secure and that which is their strength and confidence may be untouched for the present but yet the Lords Eyes are upon their ways and vers 24. They are exalted for a little while but are gone and brought low they are taken out of the way it is done in a little time as the tops of the Ears of Corn Those that stand in the way of Christs Exaltation they are exalted but it is but for a little while and in a little while at short warning Christ can throw them down and cut them off as the tops of the Ears of Corn. You know a little thing will strike of the top of an Ear of Corn when it is fully ripe Christ can with a little stroke make all glory to perish that his own may be advanced So that I say it is Christ's way and method to get himself glory and do his People good by Slaughter yea let me tell you This Plague and Pestilence is a means by which God will work out his own glory We it may be look upon it as a thing that comes of course once in forty years or such a matter but truly this is a sad mistake and in the 89th Psalm a Psalm in which David is much concerned but in and under the Person of David Christ is intended and God when he promiseth the Kingdom to David that he would secure the Kingdom unto him he intends Christ especially that he would make Christ great and glorious in the World and which way will he do it vers 23. And I will beat down his Foes before his face and plague them that hate him Junius renders the word thus Osores ejus plagâ afficiam we may translate it I will smite them that hate him for plaga a stroke is put for any kinde of stroke or smiting but properly and more especially for this Judgment of the Plague and I think so it is to be taken here I will send this Judgement abroad that I may cut off and take away the haters of my Son that I may establish him in the glory that I have designed for him To which add Hab. 3.2 where the Prophet petitions the Lord O Lord I have heard thy speech and was afraid O Lord revive thy work
also it cannot be otherwise Secondly Christs Glory must needs be for the good of his People in that all the Glory he is intrusted with as Mediator it is in their names for their sakes and for their uses he is Head over all things to his Church Eph. 1.22 I may therefore say unto Saints as they in Cant. 3.11 Go forth O ye Daughters of Jerusalem and behold King Solomon with the Crown wherewith his Mother crowned him in the day of his Espousals in the day of the gladness of his Heart Go forth and look upon by the Eye of Faith that Glory that shall be upon the Head of Christ and look upon it with comfort you may account it a joyous spectacle for it is that that shall work out your Mercy if your hearts be upright with God A little further to shew you what benefit shall come unto Saints by Christs being glorious 1. When Christ is glorious glorious Liberty shall come unto the Saints We are now a company of inthralled Creatures not only unto our own lusts but the lusts of men you have a notable expression Rom. 8.21 The Creature it self also shall be delivered into the glorious liberty of the Sons of God The Creatures of the Earth are now in bondage unto the lusts of Men our Rayment is in bondage to our Pride our Meat to Gluttony our Drink to Drunkenness and other things the like the Creatures are held in slavery unto the lusts of Men but there is a time when they shall have glorious Liberty when men shall not be able at their pleasure to inthrall and oppress them Psal 72.12 14. the Psalmist speaking of Christ in his glory saith of him That he shall deliver the Needy when he crieth the Poor also and him that hath no helper he shall redeem their Souls from death and violenee and precious shall their Blood be in his sight It is worth your observing that the whole design of Christ is but to do his People good to save them and therefore at the 4th verse of that Psalm it is said He shall save the Children of the needy and particularly this service he shall do them he shall give them glorious Liberty 2. This shall be their Glory their Reproach shall be wiped away the People of God have been a reproached People greatly reproached but their reproach shall be rolled away When Israel came to Canaan they were circumcised and the place where they were circumcised was called Gilgal and the reason given Josh 5.9 For there he rolled away the reproach of Egypt the lot of the Saints is to be reproached in Egypt but there shall be a time and day and a Place also which he will name Gilgal a time and place when and where he will roll away the reproach of his People For the present sometimes God gives his People unto reproach as you have it Isa 43.28 Therefore I have profaned the Princes of the Sanctuary and have given Jacob to the curse and Israel to reproaches but there is also a time when reproaches shall be taken away Then will the Lord be jealous for his Land and pity his People yea the Lord will answer and say unto his People Behold I will send you Corn and Wine and Oyl and ye shall be satisfied therewith and I will no more make you a reproach among the Heathen 3. The Glory of the Saints shall be this They shall be raised up to much height and dignity that the greatest of all the ungodly ones of the Earth shall bow before them for which take one place insted of many Isa 60.14 The Sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soals of thy feet and they shall call thee The City of the Lord the Zion of the Holy One of Israel It were great arrogancy for any of the Saints to hope for such a thing as this had not God spoken it and it is as great infidelity not to believe it since the mouth of the Lord hath uttered it 4. They shall have this Glory More eminent and uninterupted Communion with God and Christ then ever yet they had and this is the thing that every good Soul longs for long for it they do that is certain and when they are hinder'd in that enjoyment it is their great burthen when their Tabernacles are taken down their communion's broken this is that that makes them go mourning but the Lord will give his People more eminent and glorious communion with himself and his Son then they have yet partaken of It is said Isa 60.7 with respect to a time yet to come The Flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee the Rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee they shall come up with acceptance on mine Altar and I will glorifie the House of my Glory Observe it the Glory of the Temple of old was the presence of God in the Temple he was said to fill the House with his Glory the communion that the Saints had with God was the Temple-Glory God meeting with them in his Appointments and Administrations and now he promiseth here I will glorifie the House of my Glory I will fill my Churches and Saints with more Glory then yet they have seen the meaning is they shall have more of my presence with them and more abundant communion and fellowship with me then heretofore Isa 66.11 it is said They shall be delighted with the abundance of her Glory that ye may suck and be satisfied with the Brests of her Consolation that ye may milk out and be delighted with the abundance of her Glory 5. And in the last place this shall be the Glory of Saints Even their glorious Union one with another and this shall be their mercy in the day of Christ in Zeph. 3.8 9. the Lord saith Therefore wait ye upon me until the day that I rise up unto the prey for my determination is to gather the Nations that I may assemble the Kingdoms to pour upon them mine indignation even all my fierce anger for all the Earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousie for then will I turn to the People a pure language that they may all call upon the Name of the Lord to serve him with one consent It is the great cry among the People of God O that we could come to Unity to love as Brethren all cry for want of it though few endeavour after it as they ought to do but when we have done our utmost endeavours which is our Duty yet it will not rise up to any great height till Christ come in his Glory Wait upon ME until I arise to the prey to do gloriously in the World and then I will work thus and thus that you may come to serve me with One Consent They mistake greatly that think to force People to a Union to make them all of one mind it is the work of
because of Israel that is a Soul is not an Israelite indeed because he crowds himself in among that number because he takes up the same Profession with them and pretends to be in the same Spirit with them Let it be minded what is the Foundation of your Hope think you you are not therefore Israel because of Israel because of them that do profess for God that will not be a foundation that is fit for you to build upon And then 2. Neither are they Israel because they are the Seed of Abraham This was a mighty thing which the Jewish People boasted of say they We are Abraham's natural Seed his Seed according to the flesh And possibly some also may reckon upon some such thing at this day we are the Children of them that do believe and our education hath been somewhat suitable thereto but not therefore Israel because of Abraham's Seed that is a mistake you should be watchful against From the consideration of this word it is evident People may reckon themselves Israel upon unsafe grounds and therefore we ought to be serious in our enquiry into this matter The other Scripture is in Isa 48. where you have the preceding things and somewhat more expressed vers 1 2. Hear ye this O House of Jacob which are called by the Name of Israel and are come forth out of the Waters of Judah which swear by the Name of the Lord and make mention of the God of Israel but not in truth nor in righteousness for they call themselves of the Holy City and stay themselves upon the God of Israel the Lord of Hosts is his name It is a Scripture worth your considering and it doth in the general teach us thus much That a People may be many things and may do many things that do seemingly bespeak them to be of the Israel of God but when the matter is more thorowly enquired into it will be found it is no such thing Take a few particulars out of the Text and observe what persons may be and do and yet really not be the Israel of God 1. They may be called by the name of Israel they may be reputed Saints pass for somewhat in the esteem and account of others suitable to which is that Scripture which you have Rev. 3.1 where the Spirit of God testifies concerning the Church of Sardis that they had a name to live but yet were dead In the opinion of those that did converse with them and that held communion with them they were indeed alive but when the Spirit of God came to pass a sentence on them and to determine really what their state was says the holy Ghost Thou art dead 2. Observe also that they were the Posterity of Jacob Hear ye O House of Jacob that are come forth out of the Waters of Judah that is you are some of the multitude of Judah's Off-spring they were the seed of them that were in Covenant but yet notwithstanding many of them were Strangers to the Lord and not of Israel unto this day I beseech you mind it that Grace is not certainly and infallibly intailed upon every one of the Seed of Believers although it is very frequently seen that some or other of their Seed the Lord is pleased to chuse to himself and does set them apart to be the Instruments of his praise according to Isa 61.9 And their Seed shall be known among the Gentiles and their Off-spring among the People all that see them shall acknowledge them that they are the Seed which the Lord hath blessed not onely the Seed of them which the Lord hath blessed but a Seed which are themselves blessed in their own persons It is the usual method of the Lord though he may pass by some yet he does take some other of the Seed to bring them near to himself But this I must let you know you must no further make reckoning of the interest of Parents in the Covenant but as a ground of Hope to you and an argument to plead with God you must not thence conclude that you your selves are in the Bond of the Covenant till some work be upon your hearts 3. They made a profession for God and therefore are said to swear by the Name of the Lord. Swearing by the Name of the Lord is an act of Worship a professed owning of God which shall be done by Saints when they are found in the best Spirit witness that word Isa 65.16 He that blesseth himself in the Earth shall bless himself in the God of truth and he that sweareth in the Earth shall swear by the God of Truth because the former troubles are forgotten and are hid from thine eyes It is spoken about times in which a great deal of mercy and good will be brought forth and then there shall be swearing by the Name of the Lord it is a professed owning of God and thus did this People do and yet there was nothing of God in them nothing of Truth nothing but hypocrisie and deceit bound up in their Spirits 4. Observe also they did reckon themselves of Israel they were right in their own opinion and esteem they called themselve the Holy City It is a marvelous easie thing for a Soul to get a good opinion of himself to stand right in his own apprehensions but I would not have you build too much upon this It is an excellent caution which the Apostle gives Rom. 12.3 For I say through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you not to think of himself more highly then he ought to think but to think soberly according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of Faith I say unto every man among YOU he speaks unto Professors be not too hasty and forward to conclude well concerning your selves but let every man judge himself to be no more then according to the measure of Grace he hath received My Friends be your Profession what it will and your approbation among others what it can you are really no more nor will you stand for more in the day of Christ then according as there shall be somewhat of God found upon your Souls 5. Observe also they had much confidence that God would own them and therefore it is said They stay'd themselves upon the God of Israel they profess that they do act Faith on God and are full of confidence that they shall be owned of God and not rejected by him But after all this see what a character the Spirit of God gives of this People v. 4. Because I knew that thou art obstinate and thy Neck is an Iron sinew and thy Brow Brass a People very wretched and wicked very rebellious against God not in the least subjecting themselves to God and to his mind after all the profession they have made and their pretence to be Israel Seriously consider these things and tell me if there be not cause that each Soul of us should fear lest we be found short
a little against them And unhappy you if in your Youth and Strength you have few thoughts or few serious thoughts of God if he be little in your thoughts and hearts I tell you it is to be feared you are not of the Israel of God unto this day Though you escape and are preserved yet it is to be feared your preservation will not be attended with mercy to you nor shall you bear a part in that Glory that shall be upon the heads of Israel when the Branch of the Lord shall be glorious 4. If you are the Israel of God then are you Holiness to the Lord you not onely live upon him but to him in some measure Jer. 2.9 the Prophet saith Israel was Holiness to the Lord that is when Israel was in his right spirit then he was Holiness to the Lord. For the expression you have it in Scripture elsewhere Zech. 14.20 21. In that day there shall be upon the Bells of the Horses HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD and the Pots in the Lords House shall be like the Bowls before the Altar yea every Pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be Holiness unto the Lord of Hosts that is every Person and every Thing shall be for God for his Work and Service to be to his Praise and Glory Certain it is Saints are not their own as the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 6.19 Ye are not your own ye are bought with a price and so Tit. 2.13 14. where speaking concerning the purchase of Christ Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and might purifie to himself a peculiar People zealous of good Works The Vessels of the Temple before they were made use of in the Temple they had a legal consecrating and being cleansed they were given up to the work of the Temple to be for that use for ever And so the Saints of the Lord who were typified by the Vessels of the Temple they are first purified cleansed and sanctified by Christ by the work of the Spirit on their Souls and then given up to the Lord and his service It may be said of them as Hannah said of her Son Samuel 1 Sam. 1.28 Therefore I have lent him unto the Lord to be his so long as he lives Every Israelite indeed is one lent to the Lord given up to be for the work and service of the Lord in his whole course and in every thing to exalt his praise to mind his glory Certainly thus it ought to be and this was one end of the Death of Christ that he might have his People be for him 2 Cor. 5.15 He died and rose that they which live should not henceforth live to themselves but to him that died for them and rose again and unto this Spirit Saints are wrought up in some good measure as is expressed Rom. 14.7 And none of us saith the Apostle live to our selves Souls what say your Hearts to this matter You profess for the Lord but are you for him as consecrated things in the House of God Which way do your Hearts work day by day This know where there hath not been a solemn resignation and giving up a mans self unto the Lord where there is not a diligent observing of a mans whole course to see to what ends they are directed and whether the glory of Christ be therein sought it is doubtful that Soul is not of the Israel of God to this day The truth is the sins of many witness to their Faces and I make no doubt but that inscription may be written over the doors of many Professors upon too great ground All men seek their own and not the things of Jesus Christ If this be the spirit of any to whom these things may come you may fear though you are spared and are not cut down this day you stand but to cumber the ground such as God takes little delight in and such as from whom he hath little fruit such as he doth not reckon among the number of his Israel and such as shall not be blessed with Israels mercies when the Branch of the Lord shall be exalted 5. Are you Israel then are you a praying People Israel had thence his Name from his wrestling and prevailing with God God asked him what was his Name Gen. 32.27 28. he said Jacob and God said Thy Name shall no more be called Jacob but Israel for as a Prince hast thou power with God and with men and hast prevailed In his praying there is observable his importunity and that is expressed partly when it is said he wrestled and also in that expression wherein much freedom and familiarity with God is set forth God said Let me go says Jacob I will not let thee go except thou bless me v. 26. which importunity of his is again noted by the Spirit of God Hos 12.4 He had power over the Angel he wept and he made supplication There is also observable that this Prayer it was in secret Gen. 32.24 And Jacob was left ALONE it was between the Lord and himself in secret which I would beseech you to consider heartily That as soon yea at the very first moment when a Soul is enrolled among the number of Israel at that instant he becomes a praying Person as in the case of Saul who was afterward called Paul And let me ask you that attend on the Lord in publick Duties what are you in secret Does God usually there hear from you Cannot you live without seeing the face of God in secret Let me tell you publick Duties have many temptations a man may desire to be engaged in them from many base and bad ends yea it is possible natural Conscience and your Education may carry you into corners sometimes but therefore in secret how do you carry it Doth it satisfie you that you have been in your Closets and have spent it may be a quarter of an hour there and it may be with a slight and formal Spirit This is not the Spirit of Israel But if thou art an Israelite indeed when thou art in secret thou wilt be fervent and earnest with God In publick Duties a man may seem to be zealous that he may get a Name or keep up a Name that he hath gotten or to some such-like end but when in secret the Soul cries mightily to the Lord it is a good sign that there is a sense of want and that it does arise from a Spirit of Grace in the Soul when thou canst in secret sign and mourn before the Lord. Now these things I have gone over with this design to see if I could let you into a little Hope and good Ground that as you have escaped so you are escaping Israelites who shall partake of Glory when Christ the Branch of the Lord shall be made glorious And the Lord help you to be faithful to your Souls
yet the Blessings of Israel stand open for thee and the Door of Grace is wide open be confident if thou dost enter in close with and accept of Grace it will be as well with thee as with any of the Israel of God Consider thy hearty closing with Christ will not onely let thee into Mercy and Blessing of the present Day but it will let thee into Blessings of all kinds it will bring a Blessing upon thee in every Work and Way it will let thee into a part and share in the highest Priviledges that the Children of Men are capable of it will let thee into Sonship and Friendship with the great and holy God it will make thee blessed for Time and for Eternity Therefore fight not against thy own Mercies mind really and heartily what freeness and heartiness there is in the great God in setting before sinners all the Grace of the Covenant and what gladness it doth produce when poor Souls are willing to kiss the Son it will not onely produce Joy in thy own Soul it will not onely make glad the hearts of many of thy Relations and of thy Friends for possibly thou hast Relations and Friends that long to see Christ formed in thee that in every petition at the Throne of Grace their hearts are working for thy Soul and begging that thou mayst be a plant of Righteousness of the Lords own planting and nothing would glad them more then to see thee a Son and Heir of the Kingdom of God but also there will be Joy in Heaven Father Son and Spirit are gladded to see the designs of the death of Christ graciously accomplished upon the hearts of poor sinners Remember therefore I do this day in the Name of Christ invite thee to partake of all the Mercies which be the Mercies of Gods Israel And truly the Mercies of Israel are many there is Pardon there is Purging there is Adoption Sonship there is the Spirit to comfort you to lead you in every work and way there be the Promises made over to them there is mercy now and for ever A Kingdom the Lord has prepared for them that love him I invite thee to take a part in these things this day and forget it not that thou hast had a Call from the Lord at this time Soul I tell thee if thou dost stand it out against this Call of God truly though thou art escaped and thy life is given thee for a prey yet thou maist possibly be sealed up unto destruction thou maist be left to dye in thy sins and to fall for ever under the weight of divine displeasure for thy neglect and contempt of Gospel-Grace Be confident as Jesus Christ is now waiting upon poor Souls and offering Mercy to poor Sinners so when he comes to the glory that is reserved for him he will be found of power sufficient to recompence all that have trodden under foot the Blood of the Son of God and made light of those overtures of Mercy that have been tendred to them The Light is now with thee and the Lord is calling of thee therefore make peace while thou art in the way lest the Lord come forth against thee in his hot displeasure VSE IV. SOme methinks there are that are of trembling hearts and they cry It is true I am escaped but I fear I am none of the Israel of God My Use therefore would be to such as are of trembling spirits When they consider how good God has been to them they may possibly tremble lest at last they should lose the Mercy of this Mercy because they are not found among the Israel of God Many a Soul there is possibly cries out Israels Priviledges are too great for me to hope to have a part in them and Israels Spirit is a Spirit more excellent then ever I have been found in and therefore though I am escaped this day yet I want that which is the best piece of the Mercy of an Escape I would answer Know this O Soul that among the Israel of God there are many that are of fearful Spirits although they are really among the number of the Lords precious Ones they have not an Eye to see it nor Faith to believe it and so may possibly go mourning many days But what are thy Objections What makes thee fear Do not fear thou know'st not what nor why As we are to give a reason of our Hope so I would not have you fear without a reason Objection 1. Methinks the Soul says Gods Israel are a chosen People and the Election of God lies deep it is a secret lock'd up in his Bosom and I fear I have no part in the Election of God I fear the eternal thoughts of God did not concern themselves about such a weak and worthless Worm as I am Answer It is true the Election of God is a secret in the heart of God and secret things belong unto God things written and revealed belong to us It is not for me or thee to climb Heaven to search Records and at first dash to turn over the leaves of the Book of Life and to see whether we may find our Names therein written It is a great mistake upon which many run that would think to prove the truth of their being called by finding out whether they are elected or no it is an endless it is an impossible work This therefore know is thy work and mine to consult what effects of Electing Love we can finde upon our Souls if any thing of that be in thy heart thence thou mayst safely conclude thou wast in the heart of God from Eternity There is a Scripture that answers fully I think whatever the Soul can say in this matter 1 Thes 1.4 5. Knowing Brethren beloved your Election of God for our Gospel came not unto you in word but also in power and in the holy Ghost and in much assurance as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake Consider whether the Gospel hath had its work upon thy heart whether it hath come with power upon thy Soul and if so others may know and thou mayst know from thence thine Election Election is an act of God that he passeth from Eternity but Calling is a work and Fruit of Election upon the Soul of a poor Sinner by which it may come to discover that it was in the thoughts of God before the foundation of the World was laid If therefore thou canst trace the footsteps of Gods going upon thy Soul and of his working in a Gospel-way upon thy heart thy Soul is safe and the thoughts of God thou mayst conclude were towards thee before thou hadst a being But Objection 2. The Soul objects I fear God hath not been at work upon me I could conclude Gods election of me if I could find a work of the Gospel passed upon my Soul I know the work of the Gospel is to cleanse and purifie the heart but sin and filthiness
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
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
dwells in me that I cannot think the Lord has been effectually at work upon my Soul That the work of the Gospel is to purifie the heart is plain from Joh. 17.17 Sanctifie them through thy Truth thy Word is truth so 1 Pet. 1.22 Seeing ye have purified your hearts in obeying the Truth thorow the Spirit unto unfained love to the Brethren The Gospel if it works it works to the purifying of the heart Answer As it is a work of the Gospel to cleanse and purifie the heart so it is not all the work it does nor is it the first work it doth nor the work that is first manifest upon the Soul The Law it humbles the sinner and makes him see his need of Christ the first work of the Gospel is to give the sinner hope that he may be delivered out of his undone condition and the next is to make him willing to subject to and accept of the Grace of God in the Gospel Psal 110.3 Thy People shall be willing in the day of thy Power Therefore Soul if thou dost make this Objection this I would say to thee Consider whether thou canst find that the Gospel hath done its first work upon thy heart hath made thee willing to accept of Grace in the Gospel-way and to bow and fall at the foot of Jesus Christ As to thy Holiness the holiness of thy heart will at first discover it self hardly by any other ways then by thy love to Holiness then by thy hatred of Sin and thy fighting against the Corruptions that be in thy Soul thy Conquest and Victory over Sin must be the work of time the fruit of much pains and long waiting many excellent Souls have not attained unto this Paul himself found impurity remaining and Corruption like to bear him down and therefore cries out O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this Body of Death But then Objection 3. The Soul objects and says But I have been but a little time under any Soul-Work and therefore I may soon be mistaken I may reckon I am an Israelite and may be but an Edomite still for it is but a little while that I have had any workings upon my heart I have gone indeed from Duty to Duty for a long time together but I have sat in and under them like a Stock or a Stone and moved not and therefore whether the Workings that are upon me are genuine or whether they be spurious and not of the right kind I know not Answer I answer therefore The work of Grace upon the heart is wrought in a little time a little time doth it there are indeed many preparations to it the Soul may fall under many convictions and many struglings may be in the heart of a poor creature before the new Creature is formed but Grace is infused into the heart in a moment at once It is the Devils design to oppose young Converts and puzzle them with endless questions about their state I would therefore that thou shouldst consult for thy satisfaction which way is the bent of thy Soul Canst thou say thy desire is for Communion with God for fellowship with Father Son and Spirit Thou wouldst fain see him who is invisible and fain wouldst know him whom to know is Eternal Life If the bent of thy heart be really for God it is bent and bowed though it hath not been long with God thou mayest conclude I think with some comfort the Lord hath been at work upon thy Soul and thou art one of the Israel of God though thou art but a little one of that Tribe But then Objection 4. Says the Soul Many of much longer standing and of much more raised confidence have afterwards miscarried and it has appeared that their Souls have not been right with God and therefore my heart trembles lest I should not be an Israelite indeed Answer To this I would answer That indeed it is so and it may be thought of with sorrow of heart that many Souls after long profession have been but empty Vines bringing forth fruit onely to themselves And happy is he that by other mens harms learns to beware A holy fear and jealousie over thy heart is very good and there is great cause for it considering the many and great miscarriages that are among Professors They say of Trees that are well rooted being shaken with the Wind they are made to root the better It may be thus may thy Temptations touching thy state be if thou art rooted in Christ thy Temptations may be for thy further setling in thy state But yet to be always perplexing thy self with questions about thy state may not onely marre thy comfort but may spoil thee in thy growth also and may prove a great hindrance to thee My poor thoughts are therefore these Be sure to make use enough of Christ see thy All in him that he is thy Righteousness for Justification and that from him is the work of thy Sanctification he must begin it and it is he also that must carry it on lie at his foot live upon him and let all thy expectations be from him and whoever may fall I think thou wilt stand and wilt be found one of the Israel of God that shall be made glorious in the day of Christs Glory I am perswaded if thou canst do as is hinted in Isa 45. ult see thy Righteousness in him and thy Strength in him and canst glory in Christ it is a good ground to thee to hope that thou art of the Israel of God with whom it is like for ever to go well Objection 5. The Soul may object and say further But alas I have had few Visions of God and that makes me fear Israel of old had many and he had sometimes very glorious Visions that did greatly comfort and strengthen and bear up his Soul Answer I answer That visions of God indeed are exceeding sweet very sweet but the dispensing and giving them forth is in the hand of God and he must do it how and when he pleaseth and it is good in his sight sometimes to let his own People sit in darkness and see no light Hast thou seen the face of God at any time If thou hast had but some Visions of him though not so many as thou wouldst yet it is ground of rejoycing to thee and thou oughtest from thence to conclude much to thy own comfort A little hint of Good Will is given in to be lived upon in after times However which way is it thy Soul does press Art thou waiting for the manifestation of the love of God in Christ Are these the things which thou art seeking of together with a Conformity to the mind and will of God If so thou hast cause of Thankfulness and Joy Briefly Watch against those devices of Satan whereby he labours to do thee hurt and put thee besides thy present proper work Thou art one of them that are escaped this day and God