P. 15. l. 20. r. brought forth P. 19. l. 6. r. this Same P. 20. l. last leave out that P. 21. l. 4. leave out But. P. 22. l. 12. r. his People and l. 32. r. lead them P. 27. l. 15. r. One another and l. 27. r. shall P. 28. l. 6. leave out own P. 32. l. 36 r. rebellious part P. 34. l. 11. r. It is that and l. 33. r. He shall P. 36. l. 25. r. give thee P. 37. l. 22. r. he may P. 42 l. 30. r. yeelded P. 45. l. 10. leave out will P. 47. l. 40. r. this is GOOD NEVVS OR VVINE and OYLE Poured into the Wounds of SINNING and DISTRESSED IACOB c. Isa 27.6 7 8 and 9. Verses He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root Israel shall blossom and bud and fill the face of the world with Fruit. Hath he smitten him as he smote those that smote him or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him In measure when it shooteth forth thou wilt debate with it he stayeth his rough wind in the day of the East wind By this therefore shall the Iniquity of Jacob be purged and this is all the Fruit to take away his sin THESE last dayes this last part of the time of this old World in the beginning of which our Lot is fallen to Be is that part of time in which all the Brophesies in Scripture except those that particularly relate to the World to come the new Heavens and the new Earth will have their compleat performance it 's the time in which they all meet as the lines of the Globe in the Center Hence it is that the Lord doth so complain of his Peoples Deafness and Blindness and checks them for it Isa 42.18 19 20. Hear ye DEAF and look ye BLIND that ye may see Who is BLIND but my Servant or DEAF as my Messenger that I sent Who is BLIND as he that is perfect and BLIND as the Lords Servant Seeing many things but thou observest not opening the Ears but he heareth not Notwithstanding the light of a multitude of Prophesies shining round about him Jacob is still Blind notwithstanding the Voice of strange Providences performing Prophesies sounds in his ears yet this Blind Servant of the Lord is still Deaf he opens his ears but he hears not notwithstanding he sees the wonderful Works of God performing the Words of God yet through Blindness he observes not the Lords meaning in them he observes not that which the Lord would have him to observe and doth so plainly hint out to him by his Word and Works he sees not the Way the Lord would have him to Walk in hears not the Voice that cryes This is the Way walk in it Therefore doth the Lord complain with an Admiration Who is BLIND but my Servant DEAF as my Messenger Who is BLIND as he that is perfect and BLIND as the Lords Servant To clear Jacob's Eyes to take away those thick scales of darkness that through various kinds of distempers and temptations are grown upon them that they may See and to open his deaf Ears that he may Hear the Lord will deal with Jacob according to the tenour of these words I have chosen to treat of It seems necessary before I come to the Words that I mind two things The Time to which and the Persons to whom this Prophesie in a special manner belongs In the 24 25 26 and 27. Chapters is a continued uninterrupted Discourse of what great things the Lord will do for and among his People That it hath a particular and peculiar Relation to the last times and that these dayes wherein we live are those last times I suppose will be readily granted and therefore I need not use words to prove it And that this Prophesie hath Relation to the Gentiles I suppose is as clear not onely the Prophet's speaking of the Isles of which the natural Seed of Jacob had no possession but the Work of God it self treated of makes it evident This Earth which the Lord saith he will Empty in the 24. Chapt. some would restrain to these Islands but I would rather say we are to understand by it the whole Antichristian Earth Babylons Earth the old Serpents Earth in which he is bruising the Heel of the Womans Seed Both because we find the Prophet speaking of the utmost parts of the Earth in the 16. ver of the 24. Chapter and because he positively saith in his 28. Chapt. which hath Relation to this time also I have heard from the Lord God of Hosts a Consumption even determined upon the whole Earth But many particulars in these Chapters tell me also That this Work of God here spoken of shall have its beginning in the Islands and from thence issue forth to the other parts of the Earth therefore saith the Prophet Israel shall blossom and bud and fill the face of the WORLD with Fruit. Further This People to whom this Prophesie doth belong are a People that having been afflicted formerly by their Enemies the Serpents brood have encountered Smitten those Enemies of theirs Hath he smitten him as he SMOTE those that smote him Again They are a People that at present are under the Smitings of their former smitten Enemies Hath he SMITTEN him as he smote those that smote him And that which strengthens me in interpreting these smitings to be the smitings of these two Seeds against each other is what the latter part of the Verse speaks Or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him I can see no reason why these smitings may not be the smiting of the two Seeds of each other as well as the slaying here mentioned is their slaying of each other Again They are a People that foreseeing the rising up of these their old Enemies to smite them afresh endeavour to prevent them and bring them under in the 26. Chap. 17 and 18. Verses Like as a Woman with child that draweth near the time of her delivery is in pain and cryeth out of her pangs so have we been in thy sight O Lord. We have been with child we have been in pain we have as it were brought forth wind we have not wrought any deliverance in the Earth neither have the Inhabitants of the world fallen Out of a deep apprehension of the evil approaching great anxiety of Spirit and pain of Heart puts them upon earnest endeavours to bring down the Enemy that is arising to hinder the old smitings again But all will not do nothing is brought forth but wind no deliverance is wrought in the Earth the Inhabitants of the world fall not but instead thereof they fall themselves to the death Thy DEAD men shall live c. So that now I suppose I may without presumption say This is our Scripture belongs to us as a teaching Lesson particularly appointed for us at this day to learn The Words contain the Work the
GOOD NEVVS OR Wine and Oyle Poured into the Wounds of SINNING and DISTRESSED JACOB In some Meditations on Isa 27.6 7 8 9 verses Directing to the Cause wherefore and the End for which The present Affliction is come upon him Hinting at the Means by which his Deliverance will be wrought And Comforting him against the Extremity of Affliction come and coming upon him By PAIN LuMLE A WELCH christian Jer. 30.7 Alas for that day is great so that none is like it it is even the time of Jacob's Trouble but he shall be saved out of it Lam. 2.1 3.18 21 22 31 32. How hath the Lord covered the Daughter of Sion with a Cloud in his Anger and cast down from Heaven unto the Earth the Beauty of Israel and remembred not his footstool in the day of his Anger I said My Strength and my Hope is perished from the Lord. It is of the Lord's Mercy 's that we are not consumed because his Compassions fail not â— for the Lord will not cast off for ever but though he cause grief yet will be have Compassion according to the multitude of his Mercies Isa 61.9 All that see them shall ACKNOWLEDGE THEM that they are the SEED which the Lord hath BLESSED London Printed in the Year 1661. TO Sinning and Distressed JACOB LEt not your Heart be troubled saith our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to his Disciples when they were going through the withdrawing of his blessed bodily Presence into a scattered persecuted desolate helpless Condition full of Sorrows Now with what doth he fortifie their Heart against Trouble With his Gracious Ends in going away from them which were first To Prepare a Place for them in his Father's House In my Father's House are many Mansions I go to prepare a Place for you there a better State and Condition than I can either fit you for or bring you into while I am present with you here on Earth and then I will come again and receive you unto my self that where I am there ye may be also And secondly after I am glorified I will pray the Father and he shall in the mean time give you another Comforter even the Spirit of Truth who will be a greater Comfort unto you than either I have been or can be or you can be able to receive I have yet many things to say unto you but ye cannot bear them now till I have carried your Nature the humane Nature which I have assumed into the Same Glory I had with the Father before the World was Therefore it is Expedient for you that I go away for if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you and he shall guide you into all Truth He shall receive of mine and shall shew it unto you and all things that the Father hath are mine Joh. 17.5 and 16.7 13 14 15. verses Strongly inculcating not only his Gracious Ends for their Eternal Good but the Necessity of his going away to accomplish those Ends which would not nor could not be effected except he withdrew from them Therefore Let not your Heart be Troubled but Believe in Me that I will do these things for you As the Lord Jesus had these Glorious Ends at Thâ—â— Time in his leaving and withdrawing from his Disciples So he hath Glorious Ends in all his Dealings with his Chosen to the End of the World the Consideration of which should fortifie the Hearts of the distressed and peeled People of Jacob against all Heart-trouble What 's the Meaning of all that Chequer-work between Christ and his Spouse in the Canticles a Prophecy that reaches through many various Dispensations to the coming of our Lord to work a Total Deliverance for his Chosen as is asserted by Persons of no mean repute in the Church of Christ for Piety and Learning Sometimes hiding himself from her making her sick of Love and sometimes in the strength of his affection towards his Spouse He is Leaping and Skipping towards her Sometimes he Hides himself behind the Wall and again shews himself forth at the Window discovers himself through the Latess Sometimes he quite withdraws himself and is gone yet at last after she had undergone very hard usage from the hands of men the Smitings and Woundings of the Watchmen and the Insulting Robberies of the Keepers of the Wall he meets her and comforts her in his Garden among the beds of Spices What is the Reason of these various Becloudings of his so often hiding and withdrawing himself from his Beloved Surely it's to No other End as the whole current of the Prophecy and the Advantages the Spouse gaines after every casting down will tell us it is but to carry her from Glory to Glory from one Degree of Glory unto another until she be fitted for such a Total Deliverance and Salvation as shall never be clouded more and then the cry is Who is this that cometh up from the Wilderness out of all her Trouble and Wilderness-straits leaning upon her Beloved And now at this time O thou Afflicted tossed with Tempests the fury of men and not yet comforted though the Cloud that is over thee grow darker and darker and this terrible Storm shake all the Pillars of thy fleshly Building yet let it not touch thy Heart with anxious trouble only Believe thy God is the same to thee that ever he was if he withdraw himself it is that he may come again and shew thee greater Mercy 's such as shall never be taken from thee if he hide his face from thee it is that he may fit thee for and shew thee more of his Glory than ever he did before if thine Enemy weaken thee it is that by waiting upon the Lord forsaking thy Idols thou mayest renew thy strength if he Imprison thee in Holes and Corners it is that the Lord may be glorified in fitting thee for it hearing thy Groanings if he appoint thee to Death it is that the Lord may be glorious at the appointed time in loosing those that are appointed to death Nay surely the Lord hath this Gracious End in Afflicting thee at this time viz. To fit thee for a Compleat Salvation that Manifestation of the Sons of God that Glorious Liberty of the Children of God which the Creature Earnestly Expects and the whole Creation Groaneth and Travelleth after yea which the Saints of God who have received the first fruits of the Spirit Groan within themselves for waiting for the Adoption to wit the Redemption of our Bodies Rom. 8.19 21 22 23 v. that being fitted for that Work the Lord hath purposed to do by thee thou mayest go forth to it thrive and prosper in it both in Soul and Body and grow up to a compleat preparation to meet Our Lord when he shall come again without Sin unto Salvation All God's Ends towards thee in all his Dispensations are full of Glory to himself and Salvation to thee Therefore
is under sore rebuke and trouble as the preceding 17. Verse manifests The Lord waits that he may be gracious Heaven is ready to Save if Earth were but as ready to be Saved There 's no Obligation no tye upon God to shorten his hand to hinder it from Saving if Jacob were but prepared and ready to receive Salvation Therefore saith the Prophet will he be exalted that he may have mercy upon you How will the Lord exalt himself that he may have mercy In Judgement for the Lord is a God of Judgement The Lord will exalt himself and his Glory by his judging of Jacob and while this correcting Judgement is working its natural Effect by the help of the co-working of the mighty Spirit of God in the heart of Jacob he waits to be gracious waits to Save he waits the good hour wherein his Corrections having wrought the desired Effect he may be gracious his Grace may abound above Jacob's Sin in delivering him out of the hands of all his Enemies that he may serve him without fear in Holiness and Righteousness before him all his dayes Thus was it with Jacob in the Wilderness of Old The Lord was ready to give him the Promised Land the Time was come for him to possess it the Iniquity of the Amorites was full the Enemy was ripe for Judgement yea the Lord told him so by the mouth of his two faithful Witnesses Caleb and Joshua Num. 14.8 9. They are bread for us their defence is departed from them and the Lord is with us But Jacob was not ready to receive it his Sin hinders his Possession This is our Case It 's our own Sin and not anothers that hath hindered our Salvation and brought a sore Affliction upon us And that too at a Time when the Lord's hand was not nor is not shortened by any Consideration of a Time or any thing else on his part but is prepared ready to Save It 's only our own Sin that stands in the way of our Salvation it 's that that Causes the present Hidings of the face of our God from us by it we have as it were Caused God to go out of that path of Salvation he was graciously and wonderfully going on in and to steer another course that he may take away our Sin that which hinders his saving of us and to wait till this Let be taken out of the way that he may be gratious unto us and Save us Q. It may be asked What are those sins which have hindered our Salvation by which we have provoked the Lord our Father so severely to chastise us An. I had thoughts to have enlarged upon this Subject but lest I should grieve the Spirits of any and hoping that a word a hint may prove sufficient I shall do no more This SIN which hath brought Affliction upon us which hath provoked the Father of mercies to chastise us with bloody stripes to take it away is that which hath made us both unfit for God to use in and unable to do the Work the Lord hath appointed to be done by his People Any Sin less than such Sin the Lord would have born with and the Intercession of our Mediator would have prevailed for us as the Children of Israel of old in the Wilderness through the Intercession of their Mediator were many times born with and found favour and grace from God till they came to sin that Sin which unfitted them and put them out of a capacity to receive that great Gift of his Grace and favour he was in a readiness to bestow upon them and to do that Work the Lord had to do by them Now I would only Query whether some parts and parcels of this provoking Sin be not these First Love of this Old World This is a killing Sin most pernitious to Jacob's Happiness while this remains he cannot be a fit Instrument for the Lord to use and so not fit for Deliverance See what the Apostle John saith of it 1 Joh. 2.15 Love not the World neither the things that are in the World If any man love the World the Love of the Father is not in him The reason of this the Apostle James tells us Jam. 4.4 The friendship of this VVorld is enmity with God whosoever therefore will be a friend to the VVorld is the Enemy of God How much and how powerful this Sin hath prevailed amongst us and how far it hath hurried us into other provoking Evils every seeing eye and discerning spirit cannot but be sensible of The reasons why I put it upon the Query whether this hath not provoked the Lord to chastise us are 1. Because our Lord Christ doth so severely warn us to take heed of it Luke 21.34 Take heed to your selves lest at any time your hearts be over-charged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this Life and so that day come upon you unawares In these words he hath relation to the two extream conditions men are in in this World Full or Empty either in a full possession of it and so out of abundance of Love and Delight they have to it and take in it they drown themselves therein Or being Empty out of a Love to it they are carefully reaching after the possession of it This he equally warns us of and commands us to watch and pray against upon no less penalty than being not accounted worthy to escape the Judgements of God and to stand before the Son of man when he Comes for when he Comes he will neither have the surfeiting drunken Lover nor the careful Lover of this World to be his Follower This is clearly imployed in the 36. Verse 2. Because our Lord Jesus to express his hatred of this Sin sets forth the wickedness of the VVorld at that Day when he comes in Judgement to it by this Love of this VVorld Luke 17. from the 26. to the 30. V. As it was in the dayes of Noah so shall it be also in the dayes of the Son of man They did eat they drank they married VVives they were given in Marriage until the day that Noah entered into the Ark and the Flood came and destroyed them all Likewise also as it was in the dayes of Lot they did eat they drank they bought they sold they planted they builded but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from Heaven and destroyed them all The bare being exercised about these things Christ here reckons up as the sinful state of the World cannot be his meaning for all these things are either necessary to our Being as eating and drinking or else to our Well-Being in this Life They are such things as at his coming he finds also those exercising themselves about whom yet he takes to himself to follow him leaving the rest to Iudgement They were all eating and drinking and marrying and at the Mill and in the field together as well those that he takes to himself as his own Peculiars
Lords own People whom he hath ordained to be his Instrument by which he will do the great Work of his terrible Day that except this be done that cannot be done a Curse will come upon the Earth instead of a Blessing Quest What Curse is this the Earth must be Smitten with in case this Reconciliation between the Fathers and the Children be not wrought Answ It cannot be those Judgements of God which he will pour down upon the World by the hand of his People in this terrible day for though that day Begin with Jndgement it Ends with Blessing Now a Curse is pure Judgement without mixture of Blessing pure wrath without mixture of Mercy and this Curse being put in Opposition to those Blessings which these people reconciled shall obtain it 's as much as if the Lord had said If these Fathers and Children will be Reconciled and Turn their Hearts to each other I will Bless them to the enabling them to goe forth and grow up as Calves of the Stall in treading down the wicked that they shall be as Ashes under the Soals of their Feet But if not I will Smite all with a Curse not only the Wicked but they themselves too all shall be Cursed and Perish together as that Generation that Sinned against me in the Wilderness were Cursed and Perished Mount Ebal shall be their portion not Mount Garizim The Lord will Turn the Heart of the Fathers to the Children and the Heart of the Children to their Fathers As at the first he took away the Partition Wall between Jew and Gentile between those sheep of his Fold So now he will again take away the Partition-wall that Carnal Dividing Spirit that is among the Sheep of his Fold at this Day As then he made of Twain One New man so now of many he will make One Rev. 14.1 Ps 2.6 Isa 24.23 Mic. 4.7 Isa 18.7 8 18. 31.4 Obed. 17 21. Psal 48.2 Heb. 12 22. Hill One Mount for Christ to stand upon and sit on as King and Reign and that for ever this is the Place of the Name of the Lord of Hosts the Place where he dwells it 's when his People come into this state that the Lord will fight for them it 's upon the People of God in this state that Deliverance shall be upon this State upon Mount Sion shall come Saviours it's this state of Jacob that makes him the Joy of the whole Earth the Joy of the whole Earth is Mount Sion and this is that state the People of God in this Gospel Day are to come unto By this we see what fruit the Lord expects his present Afflicting hand upon us should bring forth in us what it is he expects from us before he will judge us fit for Deliverance and Bestow it upon us A forsaking our Carnal Envying and Striving and Dividing and the Turning of our Hearts to each other in a true sincere Love uniting upon the One True Foundation Jesus Christ Other than which no man can lay Abundance more might be said to prove this both from the Old and New Testament Pauls Epistles yield plentiful proof that this frame of Spirit is the Onely true Gospel frame But I forbear If it be objected That we are Commanded in several Scriptures in the Old and New Testament to be separate and not touch the unclean thing and to come out of Babylon upon the penalty of being partaker of her Sins and so of her Plagues therefore how can this union pleaded for be according to the mind of God I Answer It s a certain truth that touching the unclean thing and abiding in Babylon are inconfistant with this Union pleaded for A Holy Separation from the unclean thing and coming out of Babylon of necessity must precede this Union otherwise it cannot be for in a Defiled house the Lord will not dwell But yet we must be careful lest we call that unclean which the Lord doth not account so and so cast away that which the Lord will gather up as his and call that Babylon which the Lord looks upon as belonging to his Sion though weak and infirm Therefore it 's necessary to resolve this Case that we consider what is to be understood by this unclean thing and by coming out of Babylon 1. By coming out of Babylon we must of necessity understand coming out of whole Babylon her Civil Tyrannical State and her Religious Idolatrous State otherwise we shall neither be fit for nor can we come unto this Union To prove this a multitude of Arguments and Scriptures might be brought but taking it for granted I would onely caution this There are Tyrrannies and Idolatries which are not Properly her's for every thing that is like Babylon is not Babylon and we must be careful lest we mistake one for the other by which many Erring Inconveniences may follow 2. By the unclean thing I conceive we are to understand 1. What soever is inconsistant with the only true Foundation Jesus Christ laid by the Apostles That we must not touch with have any fellowship with or be united unto for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteonsness what concord hath Christ with Belial 2 Cor. 6.14 15. Now those Petty Differences I call them Petty because they cannot so much as move the Spiritual Man he sees them what they are and lives above them they are onely great and powerful to the disturbance onely of the Weak and Carnal Christian I say those Petty Differences that are among the People of God who are planted in and built upon this true Foundation are so far from being to be cast off as not agreeing with the Foundation as that they are not to be Judged Judge nothing before the time saith the Apostle but to be let alone to be born with till the Day declare of what sort they are The Apostle reckons up many several sorts Gold Silver Precious Stone Wood Hay Stubble 1 Cor. 3.12 the Carnal Christian looking upon these as very Heterogenious matter such an Impure mixture as is not to be suffered would burn up the Wood the Hay and the Stubble in the Fire of his own Spirit not considering that thereby he would rob the Gold and Silver and the Precious Stone of some part of their Glory by the smutting smoke of his wrathful Fire by this manifesting himself to be one Spirit with that combustible matter which yet he would destroy seeing he is so easily set on fire but saith the Apostle the Spiritual man Judge nothing before the time let them alone till the Day declares and tryes of what sort every mans work is till the Lord clearly manifests to the sincere in heart who are yet otherwise minded who yet Differ about and are not able to Distinguish between these things what he will have to Abide and what he will have to be Burnt 13. and 15. verses compared with Phil. 3.15 2. The meer Natural Man who hath never passed through the New Birth the
Pluckt up all our Defences even then when we could not believe it possible being lifted up and set on high because Isa 1 2 3. Ch. the Cedars of Lebanon and the Oaks of Bashan were the Stakes in our Hedg and the high Mountains and Hills and High Towers and fenced Walls were our Defences and Pleasant Pictures Gold and Silver were our Ornaments and we were strengthned by the Mighty Man and the Man of War the Judge and the Prophet and the Prudent and the Ancient and the Honourable man and the Counsellor and the cunning Artificer and the Eloquent Orator The same Mighty Arme of the Lord of Hosts that hath been and still is upon all these in the midst of us Plucking them up and Beating them down with the Rod of his Anger shall put forth its Almighty Power in Rooting and Planting them that come of Jacob I shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root and not only so But Israel shall Blossome and Bud. It 's not a Bare taking Root but such a Rooting as shall bring forth a Blooming Budding Flourishing State though this Winter night of Affliction may cause Israel in appearance to be as a Withered Dead Tree yet his Life shall appear in its Season he shall Blossome and Bud spring forth into a Flourishing State And fill the Face of the World with fruit Israels Tree shall so flourish so spread forth its Boughs as that the Beasts of the feild shall have shadow under them and the Fowls of the Heaven shall dwell in them the fruit of the Tree shall be much yea so much as it shall be meat for all all flesh shall be fed of it the whole World shall be filled with its fruit The * Isa 27.4 and Mal. 4.1 Bryars and the Thornes the worldly Professors in the midst of Jacob in his faln State shall be burned up and Israel the true Seed shal fill THEIR place with fruit the Proud and the Wicked of the world shall be burnt up as stubble and Israel shall fill THEIR place with fruit Though through our Sin and Stubborness in it we provoke the Lord to suffer us to be slain to be as Dead yet when our Sin is done away and our Iniquities purged we shall Arise though we be brought to dwell in the Dust yet we shall Awake and Sing our Dew shall be as the Dew of Herbs Isa 26.19 such Influences from Heaven shall descend down upon us as that we shall Spring again and Live and Flourish and fill the Face of the world with fruit What Fruit this is would require a large discourse to tell and it not being my work at this time to treat of therefore I leave it I shall only say this That it 's such Fruit such excellent Fruit of such a Divine Nature that it causes glorious effects that men shall fear the Name of the Lord from the West and his glory from the Rising of the Sun the Spirit of the Lord by his mighty working brings forth this fruit Isa 59.19 It 's to this People who are put into a capacity by the means appointed of the Father to bring forth such fruit that the Redeemer comes It 's this People who are brought into this Light upon whom the Glory of the Lord is thus Risen that must Arise and Shine upon whom the Lord shall Arise and upon whom his Glory shall be Seen Isa 59.20 and 60.1 2. These are the People to whom the Great gathering shall be mentioned Isa 60. Having Fixed the Prophesy and Opened it and shewed the Cause and End of the Present Affliction I would now draw a few Conclusions from the whole 1. That in the Last Daies at this Day the Lord will use the same means to Purge and Cleanse and Purifie his People that he makes use of to Destroy his and their Enemies Outward and Sore Afflictions Smiting and Slaying Death it self Jacob the true Seed Smites the Enemy to Destruction and the Lord permits the Same Enemy to Smite Jacob to Blood to Pnrge him from his Iniquity and take away his Sin 2. That this Sore Affliction the Lord makes use of as the means whereby he will Purge and Cleanse his People Ends not in Smiting only but Proceeds to Slaying to Blood slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him It seems Jacobs Disease is so highly Pluretick as the skilfullest Physitian in Heaven and Earth can find no way to cure Jacob of his Distemper but by letting out his Blood 3. The sharpness of the Affliction clearly shewes to Jacob the Hainousness of his Sin The tender Fathers of our flesh will not lay sharp and Sore Corrections upon their Children but for exceeding great Faultiness If we see a tender Father whipping a beloved Child till the Blood run down his back we say surely that Child hath committed some exceeding great fault Much more may we say Jacob hath Sinned a Great Sin when we see the God of Jacob who is the Father of Mercies whose thoughts of Mercy are as far above our thoughts as the Heavens are Higher than the Earth Isa 55.9 when we see him Smiting Jacob and Smiting him to Blood that he even faints under his Correcting hand yea so Sorely Afflicting Jacob that were it not measured out in measures of mercy did not the Lord in tenderness as it were stand upon his watch to put a stop to it when it comes to such a pitch it would deprive poor Jacob of Being This surely is an open Declaration of the Greatness of Jacob's Sin In a case like this we have the Lord mourning over him Hosea 11.8 How shall I give up Ephraim How shall I deliver thee Israel How shall I make thee as Admath How shall I set thee as Zeboim mine heart is turned within me my repentings are kindled together 4. The continuance of this Sore and sharp Dispensation will be either Lengthned or Shortned according as Jacob behaves himself under it as he is Obedient or Disobedient to the voice of the Rod Isa 1.19 20. If ye be willing and obedient ye shall eat the good of the Land but if you refuse and rebel ye shall be devoured with the Sword Jacob's willingly doing the will of God may prevent this devouring Sword 's passing over him but if Jacob will not it must have its course saith the Lord of Hosts This Affliction must abide till it hath wrought its Effect Purged Jacob of his Iniquity and taken away his Sin So that the sooner Jacob departs from his Sin the sooner will the Rod of Gods displeasure be taken off his back Consider again that place we have already discanted upon Isa 59.1 2. Behold the Lords hand is not shortned that it cannot save but your Iniquities have separaed between you and your God and your Sins have hid his Face from you that he will not hear The Lord is now as Able so Ready to bestow Salvation it 's only our own Sin that hinders his hand
the glory of his high looks consuming his glory that they shall be as feeble and weak as when a Standard-bearer fainteth To prevent Objections that might arise I lay down this Position That this smiting and slaying of these two Seeds of each other hath relation not to several Generations Father and Son but shall have its performance to the full in the space of the time of one Generation And that upon these grounds 1. Because the Prophet throughout this large Discourse speaks of a particular day In that day and that day saith he and that in distinction from the VVorlds day This is a day wherein the Lord comes to empty the World to empty the Earth and this VVork of his upon Jacob is but in order to it 2. Because this Evil the Lord brings upon Jacob is altogether outward and temporal it relates not to Eternal matters it respects the Body not the Soul It 's like unto that Affliction the Lord laid upon the Children of Israel in the VVilderness that related to their Bodies deaâ—h in the VVilderness that deprived them of an earthly Canaan but it would be very uncharitable to say those that perished in the VVilderness because of that Judgement were excluded the Heavenly Canaan of which the Earthly was a Type 3. Because otherwise the Promise of restraining and measuring out the Affliction stopping it when it hath brought forth such an Effect would not nor could not yeeld such strong comfort and consolation to poor Jacob as it seems to me the Lord intends it should for what great comfort would it be for the Father to know that his Son his Child shall upon such and such conditions be delivered from the Evil that shall yet destroy him 4. If so be that this measuring out the Affliction here spoken of were only its ending in the destruction of the present Generation upon whom it falls then what difference is there between an Old Testament and a New Testament Measure The Measure of the Old Testament was the destruction of that Generation of rebellious Jacobs and saving their Children their little Ones whom their unbelief said would be destroyed together with themselves and if it be not otherwise now wherein doth Christ appear to be a better Mediator of a better Covenant established upon better Promises as is said Heb. 8.6 Lastly The Lord in this very Scripture it self doth clearly hint thus much by speaking in the Present tense Is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him that the SAME GENERATION of Jacobs Seed who are smitten and part of whom are slain by their Enemies shall get up again and slay them with a greater slaughter limiting it to a short space of time for performance of it 3. The CAUSE that brings this Sore Dreadful Dispensation upon the Seed of Jacob is their SIN This is strongly and closely implyed in the 9. Verse For if the taking away of Sin and Iniquity be the End of its coming then of necessity Sin is the Cause of its coming This is a People ROBBED and SPOILED they are all of them SNARED IN HOLES and they are hid in PRISON-HOUSES they are for a PREY and none delivereth for a SPOIL and none saith Restore VVho gave Jacob for a Spoyl and Israel to the Robbers did not the Lord He against whom we have SINNED FOR they would NOT VVALK IN HIS wAYES neither WERE THEY OBEDIENT uNTO HIS LAW Therefore he hath poured upon him the FuRY OF HIS ANGER and it hath set him on fire round about c. Isa 42.22 24 25. Ver. It 's Jacobs Sin that Causes the Lord to visit him in wayes of Affliction and Correction it 's his Sin that Causes the Lord to lay upon him his Fatherly Chastenings and Rebukes and that in Love that being cleansed from Sin he might be a partaker of his Holiness Consider Isa 59.1 2. Behold the Lords hand is not shortened that it cannot save neither his ear heavy that it cannot hear But YOUR INIQUITIES have separated between you and your God and YOuR SINS have hid his face from you that he will not hear How nearly this Scripture doth concern us will appear if we consider it doth not only speak of what God will do in the last dayes but to the Islands also V. 18. We see here the Lord in a posture ready to save and to hear his People His Hand is not shortened it 's ready prepared to save his Ear is not heavy it 's open to hear There 's no such thing as the Time being not come on the Lords part to hinder him from saving Jacob But it 's Jacob's Sin that Causes the Separation between him and his God It 's his Sin that Causes these Hidings of the face of his God from him It 's his Sin that retards his Salvation It 's not any thing in the Enemy it 's not to ripen his Sin that he may fill his Measure that so the Justice of God may fully seize upon him as some vainly conceit that is the reason why the Lord suffers this Affliction to befall his People No it 's Jacob's own Iniquities your Iniquities it's Jacob's own Sins your Sins that Causes God to separate himself and hide his face from him Was it think we for the Assyrians sake that the Lord might take an occasion against him to destroy him to be as a fire and a flame to him to burn him up Or for Sion's and Jerusalem's sake for the sake of that Work the Lord had to perform there that the Lord made him the Rod of his Anger against his People and by him sorely Afflicted him suffering him to be as Bryars and Thorns tearing and rending their flesh Surely it was for his Peoples sake Had not their Sins made a Work for the Lord to perform upon them by a Rod of Correction the Assyrian had never exalted himself over them No the Lord loves his People better than so if he Correct and Afflict them it 's for their own sake not for the sake of any other that through his Peoples Affliction he might destroy them The Lord loveth Jacob so that he will give men for him and People for his Life but we never find the Lord giving up his People for the sake of any other under Heaven either for their good or for their hurt Nothing can bring Affliction upon Jacob but his own Sin And Jacob's Sin brings Affliction and Sorrow upon him even then when the Lord is ready his hand is open prepared to bestow Salvation upon him when the Lords time is come to hear and save him yea even then when the Lord is waiting to be gratious Isa 30.18 Therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious unto you That the Prophet here speaks of the same Time and to the same People he speaks of and to in his 27. Chap. will clearly appear if the whole Chapter be seriously considered This waiting of God to be gratious is while Jacob