set up for these stand in opposition to each other it must be the fall of the one that must raise the other the Dispensations of God are directed unto the destruction of Sin in the hearts of his People if he correct it is a Rod to whip out the Folly bound up in their Hearts and he hath said that the fruit of such Providences should be the taking away of sin Isa 27.9 By this shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged and this is all the fruit to take away his Sin If he shew kindness it is to destroy sin to purge that out of the Heart Ezek. 36.25 26. Then will I sprinkle clean Water upon you and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness and from all your Idols will I cleanse you a new Heart also will I give you and a new Spirit will I put within you and take away the stony heart and give you a heart of flesh It relates unto them that should escape publick Calamities which should be attended with the purging away of Sin and if you can say that sin is fallen in your love it is to be hoped Christ is raised It is between Sin and Christ as it was between the House of David and Saul 2 Sam. 3.1 There was long war between the House of Saul and the House of David but David waxed stronger and stronger and the House of Saul weaker and weaker as the House of Saul weakened so the House of David strengthened as Sin weakens in the Soul Christ getteth ground I may say of the lusts that are in the Soul as God sometimes said concerning Amalek 1 Sam. 15.3 Go and smite Amalek and utterly destroy all that they have and spare them not but slay both Man and Woman Infant and Suckling Camel and Ass the Lusts in the heart are destined unto utter destruction God would have them killed and not one spared not an Agag left alive I would put the question unto you the Lord help you to put it home to your Souls You that are escaped is all slain in your Souls that is wont to stand up against Christ is there not an Agag spared I wish if you say that Sin is killed the Lord may not say unto you as Samuel said to Saul vers 14. What then means the bleating of the Sheep and the lowing of the Oxen in mine ears What means that pride passion earthly-mindedness in the heart of the People of God if Sin be not brought down Christ is not exalted if Sin be where it was Christ is where he was the Branch of the Lord is not made beautiful and glorious though his kindness should have had that effect upon you 3. If you can say that are escaped That the Saints are become more precious unto you it is to be hoped that Christ is become so also Many Souls have had very precious thoughts of Saints great esteem of them much love for them Psal 16.1 My goodness extends not to thee but unto the Saints and to the Excellent in whom is all my delight Now love to Saints increaseth according as your love to Christ encreaseth thou canst not love a Saint until thou hast first loved Christ Col. 1.4 Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love that ye have to all Saints love to Saints followed faith in Christ I remember a good Soul that hath been lately telling me that this was his constant experience According as my Soul grows in love to Christ so it grows in love to Saints Even as when the Springs grow higher you may conclude a fulness of water in the place from whence they are fed so if the Saints are more precious then they were wont to be he that is the Fountain of all grace it is to be presumed hath let in more of himself into thy Soul Many of you that read these things possibly have been wont to be the Companions of them that fear the Lord and have met and conversed with them but how have they been in your hearts have they been dear have they lodged in your Bosom it may be some will complain Our Souls have not been so knit unto them as they should have been but can you say That fault is somewhat amended since the Lord hath shown you kindness and not onely mark'd you for but blest you with preserving-mercy 4. Thou mayst hope thy Soul is growing in its love unto Christ if thou canst say since thy Escape thy Soul hungers more after Communion with him then it was wont to do The natural issue of Love is to desire Enjoyment and according as thy desires of enjoyment of communion with Christ are so is thy love unto Christ of this thou mayst be confident Many Souls that go up and down from one Duty to another have not their hearts inflamed with holy desires to meet with Christ in ways of Duty and therefore it is said of some Their Oblations were vain that is because not directed unto their proper ends The Lord Isa 64.5 hath promised that he would meet with them that rejoyce and work Righteousness that remember Him in their ways They that would see the Lord meet with him and hold fellowship with him they shall be delighted in his Approaches unto them How is thy heart if the Branch of the Lord be more glorious unto thee thou wilt more desire and breathe after communion with God Says the Spouse I sought him whom my Soul loveth I hope I write to some that know what communion with Christ means it is that that all understand not it is a Riddle to many I fear to some professing Ones If thou art taught of God and Christ hath to do with thy spirit and thou art really a gainer by thy escape thou dost encrease in longings after communion with Christ 5. Hereby it will appear that the Branch of the Lord is become beautiful and glorious unto thee who art escaped in this day of Distress if there be a great care upon thy heart to be found living up unto every Duty which Christ requires and calls for at the hands of them that are escaped every Mercy is a Call to Duty lays an obligation upon the heart to some Duties or other so this eminent Mercy of Preservation in the midst of slaughtering-Providences hath a loud Call from Christ to live in an hearty respect unto some especial Duties that are enjoyned thee which are such as these 1. It is the requirement of Christ That after thou art escaped a Calamity thou consider seriously and seriously lay unto heart and mourn for whatever provocation might cause him to shake the Rod over thee this is certain that the time of our escape as well as our distress should make us seriously to consider and having considered to mourn over whatever abominations may have occasioned the Lord to come forth at such a rate Scripture hath more then a little to say for this Ezek. 36.31 Then shall you remember your
4.37 And because he loved thy Fathers therefore he CHOSE their Seed after them and brought thee out in his sight with mighty power so Deut. 7.7 The Lord did not set his love upon you nor CHVSE you because you were more in number then any People for ye were the fewest of all People but because the Lord loved you c. At first God did out of his meer accord chuse Abraham and his Seed and having in love chosen them he continues his kindness and goodness to them that he might keep his Covenant and his Mercy that he promised to Abraham Poor Soul this I would now say to thee Israel was found out by the Lords Grace and that Grace may also fix upon thee It was not any thing that was in Israel but meerly the good pleasure of God that chose them to be his People and the same Grace of God may chuse thee and plant thee among his People and give thee with them a pleasant portion 2. When God first chose Israel he found them in as wretched and sad a condition as thine can be thy case cannot be worse then the case of Israel was when the Love and Grace of God fixed upon them Ezek. 16.1 Thus saith the Lord to Jerusalem Thy Birth and thy Nativity is of the Land of Canaan thy Father was an Amorite and thy Mother a Hittite Canaan were a People originally without the knowledge of God in their enmity against God This says God was Israel when first I found them without the knowledge of God and at as great a distance from God as persons could be Let the Devil say the worst against thee that he can he can but say thou art by nature at enmity with God filled with all the Principles of Sin and so was Israel as well as thou and that Grace that yet pitied Israel in this his low estate can also reach thy Soul 3. Israel when first God did him good was in as hopeless and helpless a condition as thine can be So he goes on Ezek. 16. And as for thy Nativity in the day thou wast born thy Navel was not cut neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee thou wast not salted at all nor swadled at all none Eye pitied thee to do any of these unto thee to have compassion upon thee but thou wast cast out in the open field to the loathing of thy person in the day that thou wast born What is more helpless and shiftless then an Infant just taken from the Womb not able to do its self the least service This was Israel's condition when the Lord first found them not in a capacity of moving one step out of that wretched sinful corrupt and rebellious state And truly to this day the Israel of God in themselves considered are altogether unable to act for God and his Glory but as they are assisted with power from on high Isa 45.24 25. Surely shall one say In the Lord have I Righteousness and Strength even to him shall men come and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory Israel in their best state cannot glory in themselves nor in any strength of their own but must look upon themselves as weak Creatures onely as they are strengthened by the Lord unto any good Word and Work Soul this I would say Thou canst but be a shiftless helpless Creature unable to move a foot forward or to further thy own Everlasting Concernments in the least and this is to be in no worse state then God found his own People in and that Grace by which they were brought near to God can and may also work for the good of thy Soul 4. Consider further That the very same Promises of Mercy are made unto poor sinners to this day Promises of a part in those very good things which Israel is possessed of All the blessings of the Covenant are freely offered and tendred to Sinners to this hour Hence are all the gracious Promises made to the Gentiles up and down the Word of Truth of which you have more then a few The first of which as I suppose is in Gen. 9.27 God shall enlarge Japheth and he shall dwell in the Tents of Shem and Canaan shall be his Servant This is the first Promise ever made to the Gentiles and some render the word Deus alliciet Japhethum God shall allure or perswade Japheth and he shall dwell in the Tents of Shem Japheth is put for the Gentile-World for by him the Isles of the Gentiles were inhabited Gen. 10.2 and 5. compared You shall find if you look in Luk. 3.36 and downward Christ was of the Race of Shem and the import of the Promise is this When God says he will perswaded Japheth to dwell in the Tents of Shem he means he will overcome the hearts of the Sinners among the Gentiles to come to an amity and friendship with Jesus Christ as co-habitation denotes amity and it is a word full of Grace and Favour as it can hold But more plain and full is that word Gal. 3.13 14. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us for it is written Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree that the Blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ It was the design both of the Father and the Son that all the Blessings of the death of Christ should reach unto the Sinners among the Gentiles that what ever Blessing was promised first to Abraham unto his Seed the same Blessing also should be made over and given in to every poor sinner among the Gentiles that shall come and submit themselves unto the Lord Jesus Well then Is not this greatly for thy comfort If thou sayest I am not Israel yet here is room and way made for thee It is the intendment both of Father and Son to let in thy Soul into all the Blessings and Mercies promised unto the Israel of God 5. Consider this also poor Sinner if thou art yet in thy sin and estrangement from God That it is the real design and intendment of God both in the Judgement that thou hast seen and the Escape thou hast had in and under these Calamities to bring thee among the number of his own People What is the design of God in all his Controversies with the World It is to bring them to kiss the Son the great Controversie is That People will not take the Yoke of Christ upon them and therefore sometimes he drives sometimes he draws and all means he uses that he may overcome the hearts of poor Sinners See the goodness he shews the mercy he follows them with in sparing and preserving them it is to this great end That his goodness might lead them to repentance and to a real subjection to the Lord Jesus Therefore Soul though thou hast stood long in ways of Rebellion against Christ
slaughter to have Christ become glorious and excellent unto them And 2. That the issue of all those dreadful destroying Judgements that shall break forth in the world shall be the putting of glory upon the head of Christ and that glory upon Christ shall be to the good and benefit of those of Israel that shall escape the slaughter I shall begin with the first namely That it is a good issue of Slaughtering-Judgements upon them that out-live such calamities that Christ is become glorious and excellent in their accounts The Words do certainly relate to a Time of great slaughter such a slaughter that Jerusalem which was once a very populous City and the places of the greatest concourse in it which were the Gates for in the Gates Justice was executed and thither was a confluence of persons from all parts but such should be the slaughter that her Gates should lament and mourn and become desolate at this time there were some should escape God useth to have a remaining Remnant when his displeasure is at highest and what should this sad Judgement work upon them that should remain The Branch of the Lord should become glorious among them You read in the 78 Psalm vers 34 35. When he slew them then they sought him and they returned and enquired early after God and they remembred that God was their Rock and the high God their Redeemer When he slew them that is when he came forth with slaughtering Judgements as he did sometimes against Israel and particularly God smote them with Plagues more then once now what did they that remained and were left alive do they began to have more high and awful thoughts of the Lord then before the esteem of him was a little raised in their hearts they remembred he was their Rock and the high God their Redeemer thus far they went well onely that which followeth spoiled all in vers 36 37. Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth and they lied unto him with their tongues for their heart was not right with him neither were they stedfast in his Covenant if really the esteem of the Lord had been raised in their hearts they had been an excellent People and the Lords Judgements had wrought kindly You shall find the Lord complains for the want of such a spirit in Hos 11.7 God called there to the People and how He called by mercy I drew them with the cords of a man with the bands of love vers 4. that is I treated them kindly he called them by Judgements as you see in vers 6. The Sword shall abide on his Cities and shall consume his Branches and devour them what did God expect should be the answer unto his Call and the fruit of all his Dispensations it was that they should have exalted him honoured him and admired him at a greater rate then before but because they did not God took it ill and reckoned that his Providences had not a kindly reception among them Psal 2.6 Yet says he have I set my King upon my holy Hill of Sion which words are not onely a Prophecy concerning that Kingdom Christ shall have but declarative of that Kingdom he hath viz. his Providential Kingdom by which he manages and governs affairs in the World now in the management of it what doth he do sometimes as in vers 9. he rules them with a Rod of Iron and dashes in pieces like a Potters Vessel but what should they do that should out-live such Providences you shall see the Fruit that should grow upon this Root Kiss the Son lest he be angry and ye perish from the way Christ expects when he is abroad with his Iron Rod and dashing Earthen Vessels to pieces as he hath this day they that stand on their feet not dashed to pieces as others of the same mould he expects higher thoughts of himself and to be more esteemed by them and if he fail of his expectation let them remember that they are but Clay and therefore in the way not out of danger Jer. 51.50 Ye that have escaped the Sword go away stand not still remember the Lord afar off and let Jerusalem come into your mind God was abroad with the Sword it may be the material Sword and it may be with such a Sword of the Angel as he hath lately been cutting withall what should the Escaped do Remember the Lord Remember him you will say what is that Give me leave to open it unto you a little because I shall use the term again anon To remember the Lord implies two things among others 1. To have the heart wrought up into the fear of the Lord to sanctifie his Name Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy that is sanctifie the Sabbath so remember the Lord that is fear him let his Name be great his honour be dear unto thee Remember thy Creator what is that it is Give up thy self unto the Lord remember who he is and what he is and what he calls for from thee when a People sin against the Lord they are said to forget him many times so suitably to remember him is to fear him to honour him and lift up his Name 2. To remember the Lord is to love and delight in him to have a great esteem of him as the Lord saith Jer. 31.20 Is Ephraim my dear Son is he a pleasant Child since I spake against him I do earnestly remember him Gods remembring Ephraim was his love to and delight in Ephraim so our remembring the Lord is our loving of and delighting in him and this is the frame that should be found upon the hearts of them that escape sore Calamities To fear and magnifie to love and delight in him This indeed is a right Spirit and it is called for elsewhere Ezek. 6.9 And they that escape of you shall remember me among the Nations whither they shall be carried Captives Time was when Israel had few and slight thoughts of God their Redeemer but when GOD had been at work among them by severe strokes those that did escape of them their Spirits should be much amended much altered for the better they should come and love him and fear him so as they did not before So Isa 10.20 And it shall come to pass in that day what day was that a day of great slaughter for vers 19. The rest of the Trees of his Forrest shall be few that a Child may write them a Child that is but a bad Arithmetician should be able to number them that should remain the smallness of them should be such It shall come to pass that the Remnant of Israel and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob shall no more again stay upon him that smote them but shall stay upon the Lord the holy One of Israel in truth staying upon the Lord is an Act of Faith and Acts of Faith do greatly glorifie Christ and speak the Heart much delighted in him if thou be'st not taken with him thou
from that bondage and Christ had therefore his Name Jesus Mat. 1.21 Because he shall save his People from their sins Though the Canaanites may dwell in the Land they shall become tributary they shall not sit at the Stern turning the Soul which way they please Christ brings Salvation from Hell he hath the Key of David that shuts and no man openeth and opens and no man shuts he delivereth from wrath to come 1 Thes 1.10 Salvation from sin and the most dismal issues and consequences thereof and from a temporal deliverance the Soul hath occasion to consider and think of these Salvations Psal 103. I suppose might be penn'd upon the occasion of some temporal deliverance for this reason because the Psalmist saith in the fourth verse The Lord did heal his diseases and redeemed his life from destruction what doth this make the Psalmist think of in vers 3. Who forgiveth all thine iniquities who healeth all thy diseases it made him think of pardoning Grace and greater Mercy that he was made partaker of through the Lords bounty and goodness Hezekiah from his temporal deliverance was raised to think of some higher pieces of kindness Isa 38.17 Thou hast in love to my Soul delivered it from the pit of corruption for thou hast cast all my sins behind my back Now if from this Branch of the Lord you have this fruit not onely of an Escape from temporal evil but freedom also from greater and the escape from temporal ones help to raise up the Soul to consider its interest in higher things then your Escape it self should render Christ more dear and precious to you then he hath been in times past This therefore may serve for the ground of the point why the Soul should from its Escape have higher Thoughts of Christ I come now to the second thing propounded for prosecution of this Doctrine When may a poor heart have some cause to conclude its Escape hath this effect attending it That it is accompanied with more precious thoughts of this Branch of the Lord I answer to it in five things 1. If in thy Escape thou findest thy heart more crucified unto the World that it is gotten out of thy heart beyond what it was it is to be hoped the Branch of the Lord grows in thy heart and flourisheth more then it did Methinks it is with the heart of a poor Creature with respect to Christ and the World as it is between the Sea and Land the Sea sometimes breaks out and overflows much of the Earth you can very hardly recover any Land out of the Sea and be able to fence it out or if you do it is at every turn ready to break in again and swallow up all that hath been recovered out of it this World breaks in like a Sea and swallows up the hearts of many poor Creatures it drinks up their Souls Eccles 3.11 Also he hath set the World in their Hearts the World is so rooted in them that it over-runs them Some are called in Scripture the men of this World Psal 17.14 From men of this World which have their portion in this life and they are called the Men of this World because there is nothing else they love and delight in How hard a thing is it for Christ to get ground upon the Heart so as to sence out this World witness that case Luk. 18. when one comes unto Christ and saith Good Master what shall I do to inherit eternal Life he bid him at last ver 22. Go sell all thou hast and distribute unto the Poor and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven and come and follow me and when he heard this he was very sorrowful for he was very rich Some of whom it is hoped sometimes are recovered out of the World and the World in some good measure fenced out of their hearts that one would think there were no great danger of its returning yet it again breaks in like a torrent and carries them away so that all their Profession comes to nothing This World is a Sea that drowns thousands thousands of Professors are by it born down headlong yet some through the power of Christ over-come the World 1 John 5.4 Who ever is born of God overcometh the world and this is the victory we have over the World even our Faith Then the World is said to be overcome when it is fallen in a mans esteem and love when a Soul is convinced what Idolatry it is for this World to rule in the heart for Covetousness is Idolatry when the Soul comes to see that all below is empty perishing and vain and that that fades in the very using then it is overcome in some good measure Now Soul if thou canst say that thy Escape in the day in which God frowned upon the World hath made thee see all to be vanity and vexation of Spirit and that thy heart is an entertainment for something more noble it is to be hoped that Christ hath gained upon thee Psal 45.10 11. Hearken O Daughter and consider and encline thine ear forget also thine own Kindred and thy Fathers House so shall the King greatly desire thy Beauty for he is thy Lord and worship thou him You must not worship the World then you worship it when it hath that place in the Heart that Christ should only possess but if the love of this World be rooted out it is to be hoped that the love unto Christ hath expelled it and the sight of Christ more excellent hath made thee trample upon these terrene objects It was Moses his ardent love unto Christ that made him esteem the reproaches of Christ greater riches then the treasures of Egypt Heb. 11.26 It was his value for Christ made him under-value these things I desire I might reach every of your Consciences that read these lines if God will own me so far I would urge it upon you We are yet escaped through infinite mercy hath your escaping had this effect to raise up in you higher thoughts of Christ than formerly Can you witness it by this evidence You are possibly some of you those that have had much to do in the World and concernments of it if you have not been entangled by it and found that it hath been very apt to get upon your hearts I must say Either you know not your hearts or you have sped much better then most in your capacity But can you say It is now turn'd out of doors that the leasure-time you have had hath helped you to look above this Earth to view things of a more excellent nature and Christs glory hath so ravished your Souls that you can say that there is nothing that your souls love above or equal with him Put it to your Consciences I charge it upon you as your duty from the Lord. And 2. If you can say Sin is out of your Heart more then it was it is to be hoped Christ is there if that be down Christ is
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
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
for a time they shall be dealt withall according to the violence done to the Saints of God The violence done to me and to my Flesh be upon Babylon shall the Inhabitants of Zion say Isa 51.22 23. I have taken the cup of trembling out of thy hand that is out of Zions hand even the dregs of the cup of my fury thou shalt no more drink it again but I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee which have said to thy Soul Bow down that we may go over and thou hast laid thy Body as the ground and as the street to them that went over They shall suffer too according to the contempt of the Gospel and the dishonour done to Christ that way for he shall come to deal with all them that do not know him and obey not the Gospel and also according to the sin of despising the forbearance of Christ Indeed this day you are escaped and the patience of Christ is exercised towards you but let me tell you if you stand and abide in your sinful state you shall find that the abusing of the patience of Christ is but treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath 5. Those that have escaped and not Israel they shall be compassed about with eternal Sorrows and shall never rise out of them Says the Church Though I fall I shall arise again and though I sit in darkness yet the Lord shall be a light to me Then shall she be confounded that is the Enemies of the Church shame shall cover her That will be the portion of every sinner though he may escape for a season shame shall cover him misery and distress shall abide him for ever VSE III. HAving dispatch'd the Second I come now to a Third Use which the former Uses necessarily lead unto It is a little to encourage the hearts of poor Sinners that possibly may be full of thoughts and desires that they might yet be brought into the number of Israel Methinks I do even hear some poor heart say If it be so well with them that are Gods Israel and so ill with them that are not Gods Israel What is there no hope for me though I am yet none of that number Must I for ever stay in that state of misery in which I am Must an eternal doom of Misery be entaild upon me I acknowledge my state is exceeding desperate and sad but is there no hope in Israel concerning this matter To that I answer If there be any poor sinner sensible of the misery of his condition that would gladly make an escape out of it Soul be not discouraged thy condition is not hopeless but be encouraged for there is a possibility that as thou hast escaped the dread and misery of this present day so thou mayst be delivered from that Christless state wherein thou art There are two Scriptures I would commend to you for this purpose the first is in Isa 44.5 One shall say I am the Lords and another shall call himself by the Name of Jacob and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord and sirname himself by the Name of Israel The words are both a Prophecy and a Promise and they do respect the Gentile-World that were at that time and long after in their sins in their state of estrangement from God here it is prophesied that yet there should be a flocking into Israel the number of Gods Israel should be greatly augmented and encreased It is promised that God would so prevail upon the hearts of some poor Sinners that they shall come and say I am the Lords and shall come and subscribe their hands to the Lord and shall sirname themselves by the Name of Israel that God would conquer them so far that they should see the need they had to be of that number that they shall resign and give up themselves to be of the Israel of God This is an encouraging word to the Sinner there is a possibility for them that were strangers to come and to name themselves by the Name of Jacob and subscribing to the Lord to take up that Name and so partake of the Priviledges of the Israel of God Take another Scripture Isa 19.24 25. In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria even a Blessing in the midst of the Land whom the Lord of Hosts shall bless saying Blessed be Egypt my People and Assyria the Work of my hands and Israel my Inheritance The import of the words is this Egypt and Assyria were some of the Enemies of God and his People at a very great distance from him but here is a Promise that they should come to be conquered and brought into subjection to the Lord and to be baptized into the Spirit of Israel to be blessed with the Blessing of Israel they shall speak the Language of Canaan they shall be of one Heart and one Lip with the Lords People Souls were you as Egypt and were you as the Assyrians Enemies to God and his People were you at the greatest distance from God that could be supposed Egypt had neither Ordinances nor Priviledges nor ought else that good was more then the creatures of the Earth and such-like things yet the Lord intimates here to us that they shall come to share in and divide a Blessing with Israel If thy estate were as one of them yet mayest thou as and according to the promise made to them be brought into the number that shall share in the Blessing of the Israel of God Therefore Soul though now thou art not of Israel yet it may be said to thee They have obtained Mercy which had not obtained This is the kindness of God that he is pleased to make blessed overtures of Mercy unto poor vile and unworthy Sinners But more then this for the encouragement of any Soul that may yet be in his Sins I would speak four or five things Thy condition is not desperate but thou mayst be brought into the number of the Israel of God and so partake of the same Mercy with them in thy escaping this day if thou dost consider 1. That Gods Israel came to be the People of God by choice and through the Grace and Goodness of God Israel were not born the People of God He chose Abraham and his Seed from the rest of the World to be a peculiar People to himself Hence it is that Israel often-times are called in Scripture Israel my CHOSEN so Psal 105.4 The Lord hath CHOSEN Jacob for himself and Israel to be his peculiar Treasure and in Isa 44.1 Israel is called there the Chosen of the Lord Yet now hear O Jacob my Servant and Israel whom I have CHOSEN They were chosen meerly from the good pleasure of God Choice it is a free Act in which there is no necessity and constraint so it was in God a free Act to pitch upon Israel to make them his People This account the Lord gives of it Deut.