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
him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not As is the Good so is the Sinner and he that sweareth as he that feareth an Oath But if the Reason be demanded How comes it to pass and whence is it that any of God's Israel should fall in times of slaughter 1. Not to insist upon the Prerogative of God which might be the first thing whereby he is Lord of all his Creatures and his own People as well as others and therefore may dispense unto all according to the good-pleasure of his own Will 2. In the second place the ground of it may be this viz. That God cannot keep his Covenant with his People sometimes at any cheaper rate he cannot be faithfull sometimes to his Promise with his own People unless he let them feel some smarting Rod and taste of that Cup of which he makes his Enemies drink a full Draught God by Covenant stands bound to purge out the folly that is bound up in the hearts of his Children and truly sometimes lusts in the Soul are like rust in Iron deeply eat in and cannot well be gotten out without some severe and ruff usage 3. But thirdly The main Reason the grand and principal Ground why some of Israel may perish in times of common Calamity is this they sin as the world and so God leaves them to suffer with and as the world their provocations are like the wickeds therefore he is pleased to suit out an external punishment something like that that falls upon the rest of the world the Lord saith that sometimes the sin of his own People is not onely as the sin of the world but greater Jer. 5.28 They are waxen fat they shine yea they overpass the deeds of the wicked It is spoken of God's Israel The truth is though the sin of Saints shall never damn them they are interested in Christ and there is no condem nation to them that are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.1 and herein is much of the overflowing Grace of the new Covenant that notwithstanding the sin of Saints may have some such provoking ingredients as the sin of sinners hath not that yet sinners shall perish eternally under their sins but the Saints shall not come into condemnation yet I say the sin of a Saint may lay him under an external dispensation with the sinner the Saints sin against such light as few sinners do and such love as no sinner can and that makes their provocation more provoking than the sins of sinners When it is thus among the Lord's People the Lord is pleased to let them or some of them at least to fall by sore slaughter It is upon such a supposition that God threatens his People in Deut. 28.58 If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this Law that are written in this day that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful Name THE LORD THY GOD Then the Lord will make thy Plagues wonderful and the Plagues of thy seed even great Plagues and of long continuance and sore sickness and of long continuance The case supposed here is this That God's People may not keep to the Law of the Lord that they may not carry it like a people that know something of God that they may not carry it as a people that know what dread there is in the Name JEHOVAH which is a Name that speaks the Great God able to meet with avenge himself on all them that walk not with him in Truth and Uprightness that they may not carry it as those that have intrest in the Lord Intrest in the Lord doth not give a liberty unto sin but is the greatest engagement unto Holiness and souls may forget that Obligation under which they lie those bonds of God that are upon them that filial Child-like obedience which they are to render unto their Father and upon such defects God threatneth as you have heard Take his threatning in a few particulars and you shall see what sin may bring upon the Lord 's own People he threatneth first Plagues yea all kind of Plagues Judgements of every sort 2dly Such as should be wonderfull that should be full of terrour and amazement unto all that look upon them as God sometimes speaks to his People and tells them he will make them an astonishment to all round about them yea such as should make them a wonder unto themselves 3dly He threatens they should lie under Plagues of long continuance year after year we are apt to think a judgment must be terminated to and ended in such a space of time but God can stretch it out upon his own even for a long season 4thly All the Judgements of Egypt shall come upon them all the Judgements they were afraid of and proved a terrour unto their souls 5thly They might fall under such Judgements as they had not heard or at any time read of before he would create trouble to them Certainly if it be according to that word Lam. 3.33 that the Lord doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men though they are but the children of men the Lord doth not easily afflict them not at every turn contend with them much less will he upon light and slight occasions contend with his own People and the choicest of his own but when he finds them under provocations he is pleased thus to break out against them Observe that where you find God coming out to cut off his People by a slaughtering stroke you shall find some notable provocation was the procuring cause it was not for nothing Deut. 28.21 The Lord shall make the Pestilence cleave unto thee until he hath consumed thee from off the Land whither thou goest to possess it It was spoken to Israel upon what occasion the 15th verse will tell you But it shall come to pass if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God to observe to do all his Commandments and his Statutes which I command thee this day that all these Curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee And so Ezek. 5.11 12. Wherefore as I live saith the Lord God surely because thou hast defiled my Sanctuary with all thy detestable things and with all thine abominations therefore will I also diminish thee neither shall mine eye spare nor will I have any pity A third part of thee shall die by the Pestilence and with Famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee and a third part shall fall by the Sword round about thee and I will scatter a third part into all the winds and will draw out a Sword after them c. Here are dreadful threatnings and it was upon great provocations there were great turnings aside from God corrupting his Worship polluting his Sanctuary the fire of God's jealousy burns hot about his Sanctuary and if he find his People in the matter of his Worship corrupted he breaks out against them with great severity It was upon some such account David shunned 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
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
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
own evil ways and your doings that were not good and shall loath your selves in your own sight for your Iniquities and for your abominations The time intended here is the time when they should escape Calamities that were upon that People and God should have wrought graciously for them Then shall you remember your Own evil ways not others onely though you may remember others also you may warrantably look abroad consider the National sins and evils but be sure thou forget not thy own and having remembred to loath thy self for them to be offended with thy self that thou shouldst have any hand in the procuring of any Judgement from the Lord. There is a great mistake very common whether in Practice or Judgement I will not stand to determine we are not careful to mourn over our miscarriages but when the Rod is on our Backs like Children while the Rod is on their Backs they will cry and mourn but when the Father is pacified then forget wherefore he was contending The time of your escape is to be a time for enquiry into your ways and mourning over them look a text or two one you have Ezek. 6.9 And they that Escape of you shall remember me among the Nations whither they shall be carried captives because I am broken with their whorish heart which hath departed from me and with their eyes which go a whoring after their Idols and they shall loath themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations observe what Fruit it is the Lord expects from them that are escaped they shall remember me and remember themselves too their ways and doings and then shall loath themselves to which adde Ezek. 7.16 Escape they shall but being escaped there is a Duty lies upon them They should be upon the Mountains as the Doves of the Valleys every one mourning for his iniquity The Babylonish Captives after they escaped out of Captivity out-lived the distress that had buried many you find that at that time there was found a spirit of mourning upon them Ezra 9.3 is an evident testimony of it And when I heard this thing I rent my garment and my mantle and pluckt off the hair of my head and of my beard and sat down astonied thus did Ezra and thus should every one that escapeth the Day of Gods Controversie Now what is the frame of your hearts truly all our hearing and knowing of what frame we should be in will stand for little unless you compare your Spirits and the Word together and see whether it be with you accordingly This you may be confident of we have all had a hand in the provocation of this day and if so we should have also an eye to look into our hearts and mourn over our evil ways which must be done if we would have a proof unto our selves that this Branch of the Lord is become glorious to us after our escape 2. The Lord expects of them that escape That they should perform their Vows make good the Covenant and Promises which they made in the day when they were in trouble and fear it is very common with men in a day when distress is threatned to make large Promises and when the distress is over to be as backward in performing as before they were forward in promising this was the case of that people Jer. 2.20 For of old time I have broken thy Yoke and burst thy Bonds and thou saidest I will not transgress when upon every high Hill and under every green Tree thou wanderest playing the Harlot the meaning is when distress was upon them they cried if God would but take off that distress and remove the stroke they would be a people not transgressing a holy people but how did they keep the Promise whenas upon every high Hill and under every green Tree thou wanderest playing the Harlot falsified their word abominably that is a great evil that the Lord cannot well pass by that is a known Scripture Eccles 5.4 5. When thou vowest a Vow unto God defer not to pay it for he hath no pleasure in fools pay that which thou hast vowed better it is that thou shouldest not vow then that thou shouldest vow and not pay in this kind delays are dangerous defer not to pay thy Vows for he hath no pleasure in folly it is folly for a man to promise unto God what he means not to perform Better it is not to vow then having vowed not to pay the Devil hath a double design upon creatures in days of distress and our own hearts much deceive us in it First I am perswaded the Devil puts poor Creatures many times upon a great forwardness to make Promises and many times our hearts do exceedingly deceive us by feeding us with some secret hopes by our Promises to buy out an indulgence from the Lord that we may escape the evil we fear and the second design of the Devil is when he hath brought the Soul to bind it self unto the Lord in abundance of bonds then to cool the heart as fast as he can and make it forget its engagements and so wraps the Soul in abundance of guilt I have found that there is no guilt defiles the Soul at a greater rate then the breach of Covenant for God will not endure to be mocked and have the Promises made unto him falsified God will put your Bonds in suit against you and require of you what you have been free to engage for Deut. 23.21 When thou shalt vow a Vow unto the Lord thy God thou shalt not slack to pay it for the Lord thy God will surely require it of thee and it would be sin in thee it would be sin not to live up unto Engagements Examine your hearts what Engagements have you passed in the days of your distress it may be Visitations were near you you were in eminent hazard and your hearts troubled for fear did you not say Lord If thou wilt keep me this day if I may but out-live this distress never will I be so vain so earthly so carnal so slight in the Work of God as I have been Have you not past some such or the like promise to the great God Now Jesus Christ he is privy unto all that you have said and done though it were in secret he hath taken an account of all that you have engaged to be and do how do you perform you cannot comfortably conclude that Christ hath gotten ground in your hearts unless you have paid your Vows to the Lord. The Servants of God have been conscientious in the Case Psal 66.13 I will go into thy House with burnt-offerings I will pay thee my Vows which my lips have uttered and my mouth hath spoken when I was in trouble David had his troubles as well as other of his Neighbours and in his troubles he did sometimes make Promises unto God herein he was honest and faithful did conscientiously regard the performing the Promises he had past
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
are the glorious Perfections of this Branch of the Lord should we measure and guess at him according to the excellency found in any created being alas it would be infinitely short there is in Christ that Excellency that doth exceed and much out-do whatever glory is found upon any thing our eyes behold Shall I say As Solomon in his glory did out-shine the glory of all the Princes that were on earth in his time so and infinitely more doth the glory of Christ out-do whatever our eyes behold or whatever our hearts can conceive of and in our searching into his perfections we may come to do as the Queen of Sheba did when she beheld the glory of Solomon she gave this testimony What she had heard was true So may we give this testimony of Christ That what we have heard of his Perfections there is all in him nay the one half was not told us and if the Queen of Sheba was amazed at standing before Solomons glory how much more may we at Christs although we cannot see him in all his Perfections Thou canst not know him at present in this life according to all that Glory with which he is cloathed 2. If thou that art escaped art jealous that Christ is not become beautiful enough unto thee Remember that the highest pitch unto which the Soul can come in this life is to desire to see more of that beauty that is in him The highest pitch in any thing that is good in this life is to desire to be better The Desires of the Soul do out-go in this life any Acts that it is able to put forth David in the case of Holiness the highest pitch of his Holiness is expressed in his desire Psalm 119.5 O that my Ways were directed to keep thy Statutes he did keep them in some measure but the highest pitch unto which he got was to desire to keep them better so also Psal 68.11 Teach me thy ways O Lord I will walk in thy truth unite my heart to fear thy Name he was sensible that his heart did in some things wander from God he did not fear him as he should but the highest of his attainment lay in his desires Paul was a man very excellent in his day and doubtless did know and enjoy much of Christ yet the highest pitch he attained was largeness of heart and workings of desire exprest in Phil. 3.13 This one thing I do forgetting the things that are behind and reaching forth unto those things that are before I press towards the mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus the desires of his heart were large And so the Spouse hath an high esteem of Christ she expresses the value she hath of him at a great rate Cant. 2.3 4. As the Apple-Tree among the Trees of the Wood so is my Beloved among the Sons I sat down under his shaddow with great delight and his fruit was sweet unto my taste stay me with Flaggons comfort me with Apples for I am sick of love her heart was much taken with Christ seeing a great deal of Beauty in him but you shall see her desires did out-do any act she could put forth and therefore Cant. 4.16 she says Awake O North Wind and come thou South blow upon my Garden that the Spices thereof may flow out she would have her heart enlarged her Graces acted more strongly Now Soul take in this for thy comfort it is a good frame that thou desirest to prize Christ more and have this Branch of the Lord more glorious in thy account though thou canst not put forth such acts as thou wouldest Remember thou art in that frame that the best of Saints have been in 3. Consider this thou that art escaped and fearest that the Branch of the Lord is not become so glorious as it should be Remember that jealousie over thy heart is a good sign and gives some hope that Christ hath gotten some ground upon thee The wise man Prov. 14.15 saith The simple believeth every word but the prudent man looks well to his going Some are so simple to believe every good word their hearts speak if they find any thing that looks like good they are apt to conclude that all is right therefore the wise man Prov. 28.14 saith Happy is the man that feareth always I apply it unto this It is a good thing sometimes to bear a jealousie a constant jealousie over the heart lest it should not be wrought up to that pitch it ought The Author to the Hebrews gives us a warrant for holy jealousies and fears lest we should fall short They that have been most confident of the goodness of the frame of their spirits have sometimes been in none of the best Jehu cries Come see my Zeal for the Lord of Hosts when he had not one grain of true Zeal for the Lord of Hosts in him 4. Thou that wouldest have this Branch of the Lord glorious if thy heart work really this way Know this thou art accepted in this thy desire It will pass for a good improvement of this mercy of thy Escape I confess some things there are which I find the Lord is angry at He loves not to see souls sit down satisfied and pleased in ways of sin therefore he doth reflect upon them Psal 1.1 that sit in the seat of the scornful he is much angry with them that can contentedly take up in ways of sin and therefore you find him falling foul upon them that harden their hearts in ways of sin and also with those that content themselves with little measures of Grace when they have means to rise up unto greater He rebukes the Disciples Mat. 8.26 for the littleness of their Faith O ye of little Faith he upbraids them with the littleness of their Faith because he had long been with them himself as he doth hint unto them afterwards Have I been so long with thee and yet thou hast not known me But this observe also That where there is but a lesser measure of Grace if the heart be really working after more it is accepted and Christ receives it with good will The best instance I know in the whole Bible is that in Mark 9.23 24. where the Father of a Child possessed with a dumb Spirit comes unto Christ for cure Christ tells him All things are possible unto him that believeth and straightway he cried out and said with tears Lord I believe help my unbelief he had a little Faith and desired more therefore you find Christ doth not reject his little but hears him and calls unto the dumb Devil to come forth of his Child So if thou complainest that Christ is not exalted in thy heart to any great degree but thou longest he should be more believe it it shall be accepted as it is said in another case 2 Cor. 8.12 If there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man hath and not according to that he
God to pour out a Spirit of Union which he hath promised to do The Lord shall be one and his Name one in all the Earth Zach. 4. and Jer. 32.39 I will give them one Heart and one Way to serve me When Christ shall be advanced our Divisions shall be broken and whatever the Devil and wicked Men have cast in as a snare and means to rend and divide shall be taken out of the way It is then that we shall be enlightened in the things wherein we vary one from another What is the ground of all our differences they are partly ignorance and partly pride our ignorance we cannot see into Truth one thinks one thing and another another and because we cannot see into every thing we disagree which is furthered by our Pride cleaving unto our own imaginations but this will be removed God will lay low the pride of men and we shall have more light we shall see that we never saw and be enlightened as we never were Isa 60.20 Thy Sun shall no more go down neither shall thy Moon withdraw it self for the Lord shall be thine everlasting Light and the days of thy mourning shall be ended The Lord shall at that day let us into the knowledge of much of his mind which yet we grope in the dark without light in and then there shall be a great Union among Saints Now to all these ends to the Glory of Christ and good of his People Christ is working by his slaughtering-Providences Those things that we wonder at and know not what they tend to it is to that end they subserve and shall be crowned with that issue And thus I have dispatched what I intend for the Doctrinal part I shall now proceed to the Application VSE I. IF this then be a Truth That the end of Slaughters shall be to make Christ glorious and his Glory shall be greatly for the advantage of the Israel of God that escape in times of slaughter It will then certainly be found a Truth very useful many ways and that which first is upon my heart to give forth to you is that which I hope will be also upon your hearts to put the question to your Souls Whether you are really the Israel of God or no. Escaped we are hitherto through Grace we stand alive in the presence of God but what state is it in which we stand Can you say Through Grace you have good hopes the Lord hath not onely spared you but also implanted you into the number of his own People and made you of the number of his own Israel The Mercy and the Good of an Escape is limited in the Text unto the Israel of God others may escape as well as they but in the conclusion it will be little to their comforts Israel had his name given to him from his wrestling with God in Prayer and prevailing and the Name is applied 1. To the natural Seed of Jacob the People of the Jews are often times in Scripture called Israel promiscuously one with another 2. It is applied unto the spiritual Ones among the natural Seed of Jacob those of the Jewish People that were really brought into a subjection unto and an acquaintance with the Lord they are by way of distinction from the rest of the Seed of Jacob called Israel 3. It is applied unto all both Jews and Gentiles that are really brought within the Bond of the Covenant Scripture dignifies them often with the title of Israel This is therefore the question that you and I are to put seriously to our Souls What testimony and witness have we that we are brought within the Bond of the Covenant and that our preservation is this day a Covenant-mercy to our Souls That is the question that must be asked Unbelief hath certainly proved the destruction of very many I mean the eternal destruction and Presumption hath been the slaughter of not a few and if I judge not amiss Presumption is oftentimes the root upon which Unbelief grows Many sitting under the Gospel of Christ and having some Form and Profession for God upon them do run away hastily concluding they are really of Gods Israel God Almighty give to you and me a greater Spirit of Wisdom that we may not upon slight grounds draw conclusisions that we are within the Covenant but may build our hope upon some good Foundation My Friends it stands you greatly in hand to be faithful and serious in this enquiry into your Spirits in this matter for if you should not be of the Israel of God it would not onely rob you of much mercy you might enjoy in this life it would not onely strip you of a part in the good that shall come to the Israel of God when the Branch of the Lord shall be glorious but what is more and what is worse it will cut you short of the glory that shall be put upon the head of the Saints in Eternity when Christ shall have given up the Kingdom to his Father and God shall be all in all Brethren upon many serious thoughts I may tell you that there is great ground why every Soul should be jealous over his own heart and should not hastily determine concerning its state Great are the mistakes false grounds and bottoms of hope upon which many poor creatures build and it concerns you to act curiously and warily lest you should be also mistaken To quicken you a little and to possess your Souls that there is need and great need for poor hearts to have a jealousie over themselves in this matter I would take leave to commend and open to you two Scriptures that I find in the Book of Truth one is in Rom. 9.6 7. Not as though the Word of God hath taken no effect for they are not all Israel which are of Israel neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all Children Look to the fourth vers and you will finde that there are great Priviledges reckoned up that did appertain to Israel Who are Israel to whom pertaineth the Adoption and the Glory and the Covenant and the giving of the Law and the Service of God and the Promises How might some of the Jews say do these things belong unto Israel why surely Israel are cut short of them for there is not one of many of them that have received Christ and so are cut short of these Priviledges of the Gospel To that the Apostle answereth vers 6 7. Not as though the Word of God hath taken no effect for they are not all Israel which are of Israel c. as if he should say You must not judge that these great things are entailed upon the Jewish People because they are Jews or the seed of Abraham but it is through Faith they come to an Interest in these great things And in these words the Apostle doth remove a double bad Foundation upon which many poor Creatures are apt to build a hope 1. They are not Israel
of that number But you will say How may I gather some comfortable grounded conclusions that I am one of the Israel of God I am an Escaped One this day and would not be willing that I should be stript of the blessing of this Blessing I would have the Mercy in mercy and therefore how may I come to some comfortable hope that I really am a Jew inwardly and partake of the circumcision that is of the Heart whose praise is not of man but of God I answer in a few things the Lord make them really effectual upon your Souls 1. If thou art one of Israel thou art one of another Spirit then the men of this world the Israel of God they are a distinct People separate from the rest of the Earth and separated in their Spirits eminently in another Spirit then the men of this world be What is said concerning Caleb Numb 14.24 is truly applicable to every one of Israel in some measure But my Servant Caleb because he had ANOTHER SPIRIT with him and hath followed me fully c. There were abundance of Israelites in the Camp at that day but few of them were in the frames they should be in Caleb was of another Spirit and such is every Saint The Searcher of all hearts knows that there is a difference between him and the world Not a Saint in the world but hath some ground to make an appeal to God as sometimes the Psalmist doth Search me and try me and know my thoughts and to appeal to the Lord as sometimes Jeremiah did Thou knowest my heart towards thee O Lord. Isaac had been begging Seed for his Rebecca because she had been long barren at length it is said There was strugling in her Womb she wondered what it should mean but see what answer the Spirit of God makes her Gen. 25.22 23. And the Lord said Two Nations are in thy Womb and two manner of People shall be separated from thy Bowels and the one People shall be stronger then the other People and the Elder shall serve the Younger The two manner of People were Jacob and Esau and I bring this to tell you that Jacob who was after named Israel and so all in the same Spirit with him they are another manner of People as it were another Nation another thing then the men of this world are there is an eminent difference and distinction between Esau and Israel they are of different Spirits and of a different language as several Nations differing one from another 1 Cor. 2.12 The Apostle tells us We have not received the Spirit of the World but the Spirit which is of God This he speaks concerning the Saints of God they have received not the Spirit of the World but another Spirit distinct and different from them Brethren I would put it to your Consciences and would ask you what the answer of your Souls is What ground have you to conclude that there is another Spirit in you then that which is in the World It may be your practices are somewhat other then the practices of the World are but grant it be so yet if you are not in another Spirit also if the inward frame and constitution of your Souls do not differ you will not be found among the Israel of God in the conclusion Ah my Friends possibly some of your Practices may not vary from the men of the World possibly you can be vain with them that are vain and prophane with them that are prophane if it be thus with you you must reckon your selves to be of the brood of Esau to this day Observe the words of the Apostle Rom. 12.2 And be not conformed to this World but be ye transformed by the renewing of your minds What say you Are you conformed to this World Do you drive the trade and take the course that the men of this World do Are you vain and frothy and foolish giving up your selves to serve divers lusts Youth is subject to be so and if it be thus with you you are not of Israel to this day But if you say We are not of this World we do not act as they do we do not live as they do then let me ask you Are you transformed It is well not to be conformed to this World but that is not enough you must be transformed and your Spirits renewed you must be of another Spirit then the men of this World I would beseech you to look well to your hearts and commune with your Souls and do it not slightly I know many and would wail over them that notwithstanding their profession for God and their talking much of him and being high in an external owning of God yet in their walking and therefore sure much more in their spirits they vary little from the men of this World If it be thus with you though you are escaped this day yet you cannot comfortably conclude you are of the Israel of God or that you shall bear a part in that mercy and good they shall enjoy when the Branch of the Lord shall be glorious 2. Are you Israel indeed then there is somewhat of Heart-cleanness in you there is somewhat of cleanness of Heart and purity of Soul in you Thus the Psalmist describes the Israel of God Psal 73.1 Truly God is good to Israel even to them that are of a clean Heart God is good to Israel he loves them they are exceeding dear to him and because they are dear to him therefore it is he is good to them But who are the Israel They are a certain sort of People that do not onely put on an external garb of Holiness a pretence for God and his work and service and glory but a People that have some inward conformity and likeness to God who have some cleanness of heart as well as of hands and face Man by nature is a very impure creature polluted grievously defiled all over all the Soul all the Powers and Faculties of it are stained and grievously polluted and therefore Sinners are in Scripture called the Impure and Saints by way of distinction from them are called Pure A sad account it is that the Apostle gives of Sinners Tit. 1.15 To the pure all things are pure but to the undefiled and unbelieving is nothing pure and their very consciences are defiled Jesus Christ describing the persons that shall see God to their comfort and joy he calls them the pure in heart Mat. 5.8 Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God Many there are that would pretend to this purity but it is peculiar and proper to the Israel of God onely it is the issue and fruit of a new work upon the heart it is the blessed effect of the Grace of God in and through the Covenant of Grace the making good of the Promise which he hath passed Ezek. 36.25 26. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and you shall be clean from all your filthiness and
from all your Idols will I cleanse you a new Heart also will I give you and a new Spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a Heart of flesh There are them who are really impure and grievously polluted and yet think all is well with them witness that known word Prov. 14.12 13. There is a Generation that is pure in their own eyes and yet is not washed from their filthiness There is a Generation O how lofty are their eyes and their eye-lids are lifted up There are some Souls greatly confident of their own purity and yet defiled wofully While they boast of their freedom and brag of their purity and are crying to others it may be Stand by thy self for I am holier then thou they become after this Servants to Corruption Others there are in whom a cleansing-work is really begun but because there are some remains of corruption in their Souls it fills their hearts so much with grief and blinds their eyes so much that they cannot see the cleansing that is begun To clear this therefore I must tell you That where there is really heart-purity there is much of the love of purity If thou hast not attained what of it thou wouldest yet thy heart is really in love with it Prov. 22.11 He that loveth pureness of Heart for the grace of his Lips the King shall be his Friend There are a People it may be have not attained to that pureness of heart they would do but yet pureness of heart they love and Grace is poured into their Lips to such the King will be a Friend they shall find a Friend of Christ and he will not be ashamed to own them in the day of his greatest Glory when the Crown shall be set upon his Head Not a Soul in whom purity is but he is pressing after it in greater measure though he has not attained it yet he does not sit down and cry There is no hope for me but he is going forward and pressing after more of the Image of God to be implanted in his Soul Now what is the answer of your Hearts Can you from hence conclude comfortably you are some of Gods Israel Are the lusts that boil up in your hearts fomented and cherished favoured and allowed served and pleased If so it is sad with you If you lie in the bosom of any Lust as in the lap of a Delilah if thou sayest of any sin in thy Soul as sometimes Lot said concerning his Zoar I cannot escape to the Mountains but there is a City near is it not a little one let me flee thither and I shall live All the Cities of the Plain were doomed to destruction at that day but Lot was earnest to prevail for the saving of one little City that he might delight himself in it There is not a lust in thy Soul but it is doomed to destruction and God requires it should be put to death but possibly thou sayest of it O spare it it is a little one Let me be faithful to thee and tell thee that that sin will be enough to race out thy name out of the Catalogue of the Israel of God and when others will stand with comfort that have escaped this day thou wilt be ashamed and confounded 3. Art thou of the Israel of God Then thou art one that hast learned in some measure to live upon God As it is the certain property of so it is a great excellency in the Israel of God that they live upon him and this was as eminently found in Jacob as ever in any one of the Servants of the Lord When he was going to Padan Aram not knowing what should befall him observe how he speaks Gen. 28.20 Jacob vowed a Vow saying If God will be with me and keep me in this way that I go and will give Bread to eat and Rayment to put on c. The great thing about which he was solicitous was that he might have the presence of God He had a little before in this Chapter a most glorious Vision of God and I must confess Visions of God are exceeding effectual to teach and work up the heart to a living upon God and what does Jacob now say If he might have but God to live upon a very little of other matters should content him Bread to eat somewhat that might support his nature and Rayment to put on enough to cover him and keep him warm he doth not say If I may have Varieties and Dainties to eat and may be decked in costly Apparel no but onely Bread to eat and Rayment to put on If I can have but God a little of the World will serve my turn This is the Spirit of Israel and that with which I doubt very few are acquainted I must crave leave to put this to all your Souls and ask you what is the answer of your hearts Can you say upon good grounds as the Church of God sometimes said The Lord is my Portion saith my Soul Lam. 3.24 Suppose should Satan take you as once he did Christ and set you upon a high Mountain and shew you the Kingdoms of the World and the Glory of them and tell you All these things you shall have if you will forgo and part with God What would the answer of your hearts be in that case Suppose Christ should come and say to you If you will have a part in me you must expect trouble you shall be hated of all men for my Names sake yea the Parents from whose Bowels ye sprang shall turn against you Can you say Amen so be it Let me have the Lord for my Portion and I can forgo all other things whatsoever This is Israel's Spirit and so far as it â—s thus with you it is right What excellency have you seen in the Lord at any time How have your hearts been taken with him What are the workings of your Souls toward him What are you labouring after Is it that you may know God and enjoy him What is it doth relieve you in the time of your straights Is it this that the Lord is yours It was David's comfort when all went against him when Ziklag was burnt his Wives and all were taken and the People spake of stoning him he then encouraged himself in the Lord his God What is it that sweetens all your enjoyments to you Is it this That you have a part in that which is better then all these that you have a part in the Lord and he is become your God and Father in Christ Happy yea thrice happy are you that can say as once David did The Lord hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure and this is my Salvation and this is all my Joy But O unhappy they who are not able to subsist without their Thousands and look upon themselves as undone for ever if worldly Interest runs but
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.
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
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
and Aaron took as Moses commanded him and ran into the midst of the Congregation behold the plague was begun among the People and he put on Incense and made an atonement and stood between the dead and the living and the Plague was stayed Aaron he was the High Priest and in that Office a great Type of Christ and in this action a great Type of Christ also it is he by his intercession and mediation steps in between the Living and the Dead if thou art not fallen among them that fall it is because this Aaron hath stept in to thy help because he hath rescued thee and been a Preservation unto thee The 68th Psalm is a Psalm applicable to Christ witness that passage in the 18th verse Thou hast ascended up on high thou hast led captivity captive and received Gifts for men yea for the rebellious also that the Lord God might dwell among them This you know is spoken of and applied unto Christ by the Apostle in the Epistle to the Ephesians Chap. 4. mark now what follows in this 68th Psalm vers 26. He that is our God is the God of Salvation and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death This is also spoken of Christ unto him belong the issues from death so that if thou art spared and saved in a day of slaughter it is from the Lord thou must say thou hast had this issue from death That which I drive at is this that you may not lose my design Have you not cause great cause to see that the Branch of the Lord by your escape be rendered so much the more excellent and comely to you since what escape you have is through him if you are preserved it is by Christ unto whom you are beholding for your preservation 3. Further The escaping of slaughter should render the Lord beautiful and glorious to you seeing it is from him that thou hast not onely thy Escaping but the Good of thy Escape not onely the Thing it self but the Mercy with it by him it is blessed unto you if it be blessed Some there are and O unhappy they unto whom every thing is accursed Psal 69.22 Let their Table become a snare before them and that which should have been for their welfare let it become a trap Every enjoyment is a snare unto some The curse of the Lord is in the House of the Wicked Prov. 3.33 Some men though they have houses to hide their heads in and it may be many things in them that look like mercies they are yet curses to them possibly their houses are full of the things of this World Waters of a full Cup may be rung out unto them their Eyes may stand out with fatness and they may have more then Heart can wish they may have Basket and Store and yet be cursed both in the Basket and in the Store it may be their Houses are full of Children and the Substance they leave is left unto their Babes as is the Psalmists expression but they are cursed also in the fruit of their Womb it may be Health and Life are within their Walls not one sick not one dead all preserved and well but yet it is not well for this their preservation is not blessed Let me tell you that read these lines As God smites some in anger in anger also sometimes he forbears to smite therefore in Isa 1.5 Why should you be smitten any more It was a word of great displeasure The escaping of some may be cursed unto them but if thy escape be blessed unto thee and thou hast it and the mercy with it thou art beholding unto Christ for both Some are preserved in love sweet is that expression and happy they that can say so Isa 38.17 Behold for peace I had great bitterness but thou hast in love to my Soul delivered it from the pit of corruption He was not onely delivered from the pit of corruption but delivered in love unto his Soul in a way of mercy and special kindness happy they that can say Thou hast given me this escape in love to my Soul But how comes a Soul to have such a Deliverance and to have it in love too from that general word Gen. 22.18 there is the fountain-head from whence our mercies flow In thy Seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be bâ—essed in Abraham's Seed meaning Christ all the Blessings come that come upon the World Whatever comes to thee or me if it come as a Blessing it is through the Seed of Abraham and upon that score we are to place it Now if thou do'st escape and this Escape be sanctified unto thee and all this be but Fruit growing upon this Branch of the Lord should not thy Escape render the Lord Jesus the more amiable to thy Soul 4. Thou hast not onely the mercy of thy Escape from Christ but skill to walk under it becomingly Vain man would be wise though he is born as the wild Asses Colt untoward untractable good for nothing unruly and perverse and if there be any thing of Wisdom given him it is from this fountain 1 Cor. 1.30 it is Christ that is made of God unto us Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption it is in him are hid all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge and from him communicated and given down unto poor Creatures as Paul Phil. 4.12 13. saith I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need I can do all things through Christ that strengthneth me that is I can do all wisely I can use and manage every Providence rightly and how canst thou do this Paul Through Christ that strengthens me So to use Afflictions and Distresses Miseries and Mercies becomingly thy strength is in Christ and from him it must be communicated unto thee and therefore the sence of this should much endear Christ unto thy Soul that not only the Mercy of an Escape is from him but also Wisdom to use and rightly to manage it To which adde 5. That by Jesus Christ this Branch of the Lord we have not onely an Escape in time of common Calamity but greater and better things which by our Escape we may be led unto the consideration and meditation of Certain it is that through this Branch of the Lord we have salvations of more kinds then one in that 68th Psalm vers 20. where it is said He that is our God is the God of Salvation Junius renders it thus He is a God powerful to all kindes of Salvation or as the Hebrew is He is the God of Salvations in the plural number So is it with Souls that have really Grace and Mercy from Christ they have Salvations of divers sorts they have Salvation from Sin from that power and dominion that sin is wont to have in the Soul they are wonderfully by Christ delivered
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
sojourn in Mesech and dwell in the tents of Kedar that is among a people where God is dishonoured When thou lookest abroad in the World and seest how little sin is born down and how little the Interest of Christ is advanced among any that are escaped if thy Escape hath furthered Christ's Interest in thee this will grieve thy heart be careful and watchfull in the making a right use of this matter But to come to a second Use VSE II. Should the escaping dreadful Calamity work the heart to a prizing this Branch of the Lord then if any of you have a witness coming in against you that it hath not had this effect I must say the Lord will say unto you as unto them Deut. 32.6 Do you thus requite the Lord O foolish and unwise I would a little set before you the evil of this and the misery that may follow upon it 1. There is much sin in it your sin lyeth in this that you have hitherto crossed the design of God by what means you can the Designs of the Lord are very much for the advancement of Christ God saith his Son shall be exalted and extolled and made high and he works to this end by all means Word and Rod are both intended to this end he giveth you the Word to make way for Christ into the heart he comes with the Rod and why with that Rev. 3.20 Behold I stand at the door and knock if any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with me He knocks by the Word and he knocks by the Rod and it is all that the Door may be opened for the exalting of Christ If he do deliver and save you in times of trouble it is that he may be exalted Is he not made glorious If not you cross God's design Hos 11.4 I drew them with the cords of a man with the lands of love and I was as one that took off the yoke from their jaws and layed meat before them All this was that they might exalt the Lord. Now if it have not this issue upon you you are guilty of the great sin of thwarting Gods designs Further there is sin in this respect you pretend that you are for the exaltation of Christ this is that you pray for how oft have you prayed Thy Kingdom come how oft have you begged that Christ might become amiable and lovely to you and is not Christ yet made glorious not yet exalted If not your sin is this it is doubtful your Profession is much of it Hypocrisy and your praying mocking of God sins enow you need not be guilty of greater evils 2. It will endanger the intailing of punishment upon you if Christ be not become glorious to you To speak of two or three things briefly 1. It will be doubtful it will lay thee under the plague of an hard heart which is the forest of all plagues if the Lord's dealings do not soften thee and promote Christ's Interest in thee it is to be doubted it will set thee further from Christ and will leave thee under very great rockiness and stoniness of heart Not onely Pharoah's heart was hardned when the dealings of God in removing the Plague did not work kindly upon him but Israel had their hearts hardned also as you may see Heb. 3.8 9. Harden not your hearts as in the provocation in the day of temptation in the Wilderness when your Fathers tempted me proved me and saw my works forty years c. This was the sin of Israel of old and possibly the like evil may befall thy soul And 2dly if thy Escape have not produced this effect to render Christ more glorious possibly thou shalt not yet escape for all this thou settest up thy Eben-ezer and sayest Hitherto the Lord hath preserved but it is but hitherto thou knowest not what a day may bring forth God can return this very Judgement and cause it to cut off thee and many more the face of things look something sad for the present * The Plague increasing at this time God is coming back some degrees in his displeasure and whose turn among us it may be to fall we know not it may be any of our conditions if God find us under hardness of heart do not say the bitterness of death is past remember that when the Caldeans had besieged Jerusalem and by the coming of Pharoah's Army the Siege was broken up presently the people were confident the Caldeans should come no more but see a little what God saith and also what he doth Jer. 37.7 8 9. Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel thus shall ye say unto the King of Judah that sent you unto me to enquire of me Behold Pharoahs Army which is come forth to help you shall return to Egypt into their own Land and the Caldeans shall come again and fight against this City and take it and burn it with fire Thus saith the Lord Deceive not your selves saying The Caldeans shall surely depart from us for they shall not depart And so it came to passe for in the 39th of Jeremy first verse it is said that Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon came and all his Army against Jerusalem and besieged it and in the next verse it is said the City was broken up These poor people were confident because the Caldeans were withdrawn and the Siege raised they should be in danger no more It may be we say the storm is over the Bill is much decreased but alas it may increase again and be yet more sore than it hath been Thus I say if Christ be not advanced in thee possibly thou mayest not yet escape this Judgment Or 3dly if not by this Judgment God can meet with thee by others he hath reserves of Judgments of divers kinds and can easily and quickly meet with them that are not in the frames they should be as God saith of Moab Isa 15.8 For the cry is gone round about the borders of Moab the howling thereof unto Eglaim and the howling thereof unto Beer-Elim For the waters of Dimon shall be full of blood for I will bring more upon Dimon lyons upon him that escapeth of Moab and upon the remnant of the Land God had been dealing with the Moabites in some way of Judgement and there was some of them remaining but though they had been emptyed from vessel to vessel their scent still remained and now God saith he will come forth with another stroke God hath every thing at his command and he can commission another Dispensation but let me tell you it is sad if after thus long being under the hand of God Christ be not advanced more in your hearts And this leads me to the third Use of the Point VSE III. If it be a blessed effect of Slaughtering-Judgements upon them that have escaped to have Christ become more glorious what shall we think of those who though they
out-live a day of sad Calamity yet Christ is become more contemptible in their eyes who instead of being brought near unto Christ are at a greater distance from Christ It is verily a sad consideration that such should be the conclusion of such a Providence upon the hearts and spirits of any but yet I fear thus it is with more then a few Paul 2 Tim. 3.13 tells us that evil men and Seducers shall wax worse and worse It is the doom that passeth oft times upon evil men that let the dealings of God with them be what they will they are the worse under them wanting the help of the Spirit of Grace to manage and improve them for good they grow into a worse and more evil frame by them All the goodness the gracious dealings of God they are peculiarly directed to win upon the heart to bring Christ and Souls nearer together this is hinted in Rom. 2.4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance We are to interpret the end of Gods kindness to be for the bringing the heart to bow and stoop and fall at the Foot of Jesus Christ in case it have not this issue what issue else it produces will certainly be very sad namely the setting Souls at a greater distance from Christ and plunging them into a condition worse then they were in before and so it is added vers 5. Thou treasurest up unto thy self wrath against the day of wrath thou by this means raisest up greater displeasure between him and thy Soul If you say Are there any that really have lower thoughts of Christ after they have escaped a day of Distress then before I answer it is to be feared too many and where you find one or more of these marks I shall lay down you may conclude that such persons though Christ hath dealt very tenderly with them and not swept them away in a day of destruction as he might have done yet Christ is become more contemptible in their accounts then he was before 1. Where you find a spirit more senceless and stupid more sottish and secure then before such a one is really set at a greater distance from Christ then before Some there are it is much to be feared that having survived this day of distress begin now to look upon themselves as out of reach as if no future danger could possibly attend them growing hard hearted and exceeding secure after those dealings of the Lord under which they have fallen such Souls and Christ are farther apart then they were wont to be Isa 57.15 the Spirit of God tells you Christ dwells in the humble heart and with a broken Spirit Now according as you find a heart melted and broken and said low put into a tender frame so far Christ makes his approaches towards the Soul and comes to be esteemed by it but according as you find the spirits of men grow into a hardness insensibility and security by so much you may conclude Christ is set at a distance from and dis-esteemed by such Souls and O that there were not many sensible proofs of a very insensible Spirit in many poor Creatures who yet are allowed a being upon the Earth If that be allowed to be a sign of security which Christ himself tells us was a sign of it Mat. 24.38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the Ark and knew not till the flood came and took them all away so shall also the coming of the Son of man be observe it Noah was in his days a Preacher of Righteousness he warned the People of Judgement to come the People were exceeding stupid not in the least prevailed upon and what was a proof of it They were eating and drinking marrying and giving in marriage then at a more then ordinary rate therefore it was an argument what ever was said unto them or whatever God intended they were not much awakened If that were a sign of stupidity then so it is now surely and gives a great deal of reason to conclude that Christ hath not gotten but rather lost upon many of the hearts of those that have escaped 2. Where persons are more desperately and eagerly set upon their lusts there you may conclude Christ is become more contemptible then he was There is such a direct contrariety between sin and Christ that by how much the more a man grows in love with sin by so much the more he must grow out of love with Christ Rom. 8.7 The carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject unto the Law of God neither indeed can be Now by how much the more men grow more carnal by so much their enmity against Christ is increased and improved Sinne doth not onely harden mens hearts but it also blinds and shuts mens eyes and by how much the more a man plungeth himself in sin and gives up himself to the service of it by so much you may conclude his mind is blinded and his eyes shut from seeing that glory and beauty that is eminently found in the Lord Jesus Christ The more a man sets himself in the way of sin the more he is under the power of Satan and where Satan rules as a Prince what doth he 2 Cor. 4.4 the Apostle saith The God of this World he blinds the minds of men And from this you may gather if you can observe that men that are preserved this day their hearts are not in the least taken out of those ways of sin in which they did walk but are rather set with greater eagerness to fulfil the desires of the flesh and of the mind you may without breach of Charity conclude those persons are more blinded and less able to see any beauty and excellency in this Branch of the Lord then before Onely we will hope if this spirit be found upon any that it is but as the Apostle saith sometimes concerning the Jews Rom. 11.7 What then Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for but the Election hath obtained it and the rest were blinded We will hope that if there be any that are the more hardened and blinded by this gracious Dispensation of Preservation it is not the Elect that are blinded but those that are given up which the Lord intends not to look after in any gracious way We will hope for any that have any interest in the Lord Jesus that he hath not nor will leave them to such a spirit 3. If you find any more at enmity with the People of Christ then before you may conclude Christ is more contemptible in their eyes then he was before Mind not what men talk do not heed mens grasping after the name of Christians and talking of Christ as a Saviour but know that men may speak of Christ as the whole Nation
doth and other Nations do and yet have no more real love to him then those that never heard of Christ It is a very notable Scripture Jer. 12.2 Thou hast planted them yea they have taken root they grow yea they bring forth fruit thou art near in their mouth and far from their reins It may be well with a People they may be in an outward prosperous condition they may be flourishing and speak much of Christ and boast of him and yet Christ may not have one inch of their Hearts But you shall judge whether really men be for Christ or no by their dealings with his People if you find their enmity against the Saints grow let their boast be as it will instead of discovering glory in Christ they are become more at enmity with Christ then they were Let me allude at least to that word 1 John 5.1 Every one that loves him that begat loveth him that is begotten of him It is spoken concerning the Father and Christ men will say they love God why says John You cannot unless you love Christ for he that loveth him that begetteth loveth him also that is begotten So say I of Saints Do you love Christ if so you love them that are begotten of him To which I might adde a fourth and that is this 4. Doubtless there is cause at least to fear that the Branch of the Lord is not become glorious to those escaping ones who have endeavoured to hinder the efficacy and force of this dispensation upon the hearts of poor Creatures I will tell who I think are some way culpable herein they that have covered the dealings of Christ if there be as is shrewdly suspected any that have hid this present Work of God upon us and not let us know it in its full extent latitude †It was feared some 1000's were kept out of the weekly Bills it will certainly lie upon their score that have stood in the way of Christs Work and hindered that efficacy it might have had upon the hearts of poor Creatures But to all or any of those that are rather at a greater distance from Christ than brought nearer to Christ I shall onely say in brief that it is worth the minding God considers what influence and effect his dealings have upon the hearts of men when a Judgement is on their Backs the Lord considers whether it work any good effect upon them or no as in 2 Chron. 28.22 it is said of Ahaz That in the time of his distress he did trespass against the Lord yet more this is that King Ahaz God notes especially that under his hand a person became worse and worse and there is such a mark put upon him as is scarce put upon any in Scripture This is that King Ahaz that Ahaz that became worse in a day of distress God also strictly observes how his kindness works in that fore-cited place Rom. 2.4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance Observe the long-suffering of God and his forbearance that is in not cutting down his poor creatures when he hath them at some kinde of advantage as in a day of common Calamity if God spares them then he manifests his riches of Grace and Goodness towards them and if it be not answered with some suitable walking how doth the Lord interpret such a neglect He says they despise it And to end this Use let me take up some passages in that first of the Proverbs it is said vers 24. I have called and you have refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded The Lord calls by his Word and he calls by his Rod He calls by his gentle dealings his kinde usage his preserving in a day of Calamity is as much a Call as the Calamity it self and he saith unto them that answer not this Call and do not improve it aright vers 26. I will laugh at your calamity and mock when your fear cometh They that are for a time unaffected may have a time to be in distress when they may stand in need of kindness to be shewed unto them though they are preserved and kept alive Vers 32. The turning away of the simple shall slay them and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them If men turn away from the Calls of God not answering his expectation either under Preservations or his more severe dealings their turning away shall slay them and their prosperity shall destroy them Some think it may be because they are yet in prosperity there is no farther hazard but God saith their prosperity shall prove their destruction and bring forth Consequences more sad it may be then any of which they were afraid in the day when distress hung over their heads That is what I would say to the third Use from this point A fourth Use is this VSE IV. If the Lord should be beautiful and glorious unto those that escape I would here apply my self unto a Soul that may be tender and jealous over it self and fear lest after its escape Christ should not be rendered glorious unto it as he ought Some there are that take no pains to consider how things are and whether they go well or ill that is not the thing that much engages their hearts others are jealous over their Spirits knowing something the treachery of their hearts they are always apt to doubt and fear A Soul that knoweth how precious Christ ought to be and beautiful in its eye fears lest after such kindness received from Christ it should not see that beauty in him nor be taken with him as it ought May this be the case of any one of us at present I would speak four or five things that may be seasonable and helpful to the Soul in this case 1. Such is the Glory and Beauty of Christ that no Soul under Heaven is able to see him in all his Glory nor to admire him according to all those blessed Perfections wherewithal Christ is cloathed That expression may be heeded by you Ephes 3.8 where the Apostle speaking of Christs glory calls it The unsearchable Riches of Christ it is an Ocean without a bottom that cannot be fathom'd by him that searches into it most accurately and exactly it is like the Mines the bottom of whom is not found out though men have digged in and fetched Treasure from them for a long time together Let not a poor Heart think it is at present in a capacity of valuing of Christ according to all his Worth and Excellency for that the Soul cannot fully know What is spoken of God I may allude to and apply to Christ Job 11.7 Canst thou by searching finde out God canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection it is as high as Heaven what canst thou do deeper then Hell what canst thou know the measure thereof is longer then the Earth and broader then the Sea Such
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
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
make the fall of his Servants of greater use then their standing on Earth could have been be confident God resolveth to make the most of every one of his People they are precious unto him and shall not lightly fall to the Earth but if they do fall it shall be because he knows how to make their fall promote his glory as in Martyrdom the death of a Saint furthers the interest of Christ more then his living could do and so it is here God by this means vindicates his own Holiness when he lets a Saint fall in a Calamity he doth abundantly evidence his own Holiness to the World and let men see that if sin be found in his own he will punish it and that sharply even to a temporal death which is a high testimony of Gods purity and contrariety unto all sin A notable word you have Exod. 23.20 21. Behold I send an Angel before thee to keep thee in the way and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared beware of him and obey his voice provoke him not for he will not pardon your transgressions for my Name is in him Observe the Angel here is the Lord Jesus who hath the command of Life and Death he sometimes cuts off some of his own People because sin is found upon them he will not pardon but he will cut off and why The Name of the Lord is upon him he must vindicate Gods Honour his Holiness and for this end lets some of his People fall And truly this is use enough that God makes of his People if he pleaseth thus to deal with them This in answer to my first Objection Obj. 2. But how is the fall of Gods People in a common Calamity consistent with his Promise of special Preservation One such Promise you have in that famous place Psal 91.9 10. Because thou hast made the Lord which is my Refuge even the most High thy habitation there shall no evil befall thee nor shall any Plague come nigh thy dwelling and another such-like Promise you have Deut. 7.15 And the Lord will take away from thee all Sickness and will put none of the evil Diseases of Egypt which thou knowest upon thee but will lay them upon all them that hate thee How doth the Lords cutting off some of his People consist with these Promises Answ To that I answer These Promises are conditional as is evident and if we keep not the condition annexed to those Promises God is not bound to fulfil them in the Letter for that word in the 91st Psalm No Plague shall come nigh their dwelling I have hinted already that it may be taken otherwise then just according to the letter and where he saith No Plague it may be taken thus The Plague of the Plague shall not come nigh thy dwelling the Cause of it and wrath it shall not come into thy dwelling but take it as a Promise of special particular preservation and it is a Promise with a Condition the Condition is in the 9th vers Because thou hast made the Lord which is my Refuge even the most High thy habitation The Condition is abundance of Faith living in and living upon God and a little Unbelief one step awry in a way of Unbelief may forfeit thy interest in and good by this Promise and that is soon done It is a rare thing for a man to live in and upon the Lord to make him our Habitation at all times The Soul that doth not live up to the Condition may forfeit the Mercy promised As for that word Deut. 7. it is a Promise on Condition also the Condition of the Promise you find vers 12. Wherefore it shall come to pass if you hearken unto these Judgements and keep and do them that the Lord thy God shall keep unto thee the Covenant and the Mercy which he sware unto thy Fathers but now if any of the Lords People be found turning aside to crooked paths the Lord may lead them forth with the Workers of Iniquity to fall by the same stroke with them Obj. 3. If it be objected But these Dealings are not suitable unto the ancient Dealings of God with his own People for God hath sometimes been wont to cut down Sinners but spare his Saints Abraham hints so much in his pleading with God Gen. 18.23 24 25. Wilt thou also destroy the Righteous with the Wicked peradventure there be fifty Righteous within the City wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty Righteous that are therein that be far from thee to do after this manner to slay the Righteous with the Wicked and that the Righteous should be as the Wicked that be far from thee should not the Judge of all the Earth do right and also that Exod. 12.29 30. where God cuts off the first-born of Egypt from the first-born of Pharaoh that sat on his Throne unto the first-born of the Captive that was in the Dungeon but not a hair of the head fell from any in Israel and he cuts them off by the Plague Answ For answer to this plainly thus Let the Scriptures and Cases be rightly considered and you shall find the answer easie In that case Gen. 18. where Abraham pleads for Mercy for Sodom because of the Righteous he doth suppose though Sodom was a wicked place there might be many found in Sodom that did not fall in with the abominations of that place for which God was coming to destroy them and by Righteous Ones he may mean those that were free in agreat measure from the crying Abominations for which God was coming to punish Now if the People of God do stand clear from all those Abominations for which he contends with a People then truly God will hardly cut them off but if he find them committing the sins for which he punisheth he may then suffer them to fall among them that fall This was the case in Egypt God comes forth to execute Judgements upon the Oppressors of his People the guilt was not in them they were onely the Sufferers therefore being free from the Sin God exempts them from any part in the suffering Which may be enough for answer to that Objection Obj. 4. If it be said But Israels Fall hath disappointed the Faith of many of the Lords People have not many of the Saints verily believed that the Lords People should not have been touched but God would distinguish between them and others Answ To that I answer That the confidence and expectation of some may be made void but God will not fail the Faith of any God fails no mans Faith if his Faith do not fail There is a vast difference between Confidence Expectation and Faith Faith is a rare thing a choice Plant and I believe it doth not spring forth into act even in the Garden of the Saints themselves as we are apt to imagine we many times think a groundless Confidence real Faith You shall find the expectation of a
expects thy great work should be to give him the glory of that mercy to improve it to his praise Satan would possibly divert thee and cause thee to make it thy work to perplex thy self about thy state by raising infinite questions in thee whether thou art yet of the Israel of God or no. Be not easily thus deluded but if thou hast ought that may be really a solid ground of hope to thee do not easily cast away thy confidence but having got a little hold keep it that thou art spared in mercy and shalt find mercy when Christ shall appear glorious VSE V. THe Fifth Use will be to them that are the Israel of God to comfort their hearts and this Doctrine that is under consideration is exceeding comfortable unto such I may truly say to them I do bring them glad tidings of great Joy What! shall all the sad and dismal Slaughters made in the World work to such a blessed issue as the Exaltation of Christ And shall all his glory be for your good What can you wish for more When David had been speaking of the Kingdom of Christ and his Glory under the Person of Solomon in Psal 72. it is said The Prayers of David the Son of Jesse are ended The sum of all that a gracious heart can desire is That Christ may be glorified when that is done he knows not what more to pray for If you are Israel and your hearts are as they should be the great thing about which your Spirits are working is that Christ may be set upon his Throne and that his Name may be exalted If this work go forward and be in hand the work that is in hand and goes on is that which lies most upon your hearts and in which your Souls have greatest occasion to rejoyce Let the consideration of this comfort you 1. Against whatever Breaches may have been made upon you by this day of slaughter it will be strange if some of you have not lost Friends and Relations Remember all these Breaches made upon you onely serve to repair the interest of Christ and work for his glory and if your hearts be right what would you not part with so the work of God may be furthered If your hearts be right you will say Let all go and come what will if Christ may but be a Gainer I will be willing all things should be lost 2. Let it comfort you under those perplexities and troubles and dread that it may be hath been upon your Spirits in such a day Doubtless Times of slaughter are Times of great sorrow and grief of heart but who would not sustain a little grief for the working out of greater comfort The first sight that you shall have of Christ in his glory will wipe away these Tears and will suppress all those Fears it will make them be as if they had never been 3. Let it comfort you if you should see worse things then ever yet you have seen I do believe many Souls do this day think that nothing can be more terrible then what they have already seen and heard but if they should be mistaken and you should see things more dreadful be comforted Christs work is going forward his glory and Israel's mercy is upon the wheel It is not unusual in Scripture and experience that one Judgement goes not alone but it is followed by others closely at the heels Jer. 14.12 When they fast I will not hear their cry and when they offer Burnt-Offering an Oblation I will not accept them but I will consume them by the Sword and by the Famine and by the Pestilence Not one single Judgement onely but others were to go in hand along with it Christ says Luk. 21.25 26. That a little before the day of his glory there shall be distress of Nations and mens hearts shall fail them for fear for looking after those things that are coming on the Earth It is a very probable conjecture that as we have seen the distress of a City we may see the distress of Nations and troubles may over-spread the face of the whole Earth Yet if these things should be remember Christs Counsel to his own Disciples vers 28. Look up and lift up your heads for your Redemption draweth nigh Remember the words of the wise man Prov. 3.25 26. Be not afraid with sudden fear neither with the desolation of the Wicked when it comes for the Lord shall be thy confidence and shall keep thy foot from being taken 4. Be comforted though you cannot understand the method of God and are not able to conceive how these Dispensations of God should work for Christs glory and the good of his People We are apt to be perplexed because we cann't see into the depths of the proceedings of God and understand the reason of them all But remember he that hath the management of these things knows his own ends and can tell how to accomplish his own designs and he will be sure to do his own work when all men have done what they can Things may and shall work for the good of the Saints though we cannot understand them Remember the case of Jacob Gen. 42.36 Says Jacob Me ye have bereaved of my Children Joseph is not and Simeon is not and will you take away Benjamin also All these things are against me To his apprehension all this made against him when in truth and when the issue was seen it made so for him as nothing could do more And thus it is in the great amazing Dispensations of God with which we are startled though we understand not the mystery and reason of Gods proceedings yet they make for the good of his People and will work out his glory though we cry these things are against us often-times 5. And lastly It will comfort you if you are Israel though you should not see all accomplished immediately though the Branch of the Lord should not forthwith become glorious Remember Faith and Patience they serve to help us to wait and stay Gods time and leisure God always keeps his Ends upon his Heart and in his Eye and never acts in any inconsistency with them This is abundantly certain that he will accomplish every good thing for his People Wait therefore on the Lord and keep his Way and he will exalt you in due time Though he answers your desires and expectations for the present by terrible things yet it is in Righteousness and it is for the bringing about whatever mercy he promised to his People VSE VI. THe last Use would be for a Word of Counsel You that are escaped this day and are the Israel of God what mercy is this that you share in how amazing and distinguishing are the dispensations of God to you-ward How should the sence of it over-come your Souls To be preserved and preserved in mercy to great and glorious ends what can you desire more had you been put to make your own terms with God Believe it
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
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