Page:Bush burning, yet not consumed, or, The church in the furnace, yet still preserved (2).pdf/10

 II Why to a burning Buſh. III Shew what are theſe flames that endanger the Buſh. IV Diſcover how it comes to paſs that the church of Chriſt, when in ſuch a ſituation is preſerved. V Manifeſt how it is that our Lord Jeſus Chriſt beholds this Buſh with ſuch care and concern. VI And laſtly, apply the whole.

I return to the firſt thing propoſed, namely, to ſhew why the church of Chriſt is compared in this emblematical repreſentation, to a Buſh - And, upon this head, I ſhall mention theſe ten particulars following.

I Then, as a Buſh is that which ſpringeth from ſome ſeed or other in a ſuitableneſs to its nature; juſt ſo to the church of Chriſt, this collective body of believers, and every individual branch thereof, are begotten by the word of grace. Hence ſays the Apoſtle Peter, 1 Epiſt. Chap 1 v 29. "Ye are born again, not of corruptible ſeed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever”. There is not a twig, the leaſt believer in this bleſſed Buſh, but what muſt be a new born creature of the ſeed of grace the word of truth, the goſpel of our ſalvation. I own 'tis a great myſtery what influance or concurrence the faith of the word of promiſe has, thro' the operating virtue of the holy Ghoſt, in producing a new creature in the ſoul of a ſinner. This to carnal men appears a fanciful whim exceeding the belief of a rational man. But, will you not believe it, becauſe you cannot comprehend it? at this case, O man, you may deny all myſteries of nature, and much more thoſe of grace, becauſe your ſhallow reaſon is not able to form ſuitable and adequate notions and conceptions of them. But, are there no myſteries in ſpiritual things, becauſe you cannot comprehend them? Surely there are tho' you ſhould remain eternally blind, and the ſcales of ignorance remain for ever on your eyes.