Head Il. Clirifl the fupernatural Stock. 2l!. / ( 3 ) It aCl:eth as a lion r.awpant , H of. v. I 4. I will be U?t· to Ephraim as a lion. The Lord rains OJJ them /narer, fir~ ~nd brimflone, and an horrible terJJpeji, in fu~h a manner 11 that they are hurried a\vay with the iheam. He te2reth their enjoyme.nts from 1hem in his w'rath, purfueth thelfl with terrors, rents t heir fouls trom their bogies, and throws' the deadned branch into the fire. Thus' the curfe devour s like fire, which none caR quench . Lajlly, The killing Hock tranfmits deatp to the branches upon it. Adam took the poifonous cup and drunk it off: this occafior.ed d eath to himfelf and u-s. W-e came into the wor!d fpiritllally dead, thereby obnoxious to eternal death, and 1tbfolmely liable t0 -temporal death.. This root is to us like the S,oythian river·a which, they fay, brings forth little bladders every, Jay, out of which come certain fmall flies , which are bred in the tnorning, w'ioged at noon, and dead at night: a very live• ly emblem of our mortal fi:ate. 1 Now, Sirs, is it not abfolutely neceffary to be broken off from this our natural flock? What will our fa ir leaves o{ a profdlion, or our fruits of duties a:nil, if we be Hi\1 branche.r ef the degenerate·, dead and killing· Hock ? But alas ! a!rJong the many quelhons toiled among us, few are taken up about 1 thefe, Whether am I broken o.fl from the old }loCk , or ?Jot? Whether am I ingrafled in Chrifl, or not?' ,\ h l wh ~ refore all this walte !- Why is there fo much noife about- rel igion amongfl many , who.can give no good a-ccount of thei fl having laid a good foundation, being mere !hangers to e':perimen – t,al rel igion ? I fear, if God do not in me rcy time fJ uily un– dermi ne the religion of many of us, and let u( fee we have nonr: at all; our root will be found rottennefs , and our !-llof.. fom go up as dull, in a dying hour . Theref0re let us look to .our flate, that we be not foundfools in our latter en1. H. Let us now view thejitpernatura/ ftork , in which the branches, cuf off from the natural hock. are ingr afted. Jefus Chrift is fometimes called the bra,nch, Zech •.ii : 8. ) o he is~ in refpeCl of his human nature; bein_g -1. brancb . and - the top-branch_of the houfe of David~ Sometimes he is called a roof., Ifa . xi 'o. we have bot!-:! together ,Rev xxii 16. 1 am the root , · and the o.JJipring ofDavid. David s root as God , anc! his ojfJPring as. man The text teiis us ihat be is tbc. vine, i, e. he., as Mediator, is the. vineflock, . , wh~:reof l t
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