• He'ad II. F')lab!i/hment. 2)3 leaa twig growing in Ghr.ifl fhall ll:and it eut and fubfift, • when the talleft cedars growing on their own root>, ·fua.Il be . :laid fiat on the ground, Rom. . viii. ~5. ltflb~ ft;all}ep'a,rate; ,UJ from the love of Chrifi? Shall trihulation,.,. or di.flre/t' or perfecutton, or famine, or nakednefi, or peri.!, or ]word? See ver. 36, 37, 38; 39· However feverely lfrrul bejiji~d, yet Jhallt}'ot the leafl gra.in (or, as it is in the or iginallan– guage, a !ittleflo.ne)fa/1 upon the earih, Amos ix.9. lt .is · an aHuiion of the lifting of .fine -pebble Clones from among .heaps of dull: and farid: tho' the fand ·and dufi fall to the g.round, be blown away with the wind, and trampled und~r .foot; yet -th~re .fual! not fall to the earth Jo much ~s a littl~ flone, fuch .is the exacbefs of the fieve, ~nd care ' of the · fifter. There is nothing more ready to fall on the earth -than a ll:one : yet -profeifors of religion be 1ivelxflones buil~ · •. on Chrifl: the chicfcormr-Jlone; altho' they be litt!t:fione.s, they iliaH not ,fall to tpe earth whatever frorm beat .upon , them. See I Pet. ii.4,, 5, 6· All the good grain in the church ,of Chrift: is .of this kind : they are fiones in refpect of foli~ · dity; and lively Clones, in refpect of activity. 1f men be fo.: . lid fubllantial Chrillian~, they will not be like chaff toff'ed to and fro with every wind: having fo ,much of the liveli– nefs that they -have nothing of the fione: and if they .be lively -'Chrifl:ians, whofe fpirit will- frir in them·, asPau/'s_did, t!fhcn .he faw the ci.ty wholly gi-ven to idolatry, ACts xv.ii. 16. they will not lie Jik.e Cranes, _to be turned over-, hither and thither'· .cut and carved according to tbe Jufls of men; having fo 1 much of the !lane, as leaves nothing of Iivelinefs in thc~V . Our God's houfe is a greal houje, wherein are not only -veffilt ofgold, but a1fo of earth, 2 Tim, ii. 20. Bodi thefe · are apt to contra& fil thinefs ; and therefore whet1 God .brings troubie upon the church, he bath an eye to both. As for the vejfelJ of gold, they are not defl:roy.ed; but -purged by a fiery trial ·in the furnace of dH iClion, as goldfmi ths pur ge their gold, Ifa. i. '2 5. A.nd I will turn my hand rtpon thee,_ andpurely purge away thy drofi. But delhu8:ion is to the vejfels o(earth; they fhall be b,;oken in jhivers as a p,ot– ter's· veffel, ver ..28. And the dejlruflion (er breakhzg)ofth~ . tranfgrelfors, and .oftheJinnerJ, jha/1 b'e together. Itfe'erns to be an allufio.n to that law, for breakilzt tiSe -veje!J if eartl;, · · ,y · whe11
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