a ChriftiansGrowth. gantly expreffed to ns. God profeffeth himfelfe the Keeper of Vineyardhis Church, ver. 2, 3. I theLorddoe keep it, and ver. 6. He fhall caufe them that come of 7aco6 to take root, Ifrael fha11 blofforneand bud, and fill theearth With fruit. But Ifrael having corruption in himwhich would hinderhis growth, he mutt be lopt and cut. And fo in the next verles, God is faid to deale with him ; but not fo as to cut them off, as hedoth others ;that are both his and their enemies. Hath he [mitten them as he(mote thofe thatfmote him ? No. For ih meafure When it fbooteth forth, thouWilt debate With it. When Ifrael is but a tender plant, and firft fhooteth forth, he doth but in meafure debate with ir, that is, in fuch a proportion as notto deffiroy it, or caufe it to wither, but that it may bloffome more, he meafures out, as it were, affliftions to them, but f ayes his rough Wind, as it followes ; that is, fuchafili6ìions as would (hake that his plant too much, or quite blow it downe but fuch a wind as (hall make it fruitfull, and blow away its unkindly blofíomes and leaves : fo much and no more will He let out ofhis Treafury, even he who holds the winds in his flits, and can moderate them as he pleafeth. For his (cope and purpofe is nothing leffe then to cut offyacob, both root andbranch, becaufe ofcorruptions and finnes that doe cleave to him. But this is allthe fruit to take away the finne, fayes he, ver.9. that is, this is the fruit ofthat winde, and of all thefe his dealings with them : and it is [Ill] thefruit, that is, all that he intends thereby, even to purge them. á But. doth he deale fo with others ? No, for the boughs of the mofl fenced City wither , and are broken of and burned, ver. IO, II. Firff,becaufe in Chrifft God accepts a little good, and it plea- Rolf: I. fethhimmore, then fin in his doth difpleafe him : And therefore as in nationshe will not deftroy the righteous with the wicked, fonor in men will he call away their righteoufneffe that is in them for a littlewickedneffe fake, but will rather purge out the one, and fo preferve the other. This we have expreffed under the fame Metaphor, Efay. 65. S. we have inhand, Thusfaith the Lord, as the new wine is found in the duller, and one faith deflrey it not ; for a bleJfing is in it : That is, looke as when a man is about tocut downe a Vine, and his axe is even at the root ofit; and E one
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