Book IV. TuE CHURCH COMPARED TO A BUSH ON' FIRE. 677 THE CHURCH COMPARED TO A BUSH ON FIRE. /fnd the Angel of the Lord appeared unto him ill a Flame of Fire out of the mid.ft of ·" Bnjb; and he looked, and bebold, the Bujb bumed, a11d was n.ot corj;uned, &c. Exod. .iii. 2 ~ ACCORDING to /!inf.lJorth, and divers other Expofitors, by ihe Bujh is meant the Church of God in great A fRiction, the fcvere Trials of God's People bemg often fet forth in the holy Scriptures by Fire, by a Flame of Fire, anc! fom etimes by a f;noak– ing Furnace; as in Abrabam's.Vifwn, Gen. xv. 17. And behold a Jmoaking Fumace, and a burnhu Lmap, tbat pC1ffid betwetn tbe Pi<lces. By the fmoakin-g Furnace was fignt~ lied t.o Abraham, 'lfrael's great Affidion in Egypt; and by tl1e Lamp, theLaw of God that afterwards was o-iven ; or, as fome underll:and it, the Lamp of Deliverance, .or that Salvavion God wo~ld work for them, &c. ·for that the Salvation of God is like •to a Lamp that burneth, Ifa. lii. 1 • .GJ.!tefl. WbJ. is the Churcb ofGod compared to a Bu/h, M aburning Bu/h? '!'he Scripture tfuully Jet~ out the Church by 'fhings whofe N atures or fil:..ualities are excellent, 'flmtgs that are ofgreat worth, &c. And why Jbou!d jhe be compared to a .Bujh, to a Bramble– Bu/b, for Jo Ain(worth and otkers read it? ./lnf Some of the Reafons of i!, according .to our weak Judgments, are hinted in the following Parallels. MET A PH 0 R. I. A Bufi1 is .a Thing of fmall · \-VorthandValue,fewefrec:m Oi reg.trd a Bramble-Bufh; ftate1y Trees are vit.!wed and prized, and ·fame of t!1em valued highly, , but lo is.not a BuC1. ·Jr. A Bramble-Bufh, as 1t is a Thing of no \'lorth or Value, fo · ic.is a Thing that hath no Beauty in ic, in comparifon ofother Trees; it- is in no wife taking to the.Eye. Some Things that are of no-g reat Worth,_feem very glorious and beautiful; buc there is non~ ~f this ..in a Bramble. op A R A .L L E L. 'I. so 1\kewifc the Church of God was then, and is now, a Thing of linall Value, of little or . no EO:eem in the Eyes of wicked Men; it was no more regarded by proud Pbaraoh,, and many of the Egyptians, than a forry Bramble-Bulb. Hence the.Apoftle fpeaketh of the Church, as being very .. contemptible in the Sight of Men. We are made ar the }i!tb of the World, and are the O..lf-fcouring of all'fhi~.gs m!to this Day, t Cor. iv. •r 3· .JJ. So rh•: true Church of God is not cloathed with outward Be•uty, ·nor arrayed in Pur.Ple and Scarlet, decked with Gold, precious Stones, and Pearls, like the Mother of Harlots, Rev. xvii. 4· but fecmeth low, bafe, .and contemptible to a car– nal Eye, her Beauty being all hidden: '{he King's !laughter is glorious withi11, Pfa!. xlv. 1-3. And it is from ·hence the World .values her no more. A' Chrift made himfdf of no Reputation, Pbil. ii. 7· ·fo the Church for a while remainerh among Men in a like St·ate; no carnal Eye that f~eth her, doth at all defire her. lll. ABufh is not only aThiogof ·Ill. ·So the People of God, confidered abftracJittle Worth in the Efteem of Men, tively, as they .are in themfelves, what'are they? bur iris initfdfrcally of fmall Va- What Worth or Excellency is in them I All the lue. What is a Bramble ·>vonh? Beauty and Glory of the Church is fromChrill:. What is tt good for, bm to be cut They are naturally vile Sinners, and are called down, and call: into the Ftre I 'I' horns, Briaro, and pricking Brambles, ldic. ·vii. 4· and though converted and changed by the Power of God's Grace, yet there remaineth !omething ll:ill of the old Man and evil Nature rn them. And God, in other Places of Scripture, where he comparetl1 them to a 1/ine, to Lilies, to a Garden,, to Golden Can.dltjlicks, &c. fpeaks of them with rc– fpeCl: to what they are by his fpecial Grace in Chri!t Jefus. 'Em \>ere, in comparing them to a Bufh, he harh refpecr, as we conceive, to what they are in themfelves, and by Nature, to fer forth their own.Unwonhinefs, that fo he might thereby raife Mofes's Wonder, to fee the m1!\hty Condefcenfion of the blelfed God, in having regard to fuclt a poor and undefervmg People, .to dwell in them, and in keeping and preferving 8K ~m
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