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the great God choose a bush, a little bush of briers and thorns, above any other thing? But because the church of Christ generally consists of poor, mean, despicable creatures; though it is all glorious within, yet it is all despicable without. It is observable, that when the church came to prosper when Constantine smiled on it, it was soon hugged to death; and that great poet Milton observes, that when that emperor gave ministers rich vestments, high honors, great livings, and golden pulpits, there was a voice heard from heaven, saying this day there is a poison come into the church; and I have sometimes said in discourse, I do not doubt but if any one made an experiment, and left 100,000 or 200,0007. only among the Methodists, there would be hundreds and thousands that would not be reckoned Methodists now, that would turn Methodists presently, that would buy a hymn book because a part of the legacy would pay for the hymn book, and would wish to have a living into the bargain; but though "not many mighty men, not many noble are called," yet some are; if any of you are rich here and are christians, thank God for it, you ought to be doubly thankful for it; God's people are but like a little bramble bush. I remember an eminent minister said once, when I heard him preach upon Christmas day, Christ personal is very rich, but Christ mystical is very poor; and Jesus Christ does this on purpose to confound the world. When he comes to judgment, millions that have their thousands now, will be damned and burnt to all eternity, and Christ's church will be rich to all eternity, that is now like a bramble all on fire.

The bush burned, what is that for? It showed that Christ's! church while in this world, will be a bush burning with fiery trials and afflictions of various kinds; this was a lively emblem of the state of religion, and liberty of Israel at that time: they were busy in making brick, and there were consequently burnings continually; as though the Lord had said, this bush is burning with fire, so my people are burning with slavery. Ah, but say you, that was only the case of the Israelites when they were under Pharaoh ; pray is not that the case of the church in all ages? Yes, it has been; read your Bibles, and you may instantly see that it is little else than an historical account of a burning bush; and though there might be some periods. wherein the church had rest, yet these periods have been of a short date; and if God's people have walked in the comforts of the Holy Ghost, it is only like a calm that precedes an earthquake. If you remember, before the last earthquake, it was a fine morning, and who when they arose in the morning, would have thought the earth should shake under them before night;

and so with the church when they are in a calm, and all seems safe there, then comes a storm. God prepare us for it.

But this is not only the case with the church of Christ collected, but also it is so with individual believers, especially those that God intends to make great use of as prophets in his church. I know very well that it is said, that now the case is altered; modern commentators, therefore, and our great Dr. Young, calls them downy doctors: they tell us, now we have a christian king and governor, and are under the toleration act, we shall have no persecution; and blessed be God, we have had none since this family has been on the throne: may God continue it till time shall be no more. Yet my dear hearers, we shall find, if God's word is true, whether we are born under a despotic power, or free government, that they that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution.

You have heard of that saying, Wonder not at the fiery trial wherewith you are to be tried; And God said, I have chosen thee, which is applicable to every believer, in the furnace of affliction. Now the furnace is a hot place, and they that are tried in the furnace must be burned surely. Now what must the christian burn with? With tribulation and persecution. I heard a person not long ago say, I have no enemies. Bishop Latimer came to a house one day, and the man of the house said, he had not met with a cross in all his life; give me my horse, says the good bishop, I am sure God is not here where no cross is. But suppose we are not persecuted by the world, is there one christian but is persecuted by his friends? if there is an Isaac in the family, I warrant there is an Ishmael to mock at him. Wo is me, says David, that I must dwell with Mesheck, and in Kedar and in one's own family, one's own brothers and sisters, one's own dependents, though they wait for our death, and perhaps, long to have us gone, that they may run away with our substance, to have these persons mock at us, and if they dare not speak out, yet let us see they hate the God we worship; if this be thy case, why, God knows, poor soul thou art a burning bush: but if we have no such things as mocking, yet if we are surrounded with afflictions, domestic trials, the loss of dear and near friends, the bad conduct of our children, the dreadful misconduct of those that are dependent upon us; O there is many a parent here that is a burning bush; burning with what? With family afflictions: some do not care what becomes of their children; O, I thank God, I have left my boy so much, and my daughter a coach, perhaps; ah! well your son and daughter may ride in that coach post to the devil: but the godly man says, I want an eternal inheritance for my son; I

want God's blessing for him; this is the poor man's prayer, while the poor deluded youth mocks him: or, supposing this is not the case, a person may burn with inward temptation; you have heard of the fiery darts of the devil, and were you to feel them, I believe you would find them fiery darts indeed! and you have great reason to suspect your experience, your having any interest in the love of the Son of God at all, if you never found the fiery darts of the devil. O, says one, I never felt the devil; I am sure thou mayest feel him now; thou art father's own child; thou art speaking the very language of the devil, and he is teaching thee to deny thy own father; therefore graceless child of the devil, if you never felt the devil's fiery darts, it is because the devil is sure of thee; he has lulled thee into a damnable slumber; may the God of love wake thee before real damnation comes! The fiery darts of Satan are poisoned, and wherever they stick they fill the persons with tormenting pain like fire; this I mention, because there are some poor souls perhaps here to-night, whom the devil tells, thou hast committed the unpardonable sin; you are afraid to come to sacrament, you are afraid to go to prayer, because at these seasons the devil disturbs thee most, and tempts you to leave these seasons; and some go on thus burning a great while. My brethren, the time would fail, and I should draw this discourse to too great a length, and hinder you from your families, if I were to mention but a few more of those thousands that the believer burns with, the trials without, and what is still worse, his trials within. Why, says one, it is very strange you talk thus to-night. I am sorry it is strange to any of you; sure you are not much acquainted with your Bibles, and less with your hearts, if you know not this. Why, sure, say some, you make God a tyrant; no, but having made ourselves devils incarnate, we are now in a state of preparation; and these various trials are intended, by the great God, to train us up for heaven; and therefore, that you may not think I am drawing a picture without any life, give me leave to observe, that it is particularly remarkable, that though the bush burned, it was not consumed: it was this that struck Moses, he looked to see why the bush was not consumed. But the burning I have been here painting forth to you is not a consuming, but a purifying fire. Is not that enough to answer the shade that has been already drawn? It is true the bush burns, the christian is persecuted, the christian is oppressed, the christian is burned with inward trials, he is perplexed at times, he is cast down, but, blessed be God, he is not destroyed, he is not in despair. Who is he, that says he is in such an estate that nothing disturbs him? Vain man! he

discovers an ignorance of Christ; are you greater than the apostle Paul? Some people think that the apostles had no trials; so they think perhaps of some ministers, that they are always on the mount, while, perhaps, they have been in the burning to get that sermon for them. We that are to speak for others, must expect to be tempted in all things like to our brethren, or we should be only poor preachers, and never reach men's hearts. But whether ministers or people burn, the great God, the angel of the everlasting covenant, spoke to Moses out of the bush; he did not stand at a distance from the bush, he did not speak to him so much as one yard or foot from the bush, but he spoke to him out of the bush; he said, Moses, Moses, my people shall burn in this bush to the end of time, but be not afraid, I will succor them; when they burn, I will burn too. There is a scripture vastly strong to this purpose, in which it is not said, the good will of him that was in the bush, but the good will of him that dwelt in the bush. Amazing! I thought God dwelt in heaven; but as a poor woman who was once in darkness fourteen years, before she was brought out of it, said, God has two homes, one in heaven, the other in the lowest heart. He dwells in the bush, and I am sure if he did not, the devil and their own cursed hearts would burn the bush to ashes. How is it that it is not consumed? Why, it is because God has declared it shall not be consumed; he has made an everlasting convenant, and I pity those that are not acquainted with an interest in God's covenant; and it would be better that people would pity them, than dispute with them. I really believe a disputing devil is one of the worst devils that can be brought into God's church, for he comes with his gown and book in his hand, and I should always suspect the devil when he comes in his gown and band and this is the cause they agree and disagree. Some, who it is to be hoped are God's children, if you tell them that God has loved them with an everlasting love, they are afraid to receive it, and especially if you mention the word election, or that hard word predestination, they will be quite frightened; but talk to them in another way, their dear hearts will rejoice. God has said, "As the waters of Noah shall cease for ever, so he will not forget the covenant of his peace: nothing shall pluck them out of his hand." Ah! say some, the apostle has said, "that neither things present, nor things to come, shall separate us from the love of Christ;" but he has not said an evil heart shall not: I fancy that is one of the present things. The bush is not consumed, because if the devil is in the bush, God is in the bush too; if the devil acts one way, the Lord, the Spirit, acts another to balance it, and the Spirit of God is engaged to train up the souls

of his people; and God has determined the bush shall not be consumed; his Spirit stands near believers to support and guide and make them more than conquerors: all that are given to Jesus Christ shall come, he will not lose one of them; this is food for the children of God; a bad mind will turn every thing to poison; and if it were not for this, that God had promised to keep them, my soul within these thirty years would have sunk a thousand times over. Come then, O suffering saints, to you the word of this salvation is sent. I do not know who of you are the followers of the Lamb; may the Spirit of the living God point them out; may every one be enabled to say, I am the man. O, says one, I have been watching and very attentive to-night, but you have not mentioned my burnings; what do you think of my burning lusts? What do you think of my burning corruptions? What do you think of my burning pride? O, perhaps some of you will say, thank God, I have no pride at all; like the bishop of Cambray, as mentioned by Dr. Watts, who said, he had received many sins from his father Adam, but, thank God, he had no pride. pride. Alas! alas! we are all as proud as the devil. Pray what do you think of passion, that burns not only themselves, but all around them? What do you think of enmity? What do you think of jealousy; is not this something that burns the bush? And there are some people that pride themselves, they have not so much of the beast about them, they never get drunk, scorn to commit murder, and at the same time are full of enmity, of envy, malice, and pride, as the devil. The Lord God help such to see their condition.

Happy is it, Christ can dwell in the bush when we cannot dwell ourselves there; there are few christians can live together, very few relations can live together under one roof; we can take that from other people that we cannot bear from our own flesh and blood: and if God did not bear with us more than we bear with one another, we should all have been destroyed every day. Does the devil make you say, that you will give up all; I will go to the Tabernacle no more; I will lay on my couch and take my ease. Oh! if this is the case of any to-night, thus tempted by Satan, may God rescue their souls. O poor, dear soul, you never will have such sweet words from God as when you are in the bush; our suffering times will be our best times. I know I had more comfort in Moorfields, on Kennington common, and especially when the rotten eggs, the cats and dogs were thrown upon me, and my gown was filled with clods of dirt that I could scarce move it; I have had more comfort in this burning bush than when I have been at ease. I remember when I was preaching at

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