Page:Bush burning, yet not consumed, or, The church in the furnace, yet still preserved (1).pdf/2

SERMON I.

Preached at Lintoun, March 11th 1739.

Exodus iii. 1. 2.

Now Moses kept the Flock of Jethro his Father ⟨in⟩ Law, The Priest of Midian and he led the Flock to the Back Side of the Desert, and came to the Mountain of God even to Horeb And the Angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a Flame of Fire out of the Midst of a Bush: and he looked and behold, the Bush burned with Fire, and the Bush was not consumed.

MAnifold Metaphors are made use of by the Spirit of God in the holy Scriptures to illustrate and set forth the nature and properties of the church: so in the words of our text, sh(illegible text) gets the denomination of a Bush, a poor mea(illegible text) Bramble-Bush, a despicable like creature that makes a very silly and mean appearance in the view of the world. As the glorious Monarch of Heaven when he appeared on the Stage of this world, to accomplish the purposes of his Father's love and grace, made but a mean and insignificant appearance, far from answering the carnal expectations the Jews had conceived of him and was esteemed as a tender plant, and a root springing out of a dry ground, by the unbelieving and blind generation that then acted their part on the stage of life who saw not the glory, the Divinity and ravishing excellency of his person, concealed under the rags of the human nature: just so does the spouse of Christ tho’ her robes are of needle work, and she be all glorious within: tho' he be the seed-royal of heaven, and has her descent ⟨from⟩ above, make but a mean, silly and ⟨contempti-⟩