An exposition with practical observations continued upon the eighth, ninth, & tenth chapters of…

Their Root is dried up.

But though we be smitten we hope we may grow,¹ we may lose our leaves and some of our boughs, but we hope that we shall spring again: perhaps these are the vain apprehensions of some men, but never look to making their peace with God, no saith God, I'll not only smite to take off your leaves and branches, but I will smite the very root, that shall be dried up: There's difference between the pruning and lopping off a tree, and the drying up of the root of it, there may be help so long as the root remains alive. I will never trouble my self any further (saith God) with them, I have already smote off their boughs, and that doth no good, I will dry up the very root now. It's a great aggravation of Gods smiting when he smites at the root, every smiting it is not a drying up of the root, it is the base unbelief of our hearts, the discontentedness, frowardness,² fullness of our vile spirits that makes us thus to conclude almost upon every stroke of God, that he intends our undoing, if he doth but smite us so as a few leaves are but shaken off, or that our branches are but shak'd, we are presently ready to conclude that God intends to blast us, and to dry up the very root, and ruin us utterly; how often ⟨p. 285⟩in our unbelief, when by temptations we have been shaken and the leaves of our comforts have been shaken off,³ (our enlargements) and the like, how often we conclude, Oh! the Lord is coming against me, and he will certainly blast all, all that I seem to have, the very root of all my hopes and comforts will presently be blasted, Oh! this (I say) is the evil of our hearts, it comes from our fullness, frowardness, and unbelief ever so to conclude, it may be God intends only to prune thee and to take away superfluities, that so the sap may go down more at the root, that thou mayest have more Humility, and Self-denial, and Faith, that thou mayest have more exercise of the Root-Graces, Humility, Patience, Faith, Self-denial, and God perhaps smites only to make the sap go down more to the Root-Graces, though thou concludest that he will dry up the Root presently. In this smiting wherewithal the Lord hath smote us we hope that he intends not to dry up the root, but we may say of it as in