objected It cannot be in a literal sence because of the Inestimable Materials This makes little for the Richness and Sumptuousness of the Materials is not so much to be understood literally as to set forth that most admirable Beauty and Harmony it will introduce and to make it a more proper Representative of Heaven of which it is really and truly a Type and nothing else John was set upon a Mountain to see this glorious sight and he tells us It came down from Heaven and therefore cannot be Heaven it self He might be set on a Mountain to see as far as Judea he being in Patmos but I rather think it was to see as far as Britannia where this happy State should first dawn and where the First Pillar in this Temple of God or of the New Jerusalem should be erected which is a peculiar Promise to the Philadelphian Church which we really and in truth have amongst us Jerusalem in Palestine will be the Tower of the Flock or the Cupola of this most Magnificent Structure and all other Cittadels will be as Pillars to support the Main Fabrick It will be like St. Peters at Rome and all the rest answering our Cathedral 〈◊〉 Further John saith He saw no Temple in it which plainly sets forth the changing the Temple-Administration for that of a City And how excellently is this Dispensation suited to the Age of the World The World is now Adult and come to its Manhood and what more proper Scenes can we have than Cities which are the Discretional and Political parts of her Furniture But further The Body of Jesus Christ is the Grand Pattern of things in Heaven and in Earth and were we but well-instructed in our own Frame we might almost know any thing The last expired Dispensation has been only a Fermentation in the Stomach or a preparing of the Juyces to convert them into Blood which this City-Heart disperses and makes to circulate through all the Body The Circulation of the Blood being found out the Gospel which is the Blood of the World could not be long a Mystery and the Blood coming to the Extream Parts reverts as I hinted before proving thereby the Church to be Re-born or the Witnesses to have their Resurrection in the West The Increment of Christs Natural Body is the Great Rule of all our Dispensation or Cause of Alterations of all the Political Affairs in the World As the Flesh grows the Politicks of the World change The Flesh is the Incremental or Changeable Part and the Spirit the Firmamental or Immoveable Part being God himself That common measure of Prophetick Time of Time Times and Half a Time has a peculiar respect to the Age of Christ And the Three Grand Dispensations by Father Son and Holy Spirit have a peculiar Regard to his Childhood Youth and Manhood In the dark shadowy Dispensation of the Jews He was growing in the Womb and to Constantine's time a Child and the last 1260 years he was a Youth and what Aestuations and Fermentations there are in Youth is well known and 't is as well known how Youths are corrupted and imposed upon who are Heirs to great Estates But now he is Adult and come to his Manhood and therefore as is usual for Heirs makes claim to his Estate which is no less than the whole World Hitherto he has been as it were in his Nonage But Now as the Apostle expresses it his Body the Church is come to the Measure of the Fulness of his Stature which is not well Translated for 't is Christi Adulti in the Latin which ought to be rendred of Christ come to his Manhood or grown a Man Before Other Lords Ruled over his Heritage But Now in the Millennium being his Manhood he will Rule Himself He Now Claims all Power and Authority and gives and bestows the Kingdoms of this World to whom he pleases And whosoever henceforward Exercises any Power or Authority on Earth if not delegated by him 't is either Permission or Usurpation for all Power and Dominion belongs to Him And when Kings come to their Kingdoms 't is usual to prefer some City before others for their Residence Therefore Jerusalem in Palestine is the place He will reside and put his Name there The Text saith The Name of the City shall be THE LORD IS THERE 'T is also speaking Spiritually usual for Men who come to Age to Marry and take a House Jerusalem is this House and the Church Regenerate is the Bride and blessed are those that are called to the Wedding Saith John Blessed are they which are called to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb That is Blessed are those that are Members of the Church regenerate Blessed are those that live in the times of this happy Administration of the New Jerusalem for they if they be Holy shall be Sharers of the First Resurrection or be invested with the First Fruits of his Power They shall enter into and have the Priviledges of this Holy City if they are cloathed in their Wedding Garments the white Linnen of Holiness but if not they must stand without The Text saith And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that Defileth neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a Lye but they which are written in the Lambs Book of Life And Blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have right to the Tree of Life and may enter in thorow the Gate into the City For without are Dogs and Sorcerors and Whoremongers and Murderers and Idolators and whosoever loveth and maketh a Lye And all these things are to be understood in a Literal as well as in a Spiritual sence No indigested crude stuff must come to the Heart but pure and rarified Blood And what can Men object against this most happy Administration I know they will say It will make strange Alterations and overturn all their Old Constitutions in the World I allow this 'T is said Old things are passed away and behold I make all things New And Men may thank themselves for this for if they had not built with Wood Hay and Stubble it had not been pulled down If they had made due Provision for the Infant Bride she had not turned Prostitute and so had now had no occasion to have been washed and purified she had been ready long ago and had not now occasion to make her self ready Christ set the World a Blessed Pattern but they would not follow it The Text saith And it came to pass that He went throughout every City and Village preaching and shewing the Glad Tidings of the Kingdom of God and the Twelve were with him And another saith And Jesus went about all the Cities and Villages teaching in their Synagogues and preaching the Doctrine of the Kingdom This was the way which our Saviour took and had it been continued hitherto there had been no need of a New Administration The Way and Method a Doctrine was first planted is the most
out of the Spirit from on High which Invests them with Power and is the great confirmation of the New Administration or of Christs Reign It really Commences at Their Resurrection for Christ after his Resurrection said He had received all Power both in Heaven and in Earth but the Charter of Power is not Ratified and Sealed till the Septenary Day is ended and that is at Pentecost when the whole World will be fully satisfied and ser to their seal that God is True An Infant for the first week is in a state betwixt Life and Death as it were almost as much Vegetative as Animal and that is the reason of this dark day mentioned by the Prophet for the Body and Life of Christ is the grand pattern of all things both in Heaven and in Earth the Regenerate Church or New Resen Witnesses are his Body and they must be conformable to the Head whatever circumstances attended the Single Birth in the East will of necessity attend the Complex Birth or New Risen Witnesses Inter Iberos in the VVest this I could make out in the east minute manner but is not so much my present business further confirmation of this dark Septenary Day is the Cutting own the Tree of Monarchy seven times passed over Nebuchadâ—â—â—â—er before he would acknowledge Lew is guarda ti that the God of Heaven was the only Soveraign Monarch and disposes the Kingdoms of this World to whom he pleases All this time Monarchy was as a Beast in its Infantile State rather Animal than Rational during this Septenary Day there are bands of Iron and Brass upon the Stumps of the Monarchical Tree that it shall not grow the seed is some time hid in the ground before the blade comes up and these are the true reasons of the Darkness of our present day But in the Evening it shall be Light That is Men may think that the Corn being hid is dead and that the Tree of Monarchy being cut down will not sprout again but when they see the Blade Rise up and the Branches sprout out they are then of another mind this enlightens them and makes them acknowledge that this Darkness was only the common effect of Nature which conceives her Children in the dark the operations of the Womb are always in the dark But some may ask Why should Monarchy Expire in the VVest and there have a new Commencement more than in any other place This is easily Answered Empire is Fellow Traveller with the Sun and must return with him The whole Earth seems to have as great a right and title to Power as it has to Light The Sun never stops till it comes to the VVest and Empire accompanies him in all his Course The Punicks the Sons of Cham put in a Caveat and would have stopp'd this Traveller inviting him to have lodg'd in Africa but they might as well have stopp'd the Sun their Fathers Prophecy and Curse putting in a Bar condemning them to perpetual Servility The Gospel was published in the East and is to be restored in the VVest otherwise the Sun goes down at Noon There is to be a Repassage or Return both of Empire and the Gospel and after some Refreshments they will set out very gloriously and will also have other Companions of a Royal Family The Kings of the East I mean who are to go back with them The Fulness of the Gentiles being come they are to return home For They both together the Sheep of Both Folds the Twelve Apostles and Twelve Tribes will be concerned in the Administration of the New Jerusalem But the pouring out of the Spirit at Pentecost will be the Sign for them to return for this took their Power away in the East and was the Sign of Dispersion and it will give it them again in the West and be the Sign of their Reversion and Conversion too The Blood reverts not till it comes to the Toes and the Stone fell on the Feet of the Image and so goes on regularly breaking to pieces all before it When there is to be a general Renovation the Extream Parts are the most proper to begin in But it may easily be discovered through the whole Oeconomy of this World God in all his Methods has a respect to Nature which like himself is most perfect in all her Operations Now Nature circulates the Light and the Blood circulates and so ought Empire and the Gospel So following Nature I cannot Err and therefore do positively conclude that Empire and the Gospel will set be cut down and be dead as it were and then rise again in the West And whatsoever things were acted in the East at the Publication of the Gospel at the Natural Birth are to be re-acted in the West at the Restoration of it at the Spiritual Birth the Birth of the Church Regenerate or New-risen Witnesses because there ought to be a due Analogy betwixt the Head and the Body The Birth of the Infant-Church occasions one Day to be neither clear nor dark but a sort of Crepusculum But the Evening of this Septenary Day is approaching and the Light shall break forth abundantly I have in some private Letters to Friends prov'd from uncontestable Arguments raised from the true and genuine nature of Death and Resurrection That the Witnesses are already risen and that the whole World have been mistaken in the Nature and Quality of this great Truth which I am able to make good against all the Learning in the â—niverse and design to do it in a little time publickly I have little more to say as to the Subject of the Millennium at present only this This glorious Day dawns with the Loss of 〈◊〉 to the Wicked for therein consists their Power which must be taken from them all Power and Dominion belonging to Jesus Christ He that has Wisdom let him calculate Eight Days make up the Day of Circumcision but Seven Days of Weeks betwixt the Pascha and Pentecost What I have writ on this Subject is suited and adapted to the economy of This World and whoever calculates Prophecies if they do not first state and calculate the Nature of This World and fit one to the other they do but reckon without their Host God takes particular care to suit all his Changes and Dispensations to the State of This World And a literal Resurrection hears too many Absurdities in the Front to be consistent therewith Many have been the Mistakes of Men about the Milleneium And at present the subject lies under such prejudices that it the very sound of the Name Men shrug up their Shoulders and throw it aside saying with the old Monks Graecum est non parest legi But this is unmanly and discovers their Ignorance Sloth or Vice more than any thing else Men are unwilling to vex themselves by looking into a Doctrine which will turn the World upside down and untwist all the Constitutions upon Earth This is a dismal prospect to those that are at
Version is Capita Hominum Septies Mille which rendred right is The Heads or Principals of Seven Thousand Men But the Greek is nearer to the point being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The NAMES of Seven Thousand Men being 't is only a Name that is slain it frees the Text from a literal interpretation And every Name is a Captain and has under him a Thousand Men. Any one that consults the Originals will find these things true And the rest but not these were afrighted and gave glory to God What a Disturbance and Earthquake there was is well known caused chiefly by the Seven Patriarchs Falling and by their Fall Seven Thousand of their Party These represented the whole Body as Julian the whole Papal Constitution And 't is fit there should be a Specimen of all the Condemned and Rejected Powers at the Rising of the Witnesses that they might be Triumphed over and all Fall together The Rest gave Glory to God That is they thanked God for their Deliverance tho' others repined and murmured In this curious Scene the Wisdom of God cannot be enough admired As Idolatrous Julian of old was suffered on purpose to make a Three year and half 's Parenthesis in the Christian Empire that the Jews might build their Temple and so the Epoche of its Desolation might be the more Illustrious So Papal Julian was admitted to make much the same intercalations on purpose that the Epoche of the New-Risen-Witnesses might be the more conspicous There was none to reach them an hand or to call them to Heaven So God made their greatest Enemies to do it even Rome it self And when he had done this he had done the business for which he was raised and presently flies away like a Whirlwind being intollerable to Prophecy For though the Lion and the Lamb may the Whore and the Bride must not lie down together These things I doubt not but will be very satisfactory to many especially to those who seek for Truth with a Resolution not to Reject it when they have Found it The Scene lying so near I know is a great prejudice to Truth Things that lie Abroad and a great way off Men sooner believe than what is done at Home And therefore they had much rather these Witnesses should rise in Piedmont Germany or France than in England But this cannot be for the Gospel is the Blood of the World which never reverts till it comes to the Toes and these Nations may be called the Feet or Toes of the Universe And these New-Risen-Witnesses are to Convert and Proselyte the whole World and therefore the Extream Parts are the most proper places to begin in I know many would have the Witnesses Rise in Piedmont Germany and France but they are under great Mistakes as to the true and genuine Nature of Death and Resurrection as I shall fully and to the satisfaction of all the World make appear as follows All who have wrote upon this Subject hitherto have supposed a Wounding and a Healing an Imprisonment and Releasing a Deprivation and Restoration of Power in the same Numerical and Identical Body of Men to be a Death and Resurrection which alas doth not rise up to the true nature thereof at all Though the Witnesses Death and Resurrection are not natural and literal yet they ought to hold a most exact and strict Analogy thereto and this Analogy falls exceedingly short thereof These are only accidental and not substantial Mutations in the same Body and no accidental or circumstantial Mutation will do the business No a Transformation will not do the thing for no Man will say Nehuchadnezzar died and rose again No Increase or Decrease or any other accidental Alteration in one and the same subject can possibly reach the Heighth of Death and Resurrection A repairing an Old House makes it not a New One. There must be an absolute pulling down to make it Death and an intire New Building from the Foundations to make it a Resurrection Death makes a substantial Alteration 'T is a total Dissolution of Parts a melting down the Bullion and not a sodering the piece In the Resurrection there must be a substantial Newness A Body that is said to rise again must have nothing of the Old Body in it but be absolutely New both in substance and circumstance And a Body that is said properly and truly to be Dead must be absolutely dissolved and must undergo a circumstantial and substantial Mutation A Truth of this weight cannot be made too plain Now neither the Witnesses in Piedmont Germany France or any other part of the World whatsoever except in England have passed such a Test as this The same Witnesses Persecuted and then tollerated Wounded and then Healed Depressed and then Re-established does not come up to the Heighth of Death and Resurrection Because these are only Alterations in the same Body and the same Body ought not to be in the Resurrection The Apostle saith Thou Fool thou sowest not that Body that shall be The Body is to dye and to be dissolved and receive an absolute New Body New in substance and circumstance before it can be said to have a Resurrection If it rise with its Old Body it may be said to be altered or changed but not risen 't is only BARE GRAIN an Old House repaired a Piece sodered together but nothing else There is a vast difference betwixt Corn raised up and Corn that is Risen one implying help the other none the Stone comes out of the Mountain without hands The one is only Old Corn tho' it be raised from the Ground but the other is absolutely New Men have hitherto called accidental alterations in the same Subject to be a Resurrection and so have made their Witnesses rise only BARE GRAIN but the Grain ought to rot in the Ground and receive a New Form and Body such as God shall please to give it before it can be said to have a True Resurrection This has been done in England to an Iota and answered the true and genuine nature of Death and Resurrection in the most minute circumstances For the Old Witnesses and their Constitution hath been killed melted or cut down like the Corn and some of it has been cast into the Ground and 't is risen up with a New Body absolutely New both in substance and circumstance there is nothing of the Old Way or Method in them but in Temporals Spirituals a Fundamentis they have all things New And the Name of Witness is stamped all over upon them All the Nation will witness what I say to be true I lay stroke upon stroke because Men have been miserably mistaken about this Great Truth and I had rather undergo some Reflections than not be plain so weighty a Truth requiring it If the French Protestants should be restored to their Lands and Livings and be priviledged to exercise their Old Methods in Religion this can never mount to a Resurrection and therefore the Learned Jurieu is much