and where his happiness is there is the man mira sublimitate transit amor in amatum Niremb Observe it Augustine saith concerning himself his soul ascended up and frequently ran and saluted the Prophets and visited the Patriarchs c. Anima ascendit frequenter currit familiariter per plateas coelestis Ierusalem Thus my Beloved may a mans soul be in heaven even while his body is here below feeding upon the hidden manna and bathing himself in those rivers of pleasures that the Lord hath prepared at his right hand for those that love him then though you be upon earth you may ascend and therein draw nigh to God In the last place I must hasten you may draw neer to God for if you cannot ascend to God God will be pleased to come down to you Isa 51.15 Heaven is my Throne I inhabit eternity I dwell in the high and holy place yet will I dwell with the humble and the contrite heart Luk. 13.15 If the Prodigal do but say I will go to my Father the lost Son comes in the compassionate father runs God deals with his people in this in a way of reatliation and when a man hath but a motion to return to God why the Lord is ready to meet him and embrace him he hath to this end appointed Ordinances and in them he tells you he will meet you Exod. 20.24 you need but come half way as it were God saith he will meet you My Beloved it is true indeed it is an imperfect yet notwithstanding it is a real communion we do but see him indeed behinde a wall and through the lattice but yet we do reasly see And it is such a Communion that the Lord is himself exceedingly delighted with the King is held in the Galleries it is that mighty expression of the Spirit Cant 7.5 the King is held in the Galleries there is a double Gallerie wherein Gods people take their walks with God he and they alone the upper Gallerie is reserved for the souls of just men made perfect but there is a lower Gallerie wherein Gods people walk with him here Jesus Christ is said so to delight himself in this converse that he is held there and that by nothing but by the cords of love The King is held in the Galleries Thus then let this serve for the opening of the first Branch what it is to draw neer to God and upon what ground though God be in Heaven and you upon earth though God be a consuming fire and thou as a sinner but stubble before him being put into a state of communion thou mayest draw neer to him Now let us come to the second Branch of the opening of the Doctrine and that is why it is good for the people of God yea best for them in calamitous times then to draw neer to keep a close and a constant communion with him truly the grounds of it are very weighty take it in these particulars as briefly as I am able In the first place this is the only means to preserve a man from the sin of evil fellow-ship therefore it is good to draw neer to God you shall alwaies find times of suffering to be also great times of sinning and men in them they are not Tam miseri quam mali as Salmon compares them When God pours out his wrath then doth Satan pour out his rage then because iniquity doth abound the love of many waxeth cold and men prove Apostates and fall away Now at such times there is the greatest Apostasies and backslidings manifested then at any time men fall from their former apprehensions into erroneous opinions men fall from their former affections and they lose their first love Men fall from their former conversations and they glory in their shame and because iniquity aboundeth the love of many waxeth cold and it is not strange I beseech you mark it for I speak to you that fear God that are put into a state of Communion I say it is not strange that even the Godly should backslide and deny and fall from the glory of their former conversation David had his first and his latter waies It is the expression in Chro. 17.3 Iehosaphat walked according to the first waies of David his father A David may have his first and his latter waies and in such times as these for a man not to fall from his stedfastness my Beloved it is a mighty thing when the Dragons tayl shall sweep down the third part of the stars for you to abide fixed there hath been in all ages a course of the world the world is a Sea and every man is a drop emptied into that Sea and he swimeth in it he is apt to run with the tide there is a course of the world Eph. 2.2 and in every age of the world there is a several form of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gal. 1.4 delivered from the present evil world that is the redemption of the Saints to be delivered from the evil world that is present and that way of wickedness that is common in their age c. Ye shall observe this in the first three hundred years then the generality of the world they were the Dragons Angels that made war against the woman but when the woman had brought forth a man-child and he was advanced into the Throne of God into the state of the Empire then presently the world becomes Christians In Constantines time then Sathan pours out a flood after the woman the flood of the Arrian heresie and then the world became an Arrian Jerom. totus mundus factus est Arrianus as Jerom complains This flood being in some measure dried up and afterward settled in the Sea of Rome then all the world wonders after Rome a new Beast ariseth that had two horns like a Lamb and speaks like a Dragon and reserves all the cruelty of the Dragon but only under a more promising under a more harmless and promising shape by and by I say all the world wonders after Rome And thus you shall find men that mind nothing but earthly things and that usually that they may enjoy the world they are thus carried on by the course of the world in all ages 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Just Mart. Iustin Mart. Now what shall preserve us Oh there is nothing now but keeping close to God that will keep you unspotted In Gen. 6.9,10 Noah walked with God semper incedebat eratque cum Deo perinde ut homo cum homine amico Aust Aust The Schoolmen put the question how it comes to pass that the Angels and the souls of men in Heaven are impeccant and without sin They answer that it is the Beatifical vision they have alwaies God in their eye visio Beatifica impotentes reddit ad peccandum truly there is nothing in the world that will stay the soul like to it If you will be preserved from the evil of the times and be upright in a crooked
Babylon hath all the strength of the earth on her party the Kings of the earth do bring their glory to her and give their power and strength to the Beast it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all their natural power and strength is given to her and all their civil power and strength or authority and therefore a man would think it impossible for any to make war with the Beast But they have a strong God against them and he hath undertaken it and the Lord will never make peace with Rome this is that spiritual Amalek with whom God will never make peace from Generation to Generation there be some of the enemies of God that shall be converted in the latter daies and many of those Kings the Lamb shall overcome not by their destruction but by their conversion for he will uphold them afterward though they had been his enemies but with Rome he will never have peace but will be a professed enemy unto them for ever the enmity between God and them is like the enmity between the seed of the woman and of the Serpent that shall never be reconciled never have an end Secondly look upon the causes of their destruction and they are mainly four and all of them will bring eminent destruction with them First because they corrupted Religion and that both in doctrine and worship they have made all the Nations of the earth drunk with the wine of her fornication and this they have done in a golden cup they make fair and specious pretences and call themselves the Church of God Romae venduntur omnia nihil tamen agas sine lege formula sanctissimi moris Lud. Viv. Ludov. Vives Religion in Doctrine and worship is very dear to God and he will not have it to be corrupted and therefore he is an utter enemy unto corrupters but this is the mother of Harlots and of all the abominations of the earth Secondly because the Kings of the earth have committed fornication with her Rome hath been the great corrupter of Kings and of all men that have been eminent in authority and this is their last refuge Rev. 16.14 they send forth their Emissaries unto the Kings of the Earth and of the whole world it is a great influence that they have had upon the authority of the world Now Kings they stand in the place of God and bear his Image in respect of government to have them corrupted is a great provocation unto God and a great occasion of destruction unto the world Thirdly by reason of her merchandize the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through her delicacies what is this merchandize it cannot be meant of merchandizes in a litteral and proper sense where it is said ver 11.12 the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her c. not that men shall merchandize no more for gold and pearl and precious things which ordinarily merchants trade about the merchandize of them shall not cease when Rome shall be destroyed for the world shall continue and trading shall still be In the 13. ver we read part of their merchandize to be the souls of men Brightman quae nullo modo in propria vocum natura haerere scimus nos It is spoken of spiritual merchandize making sale of the things of God and the Ordinances of God and the souls of men for their own gain and advantage which is unto the Lord a great provocation Rome is another Tyre as Tyre was the Mart of the earth for temporal things so is this City nobile emporium rerum spiritualium and men grow great and are advanced by this merchandize c. Fourthly for her cruelty Chap. 18.24 in her was found the blood of the Prophets and of all the Saints that were slain upon the earth and God will not suffer the blood of his Sains to lie unrevenged the cry of blood the Lord cannot deny to hear though it be but the blood of men but much more the blood of Saints for precious in his sight is their blood he hath a bottle for their tears much more will he make inquisition for blood and if the blood of any one of his Saints be such a burthen that God cannot bear it at the hands of men how much more when the blood of all the Saints shall be shed the Prophets and Martyrs of Jesus Specially considering that their cruelty shall grow and they shall be moâ—e bloody towards their end for whereas the witnesses before did but prophesies in Sack-cloth and ashes now they must have a time to be killed and that with the greatest cruelty and revenge they shall rejoyce over them and keep their dead bodies upon the earth and no man shall bury them Thirdly it is the great design that Christ hath in the latter daies of the world to destroy this Beast the last enemy Dan. 7. is the fourth Beast and in the fourth Beast there is a little horn that shall be more sierce then his fellows and ver 11. before that the words that the horn spake I beheld till the Beast was destroyed all the Roman power doth perish in the little horn in the destruction of Antichrist all the Roman power shall be utterly broken there were ten horns that did arise upon the rise of the Beast and there was government given them and power successively but when this little horn shall be destroyed never a horn shall stand up in the place thereof any more and therefore Rev. 16. we see the vials that are poured out are but degrees of wrath upon Rome Antichristian and we have seen many of them in a very glorious and unexpected way already accomplished and therefore we have great cause to trust Christ for the effecting of the rest and he will turn the heart of the Kings against them that they shall hate the whore they that did support her they shall become the greatest instruments to destroy her as the seals have had their effect upon Rome Pagan and the Trumpets upon Rome Christian so shall the vials upon Rome Antichristian for this book of the Revelations doth mainly concern Rome for there is a double prophesie fata Ecclesiae Imperii and they are the two great works Christ hath in design after his ascention Fourthly it shall surely be destroyed because they shall never repent Rev. 16.9,11 When the vial is poured out upon the world they were scorched with sire exceedingly enraged and they blasphemed the name of God which had power over these plagues but they repented not to give glory and upon the seat of the Beast they Blasphemed God because of their pain but repented not of their evil deeds and the ground of it is because most of them generally they that embrace the Doctrine and worship are reprobates and the Scripture doth make it a dangerous sign of reprobation Chap. 13.8.17.8 They that wonder who are they such whose names are not wrote in the Book of life from the foundation
set before other men and exalted above them for in Church societies it is not outward honours or wealth that exalts men men may be great men yet have but mean gifts and of little honour and esteem in the Church of God but also they are called by terms of authority they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this place and v. 7. they are your Guides Leaders and Commanders and therefore it is taken from the Master or Pilot in a Ship that turns it about to steer it in its right course and therefore they were of old called The Masters of Assemblies Eccl. 12. and this appears so much the greater if you do consider also that they speak to you in the name of Christ for 1 Thes 5.12 They are over you in the Lord and what they do require by vertue of their office they can do it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ as an Embassador hath great power because he speaks in the name of the King and they can enjoyn you as you owe obedience to Christ in whose name we speak and whose work we do therfore he that rejecteth you rejecteth me 1 Cor. 5.4 In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ deliver such a man to Satan if they did it in their own name there were little power in it indeed but in the name of Christ there is great authority and there is this the more to be added because as it is a power given them by Christ and Christ is despised in them so it is a power given them by your own consent now for a man to give consent to put power into a mans hand and afterwards he denyes him the exercise of that power which he hath given him it is for a man to Judge and condemn himself in the thing which he himself allows therefore it layes a necessity upon you of subjection to this power both for conscience sake and as a thing that was done by your own free election and consent and so there is not only an authority that commands it but a Law of love also as a woman subjects her self to her husband not only as God hath commanded it and given him authority over her but also from a principle of love because this is the man that I did chuse to my self to obey and to be subject unto all my dayes therefore a double Law is broken in this respect and this still argues the greatness of an Officers power in the Church It s called the power of the keyes which doth note a very great authority and office Isa 22.22 power in the house the ordering of governing of all the affairs in a family shall go through their hands as it is said of Joseph what ever was done in all the land of Egypt he was the doer of it so it is true of them what ever is done in the Church of God it must go through their hands they must also be the doers of it and Math. 16.19 it is the keyes of the Kingdom of Heaven which is meant both of grace and glory a power to bind and loose in the Church by vertue of the Institution of Christ and what they do bind and loose or they remit or retain shall be so done in the world to come in the Kingdom of Heaven so that they shall open Heaven to the Church and if they shut them out heaven shall be shut out if they binde upon their consciences so will the Lord also in the world to come in Heaven and in this respect it is a far greater power then if a man had the keyes of the authority and Government of all the Kingdoms of the Earth Thirdly the subjects of this authority it is not the bodies lives of men or their estates but the authority is spiritual and it relates unto the soul only and this will appear First because it is managed only by spiritual means as the Kingdom of Christ is not of this world the management of things in the Church of Christ are not to be done in the way of the world it is not by any outward power and greatness or by authority and force of arms c. but all is ordered by the word 2 Cor. 10.5 The weapons of our warfare are mighty through God for it is this that is the Scepter of the power of Christ and all the authority that he doth exercise by his Ministers and Officers under him it is by the word only and if they wil not hear the word let such a man be unto thee a Heathen man let him be Anathema Maranatha to the coming of the Lord we must leave him as a man incurable we can do no more to him 1 Cor. 16.22 if the word will not reclaim him we have no way to deal with him but to set before him the Judgement that is written which if he despise then Church-Officers have no more to do but as they when they refused the Gospel did shake off the dust of their feet it will be easier for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of Judgement they have no power either to imprison or afflict their bodies or seise upon their estates if they obey not they can only leave men to the Judgement of the Lord. Secondly answerable unto the power such are the censures and they are all spiritual they relate unto the soul they can inflict no corporal punishment upon men but the Punishment in Scripture and first a binding of their sins Joh. 20.21 as they pardon sin in the conscience and in regard of their Church-state by receiving them after sinning upon their repentance So there is a binding of sin upon the conscience convincing a man of the guilt of sin and also the putting him out of the society so that the mans sin is bound in his own conscience and before the Church and the Lord saith It shall be bound in heaven and shall not be pardoned to him or if he be godly he shall not have the sense of pardon till by this ordinance of Christ he be again received Secondly they withdraw communion with him 2 Thes 3.14 If any man obey not our word note that man and have no fellowship with him that he may be ashamed all this is in reference to the soul that the man may be reclaimed it is only Mingle not with him that when he shall see all godly men to avoid him as a Pest and his communion as some filthyness he may thereby take shame to himself Thirdly deliver him to Satan 1 Cor. 5.4,5 Ordinances are means to inflict spiritual Judgements as well as to convey spiritual Blessings cast him out by a Judicial act from the Assemblies of the Saints and so being cast out he is in the world where Satan rules he shall have nothing to do with Ordinances more and yet all this is with special respect unto his soul it is for the destruction of the flesh that the soul may be saved in the day of the Lord therefore all power
generation then take heed to walk close with God It is good for you to draw neer to God But Secondly it is good for you to draw neer to God when all things else withdraw themselves from you My Beloved it is good for a Christian to make such a supposition as the Prophet Habbakuck doth in Chap. 3.17,18 Though the Fig-tree should notblossom though there be no fruit in the Vine though the labour of the Olive should fail and the fields should yield no meat the flocks should be cut off from the folds and the Herds from the stalls yet I will rejoyce in the Lord and I will triumph in the God of my salvation Mark he doth not only pitch upon those comforts that are rather for complement then necessity but the choicest provision as I may so speak of the worlds making here is the Fig-tree the Vine the Olive the Field the flock and he saith not If any of these should fail then they might be recompenced with the labour of the other but if all these should fail together and conspire to make man miserable and not only to fail in hope but even what you have already in possession When doth a man think his flocks to be certainer then in his folds and his herds then in his stalls but though the flocks and the herds should fail what now will bear up his soul I will rejoyce in God Oh it is time to keep close to God let me tell you the Land reels to and fro like a Drunkard sometimes leanes this way you know it and sometimes that way truly when the Land begins to sink under a mans feet once foundations shake then it is time for a man to lift up his hands and to take hold of heaven restat iter coelo for this will be the great cut to a mans heart when he shall be shut out of all things here below as it was with Saul in his agonie the Philistins made war against him and God hides his head the Philistines made war so they did many times before and Saul got the better Saul had now an Army in the field I but though he had an Army Saul had lost his God the Lord is departed from me and answers me no more This is the best way indeed to keep close to God it is time to draw neer to God when all things else withdraw themselves from you Thirdly it is best because if you draw neer to God God will certainly draw neer to you he hath promised it in Jam. 4.8 Draw neer to God and he will draw neer to you and the approach of God summs up all Gen 15.1 for in his presence is fulness of joy It is a mighty expression Rev. 21.7 that he that overcomes shall inherit all things I and that of our Savtour Mark 10.30 If a man forsake father and mother house or lands he shall have a hundred fold more in this life a hundred fold in some respect he cannot have an hundred Fathers or an hundred Mothers but Interpreters say it is not to be understood formaliter but eminenter he shall have all the comforts in God that these could afford him if they were a hundred times more Oh then draw neer to God and God will certainly draw neer to you But I but name things Fourthly to draw neer to God is best for by this means you shall be preserved from the evil that other men suffer the evil of suffering The promise is in Psal 91.10 He that dwelleth under the shaddow of the most high no plague shall come nigh him he will give his Angels charge over thee it notes a constant fellowship thou shalt be the special charge that the Angels have I shall desire you but to consider the Lord hath projects of providence for his peoples preservation as well as for his enemies destruction Noah walked with God and had an Ark when the rest of the world of ungodly men perished in the waters David a man that kept constant communion and we see how the Lord owns him in all his tryals and appears for him upon all the glory there shall be a covering and there are projects of providence beyond the wisdom of men or Angels for the Lord knows how to deliver the just from all their trouble and how to reserve the wicked to the day of Judgement These things now I am forced to pass over Lastly and so we will hasten to the Application It is best for men to draw neer to God because a close communion keeps up in a mans soul those qualifications as shall make every afliction comfortable and easie be the times never so bad for the drawing neer of the soul to God is like the Sun to the earth which by its heat and perfect influence puts life vigour and beauty into things dead and withered before Cant. 1.12 Communion with God is the spring-time of all grace and therefore I will but name them First Communion with God will keep a mans soul in a silent humble frame that was the fruit of Aarons Communion in Levit. 10.3 a great cross be fell him he lost two Sons taken away by an immediate act of Gods hand even in an act of sin yet Aaron held his peace Aaron held his peace fellowship with God will certainly keep the soul in a peaceable submissive frame that be the affliction what it will be the soul shall say Gods will is the rule of goodness when Judgement was pronounced against Hezekiah good is the word of the Lord and Iob the Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken away Secondly fellowship with God will keep a mans soul in a holy independency upon the things below there is nothing my Beloved puts a mans soul out of band with the creature like communion this is the way to have the Moon under your feet as the expression is for that in fellowship with God a man that knows what it is to have close communion knows that he doth really set his feet where other men set their hearts it puts the mouth out of tast to all creature comforts to him Chrysostom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost though the world were on fire about his ears yet he hath lost nothing for his portion is enough In the third place as a holy independency so a holy magnanimity of spirit he shall not think those things great that other men think insupportable Iesus Christ endured the Cross and despised the shame and the shame of the cross was the greatest suffering Why do you weep and break my heart I am ready not only to be bound but to die for him Luther And Luther I remember when the enemies gave out that he had recanted he writes in a Letter of his that I will never recant think that I will do any thing rather then recant be the dangers and threatnings what they will be they are not careful to answer thee in this matter omnia de me praesumes praeter fugam
claim a power over the ten Kings to depose them and release their subjects from obedience unto them and this was a power that the ten Kings did give unto him and this did arise out of the Sea from the wars and trouble and commotions that were in the world But there is another description of the Pope as he is the false Prophet which relates unto the Ecclesiastical power that he takes to himself and so he hath two horns one as a Lamb an embleme of Meeknesse and Innocency and he ariseth out of the earth that is stirpium more as things doe grow out of the earth in a secret and unobserved way Secondly the thing that they trade in is the Truths of God and the souls of men therefore contend earnestly for the Faith for when false Teachers come it is the Faith that they do mainly aim at and Satan is the grand deceiver in them And the Apostle comes also to a description of the persons with whom your contention was to be First they are described by the act of God upon them what they are in Gods Predetermination Secondly by the act of sin within them and what they are by their own corruptions First by the act of God upon them they were of old ordained to destruction The Greek word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 praescripti they are prescrib'd fore-written because there is an act of God in revealing of them that is passed upon them from all eternity It is unto this damnation that they are appointed And some read the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad hoc judicium for to be given over into such a way of sinning it 's the greatest spiritual judgement that can befall a man in this life and doth flow from a sentence and a decree passed upon him by God for he that hath ordain'd men unto damnation hath by a permissive though not an effective will appointed also the means by which he shall come unto that end that so he is ordain'd to be damn'd Secondly by the power of sin within them All ungodly men pretend what they will they have no fear of God in them nor any respect unto God they are men that are strangers unto God and live without him in the world that 's their generall description they are ungodly men that have no feare of God in their hearts and that do whatsoever they do without any respect unto God though they are many times great pretenders yet of them all it 's said that their God is their beily and all that they doe is for some low end it 's with no respect unto God Secondly they are more particularly describ'd First by their desperate opinions they turn the grace of God into wantonness Secondly by their devillish conversations They deny the Lord God and the Lord Jesus Christ it 's spoken in respect of their lives and wayes 2 Tit. 1.16 They profess they know God but in works they deny him c. And we shall ever find that monstrous opinions are ever accompanied with monstrous corruptions It 's the description of these men according unto their wicked opinions that I am to speak of at present and there are in the words three things to be explain'd First what is meant by the Grace of God Secondly what is meant by Wantonness Thirdly what it is to turn this Grace into Wantonness c. First what is meant by the Grace of God As given unto us Grace is taken two waies in Scripture either for the Gospel the Word of his Grace as it is called Acts 20.32 and so it is taken 2 Cor. 6.1 We as workers together with him doe beseech you not to receive the grace of God in vain It 's spoken of the Doctrine of the Gospel which the Lord had sent amongst them and Tit. 2.11 The Grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appear'd to all men c. It 's spoken of the Doctrin of the Gospel the Word of his grace Secondly it 's put for the impress of this Word upon the heart for it 's the word writ in the heart they are the habits of Grace in us it is into this mould we are cast Rom 6.17 and it is by looking into this Glass that we are transformed c. 2 Cor. 3. last v. It 's the Word ingrafted that doth change the man Jam. 1.21 And so we are said to receive from Christ Grace for Grace Joh. 1.16 The unction in us being answerable to that of those that are in Christ and that gratia habitualis in us answering that which was in Christs humane nature for he had the same spiritâ— dwelling in him and working habits in his humane nature that we also have but it 's not this latter that is meant here for the Devil himself cannot turn Grace into Wantonness though corruption will endeavour to mâ—ke advantage of Grace but Faith it self is the new creature the devine nature it 's that which is born of God which cannot sin Joh. 1â— And therefore it must here be meant of the Word of his Grace the Doctrin of the Gospel Secondly what is mâ—ant by Wantonness the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies a wanton vam licentious and unruly disposiâ—ion of heart It is by Zanch. described to be effraenis quaeâ—am peccandi libido â—eing past feeling they gave themselves over unto lasciviousnâ—ss 1 Pet. 4.3 it 's said Whilst they were Gentiles they did walk in lasciviousness excess of wine c. It notes all manner of lust and filthiness c. Eph. 4.19 For all men doe not sin with the same lewdness nor with the same resolution of spirit that other men do Ezek. 29.13 〈◊〉 cogitaâ—…o consilium machinatio c. The more thought rulness that there is in sinning and upon the greater grounds mens lusts are bottom'd with the more confidence and fearlesness and resolution of spirit they do commit them and this loosness of spirit and resolution in any way of sinning without any check or reluctancy of spirit this is called Wantonness Thirdly what is it to turn the Grace of God into Wantonness The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it signifies to transpose a thing and put it out of its place to turn away a thing or a person and puts it out of its forformer condition as Heb. 11.5 it 's said of Enoch that the Lord tran slated him put him out of his present earthly condition in which he was and removed him out of his place to heaven Gal. 1.6 Why are you so sâ—on carried away by another Gospel The false Teachers had translated them and put them from their station in which beleefe they stood before they removed them from it and so when the doctrine of the Grace of God that did teach men to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and was given to make the man of perfect unto every good work when this grace is by the lusts of men perverted to a quite contrary end this is to translate the
day of their deliverance shall come to the astonishment and amazement of the Nations and there are many great reasons that it must be a great day but I cannot insist upon them Seventhly the time of their calling shall be when the fulness of the Gentiles is come in blindness so long is happened unto them when the four Monarchs are cast down to dust in the period of them Dan. 7.12.13.14 after the destruction of Antichrist when the little horn is slain and his body given unto the burning flame now he comes to receive a Kingdom of the ancient of days and it shall be when the seventh Angels Trumpet shall sound then the Kingdoms and Nations under the whole Earth become the Kingdoms of the Lord and his Christ Rev. 11.16 which is from the setting up the abomination of desolation the 1290. days which shal be the year of the Iews redemption Dan. 12.11 which is to be finished four thousand year after which is 1335. daies but these are times â—hat I cannot now speak to Eighthly then shall be amongst them a glorious Church in which the presence of the Lord shall dwell Ezek. 37.27 I will set my Tabernacle among them for ever more And elsewhere Ezek. 48. ult the name of the City shal be Jehovah shammah the Lord is there Rev. 21.3 The Tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and it is not in Heaven for it is new Jerusalem that comes down from God out of Heaven and the Kings of the earth shall bring their glory to it and the glory of the Lord and of the Lamb shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the light of it and Rev. 21.12 twelve Angels at the gates and there shall be no use of the service of the Angels in Heaven they are sent forth as ministring spirits for the good of the Elect. But when they are gathered in as their Kindom begins with the Kingdom of Christ so shall it end also for he will put down all rule authority and power it is to be understood Etiam de principatu Angelico as well as of any other And they shall have the purest Ordinances Rivers of water of Life that is clear as Christal not running blood not mixed with fire Rev. 22.1 Not blood as is the Doctrine of Antichrist nor mixt with Fire either of affliction or contention as are the doctrines of the reformed Churches and then shall be the exactest discipline all that love and make a lye shall be without and the more of Gods order the more of his presence and his blessing for they shall see his face and his name shall bee written upon their foreheads c. Ninthly this Church of the converted Jewes shall be the Mother Church and shall be exalted above all the Gentile Churches the mountain of the Lords house exalted above the tops of the mountains Ezek. 16.61 then shalt thou be ashamed when I shall give thee thy sisters for daughters all the Gentile Churches shal know that they do receive as the Law from them at the first so now aboundance of light and nourishment great discoveries of God and of his grace for the light of the Moon shall be as that of the Sun and the light of the Sun seven-fold and the Temple shall be opened in Heaven and you may see into the Ark of the Testament all vailes shall be taken away both from the hearts of men and the mysteries of God and the Abdita the hidden things of God revealed the which should then be made fully manifest For he did not write the Word for the World to come but for the Life that now is and therefore there is nothing there hid that shall not be made manifest it shall appear unto the world that he wrote none of those divine mysteries in the word in vain Tenthly Then shall follow great peace and prosperity in the world all persecutions either from Enemies without or Tyrants within shall come to an end Ezek. 34.25.26 I wil make with them a Covenant of peace and wil cause evil beasts to cease out of the Land they shall dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods Esa 66.12 I will extend peace to her like a River that shall never be dryed up that when the enemies shall look when it will be dry it may be expected in vaine Labitur labetur Zach. 14.11 Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited persecutions from without for the four Monarchs shal bee destroyed and Satan shall be bound that he shall not stir them up to make war against the Saints Rev. 20. Ezek. 45.8 because their Princes before did slay them and not hold themselves guilty make nothing of oppression but now he saith my Princes shall oppresse my people no more a wall 12000 furlongs high Rev. 21.16 and for prosperity Esa 60.16.17 c she shall suck the milk of the Gentiles and the brests of Kings Eleventhly Over this people Iesus Christ shall in a glorious manner reign and that in a more eminent manner then he hath done over the Churches of the Gentiles for it is the Kingdom of David his Father which he is to sit on a Kingdom which he is yet to receive Ezek. 34.23.24 â—zek 37.25 Ezek. 21.26 David my servant he shall feed them and rule over them I will be their God and David my servant as a Prince amongst them when the dry bones are risen David my servant shall be their Prince for ever remove the Diadem c he will overturn overturn overturne and then will he come whose right it is The Scepter shal depart from Judah and they shall be many days without a King Any form of government of their own Hos 34. and what then they shall seek the Lord and David their King unto whom the Father hath committed all judgement Joh. 5.22 and in a special manner the Kingdoms and Nations over this people that from his presence their judgement is to go forth and therefore he shall in a more special manner be be King of the Jews as being his own people unto whom he hath a right of inheritance more then he has over any people of the world besides and yet I do confesse I do not see light from the Scripture to assert the personal reign of Christ upon Earth over them and the Saints reigning with him in his person I know Aliud est ChristuÌ„ regnare in Sanctis Aliud Sanctos regnare cum Christo both shall be in this life in some sense but yet whether Christ shall rule them by a personal residence upon earth is unto me still a doubt but this I say the Lord Iesus Christ hath a peculiar right unto the Kingdom of the Jews as he is of the seed of David And God will give him the Throne of his father David Twelfthly The people shall be exceeding holy in this Church walking in truth and sincerity there is a form of Godliness but there is little of the